War 2.0

U.S. Army to require soldiers to carry smartphones, but is it smart?

When it comes to defending our country, the deploying soldier must carry an extensive catalog of standard equipment.

Weapon? Check.

Ammunition? Check.

MREs? Check.

First-aid kit? Check.

Smartphone?

Say again?

Affirmative. The U.S. Army plans to order its infantrymen to carry iPhones or Androids — soldier's choice — as mandatory gear, and the Army wants to foot the bill, too.

Updating your Facebook status downrange while streaming Pandora radio on the government's dime? A soldier's life is the life for us! Where do we enlist?

But standby. Perhaps there's more to it than social networking and superfluous entertainment.

"What we're doing is fundamentally changing how soldiers access knowledge, information, training content and operational data," Mike McCarthy, director of the mission command complex of the Army's Future Force Integration Directorate at Fort Bliss told USA Today. "The day you sign on to be a soldier, you will be accessing information and knowledge in garrison and in an operational environment in a seamless manner. We're using smartphone technologies to lead this."

It's not a novel idea, by any means. It merely makes you wonder why it hasn't been implemented already.

Officials told the newspaper that soldiers can use the smartphones to view real-time intelligence and video to track friends and enemies — an invaluable resource during war.

Roger that. But before this lofty digital dream comes to fruition, the Army must ensure that the data transported over these networks is free from interceptors, hackers, and security threats. And, as we civilians inherently understand, that could take awhile.

Should smartphones be officially mandated gear in the armed forces? And do you think smartphones will ever meet the heightened security requirements necessitated by the military communications? Weigh in.

Over and out.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”