Obamacare, Hobby Lobby; Koch Suckers; Hi-Yo Silver; Racism

Obamacare

• The Affordable Care Act Is Working—Will it be really succesful? Politico
• Poll: 60 Percent Of Uninsured Don't Know About Looming Obamacare Deadline
• Obama To Latinos: Enrolling In ACA Won't Affect Undocumented Relatives
• Voters should know who's holding up their health care WaPo
• New anti-Obamacare ad makes misleading claims—As someone who doesn't live in the US, I ask: are there enough, if any, pro-ACA ads running to counter this propaganda? WaPo
• The Bizarre Case Of Matt Drudge And His Obamacare 'Liberty Tax'
• Obama Co-Opts Tea Party Slogan For Obamacare Bumper Sticker

Hobby Lobby

• Justices Wonder If Obamacare Tweaks Undercut Birth Control Mandate
• Kagan Throws Scalia's Own Religious Liberty Arguments Back In His Face
• Justice Kennedy Thinks Hobby Lobby Is An Abortion Case — That's Bad News For Birth Control
• Birth control is not a religious issue; it is a basic health-care issue
• Supreme Court signals support for corporate religious claims
• Your Health Care, Your Choices (Amen, to That!)—"The contraception mandate rightfully highlights preventative care, including a woman's right to use her benefits as she so chooses—whether it impedes on a company like Hobby Lobby's religious beliefs or not."
• Should Corporations Have the Same Religious Freedom Rights as People?—"An analysis of today's Supreme Court arguments in the 'Hobby Lobby' case."

Koch Suckers

• The Koch Brothers: Only 48 Percent of Americans Know Them, Most Dislike Them
• An amazing chart on how the Koch brothers are dominating the Senate ad race WaPo
• Whining about the Koch Brothers is a losing strategy

Hi-Yo Silver

• Nate Silver's 2014 Senate prediction: The FiveThirtyEight whiz forecasts Democratic defeat, and Democrats are furious—Shooting the messenger. Typical.
• Nate Silver Knocks 'Hypocritical' Democrats Who Criticized His Analysis—This should be a wake-up call.
• Nate Silver Is 'Happy To Forgive' Paul Krugman For Acting Like A Hedgehog

Racism

• No, Donald Rumsfeld Wasn't Calling Obama a "Trained Ape"—Tell that to Belgium's The Daily Herald and their so-called satire.
• A Minneapolis Restaurant Hosted A Nazi-Themed Party On MLK Day—They did nazi the ensuing uproar.
• Black students eight times more likely to be suspended than whites in Madison public schools

World News, Sochi 2014, Typhoon Haiyan, Corruption, Vote Machinations; China; Israel; NSA Spying and Surveillance

World News

• €600K fines for Spain's illegal protests: draft bill—"Unauthorized protesters outside the Spanish Parliament could soon be hit with fines of up to €600,000 ($810,000) while those selling drugs or offering sexual services in front of minors could face a penalty of up to €30,000."
• Qatar 2022 World Cup workers 'treated like cattle', Amnesty report finds
• Over 2K trucks block French highways in protest—"Between 2,000 and 4,000 freight trucks closed off major French highways and slowed traffic to a crawl on nine roadways to protest a proposed environmental tax on heavy loads."

Sochi 2014

• Will Sochi's Extreme Security Protocol Impinge On Rights?
• Journalists banned from tweeting at 2014 Sochi Olympics: report
• Russian lab's unreliability puts Olympic testing at risk—"The anti-doping lab that was to conduct drug testing at the Sochi Olympics could lose its accreditation, leaving the upcoming Games without a competent facility in the same country."

Typhoon Haiyan

• Why It Took a Superstorm to Expose the Seedy Underbelly of Philippine Politics—"[W]hat dry goods have been dispersed by the national government are being frequently diverted by local politicians who waste valuable hours or even days repackaging relief items to bear their names, campaign slogans, or party colors."
• Government corruption concerns acute as Philippines recovers from typhoon
• US Army told to keep aid away from Philippines govt because of corruption

Corruption

• Romania's anti-corruption agency keeps taking down politicians – but the people keep bringing them back
• Canada: Where the heck's that $3.1-billion? Where's the fury?—"If the Harper government's fiscal oversight is so inept it can't account for figures with nine zeroes in them, that's scandalous. And so is the lack of public outcry."
• Philippines: PDAF, Malampaya fund use unconstitutional—Pork barrell

Vote Machinations

• You will suffer electric shock if you press non-Congress buttons on EVMs, Ajit Jogi warns voters
• 60-30-10 manipulation proven; Pinoys' votes not counted, pre-programmed fraud voted
• Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe election victory was a 'masterclass in electoral fraud'

China

• China to ease one-child policy, abolish labor camps, report says
• Bloomberg boots 'China leak' scribe—"Bloomberg L.P. has put a reporter suspected of leaking news [NYT] about a controversial China story on unpaid leave, The Post has learned."
• White House To Address 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' Segment After Protest Petition Logs 100,000 Signatures

