Wow. But not surprising. The ATF and the Obama administration, via Fast & Furious, supplied drug lord El Chapo with .50 cal weaponry. Zombie ships ply the ocean in hopes of paying just the interest, not the principle, on shipowners’ debt. One more place all that central bank bubble capital has been going for the last eight years. Right analysis? But completely crazy proposed solution to global bubbles. With state legislatures in session, it’s become political silly season. Most of the goofy new bills will never pass, so you can stop sending me alarming emails about junk that might not…
Category: Privacy and self ownership
Owning our own information and telling Big Brother to get lost
Commentariat member Dana got me reading Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe. It’s short, lively, and even if it’s not totally satisfying in describing how the Irish did the saving, it’s full of smack-upside-the-head insights.
The best material is on Rome’s collapse. (The first chapter was so persuasive it darned near made me feel sorry for tax collectors.) Before I return the book to the library, I want to post a couple of paragraphs. In the first, Cahill is mostly quoting from Kenneth Clark’s Civilization (spelling Americanized).
Brad, over at WendyMcElroy.com, says, “Adios, Forbes.” I’ll follow that with my own “Sayonara.” I used to check Forbes often; now it won’t let me in even when I try to accommodate its demands. Seems that’s just as well, really. You might not favor this guy’s environmental stance, but the way he went about saving a patch of old-grown forest is an inspiration. Yikes! Village endures “biblical” rains. (Commentariat member Roger: I hope you don’t live anywhere near this place!) (H/T jed) David Codrea reminds us of a few more things Mike Vanderboegh has done for freedom. Google’s (unsurprisingly) creep…
… I really do. Normally I don’t believe in burning bridges unnecessarily, but right now I don’t care. And I don’t care who thinks I’m an asshat. Life’s just too short to deal with some people. I sent this to a well-known survivalist author. Not naming any names, but I’ll say he’s not the biggest, but someone you’re familiar with. He just sent an email asking a number of individuals and websites to promote his latest book. __________________, Do you realize you just cc’d my private email address to a bunch of strangers like some Internet n00b who never heard…
Hugh Farnham gives another look at why firearms confiscation is impossible. Yep. One more bit of evidence about exactly why conventional TV is doomed even as we enjoy a golden age of “television-like” entertainment. OTOH, it’s sad that Al Jazeera America is shutting down. It really did some of the best news coverage around. Real coverage, not newstainment. A kippah and Europe’s future. Okay, that’s it. The whole business of selling “naming rights” and trademarking “public” property has gone way too far. Here’s the latest thing for privacy mavens to be aware of. You’re okay if you can avoid the…
Will people now have to start watching their “threat scores” the way they have to watch their credit scores? Given the notoriously bad and biased information that goes into marking us as “threats,” that could be a real challenge. Mental Floss tells the story of German teens who rebelled against Hitler. Another fascinating, little-known bit of history. To call it the gun issue even the NRA won’t touch might be an exaggeration. But the problem of non-violent ex-felons being denied gun rights does hit blacks harder than the rest of us. (Thank you, War on Drugs.) Funny timing. Last evening…
Guess what the most popular work at the UN library is. A thesis on how to avoid being charged with war crimes. Not how to avoid committing war crimes. Just how to avoid punishment. (H/T jb) Several major car makers are partnering up with Linux. While this is a lot better than the recent features about those partnering with Microsoft, I generally wish they’d all stay the heck out of any automobile I ever own, except for entirely optional, turn-offable devices. (H/T MJR) Another inspiring story about the life-changing power of going debt free. Who says a porno-graphic can’t be…
Uh oh. Those infamous “armed anti-government activists” are at it again. Tsk tsk, says the New York Times. ADDED: For those who have trouble with NYT links, here’s CNN’s take on the protest. In the spirit of the holidays, part I: “love” the homeless whether they want your imprisoning love or not. (H/T jc2k in comments) In the spirit of the holidays, par II: bleed you, Bill of Rights be damned. Microsoft, I do not believe you for one little teeny minute. (H/T 4 2 MJR) Nine of the most isolated towns on earth. And sometimes don’t you wish you…
It should be no surprise to anyone hereabouts, but even as Microsoft pretends to have been converted to the privacy gospel, it steals your disk-encryption keys. If you have v*ted in the last 15 years, you are screwed. (H/T MJR) You may think this absurd, insecure database of v*ters is no big deal, but the implications are pretty catastrophic. And nobody knows who compiled or owns this giant mess? Fedgov, anyone? The war on Asian-American academic success. Repeat violators of HIPAA privacy provisions pay little consequence. Which is totally unsurprising because HIPAA was always more of a privacy-violation enabler than…
The five “best” drug scares of 2015. This year’s weirdest science stories. Fourteen — maybe 15 — ways to avoid the Obamacare tax. (Per A.G. in comments.) Thirteen things credit card companies know about you that might make you cringe. Well, thank heaven it wasn’t “gun violence.” Another Darwin Award nominee, courtesy of absorption in mobile device. How embarrassing to die of pure stupid. But hey — at least it wasn’t “gun violence”! In praise of Glock. Ross Douthat on cracks in the liberal order. Not meaning “liberal” as in that thing that “progressives” don’t want to be called these…