717: Juice Jacking

It helps you combat stress, eases tension, relieves pain, aids sleep, and boosts your self-esteem. Plus, exploring your own pleasure preferences helps you figure out EXACTLY what you like and how you like it, so you can share that formula with a partner. May is Masturbation month!

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Austin Astronomical Society [Link]

Homebrew LoFi rig

Jupiter with Rings

Venus is not so special

Been 40 years since I last looked - Spiritual

tulle, blue moon beam rocks

Bambi 19'

Gun license for all states

NDAA and Overturning of Smith-Mundt Act

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (NDAA) allows for materials produced by the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to be released within U.S. borders and strikes down a long-time ban on the dissemination of such material in the country.[14][15][16]

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Sun, 21 Sep 2014 15:00

Propaganda in the United States is propaganda spread by government and media entities within the United States. Propaganda is information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to influence opinions. Propaganda is not only in advertising; it is also in radio, newspaper, posters, books, and anything else that might be sent out to the widespread public.

Domestic[edit]World War I[edit]The first large-scale use of propaganda by the U.S. government came during World War I. The government enlisted the help of citizens and children to help promote war bonds and stamps to help stimulate the economy. To keep the prices of war supplies down, the U.S. government produced posters that encouraged people to reduce waste and grow their own vegetables in "victory gardens." The public skepticism that was generated by the heavy-handed tactics of the Committee on Public Information would lead the postwar government to officially abandon the use of propaganda.[1]

World War II[edit]During World War II the U.S. officially had no propaganda, but the Roosevelt government used means to circumvent this official line. One such propaganda tool was the publicly owned but government funded Writers' War Board (WWB). The activities of the WWB were so extensive that it has been called the "greatest propaganda machine in history".[1]Why We Fight is a famous series of US government propaganda films made to justify US involvement in World War II.

In 1944 (lasting until 1948) prominent US policy makers launched a domestic propaganda campaign aimed at convincing the U.S. public to agree to a harsh peace for the German people, for example by removing the common view of the German people and the Nazi party as separate entities.[2] The core in this campaign was the Writers' War Board which was closely associated with the Roosevelt administration.[2]

Another means was the United States Office of War Information that Roosevelt established in June 1942, whose mandate was to promote understanding of the war policies under the director Elmer Davies. It dealt with posters, press, movies, exhibitions, and produced often slanted material conforming to US wartime purposes. Other large and influential non-governmental organizations during the war and immediate post war period were the Society for the Prevention of World War III and the Council on Books in Wartime.

Cold War[edit]During the Cold War, the U.S. government produced vast amounts of propaganda against communism and the Soviet bloc. Much of this propaganda was directed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under J. Edgar Hoover, who himself wrote the anti-communist tract Masters of Deceit. The FBI's COINTELPRO arm solicited journalists to produce fake news items discrediting communists and affiliated groups, such as H. Bruce Franklin and the Venceremos Organization.

War on Drugs[edit]The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, originally established by the National Narcotics Leadership Act of 1988,[3][4] but now conducted by the Office of National Drug Control Policy under the Drug-Free Media Campaign Act of 1998,[5] is a domestic propaganda campaign designed to "influence the attitudes of the public and the news media with respect to drug abuse" and for "reducing and preventing drug abuse among young people in the United States".[6][7] The Media Campaign cooperates with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and other government and non-government organizations.[8]

Iraq War[edit]In early 2002, the U.S. Department of Defense launched an information operation, colloquially referred to as the Pentagon military analyst program.[9] The goal of the operation is "to spread the administrations's talking points on Iraq by briefing ... retired commanders for network and cable television appearances," where they have been presented as independent analysts.[10] On 22 May 2008, after this program was revealed in the New York Times, the House passed an amendment that would make permanent a domestic propaganda ban that until now has been enacted annually in the military authorization bill.[11]

The Shared values initiative was a public relations campaign that was intended to sell a "new" America to Muslims around the world by showing that American Muslims were living happily and freely, without persecution, in post-9/11 America.[12] Funded by the United States Department of State, the campaign created a public relations front group known as Council of American Muslims for Understanding (CAMU). The campaign was divided in phases; the first of which consisted of five mini-documentaries for television, radio, and print with shared values messages for key Muslim countries.[13]

NDAA and Overturning of Smith-Mundt Act[edit]The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (NDAA) allows for materials produced by the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to be released within U.S. borders and strikes down a long-time ban on the dissemination of such material in the country.[14][15][16]

Ad Council[edit]The Ad Council, an American non-profit organization that distributes public service announcements on behalf of various private and federal government agency sponsors, has been labeled as "little more than a domestic propaganda arm of the federal government" given the Ad Council's historically close collaboration with the President of the United States and the federal government.[17]

International[edit]Through several international broadcasting operations, the US disseminates American cultural information, official positions on international affairs, and daily summaries of international news. These operations fall under the International Broadcasting Bureau, the successor of the United States Information Agency, established in 1953. IBB's operations include Voice of America, Radio Liberty, Alhurra and other programs. They broadcast mainly to countries where the United States finds that information about international events is limited, either due to poor infrastructure or government censorship. The Smith-Mundt Act prohibits the Voice of America from disseminating information to US citizens that was produced specifically for a foreign audience.

During the Cold War the US ran covert propaganda campaigns in countries that appeared likely to become Soviet satellites, such as Italy, Afghanistan, and Chile.

Recently The Pentagon announced the creation of a new unit aimed at spreading propaganda about supposedly "inaccurate" stories being spread about the Iraq War. These "inaccuracies" have been blamed on the enemy trying to decrease support for the war. Donald Rumsfeld has been quoted as saying these stories are something that keeps him up at night.[18]

Psychological operations[edit]The US military defines psychological operations, or PSYOP, as:

planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence the emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.[19]

The Smith-Mundt Act, adopted in 1948, explicitly forbids information and psychological operations aimed at the US public.[20][21][22] Nevertheless, the current easy access to news and information from around the globe, makes it difficult to guarantee PSYOP programs do not reach the US public. Or, in the words of Army Col. James A. Treadwell, who commanded the U.S. military psyops unit in Iraq in 2003, in the Washington Post:

There's always going to be a certain amount of bleed-over with the global information environment.[23]

Agence France Presse reported on U.S. propaganda campaigns that:

The Pentagon acknowledged in a newly declassified document that the US public is increasingly exposed to propaganda disseminated overseas in psychological operations.[24]

Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved the document referred to, which is titled "Information Operations Roadmap." [22][24] The document acknowledges the Smith-Mundt Act, but fails to offer any way of limiting the effect PSYOP programs have on domestic audiences.[20][21][25]

Several incidents in 2003 were documented by Sam Gardiner, a retired Air Force colonel, which he saw as information-warfare campaigns that were intended for "foreign populations and the American public." Truth from These Podia,[26] as the treatise was called, reported that the way the Iraq war was fought resembled a political campaign, stressing the message instead of the truth.[22]

See also[edit]References[edit]^ abThomas Howell, The Writers' War Board: U.S. Domestic Propaganda in World War II, Historian, Volume 59 Issue 4, Pages 795 - 813^ abSteven Casey, (2005), The Campaign to sell a harsh peace for Germany to the American public, 1944 - 1948, [online]. London: LSE Research Online. [Available online at http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/archive/00000736] Originally published in History, 90 (297). pp. 62-92 (2005) Blackwell Publishing^National Narcotics Leadership Act of 1988 of the Anti''Drug Abuse Act of 1988, Pub.L. 100''717, 102 Stat. 4181, enacted November 18, 1988^Gamboa, Anthony H. (January 4, 2005), B-303495, Office of National Drug Control Policy '-- Video News Release, Government Accountability Office, footnote 6, page 3 ^Drug-Free Media Campaign Act of 1998 (Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999), Pub.L. 105''277, 112 Stat. 268, enacted October 21, 1998^Gamboa, Anthony H. (January 4, 2005), B-303495, Office of National Drug Control Policy '-- Video News Release, Government Accountability Office, pp. 9''10 ^Drug-Free Media Campaign Act of 1998 of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999, Pub.L. 105''277, 112 Stat. 268, enacted October 21, 1998^Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006, Pub.L. 109''469, 120 Stat. 3501, enacted December 29, 2006, codified at 21 U.S.C. § 1717^Barstow, David (2008-04-20). "Message Machine: Behind Analysts, the Pentagon's Hidden Hand". New York Times. ^Sessions, David (2008-04-20). "Onward T.V. Soldiers: The New York Times exposes a multi-armed Pentagon message machine". Slate. ^Barstow, David (2008-05-24). "2 Inquiries Set on Pentagon Publicity Effort". New York Times. ^Rampton, Sheldon (October 17, 2007). "Shared Values Revisited". Center for Media and Democracy. ^"U.S. Reaches Out to Muslim World with Shared Values Initiative". America.gov. January 16, 2003.

Dear John & Adam,

I feel the need to chime in on the events in my city of Baltimore these past few days, and I want to convey a message of sadness and dismay at the situation that has presented itself here. The mainstream media has once again taken this opportunity to play out their script of violence and chaos, which is not indicative of the majority of these protests, city residents, and neighborhoods. Most of us here in Baltimore will gladly decry the riots and looting that made up the minority of events here since Saturday, but I would be remiss if I did not point out that we also understand the anger and frustration on display.

I would like to start by relaying a short story I find illustrates the sad situation many city residents find themselves and their families caught in. I am a contractor that does work for Baltimore City schools, specifically emergency structural repairs. Last spring we were working on an elementary school not 10 blocks from the epicenter of the ‘riots’ last night (Monday, April 27). Early one morning my superintendent was opening up the job site when a child, maybe 7 or 8 years old, arriving to school by himself on foot began cursing at him unprovoked. About 15 minutes later when teachers began to open the school to students, my superintendent alerted one of the administrative staff to the incident with the young student. The child was identified and confronted about his behavior towards my super, and vehemently denied any involvement until his emotions got the better of him and he began sobbing. My question is: how horrific is this child’s home life that he arrives at school with so much uncontrolled rage, and how sad is it that when confronted with his own actions the only response his young mind can produce is crippling despair? He later apologized to my superintendent and shook his hand before returning to class. When this is the situation for so many children in urban impoverished area of our cities, it is no wonder that their high school and adult selves react in the ways you see smeared across the national news networks.

The larger story at play here, and the one that drives me to my own crutch in dealing with crushing despair (drinking), is the celebration and relief so many county folk (read: terrified white people) have conveyed over the presence of over 2,000 National Guard troops in the streets of our city; just writing that down makes me nauseous. People are welcoming armed, federally controlled troops to patrol our neighborhoods, making sure we don’t disobey our mandatory citywide curfew (for the next fucking week!)

There are so many factors resulting in the actions of my fellow city residents, including a corrupt police force, selfish and distracted city leadership, an overwhelming (engineered) dependence on the welfare state, and the outside instigation of violence by known groups, also involved in other areas of the country like Ferguson. All of these have be broken down and talked about ad nauseam. The message I wanted to send is that there is more to the situation (and I know I don’t have to tell you, but I will anyway) than the national media outlets choose to script for the benefit of their ratings.

This has been a carefully curated situation with the express intent of gaining additional state and federal funding for a city government that cares not how they obtain that money. It is also and attempt, in my opinion, to swing the police brutality conversation from one of race, to one of policing tactics and equipment. Baltimore is after all, run by a black democratic mayor, a black democratic police chief, has a majority black population and a majority black police force (although most of them are county residents, but that’s a different rant.) I foresee even more dollars being funneled to large urban/suburban law enforcement agencies for further militarization by way of new equipment and training.

I’m tired, and disgusted, and disappointed in what I see here in the city I love; and I am not referring to the ‘rioting’. It is the complacency and ignorance of the American people, such that many welcome the presence of armed military personnel in the streets of our cities that has me so distraught. I love this city, and I see so many opportunities for growth and improvement. If you take anything away from this note (other than that I have an obtuse righting style), please let your supporters and producers know that there are a lot of good people here, but they are caught in the New American Slave Mentality by way of government and media indoctrination. I have to have hope that there is time yet to change that. When fear is allowed to win over our hearts and minds we will lose so much more than the contents of a CVS on the corner of North and Pennsylvania Avenues.

