We are gradually becoming a true 100% police state

I am reading in bewilderment how the NSA spies indiscriminately and illegally not only on all of us (as Americans) but also on the entire world. It can do that since it is the hub of most -if not all- electronic communication on the planet. Servers, switches, hubs, gateways, databases, and all sorts of data communication equipment are or can be directly controlled by the US government since they are in the hands of American corporations.

We need to either stop using data communication networks or become truly rogue and flood the NSA monitoring networks with so much false positive messages that they will have to stop collecting the 'garbage'. I loathe the NSA, I really do.

Yesterday I read a story on how a California cop shot and killed a 13 year old boy because he was carrying a toy gun and the cop thought it was real. Mind you, the shooting happened within 10 seconds of reporting the boy's sighting to the dispatcher, so they did not even bother to give a chance to the kid to show that he was innocent. They shot first, and killed the boy, and now they need to answer questions about this crime. They put 7 bullets into a totally defenseless kid.

Cops in our cities have become true thugs and can -and do- get away with murder and extensive abusive behaviors. There must be hundreds of cases a year where cops have killed 'suspects' when alternative methods could have diffused the situations without any violence or abuse.

Today I am reading how plain clothed cops in New York are routinely stopping black shoppers who buy luxury items and detain them to inquire about the source of the funding and 'their ability to buy such luxury items'. Mind you, the cops stop shoppers after the shoppers have paid, left the store, and have started to walk away, outside of the stores. In some cases, black shoppers of luxury items were stopped blocks away from the location of the store they just visited.

If these examples are not outrageous I am not sure I know what outrageous is...

No, no, no! An American war in Syria would be based on lies, lies, and more lies.

Mr. Obama and his administration are beating the drums about the need for the US to defend Syrian population from chemical attacks launched -according to them- by the Syrian government.

US's military's intervention ins Syria would be erroneous and misguided. It would open up the doors for intervening in any country where civil war exists. It would create a precedent that would be difficult to not obey by.

In addition, we are being told that the 'intelligence' community knows with a 'high degree of precision' that the chemical attacks in August were 'directed' by the Assad's regime.

Can we trust the intelligence community anymore? Who can trust agencies that lie to our face and spy on us with impunity?

Purely Outrageous: David Miranda Got Detained for Almost 9 Hours in Britain

Today, David Miranda, the partner of the Guardian journalist (Glenn Greenwald) who has been writing about the illegal activities of the NSA -in cahoots with other government agencies and governments- has been detained for almost 9 hours by the British authorities while he was transiting through the London Heathrow airport.

Apparently, David's electronics (laptop, mobile phone, camera, memory sticks, DVDs, and game consoles) have been 'confiscated' by British authorities without any legal recourse. 

If this is not an abusive act of a 'free' government I do not know what abusive acts are. How else can we describe these and other similar actions of the British government but dictatorial? It was not a random act and it was not a matter of miscommunication, that is for sure. 

We have totally lost our democratic ways when journalists who expose government abuses get frisked, detained, and have their property stolen while transiting through 'friendly' countries (and serve as tacit crime partners).

Apparently, ANYTHING can be labeled as terrorism. Even writing against fragrant government illegalities can be seen as a terrorist act.

We urgently need an international agency or body to protect us from individual country abuses when they arbitrarily define what terrorist threats and acts are.

Note to self: Never, ever, go to Britain again.

Yeay! Snowden is Free in Russia

I am elated that Putin has allowed Edward Snowden to chill out in Russia for at least 1 year. Russia is not the one of the best of the countries in the world but in this case is the best outcome for Snowden.

The US government is over-reaching in this case, and behaves like a bully.

Russia shows maturity and strength while the US shows that it is just a crybaby when it cannot  get what it 'demands'. Yes, the US actually demanded that Snowden be turned back and that has not happened... Thank you, Mr. Putin.

Deal with it, Mr. Obama. Democracy may not be symmetric but it is beautiful when it reaches all corners of the globe.

Our Government Has Gone Rogue On Us

Today, we just found out that the NSA uses hop analysis to track phone calls or email messages. This just proves the point that the NSA is breaking the laws and overstepping their authority.

NSA uses a piece of software called XKeyscore and NSA analysts can look-up anybody at any time with no warrant or any other judicial oversights.

If a person has 40 contacts and one of the contacts in their address book is under 'surveillance' the NSA can hop from contact list to contact list indefinitely. The reach of the government spying capabilities are exponential. In just 3 hops: 40*40*40=64,000 people that become under surveillance overnight. All this info is linked on the fly and is based on the databases and entries already collected about each one of us. NSA must have millions of records stored for each one of us, starting with contacts, phone numbers, and emails.

Amazing and frightening at the same time.

Why should the government stop at 3 hops? They can do 6 hops and they reach or every single American if, on average, we each have 40 contacts in our address book setups.

Are we insane to allow the NSA to do this? Have we lost our minds?

Bottled Samuel Adams Boston Lager Beer Tastes Old and Uninspired

Today I bought a six pack of Boston lager beer brewed by Samuel Adams and had a few bottles.

I was disappointed by the fact that the beer tasted old and stale mostly since I had Samuel Adams Boston lager at a bar -I cannot recall exactly where-, as a draft beer, and I remember it being crispy and with a smooth finish.

The 6-pack I purchased today let me down and I will not purchase it from liquor stores anymore.

USG Should Drop All Criminal Charges Against Snowden

I am reading today that Mr. Holder (the AG of the US) would like to see Edward Snowden returned -by Russia- to the US. I rarely, if ever, support Russia's positions but in this case I cannot not support a true American hero.

According to Mr. Holder 'the US will not torture or pursue the death penalty' against Snowden. Mr. Holder, even children know that the US practices torture routinely. We also know that nobody in the world is going to believe that the US will not pursue the death penalty against a true patriot when thousands of Americans have been killed -by the legal system- during the past decades.

The US is in a very weak position when it comes to credibility and the fact that Mr. Holder speaks in a tone that sounds alarmist is not very reassuring.

At this stage of the affair, it is clear to me that the US has no interest in pursuing criminal charges against Snowden and Mr. Holder should communicate that instead of spewing veiled threats and innuendos.

The USG should make us proud and forget about criminal charges against Snowden.