MetaFilter posts tagged with newsfilter

US Military Cuts And A Step Towards Equality

zarq — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:00:55 -0800

Yesterday, US President Obama signed a $680bn military policy bill, which cuts military spending, including $2bn in funding for new F-22 fighter jets. However, the bill also contained the first major piece of federal gay rights legislation, and fulfilled an Obama campaign promise: acts of violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have now been added to the list of federal hate crimes.

Fox "upset-the-White-House-won't-call-it" News

ADoubtfulTrout — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:34:57 -0800

Fox News's bent on the news is well known, but recently the White House has begun actively excluding the network, including skipping Fox's Chris Wallace on a recent round of Sunday morning news shows. “We simply decided to stop abiding by the fiction ... that Fox is a traditional news organization.” says White House Depty Communications Director Pfeiffer (as has Press Secretary Gibbs and others). The responses range from concern about an attempt to control the media to a feeling that it's about time. Is it just about Fox's anti-Obama pundits, or is it also about Fox's consistent errors and misinformed viewership? Or is the White House attempting containment so that Fox's ratings-gold style and ideas don't take over the rest of the press?

Skull thought to be Hitler's is female

Plutor — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:13:57 -0800

Lending credence to conspiracy theorists everywhere, the skull fragment previously believed to have belonged to Adolf Hilter has been identified as female by DNA tests.

Threat Level Elevated

saulgoodman — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:36:19 -0800

US News reports that in a new tell-all book, Tom Ridge admits manipulating terror threat levels for political motives. In the forthcoming book, Ridge reportedly acknowledges for the first time that he was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush's re-election, something he "saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over." But as The Atlantic points out, Ridge apparently gave in to the White House demands anyway, resigning only after the election. Huffington Post also provides additional discussion on this developing story.

Bill Clinton to the rescue

CunningLinguist — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:08:34 -0800

Bill Clinton makes secret trip to North Korea, wins pardon and apparent release of two captive US journalists. Jailed reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, employees of Al Gore's Current TV, were arrested for spying in March and had recently been sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp. The remarkable development is likely to boost to Clinton's battered image. The surprisingly swift resolution of the secret mission made a monkey of some prominent Obama administration critics.

You Break It, You Bought It, America

saulgoodman — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:58:48 -0800

In his latest national security speech, President Obama unequivocally reaffirms his commitment to closing GITMO. President Obama's strong statements reaffirming his administration's commitment to cleaning up the legal and ethical mess the Bush administration left behind comes just after congressional Democrats recently saw fit to capitulate to the Republican minority by defunding President Obama's efforts to close GITMO, ostensibly to ensure that President Obama proceeds prudently and avoids setting the terrorists loose on America's strip malls. But others interpret these latest maneuvers from the "weak-kneed" congressional Dems as reflecting a sudden acute case of the political jitters, pointing out that, despite all the fearful talk of the imminent dangers of possible terrorists being held and tried on American soil, it's not as though we haven't done it before. Some interesting comments and observations from a Justice Department insider, not only on the subject of Guantanamo, but also on the possibility of future Bush administration prosecutions here.

Hey Brother Can You Spare Some Change I Can Believe In?

saulgoodman — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:16:54 -0800

President Obama has announced he will seek broad new authority to regulate the financial derivatives markets. As has been discussed many times previously here on the blue, the massive unregulated financial derivatives markets (estimated to be in excess of hundreds of trillions of dollars in overall scale) have been one of the major contributing and complicating factors in the current global financial crisis. Warren Buffet once famously described derivatives as "Weapons of Financial Mass Destruction." And more recently, even stalwart anti-regulation crusader Allen Greenspan has had a change of heart, conceding that he was mistaken to oppose tighter regulation of the derivatives markets. So the real question now becomes: With an emerging consensus and executive support on the side of these reforms, will congress finally be able to get the job done?

