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Look Out, Flu Shot Resistors: The "FLUgitive" Propaganda Campaign Aims to Shame You Into Getting Jabbed | The Daily Sheeple
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  Daisy LutherThe Organic PrepperNovember 20th, 2013Reader Views: 933
  This is from the ''Believe-It-or-Not-This-Isn't-Satire'' files.
  If you don't get lined up for this year's lethal injection '' ahem '' I mean flu shot '' you just might get a push from a well-meaning (but brainwashed) friend or neighbor. A national campaign has begun with the intention to shame and peer pressure everyone to get the flu shot.
  The campaign was created by Sanofi-Pasteur, the company who makes'...you guessed it'...a flu vaccine called Fluzone, approved by our good friends at the FDA in 2011. (They also collaborate with the notable eugenicists of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.) You can find out more about the FLUgitive campaign on Facebook.
  #FLUgitives live in every town in America; they could be hiding in your workplace, your gym, the grocery store, or even in your own home. Each year in the U.S., 1 in 5 people, or up to 20 percent of the population, gets the flu and an estimated 226,000 people are hospitalized from influenza-related complications. But since the single most important thing adults can do to help prevent spreading the flu is to get their annual flu vaccination, these #FLUgitives should not wait. #FLUgitives are encouraged to come out of hiding, round up other #FLUgitives and turn themselves in to their healthcare provider to learn about the seriousness of influenza and their available vaccine options.
  ''Because flu season can begin as early as October and last through May, the best prevention for those planning to get their annual flu shot is to get it as early as possible in the season, allowing your body time to build up its immunity,'' said Carlos E. Picone, M.D., F.C.C.P., Vice-Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C.
  Research has shown that social influences are a primary factor in the adoption of health behaviors. The FLUgitives campaign leverages the positive power of social peer influence to drive more people to help protect themselves against the flu by getting vaccinated and features four #FLUgitives whom everyone might know '' or may even relate to themselves. (source)
  Check out the mocking video campaign below for your recommended daily allowance of offensive and insulting propaganda.
  The Fitness FanaticConvinced that exercise and all-protein diet is the key to staying healthy, this gym rat dreads getting the flu vaccine because nothing can get in the way of his workout. Putting his beloved biceps on the back burner is not an option. With big protection and a tiny needle, the Fluzone Intradermal vaccine only goes skin deep so no one has to mess with ''lightening'' and ''thunder'' unless they really have to.
  The Turbo MomA modern day Superwoman, this suburban warrior balances caring for her kids, husband, home and pets on top of a busy job. But her hectic schedule leaves little time for anything else. Fluzone Intradermal vaccine is right on top of that '' it's a simple and quick way to get the protection she needs without missing a beat.
  The Latest and Greatest GuyA self-proclaimed gadget loving playboy, this FLUgitive always wants the newest version of everything.
  He should ask about Fluzone Intradermal vaccine- it's a smart, fast and efficient technology, just like his gadgets.
  The Scaredy CatThis constant worrier is on edge about pretty much everything.
  But since his fear of getting sick outweighs his fear of getting a flu shot, Fluzone Intradermal vaccine is right up his alley. It uses a next-generation device to quickly help deliver vaccine just under the skin's surface, so he can find something else to worry about for a change.
  There's even a dubious little app that allows you to load your photo and see how bad you will look if you don't get your flu shot. No, I'm not kidding.
  Notably, one type of FLUgitive is not represented in the videos '' those of us who avoid the shot because we know better. Do your research and make your decision '' don't base it on biased propaganda presented by those who profit from the vaccine.
  Thank you to Vanessa for the link!
  Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
  Contributed by Daisy Luther of The Organic Prepper.
  Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca
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China's Military Deploying Relief Ship to Philippines to Aid in Typhoon Haiyan Aftermath - China Real Time Report - WSJ
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 13:41
  China's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the Chinese military will deploy a medical-relief ship to aid in humanitarian efforts in the Philippines, and that it will soon deploy an initial batch of relief workers to the country following a green light from Manila.
  A statement posted to the Foreign Ministry website gave no specifics on what the military ship, known as the ''peace ark,'' would be doing in the Philippines, or on where it would anchor once it arrived. China's Defense Ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
  The announcement by China follows earlier commitments by both Japan and the U.S. to deploy military ships to aid relief in the Philippines, where the death toll from Typhoon Haiyan is at nearly 4,000.
  Beijing took criticism early on for what many viewed as a meager commitment of aid, at first announcing only $100,000 in relief through the Red Cross Society of China. The U.S., meanwhile, was gearing up an aircraft carrier to help. Some experts said Beijing had stumbled on the public relations front, as its heated territorial dispute with Manila in the South China Sea made it reluctant to do more.
  China later upped its aid to the Philippines, and in recent days has said it was willing to send relief personnel to disaster-stricken areas, but indicated that it hadn't yet received permission to take part from the Philippine government.
  The Foreign Ministry defended China's response to the typhoon in its statement on Wednesday.
  ''The Chinese side has always been highly concerned about the typhoon disaster in the Philippines,'' the statement read.
  Strategic analysts describe the Chinese navy's medical-relief ship as a way for China to exude soft power through its growing hard-power military assets, and has previously made ports of call in India, Myanmar and elsewhere.
  U.S. officials have repeatedly said they want to build trust with the Chinese military and see greater cooperation on humanitarian issues as one area to achieve it.
  ''Brian Spegele. Follow him on Twitter @bspegele.
  Like China Real Time on Facebook and follow us Twitter for the latest updates.
Japan to send Self-Defense Forces to Philippine typhoon zone | Reuters
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  TOKYOTue Nov 12, 2013 3:57am EST
  TOKYO Nov 12 (Reuters) - Japan is to send troops to the Philippines to help with relief efforts after a super typhoon killed thousands, with 40 people set to leave as soon as possible, the government said on Tuesday.
  The dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces emergency relief team comes as the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing to ease limits on the military imposed by its post-war, pacifist constitution.
  Japan invaded the Philippines in World War Two and scattered fighting continued until Tokyo's surrender in 1945, but Philippine officials have said their nation does not share the concerns of others in Asia, notably China and South Korea, about Japan's military past.
  The Philippines, like Japan a strong ally of the United States, has also said it views Japan as a counterweight to the increasing regional role of China.
  Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said the decision to send the troops followed a request from Manila. He also said Tokyo would provide $10 million in emergency aid.
  "We hope to make every effort to get the aid to the people who need it as soon as possible," he told a news conference, adding that the number of troops will be increased if the situation on the ground warrants it.
  Timing of the dispatch was being coordinated with the Philippines, but the troops were ready, Suga added. A team of 25 people, mainly medical workers, left for the Philippines on Monday.
  Disaster relief activities both at home and abroad by the Self-Defense Forces have gone a long way to improve the military's domestic image. About 1,000 soldiers and other personnel took part in relief efforts in Aceh after the 2004 tsunami, and troops went to Haiti following a devastating earthquake in 2010.
  Expanding such non-combat activities is a key part of Abe's campaign for a more proactive role for the military overseas.
  He is pushing for lifting a self-imposed ban on exercising the right of collective self-defense, or aiding an ally under attack, a much more controversial move. He has pledged to bolster the military to cope with what Japan sees as an increasingly threatening security environment, including an assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea.
  "Japan's dispatch of its self-defense forces is strictly confined," said Shinichi Kitaoka, who heads an advisory panel expected to recommend at least a partial lifting of the ban on collective self-defense.
  "We have started to go to many places nowadays, Haiti and other places. So to me, Japan's expansion to the more active participation in peace maintenance is a natural trend." (Reporting by Elaine Lies and Linda Sieg; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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FAA To Require Obese Pilots To Undergo Sleep Apnea Screening
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 13:13
  Severely obese pilots will soon be required to undergo sleep apnea screening, and if they are diagnosed with the condition, will be required to undergo treatment before receiving their medical certificate, according to a newly announced policy from the Federal Aviation Administration.
  In the most recent Federal Air Surgeon's Medical Bulletin, Fred Tilton, M.D., the Federal Air Surgeon, explained that the new policy will require all pilots to undergo sleep apnea testing by a board-certified sleep specialist if they have a body mass index of 40 or greater. (A person is considered obese if they have a BMI of 30 or greater.) Air traffic controllers will also eventually be included in the new policy, pending some logistical details.
  CNN pointed out that the new policy could affect as many as 125,000 commercial and private pilots.
  "OSA is almost universal in obese individuals who have a body mass index over 40 and a neck circumference of 17 inches or more, but up to 30% of individuals with a BMI less than 30 have OSA," Tilton wrote in the editorial.
  After everyone with a BMI of 40 or greater has been tested, then "we will gradually expand the testing pool by going to lower BMI measurements until we have identified and assured treatment for every airman with OSA," he added.
  Tilton also explained in the editorial that obstructive sleep apnea -- a disorder characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep, leading to disrupted sleep -- can be a detriment to safety because it spurs a number of health conditions, such as hypertension and sudden cardiac death, and also promotes daytime sleepiness.
  "Untreated OSA is a disqualifying condition for airmen and air traffic control specialists (ATCSs), and it is a concern for the other modes of the Department of Transportation. It has also been a hot issue at the National Transportation Safety Board for several years," he wrote.
  ABC News reported that the move comes after a high-profile accident where two pilots fell asleep while flying between islands in Hawaii, overshooting the airport. The captain was obese and had sleep apnea.
  Also on HuffPost:
VIDEO-Gloria Steinem on Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom: 'I Hope this is Retroactive in Honoring the Work of Margaret Sanger' | MRCTV
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  MRC TV is an online platform for people to share and view videos, articles and opinions on topics that are important to them '-- from news to political issues and rip-roaring humor.
  MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 1900 Campus Commons Drive, Reston, VA 20194. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.
  Copyright (C) 2013, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
VIDEO-Hundreds of active terrorists allowed into the USA | MRCTV
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  MRC TV is an online platform for people to share and view videos, articles and opinions on topics that are important to them '-- from news to political issues and rip-roaring humor.
  MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 1900 Campus Commons Drive, Reston, VA 20194. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.
  Copyright (C) 2013, Media Research Center. All Rights Reserved.
VIDEO- Merkel Tells German Lawmakers NSA Tapping Her Phone Is Serious And She Wants An Explanation - YouTube
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VIDEO- Conservative Congressman BUSTED For Cocaine Possession - YouTube
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VIDEO- New Evidence Brittany Murphy Was Poisoned - YouTube
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VIDEO-Virtual Currencies - C-SPAN Video Library
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  Witnesses testified on the future of virtual currencies such as bitcoin, and how to better protect consumers.
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VIDEO- U.S. Government Opens Investigation Into Tesla Electric Cars Catching Fire - YouTube
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The Expiring Ban on Plastic Guns - NYTimes.com
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:50
  Even after the Newtown, Conn., massacre, Republican opponents of reasonable firearms restrictions in Congress blocked proposals for strengthened background checks and other steps to make future gun tragedies less likely. Now the question is whether anti-gun-control extremists will allow a federal ban on the manufacture, sale, import or possession of guns that are undetectable by metal detectors and X-ray machines to expire on Dec. 9.
  When Congress first approved the Undetectable Firearms Act in 1988, and renewed it in 1998 and 2003, the possibility of undetectable plastic guns being taken onto planes and into government buildings where guns are prohibited was largely theoretical. Today, 3-D printing technology has reached a point where it is possible to cheaply create fully functional plastic handguns capable of firing multiple shots. A blueprint for creating such a gun, known as the Liberator, was downloaded more than 100,000 times when it was posted on the website of a group called Defense Distributed earlier this year.
  Last week, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tested a version of the Liberator produced by the agency and found its firepower to be sufficient to ''reach vital organs and perforate the skull.'' The weapon's design calls for a small amount of metal to be included, which makes it legal under current law. But the metal part is tiny and can be easily removed. Agency officials are concerned about the spread of undetectable guns as 3-D printers become more widely available.
  Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, is working with two Democratic colleagues, Bill Nelson of Florida and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to pass an updated renewal measure that responds to law enforcement concerns. Representative Steve Israel, Democrat of New York, is pressing a similar bill in the House. The ban on undetectable guns was first signed into law by President Ronald Reagan and previous renewals have received bipartisan support. This time should be no different.
  Meet The New York Times's Editorial Board >>
VIDEO-Beaujolais Nouveau 2013 expects more marketing success | euronews, world news
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:32
  For some it is an unmissable international cultural tradition, for others it is a lot of fuss over cheap plonk.
  But Beaujolais Nouveau continues to enjoy phenomenal marking success each November.
  The stroke of midnight on the third Thursday of the month gives the green light for bottles to be cracked open.
  Customers in the Au Petit Chavignol restaurant in Paris were among the first to try the new vintage.
  ''Tr¨s fruit(C),'' (very fruity) was the verdict of one diner. One prominent wine expert has said this year's wine contains a whiff of blackberry, raspberry and cherry '' describing it as ''sturdy'' despite fears it might have been damaged by a late harvest.
  Many people across the globe will follow the Parisians and the French: last year saw events in 120 countries.
  Japan started early because of the time difference. It is set to be the leading export market, as last year when it bought 8.8 million bottles.
  In Britain sales have slumped in recent years, to the extent that some supermarkets no longer stock Beaujolais Nouveau at all '' although higher quality wines from the Beaujolais region have enjoyed a revival.
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Climate Finance - Is Essential to Addressing Climate Change, Ban Tells Ministers in Warsaw
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:29
  The top United Nations official today called on foreign ministers to prioritize the environment in domestic politics and contribute to climate financing as a way of moving towards a new global climate change agreement by 2015.
  "This can do more than anything to unlock the huge investment necessary for climate change adaptation and mitigation," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a ministerial-level meeting on the margins of the UN-led climate change talks under way in the Polish capital, Warsaw.
  "We must send the right policy signals," Mr. Ban said, adding that the development of high-impact opportunities would unlock clean energy investments, close the viability gap between green and fossil fuel-based projects and de-risk renewable energy and low-carbon investments.
  He called for public finance, private finance, and support to the Green Climate Fund as three areas for common action.
  "Smart public financing can encourage local and international private investments," the UN chief said, urging investors and companies to join forces with the public sector.
  Mr. Ban today was scheduled to meet with chief executives and senior representatives attending the inaugural Caring for Climate Business Forum being held in Warsaw alongside the UN Climate Change Conference.
  The Forum was launched by UN Global Compact, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, and UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
  "The bulk of institutional investors' assets are in high0carbon investments," noted Mr. Ban.
  "These investors have the power - and I believe the responsibility - to do their part in transforming the global economy and settling us on a safer path."
  Mr. Ban also called for support to the recently established Green Climate Fund, which functions under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties (COP), and supports projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing countries.
  In addition, the Fund also aims to strengthen national ownership and enable countries to develop the capability and institutions needed to use climate finance effectively.
  The UN chief described the current state of the new entity as "an empty shell" and called for it to be brought into full operation "as soon as possible" so support could be provided to developing countries' adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Haiyan not the strongest ever typhoon. Many stronger have hit Philippines before.
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:28
  Report Presented at UN Climate Summit in Warsaw, Poland on November 19, 2013 By Marc MoranoUN head Ban Ki-moon says Typhoon Haiyan due to climate change - 'We have seen now what has happened in the Philippines. It is an urgent warning. An example of changed weather and how climate change is affecting all of us on Earth.'Philippines lead negotiator Yeb Sano at UN climate summit in Warsaw 'announces he will not eat during the conference, until a meaningful agreement has been achieved'Jeffrey Sachs Special Advisor to UN Sec.-General Ban Ki-moon, 'Climate liars like Rupert Murdoch & Koch Brothers have more & more blood on their hands as climate disasters claim lives across the world.'Typhoon Fuels Call for Global Warming Compensation Funds At UN Climate Summit '' Poor nations 'blame countries that industrialized 200 years ago for damaging the atmosphere'Scientific Reality Check: As Scientists Reject Climate Link '' Claim of 'strongest storm ever' refutedStorm expert Brian McNoldy of U. of Miami: 'We don't get to pick and choose which storms are enhanced by a warmer climate and which ones aren't'Meteorologist Dr. Ryan Maue: 'Over past 1,000 years, Philippines have been hit by 10-20 thousand tropical cyclones. Don't be so arrogant to believe man caused Haiyan.' Maue demolishes claims that Typhoon Haiyan was 'strongest storm ever' '' 'Fact: Haiyan is 58th Super Typhoon since 1950 to reach central pressure of 900 mb or lower from historical records' -- Maue: '50 of 58 Super Typhoons with pressure of 900 mb or lower occurred from 1950-1987 -- only 8 in past 25 years'Strongest storm ever? 'Haiyan ranks at number 7 among the strongest storms ever to have hit the Philippines'UN IPCC: 'There is low confidence in any observed long-term (40 years or more) increases in tropical cyclone activity (ie intensity, frequency, duration).' Its authoritative Fifth Assessment Report added in September 2013 there have been 'no significant observed trends in global tropical cyclone frequency over the past century'.Prof. Roger Pielke Jr.: 'The scientific evidence does not presently support claims of attribution of the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on tropical cyclone behavior with respect to century-long trends 'much less the behavior of individual storms' - "In practical terms, on timescales of decision making a signal that cannot be seen is indistinguishable from a signal that does not exist - 'I am not convinced that 3 mm/year of sea level rise is a big issue in the magnitude of disaster losses'Gabe Vecchi, a research oceanographer with NOAA, said that if global warming altered Haiyan, it did not do so to a significant extent. 'I expect that the contribution of global warming to Haiyan's extreme intensity is likely to have been small, relative to other factors like weather fluctuations and climate variability.'Pielke Jr.: 'Given this data, substantial research on it and a strong IPCC consensus does anyone really want to debate that typhoon disasters have become more common?'Bjorn Lomborg: 'Facts don't support climate-change-caused-typhoon-Haiyan. Strong typhoons declining 1950-10.Real Science website: 'There have been 35 cyclones in the last 800 years that have killed more than 10,000 people. Thirty-three occurred with CO2 below 350 PPM. The deadliest one in 1970 was blamed on global cooling at the time'http://www.climatedepot.com/2013/11/19/climate-depot-special-report-on-typhoon-haiyan-presented-at-un-climate-summit-in-warsaw/
Spy Copters, Lasers, and Break-In Teams - By Matthew M. Aid | Foreign Policy
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:25
  Between 2006 and 2009, surveillance helicopters conducted daily flights over northwest Washington, D.C., taking high-resolution photographs of the new Chinese Embassy being constructed on Van Ness Street. The aircraft belonged to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which wanted to determine where the embassy's communications center was being located. But the Chinese construction crews hid their work on this part of the building by pulling tarpaulins over the site as it was being constructed.
  The FBI also monitored the movements and activities of the Chinese construction workers building the embassy, who were staying at a Days Inn on Connecticut Avenue just north of the construction site, in the hopes of possibly recruiting one or two of them. According to one Chinese diplomat, his fellow officials detected individuals who they assumed to be FBI agents covertly monitoring the construction materials and equipment being used to build the embassy, which were stored on the University of the District of Columbia's soccer field across the street from where the Chinese Embassy currently stands. The diplomat added that Chinese security officials assumed that the FBI agents were trying to determine whether it was possible to plant eavesdropping devices inside the construction materials stored at the site.
  In recent weeks, the U.S. National Security Agency's efforts to monitor foreign diplomats have become the stuff of worldwide headlines. But the FBI has been in the business of spying on diplomats and breaking their codes for far longer than the NSA has. The surveillance of the Chinese Embassy was just one piece of a far larger espionage operation. The FBI not only endeavors to steal or covertly compromise foreign government, military, and commercial computer, telecommunications, and encryption systems being used in the United States, but the FBI and NSA work closely to intercept the communications of all diplomatic missions and international organizations located on American soil. In some important respects, the FBI's cryptologic work is more secretive than that being performed by the NSA because of the immense diplomatic sensitivity of these operations if they were to ever be exposed publicly.
  The Bureau of Investigation, the predecessor to today's FBI, has been monitoring diplomatic communications since at least 1910, when it periodically solved Mexican government and revolutionary group cable traffic coming in and out of the United States. And for over a century, the FBI and its predecessors have been aggressive practitioners of the age-old art of stealing codes and ciphers. In June 1916, Bureau of Investigations agents surreptitiously obtained a copy of the new Mexican consular code by picking the pockets of a Mexican diplomatic courier while he cavorted with "fast women" in one of the innumerable border fleshpots along the Rio Grande.
  Little has changed in the intervening century. Despite the creation of the NSA in 1952 to centralize in one agency all U.S. government signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection and processing work, the FBI, which did not respond to requests for comment for this story, has never ceased its own independent cryptologic efforts, especially when those efforts have been aim at diplomats on American soil.
  ***
  The number of foreign government targets that the FBI monitors inside the United States is huge and growing. State Department records show that 176 countries maintain embassies in Washington, not including Cuba and Iran, which the U.S. government does not have diplomatic relations with but which maintain interest sections inside the Swiss and Pakistani embassies, respectively.
  In addition, 115 of the 193 members of the United Nations maintain diplomatic missions of varying sizes in New York City. There are also 62 consulates in Los Angeles, 52 in Chicago, 42 in San Francisco, 38 in Houston, 35 in Miami, and 26 in Boston and Atlanta.
  All told, there are almost 600 foreign government embassies, consulates, missions, or representative offices in the United States, all of which are watched to one degree or another by the counterintelligence officers of the FBI. Only eight countries do not maintain any diplomatic presence in the United States whatsoever, the most important of which is nuclear-armed North Korea.
  Every one of these embassies and consulates is watched by the FBI's legion of counterintelligence officers to one degree or another. But some countries' receive the vast majority of the FBI's attention, such as Russia, China, Libya, Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Venezuela. The Cuban and Iranian interests section in Washington -- and their missions to the United Nations in New York -- of course receive special attention as well.
  Unsurprisingly, most of the FBI's surveillance is technical in nature. For example, with substantial technical assistance from the NSA and the "big three" American telecommunications companies (AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint), the FBI taps the phones (including cell phones) of virtually every embassy and consulate in the United States. The FBI also intercepts the home phones and emails of many diplomats. The FBI's Washington and New York field offices have special wiretap centers that specialize in collecting all telephone, email, instant messaging, text messaging, and cellular telephone traffic coming in and out of all high-priority diplomatic targets in the United States 24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to a former Justice Department source, over the past decade these extremely sensitive intercepts have identified a number of spies working for governments that were caught in the act of stealing U.S. government secrets, as well as a larger number of cases involving the theft of industrial secrets from American companies.
  Since 1978, all electronic communications, both plaintext and encrypted, between these embassies and their home countries have been routinely intercepted by the NSA's BLARNEY fiber-optic-cable intercept program. The NSA provides copies of all these intercepts, including telephone calls and emails, to the FBI's secretive signals-intelligence unit, the Data Intercept Technology Unit (DITU) at the Quantico Marine Corps base in Northern Virginia, and to the FBI's electronic-eavesdropping centers in Washington and New York.
  The FBI also uses a wide range of vehicles and airborne surveillance assets to monitor the movements and activities of foreign diplomats and intelligence operatives in Washington and New York. Some of the vans, aircraft, and helicopters used by the FBI for this purpose are equipped with equipment capable of intercepting cell-phone calls and other electronic forms of communication. And when that doesn't work, the FBI calls in the burglars.
  ***
  Another important part of the FBI's surveillance effort is dedicated to trying to surreptitiously get inside these diplomatic establishments on behalf of the NSA, which increasingly depends on the FBI to penetrate the computer and telecommunications networks used by these embassies and compromise their information security systems.
  The FBI perfected this clandestine technique, known as the Surreptitious Entry Program operation, during Cold War intelligence-gathering operations directed at the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies. These missions remain highly classified because of the diplomatic sensitivity surrounding breaking into the embassies of friends and enemies alike. In one instance during the 1960s, FBI agents reportedly drove a garbage truck into the central courtyard of the Czech Embassy in the middle of the night and spirited away one of the embassy's cipher machines for study by the NSA's code breakers.
  The FBI is still conducting these highly sensitive operations. Specially trained teams of FBI agents are still periodically breaking into foreign embassies and consulates in the United States, primarily in New York and Washington. In New York, a special team of FBI burglars is based in a converted warehouse in Long Island City in Queens, according to a former FBI employee who worked there. The nondescript facility is large enough that the FBI can build mock-ups of the exteriors and interiors of embassies being targeted for break-ins. The FBI has a similar facility in Northern Virginia, where full-size mock-ups of embassies in Washington are constructed to train FBI teams prior to conducting black-bag jobs of the facilities.
  To facilitate these operations, the FBI has a huge library of architectural drawings, floor plans, building permits, and any other documents that it can lay its hands on concerning the layouts of every embassy and consulate in the United States. Many of these documents were obtained in close conjunction with the diplomatic security staff of the State Department and the uniformed branch of the Secret Service, which is responsible for providing security for foreign diplomatic establishments in the United States. The FBI also interviews the repair and maintenance personnel who service the leased computers and telecommunications equipment used by a host of embassies and other diplomatic establishments in Washington and New York.
  Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the tempo of FBI clandestine operations designed to steal, compromise, or influence foreign computer, telecommunications, or encryption systems has increased by several orders of magnitude. According to a former Justice Department official, over the past decade clandestine human-intelligence operations run by the FBI's Washington and New York field offices have been enormously successful in compromising a wide range of computer systems and encryption technology used by foreign governments and corporate entities. In a number of important cases, these FBI operations have allowed the NSA's code-breakers to penetrate foreign encryption systems that had defied the ability of the code-breakers to solve through conventional cryptanalytic means. For example, the FBI was able to give the NSA the daily changes in cipher keys for an encryption system used by a country in the developing world. In another case, the FBI was able to covertly insert spyware into the operating system of a computer being used by a foreign mission in New York, allowing the NSA to read the plaintext versions of cables before they were encrypted.
  ***
  But by far the most productive and sensitive intelligence source about what is going on inside embassies and consulates in the United States is a joint FBI-NSA electronic-eavesdropping program known as Close Access SIGINT. It enables the FBI and NSA to listen to what is transpiring inside these buildings by using a wide range of covert technical sensors that are monitored in real time from covert listening posts located in close proximity to the targets.
  Some of these operations involve spyware software that has been covertly planted inside the computer systems of embassies and consulates, which allows the NSA's computer-hacking organization, the Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO), to read in real time everything that is being stored on individual computers or on the computer network itself. Some of these implants are designed and operated by TAO. Others are designed by the FBI's SIGINT unit, the DITU. Some sensors periodically copy the contents of computer hard drives; another sensor takes screen shots of documents being processed or reviewed on compromised computer systems. The FBI is also using sophisticated laser and acoustic systems to image and record the sounds of what is being typed on computers, according to a source with access to the trove of documents leaked to the media by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
  To pick up the signals from these clandestine sensors, the FBI uses front companies to lease office space within line of sight of nearly 50 embassies and consulates in Washington and New York. In other instances, the FBI and NSA have installed disguised receivers on building rooftops near these embassies to pick up the data signals from clandestine sensors implanted inside these embassies and consulates. Some of these disguised receivers can clearly be seen on the rooftop of a building located within line of sight of the Chinese, Israeli, and Pakistani embassies on Van Ness Street in northwest Washington. It's a neighborhood that's awfully familiar to the FBI and its eavesdroppers.
The evidence is clear: firms do better with women on board
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:24
  EasyJet boss Carolyn McCall is one of few women at the top of UK business. Steve Parsons/PAIn the UK, women make up just just 17.3% of FTSE 100 companies' board members. This puts the UK 5th in the world behind Norway, Sweden, Finland and France.
  Things are certainly improving: 44% of new appointments to FTSE 100 boards go to women. However, we are still some way off the target of 25% by 2015 recommended in a recent UK government report. It also falls far short of where the country's boardrooms should be '' an equal split between men and women in directorship roles.
  The question of how to remedy this yawning gap has occupied a lot of time and effort. The first big question is whether it is indeed necessary for companies to patch up the gender divide. There is a now a large body of evidence that how firm performance is affected by the presence of more women on boards. There are frequent reports by consultancies and companies that detail miraculous results achieved by firms which appoint more women to the board. For instance, the catering firm Sodexo launched a press release this summer claiming that companies where women make up over one third of the board have 42% higher profit and 53% higher returns to shareholders.
  Although these numbers sound excellent, there are mixed reports on how improved gender balance on boards actually affects corporate performance. One interesting recent study points out that companies with more women on the board tend to do better on the basis of objective measures, such as return on assets and return on equity. However, they tend to do worse on more subjective metrics, such as stock-based measures of performance.
  The reason for this is that market analysts and investors often take fright at women being appointed to a board. This is because women are perceived as poorly performing ''- even though the evidence points in the opposite direction. However, another piece of research finds that this market aversion to female board members is not seen in all contexts; it seems the market is quite prepared to reward firms for appointing women directors in consumer-facing industries like retail, or in the media. In sectors where the company is far removed from final consumers, such as logistics or resources, more female-averse sexist attitudes can still be found.
  Other recent research has pointed out that boards which include more women tend to have better working processes. For instance, one US-based study found that women are more likely to attend board meetings than their male counterparts. What's more, their mere presence on the board actually shames the men into also turning up more. In addition, boards with more women are often reported to be nicer places. They tend to develop their members more and suffer less internal conflict.
  Get on board?The many benefits of having more women on boards have led policymakers throughout the world to ask how numbers could be increased. Companies themselves are often reluctant to do this, typically citing a lack of appropriate or experienced candidates. This, of course, is a myth, as women appointed to boards are often likely to be better qualified than their male counterparts in many important aspects (education, titles, community links), though worse on some other factors (notably, previous experience in executive roles '' a catch-22 situation).
  To address corporate foot-dragging over this issue, some countries have adopted policies which mandate the number of women on corporate boards. The first mover was Norway, which now requires boards to be at least 40% female. Other countries including Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Iceland and that bastion of women's liberation Dubai have followed this initiative. This week, news appeared that the famously masculine boardrooms of Germany may be forced to implement a 30% Frauenquote.
  These moves towards quota systems have led some to ask whether the UK should implement a similar approach. This question is likely to be met with significant degrees of resistance from parts of the business community. They will inevitably point out that the UK economy is more liberal than most European economies, and argue that forcing companies to do something is not appropriate. Instead, they will claim, companies will be able to self-regulate their way towards a level of board equality appropriate to their business. They might also point out that the UK has done reasonably well without a quota '' 5th in the world for boardroom diversity isn't bad, after all.
  Nordic evidenceAll these arguments are to be expected, but what exactly does the evidence tell us about quotas in the most advanced case '' Norway? The one major piece of negative evidence for quotas comes from two economists who pointed out that introduction of the quota led to younger, less experienced directors being appointed to corporate boards. In addition, they found that the quota led to declines in some market-based measures of corporate performance.
  However, other research has shown that the increasing number of women on boards has led to no difference in overall corporate performance on the basis of more ''objective'' measures such as return on assets. In addition, the increased number of women on Norwegian boards has also been linked with an increase in innovation.
  While the quota may have had little effect on the objective performance of Norway's companies, it has certainly helped to build a far greater population of women business leaders in the the country. The quota made it more likely that women will be appointed as CEOs. In addition, women business leaders were able to build stronger networks with other directors ''- an important characteristic that headhunters usually look for in board members. The potential downside of all this is the formation of a small elite of women who sit on multiple boards.
  If the UK is serious about creating equality at the highest levels of our companies, then a quota could be an excellent step forward. However, it is important we are realistic about the barriers that might be faced to implementing this policy.
  A paper published last month gives some clues about what these barriers might be. A study of the 10 countries across the world which have adopted quotas identifies some common features: they tend to have high female workforce participation rates, well developed welfare states, and left-leaning political parties in power.
  The UK only has one and a half of these. Women may have to wait a while longer to get on board.
  Sign in to Favourite Post a CommentTagsGender, Workplace relations, Gender equity, Women in the workforce, Sexism
  Related articles 20 November 2013 Beyond male and female: time for a non-specific sex category 19 November 2013 Women starting behind and failing to catch up: report 19 November 2013 Australian women outlive men then struggle with disadvantage 14 November 2013 What the Bechdel test doesn't tell us about women on film 13 November 2013 Hard evidence: is there still a gender bias in journalism?
Condom Contest Produces 812 Ideas for Improvement - NYTimes.com
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  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:15
  The condom of the future might be made of cow tendon or fish skin. It might have ''shape memory'' to instantly mold to a specific man. Or it might come with pull tabs so a man could slip it on with little fuss.
  Those ideas are among the winners announced Wednesday by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of a contest to create a condom that men would actually use. The contest, the foundation said, aimed to decrease unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases with ''a next-generation condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure.''
  The foundation received 812 applications, chose 11 and awarded the winners $100,000 each. They could receive up to $1 million after they develop the ideas. Steven Buchsbaum, a Gates Foundation official, said winners ranged from a longtime condom manufacturer in India to American chemical engineers to British design consultants whose previous work included vacuum cleaners.
  Many ideas involved materials besides latex, aiming for thinner, stronger, less constricting condoms with better sensation, ''reducing the loving distance between partners, so they will be more close,'' said Dr. Papa Salif Sow, a Gates senior program officer. Other ideas focused on ''how to improve the donning,'' he said, because ''in sub-Saharan Africa, sex is basically done with low light and it might be very difficult to see the direction of the condom.''
  Winners include the ''ultrasensitive reconstituted collagen condom'' proposed by Apex Medical Technologies in San Diego. Apex's president, Mark McGlothlin, said his product would feel like skin and be made from collagen fibers from cows' Achilles tendons or possibly fish skin.
  ''They're unbelievably strong,'' said Mr. McGlothlin, who currently gets beef tendon from a Vietnamese grocery. ''I could yank all day and not break this thing.''
  A ''wrapping condom'' proposal by the California Family Health Council in Los Angeles will build on a version manufactured in Colombia, made of polyethylene plastic that ''clings like Saran Wrap rather than squeezes,'' according to Ron Frezieres, the council's vice president for research. It would come in three-packs the size of a credit card and almost as thin, he said, and, like another grant winner called the Rapidom, would have pull tabs to ''keep you from being confused about which way to put it on,'' Mr. Frezieres added.
  At least two winners will work with polyurethane, including Richard Chartoff, a University of Oregon chemical engineer, who foresees a ''one-size-fits-all'' design having shape memory to ''fit like an extra layer of skin, conforming to the shape.'' He is also considering adding nanoparticles containing antiviral or antibacterial drugs, and, more prosaically, offering different colors.
  Stephen Ward, a Gates Foundation program officer, said that among the problems tackled were ''improving lubrication, internal friction, external friction, heat transfer.''
  Two or more grantees might be teamed to make one design, he added. ''There's not one magic bullet,'' he said. ''The idea is making them easier for people to use in the moment, in the dark, whatever situation they're in.''
At UN Summit, Poorer Regimes Demand Trillions in Climate Loot >> WTF RLY REPORT
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  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:14
  The New Americanby Alex Newman
  Photo of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaking at the UN Climate Conference in Warsaw, Poland, Nov. 19: AP Images
  With United Nations theories about alleged man-made global warming imploding on the world stage, regimes oppressing populations in poorer nations are demanding that taxpayers in wealthier countries start promptly handing over trillions of dollars '-- supposedly to deal with ''climate change.'' Gathered in Warsaw, Poland, at the latest UN ''climate'' summit, and facing massive public protests against the extortion effort, governments are hoping to quickly and quietly lay the foundations for a new global treaty rationing carbon dioxide.
  Multiple nations and populations are becoming increasingly suspicious as the UN's discredited theories are ridiculed by top scientists and experts worldwide, so ''climate dignitaries'' know they must act fast. Indeed, if what countless scientists refer to as the global-warming ''scam'' crumbles entirely before 2015, the effort to foist a planetary ''carbon budget'' on humanity to replace the Kyoto Protocol may be doomed. The hundreds of billions spent on ''climate'' schemes every year would inevitably start drying up, too, bankrupting countless special interests that now depend on global-warming alarmism and hysteria.
  Already, the new Australian government has vowed to reject UN ''socialism masquerading as environmentalism'' as it works to dismantle wildly unpopular ''carbon taxes'' and ''climate'' machinations imposed under Labor Party rule. It also vowed not to adopt any more taxes or spend any more taxpayer funds on UN wealth-redistribution schemes orchestrated under the bogus guise of fighting discredited notions of ''man-made global warming.'' Of course, alarmists are throwing a temper tantrum, but around the world and among Australians, the new conservative-leaning coalition has been hailed for its bold stance against the hysteria. Analysts even say Australia is leading the way ''back to sanity.''
  Japanese authorities, meanwhile, recently announced that instead of working to drastically cut carbon dioxide emissions, as previously promised, Japan will actually be increasing its CO2 output. As UN global-warming theories increasingly morph into a global laughing stock, even Russian and Canadian officials are reportedly putting up some tepid resistance to the UN's grandiose ''climate'' plans. The climate-hysteria movement is literally in a meltdown over the growing defections, but the wheels are quickly coming off the ''climate'' bandwagon.
  According to the almost comically alarmist U.K. Guardian, the ''climate'' extortion demands from third-world dictators and governments have ''become the most explosive issue'' at the UN global-warming summit. Apparently the negotiators have not been reading the news from the real world. The increasingly discredited British paper, which boasts of support from the controversial Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, represents among the last remaining ''media'' outlets still uncritically parroting the UN alarmism. Still, its ''reporting'' offers some insight into the ongoing climate machinations underway in Warsaw.
  Now, the Guardianreported, the regimes ruling poorer nations are even threatening to ''walk out'' of the Warsaw talks if Western governments refuse to hand over more wealth extracted from their already-struggling taxpayers. The so-called ''Least Developed Countries'' (LDC), an alliance of 49 regimes '-- including the mass-murdering despot ruling over Sudan and myriad other unsavory rulers whose despotism has kept their populations in perpetual poverty '-- are demanding huge sums of loot from Western taxpayers in exchange for supporting the UN ''climate'' efforts.
  ''This is a red line for us,'' threatened Munjural Khan, a spokesman for the 49-government outfit, referring to the obscene demand that taxpayers in more-developed counties start funneling even greater amounts of cash to oppressive third-world regimes. ''We have been thinking of ways to harden our position, to the point of walking out of the negotiations.'' In other words, Western governments better fork over the money '-- at least $100 billion per year to start with '-- or possibly lose their chance to foist a global carbon regime on the planet by 2015.
  Meanwhile, the communist dictatorship ruling over mainland China is also ramping up its demands '-- seeking at least $100 billion in climate booty per year by 2020, to be extracted from Western taxpayers. As Reuters reported in an article headlined ''Rich nations must pay up if U.N. climate talks to succeed: China,'' the ruthless regime is making threats that are similar to those made by the LDC coalition. According to the communist autocracy's ''chief climate negotiator,'' Su Wei, if Western governments fail to hand over trillions of dollars to oppressive governments to deal with ''climate change,'' the UN scheme will not advance.
  ''We want to see a very clear roadmap '... we want to see the actual and real provision of financial sources,'' Su whined, demanding more money while calling on Western governments to continue gutting the economy by imposing ever-more draconian limits on economic activity under the guise of reducing CO2 emissions. A mere $100 billion per year ''would be a very important starting point and key to the successful conclusion of the negotiation of a (post-)2020 agreement,'' the Chinese Communist ''climate'' chief claimed.
  In essence, the extortion threats mean governments in developed countries hoping to expand their powers and impose radical international treaties on their populations must pay up quickly. U.S. State Department documents released by WikiLeaks revealed that the U.S. government and the European Union super-state have long been bribing and bullying third-world regimes with taxpayer funds. It appears to have worked, but now the poorer governments are demanding even more.
  The embarrassing schemes exposed by WikiLeaks were aimed at prodding reluctant governments into foisting ''climate'' shenanigans on their populations while securing support for a far-reaching global treaty covering every human on the planet. It remains to be seen whether the phony ''battle'' in Warsaw will result in Western powers capitulating to third-world despots, but resistance to the machinations is growing fast.
  Of course, if the third-world regimes made good on their threats and walked out of the UN summit, perhaps permanently killing the prospect of a global ''climate'' treaty, it would represent a huge blessing to the world. An estimated $360 billion was squandered on global-warming schemes last year alone '-- funds that could have been used for productive purposes in the market, for example, or to deal with real problems like hunger and healthcare. It remains unclear where all of the funds were wasted.
  However, the prospect of dictators, power-hungry Western powers, and the UN all giving up on their ''climate'' schemes now '-- even despite the implosion of the alleged ''science'' '-- remains very slim. Instead, as typically happens at UN conferences, the climate dignitaries will work into the night pretending to develop some sort of hard-won ''compromise'' that benefits all of the governments involved, at the expense of taxpayers and humanity at large. Then they will get back in their CO2-spewing limos and jets to go home.
  With third-world despots emitting increasingly ridiculous demands for hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars for ''climate change,'' Western governments can pretend like they worked hard to protect their taxpayers '-- all while fleecing them. The climate, meanwhile, will continue to change, just as it always has. But rulers of developed nations can then seize more power over their populations while funding tyranny in poorer countries by handing huge sums to the ruling tyrants and their cronies. It works out well for everyone involved, except humanity as a whole and those paying the bills, of course.
  The Obama administration has been more than happy to play along even as credible polls consistently show that a sizeable majority of Americans do not even believe the UN's discredited man-made global warming theories. ''Our task now is to fashion a new agreement that will be ambitious, effective and durable,'' claimed U.S. ''special envoy for climate change'' Todd Stern in a recent speech as the EPA was emitting lawless ''climate'' decrees set to further ravage America's economy. ''And the only way to do that is to make it broadly inclusive, sensitive to the needs and constraints of parties with a wide range of national circumstances and capabilities, and designed to promote increasingly robust action.''
  Human emissions of the essential, life-giving gas CO2, which is exhaled by people and required for plants, continue to be blamed by the UN for alleged ''global warming'' '-- despite the fact that temperatures have not risen in almost two decades, debunking 73 out of 73 UN ''climate'' models. Man's CO2 output, meanwhile, represents a mere fraction of one percent of the greenhouse gases naturally in the atmosphere. However, with so much riding on the UN's climate theories '-- including the global body's shattered credibility '-- alarmists are still maniacally hyping the discredited notions.
  The end goal, according to the UN, is to foist a so-called ''carbon budget'' on humanity to ration CO2 emissions and to secure a ''complete transformation of the economic structure of the world,'' devastating the poor as well as the global economy. To grease the process along, however, advanced-nation governments and regimes ruling undeveloped nations are plotting together to transfer ever-greater sums of taxpayer funds from the citizens of richer nations to the oppressive governments impoverishing poorer nations.
  Of course, letting the would-be extortionists walk out of the Warsaw summit and turn their backs on the whole scam for failure to deliver enough ''climate'' loot would be ideal. It will not happen, though, unless people and scientists speak out loudly and forcefully against the ongoing swindle. The climate emperor still has no clothes, but the UN and its member governments, operating in a sort of bubble, will continue refusing to acknowledge that fact unless humanity yells it from the rooftops.
  The New American
Jewish council criticizes Gurlitt Nazi art return - The Local
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:07
  The works were found hidden in a Munich flat. Photo: DPA
  Published: 21 Nov 2013 09:07 GMT+01:00Updated: 21 Nov 2013 09:07 GMT+01:00
  Germany's plan to hand hundreds of confiscated paintings back to the son of a Nazi art dealer has raised the wrath of Jewish organizations. The World Jewish Congress, meanwhile, has stated the country's reputation is on the line.
  The state prosecutor in Augsburg, where a task force is leading an investigation into Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of an art dealer who worked for the Nazis, said around 300 of the 1,400 works found in a Gurlitt's Munich flat could be returned to him.
  But on Wednesday President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Dieter Graumann said: ''After the whole thing was dealt with almost conspiratorially for 18 months, the hasty reaction of a blanket return [of the paintings] is surely the wrong way to go about things," the S¼ddeutsche newspaper reported.
  Meanwhile the head of the World Jewish Congress told AFP that Germany's credibility was on the line in its handling of the hoard of priceless artworks. He said the country must take bold steps to give back property to its rightful owners.
  Saying that the more than 1,400 paintings, sketches and prints by the likes of Picasso, Matisse and Chagall hidden in a Munich flat may just be the "tip of the iceberg", WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said Germany has a moral obligation to speed up the return of Nazi-looted art.
  He called on the country to take two immediate steps: eliminating a 30-year statute of limitations on reclaiming stolen property and forming a commission that would help process claims and examine public collections for stolen works.
  "The principal obstacle to the recovery of Holocaust-looted art that is inprivate hands is the statute of limitations because it prevents judicial inquiry and recovery," he said in a telephone interview from New York.
  "The German government should address the problem because the Holocaust is unique and the statute of limitations was never intended to deal with massive wartime looting perpetrated in the course of genocide."
  CLICK HERE to see some of the confiscated paintings
  Lauder said he had proposed to the German government the creation of acommission, on which he was willing to serve, which would help process claims by individuals and museums who lost art during the Nazi period.
  "They should have this commission that looks at all the requests, has all the records and is able to sort it out, decide which (claims) are real, which are not real," Lauder said.
  "The fact is we can give a great deal of help to them. We are experts inthe field and we understand what can be done and we've seen what other countries have done successfully."
  'Tip of the iceberg'
  He warned that rightful owners of paintings in the Munich hoard could find themselves entangled in protracted, expensive legal battles with no guarantee of getting their property back.
  "It'll take years in the courts and it'll be a mess," he said. "This may be the tip of the iceberg, there may be hundreds if not thousands of other pictures in Germany that we don't know about, that some day will come to light. This commission can do a great deal of work toward that."
  Lauder said he was disappointed Germany had not been more aggressive in the identification and restitution of stolen art.
  "Germany has done so much to make things right (since the Nazi period) and this is something that of all the things we've done it's the easiest because of the fact we have records -- this is not dealing with dead human beings, this is dealing with art," he said.
  "It's incongruous because they've done so much - why on something like this which is very straightforward, they stop. I'm scratching my head to understand."
  He criticized the fact that although German authorities seized the works at the Munich flat of Cornelius Gurlitt in February 2012, they had remained silent until Focus magazine made the find public this month.
  "They initially reported it as a tax avoidance scheme and not for what it really is - it really is someone having stolen Holocaust art and basically saying to the German government, 'Haha, I have it, you can't touch it'," he said.
  "Every work belongs to either a museum or an individual who had had that work on his wall and was taken out by the Nazis. So every one is important. They may not all be Picassos and Matisses but in their own right they're important, they're important to somebody."
  Gurlitt, the son of a powerful art dealer who acquired and sold countless precious works for the Nazis, gave a defiant interview to this week's Der Spiegel magazine in which he vowed not to give up his works without a fight.
  The WJC, which Lauder has chaired since 2007, represents 100 Jewish communities outside Israel.
  The billionaire philanthropist and art collector, son of the cosmetics mogul Estee Lauder, set up a foundation in 1987 with the goal of rebuilding Jewish communities in central and eastern Europe devastated in World War II.
  READ MORE: Who is the recluse behind the Nazi art haul?
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  Today's headlines
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  A booming job market and an increase in consumer spending saw Germany's tax receipts grow again in October, putting '‚¬39 billion into government coffers. READ () >>
  The works were found hidden in a Munich flat. Photo: DPA
  Germany's plan to hand hundreds of confiscated paintings back to the son of a Nazi art dealer has raised the wrath of Jewish organizations. The World Jewish Congress, meanwhile, has stated the country's reputation is on the line. READ () >>
  Merkel's Blackberry was encrypted but her Nokia phone was not. Photo: DPA
  Germany's two main parties have agreed on measures to keep their internal communications safe '' including all politicians using encrypted mobile phones, it emerged on Thursday. READ () >>
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  A court ordered the German maker of the banned pregnancy drug thalidomide to compensate Spanish victims on Wednesday who suffered birth defects from it in the 1960s. READ () >>
  The Local List
  Photo: DPA
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  Erasmus, the world's biggest student exchange, is to expand after 25 years of funding European students to go abroad. But with the EU budget being slashed, does the grant scheme deserve a 50 percent boost to its budget? READ () >>
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Seven EU states create military drone 'club' | Global Geopolitics
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  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:05
  BRUSSELS '' Seven EU countries have formed what France calls a ''club'' to produce military drones from 2020 onward.
  The scheme was agreed in Brussels on Tuesday (19 November) at a meeting of the European Defence Agency (EDA), the EU's defence think tank, by France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.
  The group-of-seven's defence ministers signed a ''letter of intent'' tasking the EDA to draw up a study on joint production of Medium Altitude Long Endurance (Male) craft, which can be used to strike military targets or for surveillance of migrant boats in the Mediterranean Sea.
  The EDA said in a press release that ''the objective of this community is to exchange information as well as to identify and facilitate co-operation among member states which currently operate or plan to operate RPAS [Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems].''
  The think tank's director, Claude-France Arnould, noted: ''In view of today's constrained financial situation, this effort for defence must be fully efficient which implies co-operation and searching for synergies.''
  Another EDA official, Peter Round, told media: ''This is the starting pistol for us to be able to start work on a European RPAS.''
  The French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said: ''If Europe hopes to maintain a strategic capability, countries must pool their capacities and actions in a pragmatic way.''
  He called the group of seven a ''club of drone-using countries.''
  '...
  It also comes amid a raft of existing European drone projects.
  Three European arms firms '' France's Dassualt, Franco-German firm Eads and Italy's Finmeccanica '' agreed in June to launch their own European drone programme.
  France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland are working on what they call a ''euro-Ucav,'' or unmanned combat air vehicle, the Neuron, which made a test flight in December 2012.
  France and the UK are working on a ''stealth'' drone called Telemos to fly in 2018.
DNA-France names suspect in Paris shootings, says DNA is a match | News , International | THE DAILY STAR
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  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:04
  PARIS: France said Thursday the suspect arrested over this week's shootings in Paris is a man previously jailed for his role in a "Bonnie-and-Clyde" style multiple murder that gripped the country 20 years ago.
  Abdelhakim Dekhar was arrested on Wednesday after a major manhunt following a shooting at the left-wing newspaper Liberation and at the headquarters of the Societe Generale bank.
  His DNA matched samples from the scenes of the attacks, officials said.
  "All the evidence today points to his involvement in the events that he has been charged with," Interior Minister Manuel Valls said in a late-night press conference.
  Dekhar, who is in his late 40s, was convicted in 1998 of buying a gun used in an October 1994 shooting attack by student Florence Rey and her lover Audry Maupin. Three policemen and a taxi driver were killed in a case that shook France.
  He served four years in jail for his role in the killings.
  Dekhar was arrested Wednesday evening in a vehicle in an underground parking lot in the northwestern Paris suburb of Bois-Colombes, after apparently trying to commit suicide.
  Valls said that "everything appears to point to a suicide attempt", and sources told AFP Dekhar was semi-conscious when he was found.
  The head of the Paris criminal police department, Christian Flaesch, said he was in custody in a "medical environment" and was not in a fit state to speak to investigators.
  Police tested Dekhar's DNA against samples taken at the sites of this week's shootings and announced early Thursday that the samples matched.
  Earlier DNA tests confirmed that a single person was responsible for the series of incidents across Paris in the last week, which also included the hijacking of a car on the famed Champs Elysees and threats to staff at a 24-hour television station.
  Valls said investigators would need more information about the suspect's past to be able to "understand his motivation".
  'I've made a stupid mistake' The arrest came after a witness statement to police, who had on Tuesday released a new photograph of the suspect and received hundreds of calls from potential witnesses.
  One of them was a man who had housed the suspect, said a source connected with the investigation.
  The witness quoted the suspect as saying about the shooter case: "I've made a stupid mistake."
  The shooter opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun at the offices of Liberation early on Monday, hitting a 23-year-old photographer's assistant as he hauled gear in the lobby, then firing another blast that hit the roof before leaving within seconds.
  He then crossed the city to the La Defense business district on its western edge, where he fired several shots outside the main office of the Societe Generale bank, hitting no one.
  He hijacked a car and forced the driver to drop him off near the Champs Elysees in the centre of the French capital, before disappearing.
  Police say he was the same man who last Friday stormed into the Paris headquarters of a 24-hour TV news channel, BFMTV, briefly threatening staff with a gun before hurrying out.
  Suspect 'probably went abroad' Dekhar was suspected of being the third man in the so-called Rey-Maupin affair in 1994, which shocked France.
  Investigators at the time compared the young couple to the infamous American outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.
  Witnesses at the trial in 1998 described him as a mentor to the couple and accused him of exploiting their youth to manipulate them.
  He argued that he had been a secret agent in the pay of Algerian security services, charged with infiltrating the radical left in France in search of those acting in coordination with Islamists in Algeria.
  In the early 1990s Dekhar was known to hang out at squats used by left-wing radicals and which were often under police surveillance.
  Maupin died of injuries sustained during a shootout with police and Rey, a middle-class student hitherto unknown to the police, was tried and sentenced to 20 years in jail. She was released in 2009.
  Dekhar was acquitted of armed assault but found guilty of procuring the weapon and sentenced to four years. He was released soon afterwards, having already served his time in pre-trial detention.
  Valls said that Dekhar had "probably gone abroad" for several years after serving his sentence and did not appear in official records for that period.
  This week's attacks set off a major manhunt and raised concerns about violence against media outlets.
  The photographer, who suffered wounds to the chest and stomach, appeared to be in better condition on Wednesday.
  Hospital officials said he had regained consciousness and was no longer on an artificial respirator.
BBC News - LRA leader Joseph Kony 'in surrender talks' with CAR
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 10:03
  20 November 2013Last updated at 18:47 ET The government of the Central African Republic (CAR) has said it is in talks with Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony with the aim of his surrender.
  A CAR government spokesman told the BBC that Kony was in the country but wanted his security to be guaranteed before giving himself up.
  Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.
  The US has offered up to $5m (£3.3m) for leads resulting in his arrest.
  This is the first time for many years that Kony's whereabouts have been revealed.
  Also on Wednesday, the African Union's special envoy on the LRA, Francisco Madeira, told the UN Security Council he had seen reports that Kony was suffering from a "serious, uncharacterized illness".
  In April the Ugandan army suspended a search for Kony in the CAR, blaming "hostility" from the government formed when rebel forces took power there.
  Joseph Kony and the estimated 200-500 fighters of his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have waged war in Uganda and the region for more than two decades.
  He claims the LRA's mission is to install a government in Uganda based on the Biblical Ten Commandments.
  But his rebels have terrorised large swathes of the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and the CAR and he is wanted by the International Criminal Court accused of rape, mutilation and murder of civilians, as well as forcibly recruiting children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves.
  His global notoriety increased when a US activist group called Invisible Children released a video, Kony 2012, which went viral on the internet and was viewed tens of millions of times across the world.
  The highly emotive video profiled Kony and the history of the LRA, but Invisible Children came in for criticism from some for oversimplifying the conflict and for not spending enough of the money raised on the LRA's victims.
Just 90 companies caused two-thirds of man-made global warming emissions | Environment | theguardian.com
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:59
  The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.
  The companies range from investor-owned firms '' household names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP '' to state-owned and government-run firms.
  The analysis, which was welcomed by the former vice-president Al Gore as a "crucial step forward" found that the vast majority of the firms were in the business of producing oil, gas or coal, found the analysis, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Climatic Change.
  "There are thousands of oil, gas and coal producers in the world," climate researcher and author Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute in Colorado said. "But the decision makers, the CEOs, or the ministers of coal and oil if you narrow it down to just one person, they could all fit on a Greyhound bus or two."
  Half of the estimated emissions were produced just in the past 25 years '' well past the date when governments and corporations became aware that rising greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal and oil were causing dangerous climate change.
  Many of the same companies are also sitting on substantial reserves of fossil fuel which '' if they are burned '' puts the world at even greater risk of dangerous climate change.
  Climate change experts said the data set was the most ambitious effort so far to hold individual carbon producers, rather than governments, to account.
  The United Nations climate change panel, the IPCC, warned in September that at current rates the world stood within 30 years of exhausting its "carbon budget" '' the amount of carbon dioxide it could emit without going into the danger zone above 2C warming. The former US vice-president and environmental champion, Al Gore, said the new carbon accounting could re-set the debate about allocating blame for the climate crisis.
  Leaders meeting in Warsaw for the UN climate talks this week clashed repeatedly over which countries bore the burden for solving the climate crisis '' historic emitters such as America or Europe or the rising economies of India and China.
  Gore in his comments said the analysis underlined that it should not fall to governments alone to act on climate change.
  "This study is a crucial step forward in our understanding of the evolution of the climate crisis. The public and private sectors alike must do what is necessary to stop global warming," Gore told the Guardian. "Those who are historically responsible for polluting our atmosphere have a clear obligation to be part of the solution."
  Between them, the 90 companies on the list of top emitters produced 63% of the cumulative global emissions of industrial carbon dioxide and methane between 1751 to 2010, amounting to about 914 gigatonne CO2 emissions, according to the research. All but seven of the 90 were energy companies producing oil, gas and coal. The remaining seven were cement manufacturers.
  The list of 90 companies included 50 investor-owned firms '' mainly oil companies with widely recognised names such as Chevron, Exxon, BP , and Royal Dutch Shell and coal producers such as British Coal Corp, Peabody Energy and BHP Billiton.
  Some 31 of the companies that made the list were state-owned companies such as Saudi Arabia's Saudi Aramco, Russia's Gazprom and Norway's Statoil.
  Nine were government run industries, producing mainly coal in countries such as China, the former Soviet Union, North Korea and Poland, the host of this week's talks.
  Experts familiar with Heede's research and the politics of climate change said they hoped the analysis could help break the deadlock in international climate talks.
  "It seemed like maybe this could break the logjam," said Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science at Harvard. "There are all kinds of countries that have produced a tremendous amount of historical emissions that we do not normally talk about. We do not normally talk about Mexico or Poland or Venezuela. So then it's not just rich v poor, it is also producers v consumers, and resource rich v resource poor."
  Michael Mann, the climate scientist, said he hoped the list would bring greater scrutiny to oil and coal companies' deployment of their remaining reserves. "What I think could be a game changer here is the potential for clearly fingerprinting the sources of those future emissions," he said. "It increases the accountability for fossil fuel burning. You can't burn fossil fuels without the rest of the world knowing about it."
  Others were less optimistic that a more comprehensive accounting of the sources of greenhouse gas emissions would make it easier to achieve the emissions reductions needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.
  John Ashton, who served as UK's chief climate change negotiator for six years, suggested that the findings reaffirmed the central role of fossil fuel producing entities in the economy.
  "The challenge we face is to move in the space of not much more than a generation from a carbon-intensive energy system to a carbonneutral energy system. If we don't do that we stand no chance of keeping climate change within the 2C threshold," Ashton said.
  "By highlighting the way in which a relatively small number of large companies are at the heart of the current carbon-intensive growth model, this report highlights that fundamental challenge."
  Meanwhile, Oreskes, who has written extensively about corporate-funded climate denial, noted that several of the top companies on the list had funded the climate denial movement.
  "For me one of the most interesting things to think about was the overlap of large scale producers and the funding of disinformation campaigns, and how that has delayed action," she said.
  The data represents eight years of exhaustive research into carbon emissions over time, as well as the ownership history of the major emitters.
  The companies' operations spanned the globe, with company headquarters in 43 different countries. "These entities extract resources from every oil, natural gas and coal province in the world, and process the fuels into marketable products that are sold to consumers on every nation on Earth," Heede writes in the paper.
  The largest of the investor-owned companies were responsible for an outsized share of emissions. Nearly 30% of emissions were produced just by the top 20 companies, the research found.
  By Heede's calculation, government-run oil and coal companies in the former Soviet Union produced more greenhouse gas emissions than any other entity '' just under 8.9% of the total produced over time. China came a close second with its government-run entities accounting for 8.6% of total global emissions.
  ChevronTexaco was the leading emitter among investor-owned companies, causing 3.5% of greenhouse gas emissions to date, with Exxon not far behind at 3.2%. In third place, BP caused 2.5% of global emissions to date.
  The historic emissions record was constructed using public records and data from the US department of energy's Carbon Dioxide Information and Analysis Centre, and took account of emissions all along the supply chain.
  The centre put global industrial emissions since 1751 at 1,450 gigatonnes.
REPACKAGING-US Military Continues Massive Build-Up in Philippine Disaster Zone, Took Over Air Traffic in Tacloban | Global Research
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  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:56
  The death toll in the central Philippines continues to mount in the wake of the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan. The current official count of the Philippine government National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) was 4,881 dead as of noon, November 18. This number will continue to increase sharply, as mass casualties in more remote areas begin to be processed.
  An estimated 2 million people are homeless, while a total of 11 million are reported to have been affected by the damage. Vast portions of the islands of Samar and Leyte have been laid waste by the storm, and the city of Tacloban is in ruins.
  The islands are in the grip of an immense humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of thousands are without access to food, potable water, medicine, or sanitation. Roads throughout the islands remain impassible, and entire communities are completely isolated.
  Washington has deployed a massive military force to the region. The nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington, with 5,000 sailors and 80 aircraft, is in the Leyte Gulf, along with its strike group of two guided-missile cruisers, two guided-missile destroyers, a cargo ship, an oceanographic survey ship and a submarine tender. These are to be joined by 3 amphibious warfare ships and 2 littoral combat ships. Some 850 US troops are on the ground in Leyte and are to be joined by an additional 1,000 US Marines in the next two days.
  Joint Task Force 505, under the command of Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John E. Wissler, has set up headquarters for the US forces in Camp Aguinaldo, the military headquarters of the Philippine Army.
  While this build-up is referred to as ''providing assistance,'' it is clear that the US military is just not ''assisting'' their Philippine counterparts, but commanding them. US forces are operating the air traffic control tower at the Tacloban airport, controlling which flights are allowed to land and take off there.
  ''We are controlling 250 ops (operations) per day,'' U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Clinton Dykes told the US military publication Stars and Stripes on November 15. The number of operations has increased significantly since then.
  The Philippine military is being deployed as armed crowd control in the city of Tacloban, implementing a de facto system of martial law, with an 8 pm''6 am curfew. The hundreds of armed military and police patrolling streets are further supplemented by the armed private guards who defend the homes and property of the wealthy.
  The chapel and museum in Tacloban constructed by, and dedicated to, Imelda Marcos still stand. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, as tens of thousands desperately sought shelter, armed guards threatened to kill anyone who attempted to enter the locked museum, whose 21 rooms housed countless treasures including Ming dynasty vases and gifts from Mao Zedong.
  The International Labor Organization (ILO) announced on Tuesday that 5 million workers, roughly a quarter of all those employed in the Philippines, have been affected by Typhoon Haiyan. The United Nations World Food Program stated that, as of November 19, around 600,000 residents of the Eastern Visayas region had not yet received aid packages.
  Reports from volunteer workers surfaced in social media over the past two days, revealing that one of the reasons for the Philippine government's delayed delivery of food supplies was that international aid packages containing bottled water, canned goods and powdered milk were being individually opened and repackaged with labels from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
  Other aid packages were labeled with the names of individual local politicians; many bags went out labeled as being from the Vice President Jejomar Binay.
  The population in Tacloban is now being subjected to a ''food for work'' program. The distribution of food aid to the residents of Tacloban has been made contingent upon their completing a certain amount of unpaid work for the city.
  What aid has been made available to the Eastern Visayas by the Philippine government is allocated on the basis of the National Disaster Relief Law. The portion of the emergency disaster relief budget allocated to any particular local government unit (LGU), such as a town or city, is based on a percentage of the LGU's revenue.
  Thus, a wealthy city will automatically have greater aid allocated to it, while a poorer town or city will receive a significantly smaller amount.
  No money had been set aside to prepare for natural disasters. In 2011, President Aquino vetoed the allocation of any funds for so-called ''pre-disaster preparations,'' including the construction and stocking of evacuation centers. Aquino declared at the time that any allocated funds should be used for ''actual calamities and not for the preparation of relocation sites/facilities, and training personnel engaged in direct disaster.''
  With its massive deployment of armed force, Washington is seizing the opportunity afforded it by the catastrophe to stage an immense photo op. It is using the devastation in the central Philippines to demonstrate the capacity of its armed forces in the region and to open the door for its military build-up throughout the region directed against China.
  The irrationality of capitalism is laid starkly bare by the fact that in order for aid to be delivered to a humanitarian crisis affecting millions of people, it is the military that is deployed, as rescue operations and infrastructure are absent. Despite the construction of huge numbers of cargo ships in the region, warships are the only vessels made available to deliver food aid, and amphibious assault vessels carry basic medical supplies.
133 countries walk out of UN climate meeting over global warming compensation row
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  Archived Version
  Source: RT - News
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 04:23
  Published time: November 21, 2013 02:42Delegates attend the Convention on Climate Change COP19 conference at the National Stadium in Warsaw November 19, 2013.(Reuters / Kacper Pempel)
  The G77+ China group of 133 countries walked out of the United Nations climate change conference in Warsaw on the Loss and Damage mechanism after developed nations refused to agree to terms.
  In Wednesday's session, G77+ China negotiator Juan Hoffmeister walked out of a closed-door meeting when delegations from the industrial block refused to agree that the mechanism for such compensation is needed now and not after 2015 when a new climate change agreement is expected to be signed in Paris.
  Hoffmeister said that key elements of the mechanism were missing from a weak draft.''We want the draft to be strong. We are with G77. We support very strong steps for loss and damage, and anything that does not fulfill that should be highlighted,'' Indian Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said after the walk out.
  As part of the demands, the developing countries want developed nations to honor a 2009 Copenhagen pledge to provide up to $100 billion by 2020 for environmental damage."The 100 billion is a goal we need to establish a very clear roadmap," said Natarajan. "Unless that is provided for, it will be impossible for us to take forward any meaningful discussion and we feel the negotiations will be rendered completely meaningless," she told journalists.
  Representatives of the poorer nations argued that the financial burden associated with global warming is out of reach for them.
  Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said while his country is trying to allocate funds for climate change, the costs are "just too high".
  Poland's envoy Marcin Korolec, chairing negotiations, commented saying that the discussion was "challenging".
  "We could not have predicted the economic darkness that we have all lived through for the past five years."
  Another stumbling block in the negotiations is sharing the future emissions curbs, as developing nations want to create a UN body charged with compensating for environmental damage.
  "Developed countries need to do more... now, and not transfer all the burden of climate change to the poor of the world after 2020," said Natarajan.
  Washington has opposed the position saying that a deal under which "the developed countries would be treated in one way, in one section of the agreement, and developing countries in a different part of the agreement" was a "non-starter", US negotiator Todd Stern said.
  Stern also explained that Washington had contributed about $2.7 billion in 2013, "the highest number that we have had in the last four years".
  Russia's climate envoy and presidential advisor Alexander Bedritsky argued that a separate loss and damage mechanism is not needed and that the new deal should be based on the principles of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
  ''We believe that in the medium term, efforts should be directed at improving the efficiency of existing adaptation, technology and financing mechanisms to strengthen the capacity of developing countries, including loss and damages claims, rather than creating new mechanisms,'' Bedritsky said, reiterating Russia's earlier position on climate change.
  Last week at the start of the conference Russia's Representative Oleg Shamanov told reporters that ''the issues of loss and damage from climate change should be discussed in the framework of existing adaptation mechanisms, technological and financial assistance and capacity building.''
  The EU representative Connie Hedegaard said that 1.7 billion euros will be allocated for the year 2014-2015. "The EU understands that the issue is incredibly important for developing countries. But they should be careful about '... creating a new institution. This is not [what] this process needs," said Hedegaard, as quoted by the Guardian.
  "We cannot have a system where we have automatic compensation when severe events happen around the world. That is not feasible."Last week at the start of the 12 day conference in Poland, the G77+China group was discussing a Brazilian proposal that called for the creation of historical responsibility for global warming.''Our proposal is meant to make available for countries a metric of their historical responsibility in terms of temperature rise. It would be one of the elements in the future agreement,'' Brazil's Ambassador Jose Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho explained last week.
  Under such framework the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change would be tasked with creating a methodology to calculate countries total output of greenhouse gases since 1850 in determining each nation's historical responsibility for global warming.
  The US, EU, Canada, Norway, Israel, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand opposed Brazil's plan with the US delegation arguing that such an approach is flawed.''Temperature is a lagging indicator and does not show up until well after emissions have occurred,'' Kim Carnahan said on November 11. ''Such an approach would provide some countries with cover to act in a manner that is much less ambitious than their current capabilities.''
  Meanwhile, the US and Australia argued that there is no necessity in a "loss and damage" mechanism to be separate from existing systems of mitigation and adaptation.
  ''USA, EU, Australia and Norway remain blind to the climate reality that's hitting us all and poor people and countries much harder. They continue to derail negotiations in Warsaw that can create a new system to deal with new types of loss and damage such as sea level rise, loss of territory, biodiversity and other non-economic losses more systematically," Harjeet Singh of ActionAid International said as quoted by the Hindu.
  The UN chief Ban Ki Moon has urged the negotiators to come to an agreement. "Climate change is the greatest single threat to peace, prosperity and sustainable development," Moon said in Warsaw.
  In an effort to keep global temperature from rising beyond 2 degree Celsius the UN chief stressed that a greater funding for clean-energy development is needed.
  ''Our primary focus needs to be on launching and scaling up mainstream solutions that will attract hundreds of billions of dollars annually. The bulk of institutional investors' assets are in high-carbon investments.''
  According to a report by the World Resource Institute, developed nations have spent $35 billion in international climate finance through the ''fast-start finance'' period between 2010 '' 2012, exceeding the initial target of US$30 billion.
  Five countries - Germany, Japan, Norway, Britain, and the US gave a combined sum of $27 billion, adaptation funding received $5 billion, while mitigation received $22.1 billion.
  The report also found that ''a continued commitment to scaling up climate finance is needed for both political and practical reasons.''
Revitalization of the AM Radio Service
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  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 04:11
  Comments may be filed no later than January 21, 2014 and reply comments may be filed no later than February 18, 2014. Written comments on the Paperwork Reduction Act proposed information collection requirements must be submitted by the public, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and other interested parties on or before January 21, 2014.
  You may submit comments, identified by MB Docket No. 13-249, by any of the following methods:
  Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
  Federal Communications Commission's Web site: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
  Email: ecfs@fcc.gov. Include the docket number in the subject line of the message. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document for detailed information on how to submit comments by email.
  Mail: 445 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20554.
  People with Disabilities: Contact the FCC to request reasonable accommodations (accessible format documents, sign language interpreters, CART, etc.) by email: FCC504@fcc.gov or phone: 202-418-0530 or TTY: 202-418-0432.
