Archive for 2017
October 25, 2017
SHOULD THERE BE A RIGHT TO REPAIR?
WHO DID HE THINK HE WAS, HILLARY? Las Vegas shooter’s laptop missing its hard drive.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COMMENTS MADE AS A CANDIDATE AND AS PRESIDENT: Trump’s reckless comments on Bowe Bergdahl.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Kent State mulls whether telling someone ‘You need Jesus’ is hate speech. Actually, I think asking that question is hate speech. Someone file a complaint.
Of course, the underlying premise (“free speech or hate speech?”) is tendentious bullshit, because “hate speech” is free speech just as much as any other speech.
Plus: “Notably absent from the potential hate-speech slogans on the poster is a prominent example from Kent State’s recent history. In 2011, an associate professor of history, Julio Cesar Pino, drew condemnation from campus leaders, students and faculty when he shouted ‘Death to Israel’ at a Muslim Israeli diplomat of Bedouin heritage, Ismael Khaldi, who was speaking on campus.”
STEPHEN KRUISER: Tapper Reaffirms Hack Status, Compares Trump to McCarthy.
Video at the link.
THE 21ST CENTURY IS NOT TURNING OUT THE WAY I’D HOPED: Americans Are Retiring Later, Dying Sooner and Sicker In-Between.
AT AMAZON, Lightning Deal, Everlasting Comfort 100% Pure Memory Foam Back Cushion – Orthopedic Design for Back Pain Relief.
WELL, THAT WE KNOW OF. SO FAR. The Trump dossier was Clinton’s dirtiest political trick.
That’s just the tweet. Byron York has the full writeup here.
The meat:
Fusion resisted Nunes’ subpoenas partly on the grounds that he had “recused” himself from the investigation (Nunes says he never did) and that therefore the subpoenas were not valid. Other lawmakers believe Nunes’ weakness is also part of the FBI’s calculation in resisting a dossier-related subpoena from the House committee.
Nunes subpoenaed the FBI for information on the dossier on August 24. So far the bureau has not provided any information.
That is why Ryan’s support is critical. For a House committee’s subpoena to have maximum effect, it must have the power of the House of Representatives, in the person of the Speaker of the House, behind it.
Which is what Ryan did Wednesday morning. “We’ve had these document requests with the administration, the FBI in particular, for a long time, and they’ve been stonewalling,” Ryan said in an interview with Reuters. “The FBI and the Justice Department need to give Congress the documents it has been requesting, and they need to do so immediately.”
On York’s reporting on this story earlier today, Glenn noted that “People should be fired — and, quite possibly, prosecuted — over this.”
Help drain that swamp, Mr. Speaker. (Bumped).
RETAIL BLUES: Sears will stop selling Whirlpool appliances for first time in a century.
Sears will still sell Kenmore-branded appliances which are manufactured by Whirlpool, but the two companies couldn’t reach an agreement allowing Sears to keep selling the bigger nameplate.
I DIDN’T REALIZE THAT HE WAS STILL ALIVE. AND ONLY 89! Fats Domino has died.
THIS HOLLYWOOD SCANDAL IS DIFFERENT:
Every day that everyone remained silent amounted to tacit endorsement for allowing the depravity to continue. And each day another wagon-load of young cuties arrived in town to be put through the meat grinder, determined to crack the code of “how things are done” in pursuit of becoming the next Ringwald, or Paltrow, or Nyong’o. Hollywood, says Tarantino, has been “operating under an almost Jim Crow-like system” to oppress women. That comment must be causing a chill of recognition throughout the industry: What if we were the villains all along?
Read the whole thing. Incidentally, the cognitive dissonance of that moment when one colleague says to another, “are we the baddies?” can be rather difficult for all involved to process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU
PENCE BREAKS TIE: Trial lawyers everywhere are crying into their copies of the New York Times today because, last night, the Senate voted 51-50, with the Veep casting the deciding vote, to disapprove of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Arbitration Rule. Dressed up as “protection” for the average joe, the rule was actually a disguised wealth transfer from average joes to those trial lawyers, who make millions from class action lawsuits where the class victim gets a few dollars or a worthless coupon. More on this, including my statement, here.
For the record, the GOP Senators defecting were Senator Kennedy of Louisiana and…well, I think you can guess the other one.
CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Ashe Schow: Due Process Is Making A Comeback For College Students Accused Of Rape.
DRAGNET: DOJ Subpoenas Twitter About Popehat, Dissent Doe And Others Over A Smiley Emoji Tweet.
It’s a subpoena asking for information on the following five Twitter users: @dawg8u (“Mike Honcho”), @abtnatural (“Virgil”), @Popehat (Ken White), @associatesmind (Keith Lee) and @PogoWasRight (Dissent Doe). I’m pretty sure we’ve talked about three of those five in previous Techdirt posts. Either way, they’re folks who are quite active in legal/privacy issues on Twitter.
And what info does the DOJ want on them? Well, basically everything:
1. Names (including subscriber names, user names, and screen names);
2. Addresses (including mailing addresses, residential addresses, business addresses, and e-mail addresses);
3. Records of session times and durations, and the temporarily assigned network addresses (such as Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses) associated with those sessions;
4. Length of service (including start date) and types of service utilized;
5. Telephone or instrument numbers (including MAC addresses, Electronic Serial Numbers (“ESN”), Mobile Electronic Identity Numbers (“MEIN”), Mobile Equipment Identifier (“MEID”), Mobile Identification Numbers (“MIN”), Subscriber Identity Modules (“SIM”), Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Numbers (“MSISDND”), International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (“IMSI”), or International Mobile Equipment Identities (“IMEI”));
6. Other subscriber numbers or identities, or associated accounts (including the registration Internet Protocol (“IP”) address);
7. Means and source of payment for such service (including any credit card or bank account number) and billing records.
That’s a fair bit of information. Why the hell would the DOJ want all that? Would you believe it appears to be over a single tweet from someone to each of those five individuals that consists entirely of a smiley face? I wish I was kidding.
Read the whole thing.
IN THE MAIL: From William F. Buckley Jr. & James Rosen (Editor), A Torch Kept Lit: Great Lives of the Twentieth Century.
Plus, fresh Gold Box and Lightning Deals.
TAXPROF: The IRS Scandal, Day 1630: The Real Scandal Is The IRS’s Budget. Yes, it should be cut in half.
AN A-10 PREPARING FOR ACTION: The plane is banking so you can see its ordnance.