No Agenda Episode 592 - "Taser Taser Taser!"

No Agenda
  Feed
  Donate
  News Network
  Store
  Adam Curry
  John C Dvorak
No Agenda Episode 592 - "Taser Taser Taser!"
  No Agenda Episode 592 - "Taser Taser Taser!"
    Taser Taser Taser!
    Direct [link] to the mp3 file
    ShowNotes Archive of links and Assets (clips etc) 592.noagendanotes.com
    Sign Up for the newsletter
    New: Directory Archive of Shownotes (includes all audio and video assets used) nashownotes.com
    The No Agenda News Network- noagendanewsnetwork.com
    RSS Podcast Feed
    Get the No Agenda News App for your iPhone and iPad
    Torrents of each episode via BitLove
    New! BitTorrent Sync the No Agenda Show
  Cover Art
    Art By:MartinJJ
    See All The Art in the Generator
  Credits
    Taser Taser Taser!
    Special Executive Producers: Sir David Foley Arch Duke of Silicon Valley, Sir Hank, The Kraut Brothers
    Executive Producers: Sir Grant Cynor, Diego Oriato, Aaron Baer, Tim Wicinski, Blue Jules
    Associate Executive Producers: Sir Mark Baron of Tokyo
    592 Club Members:Sir Grant Cynor, Diego Oriato
    Become a member of the 593 Club, support the show here
    Knighthoods: The Kraut Brothers, Grant Cynor
    Art By: MartinJJ
    ShowNotes Archive of links and Assets (clips etc) 592.noagendanotes.com
    Sign Up for the newsletter
    New: Directory Archive of Shownotes (includes all audio and video assets used) nashownotes.com
    The No Agenda News Network- noagendanewsnetwork.com
    RSS Podcast Feed
    Get the No Agenda News App for your iPhone and iPad
    Get the NoAgendaDroid app for your Android Phone
    Torrents of each episode via BitLove
    New! BitTorrent Sync the No Agenda Show
  Shownotes
    Search
      Ace of Spades
        Chinese Year of the Horse
        Horse=Heroin!
    PR
      reporterswithoutboredom.com
        ITM Adam!
        I had a free domain credit so, seeing as it suits exactly what you and John
        do, it's all yours!
        Cheers,
        Paul the InfoSec Guy
    TODAY
      Valentine's Day
        War on Men
        Flowers debacle
        Chocoloate
        Heart looked like an ass
        Play, heart attack
        In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play
        By Sarah Ruhl
        In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play | ZACH Theatre
          Link to Article
          Archived Version
          Sat, 15 Feb 2014 22:34
          January 29, 2014-February 23, 2014
          Please arrive early for parking.
          By SARAH RUHLDirected by SARAH RASMUSSEN
          Champagne Opening Night: Thursday, February 6
          Show Info"A wickedly humorous, brain-teasingly intelligent production!"- Chicago Theatre Beat
          A stimulating, funny and provocative new Broadway hit set in a prim upper class Victorian home, where a gentleman doctor has invented an extraordinary and mysterious device for treating ''hysteria.'' His wife overhears mystifying sounds emanating in the next room and sees patients leaving in blissful health. This smart comedy ponders marriage and intimacy, and what it truly means to find connection. Contains brief male nudity.
          Austin premiere: Intimacy and human connections explored in Tony Award-nominated 'In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play'by Claire Canavan, Austin American-StatesmanFebruary 2, 2014
          Imagine pressing an ear to the wall of your spouse's home office and hearing some highly unusual '-- possibly scandalous '-- sounds. That mystery is precisely what plagues Catherine Givings, a Victorian wife whose story is at the heart of Sarah Ruhl's play ''In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play,'' which opened last week and runs through Feb. 23 at Zach Theatre under the direction of Sarah Rasmussen. (Read more.)
          Zach Theatre is Buzzing With In The Next Room, (Or The Vibrator Play).by Cristopher Stanford, Austin Entertainment WeeklyFebruary 7, 2014
          In The Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)the room next door. Zach Theatre now playing in the intimate Topfer Theatre at ZACH '...'..... is without question phenomenal!! ZACH left no holds barred in the production of this play. The writing, direction, acting, set design, and wardrobe all came together to create a surprising experience for the audience. I honestly felt as if I had stepped back and caught a glimpse of a true to life, yet hilarious juncture in the time of the dawning of electricity. (Read more.)
          Executive Producers:KATHLEEN AND HARVEY GUION
          Make it Dinner and a Show: Click here for Dining Discounts.
          Download the Audience Guide here.
          Z-Lounge: Come early! Stay late! Click here for info on pre- and post-show entertainment in the Topfer Lounge.
          Please Note: Ticket price is not refundable. Late-comers are seated at the discretion of the House Manager. Unclaimed seats at curtain time are subject to release to patrons on standby.
          Cast/CrewCompanyElizabethMichelle AlexanderMrs. Catherine GivingsJill BlackwoodMrs. Sabrina DaldryAmy DowningMr. DaldryMichael FerstenfeldDr. GivingsCraig MungavinMr. Leo IrvingMatthew ReddenAnnieIrene WhiteCrewDirected bySarah RasmussenAssistant DirectorNatalie NovacekScenic & Costume DesignerMoria ClintonCostume AssistantMercedes O'BannionLighting DesignerMichelle HabeckSound DesignerSean HealyProperties DesignerScott GrohStage ManagerBryan BradfordAssistant Stage ManagerSarah ChapmanStage Management InterMegan Barrett
      Again, we make it look too easy! NYTimes article on the rich
      Couples Dinner
        Ex Deutsche banker suicide William Broeksmit
        Couples Dinner-Ex-Deutsche Bank manager found dead in apparent suicide | Reuters
          Link to Article
          Archived Version
          Sun, 16 Feb 2014 06:26
          By Belinda Goldsmith and Thomas Atkins
          LONDON/FRANKFURTTue Jan 28, 2014 12:54pm GMT
          Anshu Jain, Co-chief Executive of Deutsche Bank adjusts his headphones during a shareholders meeting in Frankfurt, in this May 23, 2013 file picture. London police said on January 28, 2014 they had found the body of a man hanging in a house in central London, after Deutsche bank had announced the death of its former executive William Broeksmit.
          Credit: Reuters/Ralph Orlowski/files
          LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - William Broeksmit, a former senior manager at Deutsche Bank with close ties to co-Chief Executive Anshu Jain, has been found dead at his home in London in what appears to have been a suicide.
          Jain and the bank's other co-CEO Juergen Fitschen announced Broeksmit's death in an internal mail to Deutsche Bank employees.
          When asked about the death, London's Metropolitan Police issued a statement saying a 58-year-old man had been found hanging at a house in South Kensington on Sunday afternoon and been pronounced dead at the scene. Police declared the death non-suspicious.
          Broeksmit, a U.S. national, was an instrumental founder of Deutsche's investment bank and one many bankers, including Jain, who joined Germany's flagship lender from Merrill Lynch in the 1990s, when Deutsche launched plans to compete on Wall Street.
          Broeksmit was also a principal actor in Deutsche's efforts to unwind its riskier positions and to reduce the size of its balance sheet in the wake of the global financial crisis.
          His death comes at an uncomfortable juncture for Jain and Fitschen, whose reign has been dogged by poor results and legal troubles since they took over from Josef Ackermann in 2012.
          "He was a dear friend and colleague to many of us who benefitted from his intellect and wisdom," Jain and Fitschen said in the internal email on Broeksmit, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment.
          The two CEOs are expected to defend their reform record at the bank's annual news conference on Wednesday. Last week, they revealed that litigation and restructuring costs had pushed Deutsche to a surprise loss in the fourth quarter of 2013.
          CLOSEST ALLY
          Broeksmit, who worked as head of risk and capital optimisation, was viewed as one of Jain's closest allies and a key player in the bank's attempts to recover following the financial crisis.
          Jain sought to have Broeksmit join the management board as head of risk management in 2012. But in a major setback for both men, German regulator Bafin blocked the appointment, saying Broeksmit lacked experience leading large teams.
          Bafin was not immediately available for comment. The Bundesbank, which also oversees Deutsche, declined to comment.
          Broeksmit worked alongside Jain at Merrill Lynch before joining Deutsche in 1996 as part of group of roughly 100 bankers who, alongside Edson Mitchell, formed the core of Deutsche's new investment banking business.
          Mitchell, one the bank's most powerful executives, died in a plane crash in 2000.
          Broeksmit left Deutsche in 2001 but rejoined in 2008 as Deutsche and other investment banks struggled during the financial crisis. He filled senior roles and reported to Colin Fan, head of markets and co-head of corporate banking and securities. Broeksmit retired from Deutsche in February 2013.
          "He was considered by many of his peers to be among the finest minds in the fields of risk and capital management," the internal email said.
          After handing over the reins to Jain and Fitschen in 2012, Ackermann became chairman of Zurich Insurance. But he resigned last year when the Swiss insurer's finance chief Pierre Wauthier killed himself and blamed Ackermann in a suicide note.
          (Reporting by Thomas Atkins and Belinda Goldsmith; Editing by Noah Barkin)
        BOMBSHELL: Dead JPM bankers ''Knew each other and had uncovered something''
          Link to Article
          Archived Version
          Sat, 15 Feb 2014 09:12
          Silver Doctors
          Wednesday we reported that another JP Morgan banker has been found dead, as the latest banker to meet a sudden and untimely demise is Ryan Henry Crane, the Executive Director in JPMorgan's Global Equities Group.
          Today, Steve Quayle's banker source ''V'', who predicted that a wave of banker hits was imminent when the very first bankers began dropping last week, has dropped a bombshell regarding the death of Ryan Henry Crane.
          V states that Crane oversaw all of the trade platforms and worked closely with Gabriel Magee of JPM's London desk (who fell 32 stories off the JPM London roof moments after texting his g/f he would be home shortly), and that the pair had access to the exact same info.
          V concludes Crane & Magee: ''Knew each other and had uncovered something''.
          V's update on the latest JPMorgan banker to turn up dead is below:
          From Steve Quayle's banker source ''V''
          One other thing he was the head at the program trading desk. Meaning he over saw all of the trades and was familiar with all of the software (trade platforms) that these trades were done in. This job works closely with guess what? That's right the London desk and who died last week in London? That's right Gabriel Magee the one who jumped off the 33rd floor. What was his post? Head of IT and trade platforms meaning he had access to info that Ryan Henry Crane would have.
          They knew each other and uncovered something they were about the same age and these hits happen when two big announcements by JPM.1. They are out of commodities, and2. The wholesale selling of their HQ downtown to the Chinese.
          ''V'' The Guerrilla Economist
          Related articles
          Like this:LikeLoading...
        Jim Willie on Bankster Suicides: Bankers Were Taken Out to Prevent FOREX Fraud Whistle-blowing! | SilverDoctors.com
          Link to Article
          Archived Version
          Fri, 14 Feb 2014 20:17
          Yesterday we reported that Steve Quayle's banker source ''V'' has informed him that the recent rash of banker ''suicides'' are part of a hit list that includes dozens of bankers including a supposed high level Citi executive.Today, none other than Jim Willie himself has provided SD readers with an exclusive report on the banker deaths, which has now increased to 5 in the past week with American Title CEO Richard Tulley found dead of ''self-inflicted nail gun wounds''.The Golden Jackass states that the suicided bankers had flipped during prosecution investigations, and were assassinated to prevent insider testimony of bank fraud from reaching the prosecution.Willie, whorecently sat down with The Doc for an exclusive interview revealing the ''Smoking Gun'' proving gold rehypothecation by US officials, emphasizes that we are NOT seeing bad bankers removed, we are witnessing bankers taken out who are on the verge of revealing BIG DATA details.
          Willie's full alert on Wall Street banker suicides is below:
          2014 Silver Maples With Security Mint MarkAs Low As $1.99 Over Spot at SDBullion!
          From Jim Willie, GoldenJackass.com
          The banker hits are being done by the bad guys to keep men from singing after they flipped during prosecution investigation.
          All have been working with police teams and continental cops like Interpol.The STL Fed guy discovered some Bush giant multi-$B fraud and was ready to report it.The STL Fed economist was hit by the Bush gang, before he sang against them.The London bankers had begun to sing to Interpol on Mafia Vatican connections on massive FOREX fraud thefts.It is unclear which is bigger: Vatican links to narco money, or links to FOREX fraud theft, or their control room for Nazis.WE ARE NOT SEEING BAD BANKERS REMOVEDWE ARE SEEING BANKERS REMOVED WHO ARE ON THE VERGE OF REVEALING BIG DATA DETAILS
          1 oz Silver Buffalo As Low As $0.79 Over Spot at SDBullion!
          THE HAT TRICK LETTER PROFITS IN THE CURRENT CRISIS.
          home: Golden Jackass website
          subscribe: Hat Trick Letter
          Jim Willie CB, editor of the ''HAT TRICK LETTER''
          Use the above link to subscribe to the paid research reports, which include coverage of critically important factors at work during the ongoing panicky attempt to sustain an unsustainable system burdened by numerous imbalances aggravated by global village forces. The historically unprecedented ongoing collapse has been created by compromised central bankers and inept economic advisors, whose interference has irreversibly altered and damaged the world financial system, urgently pushed after the removed anchor of money to gold. Analysis features Gold, Crude Oil, USDollar, Treasury bonds, and inter-market dynamics with the US Economy and US Federal Reserve monetary policy.
          From subscribers and readers:
          At least 30 recently on correct forecasts regarding the bailout parade, numerous nationalization deals such as for Fannie Mae and the grand Mortgage Rescue.
          ''Jim Willie is a gift to our age who is the only clear voice sounding the alarm of the extreme financial crisis facing the Western nations. He has unique skills of unbiased analysis with synthesis of information from his valuable sources. Since 2007, he has made over 17 correct forecast calls, each at least a year ahead of time. If you read his work or listen to his interviews, you will see what has been happening, know what to expect, and know what to do.''
          (Charles in New Mexico)
          ''I commend the Jackass for being the most accurate of all newsletter writers. Others called for the big move in Gold right away, but you understand that the enormous fraud in the system needs to play out before free market forces can begin to assert themselves. You seem to have the best sources and insights into the soap opera that is our global financial system. Most importantly, you have advised readers to be patient, stay safe, and avoid mining shares like the plague. Calling the top in the USTreasury Bond (10-yr yield at 1.4% yield) stands out as a recent fine accomplishment. The Jackass understands the markets, understands the fraud, and also has the sources to keep him the most up-to-date on the big geopolitical and financial events and scandals. Few or no other writers have all three of these resources.''
          (Austin in California)
          ''A Paradigm change is occurring for sure. Your reports and analysis are historic documents, allowing future generations to have an accurate account of what and why things went wrong so badly. There is no other written account that strings things along on the timeline, as your writings do. I share them with a handful of incredibly influential people whose decisions are greatly impacted by having the information in the Jackass format. The system is coming apart on such a mega scale that it is difficult to wrap one's head around where all this will end. But then, the universe strives for equilibrium and all will eventually balance out.''
          (The Voice, a European gold trader source)
          Jim Willie CB is a statistical analyst in marketing research and retail forecasting. He holds a PhD in Statistics. His career has stretched over 25 years. He aspires to thrive in the financial editor world, unencumbered by the limitations of economic credentials. Visit his free website to find articles from topflight authors at www.GoldenJackass.com. For personal questions about subscriptions, contact him at JimWillieCB@aol.com
      Unions JCD News Letter
        Union wages are often pegged to the minimum wage and this will help around election time. LOL
      Dog Population
        Beverly Hills Chiuaua
        U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook (2012)
          Link to Article
          Archived Version
          Sat, 15 Feb 2014 23:32
          '‹Did you know?
          In 2011, six-out-of-ten pet owners, or 63.2%, considered their pets to be family members.There are approximately 70 million pet dogs in the U.S. and 74.1 million pet cats.The average veterinary expenditure per household for all pets was $375 in 2011.Among horse-owning households, 53.8% had at least one visit to the veterinarian in 2011, a decrease of 11.9% from 2006.The all-new 2012 edition of the U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook is the largest, most statistically accurate and complete survey of the pet owning public and pet population demographics. Drawn from a national survey of over 50,000 households, the survey results are presented alongside the results from similar surveys dating back to 1987, illustrating long-term trends.
          Use the information provided in the 2012 edition of the U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook in a variety of ways. Among them are:
          Business plan development: Identify business opportunities from underserved or growing markets. Uncover niche markets that might be seeking new products or services.Analyzing market and consumer trends: Determine the characteristics of pet-owning households being served. Uncover spending trends by household income and its affect of spending by species.Strategic planning: Changes to pet populations over time signal necessary changes in business, public policy and governmental regulations. The highly accurate data gathered for the U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook are a perfect source for making informed decisions.'‹You can purchase this report online by clicking on the links below or by calling the AVMA at 1.800.248.2862.
          Visa, MasterCard and American Express are accepted. If purchasing by check, the publication will not be shipped until the AVMA receives your payment.
          *The PDF Download must be purchased by credit card. The link will appear on the confirmation page after purchase for immediate download.
          CLICK BELOW TO ORDER:
        Pet Talk: Pet ownership increases among singles | OregonLive.com
          Link to Article
          Archived Version
          Sat, 15 Feb 2014 23:31
          When an 11-year-long relationship fell apart six months ago, Portland resident Kristin Thiel leaned on one comfort that has always been a constant in her adult life: her cat, Izzy.
          Thiel adopted the cat when she was 22 and living in the Chicago suburbs. Since then, Izzy has accompanied Thiel through many significant events in her life, such as her first job in Minnesota and her eventual move to Oregon.
          ''She has seen so much of me,'' says Thiel, co-owner and senior editor of Indigo Editing & Publications. ''She's kind of like a living time capsule of me.''
          Thiel, now 36, may be single '' but she certainly isn't alone.
          Pet ownership among single people has increased by nearly 17 percent '' from 46.9 percent in 2006 to 54.7 percent in 2011, according to a recent survey by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
          That's compared to only a 1.37 percent increase in pet ownership among families '' from 65.5 percent to 66.4 percent.
          The study also indicates that singles are more likely to think of pets as family members, rather than companions or property.
          The findings came from the AVMA's U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook, a sampling of pet population trends drawn from a national survey of more than 50,000 households.
          ''As people become more and more likely to live in cities, and given the housing crisis over the past four to five years, my worry was that pet ownership would decrease,'' says AVMA president Dr. Douglas Aspros.
          ''Looking at the data, that's not been happening, and that's a good thing. Pet ownership does really good things, not just for pets who need homes, but for people.''
          Pets can offer wonderful companionship, especially to people who live alone, he notes.
          ''It may not be the same thing as having friends or a roommate or spouse,'' Aspros says, ''but it's a lot less complicated, and they still provide a tremendous amount of support.''
          The impact on mental health
          Pets can indeed provide a mental health boon for some single people, but that's not necessarily true for everyone, says Jenna LeJeune, a licensed psychologist at Portland Psychotherapy.
          ''Any relationship, whether it's with a two-legged animal or a four-legged animal, can be the source of incredible growth and connection and help you expand in your life,'' says LeJeune, who specializes in relationships and intimacy issues.
          When a person uses it as an excuse to stay home and avoid the world, however, pet ownership may have the opposite effect. Animal hoarding is an extreme example.
          LeJeune also cautions against adopting a pet as a way to ''fix'' loneliness.
          ''Maybe the animal can be a catalyst for you, but they're not going to do the work for you,'' she says.
          Yet pets can help singles to facilitate social interaction with other humans. At the dog park '' a major social outlet for many owners '' dogs can offer a safe, comfortable topic of conversation.
          That's true for Milwaukie resident Matt Clark, who says the unique markings on his German shorthaired pointer, Rocko, often attract attention.
          A dog whose whole body moves back and forth, or ''waggles,'' when he's happy, Rocko puts people at ease.
          ''It's definitely an ice-breaker when it comes to random people coming up and starting conversation,'' says Clark, 46.
          Clark, a mechanical engineer, also points out that his dog motivates him to get outside and be active when he might otherwise be tempted to flop on the couch after work.
          Portland resident Lee Crabb says his mixed-breed dog, Hogan, has served as a loyal companion, partner, buddy and road dog for the past 11 years. He's also a bit of a wing man.
          ''I've never used him to pick up ladies, but he has definitely aided in his own way,'' Crabb says.
          Hogan also prepared Crabb for the most important role of his life: fatherhood. The experience of caring for a dog for so long helped equip Crabb, 34, with the responsibilities that go along with a four-year-old daughter.
          Lin Hendler, a volunteer attorney with Disability Rights Oregon, credits her 6-year-old Akita-Lab mix named Shackleton with helping her to meet her neighbors. He once ran away after eating something he wasn't supposed to, and her neighbors took care of him until she found him.
          Other neighbors offered to loan her a harness to help her manage the 90-pound dog, a ''big puller,'' during walks.
          At home, Shackleton provides comfort when needed.
          ''If I'm crying, he'll come over and put his head in my lap,'' says Hendler, who also owns a cat named Jimmy.
          Companion animals do play an important role in helping a person recover from emotional pain, LeJeune says.
          ''One of the biggest influences on somebody's ability to cope with any trauma, difficulty or really stressful life event is a strong social support network,'' LeJeune says.
          That support network doesn't have to be limited to humans.
          Thiel has found to be very true.
          Izzy ''really stepped up her game'' during those painful months following the break-up, and the comfort of her cat's presence was invaluable.
          As for Hendler, she would gladly stay at home with her furry companions rather than spend time with someone who doesn't share her passion for pets.
          ''I definitely would pass up a date if I knew they were not interested in dogs or cats,'' she says. ''If they don't like my big, goofy dog, then what's the point?''
          The survey also found that since 2006, there has been:
          -A 16.6 percent increase in pet ownership among single people
          -A 22 percent increase in single female pet owners
          -A 27.7 percent increase in pet ownership among males living alone
          -A 31.1 percent increase in cat ownership by men living alone
          -A 27.5 percent increase in cat ownership among women living alone
          -A by 17.7 percent increase in pet ownership among people who are divorced, widowed or separated
          For more information, visit avma.org.
    In NGO's We Trust
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      The Hypocrisy of Human Rights Watch | North American Congress on Latin America
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 15:49
        Over more than a decade, the rise of the left in Latin American governance has led to remarkable advances in poverty alleviation, regional integration, and a reassertion of sovereignty and independence. The United States has been antagonistic toward the new left governments, and has concurrently pursued a bellicose foreign policy, in many cases blithely dismissive of international law.
        Jose M. Vivanco at Senate hearing in 2004. Photo by Jeremy Bigwood.So why has Human Rights Watch (HRW)'--despite proclaiming itself ''one of the world's leading independent organizations'' on human rights'--so consistently paralleled U.S. positions and policies? This affinity for the U.S. government agenda is not limited to Latin America. In the summer of 2013, for example, when the prospect of a unilateral U.S. missile strike on Syria'--a clear violation of the UN Charter'--loomed large, HRW's executive director Kenneth Roth speculated as to whether a simply ''symbolic'' bombing would be sufficient. ''If Obama decides to strike Syria, will he settle for symbolism or do something that will help protect civilians?'' he asked on Twitter. Executive director of MIT's Center for International Studies John Tirman swiftly denounced the tweet as ''possibly the most ignorant and irresponsible statement ever by a major human-rights advocate.''1
        HRW's accommodation to U.S. policy has also extended to renditions'--the illegal practice of kidnapping and transporting suspects around the planet to be interrogated and often tortured in allied countries. In early 2009, when it was reported that the newly elected Obama administration was leaving this program intact, HRW's then Washington advocacy director Tom Malinowski argued that ''under limited circumstances, there is a legitimate place'' for renditions, and encouraged patience: ''they want to design a system that doesn't result in people being sent to foreign dungeons to be tortured,'' he said, ''but designing that system is going to take some time.''2
        Similar consideration was not extended to de-facto U.S. enemy Venezuela, when, in 2012, HRW's Americas director Jos(C) Miguel Vivanco and global advocacy director Peggy Hicks wrote a letter to President Hugo Chvez arguing that his country was unfit to serve on the UN's Human Rights Council. Councilmembers must uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights, they maintained, but unfortunately, ''Venezuela currently falls far short of acceptable standards.''3 Given HRW's silence regarding U.S. membership in the same council, one wonders precisely what HRW's acceptable standards are.
        One underlying factor for HRW's general conformity with U.S. policy was clarified on July 8, 2013, when Roth took to Twitter to congratulate his colleague Malinowski on his nomination to be Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL). Malinowski was poised to further human rights as a senior-level foreign-policy official for an administration that convenes weekly ''Terror Tuesday'' meetings. In these meetings, Obama and his staffers deliberate the meting out of extrajudicial drone assassinations around the planet, reportedly working from a secret ''kill list'' that has included several U.S. citizens and a 17-year-old girl.4
        Malinowski's entry into government was actually a re-entry. Prior to HRW, he had served as a speechwriter for Secretary of State Madeline Albright and for the White House's National Security Council. He was also once a special assistant to President Bill Clinton'--all of which he proudly listed in his HRW biography. During his Senate confirmation hearing on September 24, Malinowski promised to ''deepen the bipartisan consensus for America's defense of liberty around the world,'' and assured the Foreign Relations Committee that no matter where the U.S. debate on Syria led, ''the mere fact that we are having it marks our nation as exceptional.''5
        That very day, Obama stood before the UN General Assembly and declared, ''some may disagree, but I believe that America is exceptional.'' Assuming that by ''exceptional'' Obama meant exceptionally benevolent, one of those who disagreed was Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, who had opened the proceedings at the same podium by excoriating Obama's ''global network of electronic espionage,'' which she considered a ''disrespect to national sovereignty'' and a ''grave violation of human rights and of civil liberties.'' Rousseff contrasted Washington's rogue behavior with her characterization of Brazil as a country that has ''lived in peace with our neighbors for more than 140 years.'' Brazil and its neighbors, she argued, were ''democratic, pacific and respectful of international law.''6 Rousseff's speech crystallized Latin America's broad opposition to U.S. exceptionalism, and therefore shed light on the left's mutually antagonistic relationship with HRW.
        *
        Malinowski's background is but one example of a larger scenario. HRW's institutional culture is shaped by its leadership's intimate links to various arms of the U.S. government. In her HRW biography, the vice chair of HRW's board of directors, Susan Manilow, describes herself as ''a longtime friend to Bill Clinton,'' and helped manage his campaign finances. (HRW once signed a letter to Clinton advocating the prosecution of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes; HRW made no case for holding Clinton accountable for NATO's civilian-killing bombings despite concluding that they constituted ''violations of international humanitarian law.'')7 Bruce Rabb, also on Human Rights Watch's Board of Directors, advertises in his biography that he ''served as staff assistant to President Richard Nixon'' from 1969-70'--the period in which that administration secretly and illegally carpet bombed Cambodia and Laos.8
        The advisory committee for HRW's Americas Division has even boasted the presence of a former Central Intelligence Agency official, Miguel D­az. According to his State Department biography, D­az served as a CIA analyst and also provided ''oversight of U.S. intelligence activities in Latin America'' for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.9 As of 2012, D­az focused, as he once did for the CIA, on Central America for the State Department's DRL'--the same bureau now to be supervised by Malinowski.
        Other HRW associates have similarly questionable backgrounds: Myles Frechette, currently an advisory committee member for the Americas Division, served as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean from 1990-93, and then became U.S. Ambassador to Colombia from 1994-97. Frechette subsequently worked as the executive director of a ''nonprofit'' group called the North American-Peruvian Business Council, and championed the interests of his funders in front of Congress. His organization received financing from companies such as Newmont Mining, Barrick Gold, Caterpillar, Continental Airlines, J.P. Morgan, ExxonMobil, Patton Boggs, and Texaco.10
        Michael Shifter, who also currently serves on HRW's Americas advisory committee, directed the Latin America and Caribbean program for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a quasi-governmental entity whose former acting president Allen Weinstein told The Washington Post in 1991 that ''a lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.''11 Shifter, as current president of a policy center called the Inter-American Dialogue, oversees $4 million a year in programming, financed in part through donations from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the embassies of Canada, Germany, Guatemala, Mexico and Spain, and corporations such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, J.P. Morgan, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Boeing, and Western Union.
        To be sure, not all of the organization's leadership has been so involved in dubious political activities. Many HRW board members are simply investment bankers, like board co-chairs Joel Motley of Public Capital Advisors, LLC, and Hassan Elmasry, of Independent Franchise Partners, LLP. HRW Vice Chair John Studzinski is a senior managing director at The Blackstone Group, a private equity firm founded by Peter G. Peterson, the billionaire who has passionately sought to eviscerate Social Security and Medicare. And although Julien J. Studley, the Vice Chair of the Americas advisory committee, once served in the U.S. Army's psychological warfare unit, he is now just another wealthy real-estate tycoon in New York.
        That HRW's advocacy reflects its institutional makeup is unremarkable. Indeed, an examination of its positions on Latin America demonstrates the group's predictable, general conformity with U.S. interests. Consider, for example, HRW's reaction to the death of Hugo Chvez. Within hours of his passing on March 5, 2013, HRW published an overview'--''Venezuela: Chvez's Authoritarian Legacy'''--to enormous online response. In accordance with its headline's misleading terminology, HRW never once mentioned Chvez's democratic bona fides: Since 1998, he had triumphed in 14 of 15 elections or referenda, all of which were deemed free and fair by international monitors. Chvez's most recent reelection boasted an 81% participation rate; former president Jimmy Carter described the voting process as ''the best in the world.''12 The article neglected to cite a single positive aspect of Chvez's tenure, under which poverty was slashed by half and infant mortality by a third.