Sincerely,

Erik Bird

A Proud Resident of Baltimore City

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 17:09

Today Camden Yards, the ballyhooed baseball stadium in downtown Baltimore, will feature something never before seen in the century-plus history of Major League Baseball: an official game played with not a single paying spectator in sight.

After postponing yesterday's Orioles-White Sox game amid civil unrest, and locking in fans for a half-hour or so after Saturday night's contest with the Red Sox because of the conflict just outside the stadium gates, the team, in conjunction with MLB and state and local government officials, has decided that the best way to ensure fan safety is to not have fans.

It's no surprise that Camden Yards would play such an important symbolic role in the ongoing civic breakdown of Baltimore. The stadium has long been the prototype for showering tax dollars on millionaire sports owners in the name of spurring downtown urban renewal. As the Maryland Public Policy Institute's Louis Miserendino wrote in the Baltimore Sun on the occasion of the ballpark's 20th anniversary,

The imitators are many: St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit have built downtown baseball and football stadiums as centerpieces of their redevelopment programs.

Clearly, this approach has made their downtowns more fun, but it comes at a steep cost: the hundreds of millions spent on stadiums were not available for new schools, better roads, improved parks or other infrastructure in neighborhoods.

None of the cities that banked on downtown "stadium stimuli" have reversed their population losses. Between 2000 and 2010, Baltimore lost 30,193 residents (4.6 percent of its population), St. Louis, 28,895 (8.3 percent), Pittsburgh, 28,859 (8.6 percent), Cincinnati, 34,340 (10.4 percent), Cleveland, 81,588 (17.1 percent), and Detroit, 237,493 (24.9 percent). Meanwhile, some cities that have refused to subsidize stadiums have fared much better.

When city governments give subsidies and/or targeted tax breaks, as is wonderfully illustrated by Todd Krainin in his Reason TV video about Baltimore development promises (embedded at the bottom of this post), chances are they will make up for the revenue shortfall by jacking up taxes and fees on the rest of their subjects. All of which makes these comments on the riots from John Angelos, son of longtime Orioles owner and trial-lawyer tycoon Peter Angelos (a uniquely despised person among Orioles fans, in my experience), ring just a wee bit hollow:

[M]y greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night's property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good, hard-working Americans into economic devastation by diminishing every American's civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.

As Patrick Dougherty has previously observed (though using much more measured language than I), those looking for a villain in Baltimore's economic woes may want to fix their gaze up at the owner's box:

The $300 million that the City of Baltimore spent to build a stadium for a private entity could have been applied elsewhere that widespread benefit and wealth creation for its residents and left the Orioles to build the stadium themselves. ['...]

The true winners in the stadium subsidy game are, not surprisingly, the owners that end up making money off of generous leases to play in new stadiums that the people paying to attend and watch the games played there have actually paid for.

The other part of Camden Yards symbolism that has always stuck in my craw is what The Nation sportswriter Dave Zirin calls its "urban old-timey" design. Not that there's anything wrong with how it feels in Baltimore itself (which has one of the richest old-timey baseball and urban histories in the country), but do we really need ersatz nostalgia for some mythical good ol' days in Arlington, Texas and Queens?

You don't have to be Chris Rock to note the following progression: Pro baseball teams flee inner cities during and just after the racial unrest of the 1950s and '60s, then come back in the '90s and aughts dressed up in the distinctive clothes of pre-war nostalgia after being paid handsome bribes by city officials. It's a great deal for owners, players, well-heeled fans and tourists; pretty crappy for the rest of the city.

Game time today is at 2:05 ET, for those who enjoy weird echoes (or the sounds of baseball players cussing). I certainly don't agree with Dave Zirin about everything, but I'll give him the last word:

[T]here will be something haunted about the visuals that will ensue. Whenever the Orioles play away from home, the surrounding commercial neighborhood can resemble a ghost town, revealing the inability of sports to act as an economic stimulus. Now the inside of the stadium will be the ghost town. No fans. No workers. No screaming. No cheering. As quiet as Freddie Gray.

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Tue, 28 Apr 2015 23:09

By holding grants, money and threats of pulling federal dollars, he can attempt to force local police departments to do what is commanded of them. That may have very little to do with people's safety and everything to do with imposition of doctrine and control'...

ITM Adam

For what its worth, i believe your diagnosis vis a vis bill clintons pump head is spot on. I am a practicing heart surgeon and unfortunately see this phenomenon occur- especially in older patients whose aortas are often littered with atherosclerosis. All manner of neurological defects can result, including weakness, tremors, slurred speech, confusion.

Sir Terry

Black Night

Cheap Bastard of Mobile Bay

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 23:59

Hillary Clinton's presidential run is prompting new scrutiny of the Clintons' financial and charitable affairs'--something that's already proved problematic for the Democratic frontrunner, given how closely these two worlds overlap. Last week, the New York Times examined Bill Clinton's relationship with a Canadian mining financier, Frank Giustra, who has donated millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation and sits on its board. Clinton, the story suggests, helped Giustra's company secure a lucrative uranium-mining deal in Kazakhstan and in return received ''a flow of cash'' to the Clinton Foundation, including previously undisclosed donations from the company's chairman totaling US$2.35 million.

Giustra strenuously objects to how he was portrayed. ''It's frustrating,'' he says. And because the donations came in through the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership (CGEP) '-- a Canadian affiliate of the Clinton Foundation he established with the former president '-- he feels doubly implicated by the insinuation of a dark alliance.

We're not trying to hide anything

''We're not trying to hide anything,'' he says. There are in fact 1,100 undisclosed donors to the Clinton Foundation, Giustra says, most of them non-U.S. residents who donated to CGEP. ''All of the money that was raised by CGEP flowed through to the Clinton Foundation '-- every penny '-- and went to the [charitable] initiatives we identified,'' he says.

The reason this is a politically explosive revelation is because the Clinton Foundation promised to disclose its donors as a condition of Hillary Clinton becoming secretary of state. Shortly after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, the Clinton Foundation signed a ''memorandum of understanding'' with the Obama White House agreeing to reveal its contributors every year. The agreement stipulates that the ''Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative'' (as the charity was then known) is part of the Clinton Foundation and must follow ''the same protocols.''

It hasn't.

Giustra says that's because Canada's federal privacy law forbids CGEP, a Canadian-registered charity, from revealing its donors. A memo he provided explaining the legal rationale cites CGEP's ''fiduciary obligations'' to its contributors and Canada's Personal Information Privacy and Electronic Disclosure Act. ''We are not allowed to disclose even to the Clinton Foundation the names of our donors,'' he says.

On Saturday, responding to the Times story, Maura Pally, the acting CEO of the Clinton Foundation, issued a statement echoing this assertion: ''This is hardly an effort on our part to avoid transparency''unlike in the U.S., under Canadian law, all charities are prohibited from disclosing individual donors without prior permission from each donor.''

Canadian tax and privacy law experts were dubious of this claim. Len Farber, former director of tax policy at Canada's Department of Finance, said he wasn't aware of any tax laws that would prevent the charity from releasing its donors' names. ''There's nothing that would preclude them from releasing the names of donors,'' he said. ''It's entirely up to them.''

There's nothing that would preclude them from releasing the names of donors

Mark Blumberg, a charity lawyer at Blumberg Segal in Toronto, added that the legislation ''does not generally apply to a registered charity unless a charity is conducting commercial activities'... such as selling the list to third parties.''

CGEP might have a stronger claim if it promised anonymity to donors, says David Fraser, a partner at McInnes Cooper in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who runs a blog on Canadian privacy law. He's more skeptical of the argument that a charity has a fiduciary duty to donors. ''They might have a fiduciary duty to the people they're collecting money to help,'' he said, ''but for the donors that doesn't seem to have the ring of truth.''

While Giustra says he can't reveal any names, he is willing to disclose that CGEP money comes from ''mostly Canadian donors.'' The charity is registered in Canada, he says, not to hide the identity of its donors but to enable them to receive Canadian tax breaks that can reimburse them for nearly half of what they give.

However, not all CGEP's big donors are Canadian. The Canada Revenue Agency'--Canada's IRS'--requires charities to reveal whether they receive donations of more than $10,000 (Canadian) from people who are not Canadians, employed in the country, or carrying on business there. In both 2009 and 2010, CGEP filings show that it reported receiving such donations to Canadian authorities.

With millions of dollars and 1,100 donors shrouded in mystery, CGEP has caught the attention of journalist and authors, including Peter Schweizer, whose forthcoming book, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, details Giustra's financial relationship with Bill Clinton and posits nefarious intentions. The fact that the Clinton Foundation promised something that Giustra feels he can't supply '-- the identity of his donors '-- has put him in an even worse spot.

Giustra is fed up, and he's vowing to do something to ease his disclosure constraints and clear his name. ''There is a way around it'--but you need each individual donor's written permission to allow us to disclose their names,'' he says. ''We're going through a process now where we're trying to get the permission.'' He adds, ''We're not going to go to 1,100 people. But we're certainly going to go to the big ones '-- a couple hundred grand and up '-- and just see what they say. Now, they can say no. But we're going to try.''

Bloomberg.com

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 16:36

The Clinton Foundation's finances are so messy that the nation's most influential charity watchdog put it on its ''watch list'' of problematic nonprofits last month.

The Clinton family's mega-charity took in more than $140 million in grants and pledges in 2013 but spent just $9 million on direct aid.

The group spent the bulk of its windfall on administration, travel, and salaries and bonuses, with the fattest payouts going to family friends.

On its 2013 tax forms, the most recent available, the foundation claimed it spent $30 million on payroll and employee benefits; $8.7 million in rent and office expenses; $9.2 million on ''conferences, conventions and meetings''; $8 million on fundraising; and nearly $8.5 million on travel. None of the Clintons is on the payroll, but they do enjoy first-class flights paid for by the foundation.

In all, the group reported $84.6 million in ''functional expenses'' on its 2013 tax return and had more than $64 million left over '-- money the organization has said represents pledges rather than actual cash on hand.

Some of the tens of millions in administrative costs finance more than 2,000 employees, including aid workers and health professionals around the world.

But that's still far below the 75 percent rate of spending that nonprofit experts say a good charity should spend on its mission.

Charity Navigator, which rates nonprofits, recently refused to rate the Clinton Foundation because its ''atypical business model .'‰.'‰. doesn't meet our criteria.''

Charity Navigator put the foundation on its ''watch list,'' which warns potential donors about investing in problematic charities. The 23 charities on the list include the Rev. Al Sharpton's troubled National Action Network, which is cited for failing to pay payroll taxes for several years.

Other nonprofit experts are asking hard questions about the Clinton Foundation's tax filings in the wake of recent reports that the Clintons traded influence for donations.

''It seems like the Clinton Foundation operates as a slush fund for the Clintons,'' said Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a government watchdog group where progressive Democrat and Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout was once an organizing director.

In July 2013, Eric Braverman, a friend of Chelsea Clinton from when they both worked at McKinsey & Co., took over as CEO of the Clinton Foundation. He took home nearly $275,000 in salary, benefits and a housing allowance from the nonprofit for just five months' work in 2013, tax filings show. Less than a year later, his salary increased to $395,000, according to a report in Politico.

Braverman abruptly left the foundation earlier this year, after a falling-out with the old Clinton guard over reforms he wanted to impose at the charity, Politico reported. Last month, Donna Shalala, a former secretary of health and human services under President Clinton, was hired to replace Braverman.

Nine other executives received salaries over $100,000 in 2013, tax filings show.

The nonprofit came under fire last week following reports that Hillary Clinton, while she was secretary of state, signed off on a deal that allowed a Russian government enterprise to control one-fifth of all uranium producing capacity in the United States. Rosatom, the Russian company, acquired a Canadian firm controlled by Frank Giustra, a friend of Bill Clinton's and member of the foundation board, who has pledged over $130 million to the Clinton family charity.

The group also failed to disclose millions of dollars it received in foreign donations from 2010 to 2012 and is hurriedly refiling five years' worth of tax returns after reporters raised questions about the discrepancies in its filings last week.

