Hillary Insensitive, Lacks Empathy

Not that that's news, though.  However, Hillary wasn't talking about herself, but about Israel:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has never been a friend to Israel. Today, speaking at the 2012 Saban Forum on US-Israel Relations, a liberal organization, she railed against Israel for supposed insensitivity, lack of empathy, and lack of generosity with regard to the Palestinians – even as the Palestinians unilaterally violated all agreements with Israel and attempted to declare statehood, and within days of Hamas firing rockets on Israeli population centers and bombing a bus.

Ripping Israel for insensitivity and lack of empathy, after they've had over 2500 rockets lobbed at them this year alone.

Jane Hillary, you ignorant...

Another Trip To Lowes? ALready?

Hmm.  Maybe I'm better off ordering from Amazon.

Say hello to 1984.  We've only slipped that ship date by about 30 years.

Verizon Patent Helps Deliver Relevant Ads By Eavesdropping Conversations

It's a patent that sounds like a plot description for a science-fiction movie or the result of Apple's Siri and Google's AdSense mating. With it, Verizon could program its set-top boxes to survey a room to determine relevant ads to display either on your television or mobile phone

Yeah... who in the world thinks this is a good idea? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

There there's a couple of new stories from Techdirt.  First up, the ITU wants to make sure that Big Brother legitimate world governments can access your data on the wire easily and efficiently:

ITU Approves Deep Packet Inspection Standard Behind Closed Doors

Techdirt has run a number of articles about the ITU's World Conference... One of the concerns is that decisions taken there may make the Internet less a medium that can be used to enhance personal freedom than a tool for state surveillance and oppression.

The telecommunications standards arm of the U.N. has quietly endorsed the standardization of technologies that could give governments and companies the ability to sift through all of an Internet user's traffic -- including emails, banking transactions, and voice calls -- without adequate privacy safeguards.

Well, hey!  Look what we have here!

Rope.

Well, OK.  Sure, someone in a third-world banana republic might have to worry about government agents snooping their conversations, but that could never happen here in the good ol' US of A, right?

No Warrant, No Problem: The Government Can Still Get Your Data

Pro Publica has done it again... the shorthand version is that the government can pretty much look at an awful lot of your data with very little judicial oversight.

Seriously - what the world is going on this week?  Is this some sort of weird budgetary thing, where various agencies have to get their allotted level of civil liberties violations in before the start of the new fiscal year?

You know what we need to use up before the end of the year?

Rope.

Oh, yeah.  One final thing.  You think encryption is going to save you?  Unless you know what you're doing - and, apparently, most people don't have a clue - it's probably already compromised, because you're using a weak-sauce password.  Don't think that a strong password is any better, either.

So... let's recap.

• Verizon wants to give you 24/7 monitoring "to serve you better".
• The ITU wants to make sure that the government has the ability to access all that data.
• And law enforcement can pretty much get that information anytime they want, without a warrant.

Starting to rethink the whole rope idea, here.

A famous quote from Aliens seems far more apropos.

I Have Said It Thrice

Disturbing to think that there's folks out their slimier than politicians.

$1.5 Billion In Taxpayer Funds Go Directly To Movie Studios Each Year

If you've been following MPAA boss Chris Dodd ever since the death of SOPA, you'll be aware of his stump speech. He seems to give it every chance he can: "the movie industry is all about jobs, jobs and more jobs."

Please pass the rope!

Whoops: Movie studios ask Google to censor links to legal copies of their films and related content

Several large movie studios have asked Google to take down legitimate pages related to their own films, including sites legally hosting, promoting, or discussing them.

I'd call for rope, but frankly, I wouldn't trust the RIAA/MIAA with anything more dangerous than a wet noodle.

On second thought... yeah, pass the rope. I'll gift wrap it for 'em and wait to see what happens.

Cops to Congress: We need logs of Americans' text messages

State and local law enforcement groups want wireless providers to store detailed information about your SMS messages for at least two years -- in case they're needed for future criminal investigations.

Good gravy, I'm going to have to make a midnight run to Lowes. What for, you ask? Why, for MORE FREAKING ROPE.

"I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true."

Rope. Rope. ROPE.

Gay Paris, Circa 1914

Color photography of Paris from 1914

Albert Kahn sent photographers all over the world in the early 1900s and amassed over 72,000 color photos in the process. Here are a few shots of his from Paris on the eve of World War I.

Old time color photographs are amazing.  The original site is in Russian, but hey, that's what Google Translate is for, right?

Nein. Non. Ní hea. Iie. Mhai.

