Then you're a better man than I am. I've barely scratched the surface on the source to programs on my Linux server. I'd guess there is around 4g of software installed, how many millions of lines of code do you think is there. And on my Windows machines I've never even downloaded the OpenOffice source. How would mere mortal programmers, such as myself, have time to audit 30-40 million lines of code every year while maintaining a career and a life. Not to mention people who are not programatically inclined?
But more important, why would we? I own computers to take care of tasks that I find tedious. So instead of wasting all that time, I'd make an application that could enforce my rules. I wonder what catchy name I could call this application that builds a wall between those apps and the network.
Couple this with an outgoing rule to block port 25 out so if the laptop does get rooted, it won't turn into a spam server, and that is a decent security solution on the road.
To be honest, if a traveling laptop catches something that turns it into a spam server, that is the least of my concerns. Since it's not on my network it's not likely to blowback on my company. Sure, I want it stopped, but I'm more concerned about financial and proprietary data being stolen. The traveling idiot can live with a spammer program eating up their resources, but if they got a key-stroke logger that is stealing all their passwords to our network, I need for them to shut that machine off immediately. Even if it means their whole trip is wasted.
If you don't have a firewall to enforce the rules, how do you keep applications from opening ports? I once had a inkjet printer whose driver phoned home every time I printed a document. The vendor's reasoning was that it was monitoring the consumables and could alert me to order more (from them) when needed. How do you know the latest and greatest app you just installed doesn't send usage data to the developer or open a port for 'remote support'? Open source doesn't solve that because even if you are qualified to analyze every language utilized in the apps you use, do you have the time to analyze every line of every app on every release?
Trust alone isn't sufficient Trust but verify only gives you the option of removing offending apps. Trust, verify, and discipline gives you control.
Firewalls should have become part of the core OS as soon as networking was.
There is a lot of overlap due to 'one size fits all' mentality of desktop firewall providers. A lot depends on the size of your network.
For a small network (home, soho)
If you have a firewall at your network gateway there isn't a big need for a desktop firewall to block inbound traffic. Even NAT on a cheap router does a decent job of that. But you still need outbound blocking. Unless you're comfortable with printer drivers notifying vendors every time you print a document.
On a well maintained small network, gateway firewalls protect inbound traffic. Desktop firewalls protect outbound traffic.
On a larger network you need the desktop to be filtering both inbound and outbound. Because people do stupid things. And it does no good to stop incoming attacks at the gateway if they are being initiated from your own desktops.
Personally, my home network is clean and I wish I could find a good, dependable firewall for my Windows machines that only monitored outbound traffic. No inbound monitoring, no content blocking, no antivirus (in the firewall), no app launch monitoring. Just let me know what apps are calling out and how much they are transmitting, and let me block them if necessary.
Forcing everyone to use USB micro connectors has the same problems already seen with USB mini - incompatible chargers, chargers that won't charge other devices, etc.
This hasn't been my experience with my Droid. The micro USB connection has been one of the best features of the phone. On previous phones I always ended up shelling out $60-100 on additional chargers (one at home, one at work, one for each car, and only a single charger included with the phone) I paid $5 each for two Motorola branded car chargers for my droid. I bought cheap import micro USB cables for a couple $$ each. Tossed one in my car in case I want to tether and forgot my regular cable. I generally charge from my laptop, but I can charge from those $3 wall plugs with a USB port. For less than $20 I can charge from anyplace imaginable. And I've never had one fail to work. Even on my older laptop that sometimes has trouble spinning up a 40g external drive (using two ports).
The only concern I have about micro USB is the durability of the port. I have pulled my phone off the table more than once with my laptop and hung the phone by the port. But that's not exactly an intended use.
I find it quite comical that he's complaining about how fast the phones go out of date, when it reality if you get the phone on a contract renewal you're going to be paying a pittance for it anyways
You mean like the Motorola Droid A855 you can get from Amazon for $.01 (with free priority shipping), after signing up for a 2 year contract and $30 activation? It will come with 2.1, but Verizon is pushing 2.2 updates. Admittedly, it's not the newest Shiny. But the Droid II is only $50 and it's brand new.
