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Psyche's Links: 2013 : 15,066 Links

123113
Poll: United States Seen As Greatest Threat To World Peace In 2013 | FDL News Desk

Planet likely to warm by 4C by 2100, scientists warn | Environment | The Guardian - New climate model taking greater account of cloud changes indicates heating will be at higher end of expectations
Climate Change Worse Than We Thought, Likely To Be 'Catastrophic Rather Than Simply Dangerous'
? Climate Sensitivity and Clouds - YouTube

What The Hell Is Happening At Fukushima Reactor 3? | Crooks and Liars - We don't know exactly what's going on at Fukushima. But then, we're not supposed to. (evacuate the West Coast)

New Study Refines View of Sarin Attack in Syria - NYTimes.com - A new analysis of rockets linked to the nerve-agent attack on Damascus, Syria, in August has concluded that the rockets were most likely fired by multiple launchers and had a range of about three kilometers, according to the two authors of the analysis ... Dr. Postol said it undermined the Obama administration’s assertions about the rockets’ launch points. (Obama lied, of course)
One Palestinian child has been killed by Israel every 3 days for the past 13 years
Israel accused of torture in death of Palestinian detainee | Toronto Star - Death of 30-year-old Palestinian sparks clashes in West Bank; senior Palestinian official alleges the detainee was tortured.
IDF social media director criticized for 'Obama-style' blackface photo
5 Overlooked Activist Victories In 2013 | PopularResistance.Org

The Year America’s Post-9/11 Foreign Policy Failed

U.S. Frees Last of the Chinese Uighur Detainees From Guantánamo Bay - NYTimes.com
Uighur men held for 12 years leave Guantánamo Bay for Slovakia | World news | theguardian.com - Federal judge ordered that three be freed in 2008 • Pentagon praises 'humanitarian gesture' by Slovakia

Fewer deaths from drone strikes in 2013 after Obama policy change | World news | theguardian.com - Strikes kill up to 271 people, down from 2012 figure • President signalled policy shift in May speech (to focus on wedding parties)

King Snowden and the Fall of Wikileaks

President Obama claims the NSA has never abused its authority. That's false | Trevor Timm | Comment is free | theguardian.com - The facts that we know so far – from Fisa court documents to LOVEINT – show that the NSA has overstepped its powers (stupid, incompetent, compromised, or just a big liar?)

Twitter / trevortimm: Ex-NSA chief Michael Hayden - who remains unindicted for multiple felonies, tells Obama to reject the NSA review panel http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/12/30/gen-michael-hayden-urges-obama-reject-nsa-commission-recommendations/4249983/ …
Ex-NSA chief calls for Obama to reject recommendations - "And I think some of the right things with regard to the commission's recommendations are not the popular things. They may not poll real well right now. They'll poll damn well after the next attack, all right?"

Court Rules No Suspicion Needed for Laptop Searches at Border | American Civil Liberties Union - Decision Dismisses ACLU Lawsuit Challenging DHS Search Policy as Unconstitutional (Constitution-Free Zone within 100 miles of border = 66% of population)

Report: NSA team spies, hacks to gather intelligence on targets - CNN.com
The NSA Reportedly Has Total Access To The Apple iPhone - Forbes (iZombies)
The Most Important Surveillance Order We Know Almost Nothing About | American Civil Liberties Union - we still know very little about Executive Order 12,333, which governs the NSA's surveillance abroad — even when that surveillance sweeps up Americans' communications.
Jacob Appelbaum's must-watch 30C3 talk: why NSA spying affects you, no matter who you are - Boing Boing
Stratfor Monitors and Studies Social Movements | PopularResistance.Org
Sorry for letting them snoop? Dell apologizes for ‘inconvenience’ caused by NSA backdoor — RT USA - Dell told an irate customer on Monday that they “regret the inconvenience” caused by selling to the public for years a number of products that the intelligence community has been able to fully compromise in complete silence up until this week.
Glitter nail-polish is the best tamper-evident seal - Boing Boing

#FreedomAct | Cassandra Rules' Super Fun Blog (check how your rep is voting: MA loves spying, apparently)

Paul Krugman Trolls Bitcoin Fans. Guess What Happens Next.

Transvestites, ‘Erotic Massages,’ and Metadata: DEA’s Colombia Scandal Deepens - But less has been reported about the DEA agents and their extensive history of solicitation in Colombia, where prostitutes are known to be used as spies by drug cartels. Those details are contained in the inspector general report. (drug cops at work)

Mile-long train carrying crude oil derails, explodes in North Dakota - U.S. News
Scientists Find 7,300-Mile Mercury Contamination 'Bullseye' Around Canadian Tar Sands | ThinkProgress - Just one week after Al Jazeera discovered that regulatory responsibility for Alberta, Canada’s controversial tar sands would be handed over to a fossil-fuel funded corporation, federal scientists have found that the area’s viscous petroleum deposits are surrounded by a nearly 7,500-square-mile ring of mercury.

Only A Quarter Of Unemployed Americans Receiving Benefits After Congress Failed To Act: Data

The RNC Wrote A 100-Page Autopsy, But Apparently Nobody Read It
Texas Republicans Lose Three Major Donors In 2013

U.S. Population Grows At Slowest Rate Since The Great Depression - The U.S. population grew by just 0.72 percent in the year ended July 1, 2013
At 77 He Prepares Burgers Earning in Week His Former Hourly Wage - Bloomberg

NYPD’s Next-Gen “Smart Car” Loaded with High-Tech Surveillance Tools | LeakSource



A Colorado marijuana guide: 64 answers to commonly asked questions | The Cannabist

Quick Reads: 55 Books Under 200 Pages - Half Price Books Blog - HPB.com


123013
The Japanese Mob Is Hiring Homeless People to Clean Up Fukushima | Motherboard
Second Blast Hits Russia, Raising Olympic Fears - NYTimes.com
Volgograd in lockdown as bombings raise security concerns for Olympics | World news | The Guardian - Russian city under tight security after suicide bombing on trolleybus leaves 14 dead, one day after 17 people were killed at train station
Russia Trolley Attack: Bomb Blast Kills 14 In Same Town As Deadly Train Station Explosion (they are so going to blow-up the Olympics)
Afghanistan War Poll Shows Support Falling To Below Iraq, Vietnam Levels
The Afghan Puzzlement - Esquire - The National Intelligence Estimate also predicts that Afghanistan will quickly fall into chaos if Washington and Kabul fail to sign a security pact to keep an international military contingent there beyond 2014, the newspaper said.
Egypt arrests al-Jazeera journalists | World news | theguardian.com - Three journalists detained as government crackdown intensifies following move against Muslim Brotherhood
Chinese police shoot eight dead in alleged terrorist incident in Xinjiang | World news | theguardian.com - Latest outburst of unrest in troubled western province where Chinese authorities say Islamic militants are active

And the winner is… a look back at a dramatic 2013 in US politics | Michael Cohen | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Edward Snowden is America's person of the year if there ever was one, but don't count President Obama out yet
2013 in Review: As Governments in the Arab World Crack Down, Activists Fight Back | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Avedon Carol & Jay Ackroyd • Top Ten Stories of 2013 — Virtually Speaking - commentators Avedon Carol & Jay Ackroyd look back at 2013.

The FAA's Selection of Six Drone Test Sites Comes a Year Late | Motherboard

Is the NSA's Spying Constitutional? It Depends Which Judge You Ask - Andrew Cohen - The Atlantic - Two recent rulings draw diametrically opposed conclusions about the same set of facts.
The primary NSA issue isn't privacy, it's authority | Jeff Jarvis | Comment is free | theguardian.com - At heart, the NSA debate is about what the government is allowed to do with what it knows and who is overseeing it

NSA Will Keep Breaking Encryption, No Matter What a White House Panel Says - the agency's elite hacker group, known as Tailored Access Operations, infiltrated networks of European telecommunications companies and accessed and read emails that "were believed to be securely encrypted."
Opinion: Would NSA surveillance have stopped 9/11 plot? - CNN.com (no, but be afraid anyway)
Glenn Greenwald: The NSA Can "Literally Watch Every Keystroke You Make" | Democracy Now! (Amy Goodman with transcript) (every breath you take ...)
Glenn Greenwald: U.S., British Media Are 'Devoted Servants' To Government
NSA and Corporate Cooperation Revealed | The Dissenter
NSA's Personal Propagandist For CBS Officially Takes Counterterrorism Job Everyone Knew He Was Getting | Techdirt - . Now, apparently, they think it's "journalism" to shill for the surveillance state.

The edge of the abyss: exposing the NSA's all-seeing machine | The Verge - "I know the capability that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return." - Frank Church 1975
Three things I learned from the Snowden files » Pressthink

? 30c3: Sysadmins of the world, unite! (incomplete) - YouTube Sarah Harrison gets standing 0)
Julian Assange landmark speech (4) | WISE Up Action – A Solidarity Network for Manning and Assange - A Year At The Ecuadorian Embassy
? Backdoors, Government Hacking and The Next Crypto Wars [30c3] - YouTube - Speaker: Christopher Soghoian
? Through a PRISM, Darkly - Everything we know about NSA spying [30c3] - YouTube - Speaker: Kurt Opsahl

'To Protect and Infect: The militarization of the internet' | Privacy SOS
? 30c3: To Protect And Infect, Part 2 - YouTube
NSA malware turns your iPhone into a spy device, obliterating your privacy | Privacy SOS - he NSA internally referred to iPhone users as "zombies" who "pay for their own surveillance." (iStupids)
Unhackable System Claimed: Could It Be True? : Discovery News
NSA Reportedly Hacks Americans Via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn
Quantumtheory-Fähigkeiten des GCHQ: Dieser Präsentation zufolge haben die...
Glenn Greenwald Says NSA, GCHQ Dismayed They Don't Have Access To In-Flight Internet Communication | Techdirt - “The very idea that human beings can communicate for even a few moments without their ability to monitor is intolerable.”

State Dept. whistleblower has email hacked, deleted | New York Post
MI5 whistleblower launches defense fund for whistleblowers - Boing Boing
French telecom operator Orange threatens to sue NSA over cable tapping — RT News
The NSA's elite hackers can hijack your Wi-Fi from 8 miles away | The Verge
How NSA Hunts Metadata “Content” in Search of Your Digital Tracks | emptywheel

Google: Government request to remove content worrying - Times Of India - "one worrying trend has remained consistent: governments continue to ask us to remove political content".
The Daily Dot - The 10 NSA leaks you need to understand in 2013
Year of living dangerously – security breaches and scams of 2013 - Enterprise - | siliconrepublic.com - Ireland's Technology News Service

Republicans React to Benghazi News - NYTimes.com
Why the Tea Party Isn't Going Anywhere - Theda Skocpol - The Atlantic - The movement's structure means it can withstand low popularity and continue to exert a huge pull on the GOP.
Dave Weigel for Democracy Journal: The Tea Party and the 2016 Nomination
The GOP’s Insane Race Strategy by Ryan Cooper | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - Our results indicate that proposal and passage are highly partisan, strategic, and racialized affairs. These findings are consistent with a scenario in which the targeted demobilization of minority voters and African Americans is a central driver of recent legislative developments.

Public’s Views on Human Evolution | Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project
Republicans growing more skeptical about evolution - Over the last four years, the percentage of Democrats who said they believe in evolution has risen by three points, from 64 percent to 67 percent. But the percentage of Republicans who believe in the theory has dropped 11 points, from 54 percent to 43 percent. So while there was a 10-point gap in 2009, there is now a 24-point gap. (Republican war on reality +WOMEN are ten points less likely than men to believe in evo; is this their ladybrainz? wtf?)
Surprising Number Of Americans Still Don't Believe In Evolution (comments for both WaHuffPo pretty pro evolution but if the subject were Snowden ...)
Desayuda comments on That THEORY (A theory is the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another.)
bktwQ.png (scientific method and "theory")
I made a (sort of) comic to explain evidence/theory and figured some of you might find it useful. : skeptic

2013 Financial Reform Went Way Better Than Anyone Expected | New Republic - Everyone assumed the banks would beat financial reform. They didn't

US law enforcement deaths fall to 50-year low, report finds | World news | theguardian.com - In 2013, 111 officers died, with more widespread use of body armour and officers wearing seatbelts credited for decline - Forty-two percent of the officers killed in auto crashes the last couple of years were not wearing their seatbelts

Politico’s John Harris on Mike Allen story: ‘Totally unfair’; ‘innuendo’

Mormon-owned TV station: Don’t air gay kissing footage | The Desk - Viewer complaints prompted a Utah-based television station to stop airing news footage of same-sex couples kissing during wedding ceremonies.

Study suggests we're all susceptible to false memories | The Verge (watching Fox makes it worse)
Doctors Are Now Prescribing Books to Treat Depression | Smart News - “bibliotherapy” (and billing at top rates for your read time)

Cultural differences? Iowa State researchers examine media impact in multiple countries - News Service - Iowa State University - A cross-cultural study, led by Iowa State University researchers, shows prosocial media and video games positively influence behavior regardless of culture. The study, a first-of-its-kind, tested levels of empathy and helpfulness of thousands of children and adolescents in seven countries. (anti-social media doesn't work)

He Ain't Going Nowhere | Texas Monthly
‘The Wire’ creator David Simon is writing a Pogues musical | Death and Taxes
Ikea Heights: A soap opera filmed both entirely in an Ikea, and entirely without Ikea's permission. : videos

Zappos Does Away With Job Titles, Managers - Retailer turns to 'holacratic' model - the company was ditching job titles and management positions in favor of a system known as "Holacracy." The term, which comes from the Greek "holon," meaning a whole inside something bigger, is about "self-governing." It works by dividing the company into some 400 circles; inside a circle, a worker can have multiple jobs, Quartz reports.
11 Reasons You Should Quit Facebook In 2014

122913
US Navy Crew Sue TEPCO, Half Have Cancer From Fukushima | PopularResistance.Org - 70+ USS Ronald Reagan Crew Members, Half Suffering From Cancer, to Sue TEPCO For Fukushima Radiation Poisoning - responded to the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan for four days, many returned to the U.S. with thyroid cancer, Leukemia, brain tumors and more. (four days)
Steam coming from Fukushima Unit 3 reactor building — Observed multiple times this week (evacuate California)

Afghanistan gains will be lost quickly after drawdown, U.S. intelligence estimate warns - The Washington Post - A new American intelligence assessment on the Afghan war predicts that the gains the United States and its allies have made during the past three years are likely to have been significantly eroded by 2017, even if Washington leaves behind a few thousand troops and continues bankrolling the impoverished nation, according to officials familiar with the report. (all for nothing)
Russia Suicide Bombing: Attack On Train Station Kills At Least 14 In Volgograd
Qatar signs aid deal worth $1.25 billion for Morocco | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more. - , part of a five-year package of financial assistance extended by Gulf states to the North African kingdom to help it weather ‘Arab Spring’ protests.
As tension rise, Saudi Arabia to give Lebanese army $3 billion - World News (proxy war)
A proxy civil war is underway in Lebanon | The National - That war is part of a larger war between Saudi Arabia and Iran on Syrian territory, amid a conspicuous Shiite-Sunni polarisation across Lebanon +(The corruption scandal in Turkey revealed that corrupt ruling-party officials have been protected by the cloak of Islamism – as if the pretence of piety alone is sufficient to cover up blatant infractions of the law.)
How the IAEA Basically Helped Assassinate Iranian Nuclear Scientists | Global Research

Noam Chomsky, the Salon interview: Governments are power systems, trying to sustain power - Salon.com - : The polymath looks back with Salon on this year's NSA revelations and ahead to the earth's destruction

I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on | Heather Linebaugh | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Few of the politicians who so brazenly proclaim the benefits of drones have a real clue how it actually works (and doesn't) The UAV's in the Middle East are used as a weapon, not as protection, and as long as our public remains ignorant to this, this serious threat to the sanctity of human life – at home and abroad – will continue. (Obama's favorite toy)

Times Deals Another Blow to Benghazi Truthers -- Daily Intelligencer

United States to make a deal with Edward Snowden - Hackers News Bulletin - When interrogated if she supposed Mr Snowden might be impeached if he was wedged by the US, she told: “I assume what will occur actually is there’ll approach a contract that he doesn’t liberate to any further extent, but I actually don’t know.”
NSA: An Orwellian surveillance system gone global — RT Op-Edge

NSA, Not China, the Global BIOS Suicide Cyber-Bomber | emptywheel - Remember when, to fearmonger as part of 60 Minutes NSA propaganda, they warned of a Chinese attack on the US economy that, if launched, would have amounted to China acting as a suicide cyber-bomber? inserting backdoors into BIOS is (or was, back in 2008) the preferred method of NSA’s Access Network Technology group, which provides tools to access hardware and software. (we need constant surveillance to protect us from our government)
Michael Hayden 'Drifting' Toward Calling Edward Snowden A 'Traitor' - "I think there's an English word that describes selling American secrets to another government, and I do think it's treason," Hayden said on CBS' "Face the Nation." ("selling" and AP doesn't ask to whom?)

Obama's NSA Phone Spying Reforms Might Make Things Worse | Threat Level | Wired.com (what would you expect?)

? Alexa O'Brien - 30C3 CCC Hamburg - YouTube - Alexa O'Brien speaking at Chaos Computer Club 30th Convention on the secret Trial of Manning.
Videos of Global Uprisings conference now online | ROAR Magazine
Technology Research Firm Predicts Occupy On A Larger Scale | PopularResistance.Org
Whistleblowers: Information Warriors for the Modern Age

Intel officials' arrogance and the limits of democracy in a total surveillance state | Privacy SOS - There’s a lot to digest in Barton Gellman’s interview with Edward Snowden, published a few days before Christmas in 2013.

NSA has a 50-page catalog of exploits for software, hardware, and firmware - Boing Boing - A Snowden leak accompanying today's story on the NSA's Tailored Access Operations group (TAO) details the NSA's toolbox of exploits, developed by an NSA group called ANT (Advanced or Access Network Technology).
Inside TAO: The NSA's Shadow Network - Spiegel Online
NSA 'hacking unit' infiltrates computers around the world – report | World news | theguardian.com - NSA: Tailored Access Operations a 'unique national asset' • Former NSA chief calls Edward Snowden a 'traitor' (or "drifting" anyway)

The NSA Uses Windows Error Messages To Spy On Targets: Gothamist - the NSA's elite team of spies intercepts brand new computers on their way to customers and uses Windows error messages to exploit the weaknesses of their targets.
The NSA Actually Intercepted Packages to Put Backdoors in Electronics
E-ZPasses Get Read All Over New York (Not Just At Toll Booths) - Forbes (oh, NSA tracking devices in all the cars, great idea!)
Is NSA watching you as you wait for the train? On hacking into live video streams | Privacy SOS
SD Cards Aren’t As Secure As We Think | TechCrunch

IT firms lose billions after NSA scandal exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden - News - Gadgets & Tech - The Independent
From Gore to Greenwald: Establishment-Made Heroes | Global Research - By Sibel Edmonds (Sibel unhinged)

Obamacare Website Enrollment Tops 1 Million

alicublog: "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" Is About Obama, Isn't It? You Can Tell Me!

The Slow Motion Lynching of President Barack Obama

Officer who forced dozens of anal cavity searches for fun gets only 2 years in prison | Police State USA - MILWAUKEE, WI –A disgusting scandal involving police officers performing illegal anal cavity searches with the intent to “degrade and humiliate” dozens and dozens of victims has come to an apparent conclusion, which some feel amounts to little more than a slap on the wrists for those involved.

Red, blue states move in opposite directions in a new era of single-party control - The Washington Post (polarization)

It’s the Suburbs, Not the Kids » Balloon Juice
Don't Blame Social Media if Your Teen Is Unsocial. It's Your Fault | Wired Opinion | Wired.com
Diana Serra Cary's Books (birth of the child star)

Mariposa botnet 'mastermind' jailed in Slovenia - A hacker accused of masterminding one of the biggest ever botnets has been sentenced to just under 5 years in jail.

122813
Volgograd train station rocked by suicide bombing | World news | The Guardian
Riots erupt in Turkey over corruption scandal - Europe - Al Jazeera English - Politicians accuse Turkish government of "arrogance" as protests gain momentum in at least three cities.
Turkey's Erdogan rejects calls to resign - Europe - Al Jazeera English - Prime minister says he will not step down, as protests continue against a widening corruption scandal.
Justice Minister stopped police from carrying out prosecutor’s order - Today's Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news - Bekir Bozdag, the new justice minister, prevented the police from following prosecutor Muammer Akkas's order to detain 30 suspects, and the minister also leaked the names of suspects listed on investigation files, circles close the police have claimed. (Islamic justice)
Street Battles in Hamburg as Activists Defend Rosa Flora Squat | Earth First! Newswire (looks like Istanbul)
Indigenous reserve in the Brazilian Amazon attacked - An indigenous reserve in Brazil's Amazon region has been attacked in the latest incident of violence in the region. ("farmers and loggers")
500 local Chinese lawmakers resign in fraud scandal - The Times of India - More than 500 municipal lawmakers in one Chinese province have stood down following an electoral fraud scandal, as Beijing ramps up its sweeping anti-corruption crackdown, state media reported on Saturday.
12 Ridiculous Moments From Pussy Riot's First TV Interview
Pussy Riot Speaks: Still Critical Of Putin’s Rule | PopularResistance.Org
How Hollywood cloaked South Sudan in celebrity and fell for the 'big lie' | World news | The Observer - Film stars have been speaking from a flawed script about the newest nation. Daniel Howden points a finger at those who have failed to grasp the awful reality

Uruguay's marijuana growers come out into open | UTSanDiego.com (tourists!)
The lie that won’t die: “We don’t know enough about marijuana!” - Salon.com - Drug warriors insist we still don't know enough about its possible therapeutic properties. It's simply not true

The Hellfires of Christmas | emptywheel - How can the rash action and blind folly of repeated drone strikes lead to anything other than ruin for Obama and Brennan? Let us hope that they don’t drag the rest of us down with them. (Obama loves killing little children; not enough army men in his childhood)

How al-Qaeda Changed the Syrian War by Sarah Birke | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books - the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, or ISIS. Linked to al-Qaeda, the fearsome group has swept across northern Syria, imposing sharia law, detaining and even beheading Syrians who don’t conform to its purist vision of Islam, and waging war on rival militias.
Syria: Harrowing torture, summary killings in secret ISIS detention centres | Amnesty International - ISIS, which claims to apply strict Shari’a (Islamic law) in areas it controls, has ruthlessly flouted the rights of local people. In the 18-page briefing, Rule of fear: ISIS abuses in detention in northern Syria, Amnesty International identifies seven detention facilities that ISIS uses in al-Raqqa governorate and Aleppo. Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)
Amnesty International, ISIS and Islamic penal law « pietervanostaeyen

Swartz, Fracking, Manning, GMO: 13 most underreported news stories of 2013 — RT News

2013 was HUGE. And this is what the highlights look like in 4'15" | Greenpeace UK
2013 in Review: Encrypting the Web Takes A Huge Leap Forward | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Open WhisperSystems >> Blog >> TextSecure, Now With 10 Million More Users

Six reasons 2013 was an amazing year for drones - 4) Obama vowed to review his policy on drone strikes. (and gave himself a gold star and kept killing little brown children +really, WaPo)
The Pentagon's Vision for the Future of Military Drones | Motherboard - The Defense Department released its updated roadmap for the future of military drones this week, outlining the 25-year plan to "take the 'man' out of 'unmanned'" warfare, to quote one of the more colorful bullet points in the report.
Timeline Photos - Amerika War Criminal Nation | Facebook (nice Arabic-looking font, guys)

? Glenn Greenwald Keynote on 30c3 - YouTube
Greenwald: US, British Media Are Servants Of Security Apparatus | PopularResistance.Org - The NSA’s goal, Greenwald said, is to “ensure that all forms of human communication . . .are collected, monitored, stored and analyzed by that agency and by their allies.”

The most Kafkaesque paragraph from today’s NSA ruling - Re-read that a few times and let it sink in. Pauley is essentially saying that the targets of the order have no recourse to challenge the collection of their personal data because Congress never intended for targets to ever know that they were subject to this sort of spying. And that the fact that everyone knows about it now, thanks to Edward Snowden, doesn't change the targets' ability to challenge the legality of the order. (another one of Obama's signature rabbit-holes)
The Snowden Effect, Continued - Esquire - Let us congratulate U.S. District Judge William Pauley III. It cannot be easy issuing an important ruling while hiding under your bed ... "al-Qaeda plotted in a seventh-century milieu to use that technology against us. It was a bold jujitsu. And it succeeded because conventional intelligence gathering could not detect diffuse filaments connecting al-Qaeda."
Judge on NSA Case Cites 9/11 Report, But It Doesn’t Actually Support His Ruling - ProPublica - To this day, some details related to the incident and the NSA's eavesdropping have never been aired publicly. And some experts told us that even before 9/11 -- and before the creation of the metadata surveillance program -- the NSA did have the ability to track the origins of the phone calls, but simply failed to do so.

This Week, Mass Surveillance Wins - NYTimes.com - Has the National Security Agency’s mass collection of Americans’ phone records actually helped to prevent terrorist attacks? Judge William Pauley III of the Federal District Court in Manhattan came to the opposite conclusion. “The effectiveness of bulk telephony metadata collection cannot be seriously disputed,”
Judge Upholds N.S.A.’s Bulk Collection of Data on Calls - NYTimes.com - The decision on Friday “is the exact opposite of Judge Leon’s in every way, substantively and rhetorically,” said Orin S. Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University. “It’s matter and antimatter.”
Daily Kos: NY Times' Editorial: "This Week, Mass Surveillance Wins"

Judge Pauley’s Deliberate Blind Spot: Systematic Section 215 Abuses | emptywheel
Judge rules that NSA metadata surveillance is constitutional - Boing Boing - The ACLU disagreed: "[The decision] misinterprets the relevant statutes, understates the privacy implications of the government’s surveillance and misapplies a narrow and outdated precedent to read away core constitutional protections."
No doubt about NSA's impact? Yeah, there is. | MSNBC - Only four plots among the fifty-four the NSA claims to have helped foil have been made public. Pauley cited three of those four plots in arguing that the metadata program was effective, but journalists and legislators have picked already picked those examples apart. ProPublica published a piece in October by Justin Elliott and Theodoric Meyer noting that in each of the three cases Pauley mentions, there were serious doubts as to whether or not the NSA was exaggerating either the plot itself or the impact of the program. (secret laws and secret courts for secret attacks)
Federal Judge Rules NSA Spying IS Legal; Strange Ruling Cites Emotion, Sept 11. and Edward Snowden “Spawning Mischief” | Ben Swann Truth In Media

NSA drowning in overcollected data, can't do its job properly - Boing Boing
Interview with NSA Whistleblower Bill Binney: Afraid We’re Spreading Secret Government Around World | The Dissenter - he “planned program perjury policy right out of the Department of Justice.” (Obama was always a big liar)

Obama signs NDAA 2014, indefinite detention remains - Salon.com - The president called defense bill a "welcome step" toward closing Gitmo, but civil liberties issues abound (your civil liberties mean nothing to Obama; Ted Cruz is far to the left of him)
Activist Post: Bigger, Badder NDAA 2014 Quietly Passed the House and Senate – On the Way to Obama’s Desk

Coincidental Timing in NSA’s Telecom Switch Collection | emptywheel
Will Shifting Loyalties in the Middle East (and Fracking) Bring Truth about 9/11? | emptywheel - As the IBT reported yesterday, Congressman Walter Jones recently managed to get intelligence gatekeeper Mike Rogers to share the 28 redacted pages of the Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry into 9/11 that show Saudi involvement in the plot. (there are a lot of buried bodies)

Who Is Selling Target's Data? - NYTimes.com - We may be one step closer to knowing who was behind the security breach at Target that compromised 40 million customer records.
Who’s Selling Credit Cards from Target? — Krebs on Security
The top 10 most important hacks of 2013 - Hackers News Bulletin (they missed Target)

Environmental Protestor Jailed - I Bought The Law And The Law Won - Esquire - And that, my friends, is how you seriously abridge freedom of speech in this country. You take someone with an explicitly political message who commits a specifically political act and you throw him in jail for having committed it. (no speech for you in Obama's authoritarian corporate police-state)

Final Newtown police report yields chilling account of massacre | World news | theguardian.com

Academics Who Defend Wall St. Reap Reward - NYTimes.com (rigging the system)

Indiana GOP: While Banning Gay Relationships, Why Not Enact White Supremacy, Too? | Clay Farris Naff - " Together with criminal penalties already in the law, this would make Indiana the state most like Russia when it comes to gay oppression.
2013 Was The Year Bills To Criminalize Animal Cruelty Videos Failed : The Salt : NPR - Three states signed ag-gag bill into law in 2011 and 2012, setting new legal precedents. This year, a flurry of legislation — 15 ag-gag bills — was introduced in 11 states, but interestingly, not a single one passed. (Indeed, in some states, more than one measure was introduced: Tennessee and Arkansas each had two, while Indiana had three.)

Police Salaries and Pensions Push California City to Brink - NYTimes.com - Here, under the budget enacted last spring, about $7 million of the city’s $10.6 million annual payroll went to the 39-member police force.

A Bad Month For The Private Sector - The Invisible Hand Is All Thumbs - Esquire - I'm sure that, next year, FedEx and UPS will solve the mysteries that are winter and Christmas in time to demonstrate once again that the Private Sector does everything better than the public sector, or else will find a way that it is all the government's fault because freedom. And snow. (so let's kill the post office)

Louisiana parish claims incarcerated 14-year-old consented to be raped by a corrections officer - Salon.com - "These girls in the detention center are not Little Miss Muffin," remarked one official

My Life With the Thrill-Clit Cult - Block used to be an Apple Genius Bar troubleshooter. Now he works for OneTaste, a company devoted to a practice called "orgasmic meditation," or OM, as an orgasm coach. He wore a navy-blue t-shirt that read "Powered by Orgasm." ... This was the first night of OMXperience, a three-day August conference meant to "kick off the industry of orgasm," with speakers including Naomi Wolf, New York Times bestselling author Dr. Sara Gottfried, and Robbie Richman, the former "culture strategist" at Zappos. Roughly 1,400 people had paid between $200 and $400 to attend. (feminism's revenge: the industrialization of sex)
? TEDxSF - Nicole Daedone - Orgasm: The Cure for Hunger in the Western Woman - YouTube - She is the founder of OneTaste, a cutting-edge company bringing a new definition of orgasm to women. The practice at the heart of her work is called OM or Orgasmic Meditation. Nicole graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in semantics and gender communication. (someone call Ken Wilbur)
Who Is The Goddess? | The Goddess of Sacred Sex
OneTaste
Reese Jones , Singularity University - United States | Viadeo (apparently invented sound and twisted-pair wiring, but no Wikipedia article +Ray Kurzeil blessed the technology of orgasm, which is like the internets)
Come to Mama - Take a successful New York woman who's tanned, toned, waxed, blow-dried, and tastefully dressed. What does Mama Gena's School of Womanly Arts have to teach her? The art of pleasure. Getting it, not giving it. From ice cream to orgasms.
? My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Kooler Than Jesus - YouTube
? Clarence Carter- Strokin' - YouTube

A judge just gave an elementary lesson on copyright to the owners of Sherlock Holmes - Given that Holmes first appeared in print more than 125 years ago, you'd think that would be obvious. Not according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's estate, which argues that so long as 10 of his stories remain under copyright, all of the elements therein must also be under copyright, and anyone who uses Holmes, Watson or 221B Baker Street has to pay the estate a licensing fee. (Big Mickey will just pay Congress to extend their copyright another century)

UK.Gov passes Instagram Act: All your pics belong to everyone now • The Register - Everyone = Silicon Valley ad platforms tech companies - For the first time anywhere in the world, the Act will permit the widespread commercial exploitation of unidentified work (they orphan you and steal your babies)

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The 52 Most Breathtaking Photos From Around The World This Year
mgraunk comments on In 1988, the "L.A. Times Magazine" showed what it thought the year 2013 in Los Angeles would look.

The dark money in climate change - The thrust of the study, done by Dr. Robert J. Brulle, is that climate-denial money has largely been driven underground to dark-money sources. About 75 percent of the money backing climate-denial efforts is untraceable, primarily via conservative foundations and shadowy tax-exempt groups that obscure their funding sources.

Car bomb kills Mohamad Chatah, aide to ex-PM of Lebanon Saad Hariri | World news | theguardian.com - Chatah, outspoken critic of Hezbollah and Syrian regime, assassinated in attack near Hariri's compound in Beirut
Turkish army says it will not get involved in political corruption scandal | World news | theguardian.com - First military statement on crisis comes after Erdogan adviser blames foreign conspiracy for investigation
Turkish prosecutor removed from fraud probe - Europe - Al Jazeera English - Akkas says investigation targeting government and business circles has been blocked by police and chief prosecutor.
Okinawa marine base move signals strengthening of US-Japan ties | World news | theguardian.com - Long-sought deal to help seal wider shift in US policy • Agreement to close base comes after years of disputes ("disputes" = rapes)
Spirited Away - Why Shinzo Abe's visit to a Tokyo shrine could make his lousy relations with Beijing much worse.
UK anti-Muslim hate crime soars, police figures show | Society | theguardian.com - But the figures could be much higher as nearly half of the 43 forces in England and Wales did not reveal how many hate crimes had targeted Muslims. Some forces admitted they did not always record the faith of a religious hate-crime victim.
Over 30,000 Ethiopian maids ran away in Saudi Arabia - The Times of India - The overall number of domestic workers who left their sponsors high and dry was estimated at 58,715 based on a report prepared by the Ministry of Labour.
Ukraine Reporter's Suspected Attackers Accused Of Opposition Ties - Opposition journalist brutally beaten * Police say suspects linked to opposition members
Bomb Hits Montenegrin Newspaper Offices Known For Criticism Of Country's Leadership - Vijesti says blast is murder attempt on editor * Newspaper fiercely critical of government
Saudi Gazette - Why Saudi women languish in jail - Having a guardian’s consent is a prerequisite for the release of female prisoners who have completed their jail terms. Current prison and detention regulations forbid keeping anyone in jail after they have served their sentences but nearly 35 percent of female prisoners remain incarcerated after finishing their jail terms because they are rejected by their families
China doesn’t want our genetically modified corn | Grist - And we’re not talking about trifling amounts here. In November and December, the country rejected more than 500,000 tons of American corn that had been genetically modified by Syngenta to repel caterpillar pests.

Philadelphia priest to be released after appeals court reversal - CNN.com (he had no idea those pedophiles would pedo again)

The US Has Bombed at Least Eight Wedding Parties Since 2001 | The Nation - Why are so many of our "surgical" strikes going so terribly wrong? (Bride and Boom)

Glenn Greenwald: 'A Lot' More NSA Documents to Come | Threat Level | Wired.com - “There are a lot more stories to come, a lot more documents that will be covered,” Greenwald said. “It’s important that we understand what it is we’re publishing, so what we say about them is accurate.” He said he was working on a new story indicating that the NSA was “obsessed” by the idea that people could still use some Internet devices and mobile phones on airplanes without being recorded. “The very idea that human beings can communicate for even a few moments without their ability to monitor is intolerable.”
Lawrence O'Donnell: Edward Snowden's Christmas Message Was 'Wildly Overblown,' 'Provably Untrue' (left in the dust of history +you know who's "overblown")

Twitter / AdamSerwer: Latest NSA ruling takes a direct ... - shot at Snowden: Says "lawbreaking conduct by a government contractor" cannot "frustrate Congress' intent"
Twitter / YourAnonCentral: The tale of 2 Federal Judges. ... - Good guy judge says the NSA is violating the constitution while scumbag judge says its completely legal & ok.
Twitter / charlie_savage: Judge who dismissed call records ... - lawsuit also rejected my FOIA for a report that would've brought it to light in '12

Judge rules NSA surveillance program is legal | MSNBC - “The September 11th terrorist attacks revealed, in the starkest terms, just how dangerous and interconnected the world is,” wrote U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III on Friday. “While Americans depended on technology for the conveniences of modernity, al-Qaeda plotted in a seventh-century milieu to use that technology against us. It was a bold jujitsu. And it succeeded because conventional intelligence gathering could not detect diffuse filaments connecting al-Qaeda. Pauley’s ruling contradicts Leon’s at almost every turn–even on whether the metadata program is effective at preventing terrorism ... t “the effectiveness of bulk telephony metadata collection cannot be seriously disputed.” (because Clapper said so)
Judge Dismisses ACLU Lawsuit Against NSA, Citing Threat Of Terrorists' 'Bold Jujitsu'
NSA mass collection of phone data is legal, federal judge rules | World news | theguardian.com - Dragnet program deemed 'controversial but lawful' • Lawsuit brought by ACLU dismissed
Judge Grants Motion to Dismiss in NSA Surveillance Case | American Civil Liberties Union - ACLU Intends to Appeal Decision Allowing Telephone Tracking

Courthouse News Service - New York Times reporter Charlie Savage has lost his effort to expose the U.S. government's secret interpretation of a section of the Patriot Act, a federal judge ruled. (same scumbag judge)
ACLU v. Clapper - Order Granting Government's Motion to Dismiss and Denying ACLU Motion for Preliminary Injunction | American Civil Liberties Union
- Charlie Rose June 17, 2013 Guests: Barack Obama, Colum McCann (full text of Oliars lies)
No NSA Poster Child: The Real Story of 9/11 Hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar - Defense One - Unfortunately for Feinstein, a simple review of the facts she marshals to support her position reveals a total reliance on dubious intelligence community statements that have already been widely debunked. (which Pauley then recycled)

? How did the NSA hack our emails? - YouTube - Professor Edward Frenkel discusses the mathematics behind the NSA Surveillance controversy
Fight the spies, says Chaos Computer Club | Threat Level | Wired.com - “This year we found ourselves waking up from a bad dream, to a reality that was even worse,” said Tim Pritlove, one of the congress’s organizers. “We have woken to a reality that can no longer be ignored.”
Annus Horribilis 2013: NSA's Awful Year in Retrospect - Matthew Aid - 10 most shocking NSA revelations of 2013

The Switchboard: This app shows how easy it is to match your metadata to you
MetaPhone: The NSA’s Got Your Number « Web Policy - “You have my telephone number connecting with your telephone number,” explained President Obama in a PBS interview. “[T]here are no names . . . in that database.” (Oliar)

Bletchley's cybersecurity exhibit will not mention Edward Snowden; McAfee's sponsorship blamed - Boing Boing - Bletchley Park's historical exhibit on cybersecurity will not mention Edward Snowden -- possibly the most significant figure in the world of contemporary cybersecurity -- because its corporate sponsor, McAfee, has prohibited them from doing so ... "Either it's a history exhibition or it's not." (corps overrule your "history")

How You Should Have Spent $100 In 2013 (Hint: Bitcoin) - Forbes
xs
Military Sexual Assault Reports Jump By 50 Percent - The number of reported sexual assaults across the military shot up by more than 50 percent this year, an increase that defense officials say may suggest that victims are becoming more willing to come forward after a tumultuous year of scandals that shined a spotlight on the crimes and put pressure on the military to take aggressive action.

Chris Hayes: 'Knockout Game' Most Over-Covered Story Of 2013 Thanks To Fox News

Police Release Thousands Of Documents On Newtown Massacre

FBI Allowed Informants To Commit More Crimes In 2012 Than Year Before - The FBI allowed its informants to break the law at least 5,939 times last year, a 5 percent jump from 2011, according to a newly disclosed document. (giant criminal organization)
There's an alarming number of deaths in US jails | Cara Tabachnick | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Whether guilty or innocent, people in the criminal justice system are still people. Their cries for help should not go ignored

For ESPN, Millions to Remain in Connecticut - NYTimes.com - ESPN has received about $260 million in state tax breaks and credits over the past 12 years (corporate welfare queens)
New York Soon to Trail Florida in Population - NYTimes.com - New York, whose status as the most populous state has long been ceded, will soon fall behind Florida into fourth place, a long-anticipated drop that is rife with symbolism and that could carry potentially serious economic consequences in coming years.

Employers can still fire Colorado pot smokers for legal use - The Denver Post - State law gives employers full authority to impose any drug prohibitions they wish (alcohol, tobacco, prozac and salt up next)

NY increasing minimum wage to $8 an hour in 2014 | New York Post
Why Restaurants Won't Be Adding Gratuity Onto Large Group Checks: LAist - The new year is time for change, even in the service industry. Starting January 1, the IRS will classify automatic gratuities as service charges that are taxable as regular wages and subject to payroll tax withholding. That might sound like a bunch of arcane tax law mumbo jumbo, but what it means is that restaurants have to treat those tips like regular wages. (servers will have to wait 2 wks for their tips)

The Least Important Writers of 2013
An Open Letter to the Makers of The Wolf of Wall Street, and the Wolf Himself - the daughter of Tom Prousalis, a man the Washington Post described as "just some guy on trial for penny-stock fraud." (I had to change my name after my father stole my identity and then threatened to steal it again, but I'll get to that part later.) I was eighteen and a freshman in college when my father and his attorneys forced me to attend his trial at New York City's federal courthouse so that he "looked good" for the jury -- the consummate family man.

10 most irreplaceable ecosystems on Earth | GlobalPost - Scientists have ranked the world's ecosystems. These are the most irreplaceable. Protect them.
Good news: Researchers discover wonder drug which prevents AIDS | - “Gladstone has made two important discoveries, first by showing how the body’s own immune response to HIV causes CD4 T cell death via a pathway triggering inflammation, and secondly by identifying the host DNA sensor that detects the viral DNA and triggers this death response,”

Target Confirms Encrypted PIN Data Was Stolen In Data Breach - Earlier this week, a senior payment executive who asked to remain anonymous told Reuters that the hackers who compromised Target's system had taken PIN data. At the time Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder told Reuters, "We continue to have no reason to believe that PIN data, whether encrypted or unencrypted, was compromised."

Reddit,what's the dumbest rule you've had to follow? : AskReddit (authority loves stupid rules)
What should I absolutely NOT do when visiting your country? : AskReddit

Vagabond Scholar: Jon Swift Memorial Roundup 2013
Reflected hidden faces in photographs revealed in pupil | KurzweilAI - What do your Instagram and Facebook photos reveal?
The Daily Dot - Hackers may have just exposed entire database of Snapchat usernames - the GibSec team justified their hack by noting it had been four months since they last pointed out security issues and that “nothing had been really improved upon.” (ignoring security is our top priority)
The Daily Dot - Another study says what we already know: Teens are over Facebook - teens ages 16 to 18 had not only abandoned the social media giant in record numbers, but they view it as decidedly uncool. What is cool? Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp. “Mostly they feel embarrassed even to be associated with [Facebook],”
Facebook 'dead and buried to teens', research finds | Technology | theguardian.com - Comprehensive European research has found that teens are leaving the service in droves - and the biggest deterrent is their parents ... "Facebook is not just on the slide - it is basically dead and buried," "What appears to be the most seminal moment in a young person’s decision to leave Facebook was surely that dreaded day your mum sends you a friend request," wrote Miller.
Meet the Stats Master Making Sense of Wikipedia's Massive Data Trove | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com - Wikistats data made it clear that a core of Wikipedians does an outsize portion of the editing. As of October, 4.7 million people have contributed to the English language Wikipedia, but just over 26,000 people have made more than 1,000 edits. In fact, that relatively small group of people has made 73 percent of all edits
The Electronic Avenue: How Xerox Predicted the Internet With a Broadway Show Tune | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com - It grows and grows, bit by bit, Flows on an electronic avenue,
Why We Should All Fear The Righteous Online Mob - Although arguably less egregious than the message that got her fired, her employer didn’t seem to balk at her off-color comments until her post became news.

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This man wants you to know the truth about Fukushima | MoveOn.Org | Democracy In Action (Japan incapable of dealing with it)

Report: Israel Passes U.S. Military Technology to China | Defense Tech
PressTV - 9/11 attacks carried out by US, Israel and Saudi Arabia: Expert
? Israel Lobbyist suggests False Flag attack to start war with Iran - YouTube
A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm - It has since been criticized for advocating an aggressive new policy including the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, and the containment of Syria by engaging in proxy warfare and highlighting their possession of "weapons of mass destruction".
The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies Jerusalem, Washington - A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm
GGwwcn7.jpg - Zionist necons lied US into disasterous war because Israel
White man's burden Israel News | Haaretz - The war in Iraq was conceived by 25 neoconservative intellectuals, most of them Jewish, who are pushing President Bush to change the course of history. Two of them, journalists William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer, say it's possible. But another journalist, Thomas Friedman (not part of the group), is skeptical
IraqWarPart1-Timeline.pdf - 1 THE IRAQ WAR -- PART I: The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 326 Timeline
Israeli right-wing assault on leftist NGOs is classic 'stab in the back' gambit - West of Eden Israel News | Haaretz - Just like the German generals of World War I, the politicians most responsible for Israel’s international isolation are trying to scapegoat saboteurs at home.
Does your rabbi own an iPhone? If so, your wedding doesn’t count - Routine Emergencies Israel News | Haaretz - Prominent rabbi reportedly declares marriages and divorces witnessed by those who have Internet access invalid. (the internets are not kosher)

U.S. Sends Arms to Aid Iraq Fight With Extremists - NYTimes.com - WASHINGTON — The United States is quietly rushing dozens of Hellfire missiles and low-tech surveillance drones to Iraq to help government forces combat an explosion of violence by a Qaeda-backed insurgency that is gaining territory in both western Iraq and neighboring Syria. (that worked out really well)
Will graft scandal stick to Erdogan, the Teflon Turk? - World Israel News | Haaretz - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has run Turkey for a decade without interference, but a bribery scandal may have clouded his presidential chances in 2014.
Syria inks oil, gas exploration deal with Russian firm: AFP
Cameron's internet filter goes far beyond porn - and that was always the plan - Through secretive negotiations with ISPs, the coalition has divided the internet into 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' categories and cut people off from huge swathes of it at the stroke of a key.

Appeals Court: Bagram Detainees ‘Beyond the Reach’ of Constitution -- News from Antiwar.com - President Can Do Whatever He Wants With Captives Henderson cited administration claims that troops at Bagram “are actively engaged in a war with a determined enemy” as an argument that the constitution doesn’t apply to the captives therein. (that would be Karzai)
Internet privacy as important as human rights, says UN's Navi Pillay | World news | The Guardian - Navi Pillay compares uproar over mass surveillance to response that helped defeat apartheid during Today programme

? Nuclear Explosions. Trinity and Beyond. Full HD. - YouTube

Millions of Dogecoin stolen in Christmas hack | The Verge

Spy wars: Americans need to know more than Snowden has revealed - latimes.com - We've been here before, in the 1960s and '70s, when spy agencies flagrantly violated civil rights in the name of national security. - It is past time for another Church Committee. Congress should promptly conduct hearings and demand to know not only what the NSA is collecting but how its customer agencies are using it: (rogue deep-state worse than ever)
If not the NSA, who should store the phone data? - The Washington Post (out-source it to Israel and Target)
Glenn Greenwald: I Defend Edward Snowden 'Like People On MSNBC Defend President Obama'
Building on the Snowden effect » Nieman Journalism Lab - The Snowden revelations are a classic example of journalistic critical mass. The journalists covering them have used the documents to identify and amplify an issue of such importance and scope that it doesn’t flame up and out in the manner of most stories. Rather, this one has gained weight in the public sphere as time goes on, in what Jay Rosen aptly calls the “Snowden Effect.” (CPP, actually)

Author Of Torture Memo Says Judges Are Too Out Of Touch To Determine If NSA Violated The 4th Amendment | Techdirt - John Yoo, who famously wrote the legal rationale for allowing the US government to torture people, has already defended the NSA's activities, arguing that it takes too long for the NSA to obey the Constitution, so it shouldn't have to. from the well-that's-insane dept
Hotels' Privacy Rights Backed by Appeals Court - WSJ.com - A Los Angeles ordinance requiring hotels to turn over guest records to police without a warrant violates the Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled.
Hotels Don’t Have to Hand Over Guest Records, Appeals Court Says - Law Blog - WSJ - “A lot of the hotel owners in the L.A. area are being subject to warrantless searches under this ordinance,” said Frank Weiser, a lawyer for L.A. motel owners Naranjibhai and Ramilaben Patel, who filed the lawsuit. “I assume that will stop now.”

What Surveillance Valley knows about you | PandoDaily - “In 2012, the data broker industry generated 150 billion in revenue that’s twice the size of the entire intelligence budget of the United States government—all generated by the effort to detail and sell information about our private lives.”
Target Denies That PIN Data Stolen During Huge Security Breach - ABC News
Source: Target hackers stole bank's encrypted PIN - Hackers News Bulletin - , the Target spokesperson said “no unencrypted PIN data was accessed” and there was no evidence that PIN data has been “compromised.” She confirmed that some “encrypted data” has been stolen, but declined to say if that included any encrypted PINs. (yes, that made no sense)
AT&T Texas County Phone System Hacked | Cyberwarzone - Getting a bill that’s larger than expected can result in a sinking feeling. For Bell County, that sinking feeling was caused by a phone bill about $27,000 higher than usual.

Tom Tomorrow Spin cartoon from 1994 predicted Patriot Act, NSA surveillance.

Predictions for Journalism 2014 » Collections » Nieman Journalism Lab » Pushing to the Future of Journalism
The best and worst media errors and corrections in 2013 | Poynter. (#1: Benghazi!)

The GOP's History of Sexist Hillary-Bashing - The Daily Beast - Desperate to stop a second Clinton presidency in 2016, it’s a sure bet many in the GOP will reprise the ugly attacks they used on her 22 years ago. (yeah, 22 years)

The Defeat-Resistant Tea Party by Ed Kilgore | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly
Why the Tea Party Isn't Going Anywhere - Theda Skocpol - The Atlantic - The movement's structure means it can withstand low popularity and continue to exert a huge pull on the GOP ... overwhelmingly older, white, conservative-minded men and women who fear that “their country” is about to be lost to mass immigration and new extensions of taxpayer-funded social programs (like the Affordable Care Act) for low- and moderate-income working-aged people, many of whom are black or brown.
CNN Poll: GOP has edge in early midterm indicator – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs (Obama's >image< is now "loser")

Scott Walker makes Wisconsin No. 1 — in jobless claims (they always destroy the economy)
From fast food strikes to Wal-Mart: 2013 and the year in labor - Salon.com - 2013 was a year of unexpected vulnerability and vitality — and the year fast food and Wal-Mart campaigns diverged

Chris Christie Officials Messed With Bridge Traffic Despite Being Warned About Congestion Problems (vindictive fucker)

E.R. Costs for Mentally Ill Soar, and Hospitals Seek Better Way - NYTimes.com - Nationally, more than 6.4 million visits to emergency rooms in 2010, or about 5 percent of total visits, involved patients whose primary diagnosis was a mental health condition or substance abuse. That is up 28 percent from just four years earlier, according to the latest figures available from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, Md.

JHQ_Study_Supports_Eliminating_Restrictions_on_Hospital_Visiting_Hours_-_FINAL.pdf - Study Supports Eliminating Restrictions on Hospital Visiting Hours
The Battle We Didn't Choose - my wife's fight with breast cancer

In a Car-Culture Clash, It’s the Los Angeles Police vs. Pedestrians - NYTimes.com - Adam Bialik, a bartender, stepped off the curb on his way to work at the Ritz-Carlton a few blinks after the crossing signal began its red “Don’t Walk” countdown, he was met by a waiting police officer on the other side of the street and issued a ticket for $197. (next: a license to walk)

ISU Researcher Dr. Dong-Pyou Han Resigns For Faking AIDS Research Worth Millions - A researcher at Iowa State University resigned after being investigated for falsifying AIDS research funded by millions in federal grants.

The trouble with TED talks - In the cult of TED, everything is awesome and inspirational, and ideas aren’t supposed to be challenged, says Martin Robbins.

The Daily Dot - Hulu faces privacy lawsuit for sharing too much of your information with Facebook
Music publishers claim to own "Silent Night" & ripoff indie Youtube singer; ContentID helps them do it - Boing Boing - despite having been composed in 1818 and being firmly in the public domain. Once their claims had been laid, all the money his video generated was diverted to them.
2013 in Review: The Next Great Copyright Act? | Electronic Frontier Foundation - We've been saying for years that copyright law is broken. 2013 saw the beginning of what could be a meaningful effort to fix it – if Internet users pay attention and stay involved.

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Santa's 'flying' reindeer story traced back to magic mushrooms | MNN - Mother Nature Network - Shamans in the Siberian and Arctic regions used to give dried Amanita muscaria mushroom as gifts on the winter solstice.
Pitch Perfect Satire: NSA Intercepted Children's Letters To Santa | Techdirt - The documents describe an operation known as MILK COOKIES, based out of Fort Meade and run in conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service. COOKIES is the interception of the letters while MILK feeds them through a complex series of algorithms to spot any hidden messages.
Christian activists show their love by covering Chicago atheist display and berating onlookers | The Raw Story - He said the display could be upsetting to families with children who expect to encounter a Christmas tree or Nativity scene, but not atheist symbols that criticize their religious beliefs.

Bottlenose dolphins off US coast hit by measles-like virus | Environment | theguardian.com - Death toll exceeds 1,000 and morbillivirus epidemic shows no signs of abating

US drone strike kills three in northwest Pakistan - Yahoo News (a little Christmas present from Obama)
Drone Survival Guide (how to escape Obama's killer drones)

Turkish Prime Minister Reshuffles Cabinet Amidst Corruption Scandal And Resignations - ANKARA/ISTANBUL, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan reshuffled his cabinet on Wednesday after three members quit over a corruption scandal that has posed an unprecedented challenge to his 11-year rule.
Turkey Will Either Lose Erdogan or Democracy - Bloomberg
U.S. embassy in Afghanistan hit - Associated Press - POLITICO.com - Two rounds struck the sprawling embassy compound but it was not immediately clear which part of the complex, and a U.S. Embassy official said the incident was under investigation.
UNRWA condemns Israel's 'Christmas Eve demolitions' in the West Bank | Maan News Agency - The United Nations Palestine refugee agency on Wednesday condemned Israel's latest demolitions of Palestinian Bedouin homes in the West Bank, which UNRWA said displaced 68 people.
Israel Settlement Construction Likely To Be Announced Next Week, Says Official
Jang Song-thaek's Aides Executed With Antiaircraft Machine Guns: Report
Egypt's Government Declares Muslim Brotherhood A Terrorist Group
Turkish Political Crisis Deepens As Three Cabinet Ministers Quit; Prime Minister Erdogan Urged To Resign | Zero Hedge
The Best Story Yet About The UK's Online Porn Filters - Forbes - The opt-in filters also deny access to the Parliament and Government websites and the sites of politicians, including Claire Perry, the MP who has campaigned prominently for the introduction of filters.
Uruguay Marijuana Law Signed By President Jose Mujica

Alternative Christmas Message - 4oD - Channel 4 - Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden broadcasts Channel 4's alternative Christmas Day message | World news | theguardian.com - "A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They'll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves an unrecorded, unanalysed thought. And that's a problem because privacy matters; privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be." (Obama has destroyed your private self)
In a message broadcast on British television, Edward J. Snowden, the former American security contractor, urged an end to mass surveillance, arguing that the electronic monitoring he has exposed surpasses anything imagined by George Orwell in “1984,” a dystopian vision of an all-knowing state : worldnews
trot-trot comments on In a message broadcast on British television, Edward J. Snowden, the former American security contractor, urged an end to mass surveillance, arguing that the electronic monitoring he has exposed surpasses anything imagined by George Orwell in “1984,” a dystopian vision of an all-knowing state
A Christmas Message From Edward Snowden

Canada’s intelligence service asked foreign agencies to spy on Canadians — RT News (eh?)

? Anonymous ..... a look back at 2013 .... EXPECT US 2014 - YouTube
The Syrian Electronic Army Is at It Again - NYTimes.com
Activist Post: Military Exercises in Cyberspace; Anonymous attack comes from unidentified direction - NATO Cyber Defense Center in Tallinn features a fusion of modern technology with outdated cold war ideology
Pro-Assad malware targets Syria activists | ZDNet - A high-stakes and brutal form of cyberwarfare is being waged, on Facebook and elsewhere, by those in the service of the Syrian government against those in opposition.

Prestigious speaker Mikko Hypponen cancels RSA talk to protest NSA deal | Ars Technica - Will other speakers follow in wake of a report that the NSA paid RSA $10 million?

U.S. Court Rejects BP Bid to Require Proof of Gulf Oil Spill Losses - NYTimes.com (what oil spill?)



Appeals Court Refuses To Halt Utah Marriages For Same-Sex Couples - A Christmas Eve order from the 10th Circuit. Update: State officials say they will ask the Supreme Court to step in.

Hack list No. 1: Mike Allen - Salon.com - Our annual list is here! This time, we channeled each hack's unique voice -- and let them "write" their own entries
Hack List No. 10: Malcolm Gladwell - Salon.com
Raw Story’s top 10 villains of 2013 | The Raw Story
Top Ten Things Fox Decided Will Lead To The "Wussification of America" In 2013 | Research | Media Matters for America

Judge sentences man who beat girlfriend to write ‘boys do not hit girls’ 5,000 times | The Raw Story - Yesterday, the Montana judge who only sentenced a teacher who raped one of his 14-year-old students to 30 days in jail because the teenage victim was “older than her chronological age” and “in control,” ordered a man convicted of abusing his girlfriend to write “boys do not hit girls” 5,000 times.
Alabama Judge Once Again Sentences Rapist To Probation Without Prison Time | ThinkProgress

Leonard Peltier’s Christmas Message: Disappointments Do Not Just Come on Christmas | Native News Online - Peltier is serving a life sentence in the U.S. Penitentiary in Coleman, Florida. He was accused of the 1975 murders of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was convicted in 1977.

Nursing Scholar Sheds Light on Bullying in Academia | Rutgers University-Camden - In the study, Beitz notes that in the most common cases of bullying, academic administrators are targeting faculty, but in some cases, faculty are bullying other faculty members or their administrative superiors.

In the shadow of my mother’s suicide - Salon.com - My mom, Anne Sexton, killed herself at 45, and I swore I'd never do the same. Then, at 44, my world fell apart

Shock Therapy Can 'Erase' Bad Memories, Brain Researchers Show (or, your whole brain)
Has someone in your social circle ever been revealed as unscrupulous (addicted, sociopathic, etc.)? Did you honestly get a sense that something was "off" about them? : AskReddit

Researchers report security flaw in Samsung's Galaxy S4 | Security & Privacy - CNET News - An Israeli security team says a vulnerability in Samsung's Knox security platform enables malicious software to track e-mails and record data communications.
How to Use Reddit | A Beginner's Guide | Digital Trends
Anonymous' 'Operation Payback' Twitter Account SUSPENDED

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Thyroid Cancers Surge Among Fukushima Youths | Zero Hedge

Pussy Riot Member: Forced Daily Gynecological Exams In Russian Jail - A musician from the Russian protest group Pussy Riot told The Guardian that her imprisonment included nearly three weeks of forced daily gynecological exams ... women in Russian prisons, including Alyokhina, had been subjected to the treatment. (meanwhile, in New Mexico ...)

South Sudan: three mass graves discovered, UN says | World news | theguardian.com - Graves discovered at two different sites, while senior official said emerging civil war's death toll had run 'into the thousands'
Israel launches Gaza airstrikes for worker killing
Netanyahu 'to demand release of spy in return for peace talks concessions' | World news | theguardian.com - Israeli PM will demand release of Jonathan Pollard, convicted of spying for Israel against US in 1987, reports say (any excuse will do)
Palestinian girl 'dead' as Israel sends jets, tanks in retaliatory Gaza op — RT News
Greeks protest after 150 Syrian refugees disappear from northern village | World news | The Guardian - Activists say group was probably forced back into Turkey by police as part of campaign of enforced deportation
Egypt police HQ explosion: spokesman blames Muslim Brotherhood | World news | The Guardian - Spokesman for Egypt's cabinet reportedly blames group for bomb in Mansoura which has killed at least 14 people
Typhoon Haiyan and the Philippine Military | The Diplomat - The disaster may affect the modernization of the military, with disaster relief favored over external defense.
Kim Jong-un: North Korean leader 'was very drunk' when ordering executions - Asia - World - The Independent (the whole leadership is drunk all the time)

The Daily Dot - Maybe we shouldn't have given copyright trolls the names of 30,000 RedTube users, says court - Good news for the tens of thousands of Germans who were seemingly sued for streaming free porn on RedTube.

Hullabaloo - The oath of allegiance is not an oath of secrecy. That is an oath to the Constitution. That is the oath that I kept that Keith Alexander and James Clapper did not.

Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished - The Washington Post - During more than 14 hours of interviews, the first he has conducted in person since arriving here in June, Snowden did not part the curtains or step outside. (Obama's assassins lurking everywhere +At the NSA, he said, “there are people in the office who joke about, ‘We put warheads on foreheads.’ Twitter doesn’t put warheads on foreheads.”)

Snowden: 'I am still working for the NSA ... to improve it' • The Register - 'Mission accomplished', leaker tells Washington Post
“I didn’t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself.” - Edward Snowden after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished : news
Edward Snowden: 'Mission's Already Accomplished... I Already Won' - Asked about the Snowden interview, White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said: "Mr. Snowden faces felony charges here in the United States and should be returned to the U.S. as soon as possible, where he will be afforded due process and all the protections of our criminal justice system."
Snowden will help Germany investigate NSA spying if granted asylum – report — RT News
Edward Snowden to broadcast Channel 4's alternative Christmas Day message | World news | theguardian.com - NSA whistleblower records message from Russia, filmed by Laura Poitras, warning of the dangers of a loss of privacy

The War on Terror's Jedi Mind Trick - Julian Sanchez - The Atlantic - National-security officials insist new violations of privacy are essential for keeping Americans safe from terror—but there's no evidence the programs have stopped any attacks.
Congress Gives NSA-Controlled US Cyber Command More Resources | Techdirt - from the keep-feeding-the-beast dept
RSA issues non-denying denial of NSA deal to favor flawed crypto code | Ars Technica - Nothing in response denies RSA got $10 million to make Dual EC_DRBG default. (weasels)
Non-denying denial? RSA aims to distance itself from NSA scandal — RT USA

Reuters Investigates - Unaccountable: The Pentagon's bad bookkeeping - Why the Pentagon’s many campaigns to clean up its accounts are failing (because it's a criminal enterprise)

Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke | | Rolling Stone - If you've ever been arrested on a drug charge, if you've ever spent even a day in jail for having a stem of marijuana in your pocket or "drug paraphernalia" in your gym bag, Assistant Attorney General and longtime Bill Clinton pal Lanny Breuer has a message for you: Bite me.

The 13 Most Important Charts of 2013 | Economic Policy Institute
Now the Kochs Are Coming After Your Solar Panels | Alternet - The right-wing corporate consortium ALEC is trying to undermine the solar industry.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court strikes down juvenile life without parole | ACLU of Massachusetts

The Battle Within the Democratic Party - Molly Ball - The Atlantic - A schism between moderates and liberals over economic inequality is the first front in defining a post-Obama platform.
Upstart Groups Challenge Rove for G.O.P. Cash - NYTimes.com (the battle within the Repubican Party for money)

Demand for food stamps soars as cuts sink in and shelves empty | World news | The Guardian - More working Americans are lining up at emergency food banks and going hungry, as cuts to those programmes take effect (you've been Republifucked)

Erick Erickson’s persecution narrative: How right-wing Christian pundits avoid accountability - Salon.com - The defense of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson sadly epitomizes a technique aimed at protecting a kind of cruelty
New Battles in the War on Liberal Christians
Matheson's Exit Likely to Result in GOP Pickup - NationalJournal.com - Meanwhile, Matheson's retirement continues the decline of two overlapping Democratic groups: Blue Dogs and Democrats who opposed Nancy Pelosi's bid to continue leading their caucus after the electoral shellacking of 2010. There are just 15 Blue Dog Democrats in the House now, down from 26 in the previous Congress and 54 in the Congress before that. Meanwhile, 19 Democrats publicly opposed Pelosi for speaker on the House floor in January 2011, and Matheson will become the 11th to leave the House at the end of his term.
2009, Blue Dogs and 218 » Balloon Juice - During the 111th Congress, the Democrats had a maximum of 40 spare votes to lose before legislation would fail if we assume that there would be no Republican votes for anything more adventurous than renaming post offices ... The Blue Dog caucus was always larger than the margin of failure. (they fucked up health care and now they are ambassordors to China +comments are now very anti-boomer)

The Empire Strikes Back: How Wall Street Has Turned Housing Into a Dangerous Get-Rich-Quick Scheme - Again - Blackstone released history’s first rated bond backed by securitized rental payments

Teen Dies After Being Shot - Police say he shot and killed his 14 year old step daughter after he mistook her for burglar.
Drug court judge Gisele Pollack enters rehab after court meltdown | Mail Online - Judge Gisele Pollack spoke in a slurred voice before ending a court session abruptly after an hour and a half (no irony here)

Book bannings on the rise in US schools, says anti-censorship group | Books | theguardian.com - The Kids' Right to Read Project investigated 49 book bannings or removals from school shelves in 29 states this year ... To date in 2013, KRRP investigated 49 book bannings or removals from shelves in 29 states, a 53% increase in activity from last year (liberty not to read)

7 Nokia Lumia photography communities you should join today - Nokia Conversations

United States Army using unlicensed Windows 7 in its Qatar Army base, shocking but true ~ Techworm - The self proclaimed world beholder of copy rights and advocate of strong anti piracy in the world is it self using pirated operating system. Yes, the United States Army Base which was using a pirated logistics software has agreed to a out of court settlement for $50 million. What is more astonishing is that the computers which ran this pirated software are still being run on a unlicensed Windows 7 operating system.

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Explosion At Egypt's Daqahliya Police Station Injures Dozens
Pussy Riot are free, but the beast lives on | Dazed Digital - Anastasiia Fedorova on the regime that deigns to free those it should never have locked up
China to tighten control of universities' journalism schools - ???? - The Chinese Communist Party has decided to become directly involved in the management of the country's top journalism schools and strengthen the administration of those universities, it was learned Sunday from university and media sources.
UK's new national firewall: O2's "parental control" list blocks Slashdot, EFF, and Boing Boing (it was always about controlling your opinion)
American Sentenced to a Year in United Arab Emirates Jail for Parody Video

Exposed: The CIA's Clandestine Operations in Colombia | Common Dreams - Washington Post investigation exposes 'multibillion dollar black budget' underlying CIA role in targeted killings, surveillance, torture (Obama loves all those things)
Torture Whisleblower John Kiriakou Needs Your Help | PopularResistance.Org - John Kiriakou remains the only person from the Bush Administration era to have been incarcerated, or even tried, over issues related to torture. His crime? Blowing the whistle on it. (see above)

International: Ripe for rebellion? | The Economist - Where protest is likeliest to break out (US is "low risk")

If Snowden Returned to US For Trial, All Whistleblower Evidence Would Likely Be Inadmissible | Freedom of the Press Foundation (Obama's ultimate catch-22: Espionage Act prevents using leaked evidence of criminal wrong-doings as evidence)
Snowden Effect In Court - The Snowden Effect, Continued - Esquire - he government continues to assert -- through James Clapper who, at this point, doesn't have enough credibility to throw to a cat, as Sean O'Faolain would have said -- that it knows best, and that everything it is doing is proper and constitutional, although (alas) our all-too human and curiously error-prone heroes can't prove how proper and constitutional everything is because freedom, that's why.

