tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post5820558124185346885..comments2024-03-27T18:24:19.683-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: Chinese conspiracy theorizingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-76900114481470847612013-06-11T15:24:39.430-07:002013-06-11T15:24:39.430-07:00"Among the general public, is a middle-aged w..."Among the general public, is a middle-aged white guy wearing a fanny pack written off as a clueless dweeb or as someone possibly carrying a concealed weapon?"<br /><br />I generally assume "weapon" unless the guy is clearly a dweeb. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-27768335665386829842013-06-11T09:35:28.646-07:002013-06-11T09:35:28.646-07:00the 29-year-old had a plum $200,000-a-year job
It...<i> the 29-year-old had a plum $200,000-a-year job</i><br /><br />It was actually about $120K to him. That can be about right for a dev ops wrangler that has to deal with filers, routers, security, and a broad range of hardware and software.<br /><br />Generally the government is lousy at hiring and retaining technical talent, so they very often farm that out to contractors. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-12459283220796822842013-06-11T09:05:56.421-07:002013-06-11T09:05:56.421-07:00"NSA Leaker's Six-Figure Pay Should Spark..."NSA Leaker's Six-Figure Pay Should Spark Debate: Why Are Federal Workers Being Replaced With Pricier Contractors?"<br /><br />http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2013/06/10/leakers-six-figure-salary-should-also-force-public-debate-why-are-lower-cost-federal-employees-being-replaced-with-so-many-higher-priced-contractors/<br /><br />"It was not Edward Snowden’s intent to spark a debate on the high price of replacing federal employees with government contractors. But it should. Why is a 29-year-old high school drop-out making more as a low-level contractor than any senior manager in the federal government short of the President himself, and a very few other special category employees?<br /><br />At a reported annual salary of $200,000, Mr. Snowden was making more than the highest-paid federal senior executive, more than District Court Judges ($174,000) or U.S. Court of Appeals Judges ($184,500), more than Congressmen and Senators and more even than the House and Senate Majority Leaders ($193,400). Even Supreme Court Justices and Vice-President Biden barely make more than Mr. Snowden earned as an IT contractor.<br /><br />Revolving Door<br /><br />Everyone who has worked in the federal government over the last few decades has seen a steady shrinkage in the number of federal employees, with many of them replaced by government contractors at a higher rate of pay than the employees they replaced. In the agencies I’m most familiar with, the NTSB and FAA, it was not unusual for government workers to retire from federal service on a Friday and show up at work on Monday – as contract employees, often sitting in their same chairs, at their same desks, doing their same jobs – except at a higher pay."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-83053500188900977442013-06-11T08:22:16.025-07:002013-06-11T08:22:16.025-07:00When I was employed in the USA; our Director had s...When I was employed in the USA; our Director had said; "There is no Free Lunch" anywhere, I had figured this out independently way back. "You got Freedom to do whatever you want in the USA becoz its so vast, and people seek Privacy"; I had just figured out that their is a very Big Brother in the USA. <br /><br />"You can Run; But cannot Hide". <br /><br />"As important as it may be towards Secuirty, it is a Bad Policy".<br /><br />Its all Karma as they say in India.sohohttp://rediffmail.com/~soho81noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-4985765078614666542013-06-11T07:43:17.657-07:002013-06-11T07:43:17.657-07:00As long as we're throwing out safer destinatio...As long as we're throwing out safer destinations than Hong Kong, why not France? They seem content to take in our murderers, and they'd love a chance to thumb their noses at the US government in this case.Geoff Matthewshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07335872605196107867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-61505832485487321582013-06-11T07:23:46.386-07:002013-06-11T07:23:46.386-07:00The girlfriend is "an acrobatic pole dancer&q...The girlfriend is "an acrobatic pole dancer", according to this news article.<br /><br />http://news.yahoo.com/edward-snowdens-girlfriend-lost-sea-122653663--abc-news-topstories.html<br /><br />I'm trying to figure out the difference between that and a stripper.Geoff Matthewshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07335872605196107867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-87831551681186606052013-06-11T07:05:42.645-07:002013-06-11T07:05:42.645-07:00Instead, it seems to me all CIA officers must eith...<i>Instead, it seems to me all CIA officers must either be humorless and unengaging former SF types or chubby white B school grads who wear fanny packs and drink diet coke.