See No Evil

If a campaign finance story is not about David Koch or Sheldon Adelson, do liberals care?

Betteridge's law says... ?

Fair Winds and Following Seas

After 1,000,000 Nautical Miles and 51 Years at Sea, USS Enterprise (CVN 65) is Decommissioned

51 years after being commissioned into the US Navy’s fleet, USS Enterprise (CVN 65), the world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, has seen her last deployment. She was officially decommissioned today at Pier 12 in Norfolk, Virginia.

Circumnavigating the globe 40 times. Yeah, that seems about right. And for my non-geeky friends: Yes, Star Trek's USS Enterprise (NC-1701) was indeed named for this USS Enterprise (CVN-65). Which in turn led to NASA naming one of the space shuttles... Enterprise.

Sing with me now!  "The ciiiiiiiiiircle of liiiiiiiiiiife!"

One day, we will have a start-fairing Enterprise - God willing and the creeks don't rise.

Linked List : Political Incorrectness Edition

The judge who ordered Major Nidal Hasan to shave his beard has been taken off the Fort Hood shooting case.  Let's just transfer the twelve Amish beard-shaving culprits to the same prison that Major Hasan is currently infesting.  Problem solved!

There's apparently some question as to whether or not Hillary Clinton's top aid,  Huma Abedin, has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.  Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank opines that "It’s hard to escape the suspicion that it has something to do with the way she looks and how she worships."  Hey, Dana?  I'm a white, Christian male.  I am continually judged by idiots like you based entirely on how I look and how I worship.  As Dogbert said, "Cry me a river, Liberal."

Those stinking racists in Congress are opposing immigration reforms again.  No, not the GOP.  The real racists.  Apparently only people from the correct countries - you know, the ones that produce potential Democratic voters - should be shown any preference with regard to immigration.

Being a conservative academic.  How difficult could it be, really?  Apparently not difficult at all, so long as you sit down and shut up.  Step out of line, though...

Finally, one day, an administrator called me in to chastise me for hanging a protest letter on my office door.

The protest letter included a photograph from the “NO H8” campaign, with a man in a white T-shirt gagged by duct tape... Ironically, the administrator did not know that the No-H8 campaign was originally for gay rights, so he thought the picture of a man with duct tape over his mouth came from some Tea Party hate site....

The word “offended” came up a dozen times — in the context of my colleagues who’d made anonymous complaints.

“When do I get to feel offended?” I asked.  ”Let’s say you were a Jewish soldier, and someone hung posters advertising some slapstick lampoon making fun of Jews.  Would you say nothing?”

The administrator stared back in deafening silence.

“Would you say nothing?”

“Yes,” he finally answered.  ”I would say nothing.”

Those clever progressives.  Why bother with censorship when you can just give your buddies the ability to sue anyone you disagree with into oblivion?  All you need to do is provide the proper incentives to the right people, and before you know it, your enemies are cowed, and you can claim that your hands are clean.  Not that they are, mind you, but you can claim it.

Finally, in the aptly titled post "Politics of Doom", Robert X brings the snark on GOP opposition to Susan Rice vis-à-vis GOP support for Condeleezza Rice:

Lookie here, WaPoMSNBC and Dems in gen, if'n y'wanna call 'em "partisan hacks," that's supportable; if you wanna tell us the GOP can't abide Mr. Obama's pick 'cos they are making a wrong interprtation of her role in wallpapering the Administration's slant on Benghazi on the Sunday politricks programs, fine; but you haven't a leg to stand on when you clam Susan Rice is opposed 'cos she is a woman of color -- unless you are claiming Condeleezza Rice is actually a fiendishly talented white female impersonator? (And in that case, why do you hate effeminate gay men?) Is it some "who's more black" contest? If so, you're objectifying women and racial minorities!

"Thank you for your input, Vint. Now please sit down."

The Internet Isn't Broken; So Why Is The ITU Trying To 'Fix' It?

We've been talking about the ITU's upcoming World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) for a while now, and it's no longer "upcoming."

Imagine that.  The telecom industry wants to get its hands on the internet.  Yeah, these are the folks who thought charging both ends of a data connection was a good idea.  I'm sure that nothing bad could come of this.  Really.

The US, the EU and now Australia have all come out strongly against the ITU's efforts to undermine the existing internet setup to favor authoritarian countries or state-controlled (or formerly state-controlled) telcos who want money for internet things they had nothing to do with...

Having the US, EU and Australia against these things is good, but the ITU works on a one-vote-per-country system, and plenty of other countries see this as a way to exert more control over the internet, in part to divert funds from elsewhere into their own coffers. 