Israel

• Netanyahu: Bad Iran Deal Could Leave Military Action As Only Option—Warmonger.
• Frenemies: the US-Israel relationship gets rocky over Iran and peace talks—"Israeli PM Netanyahu is actively calling on American Jews to challenge the US government. It's a bold – and bad – move."
• The Israeli settler movement is not welcome in New York City

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• Declassified Documents: NSA Wanted To Collect Geolocation Data—"The White House had to declassify NSA documents once again this week. The papers show that the NSA also wanted to collect and save mobile phone location information domestically and may already be doing so."
• US senators say there's "no evidence" bulk metadata surveillance is useful—"Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) and others join as amici to lawsuit filed against NSA."
• Fisa court documents reveal extent of NSA disregard for privacy restrictions—"Incensed Fisa court judges questioned NSA's truthfulness after repeated breaches of rules meant to protect Americans' privacy."
• The NSA overreach poses a serious threat to our economy—"Genuine NSA reform is a Constitutional and economic necessity. Transparency and privacy are critical for citizens and tech firms."
• PVP Online: Fly on the Wall

Elections 2013, Vote Machinations; World News, Corruption, Racism; Israel and Palestine; Russia; Brazil; Qatar; Climate Change; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Elections 2013

• De Blasio Is Elected New York City Mayor—"The election of Bill de Blasio, the Democratic candidate, amounted to a forceful rejection of the hard-nosed, business-minded style of governance that reigned at City Hall for the past two decades." Buh-bye Bloomie. NYT
• Virginia Election Results: Terry McAuliffe Beats Ken Cuccinelli In Governor's Race—From what I gather, McAuliffe was the lesser of two scumbags, and women and unmarried voters, who were turned off by the sodomy-obsessed Cooch, boosted him to victory.
• What Christie's victory means for the next presidential race—Will the Tea Party let him past the primary?
• Tea Partier Defeated in Alabama Runoff
• Voters in Virginia, New Jersey leave tea party reeling

Vote Machinations

• Voter ID Laws in Action: "Looks Like I Don't Get to Vote Today"—"Thwarted voters take to Twitter to describe how the new laws hampered voting, confused poll workers, and inspired some to just stay home."
• Texas Voter ID law snags former House Speaker Jim Wright
• The Voting Fraud Bust that Proves Texas' Voter ID Law Is Useless
• Lawsuit challenges Minnesota's online voter registration system—Doing everything to suppress the vote.
• "Integrity" and the Voter Purge: Too Many Unanswered Questions

World News

• Several explosions rock provincial HQ of China's Communist Party
• Saudi Arabia Rejects Seat on U.N. Security Council and Confuses Everyone
• Anonymous' 'Million Mask March' goes global—"With 450 cities on the roster, the hacking collective takes its online protests to the streets."
• German support for small business has kept its economy thriving as the rest of Europe languishes in recession
• London's cheapest suburb? It's Barcelona—"London's Sam Cookney caused a stir recently when he argued property prices in the UK capital were so high it would be cheaper to live in Barcelona and fly to work every day. Here he tells The Local what inspired his thinking."

Corruption

• Conservatives gave Duffy more than one cheque, senator claims—Timeline: Canada's Senate scandal
• Rob Ford scandal: Toronto Police have video apparently showing mayor smoking crack—He's finally admitted it.
• Oops: Azerbaijan released election results before voting had even started WaPo
• Diebold charged with bribing officials, falsifying records in China, Russia, Indonesia; fined nearly $50 million
• Mayor Steals $60k In Christmas Toy Money Intended For Children

Racism

• Watch the video on Israeli racism The New York Times didn't want you to see
• Racism at play as 'kidnapped' Roma children taken from parents
• Racism in sport is nothing to celebrate—"'Inspiring' story of triumph over racial abuse may be heart-warming for white readers but has enraged many black South Africans."
• No Foreigners: Nightclubs Accused of Racist Door Policies
• Korean cigarette firm pulls 'racist' monkey ads
• London letting agents 'refuse black tenants'
• Horrific video shows Saudi husband beating Asian man with a belt 'because he dared speak to his wife'

Israel and Palestine

• Israelis gather to remember slain Rabin—"Thousands of mainly young people protest against hardliners opposed to peace with the Palestinians."
• Israel orders more demolitions of Palestinian flats in Jerusalem
• John Kerry Arrives in Tel Aviv to Boost Israel-Palestine Talks
• Pink Floyd's Roger Waters Tells His Israeli Fans, It's Apartheid "Clear And Simple"
• This Land is Mine—An animated history.

Russia

• Russia's Alexei Navalny's sentence suspended on appeal—"A Russian appeals court has upheld opposition leader Alexei Navalny's conviction for embezzlement, but suspended his jail sentence, allowing him to go free."
• Putin targets Dagestan insurgents as Olympics loom
• Pussy Riot: Tolokonnikova 'out of sight' since jail move—Got moved to Siberia?
• President Putin signs law requiring terrorists' relatives to pay for damages
• VIPs join T-shirt protest of Russia's anti-gay law

Brazil

• Rioting protesters return to Brazil streets
• Rio Police Officer Is Indicted for Torture While Lecturing on 'Smart Policing' in New York NYT
• Policial forja flagrante durante protesto no Centro do Rio—Rough translation: Police caught in the act planting explosives in protester's bag.

