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friendly_iconoclast
friendly_iconoclast's Journal
friendly_iconoclast's Journal
August 28, 2016
"But f_i," you may very well say, "don't you realize just how dangerous this will be?"
Yes. Yes, I do:
http://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/chl/reports/convrates.htm
(tl,dr version- 108 Texas CCW license holder were convicted of felonies in 2015)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1172&pid=198548
Out of a population of 940,877-that's *1* conviction for every 8711 permitees
http://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/chl/reports/ActLicAndInstr/ActiveLicandInstr2015.pdf
Given the stated estimates by university leaders -and known conviction rates-
it would seem that UT will most likely go about 16 years before the first CC licensee
enrolled there commits any felony, much less one involving illegal use of
a firearm...
Yup, it's officially a moral panic:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/us/university-of-texas-campus-concealed-guns.html?_r=0College officials in other states with campus carry, like Colorado and Idaho, say there has been little noticeable impact. In Texas, only people older than 21 can carry concealed handguns, and university leaders estimate only a few hundred will do so in Austin. Mr. Marsh said most people would never even notice, which, he added, is “the whole point of concealed carry.”...
...Already, she said, the law has interfered with teaching. During her first class after the law took effect, she said, her English literature students discussed the rules and she explained how she could not legally prohibit guns in class, or even ask who had them.
“Three of them started crying,” she said. “We did not talk about Jane Austen that day.”...
...Already, she said, the law has interfered with teaching. During her first class after the law took effect, she said, her English literature students discussed the rules and she explained how she could not legally prohibit guns in class, or even ask who had them.
“Three of them started crying,” she said. “We did not talk about Jane Austen that day.”...
"But f_i," you may very well say, "don't you realize just how dangerous this will be?"
Yes. Yes, I do:
http://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/chl/reports/convrates.htm
(tl,dr version- 108 Texas CCW license holder were convicted of felonies in 2015)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1172&pid=198548
Out of a population of 940,877-that's *1* conviction for every 8711 permitees
http://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/chl/reports/ActLicAndInstr/ActiveLicandInstr2015.pdf
Active License/Certified Instructor Counts
As of December 31, 2015
Active License Holders:
937,419
Certified Instructors:
3,458
These numbers reflect the number of licensed individuals and certified instructors
As of December 31, 2015
Active License Holders:
937,419
Certified Instructors:
3,458
These numbers reflect the number of licensed individuals and certified instructors
Given the stated estimates by university leaders -and known conviction rates-
it would seem that UT will most likely go about 16 years before the first CC licensee
enrolled there commits any felony, much less one involving illegal use of
a firearm...
August 27, 2016
Defense attorneys clash with prison over recorded meetings
http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Defense-attorneys-clash-with-prison-over-recorded-9186774.phpKANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Defense attorneys who represent inmates at a privately run federal prison in Kansas were livid after learning that their meetings with clients had been recorded on video, despite repeated assurances from the penitentiary that the conversations were private.
The recordings that came to light this month had no audio, but the complaints raise the question of whether nonverbal interactions such as body language or the exchange of legal documents are protected under attorney-client privilege.
"We never had any idea we were being recorded," said Laine Cardarella, a federal public defender in Missouri whose clients include detainees at the Leavenworth prison. "This has had a chilling effect."
A federal judge said the recordings might have violated the Sixth Amendment rights of hundreds of inmates and ordered them stopped.
The recordings that came to light this month had no audio, but the complaints raise the question of whether nonverbal interactions such as body language or the exchange of legal documents are protected under attorney-client privilege.
"We never had any idea we were being recorded," said Laine Cardarella, a federal public defender in Missouri whose clients include detainees at the Leavenworth prison. "This has had a chilling effect."
A federal judge said the recordings might have violated the Sixth Amendment rights of hundreds of inmates and ordered them stopped.
August 25, 2016
Kansas cops can’t stop drivers just because they have Colorado plates, court rules
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/23/kansas-cops-cant-stop-drivers-based-on-license-plates-from-states-where-marijuana-legal/The Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. — A federal appeals court says law enforcement officials in Kansas cannot stop and search motorists for having nothing more than out-of-state license plates from states that have legalized marijuana.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday says the officer’s reasoning would justify the search of citizens from more than half of the states in the country.
The court reinstated the lawsuit filed by a Colorado motorist against two Kansas Highway Patrol officers who stopped and searched his vehicle while he was driving alone at night on I-70 in Kansas.
