American't Stand It!

[eternallyhuman-deactivated20150]

US security experts claim a 12-story office building outside of Shanghai is the headquarters of a hacking unit in China established to attack international computer networks. Beijing has rejected the allegations, calling the reports “unreliable”.

According to a report published Tuesday morning by a Northern Virginia-based information security company, an elusive squadron of Chinese cyberwarriors operating under the name Unit 61398 has engaged in countless battles with governments and entities around the globe for years under the umbrella of the People’s Liberation Army…

[nhlabornews]

Rebuild America’s middle class with #unions

[nathanplummer-blog]

"A growing body of evidence leaves little doubt that an overwhelming percentage of the attacks on American companies and government agencies start in a building on the edge of Shanghai."

Isn't it a little racist to mention that the building is surrounded by massage parlors?

But seriously, this is a bit disturbing, right? I recently heard someone say on an NPR story that the US and China will switch places in world power rankings sometime this century. That's weird on many levels.

But this is maybe more weird - how the change is taking place. How is the world going to deal with these kinds of tactics? Will the US employ the age-old "ground and pound" attack, or will their be diplomacy? Or perhaps, and probably most likely, will their by a cyber retaliation, some sort of hacking from the US side?

It's a strange time to live in if you dare step back from the computer screen and absorb all the info that's constantly streaming into your brain. I encourage you to simply unplug the computer and have a conversation with some friends. Some day you may lose that privilege.

[nathanplummer-blog]

Do You Know How Things Work?

"You can't change the law through executive order," Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va.

There's a debate in the US right now about how much power the President (or POTUS for you fashionable peeps) has and what he or she can in effect do. Pres Obama recently announced a major effort to curb some gun violence, proposing measures to ban high-capacity magazines for ammunition, in addition to cracking down on bullying and making mental health care widely available. There was no discussion, however, on the President's ability to turn into the shades-wearing,"cool" high school student Max that wittily mocks middle-school bullies while waiting for the school bus. It is generally understood that those personal attempts to end the tyranny of bullies is Pres Obama's own albatross, kept in the shadows of Area 51.

In spite of his heroic efforts, the President is generally staying within his executive power. Any basic civic lesson will teach that the United States Bill or Rights can be altered and amended, but must be done so through the executive and legislative branches and voted on by the citizens of the US. So, it's rather alarming when people post to Facebook statements like, "Our President is trying to be a king and take away the Second Amendment of the Constitution!"

Maybe that's not an exact quote, but you get the point. It's an everyday occurrence for people to shout down political activities from both Repunlicans and Democrats, condensing them into rehashed movie quotes and t-shirt slogans. This is a cultural epidemic that is weakening the United States' ability to debate rationally. There is not one type of voter that does it more often than another, so it's hard to pinpoint the source.

One could argue that muddling of traditional media over the past forty or fifty years and it's role in modern US society. Another report could focus on the depreciation of education in the United States. Probably, the cause of such hyperbolic discourse is a combination of these two previous factors among others.

What we can do is recognize our own minimizing of information into easily-consumed chunks and strive to end these personal tendencies. If we can't talk to each other without over-simplfying, then we're doing something wrong. Is the President turning into an evil king, sitting upon a massage-throne in the White House, dispatching drones to murder gun-owning small town folk, enjoying the newest episodes of HBO's "Girls." And Republicans aren't simple-minded fatsos with shoulder-mounted Gatling guns, determined to put an eagle-laden crucifix in every home. So stop watching TV, stop thinking movies are truth and citing them in arguments, and start critically thinking about everything you hear and question.

The President is only one part of the government, with or without the Ray Ban's and jean jacket.

[nathanplummer-blog]

How to Talk to Your Right-Wing Relatives about Gun Control

After the horrible events of Newtown, CT and the shooting at a California High School last week, and also after the continuing genocide of inner-city people across the United States DAILY, citizens of the US are beginning (finally) to clamor for some solution to this culture monstrosity that is gun violence. I don't want to tell you exactly what you need to know because this is the internet, but if you find yourself wanting to discuss stronger gun control as a possible means to an end (which is a good debate but MAYBE also look at mental health care and the health care system in the US, but who am I), be prepared to find some pig-headed and obnoxious opponents. Most likely they'll exist in your own family, masquerading as your brother or uncle or even your dad. I'm here to help you keep your cool.

