That's why corporations have subsidiaries and sister corporations. MS Ireland is not the same company as MS USA.

Most of it is not actually earned abroad, due to accounting practices. MS USA sold all of their IP to MS Ireland, and pays MS Ireland a fee for every copy of MS software sold in the USA. That fee is almost certainly for an amount nearly (or actually) equal to the sales price. As a result, they claim a write-off on every title sold that's just about equal to that title's sales price. As a result, MS USA says they earned nothing on those titles. It's all based on technicalities that are unavailable to real people. Only corporations are allowed to account for profits and losses in such a way as to reduce their tax bills to nothing.

I can easily find laptops on eBay equipped with 4GB RAM for around $200.

Most wireless routers provide multiple SSID functionality now, so no need to buy extra devices for multiple wireless network segments.

He would get a fair trial. The problem is he would not be able to present a credible defence [...]

You say he would get a fair trial, and then immediately follow that with the very reason his trial would not be fair...

No, because likely the judge would disallow any defense he might present. It happens all the time in the US where defendants are not allowed to present a defense. Marijuana charges are one such. You are not allowed to present evidence that it provides an actual medical benefit, nor are you allowed to present evidence of a sickness which a rational person might connect with marijuana as a logical medical treatment.

That's just one example of a crime where a reasonable defense is routinely declared off-limits by judges. There are many more. Snowden's case is another one.

It's not absurd as long as the American in question is also opposed to their own country's actions. I'm one such. I think the US should be broken up into a dozen or more independent countries, because it's run by imperialist assholes.

If by absolute support you mean "controls the ballot counting," then yes, he does.

It's a bad thing, but not because the users lack knowledge of Unix archaeology. Rather, certain devs expect users to have this archaic knowledge despite reason dictating otherwise.

What one posts on a site like Slashdot isn't necessarily an indication of how they interact professionally.

Tor does not host content, it simply disguises the source request for otherwise normal Internet content accessible by a normal browser.

They're here in Washington for the US apple crop, among other harvests, so you must mean Canada. Canada isn't technically a US state, so I think your knowledge of places other than where you live is a bit off.

A spaceport isn't a factory, and there are huge hurdles to building one. The analogy to factories doesn't really apply.

Damn, and I'm all out of Sudafed.

"most southernmost" was the redundancy being referenced. It shouldn't need an explanation as to why it's redundant.

No, they are not on the same continent, geologically speaking. Perhaps you should brush up on where the tectonic plate boundaries are. Big hint: there's one running down the West Coast, which is between Texas and Hawaii. It was already pointed out that "continental" was a key word, which you have now ignored twice in order to claim your statement wasn't completely incorrect.