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kpete
kpete's Journal
kpete's Journal
April 17, 2014
"No Harm, No Fowl" (Vegetarians will love this toon)
No animals were harmed in the making of this toon:
?1397686319
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/17/1292581/-Cartoon-No-animals-were-harmed
April 17, 2014
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04/pulitzer-prize-edward-snowden-105682.html?hp=t1
Huh? The stories for which these journalists won the Pulitzer weren't about Edward Snowden or his alleged crimes. They were about the NSA's secret activities. It's the NSA that is the hurricane or the murderer in his scenario. If the award vindicates Snowden (not its intent, but rather its effect) it's because without him there would be no story not because the stories were about him. What the hell is he going on about?
I guess it makes sense that this fellow would be hostile to the NSA story. After all, if someone hadn't leaked the Bybee memo, we might never have known about the torture regime. And it's obviously a good thing he was disgraced by the exposure of his sadistic view of American power to keep him off the bench. I feel kind of sorry for his students though.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/yoo-is-confused.html
Fuck Yoo!
Yoo is confused
by digby
So John Yoo is widely considered to be a brilliant legal mind?
John Yoo, a former deputy assistant attorney general and author of the 2002 memos advising the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques, said the Pulitzer committee’s decision did not vindicate Snowden.
“I’m not surprised the Pulitzer committee gave The Washington Post a prize for pursuing a sensationalist story, even when the story is a disaster for its own country,” he said. “I don’t think we need automatically read the prize as a vindication for Snowden’s crimes. Awarding a prize to a newspaper that covered a hurricane does not somehow vindicate the hurricane, (and) awarding a Pulitzer for a photo of a murder does not somehow vindicate the crime.”
“I’m not surprised the Pulitzer committee gave The Washington Post a prize for pursuing a sensationalist story, even when the story is a disaster for its own country,” he said. “I don’t think we need automatically read the prize as a vindication for Snowden’s crimes. Awarding a prize to a newspaper that covered a hurricane does not somehow vindicate the hurricane, (and) awarding a Pulitzer for a photo of a murder does not somehow vindicate the crime.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04/pulitzer-prize-edward-snowden-105682.html?hp=t1
Huh? The stories for which these journalists won the Pulitzer weren't about Edward Snowden or his alleged crimes. They were about the NSA's secret activities. It's the NSA that is the hurricane or the murderer in his scenario. If the award vindicates Snowden (not its intent, but rather its effect) it's because without him there would be no story not because the stories were about him. What the hell is he going on about?
I guess it makes sense that this fellow would be hostile to the NSA story. After all, if someone hadn't leaked the Bybee memo, we might never have known about the torture regime. And it's obviously a good thing he was disgraced by the exposure of his sadistic view of American power to keep him off the bench. I feel kind of sorry for his students though.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/yoo-is-confused.html
April 17, 2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual televised call-in show on Thursday and was asked a question by one very special guest -- Edward Snowden.
Putin, a former KGB agent, set the tone by treating Snowden as something like an equal.
MORE:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ed-snowden-asks-putin-about-russian-surveillance
Edward Snowden Asks Putin About Russia's Surveillance Tactics
Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual televised call-in show on Thursday and was asked a question by one very special guest -- Edward Snowden.
"I've seen little public discussion of Russia's own involvement in the policies of mass surveillance," Snowden said. "So I'd like to ask you, does Russia intercept, store or analyze in any way the communications of millions of individuals? And do you believe that simply increasing the effectiveness of intelligence or law enforcement investigations can justify placing societies, rather than subjects, under surveillance?"
Putin, a former KGB agent, set the tone by treating Snowden as something like an equal.
"Mr. Snowden, you are a former agent, a spy. I used to be working for an intelligence service," he said, according to RT's on-air translator. "We are going to talk one professional language."
.......................................
"First of all, our intelligence efforts are strictly regulated by our law," Putin said. "So how special forces can use this kind of special equipment as they intercept phone calls or follow someone online, you have to get court permission to stalk a particular person. We don't have a mass system of such interception. And according to our law, it cannot exist."