An accountant for the Clinton Foundation did not return The Post's calls seeking clarification on its expenses Friday, and a spokesperson for the group refused comment.

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 20:02

A plane with former president Bill Clinton aboard it had to make an emergency landing in Tanzania due to issues with an engine, according to CBS News.

Per CBS News:

One of the four engines on the Canadian turboprop Dash 7 plane stopped working. Everyone aboard the plane is safe.

The plane landed at the Dodoma fueling station, where the engine was being repaired.

The aircraft was traveling from Iranga, Tanzania, in the center of the East African nation, to Lake Manyara, which is in the north.

Clinton is in Africa to visit agricultural projects funded by the Clinton Foundation. He and his daughter Chelsea are slated to visit Kenya, Liberia and Morocco during the trip.

According to the Washington Post, 20 ''major Clinton Foundation donors'' joined the two Clintons on their nine-day trip, many of whom have contributed campaign money to the Clintons.

Per the Washington Post:

The group includes Lynn Forester de Rothchild, a longtime supporter of Hillary Clinton who has also been a major foundation donor. The delegation will also include Jay Jacobs and his wife Mindy. Jay Jacobs donated more than $500,000 to the foundation and has also given to the political action committee Ready for Hillary.

The trip has drawn scrutiny as the Clinton Foundation has been under fire for missteps in disclosing donors.

Of course, the plane trouble could always be worse. Just ask Secretary of State John Kerry, who's plane broke down four times last year alone.

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 15:32

American Airlines flights experienced significant delays this evening after pilots' iPads'--which the airline uses to distribute flight plans and other information to the crew'--abruptly crashed. ''Several dozen'' flights were affected by the outage, according to a spokesperson for the airline.

''The pilot told us when they were getting ready to take off, the iPad screens went blank, both for the captain and copilot, so they didn't have the flight plan,'' Toni Jacaruso, a passenger on American flight #1654 from Dallas to Austin, told Quartz.

''The pilot came on and said that his first mate's iPad powered down unexpectedly, and his had too, and that the entire 737 fleet on American had experienced the same behavior,'' said passenger Philip McRell, who was also on flight #1654. ''It seemed unprecedented and very unfamiliar to the pilots.''

Other passengers in New York and Chicago also said they were being affected by the outage.

The airline issued this message on Twitter in response to a stranded passenger:

American switched its pilots to an iPad-based ''electronic flight bag'' in 2013, replacing the heavy paper-based reference materials that pilots carried previously. American said the change would reduce the frequent injuries incurred by pilots from carrying heavy flight bags, and would also save time by making revisions electronically.

Jacaruso and McRell tweeted about their predicament, as did other passengers.

The software and data that powers American's iPad-based flight kits are provided by Jeppesen, a unit of Boeing Digital Aviation.

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 09:01

Sweden's military spokesman confirmed on Jan. 11 that the country had carried out a second search for a suspected Russian submarine just shortly after a high-profile sub hunt concluded in late October.

Military spokesman Jesper Tengroth confirmed that Sweden carried out a second search for a Russian submarine on Oct. 31, 2014. This second search occurred just a week after Sweden called off a failed search for a suspected Russian submarine that had infiltrated Swedish waters off the Stockholm Archipelago.

The search was triggered after Sven-Olof Kviman, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Swedish navy, spotted a mysterious object moving through the water about 3,000 feet away from his seaside home outside of Stockholm. Kviman identified the object as a submarine, and he asked his wife to take pictures of the vessel.

Kviman's took three photos of the submarine, which they then promptly sent to the Swedish military. Based on Kviman's observations, Sweden declared the sighting credible but insufficient to conclude that a second submarine was in fact operating in Swedish territorial waters. Screen grab from Swedish news source DN.TVOne of Mrs. Kviman's photo of the reported submarine.

The first search for a suspected submarine was Sweden's largest military operation since the Cold War ended. The search ultimately did not manage to capture the suspected vessel. Sweden never named the vessel as Russian '-- although Swedish defense experts said it almost certainly did belong to Moscow.

The second search also failed at capturing the presumed Russian submarine. In this search, Sweden secretly deployed its submarine-hunting corvette, the CMS Malmo.

In November, the Swedish Armed Forces presented to reporters a sonar scan showing an object in Swedish territorial waters. The vessel appears to have a conning tower indicating that it is a submarine. Swedish Armed ForcesA sonar image showing tracks likely left by a submarine.

The news of a second submarine hunt in Sweden coincides with a joint UK-US anti-submarine operation taking place off of the Scottish coast.

The British Ministry of Defense called the US for assistance after spotting a suspected Russian submarine last week. The submarine may have been trying to track one of Britain's Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines.

News of these two additional submarine infiltrations follows a general Russian trend of pushing the boundaries of its neighbors' territorial sovereignty following the crisis in Ukraine.

Between March and November 2014, Moscow and its opponents had 40 close military encounters due to Russian aerial incursions into Western airspace. Of those 40 encounters, 11 were classified as "serious incidents with escalation risk" by the European Leadership Network.

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 09:00

O de Andrade via Flickr

The Finnish government is refusing to confirm whether it believes that a submarine '-- presumably from Russia '-- entered its territorial waters because it's worried about a repeat of the "farce" that Swedish authorities got themselves into after submarine sightings there last October.

Commodore Olavi Jantunen, chief of operations in the Finnish navy, told local broadcasters that the navy had identified a "possible underwater object" at noon on Monday and had sent vessels to investigate after it was spotted again early Tuesday morning.

The ships dropped six small depth charges that "were not intended to cause damage" in order to help them in their search, but Jantunen did not provide any details or theory as to the exact nature or origin of the "object".

Given the increased military manoeuvres by Russia in the region, the sighting immediately prompted rumours of a possible Russian submarine incursion. And '-- obviously '-- people are excited about the idea that the Finnish Navy is dropping depth charges on Russian submarines! (Even if they were only very small depth charges.)

It would not be the first time Russian subs have made headlines. Last October, Swedish authorities launched a major search involving 200 service personnel using minesweepers, helicopters, and an anti-submarine ship after reports of "foreign underwater activity".

However, earlier this month one of the sightings by a retired naval officer was dismissed as more likely to be a "civilian working vessel" than a Russian submarine. The Swedish authorities remain adamant thatSwedish territory was violated by a foreign vessel. And the Russian government hit back saying that the search was a "mindless waste of...taxpayer money".

The end result was mostly confusion about what exactly had occurred and an increase in public concern in Sweden over Russia's intentions.

Finland's government has clearly taken note of the Swedish kerfuffle and is seeking to downplay today's incident as much as possible. The Financial Times quotes Carl Haglund, the country's defence minister, saying that he did not want to "create a farce" like the Swedish authorities and that there are good reasons for keeping military information out of the public domain.

His warnings come amid rising tensions in the region. Tensions between Russia and the West at highs not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow has been stepping up its military presence. And, of course, Russian troops are fomenting the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, on Europe's Eastern doorstep.

The spectre of an increasingly aggressive, expansionist Russia has become a major source of anxiety for the authorities in Finland, which shares an 840-mile land border with its eastern neighbour. In August last year Finnish fighter jets had to be scrambled three times in one week to head off Russian military planes that had crossed into the country's airspace.

At the time Haglund acknowledged that the situation was highly unusual: "What we know is they are done somewhat on purpose. We don't know what that purpose is."

With tensions already running high, it is perhaps unsurprising that the government would seek to downplay this latest incursion. However, it will do little to allay concerns that Russia is seeking to flex its military muscle as a warning to its neighbours.

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 08:57

The navy said it noticed an underwater target on Monday and again on Tuesday morning and dropped depth charges the size of grenades.

"During surveillance of [Finland's] territorial integrity, the navy detected a possible underwater object at midday (0900 GMT) on April 27, 2015, within Finland's territorial waters close to the border outside Helsinki," the defence ministry said in a statement.

A second sighting was made during the night and "a warning was given with light depth charges at three in the morning," the ministry added.

No further sightings were reported after the warning shots and no details have been given of the type of vessel that was detected.

The incident comes during an spike in Russian military activity in the Baltic which has prompted non-aligned Finland to announce closer military cooperation with its Nordic neighbours - including Nato members Norway and Denmark.

Regional tensions were reflected earlier in April after an unprecedented hawkish joint statement by Nordic countries - Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland - that directly cited the Russian "challenge" as grounds to increase defence cooperation.

Moscow retorted immediately, saying moves by Finland and Sweden towards closer ties with NATO were of "special concern".

Finland shares a 830-mile border with Russia, and has aimed to maintain good relations with its powerful neighbour since the end of World War II.

In October, Sweden's armed forces hunted unsuccessfully for a week for what they believed to be a foreign submarine in waters close to the capital Stockholm, after several observations were made.

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Source: Global Geopolitics

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 14:33

It would sit in the icy waters of the Arctic, and provide a constant supply of electricity to a massive rig drilling for oil. They could be mass produced, potentially cutting the cost of drilling projects. The twist? The electricity on these floating power plants would come from a nuclear reactor.

Russia is looking to deploy a floating nuclear reactor that could help power ports, industries, and also offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic. In what sounds like a horrible nightmare for environmentalists, floating nuclear reactors could help produce more oil in the Arctic.

Russia's reactor, called the Akademik Lomonosov, will be about the length of one and a half football fields, and will have the capacity to produce 70 megawatts of electricity. It is not self-propelled, but future mobile reactors will be. Russia plans on mass producing them once the Akademik Lomonosov proves itself. The small floating reactors will be on icebreakers, so they will be able to navigate icy Arctic waters.

Construction began on the Akademik Lomonosov in 2007, but has suffered delays. But Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said during a recent trip to the Arctic that Russia hopes to have a floating nuclear reactor running by October 2016. It will provide power to the Arctic town of Pevek in the East Siberian Sea. ''It is basically an atomic reactor that can be docked to coastal infrastructure, and it will provide energy through a cable to any Arctic city,'' Rogozin said.

According to Russia's state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom, at least 15 countries, including China, Algeria, Indonesia, Malaysia and Argentina, are interested in deploying floating nuclear reactors as well. In fact, last year, during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Shanghai, Russia and China signed an agreement to cooperate on building a floating nuclear power plant.

Full article:Russia To Power Arctic Drilling With Floating Nuclear Reactors (Oil Price)

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Tue, 28 Apr 2015 14:31

A speedy emergency response Europe-wide could reduce deaths in road accidents The European Parliament has voted for an EU-wide emergency alert system dubbed eCall to help ambulance crews get to road accidents faster.

New cars and light vans will have the system as standard from 31 March 2018.

The eCall device will alert rescue services automatically, using the existing 112 emergency number.

Basic data will be sent only when an accident occurs. The technology was first proposed in 2012, but legislation was delayed amid privacy concerns.

After negotiations between MEPs and EU governments it was agreed that eCall would provide only basic data such as:

type of vehiclefuel usedtime of accidentlocationThe European Commission says installation of the device is likely to add about '‚¬100 (£72; $109) to the cost of a new car.

A standard accident alert system is needed in Europe, because "when you cross a border you have a language problem and often do not even really know where you are", said Czech Social Democrat MEP Olga Sehnalova, the parliament's lead negotiator on the issue.

MEPs in favour of the plans say rescue services will be able to reach crash scenes faster, saving lives and reducing the severity of injuries.

Research suggests that the system could halve response times, especially in rural areas.

Ms Sehnalova said privacy would be protected.

"The information is transferred only at the moment a serious accident occurs and airbag are sensors set off. Then a standard set of information is sent to the rescue services."

But Jan Philipp Albrecht from the Greens said the technology should not be mandatory.

"The consequence of being connected all the time means that we are also subject to more possibilities to track us," he told the BBC.

"We reduced the data being processed to a very minimum, but nonetheless it is technically possible for companies, or for an authority, to track your position and to even surveil you. So I don't think this should be obliged to everybody. Everybody should have the chance to opt out."

The UK government objects to the plans. UK Transport Minister Claire Perry said "the benefit of making eCall mandatory in all new cars does not justify the cost of implementing it.

