The Day We Fight Back; Fat Tuesday; Obamacare, CBO and Job Lock, CGI Federal, Bill of Health, Big Phrama, Issues, Viral, Smoking; Psycho, Brain

The Day We Fight Back

• Over 5,000 websites signed up for "The Day We Fight Back" protest against mass spying
• The Internet is Owned--Act Accordingly—"Costin Raiu of Kaspersky Lab said he assumes his laptop is compromised at all times. Users in the age of NSA surveillance should act the same way." The terrorists win again.
• The NSA's Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program
• The terrifying surveillance case of Brandon Mayfield—"With NSA overreach, nobody is safe from confirmation bias."
• Major NSA intelligence facility established in Jerusalem

Fat Tuesday

• Council to send obese people 'motivational' texts—"£10,000 project aims to encourage people to lose weight."
• Navajo Nation Hikes Sales Taxes on 'Junk Foods,' Makes Healthy Food Choices Tax-Free
• Sugar not only makes you fat, it may make you sick
• 'Biggest Loser' Winner Rachel Frederickson Raises Questions About Healthy Weight Loss
• Married Men — Not Women — Are Fatter Than Their Singleton Counterparts

Obamacare

• Obama: 'I Regret' Promise On Individual Health Plans
• White House delays health insurance mandate for medium-sized employers until 2016 WaPo
• Millions Are Now Realizing They're Too Poor For Obamacare
• Missouri Senate Kills Medicaid Expansion For Roughly 300,000 Lower-Income People—Cutting off noses to spite their faces.
• The Koch brothers' group is getting involved in Louisiana's Obamacare fight WaPo
• Obamacare is disproportionately hurting Republicans and conservatives—"New Gallup numbers reveal an ideological tilt to those who say they are being harmed by the law." WaPo
• HealthCare.gov can't handle appeals of enrollment errors—"Appeals paperwork is entered into a computer — but the system isn't able to do more." WaPo

CBO and Job Lock

• CBO: Guys, We Didn't Say Obamacare Would Cost 2.5 Million Jobs
• GOP steps in Obamacare trap: Watch their false claims blow up in their face!—For the right, attacks against Obamacare's market disruption were great fun. Until it doomed their own plan. Oops." Salon
• Why Do Republicans Want Us to Work All the Time? Politico
• Fox Host Commends "Uniquely American" Value: "Work Two And Three Jobs To Make Ends Meet—What a crapload.
• Liberals, Conservatives, and the Meaning of Work—"It appears that those who talk so much about 'economic freedom' aren't too happy when ordinary people have more choices."

CGI Federal

• CGI chief says reputation intact despite 'Obamacare' woes—The change in leadership mostly went unnoticed.
• Bloomberg gave 311 contract worth $10M to company behind Obamacare rollout
• Zounds and zowie! Jindal awards $34 million contract to firm that dropped the ObamaCare web page rollout ball!

Bill of Health

• Snakebite victim charged $89,000 for 18-hour hospital stay
• Hospital Chain Said to Scheme to Inflate Bills—"Whistle-blower suits claim Health Management Associates tried to inflate its Medicare and Medicaid payments by admitting more patients." NYT
• Medical Price Gouging—"It's time to cut out the corporate profiteers and purveyors of waste and fraud and introduce a system that works for everybody." Ralph Nader for single-payer.
• Medical bills still a major burden on American families, CDC study finds
• Waiting to Live: Fighting an Insurance Company for a Life-Saving Surgery
• Study: Health Care Reform Likely to Reduce Bankruptcy and Catastrophic Debt
• The Next Health Care Reform—"Once everyone has insurance, we need to fix health care providers."
• The Onion: Man Getting Screwed By Company's $180,000 Health Deductible

Big Pharma

• Big Pharma's hidden links to NHS policy, with senior MPs saying medical industry uses 'wealth to influence government'
• Manufacturer Tried to Hide Results of Testing of Blood Thinner Implicated in 1,000 Deaths
• US bans more products from India's Ranbaxy
• Big Pharma pushes for U.S. action against India on drugs
• Intellectual property rights: US set to punish India
• Pharmaceutical Company Discontinues Lifesaving Cancer Drug Due To Disappointing Profits

Issues

• Man found dead after 8-hour ER wait—"The patient may have been dead for hours before anyone noticed what had happened." Salon
• Hundreds of mentally ill children 'locked in police cells', some for over 24 hours
• Forsyth Medical Center says 18 patients exposed to deadly disease
• Two dozen charged in $500 million New York pain-pill scheme
• Police will have 'backdoor' access to health records despite opt-out, says MP—"David Davis says police would be able to approach central NHS database without a warrant as critics warn of catastrophic breach of trust."

