Posts Tagged ‘censorship’
Friday, January 5th, 2018
Happy New Year!
How Donald Trump is restoring the S-curve.
What it’s like to be a New York Times reporter during the war on terror:
Success as a reporter on the CIA beat inevitably meant finding out government secrets, and that meant plunging headlong into the classified side of Washington, which had its own strange dynamics.
I discovered that there was, in effect, a marketplace of secrets in Washington, in which White House officials and other current and former bureaucrats, contractors, members of Congress, their staffers, and journalists all traded information. This informal black market helped keep the national security apparatus running smoothly, limiting nasty surprises for all involved. The revelation that this secretive subculture existed, and that it allowed a reporter to glimpse the government’s dark side, was jarring. It felt a bit like being in the Matrix.
It’s a long and informative piece, even if you don’t accept all of reporter James Risen’s analysis. And it really does show how badly our national security agencies leak…
The recently discovered vulnerability in Intel chips is really, really bad. And fixing it requires about a 5-30% performance hit on every OS that runs atop Intel processors. (Here’s a nice layman description).
More on the same topic from Borepatch.
“Crazy” like a fox: “The tougher the sanctions and rhetoric from the United States, the more flexible North Korea is becoming.”
40 companies offer Trump Tax Cut bonuses. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Germany outsources censorship. Evidently you’re not allowed to say anything critical of Muslims or “Muslim refugees,” ever. “How the Germans can’t see that such a law, in the hands of the wrong party, could be devastating is a mystery. I can only conclude such occurrences have no precedent in their country from which they could draw obvious lessons.” (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Scott Adams enumerates all the things President Donald Trump broke that needed breaking.
DACA isn’t what Democrats say it is.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinds Obama-era memorandums on state-level legalized marijuana. Popehat thinks this is, at present, mostly cosmetic due to the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment. I oppose federal marijuana prohibition on constitutional grounds: Regulating marijuana is not an enumerated power of the federal government, regulation is neither necessary nor proper (thus no 9th Amendment justification), and thus a matter entirely for the states absent any interstate commerce under the 10th Amendment.
“Mayor Sylvester Turner’s press secretary was suspended for two weeks without pay after she failed to turn over thousands of documents required to be released under Texas law. Darian Ward was asked to turn over emails relating to her work on non-city related projects, including a private side business called ‘Joy in Motion Productions.'” She must have gone to the Hillary Clinton School of Email FOIA compliance…
Dave Chappelle has a point. As gross, disgusting and socially unacceptable as having Louis C.K. masturbate on the phone with you is, if you let that dissuade you from pursuing a career in a field as hotly competitive as standup comedy, that’s on you. (Hat tip: Ann Althouse.)
“Genetic Study Supports Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity.”
Perfect season.
Dibs.
Tags:Atkins, Border Controls, Borepatch, business, censorship, Crime, Darian Ward, data security, Dave Chappelle, Democrats, Donald Trump, Germany, Houston, Intel, James Risen, Jeff Sessions, LinkSwarm, Louis C.K., marijuana, North Korea, Scott Adams, Sylvester Turner, Tax Reform, technology
Posted in Border Control, Crime, Democrats, Texas, unions | 2 Comments »
Friday, March 17th, 2017
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Insert your own Irish-related drinking joke here.
President Trump’s approval ratings rise.
Did Obama use a British intelligence agency to spy on Trump? (Maybe not.)
Did the Obama Administration use Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac as a slush fund to pay for ObamaCare?
Senate Democrats are paralized what do to over Neil Gorsuch. Everyone agrees Gorsuch is extremely qualified, but the leftwing nutroots are threatening to primary any Democrat who votes to confirm him. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Finally: “A House panel held a hearing on possibly splitting the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday morning.” (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
In talking about the House GOP’s pathetic ObamaCare replacement, Stephen Green hits the nail on the head: “Congress is warped because the American electorate has yet to accept that other people’s money does eventually run out — and that we are all the other people.” That’s why we need someone committed to reform in the White House, and Greece and Venezuela’s examples fresh in the public’s eye…
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey: “What we reject is immigration without assimilation.” (Hat tip: Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit.)
ICE arrests 248 illegal aliens, most in the sanctuary city of Philadelphia. “20 had a conviction and/or pending charges or 48 percent (88 of those arrested had criminal convictions and 32 of those arrested have pending criminal charges). In addition, 50 had been previously removed from the United States and subsequently illegally re-entered.” (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Meanwhile, in Australia: “Teacher quits after primary school students threaten to behead her.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
“Iraqi government forces besieged Islamic State militants around Mosul’s Old City on Thursday, edging closer to the historic mosque from where the group’s leader declared a caliphate nearly three years ago.”
Former Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich says that one of his phonecalls was wiretapped. “If a member of Congress can have his phone tapped, this can happen to anybody.”
