Tech at Night: Republicans right on broadband. An anti-anarchist, pro-America online gang emerges.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  June 6th at 03:00 AM  | 

Normally in Tech at Night I try to find the big trends that can be pieced together from all the little stories we see going on. Right now the trend continues to be that Republicans are trying to make American Internet access even better than it already is, while the rest of the world is going in the wrong direction.

Don’t believe me? Europe wants to regulate the Internet even more. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans are hard at work looking to protect us online from China, and to make sure wireless spectrum is allocated efficiently, rather than set aside for Obama’s preferred vendors.

Read More »

Does The US Welfare System Benefit Jihadists?

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary)  |  April 24th at 12:00 PM  | 

Our government, our media and the increasingly auto-beclowning supporters of our current national Zeitgeist strive manfully athwart ratiocination to rapidly disconnect the dots on The Boston Marathon Terror Bombing. Like the brilliant government bureaucrat who classified the Major Nidal Hasan’s Fort Hood Jihad Spray-Job as workplace violence, they aren’t lying per se. They’re just bull-(radio edit). Like the evil Jack Nicholson character in A Few Good Men, their operational assumption with respect to the American People is “You can’t handle the truth.”

The truth we supposedly can’t handle, quite simply is this.

State officials confirmed last night that Tsarnaev, slain in a raging gun battle with police last Friday, was receiving benefits along with his wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, and their 3-year-old daughter. The state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services said those benefits ended in 2012 when the couple stopped meeting income eligibility limits. Russell Tsarnaev’s attorney has claimed Katherine — who had converted to Islam — was working up to 80 hours a week as a home health aide while Tsarnaev stayed at home. In addition, both of Tsarnaev’s parents received benefits, and accused brother bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan were recipients through their parents when they were younger, according to the state. The news raises questions over whether Tsarnaev financed his radicalization on taxpayer money *

Read More »

This is why we need to pass CISPA

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  April 24th at 09:30 AM  | 

We’re at war online. Iran, North Korea, and Russia are the sources of sustained attacks on our government and our economy. They steal from us, they disrupt our operations, and they’re no better than the pirates of old. On the sea, such attacks would eventually mean war, but on the Internet they get a pass.

Individuals do tend to get nabbed after the fact, as they build massive botnets for credit card fraud and Bitcoin mining, but it’s not enough to sit back passively and wait to get attacked before doing anything.

We need to be proactive, and that means putting together all the information we can about attacks past, present, and future. We need to be able to deal with attacks before the spin up fully. We need to pass along warnings before it’s too late. And that means we need legislation to prevent trial lawyers from making a mess of all of this. So that’s why it’s time to pass CISPA.

Read More »

Boston Marathon aftermath: feds warned by Russia about Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  April 20th at 04:46 PM  | 

Let me just put this FBI press release out there for you. It’s dated April 19, 2013, by the way: this will be important later. 2011 Request for Information on Tamerlan Tsarnaev from Foreign Government The two individuals believed to be responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday have been positively identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, now deceased, and Dzhokar Tsarnaev, now in custody. These | Read More »

Paul Bonicelli on Freedom in the Middle East

By: Brad Jackson (Diary)  |  March 26th at 10:00 AM  | 

On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Paul Bonicelli to discuss the uprisings in Egypt, the fight for democracy and turmoil in the Middle East.

Read More »

Tech at Night: Barack Obama ORDERS China to stop attacking us, and his FCC fudges spectrum figures.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  March 11th at 11:00 PM  | 

It’s too bad. We’ve had all the hype, all the build up, and all the promise shown in the FCC’s incentive auction program, allowing underperforming legacy spectrum to be transferred to where it can be of most use. And yet, FCC might still mess up the program.

Of course, it’s unfortunately true that Obama’s FCC has done a poor job all around on spectrum, to the point that it’s changing numbers around to cover up the facts. Caught red-handed?

Read More »

Tech at Night: What goes around, comes around for Sprint. Hey Chuck Grassley: Everybody knows you never go full Biden.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  January 31st at 03:58 AM  | 

Justice is impeding the Sprint/Softbank merger. Gee, whoever could have predicted that if Sprint funded the left-wing effort to embolden Obama antitrust action, then Sprint itself could suffer bad consequences? I wonder. It wasn’t me, was it? I didn’t point out that Sprint Nextel itself had a history of mergers, such as the Sprint-Nextel merger, did I? Hmm.