Viral

• The toll of the anti-vaccination movement, in one devastating graphic
• California flu deaths hit 202; infant dies from whooping cough
• Afghanistan polio: First case in Kabul since 2001—"An Afghan girl has been diagnosed with polio in Kabul - the capital's first case since the Taliban's fall in 2001."
• Pediatrician: Vaccinate Your Kids—Or Get Out of My Office—"If you won't trust your doctors on vaccinating your kids, will you ever really trust them at all?"
• H7N9 Bird Flu in Shanghai Kills First Medical Worker, Renewing Transmission Fears

Smoking

• First major US drugstore drops cigarettes—"US President Barack Obama says decision by CVS, the country's second largest drugstore, sets 'powerful example.'"
• Top lessons from 50 years of fighting the tobacco industry—"In 1964, defeating Big Tobacco seemed impossible. Today, firearms, alcohol and processed food pose similar challenges."
• Leonard Nimoy has lung disease, urges fans to quit smoking
• Marlboro ad man Eric Lawson dies of chronic lung disease—"Actor who appeared in cigarette campaign in late 1970s is third Marlboro cowboy to succumb to smoking-related illness."
• UK: Smoking ban in cars carrying children 'by 2015'

Psycho

• Life as a Nonviolent Psychopath—"Neuroscientist James Fallon discovered through his work that he has the brain of a psychopath, and subsequently learned a lot about the role of genes in personality and how his brain affects his life."
• Comedians have psychotic personality traits, study finds
• Why psychopathic film villains are rarely realistic — and why it matters

Brain

• End the Ban on Psychoactive Drug Research—"It's time to let scientists study whether LSD, marijuana and ecstasy can ease psychiatric disorders."
• The NFL's Response to Brain Trauma: A Brief History
• Lead and Crime: It's a Brain Thing
• An Aging Brain Is Still Pretty Smart—"It may be slower, but it has a wealth of information to draw from."
• First brain map of speech units could aid mind-reading
• IBM Is Using Watson To Psychoanalyze People From Their Tweets
• Brain Rewards Us for Looking at Pretty Faces
• Psychiatrists embrace deep-brain stimulation—"Brain-stimulation procedures for psychiatric disorders are on the rise. Should we be concerned?" Salon

Obamacare, War on Drugs, Big Pharma, 420, Health, Mental, Viral

Obamacare

• Obamacare Deadline Keeps Getting Delayed, Even As Enrollment Skyrockets—Allowed 750k Americans more to sign up.
• Mass., Vt. halt payments to firm behind health sites Boston Globe
• GOP theme for 2014: bashing Obamacare, again
• Can Vermont's Single-Payer System Fix What Ails American Healthcare?—"As Obamacare struggles, progressives hope a bold experiment could offer a better model. But first, it has to work."
• Health Care's Road to Ruin—"There are ways to lower costs. Is there the will?" NYT
• This $55,000 Bill Is The Perfect Example Of Our Broken Hospital System
• Conservative Editor Who Was Hospitalized Without Health Insurance And Had To Rely On Donations Is Still Against Obamacare

War on Drugs

• Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke
• In Honduras, a Drug-War Mission Gone Wrong—"Why are we still fighting the drug war?"
• Woman sues over vaginal, anal exams in El Paso drug search
• Legal challenge questions reliability of police dogs—The claim is that "the Metropolitan Police Department's police dogs, and eventually NHP's own dogs, were 'trick ponies' that responded to their handlers' cues, and therefore routinely violated citizens' rights to lawful search under the Fourth Amendment."
• Drug overdoses kill more people than auto accidents in 29 states—"Drug overdoses kill more Americans than motor vehicles in 29 states, despite new laws aimed at curbing abuse."

Big Pharma

• Glaxo Says It Will Stop Paying Doctors to Promote Drugs—"The announcement, an apparent first for a major drug company, would end a common practice that is criticized for posing a conflict of interest." NYT
• $1,000 Pill For Hepatitis C Spurs Debate Over Drug Prices—"Graham says she thinks once Gilead has recovered its investment cost, it ought to cut the price of sofosbuvir. 'That's very unlikely that we would do that,' responds Alton, Gilead vice president."
• India's Efforts to Aid Poor Worry Drug Makers NYT

420

• The lie that won't die: "We don't know enough about marijuana!"—"Drug warriors insist we still don't know enough about its possible therapeutic properties. It's simply not true." Salon
• 10 things to know about nation's first recreational marijuana shops in Colorado—The Denver's Post Cannabist site is online.
• California Attorney General: Legalizing Marijuana Would Save Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars A Year

Health

• Family gets $340,000 bill after losing medical malpractice suit
• Multivitamin researchers say "case is closed" after studies find no health benefits
• New York City Extends Smoking Ban To E-Cigarettes
• An emotional goodbye for 'bubbly, energetic' teen Emma following nut allergy tragedy—"When she began showing signs of going into anaphylactic shock, her mother brought her to the nearby Hamilton Long pharmacy where she was refused the EpiPen autoinjector as she did not have her prescription."
• Ontario mom urges schools to let asthmatic kids carry puffers—"Ryan Gibbons, 12, died after a severe asthma attack during recess at Straffordville, Ont., school."

