Monthly Archives: September 2018

Running the Fool’s Game of the Future

23 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in Other Columns

≈ Comments Off on Running the Fool’s Game of the Future

Tags

, ,

While some of us are urging caution and restraint against the AI/robotic/computer onslaught of the 21st century, others urge a merger – much like Saruman urging Gandalf to join with Sauron.

Mental illness runs strong in the robo-techno-alliance of tomorrow:

Human beings will evolve. We haven’t always been human. We were sea creatures, then we were living in the trees, then we became human. Soon we will become something else. Technology is part of our lives and it will become part of our evolutionary journey, too.

…

My partner and I identify as cyborgs as we are no longer 100% human. We have new body parts that give us access to perceptions that are beyond usual human perception. It’s not about augmenting reality, or living in virtual reality; it’s more about revealing a reality that already exists.

I can see it now: separate bathrooms at Starbucks for those partners identifying as tree-living cybernetic sea creatures. All perfectly normal. Just like the Jetsons.

1984 Updates

21 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by in News and Notes

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

One more thing. Two more.

The Ministry of Truth reminds you that speaking is now silence. Down is still up.

Giving Christine Blasey Ford the opportunity to testify about her unsubstantiated accusations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is, somehow, silencing her, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) declared Wednesday night.

Refusing to launch an FBI investigation into Ford’s claims is also “silencing her,” Sen. Gillibrand said in a tweet:

“Denying Dr. Ford an FBI investigation is silencing her. Forcing her into a sham hearing is silencing her. And pushing through Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation is silencing her.”

…. and Russia!

On the homefront:

After calling off the launch of a smart display device earlier this year, Facebook is reportedly planning to announce it next week. Here are the details from Cheddar‘s Alex Heath, who cites unnamed sources:

The main feature will be video chat, and Facebook will use facial recognition to tag users and follow them around the room. (Amazon’s Echo Show and Google-powered smart displays don’t identify users’ faces, though some security cameras do.)

The device will have a privacy shutter to disable the camera tracking, but amazingly, Facebook may have only thought to include this in response to its own recent privacy scandals.

While the device was once rumored to rely a homegrown voice assistant to handle basic commands, Portal may instead lean on Amazon’s Alexa for things like music, recipes, and news briefings.

Portal could come in small and large sizes for $300 and $400, respectively.

People will not only tolerate this invasion, not only welcome it but also pay for it. Crazy times. Facebook is like a vampire – never invite it into your home.

Not the Publicity He was Looking For

21 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by in News and Notes

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

If this is true, then Cody Wilson is a criminal and a fool.

Cody Wilson, a leading proponent of 3-D printed guns, has been arrested in Taiwan after being charged in Texas with sexually assaulting a 16-year old girl there, Taiwanese officials said on Friday.

Police in the Wanhua district of Taipei arrested Mr. Wilson and delivered him to the National Immigration Agency, according to officials in the city.

The police in Austin, Tex., had said on Wednesday that Mr. Wilson had failed to board a flight back the United States from Taipei, and that they had asked the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force for help locating him.

Mr. Wilson, 30, is accused of taking a girl he met via the website SugarDaddyMeet[dot]com to a hotel in Austin on Aug. 15, having sex with her and paying her $500 in cash, according to an affidavit filed in Travis County on Wednesday.

SugarDaddyMeet[dot]com… Is that for those times when swiping right or left requires too much class?

If this isn’t true, then it’s a hit. Wilson has made some powerful enemies via his promotion of the 2A, 1A, and general freedom.

Either way, this is the worst kind of distraction at a time when our aging, declining Boomer friends of the “conservative” bent are signing on with more gun control.

A silver lining, again if the allegations are accurate: Cory Booker may have found his running mate for the losing 2020 ticket. Alternatively, the Clinton (Criminal) Foundation may have found that replacement agent for Haiti.