It found the officers violated Peter Vasquez’s Fourth Amendment rights in searching his car.
Twenty-five states permit marijuana use for medicinal purposes, with Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Washington, D.C. permitting some recreational use under state law.
WICHITA, Kan. — A federal appeals court says law enforcement officials in Kansas cannot stop and search motorists for having nothing more than out-of-state license plates from states that have legalized marijuana.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday says the officer’s reasoning would justify the search of citizens from more than half of the states in the country.
The court reinstated the lawsuit filed by a Colorado motorist against two Kansas Highway Patrol officers who stopped and searched his vehicle while he was driving alone at night on I-70 in Kansas.
It found the officers violated Peter Vasquez’s Fourth Amendment rights in searching his car.
Twenty-five states permit marijuana use for medicinal purposes, with Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Washington, D.C. permitting some recreational use under state law.
August 25, 2016
Some did not feel that he should be prosecuted, sometimes vigorously:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028120273#post35
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028120273#post65
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028120273#post63
Most others simply avoided the awkward question.
The second is from the other gun group:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/126211399
NRA official urges Mainers to reject background checks on gun sales
In it, an NRA spokesperson is quoted as saying, in part:
To which the author of the OP replied:
Really? Turn law abiding citizens into criminals? How the hell does that work? Either you are law abiding or you're not. Get a background check and no problem, don't get one and you broke the law, ergo, not law abiding. Have I missed something here?
What alternative universe do these people live in? Oh, I forgot. Liburty and freedumb land. Only in a gunner's mind can this reasoning make sense.
The disinterested reader is invited to note the authorship of both...
A blatant double standard on background checks (long)
Two recent threads illustrate this
The first is a now-locked thread in GD about a clergyman who, with undoubtedly good intenions,
violated Oregon's new background check law.
(Disclosure: I held that he should be fined one dollar and court costs, and be sentenced
to writing a public letter of apology).
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=8120273
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028120273#post6
The story leaves out that he violated Oregons universal background check law
And was being called out as a giant hypocrite for pushing a gun control agenda while violating existing gun laws.
He is in Oregon, and Oregons UBC law makes virtually any transfer of a firearm, even temporary, a felony unless a background check and paperwork is done. He told reporters he gave the gun to a "responsible gun owner" in his congregation for safe keeping until he destroys it- a felony in that state. They did the proper checks to hand it off to him, and he promptly violated the law and transferred possession to someone else.
Opponents of the UBC law had been pushing the absurdity of the law criminalizing acts like that, so when a gun control advocate publicly admitted to breaking the law they demanded he be punished for the violation. And if he isn't it will show a double standard, if he is it will give great publicity to how idiotic it is to make it a felony to give a gun to a person who already has them so they can safely store it for you.
If you going to make a public stand for gun control and in doing so you violate existing gun laws you should expect full and well to be called out for your violations of the law and the glaring hypocrisy of demanding more laws when you can't even comply with existing laws when acting in good faith because they are so messed up.
And was being called out as a giant hypocrite for pushing a gun control agenda while violating existing gun laws.
He is in Oregon, and Oregons UBC law makes virtually any transfer of a firearm, even temporary, a felony unless a background check and paperwork is done. He told reporters he gave the gun to a "responsible gun owner" in his congregation for safe keeping until he destroys it- a felony in that state. They did the proper checks to hand it off to him, and he promptly violated the law and transferred possession to someone else.
Opponents of the UBC law had been pushing the absurdity of the law criminalizing acts like that, so when a gun control advocate publicly admitted to breaking the law they demanded he be punished for the violation. And if he isn't it will show a double standard, if he is it will give great publicity to how idiotic it is to make it a felony to give a gun to a person who already has them so they can safely store it for you.
If you going to make a public stand for gun control and in doing so you violate existing gun laws you should expect full and well to be called out for your violations of the law and the glaring hypocrisy of demanding more laws when you can't even comply with existing laws when acting in good faith because they are so messed up.
Some did not feel that he should be prosecuted, sometimes vigorously:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028120273#post35
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028120273#post65
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028120273#post63
Most others simply avoided the awkward question.
The second is from the other gun group:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/126211399
NRA official urges Mainers to reject background checks on gun sales
In it, an NRA spokesperson is quoted as saying, in part:
“Whether or not you own a gun, Question 3 will be a nightmare for all of you,” Cox said. “It will turn law-abiding citizens into criminals overnight.”
