Apiarius: The Bee Keeper

World News, Ukraine and Russia, China, Australia, Israel and Palestine, Africa; War on Terror, Iraq'd, Islamism, Surveillance and Privacy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 14:37:00 +0000

World News

Man sets self afire in Tokyo in apparent protest—Japan slowly turning militant.
MH370: New evidence of tampering with cockpit systems revealed
No, North Korea Did NOT Threaten War Over Seth Rogan Movie—"Media reports claiming the DPRK threatened war over a Seth Rogan and James Franco movie are flat out wrong."

Ukraine and Russia

Putin snarls, but Obama gets the last laugh
Defying Russia, Ukraine Signs E.U. Trade Pact—"Moscow warned that the signing of the economic agreement, which had set off protests and fighting in Ukraine, would have 'serious consequences.'" NYT
Ukraine begins military offensive as cease-fire ends

China

Australia

Australia's right to know is under assault—"Reforms to freedom of information under the last government saw FOI culture flourish. Now the Coalition plans to radically restrict the FOI regime."
Janet Albrechtsen appointed to ABC and SBS board appointments panel
Australia's High Court rules PNG immigrant detention camp constitutional—"Australia's highest court has dismissed a challenge to the government's policy of sending asylum-seekers to Papua New Guinea, ruling detention at an island immigration camp legal under the country's constitution."
Australia buys up, enters Asian arms race

Israel and Palestine

Africa

African leaders vote to give themselves immunity from war crimes
Uganda students smuggle pigs into parliament—"Youths and police guards arrested after protest against high unemployment and government corruption."
Donors slash Mozambique aid over corruption claims

War on Terror

Obama's crackdown views leaks as aiding enemies of U.S.
Supreme Court lets victims' 9/11 suit vs. Saudi Arabia proceed
Before Shooting in Iraq, a Warning on Blackwater—"Not long after the security firm's top manager in Iraq told a State Department investigator 'that he could kill' him, an inquiry was abandoned. Weeks later, the firm's guards killed 17 civilians in Iraq." NYT
US court revives lawsuit against Abu Ghraib security contractors
Judge upholds order demanding release of CIA torture accounts—"US government loses attempt to keep accounts of torture of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri secret."
Army Clears Bergdahl of Any Misconduct During Captivity
Bill Clinton says GOP is guilty of double standard on Benghazi WaPo
New TSA fees to make airfare more expensive

Iraq'd

Obama authorizes 200 more troops for Iraq WaPo
If You Were An Iraq War Critic, You're Probably Not Being Asked To Go On TV
Laura Ingraham To Republicans: Stop Talking About Iraq Already!
Dick Cheney Doesn't Want You To Reflect on the Iraq War, So You Know It's a Good Idea To
Retired Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson Rips Dick Cheney: He Isn't Immoral, He's Amoral—Sociopath.
Nation Editor Tells Bill Kristol To Join Iraqi Army If He Wants War
alicublog: On Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Blame Game on Iraq—Goldberg: "I supported the war, and I still think the arguments in favor at the time were superior to the arguments against. Alas, the facts on the ground didn't care about the arguments." Facts do have a liberal bias.

Islamism

Iraq crisis: Isis changes name and declares its territories a new Islamic state with 'restoration of caliphate' in Middle East
Just what is a 'caliphate' — and why are some Muslims keen to reestablish one?
Christian Iraqis Live in State of Fear of ISIS Terrorists
Osama Bin Laden's seven rules for terrorists: ISIS will regret not following the al-Qaida leader's advice.
Britain bans controversial Saudi cleric al-Arifi—""The UK Government makes no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe they represent a threat to our society. Coming here is a privilege that we refuse to extend to those who seek to subvert our shared values."
European Court upholds French full veil ban
Nigerian man is locked up after saying he is an atheist—"Campaigners call for release of 29-year-old Mubarak Bala, who lives in Kano in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north."
At least 30 die in Nigeria village attacks—"Churches set alight in attack by suspected Islamist extremists on village close to town from where schoolgirls were kidnapped."

Surveillance and Privacy

Facebook's Psychological Experiments Connected to Department of Defense Research on Civil Unrest
Court gave NSA broad leeway in surveillance, documents show—Now Internet monitoring is supposedly legal. WaPo
New Snowden docs: NSA spies on pretty much everyone abroad—"All the world's a stage for US spies, according to secret American memos."
Greenwald delays biggest Snowden story yet after new U.S. government claims
FBI, CIA Use Backdoor Searches To Warrentlessly Spy On Americans' Communications
ISPs take legal action against GCHQ
TOR exit nodes now illegal in Austria
Paypal Freezes ProtonMail Campaign Funds —A Paypal representative "questioned whether ProtonMail is legal and if we have government approval to encrypt emails."

Fat Tuesday, Dr. Oz, Big Food, Ag-Gag and Agri-Torture, Buzz-Kill; Abortion and Birth Control, Obamacare, VA, Think of the Children, Psych; Gone Viral, Vax Populi

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 13:24:00 +0000

Fat Tuesday

Court: Teacher Teasing Overweight Student Is Child Abuse
House GOP wants to cut Michelle Obama's healthy school lunches: These Republicans come from the unhealthiest states
State high court rules NYC ban on large sodas is illegal—Suck it, Bloomie.
China to recruit 'more portly' soldiers with brainpower—"China's military relaxes height, eyesight and weight requirements for soldiers in effort to attract more educated personnel, newspaper says."

Dr. Oz

Big Food

Chipotle's anti-Big-Food ad wins Cannes PR award
How the US Government Helps McDonald's Sell Junk Food—"The feds also helped bring you the Taco Bell Cantina Double Steak Quesadilla and several other fast-food gems."
Hamburger Chef Jamie Oliver Proves McDonald's Burgers "Unfit for human consumption"
Monsanto Tries to Patent & Control Natural, Non-GMO Tomatoes
Whole Foods to pay $800,000 in overpricing case
U.S. meat producers square off against consumer groups in request to peel back on labeling
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Letter of the Week -- POM Wonderful

Ag-Gag and Agri-Torture

Undercover animal abuse videos could soon be outlawed
Canada's Largest Dairy Farm Employees Accused Of Animal Cruelty
The Abstinence Method—"Dutch farmers just say no to antibiotics for livestock." Gerbert Oosterlaken, owner of Hoeve de Hulsdonk farm, "believes the more you can see, the better."

Buzz-Kill

Abortion and Birth Control

Supreme Court says employers with religious objections can refuse to pay for contraception
Corporations Are People, And They Have More Rights Than You
SCOTUS end of term: The Supreme Court’s conservatives are using the First Amendment as a weapon
'Supreme Court strikes down abortion clinic buffer zone
Anti-abortion protesters take advantage of Supreme Court ruling
Alabama Abortion Clinic Forced To Close Because Its Hallways Aren't Wide Enough
The Rise of the DIY Abortion in Texas—"A pill that revolutionized reproductive rights in Latin America is now gaining ground on the black market in South Texas."

Obamacare

McAuliffe Defies GOP: We're 'Moving Forward' With Obamacare Expansion
Capitol police gave House clerks access to governor's office—"Father's Day budget delivery to the governor's secure suite of offices prompts protests from the administration, which alleged an 'unacceptable' security breach."
Emails: GOP Secured Majority After VA Dem Promised Job, Phone And Car
Analysis Shows GOP Fear-Mongering On Obamacare Premiums Is Probably Bogus
Republicans Finally Admit Why They Really Hate Obamacare
Here Is the Most Shameless Anti-Obamacare Argument Yet

Think of the Children

Alaska to put free pregnancy tests in bars to curb fetal alcohol syndrome rate
Is veganism child abuse?—"A mother is arrested for infant neglect after a hospital crisis that began with her veganism." Salon
Meet the con man selling fake stem cell treatments to children—"Davide Vannoni is playing with people's lives, and the Italian government is paying for it."
No, PETA, Cow Milk Does Not Cause Autism—"The group that brought you animal-fur horror stories has just launched a campaign claiming cow's milk causes autism. Hold on to your Cheerios, this one needs explaining."

Psych

Cost of not caring: Stigma set in stone—"People with mental illness face prejudice and discrimination nearly everywhere they turn, from friends and employers and even insurance plans."
Minnesota teen who planned school massacre: 'I think I'm really mentally ill'
Stop Telling Your Depressed Friends to "Cheer Up"—"It's more helpful to express that their feelings are valid."

Gone Viral

Untreatable virus spreading in the Caribbean now afflicts 4,600 LA Times
Doctors Without Borders: Ebola 'out of control'—Experts say it's just the 'tip of the iceberg' and it's getting worse [WaPo].
CDC: Up to 86 workers possibly exposed to anthrax

Vax Populi

One unvaccinated child was patient zero of a measles epidemic
Measles cases are spreading, despite high vaccination rates. What's going on?—In other news, Jenny allegedly-not-against-vaccinations McCarthy is no longer on 'The View'. WaPo
First measles case in at least 6 years reported in Pierce County—"The case is connected to eight confirmed cases being investigated in South King County, all among members of the same extended family, officials said."
Judge Upholds Policy Barring Unvaccinated Students During Illnesses NYT
Ohio Amish begin vaccinations amid largest measles outbreak in recent U.S. history
Blast from the Past: Fear and frustration dominated Somali community forum on measles, vaccines and autism

Copyfight; Net Neutrality; NSA Spying; Tech Trouble, Law and Disorder; Patents; Amazon.com; Facebook; Wikipedia; Gaming; Car Trouble, GM

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 14:36:00 +0000

Copyfight

15 years ago, Congress kept Mickey Mouse out of the public domain. Will they do it again?—"On October 27, 1998, President Clinton extended copyrights, starving the public domain of new works for 20 years." Lobbyists haven't stopped. WaPo
Netflix Could Be Classified As a 'Cybersecurity Threat' Under New CISPA Rules
Philip Morris attacks Marlboro parody, runs into "Web bully's worst enemy"—"Public Citizen: 'You7r client's targets may be addicted, but they aren't stupid.'"
Dogecoin Users Outraged Over Trademark
King Candy's Trademark Attempt at Crushing The Banner Saga
MPAA Targets Reddit Community Over Movie Piracy—Streisand effect ensues.
Ottawa Citizen: Apology to David Bowie

Net Neutrality

The Father of Net Neutrality Returns to Do Battle With Comcast
We don't need net neutrality; we need competition—"Op-ed: 'Unbundled access' actually works."
Net Neutrality Protesters Arrested At Google HQ—Barking up the wrong tree?

NSA Spying

Americans as 'vulnerable' to NSA surveillance as foreigners, despite Fourth Amendment—"By manipulating internet traffic to push American data outside of the country, the NSA can vacuum up vast amounts of US citizen data for intelligence purposes, a new report warns."
NSA queried phone records of just 248 people despite massive data sweep—'Transparency report reveals agency performed queries on 248 people in 2013, despite collecting data on millions of Americans."
New N.S.A. Chief Calls Damage From Snowden Leaks Manageable—"The director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, described the steps the agency is taking to ensure that no one else can download the information taken by Edward J. Snowden, a former defense contractor." NYT
NSA spying is a bigger diplomatic strain than Iraq invasion
US to extend privacy rights to EU citizens
A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid—"Custom-built with privacy in mind, this handset isn't for (Google) Play."

Tech Trouble

The world wide web may be fracturing into a bunch of regional internets
China's cure for teenage internet addiction is worse than the supposed disease
Busted: Microsoft-hired agency paying bloggers to write pro-IE posts
Yup, 1-800-COLLECT is still in business—and charging massive fees—"$42.55 for a 6-minute collect call? It happened to one Ars reader."
Broken promises: Verizon, Google, and the Chromebook data debacle—In a face-saving move, Google gives $150 credit to those affected.
Warning over USB chargers after woman dies from apparent electrocution

Law and Disorder

Aaron Swartz's father: He'd be alive today if he was never arrested
It's Official: The Supreme Court Is Pro-Cable Oligopoly—Adios Aereo.
Kleargear Ordered To Pay $300k To Utah Couple
San Francisco orders parking spot auction app to cease-and-desist—"Parking Monkey CEO: new, innovative firms 'should be regulated and not banned.'" This one's different from Uber.

Patents

Amazon.com

Amazon accused of 'bullying' smaller UK publishers
As Amazon slugs it out with the big publishers, authors are left cowering
France passes "anti-Amazon" bill aimed at helping small bookstores—"Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti also called out Amazon's 'dumping strategy.'"
What's the True Cost of Amazon's Quick Deliveries?
"Amazon Was a Prison," Says Former Worker

Facebook

Facebook fights 'largest ever' US court data request
Facebook tinkered with users' feeds for a massive psychology experiment—Probably not illegal but bordering on unethical. What happened?
Study: People Hate Happy Couples on Facebook

Wikipedia

US National Archives enshrines Wikipedia in Open Government Plan, plans to upload all holdings to Commons
The Unbearable Bureaucracy of Wikipedia—"The legalistic atmosphere is making it impossible to attract and keep the new editors the site needs."
Wikipedia editors hit with $10 million defamation lawsuit
Comms agencies "intend to do right" by Wikipedia
Wikipedia drug entries often inaccurate or outdated, study finds

Gaming

Car Trouble

Texas Woman Convicted Of Manslaughter Learns GM Ignition Switch Caused Fiancé's Crash Death
Blame for 'switch from hell' falls heavily on one GM engineer
GM recalls 511,508 Camaros for ignitions you can switch off with your knee
New General Motors Recall Includes Best Sellers—"G.M. said it was recalling more than half a million more vehicles, including full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles that can suddenly switch into neutral." NYT
GM hit with $10 billion lawsuit—"A new lawsuit says General Motors Co should compensate millions of car and truck owners for lost resale value, potentially exceeding $10 billion, because a slew of recalls and a deadly delay in recalling cars with defective ignition switches has damaged its brand."

Marriage Equality, LGBTQ, Politics and Media, Homophobia; Religion, Church and State, Sex Abuse Scandal; Rape, Trafficking, Revenge Porn

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 29 Jun 2014 13:16:00 +0000

Marriage Equality

Federal appeals court: Gays have right to marry—"A federal appeals court ruled for the first time Wednesday that gay couples have a constitutional right to marry, extending the movement's legal winning streak and bringing the issue a big step closer to the U.S. Supreme Court."
Judge throws out Indiana's same-sex marriage ban—A stay has been granted.
Reagan Appointed Judge Expands Louisiana Marriage Case To All Same-Sex Couples
Battle over same-sex marriages in St. Louis headed to court
34 gay couples issued marriage licenses in Boulder Co.
45 Years After Stonewall, Oklahoma Still Awaiting Marriage Equality
GOP Senator Collins says she supports gay marriage
Republican Senator Says Republicans Must Abandon Same-Sex Marriage Issue To Win Elections
Ben Carson's breathtaking marriage equality compromise: Don't let gay people get married—"'I don't think I can impose my will on any two consenting adults,' Carson says but clearly does not mean." Salon
Wis. GOP Candidate: Marriage Equality Will Lead to Sibling Marriages

LGBTQ

Politics and Media

Why I Outed Gay Republicans: A decade later, I'm still not sorry.—"The reaction to these early posts was mixed, with some people backing me and others yammering that I was invading politicians' right to privacy. To the latter group, I pointed out that these very politicians were making my private life—and the lives of millions of other LGBT Americans—a very public political issue." Politco
Inside George W. Bush's Closet
Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam Compares LGBT North Carolinians to Pedophiles on House Floor
Susan Rice challenges LGBT community to amplify message that 'gay rights are straight up human rights
US ambassador officially celebrates LGBT Pride Month in the Philippines
CNBC Panel Gets Awkward When Host Refers To Apple CEO Tim Cook As Gay

Homophobia

Uganda Lashes Out at U.S. Sanctions; Will Hurt 'Most Vulnerable'—"Admonitions from Kampala follow last week's news of fresh U.S. sanctions, including the loss of millions in funding for a new health institute and visa denials."
Gay couple targeted in homophobic attack by teenage gang on east London street
Yankton Teen Alleges Discrimination From Name Tag

Religion

Church and State

Roy Moore's twisted history: Islam and Buddhism don't have First Amendment protection, chief justice says
GOP House Candidate: Islam Not A Religion, Not Protected By Constitution
Wiccan says he was barred from giving invocation—"A member of the Wiccan faith says he was set to give the opening invocation at a Huntsville City Council meeting until the plan was publicized and he was asked about his faith. He was then told he was no longer invited."
NC religious schools in line to get voucher money
North Carolina: Student-led prayer bill signed into law

Sex Abuse Scandal

Vatican defrocks ex-ambassador in sex abuse case—"The Vatican has defrocked its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic for sexually abusing boys. It's the first time a top papal envoy has been convicted of the crime and signals that Pope Francis is serious about imposing "zero tolerance" for abuse, regardless of rank."
Seattle Archdiocese to pay $12.1 million to settle sex abuse lawsuit
St. Ignatius: Settlement talks ordered in Catholic school, parish sex-abuse case
Betrayed by Silence—"For decades, leaders of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have been reassigning, excusing and overlooking sexually abusive priests among their ranks. Some received additional retirement benefits. In August, a top church lawyer, shocked at what she saw, brought the story to MPR News. What happened next is still unfolding."
Church, Police give conflicting answers on child sex abuse—"The Catholic Church in Malta and the police have given conflicting details regarding priests involved in child sex abuse cases since 2010."
Sleeping with boys was 'common practice': royal commission on sex abuse in Wollongong
On sex abuse, pope's problems both simple and complex

Rape

How Did the FBI Miss Over 1 Million Rapes?—"Systematic undercounting of sexual assaults in the US disguises a hidden rape crisis."
How BBC star Jimmy Savile got away with allegedly abusing 500 children and sex with dead bodies WaPo
'We demand justice': Kenyans protest after men who brutally raped girl sentenced to cut grass
Pakistani police say boyfriend admits woman was raped, murdered after refusing sex with his friends
No quick fix for India's rape crisis

Trafficking

FBI targets pimps, rescues 168 children in nationwide crackdown
D.C. police officer admits prostituting girls WaPo
Activist Resigns Amid Charges of Fabrication NYT
Brides for sale: Vietnamese women, young girls trafficked to China
Nepal adoptions chief raped and groomed orphans for prostitution, claims British teacher
U.S. human trafficking report drops four nations to lowest tier
Fighting sex trafficking with Jesus: How the religious right’s "healing" hurts—"New campaigns claim to fight sex trafficking with 'love and the power of Christ.' And their influence is growing." Salon

Revenge Porn

Feds arrest "most hated man on the Internet" in revenge porn hacking case
Houston woman wins $500,000 in 'revenge porn' lawsuit
Woman Posted Explicit Material Inside Walmart—She gave away fliers of her naked husband's alleged mistress.
'Revenge porn' victims receive boost from German court ruling—"Koblenz court orders man to delete nude images of ex-partner, even though he had shown no intention of publishing them."
Man faces trial over 'revenge porn' website

Workers and Wage Slaves, Maximum Age, Minimum Wage, On the Job; Banks and Wall Street, Taxes, Class Warfare, Antiestablishmentarianism, Homeless; Chinese Exodus; Tau Day; Science Under Siege; Earth and Moon, Space Travel; Universe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 13:58:00 +0000

