On the subject of the dipshits at DHS, we can now count on

people using the trains to get more of the molestation and other abuse airplane passengers have been dealing with.

Because 'safety' and 'security'.  They require you to be felt up, abused, threatened, and your stuff stolen because you wanted to take a trip.


While we're talking about federally-run idiots, let's go to getting rid of the EPA, too:
Managers at the Environmental Protection Agency were aware of the possible risk for a catastrophic “blowout” at an abandoned mine that could release “large volumes” of wastewater laced with toxic metals, according to internal documents released late Friday.
As noted before, a engineer wrote about this a while BEFORE the idiocy happened; if you think these idiots weren't aware of the possibility...  And apparently weren't too worried about it:
Much of the text in the documents released Friday was redacted by EPA officials, according to The Associated Press. Among the items blacked out is the line in a 2013 safety plan for the Gold King job that specifies whether workers were required to have phones that could work at the remote site, which is more than 11,000 feet up a mountain.
Because why would you worry about someone being able to call out in the event of a problem?  Or a disaster?


Well, hell, why is this a surprise?  There were already reports that the company said it had migrated the data to another server before it wiped the original.  My question still stands: if the EffingBI actually cared about doing this right, why didn't that information result in a warrant for that other server, and anything else that might have had connection to it?

And along with the incompetence and theft and molesting,

let's not forget the former TSA bigshot Pistole announcing 'flying is a privilege', though the bastard had no authority to make such a proclamation.
Pistole resigned last December — in time to miss the uproar this week about TSA agents failing to detect 95% of the weapons and bombs smuggled past them by Inspector General testers. While Pistole is leading the PR pushback to absolve his former agency, the I.G. report is the latest confirmation that TSA continues blindly blundering and pointlessly abusing Americans' rights and privacy.
Though you must remember, to some of the clowns pushing the abuse is probably a plus.


Next time someone starts on the "Socialist Sweden is WONDERFUL!" line, point them to this guy.
Today, it’s as if the inmates are running the asylum. The politicians are participating in a chicken race of “goodness” where everybody tries to one-up each other in caring for the citizens of OTHER countries while Swedish retirees, school children, handicapped and other vulnerable categories of people are thorougly ignored. Violence is exploding. Jihadist Trojan horses are flowing through the porous border along with the tens of thousands ID-less refugees. 

But what makes me the most pessimistic about Sweden’s future is how the social fabric itself has been undermined.
...
Then you have the Swedish school system. There really is no nice way to put it; it’s a complete disaster. The minister of education is a man-boy who spends his time making Youtube-videos showing heart-signs with his hands to boost school results, while university-level students can’t read and comprehend the course literature.
Yeah, just friggin' wonderful.  But there's free health care!
The famous Swedish health care system is a good example. 120 000 hospital beds in the late 1960s became 20 000 today. Cancer patients are put on waiting lists for months. Entire emergency wards shut down for summer.
Don't expect them to believe it.  Because Socialism Good!!, even when it sucks.

Tab clearing Fracking link fixed

Former TSA agent says the agency is full of crap, waste and general disgusting.


People find out just what Obamacare is doing to their insurance costs; for some reason it does not delight them.


Anti-fracking study turns out to be full of crap; surprise!


"How dare you adopt black kids!  That just PROVES what a racist you are!"


Nothing like making jokes about Congress using a wounded vet.


MSNBC makes one of their usual bigoted 'jokes', get called on it, insist "We have high standards!  We're fair and balanced!"


Start with making cops and prosecutors PERSONALLY responsible for damages if they knowingly put an innocent in prison.  If they know it'll happen before they do it, it'll probably make a world of difference.


A serious takedown of the 'Starship Troopers is fascist!  Heinlein was fascist!' bullshit.


"Why aren't more people willing to go into debt to get a degree from us?  We don't understand!"


Well, this will probably be the last you ever hear about Adam Lanza from the mainstream media.


Remember this next time someone refers to 'Superstorm Sandy':
Luckily, New York City is prepared for pretty much anything. And when we say prepared, we mean they know precisely how screwed they're going to be.

