Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 2:31:44 pm
Rarely do I laugh out loud while reading something on the Internet, but this latest piece from Guardian writer Luke Harding, author of the Guardian's book on Edward Snowden, provoked a genuine lolwut out of me: Writing the Snowden Files: 'The Paragraph Began to Self-Delete'. I was writing a chapter ...

Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 1:47:12 pm
Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com Nebraska Judge Stephanie F. Stacy has struck down a law that allowed the state government to approve the route of the Keystone XL pipeline and seize property for it through eminent domain, because it violates the state's constitution: Nebraska Judge Strikes Down Legislature's Move Allowing Keystone XL ...

Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 6:14:40 pm
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper tells the Daily Beast's Eli Lake that he realizes they should have come clean from the start about the NSA's metadata collection programs. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, Clapper said the problems facing the U.S. intelligence community over its collection of ...

Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 11:04:55 am
Turns out that the George Polk Award is given out by Long Island University which is also home to the Homeland Security Management Institute. Polk Award page at Long Island University: The George Polk Awards are conferred annually to honor special achievement in journalism. They were established by Long Island University ...

Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 7:36:45 am
Today was the launch of Glenn Greenwald's much-ballyhooed news website, the one that eBay founder Pierre Omidyar has pledged $250 million toward, to help build a new media empire. And it fumbled its launch. These jokers got $50 million to start with (source: ibtimes.com), and what web application do they use? Something ...

Sun, Feb 2, 2014 at 9:51:52 am
Alexander wanted to use the NSA's powerful tools to scan Internet traffic for malicious software code. He said the NSA could kill the viruses and other digital threats without reading consumers' private emails, texts and Web searches. The NSA normally protects military and other national security computer networks. Alexander also ...

Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 6:42:25 pm
Parking lot of the American International School of Kabul (AISK). The school no longer exists, although alumni stay in touch through Facebook and hold reunions every few years at different cities around the U.S. The next reunion will be held in Boston in 2013. "AISK's last year was 1979, so ...

Sat, Jan 18, 2014 at 10:49:09 am
But American reporters are curious: if US Christian Zionists, who have significant overlap with the US anti-choice movement, love Israel so much, shouldn't they be up in arms about the country adopting one of the world's most expansive abortion policies? The Daily Beast's Jonathan Krohn set out to find ...

Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 9:40:30 am
Here's the complete speech on proposed NSA reforms given by President Obama today, for the record. As Prepared for Delivery - At the dawn of our Republic, a small, secret surveillance committee born out of the "The Sons of Liberty" was established in Boston. The group's members included Paul Revere, and at ...

Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 10:48:55 am
Erick Bennett, a conservative challenger to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) who was convicted of assaulting his wife in 2003, argued that his continued denial of the charge shows his political integrity. "The fact that I have been jailed repeatedly for not agreeing to admit to something I didn't do should ...

Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 1:57:52 pm
Michael Scheuer is a world class wingnut, and it's on full display in the article Media Matters linked to below. Days after he wrote a column endorsing the assassination of President Obama, Fox hosted Michael Scheuer to accuse Hillary Clinton of effectively murdering the Americans who died during the 2012 ...

Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 12:57:54 pm
A Daily Beast article by Gordon Chang has some explosive allegations about Edward Snowden's possible connections to Chinese intelligence: Snowden Lied About China Contacts. "I have had no contact with the Chinese government," Snowden wrote in a Q&A on the Guardian website while taking refuge in Hong Kong in June. ...

Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 10:52:14 am
David Brook's latest column about marijuana has released the snark from all corners of the Internets: wow did everyone see david brooks op ed in the new york times today pic.twitter.com/mJW5T3tlr7 — L ? O ? (@leyawn) January 3, 2014 Vanity Fair also takes a swing: For a little while in my ...

Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 9:12:15 pm
I was just skimming Bart Gellman's Snowden interview again and something caught my eye: Some news accounts have quoted U.S. government officials as saying Snowden has arranged for the automated release of sensitive documents if he is arrested or harmed. There are strong reasons to doubt that, beginning with Snowden's ...

Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 10:12:06 am
Media Research Center is 'America's Media Watchdog,' a right wing propaganda outlet that calls itself 'The Leader in Documenting, Exposing and Neutralizing Liberal Media Bias.' Of course they don't tell you that by 'neutralizing' they mean putting out alternate and in most ways much worse propaganda than what they perceive ...

Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 12:14:58 pm
The story, by Caroline May, is about a Gallup survey which revealed that Americans ate less healthy this year than they did last year: Despite first lady Michelle Obama's healthy living push, American eating habits deteriorated in the first 10 months of 2013, compared with 2012, according to a recent ...

Wed, Nov 27, 2013 at 5:06:43 pm
Political map of Africa (2012) courtesy of UT Perry-Castañeda LibraryYes, Angola again. I know you might be tired of hearing about it by now, but I despise yellow journalism, so I tend to be like a dog with a bone when ridiculous fake stories make the rounds on the internet. ...

Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 6:11:58 pm
I'll forego the temptation to say "what took you so long:" Google's Eric Schmidt Announces New Blocks on Child Porn. Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt has outlined how his company is introducing new measures to block child pornography from appearing in its searches. Schmidt explained the changes to Google's search ...

Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 5:13:54 pm
Vimeo This is a great little video, making an important point about our irrationality on privacy, in a world where Google, Facebook, Linkedin and many other large corporations know far more about each one of us than the NSA could ever dream of. We are the Transparent Machines™ | ...

Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 11:03:32 am
Already shaping up to be one of the closest races in state history, a last-minute rule change is stirring up the recount to decide who will become Virginia's next attorney general. The Daily Press of Newport News, Va. reported Friday that Republican candidate Mark Obenshain had an unofficial lead of ...

Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 10:31:55 am
Former NSA super-villain John Schindler notes a new report in German daily Die Welt in which a senior German intelligence official concludes that the Snowden circus is being stage-managed by Russian intelligence. The recent Moscow visit of the leftist Green Party parliamentarian Hans-Christian Ströbele with Snowden caused a global sensation. ...

Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 10:14:53 am
For your perusal: a thin film of anecdote married to a standard derp armature of fake quotes, and argument from questionable authority: Suzanne Somers: The Affordable Care Act Is a Socialist Ponzi Scheme. My sister-in-law had to wait two months to get a General Practitioner. During this period she spent ...

Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 5:26:50 pm
YouTube Birther alert! North Carolina state Rep. Larry Pittman (R), speaking to a friendly crowd in Concord on Monday, joked that President Obama hasn't done anything to harm his native country -- Kenya. "Someone had posted something [on Facebook] with a picture of Barack Obama and across it said 'traitor,' " ...

Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 11:41:40 am
Video Appearing on Asheville radio station WWNC Thursday, Yelton accused the show of taking his comment out of context with a cut-and-paste editing job. "They created an illusion that I was just personally had an agenda against the blacks, tried to make it talking about racism rather than the real issue ...

Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 3:40:17 pm
Video North Carolina Republican Party precinct chairman Don Yelton was asked to resign today, following his appearance on the Daily Show last night, and you'll see why. Comedy Central