“Ten Senate Democrats are vulnerable in 2018. They’re prime targets for takedowns in the midterm elections. But the process starts now, not then…In order of vulnerability (most to least), the target list features: 1) Joe Donnelly-IN; 2) Bill Nelson-FL; 3) Sherrod Brown-OH; 4) Claire McCaskill-MO; 5) Heidi Heitkamp-ND; 6) Tammy Baldwin-WI; 7) Jon Tester-MN; 8) Joe Manchin-WV; 9) Debbie Stabenow-MI; 10) Bob Casey, Jr.-PA.” Agree with the list, but not the order, since Heitkamp hails from a state Trump won by 36 points. But seeing Stupak bloc flip-flopper Donnelly go down at last would be extremely satisfying…
Breakdown of 2016 Presidential race demographics. Least likely to vote for Trump: Black single women. Most likely to vote for Trump: Mormons. Usual poll caveats apply. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
Remember convicted felon Brett Kimberlin? There’s always some Kimberlin news floating around the blogsphere, usually in relation to his latest ludicrous lawsuit getting laughed out of court. But this week he made the news for being involved in selling hoax documents designed to bring down Donald Trump. “The entire set of documents appear to have been forged as part of an elaborate scam.” So, like most Kimberlin escapades, the story ends in embarrassing failure. (Hat tip: The Other McCain.)
Cenk Uygur: Why the Democratic Party is useless. 1. As with all these critiques of the Democratic Party from the left, it’s right about the party being a corrupt institution for entrenched interests and wrong about America being gung ho for socialism. 2. Boy, that “not being polite” stuff sure helped Democrats recall Scott Walker! 3. “Cenk Uygur” sounds like a dark, forbidding fortress at the edge of Mordor.
Holland is the canary in the European coalmine of radical Islamization. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Speaking of Holland, Geert Wilders placed second in Dutch elections, which falls short of a serious challenge to the Islamophillic and Eurocentric establishment.
Dear Sen. McCain: (Sigh).
Rand Paul fires back: “He makes a really, really strong case for term limits. I think maybe he’s past his prime. I think maybe he’s gotten a little bit unhinged.”
Germany wants to fine companies for not censoring fast enough. What do you want to bet that objections to the rousing success of their Muslim immigration policy are first on the list of things to be censored?
Camille Paglia has a new book out, and offers up an interview where she talks about modern feminism (against), southern women (for), working class men (for), Michel Foucault (against), and pornography (for).
“Soros Fellow Flees Country While Wife Arrested For Welfare Scam.” It seems that earning $1.5 million a year at the Washington, D.C., offices of Mayer Brown LLP just wasn’t enough for Fidelis Agbapuruonwu… (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Three #BlackLivesMatter protestors arrested for beating up a homeless man.
Man gets a C when he should have gotten an A for a school assignment. So he did what any of us would have done: Successfully amends the Constitution. (Hat tip: Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett’s Twitter feed.)
Dwight has some Austin-related memoes from the police beat.
“Coming up next on Most Shocking…Mormon Justice!”
King Kong burns.
He divided them again!
Schumer steals again. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Singer Kelly Clarkson is selling her Tennessee mansion. I like how it’s half typical rich-person mansion, and half Bass Pro Shop…
Tags:#BlackLivesMatter, 2016 Presidential Race, 2018 Election, 27th Amendment, 9th Circuit Court, Amy Schumer, Austin, Border Controls, Brett Kimberlin, Camille Paglia, Cenk Uygur, censorship, convicted felon Brett Kimberlin, Crime, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, Donald Trump, Doug Ducey, Elections, Fannie Mae, Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, Foreign Policy, Freddy Mac, Geert Wilders, George Soros, Germany, Heidi Heitkamp, Hollywood, Indiana, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jihad, Joe Manchin, John McCain, Joseph Donnelly, Kelly Clarkson, Mayer Brown LLP, Michel Foucault, Mormons, Mosul, Neil Gorsuch, Netherlands, North Dakota, ObamaCare, Rand Paul, Republicans, Shia LaBeouf, Supreme Court, Tennessee, Texas, UK
Posted in Austin, Border Control, Budget, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Jihad, ObamaCare, Republicans, Supreme Court, Texas | No Comments »
Monday, August 1st, 2016
On June 2, 1816, Simon Bolivar landed in Venezuela and declared all slaves in Spanish America free. In 2016, the “Bolivarian Revolution” in Venezuela reinstitued slave labor on farms:
Venezuelan ministry last week announced Resolution No. 9855, which calls for the establishment of a “transitory labor regime” in order to relaunch the agricultural and food sector. The decree says that the government must do what is “necessary to achieve strategic levels of self-sufficiency,” and states that workers can be forcefully moved from their jobs to work in farm fields or elsewhere in the agricultural sector for periods of 60 days.
(Hat tip: Instaundit.)
I’m sure if you went into Houston’s Fifth Ward or Atlanta’s south side and announced “Hey, due to a food emergency, we’re going to need to put you back on the plantations. But it’s only for 60 days!” I’m sure they’d be totally understanding…
This follows months of food riots. Animals are starving to death in Venezuela’s zoos because they can’t afford to feed them. “Danta from the Caricuao zoo died from hunger.” There you go, liberals: An animal with a name! Now we just wait for all that spontaneous outrage…
So what is country whose people are literally starving due to the Magic Power of Socialism™ to do? Why, institute censorship, of course! And why reform your failing socialist econmy when you can threaten to arrest international executives because their local factories can’t produce goods due to a lack of raw materials?
