kimmy

Yes, I think that the President's announcements of reforms is a vindication of Edward Snowden. And it is completely obvious that this open debate has only occurred because of the actions of Edward Snowden. The President claims otherwise. He claims "we would have gotten to the same place", but the President is (to put it as politely as possible) being disingenuous. He's had almost 5 years to "get to that place", and yet it is only in the past 2 months that any "open debate" on what NSA is actually doing has occurred. Congressmen from both parties have been demanding more information about these programs for years, and have been stonewalled or lied to. Just a few months ago Intelligence Director James Clapper lied to Congress in response to questions about what kind of data the NSA actually collects. The administration knew he was lying, said nothing. Open and honest debate? Only after Snowden's leaks did The Clapper admit that "my statement was in error, lol, k thx bai". Until Snowden came along, the President and the NSA and the few politicians in the know showed no interest at all in an "open and honest debate" about surveillance. Just the opposite. And the President is (to put it as politely as possible) full of shit when he claims otherwise. If the President feels that these reforms will help safeguard the rights of Americans, then Americans should thank Edward Snowden for helping safeguard their rights. It's as simple as that. -k

"As the author of the Patriot Act, I am extremely disturbed by what appears to be an overbroad interpretation." -Rep. James Sensenbrenner. "I do not believe the released FISA order is consistent with the requirements of the Patriot Act. How could the phone records of so many Americans be relevant to an authorized investigation?" -Rep. James Sensenbrenner. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/08/how-secrecy-has-already-corroded-our-democracy-in-concrete-ways/278478/ If the guy that wrote the damned thing says that the Snowden leaks show that it's being used incorrectly and that the oversight requirements he wrote into the act are not being met, that to me appears to be a severe blow to the claim that it's all kosher. -k

Don't worry, guys! Help is on the way! (this is the best advertisement I have seen in a while.) -k {"I'm no Vanderbilt, but this train makes hay!"}

The RCMP itself says that the "bad apple" idea is a naive response to the issues (a "cop-out", one might say. *rimshot*) One reason people should be critical of the "bad apple" concept is that "The Blue Code of Silence" is real. When a "bad apple" is protected from consequences by his department, they're accomplices. Note how many of these videos aren't one lone cop, but groups of them. A second reason is the existence of bad institutional policies. Whether it be "stop and frisk" in New York or body-cavity searches for Texas motorists, or department-sanctioned use of SWAT teams for inappropriate purposes, or inadequate training (which has been discussed repeatedly by experts in wake of the Dziekanski incident)... you can't blame bad policies on bad apples. -k

Thanks for those statistics, carepov. How unlucky that family was to encounter so many bad apples at once. What are the odds of something like that happening? Seems like often these bad apple police come in groups with other bad apple police. hmm. -k

I understand that President Obama is taking to the airwaves to defend the NSA in an in-depth interview with noted hard-hitting journalist ... Jay Leno. Let's turn it into a drinking game! Take a shot every time Mr President says a variation on each of: -"keeping America safe" -"law-abiding Americans have nothing to fear from the NSA." -"Congressional oversight" -"judicial oversight" -"healthy dialog" -"I understand that people value privacy, but..." -"finding the right balance" Take two shots if Obama mentions Snowden's age or refers to Snowden as a "hacker". Take three shots if Obama calls Snowden a "narcissist", "troubled", or "misguided". Pound the whole bottle if Obama mentions that Snowden's girlfriend is a stripper. -k

"It's my understanding… that the Department of Justice is looking at some of the issues raised in the story." -White House spokesman and local dumb-ass made good Jay Carney. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-reaction-idUSBRE97412S20130805 This has apparently been happening since the Clinton administration, according to the DEA who swore up and down that it's on-the-level. And it's been reviewed by every Attorney General since. But apparently it's up for re-review. Why is it up for re-review? What has changed since the last time the DoJ re-reviewed it? What has changed? Just one thing: people know about it now. The review criteria have changed because people know about it now. I think it's clear that Edward Snowden is a true whistleblower who has exposed genuine wrongdoing. I think that AG Holder should send him a thank-you note saying "thanks for reminding me to re-review that illegal program, Ed!" -k

To be fair, the article doesn't say that 4000 people were falsely imprisoned, just that their convictions were thrown out. Presumably because everything this judge touched is tainted and could be easily challenged. In fact, it turns out this is oldish news-- Judge Ciavarella and Judge Conahan were originally convicted in 2011. This was in the news because Judge Ciavarella's latest attempt at appeal has failed. More details are here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal Particularly damning, Judge Conahan used his budgetary authority to close down a state-run detention center and direct state funds to the construction of the private facility that later gave kickbacks to Conahan and Ciavarella: http://pysih.com/2009/02/24/judge-mark-ciavarella-and-judge-michael-conahan/ If he'd taken pictures of these teenagers he'd be going to jail for 28,000 years. But since he just took away their liberty, he just gets 28. But clearly, he's a child predator. His motivation was money rather than sexual gratification, but he indisputably preyed on children. -k

