Quote of the Day – Tim Cook (2/17/2016)

While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.

Tim Cook – A Message to Our Customers

February 16, 2016


[First, go read the whole thing; all of it. There are different things that can be used for quotes, but that final line says it all.

If you’re having trouble understanding why they wouldn’t help the government there’s a couple different things going on here. If you read their security document for iOS there is little that can actually be done. While no one on this side of the fence is supporting the actions of those asshats that shot up a Christmas party the most common argument I’ve seen has been appeal to emotion to catch those that supported them.

Yes, I want to catch them. Then break into their phone!!! Apple is aiding and abetting by not helping. No they’re not because there’s a lot more at stake than just one phone despite the claims by the government. Anything they build can be used against any other iPhone. Not only that, if it falls into the wrong hands it can be used for criminal enterprise.

Tim used the following line as well:

Criminals and bad actors will still encrypt, using tools that are readily available to them.

This is most definitely true. As pointed out to me by Ashley, if you replace the words and shift the subject this reads like letter from the President of the NRA.

I came to the following realization which cements just how important and how right this stance is. What the FBI wants fails the Jews in the Attic test. To think that this will only be used in this one case is naïve and without forethought.  There is no way you will keep a genie like this in the bottle. At some point it’s going to get out and it’s not going be pretty.

Say what you will about Apple, but at least they have the balls to stand up and not just play dead due to an “Appeal to Emotion.” -B ]

 

Quote of the Day – Rob Thubron (12/30/2015)

Specifically, UK ministers want to make it a criminal offence for tech firms to warn users of requests for access to their communication data made by security organizations such as MI5, MI6 and GCHQ (the Government Communications Headquarters).

Rob ThubronTech companies face criminal charges if they notify users of UK government spying

December 30th, 2015


[Coming soon to a country near you…

This right here is a classic case of “it’s fine when we do it and illegal when anyone else does it.” Seriously, you’re required to notify users of a breach of security regarding their accounts, not to mention it’s the morally correct thing to do. Yet somehow all those rules go right out the window merely because it’s a government agency who’s getting into the account.

You want indemnity to prevent disclosure. Simple, get a real honest to god warrant, not to mention the death to the secret courts. Nothing aids abuse better than these types of shenanigans. -B]

 

Quote of the Day – James Comey (12/14/2015)

[Question by : If I buy a gun on the internet is it delivered to my home?]

I assume it is shipped to you but I don’t know for sure actually.

James Comey – Director of the FBI

Senate Hearings regarding firearms purchases 12/9/2015


[The top law enforcement officer in the country doesn’t know the answer to this. An answer which was clearly defined in the Gun Control Act of 1968. If you buy a firearm online it must be shipped from an FFL to another FFL. If it’s a pistol, the receiving FFL where you pick it up must also be located in your state of residence. Additionally all firearms laws still apply.

Pro-tip, not just for idiots like Comey, if you don’t know the answer to a question there is only one proper answer: “I do not know currently, let me find out and I’ll get back to you.”

The media, not to mention the uneducated though, lap it up. Seriously I wish I had been a senator on that hearing so I could have publicly roasted his ass for that line of bullshit. -B]

 

Quote of the Day – Chris Byrne (12/10/2015)

Our constitution could not be written today… and if by some miracle it were, it would never be ratified. It is too simple, and too radical.

It was radical then, it is still radical now. It was and is intentionally so. It created a nation, and a government, based on a principle that had never been tried before, and I don’t believe has been tried since.

Those who “misinterpret” it, do so intentionally, because they do not understand, or cannot accept, the notion of a government of strictly limited and enumerated powers, and a people of nearly unlimited, inherent, pre-existing, individual rights.

The notion that government cannot do everything they want it to, because they want it to, is entirely unacceptable to them. They cannot even comprehend it, never mind accept it.

And so, they dismiss the “inconvenient” language, as if it was meaningless, and twist it to fit whatever interpretation they find desirable.

They simply pretend the entire basis of the constitution, from which it solely derives its legitimacy and authority, does not exist at all.