        In contrast, HRW's August 21, 2012 statement regarding the death of Ethiopian leader Meles Zenawi was decidedly more muted: ''Ethiopia: Transition Should Support Human Rights Reform,'' read the headline. Leslie Lefkow, HRW's deputy Africa director, urged the country's new leadership to ''reassure Ethiopians by building on Meles's positive legacy while reversing his government's most pernicious policies.'' Regarding a leader whose two-decade rule had none of Chvez's democratic legitimacy (HRW itself documented Ethiopia's repressive and unfair elections in both 2005 and 2010), the organization argued only that ''Meles leaves a mixed legacy on human rights.''13 Whereas HRW omitted all mention of Chvez-era social improvements, it wrote, ''Under [Meles's] leadership the country has experienced significant, albeit uneven, economic development and progress.''
        The explanation for this discrepancy is obvious: as a New York Times obituary reported, Meles was ''one of the United States government's closest African allies.'' Although ''widely considered one of Africa's most repressive governments,'' wrote the Times, Ethiopia ''continues to receive more than $800 million in American aid each year. American officials have said that the Ethiopian military and security services are among the Central Intelligence Agency's favorite partners.''14
        *
        HRW has taken its double standard to cartoonish heights throughout Latin America. At a 2009 NED Democracy Award Roundtable, Jos(C) Miguel Vivanco described Cuba, not the United States, as ''one of our countries in the hemisphere that is perhaps the one that has today the worst human-rights record in the region.'' As evidence, he listed Cuba's ''long- and short-term detentions with no due process, physical abuse [and] surveillance'''--as though these were not commonplace U.S. practices, even (ironically) at Guantnamo Bay.15 Vivanco was also quoted in late 2013, claiming at an Inter-American Dialogue event that the ''gravest setbacks to freedom of association and expression in Latin America have taken place in Ecuador'''--not in Colombia, the world's most dangerous country for trade union leaders, or in Honduras, the region's deadliest country for journalists (both, incidentally, U.S. allies).16
        Latin America scholars are sounding the alarm: New York University history professor Greg Grandin recently described HRW as ''Washington's adjunct'' in The Nation magazine.17 And when Vivanco publicly stated that ''we did [our 2008] report because we wanted to show the world that Venezuela is not a model for anyone,'' over 100 academics wrote to the HRW's directors, lamenting the ''great loss to civil society when we can no longer trust a source such as Human Rights Watch to conduct an impartial investigation and draw conclusions based on verifiable facts.''18
        HRW's deep ties to U.S. corporate and state sectors should disqualify the institution from any public pretense of independence. Such a claim is indeed untenable given the U.S.-headquartered organization's status as a revolving door for high-level governmental bureaucrats. Stripping itself of the ''independent'' label would allow HRW's findings and advocacy to be more accurately evaluated, and its biases more clearly recognized.
        In Latin America, there is a widespread awareness of Washington's ability to deflect any outside attempts to constrain its prerogative to use violence and violate international law. The past three decades alone have seen U.S. military invasions of Grenada and Panama, a campaign of international terrorism against Nicaragua, and support for coup governments in countries such as Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, and Guatemala. If HRW is to retain credibility in the region, it must begin to extricate itself from elite spheres of U.S. decision-making and abandon its institutional internalization of U.S. exceptionalism. Implementing a clear prohibition to retaining staff and advisers who have crafted or executed U.S. foreign policy would be an important first step. At the very least, HRW can institute lengthy ''cooling-off'' periods'--say, five years in duration'--before and after its associates move between the organization and the government.
        After all, HRW's Malinowski will be directly subordinate to Secretary of State John Kerry, who conveyed the U.S. attitude toward Latin America in a way that only an administrator of a superpower could. In an April 17, 2013 House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, a member of Congress asked Kerry whether the United States should prioritize ''the entire region as opposed to just focusing on one country, since they seem to be trying to work together closer than ever before.'' Kerry reassured him of the administration's global vision. ''Look,'' he said. ''The Western Hemisphere is our backyard. It is critical to us.''19
        This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: Although Tom Malinowski was confirmed by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in September 2013, as of publication, he and 70 other Obama appointees have yet to be approved by the Senate.
        1. Kenneth Roth, followed by John Tirman's response, Twitter, August 25, 3013, http://twitter.com/KenRoth/status/371797912210407424.
        2. Greg Miller, ''Obama preserves renditions as counter-terrorism tool,'' Los Angeles Times, February 1, 2009.
        3. Jos(C) Miguel Vivanco and Peggy Hicks, ''Letter to President Chavez on Venezuela's Candidacy to the UN Human Rights Council,'' Human Rights Watch, November 9, 2012.
        4. Jo Becker and Scott Shane, ''Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will,'' The New York Times, May 29, 2012.
        5. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ''Statement for the Record by Tom Malinowski,'' September 24, 2013.
        6. ''Text of Obama's Speech at the U.N.,'' The New York Times, September 24, 2013. Statement by H.E. Dilma Rousseff, United Nations, September 24, 2013.
        7. Human Rights Watch, ''Major Rights Groups Oppose Immunity for Milosevic,'' October 6, 2000. HRW, ''New Figures on Civilian Deaths in Kosovo War,'' Februrary 8, 2000.
        8. Human Rights Watch, ''Board of Directors,'' www.hrw.org, accessed November 16, 2013.
        9. U.S. Department of State, ''Franklin Fellows Alumni,'' September 8, 2011, http://careers.state.gov/ff/meet-the-fellows/franklin-fellows/miguel-diaz, accessed November 16, 2013.
        10. Ways and Means Committee, ''Statement of Myles Frechette, the North American Peruvian Business Council,'' U.S. House of Representatives, May 8, 2001.
        11. David Ignatius, ''Innocence Abroad: The New World of Spyless Coups,'' The Washington Post, September 22, 1991.
        12. Keane Bhatt, ''A Hall of Shame for Venezuelan Elections Coverage,'' Manufacturing Contempt (blog), nacla.org, October 8, 2012.
        13. Human Rights Watch, ''Ethiopia: Government Repression Undermines Poll,'' May 24, 2010.
        14. Jeffrey Gettleman, ''Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Dies at 57,'' The New York Times, August 22, 2012.
        15. National Endowment for Democracy, ''Jos(C) Miguel Vivanco: 2009 NED Democracy Award Roundtable,'' Youtube.com, Jun 29, 2009.
        16. Eva Saiz, ''Ind­genas de Ecuador denuncian en EEUU la norma de libre asociaci"n de Correa,'' El Pais, October 28, 2013.
        17. Greg Grandin, ''The Winner of Venezuela's Election to Succeed Hugo Chvez Is Hugo Chvez,'' The Nation, April 16, 2013.
        18. Venezuelanalysis.com, ''More Than 100 Latin America Experts Question Human Rights Watch's Venezuela Report,'' December 17, 2008.
        19. Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, ''Hearing: Securing U.S. Interests Abroad: The FY 2014 Foreign Affairs Budget,'' April 17, 2013.
        Keane Bhatt is a regular contributor to the Media Accuracy on Latin America (MALA) section of NACLA Report and the creator of the Manufacturing Contempt blog on nacla.org.
        Read the rest of NACLA's Winter 2013 issue: "Latino New York"
      HRW-Drones
        From the article: The Hypocrisy of Human Rights Watch
        One underlying factor for HRW’s general conformity with U.S. policy was
        clarified on July 8, 2013, when Roth took to Twitter to congratulate his
        colleague Malinowski on his nomination to be Assistant Secretary of
        State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL). Malinowski was poised
        to further human rights as a senior-level foreign-policy official for
        an administration that convenes weekly “Terror Tuesday” meetings. In
        these meetings, Obama and his staffers deliberate the meting out of
        extrajudicial drone assassinations around the planet, reportedly working
        from a secret “kill list” that has included several U.S. citizens and a 17-year-old girl
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      1640 rhode island ave nw washington - Google Search
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 23:13
        About 71,400 results
        1640 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, NW - Akridge - Property Office ...www.akridge.com/...Northwest/44/1640RhodeIslandAvenueNW.aspx- Cached - SimilarAn extensive renovation program converted the former B'Nai Brith Building inWashington, DC into the headquarters of The Human Rights Campaign (HRC).Rashbaum Bruce S MD - Dupont Circle - Washington, DC - Yelpwww.yelp.com/biz/rashbaum-bruce-s-md-washington- Cached - Similar
        Rating: 3 - 8 reviews1640 Rhode Island Ave NW #850. Washington, DC 20036. Neighborhood:Dupont Circle. (202) 822-6311. dcdocs.com · Add Photos. Nearest Transit Station:.Human Rights Campaign - Dupont Circle - Washington, DC | Yelpwww.yelp.com/biz/human-rights-campaign-washington-2- Cached - Similar
        Rating: 5 - 8 reviews1640 Rhode Island Ave NW Washington, DC 20036. b/t N Bataan St & N 17th Stin Dupont Circle ... Human Rights Campaign, Washington, DC. Jeffrey H.Contact Us | Human Rights CampaignHuman Rights Campaign 1640 Rhode Island Ave. N.W.. Washington, DC 20036-3278. HRC Front Desk: (202) 628-4160. TTY: (202) 216-1572. Toll-Free: (800) ...Contact - The Raben GroupWashington, DC 1640 Rhode Island Avenue NW Suite 600. Washington, DC20036 202 466 8585 OFFICE 202 463 4803 FAX. Los Angeles, CA 515 S. Flower ...Directions to DCDocs - DCDocs.comdcdocs.com/dcdocs.com/directions.html- Cached1640 Rhode Island Ave, NW. Suite 800. Washington, DC 20036. Phone: 202-822-6311. Fax: 202-822-6313. Driving Directions. Capital Medical Associates is ...Contact Us | InternewsInternews '' Washington DC. Programs, Communications and Development 1640Rhode Island Ave. NW, 7th Floor Washington, DC 20036. PHONE: +1 202 ...CAPITAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATES - Washington, DC, (District of ...www.healthgrades.com/.../district.../washington/capital-medical-associates- wt6p8- CachedInternal Medicine. 1640 Rhode Island Ave NW Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036. Save Saved. Share. Dr. Baugh has: 20 Years of Practice · 1 Office Location ...Rashbaum, Bruce 1640 Rhode Island Ave NW #800 Washington DCwww.checkbook.org/sitemap/washington_dc/.../detail.cfm?...- CachedFind ratings of Rashbaum, Bruce 1640 Rhode Island Ave NW #800 WashingtonDC and other primary care physicians in Washington DC area.Internews - 1640 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 ...www.mapquest.com/places/internews-washington-dc-275161833- CachedInternews - 1640 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036. Find out moreon MapQuest where you can get directions and more information about this ...
      About Us | Human Rights Campaign
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 23:03
        As the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, the Human Rights Campaign represents a force of more than 1.5 million members and supporters nationwide '-- all committed to making HRC's vision a reality.
        Founded in 1980, HRC advocates on behalf of LGBT Americans, mobilizes grassroots actions in diverse communities, invests strategically to elect fair-minded individuals to office and educates the public about LGBT issues.
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bullying
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Facebook is no longer for males and females only | Ars Technica
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 14 Feb 2014 15:54
        Aurich Lawson
        Facebook has added a new feature that will allow users to select from a new slate of gender identifiers, according to an announcement on Facebook's Diversity Page. The terms will serve users who do not identify as male or female.
        Since 2008, Facebook has required users who made a profile on the site to select from one of two gender options: male or female. The requirement has long bothered those who don't identify with either selection. Facebook's answer to discomfort with the gender binary was that "people can opt out of showing sex on their profile," preventing many people from identifying themselves on their profiles the way people who identify as male or female could.
        Facebook has skirted the issue for years, but today it's doing a 180. "We want you to feel comfortable being your true, authentic self," reads the Diversity page post. "An important part of this is the expression of gender, especially when it extends beyond the definitions of just 'male' or 'female.'"
        In addition to male or female, Facebook users can now select a third option, "custom," in the gender drop-down. Under custom, users can enter custom descriptors or can select from provided descriptive terms from a large number of dropdown suggestions: gender fluid, gender variant, genderqueer, agender, bigender, cisgender, androgynous, male to female, pangender, and so on. Users can have up to ten descriptors in their profile.
        A handful of the new suggested options in Facebook's list of custom gender fill-ins.
        Below that, users can also, at long last, select the related pronoun they would like Facebook to refer to them by. The neutral "them" is now available alongside "him" or "her."
        Facebook writes that it leaned on its "'Network of Support,' a group of LGBT advocacy organizations" to develop the list. GLAAD, one of the participating organizations, was included in the group. GLAAD President Kate Ellis stated that the new gender options are "a step forward in recognizing transgender people and [allowing] them to tell their authentic story in their own words."
        Ellis also writes that "Facebook is on the forefront" of the issue. But former GLAAD vice president of campaigns and programs Allison Palmer says that "users from across the country have been asking for the ability to reflect their gender accurately."
        Facebook is hardly the first to offer an option other than male or female, and the issue has long been a target of criticism in the LGBT community. Google+ allows users to identify as "Other," offensive though that is, which would at least attach a gender-neutral descriptor where needed.
        However, Google+ has also faced criticism on diversity issues. The company used to enforce a "real identities" policy, which prevented many transgender users from operating under their trans names. Google+ also caused problems for a transgender woman when she intended to send a text message to a colleague under the male identity she was still using at work. She mistakenly sent a Hangout message from her female Google+ profile, which outed her to that colleague and subsequently her workplace.
        Facebook's move is well-thought-out and sensitive to its audience, if long overdue. A Facebook representative tells Ars that the transition was a significant engineering undertaking, but the company followed through in the interest of avoiding the term "other."
        Facebook switched to using gendered pronouns from a universal neutral pronoun back in 2008, to the dismay of those who didn't identify with a gender binary. Facebook attributed the change to "international translation issues'... translations wind up being too confusing when people have not selected a specific sex on their profile." Currently, the custom gender identifiers will only be available for users in US English. Facebook tells Ars that it has no timeline for expansion to other countries and languages.
      Facebook's Gender Switch Is All About Selling Ads, Not Inclusion
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 04:24
        The Associated Press announced this afternoon that Facebook, the Silicon Valley-based social media company, would soon give users the option of selecting roughly 50 different terms to describe their genders.
        ''Facebook said the changes being rolled out Thursday for the company's 159 million U.S. users are aimed at giving people more choices in how they describe themselves, such as androgynous, bi-gender, intersex, gender fluid or transsexual,'' the AP wrote. ''Facebook, which has 1.15 billion active monthly users around the world, also allows them to keep their gender identity private.''
        The announcement was followed by both praise and condemnation of the tech company's decision. Liberals praised the open-mindedness and inclusiveness of the move, while conservatives mocked Facebook for pushing politically correct nonsense.
        Facebook was clearly hoping to capitalize on people's assumptions that it was motivated by nothing but altruism. On its Diversity page, the company posted a picture of rainbow flags that were hung around the company campus to commemorate the occasion.
        Facebook even posted a detailed statement re-iterating its completely selfless commitment to inclusion:
        When you come to Facebook to connect with the people, causes, and organizations you care about, we want you to feel comfortable being your true, authentic self. An important part of this is the expression of gender, especially when it extends beyond the definitions of just ''male'' or female.'' So today, we're proud to offer a new custom gender option to help you better express your own identity on Facebook.
        Call me a cynic, but this strikes me as an ad targeting play, not a diversity one. Facebook's bread and butter is delivering an eye-popping number of ad impressions each month. Or, as the company wrote in its most recent annual report to investors, ''We invest extensively in advertising technology capable of serving billions of ad impressions every day while maximizing the relevance of each impression to selected users based upon the information that users have chosen to share [emphasis added].''
        And how does Facebook maximize the relevance of those ad impressions? From the annual report:
        We enable marketers to engage with more than 1.2 billion monthly active users (MAUs) on Facebook or subsets of our users based on information they have chosen to share with us such as their age, location, gender, or interests. We offer marketers benefits such as targeted reach, engagement, Facebook ads, Facebook ad system and ad measurement.
        While Facebook is clearly profitable '-- it posted $1.5 billion in profits on $7.8 billion in revenues in 2013 '-- its grip on the market may be slipping. Much has been written about teens abandoning the site in droves '-- so much so that even President Barack Obama mentioned Facebook's declining popularity among teenagers during a recent cafe conversation with several Millennials.
        All the more reason to give its current users an even greater ability to share intimate personal details with corporate advertisers. When your three main revenue levers are active users, ad impressions per user, and ad rates, and it turns out the first lever isn't really giving you the juice you need anymore, you'll naturally begin to focus on the remaining two levers. For Facebook's users, that almost certainly means more ads showing up in the news feed (to increase impressions delivered per user) and more ways to customize the demographic information that is shared with the world (to increase ad rates in exchange for narrower targeting).
        Now, I don't doubt that Facebook's head honchos believe they're doing the right thing by giving you the ability to customize the term you use to describe the XX or XY chromosomal combinations that define the biological differences between men and women. But let's not pretend the decision was free of the desire to increase Facebook's revenues and profitability.
        Sometimes business is just business, even if Facebook doesn't see the benefit in being transparent about it.
      The Asexual Visibility and Education Network | asexuality.org
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 14 Feb 2014 17:11
        Welcome to the Asexual Visibility and Education Network. AVEN hosts the world's largest online asexual community as well as a large archive of resources on asexuality. AVEN strives to create open, honest discussion about asexuality among sexual and asexual people alike.
        Unlike celibacy, which is a choice, asexuality is a sexual orientation. Asexual people have the same emotional needs as everybody else and are just as capable of forming intimate relationships. To find out more about asexuality, click here.
        You may also like to check out our forums. (On occasion our forums may be undergoing maintenance: if so please visit our backup board.)
        NEW! WorldPride 2014 is taking place on 28-29 June in Toronto and promises to be one of the largest international gatherings in our community's history. We will shortly be announcing details of the conference on Sat 28 June 2014. Check out our forum to sign up, arrange a carpool or find general travel and accommodation tips. Interested press should contact worldpride@asexuality.org.
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Ellen Page targets Hollywood imagery in coming out as gay - latimes.com
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 23:01
        Ellen Page has been met with an outpouring of celebrity support after she fought back tears during an emotional speech Friday in Las Vegas in which she came out as gay. Utilizing her totem as an actress, Page early in her address singled out the entertainment industry as one that "places crushing standards on all of us."
        "Not just young people, but everyone," Page said at the Human Rights Campaign's inaugural "Time to Thrive" conference for educators and counselors who work with LGBTQ youth. "Standards of beauty. Of a good life. Of success. Standards that, I hate to admit, have affected me."
        "I have been trying to push back, to be authentic, to follow my heart, but it can be hard," continued Page, who is perhaps best-known for her role as the smart-talking pregnant teen in 2007's "Juno" and last year starred in the PlayStation 3 video game "Beyond: Two Souls."
        PHOTOS: Gay celebrities '-- Who's out?
        The culture of celebrity -- and its effect on one's self-worth -- was a centerpiece of Page's speech. She praised personalities such as actress Laverne Cox, musicians Tegan and Sara Quin, and NFL hopeful Michael Sam, whom Page described as a "football hero." The University of Missouri lineman has became the center of national news after NFL professionals questioned whether his openness with his sexuality would hurt his draft prospects.
        Page cautioned her audience not to be ruled by expectations of others. "I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission," she said. "I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my relationships suffered."
        Friends and peers have been vocal in their support of Page's words. Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams tweeted that Page "just made me cry on Valentine's day" and then emphasized those were "happy tears." Actress Anna Kendrick sent "mad mad mad mad mad mad crazy love and praise" Page's way and actor Emile Hirsch saluted Page for "courageously leading by example."
        PHOTOS: 50 most beautiful female celebrities
        "Modern Family" star Jesse Tyler Ferguson praised Page's message and in a follow-up tweet posted a link to the full speech. Actress Mary E. Winstead also posted the speech, praising it as "moving" and "amazing," while "Frozen" star Kristen Bell declared herself riveted by Page's words. Pop band Tegan and Sara responded by tweeting, "Never underestimate the courage it takes to be yourself.
        Page herself confronted her own celebrity status and addressed life as a magnet for gossip. Page from the podium Friday night highlighted a recent news item that criticized her choice in workout wear.
        "I try not to read gossip as a rule, but the other day a website ran an article with a picture of me wearing sweatpants on the way to the gym," Page said. "The writer asked, 'Why does [this] petite beauty insist upon dressing like a massive man?'"
        The article in question appears to have originated on entertainment/gossip site E! Online, according to Slate writer Josh Levin, who detailed the Internet trail of the E! story. The contents of the now controversial piece are currently not live on the E! site, only the URL headline of "Ellen Page Rolls Her Hobo Style Into 2014" remains.
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Youth Rights: A Trojan Horse for the Left's Sexual Agenda
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 14 Feb 2014 17:07
        Once again, a liberal promoting the Democrat education agenda has asserted that, ''[t]he children,'' as in yours and mine, ''belong to all of us.'' This time it was Professor Paul Reville, former Massachusetts Secretary of Education, who recently defended the controversial Common Core Curriculum with an appeal to shared concern for 'our' children. Awhile back, it was MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry who urged more education spending because ''kids belong to whole communities,'' not to their parents.
        Such talk raises the hackles'--and the suspicions'--of conservatives. They see progressives as hell-bent on an agenda to restructure the American family. And they worry that liberal activists will mold the next generation in tolerance, autonomy, and moral relativism, while teaching them to reject parental authority and religious values.
        But the real threat comes not from pundits and their puffery over 'who owns the kids,' but from the Trojan horse of 'youth rights''-- an agenda that's already influencing schools, medical care, and the law. Under the guise of promoting children's ''rights'' to make their own choices, progressives are relentlessly fencing parents out of the crucial, value-laden decisions in their children's lives.
        Pediatricians Vs. ParentsConsider an ordinary aspect of family life: a trip to the pediatrician's office.
        Parents of 12- and 13-year-olds may find themselves unceremoniously ejected from the pediatrician's examining room so that the doctor can speak privately with their child. It used to be that parents stepped out discreetly for a moment during the physical exam of an opposite-sex child, out of respect for the child's developing body and desire for modesty.
        But that's not why parents are shown the door these days.
        Willing or not, today's pediatrician is a field agent in the campaign for 'youth rights,' a global movement that insists children have the capacity'--and the right'--to make their own decisions about issues that concern them, particularly questions of sexual identity, sexual behavior, and reproductive health. In reality, the demand for 'youth rights' is simply cover for the left's aggressive promotion of its radical sexual agenda.
        The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) seems to have embraced its part in the youth rights campaign. In recent policy statements on emergency contraception and the care of LGBTQ youth, the AAP urges pediatricians to ''counsel,'' educate, and support young people in the exercise of their sexual and reproductive rights.
        The AAP tells its physicians that, ''regardless'' of the adolescent's ''current intentions for sexual behavior,'' the pediatrician should discuss ''sexual safety and family planning,'' as a matter of ''routine anticipatory guidance.'' In addition, the conscientious pediatrician will go even further, offering to ''supply'' both boys and girls with emergency contraception to ''have on hand in case of future need.''
        Pediatricians Secretly Assisting With '... Sexual Identity?The progressive powers-that-be have decided that providing emergency contraception is part of the new script for adolescent care'-- even if the teen doesn't request it. 'Let's check your height, listen to your lungs, and send you home with some emergency contraception.' With no judgment, shame, or stigma, of course. (And no regard either for family concerns about the health, emotional, and moral implications of teen sex and emergency contraception.)
        Similarly, the AAP statement on LGBTQ youth envisions that pediatricians will play ''a role in helping teenagers sort through their [sexual] feelings and behaviors'...pediatricians should assist adolescents as they develop their identities and to avoid the consequences of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), regardless of sexual orientation.''
        The youth rights movement in general'--presumes that parents are the child's adversaries, likely to threaten or thwart the adolescent's budding independence, especially about sexual matters.
        In a blatantly political move, the AAP policy also condemns ''heterosexism'' (the idea that ''heterosexuality is the expected norm and that somehow LGBTQ teens are 'abnormal''') and recommends that pediatricians display pictures of same-sex couples in order to be more welcoming to ''sexual minority'' youth. And lest children miss the inclusive message, the AAP tells pediatricians to ask adolescents (even those who are not yet sexually active) if they are attracted to or having sex with ''males, females, or both.''
        In all these discussions, the family pediatrician is expected to offer him or herself as the 'trusted adult''--effectively supplanting the parent'--in whom an adolescent confides, and from whom he or she seeks advice, about sex, gender, sexual orientation, and ''responsible'' behavior.
        The AAP statements are troubling not only because they put a professional stamp of approval on progressive sexual ideology, but also because they fail to acknowledge parents' rightful interest in and expertise regarding the wellbeing of their children.
        In fact, the AAP'--like the youth rights movement in general'--presumes that parents are the child's adversaries, likely to threaten or thwart the adolescent's budding independence, especially about sexual matters. The physician, warns the AAP, should not ''inform parents/guardians about the teenager's sexual identity or behavior; doing so could expose the youth to harm.''
        The Mature Minor Exceptions'Preventing harm,' of course, has been the rationale advanced for decades to justify providing sexual and reproductive health care to teens without parental permission. In the wake of the Supreme Court's tangled abortion jurisprudence, courts and many state legislatures implemented expansive 'mature minor' exceptions to parental consent rules, in order to ensure 'emergency' care for minors. Georgetown Law Professor Jeffrey Shulman'--no fan of parental rights'--observes that, ''The truth is that the state has wrested control from parents over some of a young person's most intimate and morally problematic personal decisions.'' And the state has given that decision-making authority to young people themselves.
        ''The truth is that the state has wrested control from parents over some of a young person's most intimate and morally problematic personal decisions.''
        Although U.S., schools, courts, and the medical community abide by the convenient fiction that teenagers have the capacity to make mature decisions about life-altering sexual and reproductive matters, several scholars have recently criticized the ''mission creep'' of the mature minor doctrine in light of brain research that demonstrates the immaturity of teen-age decision-making and developments in criminal law that discourage treating minors as mature adults.
        But youth rights activists don't tarry long over harm-based rationales or new research developments, choosing instead to celebrate young people's ''rights'' to sexual health. The new ''sexual health paradigm'' frames ''sexual rights, sexual knowledge, sexual choice, and sexual pleasure'' as essential aspects of wellbeing, for pubescent teens as well as for adults.
        In the 'sexual health' paradigm, children are 'rights holders' and parents are 'barriers' to the exercise of those rights. It's a common theme that's played out not only private doctors' offices, but also in teen 'reproductive health' clinics, school-based health centers, and in sexuality education courses.
        The Teen and Young Adult Health Connection (TAYA) of Maryland, for example, offers a smorgasbord of confidential sexual health services to ''men, women, and transgender people ages 12- 35.'' Got that? Twelve-year old children are ''men'' and ''women'' in the ideologically-driven world of sexual and reproductive health. These children are drawn by the promise of confidentiality (their parents won't find out), given ''sexual health'' advice by reproductive rights activists, and complimented for their 'mature' decision-making. The testimony of a young TAYA client named ''Patricia'' is instructive: ''I came here when I was 16 to get an IUD and I can truly say that [the clinic] changed my life. It's a place that my mom doesn't know about'...I was respected here, was given all the options, and was informed. And that made me feel like I could make good decisions about my health on my own.''
        Bring On ObamacareConsistent with the youth-rights-based approach, Obamacare makes it a whole lot easier for children to keep parents in the dark about their 'good decisions.' The contraceptive mandate, which requires employers' insurance to offer free 'women's health' preventive services without a co-pay, solves a sticky problem for advocates of youth sexual rights'--confidentiality. In the past, office visits to obtain contraceptives or receive treatment for 'sexual health' typically required co-pays, obliging insurers to send an explanation of benefits (EOB) to the policyholder. According to the Guttmacher Institute, Obamacare's ''no co-pay'' rule for preventive services has spurred some states and insurance companies to eliminate the EOB for these services, ensuring the teen's privacy in sexual and reproductive health matters.
        Parents who know nothing about their children's sexual activity have no power to influence their children's decisions'--but that's the point.
        The practical result: Mom and Dad won't know that their sweet 13-year-old is receiving antibiotics for an acute chlamydia infection'--leaving them unaware and powerless to protect her from coerced or abusive sex. They won't know that their sixteen-year-old was fitted for an IUD and may be suffering side effects like pain, bleeding, and infection. And they won't know that their 15-year old son, recently out and proud, just tested positive for HIV. (LGBT advocates probably didn't tell him that CDC reports show HIV running rampant in gay communities, afflicting one out of five ''men who have sex with men'' (MSM). And they probably forgot to mention that new HIV infections spiked 22% among the youngest MSM (ages 13-24) and that there's been a ''resurgence'' of serious sexually transmitted infections, such as syphilis and gonorrhea, among MSM who ''substitute'' oral sex for anal sex, hoping to avoid HIV.)
        Parents who know nothing about their children's sexual activity have no power to influence their children's decisions'--but that's the point.
        Obamacare has boosted youth rights in another way, by providing a funding stream of over $200 million to support US. School-based Health Centers (SBHCs). School-based health centers (SBHC) aspire to be the 'medical home' for many students, addressing all their health needs'--including sexual and reproductive health'--right on school premises. (Parental consent is required for ordinary illnesses, but a ''special exception'' allows teens to consent for their own sexual and reproductive care.)
