Ted Cruz Suggests “Duck Dynasty’s” Phil Robertson as UN Ambassador

Don’t worry, he’s just kidding
Politics • Views: 50,383

YouTube

Here’s Ted Cruz jokingly (?) suggesting pseudo-mountain man Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” as America’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Cruz praises Robertson for “saying the things you’re not supposed to say.” In Robertson’s case this includes blatant homophobia and racism, hate speech that obviously doesn’t bother Ted Cruz in the slightest. According to Cruz, he expresses these sentiments with “joy.”

“You know there’s a reason he terrifies the mainstream media. He says the things you’re not supposed to say,” Cruz said at Friday’s rally. “He actually remembers who we are as Americans and just speaks it with a joy, not with an anger, not with a hatred, with a joy in who we are.”

The mainstream media are “terrified” of Robertson? What world is this happening in?

Jump to bottom

377 comments
1
retired cynic  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:30:45am

Reposted from below:

We have talked some about the oddness of the Democratic method of choosing delegates, but not about the Republican version, which is MUCH weirder! juanitajean.com

2
Lidane  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:31:45am

Because it will never be unseen:

3
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:33:44am

Well, at least no one really likes Ted Cruz. We can take solace in that.

4
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:34:34am

The degeneration of the GOP is getting to Roman Empire levels. Phil Robertson is no more qualified to be UN ambassador than Caligula’s horse was qualified to be Consul.

5
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:34:55am

“He says the things you’re not supposed to say”

Yeah, people aren’t supposed to say girls should be married off when they’re 15 and God should kill liberals and gays. Funny how that works.

6
jc717  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:36:45am

He’d probably be less of a train wreck than John Bolton…

7
jaunte  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:37:16am
“He actually remembers who we are as Americans and just speaks it with a joy, not with an anger, not with a hatred, with a joy in who we are”

A joyful lynch mob of small-minded, self-indulgent bigots.

8
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:37:45am
9
wrenchwench  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:38:14am

I heard someone joke yesterday about making Trump the ambassador to the Vatican. Ha ha.

10
Fourth Football of the Apocalypse  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:38:25am

Hurr hurr libtards no sense of humer!!!111

11
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:38:27am

re: #5 Kragar

“He says the things you’re not supposed to say”

Yeah, people aren’t supposed to say girls should be married off when they’re 15 and God should kill liberals and gays. Funny how that works.

Phil turns to Ted. “I’d like to marry your daughter.”

Ted, to the audience, “See what I mean.”

12
GlutenFreeJesus  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:39:40am
13
Skip Intro  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:39:49am

He could become the ambassador to Assholeistan, A.K.A. the old Confederacy.

14
Emoprog Refugee  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:41:00am

Cruz’s mentality is stuck in 4th grade - rebel for the sake of rebellion; do nothing constructive.
I’ll appoint someone totally inappropriate for UN ambassador cuz I don’t like the UN and it’ll piss off the librulz who drool and don’t rule, hahaha, I’m so funny and rebellious, and see the Presidency as an office where I can prank the peeps I don’t like.

I’ll get rid of gluten free food for the military cuz it’ll piss off the librulz who drool and don’t rulehahaha, I’m so funny and rebellious, and see the Presidency as an office where I can prank the peeps I don’t like.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

15
GlutenFreeJesus  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:42:22am

So, the Apple encryption hearing has been scheduled for March 22. That should put to rest any ideas that this is a serious and “imminent threat” kinda thing. I hope Apple stays strong.

16
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:42:25am

“I’ll do more for the African American people in one year than Barack Obama has ever done” - Donald Trump.

Yup, that’s what he said today.

17
plansbandc  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:43:10am

The wall thing is so unbearably fucking stupid I can’t even take it.

18
Shiplord Kirel  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:43:51am

An obvious joke.

Okay, but what does it say about Cruz’s own candidacy that it is an obvious joke to suggest that one of his top supporters might be in line for public office?

19
Skip Intro  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:43:57am
20
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:44:38am

Outrageous outrage alert:

The President’s war on law enforcement. Which simply doesn’t exist except in the febrile minds of right wingers.

Demanding accountability when law enforcement engages in unjustified use of force isn’t a war on law enforcement. Demanding improved training and tactics isn’t a war on law enforcement. Calling on good cops to help clear out the bad ones isn’t a war on law enforcement.

Even if you ignore all that, the number of officers killed in the line of duty (by firearms, stabbings, etc., other than motor vehicle accidents, heart attacks, etc.,) is down under Obama’s presidency.

It’s such a war…

21
Single-handed sailor  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:44:55am
22
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:45:12am

re: #15 GlutenFreeJesus

So, the Apple encryption hearing has been scheduled for March 22. That should put to rest any ideas that this is a serious and “imminent threat” kinda thing. I hope Apple stays strong.

From what I’ve seen, judges have to schedule bathroom breaks that long it advance.

23
GlutenFreeJesus  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:45:38am

re: #16 freetoken

He didn’t say anything he’d do would be good for them

24
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:46:22am

re: #17 plansbandc

The wall thing is so unbearably fucking stupid I can’t even take it.

Well, there are two more events for today… one starting soon.

You’re going to hear about it, oh yes, you’re going to hear about it.

25
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:46:27am

re: #17 plansbandc

The wall thing is so unbearably fucking stupid I can’t even take it.

It’s a diversion from all the other BS Trump stated yesterday. He pumps out so much BS on a daily basis, that the media wont cover all of it - but in this case, Trump responded to part of the Pope’s statement (ignoring the rest and context in the process).

Trump’s supporters, including the asshat Morning Joe, likewise ignore the context.

26
japa21  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:48:40am

It has been said that democracy is the only form of government that has built into its workings the ability to kill itself.

This year will be a big test of that. The GOP has been trying to deal a death blow to our democracy for a long time now. If they with the WH this year, it will happen.

27
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:49:18am
28
Emoprog Refugee  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:49:27am

re: #14 Emoprog Refugee

To clarify, yes, I know he’s joking, but this is the point where he’s supposed to be telling us how he’ll govern — what makes him the candidate worth voting for to lead this nation; what we’re in for, should we happen to have chosen someone else, and Loki-forbid, Ted Cruz wins.
So far, all we’re getting is pranks and rebellion and no solutions. Take the stupid war on gluten free food in the military. Yes, I think the gluten free fad is stupid, too, but there are people with celiac disease, and gluten free for them is no fad. It’s how they have to live their lives. What’s totally absent from Cruz is any sense of thoughtfulness. If he wants to improve the rations of our people in uniform, then propose that they get actual good food to eat, prepared fresh by chefs, or some such. This childish, reactionary seeing of every opportunity to poke someone in the eye rather than proposing something constructive just makes him totally despicable.

29
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:49:30am

“He actually remembers who we are as Americans and just speaks it with a joy, not with an anger, not with a hatred, with a joy in who we are.”

As long as who we are is white, male, patriarchal, armed and Protestant.

30
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:49:51am

re: #21 Single-handed sailor

[Embedded content]

I love hyenas. Hyenas are awesome.

31
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:51:03am

re: #29 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

“He actually remembers who we are as Americans and just speaks it with a joy, not with an anger, not with a hatred, with a joy in who we are.”

As long as who we are is white, male, patriarchal, armed and Protestant.

‘I’m so filled with joy not to be one of Them!”

32
nines09  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:51:13am

Nah. No hate from Duck Dipstick #1. Just wants to kill a few people. With joy in his heart.

33
ausador  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:51:24am

Vicious guard dog on premises, beware!

34
Feline Fearless Leader  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:51:52am

Hmm. Was reading articles elsewhere and eventually ended up on one titled “Why Fans Love Crap”.

It’s talking about comic books and (shudder) Twilight, but I can see how this concept can be applied to other areas, including politics. And it seems to center on favortisms that were picked up without or low amounts of critical thinking being applied. And I would also see it as touching upon the things that catch youthful idealism while being rejected by older (and more cynical) adults.

35
Lidane  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:52:09am

re: #17 plansbandc

The wall thing is so unbearably fucking stupid I can’t even take it.

It’s like none of these dipshits can read or understand figurative speech. The Pope wasn’t talking about literal walls but there are a whole lot of fucking imbeciles using “TEH VATICAN HAZ WALLS!” as a defense.

Idiocracy was a lot funnier before it became a documentary.

36
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:54:16am

Soon from Pawley’s Island:

LIVE Stream: Donald Trump Rally in Pawley’s Island, SC (2-19-16)

37
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:56:03am
38
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 11:58:35am

re: #37 Kragar

Deadpool says the things you’re uncomfortable saying.

39
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:01:12pm
40
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:02:51pm

re: #39 Kragar

[Embedded content]

I was going to point out that “gem” too.

41
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:03:11pm

re: #37 Kragar

Phil Robertson “says the things you’re not supposed to say”

What he says is fairly irrelevant, but he looks like a cross between a Biblical patriarch and a member of ZZ Top, and that has a particular appeal to a certain group of voters, most of whom being a bit of both.

42
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:04:17pm

Well here’s something “you’er not supposed to say”, Phil Robertson’s views on women, gays, and people who don’t share his religious beliefs are reminiscent of the Taliban. Remember, we’re talking about someone who thinks gay marriage supporters should be killed.

43
taserian  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:04:53pm

Cross-posted from downstairs:

Considering how [Trump]’s antagonized the Pope, I expect the following sometime:

It’s about damn time.
44
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:06:11pm

re: #39 Kragar

45
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:09:06pm

re: #44 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Nailed it. I don’t care that he joked about this in itself. I do care however that a Presidential candidate hangs out with a man who believes things were better for blacks in Jim Crow (but who’s shocked given if it’s Ted Cruz who openly admires Jesse Helms and has talked about how one of his first political contribution was to him and how he wished the Senate had 100 Jesse Helms), thinks young girls should marry, and wants to kill supporters of gay marriage. Really fuck Cruz and fuck Robertson.

46
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:10:00pm

Something you’re not to say. White Southern conservative evangelicals like Robertson pine for the days of white supremacy.

47
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:11:09pm

re: #44 lawhawk

48
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:12:45pm

Donald working the crowd… well….

49
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:13:05pm

Meanwhile, the Daily Caller is retweeting this BS:

Double standards much? They were either silent, or condoned the Bundy militia domestic terrorists, but thugs will be killed. No, no racism there either.

50
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:15:25pm

re: #49 lawhawk

Meanwhile, the Daily Caller is retweeting this BS:

[Embedded content]

Double standards much? They were either silent, or condoned the Bundy militia domestic terrorists, but thugs will be killed. No, no racism there either.

Typical right wing double standard bullshit.

51
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:15:31pm

still going on about the Bergdahl thing…

52
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:17:08pm

re: #51 freetoken

still going on about the Bergdahl thing…

Still furious that Bergdhal wasn’t Eddie Sloviked?

53
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:17:46pm

re: #49 lawhawk

54
Tigger2  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:17:56pm

re: #49 lawhawk

Meanwhile, the Daily Caller is retweeting this BS:

[Embedded content]

Double standards much? They were either silent, or condoned the Bundy militia domestic terrorists, but thugs will be killed. No, no racism there either.

55
ausador  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:19:52pm

Very funny and brief take on the possible outcome of SCOTUS nomination…

56
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:20:16pm

re: #49 lawhawk

Meanwhile, the Daily Caller is retweeting this BS:

[Embedded content]

Double standards much? They were either silent, or condoned the Bundy militia domestic terrorists, but thugs will be killed. No, no racism there either.

Right wing media is just preparing for the future. Relatively soon we can expect to see Republican brown shirts in action, and they will need aid and comfort from the right wing noise machine.

57
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:20:39pm
58
wrenchwench  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:22:45pm

re: #57 Kragar

[Breaking: Plot uncovered to prevent Trump supporters from voting by handing them chewing gum as they walk into polling place.]

Wrapped or unwrapped?

59
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:23:37pm

re: #58 wrenchwench

Wrapped or unwrapped?

Are you trying to kill them?!?!

60
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:24:04pm

“We’re being stripped…”

61
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:24:34pm

“boycott Apple until they give that security number…”

62
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:26:01pm

Q: “With all the degrading circumstances going on in our country…”

The asker (female) did not elaborate what she meant by “degrading”.

63
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:29:11pm

re: #62 freetoken

Q: “With all the degrading circumstances going on in our country…”

The asker (female) did not elaborate what she meant by “degrading”.

White people being forced to share drinking fountains and lunch counters with Negroes, perhaps?

64
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:30:19pm
65
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:32:13pm

Trump very carefully maneuvers around an abortion question… “pro-life”…

66
Feline Fearless Leader  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:33:31pm

Highlight photo of today’s walk along the river in Philly. (booyah!)
(this included a long - “where the crap is the telephoto lens!” moment.)

