Daily Links: 01/03/18 – Death threats & criminal investigation for saying there is more than one religion

Shahindha Ismail

I’ve decided to ring in the new year with a nasty stomach bug (or possibly a small gut-dwelling kaiju), so have some links whilst I lie in bed and moan.

• Maldives human rights activist ^[pictured] tweets that religions other than Islam exist, gets death threats and investigated for blasphemy. Or, the case for secularism, exhibit #43,258.
  (via @sarahemclaugh; retweet by @Popehat)

• Former New York Times journalist James Risen details his experiences reporting on the War on Terror, the crackdown on whistleblowers, and the incestuous relationship between national media and government officials who work to mislead the public at every turn.

• Radley Balko has another round-up of criminal (in)justice news, including the arrest of a journalist for doing journalism, and the mass arrest of over 60 people at a party because none of them claimed an ounce of marijuana.

• Over two dozen US states have either reformed or eliminated their civil asset forfeiture laws since 2014, making it harder for police to steal from innocents.
  (via @senatorshoshana; retweet by @Popehat)

• Major tech news: A critical security flaw has plagued virtually every modern computer for years, theoretically allows a malicious program or adversary to access basically anything on your computer, from passwords to cached files. Kicker: A planned fix could impact CPU performance by up to 30%, and I’m not at all bitter about what this spells for my $2,500 gaming laptop, no sir.

• Finally: Conservative politician gets offended by (possibly fake) photo of head of state’s holiday shirt, launches Facebook diatribe accusing him of “offending” Christians. So that’s another thing the US and Canada have in common.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.