        SBHC staff members are taught to be opportunists, promoting available sexual and reproductive services to all students. According to Deborah Kaplan, Assistant Commissioner of the New York City Bureau of Maternal, Infant & Reproductive Health, ''every young person'' who seeks any kind of treatment in New York City's School-Based Health Centers is asked ''the key question,'' whether ''he or she [is] sexually active.'' Ms. Kaplan considers it a sign of success that ''there's been more and more word of mouth among students asking for IUDs,'' and she expects the numbers to ''grow dramatically'' as a result.
        By Teens, For Teens? Not By A Long ShotFor the youth rights crowd, the only message kids must hear is ''Know your rights to sex education, birth control, and more.'' In fact, the website Sex, etc offers teens an interactive map of ''Sex in the States,'' with state-by-state details related to kids' ''sexual rights,'' including age of consent, confidentiality, and availability of contraception and abortion. The New York City Health Department, ever helpful, has developed a ''Teens in NYC'' mobile app as well, to tell teens ''where to go'' to obtain contraception'--and abortions.
        The Sex, etc. website also demonstrates a prime strategy of the youth rights movement: its banner proclaims that it is ''by teens, for teens.'' It's nothing of the sort.
        Sex, etc. is published and funded by Answer, a national organization that's been promoting, for over 30 years, young people's ''unfettered access'' to explicit sexuality education. Answer recommends Planned Parenthood as a resource for parents of pre-teens (9-13), and complains that state policies that require children to learn that sex is ''only appropriate within the context of a heterosexual marriage'' are ''bad news.''
        Youth advocates purposely create the perception that the youth 'sexual rights' movement is a bottom-up, youth-driven movement. It's not. It is a strategic, long-term business plan for an unholy alliance of pro-choice, sexuality-education providers, including Advocates for Youth, Answer, and SIECUS (the Sexuality Education and Information Council of the United States).
        These three organizations have spearheaded an initiative'--The Future of Sex Education Project (FoSE)'--aimed at ''revolutionizing'' sexuality education in the U.S. through a uniform program of instruction (indoctrination) that they hope will be installed in every public school in America. FoSe's ''National Sexuality Education Standards'' set forth a ''progressive and pragmatic'' K-12 program of ''Core Content and Skills'' related to sexuality, contraception, safer sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
        But it's a corrupt vision of sexuality, peddled by self-appointed ''experts'' with much to gain: the FoSE partners offer ''myriad resources, tailored training and technical assistance on policy, advocacy and mobilization for state-based and local organizations and coalitions working to promote the sexual health of young people'' '--'sexual health' built on a destructive platform of meaningless sex, free contraception, and unlimited abortion. Even so, business seems to be booming.
        The Trojan Horse of 'youth rights' has been welcomed into the city. Call me Cassandra, but its presence does not bode well for our children.
        Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., is a Fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History: Samuel Moyn: 9780674064348: Amazon.com: Books
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 22:07
        A most welcome book, The Last Utopia is a clear-eyed account of the origins of "human rights": the best we have. (Tony Judt, author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945)In this profound, important, and utterly original book, Moyn demonstrates how human rights constituted a new moral horizon and language of politics as it emerged in the last generation, a novel and fragile achievement on the wreckage of earlier dreams. A must read. (Nikhil Pal Singh, author of Black is a Country)
        With unparalleled clarity and originality, Moyn's hard-hitting, radically revisionist, and persuasive history of human rights provides a bracing historical reconstruction with which scholars, activists, lawyers and anyone interested in the fate of the human rights movement today will have to grapple. (Mark Mazower, author of No Enchanted Palace: The End of Imperialism and the Ideological Origins of the United Nations)
        The Last Utopia is the most important work on the history of human rights yet to have been written. Moyn's search for origins reads like a great detective story as he carefully sifts the evidence of where and when human rights displaced alternative political ideals. (Paul Kahn, Yale University)
        Human rights have always been with us--or so their most zealous supporters would have us believe. With surgical precision and forensic tenacity, Moyn reveals how recent and how contingent was the birth of human rights and how fraught has been its passage from 1970s antipolitics to present-day political program. (David Armitage, author of The Declaration of Independence: A Global History)
        Anyone who truly cares about human rights should confront this bracing account. (Jan-Werner M¼ller, Princeton University)
        The triumph of The Last Utopia is that it restores historical nuance, skepticism and context to a concept that, in the past 30 years, has played a large role in world affairs. (Brendan Simms Wall Street Journal 2010-09-08)
        The way the phrase human rights is bandied about it sounds like an age-old concept. In fact, it was coined in English in the 1940s. Samuel Moyn examines the myths of its historical roots; most explicitly, the conflation of human rights with the revolutionary French and American concepts of droits de l'homme. The latter implies "a politics of citizenship at home"; the former "a politics of suffering abroad." His book teases out the legal and moral implications of this difference, using country-specific and international examples, in a way that leaves little hiding space for the self-serving usages of foreign ministers, supranational institutions and pollyannaish charities. (Miriam Cosic The Australian 2010-10-02)
        Moyn has written an interesting and thought-provoking book which will annoy all the right people. (Jonathan Sumption Literary Review 2010-12-01)
        It is not hard to imagine how impatient Bentham would have been with the notion of "human rights" that has grown so prominent over the past few decades. Samuel Moyn's The Last Utopia provides a succinct narrative of how that idea came to occupy the centre stage of so much international political discourse and activism. But the book also challenges the hegemony of human-rights-speak in ways that are nearly as combative as Bentham's polemical flights, though far more subtle and telling...There is a power and elegance to this book that my survey of it cannot convey. Over it hangs the question of whether the notion of human rights may still have a future, or if some other set of aspirations will take its place. Moyn stops well short of speculation. But it is a problem some activist or philosopher (or both) may yet pose in a way we cannot now imagine. (Scott McLemee The National 2010-12-03)
        [A] brilliant and bracing new book...Richly researched and powerfully argued, this volume will be the starting point for future discussions of where human rights have been, why they look like they do, and how to think about them down the road. (Yehudah Mirsky Democracy Journal 2011-01-01)
        Moyn argues that the origins of human rights are not in the places historians have traditionally looked--the French Revolution or postwar idealism--but in more recent developments...In refocusing our attention on the near history of human rights, The Last Utopia asks new and fertile questions...As Moyn points out, human rights, as never before, provide a framework for engaging with the lives of others. The events we associate with this development--1789, 1948, or the 1970s--influence our view of the present. Moyn has written the perfect history of human rights for the post-Bush era. (Matt Moore Dissent 2011-01-01)
        As Samuel Moyn reminds us in The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History, it is really just a few decades since human rights became the world's preferred vocabulary for talking about justice. In dating the birth of human rights, as an ideology and a movement, to the mid-1970s, Moyn is deliberately bucking a trend...Moyn argues convincingly, however, these attempts to create a "usable past" for human rights, well-intended though they are, actually distort the truth. To understand the real strengths and limitations of the idea of human rights, he argues, it is necessary to see it not as an ancient tradition but as "the last utopia" which emerged "in an age when other, previously more appealing utopias died."...The Last Utopia will shed important light on the actual history of our new global faith. (Adam Kirsch Barnes and Noble Review 2010-09-20)
        In his erudite new book, The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History, Samuel Moyn...argues that it was only in the 1970s, when other utopian ideologies--socialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-communism--fell by the wayside that human rights assumed its stature as the ultimate moral arbiter of international conduct. (Jordan Michael Smith Slate 2011-01-03)
        [A] brilliantly illuminating book...Moyn's account of the utopian origins of the contemporary human-rights movement is impressively worked out and largely convincing...Human rights are not the last utopia--just the one we must presently live with. The pursuit of the impossible is too much a part of the modern Western tradition ever to be truly renounced. The idea that utopianism will disappear is itself a utopian dream. The most that can be hoped for is that the piety which surrounds human rights will be tempered from time to time with a little skeptical doubt. It is hard to think of a better start than Moyn's seminal study (John Gray National Interest 2011-01-01)
        [A] provocatively revisionist history. (G. John Ikenberry Foreign Affairs 2011-03-01)
        Moyn is a highly intelligent, markedly astute commentator. No possible viewpoint eludes his vigilance. He gives the impression of being suave in nature and comprehensive in awareness. This book, as a result, is a bravura performance by a leading light in an apparently crowded and busy field. (Bradley Winterton Taipei Times 2011-02-20)
        There is a sense in which the conception of human rights that Moyn documents in this important book is already obsolete. Many of the worst human rights violations of recent years have not been perpetrated by sovereign states. Instead, they are the work of non-state actors: terrorists, militias, or simply criminal gangs...Moyn's contribution is to prove that human rights are not a fixed truth awaiting discovery, but rather an ideology subject to periodic renovation. If the idea of human rights is to survive, it must help us meet the challenges of our own time. Otherwise, it will join other utopian ideologies as the relics of the twentieth century. (Samuel Goldman New Criterion 2011-05-01)
        [Moyn] argues elegantly and forcefully that the dominance of the nation-state in rights thinking made it impossible for the creators of the UN, the protagonists of the Cold War, and the participants in decolonization to conceptualize a world built on individual rights. This view emerged only in the 1970s, creating an entirely new, morality-based utopianism that was unimaginable until previously existing utopian notions no longer seemed plausible. The book, a triumph of originality, scholarship, concision, and bold conceptualization, has a superb bibliographical essay and will be wonderful to teach. A genuinely thrilling account of the modern history of human rights. (S. N. Katz Choice 2011-02-01)
        The Last Utopia supplies a detailed, subtle, and in many ways convincing account of the human-rights "surge." Moyn's case for a 1970s turning-point is a strong one and occupies the best chapters in the book. (Robin Blackburn New Left Review 2011-05-01)
        Samuel Moyn's book is an erudite and impressive intellectual history, portraying the core principle of contemporary human rights--that individual rights transcend state sovereignty--as a strikingly recent invention. Moyn shows that this moral conception contradicts many of the ostensible roots from which conventional accounts see human rights growing...Moyn's reassessment is groundbreaking and insightful. (Clifford Bob American Historical Review 2011-06-01)
        Moyn's revisionist history is an argument for looking at the concept of human rights as a fairly new phenomenon, dating to the 1970s. While discounting the idea's role in shaping society in earlier centuries, he provides a great primer on the evolution of a revolutionary idea. (Gal Beckerman The Week 2011-09-23)
        Samuel Moyn's The Last Utopia is a major contribution to the history of twentieth-century human rights, but at the same time a salutary inquiry into the tensions between the rights of citizens as members of sovereign nation-states and the post-national or extra-national rights claims of humans. Moyn has produced a rich, fertile and challenging study of the modern history of rights...Moyn has shown that the history of human rights was a precarious, contingent, protracted and uneven development...If natural rights died as a consequence of secularization, can human rights decline with the erosion of Western liberalism and the securitization of the modern state? With the rise and fall of utopian dreams, academic opinions about the prospects of human rights may differ--however, from now on taking rights seriously means reading Moyn seriously. (Bryan S. Turner Contemporary Sociology 2011-09-01)
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      gender neutral parenting | Raising My Boychick
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 14:46
        I just got back from Montreal (try the bagels), where I attended the National Workshop for Gender Creative Kids, hosted by Concordia University. It. Was. Amazing. There's a lot I'd like to share, a lot I learned, a lot of discussions and debates about which I have Things to Say, but much of that will have to be saved for other times, and possibly other venues.
        I was honored to be the first presenter on the opening panel, in which I talked about gender diverse parenting, the what and the why. Fifteen minutes was wholly inadequate for more than a too-brief introduction; when I sat down to write my talk, over 3000 words rolled out of my fingers almost without trying, and I ended up having to remove rather more nuance and complexities than I'd hoped, but for all that, I'm pretty proud of what remained.
        I can't share it in full here '-- it wouldn't be anything particularly new to regular readers of this blog anyway '-- but you can read Dr Elizabeth Meyer's write up of mine and other parents' talks: Gender Diverse Parenting: Creating Space for Kids (in which she calls it brilliant).
        Because the workshop was hosted by a research project, there is no ''next year'' currently scheduled, but many of us (which is to say, nearly every one of the 70 or so parents, educators, activists, artists, doctors, therapists, and general rabble-rousers '-- many trans or former gender creative kids themselves) are hoping and working toward having a similar conference again in the future. I for one already have ideas for my next proposal.
      Parenting - Blogs - Show and Tell - Can Kids Be Raised in a Gender-Neutral Environment?
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 14:42
        Show and Tell - Can Kids Be Raised in a Gender-Neutral Environment?By Emmalie at ParentingApril 12, 2012 | 3:23pm EDT
        Full Size ImageEarlier this week Sweden took a huge step toward their gender-neutralization goal by adding the new pronoun hen to the Swedish lexicon, Slate reports. While the gender-neutral pronoun is easier to write instead of the awkward "s/he", it has also brought about some changes in the way children are raised.
        Plus: Gender-Neutral Parenting
        For example, a Swedish children's clothing company has done away with its designated boys' and girls' sections in favor of becoming a gender-neutral outlet, and a Swedish toy catalog pulled a switch on readers featuring a boy in a Spider-Man costume, pushing a pink baby carriage. Gender-neutral activists are also lobbying to encourage parents to name their children whatever they want, and not stick to the conventional boy and girl names.
        Plus: Parents Keep Child's Gender a Secret
        Swedish schoolteachers are also being trained on gender-neutral teaching techniques. Some schools have abandoned the traditional "Good morning, boys and girls" for "Good morning, buddies," and others nix free playtime, stating that when children play freely, "stereotypical gender patterns are born and cemented. In free play there is hierarchy, exclusion, and the seed to bullying." One preschool in Stockholm also has children playing many versions of the traditional "House" game, where families are made up of mom, dad and child; mom, mom and child; and dad, dad, child and so on to include all types of modern families.
        What's your take on Sweden raising gender-neutral children? Do you think it's possible to raise children in a completely gender-free environment, or do you think there are innate differences between males and females that can't or shouldn't be ignored?
        Related Links
        Cold & Flu Fighting Tips**
        Awkward Family Vacation Photos**
        A Simple Way to Calculate Your Most Fertile Day**
        **This content is not available on the mobile site. Click here to view it on the website.Previous PostNext PostRelated:Post Comment
      5 Myths About Gender Neutral Parenting '-- Everyday Feminism
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 14:40
        The day I found out the baby I was carrying was a girl, I bought a frilly, pink dress. It had taken me a long time to get pregnant and I wanted a girl. Yes, I wanted a ''healthy baby'' but I was honest enough with myself to say I preferred a girl.
        In retrospect, it seems incongruent with my feminist views that I did something so ''pigeonholing'' to my 20 week old fetus. Shouldn't I have rushed out to buy The Feminine Mystique to read her in-utero?
        Everywhere you look, there are pink princesses and blue football shirts. The ''gender neutral'' section '' defined by blank green and yellow onesies '' of a store like Babies R Us is almost non-existent.
        This is largely because most parents today know the sex of their child prior to birth thanks to ultrasound technology. The demand for clothes that are non-gendered is lower and companies step in with specialized clothing that increases their sales.
        Parenting outside the mainstream boy/girl dichotomy can seem daunting to say the least. Am I not allowed to think that dress is cute? Is it ok if I put my baby boy in that jumper with the soccer ball on the butt? What do I do when the photographer calls my daughter ''princess'' for the millionth time?
        The desire to not pigeonhole a child into a specific gender based solely on their biological sex is called Gender Neutral Parenting (GNP) and it isn't easy to know what Gender Neutral Parenting is and is not.
        Recently a psychologist named Dr. Keith Ablow stated on Fox & Friends that a woman was ''nuts'' for giving her son a doll (you can see the video here). Let's just set aside for a moment the abelism of calling someone ''nuts'' because you don't agree with them.
        His view of ''gender bending'' couldn't be further from the truth and he falls prey to several common myths about Gender Neutral Parenting.
        So let's set the record straight:
        Myth #1: Gender Neutral Parenting Is About AndrogynyThis myth posits that gender neutral parenting's goal is to create a genderless world by abolishing all concepts of male or female. Parents only allow non-gendered toys in neutral colors and androgynous clothing.
        Reality: Although the 1970s saw a smattering of articles claiming androgyny as the pinnacle of human evolution '' the theory that gender roles are completely learned '' we now tend to see gender as a blending of biological (nature) and cultural (nurture) influences. Dr. Ablow said parents ''wrench [it] in to some kind of non-genderness.''
        However, GNP does not seek to force androgyny on children any more than it wishes to force masculinity or femininity on children.
        The whole point of GNP is that is doesn't force any preconceived gender norms onto a child in the hopes that they can find their own comfort spot on the continuum we call gender.
        Myth #2: Gender Neutral Parenting Will Make Your Kid GayMany organizations, such as Focus on the Family, specifically conflate gender-bending behavior in children as ''signs of pre-homosexuality'' and recommend interventions to promote ''gender-proper'' behaviors.
        Reality:Most ongoing research points to a strong genetic component to homosexuality. Therefore, being gay is not something a parent can ''train'' a child to be. Even children raised by lesbian mothers or gay fathers aren't more likely to be gay themselves. A child's sexual orientation will be what it will be. Nothing a parent does will change that.
        GNP will not influence their final sexual preferences but it can have a profound effect on how traumatizing their upbringing is. A child with the freedom to choose their own comfort level on the gender spectrum and the sexuality spectrum will be less likely to be crushed under parental expectations that conflict with their inner life.
        The whole point of GNP is that sex '' e.g. the assignment at birth based on external genitalia '' should not dictate ''allowable'' behaviors. If you like pink tutus, you should be able to like them with acceptance regardless of your sex.
        According to TransActive, 85% of gender nonconforming children/youth are cisgender and identify as heterosexual in adulthood. So, you heard it here. Johnny (or Beckett) wearing nail polish will not make him gay.
        Myth #3: Gender Neutral Parenting Is Anti-Feminine Or Anti-MasculineDr. Ablow also said, ''What's so bad about kids being able to be masculine and feminine?'' His statement implies that GNP suppresses or shames feminine or masculine behaviors.
        Reality: Gender Neutral Parenting isn't ''neutral'' at all it is about diversity and removing limitations to gender expression.
        If we limited girls from wearing pink or boys from playing football, then we would be replacing one set of artificial limits for another.
        What we want to do is expose kids to a wide range of gender-types and give them the freedom to explore without judgment those that call to them.
        Paige Schilt uses the term ''gendery'' to define this concept;
        Rather than just begrudgingly allowing our children to play with ''opposite gender'' toys, the gendery parenting paradigm would encourage us to give children the language to think critically about gender binaries and gendered hierarchies.
        With this in mind we would not pass judgment on a child's choices but help them to think critically about the options society presents.
        If your daughter proudly proclaims that ''dolls are for girls'' while playing, instead of correcting her, open a dialogue.
        You might find that a friend at school told her dolls are for girls or that someone had teased her about playing with her dinosaur collection. Opening a dialogue is so much more powerful than a room full of gender neutral toys that raise no questions.
        Myth #4: Gender Neutral Parenting Is Only For Trans* KidsThis myth supposes that Gender Neutral Parenting is only valuable or should only be employed after a child has displayed gender-bending behaviors. GNP helps trans* kids overcome the pain of being different but it has no value for a cisgender child.
        Reality: First, no one knows when a child is born if he/she/they are trans*. According to Transgender Law and Policy Institute, 2-5% of all people are trans* and as mentioned above, most gender-bending kids will not be trans* as adults.
        It is true that GNP will provide a safer and more nurturing environment that's absent in most trans* childrens' lives. However, cisgender children can also benefit greatly from GNP in two ways.
        One, without strict gender rules children tend to find their place on the spectrum that is not so extreme as hyper-masculine or hyper-feminine but instead represent a spectrum of expression that allows children to find their own strengths and weaknesses.
        A child might be amazing at construction and become a prominent architect but only if they have access to building toys and the freedom to explore with them.
        Secondly, even stereotypically feminine/masculine children raised in a GNP environment will have the ability to critically question gender assumptions and to appreciate the diversity of gender roles.
        Myth #5: Gender Neutral Parenting Is A Social ExperimentWhen families say they won't divulge the gender of their child, some get in an uproar about ''using'' kids for political purposes or brainwashing them as some type of science experiment.
        Reality: Everything we say and do with our kids is our attempt to teach them to function in the world at large. I want to raise my children to be good people. To me, this does not mean teaching them to tow the line and conform. It means them being strongly feminist with a passion for equality and social justice.
        Traditional gendered parenting is every bit as much indoctrination. Gender-norms are taught to mold a kid into an adult that fits into society's definition of the gender binary. Girls wear pink, like to nurture others, and are emotional. Boys don't cry, play sports, and make money.
        Even if you aren't intentionally trying to train this into them you are by the default of gender suggestions that ubiquitously surround us everyday. Think Barbie saying ''Math is Hard'' and then ponder why so few women enter science, technology, engineering, and medicine. Think ''boys don't play with baby dolls'' and then ponder why men don't have the same skill level with newborns that women do.
        GNP is trying to break down that narrow definition of what a child can be. If that is a political statement then it is one I'm proud to make.
        So What Does This Look Like?Was buying that pink dress anti-GNP? I don't think so. As an introspective person, I had an awareness of my gender-laden choice. What if my daughter doesn't like dresses? Doesn't like pink? Doesn't identify as a girl?
        Practicing traditional, gender-biased parenting would be only letting your girls wear pink frilly frocks and making statements that subtly limit the choice. For example, ''that's not girly enough'' or ''you'd just look adorable in the pink one'' all train her to know that mom (and society) expect her to be girly.
        It would be just as gender-biased to tease my daughter for wanting to wear pink. For example, rolling my eyes with a ''ugh, that is so frilly'' could make her feel bad for liking feminine things.
        The main way I strike a balance? I encourage her voice. I try to take my opinions out of the equation.
        I'm always looking for an opening to say ''which one do you like?'' and respecting her choice. I let her tell me what she wants to do with her hair (no forced barrettes and uncomfortable headbands in the name of not being mistaken for a boy).
        I engage her in conversations about people's abilities (e.g. ''Why is Alicia your favorite character on Go Diego, Go!'') so she can articulate things beside gender.
        I don't get bent out of shape when photographers call her ''princess'' but I make sure at home to comment on what a superhero she is when she lifts the garbage bag out of the trash can.
        As she gets even older, I can ask ''why do you like that one?'' and start conversations based on stereotypical answers.
        Most parents I know cringe when their seven year old says ''that's for girls.'' But really, this is a great opportunity to start a dialog about gender. When the photographer calls her princess, we can later discuss why that is and what it means to be a princess.
        And I can let her hear my voice. I'm girly. I own a pink hammer. Not sure if that is nature or nurture but I am self aware. I've let gender-expectations limit me in the past and my growing awareness of it has made me a better person.
        Someday, if she asks why pictures of her at 3 months old are an explosion of pink, I'll tell her that was my way of celebrating her.
        Then I'll tell her that now I celebrate her so much more by watching her learn to celebrate her own unique self.
        What does gender neutral parenting look like in your house?
        Paige Stannard is a Staff Writer for Everyday Feminism. She's a former NASA research librarian happy to be home raising her 3 IVF babies after nearly a decade of infertility. She blogs about infertility, parenting, and women's issues at Baby Dust Diaries as well as being the founder of the gentle discipline site ParentingGently.com and co-founder of the breastfeeding rights site NursingFreedom.org. She likes to cook and sew and has, in general, become her mother. Happily. Follow her on Twitter @babydust.
      Parents raise son as a boy AND a girl so he won't 'grow up aggressive' | Mail Online
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 14:38
        Max Price's parents Lisa and Martin are raising their son according to the technique known as 'gender-neutral parenting'Toddler is happy playing with his collection of toy cars and revels in wearing his favourite dresses and tutuMother Lisa said: 'Gender stereotypes can be so damaging'The couple say they hope their decision will help boost Max's confidenceBy Guy Adams and Andy Dolan
        PUBLISHED: 17:00 EST, 14 February 2014 | UPDATED: 06:30 EST, 15 February 2014
        1,844shares
        426
        Viewcomments
        Max Price's parents Lisa and Martin are raising their son as a boy and a girl so he does not 'grow up aggressive'
        Max Price is a happy, healthy one-year-old boy who spent yesterday morning playing with his vast collection of toy cars, planes, tractors, and dinosaurs.
        Dressed in a red checked lumberjack shirt and rust-coloured jeans, he shouted 'beep beep!' and giggled with delight while pushing a plastic motorbike around the living room of his family home.
        Then, after lunch, a strange transformation occurred.
        Max scampered upstairs to his bedroom with his 23-year-old mother, Lisa, and re-emerged several minutes later wearing a dark blue, knee-length dress decorated with pink flamingos.
        He swiftly grabbed a blonde-haired doll, sat her in a pink plastic pram, and took her on a short walk, stopping only when it was time to pretend to breastfeed her.
        Later in the afternoon, the child collected several more dolls, found a selection of pink toy cups and saucers, and staged an impromptu tea party.
        Max, who turns two later this month and lives in Walsall, is being raised according to a radical technique known as 'gender-neutral parenting'.
        It means Lisa and her husband, Martin, 34, encourage him to wear both boys' and girls' clothes, and to play with conventionally female '' as well as male '' toys.
        Rather than being worried if he decides not to play football, and asks instead for someone to paint his fingernails with glittery polish, they instead see it as a form of cute self-expression.
        'If Max wants to wear a pink tutu and fairy wings, then he can wear it,' says Lisa. 'He's just expressing himself. I don't want to put him in a certain box and treat him that way. I want to teach him to be whatever he wants to be. He can pick his own clothes and, as long as they're warm enough for the winter, I'll get him whatever he wants.'
        Lisa and Martin live with two elder children '' Brandon, ten, and Mia, seven '' from Martin's previous relationship, who are raised along more traditional lines. They also share the terraced home with a hamster called Simon, two cats, Tigger and Pixie, and a German Shepherd called Roxy.
        Visitors to the bustling home tend to be surprised, but 'mostly supportive', of their decision to pursue gender-neutral parenting.
        'You get the odd funny look, and a bit of hostility, but once we explain how we are bringing our son up, and why, people tend to understand,' says Lisa.
        Scroll down for video
        The couple from Walsall said they love their son for who he is. They are raising Max, who turns two later this month, according to a radical technique known as 'gender-neutral parenting'
        'I hope that Max won't get teased when he's older. But part of what we are trying to do with Max is to instil such a sense of confidence, and a sense of who he is, that he won't care what anyone else thinks.'
        Lisa, a full-time housewife, took the decision to allow Max to identify as either a girl or a boy 12 months ago, after seeing high-profile rape cases being discussed on parenting websites. 'Gender stereotypes can be so damaging.
        'Gender stereotypes can be so damaging. They teach little boys to be aggressive and dominant over women... It's detrimental for them and for females'- Lisa Price
        'They teach little boys to be aggressive and dominant over women,' she argues. 'There's research out there saying that the whole ''boys will be boys'' thing basically teaches lads that it's OK to be a certain way, because it's in their nature to be aggressive. It's detrimental for them and for females.'
        The decision was fully supported by Martin, an unemployed courier. 'I think my husband is more of a feminist than I am,' she says. 'His biggest concern about the whole thing is usually ''does Max have the right shoes to go with that dress!'''
        Martin, for his part, adds: 'My parents told me that I played with my sister's dolls as a child and it doesn't bother me. I can't see why it would bother anyone.'
        They are adamant that Max has thrived under the gender-neutral regime, pointing out that he is able to string three or four-word sentences together, and is 'almost' potty-trained.
        The concept of gender-neutral parenting first became popular among feminists in America during the 1970s, when it inspired the actress Marlo Thomas to write a best-selling children's book called Free To Be'... You and Me. Recently, it has experienced a small revival.
        Meet the parents raising their son as 'gender neutral'
        Max pictured pushing his doll in a buggy in one of his favourite dresses, left, and a pink coat, right
        In 2011, a Canadian couple made headlines after refusing to reveal the gender of their new-born child Storm in what they called 'a tribute to freedom and choice'.
        The following year, a Cambridgeshire couple, Beck Laxton and Kieran Cooper, revealed they were raising their child Sasha as gender neutral to allow his or her 'real personality' to shine through.
        In normal circumstances, Max would be required to start wearing gender-specific clothes when he starts at school. However Lisa and Martin have a contingency plan that will allow him to continue dressing as he pleases.
        'We're planning on home educating Max,' says Lisa, who was herself home-schooled. 'However, if he does eventually choose to go to school, and wants to wear a girl's uniform, I certainly won't stop him.'
        She adds: 'It doesn't matter if he's homosexual, bisexual, transsexual or asexual as far as I'm concerned. I didn't give birth to him to say ''I'm only going to love you if you're this way''. I love him for who he is.'
        Share or comment on this article
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    AFRIKA
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Niger Drone Base
        In between Mali to the north with AQ-IM and Nigeria to the south for Boko Haram
        Apparently to help the French
      U.S. drone base in Ethiopia is operational - The Washington Post
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 18:12
        The Air Force has been secretly flying armed Reaper drones on counterterrorism missions from a remote civilian airport in southern Ethi­o­pia as part of a rapidly expanding U.S.-led proxy war against an al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa, U.S. military officials said.