1. Know that at some point you'll have to say the words, "Look, no one is trying to take away your guns." It's really up to you when you could use them, maybe the beginning to set a tone or maybe in the middle as a way of trying to cool things down. There are a few people out there who argue in favor of taking away all guns (including your crappy BB gun that still sits in your bedroom closet!) but even on a path to peaceful utopia, immediate nullification of all gun ownership isn't feasible. However, that will be the strongest argument a right-winger will make. You know - the whole "cold-dead-hands" thing.

2. Don't laugh. Whatever you do, please don't laugh. It's going to be really hard because chances are they'll say something that makes no sense or try to use FOX News as a reference. They may even pull out their "piece" as a physical reference (and also possibly in attempt to intimidate you). Bite your lip, think about baseball, and don't laugh.

3. Understand that they're scared. Maybe they stayed up for one hundred hours watching FOX News during the holidays because it was too hot to go outside or maybe they just leave on CNN all day at work, but chances are they consume a lot of televised "news" media. As in, Dr Gupta-prescribed media-overdose. It's unhealthy yes, but that's all they've had for the past eleven or so years. Cut 'em some slack - most of their "news" is just a manipulation and strangulation of some facts with a ultra-modified graphic to coincide (see also: the internet). They don't know they're scared, as it were, but they are because they own one or more guns. They're scared of the blacks or the poor or the Jews or the liberals or the Chinese or the Mexicans or the Women or the rich or the Alpha-Centauri Centaurs. Or this guy, but he's also REALLY scared, too.

4. Influence their argument with cool-handed tactics. Don't eat fifty hard-boiled eggs, but do keep your head. Rational people hate talking to screaming freaks and there are a LOT of gun-toting screaming freaks. You might get the argument from a right-winger that no one is listening to them (mostly because they're screaming freaks but also they're possibly talking to no one in particular), so this is your chance to do your civic duty. Listen to the batshit dipshit, but don't raise your voice even if he (or she) does.

5. Make sure they have a solution. The hardest part about debating with right-wingers is that nine times out of ten, they offer no solution to a problem. You'll get the regurgitated FOX stats and maybe a Thomas Jefferson quote and maybe a Bible quote (Bible! You know, the Bible - the one that preaches good faith and "love they neighbor" and "take care of everyone") but you probably won't get any type of solution. Offer one to them, a compromise various opinions and beliefs. Right-wingers hate compromise, so it might not take.

6. Thank them. I guarantee that no one has ever thanked them for their opinion, more than likely because it's the rambling of a crazy person. But be nice, thank them, and maybe get a beer or some pie for them. You've aroused the only important political issue in their loins, so thank them for their boner-laden rhetoric.

Note: DO NOT bring up how it makes no sense that the right-wingers won't get upset about other political issues, especially if they're in massive debt or can't go to the doctor for a simple cold or they work part-time at a retail store for $7.25 an hour. You can't expect them to get so upset about worker's rights, they've got a game to watch this afternoon! D-UH.

Also note: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT bring up how hypocritical it is to rely on a federal policy for a simple, basic right (but you and I know it's neither simple nor basic), because you know they fucking HATE the federal government. That's just poking the drugged-tiger in the eye with a hot stick.

Happy Hunting! And Jah Bless Us, Everyone.

[nathanplummer-blog]

Welcome to Non-Journalism: Turn That Racket Down and Get the Hell Off My Lawn!

So, you can search any number of blogs and find a lot of Bill O'Reilly bashing and probably a supporter here and there. And let's get one thing straight: Fuck him.

Recently he had a nice review of "Gangnam Style" which could have made the late edition of the NYT or the holiday issue of Vogue. Sure, PSY's "Gangnam Style" is not for everyone, and chances are you're just plain sick of it. I'd like to jab crow-bars into my ears every time I hear it, which is at least once a day.

So, the psychiatrist he interviews states that the video is "unintelligible" which I understand because I also don't speak Korean. But I can recognize that IT IS IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE. O'Reilly then goes on to claim that the song "has no meaning." But that obviously isn't true, the song does have meaning and it's that O'Reilly doesn't understand the meaning of the words.

And most people in the US don't, which is fine. You don't have to understand it to enjoy it because pop music from the US is enjoyed all over the world (even in countries where English isn't the first or second language! Who'd a-thunk it?!) Which brings me to a crucial point, MOST POP MUSIC IS MEANINGLESS GARBAGE INCLUDING ELVIS. And fuck Maroon 5 especially.

So why single out one song? Is it really because it has 800,000,000 views or is it because it's not from the US?

