Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

SOME NEWS ITEMS NOTED TODAY

Each of the following articles are well worth reading:

   -- Vice-President Mike Pence on Prayer in the White House

   -- Dr. Robert Epstein - Google has power to flip elections in a way that can't be traced

   -- Survey - 88% of Harvard Faculty say President Trump has done a very poor job in his first year and a quarter as President  

    -- Jamie Glazov suspended from Twitter for quoting  Islamic religious texts

   -- Islam in France: troubles Macron chooses to ignore 

Macron's Washington speech, as it happened, came only days after the release of the most comprehensive study yet of Islam in France. Co-sponsored by the Sorbonne, it concluded that the country's second- and third-generation Muslims, who make up seven or eight percent of its population, are increasingly Islamized. Most have no respect for French law and culture; most approve of the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Researcher Olivier Galland said his results were, “to put it mildly, harrowing” – reflective of community values in stark contrast with those of "la belle Republique. "

60 MINUTES: NO TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICE SECURE FROM HACKERS

    **  60 Minutes - We cannot trust the technology we use.    Nothing is "secure" from hackers - including our cell phones and all else besides.  Hackers can get into everything, regardless of passwords.   

QUICK TAKES

Links from the Drudge Report:

     -  Ann Arbor priest urges his parishioners to get concealed carry licenses   

                    He titles his letter, "We're Not In Mayberry Anymore."

     - USDA urges citizens to eat expired food.

                   I've always known "expiration dates" needn't be observed.

    - Google allows you to see everything you've ever searched!

                   With all that data available to people and advertisers, your life is an open book 

    -  Facebook takes another step in controlling media content.

                  "In a post entitled, “News Feed FYI: Balancing Content from Friends and Pages,” Facebook Product Manager Max Eulenstein and User Experience Researcher Lauren Scissors lay out how “media content” will be altered under the site’s newest algorithm."  Translation:  Facebook is the boss!  

     - Report: JPMorgan Chase Bans Storage of Cash In Its Safety Deposit Boxes

                   Wow.  A sign of a growing "war on cash."

Article:  As of last month, Chase has also instituted a new policy which, “restricts borrowers from using cash to make payments on credit cards, mortgages, equity lines, and auto loans,” writes Professor Joseph Salerno of the Mises Institute.

The news arrives on the back of comments by Citi’s Willem Buiter, who recently advocated abolishing cash altogether in order to “solve the world’s central banks’ problem with negative interest rates”.

Last month we also reported on how the Justice Department is ordering bank employees to consider calling the cops on customers who withdraw $5,000 dollars or more.

Efforts to impose restrictions on the use of cash by banks are seen by many as an attack on anonymity and an example of how financial institutions are positioning themselves to handle the fallout of the next economic crash – at the expense of customers.

THE END OF PRIVACY

Drudge links to this story: New App Allows Strangers to ID You Just by Looking at You.

A new app will allow total strangers to ID you and pull up all your information, just by looking at you and scanning your face with their Google Glass. The app is called NameTag and it sounds CREEPY.

The "real-time facial recognition" software "can detect a face using the Google Glass camera, send it wirelessly to a server, compare it to millions of records, and in seconds return a match complete with a name, additional photos and social media profiles."  [more. . .]

EVERYONE IN U.S. UNDER VIRTUAL SURVEILLANCE - NSA WHISTLEBLOWER

Read about it here.  (HT: Drudge)

MIRROR OR A 2-WAY GLASS? -- DO THE FINGERNAIL TEST

From an email:

How can you tell when you are in a room, restroom, motel etc. with
a mirror or a 2-way glass?

A policewoman who travels all over the US and gives seminars
and techniques for businesswomen passed this on.

When we visit toilets, bathrooms, hotel rooms, changing rooms,
etc., how many of you know for sure that the seemingly ordinary
mirror hanging on the wall is a real mirror, or actually a 2-way
mirror (i.e., they can see you, but you can't see them)?

There have been many cases of people installing 2-way mirrors
in female changing rooms . It is very difficult to positively identify
the surface by looking at it.

So, how do we determine with any amount of certainty what type
of mirror we are looking at?

TWO WAY GLASS IMAGE MIRROR IMAGE

Just conduct this simple test: Place the tip of your fingernail against the reflective surface and if there is a GAP between your fingernail and the image of the nail, then it is GENUINE mirror. However, if your fingernail DIRECTLY TOUCHES the image of your nail, then BEWARE! IT IS A 2-WAY MIRROR!

