Proof Positive that the Republican “War on Terror” was all Bulls***:

Remember 9/11? And how the Bushistas said we really needed the Patriot Act? And the repeal of habeas corpus? And warrantless wiretaps? And secret agencies and laws (and tons of oh-so-secret funding)? And a couple of land wars that killed lots of soldiers and civilians?

And a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them? Ohmygoodnessgracious, the DHS was ESSENTIAL to winning the Global War on Terror (GWOT) (Teapubbies totally suck out loud at acronyms, have you ever noticed?). We simply HAD to have it, and to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on it. And right away, too. Remember?

Of course you remember. So do we all. Which makes things seem puzzling today, when the Teapublicans are willing to kneecap that ever-so-very important agency, just to stick a thumb in Obama’s eye. How could they take such a risk to such an all-important entity over such a trivial matter of prosecutorial discretion of alleged illegal immigrants?

The answer is obvious: DHS isn’t really important.

DHS, GWOT, and the entirety of the “Republican agenda” of the day was, is, and will always be neither more nor less than  a right-wing wet dream come true; an enormous, extra-constitutional seizure of power and money, designed solely to enrich and empower a privileged few while impoverishing disempowering the masses.

Now that we know this to be the case, it’s time to do away with DHS and every other Bush-era “Republican” piece of policy or law that has anything at all to do with national security: because it was bulls*** when it was proposed, bulls*** when enacted, bulls*** when expanded, and is still bulls*** today.

Away with Gitmo, torture, wiretaps,  secrecy, imperialist wars of choice,  the Patriot Act, all of it. Throw it all onto the dungheap of history (as one should always do with bulls***) and return our stolen funds and freedoms to us.

And prosecute the conniving mammy-jammers responsible for the scam as well. Let them stand under the crap they created as we pitchfork it onto their compost pile.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

For the Putin-arse-kissers among us:

He is a despicable mass murderer, warmongering, profiteering, homophobic serial invader of sovereign nations, and by all rights should be doing time in a UN prison. Without possibility of parole.

Putin can aid and abet a wanker who fancied himself a tech wiz and become a darling of libertarians on the left and right, and that may charm them into thinking he is a good guy, but the reality is quite different. One calculated act of maskirova does not outweigh the brutal repression , invasions, and perversions of justice for his own benefit. And that isn’t even including the crimes against humanity committed during his KGB days.

A question to any and all Putinistas, Putin apologists , Putin fans, and suchlike: how in the f***ing f*** can you do it? In the face of these atrocities, how can you give aid and comfort to such a monster?

And what does your support for a demon make you? Just a gullible idiot? Or a monster yourself?

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

What do Putin and a child molester have in common?

A child molester gives a kid candy to gain their trust, and then commits horrible atrocities upon his victim.

Putin gave Snowden asylum to gain the trust of various political groups, and has since committed crimes against LBGT individuals and various political groups.

And just as gullible people will laud the molester for distributing sweets and turn a blind eye to indications of other disturbing behaviors, a fair few idiots on the Left and the Right are still praising Putin for giving Little Eddie a place to hide from the authorities and ignoring the human-rights abuses he has been committing.

Stop it, OK? One criminal molests little kids, and the other molests entire nations. Both wear masks that hide their true selves. Neither is admirable.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

This is how far the NSA has fallen:

The tech industry now considers the National Security Agency to be a “threat”, and a bunch of “malicious hackers”. This is a direct quote from Apple, after they found out that the NSA has been secretly hacking our iPhones. Our tech industry now classes a government agency as being equivalent to spies, thieves, anarchist nutjobs and other such scumbuckets.

This writer agrees, and since he is writing this post on a iPhone, he offers this cheery message to the NSA: “F*** the lot of you, in whatever manner would be the least pleasant and most painful. F*** you, NSA, and the computer you rode in on.”

The NSA took the laws they got from the Bushistas and ran like Forrest Gump, with no one holding up a sign saying “stop”. And now they are hated, reviled, and have been revealed to be hurting our nation instead of protecting it.

The laws that have allowed the NSA to become an enemy of the American people need changed, of course; the reason they were able to do all of this stems from the early Oughts when an Administration with no respect for the Constitution ran roughshod over the rule of law. It’s long past time to correct those many wrongs.

