Anyone can tap your call from any point in the route between you and the CO. Someone could be half a mile away and still do it.
Though, if the plants been modernized, it's probobly MUX'd (turned digital) after before you hit 30,000 feet.

No they don't.
The switch has a modem that you can dial into... and yes, they are still connected and used a lot.
The call can be rerouted to any number on the planet.
Some switches only have 1 login that's shared by all the programmers ;-)
Remember, this hardwares from the 60's, 70s, 80s...

That theories been prove wrong hundreds of times now.
The simplest explanation of why it's wrong is that it's Deterministic. i.e. it's part of the "Clockwork universe" and if that's true, then you do not have free will and we should all just throw in the towel now... oh wait, that's right, we don't have a choice. Don't worry, I know it's not your fault that you posted this though, it wasn't up to you!

Determinism = fail

Either you were protected by state law, or the judge was just being nice.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court disagrees with you:
http://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/...

yea, I've been laughing about this story... If this scares you, never look up how landlines work, that'd terrify you. lol

You could take pretty much any speaker you wanted to, run a jumper to the switch and listen to any phone call you wanted. ANYONE in your neighborhood can walk over to any one of the hundreds of pedestals in your neighborhood and do the same. If you really want to get fancy you can go get a butt set off Amazon for $10 and dial out to. And all that's before we get to someone with switch access... they can issue commands to link your call to another number so they can listen in, etc...
You've absolutely no privacy on a land-line phone call.

You're neglecting the fact that the DEA doesn't have the resources to enforce that. The DEA relies on local law enforcement to do almost all of their work. They only become involved in very big cases. So yes, they could take out the stores and maybe the larger farms, but the real change is the hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people growing it in their back yards. What I'm really surprised about is that the price hasn't really gone down yet. The prices you see at those dispensaries are still higher than street prices in states where it's illegal, which is baffling.

Yea, but now they also want a paycheck from Colorado. See how that works?

Hate to break it to you, but the US is way ahead of Australia in that regard.

If you ever get pulled over by a cop while carrying a large amount of cash on you, you'll find out the hard way.

Didn't re-offend? You mean, didn't get caught. There's a difference.

The theaters are contractually obligated to play the movie.
Sony can claim publicly that they don't have to play the movie, but those legally binding contracts are still in place, and remember, the theaters still want to play the movie. That's cash in their pockets and the threats are likely fake. So they show the movie anyways, and if a real attack happens, the first thing they are going to do is point at that contract and say Sony forced them to show the movie, they had no choice. Viola, Sony is now liable.

Yea but... they only have to pull it off at 1 theater.
And it doesn't have to be NK that does it... some crazy nut job could... and Sony would be on the hook for liability.

If Sony were smart (which they definitely are not) they would have leaked the movie as a torrent themselves, blamed North Korea, and then with the Sword of Demaclese now lying squarely at their feet moved on with their lives. They may have pulled the movie from theaters but it could still get released, and until that threats gone NK will continue with the pain.

Neckbeards having sex with drunken Muslim fundamentalists?
I think you might be on to something...

Nah... When getting concerned about control, the following usually holds true:
Rules that inform are good.
Rules that control are bad.

This rule informs. It's good.
This has been a public service announcement. :-)

meh... You seem to be arguing that people of Cuban decent do not have magical cuban pixie dust that makes them taste better. Ok... I guess we can agree.

But that's like saying (since you mentioned the Swiss) that you know a Swiss guy living in North Dakota that makes watches just as good as Swiss watches, so clearly Switzerland ain't all that great at watches... But there's certainly a cultural interest in Switzerland of making fine watches, and a long and storied history of them doing so. Are all Swiss watches perfect? Can no other country or ethnic group produce a good watch? The answer to that question is about as dumb as asking it.

There are many fine Cigars made in Cuba. Those that enjoy smoking fine Cigars will be happy that they have a new and interesting place to buy them from. Would they be as excited if we normalized realizations with North Korea and they could finally get those fine North Korean Cigars? No... and that has nothing to do with "hype" and has everything to do with a real and notable difference in the quality of products coming out of those 2 countries.