Mental

• Two senators block Franken's mental health bill
• Health law may not broaden access to mental treatment—"Low rates are among the reasons psychiatrists opted out."
• Medicare to Cover More Mental Health Costs—"Effective Jan. 1, Medicare will cover the costs of mental health care much as it does other medical expenses." NYT

Viral

• Hong Kong confirms first death from H7N9 bird flu
• WHO says 4 new Saudi cases of MERS virus, one fatal
• Fired: pregnant nurse studies flu vaccine fine print, decides it's too risky—Too risky also for sick patients in the hospital to have her around.
• AIDS vaccine test results faked—"Dong-Pyou Han was an assistant professor of biomedical sciences. He resigned in October after admitting responsibility, an ISU spokesman said."
• Bubonic plague outbreak kills 32 in Madagascar

Pr0n, Blocked, Revenge, Cases; Law and Disorder; Sex Offenders, Vigilante Injustice; Rape, Sexual Assault; Swordfight, Male Factor; Quirks

Pr0n

• Porn Is Dead, Long Live Sex
• Fired for doing porn: The new employment discrimination—"Adult performers who get work elsewhere can be fired if their past comes out -- and there's no legal recourse." Salon
• "How do I become a male porn star?"—"After I wrote about the adult film industry, I got emails from men all over the globe with one common request." Salon
• Los Angeles County condom law leads to steep drop in porn film permits
• The US now watches the majority of its online porn on mobile phones

Blocked

• UK: New ISP customers will have porn filters turned on automatically—And, unintentionally(?), block sex education websites. How long before other topics are censored? In the meantime, UK Google Chrome users can tell Cameron to go away.
• Conservative MP, radical feminist and evangelical Christian come together to block online porn in Canada
• Google and Microsoft agree measures to block abuse images
• Document Reveals Conservative Plot For "Abolition" Of Porn
• Blanket Censorship Will Lull Parents Into a False Sense of Security

Revenge

• Revenge porn sought to be outlawed
• 'Revenge porn' site owner arrested in San Diego
• Christian school places teacher on leave after photos from stolen phone post to revenge porn website—"The school has refused to comment further on the case 'due to the sensitive nature of the circumstances.'"
• Angry, Abusive Men Still Have Free Speech Without Revenge Porn
• RIP Al Goldstein, Original Revenge Porn King

Cases

• Supreme Court Won't Hear Appeal over VA Sodomy Law
• 'Topless paparazzo' wins $40,000 from NYC over illegal arrests
• Supreme Court strikes down Canada's anti-prostitution laws as Charter breach

Law and Disorder

• Calif. youth admits Miss Teen USA 'sextortion' plot
• 'Rape porn' possession to be punished by three years in jail, David Cameron to announce
• Penn State to pay $59.7 million in 26 cases of Jerry Sandusky abuse
• Innocent man commits suicide after paedophile accusation
• Anonymous Vs. Steubenville—"Online vigilante Deric Lostutter helped expose the cover-up in the Steubenville rape case. Now he's facing more jail time than the convicted rapists."

Sex Offenders

• The village where half the population are sex offenders
• NameTag releases first face recognition app for Google Glass, recognizes 450K sex offenders
• Facebook helped apprehend sexual predator
• Gov. Rick Snyder signs bill to require registered sex offenders to pay annual $50 fee
• Pa. law requiring lifetime registration for juvenile sex offenders is unconstitutional, York County judge rules
• Alabama Lawmaker Re-Introduces Castration Bill For Sex Offenders
• A Court Has Ruled It's Not OK To Arouse Sex Offenders and Measure Their Erections

Vigilante Injustice

• Entrapped! When Craigslist predator stings go too far
• Vigilante paedophile hunters ruining lives with internet stings—"Police say the actions of the vigilantes can be damaging to abuse victims as well as innocent people wrongly suspected."
• Innocent man burned to death after vigilantes branded him a paedophile—Three cops suspended.

Rape

• Somali woman who reported rape sentenced—"Nineteen-year-old will be confined to home for six months and journalists who reported the story are to go to jail."
• Delhi rape: one year on, has anything changed for India's women?—"One year after the vicious assault of a student on a Delhi bus, protests and reports of abuse in India have increased. But is it any better to be a woman there today?"
• The rape victim that India forgot—"Bereft of media attention, minor girl fights lonely battle and awaits 20th surgery after being gang-raped 16 months ago."
• Four cops arrested for minor's gang rape
• Chicago girl's rape near a school 'Safe Passage' route alarms parents
• Kicked out of high school for 'public lewdness' after reporting rape—"When Rachel Bradshaw-Bean claimed she had been raped in the band room of her high school in Texas, school officials sprang into action—and kicked her out of school."
• 'Cruel' policewoman who HUGGED rape victim as she lied about the reason for her case being dropped is jailed
• Japanese lawmakers demand removal of California World War II memorial
• 'Huge win for victims of sexual assault': Congress sends defense bill to Obama

Sexual Assault

• Female Guards Are Frequently Abusing Young Males In Juvenile Detention
• College men accused of sexual assault say their rights violated—Are men more likely to be deemed guilty until proven innocent?
• Project Unbreakable

