Jay McDaniel

rysiek writes "When a politician starts talking about defending the innocence of children, there's bound to be a great policy initiative ahead. That's how British PM David Cameron introduced the British porn block. That's also how the Polish Minister of Justice started his remarks yesterday morning on how good an idea it is and that it should be introduced in Poland. This started the shortest Internet censorship debate ever, as in the evening of the same day the Polish Prime Minister and the Minister of Administration and Digitization denounced any such ideas: 'We shall not block access to legal content regardless of whether or not it appeases us aesthetically or ethically.' There had been several full-blown Internet censorship debates in Poland during the last four years. Apparently the arguments against it were not lost on at least some of Polish politicians."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "The WSJ reports that Attorney General Eric Holder promises Edward Snowden won't be tortured or face the death penalty in a new letter hoping to persuade Russia not to grant him asylum or refugee status. Holder's letter, dated Tuesday, notes that press reports from Russia indicated Snowden sought asylum in part based on claims he could be tortured or killed by the US government. It is common for the US to promise not to seek the death penalty against individuals being sought in other countries, because even America's closest allies won't turn over suspects if they believe that person might be executed. The United Nations special rapporteur on torture found Bradley Manning's detention was 'cruel and inhuman'." Update: 07/27 13:15 GMT by T : Several readers have noted that change.gov, established by the Obama transition team in 2008, has recently (last month) gone offline; among other things, it contained language specifically addressing the protection of whistleblowers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The UK's on-by-default censorship, as you might expect, presses with a heavy thumb: coolnumbr12 writes "The Open Rights Group spoke with several ISPs and found that in addition to pornography, users will also be required to opt in for any content tagged as violent material, extremist and terrorist related content, anorexia and eating disorder websites, suicide related websites, alcohol, smoking, web forums, esoteric material and web blocking circumvention tools. These will all be filtered by default, and the majority of users never change default settings with online services."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

First time accepted submitter svartbjorn writes "Todd Humphreys and a team from the University of Texas proved the concept that a terrorist could take over the navigation of a ship or even a plane, making it appear to the crew that the ship was moving along a straight line course when in fact it was changing course under the control of the device. This raises some serious issues for this being used for terrorist purposes."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

hackingbear writes "BBC reports that India's army spent six months watching 'Chinese spy drones' violating its air space, only to find out they were actually Jupiter and Venus. Between last August and February, Indian troops had already documented 329 sightings of unidentified objects over a lake in the border region next to China. India accused the objects being Chinese spy drones. The incident even escalated to a military build-up and a stand-off at border between the two countries. Residents of the solar system are glad that India does not possess the capability to shoot down such high altitude objects."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes "Following the /. story on the Feds demanding SSL keys, now comes news that the feds are demanding user passwords, and in some cases, the encryption algorithm and salt used. From the article: 'A second person who has worked at a large Silicon Valley company confirmed that it received legal requests from the federal government for stored passwords. Companies "really heavily scrutinize" these requests, the person said. "There's a lot of 'over my dead body.'" ... Some of the government orders demand not only a user's password but also the encryption algorithm and the so-called salt, according to a person familiar with the requests. ... Other orders demand the secret question codes often associated with user accounts.' I'm next expecting to see the regulation or law demanding that all users use plain text for all web transactions, to catch terrorists and for the children."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Windows: Markdown is an awesome formatting language that lets you create rich documents using plain text syntax, and MarkdownPad puts it to great use Windows.

Read more...

One common criticism of the libertarian ethos is that if we reduce government control over society, big business will have unchecked power over our lives, so that we will merely be trading one type of control for another.

But concern with corporate power is not inconsistent with libertarianism, as Clark illustrated in his post on left-libertarianism. The difference between libertarians and traditional conservatives might be this: conservatives believe that government interference impedes business and by extension individuals, while some libertarians believe that government also empowers and excuses abuse of individuals by favored business partners.

Take First National Bank of Wellston, Ohio and its encounter with Katie Barnett.

If Katie Barnett had broken into somebody's house and stolen all their possessions and changed their locks, she would likely be arrested and charged with a crime. She would be required to pay the homeowner for the possessions she stole, at a minimum, and the courts would have rather little patience for her protests that their stuff wasn't worth as much as they said. (My experience as a criminal defense attorney is that judges look very unfavorably on the "the property I stole/defrauded/destroyed is overvalued and I shouldn't have to pay that much; let them replace it with something cheaper" argument.)

But Katie Barnett didn't burglarize a house; she's an honest person. First National Bank of Wellston burglarized Katie Barnett's house through its own incompetence or the incompetence of its agents. First National Bank was trying to repossess a foreclosed house to sell it, and because its agents (1) decided to find the house by GPS, and (2) didn't know how to use a GPS, they invaded Katie's house, changed the locks, and disposed of her possessions. Katie's house wasn't being foreclosed upon; she's not a customer of that bank.

