Happy Holidays from TSA

Patrick Smith, who writes the “Ask the Pilot” column on Salon, has a sign of the times.  And I feel an urge to put on my Citizen Kane DVD.

24 Comments

@JNOV: She’s done little damage (yet) – most of the candidates she endorses lose, and if she gets the 2012 nod it’ll be a great gift to Barry. But she has the potential to destroy.

@JNOV: I’m curious if TSA is confiscating those cheesy tourist souvenir pens that have water and mini-snow globes in them.

Oh and speaking of phormer Phillies, Pat Burrell re-upped with the Giants at a discount. Turned down more money from others to stick with the team that pulled him out of the dustbin.

The ridiculous TSA restrictions are more evidence that the terrorists won. Trillions wasted on unnecessary wars and billions on security theater. Maybe I can ask for asylum in Canada, or Belgium.

@blogenfreude: The Guardian reported today that Assange is considering asking Switzerland for political asylum. They have good skiing if you’re into that.

@blogenfreude: K. How about the dude that killed the 14th Amendment for 100 or so years. Stand by.

@SanFranLefty: Good on him. Sucky ass sucky Phils.

@SanFranLefty: Man. This Assange guy. I dunno. I mean, Yay, WikiLeaks! Boo, Julian Asshat! I’m all drunk and stuff, but I’m wondering if my minor volunteer WL efforts are going to come under scrutiny. Sure, he’s going to Switzerland. But what about the rest of us?

I totally dig snow globes, especially the musical ones. From Germany. Hummels are shite (Lladro, please), Precious Moments makes me apoplectic, but snow globes rock. Disney sells a shitton of these things. What about the wee ones going home with their Disney treasures? So not fair.

And, yeah! What about the nekkid Hula lady pens? That’s some bullshit there.

@JNOV: I think Jack Shafer described it best:

“Information conduits like Julian Assange shock us out of that complacency. Oh, sure, he’s a pompous egomaniac sporting a series of bad haircuts and grandiose tendencies. And he often acts without completely thinking through every repercussion of his actions. But if you want to dismiss him just because he’s a seething jerk, there are about 2,000 journalists I’d like you to meet.

The idea of WikiLeaks is scarier than anything the organization has leaked or anything Assange has done because it restores our distrust in the institutions that control our lives.”

@SanFranLefty: Yeah, and don’t get me wrong, I’m not dismissing him. I just think that he’s on a pedestal that he created. I feel like an old hippie, but back in the day (like six years ago), WikiLeaks was a faceless group of people trying to get good information out to the pubilc. Now it’s All Assange All the Time. And he treats the people who keep WikiLeaks going like shit. Don’t shit on the staff, or they will poison you.

@SanFranLefty: I am fine w/ leaks that show all governments for what they are in this day and age – granters of freedom … until you need it (ask the Japanese Americans of WWII). They will take freedom and liberty away to preserve themselves. So give me a Swedish Assange, or Swiss, or whatever.

@JNOV: Let’s wait out the CIA connection on that one.

@nojo: I am, but I’m also not pulling an OJ/Kobe “there’s no way he could’ve done it” thing. I’m always down for a good conspiracy theory, and I believe some theories are often based on fact (Allende!). I’m reserving judgment (it’s not my place), but I also refuse to have a blind spot. Anything is possible.

@JNOV: He’s a jackass, he’s a jerk to the people who work on WikiLeaks, but you know he’s innocent until proven guilty. His attorney told The Beeb today that the charges are based on having consensual sex without a condom. Chief prosecutor for Stockholm had found no evidence of a crime, then three weeks later, a Swedish politician asked a prosecutor in Gothenberg, another city, to investigate.

@JNOV: Nobody except Assange considers Assange a paragon of virtue these days, so they’re not dismissing the charge because he’s somehow incapable of committing the crime. Nor does the timing of the charge necessarily mean the CIA had a hand in it.

But…

Something’s not quite right here. So I’m waiting out that story.

@JNOV: He’s merely in charge of the organization – if he’s really guilty of rape (and I doubt that) Wikileaks will go on without him.

@nojo: I hear you.

@blogenfreude: It’s not about the fate of WikiLeaks — it’s about the controversies surrounding Assange that are damaging the group.

@SanFranLefty: Yeah, I’ve been following it closely. Don’t know if Swedish law has the presumption of innocence, but I do hold that ideal dear no matter the jurisdiction. But it’s an ideal outside the courtroom. In the public domain, well, we all get to speculate.

/gotta get out of this coat before I have heat stroke/

@SanFranLefty: Gothenberg is the home of Swedish melodic death metal, btw including Beesko’s new fave band Hammerfall.

In Flames, The Jester Race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrbQdlqvjEE&feature=relat

@JNOV: Everything I know about Swedish law is based upon the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and a friend of mine who taught a comparative law class there.

In other words, not much.

snow globes? SNOW GLOBES ???
security theater has become pythonesque.

hey did you see zuckerberg on 60 minutes last night? he scares me–he doesn’t blink. i mean that literally. the man doesn’t blink. very weird.
and his FB baby is poised for world domination, for realz.
how many of us are sending the same amount of emails since we *faced* it?

asylum ain’t too bad down here, btw……

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