Obama Administration Meltdown Thread

cerrano · Post by **cerrano** » Sun Jun 30, 2013 1:59 pm

Steve of phpBB wrote:
howard wrote:Just one more. (Think of the tiny percentage of stories and items that exist, documenting the rise of our police state, that I choose to post. A fraction of 1%.)

You don't want the po-po to track your movements? Just turn off your celly. Um, maybe not:

License-Plate Readers Let Police Collect Millions of Records on Drivers

I saw a cop using one of these yesterday, first I've ever seen. Just driving up the avenue, recording every parked car, feeding into the database. Just in case. For my protection, no doubt.

Fuck em.
This is the kind of thing that concerns me a lot. In many of these issues, whether it be facial recognition or license plate recording or warrantless gps tracking, the searches are justified on the ground that the information being recorded is publicly available anyway, for example, anyone walking down the street can see your car or your face. But the difference is that with automatic recording, compilation, and analysis, and with infinite storage, the data being gathered through these methods goes light-years beyond what could otherwise be gathered using the old-fashioned methods of police observation. And I don't think the judges who have been making these decisions are really tuned in to technology and what it can do.

I do think that the trend is starting to turn, and that things like this are more likely to be found illegal under the Fourth Amendment. Or, Congress will step in, like it did with the Wiretap Act, and set standards. But it is going to be a long, frightening road between here and there.

good one, steve. especially after their reaction to the snowden news.

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 5:20 pm

Edward Snowden given possible lifeline as Bolivia hints it would grant asylum

I suppose there are worse places to fade into

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 5:30 pm

One law for people, another for business.

Obama administration to delay portion of Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON -- Businesses that do not insure their employees will be exempt from penalties until 2015, the Internal Revenue Service announced late Tuesday.

________________

It also does not change the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to purchase insurance.

What a clusterfuck.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:17 pm

Fuck.that.shit.

Wait, I own a business. Awesomesauce!

Wait another sec, I already offer full health insurance. How are the Rays doing tonight?

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:42 pm

heh.

Bolivian leader's plane rerouted on Snowden fear

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — The plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales home from Russia was rerouted to Austria on Tuesday after France and Portugal refused to let it cross their airspace because of suspicions that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board, the country's foreign minister said.

Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca denied that Snowden was on the plane, which landed in Vienna, and said France and Portugal would have to explain why they canceled authorization for the plane.

"We don't know who invented this lie. We want to denounce to the international community this injustice with the plane of President Evo Morales," Choquehuanca said from La Paz. Morales had earlier met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit of major gas exporters in the Kremlin.

So, Mr. Hollande is outraged at Obama's spying on the EU. But he allows this bullshit. Fucking tinpot dictators, all.

GoodKarma · Post by **GoodKarma** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:26 pm

howard wrote:One law for people, another for business.

Obama administration to delay portion of Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON -- Businesses that do not insure their employees will be exempt from penalties until 2015, the Internal Revenue Service announced late Tuesday.

________________

It also does not change the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to purchase insurance.
What a clusterfuck.

Now the door is open to repeal the mandate...expect that fight at this time next year.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 10:53 am

howard wrote:You don't want the po-po to track your movements? Just turn off your celly. Um, maybe not:

License-Plate Readers Let Police Collect Millions of Records on Drivers

Yep, it's bad. So bad, I'm quoting myself.

You don't want the nsa/po-po listening and monitoring your communications? Just stay off the internets/cell phones. Um, maybe not:

U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 10:56 am

One more little problem if you seek anonymity. Not if the credit card bankers don't approve:

Mastercard and Visa Start Banning VPN Providers

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Jul 06, 2013 3:54 pm

If indeed the hijacking of Evo Morales' jet over Europe is what results in Snowden gaining asylum, my sense of poetic justice will fucking love it.

Venezuela, Nicaragua offer asylum to Snowden; Double Standards and Hypocrite Allies

rass · Post by **rass** » Sun Jul 07, 2013 9:32 am

Mexican police chief killed with rifle lost in ATF gun-tracking program

The notation on the Department of Justice trace records said the WASR was used in a “HOMICIDE – WILLFUL – KILL –PUB OFF –GUN” –ATF code for “Homicide, Willful Killing of a Public Official, Gun.”

