NSA Head: “no better way his agency can help protect the US from foreign threats”

NSA: No better way to protect US than surveillance

US National Security Agency (NSA) chief says he knows of no better way his agency can help protect the US from foreign threats than with spy programs that collect billions of phone and Internet records from around the world.

Pleading with the Senate Judiciary Committee to not abolish the NSA bulk-collection programs, Gen. Keith Alexander said Wednesday that global threats are growing — specifically in Iraq and Syria — that pose what he called “an unacceptable risk” to America.

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Alexander said the NSA is open to talking to technology companies for a better solution without compromising security.

Really??

I will quote tennis great John McEnroe – “You can’t be serious!”

I guess it is easier to assume every is guilty first and get everyone’s info than to do investigative work first, get approvals to search certain people’s data, and so on.

Stricter Rules of Engagement Leads to Spike in Troop Deaths in Afghanistan

Shades of Vietnam: Spike in U.S. troop deaths tied to stricter rules of engagement

The number of U.S. battlefield fatalities exceeded the rate at which troop strength surged in 2009 and 2010, prompting national security analysts to assert that coinciding stricter rules of engagement led to more deaths.

A connection between the sharp increase in American deaths and restrictive rules of engagement is difficult to confirm. More deaths surely stemmed from ramped-up counterterrorism raids and the Taliban’s response with more homemade bombs, the No. 1 killer of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

But it is clear that the rules of engagement, which restrain troops from firing in order to spare civilian casualties, cut back on airstrikes and artillery strikes — the types of support that protect troops during raids and ambushes.

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“It is no accident nor a coincidence that from January 2009 to August of 2010, coinciding with the Obama/McChrystal radical change of the [rules of engagement], casualties more than doubled,” Mr. Simmons said. “The carnage will certainly continue as the already fragile and ineffective [rules] have been further weakened by the Obama administration as if they were playground rules.”

If you read the article, it describes a battle where a captain had to request headquarters to approve an attack on a building, and were repeatedly denied.

Former ArmyCapt. William Swenson, who last month pinned on the Medal of Honor, repeatedly called headquarters to request airstrikes but was denied for hours, as more than 150 Taliban fighters surrounded and attacked his position.

I know it’s the humane thing to do to save lives – but when you are in a war, humane goes out the window and it gets ugly and people not involved get hurt. The enemy needs to be defeated ASAP in a war. I guarantee you if our middle easterners hiding out in the country attack, they will not be worried about saving civilians and performing targeted strikes.

Of course the next line would be – we don’t want to be like those savages. Let me put it this way. I bet those in the WTC 12 years ago would have something to say about our soft war approach.

Mandela Memorial Features Fake Sign Language Interpreter

Nelson Mandela memorial sign language interpreter was a ‘fake’

Ingrid Parkin, principal of the St. Vincent School for the Deaf in Johannesburg, said she has received complaints from the deaf community from Canada to China over his signing and described his movements as “like he’s signing gibberish.”

Braam Jordaan, a deaf South African and board member of the World Deaf Federation, also said he believed the interpreter was creating his own signs as he went along.

He joined others who have taken to Twitter to claim the interpreter was not using a recognised South African sign language.

Mr Jordaan told the SBS news website: “I was really upset and humiliated. He made up his own signs.

“What happened at the memorial service is truly disgraceful thing to see – it should not happen at all.

“What happened today will be forever aligned with Nelson Mandela & Deaf Community, thanks to this fake interpreter.”

What kind of people do stuff like this? They couldn’t get an expert to do this? This is Mandela, a worldwide figure – and they put this fake up for the world to see. Amazing….

Google, Apple, Microsoft Now Whining About Government Snooping

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Google, Apple, and Microsoft Agree: NSA Spying Undermines Freedom

In an open letter to President Obama and Congress, eight of the most prominent U.S. tech companies have demanded that strict new limits be put on government surveillance, citing revelations made earlier this summer, when stories based Edward Snowden’s leaked documents began running in The Guardian. “The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual,” they argue, “rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for a change.”

It was voluntary cooperation on their part that started this mess, now they don’t like it – probably because somewhere, they see the economic ramifications for themselves.

Collectively they had the power to stand up to the government – but chose not to do so. They are willing participants.

