December 24, 2013

Edward Snowden to broadcast Channel 4's alternative Christmas Day message

Source: Guardian UK

Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who prompted a worldwide debate when he leaked a cache of top secret documents about US and UK spying, has recorded a Christmas Day television message in which he calls for an end to the mass surveillance revealed by his disclosures.

The short film was recorded for Channel 4, which has 20-year history of providing unusual but relevant figures as an alternative to the Queen's Christmas message shown by other UK broadcasters. It will be Snowden's first television appearance since arriving in Moscow.

The address, to be broadcast at 4.15pm on Christmas Day, was filmed in Russia – where Snowden is living after being granted temporary asylum – by Laura Poitras, a film-maker who has closely collaborated with him on the NSA stories.

In excerpts from the address released by Channel 4, Snowden says George Orwell "warned us of the danger of this kind of information" in his dystopian novel, 1984.


Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/24/edward-snowden-channel-4-christmas-day-message

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The Queen's Christmas speech is about as much a part of Christmas as turkey and mulled wine.

But over the last 20 years, Channel 4 have rivaled the monarch with their own annual Alternative Christmas Message.

The tradition began in 1993, when the channel invited controversial English writer Quentin Crisp to give his own speech to the nation.

Since then, we've seen comedians, politicians, cartoon characters and everyone in between offered the chance to tell their story of the year that was.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/alternative-christmas-message-watch-8-2941283

December 24, 2013

* apologizes for offensive tweet.

Steve Martin apologizes for offensive Twitter joke
http://blog.sfgate.com/dailydish/2013/12/23/steve-martin-apologizes-for-offensive-twitter-joke/

‘Ashamed’ ex-PR executive apologizes for AIDS in Africa tweet
http://kdvr.com/2013/12/23/ashamed-ex-pr-executive-apologizes-for-aids-in-africa-tweet/

Wash. lawmaker apologizes for 'desert racist wasteland' Tweet
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Wash-lawmaker-calls-Arizona-racist-wasteland-after-Seahawks-loss-237044051.html

NFL Player Tweets Racist Joke
http://www.buzzfeed.com/joelanderson/nfl-player-tweets-racist-joke-and-refuses-to-apologize

And that was just the last couple of days...

December 24, 2013

Utah turns to higher court to halt gay marriage

Utah state lawyers have again turned to a Denver-based federal appeals court in their bid to put a stop to gay couples getting married, saying the state should not be required to abide by one judge's narrow view of a "new and fundamentally different definition of marriage."

About 700 gay couples have obtained wedding licenses since U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby on Friday declared Utah's gay marriage ban unconstitutional, but lawyers for the state are trying every legal avenue to halt the practice. Shelby on Monday denied their bid to temporarily stop gay marriage while the appeals process plays out, and they then quickly went to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Utah is the 18th state where gay couples can wed, and the sight of same-sex marriages occurring just a few miles from the headquarters of the Mormon church has provoked anger among the state's top leaders.

"Until the final word has been spoken by this Court or the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of Utah's marriage laws, Utah should not be required to enforce Judge Shelby's view of a new and fundamentally different definition of marriage," the state said in a motion to the appeals court.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Utah-turns-to-higher-court-to-halt-gay-marriage-5089886.php

December 24, 2013

Here Are The 15 Democratic Senators Bucking The White House And Threatening War With Iran

As the United States finally puts a decade of war behind it, a group of senators, including 15 Democrats, is defying the White House and threatening to push the country into a fresh war with Iran.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is leading the charge to pass legislation in January that would impose tougher sanctions on Iran, despite dire warnings from the White House, Iranian leaders, 10 Democratic committee chairs and a host of liberal groups that such an effort could sink a delicate nuclear agreement already in place. Under that Nov. 24 deal, Tehran would curb its nuclear program in exchange for some relief from economic sanctions for a period of six months.

The Senate bill, which has 19 Republican cosponsors, takes a hard line, levying new sanctions on Iran unless the country's leaders agree to abandon all uranium enrichment -- what some have called an "absurd" stance. In the past, both John Kerry, then a U.S. senator, and Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, have said that Iran has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said earlier this month that if the Senate moved forward with its bill, the current nuclear deal would be dead. A senior Obama administration official went further, telling The Huffington Post that Senate action makes it "far more likely that we'll be left only with a military option" regarding Iran.

Here are the 15 Democratic senators willing to risk a war with Iran rather than let White House and Iranian leaders continue negotiations.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/23/senate-democrats-iran-war_n_4493636.html

If your senator is on this list. Please call their office and demand that they stand firm with President Obama and remain united in the face of right wing attacks. Your phone call can make a difference. Now is the time to step up and be heard.

December 23, 2013

U.S. Marines poised to enter South Sudan

Source: CNN

About 150 U.S. Marines are poised to enter turbulent South Sudan to help evacuate Americans and provide security for the U.S. Embassy, two U.S. military officials said Monday.

