Taken in part from IOwntheWorld.com here… Click the link or the pic for the full, sorta-NSFW version and to give you a reason to give BigFurHat the traffic. Frankly, this gives me flashbacks to Catholic Primary school, but not in a good way.
Hat tip to Rob Port at SayAnything Blog.
Last Friday, in the pursuit of policing the distribution of kiddie porn, the Department of homeland Security decided to approach a District Court judge and asked him (Him? The judge was unidentified) to sign a seizure warrant against the 10 websites accused of purveying the rotten material.
In the infinite wisdom of the DHS and the ICE’s Cyber Crimes center, the websites themselves were not seized, but the entire domain name structure, DNS services host and all associated webserving functions for over 84,000 websites. As if the seizure wasn’t enough, all requests to these 84,000 personal, hobby and small business websites were redirected to this dire warning:
Now, what really bugs me is that the Cyber Crimes unit apparently does not understand the architecture of the ‘net in enough detail (Detail? Hell… they don’t understand the basic structure!) to realize that by seizing an entire hosting domain they are using a pile driver -never mind a hammer- when a scalpel will do.
The effect was that some websites did not recover from the redirect for up to six days, according to the originating Geekosystem article from which this information comes, accusing the site owners of major felonies of an abhorrent nature, the sort of thing that ostracizes people from decent society on the seriousness of the charges alone. Even search engine rankings marked these innocent sites as child porn hubs and bright red warnings told those searching for the sites to heave-to and leave these business alone. Imagine losing nearly a week of business, and then never recover the custom of those people because they’re not likely to go back to the site (“The Department of Homeland Security and Google warned me not to!”) to read the explanation of how badly the DHS and ICE screwed up and how they are not, in actuality, perverts with a diddler’s web site but entrepreneurs trying to run a legit business.
This comes on the heels of current legislative attempts to allow the Obama administration to install an “internet kill switch” in case of some undefined national emergency. A US Senate panel has already given the thumbs-up to the measure, but as things stand the government departments are already mis-using, if not completely hamfisted bollixing the tools they already have. Indeed, the Senate bill would allow the administration to seize private networks outside the purview of the courts for any reason they deem a “cybersecurity emergency.” Even the current tools require the sign-off by a judge, however mislead the judge was in the first case. Clearly the Obama administration looked at the goings-on in Egypt and liked what they saw.
Do not trust these people to run the internet; they are already screwing up with the power they have.
Hypothetical question… You find yourself in a suddenly war-torn, violent country and you desperately need to get your young daughters out of the country and back to safety. You have two choices of men to trust to see them to safety: Joe Biden and Dick Cheney.
There really isn’t a choice there.
It seems to work with every pairing of the current and past administration. Gates vs. Rumsfeld, Obama vs. W, the list is nearly endless.
Just sayin’.
The United Nations recently engaged in engaging with FCC commissioners to tag-team a push to regulate the internet. While these terms are vague and the regulation language is still fluid, the stated goals of the FCC is to lump internet service providers into 1880′s era phone monopoly rules that would stagnate, and indeed erode, Online business investment and personal liberties of the freedom of speech long afforded to those of us that spend a portion of lives online.
While this is bad enough, more damning is that the FCC has already been smacked down by a Federal court ruling last April telling them to knock it off- the text of the ruling states that the FCC does not have purview over the Internet. But today, the five FCC commissioners are voting to establish so-called “net neutrality” rules that would establish a Fairness Doctrine over the net.
The inclusion of U.N. interest makes the pot even greater for those who wish to keep the ‘net free and out from underneath the watchful eye of the same group that allows Cuba, China, Saudi Arabia and Libya on the Human Rights council and recently condemned the US for our supposed shortcomings. Kettle, Pot on Line 2…
Oversight by this body will be fierce, politically motivated, arbitrary, and truth be told, ultimately useless. Here’s why.
We’re Americans. This sort of thing might work on a people used to subjugation. We’re not. We have motivation. We have a technical prowess unmatched in the world. We have a history of bucking this sort of authority, which has it’s own type of inertia going forward.
We have savvy. We have VPNs, access to offshore servers, TOR clients, Proxy servers, secure communications, motivation and capital. Ask China how well this works out for them. Sure, sure- a good number of their country submit and rely purely on “approved” sources, but the Great Firewall of China is as porous as cheesecloth for those who need to get outside the constraints of the gatekeepers.
So go ahead, FCC- buck the court rulings (you’ll get cracked down on- Federal courts hate being ignored, even if they do sympathize with you) and continue on. “Good luck with that. Tell me how it works out.”
