incompetence

Wrong Place at the Wrong Time; Where is the Justice?

by

I can’t help but laugh at this picture every time I see it. This guy is a classic example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ouch.

But this is just humorous (well, ok, it’s probably not very funny to the poor lad who now has to swallow to return his manliness to its original position). What happens when it’s not funny?

Take the recent Trayvon Martin situation. Spike Lee retweeted an address which was purported to be that of alleged shooter George Zimmerman. The only problem is, it was the wrong address.

So what happens when an angry mob shows up in front of your house?

That’s exactly what happened to an elderly couple, aged 70 and 72, who were the unfortunate occupants of the address that was being passed around.

Apparently, the woman’s son is named William George Zimmerman, and he briefly lived at that address in 1995. When William Zimmerman pleaded with the man who tweeted the address, the man responded, “Black power all day. No justice, no peace” along with an obscenity.

So, I ask, where is the justice for this couple? Where is their peace? They have had to temporarily relocate to a hotel out of fear for their safety.

Read more »

America: Land of the Police State, Home of the Domestic Extremist

by

We used to be the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

Now? More like land of the police state, and home of the domestic extremist. That’s what happens when enough people don’t care, or are bamboozled.

In a free society:

  • Police agencies respond only to evidence of planned and actual criminal activity.
  • Police officers keep the peace; they do not investigate citizens and activities unless there is some reason to investigate.
  • Police do not investigate citizens’ attitudes toward the central government, only their action.
  • Citizen dissent is lawful and police agencies do not investigate citizens’ attitudes toward the criminal justice apparatus.

None of that applies anymore. Now, in the United States, the government may:

  • Kill American citizens abroad, or here on US soil, without a trial or judicial review. A secret closed-door meeting is enough to end someone’s life. (Source)
  • Intercept and store 1.7 billion of your emails, phone calls and text messages each day, without a warrant. Enough information to fill 138 million books every 24 hours. (Source)
  • Charge you with a felony for peacefully protesting. (Source)
  • Imprison you for life, without access to a trial or attorney, and can use the US Military to do so. (Source)

Read more »

Administration Woefully Ignorant of Due Process

by

Incompetence. It seems like the current administration just can’t amass enough of it lately.

Eric Holder, Attorney General, stated earlier this week that the President has legal authority to authorize the killing of US citizens. Umm… say what?

“The administration is asserting the authority to kill any American whom the president declares to be an enemy of the state,” said Jameel Jaffer, a national security attorney with the ACLU. “That’s a breathtaking assertion.” ((http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/05/world/la-fg-holder-awlaki-20120306))

For the record, the only other administration that said anything even remotely similar was President Abraham Lincoln’s during the civil war. And even then, he said it should be under combat situations only.

Generally, due process guarantees the following (this list is not exhaustive):

  • Right to a fair and public trial conducted in a competent manner
  • Right to be present at the trial
  • Right to an impartial jury
  • Right to be heard in one’s own defense
  • Laws must be written so that a reasonable person can understand what is criminal behavior

Read more »

TSA Nude Body Scanners Proven Worthless

by

A blog post on the website TSA Out of our Pants! has just made the infamous nude body scanners (known by their technical name “backscatter scanner”) obsolete.

That’s right. $1 Billion (that’s Billion, with a B) worth of scanners are now useful only as paperweights. Actually, that’s not entirely true. They are useless even as paperweights, since they are so enormously large.

The video on the above blog post (which I will embed at the end of this post as well) demonstrates how to get something through the body scanners you’ll find at every airport throughout the US. Just so there’s no confusion, I do not advocate attempting to do this for nefarious purposes. I only report on this, as did the original poster, to spread awareness.

You’ll recall it was not that long ago (Christmas day, 2009) that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner. It was after this that the TSA announced they would be implementing these nude scanners across the board. Never mind that there is a decent amount of evidence that raises a lot of suspicions about this entire episode, or that these nude body scanners likely would not have caught the underwear bomber to begin with.

Read more »

+ More