67
Lidane  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:34:47pm
68
Ubiq  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:35:48pm

re: #42 HappyWarrior

Well here’s something “you’er not supposed to say”, Phil Robertson’s views on women, gays, and people who don’t share his religious beliefs are reminiscent of the Taliban. Remember, we’re talking about someone who thinks gay marriage supporters should be killed.

It turns out the reason you’re not supposed to say these things is that saying them makes you an asshole.

Or, in the world of GOP wingnuts, a candidate for secretary of state.

69
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:36:05pm

Oh brother.

70
Lidane  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:36:42pm

re: #64 Kragar

From Reince’s fundraiser:

For nearly a century, there has never been a nomination and confirmation to the Supreme Court in a presidential election year.

71
The Vicious Babushka  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:37:37pm

re: #16 freetoken

“I’ll do more for the African American people in one year than Barack Obama has ever done” - Donald Trump.

Yup, that’s what he said today.

72
Dr. Matt  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:37:41pm

re: #67 Lidane

Trump says that people should boycott Apple until the company helps the FBI open the San Bernardino phone
— Jose A. DelReal (@jdelreal) February 19, 2016>

Hopefully the Apple boycott isn’t nearly as effective as their “boycott” of MNF.

73
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:40:18pm

Happening now:

74
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:41:11pm

re: #67 Lidane

[Embedded content]

As much as I think Apple needs to help since a judge has ordered them to, I see a 24 episode coming out of this: The bombers iPhone contains the locations of two dirty bombs and the code to disarm them.

75
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:41:41pm

Q: “What’s your stance on coal”.

A: “We send our coal to Chyna”.

Well, not very much, Donald.

76
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:41:57pm

hating on windmills now…

77
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:42:35pm

“[windmills] litter the landscape”

78
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:43:27pm

“we have an unlimited supply [of coal]”

79
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:45:21pm

“Karl Rove is a bad guy”
“Krauthammer is a bad guy” - get’s some groans

80
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:45:49pm
81
jaunte  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:48:18pm

re: #67 Lidane

[Embedded content]

Embedded Image

82
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:48:19pm

re: #67 Lidane

[Embedded content]

Embedded Image

There goes the tech bro vote.

83
ObserverArt  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:48:43pm

You sure can tell by Teddy Cruz’s delivery he is a son of the father. American Political evangelicalism. Pray to the flag…pray to the flag!

“The Obama economy is a disaster, Obamacare is a trainwreck, and the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind - the whole world is on fire. I will save America. Vote for me brothers and sisters. I will bring peace, prosperity and glory to our land!”
84
Franklin  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:48:46pm

re: #70 Lidane

I think it is technically accurate but they are being very petty about the distinction. Kennedy was nominated in late (November?) 1987 and confirmed in 1988, an election year.

85
BlueGrl21  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:48:49pm

re: #72 Dr. Matt

Hopefully the Apple boycott isn’t nearly as effective as their “boycott” of MNF.

They’re going to need to boycott the Internet. ‘Cause Google is standing with Apple, as are security software companies and the EFF.

I see nothing but a win/win for America. Proceed, Trump.

86
jaunte  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:50:41pm
87
Franklin  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:50:57pm

re: #85 BlueGrl21

They’re going to need to boycott the Internet. ‘Cause Google is standing with Apple, as are security software companies and the EFF.

I see nothing but a win/win for America. Proceed, Trump.

And Twitter.

88
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:51:24pm

Well, so much for that.

Charlston, he we come…

89
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:52:47pm

re: #81 jaunte

90
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:54:23pm
91
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:54:44pm

re: #86 jaunte

The Trumpiots will tear Mona apart.

92
Franklin  Feb 19, 2016 • 12:56:35pm

Will Trump boycott his iPhone AND Twitter?

93
Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:01:33pm

Looks like Rubio had practice at not showing up to security briefings when he was in Florida

94
Tigger2  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:03:13pm

re: #86 jaunte

[Embedded content]

95
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:05:59pm

re: #93 Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance

Looks like Rubio had practice at not showing up to security briefings when he was in Florida

Rubio really is a odious piece of shit. He reminds me of a comment I read about a general in the American Revolution who enjoyed the perquisites of command, but not the responsibilities of command. As a result, this general would retire to his tents with a ‘bilious fever’ every time the possibility of military activity reared its ugly head.

96
Feline Fearless Leader  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:06:05pm

Who was it that said that evil takes root in greed, ill will, and delusion? The GOP has that combination down pat.

97
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:06:33pm
98
The Vicious Babushka  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:07:39pm
99
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:08:10pm

re: #98 The Vicious Babushka

100
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:08:59pm
101
ObserverArt  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:10:17pm

What percentage of the crap that comes out of the mouth of Trump does he actually believe? I think 10% at most.

He’s a talented bullshitter and bully. He says this stuff because it is working. He counted on it working and it does. That is all the credit I’d give him. He is selling total bullshit for votes and people are lined up and buying.

I think Cruz believes maybe 25%. He might believe a little of what he says, but just like Trump and just like daddy he is out for donations. In his case that would be votes. And he knows no bounds of who he will slime to get them.

I can only wonder where they go if they are the last two standing after the Ides of March.

Cruz versus Trump straight up for 3+ months before the convention…and you think it is bad now.

102
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:10:22pm
103
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:10:58pm

re: #96 Feline Fearless Leader

Who was it that said that evil takes root in greed, ill will, and delusion? The GOP has that combination down pat.

The GOP establishment has propagandized its base extensively with hateful and divisive lies over the past few decades, all in an attempt to amass power to support their agenda of tax cuts uber alles.

What Trump’s candidacy shows is that a significant fraction of the GOP base really do believe all the lies of Fox News et al. The good news is that these people don’t have any particular attachment to GOP orthodoxy. The bad news is that these people have been turned into haters looking for targets.

104
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:12:43pm

re: #102 goddamnedfrank

“iPhone, the choice of pedophiles everywhere.”

105
Emoprog Refugee  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:13:02pm

re: #92 Franklin

Will Trump boycott his iPhone AND Twitter?

[Embedded content]

One can only hope!

106
The Vicious Babushka  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:13:10pm

re: #101 ObserverArt

What percentage of the crap that comes out of the mouth of Trump does he actually believe? I think 10% at most.

He is a carny. Do carnys believe their own spiel? Do they drink their own snake oil?

In the old days they probably did, because it contained opium and cocaine.

107
Lidane  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:13:59pm

re: #92 Franklin

Will Trump boycott his iPhone AND Twitter?

[Embedded content]

We can only hope.

108
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:14:58pm

re: #104 Belafon

“iPhone, the choice of pedophiles everywhere.”

So you are in favor of a “papers, please ” society?

I think this issue is a real one that is poorly served by sound bites as above.

109
Emoprog Refugee  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:15:20pm

re: #105 Emoprog Refugee

One can only hope!

re: #107 Lidane

We can only hope.

Jinx :D

110
ObserverArt  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:17:03pm

re: #104 Belafon

“iPhone, the choice of pedophiles everywhere.”

Apple iPhone, the choice of the Catholic Church. Protecting our religion at all costs.

/mega

111
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:17:09pm

Lots of new polls out midday… show Trump up by at least 10 in SC in most polls, though second place results vary quite a bit.

Rubio is surging… or not. In one poll Rubio is close to Trump, but in the other polls Rubio is back in 3rd place.

It is here I will point out that empiricism isn’t that easy. Very subtle variances in question wording - how does that affect the outcome? The choice of phone number databases - are there hidden variables?

Many people are misled into thinking that the “margin of error” is about accuracy - it is not.

It will be very surprising if Trump doesn’t win SC. But second place? That is really hard to gauge from all these polls.

112
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:19:12pm
113
Tigger2  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:20:23pm

re: #112 Kragar

[Embedded content]

Some of them probably feel more at home at a KKK rally.

114
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:20:57pm

In looking at the RCP scoreboard of polls, in SC the variation in the Rubio results are greater than that of Cruz, eyeballing it.

Does this mean that Cruz support is more sensitive to the nature of the pool of people being polled?

It’s been pointed out that the Marist poll (NBC/WSJ) had more “very conservative” respondants than the other polls… and sure enough Trump didn’t do as well against Cruz in that poll.

115
mmmirele  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:21:25pm

I know I say this a lot, but yet again, “Jesus, save us from your professional followers.”

116
ObserverArt  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:21:34pm

re: #106 The Vicious Babushka

He is a carny. Do carnys believe their own spiel? Do they drink their own snake oil?

In the old days they probably did, because it contained opium and cocaine.

Do you think Ted has carny in him too…or is it more the slick circuit tent preacher?

In many ways both are similar. Roll into town, tell them what they want to hear…promise to end their strife and suffering…get them believing, take their votes…leave.

117
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:23:42pm

Batcrap crazy things Ted Cruz chum Phil Robertson says:

Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson Stumps for Ted Cruz (2-19-16)

“Gentlemen, young men, marry you a woman. Dude—if she’s clean, and you’re clean, and you marry her, and you keep your sex right there, you’re never going to get a debilitating disease and/or death. It’s safe!”

And remember, these Duck nuts were all country clubbers until they decided that the hillbilly schtick goosed their sales.

118
worldknot  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:24:27pm

re: #111 freetoken

Lots of new polls out midday… show Trump up by at least 10 in SC in most polls, though second place results vary quite a bit.

Rubio is surging… or not. In one poll Rubio is close to Trump, but in the other polls Rubio is back in 3rd place.

It is here I will point out that empiricism isn’t that easy. Very subtle variances in question wording - how does that affect the outcome? The choice of phone number databases - are there hidden variables?

Many people are misled into thinking that the “margin of error” is about accuracy - it is not.

It will be very surprising if Trump doesn’t win SC. But second place? That is really hard to gauge from all these polls.

Whoever finishes second, it’s likely Trump wins all 50 delegates anyway.

119
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:24:31pm

re: #104 Belafon

“iPhone, the choice of pedophiles everywhere.”

Pedophiles and pro democracy dissidents.
Terrorists and LGBTQ citizens living in places with the death penalty for their kind.

The question is how many innocent people are we willing to glibly sacrifice in this pursuit? I feel like I’m watching Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.

120
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:27:39pm

re: #70 Lidane

From Reince’s fundraiser:

For nearly a century, there has never been a nomination and confirmation to the Supreme Court in a presidential election year.

Not even close to true:

Wilson nominated Brandeis and Clarke in 1916; Both were confirmed in 1916.

Hoover nominated Cardozo in 1932; Confirmed in 1932.

Roosevelt nominated Murphy in 1940; Confirmed in 1940.

Oh, Rinse, you lying bastard!

121
The Vicious Babushka  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:28:13pm
122
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:33:57pm

re: #121 The Vicious Babushka

And that boys and girls, is why you wear seat belts. So, for all you sovereign citizens who think that the government shouldn’t force you to wear seat belts, you keep on doing what you’re doing. Darwin will sort things out just fine.

123
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:36:02pm

re: #122 lawhawk

And that boys and girls, is why you wear seat belts. So, for all you sovereign citizens who think that the government shouldn’t force you to wear seat belts, you keep on doing what you’re doing. Darwin will sort things out just fine.

Apparently, if you go to the originating Vine …the guy is okay, gets up, and runs across the road afterwards. (This was a high speed chase.)

124
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:37:57pm

re: #119 goddamnedfrank

Pedophiles and pro democracy dissidents.
Terrorists and LGBTQ citizens living in places with the death penalty for their kind.

The question is how many innocent people are we willing to glibly sacrifice in this pursuit? I feel like I’m watching Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.

Do you really think China is worried about not being able to get into an iPhone? The country that rounds people up when it feels the stirrings of a movement? It doesn’t really even care about collateral damage. There are kids still missing from their last roundup. If China were truly worried, they’d have Apple do the same thing they had Cisco do.

I personally have serious trouble with companies not being required to follow rulings from US courts.

125
Schroedinger's Dog  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:38:06pm

Today for Lent my office cafeteria served up the piece of cod that passeth all understanding

126
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:38:42pm

re: #119 goddamnedfrank

127
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:38:44pm

re: #123 klys (maker of Silmarils)

Apparently, if you go to the originating Vine …the guy is okay, gets up, and runs across the road afterwards. (This was a high speed chase.)

Here’s the full video, for those who are interested.

128
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:38:58pm

re: #103 EPR-radar

What Trump’s candidacy shows is that a significant fraction of the GOP base really do believe all the lies of Fox News et al. The good news is that these people don’t have any particular attachment to GOP orthodoxy. The bad news is that these people have been turned into haters looking for targets.

Trump paid attention to the Tea Party when they said that they had no party affiliation; they tended towards GOP candidates who supported issues dear to them like lower taxes and less government but were perfectly prepared to turn on the GOP if they were found to be lacking in TP ideals.

