Obama’s Christmas Gift to Trump: A Ministry of Truth
. By Thomas L. Knapp On the Friday before Christmas — the kind of time politicians pick to do things they hope you won’t notice — US president Barack Obama signed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. Along with the usual terrible, horrible, very bad, no good NDAA stuff (all the little mandates involved in […]
Capital Punishment: Can we Cut it Out Already?
. By Thomas L. Knapp The Hill reports that capital punishment is fading away in America. Government employees have ceremonially killed fewer prisoners this year (20) than in any year since 1991, and fewer criminals (30) have been sentenced to death than in any year since the option became available again in 1976 (after a […]
Peace On Earth, By Whatever Name
. By Thomas L. Knapp It’s popular in some politicized evangelical Christian circles (that is, among the American “religious right”) to spend every December moaning about a “war on Christmas.” Unless they get to fill the commons with their religious displays — and theirs only — and unless the cup from their preferred coffee vendor […]
Raid Encryption: This Should Be The New Normal
. By Thomas L. Knapp “When government agents raid Uber’s offices,” Business Insider reports, “the company springs into action with an immediate response: it shuts everything down and encrypts all its computers.” That claim comes from documents filed by former Uber forensic investigator Samuel Ward Spangenberg, who’s suing the company for age discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, […]
Trump on Military Spending: An Encouraging Sign
. By Thomas L. Knapp As on most issues, president-elect Donald Trump has been all over the map on military issues throughout his campaign and post-campaign pronouncements. One day he muses about disbanding NATO, the next day he promises to “rebuild” the US military, which is already by far not just the most well-funded war […]
Servergate/Hackergate: The Case of the Investigatory Double Standard
, By Thomas L. Knapp On December 9, US president Barack Obama ordered a “review” of — an investigation into — alleged Russian hacking aimed at influencing the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election. Supporters of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton lauded Obama’s order, which seems aimed at, well, influencing the outcome of the 2016 […]
Should Trump Impose Tariffs on China and Mexico?
. By Robert W. McGee Should Donald Trump impose a 35% tariff on the importation of goods from China and Mexico as he proposes to do once inaugurated? The short answer, for two reasons, is NO. Reason number one has to do with utilitarian ethics. Nearly all studies conducted by unbiased economists have found that […]
Censorship: Tech Firms Should Abandon the EU to Its Madness
. By Thomas L. Knapp The European Union has a censorship addiction, and a desire to inflict the costs of indulging that addiction on the world’s top tech companies. Vera Jourova, the EU’s Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, complains that Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft respond too slowly to demands that they delete […]
Pearl Harbor: Should Abe Apologize?
. By Thomas L. Knapp On May 27, Barack Obama became the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima, site of history’s first atomic attack on August 6, 1945. The Japanese government did not ask Obama for an apology, nor did he offer one. On December 27, Shinzo Abe will become the first Japanese prime […]
Boeing’s Iran Business: The War Party versus American Jobs
. By Thomas L. Knapp In June, US aerospace company Boeing inked an agreement with Iran Air to produce 109 passenger aircraft. Estimated value: $25 billion. The agreement represents the biggest business interaction between the US and Iran since that country’s 1979 Islamic revolution. On November 17, the US House of Representatives voted 243-174 to […]