Yesterday, (Wednesday, Dec. 15) libral columnist Glann Greenwald penned a piece in Salon.com covering what he viewed as Private Bradley Manning’s solitary confinement in the brig at Quantico, Virginia. Over the course of several pages he outlines the possible mental stress his confinement may place on the accused and refers to several medical journals and foreign sources as proof that such confinement constitutes torture.
Manning- Bringing More Shame on our Military
I feel the need to point out what I feel are some salient points regarding the conditions of his imprisonment and the (probable) thinking of the reasons behind them.
I have read nothing that belies Mr. Greenwald assertion that Pvt. Manning has been anything other than a model prisoner, in the standard vein. But that behavior alone is not the reason for keeping Manning away from outside contacts, although doubtless he has access to attorneys and counsel. What is not known, and continues to be investigated, is to what other information Manning had access and whom he might have had assistance with disseminating the information; certainly Julian Assange was not the only person to which he might have conspired to disseminate the cables and intelligence.
While this information pool is still forming under the efforts of the investigators, it is in the interest of national security to keep a lid on further breaches and keep those possible others from being tipped off that American military intelligence officials might be on their trail.
Take into consideration the current controversy of the aforementioned Assange. Being arrested in the UK on what constitutes rape charges in Sweden, Assange was granted bail by London’s High Court against the wishes of several governments, including our own. Surely the objection by these governments rounds on the involvement in the Wikileaks scandal and not by the fear that Mr. Assange is going to continue punching holes in prophylactics- and more’s the pity, because he has not been charged in any of the Wikileaks crimes. Certainly a British judge is not going to hold someone incommunicado to keep damage contained for crimes he hasn’t been charged with.
It’s long been known that Assange knew he was stepping on some big, sensitive toes with the Wikileaks information. In an effort to shield himself somewhat from retribution, he created an encrypted “insurance” file and distributed it around the globe, with the promise that on the event he was targeted for adjudication, he would release the decryption key that would open the file and expose what he termed very damaging intelligence. Now, I don’t know what could be more damaging to the U.S. national reputation and security that what he has already released, but doubtless it is akin to the fictional Star Trek shield wavelength frequencies (sorry for geeking out there).
Now, unless there is another mole inside the US intelligence apparatus (always a possibility), chances are that Manning is another person with this information. The threat Manning poses is not one of shanking another inmate over his chocolate pudding in a general population environment; it is that Manning himself could try to use that same “insurance” intelligence in order to either secure for himself more favorable judicial conditions, or to retaliate against the US for either his arrest or for the perceived injustices he claims he sought to correct by the initial Diplomatic cable disclosures via Wikileaks. It is far better to isolate one of the potential sources of damaging information than to let him access to the outside world, even if the other is free to continue his activities outside the containment of law enforcement and intelligence officials.
Moving on to another sop that the Greenwald article brings up, Manning’s stated motivation was to right perceived injustices he saw in the intelligence he accessed.
Manning: i mean what if i were someone more malicious- i could’ve sold to russia or china, and made bank?
Lamo: why didn’t you?
Manning: because it’s public data
Lamo: i mean, the cables
Manning: it belongs in the public domain -information should be free – it belongs in the public domain – because another state would just take advantage of the information… try and get some edge – if its out in the open… it should be a public good.
I call bullshit. Let me tell you why.
In order to even view this information, Manning had to access the diplomatic cables by far exceeding his granted security clearances, and thus breaking the law and his vow to defend the United States as a member of the US Armed Forces. He would have been guilty even of that crime even if the contents of those documents contained nothing at all damaging or incriminating. His culpability was created on the simple act of accessing what he wasn’t supposed to look at. Once caught, he figured that he would use the social justice excuse to garner support against anti-Amercian elements both within the US, embarrass our allies and strengthen our enemies abroad.
Now, let’s say for the sake of argument that Manning came by the information honestly, and decided to “do something about it” for altrusitic (if in my mind misguided) reasons. Not being a member of the US Armed Forces myself, I reached out to a well known Milblogger* and asked what, in his knowledge, are the options to report and seek redress for perceived injustices.
I am assured that within the ranks of the military, he/she can approach the Commanding Officer, and failing that can petition the Inspector General regarding these concerns and thus honestly -and within the constraints of his oaths and honor- attempt to right these wrongs. If that proved ineffective, he could have carried on with his terms of service, and then taken the honorable approach of leaving the military with an honorable discharge, and run for Congress to attempt to change the policies of the US. Get on the Armed Services committees; petition his representatives and express his displeasure or disagreement. Serveral avenues exist for “change” done altruistically. But no.