O'Reilly mentions that PSY is from "Yongyang," which I believe isn't a real city? Maybe he's getting it confused with Pyeongyang, the capital city of North Korea who is not an ally of the US or of South Korea. Maybe it's a real place where he goes to screw piles of dog shit out of the public eye, I don't know.

But I honestly waited for O'Reilly to drop the word "Orient" or "Oriental."

Watch it if you want, if you want another example of why your should had this turd. And if you know O'Reilly and could counter any of my hunches with factual evidence of his humanitarianism or good nature, then I'd love to hear it. Until that time, he is a Supreme Shit-Lord of the Seventh Dimension who has come to take over our planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpnu1DUpNbY&feature=youtu.be

[nathanplummer-blog]

File under: I'll believe it when I see it

"BP will pay a record criminal penalty to resolve some of its liability for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in a deal to be announced by the U.S. Justice Department as soon as Thursday, a source told Reuters."

This is potentially really great news. BP should be severely punished for this oil spill, and I don't think a fine is enough. I know there have been resignations and firings, but the spill in 2010 was a fucking ultra-tragic thing. As in, people in one hundred years will look at it like how we see the Triangle Factory Fire. Well, hopefully they will if they put down their goddamned Google Glass touch-thingy or take out their iEyes.

However, with the amount of pocket-stuffing that Big Oil does in the government, this may take a long time to happen. The legal system moves slower than your grandmother's shit. Also, I'm sure there's some way for BP to avoid having the money that will pay the fine taxed.

Off-shore drilling can suck it's own filthy butthole. And if you don't agree with that idea and/or you also think global warming is a scam, then you should be forced to clean up after every oil spill and mega-hurricane without pay because you're a blind simpleton fuck.

This was on the home page of HuffPo at 4:25 pm (GMT +9).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/bp-oil-spill-settlement_n_2134400.html

[nathanplummer-blog]

File under: No Shit, Sherlock

From nytimes.com: "Federal officials have received reports of 13 deaths over the last four years that cited the possible involvement of 5-Hour Energy, a highly caffeinated energy shot, according to Food and Drug Administration records and an interview with an agency official.

The disclosure of the reports is the second time in recent weeks that F.D.A. filings citing energy drinks and deaths have emerged. Last month, the agency acknowledged it had received five fatality filings mentioning another popular energy drink, Monster Energy."

In fifty years, when cats are actually talking to us and people roam Starbucks Presents Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers in their underwear, energy drinks will be frowned upon. They'll not be made illegal mind you, because there will be an amendment to the US Constitution that prohibits any kind of ban on any type of food or drink that keeps fat people fat and sweaty. But "back in the day" (twenty years from now) too many "old-timers" will have suffered from heart-shrinkage and severe erectile dysfunction from energy drinks, so no one in their right mind will want to put an ounce of the gross shit in their body. You can still get a frappucino.

I really hope I'm fucking dead by this time because if this is even close to what the future will actually be like, it'll blow goats into infinity and beyond. Remember: the future always sucks.

The first few paragraphs of this article are vague in the sense that the facts are all based on possibility. The relative information is weak because there specifically isn't any direct connection between these drinks and any deaths. That being said, NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND SHOULD REALLY BE DRINKING THIS JUNK. And I think most of us who understand the concept of nutrition get this notion that energy drinks are not good for you. It's concentrated caffeine and sugar. This Monster drink is bright green. It literally looks like every animated version of toxic sludge drawn by some poorly paid art school drop-out.

The key here is concentration. There isn't any mention in the article of overdosing on the drinks, but it does state that a single 5-hour Energy Shot has about 215 mg of caffeine. And I have seen with my own bastard, sad-sack eyes people drink multiple 5-hour Energy Shots in a short time, like maybe an hour or an hour and a half. First, barf barf vomit barf. Have you tried the drink? It tastes like an electrocuted Kool-Aid Man. Second, welcome your heart to the Daytona 500 and buckle up, because you'll be jittery and dropping everything you touch in mere seconds. Obviously, an overdose of 5-Hour Energy can be the same as an overdose of coffee but people aren't doing that. Asshole grad students are drinking five or six cups of coffee over a twelve hour period in which they should be sleeping.