  For detailed instructions for submitting comments and additional information on the rulemaking process, see the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
  PRA comments should be submitted to Cathy Williams, Federal Communications Commission via email at PRA@fcc.gov and Cathy.Williams@fcc.gov and Nicholas A. Fraser, Office of Management and Budget via fax at 202-395-5167 or via email to Nicholas_A._Fraser@omb.eop.gov.
  Peter Doyle, Chief, Media Bureau, Audio Division, (202) 418-2700; Thomas Nessinger, Senior Counsel, Media Bureau, Audio Division, (202) 418-2700.
  For additional information concerning the Paperwork Reduction Act information collection requirements contained in this document, contact Cathy Williams at 202-418-2918, or via the Internet at Cathy.Williams@fcc.gov.
  This is a summary of the Commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), FCC 13-139, adopted October 29, 2013, and released October 31, 2013.
  This NPRM contains proposed information collection requirements. It will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review under section 3507(d) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public Law 104-13, 109 Stat 163 (1995). The Commission, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, invites the general public and OMB to comment on the proposed information collection requirements contained in this NPRM, as required by the PRA. Public and agency comments on the PRA proposed information collection requirements are due January 21, 2014. Comments should address: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimates; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. In addition, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, 116 Stat 729 (2002), see44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4), the Commission seeks specific comment on how it might ''further reduce the information collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees.''
  To view a copy of this information collection request (ICR) submitted to OMB: (1) Go to the Web page http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, (2) look for the section of the Web page called ''Currently Under Review,'' (3) click on the downward-pointing arrow in the ''Select Agency'' box below the ''Currently Under Review'' heading, (4) select ''Federal Communications Commission'' from the list of agencies presented in the ''Select Agency'' box, (5) click the ''Submit'' button to the right of the ''Select Agency'' box, (6) when the list of FCC ICRs currently under review appears, look for the Title of this ICR and then click on the ICR Reference Number. A copy of the FCC submission to OMB will be displayed.
  The following information collection requirements would be initiated if the proposed rules contained in the NPRM are adopted.
  OMB Control Number: 3060-xxxx.
  Title: AM Station Modulation Dependent Carrier Level (MDCL) Notification Form; FCC Form 338.
  Form Number: FCC Form 338.
  Type of Review: New information collection.
  Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities; Not-for-profit institutions.
  Number of Respondents and Responses: 100 respondents and 100 responses.
  Estimated Hours per Response: 1 hour.
  Frequency of Response: On occasion reporting requirement.
  Total Annual Burden: 100 hours.
  Total Annual Costs: None.
  Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. The statutory authority for this information collection is contained in Sections 154(i), 303, 310 and 533 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
  Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: There is no need for confidentiality required with this collection of information.
  Privacy Impact Assessment: No impact(s).
  Needs and Uses: On October 31, 2013, the Commission released the Notice of Proposed Rule Making, Revitalization of the AM Radio Service (NPRM), FCC 13-139, MB Docket No. 13-249. In the NPRM, the Commission recognized that in September 2011, the Media Bureau (Bureau) had released an MDCL Public Notice, in which it stated that it would permit AM stations, by rule waiver or experimental authorization, to use transmitter control techniques that vary either the carrier power level or both the carrier and sideband power levels as a function of the modulation level. This allows AM licensees to reduce power consumption while maintaining audio quality and their licensed station coverage areas. These techniques are known as Modulation Dependent Carrier Level (MDCL) control technologies.
  There are two basic types of MDCL control technologies. In one type, the carrier power is reduced at low modulation levels and increased at higher modulation levels. In the other type, there is full carrier power at low modulation levels and reduced carrier power and sideband powers at higher modulation levels. Use of any of these MDCL control technologies reduces the station's antenna input power to levels not permitted by 47 CFR 73.1560(a).
  The MDCL Public Notice permitted AM station licensees wanting to use MDCL control technologies to seek either a permanent waiver of 47 CFR 73.1560(a) for those licensees already certain of the particular MDCL control technology to be used, or an experimental authorization pursuant to 47 CFR 73.1510 for those licensees wishing to determine which of the MDCL control technologies would result in maximum cost savings and minimum effects on the station's coverage area and audio quality. Since release of the MDCL Public Notice, 33 permanent waiver requests and 20 experimental requests authorizing use of MDCL control technologies have been granted by the Bureau.
  AM station licensees using MDCL control technologies have reported significant savings on electrical power costs and few, if any, perceptible effects on station coverage area and audio quality. Accordingly, the NPRM tentatively concluded that use of MDCL control technologies reduces AM broadcasters' operating costs while maintaining a station's current level of service to the public, without interference to other stations. The Commission therefore, proposed wider implementation of MDCL control technologies by amending 47 CFR 73.1560(a), to provide that an AM station may commence operation using MDCL control technology without prior Commission authority, provided that the AM station licensee notifies the Commission of the station's MDCL control operation within 10 days after commencement of such operation using the Bureau's Consolidated Database System (CDBS). The NPRM solicits comments on the proposed rule change, as well as on the potential adverse effects of allowing AM stations to commence MDCL control technology operation without prior Commission authority. The NPRM also seeks comment as to the potential adverse effects, if any, of MDCL control technology implementation on other AM stations.
  Consistent with the NPRM's proposal to allow AM broadcasters to implement MDCL technologies without prior authorization, by electronic notification within 10 days of commencing MDCL operations, the Commission created FCC Form 338, AM Station Modulation Dependent Carrier Level (MDCL) Notification. In addition to the standard general contact information, FCC Form 338 solicits minimal technical data, as well as the date that MDCL control operation commenced. This new information collection regarding FCC Form 338 needs OMB review and approval.
  The following rule section is covered by this information collection and requires OMB approval:
  47 CFR 73.1560(a)(1) specifies the limits on antenna input power for AM stations. AM stations using MDCL control technologies are not required to adhere to these operating power parameters. AM stations may, without prior Commission authority, commence MDCL control technology use, provided that within ten days after commencing such operation, the licensee submits an electronic notification of commencement of MDCL operation using FCC Form 338.
  1. The AM broadcast service is the oldest broadcasting service. For decades, it has been an integral part of American culture. Today, AM radio remains an important source of broadcast entertainment and information programming, particularly for locally oriented content. AM broadcasters provide unique, community-based programming to distinguish themselves from other media sources in an increasingly competitive mass media market, such as all-news/talk, all-sports, foreign language, and religious programming formats. Local programming is also prevalent on the AM dial, including discussions of local news, politics and public affairs, traffic announcements, and coverage of community events such as high school athletic contests.
  2. The sustainability of the AM broadcast service has been threatened by the migration of AM listeners to newer media services, due to AM's technical limitations and the relative lack of consumer-friendly features such as real-time data and information displays. The AM band is also subject to interference concerns not faced by other broadcast sources. First, due to the nighttime propagation characteristics of AM signals, many AM stations are unable to operate at night, and many others must reduce operating power substantially and/or use a complex directional antenna system in order to avoid interference to co- and adjacent-channel AM stations at night. As a result, many AM stations are unable to serve sizeable portions of their audiences in the evening hours, and still others can provide no protected nighttime service. Second, reinforced structures, such as buildings with steel frames or aluminum siding, can block AM signals, hindering AM reception in urban areas where such structures are prevalent. Third, AM radio is particularly susceptible to interference from electronic devices of all types, including such ubiquitous items as TV sets, vehicle engines, fluorescent lighting, computers, and power lines, and noise from those sources is only expected to increase as electronic devices continue to proliferate. This combination of higher fidelity alternatives and increased interference to AM radio has led to a steady decline in listenership to AM radio, which was once the dominant form of audio entertainment. By 2010, AM listenership had decreased to just 17 percent of radio listening hours, with the decline being sharpest among younger listeners. The popularity of AM stations versus FM facilities is also on the decline: AM listening dropped by roughly 200,000 listeners between 2011 and 2012, while FM listenership increased during that time. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of AM stations decreased by 197 stations while the number of FM stations almost doubled.
  3. The Commission has previously made efforts to revitalize the AM band. In 1991 the Commission adopted a comprehensive AM improvement plan. Review of the Technical Assignment Criteria for the AM Broadcast Service, Report and Order, 6 FCC Rcd 6273, 6275 (1991). That plan included three principal elements. First, new and revised AM technical standards were promulgated to reduce interference within AM stations' primary service areas. Second, ten ''expanded band'' frequencies (situated between 1605-1705 kHz) were opened to relocate select AM stations whose migration to those frequencies would significantly abate interference in the existing AM band. Finally, various measures were adopted affording broadcasters greater latitude and incentives to reduce interference through non-technical means. Additionally, in the past several years the Commission has instituted several discrete changes in its AM rules and policies designed to further enhance the AM service or reduce regulatory and technical burdens on AM broadcasters. These include streamlined procedures for employing alternative antennas, proposing community of license modifications, and directional antenna proofs of performance. These also include the authorization of rebroadcasting AM primary stations over FM translator stations, and the authorization of Modulation Dependent Carrier Level (MDCL) control technologies. On the heels of these AM improvement measures, the Commission initiated this rulemaking to consider additional options for revitalizing the AM band, in view of the significant technological, policy, and economic changes that have occurred in AM broadcasting since the Commission last did so in 1991. The NPRM sets forth some specific technical proposals and, where appropriate, proposed rule revisions. The Commission seeks comment on these proposals, as well as any other ideas for improving the quality of the AM radio service.
  4. Open FM Translator Filing Window Exclusively for AM Licensees and Permittees. Under the Commission's current rules, AM stations are allowed to use authorized FM translator stations (i.e., those now licensed or authorized with construction permits that have not expired) to rebroadcast their AM signals, provided that no portion of the 60 dBµ contour of any such FM translator station extends beyond the lesser of (a) a 25-mile radius from the AM transmitter site, and (b) the 2 millivolts per meter (mV/m) daytime contour of the AM station. When an AM broadcaster acquires an FM translator, the broadcaster typically must relocate the translator both to meet the station's needs and to comply with the coverage contour requirements outlined above. Under the Commission's current FM translator rules, changes to FM translator facilities can be either major or minor. A major change is one either proposing a translator frequency more than three channels from its currently authorized transmitting frequency that is also not an intermediate frequency, or a physical move to a location at which the proposed 1 mV/m contour does not overlap with the currently authorized 1 mV/m contour, as well as any change in frequency relocating an unbuilt translator station from the non-reserved band to the reserved band, or vice-versa. 47 CFR 74.1233(a)(1). Applications for such major changes may only be made during specific announced filing windows. 47 CFR 74.1233(d)(2)(i). However, an FM translator owner may make a minor change'--which meets both channel and contour overlap requirements described above'--at any time.
  5. The regulatory distinction between major and minor changes has led some translator licensees to attempt what would otherwise be dismissed as impermissible major changes, by filing multiple minor modification applications to ''hop'' the translator to new locations. Although not specifically prohibited by rule, this practice subverts the purpose of the Commission's minor change requirement and, therefore, the Commission's Media Bureau has concluded that the Commission may deny applications resulting in multiple ''hops'' pursuant to Section 308(a) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (47 U.S.C. 308(a)). At the same time, however, the contour overlap requirements for relocating FM translators, coupled with the fill-in coverage area restrictions on locating FM translators for use by AM broadcasters, limit the supply of available FM translators for individual AM licensees. Although a new FM translator filing window might alleviate this situation, opening the window to all applicants would require AM broadcasters seeking to establish new fill-in translators to compete at auction with other, non-AM broadcaster applicants, many of whom might foreclose opportunities for AM-rebroadcast translators by proposing mutually exclusive translator facilities, while others might apply within the contours of AM stations for the specific purpose of obstructing a local AM broadcaster from acquiring a translator station, forcing it to do business with the winning bidder. While there is a public interest in robust and competitive auctions in services subject to our competitive bidding procedures, there is also a compelling public interest in maintaining the vitality and utility of the AM service.
  6. Accordingly, the Commission tentatively concluded that it should afford an opportunity, restricted to AM licensees and permittees, to apply for and receive authorizations for new FM translator stations for the sole and limited purpose of enhancing their existing service to the public. It therefore proposed to open a one-time filing window during which only AM broadcasters may participate, and in which each may apply for one, and only one, new FM translator station, in the non-reserved FM band (FM Channels 221-300), to be used solely to re-broadcast the broadcaster's AM signal to provide fill-in and/or nighttime service. The Commission proposed that the window would have the following conditions and limitations:
  a. Eligible applicants must be AM broadcast licensees or permittees, and may apply for only one FM translator per AM station. The Commission tentatively concluded that this requirement is necessary, as AM broadcasters forced to rely on translators owned by other licensees and permittees run the risk that the FM translator owner might choose, for example, to relocate the translator to an area that does not fill in the AM station's daytime signal contour, or might opt to rebroadcast another primary station.
  b. Applications for FM translators in this window must strictly comply with the existing fill-in coverage area technical restrictions on FM translators for AM stations, that is, must be located so that no part of the 60 dBµ contour of the FM translator will extend beyond the smaller of a 25-mile radius from the AM station's transmitter site, or the AM station's daytime 2 mV/m contour.
  c. Any FM translator station authorized pursuant to this window will be permanently linked to the AM primary station acquiring it. That is, the FM translator station may only be authorized to the licensee or permittee of the AM primary station it rebroadcasts, rather than an independent party; the FM translator may only be used to rebroadcast the signal of the AM station to which it is linked (or originate nighttime programming during periods when a daytime-only AM station is not operating); and the authorization for such an FM translator station will only be issued subject to the condition that it may not be assigned or transferred except in conjunction with the primary AM station that it re-broadcasts and with which it is commonly owned. The Commission tentatively concluded that these conditions are necessary to accomplish the goals of the proposed filing window, as stated above. It makes little sense to provide AM broadcasters with an opportunity to enhance their service by applying for and receiving authorizations for new FM translator stations if those stations may then be assigned or transferred to independent parties unaffiliated with the primary AM stations, or used to rebroadcast other primary station signals.
  The Commission seeks comment on these proposals.
  7. The Commission seeks comment as to whether this window can be limited to AM incumbents, as proposed. The Commission tentatively concluded that this eligibility restriction is consistent with the rights of potential applicants under Ashbacker Radio Co. v. FCC, 326 U.S. 327 (1945), which establishes a right to a hearing when two bona fide applications are mutually exclusive. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has held that 47 U.S.C. 309(e) ''does not preclude the FCC from establishing threshold standards to identify qualified applicants and excluding those applicants who plainly fail to meet the standards.''Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network v. FCC, 865 F.2d 1289, 1294 (D.C. Cir. 1989). Moreover, the subsequent enactment of auction authority under section 309(j) of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. 309(j), reaffirmed the Commission's ''obligation in the public interest to continue to use . . . threshold qualifications . . . in order to avoid mutual exclusivity in application and licensing proceedings.'' 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(6)(E).
  8. The Commission believes that the proposed requirements outlined in the NPRM are narrowly tailored to address the daunting technical and competitive challenges that AM broadcasters face, to provide efficient and expeditious assistance to such broadcasters and, thus, to promote a more robust and sustainable AM broadcast service. These conditions would sharply limit the number of filings, resulting in fewer mutually exclusive proposals and faster application processing, and would also prevent speculative filings, an issue of some concern from the Commission's experience with the FM translator applications received in Auction 83. In contrast, an open window could frustrate the goal of providing expeditious relief to AM broadcasters. It will be necessary to undertake a close review of FM translator licensing rules before opening a general FM translator window. Although the Commission intends to revise the FM translator rules, and to provide further opportunities for all interested applicants to apply for FM translator permits, it has tentatively concluded that an applicant-limited and technically limited window such as proposed here will provide immediate benefits to the AM service without materially affecting future FM translator window applicants. The Commission invites comment on these tentative conclusions. Specifically, the Commission asks commenters to address the problems faced by AM stations in today's marketplace, whether a window such as that proposed would significantly alleviate any problems identified, and whether commenters believe that further modifications to the proposed parameters for the window are necessary to address those specific problems (for example, additional or different requirements to be met by potential applicants; limitation of eligibility to licensees or permittees of certain class stations, e.g., Class C and D stations only, or to ''stand alone'' AM stations). Commenters may also discuss their experiences with using FM translators to augment AM service under existing rules, and whether there are currently a sufficient number of FM translator stations that are technically suited to meet the demand for AM fill-in service. The Commission also requests that commenters address the impact of such an FM translator window on FM full-power licensees, small businesses, businesses owned by minority groups and women, other FM translator licensees, and low-power FM (LPFM) broadcasters. Are there any obstacles or disadvantages to opening an FM translator filing window exclusively for AM licensees and permittees?
  9. Given the unqualified success of the Commission's introduction of cross-service FM translators in 2009, the Commission believes that a narrowly tailored filing window for such FM translators, as proposed herein, could yield significant public interest benefits with little to no detriment either to the FM translator service or to licensing opportunities for LPFM stations, especially since the filing window proposed here will follow the 2013 LPFM filing window. The Commission solicits comment on both the proposal to open a filing window and the operational details of such a window, as well as the effects on the FM, FM translator, and LPFM services. The Commission also seeks comment on whether, between the relaxation of the limitation on FM translators that can be used to rebroadcast AM station signals, and the AM-only FM translator window proposed here, there will no longer be a need for so-called ''Mattoon Waivers.'' If the Commission does end the Mattoon Waiver policy, should it be eliminated upon adoption of the proposed AM-only translator window or upon the opening of that window?
  10. Modify Daytime Community Coverage Standards for Existing AM Stations. Under the daytime community coverage rule, a commercial radio station must provide daytime coverage to its entire community of license (47 CFR 73.24(i), 73.315(a)), although the Commission has a longstanding policy to waive the rule, so long as the requesting licensee makes an appropriate showing that it will encompass 80 percent of the community of license's area or population within the station's 5 mV/m contour. The Commission adopted this rule in order to provide sufficient signal coverage to the designated community of license. The Minority Media Telecommunications Council (MMTC), in a 2009 petition for rulemaking filed with the Commission, suggested that this rule, along with the inherent difficulties of finding suitable tower sites in urban areas, actually harms the public interest by ''limit[ing] commercial stations from changing sites and making other improvements that benefit the public interest.''Review of Technical Policies and Rules Presenting Obstacles to Implementation of Section 307(b) of the Communications Act and to the Promotion of Diversity and Localism, MMTC Radio Rescue Petition for Rulemaking, RM-11565, at 15 (Jul. 20, 2009) (Radio Rescue Petition). If a commercial station wants to change its site or make improvements, it must demonstrate that the station would cover at least 80 percent of the community from the new site. MMTC maintains that this is often impossible and usually leads to protracted and resource-intensive waiver proceedings.
  11. MMTC proposed that the Commission amend the daytime AM coverage standard to require a station to provide coverage to 50 percent of its community of license with a signal of at least 60 dBµ, contending that under this standard, the remaining 50 percent of the community, in nearly all cases, would still receive a very listenable signal. MMTC argued that the proposed rule modification could provide AM stations with greater flexibility in making station improvements without frustrating the rule's original purpose, and would provide AM broadcasters, including small, women, and minority broadcasters, with additional flexibility for site location. The Commission has previously noted that sites suitable for AM antennas are increasingly difficult (and expensive) to find. Additionally, when the Commission modified the community coverage rule for noncommercial educational (NCE) FM stations in 2000, it recognized that permitting NCE FM stations to cover 50 percent of the community of license ''should ensure sufficient flexibility in siting facilities and reaching target audiences.''Streamlining of Radio Technical Rules in Parts 73 and 74 of the Commission's Rules, Second Report and Order, 15 FCC Rcd 21649, 21670 (2000).
  12. While agreeing with MMTC that AM tower siting has become increasingly difficult, especially for those AM stations requiring multi-tower arrays and those located in and near large urban areas, the Commission also recognized the value of principal community coverage as part of the commitment to broadcast localism and the fair, efficient, and equitable distribution of radio service under 47 U.S.C. 307(b). The Commission stated its belief that an applicant for a new AM facility or change of community of license, as part of its due diligence when evaluating its proposal for new service, should specify a transmitter site that enables daytime and nighttime coverage under existing standards, namely, coverage of 100 percent of the community of license with a principal community signal (5 mV/m) during the day, and coverage of 80 percent of the community of license with a nighttime interference-free (NIF) signal at night. The Commission has previously held that AM coverage of less than 80 percent of the residential area of a community is generally considered to be inadequate, and saw no reason to allow an applicant proposing a new AM station or community of license change to propose facilities with sub-standard signal coverage. An applicant for a new AM station or community of license change should be able to evaluate whether it is able to secure transmission facilities that will enable it to provide adequate community coverage; if it cannot do so, it should not propose a new station. An existing station, however, especially one that has been in the same location for many years, may not have the same flexibility to provide community coverage, due to changes in city boundaries and population distribution, and perhaps due to the loss of unique transmitter sites and the unavailability of acceptable new sites.
  13. The Commission therefore proposed to modify the daytime community coverage requirement contained in 47 CFR 73.24(i), for licensed AM facilities only, to require that the station cover either 50 percent of the population or 50 percent of the area of the community of license with a daytime 5 mV/m principal community signal. The Commission seeks comment on this proposed rule change. Specifically, what would be the effect on AM broadcasters and the public in general of modifying the rule? Commenters should describe and, if possible, quantify the costs and benefits of this proposal to broadcasters and the public. Would modifying the rule improve broadcaster flexibility in siting AM facilities and reaching target audiences? Would modification of the rule provide greater benefits to small AM stations and minority broadcasters? Conversely, would modification of the rule provide sub-standard signal quality to significant portions of a community of license? Would it be better to modify the daytime community coverage standard for all AM application types, including those for new stations and those seeking to change community of license? Alternatively, should the Commission retain the existing AM daytime coverage requirements for all stations, subject to waiver on an appropriate showing? The Commission asks that broadcasters discuss with specificity issues they have encountered when they try to comply with the daytime community coverage rule, particularly instances in which the rule may have prevented them from implementing beneficial station improvements.
  14. Modify Nighttime Community Coverage Standards for Existing AM Stations. Under the Commission's current rules, many AM radio stations are required to reduce their power or cease operating at night in order to avoid interference to other AM radio stations. See 47 CFR 73.182. During daytime hours, AM signals travel principally by groundwave conduction over the surface of the earth, and generally can be heard within a maximum radius of 100 miles. However, at night AM signals that are broadcast at the same power level reflect from the ionosphere back to the earth, and can travel over hundreds of miles. Thus, if an AM station maintained its daytime operating power level at night, significant ''skywave'' interference to other AM stations would result. As a result, most AM radio stations are required by the Commission's rules to reduce their power, sometimes drastically, or to cease operating at night altogether to avoid interference to other AM stations. However, the Commission's nighttime coverage rule also requires that non-Class D AM broadcasters maintain a signal at night sufficient to cause 80 percent of the area or population of the broadcaster's principal community to be ''encompassed by the nighttime 5 mV/m contour or the nighttime interference-free contour, whichever value is higher.'' 47 CFR 73.24(i). Effectively, this means that AM broadcasters must continue serving the bulk of their community of license at night even though the Commission's rules mandate reduced maximum broadcast power levels.
  15. In the Radio Rescue Petition, MMTC observed, first, that requiring separate coverage requirements for daytime and nighttime significantly reduces the transmitter sites available to an AM station. Although one site may be optimal for daytime coverage, it may not meet the specifications required to comply with the nighttime coverage rule. As a result, some stations must operate two separate sites in order to comply with the rule. Second, MMTC argues that the nighttime coverage rule makes it more difficult for an AM broadcaster to relocate its station's antenna. When an antenna site becomes unusable'--for example, due to increased interference caused by urban development in the surrounding area'--the station may attempt to move to a more remote site. This attempt might be unsuccessful because changes in community and population coverage would take the station out of compliance with the nighttime coverage rule. Third, the nighttime coverage rule provides an entry barrier by requiring that broadcasters either demonstrate substantial compliance with the rule in an application for a new site or submit a waiver request demonstrating that the FCC should grant an exception to the rule.
  16. As stated above, the Commission acknowledged the difficulties faced by existing AM broadcasters with regard to antenna siting. It also recognized, however, the value of nighttime service to communities, especially those with little or no FM or other local nighttime AM service. In fact, because of their service limitations the Commission no longer authorizes new Class D AM stations, which are daytime-only or provide only secondary, unprotected nighttime service. 47 CFR 73.21(a)(3). The Commission also stated that applicants for new AM stations, or those proposing to change their community of license, should provide some level of nighttime service, for the same reasons set forth above in the daytime AM coverage section. That is, an applicant proposing new service or a new community of license should be able to base its decision on whether it can find a site from which it can provide the required coverage, whereas an incumbent station may be constrained from finding a new site from which to cover a community that may have grown since the station was first licensed. The Commission therefore tentatively concluded that the nighttime coverage requirement should be eliminated for existing licensed AM stations, and should be modified to require that new AM stations and AM stations seeking a change to their communities of license cover either 50 percent of the population or 50 percent of the area of the community of license with a nighttime 5 mV/m signal or an NIF contour, whichever value is higher. The Commission seeks comment on this proposal. Is the rule mandating minimum nighttime coverage for existing AM stations still necessary and desirable in light of the difficulties it poses and the number of waivers that are needed? What would be the benefit, if any, to AM broadcasters and to the public in general of eliminating the nighttime coverage requirement? What negative consequences to other AM stations or to the public in general, if any, would result from eliminating the rule? Would eliminating the rule, as MMTC has suggested, afford AM stations much greater flexibility in site selection and ability to move farther away from developed and costly downtown areas? Would eliminating the rule allow AM broadcasters to reduce their costs by improving their ability to move out of areas with high property values? Conversely, would eliminating the rule deprive communities of needed nighttime service? Should the Commission require the station's nighttime transmitter site and nighttime interference-free contour to be completely within the station's predicted daytime protected 0.5 mV/m or 2 mV/m contour, to ensure that the station serves at least part of the area in the vicinity of its community of license?
  17. To the extent commenters believe that the nighttime coverage rule has continued utility, but perhaps merits modification other than that proposed here, they are asked to submit proposals for such modification, and to discuss how a modified nighttime coverage rule might benefit AM broadcasters and serve the public. For example, rather than eliminating the rule entirely, should the Commission consider relaxing the coverage requirement from 80 percent to 50 percent for existing stations, as the Commission did when adopting the rules for the AM expanded band, and as proposed above for daytime coverage? Would an across-the-board nighttime 50 percent coverage rule, as the Commission concluded in adopting the standard for the expanded AM band, insure a signal of significant quality to the community of license and the added flexibility to locate facilities at cost effective locations? Would the same be true for all AM broadcasters, whether in the standard or the expanded band? Alternatively, should the Commission retain the AM nighttime coverage requirements in their current form, subject to waiver on a case-by-case basis and on an appropriate showing? Would the waiver process impose a significant burden on broadcasters encountering difficulties in providing adequate nighttime service? Should nighttime coverage requirements be retained for those stations that are the sole local transmission service at a community, or that provide the only nighttime service to a community or to a substantial population? Commenters should describe and, if possible, quantify the costs and benefits to broadcasters and the public of any rule modifications they support or propose.
  18. Eliminate the AM Ratchet Rule. Commission rules currently require that Class A and B stations comply with certain interference reduction requirements. One of these requirements is commonly known as the ''ratchet rule.'' This rule effectively requires that an AM broadcaster seeking to make facility changes, which would modify its AM signal, demonstrate that the improvements will result in an overall reduction in the amount of skywave interference that it causes to certain other AM stations. 47 CFR 73.182(a) n.1. In other words, the AM station proposing the modification must ''ratchet back'' its radiation at the pertinent vertical angle in the direction of certain other AM stations. The Commission adopted this rule to reduce interference in the AM band, but as discussed below, it appears that the rule may not have achieved its intended goal.
  14. In 2009, two broadcast engineering firms filed a petition with the Commission proposing to eliminate the ratchet rule. Modification of Section 73.182(q), Footnote 1, to Promote Improvement of Nighttime Service by AM Radio Stations by Eliminating the ''Ratchet Clause,'' Petition for Rulemaking, RM-11560 (Aug. 25, 2009) (''Ratchet Rule Petition''). The petitioners contended that the ratchet rule since its inception has been a ''serious impediment for stations wishing to make modifications to alleviate nighttime coverage difficulties due to noise and man-made interference.'' Ratchet Rule Petition at second unnumbered page, paragraph 3. According to the petitioners, the ratchet rule tends to discourage service improvements in general, because a station seeking to improve its service by transmitter relocation, pattern change, or other means as a practical matter must reduce its power to comply with the rule. This, argued the petitioners, more often than not results in a net loss of nighttime interference-free service. Moreover, the petitioners contended that the rule unduly disadvantages AM stations that have been on the air the longest, and that therefore have the lowest nighttime interference levels and largest coverage areas, in favor of reducing interference to newer stations that agreed to accept existing levels of interference when they began operations.
  15. Eight commenters on the Ratchet Rule Petition agreed that the ratchet rule should be repealed as it does not reduce harmful AM interference, and in fact inhibits AM facility modifications. The Commission's experience since the ratchet rule was adopted appears to bear out the arguments presented in the Ratchet Rule Petition and in the comments regarding the rule's efficacy. There is no dispute that the reduction in radiation required by the ratchet rule causes harm due to loss of nighttime coverage area to licensed stations that must relocate their transmitting facilities. Approximately 60 percent of the AM stations currently governed by the ratchet rule, and that apply to relocate their transmitting facilities, seek waiver of the rule in order to avoid nighttime coverage area losses so severe that the station could provide no more than nominal nighttime service. The Commission therefore tentatively concluded that the ratchet rule should be deleted, and proposed deleting note 1 to 47 CFR 73.182(q). The Commission seeks comment on this conclusion and proposed rule change. Is elimination of the ratchet rule both feasible and desirable? What would be the benefit to AM broadcasters, and to the listening public, of eliminating the rule? Would there be negative consequences to other AM stations and/or to listeners if the proposal to eliminate the ratchet rule were to be adopted? Does the ratchet rule, as the petitioners and commenters assert, tend to discourage service improvements in general? Conversely, does the ratchet rule continue to serve a valuable function in reducing the interference imposed by AM stations on other systems? Would elimination of the rule allow a broadcaster to change its facilities in ways that might increase the levels of interference that the broadcaster imposes on other stations beyond an acceptable threshold? Or are sufficient safeguards in place to prevent that result?
  16. Alternatively, are there aspects of the ratchet rule that are worth retaining, such that the Commission should modify the rule instead of deleting it, and if so what modifications should be made? Commenters are asked to discuss their specific experiences with the ratchet rule and any instances in which the rule prevented them or their clients from making beneficial station improvements. Commenters should also describe and, if possible, quantify the costs and benefits of this proposal, and any suggested alternatives, to broadcasters and to their service to the public. To the extent commenters prefer modifying the ratchet rule to deleting it, they are urged to submit proposals for modifying the ratchet rule in order to allow broadcasters more latitude to make such improvements.
  17. Permit Wider Implementation of Modulation Dependent Carrier Level Control Technologies. In September 2011, the Media Bureau released a Public Notice (MDCL Public Notice), in which it stated that it would permit AM stations, by rule waiver or experimental authorization, to use transmitter control techniques that vary either the carrier power level or both the carrier and sideband power levels as a function of the modulation level. This allows AM licensees to reduce power consumption while maintaining audio quality and their licensed station coverage areas. These techniques are known as Modulation Dependent Carrier Level (MDCL) control technologies or algorithms. There are two basic types of MDCL control technologies. In one, the carrier power is reduced at low modulation levels and increased at higher modulation levels. Adaptive Carrier Control (ACC), Dynamic Amplitude Modulation (DAM), and Dynamic Carrier Control (DCC) are examples of this type of MDCL control technology. In the other type, there is full carrier power at low modulation levels and reduced carrier power and sideband powers at higher modulation levels. Amplitude Modulation Companding (AMC) is this type of MDCL control technology. Use of any of these MDCL control technologies reduces the station's antenna input power to levels not permitted by 47 CFR 73.1560(a). The MDCL Public Notice permitted AM station licensees wanting to use MDCL control technologies to seek either a permanent waiver of 47 CFR 73.1560(a) for those licensees already certain of the particular MDCL control technology to be used, or an experimental authorization pursuant to 47 CFR 73.1510 (now governed by 47 CFR 5.203) for those licensees wishing to determine which of the MDCL control technologies would result in maximum cost savings and minimum effects on the station's coverage area and audio quality. Since release of the MDCL Public Notice, 33 permanent waiver requests and 20 experimental requests authorizing use of MDCL control technologies have been granted.
  18. AM station licensees using MDCL control technologies have reported significant savings on electrical power costs and few, if any, perceptible effects on station coverage area and audio quality. Based on the absence of either reported negative effects of using MDCL control technologies or interference complaints from other AM stations, we tentatively conclude that use of MDCL control technologies reduces AM broadcasters' operating costs while maintaining a station's current level of service to the public, without interference to other stations. The Commission therefore proposed to amend 47 CFR 73.1560(a) to provide that an AM station may commence operation using MDCL control technology (MDCL control operation) without prior Commission authority, provided that the AM station licensee notifies the Commission of the station's MDCL control operation within 10 days after commencement of such operation using the Bureau's Consolidated Database System (CDBS). Additionally, regardless of the MDCL control technology employed, the Commission proposed to require that the AM station's transmitter must achieve full licensed power at some audio input level, or when the MDCL control technology is disabled. This requirement will permit stations to use energy-saving MDCL technologies, which preserve licensed coverage areas, while distinguishing between such operations and simple reductions in transmitter power, which do not. The Commission further proposed to require an AM station using MDCL control technology to disable it before field strength measurements on the station are taken by the licensee or others. The Commission seeks comment on this proposal, including the benefits and potential harms of this proposal to broadcasters and its impact on service to the public, as well as potential cost savings to broadcasters. The Commission also seeks comment as to what notice an AM licensee or permittee employing MDCL control technology should receive from the Commission prior to measurements or inspections by Commission staff, and as to what the AM station's obligations should be in such situations. AM stations not using MDCL control technologies are required to adhere to the limits on antenna input power currently specified in 47 CFR 73.1560(a). Comments are sought on the proposed rule change, as well as on the potential adverse effects of allowing AM stations to commence MDCL control technology operation without prior Commission authority. The Commission also seeks comment as to the potential adverse effects, if any, of MDCL control technology implementation on other AM stations.
  19. Two domestic AM transmitter manufacturers currently offer MDCL control technologies for use with their transmitters. Other AM transmitter manufacturers may be developing MDCL control technologies for use with their transmitters and, reportedly, other third-party vendors offer or are planning to offer external MDCL control adapters. Should the Commission require an AM station licensee to use only an MDCL control technology developed and implemented by the manufacturer of the station's transmitter, or should it allow a station to use an MDCL control technology developed and implemented by another provider? Although the Commission currently does not require an AM station licensee to disclose the make and model of its transmitter, should it require an AM licensee commencing operation using MDCL control technology to inform the Commission of the make and model of its transmitter, as well as the particular MDCL control technology being used?
  20. In the MDCL Public Notice, the Commission stated that initial tests by transmitter manufacturers showed that MDCL control technologies are compatible with hybrid AM digital operation at the transmitter; that the National Radio System Committee (NRSC) had recently convened a subcommittee to investigate the effects of MDCL control technologies on the hybrid AM digital signal, especially at the receiver; and that receiver compatibility tests were underway. Based on these facts, the Commission permitted AM stations operating hybrid AM digital facilities to implement MDCL control technologies, provided that the hybrid signal continues to comply with the spectral emissions mask requirements in 47 CFR 73.44, and that the relative level of the analog AM signal to the digital AM signal remains constant. In April 2013, the NRSC published the NRSC MDCL Guideline, in which it concluded that, ''[c]onsidering the effect that MDCL has on the signal, as well as the practical limitations of transmitter technology, caution is advised when implementing hybrid AM IBOC with MDCL.'' NRSC MDCL Guideline NRSC-G101, ''AM Modulation-Dependent Carrier Level (MDCL) Usage Guideline,'' at 16. The NRSC cites the potential for increased out-of-band emissions and reduction of signal quality of the hybrid AM digital signal when stations operating hybrid AM analog and digital facilities implement MDCL control technologies, and reports that further studies regarding the compatibility of MDCL control technologies and hybrid AM digital operation will be undertaken. Since the effects of MDCL control technology on hybrid AM digital operation have not been conclusively determined, and the Commission has received no interference complaints about AM stations operating with both MDCL control technology and hybrid digital facilities since release of the MDCL Public Notice, the Commission tentatively concluded that it should continue to permit all AM stations, including those operating hybrid AM analog and digital facilities, to implement MDCL control technologies without prior Commission authority. The continued operation of AM stations using MDCL control technology with hybrid AM digital facilities will allow further testing to determine the effect of the simultaneous use of MDCL control technologies and hybrid AM analog and digital facilities. The Commission seeks comment on this proposal.
  20. Modify AM Antenna Efficiency Standards. The Commission's minimum efficiency standards impose minimum requirements regarding the effective field strength of AM broadcast stations. See 47 CFR 73.45, 73.186, 73.189. Under the Commission's rules, ''[a]ll applicants for new, additional, or different AM station facilities and all licensees requesting authority to change the transmitting system site of an existing station must specify an antenna system, the efficiency of which complies with the requirements for the class and power of station.'' 47 CFR 73.45(a). 47 CFR 73.189, which is referenced in 47 CFR 73.45(a), explains that to satisfy the efficiency requirements, an antenna system must ''meet minimum height requirements, or . . . meet[] the minimum requirements with respect to field strength.'' 47 CFR 73.189(b)(1). Thus, if an AM broadcaster's antenna does not satisfy the minimum height requirements, the broadcaster is required to ensure that the broadcast tower's effective field strength satisfies the minimum requirements contained in 47 CFR 73.184.
  21. MMTC proposes that the Commission replace ''minimum efficiency'' for AM antennas with ''minimum radiation'' in mV/m, thereby allowing AM stations to use very short antennas and enjoy more flexibility in site selection, including rooftop installations. Radio Rescue Petition at 20. Under MMTC's formulation, an AM broadcaster would only be required to show that the broadcast station produces a certain minimum level of radiation, contending that if the minimum radiation is achieved, efficiency levels are immaterial. MMTC states that the minimum efficiency standard originated in the 1920s when electric power was in short supply but land was abundantly available; now, however, MMTC contends that the relative availability of land and electric power are exactly reversed, necessitating re-evaluation of the regulation. MMTC believes that the current rule works a hardship on lower-frequency stations because larger antennas are needed to meet the efficiency standards at lower frequencies, which have longer wavelengths. Replacing the minimum efficiency standard with a minimum radiation standard, according to MMTC, would allow AM stations to use very short antennas and enjoy more flexibility in site selection, which in turn will enable small businesses and entrepreneurs to continue their operations by increasing power and using less land, thus providing the opportunity to move closer to larger, more viable areas.
  22. The Commission has previously observed that parcels of land suitable for AM towers and ground systems are less abundant and more expensive today than in the early days of radio broadcasting some 70-80 years ago, especially in and near urbanized areas. However, the Commission questioned MMTC's other premise, that electricity is more plentiful and more readily available, finding that it is not well established in the record of the Radio Rescue Petition proceeding. The Commission also observed that the MMTC proposal is unclear as to both the exact problems that MMTC perceives with current regulations, the specifics of the rule or rules it proposes to eliminate or replace, and why its proposed solution is preferable. While MMTC's proposal calls for a ''minimum radiation'' standard expressed in mV/m, current rules already provide such a standard as an alternative to the minimum antenna heights set forth therein. 47 CFR 73.189(b)(1) states that good engineering practice requires an AM applicant either ''to install a new antenna system or to make changes in the existing antenna system which will meet the minimum height requirements, or submit evidence that the present antenna system meets the minimum requirements with respect to field strength, before favorable consideration will be given thereto.'' Thus, for Class B, Class D, and Alaskan Class A AM stations, an antenna must either meet the minimum height requirements set forth in curves A, B, and C of Figure 7 of 47 CFR 73.190, or must provide a minimum effective field strength of 282 mV/m for 1 kilowatt at 1 kilometer from the transmitter. 47 CFR 73.189(b)(2)(ii). The rules already provide for non-standard antennas, as long as they meet minimum field strength standards. It is unclear how the current rules differ from MMTC's proposed ''minimum radiation'' standard.
  23. However, while the record as to this proposal was not sufficiently developed to propose wholesale rule changes at this time, and accepting MMTC's claim that scarcity of land and height restrictions may restrict some AM broadcasters, especially those at lower frequencies and thus longer wavelengths, from installing antenna systems that can meet current Commission standards for AM transmissions, the Commission believed that reducing the existing minimum effective field strength values in 47 CFR 73.189(b) would offer AM broadcasters some relief by enabling them to propose shorter antennas. The Commission therefore seeks comment as to whether it should reduce the minimum field strength values set forth in 47 CFR 73.182(m) and 73.189(b)(2)(i)-(iii) by approximately 25 percent, and revise 47 CFR 73.182(m) and 73.189(b)(2) accordingly. 47 CFR 73.182(m) and Note (2), 73.189(b)(2)(i)-(iii). The new minimum field strength values would be as follows: for Class C stations, and stations in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands on 1230, 1240, 1340, 1400, 1450, and 1490 kHz that were formerly Class C and were redesignated as Class B pursuant to 47 CFR 73.26(b), the minimum effective field strength would be 180 mV/m for 1 kW at 1 km (90 mV/m for 0.25 kW at 1 km); for Class A (Alaska), Class B, and Class D stations other than those covered in 47 CFR 73.189(b)(2)(i), the minimum effective field strength would be 215 mV/m for 1 kW at 1 km; and for Class A stations, a minimum effective field strength of 275 mV/m for 1 kW at 1 km.
  24. What would be the benefit to AM broadcasters, or to the listening public, of reducing these values? What would be the impact on the public and the ability of stations to provide service to their communities? Would some other reduction be more appropriate? Would modifying the current minimum efficiency standards have negative consequences for other AM stations or the public? Have broadcasters, in particular those with lower-frequency stations, experienced difficulties in complying with the current rules? Would the proposed rule modifications provide AM broadcasters with more flexibility in site selection? The Commission asks that broadcasters discuss their specific experiences with the minimum efficiency standards and any instances in which the rules prevented or impeded a station from changing location or using a lower-cost or more site-specific antenna system. The Commission also asks that commenters describe and, if possible, quantify the costs of the current minimum efficiency standards, and the corresponding benefits of this proposal or any suggested alternatives.
  25. To the extent that commenters believe that the minimum field strength values should be reduced further, eliminated entirely, or that other rule modifications be employed to provide AM broadcasters the relief sought by MMTC, the Commission asks that commenters provide specifics as to any proposed replacement or alternative standard for AM transmission systems, including radiation and/or field strength standards, antenna input power, and minimum specifications for AM towers and ground systems, and the respective potential costs and benefits of such proposals. The Commission seeks comment on technical and policy considerations that may limit the extent to which it can lessen efficiency requirements; specifically, it also seeks comment as to the potential interference and stability ramifications of lower efficiency transmission systems. Would such systems produce higher levels of skywave, groundwave, blanketing, or other forms of interference? Are the methods described in the current rules sufficient to assess the performance of systems of electrically very short antennas, or would other rule changes be required to permit the use of such antennas? Would they produce excess heat that would harm the transmission systems? Would they produce greater amounts of radio frequency radiation, requiring amendments to the Commission's fencing and other rules? Is there a limit to the extent to which AM antenna systems' efficiency can be lowered, to the point where such systems are no longer stable and cannot produce predictable radiation patterns? If so, are there potential rule modifications that can afford AM broadcasters the flexibility to build less efficient antenna systems than those specified by the standards in the rules, but without allowing them to expend needless time and expense on ultimately unstable transmission systems? The Commission requests that commenters provide details as to any proposed rule modifications, additions, or deletions.
  26. The Commission encourages all interested parties to comment on the specific proposals set forth in the NPRM, including the specific issues and questions posed by each, and to provide detailed analyses and exhibits in support of their comments. Commenters should describe and, to the extent possible, quantify both the costs and the benefits to the industry and to the public that would result from these proposals and any alternatives suggested in the comments. However, the foregoing proposals are not intended to be an exhaustive recitation of all the possible means of revitalizing the AM service. Rather, they constitute concrete proposals that can be implemented expeditiously to assist AM broadcasters in providing needed radio service to the public. The Commission recognizes that there are other ideas that have been proposed to assist in revitalizing AM radio. These include: changes to nighttime skywave protection for Class A AM stations; adopting rules to permit the permanent licensing of AM synchronous transmission systems; permitting or requiring stations to convert to all-digital AM operation; and modification of the pre-sunrise/post-sunset AM operating rules. These more complex suggested reforms would require additional comment, research, and analysis. The Commission therefore encourages parties to submit comments in this docket for the purpose of advancing these and other specific proposals to revitalize the AM service. In particular, the Commission asks parties to provide any proposals to improve the long-term future of the AM service, emphasizing that any such submissions should contain details as to the rule additions, deletions, or modifications sought, as well as specifics as to the reasons underlying any proposals submitted.
  27. Comments and Reply Comments. Pursuant to §§ 1.415 and 1.419 of the Commission's rules (47 CFR 1.415, 1.419), interested parties must file comments on or before January 21, 2014, and must file reply comments on or before February 18, 2014. Comments may be filed using: (1) The Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS); (2) the Federal Government's eRulemaking Portal, or (3) by filing paper copies.
  28. Comments may be filed electronically using the Internet by accessing the ECFS: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/, or the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Filers should follow the instructions provided on the Web sites for submitting comments. For ECFS filers, if multiple docket or rulemaking numbers appear in the caption of this proceeding, filers must transmit one electronic copy of the comments for each docket or rulemaking number referenced in the caption. In completing the transmittal screen, filers should include their full name, U.S. Postal Service mailing address, and the applicable docket or rulemaking number. Parties may also submit an electronic comment by Internet email. To get filing instructions for email comments, commenters should send an email to ecfs@fcc.gov, and should include the following words in the body of the message, ''get form.'' A sample form and directions will be sent in response.
  29. Parties who choose to file by paper must file an original and one copy of each filing. If more than one docket or rulemaking number appears in the caption of this proceeding, filers must submit two additional copies for each additional docket or rulemaking number. Filings can be sent by hand or messenger delivery, by commercial overnight courier, or by first-class or overnight U.S. Postal. All filings must be addressed to the Commission's Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission.
  30. All hand-delivered or messenger-delivered paper filings for the Commission's Secretary must be delivered to FCC Headquarters at 445 12th Street SW., Room TW-A325, Washington, DC 20554. The filing hours at this location are 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. All hand deliveries must be held together with rubber bands or fasteners. Any envelopes must be disposed of before entering the building.
  31. Commercial overnight mail (other than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9300 East Hampton Drive, Capitol Heights, MD 20743.U.S. Postal Service first-class, Express, and Priority Mail must be addressed to 445 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20554.
  32. To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an email to fcc504@fcc.gov, or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY).
  33. The full text of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is available for inspection and copying during normal business hours in the FCC Reference Information Center, Room CY-A257, 445 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20554. The complete text may be purchased from the Commission's copy contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc., 445 12th Street SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554. The full text may also be downloaded at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-30.pdf. Alternative formats are available to persons with disabilities by contacting Martha Contee at (202) 418-0260 or TTY (202) 418-2555.
  34. Ex Parte Rules. The proceeding this NPRM initiates shall be treated as a ''permit-but-disclose'' proceeding in accordance with the Commission's ex parte rules. Persons making ex parte presentations must file a copy of any written presentation or a memorandum summarizing any oral presentation within two business days after the presentation (unless a different deadline applicable to the Sunshine period applies). Persons making oral ex parte presentations are reminded that memoranda summarizing the presentation must (1) list all persons attending or otherwise participating in the meeting at which the ex parte presentation was made, and (2) summarize all data presented and arguments made during the presentation. If the presentation consisted in whole or in part of the presentation of data or arguments already reflected in the presenter's written comments, memoranda or other filings in the proceeding, the presenter may provide citations to such data or arguments in his or her prior comments, memoranda, or other filings (specifying the relevant page and/or paragraph numbers where such data or arguments can be found) in lieu of summarizing them in the memorandum. Documents shown or given to Commission staff during ex parte meetings are deemed to be written ex parte presentations and must be filed consistent with 47 CFR 1.1206(b). In proceedings governed by 47 CFR 1.49(f) or for which the Commission has made available a method of electronic filing, written ex parte presentations and memoranda summarizing oral ex parte presentations, and all attachments thereto, must be filed through the electronic comment filing system available for that proceeding, and must be filed in their native format (e.g., .doc, .xml, .ppt, searchable .pdf). Participants in this proceeding should familiarize themselves with the Commission's ex parte rules.
  35. Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended (RFA), requires that a regulatory flexibility analysis be prepared for notice and comment rule making proceedings, unless the agency certifies that ''the rule will not, if promulgated, have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.'' The RFA generally defines the term ''small entity'' as having the same meaning as the terms ''small business,'' ''small organization,'' and ''small governmental jurisdiction.'' In addition, the term ''small business'' has the same meaning as the term ''small business concern'' under the Small Business Act. A ''small business concern'' is one which: (1) Is independently owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of operation; and (3) satisfies any additional criteria established by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
  36. As required by the RFA, 5 U.S.C. 603, the Commission has prepared this Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) of the possible significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities by the policies proposed in the NPRM. Written public comments are requested on this IRFA. Comments must be identified as responses to the IRFA and must be filed by the deadlines for comments on the NPRM set forth above. The Commission will send a copy of this entire NPRM, including this IRFA, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration (SBA). See 5 U.S.C. 603(a). In addition, the NPRM and the IRFA (or summaries thereof) will be published in the Federal Register. Id.
  37. Need For, and Objectives of, the Proposed Rules. This rulemaking proceeding is initiated to obtain further comments concerning certain proposals designed to revitalize the AM broadcast radio service. It is based in part on proposals raised in Petitions for Rule Making filed by various parties, including duTreil, Lundin & Rackley, Inc., Hatfield & Dawson Consulting Engineers, LLC, and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council. Specifically, the Commission seeks comment on the following: (1) Whether to open a one-time window for AM licensees and permittees to apply for FM translator stations to fill in parts of their signal contours; (2) whether to reduce the daytime community signal coverage requirements for existing AM stations to 50 percent of the area of the community of license or 50 percent of the community's population; (3) whether to eliminate the nighttime community coverage requirement for all AM stations; (4) whether to eliminate the AM ''ratchet rule,'' which requires an AM broadcaster seeking to make changes, which would modify its AM signal, to demonstrate that the improvements will result in an overall reduction in the amount of skywave interference that it causes to certain other AM stations; (5) whether to allow AM broadcasters to commence operation using MDCL control technologies without prior Commission authorization, by notifying the Commission within 10 days after initiating such operation; and (6) whether to modify the Commission's AM antenna efficiency standards by reducing the minimum field strength values set forth in the rules. Additionally, the Commission seeks comment on any additional proposals designed to reduce burdens upon AM broadcasters, or to enhance AM service to the public.
  38. Legal Basis. The authority for this proposed rulemaking is contained in sections 1, 2, 4(i), 303, 307, and 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 154(i), 303, 307, and 309(j).
  39. Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities to Which the Proposed Rules Will Apply. The RFA directs the Commission to provide a description of and, where feasible, an estimate of the number of small entities that will be affected by the proposed rules. 5 U.S.C. 603(b). The RFA generally defines the term ''small entity'' as encompassing the terms ''small business,'' ''small organization,'' and ''small governmental entity.'' 5 U.S.C. 601(6). In addition, the term ''small business'' has the same meaning as the term ''small business concern'' under the Small Business Act. 5 U.S.C. 601(3). A small business concern is one which: (1) Is independently owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of operation; and (3) satisfies any additional criteria established by the Small Business Administration (SBA). 15 U.S.C. 632.
  40. Radio Stations. The proposed policies could apply to radio broadcast licensees, and potential licensees of radio service. The SBA defines a radio broadcast station as a small business if such station has no more than $7 million in annual receipts. See 13 CFR 121.201, NAICS Code 515112. Business concerns included in this industry are those primarily engaged in broadcasting aural programs by radio to the public. Id. According to Commission staff review of the BIA Publications, Inc. Master Access Radio Analyzer Database as of August 2, 2013, about 10,811 (97 percent) of 11,162 commercial radio station have revenues of $7 million or less and thus qualify as small entities under the SBA definition. In assessing whether a business concern qualifies as small under the above definition, business (control) affiliations must be included. 13 CFR 121.103(a)(1). Our estimate, therefore, likely overstates the number of small entities that might be affected by our action, because the revenue figure on which it is based does not include or aggregate revenues from affiliated companies. In addition, an element of the definition of ''small business'' is that the entity not be dominant in its field of operation. We are unable at this time to define or quantify the criteria that would establish whether a specific radio station is dominant in its field of operation. Accordingly, the estimate of small businesses to which rules may apply do not exclude any radio station from the definition of a small business on this basis and therefore may be over-inclusive to that extent. Also as noted, an additional element of the definition of ''small business'' is that the entity must be independently owned and operated. We note that it is difficult at times to assess these criteria in the context of media entities and our estimates of small businesses to which they apply may be over-inclusive to this extent.
  41. FM translator stations and low power FM stations. The proposed policies could affect licensees of FM translator stations, as well as potential licensees in this radio service. The same SBA definition that applies to radio broadcast licensees would apply to these stations. The SBA defines a radio broadcast station as a small business if such station has no more than $7 million in annual receipts. See 13 CFR 121.201, NAICS Code 515112. Currently, there are approximately 6,053 licensed FM translator and booster stations. In addition, there are approximately 646 applicants with pending applications filed in the 2003 translator filing window. Given the nature of these services, we will presume that all of these licensees and applicants qualify as small entities under the SBA definition.
  42. Description of Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping and Other Compliance Requirements. The proposed rule and procedural changes may, in some cases, impose different reporting requirements on potential radio licensees and permittees, insofar as they would require or allow certain AM applicants to demonstrate their qualifications to apply for an FM translator station meeting the current rules for FM translator use by AM stations. However, the information to be filed is already familiar to broadcasters, and the specific information requested to apply for a new FM translator station involves engineering similar to that of full-power FM stations (and, in fact, less complex than the engineering for a full-power AM station), so any additional burdens would be minimal. Reducing the AM daytime signal coverage requirements should not increase burdens on AM broadcasters; they would still have to calculate their signal contours and the populations covered, but the percentage of the community that must be covered would be lower, so to the extent that broadcasters find it difficult to cover 80 to 100 percent of the community of license with a 5 mV/m signal, burdens should be decreased. Likewise, eliminating the nighttime community coverage requirement will decrease burdens on AM broadcasters, who would no longer have to provide calculations of their nighttime interference-free or 5 mV/m contours. Elimination of the ''ratchet rule'' would substantially decrease burdens on AM broadcasters seeking to make changes to their facilities, by eliminating the requirement that they reduce skywave interference to certain other broadcasters. Should the Commission adopt its proposal to allow AM broadcasters to use MDCL technologies without prior authorization, this would reduce burdens on such broadcasters, who would no longer have to apply for waivers or experimental authorizations, but would need only to inform the Commission through the Media Bureau's electronic Consolidated Data Base System (CDBS). Finally, if the Commission were to adopt its proposal to reduce the minimum efficiency standards for AM broadcasters, this would reduce burdens on such broadcasters by affording them more flexibility in antenna siting and construction.
  43. Steps Taken to Minimize Significant Impact on Small Entities, and Significant Alternatives Considered. The RFA requires an agency to describe any significant alternatives that it has considered in reaching its proposed approach, which may include the following four alternatives (among others): (1) The establishment of differing compliance or reporting requirements or timetables that take into account the resources available to small entities; (2) the clarification, consolidation, or simplification of compliance or reporting requirements under the rule for small entities; (3) the use of performance, rather than design, standards; and (4) an exemption from coverage of the rule, or any part thereof, for small entities. 5 U.S.C. 603(b). In the NPRM, the Commission seeks to assist AM broadcasters by providing them with an opportunity to acquire single-purpose FM translator stations to fill in their signal contours; by providing relief from community signal coverage requirements (day and night) which may have become problematic due to geographic and population shifts and a dearth of land suitable for AM transmission systems; by eliminating the ''ratchet rule'' that imposes interference-amelioration requirements as a quid-pro-quo for certain facility improvements, but which has had the effect of discouraging such improvements; by simplifying the process of initiating energy-saving MDCL technologies; and by reducing the minimum effective field strength values for AM stations. The Commission seeks comment as to whether its goal of revitalizing the AM service could be effectively accomplished through these means. The Commission is open to consideration of alternatives to the proposals under consideration, as set forth herein, including but not limited to alternatives that will minimize the burden on AM broadcasters, most of whom are small businesses. There may be unique circumstances these entities may face, and we will consider appropriate action for small broadcasters when preparing a Report and Order in this matter.
  44. Federal Rules Which Duplicate, Overlap, or Conflict With, the Commission's Proposals. None.
  45. To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an email to fcc504@fcc.gov, or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY).
American Education Week, 2013
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 04:16
  A ProclamationEducation is both a pillar of democracy and a cornerstone of American opportunity. In an increasingly competitive world, it gives our children the tools to thrive and our Nation the talent to lead. During American Education Week, we reaffirm our commitment to the next generation, and we celebrate everyone who is striving to help America's young people realize their full potential.
  Every day throughout America, our children mark the many milestones of learning'--from scribbling their first attempts at the alphabet to conducting their first science experiment to crossing the stage at commencement. The educators who guide them deserve our highest admiration, respect, and support for investing in young people's futures. We all have a stake in public education, and we all have a role to play'--from parents and mentors to community leaders and business owners. Through programs focused on tutoring, sports, the arts, and vocational training, we can inspire children to learn both inside and outside the classroom.
  A great education is a ticket into the middle class, and it should be available to everyone willing to work for it. My Administration is committed to reining in college costs and reducing the burden student loans place on young people. We are also moving forward on a plan to connect 99 percent of America's students to high-speed internet within 5 years; pushing to make high-quality early education accessible to every child in America; and working to strengthen programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Because none of these plans will succeed without outstanding teachers, we must support these professionals as they perform their vital work.
  As we move toward Thanksgiving, American Education Week offers a chance to express our gratitude to educators across our Nation. Let us do so with a renewed commitment to giving every young American the opportunities a world-class education affords.
  NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 17 to November 23, 2013, as American Education Week. I call upon all Americans to observe this week by supporting their local schools through appropriate activities, events, and programs designed to help create opportunities for every school and student in America.
  IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth.
  [FR Doc. 2013-28018Filed 11-19-13; 11:15 am]
  Billing code 3295-F4
Visual Cryptography
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  Archived Version
  Source: brainwagon
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:38
  I read an interesting article the other day. I'll skip to the end to show you the result. Check out this pair of binary images:
  Not too fascinating, huh? If you print both images out on transparency though, and stack them together, you'll get this'...
  Hopefully that worked (with my limited CSS skills, I don't think I got it exactly right). I couldn't get the CSS exactly right, so the above image is really just the pairwise minimum of both images above. But how I accomplish this miracle? My own simple python implementation of the ideas cribbed from this page. Script to come later.
Poor countries walk out of UN climate talks as compensation row rumbles on | Global development | theguardian.com
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  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:34
  UN climate change conference in Warsaw: delegates from the G77 and China in talks before staging a walkout. Photograph: Francis Dejon/IISD
  Representatives of most of the world's poor countries have walked out of increasingly fractious climate negotiations after the EU, Australia, the US and other developed countries insisted that the question of who should pay compensation for extreme climate events be discussed only after 2015.
  The orchestrated move by the G77 and China bloc of 132 countries came during talks about "loss and damage" '' how countries should respond to climate impacts that are difficult or impossible to adapt to, such as typhoon Haiyan.
  Saleemul Huq, the scientist whose work on loss and damage helped put the issue of recompense on the conference agenda, said: "Discussions were going well in a spirit of co-operation, but at the end of the session on loss and damage Australia put everything agreed into brackets, so the whole debate went to waste."
  Australia was accused of not taking the negotiations seriously. "They wore T-shirts and gorged on snacks throughout the negotiation. That gives some indication of the manner they are behaving in," said a spokeswoman for Climate Action Network.
  After a three hour delay in the negotiatons,while countries debated what to do in private, talks resumed. "[The walkout] helped to clear the air. They know we are serious," said one lead negotiator, who denied developing countries were "grandstanding."
  Developing countries have demanded that a new UN institution be set up to oversee compensation but rich countries have been dismissive, blocking calls for a full debate in the climate talks.
  "The EU understands that the issue is incredibly important for developing countries. But they should be careful about '... creating a new institution. This is not [what] this process needs," said Connie Hedegaard, EU climate commissioner.
  She ruled out their most important demand, insisting: "We cannot have a system where we have automatic compensation when severe events happen around the world. That is not feasible."
  The G77 and China group, which is due to give a press conference on Wednesday to explain the walkout, has made progress on loss and damage, which it says is a "red line" issue. It claims to be unified with similar blocs including the Least Developed Countries, Alliance of Small Island States and the Africa Group of negotiators.
  Hedegaard poured cold water on last week's related proposal by Brazil, that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change be asked to find a way to quantify each country's historical emissions of greenhouse gases in order to help countries establish the level of future emission cuts.
  Debate on the issue has been rejected by rich countries, which fear it could lead to unacceptable costs.
  Hedegaard conceded that rich countries had a special responsibility to cut emissions. "The whole financing discussion reflects that the developed world knows it has special responsibility. Most of what has been emitted has been done by us," she said.
  Harjeet Singh, ActionAid Internatonal's spokesman on disaster risk, said: "The US, EU, Australia and Norway remain blind to the climate reality that's hitting us all, and poor people and countries much harder. They continue to derail negotiations in Warsaw that can create a new system to deal with new types of loss and damage such as sea-level rise, loss of territory, biodiversity and other non-economic losses more systematically."
  Australian ambassador Justin Lee, who is heading Australia's delegation following its decision not to send a minister to the talks, rejected criticism the country had been obstructive during negotiations, in particular related to possible financial commitments.
  "Australia is engaging in negotiations constructively," Lee said. "Australia wants progress on negotiation of an agreement that sets up effective global action based on broad participation. Major economies and Australia's key trading partners will need to participate and Australia will move in step with them, protecting our competitiveness."
The unhappy rich: Antidepressant use soars in developed nations | News | Health | Mail & Guardian
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  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:33
  Living in a wealthy, developed nation may not make you happier, with a study finding that antidepressant use has surged across the rich world.
  US data show that more than 10% of American adults use depression medication. (Gallo)
  The use of antidepressants has surged across the rich world over the past decade, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), raising concerns among doctors that pills are being overprescribed.
  Data from the OECD show that in some countries doctors are writing prescriptions for more than one in 10 adults, with Iceland, Australia, Canada and the other European Nordic countries leading the way.
  Separate data from the US show that more than 10% of American adults use depression medication.
  Numbers are even rising in China, with the antidepressant market growing there by about 20% for each of the past three years, albeit from a lower base.
  Global rates of depression have not risen to the same extent, even though more people than ever before are being diagnosed in some countries.
  Cause and consumptionThe OECD says in its Health at a Glance report, to be released on Thursday, that the use of antidepressants in milder cases could explain rising consumption levels.
  "These extensions have raised concerns about appropriateness," it said.
  It added that the financial crisis may have been a factor in more recent increases in use, noting that in Spain and Portugal, for example, prescriptions have jumped by more than 20% over the past five years.
  Most psychiatrists agree that antidepressants work for people with severe illness but are not supposed to be the first resort for those with mild depression.
  Counselling and talking therapies, such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), are recognised as being just as effective over the long term.
  But counselling is in short supply in many countries.
  "We know that antidepressants work for moderate to severe depression," said Dr Mark van Ommeren, of the World Health Organisation's department of mental health and substance abuse.
  "The explosion of antidepressants you see in most countries reflects the fact that lots of people with moderate to severe depression are getting treatment '' that's a good thing.
  "But the negative thing is that a lot of people are getting antidepressants who shouldn't be getting them. Doctors and healthcare providers should be able to recognise depression correctly so that those who need antidepressants get them and those with only mild cases do not get prescribed."
  Modern medicationModern antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac, took off in the 1990s and gained almost cult status with the publication of Elizabeth Wurtzel's book Prozac Nation in 1994.
  Doctors were happier to prescribe them because they did not have the addictive properties or side-effects of pills such as benzodiazepines.
  But the bubble seemed to burst within a few years, with stories of some, particularly younger, people attempting suicide while on the drugs.
  Some companies paid large sums to settle court cases in the US and, in the UK, doctors were warned in 2003 not to prescribe them to patients under 18 years of age.
  But the issues around the various medications do not seem to have affected the long-term upward trend.
  The OECD figures show that Iceland has the highest prescribing rate at 105.8 doses a day for every 1 000 inhabitants in 2011, up from 70.9 in 2000 and 14.9 in 1989, when it first submitted figures.
  Three countries had figures in the 80s in 2011 '' Australia, up from 45.4 in 2000 to 88.9 in 2011; Canada was up from 75 in 2007, when it first submitted figures, to 85.9; and Denmark, up from 34.8 to 85.2.
  The lowest rate in 2011 was in Chile, where 12.8 daily doses were prescribed for every 1 000 inhabitants. In the UK, rates have roughly doubled over the past decade to 70.7 for every 1 000 people.
  Over-prescribedMost experts say that antidepressants are over-prescribed for some people but under-used in others.
  "Antidepressants are widely oversubscribed to get rid of unhappiness," said Professor Tim Cantopher, consultant psychiatrist with the Priory Group in the UK.
  "They were not designed for that. Unhappiness is part of the human condition. But real clinical depression does respond to antidepressants. And not to prescribe in these cases is to sentence an individual to a far longer illness than he or she need suffer."
  Harvey Whiteford, Kratzmann professor of psychiatry and population health at the University of Queensland, Australia, said depression was common and the second leading cause of health-related disability.
  But in most OECD countries, he said, only about 50% to 60% of those suffering from depression got treatment, although the rates were increasing.
  But the sort of treatment people need varies according to their illness, he said.
  "There is good evidence that only major depression is likely to respond to antidepressants and other forms of depression much less so," he said.
  Drugs vs counsellingPrimary care physicians tend to prescribe drugs rather than CBT, although some countries such as Australia and the UK have initiatives intended to increase the amount of counselling available.
  "My view is that antidepressants are often prescribed for the increasing numbers of people now coming to treatment for depression (including mild to moderate forms of depression) where CBT would be the better treatment.
  Thus, the prescribing rates are going up and some of this prescribing would be for types of depression better treated non-pharmacologically," he said.
  A Better Access scheme, which subsidised CBT for common mental disorders, increased treatment rates in Australia to 46% in 2009-2010 from 37% in 2006-207, he said.
  "To get access to psychologists for CBT under the scheme required referral from a GP, who made the diagnosis and ruled out medical causes for the anxiety and depression. We hoped this would decrease the prescribing rates of medication with referral to a psychologist being substituted as first-line treatment for mild to moderate disorders. However, what seems to have happened is that most GPs prescribed and referred for CBT."
  Marketing ployProfessor Tim Kendall, director of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health in the UK, said he doubted if the rise in antidepressant prescription was a result of better recognition of depression in so many countries.
  "It's much more likely a testament to the effective marketing by the pharmaceutical industry," he said.
  "I also wonder if, in better off countries, which OECD countries are, we don't have time to be depressed and seek chemical solutions to 'get rid of it'."
  Dr Jordi Alonso, director of the programme of epidemiology and public health at the IMIM-Institut de Recerca hospital del Mar in Barcelona, Spain, said: "In my opinion, one major issue is that GPs have become familiar with the indications and results of antidepressants.
  "Possible explanations of this fact are the time elapsed since new SSRIs were available and of course, the dissemination and publicity about their efficacy '' with the lead of the companies who have produced them." '' guardian.co.uk (C) Guardian News and Media 2013
  . .
The first rule of drone club is that you don't talk about drone club: Members only: Europe opens 'drone club' to compete with US, Israel
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: RT - News
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:24
  Published time: November 20, 2013 13:18Edited time: November 21, 2013 04:37A model of the 'EuroHawk' unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay)
  France, Germany and other European countries on Tuesday announced the creation of a "drone users club" to go head-to-head against US- and Israeli-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that now dominate the skies.
  At a time when aerial-vehicles are radically altering the modern battlefield, Europe finds itself playing catch up in the race to develop what it calls Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) pilotless aircraft.
  ''If Europe hopes to maintain a strategic capability, countries must pool their capacities and actions in a pragmatic way,'' French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said after the talks in Brussels.
  Referring to the members as the 'drone users club', presently comprised of France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, Le Drian said the group would cooperate on a number of technical aspects, including training, certification, logistics, maintenance and the planning for future projects, the defense minister noted.
  Membership is open to any of the 28 EU member states that are operating drones or that anticipate to within five years.
  Europe has become increasingly dependent on US and Israeli drone technology: France used US drones during its military intervention this year against Islamists in Mali, while Germany uses the Israeli-built Heron 1 drone for reconnaissance purposes in Afghanistan.
  European leaders are also looking to develop air-refueling capabilities after EU nations were forced to rely on the US military during the NATO campaign in Libya in 2011.
  In response to Europe's lagging behind in what military experts predict is the future of combat, Le Drian said the European Defense Agency has been charged with creating a "European generation" of drones within a decade.
  Many aviation experts, pointing to the US military's increased dependence on drones in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, say the days of piloted fighter aircraft are numbered.
  Last year, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere said his country would cooperate with France to develop a new generation of armed aerial vehicles.
  "We have a gap in our capabilities that we would like to close," he said.
  The European Defense Agency said it will now take into account the costs, technological capabilities and other factors, and draw up a report that could become the cornerstone of a European drone program.
  Europe's top three defense companies, EADS, France's Dassault Aviation and Italy's Finmeccanica offered in June to cooperate on the development of a prototype MALE if given the greenlight by Brussels.
  However, despite the enthusiasm for this eye-in-the-sky death technology, human rights groups have been sounding the alarm on drone warfare following a rash of civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Pakistan and elsewhere. Last month, Amnesty International issued a report that says US officials responsible for carrying out drone strikes may have to stand trial for war crimes.
  The report is based on nine out of 45 drone strikes reported between January 2012 and August 2013 in North Waziristan, a mountainous region of northeast Pakistan where the US drone campaign is most intensive.
  The research focused on one particular case '' that of 68-year-old Mamana Bibi, who was killed by a US drone last October while she was working in her garden with her grandchildren.
  European leaders will formally approve the projects at an EU summit next month focusing on defense cooperation.
Presidential Proclamation -- National Child's Day, 2013
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:19
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  November 19, 2013
  NATIONAL CHILD'S DAY, 2013
  - - - - - - -
  BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
  A PROCLAMATION
  Each year on National Child's Day, America takes time to celebrate our most precious resource. We reaffirm our commitment to giving our next generation the tools to lead, innovate, and pursue their own measure of happiness.
