The government has every right to determine whom and what is coming into the United States. International visitors are asked to file paper work with the government to report a number of items (large sums of money, plant/food products, money making equipment, etc.).
The problem is that Obama (and some past presidents to a lesser degree) are willingly not enforcing border security. For known illegal immigrants already in their custody.
Which raises serious suspicions about any claims they make about their intentions for a highly invasive monitoring system.
As long as the citizenry tolerates and sometimes even roots for the government's violation of civil rights, everything including the technology is just details.
The existence of a decent open-source router can't do much against a U.S. National Security Letter.
Ship them out to gitmo. They aren't wearing a military uniform, and are causing damage to American infrastructure. That should be enough by the Cheney/Bush standard to call them terrorists.
Maybe we can combine our ideas. Give convicted robocallers Bush's and Cheney's private phone numbers.
I'm no Obama hater but anyone who thinks that would ever be an effective way to influence policy is probably still sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for Firefly to come back on television.
If you recognize that, then why aren't you an Obama hater? This is emblematic of Obama: make a great public show about being a man of the people, and then surreptitiously ignore them.
You are a citizen who cares more about your children's survival than the survival of Freedom and the well being of millions. In other words you aren't merely part of the problem, you are the problem.
You could happily sit in the company of many of history's great men. The too were willing to sacrifice countless lives for some lofty goal.
Is there any benefit too small, in your mind, for my kids to die supporting it?
America no longer has distributed agriculture or fuel production. A revolution, however warranted, would lead to an unimaginable amount of freezing and starvation within the first two winters, I'd wager.
Provide money and guidance to the local school systems then let them buy the approved technology they need rather than what is dictated to them
I've got a different take on the matter. As far as I know, the federal government exerts control over public education by taking money away from the states via taxation, and then only returning it if the states will teach in the manner seen fit by the Dept. of Education.
I.e., they use the ability of the federal government to tax anything and everything to circumvent the limitations on the powers of the federal government.
So in contrast to your solution, I'd suggest the federal government just taxes the states' citizens less, and let the states figure it out if they want to. Problem solved.
Anything coming out of the U.S. is a threat to everybody else's national security.
Actually, anything with practically opaque internals is a potential security hole, including processors, compiled software, network equipment. Also anything involving telecommunications.
If China is picking on only Apple, I'd wager it's to drum up business for some company that's owned by a state or an official.
China is right: the iPhone is a gaping security hole.
I also have little doubt that their "solution" will also be a gaping security hole, except that it will be designed so only China's intelligence services can exploit it.
I don't think that's a distinction worth making in most circles. It's only after a few years of study that one starts to see the distinction between the knowledge needed for software development vs. the mathematical aspects of computing theory. And then they keep on re-intersecting anyway, with things like programming language type systems, concurrency, and proving certain qualities of a piece of software. Good software developers need some theory, and most good theoreticians end up programming sometimes.
I'm not sure Javascript is literally Turing complete, because it can't simulate an infinite tape. I think its expressive power is, technically speaking, that of a linear bounded automaton (LBA). Which is subtly less powerful than a Turing machine.
Exactly whom will you behead, when probably 30%+ of Americans consider the NSA's actions appropriate?
Our country is deeply and closely divided on tons of issues right now. I shudder to think how many of us would sign off on killing everyone in the opposing group.
Not sure I totally agree. The CIA isn't being morally neutral when they torture people. The FBI wasn't morally neutral when they went after Nixon's / Hoover's political enemies. The NSA wasn't morally neutral when they repeatedly ignored the Bill of Rights. Local police officers aren't morally neutral when they form a Wall of Blue. None of them is morally neutral when they lie on the stand.
Now if none of them did these things, you're right, they'd be a lot closer to morally neutral. But the fact they that sometimes do do these things is I think a big reason they're hated and feared by average citizens.
Something seems really, really off kilter if so many of us see the federal government's law enforcement agencies as the enemy.
There are so many good things that they're supposedly in the business to do: go after child porn producers, rapists, murderers, (actual) terrorists, etc.
It's stunning that through their tactics (both in the courtrooms and out) and some of the unjust laws they have to enforce, they could actually be viewed as the enemy by a large portion of the public.
This doesn't feel remotely like a healthy democracy.
Slashdot Mirror
The government has every right to determine whom and what is coming into the United States. International visitors are asked to file paper work with the government to report a number of items (large sums of money, plant/food products, money making equipment, etc.).
The problem is that Obama (and some past presidents to a lesser degree) are willingly not enforcing border security. For known illegal immigrants already in their custody.
Which raises serious suspicions about any claims they make about their intentions for a highly invasive monitoring system.
As long as the citizenry tolerates and sometimes even roots for the government's violation of civil rights, everything including the technology is just details.
The existence of a decent open-source router can't do much against a U.S. National Security Letter.
Ship them out to gitmo. They aren't wearing a military uniform, and are causing damage to American infrastructure. That should be enough by the Cheney/Bush standard to call them terrorists.
