Space Cowboy

    I’ll be happy to provide you whatever information you need, at my usual consulting rate.

You have my pity.

  A.  Getting wealthy.   B.  Knowing a lot more about it than you.   That’s what I’m doing.  

    I had a feeling some idiot would try to equate what I said about BUSINESSES and data security with governments engaging in espionage against other governments.   Congratulations on it being you.

The „Trump Effect“ in IT   My work focus is Cyber Security and Business Resiliency.  I work for a multi-national IT firm headquartered in the US.   Today I was asked by the CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) of one of my largest German customers, which has substantial operations in the US and other countries, „Since you are a US firm, how can you possibly guarantee that the Trump Administration can‘t force you to let them read our private critical data?  How can you, a US firm, protect us against court orders from Trump-appointed judges that would be illegal in the EU, or cyber intrusions and attacks mounted by the US Government?”   This was, of course, an emotion-driven query, but it really took me aback.  I have been in the IT industry for nearly 40 years, and have dealt with international businesses for most of my career.  I have never, ever been asked a question like this before.   For nearly 70 years the US has enjoyed the reputation of being the world’s technology leader, the forefront of data protection and data privacy, and a perception of fairness in the rule of law as applied to businesses.  The perceptions and reputation have been drastically undermined in just a few short years by Trumpism.   So now I have a customer who views my country as an enemy, and potentially capable of state-led Cyber Terrorism, thus putting us in the same category as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.  Sadly, he might not be wrong.

  I was notified today that my ballot was received at the end of last week.  It took 25 days to get there.

  You are mistaken.   If you choose to continue posting to me in this thread, please know that I will not respond further, as it is not worth my time - or yours.    

  I suspect you are the only person on TT who reacted this way.  You‘ve made your point.   Time to stop.  

  Yeah, no.   In Germany, credentials matter.  Even for childcare / child custody issues - credentials matter.

In „normal“ times it takes around 6 weeks to get test results.  You haven‘t even reached that marker.

Maybe it is.  I had a cat in the US who was a dedicated rabbit-slayer.  When it came to doorstep displays of his rampages, he was a meticulous artist :)

 Earlier this year my daughter had a serious medical issue, and I got the same stall job about seeing a specialist.  I went nuclear on their asses - I said, „If we were in the US, she would have already been seen by a team of experts and the health issue would be solved.  Yes, it would have cost a lot of money, but - are you saying that US healthcare is better than what you can deliver?“   My daughter was admitted to the hospital and had the top specialist overseeing her care 3 days later.

    That sort of stuff has been a tactic of his from the beginning.  Another one he pulled was ordering DHS to ban all New York residents from being able to apply for or renew Global Entry, because he didn't like the State's driver license issuance policies.  The ban was in effect for nearly six months, before DHS admitted the ban was based on inaccurate and misleading information provided by the Trump administration.    

    And there's more - lots more - from Someone's Crazy Uncle.  The rest.

You guys have convinced me - I‘m definitely not voting for Hunter Biden.