OMG, Barack Obama is a 21st century Jefferson Davis!

Yes, according to one right-wing blogger (not a direct link), because Obama went to Cuba and Cuba criticizes the US, so there you are — “We have not seen an American President so committed to the defeat of the United States since [Confederate president] Jefferson Davis.” Which would seem to make Obama a hero to a lot of Southern conservatives—but in any case, the president’s own speech a year ago at Selma proves he’s a real American:  “What could more profoundly vindicate the idea of America than plain and humble people – the unsung, the downtrodden, the dreamers not of high station, not born to wealth or privilege, not of one religious tradition but many – coming together to shape their country’s course?

What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this; what greater form of patriotism is there; than the belief that America is not yet finished, that we are strong enough to be self-critical, that each successive generation can look upon our imperfections and decide that it is in our power to remake this nation to more closely align with our highest ideals?”

I bookmarked the speech last year, but never got around to reading it in full. It was well worth it.

•Cory Doctorow suggests that in the age of the Internet of Things, there’s even more virtue in having the right to control access to our data.

•The government has used the All Writs Act to compel Apple and Google to unlock multiple smart phones before the recent dispute.

•The recent freak-out of National Review writers about the filthy poor is in the NR tradition of contemptuous elitism.

•Ta-Nehisi Coates on why he thinks casting Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone ignores what Simone represents.

•A new barrier to abortion: require the fetus get anesthetic to prevent pain (for details of why this is unnecessary and impractical, check the link). And here’s a real sleazebag tactic: pregnancy centers trick teenagers into signing documents that say in the fine print that the signer doesn’t want an abortion and if she gets one, she’s been coerced! Which has no legal status, but in the case at the link, a forced-birth group used the document to sick cops on a teen and her mother. The trick is the brainchild of a right to life group whose founders are also backing Ted Cruz (who is very right-to-life)