Things are bad in the Stasi state. Things get worse in the Stasi state. Worse yet, each revelation of governmental lawlessness, Big Brotherism, and contempt for We the People is met with a giant yawn. It’s so easy to despair. Then along comes a reminder that not everybody is yawning. What you laugh at says a lot. The story arc for the above started with the September 6 panel. H/T to JB for making my day.
Category: Resistance
Sometimes you need to say “no” to Big Brother
Since we haven’t done a Friday freedom question for a while, and since today is one of those Infamous Fridays — the thirteenth: What’s the best thing (or things) you can think of today that would cause some well-deserved bad luck to the Stasi or their pals, agents, and enablers who are ignoring the Bill of Rights and stealing our freedom? This could be something real and practical (therefore publically non-incriminating, please) or highly theoretical (therefore any fantasy scenario Hollywood could dream up).
Loving a bad dog. (Oh yeah. Been there …) News of the weird. Shelley’s Ozymandias. Um … with socks. Wall Street deals in physical commodities. Commodities producers operate hedge funds and sell derivitives. And there, and there, and there go the trillions. I really like Ricky Gervais and I want to see this. For anybody who still doubts that Edward Snowden did the right thing. Won’t get anywhere. Not enough. But the Surveillance State Repeal Act is a start. Yes, we already know that the fedgov is run not merely by narcissists but by full-blown sociopaths. Still, this Salon piece…
Apple unveiled its new iPhones yesterday. Their main new feature is that they give the NSA the chance to get your fingerprint, along with everything else. But! Not! To worry! They’ll only get your fingerprint “securely.” Because these phones are secure-secure-secure. (H/T O) Bravo, Paul Bonneau: “An appeal to NSA engineers.” L.A. sent this article along with the comment that if you have to get government permission to build a doomsday bunker, perhaps you’re in the wrong location for riding doomsday out. (Oh no, tsks the deputy mayor, “Children have been held in bunkers.”) This is a great program. Our…
I don’t have to tell you that this isn’t the sort of “roundup” where you get to go, “Yipee-i-o-kyaaay!” It’s the sort where you go, “OMG, what will learn next about these creeping, peeping totalitarians?” Some of the newest nooz: Got a smartphone? NSA can get your data. Not yet a mega-scooping data project; they have to really want your particular data to get it. Mega-scooping? That comes next year, no doubt. And when it comes it’ll be with the help of “Mr. Civil Rights” Obama himself. Seems two years ago the secret court, responding to a secret request, made…
Alas (but no surprise), the rumor that’s been buzzing around the ‘Net ever since Edward Snowden’s NSA documents began their slow leak has turned out to be true. The NSA has cracked the encryption on which the Internet thrives. All those assurances from our banks, insurance companies, doctors, credit card companies, etc. that our data is safe and secure? Blooey. Maybe “cracking” isn’t quite the right term. Apparently, they haven’t really gotten any great master key. Not even to one form of encryption (and there are many forms). This isn’t Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine. Nothing so grand. Simply…
The town of Deer Trail, Colorado, has already received requests (and checks) for 983 drone-hunting licenses — despite not yet having passed a license ordinance. Actually, they’ve gotten more than 983. That’s just where the town clerk stopped counting a couple weeks back.
I’ve been saving some of these for a week or more. So if you’ve seen a few before bear with me. Chaos is gradually receding. But gradually … NYPD refuses to answer questions about how they (and Bloomberg) pointed firearms at an innocent audience. “At war with the concept of secrecy itself.” ‘Nother good one from Tom Knapp. The Free State Wyoming project has a brand new forum hosted by my old friends at the Mental Militia. (UPDATE: Please see Mama Liberty’s correction in comments. The new Wyoming Mavericks forum has no official connection with the FSW.) “23 signs you’re…
Since the Snowden revelations, there’s been a lot of this sort of talk on the Tubz. Summary: You can’t fight the NSA’s surveillance because you can’t even understand the NSA’s capabilities and methods. Some truth in that, of course. Not only can we not know just what the NSA’s doing and how. But for all we know there could be 15 other secret spy agencies using yet other technologies and methods to poke and prod into our lives. All with the happy cooperation of tech companies like Google, Facebook, Verizon, et al. We are the first in all of human…
Yikes. Sorry. I didn’t mean to be away from the blog this long. Expected to be back with you by Sunday afternoon, but each time I hoped to sit down at the computer, chaos piled on the chaos that was already piled on top of the chaos. And that on top of an Internet connection that’s extremely sketchy and drops entirely every five or 10 minutes. So give me a couple more days to really get coherent, please. By Wednesday I should also have a functioning ‘Net connection, too. Knock wood. Cross fingers. Throw salt over shoulder. Burn incense to…