The troops are moving from Spain to Africa, probably to the nation of Djibouti, the officials told CNN's Barbara Starr on Monday.

An estimated 100 U.S. citizens are believed to be in South Sudan, where steady violence is stoking fears of an all-out civil war in the world's newest country.

On Sunday, all Americans who presented themselves at a U.N camp in the flashpoint town of Bor were evacuated safely, the State Department said.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/23/world/africa/south-sudan-violence/

December 23, 2013

Google’s Schaft Robot Dominates Pentagon Contest

It may not be the prettiest robot on the scene, but the angular blue creation from Google Inc.’s newly acquired Japanese start-up is poised to secure more Pentagon funding to develop a creation capable of venturing into dangerous disaster zones to help humans.

Schaft Inc.’s robot dominated the two-day Pentagon Robotics Challenge Trials this weekend in Florida, where 16 teams competed at the NASCAR race track south of Miami for one of eight slots to secure more federal development funds.
The Pentagon set up a kind of robot Boot Camp, where the entrees had to run through a series of eight tests, from turning off a value and opening a series of doors to removing “debris” and driving an all-terrain-vehicle.

Schaft, which was recently acquired by Google, led the field, securing 27 of 32 possible points.

The top eight winners are now eligible to secure up to $1 million in funding in 2014 in the run up to a final competition next year where the Pentagon will award $2 million to the ultimate winner.

http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-412457/

December 23, 2013

American jailed in UAE for YouTube parody video

Source: Reuters

An American citizen was sentenced to a year in prison in the United Arab Emirates on Monday for posting a parody video on YouTube which pokes fun at young Emirati men who imitate U.S. hip-hop culture, his family said.

Shezanne Cassim, 29, has been detained in the United Arab Emirates since April after publishing the 20-minute "mockumentary" film.

In the video, which opens with a disclaimer stating it is fictional and does not intend to offend the people of the UAE, Emirati men described as "deadly gangsters" can be seen practicing throwing sandals and wielding an agal, the cord used to keep in place traditional headscarves.

Cassim, an aviation business consultant, was charged with violating the Gulf nation's cyber crime law which makes acts deemed damaging to the country's reputation or national security punishable by jail time and heavy fines.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/23/us-emirates-youtube-parody-idUSBRE9BM0M220131223

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https://www.facebook.com/justiceforshez

December 23, 2013

Rouhani says Iran seeking to rebuild relations with West

Source: Jerusalem Post

Iran wants to improve bilateral relations with the United States and other Western powers, President Hassan Rouhani said in an editorial published in a German newspaper on Monday, broaching an issue he has so far avoided since he took office.

Rouhani won a landslide election victory in June promising a policy of engagement with the West and has had regular diplomatic contacts with the United States, but they have been limited to negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.

"We want to rebuild and improve our relations to European and North American countries on a basis of mutual respect," he wrote in a contribution for the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

"We are striving to avoid new burdens on relations between Iran and the United States and also to remove the tensions that we have inherited," said Rouhani, who has promised to reduce Tehran's isolation and to win an easing of sanctions.


Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Rouhani-says-Iran-seeking-to-rebuilding-relations-with-West-335892

December 23, 2013

GOP lead in female governors targeted

The Democratic Party claims to be the natural home for women. The numbers tell another story when it comes to the nation’s governors.

Republicans, four women: Jan Brewer in Arizona, Susana Martinez in New Mexico, Mary Fallin in Oklahoma, and Nikki Haley in South Carolina. Democrats: Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire.

For the GOP, often accused of waging a ‘‘war on women,’’ this advantage offers a powerful tool in the competition for female voters.

‘‘We have to show the fact there is no war on women,’’ said Haley, who is in her first term. ‘‘The more Republican women out there, the better our case is.’’

Democratic leaders, backed by national women’s groups, are trying to turn it around in gubernatorial elections next fall that feature no less than six high-profile female candidates. Their goal is to give Hassan, who faces reelection in 2014, some company.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/12/23/democrats-work-raise-number-female-governors/4f3kjtSFbTlr4g4tvXIJsJ/story.html

December 23, 2013

Idaho Democratic matriarch Bethine Church dies

Bethine Church, matriarch of the Idaho Democratic Party and wife of the late U.S. Sen. Frank Church, has died. She was 90.

Her son, Chase Church, said she died at about 6:15 p.m. Saturday of old age after two weeks on home hospice, listening to Christmas music with he and his wife, Pam, by her side.

Bethine Church traveled the world with her husband, campaigning with him four times for senator and once for president in 1976.

The daughter and niece of former Idaho governors, she was often called the "third Senator" from Idaho because of her active participation in public life during her husband's tenure in the Senate.

http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/Idaho-Democratic-matriach-Bethine-Church-dies-236951001.html