Good thing they deciphered that for us.

Post by **Shirley** » Sun Jul 07, 2013 4:05 pm

rass wrote:Mexican police chief killed with rifle lost in ATF gun-tracking program

The notation on the Department of Justice trace records said the WASR was used in a “HOMICIDE – WILLFUL – KILL –PUB OFF –GUN” –ATF code for “Homicide, Willful Killing of a Public Official, Gun.”
Good thing they deciphered that for us.

You hear that, hayseeds? We're using code names!

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:34 pm

White House to decide if Egyptian act was a 'coup'

WASHINGTON -- The White House is reviewing whether last week's removal of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi constituted "a coup" -- a decision that will affect billions in U.S. aid to the embattled nation.

"This is a complex and difficult issue, with significant consequences," said White House spokesman Jay Carney on Monday.

This is an issue neither complex nor difficult. There is a law that states US aid to a foreign nation must be suspended immediately upon a government overthrow by a military coup. The government of Egypt was overthrown by a military coup. Obama has no intention of obeying this law. Like dozens of other laws he and his predecessor decided to ignore.

And these fucking democrats derided Karl Rove when he claimed that " we are an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality".

This bullshit pretense of adherence to the rule of law, and all that goes with it, is hilarious. Common behavior to historical dictators and totalitarian regimes. The part that bums me out is that so many people swallow this crap, or even support it. Man, our country sucks.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 11:58 pm

Howard, Howard. What happened in Egypt was not a military coup. In those cases the military remove a democratically elected government by force and rule the country. But in Egypt it was more a case of the military recognizing a dangerous situation -- like Hurricane Sandy but more about the way things were being run -- and rushing to the aid of the people by maintaining order.

Also that elected guy -- Morse? Morrissey? Whatever, I've already forgotten. He wasn't really a good democratic guy. So this really shouldn't count as a coup. Kind of like that situation with Diem. And Noriega. And JFK.

It's really a do-over, not a coup. I'm sure they'll have another one of those election things soon enough. When things are safe. For the people.

Perhaps we should actually increase our aid to Egypt to get them through this trying time?

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:39 am

If all of a sudden I, on the rogue orders of Gen. Dempsey, had to take part in removing Barack Obama from the presidency because one day he was all like "I give you 48 hours to step down or we're going to remove you kicking and screaming" because it was in the best interest of the public, I'm pretty sure that regardless of how you slice it, I'd be involved in a coup.

Whether it was for altruistic reasons of dictator removal or not, it's still all junta-fied. At no point should a military ever be involved in possessing the power of the country both executively and militarily simultaneously. They are a neutral body at the employ of civilian officials appointed to positions of power.

At least, this is how my infantile naive little mind sees it. I could be wrong.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:45 am

rass wrote:Mexican police chief killed with rifle lost in ATF gun-tracking program

The notation on the Department of Justice trace records said the WASR was used in a “HOMICIDE – WILLFUL – KILL –PUB OFF –GUN” –ATF code for “Homicide, Willful Killing of a Public Official, Gun.”
Good thing they deciphered that for us.

Also noted in that article:

Hundreds of firearms were lost in the Fast and Furious operation. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed illegal purchasers to buy the firearms at the Lone Wolf store in the Phoenix suburb and other gun shops in hopes of tracing them to Mexican cartel leaders.

Hey! Maybe if we had a database that tracked all these damn guns we'd know who to blame for such gross negligence and incompetence!

Oh, wait. Only lawful abiding American citizens who don't gun run down to Mexico should be watched. Not the government. My bad.

/done stirring pot

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 6:24 am

DC47~
Thanks, I needed that. Now I understand.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 5:33 pm

Right. You say junta engaging in coup, I say democracy-stabilizing force during brief time of emergency. Just depends on your perspective.

The sad thing about this is that it's doing nothing for the price of gold. In the good old days a bit of blood running in the streets and the sound of tanks would make for a quick 10 to 20% bump. Have people gotten so inured to instability that they're not good for a bit of fleeing to the shelter of the shiny metal now and then?