Qatar

• "Qatar detained two Germans who filmed World Cup labour conditions—"Pair say they were detained for 27 hours after filming working conditions of labourers from balcony of hotel."
• 'Stranded' footballer Zahir Belounis told he can leave Qatar—"The 33-year-old footballer had been unable to leave the Gulf state following a pay dispute against club side El Jaish."
• Americans Jailed for Months in Qatar After Daughter's Death—"Supporters described the case as a combination of flawed or nonexistent evidence, ethnic prejudice and extreme cultural misunderstandings." NYT

Climate Change

• Global food supply at severe risk from climate change, warns leaked study by UN-created panel
• Top climate change scientists' letter to policy influencers
• An Open Letter to President Faust—"As Harvard students, we understand that America's legal and democratic institutions have broken down. The fossil fuel industry, like the tobacco industry before it, has pursued a corrupt agenda of misinformation and political lobbying designed to prevent scientific consensus from informing public policy."
• Let science control climate study plan
• No, We Are NOT in a Climate "Pause"
• Tea party Republicans are biggest climate change deniers, new Pew poll finds WaPo
• Potential Senate candidate David Barton explains how abortion caused climate change—"'We opened a door that lost God's protection over our environment,' said the Christian historian." Salon

NSA Spying

• U.S. power to shape global Web seen undermined by NSA spying—"Revelations about the scale of U.S. spying on the Internet have badly damaged the country's negotiating power in international talks on cyberspace regulation and law enforcement, analysts and industry leaders said at a conference on Tuesday."
• Google chairman: NSA spying on our data centres 'outrageous'—"Eric Schmidt says company has lodged complaints with NSA, White House and Congress as criticism hardens in Silicon Valley."
• WaPo to gov't: Our story on NSA Google spying was true, here's proof
• Shouting '9/11' in a Crowded Internet—"Why the NSA's 'we keep you safe from terrorists' rationale is bogus." Foreign Policy
• NSA official cites 'stop and frisk' in effort to explain searches of phone records
• Patrick Leahy: NSA 'can't keep our secrets'—And shouldn't be trusted with them. Politico
• Surprise! Privacy oversight board suggests NSA data mining be curtailed—"An independent review board has recommended that Congress reduce the length of time the NSA can keep record." Salon

Surveillance and Privacy

• Brazil Admits It Spied On U.S. Diplomats—Awkward.
• UK privacy group wants Level 3 to address allegations of spying cooperation—"Privacy International is pushing for more disclosure from a top international telco."
• China discovers that pollution makes it really hard to spy on people—Silver lining on the smog?
• Apple takes strong privacy stance in new report, publishes rare "warrant canary"—"Apple has never received an order under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act."
• Swiss telco's cloud aims to draw customers who are fearful of spying—"Swisscom's data storage may attract foreign companies wary of NSA."

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

Republicans, GOP, Obstructionism, North Carolina, Texas, Racism; Voter Suppression, Vote Machinations; Journalism; NSA Spying, Russia, Surveillance and Privacy

Republicans

• Mitt Romney's Incredible 47-Percent Denial: "Actually, I Didn't Say That"
• Gov. Christie's shameless $2M self-promotion—"Gov. Chris Christie's habit of using his public office to promote his presidential ambitions has reached a new low."
• House GOPer Ted Yoho goes birther—"If it is true, it's illegal" and "we can get rid of everything [Obama]'s done" Salon
• Mark Sanford, Appalachian Trail Lover, Pushes To Defund Appalachian Regional Commission
• Scott Hounsell, Ex-GOP Official, Arrested For Sexting Minor After Mocking Anthony Weiner's Exploits
• Daily Show on southern states thinking they can nullify federal laws they don't like
• The Onion Predicts Real Life: Republicans Block NASA's Asteroid Plan

GOP

• The GOP flips the script on Obama
• Poll: Republican Voters Want GOP To Shift — To The Right
• Paul Krugman: "Madness of the GOP Is the Central Issue of Our Time" NYT
• Is the GOP self-destructing? The Republicans can't seem to agree on anything.
• Tea party plans to abandon GOP stars
• Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and Mike Enzi unlikely to win primary, according to National Journal's Top 10 list
• The last moderate: Will 'passionate pragmatist' Dale Schultz be driven out of the Wisconsin Senate?
• GOP's Long-Predicted Comeuppance Has Arrived—"Republicans have dealt with some embarrassing moments on the House floor over the past year, but none so revealing or damning as today's snafu, when they yanked a bill to fund the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development…."
• Seniors Aren't Very Happy With the Republican Party These Days
• Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult

Obstructionism

• GOP obstruction as the new normal in Washington
• Congress Threatens To Default Again
• Obama's no-Congress strategy
• CNN analysis: Congress in D.C. far less than it used to be—Instead of getting jobs, the US got this.
• Fox Host Confronts House Republicans For Running A Do-Nothing Congress
• Grimes Blasts McConnell's Obstructionism: He'd Refuse To Pass A Kidney Stone
• Romney Warns 'Our Party Would Suffer' If Government Shuts Down—Tell that to the Tea Party.
• I quit! GOP Congressman fed up with partisan posturing

North Carolina

• NC House Dances With Joy Over Their Accomplishments
• The Most Backward Legislature in America
• Could North Carolina Lead A 'Red-State Resurgence'?

