Hissyspit
Hissyspit's JournalTOM TOMORROW: The Thin Veil of Rationality ('I've Totally Got A Shot With Gwyneth...')
DAILY KOS LINK: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/31/1288033/-Cartoon-The-thin-veil-of-rationality
US Appeals Court Upholds Tough New Texas Abortion Restrictions
Source: Associated Press
@AP: BREAKING: US appeals court upholds tough new Texas abortion restrictions.
@AP: MORE: Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers had argued the regulations did not protect women. http://t.co/qDNHJanC9a
US APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS NEW TEXAS ABORTION RULES
Mar. 27, 2014 5:07 PM EDT
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld new abortion restrictions that shuttered many of the abortions clinics in Texas.
A panel of judges on the New Orleans-based U.S. 5th Circuit issued the ruling Thursday, overturning a lower court's decision that the rules violated the U.S. Constitution and served no medical purpose.
Texas lawmakers last year passed some of the toughest restrictions in the U.S. on when, where and how women may obtain an abortion. The Republican-controlled Legislature required abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and placed strict limits on doctors prescribing abortion-inducing pills.
In its opinion, the appeals court said the law "on its face does not impose an undue burden on the life and health of a woman."
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-appeals-court-upholds-new-texas-abortion-rules
‘Guardian’ Threatened With Closure Over Snowden Leaks, Conference Told
Source: Irish Times
‘Guardian’ threatened with closure over Snowden leaks, conference told
Deputy editor details extent to which intelligence agencies tried to stop newspaper’s disclosures
Ronan McGreevy
The Guardian newspaper was threatened with closure by the British government over the Edward Snowden spying affair, the Radiodays Europe conference has been told.
The paper’s deputy editor Paul Johnson said Britain’s intelligence agencies visited them and told them they would be closed if they persisted in printing Snowden’s revelations of mass surveillance involving the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the UK. Mr Snowden is now in Russia, where he has temporary asylum. He is wanted by the US authorities on espionage charges.
He has been responsible for one of the biggest intelligence leaks of all time, using his access to data systems to reveal the extent to which British and US agencies were spying on ordinary citizens and world leaders including German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Intense scrutiny
Speaking at the Conference Centre Dublin (CCD), Mr Johnson said the Snowden material was much more difficult to work on than the WikiLeaks tapes because of the intense scrutiny the newspaper was subjected to by the British intelligence services.
Read more: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/guardian-threatened-with-closure-over-snowden-leaks-conference-told-1.1738203
Law Firm Hired by Christie Concludes He Had No Role in Bridgegate; Says Zimmer Wrong
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/christies-lawyer-issue-traffic-scandal-verdictCHRISTIE'S LAWYER: GOVERNOR NOT INVOLVED IN PLOT
By ANGELA DELLI SANTI
— Mar. 27, 2014 11:33 AM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — A law firm hired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says the governor was not involved in a plot to create gridlock near a major bridge as part of a political retribution scheme.
The taxpayer-funded report released Thursday concludes the September lane closures near the heavily traveled George Washington Bridge were intended to target a local mayor. But there was no evidence found that it was because the mayor wouldn't endorse Christie.
The report finds that former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official David Wildstein and ex-Christie aide Bridget Kelly were behind the closures.
The lawyers also found no evidence that Christie tied Superstorm Sandy aid for Hoboken to support for a private redevelopment project.
MORE
They essentially called Zimmer a liar. Why would she do that? It makes no sense. This is an embarrassing whitewash attempt.
Law Firm Hired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Concludes He Had No Role in Bridge Lane Closure
Source: Associated Press
CHRISTIE'S LAWYER: GOVERNOR NOT INVOLVED IN PLOT
By ANGELA DELLI SANTI
— Mar. 27, 2014 11:33 AM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — A law firm hired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says the governor was not involved in a plot to create gridlock near a major bridge as part of a political retribution scheme.
The taxpayer-funded report released Thursday concludes the September lane closures near the heavily traveled George Washington Bridge were intended to target a local mayor. But there was no evidence found that it was because the mayor wouldn't endorse Christie.
The report finds that former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official David Wildstein and ex-Christie aide Bridget Kelly were behind the closures.
