Replies to Sam Part 1

My buddy Sam sent me a lot of stuff over the weekend, so here is my potpourri of replies...

Sam said, "The only way to stop Trump or Cruz is for the reasonable thinking electorate to actually vote, even if you have to hold your nose and vote for the Democrat.  Now, if the Republicans nominated someone other than the said two, or a viable third party candidate arose, that would be good."

Sam, what is this "reasonable thinking electorate" you speak of? In a country that just elected a progressive Democrat twice because the other party nominated the weakest candidates they could find, "reasonable" is not how I would describe American voters. I would describe them like the old Gallagher description of California being like a bowl of granola: "What ain't fruits and nuts, is flakes."

As for viable third party candidates, vote Libertarian.

Next, he sent me this article from The Verge, "Supreme Court approves legal authority to hack anonymous computers":

It just got a lot easier for law enforcement agents to hack anonymous computers over the internet. Last night, the Supreme Court approved changes to the rules of criminal procedure, enabling warrants for searches of remote computers, regardless of their physical location. That kind of warrant is particularly important for law enforcement hacking techniques, which typically target anonymous accounts or devices without knowing their physical location or identity. The changes are due to take effect in December, unless Congress passes countermanding legislation in the interim.

A number of experts have criticized hacking warrants as granting unnecessarily broad powers. In a 2014 editorial, law professor Ahmed Ghappour argued the warrants would result in widespread intrusions into other countries, potentially violating other countries' sovereignty. "Overseas cyber operations will be unilateral and invasive," Ghappour wrote. "They will not be limited to matters of national security; nor will they be executed with the consent of the host country." 

If you or I do this, it's illegal. If the government does it, it's ok. Remember, vote for double standards in November! Status Quo for President!

(hat tip to The Financial Philosopher for the pic)

Here are some other articles Sam sent me, and my replies:

New York Times: "Debt Collectors Adopt Mob Tactics as Russians Struggle to Pay Bills"

Coming soon to the United States, near you...

Seriously, why would anyone be surprised that a country run by a criminal would have legalized criminal behavior?

CNN: Weasel knocks out CERN's powerful particle accelerator

CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest particle accelerator located near Geneva, Switzerland, lost power Friday. Engineers who were investigating the outage made a grisly discovery -- the charred remains of a weasel, CERN spokesman Arnaud Marsollier told CNN. 

The little critter gnawed through a 66-kilovolt transformer inside an electrical facility outside the main building. Just for perspective, one kilovolt is 1,000 volts of energy.

I'm sure this came as a great shock to the weasel...

CNN Money: Unstereotyped: Meet the white valedictorian of a historically black college

Good article, but there is one key lesson buried inside this story of Joshua Packwood, who is white, but graduated from predominantly black Morehouse College:

Many of his classmates were also wealthier, better dressed and more articulate than he was, Packwood said. It made him realize how class could sometimes be more of a unifying factor than race and how poor blacks and poor whites might have more in common with each other than, say, poor whites and rich whites.

When I hear the race hustlers talk about the problems of being black, I know what they really mean: It's the problems of being a POOR black. Let's be honest, the Obamas don't suffer from these problems, which is why I think it's one of the greatest scams on Earth that he got elected as a "black president", in a time when most blacks can't even relate to his life experiences, nor he to theirs. With that kind of thinking, Al Jolson would make a fine president...

(hat tip to Wikipedia for the pic)