Time is of the essence today. I have four periods set aside throughout the week during which I can work on this blog. Usually at least one of them is open. This week, however, they all got snatched up by "real-life" things. During two of them I had to do work work -- things have been busier than usual at the office. During another one of them I had to watch the kids because S had to do something, and during the final one I had to take Lil' S1 to a birthday party. So now I'm in a mad scramble to get something up before somebody in my family figures out what I'm doing and demands my time be focused on them. It could be any of the three of them.
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So a lot happened this week in the world this past week. The first, of course, is that Justice Scalia died. You never want to cheer a man's death (Osama Bin Laden excepted), but the dispassionate truth of the matter is that this is a boon to many liberal causes. It's already a big deal, but it could end up being a really big deal depending on how this year's election goes down. I don't expect a replacement to be appointed by Obama. The Republican-led Senate is unlikely to go for that, and frankly I can't really fault them -- if the situation was reversed, I wouldn't want a successor approved -- but the Democrat is at least a slight favorite to win the election, and in the interim, there are some Supreme Court cases that will likely end in a 4-4 tie in a manner favorable to liberals. If Scalia were still on the court, he would almost certainly swing the vote to the conservative position. The biggest one is probably a ruling on Obama's authority to limit emissions from power plants. A few others are rulings about California teacher unions and how the state of Texas counts voters in a district.
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Another thing that happened is that the government got a court order telling Apple to hack an iPhone owned by that terrorist who shot up the Christmas party in California. Apparently Apple has made their iPhones more secure in the wake of the Edward Snowden debacle, and the cops don't know how to break into an iPhone without the password. Apple apparently doesn't know how to do this either and is balking at it (they're appealing the ruling), because it would require them to build a "back door" that currently doesn't exist, and that they don't want to build for customer privacy reasons. In fact, as I understand it, the latest version of the iPhone, the 6, is so secure that Apple couldn't even break into it if they wanted to. The terrorist had an earlier version -- the 5c, I believe -- and this apparently is hackable, but not with existing functionality.
I find this case fascinating, but every article I read or podcast I listen to about it, just makes me more confused. Here are the (perhaps naive) questions I have about it.
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So a lot happened this week in the world this past week. The first, of course, is that Justice Scalia died. You never want to cheer a man's death (Osama Bin Laden excepted), but the dispassionate truth of the matter is that this is a boon to many liberal causes. It's already a big deal, but it could end up being a really big deal depending on how this year's election goes down. I don't expect a replacement to be appointed by Obama. The Republican-led Senate is unlikely to go for that, and frankly I can't really fault them -- if the situation was reversed, I wouldn't want a successor approved -- but the Democrat is at least a slight favorite to win the election, and in the interim, there are some Supreme Court cases that will likely end in a 4-4 tie in a manner favorable to liberals. If Scalia were still on the court, he would almost certainly swing the vote to the conservative position. The biggest one is probably a ruling on Obama's authority to limit emissions from power plants. A few others are rulings about California teacher unions and how the state of Texas counts voters in a district.
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Another thing that happened is that the government got a court order telling Apple to hack an iPhone owned by that terrorist who shot up the Christmas party in California. Apparently Apple has made their iPhones more secure in the wake of the Edward Snowden debacle, and the cops don't know how to break into an iPhone without the password. Apple apparently doesn't know how to do this either and is balking at it (they're appealing the ruling), because it would require them to build a "back door" that currently doesn't exist, and that they don't want to build for customer privacy reasons. In fact, as I understand it, the latest version of the iPhone, the 6, is so secure that Apple couldn't even break into it if they wanted to. The terrorist had an earlier version -- the 5c, I believe -- and this apparently is hackable, but not with existing functionality.
I find this case fascinating, but every article I read or podcast I listen to about it, just makes me more confused. Here are the (perhaps naive) questions I have about it.
- If the current functionality to hack the terrorist's phone doesn't exist, but everybody knows it can be built, can't a third-party figure it out? Could the government turn the phone over to a group of independent hackers and say "do what Apple doesn't want to do?" Does only Apple have the expertise and background knowledge to do this in a timely fashion?
- One of the big reasons Apple doesn't want to do it is because they don't want this back door to exist at all. The government says it's a one-off and will never be used again. Apple says it will set a precedent and once something exists, you never know who will get their hands on it. But if the back door is only possible because the phone is an older version, and under the newer version Apple couldn't build it even if they wanted to, then how would precedent be set? Once everybody starts using the iPhone 6, it won't matter anyway, right? It seems like some grandstanding on the part of Apple.
- Is anything ever truly unhackable? It's only unhackable until a hacker hacks it, right?
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Lastly, the primary races are really starting to heat up -- especially on the Republican side. Trump continues to confound the naysayers and win votes. Most the odds makers have him a bit better than 50-50, Rubio a bit worse than 50-50, and everybody else a long shot (with Cruz the only remotely realistic possibility among the long shots). That seems about right to me. I'm pulling for Trump. I think he will get smoked by Hillary in the general election, and I'm loving the way he is destroying the Republicans' myths about their voting base.
On the Democratic side, it's still looking like Clinton all the way. Sanders is certainly making it a decent fight, but despite his progress, Hillary is still a strong favorite. Sure, a big upset could happen, but it would be just that -- a big upset. I for one, really hope it doesn't happen. I am not feeling the Bern. I'm sympathetic to his ideals, but I'm a technocrat, and he isn't. I want the pragmatists, the wonks, the empiricists, the nerds in charge -- I don't want ideologues, even those with whom I largely agree.
OK, that's it, gotta run. Until next time...
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