Katie Barnett has asked First National Bank of Wellston to pay her for the possessions it sole and disposed of. First National Bank of Wellston, through its CEO Anthony S. Thorne, claims that it isn't paying because Katie's reimbursement list doesn't match the records that its employees kept of what they took and disposed of. Those would be the same employees who tried to find a house using GPS, failed, burglarized the wrong house, and disposed of Katie's possessions, in case you were wondering. Mr. Thorne and First National Bank nonetheless regards them as very reliable record-keepers.

Mr. Thorne is also demanding receipts for Katie's things, and has told her the bank "isn't paying retail." Katie, like many people, doesn't keep receipts for everything, not anticipating that a bank will burglarize her house. Moreover, to the extent she does keep receipts, she keeps them in her house, because once again, she fails to anticipate that a bank will break into the house, take her receipts, throw them away, and then demand that she produce them. Katie also failed to anticipate that someone could burglarize your house and, when called upon to pay you so you can replace your things, sneer that replacements from a second-hand store are good enough for you.

The McArthur, Ohio police refuse to get involved. Would they get involved if Katie burglarized a house? Yes they would. Would they get involved if Katie ran off with someone's stuff and refused to repay? Yes they would. Will they get involved when a bank — a reliable crony of government — burglarizes a house and drags its feet on repaying the victim? No they will not. The government exercises its police power to protect banks — say, by prosecuting someone who draws anti-bank slogans in kids' chalk on the sidewalk — but generally is extremely to exercise its police power to impose consequences on banks, which have money. That is a result of the natural relationship between government power and private-crony power.

The bank doesn't act based on what's right. And the police? Don't be ridiculous. But they might respond to public pressure. You can reach the local police here and the bank here. Be civilized, even if they — by any rational definition of that term — are not. You might also consider spreading upon the internet the names of the First National Bank of Wellston and its CEO Anthony S. Thorne, so that people can make an informed decision about whether to treat with them.

We have choices about how to react to this sort of thing. Some people say that the answer is more regulation and more laws permitting recourse to the courts, so that banks might be deterred and that people like Katie Barnett might secure legal redress. Other people view that response as paradoxical: by the nature of power — any increase in government authority will tend to make things like this more likely, not less likely, because government actors will always have rich cronies.

Want To Burglarize A House With Impunity, Then Nickle-And-Dime The Restitution? It Helps To Be A Bank. © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.

Read the whole thing here. Seriously. It's awesome. Then come back here.

In other news

• all of your email is being intercepted by the government
• all of your phone calls are being tracked
• when specifically questioned about this the National Intelligence Director lied to Congress and said it wasn't true.
• US police use tasers to torture people; many of these people die
• the US military continues to transfer military hardware to US police departments
• the US president reserves the right to pronounce a death penalty on any American and use drones to execute them; at least four murdered so far
• the Utah Data Center is on schedule
• More and more police departments are using license plate readers; the government may know everywhere you've been in the last few years
• the detention facility at Gitmo is still open; some suspects have been waterboarded over 100 times each
• there are laws that you are subject to, but because they are secret laws you don't know what they are
• in the US ignorance of a law is not an excuse
• cops can shoot random citizens in the face with pepper ball guns for no reason, thus killing them, and escape prosecution
• when the US government wants to torture a suspect it first sends the suspect to a black facility overseas to do so. This started under Bush and continues under Obama.
• the IRS has been selectively discriminating against groups based on their politics. The administration first laughed at the allegation, then said that it was a few bad apples at a regional branch. It later came out that the orders came from Washington.
• the US debt is $53,000 per person
• this does not include unfunded mandates like Social Security and medicaid
• the shadow unemployment rate is 14%
• at US orders and against all diplomatic norms the Bolivian presidential plane was forced to land and was searched. Nothing was found.
• Sex and the City gives people the impression that all women know what they want in bed but that's not true
• Anthony Weiner has been emailing pictures of his junk again. The website The Dirty has the details.
• Jay Carney wants you to know that Air Force One is a "terrific aircraft" and Edward Snowden is absolutely not a human rights activist

The role of a press secretary © 2007-2013 by the authors of Popehat. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Using this feed on any other site is a copyright violation. No scraping.

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Former NSA director Michael Hayden lists three effects of the Snowden documents:

1. "...the undeniable operational effect of informing adversaries of American intelligence's tactics, techniques and procedures."

2. "...the undeniable economic punishment that will be inflicted on American businesses for simply complying with American law."

