Editorials
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W3C turns the clock back on an open Web
On September 18, Ars Technica reports, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published a new specification recommendation, Encrypted Media Extensions. The recommendation, which natively implements a “Digital Rights Management” scheme in web browsers, marks a giant step backward for user freedom and an “open” World Wide Web. W3C is the…
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Florida Keys: Would you have evacuated?
Multitudes of people are suffering through the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in Florida. The Keys and the Caribbean Islands are devastated. Other parts of Florida are suffering from damage and no electricity as well. Food and clean water has run out for some. Hundreds of thousands of people fled Florida…
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Harvey, Irma and 911: We can replace the stuff
Hurricane Harvey and Irma have been bad news to all in their paths. Lives have sadly been lost, houses demolished and personal items blown or washed away. Such horrific acts of nature remind us that we are all fragile and vulnerable. The right wind and rain can wash everything away…
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Even more establishment than the establishment
The Washington Post reports that US president Donald Trump and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “have agreed to pursue a deal that would permanently remove the requirement that Congress repeatedly raise the debt ceiling.” That must be a bitter pill to swallow for those who thought they were electing…
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Total eclipse provided a welcome distraction
For a period of a few weeks, the news seemed like it couldn’t get any worse. North Korean military exercises triggered new fears of nuclear war. Racism and violence in Virginia shook the country. Protests by so-called “anti-fascists” resulted in assaults on law enforcement officers. Statues and monuments were being…
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How to avoid another Charlottesville
Does anybody in America truly want to repeat another horrific Charlottesville? I hope the answer is no but it seems there are different groups lusting for more of Charlottesville. Three people were killed and many others injured in a display of civil warfare reminiscent of what I used to watch…
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Google to employees: Share your opinions, as long as they’re our opinions
Former Google engineer James Damore is suddenly between jobs. He’s been fired, Bloomberg reports, for writing “an internal memo blasting the web company’s diversity policies.” Google has long cultivated a reputation for hiring smart people, turning them loose, and listening to them. This firing puts a giant dent in that…
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We’re the same in different ways
If we were all the same color, we would find some other difference to distinguish between people and weigh equality of worth. You may remember an episode of the TV series Star Trek in which officers of the Enterprise encountered another race of beings on some faraway planet. At first…
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@YesYoureRacist crowdsources social preferencing
The Twitter account @YesYoureRacist went up in 2012, but jumped from about 65,000 followers to more than 350,000 in the days following Virginia’s “Battle of Charlottesville.” After an army of white nationalists rioted to “Unite the Right,” murdering one and injuring dozens, @YesYoureRacist admin Logan Smith swung into action to…
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Dialogue about pot legalization has to include reality
Fifty years ago I was speculating with a college friend of mine about what we might do with our lives. He asserted that he wanted to spend his life bringing about the legalization of marijuana. I kidded him at the time because such an ambition seemed an absurd waste of…
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The government is just here to help
They’re from the government, and they’re here to help…. Really? Democrats, RINOs, progressives, mainstream media, academia, and other irrational beings believe the government can guarantee affordable health insurance and easily accessible full-service healthcare for every person living in America. It’s more complicated than one might think, especially when multiple government…
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No easy fix when it comes to opioids
There is no doubt that opioid abuse is a serious problem in this country. The overdose rates from both prescription and illegal drugs has risen to staggering levels in the past few years alone. That being said, “fixing it” may be something that’s easier said than done because like it…
