After seven weeks that inexplicably turned into ten weeks, I finally had the pleasure of getting the external fixator taken out/off of my arm December 3. The last of the five breaks finally decided to meet up and start knitting, so the hardware had finally outlived its usefulness. Lord knows it had outstayed its welcome.
Since the injury and subsequent surgery has managed to do a number on my writing and political projects, I guess I should start trying to set a schedule for 2015. While I haven't gotten much written, I have at least managed to plot out some more stuff, because that's exactly what you need when you are a writer with stuff piling up- more stuff to work on, eventually, somehow. Need to get a handle on time and project management, so it's looking like I have narrowed down the primary projects to a short non-fiction work, the novel I'm furthest ahead on, and a new project in the early stages for Free Rein Media. Been taking some of the downtime to examine some new ways to get stuff out there, found a couple of interesting websites, which led to the plotting of new stuff. Damn stuff, it's everywhere. Now begins another month or so of wearing the splint, a month of physical therapy, and then I will be ready for Recovery Mode Phase Three- getting ready for softball season next spring.
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As Monday morning kicked off, the big news was not that my St. Louis Rams continue to impress as they climb to .500 with back-to-back shutout wins (albeit against Oakland and Washington), but the haggling over a Senate report on CIA interrogation methods in the War on Terror, including torture such as sleep deprivation, confinement, and waterboarding.
The report, a 480 page summary of a 6,000 page classified document, is basically the first public accounting of the CIA's tactics with detainees held in secret facilities in the years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The report has taken five years to complete, due to numerous delays, and has reportedly cost upwards of $40 million to produce. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has been pushing for a release of the report for months now, with the latest wrinkle being Secretary of State John Kerry playing middleman for the White House to ask Feinstein for a continued delay, due to perceptions the report could put American personnel overseas at risk from increased extremist action. Naturally, at this stage of the game, the predominant worry is that Democrats will run out of time to release the report before the Republican majority assumes control in January. House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) agrees with Kerry, telling CNN's State of the Union over the weekend that "Foreign partners are telling us this will cause violence and deaths. Our own intelligence community has assessed that this will cause violence and deaths." Rogers has also questioned why the report needs to become public, as the Justice Department investigation resulted in no criminal charges being filed. Detractors, including former CIA Director Michael Hayden, fear the report could undermine cooperation between the U.S. and other countries on intelligence and counterterrorism, although Feinstein maintained recently to the Los Angeles Times the tactics undermined "societal and constitutional values that we are very proud of. Anybody who reads this is going to never let this happen again." Okay. Both sides of the argument seem perfectly valid, but it's kind of hard not to lean toward releasing the report. Granted, there might be some blowback, but at the same time and going beyond the Democrats' notion of transparency, is there really anything in that report, all 480 presumably ponderous pages, that will actually shock anyone with its revelation? We've been joking about it for decades. The world's been joking about it for decades. Also, as for Feinstein's contention that anyone who reads the report "is going to never let this happen again..." Yeah, that's cute as hell. She can just go on believing that. The Department of Justice today announced the unsealing of a federal indictment charging four men with hacking several game developers, including Microsoft, and the United States Army, and stealing intellectual property worth $100 million. Included in the property stolen was info on training tech for the Apache attack helicopter, and source codes for the video games Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Gears of War 3.
The four defendants, from Maryland, New Jersey, Indiana, and Canada, are facing 18 counts, including conspiracies to commit wire fraud, computer fraud, copyright infringement, mail fraud, identity theft, and theft of trade secrets, as well as individual counts of aggravated identity theft, unauthorized computer access, copyright infringement, and wire fraud. The game developers affected were Epic Games, Valve, and Zombie Studios. The information stolen, which included source code, trade secrets, and financial data, was then sold to as yet unnamed third parties. Total damages are estimated to be over $200 million. I understand the crimes committed, and the charges filed, but just for a second, stop and consider that at a basic level, the source codes for a Call of Duty game and U.S. military secrets are equivalent in value? Now, this is just me, just throwing this out there and seeing what happens. Would there be an announcement of the unsealing of a federal indictment if the games involved were My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or Barbie Jet, Set & Style? Better yet, what if you developed something minor, like an app to store and catalog your expansive collection of "discreet" camel toe shots, and innocently get caught up? Would it necessarily hurt your feelings if they kinda left you out of the gory details? I mean, supposedly there's no such thing as bad publicity... Seems like it was time for one of these articles to pop up. With the mid-term elections drawing near, Jonathon Martin writes in the New Tork Times about the possibility of third-party candidates playing spoiler in races across the country.