"We do not support the measure, because it is not cost-effective for us."

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Tue, 28 Apr 2015 22:58

LOS ANGELES '-- Bumble Bee Foods and two managers were charged by Los Angeles prosecutors Monday with violating safety regulations in the death of a worker who was cooked in an industrial oven with tons of tuna.

Jose Melena was performing maintenance in a 35-foot-long oven at the company's Santa Fe Springs plant before dawn Oct. 11, 2012, when a co-worker, who mistakenly believed Melena was in the bathroom, filled the pressure cooker with 12,000 pounds of canned tuna and it was turned on.

When a supervisor noticed Melena, 62, was missing, an announcement was made on the intercom and employees searched for him in the facility and parking lot, according to a report by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. His body was found two hours later after the pressure cooker, which reached a temperature of 270 degrees, was turned off and opened.

The company, its plant Operations Director Angel Rodriguez and former safety manager Saul Florez were each charged with three counts of violating Occupational Safety & Health Administration rules that caused a death.

The charges specify that the company and the two men willfully violated rules that require implementing a safety plan, rules for workers entering confined spaces, and a procedure to keep machinery or equipment turned off if someone's working on it.

Rodriguez, 63, of Riverside, and Florez, 42, of Whittier, could face up to three years in prison and fines up to $250,000 if convicted of all charges, prosecutors said. Bumble Bee Foods faces a maximum fine of $1.5 million. Prosecutions of workplace violations are uncommon '-- even in fatalities.

'-- The Associated Press

First published April 28 2015, 7:58 AM

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Mon, 27 Apr 2015 16:31

Freedom of speech no longer exists in Britain. The land that gave the world the Magna Carta, the Levellers, and John Stuart Mill'--three of the key foundation stones of the modern conception of liberty'--is now arresting and even jailing people simply for speaking their minds.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE ARTICLES BY Brendan O'NeillTo see how bad things have got, consider three cases from the past week alone:

Twitter Crime

A man has been investigated by the police for a hashtag he used on Twitter. Seriously. Never mind speechcrime, or even tweetcrime'--now we have hashtagcrime, the criminalisation even of those snarky, ironic asides people pepper the internet with. The man in question, Stephen Dodds, committed the sin of taking a photograph of two Muslims praying at Anfield, the home ground of Liverpool Football Club, and posting it on Twitter alongside the tweet: "Muslims praying at half-time at the match yesterday. #DISGRACE." That hashtag saw him become the victim of a furious Twitterstorm, the modern version of a tomato-wielding mob, and he was eventually reported to the cops. They investigated the matter for two weeks'--two weeks!'--before finally instructing Liverpool FC to take appropriate action against the evil hashtagger. Liverpool this week said it is deciding how to punish this man who dared to type the word "DISGRACE" on the internet.

Aggravated Meanness

2. A journalist, Katie Hopkins, has been reported to the police, and, bizarrely, to the International Criminal Court (ICC), for writing a column for the Sun in which she referred to the African migrants trying to get into Europe as "cockroaches." Hopkins is known for her outr(C) views. She's been reported to the police before, for "hate crimes against fat people"! She said "fat people are just lazy," which is apparently a police matter now. The police didn't charge her over her fat-shaming, but they might well interrogate her over her migrant-bashing. Her cockroaches column caused the Twittersphere to go into meltdown; 285,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Sun to sack her (my preferred solution to Europe's migrant crisis is to swap these 285,000 intolerant Brits who fancy they have the right to shut down writers they don't like for 285,000 Africans who want to live in this country); and now the Society of Black Lawyers has reported Hopkins both to the UK cops and also to the ICC, demanding it investigate her comments "under the provisions of incitement to commit crimes against humanity." Am I allowed to call this a DISGRACE?

Shameful Bodies

TwitterThe Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has launched an investigation into the appropriateness of an advert for protein supplements which features a sexy woman in a bikini next to the words: "Are you beach-body ready yet?" The ads, which appear on the London Underground, have been vandalized by SJW feminists who claim they "body shame" the plump. More than 30,000 people have signed an online petition'--again with the petitions'--demanding the ads be removed because they make women "feel physically inferior to'... the bronzed model." And now the ASA, overlord of advertising in Britain, which has the power to expunge from the public sphere any ad it judges to be offensive, is heeding the feminist vandalizers and subjecting the ad to one of its stiff-lipped investigations. We wait with bated breath to see if this unelected institution will graciously allow the rest of us, the 64 million people of Britain, to keep seeing this actually quite pleasant ad.

These three cases of the past week encapsulate the crisis of free-speaking in 21st century Britain. They show that no zone of British life is free from the peering eyes and always primed red pen of the new censorious set that longs to scribble out or shut down anything dodgy, eccentric, hateful, or upsetting (to some.)

The cases confirm that everywhere from the new virtual terrain of the Internet (that hashtag guy), to the old-fashioned printed press (the Katie Hopkins case), to the public square itself (that bikini ad), speech is under threat from an unholy marriage of intolerant virtual mobs, censorious Social Justice Warriors (SJWs), and state institutions keen to censor stuff in order to protect the allegedly fragile public.

And these cases aren't one-offs. In relation to the Internet, numerous people have been arrested for tweetcrimes. In 2010, a man was found guilty of being "grossly offensive" after he joked on Twitter about blowing up an airport in Nottingham that was experiencing severe delays. He was fined £385 and lost his job. His conviction was finally quashed on the third appeal. In 2012, a student was imprisoned for 56 days for making racist comments on Twitter. Also in 2012, a 20-year-old man was sentenced to 240 hours' community service for writing on his Facebook page: "All [British] soldiers should die and go to hell."

Other tweeters have been arrested and interrogated by police for making off-colour comments. In December last year, a 19-year-old man was arrested for making a joke about the truck disaster in Glasgow, when an out-of-control truck hit Christmas shoppers and killed six. The tweeter said: "So a bin lorry has apparently driven into 100 people in Glasgow eh, probably the most trash it's picked up in one day." For that, for doing what people have been doing for generations'--making up stinging jokes in the wake of a tragedy'--he was arrested. He was let off, but the police sent a chilling warning to us all: anyone who makes horrible jokes on Twitter we will be visited and given "strong words of advice," they said.

Various laws enable this police invasion of the online world: the Public Order Act of 1986, which criminalizes "racially aggravated" speech; the Malicious Communications Act of 2003, which criminalizes "offensive, indecent or menacing" speech in electronic media: these are the statutes the cops have used to colonise the internet.

The war on Katie Hopkins isn't a one-off, either. It follows hot on the heels of the Leveson Inquiry's creation of a chilling, choking climate in relation to the British press.

Launched by David Cameron in 2011 ostensibly to investigate phone-hacking at the News of the World, but actually having the vastly expanded remit of looking into the whole "culture, practice, and ethics of the press," the Leveson Inquiry has created a situation where Britain might soon have a press regulator set up by Royal Charter'--which would be the first system of state-backed regulation of the press in Britain since 1695.

Even before that Royal Charter has been signed, Leveson has already, predictably, emboldened the petty censors in our midst who have long desired to silence offensive columnists, especially tabloid ones. As one agitator against Katie Hopkins admitted. "Leveson was a smack in the teeth" of newspapers like the Sun, he said, which should now feel less able to publish Hopkins' and others' "vicious'... right-wing opinioneering." In short: A state-decreed, judge-led inquiry is leading to the castration of the press, and we should be happy about that.

As to the ASA's investigation of the bikini ad'--such topdown regulation of the words and images of the public sphere has become commonplace in recent years.

The ASA has banned ads for hair products that were offensive to Christians (they featured nuns in suspenders); ads for an airline that had a woman dressed as a schoolgirl, on the basis that they could cause "widespread offence" (in fact, only 13 people complained about them); and even an ad for a supermarket that showed a girl taking the salad out of her hamburger on the grounds that it "condoned poor nutritional habits." Censorship in the UK has become so psycho that even the presentation of hamburgers is now strictly policed.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE ARTICLES BY Brendan O'Neill

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Tue, 28 Apr 2015 14:29

The Transportation Security Administration has issued a classified warning about a potential attack by the Islamic State over the weekend against a target in the United States.

The Intercept reviewed a notice of the classified alert, which was sent out Friday afternoon by TSA's Transportation Security Operations Center. A source, who reviewed the classified intelligence warning, described the threat as very general, with no specifics about location or type of attack '-- just the timing. The alert covers a 48-hour period that began late Friday afternoon.

The essence of the warning, according to a source, is that ''ISIS plans an attack on U.S. soil.''

In response, the TSA deployed its Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response teams, or VIPR for short, to various locations. The VIPR teams have expanded in recent years, moving beyond airports to train stations and other busy transportation sites.

The warning appears significant in that it demonstrates that the U.S. intelligence community is now taking seriously the potential of ISIS to attack targets on U.S. soil, something the group has not yet done. ISIS has made broad threats against the United States in the past, but up to now, ISIS attacks on U.S. targets have been limited to Americans in Iraq and Syria.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AP Photo of VIPR team monitoring a section of Penn Station on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014, in New York.

ITM (yet again)

In the past few weeks, you repeatedly asked “Why would the Turks not just fess up and get it over with?”

Allow me to be your Uber driver for the day and attempt to answer the question as briefly as I can:

First, a brief outline of Turkish sentiments about the subject:

1. Nationalists - These are the people who cherish their central Asian roots, (mis)interpret Turkish history in a way that favors Turks, overemphasizing Turkish contributions to history and civilization not just by the Ottoman empire, but also by all Turkic nations that came before the Ottomans. They outright refuse Armenians (or any other ethnic group for that matter) any rights to their respective historical, cultural and territorial presence. Plus, as far as they are concerned, Talat and his gang were tried, convicted and many were executed by the Ottoman courts.

2. Islamists - Their religious views are obvious. But, their historical perspective is framed by the crusades, which in turn frames any and every event (including genocides) in terms of a war of civilizations; Islam vs. Christianity. In that context, they view the Armenians and all other Christian communities as the “enemy within” who work against the sheer existence of Islam and Muslims.

Furthermore, it is no secret that modern Turkey has designs to become a major power in the region, and given the right circumstances, would try an eastward expansion strategy, similar to what it has been trying to do along its southern border (Syria). Currently, Armenia is essentially the only thing preventing a Turkey-Azerbaijan merger, which would automatically put Turkey in an almost direct (across Caspian sea) contact with yet another oil and gas rich Turkic nation of Turkmenistan.

When you add to that the Kurdish issue and how it is being played by the U.S. on the near east chessboard, one might start understanding how crucial this region is…

In closing, it’d be fair to say that the issue of admitting to the Armenian Genocide is not as simple as putting on a sad face and building a couple of monuments and museums. And, since both you and John have given the Germany example more than once, I would like to point out that Germany stands alone as the only nation having officially admitted to have committed genocide that is more recent than a few hundred years, and has done so not of their own free will, but under occupation after having lost a war.

—————————————

One last note:

The genocide itself and its details (reasons, process, aftermath) are far too big of an issue to cover in an email, and not all of it can be defined in terms of right or wrong, black or white... But I feel I can address one specific clip that John found preposterous during NA717, when he pointed out how the blame was being put on the Kurds for having killed Armenians. I can totally see his point, but the sad truth is, the Kurds (not all of them of course) did do a considerable amount of killing, just like many of the other muslim communities in the region did.

In a nutshell, the systemic cleansing performed was as follows:

• Leaders of Armenian community and intellectuals were gathered and hung or shot to eliminate any leadership and organized resistance

• Posses of men were built and armed by Talat’s government from freed convicts, bandits, outlaws of every kind, who were offered unlimited looting, to sweep the Armenian towns and settlements, uprooting them and forcing them to an east and south bound forced exile, or “death march” towards today’s Syria and Iraq.

• An army of clerics was sent to the region prompting the Muslims to kill Christians, offering them the usual package: A room with a view in heaven and 72 virgins… The usual bullcrap… But, bullcrap that works

• As many Armenians as possible were killed, drowned, starved to death during the death march in order to reduce the numbers.

• In return for money, arms, women, slaves and/or favors, the surviving Armenians were handed off to local groups for further killings and devastation.