That somehow, the “real” basis is some mishmash of communitarianism, authoritarianism, and majoritarianism, which can be altered and reinterpreted to suit the whims of “society”, as they see fit.

Chris ByrneFacebook Post

December 6th, 2015


[I have nothing else to add. -B]

 

Quote of the Day – AGirl (12/9/2015)

I am willing to accept and respect the awesome responsibility it is to own a gun. I will take training and follow safety rules and be as positive an example of an armed citizen as I can be, but not because I am forced to, but because my life and my safety and the safety of those that I love are worth me doing so.

A Girl – Facebook Post

December 8th, 2015


[And while I’m willing to accept that responsiblity for my self and demand that my rights be respected, does not mean that I am some how responsible for the acts of the irresponsible. That infinging on my own rights will some how benefit others.

I find it hilarious when I think about it many of us who do carry volunteer into our communities. Some are volunteer fire or EMTs. Some volunteer with CERT and other civil emergency services. We put our money where our mouth is when it comes to bettering our communities. Instead of just paying lip service with platitudes and laws, we pick up a hammer and nails taking action to make our communities a better place. Honestly, there is no better example than AGirl leading on that front. -B]

 

Quote of the Day – Barak Obama (12/8/2015)

Because when we travel down that road, we lose. That kind of divisiveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups like ISIL…. Let’s not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear.

Barak Obama – National Address
December 6th, 2015


[And then he begins railing on how we need more gun control. How we need ot surrender our rights, in otherwords our freedom, for the illusion of security.  His leverage to make those pleas? Fear.

 

Seriously, that line while true and honest, was merely distraction to draw you from the lunacy of what their goals are. Not to mention the whole no fly list is largely motivated by “fear”. That’s why there isn’t a single amount of due process associated with it. -B]

Quote of the Day – Steven Taylor (12/7/2015)

If you are listening to Obama hoping for comforting words and a ‘plan’ you will always be sorely disappointed.

Steven Taylor – Facebook Comment
December 6th, 2015


[For context this was said with regards to Obama’s speech from his soap box deriding free American’s and blasting them for their god given rights to firearms.

Seriously, if you were watching that drivel expecting to hear how he planed on dealing with ISIS and protecting us from Islamic Extremists, you were left disappointed with a lecture of how the big bad NRA is responsbile for all the worlds ills.*

*Now he didn’t call them out by name, but let’s be honest here. Which group of people was berated against and blamed for the violence? That’s right, gun owners. -B]

Quote of the Day – Michael Z. Williamson (12/6/2015)

No, I will not give up my guns.  Now, what are you going to do about it?

If you say you’ll send someone to take them, then you’re admitting to a belief in using pre-emptive state sanctioned violence for political ends.  The state can use that same violence against any other group it disagrees with, and you’ve endorsed the concept. Congratulations. You’ve just justified my reason for having guns.  You’re also a coward, unwilling to act on your own behalf.  You’re only comfortable with contract violence.

If you’re not going to do anything, then you’re just a whining, bleating sheep, and a moral coward I can safely ignore.  This results in no harm to you.  You have every right to be a bleating sheep.  But, the bleating sheep don’t get to herd the sheepdog, and do get eaten by wolves.

So are you a coward or a fascist?

Either way, I am unswayed by your impotent bleating, and choose to ignore it.

Michael Z. Williamson – Facebook Post
December 6th, 2015


[It is amazing the number of people who think that the confiscation of arms will just magically happen. That there will be no violence and everyone will just cooperate peacefully. Not to mention the complete lack of acknowledgement that the state will employ violence against a group of people who have harmed no one.

This is the complete opposite of the American ideal and the character of American’s. The fact that citizens are attacking their fellow citizens who have done nothing wrong idicate just how morally corrupt the opposition has become. Villifying innocent people who want to be able to defend themselves and family for the actions of pure evil.

Michael Z. Williamson puts it quite well. Coward or a fascist, those are their choices. Not a single one of these people would blame all car owners for the actions of a drunk driver. Yet here they are attempting to attribute responsiblity for it. I’m done with the bullshit. -B]