Shostack + Friends Blog Archive

 

Rogue One: The Best Star Wars Yet?

Someone once asked me why I like Star Wars more than Star Trek. I was a bit taken aback, and he assumed that since I use it so much, I obviously prefer it. The real reason I use Star Wars is not that it’s better, but that there’s a small canon, and I don’t have […]

 

Electoral Chaos

[Dec 15: Note that there are 4 updates to the post with additional links after writing.] The Green Party is driving a set of recounts that might change the outcome in one or more swing states. Simultaneously, there is a growing movement to ask the Electoral College to choose a candidate other than Donald Trump […]

 

Donald Trump Facts

“My father likes to keep some anonymity. It’s who he is. It’s who he is as a person,” Eric Trump said. It should have been obvious. (Quote from Washington Post, July 6, 2016).

 

Happy Independence Day!

Since 2005, this blog has had a holiday tradition of posting “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.” Never in our wildest, most chaotic dreams, did we imagine that the British would one day quote these opening words: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to […]

 

Chaos and Legitimacy

At BruCon 0x06, I was awoken from a nap to the sound of canons, and looked out my window to see soldiers marching through the streets. It turns out they were celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Treaty of Ghent. As I’m sure you’ll recall from history class Wikipedia, the Treaty of Ghent ended the […]

 

Emergent Chaos: Romney/Ryan for America!

We here at Emergent Chaos have long been frustrated with the Obama Administration. Their failure to close Guantanamo, their failure to prosecute war crimes including torture, their choice to murder American citizens (never mind without due process), their invocation of the state secrets privilege, their persecution of whistleblowers, their TSA running rampant, the list of […]

 

It's a Lie: Seattle Taxpayers Will Pay for a Staduim

The Seattle Times carries a press release: “Arena plan as solid as it looks?” The intricate plan offered for an NBA and NHL arena in Sodo hinges on the untested strategy of building a city-owned, self-supporting arena, without the aid of new taxes, and with team owners — not taxpayers — obligated to absorb any […]

 

The Pre-K underground?

Not my headline, but the New York Times: Beyond the effort was the challenge of getting different families to work together. When matters as personal as education, values and children are at stake, intense emotions are sure to follow, whether the issue is snacks (organic or not?), paint (machine washable?) or what religious holidays, if […]

 

What's Wrong and What To Do About It?

Let me start with an extended quote from “Why I Feel Bad for the Pepper-Spraying Policeman, Lt. John Pike“: They are described in one July 2011 paper by sociologist Patrick Gillham called, “Securitizing America.” During the 1960s, police used what was called “escalated force” to stop protesters. “Police sought to maintain law and order often […]

 

Slow Thoughts on Occupy Seattle

I headed down to Occupy Seattle before a recent vacation, and have been mulling a bit on what I saw, because the lack of a coherent message or leadership or press make it easy to project our own opinions or simply mis-understand what the “Occupy” protests mean, and I wanted to avoid making that mistake. […]

 
 

I have a dream

It’s MLK Day. Here’s a pdf of the speech. Or watch it online:

 

It's not TSA's fault

October 18th’s bad news for the TSA includes a pilot declining the choice between aggressive frisking and a nudatron. He blogs about it in “Well, today was the day:” On the other side I was stopped by another agent and informed that because I had “opted out” of AIT screening, I would have to go […]

 

Dear England, may we borrow Mr. Cameron for a bit?

Back when I commented on David Cameron apologizing for Bloody Sunday, someone said “It’s important to remember that it’s much easier to make magnanimous apologise about the behaviour of government agents when none of those responsible are still in their jobs.” Which was fine, but now Mr. Cameron is setting up an investigation into torture […]

 

The Next Unexpected Failure of Government

In looking at Frank Pasquale’s very interesting blog post “Secrecy & the Spill,” a phrase jumped out at me: I have tried to give the Obama Administration the benefit of the doubt during the Gulf/BP oil disaster. There was a “grand ole party” at Interior for at least eight years. Many Republicans in Congress would […]

 