Workers and Wages Slaves

Meet 204 Republicans Who Don't Want to Punish Companies That Steal Workers' Wages
Days After Decrying Flat Wages, McConnell Proposes Lowering Wages by $13 Billion
How Walmart's Low Wages Cost All Americans, Not Just Its Workers
Canada: Walmart wrong to fire unionized workers, high court says—"Supreme Court rules 5-2 in favour of 190 Quebec who lost jobs after first unionized Walmart shut its doors."
Unions Fear This SCOTUS Case Could Bring Their 'Final Destruction'
American Workers Need Overtime Protections
Qatar police respond to fight at Sheraton Doha hotel

Maximum Age

Minimum Wage

Zillow's Rich Barton on the $15 minimum wage, Uber regulations, and why the U.S. is filled with entrepreneurial 'freedom fighters'
Ikea to raise its average minimum hourly wage to $10.76 LA Times
Massachusetts: Minimum wage increase doesn't add up to a living wage—"The state's new $11 minimum wage –the highest in the nation -- will make low-wage workers' lives a little more stable, and less stressful. But not necessarily comfortable."
A Minimum Wage That Makes More Sense—"Accounting for regional price differences is sound strategy when setting state or local minimum wages." NYT

On the Job

Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (The Real Reason For The Forty-Hour Workweek)
Taking a Vacation May Actually Save Your Career—"Workaholism is hurting the American economy."
Unblinking Eyes Track Employees: Workplace Surveillance Sees Good and Bad—"Abundant data, smart software and cheap sensors are beginning to make it possible to measure and monitor employees as never before." NYT
An Employee Dies, and the Company Collects the Insurance—"Many companies insure their employees’ lives with themselves as beneficiaries, a practice some deride as immoral. But companies say the policies, for which they get tax breaks, help them bolster pensions and health care." NYT
Obama Says US Should Offer Paid Maternity Leave—Right-wingers say no [Salon]
North Dakota coffee shop has no employees, runs entirely on the honor system…and it's working
Job interviews reward narcissists, punish applicants from modest cultures

Banks and Wall Street

Taxes

Krugman: Sympathy for the Trustafarians NYT
Higher taxes do not kill jobs—"County-level BLS data tell the true story about job growth."
Tax cuts in Kansas have cost the state money — and job creation's been terrible WaPo

Class Warfare

Robert Reich on America's Koch Problem
In US, over 75 per cent of conservatives say the poor 'have it easy'
Elizabeth Warren says the U.S. economy is rigged. Many conservatives agree. WaPo
Conspiracy of the plutocrats: Secrets of the wealth-inequality explosion revealed Salon
Detroit's Water War: a tap shut-off that could impact 300,000 people—"A right-wing state and corporate push to cut off water is economic shock therapy at its most ruthless and racist, but resistance is growing."
Debtors Prisons Are Taking the US Back to the 19th Century—"In recent years, more and more cells have been filled with poor individuals who are caught in a vile trap, unable to pay court fines."
What wealth gap? Danish welfare narrows disparity WaPo

Antiestablishmentarianism

The open source revolution is coming and it will conquer the 1% - ex CIA spy—"The man who trained more than 66 countries in open source methods calls for re-invention of intelligence to re-engineer Earth."
Nick Hanauer: The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats Politico
The United States Of Cruelty—"We are cheap. We are suspicious. We will shoot first. It does not have to be this way. Like Lincoln before us, it is time to do something about it."

Homeless

73-year-old veteran loses his job for allegedly giving a muffin to a homeless man
Chinese tycoon's free lunch for homeless New Yorkers backfires—"Controversial businessman Chen Guangbiao angered homeless people in New York after promising them $300 each and failing to deliver."
Flipside: Woman launches mobile showers for the homeless—"A San Francisco woman creates a "shower bus" to help accommodate the city's 3,500 homeless people. Vanessa Johnston reports."

Chinese Exodus

Disappointed Immigration Applicants Sue Canada—"More than 1,400 Chinese plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit against the Canadian immigration authorities after Canada announced it was canceling its immigrant investor program along with tens of thousands of outstanding applications." NYT
Mainland Chinese line up for Australia's 'millionaire visa'
Cashed-up Chinese students turn to Australia
China targets officials who sent families abroad—"China's anti-graft campaign is now targeting officials who have sent their spouses and children abroad, where they can create channels to potentially funnel illicit gains and establish footholds for eventual escape from the mainland."

Tau Day

The brain injury that made me a math genius—"Twelve years ago, Jason Padgett had never made it past pre-algebra. And then a violent mugging changed everything." Salon
Notation, notation, notation: a brief history of mathematical symbols—The symbols we use every day have fascinating and surprisingly recent origins, explains author Joseph Mazur in his new book."
The secret history of numbers: How math shapes our lives in amazing, unpredictable ways—"The relationship between people and numbers is so much more fascinating than simple dollars and cents." Salon

Science Under Siege

Universities 'get poor value' from academic journal-publishing firms—"Research finds secrecy over contracts has stopped some institutions realising they are paying too much for journals."
The U.S. Should Invest In Science, Not War
Neil DeGrasse Tyson: US need not lose its edge in science—"The famed astrophysicist says there's a reason some chemical elements are named for places in the US -- and that we don't have to leave those glory days in the past."
Asia's Cult of Intelligence—"With its 'cult of ignorance and anti-intellectualism' the U.S. risks falling behind rivals in Asia."
xkcd: People are stupid

Earth and Moon

Largest Active Volcano on Earth Rumbles Back to Life—"Recent quake swarms signal that magma is squeezing into Mauna Loa's magma storage chambers in the same spots below where the 1984 eruption occurred."
Earth and Moon Are 60 Million Years Older Than Previously Believed
Traces of another world found on the Moon—"Researchers have found evidence of the world that crashed into the Earth billions of years ago to form the Moon."
The Moon is Now a Wi-Fi Hotspot
Strange New World Discovered: The 'Mega Earth'

Space Travel

Universe

Big Bang blunder bursts the multiverse bubble—"Premature hype over gravitational waves highlights gaping holes in models for the origins and evolution of the Universe, argues Paul Steinhardt."
Light from huge explosion 12 billion years ago reaches Earth
NASA detects mysterious signal 240 million light years away from Earth
The Timey Wimey Spacey Wacey Explanation of Relativity
Avoiding "Sagan Syndrome." Why Astronomers and Journalists should pay heed to Biologists about ET.
Star Within a Star: Weird Stellar 'Hybrid' Discovered—Red supergiant replaced its core with a neutron star.workers
Collection of three supermassive black holes detected
Mystery object in lake on Saturn's moon Titan intrigues scientists—"Nasa's Cassini probe took image last year as it passed by planet's largest moon – nothing seen when other images taken."
Titan's Atmosphere May be Older than Saturn, a New Study Suggests

Phone Warrants Warranted, NSA Spying, Surveillance State, Your Privacy; Bad Cops, Authoritah, Cuffed, Killed, K9; Ticket, Speed, Crash, Morgan, Road Rage; Fatigue

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 13:08:00 +0000

Phone Warrants Warranted

NSA Spying

SCOTUS cellphone ruling resonates in NSA fight—"Chief Justice John Roberts's 28-page paean to digital privacy was like music to the ears of critics of the NSA's metadata program, which sweeps up details on billions of calls and searches them for possible links to terrorist plots." Politico
Snarky Lawmaker Reminds Former NSA Chief That Selling State Secrets Is Illegal
Over NSA worries, Germany ends government contract with Verizon—"Rare meaningful response after US revealed its spying on German chancellor."
Denmark's ties with the NSA are deeper than previously thought
NSA-proof messaging app Wickr gains £17m in funding
Blimp flies over NSA's Utah Data Center to protest 'illegal mass surveillance program'

Surveillance State

Surveillance: It's Worse Than You Think
U.S. Says It Spied on 89,000 Targets Last Year, But the Number Is Deceptive
New Data Shows FBI Issued More Than 19k National Security Letters in 2013
Theresa May: There is no surveillance state—Bwahahahaha!
Researchers uncover government digital surveillance tool—"A program used by governments around the world to access and monitor a person's digital footprint across mobile networks and the internet has been uncovered by two sets of researchers who have broken down how it works."

Your Privacy

Bad Cops

Massachusetts SWAT teams claim they're private corporations, immune from open records laws—"Unusual law enforcement counsels that operate the SWAT teams say they aren't public entities." WaPo
Major murder case collapses in new 'police corruption' scandal—"Scotland Yard is facing serious questions after the prosecution of a man charged with murder quietly collapsed following an investigation into alleged police corruption."
White Detroit Police Lieutenant Files Discrimination Complaint Against Department—"A lieutenant in charge of the Detroit Police Department's drug unit says he was the victim of racial discrimination and subjected to a hostile work environment for reporting wrongdoing."
Cleveland grand jury indicts six officers in deadly 2012 chase
Denver police chief orders review of alcohol abuse reports in ranks
Miami, Okla. officer indicted by a Grand Jury for her part in alleged scheme to protect the arresting officers
SC sheriff latest to be charged in past 4 years—"... making him the eighth sheriff in the state to face criminal charges or investigations...."
Police officer accused of recording men in bathroom, soliciting oral sex online
Police Officer Fired For Secretly Filming Chief Having Sex In Ambulance

Authoritah

Cuffed

Officer tried to save handcuffed Clive man who drowned—"How a life jacket came off of a Clive man who was handcuffed when he went off a police boat and drowned will be a key part of the Missouri Highway Patrol's investigation into the incident, officials said."
Durham police says teen shot self, family accuses officials of withholding facts
Video released of local bodybuilder, Daniel Saenz, shot by El Paso police officer—Grand jury refuses to indict [Salon].
Utah Democrat Fights Back After Police Smash Spinal Cord Stimulator: Running for State Rep. on Anti-Police State Platform

Killed

Albuquerque ordered to pay $6m over man's wrongful killing by police—"Ruling says officers were not acting in self-defence when they shot dead a man with schizophrenia in his backyard in 2011."
Video shows Albuquerque police killing homeless man
1 of 2 victims found in suitcases was from Minn.—"According to WTMJ, the [murder] suspect is a former West Allis police officer."
City of Oxnard Agrees to Multimillion Dollar Settlement—"Oxnard paying record $6.7 million for police shooting death of innocent man."
Dallas to pay $900000 to family of unarmed man killed by police
Family of WWII vet killed by beanbag gun files suit—95-year-old man came out with a knife.
Witness: Man fatally shot by Jersey City police asked 'Why did you shoot me?'—"You shouldn't have been wrestling with us."
Prisoner: I cleaned up skin of inmate scalded in shower; human-rights groups call for federal intervention

Owners have questions after police shoot dog in home—"'I thought my dog would still be there, I may have wanted to bury my dog in my backyard. Who told you to take my dog away?' [Hope Lane] asked. The blood had also been cleaned up by police."
Investigation underway into why officer shot dog in its own yard
Police: Dog's throat cut; Officer charged with animal cruelty
2nd officer suspended in slitting of dog's throat
Salt Lake man wants police officer who killed his dog fired
Australia: ACT police officer removed from frontline duties after capsicum-spraying dog

Ticket

Chief judge of Broward issues statement: Trust us—"Broward residents can trust the justice system — despite the spectacle of three sitting judges facing criminal charges for allegedly driving while under the influence, the county's chief administrative judge said Monday."
Parma resident ticketed for sign warning of drunken driving checkpoint
Chicago: Quinn signs bill banning police ticket quotas
Florida Supreme Court: Early red-light cameras were illegal
Man gets traffic ticket for running stop sign when video shows he clearly stopped—According to the police chief, "the law says you stop at the stop sign, you move forward, stop again, until you can see that the intersection is clear and then you go." What?
Robin Hooder sentenced to jail in connection with city parking dispute
Man sues L.A., saying his parking ticket violates the 8th amendment
Open data saves New York City drivers from parking tickets—"Here's a great example of how making government data open can directly benefit you."

Speed

Crash

Morgan

Road Rage

Man with 150 arrests gets 5 years for fatal hit-and-run
Man Killed Trying to Stop Daughter from Drunk Driving—She's gonna have to live with that for the rest of her life.
Motorcyclist who filmed, uploaded police flight video to serve hard time—"Defendant Ali's GPS anklet from unrelated offense clocked him in at 115 mph."
Driver, 60, caught 'using cell phone jammer to keep motorists around him off the phone'
Motorcyclist Clocked At 150+ MPH On I-75 Speaks Out
Car fleeing from police goes through park, nearly hits children—Fourteen-year-old was driving.
Teens' attempted car theft foiled by stick shift
Teenager's £13,000 car stolen and taken for 15-minute joyride... but thief drove so well it helped bring down his insurance costs

Fatigue

World Drug Day, DEA, Habersham, Bad Cops, Militarization, Legalization and Decriminalization, Medical Marijuana, Colorado, Prison, Death Penalty, Innocence, Trial and Error, Law and Disorder, Fuzz-y, Recording

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 10:36:00 +0000

World Drug Day

Branson: The War on Drugs Has Failed, So Let's Shut it Down
States Undo Food Stamp Felon Bans—"Two states are taking small steps away from a little-known aspect of the war on drugs."
Reduced sentences urged for non-violent drug offenders
City of Chicago Files Lawsuit Blaming Painkiller Marketing for Prescription Drug Epidemic
Having authoritarian parents increases risk of drug use in adolescents, European study finds
New drug called Snapchat hospitalising users—"Australian police have issued a warning about a new drug called Snapchat, branded with the Snapchat logo and based on bath salts."
Mexican Drug Cartel May Have Penetrated Rural Ohio Town, Police Say

DEA

Is DEA Dazed & Confused Over Industrial Hemp?—"The Department of Agriculture needs hemp seeds for critical research. Why is the DEA trying to stop them?"
Mass. Doctors Say DEA Pressuring Them To Resign From Medical Marijuana Companies—"Several Massachusetts doctors associated with prospective medical marijuana dispensaries are reportedly facing intense pressure from the federal government to cut ties with those companies."
DEA obstructs research into medical marijuana: report—"Study says agency should not be in charge of scheduling drugs or giving access to drugs for medical research."

Habersham

Bad Cops

Jury awards more than $2 million to family of pastor killed by narcotics task force WaPo
Family sues over drug raid of wrong house: San Bruno residents claim multiple violations for June incident
Man angry after police break into and damage his truck over dubious marijuana suspicion
These pot searches by police don't pass the smell test
Seattle police seize more than 2K illegally grown pot plants—"Detectives, however, didn't arrest anyone and said they were only interested in bringing the operation numbers down to the legal limits."
Police Department Sued For Allegedly Seizing Pot Plants—"A group of medical marijuana patients on the Big Island of Hawaii are suing to get back pot plants that were allegedly seized wrongfully by police."
Thousands of Rapists Are Not Behind Bars Because Cops Focus on Marijuana Users

Militarization

Legalization and Decriminalization

Yes, We Cannabis—"Has the legalization of marijuana in America become inevitable?"
Cops Like Me Say Legalize All Drugs. Here's Why.—"Who exactly is prohibition supposed to be helping? After many years of enforcing drug laws as a police officer, my experience with an addicted family member changed my attitude for good."
Attorney says marijuana wrongly classified as dangerous drug, federal prosecution unfair—Separately, the FDA is looking into this.
"Evergreen" reveals the weird lessons of Washington's weed battle—"After Colorado and Washington, we're on the way toward national legalization. But will liberals get left behind?" Salon
Delaware Might Be The Next State To Legalize Marijuana
Texas GOP Won't Pass the Marijuana
Philadelphia City Council Votes to Decriminalize Marijuana—It's a veto-proof vote, not that it will matter to the police.
Jamaica to decriminalize personal marijuana possession
Anti-marijuana candidate loses in Uruguay primary
Pope condemns efforts to legalize marijuana—Booooo.

Medical Marijuana

Florida governor signs law allowing limited medical marijuana use
Sheldon Adelson Bankrolls Anti-Medical Marijuana Push—"Mogul gives $2.5M to Florida referendum opponents."
Families celebrate new Iowa marijuana law—Gov. Terry Branstad signed Senate File 2360, legalizing medical marijuana.
New York Is About to Legalize Medical Marijuana (But With No Smoking Allowed)
Uruguay set to allow doctors to prescribe cannabis

Colorado

Despite dire predictions, Denver crime falls over 10 percent in wake of pot legalization
No Colorado marijuana stores found selling to minors in police checks
Colorado's poster boy for 'stoned driving' was drunk off his gourd—"Earlier media reports played up Keith Kilbey's pot use, made no mention of alcohol." WaPo
After 5 Months of Sales, Colorado Sees the Downside of a Legal High NYT
Hershey's sues Colorado pot candy company

Prison

Unsealed records allege brutality, corruption in Denver Jail & witness intimidation by police
Los Angeles: Ex-Deputy Says He Was Trained To Beat Up Inmates Then Cover It Up
Jurors hear of deputies' attempt to coerce FBI agent—'She told the lies, she testified before a federal grand jury, in an attempt to find out the details of the FBI's civil rights investigation into county jails."
Judge's Decision to Hear Inmates' Case Threatens Practice of Solitary Confinement NYT
Censored and 'Obscene' in Solitary—"After a huge hunger strike to protest the state prison system's inhuman conditions, California is threatening to ban any written material deemed 'oppositional to authority and society.'"
Deaf inmate sues Oregon prison system for not providing sign-language interpreters—Instead, the Department of Corrections "required Mr. VanValkenburg to train inmates to act as interpreters for him, who were unqualified and failed to keep Mr. VanValkenburg's information confidential."
Texas inmates sue over lack of air conditioning
Georgia Police Left Two Teenagers In A Holding Cell With No Lights Or Food For An Entire Weekend
Prisoners freed after cops struggle with new records software—"Officers didn't get enough training on the new system, which went live June 1, according to Dallas's police chief."
Modern-Day Slavery in America's Prison Workforce—"Why can't we embrace the idea that prisoners have labor rights?"
Even America's most liberal states imprison more people than nearly any other country in the world
This Is How Much More States Spend On Prisoners Than On Students

Death Penalty

Is It Legal to Try Executing Someone Twice?—"The Ohio Supreme Court will decide whether Romell Broom should be put to death—again."
Texas execution appeal on drug secrecy grounds rejected by US supreme court—"Robert James Campbell's attorneys had demanded Texas officials disclose the source of drugs intended to execute him."
Autopsy Shows Just How Royally Oklahoma Screwed Up Clayton Lockett's Execution—"Preliminary findings suggest the inmate's executioners had no clue what they were doing."

