Posts by bombastic bob

It's 2017 – and your Windows PC can be forced to run malware-stuffed Excel macros

Re: WTF?

Micro-shaft and Adobe, with respect to the _KINDS_ of "features" that enable such ginormous security craters in the FIRST place, are in a position that is WAY TOO similar to playing a video game where you're battling monsters but you spend your ENTIRE TIME healing the injuries you receive instead of doing damage to the monsters. In those kinds of game battles, you can NEVER get ahead and so you end up LOSING (or getting a REALLY CRAPPY score).

"The Swarm" of potential attacks on these various attack vectors is just to great. Or so it seems.

The only possible fix for some of this stuff might just be to DISABLE the "features" with a patch that only allows end-users to re-enable the potentially dangerous features if they accept the consequences and responsibility for doing so.

Overwhelming potential security problems, and UNDERwhelming responses. Business as usual.

Privacy Pass protocol promises private perusing

let's NOT make this ANOTHER tollbooth, K?

there are already TOO MANY tollbooths on the intarwebs, some of them funded by TRACKING. This includes SSL CERTS.

Let's make sure THIS one does not turn into "yet another tollbooth".

Sean Parker: I helped destroy humanity with Facebook

Re: If not joining is a test

"I PASSED!"

Congrats! [/me also NOT in "that club"]

I always figured, WHY BOTHER with face-barf when I can set up a free web site someplace else, without ads, and without them tracking me...

Re: something like an addiction can be found here

"And if they're UNdead?"

In the words of F.P.S. Russia: "But deze are *zombies*. You must shoot zem in de *head*. Remember dis, iz vwery important. With zombie, you must destroy de *brain*. So let's do that..." (ultimax machine gun video)

Thousand-dollar iPhone X's Face ID wrecked by '$150 3D-printed mask'

Re: When will they learn

I had always figured it would fall apart if I didn't shave for a while or facial hair got longer. Might even pose a problem if you get a radical haircut, are wearing glasses, or if women put on different style eye makeup.

otherwise it might be "too permissive". False positives and false negatives, all equally bad.

Munich council: To hell with Linux, we're going full Windows in 2020

Re: Why not web?

"I would assume that porting to the web instead would be much better value for money"

uh, ... NO. "The Web" is _HIGHLY_ overrated, especially with respect to performance and downtime. So-called 'web apps' are toys by comparison to REAL NATIVE APPLICATIONS.

Be careful, or "the cloud" bandwagon will ensnare you. And Micro-shaft Orifice 365 is the latest siren song, blaring from on top of that bandwagon.

/me thinks: 30+ years of "PC on the desktop", and SOME people actually think that GOING BACK to a "timesharing" way of doing things is THE RIGHT PATH???

icon, because, "facepalm" again

Re: Politics has everything to do with it

"the new mayor, MS, and Accenture have been in a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" relationship for a good few years now"

THAT would be my first suspicion with "anything gummint". It's ALWAYS about the politics!

Good job, and thanks for saying it!

(and upvote number 42 was from ME)

Re: Politics is nothing to do with it.

"It's not like they'd be able to change distros or something at the drop of a hat."

@Alan Bourke

Uh, you've never actually USED Linux now have you?

I change distros all of the time. It depends on what I want to do, or if I'm just evaluating the latest CentOS or using Ubuntu because the customer wants me to. Funny how nearly all of the software I want is available in ANY of them. [it then becomes a matter of what package manager to use. I tend to prefer 'apt' for Linux, but when I use FreeBSD I use the ports system and built-in 'pkg']

In fact I've got several different distros installed in VMs and on actual computers at the moment. Everything I do seems to work exactly the same on all of them (with notable exceptions like dealing with systemd or not), and though I might occasionally have to go directly to a web site to get the latest version of something (we'll say 'Arduino' since that's one of them that even Ubuntu is years behind on, last I checked) everything else pretty much works the same, whether you're on windows, or on Linux, or on FreeBSD - except the general build environment, which pretty much SUCKS on windows these days (without Cygwin, heh). I suspect Mac is similar being as its userland is based on FreeBSD 5.x .

