FBI director says corporate encryption of smartphones "will have very serious consequences for law enforcement and national security agencies at every level" -- that such encryption could stall murder investigations or free suspects. Obviously Mr. Comey doesn't take Blackstone's formulation very seriously, and worrying about "suspects going free" suggests he doesn't know how he comes off to ordinary people, who worry more about criminals going free. Should I be grateful that President Obama can only find second-rate fearmongers?
Author Andrew Schmookler argues that "while the right is connected to their moral and spiritual passions (even though that connection has been made on the basis of lies), Liberal America is not," largely because so many liberals consider notions like "good" and "evil" subjective matters. I wandered through that valley myself many years ago, but luckily I crawled out of it, even though I still practice seeing the good in my enemies. These days, if I don't actually see that much good in my enemies, I'm pretty sure that's because it's not there.
An EU study finds wind power is actually cheaper than coal or gas -- because the EU study actually counts the costs of breathing foul air and fighting climate change. Can any of our enterprising "liberal" media journalists ask Mitch McConnell what he thinks about all of that? Of course not -- then they would lose "access" to Mr. McConnell, like that means a damn when he's only going to feed you BS.
The Huffington Post finds that fast-food sandwich chain Jimmy John's makes their workers sign a draconian "non-competitiveness" agreement, effectively barring employees from working at any of Jimmy John's competitors for two years after they leave the corporation. It gets better: Jimmy John's defines "competitors" to include any nearby shop "deriving more than 10% of its revenue" from selling subs and sandwiches. You have to wonder what they're afraid of. It's probably not that some disgruntled employee will tell their local hospital cafeteria about the oil-to-vinegar ratio in the Gargantuan's "homemade Italian dressing."
Paul Krugman dissects right-wing claims that "the will of the markets" demands less government spending. He saves the best for last: "when people talk about what markets demand, what they’re really doing is trying to bully us into doing what they themselves want." A close second: he notes that rates of interest on American and European government debt have been close to zero for years, suggesting more that "markets are practically begging governments to borrow and spend" than that markets want governments to stay out of the economy.
Finally, Sen. Ron Johnson (E-WI) voices his fears that ISIS fighters will infect themselves with ebola and travel to America. And go around sneezing on people, no doubt. I think the kind of religious "devotion" that would induce one to give oneself ebola in order to maybe infect a few enemies is actually pretty rare, thank God, yet Mr. Johnson calls it "a clear and present danger." Ron Johnson: he gives the "citizen legislator" a bad name.
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