To which the author of the OP replied:
Really? Turn law abiding citizens into criminals? How the hell does that work? Either you are law abiding or you're not. Get a background check and no problem, don't get one and you broke the law, ergo, not law abiding. Have I missed something here?
What alternative universe do these people live in? Oh, I forgot. Liburty and freedumb land. Only in a gunner's mind can this reasoning make sense.
The disinterested reader is invited to note the authorship of both...
August 24, 2016
LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. — A pastor in an affluent suburb of Portland may have run afoul of Oregon law when he transferred an AR-15 assault rifle that he won in a softball league raffle to a gun-owning friend for safekeeping without performing a background check...
...Lucas, of Christ Church Episcopal Parish in Lake Oswego, a suburban town about 10 miles south of Portland, drew national attention recently when he used $3,000 in discretionary church funds to buy as many of the raffle tickets as he could for a softball league fundraiser to send high school students to a regional tournament in California.
Lucas, 44, wanted to win so he could destroy the gun. He told the AP on Tuesday that he has received overwhelming support from parishioners...
...Last year, state lawmakers passed a new law that made transferring a gun without a background check illegal, even if the arrangement is between two private parties and no money changes hands. If Lucas were to be convicted of a misdemeanor charge of unlawful transfer of a weapon, he could face a maximum fine of $6,250 and up to a year in jail.
Congratulations, Reverend Lucas- you've joined a select fellowship:
The Society of Gun Laws Are For Other People, Not Me
You will now enjoy the company of such ...dignitaries... as Carl Rowan, Sarah Brady,
Dianne Feinstein, and Sylvester Stallone
More antigun hypocrisy: "Pastor who won AR-15 raffle may have violated Oregon law"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/pastor-who-won-ar-15-raffle-may-have-violated-oregon-law/2016/08/02/014eb924-58e7-11e6-8b48-0cb344221131_story.htmlLAKE OSWEGO, Ore. — A pastor in an affluent suburb of Portland may have run afoul of Oregon law when he transferred an AR-15 assault rifle that he won in a softball league raffle to a gun-owning friend for safekeeping without performing a background check...
...Lucas, of Christ Church Episcopal Parish in Lake Oswego, a suburban town about 10 miles south of Portland, drew national attention recently when he used $3,000 in discretionary church funds to buy as many of the raffle tickets as he could for a softball league fundraiser to send high school students to a regional tournament in California.
Lucas, 44, wanted to win so he could destroy the gun. He told the AP on Tuesday that he has received overwhelming support from parishioners...
...Last year, state lawmakers passed a new law that made transferring a gun without a background check illegal, even if the arrangement is between two private parties and no money changes hands. If Lucas were to be convicted of a misdemeanor charge of unlawful transfer of a weapon, he could face a maximum fine of $6,250 and up to a year in jail.
Congratulations, Reverend Lucas- you've joined a select fellowship:
The Society of Gun Laws Are For Other People, Not Me
You will now enjoy the company of such ...dignitaries... as Carl Rowan, Sarah Brady,
Dianne Feinstein, and Sylvester Stallone
August 22, 2016
Gaby Giffords' Gun Control Group Endorses Two GOP Senators
The gun control group founded by Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, has endorsed two Republican Senators in tough re-election fights as it seeks to expand its outreach.
In an op-ed on CNN Monday, Americans for Responsible Solutions backed Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mark Kirk of Illinois, who are both facing tough re-election races in a year in which Democrats hope to regain control of the Senate.
The two sitting Senators voted in favor of gun control proposals after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where 20 children were killed.
“In the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook, Republican Sens. Pat Toomey and Mark Kirk broke from the gun lobby and supported a bill to help prevent felons, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill from obtaining firearms at gun shows and online,” wrote Giffords and Kelly in the op-ed.
As pointed out elsewhere on DU:
Gaby Giffords' Gun Control Group Endorses Two GOP Senators
http://time.com/4461211/gun-control-pat-toomey-mark-kirk-gabby-giffords/Gaby Giffords' Gun Control Group Endorses Two GOP Senators
The gun control group founded by Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, has endorsed two Republican Senators in tough re-election fights as it seeks to expand its outreach.
In an op-ed on CNN Monday, Americans for Responsible Solutions backed Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mark Kirk of Illinois, who are both facing tough re-election races in a year in which Democrats hope to regain control of the Senate.
