Category: Uncategorized

The USG attack on sovereignty

 Zerohedge reports that due to USG pressure, France, Portugal, Italy, and Spain are all interfering with the flight path of Bolivian president’s plane, forcing it to land in Vienna:

Moments ago a rather surreal episode of international diplomacy, or
rather lack thereof, took place when the airplane of Bolivian President
Evo Morales was forced to land in Austria over suspicions that NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board, a claim Bolivian authorities
denied. The reason: France and Portugal reportedly refused to allow the
flight to cross their airspace due to concerns that Snowden may have
been aboard the plane. It is what international law allows countries to
deny their airspace to presidents of sovereign countries, when the only
transgression is unproven speculation of harboring a whistleblower.

Of
course, with both insolvent countries bent over and in dire need of some
all too precious Uncle Sam liquidity, we can see how they would do
anything and everything to gain some favor with Obama.

Update: Italy and Spain have also been confirmed as states
that refused passage above their airspace to Bolivia’s Morales on
suspicions of harboring a patriot.

It would appear that all the NSA spying on European leaders has produced a useful quantity of dirt on them.  And also that the hunt for Snowden is a little more critical than the administration would have the public believe.

UPDATE: “Morales’ plane was stranded at Vienna airport
for several hours after Portugal and France abruptly canceled air
permits for it to fly through their airspace, but eventually resumed its
flight home form an energy meeting in Moscow. Austria found no sign of Snowden on board.” 

UPDATE II: “Bolivia’s ambassador to the United Nations, speaking in Geneva
Wednesday, continued to insist that several European countries had
refused permission for the plane to fly in their airspace. Sacha Llorenti said it was an “act of aggression” and that France, Portugal, Spain and Italy violated international law. Llorenti
said “the orders came from the United States” but other nations
violated the immunity of the president and his plane, putting his life
at risk.”

Isn’t she a little young for WWII?

Marine Watching Zimmerman Trial, Catches Officer Wearing Ribbon Reserved For WWII Vets

According to the article, Jeremiah Workman, a Marine who received the
nations second highest honor, the Navy Cross was watching the Zimmerman
trial when, Doris Singleton, a Sanford Police Officer took the stand. He noticed the ribbon rack she was wearing, and posted it to his facebook page. “Am
I going blind or is this police officer in the Zimmerman -Martin trial
wearing ribbons that she doesn’t rate?” he wrote alongside the photo he
posted to Facebook.”

Two in particular stood out, he said: the World War II Army of Occupation and the Defense Distinguished Service Medal.

There is no two ways about it.  The Badge Gang are, for the most part, murderous, corrupt, and shameless scum who aren’t above stealing the valor of others.  They fancy themselves “sojers” in a manner that is no more convincing than the posturings of rap stars and NFL players. Just listen to them talk about “civilians” as if they are not, by every possible definition, civilians themselves.

I’d like to say it is unbelievable, but it really isn’t.  If you’re willing to gun down dogs, children, and unarmed men, I suppose wearing fake military medals is all in a day’s work for a law enforcement officer.

A scandal a day for SFWA

While the organization is still reeling from the loss of our intrepid president of the last three years, it appears another member has just seriously violated SFWA’s confidentiality rules by posting screencaps of posts by Jerry Pournelle, Susan Schwartz, Jim Bailey, William Barton, Brad Torgersen, Gordon van Gelder, Bud Webster, and Jim Fiscus on Speculative Friction.  On the basis of the posts selected, it appears to have been done by a member who is sympathetic to Ms Jemisin.

Some Background: After John Scalzi became president of SFWA in 2010
the organization moved the official SFWA forums away from SFF.net to a
server under the SFWA.org domain. Many members moved to the new forums,
but the private SFWA forum on SFF.net remained for people who did not
want to make the change. The conversations on this Tumblr come from the
private SFF.net forums.

These discussions center around the proposed expulsion of Theodore
Beale/Vox Day from the organization and a speech given by author N. K.
Jemisin. There is also mention of a recent issue with the SFWA Bulletin.
Context for all of this:

(My apologies, Josh, I was incorrect.) While SFF.NET is not SFWA.ORG, I am informed that it is every bit as off-limits to make the private messages from sff.private.sfwa.lounge public as it is to quote the messages posted in the SFWA forums.

And if you think these conversations are entertaining, I only wish you could read the insane drivel being posted by the pinkshirts.

National Stasi of America

The Germans, in particular, are very, very unhappy to learn that the NSA is doing on a global scale what the Stasi did for decades in East Germany.  And Angela Merkel, the former East German, is desperately hoping that ignoring the scandal will make it go away prior to the upcoming elections:

Martin Schulz, the president of the European parliament, likened the NSA to the Soviet-era KGB and indirectly suggested a delay in the talks. Greens in the European parliament, as well as in France and Germany, called for the conference to be postponed pending an investigation of the allegations. They also called for the freezing of other data-sharing deals between the EU and the US, on air transport passengers and banking transactions, for example, and called for the NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, to be granted political asylum in Europe. French Greens asked Hollande to grant Snowden asylum in France.