It appears they care about the Droid series, but nothing else. Don't assume Motorola will live up to their commitments.
Is it Motorola holding up the upgrade or is it the carrier? I have a Motorola Droid, and there were unofficial 2.2 Droid upgrades months before Verizon rolled out theirs at the first of September.
I have a friend with a Sprint phone (I think HTC) that is still waiting for 2.2, though not expecting to get it. His phone has run like crap since the 1.6 to 2.1 upgrade earlier this year.
All in all, these updates are a new experience for me. My Droid is the first phone I have ever upgraded. I tend to hang on to the same phone for 3 or 4 years, and I'm not sure I like doing updates. I get better battery life and have a kernel that supports wireless tethering, but that's about the only real improvement I've found with 2.2. And it sure is frustrating when they roll out updates over a holiday weekend. I depend on my phone and the first upgrade failed and required some manual intervention, which is currently causing a subsequent upgrade to fail.
There are parts of 'Wolves' that are important for later parts of the story. But there are probably parts of each of the books that could be eliminated. I personally didn't care how King brought himself into the story line in the later books.
If we're to put cameras up why not equip each police officer with a wireless cam that transmits the signal through their car live over the internet.
Some agencies are starting to do something similar. Officers are getting low power wireless cams that communicate with the dash mounted cams in their cars. I think dash cams have pretty much become standard equipment in the US now. Eventually everything an officer does will be recorded. I don't think it will ever be publicly broadcast though, it will always require a court to request access. This isn't to protect the officer, it's to protect the public.
I think most officers support dash cams now. I didn't realize until a recent local event, but dash cams also record ALL conversation within the vehicle as well. That didn't turn out too well for a couple local officers when it became public that they were making racist comments (between themselves) during traffic stops. But overall officers see that the cameras protect them as much as they protect the public.
college text books are often worthless after 3 years, since a new revision is out and a professor forces using that revision.
But that generally isn't because the subject has changed. Simply that the school has chosen to make them obsolete. From the professors I have talked to, it tends to come down to a couple things; a textbook committee has chosen something new and shiny, the publisher has come out with a new edition and the school can't guarantee availability of the old edition for new students.
Thinking back through most of the textbooks I had through primary school and college, very few would need more than minor updates during a 20 year lifespan. Civics, recent history (current events), digital electronics, and computer courses are the only ones that I have taken that would need yearly revisions.
You are NOT in favor of a single payer Obama Care?
Nothing Obama proposed, was, is, or likely will be single payer. Single Payer is a proven system, but that doesn't fit into a little sound bite or the "that's my money" mentality of US politics.
When I'm working I make lots of money and pay lots of taxes.
Right now, I'm the government's bitch and I'll speak nicely of them if I want my unemployment benefits that I need while they strangle me with bureaucracy and I learn new skillz so that I can go back to making lots of money and paying lots of taxes.
I think you severely over-estimate TO's position of power in this situation.
If BP slices off the majority of this $60b pie and dumps it on their contractors, it won't just be TO and Haliburton who are tightening up their contracts. If, in the end, it comes down to TO wanting to do things one way and BP overriding that decision, and then TO paying damages because of it, TO and other contractors are not going to take financial responsibility if BP has final say over drilling options. BP can't have it both ways, if they have decision making authority on the rig then they have financial responsibility. This report is trying to pass those responsibilities to TO and Haliburton.
Why can't I smoke a joint in my own home legally? My rights are indeed being trampled by my elected American legislature, and it is depressing, disgusting, and rediculous.
What you are talking about is tyranny of the majority. And our founding fathers had concerns about it. It may have been one of the concerns when the Electoral College was created, it has definitely been a concern in discussions to eliminate it.
