Friday, July 08, 2016
This is a surprise to anybody?
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said in its annual report that Iran has a “clandestine” effort to seek illicit nuclear technology and equipment from German companies “at what is, even by international
standards, a quantitatively high level.” The findings by the Federal
Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s equivalent of
the FBI, were issued in a 317-page report last week.
Of course he is; 'Never let a crisis go to waste', y'know.
Critics are attacking as a “climate power play” a letter to Congress from 31 science associations advocating for domestic and natural-security policies predicated on climate change.
Judith Curry, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Earth and Atmospheric Science, described the June 28 letter as a “blatant misuse of scientific authority to advocate for specific socioeconomic policies.” She added that the professional societies, led by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), have “damaged public trust in science” by putting scientists on the same level as lobbyists.
Of course he is; 'Never let a crisis go to waste', y'know.
Critics are attacking as a “climate power play” a letter to Congress from 31 science associations advocating for domestic and natural-security policies predicated on climate change.
Judith Curry, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Earth and Atmospheric Science, described the June 28 letter as a “blatant misuse of scientific authority to advocate for specific socioeconomic policies.” She added that the professional societies, led by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), have “damaged public trust in science” by putting scientists on the same level as lobbyists.
Because of idiots who won't get vaccinated...
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Health officials in Arizona say the largest
current measles outbreak in the United States is in part because some workers at a federal immigration detention center refuse to get vaccinated.
Authorities have confirmed 22 measles cases in Arizona since late May. They all stem from the Eloy Detention Center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility managed by the private Corrections Corporation of America.
Pinal County health director Thomas Schryer said the outbreak likely began with a migrant but that detainees have since been vaccinated. Convincing employees to get vaccinated or show proof of immunity has proven much tougher, he said.
Working in a place where you KNOW people from countries with the disease running around will be coming in, and you won't get the shot? You're a moron.
Authorities have confirmed 22 measles cases in Arizona since late May. They all stem from the Eloy Detention Center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility managed by the private Corrections Corporation of America.
Pinal County health director Thomas Schryer said the outbreak likely began with a migrant but that detainees have since been vaccinated. Convincing employees to get vaccinated or show proof of immunity has proven much tougher, he said.
Working in a place where you KNOW people from countries with the disease running around will be coming in, and you won't get the shot? You're a moron.
Well, we had a terrorist attack in Dallas
From the look of it, a pre-planned attack.
Wonder how many of the media and politicians will call it that?
Added:
So there wasn't a suicide vest or IED, cops sent in a robot with a grenade or bomb to kill the guy when talking broke down.
Comparisons to the Judge Dredd world forthcoming
Wonder how many of the media and politicians will call it that?
Added:
So there wasn't a suicide vest or IED, cops sent in a robot with a grenade or bomb to kill the guy when talking broke down.
Comparisons to the Judge Dredd world forthcoming
Thursday, July 07, 2016
And it begins
...but Comey suggested that a lack of “intent” would hamper a successful
prosecution — even though 793(f) specifically makes “gross negligence”
the bar for a felony prosecution. Absent “intentional or willful”
mishandling, “vast quantities” of materials, or “efforts to obstruct
justice,” Comey insists, no prosecutor would take the case.
...
It’s not the only case, either.
This is going to be a huge problem. And "I'll do what I'm told" Comey is directly responsible.
Wonder if he gives a damn?
...
Consider the extant case of Kristian Saucier, a sailor who unwisely decided to use his cellphone to take a few photographic mementos of his tour of duty on board a submarine. The photographs allegedly include classified systems within the ship. Saucier is not accused of transmitting the photographs, unsecurely or otherwise. Saucier’s case didn’t involve “vast quantities of materials,” exposed or not. Nevertheless, Saucier has been charged under 18 USC 793 (e), and has accepted responsibility for those violations in an agreement with prosecutors....
Saucier did attempt to render his storage of the photographs unusable and inaccessible after suspicion arose. However, there seems to be little difference between Saucier’s attempts and the efforts by Clinton’s team to “wipe” her server rather than submit it to the State Department when requested — actually, a number of servers, as Comey pointed out. If Saucier’s actions amount to obstructing justice, then shouldn’t Clinton’s?
“Clearly, a double standard [exists],” Saucier’s attorney Derrick Hogan told me hours after Comey’s statement. “To me, there’s really nothing that Mrs. Clinton did that was any different than what Mr. Saucier did.” Saucier currently faces 63 to 78 months in prison for the 793(e) violations.
It’s not the only case, either.
This is going to be a huge problem. And "I'll do what I'm told" Comey is directly responsible.
Wonder if he gives a damn?
In which the EffingBI demonstrates just how in the tank
the whole damned organization is.
During testimony before Congress on Thursday, FBI Director James Comey stated that the FBI’s interview with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not under oath or recorded, but it still would be a crime to lie to the FBI.
So. Very serious matter, critical that everything be above-board(or at least appear so enough for deniability), and YOU DIDN'T PUT HER UNDER OATH? YOU DIDN'T EVEN RECORD THE DAMNED INTERVIEW?
When asked if there was a transcript of the interview, Comey stated that there wasn’t one because the interview wasn’t recorded, but there was an analysis of Clinton’s interview.
Well, Director. Special Rules for Special People, I guess.
Remember, this is the agency famous for insisting that only THEIR record be made of questioning.
I wonder if Comey will practice looking outraged at any questions of his integrity and actions, and the crap his agency has done, or if he'll just ignore everyone?
Other day Krauthammer said "...I think it’s not so much the fear of the Clintons or sort of respect for Obama, kowtowing to the political bosses that moved Comey. I have a sense, a bit like the way the Chief Justice refused to act to overturn Obamacare that you don’t want to be the fulcrum of history.”
Wonderful. So we have the choices that Comey was bought-off, blackmailed, or too chickenshit to do his job. Great.
Screw the EffingBI.
During testimony before Congress on Thursday, FBI Director James Comey stated that the FBI’s interview with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not under oath or recorded, but it still would be a crime to lie to the FBI.
So. Very serious matter, critical that everything be above-board(or at least appear so enough for deniability), and YOU DIDN'T PUT HER UNDER OATH? YOU DIDN'T EVEN RECORD THE DAMNED INTERVIEW?
When asked if there was a transcript of the interview, Comey stated that there wasn’t one because the interview wasn’t recorded, but there was an analysis of Clinton’s interview.
Well, Director. Special Rules for Special People, I guess.
Remember, this is the agency famous for insisting that only THEIR record be made of questioning.