Texas

• Texas Lawmakers Are Too Busy Focusing On Abortion Restrictions To Get Anything Else Done
• Texas Republicans Want Wendy Davis To Pay For Special Session
• FEMA approves aid for Texas fertilizer plant blast
• Texas Officials Found No Evidence Linking Paramedic To Plant Explosion—Still unknown what caused the fire that set off the fertilizer the company was allegedly negligent in storing.
• Lewis Black to Rick Perry: 'Don't mess with Texas? No, don't f**ck with New York!'

Racism

• '47 Percent Negro': Anti-Obama Protest Turns Racist In Phoenix
• Republicans' whites-only gambit will spell doom—"Party may have claimed it'd be more inclusive, but now it's reversing course. The result: It will pay a huge price." Salon
• Mostly-White Ohio Suburb Fighting To Prevent Mostly-Black Bus-Riders From Entering Community
• Cathie Adams, Former Texas GOP Chair: Immigration Reform Will Lead To Mark Of The Beast, 'End Times'
• Video: Deion Sanders' opinions on use of the N-word

Voter Suppression

• As States Rush to Restrict Voting Rights, Justice Ginsburg Says I Told You So
• Some Texas Republicans Very Open About Disliking Non-White Voting
• Vote suppression alleged in close Fla. election—"A small Florida Panhandle town best known for its annual Worm Grunting Festival is at the center of an investigation into charges the white city clerk suppressed the black vote in an election where the black mayor lost by a single vote and a black city commissioner was also ousted."
• DOJ to challenge Supreme Court decision on Voting Rights Act
• The Republican Push to Make it Harder to Vote—"Laws like North Carolina's draconian new voter-ID laws are a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. But voter backlash could be fierce."
• Rick Scott Plans To Resume Voter Purge Effort In Florida
• 5 Terrible Acts of Voter Discrimination the Voting Rights Act Prevented—But Won't Anymore
• John Oliver rips into Republicans over their 'sharknado of voter suppression'

Vote Machinations

• Dead people gave nearly $600K to campaigns since 2009—"A super PAC aiding Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's re-election reported Wednesday that it had received a $100,000 contribution from Houston home builder and GOP mega-donor Bob Perry on June 3 — nearly two months after his April 13 death."
• Reince Priebus, RNC Launch Full-Scale Attack On 'Liberal Media' Over Hillary Clinton Programs
• House GOP Defunds ACORN Yet Again, Even Though ACORN Does Not Exist—Wasting more taxpayers' time and dollars.
• Officers used police station addresses for voting
• Mike Dugeon Takes On Mike Duggan In Detroit Mayoral Race

Journalism

• Amazon's Jeff Bezos buys The Washington Post for $250 million—He's not the only billionaire out shopping.
• The de-newspaperization of America—"The loss of newspapers is part of the long-term destruction of urban America."
• Al Jazeera America sets own course—'Weeks ahead of its debut, Al Jazeera America is doing things the old-fashioned way. AJAM, as it's referred to by staff, is investing heavily in investigative journalism.

NSA Spying

• IRS manual detailed DEA's use of hidden intel evidence—"Details of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration program that feeds tips to federal agents and then instructs them to alter the investigative trail were published in a manual used by agents of the Internal Revenue Service for two years."
• Why a former NSA chief just made a big mistake by dissing hackers—That's "Former NSA Director and air quotes user General Michael Hayden" to you.
• Former NSA Chief Hayden on X-Keyscore: It's real, and it's spectacular
• Every Time The NSA Is Asked About Its Ability To Spy On Everyone... It Answers About Its Authority
• Broader Sifting of Data Abroad Is Seen By NSA NYT
• NSA snooping could cost U.S. tech companies $35 billion over three years
• US lawmaker compares Edward Snowden with Mahatma Gandhi—"A senior lawmaker from President Barack Obama's Democratic party has compared US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden with Mahatma Gandhi, saying the controversial whistleblower was engaged in a 'non-violent' act of 'civil disobedience.'"

Russia

• Russia "disappointed" bilateral talks with US cancelled
• Russia says Obama hurting himself by canceling summit over Snowden
• Greenwald: On Obama's cancellation of summit with Putin and extradition
• China applauds Russia for making the US "eat dirt" in the Snowden showdown
• Snowden's Asylum: 'It's the law, stupid'—"It should be made clear that Russia has no legal, political or moral duty to turn Snowden over to American authorities.."

