Would government employees be happy with the public having databases of government employees' personal information?
Not a bad idea.
A phone app to upload pics/video with location/time data taken of government officials/employees and other state actors wherever/whenever encountered by average people to a database hosted in multiple locations somewhere out of the US government's reach (short of military action, of course) like Ecuador and others, with facial recognition and other sophisticated search/filter algorithms in place.
Turn the machinery of the panopticon back on them.
They shouldn't worry, though. It's only 'metadata' which is meaningless, right?
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
Looking out at the distant stars, galaxies and radiation in the Universe today, we've been able to determine not only what it's made out of, but how long it's been since the Big Bang: 13.8 billion years.
Umm, not so much.
Might want to check out other theories like ones that incorporate quantum theories.
"(Phys.org) - The universe may have existed forever, according to a new model that applies quantum correction terms to complement Einstein's theory of general relativity. The model may also account for dark matter and dark energy, resolving multiple problems at once.
The widely accepted age of the universe, as estimated by general relativity, is 13.8 billion years. In the beginning, everything in existence is thought to have occupied a single infinitely dense point, or singularity. Only after this point began to expand in a "Big Bang" did the universe officially begin.
Although the Big Bang singularity arises directly and unavoidably from the mathematics of general relativity, some scientists see it as problematic because the math can explain only what happened immediately afterâ"not at or beforeâ"the singularity.
"The Big Bang singularity is the most serious problem of general relativity because the laws of physics appear to break down there," Ahmed Farag Ali at Benha University and the Zewail City of Science and Technology, both in Egypt, told Phys.org."
Wait for their control signal to be jammed then home in on the triangulated source of the disruption and use whatever 'tamper deterrence' measures have been built into them to neutralize the threat?
The missile equivalent's acronym is "HARM" - High speed Anti-Radiation Missile.
Replacing the missile component with a drone makes it a "HARD".
When in operation it would be a HARD-on.
Thanks, I'll be here all week!
Please remember to tip the burgers and try the waitresses!
Do you realize that "to Brietbart" has entered the lexicon as a verb that means "To lie about by taking statements out of context and/or maliciously editing" after willfully serving as an outlet for James O'Keefe? A thinking person would sooner trust the National Inquirer's latest report on BatBoy.
That said, the DHS is the worst kind of administrative cancer: Instead of overseeing things and keeping them working together (like an administration is supposed to), it has instead become corruptly obsessed with perpetuating infinite amounts of red tape, preventing useful work and demoralizing everyone. You can trace the collapse of the Secret Service to the day the DHS ate it and smothered it in red tape.
Facts are facts regardless of who reports them.
Are you saying that Breitbart made up the interview with former DHS official and whistle-blower Philip Haney? Had him read a script?
Sounds to me more like DHS damage control shills on the job.
Why the hell would DHS being involved? This seems more like an FBI thing. I don't exactly understand how this is a homeland security issue.
Good thing the perp wasn't Muslim. DHS allowed the San Bernadino attack to happen, yet they're all over this. Listen to the interview of Philip Haney (near the bottom of the page in two parts).
US bound airlines submit lists of passengers to US authorities before departure. Anybody the US won't accept is not allowed to board though the strange thing here is that these people had all applied for visas in advance, and had them approved.
It's a wonder any Muslims are turned away at all from travel to the US regardless of whether or not they may have ties to violent groups.
The San Bernadino, CA killers might have been stopped before they killed 14 people but the US government halted the program that was in place to prevent such attacks because of political correctness.
The idea here is to cause the operators to be responsible for their actions.
No.
The idea here is to discourage widespread public ownership & use of drones. This is but the first step.
The US government understands very well the power drones give individuals in observing/recording what the government does not want publicized about what it does and does not do away from the prying eyes of civil rights activists and journalists.
However, you do need to register your car if you're going to use it. On your property or not, it's still federally required to have it registered. Which is what this law is doing. You're not paying $5 for a pilot license, you're paying $5 to register it.
Wrong. As long as a motor vehicle is not operated on public roads there is no requirement to register or license it. You could build yourself an entire fleet of motor vehicles from scrap parts and as long as you operate them only on private property, no registrations, licensing, or inspections are required.