"No Space, Leave the Place" So remember, every time you see a mirror, do the "fingernail test." It doesn't cost you anything.

MIRROR OR A 2-WAY GLASS? -- DO THE FINGERNAIL TEST

From an email:

How can you tell when you are in a room, restroom, motel etc. with
a mirror or a 2-way glass?

A policewoman who travels all over the US and gives seminars
and techniques for businesswomen passed this on.

When we visit toilets, bathrooms, hotel rooms, changing rooms,
etc., how many of you know for sure that the seemingly ordinary
mirror hanging on the wall is a real mirror, or actually a 2-way
mirror (i.e., they can see you, but you can't see them)?

There have been many cases of people installing 2-way mirrors
in female changing rooms . It is very difficult to positively identify
the surface by looking at it.

So, how do we determine with any amount of certainty what type
of mirror we are looking at?

TWO WAY GLASS IMAGE MIRROR IMAGE

Just conduct this simple test: Place the tip of your fingernail against the reflective
surface and if there is a GAP between your fingernail and the image of the nail,
then it is GENUINE mirror. However, if your fingernail DIRECTLY TOUCHES the image of your nail, then BEWARE! IT IS A 2-WAY MIRROR!

"No Space, Leave the Place" So remember, every time you see a mirror, do the "fingernail test." It doesn't cost you anything.

U.S. MILITARY DEVELOPING SPYCHIPS FOR SOLDIERS

Bob Unruh writes:  (HT: Drudge)

The U.S. military wants to plant nanosensors in soldiers to monitor health on future battlefields and immediately respond to needs, but a privacy expert warns the step is just one more down the road to computer chips for all.

“It’s never going to happen that the government at gunpoint says, ‘You’re going to have a tracking chip,’” said Katherine Albrecht, who with Liz McIntyre authored “Spychips,” a book that warns of the threat to privacy posed by Radio Frequency Identification. 

“It’s always in incremental steps. If you can put a microchip in someone that doesn’t track them … everybody looks and says, ‘Come on,’” she said. “It’ll be interesting seeing where we go.”

According to a report at Mobiledia, the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has confirmed plans to create nanosensors to monitor the health of soldiers on battlefields.

The devices also would report data to doctors. But privacy analysts have expressed concern that the implants could be used not just to monitor health but to keep track of and possibly control people. . . [more. . .]

Me: The attempt to track civilians won't be long.   Any bets?

U.S. PEPPERED WITH SPY-PLANE LAUNCH SITES

The U.K. Daily Mail published a major article today titled:"Is there a drone in your neighbourhood?  Rise of spy planes exposed after FAA is forced to reveal 63 launch sites across U.S."  (HT: Drudge)   Wow.  Freedom in America is in huge danger.

Read more...

GOOGLE TO DIG DEEPER INTO USERS' LIVES

The AP has printed a useful article on Google's invasive, personal data-gathering strategy.

If you're amazed - and maybe even a little alarmed - about how much Google seems to know about you, brace yourself. Beginning Thursday, Google will operate under a streamlined privacy policy that enables the Internet's most powerful company to dig even deeper into the lives of its more than 1 billion users.

Here's an example of Google's enhanced data-gathering capabilities:

The information Google learns about you while you enter requests into its search engine can be culled to suggest videos to watch when you visit the company's YouTube site.  Users who write a memo on Google's online word processing program, Docs, might be alerted to the misspelling of the name of a friend or co-worker a user has communicated with on Google's Gmail. The new policy pools information from all Google-operated services, empowering the company to connect the dots from one service to the next.

The article points out ways to minimize the data gathered.

For starters, make sure you aren't logged into one of Google's services when you're using Google's search engine, watching a YouTube video or perusing pictures on Picasa. You can get a broad overview of what Google knows about you at http://www.google.com/dashboard , where a Google account login is required. Google also offers the option to delete users' history of search activity.

It's important to keep in mind that Google can still track you even when you're not logged in to one of its services. But the information isn't quite as revealing because Google doesn't track you by name, only through a numeric Internet address attached to your computer or an alphanumeric string attached to your Web browser.

I don't find that terribly reassuring.    But what about smartphone users?  It turns out (unsurprisingly) there is a lot of anger.

