TMR: Seattle's Insane Law Against Throwing Food Away, Bye-Bye Eric Holder, and FBI Pissed Google & Apple Lock Cops Out of Phones
Hello, Friday, old friend. I thought you would never return. But now that you're back, here's a Morning Roar! Seattle's Insane Law Against Throwing Food AwayDid you take your crazy pills today? Because even if you didn't you'll definitely think you did after hearing about Seattle's utterly ridiculous new law that is supposed to stop people and businesses from wasting food that could be "composted." From the Seattle Times:
The Seattle City Council passed a new ordinance Monday that could mean $1 fines for people who toss too many table scraps into the trash.Under the new rules, collectors can take a cursory look each time they dump trash into a garbage truck.If they see compostable items make up 10 percent or more of the trash, they’ll enter the violation into a computer system their trucks already carry, and will leave a ticket on the garbage bin that says to expect a $1 fine on the next garbage bill.Apartment buildings and businesses will be subject to the same 10 percent threshold but will get two warnings before they are fined. A third violation will result in a $50 fine. Dumpsters there will be checked by inspectors on a random basis.
This is an atrocity on many levels and for many reasons, let us count the ways, shall we?
- First and foremost it's an invasion of privacy to encourage trash collectors to start peering into people's garbage. Most people would be perturbed if anyone was looking into their trash, but for it now to be a mandatory state-sponsored peepshow creates a Big Brother environment that's completely unacceptable.
- This will undoubtedly result in abuse. How are garbagemen supposed to know what food scraps constitute 10% of the trash? They would literally have to sift through to check (even furthering the invasion of privacy) which they won't do. So they'll be guessing and without a doubt will err on the side of zeal and fines to boost city coffers.
- People already pay for trash service, and frankly if they want to throw away food scraps they should be able to do it at their leisure no matter what the percentage it makes up. Garbage removal isn't a free city service, and thus the city shouldn't be levying this tax on how people toss garbage away.
- How are businesses and apartments supposed to police what tenants or employees throw away every day? And how can the city prove that those who own the business are responsible for every bit of trash? There are dumpsters everywhere that are routinely used by passers-by who will throw away...wait for it...food trash that they have been carrying and want to dispose of. Or dead bodies, but those don't result in a fine. The same goes for residents - unless every resident has a lock and key for their trash cans, how can the city prove that someone didn't stop and toss some food in the garbage receptacle that wasn't living there? I do this all the time, as does everyone.
Seattles' City Council voted on this 9-0 - without a single dissenter (pathetic!) - and of course no public hearing was required, which seems perfectly logical on a broad-reaching tax that impacts every single resident of the city. Seattle - you're proud of your stupid "12th Man" in pro football - let's see if you can get equally loud over this cash-grab by your city.Bye-Bye Eric Holder! Widely despised mealy-mouthed protest-inciter Eric Holder has announced that he will be resigning from the position of Attorney General A.S.A.P. according to reports released yesterday, ending one of the longer runs an AG has had and also one of the more despicable. Of course, that didn't stop ultra-liberal NPR from trying to put a happy face on it in the opening paragraph of its coverage.
Eric Holder Jr., the nation's first black U.S. attorney general, will resign his post after a tumultuous tenure marked by civil rights advances, national security threats, reforms to the criminal justice system and 5 1/2 years of fights with Republicans in Congress.
Really, that's what he's known for? Advances in civil rights and reforms to the criminal justice system? I would say he's more known for the national embarrassment that was the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal and for sending protest-inciting squads to organize mobs following the Travon Martin shooting coordinated against George Zimmerman. What a fantastic AG, organizing mobs targeting one citizen before he was convicted of anything at all! And lets also not forget his terrible definition of what makes someone an enemy combatant (be they American citizens or not), which is so open to interpretation that I'm pretty sure I've just become one right now for typing this rant!Obama, naturally, was very broken up over the news, as it's hard to find blind toadies that will go along with whatever liberty-smashing plans you may toss out during a weekly jam session. You won't even be able to read this trash without the bile rising in your throat.
In an emotional ceremony at the White House on Thursday, President Obama said that saying goodbye to Holder was "bittersweet."He described the attorney general as having a "deep, abiding commitment to equal justice under the law," and to taking steps that further guarantee everyone's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.In his own speech, Holder fought back tears. He said beyond having a strong working relationship with Obama, "I am proud to call you a friend."Holder said Obama's administration has "done much to make real the promise of our Democracy."
Were they both talking through tears of laughter? Because Holder being associated with liberty in any way is a JOKE.
President Obama said on Thursday that Holder, 63, intends to leave the Justice Department as soon as his successor is confirmed, a process that could run through 2014 and even into next year. A former U.S. government official says Holder has been increasingly "adamant" about his desire to leave soon. Holder and President Obama discussed his departure several times and finalized things in a long meeting over Labor Day weekend at the White House.
Get lost and never come back.FBI is Miffed At Google & Apple for Protecting Privacy Rights of Customers Oh, the poor widdle FBI is upset about something? What is it? Tell uncle Brian and let him kiss the boo-boo better.
FBI Director James B. Comey sharply criticized Apple and Google on Thursday for developing forms of smartphone encryption so secure that law enforcement officials cannot easily gain access to information stored on the devices — even when they have valid search warrants.
Wait, that's what you're upset about? Get out of my den, Daddy has drinking to do!Seriously though, how impressive is it that Apple & Google are rolling out encryption that the feds can't crack? This harkens to a case that I wrote about previously, where a man's computer was taken for evidence, yet the man refuses to provide the encryption code to the feds to access it and the courts ruled (correctly) that his doing so would be incriminating himself and a violation of his 5th Amendment rights. This was (incorrectly) overturned later, unfortunately, but the issue is in no way resolved.
Comey added that FBI officials already have made initial contact with the two companies, which announced their new smartphone encryption initiatives last week. He said he could not understand why companies would “market something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law.”Comey’s remarks followed news last week that Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 8, is so thoroughly encrypted that the company is unable to unlock iPhones or iPads for police. Google, meanwhile, is moving to an automatic form of encryption for its newest version of Android operating system that the company also will not be able to unlock, though it will take longer for that new feature to reach most consumers.
Hahahaha, gee I wonder why they would market that feature? I mean, it's not like privacy is a massive concern for people or anything.
The new encryption initiatives by Apple and Google come after June’s Supreme Court ruling requiring police, in most circumstances, to get a search warrant before gathering data from a phone. The magistrate courts that typically issue search warrants, meanwhile, are more carefully scrutinizing requests amid the heightened privacy concerns that followed the NSA disclosures that began last year.Civil liberties activists call this shift a necessary correction to the deterioration of personal privacy in the digital era — and especially since Apple’s introduction of the iPhone in 2007 inaugurated an era in which smartphones became remarkably intimate companions of people everywhere.
Yep, over and out. Have a good weekend.Read The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
