Looking at some quick items logged to Zotero:

Students Argue Literacy Is A Right In Lawsuit. (2018, July 26). Retrieved August 1, 2018, from https://www.npr.org/2018/07/26/632566914/students-argue-literacy-is-a-right-in-lawsuit

In short, no, literacy isn't a right. Literacy is a skill you develop.

Kallberg, J. (2018). The Second Amendment and Cyber Weapons - The Constitutional Relevance of Digital Gun Rights. ArXiv:1807.11041 [Cs]. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/1807.11041

This was written by somebody at West Point (the United States Military Academy). I need to read it further. If anything it may be a bit of a stretch when there may be other ways to approach the matter.

Smout, A. (2018, July 28). Tech firms should be made liable for “fake news” on sites: UK... Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-privacy-britain/tech-firms-should-be-made-liable-for-fake-news-on-sites-uk-lawmakers-idUSKBN1KI053

This is just horrible.

Chiachu, D. (2018, July 29). Trump threatens U.S. government shutdown over border wall. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-trump/trump-threatens-u-s-government-shutdown-over-immigration-idUSKBN1KJ0H7

President Trump willing to shut down government over border security. (2018, July 29). Retrieved July 29, 2018, from https://fox8.com/2018/07/29/president-trump-willing-to-shut-down-government-over-border-security/

I haven't heard yet if I've still got the designation of "essential-excepted" if he goes through with it. This is part of why we are rushing so much essential training right now at working. Training activities are forbidden during a funding lapse. If I wind up "essential-excepted" I'll still have to take phone calls and my pay would be delayed until the crisis concludes.

Dorfman, Z. (2018, July 27). How Silicon Valley Became a Den of Spies. Retrieved July 29, 2018, from https://politi.co/2vakzPL

If you're worried about Russian collusion in Washington, why aren't you watching Silicon Valley?

Rielage, D. (2018, May). How We Lost the Great Pacific War. Retrieved July 29, 2018, from https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2018-05/how-we-lost-great-pacific-war

This is a very good essay to read.

Dang, S., & Rai, S. (2018, July 27). New York state revokes approval of Charter-Time Warner Cable deal. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-timewarnercable-m-a-charter-commns/new-york-state-revokes-approval-of-charter-time-warner-cable-deal-idUSKBN1KH2EJ

This bodes ill for my current broadband provider. The only other choice I have is to go with satellite broadband. If I start talking about setting up UUCP and spawning more droplets on Digital Ocean to do things on a batch basis, things will not be looking good.

Kott, A., & Perconti, P. (2018). Long-Term Forecasts of Military Technologies for a 20-30 Year Horizon: An Empirical Assessment of Accuracy. ArXiv:1807.08339 [Cs]. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/1807.08339

This prompted a nice discussion in the John Ringo Fan Club.

Trump, D. J. (2018, July 22). To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS! [Tweet]. Retrieved July 23, 2018, from https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1021234525626609666

That helped me choose to nuke the now-former Twitter account.

Roose, K. (2018, July 20). U.S.-Funded Broadcaster Directed Ads to Americans. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/technology/facebook-ads-propaganda.html

I know, I know. If you read only the headline, you might think they're talking only about NPR or PBS. In this case they're talking about Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty which is only meant for external audiences. I'd be happy to cut off the spigot that is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting so that NPR and PBS are free from government financial influence. RFE/RL is a corporate entity owned by the US Government that carries out foreign policy objectives articulated through the International Broadcasting Bureau. Previously the Secretary of State had at least some control over it.

Matfess, H., & Smith, J. (2018, July 13). Africa’s Attack on Internet Freedom. Retrieved July 15, 2018, from https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/13/africas-attack-on-internet-freedom-uganda-tanzania-ethiopia-museveni-protests/

Not good at all.

Drier, H. N. (1977). Career Education through the Church. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED143797

Plotting and planning a revival of functions.