Just a reminder: The USG likes to trump up Terrorist threats, like that last one.

I spotted this tweet two weeks ago and opened it in a tab but then forgot to blog about it. Basically, it’s proof, once again, that the USG doesn’t like to bother with actual terrorists. Instead preferring to pretend people with intent but without means deserve to be arrested for wrongthinking and being stupid enough to trust an FBI plant who is pretending to be someone he isn’t.  So, here’s the tweet:

From @BreakingNews: “More: US officials say their assessment of some Iranian leaders’ plot knowledge is based on history, analysis, not hard evidence - @Reuters”

Original tweet is here.

See, evidence is that thing you need to convict another human of a crime since all humans are guaranteed certain rights regardless of nationality, gender, religion or sexual preference.  At least, I thought that was the case before American citizen Al-Awlaki got blown up by a drone.  So apparently, you don’t need a court OR evidence to decide someone is a terrorist.

Read more about the case the tweet refers to in a post on my blog.

EFFYOU.ORG: EFFYOU to alleged terrorism fighters who don't go after ACTUAL terrorists.

EFFYOU.ORG: EFFYOU to alleged terrorism fighters who don't go after ACTUAL terrorists.

effyouorg:

All of the folks out there that are going after Al Qaeda or other extremist-types with the actual means to cause physical harm, GOOD ON YOU!  Keep up the good work!!  All the other folks out there who go after pissed off kids and other losers who have precisely zero means to commit the acts they say they want to commit: EFF YOU.

Among the principles the United States was founded on, none of them encourages or condones the arrest of people who would LIKE to harm others but can’t actually do it.  In fact, one of the most basic concepts behind our country is the idea that every human is entitled to freedom of thought.

What happens when you find a 21 year-old guy or a 19 year-old kid who are pissed off at the government and dream of killing people?

Nothing.

Well…

Read the rest at http://effyou.org

The USG trumps up threat then tells us how they're protecting us from it.

This is something I’ve noticed the USG and the FBI doing for a while.  See if you can notice what’s wrong with the following cutting from a November 28, 2010 article at LATimes.com reporting on a 19 year-old naturalized American (originally from Somalia) who wanted to blow up a bunch of Americans (I’ll add italics to make it obvious):

“The threat was very real,” said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. “Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale.”

According to the FBI, they arrested Mohamud after he dialed a cellphone that he thought would detonate a huge bomb — six 55-gallon drums, diesel fuel and a large box of screws — in a large white van parked near the tree lighting.

But the bomb was a fake built by the FBI, and the packed crowds who enjoyed a youth choir and a symphony orchestra at Friday’s holiday celebration at Pioneer Courthouse Square were never in danger, authorities said.

Let me break this down for you:

The FBI finds this teenager who’s pissed at the USG, builds a pretend bomb for him, hands him the detonator and then arrests him when he activates it.

Where’s the crime there, exactly?

I mean, sure, he’s “wrongthinking” like in the Orwell novel, 1984, but wrongthinking isn’t illegal (yet). 

On top of that, this guy had no obvious means to make a bomb to kill anyone on his own.  He’s a kid.  I remember how moody and obnoxious I was when I was 19! (If you think I’m bad now!) 

Why is it that we only hear about these toothless tigers and not actual threats being foiled by the FBI?  Hell, the Times Square Bomber from earlier this year failed in his attempt to blow up a bomb only because he was a complete and utter fucktard.  The FBI didn’t catch him beforehand and nearly lost him as he tried to flee the country. 

Seems the FBI can only catch a terrorist if they arm him and supply him first. It’s like a literal version of the “Straw Man Argument” where you, effectively, make a false statement and then prove it wrong to show how cool you are.  This time, they prop up this kid as a terrorist and then brag about it when they take him down.

There’s something deeply wrong about this.

NEWSWEEK: Should bullying be a crime?

NEWSWEEK: Should bullying be a crime?

As a soon-to-be dad, in a recent post, coalspeaker writes eloquently about his concerns about bullying. But yesterday he wrote a great post called “The Great Division meets the Great Diversion” where he points out:

Americans have been forced to debate fraudulent issues.. Gay marriage, social issues.. we are blinded by anger that has no bearing on our lives.

This is something I’ve taken to calling “the Absurd Disconnect.” And sadly, I think even coalspeaker got hit with it in between writing these two posts.  Bullying is like terrorism—it’s always been with us and it probably always will be with us.  And just like the media took a handful of extremists and helped the government turn them into a war against our very way of life, the media is blowing this whole bullying thing completely out of proportion.