Because of course. Martin's article is the equivalent of that relative that still wants to watch Rudy every holiday season. Despite all of the procedural obstacles, tactics, dick moves, and dirty tricks to keep third-party candidates out of debates and off ballots, every election cycle, we get the obligatory "could people start leaning third-party?" pieces. Since the public-at-large had grown increasingly and consistently disgusted with government-as-usual, the rate at which these articles pop up is bound to increase. When you get articles like Martin's Long Shots Loom as Spoilers in Tight November Races Across Nation, you will get the equally obligatory quote from a mainstream politician. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said, presumably with a straight face, "If people don't like their choices with the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate, then you're going to see a spurt in third-party candidates, so they can definitely affect outcomes. I always like it when a member of the two-party problem admits that third-parties can be problematic. Not that it matters much, but I do like it, nonetheless. Then again, Martin gives us examples of how politics-as-usual is addressing potential third-party problems. Democratic pollsters are making more room for third-party and independent pages in their strategy guides, and Republicans are putting Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) out on the road to try and draw votes back to candidates in danger from Libertarian challengers. Naturally, both mainstream parties are keeping their noses to the grindstone, as dissatisfaction with Congress is going to result in a likely bump for the Republicans, as these conditions don't historically bode well for a president's party at a mid-term. Martin's article helpfully points out that historical trend, as well as poll numbers from the New York Times/CBS News over Sept 12-15, in which 5% of voters said most members of Congress did not deserve reelection, and 87% said it was time for new people. That's right where the article veered off the rails for me. Whenever I see poll numbers like that, it immediately reminds me of why poll numbers are usually bullshit, the moist kind, ideal for spreading. Every time I see a poll saying "87% of voters think it's time for new people, I strain to find the rest of the sentence, the part that says "but won't go so far as to actually fucking do something about it." This is why we have the reality we have, and the system we have running that reality for us. The reality is incumbents have a reelection rate in the high 90s, which is why the system we have running things is on autopilot, no course set. This is also why it's particularly newsworthy (usually called an upset) when an incumbent loses. Even then, the third-party involvement, if any, only gets the token mention in passing. When people truly get sick of the thinly-veiled money grab mainstream politics has become, they will seriously start leaning third-party and independent, but not this year. Not any time soon. Count up the incumbents, see I'm right, then start researching and getting involved in third-party politics. We need educated numbers, not inflamed passions or passing fancies every two to four years. Press Release: Clarksville, Indiana- Sept. 6, 2014 Thomas Keister has, with the assistance of the United States Marijuana Party, established the U.S. Marijuana Party of Indiana (USMjP-IN), the ninth and newest state chapter for the twelve-year-old political party Keister took advantage of a chance social media encounter with USMjP Organizer and Kentucky Chair Sheree Krider to point out there was not, at the time, an Indiana chapter, and offered to take the lead in getting one off the ground. By the end of the conversation, the USMjP-IN was taking shape, with the chapter launching through a new Facebook group earlier this afternoon. "I'm excited for this opportunity," Keister commented, "it gives me a chance to address a particular topic of interest politically and take the reins with a new political organization, to possibly sharpen skill sets for my continued work with the Libertarian Party down here in southern Indiana. Marijuana is not a pressing issue for the Libertarian Party chapters down here at the moment, and that is for the best. Dividing my work will be a nice collaboration of efforts, and allow me to focus on what I consider to be an important topic and allow a little separation for the LPCC." Keister has served as Communications Director of the Libertarian Party of Clark County since March 2012. For 90 days, the USMjP-IN will be considered a "reporting chapter," joining Hawaii and Virginia on probationary status, before being promoted to full chapter status. Keister will serve as administrator of the reporting chapter, and then assume the state chairmanship when the chapter becomes official later this year. Keister is already working on establishing a website and social media presence for the chapter. To find the U.S. Marijuana Party of Indiana group, search "USMjPartyIN" on Facebook. ###