I wonder if Comey will practice looking outraged at any questions of his integrity and actions, and the crap his agency has done, or if he'll just ignore everyone?
Other day Krauthammer said "...I think it’s not so much the fear of the Clintons or sort of respect for Obama, kowtowing to the political bosses that moved Comey. I have a sense, a bit like the way the Chief Justice refused to act to overturn Obamacare that you don’t want to be the fulcrum of history.”
Wonderful. So we have the choices that Comey was bought-off, blackmailed, or too chickenshit to do his job. Great.
Screw the EffingBI.
There is zero justification or excuse for this.
None. Period.
The girlfriend said on the video that the officer “asked him for license and registration. He told him that it was in his wallet, but he had a pistol on him because he’s licensed to carry. The officer said don’t move. As he was putting his hands back up, the officer shot him in the arm four or five times.”
Borrowing from Anarchangel on Facebook,
Watch the video... the officer has clearly lost composure and control entirely... He is frankly freaking out... Understandable if you just shot someone five times without justification.
And in something idiotic from my home state, just to 2:00 for the start of this mess
Let us say that the OHP trooper doesn't exactly cover himself in professionalism, right there at the start.
I cannot tell you how much this pains me. I grew up around guys who worked for this agency. When it came to work they were no-nonsense, and I have a hard time imagining one of them starting off yelling this way, especially with an ambulance with a patient inside involved.
We'll see what happens next.
(added: yes, this one's a few years old; still kind of pisses me off)
The girlfriend said on the video that the officer “asked him for license and registration. He told him that it was in his wallet, but he had a pistol on him because he’s licensed to carry. The officer said don’t move. As he was putting his hands back up, the officer shot him in the arm four or five times.”
Borrowing from Anarchangel on Facebook,
Watch the video... the officer has clearly lost composure and control entirely... He is frankly freaking out... Understandable if you just shot someone five times without justification.
And in something idiotic from my home state, just to 2:00 for the start of this mess
Let us say that the OHP trooper doesn't exactly cover himself in professionalism, right there at the start.
I cannot tell you how much this pains me. I grew up around guys who worked for this agency. When it came to work they were no-nonsense, and I have a hard time imagining one of them starting off yelling this way, especially with an ambulance with a patient inside involved.
We'll see what happens next.
(added: yes, this one's a few years old; still kind of pisses me off)
Wednesday, July 06, 2016
And in the multi-culti paradise of the EU,
German police have quietly conceded that the influx of Middle Eastern
and African migrants into the country has led to a spike in grisly rapes at public swimming pools.
Officers in the nation – under strain from some 1 million new arrivals welcomed in by Chancellor Angela Merkel – warned of the surge in a private briefing.
Because you don't have the balls or integrity to say this to the public.
But the message was leaked to German tabloid Bild, seeming to confirm fears that violent and sexual crime are tied to Europe’s migrant crisis .
An internal memo created by officers in Dusseldorf read: “The K12 can confirm a surge in sex crimes at these establishments.
“In particular rape and the sexual abuse of children in bathing establishments have given us grave cause for concern.
Makes you wonder just how bad the numbers are, doesn't it?
Individual reports of rapes at swimming pools – including an Iraqi man sexually abusing a 10-year-old in Austria then brazenly continuing with his swim – have emerged, and resulted in criminal proceedings.
But no public data suggested that the problem went beyond isolated incidents.
'Public data', i.e. "We haven't let the commoners know about this."
However, the leaked police report implies that there is indeed reason for broader concern.
The fact that it was not shared with the public is only likely to increase tensions in an already-fraught environment.
Gee, ya think MAYBE?
Let's see... you've got an epidemic of rape and other sexual assaults being committed by these immigrants, the .gov- with the assistance of the media, let us remember- has been hiding it, people were already pissed, and now this? And you think it might 'increase tensions'?
Wonder just how the EUnuchs will try to cover this up, or ignore it? Because yelling "RACIST!" at anyone who says anything isn't going to cut it.
Officers in the nation – under strain from some 1 million new arrivals welcomed in by Chancellor Angela Merkel – warned of the surge in a private briefing.
Because you don't have the balls or integrity to say this to the public.
But the message was leaked to German tabloid Bild, seeming to confirm fears that violent and sexual crime are tied to Europe’s migrant crisis .
An internal memo created by officers in Dusseldorf read: “The K12 can confirm a surge in sex crimes at these establishments.
“In particular rape and the sexual abuse of children in bathing establishments have given us grave cause for concern.
Makes you wonder just how bad the numbers are, doesn't it?
Individual reports of rapes at swimming pools – including an Iraqi man sexually abusing a 10-year-old in Austria then brazenly continuing with his swim – have emerged, and resulted in criminal proceedings.
But no public data suggested that the problem went beyond isolated incidents.
'Public data', i.e. "We haven't let the commoners know about this."
However, the leaked police report implies that there is indeed reason for broader concern.
The fact that it was not shared with the public is only likely to increase tensions in an already-fraught environment.
Gee, ya think MAYBE?
Let's see... you've got an epidemic of rape and other sexual assaults being committed by these immigrants, the .gov- with the assistance of the media, let us remember- has been hiding it, people were already pissed, and now this? And you think it might 'increase tensions'?
Wonder just how the EUnuchs will try to cover this up, or ignore it? Because yelling "RACIST!" at anyone who says anything isn't going to cut it.
Add to the 'sold out, or chickenshit', Comey apparently has memory problems,
or is a damned liar.
The procedures Quattrone referred to involved a suggestion from a coworker in an email chain that employees save subpoenaed documents.
Comey said that this email “resulted in the destruction of numerous documents.”
Quattrone never faced jail time and the charges were eventually dropped.
Quattrone’s tweet comes after Comey’s announcement that while Clinton’s use of a private email server was “careless” and contained Top Secret information, “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring charges against her.
Also,
Comey argued that based on “the strength of the evidence, especially regarding intent… and how similar situations have been handled in the past,” “no reasonable prosecutor” would even consider bringing a case like Clinton’s to court.
Only, that isn’t exactly accurate.
Less than one year ago, Assistant US attorneys Jean M. Hobler and Lee S. Bickley successfully prosecuted Naval Reservist Brian Nishimura in a strikingly similar case.
Of course, his name isn't 'Clinton', and he's not rich and connected. Which apparently makes a big difference.
The line someone used was "I'd rather have a sister in a whorehouse than a brother in the FBI." At this point it'd be 'a sister and Mom'.
The procedures Quattrone referred to involved a suggestion from a coworker in an email chain that employees save subpoenaed documents.