Should bullying be a crime? Of course NOT. The things we already designate as crimes are already more than enough to cover our bases.  In fact, these things are too much since hate crimes are essentially punishment for wrongthinking. It shouldn’t matter why I kill someone. All that should matter is that I kill someone.

Likewise, you can’t arrest someone for being a horrible person unless he/she actually does something horrible (and illegal).  And if picking on someone smaller than you is horrible then you better start arresting people in the US government and the US military and… you get the idea.

I believe firmly in a human right to choose to live or die on your own terms, but killing yourself because of what other people think? That seems pretty stupid to me. 

Is it sad that a bunch of gay teens killed themselves? Of course. Is the bullying they experienced wrong, unfair and mean? OF COURSE.  But were these kids ultimately responsible for their own choice to end their lives? Yes.

You’ll never make everyone happy—there will always be someone out there who hates you vindictively, whether he’s a bully or a Taliban.  The smarter thing to do is just live your life as best as you know how and let the hard times make you stronger and smarter.

And does ANY of this have any bearing on saving our way of life?

Nope.

Just another absurd disconnection.

Is it wrong to bag on believers? Crap on Christians? Malign Muslims? Be Jerky to Jews?

contrararian:

Justice = Love: I’m really sick of fellow agnostics/atheists hating on others because of their religious beliefs.

Justice=Love:

Did you read the title of the post, where I said FELLOWatheists/agnostics? I’m an atheist, and I’ve had a few conversations with other non-believers that have been very anti-religion, and not in a just questioning way. When someone proclaims “I hate Christians,” I take issue with that. Questioning religion is something I do on the daily here, but I’m really not okay with hate being spread against religious people just because some people disagree with religion.

I cannot recall having come across anyone who says they “hate christians”. 

I totally agree doing so is wrong. 

While I’m totally with you in the sentiment of your post, I rather suspect that much of the time religious people just aren’t used to having their beliefs questioned…

I used to agree with this sentiment whole-heartedly, but lately, I’m feeling like climbing on the fence about this.

Ultimately, I feel like we MUST respect each others’ right to think what we want.  However, when actions (or lack of actions) are based on said belief without fact to back them up, I believe those people deserve to be ridiculed and slammed for the irresponsible, irrational people they really are—especially when it means the oppression and/or killing of people or a group of people or the suppression of facts and evidence.

How can we not ridicule stupidity when its effects are felt by so many?  Whether it’s George “The Idiot” W. Bush marching us into two pointless, destructive, costly wars, or Tony “I Love Holes” Hayward for thinking trash shoved in that gusher in the Gulf will stop the oil.  Then there’s Rush Limbaugh who recently said that only an atheist could believe in Climate Change.  Basically, he seems to argue that Global Warming (though he calls it “Manmade Global Warming”) and Climate Change are nothing we need to do anything about because it’s God’s planet—we just adapt to the changes and move on.  Forget the coming famines and droughts and crop-shortages and deaths. Because, I guess, it’s all God’s plan.

Sorry, there is no God. There is no “plan”.  It’s just a bunch of cosmic mishaps that happen to look like a plan.  Pretending there is a plan and a God is ignoring your own responsibility to change things. 

Is Global Warming and Climate Change real?

In the end, I don’t give a crap because I know that if we lived our lives more efficiently, more respectfully, and more rationally, we wouldn’t be facing these problems.

So whether the sea levels are going to rise or not, whether it’s all our fault or not, whether God exists or not, really makes no difference to me because I know we can make a better world not because the situation is dire, or because God will hate us, but because these new directions we need to go in just make sense.

• Cut back on our use of oil and cut down international strife.


• Switch to local farming, away from corporate farming, you improve the quality of your food, your own health, and help your local economy, too.


• Develop and implement efficient alternative energy systems and clean the air we breathe and the water we drink AND pay less for the energy we need to do what we need to do every day.

Oh and guess what, all of those things will cut back on the things the ecofascists are saying cause Global Warming/Climate Change.  Sure, the financial fascists won’t be happy because they’ll have to start earning their living again, instead of just farming out jobs to poor countries and staying rich off the backs of century-old ideas, but hey, dinosaurs go extinct.

And like Rush says, “We have to adapt to it.”

So funny that he uses the right arguments to get to the completely wrong conclusions.

If I weren’t white, I’d say we really need to stop listening to white people.  But hey, one thing we can stop doing?

…listening to stupid people—regardless of what they believe, their actions tell us all we need to know.