        The Air Force has invested millions of dollars to upgrade an airfield in Arba Minch, Ethi­o­pia, where it has built a small annex to house a fleet of drones that can be equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs. The Reapers began flying missions earlier this year over neighboring Somalia, where the United States and its allies in the region have been targeting al-Shabab, a militant Islamist group connected to al-Qaeda.
        Mindful of the 1993 ''Black Hawk Down'' debacle in which two U.S. military helicopters were shot down in the Somali capital of Mogadishu and 18 Americans killed, the Obama administration has sought to avoid deploying troops to the country.
        As a result, the United States has relied on lethal drone attacks, a burgeoning CIA presence in Mogadishu and small-scale missions carried out by U.S. Special Forces. In addition, the United States has increased its funding for and training of African peacekeeping forces in Somalia that fight al-Shabab.
        The Washington Post reported last month that the Obama administration is building a constellation of secret drone bases in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, including one site in Ethi­o­pia. The location of the Ethio­pian base and the fact that it became operational this year, however, have not been previously disclosed. Some bases in the region also have been used to carry out operations against the al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.
        The Air Force confirmed Thursday that drone operations are underway at the Arba Minch airport. Master Sgt. James Fisher, a spokesman for the 17th Air Force, which oversees operations in Africa, said that an unspecified number of Air Force personnel ­are working at the Ethio­pian airfield ''to provide operation and technical support for our security assistance programs.''
        The Arba Minch airport expansion is still in progress but the Air Force deployed the Reapers there earlier this year, Fisher said. He said the drone flights ''will continue as long as the government of Ethi­o­pia welcomes our cooperation on these varied security programs.''
        Last month, the Ethio­pian Foreign Ministry denied the presence of U.S. drones in the country. On Thursday, a spokesman for the Ethio­pian embassy in Washington repeated that assertion.
        ''That's the government's position,'' said Tesfaye Yilma, the head of public diplomacy for the embassy. ''We don't entertain foreign military bases in Ethi­o­pia.''
        But U.S. military personnel and contractors have become increasingly visible in recent months in Arba Minch, a city of about 70,000 people in southern Ethi­o­pia. Arba Minch means ''40 springs'' in Amharic, the national language.
        Travelers who have passed through the Arba Minch airport on the occasional civilian flights that land there said the U.S. military has erected a small compound on the tarmac, next to the terminal.
        The compound is about half an acre in size and is surrounded by high fences, security screens and lights on extended poles. The U.S. military personnel and contractors eat at a cafe in the passenger terminal, where they are served American-style food, according to travelers who have been there.
        Arba Minch is located about 300 miles south of Addis Ababa and about 600 miles west of the Somali border. Standard models of the Reaper have a range of about 1,150 miles, according to the Air Force.
        The MQ-9 Reaper, known as a ''hunter killer,'' is manufactured by General Atomics and is an advanced version of the Predator, the most common armed drone in the Air Force's fleet.
        Ethi­o­pia is a longtime U.S. ally in the fight against al-Shabab, the militant group that has fomented instability in war-torn Somalia and launched attacks in Kenya, Uganda and elsewhere in the region.
        The Ethio­pian military invaded Somalia in 2006 in an attempt to wipe out a related Islamist movement that was taking over the country, but withdrew three years later after it was unable to contain an insurgency.
        The U.S. military clandestinely aided Ethi­o­pia during that invasion by sharing intelligence and carrying out airstrikes with AC-130 gunships, which operated from an Ethio­pian military base in the eastern part of the country. After details of the U.S. involvement became public, however, the Ethio­pian government shut down the U.S. military presence there.
        In a present-day operation that carries echoes of that campaign, Kenya launched its own invasion of southern Somalia this month to chase after al-Shabab fighters that it blames for kidnapping Western tourists in Kenya and destabilizing the border region.
        Although U.S. officials denied playing a role in that offensive, a Kenyan military spokesman, Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir, said Kenya has received ''technical assistance'' from its American allies. He declined to elaborate.
        The U.S. military deploys drones on attack and surveillance missions over Somalia from a number of bases in the region.
        The Air Force operates a small fleet of Reapers from the Seychelles, a tropical archipelago in the Indian Ocean, about 800 miles from the Somali coast.
        The U.S. military also operates drones '-- both armed versions and models used strictly for surveillance '-- from Djibouti, a tiny African nation that abuts northwest Somalia at the junction of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. About 3,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, the only permanent U.S. base on the African continent.
        The U.S. government is known to have used drones to mount lethal attacks in at least six countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.
        More from The Washington Post:
        Ex-intel chief to Gaddafi wounded, raising questions about handling of detainees
        Could China's future lie in a debt-ridden city?
        Boehner rejects Democratic $3 trillion deficit reduction proposal
        New USAJobs site for federal job seekers continues to frustrate many
      Drone base in Niger gives U.S. a strategic foothold in West Africa - The Washington Post
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 18:11
        NIAMEY, Niger '-- The newest outpost in the U.S. government's empire of drone bases sits behind a razor-wire-topped wall outside this West African capital, blasted by 110-degree heat and the occasional sandstorm blowing from the Sahara.
        The U.S. Air Force began flying a handful of unarmed Predator drones from here last month. The gray, mosquito-shaped aircraft emerge sporadically from a borrowed hangar and soar north in search of al-Qaeda fighters and guerrillas from other groups hiding in the region's untamed deserts and hills.
        The harsh terrain of North and West Africa is rapidly emerging as yet another front in the United States' long-running war against terrorist networks, a conflict that has fueled a revolution in drone warfare.
        Since taking office in 2009, President Obama has relied heavily on drones for operations, both declared and covert, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia. U.S. drones also fly from allied bases in Turkey, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.
        Now, they are becoming a fixture in Africa. The U.S. military has built a major drone hub in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, and flies unarmed Reaper drones from Ethiopia. Until recently, it conducted reconnaissance flights over East Africa from the island nation of the Seychelles.
        The Predator drones in Niger, a landlocked and dirt-poor country, give the Pentagon a strategic foothold in West Africa. Niger shares a long border with Mali, where an al-Qaeda affiliate and other Islamist groups have taken root. Niger also borders Libya and Nigeria, which are also struggling to contain armed extremist movements.
        Like other U.S. drone bases, the Predator operations in Niger are shrouded in secrecy. The White House announced Feb. 22 that Obama had deployed about 100 military personnel to Niger on an ''intelligence collection'' mission, but it did not make any explicit reference to drones.
        Since then, the Defense Department has publicly acknowledged the presence of drones here but has revealed little else. The Africa Command, which oversees U.S. military missions on the continent, denied requests from a Washington Post reporter to interview American troops in Niger or to tour the military airfield where the drones are based, near Niamey's international airport.
        Government officials in Niger, a former French colony, were slightly more forthcoming. President Issoufou Mahamadou said his government invited Washington to send surveillance drones because he was worried that the country might not be able to defend its borders from Islamist fighters based in Mali, Libya or Nigeria.
        ''We welcome the drones,'' Mahamadou said in an interview at the presidential palace in Niamey. Citing the ''feeble capability'' of many West African militaries, he said Niger '-- which is three times the size of California '-- and its neighbors desperately needed foreign help to track the movements of guerrillas across the Sahara and Sahel, an arid territorial belt that covers much of the region.
        ''Our countries are like the blind leading the blind,'' he said. ''We rely on countries like France and the United States. We need cooperation to ensure our security.''
        Surveillance operations
        The Predator drones in Niger are unarmed, U.S. officials said, though they have not ruled out equipping the aircraft with Hellfire missiles in the future. For now, the drones are conducting surveillance over Mali and Niger.
        U.S. officials said they share video footage and other intelligence collected by the unmanned aircraft with French forces and African troops '-- including 670 soldiers from Niger '-- who are fighting the Islamist insurgency in Mali. Liaison officers from Niger, France and Chad work alongside U.S. Air Force personnel who launch and land the drones from the base in Niamey.
        Most of the surveillance missions are designed to track broad patterns of human activity and are not aimed at hunting individuals, said a senior U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. Although French and African troops are engaged in combat in Mali, the Obama administration has not given the U.S. military the same authorization.
        ''The whole issue is lethality,'' the senior official said. ''We don't want to abet a lethal action.''
        But the rules of engagement are blurry. Intelligence gathered by the Predators could indirectly help the French fix targets for airstrikes or prompt Nigerien security forces to take action on their territory.
        Moreover, U.S. officials have acknowledged that they could use lethal force under certain circumstances. Last month, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress that the U.S. military had designated ''a handful of high-value individuals'' in North Africa for their suspected connections to al-Qaeda, making them potential targets for capture or killing.
        Mission's duration unclear
        The Pentagon declined to say exactly how many Predator aircraft it has sent to Niger or how long it intends to keep them there. But there are signs that the U.S. military wants to establish a long-term presence in West Africa.
        After years of negotiations, the Obama administration signed an agreement with Niger in January that provides judicial protection and other safeguards for U.S. troops in the country.
        Two U.S. defense officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning, said the Pentagon ultimately wants to move the Predators to the Saharan city of Agadez, in northern Niger.
        Agadez is closer to parts of southern Algeria and southern Libya where fighters and arms traffickers allied with al-Qaeda have taken refuge. The airfield in Agadez, however, is rudimentary and needs improvements before it can host drones, officials said.
        The U.S. military has used Agadez since last year as a refueling stop for U-28 spy planes '-- small, piloted aircraft flown by private contractors. U.S. officials have hesitated to send those surveillance aircraft across the border into Mali because of fears that the crews could be taken hostage if the planes crash or are shot down.
        Government officials in Niger declined to say whether they viewed the U.S. drones as a short-term fix or a permanent addition.
        ''I can't tell you how long they will be here,'' said Mahamadou, the president. ''How long it will take to stabilize Mali is one factor. The stabilization of Libya is another.''
        At the same time, he said Niger cannot rely on French and U.S. military forces forever and needs to ensure its own security. To that end, the U.S. government has agreed to give Niger two Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft to transport troops and conduct surveillance.
        ''The intelligence is crucial for us,'' said Col. Mamane Souley, director of exterior relations for the Nigerien armed forces. ''We have a vast territory, and in that sense aircraft are fundamentally important.''
        Low profile in Muslim nation
        The presence of high-tech Predator drones in Niger's skies contrasts jarringly with life on the ground. There are only a handful of paved roads in the capital. Many people live in mud-brick shanties. Goats and camels are a common sight in the city center.
        U.S. and Nigerien officials had worried that the drones might spur a popular backlash in Niger, where about 90 percent of the population is Muslim. Extra security barriers were raised outside the U.S. and French embassies as a precaution. So far, however, reaction has been muted, and many people seem to favor anything that the U.S. and French militaries can do to prevent a spillover of violence from Mali.
        ''Of course, we might have some narrow-minded Nigeriens,'' said Marou Amadou, who serves as Niger's justice minister and its chief government spokesman. ''But people understand that the presence of these drones is very, very helpful. .'‰.'‰. What is happening in Mali could happen in Niger also.''
        Nonetheless, U.S. troops have kept a low profile. Americans with short haircuts and a military bearing occasionally surface at a couple of Niamey hotels to eat barbecue or drink beer, but most confine themselves to the base.
        The Africa Command did not respond to questions about how many U.S. troops are in Niger, but one U.S. official said the number of Air Force personnel had increased beyond the 100 troops Obama said last month he had deployed.
        ''We just know there are drones; we don't know what they are doing exactly,'' said Djibril Abarchi, chairman of the Nigerien Association for the Defense of Human Rights, an independent watchdog group. ''Nothing is visible. There is no transparency in our country with military questions. No one can tell you what's going on.''
        Most Nigeriens are strongly opposed to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the terrorist network's affiliate, and recognize that their country is vulnerable without foreign military help, said Boureima Abdou Daouda, an imam in Niamey who leads a regional council of religious leaders that advises governments on countering extremism.
        At the same time, as in many African countries, the presence of foreign troops is a sensitive issue given the history of colonialism in Niger. Daouda warned that the government could face trouble if it doesn't shore up popular support and do a better job of publicly explaining why the American drones are necessary.
        ''Someone with bad intentions could say, 'They are here to cause strife with Muslims,' '' he said. ''People might demonstrate. They might riot. Big flames begin with little flames.''
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Oil Companies See Africa as a Market - WSJ.com
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 18:27
        Jan. 29, 2014 7:56 p.m. ET
        ACCRA, Ghana'--Henry Appiah is making big changes at the Total SA service station he manages in this bustling African city.
        He ousted souvenir vendors who had colonized part of his premises, instead renting the section to a small bank branch. Across the lot, he installed a Goodyear Tire Service Center. Nearby, a new carwash, a tuneup bay and racks...
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      African or ME 'Monarchies' are not under attack, only the republics
      Monarchies were 'awarded' by Britain
      Wes Clark 7: Somalia and Sudan
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      AFRICOM is out of Germany still
      ABOUT THE COMMAND | United States Africa Command
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 18:18
        United States Africa Command, (U.S. AFRICOM) is one of six of the U.S. Defense Department's geographic combatant commands and is responsible to the Secretary of Defense for military relations with African nations, the African Union, and African regional security organizations. A full-spectrum combatant command, U.S. AFRICOM is responsible for all U.S. Department of Defense operations, exercises, and security cooperation on the African continent, its island nations, and surrounding waters. AFRICOM began initial operations on Oct. 1, 2007, and officially became an independent command on Oct. 1, 2008.
        Leadership
        Commander: General David M. Rodriguez, U.S. Army
        Command Senior Enlisted Leader: Command Sergeant Major Darrin J. Bohn, U.S. Army
        Deputy to the Commander for Military Operations: Lieutenant General Steven A. Hummer, U.S. Marine Corps
        Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Engagements: Ambassador Phillip Carter, III, U.S. Department of State
        Chief of Staff: Major General O.G. Mannon, U.S. Air Force
        Mission
        United States Africa Command, in concert with interagency and international partners, builds defense capabilities, responds to crisis, and deters and defeats transnational threats in order to advance U.S. national interests and promote regional security, stability, and prosperity.
        Personnel
        U.S. Africa Command has approximately 2,000 assigned personnel, including military, U.S. federal civilian employees, and U.S. contractor employees. About 1,500 work at the command's headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Others are assigned to AFRICOM units at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, and RAF Molesworth, England. The command's programs in Africa are coordinated through Offices of Security Cooperation and Defense Attach(C) Offices in approximately 38 nations. The command also has liaison officers at key African posts, including the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping and Training Centre in Ghana.
        AFRICOM is part of a diverse interagency team that reflects the talents, expertise, and capabilities within the entire U.S. government. The command has four Senior Foreign Service (SFS) officers in key positions as well as more than 30 personnel from more than 10 U.S. government departments and agencies, including the Departments of State and Homeland Security, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The most senior is a career State Department official who serves as the deputy to the commander for civil-military activities. Our interagency partners bring invaluable expertise to help the command ensure its plans and activities complement those of other U.S. government programs and fit within the context of U.S. foreign policy.
        Location
        U.S. Africa Command is located at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart-Moehringen, Germany.
        Subordinate Commands
        AFRICOM's subordinate commands set the conditions for success of our security cooperation programs and activities on the continent. They perform detailed planning, provide essential command and control, establish and sustain relationships with our partners, and provide timely assessments. They are:
        U.S. Army Africa (USARAF) - Operating from Vicenza, Italy, USARAF conducts sustained security engagement with African land forces to promote security, stability, and peace.
        U.S. Naval Forces Africa (NAVAF) - Headquartered in Naples, Italy, NAVAF's primary mission is to improve the maritime security capability and capacity of African partners. Personnel are shared with U.S. Naval Forces Europe.
        U.S. Air Forces Africa (AFAFRICA) - As the air component of USAFRICOM, AFAFRICA conducts sustained security engagement and operations to promote air safety, security, and development in Africa.
        U.S. Marine Corps Forces Africa (MARFORAF) - Located in Stuttgart, Germany, MARFORAF conducts operations, exercises, training, and security cooperation activities throughout the African continent. Its staff is shared U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe.
        Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) - In the Horn of Africa, CJTF-HOA is the U.S. Africa Command organization that conducts operations in the region to enhance partner nation capacity, promote regional security and stability, dissuade conflict, and protect U.S. and coalition interests. CJTF-HOA is critical to U.S. AFRICOM's efforts to build partner capacity to counter violent extremists and address other regional security partnerships. CJTF-HOA, with approximately 2,000 personnel assigned, is headquartered at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti.
        U.S. Special Operations Command Africa (SOCAFRICA) - SOCAFRICA, co-located with U.S. Africa Command at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, aims to build operational capacity, strengthen regional security and capacity initiatives, implement effective communication strategies in support of strategic objectives, and eradicate violent extremist organizations.
        Funding
        U.S. Africa Command's headquarters operating budget executed $274 million in Fiscal Year 2010, $286 million in Fiscal Year 2011, and $276 million in Fiscal Year 2012.
        Media Releases for ABOUT THE COMMAND
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Djibouti Callers Photograph Wins 1st Prize | NDJ World Mobile
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 22:02
        DJIBOUTI CITY '' American photographer John Stanmeyer won the 2013 World Press Photo Award on Friday with his image of African men standing in the night trying to get a cellphone signal.
        NDJ World | Published: Feb 14 2014 LifestyleAdministrator '†'Add comment Picture of Djibouti callers wins 2013 Word Press Photo 1st prize. Photo Credit: ATP
        The migrant workers live in the coastal city of Djibouti and hold up their cellphones with hopes of catching a cheap or free airway network, allowing them to call their families in neighboring Somalia.
        The country of Djibouti has become a popular transit hub for migrant workers from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea wanting to move to Europe and the Middle-East, looking for a better life.
        Gary Knight, one of the jury members selection the first prize winner, said that Stanmeyer's photo speaks of 'great hope'.
        Stanmeyer shot the picture for National Geographic and was awarded $US12,000 in prize money.
        The World Press Photo winning picture was chosen from 98,671 entries submitted by 5,754 photographers. The 2013 entries were less than in 2012 when 103,000 photos were submitted.
        World Press Photo director Michiel Munneke said ''it's not about the number of entries we receive but about the quality of the image''. He said: ''We want to confront, inspire and make the public aware of subjects and events that make a difference''.
        The 2013 award was the 57th annual edition of the event. The winning photos in 9 categories will be on display on April 18th at the New Church in Amsterdam.
        Afterwards, the exhibition will continue to remain on display traveling through more than 100 cities in 45 countries.
        Sponsored LinksThis entry was posted in Lifestyle and tagged Djibouti Callers, migrant workers, National Geographic, photographer John Stanmeyer, picture of hope, World Press Photo on February 14, 2014by Administrator. Previous PostTeenager Talks About Sky Dive Gone WrongNext PostBreivik Not Happy With Prison Life
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Archbishop condemns Christian attacks in C.Africa
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Source: The Daily Star >> Live News
        Thu, 13 Feb 2014 14:24
        VATICAN CITY: A Central African Republic archbishop on Thursday condemned the attacks on Muslim civilians being carried out by Christian militia groups in his country, saying that violence was not coherent with faith.
        "You cannot say you are Christian and kill, burn, destroy your brother," Dieudonne Nzapalainga, the archbishop of Bangui, said on Vatican Radio.
        He said members of the anti-balaka militias "cannot believe that they are being coherent with their faith" and defined their attacks as a "struggle for power".
        "Imams, pastors and myself, we speak the same language... We ask that those who use, who manipulate young people, be held responsible on a national and an international level," the Catholic cleric said.
        Amnesty International on Wednesday denounced "ethnic cleansing" in the country, saying it had documented at least 200 killings of Muslim civilians by the Christian militia groups set up in the wake of the March 2013 coup by the mainly-Muslim Seleka rebellion.
        The impoverished Christian-majority country descended into chaos last March after the rebellion overthrew the government, sparking deadly violence that has uprooted a million people out of a population of 4.6 million.
        Atrocities, the fear of attacks and a lack of food have displaced a quarter of the country's population, while the United Nations and relief agencies estimate that at least two million people need humanitarian assistance.
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    SnowJob
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Theorum
        In regards our Glenn Grenwald conversation
          He's just a new type of cog in the wheel of the MIC
          Eisenhower *did* warn us after all.
            Swords to ploughshares
              Swords to ploughshares (or swords to plowshares) is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications
            1960 United States Census
              179,323,175
              3.5 million 'defence' workers in 1961
              Half the population today. So maybe 7 million total in intelligence?
        The MIC IC only want to continue their $80b/year ride
        We are withdrawing from Middle East, need to keep the income up
        Bring terror to the homeland
        15 Intelligence organizations are military based
        CIA are doing the work, and have incentive to re-route some of that money and power
        Only 1, CIA is civilian based
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Patricia and James Poitras '63 | McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 14 Feb 2014 20:09
        Pat and Jim Poitras decided to make their generous gift to establish the Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research, very shortly after hearing Robert Desimone address a meeting of the McGovern Institute's Leadership Board in November 2006. There, Desimone described a long-range plan for the future of the Institute and the creation of a new initiative for brain disease and mental illness.
        ''We were pleased with this newly stated purpose to bring basic research into practice. We had decided many years ago that our philanthropic efforts would be directed towards this psychiatric research. We could not have imagined then that this perfect synergy between research at MIT's McGovern Institute and our own philanthropic goals would develop," recalls Jim Poitras, a 1963 MIT alumnus with a degree in electrical engineering.
        ''After hearing Bob, we talked with Pat and Lore McGovern over dinner," continues Pat, ''and realized we could help make this happen faster than even they had hoped. We are very hopeful for the future."
        The Poitras's have committed $20 million to support research on major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders at the center.
        When friends ask why they are contributing to MIT rather than to a new research facility near their Orlando home, Jim tells them: ''The best bang for the buck is at MIT, right here, right now."
        After graduating from MIT, Jim worked in research, computer programming, and administration at Massachusetts General Hospital until 1979. For 22 years, he headed the family's medical products manufacturing business, Highland Laboratories, Inc., based in Ashland, MA. Jim retired in 2006 as President and CEO of the company, and he continues to manage other family investments.
        Pat's career was in social work, and she is president of the Poitras Charitable Foundation. Both are members of the McGovern Institute Leadership Board. They are longstanding donors to MIT and have previously endowed the James W. and Patricia T. Poitras Professorship Fund in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences in the field of psychiatric research.
        In addition to their gifts to MIT, Pat and Jim fund community outreach programs for the mentally ill. Jim recalls that his father, Edward J. Poitras '28, credited his success to what MIT gave him'--a full scholarship, including train fare for his daily commute. ''He reciprocated generously throughout his life and encouraged me to give back to MIT, too. But our philanthropic focus was psychiatry and MIT wasn't doing much psychiatric research. Now, with the McGovern Institute, that problem is resolved."
      MIT Spectrum >> Spring 2008 >> Fulfilling a Dream
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 14 Feb 2014 20:08
        Jim and Pat Poitras say they hope their gift will help many in their lifetime. Photo: Chris Casler
        Jim and Pat Poitras recently committed $20 million to the McGovern Institute for Brain Research to establish the James W. and Patricia T. Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research.
        ''We think this is a superb investment,'' says Jim, whose dream is ''that within a generation there will be some definite, positive outcomes for those who suffer from these disorders.'' The Center will support research on bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia and other severe psychiatric illnesses. It will also collaborate with MIT's Broad Institute and will work with other Boston-based clinical research institutions.
        Pat says that her hope is that MIT's proximity to the world's top hospitals, and the desire of those at the McGovern Institute to collaborate with those institutions, ''will help solve the basic mysteries of major mental illness. While there is no magic bullet and success is not guaranteed, the Center has a great chance to accomplish these goals,'' she says.
        In 1980, the couple's own daughter was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and while the research they are supporting is unlikely to help her directly, Pat says, ''hopefully it will help many, many others in our lifetime.''
        An estimated 26 percent of Americans 18 and older '-- about one in four adults '-- suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. But MIT experts predict that within 10 years, there will be big breakthroughs in the treatments of depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
        Because of this, Pat says, now was the time to make this gift '-- to give this revolutionary work a push. ''We have confidence in the people at MIT. They're the best in the world, and to have a major neuroscience institute like the McGovern on board with this challenge is fantastic.''
        GIVING, A WAY OF LIFEJim Poitras grew up in a family where philanthropy was a way of life.
        His father, Edward J. Poitras, an electrical engineer and an inventor with dozens of patents, graduated from MIT in 1928.
        As a young man, Jim's Dad, who commuted to the Institute from Salem, MA, attended this school on a full scholarship. MIT even paid his train fare. He told Jim that without MIT's support, he would not have been so successful and often credited his good fortune entirely to his alma mater.
        Over the years, Jim watched his parents become quiet givers not only to MIT, but to many other charitable causes. He learned early that giving was its own reward.
        Jim Poitras graduated from MIT in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. He began his career at Harvard Medical School, then in 1964, joined Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, where he did research in the cardiovascular physiology laboratory. Soon he began working at the hospital on computer programming and implementation of the computer systems for patient care. In 1979, he left to join Highland Laboratories in Ashland, MA, the family's manufacturing company that was launched by his father in 1953. When he joined the firm, Jim also took over responsibility for the family's real estate investments, which he continues to manage.
        Married nearly 46 years, Jim and Pat met on a blind date. Later, they raised three daughters: Christine, who teaches English as a second language; Laura, who makes documentary films; and Jennifer, who works in disaster response and planning. Pat, a registered nurse, earned a B.A. in philosophy from Wellesley College and a master's in social work from Smith.
        Now, for pleasure the couple plays duplicate bridge and travels across the country for tournaments. Both are Life Masters. In addition, they are avid bird watchers and often take nature trips with the Massachusetts Audubon Society to places like Costa Rica, Cuba, Morocco, and Alaska. Ardent Boston Red Sox fans, they attend about 15 games a year at Fenway Park.
        NO STIGMAJim says it was important for the couple to make this gift now, ''because we can hopefully see the results in our lifetime.''
        Pat hopes that their gift will help to eliminate the stigma of mental illness. ''I want it to give people hope that these misunderstood illnesses are being taken seriously in a scientific way '-- and not in a judgmental way.''
        She adds that because of their personal experience with mental illness their giving is in part, a gift to themselves.
        ''We're helping a lot of people with wonderful minds to do the work that we want to have done. It's fulfilling a personal dream '-- the dream to actually have brilliant scientists working together to fight these disorders. We are very optimistic that they'll be successful.''
        by Liz Karagianis Previous | Next >>
        On Topic: alumni/ae, brain+cognitive sciences, giving
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Droning bullcrap- producer email
        The switching sim cards does make sense but not with drones. When I was in
        Afghanistan high level targets would give their sat phone to low level
        idiots. The idiot would be given a message to read over the phone so they
        would be targeted and not the high level guy. Since 2004 the US is using
        newer technology that allows them to clone captured sim cards. Often a
        group of suspects would be stopped and blindfolded. All the phones would be
        taken, sim cards cloned, then returned to the people. Originally it would
        take hours to triangulate a person and then it would only give you a
        general area. With the newer stuff and the cloned sims it took 15-20
        minutes to pinpoint a specific building. They caught on to this and would
        give their sim cards to nobodies or idiots so that we would be throw off.
        This switching of sim cards only makes sense when there are boots on the
        ground to throw off. If they capture a nobody then they will release them.
        Switching sim cards doesn't make sense if they are being droned, they would
        just switch sim cards.
        Matt
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Merkel, Hollande to discuss European communication network avoiding U.S. - Yahoo News
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 18:20
        HomeMailNewsSportsFinanceWeatherGamesGroupsAnswersScreenFlickrMobileMoreCelebrityShineMoviesMusicTVHealthShoppingTravelAutosHomesYahoo NewsSearch NewsSearch WebSign InMailHelpAccount InfoHelpSuggestionsYahoo
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Tenth Amendment Center: Welcome to the Tenther and Nullification Movement
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 21:49
        Hello and welcome to the Tenther Movement!
        Thank you for stopping by the Tenth Amendment Center.We hope you'll find something new, something interesting, and something concrete to do!
        We don't identify with political parties. When Republicans are in power, we get lambasted by the right for being ''communists'' for opposing unconstitutional republican programs. When Democrats are in power, we get lambasted by the left for being ''racists'' for opposing unconstitutional democrat programs. If you're not catching any flak, you're not over the target.
        And since our goal is the Constitution, we're always over the target to the establishment.
        The Constitution. Every issue, every time. No exceptions, no excuses.
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    F-Russia
      RTL4 used same drag queens in their Sochi report
      Americans' Views of Russia, Putin Are Worst in Years
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 14 Feb 2014 17:23
        WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As host nation Russia dominates the world stage at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Americans clearly do not think highly of the country or its president, Vladimir Putin. Putin and Russia score the highest unfavorable ratings -- 63% and 60%, respectively -- that Gallup has recorded for them in the past two decades.
        These sentiments, based on a survey conducted Feb. 6-9, continue the downward trajectory in Americans' opinions since Putin returned to Russia's presidency in 2012. These results align with Gallup's findings last fall when Americans, for the first time in 14 years of Gallup polling on the topic, said they consider Russia an enemy, not an ally. In the past year, Russia has faced scrutiny for granting former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden asylum, involving itself in the Syrian civil war, and restricting gay and lesbian civil rights. The threat of terrorism at the Olympics and the allegedly substandard conditions at the Winter Games have also been big media stories in the past several months.