"Can you really knock off someone's socks?"

zarq — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:01:58 -0800

KaBOOM! This past Friday, the MythBusters exploded 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate (25% of the same material used in the Oklahoma City bombing,) at a rock quarry in Yolo County, CA for an upcoming episode. But the explosion was apparently a wee bit bigger than they expected. It shattered windows in nearby Esparto and was large enough to be picked up as a "small event" ground tremor by National Geographical Survey sensors. Which myth were they busting, you ask? They wanted to answer the question: Can you really knock off someone's socks? :)

Can Vegetarians Still Eat the Rich?

saulgoodman — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:42:56 -0800

Newsweek discusses Obama's "War on the Rich," a timely story, considering Bloomberg's recent christening of the "Obama Bear Market." And on a tangential note, TPM points out that those bankruptcy law reforms enacted under the Bush administration specifically included new provisions aggressively lobbied for by the "International Swaps and Derivatives Association," which were designed to protect the derivatives and swap industries. Yet another example of good timing. Meanwhile, something smells foul at Merrill Lynch.

Green Grow the Rushes Go

saulgoodman — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:16:32 -0800

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is signalling that marijuana policy will now be considered a matter of state jurisdiction. For obvious reasons, medical marijuana champions are celebrating the administration's committment to depart from the Bush and Clinton eras' previous policies of conducting frequent DEA Raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in California. But with recent signs of a U.S. economy in even more rapid decline than anyone anticipated, and with California being particularly hard hit, some California politicians are suggesting the time has finally arrived to end the prohibition and put full legalization of marijuana on the table, pointing to potential windfalls in the range of a billion dollars in new tax revenue annually. Presumably, one could also expect to see a significant boon in California's tourism industry.

Crazy Bout A Mercury

saulgoodman — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:27:54 -0800

Obama reverses Bush administration on mercury pollution standards. With all the focus understandably being on the global financial crisis lately, it can be easy to forget that President Obama has other problems to contend with. But then, as other's are quick to point out, the unfortunate thing is it's all interrelated. (Newsfilter) In light of recent news about mercury being detected in the ubiquitous and controversial processed food product high-fructose corn syrup--not to mention those skeptically received accounts of actor Jeremy Pivens' mercury-related health woes--this new policy step seems especially timely.

"Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government."

saulgoodman — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:46:49 -0800

In yet another case of possible criminality within The Company ranks, the CIA's station chief in Algeria is facing investigation for sexual assualt, accused of having drugged and sexually assaulted at least two Algerian women. Though recent events have raised doubts about the prosecution of other possible crimes at the CIA, this case may actually lead to an eventual conviction. After all, he made tapes.

What's going on at Circuit City?

hypersloth — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:39:06 -0800

Circuit City: Founded in 1949 as the Wards Company, Circuit City is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. At the time of the liquidation announcement (January 16, 2009), the company operated 567 stores in 153 media. Ok bai.

Windshield Imploded, Military Intercept, Cockpit Empty and Dark over Florida Skies

exogenous — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:07:42 -0800

A pilot who apparently faked a distress call and bailed out of his Piper Malibu is now on the run. The pilot and his company, Heritage Wealth Management, were recently sued. Is this another DB Cooper?

Riding the Indian Tiger

the cydonian — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:57:08 -0800

Maximum Fraud: Ramalinga Raju, the Chairman of India's fourth largest exporter of IT services, Satyam Computer Services has admitted to falsifying records of at least five thousand crore rupees. Indian regulators are horrified, competitors shocked, chaos has ensued. Satyam was audited by PriceWater Coopers. Since the company's stock is traded on NASDAQ and Euronext, there are judicial consequences in the US and Europe as well, in addition to a possible jail term in India. This admission comes in the wake of an aborted deal for two infrastructure-related companies owned by the chairman's family, a public censure from the World Bank (with possible corruption) and a $1.6 billion lawsuit.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapses during speech

Bonzai — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:53:16 -0800

Attorney General Michael Mukasey was giving a speech tonight at the Federalist Society meeting tonight when he collapsed on stage. Talking Points Memo has a report from an eyewitness. The TPM article goes into detail about the contents of the speech before he collapsed. Apparently he was defending the administrations use of torture and why there shouldn't be prosecutions of officials who approved it.

Hillary Clinton to accept Obama's offer of secretary of state job

defenestration — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:50:05 -0800

Hillary Clinton plans to accept the job of secretary of state offered by Barack Obama, who is reaching out to former rivals to build a broad coalition administration, the Guardian has learned.