Swordfight

• Is Male Circumcision a Form of Genital Mutilation?—"Representatives from Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Greenland all recently met in Norway with doctors and surgeons who agreed on one thing: the fight for the right to keep foreskin."
• Woman fined $140 a day for refusing to circumcise son
• The 10 strangest facts about penises Salon
• Patrick Moote Has a Penis Problem—"The 'Unhung Hero' star on why size doesn't (always) matter."
• Embrace your small penis, men: Everyone else is lying anyway!—"Only one man in 100 reaches beyond the 5-to-7-inch average. Why are men lying, and why do women expect more?" Salon
• Average penis size: Human penises are huge compared to other primates.
• Which State Is the Biggest?—"On this list, Texas doesn't even make the top 40."
• Testicle size 'link to father role'—"A link between the size of a father's testicles and how active he is in bringing up his children has been suggested by scientists."
• Concrete Posts Shaped Like Male Genitalia The Talk Of Scott Township
• 'Fig leaf coming soon': Church replies to 'penis-shaped' comments after picture goes viral

Male Factor

• America's obsessed with naked men Salon
• Beefcakes are the new cheesecakes Salon
• How Nudity Impacts Our Perception Of Others: Are Naked Men Objectified Just As Much As Women?
• Charlie Hunnam's buff bod in 'Pacific Rim'—I'd kaiju all over that.
• Men Do Makeup With Michelle Phan

Quirks

• Sexual deviancy is normal—"Even in extreme cases, there's 'some tension' about whether sadism indicates mental illness. Not for the squeamish." Salon
• What It's Like to Be Kidnapped—'Why on earth would someone pay hundreds of dollars to fly halfway across the country for the pleasure of being abducted by thugs, handcuffed in a basement for hours, and forced to pee into a Gatorade bottle? GQ made Drew Magary go find out. (Sorry, Drew)"
• The Strange Sexual Quirk of Filipino Seafarers—"How the pressures of the shipping industry have shaped everything about this maritime culture. Right down to their penile implants."
• British experts warn of rise in genital cosmetic surgery
• 15 "naughty" tips to guarantee awful sex—"A compendium of the worst magazine sex advice ever, from Cosmo to Men's Health." Salon

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women; Rape and Sexual Assaults; Sexism and Politics; Abortion and Birth Control; Obamacare

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

• Pakistan: 'I am Malala' banned in private schools
• Kuwaiti woman arrested in Saudi Arabia for driving her diabetic father to hospital—"Arrest comes a week after Saudi women staged a protest against the country's female driving ban."
• Female Genital Mutilation Cases Should Be Treated As Child Abuse: Report
• 'Honour killing': Case initiated against brother for murder
• Moroccan teen, forced to marry her rapist, commits suicide

Rape and Sexual Assaults

• Pakistan: Four-year-old sexually assaulted 'by cleric'
• 93 schoolgirls sexually harassed aboard Patna train
• NZ lawyer gives advice to rape victim, says you should have closed your legs
• If you can't stop rape, enjoy it, says CBI director Ranjit Sinha—"Sinha later told Hindustan Times he 'was just making a point, that it is very difficult to enforce a ban on betting, that you can make a law but there are already so many and it is difficult to enforce. Lotteries are already legal. So I said betting could be legalized, it can be taxed. To make this point, I just used a proverb.'" Culturally depraved statement.
• Kirsten Gillibrand: John McCain Was Wrong Then, And He's Wrong Now—Wrong on DOMA; wrong on military sexual assaults.
• Alabama Man Won't Serve Prison Time for Raping 14-Year-Old—"Austin Smith Clem raped a teenager three times. His punishment: supervision and probation."
• Los Gatos man gets probation for sex crimes; girls' parents outraged

Sexism and Politics

• Wendy Davis files for Texas governor—I wholeheartedly expect her vagina will not be an issue. /s
• Army Disciplines Two Involved In Email About 'Average Looking Women'
• Panel Led By NV GOP Chair Questions Women's Role In Workforce
• Scandal's Lisa Kudrow on Sexism in Politics (and That Epic Rant)
• Egypt 'worst for women' out of 22 countries in Arab world
• Women among the biggest losers in Arab Spring
• In Colombia, no sex till the road's fixed

Abortion and Birth Control

• Wendy Davis Slams Texas Republicans After Supreme Court Upholds State Abortion Restrictions
• Albuquerque voters reject 20-week abortion ban
• Vaginas Are Like "Little Hoover Vacuums," and Other Things Abstinence Lecturers Get Paid to Tell Teens
• The Tea Party's Attack on Women's Rights Politico
• Unsafe abortions: Haiti's abortion crisis
• Abortion in Tasmania is decriminalised, but it wasn't an easy battle—"Tasmania has removed abortion from its criminal laws after seven months of deliberations in parliament – but politicians have had to face a barrage of anti-choice tactics in the process."
• Bill Gates funds creation of thin, light, impenetrable graphene condoms

Obamacare

• Why Is Maternity Care Such an Issue for Obamacare Opponents?—"The ACA demands insurers fully cover 22 different women's health tests and visit types—yet few have raised conservative ire like covering expectant mothers."
• Corporations are claiming personhood to block Obamacare's contraception mandate
• Got Insurance? Obamacare ad outrages Rush Limbaugh and crew, who call women "prostitutes" for having sex