129
Schroedinger's Dog  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:40:11pm

re: #128 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

Trump paid attention to the Tea Party when they said that they had no party affiliation; they tended towards GOP candidates who supported issues dear to them like lower taxes and less government but were perfectly prepared to turn on the GOP if they were found to be lacking in TP ideals.

Or showed any signs of sanity.

130
The Vicious Babushka  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:41:15pm

re: #127 klys (maker of Silmarils)

Here’s the full video, for those who are interested.

How much meth did he take, d’ya think?

131
Feline Fearless Leader  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:41:17pm

Took this photo today while cursing at my auto-focus and at the same time being too stubborn to turn it off.

Squirrel or buds?

In retrospect I actually think it’s more interesting this way. Easy to get photos of squirrels, but never thought to use them as fuzzy background for plant pictures.

132
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:41:22pm

re: #124 Belafon

China doesn’t need to get into the phones. It just listens on the towers.

133
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:42:33pm

re: #129 Schroedinger’s Dog

Or showed any signs of sanity.

TP ideals and sanity are mutually exclusive concepts

134
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:42:33pm

re: #130 The Vicious Babushka

How much meth did he take, d’ya think?

The article doesn’t say, but I’m thinking a fair bit.

Hopefully I don’t see anything like that on my drive down to Disneyland tonight. mr. klys is flying down because health issues, so I’m unexpectedly getting to drive the whole thing. woohoo.

135
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:43:57pm

re: #124 Belafon

I personally have serious trouble with companies not being required to follow rulings from US courts.

Interesting how you skipped right over Apple’s right to appeal the magistrate’s ruling.

136
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:44:39pm

re: #95 EPR-radar

Rubio really is a odious piece of shit. He reminds me of a comment I read about a general in the American Revolution who enjoyed the perquisites of command, but not the responsibilities of command. As a result, this general would retire to his tents with a ‘bilious fever’ every time the possibility of military activity reared its ugly head.

As I said earlier, he wants all the prestige that comes with being an elected official but none of the actual responsibilities. He’s a joke. Perhaps in some ways even bigger than Trump and Cruz.

137
Schroedinger's Dog  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:47:33pm

re: #136 HappyWarrior

As I said earlier, he wants all the prestige that comes with being an elected official but none of the actual responsibilities. He’s a joke. Perhaps in some ways even bigger than Trump and Cruz.

Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but certainly the biggest.

138
FormerDirtDart  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:48:48pm

In all, officers found and seized 68 handguns and rifles, as well as a number of suppressors, tactical gear, custom knives, armor vests, ballistic shields, high end camera equipment, and a Rolex watch. It’s unclear how much of the stockpile is stolen, but police believe they removed a potential menace.

(a few more pics in the article)

139
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:50:25pm

re: #137 Schroedinger’s Dog

Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but certainly the biggest.

I thought he was Romney 2.0 but there’s a lot of Dan Quayle and Palin in him too.

140
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:51:58pm

So stupid I LOLed for reals.

141
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:53:20pm
142
lawhawk  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:54:23pm
143
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:55:50pm

re: #142 lawhawk

Here’s audio of Donald Trump one day after the Iraq War started saying it looked like a success.

He was not a politician back then, therefore it does not count…

(that is his own excuse)

144
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:56:14pm

re: #140 Charles Johnson

So stupid I LOLed for reals.

[Embedded content]

I’m sure Scalia’s family just loves this but tell me again RWNJs who Obama’s the disrespectful one here.

145
Sophist, Vogon Poet Laureate  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:56:32pm

re: #138 FormerDirtDart

[Embedded content]

(a few more pics in the article)

Man, that’s right near where I grew up.

146
Sophist, Vogon Poet Laureate  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:57:34pm

re: #142 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Careful, he might sue you for defamation.

147
The Vicious Babushka  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:58:46pm

re: #140 Charles Johnson

So stupid I LOLed for reals.

[Embedded content]

Donotlinky thingy is brokey

SPOILER

Click to Reveal

HEAR IS ALL TEH PROOFS U NEEDS!!!11!! EVERYBODY WHO OBAMA SHAKED TEH SEEKRIT MUSLEM HANDSHAKES IS HIS SEEKRIT MURDER ASSASASIN!!!!11!!!

148
Tigger2  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:58:48pm

re: #140 Charles Johnson

So stupid I LOLed for reals.

[Embedded content]

All I get is a server error.

149
Jayleia  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:59:14pm

re: #140 Charles Johnson

You seem to have broken donotlink.com…I’m getting a 500 error. What did we miss?

150
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 1:59:31pm

During the discussion of Apple’s stand on being ordered to create software to allow the breaching of their own security, one point came up which I thought warrants further discussion, beyond the specifics of this case and the merits or lack thereof of Apple’s claims.

It was suggested that if a company’s security were known to be unbreachable (for whatever reason) such that data on a device would be completely secure, then terrorists, criminals, and child pornographers would all buy these devices and have a place to put/store their data that no government could access.

This is a salient point, but to me it brings up a larger point - Do we believe that if electronic evidence exists, it must only be allowed to exist in a form which the Government can access? If a manufacturer develops and sells an electronic device, must it be designed to allow persons other than the owner to access the data on it?

Leaving aside the argument that creating a backdoor for the Good Guys provides a backdoor for the Bad Guys, do we really believe the Good Guys must always have a back door?

151
Barefoot Grin  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:00:24pm

The CIA tried to assassinate Fidel Castro 17 times. Now Barack Obama is going to Cuba. I predict Fidel will be dead with a pillow on his head before Obama is gone. Legacy.

152
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:01:12pm

re: #151 Barefoot Grin

The CIA tried to assassinate Fidel Castro 17 times. Now Barack Obama is going to Cuba. I predict Fidel will be dead with a pillow on his head before Obama is gone. Legacy.

Will right wingers be happy or angry if that happens?

153
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:02:14pm

Someone died in Washington D.C today. Better check Obama for pillow prints!

154
wrenchwench  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:03:01pm

re: #152 HappyWarrior

Will right wingers be happy or angry if that happens?

Both, but mostly jealous that he could pull it off.

155
Barefoot Grin  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:04:55pm

re: #152 HappyWarrior

Will right wingers be happy or angry if that happens?

Resentful sulking. That our communist could kill the Cuban. // Work with me here.

156
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:06:16pm

re: #150 Blind Frog Belly White

This is the point that I wrestle with back and forth and I don’t know where I find the answer yet. It’s why I’m extremely glad I’m not a judge trying to decide this.

I do know that absolute principles one way or another make me kind of itchy.

157
Sophist, Vogon Poet Laureate  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:07:11pm

re: #152 HappyWarrior

Will right wingers be happy or angry if that happens?

Working for the Reagan-era CIA is part of the anti-Obama complex of conspiracies. So I’m gonna go with “unhappy”. Just like every other thing that Obama has ever done, or been alleged to have done, or been theorised to be thinking about doing.

158
GlutenFreeJesus  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:08:56pm

re: #152 HappyWarrior

Ask Osama.

159
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:10:05pm

re: #150 Blind Frog Belly White

During the discussion of Apple’s stand on being ordered to create software to allow the breaching of their own security, one point came up which I thought warrants further discussion, beyond the specifics of this case and the merits of lack thereof of Apple’s claims.

It was suggested that if a company’s security were known to be unbreachable (for whatever reason) such that data on a device would be completely secure, then terrorists, criminals, and child pornographers would all buy these devices and have a place to put/store their data that no government could access.

This is a salient point, but to me it brings up a larger point - Do we believe that if electronic evidence exists, it must only be allowed to exist in a form which the Government can access? If a manufacturer develops and sells an electronic device, must it be designed to allow persons other than the owner to access the data on it?

Leaving aside the argument that creating a backdoor for the Good Guys provides a backdoor for the Bad Guys, do we really believe the Good Guys must always have a back door?

It also ignores the trove of other information that such a platform makes available to the government. If Apple’s devices are so good that they become the preferred smart phone of suspect classes then those classes will also be transmitting their movements and locations in real time. They will still be using government monitored networks, will still be subject to traditional hacking tools, honeypots, compromised malware apps that turn the device into surveillance devices, etc.

As such there are palpable benefits to the government in allowing Apple to maintain its sense of integrity. These cast such a wide and useful net for investigative purposes as to quite plausibly outweigh any transitory benefit that publicly compromising the device may bring.

We’ve basically convinced most of the world that carrying around an always on, all-in-one monitoring device is a good thing. Now the government wants to fuck that up.

160
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:10:24pm

re: #158 GlutenFreeJesus

Ask Osama.

I was joking around. I know the answer.

161
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:10:32pm

re: #155 Barefoot Grin

Resentful sulking. That our communist could kill the Cuban. // Work with me here.

1. Unless he pulled the trigger/held the pillow himself, they’d say it was the CIA/Military who did it and he gets no credit at all.

2. If he DID do it himself,
A. Castro was already dead, and it was all prearranged as a ploy to increase his popularity so he can take over as Dictator on 20Jan17.

or

B. It shows you what an dangerously angry black man he is, to murder a new potential ally on the eve of a breakthrough in relations.

or

C. They were lovers and Castro threatened to tell the world, so Obama killed him.

162
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:10:43pm

There was a discussion in the late 1980’s in Germany when the Interior Minister demanded that companies adopt a “Kanther Skeleton Key”, namely that anyone using encoded transcription should deposit a decryption key with the government so that it could be used in the event that they found a need to listen in.

Fortunately, the idea never caught on.

163
HappyWarrior  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:11:17pm

re: #161 Blind Frog Belly White

1. Unless he pulled the trigger/held the pillow himself, they’d say it was the CIA/Military who did it and he gets no credit at all.

2. If he DID do it himself,
A. Castro was already dead, and it was all prearranged as a ploy to increase his popularity so he can take over as Dictator on 20Jan17.

or

B. It shows you what an dangerously angry black man he is, to murder a new potential ally on the eve of a breakthrough in relations.

or

C. They were lovers and Castro threatened to tell the world, so Obama killed him.

C is the CCJ answer since he’s obsessed with everyone he hates being secretly gay.

164
Lidane  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:11:17pm

That’s just dust in my eyes:

165
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:11:45pm

Found in the backseat of mr. klys’s car: my harp tuning key.

Never mind that the big harp has never been in his car.

166
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:14:18pm

One of the two reasons I’ve never bought a smart phone is that I’ve always been aware of the monitoring potential they create.

The other reason is that I’m cheap.

167
Tigger2  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:14:21pm
168
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:15:05pm

re: #159 goddamnedfrank

It also ignores the trove of other information that such a platform makes available to the government. If Apple’s devices are so good that they become the preferred smart phone of suspect classes then those classes will also be transmitting their movements and locations in real time. They will still be using government monitored networks, will still be subject to traditional hacking tools, honeypots, compromised malware apps that turn the device into surveillance devices, etc.

As such there are palpable benefits to the government in allowing Apple to maintain its sense of integrity. These cast such a wide and useful net for investigative purposes as to quite plausibly outweigh any transitory benefit that publicly compromising the device may bring.

We’ve basically convinced most of the world that carrying around an always on, all-in-one monitoring device is a good thing. Now the government wants to fuck that up.

So, to fulfill the need to get EVERYTHING, the Government risks getting NOTHING.

169
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:19:59pm

re: #166 goddamnedfrank

One of the two reasons I’ve never bought a smart phone is that I’ve always been aware of the monitoring potential they create.

The other reason is that I’m cheap.

Don’t worry, gdf. The Machine will only use your secrets for good! You’re safe, unless somebody turns on Samaritan.
///

170
Stanley Sea  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:20:54pm

re: #131 Feline Fearless Leader

Took this photo today while cursing at my auto-focus and at the same time being too stubborn to turn it off.

[Embedded content]

In retrospect I actually think it’s more interesting this way. Easy to get photos of squirrels, but never thought to use them as fuzzy background for plant pictures.

I see a Yeti.

171
Decatur Deb  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:24:15pm

Anyone who relies on a corporation to protect his communications privacy deserves everything his wife’s lawyer is going to do to him.

(Quick driveby—I’m traveling with a sacrificial Windows machine, on borrowed wifi.)

172
Rocky-in-Connecticut  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:24:58pm

Because Racist, Women-hating, gay-bashing bigots make for great Ambassadors.

Shut the fuck up, Ted.

173
FormerDirtDart  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:25:07pm

re: #167 Tigger2

A kid was shot in while in her own home. #FL allows home gun ranges just about anywhere.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but, within the last couple years (the Rick “Skeletor” Scott Era) didn’t the state pass legislation that prevents local jurisdictions from enacting firearms regulations?

174
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:26:13pm
175
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:28:06pm

re: #174 goddamnedfrank

[Embedded content]

Spaceballs 12345

176
Tigger2  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:28:45pm

re: #173 FormerDirtDart

Please correct me if I am wrong, but, within the last couple years (the Rick “Skeletor” Scott Era) didn’t the state pass legislation that prevents local jurisdictions from enacting firearms regulations?

