Tag Archives: government

Congress Criticizes FBI Quest for iPhone ‘Backdoor’

By Paul | Published April 15, 2018

Ed Hardy writing at Cult of Mac: Congress has called the FBI on the carpet for its attempt to require Apple to build a backdoor into the iPhone. A letter went out today from a bi-partisan group of representatives accusing the law enforcement agency of over-stating difficulties in unlocked iPhones involved in crimes. The ten […]

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Mac OS Ken: Encrypt-a-palooza-2016-mageddon-gate: The Vindication

By Paul | Published March 29, 2018

Ken Ray on his Mac OS Ken podcast for March 29, 2018: At the time the agency (FBI) said Apple was its only shot at getting into the phone. Now, the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General has released a report that says the FBI didn’t do everything it could to find a solution before […]

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Trump made it easier for the mentally ill to buy guns…

By Paul | Published February 15, 2018

Annalisa Merelli and Heather Timmons writing at Quartz: In a tweet early this morning, Trump framed the shooting it as he has done in the past, describing Cruz as a disturbed and “erratic” individual. The trouble is, Trump has made it much easier for mentally-disturbed Americans to buy guns in the United States.

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Vintage EPA photos reveal what America looked like before pollution was regulated

By Paul | Published October 10, 2017

  The Trump administration plans to kill the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration’s main initiative to fight climate change by lowering emissions, the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt, said Monday. […] Pruitt has reportedly spent much of his term meeting with executives and lobbyists from companies and industries regulated by the EPA. Many […]

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Speaking of collusion (and treason)…

By Paul | Published September 30, 2017

The Vietnam War, Episode 7: The Veneer of Civilization (June 1968 – May 1969) at 51:55-55:42, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (2017): NARRATOR: But on October 31st [1968], just five days before the election, the president himself made a surprise announcement.  He was stopping all bombing of North Vietnam.  There had been real progress in Paris, […]

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News photographer shot by cop

By Paul | Published September 6, 2017

PetaPixel: An Ohio newspaper photojournalist was shot by a police officer last night after the cop mistook the camera and tripod the photographer was holding for a rifle. Wait—that tripod isn’t loaded, is it?   I wouldn’t exactly call this a part of the never-ending war on photography, but I do think that this shows […]

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Absent warrant standard, police could monitor anyone via location data

By Paul | Published August 9, 2017

ARS Technica: This case, Carpenter v. United States, asks a simple question: is it OK for police to seize and search 127 days of cell-site location information (CSLI) without a warrant? Previously, lower courts have said that such practices are compatible with current law. But the fact that the Supreme Court agreed to hear the […]

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Donald Trump Jr., Sub-Master of the Universe

By Paul | Published July 13, 2017

Matt Bai, writing at Yahoo News: Say what you will about President Trump, and I’ve said plenty; you can’t say he ever lacked for what New Yorkers call chutzpah. He had the brass ornaments to risk his modest inheritance, to plow through bankruptcies, to court public humiliation in pursuit of far-flung enterprises. I actually admire […]

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Trump decides not to invoke executive privilege, not that he could

By Paul | Published June 6, 2017

John Dean, writing at CNN: As a leading student and expert on the subject of executive privilege, Mark J. Rozell, has written, it is an accepted doctrine when appropriately applied in two circumstances: (1) certain national security needs and (2) protecting the privacy of White House deliberations when doing so serves the public interest. Clearly, […]

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FCC: No punishment for Colbert’s Trump joke

By Paul | Published May 24, 2017

The Associated Press: NEW YORK (AP) – There will be no fine for Stephen Colbert’s risque joke about President Donald Trump. A Federal Communications Commission spokesman said Tuesday that the agency received “thousands” of complaints about the late-night host’s May 1 show, so it reviewed the material as “standard operating procedure.” It’s the FCC’s job […]

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