The Evangelical Universalist Forum

How To Live Under An Unqualified President by John Piper

You know…at first, I was against president Trump. But we are not at war, with China or Russia…I don’t see my name, in the obituaries…The country is not destroyed…Etc…So let things play out.

Sure, folks might challenge things. And they will change them.

Like the states, challenging the travel ban

or

Lobbyist groups…like the AMA or AARP…objecting to the current, Republican health care overall. And I agree. The AARP objects to the “age” clause, causing high prices…for the 50 - 64 age group. I agree…scratch that provision…And I would probably agree, with the AMA objections. But the GOP can fix it and adjust it - if they are smart.

In the meantime, I have more important things to do. Like seeing what the bad rulers and Zombies are up to…in tonight’s AMC Walking Dead episode. :laughing:

Those zombies aint exactly holy fools :wink:

Now that would be something to see. A Holy Fool, who is now a Zombie. :laughing:

Recently, Sean Spicer, Whitehouse spokesmen has explained away Trump’s false statement that Obama wiretapped his NY skyscraper. Spicer said, “The President used the word “wiretap” to mean broadly surveillance and other activities.” Spicer also suggested that Trump wasn’t accusing Obama specifically, but instead was referring to the actions of the Obama administration.

Recently, Sean Spicer, Whitehouse spokesmen has explained away Trump’s false statement that Obama wiretapped his NY skyscraper. Spicer said, “The President used the word “wiretap” to mean broadly surveillance and other activities.” Spicer also suggested that Trump wasn’t accusing Obama specifically, but instead was referring to the actions of the Obama administration.

Paidion did you really think Trump meant Obama himself wiretapped Trump Tower? And yes i would use the words “wiretap” and “surveillance” as identical. Wiretapping is pretty much an outdated word now with the hi-tech technology around now. General Flynn was "wiretapped’ talking to the Russian ambassador while Flynn was in Trump Tower so maybe they were surveilling the Russian Ambassador, maybe Flynn, maybe Trump Tower, maybe everyone? Do you know?

Yes, he may have meant Obama’s administration… But he still meant wiretapping. Why do you think the U.S. Justice Department is trying to find evidence that the Obama administration wiretapped Trump’s phones at the Trump Tower? If they don’t take Trump’s statement literally, it seems a fruitless effort.

cbc.ca/news/world/deadline-trump-tower-surveillance-1.4022204

NPR is not the best source. Plus - they have not passed any bill yet. We have to see it to pass it, unlike ACA.

Here’s an interesting article, in today’s Christian Patheos site.:

Was the Apostle Paul the Biblical Equivalent of the Most Loyal Trump Supporter?

Qaz - you may be right. The fools might actually do that.
Disgusting is the proper word.

That doesn’t stop us nerds, though. There are many ways to mask it or keep it from prying eyes. :smiley:

Randy - for those of us without the N-gene or the G-gene: if such a law is passed, what are the strategies you suggest?

Will the fact that I use a private internet access (PIA) be any protection against my isp’s money-grubbing, ethics-be-damned assault on my privacy?

And how would they be collecting the data, Dave? That’s the key question. Well, you can do various things.

Like install a Firefox or Google Chrome plug-in called Ghostery. Quite excellent, mind you.
Work behind a VPN service. A good one is Express VPN. And it’s quite nice and a VPN is recommended, for public Wi-Fi
Or you can enter the world, of the “dark web”. Like with a tool called Tor.

Much depends on how they are collecting data, whom they are collecting it from, which companies are cooperating and what court challenges (I.e. tech companies, ACLU, etc.) are in place.

Let’s read a nice, BBC article from today:

Campaigners seek ‘to sell US politicians’ browsing data’

Yesterday, Comcast had an internet outage. I noticed their name servers weren’t functioning. And I noticed Google on Google Chrome, was using it’s own name servers, for searches. I switched the router to OpenDNS, with extra security filters. And have the IP stuff, for Norton Safe Connect, in case of any OpenDNS, name server issues. Now I just keep OpenDNS, as an extra security layer.

