Rubio: FBI Not Asking Apple For Backdoor To Encryption

During last night’s Republican debate on CNN, Marco Rubio said, “They [FBI] are not asking for Apple to create a backdoor to encryption.” On a very specific parsing of that statement, Rubio might be correct, but what the FBI is asking Apple to do is create code that would be equal to a backdoor, because it would allow the FBI (and anyone else who gets their hands on this code) the ability to try unlimited passcodes using high-speed computers. virtually guaranteeing access to the phone’s data. So sure, on a technicality Rubio might be correct, but make no mistake, Apple is being asked to create code that would make it possible to render the iPhone’s encryption meaningless.

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America’s 9/11 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Continues With ISIS

Thirteen years after the obviously unforgettable tragedy of 9/11/2001, we still continue to suffer from the effects of that traumatic event. We are told to “never forget” as if we ever would, but we never much reflect beyond that tired refrain. While we hoped President Obama would not continue to steer us along this ineffective yet resolved path, a road paved by the hope that we as a nation will feel safer at some undetermined end point, instead this president is leading us into yet another war against a terrorist group (ISIS). But why is the president doing this?

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Photographers Hassled By Police Might End Up On ‘Suspicious Activity Reports’

People should not have to worry about being hassled by law enforcement when they are out taking photos with their camera. But in the total fear zone known previously as the United States of America, you not only face questioning by police officers, the government might be keeping records (known as Suspicious Activity Reports) on where you’ve been and what photos you’ve taken.

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Counterview: Terrorism Persists, But America’s War On Terror Must End

Remember how the Obama administration stopped using the phrase “War on Terror”? And remember when President Obama gave that speech back in May where he called for an official end to the War on Terror and repeal of the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF)? “I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF’s mandate,” said Obama. “And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further. Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. That’s what our democracy demands.”

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