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 5:45 pm

We got a little bump since the massacre yesterday morning, $30/~2%. Us goldbugs gotta be thankful for the little we can get.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 7:11 pm

2% is for pikers. It's nothing. We should get 2% just because they announced Donnie and Marie's summer touring schedule.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:44 am

Frankie Boyle is a Scottish comic that won the internet with this Tweet reply:

Post by **Shirley** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:56 am

We put a lot of Christians in prison too. And Americans! How can Barack Obama say God Bless America when we have millions of Americans in prison?

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 11:46 am

That is just wrong.

During Ramadan, they force feed the Gitmo prisoners only at night.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 2:12 pm

DC47 wrote:Right. You say junta engaging in coup, I say democracy-stabilizing force during brief time of emergency. Just depends on your perspective.

The sad thing about this is that it's doing nothing for the price of gold. In the good old days a bit of blood running in the streets and the sound of tanks would make for a quick 10 to 20% bump. Have people gotten so inured to instability that they're not good for a bit of fleeing to the shelter of the shiny metal now and then?

But junta and coup are much cooler terms and sound sexy.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Jul 13, 2013 11:10 am

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 6:24 am

Gee, all of the other articles just quoted Jimmah on George Zimmerman. He actually said some more important stuff (that no one wants to hear) (kinda like when he was president.)
Jimmy Carter: ‘America no longer has a functioning democracy’

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 11:38 pm

Nice priorities, Eric Holder/Obama

Feds Raid Pot Dispensaries in Washington, Where the Drug is Legal

Hey assholes. War's over. You lost.

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 6:41 am

howard wrote:Nice priorities, Eric Holder/Obama

Feds Raid Pot Dispensaries in Washington, Where the Drug is Legal

Hey assholes. War's over. You lost.

The point (or pointless of raiding a place dispensing pot to cancer patients and confiscating $2500 worth of drugs) stands, but as of now I think the only thing legal under state law in Washington is possession up to an ounce. So, slightly misleading headline? They are still working through the details on dispensation, and are supposed to start granting licenses on 12/1/13.

Then, look out Wall Street!

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 1:58 am

Obama Promise To 'Protect Whistleblowers' Just Disappeared From Change.gov

Man, oh fucking man.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 7:08 am

Johnnie wrote:Obama Promise To 'Protect Whistleblowers' Just Disappeared From Change.gov

Man, oh fucking man.

My sister who lives in DC is in town with her family. She is politically active and has worked as a congressional staffer for a couple of Democrats...

Anyway, big family dinner last night and my brother made a crack about Obama being a liar and my sister went into full defensive mode, eyes bulging, nostrils flaring and her passionate and fairly angry response was that Obama is no worse than other Presidents.

Separating the content of her remarks from the anger and you see one of the problems with the political class - they are so f-ing partisan that any criticism against their party is taken very personally. My sister is a good person and a great mother, but at times she is a complete idiot - and most of those times are when American politics comes up.

Could this be part of the reason that people aren't more enraged by this horrid administration? That protesting against someone that you believed in means that you agree with the other side?

Joe K · Post by **Joe K** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 8:04 am

Pruitt wrote:Separating the content of her remarks from the anger and you see one of the problems with the political class - they are so f-ing partisan that any criticism against their party is taken very personally.

This is spot-on. One of the big problems with U.S. politics is that most people who are politically engaged are hyper partisans, and treat their affiliation with the Democrats or the GOP like rooting for a sports team. During the Obama years, this has resulted in a dynamic where Democrats twist themselves into knots to rationalize away his faults (the most ridiculous one you'll hear is that he's playing "multi-dimensional chess," and that's why his genius isn't always readily apparent), while Republicans largely ignore his legitimate faults (civil liberties being the #1 one, in my book) in order to focus on baseless conspiracy mongering (death panels, Benghazi, etc.).

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 10:37 am

Two previous posts are spot on. Thanks for the story, Pruitt.

Joe K wrote:
Pruitt wrote:…while Republicans largely ignore his legitimate faults.

