10:58 AM yesterday
MRM commented on The Science Today: U Can't Touch This (Or Patent It).
@3,4: Good thing scientists have more curiosity and imagination than the two of you.
Jun 12
MRM commented on Nobody Wants TV in 3D.
@20: exactly right. LED isn't necessarily better than LCD isn't necessarily better than plasma. They just need new technology to get the rubes to shell out for the latest and (not really) greatest. People finally smartened up with the 3D bullshit. I mean, why would you spend top dollar on a technology that, even if you find content to view, makes the picture on your great new tv look like shit (albeit 3D shit).
Jun 12
MRM commented on Ron Paul Fears the Government Will Do an Osama on Snowden.
"I'm far more terrified of the ideology of individualism than I'm of any kind of secret agency."
Can you explain this statement please? Can you give examples from history where the "ideology of individualism" created outcomes worse than, say, the Stasi, or the KGB, or even the Hoover-era FBI?
Basically what I'm asking is if you can prove you're not full of shit?
Can you explain this statement please? Can you give examples from history where the "ideology of individualism" created outcomes worse than, say, the Stasi, or the KGB, or even the Hoover-era FBI?
Basically what I'm asking is if you can prove you're not full of shit?
Jun 12
MRM commented on The Wednesday Morning News (Now With More Midweek Flavor).
@3: Decline of the American Empire? Why would anyone in the US be interested in a Nicaraguan canal when we already have hegemonic control over the Panama canal? How many untold of billions of dollars are we supposed to spend to edge out the Chinese in every aspect of global life, just to maintain something as dubiously conceived as our "Empire"?
Jun 11
MRM commented on USA On NSA: Who Cares? Let's Go Shopping!.
Isn't it axiomatic that fundamental rights shouldn't be subject to the whims of the majority?
Jun 11
MRM commented on The NSA Leak, The Wire, and Why David Simon Calls Bullshit.
@12: Who is saying that they are listening/reading everything? No one. The surveillance that they are doing is bad enough.
Terrorists can kill Americans. The only thing that can kill America is a government that reacts to terrorism by ignoring our Constitution.
Terrorists can kill Americans. The only thing that can kill America is a government that reacts to terrorism by ignoring our Constitution.
Jun 11
MRM commented on The NSA Leak, The Wire, and Why David Simon Calls Bullshit.
Yeah, my love of The Wire isn't going to stop me from saying that David Simon is coming off as an idiot right now. Even in his payphone example, the police knew those payphones were being used in criminal activity. The surveillance was targeted in a manner that limited the privacy intrusions on non-criminal activity, even though some intrusions were allowed. The NSA has put no such limits on their surveillance.
On top of that, the NSA program is overseen by the FISA court, which is nothing but a rubber stamp (a court which uses legal standards that lead it to approve virtually all government requests, in reality, is governed by no legal standards at all). The drug dealers targeted by the payphone surveillance had due process, could see the warrants used to catch them and could face their accusers in open court. The targets of NSA surveillance get none of these constitutional protections.
It's time we wake up to the fact that the tools available to the government have become too powerful to maintain an open society and the people need extra protections just to maintain the level of privacy (read: freedom) that Americans are guaranteed by our Constitution. Instead we have a government that would rather ignore the increasingly meager protections we have now.
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On top of that, the NSA program is overseen by the FISA court, which is nothing but a rubber stamp (a court which uses legal standards that lead it to approve virtually all government requests, in reality, is governed by no legal standards at all). The drug dealers targeted by the payphone surveillance had due process, could see the warrants used to catch them and could face their accusers in open court. The targets of NSA surveillance get none of these constitutional protections.
It's time we wake up to the fact that the tools available to the government have become too powerful to maintain an open society and the people need extra protections just to maintain the level of privacy (read: freedom) that Americans are guaranteed by our Constitution. Instead we have a government that would rather ignore the increasingly meager protections we have now.
Jun 7
MRM commented on Costco vs. Walmart: A Tale of Two Companies.
@9: I was assuming he was going on a Mudede-like flight of fancy that wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. I think he hit the mark pretty well.
Jun 7
MRM commented on Obama Gets the Jobs Report He Really Needed Right Now.
This isn't a "good" jobs report. 175,000 is just treading water, barely keeping up with new entries into the workforce.
Jun 6
MRM commented on Today in the Surveillance State: Secret Court Gives FBI and NSA Blanket Access to Phone Records.
The American Surveillance State: Making Sure the Noise Drowns Out the Signal Since September 11, 2001.
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