1. have ZERO doubt, were UK to 'streamline', 'improve' their snooping laws, nearly all the protections would be jettisoned, and nearly all the immoral ("illegal" means NOTHING when rights and laws are broken ALL THE TIME by gummint actors, with NO consequences) bits that give them unlimited surveillance with NO repercussions for abuse, would get in...
2. DO. NOT. BELIEVE. THEM.
*just like* i have ZERO faith in any bullshit oversight of various gummint institutions by various gummint institutions to uncover anything of consequence...
nine one one is the new godwin, but here it goes: do ANY kampers realize that nearly ALL the PRE-APPROVED members on the original nine one one (purposefully limited) commission have called for re-opening that investigation (which wasn't an investigation) ? ? ? no ? huh, funny that: THE most important terrorist attack which was the crowning impetus for implementing this police state, and nearly all the commish's are saying they were lied to and handcuffed and absolutely believe there should be a thorough investigation re-opened... funny, you'd think that would be headline news...
3. of course, this doesn't even begin to address the end run ALL these spooks have done in getting you guys to spy on our guys we can't 'legally' (whatever, means nothing) do; and our guys will spy on your guys you can't 'legally' do... wtf ? ? ? WHO lets their KIDS get away with sophistry like this: oh, noes, mommy, *I* didn't get the cookies out of the cookie jar, li'l timmy did, i just put him up to it, gave him the stepstool to get the cookie jar, and ate all the cookies, but *I* didn't do it... AND, they get away with horseshit like that ? ? ? not in my moral universe they don't...
@ anon cow- 1. i propose this to you: what if (and it isn't an 'if', it is a definite), 'our' computer-based voting systems are NOT secure (they are not) ? then the ONLY method we have for 'holding them accountable' is borked...
2. but, let's be stupid and assume the voting systems are valid: when the two hydra heads of the SAME korporate money party have the system on lock down, HOW in dog's name do we EFFECTIVELY get any other 3rd party candidates any traction ? we don't...
3. HOW do we actually DO our due diligence and oversight when it is kept super duper top secret EVEN FROM OUR DULY ELECTED officials *supposedly* providing oversight ? how can WE "OWNERS" of democracy provide any oversight of things kept (PURPOSEFULLY/ILLEGALLY) out of sight that we have NO knowledge of being done in our names with our monies ? ? ?
4. lastly, the warm and fuzzy anecdote (BASED ON A MOVIE) is sweet and all; but when the media is bought and paid for to NOT do any such investigative reporting, HOW is a mere citizen supposed to put the fear of dog in our 'superiors' ? ? ? not going to happen to any significant degree, just not going to, i don't care how many pairs of rose-colored glasses you have on...
well, the documentary (from docurama 'channel' ?) i was watching, forget the name, was about a guy going back home from the north to north carolina, and kind of investigating his family his story, which included a great grandfather being a rich tobacco farmer until he was wiped out (apparently from various eee-vil machinations of a rival tobacco farmer), and it was interupted about every 10-12 minutes for A. watching the tailchasing animations, B. 2-3 short-ish commercials for a minute or two, C. more tailchasing animation when the documentary came back on...
um, not sure how i can 'prove' that, without taking screenshots, whatever... so either i was lucidly hallucinating (which has never happened before, so i'm dismissing that), or they were showing commercials...
hell, that's half the reason i hate going to freaking movie theaters, the damn commercials, and the endless previews... show me a cartoon or two, then start the movie... THAT is the way dog almighty intended movies to be shown...
(oh, and have the ushers do summary executions of people who leave their cellyphones on in the movies...)
not big on prime, selection is underwhelming, and the ad model sucks, both as the idea of i PAY for content with cash-money, then i PAY for it AGAIN with them hijacking my eyeballs every 10-15 minutes...
