Category Archives: internet
Corey Booker Sparticus
Click Corey Booker to enlarge.
Corey Booker had an I’m Spartacus moment Thursday. He and fellow Senate Democrats threatened to release “committee confidential” documents related to Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s time in the Bush White House.
“Spartacus” said that he was willing to sacrifice everything, including his Senate seat, in an act of civil disobedience. And true to his word, he released the documents.
But the fearless gesture fizzled. It turned out the documents had already been authorized for release the night before, sans sacrifice.
Free Press Group-Think
The Boston Globe organized an editorial writing campaign last week. The idea was for independent newspapers to tell Trump to stop calling them “the enemy of the people.” All on the same day.
Three hundred plus papers including the New York Times obliged.
Some of the editorials also complained about Trump calling the media an “opposition party.” But here’s Jim Rutenberg in the NY Times two years ago:
If you view a Trump presidency as something that’s potentially dangerous, then your reporting is going to reflect that. You would move closer than you’ve ever been to being oppositional.
Free Press Group-Think
Others like the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post took a pass on the campaign. Carl Cannon in Real Clear Politics called the joint effort “group-think.” And he recalled H.L. Menken’s journalistic advice to “be a party of one.”
Jack Shafer in Politico added this bit of advice:
Editorial pages of America, don’t unite! Think for yourselves! Reject this stupid pro-press assignment!
He also agreed with Cannon that the whole scheme played into Trump’s tiny hands. (Okay, he didn’t really say “tiny.”)
Possible Fake News Tesla Tweets
Elon Musk tweeted that he wants to take Tesla private and has $70 billion in backing to do it. Tesla shares jumped 10% on the news. But now that the S.E.C. is on his case for possible fake news Tesla tweets the stock is back to ground zero.
Facebook Likes Your Bank Account
Facebook says it would like to add your bank account to its data mining operations.
Are 3D Guns Free Speech?
Printers aren’t just for fed funds anymore. Now you can print a gun from a 3D printer. Really. Needless to say this has the anti-gun lobby up in arms.
Of course you can’t print anything until you download the software. Obviously this is Trump’s fault. What’s next? Russian hackers emailing weapons to enemies of Hillary?
Not if Federal Judge Robert Lasnik can help it. He issued a restraining order to stop the release of electronic gun making instructions by a group called Defense Distributed.
Are 3D Guns Free Speech?
David French in National Review points out “The plaintiffs weren’t distributing guns, they were distributing information…and blocking the flow of information is a prior restraint of free speech.”