        While their unfavorable ratings of Russia are at an all-time high, Americans' perceptions of the world power have not always been positive in the years since the former Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. In 1999, Russia's bombing of the former Soviet republic of Chechnya, along with its opposition to the NATO war in Kosovo, likely soured American opinion toward Russia. Another spike in anti-Russian opinion occurred in March 2003 (52% unfavorable) when Russia refused to back the U.S. in the Iraq war, claiming that only the United Nations could settle the dispute.
        Gallup first asked Americans about Russia in 1994, more than two years after the Soviet Union's collapse. Since then, Americans have expressed the most positive views in 2002, with 66% rating the country favorably.
        Clear Majority Also Does Not View Putin Favorably
        Not surprisingly, Americans' views of Russia and Putin are parallel, perhaps because Putin and Russia have become synonymous. More than six in 10 Americans currently have an unfavorable opinion of Putin, the highest negative rating in the four times Gallup has asked about him since he became president for the first time in 1999. Putin's op-ed criticizing the U.S. in the New York Times last September may have contributed to this low opinion. In the op-ed, he claimed that President Barack Obama's statement about American exceptionalism was "extremely dangerous." Obama had said that the ability of the U.S. to intervene in geopolitical conflict when needed is "what makes us exceptional" Just after the publishing of the op-ed, Gallup found that 54% of Americans viewed Putin unfavorably.
        Americans at the time endorsed Putin's plan to rid Syria of chemical weapons, but apparently that validation did not improve feelings overall. Tension between Russia and the Ukraine, along with ongoing concerns about the threat of terrorism at the Olympics and Russia's anti-gay legislation, may be adding to Putin's unfavorability.
        Bottom Line
        Over the past year, Russia has pursued a much more aggressive stance on the world stage than at any time in the new millennium. In his first term in office, Putin was viewed more favorably than unfavorably by the American public, but Americans now see him in a clearly unfavorable light.
        Russia itself, which the U.S. long viewed with suspicion during the Cold War days, has traveled a more complicated path since. While American sentiments have been mostly favorable over the past 20 years, it is obvious that Americans will react strongly at moments when Russia clashes with the U.S. The Chechnya conflict, the Iraq war, and now a multitude of factors -- Snowden, Syria, Putin's taking issue with American "exceptionalism," Ukraine, and Russia's anti-gay policies -- distinctly affect Americans' views of Russia and its leader.
        Read how Putin's popularity is waning among Russians as well, according to the Gallup World Poll.
        Survey MethodsResults for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Feb. 6-9, 2014, on the Gallup Poll Social Series, with a random sample of 1,018 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
        For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
        Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 50% cellphone respondents and 50% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cellphone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.
        Samples are weighted to correct for unequal selection probability, nonresponse, and double coverage of landline and cell users in the two sampling frames. They are also weighted to match the national demographics of gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, population density, and phone status (cellphone only/landline only/both, cellphone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the most recent Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older U.S. population. Phone status targets are based on the most recent National Health Interview Survey. Population density targets are based on the most recent U.S. census. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting.
        In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
        View methodology, full question results, and trend data.
        For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.
      Russia, Egypt Reach Initial $3 Bln Arms Deal '' Report | Russia | RIA Novosti
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 09:29
        MOSCOW, February 14 (RIA Novosti) '' Egypt has reached an initial agreement on how to implement a new Russian arms delivery deal worth over $3 billion, Vedomosti newspaper reported Friday.
        Egypt's defense minister and likely new president Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi negotiated the agreement, aimed at replacing decreased assistance from Washington, during talks in Moscow on Thursday between Russian and Egyptian foreign and defense ministers. The military leader was warmly received by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first trip abroad following his seizure of power in a coup last year.
        Vedomosti cited Russian defense sources as saying that at the meeting the sides initialed or signed contracts for the delivery of MiG-29M/M2 Fulcrum fighter jets, air defense missile complexes, Mi-35 helicopters, coastal anti-ship complexes, light weapons and ammunition.
        The arms deal was originally proposed during a November visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Cairo. Various media reports have indicated the value of the deal could be several billion dollars.
        The deal is reportedly to be funded mainly by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
        (C) RIA Novosti.
        MiG: between Past and Future_big
        No announcement on the arms deal was made following Thursday's meeting. Putin said, however, that Russia was prepared to strengthen cooperation with the country following presidential and parliamentary elections.
        El-Sisi has taken firm control over the country since the ouster of Islamist former President Mohammed Morsi in July. The often violent crackdown unleashed by the el-Sisi government has led to a cooling in relations with Washington, which announced in October that it would slash longstanding military aid to Cairo.
        According to US officials, aid cuts included halting shipments of F-16 fighter jets, Apache helicopters, M1A1 tanks and advanced anti-ship missiles.
        Moscow is apparently seeking to exploit the Egyptian demand for defense materiel created by US disengagement.
      F-Russia! Waiting for someone from the hockey team to come out.... Hockey chiller: Disallowed goal lifts US to beat Russia in extended shootout
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Source: RT - News
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:14
        Published time: February 15, 2014 20:44Edited time: February 16, 2014 04:10Russia's Pavel Datsyuk (L) scores on Team USA's goalie Jonathan Quick during the second period of their men's preliminary round ice hockey game at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, February 15, 2014.(Reuters / Mark Blinch)
        '‹The US men's hockey team beat Russia in a dramatic shootout in a round robin game in Sochi, after Russian defenseman Fedor Tyutin had a goal chalked off '' sparking mass indignation among home supporters.
        Russia equalized half-way through the third period, and seemingly capped their comeback three minutes later when Tyutin launched a powerful shot from the top of the circle.
        But after a lengthy replay, the US referee was told by video officials in the booth that the goal would not stand, as Jonathan Quick, the American netminder, had moved the post a few seconds before Tyutin's shots.
        The two teams battled evenly through the remainder of regular time and overtime, before an electric shootout, in which both teams were constantly one accurate shot short of victory.
        St. Louis Blues center TJ Oshie showed his mettle in the 8-round shooting competition, outwitting goaltender Sergey Bobrovsky on four of his six attempts.
        "I aged a couple of years in that shootout," said United States coach Dan Bylsma."Play the same game and we'll win. It was a good game, very interesting, the best game we played so far. We showed great hockey," said star Russian forward Evgeni Malkin.
        But for many, the spirit displayed was insufficient and hearty boos rang out from the capacity crowd of mostly home supporters, who felt they had been robbed of victory.
        Russian internet users also flooded Twitter and other social networks complaining about the perceived injustice.
        But Russian officials said that they accepted the referees' decision, as international rules '' under which the game was played '' say that any movement of the goalposts automatically nullifies a goal (unlike the National Hockey League rules, which give the officials discretion). If the goaltender moves them accidentally, as Quick was adjudged to have done, then there is no sanction for the defending team at all.
        ''We contacted the Sochi refereeing supervisors following the game, and took the moment apart frame by frame. The decision cannot be questioned,'' said legendary goalkeeper and head of Russian Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak.
        ''However much we wish it was otherwise.''
        Even before the puck was dropped, the game resonated with political and sporting significance - the US still celebrates its team's victory over the Soviets in Lake Placid in 1980 as its most treasured Winter Games memory.
        The show on the ice '' between two bona fide contenders for Sochi gold - did not disappoint.
        Superstar Russian center Pavel Datsyuk '' whose participation had been in doubt due to a leg injury - opened the scoring in the second period, but defenseman Cam Fowler responded on the power play a few minutes later. Joe Pavelski put the Ice Yanks ahead again, only for Datsyuk to strike back with his second.
        The tempo had been extremely high throughout, with players using the bigger Olympic ice to showcase their technical skills.
        But even though both teams played as if it were their final, with a committed Vladimir Putin watching from the stands, the impact of the game on the tournament as a whole is as yet undetermined.
        The winner of the four-country group '' now likely Team USA, considering its 100 percent record and the relative weakness of Slovakia, which it will play next '' gets a bye to the quarterfinals. The runner-up will likely have to play an additional game, and may face a stronger opponent afterwards, but still has every chance of making it through.
        And Russia may yet get its chance for revenge in a more decisive matchup.
        ''It's not the end of the world. It was a great match today,'' said Russian sniper Ilya Kovalchuk.''I hope we get to play them again here in Sochi.''
    Agenda 21
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      BBC News - UK storms: Hammond says climate change 'clearly a factor'
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:37
        16 February 2014Last updated at 08:10 ET Climate change is "clearly a factor" in the period of stormy weather the UK has been experiencing, the defence secretary has said.
        Philip Hammond told the Andrew Marr Show the storms and flooding had caused "quite serious damage" to the country's infrastructure.
        Earlier, Labour leader Ed Miliband said global climate change was now an issue of national security.
        Their comments come as more flooding is expected in many parts of the country.
        Despite a let-up in the stormy weather, there are 14 severe flood warnings - indicating a "danger to life" - for south-east England close to the River Thames and two for the Somerset Levels, which have experienced weeks of flooding.
        As well as the impact to the transport network, about one million properties had their power cut off in the last week and thousands in southern England and Wales are still without power, according to the Energy Networks Association.
        Continue reading the main storySimon ClemisonBBC News
        If you had to quickly leave the house at dawn as floodwaters rose would you remember everything you need? Bedding? Baby supplies? How about contacting the local authority?
        Flooding has no respect for the 9 to 5. A rest centre at Bridgwater has been a first port of call for people who have made the decision to leave their homes on the Somerset Levels.
        Here, donated food and blankets are piled up. Volunteers offer advice and support.
        As the crisis continues, the services on offer at Westfield Church are evolving. You can do your washing and cook a meal here.
        It may be a home from home but it's not the real thing and the question now is how long will it take before people can return. One charity fears it could be months before properties are dried out and repaired.
        For this one church the doors could be open a lot longer than this day of worship.
        'Science is clear'Some Conservative MPs and peers have challenged the argument that the recent storms were connected to global temperature changes.
        Former chancellor Lord Lawson, who is among the most prominent climate change sceptics, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday it was "not the case" that the storms were due to global warming.
        However, Mr Miliband said: "What we've learnt from what's happened over the last few weeks, tragically, is that the costs of not acting on climate change in terms of the billions of pounds that are lost in terms of businesses and families as well as the human costs are greater than the costs of acting."
        He added: "Climate change will mean more floods and more storms and that's why we've got to treat it like any other national security issue and that means uniting as a country behind a national effort to do more to defend against the floods, to invest in clean energy and to show leadership internationally to persuade other countries to be part of the fight against climate change."
        Earlier, he told the Observer that "because of political division in Westminster we are sleepwalking into a national security crisis on climate change".
        "The terrible events of the last few weeks should serve as a wake-up call for us all," he added.
        Mr Hammond said: "Climate change is clearly happening; it is clearly a factor in the weather patterns that we are seeing.
        "That's why we are investing significant amounts of money in increasing our flood resilience in the UK."
        He said although the floods were "a terrible tragedy" for those affected, "hundreds of thousands of properties" had been protected from flooding "by the investment we've made over recent years".
        The US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged the global community to act against climate change, saying "the window of time" is closing to prevent the worst consequences.
        His comments coincide with the release of new research, which suggests the main system that helps determine the weather over northern Europe and North America may be changing.
        The study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago, showed the so-called jet stream has increasingly taken a longer, meandering path resulting in weather remaining the same for more prolonged periods.
        Last week, the Met Office's chief scientist Dame Julia Slingo said there was "no definitive answer" as to what had caused the period of stormy weather in the UK but that "all the evidence suggests there is a link to climate change".
        'Some comfort'Labour has called for more action to tackle climate change including a cross-party agreement for a 2030 decarbonisation target, and greater efforts to reach international agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
        It said the independent Committee for Climate Change - which advises the government on emissions targets and climate change - should do a full assessment of the policy response to extreme weather conditions caused by climate change and preparedness for future floods.
        And it said a greater priority should be given to flood defence and protection.
        The committee itself said that while an extra £130m pledged by the government would bring some comfort to flooded communities, it would not address the rising long-term flood risk.
        It said ministers needed to increase significantly the amount they planned to spend on flood and coastal defences if it was to make up a projected shortfall.
        In its latest blog, the committee said the new money would primarily be spent on repairing and reinstating defences that had been damaged in the recent storms, and so help recover existing levels of protection.
        But it added: "So the additional funding won't materially address the rising long-term flood risk given the latest assessment of the investment need."
        By 2015, it said, "we are on course to spend half a billion pounds less on flood and coastal defence over this Parliament than the amount needed to avoid more homes becoming at significant risk over time. This remains the case".
        Live flood warnings from the Environment Agency
        BackThis map and flood alert data are supplied to the BBC by third parties. The BBC is not responsible for its accuracy and you use it at your own risk
        View the flood map
      More rain forecast in the UK; severe flood warnings to remain in place | euronews, world news
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:36
        As Britain battles its worst floods in decades, more rain is forecast.
        The Met Office is keeping severe flood warnings in place for many southern and central regions.
        Parts of southwest England have been underwater for weeks, following the wettest January in almost 250 years.
        Three people have reportedly died as a result of the weather. Gales have lashed some areas of the UK at up to 129 kilometres per hour.
        British police said a 49-year-old woman was killed in central London after part of a building collapsed on the car she was driving.
        Meanwhile, tens of thousands of households have been left without electricity as the wind brought down power lines.
        The southern coast of England has been particularly badly hit with high waves and strong winds battering the seafront.
        A man on a cruise liner in the English Channel died when the ship was hit by a large wave during rough seas.
        In Dorset damaged cars could be found among the wreckage of huts and other debris on a local beach.
        On Friday, emergency services in Milford on Sea were forced to evacuate 32 diners from a restaurant after it was hit by a strong tidal surge.
        But others in the town took advantage of the gusts. On Saturday, a group of windsurfers could be seen riding the extreme waves.
      EU policy deliberately caused the floods
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Source: What Gx2 Music is saying.
        Fri, 14 Feb 2014 05:22
        EU policy: deliberately flooding the Somerset LevelsEU policy: deliberately flooding the Somerset Levels
        Richard North, 03/02/2014 1689It is all very well for Chris Smith, Chairman of the Environment Agency, to prattle on about "difficult choices", and to tell us that "more must be done to protect the Somerset Levels". But the flooding crisis over which he is presiding is one which he, at the behest of the EU, has deliberately allowed to happen.Allowing the flooding of the Levels was a matter of EU policy, introduced by a 2007 Directive and consciously adopted by the Environment Agency in 2008, which then sought to increase the frequency of flooding in the area.What then makes it impossible for the people on the spot, like Owen Paterson, is that they are having to deal with those decisions, which were made years ago. Only now are the consequences becoming evident, while the people (or agencies) who contributed to the disaster are entirely invisible.In the "invisible" class is that classic elephant in the room, the European Union, which was behind the last great change in British strategy, heralded by a Defra consultation document in July 2004 called "making space for water". It introduced "a new Government strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management in England".The clue as to its provenance came on page 23, under the heading "European Dimension", which told us that flood risk management was being discussed at the EU level, and the themes under discussion were "all consistent with this consultation and the current approach in England".The outline of the EU approach had in fact been published in a COM final, (2004)472, the very same month as the Defra document, signalling the "European" interest and warning of further activity to come.At the time, Charles Clover, writing in the Telegraph, was very far from being impressed. He complained that, while Defra calls it "Making Space for Water", others called it "flooding". And, in those few words, the future government policy was revealed. Flood defence was to give way to "management". In EU terms, that meant more flooding.Government consultation continued into 2005, making it very clear that a "new strategic direction" was involved, one which involved changing the emphasis from flood protection to allowing certain areas to flood. For Somerset, this had already been spelled out in an EU-funded conference in Warsaw in 2003, outlining the results of the Ecoflood projects at a cost of '‚¬350,000, finalised in 2005.Flood defence for farm land, along with high levels of subsidies, had been for many years an important element of Britain's production-orientated agricultural policy, wrote the authors. Many floodplain areas benefited from publicly-funded flood defence and land drainage schemes which reduced crop damage and facilitated a change to more intensive farming systems.Recently, however, they continued, policy emphasis has been placed on environmental enhancement, on greater diversity of economic activity as a basis for sustainable rural livelihoods, and on public enjoyment of the countryside. Funds previously committed to support farm output are increasingly diverted to encourage land managers to deliver environmental benefits.In this context, we were told, there is reduced justification for high standards of flood defence for agriculture. Indeed, there may be substantial benefits if some floodplain land is returned to its previous unprotected, un-drained condition.Therein lay the death knell for the Somerset Levels, as a new term was to dominate policy: "Washland". This was an area of the floodplain that was to be allowed to flood or was deliberately flooded by a watercourse for flood management purposes.Unacknowledged by either government, the media or even Chris Smith in his current diatribe, this policy was given legislative force, not by the Westminster parliament but by an EU directive 2007/60/EC of 23 October 2007 on the assessment and management of flood risks, the so-called "Floods Directive".In recital 14, we saw spelled out the requirement that flood risk management plans should focus on prevention, protection and preparedness. But, "with a view to giving rivers more space, they should consider where possible the maintenance and/or restoration of floodplains, as well as measures to prevent and reduce damage to human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity".Implemented as the Flood Risk Regulations 2009, there, writ large, was Defra's "making space for water" policy. It was all that was needed, by way of legislative authority, for an already Green-dominated Environment Agency to abandon the Somerset Levels and to allow them to flood.To reinforce the change, Defra commissioned a research project costing £105,032, carried out by Nottingham University, which noted that "EU legislation is really driving change". The authors promoted an "ecosystem approach", an idea at the core of EU policy, driving the move away from traditional flood control into the "sustainability" camp.The shift in policy can be seen with brutal clarity on the Commission website which gives priority to the "environment", citing a raft of EU measures, including the Water Framework Directive, the Habitats Directive, the Environmental Impact Assessment and the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive. The Floods Directive is part of the package and this, we are sternly warned, has to be implemented by 2015.Just so that there should be no doubts as to where the policy thrust lay, DG Environment in 2011 issued a note, stressing that flood risk management "should work with nature, rather than against it", building up the "green infrastructure" and thus offering a "triple-win" which included restoration (i.e., flooding) of the floodplain.By then, the Environment Agency needed no encouragement. In its March 2008 plan it had decided that, "providing a robust economic case for maintenance works on the Somerset Levels and Moors remains a challenge" (p.131).We believe, the Agency said, that "it is appropriate to look again at the benefits derived from our work, particularly focusing more on the infrastructure and the environmental benefits, which previous studies have probably underestimated".We have, they added, "international obligations to maintain and enhance the habitats and species in the Somerset Levels and Moors, and it is within this context that all decisions have to be made".And, with that, they were "doubtful that all the pumping stations on the Somerset Levels and Moors are required for flood risk management purposes. Many pumping stations are relatively old and in some cases difficult to maintain. It is necessary to decide which ones are necessary particularly in the context of redistributing water".Of six policy options, the Agency thus adopted the sixth, to: "Take action to increase the frequency of flooding to deliver benefits locally or elsewhere, which may constitute an overall flood risk reduction". This policy option, they said, "involves a strategic increase in flooding in allocated areas" (p.142). The Levels were to be allowed to flood, as a matter of deliberate policy.Thus, when the BBC reported that the government had been "slow to act", it could not have been more wrong. Our true government, the EU, had been there years before, planning to make the disaster that has overtaken the people of that part of Somerset a routine occurrence. The flooding was not so much man-made as made by government.By the time Owen Peterson arrived to try to deal with the situation, he was years too late. Between the EU, the previous Labour government and the Environment Agency, the damage had already been done.
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Heavy snow kills 12 in Japan, disrupts power and flights
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Source: Reuters: World News
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:35
        TOKYOSun Feb 16, 2014 1:12am EST
        TweetShare thisEmailPrintSchool children share an umbrella on a street covered by snow near the Bank of Japan building in Tokyo February 15, 2014.
        Credit: Reuters/Yuya Shino
        TOKYO (Reuters) - Heavy snow hit Tokyo and other parts of eastern Japan over the weekend, leaving 12 people dead, hundreds of thousands of households without electricity, and causing major disruptions to air and ground traffic.
        Tokyo saw as much as 27 cm (10.6 inches) of snow, on par with last weekend's snowstorms, which were the heaviest in 45 years.
        ANA Holdings, Japan's largest carrier, said 338 domestic flights and 12 international flights were canceled on Saturday due to the heavy snow.
        In Kawasaki, west of Tokyo, a train crashed into another after the snow rendered its brakes ineffective, leaving 19 passengers injured. It also snarled traffic on some of Tokyo's most heavily traveled roads.
        The heavy snow also caused wide-spread power outages.
        Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc, which serves the nation's capital and surrounding regions, said up to 246,000 households were without electricity at one point on Saturday.
        As of 12:30 p.m. (0330 GMT) on Sunday, about 18,000 homes were still without power, the utility said.
        (Reporting by Kevin Krolicki, William Mallard and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
        Tweet thisLink thisShare thisDigg thisEmailPrintReprintsComments (0)
        Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
        Add yours using the box above.
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      California's New 'Dust Bowl': "It's Gonna Be a Slow, Painful, Agonizing Death" For Farmers
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Source: BlackListedNews.com
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:25
        "It's really a crisis situation," exclaims one California city manager, "and it's going to get worse in time if this drought doesn't alleviate."
        For the state that produces one-third of the nation's fruits and vegetables, the driest spell in 500 years has prompted President Obama to make $100 million in livestock-disaster aid available within 60 days to help the state rebound from what he describes is " going to be a very challenging situation this year... and potentially some time to come."
        As NBC reports, Governor Jerry Brown believes the "unprecedented emergency" could cost $2.8 billion in job income and $11 billion in state revenues - and as one farmer noted "we can't recapture that." Dismal recollections of the 1930's Dust Bowl are often discussed as workers (and employers) are "packing their bags and leaving town..." leaving regions to "run the risk of becoming desolate ghost towns as local governments and businesses collapse."
        "The truth of the matter is that this is going to be a very challenging situation this year, and frankly, the trend lines are such where it's going to be a challenging situation for some time to come," Obama said Friday during a meeting with local leaders in Firebaugh, Calif., a rural enclave not far from Fresno.
        Obama promised to make $100 million in livestock-disaster aid available within 60 days to help the state rebound from what the White House's top science and technology adviser has called the worst dry spell in 500 years.
        ...
        "A lot of people don't realize the amount of money that's been lost, the amount of jobs lost. And we can't recapture that," Joel Allen, the owner of the Joel Allen Ranch in Firebaugh, told NBC News.
        "It's horrible," Allen added. "People are standing in food lines and people are coming by my office every day looking for work."
        Allen '-- whose family has been in farming for three generations '-- and his 20-man crew are out of work.
        He said: "We're to the point where we're scratching our head. What are we gonna do next?"
        At the local grocery store, fruit prices are up '-- but sales are down. The market was forced to lay off three employees '-- and many more throughout the town are packing their bags and leaving town.
        McDonald said farming communities like Firebaugh run the risk of becoming desolate ghost towns as local governments and businesses collapse.
        "It's going to be a slow, painful process '-- but it could happen," McDonald said. "It's not going to be one big tsunami where you're gonna having something get wiped out in one big wave. It's gonna be a slow, painful, agonizing death."
        ...
        The problem is not just in California. Federal agriculture officials in January designated parts of 11 states as disaster areas, citing the economic strain that the lack of rain is putting on farmers. Those states are Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Sochi Olympians Call for Action on Global Warming
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 00:01
        As UPI noted, in a "letter published today on Protect Our Winters, U.S. cross country skier Andrew Newell penned a letter demanding stronger action on climate change from world leaders."
        "The continued loss of snow is only the beginning," Newell writes. "And unless changes can be made at a federal level, it will be more than our skiing that's at stake."
        He was joined by "105 Olympians, including athletes from the United States, Switzerland, Norway, Estonia, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy and Sweden," who signed the letter with him.
        "I'm not an environmental science major, I'm not a scientist, in fact I didn't even go to college," Newell said, "but just like most Americans, I know that as the snow dwindles so does our water supply, our food, our health and our economy."
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      therrell
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 17:41
        Matthew Therrell
        Matthew TherrellAssociate Professormdtherrell@ua.edu(205) 348-5770
        Education
        Ph.D. - University of Arkansas - 2003Post Doctorate - University of Virginia - 2005Research Focus
        DendrochronologyPaleoclimatologyEnvironmental sustainabilityBiogeographyWater resourcesSouthern AfricaRecent Publications
        Therrell, M.D. 2011. Ancient trees reveal their secrets. Nature Climate Change 1: 94-95.Therrell, M.D. and M. Trotter. 2011. Waniyetu Wowapi: Native American records of weather and climate. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 92: 583-592.Therrell, M.D., D.W. Stahle, M. Mukelabai, and H.H. Shugart. 2007. Age and radial growth dynamics of Pterocarpus angolensis in southern Africa. Forest Ecology and Management 244: 24-31.Therrell, M.D., D.W. Stahle, L.P. Ries, and H.H Shugart. 2006. Two centuries of tree-ring reconstructed rainfall variability in Zimbabwe. Climate Dynamics 26: 677-685.Therrell, M.D., D.W. Stahle, and R. Acuna Soto. 2004. Aztec drought and the 'Curse of One Rabbit.' Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 85: 1263-1272.
      The Day After Tomorrow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 15:20
        On an expedition in Antarctica, paleoclimatologist Jack Hall and his colleagues Frank and Jason are drilling for ice-core samples on the Larsen Ice Shelf for the NOAA when the shelf breaks off.
        Later, Jack presents his findings on global warming at a United Nations conference, but fails to convince diplomats or Vice President of the United States Raymond Becker. However, Professor Terry Rapson of the Hedland Climate Research Centre in Scotland believes in Jack's theories. Several buoys in the North Atlantic simultaneously show a massive drop in the ocean temperature, and Rapson concludes that melting polar ice has started to disrupt the North Atlantic current. He contacts Jack, whose paleoclimatological weather model shows how climate changes caused the first Ice Age. His team, along with NASA's meteorologist Janet Tokada, builds a forecast model.
        Across the world, violent weather causes mass destruction. U.S. President Blake authorizes the FAA to suspend all air traffic due to severe turbulence. At the International Space Station (ISS) three astronauts see a huge storm system spanning the northern hemisphere, delaying their return home. The situation worsens when the storm system develops into three massive hurricane-like super storms with eyes holding ''150 °F (''101 °C) temperatures that freezes anything it comes in contact with. The three cells are located over Northern Canada, Siberia, and Scotland.
        The weather becomes increasingly violent, causing traffic-jammed Manhattan streets to become flooded knee-deep. Jack's son Sam, visiting New York City as he is participating in an academic decathlon, calls his father, promising to be on the next train home, but flooding closes the subways and Grand Central Terminal. As the storm worsens, a massive wave hits Manhattan. Sam and his friends seek shelter with a large group of people in the New York Public Library, but not before his friend and love interest, Laura, gets injured.
        President Blake orders the evacuation of the southern states of the United States, causing almost all of the refugees to head to Mexico. Jack and his team set out for Manhattan to find his son. Their truck crashes into another vehicle just past Philadelphia so the group continues on snowshoes.
        Most of the group taking shelter in the library leaves when the water outside freezes, leaving just Sam and a few others. They burn books to stay alive and break into a vending machine for food. While journeying to New York, Frank falls through the glass roof of a snow-covered shopping mall. As Jason and Jack try to pull him up, the glass under them continues cracking and Frank sacrifices himself by cutting the rope. Laura appears to have a cold, so Sam comforts her and confesses his feelings for her. In Mexico, Vice President Becker hears from the Secretary of State that President Blake's motorcade was caught in the super storm before it could make it to Mexico causing Vice President Becker to be sworn in as the new President.
        The next morning, the group determine that Laura has blood poisoning from the cut on her leg, so Sam and two others search for penicillin in a derelict Russian cargo-ship that drifted inland. The eye of the super storm passes over the city and the three barely return to the library with the medicine in time. During the deep freeze, Jack and Jason take shelter in an abandoned Wendy's restaurant.
        Upon reaching Manhattan, Jack and Jason discover the library buried in snow, but find Sam's group alive. New York has turned into a polar, subarctic city, completely frozen by reaching ''98 °F (''72 °C). They radio this to the government-in-exile in Mexico and President Becker orders helicopters flown into New York, finding more survivors. Becker orders search-and-rescue teams to look for other survivors as he gives his first address to the nation. The movie concludes with the astronauts looking down at Earth from the Space Station, showing most of the northern hemisphere covered in ice and snow, with one of the astronauts stating "Look at that....Have you ever seen the air so clear?"
        ProductionEditThe film was inspired by The Coming Global Superstorm, a book co-authored by Coast to Coast AM talk radio host Art Bell and Whitley Strieber. Strieber also wrote the film's novelization. The book "The Sixth Winter" written by Douglas Orgill and John Gribbin and published in 1979, follows a similar theme. So does the novel Ice!, by Arnold Federbush, published in 1978.
        Shortly before and during the release of the film, members of environmental and political advocacy groups distributed pamphlets to moviegoers describing what they believed to be the possible effects of global warming. Although the film depicts some effects of global warming predicted by scientists, such as rising sea levels, more destructive storms, and disruption of ocean currents and weather patterns, it depicts these events happening much more rapidly and severely than is considered scientifically plausible, and the theory that a "superstorm" will create rapid worldwide climate change does not appear in the scientific literature. When the film was playing in theaters, much criticism was directed at U.S. politicians concerning their rejection of the Kyoto Protocol and climate change. The film's scientific adviser was Dr. Michael Molitor, a leading climate change consultant who worked as a negotiator on the Kyoto Protocol.