Don’t remember.

177
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:29:16pm

I saw this on my FB feed:

Sounds great, except for a couple things:

First, having grown up around fruit trees, and having several in the yard, I can tell you that the homeless will have to fight the squirrels and birds for the fruit.

Second, much fruit will be rotting on the sidewalk.

Third, a bunch of homeless people without a lot of accessible toilets, eating a lot of free fruit will lead to even worse messes on the sidewalks.

178
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:30:18pm
179
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:32:24pm

re: #156 klys (maker of Silmarils)

This is the point that I wrestle with back and forth and I don’t know where I find the answer yet. It’s why I’m extremely glad I’m not a judge trying to decide this.

I do know that absolute principles one way or another make me kind of itchy.

I’m also undecided on this, and suspect my eventual opinion will depend strongly on details of the case that I don’t yet know.

I see it as a refreshing change of pace to have an issue on which reasonable people can differ. So very unlike (D) vs. (R) politics in the US.

180
FormerDirtDart  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:35:05pm

re: #177 Blind Frog Belly White

I saw this on my FB feed:

[Embedded content]

Sounds great, except for a couple things:

First, having grown up around fruit trees, and having several in the yard, I can tell you that the homeless will have to fight the squirrels and birds for the fruit.

Second, much fruit will be rotting on the sidewalk.

Third, a bunch of homeless people without a lot of accessible toilets, eating a lot of free fruit will lead to even worse messes on the sidewalks.

Not to mention the liability problems of round fruit falling on sidewalks so pedestrians can step on them and break their necks

181
FormerDirtDart  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:36:07pm

re: #164 Lidane

That’s just dust in my eyes:

[Embedded content]

the “Official” version:

182
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:36:21pm

re: #177 Blind Frog Belly White

I saw this on my FB feed:

Embedded Image

Sounds great, except for a couple things:

First, having grown up around fruit trees, and having several in the yard, I can tell you that the homeless will have to fight the squirrels and birds for the fruit.

Second, much fruit will be rotting on the sidewalk.

Third, a bunch of homeless people without a lot of accessible toilets, eating a lot of free fruit will lead to even worse messes on the sidewalks.

We don’t need fruit trees, we throw away more than enough food - and that year round - to feed the needy, we just have to develop means to get it to those people. Instead we prosecute people for distributing food contributions.

183
allegro  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:39:29pm

re: #177 Blind Frog Belly White

I saw this on my FB feed:

Embedded Image

Sounds great, except for a couple things:

First, having grown up around fruit trees, and having several in the yard, I can tell you that the homeless will have to fight the squirrels and birds for the fruit.

Second, much fruit will be rotting on the sidewalk.

Third, a bunch of homeless people without a lot of accessible toilets, eating a lot of free fruit will lead to even worse messes on the sidewalks.

Forth it’s really an asshole, self centered “make me feel good” when nothing has been accomplished to address a real, complex problem. It’s like “quit bothering me asking for change. Go pick a fucking apple and disappear.”

184
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:41:49pm

re: #183 allegro

Forth it’s really an asshole, self centered “make me feel good” when nothing has been accomplished to address a real, complex problem. It’s like “quit bothering me asking for change. Go pick a fucking apple and disappear.”

“My taxes paid to plant all those trees for you! Go bother somebody else!”

185
FormerDirtDart  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:42:43pm

White Privilege

186
allegro  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:43:38pm

re: #184 Targetpractice

“My taxes paid to plant all those trees for you! Go bother somebody else!”

That.

187
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:44:31pm

re: #182 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

We don’t need fruit trees, we throw away more than enough food - and that year-round - to feed the needy, we just have to develop means to get to those people. Instead we prosecute people for distributing food contributions.

Well, to be fair, there does need to be at least SOME control. Not prohibiting people feeding the homeless, but preventing poisoning them.

My late brother-in-law worked with ‘Food Not Bombs’, who would cook food at home and give it to the homeless. At least some of their supplies were obtained by dumpster diving. Plus, in the restaurant business there are a lot of inspections and procedures put in place to protect people from contaminated food.

People who cook a big pot of soup and ladel it out on the street? Not so much. And some forms of food poisoning can be deadly, especially for somebody in ill health.

188
ObserverArt  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:44:58pm

So…a downdinger for the comment I made in #110.

Someone is taking a sarcastic comment too serious. Hey Huge Seagull, why not tell me why you take it so? Or is a drive by hit all you are capable of.

I was playing off of Belafon’s pedophile comment. You don’t think the church protected them? You might try looking at the record.

And I was intending a double meaning. There is a certain religion to Apple too.

Laugh a bit, or not!

189
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:46:32pm

re: #187 Blind Frog Belly White

Well, to be fair, there does need to be at least SOME control. Not prohibiting people feeding the homeless, but preventing poisoning them.

My late brother-in-law worked with ‘Food Not Bombs’, who would cook food at home and give it to the homeless. At least some of their supplies were obtained by dumpster diving. Plus, in the restaurant business there are a lot of inspections and procedures put in place to protect people from contaminated food.

People who cook a big pot of soup and ladel it out on the street? Not so much. And some forms of food poisoning can be deadly, especially for somebody in ill health.

Yes, some control is reasonable, but the point of a lot of such regulation and legislation is to make it impossible or unfeasible to feed the needy and homeless.

190
sagehen  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:52:14pm

re: #177 Blind Frog Belly White

I saw this on my FB feed:

Embedded Image

Sounds great, except for a couple things:

First, having grown up around fruit trees, and having several in the yard, I can tell you that the homeless will have to fight the squirrels and birds for the fruit.

Second, much fruit will be rotting on the sidewalk.

Third, a bunch of homeless people without a lot of accessible toilets, eating a lot of free fruit will lead to even worse messes on the sidewalks.

Fruit trees require a lot of tending. They’re not like the shade trees that you just plant and leave alone.

191
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:52:21pm

re: #189 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

Yes, some control is reasonable, but the point of a lot of such regulation and legislation is to make it impossible or unfeasible to feed the needy and homeless.

The other question is, if you’re not going to do ENOUGH, what less than that can you do that doesn’t make things worse?

Back when we lived in SF, Mayor Agnos let it be known that he’d told the SFPD not to hassle anyone in Civic Center Plaza for homelssness, begging, vagrancy, camping in public, etc. Pretty soon, Civic Center Plaza became a homeless encampment, full of tents, shopping carts, drugs, public urination and defecation, etc. It came to be known as ‘Camp Agnos’.

Though his original announcement was widely applauded by liberal San Franciscans, it’s a big reason why he only served one term, and was replaced by the former Police Chief.

192
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:53:39pm

Someone on Twitter is telling me that Apple should create the cracking tool “to be used only for criminal cases,” because our government’s and China’s hackers probably already created it but instead of keeping it secret the FBI wants its existence to be public but wants Apple to be the official author for narrative reasons that make no goddamned sense whatsoever.

193
Barefoot Grin  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:55:26pm

re: #161 Blind Frog Belly White

1. Unless he pulled the trigger/held the pillow himself, they’d say it was the CIA/Military who did it and he gets no credit at all.

2. If he DID do it himself,
A. Castro was already dead, and it was all prearranged as a ploy to increase his popularity so he can take over as Dictator on 20Jan17.

or

B. It shows you what an dangerously angry black man he is, to murder a new potential ally on the eve of a breakthrough in relations.

or

C. They were lovers and Castro threatened to tell the world, so Obama killed him.

LOL!

194
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:55:40pm

re: #191 Blind Frog Belly White

The other question is, if you’re not going to do ENOUGH, what less than that can you do that doesn’t make things worse?

Patchwork solutions often make things worse, but are seen as easier than approaching the structural problems of homelessness that have beset places such as the SF Bay area.

Ran across an article on that earlier this week:

San Francisco tech bro freaks out on city’s homeless: “Wealthy working people have earned their right to live in the city”

195
sagehen  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:56:19pm

re: #192 goddamnedfrank

Someone on Twitter is telling me that Apple should create the cracking tool “to be used only for criminal cases,” because our government’s and China’s hackers probably already created it but instead of keeping it secret the FBI wants its existence to be public but wants Apple to be the official author for narrative reasons that make no goddamned sense whatsoever.

If the government wants an Apple-cracking tool, they can hire their own goddamn programmers and make it themselves.

Demanding that Apple make it is like demanding they make gay wedding cakes, but we’re also not going to pay for the cake, and we’d also like an entree because why give dessert to people who haven’t had dinner yet and we don’t care that you’re not a BBQ that’s what we want and we’re also not paying for that either.

196
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:58:28pm

re: #192 goddamnedfrank

Someone on Twitter is telling me that Apple should create the cracking tool “to be used only for criminal cases,” because our government’s and China’s hackers probably already created it but instead of keeping it secret the FBI wants its existence to be public but wants Apple to be the official author for narrative reasons that make no goddamned sense whatsoever.

Could this be an (incoherent) attempt to argue that if the CIA et al. can hack the iPhone, the information they get wouldn’t be admissible in court, while if an iPhone is hacked by Apple under a court order, the evidence would be usable in court?

197
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 2:58:38pm

re: #180 FormerDirtDart

Not to mention the liability problems of round fruit falling on sidewalks so pedestrians can step on them and break their necks

We worried for years about potential liability from people slipping on the seed pods from those damned Liquidambar trees. The ‘spiky balls’ are like 1” diamter ball bearings, and between the two trees we’d get two trash cans full every year.

198
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:00:55pm

re: #194 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

Patchwork solutions often make things worse, but are seen as easier than approaching the structural problems of homelessness that have beset places such as the SF Bay area.

Ran across an article on that earlier this week:

San Francisco tech bro freaks out on city’s homeless: “Wealthy working people have earned their right to live in the city”

One of the ‘structural problems’ we have is nice weather. Homeless people come here - and who can blame them? - because they won’t freeze to death. But the housing situation is worse than anywhere else in the country.

199
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:02:01pm
200
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:03:49pm

re: #178 goddamnedfrank

Except Snowden didn’t succeed because he was some great genius. He succeeded because people gave him their passwords.

201
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:04:11pm

re: #196 EPR-radar

Could this be an (incoherent) attempt to argue that if the CIA et al. can hack the iPhone, the information they get wouldn’t be admissible in court, while if an iPhone is hacked by Apple under a court order, the evidence would be usable in court?

Except if the government did crack the device on their own there’s no reason that the results wouldn’t be admissible. They have a valid search warrant for the phone and its contents. What they don’t have, as far as I’m aware, is precedent forcing a private entity to invent tools to that end.

202
PhillyPretzel  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:04:35pm

re: #199 goddamnedfrank

Let’s hope Apple wins its case.

203
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:05:26pm

re: #199 goddamnedfrank

Maybe they can claim religious grounds as well.

204
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:06:52pm

re: #200 Belafon

Except Snowden didn’t succeed because he was some great genius. He succeeded because people gave him their passwords.

Uh huh. And we’re supposed to believe that the government will keep this cracking tool secure because why exactly? We’re supposed to believe that having been forced to create it by our government that other more oppressive governments won’t leverage Apple the same way because why exactly?

205
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:07:32pm

re: #195 sagehen

re: #199 goddamnedfrank

That’s another point that bothers me - that the Gov’t is demanding that they produce something that doesn’t exist, which will take time and effort to produce, that will negatively impact Apple’s brand and market share, and potentially severely impact its many customers.

“We publicly order you to create at your own expense a device to crack the safe you sell as uncrackable, compromising the central marketing feature of your premier product.”

206
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:07:52pm
207
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:08:00pm

re: #201 goddamnedfrank

Except if the government did crack the device on their own there’s no reason that the results wouldn’t be admissible. They have a valid search warrant for the phone and its contents. What they don’t have, as far as I’m aware, is precedent forcing a private entity to invent tools to that end.

The owner is dead. Do they NEED a search warrant?

208
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:09:40pm

I’d feel a lot more respect for supporters of the government’s position here if they didn’t deploy such glib, dismissive and poorly thought through arguments. At the very least I expect some indication that this situation isn’t a simplistic monochromatic struggle between the forces of good and evil.

209
Ubiq  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:10:24pm

Charles Koch notes a couple of areas that he agrees with Bernie Sanders, and while still stressing he opposes much of what Sanders stands for and won’t vote for him, subtly disses the GOP field.

“I don’t expect to agree with every position a candidate holds, but all Americans deserve a president who, on balance, can demonstrate a commitment to a set of ideas and values that will lead to peace, civility and well-being rather than conflict, contempt and division. When such a candidate emerges, he or she will have my enthusiastic support.”

210
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:12:01pm

re: #207 Blind Frog Belly White

The owner is dead. Do they NEED a search warrant?

