When I first started reading about Operation Choke Point, I wasn’t even sure it was real. Or perhaps it was real but egregiously exaggerated. The more I read, the more ominous the future looks. The great Maggie McNeill has an excellent overview. (H/T S.) David Codrea covered it with an eye to its effect on gun rights. Then came back again for a broader look. My worries are broader yet. Covert ostracism of groups of people — any group of peaceable people — starts a dangerous (to the point of deadly) trend. Covert ostracism by private corporations at the direction…
Category: Privacy and self ownership
Owning our own information and telling Big Brother to get lost
JPFO has a brand-new Twitter feed managed by the amazing Nicki. Obama’s war on government watchdogs. Very nice tribute to Don Kates. Of course the growing cybermilitary will never be used against thee and me. Never. How could you even think such a thing? But now that you have thought such a thing, you can be sure that the NSA, the Pentagon, and a whole bunch of rich government contractors know what to do about it. (H/T H) But while we’re on the subject: “What a toilet hoax can tell us about the future of surveillance.” Eeeeeew. In other non-news:…
This is both fun and educational: How Secure is My Password? Just in case, I suggest you not enter any real passwords, but something entirely different that just has the same general mix of numbers, letters, and symbols as any password you might use. And of course, how long it takes a PC to crack your password and how long it takes some creepazoid with the full power of government behind him are two very different things. Why we should all watch Groundhog Day. (Contains spoilers; but then, is there anybody who hasn’t already seen or doesn’t already know how…
In light of the latest in the endless series of revelations about Internet Explorer bugs and vulnerabilities, I bring you … And now, being gunfolk and technoids (as so many of you are), you can all go off to the comment section and beat each other about the head and shoulders over which firearm should actually represent which browser. But nobody will disagree on the one that best depicts IE, right?
So … some uninsured Californians get covered under Obamacare. Whoopee. Months later they’re desperately banging on the doors of free clinics for the uninsured because they can’t get doctors to see them. (How many of us kept shouting, “It’s not about ‘coverage.’ It’s about access to actual care!”) Wanna see the impact of state sales taxes on business? Check out Amazon’s numbers. (Well, that may help explain why after a strong start to the year, my personal Amazon links are producing spit and bubble gum this month.) Could low blood sugar be wrecking your marriage? So this is what the…
I’ve been trying to find out how many New Yorkers dutifully lined up by yesterday’s deadline to get their yellow Star of David badges “assault weapon” registration forms. New York officials aren’t telling. Unofficial estimates are interesting. In Seattle (where cops have been under federal scrutiny for being such brutes), apparently police aren’t the only badge-wearing thugs. My apologies to LarryA for not linking this the other day, but it’s a good one even if I’m late with it. “Women’s intuition” and concealed carry meet a very surprised robber. One more reason to exercise no matter how old you are:…
You tell me. I know that the right software and the right settings are key to electronic privacy on computers. But are there some computers (laptops, especially) that are inherently more private and secure due to their hardware? I always buys used Lenovo laptops. They (and their predecessors from IBM) are the sturdiest beasties in the computer world. Mine have been knocked off tables by rambunctious dogs (or by me) dozens of times, and while various plastic bits may have cracked or broken off, the workings inside their titanium cases have just gone right on ticking. Unfortunately the other day…
What nonsense. Lego doesn’t destroy children’s souls. Now, My Little Pony, on the other hand … The ATF: as corrupt as they are cruel and incompetent. The 10 states people are leaving. Some surprises at the bottom of the list. No surprises at all at the top. Our glorious ally in freedom, Saudi Arabia, has declared all atheists to be terrorists. Of course, Christians were already on their naughty list. Good infographic on militarization of policing. Does it worry anybody besides me that this list of most popular (actually, just most populated) U.S. jobs contains not a single position in…
Last night I jammed my two little leftie toes on a table leg while wandering around in the dark. Well so? That’s usually one of those things where you hop around and cuss for a couple of minutes then life goes on. But this kept hurting all night and by morning those two toes were fat and red and the foot around them was fat and blue.
Still, we’re not talking about a major health crisis here. Just an owie.
I’m rarely ever sick and it’s been years since I’ve been injured. Meanwhile, nearly everybody I know has had health problems lately — from colds that turn into pneumonia to a flu that lingers for six weeks (in one case even leading to neurological problems) to … cancer.
So I have a lot of nerve getting all pouty about an owie.
“Forget guns. What happens when everybody prints their own shoes?” The 3D economy will transcend the state. (Well, hopefully …) Girl shaves head in solidarity with friend who’s gone bald from chemo. School and school district get undies in a bunch. Wow. This pope is gonna get hisself assassinated if he doesn’t cut it out. And speaking of the Vatican — just who did order up all that cocaine? Larry Correia gets mad over gummint “customer service.” And speaking of gummint … Yes, good question: why are we-the-taxpayers sending all that Pennsylvania coal to Germany, which has plenty of its…