        ReceptionEditBox officeEditOver its four-day Memorial Day opening, the film grossed $85,807,341; however, it still ranked #2 for the weekend, behind Shrek 2's $95,578,365 4-day tally, however The Day After Tomorrow led the per-theater average chart with a four-day average of $25,053, compared to Shrek 2's four-day average of $22,633. At the end of its box office run, the film grossed $186,740,799 domestically and $542,771,772 worldwide.[1]
        The film did well at the box office, grossing $542,771,772 internationally. It is the sixth-highest grossing film not to be #1 in the United States (behind My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Alvin and the Chipmunks and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes, and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs). However worldwide, it is third behind only Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Casino Royale.
        Critical reactionEditThe Day After Tomorrow generated mixed reviews from both the science and entertainment communities. The online entertainment guide, Rotten Tomatoes, rated the film at 45%, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The site's general consensus states that it was "A ludicrous popcorn flick filled with clunky dialogues, but spectacular visuals save it from being a total disaster."[2]Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, praised the film's special effects, giving the film three stars out of four. Environmental activist and The Guardian columnist George Monbiot called The Day After Tomorrow "a great movie and lousy science."[3]
        In a USA Today editorial by Patrick J. Michaels, a Research Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia who rejects the scientific evidence for global warming, Michaels called the film "propaganda," noting, "As a scientist, I bristle when lies dressed up as 'science' are used to influence political discourse."[4] In a Space Daily editorial by Joseph Gutheinz, a college instructor and retired NASA Office of Inspector General, Senior Special Agent, Gutheinz called the film "a cheap thrill ride, which many weak-minded people will jump on and stay on for the rest of their lives."[5]
        Paleoclimatologist William Hyde of Duke University was asked on Usenet whether he would be seeing the film; he responded that he would not unless someone were to offer him $100.[6] Other readers of the newsgroup took this as a challenge, and (despite Hyde's protests) raised the necessary funds. Hyde's review criticized the film's portrayal of weather phenomena that stopped at national borders, and finished by saying that it was "to climate science as Frankenstein is to heart transplant surgery", as quoted in New Scientist.
        However, Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, expert for thermohaline ocean circulation and its effects on climate, was impressed how the script writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff was well informed about the science and politics of global climate change after the talk with him at the preview of the film in Berlin. He stated: "Clearly this is a disaster movie and not a scientific documentary, the film makers have taken a lot of artistic license. But the film presents an opportunity to explain that some of the basic background is right: humans are indeed increasingly changing the climate and this is quite a dangerous experiment, including some risk of abrupt and unforeseen changes. After all - our knowledge of the climate system is still rather limited, and we will probably see some surprises as our experiment with the atmosphere unfolds. Luckily it is extremely unlikely that we will see major ocean circulation changes in the next couple of decades (I'd be just as surprised as Jack Hall if they did occur); at least most scientists think this will only become a more serious risk towards the end of the century. And the consequences would certainly not be as dramatic as the 'super-storm' depicted in the movie. Nevertheless, a major change in ocean circulation is a risk with serious and partly unpredictable consequences, which we should avoid. And even without events like ocean circulation changes, climate change is serious enough to demand decisive action. I think it would be a mistake and not do the film justice if scientists simply dismiss it as nonsense. For what it is, a blockbuster movie that has to earn back 120 M$ production cost, it is probably as good as you can get. For this type of movie for a very broad audience it is actually quite subversive and manages to slip in many thought-provoking things. I'm sure people will not confuse the film with reality, they are not stupid - they will know it is a work of fiction. But I hope that it will stir their interest for the subject, and that they might take more notice when real climate change and climate policy will be discussed in future."[7]
        In 2008, Yahoo! Movies listed The Day After Tomorrow as one of Top 10 Scientifically Inaccurate Movies.[8] The film was criticized for depicting several different meteorological phenomena occurring over the course of hours, instead of the possible time frame of several decades or centuries.[9]
        Awards and nominationsEditAwardSubjectNomineeResultSaturn AwardsBest Science Fiction FilmNominatedBest Special EffectsKaren E. Goulekas, Neil Corbould, Greg Strause and Remo BalcellsNominatedBAFTA AwardsBest Visual EffectsWonVES AwardsNominatedBest Single Visual EffectNominatedMTV Movie AwardsBest Action Sequence"The destruction of Los Angeles"WonBest Breakthrough PerformanceEmmy RossumNominatedIrish Film & Television AwardsBest International ActorJake GyllenhaalNominatedGolden Trailer AwardsBest Action FilmNominatedEnvironmental Media AwardsBest FilmWonBMI Film AwardsBest MusicHarald KloserWonGolden Reel AwardsBest Sound Editing - Effects & FoleyMark P. Stoeckinger, Larry Kemp, Glenn T. Morgan, Alan Rankin, Michael Kamper, Ann Scibelli, Randy Kelley, Harry Cohen, Bob Beher and Craig S. JaegerNominatedCriticismEditThere was some controversy regarding the casting of Kenneth Welsh as the Vice-President of the United States due to his striking physical resemblance to then Vice-President Dick Cheney. Roland Emmerich later confirmed that he deliberately chose Welsh for that very reason. Emmerich stated that the characters of the President and Vice-President in the film were intended to be a not-so-subtle criticism of the environmental policies of the presidency of George W. Bush. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the film.[10]
        In response to accusations of insensitivity by including scenes of New York City being devastated less than three years after the September 11 attacks, Emmerich claims that it was necessary to depict the event as a means to showcase the increased unity people now have when facing a disaster, because of 9/11.[11][12][13]
        A number of scientists were critical of the scientific aspects of the film:
        Daniel P. Schrag, a paleoclimatologist and professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University, expressed both support and concern about the film, stating that "On the one hand, I'm glad that there's a big-budget movie about something as critical as climate change. On the other, I'm concerned that people will see these over-the-top effects and think the whole thing is a joke... We are indeed experimenting with the Earth in a way that hasn't been done for millions of years. But you're not going to see another ice age '' at least not like that."Marshall Shepherd, a research meteorologist at the NASAGoddard Space Flight Center expressed similar sentiments, stating that "I'm heartened that there's a movie addressing real climate issues. But as for the science of the movie, I'd give it a D minus or an F. And I'd be concerned if the movie was made to advance a political agenda."Andrew Weaver, a climatologist at the University of Victoria said, "It's The Towering Inferno of climate science movies, but I'm not losing any sleep over a new ice age, because it's impossible."[10]Home mediaEditThe Day After Tomorrow was first released on DVD in North America on October 12, 2004, in both widescreen and full screen versions. It also had a limited VHS release with a full screen format. A 2-disc "collector's edition" containing production featurettes, two documentaries (a "behind-the-scenes" and another called "The Forces of Destiny"), storyboards and concept sketches was released on May 24, 2005.
        The film was released in high-definition video on Blu-ray Disc in North America on October 2, 2007, and in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2008, in full 1080p with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio track but with few bonus features.
        The film made $110 million in DVD sales, bringing its total film gross to $652,771,772.[14]
        Historical eventsBooks and literatureFilmTelevisionReferencesEdit^ abThe Day After Tomorrow (2004). Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved April 16, 2011.^"The Day After Tomorrow". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixter. Retrieved April 16, 2011.^Monbiot, George. (May 14, 2004). "A hard rain's a-gonna fall". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved April 16, 2011.^Patrick J. Michaels. "'Day After Tomorrow': A lot of hot air". USAToday.com. Retrieved April 16, 2011.^Richard Gutheinz Jr., Joseph (May 27, 2004). "There Will Be A Day After Tomorrow". SpaceDaily.com. Retrieved April 16, 2011.^"The Day After Tomorrow". Retrieved July 11, 2012.^http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/tdat_review.html^"Top 10 Scientifically Inaccurate Movies". Yahoo! Movies (July 23, 2008). Retrieved April 16, 2011.^"Disaster Flick Exaggerates Speed of Ice Age". ScienceDaily.com (May 13, 2004). Retrieved April 16, 2011^ abBowles, Scott (May 26, 2004). "'The Day After Tomorrow' heats up a political debate". USAToday.com. Retrieved January 12, 2009.^Gilchrist, Todd (May 2004). "The Day After Tomorrow: An Interview with Roland Emmerich". BlackFilm.com. Retrieved March 16, 2009. ^Robert Epstein, Daniel. "Roland Emmerich of The Day After Tomorrow (20th Century Fox) Interview". UGO.com. Retrieved March 16, 2009. ^Chau, Thomas (May 27, 2004). "INTERVIEW: Director Roland Emmerich on "The Day After Tomorrow"". Cinema Confidential. Retrieved March 16, 2009. ^"Lee's Movie Info - DVD Sales Chart - 2004 Full Year". Lee'sMovieInfo.net. Retrieved April 16, 2011.^"Ice (1998)". IMDb. Amazon.com. Retrieved July 11, 2012.External linksEdit
        Last modified on 7 February 2014, at 20:24
      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Vaccine$
      Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity : The Lancet Neurology
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 21:10
        The Lancet Neurology, Volume 13, Issue 3, Pages 330 - 338, March 2014Copyright (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
        Neurodevelopmental disabilities, including autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments, affect millions of children worldwide, and some diagnoses seem to be increasing in frequency. Industrial chemicals that injure the developing brain are among the known causes for this rise in prevalence. In 2006, we did a systematic review and identified five industrial chemicals as developmental neurotoxicants: lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, arsenic, and toluene. Since 2006, epidemiological studies have documented six additional developmental neurotoxicants'--manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers. We postulate that even more neurotoxicants remain undiscovered. To control the pandemic of developmental neurotoxicity, we propose a global prevention strategy. Untested chemicals should not be presumed to be safe to brain development, and chemicals in existing use and all new chemicals must therefore be tested for developmental neurotoxicity. To coordinate these efforts and to accelerate translation of science into prevention, we propose the urgent formation of a new international clearinghouse.
        This article is made available free of charge, as a service to our users.Please login to access the full article, or register if you do not yet have a username and password.
        TheLancet.com is the online home of:The LancetThe Lancet Diabetes & EndocrinologyThe Lancet Infectious DiseasesThe Lancet NeurologyThe Lancet OncologyThe Lancet Respiratory MedicinePlease register to access selected articles for free, personalize and interact with this site. Registration is free, takes no more than two minutes, and offers you many benefits.
    Ukraine
      Knight Report from Smoking Hot Ukrainian Girl
        Hi again - a little pipeline update.
        I met a Ukrainian girl at a party tonight. (yes she was smoking hot, sorry no pictures). The main points I came
        away from our conversation with were:
        1. Your pipeline theories are spot on - very much Russian gas goes to and through Ukraine.
        2. The news stories about the aid package from Russia, specifically the cutting of gas prices from approximately
        $400 to $280 per cube, leave out an important detail - Ukraine only gets the cheap gas price if they agree to buy
        way more than they need, way more than they can afford - so they're getting screwed on the deal.
        Otherwise she talked of how Russia has for centuries been trying to take the Ukrainian territory into Russia as
        their own, so this is nothing new. They want Black Sea access, the fertile farm land, and of course now the
        pipelines.
        Makes me wonder why the US hasn't invaded Canada yet...
        - Sir James of Norway
      Giant Klitschko not fazing Leapai
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 14:32
        Thursday, 13 February 2014 20:53
        NZNAlex Leapai hasn't been fazed by his first face-to-face meeting with the much taller Wladimir Klitschko, declaring he plans to exploit a weakness in the triple heavyweight world boxing champion in their title fight in Germany.
        They met for the first time at a press conference on Wednesday morning (NZT) in Oberhausen, where Leapai will attempt to cause a massive upset on April 26.
        There was no trash talk from either man, with 37-year-old Klitschko speaking respectfully about Leapai and refusing to look beyond his bout with the Queensland-based Samoan-born fighter.
        At 198cm tall, Klitschko (30-4-3, 24 KOs), is a whopping 15cm taller than 34-year old Leapai (30-4-3, 24 KOs) and also has a huge 16cm reach advantage.
        The Ukranian colossus has won his last 19 fights and by the time he steps into the ring with Leapai it will be more than 10 years since his last loss.
        Those impressive physical and fighting statistics and a close-up look at the champion have done nothing to shake Leapai's belief he can topple the long-standing champion.
        "Klitschko is a gentleman," Leapai told AAP from Germany after the press conference.
        "He's a very tall man, he's no different to a lot of the guys that I've fought.
        "But he's probably a more experienced boxer and knows how to use his reach, so it's something that we've got to work on.
        ''I've fought a lot of guys his height.
        ''We've just got to get inside. Once we get inside, it's goodnight Irene.
        ''I know he's not going to make it easy, but it's just something that we've got to do, at short quarters.''
        Leapai was convinced Klitschko would go into survival mode once he felt the Australian's renowned punching power.
        ''He's just a little bit taller than me, but he's got a weakness and come April 26, we will expose that weakness,'' Leapai said.
        ''I still feel that he hasn't fought anybody over the last 10 years that has come to fight, that has come to take it off him.
        ''I just feel that it's time for us Australians. It's our time and I feel that once he feels what I've got, it's all going to change.
        ''I'm just so determined to put Australia on the map and make history.''
        A driver by trade, Leapai will be able to train fulltime in the leadup to the biggest fight of his life due to help from his sponsor.
        ''I get the opportunity now to train three times a day, before it was only two hours a day,'' Leapai said.
        ''The main thing I'm focusing on is being fit and strong for this fight, just getting the right sparring partners too.''
        - 3news
        Please Register OR Login to comment.
        Comment Policy: Please read our comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.
    Obama Nation
      Minimum Wage email
        *ANONYMOUS*
        I'm a contractor at a defense company. One of my former customers went
        through a corporate reorganization. The new division had a different
        procedure for using contractors. They brought in an outside company to
        manage the contractors. I was now a contractor, to a contractor, to a
        defense company.
        Now, project managers couldn't pick and choose the contractors that they
        were familiar with. All requisitions had to now go to this new company,
        which would then send out the requisition to all suppliers. Plus, the
        new company was also supplying their own contractors, so they were
        undercutting the price of the other suppliers. Wages and benefits shrunk.
        The Executive Order will create an opportunity for middlemen to manage
        contractors for the government. Those at the bottom will rise to the
        minimum wage, and those above will slowly fall.
        *ANONYMOUS*
    Turkey
      BBC News - #BBCtrending: Turkish PM's private call goes viral
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 06:44
        13 February 2014Last updated at 08:53 ET By BBC TrendingWhat's popular and whyAlmost 800,000 people have listened in on a private phone call posted on YouTube, in which the Turkish Prime Minister appears to suggest that a TV executive should remove captions of an opposition politician criticising him.
        The phone call was posted online last week but was allegedly made during the Gezi Park protests, which erupted in Istanbul in June last year, pitting thousands of young people against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government. In it, Erdogan is apparently heard to be scolding a senior executive from HaberTurk TV, part of a major privately run Turkish media network. The Prime Minister hints that the TV executive should take down the captions the channel was running, which had quoted an opposition politician accusing him of inaction over the protests. "This is astonishing," he is heard to say. "OK sir, as you say," replies the senior executive.
        Continue reading the main storyFatih Sarac (of HaberTurk TV): Yes Mr. Prime Minister
        Erdogan: I am watching TV in Morocco
        Sarac: Yes sir
        Erdogan: All of Bahceli's [an opposition politician's] statements are being carried in captions'...
        Sarac: Understood sir, right away!.......
        Erdogan: He and the captions are continuously saying that the primary duty of the President is not to conduct meetings, but to fix this situation. [Bahceli was referring to the Gezi Park protests]
        Sarac: Understood sir....
        Erdogan: Well you say that you understood, but, I mean, this is astonishing'... Why would you do this?
        Sarac: Ok sir, as you say. Understood'...
        The call was posted by an online group who say they are anti-corruption activists, although it is unclear how they obtained the alleged recording and they could not be reached for comment. Prime Minister Erdogan has conceded that he did make this phone call. He says it was because the opposition politician quoted in the TV station's captions had used extraordinarily insulting language.
        The hashtag "There Is Pressure On Media" (#MedyayaBaskÄ±Var) trended on Twitter in Turkey in response to the video, with over 500,000 tweets in 24 hours. "Mainstream media are government allies... suck ups," said one tweet. There are more widespread concerns about government pressure on the Turkish media, with Turkey accused of being the world's biggest jailers of journalists.
        However, the debate on Twitter is highly politicised. According to Erkan Saka of Istanbul Bilgi University, the hashtag was started by an account affiliated to the Gulen movement, an Islamic movement active on social media. The prime minister's supporters have also weighed into the Twitter debate. "When Gulen intervenes, you say it is all fine Master, but when the Prime Minister expresses his concerns, it is #ThereIsPressureOnMedia," said one.
        Reporting by Ertugrul Erol
        All our stories are at BBC.com/trending
        Follow @BBCtrending on Twitter and tweet using #BBCtrending
      Column one: Why Turkey is gone for good | JPost | Israel News
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 14 Feb 2014 15:46
        Last Thursday, two Turkish businessmen stopped for lunch in a fish restaurant during a business trip to Edirne in the Babaeski region.At some point during their meal, the restaurant owner figured out that they were Jews.
        Rather than show them the hospitality Turkey is renowned for, he said he won't serve Jews, and began cursing them and the Torah. He then took a long knife off the counter and threatened to kill them.
        The men ran for their lives.
        Anti-Semitic attacks have become regular events in Turkey. In December, after leaving an anti-corruption rally in Istanbul, a young woman was attacked by 10 to 15 supporters of Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan who had just left a support rally for the premier.
        They accused her of being a Jew, as they beat her up.
        In an interview with The Times of Israel, Turkish opposition MP Ayken Kerdemir said that Erdogan has cultivated Turkish anti-Semitism. ''He is not only capitalizing on the existing sentiments, Kerdemir explained. Erdogan is ''fueling some of that anti-Israel and anti-Semitic feeling'... with his rhetoric, conspiracy theories, campaign slogans and actions.''
        Kerdemir explained that Erdogan's cultivation of anti-Semitism in Turkish society will continue to affect Turkey's behavior and social values long after he is gone. ''Even after Erdogan and AKP are gone, even if [the opposition party] CHP comes to power, it will take us quite some time to mend inter-societal relations through dialogue, awareness raising and sensitivity training.''
        Once you let that genie out of the bottle, it is very hard to stuff it back inside.
        Erdogan's anti-Semitism is not opportunistic. He isn't simply exploiting a popular prejudice for his own benefit. He is an anti-Semite. And his anti-Semitism informs his behavior toward Israel.
        In Kerdemir's view, Erdogan's uncontrollable hatred of Jews makes it impossible for him to agree to reconcile Turkey's relations with Israel.
        As he put it, ''Erdogan's core values vis- -vis Jews and Israel prevent him from dealing with this issue in a tolerant, embracing and sustainable way.''
        Against this backdrop it should surprise no one that this week Erdogan sunk prospects for a renewal of Turkish ties with Israel.
        Immediately after he took office 10 years ago, Erdogan began systematically downgrading Turkey's strategic alliance with Israel. This process, which began gradually and accelerated after Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian elections, reached its peak in 2010.
        In May 2010, Erdogan sponsored the pro-Hamas flotilla to Gaza whose aim was to undermine Israel's lawful maritime blockade of the terrorist-controlled Gaza coast. The flotilla's flagship, the Mavi Marmara, was controlled by the al-Qaida-aligned IHH organization. Its passengers included terrorists who, armed with iron bars, knives and other weaponry tried to kill IDF naval commandos when they boarded the Gaza-bound ship to enforce the blockade. In the ensuing battle, the commandos killed nine IHH terrorists.
        Erdogan used the incident on the Mavi Marmara as a means of ending what remained of Turkey's ties to Israel. For three years, he insisted that he would only restore full diplomatic relations if Israel ended its blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza, apologized for its forces' actions on board the Mavi Marmara, and paid reparations to the families of the IHH terrorists killed in their assault on the IDF commandos.
        In March 2013, Erdogan relented in his demand that Israel end the blockade and acceded to a reconciliation deal offered by US President Barack Obama in a three-way telephone call with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that took place during Obama's visit to Israel.
        Following the phone call, Netanyahu apologized for ''operational errors,'' by IDF sailors aboard the Mavi Marmara and offered to compensate the families.
        Negotiations toward the reinstatement of diplomatic relations were to ensue immediately.
        But just after Netanyahu made his required gesture of appeasement, Erdogan began delaying the talks, while continuing his anti-Semitic assaults.
        Talks eventually did start. And according to Israeli sources, they were about to conclude this week.
        Netanyahu was beginning to build political support for his decision to agree to Turkey's demand for a massive $20 million settlement of claims against Israel by the dead terrorists' families.
        But then Erdogan walked away.
        On Tuesday, Erdogan reinstated his initial demand that Israel must end its lawful naval blockade of terrorist-controlled Gaza before he restores ties to the Jewish state.
        In many quarters of the Israeli media, Erdogan's action was met with surprise. Reporters who for years have insisted that Israel can make the problem go away by bowing to Erdogan's demands are stumped by his behavior.
        But they shouldn't have been.
        It isn't simply that Erdogan cannot reconcile with Israel because he hates Jews. As is almost always the case with anti-Semites, Erdogan's anti-Semitism is part of his general authoritarian outlook informed by a paranoid mindset.
        Erdogan sees a Jewish conspiracy behind every independent power base in Turkey. And his rejection of Israel is an integral part of his rejection of all forces in Turkey that are not dependent on his good offices.
        Over the past 10 years, and with ever increasing brutality, paranoia and intensity, Erdogan has sought to destroy all independent power bases in the country. He purged the military by placing hundreds of generals in prison in his delusional Ergenekon conspiracy in which they were accused of seeking to overthrow his Islamist government.
        He has destroyed most of the independent media in the country and sent hundreds of journalists and editors to prison.
        The same is the case with independent businessmen.
        Over the past year, Erdogan destroyed whatever remained of the plausible deniability he initially fostered between himself and the systematic abrogation of civil rights and the rule of law in Turkey.
        This week, 17 people were sentenced to two years each in prison for ''deliberately insulting the premier and not regretting their actions,'' during a small demonstration in 2012 protesting the government's health policy.
        Also this week, Erdogan acknowledged that he calls television broadcasters in the middle of news shows and orders them to stop the broadcast of information he doesn't want the public to know.
        This has included ending the live broadcast of a speech in parliament by the opposition leader, ending coverage of the mass anti-government demonstrations last summer, and removing a news ticker that reported on the corruption scandals surrounding Erdogan and his cronies. Erdogan has also reacted to the corruption investigations of his cronies by firing the public prosecutors and police officers involved in the investigations.
        To maintain the public's support for his burgeoning dictatorship, Erdogan has adopted populist economic policies that have sunk the Turkish economy. To buy the public's allegiance, Erdogan has borrowed heavily internationally and artificially lowered Turkey's interest rates, even as the local currency dropped in value in international markets and Turkey's current accounts deficits outpaced Greece's on the eve of its economic meltdown.
        As David Goldman explained last week in a financial analysis of Turkey's incipient economic meltdown in The Asia Times, rather than raise consumer interests rates, Erdogan has blamed the Jews by railing against ''the interest rate lobby.''
        Indeed, since he first invoked the term during the anti-government demonstrations last August, Erdogan has taken to blaming the interest rate cabal for all of Turkey's woes.
        Goldman argues that part of Turkey's credit crisis owes to its apparent reliance on interbank loans from Saudi Arabia. In part due to their anger at Erdogan for his support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the Saudis have apparently stopped loaning to Turkish banks.
        The Saudis' action has pushed Erdogan into the waiting arms of Iran's ayatollahs. In an interview with Business Insider, Australia, terror financing expert Jonathan Schanzer said Turkey and Iran were able to minimize the impact of the international sanctions on Iran's energy sector. Between June 2012 and June 2013, the Turkish-Iranian ''gas for gold'' sanctions-busting scheme brought Iran $13 billion in hard currency.
        Erdogan's hatred of Jews, his authoritarian mindset and his Islamist ideology informed his decision to transform Turkey into one of the leading sponsors of terrorism. In addition to its massive support for Hamas, beginning in the 2006 First Lebanon War Turkey began providing assistance to Hezbollah.
        Then there is al-Qaida. Turkey has long harbored al-Qaida financiers. And according to IDF Intelligence head Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, Turkey hosts three al-Qaida bases on its territory that enable terrorists to transit between Europe and Syria.
        Erdogan's ideological underpinning directs his embrace of Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Qaida. But his decimation of Turkey's economy has made him view Iran as Turkey's economic savior. And that in turn pushes Turkey even deeper into the jihadist camp.
        Obviously in this situation, the chances that Turkey will agree to reconcile with Israel, at any price, is inconceivable.
        The surprise that many Israeli journalists have expressed over Erdogan's seeming about-face on the reconciliation deal brings us to the larger lesson of his transformation of Turkey.
        These journalists believe that Israel's bilateral relations with other countries are based on tit for tat. If I do something to upset you, you will get upset. If I apologize and try to make things right, then you will be satisfied and everything will go back to normal.
        This simplistic view of the world is attractive because it places Israel in a position of power. If the only reason that Turkey is mad at Israel is that Israel will not apologize for its response to Turkey's illegal aggression, then Israel should apologize and pay whatever damages Erdogan demands.
        Moreover, Israel should make Erdogan believe the sincerity of its apology by maintaining faith with the myth that he is a responsible actor on the world stage, rather than a prominent sponsor of terrorism and the hangman of Turkish democracy and economic prosperity.
        Appeasement is a seductive policy because it is gives its purveyors a sense of empowerment. And at times, when faced with a simple, limited dispute it can work.
        But Turkey's rejection of Israel is not a linear response to a specific Israeli action. It is a consequence of the nature of Erdogan's regime, and due to his anti-Semitic and anti-Israel incitement, it is increasingly a consequence of the nature of Turkish society.
        Kerdemir argued that Turkish anti-Semitism does not necessitate a rejection of Jews and Israel. And that's true.
        The problem is that when anti-Semitism is tied to several other political and economic pathologies, as it is in the case of Turkey, it is impossible as a practical matter for any accommodation to be reached.
        THE SWORD-WIELDING restaurateur who responded to the mere presence of Jewish diners in his establishment with murderous rage is no more exceptional than lynch mobs in Ramallah. And as Erdogan's economic plight worsens and his embrace of Iran and jihadist groups tightens, Turkey's behavior will only become more extreme, unappeasable and dangerous.CarolineGlick's book The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East will be released on March 4.
        Stay on top of the news - get the Jerusalem Post headlines direct to your inbox!
      Geluidsopnames onthullen hevige druk op media in Turkije
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Source: Alle
        Fri, 14 Feb 2014 05:27
        In een van de geluidsopnames, een telefoongesprek die op 6 februari door Haramzadeler is ge¼pload, vindt een opmerkelijk gesprek plaats tussen Fatih Sara§, vicevoorzitter van mediaconglomeraat Ciner Media Group, en Fatih AltaylÄ±, hoofdredacteur van het mediabedrijf HaberT¼rk, die onderdeel is van Ciner Media Group. HaberT¼rk heeft zowel een nieuwszender als een krant. Het gesprek zou plaatsgevonden hebben op 13 maart 2013. In het gesprek praten Sara§ en AltaylÄ± over het aanpassen van de politieke peiling die HaberT¼rk van plan is te publiceren. AltaylÄ± stelt voor het bedrijf dat de peiling heeft opgesteld te vragen een paar procent van de MHP (Partij van de Nationalistische Beweging) over te dragen aan de BDP (Partij voor Vrede en Democratie), waar Sara§ direct mee akkoord gaat. Vervolgens zegt AltaylÄ± dat hij de politieke peiling gaat ''manipuleren''. Uit een opname van dezelfde dag blijkt dat Sara§ daarop Bilal ErdoÄŸan, de zoon van premier ErdoÄŸan, spreekt om de details van de ingreep te bespreken. Na die bespreking belt Sara§ AltaylÄ± weer op om de ingreep te bevestigen.
        Interventie
        Niet alleen zijn zoon lijkt betrokken te zijn bij het schandaal, ook premier ErdoÄŸan zelf is te horen op verschillende opnames. Zo heeft Haramzadeler op 8 februari de opname van een telefoongesprek tussen Sara§ en premier ErdoÄŸan vrijgegeven. Het gesprek zou plaatsgevonden hebben op 14 juli 2013, wanneer ErdoÄŸan op staatsbezoek is in Marokko. In het gesprek eist ErdoÄŸan tijdens een live-uitzending op HaberT¼rk het stopzetten van een toespraak van Devlet Bah§eli, partijleider van MHP. De premier vindt dat de uitspraken van de MHP-leider niet door de beugel kunnen. ''Wat een schande. Dit kan toch niet. ['...] Hij [Bah§eli] is ons sinds het begin [van zijn toespraak] aan het uitschelden'', zegt ErdoÄŸan. ''Ik begrijp het mijnheer. Ik laat de uitzending meteen stoppen'', reageert Sara§.
        Ontslag
        Op een andere geluidsopname, die op 9 februari door Haramzadeler op YouTube werd geplaatst, is te horen hoe ErdoÄŸan Sara§, tijdens een gesprek die plaats zou hebben gevonden op 24 september vorig jaar, op de vingers tikt. Het gaat tijdens het gesprek om een artikel over de tekortkomingen in de openbare gezondheidszorgsector en de rol van de regering daarin. Het artikel werd afgelopen september gepubliceerd in de Ä°stanbul-editie van HaberT¼rk. Vervolgens werden de drie journalisten die verantwoordelijk waren voor het artikel ontslagen.