U.N. votes to protect online privacy; Edward Snowden leaks credited - latimes.com
White House Tries to Prevent Judge From Ruling on Surveillance Efforts - NYTimes.com - telling a court that recent disclosures about National Security Agency spying were not enough to undermine its claim that litigating the case would jeopardize state secrets. (Obama ties himself in knots; claims Snowden didn't tell America Obama was spying on them so, he can keep spying and secret courts and Snowden is still a traitor)
James Clapper Claims Publicly Acknowledged Details Are State Secrets While Boasting of Transparency | emptywheel
NSA Panel Member Recommends Increased Data Collection - NationalJournal.com - Former CIA chief says controversial "bulk" collection of data should be expanded to include email, and could prevent the next 9/11. (Bush not going golfing would have prevented the first one)
Twitter / ggreenwald: The key to the WH panel: its ... - stated purpose was to re-establish public confidence in NSA - NOT reform it

The Daily Dot - White House review panelist: NSA should track every American email - Those familiar with the faces on Obama's five-member NSA review panel probably wouldn't be surprised with who made the recommendation: Michael Morell, former director of the CIA.
Rep. Mike Rogers Goes On National TV To Lie About NSA Programs And Snowden | Techdirt - from the aren't-journalists-supposed-to-call-out-these-things? dept (poofy-hair confront a blatant liar?)
Tech executives to Obama: NSA spying revelations are threatening business - The Washington Post

How Sotomayor undermined Obama's NSA | MSNBC - It was Sotomayor’s lonely concurrence in U.S. v Jones, a case involving warrantless use of a GPS tracker on a suspect’s car, that the George W. Bush-appointed Judge Richard Leon relied on when he ruled that the program was likely unconstitutional last week. It was that same concurrence the White House appointed review board on surveillance policy cited when it concluded government surveillance should be scaled back. (the only judge who understands the Constitution)

Schneier on Security: NSA Spying: Whom Do You Believe? - NSA Spying: Whom Do You Believe? (RSA)
Eight-volume hardcover set collects 4.7 million Linkedin passwords in alphabetical order - Boing Boing

Who Owns the World's Biggest Bitcoin Wallet? The FBI | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com - The FBI now controls more than 144,000 bitcoins that reside at a bitcoin address that consolidates much of the seized Silk Road bitcoins. Those 144,000 bitcoins are worth close to $100 million at Tuesday’s exchange rates. Another address, containing Silk Road funds seized earlier by the FBI, contains nearly 30,000 bitcoins ($20 million).
Stolen Target Credit Cards and the Black Market: How the Digital Underground Works | The State of Security

Inequality: Government Is a Perp, Not a Bystander | Op-Eds & Columns - The problem is that President Obama wants the public to believe that inequality is something that just happened ... Inequality did not just happen, it was deliberately engineered through a whole range of policies intended to redistribute income upward.
House Republicans Opposed To Extended Unemployment Benefits Could Pay The Price In 2014: Poll

Here Are The 15 Democratic Senators Bucking The White House And Threatening War With Iran (Dem Likudniks and neocons at heart)
Where’s the Anti-War Left on Iran? - The Daily Beast - Democratic senators joined Ted Cruz to put new sanctions on Iran last week. Liberals should make them pay - AIPAC will resist any move toward rapprochement with Iran because a menacing Iran is crucial to its efforts to convince American Jews that, without AIPAC, they’d be living in 1938

20 Ways Obama and Democrats Have Betrayed the World | Chris Ernesto - #5: Deported a record number of immigrants. (pretty much an inventory of his "legacy")
The Presidential Hack List: Ranking Barack Obama’s favorite columnists - Salon.com - Every columnist ever specifically named as an Obama favorite, with one exception, is white. None are women. Nearly all of them, to a man, vigorously supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Is President Obama … the biggest hack of all?
Tom Friedman's Yard Sale - Tom Friedman Should Take The Week Off And Regroup - Esquire (Obama's 2nd favorite columnist which speaks libraries about him)
Culture of Truth: Ridiculous! — Virtually Speaking - Because nothing says civics class like Bill Kristol on national security, Matthew Dowd on privacy, Tom Coburn on fictional fraud, David Gregory on economic animal spirits, Peter King on civil liberties, Edmund Burke on Obamacare, David Brooks on Christianity, Ted Cruz on political correctness, and Bobby Jindal on Duck Dynasty. (meanwhile on planet Earth)
The Late, Great American WASP - WSJ.com - The old U.S. ruling class had plenty of problems. But are we really better off with a country run by the self-involved, over-schooled products of modern meritocracy? (WSJ goes full white supremacist)

'O Holy Night' Surprise At Museum Of Fine Arts In Boston, From Berklee Students, Is Chillingly Good (VIDEO)

Ohio Woman Killed By Errant Shot in Drug Raid | StoptheDrugWar.org - A Ross County, Ohio, woman was shot and killed in an apparent accidental discharge of a deputy's weapon during a December 11 drug raid. Krystal Barrows, 35, becomes the 39th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

Lethal Neutrinos
Since neutrinos are almost never absorbed shouldn't their numbers be steadily climbing as the universe ages? Could this be a useful way of measuring the ratio between entropy and rate of spacial expansion? : askscience
20 Ancient Supervolcanoes Discovered in Utah and Nevada | Geology | Sci-News.com - “In southern Utah, deposits from this single eruption are 4 km thick. Imagine the devastation – it would have been catastrophic to anything living within hundreds of miles,” Dr Christiansen said.

Ark. Man Accused of Defacing Racist Billboard - ABC News - A billboard along a Harrison highway had read "Anti-Racist is a Code Word for Anti-White." Police said a witness saw people paint "Love" over "Anti-White" last month ... A branch of the Ku Klux Klan is based near Harrison. The city 's trying to overcome a racist image.

imgur: Doge Meme: Wow


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US Sailors, Assisting With Fukushima Clean Up, Crippled By Cancer | Zero Hedge - What is sad is that while everyone in the alternative media was repeatedly warning about the radiation exposure being misrepresented by both TEPCO and various Japanese ministries, it was the mainstream media that was constantly complicit in disseminating official and unofficial lies that there is nothing to fear.
Fukushima: Wave of Radiation Will Be Ten Times Bigger than All of the Radiation from Nuclear Tests Combined | Global Research

Thousands in the dark as ice storm hits Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes - The Globe and Mail - Hundreds of thousands without power. Families mourning loved ones lost in fatal car accidents blamed on icy road conditions. Live electrical wires threatening blacked-out streets. Newborns transferred out of a hospital relying on back-up generators as a “precautionary measure,” not knowing what might come next.

Not just the Koch brothers: New study reveals funders behind the climate change denial effort - The climate change countermovement is a well-funded and organized effort to undermine public faith in climate science and block action by the U.S. government to regulate emissions
Prime-time's global warming omission : Columbia Journalism Review - most Americans already tie weather to climate change; in a poll, 58 percent said “global warming is affecting weather in the United States.” (it's called dissociation: they will still vote for Republicans)

North and South Korea exchange faxes threatening to attack each other - threatening "a merciless retaliation without warning" in response to an anti-North Korean demonstration that had taken place in Seoul. This is Pyongyang's first such threat via fax.
Iraq suicide bombers kill at least 18 military officers | World news | theguardian.com - Senior army officers killed and 32 soldiers wounded after ambush in Sunni Muslim-dominated Anbar province
Sudanese Guantanamo detainee says he was tortured - The Washington Post
Police clash with protesters in Turkey - Europe - Al Jazeera English - Police fired water cannons and tear gas at protesters denouncing Prime Minister Erdogan's government over corruption. (blames foreign ambassadors for widespread crony corruption)
Covert CIA program helped Colombia kill rebel leaders | World news | theguardian.com - The multi-billion dollar program had the NSA provide 'substantial eavesdropping help' to the Colombian government - The multibillion-dollar program was funded secretly and separately from $9bn in aid that the US has openly provided to Colombia, mostly in military assistance. It was authorized by President George W Bush and has continued under President Barack Obama, the newspaper reported.
Covert action in Colombia | The Washington Post - U.S. intelligence, GPS bomb kits help Latin American nation cripple rebel forces (because drugz, supposedly)
Conditions for Abu Dhabi's migrant workers 'shame the west' | World news | The Observer - Calls for urgent labour reform after Observer reveals construction workers face destitution, internment and deportation
IRA sniper Bernard McGinn found dead in Ireland | World news | theguardian.com - 56-year-old shot Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick, the last British soldier to be killed before the Good Friday agreement
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Freed Former Russian Tycoon, Challenges Putin Over Political Prisoners - He said the decision to leave Russia immediately after his release had not been his.
Egypt court jails activists over protests - Middle East - Al Jazeera English - Three leading activists sentenced to three years in prison over illegal protests, the latest move in widening crackdown. (funded with your tax dollars)
French soldier wears Nazi slogan on uniform in Central African Republic | World news | theguardian.com - Soldier, said to be in an elite parachute regiment, photographed with patch carrying the words 'Meine Ehre heisst Treue'
Thousands rally against racism in Sweden - Europe - Al Jazeera English - Huge crowds gather in Stockholm suburb, a week after similar gathering was attacked by neo-Nazis.
The case of incest and depravity which came to rest in the hills of a quiet country town | thetelegraph.com.au - a case of shocking depravity which came to rest in the hills surrounding a picturesque farming community nestled in a valley southwest of Sydney.
Protesters force Libya internet shutdown - Protesters armed with knives and sticks have stormed the building of Libya's largest internet provider in the capital, Tripoli.

? HSBC shuts down following a santa invasion in central London - YouTube

Family Of Innocent U.S. Drone Victims Compensated With 101 Kalashnikovs (what's wrong with this picture?)

Folha de S.Paulo - Internacional - En - World - David Miranda: Open Letter to the Brazilian People - 22/12/2013 - At this moment I request, as a Brazilian citizen, that my country honour this treaty and grant asylum to Edward Snowden.

Why the Story on Snowden and the NSA Doesn't Add Up | Mother Jones - an infrastructure analyst at the N.S.A., like a burglar casing an apartment building, looks for new ways to break into Internet and telephone traffic around the world.

NSA review panel members to appear before Senate committee in January | World news | theguardian.com - Senator Leahy announced special session on January 14 • 'Momentum is building for real reform,' Leahy said ... The Republican chair of the House intelligence committee, Mike Rogers, made it clear on ABC's This Week that there was considerable conservative opposition to anything that would reduce the NSA’s surveillance activities (and there you have it)

Mr. Obama’s Disappointing Response - NYTimes.com - He did not do any of that. (loves his authoritarian spy-state)
James Clapper Claims Publicly Acknowledged Details Are State Secrets While Boasting of Transparency | emptywheel (same as Obama)
U.S. reasserts need to keep domestic surveillance secret - The Washington Post
Conning the Record, Conning the Courts, Defrauding the People | emptywheel - But the other cold water thrown came from Obama himself when he gave a slippery and disingenuous press conference Friday (sleazy mofo)
Is “Bribery” a Demand, or a Polite Request? | emptywheel (typical Obama sleaze-speak: we just "ask" and if you don't obey we will destroy you, but that's not a "demand")

Report on NSA 'secret' payments to RSA fuels encryption controversy | PCWorld - Charges of subverting security
A Few Thoughts on Cryptographic Engineering: RSA warns developers not to use RSA products - We can only speculate about the past. But here in the present we get to watch RSA's CTO Sam Curry publicly defend RSA's choices. I sort of feel bad for the guy. But let's make fun of him anyway.

Snowden ally Appelbaum claims his Berlin apartment was invaded | News | DW.DE | 21.12.2013 - Jacob Appelbaum, a US Internet activist and one of the people with access to Edward Snowden's documents, has told a Berlin paper that his apartment was broken into, saying he suspected US involvement.
Snowden ally Applebaum says his Berlin apartment subject to raids — RT News

Israel condemns US spying revelations | World news | theguardian.com - Officials call on US to stop spying on Israel amid renewed calls for release of Jonathan Pollard, jailed in 1980s for spying (because Israel never spies on anybody)
More NSA Surveillance Origins Documents Are Released - The director of national intelligence on Saturday declassified more documents that show how the National Security Agency was first authorized to start collecting bulk phone and Internet records in the hunt for al-Qaida terrorists.
Intelligence Committee Leaders Defend NSA Against Critical Review (DiFucker fucking the Constitution)
U.S. Government Asks Google To Remove Almost 4,000 Political Items From Search | Ben Swann Truth In Media (Obama hates your knowing what's going on)
Report Suggests NSA Engaged In Financial Manipulation | PopularResistance.Org
NSA program stopped no terror attacks, says White House panel member - Investigations
Despite Releasing New NSA Information, Government Still Tries to Block Groundbreaking EFF Case | Electronic Frontier Foundation
CSIS slammed for end-running law to snoop on Canadians abroad - Politics - CBC News - Spy agency made 'deliberate decision to keep the court in the dark'
Canadian spies lied to judge to obtain surveillance warrants - Boing Boing - they deliberately misinterpreted the law and asked other countries' intelligence services to conduct the spying for them -- something forbidden under Canadian law. The judge is not impressed.
The Washington Post Servers Hacked again, possibly by Chinese Hackers - The Hackers Post
US Department of Defense's public domain archive to be privatized, locked up for ten years - Boing Boing - "The U.S. Department of Defense has entered into a contract with T3 Media to get its gigantic still and moving image collection digitized at no cost to the government. In exchange, T3 Media will become the exclusive public outlet for millions of images and videos for ten years.
The final frontier: AT&T comes knocking for in-home surveillance | Privacy SOS - “Digital Life” is marketed as a ‘home security and automation’ system. Among the many options paying customers can have installed in their homes are a variety of sensors; mechanisms to control heat, electricity, water, and locks; and video cameras.
? "I Think The American People Want Security Over Freedom" (Those Who Surrender Freedom For Security.. - YouTube

Data brokers won’t even tell the government how it uses, sells your data | Ars Technica - They do disclose consumer types like "credit reliant" and "resilient renter."

NSA Revelations Could Undermine Transatlantic Trade Negotiations
Insight: How U.S. spying cost Boeing multibillion-dollar jet contract | Reuters
Snub of Boeing-made fighter rattles Missouri manufacturers | Reuters

Activist Post: Bigger, Badder NDAA 2014 Quietly Passed the House and Senate – On the Way to Obama’s Desk - While everyone is distracted with the holiday festivities, Congress has been hard at work, screwing us over in the name of national security.

The Daily Dot - How Dogecoin changed my perspective on cryptocurrency

‘#NotYourNarrative’: Journalist Rania Khalek on Lack of Arab or Muslim Voices in US Media | The Dissenter

Linda Taylor, welfare queen: Ronald Reagan made her a notorious American villain. Linda Taylor’s other sins were far worse. - In the 1970s, Ronald Reagan villainized a Chicago woman for bilking the government. Her other sins—including possible kidnappings and murders—were far worse. (+she was white)
Rightbloggers Prove They're No Sissies By Supporting Duck Dynasty, Beating Up Pajama Boy (the marketing of racism and bigotry)

Meet The Press Reportedly in Jeopardy as NBC Looks to Cut Back DC Bureau | Mediaite - “Instead of getting better, NBC News has been getting worse [since Turness arrived earlier this year.] It’s a mess.” In October, the reporter cited rumors about Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski adding Meet The Press hosting duties to their already full 15 hours a week on MSNBC. (devolution)
Daily Kos: Millionaire Oligarch Poses as Walmart Protester: Harasses Shoppers to Discredit/Mock Employees! - His name is Peter Schiff. (rich asshole dept)
Matt Yglesias #slatepitches dividends : Columbia Journalism Review - Matt Yglesias trolls business readers with a piece headlined, “Dividends Are Evil: They’re a triumph of short-term thinking and do nothing for the economy.”

Eschaton: Health Care Is Expensive In This Country - The NYT's perpetual pity party for its affluent readership is genuinely annoying.
The New York Times and the ACA: the yuppie whine-athon continues by Kathleen Geier | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - I see the New York Times has published yet another article about very privileged people whining about the ACA. (their specialty; see Bill Keller)
NYT Goes for the Gold in the Find Bad Things to Say About Obamacare Game | Beat the Press
The Times Magazine problem | Capital New York - New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson had given herself until the end of the year to name a new editor for The New York Times Magazine to replace Hugo Lindgren, whose imminent departure

7 Reasons the TSA Sucks (A Security Expert's Perspective) | Cracked.com

Subtract Teachers, Add Pupils - Math of Today’s Jammed Schools - NYTimes.com - Across the country, public schools employ about 250,000 fewer people than before the recession, according to figures from the Labor Department. Enrollment in public schools, meanwhile, has increased by more than 800,000 students. To maintain prerecession staffing ratios, public school employment should have actually grown by about 132,000 jobs in the past four years, in addition to replacing those that were lost (but those wars and tax cuts were totally worth it)

America's Least Healthy States: 24/7 Wall St. - Hawaii is the healthiest state in the country, while Mississippi is the least healthy state.

A Smartypants Scientist Makes An Easy Analogy About Our Planet, And Now I'm Scared (humans have already passed the 59th minute of exponential growth and we're fucked; see the Catholic Church and the Koch Bros)
A Solar Boom So Successful, It's Been Halted: Scientific American - Photovoltaics proved so successful in Hawaii that the local utility, HECO, has instituted policies to block further expansion
One Year: 45 Fossil Fuel Disasters | PopularResistance.Org
Pharmacy Staff Frequently Misinform Teens Seeking Emergency Contraception | Center for Advancing Health - Pharmacists often cited institutional or personal beliefs as reasons for not stocking or dispensing emergency contraception.

Rape Victim Was Kicked Off UConn Hockey Team For Not Being 'Stable Enough': Lawsuit - officials did not investigate her removal from the team, didn't advise her she could stay in school, and didn't tell her she had the option to call police or pursue a complaint with the school that could lead to a hearing. "They did not ask for the identity of her rapist," she wrote.

Nigella Lawson cocaine use will be subject to police review after all | Life and style | theguardian.com - Scotland Yard says a team will examine 'all the evidence emerging', though there is no imminent prospect of prosecution

Legal challenge questions reliability of police dogs | Las Vegas Review-Journal - a failure rate of 85 percent. Although drug-sniffing dogs are supposed to find drugs on their own, the researchers concluded that they were influenced by their handlers, and that's what led to such a high failure rate (cops tell their dogs who to sniff)

Taking liberties: Santa Claus rejects NORAD escort, may be placed on no-fly list | rabble.ca - The NORAD Tracks Santa website is a paean to militarism, inviting young children to play at war and offering videos that are recruitment vehicles featuring martial music more akin to a 1980s Tom Cruise bomb-em-up flick than a period of peace and good will to all.
Anonymous donor buys out Goodwill kids section, allowing children to take toys home for free | The Coloradoan | coloradoan.com

Swiss artist Sipho Mabona designs a life-size origami elephant.
Windows XP: Microsoft’s ticking time bomb | Analysis | Features | PC Pro - Shona Ghosh examines the security threat posed by Microsoft’s decision to end support for its 12-year-old OS in April - Windows XP will essentially have a zero-day vulnerability forever.
The TumblrInAction Dictionary 2.0: What the hell do all of these things mean?! : TumblrInAction
TumblrInAction: Actually Not That Bad

2013: The Year 'the Stream' Crested - Alexis C. Madrigal - The Atlantic - The Stream is fun and fast, but don't you miss the sense of an ending?
The blog is dead, long live the blog » Nieman Journalism Lab - The primary mode for the distribution of links has moved from the loosely connected network of blogs to tightly integrated services like Facebook and Twitter. If you look at the incoming referers to a site like BuzzFeed, you’ll see tons of traffic from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Stumbleupon, and Pinterest but not a whole lot from blogs, even in the aggregate

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U.S. Military Aircraft Hit In South Sudan - , wounding three U.S. service members and heavily damaging at least one of the aircraft, officials said. South Sudan blamed the attack on renegade troops in control of the breakaway region
Yemen on lockdown as protests continue - Middle East - Al Jazeera English - A week of protests has been launched over the death of local tribal chief who was to be buried on Saturday.
US Sponsored “Democracy”: A Tale of Two Protests. Ukraine and Thailand | Global Research
Syria: Harrowing torture, summary killings in secret ISIS detention centres | Amnesty International

Iceland’s jailed bankers ‘a model’ for dealing with ‘financial terrorists’ — RT Op-Edge (Obanker's path not taken)
Wage Statistics for 2012

Tomgram: Engelhardt, Washington's Wedding Album From Hell | TomDispatch - “Bride and Boom!” We’re Number One... In Obliterating Wedding Parties - this is at least the eighth wedding party reported wiped out, totally or in part, since the Afghan War began and it extends the extermination of wedding celebrants from the air to a third country -- six destroyed in Afghanistan, one in Iraq, and now the first in Yemen. (Obama's favorite sport)
If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding, We'd Ground Our Fleet - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic - But after a dozen or more deaths at a Yemeni wedding, don't expect anything to change.
Murder in Yemen | The Nation - Obama essentially said “too bad” when it comes to civilian casualties caused by drone strikes. “I must weigh these heartbreaking tragedies against the alternatives.”
Yemen Deaths Test Claims of New Drone Policy - NYTimes.com - Moreover, the president said in May, no strike can be authorized without “near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured” — a bar he described as “the highest standard we can set.” (as usual, he lied)

Google reports 68% jump in government takedown requests — Tech News and Analysis - The increase in this report appears tied to a spike in requests from Turkey, which demanded the most takedowns of any country (1,673). The second biggest number came from the United States (545), which was followed by Brazil, Russia and India.
UK's New Mandatory Porn Filter Already Defeated By A Single Chrome Extension | Techdirt - from the it-can-be-beaten-with-one-hand-(tied-behind-your-back) dept - The extension, dubbed "Go Away Cameron," simply utilizes a proxy to get around the filters.
Six Domains Later, The Pirate Bay Returns to Sweden | Motherboard - Well, they're back where they started.
U.S. tests surveillance balloons on Mexico border - Brownsville Herald: Local News

The FBI's top secret interrogation can be viewed at the Library of Congress by anyone with a library card | Mail Online - The author of a sensitive FBI interrogation manual submitted the document for copyright protection In doing so, the FBI agent made it available to the public at the Library of Congress Experts are baffled at the security lapse and why the officer believed the secret document needed copyright protection at all The manual doesn't even qualify for copyright because it is a government document (well, if Obama can copyright himself ...)

National intelligence chief declassifies Bush-era documents on NSA programs | World news | theguardian.com - James Clapper documents relate to bulk collection origins • Disclosures part of campaign to justify NSA surveillance • Obama concedes NSA bulk collection may be unnecessary

Obama: Snowden leaks caused 'unnecessary damage' | World news | theguardian.com - Obama said he could not comment specifically on possible amnesty because Snowden was 'under indictment' (which was supposed to be a secret; Obama leaks; he was going to reform it anyway, supposedly)
NSA review panel stops short of concrete surveillance reforms | World news | The Guardian - Report leaves room for Obama administration to decide any number of next steps in addressing concerns over spy agency (enjoy your legacy)
Obama's NSA review gives the lie to Britain's timid platitudes: a debate is possible | Alan Rusbridger | Comment is free | The Guardian - In the US, the official response to Snowden's revelations celebrates journalism and calls for real change. In Britain, the picture has been rather different - ""airy-fairy lah-di-dah" types" (Camerons's fascist police-state worse than Obama's)

Govt drops objection to publishing secret opinion - The Obama administration has dropped its objection to the publication of a secret court opinion on the law that authorizes the National Security Agency's bulk collection of millions of Americans' telephone records. (Obama loves his secret courts and secret laws; our anti-Constitutional scholar)
Obama Concedes NSA Spying May Need 'Refining' | Threat Level | Wired.com (you know what he means)
Do We Have the NSA on the Run, or Is a Much Worse Surveillance State in the Making? | Alternet - It's way too soon to break out the applause.
Why NSA Spying is Unlikely to be Stopped | Nullify NSA!Nullify NSA! - Bad news first. The courts, the review panel, congress – all efforts to pass bills like the USA Freedom Act – all these efforts are virtually doomed. (because Obama)

Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire - Charlie's Diary

Researchers crack the world’s toughest encryption by listening to the tiny sounds made by your computer’s CPU | ExtremeTech - This acoustic cryptanalysis, carried out by Daniel Genkin, Adi Shamir (who co-invented RSA), and Eran Tromer, uses what’s known as a side channel attack.
AT&T says it will publish reports on data requests - that it receives from law enforcement agencies, the latest move in the telecommunications industry toward fuller disclosure amid debate over government surveillance programs.
Boeing and NSA Get Schooled, Brazil Edition | Firedoglake
HOWTO delete your smartphone's fine-grained log of everywhere you've been - Boing Boing - If you have an Android or Ios smartphone, it defaults to storing the history of all the places you go, at a very fine resolution, for a very long time, and mirrors that data on remote servers from which it might be leaked or subpoenaed. (your iSpy)
Crossword Puzzle: What Did We Learn About the NSA This Year? | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Everyone Knows Obama's 2013 Was Bad, The Tough Question Is Why (because he sucks?)

Any Hope Of American Equality Died In The 1980s (And Here's Proof) (and St Ronnie will rot in hell for 12 trillion years)
Honey Badger Hedge Fund: Hackers Predict Stock Market With Open Source Mojo | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com - Yes, seven out of seven of the trades the team recommended on Twitter were profitable, providing a return of 9.38 percent

Americans Have Little Faith In Scientists, Science Journalists: Poll - Republicans in the new poll were most likely to say that they have only a little bit of trust in scientists to give accurate and reliable information, and the most likely to say that they think scientific findings may be tainted by political ideology -- possibly reflecting distrust in scientists over topics such as evolution and climate change. (57% of Americans hate science)

Target Corp. feels customers' fury over response to card-data breach - CSMonitor.com - Target is offering 10 percent off purchases on Saturday and Sunday, in a goodwill gesture. But complaints are mounting about the retailer's response to massive theft of customer credit-card data.

Deserving vs. undeserving poor — for the love of God, here we go again by Kathleen Geier | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - “People who are perfectly capable of working are buying things like beer,” said Senator James Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, on those getting food assistance in his state. (if there were any jobs in his fucking state)

Seattle Catholic school's firing of gay official pits state law against religion | World news | theguardian.com - firing of legally married vice-principal raises questions about the place of gay rights in today's Catholic church (institutionalized bigotry)

Lizz Winstead's post on Media & Entertainment | Latest updates on Sulia - Further proof reality shows are just reality until advertisers are offended." It's bigger than Duck Dynasty.
Why The Racist And Homophobic 'Duck Dynasty' Comments Have Nothing To Do With Free Speech | ThinkProgress - What actually is taking place is that conservatives are taking umbrage because a fellow conservative’s beliefs are being publicly criticized.
Your mandatory <i>Duck Dynasty</i> update by Kathleen Geier | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly (Fuck Dynasty)

Peggy Noonan Bemoans Economic Inequality, Flying Coach | Blog | Media Matters for America - the horrors of sitting on an airplane, among which is the ever-present threat that the seat assigned to you "was used on the last flight by a Senegalese tourist with typhus." (or an alcoholic Nooners with foot and mouth disease)

Lawsuit: Woman Faced Illegal Body Cavity Search, Observed Bowel Movement « CBS Las Vegas - But the woman was transported in handcuffs to the University Medical Center of El Paso, the lawsuit said, where doctors subjected her to an observed bowel movement, a CT scan and other exams without a warrant.
Joe Arpaio Loses: New Times Co-Founders Win $3.75 Million Settlement for 2007 False Arrests - Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were taken from their homes in the middle of the night and jailed on misdemeanor charges alleging that they violated the secrecy of a grand jury -- which turned out never to have been convened.

Dramatic decline in industrial agriculture could herald ‘peak food’ | The Raw Story

Justine Sacco tweet 'Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS', causes Twitter outrage | Mail Online - In February 2012 Sacco Tweeted: 'I had a sex dream about an autistic kid last night.' (should have been a warning)

Top 1001 Books Books on Loved.la

Kim Dotcom Ratted Out Rival File-Sharing Sites, Court Documents Claim | Threat Level | Wired.com
Why Apple's Suburban Spaceship Could Lose the War for Tech Talent | Wired Business | Wired.com - But there’s a problem. As Apple seeks to change Silicon Valley’s view of what buildings should be, Silicon Valley is rethinking its view of where they should be, even as the company that Jobs built is staying put in its hometown.

122013
Conservative groups spend up to $1bn a year to fight action on climate change | Environment | theguardian.com - Author: 'I call it the climate-change counter movement' • Study focuses on groups opposing US political action

Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Law Punishes Gays With Life Imprisonment
Canada's Anti-Prostitution Laws Struck Down By Supreme Court (free market wins)
The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down the country's anti-prostitution laws in a unanimous decision. : worldnews
Who is Devyani Khobragade, the Indian diplomat at the center of the firestorm? - The Washington Post - new details are emerging about the woman at the center of the controversy, a professional who advocated for women’s rights in public but is accused of underpayingher nanny at home ... she typically worked 90 to 100 hours a week for Khobragade, which would work out to only $1.32 to $1.46 an hour.
Divide deepens among Democrats on Iran - That raises an interesting question: What if this bill comes to a vote and goes down in the Senate? (you-know-who wins)

We were subjected to 'meticulous, daily torture' – freed Gitmo detainee — RT News (this is who they are, at their core, and their commander-in-chief is powerless to stop it)

Porn filters block sex education websites - Pornography filters used by major internet service providers are blocking websites offering sex education and advice on sexual health and porn addiction, the BBC has learned. (the great firewall of Cameron)
UK's Great Firewall of Cameron blocks sexual health, rape crisis centre, sex ed sites - Boing Boing

Cards Stolen in Target Breach Flood Underground Markets — Krebs on Security

5 ways you can support free speech today | Jillian C. York

NSA program stopped no terror attacks, says White House panel member - Investigations - A member of the White House review panel on NSA surveillance said he was “absolutely” surprised when he discovered the agency’s lack of evidence that the bulk collection of telephone call records had thwarted any terrorist attacks. (oh, so Obama and all those NSA guys were lying, right? +apparently Snowden killed 15 kids, orsomething)

WASHINGTON: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ leak investigators now target of leak probe | National Security & Defense | McClatchy DC - Instead, the Pentagon Inspector General’s Office is working to root out who might have disclosed the findings on Panetta and Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers to a nonprofit watchdog group and to McClatchy.
Anonymous US Officials Lie About Drone Attack on Wedding Convoy in Yemen | The Dissenter - US officials sometimes appear to be misinformed when they report on drone strikes that kill people associated with individuals who appeared to be suspected al Qaeda militants. That’s essentially what you get when the Times covers America’s covert drone war.

Officials’ defenses of NSA phone program may be unraveling - The Washington Post
Ratner: NSA Surveillance Program Needs to be Torn Apart from Branch to Branch - White House review panel report doesn't go far enough and potentially undercuts the more serious reform of the NSA proposed by the U.S.A. Freedom Act (which was, you know, the whole point)

GCHQ and NSA targeted charities, Germans, Israeli PM and EU chief | UK news | The Guardian - Unicef and Médecins du Monde were on surveillance list • Targets went well beyond potential criminals and terrorists • Revelations could cause embarrassment at EU summit ... targeting organisations such as the United Nations development programme, the UN's children's charity Unicef and Médecins du Monde, a French organisation that provides doctors and medical volunteers to conflict zones. The head of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) also appears in the documents, along with text messages he sent to colleagues.
Eyes everywhere: NSA's second tier spying partners identified — RT News - The "third party partners" to the Five Eyes nations has now grown to include nine states - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain ... a new leak submitted by journalist Glenn Greenwald to Danish TV reveals.
NSA Debate Shifts In Favor Of Surveillance Limits - Even Russian President Vladimir Putin chimed in on Thursday. He said U.S. surveillance efforts are necessary to fight terrorism and "not a cause for repentance," but he, too, said they should be limited by clear rules.
The Nine Things You Should Know About the NSA Recommendations From the President’s Review Group | American Civil Liberties Union
Judge: NSA “systematically violated” its own privacy requirements | Ars Technica - Unsealed docs show NSA collected tens of thousands of "non-target" communications.
Does Obama really 'welcome debate' on his national security policies? | MSNBC (Pres Super-Secret? what do you think?)

High-Level Confirmation That Snowden's a Whistle-Blower - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com - The wheels of justice have turned swiftly in the past few days for Edward Snowden, proving that he is a whistle-blower who exposed abuse and illegality of the highest order by the National Security Agency, and that he does not deserve having the United States government threaten him with the crushing silence of a jail cell.

Judge smacks Obama secrecy in unique FOIA case | Suits & Sentences | McClatchy DC - This is an important case; as Huvelle noted, it's the first time an administration sought to apply the executive communication privilege to an executive directive. The administration's legal posture, Huvelle declared at various time, was "limitless" and "unbounded." (Obama classified himself top-secret; "transparency" in Obama-speak means "totally opaque")

Amazon, ‘The Washington Post’ and That $600 MIllion CIA Contract | The Nation
Verizon to publish reports on surveillance requests, wants to detail NSA efforts - The Washington Post
Glenn Greenwald: U.S. uses terrorism as excuse to do almost everything | Al Jazeera America - Glenn Greenwald: U.S. uses terrorism as excuse to do almost everything (from killing little brown children (Obama's favorite sport) to changing your bank balance)

Exclusive: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer | Reuters - As a key part of a campaign to embed encryption software that it could crack into widely used computer products, the U.S. National Security Agency arranged a secret $10 million contract with RSA, one of the most influential firms in the computer security industry, Reuters has learned. (this is big)
Acoustic cryptanalysis - Daniel Genkin Adi Shamir Eran Tromer - RSA Key Extraction via Low-Bandwidth Acoustic Cryptanalysis (the S in RSA)

? Former NSA Official "No One is Watching the Watchers" - YouTube - with NSA whistleblower Bill Binney.
Why Is The New Republic Taking Money from an NSA Contractor to Run Defenses of the NSA? | The Nation (Ben Wittes and Lawfare and Harvard-Brookings)
Critics: NSA agent co-chairing key crypto standards body should be removed | Ars Technica - There's an elephant in the room at the Internet Engineering Task Force. (the system is riddled with spies)

The Daily Dot - Lawyer for Anonymous's 'PayPal 14' facing multiple charges - the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York notified the public Thursday that criminal charges were being pursued against attorney and political activist Stanley Cohen. (most vindictive president ever)
An Incomplete List of Things That Are Not Actually “Hacking” | Motherboard
The final frontier: AT&T comes knocking for in-home surveillance | Privacy SOS - “Digital Life” is marketed as a ‘home security and automation’ system. Among the many options paying customers can have installed in their homes are a variety of sensors; mechanisms to control heat, electricity, water, and locks; and video cameras. (bright idea! buy a super surveillance system for your home so the government can watch you every move)

At Least Two Moderators Of 'Silk Road 2.0' Drug Site Forums Arrested - Forbes
What is Dogecoin? The Meme that Became the Hot New Virtual Currency - As the year of bitcoin comes to an end, David Gilbert investigates the next big crypto-currency - Dogecoin.

Infographic: Who's looking out for homebuyers? - Economics - AEI (mortgage debt $11 trillion)

States Cite Surge in Obamacare Sign-Ups Ahead of First Deadline - ABC News - The increase has ranged from 30 percent to 40 percent in the past few weeks, according to state officials who briefed reporters Wednesday. Monday is the last day to sign up for a plan that will guarantee health coverage effective Jan. 1.
Reid: Unemployment insurance first on Senate’s 2014 to-do list - The U.S. Senate will vote in early January on temporarily extending unemployment insurance to millions of out-of-work Americans, Senate leaders said Thursday.
Conservatives freak out over 'pajama boy' | MSNBC - How could the sight of an earnest twenty something in pajamas drive so many dashing specimens of unassailable masculinity to complete panic?

Democrats currently have a 1 percent chance of retaking the House (Obama's actual legacy)
Federal judge strikes down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage | The Salt Lake Tribune
President Obama Talks About His Daughters' Dating Lives - “I’ve got men with guns following them around … this is the main reason I ran for reelection,” (he thinks that's funny)
Wyoming U.S. Senate candidate Liz Cheney's husband faces voting registration issue - The husband of U.S. Senate candidate Liz Cheney could face felony charges for having been simultaneously registered to vote in Wyoming and Virginia, according to the Teton County Clerk's Office. (voter fraud)

Political centrism is not objectivity : Columbia Journalism Review - How the media wrongly treats deficit reduction as non-ideological ... journalists often treat centrist policy priorities—especially on fiscal policy—as value-neutral
Assessing Neil Irwin's Assessment of Ben Bernanke | Beat the Press - Irwin also downplays the extent to which Bernanke failed to appreciate the disaster even as it was unfolding. Bernanke apparently failed to recognize that the loss of more than $1 trillion in annual demand from the collapse of the housing bubble could not be easily replaced from other sources. He also totally missed the depths of the financial crisis.

Report finds no evidence of widespread sexual misconduct in Secret Service - The Washington Post - A long-awaited report analyzing the male-dominated culture of the U.S. Secret Service has concluded that the elite law enforcement agency does not have a widespread problem with its employees engaging in sexual misconduct while on official business. (just a few barrels of bad apples)
Obama Orders Military To Review Sexual Assault - Obama isn't specifying what other reforms he would consider. The Senate is debating legislation that would take authority for prosecuting attackers away from commanders.

Tim Draper Wants To Split California Into Pieces And Turn Silicon Valley Into Its Own State | TechCrunch (ten new Senators!)

What do ‘Duck Dynasty’ star Phil Robertson and 45 percent of Americans have in common? - What may surprise some people is that his viewpoint — the part about homosexuality being a sin — is espoused by nearly half the country.
In embrace of ‘Duck Dynasty’ star, 2016 hopefuls make bid for evangelicals - The Washington Post (the racist play)
'Duck Dynasty' Family And Fans React To Phil Robertson's Hiatus After Offensive Comments
Phil Robertson's America - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic

These 2 Cities Are Now Exclusively For Rich People (Bloomfuck's richopolis)

Politics Blog Best Posts Of The Year - Charlie Pierce's 10 Best Posts Of The Year - Esquire

Woman sues over vaginal, anal exams in El Paso drug search - El Paso Times - New Mexico woman was searched for six hours at border, University Medical Center (cops and docs spent 6 hrs raping her, then billed her for it)
Woman billed after vaginal, anal exams in El Paso drug search : news

The Mating Habits of Early Hominins | The Scientist Magazine® - A newly sequenced Neanderthal genome provides insight into the sex lives of human ancestors. (incest and interbreeding)
This Is Your Brain on Gluten - James Hamblin - The Atlantic - carbohydrates, even the whole-grain carbs that many of us think of as the good ones, are the cause of almost every modern neurologic malady. That includes dementia, decreased libido, depression, chronic headaches, anxiety, epilepsy, and ADHD.

Topless Snapchat Photo Of Mother And Daughter Leads To Charges - The photo was taken by the 14-year-old's younger sister and eventually was seen by an unknown number of eyes on Snapchat, a smartphone app that deletes a photo after a recipient has had a few seconds to look at it. (that really worked)
Occidental College flooded with fake reports of sexual assault - latimes.com - Officials say roughly 400 false allegations were made by Reddit and 4Chan users, some claiming to represent 'men's rights.'
High Schoolers Staged A Massive Sit-In After Their Vice Principal Was Ousted Over Same-Sex Marriage - Mark Zmuda, the former vice principal of Eastside, was asked to resign after the school’s administration learned he had married his boyfriend.

Lawson and Saatchi assistants found not guilty of fraud | UK news | theguardian.com - In trial that revealed TV cook's cocaine use, sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo cleared of unauthorised spending of £685,000
Charles Saatchi was loser in court of public opinion | Art and design | The Guardian - One poll found only 2% would side with art dealer over Nigella Lawson as picture emerged in court of cruel, controlling figure
Nigella Lawson, Charles Saatchi and the ugly face of patriarchal power | Jacqueline Rose | Comment is free | theguardian.com - What was really on display during the trial of the Grillo sisters was the ruthless nature of masculinity in thrall to itself
What does a chap have to do to be ostracised? | Nick Cohen | Comment is free | The Observer - What does it take these days to be banished from polite society?

jabber.org security plan
Qadars: A banking Malware making its round in Netherlands, France, Italy, Canada, Australia and India.
Hackers can steal your credit card info from your mobile too - Hackers News Bulletin
The Daily Dot - The Dots team helped this guy hack the game to propose to his girlfriend
Cryptolocker the RANSOMWARE has infected 250000 systems and the makers have earned $35 million in RANSOM!!! ~ Techworm

121913
Study - Many Dolphins Sick 1 Year After Oil Spill - NYTimes.com (remember that harmless "dispersant?")

Iran nuclear deal imperiled by new sanctions bill, White House warns | World news | theguardian.com - Iranian experts concerned Congress could sabotage final deal ("Congress" = bought by AIPAC)
Iran Sanctions Bill From Sens. Bob Menendez And Mark Kirk Could Endanger U.S. Negotiations - Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) are threatening to push the United States toward war with Iran, circulating and planning to introduce a sanctions bill despite warnings that it could derail nuclear negotiations at a delicate moment. (Menendez D, Likud)
10 Democratic Committee Chairs Warn Menendez's Iran Sanction Bill Could Blow Up Negotiations - In a remarkable rebuke to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), 10 other Senate committee chairs are circulating a joint letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, urging him to reject an effort by Menendez to tighten sanctions on Iran and warning that his bill could disrupt ongoing nuclear negotiations.
Michael Carey, Fired Air Force General, Misbehaved In Russia, Report Says - Investigators say the Air Force general fired in October as commander of the U.S. land-based nuclear missile force engaged in "inappropriate behavior" while in Russia, including heavy drinking and rudeness to his hosts.

MI5 and MI6 face questions over torture of terrorism suspects | Politics | The Guardian - Gibson inquiry concludes UK government and intelligence agencies had been involved in so-called rendition operations - 'It is deeply shocking that Britain facilitated kidnap and torture' (the poodle followed Bush's orders)

European boycott of death penalty drugs lowers rate of US executions | World news | theguardian.com - New Death Penalty Information Center report claims there were 39 executions this year – the lowest number since 1994

Congressional NSA critics: review panel report gives 'momentum' for reform | World news | theguardian.com - Though critics concerned that panel did not adequately address how long telecoms ought to hold NSA’s desired call data
Obama Can't Avoid the NSA Report, But He'll Try | Motherboard
President’s Review Group Suggests NSA Currently Acts as a Domestic Security Service | emptywheel (Merkel was right)

Pierre Omidyar Provides Initial Funding of $50M to Establish First Look Media – Omidyar Group - First Look Media is made up of several entities, including a company established to develop new media technology and a separate nonprofit journalism organization. The journalism operation, which will be incorporated as a 501(c)(3), will enjoy editorial independence, and any profits eventually earned by the technology company are committed to support First Look’s mission of independent journalism.
More Details Emerge About Glenn Greenwald's New Website

Report Suggests NSA Engaged In Financial Manipulation, Changing Money In Bank Accounts | Techdirt - from the that-would-be-big dept - Governments should not use their offensive cyber capabilities to change the amounts held in financial accounts or otherwise manipulate the financial system.

(227) Twitter / Search - #NSAmovietitles

Under Amazon’s CIA Cloud: The Washington Post | MyFDL - News media should illuminate conflicts of interest, not embody them. But the owner of the Washington Post is now doing big business with the Central Intelligence Agency, while readers of the newspaper’s CIA coverage are left in the dark.
The Daily Dot - NSA spying costs U.S. a $4.5 billion defense contract with Brazil

Tor and HTTPS | Electronic Frontier Foundation

U.S. v. Auernheimer (weev) - 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Grants Government's Motion for a Word Extension » Tor Ekeland, PC: Tor Ekeland, PC

Hullabaloo - She understands that the economy is fundamentally broken and requires big changes for the middle class to survive. (in contrast to Barry-Above-It-All)
$10.10 Minimum Wage Would Actually Create New Jobs: Study (Republicans caught lying again)

Obama Commutes Sentences Of 8 Inmates Convicted Of Crack Offenses - In 2011, Congress passed a law that effectively reduced the federal government’s mandatory penalties for people convicted of crack offenses, but commuting the sentences represents the first time the reform has been applied to those convicted before it was adopted. “
Hillary Clinton Vote For Iraq War - Hillary Clinton's Biggest Mistake - Esquire - The first real hand-hold that the president had in climbing out of single digits in the Democratic primaries in 2008 is that he had condemned the Iraq War and Hillary Clinton had voted for it. It was the first real difference between the president, and most of the rest of the field.

New Mexico becomes 17th US state to legalise same-sex marriage | World news | theguardian.com - State's highest court rules gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Linda Taylor, welfare queen: Ronald Reagan made her a notorious American villain. Linda Taylor’s other sins were far worse. - In the 1970s, Ronald Reagan villainized a Chicago woman for bilking the government. Her other sins—including possible kidnappings and murders—were far worse. (dept. of history)

Right To Privacy - The Tyranny Of The Brand - Esquire - As it happens, I had disciplinary action taken against me at the last newspaper I worked for because of things I had written on the Esquire.com Politics blog prior to coming to work here full time. When I asked my immediate supervisor why this happened, he replied, "My primary obligation is to the company." (Charlie discloses)

Hack list No. 1: Mike Allen - Salon.com - Our annual list is here! This time, we channeled each hack's unique voice -- and let them "write" their own entries

Prosecutors were ready to charge Va. Gov. McDonnell, but final decision delayed by Justice officials - The Washington Post

Chomsky Turns 85 | PopularResistance.Org

Volcker Rule Pretty Watered Down, Executives And Consultants Say (899 pages of exemptions)
Should the NFL Lose Its Tax-Exempt Status? | Mother Jones - hat's not enough for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. He wants to nearly triple the league's revenues to $25 billion by 2027—a mind-bogglingly large number. But here's an even more shocking fact: The NFL pays nothing in taxes on all those revenues. Not a nickel. (because liberty and sports)
Whole Foods CEO: Government Shouldn't ‘Take Over Entire Health Care System' - Whole Foods CEO John Mackey doesn’t want the government running America's health care system.

Target Hacked: Retailer Confirms 'Unauthorized Access' Of Credit Card Data - In a press release posted on the Target website, the Minneapolis-based retailer admitted that approximately 40 million credit and debit card accounts may have been impacted by the breach.

Data brokers sell rape victim names for 7.9 cents each, congressional hearing reveals | The Raw Story
Drug Warriors Kidnap and Sexually Assault a Woman After Getting Permission From a Dog - Hit & Run : Reason.com
Missoula Police Try To Escape 'Rape Capital' Nickname - "I said, 'No, but why does that matter?'" recalled Barrett. "He responded, 'Some girls cheat on their boyfriend and regret it and blame it on rape.'"

'Duck Dynasty' Star Phil Robertson Claims Black People Were 'Happy' Pre-Civil Rights (racist rednecks on TV; HuffPo educates their dimbulb readership about Jim Crow)
'Duck Dynasty' Fans Are Losing Their Minds On Facebook (many FB users are extremely racist)

Kids Will Eat Veggies If You Pay Them, Economists Find

Marijuana Businesses May Get Good Banking News In Early 2014 - Marijuana businesses may not yet get a full green light on the banking rights that non-marijuana businesses already enjoy, but they are likely to get a "yellow light" as soon as the new year, Jack Finlaw, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's (D) chief legal counsel, said on a joint call Thursday. ("joint")

agenda 21 map - Google Search (parts of US the UN will take over; batshit dept)

Falling in love with a Danish girl while traveling. : travel (great story)
Spoiler alert: Bill Gates did not get you, because he got me. - Secret Santa 2013 - redditgifts
Tinder Creator Justin Mateen Defends App: 'Women Aren't Wired That Way, Right?'

121813
South Sudan factional fighting leaves hundreds feared dead | World news | The Guardian - Vice-president Riek Machar denies that he made coup attempt, amid reports of of bloodbath in Juba - t between 400 and 500 people had been killed and up to 800 wounded. More than 16,000 people were seeking refuge at UN facilities.
No jail time for leading Israeli rabbi convicted of sex offenses - National Israel News | Haaretz - Former head of Yeshivat Hakotel in Jerusalem, Rabbi Moti Elon said he welcomes his community service: 'I've been doing such work for 40 years, and will be happy to continue till I’m 120 years old.'
Sochi Olympic Critics Harassed, Treated Like Terrorists
Obama Jabs Putin, Picks Openly Gay Delegates For Winter Olympics In Russia
Journalist Killings, Jailings And Kidnappings Are Huge World Problems
Second worst year on record for jailed journalists - Reports - Committee to Protect Journalists

Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama | World news | The Guardian - In an angry exchange with Barack Obama, Angela Merkel has compared the snooping practices of the US with those of the Stasi, the ubiquitous and all-powerful secret police of the communist dictatorship in East Germany, where she grew up.

CIA Bay of Pigs Secrecy Case Reaches Appeals Court - CIA claims release would "confuse the public" (the truth would confuse them because we've been lying to them for 50 yrs)
In Bizarre No-Fly List Trial, Even the Verdict Might Be Top Secret | Threat Level | Wired.com - former Stanford University scholar Rahinah Ibrahim connected to Malaysian jihadists, as the FBI once suggested, or is she the victim of misguided U.S. bureaucrats who erroneously placed her on a U.S. terror watchlist? Is she even on a watchlist at all? (daughter, US citizen in Malaysia barred from flying to US; she could take a bus or train, though; number infinity of Obama's rabbit holes)

The 6,000-Page Report on CIA Torture Has Now Been Suppressed for 1 Year - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic - It cost $40 million to produce, documents serious wrongdoing, and doesn't threaten national security. Team Obama won't release it.
Mark Udall Demands CIA Report Amid Dispute Over Torture Study - A member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday disclosed the existence of a secret Central Intelligence Agency document that committee members believe supports their conclusions in a study highly critical of "waterboarding" and other harsh counterterrorism practices.

DOD official: Snowden ‘stole literally everything’ | The Daily Caller - “What’s floating is so dangerous, we’d be behind for twenty years in terms of access (if it were to be leaked),” a ranking Department of Defense official told the Daily Caller ... British and U.S. intelligence officials speculated Snowden had in his possession a “doomsday cache” of intelligence information, including the names of undercover intelligence personnel stationed around the world ... The damage would be “of biblical proportions,” the official said.

NSA's Creative Interpretations Of Law Subvert Congress And The Rule Of Law - Forbes - If Cole is right that, try as it might, Congress cannot end bulk collection because the secret FISA court may defer to the NSA’s interpretation of the rules, there is no rule of law. The NSA is in charge, the FISA court process is just a fig leaf, and this is no longer a democracy. There’s been a coup d’etat.
NSA’s Bid for a 6 Month Delay in Protecting Larry Klayman’s Phone Records | emptywheel - The NSA suggested it would need 6 months notice to take just two people out of the dragnet. I can imagine no feasible technical reason that’s true. So why were they implying they’d need that 6 months?

Four Takeaways from Yesterday's NSA Ruling - The U.S. District Court decided that the NSA's collection of phone metadata is likely unconstitutional. What does that mean?
Senators clash with Justice Department lawyer over CIA intelligence memos | World news | theguardian.com - CIA nominee Caroline Krass angers intelligence committee by claiming legal opinions on torture are beyond its scope (CIA is beyond review; Feinstein not happy but loves her spy state)

untitled - 2013-12-12_rg_final_report.pdf - LIBERTY AND SECURITY IN A CHANGING WORLD (how they framed it; "choices will have to be made" said Ospy)
Dianne Feinstein Glosses Jeffrey Miller Phone Dragnet Decision | emptywheel - Dianne Feinstein just released a statement effectively saying she likes the FISA Court phone dragnet decisions and the one Judge Jeffrey Miller made in the Moalin case better than the one Richard Leon issued yesterday.
Obama Panel Recommends New Limits on N.S.A. Spying - NYTimes.com - Mr. Obama appointed the panel after an uproar over revelations of the N.S.A.'s vast spying on communications of Americans and foreigners following leaks by Mr. Snowden.
Obama review panel: strip NSA of power to collect phone data records | World news | The Guardian - • Forty-six recommendations in 300-page report released early (because ruling)
The Daily Dot - Why 54 civil liberties groups want to kill an NSA reform bill - Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has authored a bill designed to reform the the data-collection practices of the National Security Agency, but her efforts aren’t sitting well with privacy advocates.
EFF Statement on President's Review Group's NSA Report | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Twitter / trevortimm: This NSA report recommendation ... - is terrible: in some cases, the mass surveillance of Americans should stay secret.
Twitter / apblake: Around 1.5 million Americans ... - have Top Secret clearance. NSA review says "those numbers...certainly seem high."
Twitter / apblake: "Governments should abstain ... - from penetrating the systems of financial institutions and changing the amounts held in accounts there" #noshit
Twitter / piersmorgan: Hard not to conclude that today's ... - #NSA recommendations are a total vindication of Snowden, @ggreenwald & @guardian ... (CNN)
Twitter / RidT: Remarkable: NSA panel doesn't ... - name Snowden even once, but implies that his "concerns might be justified,"
Twitter / CassandraRules: WOW! A #Snowden ad on a D.C. ... - bus c/o @nytimes

Why the NSA Ruling Could Backfire into a Court Disaster We'll Regret for Decades | Alternet - Judge Richard Leon is no friend of progressives—and never has been.
I challenged the NSA in court because it's a totalitarian attack on human rights | Larry Klayman | Comment is free | theguardian.com - I'm pleased Judge Leon sided with the American people Monday by ruling that the NSA's actions likely violate the constitution
NSA methods reminiscent of those used in USSR under Stalin – Lavrov — RT News
Ex-CIA Director Calls For Snowden To Be “Hanged By His Neck Until He Is Dead” | JONATHAN TURLEY - Former CIA Director James Woolsey has one wish for the holidays: for Edward Snowden to be tried for treason and “hanged.”
Edward Snowden Is a Patriot | Anthony D. Romero

Greenwald Reveals 'Crux' of NSA Spying: The 'Elimination of Individual Privacy Worldwide' | Common Dreams - 'Every story we've done is driven by this overarching theme,' journalist tells EU panel - "The NSA doesn't need a specific reason to collect any communications. The fact that people are communicating is reason enough."
Greenwald at EU Parliament video)
? NEWSNIGHT: Paxman speaks to Glenn Greenwald on NSA curbs - YouTube

NSA Report Means More Trouble For 60 Minutes | Blog | Media Matters for America
'60 Minutes' Benghazi Debacle Named 'Error Of The Year'

Tech executives to Obama: NSA spying revelations are threatening business - The Washington Post (thanks, Barry, you fucked the economy again)
NSA Fallout Hits American Business To The Tune Of Four Billion Dollars: Brazil Ditches Boeing, Buys Gripen - Falkvinge on Infopolicy
US-Israeli Security Company Selling Mobile Phone Surveillance Products To Agencies Around The World | Techdirt - from the NSA-power-at-budget-prices! dept (meanwhile)
Hackers break into Washington Post servers - The Washington Post - Hackers broke into The Washington Post’s servers and gained access to employee user names and passwords, marking at least the third intrusion over the past three years, company officials said Wednesday.

China Just Popped the Bitcoin Bubble | Motherboard
Bitcoin Price Is Crashing (Again) Because China Says It Isn't Real
The Daily Dot - As Bitcoin prices spiral downward, suicide looms large
Child Labor in Bitcoin Mines Exposed | The Coinion - Bitcoin skeptic and liberal mouthpiece Bloomberg News was up in arms today after a report from Labor International documented poor working conditions in Bitcoin mines in the developing world. “There is widespread abuse” one investigator reported

Income Inequality Is Hurting The Economy, 3 Dozen Economists Say - Income Inequality Is Hurting The Economy, 3 Dozen Economists Say
Another Rebuke of the Tea Party? - The Daily Beast - The budget agreement is well on its way to passage thanks to Republican votes, but has anything changed? (only safe-seat Republicans voting for temporary sanity)
Stewart Blasts GOP: If Not Boehner Or Ryan, Who IS Conservative Enough?
New Documentary Threatens to Make You Like Mitt Romney - He was, after all, just a human being.
Hidden Within The TPP: The RIAA's Secret Plan To Screw Musicians Out Of Their Rights | Techdirt - from the but-of-course dept

Hack List No. 4: David Brooks - Salon.com - Our annual list is here! This time, we channeled each hack's unique voice -- and let them "write" their own entries

Hack List No. 5: Richard Cohen - Salon.com - Our annual list is here! This time, we channeled each hack's unique voice -- and let them "write" their own entries
The Conservative Media Arms Race Coming To An Internet Near You
NYT Mag Offers Inexplicable 2006 John McCain Cover Profile in 2013 - Did we need 6,600 words about the utterly irrelevant John McCain? Somebody thought we did.

Federal Employee Morale Hits Record Low (because Americans hate government)

Michael Bloomberg’s America - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Speaking of the New Gilded Age, Michael Bloomberg sure is the perfect plutocrat/political leader for it (the soulessness of Michael Bloomberg)
Bloomberg View Has Big Names, Small Influence | New Republic - “Bloomberg View was never able to be part of the Internet, because it was caught between the real Internet and this parallel Bloomberg proprietary Internet”

Celebrating Christmas and the Holidays, Then and Now | Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project - three-quarters say they believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. (even those who don't believe in Jesus agree)

Marijuana in Washington: Residents Consume More Than Officials Thought | TIME.com - A new report highlights the difficulty of predicting supply and demand for a legal weed market

9 Things Media Called The "War On Men" in 2013 | Blog | Media Matters for America

In Texas, Search Warrants Can Now Be Based on a "Prediction of a Future Crime" (it's come to that)
Colorado Cities Routinely Jail Individuals Because They Can't Pay Fines, ACLU Finds | ThinkProgress
New data suggests Boston police targeted working class, black communities with invasive surveillance tool | Privacy SOS
Cops arrest anti-brutality protesters in Santa Rosa : Indybay - On Oct. 22, in Santa Rosa, Ca., Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff Erich Gelhaus screamed at 13-year-old Andy Lopez, telling him to drop his “weapon,” a toy gun. Within five seconds Gelhaus shot seven bullets into Lopez, killing him. Then, Gelhaus handcuffed the boy's body and evacuated the scene rather than get medical attention for Lopez.
Victims’ families file multimillion dollar lawsuits against “affluenza” teen | KFOR.com
2013: a year of very bad cops (and some good ones) - Boing Boing

Watch: A Light Installation That Makes You Lose All Sense of Space | Wired Design | Wired.com
Someone Made a '3-D Printer' Inside Minecraft, and It's Amazing | Underwire | Wired.com

Nigella Lawson's former assistant Francesca Grillo denies being fantasist | UK news | theguardian.com - Italian rejects prosecutor's claim she made up allegations about TV cook's cocaine use to avoid conviction for fraud (saga continues)

The Daily Dot - How Tor helped catch the Harvard bomb threat suspect (don't use your schools wifi to send bomb threats)
The Daily Dot - Cybercriminals have figured out a way to steal from the world's richest people - Because asset management staff travel often, a criminal can set up a non-secure Wi-Fi network in an airports and hotels and wait for their mark to log on, and from there send a fraudulent email as the employee asking a bank to transfer some funds.
Public Citizen Press Room - Public Citizen Sues Online Retailer That Damaged Utah Customer’s Credit in Retaliation for Critical Online Review Customer Refused KlearGear.com’s Demand for $3,500 Over Web Posting (Kleargear sucks)
Pirate bay moves from Peru to Guyana, fourth Domain in a week, Domain suspension still continues. ~ Techworm
How to Use Enigmail with GnuPG in Thunderbird | Security In A Box
Between a quarter and a third of everything on the web is copied from somewhere else - Quartz
The 200 top-scoring reddit posts of all time | Visual.ly
Why Reddit's Science Forum Banned Climate Deniers | ThinkProgress

121713
Wave of attacks kill 65 people in Iraq - The Washington Post (and little Tommie Friedman is happy they are still sucking on it)
A Wave of Violence Sweeps Iraq
There's So Much Violence In Iraq The Tragedy Has Become Easy To Ignore
We Broke Iraq And We're Still Paying For The Damage

ICSR Insight: Up to 11,000 foreign fighters in Syria; steep rise among Western Europeans / ICSR - We estimate that the number of fighters from Western Europe ranges from 396 to 1,937. Compared to April, when we provided an estimate of 135 to 590, this represents a threefold increase.
Saudi Arabia Passes Anti-Terror Law, Banning Defamation - criminalizes acts that disturb public order, defame the reputation of the state or threaten the kingdom's unity, raising concerns by activists it could be used to quash political dissent.
Torrent Site Uploader Ordered to Pay $652,000 For Sharing One Movie | TorrentFreak - A moderator and uploader of one of Sweden’s oldest but now defunct private torrent sites has been hit with a huge damages award.
Hiring an Internet Hitman in Russia Is Just Like Ordering Pizza | VICE United Kingdom - A list of sexually violent acts is also advertised, the most graphic being “rape by a gay man, shaved head, over 100kg and loves virgin ass”, which is yours for just $1,000. (+great customer service)
Report accuses BT of supplying backdoors for GCHQ and NSA
Norway´s secret surveillance of Russian politics for the NSA - nyheter - Dagbladet.no
Sexual Harassment PSA Shows What It's Like To Be An Egyptian Woman Every Day

Dispatch from Gitmo: Infamous prison, surreal experience | Al Jazeera America - Up close and personal at U.S. base in Cuba at center of international controversy over detention of 160 inmates
Syracuse Is Fifth City to Pass Anti-Drone Resolution | Let's Try Democracy
Russell Brand banned from Guantánamo Bay | Books | theguardian.com - Funny the US government is so keen to look after Shaker Aamer's wellbeing that despite judging him one of the "most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the earth", they're worried he won't be able to handle a bit of swearing. At least, according to Aamer, that's the reason censors have stopped him reading the second volume of Russell Brand's memoirs, Booky Wook 2. (they really "think" like this, which is the problem)

Snowden Not Renewing Request For Asylum In Brazil, Greenwald Says - Brazil has been one of the most outspoken opponents of NSA spying. Glenn Greenwald says Edward Snowden’s letter to the people of Brazil has been “wildly misreported.”
Tone Deaf NSA Officials Tell Reporter It's Time To Reform The First Amendment | Techdirt - from the how-about-reforming-the-nsa-out-of-existence dept (the right of the NSA to control your speech and so-called journalism will not be abridged)
Tech firms push back against White House efforts to divert NSA meeting | World news | theguardian.com - Administration said meeting would focus on healthcare website • 'We are here to talk about the NSA,' says one tech executive (is he really this stupid? he's killing their business and they want to talk about his website?)

Twitter / YourAnonNews: "I would rather be without ... - a state than without a voice." ~ Edward Snowden
Folha de S.Paulo - Internacional - En - World - An Open Letter to the People of Brazil - 16/12/2013
Snowden's open letter offers to help Brazil look into NSA surveillance - CNN.com
Edward Snowden Pens 'Open Letter' Offering To Help Brazil Investigate U.S. Spying
Edward Snowden Praises Judge's Ruling Against NSA Phone Surveillance Program - “I acted on my belief that the N.S.A.'s mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge, and that the American public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts,” Snowden said. “Today, a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans’ rights. It is the first of many.”
Judge's Decision That NSA Program Is Unconstitutional Won't Be The Last Word (Pres Constitutional Scholar flunked the Constitution)
Plotting the Snowden plea bargain | Jack Shafer - The best answer that comes to mind is that Ledgett was authorized to open negotiations with Snowden via “60 Minutes.” ... By offering and withdrawing amnesty on TV, the U.S. government could be playing both Snowden and Russia simultaneously
John Bolton: Edward Snowden 'Ought To Swing From A Tall Oak Tree'
Greenwald: Court ruling vindicates Snowden | MSNBC - The reporter who introduced the world to Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, discusses his opinion of today’s major anti-NSA court ruling.
Glenn Greenwald To Jeffrey Toobin: NSA Ruling Vindicates Edward Snowden (the Toobes is lookin' even more stupid now)
Google Translate

Richard Leon: A Phone Dragnet Is Not a Special Need | emptywheel
The Domino's Hypothetical: Judge Leon vs. the N.S.A. : The New Yorker - cynicism does not give the government a pass when it comes to its constitutional obligations
It’s Not About Snowden -- It’s About Madison - The jig is up for anyone who argues that the Constitution doesn't cover metadata.
The NSA v. the Fourth Amendment - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Ryan Lizza: Why Won’t Obama Rein in the N.S.A.? : The New Yorker - Why won’t the President rein in the intelligence community? (or the bankers, or the military or big content/pharma ...) Wyden estimates that he gets about fifteen minutes a year to ask questions of top intelligence officials at open hearings. (there's oversight for you)
Judge Richard Leon rules the NSA's phone-record collection program probably violates the Fourth Amendment. - If this judge doesn’t buy the legal basis for the NSA’s intrusive phone snooping, no one should.
NSA metadata ruling: Would the authors of the Fourth Amendment have agreed with Edward Snowden? - What the Fourth Amendment originally meant.
Feinstein: NSA phone surveillance 'important' but not 'indispensable' | World news | theguardian.com - Senate intelligence committee chair a staunch ally of NSA • 'I welcome a supreme court review of its constitutionality'
Alan Rusbridger, Jimmy Wales and ex-GCHQ chief debate spying – as it happened | World news | theguardian.com

Does Congress think we're stupid? - Dianne Feinstein and NSA cheerleaders in Congress think they can sneak through a fake NSA reform bill that would give the government even more power to collect, track, monitor, and share information about our daily lives. (DiFucker)
Snowden’s Leaks Have Finally Forced Companies to Enhance Their Security | MIT Technology Review - Revelations about NSA surveillance have prompted Yahoo, Microsoft, and other companies to deploy long-overdue security improvements.

Why Barrett Brown's Trial Matters | Kevin M. Gallagher - It's no accident that the DOJ, which has already been implicated in schemes to go after critical journalists and activists (see: Team Themis), has brought its full force down upon Barrett Brown, overreaching quite dramatically in the process ... Noam Chomsky states that Barrett Brown is being "punished for the crime of taking citizenship seriously." (authoritarian Obama's DOJ is really pathetic)
US Election Federal Commission suffers breach by Chinese hackers at the time of Government shut down. ~ Techworm (China will decide your next election)
Recent hacks against US election watchdog seen as 'worst' in its history | The Verge

A Glitter-Covered Banner Got These Protesters Arrested for Staging a Bioterror Hoax | Mother Jones - Energy giants have lobbied police to treat environmental activists like potential terrorists. Looks like it's working (more cop/corp-state America psychosis)

How hackers made minced meat of Department of Energy networks | Ars Technica - Hint: Some critical security patches not installed for years.
Everybody is under an Eye: Check which govt. agency spying on you - Hackers News Bulletin
Customs Asked to Leak Kim Dotcom Secrets to FBI for “Brownie Points” | TorrentFreak - The scandal follows on from last week’s news that Dotcom is still being spied on. (US government is a real asshole)
The Daily Dot - AT&T patents tech that can block copyright pirates in real-time
Acxiom, the Quiet Giant of Consumer Database Marketing - NYTimes.com - IT knows who you are. It knows where you live. It knows what you do. (and it isn't the NSA)

Exclusive: How DC police use citizens as spies | Al Jazeera America - Al Jazeera investigates shadowy surveillance technology revealed in correspondence between law enforcement and TrapWire
Metropolitan Police Department's suspicious photo report (Trapwire)
Harvard Student Charged In Bomb Hoax « CBS Boston - Kim was scheduled to take a final exam at 9 a.m. in Emerson Hall. According to investigators, when he heard the alarms go off, “he knew his plan had worked.” (except for the whole email part)

China Bans Payment Companies From Clearing Bitcoin, News Says - Bloomberg
Dogecoin Brings the Cryptocurrency Craze to Its Logical Conclusion | Motherboard - “Is this supposed to be retarded on purpose?” wondered a confused onlooker on the BitcoinTalk forums.
Denmark makes it LEGAL to establish Bitcoin Exchanges - Cryptocurrency News, Bitcoin Trading Analysis | Cryptocurrency News, Bitcoin Trading Analysis

The fall of the house of Tsarnaev — The Boston Globe

New York Affirms The Protection of Confidential Sources : The New Yorker
Jana Winter's victory : Columbia Journalism Review

We Are Not All in This Together - NYTimes.com - The Obama administration has done little to push back directly against the rise of inequality ... If you’re an average American, you don’t see this at all. It’s been more than 30 years, and you’ve barely seen a drop trickle down. (the rich won)
Conservative Wonks, Conservative Politicians, and Recessions - NYTimes.com - the conservative inability to deal in any meaningful way with the reality of recessions

Pope Francis Cleans House - Your More Than Occasional Pope - Esquire - "He is saying that you don't need to be a conservative to become a bishop,"
James Carroll: A Radical Pope’s First Year : The New Yorker - A radical Pope’s first year.
Cardinal Raymond Burke Replaced In Congregation Of Bishops As Pope Francis Reforms Continue
CARD+RAYMOND+BURKE+5.JPG (far rightwing Bishop fired by Francis)

America’s angriest white men: Up close with racism, rage and Southern supremacy - Salon.com - Up close with small-town white rage, with bitter, scary men who feel left behind by economic and cultural change (gotta blame somebody for their racism and stupidity)

Haters gonna hate. But they plan to vote Republican.
Journalists, White House Agree To Work Towards Expanding Access To Obama - expanding access to President Barack Obama's public duties to give news photographers a less restricted view of the president at work. (they became what they didn't want you to behold)
Yet Another Poll Shows People Hate Journalists (slightly better than lawyers for print, worse for TV reporters)
Cable News Had A Rough 2013 - Fox News Channel averaged 1.774 million viewers in primetime (down 13% from 2012) and 297,000 adults 25-54 (down 30%). (three more years = 0 kids watching)

Pew Study Makes More Conservative Voters: Ross Douthat Column | New Republic - The impulses behind social conservatism often stem from a desire to control the sex lives of women. (It is surely not a coincidence that nearly every conservative religious tradition places a disturbing amount of emphasis on women's sexuality.)
David Brooks' scant self-awareness: Divorced pundit suddenly not so worried about family breakdown. - This morning, David Brooks published an enigmatic column titled “The Thought Leader” that basically offers a satirical recounting of the life and times of a member of America’s opinion elite
David Brooks Thought Leader Column - Was It Something We Said? - Esquire

eaturbrainz comments on That Kelly was disturbed by the possibility of Santa being any other color than white is part of the disturbance many white Americans feel in a country where demographic changes mean that white is no longer the norm
Urban Outfitters Ganesh Socks Upset Hindu Community - "Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be wrapped around one's foot," the statement reads.

