Coco-BOOM

Contrary to my expectations, and to my great disappointment, I learned that this is not how Coco Puffs are made. Au contraire, this is the War on Drugs. Who knew coke was so flammable?

The Guardian reports:

Puerto Concordia, Colombia: anti-narcotics police officers blow up a cocaine processing laboratory after seizing it from the Farc
Photograph: Guillermo Legaria/AFP/Getty Images

Bystanders were extremely moved by the pyrotechnic display, if not thrilled.

I fucking hate shortages!!

Whatchoolookinat?

It’s a tale told in tweets, a very Twenty-First Century tale, for lo, it is all about recycling, Wikileaks, Russia, Orwellian paranoia, US online surveillance, and the Mainstream Media vs the New Media (remember the New Media? This is it. Are we vindicated or embarrassed?).

In other words, this is what my editors over at the DailyDot.com did NOT decide to run with my latest Wikileaks story, so I’m using it here, so there.

They took out all my wacky Cold War jokes, too, damnation! What’s an article about Russia and the US without a few tasteless Cold War jokes thrown in? Whodathunk a few references here or there to Google’s info-capitalist hegemony would get people in Silicon Valley so touchy?

Our story begins:

АФП выдало заметку о том, что Ассанж выходит у нас. Намешали туда, что я ходила на встречу с ВВ, и про альфа-самца, и про ДА:) #чистыйтрэш—
Маргарита Симоньян (@M_Simonyan) January 25, 2012

which comes from the head of RT, the network which has just picked up Julian Assange‘s new talk show. I repeat: JULIAN ASSANGE’S NEW TALK SHOW.

and translates thusly:

The AFP has issued a note that Assange goes with us. Are mixed there, I went to a meeting withthe explosive, and about the alpha male, and about YES:) #chistyytresh

to which we can only reply:

This might actually convince me to get cable. I’ll just let Twitter tell the rest of the story.

RT @RT_com: #Assange's TV show on RT: Most anticipated news series of 2012? on.rt.com/a9t8pm—
WikiLeaksLover (@NOH8ER) January 25, 2012

RT @melbourneninja: Wow! @RT_com secured the rights to Julian #Assange's political TV series just 24hrs after the #WikiLeaks press release!—
WikiLeaksLover (@NOH8ER) January 25, 2012

and from my former boss at True/Slant, now in charge of the front page of the NYT.com,

This is Orwellian RT @evgenymorozov: So Assange has sold out to Kremlin – yack! rt.com/news/julian-as…—
Michael Roston (@michaelroston) January 25, 2012

@michaelroston Actually RT is not bad sometimes.—
  (@raincoaster) January 25, 2012

@raincoaster it's owned and operated by a semi-authoritarian government. It's always bad.—
Michael Roston (@michaelroston) January 25, 2012

@michaelroston Hahahahahahahaha, so is PBS.—
  (@raincoaster) January 25, 2012

@michaelroston Ironically, Russia now has greater privacy protections than the US, especially online. Wikileaks uses .ru emails, for eg—
  (@raincoaster) January 25, 2012

@raincoaster yet another American taken in by a Potemkin village—
Michael Roston (@michaelroston) January 25, 2012

Well, you KNOW there’s no way I’m taking THAT lying down.

Canuckistani Revolutionary

@michaelroston Didn't you used to be my boss? Don't you remember I'm not an American?—
  (@raincoaster) January 25, 2012

@raincoaster I stand corrected. A Canadian taken in by a Potemkin village.—
Michael Roston (@michaelroston) January 25, 2012

@michaelroston I don't think so. I don't drink either US or Russian kool aid. Look at the privacy protections of Livejournal: pretty ace!—
  (@raincoaster) January 25, 2012

@raincoaster Vladimir Putin is just fighting terrorists in Chechnya, and he also discovered many antique relics at the bottom of that lake—
Michael Roston (@michaelroston) January 25, 2012

@michaelroston it's understandable Assange would go with RT. a) who else would give him airtime? Murdoch? b) they've been good to him—
  (@raincoaster) January 25, 2012

RT @JLLLOW: C'mon now, did u really think a US or UK television network would air Assange's show? They've been too busy making docos cri …—
WikiLeaksLover (@NOH8ER) January 25, 2012

@jessradio @jaraparilla You may not realise it yet, but it seems likely to me that Julian is using the Kremlin AT LEAST as much as they him.—
WikiLeaksLover (@NOH8ER) January 25, 2012

Prime Minister Stephen Harper Sez Welcome to Canada's beautiful tar sands

And how was YOUR weekend? Canuckistan’s Glorious Ruler posed for a picture with some cuddly Alberta wildlife, while his obedient servants created a website apologizing to the world for the mortifying homunculus who sits, slavering, atop Parliament.