On Politics

In “Jon Stewart on Obama’s executive power record” Glenn Greenwald writes: When ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero last week addressed the progressive conference America’s Future Now, he began by saying: “I’m going to start provocatively . . . I’m disgusted with this president.” Last night, after Obama’s Oval Office speech, Jon Stewart began his show […]

 

The Liquids ban is a worse idea than you thought

According to new research at Duke University, identifying an easy-to-spot prohibited item such as a water bottle may hinder the discovery of other, harder-to-spot items in the same scan. Missing items in a complex visual search is not a new idea: in the medical field, it has been known since the 1960s that radiologists tend […]

 

Some Chaotic Thoughts on Healthcare

Passage of this bill is too big for my little brain, and therefore I’ll share some small comments. I’m going to leave out the many anecdotes which orient me around stupid red tape conflicts in the US, how much better my health care was in Canada (and how some Canadian friends flew to the US […]

 

Seattle: Pete Holmes for City Attorney

I don’t usually say a lot about local issues, but as readers know, I’m concerned about how arbitrary ID checking is seeping into our society. It turns out my friend Eric Rachner is also concerned about this, and was excited when a Washington “Judge said showing ID to cops not required.” So when Eric was […]

 

Some thoughts on the Olympics, Chicago and Obama

So the 2016 Olympics will be in Rio de Janeiro. Some people think this was a loss for Obama, but Obama was in a no-win situation. His ability to devote time to trying to influence the Olympics is strongly curtailed by other, more appropriate priorities. If he hadn’t gone to Copenhagen, he would have been […]

 

Happy Banned Books Week!

Quoting Michael Zimmer: [Yesterday was] the start of Banned Books Week 2009, the 28th annual celebration of the freedom to choose what we read, as well as the freedom to select from a full array of possibilities. Hundreds of books are challenged in schools and libraries in the United States each year. Here’s a great […]

 

Happy Emancipation Proclamation Day!

That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of a state, the people whereof thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States [including the military and naval authority thereof] […]

 

What should the new czar do? (Tanji's Security Survey)

Over at Haft of the Spear, Michael Tanji asks: You are the nation’s new cyber czar/shogun/guru. You know you can’t _force _anyone to do jack, therefore you spend your time/energy trying to accomplish what three things via influence, persuasion, shame and force of will? I think it’s a fascinating question, and posted my answer over […]

 

Pirate Party Victory in Sweden

“Together, we have today changed the landscape of European politics. No matter how this night ends, we have changed it,” Falkvinge said. “This feels wonderful. The citizens have understood it’s time to make a difference. The older politicians have taken apart young peoples’ lifestyle, bit by bit. We do not accept that the authorities’ mass-surveillance,” […]

 

Three on the Value of Privacy

First, the Economist, “Everybody Does It:” WHY is a beer better than a woman? Because a beer won’t complain if you buy a second beer. Oops. There go your correspondent’s chances of working for Barack Obama, America’s president-elect. (Ironically, the Economist’s articles are all anonymous.) Second, Fraser Speirs, “On the Flickr support in iPhoto ‘09:” […]

 

Politics and Money: Transparency and Privacy

(Or, the presentation of self in everyday donations) So I’ve had a series of fairly political posts about election finance, and in one of them, I said “I’d prefer that the rules avoidance be minimized, and I think transparency is the most promising approach there.” Well, in the interests of transparency, I need to comment […]

 

The New Administration and Security

Quoting first from Obama’s inaugural address: The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move […]

 

Three short comments on the Inauguration

The reality that a black man is about to become President of the United States is both momentous and moving. It’s hard to say anything further on the subject that hasn’t been said and re-said, but I am simply proud that the pendulum has swung to someone like Obama. I’m excited to have an educated, […]

 

"Get FISA Right" Pointer

[Update: This got to #5 on change.org’s list, and they’re now working to draw attention to the issue on change.gov.] Jon Pincus has asked me for help in drawing attention to his “Get FISA Right” campaign to get votes on change.org. When I’ve tried to look at this, it’s crashed my browser. YMMV–I use a […]

 

Two Buck Barack

So the New York Times is breathless that “Obama Hauls in Record $750 Million for Campaign.” A lot of people are astounded at the scale of the money, and I am too. In a long, hard campaign, he raised roughly $2.50 per American, and spent slightly less than that. Unusually, he ended his campaign not […]

 

Terrifying Financial Blacklists Falling Down

There’s a list, maintained by the UN security council, of people who can’t have their money. Once you’re on the list, there’s no way to get off. The global blacklisting system for financiers of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups is at risk of collapse, undermined by legal challenges and waning political support in many countries, […]

 

An early clue to the new direction?