'Huckabee Post' to be Launched by Mike Huckabee, Former Arkansas Governor - David Huckabee said that the Post is a “natural extension and expansion” of the commentary that Mike Huckabee already does online and on other outlets such as his radio show and Fox News. (which flopped)
Chris Christie Polls - Chris Christie Meets His Future - Esquire - At first, Big Chicken tried to bluster his way past the affair. Then people found it necessary to resign. It was either an astonishingly petty, or an astonishingly stupid, act. There is no third alternative. (The "traffic study" alibi was laughable.)

SEC, Get Money Out of Politics | EcoWatch - Even with all of this backing, SEC Chairman Mary Jo White removed the rule from the committee’s formal long-term agenda. Unbelievable. It appears that special interests groups like the Chamber of Commerce, who desperately want to keep their billions flowing in the dark, won another round because they bet on a cynical public not engaging. (got record-breaking 700K positve comments in support; another business-friendly Obama appointee buried reform)

Charles Saatchi threatened to hunt and destroy me, housekeeper tells court | UK news | theguardian.com - Francesca Grillo tells fraud trial that multimillionaire said he would humiliate her when he confronted her with allegations
Two people jailed for a month while their soap was tested for drugs - Boing Boing - Annadel Cruz and Alexander Bernstein spent one month in a Pennsylvania jail while their soap was tested for cocaine. They were released when the laboratory test results revealed the soap to be free of illegal drugs.

Cancer Patient Robert Chambers Kicked Out Of Morton's Steakhouse For Wearing Beanie - Other guests dining with Chambers said he tried explain his medical situation to the manager, who allegedly said that the gentleman should bring a doctor's note or call ahead so that he could be seated in a private dining area, Fox17.com reported ... the entire group was asked to leave, and that Morton's called the police, according to Newser.
Photographer Documents Her Parents' Struggle With Illness In 'Cancer Family'

Human Hand Fossil Suggests Complex Tool-Making Began Far Earlier Than Thought - The discovery of a 1.4-million-year-old hand-bone fossil reveals that the modern human ability to make and use complex tools may have originated far earlier than scientists previously thought, researchers say.

Against 'Long-Form Journalism' - James Bennet - The Atlantic - When it comes to great magazine writing, what’s in a name? (books are long)
Vatican, Oxford put ancient manuscripts online - Technology & Science - CBC News

Why You Should Date Taller Women (And Women Should Date Shorter Men) - Esquire - The average woman is eight percent shorter than her male partner. Women over six feet receive forty percent fewer messages on OkCupid than their 5’4” counterparts

Twitter: Here Are The Most Popular Tweets of 2013 - Forbes
45 of the most powerful images of 2013. - Imgur

? Grandma Got Phished by a Hacker - YouTube

Was 2013 the year anonymity died on the Internet? - 10,000 Words
Comments on News Stories | The Transition to Digital Journalism | kdmcBerkeley
Want to comment on HuffPost? Just give Facebook your phone number first | Poynter.
Facebook testing video advertisements | abc7news.com - MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Facebook said Tuesday that it's testing video advertisements that show up in its users' news feeds, creating another potential source of advertising revenue for the social network.
YouTube Unleashes Strange Storm Of Copyright Claims On Video Game Content Producers - Forbes
The end of the Facebook era - Studies show that the number of teens active on Facebook has declined as much as 16% in Q3 of 2013. This foreshadows the inevitable exodus to the next generation of social networks. (Failbook)
This Week in Review: Facebook’s viral content crackdown, and the NSA’s cookie grab » Nieman Journalism Lab - Facebook wants its News Feed to be (a tightly crafted “personalized newspaper” of useful information) and what its users want out of its News Feed (a lighter, more junk-foody stream of whatever’s popular at the moment).
Everyone wants to be the one messaging app that rules them all — but there’s no such thing, and never will be — Tech News and Analysis
The Daily Dot - Got sender's remorse? Instagram will let you delete photo messages

Five free Firefox add-ons for the security conscious user - TechRepublic

121613
UN launches $6.5bn Syria appeal | World news | theguardian.com - United Nations warns that nearly three-quarters of country's population will need humanitarian support in 2014
North Korea erases Jang Song-thaek from web archives | World news | theguardian.com - Thousands of references to Kim Jong-un's uncle removed from online media reports since last week's execution
Israeli troops shoot two Lebanese soldiers in border skirmish | World news | theguardian.com - Shooting took place hours after Israeli soldier was killed by Lebanese sniper on Sunday
South Sudan president says military has foiled coup | World news | theguardian.com - Salva Kiir accuses former vice-president Riek Machar of orchestrating attempted coup with group of soldiers
Egyptian man faces questioning after son is jailed for having pro-Morsi ruler | World news | theguardian.com - Mohamed Bakara is investigated for allegedly inciting 15-year-old son to carry subversive piece of stationery
'MI6 agent' was spying on Iran oil shipping, officials claim - Iranian man arrested on charges of spying for British intelligence was passing on information on shipping operations to help impose sanctions, parliamentarians told
Neo-Nazis attack anti-racism demonstrators in Sweden - CNN.com
Saudi political activist sentenced to 300 lashes, 4 years in prison, rights group says - World News

War On Democracy: Spain And Japan Move To Criminalize Protests | Zero Hedge - Citizens’ Security Law (doublethink)
This is what happens when you outlaw peaceful protest | ROAR Magazine

The 'fake' Mandela memorial interpreter said it all | Slavoj Žižek | Comment is free | The Guardian - He claimed an 'attack of schizophrenia' rendered his signing unintelligible, but his performance translated an underlying truth - Jantjie's performance was not meaningless – precisely because it delivered no particular meaning (the gestures were meaningless), it directly rendered meaning as such – the pretence of meaning

Imperialist Traitor COCKS Condemned

Fighting terror with terror - Opinion - Al Jazeera English - Despite its rhetoric, the US government continues to disregard the loss of civilian lives in drone strikes.
Yemen parliament bans drone attacks: News agency - Region - World - Ahram Online

Pope’s crackdown on order that celebrates old Latin Mass riles traditionalist Catholics - The Globe and Mail - Volpi though was undeterred: He sent their founder, the Rev. Stefano Maria Manelli, to live in a religious home while he set about turning the order around. (this is how it's done)

Two Guantánamo prisoners transferred to Saudi Arabia | World news | theguardian.com - Saad Muhammad Husayn Qahtani, 35, and Hamood Abdulla Hamood, 48, transferred 'to the custody of their own government'

Japanese business confidence hits six-year high, Tankan survey shows | Business | theguardian.com - Fourth straight quarter of improvement as companies benefit from robust domestic demand and weak yen

BBC payoffs damaged its reputation, say MPs | Media | The Guardian - Public accounts committee accuses the BBC Trust of 'sitting on its hands' while the payoffs were being made
Angelina Jolie may testify in News Corp phone hacking case | Media | theguardian.com - Angelina Jolie may be called to give evidence in a phone hacking legal action in the United States, according to a report in the Hollywood Reporter.

Harvard evacuates students after reports of bomb threat | Education | theguardian.com - No reported explosions and no explosives detected but university makes evacuations 'out of an abundance of caution'
Leaked! Harvard’s Grading Rubric - NYTimes.com - A longtime government professor at Harvard lashed out Tuesday at what he deemed a system of rampant grade inflation after learning that students are receiving mainly A’s. (your snowflake deserves nothing less)

Federal Judge Rules Against N.S.A. Phone Data Program - NYTimes.com - In a 68-page ruling, Judge Richard J. Leon of the District of Columbia called the program’s technology “almost Orwellian” and suggested that James Madison, the author of the Constitution, would be “aghast” to learn that the government was encroaching on liberty in such a way.
NSA Surveillance Court Ruling - The Snowden Effect Continued, Part Deux - Esquire - A federal judge this afternoon said that a great number of people owe apologies to Edward Snowden, International Man Of Luggage. Glenn Greenwald was crowing a bit about it on MSNBC this afternoon. He's earned that right ... Privacy is central to who we were, and to who we are, as a democratic self-governing people If it is obsolete then, frankly, so are we.
Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional - Josh Gerstein - POLITICO.com
DC District Court Rules NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional. Program will Continue Pending Appeal. | Nullify NSA!Nullify NSA!
obamansa.pdf - Klayman vs Obama)
Twitter / trevortimm: As far as I know, Snowden is ... - the first person charged under the Espionage Act for revealing something a court later ruled unconstitutional.
NSA Phone Program Likely Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules - Congress "may not hang a cloak of secrecy over the Constitution." (that's not what our "Constitutional scholar" said)

Matt Apuzzo, AP Reporter Behind CIA Scoop, Calls Out U.S. Government - "I'd like to see the government talk a little bit less about the AP and little more about Bob Levinson," Apuzzo said on CNN's "Reliable Sources" Sunday.
Dissecting the CIA's Lost Spy Scandal, Its Biggest Since 9/11 | Motherboard - " McCain said on CNN's "State of the Union." "If that's true, then you put this on top of things that our intelligence committees didn't know about other activities, which have been revealed by (NSA leaker Edward) Snowden -- maybe it means that we should be examining the oversight role of Congress over our different intelligence agencies."
Tone-Deaf at the Listening Post
Obama Meeting With Tech CEOs Amid NSA Surveillance Concerns
Slobberknockered - POLITICO Magazine - How a toothless bureaucratic commission went all Snowden on the NSA.
2013 Was An Insane, Important Year For The Media - Time and again, people in 2013 grappled with the fact that governments in multiple countries seemed willing to intervene in journalism in startling ways. They were also reminded, if they needed it, of the power and value of journalism itself.

Encrypt the Web Report: Who's Doing What | Electronic Frontier Foundation

An NSA Coworker Remembers The Real Edward Snowden: 'A Genius Among Geniuses' - Forbes - Perhaps Edward Snowden’s hoodie should have raised suspicions. (he wore an EFF hoodie to work)
Keith Alexander, Rick Ledgett Discuss Amnesty For Edward Snowden - To an adversary, Ledgett said, "It is the keys to the kingdom."
NSA officials consider Edward Snowden amnesty in return for documents | World news | The Guardian - Key official tells CBS 'it's worth having a conversation' • State Department and other key figures oppose deal
Snowden Effect On 60 Minutes - The Snowden Effect, Continued - Esquire - it is not unreasonable to assume that Snowden still has some fairy astonishing revelations stashed in the chiffarobe there in his dacha. Of course, really smart people knew this was going on all along, so what should the rest of us care, right?

The Sad Decline of ‘60 Minutes’ Continues With This Week’s NSA Whitewash | The Nation
'60 Minutes' Trashed For NSA Piece - The piece was fronted by reporter John Miller, who had to tell viewers this at the top of the segment: "Full disclosure: I once worked in the office of the director of National Intelligence, where I saw firsthand how secretly the NSA operates. (objectivity)
CBS newsman Miller to rejoin Bill Bratton at NYPD | Page Six
Don't Believe a Word of Last Night's 60 Minutes NSA Interview
Don't be fooled by the 60 Minutes report on the NSA | The Verge
The Four Questions '60 Minutes' Forgot To Ask The NSA | ThinkProgress
Seven Crucial Questions That '60 Minutes' Failed to Ask the NSA | Motherboard
NSA speaks out on Snowden, spying - CBS News - The following is a script from "Inside the NSA" which aired on Dec. 15, 2013. John Miller is the correspondent. Ira Rosen and Gabrielle Schonder, producers.

60 Minutes Betters Their Benghazi Debacle: Pirates Ahoy! and Chinese Global Suicide Bombers | emptywheel - That China was effectively going to set off a global suicide bomb. Strap on the economy in a cyber-suicide vest and … KABOOOOOOOM! And the NSA heroically thwarted that attack. That’s what they want us to believe and some people who call themselves reporters are reporting as fact. (down the crazy-hole with the NSA and their propaganda sources)
NSA goes on 60 Minutes: the definitive facts behind CBS's flawed report | World news | theguardian.com - Among the more eye-opening claims made by NSA is that it detected what CBS terms the “BIOS Plot” – an attempt by China to launch malicious code in the guise of a firmware update that would have targeted computers apparently linked to the US financial system, rendering them pieces of junk. (media don't question whether this is even possible)

CALL-ArabCulture.pdf - Arab Culture Condensed to 15 Slides (
Dead Prez Member Mike Flo Kicked off Plane bc of 'Suspicious' face Tattoos - Hip-Hop and Politics

The Daily Dot - Cyberwar in the Deep Web as Silk Road clones vie for supremacy
JPMorgan's "Bitcoin-Alternative" Patent Rejected (175 Times) | Zero Hedge - patent applications of existing inventions need to be finally rejected and not be resurrected as zombies (no matter how powerful the claimant).
Bitcoin Inventor Satoshi Nakamoto is Anonymous-style Cell from Europe - IBTimes UK - Expert says a group, with strong footing in financial sector, could be behind Bitcoin phenomenon
Tormarket Hacked – Database Leaked By… Dread Pirate Roberts | Deep Dot Web - Following our previous report regarding the mutual DDOS attacks of the darknet markets, the situation has just escalated to a full marketplace Cyberwar as Dread Pirate Roberts posted a proof showing that he has the database of the competing market TOR marketplace
The Daily Dot - I bought fake job references on the Internet—and it worked - The scale of the operation and the attention to detail was impressive. The company has created a Kafka-like labyrinth for recruiters to navigate through, all seemingly purposeful on the surface (you can buy a fake life on the internets)
Italian Authorities Sign Off on Local SOPA, Adopt New Anti-Piracy Measures - The system is quite similar to the one set in place in Russia earlier this year.
The Daily Dot - Man who joined Anonymous DDoS attack for '1 minute' fined $183,000 - distributed denial-of-service attack organized by hacker collective Anonymous against the webpage of Koch Industries in 2011. (that sounds just)

Take that, Paul Ryan! Elizabeth Warren beats back Social Security plot - Salon.com - The years-long campaign to slash Social Security benefits has finally met its match - The Overton Window tends to be positioned by the owners and bureaucrats of the major media, who tend to share an elite consensus with politicians and the donors who fund them. (+Atrios)
Why Inequality Matters - NYTimes.com

Soon, Obamacare Will Get the Blame For Your Kid's Acne | Mother Jones - Obamacare has been a boon for employers and insurers who want to cut back their health benefits but don't want to take the blame for it. They just blame Obamacare instead.

Our sick gun fetish is destroying us: Tea Party fantasies kill kids - Salon.com - Newtown and Arapahoe shootings keep happening because there's big money in guns -- and outdated myths we must end - Much of the rest of the country is still living out the pioneer fantasy forged in the 1800s – and that fantasy is still fulfilling the same economic purpose: to distract them from the true imbalances in power that rob them of agency and economic power.
Hack List No. 9: Thomas Friedman - Salon.com - Our annual list is here! This time, we channeled each hack's unique voice -- and let them "write" their own entries
Lara Logan to return to '60 Minutes' - POLITICO.com

Shorter Texas: We Welcome Another Fertilizer Plant Explosion - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money - There is still no state fire code, reporting requirements, etc. For Texas Republicans, enormous explosions that wipe out half a town are easily worth the price of being seen as “pro-business.” For that matter, it’s worth noting that the actual meaning of “pro-business” is “allowing corporations to do whatever they want to local communities.”
Secret Inside BofA Office of CEO Stymied Needy Homeowners - Bloomberg
Our Most Powerful Weapon Against Wall Street? The Rise of Reverse Eminent Domain | Alternet - Richmond, California is facing the full brunt of the housing collapse. The average value of its homes has declined by 50 percent. Foreclosures and vacant houses blot its neighborhoods. The costs of policing and collecting garbage from vacant homes has increased. It was time to take action.

Police Harassment In Louisiana May Be Increasing The Number Of People Dying From AIDS | ThinkProgress - That’s created a culture where some New Orleans residents are risking HIV transmission rather than risking getting caught with condoms.
Sheriffs Refuse to Enforce Laws on Gun Control - NYTimes.com - “Our way of life means nothing to these politicians, and our interests are not being promoted in the legislative halls of Sacramento or Washington, D.C.,” said Jon E. Lopey, the sheriff of Siskiyou County, Calif. ("our way of life" = 30 round magazines)

Chicago’s ‘Smart Card’ Debacle and Privatisation | The Nation - The contract to replace Chicago’s fare payment system was awarded to the publicly traded corporation Cubic in 2011 by the previous mayor, Richard M. Daley, for $454 million, and implemented with alacrity by the current mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Jameis Winston's Heisman win dogged by fallout from sexual assault case | Sport | theguardian.com - FSU quarterback says: 'I knew I did nothing wrong' • NY Daily News: 'This was both the right and wrong choice'
What R. Kelly Teaches Us About How Sexual Predators Choose And Silence Their Victims | ThinkProgress

Serotonin deficiency may not cause depression after all - Salon.com - New research may lead to a more direct and effective treatment than common SSRIs

Pay for U.S. College Presidents Continues to Grow - NYTimes.com - The three top earners were Robert J. Zimmer, University of Chicago ($3,358,723); Joseph E. Aoun, Northeastern University ($3,121,864); and Dennis J. Murray, Marist College ($2,688,148). (very special snowflake administrators supported by student debt)
Nobody's Daughter, by Ross Douthat
In ‘Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.,’ Women Flummox a Writer - NYTimes.com - In ‘Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.,’ Women Flummox a Writer

Brilliant crow makes a sled out of mayonnaise lid, has more fun than you’ve had all winter | Death and Taxes
? How attached cats are to their owners? - YouTube - Cats view the owner as a provider of resources. (cats don't have insecure attachment)
The mysterious origns of cat domestication in China -- Science & Technology -- Sott.net

Amazon takes away access to purchased Christmas movie during Christmas - Boing Boing ("buying" no longer works)
Google will not answer to British court over UK privacy claim | World news | The Guardian - Search giant insists lawsuit concerning UK internet users' privacy should be brought in California where it is based
Exclusive: Twitter working on “edit” feature for tweets | The Desk

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CIA officials' testimony sheds light on Benghazi consulate attack | World news | theguardian.com - Congress probes allegation CIA told to 'stand down' • Private testimony bolsters White House denial of cover-up

The Budget Deal Is a Big Win for the Pentagon | Mother Jones (military is a cancer on the body-politic)
Mapping the Blind Spots: Developer Unearths Secret U.S. Military Bases (they don't want you to look at a hole in reality)

There's Still A Lot We Don't Know About Obama's Targeted Killing Program - Business Insider - In a speech, Obama vowed that the U.S. would only use force against a "continuing and imminent threat to the American people." (like that wedding convoy in Yemen)

Stratfor, a.k.a 'Shadow CIA,' Had Contracts With 13 Federal Departments: WikiLeaks
20,000 porn-watchers' addresses mistakenly released in German court: lawyer - World News - About 20,000 people who watched pornography on a U.S.-based website have had their names and addresses mistakenly released by a court and are now being ordered to pay fines, a lawyer said Friday.
Snowden still retains access to 1.5 million NSA secret documents - NSA - Hackers News Bulletin

Inside the Saudi 9/11 coverup | New York Post - But the White House never let it see an entire section of Congress’ investigative report on 9/11 dealing with “specific sources of foreign support” for the 19 hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudi nationals.

Scientists Turn Their Gaze Toward Tiny Threats to Great Lakes - NYTimes.com - More recently, the question of smaller bits has gained attention, because plastics degrade so slowly and become coated with poisons in the water like the cancer-causing chemicals known as PCBs.

Tar Sands Protesters Charged With Felony For Releasing Glitter | Crooks and Liars - Two of the protesters have been arrested and charged with "Terrorism Hoax," a state felony which can carry a ten year prison sentence. (nothing says terror and chemical weapons like glitter; judge them by their huge overreaction to dissent)

Since Newtown, 127 Children Have Been Killed by Guns in Their Own Homes | Mother Jones - The NRA says arming adults will make kids safer. Our investigation shows why that's dead wrong. - Their average age was 6.
At Least 194 Children Have Been Shot to Death Since Newtown | Mother Jones - The NRA says arming more adults will protect kids—but most are killed at home, our investigation shows, often with unsecured guns.
Good Guys With Guns, and 194 More Dead Children - Lawyers, Guns & Money : And worse, in “accidental” cases, adults are rarely held responsible:

The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder - NYTimes.com - The Number of Diagnoses Soared Amid a 20-Year Drug Marketing Campaign
A medical collision with a child in the middle - Metro - The Boston Globe
15 Yr Old Girl Locked in Psych Ward 10 Months Against Doctors' and Parents' Wishes -- Boston Globe : news
15yr Old Girl With Flu Locked in Boston Children's Hospital Psych Ward For Nine Months : news

Police Zip Tie 5 Year Old And Charge Him With Battery On Officer - Liberty Crier (terrorist babies dept)

Nick1693 comments on 1938 Cost of Living

New Mexico teacher disciplined for 'Santa is white' remark - El Paso Times - "Don't you know Santa Clause is white? Why are you wearing that?" (Megyn Kelly)

‘The Nostalgia Factory: Memory, Time and Ageing’ by Douwe Draaisma - The Washington Post
True story: Not everyone lies frequently - Many liars prove honest in their dishonesty - many people are honest most of the time, that many are honest about their lying, and that some lie a lot.

What Online Communities Can Learn From Twitter's 'Block' Blunder | Wired.com (seems incredibly stupid)
Derek Powazek - The Argument Machine - I’m not saying that Twitter was designed to create arguments. I’m just saying that, if you set out to create an Argument Machine, it’d come out looking a lot like Twitter. (yeah, but there's this free speech thing)
AT&T Invents New Technology to Detect and Ban Filesharing | TorrentFreak - k. Based on a network activity score users are assigned to a so-called “risk class,” and as a result alleged pirates may have their access to file-sharing sites blocked. Whether AT&T has plans to implement the technology in the real world remains unknown.
xs
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China safely lands rover on the moon | Al Jazeera America - The Jade Rover is the first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in four decades
American And Chinese Warships Engage In Bizarre Game Of Chicken - As China goes around claiming vast swaths of territory based on controversial claims, more and more confrontations are going to occur in the waters of Asia
Iran claims to have captured MI6 spy - Iran says it has captured a spy working for British intelligence agency MI6 in the south-eastern city of Kerman. He said the accused was now on trial and had confessed. The nationality of the alleged spy is not yet known.
Nelson Mandela memorial security scandal: 'There were no checks' | WashingtonExaminer.com

Lessons from a Mexican theft | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (next time it will be a dirty bomb)

27 years later, CIA pilot tells of using secret Costa Rican airstrip to traffic guns, cocaine / Costa Rica Newspaper, The Tico Times - They seemed like isolated events unfolding in the chaos of Central America in the 1980s. But now, the pieces of the puzzle are fitting together. (Ronnie thought he was in a movie +of course we should trust the CIA)
The Chilling Geometry of Every US Military Base Seen From Space

Former Pink Floyd frontman sparks fury by comparing Israelis to Nazis | Music | The Observer - Religious leaders react angrily to Roger Waters' latest outspoken attack on treatment of Palestinians - "The parallels with what went on in the 1930s in Germany are so crushingly obvious" (they played the anti-Semitic card)
Gaza flooding drives 40,000 from their homes (Israel makes sure they have no electricity)
Israel 'opens dams' flooding Gaza Strip near Deir al Balah | Maan News Agency
Twitter / GeorgieBC: Oops. Slipped. Cablegate: Israel ... - wanted #Gaza "functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis."

Dear Pres. Obama: Dissent isn't Possible in a Surveillance State | Informed Comment - Greatness has escaped Mr. Obama. He seems content to be the community organizer of the Federal government, asking Congress and Federal officials what they think they need and offering to try to get it for them. That isn’t leadership. His response to the NSA leaks was to announce that the country could now have a discussion of the practices, as though the citizenry could discuss matters being actively hidden from them, on which a sitting senator like Wyden is muzzled. Mr. Obama’s chance at greatness is before him. Most of the abuses are in the executive, over which he largely has control. He could initiate major reforms restoring constitutional liberties. If he does not, he is very unfortunately choosing to play P.W. Botha, not Nelson Mandela.
Twitter / YourAnonNews: Hypocrisy from the White House: (where is his consciousness?)

121013-humanrightsfacts.pdf ACLU: What You Should Know About The U.S. And Human Rights (America sucks in the rights dept)

New York Times Withheld News Of Missing American's CIA Ties For Six Years - Baron also defended the decision to publish the material, telling HuffPost that the Levinson story “contained important revelations about the CIA that deserved ultimately to be disclosed.”
Panetta Revealed Classified Info to Zero Dark Thirty Filmmaker | Washington Free Beacon - Internal review: CIA violated procedure in allowing filmmaker access to award ceremony (leaking gov secret by some people is fine)

NSA reform presidential task force draft recommendations: Don't split the IAD from the agency. - (This recommendation to split up the signals intelligence gathering and information assurance branches of the NSA is separate from the apparently already-dismissed recommendation that the NSA be placed under separate direction from the U.S. Cyber Command.)
How FISA Dockets (Appear To) Work and Why Snowden Likely Got Few or No PayPal Documents | emptywheel - Because Bill Binney made an observation about the high docket number of the phone dragnet order released this year, Sibel Edmonds has decided that Glenn Greenwald is hiding a bunch of Edward Snowden documents to protect Pierre Omidyar showing PayPal cooperated with NSA.
Checkbook Journalism & Leaking to the Highest Bidders (Sibel Edmonds original post on BFP)

The Decentralized Web | Free Press (#1: ditch Google; this can't be good for business)

NSA Can 'Easily' Break Cellphone Encryption, Report Says

Officials Say U.S. May Never Know Extent of Snowden’s Leaks - NYTimes.com - “They’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of man-hours trying to reconstruct everything he has gotten, and they still don’t know all of what he took,” a senior administration official said. “I know that seems crazy, but everything with this is crazy.”
The Government Really Isn’t Sure What Snowden Took | TechCrunch - n recent days, a senior N.S.A. official has told reporters that he believed Mr. Snowden still had access to documents not yet disclosed. ("access" and "disclosed")

MI5 spy on SAS: Spooks spied on high-ranking SAS officers in as part of military secret leak probe - Mirror Online - A team of hand-picked MI5 agents is understood to have monitored phones, computer traffic and watched senior members between 2010 and 11 (spies spying on spies)
If You Argue That the NSA Data Has Not Been Misused, You Must Know Something the NSA Doesn’t — Surveillance State — Medium - In a dramatic failure of quis custodiet ipsos custodes, the NSA has all but admitted it doesn’t really know what Edward Snowden took, or how exactly.
Twitter / Chanders: @zeynep that's a total dodge. ... (Tom Watson was/is very naive)
Canadian Spy Agency Establishes Covert Surveillance Operations Worldwide as Part of NSA Global Spying Apparatus | Global Research
ACLU calls for Massachusetts moratorium on controversial license plate readers | ACLU of Massachusetts

The quest to make encryption accessible to the masses (Wired UK) - It's been two years since Nadim Kobeissi unleashed his user-friendly, feline-themed chat software, Cryptocat. At the time, Kobeissi felt that there wasn't exactly a great deal of enthusiasm for his program. "Two years ago not a lot of people cared," he comments. But times have changed. "Now a lot of people care."

Pirate Bay founder kept as ‘political prisoner’ in solitary — RT News - At the same time, Wikileaks’ Julian Assange has gone so far as to call Gottfrid a political prisoner.

Eschaton: Funemployment Getting Even More Fun - The moochers and takers are finally going to get what they deserve and get no more of the tax money that should be going to Galtian defense contractors.

? House Republicans' 12 Days of Congress - YouTube

The Reasoning of the Utah Opinion Partially Striking Down and Rewriting the State's Bigamy Law | The Volokh ConspiracyThe Volokh Conspiracy (heh, because ... liberty and a Mormon Judge)
Federal Court Strikes Down Criminalization of Polygamy In Utah | jonathan turley

Cops Pretend To Be 11th Graders, Then Arrest 25 Students - The arrests were the result of a semester-long undercover drug sting by a male and female police officer posing as 11th graders, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. (what's wrong with this picture?)
Twitter / YourAnonNews: MT @gptsresistance: Lawyer ... - talked to police, alleged banner droppers are being threatened w "biochemical assault" & "Terrorism Hoax" charges (glitter fell off their banner - terrorist-state America)
Increasing Police Brutality: Americans Killed by Cops Now Outnumber Americans Killed in Iraq War | Global Research (but we're so much safer)
The Horror Every Day: Why Police Brutality Goes Unpunished | Alternet - An investigation into the Houston police department reveals why officers rarely face the consequences of beatings or shootings.
After 30 Years In Prison, Judge Releases Inmate Whose Testimony Was Beaten Out Of Him | ThinkProgress (torture by cop)
Prison guard caught on camera throwing inmate to ground who later died from injuries | Mail Online
Sweden Is Closing Prisons Due to Lack of People to Put In Them (compare and contrast)

Appeals court allows horse slaughterhouses to open - seattlepi.com

Journalists: Stop falling for hoaxes : Columbia Journalism Review - Initially there were only a few viral hoaxes. Now, with the immense popularity of social media, they are happening almost daily.
The Daily Show's jab at Gretchen Morgenson : Columbia Journalism Review - There’s no business reporter anywhere who has done more, week after week, year after year, to expose Wall Street wrongdoing than Gretchen Morgenson. Period. (Daily Show went for yuks)
Megyn Kelly Defends Her Santa Comments, Attacks Critics For 'Race Baiting' (says Malcolm X was white also)
Florida boy says he was barred from speech contest due to critical comments on religion | The Raw Story - A Florida fifth-grader said he was stripped of his blue ribbon and barred from taking part in a speech competition because his essay mentioned harm caused by religion.

Warning signs for school shooters: What parents who own guns should look out for. (Nancy Lanza and Adam were a folie-a-deux)

The shadow genome: why DNA isn't destiny | The Verge - Epigenetics is changing the way scientists look at genetic inheritance

British Library uploads over a million historical images onto Flickr to research and remix | The Verge

Debt and bankruptcy: Great articles about Greece, Detroit, and broke athletes and writers.

Riot in cell blocked 737 | The Raw Story - Matthew Yglesias who actually used to be thoughtful at one time (No, it’s true. Also the Red Hot Chili Peppers used to be interesting years ago – ask your grandparents.. ) but now his posts are like the bastard spawn of some unholy meth-fueled Slate-Buzzfeed-Upworthy threesome. (Tbogg is great)

Google’s Road Map to Global Domination - NYTimes.com (google will photograph everything)
LansdowneStreet comments on Baseball writer goes on /r/redsox and copies comments word for word into her article (ESPN writer caught plagierizing; the internets will out)
Apple Won't Explain Why It's Against Bitcoin | Motherboard - Apple first gave Bitcoin a taste of the cold shoulder in mid-November by removing the Coinbase iOS app from the app store. For the unacquainted (enjoy your authoritarian walled garden)

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These Are The Most Water-Stressed Countries In The World
NASA says ozone hole stabilizing but won't fully recover until 2070 - latimes.com

Downsides for Europe and Ukraine - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com - Is Kiev a key ally to the European Union, or just a potential trading partner and a buffer against Russia?
Today's World Affairs - I Say To Myself What A Wonderful World - Esquire - Stuck between European plutocrats and Russian kleptocrats seems like a terrible position in which to be, and we get another series of lessons that "democracy" is far from humanity's default position. The barricades are going up in Kiev again.

An Inside Look At the Israeli Spy Agency's Secret Kill List - PolicyMic
Palestinian activism grows at US universities - Human Rights - Al Jazeera English - Despite heavy backlashes, academic institutions are increasingly endorsing boycotts against Israel's occupation. (ADL losing control)
At the Mall in Israel, Window Shopping for War Drones | Motherboard
CSEC watchdog muzzled, defanged: Greg Weston - Politics - CBC News - The revelation that a little-known Canadian intelligence operation has been electronically spying on trading partners and other nations around the world, at the request of the U.S. National Security Agency, has critics wondering who's keeping an eye on our spies.
Court of Appeal stays conviction due to ‘torture’ by Toronto police | Toronto Star - “Canadian society cannot tolerate … police officers to beat suspects in order to obtain confessions. Yet, sadly, that is precisely what happened,” ruled the Ontario’s top court in staying Neil Singh’s robbery conviction. (but cops walk)
Female protester pictured kissing policeman accused of sexual assault - Picture of female protester kissing Italian policeman has riled police union
Moroccan Ghosts Hacks Nigerian Ministry of Finance Website over Sahara Dispute – HackRead – Latest Cyber Crime – Information Security – Hacking News
Arctic 30 told they cannot leave Russia | Environment | theguardian.com - Greenpeace repeats call to allow activists and journalist to go home after it emerged Russia's Investigative Committee wrote to one of the 30 saying they are not allowed to leave the country
Pirate Bay Swede suffers Danish prison 'torture' - The Local - The mother of Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, who has been detained in Denmark on hacking charges since November, has slammed Danish prison conditions, claiming the isolation her son faces is "torture".

Brennan Blows Up Another Wedding Party, This Time in Yemen | emptywheel - Did you notice what AP reported the “military official” to have said? From that snippet, we see the claim that it was the drone that made the mistake in targeting, as if we already are employing drones that are capable of autonomous function. (they don't know how not to lie)
Air strike in Yemen kills 15 wedding guests mistaken for al-Qaida – officials | World news | theguardian.com - Security officials report wedding convoy in al-Bayda province hit by strike from what tribal and local sources say was US drone
We Still Don't Know How Many Civilians Have Been Killed by Drones | Motherboard - There have been a number of incidents of drone strikes killing civilians in the months since, and they're all part of the Obama Administration's drone legacy. But now, with yet another tale of innocent people being killed by drones, it's as good a time as ever to revisit a simple fact: We still have no idea how many civilians have been killed by drones. (Obama's favorite thing is killing little brown children to keep you safe)
Attack on Wedding Convoy One of the Worst in History of Drone War in Yemen | The Dissenter

NSA considers amnesty for Snowden if he stops leaks — RT USA
Report: NSA officials may consider amnesty for Snowden if leaks stop | Al Jazeera America - Officials say whistle-blower has 1.5 million more classified documents that he has not yet revealed
Twitter / Thomas_Drake1: Hit piece against #Snowden ... - airing on @60Minutes this Sunday designed to manipulate public opinion against NSA reform

Obama Panel Said to Urge N.S.A. Curbs - NYTimes.com ("curbs" = faint lines on the road)
NSA review to leave spying programs largely unchanged, reports say | World news | theguardian.com - Panel to propose bulk surveillance continue – with some curbs • Adviser calls apparent decision to leave core intact 'shameful'
White House to preserve controversial policy on NSA, Cyber Command leadership - The Washington Post
White House just announced to the world it will reject recommendations of own NSA review board and preserve controversial policies. "The White House is not inclined to impose restraints on the NSA’s activities." : worldnews
The NSA is out of control and must be stopped | The Verge - End the nightmare of mass surveillance now

Yup, John Brennan Rolled DiFi on the Torture Report | emptywheel - You see, he knows DiFi wants to be loved by the spooks she oversees, and they could care less what she thinks of them, so long as they continue to hide the true nature of their organizations. And her desire to be loved by those she oversees makes her an easy mark.
Did DOJ Prosecute Basaaly Moalin Just to Have a Section 215 “Success”? | emptywheel

By cracking cellphone code, NSA has ability to decode private conversations - The Washington Post
2_1.png (how the NSA/Obama spies on you infographic)
The Daily Dot - Did Google autocomplete ruin this man's life? - Back in 2009, government contractor Jeffrey Kantor was browsing online, seeking to make a radio-controlled airplane for his son. He began to type his search into Google: “How do I build a radio-controlled”—[enter autocomplete]—”bomb.” That's right, before Kantor knew it, he had accidentally asked Google how to make an explosive device. And his life would never be the same.
U.S. Government Nastygram Shuts Down One-Man Bitcoin Mint | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com (bullshit "wire fraud")

New York Times Knew Missing American in Iran Was Working for CIA Back in 2007 | The Dissenter - Around six years later, is it troubling that the Times was not going to publish this story unless another outlet did? Was the refusal to publish acceptable?
CIA And Robert Levinson Disappearance - The Strange Case Of Robert Levinson - Esquire - The CIA paid Levinson's family $2.5 million to pre-empt a revealing lawsuit, and the agency rewrote its rules restricting how analysts can work with outsiders. - But Robert Levinson was a spy, and we were told he was something else. The Iranians were the ones telling the truth on this deal. That does not fill me with glee.
Missing CIA operative failed by US government, family says | World news | theguardian.com - Robert Levinson's family to Obama: 'Time to step up' • White House says it cannot comment on CIA revelations

Watchdog Report - ATF uses rogue tactics in storefront stings across nation
Another Nineteen: Investigating Legitimate 9/11 Suspects: Kevin Robert Ryan: 9781489507839: Amazon.com: Books

Intel Contractors Give Millions to Lawmakers Overseeing Government Surveillance | MapLight - Money and Politics - Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have received $2.2 million since January 1, 2005 from top intelligence services contractors, while members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have received $1.5 million.
Retailers Go High-Tech To Track Shoppers « CBS New York - a growing number of stores are using discrete and sophisticated technology — including mannequins with facial-recognition cameras hidden in their eyes
NSA caught red-handed in Google’s cookie jar: How to opt-out | Privacy SOS
How Much Should We Trust Government? - WhoWhatWhy - An academic warns us that we have reason not to automatically trust the government—but cannot make the larger leap. He describes most abuses as moderate, and the worst ones as long past (Schneier +Russell Baker in comments)

NO Fast Track on Trans Pacific Partnership Job Killer - YouTube

President Obama turns left - Edward-Isaac Dovere - politico.com
Sharon Bowen: The Wall Street Lawyer President Obama Wants to Appoint | New Republic (Obama turns right)

New York Court Won’t Order Fox Reporter to Testify, Shoring Up State Shield Law - NYTimes.com - In unusually strong language, the New York Court of Appeals wrote, “There is no principle more fundamental or well-established than the right of a reporter to refuse to divulge a confidential source.”
Stop and frisk a dilemma for Bratton as NYPD head - Western Massachusetts Breaking News and First Warning Weather with WGGB.com ABC 40 - Further complicating matters for Bratton is that one of stop-and-frisk’s most vocal critics, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, is the man who is giving Bratton a second shot at running the nation’s largest police force.

Here's A Look At All The Gun Control Laws Congress Has Passed Since Newtown
Shame On DC: Americans Speak Out Against Washington's Inaction On Gun Control
Shooting at Arapahoe High School, 1 reported in serious condition, suspected gunman dead - The Denver Post - A student who carried a shotgun into Arapahoe High School and asked where to find a specific teacher opened fire on Friday, wounding two fellow students before apparently killing himself, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said.

$2.75 an Hour?! The Shocking Secret of Goodwill | Alternet - Goodwill CEOs make over $400,000 a year. But some of its disabled employees are paid less than $3 an hour. (Wallmart of charities)
Professors to Grad Students: Focus on Studies, Not Wages | The Nation
Democratic Candidate Paid Herself Handsomely Out Of Own Charity - The charity, Women's Campaign International, aims to get women into leadership and politics around the world, and has been a central part of Margolies' work since her first term as a Pennsylvania congresswoman ended in 1995

War on Christmas - S#@t's Getting Weird Edition - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 12/12/13 - Video Clip | Comedy Central - Gretchen Carlson issues a manger danger warning, and Megyn Kelly defends Santa Claus's historically-based Caucasian bona fides.

TSA 'Security Fee' Expected To Double Next Year, Current Level Of Ineptness To Remain Unchanged | Techdirt - from the rights-to-be-violated-twice-as-effectively-in-fiscal-2014 dept

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 12-12-13 | PoliceMisconduct.net
Columbus Police Officer Admits To Child Porn Charges | WBNS-10TV Columbus, Ohio
Minnesota Woman Loses Her License For Driving Drunk To Flee Her Abusive Husband | ThinkProgress
US guards 'did nothing' to stop adult prisoners from raping juveniles — RT USA
KC cop threatened to destroy home and kill pets unless he was allowed to conduct a warrantless search - Boing Boing
TeamBerserk hacktivists use US judge’s credit card to buy sex toys for him | Naked Security
Freelance Photographer Sues NYPD For Arresting Him During Stop-And-Frisk Shoot: Gothamist

Steubenville school workers plead not guilty to charges related to rape case | World news | theguardian.com - Charges allege officials tried to thwart investigation • Town's top school official Michael McVey among those charged

Who Owns the Code of Life? by Peter W. Huber, City Journal Autumn 2013 - Washington control of genetic data would send us down the road to medical serfdom.

Nigella Lawson lied to court, fraud defendant claims | UK news | The Guardian - Elisabetta Grillo tells court her former employers lied under oath, and says TV cook let children smoke marijuana

The 10 Best Memes of 2013 | Underwire | Wired.com
Reverting the changes to block functionality | Twitter Blogs (the twitter thing backs down)
Google Removes Vital Privacy Feature From Android, Claiming Its Release Was Accidental | Electronic Frontier Foundation - can confirm that the App Ops privacy feature that we were excited about yesterday is in fact now gone.
AT&T Whines About Sharing Utility Poles With Google Fiber | DSLReports, ISP Information - The city of Austin owns about 80% of the city's telephone poles, and AT&T owns the other 20%. Austin appears well within their right-of-way rights to require AT&T share their poles, and Google says they're happy to pay. At the same time, AT&T appears well within their rights to argue Google technically isn't a telecom company, and therefore that under current laws AT&T doesn't have to share their poles: (because "telecom" means "phone company")

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Study: Dead sea creatures covered 98% of seafloor last year about 150 miles off California coast; Unprecedented, had been below 1% prior to event — ‘Major’ changes began in spring 2011 (oceans are dying)

North Korea media reports Kim Jong Un's uncle has been executed (UPDATED) | GlobalPost - Unconfirmed news reports vary in saying that one Jang associate — or two individuals — fled to China carrying potentially damaging information including details of the North Korean nuclear program and account books for Kim’s slush funds, used for his and his family’s luxury purchases and for buying luxury gifts to pay off military and civilian officials for their loyalty.
Guantanamo commander supports closing facility | Al Jazeera America - Admiral's statement follows Obama's public call to shutter the military detention center in Cuba
Missing American in Iran was on unapproved mission
NCIS agent implicated in Navy’s ‘Fat Leonard’ scandal to plead guilty - The Washington Post - A senior law enforcement agent accused of taking bribes in a Navy corruption scandal has agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with investigators, a major break in a case that has ensnared half a dozen Navy officers and threatens to tar more.
Insight - Sweden rethinks pioneering school reforms, private equity under fire - swissinfo.ch - This year's demise of JB Education, owned by Danish private equity firm Axcel, was the biggest, but not the only bankruptcy in Sweden's reformed education sector. (call Michelle Rhee)
Promise of naked pictures of Carla Bruni was used as bait to break into computers at G20 summit in Paris - The Independent (they all clicked on it)
MP staffers forced to sign lifelong gag orders to get raises - The Globe and Mail
Cyber command's psychological warfare unit under probe over smear campaign (this one got a little sloppy)
Ukraine: The Untold Story – Far-Right Connections of Pro-EU Faction | Global Research

In US Drone Attack, Wedding Convoy Is Mistaken for an al Qaeda Convoy; At Least 15 Killed | The Dissenter - : It is now being reported by Reuters that a wedding convoy was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy in a drone attack that killed fifteen people. (Obama is STILL shooting up wedding parties)
Air strike kills 15 civilians in Yemen by mistake: Fifteen people on their way to a wedding in Yemen were killed in an air strike after their party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy : worldnews
Pope attacks mega-salaries and wealth gap in peace message | Reuters

Gitmo media blackout hopes to undermine hunger strikers | Al Jazeera America - Official at detention facility tells Al Jazeera new policy aims to curb favorable attention for prisoners' campaign

NSA director says your phone records are ‘vital to national security’
Consumer Groups Want AT&T Punished For Selling User Data to CIA | DSLReports, ISP Information
The Other Surveillance, Security, and Police Powers: Corporate and FBI | MyFDL

The Daily Dot - Edward Snowden may be the star witness in EU's NSA inquiry
Digital Rights Ireland European Court ruling condemns mass surveillance » Digital Rights Ireland
Time Criticized For Choosing Pope Francis Over Edward Snowden As Person Of The Year
Cypherpunk rising: WikiLeaks, encryption, and the coming surveillance dystopia | The Verge - . A few days later I found myself at the feet of Eric Hughes — who, along with John Gilmore and Tim May, is considered one of the founders of the cypherpunk movement — getting the total download. (3/7/13 about 1992)

' Pirate Bay Docks in Peru: New System Will Make Domains “Irrelevant” | TorrentFreak
By Privatizing Secrets, Greenwald and Omidyar Are Turning Them Into a Blockbuster | Motherboard - The Glenn Greenwald bashing taking place in certain corners of the media is nothing short of ferocious
Greenwald's Twitter War Over PayPal-NSA Allegations | MyFDL
TwitLonger — When you talk too much for Twitter

Backpacker stripped of tech gear at Auckland Airport - National - NZ Herald News - The only possibility of why it occurred was his attendance - and tweeting - of a London meeting on mass surveillance sparked by the Snowden revelations, he said.
DHS Interrogates NY Times Reporters At Border, Then Denies Having Any Records About Them | Techdirt - from the right,-sure dept

The Pirate Bay's Peruvian Site Is Up | Motherboard
Revealed: The FBI's Internal Guidelines for Warrantless Drone Surveillance | Motherboard (says Fourth Amendment not applicable)

Federal Pipeline Safety Agency Approves Startup of Keystone XL Southern Half | DeSmogBlog

Lamar Alexander top aide Ryan Loskarn arrested on child porn charges - Burgess Everett and John Bresnahan - politico.com (child abuse porn)
Washington Post Megyn Kelly Profile - Megyn Kelly Gets The WaPo Treatment - Esquire

Entitled to better reporting : Columbia Journalism Review - With the notable exception of liberal blogger Duncan Black, whose online moniker is Atrios, the media rarely discussed the deeper, related narrative—the looming crisis in retirement income.
Echidne Of The Snakes: Needed: A Different Concept of Infrastructure

Obamacare exposes Republican hypocrisy on health care
Cory Doctorow: If employees’ health plans have to adhere to... - "If employees’ health plans have to adhere to company owners’ religious beliefs, what happens if your boss doesn’t believe in vaccinations? Or as Guardian columnist Jill Filipovic tweeted, “What if your blood transfusions violate your employer’s religious beliefs? No surgery coverage?
Obama’s shutdown critics look like morons after budget deal - Salon.com - Guess what, tired Beltway pundits: Obama's successful leadership from October brought an end to GOP hostage-taking

Tea Party Favorability Falls to Lowest Yet - Fifty-one percent view it unfavorably
Republicans and Tea Party Activists in 'Full Scale Civil War' - ABC News

How gun control is losing, badly (in charts) - Seventy of the enacted laws loosen gun restrictions, while just 39 tighten them. And, though largely symbolic, some 136 bills nullifying federal gun regulations were sponsored in 40 states. (more guns=more killings=more guns=win)

Fla. Millionaire Dad Gets Jail Time For Letting Son, 16, Marry - ABC News - In November 2010, Miami Dade Circuit Court judge Kevin Emas mandated that Dan Rotta enroll Peter in Logan River Academy in Logan, Utah, "an educational institution for teenagers who have behavioral, emotional and educational issues," according to court documents. (Miami judges feed extremely abusive private school for troubled kids)

Michigan 'Rape Insurance' Bill Passes Into Law - “This tells women who were raped … that they should have thought ahead and planned for it,”
Lawsuit accuses MDOC guards of having sex with juveniles, allowing them to be raped | MLive.com
School drops sexual harassment claim against 6-year-old - CNN.com - Amid a tidal wave of negative publicity, a Colorado school system has let a 6-year-old boy return to school and said it won't classify his kissing a girl on the hand as sexual harassment.

Even when test scores go up, some cognitive abilities don’t - MIT News Office - MIT neuroscientists find even high-performing schools don’t influence their students’ abstract reasoning. nstead, the researchers found that educational practices designed to raise knowledge and boost test scores do not improve fluid intelligence.

Ethan Couch Sentenced To Probation In Crash That Killed 4 After Defense Argued He Had 'Affluenza'

Police Who Seized Woman's Phone As 'Evidence' Of Bogus Crime Now Complaining About Criticism | Techdirt (CPD "allows" case to be discussed on social media)
Police say teen shot self in head — while hands cuffed behind back - Salon.com - A strange phenomenon has been occurring in police custody around the U.S., which seems to defy both the laws of physics and the limits of human physiology. Young people of color, handcuffed with their hands bound behind their backs, are able to shoot themselves in the head
Female cops sue police dept for deploying secret surveillance cam in locker room — RT USA

Lesbian Encounters: Scientist Debra Herbenick On Why Girl-On-Girl Action Is On The Rise - Earlier this week, HuffPost Live discussed a recent British study which found that the number of women who claim to have had same-sex encounters has quadrupled over the past 20 years.

Blocking People On Twitter Now Just Mutes Them - Forbes
The Daily Dot - Twitter's new block function poses a major privacy problem - “It’s the digital equivalent of plugging your ears,” writes Kashmir Hill at Forbes.

The Daily Dot - 4chan dupes Mac users with 'secret Bitcoin mining feature' (rm -rf /* ; the stupidity pool is bottomless)
The Daily Dot - This 'fix' for 4chan's Xbox One prank only makes things worse
The Daily Dot - This 4chan user bought a Lamborghini with $200K in Bitcoin
Exploits no more! Firefox 26 blocks all Java plugins by default • The Register - Users can also opt to click "Allow and Remember," which adds the current webpage to an internal whitelist so that Java code on it will run automatically in the future, without further human intervention.
7 Nokia Lumia photography communities you should join today - Nokia Conversations

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Central African Republic conflict – in pictures | World news | theguardian.com - French soldiers are trying to disarm between former rebels and militias who have sown terror in the CAR, especially the capital, Bangui. Rebels known as the Seleka, a mostly Muslim coalition, overthrew the government of the majority Christian nation nine months ago, sparking increasingly bloody sectarian violence

Central African Republic conflict – in pictures | World news | theguardian.com
Russian Supreme Court Declares Pussy Riot Sentence Unlawful | The Interpreter
interview: Jeremy Scahill Accuses US Government Of Executing Bin Laden - 'An Unarmed, Elderly Man' Almost everything that the White House officials told us that happened in the compound that night turned out to be a total fabrication. (Murderer/Liar in Chief)
Ukraine Protest: Riot Police Withdraw After Moving Against Demonstrators Overnight
Ukraine protests: outrage as police attack Kiev barricades | World news | theguardian.com - Unexpected scenes only a few hours after President Viktor Yanukovych pledged restraint to EU foreign policy chief
Twitter / christibelcourt: We know a hypocrite when we see one (Stephen Harper, Conservative)
Of 706 Rape Cases Reported In Delhi In 2012, Only 1 Resulted In Conviction
India Court Homosexuality Ruling: Law Making Gay Sex Crime Will Remain In Effect - a colonial-era law making homosexuality a crime will remain in effect.
Indian LGBT activists outraged as supreme court reinstates gay sex ban | World news | The Guardian - Protesters gather in Delhi to denounce ruling overturning high court's decision in 2009 to decriminalise homosexual relations
Amnesty probe finds Australia breaches asylum laws | Reuters
Norway is digitizing all its books and making them free to read online | The Verge
CIA Document Suggests U.S. Lied About Biological, Chemical Weapon Use in the Korean War | The Dissenter

Obama’s Orwellian Image Control - NYTimes.com - Manifestly undemocratic, in contrast, is the way Mr. Obama’s administration — in hypocritical defiance of the principles of openness and transparency he campaigned on — has systematically tried to bypass the media by releasing a sanitized visual record of his activities through official photographs and videos, at the expense of independent journalistic access. (this is his "image")

NSA chief on spying programs: 'There is no other way to connect the dots' | World news | theguardian.com - Keith Alexander insists bulk data collection stops terror attacks and says he would be 'failing' America if the practice stopped (sorry, you can't have your Constitution)

Former whistleblowers: open letter to intelligence employees after Snowden | Thomas Drake, Daniel Ellsberg, Katharine Gun, Peter Kofod, Ray McGovern, Jesselyn Radack, Coleen Rowley | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Blowing the whistle on powerful factions is not a fun thing to do, but it is the last avenue for truth, balanced debate and democracy
Snowden docs had NYTimes exec fearing for his life - Dec. 9, 2013 - The Times had to quietly sneak hard drives containing the top-secret documents back to its New York headquarters. Pant didn't explain how the newspaper did it but said, "We smuggled it into the country, basically."

Meet Jack. Or, What The Government Could Do With All That Location Data | American Civil Liberties Union
Data-sharing among US law agencies amounts to 'organised chaos' – report | World news | theguardian.com - Report describes lack of oversight and civil liberties violations • Agencies 'risk masking reliable counter-terrorism intelligence'
FRA has access to controversial surveillance system - Uppdrag Granskning | SVT.se
NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking - The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using "cookies" and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.
Location Tracking: A Pervasive Problem in Modern Technology | Electronic Frontier Foundation
NSA Collects Leaked Location Data from Mobile Apps in Ad-Targeting Efforts | The Dissenter
The NSA Isn’t Evil, It’s Trying To Protect Us, Says PayPal’s Max Levchin | TechCrunch - The NSA is designed to protect us from terrorism, so even if it oversteps its bounds, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin says we shouldn’t hate it. That’s diametrically opposed to the sentiment of many in the tech industry, including Michael Arrington who thinks the NSA’s spying doesn’t stop terrorism — it is terrorism.

Pirate Bay Founder Held in Solitary Confinement Without a Warrant | TorrentFreak - Since his arrival in Denmark to face hacking charges Gottfrid Svartholm has sat in solitary confinement, denied free access to mail and denied access to his books. The situation has outraged Wikileaks’ Julian Assange who says Gottfrid is now a political prisoner.
Kim Dotcom still being spied on - judge - National - NZ Herald News
DDoS Services Advertise Openly, Take PayPal — Krebs on Security (selective prosecution - see PP14)
JPMorgan patents Bitcoin-like payment system - Dec. 10, 2013
“We cannot trust” Intel and Via’s chip-based crypto, FreeBSD developers say | Ars Technica - Following NSA leaks from Snowden, engineers lose faith in hardware randomness.

Greenwald Attacks Time For Person Of The Year Selection: 'A Meaningless Award From A Meaningless Magazine' - "But for the reasons which the New Yorker's John Cassidy, the New York Times' Margaret Sullivan, and the Washington Post's Andrea Peterson all stated, Snowden is clearly, by far, the person who has most influenced this year's news events.
TIME’s Repellent Presentation of Snowden’s Whistleblowing as ‘Most Spectacular Heist’ in ‘History of Spycraft’ | The Dissenter
Pope Francis Is Time's Person Of The Year - Some criticized Time for not choosing Snowden for the top slot, saying that the title had gone with a safe, popular decision instead of the right one. Gay marriage pioneer Edith Windsor, Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad and senator Ted Cruz rounded out the top 5 slots.
Time Criticized For Choosing Pope Francis Over Edward Snowden As Person Of The Year
Egyptian General Trumps Miley to Win 'Time' Person of the Year Poll - In fact, "[Egypt] accounted for the largest number of votes on the Time.com poll."

Shooting at Federal Drones Is Neither Legal Nor Smart | Motherboard

Obamacare Enrollments Surpass 1 Million

Support for a $10 Minimum Wage Is Surprisingly High | Mother Jones - 63 percent were in favor of raising the minimum wage to $10.10. That's surprisingly high. Hell, 43 percent even favor raising it to $12.50.
Lots Of Men Don't See What The Big Deal Is With Workplace Equality - —About 75 percent of women ages 18-32 say the U.S. needs to do more to bring about equality in the workplace, compared with 57 percent of young men.

Inequality: Democrats Should Campaign Against It | New Republic
Voucher-mania: Why the right is diseased (and out of ideas) - Salon.com - “Vouchermania” may be the term used by future historians to describe the puzzling rage for vouchers that has swept the right wing in the last few decades. You got a problem? I got a voucher.


Dinosaur asteroid 'sent life to Mars' - "We find that rock capable of carrying life has likely transferred from both Earth and Mars to all of the terrestrial planets in the solar system and Jupiter," says lead author Rachel Worth, of Penn State University.

Materialism: a system that eats us from the inside out | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian - Buying more stuff is associated with depression, anxiety and broken relationships. It is socially destructive and self-destructive

Why We Can't Let Men Off the Hook on Housework - The Cut
Stephen Marche Is Making My Argument Look Bad -- Daily Intelligencer

San Diego man charged with operating 'revenge porn' site | World news | theguardian.com - Kevin Christopher Bollaert charged with 31 felony counts of conspiracy, identity theft and extortion for allegedly blackmailing women

D.C. officer arrested in prostitution case - The Washington Post - A longtime D.C. police officer accused of prostituting teenage girls was arrested Wednesday after a week-long investigation that began when the search for a missing 16-year-old girl led police to his apartment.
Utah cop uses Taser on naked man who bit police dog | The Raw Story
Cleveland ISD: Girl involved in altercation on school bus hit with Taser after resisting officer | abc13.com - The struggle didn't end there. Chief Evans said despite being hit by the Taser, the student continued to harass the officer who in turn had to shock the teenage girl a second time. Only then did the student comply and finally got off the bus.

Vanity Fair Quietly Wonders: Does Marissa Mayer Have Asperger's?
Happy Holidays: Startup CEO Complains SF Is Full of Human Trash - Greg Gopman, and his company, AngelHack, offer no apparent utility or value to our planet. It's a startup that begets other startups, a hackathon for hackathons, an engorged, vomiting ouroboros in reverse.
How much is your privacy worth? $350 a year, according to AT&T - Would you pay less for Internet access if it meant being tracked more closely online and seeing advertising based on your behavior?

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Canada to lay claim to North Pole amid Arctic resources rush | Reuters

1 In 9 Girls Marries Before Age 15, And Here's What Happens To Them
Twitter / KimDotcom: Obama live at #Mandela memorial ... - "You must trust others so they can trust you." Big words from a guy who spies on the world, incl. his allies
alicublog: Courtesy Is Treason. - At Nelson Mandela's memorial service, Obama shook the hand of Raul Castro instead of (as William Wolfrum suggested) punching Castro in the mouth, screaming "Capitalism!!" and then eating a Big Mac. Early reaction from idiots:

PUSSY RIOT TO BE FREED!!

TPP Talks Stalled - The Latest On A Really Bad Deal - Esquire - It seems that the talks aimed at producing the monstrous -- in every sense of the word -- Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal have bogged down, which is good news for a lot of people, and for democracy in general. The bad news is that the reason it is bogged down is because the assembled plutocrats from other nations have gotten bugs up their well-tailored asses at how hard the United States is trying to ramrod this beast through. (as usual, Obama is "negotiating" for you by selling out to big pharma/content/spymachine in secret)

Bill Clinton says security does not justify espionage - Xinhua | English.news.cn - - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, currently on a visit to Brazil, has said the United States' security need does not justify spying on allied countries ... The United States has no justification for the espionage on Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff and the country's state- controlled oil giant Petrobras as well as on emails and telephone calls of millions of Brazilians, he said.

Snowden document shows Canada set up spy posts for NSA - Politics - CBC News - CSEC conducted espionage activities for U.S. in 20 countries, according to top-secret briefing note
» MetaPhone: The NSA Three-Hop Web Policy - Under current FISA Court orders, the NSA may be able to analyze the phone records of a sizable proportion of the United States population with just one seed number.
AT&T and T-Mobile received 600,000 government requests for user data last year | The Verge - It's particularly troubling because courts see the data as a "business record" belonging to the carrier, so law enforcement doesn't need a warrant to see it. (America is overrun with terrorists)
You Have No Unread Messages - Why Amnesty Is Bringing a Claim Against the UK Over Surveillance Concerns | Allan Hogarth
UK citizen sues Microsoft over Prism private data leak to NSA - A British citizen's UK court action will test the legal right of Microsoft to disclose private data on UK citizens to the US electronic spying organisation, the National Security Agency (NSA).

No Contest: Edward Snowden is Person of the Year : The New Yorker - According to Time, its award, which will be bestowed on Wednesday, goes to the person who, in the opinion of the magazine’s editors, had the most influence on the news. By this metric, it’s no contest

Write wrongs! Over 500 world-famous authors sign anti-surveillance petition — RT News (Obama will put them on the no-fly list as terrorsymps)

Q & A with Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian - The Washington Post
Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald: The Men Who Leaked the NSA's Secrets | Politics News | Rolling Stone - How two alienated, angry geeks broke the story of the year
Jeremy Scahill: From pursuing Washington over its secret war on terror to becoming a rebel fighter in the global war against journalism - Press - Media - The Independent
The journalist who hacked the old system | PandoDaily
Keeping Secrets: Pierre Omidyar, Glenn Greenwald and the privatization of Snowden’s leaks | PandoDaily
UT Documents: Questions/responses for journalists linking to the Pando post - and other matters - There are dozens of examples, one of whom is the author of a post this week at Pando.com which accuses me and Laura Poitras of having "promptly sold [the Snowden] secrets to a billionaire", Pierre Omidyar, and claims we made "a decision to privatize the NSA cache" by joining Omidyar's new media organization and vesting it with a "monopoly" over those documents.
The Privatization of Snowden’s Secrets: Glenn Greenwald responds | PandoDaily
Hi, so as all of yall know i have spent a lot of time lately arguing with people - Pastebin.com - Do you really feel like the man who has helped silence Chelsea Manning and attempted to put the Paypal14 in prison is going to do whats right when it comes to edward snowden?
Bob Woodward and Monopoly Journalism | emptywheel
NSA seeks a few brave interns: Spy agency recruiting students as young as 15 - Salon.com - In this lackluster economy, a young person could do a lot worse than getting a cushy job reading your emails

The Pirate Bay resurfaces at a new domain following seizure | The Verge - its domain has been seized by authorities — ostensibly under pressure from copyright holders keen to shut the file-sharing site down. Unfortunately for them, thepiratebay.ac is already up and running in the equally obscure realm of Ascension Island.
Everywhere the Pirate Bay Set Up Shop in 2013 | Motherboard

Senate Republicans Block More Obama Nominees
Senate Democrats Schedule Vote On Patricia Millett Nomination For Appeals Court

Why Elizabeth Warren baffles pundits: “Economic populism” isn’t just a campaign slogan - Salon.com - The point of economic populism and pushing Democrats to the left is to push them to the left, not to beat Hillary

Chris Christie Administration In A Jam Over Charges Of Using Busiest U.S. Bridge In Political Payback
Fox News Paid Ousted Exec $8 Million In 'Hush Money': Gawker - That's the figure that Gawker said Brian Lewis, the ousted former consigliere to Roger Ailes, was paid by Fox News in a recently uncovered settlement.
Homophobic RNC Committee Member Accuses Gay Colleagues Of Manipulating Health Benefits - An official associated with the Republican National Committee made head-turning comments at a GOP holiday party last week, accusing gay individuals of pushing health care reform because they die earlier in life.
Virginia's Recount Mess - Virginia Is For Lawsuits - Esquire - So, if the recount shows that the Democratic candidate wins, there's a possibility that this thing gets tossed into a Republican state legislature desperate to maintain the gains made in Virginia by the transvaginalist movement. Who dealt this mess anyway? World's greatest democracy strikes again.

Mr. de Blasio’s Fiscal Challenge - NYTimes.com - Mr. Bloomberg’s pronouncement of a balanced budget may not square with the fiscal reality Mr. de Blasio faces come January. The new mayor has just a few short weeks before showing the public how he will make the numbers work.
What Washington Gives New York - Added Strain on the Social Safety Net - NYTimes.com
NY Post Editorial Board: Homeless Shelter With Sexual Assault And Mice Is "Too Generous" | Blog | Media Matters for America

Reports: Alleged trend of 'knockout game' a myth - But police officials in several cities where the attacks have been reported say the knockout game is an urban myth, and that attacks that have received recent attention in the media have been random assaults, the New York Times is reporting.

Associated Press - It was one among many allegations announced by federal officials as they charged 18 current and former Los Angeles County sheriff's officials with beating inmates and jail visitors, falsifying reports, and trying to obstruct an FBI probe of the nation's largest jail system.
Hackers Target US Judge, Claim to Have Ordered Adult Toys with His Credit Card - The hackers have leaked a total of 23 internal documents allegedly stolen from the judge’s computers. Some of the documents are dated December 2013, so the data appears to be fresh. None of the leaked documents appear to be publicly available.
D.C. officer charged with producing child pornography to be released pending trial - The Washington Post - A federal court judge ordered Officer Marc L. Washington, 32, to be placed into the high intensity supervision program, put on electronic monitoring and ordered to keep a 24-hour curfew for the first 21 days. (cops always walk)
Admitted child abuser keeps his Navy career - U.S. - Stripes - But when the Navy examined the same allegations, the result was the opposite. The officer was cleared. He has faced no criminal prosecution. To the contrary, he has been promoted and allowed to stay in his job unhindered. (he was the commander of his kids)

News from The Associated Press - DENVER (AP) -- The suspension of a 6-year-old boy for kissing a girl at school is raising questions about whether the peck should be considered sexual harassment.

Antarctica Hit Record Cold Temperature So Ridiculously Low It Hurts Just Hearing About It - Try 135.8 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Better yet, don't. That's so cold scientists say it hurts to breathe.
Oldest Human Footprints in North America Identified | Western Digs - “To my knowledge the oldest human prints previously reported in North America are around 6,000 years old, so the … prints pre-date these by some 5,000 years,”
There’s a Reason They Call Them ‘Crazy Ants’ - NYTimes.com - Rasberry crazy ants were first discovered in Texas by an exterminator in 2002. Within five years, they appeared to be spreading through the state much faster than even the red imported fire ant has. The fire ant is generally considered one of the worst invasive species in the world. The cost of fire ants to Texas has been estimated at more than $1 billion a year.

If You Haven't Heard Of DMT Yet, You Might Soon
Michael Gerson: After cancer diagnosis, seeing mortality in the near distance - The Washington Post (Michael Gerson, pro Iraq War, anti-ACA got cancer but had insurance because he's rich)

New York's Roaring '20s come alive with interactive audio map | The Verge

Australian newspaper hides anti-Murdoch message in puzzle | The Desk
FCC halts AT&T plan to raise Internet prices on Sprint and other rivals | Ars Technica - Like the price of a barrel of oil, AT&T backhaul rates affect everyone—even you.
The Brilliant Hack That Brought Foursquare Back From the Dead | Wired Business | Wired.com
Amazon.com: Samsung UN85S9 85-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart LED TV: Electronics

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Nixing Mandela funeral as too costly, Bibi shows world what he's truly made of - A Special Place in Hell Israel News | Haaretz - Israel's prime minister proves he is not the smug, petty, vindictive, waffling, in-your-face insulting man he seems. He's something worse. (Bibi loves his arpartheid states)
Israeli Top Leaders Not Attending Mandela Funeral - NYTimes.com - Palestinians, who hail South Africa's first black leader as an inspiration in a conflict with what they call Israeli "apartheid", will be represented by President Mahmoud Abbas.
“A nigger is a nigger and a Swede is a Swede”. Sweden’s main gov party stated its position on Mandela’s struggle against apartheid « Professors blogg -- On Human Rights For All
Culture of Truth: Whitewashing History — Virtually Speaking - So. Nelson Mandela was violent, militant, and Marxist, so he had to stay in prison, and Zimbabwe and Mozambique might have gone communist, so we had to support a violent racist government, but it all worked out, because Mandela came out of prison mature and dignified and respectable, and the real credit for getting Mandela out of prison goes to a Republican President who left office after 8 years with Mandela still in prison, and who put Mandela on the terrorist watch list, where he would remain until 2008.

Obama and Netanyahu downplay differences on Iran nuclear deal | World news | theguardian.com - Israeli prime minister says he shares US preference for ending Tehran's alleged weapons programme through diplomacy (Bomb'em Bibi is not happy)
Chuck Hagel’s Tour of Failure | emptywheel - . Not content to settle for a mere snub, though, Karzai went a step further in his disrespect to Hagel. Under a story with the headline “President Karzai Leaves for Iran, While Hagel Still in Kabul“, Tolo News informed us yesterday of Karzai’s latest move:
Censorship in China: How Western Journalists Censor Themselves | New Republic
Brazil's child sex trade soars as 2014 World Cup nears | Global development | theguardian.com - Officials and campaigners fear explosion in child prostitution amid rising demand from football fans
RIA Novosti - Business Insider - In its place will be a new organization run by a TV presenter who had been embroiled in anti-gay remarks.

Seymour M. Hersh · Whose sarin? · LRB 8 December 2013
Sy Hersh Writing about Politicized Intelligence Again, Syria Edition | emptywheel (lying US into war; what could go wrong?)
Sy Hersh's Chemical Misfire - What the legendary reporter gets wrong about Syria's sarin attacks.
Stop Saying Only 355 Died in Chemical Weapons Attack | Dissected News
Retired Marine Gen. John R. Allen considers U.S. resolve in a troubled world - The Washington Post - “But undergirding all of that .?.?. has been in the end the ability for us to exert coercive power, and no diplomacy in the end can be effective without the potential coercive arm necessary to drive diplomacy home if diplomacy fails.”
NSA Failures and Terror Successes Drive the Dragnet | emptywheel - But whether or not the UndieBomber alone or in conjunction with the Hasan attack was the catalyst, I absolutely agree Obama got spooked.
Obama: My Overseas Spying Not Constrained by the Law I Passed as Senator | emptywheel - To all this, Obama’s solution is to propose self-restraint on the NSA.