</i><br /><br />Among the general public, is a middle-aged white guy wearing a fanny pack written off as a clueless dweeb or as someone possibly carrying a concealed weapon? Many of us in the CCW community hope it's the former.Harry Baldwinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-4576006999884571342013-06-11T01:53:59.175-07:002013-06-11T01:53:59.175-07:00Hong Kong just sounds cool and would make a better...Hong Kong just sounds cool and would make a better location for the film version. Then the final scene could be him in Iceland walking away across the volcanic rock as the camera pans away. <br /><br />The film would suck if it was all in Iceland. What type of cool chase scenes could you have in Iceland? <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-81367398099741368492013-06-11T01:52:12.588-07:002013-06-11T01:52:12.588-07:00Meet my girlfriend, Lindsay Mills.Meet my girlfriend, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339202/Lindsay-Mills-girlfriend-Edward-Snowden-Woman-NSA-leaker-left-member-acrobat-troupe.html" rel="nofollow">Lindsay Mills</a>.E. Snowdenhttps://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/p480x480/1001797_528811763820954_532033612_n.pngnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-91773422788928780972013-06-11T01:17:40.498-07:002013-06-11T01:17:40.498-07:00It might have been pointed out above, but Hong Kon...It might have been pointed out above, but Hong Kong does have an extradition treaty with the US. It was negotiated by the Clinton Administration before the Handover in 1997. <br /><br />Also, while Hong Kongers have shown admirable bravery protesting incursions by Beijing into their internal affairs, the territory's freedom is becoming more and more curtailed.<br /><br />In other words, this guy ain't all that bright. <br /><br />Which actually proves his case.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-42614447399660836272013-06-10T23:33:41.720-07:002013-06-10T23:33:41.720-07:00Cell phones constantly emit location data when the...Cell phones constantly emit location data when they're on, even if you're not using the phone, and this data is probably stored as well. So they can basically trace your physical movement over your entire life.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-76392856808342680002013-06-10T21:23:54.954-07:002013-06-10T21:23:54.954-07:00"Anonymous said...
The clueless anchors and ..."Anonymous said...<br /><br />The clueless anchors and John Miller on CBS morning show were wondering why Snowden sought refuge in China since China has an extradition treaty with the US."<br /><br />Perhaps Snowden was less concerned with extradition than he was with extrordinary rendition, which - I imagine - is much more likely in a NATO or third-world country than it would be in a place under Chinese jurisdiction.Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-89452969361709939512013-06-10T21:21:56.188-07:002013-06-10T21:21:56.188-07:00I say this NSA monitoring of internet, and especia...I say this NSA monitoring of internet, and especially telephone, has been going on much longer than people realize. I think the NSA has been parsing telephone calls for metadata since the 1980's.Thomas Verblannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-24883683390139152472013-06-10T21:16:14.320-07:002013-06-10T21:16:14.320-07:00"Alice said...
The IC likes using Booz Allen..."Alice said...<br /><br />The IC likes using Booz Allen and SAIC and the like for the same reason the military likes using contractors: plausible deniability and more cya opportunities for the govt agency."<br /><br />You forgot an important one - perhaps the most important. The government officials who throw that business to contractors can then retire from their (relatively low paying) GS or SES job, and get hired into an executive position with the contractor.Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-80022881998592606082013-06-10T20:49:28.976-07:002013-06-10T20:49:28.976-07:00Forget who watches the watchmen. What I don't ...Forget who watches the watchmen. What I don't understand is how people expect to use computers for all this, and not have some computer guys in the backroom, admins like this guy, database admins, backup admins, or even QA testing guys who can often see big chunks of whatever the stuff is in unencrypted form... because they have to in order to make things work. <br /><br />Sure end-users of the system, analysts using the system, probably have a lot of checks that are built into the end-user application. And as much work is probably done with synthetic data as possible. But when a disk or database has gone bad and someone has to fix it or bring a new database online... well, you can't work on what you can't see. <br /><br />Sure, you can spread things around, compartmentalize, but some computer guy, somewhere, has to bring it all together, if nothing else to test and debug the program (we don't want to be returning the _wrong_ data now, do we?)<br /><br />Whisky is right: <i>"A perfectly secure system is nearly unuseable."</i>. So I guess the intel community hires guys like this who they hope are going to work out well and not abuse things...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-27273929616106797322013-06-10T20:37:04.637-07:002013-06-10T20:37:04.637-07:00All the information about you that exists in these...All the information about you that exists in these databases constitutes another You, an AI representation that has a life of its own.<br /><br /><br />Chad Scoville called it a Media Doppler: <br /><br />http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=614<br /><br /><br />You have been cloned, and as it evolves over time, your clone takes on multiple forms. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-31289374291522160192013-06-10T20:25:47.921-07:002013-06-10T20:25:47.921-07:00Given that Obama was looked at as a 'hope and ...<b> Given that Obama was looked at as a 'hope and change' figure, I wonder if more disillusioned sub-35 employees in the future will slowly leak info.</b><br /><br />While Obama has been a huge disappointment for many young people, I think we'll see about the same rate of people committing 'treason'. It takes an unusual combination of balls, conscientiousness and being slightly off, mentally speaking, to do what Binnet, the Greek guy and Snowden have done.OSSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-11014466232575224052013-06-10T20:03:35.253-07:002013-06-10T20:03:35.253-07:00Matt:
