Government

Spying

A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with someone that I know who is an analyst for a US intelligence agency. I’m going to keep this as generic as I can, because even though he says that he told me nothing that could get him in trouble, well, you never know. We had an hour long conversation. A few of the things that he said were things that I found VERY interesting.

  1. The government collects so much intelligence from American citizens that it is almost too much. That is the reason for the massive data centers. It’s difficult to sort through all of the stuff they collect, but they do get a lot of stuff that they pass on to law enforcement. Apparently, they aren’t allowed to collect intel on American citizens on purpose, but if they cast a wide net and get stuff by accident, well, nothing says it can’t be passed along.
  2. Social media and smart phones are the main source. Many of the Apps that are on your phone are collecting massive amounts of data: your location, your secret information, credit stuff, banking information, and more. Many apps have keyloggers that save any information put into your phone and forward it to other parties.
  3. Burner phones are useless. Ten years ago, using a burner was a good way to dodge those collecting information. Not anymore.
  4. If you are a target of clandestine government investigation, there are pocket-sized devices that allow them to walk nearby and download the contents of your phone. Whatever is in your phone now belongs to the government.
  5. He confirmed that the government can and do clandestinely activate the camera and microphone of any internet connected device, including your phone, smart TV, whatever.
  6. Nearly every electronic device and app has some sort of backdoor access installed in it at the request of one government intel agency or another.
  7. He said that, as far as phones go, iPhones were the most compromised, then Android, and believe it or not, Google phones are the most secure. I’m not sure I trust that, but that’s what he said.
  8. He said that many VPNs are routed through China, and you are giving your information to China by using them. I pointed out that I am less afraid of China than I am the US government. I said China wouldn’t care about me because I am not that important. He smiled and just shook his head.
  9. The US government has its hands in more online porn than almost any other entity. The content/pages/etc of online porn sites is riddled with malware and malicious code that belongs to the NSA. According to him, almost everyone looks at porn, and even in Muslim countries, they catch a lot of people and get a lot of information as a result of this.

The scary part is that talking to spooks like this makes you paranoid. I don’t know this guy THAT well, he is more acquaintance than friend. He is a friend of a friend, and I wouldn’t count either of them as being in my inner circle. So why is he telling me all of this? Is this an official interview? Is he skimming my smartphone? (see 4 and 5, above) Is this really a friendly conversation, or is he working?

Either I am being paranoid, or I am not being paranoid enough. No matter what, I’m going to have trouble sleeping while I think about it.

By Divemedic, ago

Military, or Cops?

A platoon sized element of cops who are in military camouflage catch an escaped convict. This is only the ones who were there when he was caught. Our police ARE the military that the founders worried about.

All of that for one guy who stole a 10/22. Happy switches, a hundred thousand dollars worth of NODs, and a million bucks in overtime.

It’s easy to run around in the woods wearing camo and play soldier. Yeah, I know a lot of those guys are probably veterans, but still. A lot of guys watched this and took note of the time & manpower necessary to locate one guy. A guy who doesn’t speak English, has no resources, no family or friends in the area, armed only with a .22 rimfire, and no military training.

By Divemedic, ago

Gonna Have to Wear Masks

You need to remember that your average cop is a bully who likes throwing their weight around and roughing up people who can’t fight back: old ladies, children, unarmed people, and soccer moms in traffic stops. Maybe they were bullied themselves, maybe they are drunk with power, or maybe they are just pussies. I don’t know.

That is why they call SWAT for every real criminal, and why they shoot everyone with a full mag dump who even looks at them funny. Why? They are TERRIFIED- scared that the people they are bullying are one day going to have had enough. You see it all of the time-

Don’t get me wrong. They aren’t ALL pussies, just the average cop. Some of them are upstanding guys who run to the sound of the guns, but I would say that most cops are not the brave defenders that they claim to be.

