October is the month when the movie channels get to dust off all the old grade "Z" horror films. Advertisers managed to stretch a one-day Christian celebration into a month long marketing orgy of blood, screams, and adult tricks with cheap treats for the kids.
Halloween 2014 has been particularly bloody with diabolical tricks on the entire population in the run up to November elections. Every election cycle has become more vicious as candidates become Whirling Dervishes in spinning "truths". The Supreme Court's tricks opened the door to virtually unlimited campaign funds and protected political rhetoric as free speech. Candidates no longer bother inventing their truths, now they un-apologetically flat out lie with their tricks running for months. Congressional tricks muddy the water and freed political tele-marketers to interrupt every meal. Once upon a time voters were able to rest between elections but political tricksters are already working on Halloween 2015.
One party promises a return to the good old days. Electioneering in the good old days bought votes for a pint of whisky, candidates really stabbed each other and minorities were lynched for even dreaming of voting. The good old days were much cheaper than the forecast billion-dollar price tag of today's partisan campaigns. A billion could feed lots homeless this thanksgiving. Instead it'll feed dissention, alienation and ultimately the collapse of the culture. The HORROR of it all is that there are no possible treats for voters.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Summer Snows 100914
Change is in the air. Deserts are flooding; the south freezes while the north bakes. Volcanoes are blowing their tops while ice caps melt; rivers run dry as oceans rise. Primitives panic over angry gods and search for the last virgin to toss into a volcano. Scientist point to cyclic climate change. Environmentalists blame evil industrialist and conservative politicians deny change and claim liberals are spreading the panic.
No climate change would be complete without lots of sunshine and ill winds. It was only four years ago when all the techno-nerds and liberals were proclaiming social media as the sunshine that brought democracy in an "Arab Spring." Springtime was quickly followed by the "Arab Winter." Turns out that social media was not technocracy nor was it restricted to sunshine and April showers but also March tornado like winds as Arab Spring democracies were replaced by coups and competing insurgencies on media waves
Spies love social media since they can tap into everyone's inter most secrets. Cops and occupying armies however hate social media because camera phones post pictures of their failures. In other words social media is not a sword of freedom, truth and justice but a bombshell where everyone has a hammer to explode it in all direction. Once applauded for inciting mobs that overthrew unfriendly regimes, friendly governments now quake before media mobs. From Washington to Tehran governments are attempting to censor and control social media, even imposing criminal penalties on its use.
Efforts are domed for users are finding ways around government constraints; new apps and new links confound attempts to control the messages. The ISIS has begun using social media to get its words out and even recruit converts to its cause and army.
ISIS recruiters use soft sell on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and ask.fm encouraging the devout, adventurers or alienated to join a true cause in Syria. Major media claims that they do not allow people who promote violence and terror on their systems but with billions of messages daily the task is impossible. If one messenger is shut out there are other electronic routes to carry the word. Information is even exchanged on web forums using advanced encryption software.
Without a virgin to toss into a raging volcano politicians are posting their own propaganda and disinformation in hopes of appeasing the gods of dissatisfaction, alienation and rising tides. Messages and counter messaging serves to muddy the waters of freedom and truth. Many find support for what they already want to believe but is that the truth, does it serve peace, freedom even debate?
Social media provides personal communication and entertainment in a storm tossed muddy swamp of social interaction. The virgins being tossed into the volcano are trust, integrity, and surety. Does anyone really care about a minute by minute life account? Is the sender really a sex-starved billionaire virgin, a cop seeking to entrap or a terrorist running a scam? Ask for a selfie, but is even that really real?