The two sitting Senators voted in favor of gun control proposals after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where 20 children were killed.
“In the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook, Republican Sens. Pat Toomey and Mark Kirk broke from the gun lobby and supported a bill to help prevent felons, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill from obtaining firearms at gun shows and online,” wrote Giffords and Kelly in the op-ed.
As pointed out elsewhere on DU:
(L)et's look at how the Democratic opposition stacks up.
-Tammy Duckworth, Democrat, combat vet, lost both legs in Iraq. Pro-choice, pro-ACA, supports comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally, would admit 100,000 Syrian refugees into the United States. Rated 7% by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control voting record.
-Katie McGinty, Democrat, has not held an elected office. Served as an environmental advisor to Vice President Al Gore and President Bill Clinton, pro-business, supports gay marriage, Affordable Care Act, she is also pro-choice. Scored 100% on CeaseFire Pennsylvania survey, Expanding state background checks to cover the private sale of long guns, Requiring background checks for ammunition sales, Requiring firearms dealers to tell the police when a customer fails a background check...
...Why should we (Democrats) support Republicans (who happen to have supported some gun control) over these Democrats?
-Tammy Duckworth, Democrat, combat vet, lost both legs in Iraq. Pro-choice, pro-ACA, supports comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally, would admit 100,000 Syrian refugees into the United States. Rated 7% by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control voting record.
-Katie McGinty, Democrat, has not held an elected office. Served as an environmental advisor to Vice President Al Gore and President Bill Clinton, pro-business, supports gay marriage, Affordable Care Act, she is also pro-choice. Scored 100% on CeaseFire Pennsylvania survey, Expanding state background checks to cover the private sale of long guns, Requiring background checks for ammunition sales, Requiring firearms dealers to tell the police when a customer fails a background check...
...Why should we (Democrats) support Republicans (who happen to have supported some gun control) over these Democrats?
August 22, 2016
As pointed out by another DUer:
And this in a year when we're seeking to regain the Senate. Oy vey!
Gabby Giffords’ Gun Control Group Endorses Two Republican Senators
Source: Time
The gun control group founded by Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, has endorsed two Republican Senators in tough re-election fights as it seeks to expand its outreach.
In an op-ed on CNN Monday, Americans for Responsible Solutions backed Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mark Kirk of Illinois, who are both facing tough re-election races in a year in which Democrats hope to regain control of the Senate.
The two sitting Senators voted in favor of gun control proposals after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where 20 children were killed.
“In the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook, Republican Sens. Pat Toomey and Mark Kirk broke from the gun lobby and supported a bill to help prevent felons, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill from obtaining firearms at gun shows and online,” wrote Giffords and Kelly in the op-ed.
Read more: http://time.com/4461211/gun-control-pat-toomey-mark-kirk-gabby-giffords/
As pointed out by another DUer:
(L)et's look at how the Democratic opposition stacks up.
-Tammy Duckworth, Democrat, combat vet, lost both legs in Iraq. Pro-choice, pro-ACA, supports comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally, would admit 100,000 Syrian refugees into the United States. Rated 7% by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control voting record.
-Katie McGinty, Democrat, has not held an elected office. Served as an environmental advisor to Vice President Al Gore and President Bill Clinton, pro-business, supports gay marriage, Affordable Care Act, she is also pro-choice. Scored 100% on CeaseFire Pennsylvania survey, Expanding state background checks to cover the private sale of long guns, Requiring background checks for ammunition sales, Requiring firearms dealers to tell the police when a customer fails a background check
-Tammy Duckworth, Democrat, combat vet, lost both legs in Iraq. Pro-choice, pro-ACA, supports comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally, would admit 100,000 Syrian refugees into the United States. Rated 7% by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control voting record.
-Katie McGinty, Democrat, has not held an elected office. Served as an environmental advisor to Vice President Al Gore and President Bill Clinton, pro-business, supports gay marriage, Affordable Care Act, she is also pro-choice. Scored 100% on CeaseFire Pennsylvania survey, Expanding state background checks to cover the private sale of long guns, Requiring background checks for ammunition sales, Requiring firearms dealers to tell the police when a customer fails a background check
And this in a year when we're seeking to regain the Senate. Oy vey!