Yes, because the phone belonged to his employer.

212
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:13:30pm

re: #206 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

Scalia violated the 124 year-old tradition of Justices refraining from dying in office during an election year.

213
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:14:46pm
214
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:14:53pm

re: #210 goddamnedfrank

Yes, because the phone belonged to his employer.

Unless the employer consents, yes?

215
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:15:38pm

re: #208 goddamnedfrank

I’d feel a lot more respect for supporters of the government’s position here if they didn’t deploy such glib, dismissive and poorly thought through arguments. At the very least I expect some indication that this situation isn’t a simplistic monochromatic struggle between the forces of good and evil.

I’m totally opposed to forcing Apple to break the lock on iPhones. If they devised a way around their security, it wouldn’t be limited to one device, it would basically be throwing the gates wide open on everything. I see this as a stealth attempt by the FBI to establish a precedent that would eventually end up in the kind of backdoor system they’ve been pushing hard to get, into all manufacturers’ devices.

Ultimately, letting the government have that kind of access makes all of us less secure, not more secure. The government is infamously terrible at security itself, and I don’t believe they should be trusted with that kind of power.

216
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:18:14pm

re: #214 Blind Frog Belly White

Unless the employer consents, yes?

Yes, but the warrant probably served its purpose in establishing on paper an iron clad evidentiary chain of custody.

217
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:18:48pm

re: #216 goddamnedfrank

Yes, but the warrant probably served its purpose in establishing on paper an iron clad evidentiary chain of custody.

Gotcha. Makes sense.

218
Eventual Carrion  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:20:47pm

re: #20 lawhawk

Outrageous outrage alert:

[Embedded content]

The President’s war on law enforcement. Which simply doesn’t exist except in the febrile minds of right wingers.

Demanding accountability when law enforcement engages in unjustified use of force isn’t a war on law enforcement. Demanding improved training and tactics isn’t a war on law enforcement. Calling on good cops to help clear out the bad ones isn’t a war on law enforcement.

Even if you ignore all that, the number of officers killed in the line of duty (by firearms, stabbings, etc., other than motor vehicle accidents, heart attacks, etc.,) is down under Obama’s presidency.

It’s such a war…

But we must drug test welfare recipients, to make sure they are on the up and up.

219
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:21:06pm

re: #215 Charles Johnson

I’m totally opposed to forcing Apple to break the lock on iPhones. If they devised a way around their security, it wouldn’t be limited to one device, it would basically be throwing the gates wide open on everything. I see this as a stealth attempt by the FBI to establish a precedent that would eventually end up in the kind of backdoor system they’ve been pushing hard to get, into all manufacturers’ devices.

Ultimately, letting the government have that kind of access makes all of us less secure, not more secure. The government is infamously terrible at security itself, and I don’t believe they should be trusted with that kind of power.

Nah, that’s way too well thought out, pretty sure you and I are just Apple fanboys.

220
Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:23:54pm

re: #198 Blind Frog Belly White

One of the ‘structural problems’ we have is nice weather. Homeless people come here - and who can blame them? - because they won’t freeze to death. But the housing situation is worse than anywhere else in the country.

It does not take too much to provide people with basic shelter, especially if the mild climate does not require too much in the way of substantial housing.

It is mostly a matter of not wanting such people around to disrupt polite society.

221
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:24:11pm

re: #20 lawhawk

Outrageous outrage alert:

[Embedded content]

The President’s war on law enforcement. Which simply doesn’t exist except in the febrile minds of right wingers.

Demanding accountability when law enforcement engages in unjustified use of force isn’t a war on law enforcement. Demanding improved training and tactics isn’t a war on law enforcement. Calling on good cops to help clear out the bad ones isn’t a war on law enforcement.

Even if you ignore all that, the number of officers killed in the line of duty (by firearms, stabbings, etc., other than motor vehicle accidents, heart attacks, etc.,) is down under Obama’s presidency.

It’s such a war…

NOBAMA CAN’T EVEN FIGHT HIS WAR ON POLICE RIGHT!!!!

If Trump fought that war, cops would be so dead it would make your head spin!
//

222
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:27:44pm

re: #220 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

It does not take too much to provide people with basic shelter, especially if the mild climate does not require too much in the way of substantial housing.

It is mostly a matter of not wanting such people around to disrupt polite society.

You end up with a gap, though, like the gap that the Medicaid Expansion is designed to address. A fair number of our homeless actually have jobs, and income, but not enough to pay rent and eat. Provide shelter for the homeless and unemployed, and you end up with those people being left out.

Again, the problem with measures short of enough. Not that they shouldn’t be taken, of course, but as we’ve agreed, they need to be well thought out.

223
Eventual Carrion  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:34:41pm

re: #203 Belafon

Maybe they can claim religious grounds as well.

Or they could just waterboard the phone.

224
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:36:00pm

re: #223 Eventual Carrion

Or they could just waterboard the phone.

They could hire John Cameron Swayze to do it.

225
Feline Fearless Leader  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:39:22pm

re: #170 Stanley Sea

I see a Yeti.

Ooh. I should tweet the photo along with the text “Squatch sighting behind the Philadelphia Art Museum!” then?

226
Eventual Carrion  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:39:29pm

re: #224 Blind Frog Belly White

They could hire John Cameron Swayze to do it.

It takes a lickin’ and … oh shit.

227
Feline Fearless Leader  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:41:30pm

re: #180 FormerDirtDart

Not to mention the liability problems of round fruit falling on sidewalks so pedestrians can step on them and break their necks

Give these people with the wonderful idea lots of female gingko trees to plant in their yard.
(Nice looking, hardy tree. Inedible fruit that really stink horribly however.)

228
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:42:45pm
229
Romantic Heretic  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:43:14pm

re: #16 freetoken

“I’ll do more for the African American people in one year than Barack Obama has ever done” - Donald Trump.

Yup, that’s what he said today.

I notice Trump didn’t specify more what. Just more.

230
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:44:04pm

re: #228 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

Well, that settles that, I’m rooting for Apple.

231
PhillyPretzel  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:44:37pm

re: #230 Targetpractice

Me too.

232
Feline Fearless Leader  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:44:39pm

re: #197 Blind Frog Belly White

We worried for years about potential liability from people slipping on the seed pods from those damned Liquidambar trees. The ‘spiky balls’ are like 1” diamter ball bearings, and between the two trees we’d get two trash cans full every year.

Sweet gum on the attack. Flee!

Took this photo earlier today. :)

233
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:49:08pm

The whole FBI v. Apple issue is one of those where I could see merit to both sides arguments, but also think both sides are total jackasses whose actions are clouding over those merits.

234
wrenchwench  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:52:02pm

Fire season has started early.

The Bernalillo County Fire Department responded to the fire, which was 20 feet by 30 feet as of 4:40 p.m.

OK, maybe not yet.

235
Nojay UK  Feb 19, 2016 • 3:53:01pm

re: #215 Charles Johnson

I’m totally opposed to forcing Apple to break the lock on iPhones.

Apple already have a method of “breaking the lock” on any of their current range of phones. They can push an upgraded operating system to any machine they can access, over the air or by a direct connection (Lightning or maybe USB or, worst case JTAG after cracking the case). The phone doesn’t need to be unlocked for this upgrade to happen.

For good security reasons any such push upgrade is digitally signed and the phone won’t accept an upgrade without a valid signature. That signing process is Apple’s security Crown Jewels and the crypto behind it is very much not for public consumption. It’s the same with things like Microsoft’s OS patches, third-party device drivers etc. for similar security reasons.

The FBI are asking Apple to produce a modified version of the phone OS that does not have the “10 bad entries and wipe” feature for the PIN entry system to unlock the phone in question and then use their push upgrade capability to upload it to that phone so that it will not wipe itself when they brute-force the PIN to unlock it. That OS image would be trivial for them to create for this purpose, I believe.

If they agree to do it then it’s likely the FBI or other law enforcement agencies would require/demand they do it in future cases too and I think that’s part of the reason they’re rearing back on this first demand/request.

Saying all that there are other ways to break this kind of security but they’re a lot more difficult and would take a lot of money and time to do and they might not work perfectly. The modified software update method is fast, cheap and very likely to work, and it can be tested thoroughly before the evidential phone is exposed to the process and possibly invalidated as evidence if it is accidentally corrupted by the upgrade.

236
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:00:09pm

Good evening lizards

237
Romantic Heretic  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:03:23pm

re: #150 Blind Frog Belly White

do we really believe the Good Guys must always have a back door?

In my case, no. That much power will be abused and it will take about three days before the keys to the back door are either stolen or sold by someone with a shockingly low price.

238
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:04:05pm

So, this means Carson and Cruz…came out of the closet?

//

239
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:09:11pm

re: #238 Targetpractice

[Embedded content]

So, this means Carson and Cruz…came out of the closet?

//

Can’t wait to hear what the pope has to say about that!

240
darthstar  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:11:14pm
241
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:12:06pm

re: #235 Nojay UK

Apple already have a method of “breaking the lock” on any of their current range of phones. They can push an upgraded operating system to any machine they can access, over the air or by a direct connection (Lightning or maybe USB or, worst case JTAG after cracking the case). The phone doesn’t need to be unlocked for this upgrade to happen.

For good security reasons any such push upgrade is digitally signed and the phone won’t accept an upgrade without a valid signature. That signing process is Apple’s security Crown Jewels and the crypto behind it is very much not for public consumption. It’s the same with things like Microsoft’s OS patches, third-party device drivers etc. for similar security reasons.

The FBI are asking Apple to produce a modified version of the phone OS that does not have the “10 bad entries and wipe” feature for the PIN entry system to unlock the phone in question and then use their push upgrade capability to upload it to that phone so that it will not wipe itself when they brute-force the PIN to unlock it. That OS image would be trivial for them to create for this purpose, I believe.

If they agree to do it then it’s likely the FBI or other law enforcement agencies would require/demand they do it in future cases too and I think that’s part of the reason they’re rearing back on this first demand/request.

Saying all that there are other ways to break this kind of security but they’re a lot more difficult and would take a lot of money and time to do and they might not work perfectly. The modified software update method is fast, cheap and very likely to work, and it can be tested thoroughly before the evidential phone is exposed to the process and possibly invalidated as evidence if it is accidentally corrupted by the upgrade.

And, in order for the FBI to have it done again, they would have to go to a judge and get an order, the same thing they have to do to search a house.

Heck, according to your description, they’re not even asking to break any encryption.

242
darthstar  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:14:37pm

She brought this on herself.

243
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:17:43pm

re: #235 Nojay UK

Yes, and the government also wants Apple to disable the delay that starts happening after several incorrect password guesses.

Trivial or not, I’m totally opposed to forcing Apple to build the special iOS version that would remove the password guessing limitations, because it would set a very dangerous precedent. And I believe the government knows that; they’re not just trying to get whatever info may be on this 5C, they’re also trying to set this precedent so the All Writs Act can be applied to any device, no matter what type of security the manufacturer has built into it.

244
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:17:58pm

re: #242 darthstar

She brought this on herself.

[Embedded content]

Sanders playing the cherry-picking game. The sentence in context:

CLINTON: Well, let me say this. I’m happy to release anything I have when everybody else does the same, because every other candidate in this race has given speeches to private groups, including Senator Sanders.

245
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:19:17pm

re: #238 Targetpractice

[Embedded content]

So, this means Carson and Cruz…came out of the closet?//

Aside from that, worst pre-school Jeopardy championship ever.

246
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:20:00pm

re: #241 Belafon

And, in order for the FBI to have it done again, they would have to go to a judge and get an order, the same thing they have to do to search a house.

Heck, according to your description, they’re not even asking to break any encryption.

They’re not asking Apple to break encryption, true — the FBI is trying to get Apple to make it very easy for the device to be unlocked. I think it’s a terrible idea to force Apple to do this, and would set a very bad precedent that the government has already indicated they’re eager to set.

247
Pawn of the Oppressor  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:25:05pm

PeterB over at Ars has an explanation of what the FBI is asking for. It might help the technical laymen around (like myself).

That phone is going to be opened one way or the other. The precedent issues surrounding the forcing of a company to pick its own lock at government request will have to be argued with later cases. I don’t see this going Apple’s way at all.

I’m glad I’m not in Apple’s legal department this week. Come to think of it, they probably have some of the best lawyers around… But there is no victory against the government. :P

248
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:26:57pm

Knowing the FBI and Apple, that phone has probably been lost.

249
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:28:43pm

re: #247 Pawn of the Oppressor

PeterB over at Ars has an explanation of what the FBI is asking for.

That phone is going to be opened one way or the other. The precedent issues surrounding the forcing of a company to pick its own lock at government request will have to be argued with later cases. I don’t see this going Apple’s way at all.