So, the Kurds were simply one of these local muslim groups in the region. In that sense, the clip is not inaccurate… Just extremely untruthful by omission.

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 15:45

The mayor of Turkey's capital has challenged a U.S. State Department spokesperson by referring to a pro-government media report that slammed her as ''stupid blonde.''

''Come on blonde, answer now,'' Ankara Mayor Melih G¶k§ek said in a tweet early April 29. The tweet also included an image from the recent riots in Baltimore, as well as the photo of Marie Harf and a caption that reads: ''Where are you stupid blonde, who accused Turkish police of using disproportionate force?''G¶k§ek was referring to a report on Ensonhaber.com, a staunchly pro-government online news website. ''U.S. police displayed a harsh attitude against the activists in Baltimore. But U.S. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf, who had been repeatedly criticizing Turkey during the Gezi incidents, is now silent,'' it said.

Many national and international organizations had criticized Turkish police officers for using disproportionate force during the massive Gezi Park protests in 2013.

G¶k§ek, a veteran politician from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), also slammed CNN International and the Economist for the same reason in separate tweets.

As it generally happens, hundreds among his more than 2.5 million followers joined G¶k§ek's online campaign which targeted Harf and the international media on April 29.

G¶k§ek has been a polarizing figure, most recently by being accused by Deputy Prime Minister B¼lent Arın§ of corruption and stirring another debate by erecting a giant robot statue near Turkey's new presidential palace in the capital city.

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Source: Amateur/Ham Radio

Wed, 29 Apr 2015 20:11

From July 2005 QST (C) ARRLhere has been much excite-ment below our so-called topband at 1.8 MHz. At less thanone-tenth this frequency, near136 kHz, you will find many amateurs en-joying QSOs using a variety of modes. Al-though US and Canadian amateurs needspecial permission to transmit here, there isa 2200 meter amateur band in manyEuropean countries and in New Zealand.Aside from its low frequency, the most strik-ing thing about the 135.8-138.8 kHz band isits narrow width'--only 2.1 kHz, barely wideenough to admit a single SSB transmission.Huge sources of interference are presentin the band. In Greece, the Navy transmitterSXV operates on 135.8 kHz, and in Canadaanother Navy transmitter (CFH) is on 137.0kHz. Just outside the band is the Germanstation DCF39 on 138.83 kHz. These sta-tions have effective radiated power (ERP)levels in the tens of kilowatts and can beheard on receivers thousands of miles away.At 100 kHz, there are the megawatt LORAN(long range aid to navigation) transmitterswith their perpetual clatter, and above 150kHz we have the commercial long waveband with powerful megawatt plus stations.How then can this band be of any use to theamateur experimenter?Amateurs have traditionally overcomemany obstacles in achieving their goals.When regulators restricted us to the ''use-less wavelengths'' below 200 meters, wespanned the globe. Now that we're slowlybeing let above 200 meters again, we haveused some modern technology and old-fash-ioned persistence to achieve amazing featsin this challenging environment on the longwaves. We have even used the high powerinterference sources to our advantage.Propagation at 136 kHzIt is generally agreed amongst the pro-fessional propagation researchers that propa-gation between 50 kHz and 150 kHz isdifferent than both the bands above and be-low that region. The lower (VLF) frequen-cies are described as propagating by awaveguide mode between the ground and theionosphere. The waveguide mode dies outmainly above 30 kHz and certainly aboveabout 50 to 60 kHz. We believe this maydue the wavelength becoming short com-The Transatlantic on2200 MetersTFigure 1'--On December 12, the Marconi and Poldhu radio clubs commemorateMarconi's first transatlantic experiment. In 2003 they sent an LF signal fromNewfoundland to England using very slow speed CW with dots 30 seconds long(QRSS30). Here is a screen capture of that signal received at G3NYK using Argosoftware. If you look carefully, you can make out white Morse characters spelling outVO1NA against the noisy blue background. Argo uses Fast Fourier Transforms to getvery narrow effective bandwidths (fractions of a Hz) and is very popular with the LFcrowd. More information on Argo is available on the Web at www.weaksignals.com.Longing for the days when amateurs builttheir own gear and DX was big news?They're back again...on the ''top'' top band.Joe Craig, VO1NA and Alan Melia, G3NYKpared with the thickness (about 30 km) ofthe daytime absorbing D-layer. Unlike HFfrequencies, LF has a substantial ground-wave service area, with the wave front beingbent to follow the curvature of the Earth tosome extent. In daytime, there is an absorb-ing ionized region, formed by photo-disso-ciation, which corresponds to the D-layer(50 to 90 km) and, in general, it is consid-ered that ionospheric propagation is not anelement of daytime signalsEarly in 1999 an FSK signal appearingnightly in the UK at 137.00 kHz was cor-rectly identified by Alan, G3NYK as thatfrom the Canadian Naval station, call signCFH, near Halifax in Nova Scotia. Roughearly estimates of the path loss suggestedthat an amateur transatlantic crossing wouldjust be possible with the allowed 1 W ERP.Many were dubious, but only a few weekslater Dave Bowman, GMRF made the firstone-way LF crossing to John, VE1ZJ. Thendays later Peter, G3LDO managed a cross-band contact. Both of these events were co-incident with good received signal strengthfrom CFH. John was located near Big Pondin north Nova Scotia. Other, regularly heardcalls in the early days of tests was the wellknown MF station of Jack, VE1ZZ and thelate Larry Kayser, VA3LK.Daytime propagation is mainly groundwave, but at extreme range (in excess of1500 km) there is a significant daytimeionospheric component. This has been seenon the path between CT1DRP (Porto) andDCF39, a German utility station on 138.83kHz located near Magdeburg, and also oncertain occasions on the CFH to Europepath. The peak strength usually coincideswith the solar zenith at mid-path. This is atapproximately 1500 UTC for the CFH toEurope path, and around 1130 UTC for theCT to DCF path. The signal enhancementunder normal conditions on the 1950 kmDCF to CT path is about 10 dB. This en-hancement is caused by the sky-bound sig-nal being returned by the lower region ofthe D-layer. Penetration of the D-layer indaytime subjects the wave to absorption,so the enhancement is not as high asseen at night. Also, the apparent reflectionheight is sure to be lower.

From July 2005 QST (C) ARRLAt night, the photo-dissociated elec-trons in the D-layer decay (or recombine)quickly, as the darkness removes the ion-izing radiation. The ''apparent reflectionlevel'' moves up to the base of the E-layerat around 90 to 100 km in altitude. The E-layer is a 24-hour layer, ionized, amongstother things, by high-energy cosmic rays.The atmospheric pressure is much lowerthan at the D-layer, so the chances of anelectron encountering an atom or positiveion are much reduced and their ''lifetimes''are extended. Thus, the nighttime wavehas to travel through very little absorbingmaterial. The ionospheric wave, oftencalled the sky-wave, becomes strongerthan the ground wave at distances exceed-ing about 800 km. Thus, all long distancecontacts are due to ionospherically re-turned signals.These seemingly predictable conditionsare altered by the effects of Solar distur-bances. The initial check of the Solar indi-ces against known good nights drew a blank,but it was relatively easy to spot potentiallypoor conditions. These occurred about 2 to3 days after a geomagnetic event that liftedthe Kp index to 5 or above. This is about thesame level that leads to substantial auroraleffects. The conditions deteriorated more,and took longer to recover, the higher theKp rose. It is postulated, from the signalstrength plots, that Coronal Mass Ejections(CME) were responsible for injecting hotelectrons into the ionosphere. After thesehad time to diffuse to the D-layer region (thedelay), their presence was felt as long-livedFigure 2'--Schematic and parts list forVO1NA'a class E LF transmitter. Asexplained in the text, transmitters atthis frequency tend to be unique,requiring some experimentation. Thistransmitter was based on design ideasof several LF experimenters andtailored for parts available fromVO1NA's junk box. A very stable signalgenerator or TXCO may be used inplace of the Marconi XH100 receiver.See the text for component details.C1'--27 nF capacitor.C2'--18 nF capacitor.L1'--88 µH air wound inductor.L2'--0.4 mH air wound inductor.L3'--0.3-1.3 mH variometer.M1'--50 Î(C) Î(C)Î(C) Î(C)Î(C) wattmeter.M2'--RF ammeter, 2 A full scale (seetext).M3'--Drain current meter, 0-5 A dc.Q1, Q2'--NPN small signal transistor,2N4401 or equiv.Q3'-- PNP small signal transistor,2N4403 or equiv.Q4'--International Rectifier IRF640 N-channel MOSFET.RFC1'--1.5 mH RF choke.T1'--Impedance matching transformerwith 5 primary turns and 13secondary turns on a ferrite core.U1'--7400 quad NAND gate.U2, U3'--7490 decade counter.U4'--7805 5-V regulator.