And for the benefit, of the “bold and brave”:

How To Access The Dark Web

Note: If you do something like use TOR, you should do, what the article suggests - get a VPN. I can neither confirm nor deny, I ever used TOR or visited the dark web.

P.S. I meant to use the words Deep Web in this post, rather than Dark Web.

Thanks Randy. Dark web? I’ll have to read up a bit.

Dark web, Dave, is a subset of the Deep Web. I should have used the words Deep Web. More on deep web at:

How Mysterious Is The Deep Web?

As far as the “dark web” goes, this quote sums up my advice:

I got this interesting article today, from Anonymity Newsletter. Since we are talking about VPNs, I will share it here:

Thanks. I use a VPN that costs a couple bucks a month, no logs, works great.

As a , I think VPN’s on a consumer level are used primary to hide illegal activity when it comes to copyright infringement. Business has legitimate uses for them, we use them constantly. But for personal use? I suppose if you are paranoid that your activities are tracked, then sure, but then one has to ask: What are you hiding that you don’t want others to know? Again, I believe most consumers uses them for illegal activities. Things that VPNs are used for the common level are:

VPN+Tor:
Child Porn Rings
Regular Pirated Porn Rings
Region Locking Software
Peer 2 Peer Sharing of copyright infringed data such as TV shows, Movies, Video Games, Music, Books, etc…

Most people I ever met who are technical enough to use a VPN are typically doing illegal activities with them. All of them? No… But I have been a techie for 25+ years and a professional with it for 18+ years… No way can you convince me that the majority use it for legitimate reasons. Some do, yes, but by and far that is not the reason most use a VPN.

Edit ** BTW, if you think you are safe via running one with a privacy policy that doesn’t keep logs, think again… Unless you can personally see the server configuration that logs are disabled, you are putting trust that they are being truthful with it. Secondary, you are assuming those VPN servers are not compromised in some way. With all the information leaks and tools the NSA were discovered to have, I wouldn’t count on being as anonymous as you think.

I am paranoid, and almost all techies I know personally ARE paranoid. You yourself mentioned that you cannot count on even a commercial source that promises not to log - another reason to BE paranoid.
I know a number of techs that don’t do any internet shopping for instance - I do, and I’m paranoid about that info being hacked.

For me, paranoia = reality in this instance. So I will stay with the VPN (that has been greatly reviewed for years now) in hopes that those who wish me harm will not be able to,

A couple dollars a month is worth the peace of mind for me - even though it may not be perfect.

And that whole ‘what do you have to hide’ thing - c’mon, privacy is not the same as dark intentions.

Let’s tallk about VPN. When should you use them? At any public Wi-fi spots. You can get hacked. Via scanners and many other ways. But a VPN has encrypted data. Even if you are hacked, they can’t decipher it - without an decipher key.

On another front, I use credit cards for convenience. I don’t carry a balance and I pay things off each month.

Well, someone hacked one of my cards. Perhaps with a scanner. And I was taking airline trips, going on spending sprees in other states, etc. But I attend a health club, Monday through Friday. So it’s impossible, to be in 2 places at once (well, not exactly true - from a mystical perspective). So I:

Worked with the credit card fraud division, to identify fraudulent transactions. And got a new credit card number.
filed a local police report
Joined Life Lock

I understand Dave. Most people here, on this forum, I would assume would be using it for legal means. But I do not believe that is the norm. I am a part of many forums and tech circles and I myself in my younger years did pirate from stuff via torrent. That said, it doesn’t change the fact that it was wrong of me to do. And, was I any different than all my peers? Not in the slightest. Colleges and Work Places transfer all sorts of copyrighted material. They all have their ‘collections’ or whatever it is they have. Anyhow, I digress at this point. Just saying that most people don’t even know how to configure, purchase or use a VPN, much less what it is, and the ones that do, well, a good majority of them for the wrong reason… But, enough of that.