As for drones, I say have an ongoing "Unregistered Drone Fly-In" at FAA HQ and at the WH and Congress until they repeal the law. Additional unregistered-drone protest-flights at CIA/NSA/FBI/DHS/TSA/ATF HQs for bonus points.
It offends me. It offends me because I live in a city where I know I can go to the nearest hotel if I need a cab, something I will not be able to do when they are gone.
First, only the largest major hotels in the largest US cities have cabs waiting and/or continuously picking up & dropping fares. You'd have to hope the clerk doesn't tell you to leave the property if you simply walked in and asked them to call a cab for you as a non-guest, in most places.
Second, why would you assume all the existing taxi companies would disappear? Having to actually compete, some will surely fail, but it's not a given that would be equally true for every taxi company. The ones that offer quick-responding, clean, honest, pleasant, and competitively-priced services can survive.
Where I know that my disabled relatives can also get cabs only because the companies are legislated to have a certain number of handicapped equipped cars.
Usually transportation for disabled/special needs/seniors is provided at no cost in most places in the US by city/township/county municipal governments, even in smaller towns. Here in a city of ~35K there are municipal special needs/disabled/senior transportation vehicles available by telephone at no cost that cover the entire county.
I don't ever recall seeing any kind of special accommodation vehicles operated by either of the two major-name taxi companies in town. Having had to ride in those cabs on a few occasions over the years, it would seem cruel to subject a disabled person to similarly-maintained & operated special needs vehicles.
Given all that, can't another business exist that isn't intended nor suited to be a special needs transportation specialty service? Are we next to prosecute shoe stores for selling shoes which offend and don't accommodate the legless?
If the goal is actually to provide transportation options for disabled/senior/handicapped, I think that's already seen massive improvement in recent years, and in many if not the majority of cases taxi companies have had no or little involvement. I believe the existence of other private at-will services has no real impact on this area and that this is FUD from the taxi industry.
(Alright, kid but I wonder how many right-brained, artistic types [washingtonpost.com] would have been taken-in by my simple "logic?" *grin*)
Much of the public and a good portion of government officials (those officials who aren't pushing the "hyperloop" boondoggle solely for purely cynical political, ideological, and/or cronyism reasons).
From what I see on the Marshals' listings, the items being sold are forfeited pursuant to a final judgement from a suitable court. The proceeds are indeed listed as part of the judgement, and would therefore be distributed among the victims (possibly including the government itself) as any similar fine would.
Some jurisdictions may be abusing forfeiture for profit - and that's bad - but it's quite a leap to extrapolate that to all law enforcement agencies in the country, as some Slashdotters are quick to do.
It doesn't matter how or for what reason(s) the property was seized or what legal/procedural mechanism was involved.
Government should not profit. Proceeds from any and all seized property should go to non-governmental/non-government-affiliated charities.
Having judges/courts seize the property being sold, even upon a criminal conviction, rather than some street cop deciding that your money/house/car/etc broke the law simply moves the corruption up the ladder and further institutionalizes the problem.
No the fuss is there because the USA is trying to claim sovereignty of stuff in space by assigning ownership rules.
Sounds more like you want to benefit from other people's investment, risk, and labor for free (invest in your own damned space mining!). Or that you want to make all resources off the Earth forbidden for anyone to use which is Luddite in nature to the extreme.
I object on the grounds of the USA unilaterally extending its powers into space without reference to the rest of the world.
Nobody is going to declare the Moon or some other celestial body a US Territory or Possession. It specifically says that in the bill that was passed. All the bill that was passed says is that if you extract resources from some celestial body you keep what you've taken risk, invested large sums, and worked hard to obtain. It doesn't stop anyone else from setting up their own operation right 'next door', as it were.
You are objecting to fantasies that reside only in your mind.
It'll probably take a million years for us to suck our solar system dry if not longer and by then we'll have colonized many other solar systems.
The fuss is because there are those who view humanity's very existence as a bad thing. Exploitation of resources in space extends humanity's time and allows for expansion and growth which they see as a bad thing.