So yeah next time you make claims like "Linux and LibreOffice is a poor relation for any sort of serious corporate use. It's blindingly obvious" keep in mind that "El Reg" is frequented by people who know that such claims are completely UN! TRUE!!!

At least, outside of the accounting department... [where I.T. knowledge is typically at a low point]

This link appeared on the first page of an online search:

https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/top-10-linux-financial-tools/

(and that was from back in 2008, and I suspect the list is longer now)

icon, because, facepalm

"MS have done a good job of reducing the appeal of their Office, but it is so much faster, smoother and easier to use than the Libre equivalent."

"I suspect the issue is it's based on Java"

This has not been my experience. Not even close.

As for "based in java" when did THAT happen? I recall building Open Office from source (for FreeBSD) with a LOT of C++ source files... but that was a while ago. It took a full day on the old hardware (single-threaded build). I don't happen to have a copy of the source at the moment, but I don't think there's much Java in there. Ok probably some. But not a lot.

So I'm studying the 'Makefile' for the port on FreeBSD, "editors/libreoffice", and there are apparently no "always on" dependencies in which I can find for a JRE or JDK, either in the latest FBSD ports. There's an option for "Java Support" (labeled 'JAVA') and from what I can tell, a list of dependencies on java and apache-ant and the usual suspects for WHEN IT IS ENABLED (but not 'always on'). But most of it appears to use a combination of Qt4 and GTK and that "usual suspect" list of dependencies to build and run. So most definitely C++ (at least for the GUI side). Perl is also involved, interestingly enough.

So the claim that "the issue is it's based on Java" appears to be FALSE. Anyone else out there have any indication that it's actually dependent on Java? Because I'm not seeing it...

icon, as there appears to be no "I call B.S." equivalent.

[yeah if you're gonna post B.S. post as A.C. right?]

Re: @ Voland's right hand

"Access is the "little evil". 99% of apps talk to it via odbc and can be made to talk to an alternative database backend."

for the most part, I'd say you're right. If ADO is involved, or VB applications with "special" 3rd party shared components, or even outright MS 'Excess' applications, I suspect this would still be true [but it would require a knowledgeable IT person to fix it].

Isn't it "lazier" to just say "we need this" ??? [that's probably what happened]

The biggest problem with JET is that it couldn't really tolerate multi-user (or even multi-thread), among other things. It only played well by itself, in its own little "sandbox".

Still I'd like to see what those alleged "800 programs" actually are. AND to compare that against a list of independently researched 'equivalents'. If they were serious about it, and not trying to HIDE SOMETHING, they'd most definitely publish that list.

Re: Not sure about Office?

"Many of us have seen this many times before in the past."

and also the cost REDUCTIONS for NOT "going Microsoft".

Microsoft DOES know how to "market" their wares. They appear to be doing so. And they understand governments [as they seem to behave JUST LIKE ONE more often than not].

What's missing here is a description of "what software they need" and why it's only windows programs that will do the job. And if THEIR gummint is anything like MY gummint, they've wasted 90% of their research funds chasing their tails doing nothing, so they can file a report that says "we tried".

Android at 10: How Google won the smartphone wars

Re: "How does a desktop OS have a larger attack surface?"

a) if it's windows, it listens on a bunch of predictable ports, on EVERY IP ADDRESS (including IPv6)

b) if it's windows, it always listens on port 139 and 445, whether or not network sharing is enabled [last I checked, anyway]

c) if it's windows, there are a number of "magic services" running that always listen for traffic on the same ports, so that an UNFIREWALLED system is potentially vulnerable to a number of potential cracks

If it's NOT windows, none of this applies, unless it was configured by an _IDIOT_.

Firefox 57: Good news? It's nippy. Bad news? It'll also trash your add-ons

Re: Just say no to parrotting Google

"Chrome's UI is nothing to write home about."

because it STINKS/SUCKS like every OTHER 2D FLATSO FLUGLY TOUCHY-FEELY CRAP interface.

"Especially, the stupid 'hamburger menu' which IMHO is user hostile."

pretty much says it, yeah. MAYBE of limited valuable for touch screens, HIDEOUS and IRRITATING for "the rest of us".