Comey said that this email “resulted in the destruction of numerous documents.”
Quattrone never faced jail time and the charges were eventually dropped.
Quattrone’s tweet comes after Comey’s announcement that while Clinton’s use of a private email server was “careless” and contained Top Secret information, “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring charges against her.
Also,
Comey argued that based on “the strength of the evidence, especially regarding intent… and how similar situations have been handled in the past,” “no reasonable prosecutor” would even consider bringing a case like Clinton’s to court.
Only, that isn’t exactly accurate.
Less than one year ago, Assistant US attorneys Jean M. Hobler and Lee S. Bickley successfully prosecuted Naval Reservist Brian Nishimura in a strikingly similar case.
Of course, his name isn't 'Clinton', and he's not rich and connected. Which apparently makes a big difference.
The line someone used was "I'd rather have a sister in a whorehouse than a brother in the FBI." At this point it'd be 'a sister and Mom'.
So, if the EffingBI goes after a terrorist now, do they have to consider
the full intent and such before they decide whether to charge them?
Maybe that's why various EPA and IRS and ATF officials aren't being tried? Because 'we couldn't find real intent to harm the country'?
Yes, I'm still pissed. Comey is a bastard who, if he actually had that integrity we were assured of, would resign. Maybe spend the rest of his life finding a way to repair some of the damage he's done.
Maybe that's why various EPA and IRS and ATF officials aren't being tried? Because 'we couldn't find real intent to harm the country'?
Yes, I'm still pissed. Comey is a bastard who, if he actually had that integrity we were assured of, would resign. Maybe spend the rest of his life finding a way to repair some of the damage he's done.
Tuesday, July 05, 2016
"Nobody wants to take your guns" my ass, Part 872
Hollywood actor Matt Damon used a press conference in Australia over the
Fourth of July weekend to discuss his desire for a massive confiscation of U.S. guns.
“You guys did it here in one fell swoop [in 1996] and I wish that could happen in my country, but it’s such a personal issue for people that we cannot talk about it sensibly,” Mr. Damon said during a promotional engagement in Sydney for the movie “Jason Bourne.”
One more asshat actor who's gotten rich from movies in which he blows up, shoots, and otherwise kills people all over the place tells us that we peasants shouldn't be allowed arms. Because he doesn't like it.
Two things, Damon:
Are you planning on taking part in this confiscation?
And are you going to stop making movies where you use guns? Or give up the royalties from all the ones you've already made?
We know the answer to both is 'No', which makes you one more virtue-signaling asshole who really wants power over others. Screw you.
“You guys did it here in one fell swoop [in 1996] and I wish that could happen in my country, but it’s such a personal issue for people that we cannot talk about it sensibly,” Mr. Damon said during a promotional engagement in Sydney for the movie “Jason Bourne.”
One more asshat actor who's gotten rich from movies in which he blows up, shoots, and otherwise kills people all over the place tells us that we peasants shouldn't be allowed arms. Because he doesn't like it.
Two things, Damon:
Are you planning on taking part in this confiscation?
And are you going to stop making movies where you use guns? Or give up the royalties from all the ones you've already made?
We know the answer to both is 'No', which makes you one more virtue-signaling asshole who really wants power over others. Screw you.
Well, it's a tire problem,
not front-end. Which is good. When I say 'tire problem',
You might be able to see that the face is just a tad uneven. Tire place took one look, got the information, and ordered a replacement(apparently it's a popular tire, they were out).
Remember that bomb/mine/'experimental firework' the guy stepped on in New York City? I doubt they can count this as a 'firework'.
LA PORTE COUNTY, Ind. - An IED that was found along a road in La Porte County has been detonated in an open field.
...
The explosives appeared to be in jelly form inside two mason jars, with two strings inside leading to the outside of the jars.
According to Captain Mike Kellems with the La Porte County Sheriff's Office, a resident was cleaning up trash from the side of the road and found something she believed may have been a homemade firework.
She took it home, but then became concerned, so around 1:45 p.m. she called the sheriff's office.
When deputies arrived and inspected the device, they discovered it was more consistent with an IED.
Wonder how big the blast was?
Well, the EffingBI director just announced that Clinton got away with it. Shit that would put you or I in prison, she walks. Couple of days after the 'accidental' meeting of the AG with Bill Clinton. But we're supposed to believe there's nothing unethical, no fix, etc.
Bullshit.
All the people who lectured on how no-nonsense, just-the-facts-and-law Comey is? Screw you.
Oh, by the way, about that trustworthy EffingBI(besides the lab scandals and so forth),
The FBI provided an Oklahoma City police department with use of a StingRay device and required the police department “to use additional and independent investigative means and methods” in order to ensure the information obtained by the surveillance device “would be admissible at trial,” according to a non-disclosure agreement obtained by Oklahoma Watch through a Freedom of Information request.
...
This version of the StingRay NDA version “goes the extra mile in directing affirmative measures to mislead and hide the investigative trail,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, in speaking with SCMagazine.com.
ATF tells agents to lie under oath and say the NFA records are complete and accurate, and get away with it, you expect ethics from the EffingBI?
Remember that bomb/mine/'experimental firework' the guy stepped on in New York City? I doubt they can count this as a 'firework'.
LA PORTE COUNTY, Ind. - An IED that was found along a road in La Porte County has been detonated in an open field.
...
The explosives appeared to be in jelly form inside two mason jars, with two strings inside leading to the outside of the jars.
According to Captain Mike Kellems with the La Porte County Sheriff's Office, a resident was cleaning up trash from the side of the road and found something she believed may have been a homemade firework.
She took it home, but then became concerned, so around 1:45 p.m. she called the sheriff's office.
When deputies arrived and inspected the device, they discovered it was more consistent with an IED.
Wonder how big the blast was?
Well, the EffingBI director just announced that Clinton got away with it. Shit that would put you or I in prison, she walks. Couple of days after the 'accidental' meeting of the AG with Bill Clinton. But we're supposed to believe there's nothing unethical, no fix, etc.
Bullshit.
All the people who lectured on how no-nonsense, just-the-facts-and-law Comey is? Screw you.
Oh, by the way, about that trustworthy EffingBI(besides the lab scandals and so forth),
The FBI provided an Oklahoma City police department with use of a StingRay device and required the police department “to use additional and independent investigative means and methods” in order to ensure the information obtained by the surveillance device “would be admissible at trial,” according to a non-disclosure agreement obtained by Oklahoma Watch through a Freedom of Information request.
...