Of what I have read, he approached his CO precisely once regarding the translation of some evidentiary documents -those within his clearance- but on what he felt was an inadequate response he did not attempt to go up the chain, but to cause damage to the US, likely for being for being rebuffed (Not being patted on the head and being told, “good boy”?). Instead, after exceeding his clearance and accessing the cables and the infamous attack helicopter videos, viewing and copying documents he could no longer continue to pursue legal avenues: doing so would have shown that he had already committed a crime and therefore was no longer an honest broker, making him no better than the country he accuses the US of being.
What a child.
*I did not receive explicit permission to quote or identify the source, so I withhold both the email and his identity. “Information should be free” be damned.
It is with profound shock that I find myself a nominated finalist for the new PUK photoshop award over at iOwnTheWorld.com for the Dr. Frank-n-furter / Obama mashup I did awhile back. Thanks, gratefully, to Menderman et. al.
We’ll see how long it takes to roll back these policies. Here’s to being hopeful.
[Updated! Scroll down for it.]
In a land where some children are being taught to hate above all else, the education they’re missing is causing damage to life and limb. Among the numerous examples is this instance caught on video (no doubt by approving -and pathetic- photogs and Palestinian media types) that lessons such as “don’t run toward a moving vehicle while pelting rocks” is directly attributable to Newton’s third law.
Palestinian rockjockeys charge a moving car. FAIL- Video FoxNews; via Breitbart.com
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Among other things that come to mind, look at the number of photogs / “journalists” versus rockthowers. I can’t help but think this was a staged event. Now, I don’t know about local Jerusalem neighborhood affiliations, but if this is a Palestinian-identifying area, then there’s just as much likelihood that the driver is a muslim and they’ve attacked the wrong car (I didn’t see anyone stopping the car and asking if they pray to Yahweh or Allah first). Alternatively if this was an Israeli controlled area, then they’d better hurry up and get out of dodge as the IDF will be on their way in a hurry. More, I would think that such on attack on a private vehicle would leave the driver perfectly within his rights (if not the law, I’m no Tel Aviv lawyer) to wrench that car into reverse into trying for the spare, as God knows who is packing a firearm along with their chunks of concrete.
These things happen commonly in the area, as I’m informed by the Jerusalem Post. This being the case, I think that a vehicle accessory store in the area might make quite a killing (ahem) on the sale of bumper-mounted Death Race 2000-style cowcatchers and Ben Hur hubcaps.
By the way, the kids got away with only minor injuries for those who still feel some sort of sympathy for them.
UPDATE: It seems that I had it nailed. According to the Jerusalem Post, this was a setup from the word ‘Go’. A City of David archeologist was targeted by local Arab and lefty media for a “suicide protest’. the well respected researcher David Be’eri was driving home when a roadblock intended to force Be’eri into taking action causing the injury or death of the participants.
I normally don’t like extracting this size of pullquote, but read it all:
Two weeks ago, the demonstrations morphed into suicide protests as activists set up a roadblock in the middle of the street, ambushed an Ir David security guard and began violently attacking him. In order to fend off his attackers, the guard shot his pistol and killed one of them. Using faux footage, the protesters accused the guard of murder in cold blood. The police rejected the accusation. Channel 2 initially backed up the protesters’ claim, but later its reporter recognized he had been used.
Last Friday, the violence was ratcheted up several notches when Be’eri was targeted by an ambush. As he drove to his home in Ir David with his 13-year-old son, the car in front of him suddenly hit the breaks.
Be’eri drove around the car and was greeted by an ambush of demonstrators who attacked him with stones.
Blocked from backing away by a car that had suddenly stopped, Be’eri had to decide between opening fire [OK, so he was armed. Smart guy. /Flynn] and driving through the protest. He drove through, hitting two of his attackers. Both were minors. Neither sustained serious injuries and were out and about within hours of the event.
The stone throwers were not the only people who participated in the ambush. Six or seven photographers and at least one employee of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center were also on the scene. The photographers hailed from the far Left Hebrew-language Walla web portal and from several European media outlets. They filmed Be’eri running over his attackers from multiple angles. They then quickly sold the story to the world as a tale of a vicious “settler” who ran over two innocent children on their way home from the mosque, just because he is an evil settler.