Innocence

Man who served 26 years in prison in arson case is suing Ionia police, prosecutor—"The lawsuit says the defendants conspired to create a false case ...."
5 Exonerated in Central Park Jogger Case Will Settle Suit for $40 Million—"The five men whose convictions in the brutal 1989 beating and rape of a female jogger in Central Park were later overturned [Salon] have agreed to a settlement of about $40 million from New York City." NYT
Man cleared in '89 NYC killing plans $162M claim—' A man recently exonerated in a 1989 New York City killing that happened while he was visiting Disney World filed papers Tuesday outlining plans to seek $162 million from the city, one of his lawyers said." WSJ
For a Respected Prosecutor, An Unpardonable Failure—"Evidence of a convicted murderer's possible innocence sat buried in a case file for more than two decades. Now, a prosecutor in Brooklyn will have to answer for the mistake."
Proposed Michigan law: Pay exonerated prisoners
When Innocent People Go To Prison, States Pay

Trial and Error

Chemical Reaction—"[T]he high court ruled—in a unanimous exercise of comic power—that the federal government should never have been using an international chemical weapons treaty to prosecute a jealous wife in the first place."
Marshall: The Law Is An Ass—On SCOTUSBlog's press credentials denial.
Ex-U.S. attorney takes stand: 'I don't owe anyone $100 billion'—"Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is no stranger to the inside of a federal courtroom, but on Tuesday he found himself in an unusual position: on the witness stand testifying at a bizarre trial of a sovereign citizen follower who allegedly had tried to place a bogus $100 billion lien on his residence."
More Time Sought for Robber Who Was Homesick for Prison
Man Killed Hours After Jury Accidently Acquits Him—"Unable to reach a verdict, Pearson's jury mistakenly signed a not-guilty form Wednesday — despite the judge later learning jurors had actually deadlocked. After his release, Pearson, 37, went to a relative's house and within hours he was killed in a fight."
Cleveland man collapses, dies outside courtroom after judge issues sentence
Man curses judge and gets 364 days in jail for contempt

Law and Disorder

Fuzz-y

Woman shoots at would-be home intruders—They were allegedly impersonating the police.
Florida man charged with impersonating cop after pulling over real detective
Police drop case of protester arrested for impersonating a police officer while wearing a pig mask

Recording

Putting cameras on police officers is an idea whose time has come WaPo
Can Cop-Worn Cameras Restore Faith In New Orleans Police?
Blast from the Past: As More Police Wear Cameras, Policy Questions Arise
Jail video police swore 'did not exist' released in brutality complaint—"Gaps in video raise new questions about case of disabled man alleging mistreatment."
Woman charged with wiretapping for filming cops wins $57,000 payout—"Settlement follows appeals court declaring 'First Amendment' right to record."
New York Photojournalist Wins $200,000 Settlement from Incident Caught on this Video
Drones in L.A.: South Bay man flies aircraft to monitor police
Pittsburgh Investigating Officer's Violent Exchange At Gay Pride Event
Facebook Video Shows Cops Grab Man's Camera, Assault Him and his 58-Year-Old Mother
Woman Attacks Man for Flying Camera Drone over Public Beach in Connecticut—And gets caught lying about the attack but charges may be dropped.
Video: Toddler Tries To Stop Attack On Mother—Was the fight over a guy?

World Cup, Sports Corruption; Europe, Asia; MH370; Religion; Media and Transparency, Political Partisanship, Obamanation; Vote Machinations, Campaign Finance Deform; Grand Ol' Tea Party; Immigration, Race and Racism; Your Government Inaction

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 14:03:00 +0000

World Cup

Iran arrests 2 over World Cup video—"Iran's official IRNA news agency says police have arrested two people who appeared in an online video of young people singing and dancing in support of the country's World Cup football team."
Defying ban, Iranian women watch World Cup with men in public
Neo-Nazi Banners, Blackface, and Homophobic Chants: World Cup Fans Behaving Badly
Suarez World Cup bite sets off Twitter meme frenzy—"Harkening Mike Tyson's famous gnawing of Evander Holyfield's ear, the soccer star is pictured wearing a dog cone, with fangs, as Hannibal, and more."
Miguel Herrera Is the Most GIF-Worthy Man at the World Cup, Perhaps on Earth
Cristiano Ronaldo, James Milner, Mario Balotelli, Olivier Giroud: The hottest soccer players at the World Cup
Bravery of young security officer prevents massacre in Beirut—"Hunch by security officer prevents potential massacre as scores of people were watching World Cup match, but it also costs his own life."

Sports Corruption

Football match-fixing: Ghana deal casts cloud over World Cup finals in Brazil—Is this what the $3 million is for?
Fifa Bosses 'Secretly Doubled Their Salaries'—"Football chiefs are accused of upping their pay to £118,000 to compensate for lucrative bonuses that have now been axed."
U.S. Senator Calls On FIFA To Relocate 2022 World Cup Out Of Qatar
Nobody Wants To Host The 2022 Olympics—"The next Olympics to be awarded, a little more than a year from now, will be the 2022 Winter Games. Rather than going to the strongest bid, the games may end up going to the last city standing--a long list of potential hosts have given up on their Olympic dreams because the whole thing is one huge, useless waste of money."
Banks Wary of Construction Companies After Olympic Debacle

Europe

Polish foreign minister says country's alliance with US worthless—"According to a transcript of recordings obtained by Wprost, Radislaw Sikorski said 'we gave the US a blow job.'"
Polish MPs ridicule Cameron's 'stupid propaganda' aimed at Eurosceptics—"Secretly taped expletive-laden conversation reveals EU fallout from prime minister's plans to curb migrants' benefits access."
Italy arrests 95 in mafia dragnet, solves century-old murder
Roma boy left unconscious after being savagely beaten and tortured during vigilante attack in Paris suburb
Tens of thousands march in London against coalition's austerity measures—"An estimated 50,000 people in London addressed by speakers, including Russell Brand, after People's Assembly march."

Asia

China jails 'New Citizens' Movement' activists—"China has handed down lengthy jail terms to three anti-corruption activists who had called for officials to disclose their personal wealth."
Chinese police shoot dead 13 attackers in restive Xinjiang
In Hong Kong, an Unofficial Election Draws Beijing's Ire NYT
Chinese warships to join US in drills off Hawaii for first time
Japan failed to report 640 kg of nuclear fuel to IAEA
North Korea blasts film featuring James Franco and Seth Rogen plotting assassination of Kim Jong Un—This means war.
Google removes Singapore hate blog against Filipinos

MH370

Religion

Media and Transparency

The media's moral center: How John Oliver became the sheriff of cable news' wild west—"The 'Last Week Tonight' host digs deeper and pushes his audience harder than either Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert." Salon
Jon Stewart Is A More Trusted News Source Than MSNBC, Study Says
Lawmakers unveil major changes to FOIA—"Reform legislation emerges from Senate committee that would overhaul Freedom of Information Act, increase transparency."
Wal-Mart 'edits' a New York Times op-ed—The fact check fudges facts.
Hacking trial: Coulson guilty, Brooks cleared of charges

Political Partisanship

Americans Have Less Confidence In Congress Than Just About Anything, Ever
Let's Stop Kidding Ourselves: 90 Percent of Congressional Incumbents Will Win Re-election—"All signs tell us that incumbents should be grabbed by their lapels and shoved to the curb—but most won't be."
Americans have not become more politically polarized—Maybe, maybe not. WaPo

Obamanation

Vote Machinations

Want to Suppress the Vote? Stress People Out—"The latest science-of-politics study suggests that GOP voter intimidation tactics may be more effective than liberals have feared—for biological reasons."
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand plans to introduce legislation to allow voters to register online—"Under Gillibrand's proposal, states with existing online access would expand their system beyond those with state-issued IDs to let more young people, seniors, minorities and the poor to access and update their own voter records online."
GOP's voter fraud humiliation: Turns out Wisconsin's worst case is a Republican—"Maybe the real reason Scott Walker and Reince Preibus think their state needs tougher laws is a guilty conscience." Hypocrites. Salon
Racist tactic emerges in GOP primary fight—"Rachel Maddow reports on how Mississippi Republican candidate Thad Cochran's appeal for African-American votes is being met by conservative supporters of his tea party opponent, Chris McDaniel, with 'poll watchers,' to discourage black voters."
Wilson precinct official removed—Woman who wasn't able to vote: "I am not rich — just a mom who wanted to vote. And I did ask for a provisional ballot. But I didn't get it."
Fifty Years After Freedom Summer, the Voting Rights Act Is Needed More Than Ever

Campaign Finance Deform

Calif. lawmakers seek constitutional convention on Citizens United
4 Key Takeaways About Scott Walker's Alleged "Criminal Scheme"—"Here's what you need to know about the probe targeting the Wisconsin governor and two of his aides."
Senate Democrats Re-up Their Dark-Money Disclosure Bill—and Dare GOPers to Block It
Mayday PAC: The Super PAC Built to Destroy Super PACs

Grand Ol' Tea Party

Thad Cochran Defeats the Tea Party -- And So Does Everyone Else
Losing Tea Party Candidate Refuses to Concede in Mississippi Runoff
The staggering price of crushing the tea party Politico
Tea Party's embarrassing irony: How its ideal nation rejects basic American beliefs Salon
In a Do-Nothing Congress, Blake Farenthold is Enjoying the View—"Blake Farenthold, the tea party congressman from Corpus Christi, has settled into a routine where distraction is just part of the job."
Tea party, police clash in western Wisconsin town—Also: Wisconsin Police Chief and Tea Party Battle Over Bridge Signs and Gay Dating Websites
Darrell Issa's flailing search for his white whale
GOP Rep's Chief Of Staff Resigns After Porn Star Tweets Photo Of His Penis

Immigration

Obama tells Mexico: Illegal-immigrant children won't get to stay
Limbaugh Floats Theory That Obama Planned Influx Of Undocumented Minors At Border
Honduras to ask U.S. not to deport Honduran kids
Few immediate consequences for child immigrants
Mass migrant graves unearthed in Texas—"Researchers discover mass graves near US-Mexico border containing bodies of unidentified migrants in body bags."

Race and Racism

Your Government Inaction

War on Terror, Iraq'd, Militants, Israel and Palestine; Drones, VA, PTSD, Soldiers; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy, Police State, Wifi

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 11:26:00 +0000

War on Terror

Media seeks Guantanamo force-feeding videos—"[T]he Defense Department has classified the videos as 'secret' national security information." Politico
U.S. Court Rules Constitutional Rights Don't Apply for Americans Overseas
Federal judge rules U.S. no-fly list violates Constitution—Blatantly anti-liberty.
Al-Jazeera journalists jailed for seven years in Egypt—"Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed of Al-Jazeera English sentenced on terrorism-related charges."
Pair wrapped bacon around door handles of Edinburgh mosque
Hannity Goes After Muslim Student Who Asked Question At Benghazi Panel
Blackwater trial defence raises possibility of witness coaching—"Lawyers for ex-Blackwater guards accused of killing 14 in Baghdad in 2007 say prosecution witnesses 'orchestrated' stories."
TSA Agent Arrested For Dealing Cocaine

Iraq'd

Reporter Who Was Wrong About Iraq: Stop Criticizing Those Who Were Wrong About Iraq—Never forget the cunt-astic coverage of war whoring Judith Miller.
Megyn Kelly Takes On Another Iraq War Architect
NYT Journalist Stands Behind Her John Bolton Reporting Amid GOP Outrage
Thank God For Dick Cheney (Really)—"The more the former vice president talks, the better Obama seems."
Cheney doesn't want to talk about 'what happened 11 or 12 years ago'
Iraq dredges up painful memories for GOP—"Amid the renewed chaos in the country, key figures from George W. Bush's administration have reemerged in the public spotlight, bringing fresh attention to past mistakes the GOP would rather forget."
This Leading GOP Congressional Candidate Insists We Found Saddam's WMD Program—"Former Army officer Steve Russell claims his friend discovered Iraq's nuclear weapons program—but says the war had nothing to do with WMDs anyway."
US fired depleted uranium at civilian areas in 2003 Iraq war, report finds—"Dutch peace group Pax says findings show US was in breach of official advice meant to prevent suffering in conflicts."

Militants

Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman who ordered Saddam Hussein's death in 2006 reportedly killed by jihadists
MI6 Fears 300 Islamist Fighters Back In UK—"An ex-intelligence chief tells Sky News that security services face a "nightmare" tracking militants who return to Britain."
Jihad in Syria lures Somalis from Minnesota
Obama Warns Threat From Iraq Militants Could Grow
Why the Iraqi army can't defeat ISIS
Hezbollah: Gulf states will regret funding ISIS

Israel and Palestine

The Christian family refusing to give up its Bethlehem hill farm—And doing it peacefully.
Presbyterians Vote to Divest Holdings to Pressure Israel—"The church voted at its general convention to divest from three companies that it says supply Israel with equipment used in the occupation of Palestinian territory." NYT
Palestinian boy, 7, dies of injuries from Israeli air strike: medics
Israel continues crackdown in Palestine in search for settlers—"Israeli troops arrested 30 more Palestinians in the West Bank Wednesday night as they ramped up a massive search for three young settlers believed to have been kidnapped."
Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Teenager Protesting Arrests in the West Bank NYT
Attack from Syria kills Israeli teen; Israeli military kills two Palestinians
HRW: Israel orders removal of security camera that showed Nakba killings
Palestinian village wins UNESCO listing against Israel barrier plan—"A Palestinian village joined UNESCO's world heritage sites list on Friday after an emergency nomination meant to try to block Israel from building a barrier across its ancient farmland."

Drones

Court releases DOJ memo justifying drone strike on US citizen
"Civilian casualties" authorized under secret US drone-strike memo—"US justifies killings as acts of war despite civilian deaths, global precedent."
When drones fall from the sky—"More than 400 large U.S. military drones have crashed in major accidents around the world since 2001, showing the potential dangers of throwing open U.S. skies to drone traffic, according to a year-long Washington Post investigation." WaPo
US officials move to ban drones from national parks
African firm is selling pepper-spray bullet firing drones

PTSD

Soldiers

Airman on his way to report for duty gets stranded in Price, community comes to his rescue
Marine who took grenade blast for comrade receives Medal of Honor
Baxter's back! Family agrees to return deployed soldier's beloved dog after girlfriend sold him on Craigslist... even though their children were attached to him—The parents did the right thing.
Vet says he was asked to leave Walgreens because of service dog
Baton Rouge Hotel Reprimanded for Refusing Service Dog—"The front desk worker told the family she was aware of laws protecting access for service dogs, but the owner insists."
Local sailor ordered to be in court, despite being out to sea—"Hindes' Navy commanders point to the 'Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.' [...] But circuit court judge Margaret Noe in Michigan denied that protection for Hindes." Grounds for mistrial?

NSA Spying

Reps. Goodlatte And Ruppersberger Admit That NSA Is Warrantlessly Spying On Americans' Communications
The NSA's mass surveillance program for phone call metadata is still going
New leaks show Germany's collusion with NSA—"Several new Snowden-leaked documents show how closely Germany's intelligence agencies work with the NSA. But did the German government deliberately soften laws protecting privacy to make life easier for them?"
Looks like someone's profiting from Snowden—European defense firms—"Chill is just beginning for US cloud companies as governments seek local help."
Microsoft: NSA security fallout 'getting worse' ... 'not blowing over'
'That is total bullsh*t!': Glenn Greenwald and Iraq War vet square off on Snowden leaks

Surveillance and Privacy

Ralph Fiennes hits out at internet surveillance and loss of press freedom—"Actor says lack of web privacy is 'frightening' and Russian media has had its 'spine snapped' over reporting on anti-gay measures."
Seizing data for 2.5 years amounts to "general warrant," court says—"Decision limits government powers to search seized computer data carte blanche."
Poorly anonymized logs reveal NYC cab drivers' detailed whereabouts—"Botched attempt to scrub data reveals driver details for 173 million taxi trips."
Delaware Attorney General Throws Subpoeana At Reddit Over Comment On Photo Of Two People Having Sex Behind A Dumpster—Over consensual sex.
New sensors will scoop up 'big data' on Chicago

Police State

The Surveillance/Police State: Assisting the Dismantling of Inalienable Rights
US police departments are increasingly militarised, finds report
Illinois buys cell-tracking gear complete with NDAs, no-bid process—"Homeland Security grant funded secret buy of stingrays for state police."
Google, Microsoft Commit to 'Kill Switch' Phone Tech—Worked well for Apple, but the question remains, will this 'feature' be turned against us?
Researchers Find and Decode the Spy Tools Governments Use to Hijack Phones—Whoops, too late.

Wifi

Alan Turing; Tech Life; Net Neutrality and Telcos; Bad for Business; Bitcoin; Patents; Social Media; Online Text; Clickbait; Music

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 14:26:00 +0000

Alan Turing

Tech Life

With the Americas running out of IPv4, it's official: The Internet is full
Dot Whine: France Angry Over .Vin Domain Names
House committee approves permanent Internet tax moratorium
The richest man in Vegas has declared war on internet gamblers—"Eighty-year-old billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson hates email, doesn't text, and wants to stop you from betting online."
Uber isn't the problem; taxi regulations are

Net Neutrality and Telcos

Father of "net neutrality" runs for office, wants to block Comcast/TWC merger—"Tim Wu, running for Lt. Governor in New York, says 'cable prices are too high.'" Tim Wu is Tim woof, in more ways than one.
Democrats unveil legislation forcing the FCC to ban Internet fast lanes—"Leahy and Matsui's proposed ban on fast lanes would apply only to the connections between consumers and their ISPs — the part of the Internet governed by the FCC's proposed net neutrality rules." The real issue is between ISPs and content providers, but this does trickle down to consumers. WaPo
AT&T claims 'strong' net neutrality would actually ruin the Internet. That's a big leap.—It's bullshit, that's what it is. WaPo
What Everyone Gets Wrong in the Debate Over Net Neutrality
Many Verizon DSL and AT&T customers not getting speeds they pay for
T-Mobile's CEO Went Off Last Night And Said AT&T And Verizon Are 'F------' That Are 'Raping You'

Bad for Business

Mobile crammers settle case, forfeit $10M in assets, including Bentley
Intel forced to pay record $1.4 billion fine for unfair sales tactics
Chinese site in signal-jammer sting could pay record $34.9M FCC fine—"CTS boldly—and falsely—claimed that some of its jammers were approved by the FCC...."
Apple settles e-book price fixing class action suit, dodges possible $840M in claims

Bitcoin

Patents

Supreme Court smashes "do it on a computer" patents in 9-0 opinion—"Court declines to stop software patents altogether."
The Supreme Court doesn't understand software, and that's a problem
Patent trolls take their toll—"Patent trolls are, in a sense, legal extortion. These entities, which do not produce a product or sell a service, are set up only to bring about patent infringement lawsuits in hopes of collecting a payday."

Social Media

Online Text

After Forty-Seven Years, Computerworld, Tech Publishing's Elder Statesman, is a Print Publication No More
German publishers want an 11 percent cut of Google News
Journamalism: Google Gesture-edition
Wikipedia creates new rules, forcing editors to disclose if they're paid—"Change comes after a few high-profile instances of articles-for-hire."

Clickbait

You Have No Idea What's Behind These Clickbait Headlines! So I'll Tell You!
A New Weapon In Upworthy's Unlikely War On Clickbait
The Way One Man Is Waging War On Clickbait Will Blow Your Mind
The Onion: ClickHole—"Because all content deserves to go viral."