  In the United States of America, no matter where you come from, who you are, or how you look, you should have a chance to succeed. That is why we must build ladders of opportunity for all children -- including high-quality preschool, strong education in key fields like math and science, and nutritious meals that give young people the energy to focus. Through First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative, my Administration is helping children develop habits that will let them lead healthier lives, and we are partnering with businesses, local governments, and non-profit organizations to ensure families have the information they need to give our children the happy, healthy futures they deserve.
  Yet equal opportunity cannot exist while some parents are forced to choose between buying groceries, paying the rent, or taking their children to the doctor. Under the Affordable Care Act, new health insurance options are now available to millions of Americans. Millions of families will gain access to affordable coverage options through the new Health Insurance Marketplace, including through Medicaid in those States that have chosen to expand coverage. Thanks to this law, children can no longer be denied coverage because they have a pre-existing condition. And most health plans are covering recommended preventive services for children, including developmental screenings and immunizations, without cost-sharing.
  With the support of a Nation and the guidance of parents and mentors, our children can lead America into a bright new age. Today, let us strengthen our resolve to provide the opportunities their energy and creativity demand.
  NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 20, 2013, as National Child's Day. I call upon all citizens to observe this day with appropriate activities, programs, and ceremonies, and to rededicate ourselves to creating the bright future we want for our Nation's children.
  IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth.
  BARACK OBAMA
DoctorBeet's Blog: LG Smart TVs logging USB filenames and viewing info to LG servers
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:18
  Earlier this month I discovered that my new LG Smart TV was displaying ads on the Smart landing screen.After some investigation, I found a rather creepy corporate video advertising their data collection practices to potential advertisers. It's quite long but a sample of their claims are as follows:LG Smart Ad analyses users favourite programs, online behaviour, search keywords and other information to offer relevant ads to target audiences. For example, LG Smart Ad can feature sharp suits to men, or alluring cosmetics and fragrances to women.Furthermore, LG Smart Ad offers useful and various advertising performance reports. That live broadcasting ads cannot. To accurately identify actual advertising effectiveness.In fact, there is an option in the system settings called "Collection of watching info:" which is set ON by default. This setting requires the user to scroll down to see it and, unlike most other settings, contains no "balloon help" to describe what it does.At this point, I decided to do some traffic analysis to see what was being sent. It turns out that viewing information appears to be being sent regardless of whether this option is set to On or Off.Here you can clearly see that a unique device ID is transmitted, along with the Channel name "BBC NEWS" and a unique device ID.Here is another example of a viewing info packet.GB.smartshare.lgtvsdp.com POST /ibs/v2.2/service/watchInformation.xml HTTP/1.1Host: GB.ibis.lgappstv.comAccept: */*X-Device-Product:NETCAST 4.0X-Device-Platform:NC4MX-Device-Model:HE_DTV_NC4M_AFAAABAAX-Device-Netcast-Platform-Version:0004.0002.0000X-Device-Country:GBX-Device-Country-Group:EUX-Device-ID:2yxQ5kEhf45fjUD35G+E/xdq7xxWE2ghu0j4an9kbGoNcyWaSsoLgyk8JJoMtjRrYRsVS6mHKy/Zdd6nZp+Y+gK6DVqnbQeDqr16YgacdzKU80sCKwOAi1TwIQov/SlBX-Authentication:YMu3V1dv8m8JD0ghrsmEToxONDI= cookie:JSESSIONID=3BB87277C55EED9489B6E6B2DEA7C9FD.node_sdpibis10; Path=/Content-Length: 460Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded&chan_name=BBC TWO&device_src_idx=1&dtv_standard_type=2&broadcast_type=2&device_platform_name=NETCAST 4.0_mtk5398&chan_code=251533454-72E0D0FB0A8A4C70E4E2D829523CA235&external_input_name=Antenna&chan_phy_no=&atsc_chan_maj_no=&atsc_chan_min_no=&chan_src_idx=1&chan_phy_no=&atsc_chan_maj_no=&atsc_chan_min_no=&chan_phy_no=47&atsc_chan_maj_no=2&atsc_chan_min_no=2&chan_src_idx=1&dvb_chan_nw_id=9018&dvb_chan_transf_id=4170&dvb_chan_svc_id=4287&watch_dvc_logging=0
  This information appears to be sent back unencrypted and in the clear to LG every time you change channel, even if you have gone to the trouble of changing the setting above to switch collection of viewing information off.It was at this point, I made an even more disturbing find within the packet data dumps. I noticed filenames were being posted to LG's servers and that these filenames were ones stored on my external USB hard drive. To demonstrate this, I created a mock avi file and copied it to a USB stick.
  This file didn't really contain "midget porn" at all, I renamed it to make sure it had a unique filename that I could spot easily in the data and one that was unlikely to come from a broadcast source.And sure enough, there is was...
  Sometimes the names of the contents of an entire folder was posted, other times nothing was sent. I couldn't determine what rules controlled this.I think it's important to point out that the URL that the data is being POSTed to doesn't in fact exist, you can see this from the HTTP 404 response in the next response from LG's server after the ACK.
  However, despite being missing at the moment, this collection URL could be implemented by LG on their server tomorrow, enabling them to start transparently collecting detailed information on what media files you have stored.
  It would easily be possible to infer the presence of adult content or files that had been downloaded from file sharing sites. My wife was shocked to see our children's names being transmitted in the name of a Christmas video file that we had watched from USB.
  So what does LG have to say about this? I approached them and asked them to comment on data collection, profiling of their customers, collection of usage information and mandatory embedded advertising on products that their customers had paid for. Their response to this was as follows:
  Thank you for your e-mail.Further to our previous email to yourself, we have escalated the issues you reported to LG's UK Head Office.The advice we have been given is that unfortunately as you accepted the Terms and Conditions on your TV, your concerns would be best directed to the retailer. We understand you feel you should have been made aware of these T's and C's at the point of sale, and for obvious reasons LG are unable to pass comment on their actions.We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us again.LG Electronics UK HelpdeskTel: 0844 847 5454Fax: 01480 274 000Email: cic.uk@lge.comUK: [premium rate number removed] Ireland: 0818 27 6954Mon-Fri 9am to 8pm Sat 9am-6pmI haven't asked them about leaking of USB filenames due to the "deal with it" nature of the above response but I have no real expectation that their response would be any different.So how can we prevent this from happening? I haven't read the T&Cs but one thing I am sure about is that I own my router and have absolute jurisdiction of any traffic that I allow to pass, so I have compiled an initial list of internet domains that you can block to stop spying and advertising on TVs that we, as customers have actually paid for.ad.lgappstv.comyumenetworks.comsmartclip.netsmartclip.comllnwd.netsmartshare.lgtvsdp.comibis.lgappstv.comThis will free you from seeing ads plastered on your screen and having your viewing habits monitored, whilst it should still allow firmware updates to be applied.(Update: removed llnwd domain, see comments)
Buggy? It's Not Built Yet!
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: JustOneMinute
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:11
  The good news is that the accouting portion of the ObamaCare.fail system is not buggy. The bad news is, there are no bugs because it hasn't been built yet.
  Henry Chao, the Obama administration official who oversaw the technical development of the federal health insurance marketplace, said Tuesday that his team has yet to complete 30 to 40 percent of the overall project.
  ...
  Parts of the project that users would see '-- notably the Web portal, HealthCare.gov '-- are 100 percent finished, he said. But ''the accounting systems, the payment systems, they still need to be'' completed, Chao said.
  The payment system Chao referred to relates to the subsidies many low- and middle-income people will receive to help them buy insurance on the state and federal Web sites. In most cases, government subsidies will be paid directly to the insurers. People getting the subsidies will simply pay the discounted premiums.
  Also yet to be finished is a component that ensures that the state and federal marketplaces and the insurers have accurate, matching information about enrollments.
  But no worries - yes, some people need to make their first payment by Dec 15 so that their coverage is effective Jan 1, but the government officials in charge don't seem to know that, so they are aiming for mid-January:
  Bataille, during a conference call after Chao's testimony, did not give an date by which the site's insurer payments tool would be up and running, saying it "will come online over time."
  "It's something we do not need online until the middle of January," she said. However, for people's insurance to kick in by Jan. 1, they need to make payments for their Obamacare insurance policies by Dec. 15.
  Whatever - those evil insurance companies will get paid eventually.
  On a related front, we have more good news - the NSA won't be getting court orders to access the HealthCare.fail customer database. The bad news is, they won't need to - computer security experts think the new site is a hacker's paradise.
  "The privacy and security of consumers' personal information are a top priority," White House spokesman Jay Carney said after the hearing.
  Hmm. Another high priority is selling that bridge in Brooklyn...
USA watched 33 million Norwegian mobile calls - Dagbladet Gold
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 08:42
  USA overv¥ket 33 millioner norske mobilsamtaler - Dagbladet PlussÄ
  I l¸pet av 30 dager, if¸lge nye Snowden-dokumenter som Dagbladet er i besittelse av.
  Dette er en forh¥ndsvisning av artikkelen. Hele historien er tilgjengelig for deg med Dagbladet Pluss.
  !
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Norwegian army goes on vegetarian diet - FRANCE 24
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 08:30
  A Norwegian armoured vehicle guards the Shuaiba oil refinery on March 28, 2004A Norwegian armoured vehicle guards the Shuaiba oil refinery on March 28, 2004
  AFP - The Norwegian military said Tuesday it plans to put its troops on a vegetarian diet once a week in a bid to fight a new kind of enemy -- climate change.
  The army said its new meatless Mondays are meant to cut its consumption of ecologically unfriendly foods whose production contributes heavily to global warming.
  "It's a step to protect our climate. The idea is to serve food that's respectful of the environment," spokesman Eystein Kvarving told AFP.
  The diet has already been introduced at one of Norway's main bases and will soon be rolled out to all units, including those serving overseas, said the army, estimating it would cut its meat consumption by 150 tonnes per year.
  "It's not about saving money," said Kvarving. "It's about being more concerned for our climate, more ecologically friendly and also healthier."
  A Norwegian environmental group that campaigns for meatless Mondays nationwide, The Future in Our Hands, welcomed the army announcement.
  "The defence ministry deserves a lot of praise because it's taking climate and environmental issues seriously," said the group's director, Arild Hermstad.
  According to the organisation, the average Norwegian eats more than 1,200 animals over the course of their life, including 1,147 chickens, 22 sheep, six cattle and 2.6 deer.
  Livestock farming accounts for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Duncan tries to quell uproar over Common Core comments - The Washington Post
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 08:23
  Education Secretary Arne Duncan tried Monday to quell the outrage sparked by his comments that injected race and class into the debate about the Common Core academic standards taking root in classrooms across the country.
  Duncan said Friday that he was fascinated by the fact that some opposition to the standards was coming from ''white suburban moms'' who fear that ''their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were.''
  The remark lit up social-media sites, prompting pointed responses from bloggers, an open letter from a school superintendent, digital images of Duncan's official federal portrait with the word ''bigot'' emblazoned across it, and one congressman's call for Duncan's firing.
  Duncan, whose office declined interview requests Monday, posted a statement late in the day on his agency's Web site.
  ''I used some clumsy phrasing that I regret '-- particularly because it distracted from an important conversation about how to better prepare all of America's students for success,'' he wrote. ''I want to encourage a difficult conversation and challenge the underlying assumption that when we talk about the need to improve our nation's schools, we are talking only about poor minority students in inner cities. This is simply not true. Research demonstrates that as a country, every demographic group has room for improvement.''
  At a gathering of state school superintendents Friday, Duncan spoke about the opposition to the Common Core standards, which are being implemented in 45 states and the District of Columbia with the aim of creating a national baseline for education.
  ''It's fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who '-- all of a sudden '-- their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn't quite as good as they thought they were, and that's pretty scary,'' Duncan said, according to media reports. ''You've bet your house and where you live and everything on 'My child's going to be prepared.' That can be a punch in the gut.''
  Chris Minnich, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, was interviewing Duncan at Friday's event and said that Duncan's larger point vanished amid the outcry.
  ''He was actually saying that these standards are harder than what many states had in the past and fewer kids are going to be passing,'' Minnich said.
  Written by a group of governors and state education officials, with endorsements from the federal government and funding from the Gates Foundation, the Common Core standards are designed to prepare students for an eventual career or college.
  Increasingly, high school graduates have not been ready for college; recent studies have found that up to 40 percent of first-time undergraduates need at least one remedial course in English or math.
  In a country with a long history of local control over education, the Common Core standards mark the first time that nearly every state has agreed to a common set of skills and knowledge. The idea is that all students should possess certain skills by the end of each grade, so that a first-grader in Maryland will learn the same skills as a first-grader in Maine or Montana.
Someone Forced World Internet Traffic Through Belarus and Iceland - Arik Hesseldahl - News - AllThingsD
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 08:18
  This is a deeply technical but potentially very troubling story. Imagine one day you're using the Internet the same way you do every day. Reading the news, shopping, sending email, checking your bank and credit card balances. Maybe even doing some work for your employer.
  Typically, but not always, the bits being sent from your computer, tablet or phone will flow from where you are to where they need to be via the most direct route available.
  But what if they didn't? What if someone slipped in between you and the various servers you're connecting with and diverted your traffic elsewhere, funneling it through a choke point of their choosing, so they could capture, copy and analyze it? Your data takes some extra '-- and imperceptible '-- milliseconds to get where it's going and ultimately everything you're doing online works just fine. But your traffic has been hijacked by parties unknown and you're none the wiser that it has happened.
  In network security circles, this is what's known as a Man-In-The-Middle attack. And for years it has been understood to be possible in theory, but never seen in practice. That changed earlier this year when someone '-- it's unclear who '-- diverted Internet traffic from some 150 cities around the world through networks in Belarus and Iceland.
  The troubling disclosure came yesterday from the research company Renesys. The firm specializes in tracking the operational health of global Internet infrastructure. When Internet traffic goes down in one country or another, whether because of a natural disaster or political unrest, Renesys is usually among the first to see it.
  The attack '-- and Renesys maintains that it was an attack '-- targeted large Internet carriers in every major city in the U.S. and numerous major cities in Europe and around the world. (See their map here.)
  The first incident took place during most of the month of February, when Internet traffic was silently redirected through an Internet service provider called GlobalOneBel, based in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. The targets of these attacks included financial institutions, government agencies and network service providers.
  Renesys tracked the attacks as they happened. Here's how its CTO Jim Cowie described one:
  Here's an example of a trace from Guadalajara, Mexico, to Washington, D.C., that goes through Moscow and Minsk. Mexican provider Alestra hands it to PCCW for transit in Laredo, Texas. PCCW takes it to the Washington, D.C., metro area, where they would normally hand it to Qwest/Centurylink for delivery.
  Instead, however, PCCW gives it to Level3 (previously Global Crossing), who is advertising a false Belarus route, having heard it from Russia's TransTelecom, who heard it from their customer, Belarus Telecom. Level3 carries the traffic to London, where it delivers it to Transtelecom, who takes it to Moscow and on to Belarus. Beltelecom has a chance to examine the traffic, and then sends it back out on the ''clean path'' through Russian provider ReTN. ReTN delivers it to Frankfurt and hands it to NTT, who takes it to New York. Finally, NTT hands it off to Qwest/Centurylink in Washington D.C., and the traffic is delivered.
  So if you were in Mexico, sending an email to someone in Washington, D.C., it got diverted in Virginia and sent to London, Moscow and Minsk before taking a return trip through Frankfurt, New York and ultimately to its intended destination. Renesys thinks the chances are pretty good it was read along the way.
  It's helpful at this point to understand something called Border Gateway Protocol. It's one of those things that make the Internet work, but is a little hard to get your head around if you don't live with it day to day.
  Basically, BGP is a method by which Internet service providers tell the world what other networks they're connected to and how they themselves can be reached. Because the Internet is built for resiliency and reliability, there are usually multiple ways for traffic to get from one place to another, and those routes are published in something called the Global Routing Table.
  Imagine the Internet is a long series of intersecting lines of people going in multiple directions, and you can only pass handwritten messages to three or four different people standing next to you, and each of them are in lines headed in different directions. BGP is sort of a way of announcing to the world where you're located in that chain, which people you can reach and which directions they're heading.
  But imagine what would happen if one of those three people you can reach lies to you about who they can reach. With no reason to question that information, you would probably pass a message on to them, unaware that it would be handed off to additional actors that might just peek at it before they send it on its way.
  That's essentially what Renesys said has been happening here. These attacks occurred throughout February and into March. Then they stopped for awhile.
  The attacks resumed in May, and almost right away the choke point switched from Belarus to Iceland. For about five minutes '-- literally '-- traffic was routed through was an Icelandic ISP called Nyherji hf.
  Then they stopped again '-- until July. This time, the venue was again in Iceland. Beginning on July 31, traffic from a large VOIP company '-- Renesys wouldn't name it '-- was diverted through an Internet service provider called Opin Kerfi that oddly announced access to 597 different IP blocks versus its usual three.
  The result caused routine Internet traffic to take some routes that were so indirect as to be absurd. For a brief time on Aug. 2, data traffic between two providers in Denver didn't just flow across town as it normally would. Instead the bits went to Iceland first, with stops in London, Montreal, New York, Dallas and Kansas City along the way.
  So who did it? It's hard to say. I talked to Cowie last night and he didn't seem to have much of an idea. ''We can track whose infrastructure was used to carry out these attacks because they leave their footprints in the global routing table,'' he said. ''Tracing it back to who engineered this attack is another thing entirely.''
  The targets of the attack have been notified. The motivation was likely a financial one.
  This sort of attack should not happen, Renesys contends. But when it does, it leaves a permanent, indelible mark that is visible to those who know how to look for it. While sometimes these bad traffic routes are advertised in error and by accident '-- someone mistypes a digit in configuring networking equipment '-- when they are sustained and as wide-ranging as this, something bad is likely taking place, Cowie said, something that can and should be stopped.
  ''If you're watching, this sort of attack is instantly visible to those people who monitor BGP,'' Cowie said. ''But no one is looking.''
  While it's a fair bet that some kind of crime was at least attempted if not committed in carrying out these attacks, the legal jurisdictions will be kind of tricky to sort out. The attackers could be anywhere in the world and might have used ISPs in Belarus and Iceland without their knowledge. With possible victims in a variety of countries, prosecution of a crime '-- if one was indeed committed '-- would likely be difficult.
  But there is a way to stop this from happening again. Cowie said the really big Internet service providers '-- the ones who resell their traffic to smaller regional and national providers '-- should be watching for when smaller players advertise false routes. ''If big ISPs monitored their customers and filtered their traffic when they advertise these false routes, this would be over. This kind of attack could not occur. '... In each one of these attacks there was someone, usually a very large ISP, who failed to filter.''
  ''Our motivation is to shed some light on this,'' he said. ''We really want people to start raising their game a bit and start watching out for this.''
The Barack Hussein Obama Super Depression Meltdown
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 07:56
  As only an exclusive of this Lame Cherry blog in matter anti matter..........My children, and this includes the rich people who have not donated yet, there is a reality in all of this about the FUXNET virus taking down the Obamacare website as this blog first exposed and predicted that no matter what was done to try and fix it, that FUXNET is so a part of operating systems, it would simply reinstall after every modification of the Obamacare site.
  Lame Cherry right again.
  That reality is if you believe Rush Limbaugh stating that 1/7th of the American economy is generated by health care and that has been taken over by the Birther regime.
  That reality is the punch line after the Drudge headlines laying the foundation for this exclusive in matter and anti matter on the Lame Cherry.......
  The reality in this is something no one has noticed. The reality as has been exposed first here, is the Obama regime for the conglomerates was making warfare on the small business communities in America so the conglomerates would have a complete monopoly. That is what is part of "health care".What no one has noticed in this 2009 Obama Super Depression is a reality, that America never has had any recovery. It has been operating on European Keynesian managed misery of the rich being bribed and rewarded, the poor bribed with welfare so they do not revolt and the independent money earner is being exterminated.
  Barack Obama Chin has indeed transformed America to a mirror of European elitism as John Kerry swooned over.
  Barack Obama Chin has since 2009, strangled off the Bush recovery of January of that year, when growth was reported, for a managed constriction of the US economy. The puppy press has lied about all of this because of adoration and blackmail in "recovery" propaganda, but the fact is America has been having 11 percent inflation, super debt, and it is as of 2013 being managed by dropping food and fuel prices so this entire United States does not go into revolution.
  America has been in an Obama Super Depression. This depression hit a second fall to keep the implementation of Obama in the White House, as the election was stolen from Mitt Romney in electronic and multiple ballots cast in massive voter fraud, which neutralized all GOP gains.
  I repeat some of the above as others will be new to this, and require a foundation to comprehend this entire picture of managed misery by the Obama regime for their control of the United States politically, industrially and educationally, by this Socio Conglomerate of the cartel.
  Return to the Limbaugh numbers of 1/7th of the US economy. Consider the failure of the plunder of Quantitative Easing 1 and 2 on the American economy. What happens now when 1/7th of the economy in an Obama Super Depression is going to have as Drudge reports, 1/3rd of pharmaceuticals are going to disappear.Big Pharm is Bayer from Europe and the combined pill pushers of America starting with Lily and Phizer. Those are the buoyant companies in this Super Depression by the Obama cartel. What happens when this 1/3rd sweeps into Insurance which it is and into the medical fields which it will?
  What no one has examined is 1/3rd of 1/7th of the US economy is going to take a massive hit the next years and not recover from that hit. The body economy is already on life support, and what happens when the terminal patient in bed gets half a gallon of blood drained from their body?
  The original managed collapse of the Anglo American financial system came from a lab test in Iceland which spread to England and America. In the archives here are the stories of the two major hits on the US economy which set off the housing crash which originated in French economics.All of that debt is still there. There is now engaging fully a reality that Obamacare is about to set off a reverse economic tsunami.Obamacare is the poison pill on the American economy which was terminal. It has engaged in a massive tax siphoning by these new premiums and people being dropped from health care. The reshift is to Medicaid which can not absorb this, and will produce a worse situation as the untreated sick cost more than treating the sick.
  You have forgotten in this that people have the right to take off work to care for others. When a person is sick and not working, it compounds the situation as they do not recover and require more resources which in turn is a worse burden on the local economy.
  This Obama economic vortex is building and will continue to build. The economic reality is Obamacare is going to send America into a third generation of this Obama Super Depression, and this time it will start dragging Eurasia into the whirlpool, and that spells a global Super Depression, which is what the 9 11 attack was all about in an attempt to trigger a global depression to centralize power along the old feudal European states and to use Islam to initiate it.
  George W. Bush successfully fought this off by dumping the Clinton tax collection surplus, along with 1 trillion dollars into the world economy, which started the housing bubble, which was then turned against the world to plunder it, and to install Birther Hussein Obama Chin. The world has now been brought full circle in Obamacare is poised to be the planes flying into the world financial towers and collapsing everything as Obama has plundered the US debt as the lemmings followed him into the abyss.
  This is the warning. Obamacare is a millstone about the neck. It has already been shoved into the ocean and that rope around your neck is uncoiling fast. I should say that this time it is not around your neck, but it is around your ship, and when it hits, it is going to drag each ship of state under.
  Keep watching the girl, because retirement has ended in America. People will be worked into the grave to age 80. The world has regressed now under the Obama regime to one which FDR allowed the elderly to have golden years at the national expense in being freed from being worked to death, that now the Obama regime is by design going to work the elderly to death as no one will be able to afford to exist in this Obama Super Depression.
  This is just the start. From what I have posted here, what you are experiencing now is going to look like high society in a few years as this spirals out.
  You were warned here first of this coming implosion.
  agtG 313 Y (as a note, the numericals point to the power structure of this Obama Super Depression meltdown and the sequence of events is built to complete the initiation of this date.)
Beyond Downsizing. How Baby Boomers Can Avoid a Failed Retirement
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: HomeFree America
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 07:55
  Here's a little bit of a twist on some conventional analysis.
  Let's start with a trend. The baby boomers are getting older. Their kids have departed (most of them). It's time to downshift towards prepare for 20-30 years of ''active retirement.''
  How? They need to get their ravaged finances in order, by cashing out of their biggest investment, their home. And since this trend will be both huge and will occur very quickly, it's going to have profound effects on the US housing market. Specifically, three things:
  The market for bigger homes will decline sharply. It's important to not be the last one out before the prices soften or crump.The market for smaller homes for couples will improve markedly (there aren't nearly enough homes in the current housing stock to support this shift). Most of these will be in suburbs (boomers aren't going back to the city).Many of these new purchases will be to nearby communities that are less expensive (reversing the trend that drove up prices in towns with great school systems '-- putting even more pressure on #1 above).However, this downsizing won't prove to be enough. Modern ''retirement'' can be longer than many ''working careers'' and very few people have full featured pensions or the millions in retirement savings required to do this without ending up in poverty within a decade or two. Further, even if you do, many will find that a volatile market and systemic fraud/theft (of the type that went unpunished in 2008) can crush a financial nest egg nearly overnight.
  So, what can be done? I don't have a solution to financial volatility/busts. Nobody in the financial world does either. I do have an alternative idea. Make the investment in an asset that supports you every day, from the moment you downsize.
  Use the cash you get from the sale of the bigger home to buy/build a home that pays for itself as much as possible. From producing electricity that can be sold back to the grid to generating income using the income bootstrap. I'll have more on this. It's important.
  This is the one shot most baby boomers will have at avoiding an American Nightmare.
  19. November 2013 by John RobbCategories: HomeFree, Ideas | 4 comments
US fears climate talks will focus on compensation for extreme weather
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: UN Agenda 21
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 07:55
  Exposing the comprehensive UN plan to bring about an authoritarian world government via international regulations and treaties under the guise of environmentalism and social equity.
  Remember, a lot of this is heavy doublespeak. I.E. "Commuter Friendly" = Commuter hell, at the mercy of public transportation, unfriendly-to-cars, no leaving the area etc., "Walkable" = car unfriendly, literally poverty infrastructure
  New UrbanismTriple Bottom LineSustainability/Sustainable DevelopmentSocial EquityEconomic EmpowermentSocial Responsibility"Smart" i.e. Smart GrowthEconomic/Environmental JusticeCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR)Liveable/WalkableNew NormalComplete StreetsMixed-Use (property)"Green"Commuter Friendly"Well-Being"Community ActionResilience/Resilient CommunitiesTransition TownNext/New EconomySECTION I. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS: Chapter 2.1.
  In order to meet the challenges of environment and development, States have decided to establish a new global partnership. This partnership commits all States to engage in a continuous and constructive dialogue, inspired by the need to achieve a more efficient and equitable world economy, keeping in view the increasing interdependence of the community of nations and that sustainable development should become a priority item on the agenda of the international community. It is recognized that, for the success of this new partnership, it is important to overcome confrontation and to foster a climate of genuine cooperation and solidarity. It is equally important to strengthen national and international policies and multinational cooperation to adapt to the new realities.
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  Any posts that attack the sub, the users or the mods can be removed. Breaking this rule more than once can earn a ban.
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FACT SHEET: U.S. Response to Typhoon Haiyan
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 07:54
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  November 19, 2013
  Since Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines on November 8, U.S. disaster relief experts and military personnel have worked around the clock to deliver food, water, medicine, and shelter to help those hit hardest by the storm. In support of the Philippines' relief effort, the United States is providing more than $37 million in humanitarian aid to those in need.
  U.S. Assistance at a Glance
  U.S. humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan includes:
  USAID / Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA)$20,000,000USAID / Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP)$10,000,000$7,230,302In the days following the storm, U.S. assistance has included:
  Emergency shelter materials for 20,000 families (100,000 people)Hygiene kits for 20,000 families (100,000 people)55 metric tons of food assistance benefitting 19,800 families (99,000 people)Water containers for 14,400 families (72,000 people)Restored functionality of the Tacloban municipal water system, benefiting 200,000 people.There are currently 15 USAID disaster response specialists and approximately 9,500 U.S. military personnel responding to the crisis.
  U.S. military aircraft have logged some 945 flight hours, delivered more than 750,000 pounds of relief supplies and equipment, moved more than 1,200 relief workers into Tacloban, and airlifted nearly 5,640 survivors from storm affected areas.
  A significant amount of U.S. assistance has also supported logistical operations, including helping get airports up and running, providing communications support, expanding transportation capacity, and establishing aid distribution centers.
  A Coordinated Response
  Even before the storm reached land, the United States began coordinating potential support to the Philippines' response effort. Departments and agencies in Washington and our Embassy in Manila were in close communication in the days before the storm. Our Embassy put out a warning message for American citizens and USAID deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to the area.
  The DART was the first government assessment team to arrive in Leyte province, and continues to play a critical role in leading the U.S. response effort, assessing storm damage, advising on critical humanitarian needs, coordinating relief efforts in support of the Philippine government, and working with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN agencies. Five USAID airlifts have delivered needed emergency supplies like plastic sheeting, hygiene kits, water containers, and nutrition-dense food items. Of the more than $37 million in U.S. assistance, we provided $10 million to the World Food Programme to enable, in part, the purchase of 2,500 metric tons of rice being distributed by the Philippines' Department of Social Welfare and Development.
  U.S. Marines on the ground in the Philippines were among the first to respond, using C-130s and MV-22 Ospreys to airlift relief supplies to Tacloban and other hard hit areas. The USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Philippines on November 14, and has helped expand search and rescue operations, provide medical care, and deliver supplies using its 21 helicopters. In addition, U.S. Pacific Command has established a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief-certified Joint Task Force at Camp Aguinaldo. A joint contingent of more than 850 military personnel is currently ashore in the Philippines. Two U.S. amphibious ships '' the USS Ashland and USS Germantown -- are currently en route to the Philippines after loading elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit at Okinawa, Japan and will bring with them heavy engineering equipment like backhoes, dump trucks and wreckers needed to support the response.
  Our Philippine ally is responding to one of the largest disasters its country has ever faced, and we have been coordinating closely with them at every step. Thus far, our cooperation has been excellent. Our military personnel are in close touch, as are our development and disaster relief experts. The Philippine government has moved quickly to facilitate humanitarian assistance provided by the United States and international community, and has provided quick clearance for U.S. aircraft, ships, and personnel, enabling us to rapidly begin to deliver assistance to affected areas.
  How Americans Can Help
  As President Obama said last week, when friends are in trouble, America helps. The United States will continue to offer whatever assistance we can to the people of the Philippines, but this is more than just a government effort. Learn more about how you can help at http://www.whitehouse.gov/typhoon.
Duncan takes heat over description of Common Core foes as 'white suburban moms'
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: UN Agenda 21
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 07:53
  Exposing the comprehensive UN plan to bring about an authoritarian world government via international regulations and treaties under the guise of environmentalism and social equity.
  Remember, a lot of this is heavy doublespeak. I.E. "Commuter Friendly" = Commuter hell, at the mercy of public transportation, unfriendly-to-cars, no leaving the area etc., "Walkable" = car unfriendly, literally poverty infrastructure
  New UrbanismTriple Bottom LineSustainability/Sustainable DevelopmentSocial EquityEconomic EmpowermentSocial Responsibility"Smart" i.e. Smart GrowthEconomic/Environmental JusticeCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR)Liveable/WalkableNew NormalComplete StreetsMixed-Use (property)"Green"Commuter Friendly"Well-Being"Community ActionResilience/Resilient CommunitiesTransition TownNext/New EconomySECTION I. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS: Chapter 2.1.
  In order to meet the challenges of environment and development, States have decided to establish a new global partnership. This partnership commits all States to engage in a continuous and constructive dialogue, inspired by the need to achieve a more efficient and equitable world economy, keeping in view the increasing interdependence of the community of nations and that sustainable development should become a priority item on the agenda of the international community. It is recognized that, for the success of this new partnership, it is important to overcome confrontation and to foster a climate of genuine cooperation and solidarity. It is equally important to strengthen national and international policies and multinational cooperation to adapt to the new realities.
  No Racism
  No Abusive/threatening language.
  Any posts that attack the sub, the users or the mods can be removed. Breaking this rule more than once can earn a ban.
  We are all different here, and you may find that have different beliefs, but please be respectful of each other.
United Nations declares today as World Toilet Day - Lack of access to... toilets in schools... deters many women... from pursuing their education after they reach puberty, according to a report from WaterAid, a private
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: UN Agenda 21
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 07:52
  Exposing the comprehensive UN plan to bring about an authoritarian world government via international regulations and treaties under the guise of environmentalism and social equity.
  Remember, a lot of this is heavy doublespeak. I.E. "Commuter Friendly" = Commuter hell, at the mercy of public transportation, unfriendly-to-cars, no leaving the area etc., "Walkable" = car unfriendly, literally poverty infrastructure
  New UrbanismTriple Bottom LineSustainability/Sustainable DevelopmentSocial EquityEconomic EmpowermentSocial Responsibility"Smart" i.e. Smart GrowthEconomic/Environmental JusticeCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR)Liveable/WalkableNew NormalComplete StreetsMixed-Use (property)"Green"Commuter Friendly"Well-Being"Community ActionResilience/Resilient CommunitiesTransition TownNext/New EconomySECTION I. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS: Chapter 2.1.
  In order to meet the challenges of environment and development, States have decided to establish a new global partnership. This partnership commits all States to engage in a continuous and constructive dialogue, inspired by the need to achieve a more efficient and equitable world economy, keeping in view the increasing interdependence of the community of nations and that sustainable development should become a priority item on the agenda of the international community. It is recognized that, for the success of this new partnership, it is important to overcome confrontation and to foster a climate of genuine cooperation and solidarity. It is equally important to strengthen national and international policies and multinational cooperation to adapt to the new realities.
  No Racism
  No Abusive/threatening language.
  Any posts that attack the sub, the users or the mods can be removed. Breaking this rule more than once can earn a ban.
  We are all different here, and you may find that have different beliefs, but please be respectful of each other.
VIDEO-You can no longer just leave Syracuse airport
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Thu, 21 Nov 2013 05:20
  >>>we'll be covering this in greater depth, but the airport in syracuse, new york, has installed recently new exit portals, meaning you're not allowed to just leave the airport. you have to enter into a glass pod, wait for it to close behind you, then wait for an automated voice and a green light . that's just to leave the building and walk out of the terminal. while critics say if the official arrival of the police state he. the airport says they're in lieu of human security eyeballing departing passengers, and they do not contain x-rays.
Potential False Flag in L.A, CA Nov 15 2013 - Pastebin.com
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 22:53
  By: Slaughterotica645 on Nov 12th, 2013 | syntax: None | size: 2.51 KB | hits: 17,757 | expires: Never Potential False Flag----------------------------------Anonymous Shocking Current Events
  Greetings citizens of the world, we are Anonymous. We have received intel related to the possible destruction of one of downtown Los Angeles's towers, being set up as a false flag event on Friday, November fifteenth two thousand and thirteen. Over the weekend, SWAT teams were conducting drills in downtown Los Angeles unlike any completed in the past. The Citi Bank building that is currently occupied by Freddie Mac just recently dropped all insurance policies except for the policy portion which contains special conditions, coverages related to terrorism, which is all risk of direct physical damage. The certificate holder for this policy is located at 444 South Flower Street, Los Angeles, California 90015, under Hines Vaf, a private insurance company which offers Loss Adjusters, Allstate Claims Adjuster, Integrated Insurance Services, Property Insurance Adjuster and General Auto Insurance. Similar to the destruction of the twin towers, changes were made to their insurance policies prior to the so called terrorist acts on nine eleven. Although we are not one hundred percent sure of these horrific activities being planned to transpire within the next few days, we did not want to take a chance and risk losing anymore innocent lives and have a repeat of nine eleven in New York. The buildings in question are the Citi bank building which is located adjacent to the US bank building on the corner of South Flower and West Fifth street. It is believed to be the target for a false flag event set for this Friday. We ask American citizens who work in this area of Los Angeles California to take extra precautions. It is advisable given the severity of this information, if you are employed and are working, or conducting personal matters in either the Citi bank or the US bank towers of los Angeles, that you stay away from these two structures on that day. This is a warning, and again, as a precautionary measure we alert you of this possible false flag event being set up in the city of Los Angeles. To the share holders of these policies, you have been warned. We do not forgive, we do not forget. Expect to be held accountable for your actions if you follow through with your sinister agenda. We will not tolerate your wicked greed in pursuit of more wealth and restructure. We are Anonymous. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Potential False Flag----------------------------------Anonymous Shocking Current Events Greetings citizens of the world, we are Anonymous. We have received intel related to the possible destruction of one of downtown Los Angeles's towers, being set up as a false flag event on Friday, November fifteenth two thousand and thirteen. Over the weekend, SWAT teams were conducting drills in downtown Los Angeles unlike any completed in the past. The Citi Bank building that is currently occupied by Freddie Mac just recently dropped all insurance policies except for the policy portion which contains special conditions, coverages related to terrorism, which is all risk of direct physical damage. The certificate holder for this policy is located at 444 South Flower Street, Los Angeles, California 90015, under Hines Vaf, a private insurance company which offers Loss Adjusters, Allstate Claims Adjuster, Integrated Insurance Services, Property Insurance Adjuster and General Auto Insurance. Similar to the destruction of the twin towers, changes were made to their insurance policies prior to the so called terrorist acts on nine eleven. Although we are not one hundred percent sure of these horrific activities being planned to transpire within the next few days, we did not want to take a chance and risk losing anymore innocent lives and have a repeat of nine eleven in New York. The buildings in question are the Citi bank building which is located adjacent to the US bank building on the corner of South Flower and West Fifth street. It is believed to be the target for a false flag event set for this Friday. We ask American citizens who work in this area of Los Angeles California to take extra precautions. It is advisable given the severity of this information, if you are employed and are working, or conducting personal matters in either the Citi bank or the US bank towers of los Angeles, that you stay away from these two structures on that day. This is a warning, and again, as a precautionary measure we alert you of this possible false flag event being set up in the city of Los Angeles. To the share holders of these policies, you have been warned. We do not forgive, we do not forget. Expect to be held accountable for your actions if you follow through with your sinister agenda. We will not tolerate your wicked greed in pursuit of more wealth and restructure. We are Anonymous. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Are we witnessing the start of a global green revolution? | Michael Klare | Comment is free | theguardian.com
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 13:48
  Anti-nuclear demonstrators march in Cologne, Germany, in March 2011. Photograph: Roberto Pfeil/AP
  A week after the most powerful "super typhoon" ever recorded pummeled the Philippines, killing thousands in a single province, and three weeks after the northern Chinese city of Harbin suffered a devastating "airpocalypse", suffocating the city with coal-plant pollution, government leaders beware!
  Although individual events like these cannot be attributed with absolute certainty to increased fossil fuel use and climate change, they are the type of disasters that, scientists tell us, will become a pervasive part of life on a planet being transformed by the massive consumption of carbon-based fuels. If, as is now the case, governments across the planet back an extension of the carbon age and ever increasing reliance on "unconventional" fossil fuels like tar sands and shale gas, we should all expect trouble. In fact, we should expect mass upheavals leading to a green energy revolution.
  None of us can predict the future, but when it comes to a mass rebellion against the perpetrators of global destruction, we can see a glimmer of the coming upheaval in events of the present moment. Take a look and you will see that the assorted environmental protests that have long bedeviled politicians are gaining in strength and support. With an awareness of climate change growing and as intensifying floods, fires, droughts, and storms become an inescapable feature of daily life across the planet, more people are joining environmental groups and engaging in increasingly bold protest actions. Sooner or later, government leaders are likely to face multiple eruptions of mass public anger and may, in the end, be forced to make radical adjustments in energy policy or risk being swept aside.
  In fact, it is possible to imagine such a green energy revolution erupting in one part of the world and spreading like wildfire to others. Because climate change is going to inflict increasingly severe harm on human populations, the impulse to rebel is only likely to gain in strength across the planet. While circumstances may vary, the ultimate goal of these uprisings will be to terminate the reign of fossil fuels while emphasizing investment in and reliance upon renewable forms of energy. And a success in any one location is bound to invite imitation in others.
  A "green revolution" is unlikely to arise from a highly structured political campaign with clearly identified leaders. In all likelihood, it will erupt spontaneously, after a cascade of climate-change induced disasters provokes an outpouring of public fury. Once ignited, however, it will undoubtedly ratchet up the pressure for governments to seek broad-ranging, systemic transformations of their energy and climate policies. In this sense, any such upheaval '' whatever form it takes '' will prove "revolutionary" by seeking policy shifts of such magnitude as to challenge the survival of incumbent governments or force them to enact measures with transformative implications.
  What recent episodes such as the mass environmental protests in Turkey last June, farmers and students blocking the construction of a petrochemical facility in Ningbo, China, and post-Fukushimaanti-nuclear demonstrations tell us is that people around the world are becoming ever more concerned about energy policy as it affects their lives and are prepared '' often on short notice '' to engage in mass protests. At the same time, governments globally, with rare exceptions, are deeply wedded to existing energy policies. These almost invariably turn them into targets, no matter what the original spark for mass opposition. As the results of climate change become ever more disruptive, government officials will find themselves repeatedly choosing between long-held energy plans and the possibility of losing their grip on power.
  Because few governments are as yet prepared to launch the sorts of efforts that might even begin to effectively address the peril of climate change, they will increasingly be seen as obstacles to essential action and so as entities that need to be removed. In short, climate rebellion '' spontaneous protests that may at any moment evolve into unquenchable mass movements '' is on the horizon. Faced with such rebellions, recalcitrant governments will respond with some combination of accommodation to popular demands and harsh repression.
  Many governments will be at risk from such developments, but the Chinese leadership appears to be especially vulnerable. The ruling party has staked its future viability on an endless carbon-fueled growth agenda that is steadily destroying the country's environment. It has already faced half-a-dozen environmental upheavals like the one in Ningbo, and has responded to them by agreeing to protestors' demands or by employing brute force. The question is: How long can this go on?
  Environmental conditions are bound to worsen, especially as China continues to rely on coal for home heating and electrical power, and yet there is no indication that the ruling Communist Party is prepared to take the radical steps required to significantly reduce domestic coal consumption. This translates into the possibility of mass protests erupting at any time and on a potentially unprecedented scale. And these, in turn, could bring the Party's very survival into question '' a scenario guaranteed to produce immense anxiety among the country's top leaders.
  And what about the United States? At this point, it would be ludicrous to say that, as a result of popular disturbances, the nation's political leadership is at any risk of being swept away or even forced to take serious steps to scale back reliance on fossil fuels. There are, however, certainly signs of a growing nationwide campaign against aspects of fossil fuel reliance, including vigorous protests against hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
  For environmental activist and writer Bill McKibben, all this adds up to an incipient mass movement against the continued consumption of fossil fuels. "In the last few years", he has written, this movement "has blocked the construction of dozens of coal-fired power plants, fought the oil industry to a draw on the Keystone pipeline, convinced a wide swath of American institutions to divest themselves of their fossil fuel stocks, and challenged practices like mountaintop-removal coal mining and fracking for natural gas". It may not have achieved the success of the drive for gay marriage, he observed, but it "continues to grow quickly, and it's starting to claim some victories".
  If it's still too early to gauge the future of this anti-carbon movement, it does seem, at least, to be gaining momentum. In the 2013 elections, for example, three cities in energy-rich Colorado '' Boulder, Fort Collins, and Lafayette ''voted to ban or place moratoriums on fracking within their boundaries, while protests against Keystone XL and similar projects are on the rise.
  Nobody can say that a green energy revolution is a sure thing, but who can deny that energy-oriented environmental protests in the US and elsewhere have the potential to expand into something far greater? Like China, the United States will experience genuine damage from climate change and its unwavering commitment to fossil fuels in the years ahead. Americans are not, for the most part, passive people. Expect them, like the Chinese, to respond to these perils with increased ire and a determination to alter government policy.
  So don't be surprised if that green energy revolution erupts in your neighborhood as part of humanity's response to the greatest danger we've ever faced. If governments won't take the lead on an imperiled planet, someone will.
  ' This commentary is an excerpt of an article that was originally published 17 November 2013 at TomDispatch
Blackwater Founder Erik Prince: War on Terror Has Become Too Big
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 13:31
  Photo by Sara D. Davis/AP
  PoliticsBy Eli LakeNovember 19th 20135:45 am
  When the war on terror has lost the founder of Blackwater, counterterrorism efforts could be in real trouble. Why Erik Prince thinks the national security state has become too big.
  Erik Prince is not the kind of man one expects to make the case for slashing U.S. intelligence and military budgets. After 9-11, his company, Blackwater, expanded exponentially, winning contracts to protect diplomats and politicians in Iraq and to train and work with CIA paramilitary teams hunting terrorists.
  In an interview Monday, Prince said the national security state he once served has grown too large.
  ''America is way too quick to trade freedom for the illusion of security,'' he told The Daily Beast. ''Whether it's allowing the NSA to go way too far in what it intercepts of our personal data, to our government monitoring of everything domestically and spending way more than we should. I don't know if I want to live in a country where lone wolf and random terror attacks are impossible 'cause that country would look more like North Korea than America.''
  Today Prince is out of the contracting business and is promoting a book telling his side of the Blackwater story. To be sure, he accuses Democrats of abusing state power to wage a political war on him and the media of aiding and abetting that campaign.
  Prince's new book, Civilian Warriors, recounts in detail the battles Prince waged in the last decade over his company. He writes, for example, about a conversation at one point with his accountant, who claimed an IRS auditor told him that he was never under such pressure to get someone as he was in the case of Prince. He takes shots at the left-wing lawyers who brought civil suits related to the incident at Nisour Square, a traffic circle in Baghdad where Blackwater contractors killed 11 Iraqis. Prince says the evidence shows the incident was a firefight and not, as his critics alleged at the time, a massacre of an unarmed crowd. And he complains that the media coverage of Blackwater was biased and often wrong.
  But despite attacking Blackwater's many critics in the book, Prince also sounds a bit like them when discussing what he considers President Obama's counterterrorism policies.
  ''I am all in favor of killing terrorists,'' Prince said. ''But the fact that [Anwar] al-Awlaki was killed and his 16-year-old son, born in Colorado, was killed with no due process other than that he got on the 'kill list' is troubling to me.'' The Obama administration has claimed that Awlaki, an American citizen who was killed in a drone strike in 2011, was an operational leader of al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen.
  Prince said he believes al-Awlaki's son was deliberately targeted in a second strike after the one that killed Awlaki. The Obama administration has said that strike was not targeting Awlaki's son, but someone else.
  "I don't know if I want to live in a country where lone wolf and random terror attacks are impossible 'cause that country would look more like North Korea than America.''
  Prince also said the over-reliance on drone warfare in the Middle East and South Asia would likely reap ''a bitter harvest,'' because of the scale of collateral damage from drone strikes. He said it was wiser to send in small teams to such denied areas to find and target terrorists, or outsource this kind of work to local surrogates.
  Prince was most animated on the subject of the military and intelligence budgets.
  ''The left wants to protect social programs, the right wants to protect defense and intelligence spending and all the rest. I say the defense and intelligence world will be better off with a smaller budget. They would be less encumbered by bloat and able to maneuver the way they used to be able and not trip over themselves,'' he said.
  Prince said the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian national who nearly blew up an airplane full of passengers on Christmas Day in 2009, illustrated this case. ''If it wasn't for a sweaty groin, that airplane would have blown up,'' Prince said. ''His father warned the CIA station in Abuja, they ignored intercepts, State Department never did a thing with his visa.'' Prince said that despite $80 billion a year in spending, U.S. intelligence had nothing to do with thwarting the Nigerian national.
  Today, Prince said, he is focusing his business on expanding markets in Africa. He said he will never work for the U.S. government again. When asked if he would run for president, Prince said there was no chance that he would. For now he is not that focused on presidential politics at all. But when that election cycle does roll around, Prince said, ''I will support vigorously whoever commits to reduce the size of government the most.''
VIDEO-LAX Shooting Suspect Paul Ciancia Released From Hospital, in Custody | KTLA 5
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  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 13:29
  Paul Ciancia, the suspected gunman in the Nov. 1 shooting spree at LAX, has been released from the hospital and was in federal custody, authorities said Tuesday.
  Suspected LAX shooter Paul Ciancia seen in a DMV photo. (Credit: FBI)
  The last remaining patient from the shooting at Los Angeles International Airport was released from Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood on Monday, Roxanne Moster said in a statement.
  Ciancia, who has been in critical condition after the shooting, was the last patient from the incident taken to UCLA Medical Center.
  Ciancia had been taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
  No court appearance for Ciancia had been scheduled and no details about his ''custody status'' or the location where he was held were being released, Mrozek said.
  Ciancia had allegedly pulled an assault rifle from a bag near the entrance to Terminal 3, fatally shooting Transportation Security Administration agent Gerardo I. Hernandez at point-blank range, and then returning to fire on Hernandez again. Ciancia allegedly then fired on at least two other TSA employees and a civilian passenger as he proceeded through the TSA checkpoint and into the gate area.
  He was shot by airport police responding to the incident, which left LAX in chaos and disrupted air travel around the world.
  The 23-year-old was charged with the murder of a federal officer and the intentional use of a firearm during the commission of violence an international airport.
  A New Jersey native who had been living in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Sun Valley, Ciancia was believed to have acted alone, specifically targeting TSA employees.
  Check back for updates on this developing story.
COMMON CORE CRAPOLA-Strategic Council - The Partnership for 21st Century Skills
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 13:24
  Stephan TurnipseedChair
  President, LEGO Education North America
  Dr. Lizabeth FogelVice Chair, Lead - 21st Century Citizenship
  Director of Education, The Walt Disney Company
  Dzana HomanTreasurer, Audit & Finance Committee
  Chief Operating Officer, Goddard Systems, Inc.
  Rob LippincottSecretary
  Senior Vice President, Education Strategy & Partnerships, PBS
  Frank GallagherImmediate PastChair, Leadership Development Committee Lead
  Executive Director, Cable in the Classroom
  Chuck Cadle
  Chief Executive Officer, Destination Imagination
  Donna Harris-Aikens
  Director of National Education Policy and Practice, National Education Association
  Kathy Hurley
  Executive Vice President, Education Alliances, Pearson Foundation
  Lillian Kellogg,
  Vice President, Client Services, Education Networks of America
  Ryan Lefton
  Director of Digital Strategy, Schools Division, Gale Cengage Learning
  Cheri Sterman
  Director of Content and Consumer Relations, Crayola
  Ron ThorpePresident and CEO
  National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
  Strategic Council Members:
  Kate Berseth
  Executive Vice President for EF Education First, North America
  David ByerLead - National Policy Working Group
  Senior Manager, Education Leadership and Policy, Apple, Inc.
  Diane Fromm
  Program, Administrator, Project Management Institute Educational Foundation
  Scott Hirschfeld
  Director of Education, U.S. Fund for UNICEF
  Paige Johnson
  Education Strategist, Intel
  Mike Lorion
  General Manager of Education, Common Sense Media
  Alyson NielsonAudit & Finance Committee
  COO, EdLeader21
  Tom Rudin
  Senior VP, Career Readiness, College Board
  Jorge S CoutoLead - International Policy Working Group
  Chairman, JP - Inspiring Knowledge
  Mike Schmidt
  Director of Education, Ford Motor Company Fund
  David Young
  VIF International Education
Crayola Launches 'Creativity as 21st Century Skill' Program at U.S. Department of Education -- WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --
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  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 13:23
  WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With government and business leaders now emphasizing creativity as an essential 21st century skill for every student, Crayola is launching an initiative to inspire creativity in the next generation of Edisons, Armstrongs and Zuckerbergs.
  Crayola has teamed up with the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), the National Art Education Association (NAEA) and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) to create the "Champion Creatively Alive Children" program. The professional development program emphasizes creativity as a 21st century skill and addresses the need for arts-infused education in schools. It empowers art teachers to become the "chief creative officers" in their schools and ensures that principals have the tools to lead their faculty to develop the originality in every child.
  The U.S. Department of Education is hosting a professional development event based on this program at its national headquarters to put Department staff, who work on behalf of students every day, in touch with teachers and principals, their counterparts in the classroom. All participants, including principals and teachers from the Northeast, were told "don't come as you are, come as you were" with a child-like spirit. Hands-on activities led by Cheri Sterman, Crayola Director of Education and Child Development, will draw out each participant's creativity to show how art activities build critical thinking and collaboration skills in students.
  "We're hosting this event today because Secretary Duncan and the Department recognize the importance of integrating the arts into teaching and learning from cradle to career," said Suzanne Immerman, Director of Strategic Partnerships for the U.S. Department of Education. "Our students today really need more than knowledge and skills to succeed. They need ingenuity and imagination, and arts education is the ideal way to infuse creativity and critical thinking in their efforts to be productive citizens in a global workforce."
  At the session, Rachel Goslins, Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, will present key findings from the Committee's newly-released report, "Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America's Future Through Creative Schools." She will emphasize the critical role arts education plays in closing the achievement gap and building students' innovative thinking skills.
  "Creativity and innovative thinking are essential skills for success in school and in the 21st century workforce," said Ms. Goslins. "It is not enough merely to graduate more students from school; we must engage and inspire them while they are there, and prepare them for successful careers afterwards. All of our research points to the power of the arts in schools to increase academic achievement in reading and math, engage more students in learning and build creative thinking skills. Programs like "Champion Creatively Alive Children" are crucial in giving principals and teachers the tools they need to ignite the potential in all of their students."
  Other education thought leaders who will present include: Suzanne Immerman, Director of Strategic Partnership for the U.S. Department of Education, Gail Connelly, Executive Director of NAESP, Deborah Reeve, Executive Director of NAEA, Tim Magner, Executive Director of P21, and Victoria Lozano, Vice President of Crayola. Sharon Hartley, Crayola Executive Vice President, will deliver 36 pieces of children's artwork to be on permanent display at the Department of Education. The artwork was inspired by children's vision of the theme "what creativity means to me."
  "Creativity is a skill that every child needs," said Mike Perry, Crayola President and Chief Executive Officer. "We started this program asking ourselves 'What if every principal and teacher championed creatively alive children in their schools?' Imagine how ready these children will be to face 21st century challenges with a strong foundation in creative thinking."
  The "Champion Creatively Alive Children" professional development program includes videos showcasing how arts-infused education builds the 4Cs '' critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, communication. A fifth video devoted to arts-infused education advocacy helps art teachers become the chief creative officer in their schools. Each video tells the story of a school that was awarded one of 20 "Champion Creatively Alive Children" mini-grants from Crayola and NAESP for the innovative ways they are integrating art across the curriculum. Five facilitator guides accompany the video series to enable principals and teachers to lead workshops and staff and parents' meetings around art as a way to building 21st century skills. The entire series is available at no charge on Crayola.com.
  SOURCE Crayola
  RELATED LINKShttp://www.Crayola.com
Crayola Common Core lesson plans aimed to promote globalization and interdependence - EAGnews.org powered by Education Action Group Foundation, Inc.
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  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 13:22
  EASTON, Penn. '' Crayola joins the list of big name education companies who have sold out our children and America to the United Nations' global agenda.Teaching children 'to take action as global citizens' in an 'interdependent world' and to 'think about the world more holistically' are the focus of several Crayola lessons provided in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), one of the organizations responsible for the creation and implementation of the national Common Core State Standards.
  Crayola, Lego Education, Apple, and Disney (among others), as members of P21 (Partnership for 21st Century Skills) entered into a 'strategic partnership' with the Council of Chief State School Officers in 2010.
  According to P21'²s Executive Chair, Kathy Hurley, CCSSO and P21 work very closely on Common Core, as well as CCSSO's Next Generation Learner program, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act re-authorization.
  Hurley is also Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for Pearson Education. Pearson, in partnership with CCSSO, has been instrumental in implementing Common Core in many states by creating and providing resources and employing educators to provide professional development training.
  The U.S. Department of Education hosted the launching of P21 and Crayola's Champion Creatively Alive Children program in 2011.
  Crayola lessons, like other Common Core material, are designed to create, in children's minds, a biased perspective of the world '-- globalization over national sovereignty, interdependence over self-reliance, and social and economic equity governed by a few over social and economic freedom governed by self.
  Crayola recommended resources that promote social justice, globalization, and the theory of global warming are listed here along with writings by humanist and Common Core assessment creator, Linda Darling-Hammond, and progressive Howard Gardner.
  Another Crayola recommended book, An Attainable Global Perspective, provides a glowing report on Maoism as an alternative to capitalism.
  From Robert Hanvey's An Attainable Global Perspective:
  ''Maoists believe that while a principal aim of nations should be to raise the level of material welfare of the population, this should be done only within the context of the development of human beings, encouraging them to realize fully their manifold creative powers. And it should be done only on a egalitarian basis'--that is, on the basis that development is not worth much unless everyone rises together; no one is to be left behind, either economically or culturally. Indeed, Maoists believe that rapid economic development's not likely to occur unless everyone rises together . . .''
  Despite Education Secretary Arne Duncan's continued tactless denial that Common Core purposes a political agenda, the lessons created by CCSSO partners continue to prove otherwise '-- that these standards have everything to do with the political and social agenda of those who created them, and nothing to do with a sound education for America's children.
  Authored by Dannette Clark
  Comments
VIDEO-Owlet Vitals Monitor-See Your Child's Heart and Oxygen Levels on Your Smartphone. - YouTube
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 13:02
Tracked Since Birth: The Rise Of Extreme Baby Monitoring | Fast Company | Business + Innovation
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 13:01
  Elle Lucero has been tracked since birth.
  For the first 10 months of her life, her mother, Yasmin, kept detailed records of Elle's sleep patterns, feedings, and diaper changes, noting the data points with a pencil and paper on a clipboard. A few months in, she digitized the logs, graphed the data, and became a more knowledgeable parent.
  "It helped me feel confident," she told Fast Company.
  Elle wasn't a very good sleeper, even for a baby. The pediatrician told Yasmin she needed to let her daughter "cry it out" until she fell asleep, but that never worked. For the sake of her sanity (and sleep), Yasmin took problem solving into her own hands. She wanted answers: Did she put Elle to bed too early? Too late? Give her too many naps? Parsing data, she thought, would help her figure it out. "That was the kind of stuff we were looking for," she said.
  Unfortunately for the Lucero family's sleeping habits, Yasmin never found a definitive answer. Per the data, Elle was just fussy.
  The results suggested Yasmin couldn't engineer better naps, as she'd hoped. Just knowing that, however, made her feel better. "If you come to the conclusion that you have no control, then it's okay to relax and just do whatever is convenient for you at the moment," she explained. (Of course, many parents come to this conclusion at the moment of birth, without all that tedious data tracking.) But for Lucero, a conclusion--any conclusion at all--was all she wanted.
  You can't see them breathing; your first thought is: 'Oh my God, something is wrong.'Many new and sleep-deprived parents crave that peace of mind and would kill for a data set that helped them determine if putting little Emma down an hour earlier would mean a restful night for the whole family. But unlike Yasmin, most people aren't trained statisticians. Tired moms and dads with no mathematical background aren't about to write down hundreds of data points, and might not know how to analyze that information anyway. Twenty-two months into Elle's life, even Yasmin has semi-abandoned the project, and keeps much less rigorous records now.
  In the imminent future, though, any curious parent with an iPhone will have access to helpful analytics, thanks to the rise of wearable gadgets for babies. Following the success of self-trackers for grown-ups, like Jawbone and Fitbit, companies like Sproutling, Owlet, and Mimo want to quantify your infants.
  Mimo OnesieThese devices connect to a baby via boot, anklet, or onesie, and record his or her heart rate, breathing patterns, temperature, body position, as well as the ambient conditions of the room. They aim to replace baby monitors, which give an incomplete picture of a sleeping child. There's also the nascent "smart diaper" market, led by Pixie Scientific, which scans dirty diapers for signs of infection.
  In addition to alerting parents of any concerning findings, these companies encourage a big-data approach to parenting. By gathering information on your kid's poop, sleep, and eating schedules, the idea goes, you can engineer a happier, healthier baby. The accompanying app for the Sproutling monitor, for example, looks at patterns specific to your child and its environment to offer insights--the kind that Yasmin craved--that might help the child sleep better. It might find that little Jake naps better in complete dark, for example.
  The Sproutling monitorIn theory, all this data will lead to more rested, relaxed parents and healthier kids. As of now, parents do a lot of this in the dark. "There's no owner's manual," Sproutling CEO Chris Bruce told Fast Company. His company hopes to change that. "It's smart technology that helps raise the parenting IQ."
  When Bruce talks about "parenting IQ," he doesn't just mean his customers. Sproutling and its cohorts want to use their arsenals of data to better inform research. "The promise of big data is that we can monitor every single environmental parameter and we can find correlations and detect patterns," added Bruce, calling big data the "holy grail" of his business. Both Owlet and Sproutling indicated that they will offer up their intel--anonymously!--to researchers so that all future parents can better understand babies.
  Parents like Yasmin, who haven't had a full night of sleep in months, are desperate to have that information. She didn't want to know average sleep patterns--information available in baby books--she wanted bell curves. Yasmin knew her baby wasn't normal, but she didn't know how abnormal and her own analyses couldn't clarify that, either. "I wasn't finding the exact data I wanted to see," Yasmin said, after scouring the Internet for answers.
  An aggregation of Yasmins, however, can provide those insights. At least that's the hope.
  What sounds like a lot of progress for parenting also means handing a digital record of your baby over to an iPhone app. Are the benefits worth that?
  While these apps could improve infant health by telling a parent the exact right nap or changing time, the app in large part benefits parents. Anxious first time moms and dads who worry about every little movement (or non-movement) can monitor their children more closely than ever. "You see your baby lying there and you don't see them moving," Bruce, who has two young daughters, said of his experience with old-school video monitors. "You can't see them breathing; your first thought is: 'Oh my God, something is wrong.'"
  Unlike a basic $35 baby-monitor, the $250 Owlet bootie and accompanying app can alert parents if anything serious has gone wrong, like if a kid stops breathing, or if his heart stops beating. That means no more unnecessary freakouts for the over-protective and inexperienced dad like Bruce, which leaves more time for him to do other dad things.
  But, to an extent, these apps take advantage of parent anxieties. "SIDS is the number one cause of infant death. That's really scary to parents," Jordan Monroe, a cofounder of Owlet, told Fast Company. Monroe has no kids, but while talking to friends and friends of friends with babies, he found that to be a common worry.
  Those fears don't come from a place of reality, though. According to the Center for Disease Control, 4,000 infants die each year from Sudden Unexpected Infant Death. Only a fraction of those deaths occur because of "accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed," according to the CDC report. And even SIDS--which causes about 2,000 deaths a year--might stem from underlying brain issues, according to recent research. Monitoring a child's breathing with a high-tech bootie won't cure SIDS.
  As anyone who has ever had any contact with a hypochondriac knows, those facts don't really matter. Parents will continue to worry. And, as we saw with Yasmin, certainty has a lot of value. A certain type of parent, like TechCrunch's Leean Rao, thinks that $250 for Owlet or $200 for Mimo's version--Sproutling hasn't yet announced pricing--is a reasonable price to pay to worry about one less thing. In her review of Sproutling, she writes:
  As a relatively new parent myself, I would have loved to be able to use some of the data from a wearable to help determine optimal sleep patterns for my child. I'm not sure if it would have helped my daughter sleep through the night earlier in her development, but to me as a fledgling parent, knowledge is power.
  Of course, the dollar amount is only a part of the price parents pay with these apps. They give up their children's data and possibly privacy. "We're creating the largest data set of infant health data," Monroe said--a chilling statement in certain contexts. Trackers could turn around and sell their troves to insurers or be forced to hand them over to the government. The information is also vulnerable to hackers.
  These companies say they take security issues seriously. "Security encryption has been designed in our system from the get-go," said Bruce. Anonymous sharing with researchers is both opt-in and anonymous for Sproutling users. But, even Bruce admits that our cultural acceptance of privacy changes every day. What seems innocuous today might feel invasive tomorrow (or vice versa).
  Is that risk worth the stated benefits? At this point, it's not clear these monitors offer many health solutions. The breathing and sleeping alerts will calm (and draw) a lot of parents. But, none of these companies see that as the "holy grail." The main sell is the tracking. And what does that do for parents and babies?
  Arguably, it means finding those little tweaks that make life easier. But, as Yasmin discovered, sometimes babies fuss just because. Numbers don't always offer solutions, as technical theorist and staunch critic of the self-quantified movement Evgeny Morozov wrote in his book To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism. "Self-trackers gain too much respect for the numbers and forget that other ways of telling the story--and generating action out of it--are possible."
  While pediatricians typically ask new parents to chart and report feedings and bowel movements for a few weeks after bringing babies home to make sure all systems are go, obsessive tracking beyond that could get in the way of parenting, some doctors say. "Often, when babies have regained their birthweight and are 10-14 days old, I instruct families to dial the tracking down," Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson wrote on her blog. She adds:
  I want new parents to gain confidence and appreciate the homeostasis with following a baby's natural routine. Relying only on the numbers may cause parents to miss out on the nearly unspeakable experience of parenting a new baby and all that a baby intimately communicates from the beginning. It's better to look up at the sky to know if it's raining than to consult the weather report on your iPhone.
  After all, do you really want to treat your child like a Tamagotchi?
Risk Calculator for Cholesterol Appears Flawed - NYTimes.com
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  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 12:49
  Last week, the nation's leading heart organizations released a sweeping new set of guidelines for lowering cholesterol, along with an online calculator meant to help doctors assess risks and treatment options. But, in a major embarrassment to the health groups, the calculator appears to greatly overestimate risk, so much so that it could mistakenly suggest that millions more people are candidates for statin drugs.
  The apparent problem prompted one leading cardiologist, a past president of the American College of Cardiology, to call on Sunday for a halt to the implementation of the new guidelines.
  ''It's stunning,'' said the cardiologist, Dr. Steven Nissen, chief of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. ''We need a pause to further evaluate this approach before it is implemented on a widespread basis.''
  The controversy set off turmoil at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, which started this weekend in Dallas. After an emergency session on Saturday night, the two organizations that published the guidelines '-- the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology '-- said that while the calculator was not perfect, it was a major step forward, and that the guidelines already say patients and doctors should discuss treatment options rather than blindly follow a calculator.
  Dr. Sidney Smith, the executive chairman of the guideline committee, said the associations would examine the flaws found in the calculator and determine if changes were needed. ''We need to see if the concerns raised are substantive,'' he said in a telephone interview on Sunday. ''Do there need to be changes?''
  The problems were identified by two Harvard Medical School professors whose findings will be published Tuesday in a commentary in The Lancet, a major medical journal. The professors, Dr. Paul M. Ridker and Dr. Nancy Cook, had pointed out the problems a year earlier when the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which originally was developing the guidelines, sent a draft to each professor independently to review. Both reported back that the calculator was not working among the populations it was tested on by the guideline makers.
  That was unfortunate because the committee thought the researchers had been given the professors' responses, said Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, co-chairman of the guidelines task force and chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University.
  Drs. Ridker and Cook saw the final guidelines and risk calculator on Tuesday at 4 p.m., when a news embargo was lifted, and saw that the problems remained.
  On Saturday night, members of the association and the college of cardiology held a hastily called closed-door meeting with Dr. Ridker, who directs the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He showed them his data and pointed out the problem. On Sunday, officials from the organizations struggled with how to respond.
  Other experts said there has not been a real appreciation of the difficulties with this and other risk calculators. ''I don't think people have a good idea of what needs to be done,'' said Dr. Michael Blaha, director of clinical research at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at Johns Hopkins University, who was not associated with forming the new guidelines.
  Dr. Blaha said the problem might have stemmed from the fact that the calculator uses as reference points data collected more than a decade ago, when more people smoked and had strokes and heart attacks earlier in life. For example, the guideline makers used data from studies in the 1990s to determine how various risk factors like cholesterol levels and blood pressure led to actual heart attacks and strokes over a decade of observation.
  But people have changed in the past few decades, Dr. Blaha said. Among other things, there is no longer such a big gap between women's risks and those of men at a given age. And people get heart attacks and strokes at older ages.
  ''The cohorts were from a different era,'' Dr. Blaha said.
  This week, after they saw the guidelines and the calculator, Dr. Ridker and Dr. Cook evaluated it using three large studies that involved thousands of people and continued for at least a decade. They knew the subjects' characteristics at the start '-- their ages, whether they smoked, their cholesterol levels, their blood pressures. Then they asked how many had heart attacks or strokes in the next 10 years and how many would the risk calculator predict.
  The answer was that the calculator overpredicted risk by 75 to 150 percent, depending on the population. A man whose risk was 4 percent, for example, might show up as having an 8 percent risk. With a 4 percent risk, he would not warrant treatment '-- the guidelines that say treatment is advised for those with at least a 7.5 percent risk and that treatment can be considered for those whose risk is 5 percent.
  ''Miscalibration to this extent should be reconciled and addressed before these new prediction models are widely implemented,'' Dr. Ridker and Dr. Cook wrote in The Lancet. ''If real, such systematic overestimation of risk will lead to considerable overprescription.''
  In a response on Sunday, Dr. Smith of the guidelines committee said the concerns raised by Dr. Cook and Dr. Ridker ''merit attention.''
  But, he continued, ''a lot of people put a lot of thought into how can we identify people who can benefit from therapy.'' Further, said Dr. Smith, who is also a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina and a past president of the American Heart Association, ''What we have come forward with represents the best efforts of people who have been working for five years.''
  The chairmen of the guidelines panel said they believed the three populations Dr. Ridker and Dr. Cook examined were unusually healthy and so their heart attack and stroke rates might be lower than expected.
  Asked to comment on the situation on Sunday, some doctors said they worried that, with many people already leery of statins, the public would lose its trust in the guidelines or the heart associations.
  ''We're surrounded by a real disaster in terms of credibility,'' said Dr. Peter Libby, the chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
  What are patients and doctors to do? On Sunday, there seemed to be no firm answers, except that those at the highest risk, like people who have had a heart attack or have diabetes, should take statins.
  The guideline developers said they were not totally surprised by the problems with the calculator.
  ''We recognize a potential for overestimates, especially at the high end of risk,'' said Dr. David Goff, the dean of the University of Colorado School of Public Health and the co-chairman of the guidelines' risk assessment working group.
  Last year, not long after it received the assessments from Dr. Ridker and Dr. Cook, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute removed itself from the development of the guidelines, saying that was not its mission. The institute handed responsibility to the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.
  Dr. Michael Lauer, the director of the division of cardiovascular sciences at the institute, said on Sunday that it had received many reviews and sent them to the other groups, together with the responses of the guidelines' authors.
  Some doctors who tested the calculator with hypothetical patients wondered if they should trust the results.