"Personally, I don't see what the problem is with classic menus."

They're not "new, shiny" and "millenial, it's OUR turn now" enough.

"At some point apparently a rule was created that you can't just have a menu at the top of an application and are only allowed to have the idiotic hamburger menu or even worse Office ribbon bar train wreck."

It's all tracking back to THE METRO, actually. Blame THIS person:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larson-Green

Apparently she's leaving Micro-shaft

https://winbuzzer.com/2017/11/01/windows-8-metro-office-ribbons-overseer-julie-larson-green-leaves-microsoft-xcxwbn/

maybe too many saw the connection (I know, _I_ helped spread the word!)

"New is not always better."

THANK! YOU! for saying that!

"As far as I'm concerned, the UI creators of the past had it write when they came up with the idea of having menus that are relatively standard across applications."

Back in the late 80's/early 90's, "the OS/2 days", IBM wrote a book/guide on 'common user interfaces' that was included with the Windows 3.0 SDK. I have a copy somewhere... (along with that old SDK and it's large collection of dead tree manuals, and similar dead-tree manuals on OS/2 1.2 presentation manager programming).

"Also, as far as I'm concerned, it seems that they are making things worse from an accessibility standpoint. I'm not even sure you can use keyboard alone with these applications."

probably not. you're right. It's all fat-finger-friendly, and "SCREW YOU" if you use keyboard+mouse.

time for a REBELLION amongst users.

Big THUMBS UP to @rmullen0 for saying all of that.

Re: Browser speed obsession

"Most of the time, most browsers are fast enough, but the odd badly written javascript will slow any browser to a grind regardless, as used to happen with flash."

fixed by NoScript

Re: Supporting legacy addons is not the real problem here

"the new API simply won't let you modify the browser to the same extent"

"but at the end of the day, most of these issues were met with a simple shrug."

They probably have this attitude because Mozilla "developers" are a HUGE part of the "RELIGIOUS CULT of the 2D FLATSO INTERFACE", and they are COMPELLED by their religious beliefs to CRAM! IT! UP! ALL! OF! OUR! ARSES! whether we want it or not [and then INSIST that we ENJOY it, too].

Bend Over - Here Comes FF 57!

Re: I always wanted to be an organ grinder's monkey

"You either change or die. Such is life. Have a look around - it's a constant race of arms."

YOU can be a fatalistic tumbleweed if you want to. _I_ flat out REFUSE.

Saying 'yes' to everything is easy. Saying "NO" is HARD. I would rather do the difficult thing, because it is the right thing to do.

Re: I always wanted to be an organ grinder's monkey

"Instead, Mozilla simply add themselves to the long list of others who choose to dictate what users will get, will have to put up with, rather than letting users decide for themselves."

^^^^ What YOU said ^^^^

thanks for saying it. I can't POSSIBLY thumb-it-up enough.

Re: No Classic Theme Restorer?

"Moz folk fail to realise the reason many of use use FireFox is precisely because it is not Chrome and it allows us fine grained browser control that Chrome does not."

If I had the time... I'd definitely consider wrapping webkit with a UI that doesn't suck. Last I checked, Midori looks way too much like Chrome now.

FF 3 in classic theme restorer is a pretty good setting. Hey Mozilla, PAY ATTENTION DAMMIT! You're acting like MICROSHAFT and GNOME, and ALIENATING your CUSTOMERS!

Re: No Classic Theme Restorer?

"This might be the thing that makes me look elsewhere for a browser. "

If I'm ever forced into using 57 or later, I'll consider "how to patch it" and publish the patches.

Firefox can STILL be built from source, particularly in FreeBSD.

I expect that all you need to do is patch the buttons and menus, and ESPECIALLY make it possible to ********EXTERMINATE******** THAT *** DAMNED @#$%+-* HAMBURGER BUTTON!!! [it's the best feature of classic theme restorer]

(Thunderbird, too, by the way - but in Tbird you have to drag the hamburger back onto the 'customize menu' thingy - in FF with classic theme restorer you can right-click the hamburger and select the "remove" option and IT GOES AWAY and NEVER COMES BACK - "I toldz it to go away, and it DID! I'm Freeeeee!" )

So the conclusion: the only way we'll get what we want is if we give Mozilla the BIG MIDDLE FINGER and DO IT OURSELVES. that would include GETTING RID of AUSTRALIS. I'd be SO happy if Mozilla LOSES the browser wars over this, with their OWN LEGACY CODE.