This version of the StingRay NDA version “goes the extra mile in directing affirmative measures to mislead and hide the investigative trail,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, in speaking with SCMagazine.com.
ATF tells agents to lie under oath and say the NFA records are complete and accurate, and get away with it, you expect ethics from the EffingBI?
Monday, July 04, 2016
You Owe Them Nothing
is the name of the article, and it pretty much covers it.
'It' being something I've watched build, and it kind of terrifies me what's going to happen, barring a BIG change.
Short version I've said before: "If they- the politicians, the bureaucrats, the law enforcement agencies- don't have to obey they law, why should we?"
Respect tax laws? The laws that are such a mess the IRS can't guarantee giving you the right advice, and takes no responsibility when they get it wrong? The laws that politicians break, and get special deals from the IRS on?
Speaking of the IRS, which has officials breaking federal laws for personal and political reasons, and they get away with it?
The EPA? Lying under oath, false documents, committing acts like the Gold King Mine disaster, and the people in charge pay no price?
The FBI? NSA? Who violate laws, and if anything is done we never hear about it?
The 'Justice' Department? Let's recap: the former AG lied under oath, submitted false documents, has his agency investigate him and say 'No problem' after he was involved in ATF actions that violated international borders and helped result in piles of bodies. Worked to cause as much racial strife and division as possible. DoJ lawyers who break federal laws, and get away with it, over and over.
And let's not forget the current AG: just to pick one, a meeting with the husband of the subject of criminal investigations, and a possible subject himself, and she lies about it, and won't even recuse herself from the case?
State Department? You mean the people lying to a federal judge and playing games, and so far the worst they've had is being told to knock it off(again)? The people who were involved in that godawful mess in the mid-East that's created piles of bodies Stalin would envy?
How many cops have been caught screwing with evidence, and lying under oath? Abusing prisoners? What amounts to murder in some cases? Acting like they're freaking Judge Dredd? And in all that, how many face real penalties?
(Yes, I know, local cops are in many ways paragons of virtue compared the the previous groups, yet that doesn't mean anywhere near spotless. Every cop who won't report a crooked one, or testify against one, etc., just screws their own reputation even worse.
Of course, they're also dealing with their own brass, many of whom would screw every officer in the field if it'd gain them points with whatever politician they think can do them the most good.)
Sooner or later some politician, or let's say the Director of the EffingBI, is going to be on some interview and is going to say something about 'everyone must obey the law' and the interviewer is going to ask "Why?", and not back off on it. And a lot of people listening will say "Damn right, if you bastards don't have to, why should we?"
Make that 'a scary lot of people'.
Assuming the interviewer actually pushes for an answer, and lists a bunch of this stuff, the answer will be interesting. If all they can say is "Because if you don't obey, we'll come after you", well, it'll remove all doubt, won't it?
Yes, this is depressing. I'm hot, and tired, and sick of all this crap. And I doubt the idiots in charge have the brains to realize what they're about to cause.
'It' being something I've watched build, and it kind of terrifies me what's going to happen, barring a BIG change.
Short version I've said before: "If they- the politicians, the bureaucrats, the law enforcement agencies- don't have to obey they law, why should we?"
Respect tax laws? The laws that are such a mess the IRS can't guarantee giving you the right advice, and takes no responsibility when they get it wrong? The laws that politicians break, and get special deals from the IRS on?
Speaking of the IRS, which has officials breaking federal laws for personal and political reasons, and they get away with it?
The EPA? Lying under oath, false documents, committing acts like the Gold King Mine disaster, and the people in charge pay no price?
The FBI? NSA? Who violate laws, and if anything is done we never hear about it?
The 'Justice' Department? Let's recap: the former AG lied under oath, submitted false documents, has his agency investigate him and say 'No problem' after he was involved in ATF actions that violated international borders and helped result in piles of bodies. Worked to cause as much racial strife and division as possible. DoJ lawyers who break federal laws, and get away with it, over and over.
And let's not forget the current AG: just to pick one, a meeting with the husband of the subject of criminal investigations, and a possible subject himself, and she lies about it, and won't even recuse herself from the case?
State Department? You mean the people lying to a federal judge and playing games, and so far the worst they've had is being told to knock it off(again)? The people who were involved in that godawful mess in the mid-East that's created piles of bodies Stalin would envy?
How many cops have been caught screwing with evidence, and lying under oath? Abusing prisoners? What amounts to murder in some cases? Acting like they're freaking Judge Dredd? And in all that, how many face real penalties?
(Yes, I know, local cops are in many ways paragons of virtue compared the the previous groups, yet that doesn't mean anywhere near spotless. Every cop who won't report a crooked one, or testify against one, etc., just screws their own reputation even worse.
Of course, they're also dealing with their own brass, many of whom would screw every officer in the field if it'd gain them points with whatever politician they think can do them the most good.)
Sooner or later some politician, or let's say the Director of the EffingBI, is going to be on some interview and is going to say something about 'everyone must obey the law' and the interviewer is going to ask "Why?", and not back off on it. And a lot of people listening will say "Damn right, if you bastards don't have to, why should we?"
Make that 'a scary lot of people'.
Assuming the interviewer actually pushes for an answer, and lists a bunch of this stuff, the answer will be interesting. If all they can say is "Because if you don't obey, we'll come after you", well, it'll remove all doubt, won't it?
Yes, this is depressing. I'm hot, and tired, and sick of all this crap. And I doubt the idiots in charge have the brains to realize what they're about to cause.
Among the reasons gun owners consider anti-rights people morons,
is idiocy like this:
According to Cicilline, a barrel shroud is one of the elements that make a rifle an assault weapon, but when pressed he kept evading the question about what a barrel shroud does (a barrel shroud is a safety feature which slips over that the barrel of a gun to prevent the person handling the weapon from burning their hand on a hot barrel).
"I don't actually know what it is, but it sounds scary and it ought to be banned!" Which proves that Democrats and anti-rights people in general are too damned stupid to learn from McCarthy doing this same stupid a few years ago.
According to Cicilline, a barrel shroud is one of the elements that make a rifle an assault weapon, but when pressed he kept evading the question about what a barrel shroud does (a barrel shroud is a safety feature which slips over that the barrel of a gun to prevent the person handling the weapon from burning their hand on a hot barrel).
"I don't actually know what it is, but it sounds scary and it ought to be banned!" Which proves that Democrats and anti-rights people in general are too damned stupid to learn from McCarthy doing this same stupid a few years ago.
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Sunday, July 03, 2016
You know you're worn out when contemplation of something
like this takes your mind off things.
