There is zero chance that Congress or the White House will withhold as much as a penny from TSA. As soon as someone says "do you want the terrorists to win?" the GAO and everyone else will collapse.

Setting aside the Google/Apple confusion, the problem is not that whoever has not been paying taxes, the problem is that they are an AMERICAN company not paying taxes. When was the last time anybody suggested the Italian government was aggressive in pursuing Italian tax cheats?

If that were true, then presumably "Europe"--rather a broad concept, isn't it?--should be "better" than the US. But in what way is it? Much worse unemployment, to name only one thing, and on the other hand major efforts by the rulers to do away with the social welfare state that's been in place since the end of World War II.

The law will have zero effect on the NSA. It will merely push what they do, and will continue to do, further into the dark recesses of their operation. It's like laws claiming to regulate banks' behavior. They can't work.

Don't agree with a lot of this but one thing to keep in mind is that we only have the Japanese gov't word for what they did. I don't know what happened or didn't, but I do know that "standing up to the US" plays very well in every country--sometimes even in the US.

As opposed to a 14-year-old boy? Girls can't code?

And the US has been colonizing Puerto Rico since 1898. I think that's pretty notable.

It's a clear case of plausible deniability. The NSA made sure Obama didn't know what they were up to so he wouldn't be obliged to either stop them or lie. That's what good underlings do. "Will no one rid me of this cursed priest?"

The guy worked for the National SECURITY Council at the pleasure of the President of the United States of America [background music "America the Beautiful" or equivalent]--what court do you think is going to back him instead of the White House?

Anyone who takes Wikipedia's word for anything without another source deserves whatever they get, and this is not due to the growth of sockpuppets. It's always been true. A teacher I know tells her students that to cite Wikipedia "is like telling me you saw it written on a bathroom wall at the bus depot."

Would be a better name. This is just on a large scale what has been going on on a small scale. My wife, who's a college professor, tells her students that if you cite Wikipedia as a source it's like telling me you saw it written on a bathroom wall somewhere.

It's not that "everyone will forget about it," it's the lack of alternatives or options to do anything about it. Most people, taught from birth to believe in the efficacy of elections, believe in elections. When elections fail, what are you supposed to do?

RMS may know all there is to know about technology, but he apparently knows little about history or politics. "[R]estore democracy"? Might be true if it ever existed in the US.

Sorry, but passing yet another law isn't going to stop the government agencies that have been breaking existing ones for decades.

Well said. Let me add that China-bashing is not going to solve any problems and really is designed to distract from real problems. Congress votes to ban Chinese from scientific meetings--this is the same Congress that allows tens of thousands of workers to go without paychecks (aka "government shutdown") and has done zero to create jobs, rein in government spying, and any number of other serious issues. And the White House too.