You see the wonderful thing about equality for women? We get equal opportunities for political corruption — and equal opportunities for paid vacations when we’re caught being bad. Boy, now that’s progress.
“America isn’t Greece. Not yet.” Another reminder of the value of good old System D. (Tip o’ hat to JG)
I know this is breaking news, which means it’s subject to every error and wild speculation. But this is weird.
The FBI is “questioning” a man (and apparently has him in their custody and control, according to another person they were also “questioning”). They’ve gone to the man’s apartment in the middle of the night (or “Wednesday morning after midnight” in the Orwellian way these things are put now).
And after some substantial long time of having control over him for this “questioning,” they kill him? They shoot him to death?
Yeah. Weird.
Name was Ibragim Todashev. Friend of Boston bomber Tamarlan Tsarnaev.
The Lulz Liberator. This one was made on a cheaper printer, fired multiple shots, and has a rifled barrel. Nope, you really can’t stop the signal.
“We’ve comforted ourselves in all of this with the belief that, while government might potentially have all of this power, it would rarely use it or that, when it did, its use would be well-intentioned and circumscribed. Plus we had rules and systems to stop any abuse: The Bill of Rights, the due process clause, oversight by the media and courts, the two-party system, and strong procedural requirements.” Ha ha ha ha ha.
I do find it odd, though, that in all this flapdoodle about Kokesh’s proposed armed march on DC, not one person has mentioned that the same thing was tried not so long ago in even more radical form. Big hoo-hah over it then, too. But that was in the Fidonet days when hoo-hahs didn’t make so much noise in the wider world. Linda Thompson. Ms “Acting Adjutant General” indeed …
Speaking of creepy: Skype. It could have been very non-creepy. But it’s a M*******t product; so what can you say? It’s creepy. (H/T Wendy McElroy)
Oh, that laugh-a-minute IRS. Turns out they also gave supposedly “private” info on conservative groups to a liberal group. And there’s so much more of this tale still to come out. Does Big O really think it can be hushed up with a couple of IRS resignations?
I’ve been meaning to do something deep and profound with that excellent PBS piece on the Stockholm Syndrome and money printing. Since I’m not brilliant this week, I’ll just link for the edification of anybody who hasn’t already seen it. Good one, definitely.
Dan Brown’s got a new potboiler coming out. I like Dan Brown. I wish I could boil the pot like he does. Critics disagree. One says so in a familiar voice. :-)
Okay, so we’ve all heard about how the IRS illegally targeted tea party and related groups around the 2012 election. And they are so very, very sorry. And we’ve heard how they were actually targeting them for much longer than they originally admitted. And it’s no big news because the IRS has been a political tool since it was only the irs and hadn’t earned its capital letters yet, so you have to wonder what everyone’s getting so flapped about. What’s really mindboggling is that any reporter or editor could quote this with a straight face: “…the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias.” Wow. Orwell! Thou should’st be living at this hour.
So, is the movie of Ender’s Game going to be good? The trailer has possibilities. But I was never a fan of the book. Sorry, Orson Scott Card; you always put me to sleep. Doesn’t look like a sleepy film, though.
Anybody hereabouts use Jitsi? A friend’s working on a project with it and recommended it. But I don’t do any of the things it’s noted for (online chat, video or VOIP calls), so I dunno. He says it’s got super-good encryption.
No fair! How come the CIA doesn’t deliver bags of cash to me? I’m sure I could stay bought at least as well as the typical third-world puppet. (We all know those standards aren’t too high.) It’s a sure thing I could find some cronies to share the loot with. Heck, I’d probably have cronies crawling out of the woodwork as soon as they learned I was the source of buckets of untraceable dollars. I’ll bet I could even find a warlord or two to fund. So why not me? Why not you? But since it’s not us, I’d like to ask the CIA: Are you being sure to write suspicious activity reports (SARs) on yourself for sneaking all that secret dough out of the country? Are you going to arrest yourself and confiscate all your own assets any time soon? P.S. If you ever do start delivering to me, I prefer gold. Paper is so ticky-tacky. Thank you.
Fans of the anti-snitch book: here’s some more good advice, particularly if you’re involved in any group activism. (Thank you, Hobbit, for the link.)
Creepy. Weird. Surprise school shooting scenario. At least the teachers drew good rural western conclusions. Still creepy. Still weird. (H/T MF from comments.)
Man spends (fortunately small) life savings. On a carnival game. Wins a stuffed banana. With dreadlocks. No doubt it was all the carnival operator’s fault. The idiot victim will probably end up getting compensation and tax-paid counseling.
This is not a good way to go Outlaw. Still, it’s pretty amazing this disappearing mom remained between the cracks so long even in the Surveillance Age.
NOTE: Somehow, comments got turned off on this post. Links posts don’t usually get a lot of comment, anyhow. But I just caught the problem and turned that feature back on, in case anyone’s interested.