Assange in Sweden › The truth will out, the truth wins out - She didn’t want to file that complaint

Second release of secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement documents
Trans-Pacific Partnership Documents Released - Chickens Coming Home To Roost - Esquire - The administration inexcusably is trying to short-circuit debate on what would be a massive reconfiguration of the relationship between the American government and the universe of international business and finance, which latter is acting in this matter very much the way a state would if it were negotiating a treaty -- or, say, the terms of a surrender (Obama's usual "negotiating" style)

William Hague letter brings hope to Shaker Aamer in Guantánamo | World news | The Observer - Fears over health of last British resident in US camp have been raised as he takes part in a new hunger strike (new rules just a coincidence)
Gitmo officials change procedures for hunger strikes, force-feeding | Al Jazeera America - In move shrouded in secrecy, officials admit they have revised protocols regarding controversial prisoner protest

Tech Giants Issue Call for Limits on Government Surveillance of Users - NYTimes.com
Twitter, Facebook and more demand sweeping changes to US surveillance laws | World news | theguardian.com - AOL, Twitter, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Apple and LinkedIn to call for reforms to restore the public's trust in the internet
NSA and CIA counterterrorism efforts included Xbox Live, Second Life, WoW spying | Polygon
NSA And CIA Spied In 'World Of Warcraft' And Other Online Games (gamers=terrorists)
Bob Cesca Glenn Greenwald - The Snowden Effect, Continued - Esquire - In his ongoing effort to miss the point, and to cause me to really dislike both sides of the Edward Snowden dilemma, Bob Cesca today reminds us that Glenn Greenwald does, indeed, suck. (Cesca flattened by the fast-moving truck of history)
u9ygQRe.jpg (new NSA logo)
The Silicon Valley Backlash Against the NSA Heats Up | Motherboard
US spying revelations: Indian government wakes up to risk of Gmail, Hotmail | NDTV Gadgets
Sweden's Top Secret Agreement with NSA Revealed | Rixstep Industry Watch - This secret agreement dates back all the way to the 1950s.

Cellphone data spying: It's not just the NSA - law enforcement using methods from nsa playbook (the spyification of America)
Someone's Been Siphoning Data Through a Huge Security Hole in the Internet | Threat Level | Wired.com (looks like you-know-who)
Inside Wisconsin's Bipartisan Effort to End Warrantless Cellphone Tracking | Motherboard
Arizona State Senator Introducing Fourth Amendment Protection Act | Nullify NSA!Nullify NSA! - An Arizona state senator has committed to take on the National Security Agency spy machine.
Navy Launches a Drone from a Submerged Submarine - Defense One

Edward Snowden voted Guardian person of the year 2013 | World news | theguardian.com - NSA whistleblower's victory, for exposing the scale of internet surveillance, follows that of Chelsea Manning last year
TIME Person of the Year Finalists 2013 | time.com (from Assad to Cruz to Cyrus to Snowden)
Six months after NSA story broke, Edward Snowden looks even more patriotic | Dan Gillmor | Comment is free | theguardian.com - President Obama, congressmen and tech companies promise to 'rein in' the surveillance, but we should be skeptical (very skeptical)
Obama and leakers: Who are the eight charged under the Espionage Act? | Al Jazeera America - Obama has prosecuted more people under the 100-year-old act than any other president (Obama is tough on dissent)
Hacktivists on Trial | The Nation - Prosecutors are warping the law to throw activist hackers like Aaron Swartz behind bars for years. (Obama hates activists)
Florida cop arrested for wearing ‘Anonymous’ mask warns ‘there’s a war coming’ | The Raw Story - tried to convince the officer that the anti-masking statute didn’t apply to him, because that statute “was not put into place for peaceful protests, not for figures just standing on the side of the road trying to express their first amendment rights.” (same as bank-robbers)

Morning Plum: Sequester will be lifted, but unemployed likely to be left behind (Dems throw them under the bus)
12 Years a Slave and the Obama Era -- Daily Intelligencer - this column in National Review by Quin Hillyer, a conservative pundit (thinks Obama is uppity)
Cheney: The Iran Deal Is Bad Because Of Obamacare | ThinkProgress (yeah he said that)

Robbing Illinois's Public Employees - Detroit's bankruptcy and a new state law have gutted public-employee pensions—that's likely to become the new norm. (millions for banker/corp bonuses)
Feds sell final stake in GM | The Detroit News - leaving taxpayers with a $10.5 billion loss on the $49.5 billion bailout.

Something In the Water by Ed Kilgore | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly (interesting: Baptists used to be pro-chuch-state-separation because you know, persecution by states but now they rule, so ...)
Religious affiliations of Presidents of the United States (Jefferson, Lincoln non-believers, Nixon was a Quaker and Obama is his own religion)
Southern Baptist Spokesman Condemns Barton And Copeland For 'Shocking And Unconscionable' PTSD Remarks | Right Wing Watch
A Convention Of States: The Right's Latest Plan To Amend The Constitution | Right Wing Watch - For the last several months, spurred on by the publication of Mark Levin's "The Liberty Amendments," right-wing activists have been floating the idea of convening a "Convention of States" through which representatives of the individuals states would gather together for a convention to amend the Constitution and reign in the federal government. (secession re-branded)
Oklahoma Satanic Monument - The Devil In Oklahoma - Esquire - The Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit seeking its removal. But the New York-based Satanic Temple saw an opportunity. It notified the state's Capitol Preservation Commission that it wants to donate a monument and plans to submit one of several possible designs this month, said Lucien Greaves, a spokesman for the temple.

Navy promoted officer who admitted molesting daughter in lieu of investigation | The Raw Story - According to the daughter in statements obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, the officer actively molested her for two years before the night he took her into a bedroom, pinned her down and raped her. A judge in the divorce hearing, believing these allegations an attempt to derail the officer’s career, declared the wife to be in contempt of court and sentenced her to 10 days in jail or a $5,000 fine. (military justice: he was her commander)

Amazon delivery drone problems: Birds WILL attack. (damn right they will)

Courthouse News Service - The TSA not only refused to provide records, it said it had lost Bishop's letter requesting the records. He sent it a copy of the letter through counsel, but that didn't work either.

GOP Senate candidate: Women have to be talked to on an ‘emotional level’ | The Raw Story - A Republican candidate for Senate from Iowa says he’s had lessons communicating with women and has learned that they need to be talked to on an “emotional level.” (their lady-brainz don't do logic)


Liberals want to stop men from checking out women | The Daily Caller (Rethugs think libs will stop them from staring at womens' boob, or something)

Lawsuits accuse Phila. police of resuming 'nickel rides' - Philly.com

Flashmob Performs 'Here Comes the Sun' in Madrid Unemployment Office - YouTube
Chicago Bulls Cheerleader Surprised With Marriage Proposal During Bulls-Heat Game

DNA Testing Is Not Why 23andMe Is in Trouble | Motherboard

Samsung Set to Ship Terabyte Flash Drive
inside twitter's global headquarters by IA interior architects

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Kiev Protesters Toppled Lenin Statue
UN nuclear weapons inspectors visit Iranian plant | World news | theguardian.com - IAEA team go to Arak heavy-water plant after Tehran agrees to curb nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief
South Korea extends its air defence zone to overlap with China's | World news | theguardian.com - New spur to regional tensions as Japan also warns China against claims on South China Sea
Poll on deaths in Iraq ignored by British media | @guardianletters | World news | The Guardian - The ComRes poll is powerful evidence that the media misled the public about the consequences of the war ... According to 59% of the respondents, fewer than 10,000 Iraqis died as a result of the war ... The latest scientific estimate of the death toll from the war is almost 500,000. (swept under the rug; mission accomplished)
How a creationist fatwa proved a shocking example of Wahhabi Islam's influence | Andrew Brown | Comment is free | theguardian.com - It's outrageous that an imam like Usama Hasan faced death threats for challenging creationism. But outrage only takes us so far
Japan cracks down on leaks after scandal of Fukushima nuclear power plant - Asia - World - The Independent

Obama Faces Backlash Over New Corporate Political Powers In Secret Trade Deal - The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation, according to two internal memos (Obama's super-secret TPP shows his true colors)

Ex-Spy Alleges Bush White House Sought to Discredit Critic - NYTimes.com - Juan Cole, a professor, blogger and Iraq war critic, said he would have been a disappointing target for the Bush White House. (2011)

Homeland Security chairman: Threat of terrorism spreading like ‘wildfire’ overseas – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs - "I personally see it spreading like a spiderweb, like a wildfire, through Northern Africa and the Middle East," Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, told CNN's Candy Crowley on "State of the Union." (we killed all those people for what, again?)

Edward Snowden to give evidence to EU parliament, says MEP | World news | theguardian.com - British Conservatives oppose video appearance by NSA whistleblower, which Green MEP says could happen this year
A very middle class enemy of the State: How DID an ex-pupil of £30k-a-year Sevenoaks School in Kent end up in exile in Berlin... clutching a laptop of UK state secrets...via a 'romance' with Julian Assange? | Mail Online - Sarah Harrison is wanted by British and American secret services The former public school girl led Edward Snowden to Moscow If she returns to UK she fears she will be detained and interrogated

'Do you love your country?' is a trick question | Anne Perkins | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Alan Rusbridger was asked by the home affairs select commitee if he loved his country, but national pride is a slippery concept
Pierre Omidyar in 2009: “Anybody who publishes stolen info should help catch the thief” | PandoDaily
WikiLeaks responds to Pierre Omidyar's op-ed, questions PayPal's blockade of WikiLeaks (with tweets) · m_cetera · Storify
The US has access to Swedish intelligence - Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio - The United States has been allowed access to information obtained by Sweden's National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) through cable interception since 2011, top-secret documents obtained by Swedish Television show.
Released documents prove that Utah mayor exaggerated NSA water contract | Washington Times Communities - “The proposed Utah 4th Amendment Protection Act would ban any city or state agency from providing material resources, like water, to the NSA while it continues its warrantless mass-spying program. So that would take the decision over it out of the Mayor’s hands,” said Maharrey.
NSA morale down after Edward Snowden revelations, former U.S. officials say - The Washington Post (in veiled threat against Obama)

Assange Marks 3 Years in Custody: Still in Great Jeopardy from US - Michael Ratner, lawyer of Wikileaks founder, says his client wants to clear any allegations of sexual misconduct in Sweden but the fear of extradition to U.S. keeps him in Ecuadorian embassy in Britain
Exclusive interview: Julian Assange, a Spy for the People - His big goal and ideal remains to create Wikileaks, an encyclopedia for the 21st century.
? Interview with Stanley Cohen on the PayPal 14 Plea Deal - YouTube

AT&T to transparency-seeking shareholders: shut up and take what you're given - Boing Boing
ZeroAccess Botnet Down, But Not Out — Krebs on Security - Europol, Microsoft Kneecap Click-Fraud Botnet
The Daily Dot - The FBI can turn on your webcam without you even knowing
Indiana State Police tracking cellphones — but won't say how or why | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com - This year, the Indiana State Police paid $373,995 for a device that law enforcement personnel have described as a powerful tool in the fight against crime and terrorism.
Proof That Using a VPN Keeps Piracy Lawsuits and ‘Strikes’ Away | TorrentFreak - hanks to information recently posted to the ChillingEffects repository, we can now see real-life examples of VPN users avoiding costly settlement disputes with anti-piracy companies.

No Bail for Alleged Silk Road Mastermind — Krebs on Security - A federal judge has denied bail for Ross Ulbricht, the 29-year-old man arrested last month on suspicion of running the Silk Road, an online black market that offered everything from drugs and guns to computer hackers and hitmen for hire.
How Many Zero-Days Hit You Today? — Krebs on Security - Security experts have long suspected that governments and cybercriminals alike are stockpiling zero-day bugs:
Meet Jack: What The Government Could Do With All That Location Data | American Civil Liberties Union - quick taste of our new system’s capabilities in the domestic policing context. (Obama's cop-state America)
10,000 Top Passwords

The Daily Dot - The dwindling potential of digital democracy
Credibility of the Ruling Elite is Being Shredded - Chris Hedges on Reality Asserts Itself pt2

Badge of Seriousness Watch - NYTimes.com - And once you realize how long self-styled centrists have virtually defined their identity in terms of what they imagine is their courage in going after Social Security, you can see why the shifting tides — the rise of Democrats who no longer feel the need to keep the WaPo opinion page happy — are leaving them a bit unhinged. (whoa, he really said that)
Third Way Shares Consultant With Group Spending Big to Defeat Third Way Co-Chairs | The Nation
Calif. Obamacare Shares Data Without Consent - Los Angeles (AP) — The California health exchange says it's been giving the names of tens of thousands of consumers to insurance agents without their permission or knowledge in an effort to hit deadlines for coverage.

Obesity is an inflammatory disease, rat study shows : science
Obesity is Inflammatory Disease, Rat Study Shows | Medicine | Sci-News.com
An effective eye drug is available for $50. But many doctors choose a $2,000 alternative. - The Washington Post

The Homeschool Apostates (Christian teahadi madrasas)

Pregnant Woman Suffers. You Won't Believe Who's to Blame. | American Civil Liberties Union - Because Mercy Health is Catholic-sponsored, it is required to adhere to the "Ethical and Religious Directives," a set of rules created by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to govern the provision of medical care at Catholic-run hospitals. At hospitals like Mercy Health, the Directives are put above medical standards of care.
EXCLUSIVE: 'First degree rape...lmao' - Shocking tweets at the center of allegations of a SECOND Steubenville rape months before the assault that scandalised America | Mail Online - Tweets exchanged between star Steubenville High School athletes mock the 14-year-old 'victim' whose life they boast is 'ruined'

Why it's time for brain science to ditch the 'Venus and Mars' cliche | Science | The Observer - Reports trumpeting basic differences between male and female brains are biological determinism at its most trivial, says the science writer of the year (lady-brainz wired for gossip)
The Case for Filth - NYTimes.com - “women’s housework did not decline significantly and men’s housework did not increase significantly after the mid-1980s in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.” (men-brainz not wired for housework +perception of effort was totally distinct from the actual effort. + men who do more housework have less sex)

Online in 3D: the 'grotesque beauty' of medieval Britons' diseased bones | Science | theguardian.com

EXCLUSIVE: 'First degree rape...lmao' - Shocking tweets at the center of allegations of a SECOND Steubenville rape months before the assault that scandalised America | Mail Online (jock rape culture)
US porn industry faces shutdown after another actor tests positive for HIV | Culture | theguardian.com

notjustaprettybeard comments on I don't feel clever enough to do higher level mathematics. (idiolocation)

The Gallop Asian Bistro has taken... - Gallop Asian Bistro | Facebook (next chapter)

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The Right Wing's Campaign To Discredit And Undermine Mandela, In One Timeline | ThinkProgress
The Toxic Smog Cloud Hanging Over Shanghai Looks Just As Bad As It Sounds
Japan passes a democracy-muzzling Patriot Act | GlobalPost - The Obama-supported State Secret Bill criminalizes investigative journalism and equates terrorism with ‘imposing one’s opinions.’ (or having any opinion at all)
Why Palestine should seek justice at the International Criminal Court | Maan News Agency
What Does the American Studies Association’s Israel Boycott Mean for Academic Freedom? | The Nation - . If it passes, the ASA will become the second significant American academic association to boycott Israel, after the Association for Asian American Studies, which joined the boycott in April. It will be a sign that the BDS movement, long far more influential in Europe than in the United States, is gaining a real foothold in American academia.
Afraid of Free Speech, on Many Fronts: PEN, Google, China, Goliath - James Fallows - The Atlantic - Free societies depend on free-swinging critiques, even those that are "unbalanced" or "go too far." (criticising Israel = terrorism; Abe Foxman and the Israel lobby at work)
CIA Role in Mandela’s Capture? — FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting

How Rachel Maddow Helped Force Bill Clinton's Support For Mandela's AIDS Plan - pressuring former President Bill Clinton into abandoning his administration's hostility to Nelson Mandela's AIDS relief programs in the 1990s. (Clinton hated gays too)

JFK Assassination: First JFK Conspiracy Theory Was Paid For By The CIA - Less than one day after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, a Central Intelligence Agency-funded organization in Miami published a special edition of its monthly magazine in which it linked the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, to Cuban President Fidel Castro. (they had already typed it up)

The Daily Dot - New Snowden leak reveals U.S. espionage in Rome and Milan
How the NSA is tracking people right now - The Washington Post
NSA Wrongly Says Warrantless Mobile-Phone Location Tracking Is Legal | Threat Level | Wired.com (of course it's legal if they do it)
FBI’s search for ‘Mo,’ suspect in bomb threats, highlights use of malware for surveillance - The Washington Post - The FBI’s elite hacker team designed a piece of malicious software that was to be delivered secretly when Mo signed on to his Yahoo e-mail account, from any computer anywhere in the world
Snowden Leaks Notwithstanding, It's Business as Usual at the NSA Museum - Alexis C. Madrigal - The Atlantic - Despite all the media attention, attendance is roughly flat at the "National Security Agency's principal gateway to the public."
U.S. Spy Rocket Has Octopus-Themed 'Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach' Logo. Seriously. - Forbes
Twitter / tinyrevolution: New logo for US spy satellite ... - from National Reconnaissance Office is weirdly similar to Nazi anti-semitic propaganda:
Saving the Net from the surveillance state: Glenn Greenwald speaks up (Q&A) | Politics and Law - CNET News - The man to whom Edward Snowden entrusted his NSA documents isn't content just to save the Bill of Rights and reinvent journalism. He also wants to stop the Internet from becoming history's most dangerous spy tool.

It's Not a WikiLeak: Assange-Manning Chat Logs Surface on Army Website | Threat Level | Wired.com
'All the ships came in' – how Assange and Manning plotted WikiLeaks story | Technology | theguardian.com - The US army has released detailed records of discussions between Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, revealing the co-ordination and camaraderie behind the explosive story

Tor: Myths and Facts | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Hackers have taken down 2 Million Facebook, Gmail and Twitter Accounts - Hackers News Bulletin - According to web security firm ‘Trustwave’, hackers have stolen user login names and passwords from different sites in the past month with the help of Pony malware, a bit different than a typical violation.
Look What I Found: Moar Pony! - SpiderLabs Anterior
The Ordeal of the PayPal 14 — Medium - Thirteen of the Anonymous participants are nearly done with their case.

So, Bitcoin Is Crashing - The price of the crypto-currency tumbled nearly 21 percent on Friday to $877.46 on trading site Mt. Gox and has fallen more than 29 percent since closing at a record high of $1,237.96 on Wednesday

Obama Quietly Okays Military Aid to Countries That Use Child Soldiers | Common Dreams - Overrides law banning such aid; critics charge 'Obama becoming an expert at waiving human rights laws'

Institute a policy that calls for immediate drug testing of every taxpayer's member of congress. Then schedule random | We the People: Your Voice in Our Government - The Citizens of the United States of America by a large majority wish to impose drug testing measures on our public servants, the Members of Congress.
Measles Cases Triple in U.S., Vaccine Refusal Here and Elsewhere to Blame - Wired Science

Today's Doonesbury. : WTF
2 Democrats Split on Tactics to Fight Military Sex Assaults - NYTimes.com - The McCaskill approach would strip commanders of their ability to overturn jury verdicts and mandate dishonorable discharge or dismissal for anyone convicted of sexual assault. But it would keep control of court-martial proceedings within the chain of command. (which has been so effective with their coverups)

Listen Up, Budget Cutters. Austerity Can Lead to Blood on the Streets, Even in America | Alternet - Researchers find statistical evidence that austerity policies are linked to explosive unrest.

Supreme Court takes on case that judge warns could spell the 'death' of software patents | The Verge - Next year, it will have to decide whether a handful of patents should be thrown out for cloaking a basic concept in technical terms — or whether doing so would effectively invalidate all software patents.

Sarcasm at it's best.

Why Are Prison Riots Declining While Prison Populations Explode? - Joseph Bernstein - The Atlantic - A visit to corrections officers’ annual Mock Prison Riot
NYPD Orders Precincts to Deny Journalists Access to Crime Reports - Civic Center - DNAinfo.com New York - The move is the latest — and perhaps not the last — taken against the media by outgoing Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

The Anonymous problem with feminism | Emer O'Toole | Comment is free | theguardian.com - One Anonymous campaign takes down a big bad rapist, while another helps to intimidate women who realise there's more to activism than challenging authority

Gou Miyagi - YouTube

You can’t get entangled without a wormhole - MIT News Office - MIT physicist finds the creation of entanglement simultaneously gives rise to a wormhole.
You can’t get entangled without a wormhole: MIT physicist finds the creation of entanglement simultaneously gives rise to a wormhole. : science
If a man decides to suddenly start eating at a 1000-calorie deficit, how large is the metabolic adaptation effect? : askscience

The Free Software Foundation: Windows 8 Is a Dud, Switch to Linux - Windows 8 has been around for a while, but it indeed failed to impress, sticking to a market share that’s well below 10 percent and remaining below leaders Windows 7 and Windows XP. (which if 4% more than all of Mac OSX)

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9 questions about Nelson Mandela you were too embarrassed to ask - Almost no one calls him a "terrorist" anymore, of course, but some people did for a long time – especially here in the United States. (well, except for Dick Cheney)
Dick Cheney Didn't Regret His Vote Against Freeing Nelson Mandela, Maintained He Was A 'Terrorist'
Nelson Mandela: From 'terrorist' to tea with the Queen - World - News - The Independent
C.I.A. Tie Reported In Mandela Arrest - New York Times - June 10, 1990
Justice and the Sword
Mandela and Conservative Racial Blindness -- Daily Intelligencer - Why Conservatives Got Segregation Wrong a Second Time in South Africa
For Most of His Life, Nelson Mandela Was an Enemy of the American State by Ryan Cooper | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly
7 Nelson Mandela Quotes You Probably Won't See In The U.S. Media

Apartheid's Useful Idiots - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic - For many years, a large swath of this country failed Nelson Mandela, failed its own alleged morality, and failed the majority of people living in South Africa.
The National Review, American Conservatism, and Nelson Mandela |
Go Ahead, Politicize Mandela
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

‘The Long Journey’: Digitizing the Palestine Refugee Experience | UNRWA

Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai | Environment | theguardian.com - Eastern China's dangerous levels of air pollution blamed on coal burning, car exhaust, factories and weather patterns
The Daily Dot - Shanghai residents share images of record-breaking pollution

6 detained in Mexico theft of radioactive material
Rocket With Secret Payload Launches off California - ABC News - A rocket carrying a secret payload for the U.S. government has successfully launched from the central California coast.
Google Translate - Kissing teens Morocco acquitted - Street countless couples also began kissing and kissing appeared with # FreeBoussa on social media. There was also a Facebook page set up for them. In the coastal town Mohammadia a "kiss-in" was organized.

Japan parliament approves contentious secrets law - The Washington Post - stiffens penalties for leaks by government officials and for journalists who seek such information, overriding criticism that it could be used to cover up government abuses and suppress civil liberties.

Linux drone hijacks other drones in mid flight ·  LinuxGizmos.com (you can see where this is going)

Patriot Act author: Obama’s intel czar should be prosecuted | TheHill - Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr., the original author of the Patriot Act, says Director of National Intelligence James Clapper should be prosecuted for lying to Congress.
How to Tell When the N.S.A. Is Lying : The New Yorker - If the National Security Agency says that it is not “intentionally” doing something—say, collecting records of the locations of Americans’ cell phones—then it is almost certainly taking that very action.
NSA tracks phone locations under executive order | TheHill - The National Security Agency uses its authority under a 1981 executive order to collect cellphone location data around the world, the agency said Friday.
Internet’s new biggest threat? How web traffic can be secretly redirected — RT USA (BGP hack)
AT&T Refuses to Disclose to Shareholders What Data It Shares with the NSA | The Dissenter
Microsoft to protect customers from government snooping

WikiLeaks' Sarah Harrison: 'How can you take Pierre Omidyar seriously?' | Technology | theguardian.com - WikiLeaks staffer who accompanied Edward Snowden to Russia, attacks the eBay founder for not helping the 'PayPal 14'
Pierre Omidyar's Leaky Struggle to Become a Press Freedom Fighter | Motherboard - She added that his op-ed was only published after the parties had reached a deal—that is, after part of the case had essentially come to a close. The ethics committee needs an ethics committee.

'Going to be one hell of a decade’ – Manning to Wikileaks in private online chat in 2010 — RT News (he was right about that)
Sundance Selects The Internet's Own Boy - Documentary for 2014 Film Festival Series - BWWMoviesWorld

Federal Flood Maps Left New York Unprepared for Sandy—and FEMA Knew It - ProPublica

Obama Gets Real - NYTimes.com - Mr. Obama laid out a disturbing — and, unfortunately, all too accurate — vision of an America losing touch with its own ideals, an erstwhile land of opportunity becoming a class-ridden society.
Obamacare 834 Error Rate Falls from 25 Percent to 10 Percent | New Republic - Some perspective on the latest ACA freak-out
Daily Kos: Social Security expansion now very real. Thanks, Third Way!
The ACA v. the Heritage Plan: A Comparison in Chart Form

State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax | World news | theguardian.com - State Policy Network co-ordinating plans across 34 US states • Strategy to 'release residents from government dependency' • Revelations come amid growing scrutiny of tax-exempt charities ("government dependency" = staying alive)

Boeing factory demands: A free factory.

Minnesota Archdiocese Reveals Names Of 30 Priests Accused Of Abusing Minors (1950-80 only)

Elizabeth Warren: Education Department Shouldn't Be A 'Lapdog' - the Education Department had recently told Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest handler of student loans, that it intended to renew its federal contract to collect payments on federal student loans, despite pending investigations by at least other three federal agencies over allegations the company violated borrowers’ rights. (good 'ol Arne)

Katie Couric promotes dangerous fear mongering with show on the HPV vaccine. | The Panic Virus
Anti-Vaccine: Katie Couric program gives false balance to dangerous quackery.
Is The HPV Vaccine Safe? v 2.0 | Information Is Beautiful
Moms Who Vax: The Incredible Hulk Vaccine Side Effect: Or, Understanding VAERS

Florida cop arrested for refusing to remove Guy Fawkes SPEAKS OUT - YouTube
Cops: "If we have to get a warrant...we’re gonna shoot and kill your dogs" - Hit & Run : Reason.com

Parents irate at Woodstock cop's punishment - Chicago Tribune - Officer suspended after allegedly sending sexually inappropriate message to 12-year-old, misusing database
Twitter / YourAnonNews: #CharlesAmati - http://t.co/z2IGlnelFT

Creativity is rejected: Teachers and bosses don’t value out-of-the-box thinking. - People don’t actually like creativity.
Are lesbian sex and anal sex increasing? 19 percent of young British women report a same-sex experience. - One result of this surge is that reported same-sex activity between women has eclipsed reported same-sex activity between men - The proportion of men who report having had a same-sex experience is only about 7 percent—half the rate among women—and the share who say they’ve had a male sex partner in the last five years is only 3 percent
Female promiscuity in primates: When do women have multiple partners?
'Determination' can be induced by electrical brain stimulation | Ian Sample | Science | theguardian.com - Applying an electric current to a particular part of the brain makes people feel a sense of determination, say researchers
Alternative sexuality lexicon: 1 of 6, non-monogamy and cheating.

Netflix's War on Mass Culture | New Republic - Instead of feeding a collective identity with broadly appealing content, the streamers imagine a culture united by shared tastes rather than arbitrary time slots. (+Vladimir Nabokov believed that humanity’s highest yearning ought to be to leave behind any desire to be up-to-date, to be unconcerned with what is happening now)

Rob Ford's Toronto

The Daily Dot - Popular flashlight app secretly collected and sold users' location data

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Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, dies aged 95 | World news | theguardian.com - Nelson Mandela led South Africa from apartheid to multi-racial democracy and will be mourned around the world
Nelson Mandela: An ideal for which I am prepared to die | World news | theguardian.com - Mandela made this statement from the dock at the opening of his trial on charges of sabotage, Supreme court of South Africa, Pretoria, April 20 1964 (sentenced to life in prison)
Twitter / Gulag1930: Why don't you just fuck off ... - Dave and stop lying you Tory cunt @David_Cameron pic.twitter.com/mKIKXLkaOc
Mandela off U.S. terrorism watch list - CNN.com - Former South African President Nelson Mandela is to be removed from a U.S. terrorism watch list under a bill President Bush signed Tuesday. (2008)

The Bush White House Was Deaf to 9/11 Warnings - NYTimes.com - On April 10, 2004, the Bush White House declassified that daily brief — and only that daily brief — in response to pressure from the 9/11 Commission, which was investigating the events leading to the attack. (it wasn't the only warning they ignored so they could lie us into war, bankrupt the country, kill thousands of innocent people and create terrorists everywhere: 2012)

Israeli former security chief: failure to end conflict is bigger threat than Iran | World news | theguardian.com - Yuval Diskin says two-state solution will soon no longer be possible and Palestinian youths are 'frustrated and hopeless' (Likudniks at work)
Algerian Army Kills High-Level Al Qaeda Leader, Says Official - Algerian army helicopters killed a top al-Qaida leader and four associates as they sped through the southern Algerian desert, a local official said Thursday.
Nearly 80 people killed in C.African capital - Almost 80 bodies were found lying in a mosque and its surrounding streets in the Central African capital Bangui on Thursday after overnight violence, reporters saw.
52 doctors, nurses, patients reported killed in attack on Yemen Ministry of Defense - Committee said 52 people, including doctors, nurses and patients, were killed in Thursday's attack on the Ministry of Defence and around 162 people were injured.
Thousands of Eritreans 'abducted to Sinai for ransom' - Up to 30,000 Eritreans have been abducted since 2007 and taken to Egypt's Sinai to suffer torture and ransom demands, new research says.

Precision Strike Technology Goes Global | The Diplomat - Surviving a world of diffuse precision strike is a strategic and organizational problem for the US military. (your aircraft carriers are so old school)

Bitcoin Debate Ramping Up On Wall Street - Business Insider
Chinese government says Bitcoin cannot be used as currency
OpUkraine kicked off by r00tsecurity - A group of hackers who call themselves r00ts3curity or #r00ts3c have started attacking Ukraine based websites and leaking data.

Over Snowden Leaks, The Guardian's Alan Rusbridger Defends Paper | New Republic - At a truly shameful interrogation before a U.K. Parliament committee yesterday—at one point, Rusbridger’s patriotism was questioned; at another, an M.P. credited the British with creating the Enigma code (it was Britain who cracked Enigma, a Nazi code)—Rusbridger had to defend his paper.
The Snowden Leaks and the Public by Alan Rusbridger | The New York Review of Books
Ken Auletta: Can the Guardian Take Its Aggressive Investigations Global? : The New Yorker - A British newspaper wants to take its aggressive investigations global, but money is running out. by Ken Auletta

Jailed whistle-blowers to Edward Snowden: Don'€™t come home | Al Jazeera America - What happens to whistle-blowers after the whistle is blown
NSA considered ‘unilateral spying’ on Australia, Canada, NZ citizens — RT News (Al Qaeda havens +minimize this!)
How the NSA is tracking people right now - The Washington Post
Sweden Reportedly Helped U.S. Spy On Russia

Following Plea Bargains, PayPal 14 Members Can Avoid Felony Charges | Motherboard - The US government was initially seeking out punishments of up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000, but the final deals are much lighter, which may reflect the protest-driven nature of the case.
477 OBJECTIONS Corrected Order Re- PayPal's Motion to Quash and:or Modify Subpoena and for Protective Order (March 15, 2013).pdf - Google Drive
FBI raids Texas colocation facility in 4chan DDoS probe | Ars Technica - The FBI is all over a Texas server host outfit whose computers appear to have …
Your Computer can he Hacked Using Only Sound ! - Hackers News Bulletin - “audible/ sound based networking as a covert communications technology is a considerable threat for PC security.”
Do Antivirus Companies Whitelist NSA Malware? Microsoft/Symantec/McAfee Fail to Respond to Transparency Plea from Privacy/Security Experts | LeakSource

Freedom Of The Press Foundation To Release New Version Of Anonymous Whistleblower Submission System - Forbes

? [289] International Activist Exposed as Stratfor Agent, IAEA Praises TEPCO for Fukushima Clean-up - YouTube
The FBI COINTELPRO Program and the Fred Hampton Assassination | G. Flint Taylor

Two million stolen Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, ADP passwords found on Pony Botnet server | ZDNet - Trustwave's SpiderLabs found a Pony Botnet Controller server holding over two million passwords and account credentials for ADP payroll, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and more belonging to victims around the world.
Google, Facebook, payroll accounts targeted in major password theft, security experts say - The Washington Post
JPMorgan Warns 465,000 Customers About Data Theft - JPMorgan Chase & Co is warning some 465,000 holders of prepaid cash cards issued by the bank that their personal information may have been accessed by hackers who attacked its network in July.

To Make Hospitals Less Deadly, a Dose of Data - NYTimes.com - error responsible for many more deaths — probably around some 440,000 per year. That’s one-sixth of all deaths nationally, making preventable hospital error the third leading cause of death in the United States. And 10 to 20 times that many people suffer nonlethal but serious harm as a result of hospital mistakes. (5-10 million/yr; where is the call to bomb/invade hospitals?)

ALEC, Ron Johnson support Convention of States. - At this year's conference, ALEC isn't just working to promote conservative state laws, but to dismantle the federal government's control over the states. (it's always the Confederacy)
US lawmakers make 'good progress' on two-year budget deal to avert shutdown | World news | theguardian.com - Bipartisan congressional staff expected to hold talks on Thursday to thrash out finer details of hoped-for $1tn budget deal
State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax | World news | theguardian.com - Strategy to 'release residents from government dependency' (by making them die)
Most youth unhappy with Obama's job performance: poll | Reuters (Obama's mission to destroy the Democratic Party: apres moi, rein)
Over-Interpreting Mundane Poll Results - There's nothing special about the drop in Obama's approval ratings among young people.

Schwartz chair of Wall Street group attacking Elizabeth Warren :: Blogs :: The Naked City :: Philadelphia City Paper - On Sunday, an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal attacked the "economic populism" of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio as "disastrous for Democrats," and criticizes "the new expansion of entitlement benefits that the Warren wing of the Democratic Party is proposing." U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz—a Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania—serves as an honorary co-chair. (Third Way)
Schwartz Campaign calls Wall Street Journal op/ed ‘outrageous’ — but will not drop ‘Third Way’ affiliation | PhillyNow | A blog about Philadelphia news, politics and culture by Philadelphia Weekly

The Inside Story Of The Plan To Send Hazardous Materials Straight Through The Heart Of D.C. (perfectly safe)

Hiding From Managers Can Increase Your Productivity — HBS Working Knowledge - Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Ethan S. Bernstein explains why decreasing workplace transparency can increase productivity. (panopticon/surveillatron paradox +"The frontline people who perform a particular task 12 hours a day may ...")

Katie Couric and the HPV vaccine: The “journalist” throws in with the anti-vaccination crowd on her ABC talk show.

Georgia insurance commissioner: It’s ‘your fault’ if you have a pre-existing condition | The Raw Story - Ralph Hudgens told a group of Republican women in November that having a pre-existing condition like breast cancer or asthma is like being at fault in a car accident and that insurance companies should rightfully be reluctant to cover you. (they elect "Insurance Commissioners" in GA)
Michigan Lawmakers Considering Abortion Bill That Would Force Women To Buy 'Rape Insurance' | ThinkProgress (in case their slut-pills fail, which aren't convered either)

Federal Drug Defendants Who Don't Plead Guilty Spend Three Times Longer In Prison, Report Finds | ThinkProgress
Rewarding Reduced Crime Rates—Not Mass Incarceration - A new Brennan Center report offers advice on how to deal with the United States' prison disaster.
Unarmed Man Charged After Cops Shoot Two Bystanders in Times Square - ANIMAL - Back in September, NYPD officers opened fire on Glenn Broadnax, a crazed but unarmed man, missing and hitting two innocent bystanders instead. Now, Broadnax is being charged with assault for their injuries, with the District Attorney’s office arguing that he is responsible for the shots cops fired.
Men Do Not Need Guns Or Violence To Be Men | The Raw Story
Public Enemies: Social Media Is Fueling Gang Wars in Chicago | Underwire | Wired.com

Rehtaeh Parsons Case: Teens Charged With Child Porn In Court - The case of two teenagers facing child pornography charges after the death of Rehtaeh Parsons has been adjourned until the new year.

Quantum Entanglement May Link Wormholes In Universe, Physicists Say
Scientists: Vast freshwater reserves trapped beneath ocean floor could sustain future generations | The Raw Story
Chickenpox Vaccine Not Responsible for Rise in Shingles, Study Says – WebMD - "We really don't know why about one-third to one-quarter of people who've had chickenpox go on to develop shingles over their lifetime while others don't," he explained.

cf: The Wells Fargo Wagon - YouTube

On Smarm - What is smarm, exactly? Smarm is a kind of performance—an assumption of the forms of seriousness, of virtue, of constructiveness, without the substance. Smarm is concerned with appropriateness and with tone. Smarm disapproves ... It is also no accident that David Eggers is full of shit.
The Daily Dot - Facebook's 'Hot Mom' suspended for fat-shaming - Three hours later, Kang’s post and page were suspended. Facebook labeled her comments “hate speech.”

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Climate Change's Biggest Threats Are Those We Aren't Ready For: Report - Climatic changes -- and the results of those changes -- could occur within decades or even sooner, and they are becoming a greater concern for scientists, according to a new paper from the National Academy of Sciences.

Anonymous Message To Morocco - Pastebin.com
(19) Twitter / Search - #NadorKiss
Twitter / Samurai_Lucy: Seems the shitstorm did arrive ... - in #Morocco. Tango downs and looks like #Anonymous has rooted a server w loads of financial info.
Twitter / YourAnonCentral: Newsflash @ChefGov_ma #Morocco ... - is second in SEX TRAFFICKING. Criminalize THAT. #NadorKiss
Twitter / YourAnonCentral: It is ridiculous that #Morrocco ... - doesn't allow Teens to kiss but is perfectly fine with grown men fucking children. #NadorKiss
(1) Anonymous Operations (YourAnonCentral) on Twitter - "Approximately 26,000 children are raped each year, a traumatic average of 71 children a day". (so they outlaw teen-kissing)
Moroccans protest against pardon of Spanish pedophile | Reuters - serving a 30-year sentence for raping and filming children as young as four.

Uruguay's likely cannabis law could set tone for war on drugs in Latin America | World news | The Guardian - State control of marijuana market should be seen as part of long and pragmatic tradition of market intervention and nationalisation (undermining Obama's war on drugz)

Kill team: Obama war chiefs widen drone death zones - Washington Times - The Pentagon has loosened its guidelines on avoiding civilian casualties during drone strikes, modifying instructions from requiring military personnel to “ensure” civilians are not targeted to encouraging service members to “avoid targeting” civilians. (that's right: their response to killing brown children is to make it easier)
First UK legal challenge to CIA drones reaches Court of Appeal | The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

NSA Has a Massive Program Which ‘Incidentally’ Collects Cell Location Data of Millions of Americans | The Dissenter (they can say they aren't "targeting" you because they don't need to "target" anything)
NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show - The Washington Post
NSA Tracks 5 Billion Cellphone Locations Each and Every Day | Mother Jones
Atlas Bugged II: Is There an NSA Mass Location Tracking Program? | Cato @ Liberty (Julian Sanchez nailed it in July)

Bergen: Is the U.S. less safe from terror? - CNN.com - On Sunday's CNN "State of the Union" show, anchor Candy Crowley asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D- California), the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and her counterpart in the House, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Michigan), a simple question: "Are we safer now than we were a year ago, two years ago, in general?" (DiFucker calls for even more tragic failure)
Unlocking the latest Wyden code: Does NSA operate a bulk domestic location tracking program? | Privacy SOS (New Rule: when Wyden asks the spysters are you spying on us, the anwer is always yes when they say no)
French bill to legalize bulk Internet spying moving through National Assembly - Boing Boing

Rep. Hunter: US Should Use Tactical Nukes on Iran if Strikes Become Necessary | Defense News | defensenews.com
US delays prison for Somali man as officials tell of 'intelligence watershed' | World news | theguardian.com - Lawyers confirm extended co-operation from man who secretly pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in New York two years ago
Hussein al-Laqis Dead: Hezbollah Commander Killed Outside His Beirut Home - The overnight killing of Hassan al-Laqis, described as a founding member of the group and one of its top commanders, was a huge blow to the Iranian-backed group that dominates power in Lebanon.
Gaza in 2020: A liveable place? | UNRWA - Gaza will have half a million more people by 2020 while its economy will grow only slowly. In consequence, the people of Gaza will have an even harder time getting enough drinking water and electricity, or sending their children to school."
Truck Carrying Nuclear Waste Stolen In Mexico: IAEA

ALEC calls for penalties on 'freerider' homeowners in assault on clean energy | World news | theguardian.com - Documents reveal conservative group's anti-green agenda • Strategy to charge people who install their own solar panels

US will no longer report Guantanamo Hunger strikes - The U.S. military will no longer disclose to the media and public whether prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are on hunger strike, a spokesman said Wednesday, eliminating what had long been an unofficial barometer of conditions at the secretive military outpost. (response to abuses is to hide them because AQ will think we're pussies, or something)
Guantánamo ends daily hunger-strike reports - Guantánamo - MiamiHerald.com - The Guantánamo prison, whose motto is "safe, humane, legal, transparent detention," announced Tuesday that it will no longer disclose daily hunger-strike figures — abandoning a practice that allowed the public to see the rise and fall of the captives’ nearly year-long protest.

Libor Lies Revealed in Rigging of $300 Trillion Benchmark - Bloomberg

Parliament may charge Guardian under Terrorism Act for publishing Snowden leaks | VentureBeat | Media | by Meghan Kelly
Why FISA Court Judges Rule The Way They Do : NPR - Self-policing comes with big challenges. Is it possible to control the vast spy agency? (Obama's over-sight free spy system)

Opinion: After Snowden, we're self-censoring and we don't care - CNN.com - The public's dulled senses when it comes to online privacy should not be grounds for forfeiting the rights the Founding Fathers put first above all others. (Obama's main job is undermining America)
Nearly 1 in 4 US Writers Has Self-Censored For Fear of Government Surveillance | Dispatches from the Underclass
News, analysis, action | GeorgieBC's Blog - The future of journalism is in all of us.
The Many Arrests of Canadian Journalist Miles Howe | VICE United States (how Canada treats journalists)

Reflections on the Corporate Security State » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names - The irony of a private security firm calling me “paranoid” while spying on me at the same time is not lost on me.
12 Corporate Espionage Tactics Used Against Leading Progressive Groups, Activists and Whistleblowers | Alternet - Corporate spies for Dow, Kraft and others have tried to discredit, shame and infiltrate civic groups using an array of dirty tricks.
At least four undercover spies infiltrated anarchist groups | Guardian Undercover Blog | UK news | theguardian.com - Interview on anarchist radio show gives overview of undercover infiltration of political groups since 1968
CIA-Linked Tech Startup MongoDB Helping Create India’s Biometric ID Database | LeakSource - CIA-Linked Tech Startup MongoDB Helping Create India’s Biometric ID Database
FBI Guidelines on Investigating Political Parties, Journalists, Religious Leaders and More via @intelwire
DOJ asks court to give police the benefit of the doubt on murky surveillance law | Privacy SOS - the officers who placed the tracker on Katzin's car did so in good faith, believing that what they were doing was legal. (new standard: "they thought is was legal")

(3) Anonymous Operations (YourAnonCentral) on Twitter
WikiLeaks responds to Pierre Omidyar's op-ed, questions PayPal's blockade of WikiLeaks (with tweets) · m_cetera · Storify - WikiLeaks and Pierre Omidyar converse on Twitter after the publication of Omidyar's op-ed in the Huffington Post.

The Daily Dot - How politics, spying, and censorship shape the Web - The top countries were Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, United States, and New Zealand. Interestingly, the latter three countries were implicated in large-scale online spying operations by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden

Anonymous-related Twitter accounts suspended after misogynist abuse | Technology | theguardian.com - Hacktivist collective blames Labour MP Stella Creasy and Times columnist Caitlin Moran for the suspension of 30 accounts (Alex Hern center of twitter shit-storm)
(2) Twitter / Search - #Trollocaust2013
Twitter / ninjafckinduck: @alexhern @YourAnonCentral ...
BBC Newsnight’s anti-trolling fail (Update: Reporter gone) | Doubtful News

NSA FOIA Response Claims Data On Vendor Contracts 'Unsearchable' | Techdirt - from the it's-easier-to-not-find-something-when-you-don't-bother-looking-for-it dept (lying is what they do dept)
The further details of Ibrahim's life, her arrest and treatment, all suggest a situation where US law enforcement totally screwed up, and seriously mucked up someone's life -- and now they seem to be doing everything possible to avoid taking responsibility for it. (Obama's rabbit-hole of non-logic)
Canadian Cyberbullying Bill Expands Scope, Targets Open WiFi Over Terrorism, Child Porn Fears | Techdirt - n other words, Dechert is suggesting that accessing a neighbour's cable or wireless Internet access might somehow be linked to planning a terrorist attack, sending child pornography, or engaging in cyberbullying.
MPAA 'Settles' Another 'Victory' Against Hotfile For $80 Million That No Artists Will Ever See | Techdirt
This Is the MIT Surveillance Video That Undid Aaron Swartz | Threat Level | Wired.com

15 Documentary Features Advance in 2013 Oscar® Race - "Dirty Wars," Civic Bakery

Found: hacker server storing two million pilfered passwords | Ars Technica - Credentials belonged to users of Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Twitter, and more.
a 2 Million Stolen Facebook, Yahoo And Google Passwords Posted Online

Pulling back the curtain on civic tech - Knight Foundation - . Since 2010, Knight has invested more than $25 million in technology ranging from open government tools that improve public data access and service delivery, to platforms that empower residents to connect and collaborate around civic issues.

The Affordable Care Act Is Not Remotely Similar to the Heritage Plan - Lawyers, Guns & Money : The Heritage plan was an individual mandate for catastrophic coverage with a tax credit to help subsidize it. That’s pretty much it ... the Heritage plan essentially proposes to apply the principles of welfare “reform” to Medicaid, allowing states more “flexibility” (to reduce coverage) and allegedly helping the poor by eliminating state regulations requiring health insurance to have actual content.

Politico Stonewalls Mike Allen Payola Scandal -- Daily Intelligencer

Now Is A Horrible Time To Cut Food Stamps, In 1 Depressing Chart - Congress effectively pulled money out of the hands of 47 million struggling Americans last month when it allowed massive cuts to the country’s food stamp program to go through without a hitch.

Exposed: University President Lied to Students About Fracking On School Property | Occupy.com (looks like a liar)
7NEWS - Oil, gas industry sues 2 Colorado towns over fracking votes - Local Story - Colorado's largest oil and gas industry group has filed a lawsuit against two Front Range towns that voted last month to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Chamber Of Commerce Leader Says Fracking Regulations 'Undermine Freedom' | ThinkProgress (Donahue's freedom to screw Americans)

US Congress has close encounter over extraterrestrial life | Science | theguardian.com - Witnesses from Nasa and MIT suggest to House committee that scientists may be on verge of breakthrough in search for aliens (who might be Al-Qaeda operatives) /a>

Dallas Police Rule Change Gives Officers 72 Hours To Get Their Stories Straight After Shooting Citizens | Techdirt - from the accountability-is-for-bullet-riddled-civilians dept

The only shameful thing about sex is justifying outdated views with 'science' | Jill Filipovic | Comment is free | theguardian.com - A study argues evolution is why women are more likely to regret casual sex. It ignores the cultural norms we're enshrouded in - college-age women are more likely to regret a one-time sexual encounter, whereas men are more likely to regret not taking a sexual opportunity.

Male and female brains: the REAL differences | Science | theguardian.com - One startling difference between male and female brains is where they are found. It may surprise many, but male brains are found almost exclusively inside male skulls, whereas female brains are found only inside female skulls!
So, men and women's brains are wired differently – but it's not that simple | Oscar Rickett | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Reducing a scientific study about mental illness to pop psychology suggesting men and women are from different planets does us all a disservice
asking questions about men and women by looking at teenagers - Speech Communication Lab - This are a few comments on this paper on sex differences in the human connectome, published in PNAS. Cor, ain't it been popular in the press though, guvnor.
Are men better wired to read maps or is it a tired cliché?
New insights into gendered brain wiring, or a perfect case study in neurosexism?

RealClearScience - Oldest Known Early Human DNA Recovered - The femur clocked in at around 400,000 years old, placing its former owner in the Middle Pleistocene and making the DNA by far and away oldest human DNA ever collected. The previous record belonged to 100,000-year-old Neanderthal DNA.
ELI5:The main differences between Catholic, Protestant,and Presbyterian versions of Christianity : explainlikeimfive

Wal-Mart pays lawyer fees for dozens of executives in bribery probe | Reuters

Charles Saatchi spread false claims about drug use, claims Nigella Lawson | UK news | theguardian.com - The court had previously heard Saatchi had been sent accounts by the Grillos that Lawson was a habitual drug user, after which he sent her an angry email on 10 October mocking her as "Higella".
Rob Ford: Gang members targeted mayor in blackmail plot, police documents say | Toronto Star - Mayor Rob Ford’s habit of doing drugs with gang members led to him being targeted in an apparent extortion plot related to the crack cocaine video and possibly a series of photographs of him in compromising situations, newly released police documents say.

I am Rick Doblin, Ph.D, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Ask me and my staff anything about the scientific and medical potential of psychedelic drugs and marijuana! : IAmA
Microdosing: drugs at small doses for therapy and growth

Animating Noam Chomsky: French Director Michel Gondry on New Film "Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?"
Best Books of 2013 : NPR

BaeD3juIMAAF4Ek.jpg:large (Amazon attempted drone-delivery notice)

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Fukushima two years on: a dirty job with no end in sight | Environment | The Guardian - The tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has led to the toughest nuclear cleanup ever. Radioactive water is still poisoning the sea – and it could take 40 years to fix the mess. Is Japan up to the challenge?

With Russia in mind, U.S. takes cautious approach on Ukraine unrest - The Washington Post
Taliban urge Afghan president Hamid Karzai to reject US security deal | World news | theguardian.com - Taliban offer Karzai rare support but say 'the decision of Afghan nation is clear: they don't want any occupier in our homeland' (expensive, tragic, stupid mission accomplished)
Guantánamo Bay detainees claim Poland allowed CIA torture | World news | The Guardian - Terror suspects subjected to extraordinary rendition tell European court of human rights they were waterboarded
Egypt's Students Defy Protest Law In Familiar Battle Against Government

Jeffrey Lewis • Israel, Nuclear Weapons and the 1973 Yom Kippur War
Yasser Arafat poisoning allegations challenged by French research group | The Verge

Only 1% of Snowden files published - Guardian editor
Guardian Newspaper Staff May Face Charges For Assisting Terrorists
Terrorism offences 'may have been committed' over Miranda material | UK news | The Guardian - It appears "possible that some people may have committed offences" Scotland Yard's head of counter-terrorism told MPs when she updated them on the state of the investigation into the material seized from David Miranda in August. (Cressida Dick, Mark Reckless +"may have" because they can't crack the encryption)
Home Affairs Committee MPs Worry about Minimization Procedures — of Newspaper, not Spy Service | emptywheel
The Daily Dot - Guardian editor grilled by Parliament over Snowden leaks - Before the conclusion of the meeting, Rusbridger added that since Glenn Greenwald left the newspaper, it’s had no further contact with Snowden.
UPDATE 1-British news staff may face terrorism charges over Snowden leaks | Reuters
It's outrageous to accuse the Guardian of aiding terrorism by publishing Snowden's revelations | Ben Emmerson | Comment is free | The Guardian - Alan Rusbridger is being grilled by MPs – but he has published nothing that could be a threat to national security
Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger appears before MPs – live coverage | World news | theguardian.com - Editor defends paper over Snowden leaks • Some people 'may have committed an offence' - police
MPs' questions to Alan Rusbridger: do you love this country? | Media | theguardian.com - Key extracts from the Guardian editor's appearance before the home affairs select committee over the impact of NSA leaks (who loves their country?)
An open letter from Carl Bernstein to Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger | Media | theguardian.com - Watergate scandal journalist's letter comes as Guardian editor prepares to appear before MPs over Edward Snowden leaks (disagrees with Woodfuck)
Guardian Australia fiercely defends its reporting on spy agencies | World news | theguardian.com - Attacks on the publication of stories based on NSA documents threaten to shut down debate on the issues that matter
Venezuela investigates near-nationwide power outage | The Raw Story - A blackout that plunged much of Venezuela into darkness as President Nicolas Maduro spoke on TV was caused by a ruptured conductor in a transmission line, the government said Tuesday. (CIA job)

New report highlights cyber weaknesses at Homeland Security, says progress is being made | The Verge - New report highlights cyber weaknesses at Homeland Security, says progress is being made
Tech giants are countering government spying - Worried that fears of compromised data could hurt their business, the tech firms are in damage-control mode.
Twitter / StanleyCohenLaw: what can i say http://t.co/7nVTKBKPrn

Trial Opens in Case Challenging Scholar's Placement on TSA Watchlist | Threat Level | Wired.com - In 2005, Rahinah Ibrahim, a visiting scholar at Stanford University, was handcuffed, detained and interrogated for two hours at San Francisco International Airport, after being told she was on a U.S. government watchlist. the government’s vast secret watchlist system, which contains 875,000 names (Obama encouraged more of this crap)
Watching the Watch List: Landmark Case Goes to Trial over Massive U.S. Terrorism "No-Fly" Database | Democracy Now!

Report: Military Doctors Designed, Enabled U.S. Torture of Prisoners at Guantánamo, Secret Prisons | Democracy Now!
Two-Thirds Of Military Supreme Court Cases Are About Child Pornography

Online drugs marketplace shut down after £3.5m bitcoin hack | Technology | theguardian.com - Sheep disappears from the internet after admins report a Bitcoin hack - but users accuse them of absconding with 20 times that
Online black market members hunt down $100 million in bitcoins, blame site owners for theft | The Verge

Map of Obamacare attack ad spending. - t conservative groups are hammering negative Obamacare ads in markets where Senate Democrats are up for re-election in 2014.
Cost of Health Care Law Is Seen as Decreasing - NYTimes.com - . The sluggish economy is one reason that health spending has grown so slowly recently.
As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500 - NYTimes.com

UPS researching delivery drones that could compete with Amazon's Prime Air | The Verge - Flying parcel-carriers are the next logical frontier for delivery companies (next: they shoot it out in the skies)

ALEC facing funding crisis from donor exodus in wake of Trayvon Martin row | World news | theguardian.com - Rightwing lobby group appealing to major donors to return • Internal documents reveal so-called 'Prodigal Son Project' • Network lost almost 400 state legislators over past two years (defund the corporo-fascist-racist assholes)
ALEC Trayvon Martin Case - The ALEC Documents Exposed - Esquire - Nobody has any excuse any longer. Reporters -- local and national -- no longer have any excuse to treat ALEC and its work product as anything more than corporate-funded propaganda designed to exist outside the imperatives of democratic self-government.

Third Way Warns Democrats That Running On Popular Economic Positions Would Be 'Disastrous'

U.S. students lag around average on international science, math and reading test - The Washington Post - Scores in math, reading and science posted by 15-year-olds in the United States were flat while their counterparts elsewhere — particularly in Shanghai, Singapore and other Asian provinces or countries — soared ahead, according to results of a well-regarded international exam released Tuesday. (land of the stupid +Republicans hate education)
Americans are bad at math and average at science, study shows | The Verge - Education Secretary Arne Duncan calls OECD findings a "picture of educational stagnation" (which is why 'ol Arne loves corporate schools)

Elizabeth Warren Should Stay Senator - Why Elizabeth Warren Should Stay Where She Is - Esquire - It is pretty plain that she's wrongfooted Wall Street poodle Chuck Schumer pretty badly, too. (as bad as Difucker, hates "left-wing" blogs which are mirrors of teaparty with less clout)
Native Americans face casino limits as supreme court weighs Michigan case | Law | theguardian.com - Legal independence of Native American communities at stake in landmark case brought against casino operators in Michigan

Today in Hackery -- Daily Intelligencer - Charles Krauthammer is possibly the most influential conservative political writer in the United States. (what passes for a human being +expands on Atrios')
13 Times The Reagan White House Press Briefing Erupted With Laughter Over AIDS - White House acting press secretary Larry Speakes, and some of the reporters at press briefings, found the crisis to be quite the joking matter. (Republican love seeing people die)

Female Fort Hood soldiers recruited for prostitution ring, trial hears | World news | theguardian.com - Seventeen-year veteran accused of using service set up by co-ordinator of base's sex assault and harassment prevention program (how your completely corrupt military works)
Archie Comics co-CEO accused of gender discrimination by male employees - NY Daily News - The embattled co-CEO also mocked the five employees’ claim that she’d used her “gender as a weapon” by yelling, “Penis! Penis! Penis!” during a business meeting.
One Woman's Dangerous War Against the Most Hated Man on the Internet - Hunter Moore (revenge-porn king smashed)

? Gravity Visualized - YouTube
Male and female brains wired differently, scans reveal | Science | The Guardian - Maps of neural circuitry show women's brains are suited to social skills and memory, men's perception and co-ordination (left-right vs front-back in 15-22 yr olds)
Paul Bloom writes in the New York Times on his study of sexual objectification. - While focusing on people’s bodies as opposed to their minds does decrease our perceptions of their ability “to act, plan and exert self-control,” he writes, it can actually increase our perceptions of their capacity to “feel pain, pleasure and emotions.”

We Already Know What Adam Lanza’s Real Motive Was at Sandy Hook - Monday’s report doesn’t conclusively name a reason for the shooting last December, but we know why Adam Lanza was at the elementary school: He wanted to shoot kids. (severe OCD and autism)
? Sometimes Cops Find Your Stolen Car. Sometimes Cops Stole It. - YouTube (asset foriture turns government into organized crime)
TSA Expands Searches Of Parked Cars At Airports | TSA Controversy - TSA-approved warrantless searches of vehicles parked outside airports are being expanded, with a photograph taken at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport informing Thanksgiving travelers that all vehicles belonging to AmeriPark customers “will be searched by uniformed security.”

Millennial narcissism: Helicopter parents are college students’ bigger problem. (entitled, overprotected narcissists is the narrative)

Chicago Sun-Times could rehire photographers after replacing them with iPhones | The Verge

BuzzFeed and Elan Gale's Internet hoax: Too good to check.
How Facebook could kill the new wave of viral media
Cicero’s Twitter: Tom Standage on the forgotten history of social media | The Verge
Google takes aim at Microsoft and Amazon with its Cloud Platform | The Verge
The Elan Gale internet hoax sums up all that is rotten about our online lives | Hadley Freeman | Comment is free | The Guardian - And then it transpired on Monday night, after several days of self-defensive self-righteousness from Gale, that he had made the whole thing up. Incidentally, Gale is 30. Not 13. Thirty. (everyone is a troll +"eat my dick, Dianne")

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Kiev Protests Draw Over 300,000 People To March Against Regime - The mass rally in central Kiev defied a government ban on protests on Independence Square, in the biggest show of anger over President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign a political and economic agreement with the European Union. (Putin's pay-off proves costly)
Kiev anti-government protesters remain in control in parts of city | World news | theguardian.com - Police keep their distance as Viktor Yanukovych's government ponders next move
Twitter / YourAnonNews: Drones yield the best views ... - of #UkraineProtests yet -

Biden arrives in Japan to try to heal rift over China's air defence zone | World news | theguardian.com - Vice-president to reassure Pacific allies of American support • Japanese and US air authorities at odds over civilian flights
Top Syrian officials involved in war crimes – UN investigators | World news | theguardian.com - President Bashar al-Assad among those linked to evidence of crimes against humanity in civil war, says human rights official
No respite for Qatar's migrant workers, international trade union finds | World news | theguardian.com - Delegation finds 'no improvement in living and working conditions' of migrants building world cup infrastructure
Croatia Votes To Ban Gay Marriage - 65 percent of those who voted answered "yes" to the referendum question: "Do you agree that marriage is matrimony between a man and a woman?" About 34 percent voted against.

Teen arrested for Clutha helicopter online comments - The Scotsman - A 16-year-old male has been arrested for allegedly posting sectarian and racist comments online in the wake of the Glasgow helicopter crash. (no free speech for you in super-nanny-state Scotland)
Orsenfelt comments on 16 year old arrested for online comments following #Clutha helicopter crash

US Citizen Charged Under UAE Cybercrime Decree | Electronic Frontier Foundation - A US citizen has become the first foreigner to be charged under the United Arab Emirates' "cybercrime" decree for a satirical video about young people in Dubai. (why we need a cybercommand to command our cyber squads)

NSA files: what's a little spying between old friends? | World news | The Guardian - By targeting allies and enemies alike, the 'Five Eyes' club of English-speaking powers have eroded trust on the world stage
What now for the surveillance state? | World news | The Guardian - Even GCHQ and the NSA know their work may not be sustainable without a proper debate about their power
The long arm of US law: what next for Edward Snowden? | World news | The Guardian - The US will chase the NSA whistleblower wherever he tries to go, and if he ends up in an American court, he may not be free for decades ... America would "do everything in its power short of snatching him from Russia to try to have Edward Snowden put on trial in the US"
Edward Snowden revelations prompt UN investigation into surveillance | World news | The Guardian - UN's senior counter-terrorism official says revelations 'are at the very apex of public interest concerns' (should settle the debate)
The privacy of ordinary Australians is under serious threat | Geoffrey Robertson | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Intelligence representatives offered to share the confidential data of law-abiding Australians with international partners. In this Orwellian climate, who will guard the guardians? (mu-hahaha)

The Real War on Reality - NYTimes.com - If there is one thing we can take away from the news of recent weeks it is this: the modern American surveillance state is not really the stuff of paranoid fantasies; it has arrived.
Revealed: How Corporations Spy on Activists | Alternet - “common aspect of intelligence work: deception. That is, it is involved not just with the concealment of reality, but with the manufacture of it.”
The war on democracy | Nafeez Ahmed | Environment | theguardian.com - How corporations and spy agencies use "security" to defend profiteering and crush activism

Exposed: Globally Renowned Activist Collaborated With Intelligence Firm Stratfor | Occupy.com - Serbia’s Srdja Popovic is known by many as a leading architect of regime changes in Eastern Europe and elsewhere since the late-1990s, and as one of the co-founders of Otpor!, the U.S.-funded Serbian activist group which overthrew Slobodan Miloševic in 2000.

20121116 (AE 339 ENC 01) Log of Unclassified Emails (with Emails) - CCIU seize copies of Manning's books with highlights and underlines, including Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (Obama hates terror-symp Jane Austen)

Clueless French Court Orders Search Engines To Disappear Entire Sites For Copyright Infringement | Techdirt

China’s Largest Bitcoin Exchange Seeks Recognition for Currency - Bloomberg
Silk Road Competitor Shuts Down And Another Plans To Go Offline After Claimed $6 Million Theft - Forbes - by one of its sellers who found a security vulnerability in the site.
Did One of the Silk Road's Successors Just Commit the Perfect Bitcoin Scam? | Motherboard
Bitcoins stolen from the users of Sheep Market Place? | Hacker News
YourFreeProxy Is Caught Installing A Toolbar That Mines Bitcoin On The Sly | TechCrunch

Can OpenGov's Madison Platform Change the Surveillance State? | Motherboard - Last week, the non-partisan, non-profit OpenGov Foundation and US Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) announced they are using the Madison lawmaking software to help craft the USA Freedom Act, a National Security Agency (NSA) reform bill.
NSA Sent Home Talking Points for Employees to Use in Conversations with Family & Friends During Holidays | The Dissenter (still trotting out the 54 plots bullshit)

Is the use of unmanned military drones ethical or criminal? - video debate | Comment is free | theguardian.com
Amazon to deliver by drone? Don't believe the hype | James Ball | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Jeff Bezos's 'plan' for drone deliveries is little more than a publicity stunt – timed for the biggest online shopping day of the year (bombs to your front door +shoot them down games

‘Paper Tiger’ at the Pentagon - Glenn Thrush - politico Magazine - For months, Chuck Hagel has played a secretary on defense. Is this his punch-back moment? (meaning, against any cuts to huge military budget because readiness for infinite war)

The Affordable Care Act v. Supreme Court, Round 2 - Diving into the two contraception-mandate cases the high court will hear this term: Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius and Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (get ready for Scalia to fuck the country again)

The Rise Of Obamacare McCarthyism (transtemporal twins)

House Only Working 8 More Days This Year - The House had 239 days off scheduled during 2013, and they have even more off days scheduled for next year. (high-paid moochers)

The Supreme Court confronts the line between free speech and security with protester’s case - The Washington Post - But the line at issue in his free-speech case before the Supreme Court on Wednesday is real and tangible — painted in thick green on a portion of the Pacific Coast Highway.

6 U.S. Cities That Criminalize Homelessness | Care2 Causes
Henry A. Giroux | The Politics of Disimagination and the Pathologies of Power - The Violence of Neoliberalism
This Is Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality...: Rise of the Machines?: From the Inaugural "Uncharted" (the Anglo-Saxon sadism disease)

Sheriff’s Department hired officers with histories of misconduct - Los Angeles Times - Despite background investigations that revealed wrongdoing, incompetence, or poor performance, the department still hired dozens of problem applicants in 2010, internal records show.
Rochester Teens Arrested For Obstructing The Sidewalk While Waiting For School Bus | ThinkProgress (while black)
Private Prison Company Allegedly Put 73-Year-Old Grandmother In Solitary Confinement For 34 Days | ThinkProgress - the prison was prescribing her Zantac, which is known to cause false positives for methanphetamine. Lester reportedly offered to pay for a blood test to prove she was clean, but was put in solitary confinement instead. (no rigged system there)
Driver Arrested In Ohio For Secret Car Compartment Full of Nothing - Slashdot (yeah, they can arrest you for the non-possession of drugz as well)
Department of Justice funds 'pre-crime' and face recognition research for state and local police | Privacy SOS

Government Chemist Tampered With 40,000 Cases, Locking Countless Innocent Americans in Prison | Filming Cops (just a bad apple in the corrupt barrel of the war on some drugz and the poor people who use them)
DEA to Create Pot Concentrate Code | High Times (strabismis)

Introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita by Aldous Huxley - The Phora - These false and historically, aberrant and heretical doctrines are now systematically taught in our schools and repeated, day in, day out, by those anonymous writers of advertising copy who, more than any other teachers, provide European and American adults with their current philosophy of life. And so effective has been the propaganda that even professing Christians accept the heresy unquestioningly and are quite unconscious of its complete incompatibility with their own or anybody else’s religion.
Aldous Huxley on Man's Inherent Inner Conflict - YouTube

Diesel Exhaust Responsible for Thousands of Lung Cancer Deaths | EcoWatch - An estimated 6 percent of lung cancer deaths in the U.S. and the United Kingdom—11,000 deaths per year—may be due to diesel exhaust, according to a new study.