3. "...the erosion of confidence in the ability of the United States to do anything discreetly or keep anything secret."

It's an interesting list, and one that you'd expect from a NSA person. Actually, the whole essay is about what you'd expect from a former NSA person.

My reactions:

1. This, I agree, is actual damage. From what I can tell, Snowden has done his best to minimize it. And both the Guardian and the Washington Post refused to publish materials he provided, out of concern for US national security. Hayden believes that both the Chinese and the Russians have Snowden's entire trove of documents, but I'm less convinced. Everyone is acting under the assumption that the NSA has compromised everything, which is probably a good assumption.

2. Hayden has it backwards -- this is good. I hope that companies that have cooperated with the NSA are penalized in the market. If we are to expect the market to solve any of this, we need the cost of cooperating to be greater than the cost of fighting. If we as consumers punish companies that have complied with the NSA, they'll be less likely to roll over next time.

3. In the long run, this might turn out to be a good thing, too. In the Internet age, secrecy is a lot harder to maintain. The countries that figure this out first will be the countries that do well in the coming decades.

And, of course, Hayden lists his "costs" without discussing the benefits. Exposing secret government overreach, a secret agency gone rogue, and a secret court that's failing in its duties are enormously beneficial. Snowden has blown a whistle that long needed blowing -- it's the only way can ever hope to fix this. And Hayden completely ignores the very real question as to whether these enormous NSA data-collection programs provide any real benefits.

I'm also tired of this argument:

But it takes a special kind of arrogance for this young man to believe that his moral judgment on the dilemma suddenly trumps that of two (incredibly different) presidents, both houses of the U.S. Congress, both political parties, the U.S. court system and more than 30,000 of his co-workers.

It's like President Obama claiming that the NSA programs are "transparent" because they were cleared by a secret court that only ever sees one side of the argument, or that Congress has provided oversight because a few legislators were allowed to know some of what was going on but forbidden from talking to anyone about it.

This is a succinct explanation of how the secrecy of the FISA court undermines trust.

Surveillance types make a distinction between secrecy of laws, secrecy of procedures and secrecy of operations. The expectation is that the laws that empower or limit the government's surveillance powers are always public. The programs built atop those laws are often secret. And the individual operations are almost always secret. As long as the public knows about and agreed to the law, the thinking goes, it's okay for the government to build a secret surveillance architecture atop it.

But the FISA court is, in effect, breaking the first link in that chain. The public no longer knows about the law itself, and most of Congress may not know, either. The courts have remade the law, but they've done so secretly, without public comment or review.

Reminds me of the two types of secrecy I wrote about last month.

I generally don't like stories about Snowden as a person, because they distract from the real story of the NSA surveillance programs, but this article on the costs and benefits of the US government prosecuting Edward Snowden is worth reading.

Additional concerns relate to the trial. Snowden would no doubt obtain high-powered lawyers. Protesters would ring the courthouse. Journalists would camp out inside. As proceedings dragged on for months, the spotlight would remain on the N.S.A.’s spying and the administration’s pursuit of leakers. Instead of fading into obscurity, the Snowden affair would continue to grab headlines, and thus to undermine the White House’s ability to shape political discourse.

A trial could turn out to be much more than a distraction: It could be a focal point for domestic and international outrage. From the executive branch’s institutional perspective, the greatest danger posed by the Snowden case is not to any particular program. It is to the credibility of the secrecy system, and at one remove the ideal of our government as a force for good.

[...]

More broadly, Snowden’s case may clash with certain foreign policy goals. The United States often wants other countries’ dissidents to be able to find refuge abroad; this is a longstanding plank of its human rights agenda. The United States also wants illiberal regimes to tolerate online expression that challenges their authority; this is the core of its developing Internet freedom agenda.

Snowden’s prosecution may limit our soft power to lead and persuade in these areas. Of course, U.S. officials could emphasize that Snowden is different, that he’s not a courageous activist but a reckless criminal. But that is what the repressive governments say about their prisoners, too.

EDITED TO ADD (7/22): Related is this article on whether Snowden can manage to avoid arrest. Here's the ending:

Speaking of movies, near the end of the hit film "Catch Me If You Can," there's a scene that Snowden might do well to watch while he's killing time in the airport lounge (or wherever he is) pondering his fate. The young forger, Frank Abagnale, who has been staying a step ahead of the feds, finally grows irritated and fatigued. Not because they are particularly skilled in their hunting, nor because they are getting closer, but simply because they won't give up. In a fit of pique, he blurts into the phone, "Stop chasing me!" On the other end, the dogged, bureaucratic Treasury agent, Carl Hanratty, answers, "I can't stop. It's my job."

