Armand V. Cucciniello III, writing in USA Today, says Ted Cruz may be even worse than Donald Trump as a nominee, because Mr. Trump at least can cut a deal, while all Mr. Cruz has done in the Senate is "say 'no.'" I've said it before and I'll say it again -- the fact that Mr. Cruz is now the "establishment" candidate, whose success provokes "relief" from Republicans, now makes me think Donald Trump isn't a trick Democrats pulled on Republicans, but a trick Republicans pulled on us. (If Mr. Trump gets the nod and Gen. Matiss runs as a far-right "independent," I'll think the same thing.)
Ho hum, Yves Smith, writing at Naked Capitalism, catches J.P. Morgan-Chase CEO Jamie Dimon telling a bunch of falsehoods in order to argue that our government should stay off his back. Aside from being untrue, the statement that big banks can perform "mission-critical services...that regional and community banks simply cannot do" is rhetorical hostage-taking -- don't make my bank smaller, he's saying, or these mission-critical services get it! Also, there's booga-booga about China. Seriously, though, read the whole thing, if for no other reason than to put another nail in the idea that the right has all the economic thinkers.
Just about everyone uses words like "ludicrous" and "technically illiterate" to describe the draft encryption bill emanating from Sens. Burr and Feinstein late last week. Speaking to "illiteracy," I really should have been more clear the other day about a matter of diction. "Encrypt" doesn't literally mean "protect" or "keep safe," even though it has the word "crypt" in it, and even though "encryption" should lead to safety and security -- "encrypt" literally means to convert a message into cipher or code. So demanding that folks make their encrypted data "intelligible" literally means "make your encrypted data unencrypted." But they're not stupid; they just want us to think so.
Louisiana judge orders the release of seven indigent men -- all facing felony charges including murder, rape, assault, and armed robbery -- because the state has failed to fund their defense, and further says that this failure violates the men's Sixth Amendment rights. A brief perusal of said Sixth Amendment reveals that Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Arthur Hunter is absolutely right, and also suggests that maybe the government of Louisiana should stop pretending that tax cuts magically increase state revenues. I mean, does Duck Dynasty really need tax breaks?
Finally, Kansas Secretary of State gets caught putting out voter guides in Spanish with incorrect information. The Spanish-language edition said voters could register up to 15 days before an election, when the law actually says 21, and naturally the English-language edition had the correct info. After eight years of watching malice-disguised-as-incompetence from Tha Bush Mobb, I'd be a real schmuck to believe that this was all due to "administrative error." Someone needs to lose their job over this, too. Color me skeptical that anyone will.
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