Politics

The NSA Is Bad for Business And that’s why all the biggest tech rivals are joining together to limit government surveillance. By David Auerbach Slate.com Americans may not be paying attention to the NSA scandals—polls inconsistently show that 40 to 50 percent of the country is OK with whatever it is the NSA is doing—but tech companies certainly are. The big-name Internet companies have launched a Reform Government Surveillance (RGS) coalition, arguing for heavy restrictions on the NSA’s ability to do all the economy-size surveillance that’s been revealed over the last seven months. The coalition includes Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo, plus L…

Interesting consideration of Gates's new memoir, by the recently launched online Politico Magazine, which has turned out pretty good, well rounded pieces so far. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/the-pentagons-angry-old-man-102046.html?hp=l1#.UtFfprTVees

Fun to watch. Senator Ted Cruz, still CanadianBy Anthony Zurcher Editor, Echo Chambers BBC News Would a Canadian appear so comfortable around a US flag? In August, the Dallas Morning News reported that US Senator Ted Cruz was, by having been born in Calgary, a Canadian citizen. The story was good for a few laughs, and Mr Cruz quickly announced that he would renounce his Canadian citizenship. "Nothing against Canada, but I'm an American by birth, and as a US senator I believe I should be only an American," he said in a statement. Fast forward nearly five months, and Mr Cruz is still a Canadian in good standing. "I have retained counsel that is preparing the pa…

It’s been rather fascinating to watch New York change hands from the rather stodgy leadership of the capable Michael Bloomberg, to the more casual and very liberal Bill DeBlasio. It’s been so long since a liberal held a major office where he had actual power that all eyes have been on New York this week. DeBlasio came from behind in the New York primary. Lesbian Christine Quinn looked for a while like she would become the city’s first lesbian mayor. But tales of her temperament, plus her support of Bloomberg, especially his rather unconstitutional claim to a third term, derailed her as Public Advocate DeBlasio surged to claim a surprise victory. And now we see a lesbi…

Interesting life story of Kerry by The Boston Globe, from 2003: http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061503.shtml

Sure, JP Morgan is going to forfeit something in the neighborhood of $2 Billion, but as an LA Times columnist points out, the settlement stinks to high heaven. JP Morgan was uniquely placed to have exposed Madoff ten years earlier, but chose money over honor. And why is it that not a single individual at JP Morgan is being prosecuted? http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-jpmorgan-20140107,0,1798319.story#axzz2poo7iehA

Full text: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html

When we have such serious accidents as the Japanese nuclear plant threatening the west coast of the US and perhaps ultimately a significant portion of our and the world's food supply why should a dirty bomb be of much consequence? It will be years before we know the full result of this situation which likely will include cancer and other nasty things from radiation. A small dirty bomb with localized results would be, not a welcome relief, but a relief nonetheless compared to the Japanese accident which is not yet contained and perhaps not even fully extrapolated. I would like to think we have better technology already in hand to build nuclear generating plants and I h…

Satanists’ statue design for Oklahoma Capitol: ‘Sit on the lap of Satan’ By Cheryl K. Chumley The Washington Times Tuesday, January 7, 2014 Enlarge Photo This artist’s rendering provided by the Satanic Temple shows a proposed monument ... more > Members of the Satanic Temple have unveiled their design for a 7-foot-tall statue of the devil they want to locate at the Capitol building in Oklahoma, right next to a monument of the Ten Commandments that has stood since 2012. And to many, the design may prove shocking. The Associated Press reported an artist’s depiction shows Satan as the goat-headed and horned figure of Baphomet, complete with wings and a long …

A high school friend who is now a defense attorney in Florida posts to his facebook page, almost daily it seems, accounts from around the country of how incompetent, and frequently downright corrupt, state police crime labs are. Corrupt crime lab chemist faces light sentence after ruining countless lives with falsified evidence A lab analyst who may have tampered with as many as 40,000 cases in 9 years has been sentenced to 3-5 years in prison. Posted on November 25, 2013 by PSUSA in News Annie Dookhan ruined hundreds of lives. (Source: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters/Landov) MASSACHUSETTS — In one of the largest frauds in Massachusetts history, a state crime lab analyst u…

Now, don't be shocked. You've lusted after his hot bod even though he consistently votes anti-gay. But now the tides may be turning: http://joemygod.blogspot.com/ UPDATE: Schock has an offer of help.

In an editorial in today's New York Times, the paper refers to Edward Snowden as a "whistle-blower" who has done his country a great service. I happen to agree! The Times acknowledges that in helping his country, Snowden may have commited a crime, but calls for leniency: "Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least …

Rather than have a story about Clay Aiken leading our Politics menu- surely it is a joke!- the online NY Times has a hot pic of Tom Daley on its main page, and follows it with a story on bisexuality, something most gay men think is a ruse. Hey, read the story, I didn't say it! http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/fashion/Tom-Daley-Bisexual-LGBT.html And, the hot pic, right here in the Politics Forum:

Moments before he goes on-air to resign as President of the United States, Richard Nixon is calm and collected, joking with staff as they set up the pool feed. Not a parody -- the real thing, from sound check etc. through the actual resignation speech.

What You Believe About Homosexuality Doesn’t Matter Posted on December 19, 2013by Tyler Today, there are 2 news stories that have been circulating all over my Facebook and Twitter news feeds. One you are probably aware of, the other maybe not. The two, though, are closely related. The first news story is the indefinite suspension of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson due to the comments he made during an interview with GQ magazine. The second news story is about the “defrocking” of Pennsylvania UMC pastor Frank Schaefer after he performed the marriage for his gay son and subsequent refusal to submit to church law regarding this action. The link between these two stor…

Good. Stretching out the Republican primary fight suits me fine. http://mobile.politico.com/iphone/story/1213/101457.html

The 22 Biggest Queer Political Stories Of 2013

http://m.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/glenn-greenwalds-new-media-company-is-a-bespoke-firm/282546/

The horror! Fidel Castro (L), leader of the "26th July" revolutionary group which ousted Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, shakes hands with U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon following talks in Washington April 19, 1959. (UPI Photo/FILE) http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/Archives/Fidel-Castro-officially-steps-down-as-Cuban-leader/fp/295/#ixzz2nH6I3VvM And not to forget...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/world/asia/court-restores-indias-ban-on-gay-sex.html?_r=2&

Update on the ongoing Yucca Mountain follies. The $38 billion nuclear waste fiasco Congress chose the site in 1987 as the country’s sole permanent nuclear repository. | AP Photo By DARIUS DIXON | 11/30/13 12:29 PM EST politico.com Doing nothing often has a cost — and when it comes to storing the nation’s nuclear waste, the price is $38 billion and rising. That’s just the low-ball estimate for how much taxpayers will wind up spending because of the government’s decades of dithering about how to handle the radioactive leftovers sitting at dozens of sites in 38 states. The final price will be higher unless the government starts collecting the waste by 2020, which …

Beyond imagining: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/09/nsa-spies-online-games-world-warcraft-second-life We are well and truly entering the insane condition satirized by Stanislaw Lem in his novel Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoirs_Found_in_a_Bathtub http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/497121.Memoirs_Found_in_a_Bathtub http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0156585855

This should be interesting. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/08/satan-ten-commandments-oklahoma-city

http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-tracking-cellphone-locations-worldwide-snowden-documents-show/2013/12/04/5492873a-5cf2-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html?hpid=z1 http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/how-the-nsa-is-tracking-people-right-now/634/ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/04/nsa-storing-cell-phone-records-daily-snowden