I am going to use bad language in this post

Starting with Fuck the TSA. Fuck these bastards who commit sexual assault on people and then threaten them with arrest if they complain. Fuck these twisted assholes who think feeling up a child- the kind of behavior that would normally result in a punch, kick or bullet to the molester- is a fine idea(makes you wonder how many more, doesn't it?). I'll borrow some from Claire:

In recent years, the TSA has also expanded the scope of the program. Originally intended to look only for suspected terrorists, the program now also seeks to ferret out possible criminals in airports.

See SPOT FAIL the Constitutionality Test.
See SPOT succeed at Mission Creep.

The Department of Homeland Security says the program is successful, telling Congress last week that, in a recent test comparing behavior detection officers to random screening procedures, the officers were 50 times more likely to refer people they checked to local law enforcement, and about 4.5 times as likely to identify people with prohibited items or fraudulent documents.

Rly. Being “50 times more likely to refer people they checked to local law enforcement” with what outcome???!? And being “4.5 times as likely to identify people with prohibited items or fraudulent documents” than a process which checks diapers and feels up toddlers and pays no special attention to 20-something males from Pah-kee-stan??!? Wow. What a revelation.

As to the accuracy of this crap, from the article:
But one member of the study's Technical Advisory Committee said the study did not establish the program's scientific validity.

"The advisory committee has not been asked to evaluate the overall SPOT program, nor has it been asked to evaluate the validity of indicators used in the program," Philip Rubin testified to Congress last week.
Gee, I wonder why.
Advisory committee members were not shown the list of behavioral indicators, he said.

"My concern is that if I'm a member of the public and I hear (Willis') testimony, it sounds like the SPOT program has been validated," Rubin told CNN.
The ACLU is whining about 'racial profiling'; I'm more worried about these clowns screwing with people who don't look properly submissive, or who have such horrible lack appreciation of the Touching Special Places people that they dare to look pissed at being screwed around.

Security theater, compounded by lies and "Don't give us any trouble or we'll screw you over."

"TSA: We're Feeling You Up

For Your Own Good"
In the video below, the former beauty queen who held the Miss America title in 2003, Susie Castillo, says a TSA “screener” fondled her vagina during an intrusive pat-down.

Ms. Castillo was subjected to the groping after she refused to enter a naked body scanner at the airport in Dallas, Texas.
And if you look like you don't like what they're doing they'll single you out for 'special attention'. And if you complain, you'll go on their list I'd imagine, for daring to cause them problems.


Oh great; even MORE terrorism prosecutions Holder's DOJ dropped. These clowns are so busy sucking up for votes and pats on the head they don't care if they get people killed. Of course, Gunwalker has shown us that that's fairly widespread.


Yeah, that is the character he'd like, isn't it?




A group of rowdy students took over a Tucson school board meeting Tuesday night, chaining themselves together to protest a change to a Mexican-American studies class, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported.

The governing board of the Tucson Unified School District was supposed to consider a plan that would make a class teaching history from a Mexican-American perspective an elective, instead of a required course.
"No, EVERYBODY should be forced to take this course!" Screw you, you hyphenated clowns.


More of the Tuscaloosa tornado




I would like someone to have asked Bernanke if he'd been grocery shopping lately; if so how the hell could he say something like this:
In his first regular news conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank was continuing its stimulus policy because it was projecting slower growth in the economy with only a modest uptick in inflation.
Really? Is he getting his food- oh, that's right, he has people to do that for him, so he doesn't have to be around the commoners and hear their complaints.


And South Carolina tells Amazon "We don't need those jobs, so go away." And they will. And I have serious doubts about 'tea party' activists wanting Amazon to go away, since such folks are generally people who want jobs available.

I'll start this soggy morning with a fine example of PC idiocy

at its best:
Simon Ledger says he fears she will end up with a criminal record for performing the 1974 disco classic at a seafront bar on the Isle of Wight on Sunday after two people walking past apparently took offence.