  Dr. Nissen entered the figures for a 60-year-old African-American man with no risk factors '-- total cholesterol of 150, HDL (the good cholesterol) of 45, systolic blood pressure of 125 '-- who was not a diabetic or a smoker. He ended up with a 10-year risk of 7.5 percent, meaning he should be taking cholesterol-lowering statins despite being in a seemingly low-risk group.
  Dr. Nissen also calculated the figures for a healthy white man, age 60, and also got a risk factor of 7.5 percent.
  ''Something is terribly wrong,'' Dr. Nissen said. Using the calculator's results, he said, ''your average healthy Joe gets treated, virtually every African-American man over 65 gets treated.''
newteacher: On the Rise of Pearson (oh, and following the money)
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  Archived Version
  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 12:39
  A long post that is worth a read here on the rise and influence of Pearson and corporate influence in education reform. Take pause, friends. Take pause but feel free to share and post comments here. Thoughts?
  The Pearson Monopoly Jennifer Job, UNC Chapel Hill
  If you haven't heard of Pearson, perhaps you have heard of one of the publishers they own, like Adobe, Scott Foresman, Penguin, Longman, Wharton, Harcourt, Puffin, Prentice Hall, or Allyn & Bacon (among others). If you haven't heard of Pearson, perhaps you have heard of one of their tests, like the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Stanford Achievement Test, the Millar Analogy Test, or the G.E.D. Or their data systems, like PowerSchool and SASI. [1]
  In a little over a decade, Pearson has practically taken over education as we know it. Currently, it is the largest educational assessment company in the U.S. Twenty-five states use them as their only source of large-scale testing, and they give and mark over a billion multiple choicetests every year.[2] They are one of the largest suppliers of textbooks, especially as they look to acquire Random House this year. Their British imprint EdExcel is the largest examination board in the UK to be held in non-government hands.[3]
  Pearson has realized that education is big business. Last year, they did 2.6 billion pounds of business, with a profit of 500 million pounds (close to a billion dollars).[4] And business is looking up, which I will return to in a minute. First, I want to talk about the vicious cycle that Pearson drives through education.
  Pearson's first big jump was acquiring Harcourt's testing arm in 2008, taking Harcourt's 40% market share and parlaying it into controlling more than half of all assessments taking place that year.[5] At this point, Pearson began to coordinate all of the textbook imprints it owns (as one of the three biggest textbook publishers in the U.S.) with its tests, completing its own equation ofcurriculum and assessment. It was just a matter of locking down their territory and growing it.
  To grow into the multibillion-dollar corporation they are today, Pearson blurs every line among for profit, nonprofit, and government systems. They have prominently partnered with University of Phoenix, whose parent company's CEO also sits on the board of Teach for America. They acquiredAmerica's Choice, which partners with the Lumina, Broad, and Walton Foundations. The Chief Education Advisor for Pearson is Sir Michael Barber, a lobbyist who pushes for free-marketreforms to education. And the list of executives and partnerships goes on.[6]
  What are some of the benefits of these partnerships? Pearson's advocates for education reform were instrumental in the development of the Race to the Top initiative, from which they have benefittedin numerous ways. For example, Race to the Top requires significant data accumulation, and thus Pearson partnered with the Gates Foundation to be the ones to store the data.[7] Pearson also is a key partner of the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State Schools Officers. When the plan for the Common Core Standards was hatched, Pearson paid to fly the policymakers to Singapore for luxurious ''education'' trips to promote the educational methods they promote. [8]
  As a result of their work with the NGA, the Common Core Standards and Race to the Top assessment requirements for those standards work heavily in Pearson's favor. It doesn't matter that StephenKrashen found that 53% of educators oppose the Common Core'--nearly every state has adopted it anyway, and they encourage a 20-fold increase in the number of tests given every age from preschool to grade 12. [9] Tests that will be administered by Pearson.
  And despite the emphasis of Race To the Top and Common Core on state-led education initiatives,in reality, Pearson does not produce different texts and tests for different states. As Texas is one of its oldest and largest customers, and many of the states that are adopting Pearson materials are ''red states,'' they make sure that the materials they provide will pass muster with those particular school boards. Then they recycle the same material for other states. [10] This tilts curriculum in obviously ways, with US History coverage leaning decidedly right wing, but also in less obvious ways. Light was shed on these changes with a recent Pearson reading comprehension test administered to eighth graders. This was the first such test for several states that had recently adopted Pearson's materials, including New York, which was previously known for its rigorous reading comprehension topic. This year, the passage was a story called ''The Pineapple and the Hare,'' which was an adaptation of another story that went so awry the original author disavowed the new version. Students complained that the story was childish and that it was confusing what the test makers were trying to conveyby using it. Parents in other states lodged the same complaints. But New York state doesn't seem to care'--not only will Pearson continue to provide a large portion of New York's tests, but they are contracted to run New York's teacher licensure process beginning in 2014.[11]
  How Pearson got into New York's teacher licensure program can probably be attributed to another one of its higher-powered partners'--Susan Fuhrman, president of Teachers College. Not only is Fuhrman the head of one of the most prestigious teacher education schools in America, but she nowholds the title of ''Non-Executive Independent Director of Pearson PLC'' and has received almost one million dollars in stock and fees to date.[12] So it is really not surprising that Pearson has its foot in the door to make decisions about who will hold NY Teaching Licenses.
  Stanford was responsible for designing the edTPA (Teacher Performance Assessment), but they did so with, quote, considerable seed money from Pearson from the beginning of the project. The edTPArelies on evaluation of two ten-minute videos of the candidate's teaching and the responses to a written examination. Supposedly, the scorers are retired teachers who receive $75 per evaluation (although, many of us applied to Pearson to be scorers, and not one person from UNC was chosen to my knowledge). And to prove validity of the edTPA, the Education Development Center, a non-profit in Waltham, Mass, performed a field test across five states. The Education Development Center is funded by Pearson.[13]
  The insidiousness of Pearson's tentacles' reaching across education would be enough to set off alarms in the community. Huge corporations and conglomerates own stock in Pearson, including the LibyanInvestment Authority, owned by Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam, who owns 3% of the company. The Koch brothers have connection to Pearson, as does Teach For America. And the more Pearson acts, the fewer choices we have over education in our towns and cities. Pearson just bought a large online charter school consortium that opened across America, and they now own the G.E.D. for students who drop out altogether.[14] And when a company called Boundless Learning tried to offer free and alternative textbooks to create a choice for students, Pearson partnered with Cengage and MacMillan to not only sue the company out of existence, but also the venture capitalists that funded it.[15]
  States are beginning to rely on Pearson not only for materials, but also for the actual data that drives them to make crucial decisions in student learning and teacher retention. There is an assumed validity to these materials that is never proven and now, never challenged. Ironically, the free-market argument has paved the way for a system with no competition. Scores from Pearson tests are used in value-added measurements. Scores from the edTPA are used in hiring and firing decisions.[16] As Rob Lytle, an education consultant, said,''If new standards are as rigorous as advertised, a huge number of schools will suddenly look really bad'...they'll want help, quick. And private, for-profit vendors selling lesson plans, educational software, and student assessments will be right thereto provide it.''[17] It is no longer a piece of the puzzle we can afford to ignore.
Indian lender SKS' own probe links it to borrower suicides - Yahoo News
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The Extraordinary Pierre Omidyar
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  11:51 a.m. November 15, 2013
  "We ought to be looking at business as a force for good." - Pierre Omidyar
  "Like eBay, Omidyar Network harnesses the power of markets to enable people to tap their true potential." - Omidyar Network, "Frequently Asked Questions"
  * *
  Update: Glenn Greenwald responds to this piece on Twitter: "The idea that someone would build a pro-business, neoliberal outlet around Scahill, Poitras, Segura, Bates etc is just dumb." When asked about Omidyar Network's investment history, he said "I have no idea what you're talking about there. I don't speak for Omidyar Networks. You should ask them that."
  * *
  The world knows very little about the political motivations of Pierre Omidyar, the eBay billionaire who is founding (and funding) a quarter-billion-dollar journalism venture with Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill. What we do know is this: Pierre Omidyar is a very special kind of technology billionaire.
  We know this because America's sharpest journalism critics have told us.
  In a piece headlined "The Extraordinary Promise of the New Greenwald-Omidyar Venture", The Columbia Journalism Review gushed over the announcement of Omidyar's project. And just in case their point wasn't clear, they added the amazing subhead, "Adversarial muckrakers + civic-minded billionaire = a whole new world."
  Ah yes, the fabled "civic-minded billionaire"'--you'll find him two doors down from the tooth fairy.
  But seriously folks, CJR really, really wants you to know that Omidyar is a breed apart: nothing like the Randian Silicon Valley libertarian we've become used to seeing.
  "...billionaires don't tend to like the kind of authority-questioning journalism that upsets the status quo. Billionaires tend to have a finger in every pie: powerful friends they don't want annoyed and business interests they don't want looked at.
  "By hiring Greenwald & Co., Omidyar is making a clear statement that he's the billionaire exception....It's like Izzy Stone running into a civic-minded plastics billionaire determined to take I.F. Stone's Weekly large back in the day."
  Later, the CJR "UPDATED" the piece with this missing bit of "oops":
  "(UPDATE: I should disclose that the Omidyar Network helps fund CJR, something I didn't know until shortly after I published this post.)"
  No biggie. Honest mistake. And anyway, plenty of others rushed to agree with CJR's assessment. Media critic Jack Shafer at Reuters described Omidyar's politics and ideology as "close to being a clean slate," repeatedly praising the journalism venture's and Omidyar's "idealism." The "NewCo" venture with Greenwald "harkens back to the techno-idealism of the 1980s and 1990s, when the first impulse of computer scientists, programmers, and other techies was to change the world, not make more money," Shafer wrote, ending his piece:
  "As welcome as Omidyar's money is, his commitment to the investigative form and an open society is what I'm grateful for this afternoon. You can never uphold the correct verdict too often."
  What all of these orgasmic accounts of Omidyar's "idealism" have in common is a total absence of skepticism. America's smartest media minds simply assume that Omidyar is an "exceptional" billionaire, a "civic-minded billionaire" driven by "idealism" rather than by profits. The evidence for this view is Pierre Omidyar's massive nonprofit venture, Omidyar Network, which has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to causes all across the world.
  And yet what no one seems able to specify is exactly what ideology Omidyar Network promotes. What does Omidyar's "idealism" mean in practice, and is it really so different from the non-idealism of other, presumably bad, billionaires? It's almost as if journalists can't answer those questions because they haven't bothered asking them.
  So let's go ahead and do that now.
  Since its founding in 2004, Omidyar Network has committed nearly $300 million to a range of nonprofit and for-profit "charity" outfits. An examination of the ideas behind the Omidyar Network and of the investments it has made suggests that its founder is anything but a "different" sort of billionaire. Instead, what emerges is almost a caricature of neoliberal ideology, complete with the trail of destruction that ensues when that ideology is put into practice. The generous support of the Omidyar Network goes toward "fighting poverty" through micro-lending, reducing third-world illiteracy rates by privatizing education and protecting human rights by expanding property titles ("private property rights") into slums and villages across the developing world.
  In short, Omidyar Network's philanthropy reveals Omidyar as a free-market zealot with an almost mystical faith in the power of "markets" to transform the world, end poverty, and improve lives'--one micro-individual at a time.
  All the neoliberal guru cant about solving the world's poverty problems by unlocking the hidden "micro-entrepreneurial" spirit of every starving Third Worlder is put into practice by Omidyar Network's investments. Charity without profit motive is considered suspect at best, subject to the laws of unintended consequences; good can only come from markets unleashed, and that translates into an ideology inherently hostile to government, democracy, public politics, redistribution of land and wealth, and anything smacking of social welfare or social justice.
  In literature published by Omidyar Network, the assumption is that technology is an end in itself, that it naturally creates beneficial progress, and that the world's problems can be solved most effectively with for-profit business solutions.
  The most charitable thing one can say about Omidyar's nonprofit network is that it reflects all the worst clich(C)s of contemporary neoliberal faith. In reality, it's much worse than that. In many regions, Omidyar Network investments have helped fund programs that create worsening conditions for the world's underclass, widening inequalities, enhancing exploitation, pushing millions of people into crippling debt and supporting anti-poverty programs that, in some cases, resulted in mass-suicide by the rural poor.
  * *
  Pierre Omidyar was one of the biggest early backers of the for-profit micro-lending industry. Through Omidyar Network, as well as personal gifts and investments, he has funnelled around $200 million into various micro-lending companies and projects over the past decade, with the goal of establishing an investment-grade microfinance sector that would be plugged into Wall Street and global finance. The neoliberal theory promised to unleash billions of new micro-entrepreneurs; the stark reality is that it saddled untold numbers with crushing debt and despair.
  One of his first major investments into micro-lending came in 2005, when Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam gave Tufts University, their alma mater, $100 million to create the "Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund," a managed for-profit fund dedicated to jump-starting the growth of the micro-finance industry. At the time, Tufts announced that Omidyar's gift was the "largest private allocation of capital to microfinance by an individual or family."
  With the Tufts fund, Omidyar wanted to go beyond mere charitable donations to specific micro-lending organizations that targeted the developing world's poorest. At the same time, he wanted to create a whole new environment in which for-profit micro-lending companies could be self-sustaining and generate big enough profits to attract serious global investors.
  This idea was at the core of Omidyar's vision of philanthropy: he believed that microfinance would eradicate poverty faster and better if it was run on a for-profit basis, and not like a charity.
  "If you want to reach global scale -- and we're talking about hundreds of millions of people who need this -- you can't do it with philanthropy capital. There's not enough charity capital out there. By connecting with an institutional investor like a university, we would like to increase the level of professional investor involvement in this sector to try to stimulate more commercially viable investment products," Pierre Omidyar said in an interview at the time. "We ought to be looking at business as a force for good."
  The idea behind micro-loans is very simple and seductive. It goes something like this: the only thing that prevents the hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty from achieving financial success is their lack of access to credit. Give them access to micro-loans'--referred to in Silicon Valley as "seed capital"'--and these would-be successful business-peasants and illiterate shantytown entrepreneurs would pluck themselves out of the muck by their own homemade sandal straps. Just think of it: hundreds of millions of peasants working as micro-individuals, taking out micro-loans, making micro-rational investments into their micro-businesses, dutifully paying their micro-loan payments on time and working in concert to harness the deregulated power of the markets to collectively lift society out of poverty. It's a grand neoliberal vision.
  To that end, Omidyar has directed about a third of the Omidyar Network investment fund'--or about $100 million'--to support the micro-lending industry. The foundation calls this initiative "financial inclusion."
  Shockingly, micro-loans aren't all that they've cracked up to be. After years of observation and multiplestudies, it turns out that the people benefiting most from micro-loans are the big global financial players: hedge funds, banks and the usual Wall Street hucksters. Meanwhile, the majority of the world's micro-debtors are either no better off or have been sucked into a morass of crippling debt and even deeper poverty, which offers no escape but death.
  Take SKS Microfinance, an Omidyar-backed Indian micro-lender whose predatory lending practices and aggressive collection tactics have caused a rash of suicides across India.
  Omidyar funded SKS through Unitus, a microfinance private equity fund bankrolled by the Omidyar Network to the tune of at least $11.7 million. ON boosted SKS in its promotional materials as a micro-lender that's "serving the rural poor in India" and that exemplifies a company that's providing "people with the means to address their needs and improve their lives."
  In 2010, SKS made headlines and stirred up bitter controversy about the role that profits should play in anti-poverty initiatives when the company went public with an IPO that generated about $358 million, giving SKS a market valuation of more than $1.6 billion. The IPO made millions for its wealthy investors, including the Omidyar-backed Unitus fund, which earned a cool $5 million profit from the SKS IPO, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal.
  Some were bothered, but others saw it as proof that the power of the markets could be harnessed to succeed where traditional charity programs supposedly hadn't. The New York Times reported:
  "An Indian company with rich American backers is about to raise up to $350 million in a stock offering closely watched by philanthropists around the world, showing that big profits can be made from small helping-hand loans to poor cowherds and basket weavers."
  Controversy or not, SKS embodied Omidyar's vision of philanthropy: it was a for-profit corporation that fought poverty while generating lucrative returns for its investors. Here would be proof-positive that the profit motive makes everyone a winner.
  And then reality set in.
  In 2012, it emerged that while the SKS IPO was making millions for its wealthy investors, hundreds of heavily indebted residents of India's Andhra Pradesh state were driven to despair and suicide by the company's cruel and aggressive debt-collection practices. The rash of suicides soared right at the peak of a large micro-lending bubble in Andhra Pradesh, in which many of the poor were taking out multiple micro-loans to cover previous loans that they could no longer pay. It was subprime lending fraud taken to the poorest regions of the world, stripping them of what little they had to live on. It got to the point where the Chief Minister of Andrah Pradesh publicly appealed to the state's youth and young women not to commit suicide, telling them, "Your lives are valuable."
  The AP conducted a stunning in-depth investigation of the SKS suicides, and their reporting needs to be quoted at length to understand just how evil this program is. The article begins:
  "First they were stripped of their utensils, furniture, mobile phones, televisions, ration cards and heirloom gold jewelry. Then, some of them drank pesticide. One woman threw herself in a pond. Another jumped into a well with her children.
  "Sometimes, the debt collectors watched nearby."
  What prompted the AP investigation was the gulf between the reported rash of suicides linked to SKS debt collectors, and SKS's public statements denying it had knowledge of or any role in the predatory lending abuses. However, the AP got a hold of internal SKS documents that contradicted their public denials:
  "More than 200 poor, debt-ridden residents of Andhra Pradesh killed themselves in late 2010, according to media reports compiled by the government of the south Indian state. The state blamed microfinance companies - which give small loans intended to lift up the very poor - for fueling a frenzy of overindebtedness and then pressuring borrowers so relentlessly that some took their own lives.
  "The companies, including market leader SKS Microfinance, denied it.
  "However, internal documents obtained by The Associated Press, as well as interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees, independent researchers and videotaped testimony from the families of the dead, show top SKS officials had information implicating company employees in some of the suicides."
  The AP investigation and internal reports showed just how brutal the SKS microfinancing program was, how women were particularly targeted because of their heightened sense of shame and community responsibility'--here is the brutal reality of financial capitalism compared to the utopian blather mouthed at Davos conferences, or in the slick pamphlets issued by the Omidyar Network:
  "Both reports said SKS employees had verbally harassed over-indebted borrowers, forced them to pawn valuable items, incited other borrowers to humiliate them and orchestrated sit-ins outside their homes to publicly shame them. In some cases, the SKS staff physically harassed defaulters, according to the report commissioned by the company. Only in death would the debts be forgiven.
  "The videos and reports tell stark stories:
  "One woman drank pesticide and died a day after an SKS loan agent told her to prostitute her daughters to pay off her debt. She had been given 150,000 rupees ($3,000) in loans but only made 600 rupees ($12) a week.
  "Another SKS debt collector told a delinquent borrower to drown herself in a pond if she wanted her loan waived. The next day, she did. She left behind four children.
  "One agent blocked a woman from bringing her young son, weak with diarrhea, to the hospital, demanding payment first. Other borrowers, who could not get any new loans until she paid, told her that if she wanted to die, they would bring her pesticide. An SKS staff member was there when she drank the poison. She survived.
  "An 18-year-old girl, pressured until she handed over 150 rupees ($3)'--meant for a school examination fee'--also drank pesticide. She left a suicide note: 'Work hard and earn money. Do not take loans.'"
  As a result of the bad press this scandal caused, the Omidyar Network deleted its Unitus investment from its website'--nor does Omidyar boast of its investments in SKS Microfinance any longer. Meanwhile, Unitus mysteriously dissolved itself and laid off all of its employees right around the time of the IPO, under a cloud of suspicion that Unitus insiders made huge personal profits from the venture, profits that in theory were supposed to be reinvested into expanding micro-lending for the poor.
  Thus spoke the profit motive.
  Curiously, in the aftermath of the SKS micro-lending scandal, Omidyar Network was dragged into another political scandal in India when it was revealed that Omidyar and the Ford Foundation were placing their own paid researchers onto the staffs of India's MPs. The program, called Legislative Assistants to MPs (LAMPs), was funded with $1 million from Omidyar Network and $855,000 from the Ford Foundation. It was shut down last year after India's Ministry of Home Affairs complained about foreign lobbying influencing Indian MPs, and promised to investigate how Omidyar-funded research for India's parliament may have been "colored" by an agenda.
  But SKS is not the only microfinancing investment gone bad. The biggest and most reputable micro-lenders, including those funded by the Omidyar Network, have come under serious and sustained criticism for predatory interest rates and their aggressive debt-collection techniques.
  Take BRAC, another big beneficiary of Omidyar's efforts to boost "financial inclusion."
  Started in the early 1970s as a war relief organization, BRAC has grown into the largest non-governmental organization in the world. It employs over 100,000 people in countries across the globe. While BRAC is known mostly for its micro-lending operation activities, the outfit is a diversified nonprofit business operation. It is involved in education, healthcare and even develops its own hybrid seed varieties. Much of BRAC's operations are financed by its micro-lending activities.
  Omidyar Network praises BRAC for its work to "empower the poor to improve their own lives," and has given at least $8 million to help BRAC set up micro-lending banking infrastructure in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
  But BRAC seems to worry more about its own bottom line than it does about the well-being of its impoverished borrowers, the majority of whom are women and who pay an average annual interest rate of 40 percent.
  This twisted sense of priority could be seen after one of the worst cyclones in the history of Bangladesh left thousands dead in 2007, destroying entire villages and towns in its path. In the cyclone's wake, the Omidyar-funded BRAC micro-lending debt collectors showed up at the disaster zone along with other micro-lenders, and went to work aggressively shaking down borrowers, forcing some victims (mostly women) to go so far as to sell their relief/aid materials, or to take out secondary loans to pay off the first loans.
  According to a study about micro-lenders in the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr:
  "Sidr victims who lost almost everything in the cyclone, experienced pressure and harassment from non­governmental organisations (NGOs) for repayment of microcredit instalments. Such intense pressure led some of the Sidr­affected borrowers to sell out the relief materials they received from different sources. Such pressure for loan recovery came from large organisations such as BRAC, ASA and even the Nobel Prize winning organisation Grameen Bank.
  "Even the most severely affected people are expected to pay back in a weekly basis, with the prevailing interest rate. No system of 'break' or 'holiday' period is available in the banks' current charter. No exceptions are made during a time of natural calamity. The harsh rules practised by the microcredit lender organisations led the disaster affected people even selling their relief assistance. Some even had to sell their leftover belongings to pay back their weekly instalments."
  These tactics may be harsh, but they pay off for micro-lenders. And it's a lucrative operation: BRAC primarily targets women, offers loans with predatory interest rates and uses traditional values and close village relationships to shame and pressure borrowers into selling and doing whatever they can to make their weekly payments. It works. Loan recovery rates for the industry average between 95 and 98 percent. For BRAC, that rate was a comfy 99.3 percent.
  So do predatory micro-loans really help lift the world's poorest people out of poverty? Neoliberal ideology says they do '-- and the Omidyar Network represents one of the purest distillations of that ideology put into practice in the poorest and most vulnerable parts of the world.
  As Cambridge University economics professor Ha-Joon Chang argued, saying of micro-lending:
  "[It] constitutes a powerful institutional and political barrier to sustainable economic and social development, and so also to poverty reduction. Finally, we suggest that continued support for microfinance in international development policy circles cannot be divorced from its supreme serviceability to the neoliberal/globalization agenda."
  Omidyar Network has followed the same disastrous neoliberal script in other areas of investment, particularly its investments into privatizing public schools in the US and in poor regions of Africa.
  One of the earliest Omidyar investments went to an online private charity website for needy public schools here in the US. As David Sirota wrote, huge billionaire foundations and corporations have been holding children hostage by starving public-school funding and replacing it with "charity" money from the likes of the Wal-Mart Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Broad Foundation. We can add the Omidyar Network to this list as well.
  Omidyar's foundation invested in the same idea, but with a web 2.0 crowd-source twist: DonorsChoose.org allows individuals to pledge amounts as small as $10, and allows school teachers to get online asking for small sums to help their classrooms. The end result, of course, is that it normalizes the continued strangling of public schools and the sense that only private funding can save education.
  Omidyar poured millions into DonorsChoose and organized donations from other Silicon Valley donors. At first, most public school teachers didn't see the angle; many used the resource to raise funds for their own classrooms.
  It wasn't until DonorsChoose announced its partnership with the anti-public-education film "Waiting For Superman" that teachers realized they'd been duped. The movie promoted the myth that education could only be saved by the likes of Tea Party-backed school "reform" advocate Michelle Rhee. Teachers organized a boycott of DonorsChoose after the Omidyar-funded group announced it was essentially bribing its members with a $15 gift certificate to anyone who bought tickets for "Waiting for Superman."
  Two years later, DonorsChoose partnered and promoted yet another right-wing teacher-bashing propaganda film, "Won't Back Down."
  Overseas, the Omidyar Network is embarking on a school privatization program that will make DonorsChoose look like Mother Theresa's handiwork. Omidyar provided seed capital for a new Africa-based for-profit private school enterprise for the poor called Bridge International. In 2009, ON gave Bridge a total of $1.8 million; Matt Bannick, the top figure (managing partner) in the Omidyar Network, sits on Bridge International's board of directors.
  Bridge International's first schools are being built in Kenya, and are slated to expand across the sub-Sahara, hoping to rope millions of poor African kids into its schools. Bridge's strategic partner is the for-profit education giant, Pearson. Diane Ravitch, former US Assistant Secretary of Education and critic of school "reform" efforts, has warned about Pearson's near-monopolistic power influencing the privatization of American education (see Ravitch's article"The Pearsonization of the American Mind.")
  The idea behind Bridge International is to provide a franchised "school in a box" model under which each school teaches the exact same curriculum at the exact same time to every student. Teachers are given minimal training'--they're merely required to teach according to the script given to them and read out to their students, scripts delivered through Nook tablets. Students pay $5 a month'--a lot for each student in areas as poor as sub-Saharan Africa. Currently one new Bridge International school is opening every 2.5 days around Kenya, overtaking public education'--with plans to expand further.
  It sounds like a good idea, but the problem is that Bridge's business model has a very narrow set of supporters, namely: free-market think-tanks, the global for-profit education industry and proponents of a neoliberal utopia who want to defund public education and replace it with private schooling. Bridge is only a few years old, but criticism of its educational model is already piling up'--even from centrist pro-business thinktanks like the Brookings Institution. Even at $4 or $5 a month, Bridge's "low cost" education is too expensive for many in the developing world, forcing children to go to work and making families choose between buying food and paying for education. Naturally, food wins out. And that simply means that many children can't afford to go school, which only increases and reinforces stratification and inequality.
  The fight against illiteracy requires free, quality education that's available to all children. What it doesn't need is a bunch of neoliberal techno-disruptors who want to turn education into a for-profit industry that provides schooling only to those who can afford it. And anyway, the very notion that you can squeeze enough profit from millions of the poorest children in the world to attract mega venture capital, while providing quality education is absurd. That profit money is extracted from the very people Bridge is supposedly trying to help.
  Still think that Pierre Omidyar is a "different" type of billionaire? Still convinced he's a one-of-a-kind "civic-minded" idealist?
  Then you might want to ask yourself why Omidyar is so smitten by the ideas of an economist known as "The Friedrich Hayek of Latin America." His name is Hernando de Soto and he's been adored by everyone from Milton Friedman to Margaret Thatcher to the Koch brothers. Omidyar Network poured millions of nonprofit dollars into subsidizing his ideas, helping put them into practice in poor slums around the developing world.
  In February 2011, the Omidyar Network announced a hefty $4.96 million grant to a Peru-based free-market think tank, the Institute for Liberty & Democracy (ILD).
  Perhaps no single investment by Omidyar more clearly reveals his orthodox neoliberal vision for the world'--and what constitutes "civic-mindedness"'--than his support for the ILD and its founder and president, Hernando De Soto, whom the ON has tapped to participate in other Omidyar-sponsored events.
  De Soto is a celebrity in the world of neoliberal/libertarian gurus. He and his Institute for Liberty & Democracy are credited with popularizing a free-market version of Third World land reform and turning it into policy in city slums all across the developing world. Whereas "land reform" in countries like Peru'--dominated by a tiny handful of landowning families'--used to mean land redistribution, Hernando De Soto came up with a counter-idea more amenable to the Haves: give property title to the country's poor masses, so that they'd have a secure and legal title to their shanties, shacks, and whatever land they might claim to live on or own.
  De Soto's pitch essentially comes down to this: Give the poor masses a legal "stake" in whatever meager property they live in, and that will "unleash" their inner entrepreneurial spirit and all the national "hidden capital" lying dormant beneath their shanty floors. De Soto claimed that if the poor living in Lima's vast shantytowns were given legal title ownership over their shacks, they could then use that legal title as collateral to take out microfinance loans, which would then be used to launch their micro-entrepreneurial careers. Newly-created property holders would also have a "stake" in the ruling political and economic system. It's the sort of cant that makes perfect sense to the Davos set (where De Soto is a star) but that has absolutely zero relevance to problems of entrenched poverty around the world.
  Since the Omidyar Network names "property rights" as one of the five areas of focus, it's no surprise that Omidyar money would eventually find its way into Hernando De Soto's free-market ideas mill. In 2011, Omidyar not only gave De Soto $5 million to advance his ideas'--he also tapped De Soto to serve as a judge in an Omidyar-sponsored competition for projects focused on improving property rights for the poor. The more you know about Hernando De Soto, the harder it is to see Omidyar's financial backing as "idealistic" or "civic-minded."
  For one thing, De Soto is the favorite of the very same billionaire brothers who play villains to Omidyar's supposed hero'--yes, the reviled Koch brothers. In 2004, the libertarian Cato Institute (ne(C) "The Charles Koch Foundation") awarded Hernando De Soto its biannual "Milton Friedman Prize"'--which comes with a hefty $500,000 check'--for "empowering the poor" and "advancing the cause of liberty." De Soto was chosen by a prize jury consisting of such notable humanitarians as former Pinochet labor minister Jose Pi±era, Vladimir Putin's economic advisor Andrei Illarionov, Washington Post neoconservative columnist Anne Applebaum, FedEx CEO Fred Smith, and Milton Friedman's wife Rosie. Milton was in the audience during the awards ceremony; he heartily approved.
  Indeed, Hernando De Soto is de facto royalty in the world of neoliberal-libertarian gurus'--he's been called "The Friedrich von Hayek of Latin America," not least because Hayek launched De Soto's career as a guru more than three decades ago.
  So who is Hernando De Soto, where do his ideas come from, and why might Pierre Omidyar think him deserving of five million dollars '-- ten times the amount the Koch Brothers awarded him?
  De Soto was born into an elite "white European" family in Peru, who fled into exile in the West following Peru's 1948 coup'--his father was the secretary to the deposed president. Hernando spent most of the next 30 years in Switzerland, getting his education at elite schools, working his way up various international institutions based in Geneva, serving as the president of a Geneva-based copper cartel outfit, the International Council of Copper Exporting Countries, and working as an official in GATT (General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs).
  De Soto didn't return to live in Peru until the end of the 1970s, to oversee a new gold placer mining company he'd formed with a group of foreign investors. The mining company's profits suffered due to Peru's weak property laws and almost non-existent cultural appreciation of property title, especially among the country's poor masses'--De Soto's investors pulled out of the mining venture after visiting the company's gold mines and seeing hundreds of peasants panning on the company's concessions. That experience inspired De Soto to change Peruvians' political assumptions regarding property rights. Rather than start off by trying to convince them that foreign mining firms should have exclusive rights to gold from traditionally communal Peruvian lands, De Soto came up with a clever end-around idea: giving property title to the masses of Peru's poor living in the vast shanties and shacks in the slums of Lima and cities beyond. It was a long-term strategy to alter cultural expectations about property and ownership, thereby improving the investment climate for mining companies and other investors. The point was to align the masses' assumptions about property ownership with those of the banana republic's handful of rich landowning families.
  In 1979, De Soto organized a conference in Peru's capital Lima, featuring Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek as speakers and guests. At the time, both Friedman and Hayek were serving as key advisors to General Augusto Pinochet's "shock therapy" program in nearby Chile, an economic experiment that combined libertarian market policies with concentration camp terror.
  Two years after De Soto's successful conference in Lima, in 1981, Hayek helped De Soto set up his own free-market think tank in Lima, the "Institute for Liberty and Democracy" (ILD). The ILD became the first of a large international network of right-wing neoliberal think tanks connected to the Mother Ships'--Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, and Britain's Institute for Economic Affairs, Margaret Thatcher's go-to think tank. By 1983, De Soto's Institute was also receiving heavy funding from Reagan's Cold War front group, the National Endowment for Democracy, which promoted free-market think tanks and programs around the world, and by the end of Reagan decade, De Soto produced his first manifesto, "The Other Path"'--a play on the name of Peru's Maoist guerrilla group, Shining Path, then fighting a bloody war for power. But whereas the Shining Path's political program called for nationalizing and redistributing property, most of which was in the hands of a few rich families, De Soto's "Other Path" called for maintaining property distribution as it was, and legalizing its current structure by democratizing property titles, the pieces of paper with the stamps. Everyone would become a micro-oligarch and micro-landowner under this scheme...
  With help and funding from US and international institutions, De Soto quickly became a powerful political force behind the scenes. In 1990, De Soto insinuated himself into the inner circle of newly-elected president Alberto Fujimori, who quickly turned into a brutal dictator, and is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity, murder, kidnapping, and illegal wiretapping.
  Under De Soto's influence, Fujimori's politics suddenly changed; almost overnight, the populist Keynsian candidate became the free-market authoritarian "Chinochet" he governed as. As Fujimori's top advisor, Hernando De Soto was the architect of so-called "Fujishock" therapy applied to Peru's economy. Officially, De Soto served as Fujimori's drug czar from 1990-1992, an unusual role for an economist given the fact that Peru's army was fighting a brutal war with Peru's powerful cocaine drug lords. At the time Peru was the world's largest cocaine producer; as drug czar, Hernando De Soto therefore positioned himself as the point-man between Peru's military and security services, America's DEA and drug czar under the first President Bush, and Peru's president Alberto Fujimori. It's the sort of position that you'd want to have if you wanted "deep state" power rather than mere ministerial power.
  During those first two years when De Soto served under Fujimori, human rights abuses were rampant. Fujimori death squads'--with names like the "Grupo Colina"'--targeted labor unions and government critics and their families. Two of the worst massacres committed under Fujimori's reign, and for which he was later jailed, took place while De Soto served as his advisor and drug czar.
  The harsh free-market shock-therapy program that De Soto convinced Fujimori to implement resulted in mass misery for Peru. During the two years De Soto served as Fujimori's advisor, real wages plunged 40%, the poverty rate rose to over 54% of the population, and the percentage of the workforce that was either unemployed or underemployed soared to 87.3%.
  But while the country suffered, De Soto's Institute for Liberty and Democracy'--the outfit that Omidyar gave $5 million to in 2011'--thrived: its staff grew to over 100 as funds poured in. A World Bank staffer who worked with the ILD described it as,
  "a kind of school for the country. Most of the important ministers, lawyers, journalists, and economists in Peru are ILD alumni."
  In 1992, Fujimori orchestrated a constitutional coup, disbanding Peru's Congress and its courts, and imposing emergency rule-by-decree. It was another variation of the same Pinochet blueprint.
  Just before Fujimori's coup, De Soto indemnified himself by officially resigning from the cabinet. However in the weeks and months after the coup, De Soto provided crucial PR cover, downplaying the coup to the foreign press. For instance, De Soto told the Los Angeles Times that the public should temper their judgment of Fujimori's coup:
  "You've got to see this as the trial and error of a president who's trying to find his way."
  In the New York Times, De Soto spun the coup as willed by the people, the ultimate democratic politics:
  "People are fed up, fed up...[Fujimori] has attacked two hated institutions at just the right time. There is an enormous need to believe in him."
  Years later, Fujimori's notorious spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos testified to Peru's Congress that De Soto helped mastermind the 1992 coup. De Soto denied involvement; but in 2011, two years after Fujimori was jailed for crimes against humanity, De Soto joined the presidential campaign for Keiko Fujimori, the jailed dictator's daughter and leader of Fujimori's right-wing party. Keiko Fujimori ran on a platform promising to free her father from prison if she won; De Soto spent much of the campaign red-baiting her opponent as a Communist. That led Peru's Nobel Prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa to denounce De Soto as a "fujimontesenista" with "few democratic credentials."
  So in the same year that De Soto was trying to put the daughter of Peru's Pinochet in power and to spring the dictator from prison, Omidyar Network awarded him $5 million.
  It was during Fujimori's dictatorial emergency rule, from 1992-94, that De Soto rolled out a property-title pilot program in Lima, in which 200,000 households were given formal title. In 1996, Fujimori implemented De Soto's property-titling program on a national scale, with help from the World Bank and a new government property agency staffed by people from De Soto's Institute for Liberty and Democracy. By 2000, the magical promise of an explosion in bank credits to all the new micro-property owners never materialized; in fact, there was no noticeable difference in bank lending to the poor whatsoever, whether they had property title or not.
  The World Bank and the project's neoliberal supporters led by Hernando De Soto were not happy with data showing no uptick in lending, which threatened to unravel the entire happy theory behind property titling as the answer to Third World poverty. De Soto was in the process of peddling the same property-titling program to countries around the world; data was needed to justify the program. So the World Bank funded a new study in Peru in the early 2000s, and discovered something startling: In homes that had formal property titles, the parents in those homes spent up to 40% more time outside of their homes than they did before they were given title. De Soto took that statistic and argued that it was a good thing because it proved giving property title to homeowners made them feel secure enough to leave their shanties and shacks. The assumption was that in the dark days before shanty dwellers had legal titles, they were too scared to leave their shacks lest some other savage steal it from them while they were out shopping.
  No one ever conclusively explained why shanty parents were spending so much more time outside of their homes, but the important thing was that it made everyone forget the utter failure of the property title program's core promise'--that property titles would ignite micro-lending thanks to the collateral of the micro-entrepreneur's micro-shack as collateral. Thanks to De Soto's salesmanship and the backing of the world's neoliberal nomenklatura '-- Bill Clinton called De Soto "the world's greatest living economist" and he was praised by everyone from Milton Friedman to Vladimir Putin to Margaret Thatcher. The disappointing results in Peru were ignored, and De Soto's program was extended to developing countries around the world including Egypt, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia and elsewhere. And in nearly every case, De Soto's Institute for Liberty and Democracy has taken the lead in advising governments and selling the dream of turning titled slum-dwellers into micro-entrepreneurs.
  The real change brought by De Soto's property-titling program has ranged from nil to nightmarish.
  In Cambodia, where the World Bank implemented De Soto's land-titling program in 2001, poor and vulnerable people in the capital Phnom Penh have suffered at the hands of land developers and speculators who've used arson, police corruption and violence to forcibly evict roughly 10% of the city's population from their homes in more valuable districts, relocating them to the city outskirts.
  An article in Slate titled "The De Soto Delusion" described what happened in Cambodia when the land-titling program was first implemented:
  "In the nine months or so leading up to the project kickoff, a devastating series of slum fires and forced evictions purged 23,000 squatters from tracts of untitled land in the heart of Phnom Penh. These squatters were then plopped onto dusty relocation sites several miles outside of the city, where there were no jobs and where the price of commuting to and from central Phnom Penh (about $2 per day) surpassed whatever daily wage they had been earning in town before the fires. Meanwhile, the burned-out inner city land passed immediately to some of the wealthiest property developers in the country."
  De Soto and his Institute for Liberty and Democracy have advised property-title programs elsewhere too'--Haiti, Dominican Republic, Panama, Russia'--again with results ranging from nil to bad. Even where it doesn't lead to mass evictions and violence, it has the effect of shifting a greater tax burden onto the poor, who end up paying more in property taxes, and of forcing them to pony up for costly filing fees to gain title, fees that they often cannot afford. Property title in and of itself'--without a whole range of reforms in governance, corruption, education, income, wealth distribution and so on'--is clearly no panacea. But it does provide an alternative to programs that give money to the poor and redistribute wealth, and that alone is a good thing, if you're the type smitten by Hernando De Soto'--as Omidyar clearly is.
  Studies of property-titling programs in the slums of Brazil and Manila revealed that it created a new bitterly competitive culture and bifurcation, in which a small handful of titled slum dwellers quickly learn to benefit by turning into micro-slumlords renting out dwellings to lesser slum dwellers, who subsequently find themselves forced to pay monthly fees for their shanty rooms'--creating an underclass within the underclass. De Soto has described these slums as "acres of diamonds"'--wealth waiting to be unlocked by property titling'--and his acolytes even coined a new acronym for slums: "Strategic Low-income Urban Management Systems."
  All of which begs the obvious question: If De Soto's property-title program is such a proven failure in case after case, why is it so popular among the world's political and business elites?
  The answer is rather obvious: It offers a simple, low-cost, technocratic market solution to the problem of global poverty'--a complex and costly problem that can only be alleviated by dedicating huge amounts of resources and a very different politics from the one that tells us that markets are god, markets can solve everything. Even before Omidyar committed $5 million to the dark plutocratic "idealism" De Soto represents, he was Tweeting his admiration for De Soto:
  "Brilliant dinner with Hernando de Soto. Property rights underlie and enable everything."
  Indeed, property rights underlie and enable everything Omidyar wants to hear'--but distract and divert from what the targets of those programs might actually need or be asking for.
  Which brings us back to the wonderful words written about Pierre Omidyar last month: Where is the proof that he's a "civic-minded" billionaire, a "different" billionaire, an "idealistic" billionaire who's in it for ideals and not for profit? How is Omidyar any different from any other billionaire'--when he is funding the same programs and pushing the same vision for the world backed by the Kochs, Soros, Gates, and every other neoliberal billionaire?
  When you scratch the surface of his investments and get a sense of what sort of ideal world he'd like to make, it becomes clear that Omidyar is no different from his peers.
  And the reason that matters, of course, is because Pierre Omidyar's dystopian vision is merging with Glenn Greenwald's and Laura Poitras' monopoly on the crown jewels of the National Security Agency '-- the world's secrets, our secrets '-- and using the value of those secrets as the capital for what's being billed as an entirely new, idealistic media project, an idealism that the CJR and others promise will not shy away from taking on power.
  The question, however, is what defines power to a neoliberal mind? We're going to take a wild guess here and say: The State.
  So brace yourself, you're about to get something you've never seen before: billionaire-backed journalism taking on the power of the state. How radical is that? To quote "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman:
  "What has been adjudicated and established in the wake of Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement is the ability of the press to basically write or broadcast almost anything about the government.There's very few restrictions in that way. It's not true when we're talking about private power, especially major Fortune 500 corporations, or people worth more than, say, a billion dollars."
  In other words: look out Government, you're about to be pummeled by a crusading, righteous billionaire! And corporate America? Ah, don't worry. Your dirty secrets'--freshly transferred from the nasty non-profit hands of the Guardian to the aggressively for-profit hands of Pierre Omidyar'--are safe with us.
Ophef over 'nieuwe' rekenmethode | www.avs.nl
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  Nadat de Inspectie onlangs een rapport publiceerde waaruit blijkt dat de rekenprestaties van kinderen gedaald zijn, kondigt de pas opgerichte Stichting Goed Rekenonderwijs aan voorjaar 2009 met een `nieuwe´ rekenmethode te komen, gebaseerd op klassiekers als de staartdeling, het rekenen met breuken en het metrieke stelsel.
  De vorige maand opgerichte Stichting Goed Rekenonderwijs brengt het tegenoffensief op het huidige realistisch rekenen (waarbij sommen bijvoorbeeld verpakt zijn in praktische situaties) in eerste instantie op internet uit, in afwachting van concrete belangstelling van educatieve uitgevers. In het comit(C) van aanbeveling van de stichting zitten tal van hooggeleerden, onder wie VNO-NCW-voorzitter Bernard Wientjes, Nobelprijswinnaar Gerard `t Hooft, hoogleraar Henk Barendregt en nog een tiental professoren. De `nieuwe´ traditionele methode is ontwikkeld door twee ervaren basisschoolleerkrachten. De Universiteit van Tilburg (UvT) en de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) stellen de stichting in staat een nieuwe rekenmethode te ontwikkelen en op de markt te brengen. De beide universiteiten willen de stichting met hun financile steun helpen bij het beschikbaar maken van een alternatieve methode voor het rekenonderwijs.
  Niet iedereen vindt, zoals het groepje critici, dat alle problemen in het huidige rekenonderwijs alleen aan het realistisch rekenen te wijten zijn; deze mening zou veel te veel gebaseerd zijn op het schetsen van extremen in het huidige rekenonderwijs. Op veel scholen is er wel degelijk aandacht voor de onderliggende regels bij berekeningen. De verantwoordelijkheid voor rekenproblemen ligt ook voor een belangrijk deel bij scholen en leerkrachten (tijdsinvestering, sturend optreden, taakgerichtheid, uitleg, toetsing van de resultaten ten behoeve van verbetering, extra hulp voor rekenzwakke leerlingen, niet alleen de focus op taal) en wordt niet alleen bepaald door de methode. Tot slot moeten scholen ongeveer tien jaar met een methode vooruit, voordat er weer geld is om een nieuwe aan te schaffen. Volgens een woordvoerder van Thieme Meulenhoff hoeven scholen zich niet ongerust te maken of hun huidige methode vervroegd te vervangen.
  Overigens blijkt uit een onderzoek van Uitgeverij Zwijsen dat bijna de helft van de leerkrachten en schoolleiders uit het primair onderwijs vindt dat leerlingen de basisschool onvoldoende `gecijferd´ verlaten. 90 procent van de genquªteerden vindt dat ook in het voortgezet onderwijs rekenles gegeven zou moeten worden.
  Staatssecretaris Dijksma laat momenteel onderzoek doen naar rekenlesmethoden - volgens de critici dertig jaar te laat - en is gestart met rekenverbetertrajecten. Ze sluit niet uit dat de rekenles gecontinueerd wordt op de middelbare school, maar dat de politiek dit niet moet opleggen.
  Meer informatie: www.goedrekenonderwijs.nl, www.schoolaanzet.nl en www.kinderenlerenrekenen.nlIn een volgende Kader Primair zal dieper ingegaan worden op de rekendiscussie.
Out of the press box and onto the field >> Pressthink
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  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 09:14
  I have a personal announcement.I am joining up with the new venture in news that Pierre Omidyar, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill are creating, along with Liliana Segura, Dan Froomkin, Eric Bates and others who are coming on board to give shape to this thing, which we are calling NewCo until we are ready to release the name.
  Because it doesn't exist yet, NewCo could take many forms. Only a handful of those possible paths will lead to a strong and sustainable company that meets a public need. Figuring that out is a hard problem, to which I am deeply attracted. So I signed up to be part of the launch team. This post explains why I made that decision and what I hope to contribute.
  One voice at the table
  About a month ago, I told readers of PressThink about Pierre Omidyar's plans for a new venture in news, based on my interview with him and an earlier consultation when he was gathering advice. These, I thought, were the key points:
  Omidyar believes that if independent, ferocious, investigative journalism isn't brought to the attention of general audiences it can never have the effect that actually creates a check on power. Therefore the new entity '-- they have a name but they're not releasing it, so I will just call it NewCo '-- will have to serve the interest of all kinds of news consumers. It cannot be a niche product. It will have to cover sports, business, entertainment, technology: everything that users demand.
  At the core of Newco will be a different plan for how to build a large news organization. It resembles what I called in an earlier post ''the personal franchise model'' in news. You start with individual journalists who have their own reputations, deep subject matter expertise, clear points of view, an independent and outsider spirit, a dedicated online following, and their own way of working. The idea is to attract these people to NewCo, or find young journalists capable of working in this way, and then support them well.
  ''Support'' means a powerful publishing platform that talented journalists can bend to their will. It means an up-to-date technology company resting inside the news company. It means editors to save writers from their errors, and maintain high standards. It means first class security and encryption for reporting on sensitive stories. A legal team for when trouble calls. Training and development for young journalists who are learning the NewCo style. Ownership that has pledged to invest it all in the journalism if and when revenues exceed expenses.
  ''Support'' also means: ''when you have a big story we bring a large audience to it.'' Perhaps the most challenging part of the plan is this: Not a niche product. Has to serve a more general market for news.
  ''And how are they going to do that?'...'' is the one question I got more than any other in talking to people after my first post on Omidyar's plan. Runner-up: what's going to make this different from other ways to get news online? Those are good questions. So good that when Dan Froomkin and Glenn Greenwald called to ask me if I wanted to help create NewCo, I had to listen.
  I also had to ask myself: what could I contribute? I don't have credentials as an editor or a reporter and I have never started a business. Instead, I've been watching journalism evolve with the web since 2003. I've been trying to explain what makes it different in the digital era, paying close attention to problems of trust, shifts in authority and the pro-am or participatory forms that have slowly emerged since the rise of blogging around 2000. To put it another way, I have been all over this discussion: ''Is Glenn Greenwald the Future of News?'' I've also been advising media companies on adapting to the web and teaching young journalists '-- my graduate students at NYU '-- how to contribute to innovation in their craft.
  Nobody has titles at NewCo yet. The agreement I have with Pierre Omidyar is that I will advise on building the company and participate in planning discussions as NewCo takes shape. One voice at the table, in other words. I will also explain its approach to journalism in written pieces that resemble my essays for PressThink. I am especially interested in the civic engagement and user participation puzzle, which is one part of '...And how are they going to do that?
  Also important: building a learning culture within the organization. (NewCo has to be its own J-school or it cannot succeed.) The contract I signed '-- yes, I am getting paid '-- is part time for the remainder of 2013. By luck I am on leave from NYU for the spring 2014 term. After the new year I can devote much more time to this venture, which I intend to do.
  NYU, where I have made my home since 1986, is a research university. The purpose of that institution is to produce new knowledge. For me and the things I write and care about, NewCo is the most exciting project in journalism today. To be involved from the beginning in the birth of a company based on these ideas is the best test of my learning that I could devise. And I'm sure it will produce new knowledge, which I will share.
  Things are going to change around here.
  A simpler way to put it: This is PressThink come to life. The second part of this post (which is for the most interested readers'...) explains what I mean by that. But first: my involvement in NewCo changes things between me and you, meaning: the people who read my writing and follow me on Twitter or Facebook.
  Up to this point, I have observed upon '-- and criticized! '-- the press from a position outside and independent of it. The only exceptions to that are these (previously disclosed) positions: Advisory board, Digital First Media; consultant, Post Media Network of Canada; director, Gazette Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
  Today's announcement is different. From here on, I am a player in NewCo. I'm not just giving advice to a company that pre-dated my involvement. I am involved in the effort to create something. I am being paid $ for my participation. Unlike an ''advisory'' position there is no real separation between me and the people who are building NewCo from scratch. Therefore I have to publicly abandon any position as an observer or independent analyst of Pierre Omidyar's new venture in news. Out of the press box and onto the field.
  And so when I speak about it you are entitled to apply whatever discount rate you find appropriate. About the intentions of Pierre Omidyar, the journalism of Glenn Greenwald and the eventual product of NewCo I am no longer an independent analyst rendering judgment. Criticism will have to come from others. And I am sure it will.
  I cannot say ''Can't wait to get started'' because I have already started. And I don't want to hear anything about ''saving journalism'' (a phrase I detest) because it doesn't need saving and anyway that is not the plan. The plan is to build something that can sustain itself and produce excellent work.
  Part Two: PressThink come to life.
  Here are some posts I've written, selected from hundreds, that will meet their test as NewCo comes to life.
  The View from Nowhere: Questions and Answers. (2010)
  The View from Nowhere is a bid for trust that advertises the viewlessness of the news producer. Frequently it places the journalist between polarized extremes, and calls that neither-nor position ''impartial.'' Second, it's a means of defense against a style of criticism that is fully anticipated: charges of bias originating in partisan politics and the two-party system. Third: it's an attempt to secure a kind of universal legitimacy that is implicitly denied to those who stake out positions or betray a point of view. American journalists have almost a lust for the View from Nowhere because they think it has more authority than any other possible stance
  The View from Nowhere won't be a requirement for our journalists. Nor will a single ideology prevail. NewCo itself will have a view of the world: Accountability journalism, exposing abuses of power, revealing injustices will no doubt be part of it. Under that banner many ''views from somewhere'' can fit.
  Politics: some / Politics: none. Two ways to excel in political journalism. (2013)
  If you want to appear equally sympathetic to all potential sources, politics: none is the way to go. If you want to avoid pissing off the maximum number of users, politics: none gets it done. (This has commercial implications. They are obvious.) But: if you're persuaded that transparency is the better route to trust, politics: some is the better choice. And if you want to attract sources who themselves have a political commitment or have come to a conclusion about matters contested within the political community, being open about your politics can be an advantage. That is the lesson that Glenn Greenwald has been teaching the profession of journalism for the last week. Edward Snowden went to him because of his commitments. This has implications for reporters committed to the ''no commitments'' style.
  Just as we wouldn't force a point of view on people or expect them to fall in line, NewCo is not going to insist that everyone follow Greenwald's lead. That's not the point of a View from Somewhere approach. Rather: we think the way to stand out in a crowded marketplace is to let individual journalists shine in a way that works for them.
  The rise of the personal franchise site in news. (2013)
  Features of the personal franchise site:
  * Star journalist at the center with a large online following and cross-platform presence.* Editorial control rests largely or entirely with the founder and personality at the center.* Part of a larger media company with a negotiated balance of power between the two states.* Identifiable niche or niches; no attempt to be comprehensive.* Plenty of voice, attitude and personal expression allowed.* Mix of news, opinion, analysis without a lot of fuss about categorizing each.
  Authority in journalism is shifting to the individual with a voice, subject matter expertise, and a following online. The structure and operating style of the company will attempt to solve for that. We don't know exactly how yet but that is part of the adventure.
  The People Formerly Known as the Audience. (2006)
  The people formerly known as the audience are those who were on the receiving end of a media system that ran one way, in a broadcasting pattern, with high entry fees and a few firms competing to speak very loudly while the rest of the population listened in isolation from one another'-- and who today are not in a situation like that at all.
  We haven't talked about this much yet, but one of my goals as an adviser is to have built into the platform a more active role for the people formerly known as the audience. Something more than comment threads and share buttons.
  From ''write us a post'' to ''fill out this form:'' Progress in pro-am journalism. (2011)
  It took me a while to understand this myself, but I want to isolate an important fact at the outset.Professional journalism has been optimized for low participation. Up until a few years ago, the ''job'' of the user was simply to receive the news and maybe send a letter to the editor. There was a logic to this. Journalists built their practices on top of a one-way, one-to-many, broadcasting system. Most of us understand that by now. What we haven't quite appreciated is how the logic of the one way, one-to-many pipes sunk deeply, not only into professional practice, but into professional selves.
  What if you optimized for three possibilities: high participation, light involvement and none'-- just consumption? That would be the lesson of the one percent rule of online life, which says that if 100 people gather at your site, 90 will just use the product, ten will occasionally interact and one will become a core contributor. I want to see if we can build systems for that.
  When I explained this move to my 12 year-old son, he said: Are you having a mid-life crisis? Nooooo, I replied, but as you get older (I'm 57) you have to find new challenges. ''That's cool,'' he said, and went back to his waffles.
Video shows near-vertical crash of Russian plane - Yahoo News
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A Cold War Fought by Women - NYTimes.com
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  How aggressive is the human female? When the anthropologist Sarah B. Hrdy surveyed the research literature three decades ago, she concluded that ''the competitive component in the nature of women remains anecdotal, intuitively sensed, but not confirmed by science.''
  Science has come a long way since then, as Dr. Hrdy notes in her introduction to a recent issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society devoted entirely to the topic of female aggression. She credits the ''stunning'' amount of new evidence partly to better research techniques and partly to the entry of so many women into scientific fields once dominated by men.
  The existence of female competition may seem obvious to anyone who has been in a high-school cafeteria or a singles bar, but analyzing it has been difficult because it tends be more subtle and indirect (and a lot less violent) than the male variety. Now that researchers have been looking more closely, they say that this ''intrasexual competition'' is the most important factor explaining the pressures that young women feel to meet standards of sexual conduct and physical appearance.
  The old doubts about female competitiveness derived partly from an evolutionary analysis of the reproductive odds in ancient polygynous societies in which some men were left single because dominant males had multiple wives. So men had to compete to have a chance of reproducing, whereas virtually all women were assured of it.
  But even in those societies, women were not passive trophies for victorious males. They had their own incentives to compete with one another for more desirable partners and more resources for their children. And now that most people live in monogamous societies, most women face the same odds as men. In fact, they face tougher odds in some places, like the many college campuses with more women than men.
  To see how female students react to a rival, researchers brought pairs of them into a laboratory at McMaster University for what was ostensibly a discussion about female friendships. But the real experiment began when another young woman entered the room asking where to find one of the researchers.
  This woman had been chosen by the researchers, Tracy Vaillancourt and Aanchal Sharma, because she ''embodied qualities considered attractive from an evolutionary perspective,'' meaning a ''low waist-to-hip ratio, clear skin, large breasts.'' Sometimes, she wore a T-shirt and jeans, other times a tightfitting, low-cut blouse and short skirt.
  In jeans, she attracted little notice and no negative comments from the students, whose reactions were being secretly recorded during the encounter and after the woman left the room. But when she wore the other outfit, virtually all the students reacted with hostility.
  They stared at her, looked her up and down, rolled their eyes and sometimes showed outright anger. One asked her in disgust, ''What the [expletive] is that?''
  Most of the aggression, though, happened after she left the room. Then the students laughed about her and impugned her motives. One student suggested that she dressed that way in order to have sex with a professor. Another said that her breasts ''were about to pop out.''
  The results of the experiment jibe with evidence that this ''mean girl'' form of indirect aggression is used more by adolescents and young women than by older women, who have less incentive to handicap rivals once they marry. Other studies have shown that the more attractive an adolescent girl or woman is, the more likely she is to become a target for indirect aggression from her female peers.
  ''Women are indeed very capable of aggressing against others, especially women they perceive as rivals,'' said Dr. Vaillancourt, now a psychologist at the University of Ottawa. ''The research also shows that suppression of female sexuality is by women, not necessarily by men.''
  Stigmatizing female promiscuity '-- a.k.a. slut-shaming '-- has often been blamed on men, who have a Darwinian incentive to discourage their spouses from straying. But they also have a Darwinian incentive to encourage other women to be promiscuous. Dr. Vaillancourt said the experiment and other research suggest the stigma is enforced mainly by women.
  ''Sex is coveted by men,'' she said. ''Accordingly, women limit access as a way of maintaining advantage in the negotiation of this resource. Women who make sex too readily available compromise the power-holding position of the group, which is why many women are particularly intolerant of women who are, or seem to be, promiscuous.''
  Indirect aggression can take a psychological toll on women who are ostracized or feel pressured to meet impossible standards, like the vogue of thin bodies in many modern societies. Studies have shown that women's ideal body shape is to be thinner than average '-- and thinner than what men consider the ideal shape to be. This pressure is frequently blamed on the ultrathin female role models featured in magazines and on television, but Christopher J. Ferguson and other researchers say that it's mainly the result of competition with their peers, not media images.
  ''To a large degree the media reflects trends that are going on in society, not creates them,'' said Dr. Ferguson, a psychologist at Stetson University. He found that women's dissatisfaction with their bodies did not correlate with what they watched on television at home. Nor were they influenced by TV programs shown in laboratory experiments: Watching the svelte actresses on ''Scrubs'' induced no more feelings of inferiority than watching the not-so-svelte star of ''Roseanne.''
  But he found that women were more likely to feel worse when they compared themselves with peers in their own social circles, or even if they were in a room with a thin stranger, like the assistant to Dr. Ferguson who ran an experiment with female college students. When she wore makeup and sleek business attire, the students were less satisfied with their own bodies than when she wore baggy sweats and no makeup. And they felt still worse when there was an attractive man in the room with her.
  ''Sexual competition among females seems to increase due to circumstances that tend to be particularly common in affluent societies,'' Dr. Ferguson said.
  In traditional villages, people married at an early age to someone nearby, but young men and women in modern societies are free to postpone marriage as they search long and far for better options. The result is more competition because there are so many more rivals '-- and there's no longer any scientific doubt that both sexes are in to win it.
Yahoo '-- Our Commitment to Protecting Your Information
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 08:32
  by Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO
  We've worked hard over the years to earn our users' trust and we fight hard to preserve it.
  As you know, there have been a number of reports over the last six months about the U.S. government secretly accessing user data without the knowledge of tech companies, including Yahoo. I want to reiterate what we have said in the past: Yahoo has never given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency. Ever.
  There is nothing more important to us than protecting our users' privacy. To that end, we recently announced that we will make Yahoo Mail even more secure by introducing https (SSL - Secure Sockets Layer) encryption with a 2048-bit key across our network by January 8, 2014.
  Today we are announcing that we will extend that effort across all Yahoo products. More specifically this means we will:
  Encrypt all information that moves between our data centers by the end of Q1 2014;Offer users an option to encrypt all data flow to/from Yahoo by the end of Q1 2014;Work closely with our international Mail partners to ensure that Yahoo co-branded Mail accounts are https-enabled.As we have said before, we will continue to evaluate how we can protect our users' privacy and their data. We appreciate, and certainly do not take for granted, the trust our users place in us.
Fukushima fallout damaged thyroid glands of California babies - News - The Ecologist
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Wed, 20 Nov 2013 08:30
  Chris Busby
  19th November 2013
  The Fukushima catastrophe has been dismissed as a potential cause of health effects even in Japan, let alone as far away as California.
  A new study of the effects of tiny quantities of radioactive fallout from Fukushima on the health of babies born in California shows a significant excess of hypothyroidism caused by the radioactive contamination travelling 5,000 miles across the Pacific. The article will be published next week in the peer-reviewed journal Open Journal of Pediatrics.
  Congenital hypothyroidism is a rare but serious condition normally affecting about one child in 2,000, and one that demands clinical intervention - the growth of children suffering from the condition is affected if they are left untreated. All babies born in California are monitored at birth for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) levels in blood, since high levels indicate hypothyroidism.
  Joe Mangano and Janette Sherman of the Radiation and Public Health Project in New York, and Christopher Busby, guest researcher at Jacobs University, Bremen, examined congenital hypothyroidism (CH) rates in newborns using data obtained from the State of California over the period of the Fukushima explosions.
  Their results are published in their paper Changes in confirmed plus borderline cases of congenital hypothyroidism in California as a function of environmental fallout from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. The researchers compared data for babies exposed to radioactive Iodine-131 and born between March 17th and Dec 31st 2011 with unexposed babies born in 2011 before the exposures plus those born in 2012.
  Confirmed cases of hypothyroidism, defined as those with TSH level greater than 29 units increased by 21% in the group of babies that were exposed to excess radioactive Iodine in the womb [*]. The same group of children had a 27% increase in 'borderline cases' [**].
  Contrary to many reports, the explosion of the reactors and spent fuel pools at Fukushima produced levels of radioactive contamination which were comparable with the Chernobyl releases in 1986. Using estimates made by the Norwegian Air Laboratory it is possible to estimate that more than 250PBq (200 x 1015) Bq of Iodine-131 (half life 8 days) were released at Fukushima.
  This is also predicted by comparing the Caesium-137 estimates with I-131 releases from Chernobyl, quantities which caused the thyroid cancer epidemic in Byelarus, the Ukraine and parts of the Russian Republic.
  More on this later. At Fukushima, the winds generally blew the radioactive iodine and other volatile radionuclides out to sea, to the Pacific Ocean. The journey 5,000 miles to the West Coast of the USA leaves a lot of time for dispersal and dilution. Nevertheless, small amounts of I-131 were measured in milk causing widespread concern.
  The authorities downplayed any risk on the basis that the "doses" were very low; far lower than the natural background radiation. The University of Berkeley measured I-131 in rainwater from 18th to 28th March 2011 after which levels fell. If we assume that mothers drank 1 litre of rainwater a day for this period (of course they didn't) the current radiation risk model of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) calculates an absorbed dose to the adult thyroid of 23 microSieverts, less than 1/100th the annual background "dose". The foetus is more sensitive (by a factor of about 10 according to ICRP) but is exposed to less as it is perhaps 100 times smaller.
  So this finding is one more instance of the fact that the current radiation risk model, employed by the governments of every nation, is massively insecure for predicting harm from internal radionuclide exposures or explaining the clear observations.
  The Fukushima catastrophe has been dismissed as a potential cause of health effects even in Japan, let alone as far away as California. And on what basis? Because the "dose" is too low.
  This is the mantra chanted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Health Organization (WHO, largely the same outfit), and the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). And let's not forget all the nuclear scientists who swooped down on Fukushima with their International Conferences and placatory soothing presentations.
  This chant was heard after Chernobyl, after the nuclear site child leukemias; in the nuclear atmospheric test veterans cases; and in all the other clear situations which in any unbiased scientific arena would long ago have blown away the belief that low level internal exposures are safe.
  But this one-size-fits-all concept of "dose" is the nuclear industry's sinking ship. It provides essential cover for the use of uranium weapons, whether fission bombs or depleted uranium munitions; for the development of nuclear power stations like Hinkley Point; the burying of radioactive waste in landfills in middle England; releases of plutonium to the Irish Sea from Sellafield (where it drifts ashore and causes increases in cancer on the coasts of Wales and Ireland); and most recently, for the British Governments denial of excess cancers among nuclear test veterans.
  This new study is not the first to draw attention to the sensitivity of the unborn baby to internal fission products. In 2009 I used data supplied to me when I was a member of the UK government Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal Emitters (CERRIE) to carry out a meta-analysis of infant leukemia rates in five countries in Europe: England and Wales, Germany, Greece, and Byelarus.
  There had been an unexpected and statistically significant increase in infant leukemia (age 0-1) in those children who were in the womb during the (whole body monitored) increased levels of Caesium-137 from Chernobyl. The beauty of this study (like the TSH study) is that, unlike the Sellafield child leukemias, there is really no possible alternative explanation.
  It was the low "dose" of Caesium-137 that caused the leukemias. And the dose response trend was not a straight line: The effect at the very low "dose" was greater than at the very high "dose". Presumably because at the high doses the babies perished in the womb and could not, therefore, develop leukemia. I published the results and drew attention to the failure of the ICRP model in the International Journal of Environment and Public Health in 2009.
  I had published a paper on this infant leukemia proof of the failure of the risk model in Energy and Environment in 2000, and also presented it in the same year at the World Health Organisation conference in Kiev. It was there that I first really came up against the inversion of science deployed by the chiefs of the IAEA and UNSCEAR. The conference was videofilmed by Wladimir Tchertkoff and you can see his excellent documentary, which made it to Swiss TV, Atomic Lies, re-released in 2004 as Nuclear Controversies (link to youtube, 51 minutes).
  For what is done by these people is to dismiss any evidence of increased rates of cancer or any other disease by shouting at it: "the doses were too low". In this way, reality is airbrushed away. What is this quantity "dose"? It is a simple physics-based quantity which represents the absorption of energy from radiation. One Sievert of gamma radiation is one Joule per kilogram of living tissue.
  This might work for external radiation. But it doesn't work for internal exposures to radioactive elements which can produce huge effects on cellular DNA at low average "doses". It is like comparing warming yourself in front of the fire with eating a hot coal. Or comparing a punch to stabbing. Same dose, same energy. Very different effects.
  This "dose" scam has been used to dismiss real effects since it was invented in 1952 to deal with the exposures from nuclear weapons development and testing. For those who want to dig deeper into the science there is a recent book chapter I wrote in the book New Research Directions in DNS Repair.
  The most scary instances of the sensitivity of the foetus to radiation are the sex ratio studies of Hagen Scherb, a German biostatician and member of the European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR). With his colleague Christina Voigt he has published a series of papers showing a sudden change in the sex ratio of newborns after various radiation exposure incidents.
  Sex ratio, the number of boys born to 1,000 girls is a well accepted indicator of genetic damage and perturbations in the normal ratio of 1,050 (boys to 100 girls) are due to the deaths before birth of radiation damaged individuals of one sex or the other depending on whether the father (sperm) or mother (egg) was most exposed.
  We found such an effect (more girls) in our study of Fallujah, Iraq, where there was exposure to Uranium weapons. But Scherb and Voigt have looked at the major catastrophes, Chernobyl, the weapons tests fallout, near nuclear sites in data from many countries of the world. Huge datasets.
  They estimate that millions have babies have been killed by these subtle internal radiation exposures. The nuclear military project is responsible for an awful lot of deaths. In years to come I believe this will eventually be seen as the greatest public health scandal in human history.
  Of course, the exposure to radio-Iodine is associated with thyroid cancer in children. There was a big rise of thyroid cancer in Byelarus, the Ukraine and the Russian Republic after Chernobyl. The situation at Fukushima seems set to echo this, despite the reassurances from the authorities that there will be no effects.
  Our paper reports 44 confirmed thyroid cancer cases in 0-18 year olds in Fukushima prefecture in the last six months (a figure that has since risen to 53). In the hypothyroidism paper we discuss the 44 cases relative to the population and calculate that this represents an 80-fold excess based on national data prior to the Fukushima Iodine releases.
  This presents a severe challenge to Dr Wolfgang Weiss of the UN and WHO, who stated last year that no thyroid cancers could result from the Fukushima disaster as the "doses were too low". How does he explain the 80-fold increase in this normally rare condition?
  Or rather, when will he admit that the entire scientific model that underpins his views is fraudulent? And that nuclear radiation is - roughly speaking - 1,000 times more dangerous to human health than he is letting on?
  Chris Busby is the Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk. For details and current CV see www.chrisbusbyexposed.org. For accounts of his work see www.greeenaudit.org, www.llrc.org and www.nuclearjustice.org
  For statisticians:* RR 1.21, 95% CI 1.04-1.42; p = .013** RR 1.27, 95% CI 1.2-1.35; p = .00000001.
The Water Runs Dry
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  Archived Version
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:42
  The following is a Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter on water.
  Once upon a time in rural American, the population there was drinking all sorts of things called water. Theodore Roosevelt when in Dakota Territory, wrote that one night he drank from a buffalo wallow something akin to tricole. That is a substance about like molasses, so it was a water which a great deal of body, and the body apparenlty included buffalo excrement and who knows what else type of bird guano which gave the fluid viscosity that was difficult for both horse and man to swallow.
  In the 1970's along with "the great freeze" as the world was told a new Ice Age was coming, nuclear winters, Silent Springs and fur, beef, and guns were bad things, an alarming warning went out to those people of the rural areas in suddenly their wells were all filled with nitrites and nitrates, and along with the great cancer scare, were told that they were all going to die from drinking water as it was cancer infested, due to fertilizers, cow shit and whatever else was running into those farm wells which were dug by the homesteaders.