AND their ads are 1. a LOT of crappy PSAs, and exxon feelgood propaganda, SOS different day... 2. i guess they just put them on a timer, because 'normal' teevee *at least* (not saying much) puts ads in natural breaks in the shows (or, rather, the shows are staged for those 'natural' breaks); prime just plops them in any old where... messed up a documentary interview i was watching the other day... 3. *AND* watching the stupid tail-chasing animation while the ad loads, and then the show reloads, is annoying... i give prime 3 mehs...
making Empire's next 'logical' (in an eee-vil way) move to have official state media credentials, AND control the inertnet tubes such that there is no leakage around the edges...
emma goldman famously said: if voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal...
well, through voter roll scrubs, etc, The They (tm) don't have to... in fact, i do NOT 'trust' our UNAUDITABLE computer-based voting systems, per-i-od...
i don't think we can vote our way out of this mess; hasn't worked so far, and people been trying a long time and going backwards for their trouble...
speculated to SWMBO the other night, that ads were going to start being location-specific, in that -say- ad is of a couple in front of starsux coffee; depending on where you are, the local starsux coffees shop will be projected as the background to the commercial...
shit, i should have patented that, and let NO ONE have it... so, here's your prior art, right here... hee hee hee
*AND* he is some kind of adviser to a (whatever else you might think of it, and i generally think of sat night live parodies) mainstream, prominent, major media outlet ? ? ?
we are fucked... if orgs that have the resources and public profile to have competent legal advice are relying on the likes of this parasite, er, lawyer who espouses both wrongheaded 'legal advice', AND evinces an innate bias towards copy maximalism, what chance does your average joe have against such an onslaught of ignorance and FUD ? ? ?
yes, thank you, annoyed the author glossed over that: on the face of it, it was wrong *then*, and it is wrong *now*, regardless of the 'legality' of it, as far as the original bullying that made a deal that didn't have to be...
1. they have been caught in endless bribery schemes, they are not actors with clean hands... 2. apparently, countries are slowly waking up to the fact that -similar to major sports teams who extort new stadiums, etc- bidding on/getting the olympics is a MONEY LOSING scheme, and only a few insiders, contractors, etc derive much of any benefit on the backs of mere citizens who finance the insane money-eating 'villages' and venues... hosting the olympics means you LOSE money, you are STUCK with bonds for decades, and the proposed 'villages' and venues become white elephants that invariably do NOT pay off in any way...
as digdug so colorfully put it initially, losing a lot of interest in the sham sports, the bullshit propaganda, etc... LOVE the idea of the olympics, but the implementation is horrid... WHY wouldn't they just have ONE permanent venue for summer olympics, and ONE permanent venue for winter olympics ? ? ? what would be wrong with that ? ? ? oh, you mean they couldn't fleece new marks every four years, i see your point... *snicker*
i get to the point of 'constitution-shredding overload': WHERE to start on how 'our' (sic) sick gummint has abandoned ALL legal principles, mostly in the service of greed and draconian PRE-punishments...
executive signing statements (much less SECRET ONES?), um, where is that even HINTED at in the constitution ? ? ? (i have never heard an explanation)
unreasonable search and seizure ? ? ? NO SUCH THING anymore...
right to face your accuser ? ? ? fuggidaboutit, secret metadata in a black data center is your judge, jury and executioner...
right to a fair trial ? ? ? effectively obviated by persecutor/prosecutor abuse which tacks on a million felonies to smother you... 'cop a plea for something you didn't do, or we'll railroad you to a million years in prison...'
this ain't America, this ain't constitutional, this ain't legal, but it doesn't fucking matter does it... its golden rule time: them that's got the gold, makes the rules...
suffer peons, and suffer in silence, we don't want to hear you bleating, or you'll get a beating...
heh man, i like a good (and justified) libtard bashing as much as the next guy, and while useless rags like huffpoo and saloon promote this kind of ANTI-free speech rhetoric in the name of 'sensitivity' blah blah blah, conservatards are FAR MORE egregious censors...
there are still a number of liberal-ish sites which allow contrary views, but MOST conservative sites will brook NO dissent, period...
really, i hate on both sides for being anti-free speech; but excoriate my liberal brothers and sisters MORE for being more hypocritical and un self-aware about it... they espouse and should know better; LOTS of conservatards will simply say straight up they don't believe in free speech, so *at least* (not meaning much) they are not hypocrites about it...
if i'm not mistaken, pro sports have gotten to the point where they basically DON'T CARE if they have fans in the stands, *Because* they get SO MUCH money from tee vee contracts that they -essentially- do NOTHING for...
AND it is so expensive to go to sporting events, it is mostly corporate piggies in skyboxes who write off all that expense (that YOU AND I PAY FOR in our increased taxes, since the fat cats get tax deductions for such 'expenses'...)
fans ? ? ? yuck, they have to be served, and they are messy, and you have to hire people to provide stuff for them, and we actually have to *do something* other than sit back in our skybox and count our teevee monies... who wants that ? ? ?
and while you are at it, stupid rubes, buy us another half billion dollar stadium or we'll leave town...
