How Does Government Score You?
Jan 11, 2016 Tyranny
The advances in technology over the years have made it much easier for the government to spy on its citizens. We know the NSA does it at the direction of the politicians in DC. We know local governments do it with equipment given to them by the federal agencies and we know they sign nondisclosure agreements to use the stuff.
We also know the government tracks cell phones and scoops up a lot of cell phone calls and it uses license plate readers to compile a lot of information disguised as a looking for bad guys mission.
These things would appear to violate our rights. We are supposed to be free people and the government does not belong sticking its nose in our business. Unless we do something wrong and are caught as a result of doing it (as opposed to being caught through illegal surveillance) we should be left alone
Now government has taken its intrusion to a new level. The police department in Fresno California uses a system that compiles a profile on people based on a number of things including criminal record, property records, and social media posts. The person is then given a score that tells the officer if you are not considered a threat, are a possible threat or are definitely a threat (those are my descriptions. The system calls you red, yellow, or green).
This has disaster written all over it. The company that developed this is the only entity that knows how it works so there is no telling how the score is derived or if there are errors in the design. How long will it be before a person’s residence returns a score that is red and officers arriving treat it as such and end up killing someone who is only watering his lawn in violation of the water ban?
I want to make it clear that I do not think the police should be using this kind of system to classify citizens and make decisions based on that. It is a violation of our privacy and it allows government to profile us according to criteria it wants. Some anti-gun moron could easily have the software provider code the system so that all gun owners are deemed a threat. It is just too open to abuse.
Now the police, well they say this is a must have. They need it to solve crimes and to serve the public. It is a “vital tool” that they need to make us safe.
Everything they need is a vital tool. We have to arm them with military gear because it is vital. We have to give them drones because it is vital. We have to give them the ability to scoop up all our cell phone calls because it is vital. Then when they abuse drones, act like they are attacking an enemy or abuse the phone information to solve crimes that were not part of the intended target we are told that if we are doing nothing wrong we should not have anything to worry about.
What is vital is the privacy, freedom and security of the people. There can be no justification for this. If you feel that the people need to give up some of their rights for security then you are sadly mistaken.
This is from the article:
In promotional materials, Intrado writes that Beware could reveal that the resident of a particular address was a war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had criminal convictions for assault and had posted worrisome messages about his battle experiences on social media. Washington Post
How did it get all of this information? How does it know the person is a veteran and has PTSD? Did it pick up random posts from social media or is the federal government (the VA) feeding information into this thing?
This is supposed to make the reader believe that it helps the officer responding because it lets him know of the potential danger.
Does the system also score officers and look over how many complaints have been filed, how many reprimands he has gotten, how many shooting incidents, any off duty trouble, memberships in organizations, etc.? It would be helpful if the system scored the cop and called the person at the home to warn him that the cop responding has an itchy trigger finger and might blast away.
These kinds of things will eventually lead to problems (of course then the problem needs more training, more money and more surveillance) and the ones who get screwed are the citizens. Some cop will blast the veteran described above because he had the remote to the TV in his hand when he answered the door and the apologists will come out in full force, say there was a mistake, the officer feared for his life, good kill, go home nothing to see here.
Maybe if he did not have his head filled with information from Beware he might not have had a preconceived notion and he would not have been in fear for his life over a remote control.
What next America? Will we require every person who goes to a medical facility of any kind to be tested for AIDS to keep health care providers safe?
No, wait, we expect them to exercise caution with every patient.
Maybe the police Community could try that.
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Tags: beware, government surveillance, lies, police, scoring, veterans, vital
Freedom Means For All No Matter What We Think About It
Nov 11, 2014 General, Military
Freedom of religions and expression is for everyone no matter what others think of what is expressed…
There is an NBA player named Dion Waiters who refuses to stand for the National Anthem. He claims that as a Muslim it violates his religion. I don’t know how it could but I am not a Muslim and it is not my place to judge or interpret his religion so long as what he does in no way infringes on my rights or the rights of others.
The fact is he has a right not to stand for the National Anthem and if he chooses to exercise that right it is his business. A lot of people do not agree and have been calling him out and that is their right as well but the one thing they can’t and shouldn’t try to do is force him to comply.
This is Veteran’s Day, a day when we honor those who have served this nation. We served to protect the rights of the citizens of this great nation and that means that sometimes folks will do things within their rights that we don’t like. When they do it means veterans did their jobs and did them well.
It might not go over well that I feel this way but freedom is for everyone no matter what they choose to do or not to do so long as they don’t hurt or bother someone else. I don’t like the fact that he will not stand to pay tribute to the nation that allowed him to succeed and gave him all the opportunities in the world BUT I will die defending his right to do just that.
I think it is a dishonor to the nation when people do not stand for the National Anthem particularly when there are so many veterans who can’t stand at all BUT the reality is freedom means people get to choose things that others might not like and when they do those things without fear of punishment it affirms that our veterans have done their jobs well.
People do not have to like what this guy does (that is THEIR right) but if they are unwilling to tolerate his right to do as he wishes (in this case based on his religious beliefs) then those folks have no claim when their rights are violated.
When one of us loses our freedom we all lose our freedom…
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Tags: dion waiters, freedom, religion, rights, veterans
More VA Problems Exposed
May 28, 2014 Military, Obamacare
The single payer, government run health care system known as the VA is in a shambles. It has been a boondoggle since its inception but has gotten worse over the years. While Democrats will claim that the problem is the large influx of patients because of the wars they voted for, the reality is the system did not run well when we were not at war.