No climate change would be complete without lots of sunshine and ill winds. It was only four years ago when all the techno-nerds and liberals were proclaiming social media as the sunshine that brought democracy in an "Arab Spring." Springtime was quickly followed by the "Arab Winter." Turns out that social media was not technocracy nor was it restricted to sunshine and April showers but also March tornado like winds as Arab Spring democracies were replaced by coups and competing insurgencies on media waves
Spies love social media since they can tap into everyone's inter most secrets. Cops and occupying armies however hate social media because camera phones post pictures of their failures. In other words social media is not a sword of freedom, truth and justice but a bombshell where everyone has a hammer to explode it in all direction. Once applauded for inciting mobs that overthrew unfriendly regimes, friendly governments now quake before media mobs. From Washington to Tehran governments are attempting to censor and control social media, even imposing criminal penalties on its use.
Efforts are domed for users are finding ways around government constraints; new apps and new links confound attempts to control the messages. The ISIS has begun using social media to get its words out and even recruit converts to its cause and army.
ISIS recruiters use soft sell on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and ask.fm encouraging the devout, adventurers or alienated to join a true cause in Syria. Major media claims that they do not allow people who promote violence and terror on their systems but with billions of messages daily the task is impossible. If one messenger is shut out there are other electronic routes to carry the word. Information is even exchanged on web forums using advanced encryption software.
Without a virgin to toss into a raging volcano politicians are posting their own propaganda and disinformation in hopes of appeasing the gods of dissatisfaction, alienation and rising tides. Messages and counter messaging serves to muddy the waters of freedom and truth. Many find support for what they already want to believe but is that the truth, does it serve peace, freedom even debate?
Social media provides personal communication and entertainment in a storm tossed muddy swamp of social interaction. The virgins being tossed into the volcano are trust, integrity, and surety. Does anyone really care about a minute by minute life account? Is the sender really a sex-starved billionaire virgin, a cop seeking to entrap or a terrorist running a scam? Ask for a selfie, but is even that really real?
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Droning on 100514
International laws are supposed to define international behavior. There are treaties between States that establish rules of conduct between those signatories, Under the U.S. Constitution (Art.VI, pp2) treaties rank with the Constitution as supreme law of the land. There are international conventions that set out such things the maritime law, human rights, rules of war, etc. binding on and even greater number of signatories. Then, like common law, there is precedent, which over time has become accepted as reasonable interstate conduct.
Over hundreds of years of international precedents, conventions and treaties dictate how states should behave in and interactive world. After WWII (the American century) the United States has written and instigated more international law than was generated by all the nations in all the previous centuries. Despite creating the laws and signing on to the provisions however the United States has consistently refused to be bound by these laws.
The international community floated a new convention directed at the U.S. practices of remote assignation by use of Drones. Initially the world objected to "murder" of suspects without evidence as violations of international law. There were also objections to the collateral damage from drone attacks. America's response to the high non-combatant casualties was that villagers were guilty by association therefore legitimate targets.
As America began to add local dissenters to target list it began to pick up endorsements from local power brokers. International law has not been changed but international outrage is diminishing. There are several reasons for this, the shear volume and dispersion of Drone strikes blurs focus. America continues to loudly proclaim the legitimacy of its unilateral targeting and actively lobbies foreign policy support from dependent states to accept its new norm of warfare. If this acceptance survives long enough it becomes precedent.
There is an unforeseen consequence of the new norm, technology knows no borders. Turkey, China, Iran, Russia, France and Italy allegedly are buying or building killer Drones. Much of the technology that make Drones fly is from Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, China, India and available on the open market. Even terrorist groups have people that can build a weapon-carrying Drone. It may not be as pretty as those produced by the military industrial complex but it only has to make one flight.
A great many of the worlds teenagers already play the video games and fly sophisticated drones, they would love to step up to the bigger game. The kids would probably fly better than the current crop of old pilots. It is worth noting that in the developing world 30 to 50 percent of the population is less than 20 year of age, lots of capable future pilots.
Even if the international community eventually attempts to control remote targeted assassinations, it must be remembered that international law only applies to State actors not independent interests or terrorist. There may soon be a wave of bailing wire Drones coming over America's horizon armed with everything including Ebola.