Surveillance and Privacy

• US Official Admits Spying On US Phone Calls & Internet Had Nothing To Do With Latest Terror Alert
• Feds secretly obtained evidence in African lobbying case under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
• This Is What It Looks Like When Your Phone Tracks Your Every Move

Queen OKs UK gay marriage; Politics, Journalism and Propaganda, North Carolina, Obstructionism, Food Stamps; Immigration, Racism; Elections 2014, Vote Machinations; Surveillance and Privacy, Blowback, Tech Tracking

Queen OKs UK gay marriage—"Gay marriage is officially legal in the UK after the Queen gave royal assent to the new laws, paving the way for the first same-sex weddings by next summer."

Politics

• Secret government: America against democracy
• The Quiet Coup: No, Not Egypt. Here.
• The Unspoken Truth: Coup d'etat in America
• Robert Reich: An Impertinent Question
• US bridges decay, while politicians focus on ribbon cutting
• Former Bush Economist Defends the 1 Percent
• Blast from the Past: Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, Taking Down America

Journalism and Propaganda

• Michael Hastings Cremated, Family Never Requested; Wife Hires Private Investigator—Curiouser and scarier.
• U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans
• Billionaire Koch brothers use Web to take on media reports they dispute

North Carolina

• Total Arrests Climb to 700 as Thousands Protest GOP in North Carolina
• Why I'm Getting Arrested: A North Carolina Teacher Speaks Out
• GOP to rally in response to 'Moral Monday'
• North Carolina Lawmakers Ram Through Plan That Would Increase Taxes On Poor People
• A State for Sale—"A conservative multimillionaire has taken control in North Carolina, one of 2012's top battlegrounds."

Obstructionism

• Mitch McConnell's problem: How can he threaten to obstruct the Senate even more?
• Senate Filibuster Deal An Embarrassment For Mitch McConnell
• In the House, a Refusal to Govern NYT
• Poll: Most Blame GOP Obstruction For Gridlock, Not Obama's Lack Of Persuasion
• Here Are the 15 Bills That Have Actually Become Law So Far This Year

Food Stamps

• GOP Hypocrisy and the Farm Bill
• Who's dependent on food stamps? Cheapskate corporations
• Tea Party May Lose Food-Stamp Fight

Immigration

• Killing the Immigration Bill, Polarizing America
• GOP inaction on immigration is not a viable option
• Group opposing immigration bill plans full-scale campaign on House

Racism

• Kids not sure why Cheerios ad featuring interracial couple angered some
• 'White Hispanic' and other media creations on race
• Sen. Vivian Davis Figures: Racism has played role in Republican rise to dominance in Alabama
• Rush Limbaugh Uses N-Word On Air, Says He Can Say It Because 'It Isn't Racist' Anymore
• This Happened: CNN Panel Debates 'N-Word vs. Cracker: Which Is Worse?'—The fact that they can't objectively show the word 'nigger' says it all.

Elections 2014

• Senate Control in 2014 Increasingly Looks Like a Tossup—The GOP is poised for a takeover.
• Democrats: It's the states, stupid!—"Unless the Democrats wake up to the importance of winning state legislative elections, they are likely to remain a largely impotent minority in the House of Representatives and equally feeble in the state legislatures."
• Pennsylvania Republicans Looking to Push Out Their Governor—"Tom Corbett is one of the most unpopular politicians in the country. Now his own party is turning on him."

Vote Machinations

• New Texas voting disputes
• Voting Rights Act Decision Leaves GOP With Tough Choices
• Fla. Supreme Court won't stop redistricting challenge
• SC officials need to own up to 'zombie voter' fabrication—"Last year, Gov. Nikki Haley's DMV director made headlines when he claimed to have discovered that nearly 1,000 dead people had cast ballots in our state." They weren't dead.
• Why D.C. needs public campaign financing

Surveillance and Privacy

• 'US citizen has no right to free speech?' State Dept spokesperson grilled over Snowden
• Mainstream Amnesia: Why Silent on Snowden?
• A Secret Surveillance Program Proves Challengeable in Theory Only—"By insisting that they need not disclose whether there had been surveillance under the 2008 law, they have immunized the surveillance program from challenges under the Fourth Amendment, which bans unreasonable searches and seizure." NYT
• NSA Snooping: The War on Terror Is America's Mania
• NSA is more than just a spy network, it's global fascism
• Driving somewhere? There's a gov't record of that
• 10 Sci-Fi Stories That Predicted the Surveillance State

Blowback

• Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey—"I believe you have done the right thing in exposing what I regard as massive violation of the United States constitution."
• Rep. Justin Amash Pushing To Strip The NSA's Funding With An Amendment To The Defense Appropriations Bill
• Rep. Holt to introduce bill to repeal Patriot Act & 2008 FISA Act
• Levin: Only Way To Hold Clapper Accountable Is For President To 'Fire Him'
• NSA Sued By Unusual Coalition Of Gun Rights And Environmental Activists Over 'Dragnet Surveillance'
• Either The Solicitor General Lied To The Supreme Court, Or Senator Feinstein Lied To The Public About Warrantless Wiretapping
• Stratfor: Keeping the NSA in Perspective—"The threat posed by PRISM and other programs is not what has been done with them but rather what could happen if they are permitted to survive."