This drives me fucking nuts. Explaining over and over that he is not a fucking socialist. Similarly, explaining over and over that dubya was plenty intelligent (dyslexia explains his malaprops, not lack of intellectual command of the language), and his true deficit was the venality that runs through the veins of every Bush. Not that Obama is any bit less venal and evil.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 12:39 pm

Joe makes excellent points. Yes, they either twist themselves into knots or, dans le vent these days, they simply remain silent and act like nothing out of the ordinary is happening.

However, and this is in no way whatsoever a shot at Joe, "9/11 was an inside job!" is a baseless conspiracy theory. "The moon landing was faked!" is a baseless conspiracy theory. Benghazi, however, is not a is a baseless conspiracy theory. It is, rather, a tragic example of how staggeringly badly this administration can handle adversity and how far off-script they are willing to go to defend nonsensical talking-point explanations; they handled Benghazi poorly on every level. Blaming it on a YouTube video? Shameless. The IRS targeting of conservatives is not a is a baseless conspiracy theory. It was rather blatant. This goes on and on. In fact, the list of Obama debacles is brutally lengthy. Unquestionably some of the claims against Obama are ridiculous but there are more than enough born of veracity. Yet, without so much as blinking, the Media Party in America completely swallowed any and all of it as "phoney scandals".

You can't really blame Obama for the atrocious arrogance he shows. Why not act like that when you know you have an entire media out there to wipe your ass for you? And he can be comfortably secure in knowing they will never turn on him.

Granted, as with any President (stress any), there is no shortage of fruitcakeness from the loonies. "Obama has used more Executive Orders than any other President!" He hasn't. Not even close; he's about halfway toward Clinton and Dubbya. Yet, I swear I see that bit of idiocy on a daily basis; wingnuts that seriously think "Obama considers himself to be America's King". What on Earth did these hyperkooks do before the Internet came along? I can explain that.

I had hoped that the ceaseless hollow screeching about Bush was some sort of zenith after which rationality would prevail or at least emerge. And, oh, was I foolishly optimistic to hope that. I'm convinced more than ever that the Internet does not merely expose the whackjobs but, worse, it creates even more of them. The worst culprits for all of that sort of crap are Facefuck and Twitter. Some rank amateur uses a photo manipulation program, or far more likely uses an online service that does it for them, to create some "You can has cheezburger" level of graphic idiocy. Slap a picture of Obama on it. Add a misleading quote from 1998 with no context whatsoever. Post it on ShitFace and watch it take off like wildfire. Then all of a sudden you get staggering amounts of people that, for as long as their minor attentions will allow, willingly believe "Health care reform is really reparations for slavery!" and "Obama is actually a radical Muslim and his goal is to destroy the American economy!"

This is only going to get worse. Or, as they say back east, worser and worser. Fortunately, leaders of nations don't give a damn about so-called social media. And social media users don't understand that perpetuating bullshit on Cuntface is not useful activism; it's as worthless and empty as tweeting "my thoughts and prayers go out to all the little tsunami victims" and then feeling like you've actually done something benevolent where it is really just pissing into a void and instantly forgotten; forgotten in less time than it took to type.

I'm becoming convinced that, in the future, the successful people will be the ones possessed of actual attention spans.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 12:49 pm

I'm becoming convinced that, in the future, the successful people will be the ones possessed of actual attention spans.

As a medical professional, my expert opinion on this is, fucking word.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 4:56 pm

I find this graphic useful (while I would quibble with a few of the labels on the curve). From Jesse's Café Américain

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 6:01 pm

it all comes down to: USians have way too much stupid tv.

People need to actually watch/listen to lectures with facts and statistics. Not 10 minute round tables of people yelling at each other. The fact that they rebooted Crossfire is ridiculous. Newt Ginrich against Stephanie Cutter? What more partisan than that?

Jon Stewart will have to come back and yell at them again.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 6:25 pm

degenerasian wrote:The fact that they rebooted Crossfire is ridiculous.

