This and That...

[Ross]

"You know why a banana is like a politician?"

"He comes in and first he is green,

Then he turns yellow

And then he's rotten."
------------------------------------
"ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE IS NO
MATCH FOR NATURAL
STUPIDITY."
------------------------------------
"The original "point and click" interface
Was a Smith & Wesson."
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[Ross]

   Snowden's Email Service Quickly Shuts Down

Lavabit apparently refused to work with US government 

By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 8, 2013 6:51 PM CDT

Newser)  – An email service apparently used by Edward Snowden has opted to shut down after an unpleasant encounter with the US government, the Guardian reports. Called Lavabit, the service seems to have refused a court order to let the feds spy on its customers. "I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit," wrote founder Ladar Levison. He went on:

• "I feel you deserve to know what's going on—the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks."
Privacy advocates say it's the first email company to close shop rather than comply with US surveillance. Levison now plans to fight the US government in court and eventually reopen Lavabit, which claimed 350,000 customers and was known for its rigorous security features.

http://www.newser.com/story/172281/snowdens-email-service-quickly-shuts-down.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=united&utm_campaign=rss_top
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I wonder how long before his heart attack or car accident or death by natural causes?

[jarhead]

Quote from Ross:
ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE IS NO
MATCH FOR NATURAL
STUPIDITY."

You got that right you ol Squid. See that right here several times a day

[Warph]

Actress Leah Remini ("King Of Queens") Files Missing Person Report On Shelly Miscavige,
Wife Of The Leader Of Scientology

Shelly is the wife of David Miscavige, Tom Cruise's "best friend" and best man in his wedding to Katie Holmes. After going missing in late 2005, early 2006, she was seen briefly in 2007 at a funeral with "minders" who did not allow her to talk to anyone else. When Remini asked about her, Remini was subjected to five years of interrogations and behavior modifications by Scientology, before she finally left them last month.

Via Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/leah-remini-files-missing-person-602723

Shelly Miscavige reportedly has not been seen in public in six years, and Remini questions whether she is being "punished for her own shortcomings."

After her public break with Scientology last month, Leah Remini has taken action and filed a missing person report for the wife of the controversial religion's leader, David Miscavige, The Hollywood Reporter confirms.

The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed only that an investigation regarding Shelly (Michelle) Miscavige is ongoing, but a source close to The King of Queens actress confirms that Remini filed the report herself.

According to writer Tony Ortega's website, The Underground Bunker, which focuses on the inner workings of the secretive organization, Shelly Miscavige has not been publicly sighted in six years.

According to Ortega, Shelly Miscavige allegedly was transferred from Scientology's headquarters near Hemet, Calif., to a secret compound near Lake Arrowhead in late 2005 or early 2006. The compound, known as the Church of Spiritual Technology, reportedly houses about a dozen Scientologists who are said to be completely cut off from the outside world. Miscavige and his attorneys have not publicly confirmed Shelly's whereabouts. According to Ortega's report, Remini questions whether Shelly has freedom of movement or is being "punished for her own shortcomings."

[Warph]

AP Tried To Cover Up Obuma's Geography Gaffe

Yesterday, a number of newspapers reported on Obama's geography gaffe.

Obama said the following:
"If we don't deepen our ports all along the Gulf – places like Charleston, S.C., or Savannah, Ga., or Jacksonville, Fla. – if we don't do that, these ships are going to go someplace else and we'll lose jobs."

The ports are not on the Gulf but on the East Coast.

However, the AP added words, covering up the gaffe:

"If we don't deepen our ports all along the Gulf – (and in) places like Charleston, S.C., or Savannah, Ga., or Jacksonville, Fla. – if we don't do that, these ships are going to go someplace else and we'll lose jobs."

This afternoon, AP corrected the wording, but made no apology for the cya for Obama.

[Warph]

State Department's New "Faith-Based" Advisor Shaun Casey:
"I Am Glad American Civil Religion Is Dying"

Lurch Kerry - Sec.of State

(Shockingly, Shaun Casey was also a religion advisor
to the Obama campaign in 2008)

(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State John [Lurch] Kerry announced Wednesday the formation of the Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives, which will be headed by Shaun Casey, a former religion advisor to President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign and a liberal professor who last year touted the end of 'civil religion' in the United States.