  Such a panic was unleashed, and experts concluded that all those wells needed to be tested immediately and people had to save themselves from imminent death.
  Granted no one mentioned that the locals had been drinking that stuff for a generation with no ill effects showing up, but suddenly all that nitrate and nitrites showing up was the doom of people drinking water from their own wells.
  From their own wells.........
  I repeat from their own wells........
  Have you ever examined a package of processed meat ? You should sometime as the USDA and FDA have labels on those products, and you find in those consumer produced products substances called nitrites and nitrates.
  The same stuff that was in rural agriculture wells, was approved by the government as a cure in meats to keep them from spoiling with deadly toxins.
  I will repeat that in the government on one hand was dumping tons of "poisons" into meat while on the other hand was alarming farmers that they were going to die from drinking the same "poisons" in water.
  Nitrates: Facts About Sodium Nitrate - Culinary Arts - About.comNitrates and nitrites are widely used in preserving meats. ... A naturally occurring mineral, sodium nitrate is present in all kinds of vegetables (root ... meats could actually be more dangerous than eating meats that do contain sodium nitrate?This has never been exposed in content, so will be here, and it was not a process of the chemical industry making money off of poisons while another industry was making money off of selling water to rural people. The reality is was much more cartel in a combined process to inoculate the rural populations of America with something which could be put into water to make them the like zombie of those people in the major cities sucking down fluoride by the gallons.
  There has in the United Nations generation an interesting correlation in all of this, as the UN is very intent on gaining complete access to water in private wells. It is an additional taxation scheme by the globalists who desire a world where everything you eat, drink and breath could be charged for........oh yes the CARBON TAX is their way of taxing the air you breathe, until a time in the protocols when they can attach a monitor to each person to tally the amount of air they are consuming in order to regulate and gain revenue off of that.
  Oh you did not know there is a scheme on the books to attach oxygen monitors to every human from the day they are born to monitor how much wicked carbon they are expending into the world?
  Government Meters On Private Water Wells Coming Paying Tax On ...www.rense.com/general53/wasa.htm'ŽIt ultimately includes putting water meters on PRIVATE water wells which has already ... The gestapo UN tax will be levied ON TOP of the water tax you might be ...We must though return from their air you breathe, which is carbon tax, to the water control issue of a massive effort to first terrorize people by placing into their psyche a propaganda which is ridiculous that nitrites and nitrates in water are going to kill you when they occur naturally as it is all through nature and of course some water sources are going to have higher levels of that substance in them.[PDF]Nitrate in Ground Water - Nebraska Water Centerwatercenter.unl.edu/Downloads/.../SnowNitrateInGroundWater.pdf'ŽNitrate is a highly soluble form of nitrogen that has fast become one of the most common contaminants in ground water. Though both natural and manmade ...Yes nature actually NATURALLY "contaminates" ground water with nitrates. So it being natural, it is not a cause for alarm, as people are ingesting more nitrates and nitrites in processed foods than they ever would ingest from their wells.I was speaking with a local well driller and he was telling me that he was doing quite well in going around the state and plugging all the rural wells not in use.For me, water is sort of a thing that is necessary. For me, drinking water and having more than one source for that water is something which is prudent, but yet here was part of this scheme in rural people were being pressured into plugging their access to water.It costs on average 10,000 dollars to drill a well. This is not cheap and there just are not little men with shovels any more who would dig you a nice well by hand 60 to 100 feet down, instead of the pipe wells which on can only obtain now.For the record, you can not put a bucket down a 3 inch hole. It requires a pump, and the method now is electrical pumps and not the old farmer's windmill with leather pumps of the homestead era.I hope you comprehend this, in without electricity, those people who have "wells" which are pipe wells are going to go thirsty in an EMP event as they will not be able to get water out of their pipe well.
  I have an old hand dug well on my Mom's place. I fixed it when it started to degrade, as I knew the value of having water. My idiot neighbors to the last one have been destroying wells, have been plugging wells and they have all been hooking up to a pipeline system, where the regime is dictating the additives from chlorine to whatever else is in that "water".
  There is a story when my parents came to this sharecropper shack in the well platform was rotten. Apparently there were frogs and rats in that well, and they were drinking the water for a time, but soon cleaned it out, dumped in gallons of Chlorox bleach which was the poor person's chlorine and all was well for years with that well, as that is the water I was raised on.
  I replaced the platform as it had rotted out after my dad died, and I cemented in the casing. It is a very good well which never runs dry, even with a new submersible pump in it several years ago. I know this as some idiot, namely me, forgot to turn the pump off one day, and it pumped all night and never went dry.In fact, the last time I had that platform off, I noted that the water was about 10 feet from the ground level. This is a well that is worth more than gold as it never goes dry.
  In revisiting all of this from the start, the rural people were lied to about nitrates and nitrites, which they were being fed in processed food like all America. Their wells were safe, but there was a massive push to start capping wells, and to make the majority of Americans in the rural areas to suck on the same regime pipeline that city people were for the same inoculation effects.
  There are always the whispers of meters on wells for taxation, exactly like the new monitoring of pipeline wells and electricity now. It is all by design, and you will note this is aimed at American since that fraud "recycling" craze was foisted upon Americans in suddenly short supply of oil in "peak oil" and there was too much garbage in landfills.If China, India and Indonesia do not have a garbage problem with 10 times the people America has, then America even in packaged products was not producing too much refuse.
  The reality of this is water. It is not about wells being poison, but a "next grande scheme" of something necessity to be sold, but you will not have the right to that commodity.I have shown you they tax your breathing, in the only way possible now in carbon taxes. This same cartel is intent on taxing the water you drink which it has.The next process is to seize control of the watersheds across America, and the first step of the 1970's was to scare people from drinking their own water, to cap the wells and to put them onto a system where they were buying the water they were drinking.
  This will then be expanded as water will be the commodity to replace oil as when the shift from oil takes place, something will be required to glean from the mass population their money so they have no funds to become political competitors in fighting back.
  There is a coming programme which will not allow a Citizen to drill for water on their own property and wells will be grandfathered out of existence, in when they are in ruin or "dangerous" due to some parts per trillion naturally occurring substance, they will then be forced to be capped.That water then will be reborn in conglomerate pumping stations using their water tankers to provide water to the thirsty Asians.
  It is as has only been exposed here, in the American farmer was penalized for inert matter in grain in selling it, so it was cleaned, and then that same grain in Cargill shipping points was having tons of rat feces poured into it, as it was "legal" for so much inert matter to be in that grain and rat poop is cheap.
  The same is of the Rothschilds in India buying up land there, and producing toxic grains due to high metal pollutant content in the soils. That grain was not dumped nor the land condemned. That grain was simply resold to markets were it was "legally hidden".
  It will be the same with this water. It is called poison in America, to gain a monopoly, but it will by miracle be "natural" when it comes to a conglomerate selling it to Americans or Asians.
  This is about the absolute control akin to the complaint in the Bible after the exile of the Judahites, in they lamented they had to buy their own water from their own wells, their own food from their own plants and their own food from their own trees.
  Only this blog has exposed this reality in what this is all about. It is impossible for sanctioned meat preservatives to be "safe" and yet that same naturally occurring chemical found in water is suddenly a cancer causing poison in lesser amounts.
  Americans are being lied to.
  Personally, I do have a physical problem with nitrites. They bother my system and I bleed from eating them as they both inflame and weaken my tissues, as they are designed to kill bacteria, and the intestine of a human is full of necessary bacteria.There is though a vast difference between naturally occurring nitrates and nitrites in well water. If you want the facts, in Minnesota where they have huge desposits of granite, the big scare tactic is radon gas which is radioactive, and it forms in basements or homes sealed tighter than an Ashkenaz purse at a Christian Church collection plate.
  In parts per trillion, Minnesota water will have higher traces of radioactive nature, simply because of the granite. That does not make the water dangerous as no one has died in Minnesota ever from drinking water with radon in it, but it is the reality that every region in this world has something naturally in that water as the ground has to be made of something.
  For my own conclusions, I would never be bothered about testing or looking at any well as something that was a danger in having nitrites or nitrates or anything else in it. I would keep any well that had water in it. For drinking water, I would charcoal filter it up to a point, but I would keep that well no matter what. I would also make certain if I could afford it, to have a well on my property, where a pipeline could be sunk and then a concrete "well" placed so far down so that when the water naturally rose in the pipe, it would reach this "cistern well" where I could then use a bucket to obtain water when the electric was out.
  All of those old hand dug wells are disappearing, and I do make the point in what are people going to drink without a power source to pump that water? You will have rivers and streams where you will get diarrhea from that supply which will weaken you and kill you, as it will be enough to deal with keeping warm, fighting bugs and fighting people for food.
  The few small springs will be a disaster as hundreds of feet trampling around will pollute them as people spit and pee in them or have their pets along pooping along the shore........if the police are not standing there shooting people, as it will be a protected water source.
  Drinking rain water is something I would not care to do in a cistern gathering water off my roof. There is too much everything in that I care not to consider.
  That leaves a private well unnoticed by government nor neighbors in times of trouble.
  There would not have been this much effort in scaring people off their own wells if something was not being planned like sodomy, carbon taxes or legalize rape of children. The cartel lied to people about water when putting the same chemicals in meat to sell them. There is a reason for this, and people can now start pondering the above in being informed.
  The rich could ponder donating as they ponder drilling their own private well.
  nuff said
  agtG
Why EDM Is Thriving While Other Genres Are Sinking
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  Archived Version
  Source: LIVE@LEEDS
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:40
  Katie Bain 01/16/13 VillageVoice.com
  DJs are the new rock stars? Maybe. (Although chefs are already the new rock stars.) Still, the big name DJs do seem to be living pretty large, what with the constant travel to exotic locations, goofily-clad fans, eager women, drugs and parties. Just swap MacBooks for guitars and it doesn't look so different from the way Zeppelin rolled in 1973.
  See also: Why Is Everyone So Pissed About the EDM Reality Show?
  What's missing, however, are album sales. Despite the genre's re-emergence in recent years to gargantuan crowds, you won't find most electronic artists on the mainstream charts, at least outside of the marquee names like Skrillex, Deadmau5, and Swedish House Mafia. Albums and singles are rarely certified at the gold and platinum levels. (Skrillex's ''Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,'' which introduced a whole generation to dubstep, just recently passed a million in sales '-- more than two years after its release!) And while streaming services like Spotify and Rdio are earning artists a few dimes here and there, much electronic music is given away for free online.
  And yet, many EDM DJs are richer than God. From SF Weekly's Ian Port in his (excellent) story on Bassnectar:
  Local promoters estimate the act earns around $75,000 to $100,000 per show, and Bassnectar plays about 150 shows a year. ''I'm in the 1 percent, for sure,'' [he] says. ''I pay a fucking sickening amount of taxes '' sickening.''
  While the shitty state of today's music industry has artists in most genres struggling to pay their rents, EDM is healthy '-- in fact thriving. It's not just because the music is increasingly popular, it's because the players are milking live shows for all they're worth. Promoters and booking agents know that name DJs will sell out festivals and clubs, and the DJs can thus charge big fees for appearances.
  But that's not all: DJs can moonlight at smaller clubs, after parties and private events. Diplo, for example told Rolling Stone that he pulled ''like, $75,000 for an hour set'' at a private event for a video game company. Then there are licensing deals and endorsements.
  ''Before DJs were touring mainstage acts, they were entertainment for clubs,'' says Matt Goldman, founder of long running downtown Los Angeles club night Dance Right and a partner in Production Club, the company behind Skrillex' stage production. ''If you were a good DJ, you made that bar tons of cash because you kept people there spending money. With a band, it's all about ticket sales. With a DJ it's about playing the kind of music that holds people in the room.''
  Las Vegas especially has been on the the forefront of the EDM trend, with clubs booking artists including Deadmau5, Diplo, Avicii and Steve Aoki for weekly residencies, thus basically guaranteeing their venues fill up week after week. Creating the parties that fans consistently want is one of the primary reason DJs can charge big money for sets.
  ''If you're going to play for a thousand people and those thousand people are buying bottles and drinking,'' Goldman says, ''that building is going to make ten times more money than if they're just selling tickets and rum and cokes while people stand and watch a show.''
  Even DJs without big names can often make a profit, simply because they have less overhead than a standard band. An artist with a plane ticket, a laptop and a friend's couch to crash on are basically a one-person show.
  In this atmosphere, younger acts can make money and create a name for themselves without signing a record deal. The deals that do exist often sidestep the trappings of the old music industry. Mad Decent imprint Jeffree's, for example, gives its artists' music away for free and then keeps a percentage of each artist's licensing deals.
  ''The thing that will always prevail, especially in this scene,'' Goldman says, ''is a DIY situation where someone is a breakout artist, makes a great tune, puts it on the Internet, people find it, and then people want to fuck with that person.''
  Of course, the game changes when your act blows up, and you're expected to have compelling visuals as well '-- think Deadmau5'² LED cube, and Skrillex' spaceship.
  ''When you're at the top of the DJ world, [much] of your guarantee is going towards massive, incredible productions,'' Goldman says ''Skrillex is an example of that, Boys Noize, Swedish House Mafia, Avicii. All of the top guys have these huge productions they bring with them; that is becoming a big part of the game. ''
  As such, there is an increasing amount of overhead for top tier producers. This trend is also trickling down as smaller acts try and keep up. ''It's funny, because of the stigma of the button pushing thing and because DJs are so ubiquitous now, smaller and smaller acts are working out deals to get productions going.''
  And while big touring DJs can still move units, record sales are more of a perk than a goal.
  ''The industry isn't about album sales anymore,'' Goldman says, ''so revenues are not directly benefiting the record labels as much as they're benefiting everybody who's involved with the actual live shows themselves.'' This includes managers and crew members. Furthermore, many of the top DJs have started their own labels, like Deadmau5'² Mau5trap, Fool's Gold, and Steve Aoki's Dim Mak.
  ''At a certain point,'' Goldman says, ''you just become an industry.''
  Here's hoping it doesn't repeat the mistakes of the old music industry.
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  Tags: DJ's, EDM
  This entry was posted on November 19, 2013 at 3:54 am and is filed under Musicians. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Statement by the President
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  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:39
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  November 18, 2013
  I am deeply disappointed that Senate Republicans have once again refused to do their job and give well-qualified nominees to the federal bench the yes-or-no votes they deserve. The D.C. Circuit, considered the Nation's second-highest court, has three vacancies. These are judgeships created by Congress. Chief Justice John Roberts and the Judicial Conference of the United States believe that these vacancies should be filled, not removed. And my constitutional duty as President is to nominate highly qualified individuals to fill these vacancies.
  Patricia Millett, Nina Pillard, and Judge Robert Wilkins have all received the highest possible rating from the non-partisan American Bar Association. They have broad bipartisan support, and no one has questioned their merit. Yet Senate Republicans have blocked all three from receiving a yes-or-no vote. This obstruction is completely unprecedented. Four of my predecessor's six nominees to the D.C. Circuit were confirmed. Four of my five nominees to this court have been obstructed. When it comes to judicial nominations, I am fulfilling my constitutional responsibility, but Congress is not. Instead, Senate Republicans are standing in the way of a fully-functioning judiciary that serves the American people.
  The American people and our judicial system deserve better. A majority of the United States Senate supports these three extraordinary nominees, and it is time for simple yes-or-no votes without further obstruction or delay.
DNI Clapper Declassifies Additional Intelligence Community...
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  Archived Version
  Source: IC ON THE RECORD
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:38
  DNI Clapper Declassifies Additional Intelligence Community Documents Regarding Collection Under Section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
  November 18, 2013
  In June of this year, President Obama directed me to declassify and make public as much information as possible about certain sensitive programs while being mindful of the need to protect sensitive classified intelligence activities and national security. Since then, I have authorized the declassification and public release of numerous documents pertaining to the government's collection under Sections 501 and 702 of FISA.
  Today I authorized the declassification and public release of additional documents relating to collection under Section 501, bringing the total to nearly 2000 pages of documents released to the public so far, including 20 orders and opinions of the Foreign Surveillance Court, 11 pleadings and other documents submitted to the Court, 24 documents provided to Congress, and 20 reports, training slides, and other internal documents describing the legal basis for the programs and how they operate. The information released today includes a number of internal NSA documents, training slides and internal guidance, which demonstrate the care with which NSA's foreign intelligence collection pursuant to Section 501 is run, managed, and overseen. Also included is the United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18 which details policies and procedures to ensure NSA's missions and functions are conducted in a manner that safeguards the constitutional rights of U.S persons, and two opinions from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court concerning a now-discontinued NSA bulk electronic communications metadata program. These documents were properly classified and their declassification was not done lightly.
  Release of these documents reflects the Executive Branch's continued commitment to making information about this intelligence collection program publicly available when appropriate and consistent with the national security of the United States. Additionally, they demonstrate the extent to which the Intelligence Community kept both Congress and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court apprised of the status of the collection program under Section 215. Some information has been redacted because these documents include discussion of matters that continue to be properly classified for national security reasons and the harm to national security would be great if disclosed. These documents will be made available at the website of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and at ICOntheRecord.tumblr.com, the public website dedicated to fostering greater public visibility into the intelligence activities of the U.S. Government.
  James R. ClapperDirector of National Intelligence
  Today's ReleasesTraining. The documents released today include a number of internal NSA documents, including training slides and internal guidance. These documents explain in detail rules that have been put in place to ensure compliance with the law and to protect privacy rights in conducting the NSA's signals intelligence mission. Together, these documents demonstrate the care with which NSA's foreign intelligence collection pursuant to Section 501 is run, managed, and overseen. Each of the training documents details the efforts that NSA makes to ensure that the restrictions under which NSA operates are ingrained in the workforce charged with implementing the authority granted by Congress and authorized by the FISC.
  Minimization Procedures. In addition, as part of the Government's continuing effort to provide the public with additional information about how NSA conducts its activities, the DNI is publicly releasing United States Signal Intelligence Directive 18. This directive details policies and procedures designed to ensure that NSA's missions and functions are conducted as authorized by law and in a manner that is consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The directive sets forth the minimization policies and procedures regarding NSA's SIGINT activities, including the rules for the collection, retention, and dissemination of information about U.S. persons.
  Electronic Communications Metadata Collection Opinions. Finally, the DNI has authorized the declassification and public release of two opinions of the FISC concerning a now-discontinued NSA bulk electronic communications metadata program. The FISC authorized this program under Section 402 of FISA, the Pen Register and Trap and Trace (PR/TT) provision. Previous public releases by the DNI, including the FISC's opinion from October 3, 2011, referenced this program, and the fuller explanation of the program provided by today's release extends the DNI's commitment to providing greater transparency for FISA activities. Except for a brief period, the FISC reauthorized this program approximately every 90 days from its inception until it was discontinued in 2011. Throughout its operation, the program was briefed to the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees of Congress and generally referenced in the then-classified white papers provided to Congress during reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act in 2009 and 2010.
  The discontinued PR/TT program shared certain similarities to the NSA's bulk telephony metadata program'--the subject of previous releases'--in that the PR/TT program sought only the metadata associated with electronic communications and not their content; moreover, querying the metadata for both programs was permitted only for authorized counterterrorism purposes. Additionally, both programs operated with similar access, retention, and dissemination restrictions proposed by the Government and approved by the FISC. Given these operational similarities, many of the documents released today address both programs, sometimes side by side, even though, as noted above, the PR/TT program was conducted pursuant to a different legal authority from that authorizing the NSA's bulk telephony metadata program. At all times, the PR/TT program collected metadata from only a small percentage of world wide electronic communications traffic.
  Additional Information on the Discontinued PR/TT ProgramThe Program
  Under the now-discontinued PR/TT program, the FISC, after finding that the Government's applications satisfied the requirements of FISA and the Constitution, approved orders that enabled the Government to collect electronic communications metadata, such as the ''to,'' ''from,'' and ''cc'' lines of an email and the email's time and date. This program did not authorize the collection of the content of any electronic communications. Under this program, NSA could not read the content of any electronic communications for which the metadata was acquired. Like NSA's bulk telephony metadata program, this program was subject to several restrictions approved by the FISC, such as:
  The information had to be stored in secure databases.The information could be used only for counterterrorism purposes.The databases could be queried using an identifier such as an email address only when an analyst had a reasonable and articulable suspicion that the account or email address was associated with certain specified foreign terrorist organizations that were the subject of FBI counterterrorism investigations. The basis for that suspicion had to be documented in writing and approved by one of the 22 designated approving officials identified in the Court's Order. Moreover, if an identifier was reasonably believed to be used by a United States person, NSA's Office of General Counsel would also review the determination to ensure that suspected association was not based solely on First Amendment-protected activities.NSA was required to destroy the bulk metadata after a set period of time.The Documents Released
  The first PR/TT document released today is an opinion and order from the FISC that carefully analyzed and approved the Government's application to initiate this collection program. The Court's detailed 87-page opinion and 18-page order demonstrate the Court's searching and exhaustive review of the proposed program prior to its implementation. The opinion not only details the program's legal basis but also explains the procedures that NSA was required to follow in administering the program. The Court concluded that the NSA collection program was permissible under both FISA and the Constitution.
  The second PR/TT document released today is a 117-page FISC opinion, which authorized NSA to re-initiate the program following the Government's suspension of the program for several months to address compliance issues identified by the Government and brought to the Court's attention. As the Court's opinion explains, these incidents involved three general categories of compliance issues: (1) access to the metadata; (2) disclosure of query results and information derived from them; and (3) overcollection. Because of the significance and complexity of these incidents, the Government did not seek an order from the FISC to renew the program when it expired on its normal schedule, thus essentially suspending the program for several months. As detailed in the opinion released today, the Government addressed these concerns during that period and, after a careful review, the FISC approved the Government's application to resume collection on a modified basis.
  As previously stated, this electronic communications metadata bulk collection program has been discontinued. The Intelligence Community regularly assesses the continuing operational value of all of its collection programs. In 2011, the Director of NSA called for an examination of this program to assess its continuing value as a unique source of foreign intelligence information. This examination revealed that the program was no longer meeting the operational expectations that NSA had for it. Accordingly, after careful deliberation, the Government discontinued the program.
  Both of these opinions contained extensive technical discussions of the particular means by which the collection was to be accomplished, particular targets of the collection, and other sensitive intelligence matters that must remain classified. Accordingly, they are being released in redacted form.
  Executive Branch InitiativesUpon discovery in 2009 of longstanding compliance issues associated with NSA's electronic communications and telephony bulk metadata collection programs, NSA recognized that its compliance and oversight structure had not kept pace with its operational momentum and the evolving and challenging technological environment in which it functioned. NSA, in close coordination with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice, therefore undertook significant steps to address these issues from a structural, managerial, and training perspective. The Director of NSA ordered comprehensive reviews of both of these collection programs to ensure that they were being implemented in accordance with all applicable legal requirements. Concurrently, NSA created the position of Director of Compliance to focus on the NSA-wide structural, managerial, and training improvements necessary to keep NSA's activities consistent with the law, policies, and procedures designed to protect privacy. NSA continues to enhance training for both operational and technical personnel. NSA has added additional technology-based safeguards and has implemented procedures to ensure accuracy and precision in its filings before the FISC. NSA has also enhanced its oversight coordination with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice. NSA's senior leadership is directly involved in and responsible for compliance efforts across NSA, including regular senior leadership reviews of NSA's privacy compliance program.
  Since 2009 and the discovery of the compliance incidents related to NSA's bulk metadata programs, the Government has continued to increase its focus on compliance and oversight. Today, NSA's compliance program is directly supported by over three hundred personnel, a threefold increase in just four years. This increase was designed to address changes in technology and authorities enacted as part of the FISA Amendments Act to confront evolving threats. This increase also reflects the commitment on the part of the Intelligence Community and the rest of the Government to ensuring that its intelligence collection activities are conducted responsibly and in accordance with the law.
  The Government continues to evaluate whether additional information concerning the use of FISA authorities can be made public, consistent with protecting national security.
  LIST OF RELEASES:
  Reports to CongressThe Attorney General's Annual Reports on Requests for Access to Business Records under FISA for Years 2006-2012
  April 10, 2009 NSA notification memorandum to SSCI on the status of the on-going NSA-initiated end-to-end review of its bulk telephony metadata programs conducted pursuant to Section 501 of FISA, and bulk electronic communications metadata program conducted pursuant to Section 402 of FISA.
  June 29, 2009 NSA notification memorandum to SSCI on the status of the on-going NSA-initiated end-to-end review of its bulk telephony metadata program conducted pursuant to Section 501 of FISA, and bulk electronic communications metadata program conducted pursuant to Section 402 of FISA.
  December 1, 2010 NSA memorandum to SSCI explaining that NSA does not acquire cell site location information pursuant to the bulk electronic communications metadata program, and with the exception of a limited sampling for testing purposes, does not acquire such information pursuant to the bulk telephony metadata program.
  Production to Congress of a May 23, 2006 Government Memorandum of Law in support of its Application to the FISC for authorization to conduct bulk telephony metadata collection under Section501 of FISA. Included with the Memorandum of Law is a copy of United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18 (USSID 18), which prescribes policies and procedures, and assigns responsibilities, to ensure that NSA's signals intelligence activities are conducted in a manner that is appropriate under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
  April 27, 2005 Prepared Testimony from Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, and Robert S. Mueller, III, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Justice Before the Select Committee on Intelligence discussing the government's use of USA PATRIOT Act authorities in combating international terrorism.
  FISC Submissions, Opinions and OrdersOpinion of the FISC granting the Government's application seeking the collection of bulk electronic communications metadata pursuant to Section 402 of FISA, the Pen Register and Trap and Trace (PR/TT) provision.
  Opinion of the FISC granting the Government's application seeking to re-instate NSA's bulk electronic communications metadata program following the Government's suspension of the program for several months to address compliance issues identified by the Government and brought to the Court's attention.
  Order and Supplemental Order of the FISC in response to the Government's reporting of a compliance incident related to NSA's dissemination of certain query results discovered during NSA's end-to-end review of its bulk telephony metadata program, and ordering the Government to report on a weekly basis, any disseminations of information from that program outside of NSA and provide further explanation of the incident in its final report upon completion of the end-to-end review.
  July 17, 2006 Court-ordered NSA Inspector General and General Counsel report on the adequacy of the management controls for the processing and dissemination of U.S. person information collected under NSA's bulk telephony metadata program. The report finds that although the NSA-designed management controls governing the processing, dissemination, security, and oversight of telephony metadata and U.S. person information are adequate, several aspects exceed the terms of the Court's Order, and proposes additional controls to enhance the protection of US person information.
  August 17, 2006 NSA Presentation for the FISC regarding NSA's bulk telephony metadata program pursuant to Section 501 of FISA, and notification of two compliance issues concerning the collection.
  September 1, 2009 NSA Presentation for the FISC regarding NSA's bulk telephony metadata program pursuant to Section 501 of FISA for the purpose of demonstrating NSA's compliance with the Court's Orders, and NSA's operational use of the bulk telephony metadata program in its counterterrorism missions while appropriately protecting privacy.
  September 5, 2006 Cover filing submission to the FISC of the standard minimization procedures governing the retention and dissemination by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of information received by FBI pursuant to Section 501 of FISA.
  May 8, 2009 Government Memorandum to the FISC providing preliminary notice of a compliance incident identified during the ongoing NSA-initiated end-to-end review of NSA's bulk telephony metadata program under Section 501 of FISA.
  July 20, 2009 Order of the FISC approving the Government's request for authorization to provide the application and orders in docket number BR 06-05 to congressional committees consistent with the Government's congressional reporting requirements.
  NSA Internal Procedures, Guidance, and Training MaterialsUnited States Signals Intelligence Directive 18 (USSID 18) dated July 27, 1993, which prescribes policies and procedures designed to ensure that NSA's missions and functions are conducted as authorized by law in a manner that is consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The directive sets forth the minimization policies and procedures regarding NSA's SIGINT activities, including the rules for the collection, retention, and dissemination of information about U.S. persons.
  United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18 (USSID 18) dated January 25, 2011, which prescribes policies and procedures designed to ensure that NSA's missions and functions are conducted as authorized by law in a manner that is consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The directive sets forth the minimization policies and procedures regarding NSA's SIGINT activities, including the rules for the collection, retention, and dissemination of information about U.S. persons.
  Undated PowerPoint slide describing the requirements for verifying that only metadata, and not content, is collected consistent with Court order.
  Undated NSA summary of requirements for the collection of bulk telephony metadata under Section 501 of FISA
  January 8, 2007 NSA web'--based training slides on NSA's bulk telephony metadata program pursuant to Section 501 of FISA. Topics include: 1) Court-ordered requirements; 2) the reasonable articulable suspicion (RAS) standard; 3) First Amendment considerations; and 4) Minimization procedures governing the accessing, sharing, retention, and dissemination of information.
  January 8, 2007 Interim Competency Test for NSA analysts on legal and compliance issues concerning queries of bulk telephony metadata acquired by NSA pursuant to Section 501 of FISA.
  January 8, 2007 NSA PowerPoint presentation, designed for use by NSA personnel with access to the bulk telephony metadata acquired by NSA pursuant to Section 501 of FISA, for purposes of performing analytical functions, including:
  (1) Court-ordered requirements;(2) The reasonable articulable suspicion (RAS) standard;(3) First Amendment considerations; and(4) Minimization procedures governing the accessing, sharing, retention, and dissemination of information.
  August 2009 NSA Cryptological School Course on Legal, Compliance, and Minimization Procedures. These course materials, designed for NSA personnel provided access to bulk telephony and electronic communications metadata acquired pursuant to Section 501 of FISA and Section 402 of FISA respectively, include:
  (1) Background on constitutional constraints under the Fourth Amendment for NSA collection activities;(2) Legal framework and applicable standards for collection, retention, dissemination of information under FISA and Executive Order 12333;(3) Guidance on collection, processing, retention, and dissemination of information under United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18 (USSID 18); and(4) Oversight and compliance issues relating to access and use of SIGINT databases and information.
  August 29, 2008 NSA memorandum providing guidance on NSA policy as to the applicable legal standards for querying bulk telephony metadata acquired pursuant to Section 501 of FISA, and bulk electronic communications metadata acquired pursuant to Section 402 of FISA.
  September 2008 Attorney General's Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations, which establishes the framework for the use of authorities and investigative methods to protect the United States from terrorism and other threats to the national security, and to further United States foreign intelligence objectives, in a manner consistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States.
  NSA Core Intelligence Oversight Training materials relating to NSA signals intelligence collection activities, including:
  (1) Executive Order 12333;(2) December 1982 DOD Procedures Governing the Activities of DOD Intelligence Components That Affect United States Persons (DoD 5240 1-R);(3) NSA/Central Security Service (CSS) Policy 1-23, Procedures Governing NSA/CSS Activities that Affect U.S. Persons, which establishes procedures and assigns responsibilities to ensure that the signals intelligence and information assurance missions of NSA and the Central Security Service are conducted in a manner consistent with the privacy rights of U.S. persons as required by law, executive orders, DOD policies and instructions, and internal policy; and(4) DoD Guidance for Reporting Questionable Intelligence Activities and Significant or Highly Sensitive Matters (DTM 08-052).
  2011 NSA Course Materials regarding NSA's bulk telephony metadata program pursuant to Section 501 of FISA, and NSA's bulk electronic communications metadata program pursuant to Section 402 of FISA. These materials contrast the differences between the authorities granted for the two programs, detail the limitations on accuse, use, and retention of information collected under these two programs, and explain the role of the two programs in the context of the broader set of NSA's SIGINT authorities.
A note to the Philippes
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:36
  As a note from Lame Cherry to the Filipinos of the southern islands..........
  In the Spanish American War, the Americans saved you from Spanish Imperialism. The Americans educated you, employed you and treated you to advance your society.
  In World War II, Americans once again defended you, to the extent that General Douglas MacArthur bucked President Franklin Roosevelt who wanted to leave you a Japanese enclave as not worth liberating.
  For that, in the 1980's you booted out dictator Ferdinand Marcos, a national hero of World War II. For that, you had installed for you that blithering idiot, Corazon Aquino in your "people power".For that, you booted Americans out of our base in Subic Bay, in being the worst sort of ungrateful people of the New World anti American Order.
  For that, you passed laws prohibiting American bases on your islands, to which America has been operating covert bases as grande as ever, which do little to employ or help the Filipino people.
  Now I watch you with a typhoon, that has flooded your southern Muslim areas, and listen to you bitch about your worthless government is not saving you or assisting you. Well welcome to the adult world, in you chose that regime, but yet I see you flocking around with signs in English begging American military transports to feed, clothe, water and shelter you for hundreds of millions of dollars.
  You chose this path much to the humiliation of America and Americans. I remind you of that little matter of the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in Terry Nichols traveled to the Philippines to learn how to be a terrorist from your terrorists.I remind you that it was the Philippines which had aerial connections to the 9 11 terror attack on America.I remind you, that is it your outlaw militant Isalm in the southern islands which is a festering sore upon the Philippines, the Pacific and America.
  You caused this, all of this. Now after all your misbehavior you come begging to Americans for help after pissing on America, and teaching terrorists to murder Americans.
  I have no compassion on you. You should have all been washed out to sea and the world would have been a better situation for the ingrates you are.
  In that, the Continentalist Party is not about giving free aid to people like yourselves in the massive Obama debt. Oh yes, then there is your boy Birther Hussein Obama Chin, whose mother was imported from the Philippines for Barack Obama sr. as an anchor wife in Hawaii, whereby she birthed this foreign agent known as Obama which has brought America to utter ruin.
  So the Continentalist Party now places the Philippines on alert. You have proven you are incapable of governing yourselves. You can not even respond to a typhoon you were warned was coming. For the American response, the bill to you now is the passing of laws bringing about the military governorship of the Philippines again, with full military access and Filipino assistance.Furthermore, our Subic Bay and Clark Field, along with anything else of property Americans desire to reclaim is the cost of this American assistance.
  This is the Continentalist Policy response. You will be chastised for kicking America out after all Americans did for you. You will be made to disciplined to respect your keepers. You will be kept in managed freedom whereby when storms come, you will be evacuated and supplies will be on hand to assist you, along with rebuilding your homes on elevated ground so you do not all become drown rats again.
  You have behaved badly. The Continentalist Party will neither forgive nor forget. You owe a debt and will be made to pay it. The Continentalist Party is the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution who will require back Theodore Roosevelt's Panama Canal, payment of the Iraqi and Afghanistan people for those wars in their liberation in oil and resources, and, the list will expand upon every region, including the western Europeans in that immense Cold War debt owed to America for providing defense and that matter of trillions which your Birther Hussein looted from America and then dumped in the European banks.
  You do not deserve respect, but deserve exactly the above. You have a choice in either paying the bills due or being turned over to the Peking regime, where your women will be turned over to be marriage raped by the millions of available Chicom males, while your male are turned into production slaves.
  So ends this policy statement of the Continentalist Party in America.
  agtG
JECH : Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:31
  Kate L Mandeville1,Sam O'Neill2,Andrew Brighouse3,Alice Walker4,Kielan Yarrow5,Kenneth Chan61Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK2School of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK3Accident and Emergency Department, Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, Harlow, UK4Accident and Emergency Department, Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, UK5Department of Psychology, City University London, London, UK6Barts and The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, London, UKCorrespondence to Dr Kate L Mandeville, Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SH, UK; kate.mandeville@lshtm.ac.ukReceived 17 July 2013Revised 7 September 2013Accepted 18 September 2013Published Online First 11 November 2013AbstractBackground Concerns have been raised over competing interests (CoI) among academics during the 2009 to 2010 A/H1N1 pandemic. Media reporting can influence public anxiety and demand for pharmaceutical products. We assessed CoI of academics providing media commentary during the early stages of the pandemic.
  Methods We performed a retrospective content analysis of UK newspaper articles on A/H1N1 influenza, examining quoted sources. We noted when academics made a risk assessment of the pandemic and compared this with official estimations. We also looked for promotion or rejection of the use of neuraminidase inhibitors or H1N1-specific vaccine. We independently searched for CoI for each academic.
  Results Academics were the second most frequently quoted source after Ministers of Health. Where both academics and official agencies estimated the risk of H1N1, one in two academics assessed the risk as higher than official predictions. For academics with CoI, the odds of a higher risk assessment were 5.8 times greater than those made by academics without CoI (Wald p value=0.009). One in two academics commenting on the use of neuraminidase inhibitors or vaccine had CoI. The odds of CoI in academics promoting the use of neuraminidase inhibitors were 8.4 times greater than for academics not commenting on their use (Fisher's exact p=0.005).
  Conclusions There is evidence of CoI among academics providing media commentary during the early H1N1 pandemic. Heightened risk assessments, combined with advocacy for pharmaceutical products to counter this risk, may lead to increased public anxiety and demand. Academics should declare, and journalists report, relevant CoI for media interviews.
  IntroductionThe UK spent an estimated one billion pounds on pharmaceutical products during the 2009 to 2010 A/H1N1 influenza pandemic, including neuraminidase inhibitors (NI) and H1N1-specific vaccine.1 Pharmaceutical companies made profits of 4.5''6.5 billion pounds from H1N1 vaccines alone.2 This was despite the evaluation of the pandemic as less severe than previous pandemics3,4 and uncertainty over the effectiveness of neuraminidase inhibitors (a type of antiviral medication) in reducing transmission and complications of influenza.5
  In the postpandemic period, there were significant concerns about competing interests (CoI) among experts on influential advisory committees, including the WHO Emergency Committee.2,6,7 Members of these committees have been linked to manufacturers of both neuraminidase inhibitors and influenza vaccines.7,8 There have been repeated calls for greater transparency around the potential influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the decisions made by these committees.2,6,7,9
  Public health academics are often asked to provide commentary and analysis on emerging health risks by the media. Media coverage of health issues has been shown to influence the public's perception of risk, demand for new drugs and policy decisions.10''13 In the UK, extensive media advocacy of the breast cancer drug trastuzumab (Herceptin) resulted in a 'fast-track' approval from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence,14 but there was subsequent debate over the cost-effectiveness of the drug.15 It has been suggested that optimistic media portrayals may be more successful for pharmaceutical companies than explicit promotional campaigns as ''the message is separated from an obvious marketing agenda and often includes a trusted voice, such as a university-based researcher. Paradoxically, this trust is based in part on a belief in the perceived independence of university researchers''.16 Like those on advisory committees, academics quoted in the media may also have possible CoI. Media commentaries, therefore, represent an alternative route to exert pressure on public demand and one in which CoI are not routinely declared.
  We set out to examine media commentary on A/H1N1 influenza provided by academics during the period in which the UK government decided its policy on public provision of NI and H1N1-specific vaccine (NI/vaccine). We then independently searched for CoI for each academic to determine whether commentary from academics with and without CoI was significantly different.
  MethodsDesign and settingThis study was a retrospective content analysis of UK newspaper reporting. We excluded television and radio coverage, as audiovisual reporting is often limited by time constraints and presents less divergent viewpoints and in-depth analysis compared with print media.17,18
  Selection of newspaper articlesFigure 1 shows the flow of articles through the study. We used the Nexis-UK database, which provides full-text access to all UK national newspapers. Twelve UK national newspapers were included in the sample (January 2009 circulation figures are given in parentheses19): Daily Mirror (1'…366'…891), Sunday Mirror (1'…244'…007), The Sun (3'…146'…006), News of the World (3'…031'…025), Daily Mail (2'…200'…398), The Mail on Sunday (2'…134'…809), The Guardian (358'…844), The Independent (215'…504), The Observer (427'…867), Daily Telegraph (783'…210), The Times (617'…483) and The Sunday Times (1'…198'…984). These were selected in order to ensure coverage from tabloid, middle-market and broadsheet publications, daily and Sunday newspapers, and left and right political orientations so that a range of perspectives and reporting styles were represented. This typology has been used in previous content analyses.20,21
  Figure 1Flow of articles through study.
  The database was searched using the following terms (an exclamation mark is used as a truncator in this database): H1N1, Influenza A, Swine !flu!, Pandemic !flu!, Pig !flu!. Only articles that contained at least three mentions of the search terms were eligible for inclusion in order to select articles where H1N1 influenza was the main theme. Articles with a different focus entirely, such as business, sports and non-news articles like obituaries, were excluded. Search dates were between 20 April and 5 July 2009, the period in which the major decisions on pharmaceuticals as part of the pandemic response were taken by the UK government. Key events and policy decisions within this period are summarised in table 1.1,22 News coverage dropped off considerably after this period.20
  Table 1Key events, official risk assessments and UK policy decisions during study period
  Using these criteria, 712 articles were eligible for inclusion. These were extracted into Microsoft Word and screened by one of the authors. Duplicate articles from later editions of the newspapers and any remaining articles as per exclusion criteria above were excluded, leaving 425 articles in the final sample. These provided a good coverage of formats, frequencies and political orientation, taking into account the circulation figures above (figure 1).
  Coding frameworkEach article was assessed independently by two authors using a standardised coding framework consisting of two sections.
  The first section categorised the sources quoted in each article. The main categories consisted of Health Secretary/Minister (of England and the Devolved Administrations'--Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland); Department of Health (of England and the Devolved Administrations); Chief Medical Officer (of England and the Devolved Administrations); World Health Organization (WHO); the UK's Health Protection Agency (HPA), the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC); pharmaceutical company representative; and named academic (defined here as a researcher or academic clinician affiliated with a higher educational body or research institute in the article).
  The second section looked in greater detail at those articles that quoted academic sources. First, we examined whether academics made a risk assessment of the emerging pandemic. For example, quotes such as ''this is going to affect millions of people in England'' or ''thousands of people could die from this virus'' would be a risk assessment. We then checked whether the academic cited official figures or whether there was a risk assessment made by an official body relevant to the UK population quoted within the same article (defined as WHO, Health Secretary/Minister(s), Chief Medical Officer(s), Department(s) of Health or HPA). Table 1 presents examples of risk assessments from these agencies during the study period. We used the official risk assessments as a benchmark to measure each academic risk assessment: judging whether it concurred with the official estimate, or was higher or lower (ie, implying more or less risk to the public).
  All quotes by academics were then examined for reference to the use of NI or influenza vaccine. Those that made reference to NI/vaccine were further analysed as to whether they promoted or rejected the use of these products. The analysis was performed according to a pre-agreed consensus on terms. 'Promotion' was defined as advocacy of the effectiveness, need for or supply shortages of NI/vaccine. Conversely, 'rejection' referred to statements highlighting the adverse effects, ineffectiveness of or lack of need for NI/vaccine.
  The coding framework was piloted on 20 articles by both coders, with subsequent minor modifications made to definitions before coding of the complete data set. Cohen's kappa was calculated to determine inter-rater agreement between the qualitative measures of risk assessment and promotion/rejection of pharmaceutical products.23,24 Disagreements between coders were assessed by a third researcher for final arbitration. Microsoft Excel was used for all coding and calculations.
  Evidence of CoIFor each named academic, we performed a comprehensive search for CoI based on the protocol from a recent study examining CoI in authors of clinical practice guidelines.25 This was undertaken by two researchers who did not take part in the coding in order to minimise bias. We used the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' definition that ''Conflicts of interests exists when an author ('...) has financial or personal relationships that inappropriately influence (bias) his or her actions)''.26 For each academic, we looked for associations with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies, in the form of grants (including research), honorariums, speakers' fees, consultant/adviser/employee relationships and stock ownership.25 These could be personal, indicating benefit to that individual (eg, honorariums), or non-personal, indicating benefit to a department or organisation for which an academic has managerial responsibility (eg, research grants).16 We searched for CoI from the 4'…years before the start of the pandemic, that is, March 2005 to March 2009. This is consistent with the WHO's standard that CoI should be declared if incurred in the 4'…years before acting in an expert advisory role.25,27
  For each academic, we made the following searches in a sequential manner, stopping after each stage if a CoI was identified:
  The CoI statements (where available) for four major scientific advisory committees relevant to this issue: Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (UK), Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (UK), WHO Emergency Committee and WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts.
  Funding sources detailed on the individual's profile page on the website of affiliated institution.
  A general internet search using Google linking ''(name of academic)'' with respectively ''vaccine'', ''neuraminidase inhibitor'', ''antiviral'', ''Oseltamivir'', ''Zanamivir'' and the name of the main pharmaceutical companies producing neuraminidase inhibitors (Roche, GlaxoSmithKline) and influenza vaccine (Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Baxter International, Sanofi-Pasteur). The list of manufacturers was obtained through the electronic Medicines Compendium (http://www.emc.medicines.org.uk).
  CoI and funding declarations on all publications in the past 4'…years. These were identified through the PubMed/Medline database.
  Two authors identified CoI, and a separate author verified the presence of CoI.
  We calculated the likelihood of a risk assessment being higher than official estimates if it was made by an academic with CoI compared with those without CoI. As some academics made multiple risk assessments, we used a variant of the generalised linear model (generalised estimating equations, using a binary logistic link function, with an exchange correlation matrix) to take account of clustering.28 We also calculated the likelihood of an academic who promoted or rejected the use of NI/vaccine having CoI compared with academics who provided general commentary, using Fisher's exact test. All statistics were calculated in SPSS V.19.
  ResultsQuoted sourcesMinisters of Health were the most frequently quoted sources (144/425, 33.9% of articles), while academics were the second most commonly quoted (29.7%, 126/425). Other common sources included WHO (27.8%, 118/425), Departments of Health (21.6%, 92/425), HPA (19.1%, 81/425), Chief Medical Officers (16.2%, 69/425) and CDC (5.6%, 24/425). Pharmaceutical companies were quoted in just eight articles (1.9%). A total of 61 named academics were quoted within the sample.
  Risk assessmentsAcademics made 74 risk assessments, over half of which were higher than with those made by official agencies in the same article (59.5%, 44/74). In nearly a quarter, 23.0%, 17/74), academics concurred with official risk assessments and in 17.6% (13/74), academics estimated the risk as lower. Table 2 gives some examples of these different categories of risk assessments.
  Table 2Examples of risk assessments made by academics and official agencies, by category assigned to academic risk assessment
  Use of NI/vaccineTwenty academics commented specifically on the use of NI/vaccine in 36 articles (8.5% of total articles). Ten academics (50%) promoted the use of NI whereas four specifically rejected their use (20%). Nine academics (45%) promoted the use of a vaccine, while none rejected its use. Three academics (15%) promoted the use of both NI and vaccine. Examples of quotes for these categories are illustrated in table 3. Cohen's kappa for inter-rater agreement was 0.66 (values between 0.61 and 0.80 indicate substantial inter-rater agreement).24
  Table 3Comments promoting or rejecting the use of neuraminidase inhibitors or vaccine
  Competing interestsA total of 61 named academics were quoted within the sample. We identified CoI in a third of these academics (29.5%, 18/61), through CoI declarations for scientific advisory committees (5), profile pages (2), internet searches (9) and publications (2). Most CoI were personal in nature (13/18, 72.2%), consisting of paid consultancies or advisory roles, directorships or stock in companies specialising in antiviral products. Seven CoI were non-personal (38.9%), relating to research grants or commercial work funded by pharmaceutical companies. Two academics held both personal and non-personal CoI.
  Out of the 44 risk assessments that were higher than official sources, 35 were made by academics with CoI. In contrast, 10 of the 30 risk assessments that concurred with or were lower than official sources were made by academics with CoI. As several academics made more than one risk assessment, data were fitted using generalised equalising equations. In this analysis, risk assessments were categorised as either being higher than official estimates or concurring with/lower than the official position, forming a binary dependent variable. The best-fitting model revealed that for risk assessments made by academics with CoI the odds of a higher risk assessment were 5.8 times greater compared with assessments made by academics without CoI (Wald p value=0.009).
  Out of the 20 academics who commented on the use of NI/vaccine in the pandemic, one in two had CoI (10, 50%). This is a higher proportion than the one in three academics on the WHO's Emergency Committee advisory group who declared CoI.8
  When we correlated CoI by type of comment, 7 out of 10 academics (70%) promoting the use of NI had CoI compared with 10 out of 47 (21.3%) of academics not commenting on their use (table 4). The odds of COI in academics promoting the use of NI were 8.4 times greater than for academics not commenting on the use of NI (Fisher's exact p=0.005). The odds of CoI in academics rejecting the use of NI were not significantly different to the odds in those not commenting their use (Fisher's exact p=1.0). Five out of nine academics (55.6%) promoting the use of a vaccine had a CoI compared with 13 out of 52 (25.0%) not commenting on its use, a non-significant trend (Fisher's exact p=0.11).
  Table 4Number of academics with competing interests by type of comment
  Only three articles in the entire sample noted that the quoted academics had a potential conflict of interest, with one columnist commenting that, ''it would be helpful if newspapers informed us of these things''.
  DiscussionDuring the period in which the UK government took its major decisions on pharmaceutical policy, one in two academics commenting on NI/vaccine use in UK national newspapers had CoI. The odds of CoI in academics promoting the use of NI were 8.4 times greater than for academics not commenting on the use of NI. If academics with CoI made an assessment of the risk of the pandemic, the odds of this risk assessment being higher than official sources were 5.8 times greater compared with assessments made by academics without CoI.
  CoI among academics on influential advisory committees have led to intense debate worldwide.2,6,7 This study estimates, for the first time, the prevalence of CoI among academics providing media commentary during the early H1N1 pandemic. We combined a rigorous search for CoI with a comprehensive sample of nationally prominent media during a critical policymaking period. Our findings are based on a small sample, however, and should be viewed as a scoping study. They are corroborated by a study by Moynihan et al29 examining news coverage of three medications for non-communicable diseases, which found that out of 170 stories citing an expert or a scientific study, 50% (85) cited those with a financial tie to the drug manufacturer. Indeed, a study looking at UK newspapers' representations of the H1N1 pandemic found little discussion of the profits that pharmaceutical companies would make from the development of a H1N1-specific vaccine and few articles describing the potential side effects of vaccines.20
  It is clear from our results that academics constitute an accessible and trusted source for journalists. Academics were the second most commonly quoted source after Ministers of Health, and therefore hold a unique and powerful position for communication on emerging public health issues. However, in a third of cases, academics estimated the risk of the emerging pandemic as higher than official sources. We recognise that academics may be involved in modelling outcomes based on early estimates and may therefore predict higher risks than is borne out by more comprehensive data. In addition, journalists may seek out divergent viewpoints in order to provide balance within a story or to increase its newsworthiness. However, consensus among risk assessors during public health emergencies is important to decrease public anxiety, increase the effectiveness of risk communication and promote adherence to personal protective measures.30''32 We would suggest that this responsibility extends to the media as well, who may need to balance their investigative role with the need to provide a clear and consistent message during the early stages of a public health emergency. Indeed, content analyses of UK20 and European media reporting on H1N1 influenza33 found predominantly factual reporting with little evidence of sensationalism.
  Our results provide some evidence that the provision of higher risk assessments and the promotion of NI are associated with CoI among academics. These add to the growing body of literature highlighting the potential influence of the pharmaceutical industry on policy decisions through multiple avenues, including advisory committees6, drafting of guidelines25 and media commentary.16 This type of influence may be stronger for more familiar health issues, such as cancer, as the public response to emerging health risks is usually one of scepticism.30 Indeed, uptake of H1N1-specific vaccine during the pandemic among those in clinical risk groups was only 37.6%,34 which suggests that both the official vaccination campaign and any media support for vaccination had limited impact.
  There were several limitations to our study. Although this sample was drawn from a large number of articles, the number of academics actually commenting on the use of NI/vaccine was small. More quotes may have been obtained if the study period was extended to the end of the H1N1 pandemic in the UK, but any CoI would be less relevant after the main decisions on pharmaceutical products were taken. While newspaper articles provide a limited set of quotes, the actual interviews with academic sources were undoubtedly longer and may have contained more nuanced views than those represented by the quotes. The definitions and coding of promotion/rejection could be criticised as subjective, although similar definitions have been used in other content analyses.35 Finally, we performed a comprehensive search for CoI, but there may be further conflicts (disclosed or undisclosed) that were not identified here.
  Rather than trying to decrease commentary on public health issues from academics with CoI, a pragmatic approach would be to focus on the complete transparency of these interests36 and allow readers in any capacity to judge comments from academics with these in mind. Indeed, there have been repeated calls for journalists to investigate CoI in their quoted sources in science articles.16,37,38 In the study by Moynihan et al,29 financial ties to drug manufacturers that were disclosed in the scientific literature were only reported in 39% of the news stories. In our analysis, disclosure was present in only 3% of articles, which may reflect the more fast-moving nature of the pandemic news coverage. In spite of potential logistical difficulties, we echo Caulfield16 in his demand that all ''reporters should always ask for and researchers should always offer information about [financial associations]''.
  There are, admittedly, limitations to disclosure. Kassirer points out that disclosure currently tells us nothing about the magnitude of CoI.39 In addition, the interpretation of declared CoI can be subtle, as the emphasis is on complete disclosure of any CoI that may potentially influence an author outside of any judgement of their actual influence.40 It is not known whether this distinction would be appreciated by those unversed in the particularities of scientific CoI declarations. Researchers may be understandably reluctant to put this to the test as news stories about scientific CoI are often high profile. In a 10-year analysis of news media coverage of scientific CoI, McCormas and Simone found that nearly 1 in 10 stories appeared on the front page, suggesting a high degree of newsworthiness.40 Finally, journalists themselves may have undisclosed CoI that would impede truly impartial reporting.16
  Despite these obstacles, we would argue that undisclosed CoI degrades public confidence in medical research, to the detriment of the whole scientific community. We would recommend that these principles are extended to more settings. We call on all academics to declare any potential CoI when providing commentary to the mass media. We encourage journalists to ask for and report any CoI in their interviewees, so that readers can judge their comments in full light of the facts. As Caulfield puts it,16 complete transparency should now be the understood standard practice. Through these measures, the academic voice will retain its credibility in public health issues.
  What is already known on this subjectConsiderable public funding was spent on vaccines and antiviral medication during the 2009 to 2010 A/H1N1 pandemic.
  Subsequently, there were concerns over competing interests of academics serving on scientific advisory committees during the pandemic.
  Many academics also provide media commentary on emerging health risks, and the media has been shown to influence public risk perception and demand for new drugs.
  What this study addsAcademics with competing interests were more likely to predict a higher risk to the public from the pandemic than official agencies compared with those without any competing interests.
  Academics promoting the use of antiviral medication were more likely to have a competing interest than those not commenting on its use.
  Given the evidence of competing interests among academics providing media commentary, these should be declared before media interviews in order for public health to retain its independent voice.
  FootnotesContributors KM conceived and designed the study, and collected initial data. SON and KC performed the content analysis. AB and AW performed the search for competing interests. KM, KC, SON and KY analysed the data. KY performed the statistical analysis. KM wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors contributed to and approved the final manuscript.
  Funding KM is funded by the Wellcome Trust (grant number 09401). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.
  Competing interests None.
  Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
  Data sharing statement Unpublished data from the content analysis are available from the authors.
  This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 3.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
  References'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µAudit Bureau of Circulations (UK). National newspapers & bulk distribution: January 2009. Berkhamsted: Audit Bureau of Circulations, 2009.
  '†µ'†µ'†µHealth Protection Agency. The role of the Health Protection Agency in the 'containment' phase during the first wave of pandemic influenza in England in 2009. London: Health Protection Agency, 2010.
  '†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µDepartment of Health. Pandemic flu: a national framework for responding to an influenza pandemic. London: Department of Health, 2007.
  '†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ'†µ
Tesla needs to accept Bitcoin! : Bitcoin
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 11:07
  Bitcoin is the currency of the Internet: a distributed, worldwide, decentralized digital money. Unlike traditional currencies such as dollars, bitcoins are issued and managed without any central authority whatsoever: there is no government, company, or bank in charge of Bitcoin. As such, it is more resistant to wild inflation and corrupt banks. With Bitcoin, you can be your own bank.
  If you are new to Bitcoin, check out We Use Coins and Bitcoin.org. You can also explore the Bitcoin Wiki:
  How to buy bitcoinsBuy Reddit Gold using bitcoins!
  Will I earn money by mining?Security guide
  Community rulesDo not use URL shortening services: always submit the real link.Begging/asking for bitcoins is absolutely not allowed, no matter how badly you need the bitcoins. Only requests for donations to large, recognized charities are allowed, and only if there is good reason to believe that the person accepting bitcoins on behalf of the charity is trustworthy.News articles that do not contain the word "Bitcoin" are usually off-topic. This subreddit is not about general financial news.Submissions that are mostly about some other cryptocurrency belong elsewhere.No referral links in submissions.No compilations of free Bitcoin sites.Trades should usually not be advertised here. For example, submissions like "Buying 100 BTC" or "Selling my computer for bitcoins" do not belong here. /r/Bitcoin is primarily for news and discussion.Please avoid repetition '-- /r/bitcoin is a subreddit devoted to new information and discussion about Bitcoin and its ecosystem. New merchants are welcome to announce their services for Bitcoin, but after those have been announced they are no longer news and should not be re-posted. Aside from new merchant announcements, those interested in advertising to our audience should consider Reddit's self-serve advertising system.Related communities(Sorted roughly by decreasing popularity.)
  Bitcoin communitiesNon-Bitcoin communitiesJoin us on IRCirc.freenode.net #bitcoin and #bitcoin-dev
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  Ad campaignBitcoins sent here will eventually be used for a Reddit advertising campaign with the goal of promoting Bitcoin and /r/Bitcoin: 16KaCJB7fVuT6hvA7wzgzVjAnHz28bNvvh (1.878 BTC spent so far)
Inside The One-Man Intelligence Unit That Exposed The Secrets And Atrocities Of Syria's War
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:57
  There was something strange about the rockets that landed on Zamalka, a town south of Syria's capital, just after two in the morning on Aug. 21. They didn't explode. Yet even lodged into walls of homes or injected into the dirt fully intact, they proved lethal. Hundreds of people sleeping near the landing sites were killed instantly and bloodlessly, as if choked by invisible hands. A cloud of death spread quietly, ending hundreds of other lives.
  Just after dawn the following day, Muhammed al-Jazaeri, a 27-year-old engineer who had joined a coalition of activists fighting to take down the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, felt an urge to document what had occurred. He found one of the rockets protruding from a patch of orange dirt behind a mosque a mile from his home. Recalling later that he was determined to reveal to the world the "real picture" of life in Syria, he used a handheld Sony camera to capture a short video of its twisted remains. That same day, he uploaded his clip to a site that has become an intelligence hub for war-watchers and a time-killing venue for bored teenagers: He sent it to YouTube.
  Several hours later and 2,300 miles to the northwest in Leicester, England, a shaggy-haired blogger named Eliot Higgins peered at his laptop and clicked play on al-Jazaeri's video. It was one of scores Higgins turned up that day as he trawled Twitter, Google+ and the more than 600 Syrian YouTube accounts he monitors daily. From his living room, Higgins was racing to solve the same whodunit confronting world leaders amid claims that Assad had unleashed chemical weapons against rebel sympathizers in the suburbs of Damascus. Was Zamalka a victim of such an attack? If so, who was responsible for the deed?
  On paper, Higgins -- a 34-year-old with a 2-year-old daughter -- brought no credentials for the job. He had no formal intelligence training or security clearance that gave him access to classified documents. He could not speak or read Arabic. He had never set foot in the Middle East, unless you count the time he changed planes in Dubai en route to Manila, or his trip to visit his in-laws in Turkey.
  Yet in the 18 months since Higgins had begun blogging about Syria, his barebones site, Brown Moses, had become the foremost source of information on the weapons used in Syria's deadly war. Using nothing more sophisticated than an Asus laptop, he had uncovered evidence of weapons imported into Syria from Iran. He had been the first person to identify widely-banned cluster bombs deployed by Syrian forces. By The New York Times' own admission, his findings had offered a key tip that helped the newspaper prove that Saudi Arabia had funneled arms to opposition fighters in Syria.
  His work unraveling the mystery of the rocket strikes of Aug. 21 played a key role in bringing much of the world to the conclusion that it was indeed a chemical weapons attack, one unleashed by Assad's forces. That conclusion led to a diplomatic deal under which the Syrian government submitted to international inspections and pledged to destroy its stocks of chemical weapons.
  "I saw the U.N. got the Nobel Prize for Syria," says one weapons expert, referring to the United Nations-backed Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, who declined to be named on account of his own work with the international body. "I think Eliot has done a lot more for Syria than the U.N."
  Higgins belongs to an obsessive coterie of self-appointed military intelligence experts who use social media to piece together critical details of faraway conflicts, often well ahead of seasoned professionals. Frequently self-taught and operating far outside the military-industrial complex, these amateur analysts have honed a novel set of sleuthing skills that fuse old-fashioned detective work with new sources of intelligence generated by cell phone cameras and spread by social networks. Syria's war, widely considered the most documented conflict in history, has turned social media into a weapon of mass detection -- critical both for fighters on the ground and for faraway observers trying to make sense of the conflict.
  "All parties to the conflict in Syria realize that social media is an important front in this war," says Peter Bouckaert, an expert in humanitarian crises and the emergencies director for Human Rights Watch. "There is a war for the truth as much as for territory."
  Many government agencies, private research groups and newsrooms are still wary of analyses based on the Facebook status updates or viral videos of Syria's opposition groups. Such "open source intelligence" -- so-called by the U.S. military -- is deeply biased and difficult to verify, its critics say, often amounting to meaningless chatter.
  "I personally don't really have the time to go through the social media in Syria so as to start knowing which sources, which sites, which media, which individuals are credible or not," said Yezid Sayigh, a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center. "All that takes time and continuous follow up. "
  But in an age in which social media produces seemingly limitless streams of information, some people are proving obsessive enough to go rooting through it all in search of small nuggets of undiscovered reality. People like Higgins.
  After a temporary job reviewing orders at a ladies' lingerie maker came to an end in February, he dispensed with looking for another so that he could devote himself to blogging full-time. His wife admits she does not read his blog and yearns for a time that he will return to "a real job." But as Higgins sees it, he is consumed with the realest job of all, sifting through a digital goldmine disdained by those who lack the patience for the work.
  "If you're in intelligence and you want to know what your enemies are armed with, just watch their YouTube channels and see what weapons they're waving around," he advises. "You'll find out all sorts of information -- and not necessarily the stuff they intend to show you."
  The YouTube video uploaded by al-Jazaeri.
  ***
  Higgins operates from his command center in a narrow, two-story home just down the street from a Salvation Army and a community center, in a town about 100 miles north of London. His "office" alternates between a cream leather couch in the living room and an Ikea chair with a lap desk in an upstairs bedroom. His standard uniform is jeans and white T-shirts layered with dark-colored V-necks.
  Born in 1979 to a Royal Air Force engineer and a caterer, Higgins describes himself as an avid gardener and budding cook, but his core passions have always centered on a fascination with screens: During his schooling years, he engaged in marathon sessions playing video games and argued ceaselessly on Internet forums. These two pursuits trumped his attention to schoolwork, filling his report cards with Cs.
  Throughout his life, Higgins has taken hobbies to illogical extremes. After his brother introduced him to the iconoclastic rockstar Frank Zappa, Higgins rushed out to buy all of his four-dozen albums. As a video gamer, Higgins pressed well past casual bouts of "World of Warcraft," staying up late to lead teams of 40 players in complex online raids. Even now, he feels compelled to systematically beat each new video game before he can start another, in this fashion gradually making his way through strategy and role-playing games like "Fallout," "Baldur's Gate," "Total War: Rome II" and "Command and Conquer." Before getting married, he was known to game for 36 hours at a stretch.
  "It's like he's got tunnel vision," says Higgins' brother, Ross. "He latches onto something and gets kind of obsessed about it. Most people don't think like my brother does."
  After dropping out of university midway through a media studies degree, Higgins moved through a series of jobs with no relation to munitions, Syria or blogging. He worked as a data entry clerk at Barclays bank and then managed invoices for a process management firm. When that task was outsourced overseas, he helped asylum seekers find housing. His next, and most recent, job was working on women's undergarments.
  Yet in his off hours, Higgins morphed into "Brown Moses," a fastidious online commenter who challenged strangers to heated debates over protests in Egypt or the veracity of videos showing civilians shot down in Libya. He took his alias from a Zappa song and his avatar from a portrait by Francis Bacon of the howling Pope Innocent X flanked by animal carcasses.
  "I was always interested in that sort of counterculture stuff," Higgins says. He lists as his favorite authors Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky and Nick Davies.
  Higgins also brought a longstanding interest in media and American policy in the Middle East. He attacked this interest, like every other, with a fanatic intensity. In 2011, "Brown Moses" became an active voice in the online comments section of the British newspaper The Guardian. Almost as soon as The Guardian would publish a new story on its website touching on the Middle East, "Brown Moses" would be the first to leave a comment. Initially, this was purely by chance; later, as Higgins confesses, he would get there first just to annoy people irked by his obsessiveness. By latest count, Higgins has left a total of 4,700 comments on The Guardian's site. That's just a fraction of his activity on Something Awful, one of the oldest forums on the web and a favorite of Higgins' for more than a decade. In just over two years, he posted 10,000 times to a live-blog chronicling the twists and turns of Libya's revolution.
  "I just got obsessed with it," Higgins says.
  But what drove this obsession -- Idealism? Politics?
  "Boredom at work more than anything," Higgins says. "And I guess I'm a bit argumentative."
  It was an online argument that got Higgins mulling over the idea of a blog. A Guardian commenter challenged him to prove that a certain protest had actually been filmed in Libya. In piecing together evidence from satellite images and social media, Higgins experienced a series of epiphanies.
  When viewed in isolation, the micro-dispatches posted to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube tended to confuse and overwhelm anyone trying to make sense of events. But if you viewed such posts together, Higgins realized, the photos and videos could yield detailed accounts of events across the globe. The posts could be used to fact check claims, providing clues far beyond what cameramen had intended to show. Arguments could be won, myths disproved, rival commenters put in their place.
  Most people were failing to scrutinize such material in a systematic fashion. The answers to big questions were out there -- such as which rebel groups were working together, what guns they carried, and how much force they could rally against Assad. Yet confronted with so many thousands of videos and contrasting depictions, observers threw up their hands. Too much information became no information. Journalists and analysts lacked time to dissect YouTube clips, or figured there was nothing to gain there. Higgins came to recognize a form of "snobbery" and "dismissiveness" toward social media, which meant that crucial evidence was disappearing into a morass of "likes," tweets, shares, uploads and updates.
  In the spring of 2012, Higgins created a small site, Brown Moses, where he could save some of this digital material for his own future reference. A pet project, nothing more.
  He fell into a routine of writing about weapons purely out of convenience. His early blogs were less focused, ranging from analyses of the Murdoch phone hacking scandal to a critique of a tasteless tweet. Drawn to the action in the Middle East but unable to speak Arabic, Higgins was attracted to analyzing munitions videos, which transcended all languages.
  Higgins also craved daily fodder for his blog, and it seemed every day he delivered a newsworthy video about rocket launchers or warheads in Syria, a country then becoming more volatile. In the course of just three days in July 2012, for example, Higgins' blog posts included the following: evidence of an increasingly well-armed Free Syrian Army packing heavy assault rifles and truck-mounted Soviet machine guns; videos of al-Farouq Brigades rebels showing off tanks captured from the Syrian Army; and documentation that Syrians were being hit with cluster bombs, controversial and widely-outlawed munitions that pose high risks to civilians.
  Higgins got a rush from being the first to spot things that no one -- outside, perhaps, Assad's army -- knew existed. And it helped that with each month, more and more powerful people were taking their talking points from his blog. Even before the attacks this past August, Higgins' audience had grown to include members of the Defense Department, the State Department, the United Nations, the U.K. Foreign Commonwealth Office, Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The New York Times, The Guardian, as well as countless think tanks and Russia's state-run news channel.
  "Brown Moses has been carrying a lot of hod in the coverage of the Syrian war," CJ Chivers, a New York Times reporter covering Syria, wrote on his personal website in the summer of 2012. "So c'mon, let's say it: Many people (whether they admit it or not) have been relying on that blog's daily labor to cull the uncountable videos that circulate from the conflict." (Chivers himself had based a story for the Times in part on Higgins' work tracking Yugoslav weapons in Syria.)
  In April 2013, Chivers delivered another endorsement, providing a promotional blurb that Higgins used as he raised funds -- about $17,000 -- so he could support his family while devoting himself to the blog full-time. He raised the sum quickly. Half came from the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, and the other half from an anonymous donor. Higgins also began picking up occasional contract work doing social media forensics for groups that track weapons use overseas, like Human Rights Watch and Action on Armed Violence.
  Still, six months after his fundraising campaign, Higgins was having doubts he could pay his mortgage analyzing YouTube videos. He figured he had just a few months of finance left before he once again needed to find the steady income of a full-time job.
  Yet in the course of Brown Moses' lifetime, Higgins has created an indispensable news source by doing what no news organization can: devoting virtually unlimited time to digging through the endless detritus of YouTube in the hopes of possibly coming up with something interesting to say on some or another niche topic. And he shares his loot. Unlike journalists, who guard their scoops, Higgins works like an open source Sherlock Holmes, asking questions, bouncing ideas off other people, soliciting tips and generally thinking out loud.
  The obsessiveness that has framed much of his life has a new channel. He spends his days on seemingly arcane minutiae -- analyzing the welding on the lip of a rocket, reconstructing how metal folds over the edge of a warhead's column, compiling endless YouTube playlists, or clicking play-pause-play-rewind-play in rapid succession on numerous videos to freeze the precise moment when a blurry rocket appears for just a few seconds in Syria's sky.
  "I love it when there's a new bomb used in the combat," Higgins says. "Well, not love. But I see a new bomb and I'm like, 'Oh! Great! There's something new to look at.'"
  ****
  The morning of Aug. 21 delivered something new to look at. Something so new, no one knew what it was.
  Like most mornings, this one began with Higgins reaching for his Nexus 4 smartphone while still in bed so he could check Twitter before getting up to care for his daughter. His Twitter stream was full of frantic dispatches claiming that a chemical weapons attack had been directed at several suburbs of Damascus, killing what seemed an impossibly large number of people -- more than 1,000. After Higgins had downed a black coffee, changed and fed his daughter, his wife, Nuray, took over. Nuray, who is Turkish and works part-time at a post office, happened to be home that day, and she tended to their daughter so Higgins could watch YouTube videos in peace.
  While his daughter played, Higgins settled on the couch in his living room and quickly assembled nearly 200 videos of the victims into a YouTube playlist. He sent his findings to chemical weapons experts he'd come to know in the course of writing his blog, asking them to opine on whether these clips were consistent with a nerve gas strike. Probably so, the experts agreed, but they could not say definitively. The world would have to wait for the United Nations to test samples collected from Syria.