From TPC – They Can’t Handle the Truth (Because It Burns Them Like Fire)

20 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Things are heating up in the District of Corruption. My offbeat guest last week offered some interesting insight into life and times in the Swamp – along with a glimpse inside the mind of a schizophrenic. One thing really stood out as a panicked admission: “The deep state is in trouble.” Yeah. More than she, you, or they believe.
Unless you’ve been under a television soaking up the NCAA/NFL opiates, you know that the Senate is currently in the process of vetting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh will be confirmed here shortly. And he will be (should be) as good a Justice as one could expect at such a late hour.
…

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE AT TPC

Screenshot 2018-09-20 at 7.56.06 PM
TPC (1)

If You Criticize Terrorism, Then You’re Insane

20 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Now in France, if you notice the rot, then you’re a nut.

You’ll recall that earlier this year Should Have Been President Marine Le Pen was charged with crimes for verbally protesting the destruction of Western Civilization. Her docketing somehow failed to stem the violent tide she was Tweeting about.

No mind. It’s her mind that matters. She’s been ordered to undergo a psych eval…

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French far right has been left shocked and furious after a court ordered her to be examined by a psychiatrist to determine if she “is capable of understanding remarks and answering questions”.

Le Pen, who is head of the former National Front party – now National Rally (Rassemblement National) revealed on Twitter her shock and anger at being ordered to undertake a psychiatric assessment.

The unusual summoning is in relation to Le Pen having tweeted out gruesome propaganda images from terror group Isis that showed the bodies of people having been executed by the so-called Islamic State.

In March Le Pen was charged with circulating “violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity” and that can be viewed by a minor.

And as part of their investigation it appears magistrates in Nanterre near Paris have ordered Le Pen to visit a psychiatrist for an expert assessment.

I’m confident that all of America’s ardent supporters of free speech are already on this indignation. (I’ll withhold holding my breath).

Marine est la saine. Vous avez élu le mauvais candidat.

Kiss Internet Privacy Goodbye?

20 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

A “fight” looms:

Now industry groups are pushing Congress to pass a national privacy bill that would block states from implementing their own standards.

Privacy advocates are skeptical of the industry proposals and concerned that internet giants will co-opt the process in order to get protections that are weaker than the California standard implemented across the country.

“They do not want effective oversight. They do not want regulation of their business practices, which is really urgently needed,” Jeff Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), told The Hill. “They’re going to work behind the scenes to shape legislation that will not protect Americans from having all of their information regularly gathered and used by these digital giants.”

“They see federal law as an opportunity to preempt stronger rules,” he added.

Next week, executives from Google, Apple, AT&T and other major technology and telecommunications companies will testify before the Senate Commerce Committee as the panel’s Republican chairman, Sen. John Thune (S.D.), prepares to introduce a new privacy law.

I noted this potential probability back in April in a TPC column:

His other motive was the afore-mentioned collusion. A dirty little secret of the political world is that large corporations are absolutely, head over heels, in love with government regulation. State mandates price out competition, prevent startup challenges, foster monopolies, and raise profits. One of “your” political heroes hinted around this fact; Zuck nodded along sheepishly.

And preempt stronger rules. One will note that its the giant tech companies that are invited to speak to Congress, the same companies with a history of privacy violation, spying, and selling to the highest bidder. I imagine the law, as they want it, is already drafted. Just a matter of bribes now.

No Changes At All

19 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ Comments Off on No Changes At All

Tags

, , , , ,

“Out of deference to the critics, I want to comment on … what the bill will not do. First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same … Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset … Contrary to the charges in some quarters, S.500 will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and economically deprived nations of Africa and Asia. In the final analysis, the ethnic pattern of immigration under the proposed measure is not expected to change as sharply as the critics seem to think.”

-Ted “Chappaquiddick” Kennedy (LIAR-MA) lying about the Immigration Act of 1965

No need to address Killer Teddy’s third lie. Or those lies told by others. Now, addressing in English lies told in English would be lost on 67 million “Americans.”

Nearly half of the residents in the nation’s five biggest cities do not speak English at home, choosing instead their native language, according to the latest Census Bureau data that details the impact of a decade of soft immigration policies.

Overall, a record 67 million do not speak English at home, said the bureau. That is nearly double in 27 years.