Maybe we can combine our ideas. Give convicted robocallers Bush's and Cheney's private phone numbers.
Death penalty for people who set them up.
Seriously, if a person is willing to violate a just law, the punishment clearly is insufficient.
If you recognize that, then why aren't you an Obama hater? This is emblematic of Obama: make a great public show about being a man of the people, and then surreptitiously ignore them.
I.e., he's playing us all for saps.
You are a citizen who cares more about your children's survival than the survival of Freedom and the well being of millions. In other words you aren't merely part of the problem, you are the problem.
You could happily sit in the company of many of history's great men. The too were willing to sacrifice countless lives for some lofty goal.
Is there any benefit too small, in your mind, for my kids to die supporting it?
I care more about my children's survival than Thomas Jefferson cared about my kids' survival.
America no longer has distributed agriculture or fuel production. A revolution, however warranted, would lead to an unimaginable amount of freezing and starvation within the first two winters, I'd wager.
"Any excuse will serve a tyrant." -Aesop.
I just binge-played Plague, Inc. on my phone.
Now when I hear a story like this, my first thought is, "Will I get bonus DNA points because of this?"
I've got a different take on the matter. As far as I know, the federal government exerts control over public education by taking money away from the states via taxation, and then only returning it if the states will teach in the manner seen fit by the Dept. of Education.
I.e., they use the ability of the federal government to tax anything and everything to circumvent the limitations on the powers of the federal government.
So in contrast to your solution, I'd suggest the federal government just taxes the states' citizens less, and let the states figure it out if they want to. Problem solved.
Anything coming out of the U.S. is a threat to everybody else's national security.
Actually, anything with practically opaque internals is a potential security hole, including processors, compiled software, network equipment. Also anything involving telecommunications.
If China is picking on only Apple, I'd wager it's to drum up business for some company that's owned by a state or an official.
China is right: the iPhone is a gaping security hole.
I also have little doubt that their "solution" will also be a gaping security hole, except that it will be designed so only China's intelligence services can exploit it.
It's hard to say, because in general we don't know about the things that have remained secret. We know the numerator, but not the denominator.
I don't think that's a distinction worth making in most circles. It's only after a few years of study that one starts to see the distinction between the knowledge needed for software development vs. the mathematical aspects of computing theory. And then they keep on re-intersecting anyway, with things like programming language type systems, concurrency, and proving certain qualities of a piece of software. Good software developers need some theory, and most good theoreticians end up programming sometimes.
I'm not sure Javascript is literally Turing complete, because it can't simulate an infinite tape. I think its expressive power is, technically speaking, that of a linear bounded automaton (LBA). Which is subtly less powerful than a Turing machine.
Anyone who lives for this topic want to weigh in?
I used it in my PhD thesis work. It was a productive language, just not a fun one.
For fun, I still get the biggest kick out of pure functional languages. It's nice to see that job advertisements for them seem to be on the uptick.
Agreed. That is my "in a perfect world" version of what cops are. I probably just didn't phrase it well enough.
But in your perfect world, would we even need cops?
I think you're talking about the ~535 traitors who comprise Congress, but refuse to impeach an out-of-control President.
Exactly whom will you behead, when probably 30%+ of Americans consider the NSA's actions appropriate?
Our country is deeply and closely divided on tons of issues right now. I shudder to think how many of us would sign off on killing everyone in the opposing group.
Not sure I totally agree. The CIA isn't being morally neutral when they torture people. The FBI wasn't morally neutral when they went after Nixon's / Hoover's political enemies. The NSA wasn't morally neutral when they repeatedly ignored the Bill of Rights. Local police officers aren't morally neutral when they form a Wall of Blue. None of them is morally neutral when they lie on the stand.
Now if none of them did these things, you're right, they'd be a lot closer to morally neutral. But the fact they that sometimes do do these things is I think a big reason they're hated and feared by average citizens.
Something seems really, really off kilter if so many of us see the federal government's law enforcement agencies as the enemy.
There are so many good things that they're supposedly in the business to do: go after child porn producers, rapists, murderers, (actual) terrorists, etc.
It's stunning that through their tactics (both in the courtrooms and out) and some of the unjust laws they have to enforce, they could actually be viewed as the enemy by a large portion of the public.
This doesn't feel remotely like a healthy democracy.
Paper exists for a reason, people.
Can you imaging 10 people with tablets in a room? The sound of hammers and chisels would be deafening! You couldn't hear anyone speak.
Emulsion of oil(stuff I buy uses virgin olive oil), vinegar, egg yolk, and salt. I'm not quite sure how this is "nasty".
I guess you'd need to watch the movie Undercover Brother. Its mayonnaise scene scarred me for life.
And, the idea of uncooked egg still creeps me out, to be honest.
Mayonnaise is also one of earth's nastiest substances - it's like the love-child of white phosphorous, Ebola, and that "Leave Brittany Alone" emo guy.
Mayonnaise is also an emulsion. Now my plans can begin in earnest.