We messed up.

We know you look to us as one of the last great strongholds of common sense in a swirling sea of crazy on this big ol’ crazy planet of ours.

Decriminalized marijuana, same-sex marriage, our peace keeping force, universal health care, education, our stance on environment, human rights, and religious freedom made us look pretty darn awesome.

Now we’re realizing that those things that made us awesome are being taken away from us, and it’s not just us Canadians who are paying the price.

Turns out some of us thought it would be a grand idea to put this fucking guy in charge.

Well, actually, it wasn’t so much that we put him in charge as it is we failed not to.

We goofed. We took our stick off the ice. We pulled a real boner. For that we apologize.

But, hey. 2015 is just around the corner. Hopefully, we’ve learned our lesson, and we’ll do better next time.

We’d better, assuming he doesn’t pull a coup and off the Governor-General, and I wouldn’t put it past him or his alien leaders.

In related news, at least now we can live tweet the defeat of democracy as it happens:

The government of America’s hat announced it will repeal a 1938 law that prohibited citizens from publicly posting election results before all polls closed across the country. Since social-media sites feature real-time discussions, it has been nearly impossibly to enforce the rule despiteElections Canada’s hardline stance.

Someone who’s suddenly not having a great weekend is Greyhound bus driver Donald Ainsworth, who kicked 13 OccupySD protesters off his bus just for supporting Occupy. He thought he’d show them.

Then we did this:

Greyhound Driver Donald Ainsworth vs OccupySD

and this:

> 1-800-723-3287 Donald Ainsworth | The bus driver that kicked the OccupySD protesters off the bus. Call and report him. Bus Number: 6252—
Anonymous Circle (@AnonCircle) January 16, 2012

I want Greyhound to be an example: you don't eff with a large grassroots movement! #peoplepower #boycottgreyhound—
T. McGrödersdóttir (@dakania) January 15, 2012

MT “@YourAnonNews: Corporate Greyhound # in TX is 214-849-6831 | General Customer Service # is 1-800-231-2222 | #OccupySD” #boycottgreyhound—
A Can Of Bees (@MikeQtips) January 15, 2012

and this:

Don walked onto the bus and shouted at everyone, “Shut up, and sit down!”

In shock and disbelief everyone scrambled to take their seats. At the same time, one of the protesters noticed several bags belonging to the group being loaded off the bus. The protester asked the driver why the bags were being removed.

The driver snapped at the protester, “I said, sit down and shut up”.

After the second “sit down and shut up”, several passengers began to voice their concern about the hostility and disrespect coming from the driver. One of those voicing a concern about the luggage was Michael Ponsler. He asked the driver why he was being so rude and disrespectful.

The driver spun around, and shouted, “Who said that?!”

It was me, Michael calmly responded.

“You, off my bus!”, the driver shouted.

Michael explained to the driver that he was part of a group traveling together, that he had done nothing wrong, and was simply inquiring about the bags and customer service. This seemed to outrage the driver even more and he began to shout, “all of you Occupy people, off my bus!”

Several folks from the group tried to explain to the driver again that they were all traveling together, did not want to be split up, and did not want to be prevented from getting to Washington D.C. The driver did not respond, simply walked off the bus and locked the door leaving all the passengers trapped inside for over an hour.

From the windows of the bus everyone could see the driver walk up to the Greyhound ticket counter pick up the phone and have a thirty minute conversation. After the phone call and another thirty minutes or so of standing around and watching the football game on television, two police cars pulled up to the station, and three uniformed officers walked inside to speak with the driver.

After a brief conversation with the driver the officers walked onto the bus and asked him to point out who he wanted removed. The driver began to walk around and ask different passengers whether they were with Occupy. The police stopped the driver and told him that instead of asking people if they are with Occupy, he should instead point out who specifically he wanted off the bus. The driver replied, “all fourteen of them, I want them all of the bus.”

Yeah, the next performance review might just suck for Donald Ainsworth, what’s with the Boycott and all.

Meanwhile, across the pond, Anonymous called for the arrest of UK PM David Cameron. Careful, nonys, he went to Eton and Oxford, he’s connected.