One of the major gripes is that registered Google users aren't being given an option to consent to, or reject, the changes, given that they developed their dependence on the services under different rules. In particular, people who bought smartphones running on Google's Android software, and signed two-year contracts to use the devices, may have a tough time avoiding the new privacy policy. They could switch to non-Google services, but those typically don't work as well on Android software. Or they could buy a different smartphone and pay an early-termination penalty.

I plan to use Google minimally (I don't own a smartphone) and follow the advice given above.

QUICK TAKES

Andrew c. McCarthy - The Sharia Court of Pennsylvania 

A state judge in Pennsylvania has dismissed an assault and harrassment case against a Muslim defendant who admitted attacking the victim. Magistrate Judge Mark Martin, a veteran of the war in Iraq and a convert to Islam, ruled that Talag Elbayomy’s sharia defense — what he claimed was his obligation to strike out against any insult against the prophet Mohammed — trumped the First Amendment free speech rights of the victim.

If you want a little more privacy, you might want to delete your Google browsing history because

As of March 1, Google’s new, “shorter and easier to read” privacy policy will go into effect. At that time, the search giant that also includes products such as YouTube, Gmail and Calendar will begin “[treating] you as a single user across all [of its] products.”   Click here to find out to reduce Google's information about you.

GOOGLE ANNOUNCES PRIVACY CHANGES ACROSS PRODUCTS; USERS CAN'T OPT OUT

Another reason to be wary of google.  Click here.   HT: Drudge

Google announces privacy changes across products; users can’t opt out

FEDS ABOUT TO CREATE A NATIONWIDE STUDENT DATABASE

Bureaucrats want power.  They don't give a hoot about privacy.  No.  The unremitting goal is to to collect everything they can, about everybody they can, wherever they can, whenever they can, and privacy be damned.   Read Emmet McGroarty & Jane Robbins' article, "How the Fed are tracking your kid."  (HT: Drudge)

NEW (BRILLIANT) AIRPORT PROFILING: YOUNG CAUCASIAN WOMEN IN SKIRTS

Unbelievable.  I wish I knew how to put this video on my blog, but it's (not yet) on YouTube.   The incident took place in Grand Rapids and is reported on WCCM13-TV.  You've GOT TO SEE THIS VIDEO.  Does this young woman look like a terrorist to you?  All the indications are there, right?  (For my previous post on airport security click here.)

Charles Krauthammer nails it:

...everyone knows that the entire apparatus of the security line is a national homage to political correctness. Nowhere do more people meekly acquiesce to more useless inconvenience and needless indignity for less purpose. Wizened seniors strain to untie their shoes; beltless salesmen struggle comically to hold up their pants; 3-year-olds scream while being searched insanely for explosives - when everyone, everyone, knows that none of these people is a threat to anyone.

The ultimate idiocy is the full-body screening of the pilot. The pilot doesn't need a bomb or box cutter to bring down a plane. All he has to do is drive it into the water . . .

THERE'S SOMETHING VERY WEIRD ABOUT THESE AIRPORT SECURITY CHECKS

Update 10/19/10 -  New (Brilliant) Airport Profiling:  Young Caucasian Women in Skirts

Original post-Sanity is nowhere to be found.  Instead of logical profiling, we have this:  (HT:  Drudge)

Jim Loft over at Gateway Pundit posts:

--  Former Top TSA Official: “Nobody Likes Having Their 4th Amendment Rights Violated… We’re Going to Have to Do It” (Video)

--  35,000 Naked Scanner Images Found Stored at Florida Courthouse

-- It’s All About Securing Freedom… TSA Agents Now Sticking Hands Down Your Pants

 Me:  It's beyond weird.  It's ridiculous and disgusting.  I have no desire to fly on an airplane.  Are buses and train stations next?  Then shopping malls?  Football stadiums?

Update 11/17/10 -

-- Big Sis Considers Giving Exemptions to Muslim Women at Airports (Video)

 

Jim Loft writes:"

You’ve got to be kidding? Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is considering giving exemptions to Muslim women at airports.

Isn’t that the reason that we have these intrusive groin checks in the first place?… Because of Muslim bombers?

Gee… It’s not like we’ve ever heard about a terrorist hiding under a burka before.  Jailed cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, one of two brothers who ran Islamabad’s radical Red Mosque, was caught fleeing the violence at his mosque dressed in a burka. This was after he told his students to sacrifice themselves. At least 100 people died, mostly students, when security forces stormed the mosque in a bid to end the siege and flush out pro-Taliban militants from the complex.

