Video description: Brazilian Federal Police SUV hits airplane to prevent smuggler's flee.It happened in São José do Rio Preto, a city located 275 mi (443 km) from São Paulo.
My only comment: Holy shit.
http://youtu.be/ikg3Wi3Ejgo
Showing posts with label Police. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Police. Show all posts
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Neo-Nazi codes
I have a German friend who, when we first met, was concerned whether or not I would think that she was a Nazi. It was amazing to me how people could be worried about how their country is viewed by the rest of the world decades later, although it's true that there are still those with Nazi beliefs out there.
More than I thought, apparently. And since the swastika, the phrase "Heil Hitler", and other Nazi propaganda is banned in Germany, people are coming up with new ways to spread their message of hate.
It's amazing, and extremely sad, not to mention troubling, what all this could lead to. I took a course in rhetoric, and we discussed how language and symbols are all arbitrary; we just assign meanings to them. Banning the number 88 because of what it might mean is ridiculous. But, what are you going to do?
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/disturbing-trend-neo-nazi-codes-203345626.html
More than I thought, apparently. And since the swastika, the phrase "Heil Hitler", and other Nazi propaganda is banned in Germany, people are coming up with new ways to spread their message of hate.
It's amazing, and extremely sad, not to mention troubling, what all this could lead to. I took a course in rhetoric, and we discussed how language and symbols are all arbitrary; we just assign meanings to them. Banning the number 88 because of what it might mean is ridiculous. But, what are you going to do?
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/disturbing-trend-neo-nazi-codes-203345626.html
Saturday, June 25, 2011
It is illegal to distress others
WHAT. Just... what.
So. Tennessee passed a law forbidding people to display images that might distress people. And not just the intended recipient, either-- anyone who may happen to see it.
I can only begin to image how this law could be abused, and how it could be spread to the rest of the country. This is a hardcore WTF if I ever saw one. Read this and pass it on.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/06/tenn-law-bans-posting-images-that-cause-emotional-distress.ars
So. Tennessee passed a law forbidding people to display images that might distress people. And not just the intended recipient, either-- anyone who may happen to see it.
I can only begin to image how this law could be abused, and how it could be spread to the rest of the country. This is a hardcore WTF if I ever saw one. Read this and pass it on.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/06/tenn-law-bans-posting-images-that-cause-emotional-distress.ars
Friday, June 24, 2011
Law-abiding citizen commits crime to get deserved benefits?
A horribly sad story, one which I'm sure will become an increasingly common phenomenon unless we do something to change the system. I'm disturbed by the fact that this sort of thing fails to surprise me.
Oh, America.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015398988_healthrobber23.html#.TgQdGwrdQJg.facebook
Oh, America.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015398988_healthrobber23.html#.TgQdGwrdQJg.facebook
Saturday, June 4, 2011
How should we respond to Rihanna's "Man Down"?
To be honest, I don't listen to Rihanna. I wasn't even aware that she'd released a controversial new music video until I read an article posted by a friend. Then I watched the video and scrolled through some people's comments to get some background.
First off, here is the article--
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/06/03/steiner.rihanna.video/index.html
And here is the video---
http://youtu.be/sEhy-RXkNo0
So... my thoughts? Part of the argument here is whether this show of violence qualifies as art. Honestly, as a lover of the 1960s, I can tell you that often the most memorable "art" is actually a social comment crafted into a piece of art in order to get more attention. It's a technique that works, and is able to engrain a message into the fabric of a generation. Is this art? Depends on your definition, and the value you place on the power of culture.
We could also sit here all day and discuss Rihanna's intention by incorporating violence. Like I said, I don't know much about her, except Chris Brown was abusive and now she's got a gun tattoo as a symbol of her new strength. As some people have commented, it is a natural reaction for rape victims to want to cause harm to their abusers, whether or not they actually follow through. Regardless, I personally think that this video illustrates merely how effed up the entire situation is, and is not necessarily advocating revenge. The lyrics show a girl who never meant to kill anybody, and now doesn't know what to do. This isn't a kill-all-men song.
So I guess, for whatever my non-Rihanna-listening opinion is worth, let's take it for the social commentary that it is. There's a lot of nasty shit going on out there. Maybe getting people to pay attention will help someone make some change, somewhere.