Some Fast Food Workers Strike For Higher Wages

Fast-food strikes return amid push for wage hikes

Fast-food workers and labor organizers are marching, waving signs and chanting in cities across the country Thursday amid a push for higher wages.

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The industry competes aggressively on value offerings and companies have warned that they would need to raise prices if wages were hiked. Most fast-food locations are also owned and operated by franchisees, which lets companies such as McDonald’s Corp., Burger King Worldwide Inc. and Yum Brands Inc. say that they don’t control worker pay.

Fast-food workers have historically been seen as difficult to unionize, given the industry’s high turnover rates. But the Service Employees International Union, which represents more than 2 million workers in health care, janitorial and other industries, has been providing considerable organizational and financial support to the push for higher pay over the past year.

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In a statement, McDonald’s said it respects the right to voice an opinion. But it also said that “outside groups are traveling to McDonald’s and other outlets to stage rallies.”

Nelson Mandela Dies at 95

Nelson Mandela dies

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the father of the nation, died on December 5 2013 at the age of 95.

President Jacob Zuma made the announcement from the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Thursday night. He said Mandela passed away at 20:50 in his Houghton home surrounded by his wife, Graça Machel and members of his family.

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Mandela became the symbol of the struggle against apartheid after he was convicted in the Rivonia Trial of charges of sabotage and was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island.

At the end of his trial, Mandela gave a now iconic speech in which he said: “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal, which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Mandela, a key figure in the African National Congress, who helped found the party’s youth league and armed wing,Umkhonto We Sizwe, was imprisoned for 27 years before he was finally released in 1990 at the age of 71.

Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, together with former president FW De Klerk, for the ‘peaceful termination of the apartheid regime and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa”. A year later, he was elected president in the country’s first democratic election.

He stepped down from the presidency in 1999 after one term in office but continued with a busy public schedule. He brokered negotiations for peace in Rwanda, established the Mandela-Rhodes Foundation for educational scholarship, and launched the 46664 Aids fundraising foundation.

Because of Buggy Software, ObamaCare Enrollees May Not Be Enrolled

Nasty Surprise May Await People Who Thought They Enrolled In Obamacare

Unresolved technical problems on HealthCare.gov could lead to a rude surprise at the doctor’s office next month for patients who think they successfully used the website to sign up for health insurance. They may find they’re not insured after all.

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…insurance companies are still getting information on their would-be customers that is garbled and incomplete, and in some cases they are getting no information at all. President Barack Obama’s administration is scrambling to repair the faulty system, but scant time remains until the Dec. 23 deadline for consumers to choose a health plan that will be in place Jan. 1.

The result could be an untold number of consumers remaining uninsured despite completing the enrollment process — another embarrassing chapter in the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature health care reform law.

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“If consumers are not sure if they are enrolled, they should call our customer call center or the insurer of their choice so that they can be sure they’re covered by Jan. 1,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday.

This is crazy.

California State Senator Accused of Bribery, Office Raided by FBI

FBI bribery probe at California statehouse roils Democratic ranks ahead of 2014 elections

The federal investigation of a powerful California Democratic senator has roiled the state capital with accusations involving bribery, Hollywood and FBI dirty tricks that threaten to impact next year’s elections.

The six-year-long investigation was made public in June when FBI agents raided the offices of Sen. Ron Calderon.

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Calderon was in fact targeted for taking $88,000 in bribes — $28,000 from a Long Beach hospital executive and $60,000 from a FBI agent posing as a Los Angeles movie executive — in exchange for supporting favorable legislation, according to a FBI affidavit obtained by Al Jazeera America and made public in October.

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Calderon attorney Mark Geragos argues in the 161-page document that the agency “engaged in a campaign to smear the reputation of Sen. Calderon and convict him in the press and public.” However, it doesn’t appear to provide specific evidence to support the claim.

U.S. State Dept. Spends $180,000 on Booze Before End of Fiscal Year

Running up the tab: State Dept. bought $180,000 in liquor before shutdown

In September, the final month of the fiscal year, the State Department spent about $180,000 — and racked up a total of more than $400,000 for the whole year, three times the entire liquor tab for all of 2008.

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U.S. embassies have long served alcohol at diplomatic events under Democratic and Republican administrations alike — and in good economic times as well as bad.