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

Feminism, Sexism, Racism; Abortion and Birth Control, Texas; Culture Clash; Delhi, India; Rape; Statutory

Feminism

• Oh feminism, what happened to you?
• Where Feminism Went Wrong—"Has feminism raised the bar so high that women are condemned to fall below it?"
• Do Women Really Want Equality?—"Not one imagined strictly by numbers."
• 'Go Topless' demonstration causes Vancouver chaos as camera-wielding voyeurs descend on scene
• If Femen was set up by a man, where does that leave its topless protests?—"The allegation that Victor Svyatski acts as a svengali to attractive women in the Ukrainian feminist group is depressing news."
• NFL - Female reporters gain acceptance in locker rooms
• Woman denied haircut at men's only barbershop in Westdale—"She says she's also in the midst of filing a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal."
• Flipside: The broken dialogue on men's rights

Sexism

• Biden knocks 'Neanderthal' House Republicans—"Vice President Biden on Thursday blamed the 'this sort of Neanderthal crowd' in the House for holding up the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act."
• Ex-Perry Aide Tweets Article Declaring Wendy Davis 'Too Stupid To Be Governor'
• To my daughter's high school programming teacher—"My daughter has no interest in taking another programming class, and really, who can blame her. [...] In one short semester, you and her classmates undid all of my years of encouragement."

Racism

• Nina Davuluri brushes off racist criticism after Miss America victory—She's the first winner of Indian descent.
• Racist Threatens Black Woman Walking in Predominately White Neighborhood: 'I'm Going to Rape You and Hang You From a Tree'
• I'm a Black Female Cosplayer And Some People Hate It—"After my pictures started making the rounds on deviantArt, tumblr and 4chan, it became pretty clear that my cosplay brings all the racists to the yard, and they're like…white cosplay is better than yours."

Abortion and Birth Control

• Pro-life groups don't really protect the unborn—"Pro-life groups funnel tremendous resources into a legal war against abortion in the US without providing adequate practical support for women to maintain pregnancies. Yet not being able to afford a child is one of the main reasons women have abortions."
• Teen birth rate hits historic low, federal report says—"[T]here is evidence that a switch to more effective means of birth control is a factor."
• Woman Sues Over Transvaginal Ultrasound: 'It Felt Like I Was Being Raped'
• Right Before The Holiday Weekend, Iowa Quietly Eliminated Abortion Access For Low-Income Women
• Abortion Clinics Close Quickly As State Laws Tighten
• How the Koch Bros. Secretly Fund Anti-Choice Efforts
• Sir David Attenborough warns things will only get worse—"People should be persuaded against having large families, says the broadcaster and naturalist."

Texas

• Texas: Documents Still Show No Evidence of Excrement at Abortion Debate
• Perot Foundation announces $1 million gift to Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas
• Texas AG Candidate Barry Smitherman: End Abortion Now or Suffer Biblical Plagues

Culture Clash

• Kurdish men in drag promote feminism in the region
• Saudi Arabia cabinet passes ban on domestic violence
• Female Indian author shot dead by Taliban in Paktika province
• Brothers hang to death 17-year-old girl for eloping with dalit youth
• Yemen: 8 year old girl dies from internal injuries on wedding night—This has got to stop.

Delhi

• Delhi gang-rape: four men sentenced to death—The prosecutors said they deserved the death penalty, and they weren't the only ones.
• Delhi gang rape: Teenager found guilty—"The teenager, who cannot be named, has been sentenced to three years in a reform facility, the maximum term possible for a juvenile."
• I would have burnt my daughter alive for premarital sex: Delhi gang-rape lawyer

India

• India's code of silence over sexual abuse
• Police Officer Gang-Raped Escorting Dead Sister in India
• Daughter gang-raped, wife killed; man moves SC seeking protection
• Six-year-old rape victim ordered to wed rapist's 8-year-old son
• Rapist dies after victim's family members burn him alive

Rape

• Maldives: Girl rape victim to be spared outrageous flogging sentence
• No Charges for Texas Father Who Beat to Death Daughter's Molester
• Pope phones Argentine woman who wrote to him about rape
• California Governor Jerry Brown Signs Law Closing Loophole That Allows Rape Of Unmarried Women
• Aggressive tactics highlight the rigors of military rape cases—"Some lawmakers want to civilian courts to try military sexual assault cases."
• St. Mary's University Students' Pro-Rape Chant Condemned After 5 Years Of Use
• Study shows 1 in 4 men in 6 Asian countries have admitted raping a woman—"Of those who acknowledged forcing a woman to have sex, more than 70 percent of men said it was because of 'sexual entitlement.' Nearly 60 percent said they were bored or wanted to have fun while about 40 percent said it was because they were angry or wanted to punish the woman. Only about half of the men said they felt guilty and 23 percent had been imprisoned for a rape."

