The Criminal N.S.A.

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An Op-Ed by Jennifer Granick and Christopher Sprigman, in The New York Times:

We may never know all the details of the mass surveillance programs, but we know this: The administration has justified them through abuse of language, intentional evasion of statutory protections, secret, unreviewable investigative procedures and constitutional arguments that make a mockery of the government’s professed concern with protecting Americans’ privacy. It’s time to call the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance programs what they are: criminal.

Donor bought Rolex watch for Virginia Gov. McDonnell, $15,000 in clothes for Governor's Wife

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Carol Leonnig and Rosalind Helderman, at The Washington Post write:

A prominent political donor purchased a Rolex watch for Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, according to two people with knowledge of the gift, and the governor did not disclose it in his annual financial filings. The $6,500 luxury watch was provided by wealthy businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr., the people said. He is the chief executive of dietary supplement manufacturer Star Scientific and the person who paid for catering at the wedding of the governor’s daughter. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because of an ongoing federal investigation into the relationship between Williams and the McDonnell family. and later on in the same article They are also investigating other money provided to Maureen McDonnell, as well as expensive designer clothing — some bought in 2011 in New York City — according to people familiar with the inquiry. The shopping trip emanated from a social occasion with Williams and Maureen McDonnell shortly after the governor won election. The governor’s wife mentioned that she would need an inauguration dress, preferably one from the designer Oscar de la Renta, and would like Williams’s help getting one, according to two people familiar with her suggestion. Williams agreed to buy one for her, but a top staffer to the governor advised Williams and the first lady that such a gift was not allowed. A year later, the first lady contacted Williams to propose that he take her shopping at Bergdorf Goodman, the people familiar with the shopping said. In that store, Williams purchased an estimated $15,000 in clothing for Maureen McDonnell, they said.

Mitch McConnell Realizes IRS Scandal Is Over

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In short, the Obama administration had nothing to do with it. That was the conclusion of the inspector-general report and the House Oversight Committee’s own interviews, which showed it was a well-intentioned effort to enforce the law by a Republican IRS official.

Mitch McConnell delivered a speech today at the American Enterprise Institute to officially signal that the IRS scandal has entered its post-fact phase. When the IRS first revealed that its Cincinnati office had attempted to enforce its nonprofit laws using a search function that disproportionately impacted conservatives, Republicans were certain it must have come from the White House. They were going to follow the facts. But all of the facts point in the same direction, which is that the Obama administration had nothing to do with it at all. That was the conclusion of the agency’s inspector-general report, as well as the House Oversight Committee’s own interviews, which the Republican majority tried to suppress and which (when the Democrats released them) showed the operation was an independent, well-intentioned effort to enforce the law led by an IRS official who happens to be a conservative Republican.

Hypercritical T-Shirts 2.0

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John Siracusa, at Hypercritical.co writes:

Let's try this again. Last month, inspired by Marco and bolstered by the drop-dead-simple Teespring web site, I put the first Hypercritical t-shirt up for sale. The response from fans was amazing, vastly exceeding my expectations. Unfortunately, that sale was aborted due to my unauthorized use of copyrighted artwork. All orders were refunded and no t-shirts were printed. Now the Hypercritical t-shirt is back, with a new design. At a glance, it may look exactly like the previous shirt, but this version features new artwork. (It's the same image that appears next to this site's title and as its favicon.) For any of you who were very disappointed that the first shirt was cancelled, well, it is now back. Go get one. Also, Marco has a more detailed explanation as to what happened with the first round of shirts. More copyright bullshit. As usual.

Don’t Blame the Work Force

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The New York Times Editorial Board writes:

There is a durable belief that much of today’s unemployment is rooted in a skills gap, in which good jobs go unfilled for lack of qualified applicants. This is mostly a corporate fiction, based in part on self-interest and a misreading of government data. The next time someone tells you that there are a lack of skilled high tech workers for companies to hire...question their motives for telling you that. There are plenty of workers available, if companies are willing to pay for them to work. Most of the time they aren't willing to pay them a fair wage, preferring to pay them less than they're worth or hoping to hire an H1B Visa employee for less than an American would take.

My Notes From Apple's WWDC Announcements

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Software

OS X Mavericks

Finder

iOS 7

iTunes Radio

  • Build your own playlist on any Apple device (Mac, AppleTV, iPhone, iPad)
  • The more music you listen to whether it is music you own, download or just play, stations will build around those selections intelligently.
  • Define your own rules such as "New station from song", "New station from artist", and a slider bar that allows you to tune between Top Hits, Mix, or Discovery.
  • Completely integrates with Siri.
  • Purchase songs for download directly into your collection.
  • If you subscribe to iTunes Match, then iTunes Radio is ad-free.
  • Station history is stored in iCloud and synced across devices.

Hardware

New MacBook Airs - I noticed on Apple Store, that you can now configure a 13" MacBook Air with a 1.7Ghz processor, 8GB RAM and a 512GB SSD for $1849.

New Mac Pro (holy shit)

  • My next computer.

New Airport Extreme

  • Perfect timing for our new house for when I network everything.

Complimentary articles from reputable sites:

The Wirecutter's brief rundown of Apple's announcements.

MacStories Numbers Roudup