The fuss is also about political power. Environmental groups who have used their political power to control if, how, how much, and by whom the Earth's limited natural resources are exploited as a political/economic weapon and means of control over populations see the exploitation of unlimited natural resources in space as eventually making their weapon powerless and destroying their ability to control populations.
So, if we can perfect small and sensitive pheromone sensors and install them on drone swarms, with a sample of an individual's pheromones they could be made to follow/target said individual, like for instance Putin or Obama.
Interesting.
I wonder if we'll start seeing FSB and SS agents following along behind said persons wherever they go, spraying cleaner/deodorizer or some other sort of pheromone-scrubbing chemicals and confiscating anything they touch in order to attempt to hide or obfuscate the unique pheromone trail these individuals leave wherever they go?
Can you provide a link to this law (and it must be a federal law)?
FAA is bound by Section 336 Special Rule For Model Aircraft from enacting new regulations regarding model aircraft which fall within the parameters described in Section 336.
On the other hand, a model aircraft operated pursuant to the terms of section 336 would potentially be excepted from a UAS aircraft certification rule, for example, because of the limitation on future rulemaking specifically âoeregarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft.â Public Law 112-95, section 336(a).
Of course, all it will take is a little creative reinterpretation. Not like that's anything new when some Amendment, law, regulation, etc gets in the way of what those in power want these days. The Rule of Law is pretty much dead in the US.
Ya no ty. I pay my taxes, if I buy a product it is supposed to be mine.
The concept of personal property is being phased out.
Everything, from what you can say and what views you can express in public/online without being fired, being threatened with death, sued, even jailed, what you may do with things you've 'bought', right down to the money in your pocket and even you, yourself, are property of and/or controlled by the policies and agendas of the collective as dictated by a government/corporate/banking oligarchy and their sycophants and useful idiots in positions of influence in society.
I highly recommend reading "The Creature From Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin to begin to understand the power structure in the US. The most powerful players are rarely mentioned in the MSM.
Someone should start killing and maiming people like woolsey and clapper. Time for nice talk is over.
Slow your roll there, Rambo!
More "Ghandi" and a lot less "Genghis Khan" FTW here, bro.
Blacks in the US won the struggle in the '60s civil rights movement when news footage of peaceful black marchers being attacked with fire hoses, riot cops, and dogs was broadcast nationwide on the evening news.
Violence will only be used as justification for government crack-downs and further erosions of rights and freedoms. Chaos & violence plays into their hands.
More effective would be to go against the middlemen who buy oil from ISIS for half the market value and then make a nice profit by reselling it on the open market.
Unless those middlemen are too big to fail and we can't do anything, of course.
They haven't stopped the middlemen because they use bitcoin to buy ISIS' oil. That's why they *must* ban bitcoin and other alt-currencies, with cash next up on the chopping-block./sarc
This is asymmetric warfare. The main body of ISIS is in Iraq and Syria. Kill off the main body, the offshoots will die off.
Not quite. It has more the earmarks of an infectious disease. How many terrorist org. heads/leaders has the US claimed to have killed since 9/11? Others take their place. Propaganda/religious 'infection' leads to 'self-radicalizing' operatives in new areas.
"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humansW^W^violent religious fanatics do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resourceW^W^opposing society, culture, government, and religion is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beingsW^W^violent religious fanatics are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we...are the cure."
Slashdot Mirror
Would government employees be happy with the public having databases of government employees' personal information?
Not a bad idea.
A phone app to upload pics/video with location/time data taken of government officials/employees and other state actors wherever/whenever encountered by average people to a database hosted in multiple locations somewhere out of the US government's reach (short of military action, of course) like Ecuador and others, with facial recognition and other sophisticated search/filter algorithms in place.
Turn the machinery of the panopticon back on them.
They shouldn't worry, though. It's only 'metadata' which is meaningless, right?
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
Strat
Looking out at the distant stars, galaxies and radiation in the Universe today, we've been able to determine not only what it's made out of, but how long it's been since the Big Bang: 13.8 billion years.
Umm, not so much.