Over hundreds of years of international precedents, conventions and treaties dictate how states should behave in and interactive world. After WWII (the American century) the United States has written and instigated more international law than was generated by all the nations in all the previous centuries. Despite creating the laws and signing on to the provisions however the United States has consistently refused to be bound by these laws.
The international community floated a new convention directed at the U.S. practices of remote assignation by use of Drones. Initially the world objected to "murder" of suspects without evidence as violations of international law. There were also objections to the collateral damage from drone attacks. America's response to the high non-combatant casualties was that villagers were guilty by association therefore legitimate targets.
As America began to add local dissenters to target list it began to pick up endorsements from local power brokers. International law has not been changed but international outrage is diminishing. There are several reasons for this, the shear volume and dispersion of Drone strikes blurs focus. America continues to loudly proclaim the legitimacy of its unilateral targeting and actively lobbies foreign policy support from dependent states to accept its new norm of warfare. If this acceptance survives long enough it becomes precedent.
There is an unforeseen consequence of the new norm, technology knows no borders. Turkey, China, Iran, Russia, France and Italy allegedly are buying or building killer Drones. Much of the technology that make Drones fly is from Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, China, India and available on the open market. Even terrorist groups have people that can build a weapon-carrying Drone. It may not be as pretty as those produced by the military industrial complex but it only has to make one flight.
A great many of the worlds teenagers already play the video games and fly sophisticated drones, they would love to step up to the bigger game. The kids would probably fly better than the current crop of old pilots. It is worth noting that in the developing world 30 to 50 percent of the population is less than 20 year of age, lots of capable future pilots.
Even if the international community eventually attempts to control remote targeted assassinations, it must be remembered that international law only applies to State actors not independent interests or terrorist. There may soon be a wave of bailing wire Drones coming over America's horizon armed with everything including Ebola.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Police states 092814
In the wake of another police shooting of an unarmed Black teenager a small mid-west American town erupted into violence as the town's paramilitary police stormed into protesters. Despite intervention by state and federal authorities the local police continue to fan the flames of public outrage.
There are calls for review of the Government's post 911 policies that equip police forces with armored vehicles and high tech military weapons. Even some university police departments can now control students with armored vehicles just like at Tiananmen Square. It is not the military arming of police that presents the problem. The issue goes much deeper into a cultural sense that law enforcement is above the law and now has the weapons and authority to suppress all descent as a reactionary danger to their sense of good order. As crime rates rose in the late 20th century the public looked the other way as police bent, and ignored laws, even inventing new legal interpretations.
According to news reports American police shoot about 1,000 people a year although only report about 400 officially to the Federal government. Of the official reporting the majority are claimed as justified. Considering just the official figures, in the past 20 year "justified" police homicide rate has almost doubled. There is concern over these figures, but the incidents of quick and massive firepower non-lethal response to minor infractions or mistaken targets is also growing. Official reports are manipulated to claim response to arch criminal activity. Many of the cases are ultimately dismissed, some of the worst win large settlements from local taxpayers. Police resort to victim and witness intimidation to cover up their bad behavior. Police in one state even pushed a law through the legislature that makes it a crime to photograph their bad behavior. The very people sworn to serve and protect victimize victims. President Obama recently acknowledged the problem saying, "It makes folks who are victimized by crime and need strong policing reluctant to go to the police because they may not trust them."
Policing is a job of risk management; they are often in dangerous positions but going in with an attitude of shoot first and insure there is only one story to tell influences real bad guys to do the same. It is probable that global law enforcement is the world's most corrupt occupation. The majority of police are honest, hard working and dedicated except that almost all will spin the truth to protect the "Blue Wall." Whole departments participate in cover ups until a public spotlight begins to focus on the corruption then a token is tossed to the public wolves, who once satiate lose interest until the next massive exposure. Governments aid and abet cover-ups to protect their suppressive power, or a for fear of liability judgements or prosecutors' desire to win cases and elections.