Ultimately, this is why many people who have been involved in such matters believe Snowden will be caught. Because no matter how much he may love sticking it to the U.S. government and waving the banner of truth, justice, and freedom of speech, that mission will prove largely unsustainable without serious fundraisers, organizers and dedicated allies working on his behalf for a long time.

They'll have to make Edward Snowden their living, because those who are chasing him already have. Government agents will be paid every minute of every day for as long as it takes. Seasons may change and years may pass, but the odds say that one morning, he'll look out of a window, go for a walk or stop for a cup of coffee, and the trap will spring shut. It will be almost like a movie.

Earlier this week I accidentally stumbled on archive.org where they are hosting an extensive backlog of old issues of Byte magazine. This magazine was an American microcomputer magazine, influential in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s (and well before my time).

I’ve been skimming through a couple of these old magazines, and I got quite intrigued by some of these old topics. Probably one of the more popular issues was the one on Smalltalk, but there are others on Lisp, Pascal and several varying topics as well. These old issues have been scanned in and can be downloaded as a PDF, ePub, Mobi, etc. … .

If you’re as interested in computer history as I am, then you should definitely check these out.

While Google talked quite a bit about the features of Android 4.3 during the ‘breakfast’ event earlier in the week, it now appears as if not everything was discussed. We hope to see more hidden discoveries, but in the meantime there is something called App Ops. This is a mostly hidden feature, but at the same time it is one that can easily be accessed if you know the trick.

There is an app available in the Google Play Store called “Permission Manager” and installing this will grant you access to the App Ops functionality. The real question will be whether you want and/or need access to App Ops. For that, read on to see just what can be done using it. In short, App Ops will allow you to set permissions based on individual apps.

Using Facebook as an example, App Ops will allow you to make it so the app can never access your location, never read the contacts or never modify the contacts. These options will vary from app to app. Some of the others that we have seen can place limits on the ability to use the dialer, modify the settings and more.

Basically, using this app will allow you to unlock the hidden functionality that is built into Android 4.3. With this users should be able to take much more control over what each individual app can and (perhaps more important) cannot do. The Permissions Manager app is available for free and similar to the App Ops functionality — it requires Android 4.3 for use.

So far Google hasn’t given any indication as to when this would be un-hidden and made available without this little trick. Then again, with Android 4.3 running on so few devices at this point in time, that probably isn’t much of a concern at this point in time.

VIA: Android Police

SOURCE: Google Play Store (Permission Manager app)

The new Google Nexus 7 was announced earlier this week, and is apparently already being sold a few days early from multiple outlets. We all know how Nexus accessories aren’t the easiest things to get our hands-on, but apparently ASUS has plenty already in the works for the new tablet. Yes, it’s made by ASUS in case you didn’t know, and we’re now seeing tons of colorful cases, and more.

In the past we’ve waited months and months to see Nexus accessories, many of which never actually were released. For whatever reason this is an ongoing issue, but ASUS is going to solve it for us. Already appearing (but not yet available) over on Amazon are cases, travel options, and even screen protectors.

The image above is their new standard flip cover cases, and as you can see they’ll be offered in a flurry of colors. We saw these with the original, but only a few colors ever arrived on the Play Store. Hopefully these will all be available from Amazon as that will be your best bet. (Read: Get it together Google Play)

Then as you can also see they have some standard travel cases that fold up to be a nice little stand, just watch out for lawsuits for stealing the flip-stand idea from Apple. All Jokes aside we aren’t sure when these will actually arrive, if ever, but they’re already appearing on Amazon and a few other retailers so hopefully it’s only a matter of time. We’ve also been told Best Buy will have tons of cases and official accessories soon.

VIA: Droid-Life

If you’ve been debating the purchase of a new small form factor tablet lately, Google just unveiled a brand new option that is probably your best bet. As you all know Google just dropped the new Android 4.3 Jelly Bean powered Nexus 7 on the world, and it comes at a great price. While we’re not the biggest fans of these types of comparisons, we’re sure a few wouldn’t mind a quick rundown.

Comparing software and performance on different devices with different specs, screen sizes, and OS flavors is a bit worthless, and in the end it’s all about what the user wants and needs. At the moment for those seeking a small 7 to 8-inch tablet, the two top-tier models from Android and Apple come to mind. Google’s new Nexus 7, and of course the iPad mini. While there’s plenty of other good Android alternatives like the Galaxy Tab 3, we’re just focusing on these two.

Obviously being an Android site here, you already know which device we’d choose if we had to only pick one, but lets break down some numbers to help the rest of the world. Not only does the Nexus 7 run circles around the iPad mini in every single aspect of specs, but it also does so at a much lower price. Is there really a reason to justify paying $100 more for the iPad mini, or more if you go for 4G LTE?