Leftist leaders around the world love proclaiming “Socialism or Death!” But as Venezuela proves yet again, socialism is death…
Tags:censorship, Foreign Policy, hyperinflation, slavery, socialism, Venezuela, zoo
Posted in Communism, Economics | No Comments »
Monday, November 10th, 2014
It seems that the Social Justice Warriors fighting #GamerGate have temporarily taken another scalp in getting the Twitter account of Milo Yiannopoulos (@Nero) suspended. The acerbic gay British journalist was constantly reporting on the nefarious goings-on of the anti-#GamerGate gang.
Of course, they couldn’t get him suspended from his gig at Breitbart nor his own blog, so it’s rather a Pyrrhic victory.
My guess is that Twitter will restate his account in less than a day, and this will set off a new round of #GamerGate enthusiasm for exposing the corruption in gamer journalism.
It also proves, once again, that Social Justice Warriors can only win arguments when they can pressure others into silencing the voices of their critics.
10 AM Followup: My guess proved correct, as Twitter has restored his account:
Tags:#GamerGate, censorship, Democrats, Media Watch, Milo Yiannopoulos, Social Justice Warriors, Twitter
Posted in Democrats, Media Watch | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 18th, 2014
I knew things in Venezuela were bad, thanks to the magic power of socialism, but now they’re poised to get a whole lot worse.
“Over the past week, Venezuelan protesters have been fighting against corruption in the government, high inflation, and a high murder rate.”
The unjust, corrupt and incompetent socialist government of Hugo Chavez protege Nicolas Maduro just raided the offices of the main opposition party
Also, they just expelled three U.S. diplomats.
Here’s the skinny in a video nutshell:
Torture, repression, censorship, media control; Chavez and Maduro certainly learned Fidel Castro’s old playbook.
Ditto the economy, where inflation tops 50% and good shortages are widespread thanks to the usual socialist mismanagement and currency controls. (In just one indicator, Toyota suspended production in Venezuela due to the hard currency shortage. But at least Toyota sold 722 cars in January, while Ford sold a grand total of…2.)
The situation in Venezuela can’t get better as long as the current socialist government is in power, but Maduro’s thugs won’t leave without a fight.
Tags:censorship, Communism, Economics, protests, socialism, Venezuela, video
Posted in Communism, Economics, video | No Comments »
Friday, March 22nd, 2013
Another Friday roundup of random news:
Republicans offer bill to outlaw Cyprus-like bank account seizures.
What did Dianne Feinstein’s gun-grabbing “assault weapons” bill actually accomplish? “These efforts have driven some law-abiding Americans into the loving arms of the NRA.”
“In Harry Reid’s Senate there are more votes against Chuck Hagel than there are in favor of an assault weapons ban.”
“[Ted Cruz’s] infraction was asking the right question. What Cruz wanted to know was this: Why do liberals cherish the First and Fourth Amendments, but trash the one in between – the Second Amendment?”
Bill Maher wakes up and suddenly realizes he’s getting ripped off by California taxes.
Dwight has an update on the laughable, doomed boondoggle that is EarthQuest.
Surprise! The U.S. is now more hated in the Middle East than under Bush.
Iran exporting Chinese-made portable antiaircraft missiles to terrorists. I’m sure that will make the Middle East all the more stable.
ObamaCare is slowing hiring.
Tides Foundation vs. Koch giving, in graphical form.
The UK decides that they don’t need any stinking freedom of the press.
Germany abandons some of its green energy fantasies.
Louisiana judge rules that ex-felons can own guns. Some caveats: This is based on a newly passed, pro-gun amendment to the Louisiana Constitution, and Louisiana law (as opposed to the other 49 states) is based on the Napoleonic Code rather than English common law.
Don’t suspect a neighbor; report him!
Tags:censorship, China, EarthQuest, Guns, Iran, Jihad, Louisiana, Ted Cruz, UK
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Guns, Jihad | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Both Molly Norris, the original cartoonist who came up with Draw Mohammed Day, and Jon Wellington, the creator of the Facebook page dedicated to it, have dropped out of the effort. Funny how Los Angeles Times writer Jimmy Orr never seems to have thought to ask the single most obvious question about their change of heart: Have you received any death threats from Muslim extremists, and is this why you changed your mind? You would think that would be an obvious question to ask when dealing with Islamic extremists, but evidently the question is not of particular interest to those fabled watchdogs in the media.
However, just because the originator pulled out doesn’t mean that Draw Mohammed Day is canceled. After all:
Bloggers made of sterner stuff have picked up the idea and run with it, including:
I plan on contributing my own modest graphic skills to the endeavor. Moreover, I think we should go beyond individual efforts and ask every single professional cartoonist to participate. I encourage you to write your favorite cartoonist and ask them to join in.
And, as he so frequently does, Chris Muir’s Day by Day nails the dismount (and is the source of the blog title).
Tags:cartoons, censorship, Draw Mohammed Day, Jihad, Jon Wellington, Molly Norris, South Park
Posted in Jihad, Media Watch | 2 Comments »