Tech Tracking

• Microsoft: Responding to government legal demands for customer data—"We believe the U.S. Constitution guarantees our freedom to share more information with the public, yet the Government is stopping us."
• Will the NSA use the Xbox One to spy on your family?—"Skype swore wiretaps weren't possible before recent reports. Is Kinect next
• A Call to Boycott U.S. Tech Platforms Over the NSA's PRISM Surveillance
• Mark Zuckerberg Runs A Giant Spy Machine In Palo Alto, California
• Okay: Now Do You Realize Why CISPA's Granting Of Broad Immunity For Companies Sharing Data With The Feds Is An Issue?

Twisted; Press Freedom, Transparency, News You Can Lose, Wikileaks; Scandals; IRS; Vote Machinations; Economy, Obstructionism

Twisted

• $40 for a Case of Bottled Water? 'Preying' on Oklahoma Tornado Victims
• Beware of fraud after Oklahoma tornadoes, feds warn
• Oklahoma Senate Votes To Defund Planned Parenthood Two Days After Tornado
• "The Jester" trolls Westboro Baptist Church with hilarious hack
• Alex Jones Explains How Government "Weather Weapon" Could Have Been Behind Oklahoma Tornado

Press Freedom

• Gov't obtains wide AP phone records in probe—"The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a 'massive and unprecedented intrusion' into how news organizations gather the news."
• Here's Why the Government Went Ballistic Over the AP Leak
• Obama DOJ formally accuses journalist in leak case of committing crimes—"Yet another serious escalation of the Obama administration's attacks on press freedoms emerges."
• Obama's media shield law makes prosecuting journalists even easier
• Are Justice Department leak probes causing a chill?
• The New Yorker: Strongbox—"A new way to share information with The New Yorker's writers and editors, designed to provide a greater degree of anonymity and security than conventional email."
• UK: Police to be forced to declare friendships with journalists

Transparency

• AP Probe: Our Government is Becoming Less Transparent Than Ever, But We Can Fix It
• Most Transparent Administration in History Releases Completely Redacted Document About Text Snooping—Morbidly funny.
• Blast from the Past: Judge rules FBI can't keep Cheney interview buried

News you the lose

• ABC News And CBS News Officially Normalize Fabricated Reporting—ABC's Jonathan Karl stands by the lies he was fed.
• Jon Stewart destroys what's left of Peggy Noonan's credibility
• Fox and Furious Friends Wanted DOJ to Prosecute the New York Times—"Throughout the tenure of George W. Bush, many of us to the left of center warned that unchecked presidential power was putting Americans' civil liberties in jeopardy."

Wikileaks

• 'We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks': movie review
• Supreme Court of Iceland rules firm must process donations for WikiLeaks—"Assange warns other companies involved in so-called blockade: 'you're next.'"
• WikiLeaks Donations Down to a Trickle

Scandals

• Poll: Obama at 53 percent approval after week of controversies
• Meanwhile, The GOP's Favorability Ratings Have Tanked To Their Lowest Point Ever—Unless something major happens, they're safely gerrymandered away.
• President Obama’s Burgeoning Scandals—Benghazi, IRS, and AP’s Telephone Logs—Are All Smoke and No Fire

IRS

• IRS Official Lois Lerner Will Plead The 5th Amendment—And gets kicked off the job.
• Profiling Is Great ... Except When You Do It to Me—"Will the IRS's scrutiny of Tea Party groups convince conservatives that all kinds of profiling are wrong?"
• Scandal Within A Scandal: IRS Misconduct Unfolded In Murky World Of Election Spending

Vote Machinations

• This Is Important. Give It a Read—"[I]f you care about the integrity of elections and people actually being able to vote, the supposed cures for vote fraud are vastly more destructive than the problem."
• Ohio GOP: Oops on bill to curb student voting
• Against the odds: Could Democrats regain the House?—"Could Democrats regain the House in 2014? History says no, but DCCC chairman Steve Israel says it's possible — if the economy improves and the GOP ignores the lessons of 1998. Oh, and Obamacare goes well, too."

Economy

• The Bush Tax Cuts Didn't Work
• Bernanke to Congress: Seriously, guys, what are you doing?—"Ben Bernanke testifies before Congress today for the first time in three months, and the Federal Reserve chairman has a message for lawmakers: You're the reason the economy isn't taking off more."
• I-5 bridge collapses over Skagit River; possibly triggered by truck—"Washington state was given a C in the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- when it came to the state's bridges. The group said more than a quarter of Washington's 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient of functionally obsolete."

Obstructionism

• Obstruction will ruin GOP Salon
• Hatred of Obama could lead to GOP overreach
• Reid To McConnell: Yes, You Are Abusing The Filibuster
• McCain Responds To 'Nuclear Threat,' Criticizes Tea Party Senators
• Lock Up Washington—"So where are we today in Washington? What will people hundreds of years from now think of our national governance with all its blaming, nastiness and negativity? It looks as if our country is being run by thugs and liars motivated by revenge and pettiness beyond description."

