Creeping Totalitarianism

If Manhattan DA Cy Vance's New York Times op-ed supporting the FBI's attempt to force Apple to unlock an iPhone was annoying, then prosecutor Andrew King's blog post at Fault Lines is infuriating. Starting with the title, "Uncle Sam can Compel Apple -- Whether You Like It Or Not," King's argument about the FBI's demand on Apple seems to boil down to a simple message: Fuck you, … [Read more...] about FBI vs. Apple: Might Is Not So Right

Just when I thought I'd heard every awful thing in the criminal justice system --Actually, I've learned by now that the criminal justice system is an unending source of unjust practices and terrible outcomes, so let me start again...It's been a while since I heard any new stories about awful things in the criminal justice system, but that's remedied today in this … [Read more...] about Fighting Crime…With Homelessness

So President Obama gave a short speech about his administration's plan to fight terrorism in the wake of the possibly ISIS-linked shootings in San Bernardino. I don't know enough about the subject to comment on his foreign policy plans. On the domestic side, however, I saw a few things I want to bitch about: I will urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder … [Read more...] about A Few Notes About Obama’s Anti-Terror Plan

Journalist Glenn Greenwald has announced plans to publish his final big leak from the Snowden files: A list of U.S. citizens that the NSA has spied on. Naturally, this raises a very important question: Am I on the list? 'Cause it would really help my badass libertarian rep if I was. I'm just beside myself with excitement!Truthfully, I doubt they've ever spied on me, except … [Read more...] about Awaiting the List

Holy crap.I'm still reeling from the latest revelation to come from Edward Snowden: The files show that the National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have broadly compromised the guarantees that internet companies have given consumers to reassure them that their communications, online banking and medical records would be indecipherable to criminals or … [Read more...] about Nearly Setec Astronomy