Statutory

• Florida teen rearrested for having sex with underage classmate—"Kaitlyn Hunt, the teenage Florida lesbian who made headlines earlier this year after being expelled from school and arrested for allegedly having sex with her 15 year old girlfriend, has been rearrested."
• Montana judge's remarks about raped teen prompt outrage—"A Montana judge who said a 14-year-old rape victim was 'as much in control of the situation' as the man who assaulted her has come under pressure to resign."
• Texas girl, 10, charged with rape after playing 'doctor' in game

Gender in Politics, Sexism; Abortion and Birth Control, Sexcrime; Middle East; Girls; India, Rape Culture; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Gender in Politics

• Rick Perry Vetoed Texas Equal Pay Bill Under Pressure From Macy's, Kroger
• GOP Super PAC's idea for fun and fundraising: 'Slap Hillary' game
• Why you shouldn't underestimate Elizabeth Warren
• Why Wendy Davis should run for governor of Texas—Hope to see more of her.
• Erick Erickson calls Wendy Davis an "abortion Barbie"—"The conservative commentator just may have something to do with his party's 'woman problem.'"
• Clear Channel pulls ads for women's health clinic, calls them "indecent" Salon
• Filner: I Never Received Sex Harassment Training, So City May Be Liable—Hooters even blackballed this guy who finally resigned.

Sexism

• Sexed up and smart: Women debate Marissa Mayer's Vogue photo
• Hobbs CEO: 'Women prefer a male boss because female leaders lack personality'
• I understood gender discrimination once I added "Mr." to my resume and landed a job

Abortion and Birth Control

• Fetal pain is a lie: How phony science took over the abortion debate—"New laws banning abortion after 20 weeks are based on pseudoscience -- and real research proves it conclusively." Salon
• Federal judge blocks new Wisconsin abortion law
• Judge blocks new Oklahoma law that restricts women's access to morning-after pill
• Susan B. Anthony List Petitions Supreme Court for Right to Lie in Political Ads—"The anti-choice group wants the Supreme Court to strike an Ohio law that prevents lying in political ads, claiming it's a violation of their political speech rights."
• Undercover footage reveals more crazy "crisis pregnancy center" lies—""'If you have an abortion, you will see that child's soul again in the future,' said one counselor." Salon

Sexcrime

• Virginia governor GOP candidate Ken Cuccinelli launches website that pushes for reinstatement of state's anti-sodomy law
• Ken Cuccinelli's Sodomy Obsession
• O'Donnell Talks A Lot About Sodomy And Oral/Anal Sex And… You Know What? Just Watch

Middle East

• Iran's President Nominates Female Vice President
• Pakistan ex-leader Musharraf charged over Bhutto murder
• Afghanistan: MP Fariba Ahmadi Kakar abducted in Ghazni

Girls

• 'Some girls have been married 60 times by the time they turn 18'
• Girls escape forced marriage by concealing spoons in clothing to set off metal detectors at the airport
• Indonesian city to require female schoolgirls to pass virginity test—"The virginity test, a response to the high rate of 'adultery' and 'prostitution' among female students, is slated to start next year."
• Judge calls victim, 13, a 'sexual predator': Outcry as 41-year-old man walks free after admitting sex with girl—The judge has been kicked off similar cases.
• Rescued children shouldn't be in handcuffs—"Treating a child as an offender breeds mistrust in a legal system that ought to protect him or her, and traffickers and pimps exploit this, threatening their victims with arrest and criminal records if they try to seek help."

India

• 11-year-old set on fire for resisting rape dies in Kolkata
• Indian youth killed after stopping attempted rape of sisters
• India rape: Police hunt attacker of 7-year-old
• Female photographer, 23, gang raped in Mumbai
• India sexual harassment: American student shares horrific experiences—"American college student Michaela Cross says she was relentlessly sexually harassed while studying in India. Her story reverberated online."
• Asaram Bapu booked for sexual abuse—Same guy who said that "the Delhi gangrape victim could have saved herself by addressing her violators as brothers and asking for mercy."
• Meet India's Red Brigade: The teens fighting back against rape

Rape Culture

• Twitter Apologizes To Victims Of Online Abuse, Updates Its Policy For Reporting Rape Threats
• Mark Millar on The Use of Rape in His Comics: "I Don't Think It Really Matters"
• Rape Victim Sues State Of Massachusetts To Prevent Rapist Request for Visitation with Child
• Virginia city's rape policy was 'Assume the victim is lying' until last week—Tricky balance considering that there are those who have lied.
• USC Mislabels Sexual Assault To Keep Crime Numbers Low, Clery Complaint Says

NSA Spying

• Snowden: UK government now leaking documents about itself—"The NSA whistleblower says: 'I have never spoken with, worked with, or provided any journalistic materials to the Independent.'" The paper attributed to Snowden a leak regarding the UK's secret Middle East internet surveillance base.
• Daniel Ellsberg: NSA leaker Snowden made the right call
• Obama: No Allegations NSA Is Trying to 'Listen in On People's Email'
• Obama's "outside experts" surveillance review panel has deep ties to gov't
• Saying Boo To A Ghost: It's No Secret Why Congress Fears Crossing The NSA
• NSA promises transparency by launching new Tumblr blog
• Lavabit founder: 'My own tax dollars are being used to spy on me'—"Since shuttering his email service, which was used by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Ladar Levison has been stuck in a Kafkaesque legal battle – and that's about all he can say."
• NSA domestic spying: Mathematicians should speak out

