AIPAC pummels Obama

A slide projected onto the wall at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee gathering Monday contained a warning to delegates: “AIPAC is Bipartisan,” it said, next to an image of a Democratic donkey and Republican elephant in boxing gear. “Check your gloves at the door.”

They checked their gloves, all right — but less to practice bipartisanship than to pummel the Obama administration with bare knuckles. In the brawl between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Iran nuclear negotiations, AIPAC has joined congressional Republicans in siding wholeheartedly with the Israeli hard-liner.

The rift with Obama is nothing new; four years ago, AIPAC delegates were urged not to boo Obama when he spoke to the group (most obeyed). But this situation is worse, because Netanyahu, by accepting House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to address Congress Tuesday — snubbing Obama, who wasn’t consulted — is exploiting a partisan rift in American politics and driving a wedge through the American Jewish community. And congressional Republicans, by giving Netanyahu their pulpit 14 days before Israel’s elections, are brazenly taking sides in that country’s politics. This all is likely to backfire by firming Democratic resistance to more Iran sanctions — and, in the long run, by politicizing U.S.-Israeli relations.

The AIPAC delegates left no doubt where they stood as they listened to speeches at the Washington convention center Monday morning by Netanyahu and by an Obama administration representative, U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power. The transcript will show that they applauded Netanyahu 59 times in his 22-minute speech, compared with 34 times during Power’s 30-minute address. But that doesn’t reflect the rapturous nature of the reception for Netanyahu (who got an 80-second standing ovation, with thousands of phones raised to take photos, on either end of his speech) and the polite but tepid response to Power (who received a perfunctory 18 seconds).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/aipac-pummels-obama/2015/03/02/e05ee4c2-c10d-11e4-9ec2-b418f57a4a99_story.html

Fukushima Has Been Leaking Radioactive Water Since May, But Tepco Didn’t Tell Anyone

The fallout from the Fukushima disaster is far from over.

The operator of the crippled nuclear power plant announced Sunday that sensors in its drainage system had detected a leak of contaminated water 50 to 70 times more radioactive than radioactivity levels already seen on its campus—which the AFP points out were already quite high.

The drainage system discharges water into a nearby bay, which flows into the Pacific Ocean. The operating company, Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), said it shut down a gutter to prevent the contaminated water from reaching the Pacific on Sunday morning. The radiation levels dropped off steadily throughout the day, but were still 10 to 20 times higher than usual later in the day.

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Local commercial fishermen are reportedly outraged at the announcement.

“I don’t understand why [Tepco] kept silent even though they knew about it. Fishery operators are absolutely shocked,” Masakazu Yabuki, chief of the Iwaki fisheries cooperative, said at a meeting with Tepco officials, The Japan Times reported on Tuesday.

The decommissioning of the Fukushima plant has been plagued by a staggering number of accidents. This week’s leak announcements are the latest in a string of high-stakes radioactive water errors since an earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant in 2011. A highly diluted radioactive plume from the original incident, meanwhile, has reached the waters off of California.

http://www.newsweek.com/fukushima-has-been-leaking-radioactive-water-may-tepco-didnt-tell-anyone-309442

Rutgers online facial recognition system presents major privacy risk

Are you planning on taking an online course at Rutgers next semester? Then you might need to download University-sanctioned software that will track your facial identity, photo ID and browser activity. According to an article published on New Brunswick Today by Daniel Munoz this past weekend, Rutgers University has implemented a recognition suite called ProctorTrack for online courses. ProctorTrack records face, knuckle and personal identification details during online courses. Munoz also notes that the system “keeps track of all activity in the monitor, browser, webcam and microphone” throughout each session.

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The three-point verification system that the system, for instance, forces students to record their facial features, knuckles and photo ID on camera. However, many students are unsure if the ProctorTrack system efficiently secures recorded student data. The system’s security measures are not particularly clear. Combined with ProctorTrack’s young age — the system was literally patented several weeks ago — potential security vulnerabilities within the ProctorTrack system remain an open question.

Rutgers also seems unaware that visually recording personal identification over the Internet is a major risk. Even if ProctorTrack is completely protected, there is no way to guarantee that a student’s computer was not compromised by webcam monitoring exploitation software, such as Remote Access Tools, prior to ProctorTrack’s use. Exposing personal identification over online webcam for verification purposes may have dangerously unintended consequences.

Likewise, ProctorTrack allows instructors to monitor webcam activity during online courses and record video reports for later review. However, recording students in the privacy of their homes presents major concerns. Are students comfortable knowing that every moment of their classroom attendance is being monitored for future review? What if an instructor steals a student’s likeness or stores photos and images of their in-class attendance? The potential for stealing student identities or replicating personal identification information shown on camera is a serious concern within the ProctorTrack system.

Rutgers University’s new program also uses a “behavior observation tool,” which monitors student browser activity throughout an active session. While this feature is intended to prevent students from using the Internet to cheat on exams, the power that this grants instructors is extremely invasive. If a student accidentally leaves a personal or embarrassing website in their browser during an online course, a ProctorTrack instructor might stumble upon their activity. Monitoring student browser history is extremely invasive and might not be common knowledge to many students utilizing the ProctorTrack software.

http://www.dailytargum.com/article/2015/02/u-online-facial-recognition-system-presents-major-privacy-risk

Corruption, falling oil prices and talk of a coup: The end of Chavez's socialist dream in Venezuela

The government says the body of Hugo Chavez is where it should be, encased in the black marble tomb set in the courtyard of a small military fort overlooking Caracas under the guard of four Hussars and touched by the hands of a constant stream of pilgrims. But then it says a lot of things. Such as claiming that the United States backed a recent plot to bomb the presidential palace. And how in Venezuela all is well.

