Outside the Beltway

"Just Cause" was certainly not intended by Bush or his minions to be a pun. Remember, this is the same family that gave us "Mission Accomplished". Conservatives aren't known for their sense of humor, which is usually limited to punching down and demeaning weaker opponents, not insightful self depreciation and candor. Case in point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_%C2%BD_Hour_News_Hour#Reception The "Just 'Cuz" interpretation was pointed out by critics of Bush's otherwise unjustifiable invasion. The US created the original problem by supporting and paying Noriega while turning a blind eye to his abuses and corruption for so long. The operation plan it came from was called the "Prayer Book", so circular reasoning was the essential justification of its self fulfilling prophecy, just like with any religion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Panama#Origin_… >Origin of the name "Operation Just Cause" >Operation plans directed against Panama evolved from plans designed to defend the Panama Canal. They became more aggressive as the situation between the two nations deteriorated. The Prayer Book series of plans included rehearsals for a possible clash (Operation Purple Storm) and missions to secure U.S. sites (Operation Bushmaster). >Eventually, these plans became Operation Blue Spoon which was then, in order to sustain the perceived legitimacy of the invasion throughout the operation, renamed by the Pentagon to…

I am not worried about it. People care about security and don't welcome the hassle. For the privacy advocates when it comes to public transportation like flying: what do you fear may happen as a result of greater background checks? This article reminded me of this one from 3 years ago: http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/why_israeli_airport_security_wont_wor… (PS: I predict this comment will be heavily voted down just because people disagree with me, and I want to see whether HN users on aggregate punish opposing views or reward a willingness to reasonably discuss something.) However, the below doesn't make much sense together: "The prescreening, some of which is already taking place, is described in documents the T.S.A. released to comply with government regulations about the collection and use of individuals’ data, but the details of the program have not been publicly announced. It is unclear precisely what information the agency is relying upon to make these risk assessments." So what is the regulation about disclosing collection of info, if it's still unclear after disclosure what information they are using?

At the same time there is a definite "education bubble" going on, somewhat counterintuitively, with the spiraling cost of education [1]. The reasons for this seem to be complex, including the availability of student loans, the increasing importance of college rankings allowing higher ranked institutions to raise prices, losing money on athletics [2], arbitrary requirements and/or incentives for college degrees where none are technically required and so on. While we've pushed the notion that education is its own reward and colleges don't necessarily exist to teach you anything useful in the real world, it's becoming increasingly clear that prospective students are going to have to make their choice of whether to go to college and what degree to get from an economic standpoint, at least in part. One of the problems seem to be that for many professions colleges have a captive market where you can't practice in whatever field you've trained for without an internship or similar. In some fields demand greatly exceeds supply causing some internships to be sold [3]. To quote Kent Brockman [4], "Scott, things aren't as happy as they used to be down here at the unemployment office. Joblessness is no longer just for Philosophy majors - useful people are starting to feel the pinch." You also have (particularly left-wing) governments who treat college attendance as some kind of political goal, which is crazy. Having access to a college education is not the same thing as giving…

Different systems will have different shenanigans. The demo of the EDS system (in Pennsylvania, IIRC) had a Democratic congresswoman coming up to cast a ballot, for herself naturally, and it registered for her opponent. Why she shrugged that off, I have no idea. I think a lot of people just assume "it's a computer so it must be better". Note [https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/diebold_admits_that_its_e-voting_mac… and [http://www.votersunite.org/info/ES&Sinthenews.pdf]

- Pol Pot from Cambodia - Mao from China's Cultural Revolution - Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey [1] - Joseph Stalin, author of the Great Terror - Adolf Hitler in Poland [2] - Ahmednejad in Iran [3] - And ISIS, in the smoking remains of the Middle East [4] * All agree with you [5] * [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20517969 [2] https://www.dw.com/en/the-mass-murder-of-polish-intellectuals-and-the-… [3] https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/ahmednejad_urges_purge_of_liberal_an… [4] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/isis---echoing-the-purges_b_6617588 [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism

This was a talking point when Libya descended into civil war. What happens to .ly TLD? https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/libya-the-internet-and-bit-ly/

This is buzzword-laden gobbledygook, and I tend to think Greenwald is butthurt on “online censorship” because he got called on his shit. https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/glenn-greenwald-quits-intercept/

Whaa?? Coffee consumption has dropped more than 50 percent in 70 years https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/u-s-coffee-consumption-had-dropped-m… Why??

They also took 19 properties from their owners to build it. https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/eminent_domain_ruling_affects_dallas…

Literally there are states where they closed voting locations and DMV locations in predominantly minority areas. They created a requirement for a license and then claimed it would only impact 16 year olds and they would "drive to people's houses" at the same time that they claimed they were "out of money". Nevermind that the whole state has an issue with not enough polling stations. https://www.snopes.com/news/2015/10/01/alabama-drivers-license/ https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/georgia-county-abandons-plan-to-clos… https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/30/midterm-elections-close…

Or just ban the grunters... sigh. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/no_grunting_allowed_at_the_gym_/

.. up until the 1970s, when the wages-productivity link was broken. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/what-happened-to-the-wage-and-product…

Although I'm sympathetic with the side I think you're on, the legal issue at stake here is much more complex than you are giving credit for, and reasonable people can disagree about this. Courts have apparently found in the past that disclosing a physical key is not a 5th amendment violation whereas disclosing a code (eg the combination to a safe) is. The EFF is apparently of the mind that this is a violation. There's a decent writeup of a different case that raises the same issue here http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the-fifth-amendment-privacy-and-compu…

Not really, they only had a filibuster proof majority for a very short period of time -- http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/did-the-democrats-ever-really-have-60… And that is counting Lieberman as a D; a person who backed McCain for president and who later personally killed the public option. I do think we will get to the public option at some point. It just makes too much sense not to and would strengthen the healthcare as a whole while allowing people more choice.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/google-doesnt-want-people-using-googl… Companies seem to think different about this.