The 34-year-old, from the island, regularly features Carl Douglas’s 1974 number one hit in his set when he performs at the Driftwood Beach Bar in Sandown.
The song? Kung Fu Fighting.
But after striking up the melody in front of customers at the weekend he noticed a man of Chinese origin walking past with his mother, making gestures at him and taking a picture on his mobile phone.

He said that he later received a telephone call from police – while he was dining in a Chinese restaurant – asking him to meet officers about the incident.

He was then arrested and questioned before being bailed.
And the charge?
Hampshire Police said that it had been following up a complaint of racially aggravated harassment.
Got that? SOMEBODY WALKING BY THE RESTAURANT says he was 'harassed with Racial Aggravation by hearing the song. Thin-skinned whiny little bastard, aren't you? And you cops, all actual crime is so under control you've got time to waste on bullshit like this?


What? TSA isn't following up on promises? And he's surprised? Disappointed I can see, but surprised?


So EEEVILLLEEEE Republicans and conservatives hate them some public employee unions; unfortunately for that theory,
Not only has the Massachusetts state House passed a new law barring all PEUs from collective bargaining on health care, it passed by a veto-proof majority — because Democrats pushed the bill:
Unions and progressive screechers hardest hit.


Speaking of screechers, a girl of Turk descent in Germany decided to pose for Playboy: screeching and threats erupt.
One poster on the Jihad Watch website wrote: "She needs to be very careful..." Another simply said: "She must pay."

A kebab shop owner, asked on German TV what he would do if Sila were his daughter, replied: "I would kill her. I really mean that. That doesn't fit with my culture."
His culture, obviously, having nothing to do with the country where he lives. The weenies in Brussels want to understand why parties like True Finn are rising in influence? Crap like this, which they already know if they've got three working brain cells to rub together.
About three million Muslim immigrants live in Germany, which has seen numerous honour killings in recent years by fanatical husbands, fathers and brothers.

In 2009, an asylum seeker was sentenced to life after killing his "too independent" German wife.
Of course, these ARE EUnuchs; counting on three brain cells...


So a tv crew is shooting storm updates and video a tornado forming and dissipating; that's right place at right time. Speaking of which, from Theo,
Yeek.


Let's see... Newly-elected politician actually wants to hold to campaign promises about shrinking government, or at least keeping it from growing, and the other politicians are getting pissy. Screw 'em.

And note: Some Texas legislators are upset that freshman state Rep. David Simpson (R-7) used parliamentary procedures to bump bills off the fast track House calendar. (Fast-track bills aren’t subject to debate.) In other words, they're mad because he wants their bills to actually be subject to debate and they don't want to have to do that.

A few days ago Marja wrote in comments

that the True Finn party had made big gains in their election. Ran across this article telling how the rise of groups like True Finn is scaring crap out of the EU clowns in Brussels. Two things in the article stand out to me: one is that they're scared to death that if such parties continue to gain power the effort to bail out Portugal and others will be endangered("How dare they try to stop us looting their economy for the common good!"); the other is that they throw 'xenophobic' around a lot to try and shut people up. You have a problem with muslim immigrants who want to take over, you're a xenophobe, etc.

Appears the Brussels aristocrats really don't like being told "You can't do whatever you want", whereas even people who support the EU have big problems with how Brussels & Co. is acting:
His criticism of the euro and the government's crisis management stems from classic liberal convictions about the constitutional state and democracy. He wants the German parliament, the Bundestag, to be making decisions about government finances, and he cites the European treaties that forbid an EU member from taking on the debts of other countries.

But the first year of overcoming the euro crisis has produced precisely the opposite outcome, Schäffler complains. "We have pledged two-thirds of the federal government's tax revenues to cover the national debts of other countries -- without the Bundestag being required to approve the issuance of loan guarantees and without a firm basis in the European treaties."
Well, there were only two ways this could go: nations would quietly surrender to the bureaucracy and EU elites and die, or people would get pissed and say "Just a minute! Stop!" And enough of the latter is happening to cause constipation in the EUnuchs.