I’m glad I’m not in Apple’s legal department this week. Come to think of it, they probably have some of the best lawyers around… But there is no victory against the government. :P

That’s the same article I found over at Ars when I decided to look into this. Thanks for the link.

250
Eric The Fruit Bat  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:28:51pm

re: #246 Charles Johnson

Quite frankly, I’m surprised that the NSA hasn’t already slurped the data out of the phone and use one of their supercomputers to emulate a 5c, write their own patches to bypass the lockouts the FBI is demanding and get the data they are seeking.

I think the reason why they are demanding Apple to do this is to validate that the NSA’s method of being able to bust into a locked-down phone to extract the data works.

251
Archangelus  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:30:13pm

Between the FBI, which specializes in concealing stuff for ages, and Apple, whose products everyone I know seem to lose on a regular basis, there’s a good chance that phone isn’t even on the planet anymore…

252
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:31:48pm

re: #250 Eric The Fruit Bat

Quite frankly, I’m surprised that the NSA hasn’t already been able to slurp the data out of the phone and use one of their supercomputers to emulate a 5c, write their own patches to bypass the lockouts the FBI is demanding and get the data they are seeking.

I think the reason why they are demanding Apple to do this is to validate that the NSA’s method of being able to bust into a locked-down phone to extract the data works.

Why would they need to validate something if they can read the information on the phone?

253
Archangelus  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:32:04pm

re: #250 Eric The Fruit Bat

I wouldn’t be surprised if the NSA already has the data from it, and simply needs this to make it look like they acquired it courtesy of Apple’s cooperation…

254
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:32:34pm

re: #251 Domo Arigato Marco Roboto

Between the FBI, which specializes in concealing stuff for ages, and Apple, whose products everyone I know seem to lose on a regular basis, there’s a good chance that phone isn’t even on the planet anymore…

Accidentally left in a Seattle bar and hacked in 15 minutes by a 13 year old?

255
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:32:37pm

By the way, the latest versions of iOS allow a user to create an arbitrary-length password, not just a four-letter PIN. If the iPhone 5C in question is protected with that kind of password, and the password is reasonably strong, the government will probably be unable to unlock it in any case.

256
Pawn of the Oppressor  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:33:39pm

re: #249 EPR-radar

That’s the same article I found over at Ars when I decided to look into this. Thanks for the link.

Full disclosure, I know Peter and his wife (in fact, my cat came from his wife’s neighborhood, kitty showed up at her neighbor’s house years ago and when she posted about him on Ars, my then-girlfriend and I said we’d take him). Peter loves contrarian arguments like we all love breathable air, so he’s the perfect guy to write up the “anti” position on this issue, but he’s also sharp and a super-nice guy in person.

Even if I could confirm or deny that I have pictures of him shit-faced and shirtless at a party, I wouldn’t use them for blackmail. So, I endorse his writing. ;)

257
Eric The Fruit Bat  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:34:30pm

re: #252 Belafon

Why would they need to validate something if they can read the information on the phone?

Plaintext is easy-encryption (which is a NSA core competency) is quite a different kettle of fish.

258
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:35:03pm

re: #255 Charles Johnson

By the way, the latest versions of iOS allow a user to create an arbitrary-length password, not just a four-letter PIN. If the iPhone 5C in question is protected with that kind of password, and the password is reasonably strong, the government will probably be unable to unlock it in any case.

I suggest trying 1/1/1895: J. Edgar Hoover’s birthday.

259
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:35:43pm

re: #255 Charles Johnson

By the way, the latest versions of iOS allow a user to create an arbitrary-length password, not just a four-letter PIN. If the iPhone 5C in question is protected with that kind of password, and the password is reasonably strong, the government will probably be unable to unlock it in any case.

I will bet you 80+% of the owners that upgraded their phones kept the same pin.

260
b_sharp  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:36:12pm

re: #257 Eric The Fruit Bat

Plaintext is easy-encryption (which is a NSA core competency) is quite a different kettle of fish.

Just give phone to the CSI Cyber people. They’ll have it all decrypted in an hour.

261
Eric The Fruit Bat  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:37:01pm

re: #253 Domo Arigato Marco Roboto

I wouldn’t be surprised that there is some internecine sniping between the Puzzle Place and the FBI intelligence arm. After all, how many different intelligence arms does the US Government have? 30+?

262
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:38:03pm

re: #259 Belafon

I will bet you 80+% of the owners that upgraded their phones kept the same pin.

However, I think it’s quite possible the San Bernardino terrorists might have used the more secure password feature, if they had something on the phone they wanted to keep secret.

263
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:39:09pm

re: #255 Charles Johnson

By the way, the latest versions of iOS allow a user to create an arbitrary-length password, not just a four-letter PIN. If the iPhone 5C in question is protected with that kind of password, and the password is reasonably strong, the government will probably be unable to unlock it in any case.

Can’t the FBI hire some Russian or Chinese kid to hack it for us?

264
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:39:31pm

re: #261 Eric The Fruit Bat

I wouldn’t be surprised that there is some internecine sniping between the Puzzle Place and the FBI intelligence arm. After all, how many different intelligence arms does the US Government have? 30+?

Not counting something like 3,000,000 contractors.

265
Eric The Fruit Bat  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:40:22pm

re: #255 Charles Johnson

Is the Apple passphrase a numeric PIN or can it be alpha (a la Android)? Everything I’ve seen from Apple and windows Phone/Mobile shows it to be numeric unless it’s been corporate provisioned otherwise.

266
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:41:16pm

re: #263 b.d.

Can’t the FBI hire some Russian or Chinese kid to hack it for us?

Give it to Felicity. She’ll have it open before the next commercial.
//

267
Archangelus  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:41:30pm

Well well well, my Sunday just got more interesting:
Democrats Abroad is organizing a global town hall video conference event with representatives from the Hillary and Sanders camps, and invited the contenders themselves to participate . Madlen Albright will be there on behalf of Clinton, and as I just learned, on behalf of Sanders camp it’ll be… Sanders himself, who accepted the invitation.

Now to just decide what question I wanna ask and submit with hopes it’ll get asked… any suggestions?

268
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:42:16pm

The NSA has already hacked the iPhone and they are just making this noise to make us think that we are free to talk

269
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:43:44pm

re: #268 b.d.

The NSA has already hacked the iPhone and they are just making this noise to make us think that we are free to talk

I’ve heard that if you wrap a lot of foil around your phone, though, they have trouble intercepting it.

270
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:44:14pm

re: #265 Eric The Fruit Bat

Is the Apple passphrase a numeric PIN or can it be alpha (a la Android)? Everything I’ve seen from Apple and windows Phone/Mobile shows it to be numeric unless it’s been corporate provisioned otherwise.

You have the option to use a four-digit PIN, an arbitrary-length numeric PIN, or an arbitrary-length alphanumeric password.

271
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:44:25pm

re: #267 Domo Arigato Marco Roboto

Well well well, my Sunday just got more interesting:
Democrats Abroad is organizing a global town hall video conference event with representatives from the Hillary and Sanders camps, and invited the contenders themselves to participate . Madlen Albright will be there on behalf of Clinton, and as I just learned, on behalf of Sanders camp it’ll be… Sanders himself, who accepted the invitation.

Now to just decide what question I wanna ask and submit…

Ask Bernie if there is a special place in hell for people who try and divide this race over gender.

272
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:44:32pm

re: #262 Charles Johnson

However, I think it’s quite possible the San Bernardino terrorists might have used the more secure password feature, if they had something on the phone they wanted to keep secret.

One factoid I came across in my reading on this is that apparently the San Bernardino perps had two other smart phones which they effectively destroyed, along with the hard drive of their computer.

If true, that suggests that the odds of juicy information being on the phone that they didn’t bother to destroy are rather low.

273
Archangelus  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:44:33pm

re: #269 Belafon

I’ve heard that if you wrap a lot of foil around your phone, though, they have trouble intercepting it.

Argh, beaten to the tin foil reply… :)

274
majii  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:44:42pm

re: #238 Targetpractice

Knowing Cruz to be the self-serving b*st*rd that he is, I’m thinking the purpose of the meeting was to try to smooth things over with Carson in the hope that he can siphon some of Carson’s votes in the primary and/or to make some blacks in SC think that he has no problems with Black Americans, which I think know is a big lie. As a Black American, I get very bad vibes from all of the GOP/TP presidential candidates in regard to issues of race. Truth be told, I get bad vibes from them on every issue——foreign policy, the economy, healthcare, etc. Everything. I was talking to some other black ladies at the hair salon earlier today, and they say they’re terrified of all of the GOP/TP candidates, and contrary to Carson’s claim, that he can get many of us to vote for him, they think he’s a buffoon and is out of his league. The more Trump and the other Klown Kar riders say stupid sh*t about us, the more they turn us off to listening to anything they have to say. I’d describe what is happening as being a total shutdown.

275
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:46:05pm

re: #269 Belafon

I’ve heard that if you wrap a lot of foil around your phone, though, they have trouble intercepting it.

276
Archangelus  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:47:04pm

re: #271 b.d.

Ask Bernie if there is a special place in hell for people who try and divide this race over gender.

He’s Jewish and an atheist, the only answer you’d get is that hell doesn’t exist…/

277
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:47:13pm
278
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:47:14pm

re: #274 majii

Knowing Cruz to be the self-serving b*st*rd that he is, I’m thinking the purpose of the meeting was to try to smooth things over with Carson in the hope that he can siphon some of Carson’s votes in the primary and/or to make some blacks in SC think that he has no problems with Black Americans, which I think know is a big lie. As a Black American, I get very bad vibes from all of the GOP/TP presidential candidates in regard to issues of race. Truth be told, I get bad vibes from them on every issue——foreign policy, the economy, healthcare, etc. Everything. I was talking to some other black ladies at the hair salon earlier today, and they say they’re terrified of all of the GOP/TP candidates, and contrary to Carson’s claim, that he can get many of us to vote for him, they think he’s out of his league.

I have no idea what Cruz told Carson but I know for a fact that it was a lie.

Cruz is the kind of guy that makes you want to count your fingers after you shake hands with him.

279
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:47:35pm

Weird how many people ostensibly opposed to Trump would simply hand a hypothetical Trump administration such incredibly abusable authoritarian tools.

280
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:48:58pm

re: #276 Domo Arigato Marco Roboto

He’s Jewish and an atheist, the only answer you’d get is that hell doesn’t exist…

Can one be a Jewish atheist?

The dearth of holidays would make me want to bow out.

281
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:49:10pm

re: #277 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

So, I wonder who told her she’d get her ass primaried if she didn’t backtrack on her initial support of the President’s nominee getting a fair hearing?

282
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:49:45pm
283
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:49:57pm
David Sipress/The New Yorker
284
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:51:04pm

re: #281 Targetpractice

So, I wonder who told her she’d get her ass primaried if she didn’t backtrack on her initial support of the President’s nominee getting a fair hearing?

She already got beat in one GOP primary and won as a write in.

285
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:52:56pm

re: #277 Charles Johnson

I like their 80 year boundary. Sounds an awful lot like their “if you look at the past x years, the planet’s been cooling.”

286
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:55:13pm

Thank you Lisa for wanting Bernie Sanders to appoint the next SCJ, I’m sure you’ll love his choice and defer to the mandate of the American people.

287
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:56:19pm

re: #284 b.d.

She already got beat in one GOP primary and won as a write in.

Yep, I remember that, ran against a real piece-of-work named Joe Miller. Still remember the hilarity of his campaign security guards “arresting” a journalist.

288
Decatur Deb  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:57:09pm

Would someone who’s not knee-deep in 5 yr olds (and who has the stomach for it) check GoatNews for an apparent attack on Dana and Chris Loesch?

289
Pawn of the Oppressor  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:57:25pm

re: #280 b.d.

Can one be a Jewish atheist?

The dearth of holidays would make me want to bow out.

Short answer: Yes, you can. If you were born into the Jewish tradition and are Jewish by matrilineal descent, you are a Jew whether you like it or not. ;)

WITHIN that Jewy-ness (thank you Sarah S) you can absolutely abandon or discard beliefs at will and believe, or practice, whatever you want. I’m not sure what would happen if you converted to something else on your own - I think the Orthodox position would be that you’re still Jewish, just not partaking of the lifestyle.

Now if you were a convert, and then returned to Atheism, that’s different. I’m pretty sure you’d be un-Jewed at that point, lol. Think of it more like nationhood or citizenship rather than a set of practices. There are many ways to be called Jewish, some are more permanent than others.

I got to the point of considering conversion, but then backed away from all religion and now hold an atheist worldview. I lived a casual lay Judaism for five or six years, but I was never “officially” Jewish. If my mother was Jewish, however, I would still be considered a Jew, albeit an atheist one. Hence, the Bern.