The new Google Nexus 7 comes with a 7-inch 1920 x 1200 full HD display with the highest pixel density of any tablet available on the market. That being 323 PPI. Take that “retina” display. Compare that to the iPad mini that has a 7.9-inch display with a 1024 x 768 resolution at 163 pixels per inch (ppi) there really is no contest. Some might argue anything over 720p is overkill, but sitting these side-by-side you can truly see the different. The Nexus 7 just looks gorgeous. It also weighs slightly less than the iPad mini as well, for those curious, but it isn’t quite as thin.

Moving on to internals the dual-core Apple A5 silicon and 512MB of RAM running the iPad mini is smooth and stable on iOS, but compare that to the 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro with 2GB of RAM with the new Nexus. And now you see why the cost can’t be justified.

Both devices have dual cameras, which is a step up from last years Nexus. We have a 5 megapixel rear and 1.2 front shooter on both devices, which we’ve yet to compare. With Android 4.3 Jelly Bean we have new Bluetooth 4.0 LE standards, so both have that. However, the Nexus 7 has a few things the iPad mini simply does not. Those being wireless charging, NFC, and GPS. The iPad mini has WiFi-assisted GPS on the LTE models.

The bottom line however, isn’t just specs because the operating systems are wildly different and both run extremely well on their respective systems. The important thing here is the price. The Nexus 7 comes in a 16GB, 32GB, and 32GB with 4G LTE option. The iPad mini comes with 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, with some LTE options as well. Here’s where the Nexus 7 hands down wins, not to mention all the specs are just that much better.

Nexus 7:
– 16GB WiFi $229
– 32GB WiFi $269
– 32GB WiFi + 4G LTE $349!!!

iPad mini:
– 16GB WiFi $329 ($100 more)
– 32GB WiFi $429 ($160 more)
– 32GB WiFi + 4G LTE $559 ($210 more)

Until we have more time with the 2013 Nexus 7 (and a full review is coming) we’ll have to leave this right where it sits, which is all about price. However, while using the Nexus 7 the past day and a half we absolutely love it, Android 4.3 is blazing fast and as smooth as ever, and the slimmer design and smaller bezels just makes this new slate shine.

And in case you didn’t fully read those prices above, you could get a 32GB 4G LTE Nexus 7 and a 16GB WiFi model BOTH for just a few more dollars than a single iPad mini with LTE. You do the math! This isn’t the last time we’ll hear from either of these devices, and surely Apple has another iPad mini in the works for later this year. At this point and time though, the Nexus 7 is the crystal clear winner.

While many will opt for the iPad mini, especially those deeply involved in the OS and ecosystem, overall the new Nexus 7 is just a well rounded device that will be hard to beat.

With Rights come responsibilities and the most fundamental Right is the Right of self defense. How and even if you decide to defend yourself is a personal decision. Ultimately it is one you have to live or possibly die with.  The handgun is arguably the best tool for self defense currently available, but that should only be one item in your tool kit, right next to mindset and tactics.  The question is, can you fight with your handgun?

Self defense can be as simple as seeing a possible threat approaching and because you kept your head up and looked it in the eye from 25 yards away, your potential adversary decided to choose a more oblivious, or softer, target.

What happens when you have no choice and you are backed into the proverbial corner? You saw the potential threat 25 yards away and the BG didn’t deviate his course.

They attempted to distract you by asking for the time or some other seemingly innocuous question and you were unable to verbally dissuade them or get them to alter their course. What then?

As a good guy, you can’t just go whipping out ‘yer Roscoe on a hunch this guy is up to no good. Perhaps this person is just some oblivious and harmless “close talker” who is simply clueless. For those scenarios we try and devise numerous steps that any normal person would understand and stop their actions. Things even the most clueless person would realize and immediately back off.

You’ve done everything right. You’ve seen the possible BG. He knows you saw him and he is still closing in on you. You attempted to verbally dissuade them from a distance with no luck, you changed your location and they immediately matched yours. You’ve put up your ‘fence’, a tactic used to let him know you aren’t oblivious, hands up in a defensive yet not overtly threatening manner, verbal indications you don’t want anything to do with him, ultimately you tell him to stop, get back. You move off of his angle and he changes direction to continue to close the gap and get within arms reach of you, again.

The game is now up and you are in a fight for your life. You have your carry gun, you can shoot it but can you FIGHT with it? Now isn’t the time to find out for the first time. This is where your training will help you carry the day.

The most recent training class I’ve taken was Close Range Gunfighting. This class is considered the “Flagship” course from Suarez International which is a training school based out of Arizona. The class I attended was in Indiana and Michael Swisher, founder of Paladin Combatives, was the lead instructor.