But as Ragones notes, “We were actually lucky that the media were there. The photos that were supposed to frame Be’eri showed clearly that the whole thing was a setup.” [Apparently they don't even know how to edit their own footage to cut out their complicity /Flynn]
Not only does the footage show that Be’eri was ambushed, it shows that the photographers were integral members of the ambush team. The children’s role was to provoke Be’eri into killing or injuring them by attacking him with rocks. The photographers’ role was to photograph the children getting killed or hurt.
Before I begin, one note: I am not taking sides. The details of each engagement are of no real consequence, but some can be found here, here and plenty of other places.
Earlier today I had the pleasure of exchanging a few comments back and forth with Dan Riehl of the Riehl World View blog regarding my growing frustration with the erosion of nerves between well-known bloggers, pundits and broadcasters whose cast list looks like like an all-star lineup in the media hall of a GOP convention. Currently standing in the ring are Hot Air’s Allahpundit, Dan Riehl and radio show host and Constitutional scholar Mark Levin. Although the last few weeks has seen tweets, posts and over-the-air comments taking up valuable debate time regarding the backing of tea-party endorsed Christine O’Donnell over the Republican incumbent Mike Castle, the hard feelings seem to evolve over time with different players waiting for the tag-team switchoff. I won’t be going off into an entire whose-who, but a couple of thoughts on the parties:
1) Allahpundit- Blogger Grande, HotAir.com
The main news poster and driving force of the Hot Air lineup, doubly so after Michelle Malkin left the site after it’s sale to the TownHall.com folks. AP has been around the blogging block before the roads were paved, and knows how to fight it out- whether it be by subtle insinuation or rhetorical brickbat. A self-described beta male and (I believe- info on him is hard to come by) a New Yorker, has a more centrist view on some social issues than many on the current Conservative warpath. But he certainly has a quick wit and deft at looking at societal issues.
2) Dan Riehl- author, blogger and businessman, Riehl World View
When it comes to garnering invective from the left or anyone else, for that matter, Dan’s your guy. RWV is no slacker on the right in terms of popularity, but just tossing Dan’s name into Google unleashes torrents of hairpulling from liberal pundits and commenters that really should give him a rosy glow on cold nights. He is a self-described long-time friend of radio show host Mark Levin. A prolific poster and analyst, Dan’s take on political issues are timely and accurate.
3) Mark Levine- Constitutional Lawyer, radio show host, author, former Reagan administration Cabinet advisor, various posts under AG Edwin Meese and Dept. of Education, MarkLevinShow.com
Let’s face it, Mark Levin is Conservative powerhouse with a solid basis of applying principles of the US Constitution on any and every bill, policy, law and issue that comes down the pike. He has a damn-the-torpedoes attitude toward any that don’t apply logic toward a topic at hand and grants little forbearance to those who would sacrifice foundational coherency for touchy-feely policy stances.
My own embarrassment is wrapped up in the fact that the “Right-Wing Commentator Flame War of 2010″ (as Robert Stacy McCain aptly puts it) has been going on for so long and I failed to note it until today how apparent it was- not just to those monitoring the #tcot tag on Twitter, but the “other side” wanting to find a schism in which to stick their rhetorical prybars. RSM has a writeup of the engagements here; I don’t feel that I need to recount them.
For, as much of an internecine spat as this remains, others are taking notice. What should be a cathartic family affair is starting to hurt “the family business.” A Tuscon Citizen article points out that not all remains wine and roses within the Republican party despite the positive outlook for House and Senate gains; although the story does not mention the flame war directly, certainly there is a large group of those on the left that are taking note of the parties involved and are standing by to throw water on a grease fire.
I have the greatest respect and admiration for each of the men here involved and I certainly understand the desire to stick to one’s guns on policy disagreements. But what began as, I believe, an establishment GOP numbness to grassroots opinion (here’s that Tea Party term again) in the Delaware Senate race became a fistfight into how big a tent the Republicans need to maintain in order to establish a real Conservative resurgence. “Is Castle conservative enough?” “Is O’Donnell electable against the Democratic challenger?” Certainly heady and important stuff, but in my view useless in the wake of the primaries. Delaware has their nominee (sour grapes aside from the state GOP committee) and the continued flames are only hampering the effort toward boosting O’Donnell over a hard hurdle in the Senate race. It’s completely up in the air if any similar schisms are opening Dem point spreads in other races.
I, as well as others (Sean Hannity for one, another friend of Mark Levin’s) believe that spirited debate leading up to a primary election is well and good and healthy. One can expect a little hamstringing and maybe a little more whenever these come around. Once the primary is over, however, it’s time to drop the hard feelings. The voters of Delaware have selected the boat and it’s time to start rowing in the same direction.
Edits: Forgot links at top. Corrected.