Judge sentenced to jail for accepting kickbacks in exchange for sentencing young people to excessive sentences at private corrections facilities. In one case a girl receive a 3 months jail sentence for creating a MySpace page mocking her school principal. 4000 convictions have been overturned as a result of this judge. http://rollingout.com/criminal-behavior/judge-must-serve-28-years-after-making-2-million-for-sending-children-to-jail/ Kind of illustrates one danger of for-profit prisons, as cybercoma mentioned earlier. -k

So, Shady was urging us to watch the CNN special report about Benghazi tonight. I didn't, but I assume Shady did. Did they have anything interesting to say? -k

-k

I would like to try all of the beers that you guys have suggested! Unfortunately, here in Kim City the liquor stores don't always have the greatest selection. -k

What struck me about these particular incidents is that these *aren't* rogue cops trying to get away with something. Notice how the guy calls in a female officer to administer the cavity search? Notice how they make sure everything happens in view of the dash camera? Those aren't the actions of rogue cops trying to get away with something. Those are the actions of cops following a procedure. It's not a "one bad apple" type problem, it's a "the whole institution is messed up" type problem. -k

More Matt Mays: (at least in this video, nobody gets mauled to death by wolves.) I don't know why this woman is sad. She is gorgeous and she has a '69 Charger. The world is her oyster. -k

My standby is Okanagan Springs Pale Ale or Okanagan Springs 1516. I also like Vancouver Island Brewery's Dark Lager. -k

I don't understand the question. Are you saying that Harper's apology regarding residential schools has relevance to Canada's official languages? I don't get the connection. -k

So yesterday I posted that the "warrants" these contractors need to snoop into your email and search history and other online activities are actually just a broadly general pop-up form on the computer screen that's not actually reviewed by a judge or any other personnel. And today we've learned that information they gain from their snooping passed along to police officers in the form of anonymous tips that they don't reveal, and invent false pretexts as a means of using this information. So... do the surveillance supporters here have any response to this? I mean, don't these two pieces of information combine to prove that this surveillance system is exactly as bad as "alarmists" have been saying it could be? -k

But hey, it's only "metadata", right? They're only using it to catch terrorists, right? (Reuters) - A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans. Knowing which vehicle to stop sounds awfully specific for "metadata", Argus. What they're saying is, they're feeding information they've obtained through "terrorism surveillance" to the police, and they're instructing the police to invent false pretexts so that they can act on this information without admitting that it was obtained through warrantless surveillance. -k

On the subject of oversight of these programs: But the elected officials that President Obama claims are providing oversight say they didn't know about these programs, and can't obtain information about them either. One bright side of all of this is that for the first time in a decade, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are working together for a common cause. -k

Last I heard, the Biebs was spitting off his hotel balcony at groups of his own fans. Class act. On the bright side, Justin did co-star in what is possibly one of the greatest Saturday Night Live skits to never actually air... Song For Daddy. -k

Sadly this was my first reaction as well. -k

Take It On Faith, by Matt Mays: (warning, this video takes a disturbing and rather gory turn. I'm honestly not sure what's up with that. But I do like the song.) The location in this video with the painted landscape is actually a real place! I was there in person when I was just a kimlet. In south-eastern California, there is a place called "Slab City" where there are concrete slabs that were once upon a time part of a US Army base. The base and the buildings are gone, but the concrete foundations remain. And these concrete slabs are now home to squatters, "boon-dockers", RVers, "off-grid" survivalists, burned out hippies, and all kinds of colorful characters. One of the most colorful is a religious fanatic who has painted an entire hill with bright colors and Bible verses... it almost looks like something from a Dr Seuss book. This hill is known as "Salvation Mountain", and it's the setting for some of the scenes in this video. It was neat watching this and suddenly realizing, "hey, I know that place!" -k

Canada's version of the "3 strikes" laws? -k

It's no secret that the state of Texas wants to get its business in your business, as Rick Perry's mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasound law demonstrated. And now, Texas State Troopers are getting in on the action too. As if it isn't disgusting enough that this happened at all, it's made even more repulsive by the officer going anus first then vagina, without changing gloves. Not the first of its kind, either. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/troopers-texas-probe-genitals-women-traffic-stops-article-1.1414668 Pigs. -k