Taxing a religious entity is not discrimination. In fact giving a religious corporation a tax exemption is tantamount to state sponsorship of a religious establishment, which is expressly prohibited by the Constitution.

"After 9-11, government created TSA, supposedly to protect us all."

The real reason was to create yet another welfare/jobs program.

"Google promises the users have to first grant explicit permission before they receive such a message."

So you'll get a notification that a site wants to send you a notification. Either way, you're going to be interrupted, either by chrome, or by some website.

No, thanks.

"Escalating and unanticipated requirements, especially without added budget to meet those requirements, can have devastating effects on both a project and the larger software company."

No, this is not it at all. What this should say is:

"The customer (Microsoft) will always demand more than is agreed to, while simultaneously refusing to pay for it, and expect the vendor (Dark Side) to foot all of the expenses to meet the additional demands."

Big companies will dangle a huge carrot (or suitcase full of money) in front of a bunch of 20-somethings and their startup company to get them salivating, and almost every time those 20-somethings will chomp at it without questioning motives, analyzing risk, or even having a lawyer look at the proposed contract.

It wasn't mission creep. Mission creep is when the mission changes unexpectedly. Microsoft knew damn well what they were doing, and intended to exploit Dark Side for free work product. Maybe MS didn't anticipate them imploding like they did, but it likely didn't matter to them since they no doubt retained ownership of all of the work product anyway, which they could hand off to another firm to finish, or implode trying.

Honestly I don't see why anyone would do business with Microsoft, or any other huge, publicly-traded bureaucracy for that matter.

Seriously, what is the point of having such high resolution on a small display?

It's been a while since I was in your salary bracket, but I might have hired you simply for having the balls to do something like that, as long as everything else I was looking for was there.

Looking at my lake level data, my lake is 10.25" higher today than it was on this day last year. This has resulted in the death of countless vegetative organisms that used to enjoy a life of peace and harmony with nature near the former border of the lake.

We must do something about climate change before more life is needlessly lost!!!

To my knowledge, nobody is saying that we should teach STEM and STEM only. Of course a complete education is necessary, but a complete education is one that does not fail to teach STEM to students who are interested and proficient at it.

That is the main problem with our education system - there is little or no STEM before late in high school, and by then it is too late.

I was playing with batteries, motors, and a 200-in-one electronic project kit from Radio Shack when I was 5 years old. I got my amateur radio license when I was 12. Fortunately my dad is an engineer and saw my interest and cultivated it at a young age. THAT is what we need to do with STEM.

Fareed needs to stop setting up strawmen he can knock down and actually make himself abreast of the facts about what is, and more important, is not being said.

That's not at all how Rights work, at least not in the USA. You do not give up your rights just because your paycheck comes from the government.

Any time you are approached by any State actor, you have the absolute right not to talk to them about anything. Northrop Grumman is doing the right thing in protecting their employees' from unlawful interrogation by State actors.

None of what they are unable to do now even requires computers. Just get out your fucking pencils and carry on.

Why do you think it is so unlikely? I happen to believe it is a fait accompli.

Saying the government shall not mandate it will not prevent it happening. The law should read:

"No manufacturer of an electronic device or software shall build into such device or software any mechanism that allows bypassing encryption or other privacy settings."