Monday, December 30, 2013

Drone On


"Oh, why do they hate us?!" wail the idiot sheeple and American Exceptionalists every time you turn around.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Predictable: Pauley kills what Leon resurrected


Well, I was my usual fly-in-the-ointment self last week. While people were crowing over Judge Richard Leon's ruling in favor of We The People and against the NSA, I kept saying, "Don't get your hopes up. It's not going to last. It'll be appealed, and the next judge who comes down the pike will strike it down."

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Eat the Rich? (nah, not very nutritious)


As people assess their charitable giving in 2013, choosing which causes are most dear to them and also looking for a few tax breaks (as well they should, especially given that so much of our money goes to war and destruction), some recent research is sobering:

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS!


Here's something I wrote 6 years ago, for a now-defunct blog. Of course, it rankled the p.c. folks no end. I'd like to hope they've grown up since then, but somehow I doubt it:
In addition to Papa Bear O'Reilly's inane "War on Christmas," there are other seasonal idiocies afoot. One is the taking-offense by certain wet blankets when someone wishes them a Merry Christmas. So if I may:

Ted Rall again on Dems & Repubs


Ted Rall encore. As always, click to enlarge.

Angela Merkel invokes the Stasi in comparison to the NSA

From the Guardian
In an angry exchange with Barack ObamaAngela Merkel has compared the snooping practices of the US with those of the Stasi, the ubiquitous and all-powerful secret police of the communist dictatorship in East Germany, where she grew up.
. . . Livid after learning from Der Spiegel magazine that the Americans were listening in to her personal mobile phone, Merkel confronted Obama with the accusation: "This is like the Stasi." 
But when the rest of us say it, we're accused of being "hyperbolic" and "lunatic."

The only lunatics out there are the naysayers who refuse to acknowledge what's right under their noses. To wit, that the U.S. is morphing more and more into a police state with every passing day. Especially if you're young and black, and just waiting for a bus. And the U.K. is no better. Its cops, too, like to Taser people just for the hell of it.

Ted Rall on Republicans and Democrats


Another great cartoon by Ted Rall. As always, click to enlarge.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

TSA propaganda cartoon aimed at children



“Stop. Screen. Go.”
Those are the magic words in a new TSA video cartoon aimed at children, called Prepare for Takeoff. It’s on a nifty page — “TSA Kids” — that’s part of the “Official Website of the Department of Homeland Security,” which also includes links to other fab TSA stuff, such as “Fun Page” and “Parents Page.”
As all propagandists know, you gotta get ‘em while they’re young.

Friday, December 20, 2013

TSA’s John Pistole shovels the shit yet again redux


The media are once again doing the TSA’s dirty work for it. Who needs PR flacks when you have newspapers, TV, radio, and the internet?

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

In Pa, Alabama, and Texas, drivers pulled over, asked for blood and saliva


No, this isn't an April Fool's joke. No, it isn't a scene out of a dystopian novel. It's just another day in the good ol' USA.

In Alabama, in Texas, and now in Pennsylvania, drivers have been flagged down by police and told to pull over into a parking lot so that a survey company can "ask" them for blood and saliva.

What exactly are they "surveying"?

Christmas


Monday, December 16, 2013

Media finally catch on to TSA pre-check scam

Some people in the media are finally catching on to what we here at TSA News have been saying for two years: Pre-Check is a joke. We’ve been pointing out the facts about this program from the beginning.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

DOJ backpedals on claim that Guantanamo searches are like TSA’s



This past summer, a U.S. judge issued a rare ruling on the side of justice and the rule of law. Then, just as quickly, his ruling was appealed by the Department of Justice (sic) and overturned.

Friday, December 13, 2013

59% of Americans want to arm the TSA



Proving once again that you can’t underestimate the stupidity of the American public, over half of citizens polled favor putting guns in the hands of TSA agents.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Ryan-Murray budget deal would raise TSA fees



While half the country is up in arms over the Paul Ryan-Patty Murray budget deal in Congress — with both conservatives and liberals disliking it for their own reasons  I see a twinkling, nay glittering, silver lining.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

WTF: Cops Shoot at Unarmed Man, Hit 2 Bystanders, Charge Man with Assault


Another in our continuing series called WTF. When I first read the following headline, I was sure it had to be from The Onion. But it's not. It's real:

Another Person Abused in Cavity Search by U.S. Authorities


As I said here, and I quote, "that means there are more. Logic dictates that there have to be more."

I was right.

David Simon Nails It Again


I've written before about local and national treasure David Simon (click the tag "David Simon" anywhere on this blog or check out this link). He keeps ringing alarm bells, and people keep ignoring them. Well, lots of people, not all of us. But our overlords are certainly ignoring them.

Monday, December 9, 2013

TSA seizes terroristy sock monkey, confiscates “gun”



“Appalled and shocked and embarrassed”?
That’s one way of putting it.
That’s how Phyllis May of Redmond, Washingon described her reaction when the brainiacs of the TSA seized a little cloth sock puppet — sock monkey, to be exact — in her bag and discovered the monkey’s nefarious intent:

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Octopus Seal: Looks Like It's From The Onion, But It's Not

Another in our continuing series called WTF.

Really, you can't make this shit up. These people have no sense of themselves other than as characters in a science fiction novel. I don't have words for the levels of inanity, depravity, obliviousness, arrogance, unintentional revelation, and just plain immaturity this represents.


Friday, December 6, 2013

Mandela Dies, Obama Lies


The news that Nelson Mandela has died is, of course, bringing forth a ton of speeches, tributes, and encomia from all over the world. Not surprising, most of it self-serving. Let's recall that Mandela was taken off the U.S.'s official list of "terrorists" only in 2008. And that the CIA outed his whereabouts to the South African apartheid regime in 1962.

The transcript of Obama's comments is particularly galling. I know this man lies through his teeth as smoothly as any snake oil salesman, but he outdid himself yesterday:

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Daily Kos's Hypocrisy and Ted Rall's Capitulation


UPDATED BELOW.

As you know, I'm a great admirer of political cartoonist Ted Rall. I've done many posts on him and his brilliant, scathing political cartoons (click the tag "Ted Rall"). Along with Mr. Fish, he's one of the most provocative and truthful cartoonists out there.

Which truthfulness and provocation, of course, makes them both ripe for attack.

And attack is what's happening to Rall right now, thanks to the hypocrites and Obamabots of Daily Kos.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Hopscotch Crosswalk -- another in the continuing series of Why I Love Baltimore

I love my adopted hometown, for many reasons -- the architecture, the low cost of living, the lack of pretention, and yes, the much-vaunted and authentic quirkiness. Baltimore is full of characters -- John Waters didn't have to make anything up for those in his movies -- and I think it's one of our strengths.

So of course I flipped over this story about a Hopscotch Crosswalk downtown. It's just one of many artistic crosswalks being painted as we speak.

I wonder how many people will actually use it? I would. I will, next time I'm down there.

Luv ya, Charm City.



(Photo courtesy of Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts and the Baltimore Sun)

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Glamour Girl: Motilo

OH. 

MY. 


GOD. 


Glamour Girl has just stumbled upon these amazing shoes—actually, “shoes” doesn’t do them justice—and she is about to lose her mind. Of course she can’t afford them, but she is dreaming and swooning and calculating numbers in her busy brain nonetheless. They are: 

TSA exit portals or detention pods? You decide

A few weeks ago I caught wind of another nifty whiz-bang airport innovation guaranteed to make your journey even more onerous than it already is. And of course, it’s brought to you by our trusty friends at the TSA.