In this class you move beyond learning how to simply present from a holster and fire from a static position. In this class you incorporate movement, dynamic movement, into everything you do in a close range situation. Need to draw? Move. Need to reload? Move. Malfunction clearance? MOVE!

Moving is a simplistic way to put it, you are taught proper ways to move and maximize your movements while minimizing the down sides of movement. Simultaneously drawing and moving and shooting can be done quickly, efficiently and effectively with the proper instruction and practice.

Other important topics are also covered such as close contact encounters and whether or not you always need a sight picture. Flash sight picture, aiming down the top of the slide, “Metal on Meat” and indexed fire are all valuable abilities to have in your kit and are covered in this class. Principles of point shooting are also introduced but point shooting is really for another class all of it’s own.

Balancing speed vs accuracy. It’s amazing how fast you can land accurate hits while moving and you are pushed to move faster each time your groupings get too small.

Is there an innocent person behind your assailant? Moving can change the background behind your target and allow you to safely engage it. It’s truly amazing what’s possible once you break the static ‘square range’ mentality.

The biggest thing I took away from this class was the confidence that if I am ever in a position of needing to defend myself against a bad guy or group of bad guys under 10 yards, there is no reason why I shouldn’t be dynamically moving during the encounter.

I urge all of you to get quality training from competent instructors and learn not just how to shoot with your firearms but how to FIGHT with them.  Your first defensive pistol class can be eye opening as you start to realize all the things you “didn’t know that you didn’t know”.  It may sound like a cliche but one of the first things that was impressed upon me in the fire academy was “The things you don’t know that you don’t know WILL KILL YOU faster than anything else”.

While I do not advocate mandatory training to be allowed to carry a firearm, I do think everyone should take it upon themselves to become as skilled as they can because, as I said in the beginning of this article, with Rights come responsibilities.

Below is a video review I compiled of my Close Range Gunfighting class from last weekend, if you have any questions feel free to ask me and be sure to subscribe to my channel as I’ll be covering more classes both here in print on TheBangSwitch and in video as I’m able to attend them.

I used to live in Palatine Illinois, right smack dab in the middle of Cook County (commonly referred to as “crook county” by freedom minded locals). Imagine my surprise when I moved to the area from Kansas and discovered the firearms I owned were illegal because I didn’t have a FOID card. I quickly went out and applied for my card then nervously awaited its arrival.

I was never comfortable in Illinois as a gun owner and was always looking for an opportunity to move out of the state. When I heard rumors of Chicago CAGE units kicking in the doors of expired FOID card owners to confiscate their firearms, I decided it was time to pull up my tent stakes and move to Indiana, which I did in 1999.

A recent article from the Chicago Sun Times tells us that Cook County Sheriffs are continuing the fine tradition of Illinois gun grabs by going door-to-door confiscating firearms from people who have expired FOID cards. Every Illinois gun owner is required to have a “Firearms Owners Identification Card” to own a firearm. If a gun owner lets the 10 year expiration date pass without renewal, they’re now illegally in possession of firearms. They won’t get a friendly reminder, instead they will hear jack boots kicking their door in to forcibly separate them from their Constitutionally protected personal property.

Think about how many times in your life you have let your drivers license expire unintentionally…

For about a decade now Chicago CAGE units have been compiling a list of gun owners. CAGE is a catchy acronym for “Chicago Anti-Gun Enforcement” and is a joint venture between the Chicago Police and the Illinois State Police. As their name implies, they exist solely to enforce gun control laws and to harass Illinois gun owners. It also appears they’re responsible for keeping a registry of Illinois gun owners.

Some will argue that such confiscations aren’t all related to expired FOID cards, and they would be right. Some of the raids are carried out to remove firearms from people who have had their FOID cards revoked and who subsequently failed to turn their firearms in. If a citizen ever sought counseling for a lost job, divorce, loss of a relative or any number of other events in life that cause people to reach out for help – they can be disqualified from owning firearms in Illinois and have their card revoked. If you have a vengeful ex-significant other, an order of protection issued against you will strip you of your Constitutional rights (and your FOID card) and could bring a CAGE unit crashing through your front door.

Anti-gunners have argued for years that gun registration is for the greater public good and will never result in confiscation. As Cook County has shown us time and time again, registration does in fact lead to confiscation every time. This is why we must fight to oppose all attempts by Congress to pass laws requiring firearms registration of any type.