In its just-released analysis of the Census data, the Center for Immigration Studies said, “As a share of the population, 21.8 percent of U.S. residents speak a foreign language at home — roughly double the 11 percent in 1980.”

The Center added, “In America’s five largest cities, 48 percent of residents now speak a language other than English at home. In New York City and Houston it is 49 percent; in Los Angeles it is 59 percent; in Chicago it is 36 percent; and in Phoenix it is 38 percent.”

No. No changes whatsoever.

As you make your way through any one of our modern Towers of Babel, please pause a moment to thank Kennedy, Celler, etc. for all the tasty ethnic food. (And why do I always hear, in my mind, “tasty ethnic food” spoken with a lisp?)

They Prefer to be Called “Libertarians”

19 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by in News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on They Prefer to be Called “Libertarians”

Tags

, ,

Capital “L” there. Whatever you call them, just don’t call the stoners “stoners.”

“That word can be used to negatively stereotype people,” said Daniel Yi, senior vice president of communications at MedMen, which operates 14 retail pot stores, including one in San Diego.

“We want to take that stigma away. We want to make marijuana mainstream.”

MedMen’s $2 million “Forget Stoner” advertising campaign debuted earlier this year and is part of a larger, on-going push by the cannabis industry to normalize the use of marijuana.

Normali$e it. And they’ll likely forget if you slip and call them stoners – being stoned and all.

Ovx4k

The Simpson’s.

Conservatives Again Fail to Conserve

19 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ Comments Off on Conservatives Again Fail to Conserve

Tags

, , , ,

Not that one’s coming, but what difference would a Blue Wave really make in DC?

The current Red Tide is failure enough. Even as agencies scramble to waste the leftovers from the last piecemeal, half-a$$ “budget,” the Senate, allegedly governed by conservative Republicans, prepares the next stroke of insanity.

The Senate is racing to avoid the third government shutdown of the year ahead of a looming end-of-the-month deadline.

Senators on Tuesday voted 93-7 to pass a sweeping $854 billion spending bill that includes funding for the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor and Education, which make up the lion’s share of total government spending.

Six Republican senators — Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.), David Perdue (Ga.), Ben Sasse (Neb.) and Pat Toomey (Pa.) — joined Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in voting against the bill, which also includes a short-term stopgap bill to fund the rest of the government through Dec. 7 and prevent a shutdown that would start Oct. 1.

Some of them are upset … at what they’re doing.

Ah well, at least we’re getting a $pace Force.

Another Week, Another Secret Government Program Exposed

18 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ Comments Off on Another Week, Another Secret Government Program Exposed

Tags

, , ,

Many thanks to the New York Times Washington Post Freedom of the Press Foundation for exposing this anti-1A corruption.

Today, we are revealing—for the first time—the Justice Department’s rules for targeting journalists with secret FISA court orders. The documents were obtained as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Freedom of the Press Foundation and Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

While civil liberties advocates have long suspected secret FISA court orders may be used (and abused) to conduct surveillance on journalists, the government—to our knowledge—has never acknowledged they have ever even contemplated doing so before the release of these documents today.

The FISA court rules below are entirely separate from—and much less stringent—than the rules for obtaining subpoenas, court orders, and warrants against journalists as laid out in the Justice Department’s “media guidelines,” which former Attorney General Eric Holder strengthened in 2015 after several scandals involving surveillance of journalists during the Obama era.

When using the legal authorities named in the “media guidelines,” the Justice Department (DOJ) must go through a fairly stringent multi-part test (e.g. certifying that the information is critical to an investigation, that it can’t be obtained by other means, and that the DOJ exhausted all other avenues before doing so) before targeting a journalist with surveillance. They must also get approval from the Attorney General.

With the FISA court rules, there is no multi-part test that we know of. The DOJ only must follow its regular FISA court procedures (which can be less strict than getting a warrant in a criminal case) and get additional approval from the Attorney General or Assistant Attorney General. FISA court orders are also inherently secret, and targets are almost never informed that they exist.

The MSM will be slow to mention any of this if ever they do. They know about it but don’t care. They also know about the new declassifications (and the rejected “deal”) – they know about that and they’re panicking. Soon is now.