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Daily Archives: June 8, 2022

Don’t Forget the First Half of the Second Amendment

The Atlantic – The amendment doesn’t prohibit gun regulations; it demands them. By Thomas P. Crocker “…[the first half of the] Second Amendment reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State.” The Supreme Court barely contemplated the text’s meaning in Heller v. District of Columbia, asking no more than whether it could be given a logical link or a purpose consistent with what it dubbed the “operative clause”—wherein the amendment, in the Court’s view, protects an individual right to possess a weapon. The first half of the Second Amendment is at times also anachronistically associated with the question of whether the right to possess a weapon is tied to service in a “well regulated Militia”—a view the Heller majority rejected. Missing from this reading, however, is any consideration of the constitutional significance of what is necessary to maintain the “security of a free State.” What does this security entail? Are Americans secure in a free state when they live in fear of the next violent act that might be perpetrated by the bearer of semiautomatic weapons? Are Americans secure in a free state when they are told that more resources should be spent on arming teachers, or training students to duck and cover and keep silent, as if in a new cold war, only this time the enemy is ourselves?…”

A Supreme Court speech showdown is coming, and nobody knows what to expect

The Verge: “The US Supreme Court is poised to consider a question with seismic consequences for online speech. Over the past year, laws in Texas and Florida have set up a legal battle over whether the First Amendment protects social networks’ right to curate user-generated content or whether these sites should be treated more like… Continue Reading

New tool from Google shows how the planet is changing in near real time

Fast Company: “A new tool from Google Earth Engine and the nonprofit World Resources Institute pulls from satellite data to build detailed maps in near real time. Called Dynamic World, it zooms in on the planet in 10-by-10-meter squares from satellite images collected every two to five days. The program uses artificial intelligence to classify… Continue Reading

Trump on Trial – A Guide to the January 6 Hearings and the Question of Criminality

Brookings Governance Studies – Trump on Trial – A Guide to the January 6 Hearings and the Question of Criminality [104 pages] By Norman Eisen, Donald Ayer, Joshua Perry, Noah Bookbinder, and E. Danya Perr: “…The report goes beyond prior analyses to provide the first in-depth treatment of the voluminous publicly available facts and the… Continue Reading

What Is Bossware? Is It Tracking You At Home?

Make Use Of: “Whether or not remote working affects employee productivity is very much open to debate. On one side, employers argue that remote working makes it easier for people not to work. On the other, skipping the commute and focusing on work may actually improve productivity. Some employers are attempting to answer this question… Continue Reading

How to Find Out if Your Passwords Are Being Sold Online

Make Use Of: “Whether you have the strongest or weakest passwords, countless scenarios can leak your password online. It could be a data breach, or you accidentally shared your credentials with a malicious actor through a phishing website. But how do you tell if your password has been hacked? And what are some of the… Continue Reading