 

When I was growing up, my family had a single screen we huddled around every day: the television set in the living room. Nowadays, we “huddle” around multiple screens—laptops, smartphones and tablets—using them almost interchangeably as we navigate through our day. In a world of ubiquitous computing, life would be a lot simpler if we didn’t have to learn new behaviors and interfaces each time we switched screens—if we could have one consistent, intuitive experience no matter where we are or what we’re doing. Today, with the launch of Chromecast and the new Nexus 7 tablet, it’s even more effortless to enjoy content you care about—whether it’s video, music, movies, games—wherever you are, across your devices.

Introducing Chromecast
To help make it easy to bring your favorite online entertainment to the biggest screen in your house—the TV—we’re introducing Chromecast. Chromecast is a small and affordable ($35) device that you simply plug in to your high-definition (HD) TV and it allows you to use your phone, tablet or laptop to "cast" online content to your TV screen. It works with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, and Google Play Music, with more apps like Pandora coming soon. With Chromecast, we wanted to create an easy solution that works for everyone, for every TV in the house.

Remote-free
Once your Chromecast is set up, you can use your phone, tablet or laptop to browse and cast content to your TV, play and pause, control the volume, and more. But unlike other streaming solutions, you can still multitask—send emails or surf the web—while enjoying what’s on the TV screen. It works across platforms—Android tablets and smartphones, iPhones, iPads, Chrome for Mac and Windows (more to come), so your personal device is also now your remote control.

Cast the web to your TV
In addition to apps like Netflix, you can use Chromecast to bring a broad range of content available on the web to your big screen, thanks to a new feature in the Chrome browser that allows you to project any browser tab to your TV. From sharing your family photos to enjoying a video clip from your favorite news site, it’s as simple as pressing a button. This feature is launching in beta, but we’re excited for people to try it out and give us their feedback.

Google Cast SDK preview for developers
To ensure a great Chromecast experience over time, we've built Google Cast, a technology that enables developers to build consistent, intuitive multi-screen experiences across mobile devices and TVs. Today, we’re launching a preview version of Google Cast with more information for developers on our Google Developers blog. A handful of early developers are already working on enabling Google Cast technology in their apps, so more supported apps are coming soon. And while the Chromecast device is the first instantiation of Google Cast, we expect the technology to be embedded in a range of hardware from our partners in the future.
The new Nexus 7—the sharpest 7” tablet screen ever
Together with ASUS, we took what you loved about the original Nexus 7 and made it even better. The first thing you’ll notice is the sharpness of the screen: the 323 pixels packed into every inch of the screen makes it the world's highest-resolution 7-inch tablet. It’s lighter than ever, with more than nine hours of HD video playback and 10 hours of web browsing or reading. Nexus 7 now features stereo speakers and virtual surround sound from Fraunhofer (the inventors of the MP3 format), giving you rich and immersive audio.

Android 4.3—a sweeter Jelly Bean
Nexus 7 is the first device to ship with Android 4.3, the newest version of Android. Tablets are perfect for sharing with others, so in Android 4.3, we're introducing restricted profiles, which let you limit access to apps and content. For example, restricted profiles enable parental controls, so certain family members are prevented from accessing mature content. Likewise, retail stores can use tablets to show off product information, and shops can use tablets as point of sale systems. Android 4.3 also now supports Bluetooth Smart technology, opening the door to mobile apps that connect to new devices like fitness sensors. Android 4.3 is rolling out to Nexus devices starting today.

Ready to Play
The new Google Play Games app brings your friends together with the games you love, where you can invite a friend and start challenging gamers around the world, compete for top achievements, and race to the top of the leaderboard. You can also enjoy the world’s largest collection of eBooks, listen to millions of music tracks and immerse yourself in thousands of movies, TV shows, magazines and apps on Google Play. Plus, Nexus 7 comes loaded with your favorite Google apps, like Chrome, Maps, YouTube, Gmail and Google Now.

How to get Chromecast and the new Nexus 7
Starting today, the Chromecast device is available for $35 on Google Play, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com. It will be available in Best Buy stores across the U.S. starting July 28. For a limited time, you also get three months of Netflix included. More info available in Google Play.

Nexus 7 starts at $229, and is available in the U.S. beginning July 30 (with more countries coming soon!). Buy Nexus 7 online on Google Play, or check it out at Best Buy, Gamestop, Walmart, Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, Amazon, Home Shopping Network, Radio Shack, J&R and B&H Photo. Nexus 7 (LTE) is coming soon with support for T-Mobile and Verizon in the coming weeks. Learn more on our Nexus site.

Posted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Android, Chrome & Apps

Just When You Thought She Could Not Get Any More Ridiculous

I have a theory about Nancy Pelosi and why other democrats keep her around.  She is like that dumb kid in the class that bumps the whole bell curve up.  She is the idiot that makes all the other idiots look smart.