[Last I checked, palemoon still has trouble building on FreeBSD, so I can't really use it]

How did someone hijack your Gmail? Phishing, keylogger or password reuse, we're guessing

Re: Password entered by mistake on another site

"If you enter your gmail password by mistake on outlook.com, that error gets logged, along with your gmail password..."

if not on 'outlook.com' someone may actually be doing that...

Like rule 34 for intarweb pr0n, there should be "a rule" that assumes that kind of tracking. It would be right more often than not, that's why.

Re: Not Surprised

"I picked Target because they were in the news for a massive breach and their astounding incompetence before the breach."

It could've been Target, Malo Mart (aka walmart), K Mart, or Sears. Hopefully after Target's security problems were laid bare for the world to gawk at, everyone else "got a clue" and fixed their own.

They have those new "more secure" point of sale machines now, with the chip-on-card readers, but some of them seem to scratch up the contacts on the on-card-chip and make it not work so well any more...

"For one of my Gmail accounts I have a 28 digit password"

That's no more secure though in reality than a 9 character or greater complex password.

has nobody mentioned "Correct Horse Battery Staple" yet?

Re: VPN

"But don't know what better alternatives there are."

A lot of ISPs sell e-mail services. you could purchase one of those. Sometimes they come with fun domain names [which was the selling point]. They'll have POP and IMAP and web-mail and whatever else you need.

like this one: http://libertea.us/ < -- yes, a 'tea party' site

[at $40/year I'm now considering that for myself...]

Re: VPN and Juice

"I don't think browsers and OS's take fingerprinting seriously enough"

A simple server-side access log stores your IP address. Beyond that, browser information is nearly always sent, information that identifies your OS and browser make/model. Most people don't delete or block cookies from "trackers" like g00gle and face-barf. And there are those hidden 3rd party GIF files with alphabet-soup URLs, and corresponding server-side logs, for 'beyond cookie' tracking.

Did your browser just send a 'header request' for that tiny transparent GIF file, because it was already in the cache? TRACKED you! Didn't need a cookie for that, so your cookie blocker was meaningless. You might as well have a fixed IPv4 address. Muahahahaha!

So then 'whatever tracking service/' gets to store all that, sort it, summarize it, massage it into a product, and sell, sell, sell YOUR online behavior, simply because you visit sites they're connected to.

Knowing its possible is half the battle, and VPNs (or frequently changed IP addresses), ad/script blockers, and cookie blockers won't protect you from THAT kind of tracking.

So yeah, most DEFINITELY browsers and OSs don't take fingerprinting seriously enough.

Re: REALLY???

"How about the internal theft of accounts while in China"

yeah, any "firewalled" nation has the ability to play 'man in the middle' with your SSL and slurp every password and credit card number you type in. Just one 'trusted cert' for China's great firewall and you're b0ned.

Is it time to have a 'droid app for 'droid that uses a secure tunnel? Would it become 'broken' behind the 'great firewall' if you did that?

So then we might be forced to set up secure VPN tunnels for EVERYTHING when going overseas to certain countries (even the USA it seems). 'droid has Linux under the hood so all of the necessary guts (to set that up) should already be there...

Metal 3D printing at 100 times the speed and a twentieth of the cost

Re: Suddenly the 3d printed plastic gun is no longer the problem....

I figured powdered metal (the existing method) would be too weak for a proper gun barrel.

But _THIS_ sounds like it's a LOT more promising!

Now - I'd like to (be able to afford to) 3D print a few more items while I'm at it, like a jet engine [of my own design], a liquid-fueled rocket, and replacement car parts [as needed] for "legacy" cars.

This could become _VERY_ interesting!

Microsoft president says the world needs a digital Geneva Convention

yet another meaningless symbolic gesture

a "cyber geneva convention" - what, do evil hackers have to SIGN ONTO this before they begin cracking your systems?