Scary as hell, and he may be right. Which reminds me of two things, the first from Tam:
I dunno... The EUtopians may seem all soft, docile, and toothless right now, but the recent immigrant welfare sponge class is playing with fire here. Euros have a proven zero-to-jackboots time lower than just about anybody on the planet. Get Gunter or Pierre all backed into a corner and feeling existentially threatened and you'll be wishing you hadn't, faster than you can say "Arbeit Macht Frei".
Second, from I can't remember who,
Sooner or later, somebody is going in cattle cars, we just don't know who yet.
Sooner or later there's going to be a Beslan- style attack on a school, or a full-out Mumbai in a major city, and the .gov officials who've been trying to shut people up when they yell about mass sexual assaults and such are going to be one of the targets of the outraged. And, considering the idiocy and 'The Pea- ah, Commoners Must Obey Their Orders' from the EU and various governments, it wouldn't surprise me if a good half of their response is to crap on their own people for making too much noise and trouble.* Three guesses how well that'll go over.
And then the hardware that's been hidden in barns, attics and basements for decades is going to come out, and then... those cars may wind up being transport to mass graves again. Because if this really starts, it's going to get WWII- or Soviet Communist Party-level ugly.
Over here? Soon as there's another terrorist attack, large or small, the usual suspects will start demanding Dear Leader do something about those icky guns people own and RIGHT NOW(because obviously that'll cause trouble to the terrorists), "... and we really need to suspend that troublesome 'due process' and 'habeas corpus' stuff for the time of the emergency!" They've already started that as one of their excuses for not calling the Florida attack what is was, and they'll use anything to further their oathbreaking behavior("Because we care, and we have to have these powers to make you safe!")
*That may be a little harsh, but at this point I doubt it.
Scary as hell, and he may be right. Which reminds me of two things, the first from Tam:
I dunno... The EUtopians may seem all soft, docile, and toothless right now, but the recent immigrant welfare sponge class is playing with fire here. Euros have a proven zero-to-jackboots time lower than just about anybody on the planet. Get Gunter or Pierre all backed into a corner and feeling existentially threatened and you'll be wishing you hadn't, faster than you can say "Arbeit Macht Frei".
Second, from I can't remember who,
Sooner or later, somebody is going in cattle cars, we just don't know who yet.
Sooner or later there's going to be a Beslan- style attack on a school, or a full-out Mumbai in a major city, and the .gov officials who've been trying to shut people up when they yell about mass sexual assaults and such are going to be one of the targets of the outraged. And, considering the idiocy and 'The Pea- ah, Commoners Must Obey Their Orders' from the EU and various governments, it wouldn't surprise me if a good half of their response is to crap on their own people for making too much noise and trouble.* Three guesses how well that'll go over.
And then the hardware that's been hidden in barns, attics and basements for decades is going to come out, and then... those cars may wind up being transport to mass graves again. Because if this really starts, it's going to get WWII- or Soviet Communist Party-level ugly.
Over here? Soon as there's another terrorist attack, large or small, the usual suspects will start demanding Dear Leader do something about those icky guns people own and RIGHT NOW(because obviously that'll cause trouble to the terrorists), "... and we really need to suspend that troublesome 'due process' and 'habeas corpus' stuff for the time of the emergency!" They've already started that as one of their excuses for not calling the Florida attack what is was, and they'll use anything to further their oathbreaking behavior("Because we care, and we have to have these powers to make you safe!")
*That may be a little harsh, but at this point I doubt it.
Saturday, July 02, 2016
I had a computer problem.
I'm now working on another pc. And getting it set up, and trying to remember all the bookmarks I had...
While I'm doing that, you check the data; I'm tired and still trying to figure some crap out
While I'm doing that, you check the data; I'm tired and still trying to figure some crap out
And when the TSA is finally thrown out the window, some of their 'professional federal agents'
need it to be literally. From at least five stories.
I'm not going to excerpt from this, because it'll make me want to break things.
Authorities have thrown out the charges, but the Cohen family has filed a lawsuit against the TSA, Memphis Airport, and Memphis Airport Police. None of the accused parties would acknowledge wrongdoing, but TSA representative Sari Koshetz made a statement saying, “Passengers can call ahead of time to learn more about the screening process for their particular needs or medical situation.”
Because if you don't KNOW the assholes of the TSA are going to get bothered about something, it's YOUR fault if they screw up.
Fired, Every damned one. And personally liable for the damages they cause.
I'm not going to excerpt from this, because it'll make me want to break things.
Authorities have thrown out the charges, but the Cohen family has filed a lawsuit against the TSA, Memphis Airport, and Memphis Airport Police. None of the accused parties would acknowledge wrongdoing, but TSA representative Sari Koshetz made a statement saying, “Passengers can call ahead of time to learn more about the screening process for their particular needs or medical situation.”
Because if you don't KNOW the assholes of the TSA are going to get bothered about something, it's YOUR fault if they screw up.
Fired, Every damned one. And personally liable for the damages they cause.
Friday, July 01, 2016
No, I'm not dead.
Put together a busy few days and computer trouble, you get no bloggy stuff. However, some data did make it in, so:
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Two connected things
Law professors and lawyers instinctively shy away from considering the
problem of law’s violence. Every law is violent. We try not to think
about this, but we should. On the first day of law school, I tell my
Contracts students never to argue for invoking the power of law except
in a cause for which they are willing to kill. They are suitably
astonished, and often annoyed. But I point out that even a breach of
contract requires a judicial remedy; and if the breacher will not pay
damages, the sheriff will sequester his house and goods; and if he
resists the forced sale of his property, the sheriff might have to shoot
him.
A fact lots of people don't like to think about. And why wizardpc wrote It all ends with puppy-killing SWAT teams:
I would like politicians and bureaucrats to acknowledge this: Every law, rule, and regulation made by the government ends in puppy killing SWAT Teams. Every dime that is spent in our name was taken at gunpoint.
I want them to understand that every action they take has this statement as a footnote: “This is important enough that my grandmother should be killed if she does not abide.”
The rhetoric might be a little over the top, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Take the story of Rawesome Foods, who were raided twice in one year by full-ninja swat teams for such horrible crimes as “improper egg temperatures.” I mean really what could possibly justify that?
For the time being let's ignore the idiots with badges who have no problem putting on their ninja suits to do full-out raids for crap like this and focus on the fact that lots of politicians and other idiots have no problem with people being killed in the enforcement of laws like this. Which means there HAS to be protections for people, written into the laws. Things like due process. And this makes the attempts by the Democrats and some Republicans to damage or destroy due process such a disgusting act.