In the US the problem is that the majority is simply the majority of people who vote, not the majority of the populous. That sets the bar pretty low. I'm personally frustrated by freedoms that are limited simply due to different views of morality. You see it with pot, which doesn't seem to be any more dangerous than cigarettes or alcohol. The recent Craiglist censorship is another case. The constant assault on adult industries. Even the bans on prostitution when you remove underage and trafficked women from the equation.
This is a primary reason I have trouble voting for Republican even when I agree with some of their core agendas. They constantly wrap their candidacies in a blanket of morality whose only purpose is to limit freedoms of people who don't agree with them. And you seriously have to wonder about the hypocrisy of people who will trumpet military spending in the name of building a stronger nation while at the same time refusing to find a way to provide all the citizens with medical care. You'd at least think they'd want those poor peasants for cannon fodder.
It is surprising with such a master plan he eschewed robbing a bank, or laundering billions, but instead decided to sleep with two different women during a relatively short time period.
Well, you at least have to respect the man's priorities.
A guy goes 39 years without a criminal record with anything more significant than a hacking charge on it.
Not to draw any parallels between the two individuals, but look at Dennis Rader to see why this argument is specious. At least I hope that cub scout leaders don't commonly have BTK tendencies.
They all assume that aggression by some people gives you the right to carpet bomb innocents who in no way pushed for a war.
Ironic, accusing the country that pioneered precision bombing with carpet bombing. If it weren't for society's modern warfare guilt at civilian casualties, everybody would accept carpet bombing as a part of wars. One thing about it, the Roman's new how to deal with insurgencies. Enslavement and scorched earth. There were no innocents on the opposing side.
As for ill-conceived, shove it up your ass. It was a flat-out lie by a war criminal.
And your shrill rants quickly turn even those who might have agreed against you. It happened, it's time to get over it, move on, and clean up the mess.
And ultimately, BP's report is going to mean fuck-all except as an attempt at short term damage control.
If BP succeeds in offloading most of the blame, it may come back to bite them later. If I'm TO and going to be responsible for whatever happens on the rig, my contracts are going to change to: you tell me where to drill, and I'll tell you what it will cost, then you get the fuck off my rig. And as for Haliburton, they will simply refuse to cement any hole that doesn't meet their guidelines. Guidelines that will be well above minimum spec. Who ever ends up with the liability will have the final authority on decisions.
While none of this is necessarily bad for the industry, it is going to make drilling a lot more expensive.
Hence, I usually have more commented code than actual code.
And I'll gladly avoid working on any of your projects. Commented code should be removed unless it is only being removed on a temporary basis. IE:// v1.13 we need to turn off this feature until the next release.
I have worked on too many systems where there were comments like:// removed this to fix ticket #xxxx
I don't know if you have put something else in place of it. And I don't want to wade through a ton of comments why you added a certain bit of code to replace it either. I don't want to retrace your logic to see if you made the right choices. If there are still problems in that section I'll look at what it does compared to what it is supposed to do. I don't know if subsequent changes will be affected if this code is reverted, so I'm unlikely to do so. Use the damn CVS and label it. If we need that code in the future we can pull it out and see if it can be integrated in the current code base.
Having known women who were involved in abusive relationships, and one that was raped by a stranger, I've learned to restrain skepticism until all the facts are available. Most women do not report abuse or rape, choosing to blame themselves for making bad choices. Women get in a cycle of abuse going from one abusive relationship to the next believing that is what they deserve. And many don't report rape because of the social stigma and they don't think the rapist will be punished, if even caught. They will make decisions that we can't fathom having never been in the situation.
Assange deserves his day in court. At the same times, Wikileaks may feel justified in trying to distance themselves from his problems. It hurts their credibility. Particularly taking into account that many didn't know a month ago that Wikileaks was anything more than some geek in his parents basement. News reports focused on Assange living on friends couches and moving around to avoid US gov't scrutiny did little to change that. I personally didn't know how old he was until the rape charges surfaced. I never cared enough to look. And I never knew the Wikileaks had other official members. To many of us Assange was Wikileaks. Maybe they should have asked him to take a lower profile earlier. Separating the two would go a long way toward removing conspiracy theories and focusing on the facts.