In praise of viciousness: the case for negative reviews. Plus: links to ten classic hatchet jobs! by Kathleen Geier | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly
Not Just Bad Sex - Kathy Pollitt wrote this review for the 10/4/93 New Yorker about Katie Roiphe's "The Morning After: Sex, Fear and Feminism on Campus".
I Am The Cosmos | Welcome To Grigr - Impolitic, by Molly Ivins - “So write about Camille Paglia,” suggested the editor. Like any normal person, I replied, “And who the hell might she be?” (seminal slut-shaming rape-defending and epic takedown +wrong side of statistics)

Tool use in crocodylians: crocodiles and alligators use sticks as lures to attract waterbirds | Tetrapod Zoology, Scientific American Blog Network
ANON122342124124 comments on [50/50] Me And My Mrs Making Sweet, Sweet Love! (NSFW) | A Guy And A Dolphin Making Sweet, Sweet Love! (NSFW)


Nocontext: Classic lines from other posts
Even With Context

In praise of viciousness: the case for negative reviews. Plus: links to ten classic hatchet jobs! by Kathleen Geier | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly

Cartoonist Donna Barstow Reappears To Generate More Negative Press While Attempting To Stifle Year-Old Negative Press | Techdirt (you're doing it totally wrong and the internet is a karma machine)

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American and Delta notify China of flights through disputed zone | World news | theguardian.com - Airlines confirm compliance with government advice a day after China scrambles jets in answer to US and Japanese planes
50 killed in air strikes on Syria's Al-Bab: NGO - Yahoo News
Kiev Protests Draw Over 100,000 People To March Against Regime - More than 100,000 demonstrators chased away police to rally in the center of Ukraine's capital on Sunday, defying a government ban on protests on Independence Square, in the biggest show of anger over the president's refusal to sign an agreement with the European Union.
Egypt: Police Use Tear Gas On Protesters
Leaked paper reveals UN split over war on drugs | World news | theguardian.com - Latin American nations call for treatment strategy, claiming UN's prohibition stance plays into hands of paramilitary groups (Obama tough on drugz in his terror-factory)
Bangkok protesters make 'final push' to topple Yingluck Shinawatra | World news | theguardian.com - Week of demonstrations against government turn violent, with two people killed during mass rally at university sports stadium
French MPs vote to impose fines on prostitutes' customers | World news | theguardian.com - Legislation shifts criminal responsibility from prostitutes to clients, following Sweden's example
Bali talks are make or break for World Trade Organisation | World news | theguardian.com - The WTO will cease to exist as a forum for serious trade liberalisation talks if countries fail to reach agreement this week
Shock four-country poll reveals widening gulf between Britain and EU | Politics | The Observer - Poll of France, Germany, Poland and the UK shows British hostile to EU, and other nations hostile to Britain
Al-Qaida: US committed 'crime of piracy' by kidnapping Abu Anas al-Liby | World news | theguardian.com - Former spokesman for Osama bin Laden demands revenge for October capture of Islamist militiaman in Libya (another part of Obama's terror factory)
Protests outside Qatari embassy in Cairo - Middle East - Al Jazeera English - Qatari and Turkish flags burned in first demonstration apparently permitted after introduction of strict protest law.
The Co-op scandal: drugs, sex, religion … and the humiliation of an idealist movement | Business | The Observer - purchases of Class A substances ranging from cocaine to ketamine and his hopes for a "drug-fuelled gay orgy".

Who Is Watching the Watch Lists? - NYTimes.com - Yet the federal government’s main terrorist watch list has grown to at least 700,000 people, with little scrutiny over how the determinations are made or the impact on those marked with the terrorist label. (no due process because terror and you can't get off))

Protestors Shine Light on Trans-Pacific Partnership’s Secret Corporate Coup | EcoWatch - The Sierra Club has said the TPP would result in an “explosion of fracking.” Public Citizen called it a “corporate power tool of the one percent.” And, in a letter signed by more than 130 Democratic members of Congress, Rep. DeLauro (D-CT) and Rep. Miller (D-CA) described the TPP as “weakening … buy America provisions, providing extraordinary investor-state privileges, and restricting access to lifesaving medicines in developing nations.”
Eschaton: Where All The Waste Is - Sure defense contractors are robbing us all blind, but we really need to cut the salary of the grunts. (says the 1% at the NYT editior board)
NY Times Editorial Board Offers Their Very Serious People Bona Fides | MyFDL - . It seems whichever member of the Editorial Board that authored this, thinks the military members are not “sacrificing” enough so pay and benefits need to be “on the table.” (this reeks of Keller)

America Is 'Less Safe' Than 2 Years Ago, Intelligence Committee Chairs Say - Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she believed that there are now more terrorists with the technological means to carry out a bombing in the U.S. ... "I think terror is up worldwide," said Feinstein (2 trillion dollars and the shredding of the Constituion later, they call for even moe idiocy)
Feinstein and Rogers say terrorism threat to US is increasing | World news | theguardian.com - House intelligence committee leader uses appearance to bemoan effect of leaks on US surveillance programmes (DiFucker will legalize their own bullshit)
Britain targets Guardian newspaper over intelligence leaks related to Edward Snowden - The Washington Post - Britain targets Guardian newspaper over intelligence leaks related to Edward Snowden
Berners-Lee blasts surveillance as a threat to democracy | PCWorld
Pressure builds on Boehner for NSA vote | TheHill - Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has defended the NSA's spying programs, but a growing bloc of his conference is signing on to a bill that would end the NSA's practice of collecting records on virtually all U.S. phone calls, which was revealed in leaks by Edward Snowden.

Digital era confounds the courts - Tal Kopan - politico.com (stuck in the '90's)

This Princeton professor is building a Bitcoin-inspired prediction market | The Verge

Four dead and 63 injured in New York passenger train derailment | World news | theguardian.com - Fire Department of New York says 11 in critical condition after accident in Bronx near Spuyten Duyvil station

Bernie Sanders for president? by Kathleen Geier | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - “I personally have Clinton fatigue, noting that it was a Clinton team that has been running Obama’s economics,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute. “A Clinton administration seems like a continuation of the same team.” (16 yrs of failure) Bernie Sanders is clearly saying that if Elizabeth Warren doesn’t jump into the 2016 Democratic primary, he will.

Inside the Race to Rescue a Health Care Site, and Obama - NYTimes.com - an insular White House that did not initially appreciate the magnitude of its self-inflicted wounds, and sought help from trusted insiders as it scrambled to protect Mr. Obama’s image. (it's always all about "image" which makes his "image" look very bad; Obama's core problem: image over competence)
HealthCare.gov team claims victory: 'We have met the goal' | TheHill
The Biggest News in the Healthcare.gov Report: Just How Bad It Was - Garance Franke-Ruta - The Atlantic - In order to boast how far the federal site has come, HHS laid out how bad it used to be.
W.H.: Obamacare site now works for 'vast majority' - Brett Norman and Jennifer Haberkorn - politico.com
White House says Obamacare website 'will work smoothly' after fixes | World news | theguardian.com - Troubleshooter Jeff Zients marks deadline for federal fix by saying 'we are night and day from where we were on 1 October'
Officer accused of refusing to ID himself, take off mask during Obamacare protest - Sun Sentinel - He told police he was protesting Obamacare, but still he "was asked several times to remove his mask and produce some form of identification or tell us his name," according to the incident report. "He refused each time."

Harold Meyerson: If corporations have rights, they also should have duties - The Washington Post ("We, The corporations" and "You, the Slaves")

Having a child is nothing like deciding to buy a Porsche | Martha Fineman | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Greg Mankiw (free market! - they actually think like this - ideolonomics)
MMT for Toddlers | New Economic Perspectives

U.S. Student Homelessness Up 10% Since Last Year « naked capitalism - On Bill Moyers last week, Henry Giroux talked about how our political system is willing to throw young people on the trash heap: Zygmunt Bauman, calls them the zero generation: zero jobs, zero hope, zero possibilities, zero employment

The Need for Listening and Empathy in Journalism | Free Press - Two recent blog posts raise this question: Just how often do news organizations actually listen to their communities? (they expect their communities to listen to them)

Jan Brewer Under Fire Over Her Administration's Child Abuse Failures - her administration ignored thousands of child abuse and neglect reports that prompted calls for her to replace her hand-picked leader of the state's social services agency.
6 U.S. Cities That Criminalize Homelessness | Care2 Causes

The Steubenville Rape Case You Haven't Heard About | ThinkProgress - Newsweek reports that half of those charges, including the charge of failing to report child abuse, are actually related to a separate alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl that occurred months before the more high-profile incident.

PLOS Pathogens: Highly Significant Antiviral Activity of HIV-1 LTR-Specific Tre-Recombinase in Humanized Mice
Why are more women having mastectomies? - Features - Health & Families - The Independent - There was no reconstruction. Women were savaged by surgeons who didn't give a monkeys about their long-term care or looks. Stick a couple of pairs of socks in your bra and you'll be fine, they said.

Vermeer’s Secret Tool: Testing Whether The Artist Used Mirrors and Lenses to Create His Realistic Images | Vanity Fair - a camera obscura
Vermeer: Master of Light: The Music Lesson, Part 2 | ArtBabble
Levin Rodriguez - Vermeer Artwork

"The Last Text." It profiled four crashes, three of them fatal, believed to have been caused by the typing of banal messages like "Yeah," "LOL" and "Where u at

(1) Cheliotis, L. K. (2013) ‘Neoliberal Capitalism and Middle-Class Punitiveness: Bringing Erich Fromm’s “Materialistic Psychoanalysis” to Penology’, Punishment & Society 15(3): 247-273. | Leonidas Cheliotis - Academia.edu - Why is it that imprisonment has undergone an explosive growth in the USA and Britainover the last three decades against the background of falling crime rates in bothcountries? And why has this development met with a significant and escalating degreeof support among the public?
FDL Book Salon Welcomes E. Fuller Torrey, American Psychosis: How The Federal Government Destroyed The Mental Illness Treatment System | Book Salon

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China's largest desert freshwater lake shrinking faster than ever | Environment | theguardian.com - Hongjiannao Lake has been disappearing since the 1970s but has now shrunk by almost one-third since 2009 (desertification of China)

Vice President Biden Tries To Keep U.S. Focus On Asia - In meetings with leaders in Japan, China and South Korea, the vice president will seek to show that while the administration has been preoccupied with Mideast flare-ups and a series of domestic distractions, the U.S. remained determined to be a Pacific power. ("flare-ups" = ten years of tragic, useless, very expensive wars)
Coalition apologizes for killing Afghan child, seeks to shore up prospects of security deal - The Washington Post
U.S. commander in Afghanistan apologizes for civilian death, injuries - latimes.com (Obama: "the little fucker was a terrorist-in-training")
Israel-Palestine: Enough Negotiations Already! - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants negotiations with the Palestinians to continue for decades to come. But the Palestinian leadership would be foolish to go along with this charade (they've been running this scam for decades)
Israeli Police Attack Large Anti-Prawer Protests In Haifa | PopularResistance.Org - Protests took place on both sides of the Green Line as well as worldwide, as Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals protested in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza and in at least 14 other countries in Europe and the Arab World against the plan to forcibly relocate tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouins.
Cayman Islands agrees to report US citizens’ offshore assets under controversial law — RT Business - “My husband cannot understand why Americans are so offended by having their personal emails and phone calls monitored by the (National Security Agency) yet are very comfortable requiring a Canadian to hand over their bank account data, which is far more sensitive,” said Ruth Anne Freeborn, an expat who has lived in Ontario for over 30 years.
Christian leaders rage at naming of gay US ambassador to Dominican Republic | World news | theguardian.com - A Catholic cardinal, Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, waded in several times and at a press conference referred to "faggots and lesbians".
Turkish Hackers Hacks official Vodafone Iceland website, leaks 77,000 accounts and SMS logs – HackRead – Latest Cyber Crime – Information Security – Hacking News
Alleged member of RedHack ‘Taylan’ sent to prison, RedHack denies affiliation, vows to take revenge – HackRead – Latest Cyber Crime – Information Security – Hacking News
Evidence authorities are threatening to take children from anti-fracking Protesters ! | World4Justice : NOW! Lobby Forum. - The following video shows how a protester in an anti-fracking protest being questioned and followed by a member of Multi-Agency Unit, the connotations is that the social service worker is threatening the parents right to have a family (UK)

Grand corruption is ‘crime against humanity’ - lawmakers

The Sun on Sunday lied about me last week. Have they learned nothing? | Comment is free | The Guardian - the Sun inflicted by falsely claiming that I cheated on my girlfriend, in the context of such awesome corruption, is a pale liver-spot on the back of Murdoch's glabrous claw. Still though, it's a tiny part of the demon's dermatology and as such, connected to all the other pestilence ... Rupert Murdoch, an animatronic al-Qaida recruitment poster (you go, Russell)

We are often asked to 'step aside' at US borders. It's not making anyone safer | Rifat Malik | Comment is free | theguardian.com - The US security system can't be working when immigration officials are wasting time repeatedly stopping innocent people (Obama's tough-on-brown-people stance)
Fair Trials International group urges reforms for Interpol arrests - The Washington Post - The case of a Russian environmental activist who fled the country but was later arrested, despite finding sanctuary in Finland, reveals how political motives can sometimes improperly influence international police work, a London-based group said this week.

End the N.S.A. Dragnet, Now - NYTimes.com - By Ron Wyden, Mark Udall And Martin Heinrich

NSA, Cyber Command leadership should be split up, officials advocate - The Washington Post (which will do nothing as long as they are both run by the military)
The debate continues on Edward Snowden: hero or traitor | Jeff Jarvis | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Recall that 155 Manhattan Project scientists petitioned Truman to not use the bomb on Japan. They were too late. Will we be? - Official means of oversight of American and British spying have failed. So we are left with the protection of last resort: the conscience of the individual who will resist abuse of power or expose it once it is done ... • Executive-branch oversight is by all appearances nonexistent. (Obama is "overseeing" it, all right)
NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over contacts | World news | The Guardian - Agency given more than 200 numbers by government official • NSA encourages departments to share their 'Rolodexes' • Surveillance produced 'little intelligence', memo acknowledges
Dutch intelligence agency AIVD hacks internet forums - nrc.nl - The Dutch intelligence service - AIVD - hacks internet web forums to collect the data of all users. The majority of these people are unknown to the intelligence services and are not specified as targets when the hacking and data-collection process starts

Conservative MP’s statement made in House on the CBC paying for stolen NSA documents | BC Blue: One BC Conservative's view on it all... - Greenwald is a Brazilian based former porn industry executive, now assisting Edward Snowden leak national security information.
CBC pays former porn promoter for 'spy scoop' | Canada | News | Toronto Sun - On his own blog, Greenwald wrote that the CBC paid him $1,500 for the story, which came from documents that only he has.
TwitLonger — - Where are the Missing #Manning Closed Session Transcripts which Judge Lind Ordered the Prosecution and USG to Produce in an Expedited Fashion? ("expedited" = some time in the next 20 years)

Eschaton: Every Villager Pundit Upon Hitting A Certain Age - Decides that what the country really needs is mandatory military service for people younger than them. Mandatory "service and sacrifice." In the military. For other people. (Milbank)

Catholic Church Has Been 'Outmarketed' On Gay Marriage, Says New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan - and has been "caricatured as being anti-gay." (how did that happen?)

Obama Gets A Second Shot At Getting Health Care Reform Right (Pres Above-it-All)

Mitch McConnell: Republicans Need To 'Stand Up To' Conservatives 'Giving Conservatism A Bad Name' (oh, those "Conservatives")

San Francisco Bay View » The Dallas 6 Case: Solitary confinement on trial in a US courtroom - The trial of the Dallas 6 is set to begin on Dec. 9, 2013, in the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania,


Milky Way Galaxy's Oldest Brown Dwarfs Discovered | Astronomy | Sci-News.com - They are moving at speeds of 100-200 km per second, much faster than normal stars and other brown dwarfs and are thought to have formed when our Galaxy was very young, more than 10 billion years ago.

Sentient code: An inside look at Stephen Wolfram's utterly new, insanely ambitious computational paradigm | VentureBeat | Dev | by John Koetsier
Sentient code: An inside look at Stephen Wolfram's utterly new, insanely ambitious computational paradigm : technology

Arielle Scarcella, Vlogger, Releases 'Lesbians Explain: Why Straight Girls Love Lesbian Porn - According to Scarcella's video, a whopping 50 percent of lesbian porn site subscriptions are purchased by straight women -- and apparently it's all about girls wanting more oral sex!

What moment completely shattered you, ruined you, or broke your heart completely? [Serious] : AskReddit
Redditors who got married too soon, what did you find out about your SO after it was too late? : AskReddit
I had a brief sexual relationship with my stepmother. AMA : casualiama
IAMA Man who had a sexual relationship with his mother. (Probably NSFW) : reddit.com
Have you ever called 911? If yes, why? : AskReddit
What's a reddit joke you don't understand? : AskReddit
We_Are_Legion comments on Islam Is Easy: Don't Make It Hard For Yourself


Facebook reveals friends list even when it’s set to private | Naked Security (depends how you define "private")

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US has already broken its promises on civilian deaths, says Afghanistan | World news | theguardian.com - Nato airstrike that killed two women and a child comes as Hamid Karzai continues to stall on signing security pact (deep-state puppet Obama's ongoing war-crimes)

Boycott Israel (Zionist opinion control system)

4 Quick Hypotheses on Why China Suddenly Declared this New Air Defense Zone » Duck of Minerva
China's dispatch of jets ratchets up tension over air defence zone | World news | theguardian.com - Analysts fear China may have miscalculated international reaction but cannot step back after raising domestic expectations
Tribesmen blow up Yemen' oil export pipeline - Middle East - Al Jazeera English - Attackers strike one of the country's main sources of foreign currency, according to state news agency Saba.
Photographs Tell a History of Palestinians Unmoored - NYTimes.com (NYT couldn't find any actual Palestinians to quote so they went with Israelis)
Brazil World Cup host city Natal seethes at cost | World news | The Guardian - "There are no big football teams here – the biggest team gets gates of around 5,000 and we're building a 42,000-seater World Cup stadium."
Nigeria sharia police smash 240,000 bottles of beer - Yahoo News - Police enforcing Islamic law in Nigeria's city of Kano publicly destroyed some 240,000 bottles of beer on Wednesday, the latest move in a wider crackdown on behaviour deemed "immoral" in the area.
Time Magazine Official twitter account and time person of the year voting poll Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army. ~ Techworm
General Joseph Dunford Calls Hamid Karzai To Apologize For Afghan Drone Strike (but that won't stop anything, again)

For Nearly Two Decades the Nuclear Launch Code at all Minuteman Silos in the United States Was 00000000 (top secret idiocy; Pentagon didn't want any codes at all)

Greenwald to BBC: Journalists must investigate the Powerful in Gov’t since they Lie to the People (BBC Surprised) | Informed Comment - Glenn Greenwald on the BBC’s Hardtalk seems to surprise the anchor by asserting that journalists need to investigate the powerful since the latter tend to lie to the people. (shocking news to the BBC, of course)
Newstalk - 'We're proud of what Chelsea's done' - 'What ever happened to the people in that helicopter?' asks Sharon. 'Were they ever reprimanded? Were they punished? In this country if you go around killing people you're locked up. Seems like there's one set of rules for Chelsea and another set of rules for them. '

Microsoft, Yahoo Upgrades Shows Snowden Won, Obama Failed - Bloomberg (President Let's Keep Everything a Secret)
Warrantless Surveillance Continues to Cause Fallout - NYTimes.com - The Justice Department has notified a Somali-American man who was convicted this year of trying to detonate a bomb in Portland, Ore., that his trial included evidence derived from warrantless wiretapping, a move that could disrupt plans to sentence him next month. (Verrilli lied to SC)
NSA files – live coverage of all developments and reaction | World news | theguardian.com - Oversight of agencies should be increased - ex-DPP • Opposition shock in Canada over NSA spying on G8 and G20
The NSA's Porn-Surveillance Program: Not Safe for Democracy - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic - Its targets extend beyond suspected terrorists—and some rhetoric that the First Amendment would protect is singled out. (Ospy)
UT Documents: Wall Street Journal's Alistair MacDonald "reports" an outright lie - The Wall Street Journal's Toronto-based reporter, Alistair MacDonald, last night published what can only be described as an outright lie. Here's what he claimed:
? Cryptoparties and how to protect your data - YouTube
Techies Vs. NSA: Encryption Arms Race Escalates

The Daily Dot - Anonymous is winning its Craigslist battle against Scientology - Anonymous’ campaign against Church of Scientology recruiting attempts on Craigslist is a success, a member of the hacking collective told the Daily Dot.

Beyond Bitcoin: A Guide to the Most Promising Cryptocurrencies | Motherboard

White House delays small business healthcare market by one year | World news | theguardian.com - Officials said delayed launch of small employers' site driven partly by need to divert resources to fixing main public website (Oblunder)
Obamacare Is Not a 'Train Wreck' - Garance Franke-Ruta - The Atlantic - The problem with Republicans' metaphor of choice
Obamacare’s Secret Success - NYTimes.com - In fact, the slowdown in health costs has been dramatic.

Despite Filibuster Limits, a Door Remains Open to Block Judge Nominees - NYTimes.com - “The blue slip rule for judges has been more problematic than the filibuster, in part because it is a silent, unaccountable veto.”

Florida Tea Party Leader Bashes Gay GOP Group - Danita Kilcullen, the founder of a Florida Tea Party group, accused the Florida Republican party of being taken over by "gay thugs."

Pipeline explosion sends fireball 300 feet into air | fox4kc.com - An overnight explosion at the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company near Hughesville, Mo., in Pettis County lit up the sky for miles early Friday morning. Fox 4 viewers from more than 30 miles away reported seeing the fireball in the sky.

Deadline looms on undetectable guns | TheHill - Guns that cannot be detected by X-ray machines will no longer be banned if Congress does not renew the decades-old prohibition by Dec. 9. (what could go wrong?)

Michael O'Hanlon Op-Ed Ignore Hamid Karzai - Declare Victory And Get Out - Esquire - Michael O'Hanlon, whose holiday was ruined because only one of the pet wars for which he helped shill is still going on, has unlimbered his startlingly military-service-free resume again and co-authored an op-ed in The New York Times wherein he makes yet another pitch to be recognized as the lost Bundy brother.

? Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne and others -- "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - YouTube
? Eric Clapton - While my guitar gently weeps (HQ)(Concert for George) - YouTube

Muslim scholar Reza Aslan: Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin would call Jesus a ‘Marxist’ | The Raw Story - Religious scholar Reza Aslan said American conservatives are basing their criticism of recent comments made by Pope Francis on a “profoundly unhistorical view of Jesus.” (gun-toting dinosaur-riding gay-hating capitalist)

Noam Chomsky: Modern universities designed to ‘deprive you of your freedom’ | The Raw Story - “In fact,” he continued, “one of the main effects of the sharp increase in tuition is just indoctrination and control.”
No, Daily Caller, A Meteorologist Survey Does Not Contradict Climate Consensus | Blog | Media Matters for America (weathermen who work for Fox are "climate scientists")
Scientists find aggressive new strain of HIV - Europe - Al Jazeera English - Patients infected with new HIV strain develop AIDS over two years faster than those with other versions of the virus.
10 animals that live the longest | MNN - Mother Nature Network

College Textbooks Could Be Free Under Legislation Introduced In Congress - The bill, named the "Affordable College Textbook Act," was filed by Durbin and Franken earlier this month. A complimentary bill was drafted in the House by Reps. Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas) and George Miller (D-Calif.).
100 Notable Books of 2013 - NYTimes.com
Three unpublished J.D. Salinger stories leak online | The Verge - How did 'Three Stories' end up in the suburbs of London?
New Books by J.D. Salinger to be Published : books
Nicholson Baker’s best advice: Writers must write every day - Salon.com - Trust Me on This: A writer needs focus and to really put in the work. The acclaimed novelist shares his top tips
Books are still most durable way to store information - Salon.com - That hard disk may not be as fail proof as you think, and CDs can degrade in as little as ten years
Why I can’t stop reading Mormon housewife blogs - Salon.com
Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson’s ex-husband has ‘no proof’ she took drugs | The Raw Story

Court Orders Google, Microsoft & Yahoo to Make Pirate Sites Disappear | TorrentFreak - In order to protect the copyrights of film producers, the High Court of Paris has concluded a 2011 case by ordering Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to completely de-list 16 video streaming sites from their search results.

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Thanksgiving is Bullshit – The New Inquiry - Also, obviously, the holiday is a racist and nationalist celebration of American manifest destiny, an expression of gratitude for God’s gift of “America” to the (white) people who arrived and took it by force from the (non-white) people who were living there.

Asia Times Online :: US diplomatic iceberg spotted near China
China Military Sends Fighter Jets Into Disputed Air Space Over East China Sea - The move raises the stakes in a standoff with the United States, Japan and South Korea over the zone. Japan and South Korea sent their own military aircraft through the air space on Thursday.
Japan and South Korea defy Chinese air defence zone | World news | theguardian.com - Tokyo says patrol planes will continue to operate over East China Sea, and Seoul says navy plane flew over disputed rock

Two U.N. experts express concern over limits to Japan's secrets bill - UPI.com - At issue is whether the Special Secrets Bill establishes overly broad grounds for secrecy and includes "serious threats to whistle-blowers and even journalists reporting on secrets," said Frank La Rue, U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of expression.
Japan Reacts to Fukushima Crisis By Banning Journalism | Zero Hedge - 2 weeks after the Fukushima accident, we reported that the government responded to the nuclear accident by trying to raise acceptable radiation levels and pretending that radiation is good for us.

Vietnam Announces Fines for Citizens who Criticize the Government on Social Media | technoblimp - Under the provisions of a law passed earlier this week, the Vietnamese Government will now issue fines of 100 million dong (about $4,740) for anyone who criticizes the government on social media.
Anonymous DDoS attack snowballs, affects several Microsoft services - SC Magazine - “The DDoS attack was launched in response to Taiji...Operation Killing Bay OR #OpKillingBay,” according to the post. Operation Killing Bay is an initiative protesting the slaughter of dolphins in the village of Taiji in Japan – a controversial topic that has gained a lot of coverage in recent years.
Pakistani Political Party Escalates Resistance Against US Drone Strikes By Naming CIA Station Chief | The Dissenter
Phone-hacking trial shown Glenn Mulcaire's investigation whiteboards | UK news | theguardian.com - Boards featured diagrams, phone numbers, and names, including Rebekah Wade and Venus Williams
Stoning will not be brought back, says Afghan president | World news | theguardian.com - Hamid Karzai's government backs away from reintroduction of brutal punishment after outcry (US supported Taliban for years)
'Fight Club' producer says he spied for Israel | The Verge - Milchan said he has no regrets about his involvement with Israeli intelligence. "I did it for my country and I'm proud of it," he said.

? Glenn Greenwald "The Goal Of The U.S. Government Is To Eliminate ALL Privacy Globally!" - YouTube
Canada 'allowed NSA to spy on G8 and G20 summits' | World news | theguardian.com - Snowden documents 'reveal Canada spy operation'
How The FBI Actually Does Much Of The NSA's Spying, But Is Keeping That Quiet | Techdirt - from the like-they-don't-have-a-history-of-abuses? dept
NSA’s Targeting of Radical Muslims’ Porn Viewing Like Something Out of Hoover’s COINTELPRO | The Dissenter

Citizens Protest NSA Data Center | PopularResistance.Org - “When I learned that this one spy center uses 1.7 billion gallons of water to cool its servers, I was stunned. We live in a desert state, often under forced water restrictions. We have a situation where the government has taken a valuable, limited, and life supporting resource to use for the very purpose of undermining our rights–and our legislature let them get away with it.”

Doesn’t Eat, Doesn’t Pray and Doesn’t Love - NYTimes.com - The question of whether for-profit companies can claim a religious identity, one that exempts them from obeying a generally applicable law, is fully worthy of the attention the Supreme Court is about to give it (Linda, dear, a war on "modernity" IS a war on "women")

Disabled woman denied entry to U.S. after agent cites supposedly private medical details | Toronto Star - A Toronto woman is shocked after she was denied entry into the U.S. because she had been hospitalized for clinical depression.


Second Solar System Like Ours Discovered - It includes seven exoplanets orbiting a star with the small rocky planets close to their host star and the gas giant planets further away.

CNN and MSNBC lose almost half their viewers in one year | Hang The Bankers | He Who Controls the Money Supply, Controls the World - Data released Tuesday show CNN shedding 48 percent of total viewers since last November and MSNBC dropping 45 percent.

Judge Orders Black Friday Protesters to Post a $10K Bond if Activity Disrupts Access to Walmart Property | MyFDL - “This is yet another move from Walmart to try to bend the law to its liking. Walmart has made it a practice to pursue over-the-top legal maneuvers to try to avoid hearing the real concerns of workers and community members,”

Police Shoot Toothless 16-Year-Old Family Dog During No-Knock Raid - informationliberation - the systemic formation of an American police state.
A Systemwide Failure | A Death in St. Augustine | FRONTLINE | PBS - A nine-month investigation by FRONTLINE and The New York Times found that law enforcement often downplays domestic violence allegations in their own ranks, letting abusers remain on their beats and victims fall through the cracks of the criminal justice system.
Students Attacked And Intimidated By UC Administration | Your Fellow Worker - The administration had gone to the Facebook accounts of the students and copied photos of them. The photos, stark in the black and white format in which they were sent out, reveal the extent to which Gary Ratcliff had gone to find our fellow students

Are We Overstating Alcohol’s Health Benefits? | Ten Miles Square | The Washington Monthly - Why the “Moderate drinking is good for what ails ya” theory has found such ready acceptance, while a comparable finding about moderate cannabis use and academic performance was ignored, is left as an exercise for the reader.

The 20 greatest Hunter S. Thompson quotes as voted by Goodreads : books

US govt caught using pirated software for military, settles for $50mn — RT USA

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How to Talk Climate Change at Holiday Gatherings | EcoWatch

Poll: Americans Support Iran Deal By 2-To-1 Margin
The Terrible Consistency of Iran Hawks | The American Conservative - Hawks look at Iran as a foe to be forced into submission, and their opponents see it as a country with its own interests that can and should be accommodated within reason. No, I’d say there is a terrible consistency to the hawkish view.
Geneva Is Not “Worse Than Munich” | The American Conservative - Bret Stephens reaches new depths of foolishness: (they love killing other peoples' kids with their huge penises)

The Contributor | The Next Hot Trend? H&M Pledges Living Wages for Its Garment Factory Workers in Bangladesh
The Daily Dot - RedHack counters arrests with an embarrassing hack - On Friday, 14 alleged members of RedHack, the prominent Turkish socialist hacking crew, were arrested and held without bail. But after a day in court and an embarrassing breach of a government website, all of the individuals involved have been released.
News from The Associated Press - a metal structure that buckled on part of the Itaquerao Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013. Part of the stadium that will host the 2014 World Cup opener in Brazil collapsed on Wednesday, causing significant damage and killing three people
US Army Doc on Syrian Electronic Army

UN gives green light to internet privacy resolution — RT News - The UN human rights committee unanimously passed a 'right to privacy' resolution sponsored by Germany and Brazil that protects the right to privacy against illegal surveillance, following revelations about NSA spying.

New Snowden docs show U.S. spied during G20 in Toronto - Politics - CBC News - Surveillance during 2010 summit 'closely co-ordinated with Canadian partner' CSEC
Illuminating The Billion Dollar U.S. Intelligence Budget: Project SpyLighter Documents NSA Surveillance Technology - Forbes
Drones Turned the CIA Into a Paramilitary Force, and There's (Probably) No Turning Back | Motherboard
The Feds Have No Idea Who's Flying Drones | Motherboard

NSA Contractors Are Literally Paying Off the Senators in Charge Of Keeping Them in Check - PolicyMic - the only "improvement" in the bill is for Feinstein's donors. (you've been Difucked)
Did the NSA target Microsoft too? - The Washington Post - This e-mail from Britain's Global Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to the National Security Agency suggests, but does not prove, that Microsoft may have been compromised by the same program used to access vast quantities of Google and Yahoo Internet traffic traveling between data centers.
Suspicious of NSA spying, Microsoft moves to encrypt Internet traffic - report — RT USA
Wall Street Journal Columnist Repeatedly Gets His Facts Wrong About NSA Surveillance | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Top-Secret Document Reveals NSA Spied On Porn Habits As Part Of Plan To Discredit 'Radicalizers' (program does back to MLK)
Twitter / CassandraRules: The real victim of the NSA ...
NSA 'collected details of online sexual activity' of Islamist radicals | World news | theguardian.com - Document leaked by Edward Snowden shows agency sought out 'vulnerabilities' such as looking at explicit material online
Ex-U.N. nuclear weapons inspector Scott Ritter charged in child-sex sting - NY Daily News (now we know where they got their information)
NSA planned to shame ‘radicalizers’ by revealing their porn-browsing history: report - NY Daily News - The latest document leaked by Edward Snowden reveals the National Security Agency sought to undermine the reputations of six people, including one U.S. person, who the agency believed incited terrorist activity through social media. Two of the targets could be smeared by targeting the hypocrisy of their public statements vs. their private 'online promiscuity.'

Chomsky v. Gellman on the Stasi | emptywheel - Noam Chomsky and Barton Gellman did a panel at an MIT Big Data conference. In the middle of it, they get into a quasi debate about whether the NSA is like the Stasi (this starts after 20:00).
Here's The Video To Share With Anybody Who Still Buys Into 9/11 Truther Stuff - MIT linguist and peace activist Noam Chomsky has delivered what ought to be the coup de grace to what's left of the 9/11 conspiracy theories.

The Convert | This American Life - n 2006, a new convert showed up at a mosque in Orange County, California, eager to study the Koran and make new friends. But when he started acting odd and saying strange things, those friends got suspicious. To them, he was Farouk al-Aziz. But his real name was Craig Monteilh, and he was working undercover for the FBI.
Arms Trader 2009 | This American Life - The U.S. government spent two years on a sting operation trapping an Indian man named Hemant Lakhani, whom they suspected of being an illegal arms dealer ... The only problem was, nothing in the sting was what it appeared to be. Including the missile.

ACLU Sues CIA for Reports on Its Torture Program | American Civil Liberties Union - to compel the CIA to release two reports about its post-9/11 program of rendition, secret detention, and torture of detainees. This illegal program was devised and authorized by officials at the highest levels of government, and five years after it officially ended, the American public still doesn't have the full story about some of the most devastating rights violations committed in its name.
Judge Halts Sentencing After Feds Admit They Failed To Reveal Use Of NSA Data | Techdirt - from the this-is-why-you-reveal-this-stuff-up-front dept
Definition of a “Radicalizer:” A Sunni Opponent to Unchecked US Power | emptywheel - Former NSA GC Stewart Baker characterizes them as “trying to recruit folks to kill Americans.”
In 2009, NSA Said It Had a “Present Example” of Abuse Similar to Project Minaret | emptywheel

Nearly 40 news outlets accuse Obama administration of limiting access | MCT National News | McClatchy DC (Obama classifies himself as top-super-secret)
Death and the NSA: Motherboard Meets Bruce Schneier | Motherboard

Why Reporters in the U.S. Now Need Protection - Last night, ProPublica founder and executive chairman Paul Steiger received the Burton Benjamin Memorial award from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Here are his remarks.
‘We can’t rest’: Reporters in the U.S. need protection from the aggressive surveillance state | The Raw Story
Attempts to Silence Environmentalists Continue | EcoWatch - A recent report by human rights organization Global Witness documents the murders of more than 700 environmental and indigenous-rights activists over the past decade—more than one killing a week, on average (corporate death-squads)

The White House Is Secretly Hoping People Won't Try to Enroll in Obamacare This Weekend | Motherboard
Inside the Company That Bungled Obamacare (everything is political for Obama)
Krugman, on ObamaCare, Gets the Wrong Worm « naked capitalism
Well, Somebody’s Unprincipled Here - Lawyers, Guns & Money - Shorter Lambert:

The next chapter in postal privatization: Post Offices inside of Staples | Save the Post Office

Pentatonix Performs The A Cappella Version Of 'Little Drummer Boy' You've Been Waiting For

Los Angeles Considering Proposal To Ban Feeding Homeless People In Public | ThinkProgress

Ian Watkins: Ex-girlfriend warned cops FOUR years ago that he was a paedophile after Lostprophets singer made sick confession - Mirror Online - Joanna Majic said the depraved rocker's sexual fantasies became increasingly dark before he told her 'I want to abuse children'
New Mexico woman sues officers for macing her genitals — RT USA
The Side Effect Of Birth Control No One Ever Talks About

Chicago radioactive waste facility shutting down amid safety scandal — RT USA - A radioactive waste disposal facility near a small residential neighborhood outside Chicago was found guilty of multiple, potentially hazardous violations and will reportedly be shut down

Quantum Light Harvesting Hints at Entirely New Form of Computing | MIT Technology Review - Light harvesting in plants and bacteria cannot be properly explained by classical processes or by quantum ones. Now complexity theorists say the answer is a delicate interplay of both, an idea that could transform computation. (quantum plants and vegetable computers)

The Monsters that Lurk in Illuminated Texts « Tim Kane Books

Time To Move To Hong Kong: U.S. Internet Is Stupidly Slow, Report Finds (Obama has always hated the internets)
Creative Commons Issues an Update to its Copyright License Suite | Electronic Frontier Foundation
MillionShort - Imagine a search engine that simply removed the top 1 million most popular web sites from its index. What would you discover?

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Pope Denounces Trickle-Down Economics 'Which Has Never Been Confirmed By The Facts' (Milton Friedman in hell)
US warplanes defy Chinese air defence rules with B-52 flyover of disputed area | World news | The Guardian - B-52 bombers 'not armed' over Senkaku Islands, US says
Arrests over China oil explosion | World news | theguardian.com - Nine detained after Sinopec pipeline leak and blast in Qingdao city killed at least 55 people and injured many more
White House threatens to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan | World news | The Guardian - Relations strained as diplomats clash with Afghan officials • US irritated by Karzai's decision not to sign security pact (just gtfo)
Rebekah Brooks unsure Andy Coulson could stay at No 10, hacking trial hears | UK news | theguardian.com - Brooks said to have told friend of David Cameron that press chief might not survive fallout from phone-hacking scandal

Crypto-Currency Market Capitalizations | Bitcoin Litecoin Peercoin Namecoin Primecoin Novacoin Feathercoin Megacoin ProtoShares WorldCoin and more...

A Glimmer of Sense on Guantánamo - NYTimes.com - The Senate, in a little-noticed but positive move, voted last Tuesday to give President Obama new leeway to move toward closing the prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Exclusive: Torturing Abu Zubaydah and the art of deception | Al Jazeera America - As guinea pig for 'enhanced interrogation,'? Gitmo captive ?had well-developed technique for misleading interrogators

UN advances surveillance resolution reaffirming 'human right to privacy' | World news | theguardian.com - Draft goes ahead despite US and UK concerns over language • Inquiry possible into impact of excessive government spying
Julian Assange lawyer calls on US to make formal decision on prosecution | Media | theguardian.com - Reports that US unlikely to pursue charges over Manning leak • WikiLeaks founder remains holed up in Ecuadorean embassy
WikiLeaks Reacts to Anonymous US Officials Claiming Julian Assange Isn’t Likely to Be Prosecuted | The Dissenter
The Daily Dot - Patriot Act author wants your help keeping NSA out of Patriot Act - It's not often that a congressman behind one of the most controversial bills in decades lets you go online and try to undo it, years later.
Microsoft, suspecting NSA spying, to ramp up efforts to encrypt its Internet traffic - The Washington Post

US Gov't Appears To Have Misled The Supreme Court About How The NSA Spied On Americans | Techdirt - It turns out that might not have been the only misrepresentation from Verrilli -- and this next one may be even bigger, involving misleading the Supreme Court on a loophole that allowed the NSA to spy on tens of thousands of Americans. (comments: "Donald Verrilli was a liar when he worked for the RIAA" ... it all makes sense now))
N.S.A. May Have Hit Internet Companies at a Weak Spot - NYTimes.com - But between the data centers — on Level 3’s fiber-optic cables that connected those massive computer farms — information was unencrypted and an easier target for government intercept efforts
Revealed: How corporate spooks spy on activists - Salon.com - A new report discusses some of the techniques. They can be devious
How the NSA Gave Me a Panic Attack Before Anyone Ever Heard of Snowden | Motherboard - Parents of every student that “liked” an anti-Scientology Facebook page created by a Chicago protester received a letter from a legal office informing them their son or daughter was part of a “terrorist organization.”
Whistleblower Dan Ellsberg reportedly robbed of two suitcases near EFF offices | Privacy SOS

CBS News' Lara Logan Taking Leave Of Absence Over Discredited '60 Minutes' Benghazi Report
Lara Logan's Mystery Man - The discredited ‘60 Minutes’ report on Benghazi has kicked off an intriguing game of Whodunit? (complete bullshit from the beginning and she knew)
CBS News' Lara Logan Taking Leave Of Absence Over Discredited '60 Minutes' Benghazi Report
CAIRO: Questions about ‘60 Minutes’ Benghazi story go beyond Dylan Davies interview; CBS conducting ‘journalistic review’ | Middle East | McClatchy DC
Lara Logan’s Husband Was a Propagandist for the U.S. Military
CBS suspends Lara Logan over faulty Benghazi report | Media | theguardian.com - The review, by CBS standards and practices director Al Ortiz, also found that the reporting team failed to heed a "red flag" admission by a central source, and was hampered by its own blinkered search "from the start" for "a different angle." (than the truth)

Wonkbook: Is Obamacare turning the corner?

Big Day For Hobby Lobby by Ed Kilgore | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - [I]f the Court does take up one of the birth control refusal cases and eventually rules that a corporation has the same religious liberty rights as a person, the longer-term impact on corporate regulations could be sweeping.

US House passes bill charging $5000 to protest drilling (expensive speech now the rule)

Dad arrested after trying to pick kids up from school on foot instead of in a car | Grist - Apparently kids can be released to parents in cars or can take the bus home, but they are not allowed to walk home with their parents.
Get Castrated And We'll Talk, School Board Member Tells Students - “A Colorado school district continues to wrestle with fallout from the comments of a school board member toward transgender students.

Nigella Lawson took cocaine and other drugs every day for years, court told | UK news | The Guardian - Her former husband, Charles Saatchi, after hearing about the allegations of her drug use, described her as "Higella" in an angry email, part of which was read out in court. (so there was more to the story ...)

George Zimmerman in possession of five guns at time of recent arrest | World news | theguardian.com - George Zimmerman had five guns and more than 100 rounds of ammunition with him when deputies arrested him earlier this month on domestic violence charges, according to court documents released Tuesday.

Pirate Bay Founder Ordered to Take Down Russian Pirate Sites | TorrentFreak
Paul Carr talks about why NSFW Corp. failed — but also what it almost got right — Tech News and Analysis
The Daily Dot - Rigging Time's Person of the Year poll? All in a day's twerk

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Fukushima's radioactive water to be dumped into Pacific Ocean | Vancouver Observer (time to evacuate the West Coast)
US and China must act on climate change rhetoric, says German minister | Environment | theguardian.com - Disappointed by lack of progress in Warsaw, Peter Altmaier demands concrete action from bigger industrialised nations
Trees Capture Particulate Matter From Road Exhaust | Chemical & Engineering News - Air Pollution: Young silver birch trees can trap particulates from street traffic, preventing them from landing inside homes
U.S. Methane Study Says Emissions 50 Percent Higher Than EPA Estimates - Much of it is coming from just three states: Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Eschaton: I Learn Nothing - I doubt most of the people bloviating about Iran know any more than I do. Some of them, however, seem to think SMASH BAD GUY is only smart policy option ever.
Battle looms over Iran nuclear deal as Congress pushes back against Obama | World news | theguardian.com - Democratic and Republican opponents rush to discredit deal • Fight to kick off in earnest when Congress returns next week (Rethugs want more wars)
Iran Nuclear Programs Deal - The Long Shadow Of Iran Contra - Esquire - (Whether or not these deals were cut by officials of the Reagan campaign prior to the election -- in other words, whether or not Bill Casey et. al. committed something like treason by undermining American foreign policy in order to win an election -- is still very much an open question. But there were, ahem, precedents.)
Schumer on Iran sanctions: 'Whenever the Arab world, the Palestinians, have risen against us, we have risen to defeat them' ("the royal "we" meaning him and Netanfuckyu)
What Everyone Thinks of the Iranian Nuclear Deal -- Daily Intelligencer (if Boltan and Kristol are against it ...)
No More Mister Nice Blog - Right-wingers aren't grown-ups. They're overgrown children who are heroes of their own political fantasy stories. It's not enough for them to oppose a policy -- they have to persuade themselves that they're the only ones preventing the destruction of civilization as we know it.
Rabbi Goldberg, Can I Come Back Into the Tent? — Crooked Timber

Afghanistan: Reject Proposal to Restore Stoning | Human Rights Watch - Donors Should Withhold Funds if Law Passes - “It is absolutely shocking that 12 years after the fall of the Taliban government, the Karzai administration might bring back stoning as a punishment,” (all those dead people and all that money to bring back the Taliban - mission accomplished!)
Drone art: Death on a canvas - Features - Al Jazeera English - A generation of Pakistani artists focuses on expressing life under daily violence.
Thousands Converge on Fort Benning as SOA-Trained Repression Continues in Honduras | Earth First! Newswire - The 23rd annual rally to close the School of the Americas (now known as the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation”) (Obama's dirty hands)
Japan's PM demands China revoke claim to air zone over disputed islands | World news | theguardian.com - China, Japan and US exchange increasingly testy accusations, as airlines say they will have to notify China of flight plans
"Blood Avocados": The Dark Side of Your Guacamole | Vocativ (Obama hates avacados)

Rebekah Brooks said it was 'easy to listen to voicemails', hacking trial hears | UK news | theguardian.com - Eimear Cook, ex-wife of Colin Montgomerie, accused of lying under oath over statements made about lunch with Brooks

Special Report: The Pentagon's doctored ledgers conceal epic waste | Reuters

Kim Dotcom Links €20,000 Wikileaks Donation to Megaupload Raid | TorrentFreak - In the book Dotcom explains that he donated €20,000 to Wikileaks after the Collateral Murder video came out early 2010. It’s a controversial allegation, but Dotcom believes that it is no coincidence that the prosecutor who investigated Julian Assange was also appointed to the Megaupload case. (Big Content goes after terrorists; Obama is so corrupt)
The copyright industry should brace itself: the Kim Dotcom saga isn't over | David Fisher | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Kim Dotcom has caused carnage in New Zealand politics, and is set to challenge the music industry with his new website. He personifies the danger technology poses to copyright law
The Mystery of the Creepiest Television Hack | Motherboard (Max Headroom)

The Conservatives Are Using Cyberbullying to Normalize Online Surveillance | VICE Canada (this is all necessary to keep you safe)
How NSA Mass Surveillance is Hurting the US Economy | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Spooky Business - spookybusiness.pdf - Corporate Espionage Against Nonprofit Organizations

Spies worry over doomsday cache stashed by ex-NSA contractor Snowden | Reuters - "The worst is yet to come," said one former U.S. official who follows the investigation closely.
Edward Snowden a 'hero' for NSA disclosures, Wikipedia founder says | World news | theguardian.com - Jimmy Wales calls for 'major re-evaluation' of NSA surveillance • 'I think that history will judge Snowden very favourably' (can't say the same for Obama)
NSA Director Offered To Resign After Edward Snowden Leaks: Report - Gen. Keith Alexander ... The Obama administration declined the offer. One former defense official told the newspaper that officials were concerned that Alexander's resignation would give Snowden a win. (and we can't have that)
Why Care About the N.S.A.? - Video - NYTimes.com

Is Bitcoin a Government Conspiracy? | Motherboard (looks like it)
Is Bitcoin about to change the world? | Technology | The Guardian
Majority of Silk Road's Bitcoins may remain unseized | Technology | theguardian.com - Four-fifths of the income received by the Silk Road boss, Dread Pirate Roberts, has not been seized by FBI, research shows
Hey, Alex Winter of Bill & Ted here. Directing a new movie called "Deep Web: The Untold Story of Bitcoin and Silk Road." Ask me anything! : IAmA

Julian Assange unlikely to face U.S. charges over publishing classified documents - The Washington Post - because government lawyers said they could not do so without also prosecuting U.S. news organizations and journalists, according to U.S. officials.
Chelsea Manning on “Giving Thanks” | PopularResistance.Org
In Wake of Devastating DDoS Attack, Chronicle Staff Finds Solace in Works of Internet Anthropologists | The Internet Chronicle
? 11 Brutal Dictators Graduated from This US School - YouTube
NYPD Forced To Produce Muslim Surveillance Records - A federal judge ruled on Friday that targets of the NYPD's surveillance of Muslims can probe the department's files.

They Did It 86 Times To Every Other President Combined. 82 Times To Obama Alone. (Obstructlicans)

New Warning: Morning-After Pill Doesn't Work for Women Over 176 Pounds | Mother Jones - . Weight data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that, at 166 pounds, the average American woman is too heavy to use these pills effectively. (Plan B fails for average American woman over 20)

Tennessee Hearings Demonstrate Absurdities Of Asset Forfeiture - Task force director David Hicks then conceded that because the agents are funded by the money and property they seize from motorists and drug suspects, his cops "know that if the money dries up, then they don't have job."
More Than 600,000 Americans Are Homeless On Any Given Night (our Christian Nation)
Tami Door House Demo 11/24/13 #OpSafeWinter #OpXmas | Facebook - Repeal the Homeless Ban, otherwise known as the "Urban Camping Ban"

Government books $41.3 billion in student loan profits - Figures come as concerns mount about growing loan debt for students, graduates.


Rebirth Eludes Baltimore as Camden Reality Lags Promises  - Bloomberg - Boosters of Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards, built at taxpayer cost of $210 million, promised the baseball stadium would lead an urban renaissance (you know what happened)

Four Adults Charged With Helping Cover Up The Steubenville Rape Case | ThinkProgress - That includes the school district’s superintendent, who is the only one to face felony charges ... The high school’s beloved head coach, who was accused of telling football players that he would protect the two rapists from any repercussions, is not facing any consequences from the grand jury.
Steubenville: four adults charged in Ohio rape case | World news | theguardian.com - School superintendent and three more people charged by grand jury investigating whether other laws were broken in Ohio rape

? "What You Should Know About Drug Prohibition" | LearnLiberty - YouTube
4 'Magic' Phrases to Use if Cops Stop You with Pot | Alternet

Killfile comments on Why did the Nazis pick the swastika as the symbol for their party? - Why was being Aryan such a big deal to the Germans?

Book Review // Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh - Literati Co. - Literati Co.


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Climate justice or a climate treaty—you can’t have both. - Climate justice will turn into a world-historical accounting of all the benefits and harms that all countries have imposed on all others—a futile debate if there ever was one. (not if Limbaugh and the Koch Bros are imprisoned)
World likely to have 11 trillionaires within two generations: Credit Suisse - The Tell - MarketWatch - It’s pretty disconcerting to see over two-thirds of the world’s adults have wealth of less than $10,000, while the wealthiest 0.7% hold 41% of the world’s wealth.

World powers reach nuclear deal with Iran to freeze its nuclear program - The Washington Post (France fails, Netanfuckyu pouts)
Netanyahu: Iran Nuclear Deal A 'Historic Mistake'
Iran nuclear deal: joint plan of action - full document | World news | theguardian.com
Iran nukes: This is exactly the deal that Obama hoped to achieve in Geneva. - It's everything Obama hoped to achieve in Geneva.
Iran’s top officials hail nuclear deal as beginning of new era - The Washington Post
Sidelining the Warmongers by Martin Longman | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - Those who preferred Obama to Clinton because of the distinction in their positions on the authorization to use military force in Iraq now have something concrete to point to, to argue that electing Obama would lead to a more peaceful world than would electing Clinton.
John Cornyn, Texas Senator, Says Iran Deal Is Obamacare Distraction (because Republicans can only do one thing at a time)


Reports Say Angola Outlawed Islam - Africa - News - OnIslam.net - According to several Angolain newspapers, Angola has become the first country in the world to ban Islam and Muslims, taking first measures by destroying mosques in the country.
Executive pay: Salary cap fails at ballot box - swissinfo.ch - Swiss voters have rejected a proposal limiting the salaries of top executives. About two-thirds of voters said no to the Young Socialists' plan.

Exclusive: Inside America's Plan to Kill Online Privacy Rights Everywhere | The Cable
Brazen: Since When Are Your Phone Calls Private, Government Lawyer Asks | Alternet - Americans have "no reasonable expectation" to privacy when it comes to the telephone calls they make, Assistant Attorney General Stuart Delery said at a packed hearing in federal court. (once again, down Obama's rabbit-hole)
A Floor, Not a Ceiling: Supporting the USA FREEDOM Act as a Step Towards Less Surveillance | Electronic Frontier Foundation
ACLU of Northern California files shareholder proposal with AT&T and Verizon on NSA Data Sharing | American Civil Liberties Union

Repeated attacks hijack huge chunks of Internet traffic, researchers warn | Ars Technica - Man-in-the-middle attacks divert data on scale never before seen in the wild.
The New Threat: Targeted Internet Traffic Misdirection - Renesys
NSA hacked 50,000 global networks - Boing Boing
PNNL-Review-TrapWire-Exec-Summ.pdf -

IamA Security Technologist and Author Bruce Schneier AMA! : IAmA
Opinion: 'Stalker economy' here to stay - CNN.com - Google recently announced that it would start including individual users' names and photos in some ads. This means that if you rate some product positively, your friends may see ads for that product with your name and photo attached -- without your knowledge or consent. Meanwhile, Facebook is eliminating a feature that allowed people to retain some portions of their anonymity on its website.
Microsoft video attacks Google's Chrome as surveillance technology - Boing Boing - A leaked internal Microsoft video attacks Google's Chrome Everywhere campaign, drawing pointed attention to Google's program of monetizing personal information, extending Microsoft's "Scroogled" attack ads that characterize Google as a surveillance company.
TACK :: Trust Assertions for Certificate Keys

Department of Transportation Report Estimates 250,000 Drones in US Airspace by 2035 | LeakSource

First U.S. pot stores will open Jan. 1; Central City, Colo., gets first license (and Obama will cry, or drone them)

In rural Kentucky, health-care debate takes back seat as the long-uninsured line up - The Washington Post (but who will they vote for?)
Michelle Obama: Feminists Not Disappointed, But Politico Is | New Republic - behind the scenes, she is quite involved in policy, and functions as the president's liberal conscience. She was heavily involved with pushing the health care bill. (without her "conscience" imagine what health care would look like)

Death of Duquesne adjunct Margaret Mary Vojtko: What really happened to her? - The Battle of Homestead, as it came to be known, was a deadly clash between striking steelworkers and the Pinkerton detectives who were hired to clear the way for strikebreakers (deeper story than first reported; cardiac arrest, not a heart attack)

An Elegant And Concise Breakdown Of Why Drug Prohibition Will Never Work - I think we can all agree that Prohibition was a colossal failure, so why are we continuing the same policy against marijuana and other controlled substances? (it was always about cops and prisons and Republicans)
Cord Cutters And The Death Of TV - Business Insider

Evolution debate again erupts before Texas Board of Education - U.S. News (+comments)
An amazing image of the elusive big-fin squid | Deep Sea News
Something Fishy in the Atlantic Night : Feature Articles

AP- Arizona debacle spotlights child-welfare agencies - A scandal in which 6,000 child-abuse complaints in Arizona were filed away and never investigated illustrated what advocates say is a tragically common problem across the U.S.: Many child-protection agencies have crushing workloads and inadequate oversight. (under the rug)

A Drone Just Crushed Your Best Vacation Photos (VIDEO)
Undercover Investigator Charged With Animal Cruelty for Videotaping Farm Abuse | Earth First! Newswire

Alabama Man Won't Serve Prison Time for Raping 14-Year-Old | Mother Jones - Austin Smith Clem raped a teenager three times. His punishment: supervision and probation.
Guest Post: I Won’t Apologize For Being Assaulted | Put Your Damn Pants On! - Well, fuck you Jorge. Fuck you and your shitty band.

Ultimate n00b guide to Bitcoin client installation and security/cold storage! | The Blog Pirate
Schneier on Security: badBIOS
The badBIOS Analysis Is Wrong. | RootWyrm's Corner
Schneier on Security: The Cryptopocalypse
Bruce Schneier Facts
Sudden Progress on Prime Number Problem Has Mathematicians Buzzing - Wired Science - Maynard has presented an independent proof that pushes the gap down to 600
Walker Digital Litigation: The Bruce Schneier Effect (And Other Miscellaneous Updates) | Gametime IP

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The Landscape Can Protect Our Health -- If We Can Protect The Landscape - "As you impoverish natural systems -- cut trees, remove species -- you reduce the resilience of those systems to respond to these kinds of perturbations,"

Iran and west 'words away' from nuclear deal | World news | The Observer - Foreign ministers inch towards striking deal in Geneva to resolve standoff over Iranian nuclear programme
Hamid Karzai delays signing new US-Afghan military pact | World news | theguardian.com - Afghan president puts negotiations in crisis saying plan for retaining US forces should be signed after presidential elections

House committee rejects provision requiring account of drone casualties | Reuters - The U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee rejected a proposal on Thursday that would have required U.S. spy agencies to make an annual public accounting of the number of casualties caused by U.S. drone attacks on militants overseas. (what civilians?)
Guantanamo Faces Ticking Clock As Time Runs Out On Detention Legislation - The 2001 law is known as the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF. It allowed the U.S. military to invade Afghanistan to pursue, detain and punish extremists linked to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The law has been used to justify attacks on militants in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere.
Anonymous US Officials Admit CIA Accidentally Killed a Yemeni Child in a Drone Strike : Just Security (the first child they have ever killed, again)
Reform the New York Times! Media must stop protecting companies tied to Chinese corruption - Salon.com - U.S. corporations are complicit in Chinese corruption. Why are our newspapers so afraid to report the truth
We got high, thousands in Mexico died - Salon.com - America's failed drug policies -- and our insatiable drug appetites -- have helped kill innocent people in Mexico (a lot of blood on Obama's hands)

Noam Chomsky: America is a terrified country - Salon.com - The philosopher on the violence we wage abroad, the income inequality we face at home and where we go from here

Beaten opponent: Toronto mayor Rob Ford's flaws 'there from beginning' | World news | theguardian.com - George Smitherman, who lost the 2010 election, says mayor rode populist wave, attacked his sexuality and 'took dirty shots'
Toronto mayor Rob Ford 'more popular than Barack Obama' - Crack-smoking antics of Rob Ford do not appear to have put off his supporters, poll shows ... up from the 39 per cent approval rating he had before he admitted smoking crack cocaine.

Civil Society Groups Demand Transparency and User Protections in TPP | Electronic Frontier Foundation (Obama loves keeping you in the dark)

Surveillance Goes on Trial - NYTimes.com - skepticism of the government’s claim that the program raised no constitutional concerns.(of course not)
N.S.A. Report Outlined Goals for More Power - NYTimes.com - Officials at the National Security Agency, intent on maintaining its dominance in intelligence collection, pledged last year to push to expand its surveillance powers, according to a top-secret strategy document.
Latest Snowden leak reveals NSA’s goal to continually expand surveillance abilities — RT USA
NSA bulk data collection violates constitutional rights, ACLU argues | World news | theguardian.com - Civil liberties group tells New York court that program breaches first and fourth amendments and NSA is overreaching its powers (NSa: our powers are infinite)
NSA deputy director skeptical on sharing data with FBI and others | World news | theguardian.com - John Inglis appears at University of Pennsylvania to argue legality of bulk surveillance and indicates stance on Feinstein bill (which would vastly expand spying on you)
Government Claims Americans Have No Right To Challenge NSA Phone Surveillance (of course not)
Watchdog demands GCHQ report on NSA's UK data storage | UK news | theguardian.com - Intelligence and security committee chair Sir Malcolm Rifkind seeks explanation of deal that allowed US to 'unmask' Britons - He said the flow of information from the Snowden files was chipping away at public support for the intelligence and security services, which he said could be dangerous.

Lavabit Strikes Back at Feds in Key Internet Privacy Case | Threat Level | Wired.com - Lawyers for secure email provider Lavabit just filed the reply brief in a case that will determine whether an internet company can be compelled to turn over the master encryption keys for its entire system to facilitate court-approved surveillance on a single user.
Forward Secrecy at Twitter | Twitter Blogs

NSA infected 50,000 computer networks with malicious software - nrc.nl
Free Expression, Surveillance, and the Fight Against Impunity | Electronic Frontier Foundation - Journalists, bloggers and others who speak out against the powerful risk terrible repercussions for their work. Around the world, they face physical intimidation, violent attacks, and even murder for speaking out.

White House Pic of the Day of Media Enrages Media - Washington Whispers (usnews.com) - Some journalists interpreted Friday's photo as the White House attempting to sweep the issue under the rug, while others figured it a subliminal "screw you." (or superliminal)

The U.S. Health Care System Is Terrible, In 1 Enraging Chart - As you can see, there is a pretty close relationship between health-care spending and life expectancy. Except for one very, very terrible country. Can you spot it?
Tension and Flaws Before Health Website Crash - NYTimes.com
Obamacare Agency Rushed To Hire Contractor, Documents Reveal - The documents dated in August - less than two months before the opening of online marketplaces established by President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law - showed the agency in charge had only "recently learned" that building the financial management functions was "beyond (its) currently available resources." (they had six years)
Ted Cruz Readies Second Attempt To Peg Obamacare Repeal To Budget Deal - is plotting how he might exploit the next budget crisis for another try at repealing President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.

The House GOP's Hypocrisy on "Too-Big-To-Fail" | Mother Jones - Republicans in the House worry Dodd-Frank financial reforms won't prevent future bank bailouts. Meanwhile, they're trying to make it easier for banks to get bailouts.
3 Charts Explain Why Democrats Went Nuclear on the Filibuster | Mother Jones - The last straw came when Republicans announced their intention to filibuster all of Obama's nominees to the DC circuit court simply because they didn't want a Democratic president to be able to fill any more vacancies. At that point, even moderate Democrats had finally had enough
New breed of Senate Democrats drove filibuster change - latimes.com - A wing of relative newcomers, mostly elected after 2006, favor bucking tradition and the party's old guard to help President Obama's agenda along.

Tea Party Republicans Backed By Big Corporate Players Following Shutdown - Along with Honeywell Inc and Northrop Grumman , Reuters analyzed PACs at AT&T, General Electric , Deloitte & Touche LLP, New York Life Insurance Co, United Parcel Service Inc and the American Bankers Association.

America still doesn’t know how to talk about rape - Salon.com - The findings show that the National Crime Victimization Survey counted 188,380 sexual assaults in 2010. The same year, the FBI, which measures reported rapes and attempted rapes, counted only 85,593. But at the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey counted nearly 1.3 million.

FDA: Anti-smoking drug Chantix linked to more than 500 suicides | Al Jazeera America - Dying to quit smoking?

Females of Reddit: What thoughts commonly go through your head while giving a blowjob? : AskReddit

Schools should replace Catcher in the Rye with Black Swan Green.


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Warsaw climate change talks falter as EU and developing countries clash | Environment | The Guardian - EU chief chastised for expressing frustration with failure to agree timetable on emission cuts and attempts by some to opt out
Which fossil fuel companies are most responsible for climate change? – interactive | Environment | theguardian.com
Just 90 companies caused two-thirds of man-made global warming emissions | Environment | The Guardian - Chevron, Exxon and BP among companies most responsible for climate change since dawn of industrial age, figures show

Unspeakable horrors in a country on the verge of genocide | World news | The Guardian - Militias in the Central African Republic are slitting children's throats, razing villages and throwing young men to the crocodiles. What needs to happen before the world intervenes?
John Kerry flies to Geneva as Iran nuclear deal edges closer | World news | The Guardian - Russian and Chinese foreign ministers join their negotiating teams as sources say draft deal is close to being signed
In Latvia, Supermarket Collapse Leaves At Least 45 Dead
Blackwater founder: my company could have prevented Benghazi deaths | World news | theguardian.com - Erik Prince, who created security firm in 1997, gives Philadelphia audience his views on the NSA, Libya and the American left - Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, the security contractor that became synonymous with counter-terrorism excess after its operatives killed 17 Iraqis and wounded 20 more at a traffic roundabout in Baghdad in 2007.
Undercover soldiers 'killed unarmed civilians in Belfast' (Brit Death Squads)

Drone strike in Hangu – The Express Tribune - The first-ever drone strike in a settled district, a day after an announcement of the prime minister’s adviser on foreign affairs declared the assurance of the United States that it would not carry out any drone strikes temporarily if the Pakistan government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were holding peace talks (Obama is completely out of control)
Where Is the Moral Rectitude When Political Retaliation Drone Strike Hits Settled Area, Misses Target? | emptywheel - But see that bit about the strike being in “Pakistan’s settled district”? One of the many unwritten “rules” of US drone strikes in Pakistan is that they are restricted to the FATA, or Federally Administered Tribal Area, of Pakistan where Pakistani security or military personnel have little to no freedom of movement. In fact, the ability of drones to enter these otherwise forbidden territories is touted as one of their main justifications for use.

untitled - topic8_istanbul_statement_effects_solconfinment.pdf - The Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement

TPP secrecy in Salt Lake City: Public locked out of trade talks for first time | rabble.ca (Obama's super secret deal to give to the rich and screw you)

Someone Forced World Internet Traffic Through Belarus and Iceland - Arik Hesseldahl - News - AllThingsD

Director of National Intelligence says it has no instructions on detaining and tracking Greenwald, Gellman and Poitras | Muckrock (Of course not)
Internet inventor slams UK, US for 'appalling and foolish' surveillance and censorship — RT News
Sweden's telcos hand over mass spying powers to police, tax authority, customs and other agencies - Boing Boing

House intel bill adds $75 million to NSA budget to stop future Snowdens | Ars Technica - Senate version also adds money to NSA's budget to stop "insider threat."
The hacker hunters - FT.com - An elite battalion of largely twentysomething experts are on the front line of corporate cyber defence
UK Internet Service Providers Are Blocking Streaming Sites | Motherboard
DouglasLucas.com — The Value of the Stratfor Leak
Jeremy Hammond and Anonymous: Hacker with a Cause : The New Yorker - Jeremy Hammond

Study shines light on what makes digital activism effective - Digital activism is usually nonviolent and tends to work best when social media tools are combined with street-level organization, according to new research from the University of Washington.
The Anonymous Tor Network Now Comes in a Box | Motherboard

Stop-And-Frisk Rulings Won't Be Tossed By Appeals Court - A federal appeals court has refused to toss out court rulings finding that New York City carried out its police stop-and-frisk policy in a discriminatory manner. (Bloomfuck's last play)

Expanding Social Security - NYTimes.com - It wasn’t really about the numbers, which never supported the notion that Social Security faced an acute crisis. It was instead a sort of declaration of identity, a way to show that you were an establishment guy, willing to impose pain (on other people, as usual) in the name of fiscal responsibility. (sadists)
Nuclear Fallout: The Real-World Consequences Of Senate Filibuster Reform (Republicans will always lie, cheat, and steal)
Eschaton: Oh Noez - The official Republican/WaPo response seems to be "if you get rid of the filibuster the Republicans will keep successfully appointing right wing nuts to the bench as they have been for decades." ok
The System Is Broken and We Have No Idea How to Fix It | Motherboard

White House Reporters Question Limits On Photo Access At Press Briefing - White House reporters are riled up about restrictions placed on photos of President Obama, and they made no effort to hide it at Thursday's press briefing. (they try so hard to control his image ...)
Media protests Obama administration's limitations on photojournalists | Washington Watch | McClatchy DC (but everything they do makes his image worse)

New Analysis Reveals Extent Of Obamacare 'Rate Shock' - Only a small sliver of the Americans who buy their own health insurance plans and may be seeing them canceled under Obamacare will pay higher premiums, according to an analysis released Thursday.
Single-Payer Advocates: It Hurts To Say I Told You So - The botched implementation of Obamacare has created a bittersweet moment for advocates of a universal, single-payer health care system: They saw this coming, but they can't gloat about it.

Americans think John F. Kennedy was one of our greatest presidents. He wasn’t.
Kennedy Week: JFK as Nuclear Savior and Liberal Icon | The Nation
Kennedy Week: JFK’s Uncertain Path in Vietnam | The Nation
Anniversary of JFK Assassination - The Kennedy Assassination And American Fragility - Esquire (all true, but now they are protecting their coverup)
JFKfacts » White House asked about JFK Facts report on secret JFK files - Last May JFK Facts broke the story that the CIA retains 1,100 secret documents related to the assassination of President Kennedy, including files on seven key personalities in the JFK story.
Oliver Stone: JFK conspiracy deniers are in denial - Mainstream media have never given up telling us how superstitious or illogical the common people are.
JFK 'Magic Bullet Theory' In Spotlight On Anniversary Of President Kennedy's Assassination

Tribune to cut 700 newspaper jobs | Media | theguardian.com - The second-largest US newspaper publisher, the Tribune company, is planning to cut 700 jobs, accounting for about 6% of its total workforce.

Students strike after classmate was tased | KXAN.com - According to reports, Noe de Rivera, 17, fell and hit his head and is now in a coma. School personnel escorted the students outside during the peaceful protest that lasted about 10 minutes.


Hawaii’s Big Island Bans GMO Crops and Biotech Companies | EcoWatch

HPV: Sex, cancer and a virus : Nature News & Comment - Human papillomavirus is causing a new form of head and neck cancer— leaving researchers scrambling to understand risk factors, tests and treatments.
Do antidepressants work? – readers' responses | Society | theguardian.com - We asked more than 3,000 Europeans about their experiences on antidepressants. This is what they said
IceCube Neutrino Observatory Detects Ghostly Particles In 'Major Breakthrough' (VIDEO)


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How Harper became embroiled in the Senate scandal - The Globe and Mail - Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has been consumed by the Senate expenses scandal, which has overshadowed a major trade agreement with Europe, consigned a throne speech to political oblivion and undermined what was supposed to be this weekend’s feel-good national convention in Calgary.
Undersea volcano creates new island 620 miles south of Tokyo | The Verge
London tube to run all night at weekends but 750 jobs to go | UK news | theguardian.com - Unions criticise plans, which involve closure of most ticket offices and move to direct payment via contactless bank cards (what could go wrong?)