First off, here is the article--
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/06/03/steiner.rihanna.video/index.html
And here is the video---
http://youtu.be/sEhy-RXkNo0
So... my thoughts? Part of the argument here is whether this show of violence qualifies as art. Honestly, as a lover of the 1960s, I can tell you that often the most memorable "art" is actually a social comment crafted into a piece of art in order to get more attention. It's a technique that works, and is able to engrain a message into the fabric of a generation. Is this art? Depends on your definition, and the value you place on the power of culture.
We could also sit here all day and discuss Rihanna's intention by incorporating violence. Like I said, I don't know much about her, except Chris Brown was abusive and now she's got a gun tattoo as a symbol of her new strength. As some people have commented, it is a natural reaction for rape victims to want to cause harm to their abusers, whether or not they actually follow through. Regardless, I personally think that this video illustrates merely how effed up the entire situation is, and is not necessarily advocating revenge. The lyrics show a girl who never meant to kill anybody, and now doesn't know what to do. This isn't a kill-all-men song.
So I guess, for whatever my non-Rihanna-listening opinion is worth, let's take it for the social commentary that it is. There's a lot of nasty shit going on out there. Maybe getting people to pay attention will help someone make some change, somewhere.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
If 1984 came to Thanksgiving...
IMPORTANT NOTE FROM ME, THE BLOGGER:
Since I started this blog, I've been really considering how much politically-based stuff I wanted to post. I get plenty of interesting articles, videos, and editorials about political issues in e-mails and elsewhere. I myself am not very passionate about politics, and I dislike debates. HOWEVER, if I read or see something that sticks with me, I feel the need to pass it on merely as "food for thought." In other words, I do not wish to start any political discussions, nor am I pushing any beliefs that I may or may not have onto you. I'm just sharing. If you don't like what you see, please move on to the next post.
Thank you! :)
With due credit to George Orwell and '1984'/I do not know who wrote this, but it sure resonates!!!
“Winston, come into the dining room, it’s time to eat,” Julia yelled to her husband.
“In a minute, honey, it’s a tie score,” he answered. Actually Winston wasn’t very interested in the traditional holiday football game between Detroit and Washington. Ever since the government passed the Civility in Sports Statute of 2017, outlawing tackle football for its “unseemly violence” and the “bad example it sets for the rest of the world,” Winston was far less of a football fan than he used to be. Two-hand touch wasn’t nearly as exciting.
Yet it wasn’t the game that Winston was uninterested in. It was more the thought of eating another TofuTurkey. Even though it was the best type of Veggie Meat available after the government revised the American Anti-Obesity Act of 2018, adding fowl to the list of federally-forbidden foods, (which already included potatoes, cranberry sauce and mince-meat pie), it wasn’t anything like real turkey. And ever since the government officially changed the name of “Thanksgiving Day” to “A National Day of Atonement” in 2020, to officially acknowledge the Pilgrims’ historically brutal treatment of Native Americans, the holiday had lost a lot of its luster.
Eating in the dining room was also a bit daunting. The unearthly gleam of government-mandated fluorescent light bulbs made the Tofu Turkey look even weirder than it actually was, and the room was always cold. Ever since Congress passed the Power Conservation Act of 2016, mandating all thermostats—which were monitored and controlled by the electric company — be kept at 66 degrees, every room on the north side of the house was barely tolerable throughout the entire winter.
Still, it was good getting together with family. Or at least most of the family. Winston missed his mother, who passed on in October, when she had used up her legal allotment of live-saving medical treatment. He had had many heated conversations with the Regional Health Consortium, spawned when the private insurance market finally went bankrupt, and everyone was forced into the government health care program. And though he demanded she be kept on her treatment, it was a futile effort. “The RHC’s resources are limited,” explained the government bureaucrat Winston spoke with on the phone. “Your mother received all the benefits to which she was entitled. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Ed couldn’t make it either. He had forgotten to plug in his electric car last night, the only kind available after the Anti-Fossil Fuel Bill of 2021 outlawed the use of the combustion engines — for everyone but government officials. The fifty mile round trip was about ten miles too far, and Ed didn’t want to spend a frosty night on the road somewhere between here and there.
Thankfully, Winston’s brother, John, and his wife were flying in. Winston made sure that the dining room chairs had extra cushions for the occasion. No one complained more than John about the pain of sitting down so soon after the government - mandated cavity searches at airports, which severely aggravated his hemorrhoids.