What this is doing is blurring the line between casual sex and prostitution.
Doesn't the social norm blur the line between casual sex and prostitution? For generations men have been expected to pay for dates. Dinner, movies, theatre, concerts, etc. Seriously, look at the wives of Donald Trump or the girlfriends of Hugh Hefner. The primary difference is that women don't necessarily have to reciprocate. Of course, then you get into things like the 'third date rule' and women asking "if he buys you dinner, do you have to sleep with him?" Social pressure tries to re-balance the equation.
Prostitution simply gives men who aren't; wealthy (subjective), attractive, or personable, a social contract where they can stand on equal terms.
All the rest of this about trafficking and child porn is simply misdirection to impose a sexually restrictive morality on the general population.
I am of the opinion that the underlying factor that drives this is to keep women submissive. Despite Women's Liberation, women still earn less money in the job market. Women trying to raise families without male providers will struggle. If prostitution were legal, women would be making choices like earning $100 for a couple hours or waiting tables at $2/hr plus tips and pulling double shifts. You wouldn't have a problem getting your burger at Denny's, but there would be enough willing to work for the higher payoff that society could shift away from male dominance.
In the US one party was against the invasion of Iraq and the other was for it.
In the US, the leader of one party was for it and the other was party against that leader. At the Congressional level, with our current level of partisanship, whether WMD evidence existed is simply a red herring that gave the out of power party deniability.
Another thing about the parties that most people don't realize, particularly Americans, is that neither is fiscally conservative. Americans want services from their government. When Republicans talk about smaller government they mean fewer government employees. They are still going to provide all the services necessary to appease the populace. They will just outsource it at a premium price.
Here Conservative and Liberal is the degree that you believe others should live by your moral code.
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I check the source code.
Then you're a better man than I am. I've barely scratched the surface on the source to programs on my Linux server. I'd guess there is around 4g of software installed, how many millions of lines of code do you think is there. And on my Windows machines I've never even downloaded the OpenOffice source. How would mere mortal programmers, such as myself, have time to audit 30-40 million lines of code every year while maintaining a career and a life. Not to mention people who are not programatically inclined?
But more important, why would we? I own computers to take care of tasks that I find tedious. So instead of wasting all that time, I'd make an application that could enforce my rules. I wonder what catchy name I could call this application that builds a wall between those apps and the network.
Couple this with an outgoing rule to block port 25 out so if the laptop does get rooted, it won't turn into a spam server, and that is a decent security solution on the road.
To be honest, if a traveling laptop catches something that turns it into a spam server, that is the least of my concerns. Since it's not on my network it's not likely to blowback on my company. Sure, I want it stopped, but I'm more concerned about financial and proprietary data being stolen. The traveling idiot can live with a spammer program eating up their resources, but if they got a key-stroke logger that is stealing all their passwords to our network, I need for them to shut that machine off immediately. Even if it means their whole trip is wasted.
If you don't have a firewall to enforce the rules, how do you keep applications from opening ports? I once had a inkjet printer whose driver phoned home every time I printed a document. The vendor's reasoning was that it was monitoring the consumables and could alert me to order more (from them) when needed. How do you know the latest and greatest app you just installed doesn't send usage data to the developer or open a port for 'remote support'? Open source doesn't solve that because even if you are qualified to analyze every language utilized in the apps you use, do you have the time to analyze every line of every app on every release?
Trust alone isn't sufficient
Trust but verify only gives you the option of removing offending apps.
Trust, verify, and discipline gives you control.
Firewalls should have become part of the core OS as soon as networking was.
There is a lot of overlap due to 'one size fits all' mentality of desktop firewall providers. A lot depends on the size of your network.
For a small network (home, soho)
If you have a firewall at your network gateway there isn't a big need for a desktop firewall to block inbound traffic. Even NAT on a cheap router does a decent job of that. But you still need outbound blocking. Unless you're comfortable with printer drivers notifying vendors every time you print a document.