Might want to check out other theories like ones that incorporate quantum theories.
http://phys.org/news/2015-02-b...
"(Phys.org) - The universe may have existed forever, according to a new model that applies quantum correction terms to complement Einstein's theory of general relativity. The model may also account for dark matter and dark energy, resolving multiple problems at once.
The widely accepted age of the universe, as estimated by general relativity, is 13.8 billion years. In the beginning, everything in existence is thought to have occupied a single infinitely dense point, or singularity. Only after this point began to expand in a "Big Bang" did the universe officially begin.
Although the Big Bang singularity arises directly and unavoidably from the mathematics of general relativity, some scientists see it as problematic because the math can explain only what happened immediately afterâ"not at or beforeâ"the singularity.
"The Big Bang singularity is the most serious problem of general relativity because the laws of physics appear to break down there," Ahmed Farag Ali at Benha University and the Zewail City of Science and Technology, both in Egypt, told Phys.org."
Strat
Wait for their control signal to be jammed then home in on the triangulated source of the disruption and use whatever 'tamper deterrence' measures have been built into them to neutralize the threat?
The missile equivalent's acronym is "HARM" - High speed Anti-Radiation Missile.
Replacing the missile component with a drone makes it a "HARD".
When in operation it would be a HARD-on.
Thanks, I'll be here all week!
Please remember to tip the burgers and try the waitresses!
Strat
Do you realize that "to Brietbart" has entered the lexicon as a verb that means "To lie about by taking statements out of context and/or maliciously editing" after willfully serving as an outlet for James O'Keefe? A thinking person would sooner trust the National Inquirer's latest report on BatBoy.
That said, the DHS is the worst kind of administrative cancer: Instead of overseeing things and keeping them working together (like an administration is supposed to), it has instead become corruptly obsessed with perpetuating infinite amounts of red tape, preventing useful work and demoralizing everyone. You can trace the collapse of the Secret Service to the day the DHS ate it and smothered it in red tape.
Facts are facts regardless of who reports them.
Are you saying that Breitbart made up the interview with former DHS official and whistle-blower Philip Haney? Had him read a script?
Sounds to me more like DHS damage control shills on the job.
Strat
Why the hell would DHS being involved? This seems more like an FBI thing. I don't exactly understand how this is a homeland security issue.
Good thing the perp wasn't Muslim. DHS allowed the San Bernadino attack to happen, yet they're all over this. Listen to the interview of Philip Haney (near the bottom of the page in two parts).
http://www.breitbart.com/big-g...
Very telling as to where US government priorities are.
Strat
US bound airlines submit lists of passengers to US authorities before departure. Anybody the US won't accept is not allowed to board though the strange thing here is that these people had all applied for visas in advance, and had them approved.
It's a wonder any Muslims are turned away at all from travel to the US regardless of whether or not they may have ties to violent groups.
The San Bernadino, CA killers might have been stopped before they killed 14 people but the US government halted the program that was in place to prevent such attacks because of political correctness.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-g...
Strat
The idea here is to cause the operators to be responsible for their actions.
No.
The idea here is to discourage widespread public ownership & use of drones. This is but the first step.
The US government understands very well the power drones give individuals in observing/recording what the government does not want publicized about what it does and does not do away from the prying eyes of civil rights activists and journalists.
Strat
What owners should do is all register with the same name and fake address. That'll bake their gubmint noodles.
Elwood Blues
1060 W. Addison St.
Chicago, IL 60613
You're welcome. :)
Strat
However, you do need to register your car if you're going to use it. On your property or not, it's still federally required to have it registered. Which is what this law is doing. You're not paying $5 for a pilot license, you're paying $5 to register it.
Wrong. As long as a motor vehicle is not operated on public roads there is no requirement to register or license it. You could build yourself an entire fleet of motor vehicles from scrap parts and as long as you operate them only on private property, no registrations, licensing, or inspections are required.
As for drones, I say have an ongoing "Unregistered Drone Fly-In" at FAA HQ and at the WH and Congress until they repeal the law. Additional unregistered-drone protest-flights at CIA/NSA/FBI/DHS/TSA/ATF HQs for bonus points.