Corruption is inherent in every closed culture. It begins at recruitment, follows through training to the socialization within agencies where a few bad apples spoil the barrel. Once the barrel begins to smell a rookie understands, go along to get along, it is "US against them." It is not the militarization of Law Enforcement that is the problem, rather it is the regeneration of a culture that fails to police itself and respect its oath to serve and protect.
1st add
Some September reporting:
In Mississippi's Scott County civil liberties groups have filed a federal class-action lawsuit charging that inmates at the jail have been “indefinitely detained” and denied counsel, in violation of their constitutional rights. Legal experts say this is a widespread practice particularly in misdemeanor cases where prohibitive bail provides a way to insure punishment in weak or bogus cases. A California Patrol Officer repeatedly punched a woman after throwing her to the ground. Local authorities stated that the woman received no injuries but was place on a psychiatric hold for two weeks, possibly till the injuries healed. Fortunately for the woman a passerby recorded the attack and she received a $1.5 million settlement. A Los Angeles a man was shot and killed at a rally outside the Newton area police station. A NYPD officer was filmed slamming a clearly pregnant woman to the ground then charged her with disorderly conduct and her husband with assault on an officer. In another recording an officer from the same precinct was shown kicking a street vendor. A California officer wearing a ski mask and gloves beat an innocent woman on the street with a baseball bat. In Detroit an officer shot and killed a sleeping seven-year old girl after bursting through the wrong door, then attempted to cover up by charging the child's distraught grandmother. This force has been monitored by federal authorities for excessive force issues for more than a decade. A South Carolina patrol officer was caught on his own camera shooting a non-resisting man during a traffic stop. In an Ohio Wal-Mart police shot and killed a man talking on a cell phone while shopping for an obvious BB gun. Police in Georgia shot and killed a man in handcuffs charging he had pulled a hidden gun. Albuquerque had 26 police shootings in four years and federal authorities called many unjustified in a culture of police aggression. A mentally ill prisoner died of thirst after 35 day in solitary confinement, NC authorities are stonewalling investigators, not the first such a case in the state's prisons. A politically powerful New Mexico sheriff with a long record of misconduct charges was convicted of savagely beating a non-resisting driver. His office was already being investigated on bribery and corruption charges. The police in Las Vegas arrested several people for chalking anti-police messages on a sidewalk out side a police station. The police in one state managed to push a law through the legislature criminalizing protests or recording police actions. The only secret the Secret Service wants to protect is the secret of their bungling. Police have been recorded repeatedly tasering children in elementary schools. A Florida cop tasered a senior lady in the back for asking what all the police were doing in her neighborhood then arrested her. Fortunately that incident was also caught on camera or she would now be wrestling alligators in some swamp work camp despite Florida's elder abuse protection laws. Police militarization is almost complete as even rent-a-cops now look like Ninja commandos.
Don't go out at night, if ever approached by a cop immediately assume a fetal position and loudly scream for a lawyer with a camera. Everyday is a law enforcement Halloween trick, Happy thanksgiving, peace on earth, if not on your streets.
###
There are calls for review of the Government's post 911 policies that equip police forces with armored vehicles and high tech military weapons. Even some university police departments can now control students with armored vehicles just like at Tiananmen Square. It is not the military arming of police that presents the problem. The issue goes much deeper into a cultural sense that law enforcement is above the law and now has the weapons and authority to suppress all descent as a reactionary danger to their sense of good order. As crime rates rose in the late 20th century the public looked the other way as police bent, and ignored laws, even inventing new legal interpretations.
According to news reports American police shoot about 1,000 people a year although only report about 400 officially to the Federal government. Of the official reporting the majority are claimed as justified. Considering just the official figures, in the past 20 year "justified" police homicide rate has almost doubled. There is concern over these figures, but the incidents of quick and massive firepower non-lethal response to minor infractions or mistaken targets is also growing. Official reports are manipulated to claim response to arch criminal activity. Many of the cases are ultimately dismissed, some of the worst win large settlements from local taxpayers. Police resort to victim and witness intimidation to cover up their bad behavior. Police in one state even pushed a law through the legislature that makes it a crime to photograph their bad behavior. The very people sworn to serve and protect victimize victims. President Obama recently acknowledged the problem saying, "It makes folks who are victimized by crime and need strong policing reluctant to go to the police because they may not trust them."