On a well maintained small network, gateway firewalls protect inbound traffic. Desktop firewalls protect outbound traffic.
On a larger network you need the desktop to be filtering both inbound and outbound. Because people do stupid things. And it does no good to stop incoming attacks at the gateway if they are being initiated from your own desktops.
Personally, my home network is clean and I wish I could find a good, dependable firewall for my Windows machines that only monitored outbound traffic. No inbound monitoring, no content blocking, no antivirus (in the firewall), no app launch monitoring. Just let me know what apps are calling out and how much they are transmitting, and let me block them if necessary.
...suing the pants off of anyone who mentioned the word "unix" didn't really work as a viable business model, did it?
Have you seen your average Unix admin? And you want to separate them from their pants? Not exactly Girls Gone Wild.
No. Windows 9.
I think WindowsX has a nicer ring to it.
Forcing everyone to use USB micro connectors has the same problems already seen with USB mini - incompatible chargers, chargers that won't charge other devices, etc.
This hasn't been my experience with my Droid. The micro USB connection has been one of the best features of the phone. On previous phones I always ended up shelling out $60-100 on additional chargers (one at home, one at work, one for each car, and only a single charger included with the phone) I paid $5 each for two Motorola branded car chargers for my droid. I bought cheap import micro USB cables for a couple $$ each. Tossed one in my car in case I want to tether and forgot my regular cable. I generally charge from my laptop, but I can charge from those $3 wall plugs with a USB port. For less than $20 I can charge from anyplace imaginable. And I've never had one fail to work. Even on my older laptop that sometimes has trouble spinning up a 40g external drive (using two ports).
The only concern I have about micro USB is the durability of the port. I have pulled my phone off the table more than once with my laptop and hung the phone by the port. But that's not exactly an intended use.
I find it quite comical that he's complaining about how fast the phones go out of date, when it reality if you get the phone on a contract renewal you're going to be paying a pittance for it anyways
You mean like the Motorola Droid A855 you can get from Amazon for $.01 (with free priority shipping), after signing up for a 2 year contract and $30 activation? It will come with 2.1, but Verizon is pushing 2.2 updates. Admittedly, it's not the newest Shiny. But the Droid II is only $50 and it's brand new.
It appears they care about the Droid series, but nothing else. Don't assume Motorola will live up to their commitments.
Is it Motorola holding up the upgrade or is it the carrier? I have a Motorola Droid, and there were unofficial 2.2 Droid upgrades months before Verizon rolled out theirs at the first of September.
I have a friend with a Sprint phone (I think HTC) that is still waiting for 2.2, though not expecting to get it. His phone has run like crap since the 1.6 to 2.1 upgrade earlier this year.
All in all, these updates are a new experience for me. My Droid is the first phone I have ever upgraded. I tend to hang on to the same phone for 3 or 4 years, and I'm not sure I like doing updates. I get better battery life and have a kernel that supports wireless tethering, but that's about the only real improvement I've found with 2.2. And it sure is frustrating when they roll out updates over a holiday weekend. I depend on my phone and the first upgrade failed and required some manual intervention, which is currently causing a subsequent upgrade to fail.
Skip "Wolves of the Calla"?
There are parts of 'Wolves' that are important for later parts of the story. But there are probably parts of each of the books that could be eliminated. I personally didn't care how King brought himself into the story line in the later books.
If we're to put cameras up why not equip each police officer with a wireless cam that transmits the signal through their car live over the internet.
Some agencies are starting to do something similar. Officers are getting low power wireless cams that communicate with the dash mounted cams in their cars. I think dash cams have pretty much become standard equipment in the US now. Eventually everything an officer does will be recorded. I don't think it will ever be publicly broadcast though, it will always require a court to request access. This isn't to protect the officer, it's to protect the public.
I think most officers support dash cams now. I didn't realize until a recent local event, but dash cams also record ALL conversation within the vehicle as well. That didn't turn out too well for a couple local officers when it became public that they were making racist comments (between themselves) during traffic stops. But overall officers see that the cameras protect them as much as they protect the public.
college text books are often worthless after 3 years, since a new revision is out and a professor forces using that revision.