(which we probably will anyway... there is a (greedy) reason why the NFL changed its rules so that there can NEVER be another Green Bay situation, they HATE that shit...)
the hell of it is, i agree with both of you: john seems like a great guy from his writings, don't really 'know' tqk, but can't refute what he says... a little harsh, perhaps, but we are w-a-a-a-y past the point of being polite (or voting) having any real effect on TPTB...
and on alternate days, i can be understanding of sincere -yet frustratingly pollyannish- citizens who have yet to be awoken, and give them a pass, if not try to edumacate them; but then on days i am fed up with The System and ignorant, i can lampoon willfully blind sheeple mercilessly myself...
to paraphrase whitman (?): do i contradict myself ? very well, i am full of multitudes, therefore i contradict myself...
the truth of the matter, is that the 'blame' lies somewhere in between the sociopathic .1 to 1% who fuck it all up PURPOSEFULLY for their own greedy ends; and the 99 to 99.9% who are too busy, stupid, misinformed, uninformed and/or cowed to rise up on their hind paws and bare their fangs at our 'superiors'...
Empire must fall. the sooner the fall, the gentler for all...
gee, you don't think he has knowledge/evidence of other USG skullduggery, skeletons in closets, and where the bodies are buried that he used to extort favorable terms ? ? ?
goshies, i'm certain *that* can't be the case...
(when you are being threatened by goons of the state, it helps if you can (credibly) threaten back; otherwise you are going to be steamrolled flatter than a fritter...)
On the post: Report Says UK Citizens Must Give Up Right To Privacy Because 'Terrorism', Reveals Huge Secret Government Databases
their word means nothing...
2. DO.
NOT.
BELIEVE.
THEM.
*just like* i have ZERO faith in any bullshit oversight of various gummint institutions by various gummint institutions to uncover anything of consequence...
nine one one is the new godwin, but here it goes: do ANY kampers realize that nearly ALL the PRE-APPROVED members on the original nine one one (purposefully limited) commission have called for re-opening that investigation (which wasn't an investigation) ? ? ?
no ?
huh, funny that: THE most important terrorist attack which was the crowning impetus for implementing this police state, and nearly all the commish's are saying they were lied to and handcuffed and absolutely believe there should be a thorough investigation re-opened...
funny, you'd think that would be headline news...
3. of course, this doesn't even begin to address the end run ALL these spooks have done in getting you guys to spy on our guys we can't 'legally' (whatever, means nothing) do; and our guys will spy on your guys you can't 'legally' do...
wtf ? ? ?
WHO lets their KIDS get away with sophistry like this: oh, noes, mommy, *I* didn't get the cookies out of the cookie jar, li'l timmy did, i just put him up to it, gave him the stepstool to get the cookie jar, and ate all the cookies, but *I* didn't do it...
AND, they get away with horseshit like that ? ? ?
not in my moral universe they don't...
On the post: Report Says UK Citizens Must Give Up Right To Privacy Because 'Terrorism', Reveals Huge Secret Government Databases
Re:
On the post: DailyDirt: Passwords? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Passwords
Re:
hhh
On the post: CIA's Shrugtastic Response To Hacking Apple Security: 'It Is What It Is' And 'That's What We Do'
Re: Re: Re: Re:
1. i propose this to you: what if (and it isn't an 'if', it is a definite), 'our' computer-based voting systems are NOT secure (they are not) ?
then the ONLY method we have for 'holding them accountable' is borked...
2. but, let's be stupid and assume the voting systems are valid: when the two hydra heads of the SAME korporate money party have the system on lock down, HOW in dog's name do we EFFECTIVELY get any other 3rd party candidates any traction ? we don't...
3. HOW do we actually DO our due diligence and oversight when it is kept super duper top secret EVEN FROM OUR DULY ELECTED officials *supposedly* providing oversight ? how can WE "OWNERS" of democracy provide any oversight of things kept (PURPOSEFULLY/ILLEGALLY) out of sight that we have NO knowledge of being done in our names with our monies ? ? ?