Policing is a job of risk management; they are often in dangerous positions but going in with an attitude of shoot first and insure there is only one story to tell influences real bad guys to do the same. It is probable that global law enforcement is the world's most corrupt occupation. The majority of police are honest, hard working and dedicated except that almost all will spin the truth to protect the "Blue Wall." Whole departments participate in cover ups until a public spotlight begins to focus on the corruption then a token is tossed to the public wolves, who once satiate lose interest until the next massive exposure. Governments aid and abet cover-ups to protect their suppressive power, or a for fear of liability judgements or prosecutors' desire to win cases and elections.
Corruption is inherent in every closed culture. It begins at recruitment, follows through training to the socialization within agencies where a few bad apples spoil the barrel. Once the barrel begins to smell a rookie understands, go along to get along, it is "US against them." It is not the militarization of Law Enforcement that is the problem, rather it is the regeneration of a culture that fails to police itself and respect its oath to serve and protect.
1st add
Some September reporting:
In Mississippi's Scott County civil liberties groups have filed a federal class-action lawsuit charging that inmates at the jail have been “indefinitely detained” and denied counsel, in violation of their constitutional rights. Legal experts say this is a widespread practice particularly in misdemeanor cases where prohibitive bail provides a way to insure punishment in weak or bogus cases. A California Patrol Officer repeatedly punched a woman after throwing her to the ground. Local authorities stated that the woman received no injuries but was place on a psychiatric hold for two weeks, possibly till the injuries healed. Fortunately for the woman a passerby recorded the attack and she received a $1.5 million settlement. A Los Angeles a man was shot and killed at a rally outside the Newton area police station. A NYPD officer was filmed slamming a clearly pregnant woman to the ground then charged her with disorderly conduct and her husband with assault on an officer. In another recording an officer from the same precinct was shown kicking a street vendor. A California officer wearing a ski mask and gloves beat an innocent woman on the street with a baseball bat. In Detroit an officer shot and killed a sleeping seven-year old girl after bursting through the wrong door, then attempted to cover up by charging the child's distraught grandmother. This force has been monitored by federal authorities for excessive force issues for more than a decade. A South Carolina patrol officer was caught on his own camera shooting a non-resisting man during a traffic stop. In an Ohio Wal-Mart police shot and killed a man talking on a cell phone while shopping for an obvious BB gun. Police in Georgia shot and killed a man in handcuffs charging he had pulled a hidden gun. Albuquerque had 26 police shootings in four years and federal authorities called many unjustified in a culture of police aggression. A mentally ill prisoner died of thirst after 35 day in solitary confinement, NC authorities are stonewalling investigators, not the first such a case in the state's prisons. A politically powerful New Mexico sheriff with a long record of misconduct charges was convicted of savagely beating a non-resisting driver. His office was already being investigated on bribery and corruption charges. The police in Las Vegas arrested several people for chalking anti-police messages on a sidewalk out side a police station. The police in one state managed to push a law through the legislature criminalizing protests or recording police actions. The only secret the Secret Service wants to protect is the secret of their bungling. Police have been recorded repeatedly tasering children in elementary schools. A Florida cop tasered a senior lady in the back for asking what all the police were doing in her neighborhood then arrested her. Fortunately that incident was also caught on camera or she would now be wrestling alligators in some swamp work camp despite Florida's elder abuse protection laws. Police militarization is almost complete as even rent-a-cops now look like Ninja commandos.
Don't go out at night, if ever approached by a cop immediately assume a fetal position and loudly scream for a lawyer with a camera. Everyday is a law enforcement Halloween trick, Happy thanksgiving, peace on earth, if not on your streets.
###
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