That's the second part of this: the willingness of people to violate their oath of office and work to damage the document they've sworn to uphold, all in the name of "I want this! Public safety! Give us this or the terrorists win!"*
And the mindset is perfectly demonstrated by two people. The first is a federal judge:
Judge Richard A. Posner, of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote his opinion of our founding document in a piece in Slate. Keep in mind that this judge is also a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.
“I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, weeks, day, hours, minutes, or seconds studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation (across the centuries—well, just a little more than two centuries, and of course less for many of the amendments). Eighteenth-century guys, however smart, could not foresee the culture, technology, etc., of the 21stcentury. Which means that the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the post–Civil War amendments (including the 14th), do not speak to today.”
When you have no respect for the origin of our foundational document or the events that inspired its creation, it is easy to dismiss the rights it guarantees at a whim.
The other is that slimeball Ezra Klein:
To work, “Yes Means Yes” needs to create a world where men are afraid. For that reason, the law is only worth the paper it’s written on if some of the critics’ fears come true. Critics worry that colleges will fill with cases in which campus boards convict young men (and, occasionally, young women) of sexual assault for genuinely ambiguous situations. Sadly, that’s necessary for the law’s success. It’s those cases — particularly the ones that feel genuinely unclear and maybe even unfair, the ones that become lore in frats and cautionary tales that fathers e-mail to their sons — that will convince men that they better Be Pretty Damn Sure.
Let that sink in for a moment. A US citizen is openly advocating for a law, that when applied correctly, convicts the innocent in ambiguous or spurious situations, in order to strike fear into the hearts of an entire demographic of people.
So much so for Blackstone’s formulation, on which America’s judicial system was founded: “All presumptive evidence of felony should be admitted cautiously; for the law holds it better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent party suffer.”
So we get the spectacle of politicians who used to yell 'Secret lists are BAD!' now throwing tantrums on the floor of the House, and others declaring "If you don't go along with us, you want to give guns to terrorists!", because they want to use those secret lists for their own purposes; that makes them good, and something for which they're willing to wipe their ass with that document they swore to uphold.
And we get that corrupt hypocrite Diane Feinstein actually saying that if you find out you've been put on one of these lists “You can petition and prove that your innocent and get off of the watch list,"
Because suddenly 'innocent until proven guilty' is inconvenient to these people.
*The terrorists are watching these bastards do some of their work for them, and laughing like hell. And if the oathbreakers win? I think the line from some general was "Another such victory and I am undone." Which we will be.
A fact lots of people don't like to think about. And why wizardpc wrote It all ends with puppy-killing SWAT teams:
I would like politicians and bureaucrats to acknowledge this: Every law, rule, and regulation made by the government ends in puppy killing SWAT Teams. Every dime that is spent in our name was taken at gunpoint.
I want them to understand that every action they take has this statement as a footnote: “This is important enough that my grandmother should be killed if she does not abide.”
The rhetoric might be a little over the top, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Take the story of Rawesome Foods, who were raided twice in one year by full-ninja swat teams for such horrible crimes as “improper egg temperatures.” I mean really what could possibly justify that?
For the time being let's ignore the idiots with badges who have no problem putting on their ninja suits to do full-out raids for crap like this and focus on the fact that lots of politicians and other idiots have no problem with people being killed in the enforcement of laws like this. Which means there HAS to be protections for people, written into the laws. Things like due process. And this makes the attempts by the Democrats and some Republicans to damage or destroy due process such a disgusting act.
That's the second part of this: the willingness of people to violate their oath of office and work to damage the document they've sworn to uphold, all in the name of "I want this! Public safety! Give us this or the terrorists win!"*
And the mindset is perfectly demonstrated by two people. The first is a federal judge:
Judge Richard A. Posner, of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote his opinion of our founding document in a piece in Slate. Keep in mind that this judge is also a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.
“I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, weeks, day, hours, minutes, or seconds studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation (across the centuries—well, just a little more than two centuries, and of course less for many of the amendments). Eighteenth-century guys, however smart, could not foresee the culture, technology, etc., of the 21stcentury. Which means that the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the post–Civil War amendments (including the 14th), do not speak to today.”
When you have no respect for the origin of our foundational document or the events that inspired its creation, it is easy to dismiss the rights it guarantees at a whim.
The other is that slimeball Ezra Klein:
To work, “Yes Means Yes” needs to create a world where men are afraid. For that reason, the law is only worth the paper it’s written on if some of the critics’ fears come true. Critics worry that colleges will fill with cases in which campus boards convict young men (and, occasionally, young women) of sexual assault for genuinely ambiguous situations. Sadly, that’s necessary for the law’s success. It’s those cases — particularly the ones that feel genuinely unclear and maybe even unfair, the ones that become lore in frats and cautionary tales that fathers e-mail to their sons — that will convince men that they better Be Pretty Damn Sure.
Let that sink in for a moment. A US citizen is openly advocating for a law, that when applied correctly, convicts the innocent in ambiguous or spurious situations, in order to strike fear into the hearts of an entire demographic of people.
So much so for Blackstone’s formulation, on which America’s judicial system was founded: “All presumptive evidence of felony should be admitted cautiously; for the law holds it better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent party suffer.”
So we get the spectacle of politicians who used to yell 'Secret lists are BAD!' now throwing tantrums on the floor of the House, and others declaring "If you don't go along with us, you want to give guns to terrorists!", because they want to use those secret lists for their own purposes; that makes them good, and something for which they're willing to wipe their ass with that document they swore to uphold.
And we get that corrupt hypocrite Diane Feinstein actually saying that if you find out you've been put on one of these lists “You can petition and prove that your innocent and get off of the watch list,"
Because suddenly 'innocent until proven guilty' is inconvenient to these people.
*The terrorists are watching these bastards do some of their work for them, and laughing like hell. And if the oathbreakers win? I think the line from some general was "Another such victory and I am undone." Which we will be.
'Fourth Generation War Comes To America: What Are You Going To Do About It?'
Good piece at Michael Yon's place.
Yes, there are arguments with the 'sheepdog' idea, and Grossman has had some serious arguments made about some of his work. Basic stuff is still good. It's like Gavin de Becker: his book The Gift of Fear is good, just ignore the "Only trained professionals should use guns" crap.
One more reason to get rid of the EPA. Remember that story about the USGS lab?
The top scientific integrity official at a federal agency that informs U.S. energy policy quietly departed this month, and the agency says that has nothing to do with a government report released around the same time that detailed widespread scientific misconduct at an agency lab.