Schulz said: “I feel treated as a European and a representative of a European institution like the representative of the enemy. Is this the basis for a constructive relationship on the basis of mutual trust? I think no.”

“It is shocking that the United States take measures against their most important and nearest allies, comparable to measures taken in the past by the KGB, by the secret service of the Soviet Union.”

While the anger is broad and growing across Europe, it is particularly intense in Germany which, according to Snowden’s revelations, is by far the main target within the EU of the NSA’s Prism programme sweeping up metadata en masse, capturing and storing it.

Given the high sensitivity of data-privacy issues in Germany, the scandal could test Merkel and force her on to the offensive against the Americans as she seeks to win a third term in general elections 11 weeks away.

Those who are attempting to claim that the NSA spying is simply more of the same are failing to recognize that the US government has committed what it itself describes as “acts of war” against every nation in Europe as well as the American people.  This is likely to have considerable ramifications that go well beyond the diplomatic, as it’s not impossible that the fallout will eventually result in China-like restrictions on the operations of American companies around the world.

Keep in mind that most Europeans are barely aware of the scandal yet, as they are paying closer attention to the economic turmoil in their countries and the upheaval in Egypt than to the Snowden affair.  But absolutely none of those who are aware of the NSA spying think that it is no big deal.

Armed police vs leashed dog

“A video posted yesterday on YouTube shows the grisly shooting of a dog by a police officer in Hawthorne, California. The 130-pound, 3-year-old Rottweiler named Max was shot to death after he escaped through a window in a parked car and ran over to his master, Leon Rosby, who was being arrested for filming the scene on his phone.

The video shows Rosby, 52, walking his dog Sunday around 7 p.m. near a house with several police squad cars parked outside.  He is seen filming the scene in order ‘to make sure nobody’s civil rights were being violated,’ he told DailyBreeze.com.”

I’d like to see a law that requires the execution of police officers who shoot dogs, but I’d settle for their immediate dismissal from the force and being banned from owning dogs for life. The dog was on a leash, for crying out loud, and his owner was right there.  They had a plethora of options available to them, and yet they preferred the one that permit them to live out their violent fantasies. To kill a loyal beast who was only doing his best to protect his master is unconscionable, and yet that has become standard police policy when invading a home.

Throughout history, the state police have always been among the primary instruments of evil, and in the present USA, the corrupt Badge Gang have thoroughly embraced evil in their own right.  Their observable enthusiasm for slaughtering innocent animals and children in the pursuit of their “duty” only underlines how sick and depraved they are.

And spare me the “few bad apples” nonsense.  If you’re wearing a badge these days, you are part of the problem.  Ask yourself this: when you and your “brothers” distinguish yourself from “civilians”, with whom do you believe you are at war?

CASE PINK query

It should be interesting to see just how far the pinkshirts are marching into delusional territory.  Let’s take a little two-question poll:

1. Are you male or female?
2. Do you consider it to be sexual harassment when a man asks a woman with whom he is unacquainted, once, politely, and with no physical contact, if she is willing to have sex with him?

With regards to question two, please note I am not asking if you approve or what you think the ideal way to approach a member of the opposite sex might be.  I am merely asking if you believe it is sexual harassment.  Please also note that it is a YES or NO question.  You can explain your answer if you wish, but be sure to actually provide the answer first.

Edward Snowden’s statement

One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom
and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued
liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and
others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them
with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I
will always be thankful.

On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would
not permit any diplomatic “wheeling and dealing” over my case. Yet now
it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President
ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which
I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions.

This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and
neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools
of political aggression.

Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but
those who would come after me.

For decades the United States of America has been one of the
strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this
right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current
government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the
strategy of using citizenship as a weapon.

Although I am convicted of
nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless
person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to
stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The
right to seek asylum.

In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers
like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned,
or powerless.

No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is
afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional
government it was promised — and it should be.

I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many.

Edward Joseph Snowden
Monday 1st July 2013

Those aren’t the words of a traitor to his country. Those are the words of a hero and patriot who has exposed the misdeeds of a government that exceeds its bounds and views the people as its enemy.

King Log is now King Stork

Who would have dreamed, back in the 1980s, that patriotic American dissidents would be fleeing to Moscow in pursuit of safety:

Putin said Russia ruled out handing Snowden over to the United
States. Putin said that Snowden was “not a Russian agent” and that
Russian intelligence services weren’t working with him, according to
Reuters.  He said that Snowden should choose his final destination
and travel there, but also offered some compliments to the National
Security Agency leaker.  Putin said he considered Snowden to be a
rights activist, calling him a “new dissident,” according to The
Associated Press, and compared him to Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei
Sakharov.

