2013 archive
Privacy, Schmivacy 2
Even as the public falls on the fainting couch over the NSA, Arthur Dobrin says, “Give it up already.”
A nugget:
(snip)
Last year an indignant father accused Target of maligning his daughter by sending her coupons for baby items. It turns out Target knew better than the father. The girl hadn’t yet told her father the news. Data-mining did the job.
Facebook Frolics 0
A local police dispatcher is in trouble with the public after a Facebook post related to a recent police action (emphasis added).
“She didn’t think anybody would see it,” he said. She said she believed “it was a private communication between her and Busby, or so she thought.”
Private.
Internet.
Facebook.
Yeah.
Right.
Enabler 2
I read the Michael Gerson column that the Booman refers to in this post.
As I did, I concluded that it was such a load of hooey that I would not waste my time blogging about it and that, if Gerson had any sincerity, he would admit that, in bitching about the right, he was repudiating his career, which he has devoted to putting lipstick on the wingnut pig.
But he doesn’t, and he didn’t.
QOTD 0
William Sloane Coffin:
To be avoided at all costs is the solace of opinion without the pain of thought.
Tempus Keeps Fugitting Along 0
Historiann has a blast from the past, complete with an echo from the now.
Before and After 0
More proof that the fashion industry hates women.
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff 2
The Regent doesn’t.
The McDonnells have billed the state for body wash, sunscreen, dog vitamins and a digestive system “detox cleanse,” the records show. They also have used state employees to run personal errands for their adult children. In the middle of a workday, for example, a staffer retrieved Rachel McDonnell’s newly hemmed pants at a tailoring shop nine miles from the governor’s mansion. Another time, a state worker was dispatched to a dry cleaner 20 miles away to pick up a storage box for Cailin McDonnell’s wedding dress.
More small stuff at the link.
Ends and Means 0
In Der Spiegel, German Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser reflects on the surveillance state and marvels at America’s surrender to fear. A nugget:
I don’t share this view. The more a society monitors, controls and observes its citizens, the less free it is. In a democratic constitutional state, security is not an end in itself, but serves to secure freedom.
The Fee Hand of the Market 6
Management has found a new way to rip employees off: pay their wages through fee-heavy debit cards.
She was to be paid about $7.44 per hour – her paystub didn’t list her hourly rate. Minimum wage is $7.25.
According to the complaint filed, the JP Morgan Chase payroll card lists several fees, including a $1.50 charge for ATM withdrawals, $5 for over-the-counter cash withdrawals, $1 per balance inquiry, 75 cents per online bill payment and $15 for lost/stolen card.
Gunshannon said she had taken her concerns to the main office of the franchise holder – Albert and Carol Mueller, trading as McDonald’s, in Clarks Summit. She was told that the card was the only option, she said.
You don’t have take-home pay any more.
You just get to watch it go by, without even choosing where it goes.
Afterthought:
It’s hard to argue with this, from later on in the story (emphasis added):
“I can’t afford to lose even a few dollars per paycheck. I just think people should be paid fairly and not have to pay fees to get their wages.”
Wonder whether the franchise owners are getting any kickbacks benefits from Chase.
The Surveillance State 2
No scans unbarred. Mike Nichols reports in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Schadt owns OB’s Brauhaus, a successful restaurant and bar in Appleton, where police have developed a habit of asking local establishments to use police-issued scanners to collect information on patrons.
At least some bars now scan every person who comes in on certain weekend nights — proof that the program is about a lot more than deterring underage drinking. At the end of the night, the bars return the scanners to police along with all the information about who showed up to have a beer or, God forbid, a shot with their buddies.
Police say the program is entirely voluntary.
Voluntary, just like renewing your on-premises license is voluntary.
White Privilege Means Not Having To Hear about White Privilege 0
Part of being privileged is not having to hear about being privileged, because your being privileged is, well, it just is.
It’s being able to get a popular, effective, and challenging teacher reassigned because you don’t like the lesson.
But the provocative discussions that Meyer found so revelatory abruptly ended a few months ago when a female white student accused the teacher of creating an “intimidating educational environment.”
Here’s a bit from another report, this one from one of the teacher’s former students.
There is another, larger story here that I don’t feel qualified to tackle. The established press doesn’t seem to have noticed this story of censorship.
I learned about it by listening to amTWib.