Dr. Alan Thornhill left his post as the director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s office of scientific quality and integrity (OSQI) a few weeks ago. He took over as director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s western ecology division on June 12, according to his Facebook page.
That was just three days before the Interior Department’s inspector general, which oversees USGS, released a report that criticized the scientific integrity of work at one of the agency’s labs.
But it's all coincidence, NOTHING to do with the report, nooo.....
Yes, there are arguments with the 'sheepdog' idea, and Grossman has had some serious arguments made about some of his work. Basic stuff is still good. It's like Gavin de Becker: his book The Gift of Fear is good, just ignore the "Only trained professionals should use guns" crap.
One more reason to get rid of the EPA. Remember that story about the USGS lab?
The top scientific integrity official at a federal agency that informs U.S. energy policy quietly departed this month, and the agency says that has nothing to do with a government report released around the same time that detailed widespread scientific misconduct at an agency lab.
Dr. Alan Thornhill left his post as the director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s office of scientific quality and integrity (OSQI) a few weeks ago. He took over as director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s western ecology division on June 12, according to his Facebook page.
That was just three days before the Interior Department’s inspector general, which oversees USGS, released a report that criticized the scientific integrity of work at one of the agency’s labs.
But it's all coincidence, NOTHING to do with the report, nooo.....
Under the heading of " 'Nobody wants to take your guns!' my ass",
we have the bastard State Rep. Dan Muhlbauer, D-Manilla, in Iowa:
State Rep. Dan Muhlbauer, D-Manilla, says Iowa lawmakers should ban semi-automatic guns and "start taking them" from owners who refuse to surrender any illegal firearms through a buy-back program.
So we have a "I'm a gun owner BUT-" openly talking confiscation of anything he doesn't approve of. But that's not supposed to trouble us. And he, like Obama, wants the Australian Model: "Give us your property, or you go to prison. Or, if you protest too much, we'll kill you. But we'll give you a little money for it, so you don't feel too bad about this."
...I don't want to have the gun laws slung back so far that we start taking guns away and start limiting them to where people cannot enjoy guns, those that want to have it. And that's what I'm afraid, if we keep having these incidents happen, is what's going to happen." 'So I'm going to confiscate anything I don't like. It's for your own good!'
Muhlbauer said a constituent approached him and suggested that the government place a chip in every gun that would ignite sensors should those guns cross into secure areas like school zones.
"I think that's carrying it too far," Muhlbauer said. 'But confiscation is just right!'
And it's not just guns he doesn't approve of that need action:
Mental health must be up to date and not full of loopholes, he said. Muhlbauer also identified violent video games as a concern.
"We've got these video games out here for these little kids," he said. "Maybe it's time we start pulling them away. They're playing some really nasty games on there that are shoot-"em-up. Evidently our culture is pointing toward this."
Muhlbauer said he doesn't know how the Legislature would go about prohibiting children from playing video games he finds objectionable.
Same way you want to deal with guns you object to: ban them. If you've got no problem doing that with guns, why a problem with banning video games?
So: He wants semi-auto firearms banned, he wants 'big guns' that you don't need banned, on and on. And something done about those damned video games, too. You really picked a winner, Iowa.
State Rep. Dan Muhlbauer, D-Manilla, says Iowa lawmakers should ban semi-automatic guns and "start taking them" from owners who refuse to surrender any illegal firearms through a buy-back program.
So we have a "I'm a gun owner BUT-" openly talking confiscation of anything he doesn't approve of. But that's not supposed to trouble us. And he, like Obama, wants the Australian Model: "Give us your property, or you go to prison. Or, if you protest too much, we'll kill you. But we'll give you a little money for it, so you don't feel too bad about this."
...I don't want to have the gun laws slung back so far that we start taking guns away and start limiting them to where people cannot enjoy guns, those that want to have it. And that's what I'm afraid, if we keep having these incidents happen, is what's going to happen." 'So I'm going to confiscate anything I don't like. It's for your own good!'
Muhlbauer said a constituent approached him and suggested that the government place a chip in every gun that would ignite sensors should those guns cross into secure areas like school zones.
"I think that's carrying it too far," Muhlbauer said. 'But confiscation is just right!'
And it's not just guns he doesn't approve of that need action:
Mental health must be up to date and not full of loopholes, he said. Muhlbauer also identified violent video games as a concern.
"We've got these video games out here for these little kids," he said. "Maybe it's time we start pulling them away. They're playing some really nasty games on there that are shoot-"em-up. Evidently our culture is pointing toward this."
Muhlbauer said he doesn't know how the Legislature would go about prohibiting children from playing video games he finds objectionable.
Same way you want to deal with guns you object to: ban them. If you've got no problem doing that with guns, why a problem with banning video games?
So: He wants semi-auto firearms banned, he wants 'big guns' that you don't need banned, on and on. And something done about those damned video games, too. You really picked a winner, Iowa.
Monday, June 27, 2016
They all just seem to WANT to throw away their reputation...
Nearly two decades and $108 million worth of “disturbing” data
manipulation with “serious and far ranging” effects forced a federal lab
to close, a congressman revealed Thursday.
The inorganic section of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Energy Geochemistry Laboratory in Lakewood, Colo. manipulated data on a variety of topics – including many related to the environment – from 1996 to 2014. The manipulation was caught in 2008, but continued another six years.
Take note of that 'CONTINUED FOR ANOTHER SIX YEARS' crap. From the freaking GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
Westerman cited a recent Department of the Interior Inspector General (IG) report that said impacts from the data manipulation “are not yet known but, nevertheless, they will be serious and far ranging. The affected projects represented about $108 million in taxpayer funding from fiscal year 2008 through 2014.”
'serious and far ranging'.
This is going to put not just everything from that lab, but lots of other stuff from USGS in doubt. Because if they let one lab continue with this crap for that long, why wouldn't they let others do it? And anything depending on information from that lab is in doubt, at the least.
Now take this:
Westerman also highlighted an interview the IG withheld from its report.
“Tell me what you want and I will get it for you. What we do is like magic,” a former USGS official told auditors a former employee linked to the manipulation would say, according to Westerman.
Westerman added that the IG’s interview notes make the context of those quotes unclear.
and add this
The research topics that faced data manipulation – including uranium in the environment, health effects of energy resources, and U.S. coal resources and reserves – was “disturbing,” Westerman said.
We're back to Sherlock.
Is there ANY agency in the .gov we can trust? On anything?