Meanwhile, if Apple thinks the NSA is a load of malicious hackers, you’d be well advised to pay attention. The NSA is now our enemy. And for an agency of the federal government to have descended to such a lowly and despicable status is a tragedy worthy of Sophocles.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Oh boy, NOW the NSA has really, REALLY f***ed up.

They cost rich people a load of cash with their illegal (and legal) spying activities. And rich people have the ultimate power in this plutocracy democratic government. So, it’s safe to say that the boys and girls at Fort Meade have well and truly stepped in the s***:

“There’s no question that we’ve reached the point where the tech companies are being threatened financially and commercially by what’s happened with the NSA,” Boorstin says.

U.S. tech companies, including Google, are doing more business overseas, and customers in some of those markets are saying the American firms’ associations with NSA surveillance activities will cost the companies some of that business.

Shred the Constitution, and nobody really objects. Hack the cell phones of our allies, and a few politicos might bluster a bit. But cost a big US corporation some serious coin, and s*** is gonna get real, and it’s gonna get that way really fast.

It’s a sad thing indeed, that we can’t count on truth, justice and the American way to reign in an abusive and out-of-control government entity. It’s even more depressing to have to rely on a load of Scrooges to restore some semblance of the rule of law in this regard. But hey, the enemy of our enemy is our friend.

At least, in this case. F*** those greedy bastards in most other areas, but let’s cheer them on as they battle the NSA, Patriot Act, and the rest of the Bushistas’ legacy of unconstitutional intrusiveness.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The third time, it’s enemy action.

The first international Snowden revelations were about China. And they were released to the “news” media, right before Obama met with Chinese leaders.
The scheduled talks were derailed and damaged by the resulting brouhaha.

The second time involved Russia. Shortly before Obama and Putin were supposed to meet. So much fuss was raised, the meeting didn’t happen at all.

And right before this week’s EU meeting, some Snowden revelations hit the press about… You guessed ‘er Chester, about the NSA spying on Europeans. American/European relations have taken a big hit.

“The first time is coincidence, the second time happenstance, and the third is enemy action.” Someone is trying to damage the United States. The only question remaining is who’s behind it.

But the intent is now clear. Yes, the Bushies screwed us but good with the “Patriot Act” and all that came from it. And yes, the NSA needs to be put on a tight leash. These are needed reforms, sorely and urgently needed.

But reformers don’t try to weaken or destroy the thing they are trying to reform. Indeed, reformation aims to strengthen its object. That is the polar opposite of what is being done with Snowden’s stolen NSA files.

“The first time is coincidence, the second time happenstance, and the third is enemy action.” The only question remaining is who that enemy is.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Vlad the Destroyer (Up yours, Putin)

Yesterday, the Russian-backed Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people. Russia (meaning Vladimir Putin) is blocking UN action to investigate this war crime. Vlad the Destroyer is OK with crimes against humanity.

Recently, Russia passed some truly regressive anti-LGBT laws, and announced that foreign visitors (such as Olympic athletes) would be jailed, harassed, and so on. Vlad the Destroyer is OK with persecuting gay people for being gay.

A while back, members of a Russian punk band got sent to a labor camp for making fun of Putin and the Church. Vlad the Destroyer is OK with working people to death, if they offend him.

It is hard to imagine anyone supporting or praising such a despicable piece of dung as Putin. Indeed, one would think that anyone who does praise and support Putin is someone who shared his destructive, regressive, authoritarian tendencies and traits. One would be right.

So, then: Syria, Wikileaks, Greenwald, Snowden and Assange have been revealed as supporters of war crimes, hate crimes, and violations of human rights across the board. Think about this, the next time you think about supporting them. When they praise Putin as a human rights icon, they support his human rights activities.

Up yours, Putin. And the same goes for anyone and everyone who supports him.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Snowden is a “Free Man in Russia”? Really?

Just ask Pussy Riot, gay tourists, businessmen and anyone who has irritated their KGB-boss leader (Putin).

