Until very recently Congress were the only individuals exempt from insider trading laws.

They effectively still are. A key part of the STOCK act was rolled back after the election.

Therefore, Congress will pass a law making itself exempt from CIA/NSA spying and the rest of the country be damned.

Interestingly, the UK already has something like this, it's called the Wilson Doctrine and is not a law but rather a promise the Prime Minister makes to MP's by tradition.

The UK just passed a law that says any company whose website has UK users i.e. all of them has to comply with UK surveillance requests. It's as bad as the USA when it comes to those kinds of extra territorial laws now.

Politicians have generally not been able to handle the notion of borderless transactions and information flows. This "you have to comply with our laws if your service is accessible to our citizens" trick is their solution. You say, how do they enforce it, well, through exploiting the international world in which we live - grab people from planes using the absence of anonymous air travel, extradite people, seize assets, etc.

The way it's going, in future everyone who does anything interesting in this world will have a list of countries they can't go to or fly through, and organising conferences will become an exercise in set intersection ....

Either way I do see my height as being advantageous if I should need to attempt to defend myself or my family with a bat at home.

You are rolling the dice with your life unnecessarily with that plan. If an armed assailant breaks in, that bat -- even if it's a bad ass double walled DeMarini -- is no match for any kind of firearm, and you'd be taking the proverbial knife to a gunfight. You've got to watch out for yourself and your family.

Also, the latest trend in criminal activity is to bring a buddy or two -- I don't care how tall you are, even with a bat you're not going to be capable to defend yourself against two (or more) unarmed assailants, let alone armed ones.

For home defense, in my opinion the best defense is a pump-action shotgun -- specifically a 12 gauge. A 20 gauge may get the job done as well if you're worried about the recoil, but if you're holding it correctly the recoil should not bother you much. As an added benefit, the sound of that 12 gauge getting cocked may be enough to deter a criminal, but if it isn't, you're going to need the stopping power of a shotgun.

A 00 Buckshot shell has 8 pellets, and each pellet is roughly the size of a 9mm bullet. If you hit center mass, it'll be like the assailant taking 8 shots from a 9mm almost all at once (the pellets are loaded into the shell in 4 groups of 2, and exit the barrel thusly). Needless to say, it's devastating to a human body.

Take ownership of your own self-defense -- 911 doesn't respond fast enough.

Hopefully, you'll never need to use a gun to do more than put holes in paper (or water jugs, or watermelon, or even a tasty deer or warthog), but -- it will always be better to have a gun and never need it than need a gun once and not have it.

Unfortunately, I've been in a position where I needed my gun, and I thank God I didn't have to fire it, that the sight of it was enough to deter any future stupidity from the assailant.

If you want to talk self-defense any further, just ask. This is something I'm very passionate about and something I advocate every person do -- be prepared to defend themselves.

The only person I've seen have trouble with a 12 gauge shotgun is a 110 pound woman not holding the weapon correctly, and sadly youtube has no shortage of women with poor posture firing a 12 gauge (probably with a magnum load) and dealing with the recoil.

I doubt you, as a man, would have any trouble with it. As for the .45 -- the recoil is not unmanageable in my conceal carry weapon, but might be a little much for someone inexperienced. My full sized Glock 21, on the other hand, my wife fires with no problem and no trouble with the recoil.

Given that the executive branch, that being the POTUS, has never seen a surveillance law it didn't like, I seriously doubt this law would actually impede the government's lust for any and all information on the People.

Besides, the actual implmentation of any law is always the exact opposite of the bill name. My guess, "The USA Freedom Act" means "freedom for the government to do whatever the fuck they want."

And please tell us how you made that logical leap, calling me a racist for stating the objective truth that there is no such race as a "Palestinian", that they are Arabs. This is scientifically correct, so please tell me how I disparaged anyone on the basis of race.

* crickets *

Right. Just as I thought. Find a new crutch when you're losing an argument, asswipe.

Of course. The objective answer is the mythical "Palestinians" who are just Arabs with a different name.

I'm saying your concern about collateral damage is honorable, but your blame for it is entirely misplaced.

Hamas fired the first shot, does not respect cease fire agreements, does not control it's people...

So... fuck them. I hope Israel rounds up every terrorist over there and executes them.

Peace will only come when one side is victorious. I pray that the victor is Israel.

"Hey this risk to the lives of tens of thousands of people when Israel responds is okay, because these rockets we're about to fire are holy jihad. dirka dirka dirka!"

It might also make it much harder for Hamas to fire rockets in the dark.

Er, why? Facebook presumably wants users to feel happy when they visit their website - exploring how to do that doesn't seem substantially different to OKCupid wanting to make lots of successful relationships.

Hmm, factory workers aren't really comparable to soldiers invading a foreign country, are they? The former makes useful things for people at home and the latter signed up voluntarily to go kill people who were not invading.

Look, you may not like people in the military (no clue why), but to say they deserve what they get is naive and stupid. Historically and currently, joining the military has been one of the most sure ways for intelligent, motivated people born into poor circumstances to raise themselves up the ladder of success.

Given the relative abundance of rich entrepreneurs vs rich veterans, I think a citation may be needed there.

Utter crap. Codenomicon are very friendly to FLOSS and FLOSS developers. They're also great guys. They have been providing free test services to the Samba project for many years now, and have helped us fix many many bugs.

In case you hadn't noticed, the code they're reporting on here is closed source proprietary code...

Exodus 22:2

“If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.

You don't know why a person is in your house when they shouldn't be. You life is not worth risking to find out if it's a drug addict looking to swipe DVD's to pawn or the newest border jumping MS-13 member or terrorist there to cause you harm.

Don't risk it.

Maybe my perspective is different since I have a wife and kids, but if someone is in my house illegally, I can only assume that there is a grave threat against my family, and I will drop the bastard. Center mass.

And maybe it's time to think about getting my first firearm.

First off -- abandon any idea of using rock salt -- pissing off an intruder is only going to get you killed.

Since you'd be new to firearm ownership, let me give you my armchair opinion.

Get a pump action 12 gauge shotgun, and a bunch of 00 buckshot. Hornady makes a gimmicky "Zombie Max" 12 gauge shell, and while it's gimmicky, Hornady makes some damn good ammo (I carry the critical defense hollowpoints in my everyday carry gun, a Springfield XDS chambered in .45 ACP). Don't waste time with bird shot, rock salt, or any other "less lethal" method.

As far as brands -- Remington, Mossberg -- won't go wrong with either one of those.

Finally, buy a box of cheap #8 birdshot and head to a range. One common misconception of a shotgun is that you don't have to aim it, it's a "room broom" -- and that notion is complete horseshit. Yes, the shot will expand but that pattern, especially indoors, and with 8 pellets (00 buck) it's not going to expand that much as to preclude you from aiming it.

Now -- some armchair "experts" will tell you never to cock it as a warning. I disagree with this -- one of my best friends is an officer, and she told me that 95% of the time, cocking a shotgun is enough and you don't have to pull the trigger -- and the other 5% of the time, you're going to have to pull the trigger because the assailant is going to kill everyone in the house.

If you'd rather have a handgun -- get a Glock in .45 ACP, with the highest magazine capacity that your moonbat idiot leaders in Kaliforniastan will let you have. I have a Glock 21 in .45 ACP, and let me tell you -- it's a nail driver. Extremely accurate at the range, and I get a 3 inch grouping at 50 yards with it.

But whatever you get -- practice, practice, practice. And have fun. No such thing as a bad day at the range. Keep the gun clean and the ammo dry and it will last you for decades.