We can hedge our bets, though.

That's what people said about Tesla and just about every real thinker of the past. It doesn't mean he isn't at least a little crazy. Crazy can be good. Take John Nash for example.

This is serious. The ice bucket challenge solved ALS. Obama is just applying the same tactic to pollution. It can't fail.

A Tomahawk is (ideally) less likely to go off target than an artillery shell. When a Tomahawk happens to hit non-combatants it's called a malfunction. When a Tomahawk is working correctly it will always hit the correct target, no matter where that target may be, and inflict minimal collateral damage. Collateral damage is also a malfunction. Only barbarians would use cheap artillery and take responsibility for harming those inclined to be anywhere near the intended target.

I have stopped buying electronics from US companies because I can get the same quality (sometimes better) buying directly from Chinese factories. The prices are better and they offer 6 month warranties on just about anything (and I have tested these warranties).

100% this. I hated reading as a child until I came across Final Fantasy 6.

This is about your sig. Ever notice people remember Gatorade by the color and not the flavor?

No, we're calling them magnets now. The next step is finding out how magnets work.

I'm totally against spying on our own populace, especially by the NSA which wasn't created with that intent at all. There is some reason they are doing it and we need to find out why and who is having them do it. Are they acting outside of government authority or is someone in government endorsing what they're doing? If the NSA is acting on it's own abolishing the NSA might be a solution. If what they're doing is being authorized behind closed doors getting rid of them won't change a thing, it'll just put a different label on it.

What I was getting at is we don't know the full extent of what they are doing. We know they are spying on us. We don't know what they are doing for us, if anything. They probably can't tell us exactly what they are doing to benefit us because it would wreck that part of their mission. We're in a Catch-22. We need to find out whether they work for the people or someone else, and go from there.

Are you honestly expecting an agency with license to lie to give honest testimony?

This may destroy my karma...

The NSA is (theoretically) in a position where it cannot tell us what it has done for us. There may be all sorts of things the NSA has done to protect our nation. Publicly disclosing those actions could wreck their whole mission. We should consider, as IT professionals, that we're in a similar boat. We can't always tell the customer/client exactly what is going on, and even if we do tell them they're unlikely to fully understand. We definitely don't tell our customer's competitors what we are doing.

The real issue with the NSA is this: who is the customer?

Finally! A government admits it's policy is intended as satire! Kafka is doing the Green Back Boogie in his grave.

I agree with A, it makes sense. B, not so much. I don't see how the US could seize real estate on foreign soil through a court action. They could try, but I don't see Ireland (in this example) agreeing to let them have the land.

Or consider this: I am in Ireland and I steal a phone from someone at the pub. I fly back home to the US. The Irish authorities are able to determine who I am. Can an Irish judge issue a warrant to search my house in the US?

Consider this scenario: I am a US citizen who owns a house in Ireland. I commit a crime (in the US), say selling drugs. Can a US judge issue a warrant to search my house in Ireland? Let's say I am convicted. Part of the ruling is to have all of my property connected to the crime seized (by the US DOJ). Can they seize my house in Ireland?