4. lastly, the warm and fuzzy anecdote (BASED ON A MOVIE) is sweet and all; but when the media is bought and paid for to NOT do any such investigative reporting, HOW is a mere citizen supposed to put the fear of dog in our 'superiors' ? ? ? not going to happen to any significant degree, just not going to, i don't care how many pairs of rose-colored glasses you have on...
On the post: HBO Now's Apple Exclusive Ensures The 'Most Pirated Show On TV' Stays That Way
Re: Re: Re: Re: Say what?
um, not sure how i can 'prove' that, without taking screenshots, whatever... so either i was lucidly hallucinating (which has never happened before, so i'm dismissing that), or they were showing commercials...
hell, that's half the reason i hate going to freaking movie theaters, the damn commercials, and the endless previews...
show me a cartoon or two, then start the movie... THAT is the way dog almighty intended movies to be shown...
(oh, and have the ushers do summary executions of people who leave their cellyphones on in the movies...)
On the post: HBO Now's Apple Exclusive Ensures The 'Most Pirated Show On TV' Stays That Way
Re: Re: Say what?
AND their ads are
1. a LOT of crappy PSAs, and exxon feelgood propaganda, SOS different day...
2. i guess they just put them on a timer, because 'normal' teevee *at least* (not saying much) puts ads in natural breaks in the shows (or, rather, the shows are staged for those 'natural' breaks); prime just plops them in any old where... messed up a documentary interview i was watching the other day...
3. *AND* watching the stupid tail-chasing animation while the ad loads, and then the show reloads, is annoying...
i give prime 3 mehs...
On the post: Michigan Attorney General Slaps Reporter With Bogus Subpoenas For Doing Her Job
Re: Re:
so, no pub, no story, no sheeple to bleat...
it is happening right in front of us, kampers...
On the post: Michigan Attorney General Slaps Reporter With Bogus Subpoenas For Doing Her Job
Re: Re:
well, through voter roll scrubs, etc, The They (tm) don't have to... in fact, i do NOT 'trust' our UNAUDITABLE computer-based voting systems, per-i-od...
i don't think we can vote our way out of this mess; hasn't worked so far, and people been trying a long time and going backwards for their trouble...
On the post: Indian Film Industry To Punish
PiratesPaying Customers With 3-Month Film Release BoycottRe: Ignorance
speculated to SWMBO the other night, that ads were going to start being location-specific, in that -say- ad is of a couple in front of starsux coffee; depending on where you are, the local starsux coffees shop will be projected as the background to the commercial...
shit, i should have patented that, and let NO ONE have it...
so, here's your prior art, right here...
hee hee hee
On the post: The Cartoonist Has No Idea How Fair Use Works
Re: Re: Chip Bok
this guy is an 'expert' ? ? ?
*AND* he is some kind of adviser to a (whatever else you might think of it, and i generally think of sat night live parodies) mainstream, prominent, major media outlet ? ? ?
we are fucked...
if orgs that have the resources and public profile to have competent legal advice are relying on the likes of this parasite, er, lawyer who espouses both wrongheaded 'legal advice', AND evinces an innate bias towards copy maximalism, what chance does your average joe have against such an onslaught of ignorance and FUD ? ? ?
On the post: Hall & Oates Suing Breakfast Company Over Haulin' Oats Granola... And For A Pretty Good Reason
Re:
evidently, two wrongs do make a right...
On the post: Olympics Committee Forces Oregon Restaurant To Change Its Name
Re: The viciousness of the IOC
2. apparently, countries are slowly waking up to the fact that -similar to major sports teams who extort new stadiums, etc- bidding on/getting the olympics is a MONEY LOSING scheme, and only a few insiders, contractors, etc derive much of any benefit on the backs of mere citizens who finance the insane money-eating 'villages' and venues...
hosting the olympics means you LOSE money, you are STUCK with bonds for decades, and the proposed 'villages' and venues become white elephants that invariably do NOT pay off in any way...
as digdug so colorfully put it initially, losing a lot of interest in the sham sports, the bullshit propaganda, etc...
LOVE the idea of the olympics, but the implementation is horrid...
WHY wouldn't they just have ONE permanent venue for summer olympics, and ONE permanent venue for winter olympics ? ? ?
what would be wrong with that ? ? ?
oh, you mean they couldn't fleece new marks every four years, i see your point... *snicker*
On the post: Canadian Border Patrol Charge Traveler With 'Obstruction' For Refusing To Give Up His Phone Password
Re: Re:
oh crap, i live here...
ain't no such thing as 'unreasonable search/seizure' any more...