Strat
It offends me. It offends me because I live in a city where I know I can go to the nearest hotel if I need a cab, something I will not be able to do when they are gone.
First, only the largest major hotels in the largest US cities have cabs waiting and/or continuously picking up & dropping fares. You'd have to hope the clerk doesn't tell you to leave the property if you simply walked in and asked them to call a cab for you as a non-guest, in most places.
Second, why would you assume all the existing taxi companies would disappear? Having to actually compete, some will surely fail, but it's not a given that would be equally true for every taxi company. The ones that offer quick-responding, clean, honest, pleasant, and competitively-priced services can survive.
Where I know that my disabled relatives can also get cabs only because the companies are legislated to have a certain number of handicapped equipped cars.
Usually transportation for disabled/special needs/seniors is provided at no cost in most places in the US by city/township/county municipal governments, even in smaller towns. Here in a city of ~35K there are municipal special needs/disabled/senior transportation vehicles available by telephone at no cost that cover the entire county.
I don't ever recall seeing any kind of special accommodation vehicles operated by either of the two major-name taxi companies in town. Having had to ride in those cabs on a few occasions over the years, it would seem cruel to subject a disabled person to similarly-maintained & operated special needs vehicles.
Given all that, can't another business exist that isn't intended nor suited to be a special needs transportation specialty service? Are we next to prosecute shoe stores for selling shoes which offend and don't accommodate the legless?
If the goal is actually to provide transportation options for disabled/senior/handicapped, I think that's already seen massive improvement in recent years, and in many if not the majority of cases taxi companies have had no or little involvement. I believe the existence of other private at-will services has no real impact on this area and that this is FUD from the taxi industry.
Strat
(Alright, kid but I wonder how many right-brained, artistic types [washingtonpost.com] would have been taken-in by my simple "logic?" *grin*)
Much of the public and a good portion of government officials (those officials who aren't pushing the "hyperloop" boondoggle solely for purely cynical political, ideological, and/or cronyism reasons).
Strat
On consideration, I would add one exception; actual crime victim reimbursements (where, of course, the crime is not a "victimless" crime).
Strat
From what I see on the Marshals' listings, the items being sold are forfeited pursuant to a final judgement from a suitable court. The proceeds are indeed listed as part of the judgement, and would therefore be distributed among the victims (possibly including the government itself) as any similar fine would.
Some jurisdictions may be abusing forfeiture for profit - and that's bad - but it's quite a leap to extrapolate that to all law enforcement agencies in the country, as some Slashdotters are quick to do.
It doesn't matter how or for what reason(s) the property was seized or what legal/procedural mechanism was involved.
Government should not profit. Proceeds from any and all seized property should go to non-governmental/non-government-affiliated charities.
Having judges/courts seize the property being sold, even upon a criminal conviction, rather than some street cop deciding that your money/house/car/etc broke the law simply moves the corruption up the ladder and further institutionalizes the problem.
Strat
No the fuss is there because the USA is trying to claim sovereignty of stuff in space by assigning ownership rules.
Sounds more like you want to benefit from other people's investment, risk, and labor for free (invest in your own damned space mining!). Or that you want to make all resources off the Earth forbidden for anyone to use which is Luddite in nature to the extreme.
I object on the grounds of the USA unilaterally extending its powers into space without reference to the rest of the world.
Nobody is going to declare the Moon or some other celestial body a US Territory or Possession. It specifically says that in the bill that was passed. All the bill that was passed says is that if you extract resources from some celestial body you keep what you've taken risk, invested large sums, and worked hard to obtain. It doesn't stop anyone else from setting up their own operation right 'next door', as it were.
You are objecting to fantasies that reside only in your mind.
Strat
I don't get what all of the fuss is about...
It'll probably take a million years for us to suck our solar system dry if not longer and by then we'll have colonized many other solar systems.
The fuss is because there are those who view humanity's very existence as a bad thing. Exploitation of resources in space extends humanity's time and allows for expansion and growth which they see as a bad thing.