But that generally isn't because the subject has changed. Simply that the school has chosen to make them obsolete. From the professors I have talked to, it tends to come down to a couple things; a textbook committee has chosen something new and shiny, the publisher has come out with a new edition and the school can't guarantee availability of the old edition for new students.
Thinking back through most of the textbooks I had through primary school and college, very few would need more than minor updates during a 20 year lifespan. Civics, recent history (current events), digital electronics, and computer courses are the only ones that I have taken that would need yearly revisions.
You are NOT in favor of a single payer Obama Care?
Nothing Obama proposed, was, is, or likely will be single payer. Single Payer is a proven system, but that doesn't fit into a little sound bite or the "that's my money" mentality of US politics.
I've always speeled it av.com
That beats the hell out of altavista.digital.com.
(it's been a while since I used AltaVista....)
When they are employed, man.
When I'm working I make lots of money and pay lots of taxes.
Right now, I'm the government's bitch and I'll speak nicely of them if I want my unemployment benefits that I need while they strangle me with bureaucracy and I learn new skillz so that I can go back to making lots of money and paying lots of taxes.
I think you severely over-estimate TO's position of power in this situation.
If BP slices off the majority of this $60b pie and dumps it on their contractors, it won't just be TO and Haliburton who are tightening up their contracts. If, in the end, it comes down to TO wanting to do things one way and BP overriding that decision, and then TO paying damages because of it, TO and other contractors are not going to take financial responsibility if BP has final say over drilling options. BP can't have it both ways, if they have decision making authority on the rig then they have financial responsibility. This report is trying to pass those responsibilities to TO and Haliburton.
Why can't I smoke a joint in my own home legally? My rights are indeed being trampled by my elected American legislature, and it is depressing, disgusting, and rediculous.
What you are talking about is tyranny of the majority. And our founding fathers had concerns about it. It may have been one of the concerns when the Electoral College was created, it has definitely been a concern in discussions to eliminate it.
In the US the problem is that the majority is simply the majority of people who vote, not the majority of the populous. That sets the bar pretty low. I'm personally frustrated by freedoms that are limited simply due to different views of morality. You see it with pot, which doesn't seem to be any more dangerous than cigarettes or alcohol. The recent Craiglist censorship is another case. The constant assault on adult industries. Even the bans on prostitution when you remove underage and trafficked women from the equation.
This is a primary reason I have trouble voting for Republican even when I agree with some of their core agendas. They constantly wrap their candidacies in a blanket of morality whose only purpose is to limit freedoms of people who don't agree with them. And you seriously have to wonder about the hypocrisy of people who will trumpet military spending in the name of building a stronger nation while at the same time refusing to find a way to provide all the citizens with medical care. You'd at least think they'd want those poor peasants for cannon fodder.
It is surprising with such a master plan he eschewed robbing a bank, or laundering billions, but instead decided to sleep with two different women during a relatively short time period.
Well, you at least have to respect the man's priorities.
A guy goes 39 years without a criminal record with anything more significant than a hacking charge on it.
Not to draw any parallels between the two individuals, but look at Dennis Rader to see why this argument is specious. At least I hope that cub scout leaders don't commonly have BTK tendencies.
They all assume that aggression by some people gives you the right to carpet bomb innocents who in no way pushed for a war.
Ironic, accusing the country that pioneered precision bombing with carpet bombing. If it weren't for society's modern warfare guilt at civilian casualties, everybody would accept carpet bombing as a part of wars. One thing about it, the Roman's new how to deal with insurgencies. Enslavement and scorched earth. There were no innocents on the opposing side.
As for ill-conceived, shove it up your ass. It was a flat-out lie by a war criminal.
And your shrill rants quickly turn even those who might have agreed against you. It happened, it's time to get over it, move on, and clean up the mess.
And ultimately, BP's report is going to mean fuck-all except as an attempt at short term damage control.