August 20, 2016
How the NSA snooped on encrypted Internet traffic for a decade
http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/08/cisco-firewall-exploit-shows-how-nsa-decrypted-vpn-traffic/In a revelation that shows how the National Security Agency was able to systematically spy on many Cisco Systems customers for the better part of a decade, researchers have uncovered an attack that remotely extracts decryption keys from the company's now-decommissioned line of PIX firewalls.
The discovery is significant because the attack code, dubbed BenignCertain, worked on PIX versions Cisco released in 2002 and supported through 2009. Even after Cisco stopped providing PIX bug fixes in July 2009, the company continued offering limited service and support for the product for an additional four years. Unless PIX customers took special precautions, virtually all of them were vulnerable to attacks that surreptitiously eavesdropped on their VPN traffic. Beyond allowing attackers to snoop on encrypted VPN traffic, the key extraction also makes it possible to gain full access to a vulnerable network by posing as a remote user.
BenignCertain's capabilities were tentatively revealed in this blog post from Thursday, and they were later confirmed to work on real-world PIX installations by three separate researchers. Before the confirmation came, Ars asked Cisco to investigate the exploit. The company declined, citing this policy for so-called end-of-life products. The exploit helps explain documents leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden and cited in a 2014 article that appeared in Der Spiegel. The article reported that the NSA had the ability to decrypt more than 1,000 VPN connections per hour.
"It shows that the NSA had the ability to remotely extract confidential keys from Cisco VPNs for over a decade," Mustafa Al-Bassam, a security researcher at payments processing firm Secure Trading, told Ars. "This explains how they were able to decrypt thousands of VPN connections per minute as shown in documents previously published by Der Spiegel
The discovery is significant because the attack code, dubbed BenignCertain, worked on PIX versions Cisco released in 2002 and supported through 2009. Even after Cisco stopped providing PIX bug fixes in July 2009, the company continued offering limited service and support for the product for an additional four years. Unless PIX customers took special precautions, virtually all of them were vulnerable to attacks that surreptitiously eavesdropped on their VPN traffic. Beyond allowing attackers to snoop on encrypted VPN traffic, the key extraction also makes it possible to gain full access to a vulnerable network by posing as a remote user.
BenignCertain's capabilities were tentatively revealed in this blog post from Thursday, and they were later confirmed to work on real-world PIX installations by three separate researchers. Before the confirmation came, Ars asked Cisco to investigate the exploit. The company declined, citing this policy for so-called end-of-life products. The exploit helps explain documents leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden and cited in a 2014 article that appeared in Der Spiegel. The article reported that the NSA had the ability to decrypt more than 1,000 VPN connections per hour.
"It shows that the NSA had the ability to remotely extract confidential keys from Cisco VPNs for over a decade," Mustafa Al-Bassam, a security researcher at payments processing firm Secure Trading, told Ars. "This explains how they were able to decrypt thousands of VPN connections per minute as shown in documents previously published by Der Spiegel
August 19, 2016
Curiouser and curiouser...
Yup! The NSA Got Hacked
Source: The Atlantic
After a never-before-seen group announced it was in possession of a trove of malware developed by the elite hacking arm of the National Security Agency early this week, professional security researchers began working to try and determine whether the code the group released was truly developed by the NSA.
Working off of hints they found in the code, which was released by a group calling itself the “Shadow Broker,” researchers guessed it was authentic—but new documentation straight from the source appears to confirm the code’s provenance.
According to NSA documents obtained by Edward Snowden and reviewed by The Intercept, several elements in the released code line up with details in the agency’s own manuals and materials.
One manual, for example, instructs agents to use a specific 16-character string, “ace02468bdf13579,” to track a certain strain of government-developed malware as it makes its way through networks. That string shows up character-for-character in one of the leaked hacking tools, “SECONDDATE.”
Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/08/yup-the-nsa-got-hacked/496643/
Curiouser and curiouser...
August 18, 2016
Baltimore terminates contract with attorney accused of neo-Nazi ties
Source: Baltimore Sun
The city has terminated its one-year contract with an attorney accused of neo-Nazi ties effective immediately, the Office of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Thursday in a statement.
Glen Keith Allen, 65, was a contract employee who worked on complex litigation as needed, officials said
The city began investigating Allen's background after the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that he had a history of supporting the neo-Nazi National Alliance.
"Allen's history with organized racism and anti-Semitism is deep," Heidi Beirich, the center's intelligence project director, wrote this week on the center's website. "Records obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) show he was a dues-paying member of the National Alliance for years.
Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-allen-attorney-20160818-story.html
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