Update #2

Washington Times editorial - "Big Sister's Police State"

Cheney Takes Swipe At Obama at Groundbreaking Ceremony: “This May Be the Only Shovel Ready Project in America” (Video)

Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 8:18 PM

A slimmed Dick Cheney took a swipe at Barack Obama today at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Bush Library:
“This may be the only shovel ready project in America.”

CBS has more on Cheney’s speech today.

At groundbreaking ceremony in Dallas for the George W. Bush Presidential Center today, former Vice President Dick Cheney said “history is beginning to come around” to a more positive view of former President George W. Bush…

…He spoke admiringly of Mr. Bush’s actions in the wake of the Sept. 11th attacks, telling the former president that “because you were determined to throw back the enemy, we did not suffer another 9/11 or something even worse.”

Cheney, who (unlike Mr. Bush) has been a vocal critic of President Obama, also took a shot at the current administration. Speaking of his expectation that construction would move quickly on the presidential center following the groundbreaking, Cheney quipped that “this may be the only shovel ready project in America.” The reference was to the Obama-supported stimulus package that Republicans have criticized as ineffective.

It must really hurt those democrats to know that Cheney’s right.

5 comments

ADVERTISEMENT

Boehner Challenges Constitutionality of Obamacare

Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 7:50 PM

GOP Leader John Boehner filed an amicus brief today challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare.
The Note reported:

Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner, R-Ohio, filed an amicus brief Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the health care law passed by Democrats earlier this year.

“ObamaCare is a job-killer, and our economy simply cannot afford this unprecedented, unconstitutional power grab by the federal government,” Boehner stated Tuesday evening. “That is why Republicans will continue standing with the American people and fighting to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with better solutions put forth in the Pledge to America to lower health care costs and protect American jobs.”

Boehner’s amicus brief was filed in support of a lawsuit brought by 20 state attorneys general and the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), the nation’s largest small business association. The brief seeks to overturn what Boehner says is a “government takeover of health care that is costing jobs, increasing costs, and jeopardizing coverage for millions of Americans.”

“I’m proud to join these states and the NFIB in their ongoing effort to overturn this job-killing health care law and protect American workers from its devastating impact.” Boehner said.

In the brief, Boehner says that the Obama Administration has distorted the Constitution to increase congressional power, which in turn compromises the integrity of the legislative process, and undermines accountability to the American people.

At least 26 states, a majority, are expected to join the suit against Obamacare.

9 comments

ADVERTISEMENT

Bitter Murkowski Blames DeMint For Costing GOP Majority

Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 5:25 PM

Just think… Only 6 more years of listening to this horrid RINO attacking conservatives and conservative causes. That ought to be a loads of fun.
Today bitter Senator Lisa Murkowski blamed Senator Jim DeMint for Republicans losing the majority.
The Politico reported:

After ripping Sarah Palin, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski isn’t mincing words about another one of her high-profile GOP critics: South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint.

“I think some of the Republicans in the Congress feel pretty strongly that he and his actions potentially cost us the majority by encouraging candidates that ended up not being electable,” Murkowski told POLITICO outside her Senate office. “And I think Delaware is a pretty good example of that, and I think there’re some folks that feel that DeMint’s actions didn’t necessarily help the Republican majority.”

Murkowski suggested the South Carolina conservative and favorite of the tea party seemed more interested in bolstering his own political standing rather than that of the Republican Party.

“So the real question is, what’s his desire?” she said. “Does he want to help the Republican majority, or is he on his own agenda, his own initiative?”

Did she actually just question Jim DeMint’s agenda? She is god-awful… Absolutely awful.

45 comments

Breaking: Stick a Fork In It… Dem Melissa Bean Goes Down in Flames- Joe Walsh Takes IL District 8 …Update: Bean Concedes

Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 4:31 PM

THIS IS BREAKING NEWS—-
From a trusted source…
Republican Joe Walsh leads Obama-Pelosi liberal Melissa Bean by 297 votes in the Illinois District 8 Congressional election.
There are only 80 provisional ballots left to count.

Not even Bruno the Bone-Crusher can save Melissa Bean now:

Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) brought Bruno the Bone-Crusher with her to a town hall meeting in August to threaten constituents. The meeting was held at Round Lake, Illinois Public library on Thursday August 12. The Obamacare-supporting democrat allowed the thug to roam around the room to intimidate constituents from asking questions.

Buh-Bye, Melissa Bean.

More… FOX News is now reporting that Walsh has widened his lead over Bean.