It's a meaningless symbolic gesture, like wearing a silly ribbon, or giving a Nobel prize to someone who didn't really do anything [no names here but his initials are B.O.], or half a dozen OTHER "symbolism over substance" things that anyone paying attention could think of [because it happens a LOT].

Usually when _I_ make a symbolic gesture, it has a binary value of 00100, and carries an explicit meaning. I give this "symbolic gesture" to the whole CONCEPT of a "digital Geneva Convention" for the obvious reasons.

Icon because I'm facepalming (another symbolic gesture that is not so meaningless)

/me points out that it's usually not GUMMINTS doing this crap. And if it IS gummints doing it, and people know about it, they've completely *FAILED*.

The NAKED truth: Why flashing us your nude pics is a good idea – by Facebook's safety boss

Re: So your solution

"just don't take/share the pictures" is not a BAD solution [i.e. don't share pics that you NEVER want to see on "teh intarwebs"] because "hacking" "law enforcement" "TSA" "device theft" "revenge pr0n" "BOFH".

[Just pointing out the obvious]

I'd expect to see some BOFH-types at FakeBook frequently rummaging through a pr0n collection that was "accidentally" copied to their personal computers, and kept locked up in triple-encrypted files with non-obvious names like "accounting".

"Actually once you fix your Caps Lock and look around MOST Of Women Are NOT THAT Attractive NAKED."

yeah, snark snark because YOU (apparently) haven't mastered the proper use of *emphasis*

Intel's super-secret Management Engine firmware now glimpsed, fingered via USB

Re: Minix licence

"Does Intel's use actually abide by the terms of the licence?"

not unless it's a true "creative commons" license. BSD-like and MIT-like licenses usually have copyright requirements where you acknowledge the owner of the original source for your copied or derived work.

So yeah, it COULD be a license violation, if we had license text to prove it.

Re: Claim: all IPv6 addresses are *PUBLIC*

"generally using NAT for IPv4"

yes (and the rest, mostly yes).

Sure, there's a spec for IPv6 NAT somewhere, but I'm not aware of it actually being used. I rely on a firewall blocking 'incoming' traffic from "teh intarwebs" on specific ports that are well known, like 139, 445, 6000, yotta yotta and those ports that Winders machines INSIST on listening on "*" to... [because the coders were TOO LAZY to bind it to localhost]

Re: Claim: all IPv6 addresses are *PUBLIC*

"You might want to look into IPv6 link-local and IPv6 unique-local addresses (not the deprecated site-local as I originally wrote)."

thanks for the nit-pickiness. Of course, not THOSE. Duh.

Re: Intel - the hardware retail arm of the NSA

well, there's now a linux version that disables it [so they say].

I expect that requiring physical access to the machine is enough, for the moment, but I'm still concerned about any on-board network adaptor being connected in ANY way to the outside world.

Keep in mind, IPv6 exposes EVERYONE to the intarwebs, because (virtually) all IPv6 addresses are *PUBLIC* and therefore any unfirewalled listening ports are also PUBLIC. If your NIC can be cracked using an exposed port, in ANY way, because of the "management engine", we are all in one huge sorry state as far as security goes...

I am not aware as to whether Intel's "management protocol" can withstand intarweb routing. Most likely it can withstand WIFI routing, and possibly a spoof of some layered protocol if you're using a VPN. Sniffing any kind of SSL would be extremely difficult, but not impossible, especially if your network is being monitored. The odds of this crack being successful WITHOUT physical machine access is PROBABLY small. HOWEVER, I wouldn't trust it anyway, so maybe I should stick with "the earlier architecture".

Brit moron tried buying a car bomb on dark web, posted it to his address. Now he's screwed

Re: er...

"He's assuming that because the guy is brown."

it ALSO takes a racist to make a statement like that... because SJW's who focus on race are, in fact, RACIST for doing so.

US government seizes Texas gun mass murder to demand backdoors

leave no tragedy unexploited

what it says in the title. manipulative ASSHATS do that.