The inorganic section of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Energy Geochemistry Laboratory in Lakewood, Colo. manipulated data on a variety of topics – including many related to the environment – from 1996 to 2014. The manipulation was caught in 2008, but continued another six years.
Take note of that 'CONTINUED FOR ANOTHER SIX YEARS' crap. From the freaking GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
Westerman cited a recent Department of the Interior Inspector General (IG) report that said impacts from the data manipulation “are not yet known but, nevertheless, they will be serious and far ranging. The affected projects represented about $108 million in taxpayer funding from fiscal year 2008 through 2014.”
'serious and far ranging'.
Now take this:
Westerman also highlighted an interview the IG withheld from its report.
“Tell me what you want and I will get it for you. What we do is like magic,” a former USGS official told auditors a former employee linked to the manipulation would say, according to Westerman.
Westerman added that the IG’s interview notes make the context of those quotes unclear.
and add this
The research topics that faced data manipulation – including uranium in the environment, health effects of energy resources, and U.S. coal resources and reserves – was “disturbing,” Westerman said.
We're back to Sherlock.
Is there ANY agency in the .gov we can trust? On anything?
One of the problems of time passing:
I don't heal as fast as I used to. I mentioned a healing process a couple of days ago, it's a leg injury that's taken a lot more out of me than I'd expected. Not just the limping, but energy going to heal that is energy that can't be used elsewhere.
Joy.
So I'm kind of sidelined on some things here. I'd hoped to hit the outdoor range later this week, but I'm not sure limping back & forth to the 50 and 100-yard lines would be a good idea. And it rained last night, which means the grass will grow; hopefully it'll be a few days before it's high enough to need mowing.
Speaking of, I just checked the forecast. Last night it was chance of rain today & tomorrow, then little to none. Now it's 40% through tonight, then anywhere from 20% to 50% the rest of the week. Assuming they know what they're talking about.
At least I can hobble around enough to get some cleaning done. Which needs doing again.
Joy.
So I'm kind of sidelined on some things here. I'd hoped to hit the outdoor range later this week, but I'm not sure limping back & forth to the 50 and 100-yard lines would be a good idea. And it rained last night, which means the grass will grow; hopefully it'll be a few days before it's high enough to need mowing.
Speaking of, I just checked the forecast. Last night it was chance of rain today & tomorrow, then little to none. Now it's 40% through tonight, then anywhere from 20% to 50% the rest of the week. Assuming they know what they're talking about.
At least I can hobble around enough to get some cleaning done. Which needs doing again.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
The author of Dilbert gets it
But we do know that race and poverty are correlated. And we know that
poverty and crime are correlated. And we know that race and political
affiliation are correlated. Therefore, my team (Clinton) is more likely to use guns to shoot innocent people, whereas the other team (Trump) is more likely to use guns for sporting and defense.
That’s a gross generalization. Obviously. Your town might be totally different.
So it seems to me that gun control can’t be solved because Democrats are using guns to kill each other – and want it to stop – whereas Republicans are using guns to defend against Democrats. Psychologically, those are different risk profiles. And you can’t reconcile those interests, except on the margins. For example, both sides might agree that rocket launchers are a step too far. But Democrats are unlikely to talk Republicans out of gun ownership because it comes off as “Put down your gun so I can shoot you.”
That’s a gross generalization. Obviously. Your town might be totally different.
So it seems to me that gun control can’t be solved because Democrats are using guns to kill each other – and want it to stop – whereas Republicans are using guns to defend against Democrats. Psychologically, those are different risk profiles. And you can’t reconcile those interests, except on the margins. For example, both sides might agree that rocket launchers are a step too far. But Democrats are unlikely to talk Republicans out of gun ownership because it comes off as “Put down your gun so I can shoot you.”
Yes, let's talk about racketeering
At a forum on Wednesday hosted by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, several climate activists including Naomi Oreskes and representatives from the Union of Concerned Scientists admitted that they have been meeting with the state Attorneys General launching climate RICO investigations for over a year.
The fact that the AGs have been meeting with Oreskes is pretty telling considering that for years she has been spearheading the effort to find a way to prosecute oil companies under RICO laws. She’s author of Merchants of Doubt, a book published in 2010 that attempts to link ExxonMobil to tobacco companies. She’s also on the board of the Climate Accountability Institute (CAI), the group that organized the now infamous 2012 La Jolla Conference with the Union of Concerned Scientists at which activists brainstormed ways they could launch racketeering investigations into ExxonMobil. The New York Times even credits Oreskes with conceiving the conference.
Gee, doesn't that sound like collusion? Racketeering? The kind of thing they're accusing Exxon of?
The fact that the AGs have been meeting with Oreskes is pretty telling considering that for years she has been spearheading the effort to find a way to prosecute oil companies under RICO laws. She’s author of Merchants of Doubt, a book published in 2010 that attempts to link ExxonMobil to tobacco companies. She’s also on the board of the Climate Accountability Institute (CAI), the group that organized the now infamous 2012 La Jolla Conference with the Union of Concerned Scientists at which activists brainstormed ways they could launch racketeering investigations into ExxonMobil. The New York Times even credits Oreskes with conceiving the conference.
Gee, doesn't that sound like collusion? Racketeering? The kind of thing they're accusing Exxon of?
"The founders could never have foreseen repeating weapons, let alone
the assault weapons we have now!"
Further evidence that 'bullshit' is the proper response to that.
At Maihaugen Folk Museum in Lillehammer, there is a treasure hidden in the basement: An over 400 year old German-made revolver in perfect condition. The revolver was produced in 1597 by a weapons smith in Nuremberg, Germany. It was a status symbol with decorative brass, bone and Mother of Pearl.
– The reason we know it’s from 1597 is because it is a stamp mark of a horse spur on it. It tells us with certainty that it was made by the German weapons blacksmith Hans Stopler, says director of Maihaugen Folk Museum, Gaute Jacobsen to Norwegian Broadcasting Cooperation, NRK.
Further evidence that 'bullshit' is the proper response to that.
At Maihaugen Folk Museum in Lillehammer, there is a treasure hidden in the basement: An over 400 year old German-made revolver in perfect condition. The revolver was produced in 1597 by a weapons smith in Nuremberg, Germany. It was a status symbol with decorative brass, bone and Mother of Pearl.
– The reason we know it’s from 1597 is because it is a stamp mark of a horse spur on it. It tells us with certainty that it was made by the German weapons blacksmith Hans Stopler, says director of Maihaugen Folk Museum, Gaute Jacobsen to Norwegian Broadcasting Cooperation, NRK.
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