Surveillance and Privacy

• The Real, Terrifying Reason Why British Authorities Detained David Miranda—"The scariest explanation of all? That the NSA and GCHQ are just showing they don't want to be messed with."
• German government denies Windows 'back door' claims
• NZ police affidavits show use of PRISM for surveillance

Abortion and Birth Control, Ireland, Texas; India, Dubai, Gender Issues; Surveillance and Privacy

Abortion and Birth Control

• Wisconsin Lawmakers' bill seeks to give fetuses right to life
• North Dakota law banning medical abortion struck down—"Judge rules 2011 law is unconstitutional, saying the state had failed to demonstrate any need to regulate abortion." Calls it "invalid and unconstitutional." (NYT)
• Rhode Island Governor Vetoes 'Choose Life' License Plate
• US: The GOP's pro-life hypocrisy—"If pro-life Republicans want to save lives, they could start with women and children in the reddest states."
• State teen birthrate dropped to lowest level in 20 years
• I'm The 14-Year-Old Who Wrote The "Jesus Isn't A Dick So Keep Him Out of My Vagina" Sign In Texas And Was Labeled A "Whore" By Strangers Online—Parenting done right Salon.
• There's nothing wrong with being "bro-choice"—"A conservative political troll tries -- and fails! -- to expose "the truth" behind men who support abortion rights." (Salon)

Ireland

• Ireland: Dáil passes Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill
• President signs Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill into law
• Abortions would deprive future Special Olympians of life—A Fianna Fáil senator has been accused of reaching a new low after he said allowing abortions in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities would be 'depriving future Special Olympics athletes of being born.'"

Texas

• Rick Perry signs wide-ranging Texas bill to limit access to abortion—Time for the courts to get involved.
• You're Allowed To Carry A Gun Into The Texas Senate Gallery, But Not A Tampon
• Aftermath: Troopers Bust Protesters
• DPS Director Responds to Letter on Security Report
• Wendy Davis: It's the real Texans who count—Here's to her making a difference (NYT).
• Texas Legislators File Radical 'Fetal Heartbeat' Bill To Ban Abortion After Just Six Weeks
• Texas Lawmaker Says Sex Ed Makes Teens 'Hot and Bothered,' Leads to Sex and Babies

India

• India: UP Police first refuses to lodge FIR, then blames gangrape victim of setting herself ablaze and lying
• India: 62-year-old father rapes five daughters—"Mother condones crime, claiming attacks are 'family tradition.'"
• 6 men convicted of raping Swiss tourist in India
• Female vigilantes in India join forces to fight rape
• India Supreme Court orders curb on sales of acid—"India's Supreme Court has ordered federal and state governments to regulate the sale of acid in an attempt to reduce attacks on women."

Dubai

• Dubai imprisons Norwegian woman who reported rape
• Norwegian woman: I was raped in Dubai, now I face prison sentence
• Norwegian Rape Victim, Pardoned After Being Sentenced To Jail For Sex Outside Marriage - Free to Leave Dubai

Gender Issues

• 11-Year-Old Yemeni Girl Nada Al-Ahdal Flees Home to Avoid Forced Marriage: I'd Rather Kill Myself
• France forced to defend ban on Islamic veil—Can't reason with rioters.
• Talking Female Circumcision Out of Existence—Why is still "almost universal" (Salon) in some countries? NYT
• Women 'banned from shopping alone' in northern Pakistan—"The step is reportedly aimed at keeping men from being distracted during the holy month of Ramadan. It is not clear whether it will be lifted when it ends."
• Domestic violence: Three injured in acid attack over marital dispute

Surveillance and Privacy

• The Surveillance-Free Day—"What happens when an average person tries to escape the government's eye?"
• Moscow Metro says new tracking system is to find stolen phones; no one believes them—"Experts: Russians are probably using fake cell tower devices for surveillance."
• Is online privacy a right?—"Feds want an Internet skeleton key that would allow surveillance of encrypted content. Will tech companies agree?" Salon
• Activists storm office of Congressman who voted for NSA spying—Better than spouting inutile rhetoric online.
• More on NSA surveillance programs to be declassified

Fat Tuesday, Food Insecurity, India, China, Price Fixing; Bill of Health, Big Pharma, Obamacare, NHS Privatization; Health Scare, Vax Populi; Progress

Fat Tuesday

• How Mexico got so fat—"A UN report says Mexicans are the heaviest of the world's larger nations, even as they battle hunger and malnutrition. How did it come to this?"
• The obesity era—"As the American people got fatter, so did marmosets, vervet monkeys and mice. The problem may be bigger than any of us."
• Obamacare requires most insurers to tackle obesity
• How Junk Food Can End Obesity
• "Full Figured" Woman Kicked Out of Missouri Swimming Pool For Wearing Bikini
• Three arrested after Shetland pony abuse video goes viral—"In the video, the overweight woman can be seen sitting on the pony wearing a lace top and carrying a whip. At one point, when it buckles under her weight, she continues to sit on it, smoking a cigarette."
• Dead obese woman's fat sets crematorium building on fire