MORE:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ed-snowden-asks-putin-about-russian-surveillance
April 17, 2014
Bloomberg just announced the formation of a new group called Everytown for Gun Safety. The group will spend $50 million on in-your-face advocacy against gun violence between now and the 2014 midterm elections.
A number of the new stories about Everytown are noting that the NRA spends about $20 million per year on political activities. And they’re rather vicious. Bloomberg’s intent is to be just as hard-nosed in response. They’re particularly looking at going after moms. Which is clear from their first video, below.
http://americablog.com/2014/04/face-video-bloombergs-new-gun-group-everytown.html
In-your-face video from Bloomberg’s new gun-violence group Everytown
Bloomberg just announced the formation of a new group called Everytown for Gun Safety. The group will spend $50 million on in-your-face advocacy against gun violence between now and the 2014 midterm elections.
A number of the new stories about Everytown are noting that the NRA spends about $20 million per year on political activities. And they’re rather vicious. Bloomberg’s intent is to be just as hard-nosed in response. They’re particularly looking at going after moms. Which is clear from their first video, below.
http://americablog.com/2014/04/face-video-bloombergs-new-gun-group-everytown.html
April 16, 2014
U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Fell 10 Percent Since 2005; Halfway Towards 2020 Goal
Source: Reuters/Huffington Post
WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fell nearly 10 percent from 2005 to 2012, more than halfway toward the United States' 2020 target pledged at United Nations climate talks, according to the latest national emissions inventory.
The report showed that emissions dropped 3.4 percent from 2012 to 2011, mostly due to a decrease in energy consumption and fuel switching from coal to natural gas.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday published the United States' 19th annual emissions tally to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The United States uses 2005 pollution levels as its benchmark to measure emissions cuts, and has a target to lower emissions by 17 percent from that starting point by 2020.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/16/greenhouse-gas-emissions_n_5155643.html?utm_hp_ref=green
April 16, 2014
To which Cliven Bundy, or, as he known at the intersection of Ignorant and WTF?, Sagebrush Gandhi, replied:
Dear Fox News: spread your propaganda far and wide. Let a thousand noxious flowers bloom. But this guy is playing a very dangerous game here. Please try to rein him in.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/sean-hannity-bundy-041614
SEAN HANNITY'S CONTINUED EFFORTS TO GET SOMEBODY SHOT - By Charles P. Pierce
SEAN HANNITY'S CONTINUED EFFORTS TO GET SOMEBODY SHOT
By Charles P. Pierce on April 16, 2014
............Sean Hannity is running around the powder magazine with a blowtorch again.
"But let's put these two things together here," Hannity pressed. "We have Richard Mack, the former sheriff of Graham County, Ariz., he made the comment that he has sources inside the federal government warning that the weekend retreat was only a move to distract attention, diffuse tensions, because a raid on the family's ranch is being planned. Couple that with Harry Reid's comments that this is 'not over.' You gotta believe that something is brewing here, no?...Well if he's saying it's 'not over,' and then you have a sheriff saying he has sources inside the government, what would happen ... what would happen if they came in the early morning hours one day to your ranch?" Hannity pressed yet again.
To which Cliven Bundy, or, as he known at the intersection of Ignorant and WTF?, Sagebrush Gandhi, replied:
"If they come, we'll deal with them tonight," Bundy responded. "If that's what we've got to do, we'll just deal with you. If you've got guts enough to do it, then come on."
Dear Fox News: spread your propaganda far and wide. Let a thousand noxious flowers bloom. But this guy is playing a very dangerous game here. Please try to rein him in.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/sean-hannity-bundy-041614
April 16, 2014
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/the-country-s-biggest-union-leader-wants-elizabeth-warren-to-be-president-20140416
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2343gh/im_rich_trumka_president_of_the_aflcio_ask_me/
TRUMKA Wants Elizabeth Warren to Be President: "In short," he wrote, "it don't get no better."
The Country's Biggest Union Leader Wants Elizabeth Warren to Be President
In a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session, one user asked Trumka for his thoughts on Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
"I have met Elizabeth Warren on multiple occasions," Trumka responded. "In my opinion, she is the prototype of a person we would want to be president of the United States. She has a very well-defined set of values and unlike many politicians, she actually sticks by those values and fights to implement them."
"In short," he wrote, "it don't get no better."