But the booze bill has risen sharply each year since 2008,…

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The department went on a buying binge just before the partial federal government shutdown and in the final days of the fiscal year, when many federal agencies try to spend all of the money in their budgets or risk exposing areas for congressional cuts.

“This is what taxpayers don’t understand,” Mr. Williams said. “You have a looming government shutdown but then you have a ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ mentality where someone is spending tens of thousands of dollars because they have to.

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Not all embassies opted for booze as a diplomatic gesture. The embassy in Athens spent $7,300 on books by photographer Ansel Adams for Christmas gratuities, while the Tokyo embassy spent more than $50,000 on boxes of chocolates for holiday gratuities, records show. Then again, the Tokyo embassy also spent more than $22,000 on wine about a week before the shutdown began.

I underlined a section of text above. Taxpayers understand it – and it doesn’t make sense to continually spend money you don’t have – simply because you won’t get more. It’s government that doesn’t get it.

U.S. Government Spends $1 Million on Sculpture Before End of Fiscal Year

State Department Buys Million Dollar Granite Sculpture from Irish-Born Artist

At the end of September, the federal government’s fiscal year was drawing to a close, the threat of a shut down was increasing, and the State Department was shopping for art. Four contracts were awarded in the last two weeks of September, including $1,000,000 for a granite sculpture by Irish-born artist Sean Scully to be installed at the new U.S. Embassy in London.

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The State Department’s 2013 budget request included $2.5M for the Art in Embassies program.

This is what the government does despite being $17 trillion + in debt.

FBO: Granite Scuplture by Sean Scully

Investigation: Train Engineer Feel Asleep Before Derailment

Metro-North Engineer Was Dozing Just Before Train Derailment, Sources Say

Investigators believe the motorman at the controls in the deadly Metro-North Railroad derailment in the Bronx Sunday dozed off for a few fateful moments and woke up too late to stop the speeding train from hurtling off the tracks, DNAinfo New York has learned.

Veteran engineer William Rockefeller all but admitted he was falling asleep as the train came roaring to a curved section of track north of Spuyten Duyvil in statements made shortly after four people were killed and dozens were injured in the wreck, sources said.

He apparently woke up just as the train, traveling at 82 mph, was heading into a precarious curve that called for the train’s speed to be reduced to just 30 mph.

As the train entered the curve, sources said, Rockefeller was jolted from his sleep and hit the brake, but not in time.

Oops…

 

Original story here…

 

U.S. Military Halts Cargo Shipments Through Main Border Crossing

U.S. military halts cargo shipments out of Afghanistan

The U.S. military, facing continuing protests over drone strikes, has halted military cargo shipments from Afghanistan, citing a potential risk to drivers and contractors along the route once it enters Pakistan.

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Halted operations through the Torkham Gate border crossing impacts more than half of all military shipments out of the war zone each month as American involvement in the war winds down.

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The decision also comes as the United States is trying to get Afghanistan to sign an agreement to keep some U.S. troops in the country after 2014. But the majority of the gear for the 47,000 troops still in Afghanistan will have to be brought out.

Man Survives Three Days at the Bottom of the Atlantic Ocean

Apparently this happened in May, but the story is slowly circulating.

Man survives 3 days at bottom of Atlantic

Entombed at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in an upended tugboat for three days, Harrison Odjegba Okene begged God for a miracle.

The Nigerian cook survived by breathing an ever-dwindling supply of oxygen in an air pocket.

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As the temperature dropped to freezing, Okene, dressed only in boxer shorts, recited the last psalm his wife had sent by text message, sometimes called the Prayer for Deliverance: “Oh God, by your name, save me. … The Lord sustains my life.”

To this day, Okene believes his rescue after 72 hours underwater at a depth of 30 meters (about 100 feet) is a sign of divine deliverance. The other 11 seaman aboard the Jascon 4 died.

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According to his interview with the Nation: “I started calling on the name of God. … I started reminiscing on the verses I read before I slept. I read the Bible from Psalm 54 to 92. My wife had sent me the verses to read that night when she called me before I went to bed.”

He survived off just one bottle of Coke, all he had to sustain him during the trauma.

Okene really thought he was going to die, he told the Nation, when he heard the sound of a boat engine and anchor dropping, but failed to get the attention of rescuers. He figured, given the size of the boat, that it would take a miracle for a diver to locate him. So he waded across the cabin, stripped the wall down to its steel body, then knocked on it with a hammer.