UPDATE: From sources– Melissa Bean is holding a press conference on Wednesday. Bean conceded the race tonight.

22 comments

Former Top TSA Official: “Nobody Likes Having Their 4th Amendment Rights Violated… We’re Going to Have to Do It” (Video)

DETAILS OF A 100 MILLION FACEBOOK USERS PUBLISHED ONLINE

My long-standing decision to steer clear of Facebook seems vindicated.  Click here for the story behind the headline above.  (HT: Drudge)  My previously posted concerns can be found here and here.

FACEBOOK PRIVACY CONCERNS PERSIST

Story here. (HT: Drudge)

A DOCTOR WRITES A LETTER TO HER PATIENTS

Since she cannot serve two masters, the government and her patients, she chooses the latter.  Daniel Foster reports:

An M.D. in family practice passed along this letter she sent to her patients after Obamacare became law. She relates that, so far, "100% of those who have contacted me about it have supported me and accepted the new conditions."

March 23, 2010

My Dear Patient,

As you must know, Congress has just passed extensive legislation governing health care delivery and insurance systems. Whether you agree with what it does or not, we are all now subject to this law and its sweeping changes.

I have always conducted my medical practice with my patient’s best interests as my first priority. Although not legally obliged to do so, I have routinely provided you with a receipt that has all the codes necessary to bill your own health insurance company for any reimbursement to which you are entitled. Until now, that insurance company was a free enterprise despite the fact that it was heavily regulated by state and federal laws. Now the situation is quite different. Through the new law’s mandates,

QUICK TAKES

The following articles make struck me as worth posting:

Steve Lohr - How Privacy Vanishes Online

George Leef - "Do We Need -- Or Want -- More Students in College?"

Mark Earley - Virtual Worlds and Neglect of the Real

Dennis Prager - The Bigger the Government, the Less You Are Needed

Who's Tracking You?

This article in the current (January, 2009) Popular Mechanics magazine has prompted me to re-think my internet use to some extent.  It left me with the understanding that anything done online is automatically preserved for history and for anyone smart enough to get at it.  Every click is recorded.  I knew that before, but the article drove the point home more forcefully than ever.  Of particular concern to me are online storage  websites that I need to rethink.

How to Protect Your Privacy on Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn

Mint, a free personal finance software website, offers valuable (and easy to understand) privacy protection information for Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn here.

NEW SITES MAKE IT EASIER TO SPY ON YOUR FRIENDS

That's not my title, that's the title of a Wall Street Journal article published last month which I found among various clippings on my desk.  The technological world we inhabit makes privacy something we kissed goodbye.  I'm not sure that's a good thing.

How To Track Down Anyone Online

From Lifehacker.com   Click here.  Another site has still more ideas.  I stumbled upon both at popurls, quite an interesting collection of popular articles, photos, and videos.

Facebook Users Protest Online Tracking

For the story click here.  (HT: Drudge).   I posted privacy concerns earlier here and here.

Update - A blogger asks and details a question:

So the question that Facebook absolutely needs to make clear is simply: “When we click ‘no thanks’ or opt-out of a site, is that data then being deleted and therefore not stored anywhere?”

He posts evidence that Facebook still collects all manner of data, even if it isn't published.

- PC World adds an article

Facebook is Stalking You and How to Block It

Click here.

Facebook and Privacy Issues: A Real Problem

Or at least some see it as a problem. Recently I have received a number of invitations to be a friend on Facebook.  (Begun 3 years ago, it claims 40 million active users and 200,000 more signing up every day). I have reluctantly declined because I vaguely remembered reading something about privacy issues. Then yesterday I read this article that restates and reinforces the privacy concern.

Facebook plans to escalate its use of personal data to target advertisements to individual users, despite mounting privacy concerns surrounding social networking sites.

. . .Chris Kelly, the chief privacy officer, added: “We have always said that information [submitted by users] may be used to target adverts.”  . . . He suggested that internet-users could no longer expect to remain anonymous online, but

New Search Engine Plans to Track Down 6 Billion People

Click here.  (HT: Drudge)  I have copied the full article below.  Note that networking websites such as MySpace will be mined for data.

A US web firm is preparing to launch an ambitious Internet search engine that it hopes will eventually track down the names of the world's six billion people.

Spock.com says it has already indexed 100 million people and is adding a million names per

Do You Really Want Google To Know So Much About You?

I don't.  This article discusses Google's goals.   (HT: Drudge)