Food Insecurity

• Meat groups sue USDA over meat labeling rule—"Requiring meat labels to have more details about a product's origins is too costly and serves no public health or safety benefit, industry groups said Tuesday in announcing a lawsuit against U.S. Department of Agriculture over new labeling rules."
• Hey Mom and Dad, what is in that burger?
• That's not natural or organic: How Big Food misleads Salon

India

• 22 Children Die After Eating School Lunch In India
• WHO had asked India to ban toxin that killed kids
• Why India's school meal deaths are a terrible tragedy
• Officers hunt down headmistress after Indian school poisoning
• In related news: Man attempts to kill 50 students mixing poison in their meal in MP

China

• Police raids uncover packs of chicken feet from 1967
• Fearing contamination, Chinese pay more for imported infant goods
• Blast from the Past: Bad Eggs: Another Fake-Food Scandal Rocks China—"In the latest food scandal to emerge in China, customers are being duped by fake eggs made out of resin, starch and pigments."

Price Fixing

• Nestle and Danone to lower baby milk prices in China—"The move comes a day after China launched a probe into alleged price fixing by foreign infant milk makers."
• Hershey pays $4 mn fine for chocolate price-fixing
• Lebanon: Ministry seeks to thwart Ramadan price fixing

Bill of Health

• Why Is the United States So Sick?—"The director of a massive new study says: ' It's almost everything.'"
• Surgery required: Health care in America is ludicrously expensive
• American way of birth costliest in the world NYT
• Amid cuts, Maine hospitals still paying million dollar salaries—"Critics say medical facilities plead poverty and lay off workers but continue to compensate executives and surgeons with substantial payouts."
• Podiatrist John Lanham claims firm legal footing for bills—He is accused of deceiving patients on his status as a healthcare-certified provider.
• A hospital in Zimbabwe charged women $5 for each scream during childbirth

Big Pharma

• Obama Administration, Congress Intensify Opposition To Global Generic Drug Industry—"India's generic industry has... cut into profits for Pfizer and other U.S. and European drug companies." Doing Big Pharma's bidding.
• NHS hit for millions by overcharging 'scam'—"Drug companies exploit loophole in the law to hike prices by as much as 2,000 per cent."
• Chinese police say employees of drug maker GlaxoSmithKline bribed doctors, hospitals—Maybe just the tip of the iceberg (NYT).
• Doctors Without Borders: Global vaccines community must bring price of new vaccines down
• Supreme Court Rules Drug Companies Exempt from Lawsuits

Obamacare

• Krugman: Obamacare Is the Right's Worst Nightmare NYT
• Rollins: The GOP Is Terrified Obamacare Could Be a Success
• USA TODAY on GOP: Don't poison a law, then claim it's sick
• Are college students being overcharged on loans to pay for 'Obamacare'?
• Senate GOP's eleventh-hour turnabouts on Pa. budget—"In a dramatic twist in the battle over whether to extend coverage to about 600,000 lower-income Pennsylvanians, senators sent Gov. Corbett a bill stripped of language they had inserted five days earlier to expand Medicaid."
• On Obamacare, Republicans test the definition of insanity
• Proof Of Politics: Indiana Fudges Truth On Health Exchange Rates To Make Obamacare Look Bad
• After Losing Big on Senate Strategy, Ted Cruz Pledges to Shut Down the Government Unless Obamacare Is Defunded
• Appeals court tosses Liberty University challenge to Obamacare
• New Yorkers to see 50% drop in health insurance costs in Obamacare exchange

NHS Privatization

• While dubious mortality rates grab headlines, NHS privatisation gallops on—"The ferocity of the battle over 'dangerous' hospitals was not synthetic. The future of the NHS itself is under attack."
• David Cameron stepped up plans to sell off NHS after hiring aide with links to healthcare firms
• Mitt Romney's Old Firm Bain Capital Buys NHS Blood Service PRUK In £230m Deal

Health Scare

• Man dies from new coronavirus in UK
• Book raises alarms about alternative medicine
• Australian chief scientist: act now, or expect deadly 'post-antibiotics era'

Vax Populi

• Swansea measles epidemic: Worries over MMR uptake after outbreak—"Some parents are still ignoring the message to immunise their children against measles, an inquiry into the Swansea outbreak has heard."
• Brooklyn Measles Outbreak Shows How Dangerous Anti-Vaxxers Can Be
• Dear ABC: Putting Jenny McCarthy on "The View" will kill children—"Anti-vaccine conspiracist and 'View' co-host Jenny McCarthy isn't just quirky -- she spreads lies that hurt people." Salon

Progress

• Down Syndrome's Extra Chromosome Silenced in Lab Cells
• Bone marrow 'frees men of HIV drugs'
• Med students develop knife that can detect cancerous tissues within seconds