Author: Admin

Mediaite – by Noah Rothman

On Friday, Colorado’s Arapahoe High School was put on lockdown while a student armed with a shotgun took over the school in an attempt to confront a teacher who he believed had wronged him. The student, identified as 18-year-old Karl Pierson, took his own life before he could be taken into custody.

In a profile on the shooter in the Denver Post which focused on his “strong political beliefs,” several of Pierson’s classmates offered their impressions of the shooter. One of the shooter’s classmates described him as a “very opinionated socialist.” Shortly after that post was published, however, that description was edited out. The current copy simply describes him as “very opinionated.”   Continue reading “Denver Post Stealth Edits Out ‘Socialist’ from Profile of Arapahoe School Shooter”

The Examiner – by SUSAN FERRECHIO

The federal government this year made significant cuts to important services and programs while at the same time wasting $30 billion on frivolous expenditures like the “pillownauts” study NASA conducted to learn the effects of lying in bed all day, a new watchdog report shows.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., on Tuesday released his fourth annual “Wastebook,” a catalog of questionable government spending that is, at best, pretty wacky (funding for “Popular Romance Project” — $1 million) and, at its worst, infuriating (continuing pay for Army Major Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter — $52,000).   Continue reading “From the wacky to the infuriating, Sen. Tom Coburn’s annual Wastebook catalogs government waste in lean times”

BuzzFeed – by Cate Sevilla

On Tuesday morning, the Folha de S. Paulonewspaper in Brazil posted the following “open letter to the people of Brazil” from Edward Snowden.

In the letter, Snowden says he’s been impressed by the Brazilian government’s criticism of the massive National Security Agency.   Continue reading “Edward Snowden’s Open Letter To The People Of Brazil”

CBS Atlanta

DULUTH, Ga. (CBS Atlanta) – A high school senior won’t graduate on time after being suspended for one year for hugging a teacher in November.

Last week, a Duluth High School hearing officer found that Sam McNair violated the Gwinnett County Public Schools’ rules on sexual harassment.

“Something so innocent can be perceived as something totally opposite,” McNair told WGCL.   Continue reading “Student Suspended For A Year After Hugging Teacher”

Fox News

A wildfire burning near the Central California coastline had destroyed 15 homes and had grown to more than 500 acres in size late Monday.

The so-called Pfeiffer Fire was sparked at around midnight Monday in the Los Padres National Forest and had grown as large as 550 acres by sunrise. No injuries were reported, but the fire spread quickly across the landscape near the Big Sur region, which is in the midst of one of the driest years in its history. Wildfires are rare occurrences so late in the year.    Continue reading “Big Sur wildfire destroys 15 homes, displaces dozens”

Disinfo – by Matt Staggs

A couple of weeks ago we a had a virtual currency heist, now we’ve got Chinese biotech espionage in the middle of Iowa. Man, this world gets a little more cyberpunk with every passing day. I wonder if Google Glass comes in a mirrorshade edition?   Continue reading “Chinese Spy Busted Stealing Iowa Corn Seeds”

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.   Continue reading “A Different Christmas Poem”

The Independent Institute – by Mary Theroux

Despite Dianne Feinstein’s claims to the contrary, there’s no actual evidence that the U.S. surveillance apparatus has foiled any actual, independent plots of terrorism. There is, in fact, far more actual evidence that the surveillance state has missed numerous signals of plots: from 9/11 to the Boston bombings.

In its latest attempt at P.R. smoke-and-mirrors, the FBI ensnared a Wichita, KS airport employee, Terry Lee Loewen, in an FBI-created conspiracy and “sting” operation. The FBI stalked Loewen for six months following their seeing allegedly positive online comments he made about jihad.   Continue reading “FBI Successfully Foils Another FBI Plot”

Politico – by JOSH GERSTEIN

A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely to be unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to run afoul of the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the so-called metadata had helped to head off terrorist attacks.   Continue reading “Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional”

New York Daily News – by Joe Kemp

Harvard University issued an evacuation notice after possible explosives were found on campus Monday.

Authorities with Cambridge Police Department and school officers descended on four sites at the Ivy League school that included it’s science center and freshman dorms.

“Alert: Unconfirmed reports of explosives at four sites on campus,” the school said in a Twitter message.   Continue reading “Evacuations underway at Harvard University after reports of explosives on campus”

ABC News – by JOHN HEILPRIN Associated Press

The United Nations said Monday it needs almost $13 billion to meet some of the world’s biggest humanitarian needs in 2014, and almost half of that amount would go to Syria and its surrounding region.

The request is meant to reach 52 million people in 17 countries, and is the largest amount that the U.N. and its partner agencies have ever asked at the start of the year to meet global humanitarian needs, officials said.   Continue reading “UN: $12.9 Billion Aid Needs in 2014, Half to Syria”

ABC News

A clash between knife-wielding assailants and police officers in China’s restive Xinjiang region left 16 people dead, including two police, state media said Monday.

The region’s official news portal, Tianshan Net, said “several thugs” threw explosives Sunday night at the officers, who were pursuing unidentified suspects, and attacked them with knives.   Continue reading “16 Die in Clash in Restive Western China”

New York Times – by ERICA GOODE

GREELEY, Colo. — When Sheriff John Cooke of Weld County explains in speeches why he is not enforcing the state’s new gun laws, he holds up two 30-round magazines. One, he says, he had before July 1, when the law banning the possession, sale or transfer of the large-capacity magazines went into effect. The other, he “maybe” obtained afterward.

He shuffles the magazines, which look identical, and then challenges the audience to tell the difference.   Continue reading “Sheriffs Refuse to Enforce Laws on Gun Control”

The Morning Call – by Manuel Gamiz Jr.

Tikkun Daily – by David Harris-Gershon

Over a year ago, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to adopt a historic, 6,000-page report which contains “startling details” about CIA misdeeds related to its torture program.

The report, which cost $40 million to produce and appears to pose no national security threats, has been set for release since December 13, 2012. However, it has yet to see the light of day.   Continue reading “Obama Suppressing 6,000-Page Report on CIA Torture Adopted by Senate Intelligence Committee”

ARS Technica – by Cyrus Farivar

The Boston Police Department (BPD) has indefinitely halted its use of license plate readers (LPR) following an investigation published on Saturday into their use by the investigative journalism organization MuckRock and the Boston Globe.

David Estrada, a BPD spokesperson, confirmed to Ars that the department had stopped using its LPRs for now and asked that further questions be submitted in writing, which Ars has done.   Continue reading “Boston Police indefinitely suspends license plate reader program”