A few days ago, on July 19, 2013, she released a public statement on her website.  In that statement, she extolled the need to defend the Constitution, which last I checked, includes the Bill of Rights, by passing new gun legislation.  Seriously, I’m not making this up.

Here it is, straight from the brain donor’s very own website:

“We must uphold our oath to ‘protect and defend’ the constitution and all Americans by expanding background checks and keeping dangerous firearms out of the wrong hands.”

See her entire statement here.

What really scares me about this statement is not just that she said it, but that it was actually released in text form via her website.  This is not some silly slip of the tongue, this moron must actually believe this enough to put it in writing.

What scares me more than her belief in that, is the fact that she keeps getting elected, which means there are a lot of really crazy and/or stupid people out there.

You know things are out of whack when I read a Daily KOS article and actually agree with it. The Daily KOS is a well known far left blog that rarely offers commentary rooted in reality. However, on June 6th they posted an article that actually made sense for once and didn’t serve a far left agenda. I’m sure it was a mistake, but it was a welcomed one.

The entire nation is up in arms about the Tayvon Martin / George Zimmerman case yet no one is talking about the 480+ Black people killed this year in Chicago since the Martin shooting. The only reason we’re even talking about the Martin/Zimmerman case is because the media and Obama’s Administration saw an opportunity to politicize the story, make it about race, and use it to push their political agenda forward.  What’s their agenda you may ask? It should be obvious; they want Americans disarmed.

The media isn’t reporting on the continued whole sale slaughter of Blacks in Chicago because it doesn’t serve their agenda, as a matter of fact it cripples it. Chicago is managed by an anti-gun government headed by none other than President Obama’s former White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. Rahm is a far left leaning gun grabbing loon, just like his former boss, and the main stream media will do nothing to cast him in a bad light. That’s why they’re keeping the focus on the Zimmerman case and ignoring the real tragedy, the slaughter of Black Americans in Chicago who are disarmed and unable to defend themselves. Meanwhile, across the country violent crime continues to plummet because Americans are able to own guns and fight back against the thugs.

Unfortunately it’s not just about banning guns, it’s also about keeping us victims and preventing us from defending ourselves. They want us dependent on the state for everything from work, food, healthcare to personal protection. Through dependency they can control every facet of our lives.

Using the Zimmerman case as justification, Obama, Holder and McCain now want to roll back the nations “Stand Your Ground” laws under the false pretense that rolling these laws back will save Blacks from being victims of violent crime. The only fly in the ointment is that the Florida “Stand Your Ground” law overwhelmingly benefits Blacks who have used deadly force to save their own lives. As I’ve said before, these politicians have no interest in saving lives. All they care about is banning guns. Even worse, they continue to push this agenda forward through race baiting, bigotry, lies and through their unholy alliance with the main stream media who is all to eager to lend a helping hand.

When will America wake up and see that we’re being lied to? When are we going to hold our leaders accountable their actions? How many more Americans must die before we take a stand against the establishment, force positive change and get away from the race baiting, bigotry and lies of current politics?

It’s time we stop talking about Zimmerman and start talking about the culture of violence in anti-gun strongholds like Chicago, New York City and Washington DC. We need to start talking about giving the citizens of these historically anti-gun cities their rights back (and their guns) so they too can enjoy the plummeting violent crime rates we see everywhere else in the nation.

Rick Zeman writes "According to Wired, an order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court '...requires Verizon to give the NSA metadata on all calls within the U.S. and between the U.S. and foreign countries on an "ongoing, daily basis" for three months.' Unlike orders in years past, there's not even the pretense that one of the parties needed to be in a foreign country. It is unknown (but likely) that other carriers are under the same order."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New submitter lemur3 writes "After multiple months of discussing possible changes to the prohibited items list, the Transportation Security Administration in the United States has determined that it is best to go ahead without any changes to the list of items passengers may have in their carry-on baggage when traveling by air. Under the proposed change (discussed previously on Slashdot) pocket knives and other items, such as hockey sticks and ski poles, would have been allowed."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Whether you’re switching to a new PC, reinstalling Windows, or just ensuring you don’t lose hours of gameplay if your hard drive dies, you’ll want to make sure your save games are properly backed up.

Quite a few games support save-game syncing via the cloud, but many games — especially older ones — do not. You’ll need to back up and restore their save files on your own.

Like other smartphones, Android phones use an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust your phone’s display brightness. This often doesn’t work too well.

It’s up to each Android phone’s manufacturer to correctly calibrate the auto-brightness feature, and they generally don’t do an amazing job. The phone may go from too bright to too dim without anything in between.

Lux is a third-party app that allows you to easily calibrate your phone’s brightness sensor, saving you battery power and reducing eye strain if your phone is normally too bright in dark rooms.