NASA reconfirms 2019 will see first launch of Space Launch System

Re: It's Apollo 8... minus the people

well, since _I_ happened to be alive in 1968, AND watched every launch and space-based broadcast I could, which means I have a pretty good understanding of what was going on at the time, you have to consider why Apollo 8 was launched before you say it will "do no science" etc.. There was also at least one unmanned Saturn V launch prior to that, one of which was filmed as part of a Star Trek episode (ca 1967).

There were several 'dry run' launches during the moon program. Apollo 7 (earth orbit only), Apollo 8 (moon orbit only), Apollo 9 (dress rehearsal with LEM in earth orbit), Apollo 10 (dress rehearsal with LEM in lunar orbit), and then Apollo 11 where they actually landed the thing. It was all about bringing the astronauts BACK, and not having a spectactular disaster followed by a funeral (like Apollo I) on the front page of the newspapers for a week.

What saddens ME is that *POLITICS* shifted the budget and national attention away from extraterrestrial exploration and *WASTED* MANY TIMES THE FUNDS that NASA was spending, on social programs and "entitlements" (to buy votes for politicians to increase and/or stay in power).

I'd much rather buy rockets for "dry run" launches. At least THAT way you get a rocket. Waste the same amount on "austerity" or "social programs" or "entitlements" and you get what you paid for. Nothing, and more empty palms stuck in your face, demanding MORE.

Self-driving bus in crash just 2 hours after entering public service

Re: German Efficiency

"If someone finds a way to apply their own software updates this could get ugly very quickly..."

I guess that rules out "Open Source" for these things... dammit...

Jet packs are real – and inventor just broke world speed record in it

Re: ... he used to see the suit as an "exclusive high-end jetski, something just for fun"

"----> icon: last thing seen...."

yeah, better than dying in a puddle of your own piss, I say. Go out with a "*BANG*"

Re: Duration?

"In flight refueling"

or drag a small fuel cart behind you with a long hose

Re: Duration?

"To stay aloft, you need to provide 9.8m/s^2 * the mass of the object to be kept aloft, of thrust. That's quite a bit."

the vast majority of aircraft are incapable of that, and Harrier was the first to be able to take off vertically without helicopter rotors. It's a very difficult problem, a) enough thrust, b) enough fuel, c) not set your pants on fire.

Mythbuster seeks cash for roller skates to wear in virtual reality

"Wouldn't it feel like you are slipping backwards, with you ending up planting your face in the floor as your foot moves backwards but your upper body stays where it is."

you've described vertigo, in a way. THAT sometimes results in a 'technicolor belch'

icon, because, spew on peripheral device (again)

Re: $50K?

"cheapskate."

cheap. skate. heh. grabbing coat.

Re: There's already a solution

> I think that most gamers don't have that kind of fitness.

I think the upper weight limit of 215 pounds is a bit... unrealistic... given that demographic.

it would seem to ME, at any rate, that those who DO have "that kind of fitness" often ARE above 215lbs. And that's not because they're FAT, it's because they're MUSCULAR.

maybe not a lot of gamers doing that, though, but the exercise benefits of walking in VR might get them there.

My biggest concern would be the balance factor. If your balance senses expect you to be moving, and your feet are sliding, what does this do for balance correction? The shoes would need to measure what your head is doing in order to compensate, and a rapid spin-around would throw THAT system into complete chaos. [humans use eyes for balance while the fluid in the ear is still spinning]

I expect motion sickness, too, because what the inner ear says will differ ENOUGH from what the eyes see, that you'll get a sense of vertigo from it, followed by that funny 'headache', followed by the spillage of stomach contents all over those VR shoes.

icon, because, you're spewing on a peripheral device

You know what's coming next: FBI is upset it can't get into Texas church gunman's smartphone

Re: The reports so far with some editorial....

"any rifle with a replaceable magazine and a semi-automatic rather than bolt or lever action. Neither feature is required (or even useful) when hunting deer - they're features that only have utility for killing people."

"assault rifles" are cool looking. I'm sure some dweeb out there would consider my choice of vehicles not having any 'utility'. I just wanted a Mustang convertible. It looks great and is fun to drive. So I got one. It goes really freaking fast when I want it to [I once passed some asshat going uphill at ~100MPH because he kept speeding up on straightaways on a windy road and went 15mph around every freaking corner, and it was "my chance" and I took it, because I could]. And I leave the top down 99% of the time, because I like it that way. I'm sure I'll be criticized for owning it, too. And driving it. And enjoying it. And driving fast in it.