On the post: Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood Demands $2,100 To Reveal The Emails He's Had With The MPAA
Re: Slip of the tongue?
WTF legal business does the THE STATE'S AG have with a private korporation that there is 'attorney/client' privilege ? ? ?
just who the hell is he 'representing' ? ? ?
(rhetorical question)
On the post: DOJ Invites The ATF To The War On Drugs, Grants It Power To Process Its Own 'Drug-Related' Forfeitures
Re: Re:
executive signing statements (much less SECRET ONES?), um, where is that even HINTED at in the constitution ? ? ?
(i have never heard an explanation)
unreasonable search and seizure ? ? ? NO SUCH THING anymore...
right to face your accuser ? ? ? fuggidaboutit, secret metadata in a black data center is your judge, jury and executioner...
right to a fair trial ? ? ? effectively obviated by persecutor/prosecutor abuse which tacks on a million felonies to smother you... 'cop a plea for something you didn't do, or we'll railroad you to a million years in prison...'
this ain't America, this ain't constitutional, this ain't legal, but it doesn't fucking matter does it... its golden rule time: them that's got the gold, makes the rules...
suffer peons, and suffer in silence, we don't want to hear you bleating, or you'll get a beating...
On the post: Iowa College Grants Hecklers More Veto Power, Resulting In Summoning Of Campus Police To Offending 'Free Speech Wall'
Re: Re:
there are still a number of liberal-ish sites which allow contrary views, but MOST conservative sites will brook NO dissent, period...
really, i hate on both sides for being anti-free speech; but excoriate my liberal brothers and sisters MORE for being more hypocritical and un self-aware about it... they espouse and should know better; LOTS of conservatards will simply say straight up they don't believe in free speech, so *at least* (not meaning much) they are not hypocrites about it...
On the post: Theater Chains Pout, Boycott Netflix's New Movie To Protect Antiquated Release Windows
Re:
AND it is so expensive to go to sporting events, it is mostly corporate piggies in skyboxes who write off all that expense (that YOU AND I PAY FOR in our increased taxes, since the fat cats get tax deductions for such 'expenses'...)
fans ? ? ? yuck, they have to be served, and they are messy, and you have to hire people to provide stuff for them, and we actually have to *do something* other than sit back in our skybox and count our teevee monies...
who wants that ? ? ?
and while you are at it, stupid rubes, buy us another half billion dollar stadium or we'll leave town...
(which we probably will anyway... there is a (greedy) reason why the NFL changed its rules so that there can NEVER be another Green Bay situation, they HATE that shit...)
On the post: New Anti-Corruption Social Network In Russia Requires Numerous Personal Details To Join: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Re: Huh, haven't seen that before
can you say, 'honeypot' ?
sure, i knew you could...
On the post: Breaking: Clinton Gave Staffers Clintonemail.com Addresses Too
Re: Re: Re: Re: Don't they work for us?
the hell of it is, i agree with both of you: john seems like a great guy from his writings, don't really 'know' tqk, but can't refute what he says... a little harsh, perhaps, but we are w-a-a-a-y past the point of being polite (or voting) having any real effect on TPTB...
and on alternate days, i can be understanding of sincere -yet frustratingly pollyannish- citizens who have yet to be awoken, and give them a pass, if not try to edumacate them; but then on days i am fed up with The System and ignorant, i can lampoon willfully blind sheeple mercilessly myself...
to paraphrase whitman (?): do i contradict myself ? very well, i am full of multitudes, therefore i contradict myself...
the truth of the matter, is that the 'blame' lies somewhere in between the sociopathic .1 to 1% who fuck it all up PURPOSEFULLY for their own greedy ends; and the 99 to 99.9% who are too busy, stupid, misinformed, uninformed and/or cowed to rise up on their hind paws and bare their fangs at our 'superiors'...
Empire must fall.
the sooner the fall,
the gentler for all...
On the post: Separate And Unequal: Gen. Petraeus Facing Mild Wrist Slap For Leaking Eight Books Full Of Classified Info To His Mistress
Re:
goshies, i'm certain *that* can't be the case...
(when you are being threatened by goons of the state, it helps if you can (credibly) threaten back; otherwise you are going to be steamrolled flatter than a fritter...)
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