States that are embracing modernity tend to be moving in the direction of greater acceptance of equal rights for the LGBT community. But Russia is clearly going in the other direction. By a vote of 436-0, the Russian Duma has passed an anti-gay bill that bans “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations”. It seems likely that it will pass the upper house and be signed into law by Russian president Vladimir Putin. [Read more…]
It has been fascinating to observe the reactions to the Edward Snowden whistleblowing, There has clearly been an immediate groundswell of popular support for Snowden among ordinary people who see him as a young person who had the courage of his convictions to risk his entire future to reveal government wrongdoing. There are already over 60,000 signatures on a White House petition calling Snowden a “national hero” and that he “should be immediately issued a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs.” Of course this is not going to happen but it must be encouraging for Snowden to know that so many people support him. [Read more…]
Whenever I have seen a ship being launched in the past, it has always slid into the water stern first and it is usually pretty smooth and graceful. In this video, the ship was launched sideways and went into the water like a diver’s belly flop, splashing water over a vast area that not only soaked spectators who tried to run away but sent debris flying dangerously toward them. It is a wonder no one was hurt. For a moment I thought that the ship had actually capsized. [Read more…]
As expected, there has been a lot of chatter about the personal life of Edward Snowden, even to the extent of details about his girl friend. What surprised me is the amount of time spent on the fact that he did not graduate from high school and had some community college education, and yet at the age of just 29 had a very well-paying job with a major firm that gave him access to a lot of top-secret government information. This is clearly troubling to some people. [Read more…]
One other argument that is being made against Snowden is that by revealing that the US government is spying on practically everyone wherever it can, it has given valuable information to the terrorists and is thus aiding the enemy because it compromises the security of the US. This is absurd. [Read more…]
When I see cyclists on the road, I am particularly careful to give them a wide berth because they are so vulnerable. But apart from that, bikes do not cause any problem for me. Not only do I have no objection to cyclists, it is a cheap means of transport and results in a far healthier lifestyle than mine. [Read more…]
The recent whistleblower revelations have caught Obama administration’s Director of National Intelligence in a flat-out lie. But watch how James Clapper tries to weasel out of it. What we would call a lie he calls it ‘the least untruthful’ answer. [Read more…]
ProPublica is an investigative journalism cooperative that is picking up the slack as traditional media outlets cut back on expensive investigative reporting and increasingly replacing it with faux journalism that recycles press releases, official leaks, and gossip. ProPublica is proving itself to be ever more valuable. [Read more…]
The recent revelations of the existence of a massive widespread global surveillance system under the control of the US government lead to the obvious question of why it was created at all. I think it resulted from many reasons, all of which converged to this one end. [Read more…]