Why is it okay to do extra checks on Muslims at airports, or to stop cars driven by black people 6 times more often than white people - but not to check anti-tax-lobby-groups' tax records more thoroughly ?

Two wrongs don't make a right.

There will be side effects - new fees on cable bills that weren't there before and make no sense (like our telephone bills), etc. And I hold the service providers' greed responsible.

The real trojan horse is probably that they'll get to hold on to their monopolies over their pipes for decades longer now. The real solution to tiered pricing would've been to break their stranglehold on the pipes and create competition. We wouldn't have needed government regulation if the market would've been allowed to do its job.

It makes you wonder if the cable companies foresaw all of this coming and picked this as the best path forward (vs. "justice being done")...

Yes, this is a patent troll, but Apple's been on both ends of these cases.

Case in point: A few years back, Burst.com had them by the short hairs over video streaming patents - probably worth billions today - and Apple got off with only paying $10 million.

You win some, you lose some...

If this actually replaced hard currency and became a widely accepted standard, the government would eventually introduce legislation to ban the usage of all non-government cryptocurrencies. I'm not sure what the argument will be ("we can't afford it anymore", "terrorists used cash to commit atrocity X", etc.) but it would fit in with the model of our current system (the dollar is the only legal, federal U.S. currency).

Also, from the article: Understanding this, it is unlikely that Fedcoin will be the preferred vehicle to finance illegal activities. -- This would cast an unfair, "guilty until proven innocent" suspicion upon anyone wishing to still use cash. And there's no way in hell I'd trust the government to not abuse the privacy issues. They wouldn't be able to control themselves with that info...

I'm WAAY down on watching old-school (i.e. network or cable) TV, but my TV is on just as much as it was 25 years ago.

I cut cable almost two years ago. There are slivers of compelling content that I miss, but not enough to pay for the package. Cable TV will have to change to an a la carte model or I'll never go back.

As for broadcast TV, I don't even really know what's on network TV anymore. The only recently produced network TV show that was compelling in the last five years was "The Cosmos" on FOX (which I heard about online) - and I didn't even watch it when it was broadcast live. I watched ALL of the great show on Netflix Streaming instead.

Sometimes I'll watch some classic TV shows on channels like MeTV (Twilight Zone, etc.), but those channels test my patience for commercial breaks because I'm not shopping for LifeAlert, denture cream or life insurance. If they're on Netflix Streaming I watch them there instead.

Typical TV watching evening in 2015:

Turn on TV... Watch 10 minutes of evening news, if that... Fire up Youtube app and watch about 30-45 mins. total, browsing popular videos that look interesting before browsing to my favorite YT content (AsapScience, Crash Course, Screen Junkies, HowItShouldHaveEnded, etc.), clicking on "Skip Ad" after 5 seconds (I hate those ads and will not watch them and will hit "Back" if I can't skip the ad)... Turn off TV... Come back later if there's time and fire up Netflix Streaming and browse good content and/or the occasional decent movie choice...

Add Phoenix metro to this. Yeah, the evap cooler tech works somewhat in the spring and early summer. When the multi-month monsoon season hits, however, evap coolers are pretty much worthless.

I'm also pretty sure that hard water deposits in these "bricks" would render them useless pretty quickly.

...then this would be a reasonable idea (until the GOP-led, mostly corporate-controlled Congress says no thanks). Without it being balanced, in about 2 years that $2,000,000,000,000 or so would be gone in the black hole of growing, irresponsible debt.

On Drupal 7 and its issues with some modules, Backdrop may be an alternative to consider.

Well, this GOP guy is 100% behind Mr. Holder for once. Only a completely partisan fool would not see how civil forfeiture is being abused.

We should all probably thank John Oliver for the exposure his show gave this abuse of power.

"Sorry - wrong number," as a get out of jail free card? They might as well get rid of the phone protection part.

I love Douglas Adams (his books are great), but I have a problem with this quote.

"...and without faith I am nothing."

If God exists as a sentient being and isn't just a figment of human imagination, then it doesn't matter whether anyone has faith in him or not. He still exists.

How can I have sex without you (which actually kind of makes sense...)

Another (more well known mishearing):

Blinded by the light, Revved up like a deuce

I hear something like "...wrapped up like a douche". I just can't take that song seriously... it's the douche song.

It comes from being willing to actually ask questions and observe the world to find our answers, rather than an unwavering loyalty to an ideology. In this case these fucknuts are taking their religious beliefs, based on nothing, and prioritizing them over actual science.

That phrase "based on nothing" is where you lose religious people, and expose your own belief system that isn't based in fact but supposition.

Don't get me wrong - I'm from Gilbert, AZ, and that lady had no business forcing her religious beliefs down everyone's throats and tearing out sound science because she was afraid of her beliefs not being equally represented. That kind of fear-based action is dangerous. It also gives religious, educated people a bad name.

Don't assume all of us religious people are "fucknuts", however. That's a broad stereotype that's just not fair to those of us with an open mind, have real faith in God, and want science to push forward unimpeded by any ideology - athiesm or fundamentalist.

People out there have had "spiritual" experiences that as are real as seeing the sun rise in the morning but can't explain easily or won't explain for fear of mockery at the hands of those who believe it is based on nothing. This lack of communication is often what leads to intellectual standoffs over crap like this textbook fiasco.

Perhaps by the time this becomes a large enough problem, automation will have made our productivity and wealth generation sufficient that we can just provide everyone the resources they need to live off of while they acquire a new skill set...

You're describing a version of a post-scarcity economy.

The original post makes a good point about the stifling effects of over-taxation and over-regulation - not some argument for supply side economics.

Did you even think about the post, or did you immediately start typing up your anti-Reagan blast? Did you listen, or wait to talk?

It's amazing how reactionary people are online these days. Look at some of the other responses besides this one. They can be summed up with - "Ohhp... someone said Ronald Reagan. Nanananana - not listening!".

And people on the left wonder why Barack Obama's better ideas get buried in a wave of "rethuglican" ignorance - the exact, same way. Critical thought has given away to intellectual laziness and yelling factoids back and forth. No respect or compassion or will to work together... just "win the next election."