Music

Marriage Equality, LGBTQ, Politics, Homophobia; Cosmos, Creationism; Church and State, Atheism, Francis Effect; Intolerance of Religion, Sex Abuse Scandals; Rape, Sexism, Culture Clash, Abortion and Birth Control

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 11:38:00 +0000

Marriage Equality

LGBTQ

Politics

Oklahoma Candidate Says Gays Should Be Stoned
House Committee Invites Witness To Go On Anti-Gay Rant, Because Religious Freedom
Texas Governor Perry compares homosexuality to alcoholism
CNBC Anchor Confronts Rick Perry About Remark Comparing Gays To Alcoholics
More Or Less Everyone Agrees That Rick Perry Is a Moron for Comparing Homosexuality to Alcoholism
Rick Perry Defers To Scientists On Gay Conversion Therapy, Forgets They Already Trashed It
GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer Skeptical That LGBT Workplace Discrimination Exists
Obama to Sign Executive Order on LGBT Discrimination
Alabama appeals court rules state's sodomy law unconstitutional
Gay candidate Brett Smiley has a very cute campaign ad
First black, openly gay man confirmed as U.S. federal judge—Make that two.
Canada: Kathleen Wynne's Liberals win majority government—"The first woman elected premier of Ontario — and Canada's only openly gay first minister ever — Wynne bested Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, who announced his resignation, and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath."

Homophobia

Judge: Gay Fathers' Names Cannot Appear On Their Biological Children's Birth Certificates
UK: 30 schools using textbooks that teach homosexuality is a choice
U.S. cuts aid to Uganda, cancels military exercise over anti-gay law
Cop placed on leave after refusing to work at gay pride parade—"The Salt Like City police officer will be the subject of an internal investigation, the department announced." Salon
Clubber sprayed with concentrated ammonia outside Vauxhall bar in homophobic attack

Cosmos

"Why is God telling me to stop asking questions?"—Meet the woman behind Neil deGrasse Tyson's "Cosmos" Salon
Neil deGrasse Tyson vs. the right: "Cosmos," Christians, and the battle for American science—"The real reason conservatives are freaking out about Neil deGrasse Tyson: He's laying bare their worst hypocrisies." Salon
The 5 most important lessons from Neil deGrasse Tyson's "Cosmos"—"'Cosmos' may be ending on Sunday, but lessons will keep us thinking." Salon
The Curious Passions of Mr. Cosmos: Neil deGrasse Tyson On Space, Climate, and Why Curiosity Wins Every Time
Fox News guest says white liberal nerds love Neil deGrasse Tyson so much "he could defecate on them" Salon

Creationism

Creationist author asks: If evolution is true, "is rape wrong?"—"Darek Isaacs appeared on 'Creation Today' with ridiculous claims about evolution." Salon
Can This Class Be Saved? Bible Course Teaches That Adam and Eve Were Actual Historical People
A Decade Later, This is the 500-Page Creationism Book a Public School Biology Teacher Gave His Students
New creationism museum says Noah brought baby dinosaurs aboard the ark—More likely to believe Gilgamesh did it. Salon
4 in 10 Americans Believe God Created Earth 10,000 Years Ago
UK: Government bans all existing and future Academies and Free Schools from teaching creationism as science
Creationism Isn't Science, and Shouldn't Be Taught That Way

Church and State

Faced with Threat of Atheists Speaking at Meetings, Troutman (NC) City Council Caps Invocations at Two Minutes
A Church-PAC Link Raises Questions in Mississippi—"If a church's resources were used to help Senator Thad Cochran, the church could lose its tax-exempt status." NYT
U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal over school graduation in church
With Eric Cantor Defeat, Congressional Republicans Lose Only Non-Christian
Dave Brat's Land of Magical Thinking—"The GOP's newest star doesn't believe that Wall Street deserves much of the blame for the financial crisis, that the U.S. should be a lot more like China, and that the fix for American banks is to 'preach the gospel and change hearts and souls.'"
Bible-waving MN GOP Supreme Court nominee places God above U.S. law
Kissing Congressman Reconsiders Retirement After Apologizing To God
Sympathy for the Devils: Scenes From the Social Conservative Collapse—"There was a time when the bigoted, Bible-thumping crowd ran roughshod over D.C. Now, not so much."
Christian-themed Park Will No Longer Be Getting a $140,000 Boost from Iowan Taxpayers
Pagan Forbidden from Opening Temple in Beebe, Arkansas Because His God Isn't the Christian God
UK: Taxpayers' cash should not be used to fund faith schools, say voters—"Labour wants talks on teaching of religion as poll shows 58% of the public urge abolition or axing of state funds."
Australia: Father wins High Court challenge on federal funding of school chaplains program

Atheism

Atheism explodes in Saudi Arabia, despite state-enforced ban Salon
Convicted Heavy Metal 'Christian' Singer Admits Being Atheist, Duped Fans to Sell Music
Bible Verses That Atheists Love—"We asked prominent atheists what parts of the Bible they find inspiring and beautiful."

Francis Effect

Pope Francis Meeting With Israeli, Palestinian Leaders For Prayer
Pope Francis Warns The Global Economy Is Near Collapse
Pope tells super rich, bankers to find some ethics
Pope Francis: Mafiosi are excommunicated from the church'—"Vatican spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini said the pope's stern words did not constitute a formal over-arching decree of canon (Church) law, regarding excommunication, which is a formal legal process."
Pope doesn't see the point of having a bullet-proof car at his old age—Uhhhh... is this wise?

Intolerance of Religion

Rape victims say Bob Jones University told them to repent—"Former students at 'the fortress of faith' who reported sexual abuse say they were told they had sinned."
Obama Caricature Becomes Urinal Cake at Faith and Freedom Conference
Religious right looks beyond gay marriage to next battles: 'We are in a war'
More Mormons facing church scrutiny for online comments
10 most un-Christian church signs Salon

Sex Abuse Scandals

St. Louis Archbishop Carlson claims to be uncertain if he knew sexual abuse was a crime
Catholic church has 'sociopathic disregard for sex abuse victims'—"Victim of Marist brother speaks out at royal commission after church's counsel tries to discredit him over past drug use."
Catholic Church: Our Priest Raped Off Duty, You Can't Sue Us
Christian radio personality from Michigan arrested on sex assault charge involving children
Jehovah's Witness elders were 'spiritually corrupt and morally bankrupt', court told—""Mark Sewell, 53, has denied 12 sex charges against girls and women across a 10-year period, at Merthyr Crown Court."

Rape

'Rape culture wins': Feminist freakout after Miss Nevada dares suggest self defense training for women—Miss Nevada is right.
Angelina Jolie: Shame the rapist, not the victim Salon
An OB/GYN's Open Letter To George Will About His Rape Column
Major Newspaper Dumps George Will, Apologizes For 'Offensive' Rape Column
George Will's Latest: College Rape Charges Fueled By 'Sea Of Hormones And Alcohol'
Cleared Oxford Union president says rape accused should not be identified—"Oxford union president Ben Sullivan said identity of those accused should be withheld at least until police carry out a preliminary investigation."
Long-forgotten rape evidence finally reveals its clues in Northern Virginia lab WaPo
Congress poised to approve $41 million to help clear backlog of untested rape kits WaPo

Sexism

Female Your Party member interrupted by sexist heckles—"A member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly said Thursday she was hurt by sexist remarks made by male politicians during a session the previous day in which she was ridiculed for being unmarried and lacking children."
American Apparel boots CEO for being a pervert, stock surges
Study: Judges with daughters are more likely to rule in favor of women WaPo
Female prison inmates sterilized illegally, California audit confirms
Facebook Lifts Ban on Exposed Nipples in Breastfeeding Pictures
Hurricanes with Female Names Are Deadlier Than Masculine Ones

Culture Clash

A Fight as U.S. Girls Face Genital Cutting Abroad—"Female genital cutting has been banned in the United States since 1996, and now it is also illegal to transport girls for 'vacation cutting.' But some are concerned that such cutting is on the rise." NYT
Female genital mutilation exposed in Swedish class—"Some 60 cases of genital mutilation have been discovered in Norrköping in eastern Sweden since March with all 30 girls in one school class found to have undergone the procedure."
Iranian child bride faces execution for killing the man she was forced to marry—"Iran's judiciary urged to halt Razieh Ebrahimi's execution as international law prohibits execution for crimes by juveniles."
Pakistani woman: My relatives shot me, threw me in canal for marrying neighbor
Pakistan: Man murders daughter for wearing makeup
Pakistani woman raped, hanged
Sexual assault on student sparks outrage in Egypt
Tunisia: Man burns daughter to death in suspected honor killing
YouTube refuses Egypt's request to remove footage of Tahrir Square sexual assault
UK law banning forced marriage takes effect—"Those found guilty of the largely hidden practice face up to seven years in prison."

Abortion and Birth Control

Workers and Wages Slaves, IT Crowd, Minimum Wage; Banks and Wall Street, Class Warfare, Corporatocracy; Tea Party, Obamanation, Politics and Partisanship, Vote Machinations, Campaign Finance Deform, Christie, Hillary; IRS; Redskins

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 12:31:00 +0000

Workers and Wage Slaves

The Economy May Be Improving. Worker Pay Isn't. NYT
The Downward Ramp—"The jobs crisis has begun to affect even highly skilled college graduates, who are taking jobs that once went to people with fewer skills." NYT
I got my Master's, couldn't find a job and lived on food stamps. Now stop calling me a 'welfare queen'
5 reasons US workers hate their jobs more than they used to
Young workers hate their jobs WaPo
It's Official: The Boomerang Kids Won't Leave—"One in five young adults lives with his or her parents. It might be a recessionary blip — or the dawn of a whole new economic age." NYT
Elizabeth Warren on creating jobs: 'This isn't magic, we actually know how to do this'

IT Crowd

This IT worker had to train an H-1B replacement—"U.S. workers protested job losses to foreign workers by displaying American flags in their cubicles."
Should tech workers settle "no-poach" case for $324M? Judge has real doubts—"One plaintiff says the deal isn't fair to workers, and the judge is listening."
Robot doctors, online lawyers and automated architects: the future of the professions?—"Advances in technology have long been recognised as a threat to manual labour. Now highly skilled, knowledge-based jobs that were once regarded as safe could be at risk. How will they adapt to the digital age?"

Minimum Wage

IMF urges U.S. to raise minimum wage
Massachusetts approves $11 minimum wage
Obamas Want Daughters To Get Taste Of Life On Minimum Wage
'Subminimum wage' for disabled workers called exploitative—"Critics of program that pays disabled workers 'subminimum wage' say it should be abolished. Others say it's an important tool to provide training and employment."

Banks and Wall Street

Wikileaks: Secret Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Financial Services Annex—"Despite the failures in financial regulation evident during the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis and calls for improvement of relevant regulatory structures, proponents of TISA aim to further deregulate global financial services markets."
City of Miami sues JPMorgan, claims mortgage discrimination
Ex-Goldman director goes to prison, still owes $13.9 million fine
Senate hearing examines flaws in stock markets
Why a guy making $100,000 a year can't get a bank account WaPo
Greenpeace suffers $5.2-million loss after rogue employee's currency investment flops
Master Currency Counterfeiter Prints Millions, Says 'Screw You' to US

Class Warfare

Class in America: The Fault Lines
Reich: Real Business Leaders Want to Save Capitalism
Arizona GOPer Went Birther, Compared Poor To 'Lazy Pigs' In Anonymous Blog Comments
No, The Poor Aren't Poor Because They Refuse To Work
America's Dying Factories Are Widening Income Inequality
Justice Sotomayor: Inequality Could Trigger 'Unrest' In U.S.
U.S. appeals court overturns L.A. ban on homeless living in vehicles
British public wrongly believe rich face highest tax burden, new research shows—"Study shows poorest 10% pay eight percentage points more of their income, prompting calls for more progressive system."
Australia's richest 1% own as much as bottom 60%, says Oxfam—"Income inequality has risen since mid-1990s and nine richest people now have greater net worth than poorest 4.54 million."

Corporatocracy

How America became un competitive and unequal—"How corporate mergers contribute to economic inequality." WaPo
The Corporate Daddy: Walmart, Starbucks, and the Fight Against Inequality—"Walmart, the world's largest public corporation, is a big part of the income-gap problem. It could be a big part of the solution." NYT
The True Cost of Hidden Money—"A Piketty Protégé's Theory on Tax Havens." NYT
Medtronic Is Biggest Yet to Renounce U.S. Tax Citizenship
Legislation Introduced to Stop American Corporations from Pretending to Be Foreign Companies
EU launches attack against corporate tax avoidance—"The EU has taken steps to curb tax avoidance by global corporations. In recent months, criticism in the budget-strapped bloc has mounted over tax loopholes exploited by companies such as Apple, Google and others."
Thrown Out of Court—"How corporations became people you can't sue."
Halliburton Ruling Could Be A Big Win For Big Pharma, Wall Street

Tea Party

Eugene Robinson: Overdosing on tea—"The Republican Party's reliance on tea party support is like an addict's dependence on a dangerous drug: It may feel good at first, but eventually it eats you alive." WaPo
Teatopia—"What would actually happen if Tea Partiers controlled Congress and Rand Paul was president?"
Unwitting tea party folk do the bidding of big business LA Times
David Brat's Success Due to 19,000 new primary voters
Reince Priebus After Eric Cantor Loss: I Don't Think GOP Is Divided
Muslim reporter describes being ridiculed at the Texas GOP convention—"Republican chairman: 'Would the state party ever condone that? Absolutely not.'

Obamanation

Krugman: Yes He Could—"Health Care and Climate: President Obama's Big Deals" NYT
GOP Rep: Obama Impeachment 'Probably Could' Pass The House
Conservatives Uncover Obama Plot to Destroy Phil Mickelson—"According to the latest conspiracy theory, Obama sent the FBI and SEC to investigate the pro golfer because he once complained about high tax rates."
Here's every presidential executive order going back to George Washington

Politics and Partisanship

Poll: Congress historic midterm low Politico
America prepares to reelect the Congress it loathes WaPo
Congress is making a lot of history! (By being so unpopular) WaPo
The shocking numbers: Americans are dangerously ignorant on politics—"The scary thing about the man who upset Eric Cantor last week is how familiar his brand of ignorance is." Salon
Time to Stand Up and Fight for a More Perfect Union—"The irony of American politics is that the right is far weaker than it appears and the left far stronger than it asserts."

Vote Machinations

End Polarization. Make Everyone Vote.
Middle Class Squeeze: As incomes slide, voters check out
AZ Candidate Who Changed His Name To 'Cesar Chavez' Thrown Off Ballot
Fox News paid Scott Brown $136,000
Alaska's Don Young violated US House ethics—"The House Ethics Committee has found that U.S. Rep. Don Young of Alaska violated House rules by using campaign funds for personal trips and accepting improper gifts."
Shadowy Obama Megadonor Indicted On Fraud And Manslaughter Charges
SCOTUS Rules For Anti-Abortion Group In Case About Campaign Lies

Campaign Finance Deform

Prosecutors: Walker's Campaign 'Tacitly Admitted' Breaking The Law
Gov. Scott Walker's Campaign Violations—"There clearly is plenty to fear from independent spending groups that raise unlimited dollars." NYT
The Koch brothers may spend $290 million on this election. That's how much 5,270 American households make in a year. WaPo
Campaign-Finance Reform Has to Be Cross-Partisan—"Democrats love to talk about cutting the influence of money in politics, but are they actually any more eager to fix it than Republicans?"
After Lindsey Graham met billionaire, supportive super PAC secured donation an hour later
Cronies, corruption and cash: Lawrence Lessig on why we need a super PAC to end all super PACs Salon

Christie

Despite budget gap, Christie holding firm that business tax cuts are off-limits
Chris Christie to GOP donors on bridge scandal: 'You'll get over it' LA Times
Prosecutor Is Closing In on Gov. Christie—"Indictments against four cronies are near certain, sources say. Only question is if David Samson, Christie's longtime mentor, will flip."

Hillary

IRS

Redskins

War on Terror, Iraq'd, Darth Cheney, Heritage Flounder-ation, M.I.C., Guns; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy, Police State, Your Rights Online, Free Speech, Whistleblowing, Facebook, Tech Tracking, Haxx0red

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 13:52:00 +0000

War on Terror

How the 'War on Terror' Became a War on the Constitution—"Since 9/11, power-hungry political leaders have eviscerated the First Amendment—and we've allowed them to do it."
A federal judge will review US 'secret court' rulings to see if they were improperly kept under wraps
Appeals court reverses decision in Chicago terrorism case—"An appeals court has overruled a groundbreaking decision by a Chicago judge to let lawyers for an alleged terrorist see classified surveillance evidence."
CIA hatched plan to make demon toy to counter Osama bin Laden's influence WaPo
'Extremely disturbing' force-feeding tapes cited in Gitmo abuse case
UK: Student Stabbed To Death On Essex Footpath 'Targeted For Muslim Dress'
Man says apartment complex called his US flag a 'threat to Muslim community'
The Colbert Report: Arrest of Benghazi Terror Mastermind

Iraq'd

No More Mr. Naïve Guy—"On the future of Iraq, President Obama is a cold-blooded realist."
Eric Alterman Warns: Pundits and Partisans Are Up to Old Tricks in Iraq
He blew it on Iraq, but makes sense now: Peter Beinart's thoughtful lessons—"If there's one Iraq war hawk worth listening to today, it's this one who's truly grappled with his mistake." Salon
Karl Rove Unintentionally Predicted the Current Chaos in Iraq
Petraeus: U.S. Must Not Become the Shia Militia's Air Force
Iraq crisis: Britain and US must not meddle in Iraq, warns Saudi Arabia—"Saudi Arabia will oppose any US and British or regional intervention in Iraq against the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the country's ambassador to London tells the Telegraph."
1,000,000 Iraqis have fled their homes as ISIS continues armed siege
The War Nerd: Here's everything you need to know about "too extreme for Al Qaeda" I.S.I.S.
The Fall of Iraq - What You Aren't Being Told
Blast from the Past: Dahr Jamail on what happened in Fallujah in 2004: U.S. War Crimes in Iraq

Darth Cheney

Heritage Flounder-tion

M.I.C.

Congress prepares to renew $40bn bill terrorism insurance law—"The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act has never covered a single company from terrorism costs and has earned $40bn in revenue for insurance companies. But Congress is too afraid to end it."
South Dakota has Raked in $100 Million in Homeland Security Grants Despite No Known Terrorist Threats… Ever
$40-billion missile defense system proves unreliable
Golden Hammer: Pentagon sank $3 million in boats that never made it to Afghanistan
House votes again to prevent retirement of A-10—"The U.S. House today overwhelmingly adopted an amendment to the 2015 defense appropriation bill that would prohibit the Pentagon from spending any money to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt II close-air support jet, a mainstay of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base."