290
Archangelus  Feb 19, 2016 • 4:58:07pm

re: #280 b.d.

Can one be a Jewish atheist?

The dearth of holidays would make me want to bow out.

Nothing about being an atheist really stops you from celebrating Jewish holidays… deity-whose-existence-I-don’t-accept knows, I’ve celebrated them all last year. /

Seriously though, most Jewish holidays revolve less around worshiping god and more around the Jewish tribe’s trials and tribulations throughout the eras (Pesach - surviving the Egyptians; Purim - surviving the Iranians; Shavuot - surviving dairy products; Lag Baomer - surviving the Romans/setting stuff on fire, etc.)

Holiday wise, being an atheist means rolling eyes when reading parts of the stories and entering academic arguments with family and friends around the table - and the latter of which is something you pretty much do on account of being Jewish to begin with, so not even that… /

291
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:00:08pm

re: #285 Belafon

I like their 80 year boundary. Sounds an awful lot like their “if you look at the past x years, the planet’s been cooling.”

Speaking of which, it occurs to me that it’s really a shame that the one place on the planet that DIDN’T have an extremely warm January is the one place housing the people with the greatest ability to prevent anything being done about it.

292
Amory Blaine  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:00:58pm

Cyborgs are coming.
Robot allows musicians to become three-armed drummers

293
Pawn of the Oppressor  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:01:12pm

I do miss the holidays and the rituals. I liked the structure and tradition is fun, especially tradition that varies from setting places out for Elijah to fasting and righting your wrongs, from celebrating dairy products to living in a tent for a week. Jewish practice is fun if done right. But, I didn’t feel right without an underlying belief in the reality of a god, so I’ll leave it to the pros.

294
Eric The Fruit Bat  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:01:27pm

re: #288 Decatur Deb

I’m not seeing it.

295
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:01:50pm

re: #292 Amory Blaine

Cyborgs are coming.
[Embedded content]

I want Doc Octopus arms. I’d even put up with the psychosis that comes with them.

296
Sophist, Vogon Poet Laureate  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:02:17pm

re: #200 Belafon

Except Snowden didn’t succeed because he was some great genius. He succeeded because people gave him their passwords.

I don’t see how pointing out that it doesn’t take a genius to leak this sort of thing helps your case.

297
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:02:21pm

re: #292 Amory Blaine

Cyborgs are coming.
[Embedded content]

No need for regimental drummer boys in an army of cyborgs, I suppose.

298
Skip Intro  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:03:08pm

re: #288 Decatur Deb

Would someone who’s not knee-deep in 5 yr olds (and who has the stomach for it) check GoatNews for an apparent attack on Dana and Chris Loesch?

I would but donotlink isn’t working.

299
Billy Batts  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:03:38pm

Well, looks what’s trending: #SarahPalinAQuote

300
Archangelus  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:03:45pm

re: #289 Pawn of the Oppressor

Actually, I’ve known converts who later became atheists (zero belief in a heavenly creator), never heard of an “un-Jewing” process and that’s in Israel…

301
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:05:13pm

re: #300 Domo Arigato Marco Roboto

Actually, I’ve known converts who later became atheists (zero belief in a heavenly creator), never heard of an “un-Jewing” process and that’s in Israel…

It’s stitching the foreskin back on that’s the bitch. It doesn’t fit anymore.
///

302
Decatur Deb  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:07:06pm

re: #294 Eric The Fruit Bat

re: #298 Skip Intro

I would but donotlink isn’t working.

Lurked a confused Freep thread that made it look real.

303
Billy Batts  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:07:31pm

re: #288 Decatur Deb

Would someone who’s not knee-deep in 5 yr olds (and who has the stomach for it) check GoatNews for an apparent attack on Dana and Chris Loesch?

I don’t see anything over there.

304
Skip Intro  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:07:40pm

re: #299 Billy Batts

305
Pawn of the Oppressor  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:08:00pm

re: #300 Domo Arigato Marco Roboto

Really? I might be thinking of non-Orthodox conversion. I understood that there was always a bit of tension here in the U.S. about what the official position was on just about everything. I’ve always wondered how liberal Israel really is.

306
Billy Batts  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:08:04pm

re: #304 Skip Intro

307
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:08:10pm
308
Stanley Sea  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:08:16pm

re: #281 Targetpractice

So, I wonder who told her she’d get her ass primaried if she didn’t backtrack on her initial support of the President’s nominee getting a fair hearing?

She did support it at first, right?

309
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:08:35pm

re: #301 Blind Frog Belly White

It’s stitching the foreskin back on that’s the bitch. It doesn’t fit anymore.
///

I read Arthur C. Clarke’s 3001. In it, they bring a dead guy back to life (the one that HAL ejected into space in 2001), but they can’t regrow the foreskin for him, so he’s kind of a freak.

310
Skip Intro  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:11:01pm

re: #306 Billy Batts

311
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:11:20pm

re: #288 Decatur Deb

Would someone who’s not knee-deep in 5 yr olds (and who has the stomach for it) check GoatNews for an apparent attack on Dana and Chris Loesch?

That’s a year-old article: Chuck C. Johnson Attacks Dana Loesch: All Sane People Win.

312
Cheechako  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:12:39pm

re: #277 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

Lisa has already flip-flopped:

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had broken with fellow Republicans on Wednesday by declaring that the Senate should hold hearings on Obama’s nominee. She, too, seemed to change her tune on Thursday, taking to Twitter to urge Obama to “follow a tradition embraced by both parties” by yielding to the next president.Link

313
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:12:57pm

re: #308 Stanley Sea

She did support it at first, right?

Ayep. Two days ago, it was “the nominee should get a hearing,” and now she suddenly declaring that he should leave the spot open for the next prez to fill.

She’s also up for reelection this year. Fancy that.

314
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:14:02pm

My guess is she got a phone call in the middle of the night, being told if she didn’t fall in line, then she could expect another Joe Miller to sudden “announce” his candidacy by end of next week.

315
Decatur Deb  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:15:30pm

re: #303 Billy Batts

I don’t see anything over there.

Perhaps I misled for snark—it was quoting CCJ’s site, though the freeper seems to be quoting a last-year article

316
Decatur Deb  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:16:47pm

re: #311 Charles Johnson

That’s a year-old article: Chuck C. Johnson Attacks Dana Loesch: All Sane People Win.

Yes—rechecked. Back to adventures in babysitting.

317
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:17:00pm
Steve Benson/Arizona Republic
318
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:19:57pm

Just discovered the movie “Super” on Netflix. Wow, what a completely berserk film. I loved it.

Super - Official Trailer [HD]

319
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:21:29pm

re: #314 Targetpractice

My guess is she got a phone call in the middle of the night, being told if she didn’t fall in line, then she could expect another Joe Miller to sudden “announce” his candidacy by end of next week.

The Republican equivalent of a horse’s head in the bed.

320
Charles Johnson  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:22:07pm
321
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:22:32pm

The Apple vs. FBI case takes an interesting turn.

The Apple ID passcode for the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone was changed less than 24 hours after authorities took possession of the device, a senior Apple executive said today.

And Apple could have recovered information from the phone had the Apple ID passcode not been changed, Apple said. If the phone was taken to a location where it recognized the Wi-Fi network, such as the San Bernardino shooters’ home, it could have been backed up to the cloud, Apple suggested.

The Justice Department acknowledged in its court filing that the passcode of Syed Farook’s iCloud account had been reset. The filing states, “the owner [San Bernardino County Department of Public Health], in an attempt to gain access to some information in the hours after the attack, was able to reset the password remotely, but that had the effect of eliminating the possibility of an auto-backup.”

The auto reset was executed by a county information technology employee, according to a federal official. Federal investigators only found out about the reset after it had occurred and that the county employee acted on his own, not on the orders of federal authorities, the source said.

Apple executives say the phone was in the possession of the government when that passcode was reset. A federal official familiar with the investigation confirmed that federal investigators were indeed in possession of the phone when the reset occurred.

Basically a local government employee caused this entire mess by remotely executing a password reset AFTER the device was in federal custody.

322
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:23:59pm

re: #319 EPR-radar

The Republican equivalent of a horse’s head in the bed.

Mitch made her an offer she just couldn’t refuse.

323
Not a Sparkly Vampire  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:24:30pm

re: #321 goddamnedfrank

The Apple vs. FBI case takes an interesting turn.

Basically a local government employee caused this entire mess by remotely executing a password reset AFTER the device was in federal custody.

The Naked Gun Facepalm

324
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:24:32pm

re: #318 Charles Johnson

Just discovered the movie “Super” on Netflix. Wow, what a completely berserk film. I loved it.

I’m not as big a fan as my pals who turned me on to it a couple of years ago are, but it is wicked good. And Ellen Page is sensational. I’ll take your recommendation and check it out again forthwith.

325
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:25:14pm

re: #321 goddamnedfrank

The Apple vs. FBI case takes an interesting turn.

Basically a local government employee caused this entire mess by remotely executing a password reset AFTER the device was in federal custody.

I wonder if this new wrinkle means there may be info on that device that his employer does not want to be seen?

326
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:26:53pm

re: #320 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

Bernie is starting to look like Forrest Gump showing up in all of these historical photos

327
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:27:29pm

re: #325 Targetpractice

I wonder if this new wrinkle means there may be info on that device that his employer does not want to be seen?

Hanlon’s Razor: Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.

328
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:29:05pm

re: #327 goddamnedfrank

Hanlon’s Razor: Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.

The employee was probably trying to be “helpful”. But I missed a detail: Was this a company phone?

329
Targetpractice  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:29:08pm

re: #327 goddamnedfrank

Hanlon’s Razor: Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.

True, it could have just been an employee doing something stupid. But the timing lends itself readily to speculation.

330
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:29:10pm

re: #317 De Kolta Chair

[Embedded content]

I swear. At this point I’d imagine Trump is saying “I proved my point and now I’m ready to go back to my old gig, what can I say that gets me out off this deal?”

331
Not a Sparkly Vampire  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:29:46pm

re: #328 Belafon

The employee was probably trying to be “helpful”. But I missed a detail: Was this a company phone?

Yep it was a department phone.

332
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:29:52pm

Jeez, how many secret yuuuge fantastic plans does Trump have anyway?

333
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:31:13pm

Am I a bad man thinking that Trump would be a saner president that Cruz or Rubio?

334
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:31:37pm

re: #327 goddamnedfrank

Hanlon’s Razor: Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.

However what this does mean is that the FBI is deliberately using local government incompetence in an attempt to try and force through a backdoor policy that they’ve been pursuing for years.

335
Blind Frog Belly White  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:33:28pm

re: #333 b.d.

Am I a bad man thinking that Trump would be a saner president that Cruz or Rubio?

Bad? No. Unreasonably optimistic? Probably.

There’s no reason to assume Trump means anything he says, but the personality traits he demonstrates do not augur well.

336
freetoken  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:34:23pm

re: #333 b.d.

Am I a bad man thinking that Trump would be a saner president that Cruz or Rubio?

It just means you want to Make America Great Again.

That’s all.

337
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:34:30pm

re: #333 b.d.

Am I a bad man thinking that Trump would be a saner president that Cruz or Rubio?

Trump inhabits reality. He is an asshole and is pandering to assholes in his campaign, but he is not certifiable.

Both Cruz and Rubio are detached from reality in all the ways we expecte professional Republicans to be.

That said, Trump seems like he could start World War III if he’s feeling irritable on any given day. Cruz and Rubio’s war mongering would likely be more calculated.

338
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:35:17pm

re: #334 goddamnedfrank

However what this does mean is that the FBI is deliberately using local government incompetence in an attempt to try and force through a backdoor policy that they’ve been pursuing for years.

The crime committed obviously has nothing to do with it.

339
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:36:03pm

re: #335 Blind Frog Belly White

Bad? No. Unreasonably optimistic? Probably.

There’s no reason to assume Trump means anything he says, but the personality traits he demonstrates do not augur well.

But his past does show some at least brushes with sane thinking, I am convincing myself that he is just going over-the-top because he knows what those rubes voting in the GOP primary want.

Please don’t get me wrong, a President Trump would be unacceptable on thousands of layers

340
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:36:34pm
341
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:37:15pm

re: #337 EPR-radar

That said, Trump seems like he could start World War III if he’s feeling irritable on any given day. Cruz and Rubio’s war mongering would likely be more calculated.

[trump] BOMB PARIS! THOSE F*CKERS! [/trump}

342
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:38:06pm

re: #333 b.d.

Am I a bad man thinking that Trump would be a saner president that Cruz or Rubio?

I can see it being a wash between Trump and Cruz, as they’re both abject psychopaths. Rubio is definitely a disgusting little shit, but I think at least his administration would set out to harm fewer people, limiting their bigotry mostly to trying to undue gay marriage vs. trying to deport and attack all immigrants and Muslims.