Putin makes it possible for our generation to understand how historical strongmen became popular in their day.  In the meantime, he’s certainly winning the world’s favor by protecting the man who revealed just how pernicious the US empire has become.

That “mythical” war on Christianity

As is so often the case, atheists whine about nonexistent persecution in the West while Christians are facing the real thing in the East and Middle East:

Horrific video shows Syrian Catholic priest being ‘beheaded by jihadist fighters in front of cheering crowd’. Father Francois Murad’s death was confirmed by Vatican news agency. Footage of 49-year-old’s gruesome death was filmed on a camera phone. The Syrian priest was killed last 23 June in Gassanieh, northern Syria.

This is bad enough, but it’s even more troubling that the Obama administration is actively supporting the Syrian jihadists and supplying them with weaponry.  If one simply looks at his actions, his comment about “my Muslim faith” looks less and less like a slip of the tongue, and more and more like an intentional thumbing of his nose at the American people.

Spare a thought for Father Francois Murad today, who showed courage unto death.  Keep that in mind the next time you are tempted to hold your tongue, or look the other way, for fear of what the world might think.

Because respect

Like the SFWA member quoted below, I am bound by the confidentiality rule, but these quotes from Twitter should give everyone a sufficiently accurate image of the anklebiting junior members now running wild within SFWA, as well as for the disdain they openly display for the men, who, back in the day, created the organization and actually wrote genuine science fiction:

Jason Sanford ‏@jasonsanford 26 Jun
Pournelle (noun): Term for a well-known author who complains things were better “back in the day” when jerks could act with impunity.

Jason Sanford ‏@jasonsanford 26 Jun
I’d be nice if people RT’d last tweet. I’d love Pournelle to become a meme. Not that real Pournelle’d understand memes if they bit his butt.

Scott Edelman ‏@scottedelman 26 Jun
Sigh … what did he do now?

Jason Sanford ‏@jasonsanford 26 Jun
Pournelle is being his usual self on the
usual forums which can’t be mentioned due to the usual privacy policy.

Jason Sanford ‏@jasonsanford 26 Jun
But this may all tie in with an organization beginning with S, ending with A, and a FW in the middle.

Jason Sanford @jasonsanford 27 JunPournelle
(noun): Term for well-known author who complains things were better
“back in the day” when jerks could act with impunity.

Jason Sanford ‏@jasonsanford 27 Jun
It’s a good day when your words have irked the Pournelles of our genre. See previous tweet for definition of term.

Justin Howe ‏@JustinHowe 27 Jun
@jasonsanford Also my term for the Pournelles is “Dense Matter”. Such as, “And then we got stymied by the dense matter at the genre’s core.”

One can readily observe that there is no dearth of jerks acting with impunity these days. What horrifically nasty little creeps! Jason Sanford and his herd of never-will-bes are not worthy to so much as shine the shoes of veteran SF authors like Jerry Pournelle, Mike Resnick, and Barry Malzberg, no matter how many participation ribbons and affirmative action trophies they give each other in the pretense that they are Real SF Riters.

And in addition to snapping at the ankles of 80 year-old men, the pinkshirts are now waxing enthusiastic about [REDACTED: CASE PINK SWASTIKA] because apparently SF conventions are just overflowing with perverts uncontrollably attracted to the hairy dugs and misshapen posteriors of shambling quasi-bipedal manatees.

I shitteth thee not.

Needless to say, this is all being driven by the sort of overweight, unemployed “writers” who spend considerably more time talking about themselves – and, one is forced to presume, eating –  than they do actually writing anything. Because respect.

What any of this has to do with writing and publishing science fiction, I leave to your imagination.

The ironic thing is that [REDACTED: CASE PINK SWASTIKA] will almost surely have the unintended consequence of exposing homosexual harassers instead of the intended targets. Women, especially overweight and unattractive women, have absolutely no idea how overtly aggressive gay men tend to be in comparison with straight men. Based on the sob stories dating back decades that have been shared on various blogs, I would estimate that I have been “sexually harassed” by gay men 2x more than any ten female SFWA members combined have been “sexually harassed” by straight men.

Actually, come to think of it, I was once “sexually harassed” by a famous female author at a professional convention. [ALERT: TRIGGER WARNING!] I accepted her gesture as the compliment it was obviously intended to be, smiled, removed her hand, and continued with the conversation. But apparently the concept of gracefully rejecting an unwanted or inappropriate invitation is completely beyond the pinkshirted manatees.

Because respect.

At this point, I suspect the SFWA’s old guard is thinking “you know, we would have been a lot better off if we had simply called [REDACTED]’s bluff, maintained the membership standards, and permitted her to walk away mad.”  Lower standards seldom produce desirable results.