Guns

Supreme Court rules that 'straw' purchases of guns are illegal
BLM Shooting Suspect Is Anti-Government Conspiracy Theorist With Pending Gun Charge
Open-Carry Activists Return to Target With Assault Rifles—"The retailer is in the crosshairs of an escalating fight over Texas gun laws."
Video Captures MI Police Struggling To Respect Gun-Toting Ranter's Open Carry Rights
Deadly Brawl Tests "Make My Day" Self-Defense Laws
Florida dad killed by neighbor's stray bullet as family welcomes home newborn
Man accidentally shoots himself in penis

NSA Spying

House votes 293-123 to cut funding for NSA spying on Americans—"The amendment would also stop 'backdoors' from being built into tech products."
Inspired by Edward Snowden, Lawmakers Want Missouri to Stand Against NSA Surveillance
More Snowden Effect: Grayson amendment protects security standards from NSA
New Ruling Shows the NSA Can't Legally Justify Its Phone Spying Anymore
Citing "Intense Public Interest and Concern" Over Mass Surveillance, Judge Orders DOJ to Turn Over Secret Legal Opinions for Court to Review
Court Overturns Sharing Of FISA Surveillance With Defense Lawyers
How Secret Partners Expand NSA's Surveillance Dragnet
U.S. officials scrambled to nab Snowden, hoping he would take a wrong step. He didn't. WaPo
Petition with 150,000 signatures calls on France to grant Snowden asylum
New Snowden Revelations on NSA Spying in Germany—"An analysis of secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden demonstrates that the NSA is more active in Germany than anywhere else in Europe -- and that data collected here may have helped kill suspected terrorists. "
Interview with Ex-Stasi Agent: 'The Scope of NSA Surveillance Surprised Me'
EU states let NSA tap data cables, Danish media say
NSA helps foreign governments conduct mass surveillance at home
NSA Can Neither Confirm Nor Deny It Uses The Phrases It Used On A Leaked Slide

Surveillance and Privacy

Mike Rogers Says Google Is Unpatriotic For Not Wanting NSA To Spy On Its Users
Apple, Cisco, AT&T join Microsoft in fight against global search warrant
Canada: Supreme Court Delivers Huge Victory for Internet Privacy & Blows Away Gov't Plans for Reform
Hackers reverse-engineer NSA's leaked bugging devices—"Using documents leaked by Edward Snowden, hackers have built bugs that can be attached to computers to steal information in a host of intrusive ways."
LinkedIn must face privacy lawsuit over contact reminder emails, says judge—"A federal judge said on Thursday that LinkedIn must face a lawsuit by customers who claimed it violated their privacy by accessing their external email accounts, downloading their contacts' email addresses and soliciting business from those contacts."
Following TrueCrypt's bombshell advisory, developer says fork is "impossible"—"TrueCrypt developer withholds permission, suggests 'starting from scratch.'" Something is very fishy—or canary-ish—about this.
eBay pulls sales of Chinese 'spyware phones'

Police State

Judge allows US Marshals' seizure of stingray records, dimisses lawsuit—"What began as request for info on cell tracking records turns into surreal tale."
Cops hid use of phone tracking tech in court documents at feds' request—"ACLU uncovers e-mails regarding Stingray devices borrowed from US Marshals Service."
Stingray Documents Show Law Enforcement Using 'Terrorism' To Obtain Equipment To Fight Regular Crime
Legal experts: Cops lying about cell tracking "is a stupid thing to do"—"Deception in legal filings could lead to bad consequences for police, attorneys."
State Legislators Discussing Laws That Will Put Law Enforcement Surveillance Cameras Inside Private Businesses
When the Pentagon Wants to Predict Unrest, It's Time to Be Unpredictable
How an FBI Informant Helped Orchestrate the Hack of an FBI Contractor
Removal of border agency's internal affairs chief raises alarms—"James F. Tomsheck's removal was designed to sooth critics who say the agency has been too soft on misconduct, abuse and corruption. But his supporters say he is a scapegoat for a broken and byzantine hierarchy."
UK: Green party peer put on database of 'extremists' after police surveillance—"Political movements of Jenny Jones and Green party councillor Ian Driver were recorded, though neither have a criminal record."

Your Rights Online

Facebook and the First Amendment: Supreme Court to Consider Online Threats
The senate is still trying to jam through its hugely controversial cybersecurity bill
Social media mass surveillance is permitted by law, says top UK official—"Charles Farr's statement marks first time government has commented on how it exploits the UK's legal framework to operate mass interception."
Google will be forced to make a company disappear—"Inspired by the 'right to be forgotten,' a Canadian court has ordered Google to delete links to a company."
How to Anonymize Everything You Do Online

Free Speech

Appeals court throws out $340,000 online libel ruling—"CDA Section 230 prevents 'the speech-chilling threat of the heckler's veto.'"
How your inbox looks after becoming Internet Enemy #1—"The mayor of Peoria, Illinois, meets anonymous online commenters."
US Secret Service wants software to "detect sarcasm" on social media

Whistleblowing

Julian Assange Asks The US To Drop Wikileaks Investigation—"Julian Assange has asked the US Attorney General Eric Holder to respect the principles of free speech and dissolve the Grand Jury investigation into Wikileaks, or resign."
G20 whistleblower protection laws lacking—"The majority of whistleblower protection laws in G20 countries fail to meet best international standards despite a public pledge to shield whistleblowers from retaliation, a new report has found."
US Circuit Court Questions Whether Whistleblower Protections Apply Abroad—"A circuit court on Monday probed whether whistleblower protections apply abroad during oral arguments of a case where a former staffer is suing Siemens AG over alleged retaliation." WSJ
Polish authorities search premises of weekly that revealed tape scandal —"Polish authorities searched the premises of Wprost, the news magazine that published tapes of officials' conversations that have embarrassed to the government, the prosecutor's spokeswoman said on Wednesday."
Passport Office orders inquiry over photographs leaked to Guardian—"MPs and unions say inquiry is heavy-handed and a waste of money after photographs show stacks of passport applications."

Facebook

Tech Tracking

Why online tracking is getting creepier—"Online marketers are increasingly trying to track users offline as well."
Ars tests Internet surveillance—by spying on an NPR reporter—Also: Listen to the results of our Internet spy project
Resistance Is Futile: Apple And Google Are Going To Track Your Location No Matter What
Android no longer reveals app permission changes in automatic updates
iOS 8 strikes an unexpected blow against location tracking
How Nest Is Already Using All That Data From Its Army of Smoke Alarms

Haxx0red

AT&T Waits a Month to Notify Customers of Data Breach—"Hackers breached AT&T Mobility and stole social security numbers and call records. AT&T won't say why it waited a month to notify affected customers, and that's a major concern, according to CIO.com blogger Bill Snyder."
Nokia paid millions of euros in ransom—"MTV News Investigative Team reveals that Nokia became a target of extortion and ended up paying several millions of euros in ransom. The case is unsolved."
Domino's Pizza blackmailed over mass data leak
Hacker infects Synology storage devices, makes off with $620,000 in Dogecoin
Teens Hack Into ATM Just to Let Everyone Know They Can—White-hats.

Climate Change, Denialists, Weather Control; Environment, Carbon Caps, Unclean Energy, Fracking; Law and Disorder, BP, Pollution, Water; Ecology, Poached, Oceans, Forests

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 10:56:00 +0000

Climate Change

Krugman: Interests, Ideology And Climate—"The monetary stakes, it turns out, are not the biggest obstacle to rational action on global warming." NYT
Republican EPA chiefs to Congress: Act on climate
Hawaii: Gov. signs climate change bill—"Being the only island state in the country, we are especially vulnerable to climate change and are on the frontlines of impacts like sea level rise."
How the insurance industry sees climate change—"Why, if climate change is a hoax, are we paying for it?" LA Times
Brazil Has Done More To Stop Climate Change Than Any Other Country, Study Finds
Fiji accuses global community of abandoning the Pacific on climate change, singles out 'selfish' Australia
Apparent pause in global warming blamed on 'lousy' data—"European Space Agency scientist says annual sea level rises since 1993 indicate that warming has continued unabated."
Climate change will 'cost world far more than estimated'

Denialists

Obama: Denying Climate Change Is Like Saying the Moon Is "Made of Cheese"
Florida Congressman: If Humans Cause Climate Change, Then 'Why Did The Dinosaurs Go Extinct'?
Koch Brothers Unveil New Strategy at Big Donor Retreat—"The Koch brothers' financial network is planning on spending almost $300 million in the 2014 election, including a new anti-environment effort."
Coal Company CEO Threatens To Sue EPA For 'Lying' About Climate Change
Fox News slams local newspaper for refusing to entertain climate deniers Salon
Whitehouse: GOP is 'shrinking' from climate change challenge
Tony Abbott seeks alliance to thwart President Obama on climate change policy—UK and NZ say no.
Australia: Labor, Greens challenge Tony Abbott to call double dissolution election after climate bill voted down again in Senate

Weather Control

Environment

The Turning Point: New Hope for the Climate—Al Gore: "It's time to accelerate the shift toward a low-carbon future."
Chile rejects Patagonia wilderness dam project—"The Chilean government has rejected a plan to build five hydroelectric dams on rivers in the south of the country. Its decision follows years of campaigning by environmentalists and local communities."
Germany produces half of energy with solar
U.K. Approves Plans For What Could Become The World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm
Oil-rich United Arab Emirates aims to be a sustainable energy pioneer—"One of the world's richest oil-based economies is Fembracing sustainable technologies, and making a surprise bid to become a clean energy leader."

Carbon Caps

In Some States, Emissions Cuts Defy Skeptics—"At least 10 states have already met President Obama's goal of a 30 percent reduction in power plant emissions by 2030, without the economic damage that critics have warned would occur." NYT
Ohio rebels against Obama climate change agenda with energy bill—"Governor John Kasich puts a two-year freeze on measures promoting wind and solar power and energy efficiency."
House Republicans Are So Mad at the EPA that They Might Force Another Shutdown

Unclean Energy

Push To Impose Extra Fees On Customers Who Install Solar Panels Sparks Outrage In Utah
America's Coal-Producing States Weigh Their Options
Despite Protests, Canada Approves Northern Gateway Oil Pipeline—"The project, which would send oil from Alberta to Asia, faces stiff opposition from aboriginal groups, environmentalists and community advocates." NYT

Fracking

Drug Gangs Attacking With Tanks Block Mexican Shale Boom
Buru to gas frack without EPA assessment—"The West Australian government has decided to allow Buru Energy to frack for gas in the Kimberley region without an Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) assessment."
German beermakers look like winning their battle to stop fracking
Russia in secret plot against fracking, Nato chief says—"Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia was mounting a sophisticated 'disinformation campaign' aimed at undermining attempts to exploit alternative energy sources such as shale gas."

Law and Disorder

Court rules against homeowners in toxic water case—"The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a group of homeowners in North Carolina can't sue a company that contaminated their drinking water decades ago because a state deadline has lapsed.... even if residents did not realize their water was polluted until years later."
Iowa high court reinstates major pollution lawsuit—"In a major environmental case, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that residents can bring a nuisance lawsuit against a Muscatine manufacturer accused of routinely blanketing their properties with soot and chemicals."
EPA fines Buffalo for mishandling waste

Did Jindal tell us his brother's law firm represents BP before signing SB 469? We didn't get the memo from press office—Protecting corporations, screwing real people.
BP loses bid to freeze Gulf of Mexico spill payouts—"The US Supreme Court has refused to allow BP to stop paying compensation claims while it awaits a review of its settlement with businesses over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill."
New trial ordered for ex-BP engineer—"A new trial was ordered Thursday for a former BP engineer convicted of deleting text messages related to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."
Four Years After Deepwater Horizon Spill, Tar Balls Continue to Wash Up on Shore—"Researchers have analyzed oil-soaked sand patties near the Gulf of Mexico to track oil from the spill."

Pollution

Australia drops planned Aborigine nuclear waste site
NC AG Says Coal Ash Must Be Cleaned Up—"North Carolina's attorney general said Wednesday that Duke Energy's coal ash pits must be cleaned up to protect the state's waterways, but the costs shouldn't be passed along to consumers through higher utility rates."
China pollution arrests rise as Beijing pushes green agenda
Chinese official tries to blame industrial lead pollution on "pencil chewing" Salon
Smog-busting roof tiles could clean tons of pollution, study says

Water

Suit: Pure Life H2O complaint brought death threats—"A Philly who called Nestle's customer-service department to inquire about the fluoride content in her Nestle Pure Life water was "threatened with a bloody death" by the customer representative who took her call, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Common Pleas Court."
Indian officials order Coca-Cola plant to close for using too much water—"Mehdiganj plant at centre of protests accused of extracting too much groundwater and releasing pollutants above limits."
Venezuela Sacrifices Drinking Water to Pay Bondholders—"At a time when Venezuela's record $25 billion in arrears to importers has its citizens waiting hours in line to buy drinking water and crossing borders in search of medicine, President Nicolas Maduro is using the nation's dwindling supply of dollars to enrich bondholders."
Detroit Plan to Profit on Water Looks Half Empty—"Cities and counties that have long bought their water from Detroit's vast, aging system are teaming up to bypass the bankrupt city." The cut-offs are coming. NYT
Gwyneth Paltrow believes water has feelings: 'Negativity changes the structure of water'—Wait... what?

Ecology

WildLeaks attracts major wildlife crime leads in first three months—"WikiLeaks-style website yields 24 tip-offs including elephant poaching, tiger killing, illegal fishery and forest destruction."
First California condor spotted in San Mateo County since 1904
Tufted puffin seen on Atlantic coast for 1st time since 1830s
India: 200 crore trees to be planted along highways—1 crore is 10,000,000 so that makes it 2 billion trees. Project will employ jobless youth. Definitely a win-win.

Poached

Oceans

Forests

Saving Tasmania's forests—"The Australian government will attempt to delist part of Tasmania's forests from UNESCO's World Heritage List."
Dying to save the Amazonian rainforest—"An environmental campaigner is killed every week in Brazil. Jonathan Watts and Karina Vieira travel to Lábrea in the heart of the Amazon to meet the people risking their lives."
Brazil's recent fight against deforestation has been a huge success

Iraq'd, ISIS, Benghazi; Ukraine and Russia, China; Corruption; Bad Sports, Sterling; Church and State, Trojan Horse, Educamation, Extermists

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 12:12:00 +0000

Iraq'd

The Case for Doing Nothing in Iraq—"The same people who got us into this mess want America to 'do something.' Ignore them." Politico
Neocons promised Iraq would be Model of Democracy, Left US Holding the Bag
FLASHBACK: Remember When Paul Wolfowitz Said Not to Worry About Sectarian Violence in Iraq?—"The former Bush administration official is perhaps the worst person to give advice about the current crisis in Iraq—but that hasn't stopped him from speaking out."
Media Malpractice: Iraq War Blunderers Keep Getting Invited to Criticize Obama
Americans poorly served by media on Iraq, Benghazi
Cheneys reach the bottom of the barrel, drill deeper
Jay Carney Had The Perfect Response To Dick Cheney On Iraq
Sorry, George W. Bush, but this whole mess is still your fault—"GOP wants to pin Iraq on Barack Obama. Perhaps they need a simple refresher in the real history of the last decade." Salon
How the Top Iraqi Terrorist Was Helped by a Bush-Signed Agreement—"Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who heads the jihadists threatening Baghdad, was freed from prison under a deal W. struck with Iraq. "
Gunmen Attack North of Baghdad as Obama Weighs Options for Iraq
Iraq formally asks US to launch air strikes against rebels
5,000 Iranians volunteer to defend Iraq holy sites from ISIL militants
Saudis give apparent warning to Iran: don't meddle in Iraq
Jon Stewart blasts John McCain over Iraq foreign policy Salon
Glenn Beck admits: Liberals got Iraq right Politico

ISIS

ISIS storms across Iraq: What would a jihadist state look like?
The rules in ISIS' new state: Amputations for stealing and women to stay indoors.
The ISIS Extremists Causing Havoc in Iraq Are Getting Funds and Recruits From Southeast Asia
ISIS's Savage Strategy in Iraq—"The brutality currently on display, initiated by the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, is more than a carnival of revenge."
Someone Is Spilling ISIS's Secrets on Twitter

Benghazi

Obama Administration Won't Send Benghazi Suspect To Gitmo
Benghazi Suspect Said He Was Moved To Take Revenge For American-Made Video
Hiding in plain sight: Captured Benghazi suspect an enigma
Abu Khattala was an unlikely leader before Benghazi attacks — and a loner afterward WaPo
Harry Reid Slams 'Disgusting,' 'Pathetic' GOP Response To Benghazi Arrest
7 Republicans Who Said Obama Wasn't Trying Hard Enough to Bring the Benghazi Attacker to Justice
GOP's Benghazi humiliation: Capture of suspect upends deranged agenda—"With alleged ringleader now in custody, the Benghazi Select Committee just lost a prized grandstanding opportunity." Salon

Ukraine and Russia

Tanks and gas politics in eastern Ukraine: The crisis heats up again while the world is distracted by Iraq
Russia cuts natural gas supply to Ukraine
Ukraine Says Mysterious Pipeline Explosion Is Not So Mysterious
Ukraine's Poroshenko 'to order unilateral ceasefire'
Russia 'using words to destroy meaning', say writers—"Group of authors including two Nobel laureates condemns Russian Federation's 'waves of propaganda' against free expression."

China

Corruption

Bad Sports

The Brazil World Cup Could Be The Last True Sports Mega-Event
World Cup Produces Arrest of Mexican Drug Lord Going to Game
France cries foul at World Cup "spy drone"—"Quadrocopter buzzed French practice facilities near Sao Paulo, Brazil."
The Odds of a World Cup in Qatar in 2022 Are Falling
"Open Wide for Some Soccer!": The Simpsons' Brilliant Parody of the Beautiful Game

Sterling

Church and State

S. Korean PM Nominee: Japan's Occupation Was 'God's Will'—"A leaked video shows Park's prime minister nominee saying that Japan's occupation and Korea's division were 'God's will.'"
GOP lawmaker: I'm like Paul the Apostle because God told me to run for Congress
GOP State Legislator Asks Why America Can't Be More Like Saudi Arabia—"A Republican state legislator miffed about an Arkansas judge's ruling that struck down the state's same-sex marriage ban suggested on a conservative radio show that politicians should emulate Saudi Arabia by basing laws off Christian doctrine...."
Spain to Deport Pakistani Refugee for Criticizing Islam
New Facebook Group to Block 'Offensive' Posts Against Religious Figures—Say no to sectarian censorship. FSM forever!

Trojan Horse

UK PM 'concerned' over Muslim schools row—"Remarks come as education minister prepares to submit report on alleged Birmingham plot by 'Islamic extremists.'"
Dossier of Trojan horse evidence finally laid bare after leaks and allegations
Books 'promoting stoning' found at Olive Tree Primary School

Educamation

Christian homeschoolers accused of running 'concentration camp'
Allegations of racism surface in Israel's ultra-Orthodox schools
Tony Abbott spends millions to push God in schools—"The prime minister has allocated $226 million for more chaplains, all while slashing his country's education budget." Salon

Extremists

Nigerian army arrests 486 alleged Boko Haram members—"Boko Haram, which has killed more than 1,500 people in Nigeria this year, is also the group responsible for abducting more than 200 schoolgirls."
Saudi minister says beheading, lashings 'cannot be changed'
Mob torches Christian shops in Egypt ahead of trial
Alleged kidnappings, murder and a female Christ: The banned religious group that has China worried
Woman in Sudan sentenced to death for apostasy forced to give birth 'with her legs chained'
Muslim convert to Christianity sues Tulsa church—"The Tulsa County resident, identified only as John Doe in court papers for his own safety, alleges that because the news of his conversion appeared on the Internet, he was kidnapped on a trip to his native Syria by radical Muslims seeking to enforce Shariah law."
Provocative Islamic sign that says 'Do not walk your dog here! Muslims don't like dogs' investigated by police

Fat Tuesday; Veterans; Obamacare, Big Pharma; Dying, Think of the Children; Contagious, Food Insecurity; Sports, Heights; War on Terror, Iraq'd

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 13:40:00 +0000

Fat Tuesday

The 'Dr. Oz Effect': Senators Scold Mehmet Oz For Diet Scams
Female Hormones May Be Making Western Men Fat
900-Pound Woman Has Wall Removed To Leave Bedroom For First Time In 2 Years
Parents Arrested Over Obese 11-Year-Old Son—"Police have defended their actions saying it was rare to make such an arrest after questioning the couple over child cruelty."
Climb stairs, cut calories: Southeast Asia fights flab
Always Hungry? Here's Why NYT

Veterans

F.B.I. Begins Criminal Inquiry in V.A. Scandal—"The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said the bureau was looking into accusations that Department of Veterans Affairs officials had manipulated medical waiting lists." NYT
VA Official Arrested For Allegedly Taking $40K In Illegal Gifts
Phoenix VA gave out $10 mil in bonuses in last 3 years
Price of coming forward: 37 VA whistle-blowers claim retaliation
V.A. Punished Critics on Staff, Doctors Assert—"In response to employee whistle-blowers, the Department of Veterans Affairs has made clear over the years that it would not hesitate to retaliate, disciplining and even firing those who spoke up." NYT
VA chief: 100,000 vets were on fake wait lists
Audit: More than 57,000 await first VA appointment
Lack of funding is the real VA scandal—Insufficient to handle the load.
The VA Reform Legislation Is a "Trojan Horse" for Privatization—"It would do more harm than good."
ABC, NBC Too Busy With O.J. Simpson Police Chase Anniversary To Cover V.A. Scandal
Hospitals aren't the VA's only scandal—"The focus on VA hospitals health care for veterans obscures a separate but another scandal: a massive problem in another massive problem — a scandal of its own – the VA's disability-benefits system."
Bill Cassidy said Senate Democrats only moved to fund new VA clinics after scandal—Politifact says: False. In fact, Republicans are the ones who blocked the latest bill prior to the outbreak of the scandal this year.