Ever since a terrorist successfully smuggled a cavity bomb onto a jetliner, the TSA told Americans the added “inconvenience” was an “absolute necessity” in order to stay “one step ahead of the terrorists.” Winston’s own body had grown accustomed to such probing ever since the government expanded their scope to just about anywhere a crowd gathered, via Anti-Profiling Act of 2022. That law made it a crime to single out any group or individual for “unequal scrutiny,” even when probable cause was involved. Thus, cavity searches at malls, train stations, bus depots, etc., etc., had become almost routine. Almost.
The Supreme Court is reviewing the statute, but most Americans expect a Court composed of six progressives and three conservatives to leave the law intact. “A living Constitution is extremely flexible,” said the Court’s eldest member, Elena Kagan. “Europe has had laws like this one for years. We should learn from their example,” she added.
Winston’s thoughts turned to his own children. He got along fairly well with his 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, mostly because she ignored him. Winston had long ago surrendered to the idea that she could text anyone at any time, even during Atonement Dinner. Their only real confrontation had occurred when he limited her to 50,000 texts a month, explaining that was all he could afford. She whined for a week, but got over it.
His 16-year-old son, Jason, was another matter altogether. Perhaps it was the constant bombarding he got in public school that global warming, the bird flu, terrorism or any of a number of other calamities were “just around the corner,” but Jason had developed a kind of nihilistic attitude that ranged between simmering surliness and outright hostility. It didn’t help that Jason had reported his father to the police for smoking a cigarette in the house, an act made criminal by the Smoking Control Statute of 2018, which outlawed smoking anywhere within 500 feet of another human being. Winston paid the $5,000 fine, which might have been considered excessive before the American dollar became virtually worthless as a result of QE13. The latest round of quantitative easing the federal government initiated was, once again, to “spur economic growth.” This time they promised to push unemployment below its years-long rate of 18%, but Winston was not particularly hopeful.
Yet the family had a lot for which to be thankful, Winston thought, before remembering it was a Day of Atonement. At least he had his memories. He felt a twinge of sadness when he realized his children would never know what life was like in the Good Old Days, long before government promises to make life “fair for everyone” realized their full potential. Winston, like so many of his fellow Americans, never realized how much things could change when they didn’t happen all at once, but little by little, so people could get used to them.
He wondered what might have happened if the public had stood up while there was still time, maybe back around 2009, when all the real nonsense began. “Maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today if we’d just said ‘enough is enough’ when we had the chance,” he thought.
Maybe so, Winston. Maybe so.
Since I started this blog, I've been really considering how much politically-based stuff I wanted to post. I get plenty of interesting articles, videos, and editorials about political issues in e-mails and elsewhere. I myself am not very passionate about politics, and I dislike debates. HOWEVER, if I read or see something that sticks with me, I feel the need to pass it on merely as "food for thought." In other words, I do not wish to start any political discussions, nor am I pushing any beliefs that I may or may not have onto you. I'm just sharing. If you don't like what you see, please move on to the next post.
Thank you! :)
With due credit to George Orwell and '1984'/I do not know who wrote this, but it sure resonates!!!
“Winston, come into the dining room, it’s time to eat,” Julia yelled to her husband.
“In a minute, honey, it’s a tie score,” he answered. Actually Winston wasn’t very interested in the traditional holiday football game between Detroit and Washington. Ever since the government passed the Civility in Sports Statute of 2017, outlawing tackle football for its “unseemly violence” and the “bad example it sets for the rest of the world,” Winston was far less of a football fan than he used to be. Two-hand touch wasn’t nearly as exciting.
Yet it wasn’t the game that Winston was uninterested in. It was more the thought of eating another TofuTurkey. Even though it was the best type of Veggie Meat available after the government revised the American Anti-Obesity Act of 2018, adding fowl to the list of federally-forbidden foods, (which already included potatoes, cranberry sauce and mince-meat pie), it wasn’t anything like real turkey. And ever since the government officially changed the name of “Thanksgiving Day” to “A National Day of Atonement” in 2020, to officially acknowledge the Pilgrims’ historically brutal treatment of Native Americans, the holiday had lost a lot of its luster.
Eating in the dining room was also a bit daunting. The unearthly gleam of government-mandated fluorescent light bulbs made the Tofu Turkey look even weirder than it actually was, and the room was always cold. Ever since Congress passed the Power Conservation Act of 2016, mandating all thermostats—which were monitored and controlled by the electric company — be kept at 66 degrees, every room on the north side of the house was barely tolerable throughout the entire winter.