From July 2005 QST (C) ARRLFigure 3'--This rack holds the IRF640power amplifier, power supply, antennamatching coil and variometer for VO1NA's137-kHz transmitter. The variometer (L3)is the big red coil on the upper shelf nextto the wattmeter. The matching coil (L2) isabove the wattmeter. The power amplifieris on the next shelf down (with heat sink,L1, T1 and RFC1). Note that about 2000 Vis present at the feedthrough insulatorduring transmissions.RICK LINDQUIST N1RLFigure 4'--The LF antenna at VO1NA used for several years (including his firsttransatlantic QSO) consists of two parallel wires 100 meters long, spaced 1 meterapart. The antenna is supported at the far end by a 25 meter tower, and the wiresslope down toward another tower near the shack where they are connected together.The antenna is fed at this point with another 50 meters of wire for a total length of150 meters and matched with the loading coil and variometer shown in Figure 5. Theantenna has since undergone several involuntary changes as Mother Nature took downone of the wires and then in January 2005 took the remaining wire and tower during anice storm. VO1NA is back on LF with 100 meters of wire about 10 meters off the ground.Joe was never very comfortable on the top of his tower and is most grateful he was notthere at the time it collapsed. A 30-meter-tall replacement is planned.1Notes appear on page 46.absorbing material in the D-layer, reducingthe nighttime signal strengths. This delay isreported in a number of professional paperson Solar disturbance to LF propagation. Sothe question remains: How to predict goodconditions?A more recent extensive series of DX testshave confirmed that the lesser-known index,Dst (disturbance storm time), is a fairly goodindicator. Dst is determined by measuring theeffect of ring of trapped ions and electronscirculating the equator in the Van Allen belt.Estimated values are published on the Internetby a number of observatories. It is thoughtthat ions and electrons are trapped from theCME plasma clouds and are gradually ex-changed with the ionosphere over a numberof days. These migrate to the D-layer andform a long-lived absorbing layer. This wouldexplain the prolonged period of poor condi-tions after a geomagnetic storm, even afterthe Kp index has returned to ''quiet'' condi-tions (< >From July 2005 QST (C) ARRLfor the purpose. Let's illustrate this withan example of a simple LF transmitter. Theschematic shown in Figure 2 is based ondesigns of several amateurs.A temperature controlled crystal oscil-lator generates a carrier at 100 times the in-tended frequency'--in this case, 13.77770MHz. This signal is fed into U1. Logic ma-nipulations are performed on the carrier os-cillator signal and the keying inputs topreclude a sustained positive output at thedivider circuit. Such a level would destroythe final amplifier in microseconds. Addi-tionally, it prevents any emissions while thetransmitter is not keyed. This is importantduring receiving.The output from U3, a square wave at137 kHz, is fed to an inverting switch (Q1)which converts the TTL signal to a 12 Vsquare wave. This is fed to a low-imped-ance-output totem pole driver circuit com-prising Q2 and Q3, which switches the gateof final amplifier Q4 between 0 and 12 V.The operation of a class E amplifier is dis-cussed in detail elsewhere and methods offinal tuning are outlined.2 It is not difficultto tune properly using a 'scope to check thewaveforms and meters to monitor the inputpower.The final amplifier evolved from a15 W circuit with a P-channel MOSFET,but when efforts to increase the power to100 W at 12 V resulted only in fried FETsand frustration, a new strategy was sought.The next step was to try a higher voltagedevice, an N channel IRF640.Using G3NYK's spreadsheet program toget approximate values for the tuning com-ponents simplifies the design considerably.The process entails selecting a power out-put and voltage within the specifications ofthe MOSFET you wish to use. C1 is calcu-lated based on the required power output.The values of the remaining components, L1and C2, are provided by the spreadsheet, butwill usually require a small bit of adjust-ment to achieve optimal efficiency. The out-put transformer, T1, can be adjusted bychanging the turns ratio to get the desiredoutput impedance, usually 50 Î(C). The trans-mitter signal then goes through a wattmeterand on to the antenna tuning network(L2, L3).High quality capacitors should be usedfor C1 and C2. Parallel combinations of sil-ver mica or pulse rated metalized polyeth-ylene capacitors are recommended. RFC1and T1 are both wound on 2.75 inch squareferrite cores such as those used in flybacktransformers. RFC1 is 28 turns for about1.5 mH of inductance. The number of turnsdepends on the core material, which shouldbe selected to avoid saturation and exces-sive heating. L1 was constructed using twoconcentric air wound inductors. The innernant antenna. A large amount of capacitivereactance and a very small radiation resis-tance are the facts of life for any practicalLF antenna.The first step in tuning the antenna is tocancel the capacitive reactance by insertinga large amount of inductance, often severalmillihenrys, in series with the antenna. Thisis simplified by using a variometer (L3),which allows a continuous variation of in-ductance. Next, the remaining resistive com-ponent has to be transformed to the outputimpedance of the transmitter, which is nor-mally 50 Î(C). This is usually achieved by us-ing an autotransformer (L2) to step up theresistance, or if you are fortunate, to step itdown. The ultimate goal is to get the effi-ciency of the transmitter and the antennacurrent as high as possible at the same time.It's a little more challenging than erectingan antenna and running coax from it to therig as we do so easily on the wavelengthsbelow 200 meters.The inductance needed to achieve reso-nance is obtained fromC ) f 2 (1L2Ï =[Eq 1]where C is the antenna capacitance, whichcan be roughly estimated as 5 pF per meterof antenna length. For example, if your an-tenna is 100 meters long, its capacitance willbe about 500 pF and the total inductanceneeded is about 2.7 mH. Fine tuning is doneby adjusting the variometer and matchingtransformer for maximum antenna current.The LF antenna that VO1NA used for thetransatlantic experiments is shown in Fig-ure 4. The antenna is about 150 meters long,including 100 meters of horizontal wire andanother 50 meters of wire between the shackand feed point acting as a feed line. The useof two parallel wires increases the antennacapacitance and efficiency.To match VO1NA's parallel-wireantenna, L2 is air wound, with 100 space-wound turns for a total inductance of about0.4 mH. It is tapped for the best resistivematch.L3 is the tuning variometer with an in-ductance range of about 0.3 to 1.3 mH. Thevariometer is wound with 12 gauge insulatedcopper wire. The insulation is used as a con-venient means of spacing the turns to reducelosses.A good ground connection is very im-portant and this will take some experimen-tation. The ground resistance can beestimated from2 gIPR=[Eq 2]where P is the power of the transmitterand I is the antenna current. At VO1NA itis about 40 Î(C).Figure 5'--After almost two years oftuning the antenna from inside the shack,in January 2005 VO1NA moved theloading coil and variometer outside to thetower. A smaller variometer, about 60-250 µH, was used in series with a tappedloading coil. This moves the RF and highvoltages away from the house. A standard50 Î(C) Î(C)Î(C) Î(C)Î(C) coaxial cable runs back to thetransmitter in the shack.one is 2.75 inches diameter by 6.25 incheslong. The outer one is 3.125 inches diam-eter by 2 inches long. You can adjust theinductance by taking taps and fine tune itby sliding the coils. L1 conducts largeamounts of current and should be built ac-cordingly with wire no smaller than no. 16.The finished transmitter is shown inFigure 3. Increasing the voltage made itmuch easier to get high efficiency. Within ashort time 100 W at about 80% efficiencywas achieved and there seemed little pointin further tinkering. It was very gratifyingto see that the only hot thing on the bench(besides the soldering iron!) was the dummyantenna. The MOSFET, mounted on aheatsink about 3 — 3 — 4 inches, was barelywarm after several minutes of steady car-rier. For those interested in even higherpower, a 700 W transmitter has been de-scribed in QEX.3Some form of filtering may be neededat the transmitter output to reduce the har-monic content of the signal, but it is worthnoting that a properly tuned class-E stagehas less distortion (and harmonics) than aclass-C or class-D stage. Amplifiers arediscussed in Peter Dodd's excellent LowFrequency Experimenter's Handbook.4The Antenna andTuning NetworksBecause ¼ Î>> is more than 500 meters at136 kHz, it is not likely that you will havethe good fortune to be able to erect a reso-

From July 2005 QST (C) ARRLThese Web pages offer a wealth ofadditional information about Ama-teur Radio LF experiments, hard-ware, software and propagation.Argo Softwarewww.weaksignals.comCT1DRP Web sitehomepage.esoterica.pt/~brian/G3YXM LF Newswww.wireless.org.ukG3NYK Web sitewww.alan.melia.btinternet.co.ukKL1X Web sitemyweb.cableone.net/flow/Long Wave Club of Americawww.lwca.orgNOAA Space Environment Centerwww.sec.noaa.govON7YD Web site www.qsl.net/~on7yd/VE7SL Web site imagenisp.ca/jsm/INDEX.htmlW1TAG Web site www.w1tag.comW3EEE Web site www.w3eee.comW4DEX Web site www.w4dex.comWeb Pages for the LFExperimenterDanger: High Voltage! Please note thatthere are very dangerous voltages presenton the antenna end of the tuning coil andthe antenna itself. Special precautions arenecessary to prevent electric shocks andburns, as well as arcing. Low frequencyRF can be deadly lethal when it uses yourbody as the ground lead.Getting the Message Outon the Long WavesKeying the transmitter can be done inseveral ways. For slow speed CW (0.04WPM) one has to be very persistent formanual operation. Most of us aren't thatpatient so we use a diode matrix identi-fier or program a computer to do the job.A matrix (or EPROM/PIC) is very conve-nient for beacon operation, but a computeroffers more versatility for making slowspeed QSOs. VO1NA's IDer is a CMOSversion of the circuit published by TomMcMullen, W1SL, many years ago.5A variety of modes is used on LF, butby far the most popular are FSK or slowspeed CW (QRSS) in which the dots aresent on one frequency and the dashes on aslightly higher frequency. For long dis-tance work, dots are 30 to 60 seconds long,so the QSOs do not involve the exchangeof a lot of details other than the call signsand the signal reports.Transatlantic Experiments onLong WaveVO1NA's initial transmissions werewith a 5 W transmitter used for long waveexperiments on 180 kHz in 1992. He re-tuned it for 136.269 kHz and coupled it toa 30 meter wire antenna. Signals wereheard 7 km away. Next he built a 15 Wclass E transmitter using a P-channelMOSFET. Contacts were had with severalmembers of the Marconi Radio Club ofNewfoundland including VO1FB,VO1HD, VO1HP and VO1XP.Signals were finally radiated outsidethe country when the 150 meter wire an-tenna shown in Figure 4 was raised andsignals were detected by John Andrews,W1TAG in Holden, Massachusetts, about1600 km away. This success encouragedthe attempt to span the Atlantic, and the100 W transmitter described earlier wasbuilt from parts in the old junk box.Arrangements were made betweenG3NYK and VO1NA based on Alan's pre-dictions of conditions. After a few tries,signals were finally copied and the Atlan-tic spanned for the first time from VOland. Alan used an indoor 1.25 meter loopmade out of 16 turns of 25-pair telephonecable, tuned and amplified with the simplepreamp shown on his Web site. On June 12, 2003, 1011/2 years afterMarconi spanned the Atlantic, a two-wayQSO was completed with Jim Moritz,MBMU, near London'--more than 3700km away. Jim used a 2 meter loop to re-ceive Joe's very slow CW signals on137.777 kHz. Other transatlantic contacts have beencompleted, including a couple withG3LDO. To date, the best DX fromVO1NA has been RN6BN at 6600 km.We've copied each other's signals and arestill hoping for a two-way QSO. A longwave listener, Hartmut Wolff in Germanyhas copied VO1NA's 137 kHz signals anumber of times, as well as his QRP (5 W)beacon on 189.81 kHz. Closer to home,and at even higher CW speeds FrankDavis, VO1HP, while operating theMarconi Radio Club station VO1MRC,completed the first two-way conventionalCW QSO in Canada by working VO1NAat 20 WPM. With a recent reception byHartmut of a 10 W signal, transatlanticexperimentation promises to be very in-teresting and gratifying for upcoming win-ter seasons. More information on ourexperiments appeared in The CanadianAmateur.6ConclusionBefore transmitting on the 2200 meterband, please note that Canadian amateursare required to obtain a Letter of Authori-zation (LOA) from Industry Canada. Thiscan be done through Radio Amateurs ofCanada. American amateurs are requiredto obtain an experimental license underPart 5 of the FCC Regulations. We hopethat this band will be allocated to the ama-teur service on a worldwide basis.Amateurs who seek technical challengesand new excitement have a fascinating newfrontier at 2200 m. With the aid of theInternet, you can become part of a growingfraternity with some very competent andknowledgeable fellow amateurs. State-of-the-art software has been developed andmade readily available for all to use. Newdevelopments are surfacing all the time.AcknowledgmentsWe wish to acknowledge the supportof members of LF community, RadioAmateurs of Canada, the Marconi RadioClub of Newfoundland and the Radio So-ciety of Great Britain for their LF Internetreflector.Notes1J.S. Belrose, W.L. Hatton, C.A. McKerrowand R.S. Thain, ''The Engineering ofCommunications Systems for Low RadioFrequencies,'' Proc. IRE, Vol 47, No 5,May 1959, pp 661-680.2N. Sokal, ''Class E Power Amplifiers,'' QEX,Jan/Feb 2001, pp 9-20.3A. Talbot, ''A 700 W Switch-Mode Transmit-ter for 137 kHz,'' QEX, Nov/Dec 2002,pp 16-26.4P. Dodd, The Low Frequency Experimenter'sHandbook (Radio Society of Great Britain,2000).5T. McMullen, ''A Low Cost CW Identifier,''QST, Apr 1975, pp 34-36.6J. Craig, R. Dodge and R. Peet, ''LF In New-foundland and Labrador,'' The CanadianAmateur, Sep/Oct 2004, p 39.Photos by Joe Craig, VO1NA, unless otherwisenoted.Joe Craig, VO1NA, was first licensed in 1976. Heis the son of VO1FB, husband of VO1RL, andfather of Julia. Joe completed his Bachelors andMasters degrees at Memorial University of New-foundland and works with the Government ofCanada as a physicist. He has lectured at theUniversity and at conferences in radio and physi-cal science and has authored dozens of techni-cal and research papers as well as several pub-lications in the primary literature. Joe is a mem-ber of the Baccalieu and Poldhu Amateur RadioClubs, the Marconi Radio Club of Newfound-land, Radio Amateurs of Canada and a life mem-ber of the Quarter Century Wireless Association.He has both CW and 160 meter DXCC. Joe alsoenjoys swimming and fitness, music, traveling,photography and astronomy. He can be contactedat jcraig@mun.ca.Alan Melia became interested in AmateurRadio at school about 1955 and obtained hislicense, G3NYK, while at Liverpool Universityin 1960. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) inPhysics in 1961 and joined the then Post OfficeResearch Department (later British Telecom Re-search Labs) where he worked for 30 years ontransistor and IC test and reliability. He thenjoined a small local two-way radio company,retiring 5 years ago. He started on 160 m, andhas become addicted to LF, particularly propa-gation effects. He is a member of the RSGBPropagation Studies Committee, and still holdsmembership in the Institute of Physics asa Chartered Physicist. He can be contactedat 67A Deben Ave, Martlesham, Heath,Ipswich IP5 7QR, UK or alan.melia@btinternet.com.