"I, frankly, am glad American civil religion is dying," Casey said at a discussion last year at the Center for American Progress focused on "God and Politics" in the last presidential election.

Kerry introduced Casey as a person who cares about faith in American society.

"Over the years, I've come to appreciate Shaun as a deeply thoughtful person who cares about the place of faith in our public life," Kerry said.

[Warph]

Report: Obuma To Allow Thousands of Syrian Refugees Into America

(What could possibly go wrong?)

Via The Cable:
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/08/exclusive_us_will_now_let_in_thousands_of_syrian_refugees

With conditions continuing to deteriorate in Syria, the Obama administration is making a major policy shift by agreeing for the first time to allow thousands of new Syrian refugees into the United States, The Cable has learned.

The numbers are relatively small: just 2,000 refugees, compared to an estimated two million people who have fled Syria during the civil war. But it's a significant increase from the 90 or so Syrian refugees who have been permanently admitted to the U.S. in the last two years. And it's not entirely uncontroversial. The refugees, mostly women and children, will be screened for terrorist ties — a process that could take a year or more to complete.

Unlike previous efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to give temporary protected status to Syrians already in the United States, the State Department effort will bring in Syrians from overseas for permanent resettlement in America.

"Referrals will come within the next four months. We will need to interview people and perform security and medical checks," Kelly Clements, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration, tells The Cable.

[Warph]

Pew Poll: 46% of Americans Think Media Has Liberal Bias,
Only 19% Think It Is Neutral

Via Pew Research:
http://www.people-press.org/2013/08/08/amid-criticism-support-for-medias-watchdog-role-stands-out/

. . . Overall, about seven-in-ten (72%) see news organizations in ideological terms. A 46%-plurality says news organizations are best described as liberal, another 26% say they are conservative. Just 19% say news organizations are best described as neither liberal nor conservative.

The balance of opinion on this question has changed little in recent years, with a plurality consistently describing news organizations as liberal, and about a quarter saying they are conservative.

Not surprisingly, there are wide partisan divides in perceptions of news organizations' ideology. By a 65%-17% margin, more Republicans say news organizations are liberal than conservative. By contrast, Democrats are divided: about as many say the press is liberal (36%) as conservative (37%). By about two-to-one (47%-23%), more independents say news organizations are better described as liberal than conservative.

[Warph]

Mister Putin's Not So Fabulous Olympic Winter Games

(Olympic games will soon be held in Russia and gay rights groups are asking Pres. Obuma and others to boycott them due to Russia's treatment of queers.  It's apparently illegal to talk about being queer on the radio, television or in newspapers)

Via Sky News:
http://news.sky.com/story/1126391/olympic-boycott-urged-over-russia-gay-rights

Calls are growing for a boycott of next year's Winter Olympics in Russia in protest at what campaigners have called its "barbaric" new homophobic laws.

Broadcaster Stephen Fry has appealed directly to David Cameron and members of the International Olympic Committee [IOC] to stop the games being held in Russia, comparing Vladimir Putin's treatment of gay people to Adolf Hitler's treatment of Jews.

He said allowing the games to go ahead in Putin's Russia would be comparable to the decision to hold the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany.

Four-time Olympic champion diver Greg Louganis yesterday delivered a 320,000 signature petition to IOC headquarters in Switzerland, urging it to condemn Russia's "anti-gay laws"

[Warph]

Fox News Poll: It Isn't The Scandals That Are Phony

(Me thinks Obuma doth protest too much)

Via Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/08/fox-news-poll-phony-scandals-not-to-voters/

Benghazi. Snooping on reporters. The IRS and NSA. The White House dismisses them as phony and fake scandals. Americans do not.

A Fox News national poll released Thursday finds that 78 percent of voters think the questions over the administration's handling of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi should be taken seriously. Just 17 percent call it a phony scandal.

The attack, on the anniversary of September 11, killed four Americans — including the U.S. ambassador.

Meanwhile, 69 percent of voters say the National Security Agency's electronic surveillance of everyday Americans is serious, while 26 percent call that a fake scandal.