The US Is Droning Pakistan's Populated Areas (Again) | Motherboard (Obama said he would decrease/stop drone killings; he was just kidding)
Suspected U.S. Drone Strike In Pakistan Kills 6

Blame Rich, Overeducated Elites as Our Society Frays - Bloomberg

Bob Woodward: Edward Snowden Should Have Come To Me Instead (you are an old, irrelevant hack, Bobbie +jealous much?)
Barton Gellman Hits Back At Bob Woodward For 'Insult' About Snowden Coverage (just shut up and go home)
Bob Woodward Barton Gellman - The Stenographer's Revenge - Esquire - Barton Gellman, who has done some really good work in this century, and who also works for The Washington Post, has had enough of Woodward's superannuated dick-swinging.

Daily Kos: National Security Harm: Real, Imagined or Propaganda - The WaPo poll asked if Snowden harmed national security by "disclosing NSA's intelligence-gathering efforts," rather the asking about what Snowden actually revealed: the NSA's wasteful and illegal conduct - Jesselyn Radack
1155a5NSAandSnowden.pdf - Many View NSA Intrusions as Unjustified ... But More See Damage from Snowden Leaks
Case for wider inquiry into surveillance growing stronger, says Nick Clegg | World news | theguardian.com - Deputy PM says Edward Snowden revelations are 'chipping away at bedrock of public support for work of agencies'

NSA Spying On British - The Snowden Effect, Continued - Esquire - This activity is, quite literally, lawless - The classified N.S.A. document, which appears to be a draft and is dated January 2005, states that under specific circumstances, the American intelligence agency may spy on citizens of Britain without that country's consent or knowledge (It also deepens my suspicion that, as a constitutional law professor, the president taught, I dunno, math or something.)

Surveillance is not about protecting us. It’s about control. - Rubbing Alcoholic blog
Free Ross Ulbricht | The Official Defense Site of the Ulbricht Family (DPR)
The Alleged Founder Of the Silk Road Is Staring Down Four New Contract-Killing Charges | Motherboard
US Working Overtime Behind The Scenes To Kill UN Plan To Protect Online Privacy From Snooping | Techdirt

Multiple marijuana businesses being raided by DEA, IRS, Denver cops (Obama said the Feds would lay off; he was just kidding)

I was Virginia's executioner from 1982 to 1999. Any questions for me? | Jerry Givens | Comment is free | theguardian.com - I was responsible for putting 62 inmates to death in Virginia. I regret it deeply and now campaign to end capital punishment
Rape Is Grossly Underreported In The U.S., Study Finds - Rape has been widely underreported in America, according to a new panel study by the National Research Council.

Fox News Chastises People For Giving To The Homeless: 'You're An Enabler' | ThinkProgress
Eschaton: It Was Never About Cutting Costs - "Entitlement Reform" is only awesome if it causes more suffering. Pundits always lump together SocialSecurityAndMedicare because it's only the latter that has been projected to be a real problem. They still want to cut Social Security, and if it turns out the Medicare bill is no big deal, they'll still want to cut benefits. Because other people must suffer.

How Antisec Died — Notes from a Strange World — Medium - Jeremy Hammond, Sabu, and the Intelligence-Industrial Complex
Google’s Schmidt predicts encryption will end censorship in a decade — RT USA (gotta love the green hair)

Illinois gay marriage - chicagotribune.com

Noam Chomsky discusses the slogan "Support Our Troops" - YouTube
Noam Chomsky on right wing Tea Party protests, " People with real grievances" - YouTube (points out Obama founded the Teaparty)
Twitter / conradhackett: News priorities at Al Jazeera, ... - CNN, Fox & MSNBC in one chart

Obama's Slow Learning Curve | RealClearPolitics - What deficiency of Obama’s education and of the education of those who surround him accounts for administration officials not knowing what is perfectly well-known to most ordinary Americans? (one of many examples)
Hullabaloo - The creation and evolution of Obama for America was another symptom of the President's desire to transcend "the politics of division" and become a post-partisan charismatic figure. I leave it to the reader to judge how well that worked. (political geniuses, they are)

This is what happened in the Senate Thursday, and what it means for the future
Why Democrats Partially Nuked the Filibuster -- Daily Intelligencer
Senate Could Go Nuclear As Soon As Today: Sources

Florida in secret talks to accept funding for Medicaid from Affordable Care Act | World news | theguardian.com - Some health professionals believe the amount of money on offer and the fact that the Republican party benefits from campaign contributions by the health insurance industry means that Florida is likely to find a way take the funding provided by the Affordable Care Act.

60 Minutes Benghazi Exec. Producer Jeff Fager Must Be Dismissed | CREDO Mobilize - To: Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation, and Sumner Redstone, majority owner of CBS Corporation
The Race That Broke the Cheney Family - Jason Zengerle - politico Magazine

Jon Stewart Takes Down Rep. Trey Radel For Drug Use Hypocrisy
Whiskey Fire: Jesus Saves... You from Paying Your Taxes - Welcome to the contemptible authoritarianism of your average smug, self-righteous, shit-for-brains, bleeding-heart and brain-hemmoraging conservative fuckface* ... It takes some stones to say "more of them should be thrown into coal mines so they'll learn some self-respect," sure. But our Corner clown has more fetid depths to plumb.
The Simple Path to a Living Wage at Walmart
Macy’s Anti-Union Pamphlet - Lawyers, Guns & Money
The Greatest Internship of All Time - Lawyers, Guns & Money - Salary 0.00 – 0.00 USD

Senator Who Investigated JFK Assassination: 'American Journalism Never Followed Up On That Story' - He recalled that while the committee was investigating the connection between the assassination, the Mafia and plots against Cuban President Fidel Castro, two of the three main figures involved were also killed ... Giancana was killed in his own basement with six bullet holes in his throat with a Chicago police car and an FBI car outside his house,"

Long Before Deeds Case, Virginia Tech Massacre Pointed To Mental Health Service Gaps
Gawker - Today's gossip is tomorrow's news - A new ACLU report estimates that more than 17,000 juveniles in America have been held in solitary confinement, and concludes, unequivocally, "Solitary confinement and isolation are not safe for children." (America tortures children)

Woman in FSU sexual assault case says local police told her to drop claim | World news | theguardian.com - Tallahassee student advised to drop claim against quarterback Jameis Winston or have her life 'made miserable and raked over the coals'

McDonald's to employees: break food into pieces to feel full | Al Jazeera America
Stores use your phone’s wifi signal to track you as you shop | StratRisks

Verily, Nuts Are the Food of the Gods
What Does IQ Really Measure? | Science/AAAS | News - Effort helps makes you smart? Kids who are more highly motivated on IQ tests achieve higher scores.
Superfluid turbulence through the lens of black holes - MIT News Office - Study finds behavior of the turbulent flow of superfluids is opposite that of ordinary fluids.

Storyville: Top Ten Best Short Stories Ever | LitReactor
Top 10 Best Short Stories ever. They will leave a lasting impression. : books

What is the best quote you have ever seen, read, and or heard? : AskReddit

Wikipedia names Texas PR firm over false manipulation of site entries - Online - Media - The Independent
Wikipedia names Texas PR firm over false manipulation of site entries. Free encyclopaedia called in lawyers after 300 'sock puppet' accounts were traced to single firm. : worldnews

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AP: Melted Fukushima fuel is 12 inches from entering ground after eating through concrete, says simulation — Study: Molten core suspected of eroding through concrete foundation — Gov’t Expert: We just can’t be sure until actually seeing inside - Melted Fukushima fuel is 12 inches from entering ground after eating through concrete, says simulation — Study: Molten core suspected of eroding through concrete foundation — Gov’t Expert: We just can’t be sure until actually seeing inside (time to start evacuating West Coast)
Fukushima Fallout Damaged Thyroid Glands of California Babies | Earth First! Newswire - A new study finds that radioactive Iodine from Fukushima has caused a significant increase in hypothyroidism among babies in California, 5,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean.
Fukushima nuclear disaster is warning to the world, says power company boss | Environment | The Guardian - UK government must learn from Japan's catastrophe as it plans a new generation of plant, nuclear chief claims (already doomed)

Climate Change Fight Getting Off Track After Major Global Setbacks In Japan And Australia, Study Finds
Poor Countries Walk Out Of UN Climate Talks | PopularResistance.Org - Bloc of 132 countries exit Warsaw conference after rich nations refuse to discuss climate change recompense until after 2015

Endless Afghanistan? US-Afghan agreement would keep troops in place and funds flowing, perhaps indefinitely - World News (well played, Hamid)
How Is Hamid Karzai Still Standing? - NYTimes.com

Military expands probe into cyber command amid political wrangling - SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- Military investigators have raided the offices of about 30 cyber warfare officials to expand a probe into their involvement in an alleged online smear campaign, a source familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
The Daily Dot - Teen kissers in Morocco have an unexpected ally in Anonymous - It's a kiss in the country of Morocco. And it's about to become much, much more famous.
Somalia arrests woman over rape allegations - Africa - Al Jazeera English - Woman who says she was raped is held along with journalist who interviewed her, according to a government official.

Finding Snowden | Motherboard - “There were times when I thought it would never happen,” Coleen Rowley, a former FBI agent, said about her recent trip to Moscow. “I’m still amazed.”

US and UK struck secret deal to allow NSA to 'unmask' Britons' personal data | World news | theguardian.com - 2007 deal allows NSA to store previously restricted material • UK citizens not suspected of wrongdoing caught up in dragnet
Documents show Blair government let US spy on Britons - Channel 4 News - Tony Blair's government allowed America to store and analyse the email, mobile phone and internet records of potentially millions of innocent Britons
The NSA overreach poses a serious threat to our economy | Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Genuine NSA reform is a Constitutional and economic necessity. Transparency and privacy are critical for citizens and tech firms
In Germany, legacy of Stasi puts different perspective on NSA spying - The Washington Post
U.S. Army to Track Employees’ with Behavior-based Analytics to Thwart Future Snowdens | StratRisks

OpEdNews - Article: Feeding the Flame of Revolt - I was in federal court here Friday for the sentencing of Jeremy Hammond to 10 years in prison for hacking into the computers of a private security firm that works on behalf of the government
Anonymous Declares Global Cyber War on U.S. Government against Hammond’s Sentence and NSA Spying – HackRead – Latest Cyber Crime – Information Security – Hacking News
The Daily Dot - WikiLeaks: Walmart bid Stratfor to investigate rival CEO’s alleged affair

Al Qaeda in Kentucky: US May Have Let 'Dozens' of Terrorists Into Country as Refugees - ABC News

Woot! TPP looks dead for this year |Teamster Nation - A key U.S. House of Representatives leader said yesterday there isn't enough time left on the calendar to pass a fast one 'fast track' legislation. 'Fast track' is just a euphemism for 'rubber stamp,' and without a rubber stamp, the TPP will not pass.
Data visualization shows US isolation in pushing for brutal Trans-Pacific Partnership - Boing Boing (brutal Obama's brutal secret project)

The Surveillance Industry Index: An Introduction | Privacy International
Protecting your data: survey indicates that with 4 exceptions major companies fail miserably | The Blog Pirate
Privacy’s worst nightmare: company advertises over one billion license plate records — RT USA - Privacy’s worst nightmare: company advertises over one billion license plate records

Eschaton: Bullshit Jobs - About 60% of the population does nothing but shuffle numbers at this point. What they're doing is keeping track of who owns what, right? The actual productive labor in the economy is remarkably little ... we have seen the ballooning not even so much of the “service” sector as of the administrative sector, up to and including the creation of whole new industries like financial services or telemarketing, or the unprecedented expansion of sectors like corporate law, academic and health administration, human resources, and public relations.
In Extracting Deal From JPMorgan, U.S. Aimed for Bottom Line - NYTimes.com - $7 billion of the settlement was tax-deductible.
CHART: These Members of Congress Are Bankrolled by the Fracking Industry | Mother Jones (Dem Landrieu second, the rest Recrooks)

Albuquerque voters reject ban on late-term abortion - CNN.com - a proposal believed to be a first on a city level.
Texas abortion restrictions to stay in place after ruling from supreme court | World news | theguardian.com - A third of state's clinics to stay closed as sharply divided court declines to intervene against Texas's hardline abortion law (fucked over by Scalia and Kennedy)
Supreme Court Abortion Decision - After Yesterday's Supreme Court Decision <em>Roe</em> Looks Doomed - Esquire (the point all along)

WMD Guilt? With Obamacare, The Press Keeps Trying To Minimize Iraq War | Blog | Media Matters for America
It’s “Paul Ryan is a serious wonk” season again! - Salon.com - The Washington Post admires Paul Ryan's very bold plan to fight poverty by replacing food stamps with dreams
Washington Post's Ruth Marcus: Mary Cheney Deserves Equal Rights, But She Should Keep It To Herself | Blog | Media Matters for America
Politico’s Mike Allen, native advertising pioneer (post-ethics journos)
Pat McCrory: We Didn't 'Shorten Early Voting,' We 'Compacted The Calendar' - North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R)
Trey Radel, Busted On Cocaine Charge, Voted For Drug Testing Food Stamp Recipients (another hyporethuglicrit)

AGs Reject Chuck Grassley Effort To Shrink D.C. Circuit Court - A dozen state attorneys general are urging the Senate to reject an effort by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to strip the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals of three of its seats and therefore prevent President Barack Obama from filling vacant judgeships on the court.

Macy's, Barneys & NYPD Are No-Shows At Hearing On Racial Profiling: Gothamist
McDonald's Advice To Underpaid Employees: Sell Your Christmas Presents For Cash | ThinkProgress
Marissa Mayer Pokes Fun At Walmart Protestors - When you're a high-powered executive who makes $6 million per year, perhaps you shouldn't make light of wage-earners' plight ... who is on Walmart's board of directors (Yahoo: do evil)

Boston PD Folds After Doubling-Down; Withdraws Felony Complaint Against PINAC | Photography is Not a Crime: PINAC - Besides their pleas that we stop calling, they also requested that Hardy remove the video from Youtube that led to the felony complaints against us; a 30-second recorded conversation between himself and spokeswoman Angelene Richardson where he was seeking comment on another video that was going viral. (it's a crime to record their customer service line or publish their email)
San Francisco Police Beat a Man for Riding His Bike on the Sidewalk | VICE United States
Accuser: Cops Covered Up Sexual Assault Investigation Into Florida State Quarterback | ThinkProgress - The investigation into whether Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston sexually assaulted a female student in 2012 took a vicious turn Wednesday, when the accuser’s family refuted earlier statements from police that the original investigation was halted because the alleged victim did not want to press charges. (they always lie)


Don’t make fun of renowned Dan Brown - The snobs and critics will have a field day with the US author’s latest work – but I’m not joining in.
Why is everybody laughing at Dan Brown? That's what he wants
Metaphilm ::: Monsters Inc.

English Has a New Preposition, Because Internet - Atlantic Mobile

Cupid Media Hack Exposed 42M Passwords — Krebs on Security - An intrusion at online dating service Cupid Media earlier this year exposed more than 42 million consumer records, including names, email addresses, unencrypted passwords and birthdays, according to information obtained by KrebsOnSecurity. (sat on it for nearly a year, threatened Krebs for telling them)
Cupid Media Hack Exposed 42M Passwords — Krebs on Security (link to comment on good p/ws)
“thereisnofatebutwhat­wemake”—Turbo-charged cracking comes to long passwords | Ars Technica - Cracking really long passwords just got a whole lot faster and easier.

111913
David Suzuki's Fukushima Warning Is Dire And Scary - "bye bye Japan" and the entire west coast of North America should be evacuated.)
UN climate talks in Warsaw: what you need to know | Environment | theguardian.com - The aim is to forge a legally binding global climate treaty in Poland to cut carbon emissions. But it's easier said than done
The Carbon Pollution Profiteers Have Taken Over The Climate Summit | PopularResistance.Org

Post-Haiyan rebuilding could cost £3.6bn, says Philippine minister | World news | theguardian.com - Typhoon relief efforts gathering pace with nearly 25,000 personnel deployed, but remote villages still desperate for aid
Beirut suicide blasts raise tensions in Lebanon as Sunni militants target Iran | World news | The Guardian - Iranian diplomat among at least 23 killed in bombings as role of Tehran and Hezbollah in Syrian war widens sectarian divide
Endless Afghanistan? US-Afghan agreement would keep troops in place and funds flowing, perhaps indefinitely - World News (Obama's forever war)
Nuclear Deal With Iran Comes Closer As Tehran Concedes On Right To Enrich
Sardinia floods kill at least 16 as Italy declares state of emergency on island | World news | theguardian.com - Family of four feared among the dead after cyclone Cleopatra hits island and six months' worth of rain falls within 24 hours
Walled world: How walls are springing up to divide populations everywhere | World news | theguardian.com - Jon Henley: an illusion of security from Berlin to the West Bank

Chinese Gov't To Tighten Internet Controls Even Further - Slashdot
? Anonymous Operation Ukraine - YouTube
Inside the mind of a self-styled jihadi | Al Jazeera America - Abu Zubaydah’s writings reveal emotions and ideas that experts say are typical of men who have taken up Al-Qaeda’s cause

ITAR-TASS: World - Snowden’s father: the worst of the leaks are yet to come - Lon Snowden has announced that upcoming revelations will be much more serious than what’s been published before (dum de dum dum)
ITAR-TASS: World - Chronicles of 2013 NSA leaks

Feds: Even Though We've Been Ordered To Reveal Secret Interpretation Of The PATRIOT Act, We're Not Going To Do That | Techdirt - from the secret-laws! dept (yes, the deep state has laws that are secret)
Judge: “NSA exceeded the scope of authorized acquisition continuously” | Ars Technica - New declassifed documents show legal arguments over bulk metadata collection.
Fisa court order that allowed NSA surveillance is revealed for first time | World news | theguardian.com - Fisa court judge who authorised massive tapping of metadata was hesitant but felt she could not stand in the way (didn't want to get assasinated)
The Daily Dot - Here's the court ruling that let the NSA track your email - The Office of National Intelligence has declassified a secret court ruling that reveals the legal underpinnings of the National Security Agency’s controversial email metadata collection program.

Twitter / MatthewKeysLive: NSA training material claims ... - analysis of bulk metadata helped foil New York subway terror plot
The Biggest Little CIA Shop You’ve Never Heard Of - Newsweek
Twitter / MatthewKeysLive: The NSA stored 2k+ telephone ... - numbers that hadn't gone through the correct reasonable articulable suspicion process

After the WikiLeaks release: what is the TPP? We are EFF, Public Citizen, Open Media, and more -- Ask Us Anything : IAmA
A Conversation With Jeremy Hammond, American Political Prisoner Sentenced to 10 Years | Vivien Lesnik Weisman
When a Victim of Jeremy Hammond Testified | Motherboard - "You ever been pizza bombed? I was pizza bombed several times. You ever been Chinese food bombed?"

The Parallax View: a JFK conspiracy film that gets it right | Film | theguardian.com - John F Kennedy was quite a conservative president. He opposed the March on Washington and did little to promote the cause of civil rights

Elizabeth Warren wants to spend more on Social Security. But she’s not thinking big enough!

Republicans Block Third Nominee To DC Court - A Call To Democrats To Stop Sitting Back On This Business With Judges - Esquire
Key Senate Democrats Flip, Now Ready For Filibuster Reform Via 'Nuclear Option' - The fact that GOP senators were responsible for filibustering all three of Obama's D.C. Circuit nominees, all of whom were qualified and non-controversial, has "galvanized" Democrats to make changes, Boxer said.
Harry Reid: GOP playing with fire on judges - politico.com
How Conservatives Abandoned Judicial Restraint, Took Over The Courts And Radically Transformed America | ThinkProgress

Why Healthcare.gov Sucks? Because They Hired Political Cronies, Not Internet Native Companies To Build It | Techdirt (everything is political for Obama, even when it's totally stupid political)
Healthcare Enrollment Increasing - Healthcare Enrollment Is Now...Surging? - Esquire
Obamacare Hyperventilation to Continue Forever! -- Daily Intelligencer
Obamacare Panic to Enter Even Stupider New Phase - No, Democrats are not abandoning it en masse, and no, it isn't going to be repealed.

Supreme Court Refuses to Block Texas Abortion Law - ABC News (there you go)

Rep. Trey Radel charged with cocaine possession - John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman - POLITICO.com - Rep. Trey Radel, a Florida Republican elected in 2012, will be in court Wednesday on charges that he possessed cocaine.
Black supremacist calling for mass murder of whites still employed by Homeland Security — RT USA - “He’s a gay-bashing, revenge-seeking black nationalist who advocates on his website – War on the Horizon – the mass murder of whites and the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of ‘black-skinned Uncle Tom race traitors,’”

Missouri to execute inmate using drugs from secret supplier | World news | theguardian.com - Missouri is due to execute a multiple murderer just after midnight in which the state will for the first time use a lethal dose of pentobarbital obtained from a secret compounding pharmacy.

Cheating students more likely to want government jobs, study finds - latimes.com
Mystery humans spiced up ancients’ rampant sex lives : Nature News & Comment - Genome analysis suggests interbreeding between modern humans, Neanderthals, Denisovans and a mysterious archaic population - “What it begins to suggest is that we’re looking at a ‘Lord of the Rings’-type world — that there were many hominid populations,”

ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight Announces Managing Editor, Key Editorial Hires « ESPN MediaZone - FiveThirtyEight.com, the definitive website for data-driven journalism, will re-launch in early 2014 in coordination with ESPN. In anticipation of the launch, the editorial team has made a number of key hires to fulfill the vision for the new site, which will be led by Editor-in-Chief Nate Silver ... five distinct content verticals: (verticals)

Listen up, Arne Duncan: Racist defense of Common Core won’t derail coalition to fight corporate school reform which hurts kids - Salon.com - "Education Spring" is on -- and the uprising against testing, cuts and for-profit schools is on the rise (Obama loves his corporate schools, hates teachers)
alicublog: And Then De Blasio Made Out With Sukhreet Gabel And Killed Yankel Rosenbaum. - The good news is the new wave of graffiti will be done by rich British performance artists, so no one can call conservatives racist when they complain.
State Rep. Uses Sledgehammer To Destroy Homeless People's Possessions | ThinkProgress - “If I see shopping carts that I can’t identify, I will destroy them so they can’t be pushed on the streets.” Brower has waged this campaign for two weeks, estimating that he’s smashed about 30 shopping carts in the process.

Liberty University Shooting: Student Killed in Altercation At Women's Dorm - Liberty University is one of 25 universities that allows students faculty and staff with a Virginia concealed carry permit to keep their guns in their car and carry them on campus grounds. (what could go wrong just did)

Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2013 Operating Results and September Sales Results - Yahoo Finance

Twitter Must Do More To Combat Twitter Child Porn

Udacity's Sebastian Thrun, Godfather Of Free Online Education, Changes Course | Fast Company | Business + Innovation - . So why is he pivoting away from MOOCs? "We don't educate people as others wished, or as I wished," Thrun says. (that didn't take long)
Solar to Illuminate the World's First Underground Park | The Lowline - The Lowline is a plan to use innovative solar technology to illuminate an historic trolley terminal on the Lower East Side of New York City.

Bob Dylan "Like A Rolling Stone" - Official Interactive Video!
Bob Dylan interactive video - Like a Rolling Stone : Music (reddit goes nuts)
Bob Dylan's 'Like A Rolling Stone' Released As Groundbreaking Interactive Video | The Official Bob Dylan Site
? Bob Dylan Like a Rolling Stone Live 1966 - YouTube
Bob Dylan Lyrics - Like A Rolling Stone
? Dylan - Pawn Stars.avi - YouTube
? Sonder | The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows - YouTube

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Typhoon Haiyan: fears not all survivors have been reached | World news | theguardian.com - UN concerned aid has not reached remote areas as Philippines president says he has been 'tempted to despair'
U.S.-Afghan Security Pact In Doubt After Hamid Karzai Rejects Provision
Afghan villagers find the bodies of 6 beheaded contractors in restive southern province - The Washington Post

Fukushima Protester Jailed For 21 Days Speaks Out | PopularResistance.Org - Prof. Masaki Shimoji was jailed for 21 days for handing out leaflets criticizing the handling of the Fukushima Disaster

Une mineure mariée de force à son violeur se suicide au Maroc (16 yr old Monaco girl forced to marry her rapist kills herself)

'Syria is not a revolution any more – this is civil war' | World news | The Guardian - Rivalry between rebels and Islamists has replaced the uprising's lofty ideals, leaving veteran commanders despairing
Activists say they have found way round Chinese internet censorship | World news | theguardian.com - Campaigners create 'mirror sites' to circumvent controls after Reuters and Wall Street journal websites are blocked
Analysis: Unpopular at home, Hollande appreciated in Israel | JPost | Israel News - French president has earned Paris a greater degree of respect in Jerusalem than it has enjoyed in years.
Paris police hunt gunman after shootings at newspaper office and bank | World news | theguardian.com - Man with rifle injures staff member at Libération newspaper before heading to Société Génerale bank and Champs-Élysées
Russian plane crash: dozens killed as 737 crashes at Kazan airport | World news | The Guardian - All 50 people on board Boeing 737 from Moscow Domodedovo airport die in explosion on runway at Kazan

? Mayor Rob Ford knocks over Councillor during November 18 motion of debate - YouTube (where will it end?)
Rob Ford, Toronto Mayor Who Smoked Crack, Wants To Be Prime Minister One Day

US Government Says CIA Black Site Prisoners' Memory Of Their Own Torture Is Classified And Cannot Be Revealed | Techdirt (it's come to this - they can classify your mind)

Qatar's accidental vagina stadium is most gratifying | Holly Baxter | Comment is free | The Guardian - The resemblance of the Al-Wakrah World Cup stadium to the female genitalia can only be a good thing – sport and vaginas are not always such public bedfellows
Thousands Protest Rape Culture In New Zealand, Saying It's Become 'A National Health Crisis' | ThinkProgress - The members of the Roast Busters target teenage girls, ply them with alcohol until they’re often close to unconsciousness, gang-rape them, and then upload the evidence to social media sites in an attempt to shame their victims.
Israel has secretly held suspected al-Qaeda weapons expert for over three years, court documents reveal - @Reuters - breakingnews.com
Bloomberg News Suspends Reporter Whose Article on China Was Not Published - NYTimes.com - A reporter for Bloomberg News who worked on an unpublished article about China, which employees for the company said had been killed for political reasons by top Bloomberg editors, was suspended last week by managers.
Goldman Sachs Shorted Greek Debt After It Arranged Those Shady Swaps - Business Insider - Despite its role in creating swaps that may have allowed the Greek government to mask its growing debts, Goldman has no net exposure to a default on Greek debt, a person familiar with the matter says.

Rebekah Brooks was a 'demanding' Sun editor, lawyer tells phone-hacking trial | UK news | theguardian.com - Paper's staff were not given training about issues relating to phone hacking before arrest of NoW royal editor, jury also hears

Bitcoin-powered assassination market targets Obama, Bernanke, and others | The Verge
US regulations are hampering Bitcoin's growth | Jerry Brito | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Many countries are putting out the welcome mat for Bitcoin. If the US doesn't change its approach, Bitcoin will go elsewhere
Bitcoin risks and rewards discussed at Senate hearing on virtual currency | Technology | theguardian.com - US officials to discuss 'potential to promote more efficient global commerce' but acknowledge 'challenges to law enforcement' (hello?)

Reuters Investigates - UNACCOUNTABLE: The Pentagon's bad bookkeeping
Reuters Investigates - UNACCOUNTABLE: The Pentagon's bad bookkeeping
“$8.5 TRILLION In Taxpayer Money Doled Out By Congress To The Pentagon Since 1996 … Has NEVER Been Accounted For” | Zero Hedge (National Debt solved)
Pentagon guilty of billion-dollar accounting fraud, reveals Reuters investigation | The Verge - more than $8 trillion disappearing into a mess of corrupted data, erroneous reports, and unauditable ledgers. (Obama will pardon it)

TPP WikiLeaks: White House claims to support cellphone unlocking, but treaty negotiations say otherwise. (Obama hates you owning the phone you bought +everything is a secret so he can negotiate with special interests)

Twitter / mikko: This is what President of Brazil, ... - Ms. Dilma Roussef said after it was discovered her email was read by the Americans:
Grilling of spy chiefs ‘a total pantomime’ | The Sunday Times - AN UNPRECEDENTED public appearance by UK spy chiefs has been labelled a “total pantomime” after it emerged that they were told of questions in advance.
German reports: US "anti-terror" ops based in Germany | News | DW.DE | 15.11.2013 - Two German media outlets have said US agencies have also run anti-terrorism operations world-wide from bases in Germany. Their joint investigative report asserts that the "secret war" was partly funded by Germany.

Unnamed ‘Senior Law Enforcement Sources’ Claim US Government Wouldn’t Arrest Assange Today | The Dissenter
Assange not under sealed indictment, U.S. officials say - The Washington Post

British Intelligence Operation to Kidnap Snowden? Number One MI-6 Officer Working Undercover in Moscow Embassy | Global Research - the NSA and its FIVE EYES partners are independent of their governments, «an entity unto itself». This entity will stop at nothing to capture Edward Snowden regardless of international law and diplomatic protocols.
Give Snowden Asylum in Germany - NYTimes.com (and the Peace Prize)
Snowden effect: young people now care about privacy - Results of a Harris Poll released this morning show four out of five people have changed the privacy settings of their social media accounts, and most have made changes in the last six months.

Supreme Court blocks challenge to NSA phone tracking — RT USA
Indonesia recalls Canberra ambassador over Yudhoyono phone tapping attempt | World news | theguardian.com - Foreign minister demands explanation after documents reveal Australian agencies targeted phones of president and his wife
Twelve Years Before Edward Snowden, High-Level NSA Whistleblower Warned Congress About Mass Surveillance Against Americans | Global Research - : William Binney
The Sleeper Cell That Wasn’t | Retro Report - Six days after 9/11, the FBI’s raid on a Detroit sleeper cell signaled America’s resolve to fight terrorism. But, despite a celebrated conviction, there was one problem — they’d gotten it wrong.
FBI hacking squad used in domestic investigations, experts say - NBC News.com - nstalling malware and spyware on the computers of suspected terrorists or child pornographers
We are Ben Wizner (ACLU, and legal advisor to Edward Snowden), filmmaker Cullen Hoback (Terms and Conditions May Apply), Tim Karr (Free Press) and Demand Progress. Ask Us Anything about online privacy and surveillance! : IAmA
Bloggingheads.tv - Katherine Maher (Access) and Jillian C. York (Electronic Frontier Foundation, JillianCYork.com)

Jeremy Hammond's Attorney- Closing Argument | We Are Change | We Are Change
Hammond Sentencing: Feeding the Flame of Revolt | PopularResistance.Org

Yahoo Will Follow Google In Encrypting Data Center Traffic, Customer Data Flow By Q1 ’14 | TechCrunch
The Daily Dot - Documents detail the mesh network that Seattle police still haven't turned off
Mass Surveillance Is Big Business: Corporations Are as Good at Spying as Governments | Motherboard
Private firms selling mass surveillance systems around world, documents show | World news | The Guardian - One Dubai-based firm offers DIY system similar to GCHQ's Tempora programme, which taps fibre-optic cables
Boston cops outraged about GPS tracking plans | Privacy SOS (oh the irony)
Official Franklin County, Ohio Website/Portal Hacked and Defaced by Nullroot – HackRead – Latest Cyber Crime – Information Security – Hacking News - Yesterday the official website of Hillside Illinois Police Department and 8 NASA domains were successfully hacked.
Catapult-Launched Bat Drone Wages Electronic War | Danger Room | Wired.com
NSA links to St Petersburg FL Drug Ring | MadCow Morning News
U.S. military may have 10 robots per soldier by 2023 - Computerworld - Military expects to soon be using autonomous robots to carry soldiers' gear and scan for enemy combatants

One JFK conspiracy theory that could be true - CNN.com - 5. "The CIA did it"
Book Club: Was JFK's Assassination Inevitable?

Exclusive: John Kerry Defies the White House on Egypt Policy - The secretary doesn’t agree with Obama’s team, especially Susan Rice, on how to deal with Egypt. Unfortunately for Rice, Kerry is the one on the ground—and he’s doing things his way.

Midwest tornadoes: death toll rises as huge storm system wreaks havoc | World news | The Guardian - At least six deaths confirmed in Illinois as emergency crews rush to communities hit by huge storm system

A Permanent Slump? - NYTimes.com - But what if the world we’ve been living in for the past five years is the new normal? What if depression-like conditions are on track to persist, not for another year or two, but for decades? (Obama/Republicans screwed the future)
What To Do When You're Wrong - NYTimes.com - Barry Ritholtz reminds us that we’ve just passed the third anniversary of the debasement-and-inflation letter — the one in which a who’s who of right-wing econopundits warned that quantitative easing would have dire consequence

How to silence GOP nuts — and stop the Obamacare repeal campaign - Salon.com - One still-plausible scenario could stop attacks on the president's "You can keep it" comment dead in its tracks
Bob Woodward Compares Things To Watergate Even When He's Not Asked To - Bob Woodward took to "Fox News Sunday" to continue his streak of comparing things to Watergate. This time, the subject was Obamacare. (Bobbie one-note)
Beneath the Headlines on HealthCare.gov - The piece out in the Post today is another case of a headline giving a somewhat misleading view not only of the reality of the situation, but even what's contained in the piece itself. (WaPo working overtime to convince us OCare is a failure)
Once A Leader, Oregon Exchange Hasn't Enrolled A Single Person In Obamacare - The state has received about 18,000 paper applications, at 19 pages each, and is scrambling to manually file and clear them

A Marine Was Assaulted. Her Commander Said She Deserved It For Wearing Running Shorts.

DIR-017-13 NDTA Summary final.pdf (2013 National Drug THREAT Assessment)

Good News for People Who Like Bad News About the Cheneys » Balloon Juice - Liz and Mary Cheney, and Heather Poe (Mary’s wife), are having a family feud on Facebook over Liz’s anti-gay comments yesterday on Fox News Sunday. Heather says it best:

Historical photographs get a 'colorized' makeover - in pictures | Art and design | theguardian.com

U.S. House Prepares Early Christmas Gift To Natural Gas Industry | DeSmogBlog

Michigan Police Allegedly Disseminate Video Of Black Men Told To 'Dance Like A Chimp' | ThinkProgress - The Grosse Point Park Public Safety Department is investigating video posted on a local blog purportedly filmed by police officers who told black men to sing and “dance like a chimp.” ... a statement saying has commenced an internal investigation and does “not tolerate unprofessional conduct by its officers.” (no racisim up there)

Meet the Woman Who Wants You to Stop Thinking Sex is For Men - Cosmopolitan

Scientists Discover 10,000-Year-Old Cave Paintings in Brazil | Archaeology | Sci-News.com
Accidental Discovery Dramatically Improves Electrical Conductivity - - iTech Post - Washington State University researchers have achieved a 400-fold increase in the electrical conductivity of a crystal simply by exposing it to light
Carl Sagan Tries To Explain Evolution To An Argumentative Guy - Carl Sagan is one of those rare humans who makes anyone he's arguing with look ham-fisted. The guy talking nonsense about transitional fossils is no exception.

What are some Audiobooks you'd consider better experiences than actually reading the book? : books

Nokia Lumia 1520 review: the best Windows Phone device yet
Nokia Lumia 1520 Review: | BGR
The State of Smartphones in 2013: Part I of the new Ars Ultimate Guide | Ars Technica
Google and Microsoft agree steps to block abuse images
The Daily Dot - Father wants image of slain son's body removed from Google Maps

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Typhoon Haiyan: how the horror unfolded day by day | World news | The Guardian - The strongest storm ever recorded began a week of fear, lawlessness and growing desperation for the Philippines
Mustafa Noah, Libya Deputy Intelligence Chief, Kidnapped At Tripoli Airport
Pervez Musharraf to face trial for treason, says Pakistani minister | World news | theguardian.com - Interior minister says former president will be tried for declaring state of emergency in 2007 and suspending constitution
Leftist militants claim Golden Dawn killings as rally honours 1973 uprising | World news | theguardian.com - As demonstrators commemorate anniversary, anti-establishment leftists vow to move far-rightists to 'the dustbin of history'
Netanyahu steps up attack on prospect of Iran nuclear weapons deal | World news | theguardian.com - Israeli PM calls for sanctions and says he will not allow 'ayatollahs with nuclear weapons' to threaten 'the Jewish people' (said the Jew with H-bombs trying to keep his war alive)
PM rejects call to lower age of consent to 15 - Faculty of Public Health president Prof John Ashton said society had to accept that about a third of all boys and girls were having sex at 14 or 15.

Japan’s New State Secrecy Law Leading to Closer Involvement in US Military Build-Up Against China | Global Research
Two sailors injured as drone strikes US warship on training exercise | World news | theguardian.com - The US navy has said that an aerial target drone malfunctioned and struck a guided missile cruiser during training off southern California, causing two minor injuries. (revolt of the drones)

NSA Asked Linus Torvalds To Install Backdoors Into GNU/Linux - Falkvinge on Infopolicy - When my oldest son [Linus Torvalds] was asked the same question: “Has he been approached by the NSA about backdoors?” he said “No”, but at the same time he nodded. Then he was sort of in the legal free. He had given the right answer, [but] everybody understood that the NSA had approached him.
NSA Asked Linus Torvalds To Install Backdoors Into GNU/Linux : worldnews

David Miranda Is Nobody's Errand Boy - When Glenn Greenwald’s 28-year-old Brazilian partner was detained in London this summer while transporting documents related to the bombshell Edward Snowden story, many assumed he was unfairly roped into a situation he didn’t understand. That couldn’t be further from the truth. (The Third Man)

The Daily Dot - Jeremy Hammond supporters share list of countries the FBI allegedly used him to hack - The full extent of the FBI’s “abuses,” the letter says, may never be known due to a protective order that has been placed on much of the evidence. (how they coverup their crimes)
FBI continues to investigate Hastings for 'controversial reporting' | Al Jazeera America - Al Jazeera obtains declassified documents on deceased Rolling Stone journalist following FOIA lawsuit (Obama hates "controversial reporting")

GCHQ snoops on hotel reservations targeting diplomats – Snowden leaks — RT News
The Logic Behind Mass Spying:  Empire and Cyber Imperialism | MyFDL
AnonGhost Hacks Hillside Illinois Police Department website against NATO Strikes – HackRead – Latest Cyber Crime – Information Security – Hacking News

Louisiana Republican Who Backs Obamacare's Medicaid Provision Wins Seat Over Party Favorite | ThinkProgress - McAllister, a businessman who embraced the expansion of Medicaid available to the state under the Affordable Care Act, defeated a Republican party favorite who called for full Obamacare repeal.
D.C. insurance commissioner fired a day after questioning Obamacare fix - The Washington Post - A day after he questioned President Obama’s decision to unwind a major tenet of the health-care law and said the nation’s capital might not go along, D.C. insurance commissioner William P. White was fired. (Obama hates people who disagree with him)

Giving All Americans a Basic Income Would End Poverty - Business Insider (Obama hates this idea)

The GOP v. The Concept Of Consent, The Latest In An Infinite Series - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money - Apparently former National Blowjob Inquisitor Ken Starr has finally found an occasion for mercy. I know Starr doesn’t think that students should have First Amendment rights either, but this is going a little far. (Starr, Charles Gibson, others, defend child-molester)
The Bill of Rights Is The First Casualty Of The War On Drugs - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money - Because according to Kenneth Starr, former righteous independent counsel—now tanned Californian law-school dean—the fate of the drug wars depends upon the unconditional school message that drugs are bad, yet schools cannot enforce that message because smartass kids keep undermining them (2007)

Caught in Unemployment’s Revolving Door - NYTimes.com
Being on the Right Side of the Digital Divide Matters - If you drop out of high school, odds are you'll end up in a dead-end job for life. But the odds get a lot better if you happen to have some computer skills.

A Decade After Massachusetts' Landmark Gay Marriage Ruling, The Gains Are Clear

Explainer: Why the D.A. Didn't Charge the NYC Taxi Driver Who Maimed a Tourist - WNYC (they never do)

Cannabidiol, a Non-Psychoactive Cannabinoid Compound, Inhibits Proliferation and Invasion in U87-MG and T98G Glioma Cells through a Multitarget Effect. [PLoS One. 2013] - PubMed - NCBI

? Gerrymandering Explained - YouTube
Newspaper Corrects 1863 Editorial Calling the Gettyburg Address 'Silly' - Megan Garber - The Atlantic - Nearly 150 years after it panned Lincoln's seminal speech, the Patriot-News is changing its tune. This is how the editorial came to be in the first place.

? Islam, the Quran, and the Five Pillars All Without a Flamewar: Crash Course World History #13 - YouTube
? The Dark Ages...How Dark Were They, Really?: Crash Course World History #14 - YouTube

Forced Google Plus integration on YouTube backfires, petition hits 112,000 | ZDNet
The Daily Dot - Hacker's plan backfires after calling a police raid to his own house - 22-year-old Michael Adams Jr. who, during his time as a computer hacker, had failed to become the target of a "swatting." Taking matters into his own hands, Adams simply called the police himself,
Battery Usage Report - Generate in Windows 8
PowerCfg - The hidden energy and battery tool for Windows you're not using - Scott Hanselman

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Climate change pledges: rich nations face fury over moves to renege | Environment | The Observer
Bashar Assad Gains Ground In Syrian Civil War
Judi Dench urged to back inquiry into stolen baby' scandal | World news | The Observer - "There was no apology nor has redress ever occurred. Incredibly, the Irish state continues to fund its partner in crime, the Catholic church, to hold the birth and care records of over 50,000 children. The state colludes with them to prevent the 'taken children' from discovering their identities," she said. (WLKR: World's Largest Kidnapping Ring)

Young and Educated in Europe, but Desperate for Jobs - NYTimes.com

C.I.A. Collects Global Data on Transfers of Money - NYTimes.com - The Central Intelligence Agency is secretly collecting bulk records of international money transfers handled by companies like Western Union — including transactions into and out of the United States — under the same law that the National Security Agency uses for its huge database of Americans’ phone records, according to current and former government officials.
Justice is reviewing criminal cases that used surveillance evidence gathered under FISA - The Washington Post

Justice is reviewing criminal cases that used surveillance evidence gathered under FISA - The Washington Post - “I certainly don’t agree with what Greenwald has done,” Holder said. “In some ways, he blurs the line between advocate and journalist. But on the basis of what I know now, I’m not sure there is a basis for prosecution of Greenwald.” (speaking of "blurring the lines")

Google's Latest Transparency Report Mocks The Gag Order FISC Puts On Them Over NSA Requests | Techdirt
Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter Have a New Lobbying Target—the NSA | Mother Jones - The NSA won't stop spying on tech companies. Now, they're starting to do something about it.

Victory: Government to Release More NSA Documents and FISA Court Opinions in Response to EFF Lawsuit | Electronic Frontier Foundation - concerning its use of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the provision of law the NSA relies on to collect the call records of millions of Americans
Op-Ed: Utahns should deny water to NSA center | The Salt Lake Tribune - "Concealed within his fortress, the lord of Mordor sees all. His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth, and flesh."
Jailed Anonymous hacker Jeremy Hammond: 'My days of hacking are done' | Technology | theguardian.com - Hammond calls his 10-year sentence a 'vengeful, spiteful act' by US authorities eager to put a chill on political hacking (Obama is a cruel person)
No, the Feds Are Not Behind the New Silk Road | Motherboard - If the Feds facilitated the new Silk Road, they'd be breaking their own rules. Plain and simple. (of course, that's never happened before)

FBI Agent Insists He Wasn't First To Leak Info On Foiled Bomb Plot As He Heads To Jail (Obama is always making "examples" of people to deter "threats")

Elizabeth Warren won't save the Democrats in 2016 | Zack Exley | Comment is free | theguardian.com - The Republican theory is much more accessible to people who never took a class in economics: "the government is the problem, get rid of government interference". The Democratic theory requires more fealty to complex models and elite academics. (stupid usually wins)

Violence gone viral: new study plots how crime spreads like a disease | The Verge - study leader Andrew Papachristos, an associate professor of sociology at Yale. Rather, "the vast majority of gun violence, the everyday violence that we see in our streets, is actually passed on person to person, much more like a blood-borne pathogen."

Environmental Activist Reverend Billy Is Possibly Facing Up To One Year In Prison - Forbes - There, the troupe burst into song. That was followed by a short sermon from Reverend Billy about how the bank’s investments were tied to climate change, and the handing out of informational flyers to the clients and employees. (Obama hates all your theatricial performances)
Selenium - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money - This is not an acceptable decision from the EPA during a Democratic administration: (Obama hates your environment)
TSA's $1 Billion 'Behavioral Detection' Program Only Slightly More Accurate Than A Coin Flip | Techdirt - All told, nearly a billion dollars have been sunk into the program, with the end result being a scattershot system that the GAO says detects potential threats with an accuracy that is "the same or slightly better than chance."
Washington: Americans’ personal data shared with CIA, IRS, others in security probe | National Security & Defense | McClatchy DC - U.S. agencies collected and shared the personal information of thousands of Americans in an attempt to root out untrustworthy federal workers that ended up scrutinizing people who had no direct ties to the U.S. government and simply had purchased certain books. (Obama hates books, too)

GOP-Tea Party Infighting Bedevils Republican Unity - On the other hand, a new string of tea party victories could ignite a full-blown Republican civil war and embolden anti-establishment champions such as U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. (Obama doing everything he can to make it happen)


The Hairpin - Ladies First
The Toast - A willing foe, and sea room.

VSe1BMy.jpg - Global Transportation System
Flightradar24.com - Live flight tracker!

Princeton University Meningitis Outbreak Prompts CDC To Import Vaccine - This week, Princeton officials confirmed the school's seventh case of meningitis in 2013. A spokesman says trustees will discuss the issue this weekend.

13 Design Trends For 2013
Adobe Password Breach: What You Need to Know - Eventbrite.com Eventbrite Blog
Think NSA Snooping Is Bad? Check Out MPAA Theater Security | Threat Level | Wired.com (Obama hates your Constitutional rights)

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Want to Piss Off the White House? Talk About Climate Change | Mother Jones - the White House's private outrage at former Secretary of Energy Steve Chu's impromptu decision to talk about climate change while visiting an island nation uniquely threatened by it. (very tightly controlled "messaging" - these supposedly poltical geniuses can't see the message)
Japan Shelves Plan to Slash Emissions, Citing Fukushima - NYTimes.com

Typhoon Haiyan survivors lack food and water one week on | World news | theguardian.com - Death toll climbs to 3,261 and large numbers of bodies still lie unburied as Philippines government faces growing criticism
Fox's Heartless Response To The Philippines' Call For Aid After Typhoon | Blog | Media Matters for America
Al-Qaeda-linked rebels apologise after cutting off head of wrong person - Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham militants say sorry for decapitating a fellow extremist rather than enemy
Anger over Israeli mayor who says there are no gays in his town - Moshe Abutbul, the ultra-Orthodox mayor of Beit Shemesh, says no gays live in his town and homosexuality should be a police matter, amid debate in Israel over a proposal to allow same-sex unions
Toronto police arrest hundreds in child abuse raids | World news | theguardian.com - Arrests made in Canada, US, Australia and elsewhere as police seize videos showing sexual acts against young children
Huge child porn ring busted, Toronto police say 348 arrested in Project Spade | CTV News - In Canada: 40 teachers, 9 doctors and nurses, 32 volunteers, 6 law enforcement personnel, 9 faith leaders, 3 foster parents
Denmark surpasses 100 percent wind power – German Energy Transition - Denmark surpasses 100 percent wind power
Turkey’s Erdogan Condemns Coed Dormitories - The Daily Beast - The prime minister and his allies say mixed-gender student housing gives rise to depravity, drugs, prostitution, and ‘terrorism.’
Councils to be given powers to ban peaceful protests that might disturb local residents - UK Politics - UK - The Independent - Councils to be given powers to ban peaceful protests that might disturb local residents (no right of assembly for you)
CIA declassifies Camp David Accords intelligence - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |
CyberGuerrilla soApboX » Ukraine GOV hacked. CUSTOMS of UKRAINE customs.gov.ua MASSIVE Docs leak.

U.S. Air Force asked to help in missing drone search - World - CBC News
Germany halts purchase of armed drones - The Local - Members of the next German government have agreed to postpone the country's purchase of armed drones indefinitely following controversy over their use and cost.

Op-Ed Columnist - 1 Soldier or 20 Schools in Afghanistan? - NYTimes.com - The war in Afghanistan will consume more money this year alone than we spent on the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War — combined. (Obama loves his wars, hates education)

TPP draft: United States reasserts its role as a world’s schoolyard bully — RT Op-Edge
Confirmed: CIA, NSA, IRS collected and shared Americans' personal information — RT USA

FBI warns hacking spree on government agencies is a “widespread problem” | Ars Technica - Hack linked to man who said: "You have no idea how much we can f*ck with the US."
Our Government Has Weaponized the Internet. Here’s How They Did It
NSA Wants To Reveal Its Secrets To Prevent Snowden From Revealing Them First - Slashdot

Feinstein promotes bill to strengthen NSA's hand on warrantless searches | World news | theguardian.com - Fisa Improvements Act, advanced as surveillance reform, would make permanent loophole known as 'backdoor search provision' (DiFucker fucks you)
Cyber-attacks eclipsing terrorism as gravest domestic threat – FBI | World news | theguardian.com - Counter-terrorism chiefs urge Congress to resist altering controversial surveillance programs except 'at the margins' (latest excuse: "the bad guys")
C.I.A. Collects Global Data on Transfers of Money - NYTimes.com - Even lawmakers on the Intelligence Committees have indicated that they are not sure they understand the entire landscape of what the government is doing in terms of bulk collection.
Interview: Telecom Security Expert Philippe Langlois on GCHQ Spying - SPIEGEL ONLINE - British intelligence agency GCHQ has been targeting mobile phone company networks. Telecoms security expert Philippe Langlois explains what they can find this way, and how users can protect themselves from such snooping.

NSA files: New York Times defends the Guardian's Snowden leaks | World news | theguardian.com - NYT: Guardian faces state 'bullying' • Cameron insists Snowden leaks help terrorists

Google chairman: NSA spying on our data centres 'outrageous' | Technology | theguardian.com - Eric Schmidt says company has lodged complaints with NSA, White House and Congress as criticism hardens in Silicon Valley
Former FBI agent sentenced to three years in prison for Associated Press leak | World news | theguardian.com - Resulting story on Yemen led to a federal leaks investigation and the seizure of journalists' phone records in search for the source ... "Clearly, you have betrayed your nation." (by telling the truth)
The NSA should keep spying on foreign leaders and citizens. - They have no right to privacy from U.S. surveillance—and they shouldn’t. (yes, that Posner)

New Report Condemns Role of Doctors, Psychologists and Psychiatrists as Torturers in Bush’s “War on Terror” | Andy Worthington - “Ethics Abandoned: Medical Professionalism and Detainee Abuse in the War on Terror”

FBI Labels PhD Candidate's Research 'A Threat to National Security' (he foia'd the freedom in foia, which is classified; how far down the rabbit-hole Obama is willing to go)

Global Intelligence Files (Stratfor criminal misdeeds)

Jeremy Hammond & the Need to ‘Promote Respect for the Rule of Law’ | The Dissenter (Obama's tough on truth message)

Jeremy Hammond: FBI directed my attacks on foreign government sites | World news | theguardian.com - Anonymous hacktivist told court FBI informant and fellow hacker Sabu supplied him with list of countries vulnerable to cyber-attack
Twitter / ioerror: Targets supplied by #FBI to ... - Jeremy #Hammond:
Targets supplied by FBI to Jeremy Hammond - Pastebin.com
Statement on Jeremy Hammond's Sentencing Verdict - 'I did this because I believe people have a right to know what governments and corporations are doing behind closed doors. I did what I believe is right.'
Jeremy Hammond's Sentencing Statement
? Today's Jeremy Hammond Prison Sentence Is An Obvious Miscarriage Of Justice - YouTube
? Jeremy Hammond's lawyer reacts to full prison sentence - YouTube
Jeremy Hammond's Sentencing Statement - Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison, Jeremy Hammond Uses Allocution to Give Consequential Statement Highlighting Global Criminal Exploits by FBI Handlers (judge's husband connected to Stratfor)
The Daily Dot - Anonymous activist Jeremy Hammond sentenced to 10 years in prison - Hammond's sentence also forbids him from associating with "civil disobedience organizations" for 3 years after his release. (Constitutional rights revoked)
Anonymous hacker Jeremy Hammond sentenced to 10 years for Stratfor leak | Technology | theguardian.com - Hammond calls his sentencing a 'vengeful, spiteful act' by US authorities eager to put a chill on political hacking
The US can lock up hackers, but it can't crush their spirit | Laurie Penny | Comment is free | The Guardian - Jeremy Hammond is just the the latest to be targeted in a global witchhunt against the brightest minds of a generation
Wikileaks releases more Global Intelligence Files; some highlights | Privacy SOS - "Brennan is behind the witch hunts of investigative journalists learning information from inside the beltway sources. Note -- There is specific tasker from the WH to go after anyone printing materials negative to the Obama agenda (oh my.) Even the FBI is shocked. The Wonder Boys must be in meltdown mode..."
Stratfor Email: Brennan Behind 'Witch Hunt' of Journalists Reporting Leaks
Jeremy Hammond: Prisons are for Dangerous People Not Hackers [BLOG] - IBTimes UK
The FBI could have stopped the Stratfor leak at any point – Sue Crabtree - News - World - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video - serious reasons to question the motives of the judge and the entire prosecution, including the FBI which, it has been revealed, not only orchestrated the hack through an FBI informant known by the code name "Sabu", but could have stopped the leak of the files anytime had they wanted.

Russell Brand: we deserve more from our democratic system | Comment is free | The Guardian - Following his appearance on Newsnight, the comedian explains why he believes there are alternatives to our current regime

Court: Homeland Security Must Disclose Internet ‘Kill Switch’ | Washington Free Beacon - DHS protocol governs shutting down wireless networks to prevent bomb detonation

On healthcare, Obama is starting to sound like a misbehaving boyfriend | Ana Marie Cox | Comment is free | theguardian.com - The GOP has popular opinion trending on on its side for the first time in years, and they will run this issue into the ground (good job, political wing of the WH)
Right Ready for Every-Man-for-Himself Care -- Daily Intelligencer
So, About That Whole 'Obama's Katrina' Thing - the promulgation of an "Obama's Katrina" metaphor firmly underscores the basic lack of real stakes involved for all of the people having that conversation.

The U.S. may be hitting its ethanol limit. So EPA wants to relax its biofuels goals.
Milford Pipeline Fire May Burn for 36 Hours | NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth - Entire town evacuated after explosion

Get Mitch - POLITICO Magazine - How the embattled Senate minority leader explains America’s political gridlock.
Hullabaloo - Fix the Debt caught astroturfing
Yoo Have to be Kidding - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Shorter John Yoo: I’m appalled by the executive overreach of Obama’s new ACA regulations. Plainly, Obama should have obtained these ends by arbitrarily detaining and torturing health insurance executives.

Obama Administration Steps Away From Civil Rights Promise, Advocates Allege - pulling back on a civil rights promise to make sure poor and minority students get qualified teachers.
Poll Finds Conservative Americans More Offended By Rainbow Flags Than Confederate Flags (76% of Americans conservative)
George W Bush's new 'crusade': converting Jews to Christianity | Andrew Brown | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Bush is speaking at a fundraiser today for Messianic Jews. It's the same imperial mentality that's ravaged the holy land for ages

Detroit-area man charged with murder in woman's porch death - CNN.com (the black people are scary defense)

WATCH: The Surprising Trait That's MUCH More Important Than IQ | TEDTalks - psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth found that more than IQ or talent or any other factor, the #1 predictor of a person's success is their unflagging commitment to a long-term goal... in other words, their grit
Astonishing Video Captures The Unbreakable Bond Between Twins
Blind man, service dog kicked off US Airways plane; passengers object | 6abc.com

Transgender teen fights to be pictured in yearbook : News : ValleyCentral.com - He wore a tuxedo in his senior portrait photo shoot, like all the other boys at school, but according to the teen, he was told it wouldn’t be published in their yearbook.

“He Took the Time to Chat”: Ken Starr’s Plea for a Child Molester - the famously pious former Clinton prosecutor recently pleaded with a Fairfax County judge to let a confessed child molester go free. Because he’s a family friend. Here’s the letter ... just one of dozens of letters sent by as many Washington, D.C., and New York City power players—including former ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson (and many others)

Brian Holloway's House - Grantland - An NFL player's empty home. A massive teenage party. A tailor-made story of social-media shaming and a former star wronged. Until you dig deeper, that is.

cachemonet.com
Vertical Video Syndrome - A PSA - YouTube (the iDisease)

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Typhoon Haiyan: Philippines aid effort hampered by lawlessness | World news | theguardian.com - Some relief agencies scaling back in worst-hit areas due to desperate actions of Haiyan survivors and raids by bandits
Mexico accused of suppressing freedom of speech over hit documentary | World news | theguardian.com - Director of Presumed Guilty, which exposed miscarriage of justice in Mexico City, awaits rulings on claims for compensation
Pope Francis 'is mafia target after campaigning against corruption' | World news | theguardian.com - Prosecutor says pope's attempt to bring transparency to Vatican is making mobsters agitated
Rob Ford will (ahem) go down in history with this quote

Eurozone economic recovery falters in third quarter | Business | theguardian.com - Fall in French output and Italy's recession drags growth down to 0.1%, snuffing out second-quarter momentum

Edward Snowden is almost broke - Boing Boing

TPP Leak Confirms the Worst: US Negotiators Still Trying to Trade Away Internet Freedoms | Electronic Frontier Foundation (another sooper secrit Obama plan to screw you)

The FBI Doesn't Want You To Know Why It Won't Tell You Its Secrets - The FBI is going long to keep its secret files on animal rights activists a secret: It is fighting public records requests about why it keeps denying public records requests.
Google transparency report curiously opaque, thanks to FBI gag order - CSMonitor.com - Google wants to be seen as a crusader for Internet transparency, and its new report details who is asking for users' information. But the report is incomplete, Google acknowledges.
Finally, Homeland Security Has to Explain Why and When It Can Kill Cell Networks | Motherboard
TSA’s got 94 signs to ID terrorists, but they’re unproven by science | Ars Technica - Government auditor slams $900M spent on unproven program. (expensive theatre)

The Daily Dot - Bitcoin rapidly approaching $500 price tag, $5 billion market cap - As the world wonders why it's doing so well, the peer-to-peer currency is on pace to hit two major milestones in the near future.
How Much Are Bitcoins Really Worth? | Motherboard - At over $400 a bitcoin, the defiant crytopcurrency is bubbling all over again, causing enough buzz that the Senate is having a hearing on virtual currencies. What boils down to some mathematical models and open source code is now worth $4.4 billion.

Boston Police Department Claims Contacting Its Public Affairs Number Is A Criminal Act | Techdirt (the same cops who said you couldn't take their picture now say you can't record their conversations on their conversation line)

Whitey Bulger Dzhokhar Tsarnaev - The Terror in Massachusetts' Court Rooms - Esquire

Obama Healthcare Speech - The Surrender Is Not Abject, So There's That - Esquire - Translation From The Presidential Weaselspeak: OK, keep that lemon of a plan you're so fond of, but please, shut yer gob about it now. Also, pray that you don't need any medical procedure more complicated than a Band Aid for the next year, because that's all you're covered for. But... cheap!
Obamacare Enrollment Numbers Fall Far Short Of Target (Obama hates computers)
Obama to speak on Affordable Care Act – live blog | World news | theguardian.com - President to make hastily announced statement on problems with the rollout of the federal healthcare website. Follow it live

Facebook and Microsoft help fund rightwing lobby network, report finds | World news | theguardian.com - State Policy Network rejects climate change, opposes workers' rights – and is backed by some top US tech and telecoms firms

Majority of red-state Americans believe climate change is real, study shows | Environment | theguardian.com - Study suggests far-reaching acceptance of climate change in traditionally Republican states such as Texas and Oklahoma (as they turn into deserts but sill elect Barton and Inhofe)

Troubled Youth Prison Company Wins Even More Contracts

UA Study: Your Brain Sees Things You Don’t | UANews - our brains perceive objects in everyday life of which we may never be aware. The finding challenges currently accepted models about how the brain processes visual information.

The Most Popular Books of All Time | Visual.ly

Google Books ruling is a huge victory for online innovation
F-Secure Launches A Dropbox For the Dark Web And A VPN That Could Erase Content Borders Everywhere - Forbes
Trolls: Moochers Preying on Makers | Trolling Effects - Hillary Foss is a marketing associate at FindTheBest, which recently received a demand letter.
Twitter takes on Storify with Custom Timelines | Technology | theguardian.com - Social network allows users to curate tweets, stepping on toes of partner previously cited as 'good example' of how to use data (because your 140 characters are true art)
JPMorgan Shows Exactly How To Not Use Twitter

CryptoLocker Ransomware Information Guide and FAQ
CryptoGuard prevents your files from being taken hostage - Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware Software
HitmanPro.Alert CryptoGuard - SurfRight
Hackers Are Now Providing Customer Service Support to Help Victims Pay Ransoms | Motherboard - the hackers behind CryptoLocker recently launched a customer service feature to help victims through the payment process. (because bitcoins)
CryptoLocker Crew Ratchets Up the Ransom — Krebs on Security
Tools for a Safer PC — Krebs on Security

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The Changing Face of America - Photo Gallery

Pope Francis corruption fury: Tie them to a rock and throw them in the sea - Europe - World - The Independent - Pope Francis delivered an impassioned sermon yesterday, during which he quoted a passage from the bible that said some sinners deserve to be tied to a rock and cast into the sea ... because "where there is deceit, the Spirit of God cannot be".

The trouble with democracy | Books | The Guardian - Government shutdowns, petty policy squabbles, voter disaffection – democracy doesn't seem to work very well. But what's the alternative? And can we rely on muddling through? (democracy always hungers for a dictator)

2013 Likely To Be One Of The Hottest Years Ever As Warming Trend Continues, WMO Says
Typhoon Haiyan: eight die in food stampede amid desperate wait for aid | World news | theguardian.com - Thousands storm rice warehouse in the devastated central Philippines while Haiyan relief effort flounders
Are There Limits to Solar Efficiency? | Ten Miles Square | The Washington Monthly

Exclusive: US blocks publication of Chilcot’s report on how Britain went to war with Iraq - UK Politics - UK - The Independent - Washington is playing the lead role in delaying the publication of the long-awaited report into how Britain went to war with Iraq, The Independent has learnt. (history never happened)
The Daily Dot - Outdated copyright law makes memes illegal in Australia
Australia Church child sex inquiry urges sweeping changes - FRANCE 24 - An Australian state inquiry into the handling of child sex cases by the Catholic Church on Wednesday said religious leaders trivialised the problem and recommended concealment of abuse should be a crime
Rob Ford promises a ‘rumble in the jungle’ as city council prepares to vote on motion to get province to remove him | National Post
Booze, drugs, suspected escorts in new Rob Ford docs | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun
Shocking new details surface about Rob Ford: booze, cocaine and "even a suspected prostitute" in the mayor's office [updated] | torontolife.com

Gareth Williams, British Spy, Likely Died In Bag By Accident (after pad-locking himself outside from the inside)

David Cameron insists that squeeze on public-sector spending is permanent - UK Politics - UK - The Independent (pomp and pomposity on display, look at all the GOLD))
6 Speeches The Conservatives Don't Want You To See - The Tories have attempted to wipe all of their pre-2010 speeches off the internet. So we’ve dug them out.
The Daily Dot - British Conservative Party scrubs 10 years of public statements from the Web

The edge of the abyss: exposing the NSA's all-seeing machine | The Verge - "I know the capability that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return." (which is what happened)

Deutsche Telekom Pushes All German Internet Safe from Spying - spiegel online
German Warns of Possible Threat to US Facilities in Spying Scandal - spiegel online
Less Than 20% Of Americans Believe That There's Adequate Oversight Of The NSA | Techdirt
Why Does Anyone Trust the National-Security State? - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic - A lack of transparency and oversight has led to abuses time and again, in every era. (Craptrapper)
Tomgram: Engelhardt, A Surveillance State Scorecard | TomDispatch - Mistaking Omniscience for Omnipotence In a World Without Privacy, There Are No Exemptions for Our Spies
Report: Government Spying Causing Self-Censorship, Privacy Fears Among US Writers « CBS DC
Smooth operators: why phone companies don't fight the NSA | The Verge - Will AT&T and Verizon ever push back against NSA surveillance? Don't bet on it
The Seattle Police Department Disables Its Mesh Network (the New Apparatus Capable of Spying on You) | Slog
The original NSA whistleblower: “Snowden is a patriot” - Salon.com - You likely haven't heard of Perry Fellwock, the first whistle-blower to go to the press about NSA 30 years ago
More NSA transparency would lead to bigger privacy invasion, agency lawyer says | The Verge (even bigger would look like what?)

In Lavabit Appeal, U.S. Doubles Down on Access to Web Crypto Keys | Threat Level | Wired.com
emptywheel - What this boils down to is, essentially, the government thinks the keys to Lavabit’s encryption for their customers belong not just to Lavabit, and their respective customers, but to the United States government itself. Your private information cannot be private in the face of the United States Government. Not just Edward Snowden, but anybody, and everybody, is theirs if they want it. That is the definition of bullshit.
US wants $10,000 from Lavabit owner for dodging order for Snowden's email | The Verge - Levison waited two days, racking up $10,000 in sanctions, then turned over the keys and immediately shut down his company. He's appealing the fine now, arguing that requesting a master set of encryption keys was excessive if the FBI only wanted to monitor one user.

Salvaging Obama - NYTimes.com - Dismissing Clapper, the director of national intelligence, is not a new idea. Fred Kaplan of Slate suggested it in June, after Clapper lied to Congress about the N.S.A.’s data-mining.
The Daily Dot - Senator who wrote bill to help NSA gets way more money than opponent - Unsurprisingly, an analysis of campaign contributions shows that Feinstein gets three times as much money from intelligence contractors.

Over 3,000 US prisoners serving life without parole for non-violent crimes | World news | theguardian.com - ACLU report chronicles thousands of lives ruined by life sentences for crimes such as shoplifting or possession of a crack pipe (prison state America)
Editorial: Justice for Ken Anderson | Dallas Morning News - A 10-day jail sentence seems ridiculously light for former prosecutor Ken Anderson’s role in a man’s wrongful imprisonment for 25 years. As Williamson County’s district attorney, Anderson helped hide exculpatory evidence and engaged in serious prosecutorial misconduct in his effort to win the conviction of Michael Morton for the 1986 murder of Morton’s wife.

Freedom of the Press Foundation - Freedom of the Press Foundation provides you with an easy way to donate to cutting-edge journalism organizations dedicated to transparency and accountability. Donate to specific investigative journalism projects focused on combating excessive government secrecy below. Your donation will be tax-deductible. You can also donate by check. (bypass Paypal's ban on wikileaks)

Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)
WikiLeaks publishes secret draft of Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty | The Verge
How Can the New York Times Endorse an Agreement the Public Can't Read? | Electronic Frontier Foundation - The New York Times' editorial board has made a disappointing endorsement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), even as the actual text of the agreement remains secret. That raises two distressing possibilities: either in an act of extraordinary subservience, the Times has endorsed an agreement that neither the public nor its editors have the ability to read. Or, in an act of extraordinary cowardice, it has obtained a copy of the secret text and hasn't yet fulfilled its duty to the public interest to publish it. (Obama loves his sooper sercits)
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement | Electronic Frontier Foundation - (TPP) is a secretive, multi-national trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on its enforcement.
Trade deal could be bitter medicine - WikiLeaks has exposed details of secret trade negotiations that could leave Australians paying more for drugs and medicines, movies, computer games and software, and be placed under surveillance as part of a US-led crackdown on internet piracy.
Breaking: Pivotal Trans-Pacific Partnership Section Revealed - the Obama administration has been an advocate for transnational corporate interests in the negotiations even though they run counter to the needs and desires of the public.
w Wikileaks publishes the "Internet Chapter" of the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (SOPA's back) - Boing Boing
MSF responds to leak of Trans-Pacific Partnership text on Wikileaks | msfaccess.org - Médecins Sans Frontières responds to the leaked TPP text:

In Which Ben Wittes Proves Ben Wittes Is NAKED | emptywheel (breath-taking dishonesty of Obama's cops)
In fight over gag orders, US tech industry files complaint over FBI legal tactics — Tech News and Analysis (REDACTED)

CAIRO: Questions about ‘60 Minutes’ Benghazi story go beyond Dylan Davies interview; CBS conducting ‘journalistic review’ | Middle East | McClatchy DC (the whole thing was bullshit)
Gene Lyons 60 Minutes Benghazi - Spies In The House Of Journalism - Esquire - Through that same marriage of corporate cowardice and corporate avarice, the CBS empire decided to give Mary Matalin a toy publishing house. This happened to be the suspension vehicle through which the current hoax was injected into the network's bloodstream until it finally erupted into the pustulating sore that is the current situation. Oh, and Lara Logan should be suspended. Yesterday.

