Tag: samsung

Blind Patriotism Is Unacceptable

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”  –Theodore Roosevelt

Today is President’s Day, a holiday in which

Donald Trump tweeting that the "fake news" media is the enemy of the American People.
Though we don’t always talk about politics, there are times when things like this make it necessary to do so.

we celebrate and appreciate US Presidents from history’s past. Originally George Washington’s Birthday, it was turned into a general holiday to celebrate all Presidents. One of the things that we appreciate the most as American citizens is criticism in addition to praise.

After all, no one official is supposed to have all the power and for good reason.

President Trump has referred to media that he disagrees with as the enemy of the American People. This goes beyond the simple accusations of bias, which all venues have regardless of how they try to downplay it or eliminate.

In reality, objectivity doesn’t actually exist; the only way for it to do so is if somebody were to live in a vacuum.

With that said, today is as good as any to call the President out for his foolhardiness. Not all aspects of media is inherently evil. Yes, major venues have made huge mistakes, and these companies and entities have themselves to blame for losing a tremendous amount of trust.

Whether it was not truly giving the full story regarding the Gulf War until well after the fact, pushing No Child Left Behind while taking money from the Department of Education, or falsely claiming that Kevin Mitnick was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, there is plenty of blame to go around.

That is why competition actually exists in the realm of free thought and free expression.

The problem with Trump referring to certain media venues as an enemy of the American People is that it bolsters this “us vs them” mentality to the point where we become even more divided than ever.

When a major player of Fox News is balking at such a statement, it’s time to pay attention.

If it weren’t for any media that operates freely in this country, we wouldn’t know certain unpleasant truths. One of those truths is the fact that Trump is using an outdated Android Phone to tweet, thus leaving him vulnerable to those who want to obtain state secrets.

The additional problem is also two fold. For starters, it can potentially create an adversarial divide between the people and media in general. The other issue is that it could potentially cause independent venues to be blamed for this, whether they had a hand in it or not.

In other words, what Trump is doing is attacking the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution. This is not a good sign, no matter who is inside the Oval Office.

Mr President, that was not an acceptable statement.

Good News Saturday: Austin Evans

Picture of Austin Evans
He runs a popular YouTube channel that focuses on computers, mobile devices, and more.

This individual has a popular YouTube Channel that covers technology.  Some of his videos include browser tests, mobile device reviews, and more.

A techie at heart, he had the misfortune of a fire at his apartment.  He was able to get out, but most of his stuff was destroyed.

He goes through everything in a video, and an interesting thing happened.

While going through misfortune, he manages to keep a level head.  He even manages to crack some jokes in the video below.

 

 

Issue 7 of The *Nixed Report Available

Linux Mint Debian Edition
Linux Mint Debian Edition is the final destination for the 2013 Distro Journey Series.

The final issue of the magazine for 2013 is available for popular consumption.  Here’s what’s covered:

  • Social Networking Ads and How they may backfire.
  • Linux Mint Debian Edition
  • Google Drive being used on the construction of this year’s final issue as well as a preview of things to come in 2014.

 

The magazine may be downloaded here.  The clouds on the cover page courtesy of Kamil Porembiński via Creative Commons.

Wednesday Weekly Links: December 11, 2013

Galaxy S4 Depicted in Flames
The phone’s specs are amazing, but it can also catch houses on fire.

As we head deeper and deeper into Winter, more people are going to stay indoors to avoid the cold weather.  Eventually, people will get bored and will start killing time on the Internet.  To make things a bit more pleasant for those who happen to be bored, never fear!

Our weekly links will have you laughing, crying, and cursing multibiollion dollar corporations all at the same time.  With that said, here’s this week’s links.

Unix

 

Overlooked Pop Culture

  • There are people who are here to help you poop: We aren’t making this up.  There is a product called Squatty Potty that helps the person squat instead of sit on their toilet.  Something about making it all come out easier…….
  • Foolish users brick their XBOX One consoles (Daily Dot): Thanks to a convincing looking image via 4Chan, a number of uses enabled the developer mode on their XBOX One consoles in the hopes that they’ll be able to play their XBOX 360 games.  Unfortunately, the instructions rendered said consoles inoperable.  Remember, kids…. never follow instructions from an image board, and for crying out loud, stay out of /b/!
  • Martial arts demo curating (The Stick Chick): A martial arts expert explains why it’s best to practice certain things in a dojo before demonstrating them to the public.