The Problem of the Liberal Elites Part 1
As I pointed out in this post, conservative elites have completely lost their minds. But liberal elites have problems as well. The problem is more complex with liberals, and it will take several posts of reasonable length to get into it.…
DOJ’s Clear Threat to Go After Apple’s Source Code
Oops: My post URLs crossed. Here's where If Trump’s Protestors Didn’t Exist He Would Have to Invent Them is.
In a rather unfortunate section heading the government used in their brief responding to Apple last week, DOJ asserted “There…
Monday Morning: Feeling Rather Mussorgsky
It's not even 7:00 a.m. here as I start to write this post, and the day is already frantic -- like Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain. I don't expect a placid ending to the first day of this week, either.
Strap in, lock and load.
Volkswagen…
What Mix of Approaches Should We Use to Keep Cyber Space Safe?
President Obama gave a pretty crummy answer on Apple vs FBI at South by Southwest yesterday (I've put the entire exchange below the line). The question was posed as one pitting "privacy" versus security, and with the exception of this passage,…
Why Isn't DOJ Complaining about Apple's Cooperation with Police States Like South Korea ... or the US?
There was lots that was nasty in yesterday's DOJ brief in the Apple vs FBI case. But I want to look at this claim, from DOJ's effort to insinuate Apple is resisting doing something for the US government it has already done for China.
Apple…
In Exchange about Clinton Email Investigation, Lynch Forcefully Reminds She Is FBI's Boss
There's one last exchange in Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General Loretta Lynch that deserves closer focus. It came during John Cornyn's round of questioning.
He structured his questions quite interestingly.…
FBI Can't Have Whistleblower Protection Because It Would Encourage Too Many Complaints
The Department of Justice is undercutting Chuck Grassley's efforts to provide FBI employees whistleblower protection. That became clear in an exchange (2:42) on Wednesday.
The exchange disclosed two objections DOJ has raised to Grassley's…
Friday Morning: Lovely
We made it to Friday! Yay! And that means another jazz genre. This week it's shibuya-kei, a sub-genre/fusion born of Japanese jazz. Our sample today is by Kenji Ozawa. Note how damned perky it is, blending jazz elements with pop and synthpop.…
DOJ to Apple: Start Cooperating or You'll Get the Lavabit Treatment
DOJ has submitted its response to Apple in the Syed Farook case. Amid invocations of a bunch of ominous precedents -- including Dick Cheney's successful effort to hide his energy task force, Alberto Gonzales effort to use kiddie porn as an excuse…
In Bizarre Move, Dianne Feinstein Attacks Tech Companies for Profiting Off Spying on Their Customers
Dianne Feinstein attacked PRISM providers' use of encryption in yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Loretta Lynch in really bizarre fashion.
Feinstein: Google, Microsoft, Dropbox, and other email and cloud servers use forms…
How Hillary Helped Banks Foreclose on 5 Million Families
Let me be clear at the outset: I think what follows is a bullshit argument. But I think it is less unfair of an argument than Hillary's claim that, by voting to withhold the second tranche of TARP funding on January 15, 2009, Bernie Sanders…
Thursday Morning: Things Are Gonna' Change
After Tuesday's primaries and last night's Democratic candidates' debate, surely something will change in messaging and outreach.
And surely something will change on the other side of the aisle given the continued rampage of 'Someone With…
Bernie Wins MI -- Wait Whut?
Apparently my state gave Bernie Sanders the most unexpected of wins last night, winning a close race that only one poll even got close (but still predicted a narrow Hillary win). Most polls predicted she'd win it by 20%.
I'm going to spend…
Wednesday Morning: In The Morning After
Suffering from a 'morning after' here -- not from the primary race results, but a bug I picked up from a banking website, of all places. (Not a national bank, a small in-state bank I will call very soon about their problem.) Until I get this…
The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 6: Totalitarian Propaganda
Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself; the masses have to be won by propaganda. P. 341.
As we saw in Part 5, the elites were neutralized by violence against the Marxists and Communists. That…
The Origins of Totalitarianism: Index to All Posts
This post will be updated with all posts on The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt. Here's a copy of this book. All page numbers correspond to that version
Posts in this series:
The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 1: Introduction.…
The Government Spoliationing for a Fight with EFF
On November 6, 2007, Judge Vaughn Walker issued a preservation order in EFF's challenge to what we now know to be Stellar Wind, the Shubert case (which would be applied to the Jewel case after that). Nevertheless, in spite of that order, in…
On Jim Comey's Attempts to Force Apple to Change Its Business Model
As he has said repeatedly in Congressional testimony, FBI Director Jim Comey wants to change Apple's business model.
The former General Counsel for defense contractor Lockheed and hedge fund Bridgewater Associates has never, that I've seen,…
Tuesday Morning: Some Kind of Freak
Today's the intersection of my Gwen Stefani jag and International Women's Day 2016. Need some more estrogen-powered music to celebrate IWD? Try this list -- note and compare Lesley Gore's You Don't Own Me and Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are…
Amid an Inconclusive Answer on Encryption, Hillary Reveals She Doesn't Understand How Metadata Works
Less than a mile from my house (at a small local tech firm called Atomic Object), Hillary Clinton got asked a question about encryption. After talking about the role of encryption in Atomic Object's own work, one of the women asked (after 14:00;…