But Adriangela Yomeiny is content to believe what she’s told and on this morning, a public holiday for Mardi Gras, she has come to pay homage. First she inspects the exhibits tracing the rise and untimely death of Mr Chavez from cancer in March 2013, pausing at his hairbrush and a mock-up of his favourite dessert that looks a lot like vomit. It’s when she gets to the tomb itself, lilies on its lid, that she crumbles.

“Seeing him in this condition, it’s… hard,” says Ms Yomeiny, 30, wiping away her tears. She has come with her son from their home in a local barrio, one of the overcrowded, often violent hillside slums that surround Venezuela’s capital city. “I will always be with Chavez, with the revolution, with Communism.” Hers is the love that has kept the Chavez socialist experiment in Venezuela alive, even after his death.

It’s also the love that his hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, a former union leader and bus driver, must now depend on. Ms Yomeiny seems ready to oblige. The economic crisis now upon Venezuela, with worsening shortages of daily needs like milk and medicines, is the fault of opposition politicians, she says. “They are garbage. They have evil in their blood.” But when asked if she loves Mr Maduro as she did Mr Chavez, she hesitates. “I like him,” she finally says. “But Chavez was unique”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/corruption-falling-oil-prices-and-talk-of-a-coup-the-end-of-chavezs-socialist-dream-in-venezuela-10060576.html

Israel, The West Bank and Gaza Travel Warning LAST UPDATED: FEBRUARY 18, 2015

Source: State Department

The Department of State strongly warns U.S. citizens against travel to the Gaza Strip; U.S. government employees are not allowed to conduct official or personal travel there. U.S. government personnel require special security arrangements if traveling inside Israel within seven kilometers of the Gaza demarcation line. With the exception of Jericho and Bethlehem, U.S. government employees are prohibited from personal travel to the West Bank. Due to security concerns, U.S. government employees are prohibited from using public buses throughout Israel and the West Bank, and must obtain advance approval if they wish to travel within 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) of the Lebanon border, or travel on or east of Route 98 in the Golan Heights. U.S. citizens should take into consideration the following information, including the rules governing travel in this region by U.S. government employees. This replaces the Travel Warning issued September 10, 2014.

Travelers should be aware of the risks presented by the potential for military conflict between Hamas and Israel. During the conflict in Gaza in July and August 2014, long-range rockets launched from Gaza reached many locations in Israel and the West Bank – including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other cities in the north and south. The Government of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system successfully intercepted many rockets. However, missile impacts also caused deaths, injuries, and property damage. There have been additional small arms fire and mortar and rocket launches from Gaza into southern Israel on several occasions between September and December 2014 that resulted in limited property damage.

Visitors to and residents of Israel and the West Bank should familiarize themselves with the location of the nearest bomb shelter or other hardened site. Consult municipality websites, such as those for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, for locations of public bomb shelters and other emergency preparedness information. Visitors should seek information on shelters from hotel staff or building managers. We advise all U.S. citizens to take note of guidance on proper procedures in the event of rocket attacks or other crisis events by visiting the website of the government of Israel's Home Front Command.

Travelers should also be aware of the heightened state of alert maintained by Israeli authorities along Israel's border with Egypt. There have been cross-border incidents from Egypt, including rocket attacks and ground incursions, such as attacks that took place in August 2013, January 20 and October 22, 2014. Rockets and mortars were launched from Sinai in the direction of Eilat and Israel’s Negev region in January, July, and August 2014.

Read more: http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/israel-travel-warning.html

Bafel Talabani Head of the Kurdish Elite Counter Terrorism Group - Interview with SkyNews

Gen. Wesley Clark claims ISIS created by US "friends and allies" to fight Hezbollah

Hezbollah humiliated Israel when it invaded Lebanon. "ISIS is a frankenstein", lets keep it fuzzy and play this.

Judge Halts Obama's Immigration Order

Source: Texas tribune

Gov. Greg Abbott hailed a federal judge's decision Monday to halt President Obama’s executive action on immigration — a decision that gave the state of Texas an initial victory in its battle against what state leaders call federal overreach.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville ruled that the Obama administration did not "comply with the Administrative Procedure Act." The Administrative Procedure Act governs the way regulations are made and how much input the public has.

Obama's policy seeks to give as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants — including some 1.46 million in Texas — a work permit and temporary relief from deportation.

Abbott, the state's former attorney general, filed the lawsuit in December before being sworn in as governor. Texas is part of a 26-state coalition that challenged the executive action, which was announced in November.


Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/16/executive-action-immigration-ruling/

Millennials ditching their TV sets at a record rate

The biggest TV drama among millennials is playing off screen.

So far this season, younger viewers, the most important audience for advertisers, have ditched their TV sets at more than double the rate of previous years, new Nielsen figures show.

Traditional TV usage — which has been falling among viewers ages 18 to 34 at around 4 percent a year since 2012 — tumbled 10.6 percent between September and January.

In the era of smartphones and Netflix, it’s no surprise that traditional TV is losing relevance for younger viewers. But the sudden acceleration is alarming to even the most seasoned analysts.

“The change in behavior is stunning. The use of streaming and smartphones just year-on-year is double-digit increases,” Alan Wurtzel, NBCUniversal’s audience research chief, told The Post. “I’ve never seen that kind of change in behavior.”

http://nypost.com/2015/02/16/millenials-ditching-their-tv-sets-at-a-record-rate/

Jews didn’t desert New York after 9/11 so why on earth does Netanyahu want to them to run away now?

I’m confused. Very, very confused.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says his country is in imminent danger of being nuked off the face of the earth by Iran.

But he wants every Jew to flee terror attacks in the rest of the world…and come to live in Israel?

Makes perfect sense, right?

Well, no, obviously it doesn’t.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2955761/PIERS-MORGAN-does-Netanyahu-want-Jews-run-away-Europe.html