DHS Rolls Out Portable DNA Scanners

 

The Department of Homeland Security doesn't want to overreach its authority by doing anything serious about the revolving door that serves as our southern border. But it doesn't hesitate to ogle nude images of us at the airport — or even scan our DNA:

This summer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to begin testing a portable DNA scanner, The Daily has learned.

The device, which has not yet been unveiled but reportedly resembles a desktop printer, is expected to make genetic tests far more common…

With nothing more than a swab of saliva, security officials can use the device to obtain genetic intel in less than an hour. …

Jim Harper, the director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute and a member of the DHS privacy committee, called the technology a game-changer, and one that officials are rolling out too hastily.

"There's going to be a rapid migration into collecting more DNA from more people," he said. "We're plunging into the unknown here."

Can the sort of people who are running our monstrously power-hungry government be trusted to use this technology in good faith? Hardly:

Harper, for one, is concerned that the DHS didn't consult their privacy advisory committee, of which he is a member, as it prepared to test the scanners.

"I'm frustrated that I'm learning about this from a reporter," he said. "This is exactly the kind of thing our committee should be reviewing."

As pointed out at Right Wing News, Obama et al. "sure seem determined to build themselves one heck of a database with all this info they're capturing."

San Fransicko Moonbats Enraged by Coca-Cola Sign

 

How much liberty would be left if a city were completely run and almost completely populated by progressives? San Francisco again proves that the answer is none:

A vintage Coca-Cola sign decorating the side of a San Francisco house is falling flat with some residents.

City officials say the painted sign in the Bernal Heights neighborhood violates anti-billboard laws and must come down.

And that's not the only offensive thing about Richard Modolo's sign. Some residents also want it removed, saying it promotes obesity by advertising a sugary drink.

Modolo has left the sign up for historic reasons. It dates back to the 1930s, the last time Americans saw their liberties go up in flames at such an alarming rate. It will no doubt please his neighbors that he could face a $100/day fine for his crime.
If he had put up a giant picture of homosexuals spreading AIDS with some appalling act of depravity, no one would have complained. Neighbors would have walked past smiling smugly, pleased with their own tolerance. But a good liberal only tolerates what the ruling class tells us to tolerate, and currently that does not include soda pop.

Low-Flow Toilets Cause San Franfreakshow Sewers to Back Up

 

 

When it comes to the fundamentals of civilized life — plumbing, for example — eco-moonbattery doesn't come cheap:

San Francisco's big push for low-flow toilets has turned into a multimillion-dollar plumbing stink.

Skimping on toilet water has resulted in more sludge backing up inside the sewer pipes, said Tyrone Jue, spokesman for the city Public Utilities Commission. That has created a rotten-egg stench near AT&T Park and elsewhere, especially during the dry summer months.

The city has already spent $100 million over the past five years to upgrade its sewer system and sewage plants, in part to combat the odor problem.

Now officials are stocking up on a $14 million, three-year supply of highly concentrated sodium hypochlorite — better known as bleach — to act as an odor eater and to disinfect the city's treated water before it's dumped into the bay. It will also be used to sanitize drinking water.

That translates into 8.5 million pounds of bleach either being poured down city drains or into the drinking water supply every year.

That's okay — so long as it allows eco-totalitarians to save the environment with their Al Gore toilets.