Tag Archives: DHS

Guess They’re Not Too Scared

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The other day I mentioned about a story that says some in DC are afraid of Silicon Valley companies because of SOPA. I guess we all should have seen this coming.

Here’s the headline.

White House tries cyber scare demonstration to spur Senate

And here’s the lead paragraph.

The White House orchestrated a simulated cyberattack on New York City’s power supply during a summer heat wave late Wednesday to illustrate not only potential human and economic casualties, but to tee up support for Senate passage of a sweeping cybersecurity bill.

Ah yes. Let’s scare the crap out of congress so we can make them do our bidding. Nice touch by the current administration. Remember, these guys claim they’re the most open administration, evah.

Honestly, these bozo’s on Capitol Hill know nothing about computers nor do they know anything about security. You want it done right? Let Bruce Schneier write the damned thing. They would never let him because there wouldn’t be any opportunity for graft and corruption. Er, election donations, I mean.

This sort of thing reinforces the lack of seriousness of this administration. Instead of doing something, they’d rather “scare” congress into doing their bidding. A complete joke and yet again proving all they care about is pretending they’re doing something instead of actually doing something about the problem. Vote ‘em all out.

Good. They Should Fear The Electorate

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This is a story that warms my heart.

In the wake of the Internet blackout that led to the dramatic death of two controversial online piracy bills, a new warning has entered the Hill vernacular: “Don’t get SOPA’d.”

Lawmakers are tiptoeing around issues that could tick off tech heavyweights such as Google or Amazon. They don’t want a legislative misstep to trigger the same kind of online revolt that killed the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect IP Act in the Senate in January.

Good. They should fear the electorate. The electorate elected them to do the bidding of the governed and not the other way around, contrary to how it’s been. A congress critter with a healthy fear of the population is a good thing. It means they’ll actually listen instead of giving their constituents lip service.

Since congress has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can’t be trusted to do anything right. Don’t let them do anything, is my feeling.

But Web companies saw it as government overreach that could lead to censorship and gigantic legal expenses for startups.

It was government overreach. You’d be an idiot or someone who believes fully in using government to do anything to think otherwise. One wrong move and boom, off the internet goes your company.

“There’s so much fear about a SOPA backlash that it’s almost halting progress on anything,” said one tech industry source who’s involved in the cybersecurity talks.

Good. The less congress does, the less it can screw things up.

But there are still some provisions of bills that concern tech companies. The bill written by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) would impose new requirements
…
A rival bill by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
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Privacy advocates worry both bills would expand the National Security Agency’s ability to monitor domestic Internet networks. That provision has made lawmakers especially skittish because it has the potential to spook activists.

Lieberman, along with Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), recently tried to allay fears by issuing a press release that said their bill “in no way resembles” SOPA and PIPA.

You know what congress? Just leave the internet alone. The internet grew just fine without your help. Anything you touch you will screw up because your lobbyists are the one’s pushing for these bills. It’s all about the reelection cash for you bloodsuckers.

You may think I’m being mean, but really, the gross incompetence shown by congress over the past 30 years and their lack of doing anything positive for this country shows I am correct. And I am talking about both parties. Neither party has done anything but try to expand government control over the internet. Piss off already. Stop tyrying to screw up something that works.

Can We Just Abolish The TSA?

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The more these stories come out, the more it shows we are completely and utterly wasting out money and our liberties with this farce called the TSA. The entire edifice is security theater and it’s about time the curtain came down on the production.

A Hawaiian mom says she was humiliated when asked to prove her breast pump was real at an airport.

The woman says she was flagged for additional screening at the Lihue Airport Wednesday because of her electric breast feeding pump.

She claims agents told her she couldn’t take the pump on the plane because the bottles in her carry-on were empty.

I’m sure there is some facile answer as to why empty bottles are a threat, but realistically it’s stupid. No one takes over a plane with empty bottles. And as for the TSA? Oh yeah, they came thru in flying colors with their arrogance and heavy handed treatment of the prisoners, er passangers.

“I asked him if there was a private place I could pump and he said no, you can go in the women’s bathroom. I had to stand in front of the mirrors and the sinks and pump my breast in front of every tourist that walked into that bathroom. I was embarrassed and humiliated and then angry that I was treated this way.

When the bottles were full, she was allowed back on the plane.

Seriously?

And you know what’s coming next. What will “happen” to the most enlightened yet wrong TSA agent?

Strand said the TSA has since told her the agent involved will go through remediation training and that a memo will be sent to agents at the airport about how to handle similar situations in the future.

Nothing. But you already knew that.

Again, let’s abolish the TSA. They do nothing to make flying safer. Nothing. Let’s stop pretending that they do.

Can We Just Abolish The TSA?

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It’s bad enough they do their job poorly. Now we find they’re not even doing their job at all.

The security breach happened Saturday when a walk-through metal detector was left unattended for less than a minute, officials said.

Well hey, it was only a minute. What could happen? Hey, it’s only the state capital. Who needs to worry about security, right?

Oh and don’t you worry, these miscreants will be dealt with harshly.

As a result of the incident, officials said, two TSA officers have been removed from screening duties and are to undergo additional training.

And they weren’t fired because?

It was only dereliction of duty. That’s no big deal, right?