Al Gore; Republicans, GOP, Tea Party; Gerrymandering, Vote Machinations; Gun Control

Al Gore

• US democracy has been hacked—"Former VP tells Andrew Marr Show the internet provides a means to rekindle democracy and purge it of corporate influence."
• Democracy in America has been 'functionally corrupted'—"Fareed speaks with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore about democracy in the United States and why he thinks the campaign finance system needs an overhaul."
• Fix the filibuster, talk about climate change, ensure privacy online Salon

Republicans

• Krugman: Marco Rubio Has Learned Nothing—"Because his party has learned nothing." NYT
• Governor's numbers come under question—"In recent months, Gov. Sam Brownback has blamed his predecessor for a $2-billion spending hike that never happened and taken credit for spending cuts he didn'&nt actually make."
• John McCain Goes All-In on Benghazi "Cover-Up"
• Dear John McCain: Ted Cruz isn’t what’s wrong with the Senate, you are Salon
• When Republicans play with fire—"Just how unprecedented is their filibuster of Chuck Hagel? In a word: Very."
• Republican Senator From Nebraska Won't Run in 2014—"[L]ast year, he angrily criticized conservative groups that tried to step in and influence the Senate election in his state." NYT
• Hollywood Legend Ed Asner Has Outraged Republicans Over This Animated Short

GOP

• Bill Maher: GOP 'has always been an uneasy marriage between the Jesus freaks and the plutocrats'
• Republican Rep Says GOP Should Oppose Immigration Reform Because It Would Give Democrats 'Millions Of Votes'
• GOP House Leader Calls for Retaliating Against Media for Making Republicans Look Stupid

Tea Party

• Marco Rubio's compelling family story embellishes facts, documents show—"Embellishes facts" is a nice way of saying "making up bullshit."
• Study Confirms Tea Party Was Created by Big Tobacco and Billionaire Koch Brothers
• Arizona Tea Party Leader Scraps 'Be Mein' Hitler Valentines

Sequester

• Paul Ryan on the sequester: 'We got that in law'—Now he's playing the blame game on Obama.
• GOP Senator Would Take Away Health Coverage From 30 Million Americans To Avoid Military Cuts
• The Real Cost of Shrinking Government—"The budget sequester will soon affect American life in hundreds of painful ways." NYT

Gerrymandering

• The Great Gerrymander of 2012—"Congress doesn't reflect the people's vote." NYT
• E-mails show plotting by lawmakers, GOP on Florida redistricting
• The GOP's Plan to Rig the Electoral College, Explained
• GOP Electoral Vote Scheme Still Alive And Kicking In Pennsylvania
• Is This How We Equalize the United States?

Vote Machinations

• The Other GOP Plan To Rearrange The Electoral Vote
• Va. House, Senate Pass Measures Limiting Forms Of Acceptable Voter ID
• Indiana Lawmaker Proposes Unconstitutional Bill To Take Away Voting Rights From Out-Of-State College Students
• Wisconsin: Eliminating same-day voter registration would cost $14M, report says
• How Right-Wing Billionaires Threaten To Undo 40 Years Of Voting Rights Progress
• Waiting Times at Ballot Boxes Draw Scrutiny NYT
• Voting Should Be Easy NYT

Gun Control

• California Lawmaker Pushing Gun Control Got Death Threat
• LaPierre Accuses Obama Of Fraud In Defiant NRA Speech
• Gun dealers report shortages of ammunition

Thanks Obama! Obstructionism, Republicans, Tea Party, Vote Machinations

Thanks Obama!

• Obama Gets Tough
• Obama Gets Political, Kelly Clarkson Wows 'Em
• Obama lookalike happy with 'four more years of work'
• President Obama’s popularity surges to three-year high -- 60%
• President says news media can promote partisanship—"If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it."

Obstructionism

• Why President Obama is right about the GOP—"Until Republicans feel that there's a real price to pay for them just saying no and being obstructionist, you'll probably see at least a number of them arguing that we should keep on doing it."
• The Republicans' Plan for the New President—"On the night of Barack Obama's inauguration, a group of top GOP luminaries quietly gathered in a Washington steakhouse to develop plans for taking on the new president. After three hours of strategizing, they decided they needed to begin to fight Obama on everything. The new president had no idea what the Republicans were planning."
• Government Shutdown Insanity—"Do House Republicans actually want to shut down the government? Michael Tomasky fears that is the case."
• Why Republicans have no incentive to compromise— "Republicans have become the party of obstruction in the minds of the American people — but that's exactly what the GOP base wants."
• Why filibuster reform failed, and where it might go next

Republicans

• For Republicans, Just Doing the Math Is Frightening—"The GOP's strength is older white voters. But to win elections, it needs to appeal to youth and minorities."
• GOP Rep Says He Opposes Immigration Reform Because Latinos Are Uneducated, Will Never Support Republicans
• The increasingly isolated GOP
• The GOP problem isn't getting elected, it's governing
• Republicans Urge Party Not to Read the New York Times
• Northeast conservative wants divorce from GOP
• Krugman: Makers, Takers, Fakers NYT

Tea Party

• Paul Ryan Breaks Down Under Wonkterrogation
• Paul Ryan's appeal is simple: He's what stupid people think smart people sound like
• Sarah Palin's fall from media stardom
• Poll: Texas Voters Have Had Enough Of Rick Perry
• Dick Armey Sticks His FreedomWorks Payback to Glenn Beck—And the supposed 'grassroots' organization is apparently anything but.

