*Name changed to protect the guilty! Absolutely no relation to Nate Fick, whatsoever.

Obviously.

"I hereby label Nick Fink as a security risk, a potential terrorist, a possible molester and an unperson.

Worse, he is not a team player.

Based on this irrefutable accusation, and the serious risk of Pre-Crime ... I demand that he be neutralised.
Either interned for life or simply eliminated.

I cannot allow the evidence for this to be scrutinised, since our security, nay our very freedom, depends on secrecy.

Dissent or protest will prove the accusation."

Fascists. We know how this ends.

Thank you.

One by one, they leave our lives,
leaving us with loss that we never expected.

Thank you.

All we ever hear, is the "party line" regarding these issues.
I needed to know that it is not over.

Cheers.

I am curious.

Do people in America really support this?

Are you aware of the path you are on?

Are you really ignorant of where this leads to?

Are you all in agreement?

Then you have never worked for a modern commercial, technical company!

+ *All* benefits go to management, so their incentive is low cost, rapid delivery.
+ Any and all negatives, are laid on the heads of the technical staff, so again
      the incentive for management is low cost, rapid delivery.
+ While the technical staff, sometimes, have a different opinion, by definition
      nobody cares, since they are "non management". Monkeys make noise? They get the hose.

If by a miracle, the techs manage to actually do competent "Design, construct, test, ship" loops,
then they will be head-count reduced, since there is "fat" there. Wash, repeat.

The reality is that a trained chimp with Google, and either Office or some open source components
and 2 weeks worth of web-design, can duct tape together a minimal version that can fulfill at
least *some* of the customer's requirements. Even if only the color!

Obviously it will be crud, with low performance, no security and completely unmaintainable.

But this becomes the baseline cost!

What are customers willing to pay, over that cost, for the additional quality?
Guess what! NOTHING.

To pay the bonii, investors and the marketing costs, what are most modern tech companies willing
to pay, as a premium, for their employees, to exceed that baseline?
Guess again. Little or nothing.

This is not 1985. Software guys should be aware that electricians, plumbers and car mechanics have
better prospects, more pay and get paid overtime.

The only thing worse, is QA.

I know what happens now ... Vampires, end of world, bad acting, dead dogs and lots of dodgy special effect monsters.

And Emma Thompson. So not all bad ...

Ah! But the Jocks uphold the system!

Those who support, always get special treatment, the only sin being to challenge established "Truths".

So, if the Jocks beat on the weak, the marginal, the dissenters, then they will be either ignored
or discretely applauded and supported.

And by Jocks, I mean Police, LEO, Spooks, and the various pillars of society.

I really wish that I was wrong.
I wish that things were not, what they have become.

Precisely!

Were you not listening, reading or watching for the past decade?

What did you not understand?
This. Is. Corporatism! (Not Sparta! 8-))

An under-educated class, born to be in debt, endlessly conditioned to obey, bred under pain of punishment, to Serve.

In this model, Authority is there to Rule, not to Adjudicate, so any attempt, no matter how trivial, to resist, to dissent, or,
as in this case, to provide any alternative to the Authority defined and controlled processes, will *always* be harshly punished.
As subversive.

Appeals for protection justify further exploitation, since the weak deserve to be hurt, and the system serves only the strong.
Might is Right, and don't bleed on the floor.

The only element missing is religion: "If Jaysus loved you, you wouldn't be picked on".

This school has a board.
This municipality has elected officials.
The Majority of the people in this area voted for this.
Your neighbours, colleagues and fellow-parents?
They want this.

This is what modern Western society has become.

I am a respected employee and colleague, and by collaborating we will build
interesting products, to be proud of. By working hard and learning more, I
will be promoted and paid more. Ultimately, I will reach retirement age and
spend an enjoyable time with my family, in retirement, perhaps even as
a non-executive director, until I die, of old age, surrounded by my loving
family, in my own bed.

As. If.

Have fun with that ...

Mobilkom Austria?

I was the responsible IT manager, over all devs. admins, ops and security.

Reviewed all contracts and implementations, upon taking over the job.

Discovered some seriously, bad stuff.

Developed plan to *quietly*, discretely, repair over short time period.
"Rebury the bodies"

Turned out the responsible party was the CEO's favorite, "baby shark".

Got cardboard boxed. Out day after board presentation.

So it goes.

Interesting point:

All of those devs, techs and security people who moan about the lack of management support?
How many of you have ever supported or somehow defended *any* manager who tried to help you, to do the right thing?

Speaking personally, I would guess ... None of you. "Not my problem" attitude, up and down.

Maybe you have all been luckier.

You are, of course, entirely correct.

I will present my apology, in person, to Zeus, upon my next visit.

Thank you! Seriously! I was so upset about the stupidity of this, that I overlooked the perfect word to describe them!

Gobshites!

Just when you think that you have grown beyond caring, theses guys manage to poke beneath the shield and hit the "AAAAAARRRGGGHH" button !!
I am sorry for taking this seriously, but after the Bank Bailouts, the corruption, the incompetency, the cover-ups and the sheer fuck-wittery of the past
years, they attack OPEN SOURCE BROWSERS !!

What more can one expect from politicians that:
- kowtow-ed to the EU on the Maastricht Treaty re-Vote, (It puts the lotion in the basket, and votes again and again until the answer is YES)
- sold 3 generations of their own people out, in the form of a bank bailout for *private* non-system critical banks,
- have no concept of Justice whether social, civil or criminal
- have no concept of public probity, of duty or what to be a servant of the people actually means
- assume in blind arrogance that their own short-sighted, small-town, bigoted, religion-ridden, never questioned views are "NORMALITY"
    and those of everyone else, are simply illegal.

In short. Olympic level Assholes.

Winking and smiling and smirking, crapping out their "hokesy/folksy" catchphrases, with constant shit eating grins.

Concepts such as free speech, right to privacy, equal treatment before the law, due process,
womens' rights (especially reproductive rights), ... are considered amusing or just dismissed,
out of hand, by these troglodytes.

For example, the implicit assumption that *all pornography* is simply illegal!

The US and Britain have blanket surveilled every Irish citizen for generations, and this cringing *lackey*
assumes that *law enforcement* was the purpose.

Call me harsh, but I interpret the failure of elected representatives to protect .the rights of their citizens,
in the face of blatant intrusions, as more than incompetence, more than failure.
It is treachery.

Following the usual, endless cycle, whenever social unrest threatens, the Haves in Ireland,
push the Have-nots to emigrate. Since, conveniently, the non-resident cannot vote, there
was, is and will never be any pressure on the ruling elite to change any of their policies ... the opposition is simply disenfranchised.

And nothing changes.

I dream of another Ireland.
A country where an informed electorate hold their elected leaders to account, demand the
definition and enforcement of just laws which protect individual and public rights.
A truly Free Ireland.

Until then, I apologise to the world that we are represented by these fools and that
you have to listen to their blather.