  Waiting was the last thing Higgins planned to do. As he saw it, a "ridiculously huge" number of people had been killed, and no one knew how, or by whom. Waiting seemed tantamount to letting a criminal get a head start. There was also the issue of nerve gas. If chemical weapons had been used in the attack, the party responsible had violated nothing less than an international ban on munitions "justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilized world," in the words of the Geneva Protocol. And the stakes could not have been higher. President Barack Obama had declared that chemical weapons usage constituted a red line that, if crossed, could trigger American military intervention. That moment was potentially at hand.
  Higgins sees his one-man intelligence unit as a vital source of information for the general public -- more in depth than any newspaper article, but more open than any think tank or government agency. The world needed answers, and he was singularly able to help find them. "I can't imagine there are many people in the world who know more about this than I do," he says matter-of-factly. "It became my mission to find out everything about these things because no one knew anything."
  That day and into the next, his research surfaced hundreds more videos, including Muhammed al-Jazaeri's video clip from Zamalka.
  The photos and videos Higgins tracks down online are posted by scores of different sources in Syria: armed rebel groups, like the Environs of the Holy House Battalions, Ahrar al-Sham and Liwa al-Islam; local news outlets run by the opposition, like "Darya Revolution,""Erbin City,""Ugarit News" and the "Adra News Network"; and individual activists, like al-Jazaeri. Thanks to this near-real-time feed, Higgins can describe activity in Syria as if he'd seen it from his own window. "Today there's been a lot of mid-29s flying around Damascus," he observed recently from the security of his kitchen table.
  The proliferation of this material attests to how Syria's opposition has embraced social media as a PR tool, a form of subterfuge, a propaganda apparatus and a crucial fundraising mechanism. Activists and armed battalions have assembled a sophisticated media arsenal, having long ago realized that their online presence can affect their offline success in forging alliances, raising funds and securing weapons. Their press offices carry out online brand-building campaigns complete with up-to-the-minute press releases and carefully edited highlight reels of successful attacks. The social media guru is the newest recruit in the fighting army.
  "It's sort of like a social media arms race," said Nate Rosenblatt, an analyst for Caerus Associates, a research and advisory firm. "They continuously try to innovate and improve on the uses and purposes of social media to stay ahead of their opponents and gain an advantage."
  The Free Syrian Army unit Suqur al-Sham, for example, boasts a media staff of eight. In addition to keeping up a steady stream of posts on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, it maintains three dedicated websites and last year added training in social networking for Suqur al-Sham press staff. Its YouTube channel -- like those of many other rebel groups -- features clips of soldiers leading attacks on enemy outposts. Most follow a predictable formula. There's a close-up of men firing machine guns or loading warheads into rocket launchers, then a cut to the target being destroyed with off-camera voices shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great").
  A promotional video, "The Age of Peace is Over," uploaded in June 2013 by the Al-Islam brigade, an opposition group in Syria. (via Syria Conflict Monitor)
  With so many Syrian opposition groups vying for dominance, rebels have used these videos as a kind of resume-booster intended to show off their strength and brand them as heir-apparent to the Assad regime. Brigades also hope their highlight reels -- often meticulously edited with Instagram-style filters and custom animation -- will convince wealthy, sympathetic donors to part with their cash. For Higgins and other armchair analysts like him, these videos serve a very different purpose: They can offer valuable glimpses at what weapons are being used in battle, or who's leading the charge.
  Professional analysts often discount this kind of footage because so much of it can be faked. One opposition group's footage of a Syrian Army helicopter shot down mid-air, for example, turned out to be a video of a Russian craft that had been filmed in the Chechen conflict.
  But Higgins is undeterred, having refined his skill in separating the real from the bogus. He has determined that not all social media is created equally. Tweets and Facebook posts are no good because text is far easier to fake than photos. He distrusts footage of casualties or bombed-out buildings.
  "People will say, 'Oh well that person just wrapped bandage around their head, they're faking it,'" Higgins says. "And, you know, fair enough. But when you've got an unexploded bomb stuck inside of someone's house, that's a lot harder to fake."
  He was immediately suspicious when an anonymous tipster sent videos purporting to show Liwa al-Islam, an opposition group, firing chemical weapons on Aug. 21. Liwa al-Islam produces high-quality videos, but these had been filmed on a blurry cell phone camera, Higgins said. Flags with the Liwa al-Islam emblem had been hung everywhere, also atypical for the group's videos. Then there was the issue of the T-shirts. Liquid sarin can kill through contact with skin, Higgins knew. Would these rebels really be hanging around a deadly toxin in short sleeves?
  Higgins credits this attention to detail to the many years he's spent arguing with Internet commenters -- the harshest, most meticulous and most relentless critics on the planet. In martialing evidence for analysis on Brown Moses, Higgins tries to imagine every disagreement from some ticked-off stranger online, and preemptively strengthen his argument's weaknesses.
  "If you want someone to really question your work, just post it on the Internet," he says. "There are plenty of people who'll want to tell you you're an idiot and you're wrong."
  One of three videos Higgins says he received purporting to show Liwa al-Islam firing chemical weapons.
  * * *
  As Higgins trawled through videos the day after the attacks, he saw, over and over again, long, cylindrical rockets with fins on one end and a round plate on the other, and red numbers stenciled in between.
  Hello, I know I've seen these before, Higgins thought. He did a mental inventory of the thousands of YouTube videos he'd watched over the preceding eight months, trying to remember where else he'd come across these hunks of metal.
  Daraya, Adra, Homs, Higgins realized. He quickly pulled up videos filmed in three other cities, on four different dates between January and August, and embedded them in a blog post. The rocket he'd seen after the strike the day before had also been spotted after four separate attacks, two of which were suspected to have involved chemical weapons, he wrote.
  Higgins still had no idea what it was. And neither did the arms experts he consulted. He christened the weapons UMLACAs, short for Unidentified Munitions Linked to Alleged Chemical Attacks, and began a hunt to rebuild them using everything that had been shared about them online.
  His methodology recalls the card game "Memory," in which players overturn two cards at a time trying to find a pair. But instead of finding clubs or hearts, he'll try to match a mystery object -- a blurry warhead, a kind of rocket launcher -- to an image of something that's known. Earlier that month, Higgins had debunked a rumor that pouches of glass tubes, widely documented online, were proof that chemical weapons had been used in Syria. He did so by matching the vials captured in videos to photos of a Cold War-era chemical weapons testing kit for sale on eBay.
  In the week following the bombing outside Damascus, Higgins spent hours a day at his computer, breaking only to feed his daughter and perhaps catch an episode of "Columbo," the detective TV series, with his wife. (Higgins says he feels like he and the TV detective are "kindred spirits in some ways.")
  One crucial challenge was figuring out exactly where the rockets had landed. If Higgins could determine where a weapon had crashed, he'd have a better chance of finding where it was shot from. And, in turn, who fired it.
  He zeroed in on one well-documented rocket labeled "197" that he knew, from a Twitter follower's tip, had fallen somewhere approximately between the towns of Zamalka and Ein Tarma.
  To narrow that down further, he began studying images of "197" to see what landmarks he could make out in the background. He tried to sketch a rough map of the area beyond the twisted metal. A building here, an apartment there, an empty plot of land just in front. Next, he compared his makeshift diagram to satellite imagery of the Damascus suburb on Google Maps and its open-source equivalent, Wikimapia, hoping he'd find an area that matched it. It was like "finding a key and matching it to a lock," Higgins says. Imagine being given a snapshot taken at a backyard barbecue somewhere in Tacoma, and being asked to match it to a house on a map in Washington state -- an area roughly the size of Syria.
  He couldn't find an exact likeness. Yet there were five images that corresponded well enough. After some back-and-forth with Syria-watchers and journalists on Google+, where Higgins often turns to ask for help and second opinions, Higgins wrote a blog post that walked through his best guess of where "197" had crashed. He presented five composite images, each juxtaposing a still taken from an activist's video with a screenshot of satellite imagery. To each, he added red lines and small numbers meant to indicate which spots matched up, along with a brief explanation.
  Based on the maps and the way the rocket buckled on impact, the weapon must have been fired from the north, Higgins concluded. He didn't fail to point out what was located just 6 to 8 kilometers in that direction: a missile base belonging to the Syrian Army's 155th Brigade.
  One of the images Higgins published attempting to show where rocket "197" had landed. The top picture is from satellite imagery, the bottom from a YouTube video.
  * * *
  On Aug. 31, 10 days after the attacks in Damascus, President Obama convened reporters in the White House Rose Garden. The United States had evidence Assad's army had fired chemical weapons on opposition groups outside the country's capital, he announced. He was calling for a military strike against Syria.
  By then, Higgins had published nine stories on the attacks. He had identified not only where one of the rockets had landed, but had also shared proof that they resembled munitions used in prior suspected chemical attacks. He'd argued that the Syrian opposition's "Hell Cannon" couldn't have been used to fire rockets like those in the Aug. 21 strike; that Assad forces had been using "DIY weapons," previously linked to chemical weapons; and that United Nations inspectors in Syria had examined an artillery rocket, collected after the strikes, that could be used as a chemical warhead and loaded with more than 4 pounds of sarin gas.
  He shared high-resolution photographs of activists holding a tape measure over a rocket recovered in Damascus after the attacks -- the first time anyone had offered clear measurements of the weapons. And Higgins also posted a video that showed Assad's Republican Guard -- recognizable from its red berets -- had loaded and fired munitions similar to those linked to chemical attacks.
  Visitors to the Brown Moses blog had reached an all-time high, growing eightfold in the days and weeks following the attacks, from about 3,000 daily readers to more than 25,000. News networks were regularly airing videos Higgins had featured on his blog and Human Rights Watch had tapped Higgins to help compile its report on the alleged nerve gas attacks outside Damascus. The group was drawing liberally from the YouTube footage and Facebook photos he'd gathered.
  What made his analysis so compelling, even to those in government or with security clearance, was its detail. While the White House's case for a chemical weapons attack had included vague references to "independent sources" and "thousands of social media reports" in the four-page document it released to the public, Higgins had pointed people directly to the sources themselves. His readers didn't have to believe rockets were fired. They could look at them in dozens of videos and photographs Higgins had compiled. The White House asked the public to trust them. Higgins' instructions? "Go see for yourself."
  Higgins sympathizes with the pressures that prevent journalists from scouring social media the way he does. But he says he has little patience for political leaders and their tendency to offer vague assurances that they have proof of weapons of mass destruction -- in Iraq, in Syria, wherever -- while refusing to make the goods public.
  "The U.S., U.K. and France produce a one-page report saying, 'We have this evidence, we can't show you it,'" he says. "That's frustrating in this modern era where we have access to all this open source information. People don't just want reassurances that the evidence is there. They want to see it."
  Higgins plans to keep revealing it.
  Even months after Obama's showdown with Syria, and after Syria's chemical weapons have largely faded from headlines, Higgins is still scouring social media to expose dark secrets and cruel acts.
  "No one cares anymore because the chemical attack was two-and-a-half months ago," he says. "But I'm still looking into it. You do get the feeling there are people who have this obsessive nature. And then there are the normal people."
Mini-ijstijd breekt spontaan aan in computermodel - Wetenschap & Gezondheid - VK
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:53
  Door: Maarten Keulemans '' 19/11/13, 05:47
  (C) afp.
  Tot hun verbazing hebben Nederlandse en Ierse wetenschappers gezien hoe in een computermodel dat het klimaat nabootst, spontaan een mini-ijstijd uitbrak. Een aanwijzing dat 'er onverwachte elementen in het klimaatsysteem zitten', zegt hoofdonderzoeker Sybren Drijfhout van het KNMI en het Britse National Oceanography Center.
  Op weg naar een warmer klimaat kan het systeem zijsprongen maken die we niet hadden verwacht.
  Sybren DrijfhoutDe spontane ijstijd leek enigszins op de Kleine IJstijd die tussen ongeveer 1300 en 1850 op het noordelijk halfrond zorgde voor barre winters en koele zomers. Ook in de computerversie, zomaar uit het niets ontstaan in het gedetailleerde Europese klimaatmodel EC-Earth, werd het gemiddeld 1 tot 2 graden kouder. Dat was in ons land destijds genoeg voor de winterlandschappen waarmee Hollandse meesters als Jacob van Ruysdael en Hendrick Avercamp wereldberoemd werden.
  Uiterst zeldzaam fenomeenEen uiterst zeldzaam fenomeen, dat wel. Drijfhout en collega's speelden met hun modellen zeven maal eeuwen van klimaatgeschiedenis na, schrijven ze in vakblad PNAS, en daarbij zagen ze de koudeperiode slechts (C)(C)n keer ontstaan. Bovendien lijkt de kans op de gebeurtenis in een opwarmende wereld zoals de onze eerder kleiner dan groter. 'Maar toch is dit ook in de toekomst niet uitgesloten', zegt Drijfhout. 'Op weg naar zo'n warmer klimaat kan het systeem zijsprongen maken die we niet hadden verwacht.'
  In het computermodel ontstond de koudedip doordat in het hoge noorden hogedrukgebieden en zee-ijs 'met een soort klik aan elkaar gekoppeld raakten', zoals Drijfhout zegt. Boven zee-ijs ontstaan eerder hogedrukgebieden, omdat afgekoelde lucht boven het ijs naar beneden zakt. En noordelijke hogedrukgebieden kunnen op hun beurt de vorming van zee-ijs uitlokken, omdat ze koude windstromingen op gang brengen. In het model ontstond die 'klik' tussen zee-ijs en luchtstromingen in een paar jaar tijd, nadat hogedrukgebieden zestig jaar lang steeds vaker de overheersende westelijke luchtstroming blokkeerden.
  Bij de Kleine IJstijd speelden waarschijnlijk ook variaties in de zonnestraling en vulkaanuitbarstingen mee
  Zonnestraling en vulkaanuitbarstingenUiteindelijk zorgde de aangroei van het zee-ijs voor een verstoring van de warme golfstroom, die normaal gesproken warm water vanaf de evenaar naar het noorden brengt. De kou eindigde na ongeveer een eeuw abrupt, toen meer zuidelijke winden weer vat kregen op het systeem.
  Drijfhout benadrukt dat daarmee niet is gezegd dat het in de echte Kleine IJstijd ook zo is gegaan. Destijds speelden waarschijnlijk ook variaties in de zonnestraling en vulkaanuitbarstingen. 'Wij laten alleen maar zien dat het spontaan kan gebeuren. Maar ik denk wel dat de kans op dit soort gebeurtenissen groter wordt naar mate je meer triggers in het systeem stopt. Er zit een versterker in het systeem die kleine veranderingen enorm kan uitvergroten.'
  Plotse afkoelingenAan de Universiteit Wageningen wijst hoogleraar klimaatdynamica Wilco Hazeleger erop dat plotse afkoelingen al eerder in andere klimaatmodellen zijn gezien. 'Het kan blijkbaar uit zichzelf opeens kouder worden.'
  Niet, zo benadrukt ook Hazeleger, dat zo'n mini-ijstijd morgen uitbreekt. 'Maar aan de andere kant: de blokkerende hogedrukgebieden die Sybren beschrijft, komen ook vandaag de dag gewoon voor. Het wordt dan wel moeilijker, maar onmogelijk is het niet.'
PNAS | Mobile ice age
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:52
  Sybren Drijfhouta,b,1,Emily Gleesonc,Henk A. Dijkstrad, andValerie LivinaeaDepartment of Climate Research, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, 3730AE, De Bilt, The Netherlands;bSchool of Ocean and Earth Sciences, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton SO14 3TB, United Kingdom;cResearch, Environment and Applications Division, Met ‰ireann, Dublin 9, Ireland;dInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands; andeNational Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW, United KingdomEdited by Mark H. Thiemens, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, and approved October 18, 2013 (received for review March 15, 2013)
  SignificanceThere is a long-standing debate about whether climate models are able to simulate large, abrupt events that characterized past climates. Here, we document a large, spontaneously occurring cold event in a preindustrial control run of a new climate model. The event is comparable to the Little Ice Age both in amplitude and duration; it is abrupt in its onset and termination, and it is characterized by a long period in which the atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic is locked into a state with enhanced blocking. To simulate this type of abrupt climate change, climate models should possess sufficient resolution to correctly represent atmospheric blocking and a sufficiently sensitive sea-ice model.
  AbstractAbrupt climate change is abundant in geological records, but climate models rarely have been able to simulate such events in response to realistic forcing. Here we report on a spontaneous abrupt cooling event, lasting for more than a century, with a temperature anomaly similar to that of the Little Ice Age. The event was simulated in the preindustrial control run of a high-resolution climate model, without imposing external perturbations. Initial cooling started with a period of enhanced atmospheric blocking over the eastern subpolar gyre. In response, a southward progression of the sea-ice margin occurred, and the sea-level pressure anomaly was locked to the sea-ice margin through thermal forcing. The cold-core high steered more cold air to the area, reinforcing the sea-ice concentration anomaly east of Greenland. The sea-ice surplus was carried southward by ocean currents around the tip of Greenland. South of 70°N, sea ice already started melting and the associated freshwater anomaly was carried to the Labrador Sea, shutting off deep convection. There, surface waters were exposed longer to atmospheric cooling and sea surface temperature dropped, causing an even larger thermally forced high above the Labrador Sea. In consequence, east of Greenland, anomalous winds changed from north to south, terminating the event with similar abruptness to its onset. Our results imply that only climate models that possess sufficient resolution to correctly represent atmospheric blocking, in combination with a sensitive sea-ice model, are able to simulate this kind of abrupt climate change.
  FootnotesAuthor contributions: S.D. and E.G. performed research; S.D., E.G., H.A.D., and V.L. analyzed data; and S.D., E.G., H.A.D., and V.L. wrote the paper.
  The authors declare no conflict of interest.
  This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
  This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1304912110/-/DCSupplemental.
VIDEO-Martin Bashir Apologizes for Bringing 'Shame' to MSNBC With Graphic Attack on Sarah Palin | Video | TheBlaze.com
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:41
  MSNBC's Martin Bashir on Monday apologized for having suggested last Friday that someone teach former Gov. Sarah Palin a lesson about slavery by urinating in her eyes and defecating in her mouth.
  ''Last Friday, on this broadcast,'' the MSNBC host began, ''I made some comments which were deeply offensive and directed at Governor Sarah Palin. I wanted to take this opportunity to say sorry to Mrs. Palin, and to also offer an unreserved apology to her friends and family, her supporters, our viewers, and anyone who may have heard what I said.''
  ''My words were wholly unacceptable. They were neither accurate, nor fair. They were unworthy of anyone who would claim to have an interest in politics, and they have brought shame upon my friends and colleagues at this network, none of whom were responsible for the things that I said,'' he added.
  He continued, adding that he had tarnished America's great tradition of being a place where ideas from all areas can be heard and discussed.
  ''Upon reflection, I so wish that I had been more thoughtful, more considerate, more compassionate, but I was not. And what I said is now a matter of public record,'' he said. ''But if I could add something to the public record,'' Bashir added, ''it would be this: That I deeply regret what I said, and that I have learned a sober lesson in these last few days.''
  ''That the politics of vitriol and destruction is a miserable place to be, and a miserable person to become. And I promise that I will take the opportunity to learn from this experience. My hope is that it will renew in me a spirit of humility and humanity, that looks for the good and that builds upon the great things that this country has to offer to all of us, regardless of our political persuasion. This will be my guiding light and compass in the days ahead. But once again, I am truly sorry for what I said on Friday,'' he added.
  ''
  Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter
Neo900
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:21
  After unexpectedly successful launch of our fundraiser, the project is progressing well.
  Thanks to amazing support from our community we're already past the first three phases of our fundraiser, reaching our first, monetary goal. Thank you! However, now we need to ensure that we'll be able to sell at least 200 devices, as that's the amount we've been using in our price calculations and feasibility evaluation. We assume that all donors pledging 100 '‚¬ or more will want to use their rebate on finished device, so we count them as our customers. At this moment we only need 50 more potential Neo900 owners to go!
  Of course the fundraiser is not the only thing happening in the project. The fundraiser kept us so busy that we failed to publish a new newsletter more timely, even though there're lots of stuff to report on. We've already designed first PCB draft and ordered it, hoping to demonstrate the modem's functions (data, voice, GPS) on first real hardware coming from this project at Open Hard- and Software Workshop in Garching (Munich), Germany, taking place 30. Nov - 1. Dec 2013. For those of you who cannot appear there in person we're going to provide YouTube live stream from the event. Stay tuned!
  Some people were wondering how the battery hotswap feature is going to look like. Joerg has prepared a short video clip showing amazingly easy battery replacement procedure. The Neo900 is going to be designed in such a way that replacing battery will be possible without turning it off, even without attaching external power from USB!
  Our web page is constantly getting some layout and content improvements. One of the most frequently asked questions was about the openness and freedom of the device and how we're going to reach our goals regarding user privacy with blackbox modem module. The answers are now available at our FAQ page.
  We would also like to announce that we plan to publish full EAGLE project files, allowing everyone with enough time, skills and money to improve on our work and do their own hardware modifications on the mainboards. This would make Neo900 the only phone available on the market with such degree of openness!
  Our community is also progressing with their tasks - the Fremantle Porting Task Force project recently managed to boot Maemo 5 with recent version of Linux kernel (3.12) and came up with reverse engineered version of MCE daemon, responsible for controlling some peripherals of N900, bringing the project few steps closer to provide working Fremantle system on platforms like Neo900.
  Thanks for following this project and stay tuned for more!
Out in the Open: The German Plot to Give You Complete Control of Your Phone | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:20
  The Neo900 will pack modern hardware into old Nokia N900 smartphones. Photo: Neo900
  When your last smartphone started to get a little long in the tooth, you probably just bought a new one. Maybe you kept the old one around as a backup. Maybe you recycled it. But, chances are, whatever you did, you didn't physically upgrade the thing. You didn't toss in more memory or a new processor or any aftermarket parts.
  In the desktop computing era, upgrading your machine was common practice. Amateur users could replace motherboards, processors, memory, hard drives, video cards, and other components with relative ease. But the prevalence of ever smaller laptops, and now smartphones, means that user upgrades are quickly becoming a thing of the past.
  Part of this phenomenon is due to the design of the new devices. Their smaller form factors make them harder to take apart and access the components, and many of these devices arrive from the factory fully sealed, so you can't tinker with them without highly specialized tools. Another key factor is cost: it's often cheaper to buy a whole new device than to swap out components. And let's not overlook how difficult it's becoming to get your hands on the extra hardware. There aren't many companies selling component upgrades for smartphones.
  'We believe in choice, and we want to make mobile computing as free as we're used to it in the PC world''-- Sebastian Krzyszkowiak
  But a German company called Golden Delicious, together with an open source community called OpenPhoenux, is trying to change all that. Golden Delicious will soon offer a tiny motherboard that lets you upgrade a Nokia N900 '-- an iconic phone with a full-hardware keyboard, part of a dying breed in the world of mobile devices '-- and the team hopes to provide a thriving hardware and software ecosystem around this and other phones.
  ''We believe in choice, and we want to make mobile computing as free as we're used to it in the PC world,'' says Sebastian Krzyszkowiak, one of the project's core developers.
  The project is called the Neo900, and the replacement board is based on the GTA04 platform from Golden Delicious. Those who don't want to get their hands dirty '-- or don't have an N900 lying around '-- will be able to purchase fully assembled Neo900 phones, based on existing N900 cases.
  The new board will cost between 500 and 700 Euro and will include a high speed LTE wireless modem, a faster processor, more RAM, support for battery hot swapping and several new sensors, including a gyroscope and compass. Just like the N900, the phones will run Maemo, a Linux-based, open-source mobile operating system formerly developed by Nokia.
  It may sound like an odd project, but it has already raised 25,000 Euro through a web-based crowdfunding campaign. Nokia dropped the N900 when it got into bed with Microsoft and its Windows Mobile operating system in 2010, but the phone still has a strong cult following. And similar projects built around other phones have had some success as well. Golden Delicious already sells GTA04-based hardware upgrades for a line of Linux smartphones called the Neo 1973 and the Neo FreeRunner.
  Krzyszkowiak says the N900 was the obvious choice. The project needed to tap into a large number of committed users, and there's still a vibrant community behind the N900 and Maemo. Although Nokia has ceased development on Maemo, there's an active group of people contributing code to the project.
  ''N900 was one of the most open smartphones ever released by any big tech company,'' he says. ''While Maemo wasn't even near being 100% free, the N900 can be operated with almost fully open stack '' the only thing missing is the bootloader.''
  The N900'²s full keyboard also helps differentiate the project from all the touch-screen-only smartphones on the market, Krzyszkowiak says. The decision to stick with the N900'²s resistive touch screen '-- instead of upgrading to a capacitive screen '-- is one of the most controversial aspects of the project, but Krzyszkowiak says they wouldn't change it even if they could.
  ''The screen from the N900 is'...exceptionally sensitive and allows us to get accuracy that's not reachable by any capacitive screen, enabling power users to launch software that's not optimized for touchscreen usage or even use their phones as an artistic canvas,'' he says.
  'We do not want to build an 'berphone to compete against iOS and Android. We want to support the open source community like an indie label''-- Nikolaus Schaller
  While there's plenty of enthusiasm for the project '-- and a surprising amount of money pledged up-front '-- there are still a few challenges. One is the increasingly litigious tech industry. But when the patent question comes up, Nikolaus Schaller of Golden Delicious, says that what they're doing is similar to putting together a PC with an assortment of existing hardware. In other words, any concern about patent violations would fall on the actual manufacturers of the components, not on Golden Delicious.
  Finding N900 cases may be a challenge, but the team is confident they can make things work. If they can't find enough, Krzyszkowiak says, they will start to refurbish complete N990s. Yes, there are only so many phones out there. But unlike Canonical or Mozilla '-- both of which are aiming for mass-market adoption of their respective open-source mobile operating systems '-- the Neo900 team is happy to be working on a niche project.
  ''We do not want to build an 'berphone to compete against iOS and Android,'' Schaller says. ''We want to support the open source community like an indie label'...We want to serve the needs of 'our' customers, not the needs of some intermediates like mobile network operators looking for some new ideas or means to advertise their network contracts.''
  Because the project uses open hardware, other operating systems could also run on the Neo900, including Ubuntu TouchFirefox OS, SHR, or free Android variants like Replicant. ''We hope that Neo900 will cause a new blood to appear in all those projects, and things will keep going faster and faster,'' Krzyszkowiak says.
  He believes the project is particularly important now that the press has revealed the NSA's efforts to track our behavior via online technology, most notably technology run by the giants of the industry, including Google. ''We're also committed to make our devices as free as possible and ensure that there are no hidden backdoors '-- especially after the latest surveillance reports''
  It's not just about upgrading your phone. It's about having complete control.
Census 'faked' 2012 election jobs report | New York Post
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:17
  In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply '-- raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington.
  The decline '-- from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September '-- might not have been all it seemed. The numbers, according to a reliable source, were manipulated.
  And the Census Bureau, which does the unemployment survey, knew it.
  Just two years before the presidential election, the Census Bureau had caught an employee fabricating data that went into the unemployment report, which is one of the most closely watched measures of the economy.
  And a knowledgeable source says the deception went beyond that one employee '-- that it escalated at the time President Obama was seeking reelection in 2012 and continues today.
  ''He's not the only one,'' said the source, who asked to remain anonymous for now but is willing to talk with the Labor Department and Congress if asked.
  The Census employee caught faking the results is Julius Buckmon, according to confidential Census documents obtained by The Post. Buckmon told me in an interview this past weekend that he was told to make up information by higher-ups at Census.
  Ironically, it was Labor's demanding standards that left the door open to manipulation.
  Labor requires Census to achieve a 90 percent success rate on its interviews '-- meaning it needed to reach 9 out of 10 households targeted and report back on their jobs status.
  Census currently has six regions from which surveys are conducted. The New York and Philadelphia regions, I'm told, had been coming up short of the 90 percent.
  Philadelphia filled the gap with fake interviews.
  ''It was a phone conversation '-- I forget the exact words '-- but it was, 'Go ahead and fabricate it' to make it what it was,'' Buckmon told me.
  Census, under contract from the Labor Department, conducts the household survey used to tabulate the unemployment rate.
  Interviews with some 60,000 household go into each month's jobless number, which currently stands at 7.3 percent. Since this is considered a scientific poll, each one of the households interviewed represents 5,000 homes in the US.
  Buckmon, it turns out, was a very ambitious employee. He conducted three times as many household interviews as his peers, my source said.
  By making up survey results '-- and, essentially, creating people out of thin air and giving them jobs '-- Buckmon's actions could have lowered the jobless rate.
  Buckmon said he filled out surveys for people he couldn't reach by phone or who didn't answer their doors.
  But, Buckmon says, he was never told how to answer the questions about whether these nonexistent people were employed or not, looking for work, or have given up.
  But people who know how the survey works say that simply by creating people and filling out surveys in their name would boost the number of folks reported as employed.
  Census never publicly disclosed the falsification. Nor did it inform Labor that its data was tainted.
  ''Yes, absolutely they should have told us,'' said a Labor spokesman. ''It would be normal procedure to notify us if there is a problem with data collection.''
  Census appears to have looked into only a handful of instances of falsification by Buckmon, although more than a dozen instances were reported, according to internal documents.
  In one document from the probe, Program Coordinator Joal Crosby was ask in 2010, ''Why was the suspected '... possible data falsification on all (underscored) other survey work for which data falsification was suspected not investigated by the region?''
  On one document seen by The Post, Crosby hand-wrote the answer: ''Unable to determine why an investigation was not done for CPS,'' or the Current Population Survey '-- the official name for the unemployment report.
  With regard to the Consumer Expenditure survey, only four instances of falsification were looked into, while 14 were reported.
  I've been suspicious of the Census Bureau for a long time.
  During the 2010 Census report '-- an enormous and costly survey of the entire country that goes on for a full year '-- I suspected (and wrote in a number of columns) that Census was inexplicably hiring and firing temporary workers.
  I suspected that this turnover of employees was being done purposely to boost the number of new jobs being report each month. (The Labor Department does not use the Census Bureau for its other monthly survey of new jobs '-- commonly referred to as the Establishment Survey.)
  Last week I offered to give all the information I have, including names, dates and charges to Labor's inspector general.
  I'm waiting to hear back from Labor.
  I hope the next stop will be Congress, since manipulation of data like this not only gives voters the wrong impression of the economy but also leads lawmakers, the Federal Reserve and companies to make uninformed decisions.
  To cite just one instance, the Fed is targeting the curtailment of its so-called quantitative easing money-printing/bond-buying fiasco to the unemployment rate for which Census provided the false information.
  So falsifying this would, in essence, have dire consequences for the country.
Selfie is Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:10
  Link to video: #Thinkfluencer episode 1: SelfiesSelfie '' "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website" '' has been named word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries editors, after the frequency of its usage increased by 17,000% over the past 12 months.
  Editorial director Judy Pearsall said: "Using the Oxford Dictionaries language research programme, which collects around 150m words of current English in use each month, we can see a phenomenal upward trend in the use of selfie in 2013, and this helped to cement its selection."
  The word can be traced back to a post on an Australian online forum in 2002: "Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer [sic] and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie."
  It has since produced an array of spinoffs, including helfie (hairstyle self), belfie (bum selfie), welfie (workout selfie), drelfie (drunken selfie), and even bookshelfie '' a snap taken for the purposes of literary self-promotion.
  Judy Pearsall explained its evolution: "The hashtag #selfie appeared on the photo-sharing website Flickr as early as 2004, but usage wasn't widespread until around 2012.
  "In early examples, the word was often spelled with a -y, but the -ie form is more common today and has become the accepted spelling. The use of the diminutive -ie suffix is notable, as it helps to turn an essentially narcissistic enterprise into something rather more endearing. Australian English has something of a penchant for -ie words '... so this helps to support the evidence for selfie having originated in Australia."
  Selfie promotion '... graphic shows the ascent of selfie in common usage. Photograph: Oxford English DictionariesOED's Word of the Year shortlistbedroom tax, noun, informal:
  (in the UK) a reduction in the amount of housing benefit paid to a claimant if the property they are renting is judged to have more bedrooms than is necessary for the number of the people in the household, according to criteria set down by the government.
  The Welfare Reform Act 2012 proposed various changes to the rules governing social security benefits in the UK, including an "under-occupancy penalty" to be imposed on households that were receiving housing benefit and that were judged to have bedrooms surplus to their requirements. Critics and opponents soon began to refer to the new penalty as the "bedroom tax". The first references to the bedroom tax in our corpus appear in 2011 but usage increased dramatically around the time this new provision came into force, in April 2013.
  binge-watch, verb:
  to watch multiple episodes of a television programme in rapid succession, typically by means of DVDs or digital streaming. [ORIGIN 1990s: from BINGE + WATCH, after BINGE-EAT, BINGE-DRINK.]
  The word binge-watch has been used in the circles of television fandom since the late 1990s, but it has exploded into mainstream use in 2013. The word has come into its own with the advent of on-demand viewing and online streaming. In 2013, binge-watching got a further boost when the video-streaming company Netflix began releasing episodes of its serial programming all at once. In the past year, binge-watching chalked up almost as much evidence on our corpus as binge-eating. (Binge-drinking remains unchallenged in the top position.)
  bitcoin, noun:
  a digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank. Also, a unit of bitcoin. [ORIGIN early 21st century: from BIT, in the computing sense of "a unit of information" and COIN.]
  The term first appeared in late 2008 in a research paper, and the first bitcoins were created in 2009. By 2012, the virtual currency was attracting wider attention and we began to see its steadily increasing use. A spike in usage was apparent in March''May 2013, which may be due in part to the market crash around that time.
  olinguito, noun:
  a small furry mammal found in mountain forests in Colombia and Ecuador, the smallest member of the raccoon family. [ORIGIN 2013: diminutive form of OLINGO, a South American mammal resembling the kinkajou.]
  The discovery of the olinguito was announced by the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in August: it represented the first identification of a new species of mammalian carnivore in the western hemisphere in 35 years. Extensive coverage of the story in the world's media was guaranteed by the animal's appearance '' it was described as looking like a cross between a teddy bear and a domestic cat.
  schmeat, noun, informal:
  a form of meat produced synthetically from biological tissue. [ORIGIN early 21st century: perhaps from SYNTHETIC and MEAT, influenced by the use of "- -, schm - -" as a disparaging or dismissive exclamation.]
  Man-made meat is more commonly (and neutrally) known as "in-vitro meat" or "cultured meat". This word remains very rare, largely because the phenomenon it refers to is still in its infancy. However, in August 2013, the world's first hamburger made with in-vitro meat was served up by Dutch scientists, raising the possibility that the general public may have more occasion to use this word in the not-too-distant future.
  showrooming, noun:
  the practice of visiting a shop or shops in order to examine a product before buying it online at a lower price. [ORIGIN early 21st century: from SHOWROOM, "a room used to display goods for sale".]
  Before 2013, there were just a handful of examples of this on our corpus. We've seen this figure increase significantly, along with use of the related verb "to showroom" and the noun "showroomer".
  twerk, verb:
  dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance. [ORIGIN 1990s: probably an alteration of WORK.]
  Twerk seems to have arisen in the early 1990s, in the context of the bounce music scene in New Orleans. By the mid-1990s, we see evidence of twerk being used online in newsgroups to describe a specific type of dancing. The most likely theory about the origin of this word is that it is an alteration of work, because that word has a history of being used in similar ways, with dancers being encouraged to "work it". The "t" could be a result of blending with another word such as twist or twitch. Its association with Miley Cyrus this summer created a huge spike of usage in the media, especially social media.
  Previous words of the year2012 Omnishambles2011 squeezed middle2010 big society2009 simples2008 credit crunch2007 carbon footprint2006 bovvered2005 sudoku2004 chav
  ' This article was amended on 19 November changing Oxford English Dictionary to Oxford Dictionaries.
Rotterdamse ouderen boos over robothulp - AD.nl
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:08
  Rotterdamse ouderen boos over robothulp - AD.nl
  bewaarDoor: redactie19-11-13 - 07:34 bron: ANPEeen robotstofzuiger (C) anp.RotterdamRobotstofzuigers wekken de woede van steeds meer ouderen die afhankelijk zijn van thuiszorg. De zuigtoestellen, ter vervanging van menselijke huishoudelijke hulp, zorgt in Rotterdam voor een opstand onder thuiszorgclinten, schrijft De Telegraaf.
  In de Rotterdamse deelgemeenten IJsselmonde, Charlois en Prins Alexander weigeren bewoners van zorgflats schoonmakers die zijn uitgerust met een robotstofzuiger. Het schoonmaakbedrijf dat in opdracht van de gemeente Rotterdam werkt, heeft vierhonderd van deze automaten aangeschaft.
  Ineke Palm, van actiegroep Wij zijn de Thuiszorg Rotterdam: 'Wat veruit de meeste thuiszorgclinten niet willen, is dat zij de regie over hun eigen huis verliezen. Dat dreigt nu wel te gebeuren.' Abvakabo/FNVbestuurder Wim van der Hoorn voorziet een landelijk thuiszorgverzet.
  SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVERENRapporteer een fout in het artikel aan onze redactieMeer overgerelateerd nieuwsMeer over(C) 2013 De Persgroep Digital. Alle rechten voorbehouden.Lees de gebruiksvoorwaarden. - Privacy
  Volg het nieuws op onze zustersite in Belgi www.hln.be.
'Prostitutie te lang gezien als kroonjuweel van onze ruimdenkendheid' - opinie - VK
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:07
  OPINIE - Hala Naoum N(C)hm(C), Eddy Terstall en Gert-jan Segers. '' 19/11/13, 06:00
  (C) anp. Een prostituee aan het werk in een van de prostitutieboten aan het Zandpad. De bestuursrechter heeft bepaald dat de boten moeten sluiten.
  Raamprostitutie is geen symbool van ruimdenkendheid, maar van vernedering van vrouwen, schrijven Hala Naoum N(C)hm(C), Eddy Terstall en Gert-jan Segers. En het kn anders. 'Het laten tentoonstellen van vrouwen is geen noodlot, maar een vrije keus van beleidsmakers.'
  Wat we jongens in opvoeding en onderwijs proberen te leren over respect voor vrouwen, kan zomaar ongedaan worden gemaakt met (C)(C)n wandeling door 'de vleescarrousel'.
  De vrouwen staan er een paar maanden, een paar jaar misschien. Totdat ze te oud worden en hun lichaam niet meer genoeg opbrengt. Daarna worden er weer nieuwe, jonge vrouwen geworven. Die gaan er ook weer staan, in hun naakte kwetsbaarheid, achter een raam aan een straat. Daarop paraderen hordes mannen om te kijken voor welk lichaam ze een paar tientjes over hebben. En als het tot de daad komt, is het meestal ook nog eens een mannelijke pooier en mannelijke exploitant die hier het meeste geld van opstrijkt.
  Door een tragisch misverstand is deze publieke vrouwenmarkt lang als een kroonjuweel van Nederlandse ruimdenkendheid beschouwd. En is die nog altijd een toeristische attractie. Maar het wordt tijd dat we zien wat raamprostitutie werkelijk is. Want het is geen onschuldige folklore en al helemaal geen reclamebord van een vrijgevochten wereldbeeld.
  'De vleescarrousel'Op de Amsterdamse Wallen is er een steegje met kleine kamertjes die de veelzeggende bijnaam heeft van 'de vleescarrousel'. Er zijn twee categorien buitenlandse bezoekers die ons kunnen helpen om met andere ogen naar raamprostitutie te kijken. Er is de groep van buitenlandse die hier komen doen wat thuis verboden is. De vrouwen achter de ramen moeten hun blikken en opmerkingen voor lief nemen en na betaling nog wel meer dan dat. De tweede categorie is de groep bezoekers die zich na een wandeling over de Wallen geschokt afvraagt hoe wij Nederlanders in hemelsnaam vaak kwetsbare, buitenlandse vrouwen als vleeswaar in een etalage kunnen laten staan.
  Goede vraag. Beide groepen bezoekers laten ons iets zien van wat deze 'vleescarrousel' is. Een vernedering van vrouwen.
  Nederland heeft het VN Vrouwenverdrag ondertekend. Dat geeft ons iets in handen om bijvoorbeeld islamitische landen aan te spreken op de vaak beroerde positie die vrouwen daar hebben. Nederland brengt vrouwenrechten ook internationaal onder de aandacht. Onze overheid is er terecht trots op dat we, samen met Canada, leidend zijn op dit punt.
  Maar dan moeten we ons ook zelf door dit VN-verdrag laten aanspreken. Artikel vijf verplicht lidstaten alles uit te bannen wat kan leiden tot de gedachte dat het ene geslacht minderwaardig is ten opzichte van het andere. En raamprostitutie heeft weinig met gelijkwaardigheid te maken. Wat we jongens in opvoeding en onderwijs proberen te leren over respect voor vrouwen, kan zomaar ongedaan worden gemaakt met (C)(C)n wandeling door 'de vleescarrousel'. Als de verdedigers van raamprostitutie dit vijfde artikel serieus nemen, zouden ze er op zijn minst voor moeten zorgen dat er straten komen waarin bijna naakte mannen in de etalage staan zodat er hier een gelijk speelveld ontstaat.
  Zeggenschap over het eigen lichaamHet verdrag benadrukt ook dat vrouwen de zeggenschap over hun eigen lichaam hebben. Artikel zes verplicht de lidstaten om alles te doen wat mogelijk is 'ter bestrijding van alle vormen van handel in vrouwen en van het exploiteren van prostitutie van vrouwen'. In de praktijk hebben bijna alle vrouwen een pooier die winsten opstrijkt en hen vaak tot hoge omzet dwingt. In haar onlangs verschenen boek Prostitutie, de waarheid achter de Wallen laat Renate van der Zee een mensenhandelrechercheur aan het woord. Hij vertelt dat er in Groningen honderdvijftig ramen zijn 'en je weet dat er achter minstens honderd daarvan dingen gebeuren die niet kloppen'.
  Uit onderzoeken blijkt dat minimaal de helft van de prostituees onvrijwillig achter het raam staat. Burgemeester Van der Laan sprak onlangs bezorgd over honderden 'verkrachtingen' die iedere dag in de Amsterdamse prostitutie plaatsvinden. Ook die rauwe werkelijkheid maakt duidelijk dat raamprostitutie in Nederland haaks staat op letter en geest van het VN Vrouwenverdrag. En dan is het criterium niet dat er een minderheid van prostituees is die nooit iets merkt van vernedering en uitbuiting, maarde meerderheid bij wie daar wel sprake van is. De rechten van deze vrouwen gaan v""r het pleziertje van een hoerenloper of het verdienmodel van een pooier.
  Vrije keusWaarschijnlijk is prostitutie nooit helemaal uit te bannen. Wellicht zullen er voor sommige vrouwen altijd redenen zijn om geld te verdienen met sekswerk. Ongetwijfeld zullen er altijd mannen zijn die willen betalen voor seks. Het gesprek daarover moeten we maar voor later bewaren. Want ook al accepteer je prostitutie als werkelijkheid, dat betekent nog niet dat raamprostitutie ook een noodzakelijk kwaad is. Zo heeft Rotterdam besloten wel clubs, maar geen raamprostitutie toe te staan. Het laten tentoonstellen van vrouwen is dus geen noodlot, maar een vrije keus van beleidsmakers.
  Het is de keus van een samenleving die nog altijd wegkijkt bij veel ellende voor en achter de ramen. Een keus van mensen die nooit zouden willen dat een geliefde van henzelf daar in haar naakte kwetsbaarheid zou staan. De keus is aan ons.
  Hala Naoum N(C)hm(C) is politiek econoom en VVD-lid, Eddy Terstall is filmmaker, Gert-jan Segers is Tweede Kamerlid voor de ChristenUnie.
Russia's Sovcombank to buy local GE Money Bank
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  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 03:42
  Russia's Sovcombank to buy local GE Money BankTop News
  Russia's Sovcombank to buy local GE Money Bank
  Mon, Oct 28 09:45 AM EDT
  MOSCOW, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Russia's mid-sized Sovcombank is buying the local unit of GE Money Bank, a subsidiary of U.S. conglomerate General Electric, in another departure of a foreign bank from a Russian domestic market dominated by state-controlled lenders.
  Sovcombank, ranked among Russia's top 60 by assets, said on Monday it had signed a binding agreement to buy GE Money Bank, expecting to close the deal after getting the green light from local regulators. It did not disclose the price.
  The Russian unit of GE Money Bank is ranked among Russia's 150 biggest banks by assets and is focused on high-margin consumer lending. It declined to comment.
  General Electric will float a majority stake in its Swiss consumer finance unit GE Money Bank in the fourth quarter, as part of a retreat from the sector to focus more on industrial interests.
  Many foreign banks entered Russia just before the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. They are now scaling back operations to allocate funds to meet higher capital requirements at home, at a time when Russian state-controlled giants like Sberbank and VTB are ramping up their business.
  Although consumer lending margins remain high, the Russian central bank is trying to cool consumer lending expansion, which saw growth of about 50-70 percent in recent years, by demanding more capital and provisions for possible bad loans.
  Among others, Britain's Barclays and HSBC and Spain's Santander have scaled back their operations in Russia. However, other foreign banks such as Italy's UniCredit and Austria's Raiffeisen Bank see Russia as a key source of growth.
  Russia's Sovcombank to buy local GE Money BankTop News
  Russia's Sovcombank to buy local GE Money Bank
  Mon, Oct 28 09:45 AM EDT
  MOSCOW, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Russia's mid-sized Sovcombank is buying the local unit of GE Money Bank, a subsidiary of U.S. conglomerate General Electric, in another departure of a foreign bank from a Russian domestic market dominated by state-controlled lenders.
  Sovcombank, ranked among Russia's top 60 by assets, said on Monday it had signed a binding agreement to buy GE Money Bank, expecting to close the deal after getting the green light from local regulators. It did not disclose the price.
  The Russian unit of GE Money Bank is ranked among Russia's 150 biggest banks by assets and is focused on high-margin consumer lending. It declined to comment.
  General Electric will float a majority stake in its Swiss consumer finance unit GE Money Bank in the fourth quarter, as part of a retreat from the sector to focus more on industrial interests.
  Many foreign banks entered Russia just before the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. They are now scaling back operations to allocate funds to meet higher capital requirements at home, at a time when Russian state-controlled giants like Sberbank and VTB are ramping up their business.
  Although consumer lending margins remain high, the Russian central bank is trying to cool consumer lending expansion, which saw growth of about 50-70 percent in recent years, by demanding more capital and provisions for possible bad loans.
  Among others, Britain's Barclays and HSBC and Spain's Santander have scaled back their operations in Russia. However, other foreign banks such as Italy's UniCredit and Austria's Raiffeisen Bank see Russia as a key source of growth.
GE plans credit card unit spinoff to shrink finance arm
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 03:38
  GE plans credit card unit spinoff to shrink finance armTop News
  GE plans credit card unit spinoff to shrink finance arm
  Fri, Nov 15 15:55 PM EST
  By Lewis Krauskopf and Ernest Scheyder
  NORWALK, Connecticut (Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE.N) will spin off its credit card business next year into a separately traded company as it tries to reduce its exposure to unpredictable financial businesses and return to its manufacturing roots.
  The new company should be worth roughly $16 billion to $18 billion, bankers estimate, equal to about 6 percent of GE's overall market value.
  The initial public offering of roughly 20 percent of the credit card business will help GE better focus on its industrial divisions, which makes locomotives, jet engines, dishwashers and scores of other goods, executives said.
  Since the financial crisis, GE's share performance has lagged rivals like Honeywell International Inc (HON.N) and United Technologies Corp, (UTX.N), which have much smaller financing arms.
  At one time, the GE Capital unit, which houses the company's financial operations, contributed nearly half of GE's total profit. But the unit's rising funding costs during the 2008 financial crisis nearly sank the entire company, prompting executives to try to scale it down.
  After the spinoff, GE Capital will help finance medical equipment and other big-ticket items that the company produces.
  The unit that GE is spinning off makes credit card loans to consumers in North America. The cards are usually offered through retailers like Pep Boys (PBY.N), La-Z-Boy Inc (LZB.N) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), and carry those retailers brands.
  The unit also makes personal loans to consumers to cover expenses for things like vacations and medical procedures.
  "This is the right business for GE to exit," said Keith Sherin, head of GE Capital.
  Asked why the spinoff did not include the international part of the retail finance business, Sherin said that would make the transaction much more complicated.
  GE, which has not yet named the company, will start the spinoff next year with the IPO. In 2015, GE will give its shareholders the chance to swap GE stock for shares of the new business.
  It may also sell some part of the business to other investors or companies, but it has tried and failed to sell its credit card business before, sources have told Reuters.
  Compensation for Immelt and other senior GE executives, who do not have golden parachutes, is tied to how quickly they can shrink the company's financial portfolio, according to regulatory filings.
  The spinoff is expected to reduce GE's total outstanding shares to about 9 billion to 9.5 billion from roughly 10.12 billion today.
  GE Capital was named a systemically risky financial institution last summer by the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council. The designation, commonly known as "Too Big To Fail," in effect guaranteed more regulatory oversight of GE Capital.
  GE views the spinoff as its "last major action" in reducing profit from its GE Capital unit to 30 percent of the overall company total, executives said in a presentation Friday. The remaining profit comes from selling goods ranging from locomotives to jet engines to dishwashers.
  GE shares rose nearly 1 percent to $27.25.
  A BETTER TIME TO SPIN-OFF?
  GE could not sell the business previously because very few banks are big enough to buy it, said Robert Hammer, the chief executive of R.K. Hammer Investment Bankers, which brokers card portfolio sales and has managed private label credit card companies.
  With losses on credit card loans declining across the industry, the valuations for these businesses could rise, Hammer added.
  "This is a pretty good time to divest or spin off the business," he said.
  But GE executives acknowledged the economic recovery remains tepid.
  "I hope the market conditions continue to be favorable for something like this" Sherin said after the presentation, speaking of the IPO.
  One question that could affect the IPO valuation is how much debt it takes on and how the business finances itself in the future.
  The GE spinoff comes as Spanish bank Santander' (SAN.MC) is getting ready to spin off it U.S. auto lending arm, called Santander Consumer USA. That offering is expected in the coming months and could indicate how much demand there is for GE's business, a banker said.
  If the company's market capitalization were around $16 billion, it would be smaller than credit card company Discover Financial Services (DFS.N) and larger than CIT Inc (CIT.N).
  GE Capital, which includes all of the company's financial units, posted revenue of $46 billion last year. Sherin expects GE Capital's profit to dip in 2014 and 2015 as it divests the retail finance business, but to grow in line with its industrial businesses starting in 2016.
  Proceeds from the IPO will be used to fund the new company, and Sherin said GE would focus next year on making sure it can operate independently.
  Sherin said GE had not yet determined whether it would need to add more cash to the new company beyond the IPO proceeds, noting the company would have to meet whatever the regulatory standards are for capital requirements.
  (Additional reporting by Jessica Toonkel and Dan Wilchins in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Jeffrey Benkoe and Jim Marshall)
  GE plans credit card unit spinoff to shrink finance armTop News
  GE plans credit card unit spinoff to shrink finance arm
  Fri, Nov 15 15:55 PM EST
  By Lewis Krauskopf and Ernest Scheyder
  NORWALK, Connecticut (Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE.N) will spin off its credit card business next year into a separately traded company as it tries to reduce its exposure to unpredictable financial businesses and return to its manufacturing roots.
  The new company should be worth roughly $16 billion to $18 billion, bankers estimate, equal to about 6 percent of GE's overall market value.
  The initial public offering of roughly 20 percent of the credit card business will help GE better focus on its industrial divisions, which makes locomotives, jet engines, dishwashers and scores of other goods, executives said.
  Since the financial crisis, GE's share performance has lagged rivals like Honeywell International Inc (HON.N) and United Technologies Corp, (UTX.N), which have much smaller financing arms.
  At one time, the GE Capital unit, which houses the company's financial operations, contributed nearly half of GE's total profit. But the unit's rising funding costs during the 2008 financial crisis nearly sank the entire company, prompting executives to try to scale it down.
  After the spinoff, GE Capital will help finance medical equipment and other big-ticket items that the company produces.
  The unit that GE is spinning off makes credit card loans to consumers in North America. The cards are usually offered through retailers like Pep Boys (PBY.N), La-Z-Boy Inc (LZB.N) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), and carry those retailers brands.
  The unit also makes personal loans to consumers to cover expenses for things like vacations and medical procedures.
  "This is the right business for GE to exit," said Keith Sherin, head of GE Capital.
  Asked why the spinoff did not include the international part of the retail finance business, Sherin said that would make the transaction much more complicated.
  GE, which has not yet named the company, will start the spinoff next year with the IPO. In 2015, GE will give its shareholders the chance to swap GE stock for shares of the new business.
  It may also sell some part of the business to other investors or companies, but it has tried and failed to sell its credit card business before, sources have told Reuters.
  Compensation for Immelt and other senior GE executives, who do not have golden parachutes, is tied to how quickly they can shrink the company's financial portfolio, according to regulatory filings.
  The spinoff is expected to reduce GE's total outstanding shares to about 9 billion to 9.5 billion from roughly 10.12 billion today.
  GE Capital was named a systemically risky financial institution last summer by the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council. The designation, commonly known as "Too Big To Fail," in effect guaranteed more regulatory oversight of GE Capital.
  GE views the spinoff as its "last major action" in reducing profit from its GE Capital unit to 30 percent of the overall company total, executives said in a presentation Friday. The remaining profit comes from selling goods ranging from locomotives to jet engines to dishwashers.
  GE shares rose nearly 1 percent to $27.25.
  A BETTER TIME TO SPIN-OFF?
  GE could not sell the business previously because very few banks are big enough to buy it, said Robert Hammer, the chief executive of R.K. Hammer Investment Bankers, which brokers card portfolio sales and has managed private label credit card companies.
  With losses on credit card loans declining across the industry, the valuations for these businesses could rise, Hammer added.
  "This is a pretty good time to divest or spin off the business," he said.
  But GE executives acknowledged the economic recovery remains tepid.
  "I hope the market conditions continue to be favorable for something like this" Sherin said after the presentation, speaking of the IPO.
  One question that could affect the IPO valuation is how much debt it takes on and how the business finances itself in the future.
  The GE spinoff comes as Spanish bank Santander' (SAN.MC) is getting ready to spin off it U.S. auto lending arm, called Santander Consumer USA. That offering is expected in the coming months and could indicate how much demand there is for GE's business, a banker said.
  If the company's market capitalization were around $16 billion, it would be smaller than credit card company Discover Financial Services (DFS.N) and larger than CIT Inc (CIT.N).
  GE Capital, which includes all of the company's financial units, posted revenue of $46 billion last year. Sherin expects GE Capital's profit to dip in 2014 and 2015 as it divests the retail finance business, but to grow in line with its industrial businesses starting in 2016.
  Proceeds from the IPO will be used to fund the new company, and Sherin said GE would focus next year on making sure it can operate independently.
  Sherin said GE had not yet determined whether it would need to add more cash to the new company beyond the IPO proceeds, noting the company would have to meet whatever the regulatory standards are for capital requirements.
  (Additional reporting by Jessica Toonkel and Dan Wilchins in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Jeffrey Benkoe and Jim Marshall)
GE Names Keith Sherin Chairman and CEO of GE Capital; Jeff Bornstein to succeed Sherin as CFO of GE | Business Wire
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 03:34
  FAIRFIELD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GE (NYSE: GE) Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt announced today the appointment of Keith Sherin as chairman and CEO of GE Capital, succeeding Mike Neal, who is retiring. Immelt also announced that GE Capital CFO Jeff Bornstein will succeed Sherin as CFO of GE. The appointments are effective July 1, 2013.
  Sherin, 54, has been GE's CFO for 14 years, and a vice chairman since 2007. He has been a member of the GE Capital board for 14 years and has been closely involved in the transformation of GE Capital into a more focused financial services business with solid earnings.
  ''Keith is one of the most respected CFOs in the world,'' said Immelt. ''He is a trusted colleague and a smart business partner. As a vice chairman of GE, he has played an integral role in defining our growth strategy, implementing our compliance programs and delivering value to our shareowners. His deep understanding of Capital's people and operations will make him a strong leader for this business. Keith's appointment underscores the importance of GE Capital to GE.''
  Sherin has been senior vice president and GE's CFO since 1998. He joined GE in 1981 through the GE Financial Management Program and has held senior financial positions in GE businesses including Aviation, Plastics and Medical Systems. Sherin earned his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
  Sherin succeeds Mike Neal, who is retiring after 34 years with GE in both Capital and Industrial businesses. Neal has been a GE vice chairman since 2005 and will continue in that role through the end of 2013 to help with the transition.
  ''Mike has led Capital for six years with a steady hand, a deep knowledge of markets and a focus on delivering results for Capital and for GE,'' said Immelt. ''Mike and his team helped keep GE Capital safe and secure and transformed it into a more focused and valuable business that is an important part of GE's future. We are all grateful to Mike for his many contributions to our company.''
  GE Capital has become a secure, focused financial services business, with a goal of reducing ending net investment (ENI) from approximately $400 billion today to $300-$350 billion by the end of 2014. With a leading position in midmarket lending, GE Capital will continue to be a strong earnings contributor for GE while providing excess cash to the parent company.
  Jeff Bornstein, 47, is currently a senior vice president and CFO of GE Capital, a role he has held since 2008. He joined GE in 1989 through the GE Financial Management Program and has held senior financial positions in Aviation, Plastics, and Commercial Finance. Bornstein received his B.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University.
  Said Immelt, ''Jeff is well known and respected within the financial services industry and will be a terrific CFO, a position he has held at Capital for more than five years. He is a tough-minded leader with sharp analytical skills and a broad understanding of GE, having worked in many of our industrial businesses.''
  About GE
  GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
  This document contains ''forward-looking statements'' '' that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and often contain words such as ''expect,'' ''anticipate,'' ''intend,'' ''plan,'' ''believe,'' ''seek,'' ''see,'' or ''will.'' Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, particular uncertainties that could cause our actual results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements include: current economic and financial conditions, including volatility in interest and exchange rates, commodity and equity prices and the value of financial assets; potential market disruptions or other impacts arising in the United States or Europe from developments in the European sovereign debt situation; the impact of conditions in the financial and credit markets on the availability and cost of General Electric Capital Corporation's (GECC) funding and on our ability to reduce GECC's asset levels as planned; the impact of conditions in the housing market and unemployment rates on the level of commercial and consumer credit defaults; changes in Japanese consumer behavior that may affect our estimates of liability for excess interest refund claims (GE Money Japan); pending and future mortgage securitization claims and litigation in connection with WMC, which may affect our estimates of liability, including possible loss estimates; our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so; the adequacy of our cash flow and earnings and other conditions which may affect our ability to pay our quarterly dividend at the planned level; GECC's ability to pay dividends to GE at the planned level; our ability to convert pre-order commitments into orders; the level of demand and financial performance of the major industries we serve, including, without limitation, air and rail transportation, energy generation, real estate and healthcare; the impact of regulation and regulatory, investigative and legal proceedings and legal compliance risks, including the impact of financial services regulation; our capital allocation plans, as such plans may change and affect planned share repurchases and strategic actions, including acquisitions, joint ventures and dispositions; our success in completing announced transactions and integrating acquired businesses; the impact of potential information technology or data security breaches; and numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business and competitive nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.
BBC News - Dozens dead in Russian plane crash
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Tue, 19 Nov 2013 03:30
  18 November 2013Last updated at 00:53 ET Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
  Among the dead was Irek Minnikhanov, a son of the president of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, as Tim Allman reports.
  A passenger plane has crashed at an airport in the Russian city of Kazan, killing all 50 people on board.
  The Boeing 737 had taken off from Moscow and was trying to land but exploded on impact at about 19:20 local time (15:20 GMT), officials said.
  The Emergencies Ministry said there were 44 passengers and six crew members on the Tatarstan Airlines flight.
  Investigators are now looking at whether a technical failure or crew error may have caused the crash.
  Investigative committee official Vladimir Markin told Rossiya 24 TV that experts were checking whether poor quality fuel and weather conditions could have been contributing factors.
  It was raining in Kazan when the aircraft crashed.
  Among the dead was Irek Minnikhanov, a son of the president of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, according to the official passenger list.
  Aleksander Antonov, who headed Tatarstan's branch of the Federal Security Service, was also among the passengers.
  The UK Foreign Office confirmed that a British national died in the crash.
  "We are in touch with local authorities and providing consular assistance to those affected," it said in a statement.
  The victims also included two children.
  Russian President Vladimir Putin "expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims in this horrible disaster", his spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the news agency Interfax as saying.
  A government commission has been set up to investigate the cause, he said.
  Reports said the pilot, 47-year-old Rustem Salikhov, had already tried to land several times before crashing.
  The crew had said they were not ready to land because of technical problems, Russian news agencies report.
  A journalist who said she had flown on the same aircraft from Kazan to Moscow earlier on Sunday told Russia's Channel TV that there was a strong vibration during the landing in the Russian capital.
  "When we were landing it was not clear whether there was a strong wind, although in Moscow the weather was fine, or some kind of technical trouble or problem with the flight," said Lenara Kashafutdinova.
  "We were blown in different directions, the plane was tossed around. The man sitting next to me was white as a sheet."
  The plane had been in service since 1990, Russian officials are quoted as saying by the local media.
  The airport in Kazan - the capital of Tatarstan - has been closed since the accident and is not expected to re-open until Monday afternoon.
  Kazan lies about 720km (450 miles) east of Moscow.
  Family members and friends of the victims are getting help by a team of psychologists. The government also promised financial compensation.
  The BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow says that although some of Russia's biggest airlines now have very good reputations, frequent crashes by smaller operators mean the country has one of the worst air safety records in the world.
US Homeland Security must disclose 'internet kill switch', court rules '' Naked Security
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: News Stuff
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:57
  http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/11/18/us-homeland-security-must-disclose-internet-kill-switch-court-rules/
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Red Storm Warnings For Hillary Clinton 2016, Part II
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Hillary Is 44
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:57
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  The FunniesSee Our Funnies Archive.
  February 17, 2009 - David Letterman - Top Ten Things Hillary Clinton Wants To Accomplish On Her Trip Overseas
  10 Exchange U.S. dollars for currency that's worth something
  9 Win respect defeating Japan's top-ranked sumo wrestler
  8 Shift world's perception of America from "hated" to "extremely disliked"
  7 Personally thank all of her illegal campaign donors
  6 Three words: stylish Indonesian pantsuits
  5 Visit burial site of revered Chinese military leader, General Tso
  4 Get drunk with that Japanese finance minister guy
  3 Convince China to switch from lead-tainted products to mercury-tainted products
  2 Catch Chinese screening of Benjamin Button entitled "The Strange Adventures of Freaky Grandpa Baby"
  1 Pick up carton of duty-free smokes for Obama
  February 16, 2009 - David Letterman - Top Ten Things Abraham lincoln Would Say If He Were Alive Today
  10 "Sup?"
  9 "I see Madonna's still a slut"
  8 "Who's that handsome sumbitch on the five?"
  7 "Is that free Grand Slam deal still going on at Denny's?"
  6 "I just changed my Facebook status update to, Tthe 'ol rail splitter is chillaxing'"
  5 "How do I get on 'Dancing with the Stars'?"
  4 "Okay, Obama, you're from Illinois, too. We get it!"
  3 "Hey Phelps, don't Bogart the weed!"
  2 "What's the deal with Joaquin Phoenix?"
  1 "A Broadway play? Uhhh, no thanks. I'm good."
  January 28, 2009 - David Letterman - Top Ten Things Overheard at the Meeting Between Barack Obama and the Republicans
  10 "I miss the Clinton administration when we'd meet at Hooters"
  9 "Can we wrap this up? I've got tickets to the 4:30 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop"
  8 "Smoke break!"
  7 "You fellas really need to take it easy on the Old Spice"
  6 "Mr. President: don't misunderestimate the Republicans"
  5 "Another smoke break!"
  4 "What was the deal with Aretha Franklin's hat?"
  3 "About that tax the rich stuff -- you were joking, right?"
  2 "Sir, it's refreshing to have a Chief Executive who speaks in complete sentences"
  1 "Senator Craig's offering his stimulus package in the men's room"
  January 27, 2009 - David Letterman - Top Ten Ways Rod Blagojevich Can Improve His Image
  10 Star in new television series, "America's Funniest Haircuts"
  9 Quit politics and become a fat, lovable mall cop
  8 Start pronouncing last name with Jerry Lewis-like "BLAGOOOYYYJEVICH"
  7 Offer a senate seat with no money down, zero percent interest
  6 Team up with John Malkovich and Erin Brockovich for hot Malkovich-Brockovich-Blagojevich sex tape
  5 Change his name to Barod Obamavich
  4 Safely land an Airbus on the Hudson River
  3 I don't know...how about showing up for his impeachment trial?
  2 Wear sexy dresses, high heels and say, "You Betcha!"
  1 Uhhh...resign?
  January 16, 2000 - David Letterman - Top Ten Signs Obama's Getting Nervious
  10 New slogan: "Yes we can... or maybe not, it's hard to say"
  9 In moment of confusion, requested a $300 billion bailout from the bailout industry
  8 He's up to not smoking three packs a day
  7 Friends say he's looking frail, shaky and...no, that's McCain
  6 He's so stressed, doctors say he's developing a Sanjay in his Gupta
  5 Been walking around muttering, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?"
  4 Offered Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, $100,000 to buy his old Senate seat back
  3 Standing on White House roof screaming, "Save us, Superman!"
  2 Sweating like Bill Clinton when Hillary comes home early
  1 He demanded a recount
  January 8, 2000 - David Letterman - Top Ten Barack Obama Plans To Fix The Economy
  10 Encourage tourists to throw spare change in the Grand Canyon
  9 End our dependence on foreign owls
  8 Sell New Mexico to Mexico
  7 Put a little of that bailout money on the Ravens plus 3 at Tennessee. Come on! It's a mortal lock!
  6 Rent out the moon for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs
  5 Lotto our way out of this son-of-a-bitch
  4 Appear on "Deal or No Deal" and hope to choose the right briefcase
  3 Bail out the adult film industry -- not sure how it helps, but it can't hurt
  2 Release O.J. from prison, have him steal America's money from China
  1 Stop talkin' and start Obama-natin'!
  January 7, 2000 - David Letterman - Top Ten Things Overheard At The Presidents' Lunch
  10 "Sorry, you're not on the list, Mr. Gore"
  9 "If Hillary calls, I've been here since Monday"
  8 "Laura! More Mountain Dew!"
  7 "You guys wanna see, 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop'?"
  6 "Call the nurse -- George swallowed a napkin ring!"
  5 "Hey Barack, wanna go with us to Cabo in March? Oh that's right, you have to work!"
  4 "Kissey kissey"
  3 "Obama? I think he's downstairs smoking a butt"
  2 "Did you ever see a monkey sneezing?"
  1 "I hope Clinton's unbuckling his belt because he's full"
Body confirmed as Florida man who fell from plane
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: The Daily Star >> Live News
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:56
  MIAMI: Miami-Dade police say they've confirmed that a body found in waters off South Florida is that of a man who fell from a private plane.
  An autopsy on Monday confirmed that the body found in a mangrove area Saturday morning was that of 42-year-old Gerardo Nales.
  Investigators weren't immediately releasing a cause of death, but no evidence of foul play has been reported.
  The pilot called for help Thursday afternoon, radioing "mayday, mayday, mayday" and telling an air traffic controller that a door was open and a passenger had fallen from the plane. The Piper PA 46 had just taken off from Tamiami Executive Airport.
  Federal Aviation Administration officials said the plane was flying at about 2,000 feet (600 meters), about 8 miles (12 kilometers) from the airport.
For Laughs: Omidyar Media Advisor Jay Rosen in His Own Words
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: The Rancid Honeytrap
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:53
  On news last night that NYU Journalism Professor and 'media critic' Jay Rosen was the latest pick up for the Omidyar/Greenwald News thingy, 'left' journalisty Twitter erupted in the usual orgy of sycophancy that lately so characterizes this whole affair. Still there were some discouraging words, like this from NSFWCorp boss Paul Carr.
  If Greenwald/Omidyar really wanted to create something new, they'd have hired Rosen as an independent ombudsman, specifically to criticize'--Paul Carr (@paulcarr) November 18, 2013
  It's axiomatic now that in any part of the left where there is even any meagre influence, there will be, at most, two sides to each question and both of them will be mostly wrong. So Carr's quaint idea that Rosen would have been more critical as Omidyar's ombud, or that Omidyar and Greenwald are buying Rosen's silence, is every bit as ridiculous as the many virtues with which careerist sycophants now ostentatiously imbue him.
  Where the establishment 'left' is concerned '-- that is that huge range of professional opinion-shaping between the partisan shillery of, say, MSNBC and the starry-eyed declinist reformism of Greenwald's showboaty frothing '' Rosen is distinguished less by savvy criticism than prolonged acts of sycophancy and elitism. I went over this ground before, here, in my piece on Rosen's 'Snowden Effect':
  Rosen will happily tweet out some shit written by a shill of shills like Josh Marshall, and even have robust friendly discussions with him online, without once mentioning that Marshall literally gets his talking points straight from the White House.
  Or he'll look at Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger's trivializing, weird confession of acquiescence to government repression, without even a hint of mystification, let alone disparagement, at how long Rusbridger suppressed this story. To the contrary, in Rosen's piece about it, Rusbridger's capitulation to government thugs and his failure to immediately disclose it to his readers, metamorphoses into heroism and prudence, as Rosen extols the overwhelming importance of knowledgeable, responsible journalism elites like Rusbridger to opposing mass surveillance.
  Here he is acting as Omidyar's mouthpiece, a day after announcement of the new unnamed venture, which Rosen christened NewCo with his customary verve. With or without pay, he is the perfect complement to Greenwald, for whom sycophancy is clearly like blood to a vampire, and who unsurprisingly considers him ''one of the best advisers any new media organization could have.''
  Happily, Rosen is so irredeemably awful to anyone whose ass he's not kissing '-- or who's not kissing his '-- that his words speak entirely for themselves. There is no better demonstration of that than Rosen's risible 'Late Night with PressThink' videos, in which he drinks whiskey and makes soul-crushingly banal observations with the clueless self-importance of the privileged grind who has been rewarded all his life for deference and assumed it was for talent.
  The video he did on Maddow, in which he imparts insights that would be right at home in an MSNBC press packet, belongs in a time capsule to demonstrate to future enlightened societies how things like stupid and smart, critique and sycophancy become inverted in societies characterized by one hundred flavors of inequality.