Still, it was good getting together with family. Or at least most of the family. Winston missed his mother, who passed on in October, when she had used up her legal allotment of live-saving medical treatment. He had had many heated conversations with the Regional Health Consortium, spawned when the private insurance market finally went bankrupt, and everyone was forced into the government health care program. And though he demanded she be kept on her treatment, it was a futile effort. “The RHC’s resources are limited,” explained the government bureaucrat Winston spoke with on the phone. “Your mother received all the benefits to which she was entitled. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Ed couldn’t make it either. He had forgotten to plug in his electric car last night, the only kind available after the Anti-Fossil Fuel Bill of 2021 outlawed the use of the combustion engines — for everyone but government officials. The fifty mile round trip was about ten miles too far, and Ed didn’t want to spend a frosty night on the road somewhere between here and there.
Thankfully, Winston’s brother, John, and his wife were flying in. Winston made sure that the dining room chairs had extra cushions for the occasion. No one complained more than John about the pain of sitting down so soon after the government - mandated cavity searches at airports, which severely aggravated his hemorrhoids.
Ever since a terrorist successfully smuggled a cavity bomb onto a jetliner, the TSA told Americans the added “inconvenience” was an “absolute necessity” in order to stay “one step ahead of the terrorists.” Winston’s own body had grown accustomed to such probing ever since the government expanded their scope to just about anywhere a crowd gathered, via Anti-Profiling Act of 2022. That law made it a crime to single out any group or individual for “unequal scrutiny,” even when probable cause was involved. Thus, cavity searches at malls, train stations, bus depots, etc., etc., had become almost routine. Almost.
The Supreme Court is reviewing the statute, but most Americans expect a Court composed of six progressives and three conservatives to leave the law intact. “A living Constitution is extremely flexible,” said the Court’s eldest member, Elena Kagan. “Europe has had laws like this one for years. We should learn from their example,” she added.
Winston’s thoughts turned to his own children. He got along fairly well with his 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, mostly because she ignored him. Winston had long ago surrendered to the idea that she could text anyone at any time, even during Atonement Dinner. Their only real confrontation had occurred when he limited her to 50,000 texts a month, explaining that was all he could afford. She whined for a week, but got over it.
His 16-year-old son, Jason, was another matter altogether. Perhaps it was the constant bombarding he got in public school that global warming, the bird flu, terrorism or any of a number of other calamities were “just around the corner,” but Jason had developed a kind of nihilistic attitude that ranged between simmering surliness and outright hostility. It didn’t help that Jason had reported his father to the police for smoking a cigarette in the house, an act made criminal by the Smoking Control Statute of 2018, which outlawed smoking anywhere within 500 feet of another human being. Winston paid the $5,000 fine, which might have been considered excessive before the American dollar became virtually worthless as a result of QE13. The latest round of quantitative easing the federal government initiated was, once again, to “spur economic growth.” This time they promised to push unemployment below its years-long rate of 18%, but Winston was not particularly hopeful.
Yet the family had a lot for which to be thankful, Winston thought, before remembering it was a Day of Atonement. At least he had his memories. He felt a twinge of sadness when he realized his children would never know what life was like in the Good Old Days, long before government promises to make life “fair for everyone” realized their full potential. Winston, like so many of his fellow Americans, never realized how much things could change when they didn’t happen all at once, but little by little, so people could get used to them.
He wondered what might have happened if the public had stood up while there was still time, maybe back around 2009, when all the real nonsense began. “Maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today if we’d just said ‘enough is enough’ when we had the chance,” he thought.
Maybe so, Winston. Maybe so.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Animal trafficking
I think we've all heard that it happens, but likely don't know very much about it. And it sounds like such a distant, far-off thing that we don't view it as an serious concern.
But stories like this are horrifying. People need to pay more attention.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110513/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_leopards_in_luggage
But stories like this are horrifying. People need to pay more attention.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110513/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_leopards_in_luggage
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
A disturbing lack of communication
Yes, even the police make mistakes. This family is really lucky that things didn't turn out worse, though.
Here's the video and article.
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Broward-judge-ordered-by-deputies-come-out-with-your-hands-up-120755199.html?dr
...and don't the cops need a warrant to get into the house anyway??
Here's the video and article.
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Broward-judge-ordered-by-deputies-come-out-with-your-hands-up-120755199.html?dr
...and don't the cops need a warrant to get into the house anyway??
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