So when the governor of New Mexico issues an executive order that no one in Albuquerque is permitted to have a firearm, and a large group of gun owners show up armed in protest, the cops do- nothing. No, the cops didn’t back off because they believe in 2A, because whether they do or not, they will follow orders in order to keep their jobs and pensions. No, it’s because they are not about to get in a running firefight with a large group of armed, pissed off gun owners.

The kinds of guys who, after what happened on J6, show up to a rally like that are some pissed off guys, and some of them are just waiting for an excuse to get their shootyness on. The cops either know this, or are afraid that it is true. How many shooters would be willing to smoke some cops in a crowd of 200 armed protesters? What would the body count be?

They don’t want to find out, which is why they didn’t fuck around. No, if anything is going to be done, it will be handled just like J6 was. They will wait for a few months, then show up in force to each protester’s house with a short platoon of SWAT to arrest the protesters one at a time.

Then the only way to win will be to adopt the same tactics- visit the cops while they are alone and without reinforcements nearby.

By Divemedic, ago

Reminder

Police are used to victimizing unarmed people. That’s why they call SWAT when there is the least chance of facing armed opponents. I want to remind you of this incident, point out that the cops in New Mexico will chase anyone who runs from them instead of allowing themselves to be searched for firearms, and then ask again:

What could a four man fire support element do if they were in an overwatch position 100 yards or so away and this was a planned ambush? How hard would it be to lure police into a kill box and then overwhelm them with large amounts of fire before disengaging and disappearing before the cops can organize an effective counter ambush?

By Divemedic, ago

Educational Hypocrisy

The President of the Chicago Teachers Union and the union strongly oppose school choice, including both charter and private schools. The President, Davis Gates, said school choice initiatives siphon money from public schools and are partly to blame for the lack of resources available to neighborhood schools.

That’s all well and good, except national and local pro-school choice groups found out that the President of the union sends her freshman son to a Catholic school on the South Side. She is pissed off because people revealed her decision to send her son to a private high school while publishing his picture and name.

“We live in a time with extremist political rhetoric, and it has led to violence,” she said. “My children, my family should not have to endure this. And doxing a child is violent, and it’s unacceptable, and it needs to be rejected and decried by every institutional leader. It’s just not okay.”

CTU President Davis Gates, believing that her own hypocrisy shouldn’t be pointed out in the press

When her oldest child reached 7th grade, she and her husband looked at their neighborhood school. They were upset that the local public school didn’t have a school newspaper, classes on web design, or a student council. According to her, the public school didn’t have the resources or sports opportunities that the private school had.

“You have to wonder: If the teachers union leader who wants to kill school choice has made the private school choice for her own child, how convincing are her arguments against school choice for low-income children with few options for breaking the cycle of generational poverty?”

 Illinois Policy Institute

I wonder how the teachers that she is representing feel about the leader of their union stabbing them in the back like that.

By Divemedic, ago

New Mexico

A situation is developing in New Mexico. The governor there has declared by executive order that no one can carry a weapon, concealed or open, despite having permits or whatever else state law has to say on the matter. You can read the executive order here. (pdf alert) As predicted, she is using her new found COVID executive powers from 2020 to declare a “health emergency” by noting that NM has seen an increase in violent crimes that is double the national average, while completely ignoring that this is due to the illegals flooding the state from the border that has been opened by her own political party’s lack of border enforcement.

The order only applies to public property like roads, sidewalks, and parks. Police and licensed security guards are exempt from the ban, because of course they are. Under the order, residents still can transport guns to some private locations, such as a gun range or gun store, provided the firearm has a trigger lock or some other container or mechanism making it impossible to discharge, which is in direct opposition of Supreme Court decisions.

When the press inquired as to the order’s constitutionality, she said her duty to uphold the constitution, as well as the constitution itself, is “not absolute.”

Some local police and sheriffs are refusing to enforce the order because it raises too many questions about constitutional rights.

By Divemedic, ago