Damn. Go over to Blackfive, read the linked article. And remember, for every whiny progressive asshole, there are men like these.


Well, whoever wrote Stuxnet, they seem to have screwed the Iranian nuclear program. So we owe them a drink.


Personally, I don't think telling a school "You can't teach about homosexuality below 9th grade" is a big deal; to liberal activists, it's infuriating. Screw 'em(metaphorically, that is).


Further demonstration of why the TSA should be disbanded. And various members of the group prosecuted. That these clowns can do this to people and be protected from any consequences is disgusting.


"I'm against violence, but I know people who aren't, and if you don't do what we want..." Also known as "Screw what the locals want, WE know what's best for them!"


The U.S. Department of State is proposing a new Biographical Questionnaire for some passport applicants: The proposed new Form DS-5513 asks for all addresses since birth; lifetime employment history including employers’ and supervisors names, addresses, and telephone numbers; personal details of all siblings; mother’s address one year prior to your birth; any “religious ceremony” around the time of birth; and a variety of other information. According to the proposed form, “failure to provide the information requested may result in … the denial of your U.S. passport application.”
Proving that they're either liars or fools, they say the average respondent would be able to compile all this information in just 45 minutes, which is a a huge load of crap. Because saying "We want to make it about impossible for some people to get a passport" is beyond them.

Bleah.

One of those "If they try this there should be a riot

ending with trampled TSA agents" things:
In a breathtaking statement delivered in an official court proceeding, the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims authority to strip search every airline passenger; and to begin such a practice without even soliciting comment from the public.

This outrageous statement recently was delivered to the American people by a DHS lawyer in arguments before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is considering a challenge to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) nude body scanner devices. The suit was brought by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
Trampled into mulch. Followed by the assholes in positions of authority who like the idea.

And the lynching of politicians who let/help this crap happen.

A: Does hearing this about TSA surprise you?

Newly uncovered documents show that as early as 2006, the Department of Homeland Security has been planning pilot programs to deploy mobile scanning units that can be set up at public events and in train stations, along with mobile x-ray vans capable of scanning pedestrians on city streets.
...
The projects range from what the DHS describes as “a walk through x-ray screening system that could be deployed at entrances to special events or other points of interest” to “covert inspection of moving subjects” employing the same backscatter imaging technology currently used in American airports.
We've heard about this idea before. The Touching Special Areas people deny it, of course, but two things about the denials:
Update: A TSA official responds in a statement that the “TSA has not tested the advanced imaging technology that is currently used at airports in mass transit environments and does not have plans to do so.”
The tech that is currently used at airports, huh? What about related tech? You notice they don't say "We have not tested this type of technology and won't do it"; that'd be a flat denial with no wiggle room, whereas the actual denial...

Second,
A privacy assessment included in the documents for one aspect of the plans that focused on train security suggests that images wouldn’t be tied to any personally identifiable information such as a subject’s name. Any images shared outside the project or used for training purposes would have faces blurred, and employees using the system would be trained to avoid privacy violations, the document says. If the scanners were to adopt privacy enhancements deployed in new versions of the airport full body scanners currently being tested by the TSA, they would also use nondescript outlines of people rather than defined images, only showing items of interest on the subject’s body.
Translation: "Yes, we'd be doing warrantless searches at random but we promise your pictures that we take won't have personal information shown. So screw your 4th Amendment rights, we say we can do this." Trust in the TSA denial being decreased strongly by
In August of last year, Joe Reiss, the vice president of marketing of security contractor American Sciences & Engineering told me in an interview that the company had sold more than 500 of its backscatter x-ray vans to governments around the world, including some deployed in the U.S. Those vans are capable of scanning people, the inside of cars and even the internals of some buildings while rolling down public streets. The company claims that its systems’ “primary purpose is to image vehicles and their contents,” and that “the system cannot be used to identify an individual, or the race, sex or age of the person.” But Reiss admitted that the van scans do penetrate clothing, and EPIC president Marc Rotenberg called them “one of the most intrusive technologies conceivable.”
Copy of the documents at the link.