The fuss is also about political power. Environmental groups who have used their political power to control if, how, how much, and by whom the Earth's limited natural resources are exploited as a political/economic weapon and means of control over populations see the exploitation of unlimited natural resources in space as eventually making their weapon powerless and destroying their ability to control populations.
Strat
So, if we can perfect small and sensitive pheromone sensors and install them on drone swarms, with a sample of an individual's pheromones they could be made to follow/target said individual, like for instance Putin or Obama.
Interesting.
I wonder if we'll start seeing FSB and SS agents following along behind said persons wherever they go, spraying cleaner/deodorizer or some other sort of pheromone-scrubbing chemicals and confiscating anything they touch in order to attempt to hide or obfuscate the unique pheromone trail these individuals leave wherever they go?
Strat
People could even throw baseballs across state lines! We'd better have the Feds regulate all throwing of baseballs!
Actually in a way they already do.
Or, at least Congress seems quite interested in the steroid use of people who throw/catch/hit baseballs for money.
Strat
Can you provide a link to this law (and it must be a federal law)?
FAA is bound by Section 336 Special Rule For Model Aircraft from enacting new regulations regarding model aircraft which fall within the parameters described in Section 336.
On the other hand, a model aircraft operated pursuant to the terms of section 336 would potentially be excepted from a UAS aircraft certification rule, for example, because of the limitation on future rulemaking specifically âoeregarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft.â Public Law 112-95, section 336(a).
https://www.federalregister.go...
Of course, all it will take is a little creative reinterpretation. Not like that's anything new when some Amendment, law, regulation, etc gets in the way of what those in power want these days. The Rule of Law is pretty much dead in the US.
Strat
I say give him and his father the $15M in the form of Hellfire missiles from a Predator drone. Or 3.
Money well-spent IMO.
See how fast some other "bright boy" tries that sort of stunt again after *that* sort of "payoff"!
Strat
Ya no ty. I pay my taxes, if I buy a product it is supposed to be mine.
The concept of personal property is being phased out.
Everything, from what you can say and what views you can express in public/online without being fired, being threatened with death, sued, even jailed, what you may do with things you've 'bought', right down to the money in your pocket and even you, yourself, are property of and/or controlled by the policies and agendas of the collective as dictated by a government/corporate/banking oligarchy and their sycophants and useful idiots in positions of influence in society.
I highly recommend reading "The Creature From Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin to begin to understand the power structure in the US. The most powerful players are rarely mentioned in the MSM.
https://archive.org/details/Cr...
Strat
Someone should start killing and maiming people like woolsey and clapper. Time for nice talk is over.
Slow your roll there, Rambo!
More "Ghandi" and a lot less "Genghis Khan" FTW here, bro.
Blacks in the US won the struggle in the '60s civil rights movement when news footage of peaceful black marchers being attacked with fire hoses, riot cops, and dogs was broadcast nationwide on the evening news.
Violence will only be used as justification for government crack-downs and further erosions of rights and freedoms. Chaos & violence plays into their hands.
Strat
http://reactiongifs.com/?p=223...
More effective would be to go against the middlemen who buy oil from ISIS for half the market value and then make a nice profit by reselling it on the open market.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/... [zerohedge.com]
Unless those middlemen are too big to fail and we can't do anything, of course.
They haven't stopped the middlemen because they use bitcoin to buy ISIS' oil. That's why they *must* ban bitcoin and other alt-currencies, with cash next up on the chopping-block. /sarc
Strat
This is asymmetric warfare. The main body of ISIS is in Iraq and Syria. Kill off the main body, the offshoots will die off.
Not quite. It has more the earmarks of an infectious disease. How many terrorist org. heads/leaders has the US claimed to have killed since 9/11? Others take their place. Propaganda/religious 'infection' leads to 'self-radicalizing' operatives in new areas.
"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humansW^W^violent religious fanatics do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resourceW^W^opposing society, culture, government, and religion is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beingsW^W^violent religious fanatics are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we...are the cure."
Strat
People post goatse links to blind pilots?! I guess that makes sense.
A fW^nudge is as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh? Eh?
(With apologies to Monty Python)
Strat