Vote Machinations

• We did the math: how the GOP will gerrymander its way back to the White House
• Key Republicans Back Away From Electoral Vote Scheme
• WI officials subpoenaed over missing computers, docs involved in redistricting that benefited Republicans
• ALEC's Fingerprints Are All Over the Electoral College Rigging Efforts in Blue States
• Virginia Senate Committee Overwhelmingly Kills Electoral Vote Rigging Scheme

HSBC: Drug Money Launderer, 420, Medical Marijuana, Legalization and Decriminalization, War on Drugs, Law and Disorder, Mexico

HSBC: Drug Money Launderer

• HSBC to pay $1.9bn in US money laundering settlement
• HSBC blasted for 'stunning failures over oversight'
• HSBC, Too Big to Indict? NYT
• Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke
• Matt Taibbi: You Can Go to Prison for Pot, While Big Banks Get Away With Laundering Drug Cartel Cash --It's a horrible injustice.

420

• The end of the war on marijuana
• How the War on Drugs Caused the Fake Pot Problem
• The Truce On Drugs--"What happens now that the war has failed?"
• D.A.R.E., America's Most Famous Anti-Drug Program, Will No Longer Talk to Children About Marijuana
• New Data Cast Further Doubt on Drug Czar's Theory That Marijuana Reform Makes Kids Smoke Pot
• Fox News busted reporting drivers on Cannabis
• Video: Breaking The Taboo--Come for the message. Stay for Morgan Freeman's voiceover.

Medical Marijuana

• 25,900 People Want Obama to Pardon a Medical Marijuana Provider Facing Life in Prison. Will He?
• If Oakland’s Medical Pot Is Illegal, Why Are the Feds Trying to Patent It As Medicine?
• San Francisco: Medical Marijuana Users Can Get Booted From Public Housing at Any Time
• Medical marijuana law sponsors surprised Christie wants to impose sales tax on it
• Ireland: Medicinal cannabis available here in the next year

Legalization and Decriminalization

• Obama's Pot Problem--"Now that states have started legalizing recreational marijuana, will the president continue the government’s war on weed?"
• Obama Won't Go After State Marijuana Legalization: 'We Have Bigger Fish To Fry'
• 3 Reasons Not to Take Obama's Pot Prosecution Comments Too Seriously
• Administration Weighs Legal Action Against States That Legalized Marijuana Use NYT
• Washington Post: Marijuana's foot in the door--"For now, the federal government does not need to stage an aggressive intervention, one way or the other. It can wait, watch and enforce the most worrisome violations as they occur."
• Washington state lights up as smoking marijuana becomes legal
• Indiana State Police chief advises lawmakers to legalize and tax pot
• Marijuana: A Winning GOP Issue?
• Speaker won't stop Vermont House pot debate--"Shap Smith says he's open to a dialogue on marijuana decriminalization, despite his own misgivings about the idea."
• Why Legalizing Pot Won't Curb the Drug War--"Advocates may think their recent initiatives have set Mexican traffickers back, but the cartels have already moved on."

War on Drugs

• Clinton: Drug war 'hasn't worked'
• Quentin Tarantino Says Drug War, Justice System Are Modern-Day Slavery
• Branson: War on drugs a trillion-dollar failure
• Video: Is The War on Drugs "All About the Money"?
• The War on Drugs is a war on human nature--"America's been fighting this battle for decades. It can't be won, and it's costing us upwards of $20 billion a year." Salon
• Government will not change drugs policy despite critical report--"The Government tonight ruled out any shift in drugs policy despite a damning report by an influential group of MPs which said Britain was failing to tackle drug barons or the multi-billion pound global profits of their illegal trade."
• Nick Clegg calls for royal commission on drugs reform--Says there's a 'conspiracy of silence.'

Law and Disorder

• Police In Colombia Seize 1.5 Tons Of Cocaine In A Container That Was To Be Shipped To The US
• Brazil: Dozens of police officers arrested, accused of taking bribes--From drug traffickers.
• Spain arrests woman with cocaine filled breast implants
• Pakistan: 13 die after drinking cough syrup--"The victims were all drug addicts who apparently drank the cough syrup in an attempt to get high...."
• Man loses drug money, asks Tucson police for help

Mexico

• More than 25,000 people disappear in six years--"Unpublished official figures show cost of chaos and violence enveloping country in fight against drug gangs."
• 'Please spare my little girl': How Mexico's fearless female mayor sacrificed herself to save her daughter's life as she was abducted by drug gang, tortured and executed
• Mexico beauty queen had gun in her hands, was used as a human shield