Obamacare

Since Obamacare Passed 50 Months Ago, Healthcare Has Gained Almost 1 Million Jobs
More insurers joining ObamaCare
Obamacare cut Minnesota's uninsured rate by 40 percent
More Young Adults Get Inpatient Psychiatric Care After Health Law
Memo to GOP: The War over Big Government health care is over, and you lost WaPo
Once again, U.S. has most expensive, least effective health care system in survey WaPo
80,000 Cover Oregon customers must re-enroll through federal health insurance exchange
Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time
GOP's quiet Obamacare disaster: How this week's biggest story got overlooked—"While everyone obsessed over the Bergdahl flap, the real story was revealed by a nomination hearing and new data." Salon
Really, Dr. Carson? Obamacare Is Worse Than 9/11?—"The Republican presidential hopeful thinks that Obamacare has caused Americans more pain than jetliners crashing into the World Trade Center and two costly wars."

Big Pharma

Dying

Quebec passes 'dying with dignity' bill—Act respecting end-of-life care, Bill 52, allows terminally ill patients to choose death
Judge: Daughter Can Stop Food for Casey Kasem
'Millions denied end-of-life drugs'—"Lack of access to pain relief for dying patients is a 'public health emergency,' say experts."
'Right to Try' laws spur debate over dying patients' access to experimental drugs WaPo
'Scooby Doo' actor and radio legend Casey Kasem dies at 82—"The actor's decline was unfortunately marred by a public court battle between Kasem's four children and his second wife. Kasem's daughter Kerri made the decision earlier this month to take her father off a feeding tube, according to his written instructions."
Opinion: Let the dying choose how they exit

Think of the Children

Contagious

Food Insecurity

A superbug resistant to "last-resort" antibiotics has made its way into the food supply—"Researchers discovered carbapenem-resistant bacteria in raw squid for the first time." Salon
Quality Egg admits to selling tainted eggs, bribing official
80% of Meat Labels Could Be Meaningless, Exclusive Report Says
Costco keeps selling treats from China despite dog death—"Yorkshire terrier suffered and died from renal failure; other illnesses, deaths reported."
FDA May Destroy American Artisan Cheese Industry—"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an executive decree banning the centuries old practice of aging cheese on wooden boards. One bureaucrat within the FDA, without surveying all of the scientific literature, and without public commentary, has rattled hundreds of small businesses across the United States."
Supreme Court Hands Down Ruling in Major Pomegranate Juice Case—"The Pom Wonderful company, a purveyor of pomegranate juices, can sue Coca-Cola for marketing a competing 'Pomegranate Blueberry' juice that is 0.3 percent pomegranate juice and 0.2 percent blueberry juice, the Supreme Court ruled today."

Sports

Renaissance Man—"An interview with MMA commentator, stand-up comedian, wild game hunter, television host, and deep thinker Joe Rogan"
Why Do Football and Basketball Players Have to go to College?
Blast from the Past: The Creation Of Yao Ming—"From the beginning, the life of China's biggest sports star was shaped by two powerful, often competing forces: his mother and the Communist government."

Heights

War on Terror

Wikileaks: Obama Administration Secretly Worked To Prevent Prosecution of War Crimes By The Bush Administration
Manning: The Fog Machine of War—"I saw firsthand how the United States military rationed what the American public knew about its operations in Iraq." NYT
'Inventing terrorists': New study reveals FBI set up terrorism-related prosecutions
Afghan election: Taliban 'removed voters' fingers'
Pakistan Launches Large Ground Offensive Against Taliban
The Milk Carton Guy—"Bergdahl critics didn't howl when Bush freed prisoners." NYT
The Dumbest Thing You'll Read All Day About the Benghazi Suspect Capture
Heritage's ugly Benghazi panel—"Attendees taunted a woman in the room who wore Islamic head covering." WaPo
Pa. town rues sacrifice of its war dead
Just what are we getting for the $7 billion spent on the TSA?

Iraq'd

Images purport to show 'massacre' by militants
Tony Blair rejects 'bizarre' claims that invasion of Iraq caused the crisis—"'We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that 'we' caused this', argues former prime minister in website essay." Is this Catholic guilt trying to distance yourself from your fuck-up Blair?
Bush's toxic legacy in Iraq
Fox News Praises George W. Bush's Ability To Anticipate Problems In Iraq
Mission never accomplished: Iraq exposes fallacies of US foreign policy
The Iraq Mess: Place Blame Where It Is Deserved—"We have reached the moment that skeptics of the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq warned about all along."
Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, and Douglas Feith should be ignored: The neocons already destroyed Iraq once
No, Obama Didn't Lose Iraq—"What the president's critics get wrong." Politico
GOP Iraq Hypocrisy Hits Overdrive—"Obama is 'taking a nap' as ISIS takes over? It was Boehner's party that gave us this war, and it was Bush who negotiated the 'peace.' Is there anything they won't play politics with?"
ISIS: The Saudis helped create a monster they can't control in Iraq
Obama Critics Invent Absurd New Explanation For Iraq War
Qatari: U.S. intervention in Iraq would be seen as war on Sunni Arabs

Net Neutrality, Broadband and Telcos; Copyfight, Tech Life, Sharing, Patents; Facebook, Apple, Amazon.com; Gaming, Tetris@30, Nintendo, XBone, Mobile, Gamers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 12:15:00 +0000

Net Neutrality

Verizon Says It Wants to Kill Net Neutrality to Help Blind, Deaf, and Disabled People—"Lobbyists are telling Congress that the administration's plan to create internet fast lanes and slow lanes is important for Americans with disabilities."
Netflix got worse on Verizon even after Netflix agreed to pay Verizon
Why Verizon won't solve its Netflix problem as soon as Comcast—"Comcast spent months preparing network connections with Netflix—Verizon didn't."
Netflix: Verizon decided to 'leave three lanes closed during rush hour
Community Groups Were Duped Into Joining the Telecom Industry's Anti-Net-Neutrality Coalition
Mobile 'net neutrality' faces new day of reckoning at FCC
In Harm's Way: The Dangers of a World Without Net Neutrality
BitTorrent Shows You What The Internet Looks Like Without Net Neutrality; Suggests A Better Way
Join the FastLane™
John Oliver challenges FCC head Tom Wheeler to prove he's not a 'f*cking baby-eating dingo'

Broadband and Telcos

Copyfight

Obama Blasted for Lumping Critics of Trade Deal Secrecy with 'Conspiracy Theorists'
In win for libraries, court rules database of Google-scanned books is "fair use"
IKEA waits 8 years, then shuts down IKEAhackers site with trademark claim—"IKEA lawyers pushed site to go non-commercial or give up its domain name."
Crushing Blow for Copyright Trolls: Appeals Court Halts AF Holdings' Extortion Scheme

Tech Life

Selfies replace the autograph The Times
Theater chain bans Google Glass—"Alamo Drafthouse, with theaters nationwide, bars the eyewear amid piracy fears." Alamo has always had pro-movie-watching principles and do not suffer fools lightly.
The Pocket Watch Was the World's First Wearable Tech Game Changer

Sharing

Patents

Facebook

Apple

Amazon.com

Amazon Stops Taking Advance Orders for 'Lego' and Other Warner Videos—"Amazon, embroiled in a standoff with a book publisher, is using the same hardball techniques with new movies from Warner Home Video." NYT
Amazon adds lower movie prices to battle over books
Book Fight: Amazon vs. Publishers—Some letters to the editors.
How the Government Blew Its Chance to Rein in Amazon
The Colbert Report: Amazon vs. Hachette

Gaming

Why Game Developers Keep Getting Laid Off
Success! Atari E.T. games found in New Mexico dump—"Despite doubters, the first of what could be thousands or millions of buried E.T. game cartridges were discovered in the Alamogordo landfill where Atari buried them 31 years ago."
Sony making a Last of Us movie -- Who would you cast as Joel and Ellie?—From what little I've seen of the game, I'd like to see feature-length version based on the cut scenes.
The man who made the game in 'Her' is about to release a game you can play
Grammy-nominated composer speaks up against union blockage of Game recordings

Tetris@30

Nintendo

How we'd save Nintendo
The Rise of Nintendo: A Story in 8 Bits—"From 'Donkey Kong' to the NES — how a Japanese company took over the American living room. An exclusive first serial from 'Console Wars.'"
Nintendo announces plan to share ad revenue with YouTube streamers

XBone

Why the death of Microsoft's Xbox One vision means we all lose—"Commentary: By unbundling the Kinect sensor from Xbox One, Microsoft strips away the console's last differentiating element. The industry and gamers will suffer for it."
Xbox One doesn't mark the spot—"Kinect's decoupling hasn't been matched with enough exclusive fare to excite us."
Xbox One ad is switching on Microsoft consoles

Mobile

Gamers

Study: Gamers are more educated, more social than the people who make fun of them—"A new study commissioned by Twitch suggests gamers are more social and more successful than non-gamers." WaPo
Looking at Link Between Violent Video Games and Lack of Empathy NYT
Aggression from video games 'linked to incompetence'
Teamwork OP: Riot on making 'good' the easy choice—"That's a paradigm shift: trolls aren't trolls all the time, they're sometimes trolls because they're in a bad mood every now and again."
Boy Credits 'Grand Theft Auto' Game For His Life-Saving Reaction In Out Of Control Car
Online gamers witness home invasion; 1 suspect in custody, 1 on the loose

Happy Father's Day, Homme Videos; Paternity, Parenthood, Law and Disorder, Fake Rape, Sexual Assaults, Prison; Sperm, Penis, Circumcisions; Men, Teens; Male Fashion, Facial Hair

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 11:45:00 +0000

Happy Father's Day

The Rise of the Single Dad—"More than 2.6 million households in America are headed by a single father."
Growing number of dads home with the kids
Lev Grossman on his daughter, Lily: How being a father ruined my life and made me a better writer.
Terminally ill dad can't be there for daughter so gives her life's advice in one letter
"Modern Family's" modern fathers: The decade's best sitcom is also its most important Salon

Homme Videos

Paternity

Nebraska high court again rules father's consent necessary for adoption
Mother Can Exclude Father From Delivery Room, N.J. Judge holds
Sports radio host Mike Francesca celebrates bad fathers everywhere, calls paternity leave a "scam"—"Your wife doesn't need your help the first couple of days." Salon

Parenthood

Look-alike College Friends Discover They Are Sisters
Rogue sperm donor may have fathered hundreds —Vince Vaungh, is that you?
Judge rules Kan. sperm donor owes child support—Although "he signed a contract waiving his parental rights and responsibilities... the state contended the contract was moot because the parties didn't follow a 1994 Kansas law requiring a licensed physician to perform the artificial insemination when donors were involved."

Law and Disorder

Male sex abuse reporting soars
I was fired for denying lusty lady bosses: suit
Nearly Half of Young Men Say They’ve Had 'Unwanted' Sex—"New study says it's possible for women to rape men: 18% of surveyed guys say women used physical force to make them have sex against their will."
Chouteau man accused of shooting aunt claims he was tired of having sex with her in exchange for housing
No jail time for Wausau woman accused of holding 2 men hostage, demanding sex
Alexandra Rose Williams on good behaviour bond after in-flight bum grope
Florida mom who had sex with teen son's friend gets asylum in Canada
Judge questions why 'only the boy' is charged in underage sex case
17-year-old boy detained for 'exploiting' woman aged 21
Tucker Carlson: We Have To 'Pretend' Boys Are Statutory Rape Victims

Fake Rape

Angelina Jolie lookalike stabs man who refused sex—"Perijoc, who styles herself on Jolie's character in the movie 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,' was arrested on the scene and originally tried to claim she was the victim."
Trainee barrister cried rape 11 times to avoid taking exams, court told—"Rhiannon Brooker, trainee lawyer, is accused of falsely claiming boyfriend repeatedly raped and assaulted her in attempt to dodge Bar exams."
UA Student Arrested In False Sex Assault Report On Campus
Jail for woman who told husband she had been raped to hide her affair
Law graduate found guilty of falsely accusing former boyfriend of rape—A [Women Against Rape (War)] spokesperson said the prosecution of Brooker was 'completely disproportionate,' adding: 'Time and again we see police resources diverted from rape and put into prosecuting women instead.'" Don't you mean prosecuting liars?
Minnesota Supreme Court reinstates charges against Billings woman accused of false rape claims

Sexual Assaults

Retired Marine Reveals Secret Suffering of Male Military Rape Victims
The 'Boys' in the Bunkhouse—"For decades, dozens of men with intellectual disabilities lived in an old schoolhouse and worked in a turkey plant. No one knew just what they endured." NT
Boys 'rented out' for abuse at Salvation Army boys' home at Bexley in Sydney's south—Those who ran away got beaten up by police.
Nathaniel Morales of Covenant Life Church convicted of sexually abusing young boys
UK launches £500,000 fund to help male victims of rape and sexual abuse—"Minister says he wants to break silence on 'taboo' subject after crime survey estimates 72,000 men a year are victims."
Male rape in America: A new study reveals that men are sexually assaulted almost as often as women

Prison

Sex in men's prisons: 'The US system cultivates rape. If you treat people like animals, they behave like it'
Sentenced to Wait: Efforts to End Prison Rape Stall Again—"The Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed in Washington 2003. It still hasn't been fully implemented."
These 7 GOP Governors Are Refusing to Crack Down on Prison Rape. Now the Obama Administration Is Calling Them Out
Meet the Vigilante Prisoner Who Beats Up Jail Rapists

Sperm

Testicular time bomb: Older dads' mutant sperm
The 6 most bizarre types of sperm found in nature—"You thought that 17-million-year-old sperm was weird? Well, it's in some very strange company." Salon
Blast from the Past: Sperm-like cells created by scientists

Penis

Circumcisions

Men

The Tortured Rise of the All-American Bro—"The misogynist portrait of modern American masculinity may be a historical accident. Here's how to fix it."
Building a Bigger Action Hero—"A mere six-pack doesn't cut it in Hollywood anymore. Today's male stars need 5 percent body fat, massive pecs, and the much-coveted inguinal crease – regardless of what it takes to get there."
Why Are Handsome Men Such Jerks?

Teens

Male Fashion

The worst men's grooming trends of all time
Project Upgrade: Kevin Love—"We noticed Minnesota Timberwolves animal of a power forward Kevin Love has been looking a little shaggy lately. This season he's been playing the best ball of his career, so we called our go-to barber to give him a cut and a shave to match."
How Men Can Fight Sexism by Wearing Very Short Shorts
Why Are Guys Afraid to Wear Speedos?—"American men need to get over their Freudian fear of showing off their junk."

Facial Hair

Flag Day; Iraq'd; Politics, Cantor; Vote Machinations, Campaign Finance Deform; Immigration, Race and Racism; Economy; Workers and Wage Slaves, Occupational Hazards, Minimum Wage, On the Job; Homeless; Banks and Wall Street

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 14:20:00 +0000

Flag Day

Why Are Flags So Cheap? -- Red White and Screwed: How Wal-Mart is Killing the American Flag Business—"The American flag-making business is dying. But those cheap, Chinese-made stars and stripes? They're not to blame."
Pennsylvania Flag Desecration Case Heads to Court
'The Star-Spangled Banner' in a Minor Key Is More Dramatic Than Ever

Iraq'd

Politics

We Hate Each Other, We Really Hate Each Other—This is why you can't have nice things [WaPo], America
The 3 Things Republicans and Democrats Agree On—"Voters are more split along partisan lines than ever—but there's something like consensus on immigration, national security, and gay rights."
Conservatives Are So Conservative They Think the Congressional GOP Are Moderate Squishes
Rand Paul: Moderates aren't GOP's future Politico
Tea party candidates have lost five times as much as they've won WaPo
For tea party Republicans, House leadership hopes turn into disappointment—Democrats say, GOP leadership can't get worse. WaPo
The tea party in Congress: Talking loud, doing nothing WaPo
Seriously Out of Touch: GOP Uses Live Elephants As Party Props In Downtown Dallas

Cantor

Eric Cantor's Legacy Is One Of Economic Destruction—"From day one — literally, the night of President Obama's first inauguration — Cantor was leading the charge to not just oppose Obama, but to delegitimize him — denying him the conciliatory, bipartisan policy style he campaigned on, and turning even policy successes into the kind of grueling partisan battles that voters dislike."
Real lesson in Eric Cantor's loss: Beware conventional wisdom
Krugman: The Fix Isn't In—"The surprise primary defeat of Eric Cantor is the unraveling of an ideological movement."
The New Nihilism Threatens GOP's Growth—"Cantor's defeat signals deep problems for a party being pushed further to the right by the antigovernment wing."
Eric Cantor's Loss Was a Fluke, But It Still Reshapes 2014
Everybody Hates Eric Cantor: A Roundup
Blast from the Past: Bullet That Hit Eric Cantor's Office From Random Gunfire —He allegedly lied about being shot at, probably to garner sympathy and instill fear.

Vote Machinations

Campaign Finance Deform

Krugman: The Koch Cycle of Endless Cash—"The wealthiest Americans are using their fortunes to lobby Congress against any limits on their ability to buy elections." NYT
Unlimited Dark Campaign Money Is 'The American Way,' Says Terri Lynn Land
Billionaire's Campaign Contribution Among Biggest In Recent History—Griffin, well known for saying the very wealthy have an 'insufficient influence' in politics, is the richest man in Illinois...."
The Dark Money Machine That Beat Eric Cantor
Cuomo Has Raised Millions Through Loophole He Pledged to Close—"The governor has called for closing a gap in the state's campaign finance laws, but he's taken far more through the loophole than his predecessors, much of it from real estate developers."