The lawyers also found no evidence that Christie tied Superstorm Sandy aid for Hoboken to support for a private redevelopment project.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/christies-lawyer-issue-traffic-scandal-verdict
Jonathan Schell, Anti-War Activist, Dead at 70 (Author of 'Fate of the Earth')
Source: Associated Press
JONATHAN SCHELL, ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST, DEAD AT 70
By HILLEL ITALIE
— Mar. 26, 2014 5:11 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — Jonathan Schell, the author, journalist and anti-war activist who condemned conflicts from Vietnam to Iraq and warned of a nuclear holocaust in terrifying detail in his galvanizing best seller, "The Fate of the Earth," has died at age 70.
Schell's companion, Irena Gross, told The Associated Press that he died Tuesday at their home in New York City. The cause was cancer, she said Wednesday.
With a hatred of war shaped in part by his eyewitness accounts of U.S. military operations in Vietnam, Schell wrote for decades about the consequences of violence — real and potential — with a rage and idealism that never seemed to wane.
As gentle in person as he was impassioned on paper, Schell was a reporter and columnist for The New Yorker and Newsday among others and a longtime writer for The Nation, where his most recent column appeared in the fall. He wrote several books, notably "The Village of Ben Suc" about Vietnam and "The Fate of the Earth," published in 1982 during an especially tense moment of the Cold War. With the conservative Ronald Reagan in the White House, "Fate of the Earth" seemed to capture the fears of anti-nuclear protesters, who at the time were calling for a weapons freeze.
"The machinery of destruction is complete, poised on a hair trigger, waiting for the 'button' to be 'pushed' by some misguided or deranged human being or for some faulty computer chip to send out the instruction to fire," Schell wrote in the book, which drew upon a series of articles for The New Yorker and which he was inspired to write after hearing government officials talk of fighting a limited nuclear war. "That so much should be balanced on so fine a point — that the fruit of four and a half billion years can be undone in a careless moment — is a fact against which belief rebels."
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/jonathan-schell-anti-war-activist-dead-70
Malaysia Says Satellite Has Spotted 122 Potential Objects in Ocean Possibly From Missing Plane
Source: Associated Press
@AP: BREAKING: Malaysia says satellite has spotted 122 potential objects in ocean possibly from missing plane.
CNN Breaking News - Malaysia received new satellite images that showed 122 potential objects in one area of the ocean, official says.
@BreakingNews: Malaysia receives satellite images from France identifying 122 potential objects in sea, Malaysian transport minister says - live video
SATELLITE SPOTS 122 OBJECTS IN MALAYSIA JET SEARCH
By TODD PITMAN and ROB GRIFFITH
— Mar. 26, 2014 7:35 AM EDT
PERTH, Australia (AP) — A French satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of a missing jetliner found a possible plane debris field containing 122 objects, a top Malaysian official said Wednesday, calling it "the most credible lead that we have."
Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the objects were more than 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Australia, in the area where a desperate, multinational hunt has been going on since other satellites detected possible jet debris.
Clouds obscured the latest satellite images, but dozens of objects could be seen in the gaps, ranging in length from one meter (yard) to 23 meters (25 yards). Hishammuddin said some of them "appeared to be bright, possibly indicating solid materials."
The images were taken Sunday and relayed by French-based Airbus Defence and Space, a division of Europe's Airbus Group; its businesses include the operation of satellites and satellite communications.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/hunt-flight-370-resumes-calmer-seas-0
Breaking: Obama to Call for End to N.S.A.’s Bulk Data Collection
Source: New York Times
Obama to Call for End to N.S.A.’s Bulk Data Collection
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
March 24, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is preparing to unveil a legislative proposal to drastically overhaul the National Security Agency’s once-secret bulk phone records program.
Under the proposal, data about Americans’ calling habits would be kept in the hands of phone companies, which would not be required to retain the data for any longer than they normally would, according to senior administration officials. If approved by Congress, the changes would end the most controversial part of the bulk phone records program, a major focus of privacy concerns inside the United States since its existence was leaked last year.
In a speech in January, President Obama said he wanted to get the N.S.A. out of the business of collecting call records in bulk while preserving the program’s capabilities. He acknowledged, however, that there was no easy way to do so, and had instructed Justice Department and intelligence officials to come up with a plan by March 28 — Friday — when the current court order authorizing the program expires.
As part of the proposal, the administration has decided to renew the program as it currently exists for at least one more 90-day cycle, senior administration officials said. But under the plan the administration has developed and now advocates, the officials said, the government would no longer systematically collect and store records of calling data. Instead, it would obtain individual orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain only records linked to phone numbers a judge agrees are likely tied to terrorism.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/us/obama-to-seek-nsa-curb-on-call-data.html
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