No, really?  Do ya think?  Let's see.  From the quoted article:

"There have been proposals that have suggested that the ITU should enter the internet governance business," said Terry Kramer, the US's ambassador to Wcit, last week.

"There have been active recommendations that there be an invasive approach of governments in managing the internet, in managing the content that goes via the internet, what people are looking at, what they're saying.

"These fundamentally violate everything that we believe in in terms of democracy and opportunities for individuals, and we're going to vigorously oppose any proposals of that nature."

He added that he was specifically concerned by a proposal by Russia which said member states should have "equal rights to manage the internet" - a move he suggested would open the door to more censorship.

Ooooookay.  Central control, monitoring, and censorship.  Pitched as a positive.  Gotcha.  Because history has shown us that this is such a good idea...

This would see firms face charges if they wanted to ensure streamed video and other quality-critical content download without the risk of problems such as jerky images.

No, this doesn't sound at all like some sort of government-sponsored protection racket.  "Nice stream you have here.  It would be a shame if something were to happen to it."

One of the other concerns raised is that the conference could result in popular websites having to pay a fee to send data along telecom operators' networks...

So that existing telecommunications companies can make more money.  Gotcha.  

Etno says a new business model is needed to provide service providers with the "incentive to invest in network infrastructure".

In other words, "We hate the idea of investing even an iota of our current profits into keeping our business afloat.  We'd rather have you force people to give us more money to do the things that we should already be doing."

So, hey.  What do the technical folks say?

Vint Cerf - the computer scientist who co-designed some of the internet's core underlying protocols and who now acts as Google's chief internet evangelist - has been even more vocal, penning a series of op-ed columns. 

"A state-controlled system of regulation is not only unnecessary, it would almost invariably raise costs and prices and interfere with the rapid and organic growth of the internet we have seen since its commercial emergence in the 1990s," he wrote for CNN.

Oh, please, Vint.  Why, sure, you're a technical guy.  I'm sure they admire that, really they do.  After all, if it wasn't for folks like you, the ITU wouldn't have the internet to try and exploit develop as a new profit source, after all!  You've got to understand, though - when it comes to business and politics, why, these folks are just so much smarter than you are!

Any minute now, I'm sure that the ITU will explain that it just wants to bend the cost curve down... and that you're a racist if you don't see it their way.

Oh, sucks!  No need to wait!  They're already laying that groundwork:

"The brutal truth is that the internet remains largely [the] rich world's privilege, " said Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the UN's International Telecommunications Union, ahead of the meeting.

Support the ITU, citizen.  They know so much better than you do, you racist, capitalist pig.

I've Seen This Movie Before...

I didn't like it at all, and I'm certain I wouldn't like a remake any more.

Anger as Hungary far-right leader demands lists of Jews

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - A Hungarian far-right politician urged the government to draw up lists of Jews who pose a "national security risk", stirring outrage among Jewish leaders who saw echoes of fascist policies that led to the Holocaust. 

Marton Gyongyosi, a leader of Hungary's third-strongest political party Jobbik, said the list was necessary because of heightened tensions following the brief conflict in Gaza and should include members of parliament.

There is evil there.

As Gandalf said of Mordor, "There is evil there that does not sleep." 

I think I was about 8 or 9 years old when I came home from playing out in our neighborhood one day, and asked my mom why the nice old couple down the road had numbers on their arm. It is, I think, my first memory and my first real understanding that there was something more than meanness in the world; that people were capable of true malevolence... 

More than that, though... looking at the world today, at attitudes towards Israel and her people, there is a growing fear within me that we, the people of America, have forgotten one of the most important lessons of the Holocaust. Eisenhower knew that lesson, and knew it well, and did his best to ensure that it would be communicated to the generations that followed. If we fail to hear and understand, it is our fault, not his. 

There is evil there that does not sleep. 

God help us all.

SF Squee

Some selected bits from Michael Flynn's forthcoming novel, On the Razor's Edge:

In the beginning, there were three, because in these matters there are always three. One was a harper and one was a Hound and one was nine. 

There was a treasure, because in these matters there is always a treasure. And there was a far quest, and an ancient tyranny; and longing and greed and ambition and treachery. There was courage and cowardice, as one often finds when something very small stands against something very large. One man had let his fears become the master of his acts, and so men died and cities burned.

"... and one was nine."  Sends a chill up my spine.  This isn't just good SF, it's absolutely bloody amazing story telling.  If you haven't read the other books, give them a try - they're a rare treat.