Anthrax suspect kills himself ahead of arrest

CunningLinguist — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:22:01 -0800

Breaking anthrax attacks update: A new suspect, a US goverment expert on anthrax, kills himself as he's about to be arrested. Bruce Ivins helped analyze the killer powder sent by mail in 2001 that killed five people and freaked out the US right after 9/11. The govt paid out $5.82 million just last month to former govt scientist Steven Hatfill for wrongly targeting him in the investigation.

Good dance moves for two right feet

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:43:51 -0800

Obama votes to grant telecom companies immunity for illegal wiretapping and "refines" his stance against Iraq to consider indefinite, undefined or vaguely defined occupation. One remarks about Obama's recent move to the right with a new campaign logo. Obama denies any change in policy.

Nation Buys Porn With Stimulus Package (no, not from the Onion)

psmealey — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:58:49 -0800

Bush Stimulates The Porn Industry With His Economic Package When President Bush announced his economic stimulus in January, he bragged that his package was “large enough to have an impact" and would “boost” the economy. It sure has led to “higher consumer spending”, but not where Bush had probably hoped. The adult pornography industry reports that has seen a huge uptick in business thanks to Bush’s package. According to a press release from the Adult Internet Market Research Company. A case of tax relief translating into a venti latte with full release?

Goin' to the chapel and we're / Gonna get ma-ha-harried!

Faint of Butt — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:41:00 -0800

NewsFilter: The California Supreme Court has just overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriages. Read the decision.

Impermafrost

[expletive deleted] — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:02:52 -0800

"We badly underestimated the degree of damages and the risks of climate change," said Lord Stern in a speech in London yesterday. "All of the links in the chain are on average worse than we thought (pdf) a couple of years ago." NOAA data has revealed that this past march is the 2nd warmest on record, and the warmest on record for both land and the Northern Hemisphere. The most severe and alarming temperature anomaly is in Russia, China and Central Asia, especially East Siberia and the Amur region. Last summer, the East Siberian Sea was the epicenter of the unprecedented Arctic sea ice melt. This year may be little different. Also of significant concern are positive feedbacks from methane released by melting permafrost and possibly clathrate release from the seabed in the same region. The recent fires in Amur Oblast, which was almost 5C warmer than the the 1961-1990 average this March, may also be related to this, and is another example of the kind of positive feedbacks many climate scientists (and Lord Stern) are concerned about.

Remember Total Information Awareness?

[expletive deleted] — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:35:14 -0800

Two years ago, then NSA-chief Gen. Michael Hayden said its domestic surveillance program was "not a driftnet over Lackawanna or Fremont or Dearborn, grabbing all communications and then sifting them out." Today, a story in the Wall Street Journal alleges this is precisely what is happening. Total Information Awareness seems to not have died, but to have just been quietly absorbed into the NSA's already extensive surveillance apparatus, all without the hassle of any kind of transparency or oversight.

A New Age of Sail?

[expletive deleted] — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:55:33 -0800

Some time this month, French wine will once again be transported by sail. As the Guardian reports today, French vineyards concerned about climate change are about to make life much easier for oenophiles wishing to reduce their carbon footprint. Later this month, the Belem, a 19th century barque will sail from Languedoc to Dublin with 60,000 bottles of Bordeaux. In other cargo-sail news, DHL and SkySails recently announced the first commercial shipment to use a towing kite to reduce carbon emissions. Pictures of the MS Beluga Skysails underway can be found here. Shipping cargo by sail and SkySails previously on AskMe and on the Blue.

Senate Votes for Retroactive immunity

delmoi — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:02:14 -0800

Senate votes for retroactive telecom immunity 67 senators voted against the Dodd/Feingold amendment to strip telecom immunity from the Protect America Act. It still needs to be pass the house. The Democrats voting against the amendment to strip immunity (and therefore maintain the current liability) were: Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Evan Bayh (D-IA), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Tom Carper (D-DE), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jim Webb (D-VA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). Hillary Clinton was the only Democrat not voting today.