But “I heard them moving away. They were far away from where I was.”

By the time he was saved, relatives already had been told the sailors were dead.

Okene kept faith with the psalm he recited, that promises to “give thanks in your name, Lord,” at a service at his Redeemed Christian Church of God.

The diving crew was looking for dead bodies. They had found four already. It freaked them out when they grabbed for the guy’s hand, and it grabbed back.

Video is here of the rescue.
Raw: Divers Find Man Alive in Sunken Tugboat

Dead Mice Stuffed With Poison Air-Dropped on Guam… Why?

Mice dropped on Guam: Dead mice, stuffed with poison, to be air-dropped on Guam

Approximately 2,000 of the toxic mice were dropped on Guam to control an overpopulation of the deadly snakes. Each mouse had about 80 milligrams of acetaminophen, poisonous to the snakes.

The cost? A cool $8 million.

Officials in Guam say the cost is worth paying for however, as island residents are constantly battling the nearly two million brown tree snakes that infest the country. Although no humans have been killed, the island’s ecosystem has been negatively impacted as multiple species have become extinct because of the snakes.

Damage by the snakes to Guam’s Power Authority is also a severe problem. Power officials have placed multiple traps along substation fences, and estimate they have caught and killed over 8,000 snakes every year. Still, the snakes make their way into the station and cause havoc.

Wow – you don’t see this everyday. $8 Million…

Audit Finds IRS Needs Changes to Avoid Tax Credit Fraud

IRS Needs Changes to Avoid Health Law Fraud, Audit Says

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service needs to make changes to prevent fraud and improve security in systems it is building to deliver health insurance subsidies, according to an audit by the tax agency’s inspector general.

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The audit found that “critical” pieces in security controls failed during testing and anti-fraud programs are still being developed.

The report is here.
Affordable Care Act: Improvements Are Needed to Strengthen Systems Development Controls for the Premium Tax Credit Project

Judge Says Detroit Can Proceed With Chapter 9 Bankruptcy

Judge: Detroit Eligible for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Detroit can use bankruptcy to cut employee pensions and relieve itself of other crushing debts, handing a defeat to the city’s unions and retirees and shifting the case into a delicate new phase.

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The decision set the stage for officials to confront $18 billion in debt with a plan that might pay creditors just pennies on the dollar and is sure to include touchy negotiations over the pensions of about 23,000 retirees and 9,000 workers. Orr says pension funds are short by $3.5 billion.

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Minutes after the ruling, a union lawyer said she would appeal. City officials got “absolutely everything” in Rhodes’ decision, she told reporters.

“It’s a huge loss for the city of Detroit,” said Sharon Levine, an attorney for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents half of city workers.

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Detroit, a manufacturing hub that offered well-paying blue-collar jobs, peaked at 1.8 million residents in 1950 but has lost more than a million people since then. With more square mileage than Manhattan, Boston and San Francisco combined, the city does not have enough tax revenue to reliably cover pensions, retiree health insurance and buckets of debt sold to keep the budget afloat.

ObamaCare Sticker Shock for Akron Woman

Obamacare insurance website up and running, gives sticker shock to Akron shopper

An estimated 800,000 people visited the new and improved http://www.healthcare.gov Monday to shop for affordable health insurance. But what one Akron woman got was a bad case of sticker shock.

“I thought it was supposed to help us,” Liz Binns said in frustration. “I can’t afford it. I cannot afford it.”

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What she finally found for him Monday carries a premium of more than $400 a month and a $5,000 annual deductible.

“How can I pay this kind of money out?” she asked. “It’s going to take at least a second job and praying that I would make enough on a second job just to pay for this health insurance.”

I believe that the PPACA legislation is not here to make health care better. It would be nice if it did, but it won’t. President Obama has to know that many people will not be able to afford these rates – yet, this is what they put out there.

ObamaCare Software Summary

Good summary of the PPACA (ObamaCare) history since its rollout on October 1st.

Inside the Race to Rescue a Health Care Site, and Obama

Transgendered Student Leader Caught Leaving Hate Messages

Shocking discovery in hoax bias incident at Vassar College

Reports of bias incidents at Vassar College that involved hateful messages left on students’ doors were actually elaborate hoaxes — and the perpetrator is none other than the student member of the Bias Incident Response Team, The Daily Caller has learned.

