Conservatism has, over the decades, curdled into an ideology of hatefulness and destruction, with no real interest in building up much beyond the bank accounts of the already wealthy. One can read a billion think-pieces about Trump’s divergence from traditional conservatism, but the reality is that “traditional” conservatism doesn’t exist anymore, outside a few enclaves of (ha ha) coastal elites. Conservatism as practiced by most Republicans is an ideology built on one single principle: Pissing off the liberals. And no one excels at that more than Donald Trump.

A really great collection of photos taken by Dorothea Lange during the U.S.’s internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II.

“The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken.” — General John L. DeWitt, head of the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command

It is completely asinine that the incoming administration has promoted a national Muslim registry. The times may have changed, but fear and ignorance have not.

Despite what other media outlets are reporting, there is no precedent for requiring certain religious groups to register in the United States. Registering Muslims in general, and especially U.S. citizens, almost certainly would not be allowed by the courts.

Nothing says sci-fi like a bezel-less screen, and Xiaomi’s newly announced Mi Mix Android phablet is very sci-fi with its 91.3 percent screen-to-body ratio.

Great looking phone and the bezel-less design is definitely a precursor to future smartphones.

I read this great quote from an Om Malik piece in the New Yorker about smartphone design:

“Maeda said that he spent time with designers at Sony and felt their frustration designing a television set “because all you can really do is design the rectangle that the TV sits within. . . . Everything else around that screen really doesn’t matter.” The same problem holds for the iPhone. All that matters is the screen—its size, brightness, and resolution. “Now that we have all those dimensions sated, it’s basically the challenge of designing a TV set all over again,” he added.

It will be interesting to see how the smartphone design is innovated and improved upon.

The New York Times is buying The Wirecutter, a five-year-old online consumer guide. The Times will pay more than $30 million, including retention bonuses and other payouts, for the startup, according to people familiar with the transaction.

I love the Wirecutter and SweetHome. Off the top of my head, items we’ve purchased using the Wirecutter and SweetHome reviews: Honda Odyssey, LG Washer and Dryer, 50″ and 32″ televisions (Samsungs), smartphones (HTC One(s)), iPad, bluetooth speaker (Logitech UE Boom), wireless router (TP-Link), cable modem (Motorola SurfBoard), Solid State Drive (Samsung), rain jacket (Marmot Precip), SD cards (Samsung), and probably a few more things.

A really great read summarizing Obama’s two terms and accomplishments as President. Looking back on it now, considering what he was handed in 2008-9 and the GOP-lead Congress whose sole purpose was to make Obama a one-term President, it really is amazing all that Obama accomplished.

From the article:

The proposed legislation would cut regular tax on repairs of bikes, clothes, and shoes from 25% to 12%. Swedes would also be able to claim half the labor cost of appliance repairs (refrigerators, washing machines and other white goods) from their income tax.

It seems like a no-brainer and a sensible way to approach life.

I finally got around to reading this over the long weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a bit of a long read but totally worth it. It’s as Seinfeld as it gets.

In March 1971, Israel picked up a strange new aircraft that accelerated to Mach 3.2 – more than three times the speed of sound – and climbed to 63,000ft (nearly 20 kilometres). The Israelis, and US intelligence advisors, had never seen anything like it. Following a second sighting a few days later, Israeli fighters scrambled to intercept the aircraft but couldn’t even come close. In November, the Israelis ambushed one of these mysterious intruders, firing missiles head on from 30,000ft below. It was a useless gesture. Their unidentified target streaked past at nearly three times the speed of sound – so fast the jet was already out of the danger zone by the time the missiles exploded. The Pentagon put two and two together, and came up with a Cold War crisis. They believed this jet was the same one that had been glimpsed from the satellite photos. They were suddenly presented with the prospect of a Soviet fighter that could outrun and out-turn anything in the US Air Force.

In hindsight, the MiG, which the West had been so worried about, turned out to be a ‘paper tiger’.

A really fun read.

That said, this report is pretty much an almost complete exoneration of Hillary Clinton. She wasn’t prohibited from using a personal device or a personal email account, and others at state did it routinely. She’s told the truth all along about why she did it. Colin Powell did indeed advise her about using personal email shortly after she took office, but she chose to follow the rules rather than skirt them, as Powell did. She didn’t take her BlackBerry into her office. She communicated with only a very select group of 13 people. She took no part in deciding which emails were personal before handing them over to State. She had nothing to do with erasing information on the PRN server. That was a screw-up on PRN’s end. She and her staff all believed at the time that they were careful not to conduct sensitive conversations over unclassified email systems. And there’s no evidence that her server was ever hacked.

There’s remarkably little here. If you nonetheless believe that it’s enough to disqualify Hillary from the presidency, that’s fine. I have no quarrel with you. But if the FBI is to be believed, it’s all pretty small beer.