Immigration

Race and Racism

White People Think One Black Person's Success Proves Racism Is Over
Inside The KKK's Plan For Expansion—"A group of Ku Klux Klan members says it is planning military style combat training for the first time in KKK history."
A Library of White-Supremacist Hand Gestures—"The Anti-Defamation League has published an online catalog of the symbols, flags, and slogans used by hate groups. Is this an educational tool or a portal for perverse curiosity?"
Ku Klux Klan hood-wearer to get $215,000 from Los Angeles—"Black resident wore KKK hood and T-shirt emblazoned with racial slur to protest city during 2011 parks commission meeting."
Ditch 'Old Hickory' and Put Martin Luther King on the $20 Bill—"The civil-rights leader helped America to realize its founding ideals as surely as any president, and ending the run of exclusively white faces on bank notes is long overdue."

Economy

Recession 'led to 10,000 suicides'
House GOP approves more tax breaks without paying for them
America's middle class: Poorer than you think
Then and now photos of Detroit reveal the real frontline of the Global Financial Crisis
Rich got 14.6% richer in 2013—"Number of Chinese millionaires jumps as Asia-Pacific region leads growth."

Workers and Wage Slaves

Why Newport restaurant has 'no tipping' policy—"Packhouse servers earn $10 per hour or 20 percent of their individual food sales per shift, whichever is larger – almost always the 20 percent. And servers have to meet certain goals – sales and service targets, for example – to get their 20 percent."
Waffle House denies NC waitress a $1,000 tip from 'angel'
La Porchetta owner who paid young workers in pizza fined $335k

Occupational Hazards

US: NY firm made workers pray, say 'I love you'—"A federal agency says a New York healthcare firm forced employees to join prayer circles, thank God for having jobs and say 'I love you' to co-workers and managers."
The Dangers for Women Who Negotiate—"Contrary to the advice of “Lean In,” for women, asserting a strong position in negotiations can backfire."
Noncompete Clauses Increasingly Pop Up in Array of Jobs—"Once largely limited to the technology and sales sectors, the agreements are entering a range of fields; even camp counselors and hairstylists are being required to sign." NYT
Facing massive strikes, mining corporations may soon use weaponized drones to control workers
Amazon warehouses under scrutiny after worker deaths
Revealed: Asian slave labour producing prawns for supermarkets in US, UK
India steel plant gas leak kills six in Bhilai

Minimum Wage

Obama Moves On Minimum Wage Without Congress
Vermont To Raise Minimum Wage To $10.50
Seattle: Business adds 'living wage surcharge' after minimum wage hike—"A locally-owned parking business is adding an unusual charge that customers are just starting to notice."
Industry Group Files Lawsuit Seeking To Kill Seattle's Minimum Wage, Claiming It Violates Their Free Speech
Why Are Rhode Island Democrats Blocking Minimum-Wage Increases?—"With friends like this, who needs Republicans."

On the Job

Why You Hate Work—"Excessive demands are leading to burnout everywhere." NYT
Google Has Started Hiring More People Who Didn't Go To College—Shades of Silicon Valley?
European court: Death doesn't end holiday benefits—"Dying for a holiday, but can't fit one in? Not to worry — a new European court ruling says vacation benefits are still valid after death." WaPo
The Onion: More Office Workers Switching To Fetal Position Desks
PVP Online: Workaholics

Homeless

Banks and Wall Street

NYC Settles With 14 Occupy Protesters for $583K
Cop who punched Occupy Wall Street protester gets tax-free disability pension—"Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona has been granted three-quarters tax free disability pension of roughly $120,000 a year for injuries suffered during his violent encounter with Felix Rivera-Pitre n the Financial District in October 2011."
How House Democrats Are Caving On Key Mortgage Rules
U.S. to Sue Citigroup Over Faulty Mortgage Bonds: Sources—"The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to sue Citigroup Inc on charges that the bank defrauded investors on billions of dollars worth of mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis, after talks to resolve the probe broke down, people familiar with the matter said on Friday." NYT
Judge considers dismissing U.S. fraud case against Bank of America—"DOJ may not have the evidence to try this as a fraud case."
Senator to SEC: Stop granting waivers to law-breaking companies
Australia: Government grabs $360 million from idle household bank accounts

War on Terror, Iraq'd, Middle East, Bergdahl; DTA: Vice City, Shootings, Guns; Police State, Warrantless Tracking, Militarization, M.I.C.; Your Rights Online, Journalism and Transparency; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 09:51:00 +0000

War on Terror

"Extremely Troubling" Documents Show How Obama Administration Embraced Foreign Detention of Terror Suspects—"Changes made to a key FBI interrogation manual highlight the bureau's increasing focus on questioning suspects—including Americans—in overseas prisons."
UK: Fully secret terror trial blocked by Court of Appeal
Cover-Up in Guantanamo: Torturing to Death, Hiding and Fabricating Evidence, and Calling it Suicide
American exceptionalism and American innocence: The misleading history and messages of the 9/11 Memorial Museum—"The 9/11 Memorial gets grief profoundly. But the museum cynically exploits tragedy, confuses history with ideology." Salon
TSA 'Abusively and Arbitrarily' Using Security Designation to Hide Information
7 years later, Blackwater guards go on trial—For killing 14 Iraqi civilians.

Iraq'd

Arms Windfall for Insurgents as Iraq City Falls—"Weapons provided by the United States to help Iraqi forces battle militants are now in the hands of the militants." NYT
ISIS just stole $425 million, Iraqi governor says, and became the 'world's richest terrorist group' WaPo
Extremists in Iraq now control the country's rivers
Iraq, Sunnis, and Shiites: The U.S. should never have withdrawn its troops in 2011
The Fall of Mosul and the False Promises of Modern History—"Ironically, by invading, occupying, weakening and looting Iraq, Bush and Cheney brought al-Qaeda into the country and so weakened it as to allow it actually to take and hold territory in our own time."
Iran Deploys Quds Forces To Support Iraqi Troops, Helps Retake Most Of Tikrit
Iraq conflict: Sistani issues Shia call to arms
Russia on Iraq: 'We told you so' WaPo
On Iraq, let's ignore those who got it all wrong WaPo
Jihadist Gains in Iraq Blindside American Spies—"First Crimea, now Iraq. Why does America's $50 billion intelligence community keep getting taken by surprise?" FP

Middle East

Nato forces kill five US troops in Afghanistan—"Five American soldiers have been killed accidentally by their own side in southern Afghanistan, US military sources have confirmed."
U.S. arms could create Syria 'warlords', rebel commander says
Taliban gunmen attack Karachi airport academy in second assault

Bergdahl

DTA: Vice City

Police Ambushed in Las Vegas; 5 Dead
Report: Vegas Shooters Planned To Take Over Courthouse, Execute Officials
How much does right-wing rhetoric contribute to right-wing terrorism? WaPo
Why not call the Las Vegas attack an act of domestic terrorism?—"'Terrorism' is an overused word that tends to obscure more than it reveals. But the reluctance to use it to describe the Las Vegas attackers is troubling."
Home-Grown, Right-Wing Terrorism: The Hate the GOP Refuses to See—"As the Las Vegas shootings show, right-wing extremism is real and on the rise. But for Republicans, better to focus on the Muslims."
If the Las Vegas Killers Were Muslims, We'd Call Them Terrorists—"But should we?"
Facebook Posts Reveal Vegas Shooter Thought Bundy Ranch Was 'Start Of Revolution'
Hatriot Politics Created the Las Vegas Killers—"Jerad and Amanda Miller, the Wingnuts whose killing spree left two policemen, a civilian, and themselves dead, were inspired by fright-wing radio hosts and militia movement groups."
Inside the Unraveling of Las Vegas Shooting Spree Suspect Jerad Miller—"In comments on the conspiracy-peddling website Infowars, he revealed the deeply personal roots of his hatred of government."
Did the Las Vegas Shooting Suspects Obtain Their Guns on Facebook?

Shootings

Guns after Elliot Rodger: Businesses like Chipotle and Sonic are our best hope for gun control
Sun News Network will not use New Brunswick killer's name—"We will not help give this killer his blaze of glory."
Jim Rubens says armed civilians drastically reduce casualties during mass shootings—Politifact says: False.
Obama: 'We Should Be Ashamed' Of Failure To Address Gun Violence
When did mass shootings become so frighteningly mundane in America?
Jon Stewart Rips The Public's Apathy Over Gun Violence

Guns

Fearing Rising Backlash, NRA Urges Gun Activists to Stand Down—"Carrying assault rifles into restaurants backfired—and now the gun lobby is firing at its own for acting 'downright weird.'" Update: That didn't last long, but the group stopped bringing guns to Target.
More Guns Equal More Deaths, Study Finds
Neighbor, 61, pulls gun on father teaching girl to ride bike
Alabama Gun Rights Supporter Brings Loaded Pistol To Polls
Suicide Is Leading Cause Of Gun Deaths, But Largely Absent In Debate On Gun Violence

Police State

Pentagon preparing for mass civil breakdown—"Social science is being militarised to develop 'operational tools' to target peaceful activists and protest movements."
How the FBI Tried to Block Martin Luther King's Commencement Speech—"The untold story of a government plot, a maverick college president, and the most important figure of the civil rights era."
"Guantánamo North" – NDAA Indefinite Detention Coming Soon to a Town Near You?

Warrantless Tracking

In major privacy ruling, court says police need warrant to track phone users' location
Is Chicago using cell tracking devices? One man tries to find out—"Lawyer: Chicago police 'has a history of doing some questionable surveillance.'"
Local cops in 15 US states confirmed to use cell tracking devices—"Stingray use is widespread: Baltimore, Chicago, and even Anchorage have them."
U.S. pushing local cops to stay mum on cellular surveillance

Militarization

Police officer safety or surplus zeal: Military equipment spurs debate
War Gear Flows to Police Departments—"Former tools of combat — M-16 rifles, grenade launchers, silencers and more — are ending up in the armories of local police departments, often with little public notice." NYT
Indiana Sheriff Justifies Military Surplus Purchases By Saying America 'Has Become A War Zone'
500 American Communities Are Now Armed With Military Tanks and Military Vehicles, and Have Reportedly Lied on Their Applications to Get Them for Free
The Battlefield War Games Series Embraces Police Militarization
London mayor offers to be blasted by water cannon—"London Mayor Boris Johnson offered on Wednesday to be sprayed by water cannon to demonstrate that they are safe, after buying the riot control equipment for the capital despite having no permission to use it."

M.I.C.

25 Year Old Fraudulent Pentagon Contracting Program Exposed—"Some of the biggest names in the defense and aerospace industry were allowed to circumvent federal law that required small business contracting goals be achieved."
Buying single-engine F-35s for Canada a 'serious mistake': report—"Michael Byers's One Dead Pilot report urges government to look at 2-engine options to replace CF-18s."
Why are countries still using the fake bomb detectors sold by a convicted British conman?—"Pakistani security personnel still guard Karachi's Jinnah airport using versions of Jim McCormick's phoney bomb detector. They are not alone in having a seemingly unshakeable belief in the ADE 651."

Your Rights Online

Canada: Cyberbullying law would let police 'remotely hack into computers, mobile devices, or cars'
Facebook Under Fire for Temporarily Blocking Pages in Pakistan—"Citing pressure from the Pakistani government, Facebook said it blocked left-wing political pages and a popular rock band, Laal, whose members spoke out against Taliban." NYT
Man arrested for parodying mayor on Twitter files civil rights lawsuit—"Police raid follows mayor being upset over the portrayal of him as drug abuser."
Canada: Top court rules search warrant needed to access Internet information
Google will flag search results erased due to "right to be forgotten"—"Wikipedia founder: 'Suppression of knowledge' is a 'terrible danger.'"

Journalism and Transparency

Why It Shouldn't Be Criminal to Report Government Secrets—"Prosecuting journalists imposes huge costs, yields scant benefits, and is mostly pointless in an era when anyone can reach a mass audience."
Sheriff calls Homeland Security on man requesting public records
ACLU: Secrecy is a Cancer on Our Democracy
Why we're suing the CIA—"After 10,000 requests, MuckRock launches its first lawsuit."
Clever piece of code exposes hidden changes to Supreme Court opinions

NSA Spying

Al Gore: Snowden Revealed Crimes 'Way More Serious' Than Any He Committed—"Former vice president says NSA overreach poses 'a threat to democracy.'"
Former NSA chief calls Snowden 'he who will not be named'
Inside Edward Snowden's Life as a Robot
Darrell Issa: James Clapper lied to Congress about NSA and should be fired WaPo
Former NSA director backs House bill to rein in spy agency
NSA: Our systems are so complex we can't stop them from deleting data wanted for lawsuit WaPo
ACLU: Too Big To Comply? NSA Says It's Too Large, Complex to Comply With Court Order
If The NSA's System Is Too Big To Comply With Court Orders, Court Should Require It To Change Its System
Eric Cantor's loss is bad news for the NSA—"The Tea Party candidate who just toppled the House Majority Leader is a skeptic of NSA spying."

Surveillance and Privacy

FBI embracing facial recognition to "find bad guys"—"Director wavered when asked if database would store drivers' license photos."
Microsoft fights U.S. search warrant for customer e-mails held in overseas server
Web giants encrypt their services—but leaks remain—"Ars surveys SSL use at major cloud providers and finds some holes."
To defeat encryption, feds deploy the subpoena—"Drop boxes, secured or not, are all the post-Snowden rage and ripe for subpoenas."
Post-Snowden China looks to 'hack-proof' quantum communications—"The holy grail of data encryption should, in theory, be safe from prying eyes." SCMP

Comply! Zero Tolerance, Bullying, Racism, School Shootings, Sexual Assaults, Law and Disorder, Juvenile Deliquence; Educamation, Teachers, That's Un-Possible! Parenting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 12:28:00 +0000

Comply!

Parents say middle school students suspended over FB post—"A group of Spalding County middle school students is facing suspension over a Facebook post about the school dress code."
Student's awesome non-apology for wearing leggings
North Carolina Senior Stripped of Diploma After He Strips at Graduation
Running Coach Fired For Running Boston Marathon—He went on his personal day, and the athletic director goes on a power trip.
Oakland High guard charged in abuse of student in wheelchair
Campus cop fires gun at teens he caught making out in car parked at OK school
Georgetown officer suspended 40 days after tripping incident
Dad Arrested For Picking Up Kids At School By Foot

Zero Tolerance

New Report on Zero Tolerance: Stop Expelling Kids for Ridiculous Nonsense
Dad: NJ threatens to take away son after pencil-twirling incident—"A simple pencil-twirling incident landed Ethan Chaplin in hot water with his school, which threatened to suspend him after a classmate claimed he was spinning the writing utensil like a gun."
School mum over dad's gun—Dad flashed his gun permit to the school principal during an argument "over a picture his son drew in art class of Gru, the main character in the movie 'Despicable Me,' 'shooting ping-pong balls at his minions,' which school officials thought was sexual in nature." School administration stupidty at work again.
Boy, 7, may be expelled after telling teacher he accidentally brought toy gun to school
Parent wants NEISD to reconsider sunscreen policy—"Girl, 10, not allowed to bring sunscreen on field trip due to 'toxic' nature."
When your high school gets you arrested for a science project—"Last year Kiera Wilmot was busted for simulating a volcano with toilet cleaner and foil. Her record still lists felony arrest."

Bullying

Was Rainier HS student suspended for reporting online bullying?
Maryland girl pleads 'responsible' for bullying boy with autism—"A 17-year-old Maryland girl accused of assaulting an autistic boy pleaded 'responsible' to two misdemeanor charges after her case was transferred from adult to juvenile court."
Torrence Collier: Westport parents insist town is not racist—"Parents in the tiny Newfoundland community of Westport say suggestions that their community is racist are wrong, with one saying that Torrence Collier, the 11-year-old black boy whose allegations of racially motivated bullying have made national headlines, is a bully himself."
CPS investigating allegations of anti-Semitic bullying
It's time to outlaw bullying

Racism

Mich. teacher suspended over blackface lesson plan—"A community is outraged after a Michigan public school teacher was removed from the classroom for showing a video of white entertainers in blackface." Updated: The teacher has been reinstated. The administrator should be kicked out.
UCI student council penalizes frat over themed party—"Critics say Phi Gamma Delta's annual Fiji Islander event is a slap because of how the nation was treated during colonial times."
Hylton officials file complaint about racism following soccer game

School Shootings

Sexual Assaults

Brown University Student Speaks Out on What It's Like to Be Accused of Rape—"In April, Daniel Kopin was publicly accused of sexually assaulting his classmate. For the first time, he tells his side of the story."
Judge Blocks Expulsion of Duke Student Accused of Sexual Misconduct WSJ
More college men are fighting back against sexual misconduct cases
Stanford won't expel student in sexual assault case
Stanford sexual-assault case: Did the university do enough to punish a student it found responsible for sexual misconduct?
Teacher charged with raping student flipped out over prom date
Dad hits teacher with baseball bat after 'inappropriate' texts surface with teen daughter

Law and Disorder

Juvenile Deliquence

Educamation

Obama Plans Steps to Ease Student Debt—"Borrowers' debt load is growing and retarding the ability to buy homes, start businesses or otherwise spend to spur the economy, economists say." NYT
Bill To Allow Refinancing Of Student Loans Dies In Senate
Cafeteria worker tosses child's lunch when he's 26 cents short
Public Schools Are Hurting More in the Recovery Than in the Recession
Half of college grads still relying on parents' money
How Medicaid lowers high school dropout rates and leads to more college grads WaPo

Teachers

Williamsburg students stage walkout to protest mistreatment of teachers
North Carolina: Judge rules revocation of teacher tenure, 25% contracts unconstitutional
Judge Strikes Down California Teacher Tenure—"A judge struck down tenure and other job protections for California's public school teachers as unconstitutional Tuesday, saying such laws harm students — especially poor and minority ones — by saddling them with bad teachers who are almost impossible to fire."

That's Un-Possible!

UNC's McCants: 'Just show up, play'—"Former North Carolina basketball star Rashad McCants told Outside the Lines that he could have been academically ineligible to play during the 2004-05 national championship season had he not been provided fraudulent academic assistance."
School cancels reading program rather than promote "hacker culture"—"Boing Boing editor responds, offers 200 free copies to the school's students."
This Made Us LOL—South Carolina takes a stand.

Parenting

The day I left my son in the car—"I made a split-second decision to run into the store. I had no idea it would consume the next years of my life." Salon
Stop helicopter-parenting other people's kids—"We've reached the point where parenting "mistakes" are being reported to the cops."
Hawaii Man Gets Probation for Making Kid Walk Mile—He was sentenced to probation, but he shouldn't have been charged in the first place.
Dad charged for forcing teen to carry landscape stone
Brooklyn pub bans kids after being swamped by families—"The Hot Bird in Clinton Hill posted a sign reading 'Children are not allowed,' after hip parents kept taking their babies to the bar."

World News, Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, UK and Scotland, China, Brazil 2014 and Qatar 2022, MH370; US Politics, Obamanation, Texas, War on Women, Immigrants; Vote Machinations, Campaign Finance Deform, Public-Private Partnerships

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 15:10:00 +0000

World News

Thai junta pushes 'happiness' project—"Critics say rulers also aim to stifle political dissent." Boston Globe
Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Icon Of Egypt's 2011 Revolt, Sentenced To 15 Years For Protesting
Anti-monarchy protests grip Madrid—Spanish lawmakers about to approve abdication.