If BP succeeds in offloading most of the blame, it may come back to bite them later. If I'm TO and going to be responsible for whatever happens on the rig, my contracts are going to change to: you tell me where to drill, and I'll tell you what it will cost, then you get the fuck off my rig. And as for Haliburton, they will simply refuse to cement any hole that doesn't meet their guidelines. Guidelines that will be well above minimum spec. Who ever ends up with the liability will have the final authority on decisions.
While none of this is necessarily bad for the industry, it is going to make drilling a lot more expensive.
Hence, I usually have more commented code than actual code.
And I'll gladly avoid working on any of your projects. Commented code should be removed unless it is only being removed on a temporary basis. // v1.13 we need to turn off this feature until the next release.
IE:
I have worked on too many systems where there were comments like: // removed this to fix ticket #xxxx
I don't know if you have put something else in place of it. And I don't want to wade through a ton of comments why you added a certain bit of code to replace it either. I don't want to retrace your logic to see if you made the right choices. If there are still problems in that section I'll look at what it does compared to what it is supposed to do. I don't know if subsequent changes will be affected if this code is reverted, so I'm unlikely to do so. Use the damn CVS and label it. If we need that code in the future we can pull it out and see if it can be integrated in the current code base.
Having known women who were involved in abusive relationships, and one that was raped by a stranger, I've learned to restrain skepticism until all the facts are available. Most women do not report abuse or rape, choosing to blame themselves for making bad choices. Women get in a cycle of abuse going from one abusive relationship to the next believing that is what they deserve. And many don't report rape because of the social stigma and they don't think the rapist will be punished, if even caught. They will make decisions that we can't fathom having never been in the situation.
Assange deserves his day in court. At the same times, Wikileaks may feel justified in trying to distance themselves from his problems. It hurts their credibility. Particularly taking into account that many didn't know a month ago that Wikileaks was anything more than some geek in his parents basement. News reports focused on Assange living on friends couches and moving around to avoid US gov't scrutiny did little to change that. I personally didn't know how old he was until the rape charges surfaced. I never cared enough to look. And I never knew the Wikileaks had other official members. To many of us Assange was Wikileaks. Maybe they should have asked him to take a lower profile earlier. Separating the two would go a long way toward removing conspiracy theories and focusing on the facts.
What this is doing is blurring the line between casual sex and prostitution.
Doesn't the social norm blur the line between casual sex and prostitution? For generations men have been expected to pay for dates. Dinner, movies, theatre, concerts, etc. Seriously, look at the wives of Donald Trump or the girlfriends of Hugh Hefner. The primary difference is that women don't necessarily have to reciprocate. Of course, then you get into things like the 'third date rule' and women asking "if he buys you dinner, do you have to sleep with him?" Social pressure tries to re-balance the equation.
Prostitution simply gives men who aren't; wealthy (subjective), attractive, or personable, a social contract where they can stand on equal terms.
All the rest of this about trafficking and child porn is simply misdirection to impose a sexually restrictive morality on the general population.
I am of the opinion that the underlying factor that drives this is to keep women submissive. Despite Women's Liberation, women still earn less money in the job market. Women trying to raise families without male providers will struggle. If prostitution were legal, women would be making choices like earning $100 for a couple hours or waiting tables at $2/hr plus tips and pulling double shifts. You wouldn't have a problem getting your burger at Denny's, but there would be enough willing to work for the higher payoff that society could shift away from male dominance.
In the US one party was against the invasion of Iraq and the other was for it.
In the US, the leader of one party was for it and the other was party against that leader. At the Congressional level, with our current level of partisanship, whether WMD evidence existed is simply a red herring that gave the out of power party deniability.
Another thing about the parties that most people don't realize, particularly Americans, is that neither is fiscally conservative. Americans want services from their government. When Republicans talk about smaller government they mean fewer government employees. They are still going to provide all the services necessary to appease the populace. They will just outsource it at a premium price.
Here Conservative and Liberal is the degree that you believe others should live by your moral code.