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On Nov. 14, the college sent a mass email to students advising them that Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT) had received at least six reports in the last few months of hateful and insensitive messages being scrawled and spray painted on student residences.

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The task force had one student member: Genesis Hernandez, who is transgendered and was also a vice president of the Vassar Student Association (VSA), the student government.

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Informed sources within Vassar told The DC that administrators pinpointed Hernandez as a responsible party, forcing him to give up his position in student government and leave the college. Leaked conversations between student government members also paint Hernandez as the culprit.

Creating crimes to validate one’s importance and necessity. I think there’s nothing to add here.

Puerto Rico Confronting Debt, Stagnant Economy

Puerto Rico, with at least $70 billion in debt, confronts a rising economic misery

The economy here has been in recession for nearly eight years, crimping tax revenue and pushing the jobless rate to nearly 15 percent. Meanwhile, the government is burdened by staggering debt, spawning comparisons to bankrupt Detroit and forcing lawmakers to severely slash pensions, cut government jobs and raise taxes in a furious effort to avert default.

The implications are serious for Americans outside Puerto Rico both because a taxpayer bailout would be expensive and a default would be far more disruptive than Detroit’s record bankruptcy filing in July.

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Puerto Rico lost 54,000 residents — 1.5 percent of its population — between 2010 and 2012 alone. Since recession struck in 2006, the population has shrunk by more than 138,000 to 3.7 million, with the vast majority of the outflow headed to the mainland.

The brutal combination of a long recession, a shrinking population and overwhelming debt has left Puerto Rico’s political leaders struggling to manage a conundrum: How do they tame at least $70 billion in debt while marshaling the resources to grow a shrinking economy and battle corrosive social problems, including a homicide rate that is nearly six times the U.S. average?

Here’s some of what they are doing…

• enacted $1.3 billion in taxes including increased corporate taxes, a broadened sales tax and a new gross receipts levy.
• so far 10% of the government workforce has been cut
• underfunded pensions are being shifted to a 401k style of retirement for government workers
• the retirement ages has been raised
• tax incentives and offered electricity credits to entice firms that might be discouraged by Puerto Rico’s electricity costs

Interesting tactic of increasing corporate taxes while at the same time offering tax credits.  What they need is moving that is moving through the system.  Just cut corporate taxes and get businesses over there and functioning.   Only 41% of the working population is working or looking for work.  They need to increase the base of people working and paying taxes.

65 Car Pileup in Massachusetts

Icy roads cause 65-car pileup in Massachusetts

Freezing rain was blamed for highway pileups that sent dozens of people to the hospital Sunday morning in central and northern Massachusetts.

Massachusetts State Police say a crash involving 65 cars and three tractor-trailers closed Interstate 290 in Worcester at about 7 a.m. About 35 to 40 people were taken to local hospitals. Two were seriously injured.

MIT Announces Progress in Making An Oral Substitute for Injected Drugs

Pills of the future: nanoparticles

Drugs delivered by nanoparticles hold promise for targeted treatment of many diseases, including cancer. However, the particles have to be injected into patients, which has limited their usefulness so far.

Now, researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have developed a new type of nanoparticle that can be delivered orally and absorbed through the digestive tract, allowing patients to simply take a pill instead of receiving injections.

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This type of drug delivery could be especially useful in developing new treatments for conditions such as high cholesterol or arthritis. Patients with those diseases would be much more likely to take pills regularly than to make frequent visits to a doctor’s office to receive nanoparticle injections, say the researchers.

Good stuff if they can make this mainstream and cost-effective.

Metro Train Derails in the Bronx – 4 Dead

4 dead, 63 injured after NYC-bound Metro-North passenger train derails in Bronx

A Metro-North train whipped around a sharp turn in the Bronx on Sunday morning just before a deadly derailment that killed four, injured dozens and tossed passengers around like rag dolls.

The engineer at the controls of the train headed toward Grand Central Terminal told supervisors that he tried to apply the brakes, a source told the Daily News. But the train didn’t slow down as it took the curve just north of the Spuyten Duyvil station at about 7:20 a.m.

Hate to see stuff like this.