343
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:40:42pm

re: #342 goddamnedfrank

I can see it being a wash between Trump and Cruz, as they’re both abject psychopaths. Rubio is definitely a disgusting little shit, but I think at least his administration would set out to harm fewer people, limiting their bigotry mostly to trying to undue gay marriage vs. trying to deport and attack all immigrants and Muslims.

I just can’t convince myself that Trump actually believes the crap he spews while I can’t say the same for Rubio or Cruz

344
Amory Blaine  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:40:52pm

re: #277 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

Gleaned from the comments:

My Turn: Judicial filibusters: Squishy or thoughtful?
By SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI Posted: Monday, May 09, 2005

The use of the filibuster in the U.S. Senate and the president’s judicial nominations have certainly been popular topics of conversation in recent weeks. Print ads, radio spots, and television commercials have all highlighted the irrefutable harm - or unquestionable good, depending on your point of view - that the filibuster represents. What is not often mentioned is the impact this debate could have on other items of importance to the country and Alaska, such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the energy bill, health care, and the highway bill.


Let me make it clear that I support an up-or-down vote on all nominations brought to the Senate floor, regardless of the president nominating them or which party controls the Senate. These nominees deserve to be considered based on their merits. Under the “advice and consent” process, every senator has the right to vote against a nominee if he/she does not believe the nominee is qualified for the position, but it is not fair to the nominees to have their lives placed on hold, sometimes in excess of two years. Nor is it right to perpetuate the many vacancies in our courts, particularly when we are seeing the caseload exceed the capacity of the sitting judges.

345
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:40:54pm

re: #337 EPR-radar

Trump inhabits reality. He is an asshole and is pandering to assholes in his campaign, but he is not certifiable.

Both Cruz and Rubio are detached from reality in all the ways we expecte professional Republicans to be.

That said, Trump seems like he could start World War III if he’s feeling irritable on any given day. Cruz and Rubio’s war mongering would likely be more calculated.

“Reverend, what day did you say Jesus would return?”

346
gocart mozart  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:42:05pm

re: #277 Charles Johnson

347
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:42:24pm

re: #318 Charles Johnson

Just discovered the movie “Super” on Netflix. Wow, what a completely berserk film. I loved it.

Another indie from a few years ago worth checking out, again or for the first time

348
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:43:09pm

re: #343 b.d.

I just can’t convince myself that Trump actually believes the crap he spews while I can’t say the same for Rubio or Cruz

Not sure how that makes him better. Instead it demonstrates that there’s no demographic he wouldn’t vilify in the moment in order to get and then hang onto power. The fact that he’s so personally insincere in selling his brand of fascist authoritarianism is one of the scariest things about him in my opinion.

349
Kragar  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:43:14pm
350
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:43:33pm

re: #345 Belafon

“Reverend, what day did you say Jesus would return?”

Sometime in 1844 - Miller

351
Stanley Sea  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:44:28pm

re: #314 Targetpractice

My guess is she got a phone call in the middle of the night, being told if she didn’t fall in line, then she could expect another Joe Miller to sudden “announce” his candidacy by end of next week.

Well she shouldn’t worry if it’s another Joe Miller.

Is he indicted yet for his ties to that AK militia?

352
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:44:47pm

re: #338 Belafon

The crime committed obviously has nothing to do with it.

Exigent circumstances don’t impress me, it’s the same argument that proponents of torture use.

353
GlutenFreeJesus  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:45:14pm

re: #262 Charles Johnson

1-2-3-4-5

354
Amory Blaine  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:45:45pm

re: #318 Charles Johnson

Loved this movie. “Shut up Crime!!”

355
BlueSpotinAL  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:46:31pm

re: #292 Amory Blaine

Cyborgs are coming.
[Embedded content]

I can raise you one more arm:
Robot Band playing Motorhead

356
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:47:06pm

re: #344 Amory Blaine

Lisa Murkowski needs to leave the GOP or let her inner wingnut out to play. This business of pretending to be a civilized person but sticking to the GOP party line when it matters is getting very old.

357
Stanley Sea  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:47:38pm

re: #317 De Kolta Chair

[Embedded content]

I can’t find link. The AZ Republic page doesn’t seem to have it up yet…..

358
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:52:04pm

re: #357 Stanley Sea

I can’t find link. The AZ Republic page doesn’t seem to have it up yet…..

By link, do you mean you couldn’t see the image, cuz I didn’t post a link?

Just spent a minute looking around Benson’s AZ Republic page and couldn’t find it (?). Btw, back in the day when I was growing up in Tucson, it was generally known as the Arizona Repugnant. Though still conservative, they’ve come a long way since then.

359
b.d.  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:52:30pm

re: #356 EPR-radar

Lisa Murkowski needs to leave the GOP or let her inner wingnut out to play. This business of pretending to be a civilized person but sticking to the GOP party line when it matters is getting very old.

Lisa views herself as a sane moderate because she got teabagged to death in the GOP primary by that crazed nutjob Miller and won as a write in.

She is no moderate at all, Wilson is a lunatic.

360
Amory Blaine  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:53:32pm

re: #355 BlueSpotinAL
Hee hee, awesome. Thanks for the video. :)
Here is a puppet playing Tom Sawyer

“Chops Sawyer” by RicKy Syers

361
Great White Snark  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:54:02pm

re: #321 goddamnedfrank

My comment from Thanos Page
littlegreenfootballs.com

I can’t easily state how important it is for Apple to prevail. Enough with the idea that if it’s terror anything goes. That’s how we got waterboarding. Abu Ghraib. The Patriot Act. The due process free no fly list. PRISM. Stingray boxes, Dirtboxes, warrantless GPS. I say not.

Where does it end? Shall the FBI compel Apple to go into the service of the government against it’s will and to the detriment of not just Apple but the whole cloud /cell as personal computer business model?

if you have not already, please vote in the LGF poll linked here. The poll runs through this weekend.

362
Stanley Sea  Feb 19, 2016 • 5:59:29pm

re: #358 De Kolta Chair

By link, do you mean you couldn’t see the image, cuz I didn’t post a link?

Just spent a minute looking around Benson’s AZ Republic page and couldn’t find it (?). Btw, back in the day when I was growing up in Tucson, it was generally known as the Arizona Repugnant. Though still conservative, they’ve come a long way since then.

I saw the image, but wanted to tweet it & can’t find it. Where did you see it originally?

363
Belafon  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:02:31pm

re: #352 goddamnedfrank

Exigent circumstances don’t impress me, it’s the same argument that proponents of torture use.

Yep, because reading information is exactly the same as torture.

You do realize the people who had the phone committed a crime, right? And you realize the FBI went to a judge, right? By the definitions of exigent circumstances I just looked up (learned more than one new thing today), it doesn’t seem to apply in this case.

364
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:03:23pm

re: #362 Stanley Sea

I saw the image, but wanted to tweet it & can’t find it. Where did you see it originally?

Google search has several sizes, well, six actually. I probably should’ve gone with the largest one, because it was hard to read. ;-)

google.com

Hope this helps.

365
Great White Snark  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:05:21pm

By the way expect the FBI to start screwing Apple HQ as they see fit. The intimidation campaign has begun, lying drama llama press releases are just the start. The execs can expect surveillance that is designed to inconvenience. To make a person look bad to the neighbors. Expect a raid that just grabs essential computers and walk them out the door. Ooops dropped one. Just ask Gibson guitar what the FBI does while you appeal their crappy case.

Paranoid? Nope.

Federal agents have raided the Gibson Guitar factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, computer data and guitars. Gibson’s chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz accused the Justice Department of bulying their company, saying their wood is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier and that the feds are using needlessly aggressive tactics.

366
gocart mozart  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:05:54pm
367
Great White Snark  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:06:34pm

re: #363 Belafon

The point is the exigent circumstances used to excuse all kinds of behaviors. The terrorists are dead. This is not a hot pursuit. Not an episode of 24 with Jack Bauer looking for an edge. Nor a trial with the likelihood the guilty may get off over a lack of evidence. It is an unprecedented demand. And appealing a court decision is not at all illegal, immoral, or given the stakes unwise.

368
Stanley Sea  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:09:04pm

re: #365 Great White Snark

I just see this as the ultimate recruiting opportunity for hackers to be government employees.

I’m having a hard time imagining that the CIA, etc., doesn’t have the ability to get into that phone.

But then again, I still watch TV.

369
Great White Snark  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:12:06pm

re: #368 Stanley Sea

I just see this as the ultimate recruiting opportunity for hackers to be government employees.

I’m having a hard time imagining that the CIA, etc., doesn’t have the ability to get into that phone.

But then again, I still watch TV.

The fact is that encryption tech is well ahead of decryption. Billions of dollars and the internet of things depend on near unassailable privacy. Hackers are well ahead of defenders. CIA/NSA notwithstanding.

370
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:14:53pm

re: #363 Belafon

Yep, because reading information is exactly the same as torture.

You do realize the people who had the phone committed a crime, right? And you realize the FBI went to a judge, right? By the definitions of exigent circumstances I just looked up (learned more than one new thing today), it doesn’t seem to apply in this case.

Then there’s really no reason to oppose Apple’s right to appeal, which is something I brought up you never addressed. I also asked:

And we’re supposed to believe that the government will keep this cracking tool secure because why exactly? We’re supposed to believe that having been forced to create it by our government that other more oppressive governments won’t leverage Apple the same way because why exactly?

But never got an answer to those questions either. All you’ve presented to me, but interestingly not to Charles, are incredibly glib dismissals and rather snide asides. If you want to deal with this issue while acknowledging its inherent intricacies and consequences I’m all ears. Otherwise I’m probably done.

371
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:17:55pm

re: #347 De Kolta Chair

Another indie from a few years ago worth checking out, again or for the first time

Embedded Image

Lars falls under the category of films that I’m glad exist but probably am not going to watch. I get deeply uncomfortable watching other people’s awkward bullshit.

372
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:20:21pm

re: #369 Great White Snark

The fact is that encryption tech is well ahead of decryption. Billions of dollars and the internet of things depend on near unassailable privacy. Hackers are well ahead of defenders. CIA/NSA notwithstanding.

And the thing is that’s not going to change just because the government insists on nerfed devices. The data on those devices can and will still be unbreakably encrypted, just as a sub-unit.

373
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:24:26pm

The latest chapter for my memoirs: “How I Left A Link At Raw Story To A Subtly Ironic Talking Points Memo Quote About Trump And The Pope That Went Over Several People’s Heads And Lived to Tell The Tale. “

The chapter will consist of just the title, and maybe a doodle of flipping the bird, if I can fit it into my busy schedule of writing my thrilling Hitchcockian memoir. Working title: “I Shouldn’t Have Bothered.”

374
goddamnedfrank  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:26:17pm

Jesus Christ Facebook is awful. So glad I suspended my account early last year.

375
EPR-radar  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:27:29pm

re: #372 goddamnedfrank

And the thing is that’s not going to change just because the government insists on nerfed devices. The data on those devices can and will still be unbreakably encrypted, just as a sub-unit.

That’s a big part part of what makes this a difficult issue. The legal system has relied on written documents as evidence for centuries. Widespread availability of strong encryption may end up making that kind of evidence unavailable, except for crimes committed by the dim-witted.

376
Joe Bacon  Feb 19, 2016 • 6:51:45pm
377
De Kolta Chair  Feb 19, 2016 • 7:34:42pm

re: #371 goddamnedfrank

Lars falls under the category of films that I’m glad exist but probably am not going to watch. I get deeply uncomfortable watching other people’s awkward bullshit.

My wife rented it from the library years ago and I thought the plot sounded lame and unoriginal and was pleasantly surprised. It’s actually a charming movie about characters in a small town.


This article has been archived.
Comments are closed.

Jump to top

Create a PageThis is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). Then browse to a site you want to post, select some text on the page to use for a quote, click the bookmarklet, and the Pages posting window will appear with the title, text, and any embedded video or audio files already filled in, ready to go.
Or... you can just click this button to open the Pages posting window right away.
Last updated: 2023-04-04 11:11 am PDT LGF User's Guide RSS Feeds

Help support Little Green Footballs!

Subscribe now for ad-free access!Register and sign in to a free LGF account before subscribing, and your ad-free access will be automatically enabled.

Donate with
PayPal Cash.app
Recent PagesClick to refresh
Once Praised, the Settlement to Help Sickened BP Oil Spill Workers Leaves Most With Nearly Nothing When a deadly explosion destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, 134 million gallons of crude erupted into the sea over the next three months — and tens of thousands of ordinary people were hired ...
Cheechako
Yesterday
Views: 69 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 0
Texas County at Center of Border Fight Is Overwhelmed by Migrant Deaths EAGLE PASS, Tex. - The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out ...
Cheechako
4 days ago
Views: 169 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 1