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 17:20

When signing on to a new app, Facebook users are often confronted with a disconcerting choice '-- let Facebook access information about hundreds of your closest friends without their knowledge or permission '-- or perhaps just give up that particular product or service.

It's surprising that such a policy did not generate more of a squeal, but maybe that's because many apps let you opt out of revealing the most intrusive information.

Today, Facebook announced it is shutting all that down with its migration to the Graph API 2.0. Changes take effect on April 30th.

Companies did have fair warning. Facebook had already announced its intent to close off that particular privacy-busting spigot at its F8 Conference last year, and all apps created since April 2014 already adhere to the new standard.

Moreover, the social network has engaged in extensive research alerting companies about how their apps would function under the new API in order to ease the transition.

That notwithstanding, the move will break certain apps like Job Fusion, which depended on the ability to use friend information. According to a report by Techcrunch, Job Fusion, CareerSonar, Jobs With Friends and adzuna Connect will all be shutting down as a result of this change.

While apps do not have to delete data they already have, if someone asks that their data be removed, the company will have to comply. And you can adjust your own privacy settings going forward to deny apps the use of your data.

Facebook has instituted other changes too. It is now requiring all apps to use its new login system which hands over more data control to users. A new ''Edit the info you provide'' link lets users pick and choose which permissions they want to grant.

A new Login Review system has Facebook employees examine any app that requires more information than the public profile so apps do not get into the habit of gathering more data than they need to operate properly.

When the policy goes into effect, it will be mostly transparent to users, though if an app has changed significantly, you mayhave to log in again.

'ž¤ Facebook Is Shutting Down Its API For Giving Your Friends' Data To Apps

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 16:25

Will an arm sleeve tattoo prevent you from wearing the Apple Watch? If it's a solid color, perhaps.

Recently, we've been hearing reports from Twitter and Reddit that the Apple Watch's plethysmograph sensor plays not-so-nicely with wrist or arm sleeve tattoos. The ink pigmentation interferes with the sensor's ability to read your heart rate '-- and with it, the Watch's ability to assess whether or not it's maintaining skin contact.

After some brief tests, we're inclined to agree with those early reports '-- if your tattoo happens to be a solid, darker color. This is has to do with the way Apple measures your heart rate. Let's break it down.

The science behind Apple's sensorsApple's support article on the Watch's heart rate sensor explains a fair amount about its inner workings, including how it measures your pulse:

Blood is red because it reflects red light and absorbs green light. Apple Watch uses green LED lights paired with light'‘sensitive photodiodes to detect the amount of blood flowing through your wrist at any given moment. When your heart beats, the blood flow in your wrist '-- and the green light absorption '-- is greater. Between beats, it's less. By flashing its LED lights hundreds of times per second, Apple Watch can calculate the number of times the heart beats each minute '-- your heart rate.

The heart rate sensor can also use infrared light. This mode is what Apple Watch uses when it measures your heart rate every 10 minutes. However, if the infrared system isn't providing an adequate reading, Apple Watch switches to the green LEDs. In addition, the heart rate sensor is designed to compensate for low signal levels by increasing both LED brightness and sampling rate.

In short, Apple uses various spectrums of light to track the blood flow through your skin. Anything that reduces that light's reflectiveness '-- ink pigmentation within your skin, for example '-- can interfere with that sensor.

For those wondering: natural skin pigmentation doesn't block light the same way artificial ink pigment or even scar tissue does, so you shouldn't run into a problem if your skin is naturally darker.

The Watch and tattoosSo does the Watch run into problems with wrist tattoos? Yes and no. I spent an hour today testing the Watch's sensor reading on multiple tattoo colors, and have indeed managed to replicate some of the issues Reddit and Twitter users were having.

For disclosure: We tested the Watch's sensors against tattooed and non-tattooed sections on both the wrist and elsewhere on the body. On non-tattooed non-wrist sections, the sensors gave identical readings as when also tested on the wrist; on tattooed sections, sensor readings varied wildly depending on colors and shading.

Dark, solid colors seem to give the sensor the most trouble '-- our tests on solid black and red initially produced heart rate misreadings of up to 196 BPM before failing to read skin contact entirely. Tests on lighter tattoo colors including purple, yellow, and orange produced slightly elevated heart misreads of 80 BPM (compared to 69 BPM on the wearer's non-tattooed wrist), but otherwise did not appear to interfere with skin contact registration.

When it comes to patterned or variegated wrist ink, however, we couldn't reproduce the misreadings or errors other users have been seeing. This may entirely depend on the type and design of tattoo, however, along with ink and skin saturation.

It's also worth noting that prominent scars and other potential skin aberrations can trip the Watch's sensors.

But I have a wrist tattoo! Can I not use the Apple Watch?Don't panic just yet. We're looking into this issue, and will report back when we have more information.

In the meantime, if you have a wrist tattoo that extends to where you'd normally wear a watch, I suggest trying on a working unit to get a sense of whether your tattoo and the Watch interfere or not. (I'll also point out that Apple offers a 14-day return policy, which allows you to spend a fair amount of time wearing and testing the Watch.)

For those who have issues with their wrists and still wish to use the Apple Watch, you can turn off Wrist Detection in the Apple Watch app to avoid the device auto-locking; unfortunately, that will also disable Apple Pay from use. Alternatively, you might try wearing it on a non-tattooed wrist.

Updated at 4:30 p.m. PT to add information about scars, skin aberrations, and what you can do if you're running into these problems.

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04/27/2015As the death toll climbs in the wake of the devastating magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Nepal, rescue and recovery work is continuing, and Amateur Radio volunteers have been a part of it. The earthquake '-- said to be the worst in Nepal in 80 years '-- hit an area between the capital city of Kathmandu and the city of Pokhara. An emergency net had been running around the clock on 20 meters with Jayu Bhide, VU2JAU, as net control station and other stations in India participating. Bhide is the Amateur Radio Society of India National Coordinator for Disaster Communication.

The Nepal disaster has claimed more than 3200 lives and wreaked widespread damage. Many others are missing or have been injured. Hospitals have been flooded with those who suffered serious injuries in the earthquake. Persistent aftershocks continue to terrorize those who managed to escape harm. On Mount Everest an avalanche devastated base camp, and at least 100 climbers were stranded on the mountain. Several mountaineers were reported among the dead.

Hams in India have been among the most active responders. Parts of eastern India also suffered earthquake damage. Within Nepal, members of the Nepal Amateur Radio Society are reported to be active on HF emergency nets as well as on VHF/UHF to handle local traffic.

''The situation in Nepal is getting worse, as tremors continue to strike every hour at a magnitude of 4.7,'' Bhide said. The government of Nepal has asked all people to stay out of buildings, as damage is expected to increase. Due to the conditions, emergency communication with 9N1 stations came to a standstill; no communication was possible overnight as the earthquake demolished the building where emergency communication gear was installed.''

He said Satish Kharel, 9N1AA, and his wife Tej, 9N1DX, were able to return to the air this morning. The couple is in Kathmandu. 9N1AA has said he's operating low power with the help of solar power and coordinating with the Nepal police in Kathmandu. Suresh Upreti, 9N1HA, has been assisting with emergency communication as well. Internet service has been spotty in Nepal at best. So far, there has been no cross-border movement of either radio equipment and radio amateurs.

Sanjeeb Panday, 9N1SP, has indicated that he will be on 21.360 MHz at 1645 UTC, and radio amateurs not involved in the disaster response should avoid this frequency. 9N1SP has intermittent Internet service. He has said that propagation on 20 meters, where an initial emergency net was established was poor, but he has been in contact on 15 meters with Tim McFadden, KB2RLB/T6TM, a Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) member in Afghanistan.

Ironically, McFadden, Kharel, Panday, and others took part in MARS exercises in 2013 and 2014 in which the emergency scenario was an earthquake in Nepal. Army MARS Program Officer Paul English, WD8DBY, said the response to this earthquake followed the procedures trained during those earlier exercises. McFadden had been scanning International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Global Emergency Center of Activity (GECOA) frequencies for stations in Nepal. GECOA frequencies were established as places to pass emergency traffic. Worldwide GECOA frequencies are 21.360 MHz, 18.160 MHz, 14.300 MHz, 7.240 MHz, 7.060 MHz, 3.985 MHz, and 3.750 MHz.

Nepal's first Amateur Radio repeater, set up in 2012 by the National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET), and at least a dozen ham in various locations were reported on VHF. The 9N1KS repeater (434.500 MHz in/145.000 MHz out) is on the NSET headquarters building on the outskirts of Kathmandu. A drill conducted in 2012 indicated good coverage of the Kathmandu Valley.

The US chapter of the Computer Association of Nepal provided technical and financial assistance for the repeater and supplied equipment to use it. The repeater has a battery back-up power source.

The NGO ''Humanity Road'' is maintaining an updated summary of damage as well as of immediate needs.

''Hams from India and other countries have set an example to provide essential communication during disasters,'' Bhida said. ''The coordination and cooperation have also demonstrated [there is] one world, one language.'' '-- Thanks to Jayu Bhide, VU2JAU; Jim Linton, VK3PC; Tim McFadden, T6TM; Lloyd Colston, KC5FM; US Army MARS, and others

Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have followed federal law and permit individuals to record conversations to which they are a party without informing the other parties that they are doing so. These laws are referred to as "one-party consent" statutes, and as long as you are a party to the conversation, it is legal for you to record it.

Texas

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 17:17

This story has been corrected since it was originally published.A 21-year-old man who received an explicit photo via the gay hookup app Grindr from a closeted Republican state representative is outing the politician to the media because of his vote against protections in the state for LGBT people.

According to Fargo's Inforum.com, state Rep. Randy Boehning, 52, voted against Senate Bill 2279 '-- which would extend housing, workplace and other protections to LGBT citizens '-- in spite of his own purportedly bisexual orientation.

While Boehning said that he is relieved in a way to be out of the closet, he believes that the action was taken against him because of the vote, which he says he made because it reflects the opinions of people in his district.

Furthermore, Boehning claims that the malicious outing may be part of a plot by a fellow legislator, although he declined to name the individual.

On April 2, Boehning and the rest of the state legislature voted down S.B. 2279, the third bill attempting to establish equal protections for LGBT North Dakotans. Thus far, all have failed.Minnesota Public Radio's News Cut blog asked, ''Is a politician's private life off limits? No, says the man who outed Boehning.''

After the vote, 21-year-old Dustin Smith '-- a Bismarck resident with no known ties to the state legislature '-- contacted Fargo's WDAY saying that he recognized Boehning on Grindr and was shocked at the Republican's hypocrisy.

''How can you discriminate against the person you're trying to pick up?'' Smith said.

Smith said that Boehning approached him on Grindr using the sobriquet Tom Man! and sent him an unsolicited photo of his penis.

Initially Boehning denied that the Grindr profile and messages were his, but he later admitted that he does use the site to solicit sex from strange men.

''That's what gay guys do on gay sites, don't they?'' Boehning said to Inforum. ''That's how things happen on Grindr. It's a gay chat site. It's not the first thing you do on that site. That's what we do, exchange pics on the site.''

Boehning says that he is also attracted to women and that many of his friends and family did not know about his orientation, but that he is coming to terms with the exposure of his private life.

''The 1,000-pound gorilla has been lifted,'' the lawmaker said. ''I have to confront it at some point.''

According to Boehning, however, another legislator had already threatened to expose his sexual orientation if he voted against the LGBT protections. An unnamed staffer approached the state Rep and told him that there would be consequences if he voted against S.B. 2279.

Rumors are flying that it was a gay Republican who threatened Boehning, said Inforum, but the lawmaker kept mum on the allegations.

''Well it would be interesting who it was then stay tuned I guess,'' he told Inforum via email.

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 17:15

TIMEEntertainmentcelebritiesBruce Jenner's New Reality Show Will Be About His Life as a Transgender WomanThe E! documentary series will begin airing July 26Bruce Jenner came out as transgender in an interview Friday, saying that ''for all intents and purposes, I am a woman.'' On the heels of that announcement, E!'--the home of the long-running reality series Keeping Up With the Kardashians and its many spin-offs, on which Jenner frequently appears'--announced that it will broadcast a new documentary series following Jenner's transition and life as a woman.