Now, substitute "AR-15" for "mustang convertible" and I say, if that's what someone wants to buy, LET HIM. It becomes a matter of personal choice, and it is NOBODY'S BUSINESS, what you or I or anyone else wants to own, right?

/me points out that in some states in the USA, you can own AUTOMATIC WEAPONS. Check out the "F.P.S. Russia" videos. All you have to do is pass a background check and pay a tax.

And you're correct. The AR-15 is a military style weapon primarily designed for killing people. It makes it very effective for the purpose for which it was used: stopping a mass murderer from killing anyone else.

Re: FBI can't unlock smartphone

(general comment)

That's right, leave no tragedy UNEXPLOITED by political activism.

Microsoft goes to bat for Dreamers: Windows giant sues Uncle Sam to block staff deportations

Re: These mega corporations just want cheap labor.....

"As if MS, or any US company led by a CEO worth multiple billion dollars, cares about immigrants."

this is why the chamber of commerce and "washington establishment" SUPPORT things like 'amnesty' for illegal immigrants, because it waters down the "potential employee" pool with sneak-ins.

in other words, it helps maintain the divide between "haves" and "have nots", like so many other things that are (deliberately) done in gummint these days.

Never trust a politician who claims he wants to HELP you. Maybe vote for him, but watch him carefully, for every politician must put a hand out and get money put into it in order to become elected. Those who put a LOT of money in [i.e. "the rich"] have a lot more say-so about what's going to happen down the road. Mrs. Clinton was trying to be more covert about it, and included "furriners" and illegal "charitable" contributions in a money laundering scheme for this very purpose. It's a corrupt business, politics, and always has been from what I can gather. it's just that people stopped paying attention at some point, and allowed themselves to be herded like sheeple into voting for the candidate of THEIR choice every couple of years.

So yeah, expect YOUR taxes to go up, even if they say they will go down, in order to "keep you in your place". Your expenses will go up because no new houses/apartments will be built, and any 'rent control' will keep them 'barely affordable'. All of your money will go into your monthly bills [why does BILL get so much of my money] and if you move to get better wages, you KNOW the expenses will be "better" (i.e. higher) too, to compensate.

The only way this will ever change is if politics becomes UN-corrupt.

yeah, good luck with THAT.

Re: Because Microsoft has no employees outside the USA?

"Don't get me wrong, I think Trump is an idiot, but he doesn't deserve the irrational and irrelevant hate being directed at him."

Your disclaimer still got you a 2:1 downvote to upvote ratio [so far]. I gave you an up vote for everything up to and excluding that part.

Re: declaring "the Dreamers are part of our nation's fabric. They belong here."

"Microsoft is suing the US government to prevent the deportation of immigrants"

Should instead be...

"Microsoft is suing the US government to prevent the deportation of ***_I_L_L_E_G_A_L_*** immigrants"

There, I! FIXED! IT! FOR! YOU!!! <-- shouted so that you can hear it from the 'cheap seats'

What! *FORNICATING*! Part! Of! ***ILLEGAL***! Do! They! NOT! Understand!!!???

US judge orders Sci-Hub be excised from the internet

Re: Having a free access to Science and Education?

"Right to Education? Only if you can pay for it!"

just don't make ME pay for anything beyond high school.

Gummint schools are highly overrated anyway. It's why "the rich" (and many not-so-rich) still send their kids to a "pay for it" school. And _STILL_ get taxed to pay for the gummint one.

[don't get me wrong, public school done right is a GOOD thing. I'm just sick of the kind of 'education' they're doing these days. details off topic, and you'll just down vote me regardless]

icon, because, facepalm

Re: As usual: the US wants extra terrestrial power, but no-one else's applies to them

"the US wants extra terrestrial power"

just a few judges and politicans want those things (and act like hypcrites, as correctly observed). the rest of us just don't care, and will scoff at such "laws"