Julian and Christine Assange

Meanwhile meanwhile, Julian Assange‘s mother Christine has taken off the gloves (mittens? I’ve no idea what she wears, really, nor even if she has hands actually now that I think about it, and I certainly didn’t mean any disrespect to the unhanded, although come to think of it they surely must represent the last group on the planet whom I have not directly insulted yet, so I guess yay, that’s out of the way) and really gotten down to fisticuffs with those who’d slap her son in jail.

Notes on Wikileaks:

15 Overlooked Facts About the Assange Extradition Case

1) Julian Assange is not charged with anything in Sweden or any other country.

[Source: @wikileaks]

2) Julian Assange did not flee Sweden to avoid questioning. He was given permission to leave the country on the 15th September 2010, after remaining 5 weeks in Sweden for the purpose of answering the allegations made against him.

[Source: Undue delay for Julian Assange’s interrogation]

3) The case against Julian Assange was initially dropped, and deemed so weak it could not warrant investigation. After the intervention of a Swedish politician close to American diplomats, it was revived by a different prosecutor. [Source: Why is Julian Assange in jail?]

4) In all instances, the 2 plaintiffs consented to sexual intercourse, which they did not take the initiative to stop: they never expressed non-consent and afterwards declared to not have felt threatened by Julian Assange. [Sources: Swedish Police Report and The offences described in the EAW are not extradition offences]

5) A condom submitted as evidence by complainant AA, who claimed it had been deliberately torn by Julian Assange during sexual intercourse, contains no chromosomal DNA from either the complainant or Julian. [Source: Overlooked evidence in the Assange trial]

6) Text messages exchanged between complainants and their friends contradict the factual allegations in the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued for Julian Assange and cast doubt on the allegations.

[Source: Brief to Canberra Meeting of MPs]

7) After the date of the alleged sexual misconduct: a) Complainant AA created then deleted evidence (tweets) indicating she was enjoying Julian Assange’s company; b) AA went as far as suggesting one of her friends (Witness C) should be intimate with Julian as well.

[Sources: AA: The Twitter Trail, Göran Rudling Witness Statement and Police Statement of Witness C]

8) The law firm hired in the Assange investigation is ran by Claes Borgström (politician and legal representative for both plaintiffs) and by former minister Thomas Bodström. Both are members of the Social Democrat Party in Sweden. Bodström is a friend of police interrogator Irmeli Krans, who interrogated complainant SW. [Source: Irmeli Krans: The Facebook Trail]

9) Police interrogator Irmeli Krans is, in turn, friends with the other plaintiff, complainant AA, with whom she has political ties (Social Democrat Party). Krans also breached protocol by commenting negatively about Julian Assange on social media. [Source: Irmeli Krans: The Facebook Trail]

10) Swedish prosecutor, Marianne Ny, refused to provide Julian Assange or his lawyers with information on the allegations against him in writing. This violates the Swedish Code of Procedure (RB 23:18) and the European Convention of Human Rights (article 5), and the EU Fundamental Charter on Human Rights.

Prosecution also refused all voluntary offers for cooperation that fit under Mutual Legal Assistance protocol, such as making use of alternative methods to interview Julian Assange.

[Sources: Fair Trial for Julian Assange? and Abuse of Process: Disproportionate use of EAW and INTERPOL Red Notice]

11) Both the EAW and the Interpol red notice were issued for Julian by Sweden just before WikiLeaks began to publish Cablegate. [Source: Brief to Canberra Meeting of MPs]

12) The allegations against Julian Assange do not constitute an offense in Australia or in the UK. [Source: The offences described in the EAW are not extradition offences]

13) If extradited to Sweden: still without charge, Julian Assange would be held incommunicado and placed under solitary confinement. Pre-trial detention would last for an indefinite period. Trial in Sweden would be held in secret. [Source: Fair Trial for Julian Assange?]

14) The Swedish legal system features lay judges who are appointed because of their political affiliations. They have no formal legal training. [Source: Lay Judges]

15) Sweden has the highest per capita rate of cases brought to the European Court of Human Rights relating to article 6.1 (right to a fair trial). [Source: Fair Trial for Julian Assange?

Conclusion and References

Julian Assange is wanted in Sweden for questioning. According to the law, Julian is not required to be present in the country for the interview to take place. It could instead be conducted using alternative methods, such as a simple phonecall.

