“Are we going to allow a means of communications which it simply isn’t possible to read? My answer to that question is: No, we must not.”
– UK Prime Minister David Cameron
I’m not interested in this civil liberties stuff. If they’re a threat, I want their emails and calls listened to.”
– London Mayor Boris Johnson
When it comes to the “war on terror,” the United Kingdom embraces a unique form of paranoia and hatred for civil liberties that leaves pretty much all other Western nations in the dust. Although it isn’t the country in which I reside, the extraordinarily close diplomatic ties between the U.S. and the UK results in my paying particular attention to what transpires over in Albion. I highlighted Britain’s most recent example of terror fear-mongering in the post, The War on Toddler Terrorists – Britain Wants to Force Nursery School Teachers to Identify “Extremist” Children. Yes, it’s exactly as absurd as it sounds. Here’s an excerpt:
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As I was wrapping up my travels in Asia, an extremely sad event unfolded in Paris during which 12 people were murdered at the office of satire magazine Charlie Hebdo. Just four days later, another sad and pathetic event occurred. A swarm of politicians, many of whom are professional authoritarians, shamelessly descended onto the streets of Paris to “join millions of protesters” in a rally for free speech and solidarity with the victims of the barbaric attack.
Two years ago humanity lost a brave, brilliant and kindhearted individual named Aaron Swartz. On that day, I composed a post expressing my outrage and sadness. I reposted it on the anniversary of his death last year, and am reposting it again today.
Shutting down sledding hills is inspired by the same sort of simpering caution that keeps Americans shoeless in airport security lines and, closer to home, keeps parents from letting their kids walk a few blocks to school alone, despite the fact that America today is as safe as the longed-for “Leave It to Beaver” golden age.
It’s 8pm in Cambodia and time to find something to eat, but before I do, something caught my attention that I just have to share. It has to do with Great Britain’s continued insanity when it comes to it’s own version of the so-called “war on terror.” This topic will come as no surprise to regular readers, as I have previously highlighted the UK’s unique brand of Orwellianism on several occasions. Here are a couple of examples from late last year:
Elephant imagery is ubiquitous in Thailand. The animal takes on the form of the god Ganesh in Hinduism, and while Thailand is 95% Buddhist, Indian religious influence is clear. The sad irony of the situation is that the Asian elephant is in dire straights in Thailand. It is estimated that at the turn of the 20th Century, there were 100,000 elephants in Thailand. That number has plunged dramatically to an estimated 5,000 today. Of these, about 2,000 are in the wild and 3,000 in captivity as domestic elephants. A dismal situation became even worse following the Thai ban on logging in 1989, when many of the working domestic elephants were suddenly out of a job. With a fixed cost and an income stream suddenly threatened, elephant owners either abandoned their animals or brought them into big cities such as Bangkok where they would entertain tourists on the loud, crowded streets for change. These elephants didn’t eat enough, didn’t bathe enough, they walked on polluted city streets, and breathed congested air. It was a horrible existence for these majestic beasts that are meant to naturally roam the forests. This practice has since been banned, and fortunately, Thai cities are essentially elephant free today.
Money is a very important part of all our lives. The understanding of money, how it works, and how we treat it can dramatically improve or diminish our quality of life.
If there’s one thing we have learned about Barack Obama, it’s that he is a master of deception and absolutely loves to lie to the public. He seems to enjoy conning the plebs to such a degree, I think he actually receives blasts of dopamine every time he does it. The bigger the lie, the better the rush.
Ever since the torture report was released last week, U.S. television outlets have endlessly featured American torturers and torture proponents. But there was one group that was almost never heard from: the victims of their torture, not even the ones recognized by the U.S. Government itself as innocent, not even the family members of the ones they tortured to death. Whether by design (most likely) or effect, this inexcusable omission radically distorts coverage.