Historic Pro-Choice Bill To Be Introduced In Congress

The 9%: Congress's Approval Rating Hits the Single Digits | TIME.com - Suddenly 10% isn't looking so shabby

A Tiny Revolution: A Funny Little Story About The Media (yeah, Red State sabotage, except for good old KY)
Media Fall For Another Misleading Leak From Issa's Committee | Blog | Media Matters for America - Media fell for another misleading leak from the House Oversight Committee when they hyped allegations that the Obama administration ignored HealthCare.gov security warnings -- though the warnings were for a portion of the site that will not be operational until early 2014.
Obamacare technology chiefs grilled by Congress as political support dwindles | World news | theguardian.com - Democrats join GOP in anger over malfunctioning website as tech chiefs reveal healthcare.gov only operating at half capacity (eat shit, Dems)
Daily Politics Blog - Charles P. Pierce - Political Blogging - Esquire - So Bill Clinton, pretty plainly already in campaign mode, sounds the alarm in favor of the Shoddy Health Insurance Plan Protection Act of 2013, and some Democratic politicians saddle up? Forgive me if I say that I have seen this movie before. (the great triangulator strikes again)

How the Stock Market Is Rigged, According to a Robo-Trading Whistleblower | Motherboard

The Grand Old Tea Party | The Nation - Why today's wacko birds are just like yesterday's wingnuts.

Why Does The GOP Have A Problem With These People?
Cobb GOP chairman concerned about (those) people coming to Braves' games | Jay Bookman | www.ajc.com - Again, that's from the chairman of the Republican Party in the state's wealthiest, most sophisticated GOP stronghold (so they will tax black people to build a stadium that black people can't get to)

Residents Suing to Stop ‘Fortresslike’ Plan for World Trade Center - NYTimes.com - To the question, “How much security apparatus is needed on city streets?” the agencies charged with guarding public safety seem to answer, “As much as we say.” (9/11!)

Richard Cohen in Context - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic - Some people are defending his abysmal column. Their argument is not very good ... Richard Cohen's unfortunate career is the proper context to understand his column today and the wide outrage that's greeted it ("context" is all)
A Tiny Revolution: A Funny Little Story About The Media (old Richard Cohen story +how "The Village" destroyed Gart Hart)

Open carry demonstrations: Is carrying a gun to a protest protected by the First Amendment? - The alarming rise of “open-carry” demonstrations.
Which professions have the most psychopaths? - The Week (CEOs should all be locked up)
Teen night owls likely to perform worse academically, emotionally - Teenagers who go to bed late during the school year are more prone to academic and emotional difficulties in the long run, compared to their earlier-to-bed counterparts, according to a new study from UC Berkeley.

O'Reilly: Transgender-Inclusive Locker Rooms Are Like Hooters Without Chicken Wings | Blog | Media Matters for America - the difference between bringing a 12 year old to Hooters and allowing a "guy who thinks he's a girl" into a women's locker room is that Hooters has chicken wings.
Two Thirds Of Cheaters Would Stay Faithful If It Weren't For Technology, Survey Suggests - The demographic most likely to stray because their partner was snubbing them with their phone use? Women ages 30-50, according to the site.

To Protect Battered Women, You Have to Protect Their Pets - Only three percent of shelters nationwide can accommodate domestic animals, and many people refuse to leave them behind.

Anal Probes And The Drug War: A Look At The Ethical And Legal Issues
Gulag Justice? Alabama Blogger Jailed in Secretive Scandal - WhoWhatWhy - A judge has taken the extraordinary steps of not only sealing the file in the case, but ordering that the blogger’s posts be removed from the Internet.

OpBarberMiddleSchool - Pastebin.com - A deficit of a mere 30 cents was all it took for you to cause a child to be humiliated and left hungry.
Anonymous aims to shut down Utah boarding school after abuse allegations surface | Mail Online - Former students described beatings, bullying and said they were submitted to solitary confinement at Logan River Academy in Logan, Utah
An Ex-Cop's Guide to Not Getting Arrested - Mike Riggs - The Atlantic Cities
Occupy Cal Infiltrated by Police-Sympathetic-Unions; How Lt Pike Recently Got Another $38k Reward for Pepper-Spraying Student Activists

The Day the Earth Smiled (NASA Cassini Saturn Mission Images)
Cassini Solstice Mission: Raw Images
Unmanned Spaceflight.com -> Cassini's ongoing mission and raw images
Nasa release new picture of planet Saturn taken from the Cassini spacecraft | Science & Tech | News | Daily Express
Cassini’s Saturn: Incredible mosaic by Gordon Ugarkovic.
What Cassini Sees
Cassini reveals Saturn's true colours | Science | The Observer
Saturn's mysterious hexagon shows its true colors - PhotoBlog
Numerous haze layers

Which are some of the most thought provoking books you've ever read? : books
? THIS IS WATER YouTube - YouTube
David Foster Wallace - Commencement Speech at Kenyon University

Is Weed Getting Too Good? | Motherboard

#TwoWeeksOfLeaks Day 1: The Dream Scenario | Facebook - Free Cooper Union has received a collection of anonymously leaked confidential documents pertaining to The Cooper Union’s Board of Trustees and the Administration of Jamshed Bharucha.

Over 150 million breached records from Adobe hack have surfaced online | The Verge
Find out if your data was leaked in the Adobe hack | ZDNet

The Daily Dot - 4 videos that show everything wrong with YouTube right now
Viral Journalism and the Valley of Ambiguity
The Daily Dot - Better commenting finally comes to YouTube
Laugh at Google's E-Tattoo All You Want, You'll Be Wearing One Soon | Motherboard
What it’s like being verified on Twitter – Nimrod Kamer – The Kernel
New Voicemail Notification - WhatsApp - Malware
rebus snippets: Asprox Botnet - Phishing Malware As a Service

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Typhoon Haiyan: desperation grows as survivors face fifth day without help | World news | theguardian.com - US, British and Japanese troops head to the Philippines but minimal amounts of aid have reached the worst-hit areas
Typhoon Haiyan: survival, loss and humanity in obliterated city of Tacloban | World news | theguardian.com - Kate Hodal reports from the capital of Leyte province, where survivors are desperate for food, water and medicine
South Florida Faces Ominous Prospects From Rising Waters - NYTimes.com - “We’re going to get four or five or six feet of water, or more, by the end of the century. You have to wake up to the reality of what’s coming.” ... “The business community for the most part is not engaged,”

Israel has initial plans for 24,000 more settler homes | Reuters (Netanfuckyu to your peace plan)
North Korea 'executes 80 people for watching foreign films' - World - News - The Independent (psycho-state)
Spain's solar police to kick in your door - The Local - The latest nail in the coffin for Spain’s solar energy producers is an Energy Law amendment which allows inspectors to enter private properties without a court order. It's a move lawyers believe could set a worrying precedent.

Fukushima residents may never go home, say Japanese officials | Environment | theguardian.com - Admission deals blow to government assurances that radiation near the Daiichi nuclear plant can be brought down to safe levels (one lie after another)
Fukushima Radiation Arrives In Alaska - The Fukushima Crisis Comes To The States - Esquire - Some radiation has arrived in northern Alaska and along the west coast. That's raised concern over contamination of fish and wildlife. More may be heading toward coastal communities like Haines and Skagway ... A tour-bus driver is helping throw together the response to the worst nuclear disaster in 30 years? Was the sous-chef at the local Applebee's busy that day?

News of the World spied on Mail on Sunday, phone-hacking trial told | UK news | The Guardian - Spying operation was said to have been part of effort to pursue story of John Prescott's affair with his diary secretary
NY Times Endorses the TPP's Corporate Coup d'état | Brainwash Update - YouTube (even though it's all a big secret, of course)

Peak Drone? The U.S. Is Buying Fewer Drones and Using Them Less Often.

Author Of The PATRIOT Act Goes To EU Parliament To Admit Congress Failed, And The NSA Is Out Of Control | Techdirt - Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, has come out strongly against the NSA's mass spying, said that James Clapper should be fired and prosecuted, and introduced sweeping new legislation that would significantly curtail the NSA's activities
John Kerry: world leaders have been understanding about NSA leaks | World news | theguardian.com - US secretary of state says foreign governments understand that Barack Obama did not order all phone and internet surveillance (it just kinda happened on its own)
EFF to New York Times: Don't Get Fooled Again by Claims of NSA Spying "Legality" | Electronic Frontier Foundation - Over the weekend, the New York Times' public editor, Margaret Sullivan, published a piece investigating the Times' thirteen month delay in the publication of a bombshell report on the Bush Administration's domestic mass surveillance program back in 2004 and 2005 ... The piece admits that the Times was taken in by claims of "legality" in 2004. It shouldn't get fooled again by government claims of “legality” of mass surveillance.

NSA files: discuss the Snowden revelations with Guardian reporters | World news | theguardian.com - Reporters closely involved in our NSA stories will answer your questions through a Twitter chat from 1-2pm ET (6-7 GMT)

There's Only One Place To Put The Blame For Russian, Chinese Fallout From NSA Spying: On The NSA | Techdirt - from the everything-else-is-a-distraction dept
US spooks play into the hands of Russia, China and others who want control over global digital citizens | John Kampfner | Comment is free | The Guardian - In Beijing I've seen at first hand how authoritarian regimes aim to exploit the NSA's destruction of a utopian internet vision

The road to surveillance is paved with good intentions – and warning signs | Carly Nyst | Global development | theguardian.com - Iris scanning and GPS tracking are increasingly central to the delivery of aid. The consequences could be devastating
Indonesia Anons Take Down Australia Intelligence Websites in Response to Spying Revelations | LeakSource
UK home secretary wants to overturn human rights treaties and make terror suspects stateless - Boing Boing - May believes it cannot be right that a person who has enjoyed the benefits of becoming a UK citizen should keep their passport if they act in a way that is "totally at odds" with British values. ("values")
Three G4S immigration centre officials involved in forgery, says judge | Business | The Guardian - 'Shocking' actions of removal centre staff in asylum seeker's case are referred to Director of Public Prosecutions

Obama Belongs In A Prison Cell. - YouTube
"Why Are So Many Violent Criminals Walking Free?" | LearnLiberty - YouTube
"Why Are So Many Violent Criminals Walking Free?" | LearnLiberty - YouTube - Who are the real victims of the War on Drugs (Obama loves his wars) - Fewer than half of all violent crimes were resolved in 2011, but over 7 million people are serving time in U.S. prisons. The majority of prisoners were arrested on drug charges, and 81 percent of those are in prison for simple possession.

The Last Stand of the JFK Truthers - NationalJournal.com - Dallas plans to memorialize the fallen president on the 50th anniversary of his death, and the conspiracy theorists aren't invited.
John Kerry Declines to Elaborate on JFK Conspiracy Comments - ABC News - In the special, which aired last week, Kerry said that “to this day” he had “serious doubts that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.” (Warren Commission big coverup)

Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War | NYC Anarchist Black Cross - This is our guide to political prisoners and prisoners of war we support. Feel free to download, print, and distribute as you see fit.
Can Russell Brand be the Leader Anonymous is Missing? - IBTimes UK - The stand-up comedian Russell Brand was centre of attention at Anonymous' Million Mask March in London this week - could he be the leader the group is clearly in need of? (hierarchy doesn't understand anonymous)
The Daily Dot - A first look at 'The Internet’s Own Boy,' the Aaron Swartz documentary - “This was—and I say it without hesitation—not suicide. It was murder by intimidation, bullying, and torment,”

Analysis: 50K enroll in state-based ObamaCare | TheHill
About 40,000 Americans are said to have signed up for plans on HealthCare.gov - The Washington Post

For 2014, G.O.P.’s Challenges Stem From Within - NYTimes.com - But in the heated battle over the ideological future of the Republican Party, races like this one could alter the complexion of the Republican caucus in the House — and Washington’s ability to govern in President Obama’s final years in office. (more crazies)
Wall Street’s nightmare: President Elizabeth Warren - Ben White and Maggie Haberman - politico.com
Elizabeth Warren challenges Obama to break up 'too-big-to-fail' Wall St banks | World news | theguardian.com - Amid speculation that she might run against Hillary Clinton in 2016, firebrand senator attacks regulators for multiple failings
Alison Lundergan Grimes Tied With Mitch McConnell In Senate Race: Poll
Senate Republicans Block Nina Pillard Nomination To D.C. Circuit Court Of Appeals - Senate Republicans blocked another of President Barack Obama's picks for one of the nation's top courts on Tuesday, the latest skirmish in a nominations battle that has intensified partisan tensions in the chamber. (that Republicans-only court)

New Gallup Poll Finds Overwhelming Voter Support For $9 Minimum Wage

New York Times Departures Heighten Concerns About Staff Retention - One former longtime Times journalist told HuffPost that the paper doesn’t have the cachet or perks it once did to keep top talent.

Does This Photo Vindicate Armed Pro-Gun Protesters In Texas?

Koch brothers sponsor anti-Obamacare cornholing competition | The Raw Story

Eschaton: Conventional Views - Please make Richard Cohen stop. - "not racist" "must repress a gag reflex"
Richard Cohen Writes Yet Another Racist Column - People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York (you know who makes us throw-up?)
Richard Cohen Defends Column: 'The Word Racist Is Truly Hurtful'
Editor: I Should Have Edited 'That One Sentence' In Cohen's Column 'More Carefully'
Actual Problems In American Journalism - Lawyers, Guns & Money - The publisher of the Post singled out Richard Cohen’s column today as “brilliant.” Of course she did!
WaPo Publisher Calls Cohen Column 'Brilliant' - it's "brilliant" to observe that, "people with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering ... a white man married to a black woman [who 'used to be a lesbian'] and with two biracial children..." are "not racist," but "troubled." (Katherine Weymouth, terrible person)
Eschaton: WANKER OF THE DECADE - 8th Runner Up - Richard Cohen.

Gottlieb helps, but NYT still nowhere near the most embarrassing op-ed page in a national paper - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Man is opposed to fair play — He wants it all and he wants it his way - Lawyers, Guns & Money - Scocca has much more on the ridiculous Lori Gottlieb column I briefly discussed earlier today. Among its other problems, it’s the latest manifestation of the conservertarian war on the concept of insurance:
Email Interview With Lori Gottlieb's Ex, "Tim"
Lara Logan 60 Minutes scandal: Washington Post's Paul Farhi reports on her sexy Halloween costume.

CBS Still Ducking The Tough 60 Minutes Questions | Blog | Media Matters for America - Network Refuses To Appoint Outside Review of Benghazi Mess

Chris Christie Casino Bankruptcy - Big Chicken's Very Bad Bet - Esquire - Anyway, the tunnel did not figure in Big Chicken's grand economic design for the state, which involved finding the biggest rathole he could find and shoveling money down into it. As recently as last February, it was unclear if Revel would ever open. But after a $261 million pledge from New Jersey, investors stepped in and revived the abandoned development. (+"Chris Christie - the Richie Incognito of the political world")

Occupy Wall Street activists buy $15m of Americans' personal debt | World news | theguardian.com - Rolling Jubilee spent $400,000 to purchase debt cheaply from banks before 'abolishing' it, freeing individuals from their bills

Traffic jams paralyzing Bay Area - San Jose Mercury News (Cali hits peak highway)

Stop thanking the troops for me: No, they don’t “protect our freedoms!” - Salon.com - They’re protecting our country, they’re protecting the world, and, you know, obviously we wouldn’t have freedom without them.

Lawyer Of Man Who Shot Renisha McBride Calls Actions 'Justified' And 'Reasonable' | ThinkProgress
Hacker group Anonymous targets Logan River Academy | Deseret News - The hacker group Anonymous reportedly has the troubled teen industry on its cyber hit list, zeroing in on the Logan River Academy on Monday in a campaign that asserts abuse of its underage clients. (Big Prison rules)
Anonymous leads calls to #ShutLoganRiver | The Stream - Al Jazeera English - Hacktivist group starts online campaign to shut down a boarding school accused of abusing its students.

School district must pay shuttered charter's bill - Philly.com (grifters win)
America's dumbest idea: creating a multiple-choice test generation | Erika L Sánchez | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Standardized testing means more rote memorization and less time for creativity. Students aren't prepared for college and life (life has more than four choices)

Jenny McCarthy, Anti-Vaccination Movement to Blame for Whooping Cough | New Republic

In Hookups, Inequality Still Reigns - NYTimes.com - women were twice as likely to reach orgasm from intercourse or oral sex in serious relationships as in hookups.

Microsoft's loyalty to Windows and Office blamed for a 'lost' decade, says Vanity Fair | The Verge - Eichenwald details a management system known as "stack ranking," a method that existing and former employees describe as destructive and an innovation stifler. (2012)
Microsoft Site Map (they have a lot of non-fashion dependent products)
Enhancing Windows 8 for multiple monitors - Building Windows 8 - MSDN Blogs

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Australia is on track for its warmest ever year, says study | Environment | theguardian.com - The past 12 months have been 0.22C warmer than any other equivalent period prior to 2013, says Climate Council - more than 100 heat-related records broken in the past 12 months
Typhoon Haiyan: we cannot afford to procrastinate on climate action | Environment | theguardian.com - Anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare them pay a visit to the Philippines right now (lookin' at you, soccermomies)
Typhoon Haiyan: Thousands dead in the Philippines as storm makes landfall - live | World news | theguardian.com - Grave humanitarian crisis unfolds • Victims suffer third day with scarce food and water

Protests as Thailand senators debate amnesty bill | World news | theguardian.com - Thousands rally in Bangkok over bill that could pave way for return of the self-exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra
Sweden closes four prisons as number of inmates plummets | World news | The Guardian - Decline partly put down to strong focus on rehabilitation and more lenient sentences for some offences
Anti-nuclear citizens groups targeted in massive cyber-attack - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun - Anti-nuclear citizens groups around Japan were left reeling from a blizzard of e-mail traffic--more than 2.53 million messages--that had all the hallmarks of a coordinated cyber-attack.

Nixon, Kissinger, and Genocide - Lawyers, Guns & Money : As part of my longstanding argument that people making “Nixon was really a liberal president” arguments are being too clever by at least three quarters, Gary Bass’s new book The Blood Telegram is apparently devastating about Nixon’s role in the genocide that preceded the creation of Bangladesh:
Gary Bass's "The Blood Telegram" Reviewed By Sunil Khilnani | New Republic - In 1971, a Genocide Took Place. Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger Did Nothing. Intentionally. The lost history of one of our lowest moments

White House considers appointing civilian NSA chief amid calls for reform | World news | theguardian.com - Administration also pondering plan to disaggregate embattled agency from new military command created around it
Oil Espionage: How the NSA and GCHQ Spied on OPEC | StratRisks - America’s NSA and Britain’s GCHQ are both spying on the OPEC oil cartel, documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden reveal. The security of the global energy supply is one of the most important issues for the intelligence agencies.
Uncategorized | Scriptonite Daily

If Silk Road Gets Shut Down, It Will Be Back Online in 15 Minutes | Motherboard
If Silk Road Gets Shut Down, It Will Be Back Online in 15 Minutes | Motherboard
USB Devices Used to Infect Russian Nuclear Plant, Carry Malware to Space Station

Barrett Brown Is Bored Out of His Mind in Jail | VICE United States
ACLU booted from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hearing | Boston Herald - The American Civil Liberties Union has been shut out of weighing in on accused Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s claims of hardship behind bars at a hearing tomorrow to address whether the alleged terrorist deserves to be cut some slack while he awaits trial.

Rep. Would Do Anything for Debt, Won’t Do That -- Daily Intelligencer - Oh, so Collins thinks Congress should do "everything in its power" to reduce the gap between revenue and outlay, except increase revenue.

'60 Minutes' Comes Under Intense Criticism For Bungled Benghazi Story (time to fire LL)
‘60 Minutes' Benghazi Apology Leaves Key Questions Unanswered
60 Minutes was on the decline long before the Benghazi story screw up | Michael Wolff | Comment is free | theguardian.com - The media think the 60 Minutes mistake is an earth-shattering deal. In reality, the public is already skeptical of TV news
On the 60 Minutes/Benghazi debacle : Columbia Journalism Review

How the Tea Party’s Apocalyptic Politics Are Destroying the Republican Party - The Daily Beast - Leaders of the Tea Party are willing to wreck the Republican Party, the government, and the economy to prove that Obama is evil and God is on their side. (except kill themselves)
Elizabeth Warren is Hillary Clinton's Nightmare | New Republic - A Democratic Party That Realizes Its Soul Lies With Elizabeth Warren

How Twitter Helped Bring the Va. Attorney General Race to a 17-Vote Margin - ABC News (more Republican voter-fraud)
Joe Scarborough Career - A Gobshite Special Report: Morning Squint - Esquire - Joe Scarborough, the mysteriously well-compensated host of a micro-rated morning talk show asylum for disgraced hacks and television historians, has brought out a new book-like product about which we likely will be hearing far too much on our liberal MSNBC teevee network. (dirt on the old scumbag +Lakoff fail in the comments)

That North Dakota Nazi-Town Guy Is A Little Bit Black, So It Is True That Black People Are The Real Racists (DNA proves racist nazi is 14% black; irony dept.)
Sarah Palin: Levi Johnston Is A 'Deadbeat Dad' (she really said that)
Angry Gavin McInnes Has New Rules For Radicals About How All Liebruls Are Dumb, Not Just The Lady Ones - Thought Catalog Thought Leadering.
Pine Bush, New York, Jews Forcing Normal Kids To Beat Them Up By Being Jewish - After all, it is not the fault of Pine Bush, where nice grown ups just stone cold volunteer to New York Times reporters that all those Jews aren’t wanted there, nor is it the fault of school administrators, who are like, “wouldn’t it be easier if you just moved?” (brilliant writing)

A Romanian Scientist Claims to Have Developed Artificial Blood | Innovations - a research facility located in the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca, of all places
Construction Firm Balfour Beatty Considers Drone Workers | Technology Advice
Solid Concepts unveils first 3D-printed metal gun, a .45 ACP 1911

Teens Are Being Trapped in Abusive 'Drug Rehab Centers' | VICE United States
American companies, torturing teens for profit? You betcha! It's called the Troubled Teen Industry. Want your mind blown? Click here. : troubledteens
Mitt Romney: A Voice of Freedom and Hope? Not for America’s So-Called “Troubled” Youth | WWASP Diaries

Twitter / TheLulzDeptxx: This guy is awesome. ...

EFF and CDT File Brief in Support of Airbnb | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Amazon, U.S. Postal Service Join Forces For Sunday Deliveries
If you want to complain to Google directly about the forced merger of YouTube and Google+, this is the link to the discussion forum in Google Products. : technology
YouTube is a Completely Functional Site Programmed by Competent People : videos
YouTube aims to tame the trolls with changes to its comments section | Technology | theguardian.com - Changes mean video creators will have more power to moderate comments, while making best conversations more prominent for viewers

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Aid efforts begin after typhoon Haiyan kills 10,000 in Philippines: live updates | World news | theguardian.com - 10,000 people are reported dead in the central Philippine province of Leyte
Survivors 'Walk Like Zombies' After Philippine Typhoon Kills Estimated 10,000 - NYTimes.com
Typhoon Haiyan Death Toll Tops 10,000, According To Official Estimates ... "People are walking like zombies looking for food," said Jenny Chu, a medical student in Leyte. "It's like a movie."
In Mexico, Locals In Self-Defense Squads Take Fight To Knights Templar Drug Gang And Win (Clinton/Bush/Obama war on poor people living in other countries)

Thousands protest austerity in Greece ahead of no-confidence vote - Yahoo News UK
'Pope Francis effect' credited with boosting Italian congregations | World news | The Guardian - Researchers say more than half of Catholic priests have reported significant rise in attendance since election of new pontiff

Yemen air strikes kill al-Qaida militants | World news | theguardian.com - Five suspected al-Qaida fighters die in southern stronghold of Abyan during US drone strikes, local officials claim ("suspected" = "dead")
Cost of Detention Operations at Guantánamo Bay $4.8 Billion Since 2002 (Report & Infographic) | LeakSource (cost-cutting Republicans)

Iranians angry and bewildered after French torpedo Geneva nuclear entente | World news | theguardian.com - France should replace US as le grand satan, joke some inside Iran after Paris defies Washington and blocks stopgap deal ... Le Grande Satan ... once again shows the national interests of French people are taken hostage [by Israel]

Yasser Arafat: How did he die? | The Economist - Now a leaked 108-page Swiss report suggesting that Mr Arafat may have been poisoned with Polonium-210, a radioactive substance, could stir Palestinians into demonstrating in numbers rarely seen since their leader’s death at the height of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli rule in 2004.
Israel-U.S. Relations Deteriorate Over Iran, Palestinian Peace Process
Boycott Israel Campaign 2012
The Palestinian Genocide By Israel By Professor Francis A. Boyle
4,000 Palestinian children refused polio vaccination by Israel | Al Bawaba
The Daily Dot - Anonymous calls for Israeli boycott with massive Twitter protest
Former envoy George Mitchell shills for Israeli occupation profiteer SodaStream | The Electronic Intifada
Israel and the NSA: Partners in Crime | Antiwar.com Original - It wasn’t the US government breaking into the private communications of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, according to top secret documents unearthed by Edward Snowden and published in Le Monde – it was the Israelis.

The U.S. Secret State and the Internet: “Dirty Secrets” and “Crypto Wars” from “Clipper Chip” to PRISM | Global Research
Guardian faces fresh criticism over Edward Snowden revelations | Media | theguardian.com - Foreign secretary William Hague backs claims by MI5 and MI6 that NSA disclosures have endangered UK's national security ("national security" = "cushy, high-paid cop jobs")
The Daily Dot - Top U.K. intelligence official says spying necessary to stop pedophiles (they were so good at stopping Saville)
GCHQ data snooping has "destroyed trust in British tech" | News | PC Pro - "You would be mad to buy security products in Britain, everyone knows it... [GCHQ’s surveillance] destroys the credibility of Britain’s information security industry."
UK spies continue “quantum insert” attack via LinkedIn, Slashdot pages | Ars Technica
The Daily Dot - How U.K. intelligence exploited LinkedIn to spy on a Belgian telecom - Unlike Facebook or Google, LinkedIn contains few personal details about its users. The incentive for targeting the professional network, then, is almost certainly economic.

The Best Comments From The Worst Video: The Internet Vs. The NSA's Charm Offensive | Techdirt - from the patented-internet-'Preparation-H8'-does-nothing-for-agency-asshurt dept
22 Examples Of NSA Surveillance Creating Chilling Effects | Techdirt (Obama's war on anything resembling the truth)
John McCain: Keith Alexander Should Resign As NSA Head (McCainiac: not for illegal spying, but for hiring Snowden)

BMPoC Hacking Group Hacks and Defaces 21 Brazilian Military Domains – HackRead – Latest Cyber Crime – Information Security – Hacking News - The domains are hacked by Baader Meinhof hacker from BMPoC hacking group who left a deface page along with a message on all hacked military domains. The deface message was expressed in following words:
Muzzling Canadian scientists: Comparing US and Canadian routine scientific secrecy - Boing Boing - Canada's Conservative government has become notorious for muzzling government scientists, requiring them to speak through political minders (often callow twentysomethings with no science background who received government jobs in exchange for their work on election campaigns).
Russell Brand, the Posh Left and the Politics of Class » CounterPunch:
Mass Surveillance and Europe’s Police State | Global Research - A new study says so. It’s titled “Mass Surveillance of Personal Data by EU Member States and its Compatibility with EU Law.” - ”We are witnessing a systematic breach of people’s fundamental rights.”

You Are a Rogue Device by Matt Fikse-Verkerk and Brendan Kiley - Seattle Features - The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper - A New Apparatus Capable of Spying on You Has Been Installed Throughout Downtown Seattle. Very Few Citizens Know What It Is, and Officials Don’t Want to Talk About It ... the mesh-network project—one part of a $2.7 million effort, paid for by the Department of Homeland Security

The Business of Predicting the End of the World (risks by city, but only for natural disasters)

Republicans Just Changed The Rules AFTER A Virginia Election To Change The Outcome (not the first time either)

Lindsey Graham Won't Back Down On Benghazi Demands (Linda Butch-Me-Up stamps his feet)

Counter-Polarizing the Social Security Debate by Ed Kilgore | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - The idea has been kicking around think tanks (notably the Economic Policy Institute) and the blogosphere (particularly Atrios, who’s made this a personal crusade) for a while, but now is getting some serious buzz in the Senate: it’s time not to trim but to expand Social Security benefits. (so Obama can bargain even more away with his "responsive but flexible" approach)
The Mutilated Economy - NYTimes.com - Long-term unemployment — the number of people who have been out of work for six months or more — is four times what it was before the recession. (Obama hates jobs)

Is the Tea Party Tide Receding? | Ten Miles Square | The Washington Monthly - Republicans won some and lost some in last night’s off-year elections, but the results were an unmitigated disaster for the Tea Party. (Teafuckers down)

Hullabaloo - This is why I was proud that Blue America supported Barbara Buono for Governor of New Jersey even as Democrats --- despite the fact that it allowed arch conservative Chris Christie to become the phony avatar of bipartisan centrism --- decided to sit out the race. (Obama's Blue Dog strategy wins again)

For Gore Vidal, a Final Plot Twist - NYTimes.com
Gore Vidal Underage Sex Hinted At In NYT Profile

Fallen followers: Investigation finds 10 more dead children of faith healers | KATU Investigators | KATU.com - Portland, Oregon - “That's the way we believe,” he said. “We believe in God and the way God handles the situation, the way we do things." (because Freedom to kill your kids)
The Innocent Man, Part One | Texas Monthly - On August 13, 1986, Michael Morton came home from work to discover that his wife had been brutally murdered in their bed. His nightmare had only begun. (corrupt prosecutors immune, according to Scalia)
40 Armed Gun Advocates Intimidate Mothers Against Gun Violence In A Restaurant Parking Lot | ThinkProgress (only one amendment counts)

Is sex good exercise? | Life and style | The Guardian - Sex took on average 24.7 minutes, with men using up 101 calories and women using 70. Almost everyone in the study found the sex more enjoyable than the treadmill.

Cool Tools – Self Publishing Cool Tools

ryans01 comments on I just don't care about myself.

Facebook Hates Old People
Teenagers say goodbye to Facebook and hello to messenger apps | Technology | The Observer - Gradual exodus of young people towards WhatsApp, WeChat and KakaoTalk is just as their mums and dads get the hang of social networking (FB is so 2009 +messaging apps more personal, companies actually have revenue)
(ultimate comment on "selfies") It's Complicated: Romantic Breakups and Their Aftermath on Facebook - viewcontent.cgi

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"Off the Charts": Deadliest Storm in History Kills 1200, Displaces Millions in Philippines | Informed Comment - we don’t have evidence of others being this deadly with regard to the intensity of the winds. (comments: "To put it bluntly America, your fascination with SUV’s killed a bunch of people in the Philippines.")
Typhoon Haiyan death toll in Philippines estimated at 1,200 | World news | theguardian.com - Red Cross and other humanitarian agencies describe hundreds of bodies floating in waters and on roads amid destruction
Philippines death toll from typhoon Haiyan 'could rocket within 24 hours' | World news | The Guardian - 195mph storm – the strongest ever to hit land – likely to have caused 'catastrophic damage' in isolated island communities
Philippines Typhoon Haiyan: Mounting Casualties In Wake Of Year's Strongest Storm - "It was like a 747 flying just above my roof," he said, describing the sound of the winds. He said his family and some of his neighbors whose houses were destroyed took shelter in his basement.
Super Typhoon Haiyan: A Hint of What's to Come? | Climate Central

CBS to Correct Erroneous Report on Benghazi - NYTimes.com - As it prepared to broadcast a rare on-air correction Sunday for a now-discredited “60 Minutes” report, CBS News acknowledged on Friday that it had suffered a damaging blow to its credibility. Its top executive called the segment “as big a mistake as there has been” in the 45-year-old history of the celebrated news program.

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger to be questioned by MPs over NSA leaks | Media | theguardian.com - Rusbridger to appear before home affairs select committee after claims that revelations were damaging national security - They also asked him to confirm whether anyone at the Guardian had "directed, permitted, facilitated or acquiesced" in the transfer of the files obtained by Snowden to anyone in the US or elsewhere.
Feinstein's NSA bill shows she doesn't have a clue about intelligence reform | Michelle Richardson | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Senator Feinstein's bill is a big step backwards for privacy. In contrast, the USA Freedom Act would stop intelligence abuses (DiFucker at work)
A Fraying of the Public/Private Surveillance Partnership - Atlantic Mobile - The reason is sunlight. The publicity resulting from the Snowden documents has made companies think twice before allowing the NSA access to their users' and customers' data.
Charlemagne: Falling out of love | The Economist - Germany is disheartened by America, its one-time mentor, protector and role model ... So it is not surprising that many Germans are now pleading with Angela Merkel, the chancellor, to grant Mr Snowden asylum (Ofuckup)
The Daily Dot - Syrian Electronic Army makes good on its threat to hack Vice

Jailed activist Barrett Brown's mother given probation for helping son | Technology | theguardian.com - Mother hid laptops from FBI who have since issued 17 charges against Anonymous-linked writer and former spokesman Brown
TwitLonger — When you talk too much for Twitter - There's no better symbol of the unjust persecution of Barrett Brown, than the misguided and needless case against his own mother.

Shopify now allows stores to accept Bitcoin - The Next Web

Several killed in Yemen drone strikes - Middle East - Al Jazeera English - At least five killed in southern Abyan province, while sectarian clashes in north of country claim two more lives.

US loses UNESCO Voting Rights: How Kow-Towing to Israeli Policy Weakens America | Informed Comment
“I Can Hold the Hunger” by Ryan Cooper | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - . But as David Dayen points out, the current cuts are a result of Democrats raiding the Recovery Act’s extra food stamp money to pay for other priorities back in 2010 (itself a result of pointless, self-imposed PAYGO budget rules). (Obama's Republican dark side screwed us all)

Dark Money Groups Are Funded By Dark Money Groups That Fund Dark Money Groups That Fund... - Networks of nonprofits are being created across the country, at the national and state levels, to secretly fund candidate and ballot initiative campaigns, according to tax documents and campaign records
In Calvert County, environmentalists clash with elected board over proposed gas terminal - The Washington Post - Environmentalists say the apparent need for an indirect subsidy casts doubt on the economic rationale for the project. “I don’t believe the industry, and maybe even the county, is confident that this thing is going to make financial sense when all is said and done,” said Diana Dascalu-Joffe, senior general counsel at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

More on VA and the African-American Vote That Saved Terry McAuliffe by Ed Kilgore | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - , McAuliffe would nevertheless have lost this election if the white/minority voter distribution had mirrored that of 2009. It was the increase in the minority vote that put him over the top.
White Anti-Gay Activist Wins Election After Pretending To Be Black | ThinkProgress - An electrician best known for mailing homophobic fliers to thousands of Houston voters attacking the city’s lesbian mayor narrowly won an election to the Houston Community College Board of Trustees after he misled voters into believing that he is African American.

Twitter / JustSikko: so yea fuck your pink ribbons ...

Underground Carbon Dioxide Injections Triggered Earthquakes in Texas in 2009-2011 | Geophysics | Sci-News.com (what could go wrong?)
Is it a comet? Is it asteroid? ‘Freakish’ six-tail space rock discovered by NASA — RT News - Scientists were “literally dumbfounded” as they were trying to find an adequate explanation for out-of-this-world appearance of this “weird and freakish object,” said the lead investigator of the University of California at Los Angeles, David Jewitt, in NASA’s press-release.
When Trans Fats Were Healthy - Olga Khazan - The Atlantic - Through the late 1980s, animal fat substitutes like Crisco and margarine were all the rage, and for a brief moment were even considered a health product ... “The Hebrew Race has been waiting 4,000 years for Crisco!”

Hullabaloo - No accountability for authority (cops always walk)
Good News: Prosecutor Does Time For Misconduct! Bad News: 10 Days When Victim Rotted For 25 Years! (see, justice)

Dear Toronto: You're Being Trolled

Child-Proofing 'Harry Potter' - NYTimes.com (teaching children the value of censorship)

Dolphins coaches asked Incognito to toughen up Martin, sources say - Sun Sentinel

iPad Air Explodes in an Australian Phone Store - An iPad Air has exploded at one Australian phone store. As a result, the local fire department was called and the scene had to be evacuated, according to Mail Online. (the new Tesla)
A look beyond the Twitter IPO finds rot beneath the gloss of recovery | Comment is free | theguardian.com - With a $30bn valuation for an unprofitable company, the economy seems to be improving. This is not the case for all
South Korean Authorities Admit They Are “Behind the Times” with Internet Explorer Laws - A report that came out this week revealed that Internet Explorer remains the dominant browser in South Korea due to local laws that force shopping services to stick to a digital certificate supported by Microsoft’s own app exclusively.
One Image Shows Just How Blatantly Snapchat's King Screwed His Friend - In the annals of frat backstabbing, few things rank as high as Evan "L.A." Spiegel kicking his friend Reggie Brown IV out of Snapchat, a "$4 billion" company. This is Winklevoss-level shit, and new court documents show just how flagrant the treachery was.

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Philippines: 'bodies in the streets', with many feared dead in typhoon Haiyan | World news | theguardian.com - Reports from worst-hit areas suggest the death toll will rise significantly as storm's passing reveals scale of damage
Everything you need to know about “super typhoons” - The U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center deems a typhoon "super" when the wind speed reaches 130 knots, or 150 miles per hour. That's roughly equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane — again, it's a really, really massive storm.
First sign that humanity is slowing its carbon surge - environment - 06 November 2013 - New Scientist
U.S., Israel lose UNESCO voting right in dispute over Palestinians - Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz - Loss follows U.S., Israeli failure to pay dues in protest over world governments' decision to make Palestine a UNESCO member in 2011. (Israel is Obama's favorite crazy daddy)
Typhoon Haiyan: three die as category 5 storm hits land | World news | theguardian.com - Category 5 super-typhoon hits the Philippines as experts predict catastrophic damage from strongest storm ever recorded
Letter to John Kerry about freedom of information in Morocco - Reporters Without Borders - Reporters Without Borders has voiced its concerns about freedom of information in Morocco in a letter today to US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is to visit Rabat on 11-12 November as part of the strategic dialogue between the United States and Morocco.
Israel killed Yasser Arafat, claims Palestinian official | World news | theguardian.com - But head of Palestinian inquiry refuses to say Palestinian leader was poisoned by radioactive substance polonium
#opBOYCOTTisrael // Sat Nov. 9, 8pm EST // #FreePalestine - Pastebin.com
Piracy mastermind or mere translator? Somali man on trial over ship hijacking | World news | theguardian.com - Prosecutors accuse Ali Mohamed Ali, 51, of piracy, but critics say US government is over-reaching by bringing charges

Chinese can now buy real estate with Bitcoin
Australian bitcoin user TradeFortress says site hacked, $1 million in virtual currency stolen - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Conversation | Response to Glenn Greenwald
David Miranda challenges his UK detention [UPDATED] : Columbia Journalism Review - n the second day of testimony, government lawyers said they used the correct procedures in detaining Miranda for nine hours and confiscating his electronic devices in order to prevent further dissemination of the raw data provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. They believed they could correctly detain Miranda as a terrorist. (+he wasn't a "respectable journalist)
Governments worldwide buried in the Snowden avalanche | Jack Shafer - “doomsday” copies exist that will be released “if anything happens at all to Edward Snowden,” (+good summary of Obama's strategies for supressing the truth +Bobby Inman: release everything you think Snowden has and move on)

What to do with $250m in digital journalism? (1) | Monday Note
Charity Assets – The New Inquiry - Compare that to the total spending by ProPublica, over five years, of $43 million and the scale of the enterprise becomes clear.

Accounts Differ to F.B.I. and CBS on Benghazi - NYTimes.com

An open letter to the media, by Anonymous - Pastebin.com - (Screen shot of Martha Gill on Twitter: http://imgur.com/OXVJv7j)

2013 global surveillance disclosures

President Obama Doesn't Much Care What Benjamin Netanyahu Thinks Anymore | Mother Jones

Hullabaloo - "Quote-unquote" journalism - After the segment on CBS This Morning in which we saw Lara Logan forced to admit to her egregious Benghazi hoax, here's Norah O'Donnell intervieweing Ben Smith from Buzzfeed: (LL is a real battle-girl)

The Problem with the PPACA — Virtually Speaking
Denial-of-service tool targeting Healthcare.gov site discovered | Ars Technica - Hacktivist software designed to put a strain on struggling Obamacare website. ("hacktivists" = "Repubicans")
Obama Gets Behind Democrats' $10.10 Minimum Wage Proposal - if the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since its high in the late 1960s, it would now be above $10.
American Health Care’s Good Old Days - NationalJournal.com - With all the talk of Obamacare victims, it might be helpful take a trip back in time to when acne and pregnancy were considered preexisting conditions.
Rules to Require Equal Coverage for Mental Ills - NYTimes.com
The Mutilated Economy - NYTimes.com - Long-term unemployment — the number of people who have been out of work for six months or more — is four times what it was before the recession.

Snow Fall and its ilk: Meant to be read or marveled at? » Nieman Journalism Lab - Khoi Vinh, former design director of NYTimes.com, has a skeptical post up today on The Guardian’s scrolly Snowden explainer and the broader post-Snow Fall rise of blowout article display.
Subtraction.com: The Guardian’s “NSA Files Decoded” and Multimedia Journalism
Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek - Multimedia Feature - NYTimes.com (compare with Decoded)
The Functional Art: An Introduction to Information Graphics and Visualization: The snowfallization of news: Stories still matter

This Week in Review: Twitter’s IPO takes off, and tech giants’ NSA backlash » Nieman Journalism Lab - NSA backlash and Greenwald’s journalistic style
Keller vs. Greenwald: Glenn's take – Reliable Sources - CNN.com Blogs - Former Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald talks to David Folkenflik about his exchange with Bill Keller and his support of "adversarial journalism."
Old testament and new testament journalism » Pressthink - But then new testament journalists started blogging themselves and more recently they have taken to social media with genuine enthusiasm. Today they are not as confident that they have all the answers. They know that their business model is broken. They can see the advantages in personal voice and persuasive power that accrues to the Glenn Greenwalds and other practitioners of the personal franchise model in news. They understand that the people formerly known as the audience want to participate more in the news and that the insiders are less trusted than ever.
Chasing balance in news reporting - Is objectivity still a relevant goal now that bloggers rule the media landscape?
PressThink: The View from Nowhere (2003)

CNBC spins right (and wrong) on the debt and deficit : Columbia Journalism Review - CNBC, that font of misinformation, would like you to know that “Anyone who ran a company with a balance sheet that looked like the U.S. probably wouldn’t have a company anymore.”
Astroturfing The New York Times and Wall Street Journal : Columbia Journalism Review - “Some employers” would more accurately be “one employer,” since the Times only gives us one such example of this happening. And it turns out that anecdote, a New Jersey businessman named Joe Olivo, is seriously problematic.
Rand Paul Hired As Brietbart Columnist - My Profession Steps On A Rake - Esquire - Lara Logan is tap-dancing as fast as she can, but the fact remains that the guy that they hung their story on is turning out to be the Stephen Glass of counter-terrorism.

The Long Reach Of Dead ACORN - Esquire - One of the underappreciated sellouts of your modern Democratic party -- and they are many and varied -- occurred in 2009 when, armed with a freshly elected president and majorities in both houses of the Congress, and acting in the face of artificial outrage ginned up on the right through the use of manufactured evidence produced by a vicious little ratfker, the Democrats boldly used their legislative majorities to cut off congressional funding for ACORN, a longstanding network of neighborhood groups that, among other things, was indispensible in getting people to register to vote. (one of the first signs of Obama's true Republican nature)

How CBS Could Have Avoided The 60 Minutes Benghazi Fiasco | Blog | Media Matters for America - Network Chairman Ignored His Own Standards
Accounts Differ to F.B.I. and CBS on Benghazi - NYTimes.com

Terry McAuliffe's Victory Almost Makes Viriginia a Blue State | New Republic

Yep, Being a Young, American Adult Is a Financial Nightmare - Jordan Weissmann - The Atlantic (you know, the people Jennifer Graham thinks are lazy moochers)

Why Does Rush Limbaugh Hate Single Women So Much? - What is the appeal of Limbaugh's half-baked Ayn Rand "Moochers" rhetoric to a population of poor, older white men with tax troubles?
Canada's Largest City Is Run By a Crack-Smoking Drunk: The GIF Edition | Motherboard

George W. Bush to Raise Money for Group That Converts Jews to Bring About Second Coming of Christ | Mother Jones - The former president follows in the footsteps of Glenn Beck, who addressed the group last year.

Andrew O’Hagan reviews ‘Norman Mailer’ by J. Michael Lennon · LRB 7 November 2013 - ‘Dear Pearl Kazin, I’m still too young and too arrogant to care to write the kind of high-grade horseshit you print in Harper’s Bazaar.’ +punching Marty Peretz in the nose and much more)

Column: The militarization of U.S. police forces - Yahoo News
Police turn routine traffic stops into cavity searches - Yahoo News (rape by cop)
4 On Your Side investigates traffic stop nightmare | KOB.com (cops and docs love anal rape)
The War on (Some Classes of People Who Use Some) Drugs v. the 4th Amendment - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money - Ken White has the warrant in the case of the New Mexico man who was repeatedly sexually assaulted by police officers and medical personnel in New Mexico. In addition to the criminal behavior by said police and medical personnel, the magistrate also completely failed to do his or her job:
D.C. Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Store Clerk For Making Smart Remark | breakingbrown.com
A

Richie Incognito, Jonathan Martin, and the Miami Dolphins bullying scandal - Grantland
Sports Radio Host Goes On Moronic, Misogynistic Rant - Damon Bruce is a sports radio host on KNBR 1050 is San Francisco. It appears that he is also a fucking nutjob. Yesterday, Bruce spent nearly nine minutes going on a misogynistic tirade about how sick and goddamn tired he is of women ruining sports with their stupid emotions and opinions. It was really something.
"The NFL’s Bully Problem": Sports Columnist Dave Zirin Connects Violence in Sports to Rape Culture | Democracy Now!
NFL Hazing Victim: Incognito Was A "Scumbag" And "Locker-Room Cancer"

New Experiments to Pit Quantum Mechanics Against General Relativity | Simons Foundation

An iPhone Tester Caught in Apple's Supply Chain - Businessweek - “It’s really neat to stand here and see all the Apple logos glowing,” he said of computers on the laps of journalists, analysts, and fans, all poised to send his words into the world. (journos are izombies)

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Philippines hit by 'worst typhoon on record' | World news | theguardian.com - Experts predict catastrophic damage and winds of up to 195 mph, faster than the storm that hit the US in 1969
Iran and west to begin drafting nuclear deal after great leap forward in Geneva | World news | The Guardian - Iran's foreign minister says he believes 'ingredients are there' for historic breakthrough after decade of diplomatic sparring
Saudi nuclear weapons 'on order' from Pakistan - Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects, and believes it could obtain atomic bombs at will, a variety of sources have told BBC Newsnight. (meanwhile ...)
EU rules that gay Africans are entitled to asylum - A gay refugee from an African country where people are jailed for being a homosexual does qualify for asylum, the EU rules
Israel levels Catholic Church property in E. Jerusalem amid ‘massive demolition’ plan — RT News - Israel levels Catholic Church property in E. Jerusalem amid ‘massive demolition’ plan (and a giant netanyahufuckyou to you too)
Watch Highly Disturbing Footage of Detainee Abuses in Afghanistan - Video | Rolling Stone - As Afghan soldiers abuse a prisoner, American Special Forces stand idly by
New Zealand police probe ordered over 'teen rape club' - The male teenagers called themselves the Roast Busters and reportedly got young girls drunk, had sex with them, and posted their exploits online. Police initially said they investigated the group for two years, but could not prosecute without a formal complaint. However, it since emerged that a girl had made a formal complaint in 2011. Three other alleged victims had also spoken to the police since 2011
The Daily Dot - New Wikileaks-like site takes aim at the Italian mob

Unmanned Gods of Destruction: How Drone Strikes Kill Civilians And Target Rescuers | Alternet - Drone strikes violate Pakistan's sovereignty and impede peace efforts in the region. (Obama is very good at killing people)

Snowden Persuaded Other NSA Workers To Give Up Passwords, Sources Claim
The Surveillance State Puts U.S. Elections at Risk of Manipulation - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic - Imagine what Edward Snowden could have accomplished if he had a different agenda.
NSA leaks: UK's enemies are 'rubbing their hands with glee', says MI6 chief | World news | theguardian.com - Sir John Sawers makes claim in first ever joint public hearing by heads of UK's three intelligence agencies
MI5 chief says 34 UK terror plots disrupted since 7/7 attacks | UK news | The Guardian - Andrew Parker says agency aware of thousands of people in UK who support or are engaged in violent extremism
NSA and GCHQ mass surveillance is violation of European law, report finds | World news | theguardian.com - Authors of study warn of 'systematic breach of people's fundamental rights' and call for EU parliament to take action
Ex-MI5 and MI6 legal chief says UK should adopt French oversight model | UK news | The Guardian - David Bickford rejected wholesale law changes but says judges better placed than ministers to authorise intelligence operations
Special operations may add propaganda websites | Journal and Courier | jconline.com - The Pentagon may expand its system of propaganda websites aimed at various audiences around the world despite attempts by Congress to kill the program, Special Operations Command documents released Tuesday show.
NSA spy programs show that 'America doesn't trust its allies', French former PM says - World News
Daily chart: Private parts | The Economist

U.S. weighs option to end dual leadership role at NSA, Cyber Command - The Washington Post - The Obama administration is considering ending a controversial policy that since 2010 has placed one military official at the head of both the nation’s largest spy agency and its cyber-operations command, U.S. officials said ... The administration is also discussing whether the NSA should be led by a civilian.
NSA Insists It Needs All The Metadata, While Eric Holder Says He Was 'Concerned' About It Even Before Snowden | Techdirt - Of course, the idea that anyone in the administration was legitimately concerned about the bulk metadata collection is pretty laughable given everything they've done to defend it ... It seems that Holder's statement is much more about the administration seeing the writing on the wall with the USA Freedom Act, and realizing that it now wants to pretend that it's been thinking about cutting back on the bulk metadata collection all along.
EFF Submits Sentencing Support Letter for Jeremy Hammond | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Exclusive: Abu Zubaydah's journey from student to mujahedeen | Al Jazeera America
A document mule in the Internet age | Al Jazeera America - Commentary: How NSA scrutiny is forcing journalists to resort to old-school tactics

EFF Files 22 Firsthand Accounts of How NSA Surveillance Chilled the Right to Association | Electronic Frontier Foundation - Advocacy Organizations Seek Immediate Court Ruling on the Legality of the NSA’s Mass Collection of Telephone Records
All Is Pointless in the Online Front of the War on Drugs | Motherboard - Never mind the obligatory "protect the public" bit. (This is the War on Drugs, or something. What do you expect?) Or that there's no getting around the fact that e-commerce started with drugs and will die with drugs, too
How Can the NSA Spy on Merkel, the Pope, the U.N., and the Rest of Us? - Reason.com

How Can the New York Times Endorse an Agreement the Public Can't Read? | Electronic Frontier Foundation (TPP: TransPacific Partnership: Obama loves his secret shit)
This transatlantic trade deal is a full-frontal assault on democracy | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian - Brussels has kept quiet about a treaty that would let rapacious companies subvert our laws, rights and national sovereignty

Mother of Anonymous-linked writer to be sentenced - SFGate - Karen Lancaster McCutchin is scheduled to be sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in May to obstructing execution of a search warrant related to a federal investigation of her son, Barrett Lancaster Brown.

New York Fed Chief Levels Explosive Charge Against Big Banks - The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Thursday that some of America’s largest financial institutions appear to lack respect for the law, a potentially explosive charge against an industry already roiling from numerous government investigations into alleged wrongdoing. (that was kind of obvious)

BREAKING: Senate Passes LGBT Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) | ThinkProgress
G.O.P. Weighs Limiting Clout of Right Wing - NYTimes.com
Rand Paul's Column Moves To Breitbart After Plagiarism Stir (into the sewer)

The Twitter IPO Will Cost San Francisco Tens of Millions of Dollars | Motherboard (tax-breaks almost always a bad idea)

Toronto mayor in fresh controversy as video surfaces of drunken rant | World news | theguardian.com
Rob Ford caught in video rant | Toronto Star - Mayor Rob Ford has been caught on a new video staggering around an unknown dining room ranting gibberish and acting wildly.

N. Colorado secession results: 6 of 11 counties vote ‘no’ | KDVR.com - While Democrats mocked the proposal as silly — and it’s worth noting the last instance of secession was West Virginia in 1863

TSA Security Theater Makes Unwilling Co-Star Out Of 3-Year-Old With Rare Medical Condition | Techdirt - . Even children with debilitating medical conditions set off paranoiac ideations and inhumane treatment from the Transportation Security Administration.
Standing your ground? Black woman shot in head seeking help in white neighborhood - Salon.com - McBride was shot in the head and killed when, according to her family, she was seeking help, knocking on doors in a white neighborhood after her car crashed. (seeking help while black)
ACLU suit says anal probes ordered after traffic stop | Al Jazeera America
Campaigners have high hopes for legalisation after marijuana ballot wins | Society | theguardian.com - Colorado votes to levy tax on recreational use while cities in Michigan and Maine vote to decriminalise some possession

Barneys Racist Culture Deeply Ingrained In Store, Insiders Say

New study detects signs of autism in infants by their declining eye contact | Society | theguardian.com - Researchers at Emory's Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta say detection in first months of life increases chances to intervene
F.D.A. Ruling Would All but Eliminate Trans Fats - NYTimes.com
Could a larger black hole absorb a smaller black hole? What would happen? : askscience
? Black Hole Merger Simulation - YouTube

Twitter / YourAnonNews: Just going to put this screenshot ... - @HomeDepot @YourAnonNews I'm struck by the fact that a major corporation just answered to Anonymous.
Office Depot Sends World's Worst DMCA Notice To Reddit | Techdirt - You see, this morning, Office Depot decided to send a DMCA to Reddit. Yes, to Reddit. (collosal FAIL by OD +streisand Effect +written on Staples form +can spell DMCA)
Archive.org's scanning center destroyed by fire - Boing Boing - Rick Prelinger writes, "Early this morning a fire whose origin is still unknown destroyed the book, film and microfilm scanning center located next door to Internet Archive's office in San Francisco's Richmond District."
Ultimate Anonymity, Complete Online Anonymity & Privacy Solutions

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Leaked Document Reveals Plot to Destabilize Venezuelan Goverment: “US Embassy Officials Encouraging Acts of Sabotage” | Global Research


Number Of Military Sexual Assault Victims May Be Higher Than Estimated, New Report Fears | ThinkProgress

Snowden, Manning, and Miranda leaked government secrets. Does that make them traitors and terrorists?
Pelican Bay Prisoners Write UN Special Torture Rapporteur, Juan Méndez | PopularResistance.Org

UK Police Believed David Miranda Was Likely ‘Connected to a Conspiracy’ Between Snowden and Others | The Dissenter

Google engineer accuses NSA and GCHQ of subverting 'judicial process' | Technology | theguardian.com - Anti-hacking expert claims British spy agency is 'even worse' than NSA for tapping private networks between Google's centres
Google+ - Unfortunately we live in a world where all too often, laws are for the little people. Nobody at GCHQ or the NSA will ever stand before a judge and answer for this industrial-scale subversion of the judicial process. In the absence of working law enforcement, we therefore do what internet engineers have always done - build more secure software. The traffic shown in the slides below is now all encrypted and the work the NSA/GCHQ staff did on understanding it, ruined.
Brandon Downey - Google+ - This is the big story in tech today: … - seeing this, well, it's just a little like coming home from War with Sauron, destroying the One Ring, only to discover the NSA is on the front porch of the Shire chopping down the Party Tree and outsourcing all the hobbit farmers with half-orcs and whips.

Statement by Sarah Harrison
Sarah Harrison joins other Edward Snowden files 'exiles' in Berlin | World news | The Guardian - UK journalist's lawyers advise against returning home after working with NSA whistleblower, says statement on WikiLeaks

Whistleblowers & Journalists Support Jeremy Hammond at Sentencing

Tim Berners-Lee: encryption cracking by spy agencies 'appalling and foolish' | World news | The Guardian - Inventor of world wide web calls for debate about 'dysfunctional and unaccountable' oversight of NSA and GCHQ

Good News Drug Users—The Silk Road Is Back | Motherboard
FBI monitored anti-war website in error for six years, documents show | World news | theguardian.com - Monitoring began after antiwar.com editor passed along to the bureau a threat he received against his own website
Obama Secret Service Agent: “It’s Worse Than People Know… and I’m Not Trying to Scare You Either” » WTF RLY REPORT - Obama Secret Service Agent: “It’s Worse Than People Know… and I’m Not Trying to Scare You Either” - We’re in a lot of trouble. The President sees government – and I think it’s because of his lack of experience and maybe community organizing in the past – as this shiny new toy.
Apple lists governments that request the most personal information about its customers | Mail Online - The U.S topped the list ahead of the UK in second place and Spain in third
How Aaron Brown, a Fake Person, Was Created for Real on the Deep Web | Motherboard

The Great Recession may have crushed America’s economic potential (was managed far worse than Katrina, results for many years, Republicans killed the economy to hurt Obama)

Booman Tribune - Searching for Meaning in Today's Elections - Christie is a very socially conservative politician, but he isn't trying to ban blow jobs in New Jersey.

Liberal push to expand Social Security gains steam (Obama will veto)

Jon Stewart: Obama 'Somewhat Dishonest' About Healthcare But Republicans Are 'Lying Like Motherf*ckers'

Eschaton: Journamalism - Quite the accusation to level against your colleagues in the noble 4th estate.
I Can’t Believe Terry McAuliffe Is Going to Be Governor of Virginia | Mother Jones - No experience in office? Check. Sketchy business partners? Check. Media manipulation? Check.
Branding Bill De Blasio: The Message Machine That Made NYC's Next Mayor (Dante's hair went viral)

Let's Face It, Bloomberg's Legacy Is Terrible (created a little fascist police state for billionaires)
Terrible Columnist Richard Cohen Shocked To Learn That Slavery Was Really, Really Bad

The Democrats' Original Food-Stamp Sin - November 1 saw a rollback of food assistance for the neediest Americans. The left shares just as much blame for the cuts as Republicans. (fucked over millions of people)

Koch Brothers Secretly Funding Anti-Choice Movement | Alternet - Tax documents reveal the billionaire conservatives’ real agenda: a full-fledged “war on women.”
Johns Hopkins suspends black lung program after Center-ABC investigation | Center for Public Integrity - Prestigious hospital will review X-ray reading service. (docs bought by Big Coal)

More terrorized drivers report forceful rectal inspections by New Mexico police — RT USA - New Mexico police are in hot water after it was discovered that they forced people to undergo humiliating rectal searches based on the reaction of an unlicensed K-9.
4 On Your Side reveals another traffic stop nightmare | KOB.com - The doctors from the Gila Regional Medical Center have been turned over to the state licensing board. It's possible they could lose the ability to practice medicine. (it was probably all about asset-forfiture)
Cook County prosecutors decide against charging Chicago cop captured on videotape in fatal shooting - Chicago Tribune - Prosecutors say disturbing 2011 video supports officer's version of events (drunk cop shoots unarmed man 16 times)
Today's Drug War Outrage: Man Dies In Jail Cell After Misdemeanor Pot Offense
Brown University to Stop-and-Punish the Anti-Ray Kelly Protestors - Eric Levenson - The Atlantic Wire
New video released in Georgia teen's gym mat death — still no answers - U.S. News - But the new videos released Wednesday — which the sheriff’s office said included video from 35 cameras inside and outside of the gym from Jan. 10 and 11 — is missing time stamps.

The Growing Influence of Young Adult Literature -- New York Magazine - Book jackets of Pride and Prejudice juiced up for the Twilight set.
Swedish cinemas take aim at gender bias with Bechdel test rating | World news | theguardian.com - To get an A rating, a movie must pass the so-called Bechdel test, which means it must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man.

Marijuana and Alcohol - NYTimes.com - legalization of marijuana for medical purposes has been associated with reductions in heavy drinking, especially among 18- to 29-year-olds, and with an almost 5 percent decrease in beer sales. In addition, the increase in the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 seems to encourage greater marijuana use among people under 21, usage that drops sharply when they reach the legal drinking age.
Marijuana Might Be Affecting Your Skin... And Not In The Ways You Thought
Everyone Calm Down: A Texas-Sized 'Island' Of Toxic Tsunami Debris Is Not Headed For The U.S.

Apple Says It Isn't Interested in Your Data: Here's What Apple Does and Doesn't Know About You | Motherboard

CryptoPrevent | Computer Technician - PC Repair Software |Foolish IT LLC
CryptoLocker File Scan Tool
How To Avoid CryptoLocker Ransomware — Krebs on Security
CryptoLocker - a new ransomware variant | Emsisoft Blog
Cryptolocker Prevention Kit (updated) - Spiceworks
Information regarding the Cryptolocker ransomware Trojan making the rounds | Sophos Blog
CryptoLocker Patrol Script; Are We Encrypted? - Spiceworks

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Congo's M23 rebels call off revolt | World news | theguardian.com - M23 says it will disarm and pursue political solution with Joseph Kabila's government after being driven out of last strongholds
Pussy Riot's Tolokonnikova 'is being punished with move to Siberian prison' | World news | theguardian.com - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's husband says move to prison 2,000 miles from Moscow follows hunger strike over poor conditions
India's Mars rocket Mangalyaan blasts off | World news | theguardian.com - India aims to follow US, Europe and Russia in having successful Mars mission amid criticism at home about Isro's spending
News of the World 'told police it had hacked Milly Dowler voicemail' | UK news | theguardian.com - Journalist played police officer recording of intercepted message during hunt for missing schoolgirl, phone-hacking trial hears
China discovers that pollution makes it really hard to spy on people - Quartz - 20 million cameras on streets, public parks and even in elevators throughout China

3 Reasons Senkaku/Diaoyu Diplomacy Should Be Secret | Flashpoints | The Diplomat
State Media Boasts of China’s Ability to Nuke US Cities | Flashpoints | The Diplomat (go east, young man)

Agent provocateur: Inside the secret archives of East Germany's secret police - Europe - World - The Independent - Simon Menner spent three years trawling through millions of surveillance images in the archives of the East German secret police.
The Daily Dot - 12333: The 30-year-old order behind NSA spying - 12333 as created by in 1980, by Ronald Reagan. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) explained in an excellent primer on 12333, the order is used to set out guidelines for NSA spying that falls outside of the jurisdiction of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which was created by FISA to govern when and how the agency can spy on Americans.
Political Fail Blog | Rejecting the Myth of the Non-Violent Revolution

Guy Fawkes Day: A Brief History — History in the Headlines
The Daily Dot - In trademark masks, Anonymous makes its presence felt worldwide - “We are Legion,” Anonymous often claims in its public statements. That’s never been more apparent than on Tuesday, when protesters took to the streets for mass demonstrations as part of the Million Mask March.
Protesters gather around the world for Million Mask March | World news | theguardian.com - Demonstrations in more than 400 cities were planned to coincide with Guy Fawkes Day, with Russell Brand at a London protest

Kerry urges Europe: don't let NSA spying concerns thwart trade talks | World news | theguardian.com - Secretary of state tries to salvage trade deal with EU by telling leaders the US will find 'the right balance' on surveillance

Patrick Leahy: NSA ‘can’t keep our secrets’ - Tal Kopan - POLITICO.com - Sen. Patrick Leahy said Monday that the NSA shouldn’t be trusted with Americans’ secrets when it can’t even keep them safe from “a 29-year-old subcontractor.”
The Daily Dot - Is the NSA engaging in economic espionage? - From the start, the leak has presented a particular problem for the U.S. government. Unlike the previous surveillance disclosures, it was difficult for the White House to justify how this corporate spying was a national security concern ... the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, which banned the practice in the country. (above the law Obama)
Twitter / sophie_gadd: Annual reminder of Guy Fawkes ... signature before and after torture
Lavabit's Dark Mail Initiative by Ladar Levison — Kickstarter - The goal is to cleanup and release the source code that was used to power Lavabit as a f/oss project with support for dark mail added.
New Zealand approves email and phone-snooping law | World news | theguardian.com - Legislation forcing telecommunications firms to allow interception equipment to be installed on their networks passes by two votes
New leaks reveal NSA and GCHQ listening posts in Berlin and Cyprus | The Verge
The Frightening New Definition of Terrorism | Sina.is - the disclosure or threat of disclosure is designed to influence a government, and is made for the purpose of promoting a political or ideological cause. This therefore falls within the definition of terrorism

White House rejects clemency for Edward Snowden over NSA leaks | World news | theguardian.com - Obama legacy as president will be that of a failed president. He started as one of the most popular and promising presidents in recent history. He missed his chance to make a real difference for good. He could of had the legacy of a JFK or FDR. Instead he went for the brass ring
The Obama administration may be guilty of war crimes | Jeffrey Bachman | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Reports on US drone strikes suggest White House policy violates international law. If so, they should be held accountable - Barack Obama - Nobel Peace laureate and suspected War Criminal. And people look at you oddly when you say you are disillusioned with politics.

If the GOP Repeals Obamacare, 137 Million Americans Could Get Cancellation Notices | Mother Jones
State-by-State Estimates of the Number of People Eligible for Premium Tax Credits Under the Affordable Care Act | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation - t 29 million people nationally who might look to the new marketplaces.
Median wage falls to lowest level since 1998 | Al Jazeera America - While incomes and jobs stagnate, top earners and corporate profits continue to gain
Dem Senators: We're Doing It Wrong, Let's Expand Social Security - In a town consumed by how quickly and how deeply to cut Social Security, a handful of Democratic senators have a different idea: expand it. (Obummer unhappy with the idea)

We're About to Lose Net Neutrality — And the Internet as We Know It | Wired Opinion | Wired.com - But today, that freedom won’t survive much longer if a federal court — the second most powerful court in the nation behind the Supreme Court, the DC Circuit — is set to strike down the nation’s net neutrality law, a rule adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 2010 (that special all-Republican court)

Rand Paul May Have Plagiarized In Drug Sentencing Op-Ed - As first reported by BuzzFeed, there are unmistakable similarities between an opinion piece Paul wrote for The Washington Times on drug sentencing in September, and an article written by Dan Stewart of The Week a week earlier. (news: Republicans steal things)

Frank Bruni Hillary Clinton - Personalities Of Cults - Esquire - Actually, I don't disagree with the basic premise of Frank Bruni's column in today's NYT. I hope there is a vigorous challenge to Hillary Clinton's inevitability from what Howard Dean used to call "the Democratic wing of the Democratic party." - Cult fervor? Really? Frank, you sort of lost credibility in using that descriptive when you superglued your lips to the hindquarters of C-Plus Augustus in the 2000 campaign.
Republicans may reconsider national strategy amid batch of local elections | World news | theguardian.com - Lack of big-money support for conservative Republicans a trend across the country in elections from Alabama to Virginia

Toronto mayor Rob Ford admits smoking crack cocaine but refuses to resign | World news | theguardian.com - Ford says 'I would do anything to change the past' but insists at press conference that he will soldier on as Toronto mayor
Rob Ford’s Office Hired a Hacker to Destroy the Crack Tape | VICE United States - In late July, an anonymous source approached VICE with claims that he had been hired by Amin Massoudi, the communications director for troubled Toronto mayor Rob Ford, to hack into a website.

And the SCARIEST book of all time as voted by you is... : books

4 On Your Side investigates traffic stop nightmare | KOB.com
Hospital bills man for rectal search he was forced to undergo by police — RT USA - "If the officers in Hidalgo County and the City of Deming are seeking warrants for anal cavity searches based on how they're standing and the warrant allows doctors at the Gila Hospital of Horrors to go in and do enemas and colonoscopies without consent, then anyone can be seized and that's why the public needs to know about this," Kennedy said.

A Challenge to New Media Moguls Pierre Omidyar and Jeff Bezos - The Daily Beast - The eBay and Amazon founders’ media investments are tremendous news for America’s vulnerable, who are typically ignored by traditional media. But the new ventures must take risks.
Here's The New York Post's Explanation For Its Infamous 'Bag Men' Headline - Clearly, the Post feels that, even though it slapped the picture of two innocent, unknown men on its front page, said the FBI was looking for them and dubbed them "Bag Men," it played no part in helping those readers jump to those conclusions.