"In short," he wrote, "it don't get no better."
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/the-country-s-biggest-union-leader-wants-elizabeth-warren-to-be-president-20140416
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2343gh/im_rich_trumka_president_of_the_aflcio_ask_me/
April 16, 2014
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/04/abc-news-says-center-for-public-integrity-misled-pulitzer-186945.html
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/abc-news-center-for-public-intergrity-pulitzer-credit
************************
schadenfreude served here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/16/abc-news-center-integrity-pulitzer-response_n_5160429.html
LETTER HERE:
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/abc-news-asking-center-for-public-integrity-to-share-pulitzer-prize_b221733
REBUTTAL HERE:
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/04/16/14596/center-public-integritys-response-abc-news
ABC News Gets Slapped Down After Demanding Pulitzer Credit
ABC News is calling on the Center for Public Integrity to share its Pulitzer, but CPI and the Pulitzer Prize Committee don't seem to be having any of it.
For those life forms that subsist on schadenfreude, this could be the feast of all feasts:
An internal feud between ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity spilled into the open Wednesday with the two organizations going to war over credit for the investigative series that won a Pulitzer Prize this week.
Chris Hamby of CPI, a Washington, D.C., non-profit investigative journalism outfit, won a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for his investigation into coal miners who were denied black lung benefits. The very next day, ABC News President Ben Sherwood sent a letter to the executive director of CPI, asking that the names of two ABC News reporters be added to the award.
ABC News aired various reports on the subject in collaboration with CPI. "We believe that our reporters ... should share in this high honor as they shared in the long months of reporting and producing the stories," Sherwood wrote in the letter to CPI executive director Bill Buzenberg, which was first reported by Politico.
Buzenberg responded that “ABC is seeking to take credit for a large body of work that it did not produce," according to Politico. Soon after, a second ABC News executive, Jeffrey Schneider, called CPI's presentation of the facts "an outrageous lie."
Chris Hamby of CPI, a Washington, D.C., non-profit investigative journalism outfit, won a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for his investigation into coal miners who were denied black lung benefits. The very next day, ABC News President Ben Sherwood sent a letter to the executive director of CPI, asking that the names of two ABC News reporters be added to the award.
ABC News aired various reports on the subject in collaboration with CPI. "We believe that our reporters ... should share in this high honor as they shared in the long months of reporting and producing the stories," Sherwood wrote in the letter to CPI executive director Bill Buzenberg, which was first reported by Politico.
Buzenberg responded that “ABC is seeking to take credit for a large body of work that it did not produce," according to Politico. Soon after, a second ABC News executive, Jeffrey Schneider, called CPI's presentation of the facts "an outrageous lie."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/04/abc-news-says-center-for-public-integrity-misled-pulitzer-186945.html
Later in the letter, Buzenberg effectively warned ABC News to leave the matter alone or be exposed.
"The Center is prepared to show in great detail how little ABC’s Brian Ross and Matt Mosk understood about even the most fundamental concepts and key facts and how they repeatedly turned to Chris to advise them or, in some instances, to do their work for them," he wrote.
"The Center is prepared to show in great detail how little ABC’s Brian Ross and Matt Mosk understood about even the most fundamental concepts and key facts and how they repeatedly turned to Chris to advise them or, in some instances, to do their work for them," he wrote.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/abc-news-center-for-public-intergrity-pulitzer-credit
************************
schadenfreude served here:
Bill: I've reviewed the entry again. It is overwhelmingly Hamby's work and was entered by the center in conformance with our rules on limited partnerships (SEE BELOW). The rules expressly state that the eligible entity must do the preponderance of the work; specific elements produced by the ineligible entity (such as ABC video) cannot be entered; and if there is a prize it will go ONLY to the eligible organization that submitted the work.
So, based on the entry, the prize to the Hamby alone is warranted.
Best, SG
So, based on the entry, the prize to the Hamby alone is warranted.
Best, SG
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/16/abc-news-center-integrity-pulitzer-response_n_5160429.html
LETTER HERE:
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/abc-news-asking-center-for-public-integrity-to-share-pulitzer-prize_b221733
REBUTTAL HERE:
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/04/16/14596/center-public-integritys-response-abc-news
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