Why not fly to Iceland before the leak took...Matt:<br /><br />Why not fly to Iceland before the leak took place?NOTAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-43940443892963652972013-06-10T19:59:30.860-07:002013-06-10T19:59:30.860-07:00There is some kind of special extra-strength triba...There is some kind of special extra-strength tribal blindness involved, when you see a revelation that your government is massively spying on its citizens, with essentially no oversight beyond the good intentions of the people running the spy agencies, and your conclusion is "this must be a Chinese plot." WTF? <br /><br />This is like some inner city politician getting caught embezzling money from the school budget, and trying to get sympathy among the city residents because Whitey's trying to send him to jail. The problem isn't China here--it's the US government, which is massively spying on us all the time. Trying to turn this into us vs the Chinese, or the French, or the Israelis, or the Muslims, is idiotic. <br /><br />Do we want our government spying on us? Is it even possible to effectively push back on this stuff? What else is our government doing to US citizens in secret, and how would we find out? These are very important questions that have nothing at all to do with China. NOTAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-83017200961798811142013-06-10T19:53:30.618-07:002013-06-10T19:53:30.618-07:00I'm fantasizing that Justice Roberts or Chris ...I'm fantasizing that Justice Roberts or Chris Christie or someone will hold a press conference and tell everyone that they were blackmailed by Obama over something they thought was completely private...<br /><br />In non-fantasyland ZeroHedge has a very good post tying Booz Allen to the <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-10/911-prismgate-how-carlyle-group-lbod-worlds-secrets" rel="nofollow">Saudis</a>.<br /><br />wrennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-17802351144850930202013-06-10T18:57:48.816-07:002013-06-10T18:57:48.816-07:00Maybe it's more Brazil than 1984.Maybe it's more Brazil than 1984.wrennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-49465369721658608802013-06-10T18:38:41.472-07:002013-06-10T18:38:41.472-07:00People who wonder "why Hong Kong?" would...People who wonder "why Hong Kong?" would do well to look at this map:<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HNL_Destinations_January_2013.png<br /><br />Every available nonstop flight is to an Asian, Australian, or North American destination. It's possible that he'd have loved to go to Iceland, but knew that he didn't have that luxury. I sure wouldn't have wanted to have a layover if I were him.Mattnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-52725580118952706762013-06-10T18:25:17.938-07:002013-06-10T18:25:17.938-07:00"Edward Snowden: Exhibit A for How Washington..."Edward Snowden: Exhibit A for How Washington Blows Money on Contractors"<br /><br />http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/06/edward-snowden-exhibit-a-for-how-washington-blows-money-on-contractors/276714/<br /><br />"No matter how you feel about Edward Snowden's decision to dish on the government's spying habits, there's at least one issue all of us can agree to be outraged over: his salary. Before hightailing it Hong Kong, the 29-year-old had a plum $200,000-a-year job as a Honolulu-based government-contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton, helping the National Security Agency run its surveillance operation. This for a fairly low-level professional with a GED. Here, meanwhile, is how Snowden described his pre-leak lifestyle to The Guardian:<br /><br />"[Y]ou can get up everyday, go to work, you can collect your large paycheck for relatively little work against the public interest, and go to sleep at night after watching your shows."<br /><br />Low stress. High pay. As long as your conscience doesn't get in the way, it's apparently good to be a cog in our national-security apparatus. <br /><br />There's a frustrating reason for that. Over the years, the government has outsourced huge chunks of its operations wholesale to private contractors like Booz Allen, particularly in the realm of intelligence gathering. And it's costing Washington untold billions every year."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-16706531709850895782013-06-10T18:22:09.525-07:002013-06-10T18:22:09.525-07:00"It's common knowledge in Stormfront type..."It's common knowledge in Stormfront type circles, at least since 2002."<br /><br />So many things that the people who turn their noses up at "Stormfront types" are like that.ATBOTLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-62390120549498750962013-06-10T17:40:23.588-07:002013-06-10T17:40:23.588-07:00I don't know guys, I happen to like blonde Chi...I don't know guys, I happen to like blonde Chinese... and don't get me started on Lebanese blonde...Watercooler Jonesnoreply@blogger.com