Troublemakers are never free in Russia. Snowden is in for a shock.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Domestic Surveillance isn’t just Wrong: It is Useless and Unnecessary

Think  back to 9/11, when America got our collective nuts kicked so hard, we had lumps on our necks for years thereafter. According to the 9/11 Commission report ( http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf ), our intelligence agencies already knew the terrorists were here and in training for the attack – the problem was that the Bushies didn’t listen to the experts who were warning them about an impending al-Quaida attack. This means that the whole raft of domestic surveillance programs that have been developed since 9/11 would not have helped one bit.

One more time: We already knew about the terrorists among us. So we never needed more domestic surveillance. And we still don’t. What we actually needed (and still need) was for our leaders to pay attention to data and protect our nation from real threats, instead of ignoring facts and using their own mistakes as excuses to spy on us and rob us blind.

So, why was it put in place, back during the reign of Bush The Dumber? One may theorize as one wishes, because none of the responsible parties is going to admit that the Domestic Surveillance State was  a boondoggle coupled with a violation of our Constitutional rights. This writer submits that the whole program was nothing more or less than a  “Republican” transfer of tax dollars to their corporate cronies, with a bone thrown to the Fundagelicals and Birchers in their party.

Consider the enormous number of private companies that have made billions of dollars over the past decade  by providing “contractors” to replace NSA workers (at a higher cost, with lower quality and less security [e.g. Snowden]). Where did they come from? Like mushrooms on a manure pile, they sprang up when “watered” by the Bushistas’ off-the books torrential downpour of secret cash.

So here we are: our rights have been violated, our privacy have been infringed, and our pockets have been picked clean for over ten years by a load of  perverts and con artists, bent on snooping into our private lives and taking us for every cent we earn. And all in the name of solving a problem that never existed in the first place.

If you’re not foaming at the mouth right now, you’ve not been paying attention.

The solution, Cranky Nation, is obvious: dismantle the un-needed and illegal parts of the Surveillance State, kick the greedy f***s out of the process, and by so doing restore our rights while helping to balance the budget. And all of that as soon as possible.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The NSA: Not Secure. Not Serving our Nation.

One thing that has gotten lost in the outrage, uproar, and general brouhaha over the NSA’s Domestic Surveillance programs is how utterly inept the NSA has been shown to be. Yes, we hear about their Total Information Awareness yadayadaramaramadingdong, but it’s hard to believe they are capable of doing f***-all in a  secure and competent manner. Why?

Because a marginally-qualified contractor with nefarious intent was able to waltz into a supposedly secure NSA facility  and walk out with Hopper-knows-how-many secret files without anyone noticing. Indeed, the only reason those putzes at Fort Meade knew he had committed those crimes was because he told them he had done so.

Think about that for a minute. No security to speak of, open USB ports,  no checks of personnel on entering or leaving the building, any schmuck who can con his way into a gig with a consulting firm can take whatever information he or she likes and do whatever they want with it.

And where is that information now? Short answer: at least two places we know of (Snowden and Greenwald  both have the files), and probably more by now. Why more, you ask? Very simple: Snowden has had his laptops and other devices in three countries (USA, China, and Russia) who have very large and well-funded IT departments. Any schmuck with a screwdriver could have slipped out and ghosted his hard drives while he was in the shower, and he’d never know.

After that, no matter what sort of encryption he threw at the files, it’s only a matter of time before they are cracked open, and then everybody will know the NSA’s secrets. And that could harm a lot of people. Hell, it could bring down governments. And whose fault is it?

It’s the NSA’s fault, that’s whose fault it is. Time was, NSA security actually meant something. Many of us knew NSA workers, but almost none of us knew they were NSA workers. That agency kept security, by God it did.

Nowadays, any flat-headed flannelmouth with a good BS story can be a contractor for the NSA, get paid more than they deserve, and make off with sensitive national security information. Can you imagine how many foreign agents have already done the same thing? This writer suspects that the answer is “a s***load-and-a-half”.  But since the NSA is not at all secure, we’ll never know.

Not secure. Not serving our nation. So, what value are we getting for the billions upon billions of dollars we taxpayers have given the NSA over the decades? Apparently, not much value at all.

 

This blogger suggests we pull the plug on the NSA, fire the lot of them, and start over with a competent staff who can actually spell “security”.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky