Government Shutdown, Obamacare; NSA Spying and Surveillance; Environment, Pollution, Water Security, Climate Change, Animal

Government Shutdown

• Bill Clinton Says Obama Should Call the Bluff of Republicans—Says they're "begging for America to fail."
• Poll Shows Disapproval of Threat of Government Shutdown—"Republicans, Democrats and independents alike object to the threat of a shutdown during budget negotiations, a poll says." The Tea-Partisanship is an abject failure. NYT
• CNN Poll: GOP would bear the brunt of shutdown blame
• The House Republican tantrum that knows no end
• GOP tries to counter narrative—"Domestic terrorists" and "hostage takers." Politico
• Bob Woodward hits GOP over 'blackmail' Politico
• Who Goes to Work? Who Stays Home? NYT

Obamacare

• House Republicans Really Believe Democrats Will Cave On Obamacare To Avoid A Government Shutdown—And they're getting desperate as the clock ticks away.
• Tea Party letter demanding repeal of medical device tax written by medical device lobbyist
• Peter King Won't Vote For Another Bill Amending ObamaCare: 'Tired of Ted Cruz Calling the Shots'
• Rand Paul Gets Schooled By Bob Schieffer On Defunding Obamacare
• U.S. Plans to Unveil New Insurance Options—"The Obama administration will announce on Monday new health insurance options to be offered through Blue Cross and Blue Shield in 30 states next year." NYT

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• Glenn Greenwald working on new NSA revelations—"Two American journalists known for their investigations of the United States' government said Saturday they've teamed up to report on the National Security Agency's role in what they described as a U.S. assassination program."
• Valerie Plame-Wilson & Joe Wilson: The NSA's metastasised intelligence-industrial complex is ripe for abuse—"Where oversight and accountability have failed, Snowden's leaks have opened up a vital public debate on our rights and privacy."
• Whistleblower Russ Tice Reveals the Truth About NSA Spying
• Ex-Spy Christopher Boyce on Snowden, WikiLeaks, and NSA Backdoors
• US government given December deadline to unseal more NSA documents
• N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens—"The analysis of phone call and e-mail logs for foreign intelligence purposes adds to the growing body of knowledge about the agency's access to private information, prompting concern from lawmakers." NYT
• Feinstein's NSA 'reform' bill would expand snooping powers
• Zegart joins scholars at NSA for rare briefing on spy agency's woes
• Feds Targeted Snowden's Email Provider the Day After NSA Whistleblower Went Public
• NSA Internet Spying Sparks Race to Create Offshore Havens for Data Privacy WSJ
• John McAfee reveals details on gadget to thwart NSA
• Secret Cold War documents reveal NSA spied on senators

Environment

• Victory: Judge Halts Tar Sands 'Megaloads' Through Nat'l Forest—"This ruling shows that the oil industry and the world's largest corporations can't run roughshod over the Tribe, the people of Idaho or our nations' most precious natural assets."
• Republican solution to wildfires: Sell the trees!
• Fire scars big nature reserve in Ecuador's capital

Pollution

• Fox Guest: 'Fracking Is Actually Incredibly Good For Our Environment'—War is Peace. Slavery is Freedom.
• Fracking Chemicals May Be Unknown, Even To Gas Drillers, Lawsuit Documents Suggest
• Exxon Charged With Illegally Dumping Waste in Pennsylvania
• Cold Lake Bitumen Spill Photos Leaked By Government Scientist: Report
• 5,250 gallons of oil spills into South Platte River
• Halliburton Pays $200,000 Fine for Destroying Gulf Spill Evidence
• In BP Trial, the Amount of Oil Lost Is at Issue—"The fines against BP hang in the balance, and depend on the level of negligence that is determined and how much oil was spilled." NYT

Water Security

• Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya—"A massive aquifer that holds enough water to meet all of Kenya's needs for 70 years has been discovered, ITV News can reveal."Nestlé licking their lips.
• Conflict of interest claims persist in Maine’s Nestlé water case
• Commodification of Water, the Quintessential Issue of Our Time

Climate Change

• What 95% Certainty of Warming Means to Scientists
• Global Warming Is Very Real—"Scientists are fighting deniers with irrefutable proof the planet is headed for catastrophe."
• Confirmed: Greenland reached hottest temperature in modern record this summer
• Wild Weather Tied To Unusual Jet Stream Activity
• World won't cool without geoengineering, warns report

Animal

• California ban on foie gras upheld by federal appeals court
• Shark fin banned at official Hong Kong functions
• Record number of rhinos killed in South Africa in 2013—"Total of 688 rhino deaths passes last year's record, with three months of the year still to go." It's disgusting that the "dramatic growth in rhino poaching... has largely been driven by demand in Asia, in particular Vietnam, where rhino horn is seen as a status symbol."

Breaking Bad, Cracked-acters; Marriage Equality, Politics, Intolerance; Church and State, Cover Up; Republican Jesus, Obamacare; Pope Francis, Sex Abuse Scandals, Atheism

Breaking Bad

• How A Teenage Cancer Patient Changed The Ending Of 'Breaking Bad'
• Breaking Bad, a screenplay by Vince Gilligan, 5/27/05
• The hidden clues to "Breaking Bad's" meaning—"The show's many visual 'Easter eggs' reveal its deeper message." Salon
• Apple to give Breaking Bad season refunds—"Apple is refunding fans of TV show Breaking Bad after a mix-up over the number of episodes in its final season." Good PR move to make up for AMC's misdeeds.
• Bryan Cranston reads a fan letter
• Breaking Bad The Sitcom—The horror.

Cracked-acters

• Vince Gilligan: 'Walt Is Not Darth Vader'—"'Walt's world is a dark place of suspicion and paranoia,' says the 'Breaking Bad' creator. 'It makes you wonder what it would be like to write for SpongeBob SquarePants."
• Krysten Ritter on Breaking Bad: Team Walter White Until the Bitter End
• "Breaking Bad's" racial politics: Walter White, angry white man—"Walter's brutal meltdown shows genius way "Breaking Bad" deals with white privilege, and men who can't get enough." Salon
• Skyler White Is the Best Character on Breaking Bad
• Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman: A Retrospective
• FunnyOrDie: Huell's Rules

Marriage Equality

• Same-sex spouses allowed to receive veterans' benefits
• Oklahoma National Guard reverses stance on same-sex couple benefits
• Kentucky: Spousal privilege doesn't apply to woman testifying in same-sex partner's murder trial, judge rules
• Catholic archbishop says Satan is pushing for gay marriage
• Michigan argues ban on same-sex marriage helps 'regulate sexual relationships'—"... to encourage population growth."
• George H.W. Bush Witness at Maine Same-Sex Wedding
• Judge legalizes same-sex marriage in New Jersey; Christie vows to appeal
• Ten Years Later, 85 Percent Of Massachusetts Voters Say No Harm From Marriage Equality

Politics

• What’s Next for the Gay-Rights Movement?
• Senate confirms first openly gay appellate judge—"Todd Hughes is the first openly gay circuit judge in U.S. history."
• Marco Rubio Blocks Gay Black Judge's Nomination To Federal Bench, Puzzling Everyone
• President of Anti-Gay Hate Group Appointed to Louisiana Law Enforcement Commission
• Mexico's first openly gay mayor takes office in Zacatecas

Intolerance

• The First Victim of Russia's Anti-Gay Law Is Dead
• Serbia bans gay pride march again; EU criticizes decision
• 'Straight-only' sorority proposal stirs up Smith College
• Gay kiss photo show blocked by Vatican threat
• 'I would never use homosexual couples in my adverts': Barilla pasta boss's anti-gay comments spark boycott call—Barilla's rival, Bertolli, makes the most of this situation.

Church and State

• Are Gay-Rights Laws Trampling on Freedom of Religion?—"Some people of faith complain that laws mandating equal treatment for LGBT Americans are forcing them to betray their privately held beliefs."
• GOP adds 'conscience clause' to spending bill
• Baby 'Messiah' Name Change Order Overturned—"A child support magistrate ordered the name change last month, saying: 'Messiah is a title that is held only by Jesus Christ.'" Sweet baby Jesus.
• Tunisia's ruling Islamists to step down, pave way for vote
• Jehovah's Witness teen loses appeal over life-saving transfusion
• German Court: circumcision too risky for six-year-old
• Kansas Group Tries To Remove Evolution From Schools By Claiming Science Is A Religion

Cover Up

• Judge to Sikh Man: Remove "That Rag" or Go to Jail
• Swiss region bans full-face Muslim veil
• Teaching union furious as Islamic free school staff are told they must wear hijab even if they are not Muslim

Republican Jesus

• Why are so many Christians so un-Christian?—"Many right-wing Christians vilify the poor, in direct contradiction to the teachings of Jesus. Why the hypocrisy?" Salon
• Reza Aslan: The real Jesus makes a lot of 'Christians' uncomfortable
• Jon Stewart: God Has Given The Pope And Republicans Different Signals

Obamacare

• House GOP votes to delay Obamacare for one year —That vote will get vetoe, and will make the shutdown more likely.
• Are Republicans So Frantic to Stop Obamacare Because They Fear It Will Work?
• Martin Bashir Scolds Republicans for "Worshipping at the Shrine of Selfishness"
• Jon Stewart's epic takedown of Ted Cruz's non-filibuster— With Cruz, it's all about fuck you, I've got mine.
• Quitting for Obamacare: Trapped workers may seek relief in new health exchanges

Pope Francis

• Pope Says Church Is 'Obsessed' With Gays, Abortion and Birth Control—"Saying that the Roman Catholic Church should seek a 'new balance,' Pope Francis articulated his vision of an inclusive church, evoking gratitude and hope from liberal Catholics who had felt left out in the cold." NYT
• Pope Francis Says The Financial World Must Stop Worshiping A 'God Called Money'
• Why Jefferson would like Pope Francis (but not Ted Cruz)—"Promoting compassion and benevolence, the popular pontiff appears to share a mission with our third president." Salon

Sex Abuse Scandals

• In first public letter since stepping down, ex-pope Benedict denies covering up child sex abuse
• Polish Church Apologizes for Child Sex Abuse
• Billy Graham's grandson claims 'evil' Evangelicals are 'worse' than Catholics for sex abuse
• The Looming Sex Abuse Crisis for the Religious Right
• Doctor determines Lamm unfit to testify in Yeshiva University sex abuse case

Atheism

• Bill Maher: Atheism will be 'the new gay marriage'
• Atheism to be taught to Irish schoolchildren—"Up to 16,000 primary-school pupils in non-denominational sector will get tuition in atheism, while the rest will be offered courses on the internet and on smartphone apps."
• After Her Teacher Compared Atheism to Smoking (Saying Humans Naturally Rejected Both), a Young Atheist Took Action

Workers and Wage Slaves, Bangladesh; Class War, Banks and Wall Street, Shady Trading, Whistleblowers, JPMorgan; Obamacare, Debt Default; NSA Spying

Workers and Wage Slaves

• The American dream has become a burden for most—"As wages stagnate and costs rise, US workers recognise the guiding ideal of this nation for the delusional myth it is."
• At 77 He Prepares Burgers Earning in Week His Former Hourly Wage
• Hero plumber who saved British tourist after taxi accident fired from construction job—"All that commotion, my boss had enough of it and decided it would be better to fire me ... I think I would have been better off doing heroin than being a hero."
• Wal-Mart to create more fulltime positions—"After undergoing criticism that the company skimps on benefits, Wal-Mart will elevate 70,000 employees to permanent part-time or full-time positions. Wal-Mart will also hire 55,000 seasonal workers." It's also because they discovered they can't run on a skeleton crew.
• Jerry Brown signs bill to raise California minimum wage
• Goodwill won't pursue charges over clerk's discounts

Bangladesh

• Bangladesh clothing workers still exploited, five months after factory fire, Panorama investigation finds
• 50,000 Bangladeshi garment workers strike over 'inhuman' wages
• Bangladesh Labor Protests: This Is Just the Beginning of Worker Unrest

Class War

• Inequality for All—A documentary starring Robert Reich
• Krugman: Plutocrats Feeling Persecuted—"Have you heard the latest about how bad the richest of the rich have it these days? It is reason to fear the wrath of the .01 percent!" NYT
• The Sick Ayn Randian War Against Everyone Who Isn't Rich—"The GOP's vote to gut food stamps is the latest in its campaign against non-wealthy Americans."
• Food Stamps vs. Farm Stamps: Subsidizing GOP Hypocrisy
• Stimulus Funds Paid For Trees For Wealthy Homeowners

Banks and Wall Street

• AIG CEO: Anger over AIG bonuses 'just as bad' as lynchings—Does he have any experience with lynching [Salon]?
• Bank of America goes to trial over U.S. mortgage fraud charges
• Wells Fargo fails to end U.S. mortgage fraud lawsuit
• JPMorgan Chase, 12 More Banks Sued Over Libor
• Looting the Pension Funds—"All across America, Wall Street is grabbing money meant for public workers [Salon]."
• Banks find appalling new way to cheat homeowners—"So much for the National Mortgage Settlement. Homeowners are now getting foreclosed on without their knowledge!" Salon
• Warren, Petraeus Speak on Financial Issues Facing Those Who Serve
• Hingham homeowner shares her story—"Had to unravel FEMA flood insurance error."

Shady Trading

• Some Traders Got News Of Last Week's Fed Shocker Before Everyone Else
• Somebody Stole 7 Milliseconds From the Federal Reserve
• A Single Trader Lost Millions Betting On Mitt Romney On Intrade Late In The 2012 Election

Whistleblowers

• Whistleblower: HSBC Still Laundering Money for Terrorists, Drug Cartels
• Whistleblower: Banks may be laundering poker money
• Was This Whistle-Blower Muzzled?—"Thanks to political pressure and the revolving door between Washington and Wall Street, the events leading up to the financial crisis remain obscured." NYT

JPMorgan

• JPMorgan's Legal Hurdles Expected to Multiply—"JPMorgan Chase paid $1 billion to resolve an array of government investigations last week. But more hurdles lie ahead." NYT
• J.P. Morgan Offers $3 Billion to End Mortgage Probes—Seems to be up to $11 billion to include other transgressions. Here's a list.
• JPMorgan chief meets Holder in bid for deal to end probes, avoid criminal charges

Obamacare

• Are Republicans afraid that health care reform may prove popular?
• ObamaCare Employer Mandate: A List Of Cuts To Work Hours, Jobs
• Fox News: Obama in Plot to Force Americans to Live Longer—This is satire. This is not.

Debt Default

• GOP Descends Into Civil War Over Obamacare As Shutdown Looms
• US braces for possible government shutdown—Guess whose salaries don't get cut in the meantime?
• Obama's Debt Ceiling Red Line: No Deals—"The president says he won't negotiate. John Boehner says he has to. Who blinks first?"
• Senate kills effort to derail budget bill
• Republican hard-liners block strategy to avoid federal government shutdown
• Wall Street to GOP: Are you nuts?
• Your False-Equivalence Guide to the Days Ahead—"A kind of politics we have not seen for more than 150 years."

NSA Spying

• Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media—"Pulitzer Prize winner explains how to fix journalism, saying press should 'fire 90% of editors and promote ones you can't control.'"
• Sen. Dan Coats Uses His Five Minutes At Intelligence Committee Meeting To Rant About Media And 'Non-Trusting' Public
• Sen. Ron Wyden: NSA 'repeatedly deceived the American people'—"About the Snowden disclosures, the Oregon Democrat told the NSA chief: 'the truth always manages to come out.'"
• Dianne Feinstein Accidentally Confirms That NSA Tapped The Internet Backbone
• Sen. Feinstein: Press Must Stop Calling NSA Spying 'Surveillance'

War on Terror, Police State, NSA Spying and Surveillance, Guns; Obamacare, Debt Default, Grand Ol' Tea Party, Public-Private Partnerships; Elections 2014

War on Terror

• Ex-FBI agent to plead guilty to media leak—"Agent sentenced to nearly four years in prison for leaking details on US operation to foil Yemen attack plot."
• The US promised a visa to my Afghan interpreter. Now it's been revoked—"My interpreter saved my life. Now the Taliban want to kill him, and the US is stalling on his visa. This isn't right."
• Empty F-16 jet tested by Boeing and US Air Force—"Boeing has revealed that it has retrofitted retired fighter jets to turn them into drones."

Police State

• America's Creeping Police State—"Imperialism abroad is destroying what is left of our democracy at home. From warrantless wiretapping to warrantless door-busting, this is what a police state looks like."
• US: ATF misplaced 420 million cigarettes in stings—"Government agents acting without authorization conducted dozens of undercover investigations of illegal tobacco sales, misused some of $162 million in profits from the stings and lost track of at least 420 million cigarettes, the Justice Department's inspector general said Wednesday."
• Cops: HVCC student mentions bomb on social media, gets arrested

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• A Rally Against Mass Surveillance in Washington, DC | Stop Watching Us—26 Oct 2013.
• To reform the NSA, fire officials who lie—"I saw this at first hand over the Pentagon Papers case: the NSA has a culture of lying. That should be Obama's first concern."
• US intelligence chiefs urge Congress to preserve surveillance programs—"Officials refuse to say in Senate testimony whether cell site data had ever been used to pinpoint an individual's location."
• Senators Push to Preserve N.S.A. Phone Surveillance—"The Senate Intelligence Committee appears to be moving quickly to pass a bill aimed at building public confidence in a once-secret National Security Agency call log program." NYT
• 12 True Tales of Creepy NSA Cyberstalking—"The NSA has released some details of 12 incidents in which analysts used their access to America's high-tech surveillance infrastructure to spy on girlfriends, boyfriends, and random people they met in social settings. It's a fascinating look at what happens when the impulse that drives average netizens to look up long-ago ex-lovers on Facebook is mated with the power to fire up a wiretap with a few keystrokes."

Guns

• NRA Lobbyist Shoots Elephant in the Face and then Celebrates With Champagne
• Barton: Second Amendment Guarantees An Individual Right To Own A Tank Or Fighter Jet
• Americans Fault Mental Health System Most for Gun Violence—"Half say gun laws should be stricter, down from 58% after Newtown."
• Conn. panel orders release of Newtown 911 tapes—The release is being appealed.
• Fox News' Hasselbeck: Navy Yard shooting shows need for video game registry, not gun control— Also, NRA's LaPierre says, "there weren't enough good guys with guns" to stop the Navy Yard shooting.
• Florida woman jailed for firing 'warning shot' at husband wins new trial
• War veteran fatally shot in struggle with Lynn police
• Road rage-related shootout leaves two dead in Ionia, police say

Obamacare

• Obama Makes Fun Of Republicans' Ridiculous Claims About Obamacare
• KY Gov: My State Needs Obamacare. Now.—"The Affordable Care Act was approved by Congress and sanctioned by the Supreme Court. It is the law of the land. Get over it ... and get out of the way so I can help my people. Here in Kentucky, we cannot afford to waste another day or another life." NYT
• Bernie Sanders: Obamacare is a 'good Republican program'
• Not even a government shutdown can stop Obamacare now—"Program falls under mandatory funding exempt from shutdown." Salon
• First Obamacare, Then a Single Payer System

Debt Default

• White House: All That Was Missing From GOP's Debt Limit Demands Was A 'Birther Bill'
• Republicans Finally Admit That The Fight Over The Debt Ceiling Has Nothing To Do With Debt
• House Republicans Issue Ransom Demand: Implement Romney Plan or the Economy Gets It
• Republican Leaders Don't Have The Votes For Their Own Hostage Plan
• House Debt-Cap Conditions Hit Resistance in Budget Fight
• Three Days From a Shutdown, the Senate Can't Even Vote About a Vote
• Shutdown Would Shave Fourth-Quarter U.S. Growth as Much as 1.4%

Grand Ol' Tea Party

• The falling deficit has been a disaster for the GOP
• The GOP's Declaration Of Total War On Our System Of Government
• The Fall of the Heritage Foundation and the Death of Republican Ideas—"How the Heritage Foundation went from the intellectual backbone of the conservative movement to the GOP's bane -- and how it's hurting the party's hopes for a turnaround."
• Tea Party Support Dwindles to Near-Record Low—"Republicans ambivalent about movement, while most Democrats oppose it."
• Florida AG Apologizes For Delaying Execution To Accommodate Fundraiser

Public-Private Partnerships

• Going Postal—"The husband of US Senator Dianne Feinstein has been selling post offices to his friends, cheap."
• How the NFL Fleeces Taxpayers—"Taxpayers fund the stadiums, antitrust law doesn't apply to broadcast deals, the league enjoys nonprofit status, and Commissioner Roger Goodell makes $30 million a year. It's time to stop the public giveaways to America's richest sports league—and to the feudal lords who own its teams."
• A List of Goldman Sachs Ties to the Obama Government–including Elena Kagan

Elections 2014

• Elizabeth Warren: 'We Face A Clear Danger' In Campaign Finance Supreme Court Case
• Nevada GOP leader: 2014 a good year for GOP because minorities won't vote
• Wendy Davis tells Democrats she's in

Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Tesla; Obamacare; Journalism, Surveillance and Privacy

Planes

• SR-71 Blackbird: The Cold War's ultimate spy plane
• First Open Source Airplane Could Cost Just $15,000
• Flamingo Air's Mile High Club : Romantic Flights —Yours for $425.00.
• Air Force aims to land more top guns amid pilot shortage—"The Pentagon is so short of Air Force fighter pilots that it's boosting its salary package to make the job more enticing."
• Gold worth €1.5m 'stolen' from Air France flight

Trains

• This Is How Elon Musk Can Build the Hyperloop for a Tenth the Cost of High-Speed Rail
• Japan tests 310mph bullet train—"Japan's 'floating' trains of the future, designed to travel at speeds of 311mph, have undergone their first test tracks."
• ET3 Worldwide tube transportation project

and Automobiles

• Electric avenue: Korean buses now wirelessly charge as they drive
• Google Cars, Electric Cars and Smart Roads Will Make Journeys So Cool
• How Nissan Will Roll Out Self-Driving Cars: Fricking Lasers

Tesla

• Tesla roof so strong it broke crush-test machine
• Tesla Outsold Buick, Fiat, Land Rover, Lincoln, and Mitsubishi in Cali
• Tesla wins in North Carolina, paves the way for direct-to-consumer sales
• Why Texas Bans the Sale of Tesla Cars
• A decade later, Tesla now officially a threat to the auto industry
• Tesla Motors says car dealers are trying to hinder its sales
• California Car Dealers Slam Tesla For Website Pricing Tricks

Obamacare

• Senate votes 100-0 to move ahead on debate over Obamacare—Cruz's grandstanding "filibuster" was faked and ironic.
• McCain Chides Cruz For Comparing Defunding Skeptics To Nazi-Appeasers
• Canadians don't understand Ted Cruz's health-care battle
• Mitch McConnell Faces Tea Party Ire For Not Backing Ted Cruz Filibuster
• You’ve got 42 Obamacare questions. Wonkblog has 42 answers!

Journalism

• Greenwald and Snowden saved the media from itself—"For all the scoffing among 'journalists' at Glenn Greenwald, Americans trust the media more after his disclosures." Salon
• Metadata May Not Catch Many Terrorists, But It's Great at Busting Journalists' Sources
• Why the journalistic elite is failing to hold power to account

Surveillance and Privacy

• "Disreputable if Not Outright Illegal": The National Security Agency versus Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Art Buchwald, Frank Church, et al.
• Tone Deaf Dianne Feinstein Thinks Now Is A Good Time To Revive CISPA
• South Park: Let Go, Let Gov Now—Satirizing the NSA [Thanks Hector!]

Obamacare, GOP, Tea-publicans, Vote Machinations, Civil Liberties, NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Obamacare

• Rand admits: We probably can't defeat ObamaCare
• Ted Cruz Leaves Senate GOP With No Easy Way Out—With his so-called filibuster, does he really know what he's doing?
• The Public Is Massively Opposed to Shutting Down the Government Over Obamacare
• Republicans Like The Affordable Care Act More Than Obamacare
• Warren Buffett on Obamacare —The Weekly Standard gets called out for taking a 3-year-old remark out of context.
• Broward defies governor, invites Obamacare navigators into public clinics
• Final Word On Obamacare Coverage: Cheaper Than Expected

GOP

• Juan Cole: I lived to See the Day when the Pope and the President of Iran are more doctrinally Flexible than the GOP
• Former GOP Senator: Most Americans 'Are Simply Ignoring Republicans. And They Should.'
• "I scared the crap out of them!": Alan Grayson details how to work with the GOP Salon
• The Morning Plum: GOP’s problem isn't which hostage to take. It's the extortion strategy itself.
• A debt-ceiling ransom note takes shape—Democrats watch out.

Tea-publicans

• Friendman: The Way We Were—"While productivity on Capitol Hill grinds to a halt, research and innovation in the country suffers." NYT
• 'You're a Pathetic F*cking Douchebag': Sons of Anarchy Creator Goes Off on Conservative Activist
• David Koch Provided Seed Money for Americans for Prosperity—"Tax documents obtained exclusively by National Journal confirm that conservative billionaire David Koch, along with a handful of major corporations, provided the seed money a decade ago to start the foundation behind Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that played a key role in helping to organize the tea-party movement into a potent political force."
• Family Research Council: 'Nothing more Christian' than food stamp cuts—A full of hate group.
• Michelle Obama Says Drinking Water is a Good Thing — Americans Get Outraged

Vote Machinations

• Supreme Court may strike new blow to campaign funding laws—The Supreme Court, in a new campaign funding case, may lift a lid on the total the wealthy can give to all candidates and parties.
• ACLU: Why Have 1.5 Million Floridians Been Banned from Voting?
• Obamacare Could Help People Register to Vote—Unless the Administration Caves to the GOP—"Federal law says that Obamacare's health exchanges have to offer voter registration services. Republicans have thrown a fit over that, and now the administration is considering backing down."

Civil Liberties

• In secret, Fisa court contradicted US supreme court on constitutional rights—"Declassified Fisa rulings reveal a permissive approach to fourth amendment violations disturbingly at odds with supreme justices'."
• Chilling legal memo from Obama DOJ justifies assassination of US citizens—"The president's partisan lawyers purport to vest him with the most extreme power a political leader can seize."
• ACLU: The DEA Thinks You Have "No Constitutionally Protected Privacy Interest" in Your Confidential Prescription Records

NSA Spying

• Senator Leahy Slams NSA Surveillance, Aims For Changes To FISA Court And NSA's Powers
• Alan Rusbridger: NSA surveillance goes beyond Orwell's imagination—"Guardian editor says depth of NSA surveillance programs greatly exceed anything the 1984 author could have imagined."
• Booting Up: New NSA Data Farm Takes Root In Utah
• NSA Apologist Says The NSA's Actions Are Fine Because 'Privacy Is Dead'—Apologist is too light a term.
• EU threatens to suspend deal with US on tracking terrorists' funding—"EU commissioner dealing with fallout from NSA and GCHQ snooping scandal says US needs to provide more information."
• Brazilian president: US surveillance a 'breach of international law'—"Dilma Rousseff's scathing speech to UN general assembly the most serious diplomatic fallout over revelations of US spying."
• NSA planted bugs at Indian missions in D.C., U.N.

Surveillance and Privacy

• Data Broker Giants Hacked by ID Theft Service—"An identity theft service that sells Social Security numbers, birth records, credit and background reports on millions of Americans has infiltrated computers at some of America’s largest consumer and business data aggregators, according to a seven-month investigation by KrebsOnSecurity."
• Dropbox joins the call for transparency, asks government to let it publish surveillance requests
• Google to Encrypt ALL Keyword Searches: Say Goodbye to Keyword Data
• Californian law gives teens right to delete web posts—"California has passed a law that will enable under-18s to make websites delete their personal information."
• UK: Highways Agency tracks millions of motorists' handsets in 'smart' trials

National Punctuation Day, Bad Language, Missed Spellings, Foreign Tongues, War of Words, Coining

National Punctuation Day

• Apostrophe now: Bad grammar and the people who hate it—"Children are again to be subject to a rigorous examination in grammar. But why does it make adults so cross when other adults break the rules?"
• 22 Disastrous Apostrophe Fails For International Apostrophe Day
• 8 Punctuation Marks That Are No Longer Used

Bad Language

• IBM Researcher Feeds Watson Supercomputer The 'Urban Dictionary'; Very Quickly Regrets It
• Russia To Ban Swearing On The Internet—Fuck-a-doodle-doo.
• Hugh Laurie Gets Downright Vulgar With Stephen Colbert
• The New York Times (quietly) drops the F-bomb—"'I'm delighted,' says Jonathan Lethem, whose new book provided one of the Times' first uses of the word in print." Salon
• The F-word

Missed Spellings

• Ed Rondthaler on English spelling
• Unfortunate "Helping Bury Animals" charity slogan goes viral
• Man threatens to blow up state building's misspelled sign
• Westboro Baptist Church Misspells "Illiterate" On Flyer Accusing People Of Being Illiterate
• Hilarious! Tea Party Republican Candidate Launches Campaign With Misspelled Banner

Foreign Tongues

• Quebec: IGA franchise employees told they can't speak English to each other
• Teenaged entrepreneur denounces business-limiting language laws—"17-year-old graphic designer Xavier Menard tried to register his company but was told by the Quebec business registry that he couldn't because the company's name--Wellarc--is too English."
• Japan: Pensioner sues NHK for using too many foreign loanwords
• Sunderland boss orders 'foreign' stars to learn five new English words daily or face fine
• E-mail error ends up on road sign—"I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated."
• Philippines: Should language evolve without rules?
• 11 Untranslatable Words From Other Cultures
• Video: Why Chinese people can't speak English authentically

War of Words

• Ind. father arrested after grammar lesson turns violent—"Man slapped son while trying to correct his toddler's sentence structure."
• Apple's mobile devices have a secret list of "sensitive" words that don't autocomplete
• A Partial List of the Words Motorola Does Not Want You to Engrave on Your Moto X
• Grammar Nazi acquires power to spot mistakes before they are made
• Penny Arcade: GIF vs. GIF—Put me in the "j" camp.

Coining

• How Words Paint The Trends: New Words Of 2013
• 'French Kiss' Officially Recognized In France, As 'Galoche' Enters French Dictionary
• Dictionary Adds 'Badassery', 'Selfie' and 'Twerk'
• 'Hobbitses' and Frankenstein: how pop culture's words become official
• Linguist finds a language in its infancy NYT.

Digital Life; Your Rights Online; Copyfight; Trouble with Telcos, Smartphones, iPhone Follies; Hacking; Pr0n; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Digital Life

• The Internet isn't making us dumb. It's making us angry.—"A Chinese study finds anger spreads more easily than other emotions on social media. How should society respond?"
• Sexting, Shame and Suicide—"A shocking tale of sexual assault in the Digital Age."
• The dumbest generation? No, Twitter is making kids smarter

Your Rights Online

• Court grants First Amendment protection to Facebook 'Like'—"Liking a political candidate's Facebook Page is the Internet equivalent of displaying a political sign in your front yard, a federal appeals court ruled."
• Charles Carreon finally quits fighting, calls Oatmeal battle "a dumb thing"—"Lawyer tells Ars he was 'rapeutated,' unjustly lowering his reputation online." I blame FunnyJunk.
• Chinese teen arrested for getting more than 500 retweets

Copyfight

• NBC Universal Funded Study Shows, Yet Again, How Infringement Is Hollywood's Own Damn Fault
• Warner Bros. DMCA Fraud and Abuse Case Goes to Jury
• Court Gives a Victory to Pandora Over Licensing Streaming Music NYT
• U.S. court denies ABC request to halt sales of Dish's 'Hopper'
• Downloading Is Mean! Content Industry Drafts Anti-Piracy Curriculum for Elementary Schools

Trouble with Telcos

• Obama administration urges FCC to require carriers to unlock mobile devices
• Verizon, caught red-handed—Violating FCC regulations with impunity.
• Fighting Big Telecom: Good Things Happen When Canadians Speak Out—Monopolistic practices in Canada are screwing the customers.

Smartphones

• Step Away From the Phone!—"Smartphone addicts are starting to curb the habit." NYT
• BlackBerry announces major job cuts, quarterly net operating loss of $1 billion
• Ballmer sees Microsoft's 'almost no share' in mobile as an opportunity, regrets mistakes

iPhone Follies

• iPhone frenzy takes ugly turn in Pasadena—"A scheme to exploit vanloads of homeless from L.A.'s skid row to hold spots in line leads to fistfights as promised payments fail to materialize."
• Here's The Evidence That Apple's Gold iPhone Shortage Is Actually Deliberate
• Nokia's 'Thanks Apple' Taunt Goes Down As One Of The Most Retweeted Brand Tweets Ever
• Hardbitten NYC cops: Sir, I'm gonna need you to, er, upgrade to iOS 7
• iPhone 5S' Touch ID can also detect… nipples?!

Hacking

• Federal Courts Still Scaremongering About RECAP and Spooky "Open Source" Software—Which, they claim, "can be freely obtained by anyone with Internet access and modified for benign or malicious purposes...." Projection, much?
• Argentina arrests teen hacker who netted $50,000 a month
• Chaos Computer Club breaks Apple TouchID

Pr0n

• Pornhub Average Visit Duration and Top 3 Search Terms by State
• Porn In Parliament: 300,000 Viewing Attempts
• Key & Peele: Clear Cookies

NSA Spying

• Close the N.S.A.'s Back Doors—"The National Security Agency undermines confidence in communication by weakening encryption." NYT
• Close ties between White House, NSA spying review—"[T]he review panel has effectively been operating as an arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the NSA and all other U.S. spy efforts."
• Bruce Schneier: NSA Spying Is Making Us Less Safe—"The security researcher Bruce Schneier, who is now helping the Guardian newspaper review Snowden documents, suggests that more revelations are on the way." He also says metadata equals surveillance.
• These 12 Bills are the NSA's Worst Nightmare—"Your guide to the pending legislation seeking to curb the government's vast surveillance powers."
• NSA Leaks Bring the Whole Idea of "Net Neutrality" Into Question

Surveillance and Privacy

• The FBI’s Trojan Horse?—"Over the past few decades, a paradigm shift has occurred within policing. Known generally as community policing, the basic idea is that state and local law enforcement officers should integrate themselves into the communities they serve."
• Will the Supreme Court Stop Cops From Reading Your Text Messages?—"In many states, police can rifle through your smartphone—even if you've just been arrested for not putting on your seat belt."
• Homeland Security to test BOSS facial recognition at junior hockey game

Breaking Bad; Movies and TV, Comics; Entertainment and Culture, Arts; Tokyo 2020; Fun and Games, Tilt; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Breaking Bad

• 'Breaking Bad' brings tourists to Albuquerque for 'meth' treats like blue rock candy, bath salts—It put them on the map.
• The two kinds of people who watch "Breaking Bad"—"Walt will likely walk free or pay for his crimes -- the choice you prefer says a lot about how you see the world." Salon
• "Breaking Bad's" Shakespearean final act—"If Gilligan wants to pay homage to the English playwright, Albuquerque's meth business will live on in some form." Salon
• "Breaking Bad" Viewers in Connecticut Call 911 during Cable Outage
• 'Breaking Bad' Spinoff Moving Forward at AMC
• Apple sued for false advertising after dividing up the final 16 episodes of Breaking Bad into two seasons on iTunes—AMC kept promoting Season 5 as whole.
• The End of Breaking Bad, According to Dean Norris—Does he go out with a bang or a whimper? So much for the good ol' days.
• Breaking Bad outside the US

Movies and TV

• Ben Affleck finally responds to Batman criticism
• Zack Snyder Explains "Man of Steel's" "Mythological" Destruction
• Clark Gregg: "Marvel has a way of respecting their audience, not just the nerds"—"The "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" star on following up "The Avengers" on TV, and the staying power of superheroes." Salon
• A Political History of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"
• Billy Crystal reveals secret behind 'I'll have what she's having' scene
• Honest Trailers: World War Z
• The Dark Knight Legacy: Fan Film

Comics

• Creative Team Leaves Batwoman Over Marriage—DC says it's not because it would have been gay marriage.
• When Brian Bolland Revealed What Happened Between Batman And The Joker – And The Full Killing Joke Script
• Deadpool vs. Robin Thicke in 'Merc Lines'—Lonstermash makes for a hunky Wolvie cosplayer.

Entertainment and Culture

• Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems'—"The comedian on his evening at the GQ awards, from which he was ejected after cracking a joke about sponsor Hugo Boss."
• Miss Saigon breaks West End box office sales record for London revival
• Lifting the veil of mystery from J.D. Salinger

Art

• New van Gogh painting discovered: 'Sunset at Montmajour'
• Unveiling of alternate 'Mona Lisa' raises questions
• NY art dealer admits to multi-million dollar art fraud

Tokyo 2020

• Olympics 2020: Tokyo wins race to host Games—Of the top three, they had the best logo.
• Wrestling wins IOC vote for 2020 Olympic Games
• Man evicted for 1964 Tokyo Olympics faces same fate in 2020

Fun and Games

• GTA V makes $1 billion in three days, may be fastest selling entertainment product in history
• Square Enix to allow monetization of videos and streams of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn—"The new policy now allows players to monetize video content, as long as it's through official partners...." Sounds like a good compromise.
• 70 minute Street Fighter documentary will force you to love fighting games
• Cry (foam-padded) havoc! A day at Darkon’s Bellum Aeternus II
• Minecraft, an Obsession and an Educational Tool NYT
• Vin Diesel: Starbreeze Studios Working on New Riddick Game—The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay lays claim to being one of the best ever videogames adapted from a movie thanks much in part to Diesel's close collaboration with Starbreeze.
• Super Mario Brothers Parkour

Tilt

• Game over—"The implications are that Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are beyond the point of no return in this industry."
• Nintendo faces 'path to irrelevance', says Atari founder
• Sony: It's The 'Decline Of A Generation' Not The End Of Video Game Consoles
• Microsoft was 'surprised' by negative Xbox One reaction
• How Zynga went from social gaming powerhouse to has-been—"Gaming giant has been on a wild ride in just 5 short years—while losing $600M."

NSA Spying

• Glenn Greenwald to Haaretz: Why whistleblower Snowden came to me—"How a meeting with a young computer expert in Hong Kong changed the life of a Guardian journalist."
• NSA job post for 'Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer' goes live—"The scandal surrounding the US National Security Agency is no laughing matter, of course. But it's hard not to look for telling lines in the agency's new job listing."
• Major US security company warns over NSA link to encryption formula—"RSA, the security arm of EMC, sends email to customers over default random number generator which uses weak formula."

Surveillance and Privacy

• Wikileaks releases Spy Files 3—"These documents reveal how, as the intelligence world has privatised, US, EU and developing world intelligence agencies have rushed into spending millions on next-generation mass surveillance technology to target communities, groups and whole populations."
• Beware of data spying, former NSA official warns Canadians
• Brazil data plan aims to keep US spies at bay

Workers and Wage Slaves, Banks and Wall Street, Mortgages and Foreclosures; Debt Default, Obamacare, GOP, Corruption; NSA Spying and Surveillance, Police State

Workers and Wage Slaves

• California Legislature approves raising minimum wage to $10—"The bill would boost the state's minimum wage of $8 an hour to $10 by 2016. Gov. Jerry Brown said he would sign it."
• Report Suggests Nearly Half of U.S. Jobs Are Vulnerable to Computerization—"Oxford researchers say that 45 percent of America's occupations will be automated within the next 20 years."
• Workplace morale heads down: 70% of Americans negative about their jobs, Gallup study shows—"'Bosses from hell' are giving U.S. workers the Monday blues. Gallup's 2013 State of the American Workplace report had grim findings, including that 70% of those surveyed either hate work or are completely disengaged, and perks don't help."
• SEC moves toward mandate on CEO-worker pay gap—"Public companies would have to show the difference in pay between their CEOs and ordinary employees under a proposal advanced by federal regulators."
• The typical American family makes less than it did in 1989

Banks and Wall Street

• Poll: Americans say Washington, Wall Street haven't done enough to thwart financial crises
• Elizabeth Warren: Scaling back 'too big'—"The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act would reduce the risk of another crash."
• Druckenmiller: Fed robbing poor to pay rich
• Larry Summers pulls out of US Federal Reserve race
• JPMorgan Chase Is Said to Admit Fault in Settlement of Trade Loss—"Global authorities are preparing to levy more than $700 million in fines against JPMorgan Chase over the bank's huge trading loss in London last year." NYT
• Awkward: CNBC host speechless after Barney Frank asks about high salaries for 'poor' bankers
• Trading bots create extreme events faster than humans can react—"Our algorithms now show collective behavior that we do not control."

Mortgages and Foreclosures

• Homeowners vs. Big Bad Banks—"Those defrauded by Bank of America aren't allowed to file a collective complaint, thanks to a 2011 Supreme Court ruling."
• NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on lenders: 'Never take your eyes off of them'
• Orange Co. man sentenced for $100M mortgage fraud

Debt Default

• Obama targets GOP divisions on budget—"I cannot remember a time when one faction of one party promises economic chaos when it doesn't get everything it wants."
• Gridlock Might Destroy the US Economy, But It's Still Good for Business
• If we get a debt ceiling crisis, it's because Republican voters want one

Obamacare

• Fox News' Krauthammer: Cruz leading Republican 'suicide caucus' by opposing Obamacare
• The Tea Party Really, Really, Really Wants to Sabotage Obamacare
• Senate Republicans, Chamber of Commerce Call On House GOP To Abandon Shutdown Threat
• O'Reilly Blasts GOP Effort To Defund Obamacare As 'Fanaticism'—One rep had the audacity to claim by passing the bill they were "following the tradition of two American civil rights icons."
• Lone House GOPer Explains 'No' Vote On Defunding Obamacare
• Cruz-ing On Empty: Ted Exposed By Shutdown Debacle—Start making the popcorn.
• Did Chuck Todd Really Say Media Not Responsible to Correct Obamacare 'Falsehoods?'

GOP

• GOP madness on display—"They want deeper cuts, all from domestic programs like education and clean water. They want more, not less money for the military. They oppose any increase in taxes, even objecting to closing down the tax dodges that reward companies for stashing money and reporting profits abroad. They want to repeal Obamacare without replacing it. They even are moving a bill to cut billions out of food stamps, a program that protects families in trouble from going hungry. And they are so divided among themselves that they have rejected their own leadership's proposals to keep government open."
• White House vows to veto Republican bill to cut food stamps—GOP Rep's bible-quote: 'If Anyone Is Not Willing To Work, Let Him Not Eat'. Republican Jesus would be proud.
• Safety Net for Crops Means $14 Billion Tab for Taxpayers
• Rep. Gingrey: 'I'm stuck here making $172,000'—"During the meeting, Republicans discussed a proposal to exempt lawmakers and their staff from a new law requiring them to participate in federal health-care exchanges."
• Kansas GOP group says party 'hijacked' by extremists—Ain't just in Kansas anymore.
• Colorado House Republicans Unanimously Support Flood Relief, Unanimously Opposed Sandy Aid
• John Boehner's Congress is a train wreck—"He's the guy in charge of the worst-performing part of one of the worst-performing Congresses in history."

Corruption

• What is the cause of Detroit's Power Outage?—"City of Detroit Chief Compliance Officer, Gary Brown smiled as he talked to Wiley about the 'intentional outages' on camera: We did start calling our customers prior to taking them down and asking them to turn off air conditioners, but they weren't responding as fast as we would like them to so we had to send them a strong message by turning the power off."
• Political donations from vets scammer downplayed—"The Ohio attorney general's multi-state case against a man accused of fraud after collecting as much as $100 million in the name of Navy veterans doesn't address the man's donations to a who's who of mostly Republican politicians, including the attorney general himself."
• DeLay thanks God after aquittal for money laundering

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• Justice Dept. watchdog never probed judges' NSA concerns—"In response to a FOIA request from USA TODAY, the Justice Department said its ethics office never looked into complaints from two federal judges that they had been misled about NSA surveillance." The watchdogs need watching, apparently.
• NSA chiefs defend agency's conduct in letter to families of employees—"General Keith Alexander and deputy director John Inglis sign letter 'in light of unauthorised disclosure of classified information."
• Belgacom Attack: Britain's GCHQ Hacked Belgian Telecoms Firm—"A cyber attack on Belgacom raised considerable attention last week. Documents leaked by Edward Snowden and seen by SPIEGEL indicate that Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency was responsible for the attack."
• ACLU: The Government is Spying on You: ACLU Releases New Evidence of Overly Broad Surveillance of Everyday Activities
• Cracked.com: 4 Reasons to Stop Freaking Out About the NSA

Police State

• Licensed to Kill: The Growing Phenomenon of Police Shooting Unarmed Citizens
• FBI calls half of populace with 9/11 doubts potential terrorists—"The FBI is instructing local police departments and "communities against terrorism" to consider anyone who harbors 'conspiracy theories' about 9/11 to be a potential terrorist, in a circular released to local police departments."
• California college bars student from handing out copies of Constitution