        In het gesprek zegt ErdoÄŸan tegen Sara§ dat een kritische artikel over de inspanningen van zijn regering in de gezondheidszorgsector, die inspanningen ondermijnen. Sara§, die duidelijk in verlegenheid is gebracht door de reactie van ErdoÄŸan, reageert als volgt: ''Jawel, mijnheer. Het is een schande. Het is onze schuld. Het zal nooit meer gebeuren. Sorry.'' Ook zegt Sara§ dat degenen die verantwoordelijk zijn voor het artikel buiten zijn instructies gehandeld hebben.
        Uit een andere opname van dezelfde dag blijkt vervolgens dat Sara§ de politieke hoofdadviseur van ErdoÄŸan, Yal§Ä±n AkdoÄŸan, belt om hem te laten weten dat de journalisten die verantwoordelijk zijn voor het artikel, zijn ontslagen. ''Ter informatie: de drie personen die het artikel hebben samengesteld zijn ontslagen'', zegt Sara§ tegen AkdoÄŸan.
        De dag na het gesprek verscheen een column van AltaylÄ± in HaberT¼rk. De hoofdredacteur noemde het artikel over de tekortkomingen in de openbare gezondheidszorgsector een voorbeeld van ondankbaarheid, omdat de AKP-regering de afgelopen tien jaar veel bereikt zou hebben binnen de sector. ''De regering kan bekritiseerd worden om veel issues, maar kritiek uiten [op de regering] op het gebied van de gezondheidszorg, is oneerlijk'', schreef AltaylÄ±.
        Wijdverspreid
        In een interview afgelopen maandag met CNN T¼rk over de gelekte geluidsopnames gaf AltaylÄ± toe dat de AKP-regering enorm veel druk zet op de media. AltaylÄ± beschouwt dat als een bedreigende situatie dat steeds vaker voorkomt in Turkije en ten koste gaat van de persvrijheid en democratie. Met die uitspraken bevestigde AltaylÄ± de authenticiteit van de geluidsopnames.
        De volgende dag gaf ErdoÄŸan toe dat hij inderdaad heeft ingegrepen in de live-uitzending van de toespraak van MHP-leider Bah§eli, nadat een journalist van Zaman hem ondervroeg over de gelekte geluidsopnames. ''Ja, ik heb gebeld uit Marokko'', zei ErdoÄŸan. ''Ik heb bepaalde personen eraan herinnerd dat de beledigingen [geuit door Bah§eli] aan ons adres, niet door de beugel kunnen.''
        AltaylÄ± benadrukte dat het incident van de manipulatie van een politieke peiling van HaberT¼rk, zoals blijkt uit de geluidsopname, geen ge¯soleerd geval is, maar veel vaker voorkomt en de huidige band tussen de media en de AKP-regering reflecteert.
        AltaylÄ± gaf ook toe dat de druk van de AKP-regering op de media niets nieuws onder de zon is. Volgens de hoofdredacteur is de AKP-regering volledig doorgeslagen in zijn ''grenzeloze bemoeizucht'' en worden media dagelijks onder druk gezet. Onder andere de bekende journalist C¼neyt –zdemir van CNN T¼rk en redacteuren van Bug¼n, Zaman en Today's Zaman worden naar eigen zeggen al lange tijd lastiggevallen. Dat werd onlangs ook naar voren gebracht door de ngo Freedom House in een rapport over corruptie, mediacensuur en machtsmisbruik in Turkije.
    North Korea
      Travel to North Korea, The last frontier: experiencenorthkorea.com
        Mr. Curry,
        I listen to the show often, but have only donated once. Mostly because I am
        always overseas in some place that makes moving money to the USA difficult.
        However, now that I am based in Shanghai, things are better so I think I
        can contribute more often.
        Anyway, I was at a bar in Shanghai that is Spanish (real Spanish managed by
        Spaniards). One of my friends, a South Korean, noticed these ads all over
        the bar.- See the PDF.
        We were pretty shocked, and I thought about the North Korean prediction you
        and John always discuss concerning tourism. We were also shocked to notice
        what is missing on these flyers. There is NO MANDARIN! There are many areas
        of Shanghai that have exploding expat populations, so it seems they are
        targeting westerners.
        Finally, in Shanghai there is a Pyongyang restaraunt.
        http://www.timeoutshanghai.com/venue/Food__Drink-Asian-Asian-_Food__Drink-Asian-Korean/4686/Pyongyang.html
        If you look it up you will see it is owned by the North Korean Government,
        and the workers are on a very weird program. They do not get paid, it is
        three year internship with one day off in a week. They can only move around
        with an escort. When I lived in Dubai they opened one of these up around
        2012. However, the food is pretty good and even my South Korean friends
        like it, and the wait staff is very friendly.
        All this is interesting to me and I hope it starts counting towards some
        redbook predictions.
        My PAYPAL always says I am in Somerset, Kentucky but fear not I am in Asia
        and hitting people in the mouth everyday.
        Tony
      North Korean missile uses US, European parts -NHK WORLD English-
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 13:43
        It has been learned that North Korea used several components believed to have been made in the United States and European countries in a rocket it launched in 2012.
        North Korea launched the Unha-3 rocket in December 2012, calling it a satellite launch. But the rocket is considered to be a long-range missile.
        The South Korean military retrieved some of the debris from the rocket at sea and analyzed it together with scientists from other countries.
        Several diplomatic sources told NHK that the recovered parts included components not only from China, the North's ally, and the former Soviet Union, but also US-made electronic circuits, a British transmitter, and a Swiss converter.
        These parts are believed to have been made during the past few years.
        Most of them have been marketed to the general public and are unlikely to be viewed as equipment subject to UN Security Council sanctions against the North.
        The revelation shows how the North analyzed the UN trade embargo and imported components not subject to sanctions for use in developing missiles.
        Observers say this may lead to an appeal by UN member countries to expand the scope of the ban on exports to the North.
        Feb. 16, 2014 - Updated 03:57 UTC
      North, South Korea agree on family reunions, no link to exercises
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 09:24
        North, South Korea agree on family reunions, no link to exercisesTop News
        North, South Korea agree on family reunions, no link to exercises
        Fri, Feb 14 05:17 AM EST
        By Jack Kim
        SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea agreed on Friday to proceed with reunions of families separated by the Korean War despite an earlier North Korean demand that they could only go ahead if the South postponed military exercises with the United States.
        The agreement clearly represented a concession by the North, which has made unpredictable diplomatic moves over the past month. The North had proposed the reunions, but then threatened to withdraw consent over a sortie by a U.S. B52 bomber.
        It had also demanded that the South call off annual defense drills later this month with the United States on grounds that they overlapped with the proposed reunions. The South refused, saying the reunions and the military exercises should be treated separately.
        In the end, there was no link between the issues in a three-point agreement reached after two sessions of talks this week, the first high-level meetings between the sides in seven years.
        "We tried to drive home the point that the family reunion event will be the first step in building trust so we should press ahead with it," South Korea's chief delegate, Kim Kyou-hyun, told a news briefing.
        "The North accepted this point in the end and we came to the agreement," he said. Kim is South Korean President Park Geun-hye's deputy national security adviser.
        U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Seoul on Thursday it was inappropriate for North Korea to link the family reunions with the military exercises.
        The two Koreas, still in theory at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended only with an armistice, also agreed to stop engaging in denunciations of each other's leadership. In a third point, they said the two sides would meet again to discuss matters of interest.
        Only a week ago, the reclusive North reversed position and withdraw at the last minute an invitation for a U.S. envoy to visit its capital to discuss the release of a U.S. missionary jailed for "hostile acts".
        North Korea's chief delegate to the talks at the Panmunjom "truce" village on the border was Won Tong Yon, the second highest ranking official in the ruling Workers' Party United Front Department, which looks after dealings with the South.
        SMALL VICTORIES
        Jeung Young-tae of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul said both sides came away with a face-saving deal and were able to claim a small victory.
        "Using family reunions, North Korea has achieved one of its goals of getting the South to agree to stop denouncing each other's leadership," he said. "And South Korea also got what it has been pursuing - opening the door to dialogue."
        The North denounces the annual exercises with the United States, which maintains about 28,500 troops in the South, as a rehearsal for an invasion. The South and Washington say they have been conducted for years without incident.
        The North threatened during last year's drills to attack the South and the United States in weeks of shrill rhetoric that following the imposition of new U.N. sanctions in response to a new nuclear test by Pyongyang.
        China, North Korea's sole diplomatic ally, pushed back against a call from Kerry during his visit to Seoul for China to do more to bring North Korea into line.
        Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Kerry in Beijing on Friday, in comments reported by China's state media, that Beijing would not tolerate any chaos or war on the Korean peninsula.
        (Additional reporting by Ju-min Park and by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Ron Popeski)
        North, South Korea agree on family reunions, no link to exercisesTop News
        North, South Korea agree on family reunions, no link to exercises
        Fri, Feb 14 05:17 AM EST
        By Jack Kim
        SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea agreed on Friday to proceed with reunions of families separated by the Korean War despite an earlier North Korean demand that they could only go ahead if the South postponed military exercises with the United States.
        The agreement clearly represented a concession by the North, which has made unpredictable diplomatic moves over the past month. The North had proposed the reunions, but then threatened to withdraw consent over a sortie by a U.S. B52 bomber.
        It had also demanded that the South call off annual defense drills later this month with the United States on grounds that they overlapped with the proposed reunions. The South refused, saying the reunions and the military exercises should be treated separately.
        In the end, there was no link between the issues in a three-point agreement reached after two sessions of talks this week, the first high-level meetings between the sides in seven years.
        "We tried to drive home the point that the family reunion event will be the first step in building trust so we should press ahead with it," South Korea's chief delegate, Kim Kyou-hyun, told a news briefing.
        "The North accepted this point in the end and we came to the agreement," he said. Kim is South Korean President Park Geun-hye's deputy national security adviser.
        U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Seoul on Thursday it was inappropriate for North Korea to link the family reunions with the military exercises.
        The two Koreas, still in theory at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended only with an armistice, also agreed to stop engaging in denunciations of each other's leadership. In a third point, they said the two sides would meet again to discuss matters of interest.
        Only a week ago, the reclusive North reversed position and withdraw at the last minute an invitation for a U.S. envoy to visit its capital to discuss the release of a U.S. missionary jailed for "hostile acts".
        North Korea's chief delegate to the talks at the Panmunjom "truce" village on the border was Won Tong Yon, the second highest ranking official in the ruling Workers' Party United Front Department, which looks after dealings with the South.
        SMALL VICTORIES
        Jeung Young-tae of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul said both sides came away with a face-saving deal and were able to claim a small victory.
        "Using family reunions, North Korea has achieved one of its goals of getting the South to agree to stop denouncing each other's leadership," he said. "And South Korea also got what it has been pursuing - opening the door to dialogue."
        The North denounces the annual exercises with the United States, which maintains about 28,500 troops in the South, as a rehearsal for an invasion. The South and Washington say they have been conducted for years without incident.
        The North threatened during last year's drills to attack the South and the United States in weeks of shrill rhetoric that following the imposition of new U.N. sanctions in response to a new nuclear test by Pyongyang.
        China, North Korea's sole diplomatic ally, pushed back against a call from Kerry during his visit to Seoul for China to do more to bring North Korea into line.
        Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Kerry in Beijing on Friday, in comments reported by China's state media, that Beijing would not tolerate any chaos or war on the Korean peninsula.
        (Additional reporting by Ju-min Park and by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Ron Popeski)
    Out There
      Jade rabbit lives!
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 13:46
        Last updated 15:04 14/02/2014
        China has restored communications with its space program's troubled "Jade Rabbit" moon rover, but engineers are still working to fix its mechanical problems, state media have reported.
        The official Xinhua News Agency cited Pei Zhaoyu, the lunar probe program's spokesman, as saying the rover had survived the frigid cold of the lunar night that started January 25.
        The "Jade Rabbit" rover was designed to roam the lunar surface for three months while surveying for natural resources and sending back data. But it ran into problems as it was shutting down in preparation for the lunar night, which lasts two weeks.
        The problems were a rare setback for China's burgeoning space program, which in recent years has conducted space walks and placed a space station in orbit.
        Pei said the rover had "come back to life" despite space experts' earlier concerns that it might not survive the extremely low temperatures of the lunar night, when the temperature drops to minus 180 degrees Celsius.
        "The rover stands a chance of being saved now that it is still alive," Pei was quoted as saying. He said it was still unclear what caused the problem.
        The mission has been a popular success for China's military-backed space program. Updates on the moon rover's progress have been posted on an unofficial Chinese microblog account written with the Jade Rabbit's voice, attracting tens of thousands of comments by Chinese Internet users.
      Jelly Doniuts Myestery Solved!
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 09:37
        February 14, 2014
        Researchers have determined the now-infamous Martian rock resembling a jelly doughnut, dubbed Pinnacle Island, is a piece of a larger rock broken and moved by the wheel of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in early January.
        Only about 1.5 inches wide (4 centimeters), the white-rimmed, red-centered rock caused a stir last month when it appeared in an image the rover took Jan. 8 at a location where it was not present four days earlier.
        More recent images show the original piece of rock struck by the rover's wheel, slightly uphill from where Pinnacle Island came to rest.
        "Once we moved Opportunity a short distance, after inspecting Pinnacle Island, we could see directly uphill an overturned rock that has the same unusual appearance," said Opportunity Deputy Principal Investigator Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis. "We drove over it. We can see the track. That's where Pinnacle Island came from."
        Examination of Pinnacle Island revealed high levels of elements such as manganese and sulfur, suggesting these water-soluble ingredients were concentrated in the rock by the action of water. "This may have happened just beneath the surface relatively recently," Arvidson said, "or it may have happened deeper below ground longer ago and then, by serendipity, erosion stripped away material above it and made it accessible to our wheels."
        Now that the rover is finished inspecting this rock, the team plans to drive Opportunity south and uphill to investigate exposed rock layers on the slope.
        Opportunity is approaching a boulder-studded ridge informally named the McClure-Beverlin Escarpment, in honor of engineers Jack Beverlin and Bill McClure. Beverlin and McClure were the first recipients of the NASA Medal of Exceptional Bravery for their actions on Feb. 14, 1969, to save NASA's second successful Mars mission, Mariner 6, when the launch vehicle began to crumple on the launch pad from loss of pressure.
        "Our team working on Opportunity's continuing mission of exploration and discovery realizes how indebted we are to the work of people who made the early missions to Mars possible, and in particular to the heroics of Bill McClure and Jack Beverlin," said rover team member James Rice of the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Ariz. "We felt this was really a fitting tribute to these brave men, especially with the 45th anniversary of their actions coming today."
        Opportunity's work on the north-facing slope below the escarpment will give the vehicle an energy advantage by tilting its solar panels toward the winter sun. Feb. 14 is the winter solstice in Mars' southern hemisphere, which includes the region where Opportunity has been working since it landed in January 2004.
        "We are now past the minimum solar-energy point of this Martian winter," said Opportunity Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We now can expect to have more energy available each week. What's more, recent winds removed some dust from the rover's solar array. So we have higher performance from the array than the previous two winters."
        During Opportunity's decade on Mars, and the 2004-2010 career of its twin, Spirit, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project has yielded a range of findings proving wet environmental conditions on ancient Mars -- some very acidic, others milder and more conducive to supporting life.
        JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers .
        You can follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at http://twitter.com/MarsRovers and http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers .
      NASA to capture near-Earth Objects
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 09:33
        February 14, 2014
        One year ago, on Feb. 15, 2013, the world was witness to the dangers presented by near-Earth Objects (NEOs) when a relatively small asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere, exploding over Chelyabinsk, Russia, and releasing more energy than a large atomic bomb. Tracking near-Earth asteroids has been a significant endeavor for NASA and the broader astronomical community, which has discovered 10,713 known near-Earth objects to date. NASA is now pursuing new partnerships and collaborations in an Asteroid Grand Challenge to accelerate NASA's existing planetary defense work, which will help find all asteroid threats to human population and know what to do about them. In parallel, NASA is developing an Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) -- a first-ever mission to identify, capture and redirect an asteroid to a safe orbit of Earth's moon for future exploration by astronauts in the 2020s.
        ARM will use capabilities in development, including the new Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and high-power Solar Electric Propulsion. All are critical components of deep-space exploration and essential to meet NASA's goal of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s. The mission represents an unprecedented technological feat, raising the bar for human exploration and discovery, while helping protect our home planet and bringing us closer to a human mission to one of these intriguing objects.
        NASA is assessing two concepts to robotically capture and redirect an asteroid mass into a stable orbit around the moon. In the first proposed concept, NASA would capture and redirect an entire very small asteroid. In the alternative concept, NASA would retrieve a large, boulder-like mass from a larger asteroid and return it to this same lunar orbit. In both cases, astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft would then study the redirected asteroid mass in the vicinity of the moon and bring back samples.
        Very few known near-Earth objects are ARM candidates. Most known asteroids are too big to be fully captured and have orbits unsuitable for a spacecraft to redirect them into orbit around the moon. Some are so distant when discovered that their size and makeup are difficult for even our most powerful telescopes to discern. Still others could be potential targets, but go from newly discovered to out of range of our telescopes so quickly there is not enough time to observe them adequately.
        For the small asteroids that do closely approach Earth, NASA's Near-Earth Object Program has developed a rapid response system whose chief goal is to mobilize NEO-observing assets when an asteroid first appears that could qualify as a potential candidate for the ARM mission.
        "There are other elements involved, but if size were the only factor, we'd be looking for an asteroid smaller than about 40 feet (12 meters) across," said Paul Chodas, a senior scientist in the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "There are hundreds of millions of objects out there in this size range, but they are small and don't reflect a lot of sunlight, so they can be hard to spot. The best time to discover them is when they are brightest, when they are close to Earth."
        Asteroids are discovered by small, dedicated teams of astronomers using optical telescopes that repeatedly scan the sky looking for star-like objects, which change location in the sky slightly over the course of an hour or so. Asteroid surveys detect hundreds of such moving objects in a single night, but only a fraction of these will turn out to be new discoveries. The coordinates of detected moving objects are passed along to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., which either identifies each as a previously known object or assigns it a new designation. The observations are collated and then electronically published, along with an estimate of the object's orbit and intrinsic brightness. Automatic systems at NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL take the Minor Planet Center data, compute refined orbit and brightness estimates, and update its online small-body database. A new screening process for the asteroid redirect mission has been set up which regularly checks the small-body database, looking for potential new candidates for the ARM mission.
        "If an asteroid looks as if it could meet the criteria of size and orbit, our automated system sends us an email with the subject "'New ARM Candidate,'" said Chodas. "When that happens, and it has happened several dozen times since we implemented the system in March of 2013, I know we'll have a busy day."
        Remember, things have to happen quickly because these small NEOs are only visible to even the most powerful of telescopes for a short period of a few days during their flyby of Earth. After receiving such an email, Chodas contacts the scientists coordinating radar observations at NASA's Deep Space Network station at Goldstone, Calif., and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, to check on their availability. These are massive radar telescopes (the width of the Goldstone dish is 230 feet, or 70 meters, and the Arecibo dish is a whopping 1,000 feet, or 305 meters, wide). They have the capability of bouncing powerful microwaves off nearby asteroids, providing size and rotation information, and at times, even generating detailed images of an asteroid's surface. If these radar telescopes can see an asteroid and track it, definitive data on its orbit and size will quickly follow.
        Chodas may also contact selected optical observatories run by professionals or sophisticated amateurs, who may be able to quickly turn their telescopes to observe the small space rock.
        "The optical telescopes play an important role, as their observations can be used to improve our prediction of the orbital path, as well as provide data that helps us establish the rotation rate of an asteroid," said Chodas.
        Chodas also reaches out to the NASA-funded Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. If the IRTF can detect the space rock, it can provide a wealth of detailed data on spectral type, reflectivity and expected composition.
        "After one of these alerts, there is a lot of calling and emailing going on in the beginning," said Chodas. "Then, we just simply have to wait to see what this worldwide network of assets can do to characterize the physical attributes of the potential ARM target."
        Scientists estimate that several dozen asteroids in the 20-to-40-foot (6-to-12-meter) size range fly by Earth at a distance even closer than the moon every year. But only a fraction of these are actually detected, and even fewer are in orbits that are good candidates for ARM. Roughly half will pass Earth on the daytime side and are impossible to find in the bright glare of sunlight. Even so, current asteroid surveys are finding tens of asteroids in this size range every year, and new technology is coming online to make detection of these objects even more likely.
        "The NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey, which has made the majority of NEO discoveries since its inception in 2004, is getting an upgrade," said Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near-Earth Objects Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We also will have new telescopes with an upgraded detection capability, like PanSTARRS 2 and ATLAS, coming online soon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's new Space Surveillance Telescope will give us a hand as well."
        As part of its effort to find asteroids hazardous to Earth and destinations for future robotic and human exploration, NASA's NEO program will continue to search for even better potential targets for ARM. Also, NASA's WISE spacecraft has been reactivated and rechristened NEOWISE (link to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-006) and could be used to characterize potential ARM targets.
        In an attempt to leave no space-stone unturned, the agency is also combining public-private partnerships, crowdsourcing and incentive prizes to enhance existing efforts. Through its Asteroid Grand Challenge, NASA is reaching out to any and all who may have the next pioneering idea in asteroid research.
        Of course, all this looking up and out and into the dim recesses of the solar system requires funding. NASA is already spending $20 million per year in the search for potentially hazardous asteroids through the Near Earth Object Observation Program. NASA's FY 14 budget included $105 million to plan for the capture and redirection of an asteroid, increase innovative partnerships and approaches to help us amplify efforts to identify and track and characterize asteroids, and conduct studies for mitigating potential threats.
        We are learning a lot more about space rocks than we ever had before and along with that the rate of discoveries will continue to climb. And of those, only a portion of the new asteroids discovered is destined to have the right stuff for an asteroid retrieval mission -- the right size and the right orbit to satisfy mission requirements for the asteroid redirect mission.
        The Near-Earth Object Program Office reports that, with current asteroid surveys already in place, about two potential candidates suitable for the asteroid redirect mission are discovered every year. The rate of discovery is projected to at least double as new imaging assets come online.
        Does Chodas think there is a perfect target asteroid out there for an asteroid redirect mission?
        "Absolutely. There are a lot of asteroids out there, and there are a lot of dedicated people down here, looking for them," said Chodas. "You put the two together and it's only a matter of time before we find some space rocks that fit our needs."
        NASA's Near-Earth Object Program at NASA Headquarters, Washington, manages and funds the search, study and monitoring of asteroids and comets whose orbits periodically bring them close to Earth. JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
        More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is available at: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/,http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch and via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/asteroidwatch.
    Hillary 2016
      Is Hillary Clinton Too Old to Run? - NationalJournal.com
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 15:04
        At least every week now, there is a new story supporting the narrative of an inevitable 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential bid. Indeed, the conventional wisdom is that it is an absolute certainty that she will run. If anyone is currently saying, flat out, that Hillary isn't running, I haven't come across them. Is the inevitability of her run really as certain as the conventional wisdom suggests, and further, is it unfolding in an optimal manner for the potential candidate?
        Related StoriesIn all likelihood, Clinton will not make a final, "go-or-no-go" decision until early next year, after the dust has settled from the midterm election. Generally speaking, few presidential contenders make their final decisions before the preceding midterm, and, with the notable exception of Texas Gov. Rick Perry in 2011, most have been laying the groundwork for a long time for a potential run. Most have already been attending countless state and county Jefferson-Jackson (for Democrats) or Lincoln (for Republicans) dinners, meet and greets, and other events to prepare for the potential campaign and the ensuring shakedown (if they do, in fact, decide to run).
        The question remains: Is Hillary Clinton really a 100 percent lock to run? I think it is a pretty good bet, maybe 70 percent chance or so; but that also means there is an approximately 30 percent chance that she doesn't throw her hat in the ring. The current political environment certainly argues on behalf of a Clinton run, and it would be very difficult'--but not impossible'--for anyone to beat her for the nomination. However, these choices can never be considered 100 percent political decisions. Clinton turns 67 this October. At that age, she will likely be making her candidacy decision, and if nominated Clinton would turn 69 two weeks before the 2016 general election, notably the same age Ronald Reagan was when he was first elected in 1980. The choice to run for president is effectively a nine-year commitment: one year to run, another four years if she wins a first term'--finishing up that term at age 73'--and then, assuming she runs for reelection and wins, serving four more years to end a second term at 77 years of age. None of this is to say that the age issue could successfully be used against her. After all, Reagan won the presidency at the same age. But how many 67-year-olds make nine-year commitments, and what concerns have to be addressed if they do?
        According to The Atlantic, during her tenure as secretary of State, Clinton traveled for 401 days to 112 countries, totaling 956,733 miles, a distance equal to more than 38 times around the globe; wags have taken to calling it "odometer diplomacy." But also worth noting is how in Secretary Clinton's last year at her post, particularly the last few months at the State Department, the position clearly took a toll on her health; she experienced an episode of fainting or passing out, and suffered a head injury. None of this necessarily is to argue against her running, but she would be undertaking something that, as she well knows, is considerably more physically demanding even than her previous position, and at an older age. This is not necessarily an end-all-be-all argument that she should or would not run, simply that she likely would have to think long and hard as to whether she is physically up to the rigors of running and serving in office. Having run for president once before, and enduring two presidential campaigns and terms as a spouse, no one understands more clearly than Hillary does what the position demands. Do all of the people who say that she absolutely will run know and appreciate this as much as she obviously does?
        A law school friend of the Clintons' put it to me this way to me last year: "If Bill and Hillary are healthy, she will run," a subtle reminder to me that her husband will be 70 by Election Day 2016, having already gone through quadruple cardiac bypass surgery and two heart stents. He looks healthy, as she now does, but it does remind us that these are team efforts, and how they both are doing is relevant to the equation. When the 30 percent guestimate of her chance of passing up a race was run by a former senior Clinton staffer, the response was something to the effect of, "That sounds about right."
        Assuming that she does run, Clinton would obviously be a formidable candidate, starting out with total name recognition and an ability to raise more than enough to fund a big-time campaign. There would absolutely be many challenges along the road for Hillary. For one, the challenge of a 68-going-on-69-year-old going after a considerably younger electorate, particularly in the primaries, and how to make herself more relevant to the future, rather than to the past. Running on how great the economy was in the mid-to-late '90s, when her husband was president, would be tantamount to a sequel of Back to the Future. Clinton needs to lay out a rationale for her relevance to the future electorate of a rapidly changing country. Not that she can't do it, but it would be a different battle than that of 2008.
        Finally, don't expect that Hillary would have a free ride for the nomination. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo presumably wouldn't run if she does. Similarly, it would seem unlikely that another major woman like Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, or Elizabeth Warren would make the race either. But there's Vice President Joe Biden, and one could easily see former Govs. Howard Dean of Vermont and/or Brian Schweitzer of Montana decide to take a stab at it. For that matter, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley might get in the race, just as an Arkansas governor named Bill Clinton took a gamble getting into the race in 1991, particularly when many expected New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and other big names to get in and dominate the race. Expectations for O'Malley against Clinton would be low; he could end up with a cabinet job, and, who knows, she might falter along the way. Stranger things have happened.
        And if HRod doesn't run, Katie bar the door, we would be looking at a huge field of Democrats.
    BTC
      #Maxcoin: ''Fairest launch EVER.'' (thanks Jordan and Luke!) | Max Keiser
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:06
        I have said this in a number of places already, but just wanted to get the community opinion of the fairness of the initial distribution of MAX.
        Contrary to the popularly held view at the moment, I think that Maxcoin has had one of the most impressively fair initial distributions of any altcoin to date. A lot of the complaints I have seen are coming from people who are butthurt about their lack of the prerequisite skills to undertake basic programming tasks such as compiling the minerd from source or using a simple command line wallet. I'm sorry you do not understand these things, but there are LOTS of people who do. Who's problem is this exactly?
        The fact that there was so much initial hype about the coin ensured that the 'easiest' blocks were distributed far more fairly than even the early bitcoin blocks were. So nobody can honestly say that this was an unfair launch. While some people are complaining bitterly that a keccak GPU miner was available almost right from the start, again'... this is also just a release of butthurt by the people who thoiught they could take a bigger slice of the pie without having the computing resources to deserve such a share of the block reward. Nobody ever said that this coin was supposed to be a GPU free zone. Lots of people have GPU's so it's reasonable to assume that some clever person is going to figure out fairly quick how to use it to churn out SHA-3 hashing power. It's the really capital intensive ASIC infrastructures that can prove too much of a risk to the decentralised nature of the protocol, NOT gpu's.
        So overall, i think Maxcoin was in fact a reasonably (if not very) successful launch, and MAX has signifigant potential behind it. Compared to the bitcoin launch or other premined alts I don't know what some people are complaining about. Sometimes you have to think for yourself and learn how to ignore the internet TROLLS who just want to sink the price lower so they can buy in!
        TROLLS, I get it, you are all much butthurt. I'm so very sorry for you but please stop TROLLING those of us who are actually contributing to the Maxcoin project. No amount of you yammering at us is going to make the price sink any lower.