Obama gave his first press conference as President-elect last Saturday. Pundits have noted his humor in responding to the urgent canine matter, but I was struck by a particular phrase used in response to a question regarding whether he’d be moving quickly to fill key cabinet positions: When we have an announcement about cabinet appointments, […]

 

It’s Morning in America

It’s hard to know what to say after an election that feels so momentous in so many different ways. So, I’ll start from the simple: congratulations to Obama on being elected the 44th President of the United States. Next, let’s add some chaos here and see what emerges. So what’s on your mind? And please, […]

 

This just in!!

MSNBC’s live streaming internet election coverage looks like it was filmed from within Second Life. Yuck.

 

The Purple States

As we go into what may well be another very long day of elections for the Presidency of the United States, I wanted to reprise two images from 2004: Click on either for more details and the context four years ago. Despite the electoral college, America isn’t a red country or a blue country, and […]

 

Thoughts about Democracy in America

There’s a place in de Tocqueville where he talks about America’s civic strength coming from the way we organize: those voluntary organizations which come together to solve a problem as a community. He pointed out that what we got from that was not merely that particular problem solved, but a sense of community and a […]

 

Experience and Decision Making

Following on our satirical endorsement of McCain-Palin yesterday, I’d like to talk a little about the experience argument, that is, that Obama lacks the experience to be President. This may well be true. I’d prefer someone with extensive executive experience, ideally running a state, experience matters in one very specific way: it may help you […]

 

Emergent Chaos: For McCain Palin

As we come to the close of the longest campaign in American history, it is time to make a call on who to vote for. In these turbulent and chaotic times, America needs a candidate who will cause more chaos to emerge. Now is not the time for calm and reasoned leadership. Now is not […]

 

What’s in a name? A Candidate by any other name…

For those who haven’t been listening closely to their NPR, it turns out that there are at least eight Barack Obamas running for election in Brazil this year. Yes, you heard that right. Under Brazilian law, it turns out, candidates are allowed to run for office under any name, as long as it’s not offensive. […]

 

The Emergent Chaos of the Elections

First, congratulations to Barack Obama. His organization and victory were impressive. Competing with a former President and First Lady who was the shoo-in candidate is an impressive feat. I’d like to talk about the Obama strategies and a long chaotic campaign in two ways. First in fund-raising and second, on the effects of a long […]

 

Obama vs. McDonalds

As he was winning contests in Iowa and South Carolina, Senator Barack Obama raised $32 million in January for his presidential bid, tapping 170,000 new contributors to rake in nearly double the highest previous one-month total for any candidate in this election cycle. The New York TImes, “Enlisting New Donors, Obama Reaped $32 Million in […]

 

Emergent Chaos Primary Endorsements

Well, Super Tuesday is here in the United States, and some millions of people will stand up and vote or caucus for the candidate of their choice. We here at Emergent Chaos have spent tremendous amounts of time watching the election, and we wanted to offer up some of the least-awaited endorsements in the bloggosphere. […]

 

With the Advice and Consent of The Blogosphere?

So I’ve been too busy to blog the Spector bill, but the astounding quality of analysis that’s been applied to Spector’s “”Judical Review” for Spying On Americans” bill has been really astounding. Early reports in (say) the Washington Post were really positive, saying that the bill was quite a positive development. Then legal bloggers got […]

 
 

"Stop … Hurting … America"

Sure, the Electoral college is mostly winner-take-all, but America isn’t. The “red/blue” divide nonsense on TV is all about polarizing the country. See the map bigger here. It’s like Jon Stewart said to the boys at Crossfire: Stop hurting America. (Via BoingBoing.)