Interesting Policing Idea (with COIN implications): “The interesting twist is that the authorities are asking the courts to seize the IP of the biker club — specifically, their trademarked name “Mongols”

Found on SlashDot:

…a Federal raid on a California-based motorcycle club, the Mongols, on charges “ranging from murder and robbery to extortion, money laundering, gun trafficking and drug dealing.” The interesting twist is that the authorities are asking the courts to seize the IP of the biker club — specifically, their trademarked name “Mongols.” “Federal agents and police in seven states arrested more than 60 members of the Mongols motorcycle gang on Tuesday in a sweep that also targeted for the first time an outlaw group’s ‘intellectual property,’ prosecutors said. The arrests cap a three-year undercover investigation in which US agents posed as gang members and their girlfriends to infiltrate the group, even submitting to polygraph tests administered by the bikers … [T]he name ‘Mongols,’ which appears on the gang’s arm patch insignia, was trademarked by the group. The indictment seeks a court order outlawing further use of the name, which would allow any police officer ‘who sees a Mongol wearing this patch … to stop that gang member and literally take the jacket right off his back‘ …”

This is an interesting twist on getting Lawfare-y for Domestic COIN/4GW.

Scientology/Lawfare

Slashdot reports this morning:

“From the EFF webpage: ‘Over a period of twelve hours, between this Thursday night and Friday morning, American Rights Counsel LLC sent out over 4000 DMCA takedown notices to YouTube, all making copyright infringement claims against videos with content critical of the Church of Scientology.'”

Some thoughts:

1: This shows how an organization engaged in Influence Warfare can use the Western Legal System (aka Lawfare) to protect (provide security for) itself against counterattacks.

2: Can a religion or religious philosophy be copyrighted? In the use, copyright is supposed to be used for creative or artistic stuff. Does “religion” fit into that? I don’t think so. I think religion is “public domain” so to speak.

3: I think my first amendment freedom of religion rights lets me discuss Scientology in any medium through any media that I want.

(video clip found from here)

Update: The videos are back.

A Few Lawfare Links

Note: I have been hording these, so they are not all current.

Ex-Chief Hegerty is Extorting the City of Milwaukee

She was a do-nothing as a police chief – waiting until the last year of her term to try to effect some crime reduction (IMHO she was just trying to pad her resume for any post-chief consulting gigs) – and now she is suing the City of Milwaukee because her successor is paid more then she was:

Milwaukee’s first female police chief contends that she was discriminated against when the Fire and Police Commission chose to pay her successor a higher salary than she received.

Nannette Hegerty filed a gender discrimination complaint with the Equal Rights Division of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development this month, Assistant City Attorney Don Schriefer said Sunday.

At stake could be thousands of dollars of back pay as well as a boost to Hegerty’s pension, which is based on her last three years of salary.
[…]
Hegerty came to the chief’s job after serving as U.S. marshal in the eastern district of Wisconsin. She left earning a salary of $132,544. [Link: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

I am not sure how somebody can sue to retroactively have their compensation raised for a contract that they voluntary entered into and have completed. That just seems wrong to me. It is a rip-off to taxpayers if city officials just cave to make their life more comfortable at the expense of the taxpayers and submit to her Lawfare/Extortion.

What about her successor, Chief Flynn?

Flynn was hired last year after 20 years as police chief of five different departments. Flynn’s salary of $143,881 is 8.5% higher than what Hegerty made, but less than the $155,000 he received in his previous position as police commissioner for Springfield, Mass.

Hopefully, with the hiring of Flynn, the line of PC-driven Milwaukee Police Chiefs will stop.

This lawsuit should be thrown out. She should be chastised by the press and forced to pay court costs.

Fuck the Spanish and Their Lawfare

From Concurring Opinions:

Spain’s recent indictment of 40 Rwandan army officers on international criminal charges raises interesting questions about the appropriateness of trying such cases in the domestic courts of nations with little connection to the conflict from which these crimes arose.

What’s this?

The charged Rwandans were not responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide (Hutus killing Tutsis), but for acts by Tutsi-led rebels who defeated the Hutu extremists responsible for the genocide.

Yes, while the “brave” Spanish and the rest of the world sat by doing nothing other then making speeches, some Tutsi-led rebels fought and beat those running the genocide.

The Spanish have decided to indict for war crimes those who fought and defeated the genocide.

Disgraceful.

The article covers more.

Wiki for Anti-Anti-Islamofascists and the Practice of Open Source Espionage

I found a reference at SlashDot to something called Wikileaks which says:

Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact. Our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by all types of people. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources.
[…]
Today, with authoritarian governments in power around much of the world, increasing authoritarian tendencies in democratic governments, and increasing amounts of power vested in unaccountable corporations, the need for openness and transparency is greater than ever.
[…]
Wikileaks reduces the risks of truth tellers and improves the analysis and dissemination of leaked documents.

Wikileaks provides simple and straightforward means for anonymous and untraceable leaking of documents.
[…]
In an important sense, Wikileaks is the first intelligence agency of the people. Better principled and less parochial than any governmental intelligence agency, it is able to be more accurate and relevant. It has no commercial or national interests at heart; its only interest is the revelation of the truth. Unlike the covert activities of state intelligence agencies, Wikileaks relies upon the power of overt fact to enable and empower citizens to bring feared and corrupt governments and corporations to justice.
[…]
We propose that authoritarian governments, oppressive institutions and corrupt corporations should be subject to the pressure, not merely of international diplomacy, freedom of information laws or even periodic elections, but of something far stronger — the consciences of the people within them.
[…]
Wikileaks is not a front for the CIA, MI6, FSB or any other agency. Quite the opposite actually. It’s a global group of people with long standing dedication to the idea of improved transparency in institutions, especially government. We think better transparency is at the heart of less corruption and better democracies. By definition spy agencies want to hide information. We want to get it out to the public.

The site claims to be neutral, yet the front page seem to be mostly anti-USA stuff (content and word choice).

Weirdly, the site also has favorable reference to Daniel Ellsberg and Aldrich Ames.

PrairePundit on “Lawfare against the CIA”

Prairie Pundit links to an article and comments:

The left’s insistence on reversion to the Trial on Terror rather than waging war against the terrorist is a major miscalculation that will render great aid to the enemy, if not comfort too. While they may be pursuing this strategy in good faith, the demonstrable results after eight years of using it in the 90’s is that it leads to disaster. This is another example of liberals reverting to form after their fear subsides. It is why they should never be trusted with national security.

People reading this blog probably think sometimes I am a right winger or at least a conservative. Maybe I am. It might surprise you all to know I have only only voted republican once (so far) for president – 2004.

I too have come to the conclusion that the current national Democratic party can not be trusted on security issues.

That is bad for the US system.