      BTC-Jail official Peter Nash passed rigorous testing before being hired | News.com.au
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 21:03
        Peter Nash faces extradition hearing.Source: Supplied
        A SENIOR Queensland public servant accused of secretly helping to run a $1.2 billion website that traded drugs and cash from his computer within his Wacol prison office passed the state's rigorous vetting process before being hired.
        Peter Philip Nash was subjected to a national criminal history check under the Newman Government's beefed-up screening checks before he was hired as a senior clinician at Wacol forensic disability unit.
        INSIDE JOB: MEET THE SILK ROAD 'MODERATOR'
        His name was run through the national criminal database Crimtrac by the Queensland Police Service before being given the all-clear to work.
        Five years later, the 41-year-old behavioural scientist is ­facing extradition to the US on charges of conspiracy to traffic narcotics, computer hacking and money laundering after ­allegedly pocketing between $US50,000 and $US75,000 a year helping to run an illegal online marketplace.
        ''Since the Morehu-Barlow case, departmental policy was broadened to ensure all departmental staff are subject to criminal history checks upon engagement,'' she said.
        She said before the Morehu-Barlow case, staff who did not work with children had previously not been subjected to criminal history checks in all cases.
        Nash was dismissed on December 23 '-- the same day the department was advised that he had been arrested by the Australian Federal Police three days earlier.
        While colleagues raised eyebrows about Nash after he insisted on having two computers, the act alone did not breach of government policy, she said.
        There is no restriction on public servants bringing their own devices to work.
        But the devices are not allowed to be connected to the departmental computer network.
        It was later discovered that a computer used by Nash had encryption software installed.
        Nash will appear before an extradition hearing in Brisbane next week.
    NA-Tech
      Gmail tells senders when a recipient opens an email
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Source: bertb news feed
        Thu, 13 Feb 2014 14:21
        The plugin was created by San Francisco-based firm StreakIt's aimed at marketing professionals, but can be used by any Gmail usersStreak tracks details each time an email is sent, and subsequently openedIt reveals the name and device details of the person who opened the emailThe system can also reveal the reader's name and location detailsStreak can even tell senders how many times a person has read an emailBy Victoria Woollaston
        PUBLISHED: 07:40 EST, 12 February 2014 | UPDATED: 07:42 EST, 12 February 2014
        472shares
        50
        Viewcomments
        The plugin, from San Francisco-based firm Streak, lets senders see when their emails have been opened and the reader's location, pictured
        If 'read receipts' on emails weren't annoying enough, a San Francisco-based firm has taken the art of tracking emails to the next level.
        The Streak plugin lets Gmail account holders monitor which of their sent items have been opened, who opened them, the exact time they were opened and how many times those emails have been viewed since.
        It also reveals details about the device used to read the email, and even the reader's approximate location.
        Streak is aimed at sales and marketing professionals, and the company calls it a 'Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) in your inbox.'
        However, the plugin can be installed by anyone using Gmail on Google Chrome and Safari.
        Aside from tracking emails, the plugin can also track stories and keywords, and keep track of bookings made as part of a wedding or other event.
        Once installed, users can set Streak's Email Tracking function to be enabled by default and each time they send an email, Streak will automatically track it.
        The feature can also be disabled at any time.
        When an email is read, a popup notification appears in the corner of the sender's inbox to tell them which email has been read, by whom, and on what device.
        An eye icon on the right-hand side of the email in the inbox will also turn green and hovering over it will reveal how many times the email has been read.
        Clicking this icon then opens a sidebar, and under 'more details', senders can see the exact time it was opened and the location plotted on an interactive Google map.
        At no point is the reader of the email informed that they have been tracked.
        When an email is read, a popup notification appears in the corner of the sender's inbox to tell them which email has been read, by whom, and on what device, pictured in this promotional image. An eye icon on the right-hand side of the email in the inbox will also turn green
        Once installed, users can set Streak's Email Tracking function to be enabled by default. Users know the email is being tracked when the eye icon is orange, highlighted. The feature can also be disabled. However, at no point is the reader of the email informed that they have been tracked
        During tests by the MailOnline, the service was not able to pinpoint a precise location, but it was able to identify the general area within London, pictured
        Streak doesn't explain exactly how it is able to track a reader's location and device details and has not yet responded to a request for comment.
        However, similar services work by attaching images to emails that are stored on an external server.
        When an email is opened, a request is made to the server to download the image and in the process of this request, the IP address is revealed. This address can then be used to locate the user.
        In tests carried out by MailOnline, the service was not able to pinpoint a precise location, but it was able to identify the general area within London.
        Meanwhile, tests carried out by PJ Vogt from OnTheMedia located the reader of his email to within about five minutes of their exact location in New York.
        Vogt advises that to avoid being tracked, users would need to stop images being automatically loaded in an email client. He also claims different clients offer different levels of protection.
        Streak only lets users track 200 emails a month for free before charging a premium for extra emails.
        HOW CAN EMAIL PROVIDERS TRACK THE DETAILS OF READERS?Streak doesn't explain exactly how it is able to track a reader's location and device details and has not yet responded to a request for comment.
        However, similar services work by attaching images to emails that are stored on an external server.
        When an email is opened, a request is made to the server to download the image and in the process of this request, the IP address is revealed. This address can then be used to locate the user.
        During tests by the MailOnline, the service was not able to pinpoint a precise location, but it was able to identify the general area within London.
        Share or comment on this article
    2030
      NIST ecryption-pocalypse
        Thank you for monitoring the ongoing 2030 crisis. Forgive me if I'm
        telling you something you already know, but it's so important I want
        to be certain of your awareness.
        Have you read NIST Special Publication 800-57 Part 1 ??
        http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-57/sp800-57_part1_rev3_general.pdf
        Just search through this document for "2030" and you will see that the
        NIST recommendation for use of 2048-bit RSA keys expires in 2030, at
        which point use of encryption keys having greater security is
        recommended.
        The authors of this critical document clearly were straining
        themselves to avoid causing widespread panic when they wrote (p 69):
        > Table 4 indicates that an algorithm with a security strength of 112
        > bits has an algorithm security lifetime that extends through 2030 for
        > applying cryptographic protection (i.e., encryption, in this case),
        > BUT NOT BEYOND.
        (emphasis added.) If that's not enough to scare the bejeezus out of
        you, this excerpt from page 70 will make your blood run cold:
        > ...if the security life of the data is longer than originally expected,
        > then the protection provided after 2030 may be less than required, and
        > there is some risk that the confidentiality of the data may be
        > compromised (after 2030);
        Of course it takes a bit of reading between the lines, but clearly
        what it's saying is that in 2030 all data encrypted before 2026 will
        become readable by bad actors, thereby causing unforeseen disasters of
        incomprehensible magnitude. At least that's my reading.
        This document is 147 pages long, thus of necessity there is much I am
        not conveying. I merely bring it to you attention in order that you
        may take cognizance of it as an enhancement to your preparedness for
        the unavoidable 2030 disaster most assuredly approaching humanity.
        ITM,
        --
        Adam M
    Elite$
      Alfalfa Club - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 13:58
        Alfalfa ClubMottoBis dat, qui cito dat.[1] (He gives twice who gives promptly.)Formation1913TypeClubPurpose/focusHosts annual Alfalfa Dinner on the last Saturday of JanuaryLocationWashington, D.C.Region servedUnited StatesMembership~200 politicians and corporate executivesThe Alfalfa Club is a Washington, D.C.social organization that exists only to hold an annual banquet on the last Saturday of January.[2] The club's membership, which numbers about 200, is composed primarily of American politicians and influential members of the United States business community, and has included several Presidents of the United States. The group's name is a reference to the plant's supposed willingness to do anything for a drink.[2]
        The president is usually asked to deliver remarks at the dinner. President George W. Bush spoke at the Alfalfa Dinner each year of his presidency;[3] the Alfalfa Club was one of only three clubs that his father, George H. W. Bush, was a member of as president.[4]
        Annual presidential nomination[edit]One of the evening's activities includes the playful nomination of a presidential candidate by the Club's leadership. The candidate is then required to make a speech. Several such candidates went on to hold the actual presidency after being nominated, including Richard Nixon in 1965 (elected in 1968), Ronald Reagan in 1974 (elected in 1980), and George W. Bush in 1998 (elected in 2000).[1] In 1969, they nominated Harold Stassen.[5] In 2004, the Club nominated the former president of the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack Valenti. Its 2000 nomination was Australian-born James Wolfensohn, constitutionally ineligible for election to the U.S. presidency.[1] In 2001, the presidential nomination went to John McCain.
        History[edit]When founded in 1913, the Club's function was to celebrate the birthday of ConfederateCivil War General Robert E. Lee. It began admitting blacks in 1974, and women in 1994.[2] In 2009, President Barack Obama spoke at the club's annual dinner, saying "this dinner began almost one hundred years ago as a way to celebrate the birthday of General Robert E. Lee. If he were here with us tonight, the General would be 202 years old. And very confused."[6]
        In addition to its January dinner in Washington, the club previously had an annual summer picnic.[7]
        In 1986, William H. Rehnquist's membership in the club became the subject of discussion in a Senate Judiciary hearing after Rehnquist was nominated to be Chief Justice. He described the club as one that "met once a year to listen to patriotic music and 'hear some funny political speeches'" and said "he did not think his membership in such a once-a-year group violated the canons of judicial ethics."[8]
        In 1994, the club admitted its first women members'--Sandra Day O'Connor, Elizabeth Dole, and Katharine Graham (whose father had also been a member[9])'--in response to a 1993 boycott by President Bill Clinton.[10] Clinton's boycott had been the first by a U.S. president since Jimmy Carter.[10]
        During the 2012 dinner, protesters from Occupy D.C. gathered outside the building to protest the meeting of government and business literally behind closed doors.[11][12]
        See also[edit]References[edit]^ abcAlfalfa Club at NNDB^ abc"Palin, Obama to share stage". The Politico. Retrieved 2013-03-04. ^"Alfalfa Club Hears Bush Speak as President for Last Time". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2013-03-04. ^"Bush Belongs to 3 Men's Clubs". The New York Times. February 1, 1989. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-30. "Stephen Hart, a White House press aide, said the President belongs to three clubs: The Alibi Club, the Alfalfa Club and the Bohemian Club. All three are men's clubs." ^Nixon's New Humor (Cont'd), a February 1969 article from Time (magazine)^"Obama gets laughs at Alfalfa dinner". Cnn.com. Retrieved 2013-03-04. ^Weekend Mystery, a July 1946 article from Time^President Asserts He Will Withhold Rehnquist Memos, an August 1986 article from The New York Times^Jesse Gets Ruffled, an April 1942 from Time^ abPoint Made, Clintons Dine at Club, a January 1994 article from The New York Times^"Egyptian army, demonstrators stand off in Tahrir Square". CNN. 2011-02-05. ^"Obama, Occupy DC Attend Alfalfa Dinner - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. 2012-01-29. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
    VIDEO
      VIDEO- Dental Group Recommends Fluoride Toothpaste For Children UNDER Age TWO - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 15:09
      Biden: Be Optimistic on State of the Nation 'In Spite of Who's President' | CNS News
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 06:29
        (AP Photo)
        (CNSNews.com) -Vice President Joe Biden told fellow Democrats they should be optimistic about the state of the nation, ''in spite of who's president.''
        Biden was addressing the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference in Cambridge, Md. on Friday when he discussed why he feels positive about America and the upcoming mid-term elections.
        ''It always surprises me when we don't have the degree of optimism that we should about the state of the nation," Biden said. "And in spite of who's president, in spite of who's in the Congress, the American people are so much stronger, so much more resilient, so much more capable, that even the ridiculous policies of our friends on the right cannot keep them from moving forward.''
        Later in his address, Biden discussed why he feels positive for Democrats in the upcoming elections.
        ''I can't imagine our prospects being viewed by the press and everyone else as being a whole hell of a lot brighter by the time we turn in September then now,'' Biden said. ''The American people are where we are. Let's go out and make every single effort not just to defend, but to aggressively push, aggressively push our agenda.''
      VIDEO- "Operation Paperclip" U.S. Government Recruited Nazi Scientists To Work For The C.I.A. - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 15:02
      VIDEO- WHO WANT THREE YEAR OLD PIZZA!!! - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:59
      VIDEO- FOUR Deaths Blamed On Facebook Drinking Game! - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:58
      VIDEO-BBC News - Syria security risk a big problem for UK - Brokenshire
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:39
        16 February 2014Last updated at 09:01 ET Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
        A video emerged last week of a British man who is thought to have carried out a suicide bombing in Syria
        The "security concern" for the UK posed by individuals who have trained and fought in Syria is "a big problem" for MI5 and the police, the immigration minister has said.
        James Brokenshire told the BBC "a significant and growing proportion" of their resources was spent on the issue.
        He said it was right to be "vigilant" about travel between the UK and Syria.
        According to the Sunday Times, security services are "closely monitoring" 250 British-based jihadis linked to Syria.
        The authorities are concerned that such people may be radicalised and militarised - and urged by those whom they come into contact with in Syria to turn their attentions away from the Syrian regime and instead attack targets in the West.
        Militants with suspected links to al-Qaeda have been heading to war-torn Syria from many other countries since fighting broke out in 2011.
        Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
        Last week, a video was posted online showing British man Abdul Waheed Majid, who is thought to have carried out a suicide bombing in the city of Aleppo.
        The 41-year-old, from Crawley, West Sussex, was believed to have bombed a jail on 6 February.
        'Jihadist destination'In an interview with Radio 4's The World This Weekend, Mr Brokenshire said he believed the "security concern" linked to Syria was "likely to be with us for the foreseeable future".
        "A significant proportion and a growing proportion of the security services work is linked to Syria in some way," he said.
        "This is a big problem that the security services and the police are actively focused on.
        Continue reading the main storyOur biggest worry is when they return they are radicalised''
        End QuoteSir Bernard Hogan-HoweMetropolitan Police Commissioner"It's why they are vigilant, why they are taking the steps that they are around the border and monitoring travel to and from Syria in the way that they are."
        The immigration and security minister said Syria had become "the number one jihadist destination in the world" and the number of Britons thought to have travelled there to fight so far was in the "low hundreds".
        Sir Peter Fahy, who leads the Association of Chief Police Officers "Prevent" strategy on counter-terrorism, told the BBC last month those returning from Syria would be stopped and could be arrested and charged.
        Even those who were not arrested would be put on programmes, he said, which saw police work with local agencies such as schools and youth organisations, "essentially to make sure these people haven't been affected and try and make sure they're not a threat to this country".
        Mr Brokenshire said he recognised "that not everyone who has been to Syria and is travelling back is involved in terrorism", but added: "Clearly the message is: 'People shouldn't be travelling.'
        'Desire to help'"The situation on the ground means that people who might think that they are going for genuine humanitarian purposes may get involved in situations they simply had not contemplated.
        "It's very fluid and people may become involved in terrorist organisations who are killing civilians. Indeed, they may be radicalised when they are out there.
        "When you look at the appalling situation in the region... I certainly recognise the absolute desire for people to want to help. But it's helping in the right way and the right way is by providing the financial support to organisations, recognised organisations, that are able to deliver."
        The Sunday Times says the number of individuals being monitored by MI5 and the police is much higher than previously reported, underlining "the growing danger posed by 'extremist tourists'".
        Throughout January, 16 people were arrested on suspicion of terror offences after travelling between Syria and the UK - that compares with 24 in the whole of 2013.
      VIDEO-Admiral claims Obama conspired with America's enemies to stage a phony scandal to kidnap Chris Stevens |
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 13:52
        (GOPUSA) '-- It's even worse than we previously thought. A retired four-star admiral is now claiming that Barack Obama intentionally conspired with America's enemies to stage a bogus attack and the kidnapping of an American ambassador so he could ''negotiate'' the release of a ''hostage'' and bolster his mediocre approval ratings just prior to the election?
        On Lou Dobbs, retired Four-Star Admiral James Lyons, said: ''the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi'... was the result of a bungled abduction attempt'.... the first stage of an international prisoner exchange'... that would have ensured the release of Omar Abdel Rahman, the 'Blind Sheik''...''
        But something went horribly wrong with Obama's ''October Surprise.'' Although the Obama Administration intentionally gutted security at the consulate prior to the staged kidnapping, former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty disobeyed direct orders to stand down, saved American lives, single-handedly killed scores of attackers'...and the attackers, believing that the Obama had betrayed them, tortured Ambassador Chris Stevens and dragged his body through the streets.
        It's clear. Benghazi-Gate is only a small piece of a much larger operation, an attempt to conceal what The New American calls; ''the Obama administration's full role in helping violent Jihadists and self-styled al Qaeda terrorists.'' http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines/it-all-makes-sense-now-4-star-admiral-obama-a-benghazi-co-conspirator
      VIDEO-Networks Yawn at Claim of 'Significant Decline' in Press Freedom in U.S. | MRCTV
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 06:18
        ABC, CBS, and NBC's morning and evening newscasts have so far punted on reporting the strong critique of the Obama administration's "disturbing retreat from democratic practices" with regard to the freedom of the press, according to Reporters Without Borders. The U.S. fell 13 places in the international group's annual "World Press Freedom Index" for the federal government's "increased efforts to track down whistleblowers and the sources of leaks."
        The organization spotlighted the controversial leaks from Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden as examples, but also included the Department of Justice's seizure of the Associated Press' phone records as a "reminder of the urgent need for a 'shield law' to protect the confidentiality of journalists' sources at the federal level." Fox News' Shannon Bream devoted a brief to the Reporters Without Borders report on the 12 February 2014 edition of Special Report:
        SHANNON BREAM: A group monitoring freedom of the press worldwide has issued a strong rebuke to the U.S. The World Press Freedom Index ranks the U.S. 46th this year, down from '' 13 spots down from last year. Reporters Without Borders says the U.S. had '' quote, 'one of the most significant declines in press freedom.' It cites the government's pursuit of Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden, and the A.P. phone-tapping scandal. Forty-sixth place puts the U.S. between Romania and Haiti on the press freedom index.
      VIDEO-CNN's Phillips Gushes Over Facebook's 50+ Gender Categories: 'That's A Beautiful Thing' | MRCTV
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 06:13
        From the 14 February 2014 edition of CNN Newsroom:
        KYRA PHILLIPS: Facebook users, your 'about' section just expanded in a big '' and maybe, for many of you '' unfamiliar way. Under gender, there's now a custom option, and it allows you to choose from 50 terms. Here's some of the examples: 'cisgender,' 'gender fluid,' 'two-spirit,' 'intersex,' and 'neither.'...
        Joining me now, Rich Ferraro, vice president of communications for GLAAD. So, Rich, you actually worked on this project with Facebook. So, whose idea was it, and why did it become an issue and an important move for Facebook?
        RICH FERRARO, VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS, GLAAD: ...Facebook today is a reflection for who we are and the story that we want to tell the world about ourselves, and there were some users who couldn't do that.
        Facebook contacted GLAAD to help work with us on this issue, and GLAAD was happy to work with Facebook. But more importantly, we were happy for the trans-gender and the gender non-conforming youth, who now can tell the world who they are, in their own words....
        PHILLIPS: ...So, what do you say to those folks that are like '' okay, this is just way too much to understand and comprehend '' and why can't we just keep it more simple?
        FERRARO: ...I don't think it's ridiculous to accept LGBT young people for who they are. I think that Facebook has really made a great step forward '' to telling those young people that you can be who you are on Facebook.
        PHILLIPS: Well, that's a beautiful thing. We all want to be who we are '' right, Rich?
      VIDEO- Scientist Says Maine Fireball Probably Space Junk Falling To Earth - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 06:05
      VIDEO- NSA Continues To Insist Edward Snowden Stole Password From Coworker To Access Top Secret Info - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 05:53
      VIDEO- "Pretending There's A Crisis And Being Called To Action!" "THE KIDS ARE BASICALLY JUST PROPS!" - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 05:46
      VIDEO- "Assad Is WINNING!" Syrian Peace Talks Come To A Close In Geneva - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 05:33
      VIDEO-Scientists Say Severe Weather Being Caused By Change In The Jet Stream - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 16 Feb 2014 05:25
      VIDEO- Ellen Page Joins HRCF's Time to Thrive Conference - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 23:01
      VIDEO- Utah Representative Wants To Shut Off Water To NSA Facility - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 21:48
      VIDEO-Part 2: TEDxIowaCity - Dr Terry Wahls - Minding Your Mitochondria part2 - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 21:31
      VIDEO-'¥ Girl Talk.. Let's Talk About BOYS '¥ - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 20:44
      VIDEO-Eisenhower warns us of the military industrial complex. - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 19:05
      VIDEO- REICH WATCH, E3; How Britain Secretly Wages War On Middle East & Africa Via British Arab Monarchies - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 18:29
      VIDEO- Department of Defense Denies Reports of Drone Base in Niger - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 18:16
      VIDEO-CBS Blames Global Warming for Harsh Winter Weather | NewsBusters
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 15:56
        As a snow storm beared down on the east coast on Thursday, CBS This Morning sought to lay blame on global warming, with the headline on screen fretting: "Extreme Weather; Are These Kinds of Storms, Droughts Unprecedented?" Co-host Charlie Rose turned New York City College physics professor Michio Kaku and wondered: "What's causing all this?" [View video after the jump]
        Kaku proclaimed: "Well, the wacky weather could get even wackier. What we're seeing is that the jet stream and the polar vortex are becoming unstable. Instability of historic proportions. We think it's because of the gradual heating up of the North Pole. The North Pole is melting." Rose interjected: "Global warming."
        Kaku continued: "That excess heat generated by all this warm water is destabilizing this gigantic bucket of cold air....So that's the irony, that heating could cause gigantic storms of historic proportions."
        Apparently there is a disagreement between the broadcast networks over global warming causing such winter storms. Back on the January 8 Today, NBC weatherman Al Roker got extremely defensive when critics claimed he and others were trying to link the polar vortex to climate change: "Some are saying that, A, we've created this phrase to hype it and to create hysteria and that we have made it a political issue by linking it to either climate change or global warming. I will give anybody who can prove that I have ever linked this with global warming or climate change, I will donate a thousand dollars to your charity. Alright?"
        On CBS This Morning Thursday, co-host Gayle King theorized: "Does this explain why Niagra Falls is frozen and why it's warm in Sochi? It's all connected to the same thing, correct?" Kaku replied: "It's connected. If you take a look at the jet stream, you see that England is flooding right now, Latin America is warm, while California has a drought. We're talking about instabilities caused by the eratic nature of the jet stream."
        King worried: "What can be done about it, Professor? Anything we can actually do about it?" Kaku lamented: "Well, the bad news is that the north polar region continues to rise in temperature, it seems to be irreversible at a certain point, so we may have to get used to a new normal. That is, a north polar region that is melting, causing more instability in this bucket, causing more things to spill out, which means more extremes. Some winters could be very mild, other winters could be horrendous."
        Co-host Norah O'Donnell teed up the professor to make another dire prediction: "And you said 2014 is gonna be the hottest on record?" Kaku declared: "It's shaping up that this year could be one of the hottest years on record. The decade that just passed, it was the hottest decade ever recorded in the history of science."
        Story Continues Below Ad '†'
        Here is a full transcript of the February 13 segment:
        NORAH O'DONNELL: As another major storm system hits the south and the east, sub-zero temperatures still grip the Midwest. And western Oregon and Washington state were hit with unusual snow.
        [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Extreme Weather; Are These Kinds of Storms, Droughts Unprecedented?]
        CHARLIE ROSE: Well, and California just got about twenty inches of rain from a pineapple express, but that state is far from ending its drought emergency. CBS News contributor Michio Kaku is a physics professor at the City College of New York. Good morning.
        MICHIO KAKU: Good morning.
        ROSE: So what's causing all this?
        KAKU: Well, the wacky weather could get even wackier. What we're seeing is that the jet stream and the polar vortex are becoming unstable. Instability of historic proportions. Now think of the polar vortex as a bucket, a swirling bucket of cold air. However, the walls are weakening. Cold air is spilling out, spilling out over the walls of the bucket. And the question is, why? Why is this polar vortex weakening? We think it's because of the gradual heating up of the North Pole. The North Pole is melting.
        ROSE: Global warming.
        KAKU: That excess heat -- that excess heat generated by all this warm water is destabilizing this gigantic bucket of cold air, weakening this low pressure region, causing cold air to spill out over the United States. So that's the irony, that heating could cause gigantic storms of historic proportions.
        GAYLE KING: Would you the the [inaudible] please.
        [LAUGHTER]
        KING: No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Go ahead, Norah.
        O'DONNELL: We get this spilling out of the bucket, right? So but we see this snow in the Midwest and the south, why then has California been the driest on record? I mean, look at the snow pack in the Sierra's. Any skier knows out there they have so little snow pack. Huge drought.
        KAKU: Because a lot of the weather, the warm -- the moisture-laden air which should go to California is being diverted into Canada, where it freezes, and it falls on your backyard. So in some sense there's the link between what's happening in California as the jet stream diverts, diverts the moisture-laden air over Canada and then it snows on the United States.
        KING: I'm trying to follow you. I'm really trying to follow you. But does this explain why Niagra Falls is frozen and why it's warm in Sochi? It's all connected to the same thing, correct?
        KAKU: It's connected. If you take a look at...
        ROSE: Globally.
        KING: Globally, yeah.
        KAKU: ...at the jet stream, you see that England is flooding right now, Latin America is warm, while California has a drought. We're talking about instabilities caused by the eratic nature of the jet stream-
        KING: What can be done about it, Professor? Anything we can actually do about it?
        KAKU: Well, the bad news is that the north polar region continues to rise in temperature, it seems to be irreversible at a certain point, so we may have to get used to a new normal. That is, a north polar region that is melting, causing more instability in this bucket, causing more things to spill out, which means more extremes. Some winters could be very mild, other winters could be horrendous.
        O'DONNELL: And you said 2014 is gonna be the hottest on record?
        KAKU: It's shaping up that this year could be one of the hottest years on record. The decade that just passed, it was the hottest decade ever recorded in the history of science.
        ROSE: Michio, you know if this physics thing doesn't work out, you can be a weather man.
        [LAUGHTER]
        O'DONNELL: You could try it.
        KING: Professor, thank you very much. I think he's speechless.
      CBS Blames Global Warming for Bad Winter
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 15:18
        Guest Michio Kaku, a physics professor from New York City College--not a climatologist, but a physicist--claimed that the "wacky weather" could get "even wackier" and its all because of global warming. "What we're seeing is that the jet stream and the polar vortex are becoming unstable. Instability of historic proportions. We think it's because of the gradual heating up of the North Pole. The North Pole is melting," professor Kaku said.
        "That excess heat generated by all this warm water is destabilizing this gigantic bucket of cold air... So that's the irony, that heating could cause gigantic storms of historic proportions," the prof explained.
        This was all because of global warming, Rose insisted.
        Kaku went on to say that the weather "instabilities" we are seeing are because of the "erratic nature of the jet stream" and the "polar vortex."
        Kaku also said that it is too late to change any of this:
        Well, the bad news is that the north polar region continues to rise in temperature, it seems to be irreversible at a certain point, so we may have to get used to a new normal. That is, a north polar region that is melting, causing more instability in this bucket, causing more things to spill out, which means more extremes. Some winters could be very mild, other winters could be horrendous.
        According to The Weather Channel, the Polar Vortex is not the sort of weather system that directly affects the surface. In fact, the polar vortex is an upper atmosphere system, not one that impacts directly on the surface of the earth.
        Further, the idea that the polar vortex has become "unstable" is not necessarily true.The Weather Channel notes that the upper atmosphere system sometimes shifts, helping to sweep weather systems in the lower atmosphere to drift far afield from more common patterns.
        CBS Host Norah O'Donnell also took the occasion of the discussion to claim that 2014 will be the hottest summer ever.
        Newsbusters has the whole transcript.
      VIDEO- Bedroom Vlog - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 15 Feb 2014 17:45
  Clips and Stuff
    AFRIKA
      Niger Drone base.mp3
    Agenda 21
      CBS-local- global cooling.mp3
      CBS-Rose-Kaku-.mp3
    Book Club
      AJA-operation paperclip.mp3
    Bullying
      Ellen Page HRC.mp3
      Facebook Gender.mp3
    Heroin
      Facebook KILLS.mp3
    In NGOS We Trust
      HRC_990_2012.pdf
      reporters boredom.mp3
      Samuel Moyn.mp3
    JCD Clips
      bahrain still going.mp3
      BART cops at work.mp3
      canada and china1.mp3
      german roots of dissent.mp3
      germans on welfare.mp3
      hollande to Obama.mp3
      listen skeleton.mp3
      OBAMA to Hollande.mp3
      olympian no memo.mp3
      RT russian pilot.mp3
      selection.mp3
      social media report2.mp3
      social media1.mp3
      southern bulgaria.mp3
      uber in france.mp3
      weird flub.mp3
    KALE
      have more kale-mix.mp3
      TeD-KALE.mp3
    MIC
      Eisenhower MIC.mp3
    NA-592-Art-BIG.jpg
    NA-592-Art-SM.jpg
    North Korea
      northkorea-ads.pdf
    Obama Nation
      Biden-Spite President.mp3
    SnowJob
      Snowden-accomplices.mp3
    Syria
      Syrian Geneva talks fail.mp3
    Vaccine$
      Dental fluoride.mp3
      Lancet fluoride.pdf