  I've embedded the video at the end of this post, which is best viewed in small doses. This remark from a friend encapsulates the effect: 'I started off laughing, but slowly it began to weigh on me.' Because I love my readers, I have transcribed most of the video, so that you can get the full benefit of Rosen's insights, at minimal emotional cost, though you will miss out on some laughs if you don't sample the video at least a little.
  ''This is the third of my late night with PressThink videos. The first one was powered by Johnny Walker Black, the second by Macallan 12. Tonight I've gone downmarket and it's Dewar's on the rocks. [takes drink]. My subject tonight is why I loooove watching Rachel Maddow.
  ''When I say I love Rachel Maddow I love her performance, her presentation on television as one of the masters of political television which I really think she is.
  ''Rachel's a nerd. She has a serious interest in public policy and politics as problem-solving and Truth, Justice and the American Way as she sees it. She was a public policy major at Stanford, she studied for a PhD in political science at Oxford, she was an activist before she got involved in the media at all. It's this interest in politics and policy and the consequences of American policy that saves her from another kind of interest which is very common among people who do what she does and that is a fascination with the game of politics the way Chris Mathews or Chuck Todd exhibit it.
  ''And of course she's fortunate because MSNBC allows her political commitments to show and it's precisely that the fact that she can declare herself and take a stand and have a stake that she doesn't have to resort to this minute fascination with who's up and who's down, who won and who lost, how they're trying to manipulate us.
  ''She has no interest in seeing things in politics from the same angle as the professional operatives and manipulators, which is what Chuck Todd is so good at. And this alone endears me to her. She has no interest in the game, even though she is realistic about how the game is played.
  ''There's plenty of information in her show. She's very interested in what happened. She wants to inform her listeners, her viewers, but she does that by first engaging in passionate argument and she constructs her arguments with care and that style is just a very different style than what had come to dominate in political television which you might see in somebody like Candy Crowley or John King on CNN, who never tell you what they think but who are more than willing to assess in a savvy way the state of the game or who's up or who's down.
  ''Rachel Maddow has an apartment in The Village in New York and I have an apartment in the Village in New York and she wears goofy sneakers and she loves cities and she's a cosmopolitan person and all those things endear her to me.
  [lengthy, tedious description of Overton Window]
  ''Maddow is just about the only one I can count on to notice when the Overton Window is in play and to point it out, and to draw attention to it today, this week! She'll say Did you see that??? Did you see what just happened???
  ''I also love the fact that perhaps like comics, Maddow believes that the way to succeed on television is in great writing. Until she has the writing right, until every word counts and is the right word she's not ready to do her show. This idea that the key to succeeding on television is actually the written word, not visual presentation or being chummy on the air, or smoothness of manner or being a classically sort of cool, perfectly put-together anchor person but writing, that really impresses me.
  ''I also love the way when she has somebody on who she wants to argue with or with whom there might be some tension, she will prepare a lead-in, a report to introduce this person and then say first question 'Did I get anything wrong?' 'Is there anything you would like to correct?' Which is not only an act of fairness but an act of confidence because you would only do that if you think you've really nailed the facts as well as the arguments in your presentation. Maybe there's other people in television who do that but I can't recall seeing it.
  ''Another thing I love about Maddow is she seems to understand that if I know how you think because I've really studied your mind but you don't really know how I think, because you haven't been playing close attention I have the advantage over you. And I love watching her work that advantage on the air. Maybe, intuitively a lot of her guests from the opposite party'...maybe they intuitively grasp this and this is why they're reluctant to go on the air but she's constantly inviting people who disagree with her on, and I think she's genuine that she really wants them to come on and she has a sense of fairness that coexists with her sense of passionate commitment to arguments and positions and that takes a certain talent as well.
  ''Rachel Maddow is an obsessive, like all good bloggers are obsessives, in fact even though she's never distinguished herself as a blogger, and we don't know her as that, I think it's more or less correct to say she is the first blogger type who ever got her own show on television. who ever got to anchor and host a show on network television. For that matter she is the first openly gay person to have her own show and she's the first intellectual to be a host of political television and all of those things are important milestones in commercial tv.
  ''Finally the thing that I love the most about Rachel Maddow is deep down she's a dork who learned how to be graceful not because it came naturally to her or she was born for it..but .simply through hard work and determination and tremendous focus. There's something extremely inspiring about that.''
  '---
  There you have it, folks, media criticism in 2013, now informing the journalist/billionaire alliance that's going to change everything.
  Related
  Dr. Rosen and The Snowden Effect
  A Harbinger of Journalism Saved
  Glenn Greenwald Still Covering for Omidyar on PayPal
  Viva The New Journalism
  A Heat Vampire in Search of a Movie Deal
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Barack Obama's Obamacare Lie '' It's Much Worse Than You Think'...
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: The Ulsterman Report
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:51
  Do you like puzzles? Chess? Both?Come and see'... Lamecherry's chessboard is more fascinating and more compelling than any Bobby Fischer provided'...The LC is one prolific writer'...many here refer to her as the always interesting...Donate to the always interesting'' hardworking patriot, friends. These days, our education is to be found on the Internet '...and blessedly''they aren't unionized. Thank you too Ulsterman.
  From the LCThere are two very important happenings in the Obama Jinn regime which reveal a great deal of what is going to be taking place inside America in weather and in fuel prices.
  Both are related in the farm economy, and the first is the EPA is attempting to drop the 14 billion gallons of ethanol production to 13 billion gallons of ethanol production for 2014. This is because gas price being so high, that people have stopped buying gas in volume.
  The scheme now is to use that ethanol in higher mixtures of E 15 and E 85. For those ignorant, Henry Ford's original Ford's all were designed to burn straight alcohol in them. I will repeat that in all cars were designed to burn ethanol and it was changed to crude oil, because that is where a waste resource was which Rockefeller could make a fortune off of, which in turn kept the Farmers from becoming the billionaires in America.Diesel engines as created by Mr. Diesel who was said to be murdered by the oil barons, created his oil burning engine to burn vegetable oils and not what became known as diesel oil refined out of crude.
  With this issue, we are seeing the oil barons shortening ethanol supply by the regime to keep gas prices high and benefit the oil barons, as with all the gas use drops, gas should be with ethanol now in the 1.20 range, as it was 1.87 under George W. Bush with higher fuel use.See how they are screwing you over and now the Obama regime with EPA is cutting necessary ethanol production to benefit the oil companies now'...'....which include terror states like nuclear Iran.
  Second part of this exclusive is the Obama regime is rolling out a new ''drought assistance'' plan, meant to assist the farming industry during these droughts. Droughts in America are cyclical. This means that the regime knows that there is a Dirty Thirties drought cycle engaged, and HAARP apparently has not been effective in flipping the atmosphere, so the plan is now to provide aid to the farming community'...'....which means loans, and farmers with loans means the government owns that land.
  Just so you comprehend this in another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter. There appears a direct link now to use the droughts, which are going to continue to slowly take over the ownership of farmlands, as Al Gore hinted at long ago. This will be done by assistance.
  Instead of dropping gas prices below 1 dollar per gallon, the regime is now cutting ethanol production as mandated by Congress at 14 billion gallons to 13 billion gallons, which in turn drops prices on farm products, but keeps prices raised in crude oil, benefitting terror states and the oil barons in the cartel.
  America should be increasing bio fuels, and drilling for oil all across America, along with natural gas, and by this create a nation where fuel and energy prices are at 1970'²s levels. Instead there is a criminal scheme to fund terrorists and cartel oil barons, with a scheme to keep the drought cycle beneficial to the regime by ''assistance'' to farmers who will go into debt and not be able to pay off those debts.
  The very fact that a drought assistance program was created on a national scale, means the regime knows what the weather pattern will be for the next decade. I was very puzzled about the HAARP machinations during the harvest cycle in America which had snows and massive rain storms pounding the American interior which hurts harvest, and should have driven up prices in Chicago commodities, but it did not.Therefore conclusion states that someone was trying to ruin the harvest, but not benefit farmers in prices, but the ruined harvest would then benefit the Soros, Cargill, Archer Daniels monopoly on grain stores they already have complete control of.
  This Obama Jinn regime is losing more and more control over it's Marxist policies and the barons and tycoons are leveraging for their political structure. None of this is good for America or Americans. It is economic rapine by design in national policies.
  If you have missed it, the American interior has been experiencing winter temperatures early after those massive snow storms during harvest. That snow is now dumping in volume in the Rockies again, and when it melts it will bring massive flooding again. This is by design again.That same winter chill, is what is making those storms possible in the eastern Midwest, providing of course HAARP is heating the atmosphere over Illinois and Indiana to summer heat index levels at the upper level.
  For these polices to be implemented a year out, means these polices were structured in the summer of 2013, and for these spiked ethanol blends to appear in the summer of 2013, means this all was known in 2012 and plotted out'...'...'...2012 being a massive drought year predicted only here, and in knowing that, why then would there be a blitz to increase ethanol blend if crops would be degraded?
  This is all tied into the terror states in the Mideast also as George W. Bush started this in 2002 in his ethanol fuels with democrat Tom Daschle. The ethanol structure is now so vast which benefits Monsanto and the tycoons, that the product can not be cut. When one adds to the mixture, that means less oil imported as not all that oil is going to be shipped to China and Japan.On that note, that North Dakota oil was shipping to communist China and was the reason that gas prices were spiked in America all of 2013. Prices are falling now to keep the revolution in check, but it also means that America is pumping so much oil now that Warren Buffett's trains can not haul enough of it out to keep the prices spiked.
  Once again in projecting this out and in, if less fuel is being burned, and a greater ethanol content is being marketed, then the net result is'...'...'...the US oil barons of Texas and Oklahoma led by Harold Hamm are not going to cap wells. Where the cuts will be is in foreign oil importation.As most of Venezuelan sour crude is geared up, that then points to a lessening of oil from the terror Mideast, who still have their prices inflated by the cartel, but that oil can only be picked up in amounts by China to a certain extent.
  This is why OPEC was releasing data on oil production and you have not heard Iran bragging about 200 dollar barrel crude any more. The market is glutted and if the market was generating on forces as when Ronald Reagan was President, crude oil would be in the 50 dollar range per barrel currently.
  I have told you for years how this system is rigged in a criminal enterprise, but what is manifesting is a long range programme in these two tips of the iceberg in drought management and in ethanol production.
  As you rich people who are all Stock Market investments in your millions of dollars have not yet donated to this blog, I will remind you that you just received more long term economic projection here than in all media or your broker's offices. I actually am telling you where the trends are, and if you do not have this figured out, which you have not projected this out on the George W. Bush scenario of 2002, if America is now backing off completely from OPEC oil. If America is going to be the largest producer of oil in the next years, then what value is a bunch of sand in the Middle East for America filled with terrorists?Yes, there will be no reason to engage, protect nor occupy that arena, so it will become someone elses problem.
  I will exclusively give you a heads up in this by the Lame Cherry as it is all before you, and you have no idea of what it is. Zbigniew Brzezinski claimed he created Afghanistan to give the Soviet's their own Vietnam.That event started the collapse of the Soviet system when pushed by Ronald Reagan, German Lutherans, the Pope and Saudi oil money.
  Project it out then, in Russia has a treaty to protect Iran. The two major boogermen for the European anti Christ will be Russia and China. America is preparing to be free of OPEC oil. That means in a war, America has the oil and control of farmland and food supply, which will include South America as there is not a land bridge to Eurasia.
  If a few million Afghanistan peoples could bring down the hundreds of millions Soviet evil empire, then how much more will those lunatic militant Muslims gifted to China and Russia, Russia for political management and China for glow in the dark oil, be the mill stone about the neck of those Asian powers to bring them to their doom in expended resources'...'...not aimed at Europe, but at their problem Islamocommunists.A Russian and Chinese invasion makes the Muslims a European terror weapon ally just like Afghanistan.
  Shah Mhet, Check Mate in a Brzezinski on steroids Muslim policy.
  All quite simple is it not eh, when you have Lame Cherry explaining the things before you, you are being kept in the dark on. You pay your ignorant stock brokers, money managers, bankers, and have yet to pay me the revenue in a big e check donation to save yourselves.
Presidential Proclamation -- American Education Week, 2013
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:51
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  November 15, 2013
  AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK, 2013
  - - - - - - -
  BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
  A PROCLAMATION
  Education is both a pillar of democracy and a cornerstone of American opportunity. In an increasingly competitive world, it gives our children the tools to thrive and our Nation the talent to lead. During American Education Week, we reaffirm our commitment to the next generation, and we celebrate everyone who is striving to help America's young people realize their full potential.
  Every day throughout America, our children mark the many milestones of learning -- from scribbling their first attempts at the alphabet to conducting their first science experiment to crossing the stage at commencement. The educators who guide them deserve our highest admiration, respect, and support for investing in young people's futures. We all have a stake in public education, and we all have a role to play -- from parents and mentors to community leaders and business owners. Through programs focused on tutoring, sports, the arts, and vocational training, we can inspire children to learn both inside and outside the classroom.
  A great education is a ticket into the middle class, and it should be available to everyone willing to work for it. My Administration is committed to reining in college costs and reducing the burden student loans place on young people. We are also moving forward on a plan to connect 99 percent of America's students to high-speed internet within 5 years; pushing to make high-quality early education accessible to every child in America; and working to strengthen programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Because none of these plans will succeed without outstanding teachers, we must support these professionals as they perform their vital work.
  As we move toward Thanksgiving, American Education Week offers a chance to express our gratitude to educators across our Nation. Let us do so with a renewed commitment to giving every young American the opportunities a world-class education affords.
  NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 17 to November 23, 2013, as American Education Week. I call upon all Americans to observe this week by supporting their local schools through appropriate activities, events, and programs designed to help create opportunities for every school and student in America.
  IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth.
  BARACK OBAMA
Google has always been evil
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Scripting News
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:43
  Don't be evil is a marketing slogan, like Hertz puts you in the Driver's Seat.
  When somebody says don't be evil, they're being evil. (With thanks to HL Mencken.)
  All companies have to err on the side of profit at all time.
  Idealism is for sissies!
What If You Don't Like Your Plan?
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Real Jew News
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:42
  ObamaNation Articles
  B/C 400
  What If You Don't Like Your Plan?By Brother Nathanael KapnerCopyright 2013November 18, 2013
  Articles May Be Reproduced Only With Authorship of Br Nathanael Kapner& Link To Real Jew News (SM)
  Support The Brother Nathanael Foundation!
  Or Send Your Contribution To:The Brother Nathanael Foundation, PO Box 1242, Frisco CO 80443E-mail: brothernathanaelfoundation@yahoo.com___________________________________
  IF YOU DON'T LIKE YOUR PLAN you can replace your plan.Simply go to Healthcare.gov and pick the plan of your choice.
  But DON'T Log On To Healthcare.gov EVER! Here's why:
  ' 1' The chief architect of ObamaCare, Ezekiel Emanuel (a Jew and brother of Rahm Emanuel), continues to wield influence on the administering of policy.
  Emanuel would deny medical care to the ''unworthy'' such as disqualifying senior citizens, the disabled, those with Alzheimer's disease, those with Down syndrome, the mentally retarded, and those, (in Emanuel's own words in his Hastings Center Report), ''who are prevented from being or becoming participating citizens.''
  Emanuel clarifies his stance of denying government-funded health care to those with Alzheimer's disease by adding, ''An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.'' View QuoteHere.
  And like a typical sleaze, Emanuel blames ObamaCare problems and the faulty Website on Fox News!
  ' 2' According to expert computer programmer John McAfee, Healthcare.gov can be used by ANY government agency (Homeland Security, FBI, CIA, etc) that turns the Website into an ORWELLIAN nightmare. McAfee says:
  ''In one of the original codes of Healthcare.gov it states that users have 'no reasonable right to privacy' on data submitted and 'can be used by any agency' for any purpose.
  ''Sebelius said she would remove the code but that doesn't change the fact that government collected data can be used by any agency.'' View Entire Story Here.
  ' 3' McAfee ALSO warns that Healthcare.gov is ripe for hackers. Bank accounts can be EASILY hacked into. McAfee warns:
  ''The site is so error-ridden that there are no safeguards to prevent anyone from pretending to be an examiner with the ability to extract enough personal details that would enable him to empty an entire bank account.
  ''It's ripe for hacking due to CGI, the Canadian company that was contracted to build this system, using Indian programmers in India to code using Java Script on the user's computer.
  ''It's a cheap way of doing things and an extremely impractical way if you have a large volume of users.'' View Entire Story Here.
  Bottom Line:
  STAY FAR AWAY FROM HEALTHCARE.gov. Jews control ALL government agencies beginning with Homeland Security all the way to the NSA.
  Do you want God-slaying Jews to have access to your bank account, your health data, and your BODY?
  They murdered God and they will MURDER your health care and YOUR liberties as well!
  Support The Brother Nathanael Foundation!
  Or Send Your Contribution To:The Brother Nathanael Foundation, PO Box 1242, Frisco CO 80443E-mail: brothernathanaelfoundation@yahoo.com___________________________________
  For More See:Why ObamaCare Can Kill YouClick HereAnd:Jewry's Lock On America's SecurityClick Here
  And:Why ObamaCare Must Be StoppedClick Here
  And:Jewry's 'Total' Control Of AmerikaClick Here
  And:ObamaCare Code Can't Be FixedClick Here
  ___________________________________Support Brother Nathanael!
  Send Your Donation To:Brother Nathanael Kapner; PO Box 1242; Frisco CO 80443E-mail: bronathanael@yahoo.com
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  Brother Nathanael @ November 18, 2013
The house that math built | Toronto Star
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:41
  More VideoToronto tailors claim suit will stop a bullet
  Tabloid Talk: Did Katie Holmes have a fling with Jamie Foxx?
  James Stewart is a calculus rock star.
  When he goes on book tours in China, they ask for his autograph. In Toronto, the city's movers and shakers gather at his home for concerts. People have drunkenly stumbled into his infinity pool.
  Stewart's 18,000-square-foot home, named Integral House, is an architectural marvel. It has five floors, a concert space and a stairwell ensconced in handblown blue glass, his favourite colour. The house is filled with gadgets. Stewart delights in showing them off, including the wall to wall blinds that block out the sun with a push of a button in his treetop bedroom.
  ''I don't like to wake up too early,'' he says.
  Rosedale is a neighbourhood of riches, but Stewart's are of a peculiar design. In 1987 he published his first calculus text book. Today, 90 per cent of Canadian university students use his books, and 70 per cent of U.S. students do the same. The bestselling books have been translated into 12 languages. He's a bit like John Grisham, if Grisham knew how to write good sigma notation.
  ''I would not have predicted it,'' says the fair-haired Stewart, ever the mathematician.
  Stewart is from Toronto. His brother and sister aren't mathematical at all. His father was an engineer. His mother was an artist.
  As a boy, Stewart loved music and math. At the University of Toronto, he almost switched into music during second year university. But he stuck with math and played the violin on the side.
  In the 80s, Stewart split his time between playing violin in the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and trying to make calculus digestible for undergrads at McMaster. One day, some of his students told him he should write a book, since his blackboard lesson made more sense than the text they were using.
  Stewart spent the next seven years in exile and wrote the kind of book he'd like to use. When it was finished, the book stood out for being easy to understand. It was a bestseller by 1992.
  ''There are no brochures in guidance offices for textbook writers,'' he says as his feet rest on the heated limestone floors.
  With money pouring in with each new edition, Stewart renovated homes in Hamilton, and later, in Toronto. He wanted his final home to be his masterpiece.
  He travelled the world to interview architects, including Frank Gehry. He chose Howard Sutcliffe and Brigitte Shim of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects in Toronto, and told them he wanted curves and performance space. He let them imagine the rest.
  There are some numbers Stewart doesn't like to talk about. One is his age. Another is the cost of his home. Estimates have pegged it at $30 million.
  Stewart bought a $5.4 million house that backs on to the ravine in Rosedale in 2002 and tore it down a year later. Integral House took six years to build, on account of its curves.
  From the street, only two stories are visible. The main living space was built one floor below street level so it feels like you're descending into the ravine. The back half of the house is glass mixed with oak fins. The house has minimal interior decoration '-- the trees outside are the real focal point. They are visible from all five floors.
  ''The aspiration is that the project feels timeless,'' architect Brigitte Shim said.
  The director of New York's Museum of Modern Art called Stewart's home one of the ''most important private houses'' in North America.
  The floors are made of limestone from France. Before installing the floor, the architects tested the limestone with red wine, coffee and cola. It came off no problem, but when it was installed, the seal wasn't as strong.
  ''At the first fundraiser held here, guests dropped their glasses of red wine, I said, 'Not to worry, these tests prove it will come off,' but it didn't.'' Red wine is now outlawed at receptions.
  Although it's just Stewart who lives there, with the occasional friend staying in the house's two-bedroom apartment, Toronto's arts community is also a de facto inhabitant.
  The concert space was built for Stewart to host 150-person concerts, but he did not anticipate his house would become the darling of fundraising circles.
  ''I turn down more requests than I get,'' he said. ''I usually put on eight events per year. I choose the causes that resonate with me.''
  Small theatre groups, music festivals, dance companies, and fashion entrepreneurs have all used the house for benefits. Stewart has been thrilled to meet some of his heroes along the way.
  American composer Steve Reich has played here, and Phillip Glass, a renowned composer whose work has been nominated for Academy Awards, is expected to stop by this year.
  Shim, who attends many of the events, is continually impressed.
  ''He's just a really lovely guy, the nicest person you ever want to meet,'' she said of Stewart.
  The house may have catapulted Stewart into circles most mathletes don't travel in, but he's still a professor at heart. When he came home from a walk to find two architecture students peering into his windows, he gave them a tour.
  After all, this is the house that math built, and calculus is a beautiful thing to share.
When Selling Digital Content, Let the Customer Set the Price - Marco Bertini , and Richard Reisman - Harvard Business Review
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:09
  by Marco Bertini and Richard Reisman | 9:30 AM November 18, 2013
  The newspaper industry is a good example of just how difficult it can be to thrive when business goes digital, especially if that business is chronically resistant to change. David Carr, at The New York Times, summarized the industry's precarious position as follows:
  ''Producing serious news is an expensive enterprise with a beleaguered business model, one that remains tied to the tracks as a locomotive of splintered audiences and declining advertising hurtles toward it.'' (The New York Times; October 20, 2013)
  Yet, there may well be a light at the end of this tunnel, and it comes in the form of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, who recently purchased The Washington Post, and Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, who shortly after pledged $250 million to create a new general-interest news site. The surprising investments of these giants of the digital age have certainly made disbelievers sit up and take notice. But Bezos was quick to pinpoint the key challenge ahead:
  ''The Post is famous for its investigative journalism. It pours energy and investment and sweat and dollars into uncovering important stories. And then a bunch of Web sites summarize that [work] in about four minutes and readers can access that news for free. One question is: How do you make a living in that kind of environment?'' (The Washington Post; September 3, 2013)
  Bezos' question certainly resonates with us, as it embodies a fundamental problem that many businesses'--sellers of newspapers, music, movies, videogames, software, etc.'--are struggling to deal with. It is also a question that the two of us have studied closely, independently or together, for some time. Indeed, the shift of content to the digital domain has forced organizations to rethink their attitude to value creation, at times backtracking to the very issue of what ''value'' actually means. Despite this, the way companies convert digital anything into cash seems to be stuck in time, obeying rules that may have worked in the context of a physical product but make far less sense today. To be sure, some visionaries spotted this inconsistency and posited that ''free'' (and the hybrid ''freemium'') is the clever way forward. Unfortunately, the idea of giving stuff away today in the hope of a hefty payday tomorrow has caused new problems that are not straightforward to solve. Meanwhile, other visionaries preach hard lines of ''pay walls'' or softer versions with metering. The goal here is to set one or few rigid prices. This tends to be favored approach of traditional content providers. But if you consider the possibility of infinite variety that comes with a digital platform, not to mention the low or non-existent marginal costs, this model is probably leaving good money on the table. How can business make money from digital content, then? We believe that monetizing digital needs a fresh approach. In particular, we propose an architecture for pricing digital goods that is intended to move the exchange between seller and buyer from the transactional to the relational. This architecture reflects three key ingredients of today's social marketplaces:
  Empowerment. Companies are embracing the idea of delegating activities to their customers. We see this in marketing with product development and advertising, mostly. But what about monetization? How about letting customers participate'--at least to some controlled extent'--in price setting to raise their level of engagement?Dialog. Gaining customer feedback is intuitive. But how often does the seller get involved and create a true dialog? And, even if there is discussion, how often is it tied directly to the pricing process? Modern e-commerce systems can enable rich automated value-focused interactions, but this capability is underused.Reputation. Integrate the idea of social capital in the monetization approach. You can do this by creating a reputation score that relates directly to customers' conscious use of the pricing power granted in point 1 above. Importantly, this score evolves over the course of multiple transactions.We see these as general, flexible building blocks. One specific configuration is something we call FairPay. Here is how it plays out:
  Empowerment. We take an extreme view: buyers first experience the product and then have the power to pay whatever they wish, including zero. The timing matters because (a) customers should know the product they are asked to sacrifice money for, and (b) it fosters reciprocity, a strong social norm. Moreover, there is a constraint in place to avoid freeriding: companies retain the right to make future FairPay offers (i.e., they can take away a customer's price-setting privilege).Dialog. Firms suggest reference prices to anchor a customer's price offer and can provide reports to remind people of the value received. Customers are asked to justify the prices paid by indicating their reasons. Firms respond with counterarguments. Importantly, this dialog is structured for scalability and personalization through the use of modern choice architectures. The technology is there.Reputation. Customers have a fairness rating. Choice architectures are then applied to segment customers in terms of fairness (and other attributes) and apply ''carrots'' (relating to product tiers, perks, etc.) to improve profitability or ''sticks'' (the threat to remove a customer's price-setting privilege) to at least sustain it.Our FairPay approach is only one application of the principles outlined above. No doubt different organizations can leverage this framework in different ways, not all of which will go so far as to allow users to pay what they want. Indeed, such experimentation is necessary to overcome the challenges businesses face in monetizing digital content. The key, however, is to move beyond the debate over free vs. fee to focus on empowering and communicating with customers, and finding ways to reward those who opt to pay.
The Bernanke on bitcoin
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:08
  REUTERS/ Tim Chong
  The beautiful thing about Bitcoin, digital currency enthusiasts will tell you, is that it doesn't have a central bank.So with eyes on today's Bitcoin Senate hearing, where does the world's most powerful central banker stand on the elusive cryptocurrency?
  Now we know. Ahead of the meeting, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernankehas released a letter to help guide the senate. Quartz's Zachary Seward called it a "cautious blessing," with Bernanke acknowledging the Fed doesn't have the authority to supervise virtual currencies, but that they "may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.''
  Here's Bernanke's full letter (via Quartz):
  Dear Senators:Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding virtual currencies. As you noted, virtual currencies have been receiving increased attention from U.S. authorities over the past several months.
  Historically, virtual currencies have been viewed as a form of ''electronic money'' or area of payment system technology that has been evolving over the past 20 years. Over time, these types of innovations have received attention from Congress as well as U.S. regulators. For example, in 1995, the U.S. House of Representatives held hearings on ''the future of money'' at which early versions of virtual currencies and other innovations were discussed. Vice Chairman Alan Blinder's testimony at that time made the key point that while these types of innovations may pose risks related to law enforcement and supervisory matters, there are also areas in which they may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.
  Although the Federal Reserve generally monitors developments in virtual currencies and other payments system innovations, it does not necessarily have authority to directly supervise or regulate these innovations or the entities that provide them to the market. In general, the Federal Reserve would only have authority to regulate a virtual currency product if it is issued by, or cleared or settled through, a banking organization that we supervise. Given the Federal Reserve''s authority and the manner in which virtual currencies have developed, the Federal Reserve has focused primarily on a supervised banking organization's role in the products' sale and distribution, as well as the applicable regulations, such as Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) /anti-money laundering (AML) requirements.
  Policies, Procedures, Guidance or Advisories
  In March 2013, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued guidance to clarify that an administrator or exchanger of virtual currency is generally considered a money transmitter under definitions and therefore subject to BSA requirements?' The Federal Reserve's supervisory expectations and guidance related to compliance for bank transactions using virtual currencies have been incorporated into the Electronic Cash section of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) Examination Manual. The overall objective of the guidance and examination procedures provided in this section is to assess the adequacy of a bank's systems to manage the risks associated with electronic cash and management's ability to implement effective monitoring and reporting systems. The section further lists applicable risk factors and risk mitigation steps for banks to consider. The Federal Reserve supervision staff has on''going initiatives with the FFIEC member agencies to identify additional areas of concern that require heightened attention by the banking organizations we supervise.
  Ongoing Coordination
  In May 2013, the US. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) named Liberty Reserve S.A. as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Section 31l).4 'According to the announcement, Liberty Reserve, a web''based money transfer system or ''virtual currency,'' was specifically designed and frequently used to facilitate money laundering in cyber space. This action also marked the first use of Section 311 authorities against a virtual currency provider.
  The statutory language of Section 311 requires Treasury to consult with the Federal Reserve Board when these special measures are being developed and proposed. Therefore, Federal Reserve Board staff participated in coordination and consultation efforts leading up to the designation of the virtual currency provider, Liberty Reserve, under Section 311.
  Specific Plans or Strategies
  As noted above, the Federal Reserve plans to work with other FFIEC member agencies on electronic cash and related issues such as virtual currencies, as needed, for banking organizations. The Federal Reserve will continue to monitor developments as part of its broad interest in the safety and efficiency of the payment system. We also stand ready to cooperate with other agencies in fulfilling their mandates, as appropriate.
  I hope you find this information helpful.
  Sincerely,
  [Ben Bernanke]
Brittany Murphy did not die of natural causes, lab report shows - Los Angeles Homeland Security | Examiner.com
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:04
  Shocking new developments in the re-investigation of Brittany Murphy's untimely demise confirm her father's long-standing suspicions of a possible poisoning. Angelo Bertolotti never believed the conclusion of the LA Coroner that both Brittany and her husband Simon Monjack died of natural causes (pneumonia and anemia), five months apart.
  After years of litigation and obstruction, Brittany's father secured the release of her hair, blood and tissues for independent testing. Based on the symptoms exhibited by Brittany and Simon shortly prior to their deaths, Mr. Bertolotti ordered testing for heavy metals and toxins. The Office of the Los Angeles Coroner admittedly did not test for any poisonous substances.
  A father's heart steered him in the right direction, since the tests confirmed Angelo Bertolotti's worst suspicions. The lab report states, ''Ten (10) of the heavy metals evaluated were detected at levels higher that the WHO [The World Health Organization] high levels. Testing the hair strand sample identified as'' back of the head'' we have detected ten (10) heavy metals at levels above the WHO high levels recommendation. If we were to eliminate the possibility of a simultaneous accidental heavy metals exposure to the sample donor then the only logical explanation would be an exposure to these metals (toxins) administered by a third party perpetrator with likely criminal intent.'' (Emphasis added)
  Heavy metals can be commonly found in rodenticides (chemicals that kill mice or rats) and insecticides. Symptoms of acute heavy metal poisoning in humans can include headache, dizziness, gastrointestinal, neurological, respiratory, or dermal symptoms such as abdominal cramps, tremors, tachycardia, sweating, disorientation, coughing, wheezing, congestion, and pneumonia. Brittany Murphy and Simon Monjack exhibited all of these symptoms prior to their untimely deaths. The levels of heavy metals detected in Brittany Murphy's hair were from 2 to over 9 times higher than the levels set as ''high'' by The World Health Organization.
  ''Vicious rumors, spread by tabloids, unfairly smeared Brittany's reputation,'' said Angelo Bertolotti. ''My daughter was neither anorexic nor a drug junkie, as they repeatedly implied. Brittany and Simon were ridiculed by The Hollywood Reporter, when they complained of being under surveillance and in fear for their lives. I will not rest until the truth about these tragic events is told. There will be justice for Brittany.''
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Typhoon Fuels Call for Global Warming Compensation Fund | Weasel Zippers
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:46
  Stupidest idea of wealth redistribution ever
  Via Bloomberg:
  The typhoon that killed thousands of people in the Philippines has energized debate about whether rich nations should compensate poor ones for climate-related losses, a proposal the U.S. and European Union are resisting.
  Some 130 countries, including islands concerned they'll disappear with rising sea levels, are pushing for reparations as part of a ''loss and damage'' mechanism at United Nations climate talks in Warsaw this week. They blame countries that industrialized 200 years ago for damaging the atmosphere.
  ''Many countries around the world are already incurring losses and damages from the impacts of climate change,'' Yeb Sano, the Philippine lead negotiator whose hometown was flattened by the storm, said in an interview in Warsaw. ''We'd like to make clear the difference between humanitarian aid and climate change compensation in the context of historical responsibility.''
  Keep reading'...
CRACKDOWN: New York State Considers Licensing Bitcoin Traders
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: EconomicPolicyJournal.com
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:40
  The Verge reports:On Friday, the New York State Department of Financial Services announced it will be holding a public hearing on virtual currency regulation, specifically considering whether a certification called "BitLicense" might help manage the spread of online currencies like Bitcoin. The new license would require consumer protection services, as well as anti-money laundering requirements, designed to make the currency less useful in cases of fraud and criminal activity.[...]the Department of Finance put it, "it is in the long-term interest of the virtual currency industry to put in place appropriate guardrails that protect consumers, root out illegal activity, and safeguard our national security."
  Goodbye anonymizing programs, as I have warned before, they are going to be ruled money laundering tools and banned. Bitcoin is going to end up the most trackable financial instrument ever---which will make it pretty useless/Current Bitcoin price: $589.00
A case for reading the small print
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: BBC News - Technology
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:37
  18 November 2013Last updated at 11:07 ET Magazine MonitorA collection of cultural artefactsA woman has reportedly been "fined" $3,500 after writing a negative review about an online retailer. It just goes to show that all kinds of things can lurk in the terms and conditions, writes Olivia Sorrel-Dejerine.
  A few years ago, Jen Palmer's husband ordered her some "trinkets" from US online retailer KlearGear.com. He hadn't received them after 30 days so tried to get in touch with the firm. After failing, PayPal refunded his money.
  His wife posted a bad review on consumer website Ripoff Report, complaining that "there is absolutely no way to get in touch with a physical human being" and accusing KlearGear of having "horrible customer service practices".
  Three years later, Palmer's husband reportedly got an email from KlearGear.com demanding that the review be removed within 72 hours or they would be "fined" $3,500.
  The Palmers say the company's demand pointed to the terms of sale, including a non-disparagement clause preventing individuals "from taking any action that negatively impacts KlearGear.com, its reputation, products, services, management or employees".
  The Palmers say that when they didn't pay the $3,500 "fine", the company contacted credit agencies who put a black mark against their credit score.
  But the Palmers are far from being the only people not to read the terms and conditions online.
  In a bid to prove that very few people actually read them, in 2010 GameStation.com - a UK-based games retailer - added an "immortal soul clause" to their T&Cs.
  The website claimed 88% of customers hadn't read the clause, which gave the company legal ownership of their customer's soul.
  "There is no way we are going to read the entire terms and conditions. Life is too short," says technology commentator Bill Thompson.
  The playing field is uneven because there is no way to challenge the terms and conditions, you either have to accept it all, or reject it all, he says.
  "It would be better to be able to challenge a particular clause within the terms and conditions, than to expect people to read the whole contract," he says.
  Of course, immortal soul and even non-disparagement clauses might put people off.
  Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook
Virtual currencies vulnerable to money laundering: U.S. Justice
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Reuters: Technology News
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:37
  click here to continue to articlecliquez ici pour lire l'articleweiter zum Artikelclicca qui per visualizzare l'articoloweiter zum Artikelir a la noticiaklik hier om door te gaan naar het artikelYazÄ±ya devam etmek i§in tÄ±klayÄ±n>>ÐŸÐµÑÐµÐ¹Ñ‚Ð¸ Ðº ÑÑ‚Ð°Ñ‚ÑŒÐµ>>ç>>§ç>>­é…è¯>>æ–‡ç ¼Œè¯·ç‚¹å‡>>èé‡ŒTovbb a cikkre
California prepares for Common Core standards
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: UN Agenda 21
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:34
  Exposing the comprehensive UN plan to bring about an authoritarian world government via international regulations and treaties under the guise of environmentalism and social equity.
  Remember, a lot of this is heavy doublespeak. I.E. "Commuter Friendly" = Commuter hell, at the mercy of public transportation, unfriendly-to-cars, no leaving the area etc., "Walkable" = car unfriendly, literally poverty infrastructure
  New UrbanismTriple Bottom LineSustainability/Sustainable DevelopmentSocial EquityEconomic EmpowermentSocial Responsibility"Smart" i.e. Smart GrowthEconomic/Environmental JusticeCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR)Liveable/WalkableNew NormalComplete StreetsMixed-Use (property)"Green"Commuter Friendly"Well-Being"Community ActionResilience/Resilient CommunitiesTransition TownNext/New EconomySECTION I. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS: Chapter 2.1.
  In order to meet the challenges of environment and development, States have decided to establish a new global partnership. This partnership commits all States to engage in a continuous and constructive dialogue, inspired by the need to achieve a more efficient and equitable world economy, keeping in view the increasing interdependence of the community of nations and that sustainable development should become a priority item on the agenda of the international community. It is recognized that, for the success of this new partnership, it is important to overcome confrontation and to foster a climate of genuine cooperation and solidarity. It is equally important to strengthen national and international policies and multinational cooperation to adapt to the new realities.
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  Any posts that attack the sub, the users or the mods can be removed. Breaking this rule more than once can earn a ban.
  We are all different here, and you may find that have different beliefs, but please be respectful of each other.
U.S. Agencies to say Bitcoins Offer Legitimate Benefits - Yahoo Finance
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:30
  The Department of Justice andSecurities and Exchange Commission are telling a U.S. Senatecommittee that Bitcoins are legitimate financial instruments,boosting prospects for wider acceptance of the virtual currency.
  Representatives from the agencies told the U.S. SenateCommittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ahead ofa hearing tomorrow that the digital money offers benefits andcarries risks, like any other online-payment system, according toletters they released before the meeting.
  The committee scheduled the hearing "to explore potentialpromises and risks related to virtual currency for the federalgovernment and society at large" after the Silk Road HiddenWebsite was shut down in October. The closing of themarketplace, where people could obtain drugs, guns and otherillicit goods using Bitcoins, is helping fuel a rally in thevirtual currency as speculators bet that the digital money willgain more mainstream acceptance.
  "The FBI's approach to virtual currencies is guided by arecognition that online payment systems, both centralized anddecentralized, offer legitimate financial services," Peter Kadzik, principal deputy assistant attorney general, wrote in aletter. "Like any financial service, virtual currency system ofeither type can be exploited by malicious actors, butcentralized and decentralized online payment systems can varysignificantly in the types and degrees of illicit financial riskthey pose."
  Virtual Money Introduced in 2008 by a programmer or group of programmersgoing under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin is being usedto pay for everything from gourmet coffee to smartphones on theInternet. There are almost 12 million Bitcoins in circulation,according to Bitcoincharts, a website that tracks activityacross various exchanges.
  Bitcoins were trading for $460 apiece today on Bitstamp,one of the more active online exchanges, where the digital moneyis traded for dollars, euros and other currencies. The virtualcurrency reached a record of $473 earlier today, and is up morethan 30-fold so far this year.
  "Two years ago it was alarm when Silk Road first came onthe scene," said Jerry Brito, senior research fellow at theMercatus Center at George Mason University who is alsotestifying in front of the committee tomorrow. "Since then,Congress has been educating itself and understands that thereare great potential benefits, and like any new technology thereare going to be some challenges. But they see there is a balanceto be struck here and they are generally positive on thetechnology."
  Gaining Acceptance Since the virtual currency exists as software that'sdesigned to be untraceable, it's an attractive tender for thoseseeking to transact anonymously via the Web. While the closingof Silk Road initially caused the digital money to lose a thirdof its value within days, Bitcoins have recovered and rallied torecord levels as speculators and investors bet that the currencywill be less of a fad and gain more mainstream acceptance.
  Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, is alsoweighing in on the hearing, saying that it has no plans toregulate the currency.
  "Although the Federal Reserve generally monitorsdevelopments in virtual currencies and other payments systeminnovations, it does not necessarily have authority to directlysupervise or regulate these innovations or the entities thatprovide them to the market," Bernanke wrote in a letter to thecommittee.
  The hearings will bolster the view that Bitcoins are anacceptable alternate means of conducting transactions, and thattheir use will grow, said Brito.
  "These hearings means Bitcoin is finally coming into itsown; it's a real thing and it's not going anywhere and thesehearings highlight that," he said.
  To contact the reporter on this story:Max Raskin in New York at mraskin5@bloomberg.net
  To contact the editor responsible for this story:Pui-Wing Tam at ptam13@bloomberg.net
  More From Bloomberg
  Internet & Networking Technologyvirtual currencyBitcoins
Kamer: mensenrechten hoger op agenda IOC
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: VK: Home
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 12:11
  18/11/13, 11:58 '' bron: ANP
  (C) anp. Minister Edith Schippers moet volgens de kamer meer invloed uitoefenen op de positie van mensenrechten bij het IOC.
  UPDATE Nederland moet er bij organisaties als het Internationaal Olympisch Comit(C) (IOC) op aandringen om grote sportevenementen niet meer toe te wijzen aan landen waar de mensenrechten geschonden worden. Een meerderheid van de Tweede Kamer wil dat minister Edith Schippers (VWS) een manier vindt om daarop invloed uit te oefenen. 'Het moet hoger op de agenda komen bij het IOC', zei Kamerlid Pia Dijkstra (D66) maandag in het debat over de sportbegroting.
  Dijkstra kreeg daarbij onder meer steun van PvdA, VVD en SP. Ze wil dat Schippers er bij sportkoepel NOC*NSF op aandringt druk uit te oefenen op het IOC om de mensenrechten op te nemen in de selectiecriteria bij de toewijzing van evenementen. Dit naar aanleiding van de antihomowet in Rusland waar komende winter de Winterspelen plaatsvinden.
  VVD'er Matthijs Huizing vroeg zich wel af of het niet beter is op Europees niveau hiermee aan de slag te gaan. 'Omdat we anders niet bereiken wat we willen.' Dijkstra zei een motie klaar te hebben liggen maar wacht, net als Hanke Bruins Slot (CDA), eerst het antwoord van de minister af, die maandagmiddag reageert. 'Ik wil graag van de minister horen hoe zij hier tegenover staat.' Dijkstra wil daarnaast van Schippers weten of zij het mogelijke bid van de KNVB om het EK vrouwenvoetbal van 2017 naar Nederland te halen ondersteunt. 'Zo'n evenement zou een enorme stimulans voor het vrouwenvoetbal zijn.'
  Deel jouw mening met de andere bezoekers
Tycoon to fund British anti-EU party's European election campaign
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Reuters: World News
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 12:11
  click here to continue to articlecliquez ici pour lire l'articleweiter zum Artikelclicca qui per visualizzare l'articoloweiter zum Artikelir a la noticiaklik hier om door te gaan naar het artikelYazÄ±ya devam etmek i§in tÄ±klayÄ±n>>ÐŸÐµÑÐµÐ¹Ñ‚Ð¸ Ðº ÑÑ‚Ð°Ñ‚ÑŒÐµ>>ç>>§ç>>­é…è¯>>æ–‡ç ¼Œè¯·ç‚¹å‡>>èé‡ŒTovbb a cikkre
The Results Are In: Women Are Better Leaders
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: UN Agenda 21
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 12:09
  Exposing the comprehensive UN plan to bring about an authoritarian world government via international regulations and treaties under the guise of environmentalism and social equity.
  Remember, a lot of this is heavy doublespeak. I.E. "Commuter Friendly" = Commuter hell, at the mercy of public transportation, unfriendly-to-cars, no leaving the area etc., "Walkable" = car unfriendly, literally poverty infrastructure
  New UrbanismTriple Bottom LineSustainability/Sustainable DevelopmentSocial EquityEconomic EmpowermentSocial Responsibility"Smart" i.e. Smart GrowthEconomic/Environmental JusticeCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR)Liveable/WalkableNew NormalComplete StreetsMixed-Use (property)"Green"Commuter Friendly"Well-Being"Community ActionResilience/Resilient CommunitiesTransition TownNext/New EconomySECTION I. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS: Chapter 2.1.
  In order to meet the challenges of environment and development, States have decided to establish a new global partnership. This partnership commits all States to engage in a continuous and constructive dialogue, inspired by the need to achieve a more efficient and equitable world economy, keeping in view the increasing interdependence of the community of nations and that sustainable development should become a priority item on the agenda of the international community. It is recognized that, for the success of this new partnership, it is important to overcome confrontation and to foster a climate of genuine cooperation and solidarity. It is equally important to strengthen national and international policies and multinational cooperation to adapt to the new realities.
  No Racism
  No Abusive/threatening language.
  Any posts that attack the sub, the users or the mods can be removed. Breaking this rule more than once can earn a ban.
  We are all different here, and you may find that have different beliefs, but please be respectful of each other.
Common Core comments run from 'great' to 'commie brainwashing'
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: UN Agenda 21
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 12:09
  Exposing the comprehensive UN plan to bring about an authoritarian world government via international regulations and treaties under the guise of environmentalism and social equity.
  Remember, a lot of this is heavy doublespeak. I.E. "Commuter Friendly" = Commuter hell, at the mercy of public transportation, unfriendly-to-cars, no leaving the area etc., "Walkable" = car unfriendly, literally poverty infrastructure
  New UrbanismTriple Bottom LineSustainability/Sustainable DevelopmentSocial EquityEconomic EmpowermentSocial Responsibility"Smart" i.e. Smart GrowthEconomic/Environmental JusticeCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR)Liveable/WalkableNew NormalComplete StreetsMixed-Use (property)"Green"Commuter Friendly"Well-Being"Community ActionResilience/Resilient CommunitiesTransition TownNext/New EconomySECTION I. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS: Chapter 2.1.
  In order to meet the challenges of environment and development, States have decided to establish a new global partnership. This partnership commits all States to engage in a continuous and constructive dialogue, inspired by the need to achieve a more efficient and equitable world economy, keeping in view the increasing interdependence of the community of nations and that sustainable development should become a priority item on the agenda of the international community. It is recognized that, for the success of this new partnership, it is important to overcome confrontation and to foster a climate of genuine cooperation and solidarity. It is equally important to strengthen national and international policies and multinational cooperation to adapt to the new realities.
  No Racism
  No Abusive/threatening language.
  Any posts that attack the sub, the users or the mods can be removed. Breaking this rule more than once can earn a ban.
  We are all different here, and you may find that have different beliefs, but please be respectful of each other.
D-Star using Yaesu Mobile Radios
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 04:35
  D-Star using Yaesu Mobile RadiosYaesu does not built any D-Star radios until now (2009). But we have Satoshi's boards to extend these radios with D-Star capabilities:
  Kit from www.funkamateur.de DV-Platine from Satoshi http://d-star.dyndns.org/rig.html.en Hot-Spot from Satoshi http://d-star.dyndns.org/rig.html.e (see also Update below)
  All Yeasu mobile rigs (FT-7800, FT-8800 and FT-8900) have an inverted 9k6 data input. Therefore it is neccessary to build an signal inverter for the TX data signal:
  This inverter must be switched between the output of the D-Star board and the 9k6 Packet input of the Yaesu mobile transceiver:
  Additionally the signal polarity of the FT-8800's 9k6 output is also inverted but ONLY in the 2m band. For 70cm this signal is normal. So we need an additional inverter for 2m operation.
  With other transceivers the signal level is unknown. Therefore I have build a small circuit which allows flexible selection of signal polarity with two switches:
  This circuit is switched between the Node-Adapter (DV-Adapter etc.) and the transceiver.
  Using the two switches you can select any polarity and adapt the TX and RX signal to almost any transceiver.
  Capacitor C1 ... only needed if the 9k6 input of the transceiver has no input capacitor (most rig have one).
  Resistor R7 ... required for many transceivers. It reduces the output level of the transceiver for the Node-Adapter (DV-Adapter usw.). This resistor is required for the FT-8800 and recommended for most other transceivers.
  Update for the Node-Adapter:
  Firmware versions 3.36 or later have an software inverter. You do not need above circuit.
  You still need it for the DV adapter.
  D-Star using Yaesu Mobile RadiosYaesu does not built any D-Star radios until now (2009). But we have Satoshi's boards to extend these radios with D-Star capabilities:
  Kit from www.funkamateur.de DV-Platine from Satoshi http://d-star.dyndns.org/rig.html.en Hot-Spot from Satoshi http://d-star.dyndns.org/rig.html.e (see also Update below)
  All Yeasu mobile rigs (FT-7800, FT-8800 and FT-8900) have an inverted 9k6 data input. Therefore it is neccessary to build an signal inverter for the TX data signal:
  This inverter must be switched between the output of the D-Star board and the 9k6 Packet input of the Yaesu mobile transceiver:
  Additionally the signal polarity of the FT-8800's 9k6 output is also inverted but ONLY in the 2m band. For 70cm this signal is normal. So we need an additional inverter for 2m operation.
  With other transceivers the signal level is unknown. Therefore I have build a small circuit which allows flexible selection of signal polarity with two switches:
  This circuit is switched between the Node-Adapter (DV-Adapter etc.) and the transceiver.
  Using the two switches you can select any polarity and adapt the TX and RX signal to almost any transceiver.
  Capacitor C1 ... only needed if the 9k6 input of the transceiver has no input capacitor (most rig have one).
  Resistor R7 ... required for many transceivers. It reduces the output level of the transceiver for the Node-Adapter (DV-Adapter usw.). This resistor is required for the FT-8800 and recommended for most other transceivers.
  Update for the Node-Adapter:
  Firmware versions 3.36 or later have an software inverter. You do not need above circuit.
  You still need it for the DV adapter.
Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood Producer And Obama Donor: Obama's Not Embarrassing, U.S. Is Embarrassing
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:56
  You sir, are an embarrassment, just like dear Leader'...
  Via Breitbart:
  Hollywood producer and Obama donor Harvey Weinstein said the United States is ''embarrassing'' because of its adherence to the Second Amendment and lack of universal healthcare.
  Appearing on Piers Morgan Tonight Friday, Weinstein said ''this is the only the country in the world where we don't have health care. Countries embarrass us around the world.''
  ''And this is the only country in the world where we don't have a gun law. I watched you, you know, talking about that,'' he said. ''You know, quite frankly it's embarrassing. Obama's not embarrassing. The country is embarrassing.''
  Morgan asked Weinstein during the show's Friday installment ''if he could enjoy the work of someone like Chris Christie,'' the Republican governor of New Jersey.
  ''I love him,'' Weinstein said. ''I think the guy's fantastic.''
  Keep reading'...
Former NSA Director Michael Hayden Asked Why He Hasn't Been Prosecuted for Crimes
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Activist Post
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:55
  YoutubeSubscribe to LeakSourceNews ChannelBE THE CHANGE! PLEASE SHARE THIS USING THE TOOLS BELOW
Is the Affordable Care Act in serious jeopardy?
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: ccampeador
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:51
  By Jake Miller /CBS News/ November 17, 2013, 4:04 PM
  With an eye on the 2014 midterm elections, a growing number of Democrats are voicing concerns about the insurance cancellations and website problems that have plagued the debut of the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges '' a phenomenon highlighted Friday when 39 House Democrats broke ranks to support a GOP-authored bill that the White House said would undermine a ''central premise'' of the healthcare law.
  It was a remarkable show of disunity from Democrats, who have splintered every which way in reaction to the Obamacare's rocky debut. And it raises an uncomfortable question for congressional Democrats who voted overwhelmingly in 2010 to approve the Affordable Care Act without any Republicans in tow: Will they have the political fortitude to stick to their guns and fend off changes to the law, or will a vulnerable caucus begin to accept alterations to a bill they've steadfastly safeguarded for years?
  Despite the anxiety among her troops, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives insisted Sunday she isn't fretting about the law's future.
  ''I don't think it's in trouble,'' House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters. ''I think we just have to remain calm, get through the website getting fixed, clarify some misrepresentations about it.''
  ''It's the law of the land,'' she added. ''It's an important health, stability issue, security issue for the American people, and I believe that in a matter of months many more people will see that.''
  She dismissed the 39 Democratic votes for the GOP's proposal to prevent insurance cancellations by extending 2013 plans through 2014 as a ''political'' maneuver, noting that a similar number of Democrats joined Republicans on dozens of earlier votes to repeal or alter the law.
  But when Pelosi was asked on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' whether more Democrats will flee Obamacare ahead of the 2014 election, she declined to speculate.
  ''I don't think you can tell what will happen next year, but I will tell you this: Democrats stand tall in support of the Affordable Care Act,'' she said. ''This is an issue that has to be dealt with. But it doesn't mean, oh, it's a political issue so we're going to run away from it. No, it's too valuable for the American people. What is important about it is that the American people are well served, not who gets reelected.''
  For all of Pelosi's sanguinity, however, it's not clear that the Democratic rank-and-file is prepared to go to the mat for each of the law's components. And Republicans, for their part, smell blood in the water.
  ''No matter how much Congresswoman Pelosi tries to spin this, this is a mess,'' said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., appearing directly after the California Democrat on ''Meet the Press.''
  Ayotte repeated her call for a ''time-out'' on the law, urging lawmakers to ''go back to the drawing board'' and begin anew on health care reform.
  ''There are many ideas I think the Republicans are willing to work on a bipartisan basis on, but they have been so stuck on this law and trying to implement it no matter what the cost, no matter what they hear from the American people,'' she said.
  ''It's time to start over,'' agreed Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Sunday on CNN. ''This health care law is terribly flawed. It is broken. It has failed the American people because they're losing their insurance, they're losing their doctor. Their premiums are going up. I think there's going to be a massive taxpayer bailout needed just to deal with the impact of this health care law.''
  ''This is not what the American people wanted,'' he said. ''The president did not need to destroy a good health care system to try to make a better one, but that's what we have now.''
  In a move to contain the damage and blunt Republican criticism of the law, the White House on Thursday offered an administrative adjustment aimed at addressing the rash of insurance cancellations, and several Senate Democrats are moving ahead with similar proposals of their own. Led by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., these Democrats, many of them facing tough races in 2014, have said the administration's administrative fix is helpful, but it won't stop them from offering a legislative remedy that would allow people to retain plans that had been canceled.
  Yet even as they tinker with the periphery of the law, congressional Democrats have offered scant evidence that the rocky debut is leading them to question the Affordable Care Act in its entirety.
  ''It's huge bill, over 2,000 pages, there are going to be unintended consequences, there are going to be things that don't work,'' Rep. Ron Barber, D-Ariz., said Friday, according to Politico. ''And I'm about fixing things that don't work. I don't want to see us throw the baby out with the bathwater, which is what some people recommend.''
  Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., predicted that Mr. Obama and his allies in Congress, in time, will regain their credibility on the issue as they see the health care law through to a successful implementation.
  ''Paradise lost, paradise regained,'' he said Sunday on CNN. ''And when you lose something, you can find it again. And the president has admitted that he expects to be held responsible for regaining the Americans trust and I think he will.''
  (C) 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
  Link'...
  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57612721/is-the-affordable-care-act-in-serious-jeopardy/
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Bitcoin hits record high as it reaches beyond Silicon Valley
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Crikey
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:48
  The price of virtual currency bitcoin is continuing to surge, as countries such as Georgia and Argentina take it up as an alternative to official currencies.
  Decentralised virtual currency bitcoin hit a record high overnight, breaking through the $US500 barrier. At 9.20 AEST, it had climbed to $US520.
  The surge comes despite a recent FBI crackdown on online marketplace Silk Road, which many people speculated would have lessened the demand for bitcoin.
  However, bitcoin has soared 35% since the start of November.
  (Price in US$)
  Market strategist from IG Markets Evan Lucas says it's very hard to predict or explain why bitcoin has spiked, as the digital currency does not have the liquidity of traditional financial assets.
  ''It's an online phenomenon, constantly affected by the possibility of regulation, that's not very free-flowing.
  ''How do you value something with such low liquidity? It's very hard. That low liquidity is why you can see it pop up so quickly, so fast. If there's a surge of people entering the market, it can really have an outsized effect on the price.''
  In April, IG Markets began offering a grey market for bitcoin on its platform. This allowed people to place bets on where bitcoin was likely to move.
  However, the currency trader has since closed the market. Lucas says the volatility of bitcoin made it too difficult to keep up with.
  ''It was too hard for our clients to gauge where it was going,'' he says.
  ''There was a burst of interest initially, but that waned pretty quickly because of that volatility. We're keeping an eye on it, and we may offer a market again once we see a bit more stability.''
  Many start-ups and entrepreneurs are pinning their hopes on bitcoin taking off. But most of the current demand for bitcoin comes from countries like Argentina, Russia, Belarus, Georgia'‰'--'‰hardly Silicon Valley. Lucas says this is because bitcoin is most useful in countries where it's hard to exchange local currency into US dollars.
  ''It allows traders to buy and exchange products much faster than going through official channels,'' he said.
  ''You have people in countries like Georgia setting up bitcoin shops in cafes, becoming currency dealers in effect. The exchange spreads they offer are massive, and people take it.''
  ''Once bitcoin hit mainstream media earlier this year, a bit more investigation into who was using it occurred. And you can see its being used to circumvent what are, often, draconian currency controls.''
  Still, Lucas isn't game to bet on bitcoin's future prospects.
  ''It is not a free-flowing market, so guessing where it's headed is almost impossible. I wouldn't make a call.''
  *This article was originally published at SmartCompany
Hilarisch nieuw einde voor tv-serie Breaking Bad
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: VK: Home
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:46
  Door: Redactie '' 18/11/13, 02:56
  video Bryan Cranston, hoofdrolspeler van de in september geindigde, uiterst succesvolle tv-serie Breaking Bad, blijkt in het diepste geheim te hebben meegewerkt aan een alternatief einde voor de reeks. Daarin schrikt de acteur wakker als Hal, het karakter dat hij jarenlang vertolkte in de sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, en blijkt de serie Breaking Bad van a tot z gedroomd.
  (C) ap.
  Cranston als Walter White (links) tegenover drugsbaas Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) in het derde seizoen van Breaking Bad.
  (C) YouTube.
  Bryan Cranston als Hal uit Malcolm in the Middle. Rechts zijn echtgenote in de serie, Jane Kaczmarek.
  Daarmee deelt Cranston, die de afgelopen jaren volop lof oogstte voor zijn vertolking van de geflipte scheikundeleraar Walter White in Breaking Bad, een vette knipoog uit aan fans en tv-critici die twee maanden geleden in koor riepen dat de gelauwerde dramaserie een bijzonder passende finale had gekregen.
  Geruchten over re¼nieVoor het alternatieve slot kwam ook zijn tegenspeelster uit Malcolm in the Middle opdraven, Jane Kaczmarek. Beiden waren van 2000 tot 2006 in de veelbekeken sitcom te zien. Geruchten over de kortstondige re¼nie deden onlangs al de ronde.
  Cranston heeft nog geen commentaar gegeven op het nieuwe filmpje, dat lijkt te worden verspreid als extraatje bij de dvd-box van Breaking Bad die binnenkort verschijnt. Wel heeft film- en televisieproducent Sony een poging in het werk gesteld de bijna 4 minuten durende clip op sommige sites te blokkeren.
  Hilarische optredensDe acteur verraste wel vaker met hilarische optredens, soms te midden van de fans. Zo liep hij eerder dit jaar rond op de strip- en tv-beurs Comic-Con in San Diego terwijl hij een bijna-levensecht masker droeg van Walter White. Fans die zich lachend met hem op de foto lieten zetten, realiseerden zich pas dat ze naast de echte Bryan Cranston hadden gestaan toen de acteur het masker afdeed tijdens zijn deelname aan een paneldiscussie op het podium.
Google Coder: a simple way to make web stuff on Raspberry Pi
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Hacker News
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:43
  Apologies for the late post today'--I started playing about with Coder this afternoon and kind of got side tracked for four hours because it's quite wonderful. (By 'playing' of course I mean carrying out an Educational Evaluative Assessment.)
  Coder turns your Raspberry Pi into a mini web server that allows you to create web content using HTML, CSS and JavaScript via a browser-based IDE. Or rather, it allows you to easily make Cool Web Stuff. Coder was made by a team of Googlers in New York'--thanks Coder Team!
  So why use Coder and not some other environment? It's a brilliantly simple out of the box solution, perfect for people aren't sure where to start or for schools where setting up servers and IDEs can be a nightmare for teacher and technician alike. Beyond this it's an instant hacking environment and a web development sandbox. As well as letting you make stuff it's also a great introduction to the concept of web servers and some of the main languages that underpin the web.
  The interface is clean and simple and you can see the code side by side with the result and change it in real time. The section tabs physically and conceptually separate the HTML from the styles from the script, which is just how it should be. I could go on but instead I'll tell you how to get started.
  Full instructions are on the Coder site but here's the gist:
  Download the image file and flash a 4Gb SD cardPop it into your Pi and turn it on. You won't notice too much difference to a standard installation whilst it's booting (Raspbian lurks beneath) but you'll end up at the prompt 'coder login:' (You don't need to login.)Open a browser on any computer on the same network as the Pi and type 'http://coder.local' into the address bar**From booting to playing around with web pages took less than two minutes. The hardest bit was coming up with a strong password (what the hell is wrong with 'pooface1'²? My bank is OK with it).
  A Machine of Doom? I'll take three.
  So once you're in, what can you do? Unlike many educational resources, the tutorial is actually a good place to start. Comments at the top of each page explain what's going on and it's easy to start tweaking and hacking the code'--just click on the . Personally I went for the eyeball and gave it a huge, red sclera because it was looking at me funny. 'Space Rocks' actually has a 'Hack' button that lets you play about with variables, which is always a great way to explore a program (and who can resist giving themselves hundreds of lives? Cheating at its finest.)
  Big red & sclerotic '-- that's better.
  Coder is what all educational resources should be: focused and fun but with loads of potential. It's a damn fine piece of software. You can also get involved with Coder directly as it's open source and the Coder Team would love your help.
  Download it and have a play'--we love it. I'm off to make huge, monkey headed missiles for my spaceship.
  '--
  **Note: Windows users will have to install Apple's Bonjour Print Services first. NOTE: When I tried to install BPS in Windows 8 it fell over, refusing to create the shortcut due to some rubbishly random nonsense about privileges. I fixed this by first manually creating a new folder called ''Bonjour Print Services'' in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and then installing. Ho hum.
  IDE Integrated Development Environment. Software that brings together a bunch of tools and utilities to assist in software development.
  CSS Cascading Style Sheets. A language that is used to tell a web page how it should look.
  HTML Hypertext Markup Language. The main language that web pages are written in.
  Web server A computer that stores web content (text, images, scripts, video, style sheets etc.) and sends it to other computers when they request it. For example, your browser requested this blog page from the server and then displayed it on the screen.
  JavaScript A programming language that can be used in web pages to provide interactivity and functionality, from checking password strength to games.
Pentagon Proposes New Antarctica Command
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: usfollowme
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:42
  http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/10/pentagon-proposes-new-antarctica-command/#13847403069391&req=rpuSetSize&h=248&w=226
Monuments Men
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: No Agenda Entertainment
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:41
  Monuments MenPosted on 17 November 2013 by Dave
  Adam thinks he might get invited to the movie premier for Monuments Men when it's eventually released. The George Clooney directed film deals with art work stolen by the Nazi's during WWII. Based on a novel of the same name by Robert Edsel, it is being adapted for the big screen by George Clooney. Other stars to appear in the film are Matt Damon and Bill Murray.
  Recently a large trove of stolen art works was discovered in a Munich apartment building. Brief story here. Adam predicts more art will be recovered leading up the release of the film '' a brilliant public relations move!
  [NA565 2:24]
Pressthink Rosen joins Greenwald
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:40
  Nov.17
  I have a personal announcement.I am joining up with the new venture in news that Pierre Omidyar, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill are creating, along with Liliana Segura, Dan Froomkin, Eric Bates and others who are coming on board to give shape to this thing, which we are calling NewCo until we are ready to release the name.
  Because it doesn't exist yet, NewCo could take many forms. Only a handful of those possible paths will lead to a strong and sustainable company that meets a public need. Figuring that out is a hard problem, to which I am deeply attracted. So I signed up to be part of the launch team. This post explains why I made that decision and what I hope to contribute.
  One voice at the table
  About a month ago, I told readers of PressThink about Pierre Omidyar's plans for a new venture in news, based on my interview with him and an earlier consultation when he was gathering advice. These, I thought, were the key points:
  Omidyar believes that if independent, ferocious, investigative journalism isn't brought to the attention of general audiences it can never have the effect that actually creates a check on power. Therefore the new entity '-- they have a name but they're not releasing it, so I will just call it NewCo '-- will have to serve the interest of all kinds of news consumers. It cannot be a niche product. It will have to cover sports, business, entertainment, technology: everything that users demand.
  At the core of Newco will be a different plan for how to build a large news organization. It resembles what I called in an earlier post ''the personal franchise model'' in news. You start with individual journalists who have their own reputations, deep subject matter expertise, clear points of view, an independent and outsider spirit, a dedicated online following, and their own way of working. The idea is to attract these people to NewCo, or find young journalists capable of working in this way, and then support them well.
  ''Support'' means a powerful publishing platform that talented journalists can bend to their will. It means an up-to-date technology company resting inside the news company. It means editors to save writers from their errors, and maintain high standards. It means first class security and encryption for reporting on sensitive stories. A legal team for when trouble calls. Training and development for young journalists who are learning the NewCo style. Ownership that has pledged to invest it all in the journalism if and when revenues exceed expenses.
  ''Support'' also means: ''when you have a big story we bring a large audience to it.'' Perhaps the most challenging part of the plan is this: Not a niche product. Has to serve a more general market for news.
  ''And how are they going to do that?'...'' is the one question I got more than any other in talking to people after my first post on Omidyar's plan. Runner-up: what's going to make this different from other ways to get news online? Those are good questions. So good that when Dan Froomkin and Glenn Greenwald called to ask me if I wanted to help create NewCo, I had to listen.
  I also had to ask myself: what could I contribute? I don't have credentials as an editor or a reporter and I have never started a business. Instead, I've been watching journalism evolve with the web since 2003. I've been trying to explain what makes it different in the digital era, paying close attention to problems of trust, shifts in authority and the pro-am or participatory forms that have slowly emerged since the rise of blogging around 2000. To put it another way, I have been all over this discussion: ''Is Glenn Greenwald the Future of News?'' I've also been advising media companies on adapting to the web and teaching young journalists '-- my graduate students at NYU '-- how to contribute to innovation in their craft.
  Nobody has titles at NewCo yet. The agreement I have with Pierre Omidyar is that I will advise on building the company and participate in planning discussions as NewCo takes shape. One voice at the table, in other words. I will also explain its approach to journalism in written pieces that resemble my essays for PressThink. I am especially interested in the civic engagement and user participation puzzle, which is one part of '...And how are they going to do that?
  Also important: building a learning culture within the organization. (NewCo has to be its own J-school or it cannot succeed.) The contract I signed '-- yes, I am getting paid '-- is part time for the remainder of 2013. By luck I am on leave from NYU for the spring 2014 term. After the new year I can devote much more time to this venture, which I intend to do.
  NYU, where I have made my home since 1986, is a research university. The purpose of that institution is to produce new knowledge. For me and the things I write and care about, NewCo is the most exciting project in journalism today. To be involved from the beginning in the birth of a company based on these ideas is the best test of my learning that I could devise. And I'm sure it will produce new knowledge, which I will share.
  Things are going to change around here.
  A simpler way to put it: This is PressThink come to life. The second part of this post (which is for the most interested readers'...) explains what I mean by that. But first: my involvement in NewCo changes things between me and you, meaning: the people who read my writing and follow me on Twitter or Facebook.
  Up to this point, I have observed upon '-- and criticized! '-- the press from a position outside and independent of it. The only exceptions to that are these (previously disclosed) positions: Advisory board, Digital First Media; consultant, Post Media Network of Canada; director, Gazette Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
  Today's announcement is different. From here on, I am a player in NewCo. I'm not just giving advice to a company that pre-dated my involvement. I am involved in the effort to create something. I am being paid $ for my participation. Unlike an ''advisory'' position there is no real separation between me and the people who are building NewCo from scratch. Therefore I have to publicly abandon any position as an observer or independent analyst of Pierre Omidyar's new venture in news. Out of the press box and onto the field.
  And so when I speak about it you are entitled to apply whatever discount rate you find appropriate. About the intentions of Pierre Omidyar, the journalism of Glenn Greenwald and the eventual product of NewCo I am no longer an independent analyst rendering judgment. Criticism will have to come from others. And I am sure it will.
  I cannot say ''Can't wait to get started'' because I have already started. And I don't want to hear anything about ''saving journalism'' (a phrase I detest) because it doesn't need saving and anyway that is not the plan. The plan is to build something that can sustain itself and produce excellent work.
  Part Two: PressThink come to life.
  Here are some posts I've written, selected from hundreds, that will meet their test as NewCo comes to life.
  The View from Nowhere: Questions and Answers. (2010)
  The View from Nowhere is a bid for trust that advertises the viewlessness of the news producer. Frequently it places the journalist between polarized extremes, and calls that neither-nor position ''impartial.'' Second, it's a means of defense against a style of criticism that is fully anticipated: charges of bias originating in partisan politics and the two-party system. Third: it's an attempt to secure a kind of universal legitimacy that is implicitly denied to those who stake out positions or betray a point of view. American journalists have almost a lust for the View from Nowhere because they think it has more authority than any other possible stance
  The View from Nowhere won't be a requirement for our journalists. Nor will a single ideology prevail. NewCo itself will have a view of the world: Accountability journalism, exposing abuses of power, revealing injustices will no doubt be part of it. Under that banner many ''views from somewhere'' can fit.
  Politics: some / Politics: none. Two ways to excel in political journalism. (2013)
  If you want to appear equally sympathetic to all potential sources, politics: none is the way to go. If you want to avoid pissing off the maximum number of users, politics: none gets it done. (This has commercial implications. They are obvious.) But: if you're persuaded that transparency is the better route to trust, politics: some is the better choice. And if you want to attract sources who themselves have a political commitment or have come to a conclusion about matters contested within the political community, being open about your politics can be an advantage. That is the lesson that Glenn Greenwald has been teaching the profession of journalism for the last week. Edward Snowden went to him because of his commitments. This has implications for reporters committed to the ''no commitments'' style.
  Just as we wouldn't force a point of view on people or expect them to fall in line, NewCo is not going to insist that everyone follow Greenwald's lead. That's not the point of a View from Somewhere approach. Rather: we think the way to stand out in a crowded marketplace is to let individual journalists shine in a way that works for them.