They did? Yikes, that's pathetic. Ah, well, CNN is as dead as fuck anyway.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 7:53 pm

Scottie wrote:Joe makes excellent points. Yes, they either twist themselves into knots or, dans le vent these days, they simply remain silent and act like nothing out of the ordinary is happening.

I hate to admit it, but this describes me. I was never a huge Obama fan, and refused to vote for him in 2012, but if Bush did some of the shit Obama is pulling, I would have been enraged. Now, it just seems like the norm, and I stopped giving a fuck. I also stopped listening to pundits and reading political blogs because they just enraged me, and I let my subscription to The Nation expire several years ago, too. It's certainly not for a love or blind defense of Obama that I remain silent. Maybe it is just political fatigue, but I do think there is something to Scottie's point. If Mittens won, I'd be more pissed off about the same things.

Scottie wrote:The IRS targeting of conservatives is not a is a baseless conspiracy theory. It was rather blatant.

While agree with the majority of Scottie's point, The IRS targeting is a bad example. Yes, they targeted political terms like "Tea Party," but they also targeted Leftist terms like "Liberal," "Progressive" and others, and they are right to. 501(c)(3) organizations are not allowed to have political purposes, so if a group calls themselves the "Tea Pary of Kalamazoo" or "Progressives for Drunk Driving," the IRS better be flagging them. This explanation was of course glossed over by the MSM because it doesn't stir controversy. The media is no longer about telling the truth or an accurate picture, but just telling the sensationalist side of a story to sell copies or get/keep viewers. This is why we need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine and eliminate advertisements from the news. Make it about hard hitting journalism again, not about keeping viewers to sell them dick-hardening pills.

It does amaze me the amount of press the clearly bogus Obama "scandals" get and how long they remain at the forefront. Yet, where is the outrage over killing American citizens with drones? That is some fucked up shit, right there. Bush didn't even have the audacity to try that. [Is that what he meant by the Audacity of Hope?] The NSA shit, while no surprise, is a far cry from what Obama the Candidate stood for. I hear some Liberals and Obama lovers grumble, but not much more than that. Yet the hardcore get the terrorists at all costs types have their panties in a bunch. When Bush violated Civil Rights, they cheered him on and anyone who disagreed was a pussy. Now, they cry that Obama is a tyrant for doing the same things. [But the converse is true, Lefties who railed against Bush's violations are noticeably silent]

Degen nailed it, though. Too much stupid TV and radio in the US. Most of it is hyper-partisan and has destroyed political debate. Oh, and to touch on Scottie's point about the internet, I think the problem is that isolated loner crackpots of all stripes are now able to find each other and have an echo chamber for their lunacy. You find people who agree with your lunacy, and it solidifies it in your mind.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 8:05 pm

It does amaze me the amount of press the clearly bogus Obama "scandals" get and how long they remain at the forefront. Yet, where is the outrage over killing American citizens with drones? That is some fucked up shit, right there.

Let me again quote Dr. Goebbels. "Propaganda is not telling people what to think; it is telling people what to think about." Or, in this instance, what not to think about.

This is the reason for the media's choice of how much time to devote to which subject. The propaganda function is far more important than the ratings/viewers motive. Because the propaganda ends secure far more profit to the corporate owners of the media than the profits earned by a ratings point or two.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 8:50 pm

howard wrote:
It does amaze me the amount of press the clearly bogus Obama "scandals" get and how long they remain at the forefront. Yet, where is the outrage over killing American citizens with drones? That is some fucked up shit, right there.
Let me again quote Dr. Goebbels. "Propaganda is not telling people what to think; it is telling people what to think about." Or, in this instance, what not to think about.

This is the reason for the media's choice of how much time to devote to which subject. The propaganda function is far more important than the ratings/viewers motive. Because the propaganda ends secure far more profit to the corporate owners of the media than the profits earned by a ratings point or two.

Here we go, Howard's quoting his hero Nazi's again! Naw, good point Doc.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 10:46 pm

100 % serious response here. I love the truth. I make it a practice to know very well and understand as well as I possibly can the enemies of the truth, as well as the enemies of other things I love (freedom, pork, white girls) (yeah, that 100% guarantee had a short shelf life and doesn't cover content of ellipses.)