Ukraine and Russia

Britain calls up Dad's Army of spies to watch Russia—"Military intelligence chiefs have been re-recruiting Cold War veterans and retired linguists because of a lack of Russian skills to deal with the Ukraine crisis."
After Ukraine, U.S. trains more special forces in eastern Europe
Gas row: Ukraine 'won't fall into Russian gas trap'
Europe Has Finally Found A Way To Make Russia Hurt Economically In Ukraine Crisis
EU raises 500 mn euros for Ukraine

Israel and Palestine

Pope says Israelis, Palestinians must seek peace 'undaunted in dialogue'
Annexation Plan Sparks Threat to Topple Israel Government—"sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strongest coalition partner threatened to bring down the government if it tries to annex West Bank settlements following the breakdown of Mideast peace talks."
Netanyahu Is Facing Heat From All Sides For His Handling Of Palestine Peace Talks

UK and Scotland

JK Rowling donates £1m to Scotland's anti-independence campaign
Obama says wants Scotland inside the UK, Britain inside the EU
Lego asks government to remove Scottish independence images—"Toy manufacturer says it is politically neutral and did not provide photos for press release encouraging Scots to stay in UK."

China

2nd China Army Unit Implicated in Online Spying NYT
Toronto man accused of spying, jailed in China—"A Toronto man living in China says he was wrongfully imprisoned after refusing to spy on Canada."
Vietnam airs video of Chinese ship sinking fishing boat in South China Sea—In the meantime, Chinese oil rigs are on the move.
Japan Slams China Over Close Encounter of Jets
Ancient Chinese maps debunk Beijing's sea claims, says Philippine judge SCMP
China reaches out to India amid tension with Japan, Vietnam
Hong Kong must accept Beijing's control, China's Communist Party warns—"Nearly a week after more than 100,000 protesters gathered in Hong Kong to remember the Tiananmen crackdown and call for universal suffrage, Beijing issues controversial white paper reminding the former colony it does not enjoy 'full autonomy.'" Hong Kong protests.

Brazil 2014 and Qatar 2022

Protests and social unrest threaten World Cup kickoff—Police resort to tear gassing protesters.
Court rules Sao Paulo subway strike 'illegal'—"Workers must pay increased daily fine if they continue action as strike threatens opening game of Brazil World Cup." The union called it off.
Fifa sponsor demands 'appropriate investigation'—"One of Fifa's main sponsors, Sony, calls for an investigation into the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar."
Adidas: Qatar 2022 Claims Damaging Sponsors
Report: Qatar paid $1.7m per vote
Sepp Blatter launches broadside against the 'racist' British media
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: FIFA and the World Cup

MH370

US Politics

Eric Cantor succumbs to tea party challenger Tuesday—"The House Republican leader succumbs to David Brat, a little-known conservative activist." What happened? WaPo
Eric Cantor and the tea party purge WaPo
Wendy Davis Caught On Camera Saying Republicans Dislike 'People Who Don't Look Like Them'
The Big Lobotomy—"How Republicans made Congress stupid."
Does Fox News Cause Ignorance, or Do Ignorant Viewers Prefer Fox News?—"A new study reveals the gap between the channel's fans and the rest of America."
Why I'm No Longer a Republican

Obamanation

Sen. Graham fights for Obama's impeachment—"Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., will fight for Obama's impeachment. Why--he's up for re-election."
Is Obama a Tyrant or a Weakling?—"His critics can't seem to decide." Politico
White House Aides: Bergdahl Criticism Is Proxy for GOP's Obama Hatred

Texas

Texas GOP splits between social conservatives, libertarians
Young Republicans Reject Current Texas GOP Platform—"Current and former leadership of the state's Young Republican chapters shared with Breitbart Texas their frustrations with the current Texas Republican platform, and ideas for how it should be fixed."
Chris Matthews rips Texas Republican platform: 'How wide is this infection of hatred?'

War on Women

Sarah Palin believes she is the only actual victim of the "war on women"—"Palin thinks President Obama 'fired the first shot' in the 'war on women' that she doesn't believe even exists." Salon
Republicans think touching Glamour magazine makes them female-friendly Salon
WaPo Editorial Page Goes Neanderthal For Second Time In A Week

Immigrants

Arizona Official Says Immigrant Kids in Good Care
Questions surround surge in migrant kids left at border
Obama vows urgent action as children make perilous illegal journey into U.S.
McCain: GOP must pass immigration to compete in 2016—"Without immigration reform, the former presidential candidate says, the Republican Party won't win in 2016."
Supreme Court rules against immigrants over visa eligibility
Woman Waits In Line For 21 Years To Immigrate Into US, Then Gets Turned Away For Being Too Old
Opinion: On Legal Immigration, Supreme Court Gets It Wrong

Vote Machinations

Texas Seen as "Kind of an Electoral Wasteland"
Judge Orders 3 Early Voting Days Restored in Ohio
Why Mississippi's voter ID law hurts the poor—"Mississippi's new voter-identification law suppresses those who cannot afford the cost of a photo ID, writes Robert Reich. How is Mississippi's effort to stop voter fraud is actually a step back?"
Voter Fraud Is Rare, but Myth Is Widespread—"Many people believe voter impersonation and other kinds of election fraud are much more widespread than they really are." NYT
Tea Party Candidate Creates Fake Organization, Endorses Herself In Ad
Sen. Cruz Formally Renounces Canadian Citizenship

Campaign Finance Deform

NC House lawmakers file resolution calling for constitutional convention to overturn Citizens United
Republican Congressman Demolishes The Supreme Court's Rationale For Killing Campaign Finance Laws
Don't fear the Koch brothers. Fear an election that caters only to billionaires—"Forget right or left. Dark money in politics means you'll never know which 'independent' candidate's views were on the market."

Public-Private Partnerships

Va. lawmaker to resign, paving way for jobs for self, daughter, according to associates—"Sen. Philip Puckett's resignation paves the way for Republicans to pass a budget without Medicaid." Was this straight-up bribery? WaPo
GOP Rep. Acknowledges That Members Expect Donations For Votes
Greenhouse—"A free browser extension for Chrome and Safari that exposes the role money plays in Congress. Displays on any web page detailed campaign contribution data for every Senator and Representative, including total amount received and breakdown by industry and by size of donation."

Box Office, Talking Pictures, Film History, Racism, Actors, Fun at the Movies, Superhero Flicks; Television; Miyazaki, Animation; Hermione and Ron, Books; Art, Music; Advertising

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 14:57:00 +0000

Box Office

Talking Pictures

The Hobbit: Dwarfed Edition (10-minute preview)—"This is the first two parts of a long-term project to edit all three Hobbit movies down to one movie, taking out all the stuff added for the movie and making it just a straight adaptation of The Hobbit."
I Went to the Oscars and Nobody Cared—"The world watched as my date grabbed my neck while falling on the red carpet. But backstage that night, I had a blast feeding Kerry Washington and sniffing Brad Pitt."
How to Do Visual Comedy

Film History

Racism

Actors

Wham! Bam! Thank You, Liam!—"Since Taken, Liam Neeson has morphed from much-admired actor to pulp-movie badass. As his body count rises, Neeson’s hulking presence and anchoring calm make him the surprise successor to another vengeful giant, John Wayne."
When Will Hollywood Give Paul Bettany the Role He Deserves?
How Captain America's Chris Evans Finally Got Tired of Being Famous
Adam Sandler confirms that his movies are just paid vacations
Kevin Costner Talks Mike Binder's BLACK AND WHITE, His Ambitious Plan to Make a Western Trilogy, THE EXPLORERS, MAN OF STEEL, and More

Fun at the Movies

Kevin Bacon cuts "Footloose": Recreates entire iconic dance sequence on Jimmy Fallon, 30 years later Salon
Doc Brown finally admits Funny or Die hoverboard video is fake—"In an apology titled, 'Funny Or Die is Sorry for Lying about Hoverboards,' actor Christopher Lloyd owns up to the ruse that went on a day too long."
Giant Transformers exhibit opens in Macau
Movie poster mash-ups—Here are some more.
This Is What Modern Movies Would Look Like With Classic Movie
Movie Title Break-up

Superhero Flicks

Television

How "Breaking Bad" and "House of Cards" killed the Oscars—"It's not that Hollywood can't make great movies -- but all the talent and energy is migrating to HBO and Netflix." Salon
Judd Apatow: Everything He's Done Is Revenge for Canceling 'Freaks and Geeks'
Maryland makes 'House of Cards' threat—"Maryland lawmakers threaten to seize the property of 'House of Cards' if the show leaves the state."
Frank Underwood invades Westeros in 'House of Thrones'
Medieval Land Fun-Time World

Miyazaki

Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki says the anime industry's problem is that it's full of anime fans
Miyazaki's haunting farewell: A dreamer who made warplanes—"A Japanese legend bids farewell with a subtle, meditative epic about war, guilt and art." Salon
Pixelated Ghibli

Animation

Hermione and Ron

Books

"Reading Rainbow" Is Trying to Raise $1 Million on Kickstarter to Bring the Show to the Web—They hit the goal in less than 12 hours and doubled it the next day.
Syracuse district to give 10 books to every elementary student for summer reading
What every writer needs to succeed—"Sure, practice and research are important. But there's something else that might matter even more: Luck." Salon
How Mark Twain became Mark Twain: The amazing story of the lectures that made him a superstar Salon
Feminism, Meet Fiction—"In an age where sexism is more subtle, novels tackle it best. A review of The Blazing World."
To Kill a Mockingbird and Mice and Men axed as Gove orders more Brit lit

Art

The Andy Warhol Museum announces newly discovered Amiga experiments
Lost Vincent van Gogh painting found in bank safe
Just don't drop it. Man finds egg worth $33.3 million
Cleaner throws out 'rubbish' Sala Murat artwork
Miami artist destroys $1 million Ai Weiwei vase in protest—"He told an officer that his act was a protest against the gallery's decision to only display international art."
Italy: Michelangelo's David at risk from weak ankles

Music

Elite Violinists Fail to Distinguish Legendary Violins From Modern Fiddles
Pono: only a man pays for music quality that he can't hear—"Neil Young's Pono: 192kHz 24-bit music player produces sound quality that is wasted on human hearing. So why pay the extra for it?"
How Earbuds Have Changed The Sound (And Business) Of Pop
Satire: David Guetta World Tour Cancelled After Losing USB Containing His Entire Set

Advertising

Copyfight; Net Neutrality, Broadband and Telcos; Privacy, NSA & GCHQ Spying; Ransomware; Patent Trolls; Syntax Error; Sharing Economy; The Unfriendly Skies; Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Tesla; GM

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 12:09:00 +0000

Copyfight

Internet users cannot be sued for browsing the web, ECJ rules—"After a five-year case, the European court of justice has ruled that copies of web pages made in the course of browsing the internet do not infringe copyright law."
YouTube's free speech problem—"YouTube users are finding that the site's policies are ripe for misuse."
Rightscorp: a business founded on threats of Internet disconnection
MPAA: Consumer Right to Resell Online Videos Would Kill Innovation
'Popcorn Time' Gives Users Anonymity With a Free Built-In VPN
Kim Dotcom offers £3m bounty in online piracy case—"Megaupload founder in bid to prove US authorities aided by New Zealand illegally targeted him at behest of Hollywood studios."

Net Neutrality

Broadband and Telcos

'A soup of misery': Over half of people say they'd abandon their cable company, if only they could WaPo
Broadband shouldn't be like cable TV. Why consumers should care about peering.
Hundreds of Cities Are Wired With Fiber—But Telecom Lobbying Keeps It Unused
Sonic.net CEO: Tiered Pricing 'Doesn't Make Sense'
Comcast charged $2,000 for alarm system that didn't work—for 7 years—"Cable company initially blamed customer, then grudgingly issued refund."
Why Does U.S. Cell Phone Service Stink?
As Internet behemoths rise, Chattanooga highlights a different path

Privacy

Europe to force Google, Facebook to abide by EU privacy rules
Users slam 'creepy' new feature that allows Facebook to listen in
Woman Sues After STD Diagnosis Posted on Facebook
Hiding from big data—"IT security: With the increasing commercial use of personal data and multiple security breaches, will people pay for privacy?" The Economist
Cory Doctorow: Those who have nothing to hide have a duty to protect the privacy of those who do

NSA & GCHQ Spying

Judge: NSA doesn't have to keep all data as part of key surveillance lawsuit—"Gov't counsel: Forcing us to save Section 702 data would harm national security."
James Clapper Admits What Everyone's Been Saying For Months: Snowden Didn't Take 1.7 Million Documents
If The NSA Can't Keep Call Records, Should Phone Companies Do It?
How the NSA plans to prevent another Snowden—"New rules put in place after Edward Snowden's revelations have unleashed tension among many employees in the NSA."
How the NSA can 'turn on' your phone remotely
Inside England's NSA—"The GCHQ is the largest secret ops center outside the United States."
Wiebe and Binney on Why they Blew the Whistle on the NSA—"Observing corruption, waste and fraud drove NSA whistleblowers Kirk Wiebe and Bill Binney to reveal government wrongdoing."
Stephen Fry attacks 'squalid' coalition for inaction on Snowden revelations—"Broadcaster denounces government response in speech at conference marking first anniversary of publication of NSA files."

Ransomware

We "will be paying no ransom," vows town hit by Cryptowall ransom malware—"Police computers in New Hampshire hamlet crippled by crypto-based ransomware."
Scary new Android malware holds your data hostage and demands a ransom
Ransomware On Apple's iCloud: How the Attack Worked

Patent Trolls

Syntax Error

Sharing Economy

Why Uber just might be worth it at $18 billion
Virginia DMV orders Lyft, Uber to stop operating
Cops In Miami Are Running A Sting To Catch Lyft Drivers
The Secret Life of an Obsessive Airbnb Host—"Determined to quit his tired government job, one D.C. office drone saves $25,000 by renting his apartment nightly and secretly sleeping on the office floor."

The Unfriendly Skies

$250,000 violin gets virtuosos bumped from airline flight, prompts viral video
Man admits pointing laser beam into cockpit of plane landing at PBIA
Dog Poo Forces Philly-Bound Flight to Make Emergency Landing
Southwest fined $200,000 for deceptive TV ads
Chinese kid draws on dad's passport, gets them stuck in South Korea
One Arrested After Hand Grenade Found in Los Angeles Airport
After Private Pilots Complain, Customs Rethinks Intercept Policy—"In recent years, more and more pilots have reported their aircraft stopped for warrantless searches by aggressive officers."

Planes

Trains

Automobiles

BMW sticks to its guns for future gearboxes—"Of course, with a manual you are slower, but it is more emotional; it now says 'I am a serious driver, I am a connoisseur'. So, we will continue [to offer a manual] even if only ten per cent of customers want it."
Laserbeam headlights? Not in the US—"Audi's new headlights can't find a place in '60s-era regulations."
California approves test of self-driving cars on public roads—"Regulations take effect mid-September; rules for the public may come this December."
Electric car travels over 1,100 miles without a recharge on a new aluminum-air battery
A new U.S. automaker with a $6800, 84 MPG, 3-wheeled "car" on the way

Tesla

World Oceans Day, Climate Change, Environment and Politics; Dinosaurs, Days Past, Discoveries, Destruction

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 10:54:00 +0000

World Oceans Day

Together, We Have the Power to Protect the Ocean
World's Most Polluted Seas Revealed
The Ocean Cleanup—A project to remove plastic pollution.
The end of fish—"The ones we like to eat are rapidly vanishing from the ocean." WaPo
US coastguard releases Chinese boat accused of illegal fishing in North Pacific—"Vessel caught with half a tonne of salmon and high-seas net widely condemned as highly destructive to marine life."

Climate Change

Between the Lines: It's not censorship by ignoring those denying climate change—"Does denying a seat at the journalistic table to climate change deniers amount to censorship and political correctness, in the sense that unpopular opinions are being silenced? As I am wont to tell
Obama Says He 'Absolutely' Wants To Go Off On Climate Deniers In Congress
7 reasons America will fail on climate change
Seas Rise, Florida GOP Leaders Balk At Climate Change
Billionaire seeks to help climate-change victims
John Podesta Says White House Is Ready To Spar Over Power Plant Rules
Climate change helps seas disturb Japanese war dead—"Rising sea levels have disturbed the skeletons of soldiers killed on the Marshall Islands during World War Two."

Environment and Politics

Jindal Signs Bill Blocking Lawsuits Against Oil and Gas Companies—"The Louisiana governor might have also effectively undercut ongoing claims against BP for the 2010 Gulf oil spill."
Safety Gaps In Chemical Storage—"Millions of pounds of chemicals and oil are stored and shipped along the river and we've found there are gaps in laws meant to keep you safe."
States balk at keeping oil-train info from public—"U.S. railroads forced to turn over details of their volatile crude oil shipments are asking states to sign agreements not to disclose the information. But some states are refusing, saying Thursday that the information shouldn't be kept from the public."
Alaska Village Sues Feds to Open Road in Refuge
How A 'Bunch Of Commies' Are Forcing The Fortune 500 To Stop Destroying Rain Forests, Overfishing, And Burning Fossil Fuels

Dinosaurs

Dinosaur discovery: "Pinocchio Rex," the weird cousin of the T-Rex—"Qianzhousaurus -- who was smaller and more agile than T-Rex -- walked the earth 66 million years ago." Salon
These Bones Might Be the Biggest Creature That Ever Walked the Earth
Early Life in Death Valley—"Evidence from Southwestern deserts suggests that oxygen-breathing organisms arose on land rather than in the seas."
Direct evidence of cooling after the dinosaur-killing asteroid impact
Dinosaur smuggler sentenced to three months in prison in New York—"Eric Prokopi, the 'one-man black market in fossils', given lenient sentence on felony counts for his cooperation with attorneys."

Days Past

Discoveries

Girl's skeleton found in cave sheds light on origins of first Americans—"DNA recovered from 12,000-year-old skeleton help to dispel claims that first Americans came from Australia, Asia or Europe."
Ancient hunting camp found beneath Lake Huron
Over 1,000 Mayan Codices Discovered in Yucatan Ruins
Siberian fisherman accidentally nets 4,000-year-old pagan god—"Nikolay Tarasov was about to throw the tiny figure back into the river, when he decided to take it to a local museum on a hunch. Experts say the pagan god was carved in the Bronze Age by the Okunev or Samus cultures of ancient Tisul."
Found after 500 years, the wreck of Christopher Columbus's flagship the Santa Maria
Dunragit road works unearth ancient treasure trove

Destruction

Aboriginal art, 60,000 years old, vandalized in Australia—"The art is in the Burrup Peninsula of Western Australia, a national park containing examples of ancient carved rock."
Vandals desecrate ancient standing stone at Hill of Tara in Co Meath
Vandals destroy prehistoric rock art in Libya's lawless Sahara
ISIS Destroys 3000 Year-old Assyrian Artifacts in Syria
Ballymaglaff Stone Age site 'lost because of planning error'
Illegal projects damage Effigy Mounds—"National Park Service officials approved $3 million in illegal construction projects over a decade that damaged one of the nation’s most sacred American Indian burial sites, but few have been punished for the bureaucratic failure, records show."
Treasure hunters destroy tomb