The problems at the VA predate Obama (and Bush though Democrats think the history of bad starts with him) and as such Obama does not shoulder the blame for the problems there. He shoulders the blame because they are still there and are worse.
Candidate Obama blasted President Bush and the VA system and President elect Obama promised to fix things. He did not fix them. In fact things are much worse now and Obama is responsible for that. He was aware of the problems (despite his claims to the contrary) and he did NOT fix them as he promised.
There is now a news story that the problems at the VA in Phoenix are much worse than originally reported. Forty veterans are reported to have died while on a secret waiting list designed to allow administrators to claim great patient wait times and collect bonuses. Veterans died while waiting for care as administrators received bonuses for the great jobs they were doing. The Phoenix VA, according to an Inspector General’s report, has as many as 1,700 veterans awaiting care but who are not on the official waiting list.
This means that they might never receive care. Additionally, their absence from the list is designed to show the VA in a favorable light.
For more on how the scheme works read this article about the VA in Texas. There are supporting documents to show the top person cancelled and manipulated appointments in order for him and other executives to receive bonuses. Fifty percent of their bonus rating is based upon patient wait times so they manipulated those times to appear as if they were in compliance. They did not care about the veterans, only their own money and careers. These folks should end up in jail.
The Texas run system even received an award despite being investigated for these criminal acts in the past. There is overwhelming evidence that the top person was involved and made the changes but the conflicts were blamed on low level employee error which was than touted as something discovered and fixed (it was not). Looks like these folks follow Obama’s example of leadership; blame others…
There is another report that involves the VA but is about police brutality and not directly related to the scheduling scandal (but part of a corrupt culture nonetheless). An elderly vet was beaten and stomped by VA cops and suffered a stroke that subsequently resulted in his death.
America, is this how we should be treating our veterans?
Ideally, veterans should receive their care in the open market (with the bill paid for by the government) and not be restricted to government run socialized medicine. But if that will not happen then the VA should hire veterans to run its facilities. Veterans who have health care experience should be hired to work in those facilities. And veterans who served as military police should be police officers in the VA. These folks know what their fellow veterans have gone through and what kind of treatment they deserve.
The government should also remove all bonuses. This scheme only encourages people to cook the books.
If I ran any VA hospital I would not accept a bonus and I would not cook the books. I would demand the highest standards of care and fire anyone who did not comply.
If the government can’t run a system that has been in place for decades and only involves a small part of the overall population why does anyone think government run health care for all is a good idea? What makes anyone think that eventually Obamacare will be any different?
Government run care will always end up like this. People become a burden to the system and are abused because of it.
Look out America; you will soon be subject to this.
Let’s pass a law that all members of Congress and the Obama regime MUST receive their health care at a VA facility with no VIP treatment whatsoever.
I bet it would get fixed then… (Big Dog salute to Marcus Luttrell)
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Tags: bonus, Obama, scandal, single payer, socialism, VA, veterans
Maybe Obama Caused The Middle East Riots
Sep 20, 2012 Political
The Democrat controlled media have been telling us that some little known anti Islam movie that has been out for months is the reason our embassies were attacked and our Ambassador murdered. The White House has been trumpeting this line even though the facts refute the narrative. It matters not to them as they suspend the rights of an individual by taking him in for questioning in order to appease the radicals who really don’t care.
Jimmy Carter tried appeasement and it was a disaster.
No one heard of this movie until the attacks and then it became a convenient scapegoat. But I have a different theory. I believe that Barack Obama incited the violence by continually bragging that HE killed Osama bin Laden.
After OUR NAVY SEALS killed Bin Laden Barack Obama took credit for it as if he went there and pulled the trigger. He claimed that we “don’t spike the football” but as the election grew closer Obama brought the football out and he spiked it.
And he spiked it again.
And again.
And again.
Veterans are not happy with Obama because he has taken all the credit for the death of Bin Laden. The veterans don’t want recognition and would prefer that the matter remain quiet so as not to draw attention to themselves. That would put them and their families in danger. Obama though, is spiking that football for political gain so I think he is much more responsible for the acts of war we have seen than some unknown film maker.
Here is an ad that was produced by veterans:
They are obviously not happy. It is no surprise that the majority of those serving and those who have served are not thrilled with Obama. They know he hates the military and would love to scale them way down.
They hate it that he is running around acting like he actually humped a pack to the Middle East and went on the raid. They hate the fact he is taking credit for the work THEY did and that he is doing it for political gain.
And I hate that his spiking the football got an Ambassador murdered.
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Tags: ambassador, lies, middle east, murder, Obama, riots, seals, veterans
Today We Honor Our Fallen
May 28, 2012 Political
While I hear many people thanking veterans today the day to honor them is 11 November. Today is the day we honor those who have died in the service of our country.
Please enjoy this touching video about the Angel Flight, the designation of those flights that carry our military dead.
This link is for the full screen version.
General Patton once said; “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.”
While I never think mourning the loss of a loved one is foolish or wrong, I do think today should be a day for thanking God that the men and women who died for this country existed. Without them we would not be a free nation.
God knows, they could have grown up and been like the selfish occupy morons (whose right to protest was secured by our honored dead).
Today as we gather with family and friends and enjoy cookouts and backyard games let us take a few moments to say a prayer for those who went before us, for whom today is set aside.
Big Dog salute to my Aunt Barb for sending this link.
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Tags: general patton, memorial day, occupy, remember, veterans, war dead