This. This right here. A Massachusetts state trooper was probably thinking the same thing when she pulled over the car sporting this snazzy DIY license plate. As far as dumbass shit like this goes, I'll have to be kind of generous and grant a B-. The design concept was in line with the original. Maybe if the red ink had been a little bit darker... Normally, when a story along these lines comes along (admittedly, I can't say for sure what normal would be), I would have figured the artwork would be more in line with a child, or maybe a recovering traumatic brain injury patient. Instead, neither the artist behind the knock-off nor the 20-year-old woman that was charged with driving with a suspended license and attaching false plates was identified. Now, bring me someone who tried to pull off a hand-drawn driver's license, then we got something! Although it has not exactly hit mainstream status as a hot-button political issue, the United States Export-Import Bank has taken a ponderous course to perhaps emerging as a prime sleeper subject coming into election season. The bank, which provides government loans and loan guarantees to foreign customers of American exporters, will see its charter expire on September 30 if not reauthorized by a vote of Congress. This vote, sadly like a lot of business in Washington, has become a routine motion gone through every couple of years over the 80 year history of the institution. As to whether or not Ex-Im, as it is universally known, should be allowed to expire, that's increasingly becoming a question of the moment, popping up in senate and congressional races in Iowa, North Carolina, and Louisiana. Surprisingly enough, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is against renewal of Ex-Im, in spite of his endorsement by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (which is heavily in favor of renewal). But even in the face of growing criticism, and questions of accountability after four Ex-Im officials were removed following an investigation into corruption, the bank still has its defenders, with President Obama a surprising head of the list. That the President is at the head of the list is surprising because before he was for it, he was against it. As a candidate in September 2008, Obama said: There are some programs that have been duplicated by other programs that we just need to cut back, like waste at the Economic Development Agency and the Export-Import Bank that's become little more than a fund for corporate welfare. So how, in a mere six years, did Barack Obama go from railing against Ex-Im to holding hands with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, hardly a typical Obama ally? Whole bunch of good questions, right there.
I'm completely stymied by this...Longmire, the A&E Network's original series based on the mystery novels by Craig Johnson, will not be returning for a fourth season, as Warner Horizon reportedly gears up to aggressively shop the show. In a statement, A&E said “we are incredibly proud of what we have achieved together.” I can imagine so. After all, Longmire was the most-watched original drama series in the history of the cable network. Even with a drop to 4.9 million viewers a week in the third season, the show was the channel's second most-watched, trailing only Duck Dynasty. There has been a recent trend with the cable networks to own their own original programming. Both Longmire (Warner Horizon), and the previously cancelled The Glades (Fox TV Studios), were both produced outside the house. These cancellations, along with a thin slate of upcoming original projects and a major reduction in the scripted division at the executive level, it appears A&E is going back to the reality show crutch. And what a damn shame, really. While the numbers may have been dropping (admittedly, I was an avid first viewer, but got caught up with stuff and lost track), but at the same time, a lot of networks would kill for nearly 5 million viewers a week, original show or reality show nonsense. Creativity requires guts, and that seems to be a lost concept with the networks anymore. Hell, I'm waiting for the day a network announces creating a VP of Reboots/Remakes position. For every Almost Human that gets the axe, somehow we get a show based on Weezer founder Rivers Cuomo going back to freaking Harvard to finish his degree. How very. Can't wait to see where Longmire lands, and how many shows A&E runs through before finding another that matches its numbers. As always, I'm holding out hope for a show about a gay midget couple that train pit bulls while their 19 kids run a pawn shop, a tow truck service, a tattoo parlor, and a cupcake bakery. You laugh now, but you'll shit when it happens... |
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