  The rise of the personal franchise site in news. (2013)
  Features of the personal franchise site:
  * Star journalist at the center with a large online following and cross-platform presence.* Editorial control rests largely or entirely with the founder and personality at the center.* Part of a larger media company with a negotiated balance of power between the two states.* Identifiable niche or niches; no attempt to be comprehensive.* Plenty of voice, attitude and personal expression allowed.* Mix of news, opinion, analysis without a lot of fuss about categorizing each.
  Authority in journalism is shifting to the individual with a voice, subject matter expertise, and a following online. The structure and operating style of the company will attempt to solve for that. We don't know exactly how yet but that is part of the adventure.
  The People Formerly Known as the Audience. (2006)
  The people formerly known as the audience are those who were on the receiving end of a media system that ran one way, in a broadcasting pattern, with high entry fees and a few firms competing to speak very loudly while the rest of the population listened in isolation from one another'-- and who today are not in a situation like that at all.
  We haven't talked about this much yet, but one of my goals as an adviser is to have built into the platform a more active role for the people formerly known as the audience. Something more than comment threads and share buttons.
  From ''write us a post'' to ''fill out this form:'' Progress in pro-am journalism. (2011)
  It took me a while to understand this myself, but I want to isolate an important fact at the outset.Professional journalism has been optimized for low participation. Up until a few years ago, the ''job'' of the user was simply to receive the news and maybe send a letter to the editor. There was a logic to this. Journalists built their practices on top of a one-way, one-to-many, broadcasting system. Most of us understand that by now. What we haven't quite appreciated is how the logic of the one way, one-to-many pipes sunk deeply, not only into professional practice, but into professional selves.
  What if you optimized for three possibilities: high participation, light involvement and none'-- just consumption? That would be the lesson of the one percent rule of online life, which says that if 100 people gather at your site, 90 will just use the product, ten will occasionally interact and one will become a core contributor. I want to see if we can build systems for that.
  When I explained this move to my 12 year-old son, he said: Are you having a mid-life crisis? Nooooo, I replied, but as you get older (I'm 57) you have to find new challenges. ''That's cool,'' he said, and went back to his waffles.
  Posted in Uncategorized | 27 Comments >>
  Nov.10
  It happened in 2004 with the Air National Guard story that ended Dan Rather's career. There too the network refused to concede that there were genuine problems with the story until it was forced to by others.''Whenever legitimate questions are raised about our reporting, we check them out. That is what we are doing in this case. When we know more, we will tell you.''
  Tell me: What is so hard about that? It's 30 words CBS News never managed to say in its week from hell that will peak during '60 Minutes' tonight with an on-air apology for getting duped by a source who gave CBS viewers an eyewitness account of the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, even though he told the FBI and his employer that he wasn't on scene that night.
  I will be watching. Let me tell you what I will be watching for. CBS will no doubt apologize for inadequate vetting of ''Morgan Jones,'' whose story should not have been trusted. It will say that it should have viewed his story more skeptically and done more reporting. It will say that it should have been clearer that its book division had given the same source a contract and paid an advance.
  But will CBS apologize for its reckless denials from Oct. 31 to the day the story collapsed? It should, but probably it won't. I don't make a lot of predictions, but I will here: Tonight's apology by CBS will not deal in any serious way with its misguided response to the very legitimate questions that were raised about its Benghazi report. If I am wrong, that will be good news for journalism at CBS and I will happily report it in an update here. (I was not wrong. Update here.)
  Meanwhile, here is what I see.
  1. Start with the timeline Poynter put together. On October 31 Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post reports this:
  But in a written account that Jones, whose real name was confirmed as Dylan Davies by several officials who worked with him in Benghazi, provided to his employer three days after the attack, he told a different story of his experiences that night.
  Immediately, the CBS report is in deep trouble. And anyone with a clear mind can see that. Except the people at CBS. When your key source tells two different stories, something is seriously amiss. The next day, the network should have said: ''Whenever legitimate questions are raised about our reporting, we investigate.'' Instead, Kevin Tedesco, a spokesman for 60 Minutes, tells the Post: ''We stand firmly by the story we broadcast last Sunday.'' Why?
  2. On November 1, Media Matters asks journalism observers with no known hostility to CBS or any political stance on the Benghazi events to comment. They state the obvious. ''I don't see any way that 60 Minutes would not need to offer an explanation,'' says Alex S. Jones, former media beat reporter for the New York Times, now director of the Shorenstein Center on The Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. ''This definitely needs explaining.'' In a letter to CBS, Media Matters calls for a retraction of the report.
  3. On November 2, the Daily Beast reports on its interview with Dylan Davies, in which he claims that a first-person incident report written in his voice is not his work. He's never seen that document, he says. He also says that he lied to his employer ''because he did not want his supervisor to know he had disobeyed his orders to stay at his villa.''
  So now the key source in the CBS report has admitted to lying about the events in question, but we are supposed to believe that to CBS he told the truth and he told the truth in the book for which he was paid an undisclosed sum by a CBS subsidiary. Also we know from an earlier report on Fox News that a Fox reporter had stopped talking to the same source when he asked for money. (Also see this on Fox News and Benghazi.) All of these facts are clear warning signs, making ''We stand firmly by the story we broadcast last Sunday'' appear unwise in the extreme.
  3. What CBS says in response to the Daily Beast report is'... nothing. As if there was nothing to address. This was false. Huffington Post reporter Michael Calderone was trying to get answers to some extremely pertinent questions:
  Did ''60 Minutes'' know Davies had told his employer that he wasn't at the compound during the attack? And if ''60 Minutes'' was aware of Davies' previous statement, how did the program vet his new account, given that no other witnesses saw him there? Does ''60 Minutes'' have evidence to be confident that Davies' dramatic second account is accurate?
  4. CBS stays silent about those issues for two more days. Then it decides to speak. But instead of answering Calderone's questions, or at least saying, ''When legitimate questions are raised about our reporting, we check them out'...'' which would have been the cautious, responsible and sane thing to do, it decides to raise the stakes by defending its work. Thus Lara Logan tells the New York Times: ''If you read the book, you would know he never had two stories. He only had one story.'' This is bizarrely at odds with what Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post uncovered. Logan then attributes the criticism of her reporting to the intensely politicized atmosphere surrounding the events in Benghazi. But again: this does not address what Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post uncovered. Logan and CBS do admit to one mistake: not acknowledging that a division of CBS, Simon and Schuster, was publishing the ''Morgan Jones'' book.
  Their story is in deep trouble from the existence of two conflicting accounts from the same source, who is an admitted liar, but CBS people are acting like none of this happened, or that no one knows about it, or that only partisan critics care. Why?
  5. The next day things get stranger and more denialist. The executive producer of 60 Minutes, Jeff Fager, who is also the chairman of CBS News '-- two roles that in this instance conflict, though no one at CBS notices '-- tells the Huffington Post that he is a.) proud of the network's reporting on the controversy and b.) confident that it will hold up.
  ''We spent more than a year reporting our story about the attack on Benghazi, which aired on Oct. 27, speaking with close to 100 sources in the process,'' Fager says, seemingly unaware that these facts make his situation worse. (You spent a year on the story and never learned that your key source either lied to you or lied to his employer?) Like Lara Logan's comments to the Times, Fager's words are completely unresponsive to the actual trouble the story is in. Why? (On that, see Calderone's report from Nov. 8.)
  6. The next day, Nov. 7, the denialism falls apart, as the New York Times reports this:
  Dylan Davies, a security officer hired to help protect the United States Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, gave the F.B.I. an account of the night that terrorists attacked the mission on Sept. 11, 2012 that contradicts a version of events he provided in a recently published book and in an interview with the CBS News program ''60 Minutes.''
  This forces CBS News to say on its website what it should have said on October 31. ''We are currently looking into this serious matter to determine if he misled us, and if so, we will make a correction.''
  7. Finally forced by other news organizations to confront what they did not want to see, CBS starts caving. On November 8, Lara Logan appears on the CBS morning news show to apologize. (Video.) ''So here's what we know,'' writes Kevin Drum of Mother Jones.
  Davies never told Logan about the incident report. He never told the co-author of his memoir about the incident report. When the content of the report was revealed, he invented an entirely implausible story about lying to his supervisor in the report because he respected him so highly and didn't want him to know that he'd disobeyed orders not to approach the compound. And yet, in a story that should have set off all sorts of alarms in the first place, this still didn't set off any alarms for Logan. She continued to defend Davies and her reporting until news emerged yesterday that the incident report matched what Davies had told the FBI in a debriefing shortly after the attack.
  Exactly. On the same day CBS takes down the video of the Benghazi story, leaving only an error message where the clip had been. Helpful! And Simon and Schuster announces that it is withdrawing the book from stores.
  8. Then yesterday the conflict of interest that Jeff Fager has as 1.) the executive in charge who would have approved the final cut of the Benghazi story and 2.) the head of the CBS news division, who is supposed to worry about the entire news organization's reputation more than any individual or show'... that conflict comes through in startling fashion via this story in the Washington Post. Give a listen:
  CBS News's chairman expressed disappointment and contrition Friday for a mistaken ''60 Minutes'' report about the Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attacks, but he suggested the program and his network intended to move past the flawed story.
  ''Credibility is really the most important thing we have,'' Jeff Fager, the head of the network's news division and executive producer of the weekly newsmagazine, said in an interview. ''Did we let people down? Yes. Do people expect us to get it right? Of course they do. Do they expect us to be perfect? I don't think so. When you come forward and admit a mistake, people will understand.''
  Notice: He did not say ''we're going to get to the bottom of this, and find out how it could happen.'' Rather, they're moving on. And as the Post's Paul Farhi wrote: ''There were no indications Friday that anyone at CBS would be fired for the Benghazi report.'' When you come forward and admit a mistake: is that what CBS did? Nope. It did exactly the opposite. It admitted there was a problem only after other news organizations brought the story forward. That statement alone should be enough to remove Jeff Fager from further decision-making about who is accountable for this debacle.
  9. CBS was not just wrong, it was wrong about an explosive and highly contentious story in which extra care should have been taken because of the risk that a faulty report will be instantly politicized. This is exactly what happened, adding an extra layer of gravity to the situation. As the New York Times wrote on November 8:
  The day after the CBS report, several Republican senators held a news conference, demanding that the administration allow congressional investigators to interview survivors of the Benghazi attack. In particular, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that he would block all administration nominations until it met the Republicans' demands.
  An update on this part of the story.10. Consider:
  If Folkenflik is correct, this is worse because the ''partisan'' label is irrelevant to whether the questions that critics are raising deserve answers. Still, Media Matters is well aware of this discounting practice, and that is why they get the likes of Alex Jones and Marvin Kalb '-- figures they know journalists at CBS respect as ''non-partisan'' '-- to comment.
  11. Threshold is the imprint of Simon and Schuster that signed ''Morgan Jones'' to a book contract. (''Threshold Editions is an imprint of Simon & Schuster that specializes in conservative non-fiction.'') Threshold is the imprint where Mary Matalin is an editor-at-large. Mary Matalin is a partisan political operative and Republican talking head'-- and now a book editor. If she was involved in the book deal, then she is mixed up with CBS's collapsed story. Will this be a part of the on-air apology?
  12. Lara Logan is not a View from Nowhere journalist. She has opinions on the Benghazi issue. She has spoken about them. In my view, that is not a crime. But it is certainly relevant in evaluating her performance on this story. (See Digby's post for clips of Logan displaying her world view.) Will this be a part of tonight's show? Will CBS say something like, ''Viewers should have been told that correspondent Lara Logan has expressed strong opinions on the Benghazi story and what the United State should do in its aftermath'...''? My prediction: no.
  13. CBS has been through this before. It happened in 2004 with the Air National Guard story that ended Dan Rather's career. There too the network refused to concede that there were problems with the story until it was forced to by others. There too it allowed its people to issue foolish statements of bravado as the story was crumbling. There too it blamed a partisan atmosphere for questions that any clear headed journalist would ask. (See my open letter to CBS News from 2005.) It did not learn enough from that debacle to avoid repeating the pattern. The signs are that it will not learn from this one.
  Watch what CBS apologizes for Sunday night, and what it ignores in making a show of coming clean.
  UPDATE, 8:45 PM, Nov. 10. My prediction proved accurate. In a very brief note at the end of '60 Minutes,' CBS said it has been misled by its source, apologized for putting him on the air and that was about it. No mention of the book contract, even. Lara Logan, who read the apology, went nowhere near an accounting for the reckless denials I wrote about. Nor did she explain how any of this could have happened. (See Dylan Byers in Politico for more on that.)
  Here is how it went: ''We end our broadcast tonight with a correction,'' Logan said. She then summarized the Oct. 27 story and Davies role in it. ''After our report aired, questions arose about whether his account was true when an incident report surfaced. It told a different story about what he did the night of the attack.'' Logan said that Davies denied he had written that report, and insisted the story he told '60 Minutes' was accurate'-- and the same story he told the FBI. ''On Thursday night, when we discovered the account he gave the FBI was different than what he told us, we realized we had been misled and it was a mistake to include him in our report. For that we are very sorry. The most important thing to every person at '60 minutes' is the truth, and the truth is we made a mistake.'' The end. The video:
  Final note for the night. Two things stand out for me about this correction, besides its basic inadequacy for being so minimal. One is the passive voice: ''questions arose,'' ''an incident report surfaced.'' This wording allows CBS to erase the role played by other news organizations in forcing it to face the problems with its reporting. Attention now turns to Jeff Fager, as the person at CBS (executive producer of '60 Minutes') who approved the final cut of a deeply flawed report starring a source CBS knew to have lied to his employer, and the executive at CBS, boss of the news division, who decided that it was time to move on from that mistake. Can that conflict of interest stand? So far it looks like it will.
  UPDATE, NOV. 11. Last night the New York Times reported this:
  The CBS News chairman, Jeff Fager, who is also the executive producer of ''60 Minutes,'' has not ordered an investigation, and on Sunday a spokesman indicated that the program was going to let its televised apology be its last word on the issue.
  Well, there you have it. A thin and inadequate response '-- according to many critics and journalists and even people who used to work at CBS '-- will be the ''last word.'' Or will it? The pressures are still there. Witness:
  ''In the short term, this will confirm the worst suspicions of people who don't trust CBS News,'' said Paul Friedman, CBS's executive vice president for news until 2011. ''In the long term, a lot will depend on how tough and transparent CBS can be in finding out how this happened '-- especially when there were not the kind of tight deadline pressures that sometimes result in errors.''
  '''60 Minutes' doesn't need to apologize anymore. It needs to fully explain what went wrong.'' Right. Michael Calderone of the Huffington Post goes through all the the unanswered questions in his excellent piece out this morning. ''Sunday's brief acknowledgment didn't resemble a news program seriously trying to get to the bottom of how it got duped.''
  Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo asks a question that shows how inexplicable the decision-making was:
  When are you more likely to embellish or lie? In an immediate after action report when there's little reason to believe that your own role will ever be a matter of consequence or that the incident itself will become a topic of immense controversy? Or a year later when you write a tell-all book chronicling your exploits for a conservative book publisher and there's fame and lots of money at stake?
  Posted in Uncategorized | 44 Comments >>
  Nov.3
  ''Each form can spur the other, keep it honest.''This is the sketch I am going to present in a few hours to the Public Knowledge Forum at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia. Because it is only a sketch, it leaves out a lot of detail and of course over-simplifies in the interest of avoiding another boring conference presentation.
  The free press gods initially gave us the old testament. Then the news testament rose and took over for about 90 years. Recently the old testament has roared back to life and now we have something close to parity or d(C)tente, in which it is recognized that we need both. ''Each form can spur the other, keep it honest,'' as New York Times columnist Roger Cohen recently put it.
  The old
  In old testament journalism, ''the public'' is the people who gather around the news to talk about it. Political argument and the informational goods delivered by journalism '-- ''what's happening'' and how we should think about it '-- are so intertwined that it makes little sense to separate the two. A representative figure from the eighteen century would be the great pamphleteer Tom Paine, the trouble-making democrat who tried to rouse public opinion against arbitrary power.
  Today Glenn Greenwald, recently of The Guardian, works the same way. He's a trouble-maker who tries to rouse public opinion against the misuse of power. In his journalism there is no natural separation between political argument and information about what's happening. Roger Cohen spoke of colleagues like former Times editor Bill Keller as ''old school journalists'' who observe the ''traditional'' claims to impartiality but in my view this incorrect. Greenwald's is the old school, and New York Times journalism is the more recent tradition.
  The events by which Edward Snowden came to trust Greenwald over the New York Times tell us a great deal about the return of old testament influence amid the problems with new testament journalism. But we are getting ahead our story.
  In old testament journalism financial support is difficult to obtain, opposition is intense, competition is fierce, the authorities are frequently upset with the trouble-makers in the press, popularity balloons and contracts with events and revelations. It is a wild ride and a precarious way of life.
  Old testament journalism began in the U.S. with the campaign to unite the colonies against British rule. A close cousin to freedom of speech, the old testament was memorialized in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution'-- which of course protects other forms, as well. It had a diminished presence in the 20th century as new testament journalism rose to power and the old became a sub-current. But it never stopped flowing and today it draws new life from the internet.
  The new
  In new testament journalism, ''the public'' is the people who are outsiders to political events'-- and to power. They are busy, preoccupied with making a living, raising their kids and attending to other spectacles, and so they need to be kept informed by specialists in news.
  Salvation, in new testament journalism, is achieved by separating facts and values, symbolized of course by the division between the news and opinion pages in American newspapers, and by the imperative of ''impartiality'' encoded into the BBC in Britain and the ABC in Australia. Who is the Tom Paine of the BBC? There is none and there never has been. It's against their religion.
  New testament journalism is a 20th century thing. It is associated with the doctrine of ''objectivity'' but even more with the rise of professionalism in the press, which began with the first movements toward schools of journalism around 1908, followed by professional associations in the 1920s and 1930s.
  In new testament journalism, the media's financial security is the norm, made possible by high barriers to entry and large capital costs required to deliver news. The new testament style is risk-adverse because the news delivery franchise is so valuable. The mission is not to move public opinion but to maintain trust or, to put it another way, to protect the brand. Audiences tend to be stable. The authorities learn to regularize their relationship with the journalists. Professionalism in journalism and broadcasting interlocks well with professionalism in politics and other knowledge fields. Thus, the rolodex of reliable experts.
  New testament journalism also has its heroic forms, especially investigative journalism. Its representative figure is Bob Woodward of the Washington Post (or, in the mythic version, Robert Redford) and the symbolic high point is the resignation of Richard Nixon in August 1974, in part because of the Post's relentless reporting. Recalling those events, new testament sages talk of ''shoe leather reporting'' when they want to explain what virtue in journalism is.
  Comparisons
  Old testament journalism treats everyone as a participant in the great conversation of democracy. New testament recognizes that there are insiders and outsiders, players and spectators. It tries to mediate between them.
  In new testament pressthink, people need the facts first. After they are informed by facts they can develop opinions and ''make up their own minds.'' In old testament logic, people first need to join the argument. Then they will feel the need to keep themselves informed.
  New testament journalism is strong on reliability, predictability, civility, professionalism and the maintenance of reputation over time, which has obvious benefits for advertisers and for political coalitions expected to vote to maintain taxpayer subsidies to the BBC and the ABC. Old testament journalism is strong on participation and mobilization. It is more risk-tolerant, less likely to censor itself to avoid giving offense. It gives the individual journalist a voice and identity.
  Old testament journalism has vices too. It is financially precarious and so it can often be bought off. It goes to extremes more often and may distort the picture by neglecting the inconvenient fact. In old testament journalism the constant danger is that the truthtelling will decay into propaganda and news will become comfort food for loyalists. In the new testament style, the danger is that truthtelling will decay into ''he said, she said'' and the dialect of insiders that I have called ''the savvy.''
  D(C)tente
  Today, well-known troubles with the business model have weakened new testament journalism by eroding monopolies and opening the field to lower-cost competitors. The internet solves the distribution-of-news problem for all players. As my colleague Clay Shirky has said, it changes publishing from an industry or a job to a button. This has allowed the old testament forms to gain new life. Other weaknesses in new testament traditions have been exposed, as well, such as the intimidation of the press after September 11 and the failure to detect a faulty case for war in Iraq in 2003.
  A kind of new testament fundamentalism common in journalism from the 1970s to the 1990s held form through the early years of blogging in this century. It felt scorn for the more opinionated style and ridiculed its followers as ''echo chambers.'' It defined itself as ''the traditional'' and dismissed everyone else as marginal. This was arrogance born of monopoly.
  But then new testament journalists started blogging themselves and more recently they have taken to social media with genuine enthusiasm. Today they are not as confident that they have all the answers. They know that their business model is broken. They can see the advantages in personal voice and persuasive power that accrues to the Glenn Greenwalds and other practitioners of the personal franchise model in news. They understand that the people formerly known as the audience want to participate more in the news and that the insiders are less trusted than ever.
  All of these forces are pushing new testament journalism toward reconciliation and d(C)tente with the old, a symptom of which is this exchange between former New York Times editor Bill Keller and Greenwald. Keller says:
  I find much to admire in America's history of crusading journalists, from the pamphleteers to the muckrakers to the New Journalism of the '60s to the best of today's activist bloggers. At their best, their fortitude and passion have stimulated genuine reforms (often, as in the Progressive Era, thanks to the journalists' ''political relationships with governments''). I hope the coverage you led of the National Security Agency's hyperactive surveillance will lead to some overdue accountability.
  But the kind of journalism The Times and other mainstream news organizations practice '-- at their best '-- includes an awful lot to be proud of'...
  True. Neither form has a monopoly on virtue. Great journalism, as Greenwald often says, can come from both traditions. I'm Jewish, and so more of an old testament guy. But I too think we need both, plus future forms that combine the two in novel fashion. The messiah hasn't come yet.
  Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments >>
  Oct.16
  Yesterday word leaked out that Glenn Greenwald would be leaving the Guardian to help create some new thing backed by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay. I just got off the phone with Omidyar. So I can report more details about what the new thing is and how it came to be.Here's the story he told me:
  In the spring of this year, Pierre Omidyar was one of the people approached by the Washington Post Company about buying the Post. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, wound up with the prize. But as a result of exploring that transaction, Omidyar started thinking seriously about investing in a news property. He began to ask himself what could be done with the same investment if he decided to build something from the ground up.
  As he was contemplating the Post purchase, he began to get more alarmed about the pressures coming down on journalists with the various leak investigations in Washington.
  Pierre Omidyar
  Then the surveillance stories started appearing and the full scope of the threat to independent journalism became clear. His interest in launching a new kind of news organization '-- capable of sustaining investigative work and having an effect with it '-- intensified throughout the summer as news from the Snowden files continued to pour forth.
  Attempts to meet with Greenwald to discuss these plans and to find out more about how he operates were unsuccessful until this month. When they finally were able to talk, Omidyar learned that Greenwald, his collaborator Laura Poitras, and The Nation magazine's Jeremy Scahill had been planning to form their own journalism venture. Their ideas and Omidyar's ideas tracked so well with each other that on October 5 they decided to ''join forces'' (his term.) This is the news that leaked yesterday. But there is more.
  Omidyar believes that if independent, ferocious, investigative journalism isn't brought to the attention of general audiences it can never have the effect that actually creates a check on power. Therefore the new entity '-- they have a name but they're not releasing it, so I will just call it NewCo '-- will have to serve the interest of all kinds of news consumers. It cannot be a niche product. It will have to cover sports, business, entertainment, technology: everything that users demand.
  At the core of Newco will be a different plan for how to build a large news organization. It resembles what I called in an earlier post ''the personal franchise model'' in news. You start with individual journalists who have their own reputations, deep subject matter expertise, clear points of view, an independent and outsider spirit, a dedicated online following, and their own way of working. The idea is to attract these people to NewCo, or find young journalists capable of working in this way, and then support them well.
  By ''support'' Omidyar means many things. The first and most important is really good editors. (Omidyar used the phrase ''high standards of editing'' several times during our talk.) Also included: strong back end technology. Powerful publishing tools. Research assistance. And of course a strong legal team because the kind of journalism NewCo intends to practice is the kind that is capable of challenging some of the most powerful people in the world. Omidyar said NewCo will look for ''independent journalists with expertise, and a voice and a following.'' He suggested that putting together a team of such people means understanding how each of them does his or her best work, and supporting that, rather than forcing everyone into the same structure.
  Part of the reason he thinks he can succeed with a general news product, where there is a lot of competition, is by finding the proper midpoint between voicey blogging and traditional journalism, in which the best of both are combined. The trick will then be to combine that with the things technology companies are good at.
  ''Companies in Silicon Valley invest a lot in understanding their users and what drives user engagement,'' he said, mentioning Netflix as a clear example. NewCo will have to serve users of news in the same personalized way, he said. He didn't want to reveal too much at this stage, but as the founder of eBay he clearly has ideas about how a next generation news company can be built from the ground up.
  NewCo is a new venture'-- a company not a charity. It is not a project of Omidyar Network. It is separate from his philanthropy, he said. He said he will be putting a good deal of his time, as well as his capital, into it. I asked how large a commitment he was prepared to make in dollars. For starters: the $250 million it would have taken to buy the Washington Post.
  I asked him if Greenwald was closer to a lead writer or an executive editor. He said the agreement to join forces was so new that they had not discussed roles and responsibilities. All they know is that they want to work together to create NewCo. Poitras will bring expertise in video and documentary. Scahill is a somewhat similar figure to Greenwald: an independent national security journalist with editorial obsessions in which he has become expert.
  Why is Omidyar doing this? He said that his involvement in Civil Beat (a news site he started in Hawaii) stoked his appetite to try something larger in news. ''I have always been of the opinion that the right kind of journalism is a critical part of our democracy.'' He said he had watched closely over the last 15 years as the business model in journalism collapsed but he had not ''found a way to engage directly.'' But then when the idea of buying the Washington Post came up he started to think about it more seriously. ''It brings together some of my interests in civic engagement and building conversations and of course technology, but in a very creative way.''
  A final factor. His ''rising concern about press freedoms in the United States and around the world.'' The U.S. has the First Amendment. When the freedom to practice hard-hitting investigative journalism comes under threat here, he said, that's not only a problem for our democracy but for the chances that democracy can work anywhere. NewCo will be designed to withstand that threat.
  Now for the disclosure: As Omidyar was making the rounds to talk to people about his plans I was one of those he consulted with. That happened in September. So he knew I was familiar with his thinking and that's probably why he chose to talk to me. That's my initial report. I may have more to say as I sift through my notes and think about what he told me.
  UPDATE, 1:00 PM Oct 16: An additional detail that I should have mentioned: the business model isn't fully worked out yet, but this much is known: all proceeds from NewCo will be reinvested in the journalism. Also: there is no print product planned. This is all-digital.
  Some additional thoughts after processing the news: I think it's highly significant that Omidyar is coming to this project after his adventure in creating Civil Beat. (For more on that, see this account at Nieman Lab.) Civil Beat started off as a pay site with a high price tag ($20 per month) and then sought a partnership with Huffington Post Hawaii, so as to combine the benefits of the high traffic, advertising model with the smaller-reach, paid subscriber system. That shows the kind of tinkering necessary to get to sustainability.
  But note: What Omidyar learned from trying to create a serious, civic good with online journalism in Hawaii did not discourage him from attempting something larger. On the contrary, his appetite only grew. Thus, the chances that he is heading into this with a naivet(C) about the economy of digital news production seem to me quite slim. Many of the illusions he started with '-- we could also call them hunches '-- have already been modified by experience. And out of that experience has come this much bigger gamble, with a quarter billion dollars behind it. That says a lot.
  After Matter: Notes, Reactions & LinksFrom Omidyar's own statement at his foundation's site, My Next Adventure in Journalism.
  I explored purchasing The Washington Post over the summer. [Through that] I developed an interest in supporting independent journalists in a way that leverages their work to the greatest extent possible, all in support of the public interest. And, I want to find ways to convert mainstream readers into engaged citizens. I think there's more that can be done in this space, and I'm eager to explore the possibilities.
  Right now, I'm in the very early stages of creating a new mass media organization. I don't yet know how or when it will be rolled out, or what it will look like.
  What I can tell you is that the endeavor will be independent of my other organizations, and that it will cover general interest news, with a core mission around supporting and empowering independent journalists across many sectors and beats. The team will build a media platform that elevates and supports these journalists and allows them to pursue the truth in their fields. This doesn't just mean investigative reporting, but all news.
  This NPR interview with Omidyar puts more detail to that statement. Best if you listen to it.
  Adrienne LaFrance worked at Civil Beat, Omidyar's news site in Hawaii. She writes about the experience:
  Earlier this year, Omidyar opened the Civil Beat Law Center, an organization that helps people better access government information. The center is available to anyone, including individuals and reporters from other news organizations, in the hopes that it will lead to more open government.
  That decision offers as much of a window as to his venture with Greenwald, Poitras, and Scahill as his three-and-a-half years at the helm of Civil Beat does. Omidyar identified a problem '' that agencies routinely reject requests for reports, documents and other information that should be readily available '' and created something of his own to find a solution.
  At Poynter, John Temple, who was editor of Omidyar's Civil Beat when it launched, says: ''He's got a journalist's sensibility. He enjoyed the hunt for a story, and he's very open to experimenting with how to tell the story and using contemporary approaches.'' That said, Omidyar ''gives you the space to do your job.''
  Reacting to the news of Omidyar's investment, Dave Winer writes: ''Key idea: News orgs not only have expertise at creating news, they are great at consuming it too. Use that to help define the news reading experience of the future.''
  The Huffington Post account has a bit more detail and some comments from Omidyar:
  ''The role of the press, in particular, the role of the press in a democracy is extremely important, extremely critical, and it's something that I think we often take for granted in the U.S,'' Omidyar said. ''But we've seen attacks on press freedoms and the fundamentals of newsgathering operations when you have these leak investigations that really put a chill on reporting, as well as, surveillance now also a puts a significant chill on reporting.''
  ''Even in a country that has such strong laws, the First Amendment, we see some weakening, some attacks on press freedoms,'' he continued. ''So this an opportunity for me to engage in something I care deeply about and do it operationally '-- not simply as a philanthropist.''
  In a sense, then, Omidyar's new venture is further blowback from the surveillance state's overreach, which I have been writing about since June. When you think about how much trouble Greenwald and Poitras have caused for the NSA and its sister agencies, and then contemplate an entire news organization founded to make that kind of reporting more likely '-- with pro-publish lawyers! '-- it puts new gloss on the notion of unintended consequences.
  NPR's ''On the Media'' interviewed me about this story. You can listen here.
  Jack Shafer of Reuters: ''As welcome as Omidyar's money is, his commitment to the investigative form and an open society is what I'm grateful for.''
  A devil's advocate view of billionaires funding investigative journalism.
  More: Billionaires won't save journalism!
  For those who want more, you can find a excellent, linky round-up of all that's been written about this news here.
  Here's an nine-minute interview with Jeremy Scahill about the new venture with Omidyar. It has a few more details about the ''horizontal'' operating style the founders envision.
  Over at Metafilter, some of the commenters are pretty hostile to the new venture. One says: ''I love Greenwald and think he is one of the most important journalists working today, maybe the most important. But the whole project smacks of dot-com/'TED talk' blinkered arrogance'-- thinking they can reinvent an industry and instantly do better than people with hundreds of years of experience. Like those people who think Tesla is better qualified to build an electric car than Honda or Toyota or Nissan because the founder is a 'genius.'''
  The Economist on the method of Omidyar's philanthropy. ''With the non-profits it backs, ranging from Kiva, a microfinance website, to the Sunlight Foundation, which promotes open government, Omidyar Network practises 'venture philanthropy-'-- developing a non-profit start-up in the same way as a new business venture, except for not expecting it to make money one day.''
  To wrap this up, two from the New York Times media columnist, David Carr. His interview with Omidyar here, and his column on a larger trend: ''Quality news has become, if not sexy, suddenly attractive to smart digital money.'' More:
  ''Technologists have a view, perhaps inflated, that they can make the world better,'' Mr. Omidyar said in an interview over the weekend. ''There may be limits to doing it only through technology, or perhaps you get tired of doing it only through technology. So getting into content and broad communication is appealing.''
  It would also be a mistake to believe that the only thing digitally enriched players bring is money. The investment of intellectual capital will be just as important. If ever an industry was in need of innovation '-- of big ideas from uncommon thinkers '-- it is the news business.
  I agree with that.
  Posted in Uncategorized | 95 Comments >>
  Oct.4
  Hey, that was a tough interview! No, not really.This week Glenn Greenwald was interviewed on the BBC for the first time since the revelations from Edward Snowden began to flow. The program on which he appeared, Newsnight, is one of the BBC's premiere productions. The interviewer was Kirsty Wark. Here's the clip:
  Below I have listed the 16 questions asked in this interview. These are my paraphrases but they are very close paraphrases.
  1. Why should you be the arbiter of what is in the public interest and what is vital to national security?
  2. 58,000 documents! GCHQ says this is a car crash coming. [No question.]
  3. Metadata connections are often used to track terrorists. By revealing them, you may have caused would-be terrorists to change their tactics. So it's possible you've made it easier for terrorists to evade detection. [No question.]
  4. How can you be sure that your actions have not made it easier for the terrorists. You can't prove a negative, can you?
  5. Is it shocking that spy agencies spy? Don't you think a majority of people would be reassured by that and feel safer because of it?
  6. You still have a vast cache of materials from Snowden. Is it in your bedroom in Rio? People want to know: how can you guarantee that it's being kept secure?
  7. When David Miranda was stopped at the airport he was carrying a password on a piece of paper. For a lot of people that doesn't inspire confidence in your methods. [No question.]
  8. After Miranda's detention you said you would be far more aggressive in publishing things about the UK government and they will be sorry for what they did. That was months ago: is something coming down the pipeline?
  9. Can you see why those statements were seen as you, Glenn Greenwald, acting as a campaigner and an activist?
  10. Do you fear for your safety?
  11. Do you feel you could travel to the US or Britain?
  12. Are you still in touch with Edward Snowden?
  13. How do you know he hasn't been forced to give up secrets if he's under Russian protection? You can't be sure that he hasn't had to give up something, can you?
  14. Given the precariousness of his position, does Snowden really feel all that safe?
  15. This is in some ways like a spy film. How did you identify him when you first met him?
  16. Do you think he might end up in an American prison?
  I've been talking about this interview on Twitter today because to me this is a weak form of journalism. It takes common criticisms made of the subject and simply thrusts them at him one after the other to see how he handles it. The basic format is: ''People say this about you. What is your response?'' Questions 1-7, 9 and 13 are all of that type.
  Defenders of this style always say the same thing: Hey, that was a tough interview! People in the public eye should be made to answer their doubters. You may not like it, especially if you're a fan of the person in question, but that's our job as journalists: to be tough but fair.
  No, your job as a journalist is to decide which of the common criticisms have merit, and ask about those, leaving the meritless to chatrooms. It is also to synthesize new criticisms, and ask about those. It is to advance the conversation, not just replay it. People say these bad things about you'' what is your response? is outsourcing the work to other interested parties. It doesn't make for a tough interview; it makes for a predictable one, easier for the subject to handle. It's also the cheapest and simplest way to manufacture an ''adversarial'' atmosphere.
  Greenwald's reaction is here. As he notes, it's a strange decision to make the interview about the various charges against Greenwald and not what his journalism has uncovered.
  UPDATE, OCT. 5. The BBC has now posted to YouTube the video of the entire program on surveillance, which, according to Ian Katz, the editor of BBC Newsnight, is necessary context for understanding the Greenwald interview, which was a part of it. Also, Katz replies to my criticisms here.
  In the comments, the former head of BBC Global News, Richard Sambrook, weighs in. ''I agree it was an ill-thought through interview and consequently weak.''
  Posted in Uncategorized | 47 Comments >>
  Oct.2
  ''What those involved in it fail to acknowledge is their own investment in a permanent and unyielding image of political symmetry. But I think the high point has passed for this kind of reporting.''For a certain class of journalists in the United States '-- a dwindling class, I think '-- the following holds true:
  Alongside the production of news and commentary about American politics they feel compelled to reproduce their own innocence. What I mean by ''innocence'' is a public showing by professional journalists that they have no politics themselves, no views of their own, no side, no stake, no ideology and therefore no one can accuse them of '-- and here we enter the realm of dread '-- political bias.
  I have written about the production of innocence before'...
  The quest for innocence in political journalism means the desire to be manifestly agenda-less and thus ''prove'' in the way you describe things that journalism is not an ideological trade. But this can get in the way of describing things!
  I think it is proper that we call this quest an agenda, even though ''agenda'' is a loaded and abused term. The innocence agenda undermines the product. News and commentary, the picture we get of what is happening in the nation, can be fatally distorted by the journalist's need to demonstrate even-handedness. But there's another problem. In the self image of the professional journalist, nothing can ever come before truthtelling, almost by definition. Because it violates this sacred and absolute rule, the production of innocence is shrouded in denial, defensiveness and mystification. We cannot have a rational conversation with the people who practice it because to admit that they practice it would be, in effect, to resign from their profession. This they refuse to do.
  And so silence is the sea on which the entire subject floats. The practitioners don't defend their practices, but that is the least of it. They won't identify themselves as practitioners in the first place. They are tenacious in holding to the pattern, but they cannot describe, illuminate or justify the pattern because this would be to concede that ''telling it the way it is'' is a priority modified by other and greater priorities'-- like ''making it super clear that we take no side.'' To admit that is to admit that you are a shill, a mouthpiece.
  But here comes the confusing part. For in the production of innocence you are not a shill or mouthpiece for someone else: a company, a political party, a powerful interest'... but for a certain image of yourself as ''above'' all that. You are a propagandist for a personal conceit. The conceit is that you can report and comment on politics truthfully while always and forever splitting the difference between the two sides so as to advertise your own status as perpetually non-aligned.
  What if that is not even possible? What if you have to risk the appearance of being partisan in order to describe accurately what is going on in a hyper-partisan situation? And what if you are risk adverse? As in the case of Time magazine, the PBS Newshour, NPR and CNN, just to name a few homes for the style I am describing. In a situation like that, you are going to fall back on the easy production of innocence, but you are not going to recognize that this is what you are doing.
  I bring up this messy and confusing subject for reasons that are probably obvious to anyone paying attention to political news this week. The shutdown of the Federal government is one of those events where the temptation to advertise your own innocence is almost overwhelming'... for a certain kind of journalist.
  For more on this problem see James Fallows in the Atlantic: Your False-Equivalence Guide to the Days Ahead.
  Also see Dan Froomkin: Shutdown coverage fails Americans.
  The quest for innocence in political journalism means the desire to be manifestly agenda-less'...
  The Washington Post feels that desire. Here are some of the results:
  In The inability to come together to do the right thing, Democrats and Republicans united: It's the other side's fault
  Even before much of the federal government shut down at midnight Monday, the players were already staking out their positions in the battle to come: the fight over who was at fault.
  President Obama argued that Republicans were to blame, for using a budget bill as a means of extortion to roll back health-care reform. No, the GOP shot back, it was Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) who were responsible, for refusing to negotiate.
  The Post really feels it, part two:
  Shutdown crisis shows Washington breakdown
  Washington once again stands at a moment of crisis '-- only this time, Democrats and Republicans are not negotiating a way to avoid it. They are not even speaking to one another.
  The cumulative effect of almost three years of governing by near-death experience is becoming clear.
  Instead of bringing a resolution, each close call has left the parties further apart. These wrenching standoffs have only made them more entrenched. Their focus now rests almost exclusively on what cannot be reconciled and on scores to be settled, rather than on areas where they might actually find common ground.
  Cokie Roberts of NPR feels it, as well. Here is her analysis of the situation:
  I think that we're seeing a real breakdown of government operations in Washington. The inability to come together to do the right thing in terms of the country is really dramatic now. And we've seen this before in our history, but this is a period that is very rough.
  At Time magazine agendalessness is always on the agenda. Their take:
  Shutdown: Obama and Republicans Trade Blame as Deadline Is Crossed
  Federal agencies were ordered to beginning shutting down late Monday evening amid finger-pointing between Democrats and Republicans as to who was responsible for the United States' first government stoppage in 17 years.
  What unites these treatments is the eagerness to blame both sides. The emphasis is on things like ''the inability to come together to do the right thing'' and other hyper-symmetrical images like the ''shutdown blame game'' and ''finger-pointing between Democrats and Republicans.''
  That is the innocence agenda at work. What those involved in it fail to acknowledge is their own investment in a permanent and unyielding image of political symmetry. But I think the high point has passed for this kind of reporting. It still exists, and deserves to be called out, but with the critique of ''false equivalence'' now a part of the journalist's daily life and the rise of point-of-view reporting to normal status online, the artifice is shakier than ever. New entrants like the Guardian's U.S. edition and aggressive newsrooms like ProPublica and McClatchy's Washington bureau simply don't treat the production of innocence as important. Eventually it will be seen as dragging the quality of news down, and the best people will be embarrassed to practice it.
  So let Cokie Robetts wax on about ''the inability to come together to do the right thing.'' Meanwhile, the AP's David Espo described the situation fairly without resorting to claptrap like that.
  Time running short, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed urgent legislation Friday to avert a government shutdown early next week, and President Barack Obama lectured House Republicans to stop ''appeasing the tea party'' and quickly follow suit. Despite the presidential plea '' and the urgings of their own leaders '' House GOP rebels showed no sign of retreat in their drive to use the threat of a shutdown to uproot the nation's three-year-old health care law. (Hat tip, Media Matters.)
  When you know what you're talking about, you don't need to advertise your own innocence.
  Posted in Uncategorized | 37 Comments >>
  Aug.28
  Your turn: so who are you and what do you do and what interests you enough to show up here occasionally and read these posts? Tell us.It was ten years ago this week that I was writing test posts and putting final touches on the site that would officially launch as PressThink on September 1, 2003. It started with this introduction. The key lines:
  I am a press critic, an observer of journalism's habits, and also a writer trying to make sense of the world. I am interested in the ideas about journalism that journalists work within, and those they feel they can work without. I try to discover the consequences in the world that result from having the kind of press we do.
  I call this blog PressThink because that's the kind of work I do. The title points to forms of thought that identify ''journalism'' to itself'-- but also to the habit of not thinking about certain things. The subatomic force that holds the pack of reporters together as they swarm around a story, there's an example of pressthink. Without it there could be no pack; the pieces would come flying apart.
  So that's who I am, and what I do, and what interests me. But who are you and what do you do and what interests you enough to show up here occasionally and read these posts? I am borrowing this idea from the excellent science blogger, Ed Yong, who once a year asks readers of his site to de-lurk'-- that is, introduce themselves, and perhaps say a bit about why the come back. So if you're willing, hit the comment button and de-lurk yourself.
  Meanwhile, over the next few days I am going to post some reflections on ten years of blogging as they occur to me, which means I will also be able to answer questions posted in the comments if you have them. The first one is below:
  1. How has doing this blog affected your career? Last night on Twitter, after I mentioned it had been ten years, Joey Baker asked me how blogging has affected my academic and writing careers. I had never asked myself that, though I always knew that starting PressThink was a huge, life-changing plus. But once Joey asked me of course I started thinking about it.
  The biggest effect comes down to the language I find myself within. Everyone is shaped by the language they habitually speak; but with writers it is a lot more so. Blogging forced me to find a language '-- a writing style '-- that would include (meaning: not repel) any of the following because blogging showed me that all of the following were possibly interested.
  * Working journalists, any kind. (Like, say, Janine Gibson, but there are many more)* Peers in the press commentary game. (Like, say, Margaret Sullivan, but there are many more'...)* Bloggers whose blogging verges on journalism or comments on the news. (Like Marcy Wheeler)* Academics interested in the press and its behavior, whatever their discipline. (Like Brad Delong)* Journalism students or others hoping to make a career of it. (Like Peter Sterne)* Non-journalists who have to deal with the press as part of their job. (Like Shel Israel)* People deeply engaged in politics who have to contend with the power of the media. (Like Anne Marie Slaughter)* Heavy users of journalism, simultaneously fascinated and dissatisfied with the product. (Like Stuart Zechman)* Ordinary readers who sense that something is amiss. (Like'... you!)* The denizens of digital culture '-- geeks '-- who recognize what is shifting in news production. (Like Jillian York)* Publishers, any kind. (Like Tim O'Reilly)* Office-holders who have occasion to reflect on the powers of the press (like Tom Watson)* People in other countries who feel their press is influenced by the American press (Like Mark Colvin.)
  All of those people follow me on Twitter, by the way, and vice versa.
  Blogging forced me to speak in a language that would always include all of them and never repel any of them. But at the same time, a blog is ''the unedited voice of a person,'' as Dave Winer, a huge influence on me, once said. The demands of trying to include, not necessarily ''everyone,'' but certainly everyone on the above list, and at the same time express myself, in an unedited (uncensored) way, the discovery of a language '-- an intellectual style '-- that could accomplish all of those things: that is how blogging affected my career, Joey Baker. It forced me to find my way within the limits of a vernacular, which meant keeping in touch with what matters about the press to all of the people in the categories I have listed.
  2. Did you know this blog has a theme song?Here it is. That song, more than any other totem I can find, expresses the attitude I try to write with. I'm not saying that my posts are equal to it, only that they are influenced by it.
  What about you? Who are you and what do you do and what interests you enough to show up here occasionally and read these posts? Hit the comment button and speak.
  Posted in Uncategorized | 147 Comments >>
  Aug.26
  That's what the surveillance state is trying to do. It has the means, the will and the latitude to go after journalism the way it went after terrorism. Only a more activist press, working together, stands a chance of resisting this.Last week, the novelist and former CIA operative Barry Eisler published one of the most important posts I have read about what's happening to the press since the Snowden revelations began in early June. In it, he tries to explain why authorities in the UK detained Brazilian national David Miranda for nine hours at Heathrow airport and confiscated all the technology he had on him. (Miranda, as everyone following the story knows, is the spouse of The Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald. He had been acting as a courier, bringing documents on encrypted thumb drives back and forth between Greenwald in Brazil and his collaborator, Laura Poitras, in Germany.)
  Eisler's explanation of this pivotal event is the most persuasive I have seen.
  1. Sand in the gears
  ''Put yourself in the shoes of the National Surveillance State,'' he writes. You've already commandeered the internet for state use and you have most of the world's communications monitored and stored. Journalists are beginning to realize than none of their means is secure, so they're retreating to face to face meetings, traveling backwards in technological time to evade your reach. But you find out about one of these meetings: Greenwald's spouse is visiting Berlin. Eisler explains:
  The purpose was to demonstrate to journalists that what they thought was a secure secondary means of communication '-- a courier, possibly to ferry encrypted thumb drives from one air-gapped computer to another '-- can be compromised, and thereby to make the journalists' efforts harder and slower.
  Recognizing that you can't bring journalism to a complete halt, you try to throw sand in the gears. David Miranda was detained and questioned under a terrorism statute in Britain. What's the connection? As Eisler says, ''Part of the value in targeting the electronic communications of actual terrorists is that the terrorists are forced to use far slower means of plotting. The NSA has learned this lesson well, and is now applying it to journalists.'' He writes:
  To achieve the ability to monitor all human communication, broadly speaking the National Surveillance State must do two things: first, button up the primary means of human communication '-- today meaning the Internet, telephone, and snail mail; second, clamp down on backup systems, meaning face-to-face communication, which is, after all, all that's left to the population when everything else has been bugged. Miranda's detention was part of the second prong of attack. So, incidentally, was the destruction of Guardian computers containing some of Snowden's leaks. The authorities knew there were copies, so destroying the information itself wasn't the point of the exercise. The point was to make the Guardian spend time and energy developing suboptimal backup options '-- that is, to make journalism harder, slower, and less secure.
  2. Working together
  The day after Eisler's post appeared, Ben Smith of Buzzfeed found out '-- and the Guardian then announced '-- that some of the Snowden documents had been shared with the New York Times, which will report in partnership with the Guardian on some NSA stories. Britain's equivalent of the NSA, the GCHQ, had forced the Guardian editors to halt work in London on the Snowden leaks. But'...
  Journalists in America are protected by the first amendment which guarantees free speech and in practice prevents the state seeking pre-publication injunctions or ''prior restraint''.
  It is intended that the collaboration with the New York Times will allow the Guardian to continue exposing mass surveillance by putting the Snowden documents on GCHQ beyond government reach. Snowden is aware of the arrangement.
  Sunday night, Ben Smith broke more news: another skilled newsroom, the investigative non-profit site, ProPublica, is also working on Snowden stories with The Guardian. This is the right move. They are trying to make journalism harder, slower and less secure by working together against you. You have to work together against them to publish anyway and put the necessary materials beyond their reach.
  As I wrote in my last post, the surveillance state is global, so the struggle to report on its overreach has to move about the globe, as well. Another good sign:
  In an open letter to David Cameron published in today's Observer, the editors of Denmark's Politiken, Sweden's Dagens Nyheter, Norway's Aftenposten and Finland's Helsingin Sanomat describe the detention of David Miranda, the partner of the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald, as harassment.
  They say that the ''events in Great Britain over the past week give rise to deep concern'' and call on the British prime minister to ''reinstall your government among the leading defenders of the free press''.
  The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers wrote a similar letter to Cameron. They understand this is a global fight. The rest of the British press is only beginning to wake up to it.
  3. ''Give me the box you will allow me to operate in.''
  In an appearance last month on Charlie Rose, former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden was asked about the ''appropriate balance'' between secrecy and transparency.
  Hayden said that if it were up to him, he would ''keep it all secret'' because NSA could best operate that way. But: ''I know I live in a modern democracy,'' which won't allow anyone to operate for long without a ''national consensus'' underpinning the program. You can't have a national consensus without a national discussion, he admitted. And you can't have such a discussion ''without a significant portion of the citizenry'' knowing something about what you're doing. And so, Hayden said, he had come to accept that the NSA had to ''shave points off of our operational effectiveness'' in order to become ''a bit more transparent to the American people.''
  As a former head of the CIA and the NSA, Hayden said he understood that he would be constrained by what American democracy thought acceptable. All he wanted from Congress was clear guidance. ''Tell me the box,'' he said, making a square with his hands as he talked. ''Give me the box you will allow me to operate in. I'm going to play to the very edges of that box.'' He said he would be ''very aggressive,'' and probably ''get chalk dust on my cleats'' but still:
  You, the American people, through your elected representatives, give me the field of play and I will play very aggressively in it. As long as you understand what risk you are embracing by keeping me and my colleagues in this box, Charlie, we are good to go. We understand. We follow the guidance of the American people.
  Hayden's sketch of a surveillance state properly constrained by a wary public left a few things out, of course. When the Director of National Intelligence can lie to Congress in open session and keep his job, Hayden's system has broken down. When United States senators, alarmed about what they are told, cannot alert the American people because of secrecy requirements, Hayden's ''through your elected representatives'' becomes a hollow phrase. Over-classification makes ''national consensus'' impossible on its face. A ''secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans'' is not likely to generate much discussion'... is it? Hayden's descriptions sound reasonable '-- reasonable enough that Charlie Rose didn't push back on them '-- but the behavior of the surveillance state doesn't match up with his soothing words.
  WHICH IS WHY WE NEED JOURNALISTS! In fact, we can go further. Without including in the picture an aggressive press that is free to operate without fear or coercion, the surveillance state cannot be made compatible with representative democracy. Even then, it may be impossible.
  4. The establishment press is beginning to get it
  Barry Eisler concluded his compelling post with this:
  The authorities want you to understand they can do it to you, too. Whether they've miscalculated depends on how well they've gauged the passivity of the public.
  Making journalism harder, slower and less secure, throwing sand in the gears, is fully within the capacity of the surveillance state. It has the means, the will and the latitude to go after journalism the way it went after terrorism. News stories alone are not going to make it stop. There are signs that the establishment press is beginning to get it. Sharing the work of turning the Snowden documents into news is one. David Carr's column in today's New York Times is another. ''It is true that Mr. Assange and Mr. Greenwald are activists with the kind of clearly defined political agendas that would be frowned upon in a traditional newsroom,'' Carr wrote. ''But they are acting in a more transparent age '-- they are their own newsrooms in a sense '-- and their political beliefs haven't precluded other news organizations from following their leads.''
  Only if they can turn a mostly passive public into a more active one can journalists come out ahead in this fight. I know they don't think of mobilization as their job, and there are good reasons for that, but they didn't think editors would be destroying hard drives under the gaze of the authorities, either! Journalism almost has to be brought closer to activism to stand a chance of prevailing in its current struggle with the state.
  Posted in Uncategorized | 32 Comments >>
  Aug.20
  ''If sunlight coalitions are to succeed, they won't succeed by outwitting surveillance. Not better technology, but greater legitimacy is their edge.''The mood toughened just over a month ago, when I received a phone call from the centre of government telling me: ''You've had your fun. Now we want the stuff back.'' There followed further meetings with shadowy Whitehall figures. The demand was the same: hand the Snowden material back or destroy it. I explained that we could not research and report on this subject if we complied with this request. The man from Whitehall looked mystified. ''You've had your debate. There's no need to write any more.''
  '--Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian
  That's the government telling the editor of a national newspaper: Time's up, no more of that journalism stuff! We'll decide when there's been enough debate. Stop now or we'll make you stop. Rusbridger's response: We will continue our careful reporting of the Snowden material. ''We just won't do it from London.'' (The Guardian has a U.S. operation based in New York.) From Reuters:
  The Guardian's decision to publicize the government threat '' and the newspaper's assertion that it can continue reporting on the Snowden revelations from outside of Britain '' appears to be the latest step in an escalating battle between the news media and governments over reporting of secret surveillance programs.
  This battle is global. Just as the surveillance state is an international actor '-- not one government, but many working together '-- and just as the surveillance net stretches worldwide because the communications network does too, the struggle to report on the secret system's overreach is global, as well. It's the collect-it-all coalition against an expanded Fourth Estate, worldwide.
  When Wikileaks first exploded onto the political scene in 2010, I wrote this about it:
  If you go to the Wikileaks Twitter profile, next to ''location'' it says: Everywhere. Which is one of the most striking things about it: the world's first stateless news organization. I can't think of any prior examples of that. (Dave Winer in the comments: ''The blogosphere is a stateless news organization.'')
  Wikileaks was modeling the concept. Now we are seeing different expressions of it every day. ''We just won't do it from London'' is one. The collaboration among Edward Snowden, an American exile living in Russia, filmmaker Laura Poitras, an American living in Berlin, and Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, an American living in Brazil'-- that's another. A few days ago, when Greenwald's spouse, David Miranda, was detained at Heathrow airport by the UK branch of the surveillance state, Greenwald naturally alerted The Guardian's lawyers in the UK, but he also alerted officials in the Brazilian government, who brought pressure to bear through the foreign ministry.
  This tells us something. The battle I referred to is not a simple matter of the state vs. civilians. It's not government vs. the press, either. It's the surveillance-over-everything forces within governments (plus the politicians and journalists who identify with them) vs. everyone who opposes their overreach: investigative journalists and sources, especially, but also couriers (like David Miranda), cryptographers and technologists, free speech lawyers, funders, brave advertisers, online activists, sympathetic actors inside a given government, civil society groups like Amnesty International, bloggers to amplify the signal and, of course, readers. Lots of readers, the noisy kind, who share and help distribute the work.
  This type of sunlight coalition '-- large and small pieces, loosely joined '-- is a countervailing power to the security forces, the people who are utterly serious when they say: ''You've had your debate. There's no need to write any more,'' the same people who, as Bruce Schneier has written, ''commandeered the internet'' for their use because, viewed from a certain angle, it's the best machine ever made for spying on the population.
  If sunlight coalitions are to succeed, it won't be by outwitting surveillance. Not better technology, but greater legitimacy is their edge. This attitude was perfectly captured by Ladar Levison, founder of Lavabit, who shut down his email service when the surveillance state demanded his submission. ''I think if the American public knew what our government was doing, they wouldn't be allowed to do it anymore,'' he said.
  Sunlight wins when the deeds exposed turn out to lack legitimacy under the greater scrutiny they receive because of the exposure. That can only happen through open argument over known facts. The argument is always about the same thing: what is truly in the public interest, and what violates justice, decency, common sense, national conscience, the requirements of a democracy. As Rusbridger told the BBC:
  ''If they were to arrest David Miranda in Heathrow car park they would have to use bits of the law which have checks and balances to protect journalistic material, among other things, but by doing it in a transit lounge they are operating in a kind of stateless way where they can interrogate someone for nine hours, seize whatever they want, under rules that are about terrorism. Once you start conflating terrorism and journalism, as a country I think you're in some trouble.''
  A conspiracy to commit journalism has to operate in the open. Its methods go beyond investigation, careful editing, truth and accuracy, telling a good story that brings complex issues home. There is inescapably a political element. Release-the-information coalitions can only form around broadly shared goals. People who disagree on other things are likely to agree on the need for sunlight. Those who would expose the misdeeds of an agency like the NSA need good arguments, not just good sources and good lawyers. Not the reach but the overreach of the surveillance state should be the object of their critique. It's not enough that your story be right on the facts. Your thinking has to be right on the money. It has to speak to ends that are almost as universal as the emotion of fear, an always-on power source for the ''collect it all'' consortium.
  Those who would expose and oppose the security state also need good judgment. What to hold back, when not to publish, how not to react when provoked, what not to say in your own defense: alongside the forensic, the demands of the prudential. All day today, people have been asking me: why did The Guardian wait a month to tell us about, ''You've had your fun. Now we want the stuff back?'' Michael Calderone of the Huffington Post asked Rusbridger about that. His answer:
  ''Having been through this and not written about it on the day for operational reasons, I was sort of waiting for a moment when the government's attitude to journalism ''- when there was an issue that made this relevant,'' Rusbridger said.
  That moment came after Sunday's nine-hour airport detainment of David Miranda, partner of Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist at the center of the NSA surveillance story.
  ''The fact that David Miranda had been detained under this slightly obscure schedule of the terrorism act seemed a useful moment to write about the background to the government's attitude to this in general,'' Rusbridger said.
  Hear it? The holding back. The sensation of a political opening, through which the story can be driven. The alignment of argument with information. The clear contrast between a terror anyone can identify with '-- being detained for nine hours while transiting through a foreign country '-- and the state's obscure use of terrorism law. These are political skills, indistinguishable from editorial acumen. In a conspiracy to commit journalism we must persuade as well as inform.
  After Matter: Notes, Reactions & LinksYou can find all the pieces I've written on Snowden, the press and the surveillance state here.
  Public radio's The World interviewed me about this post. Listen here. (It's 5:41.)
  John Naughton in the UK reacts to this post: Democracy as a 'game.'
  The big question, to my mind, is whether the kind of comprehensive surveillance deemed essential by the national security state is compatible with democracy.
  The answer I'm heading towards is ''No''.
  Former CIA agent turned novelist Barry Eisler tries to explain why David Miranda got stopped at Heathrow by the UK authorities. His answer: to make further journalism about the Snowden material more difficult. I think he's got it.
  The purpose was to demonstrate to journalists that what they thought was a secure secondary means of communication '-- a courier, possibly to ferry encrypted thumb drives from one air-gapped computer to another '-- can be compromised, and thereby to make the journalists' efforts harder and slower.
  Does this sort of ''deny and disrupt'' campaign sound familiar? It should: you've seen it before, deployed against terror networks. That's because part of the value in targeting the electronic communications of actual terrorists is that the terrorists are forced to use far slower means of plotting. The NSA has learned this lesson well, and is now applying it to journalists.
  ''If you support a free press publishing leaked state secrets you are apparently condoning terrorism. If you don't object to his detention loudly, you are condoning the secret state.'' On CNN.com, former BBC executive Richard Sambrook reflects on the hardening of positions.
  Social media, advocacy journalism, the need to define and claim the narrative and to be heard leaves little room for middle ground, but it is there that this conflict will be resolved. In that gray area, the ethical bridge between these positions will have to be rebuilt.
  My contribution to Sambrook's bridging project in this post: ''Not the reach but the overreach of the surveillance state should be the object of their critique.''
  Mark Ambinder, national security reporter and columnist, explains his reasons to be troubled the NSA, and, in a separate column, why concerns about it are overblown: 5 reasons the NSA scandal ain't all that. ''I really do think tribal feelings determine how you view the significance of Edward Snowden's revelations,'' he writes. Conor Friedersdorf isn't buying it.
  The Press Gazette in Britain asks why newspapers in the UK are largely letting The Guardian go it alone, and not jumping fully into the fray.
  Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments >>
  Aug.15
  As things stand today, the Fourth Estate is a state of mind. Some in the press have it, some do not. Some who have it are part of the institutional press. Some, like Ladar Levison and Edward Snowden, are not.''I think if the American public knew what our government was doing, they wouldn't be allowed to do it anymore.''
  Those are the poignant words of Ladar Levison, founder of Lavabit, a secure email service that he voluntarily shut down when faced with some sort of demand from the U.S. government to reveal user information. The precise nature of that demand he cannot talk about for fear of being thrown in jail, perhaps the best example we now have for how the surveillance state undoes the First Amendment. But we know that Lavabit was used by Edward Snowden to communicate with the outside world when he was stuck in the Moscow airport. So use your imagination!
  If the public knew what the government was doing, the government wouldn't be allowed to do it anymore'... is a perfect description of a ''Fourth Estate situation.'' That's when we need a journalist to put hidden facts to light and bring public opinion into play, which then changes the equation for people in power operating behind the veil. If it doesn't happen, an illegitimate state action will persist. ''My hope is that, you know, the media can uncover what's going on, without my assistance,'' Levison said. He's like a whistleblower who will go to jail if he actually uses his whistle. All he can do is give truncated interviews that stop short of describing the pressure he is under.
  At least one thing is clear: Snowden's determination ''to embolden others to step forward,'' which I wrote about in my last post, is starting to work. Ladar Levison is proof.
  This week the New York Times magazine published an amazing account of the Fourth Estate situation that Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald found themselves in, once they were contacted by Edward Snowden. The author, Peter Maass, included this:
  Poitras and Greenwald are an especially dramatic example of what outsider reporting looks like in 2013. They do not work in a newsroom, and they personally want to be in control of what gets published and when. When The Guardian didn't move as quickly as they wanted with the first article on Verizon, Greenwald discussed taking it elsewhere, sending an encrypted draft to a colleague at another publication. He also considered creating a Web site on which they would publish everything, which he planned to call NSADisclosures. In the end, The Guardian moved ahead with their articles. But Poitras and Greenwald have created their own publishing network as well, placing articles with other outlets in Germany and Brazil and planning more for the future. They have not shared the full set of documents with anyone.
  The idea of the press as the ''fourth estate'' is usually traced to English historian Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881.) Here he is, writing at a time when journalists were newly arrived on the political stage:
  Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters' Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important than they all. It is not a figure of speech, or a witty saying; it is a literal fact. Printing, which comes necessarily out of Writing, I say often, is equivalent to Democracy: invent Writing, Democracy is inevitable. Whoever can speak, speaking now to the whole nation, becomes a power, a branch of government, with inalienable weight in law-making, in all acts of authority. It matters not what rank he has, what revenues or garnitures: the requisite thing is that he have a tongue which others will listen to; this and nothing more is requisite.
  Whoever can speak to the whole nation becomes a power. It used to be that the only way to ''speak to the whole nation'' was through the major media channels that reached everyone. The Fourth Estate became the editors and reporters who worked in Big Media newsrooms. But as Peter Maass pointed out, Poitras and Greenwald don't operate that way. They make alliances with the press establishment to get their stories out. If necessary, they will go it alone. Greenwald raises his own money from readers who support what he does, as he explained in a June 4th column in The Guardian:
  Ever since I began political writing, I've relied on annual reader donations to enable me to do the journalism I want to do: first when I wrote at my own Blogspot page and then at Salon. Far and away, that has been the primary factor enabling me to remain independent '' to be unconstrained in what I can say and do '' because it means I'm ultimately accountable to my readers, who don't have an agenda other than demanding that I write what I actually think, that the work I produce be unconstrained by institutional orthodoxies and without fear of negative reaction from anyone. It is also reader support that has directly funded much of the work I do, from being able to have research assistants and other needed resources to avoiding having to do the kind of inconsequential work that distracts from that which I think is most necessary and valuable.
  For that reason, when I moved my blog from Salon to the Guardian, the Guardian and I agreed that I would continue to rely in part on reader support. Having this be part of the arrangement, rather than exclusively relying on the Guardian paying to publish the column, was vital to me. It's the model I really believe in.
  This was the last thing he wrote for the Guardian before the Snowden story took over his life, but he dropped a hint of what was coming. ''I've spent all of this week extensively traveling and working continuously on what will be a huge story: something made possible by being at the Guardian but also by my ability to devote all of my time and efforts to projects like this one.''
  The point I'm driving at is not that the institutionalized press is no longer needed, or no longer powerful. Greenwald clearly benefits from being a Guardian journalist. The Guardian has other reporters it can put on the story. It has editors to save writers from errors and misjudgments. It pays for plane tickets and lawyers. It has global reach. These are huge advantages.
  But people who find themselves in a Fourth Estate situation '-- ''If the public knew what power was doing, power would not be allowed to do it anymore'' '-- have power themselves now. If they have the goods, if they have the will, if they have ''a tongue which others will listen to,'' they can speak to the nation. And some will! The Fourth Estate is really a state of mind. Some in the press have it, some don't. Some who have it are part of the press. Some, like Ladar Levison and Edward Snowden, are not.
  A Fourth Estate situation has its own strange and radiating power. People caught up in one will take enormous risks. They will sacrifice their freedom. They will crash the company they spent years building. They will defy the state. They will do a lot to bring the hidden facts to light. Working together, sources, journalists and readers may soon publish a blockbuster story without the institutional press being involved at all.
  Again, I'm not saying we don't need The Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Der Spiegel, El Pa­s, O Globo, the BBC, the CBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. We definitely do. But they are not the Fourth Estate. If the public knew what the government was doing, the government wouldn't be allowed to do it anymore. Everyone who tries to act on that tense situation: they, together, are the Fourth Estate. (Senator Ron Wyden, for example.)
  I believe Bruce Schneier was correct when he wrote in the Atlantic this week that the U.S. government has ''commandeered the internet.'' He urged the big technology companies to fight back. But even if they don't, others will. And when they make that decision, they will pick up the tools of journalism and try to alert the public. If the press won't help them, they will go it alone. Wise professionals in journalism will understand this, and select accordingly.
  Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments >>
Out of the Press Box and onto the Field
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Omidyar Group
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:35
  I have a personal announcement. I am joining up with the new venture in news that Pierre Omidyar, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill are creating, along with Liliana Segura, Dan Froomkin, Eric Bates and others who are coming on board to give shape to this thing, which we are calling NewCo until we are ready to release the name.
  Because it doesn't exist yet, NewCo could take many forms. Only a handful of those possible paths will lead to a strong and sustainable company that meets a public need. Figuring that out is a hard problem, to which I am deeply attracted. So I signed up to be part of the launch team. This post explains why I made that decision and what I hope to contribute. Continue reading at pressthink.org.
Many States Struggle Working With Colleges to Implement Common Core - US News & World Report
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:00
  A new study found that most states are working with colleges to transition to Common Core, but many are also facing challenges.
  Although most states say they have begun working with higher education institutions to implement the Common Core State Standards, nearly the same amount say they are facing major or minor challenges in working with colleges and universities in the transition, according to a new report from George Washington University's Center on Education Policy.
  The role of higher education in implementing the standards is twofold, according to the report: colleges and universities need to help ensure that teachers, new and old, are prepared to teach the more challenging standards and evaluate how well those standards and assessments prepare students for entry-level college courses.
  A large majority of the 40 state education agencies that responded to the survey said they have established formal partnerships to implement the standards with postsecondary representatives, and 31 states said these institutions have reviewed or plan to review the standards to determine if their mastery indicates college readiness.
  [READ: Majority of Teachers Support Common Core, Poll Finds]
  Still, 35 states said working with higher education institutions is a major (16) or minor (19) challenge. In another question, 27 also said working with higher education institutions to align teacher preparation programs with the standards also proved challenging. Only two states said neither of these has been a challenge.
  But Jacqueline King, director of higher education at the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, one of two groups helping states design Common Core-aligned assessments, says the challenges stem from different ways of thinking.
  "Common Core really requires K-12 and higher ed to work together at a level that in many cases hasn't occurred in states. The cultures of K-12 and higher education are very different," King says. "I don't think it's so much a concern around the standards themselves, but it's the issue of trying to get a more seamless pathway between the two, and really getting some clarity together about what college readiness means."
  [ALSO: States Lack Funds, Resources to Implement Common Core]
  Additionally, differences in how states govern their colleges and universities could explain challenges in aligning teacher preparation programs with the CCSS, King says. In some states, a board makes decisions for policy initiatives statewide, whereas in others, those decisions are made by individual campuses.
  Aside from teacher preparation and training, higher education's role in implementing the new standards can affect students and how well they will fare in first-year college courses, according to King.
  Just as schools and teachers are adjusting their curricula and instruction to ensure students are "college- and career-ready," colleges are evaluating how well those standards and assessments match up to the expectations of entry-level college courses.
  [MORE: Minnesota Reading Scores Plummet in Common Core Assessments]
  "Colleges are looking at how well their first-year courses align and if there are gaps, or if they are assuming things would be covered in high school that might not be covered," King said during a previous interview. "The goal is to make sure there's a smooth pathway between high school and college."
  Establishing that connection can also help reduce the number of college freshmen forced to enroll in remedial classes '' "refresher" courses usually required when students score low on placement exams. According to the CEP's survey, 21 states said they are considering using Common Core assessment scores in making course placement decisions and exempting students from remedial courses.
  But as it stands, "it's not until usually the week before classes that students take placement exams and all of a sudden find out they're not ready," King said. "That can be so demoralizing for students."
Americas Promise Alliance - About the Alliance
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Mon, 18 Nov 2013 02:39
  Mission & PurposeBuilding on the legacy of founding chairman, General Colin Powell, we are a strong and effective partnership alliance committed to ensuring children experience the fundamental resources they need to succeed.
  The Five PromisesThe Five Promises are the fundamental resources that young people need to succeed: Caring Adults, Safe Places, A Healthy Start, Effective Education, and Opportunities to Help Others
  LeadershipAmerica's Promise Alliance is guided by leaders from all sectors of American life: The business community; nonprofits, community groups, policymakers, experts in children's and youth issues, concerned individuals and young people.
  Our HistoryAmerica's Promise grew out of the Presidents' Summit for America's Future in 1997. Presidents Clinton, Bush, Carter and Ford, along with Nancy Reagan, challenged America to make youth a national priority.