On the 13th July 2011, during an extradition appeal hearing, Judges on the case asked why this did not happen:

”Why go through all of this if Mr. Assange offered to be interviewed?”

”Why does judicial corporation not entail… sensible steps to get on with it?”

[Source: 2011-07-13 WikiLeaks Notes]

Prosecution, however, continuously refuses to interview Julian in the UK, insisting he must be extradited to Sweden for interrogation. For this purpose an European Arrest Warrant was issued by Sweden, in disregard for one of its basic restrictions: an EAW is for prosecution purposes only.

The extradition to Sweden insisted upon by prosecution would facilitate subsequent extradition to the US, as Sweden never once denied a US extradition request since 2000. Therefore, the Swedish case against Julian Assange cannot be dissociated from the ongoing US Grand Jury investigation on WikiLeaks. As such, it is extremely important any opinion formed on this specific subject be based on facts.

This list of 15 facts is mostly based on information originally put together by Christine Assange (twitter account: @AssangeC), and it covers crucial aspects about irregularities and political interest in Sweden’s extradition case against Julian Assange. These important details are often ignored or misrepresented by the media.

Another reference document you might wish to read is the briefing note written by WikiLeaks’ legal advisor Jennifer Robinson, a detailed overview of Human Rights concerns regarding Julian Assange’s extradition to Sweden: http://wlcentral.org/node/1418

And over at Justice4Assange.com you will find a lot more information on this case.

Visit the Action page to know what you can do to support Julian Assange:

http://www.Justice4Assange.com/Action.html

To make a donation to the Julian Assange Defence Fund:

http://www.Justice4Assange.com/Donate.html

Please take the time to read and share.

When possible, demand any misleading information in the press be corrected.

#opassange Fight with friends-Organize group action.!STOP U.S EXTRADITION! Christineassange@gmail.com #auspol—
ChristineAssange (@AssangeC) January 16, 2012

#opassange Fight with me now 2 STOP U.S EXTRADITION! Co-ordinating NOW! 4 Feb.2nd. christineassange@gmail.com #auspol—
ChristineAssange (@AssangeC) January 16, 2012

@mortymty #opassange 2 help,get FACTS,counteract media lies,lobby yr MP/threaten vote,contact other activists justice4assange.com #auspol—
ChristineAssange (@AssangeC) January 16, 2012

#opassange Want 2 help? Start with the FACTS! – wlcentral.org/node/1418 justice4assange.com Your anger will drive your activism! #auspol—
ChristineAssange (@AssangeC) January 16, 2012

And as for me, other than teaching WordPress for Activists at WordCamp Victoria,

Looks like @raincoaster kicked some serious presentation ass today at #wcv12 #yyjwordcamp—
Russel Lolacher (@RussLoL) January 15, 2012

getting my ass rescued by @hotel_goddess again, announcing a new workshop with productivity expert Mike Vardy, and hitting Clive’s TWICE, and having a brief bomb scare on the ferry,  it was pretty uneventful.

Insanity Wolf can't stand hipsters either

You know: for me.

Social Flow Workshop logo

Social Flow Workshop: How to Win with Social Media Without Losing Productivity

Special #wcv12 discount code YYJWC will save you 20% on the workshops @raincoaster and I are doing: ow.ly/8ubRR #yyj #yvr—
Mike Vardy (@mikevardy) January 15, 2012

Who: Noted social media trainer Lorraine Murphy and “productivityist” Mike Vardy (editor Lifehack.org)

What: Social Flow: How to Win with Social Media without Losing Productivity

When: 10-4, February 04/2012

Where: ING Web Cafe, 466 Howe Street, Vancouver BC

How: Register here for the Social Flow workshop

It’s a social media struggle!

Wrestling with the idea that you can’t possibly become better at promoting yourself or your business through social media without it harming your productivity?

Well, wrestle no more.

Taking part in Social Flow: How to Win with Social Media without Losing Productivity is your ticket to championship gold in record time!

Social media trainer Lorraine Murphy and “productivityist” Mike Vardy (editor Lifehack.org) will guide you through the ins and outs of managing the social media profiles that keep you both active in your work and telling the public about your work all in one go.