It's a Google search away. Seriously, the story of the cost of supporting public transportation. But you can have a link to the latter assertion http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/should-we-continue-to-subsidize-rural…

This is the big lie. In fact it's documented time and time again by experienced interrogators that it's ineffective e.g. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/an_fbi_interrogator_on_the_effectiven… On the contrary, the only people proposing torture are doing it from a purely emotional standpoint. And what a disgusting and shameful emotional standpoint they are revealing themselves to have.

It's been shown that torture is among the least effective way of extracting information from unwilling informants. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/an_fbi_interrogator_on_the_effectiven…

Additionally, the UN millenium development goal of halving world poverty by 2010 was met ~2005. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/half-a-billion-people-escaped-poverty…

> 1) A passcode is probably not covered by Fifth Amendment protections. Thus a phone owner who refuses to lock their phone could be punished by the court anyway. No, Kerr either doesn't know the case law or is completely ignoring a huge chunk of it to make his point. I prefer the latter, but regardless, his point about the 5th Amendment is completely wrong as this is far from a settled issue and other courts have ruled differently: http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/federal-appeals-court-fifth-amendment…

> OK but France has crazy high taxes: capital gain taxes, income tax of more than 50% for not that well paying jobs and up to 75% income tax for rich people, a yearly tax on your belongings if you're "rich", 21% VAT, up to 70% inheritance taxes, etc. Comparing France [44.6% of GDP in tax revenue] vs. US [26.9% of GDP in tax revenue] is a bit disingenuous. The historic norm for the US [c. 1950] taxes he is talking is about 3 to 3.5% of our total GDP higher. France would still be a good 15% GDP ahead in taxes. Ideally, the US would shift burdens and lower destructive spending. France, on the other hand, should be lowering taxes and restructuring its spending. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/federal-taxes-at-lowest-rate-since-19…

Not sure why I'm being downvoted: http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/58_gay_arab_linguists_ousted_from_mil…

> (1) As Bitcoin has yet to be recognised/classified as a currency or security, one could argue that derivatives based on the price of a Bitcoin are more akin to bets than financial derivatives. It'll be interesting to see if the CFTC will object. Intrade sold binary options depending on, among other things, the outcome of political elections. They were most definitely a bet, but they were still a security according to the CFTC. “It is against the law to solicit U.S. persons to buy and sell commodity options, even if they are called ‘prediction’ contracts, unless they are listed for trading and traded on a CFTC-registered exchange or unless legally exempt,” http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/americans-shut-out-of-intrade/ The CFTC sued Intrade in 2012, and Intrade closed its doors to US customers.

Explain this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ixxFhvY2k vs this please - http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/dianne-feinstein-sets-record-with-7-3… How does that work? I'm in her district, afaik software engineers vote against her.

The police were tipped off about the backpack/pressure cooker searcher by their previous employers, not some anonymous internet company: http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/an-update-on-the-pressure-cookers-goo… They were detectives, not FBI agents.

Is this relevant? http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/privacy/309277-judge-says-fbi-gag-order… and http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/judge-orders-google-to-comply-with-se…

You've got it backwards: fat people and smokers cost less to cover because their bodies tend to fail more quickly and the most costly health care centers around slightly prolonging the lives of healthy people. Economically speaking, you should be penalized for your healthy habits. Of course, that doesn't fit in to the "we care about your health" line that insurers like to toss around, so they often just lie about what makes them money and use fat/smoker fines as a selling point aimed at healthy people. You've been had. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/fat_people_smokers_have_lower_medical…

>It is true the author became aware or more aware of gender discrimination because of his name, but he still doesn't have the experience of living in a society where gender discrimination is a daily occurrence. All genders face gender discrimination. For example, the country I live in is a Nordic country often hailed for equality, but the state forces all men to do slave-labour for the government. Men and women face about the same amount of gender discrimination in Western nations. Men's problems include more severe jail sentences, forced labour, lack of father's rights and so on. Interesting fact: majority of rape victims in USA are male.[1] 1. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/men-outnumber-women-among-american-ra…

TS/SCI is relatively common because it doesn't give you access to much. It just means you've been vetted. Actual secrets are still organized by code word, and you can only access them if you're explicitly read in (i.e. given "code word clearance"). Some more details: http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/clearance_fever/

Don't forget one of the first major projects to use the Kelo ruling, Cowboys Stadium (aka Jerry World): http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/eminent_domain_ruling_affects_dallas_… http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/sports/football/17cowboys.html?_r=0