Saideman's Semi-Spew: Rejection Ramifications - At Political Science Rumors, a post went up basically telling people that if they got rejected for a job, it is personal.
Rejection is personal « Political Science Rumors - Here's the thing: if this upsets you, or you just reject it all out of hand, you don't belong in academia. (suck it up, wage-slaves)

Richard Dawkins: My honey trap – why doesn't anyone believe in public-spirited concern? | Comment is free | theguardian.com - After I tweeted about a pot of honey not being allowed on a plane, Twitter replied with a puerile display of sniggering frivolity (as well they should)


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Hullabaloo - "It's just not happening" - New Pew Poll on climate change (77% of Redumbs don't believe in AGW: the party of death and destruction)
Trees 'shield vulnerable species from climate change' - Forests with dense canopies create a microclimate that protects a variety of cold-adapted plant species from warming air temperatures, a study has shown. (so cut those liberal fuckers down)

Egypt: Morsi trial adjourned until 8 January | World news | theguardian.com - Trial of defiant Islamist president and 14 others had been interrupted by the defendants chanting 'down with military coup'
Kenya charges four Somali men over Westgate shopping mall attack | World news | theguardian.com - Suspects appear in court charged with 'commission of a terrorist act' in wake of attack on Westgate mall in which 67 people died
China replaces top general in Xinjiang after Beijing attack | World news | theguardian.com - Peng Yong relieved as military commander after Islamic extremists blamed for 28 October attack in Tiananmen Square
Mexico gun battles leave many dead | World news | theguardian.com - Thirteen killed in border city of Matamoros as gunmen clash with Mexican armed forces in region ravaged by drug gangs (Obama loves his wars)
Rebekah Brooks tried to hide evidence as News of the World closed, jury told | UK news | theguardian.com - Ex-News International chief conspired to conceal her notebooks in 'panic' around paper's closure, phone-hacking trial hears
Detention of IFJ Directors reflects state of dreadful media freedom in Sri Lanka - Reporters Without Borders

CIA made doctors torture suspected terrorists after 9/11, taskforce finds | World news | The Guardian - Doctors were asked to torture detainees for intelligence gathering, and unethical practices continue, review concludes - Medical professionals were in effect told that their ethical mantra "first do no harm" did not apply, because they were not treating people who were ill. (but they fixed that fast)
Doctors and nurses enabled torture at overseas US detention facilities | Circa News - A three-year study by a panel of experts found that medical personnel both enabled and participated in interrogations and torture at CIA and military sites. (the "they made me do it" defense)
Report blasts 'unethical' US detainee policy post- 9/11 | Al Jazeera America - Task force says US policy violates medical standards, permitting torture and other abuses
'Let Me Stress How Shocking These NSA Revelations Are': A View From Inside the Defense World - James Fallows - The Atlantic - "At some point it is wise to ascribe adult levels of understanding to the principal actors in this drama, no matter how impenetrable their deeper motives."
New evidence surfaces that NSA and GCHQ tapped into Google and Yahoo private networks | The Verge
Obama Told Aides He's 'Really Good At Killing People,' New Book 'Double Down' Claims - Despite the president's pledge to be more transparent about the drone program, the administration has continued to face criticism for its secrecy on the legal case for the strikes.

The best new thing right now is watching Obama apologists try to differentiate between "killing people" and "ordering people to be killed."

— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) November 4, 2013

@YourAnonNews/Freedom Orgs on Twitter
AP News: White House, lawmakers: no clemency for Snowden - "He should return to the U.S. and face justice," Pfeiffer said, adding when pressed that no offers for clemency were being discussed.
Media Hype Edward Snowden’s Request for ‘Clemency’—but Did He Even Ask for It? | The Nation (White House looking increasinly sleazy)
Inside Guantanamo - 60 Minutes - CBS News - Lesley Stahl gets unprecedented access to the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, facility where the accused 9/11 terrorists will face trial in the biggest war crimes tribunal since Nuremberg.

DOJ Did Not Fulfill Legally Required Disclosure on Section 215 to Congress Until After PATRIOT Reauthorization | emptywheel - In the Guardian’s superb summary of the importance of the NSA leaks, Zoe Lofgren challenges the claims that Congress has received all the documents NSA claims it has gotten (they are still trotting out the "Congress fully informed" lie)

Hullabaloo - Dianne Feinstein is a comedienne - Hayden: Basically, he's saying that everyone in this world is an enemy of the United States on some level and we have a right to treat them that way. (why didn't Snowden turn himself in to DiFucker?)
Senate Committee Votes in Favor of NSA Phone-Records Snooping | Threat Level | Wired.com - Sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California, Criminal)
Revealed: NSA pushed 9/11 as key 'sound bite' to justify surveillance | Al Jazeera America - An internal document recommended that officials use fear of attack when pressed to explain agency's programs
Civil Liberties Board Reviews Surveillance Programs | C-SPAN - The PCLOB, an outgrowth of the 911 Commission, advises the President on policies to protect civil liberties while combating terrorism. (they have been so effective)
Google's Eric Schmidt Says NSA Server Spying Is 'Outrageous' If True (Mr No-Privacy-For-You is upset his business model is threatened)
How the NSA Exposed the Media's Biggest Bias | Motherboard - Greenwald is no doubt proudly and openly promoting a very real bias here—but, to the likely disappointment of the media criticism industry, it is not an easy-to-demonize partisan bias. It is instead a bias against the notion of subservience.
Don’t gerrymander the internet - Index on Censorship | Index on Censorship

Beautiful, interactive feature from The Guardian reviews all the NSA revelations | The Verge (Graun kills NYT's inforgraphics)

Dirty Wars | The Paley Center for Media - You can watch the panel stream live. 8:15 pm ET (5:15 pm PT) (+Netflix)
Reckless and Inspired: An Interview With Jonathan Hastings About His Brother, the Journalist Michael Hastings | Uncouth Reflections - On June 18, 2013 The Question Lady and I learned that a friend of ours had died in Los Angeles in a very peculiar car crash

EconomicPolicyJournal.com: A Bit More on the Wife of Michael Hastings,Who Has Been Shooting Down Conspiracy Theories About the Death of Her Husband (his wife was a speechwriter for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.)

US navy commander accused of giving secrets to businessman in bribery case | World news | theguardian.com - Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz and Leonard Francis moved vessels around Asian ports like chess pieces, prosecutors say

TSA union calls for armed guards at every checkpoint

Hullabaloo - This is America - Chris Mooney has posted an interesting take on that "personality map" that everyone's been talking about. (it's always been about the Confederacy and traitors to America)

Special Investigation: How Insurers Are Hiding Obamacare Benefits From Customers

The Contributor | How the Super-Rich Are Abandoning America - The wealthiest Americans who hate "takers" enjoy $2 trillion in special tax carve outs, more than double the entire annual budget of Social Security.
Americans won't throw the bums out in 2014 | Harry J Enten | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Congress has an epically low approval rating, but history and polling suggest there likely won't be an 'anti-incumbent wave'
Ralph Reed Morning joe - The Morning Whorehouse - Esquire - . (Listening to Mika Brzezinski talk to Mark Halperin about politics was like watching a seal and a goat recite Shakespeare.)
Dylan Scott Affordable Care Act Letters - There Is Gambling Going On Here - Esquire - . Even now, with Glitchghazigate, and the Oh-noes-Obummer-lied scandalpaloooza, still running wild, the health-insurance companies are maneuvering the way they always have.
Special Investigation: How Insurers Are Hiding Obamacare Benefits From Customers
Obamacare "Victim" in Florida Happy She Can Get Real Coverage | New Republic - 'I Would Jump At It' The media labeled her an Obamacare victim. Here's what she really thinks.
Obama Favorability Ratings Struggle In Recent Polls - But after a rough start to Obama's second term, Americans increasingly view the president unfavorably. And perhaps most concerning for the White House: an Associated Press analysis of public polling shows it has become more difficult over time for Obama to fully rebound from dents in his favorability ratings. (making sure his Republican daddies win)

Poverty in America Is Mainstream - NYTimes.com - Even more astounding, if we add in related conditions like welfare use, near-poverty and unemployment, four out of five Americans will encounter one or more of these events.

BREAKING: Supreme Court Dismisses Major Attack On Abortion Rights | ThinkProgress

Why the LAX Shooter Should Be Charged as a Terrorist - The Daily Beast - According to court documents, the alleged LAX shooter was trying to influence government policy with violence. So, why isn’t he being charged with terrorism? (he was a right-wing "patriot" and wasn't brown or Muslim)

Conservative Americans are more terrified of sex than violence | Sarah Jane Stratford | Comment is free | theguardian.com - There's been plenty of outcry in the US over lesbian sex in Blue is the Warmest Colour. Brutality onscreen, however, is fine

Why is puberty starting younger? | Politics | theguardian.com
Sean Penn’s ‘The Human Experiment’ Reveals the Toll of Toxic Chemicals | EcoWatch - Actor Sean Penn is the force behind a new major documentary called The Human Experiment that aims to raise awareness about toxic chemicals in everyday products.
The Milky Way might harbor 20 billion Earth-sized planets | The Verge - Planets the size of Earth are 'a general feature of nature' according to new research

Social Security Paid Out 0.006 Percent of Benefits to Dead People | Beat the Press

Idle millennials are victims of their parents’ success - Opinion - The Boston Globe (Jennifer Graham doesn't understand economics, looks like a hater)
Eschaton: I Believe That Childen Are Our Future - Regarding this unpleasantness, I don't know how as a culture we go from WeLoveOurChildrenYesWeDoSoMuchTheyAreSoPrecious to get off my lawn, 20somethings. I mean, the former eventually turn into the latter.

The 13 Coolest Tattoo Artists In The World

The Psychology of Online Comments : The New Yorker - Maria Konnikova
How the net was tamed: stopping cybercrime from child pornography to the Silk Road | The Verge - The FBI is currently drafting new legislation that would require tech companies to have some way of getting past any encryption in their products
UK government reportedly bans iPads from closed-door meetings | The Verge - for fear a foreign government could hack them to eavesdrop on private conversations.
Strange malware thought to communicate over computer speakers | The Verge

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Obama Said He's 'Really Good At Killing People' - Business Insider (loves his drones and red-mist doubletaps on first-responders)
US Drones Bomb Civilian Rescuers - Business Insider
Teju Cole: A Reader's War : The New Yorker - According to a report in the New York Times, the targets of drone strikes are selected for death at weekly meetings in the White House; no name is added to the list without the President’s approval
DARPA Plans to Arm Drones With Missile-Blasting Lasers | Danger Room | Wired.com
The Pirate Bay plans to host part of its site on GPS controlled drones | BGR (Drone Wars!)

Germany 'should offer Edward Snowden asylum after NSA revelations' | World news | theguardian.com - Writing in Der Spiegel, more than 50 high-profile Germans add to increasing calls for Berlin to welcome NSA whistleblower
White House rejects clemency for Edward Snowden over NSA leaks | World news | theguardian.com - Obama adviser and heads of House and Senate intelligence signal hard line despite European support for whistleblower (the only redemption for the Nobel Committee would be ... +OCop)
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden says US 'treats dissent as defection' | World news | theguardian.com - Former analyst writes letter to German government over response to his 'act of political expression'

PressTV - Additional NSA employees said to be following Snowden's lead ... The Obama administration's "war on whistleblowers" is backfiring, said Radack.

NSA: Australia and US used climate change conference to spy on Indonesia | World news | theguardian.com - Australian agency helped carry out mass surveillance of hosts as Kevin Rudd walked world stage at 2007 Bali conference

Metropolitan police detained David Miranda for promoting 'political' causes | World news | The Observer - Justification for airport detention of partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald alarms human rights groups and Tory MP - a key reason cited by police for holding him under terrorism powers was the belief that he was promoting a "political or ideological cause". (you better not have any "political causes" or "ideas" either)
British Accuse David Miranda, Glenn Greenwald's Partner, Of 'Terrorism'
UK: Snowden reporter's partner involved in 'espionage' and 'terrorism' | Reuters - British authorities claimed the domestic partner of reporter Glenn Greenwald was involved in "terrorism" when he tried to carry documents from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden through a London airport in August, according to police and intelligence documents.

Ron Wyden: New NSA reform bill authorizes all the activity that was making you angry. (you've just been DiFucked)

No Morsel Too Minuscule for All-Consuming N.S.A. - NYTimes.com
The Daily Dot - New Snowden slide reveals who the NSA's best friends really are (Israel is invisible, as usual)

UK government reaction to NSA leaks eroding freedom, rights groups warn | World news | The Guardian - Coalition of organisations says Cameron's response has damaged UK's reputation for freedom of expression
Will the US State Dept Condemn UK's Attempt to Use 'Terrorism' Laws to Suppress Journalism? | Freedom of the Press Foundation
? Duncan Campbell pekar ut Sverige som samarbetspartner till NSA - YouTube (Sweden is the 6th Eye)
The use and impact of dispersal orders | Joseph Rowntree Foundation - 17 October 2007

A Journalist With a Mission - NYTimes.com - American society will also benefit from Greenwald’s ongoing revelations about out-of-control surveillance. He has testified before the Brazilian Senate, and should be allowed to testify before the U.S. Senate. He says, “I am definitely going back, I refuse to be exiled for a lie.” (Roger Cohen has apparently seen the light)
The secrecy-loving mind of the U.S. journalist - Salon.com - Nov 29, 2011 (Greenwald on Cohen 2 yrs ago)
The White House on Spying - NYTimes.com - The Obama administration said late Monday that it was considering banning eavesdropping on the leaders of American allies.

Congress Could Shut Public Out of Internet-Regulation Treaty Talks | Motherboard

HealthCare.gov: How political fear was pitted against technical needs - The Washington Post - “They were running the biggest start-up in the world, and they didn’t have anyone who had run a start-up, or even run a business,” (Obambi let his political aides run the show into the ground because he was afraid Rethugs would say mean things about him, ha-ha)

U.S. intelligence agencies have their own Twitter. It’s called eChirp. (yeah, they really named it that)

How to serve a warrant: 1972 versus today, by Lt. Harry Thomas | Police State USA

The Daily Dot - 'Most horrible joke in all of creation' spreads on Twitter - A list of the tweets on Tumblr names and shames anyone who passed on the joke without criticism. That post has, in turn, gone viral, receiving more than 90,000 notes. (self-regulation)

The tea party’s assault on workers - Crucially, as Lafer emphasizes, this isn’t about what we colloquially refer to as “conservative values.” Rather than rolling back the state, tea party Republicans are calling for extensive observation and disciplining of unemployed people. (teaparty screwing workers)
Voter ID law snags former House Speaker Jim Wright | Elections & Politics | News from Fo... - Former House Speaker Jim Wright was denied a voter ID card Saturday at a Texas Department of Public Safety office. “Nobody was ugly to us, but they insisted that they wouldn’t give me an ID,” Wright said. (and if can't get one ...)

Three Pages Of Rand Paul's Book Were Plagiarized From Think Tanks - The worst case yet. Paul’s office says the book notes Paul didn’t individually report out each case. (his whole personality is cut-and-pasted)
Jersey Jazzman: Exclusive Interview: @GovChristie to Teacher: "I Am Tired Of You People!" (check the pics, here's a really ugly person)

So, You're Telling Me You Don't Like The Way You Think I Have Sex? 'Cause That's All I'm Hearing.

All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines - Nicholas Carr - The Atlantic - We rely on computers to fly our planes, find our cancers, design our buildings, audit our businesses. That's all well and good. But what happens when the computer fails?
Chinese appliances are shipping with malware-distributing WiFi chips | Apps and Software | Geek.com

Mathematicians of Reddit, what is "beautiful" about mathematics? : AskReddit

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Israel 'furious' with White House for leak on Syria strike | The Times of Israel - Jerusalem considers administration’s confirmation of Israeli air attack on missile stores to be ‘scandalous’; TV analyst warns US risks starting ‘major flare-up’ (you're never supposed to tell the truth about Israel)

Inside China: Nuclear submarines capable of widespread attack on U.S. - Washington Times
Pakistan on high alert after Taliban leader killed by US drone strike | World news | theguardian.com - Government says death of Hakimullah Mehsud has destroyed attempts to hold peace talks with Islamist militants
Honduras' Police Chief Denies Accusations Of Death Squads, Social Cleansing Campaign
Pussy Riot Member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova Goes Missing During Prison Colony Transfer - The Daily Beast - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has disappeared into the gulag transit system between Russia’s penal colonies, and her family is worried that authorities are trying to crush her spirit.
Paul Gambaccini, BBC Host, Arrested On Suspicion Of Sex Offenses
Toxic nuclear waste dumped illegally by the Mafia is blamed for surge in cancers in southern Italy | Mail Online
Word to the west: many Saudi women oppose lifting the driving ban | Ahmed Abdel-Raheem | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Westerners should be wary of trying to impose their version of feminism on Saudi women. It's not always welcome

How a war game brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster | UK news | The Observer - Former classified documents show how close the Soviet Union came to launching an attack in 1983 (St Ronnie and Able Archer)
Drones: A rare glimpse at sophisticated US spy plane - The Global Hawk is one of the US military's most sophisticated spy planes and the BBC was able to get a rare view of one at Grand Forks Airbase in North Dakota.

Jeremy Scahill: Obama Presidency Marred by Legacy of Drone Program | Mother Jones - Throughout his term in office, President Obama has presided over misguided counterterrorism efforts - The Era of the Dirty War on Terror (Obama's Legacy)

UK: Snowden reporter's partner involved in 'espionage' and 'terrorism' | Reuters
British Accuse David Miranda, Glenn Greenwald's Partner, Of 'Terrorism' - British authorities claimed the domestic partner of reporter Glenn Greenwald was involved in "terrorism" when he tried to carry documents from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden through a London airport in August, according to police and intelligence documents. (watch out, complacent journos ...)
Edward Snowden: 'Speaking The Truth Is Not A Crime' / ideastream - Northeast Ohio Public Radio, Television and Multiple Media - The NSA leaker told a German lawmaker that he wanted to testify before the U.S. Congress, but he hoped the U.S. would stop treating him like a traitor.

Portrait of the NSA: no detail too small in quest for total surveillance | World news | theguardian.com - The NSA gathers intelligence to keep America safe. But leaked documents reveal the NSA's dark side – and show an agency intent on exploiting the digital revolution to the full
What’s the Relationship Database About? | emptywheel - There seems to be little that justifies that relationship database than the desire to have it, in case, for such time as the government plans to unleash the nuclear bomb of reading every relationship in the country.
DiFi’s Fake FISA Fix: The Roamer Pre-Emergency Exigent Excuse To Be Used on Internet Content | emptywheel (DiFuck)
Senate bill would validate NSA’s harvesting of phone, e-mail records, privacy advocates say - The Washington Post (DiFi's "complete review")
Google, Yahoo et al have the power to fight back against the NSA | Dan Gillmor | Comment is free | theguardian.com - The tech billionaires should create the anti-surveillance, pro-security equivalent of the National Rifle Association

Daily Kos: Chuck Hagel throws gauntlet down.. - Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel fired a shot across the bow today of Nine Red states that have refused to follow directives from the Dept of Defense and issue Military identification cards to the Spouses and children of same sex couples. (their own little Confederate country)

Broken news: struggling to find facts in the Twitter maelstrom | The Verge - The identity and purported death of the shooter, meanwhile, was spread by traditional reporting operating on fast-forward. The LA Times reported erroneous information from a source, and other outlets picked it up. NBC put out a six-word breaking story, and an audience spread it.

Open Warfare by Martin Longman | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - The base of the party wants non-stop confrontation and they are absolutely heedless of the likely political consequences. The more the Establishment pushes back, the lower their numbers go. And, with a 6% approval rating in the latest Public Policy Polling poll, Congress is already in a competition for popularity with the margin of error.
No Cruz-Paul ’16? - Lawyers, Guns & Money (but keep hope alive)
Jay Carney: 'It Would Be Awesome' If Ted Cruz, Rand Paul Run In 2016

Column: Can expanding Social Security solve the retirement crisis? (crazy ideas are spreading, but Obama will squash them)

Food Stamp Cut Reverberates Across Country - National media and federal policymakers haven't paid much attention, but a $5 billion reduction to the food stamp program that took effect Friday has already been reverberating across the country. (starve the mainly red-state moochers)

Banksy's final NYC art piece seized as police evidence | PBS NewsHour

Retired Wingnut Gen. Boykin Says Military Would Like To Kill Obama, But Guesses It’s Not Constitutional Though
Reply to Tennessee prosecutor who doesn't want to be called "the Government" by defendant - Boing Boing - A whiny Assistant District Attorney General of Tennessee asked the judge in the case of Tennessee v Powell to order Mr Powell and his lawyer to stop calling her "the Government." The prosecutor complained that being called "the Government" made him look bad. (how about "the evil empire?)

Not All Pedophiles Have Mental Disorder, American Psychiatric Association Says In New DSM - The former group -- those who want to have sex with children but whose desires are not distressing or harmful to themselves or others -- is no longer classified as having a psychiatric condition in the updated DSM.

ELI5: With many Americans (at least those on Reddit) unsatisfied with both, the GOP and the Democrats, why is there no third party raising to the top? : explainlikeimfive
Extra-Life.org website experienced DDoS attack. : gaming

Mathematicians of Reddit, what is "beautiful" about mathematics? : AskReddit

RIAA, BPI websites infringe copyright - Boing Boing - TorrentFreak took a close look at the sourcecode for the websites run by the RIAA and its UK equivalent, the BPI, and discovered that they'd made a serious breach of copyright on each. (the power is always asymmetrical)

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White House Will Focus on Climate Shifts While Trying to Cut Greenhouse Gases - NYTimes.com
Study: Pacific ocean now warming 15 times faster than in past 10,000 years - The rate of change over the last 60 years is roughly 15 times faster than any other period
The Daily Dot - Anonymous threat leads to partial victory in Canadian fracking protest - At one, according to several witnesses, a police officer yelled, "Crown land belongs to the government not to fucking natives.”
Noam Chomsky slams Canada's shale gas energy plans | Environment | theguardian.com - Exploitation of Canada's tar sands and shale gas will have dire consequences for the environment, says Chomsky - "It is pretty ironic that the so-called 'least advanced' people are the ones taking the lead in trying to protect all of us, while the richest and most powerful among us are the ones who are trying to drive the society to destruction," said Chomsky ... "In the case of the environment there's no one to bail it out."

US claims Israel attacked Russian missile shipment in Syria | World news | theguardian.com - Americans accused of damaging 'trust between allies' by revealing Latakia air strike ... This raises very disturbing questions, and affects trust between allies," said one Israeli official. (that "trust" is a one-way street)

Andy Coulson told news editor to 'do Calum Best's phone', court hears | UK news | The Guardian - Prosecution says former editor of News of the World demanded that his journalists illegally target celebrities
News of the World staff 'hacked Mail on Sunday's phones in bid for scoop' | UK news | theguardian.com - Prosecution tells of 'dog eat dog' frenzy as Rupert Murdoch tabloid tried to beat rivals to story on Lord Prescott's private life

How Ridiculous is Pakistan’s New Civilian Drone Victim Estimate? Terrorist Okra-Picking Grandma! | emptywheel - Remarkably, Pakistan’s government has now indirectly called Nabila’s grandmother, Mamana Bibi, a terrorist.
Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud killed in CIA drone strike | World news | The Guardian - Mehsud killed when missile struck compound in village near capital of North Waziristan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s claim that drones have killed only 67 civilians baffles analysts | Afghanistan & Pakistan | McClatchy DC

Snowden ready to go to Germany under asylum as his letter to Berlin revealed — RT News
Edward Snowden letter to German government in full | World news | theguardian.com - Full text of NSA whistleblower's letter on US surveillance to chancellor Angela Merkel, the German parliament and federal prosecutors, passed on by German politician Hans-Christian Ströebele
German Minister Says He Will Try To Have Edward Snowden Meet With German Officials

NSA files decoded: Edward Snowden's surveillance revelations explained | World news | theguardian.com - What the revelations mean for you.
Snowden leak reveals Europe's role in mass surveillance programs.
NSA Apologists Now Blaming Snowden for NSA’s Own Cyberdefense Failures | emptywheel
The Daily Dot - Proposal would close Germany's digital borders to stop NSA snooping - Germany has joined Brazil in attempting to close its digital borders in response to NSA spying.

The White House on Spying - NYTimes.com - The White House response on Monday to the expanding disclosures of American spying on foreign leaders, their governments and millions of their citizens was a pathetic mix of unsatisfying assurances about reviews under way, platitudes about the need for security in an insecure age, and the odd defense that the president didn’t know that American spies had tapped the German chancellor’s cellphone for 10 years.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s New NSA Bill Will Codify and Extend Mass Surveillance of Americans | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Feinstein’s Fake Fix May Expand Use of the Phone Dragnet | emptywheel
Feinstein Releases Fake NSA Reform Bill, Actually Tries To Legalize Illegal NSA Bulk Data Collection | Techdirt - This bill is a farce, and made even more farcical by the misleading way in which Feinstein has presented it, pretending it bans bulk data collection when it actually legalizes it.
Senate Intelligence Committee Passes Bill That Codifies, Expands NSA Powers (DiFi, the face of evil)
NSA chief Keith Alexander blames diplomats for surveillance requests | World news | theguardian.com - Barbed exchange with former ambassador over spying on foreign leaders likely to deepen rift with Obama administration
GCHQ and European spy agencies worked together on mass surveillance | UK news | The Guardian - Edward Snowden papers unmask close technical cooperation and loose alliance between British, German, French, Spanish and Swedish spy agencies (Sweden is quite the spy-state)
The Daily Dot - The best Guy Fawkes masks in Anonymous history

The Daily Dot - Rebel email providers form alliance to combat NSA surveillance - The companies, Lavabit and Silent Circle, both shut down their services in August, citing privacy concerns brought on by the National Security Agency’s spy programs.

Federal Prosecutors, in a Policy Shift, Cite Warrantless Wiretaps as Evidence - NYTimes.com - The Justice Department for the first time has notified a criminal defendant that evidence being used against him came from a warrantless wiretap, a move that is expected to set up a Supreme Court test of whether such eavesdropping is constitutional. (no steenking warrents)
Fifth Amendment Prohibits Compelled Decryption, New EFF Brief Argues | Electronic Frontier Foundation

American Journalist Facing Up To 105 Years In Prison - CNN iReport - Barrett Brown’s career as a journalist is a bold and colorful one. He has written for publications including Vanity Fair, The Guardian, and The Huffington Post; and he co-authored a well-received book, Flock of Dodos.

The Right to Vote - NationalJournal.com - It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which eviscerated the Voting Rights Act, is leading to a new era of voter suppression that parallels the pre-1960s era—this time affecting not just African-Americans but also Hispanic-Americans, women, and students, among others. (Republican Supremes: traitors to America)

Circuit Court of Appeals: Contraceptive mandate "trammels" freedom - UPI.com

A War on the Poor - NYTimes.com - John Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio, has done some surprising things lately.
Brad DeLong : Why Are We Doing This?: Fiscal Policy Edition - Deficit spending leads to national default. More debt means rising expectations of inflation, and so the Federal Reserve has to tighten and raise unemployment above the natural rate in order to hit its inflation target once inflation expectations have become de-anchored due to high debt. (Obama and Republicans cooperate to destroy the econonomy)
Eschaton: Doing It All Wrong - Kicking poors is bipartisan. The Republican-controlled House version of the farm bill proposes cutting $39 billion from the program over the next decade; the Democratic-controlled Senate would cut $4 billion over the same period. (more grand bargains to do nothing except screw poor people)
Eschaton: People Is Broke - The unemployment rate has been high for a very long time. I really don't think the powers that be, even the ones who might care, really understand the impact of that. Food stamp benefits are so tiny. Anybody who actually needs them is pretty screwed. Cutting them is monstrous.
IPS – Corporations Rewriting U.S. Labour Laws | Inter Press Service - U.S. state legislators and corporate lobbies have engaged in an unprecedented attack on minimum wages that has lowered U.S. labour standards

Obamacare Enrollment Numbers Low In First Days, Released Documents Reveal
The Obamacare sabotage campaign - Todd S. Purdum - politico.com
The Morning Plum: Americans not ready to give up on Obamacare - The most important finding in the Kaiser poll — which is in some ways the gold standard of health care polling — is that significantly more Americans want the Affordable Care Act kept or expanded than want it repealed and replaced with a GOP alternative or with nothing at all. Here’s the key finding:

LAX Shooting Not A Random Event - There Is Nothing Random About The LAX Shooting - Esquire

Poll: Growing Number of Republicans Dislike GOP - Washington Wire - WSJ - In December, just a month after the GOP experienced a string of election losses, nearly two-thirds of all Republicans held a positive view of their party. Ten months later that share has dropped to less than half.
Harry Reid's Source On Mitt Romney's Taxes Was Jon Huntsman Sr., Book Claims - “I feel very badly that Mitt won’t release his taxes and won’t be fair with the American people,” he said.

Provision Of Texas' New Abortion Restrictions Reinstated By Federal Appeals Court - a decision that means a third of the state's clinics that perform the procedure won't be able to do so starting as soon as Friday.
Abortion Status Quo Shifts by Ed Kilgore | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly - The alarming thing is that the Fifth Circuit ruling indicates states will be allowed to drive large trucks through the loophole created by Justice Kennedy in the Carhart v. Gonzales decision (the one that upheld the federal “partial-birth abortion” law) giving lawmakers leeway to restrict abortion opportunities on broadly paternalistic “health of the mother” grounds ... additional restrictions on Father Knows Best grounds dishonestly framed as solicitude for the health and safety of women seeking abortions.
Columbia University Refuses To Say How Many Students Were Punished For Sexual Assaults - Columbia University is not disclosing the number of students found responsible for sexual misconduct and sexual assault, and how they were punished, but the school is being pressured to change its mind.

USA Today Becomes Most Widely-Circulated Daily Newspaper In America - USA Today is now the country's most widely circulated daily newspaper, according to the latest report from the Alliance for Audited Media.

Southern secessionist group lists two TN lawmakers as weekend speakers | The Tennessean | tennessean.com - Niceley, Matheny were set to speak at group's meeting

sehrah comments on Gonna be honest here. Does anyone else feel like vaginas are kind of, like, weird?

Time to Move On? The Case Against Daylight Saving Time - Clocks "fall back" this Sunday, November 3, and people are again asking: Why do we bother with daylight saving time?
Taylor & Francis Online :: Using Technology to Connect in Romantic Relationships: Effects on Attachment, Relationship Satisfaction, and Stability in Emerging Adults - Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy - Volume 12, Issue 4 - Male texting frequency was negatively associated with relationship satisfaction and stability scores for both partners while female texting frequency was positively associated with their own relationship stability scores
Little surprise here: women expected to do more at home – and at work | Heidi Moore | Comment is free | theguardian.com - A new study illuminates how 'favors' are expected of women at work, but they often go unacknowledged, keeping women down (manarchy)
1102: Fastest-Growing - explain xkcd

Comcast is donating heavily to defeat the mayor who is bringing gigabit fiber to Seattle

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Niger migrants found dead in Sahara desert | World news | theguardian.com - Group died of thirst attempting to cross desert on foot to reach Algeria from impoverished, landlocked Niger
Israel releases Palestinian prisoners | World news | theguardian.com - Outcry among Israelis but jubilation in West Bank and Gaza Strip as 26 are freed under terms of peace talks
Japan's hunts threaten some dolphins and whales with extinction, says EIA | Environment | theguardian.com - Japan relying on out-of-date data for hunts of small cetaceans, putting some species of whales, dolphins and porpoises at risk
Scientists show Sars started in bats | World news | theguardian.com - Study uses Australian technique to help governments improve strategies to prevent a recurrence of the 2002 pandemic

Phone hacking jury told Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson had six-year affair | UK news | theguardian.com - Relationship covers much of period editors are said to have been involved in criminal conspiracy to hack phones
Phone-hacking trial: jury hears tape of 'attempt to deceive mobile operator' | UK news | theguardian.com - Prosecution asks whether Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson or others knew about Glenn Mulcaire's £100,000-a-year contract
Phone Hacking Trial: Internal Emails On How To Hack Phones Revealed
UK Approves New Press Regulation System; Newspapers Protest - Britain approved a new system of regulating its press on Wednesday, a move newspapers said was draconian and threatened freedom of speech but which former victims of press excess described as long overdue.

On leaving the Guardian | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Reporting the NSA story hasn't been easy, but it's always been fulfilling. It's what journalism at its crux is about, and we must protect that
Two New Journalists Join the Team – Omidyar Group
GGSideDocs
Omidyar venture adds Froomkin, Segura - joining a crew that consists of Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras
Edward Snowden Has A New Job, Russian Lawyer Says - Lawyer says Snowden to work for Russian internet site

Senate committee passes NSA 'improvement' bill that wouldn't end mass data collection | The Verge - The Senate Intelligence Committee has passed a bill from Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that will ostensibly reform the NSA's surveillance. But the bill, which passed 11-4, is largely aimed at preempting more substantial legislation while making minor changes to the agency's mass collection of American call records ... criminal penalties of up to ten years for people who willfully access unauthorized information (Difi fixed two problems at once)

GOPer: Trust us on that spying thing | MSNBC - When you don’t know the government does it, it’s not illegal. That’s the argument Republican House intelligence committee chair Mike Rogers of Michigan tried to make: "You can’t have your privacy violated if you don’t know your privacy is violated." (and a tree falls in the forest)
NSA files – MPs debate oversight of the intelligence services – live | World news | theguardian.com - Westminster Hall hosts three-hour debate on whether Britain’s security services are sufficiently well supervised in wake of Guardian Snowden revelations
Reports that NSA taps into Google and Yahoo data hubs infuriates tech giants | Technology | The Guardian - Files obtained from Edward Snowden suggest NSA can collect information sent by fibre optic cable between Google and Yahoo data hubs 'at will'
NSA director hints at scaling back some surveillance of foreign leaders | World news | The Guardian - Keith Alexander defends agency for second day and denies report that it has access to Google and Yahoo user information (more lies from the big fat liar)
Spain colluded in NSA spying on its citizens, Spanish newspaper reports | World news | theguardian.com - El Mundo says it has document detailing collaboration between US intelligence agency and foreign countries
NSA surveillance revelations hobble AT&T's attempts at a European expansion | The Verge - . "The public and the regulators have become much more attentive now that we know, and also in part suspect, how far the surveillance goes."
John Kerry Admits NSA Spying Went 'Too Far' - The US Secretary of State says the NSA sometimes operated on "automatic pilot", rather than under full control of the government.
The Daily Dot - NSA: We never spied on the Pope

NSA sketches explain user data: can you do better? | World news | theguardian.com

The Daily Dot - Parody T-shirt creator files First Amendment lawsuit against NSA

Congress Must Not Fast Track TPP to Ratification | Electronic Frontier Foundation - Trans-Pacific Partnership (Obama's supersecret trade agreement)

US budget deficit down to $680B, lowest in 5 years (but Republicans ...)

CHART: 'Winners And Losers From Obamacare'
Obamacare Website Is Full of Security Holes and the Government Knows It - the more security experts look at the program’s website, HealthCare.gov, the more issues they find
Obamacare is a mess, and liberals need to fix it - Salon.com - As policy and P.R., the ACA is in trouble. Democrats need to acknowledge that, and make it work for everyone

Federal court blocks ruling that would have ended stop-and-frisk | The Verge - A federal court has blocked an August ruling that named the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practices as unconstitutional, and removed the presiding judge from the case amid accusations of biased conduct. (they fixed that problem quickly)

Obama And Post-Partisanship - The End Of Obamaism - Esquire - It has not been the best couple of weeks for Barack Obama, now in his second lap around the track as the president of these United States ... Whatever Obamaism really is, it has run its course. The fight now is over what comes next.

Agenda 21 And The Alamo - Taking The Alamo - Esquire - I've said it before. This isn't an ideology. It's a form of animism, with conjuring words and magical symbols. (One of the latter is not, but ought to be, a big old bag of hammers.) Sooner or later, they're going to get around to cutting up goats in the town square. (good point, it's all based in magical thinking and incantations and blood sacrifices)

Banks, Led By Citi, Lobby House (Successfully) To Limit Dodd-Frank On Derivatives - Forbes
Millions on food stamps facing benefits cuts - CBS News

Twitter / kavithadavidson: Now leading HuffPost World ... Rock Boy
What the Fk Is Up in Toronto? - Esquire - Toronto's police chief, Bill Blair, just held a press conference in which he declared that the police have obtained a video of the mayor smoking crack. You could put that video in movie theaters, charge three hundred bucks a ticket, and build a new subway line with the proceeds ... The fact that this has all happened on Halloween only highlights that the Ford story has resembled a badly written cable show throughout its course
Rob Ford Crack - Checking In With Mayor Rob - Esquire - Note to all politicians, living and dead, or some combination of both -- the camera is always on, and the video is always recoverable.

Can you see/ sense insiders outside of you? in Coping Skills & Support Forum

Malaria cases in the US reach a 40-year high, new data shows | The Verge - That figure is still relatively small, at 1,925 reported cases, but it's the highest number of malaria cases in any given year since 1971. And of those cases, five were fatal.
'I'm showing my son mercy' | MSNBC

The devil you know: inside the world of a psychopathic scientist | The Verge

Best Sellers - The New York Times - Mass Paperbacks
Jonathan Safran Foer Lists Park Slope Mansion for $14.5M - Celebrity Real Estate - Curbed NY


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Everything You Should Know About the Pope - Esquire - Here's why, from the new, all-Pope special issue of Esquire Weekly.
A Game of Shark and Minnow - Who Will Win Control of the South China Sea? - NYTimes.com
Phone-hacking jury warned of prejudice risk in trial of Brooks and Coulson | UK news | The Guardian - British justice also on trial, says judge as he tells jurors to ignore comments they may come across in all media

Americans Still Can't Decide Whether Edward Snowden Is A 'Traitor' Or A 'Hero,' Poll Finds - Fifty-one percent of Americans said the NSA leaker was “something of a hero who should be commended for letting the public know that our governments are running electronic surveillance programs that threaten people’s privacy," while 49 percent labeled him “more of a traitor who should be condemned for publicizing security activities and threatening western intelligence operations."

NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say - The Washington Post - By Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani
Eschaton: What's It All About Then - We hoover up everything, and then? - What did the man in charge say? Let's rewind ... "We don't have a domestic spying program," Obama said, describing the NSA efforts as "mechanisms that can track a phone number or an e-mail address that is connected to a terrorist attack ... That information is useful." (that's pretty much the definition of a lie)

James Clapper: Spying On Leaders Not Significant Enough To Tell Congress - It is "unrealistic" for the White House to know about reported United States eavesdropping on foreign leaders, and perfectly reasonable for intelligence officials to have neglected to tell Congress, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper argued Tuesday.
Obama insists he didn't know about US spying on key allies | World news | theguardian.com - President says he merely gave intelligence community 'policy direction' but critics say White House must have been aware (Obama's credibility chasm gets even bigger) ... Obama insists he didn't know he was US president.
The Observer Effect: How Courts Affect National Security Decisions – Air Force General Counsel Blog - courts have much more influence on executive actions in national security matters than most observers understand:
Spain colluded in NSA spying on its citizens, Spanish newspaper reports | World news | theguardian.com - El Mundo says it has obtained document detailing collaboration between US intelligence agency and foreign countries
GlennGreenwald's profile | The Guardian

Baseline Predictions for the next Sixty Odd Years | Ian Welsh - Today I read this article on how the Ocean is dead: how the fish and birds are gone from huge swathes of it. You should read it.

A brief note on why the progressive blog movement failed | Ian Welsh (pragmatism over principle +the stars come out in the comments + “Of course you can vote for the lesser of two evils. You get less evil.” (Noam Chomsky, 2008.))
Matt Stoller: Obama's Consolidation of the Party - Now here's the part that's unclear. Obama has successfully remade the Democratic Party already, and shown that old partisan Washington politics is over if you are a Democrat. Can he do that with Republicans? By stripping power, money and responsibility from outside groups and opponents, Obama is increasing his control of the party apparatus. (2008 pre-election; Obama already dumping grassroot and revealing his corporate true nature)
The Progressive Movement is a PR Front for Rich Democrats » CounterPunch: Paid to Lose
Thinking of Jackasses - Marc Cooper - The Atlantic - The grand delusions of the Democratic Party (2005, Lakoff takedown)
Peter Camejo. The Avocado Declaration - n 2004. It details how a prime function of the Democratic Party is to siphon real protest into itself, where it then renders it inert. 2004. It details how a prime function of the Democratic Party is to siphon real protest into itself, where it then renders it inert.
Late Night: This Wasn’t Just Our Failure | Firedoglake
New Left Review - Gopal Balakrishnan: Speculations on the Stationary State - What is the historical significance of the implosion of neo-liberalism, coming less than twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union?
“The POLITICO Culture” - Salon.com

What Obama Really Meant When He Said 'If You Like Your Plan, You Can Keep It'

Sam Youngman: Mitch McConnell's attack on Matt Bevin signifies larger battle plan | Politics and Government | Kentucky.com - What's different in the 2014 election cycle than last year or even 2010, is that McConnell's NRSC has sought to unify Senate Republicans and take the fight to the fundraising groups instead of trying to appease them.
Eschaton: Grifters vs. Grifters - Aside from a slightly increased willingness by the non-teabaggers to do things like "find way to avoid shutting down government," the whole "Republican civil war" thing just seems to be one tribe of grifters doing battle with another tribe. It isn't about policy, it's about which team gets to run the show and collect all the moneys.

Virginia Polls Show Terry McAuliffe Leading Ken Cucinelli By Either A Little Or A Lot
Joe. My. God.: EW Jackson: God Made The Tea Party - God ignored Virginia lieutenant governor candidate EW Jackson AND his church when they fasted against the election of President Obama. But Sky Daddy snapped to attention after he realized what he'd done and immediately created the Tea Party.

alicublog: THIS HERE'S A ZOO AND THE KEEPER AIN'T YOU/AND I'M SICK OF IT, I'M SICK OF YOU. - The Wall Street Journal is really pissed Bill di Blasio is cruising into the New York mayoralty (they need their authoritarian Republican daddy-figures)

How a Blogger Made Expanding Social Security a Respectable Idea - Thanks to decades of stagnant wages and the Great Recession, more than half of American working-class households are at risk of being unable to sustain their standard of living past retirement. Duncan Black is trying to change that.

Dick Cheney, one-man zombie apocalypse | Ana Marie Cox | Comment is free | theguardian.com - The former VP has returned from the shadows – weirdly, to court the Tea Party for daughter Liz's Senate run. Happy Halloween!

Ray Kelly Heckled Off Stage At Brown University By Protesters (video)
The View Mainstreams Serial Misinformer Betsy McCaughey As A "Health Care Policy Expert" | Blog | Media Matters for America (expert liar mainstreamed by teh View)

I don’t stand with Russell Brand, and neither should you - Salon.com - I love much of what the boisterous comedian says, but this Great Man narrative lets sexism slide and has to go (counter-reaction to Brand's media criticism)
Misanthropic Feminism? | Dissident Voice - Prior to his articulate skewering of capitalism in a recent BBC interview, I knew little of Brand other than he was an actor and ex-husband of Katy Perry. (reaction to counter-reaction)

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Anonymous to Assad: We are inside your databases | GlobalPost
David Smith Dies: Jimmy Savile Driver Facing Sex Charges Found Dead

Why Did America Kill My Mother? Pakistani Drone Victim Comes To Congress For Answer - "All of a sudden things became very dark," Zubair Rehman, 13, remembered. The next thing he knew, his grandmother, Mamana Bibi, was gone. "It was like she was exploded to pieces." (Obama loves blowing up grandmothers)
US drone strike in Somalia kills top al-Shabaab explosives expert | World news | theguardian.com - Killing a further sign of intensifying US campaign against al-Shabaab after attack on Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi

The Daily Dot - Edward Snowden's legal defense fund finally has a website

Glenn Greenwald: U.S. Spying on Allies Shows "Institutional Obsession" with Surveillance | Democracy Now! - And what the Dianne Feinsteins and the John Boehners of the world are doing right this very minute is they know that the public is outraged by these revelations, that they need to be placated symbolically ... So, for the top national security official in the United States to go to the Senate and lie to their faces and deny that the NSA is doing exactly that which our reporting proved that the NSA was in fact doing is plainly a crime, and of course he should be prosecuted, and would be prosecuted if we lived under anything resembling the rule of law, where everybody is held and treated equally under the law, regardless of position or prestige.

The Daily Dot - NSA officials claim Obama knew allied leaders were monitored (of course he knew, and lied about it)
White House OKd spying on allies, U.S. intelligence officials say - latimes.com - NSA and other U.S. intelligence agency staff members are said to be angry at President Obama for denying knowledge of the spying.
Obama May Ban Spying on Heads of Allied States - NYTimes.com (or maybe not)
White House offers tentative support for plans to rein in NSA surveillance | World news | theguardian.com

Exclusive: Obama orders curbs on NSA spying on U.N. headquarters | Reuters - "The United States is not conducting electronic surveillance targeting the United Nations headquarters in New York," (Oliar stopped yesterday, because they might not all be terrorists)

NSA files – US intelligence officials testify in Congress – live coverage | World news | theguardian.com - James Clapper and Keith Alexander to be questioned (and will lie) • James Sensenbrenner introduces USA Freedom Act
NSA: Dianne Feinstein breaks ranks to oppose US spying on allies | World news | The Guardian - Senate intelligence committee chair Dianne Feinstein, who has been a loyal defender of the NSA, demands a 'total' surveillance review (now that her "oversight" has been a complete failure)
One Day after Rolling Out “Comprehensive Review,” Feinstein Proceeds with Mark-Up Anyway | emptywheel - Yesterday, Dianne Feinstein announced, “a total review of all intelligence programs … so that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are fully informed as to what is actually being carried out by the intelligence community.” Today, her committee will nevertheless conduct a mark-up of her bill to not fix the spying targeted at Americans.

Congressional duo launch NSA overhaul bill and urge 'meaningful reform' | World news | theguardian.com - Patrick Leahy and Jim Sensenbrenner introduce USA Freedom Act to curtail spying and 'restore confidence in our intelligence'
The Daily Dot - Congress introduces USA Freedom Act to limit NSA's domestic phone spying
U.S. Spy Chiefs Face Congress Amid Spying Rift With Europe
NSA chief calls reports about spying in France, Spain and Italy 'completely false' — RT USA
Intelligence officials defend surveillance tactics in Congressional hearing - live | World news | theguardian.com - Clapper: intelligence leaks 'extremely damaging' • Alexander: 'program is audited 100%' (more lies)
NSA spying on Europe gives the US more intelligence, but not better | Peter Galbraith | Comment is free | theguardian.com - European leaders' outrage is synthetic; we're all in this game. But the NSA's data collection power is not necessarily an advantage
White House offers tentative support for plans to rein in NSA surveillance | World news | theguardian.com - Administration says NSA leaks have already prompted changes in intelligence-gathering, including check on UN monitoring

Dana Milbank: What did President Obama know and when did he know it? - The Washington Post - For a smart man, President Obama professes to know very little about a great number of things going on in his administration.
White House OKd spying on allies, U.S. intelligence officials say - latimes.com - NSA and other U.S. intelligence agency staff members are said to be angry at President Obama for denying knowledge of the spying.
Bret Stephens: The Unbearable Lightness of Obama - WSJ.com - The president didn't know the NSA was spying on world leaders, but he's found time for at least 146 rounds of golf.

NSA CSLI Gottsman Response_SealedFINAL | Electronic Frontier Foundation (perjury by NSA)

Political Fail Blog | Anarchism: What It Really Stands For – Anarchy

Russia denies spying on G20 leaders at St Petersburg summit | World news | theguardian.com - President Putin's spokesman says allegations are aimed at diverting attention away from controversy over NSA surveillance

Man buys $27 of bitcoin, forgets about them, finds they're now worth $886k | Technology | theguardian.com

Elizabeth Warren Destroys Financial Crisis Myth - The study Warren was referring to refuted a common conservative argument blaming the Carter-era Community Reinvestment Act for forcing Fannie and Freddie to buy shoddy mortgages in poor neighborhoods. "It was the federal government that pushed the subprime loans … that pushed the Community Reinvestment Act," said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)

Obama Administration Refutes NBC News' Obamacare Report - Several White House officials are speaking out against an NBC News report that said up to 75 percent of Americans who currently buy private health insurance will lose their plans under Obamacare.
Here Is What’s Wrong With That Story About Obama Knowing That Your Health Care Policy Would Get Cancelled | ThinkProgress

Who Will Be Lucky Number 10,000 - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money - Using CDC estimates, the actual number of gun deaths in the US since the Newtown killings is around 28,700. (half a Vietnam every year and la-di-la)

The Myth of the Hardhat Hawk | Jacobin - In the popular imagination, opposition to the Vietnam War was driven largely by the privileged, while supposedly reactionary blue-collar workers supported the war effort. That memory is wrong.

Cheney Insists Iraq War Was Worth It Because Of WMD | ThinkProgress (that could have, you know, potentially, eventually, have been there)

2013 American Values Survey: In Search of Libertarians in America - , less than 1-in-10 (7%) Americans are consistent libertarians, and an additional 15% lean libertarian. At the other end of the spectrum, an equal number of Americans are consistent communalists (7%), and an additional 17% lean communalist. A majority (54%) of Americans have a mixed ideological profile, falling in between libertarian and communalist orientations.

Concern troll is very concerned so maybe you should be too | The Raw Story - Rand Paul fanboy and holder of the Megan McArdle Memorial ‘Seemingly Reasonable If You Aren’t Hung Up On Facts’ Chair at The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf is having trouble sleeping at night because he is way stressed out about Dronebama’s legacy and whether it will drone kill the shit out of Hillary Clinton’s chances to be the first woman second Clinton to be elected President.

New York Times offers a glimpse at the homepage of the future » Nieman Journalism Lab - A new nytimes.com is in the works, and the company is previewing a prototype homepage, section front, and new article page.
This Week in Review: Demystifying coding for news, and the AP’s firings under fire » Nieman Journalism Lab
Bumping into the news: New Pew data shows Facebook users find news there, but don’t seek it out » Nieman Journalism Lab
Four takeaways from new owner John Henry’s message to readers of The Boston Globe » Nieman Journalism Lab
On the NSA, the media may tilt right : Columbia Journalism Review - An inquiry finds a pro-surveillance bias in the language (they might bias themselves out of business)
New York Post Will Go To Trial Over Harassment, Wrongful Firing Lawsuit - In a setback for the New York Post, a district judge on Tuesday dismissed an effort to dispatch a lawsuit from a former employee alleging that she was harassed while at the paper and unlawfully fired.

Adbusted | Jacobin

? The Most IMPORTANT Video You'll Ever See - full lecture - AlBartlett.org - YouTube (most people can't understand the exponential function)
Moderate exercise not only treats, but prevents depression | University of Toronto Media Room

Cop tasers handcuffed girl and now she is braindead! - YouTube - This video showing cop tasering handcuffed girl helped clear 267-pound Trooper Daniel Cole of wrongdoing and have released this disturbing dash cam video that captured him tasing a 100 pound, 20 year old handcuffed girl in the back as she fled.

Maine hermit could go free after court hearing | World news | theguardian.com - Christopher Knight, known as the North Pond Hermit, pleaded guilty Monday to 13 counts of burglary and theft and was admitted into a special court program that will allow him to be released from jail and live and work in the community under the supervision of court officials.
There Were 300 OIl Spills in North Dakota, and Nobody Told North Dakotans About Any of Them | Motherboard

A Bear Is Running Through L.A. Right Now Pursued by the LAPD - Like the LAPD would have chased a white bear . . .

Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay? | Internet & Media - CNET News - It looks like Google has been working on an oversize secret project on San Francisco's Treasure Island. A water-based data center? Could well be.
Forget About Google: MPAA Reveals Places to Score Illicit Torrents | Threat Level | Wired.com

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Jeep crash in China's Tiananmen Square leaves five dead | World news | theguardian.com - Tourists and police among dozens injured as vehicle hits crowd and bursts into flames outside Forbidden City in Beijing - Two reporters from Agence France Presse were detained on the scene "with images deleted from their digital equipment", the newswire reported. A BBC team was also briefly detained, according to a tweet by one of the corporation's reporters.
Iraq bombings kill dozens in Baghdad, Mosul and Tarmiya | World news | theguardian.com - Coordinated attacks claim at least 60 lives, taking the number of people killed across the country since April to more than 5,000
Patna bombings: outlawed Islamist group blamed for fatal blasts | World news | theguardian.com - Suspect told police that Indian Mujahideen told him to carry out bombings that killed seven and wounded 83
Stormageddon: Hurricane-Force Winds Batter Britain (VIDEO/PHOTOS) - Weather forecasters say it is one of the worst storms to hit Britain in years.
The Daily Dot - In El Salvador, 'The Engineer' excavates the remnants of gang violence - MS-13 and the 18th Street gang, two rival criminal organizations that originated in the United States, terrorize the population, leaving the bodies of their victims not only in the streets but hidden throughout the countryside.
Amazon Rainforest is ‘at Higher Risk of Tree Loss’ | Climate Central

News Corp Could Lose $1.6 Billion From Phone Hacking Scandal: Top Exec (but no jail time for Satan)
Phone Hacking Trial Of Rebekah Brooks And Andy Coulson Begins

Family of grandmother killed in US drone strike arrive for Congress visit | World news | theguardian.com - Rafiq ur Rehman discusses his family's journey from Pakistan to Washington DC, where they will seek answers on Capitol Hill
'Wounds of Waziristan': The Story of Drones As Told By the People Who Live Under Them | Motherboard

Syrian Electronic Army takes credit for attack on Obama's Twitter account | Technology | theguardian.com - "Obama doesn't have any ethical issues with spying on the world, so we took it upon ourselves to return the favor," the statement said.

US surveillance may need 'additional constraints', says White House - video | World news | theguardian.com ("numerous terrorist attacks twarted")
Dianne Feinstein: 'I am totally opposed' to NSA surveillance of US allies | World news | The Guardian - Senate intelligence committee chair, who has been a loyal defender of the NSA, demands a 'total' surveillance review - added that both Barack Obama and members of her committee, which is supposed to received classified briefings, had been kept in the dark about operations to target foreign leaders. (so who is the boss? +DiFi flipflops after Snowden made her look like a fool)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein Slams NSA Spying - The senior administration official said Feinstein's statement that the White House is moving to stop spying on U.S. allies "is not accurate." (so there you go)
'We're Really Screwed Now': NSA's Best Friend Just Shivved The Spies | The Cable - "bottom line question is where was the Senate Intelligence Committee when it came to their oversight of these programs? And what were they being told by the NSA, because if they didn't know about this surveillance, that would imply they were being lied to." (you could say that)
NSA review panel to present Obama with dossier on surveillance reforms | World news | The Guardian - Classified document will also detail consequences of domestic and foreign spying revelations as anger mounts abroad

John Brennan and Obama's Transparency Test : The New Yorker : Jane Mayer - It’s hard to see how the Obama Administration can square its talk of transparency with any further cover-up of this ostensibly mammoth, comprehensive, and devastating report on the brutal interrogation and detention practices during those years. (because war crimes and "turning the page" as he likes to say)

NSA surveillance: Merkel's phone may have been monitored 'for over 10 years' | World news | The Observer - As German officials prepare to travel to the US, Der Spiegel cites a previously secret NSA document
Spain summons US ambassador over claim NSA tracked 60m calls a month | World news | theguardian.com - El Mundo newspaper reports having seen NSA document that reveals extent of agency's monitoring of Spanish phone calls
Spain warns US of breakdown in trust after new NSA revelations | World news | theguardian.com - White House struggles to contain diplomatic crisis after claim that NSA harvested 60m Spanish calls
NSA files – '60m Spanish phone calls monitored' as Merkel row continues – live coverage | World news | theguardian.com - Representatives from a Latin American human rights panel have told US diplomats that oversight of America's surveillance programmes is "illusory",
NSA oversight dismissed as 'illusory' as anger intensifies in Europe and beyond | World news | theguardian.com - Condemnation by Latin American panel comes as US fields worsening outrage from Spain and Germany over surveillance
Cover Story: How NSA Spied on Merkel Cell Phone from Berlin Embassy - SPIEGEL ONLINE - According to SPIEGEL research, United States intelligence agencies have not only targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone, but they have also used the American Embassy in Berlin as a listening station. The revelations now pose a serious threat to German-American relations.
Report: White House stopped phone tapping of German Chancellor Merkel - CNN.com (see, they stopped doing something they didn't know about)
Data Suggests Push to Spy on Merkel Dates to ’02 - NYTimes.com

NSA denies discussing Merkel phone surveillance with Obama | World news | The Guardian - Agency says report in German press that president was briefed on monitoring of chancellor's phone is 'not true'
Report: President Obama unaware of spying - Tal Kopan - politico.com
McCain on Spying: What Did Obama Know? - Washington Wire - WSJ - “If the executive did not know, it’s a mistake of both the people doing it not informing their superiors, and their superiors not questioning what was going on,” Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. (stupid, incompetent or ...)

David Cameron: UK Government May 'Act' Against Newspapers Over Snowden Leaks
Is Glenn Greenwald the Future of News? - NYTimes.com - Glenn Greenwald broke what is probably the year’s biggest news story (Bill Keller loses the debate with GG and thinks David Brooks is great)
NATO Chief Says Reports Of NSA Surveillance On Allies 'Not Helpful'
Three degrees of separation: breaking down the NSA's 'hops' surveillance method | World news | theguardian.com
IACHR Hearing on Freedom of Expression and Communications Surveillance by the United States | American Civil Liberties Union - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which is part of the Organization of American States (OAS), held its first-ever hearing on October 28, 2013 on the NSA's mass surveillance and its impact on human rights in the Americas.

New director James Comey wants FBI 'independent of all political forces' | World news | theguardian.com - Barack Obama presides over installation ceremony for former federal prosecutor who stood against Bush-era surveillance (of course, your typical Obama move)

At Least 9,900 People Have Died From Guns In The U.S. Since The Newtown Shooting: Slate (3x 9/11 +all the fake "terror" attacks on America in 10 yrs)
Study: U.S. Hospitals Admit 7,500 Kids A Year With Gunshot Wounds
US Child Gun Deaths Rose 60% in 10 Years - And most came from handguns, finds new study (NRA wants stand your ground for toddlers)

How Sequestration Gets Even Worse Next Year (Obama's brilliant idea to force Republicans to cut Social Security)

Lindsey Graham Threatens To Block Nominations Over Benghazi (drama queen of liberty)
Harry Reid Will Bring ENDA Up For Senate Vote
Here’s how GOP Obamacare hypocrisy backfires - Salon.com - GOP base doesn't understand right wants to turn Medicare, Social Security and more into a very similar program
Republican Party Continues To Struggle One Year After Mitt Romney Loss
Dick Cheney: Military Action In Iran Likely
Marco Rubio: Obama Has Undermined Immigration Reform By Refusing To Defund Obamacare | ThinkProgress
Marco Rubio Backs Away From Own Immigration Bill Becoming Law

Refusing the Medicaid Expansion: Self-Imposed Redistribution from Rich to Poor | Ten Miles Square | The Washington Monthly (stupidity is stupid)

Juan Williams: GOP is deluding itself on spending - The Hill - covering Congress, Politics, Political Campaigns and Capitol Hill | TheHill.com - In Playboy magazine’s current issue, Sen. Bernie Sanders offers an “Emperor Has No Clothes” view of Washington’s current budget talks. "Today one out of four major profitable corporations pays zero in federal income taxes,” said the independent from Vermont.
National Review Online | Print - It is a politics of perpetual intra-Republican denunciation. It focuses its fire on other conservatives as much as on liberals. It takes more satisfaction in a complete loss on supposed principle than in a partial victory, let alone in the mere avoidance of worse outcomes. It has only one tactic — raise the stakes, hope to lower the boom — and treats any prudential disagreement with that tactic as a betrayal.

HHS says Obamacare web problem on Sunday linked to Verizon Terremark - Paige Winfield Cunningham - POLITICO.com - The Obama administration is attributing Sunday outages on HealthCare.gov to technical failures by Verizon Terremark, the company operating the federal data hub. (should have gone with T-Mobile)
Wall Street Journal Enlists Noted Health Policy Expert Suzanne Somers To Critique Obamacare - Business Insider (whut?)

Filibuster Wars To Flare Up As Reid Moves On Top Judges
Incredible: Judge Posner Said He Did Not Recant on Voter ID | Election Law Blog

‘Uncomfortable truth’ in Matthew Shepard’s death | New York Post - Shepard’s tragic and untimely demise may not have been fueled by his sexual orientation, but by drugs. For Shepard had likely agreed to trade methamphetamines for sex. And it killed him.
Andy Lopez, Teen Fatally Shot By Deputy Over Pellet Gun, Draws More Than 1,000 People To Service

Controversial Texas anti-abortion law blocked by federal judge | World news | theguardian.com - Key provision of bill HB2, a requirement for abortion providers to have hospital admit privileges, ruled unconstitutional

These Coders Say They Taught A Computer To Crack CAPTCHA
Why is broadband more expensive in the US? - "We deregulated high-speed internet access 10 years ago and since then we've seen enormous consolidation and monopolies, so left to their own devices, companies that supply internet access will charge high prices, because they face neither competition nor oversight."
Cheapest 150Mbps broadband in big US cities costs 100% more than overseas | Ars Technica - US cellular customers are also paying more and getting less.

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The US should pay its Unesco dues | Nigel Cameron | Comment is free | theguardian.com - The US refuses to pay up because of Palestinian membership in Unesco. It's a horribly misguided approach (Israel always bossing Obama around)

White House under pressure on NSA monitoring of German chancellor | World news | theguardian.com - Administration reported to be distancing itself from agency as press in Germany questions how much Barack Obama knew - The White House was under intense pressure on Sunday to reveal the extent to which President Barack Obama knew about or even authorised US surveillance operations targeting the leaders of allied countries.xs (obviously, he knew nothing, as usual)
Barack Obama 'approved tapping Angela Merkel's phone 3 years ago' - President Barack Obama was told about monitoring of German Chancellor in 2010 and allowed it to continue, says German newspaper (whoops, turns out he knew all along and thought it was peach-keen) The White House declined to comment on the German media reports.
US denies Obama knew of Merkel spying - Yahoo News - But NSA spokeswoman Vanee' Vines, in Washington, flatly denied the claims. (who are you going to believe?)
NSA denies discussing Merkel phone surveillance with Obama | World news | The Guardian - Agency says report in German press that president was briefed on monitoring of chancellor's phone is 'not true' (and you can always believe -them-)

White House official pens op-ed urging 'greater focus' in foreign surveillance | World news | theguardian.com - US inches towards apology for NSA surveillance of foreign allies as anger grows in France and Germany
Twitter / Suanzes: Portada de El Mundo de mañana: ... (Spain is next)
NSA Collected Data On 60 Million Phone Calls In Spain Over Course Of One Month: Report
Fed up with Congress over the NSA or shutdown? 5 tips to get your voice heard | Heather Long | Comment is free | theguardian.com - Take a page out of the Tea Party playbook and don't just get angry, get organised. You can do a lot more than call or tweet
NSA's Gen. Keith Alexander: Stop reporters selling spy documents - politico.com - "I think it’s wrong that that newspaper reporters have all these documents, the 50,000—whatever they have and are selling them and giving them out as if these—you know it just doesn’t make sense" (don't need no steenking First Amendment)
Armed agents seize records of reporter, Washington Times prepares legal action - Washington Times - Maryland state police and federal agents used a search warrant in an unrelated criminal investigation to seize the private reporting files of an award-winning former investigative journalist for The Washington Times who had exposed problems in the Homeland Security Department's Federal Air Marshal Service. (and so Keith's War on Journalism begins)
The Daily Dot - Rep. Justin Amash: Sensenbrenner bill is best chance to limit NSA spying
Mike Rogers Defends NSA Surveillance, Says Public Information Is Misguided ... He suggested that the new revelations were not surprises to European intelligence agencies, but only to the governments for which they work. (just like the US, apparently)
Warrantless surveillance evidence faces court test in 'terrorist' case | World news | theguardian.com - The Justice Department has said it intends to use intercepted emails and telephone calls against Jamshid Muhtorov
NSA 'Stop Watching Us' Protest Draws Thousands In Washington

The Daily Dot - Stop Watching Us rally in D.C. was the biggest anti-NSA event yet
The Vacuum That Created Anonymous, Wikileaks, and the Whistleblower Explosion

Oh Jesus Fucking Christ » Balloon Juice - Think about it, you fucking jackasses at the Wonkblog and you other alleged liberals

After Government Shutdown, Few Discussing Budget Solutions - nfluential Democratic backers go to the mat to protect Social Security and Medicare. Republicans love defense spending, while key GOP groups boast absolute opposition to higher taxes. Voters across the spectrum enjoy public benefits and historically low income tax rates, plus a web of credits, deductions and exemptions. (so cut taxes on rich people and get rid of Social Security)

In Fed and Out, Many Now Think Inflation Helps - NYTimes.com (convential wisdom crumbling)

Public support for GOP continues to collapse | MSNBC - . By a nearly four-to-one margin, Americans believe GOP lawmakers in Congress aren’t concerned with the nation’s best interests. That’s just astounding. (keep it up, dumbfucklicans)
Reagan’s Southern strategy gave rise to the Tea Party - Salon.com - By leveraging race and religion — especially in the South — he set an example for today's bitter politics (he's rotting in hell)

West Virginians, alienated by Washington, angrily reject their Democratic roots | The Washington Post - By some measures, West Virginia relies more on federal money than any other state. (voted for Republicans that destroyed their state with coal mines; hate Obama but all on welfare)
Daily Kos: Pennsylvania welfare secretary 'rethinking' test that blocked 111,000 from food stamps - During the first year of the asset test, 4,000 households lost or were denied benefits because they had too many financial resources, according to DPW figures. But during that same time, 111,000 households were denied benefits because they failed to provide proper documentation for the test. (which was the whole point)

The Daily Dot - Ex-racists tell stories of hate and redemption on Reddit

Senator Jeff Sessions Threatens NEH Budget over Islam & Humanities | New Republic - Senator Outraged that National Endowment for the Humanities Funds Study of Humanities Also, it studies Islam (Jefferson Beauregard)

Op-ed of the day: Tim Kreider in the New York Times, “Slaves of the Internet, Unite!” by Kathleen Geier | Political Animal | The Washington Monthly
Slaves of the Internet, Unite! - NYTimes.com
The boss, not the workload, causes workplace depression | ScienceNordic - It is not a big workload that causes depression at work. An unfair boss and an unfair work environment are what really bring employees down, new study shows.

The New Republic: “Maryville, Missouri is a lawless hellhole.” Agreed!

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Associated Press - Iran hanged 16 "rebels" of an unspecified armed group on Saturday in retaliation for the death of 14 border guards in clashes near the frontier with Pakistan, a semiofficial news agency reported.
The Daily Dot - 'No Woman, No Drive' lampoons Saudi culture with perfect harmony
The Daily Dot - This scathing satire of India's rape culture is going viral

US defends drone strikes as 'necessary and just' in face of UN criticism | World news | theguardian.com - Brazil, China and Venezuela sharply critical of 'illegal' program but US says it has taken steps to introduce new guidelines ("taken steps")
Will Domestic Drone Privacy Bills Fall Short Because of ALEC, Defense Industry Influence?

Spying on Allies Fits President Obama's Standoffish Profile - ABC News (we would say "strangely detached and uninformed")

U.S. Spying On Angela Merkel's Phone May Date Back To 2002: Report - President Barack Obama told the German leader he would have stopped it happening had he known about it. (and he made sure he didn't know anything)
NSA surveillance: more revelations as EU leaders meet in Brussels | World news | theguardian.com - As European leaders met in Brussels on Friday, fresh revelations about NSA snooping continued to emerge, with an Italian magazine focusing attention on the allegedly vast scale of US and British surveillance of telephone and email communications in Italy.
NSA: Brazil and Germany lead calls for UN resolution on internet privacy | World news | theguardian.com - Diplomats from the two countries are heading efforts by coalition of nations to draft resolution in wake of Edward Snowden leaks (world not happy with Oblunder)
Fmr. CIA Agent: It's easy to bug phones
Americans Think Tracking Merkel's Phone Is Unacceptable, But Tracking Other Leaders Might Be OK - According to the new poll, 49 percent of Americans think it's unacceptable for the U.S. to track Merkel's phone calls, while only 25 percent said it's acceptable. (and 26% say "what?")

The “Voluntary” Cooperation that Comes from Coercion of Licensing Agreements? | emptywheel - The Guardian today describes how hard GCHQ worked to prevent its intercepts from being discoverable in trials. It did so for two reasons: to prevent a political firestorm about the extent of the collection ... And to protect the telecoms

Massive Spying Program Exposed - Electronic Frontier Foundation - every single call made by a Verizon customer, regardless of whether they've ever been suspected of a crime.

Head of NSA blasts reporters for 'selling' leaked documents | The Verge - Keith "Fucking Liar" Alexander (about their own criminality: "you can stick your First Amendment where the sun doesn't shine")
NSA Blames ‘Internal Error,’ Not Hackers, For Website Crash - ABC News (they certainly have enough of those)
An exclusive club: The five countries that don't spy on each other | PBS NewsHour (they really believe that)

Internet Anonymizer Tor to Get Anti-Surveillance Tweaks | MIT Technology Review - Fixes are planned for Internet anonymity tool Tor after researchers showed that national intelligence agencies could plausibly unmask users.

Terrorism Case Could Prompt High Court Test Of Surveillance Law - The Justice Department says for the first time that it intends to use information gained from one of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance programs against an accused terrorist, setting the stage for a likely Supreme Court test of the Obama administration's approach to national security.

'Spy Rocks' Could Be the Milita