Accessibility of a small little drink that's "guaranteed to jack you up." (That's Josh Harnett's character Zeke from "The Faculty") is pretty important here, too. No one wants to drink a shitty cup of coffee (and if you do, then shame the fuck on you) but no one is discerning about the taste of energy drinks. Little Trey isn't driving to another part of town to purchase a Monster drink over the 5-Hour Energy Drinks that the 7-11 down the road sells. Also, every store between the 7-11 and the convenience store with Monster drinks has 5-Hour Energy, including the dentist that Little Trey hasn't been to in twelve years.

I'm not arguing that coffee is better for you than energy drinks because I'm not a complete moron. No one has said that drinking coffee is really good for you. That would be fucking stupid. But it's a drug and humans like drugs. Maybe people just don't give a shit about what's in the drink so they're chugged like how water should be. Maybe Little Trey in his red Mustang just likes the fucking ball-sweat taste of energy drinks. Who the fuck knows.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/business/5-hour-energy-is-cited-in-13-death-reports.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0

[nathanplummer-blog]

All it takes is a petition?

Seriously, all it takes is some signatures? WE COULD’VE BEEN RID OF TEXAS SO LONG AGO.

From nbcnews.com - “The petition on WhiteHouse.gov asks the Obama administration to ‘peacefully grant the State of Texas to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own new government.’ The petition had surpassed 34,000 signatures as of Monday evening. It was created by a person self-identified only as ‘Micah H.’ from Arlington, Texas.”

I’m sure Micah H is the George Washington of his awesome and carpeted apartment, but fuck that guy. But not to single one person out, this is moronic all over the place.

This is simply fucking stupid and ignorant and it’s lame that these kind of childish acts get media attention. That being said, LET THEM FUCKING GO. You remember when you were an annoying little snot-nosed shithead and would go play with your only friend? There would be that one day when you were cranky because you accidentally pissed yourself or your brother told you to “Fuck off” and for the first time you understood what he said. And on that day, your friend said something you didn’t like and then you were a turd and said something nasty, so your friend called you a name or shoved you. Then, in a fit of anger with teary eyes, you threatened to take your whiny ass home.

Then there was the argument between you and your friend about whether or not you were really leaving and whether or not your friend really cared and etc. It ended up that your mom got home and saw that you didn’t do you goddamned chores so she called for your lazy ass to come and clean up your shit.

The next damn day, you and your friend stubbornly made non-verbal amends because you realized how dumb you were or you no longer had pissed-soaked underwear. You and your shithead friend were back swinging sticks at each other like a motherfucker at around 5:30 that evening.

You as a dumbfuck little kid? That’s Texas. Your friend shouldn’t have said shit in the first place and let your lame ass go home because then your friend would have gone inside, gotten warm, did his homework on time, and played Super Mario Brothers until it was time for dinner. He would have a had a productive but also fun evening.

You know that we’ve all witnessed those moments when someone is threatening to leave for some pathetic reason. SEE ALSO: Sucky relationships. Usually the issue could have been sorted out if everyone involved just took a step back and chilled for a minute because in hindsight, YOU ALWAYS LOOK LIKE AN ASSHOLE WHEN YOU THREATEN TO LEAVE. And we all realize it the next day or two days later.

If the people of Texas were legitimately leaving the US, I’m sure there would be just guns and old white people riding on the backs of illegal immigrants. There wouldn’t be any paperwork or bureaucratic nonsense to get in the way. It’s talk, plain and simple.

We just accept these days that people will talk and make threats and that’s okay. It’s the same kind of toxic reaction that everyone expects from one another. And we’re okay with it for some insane reason.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/12/15117305-petition-for-texas-to-secede-from-us-reaches-threshold-for-white-house-response?lite

[nathanplummer-blog]

Papa John : Supreme Shithead

From Examiner.com: "Factor in other sports around which brands advertise, and it’s a small wonder why Schnatter isn’t more concerned about protecting his hard-working employees than selling fattening foot to professional couch potatoes." The problem in the US isn't a debate on how things can be changed, but rather one group of people whose immediate reaction to anything they don't agree with is punishment on another group of people. This kind of toxic environment comes from generations of manipulation through fear and lack of common decency. If you won't sacrifice yourself for your company or if you won't help the people who work for you, then you shouldn't run a business. It's not just Papa John's, but an excuse that comes from many executives and other people of greed. For Conservatives, why would you trust any economic development to someone who is reactionary and hostile towards workers?

The whole article is here:

http://www.examiner.com/article/papa-john-s-has-dough-for-tv-ads-but-will-cut-worker-hours-due-to-obamacare