Topics covered include:

• How to Make Gmail Your Best Friend
• What Task Manager is Right For You
• Why Your Email Inbox is Not the Right Task Manager for anyone
• Improving your Social Flow in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the new kid on the block, Google+
• Why Planning your Social Media output is Integral to Your Social Flow
• How to Avoid Falling Prey to the Perpetual Automation Machine
• What Calendars are actually For
• How to Increase Your Social Flow Using Hashtags, Twitter Lists…and more

This hands-on boot camp will not only get you on top of your social media profiles, but it will get you on top of what you need to do make sure they add attention to your business rather than subtract your attention from your business.

Register to attend an upcoming Social Flow workshop

Mike Vardy

Mike Vardy is the writer, speaker, and “productivityist” behind Vardy.me and the productivity parody site Eventualism. Vardy’s candid satire has made him a desirable speaker on an often dry topic, delivering talks on the topic such as “Hacking Lifehacks” at TEDx Juan De Fuca. Currently a Managing Editor at Stepcase Lifehack, Vardy has contributed to many popular productivity websites and publications, including David Allen’s GTD Times and Productive Magazine. He lives with his wife, daughter and son in Victoria, BC, Canada.

Stop SOPA

We’re big fans of manifestii around these parts, and we’re big enemies of internet censorship, so when we saw this Anti-SOPA Manifesto by Alex Lindsay on G+, we knew we had to pass it on.

The Manifesto…

We’ve tried to ignore the problem… I tried to ignore the problem. I wanted to ignore the politics of the internet and, in many ways, politics itself. From a netizen point of view, Democracy often seems inefficient and ineffectual. But just because WE want to ignore it, doesn’t mean politics wants to ignore us.

There are many groups who would subjugate us if they could. They would force us to pay every time we heard a song on the car radio, they would make sure we can’t speak freely about their brand or their brand of government, they would exert complete control over our online existence.

As Netizens, we naively think that calmer heads will prevail and this has often been the case… but laws like SOPA and PIPA, which could potentially make the Patriot Act look tame if used to their fullest extent… continue to be paid for by big industry and pushed through congress. These acts are not just bad, they are unAmerican and more akin to something we would see in China or Iran… not here.

How does this happen? It’s simple enough, Congressmen are paid to make laws that would oppress us. In the emerging world, this would be called “Corruption”… here it’s called “Contribution”. It’s easy. These laws are complicated and their most of their constituents don’t even know that their congressmen are involved or how these laws would affect them. The industries behind these laws are wealthy and spend lavishly on representatives willing to support them. Most importantly… there is little to no political pain for these representatives. They fill their campaign coffers with cash… if the bill fails, they keep the cash and it’s quickly forgotten. If the bill passes, they’ll get more money next year.

This needs to stop.

We can no longer expect our representatives, many of whom couldn’t write an email on their own, to represent us without firm action. We can no longer depend on OUR means of discussion – Facebook, Twitter, and Email -l to express ourselves.

We need to fight these laws, and the lawmakers that would pass them, in their back yard. We need to earn their respect, and fear if necessary. We need them to know that supporting these bills has a political cost.

We need a sort of “Internet Protection Fund”, a PAC, that is designed for a single purpose – To use every legal means to attack those who would attack us. To bring the fight to to their doorstep, their airwaves, and their TVs. We need to organize and focus the resistance.

Step 1 – Stop the SOPA and PIPA before they are passed through targeted boycotts, information campaigns, and letter writing campaigns.

Step 2 – Target those in Congress who support these bills and attempt to unseat them in the fall with internet, grassroots, TV and Radio campaigns. Congress needs to know that supporting these bills is no longer a blank check…it’s no longer safe.

Step 3 – We need to build our organization BETWEEN elections, build its resources, and build its capacity to defend our rights… aggressively. This fight is about to intensify as the information age matures. We need to begin to take an active role in shaping our online future.

This is not a replacement for organizations like the Electronic Freedom Foundation… without whom we will be already be in virtual chains. This is the sharp end of the stick that comes when they are not able to negotiate our freedom. These are the troops that back up the political discussions with real, tangible, action.

This is not a replacement for Anonymous. They play harder than we will. We will keep our fight within the confines of the current laws. We will use every means within those laws to express the will of those we represent but we will stay well within the confines of the current rules.

We will play by the political rules that our opponents play by… not the ones we wish they would play. We will use our skills, connections and ability to organize online but we will bring this fight to their field and beat them there.

So now what do we do?

Step one: +1 this post and pass it on. If there is enough interest, the next steps will be somewhat obvious (begin the organization structure). Comment and let me know what you think and what you would do next. If there is enough interest… more posts will follow.