Hey Chuck Grassley: The first amendment is not a suggestion any more than the second amendment is. There is no Video Game exception that I saw. You’d have to be as special as the Vice President to think think citing the words of a crazed murderer as an authority helps you make a point, anyway.

Besides, it is not your job to dictate ‘artistic value’ to others, nor does your own job have ‘artistic value.’ So if you would silence others who do not have ‘artistic value,’ then that do we conclude about your right to speech? Everybody knows you never go full Biden, Senator.

Read More »

New Foreign Policy

By: Breeanne Howe (Diary)  |  November 15th at 02:00 PM  | 

Now that Obama has won reelection, news of how he plans to run his new administration has been springing forth fast and furiously.  Despite alluding to a time of peace in his reelection speech last week, the latest on foreign policy going forward indicates otherwise.  Like so many other issues, the new foreign policy agenda would have been nice to know before the election.  According | Read More »

Tech at night: Still More Cybersecurity

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 6th at 02:00 AM  | 

It’s technically Tuesday morning on the east coast, not Monday night, as I write this. So, happy Election Day. Remember to Vote. Vote, and get five friends and family members to vote.

So, let’s remember that the Obama administration is still pushing its scheme to solve cybersecurity by expanding government. Now, experts in the field are scoffing at the word ‘solve’ there, but think about it: They’re telling us that we’ll have a ‘Cyber Pearl Harbor” if we don’t pass their bill/accept their Executive Order. That implies that with the bill, the danger is gone. So they’re entirely unrealistic about this.

Meanwhile, what are they actually doing with their current tools? The Russians are on the move, Anonymous still has functioning elements. At least Canada may be seeing a way forward.

Read More »

Ukraine Election Breaking Ground

By: Breeanne Howe (Diary)  |  October 17th at 10:56 AM  | 

In less than 2 weeks, Ukraine will hold a historical election with 36.7 million registered voters going to the polls.  Their parliament, Verkhovna Rada, recently adopted a new electoral law that is more in line with international standards and builds on Ukraine’s successful efforts to move towards Westernization.  The election, set for October 28th, will be a mixed voting system with 250 members of Verkhovna | Read More »

Ukraine Continues To Seek Independence

By: Breeanne Howe (Diary)  |  October 8th at 12:00 PM  | 

As tensions continue to rise in the Middle East, so does the price of oil and concerns that energy supplies from the region may be disrupted.  U.S. dependence on Middle East oil has long been a topic of concern, with little being done to alleviate the situation.  Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said that he will move forward with the Keystone XL pipeline project that | Read More »

Tech at Night: Obama and FCC power grabs in Cybersecurity and Spectrum; FCC spying

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  September 22nd at 06:30 AM  | 

Wow: For a year FCC was tracking the movements of its speed testers without telling them! Privacy! Transparency!

Meanwhile the administration continues to try to do things on its own, without bothering to check that part of the Constitution that says how a bill becomes a law. Remember, the Lieberman-Collins Cybersecurity Act failed in the Senate. It has no business becoming an executive order. It also turns out that they are also looking to grab power when it comes to spectrum, which isn’t great news given the FCC’s obstruction and opposition to the use of efficient market allocation.

Read More »

When is the Madness in Afghanistan Going to Stop?

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 30th at 09:36 AM  | 

Another week, another 2 U.S. soldiers gunned down by Afghan soldiers. Imagine if a Republican president assumed office 9 years into a mildly successful war and incurred more casualties under his watch due to an aimless effort fraught with egregious rules of engagement.  Wouldn’t you expect there to be a body count every night on the news along with gory pictures of the failing, rudderless | Read More »

How Will Russia’s WTO Entry Benefit the U.S.?

By: Brad Jackson (Diary)  |  April 24th at 10:00 AM  | 

Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Scott Lincicome to discuss Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization, how the Senate will weigh in, and if the U.S. will see an economic boost when our businesses have more access to Russian markets. We’re brought to you as always by Stephen | Read More »

The “Don’t You Love The Citizens United Case?” Friday Open Thread.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  March 30th at 05:00 PM  | 

I mean, I personally love the Citizens United case. Aside from liking free speech, it seems to be a positive spur to creativity. Check out this latest spy spoof from American Crossroads, with Barack Obama starring as the almost-urbane secret agent trying to fumble-finger the rest of us into giving up our missile defense plans: For the record: no, really, Vladimir Putin really does go | Read More »