A news release promises that the show will ''present an unfiltered look as Bruce boldly steps into uncharted territory'':

The series will tell Bruce's intimate story and will join him as he seeks out his 'new normal.' Living for the first time as the person he feels he was born to be, the docuseries will also explore what Bruce's transition means for the people in his life and how those relationships are affected, while offering a better understanding of many of life's challenges.

The as-yet-untitled series, which will consist of eight one-hour episodes, will begin airing July 26 at 9 p.m. on E!.

The news release also reinforced the sentiment Jenner expressed in the ABC interview'--that he is ''choosing not to live publicly in the media as a woman.'' Instead, he will continue to be referred to as Bruce Jenner and with male pronouns.

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Tue, 28 Apr 2015 15:56

Bruce Jenner: The Interview was the highest rated program among adults 18-49 and with total viewers for the week ending April 26, 2015.

Primetime Broadcast Adults 18-49 Ratings for the week ending April 26, 2015:

RankShowsR=Repeat S=Special P=PremiereNet18-49 Rating18-49 Viewers (000)120/20-FRI-04/24 ((BRUCE JENNER:THE INTERVIEW)ABC5.266602Big Bang Theory, THE-04/23CBS3.645713Modern Family-04/22ABC3.037644GREY'S ANATOMY-04/23ABC2.835695VOICE-TUE-04/21NBC2.632626VOICE-04/20NBC2.633197SURVIVOR-04/22CBS2.431108SCANDAL-04/23ABC2.329129SCORPION-04/20CBS2.2275910Dancing with the Stars-04/20ABC2.12629112 Broke Girls-04/20CBS2.1261712GOLDBERGS, THE-04/22ABC2.1267713BLACK-ISH-04/22ABC2.1264614Criminal Minds-04/22CBS2.0255615ODD COUPLE, THE-04/23CBS2.0254616MIKE & MOLLY-04/20CBS2.0256017MOM-04/23CBS1.9244618Shark Tank-04/24PABC1.8227419MIDDLE, THE-04/22ABC1.8229720Big Bang Theory 9:30PM-04/23RCBS1.7215321SECRETS AND LIES-04/26ABC1.7216022Once Upon A Time-04/26ABC1.7218223Chicago Fire-04/21NBC1.6200724MARVEL AGENTS S.H.I.E.L.D-04/21ABC1.6204825GOTHAM-04/20FOX1.61985-

Primetime Total Viewers for the week ending April 26, 2015:

RankShowsR=Repeat S=Special P=PremiereNetViewers (Live +SD) (000)120/20-FRI-04/24 (BRUCE JENNER: THE INTERVIEW)ABC171002Big Bang Theory, THE-04/23CBS146323Dancing with the Stars-04/20ABC134164VOICE-TUE-04/21NBC112495SCORPION-04/20CBS107106VOICE-04/20NBC105857MADAM SECRETARY-04/26CBS10459860 Minutes-04/26CBS103869NCIS-04/21RCBS1019410SURVIVOR-04/22CBS1019211Criminal Minds-04/22CBS1006012Blue Bloods-04/24CBS999213NCIS: NEW ORLEANS ENCORE-04/21RCBS995914GREY'S ANATOMY-04/23ABC954615ODD COUPLE, THE-04/23CBS936816MOM-04/23CBS901417Modern Family-04/22ABC885018NCIS: LOS ANGELES-04/20CBS882719Good Wife, THE-04/26CBS873620CSI: CYBER - SPECIAL-04/21SCBS842221Hawaii Five-0-04/24CBS835022Castle-04/20ABC833623Big Bang Theory 9:30PM-04/23RCBS831624CSI: CYBER-04/22CBS826525MIKE & MOLLY-04/20CBS8134-Nielsen TV Ratings: (C)2015 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. All numbers are live viewing plus same day DVR viewing.

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Tue, 28 Apr 2015 15:26

The roads around my house have emerged from the winter looking like the set from a WWII epic set on a war-torn Moon. Local government, as a rule, sucks at repairing car-eating potholes in a timely and effective manner '-- unless, that is, you surround said pothole with a brightly colored penis.

In not-so-sunny Manchester, slap-bang in the middle of the UK's industrial heartland, things got bad enough to inspire a local road artist. Going by the moniker Wanksy, he's been surrounding potholes with spraypainted phalluses in an attempt to make the local council take note.

And apparently, it works! According to Wanksy's Facebook page, his potholes are handled within days '-- and, indeed, there's photographic before-and-after proof in some cases.

Local upstanding politicians, as you can imagine, are not amused:

''Has this person, for just one second, considered how families with young children must feel when they are confronted with these obscene symbols as they walk to school? Not only is this vandalism, but it's also counter-productive,'' the spokesman said. ''Every penny that we have to spend cleaning off this graffiti is a penny less that we have to spend on actually repairing the potholes.''

Laying all penis-related humour aside, the angry councilman probably has a point. Although Wansky is drawing attention to potholes with some success, defacing the road isn't exactly a long-term solution. Councils don't, I imagine, leave potholes sitting in the road for their own personal amusement '-- low budgets, a bad triage system and disorganisation are all to blame.

Although, in a Wanksy alternate universe, you're at least more likely to see the pothole before you drive into it '-- and feel just a little more violated afterwards. [Huffington Post/Facebook]

Contact the author at chris@gizmodo.com.

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 13:49

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WH: U.S. Special Ops Forces Will Be 'Wearing Arm Bands' When They Come to Texas See More at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/wh-us-special-ops-forces-will-be-wearing-arm-bands-when-they-come-texas

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 13:44

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Eric Holder: DOJ Now 'Free of Politicization,' 'Restored' Under His Leadership See More at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/eric-holder-doj-now-free-politicization-restored-under-his-leadership

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 13:27

See more in the cross-post on the NewsBusters blog.

CNN's Brooke Baldwin suggested during the Tuesday afternoon edition of CNN Newsroom that U.S. military veterans who become police officers were to blame for the recent string of violence involving police officers in that they return home ''from war'' and are ''ready to do battle.''

While speaking with Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings (Md.), Baldwin recalled a conversation with a Baltimore City councilman about police officers not living ''in the communities'' they represent when she remarked that: ''I love our nation's veterans, but some of them are coming back from war, they don't know the communities, and they're ready to do battle.''

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 13:24

Read more at NewsBusters | Left-wing Democratic Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes thinks that use of the word "thug" to describer the rioters and looters who rampaged through Baltimore Monday night is code word for, well, the N-word. Stokes Burnett by saying "you wouldn't call your child a thug if they should do something that would not be what you would expect them to do."

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 13:22

Video cross-posted here at NewsBusters. MSNBC's far-leftism is particulary painful to watch '-- so painful that it's hard to imagine anyone other than a critic voluntarily watching it. One of the more egregious recent examples of far-left lunacy occurred this weekend on tax scofflaw Melissa Harris-Perry's show, where a guest actually said that "you don't have to have a white person around to have white supremacy play out.'' Thus, Baltimore's descent into lawlessness, despite having entirely black leadership, is still apparently whites' fault.

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 13:20

See more in the cross-post on the NewsBusters blog.

ABC's World News Tonight anchor David Muir appeared to take a swipe at President Barack Obama on Tuesday night when he juxtaposed the tense situation in Baltimore with the President holding a State Dinner roughly 40 miles away at the White House for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Muir anchored ABC's evening newscast from Baltimore and led off the program with just under five minutes of reporting from the Charm City's streets on the riots that took place Monday afternoon and evening and the clean-up efforts throughout the day on Tuesday.

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 13:07

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Justice Alito: Why Not Let 4 Lawyers Marry One Another? See More at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/cnsnewscom-staff/justice-alito-why-not-let-4-lawyers-marry-one-another

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 13:04

[See NewsBusters for more.] Despite a combined eight hours of air time on Wednesday, all three network morning shows ignored the revelation that 6400 "lost" e-mails from ex-IRS official Lois Lerner have been found. On cable, Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer alerted viewers, reminding, "The IRS claimed the emails were lost when learner's computer crashed three years ago. They will now be examined by the Senate Finance Committee." ABC's Good Morning America, NBC's Today and CBS This Morning all avoided this development. Instead, the networks made time for frivolous, unimportant topics. Rather than focus on an attempt to cover-up government targeting of conservative groups, GMA devoted four minutes to this: "Stranded on a deserted Island: Four keys to staying alive."

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:56

See more in the cross-post on the NewsBusters blog.

In addition to an appearance on CNN's New Day Wednesday morning, Brooke Baldwin apologized on her own show CNN Newsroom hours later for her comments from Tuesday about police officers who were U.S. military veterans being a cause of violence between law enforcement and civilians.

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:53

Read more at NewsBusters | Bloods member Nikko Caldwell insisted in an interview with MSNBC's Toure that the gang's truce with their rivals the Crips would continue indefinitely because they have made the right ties with certain "political officials" in the city. The Cycle co-host completely dropped the ball after such a shocking admission, however, when he failed to ask Caldwell to name names. What's more, when Pastor Donte Hickman insisted that tapping the "natural power and influence" of gangs like the Bloods and the Crips was "the democratic way," Toure seemed completely unfazed.

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:46

[More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.]

Alex Wagner and her two left-wing panelists on the 29 April 2015 edition of her MSNBC program '' Salon's Brittney Cooper and The Nation's Ari Berman '' likened the use of the word "thug" to describe the rioters and looters in Baltimore, Maryland on Monday to a notorious racial slur against blacks. Wagner played up how "there are folks, like CNN's Erin Burnett, who don't understand why it's offensive; and why some people are saying the 'T' word is the new 'N' word."

Cooper claimed that "thug" is "rooted in a racialized understanding of black people." Berman also asserted that "the use of the word 'thug' has been used to delegitimize the actions of many because of the actions of a few...the 'black live matter' movement has been a peaceful movement....And so, by making it seem like everyone 'black lives matter' is now a thug, you're trying to delegitimize a movement and mis-characterize it."

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Thu, 30 Apr 2015 00:11

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 17:12

Fox News correspondent Leland Vittert speaks to Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby (Screenshot, YouTube)

Over the past 24 hours, Maryland politicians have been referring to angry citizens as ''thugs'' after the mostly peaceful protests over 25-year-old Frieddie Gray's death became violent yesterday.

Much of the media attention has been focusing on the destruction of property, which was what Fox News reporter Leland Vittert wanted to discuss when he approached City Councilman Nick Mosby on the street last night. Mosby would have none of it.

When Vittert asked Mosby what the looting means for Baltimore, Mosby replied, ''What it is is young folks of this community showing decades old anger, frustration, for a system that's failed them. I mean, this is bigger than Freddie Gray. This is about the socio-economics of poor, urban America.These young guys are frustrated, they're upset and unfortunately, their displaying it in a very destructive manner. When folks are under-educated, unfortunately, they don't have the same intellectual voice to explain it the way other people are doing it and that's what we see through the violence today.''

Vittert appeared to have taken none of this in, and then asked Mosby about the looting and a burning store near them and said, ''Is that right?''

The councilman gave a poised response.

''Is it right for people to loot? No,'' he said. ''I think you've missed everything I've tried to articulate. What I've said is that everything that has happened is wrong. The violence is wrong. That's never acceptable, understanding that there's a symptom of something that's going on here, and what I'm trying to articulate to you is that when you look at communities like this in urban America, lack of education, lack of commercial development, lack of opportunities, it's the socio-economics of it. It has nothing to do with west Baltimore or this particular corner in Baltimore. This can erupt anywhere in socio-economic deprived America.''

He went on to criticize the media for its lazy analysis of what is happening in his city before cutting his interview short with the reporter.

Watch here:

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 15:52

Created by an anonymous useron April 29, 2015

Chenk forgets that Young Turks were perpotrators of the Armenian Genocide

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 15:47

Hosts:Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, and Rene Ritchie.

Apple reports record March quarter results, iPad sales numbers, Apple Watch display technology details, annual report says 100% of Apple's US facilities are now powered by renewable energies, and more.

Guest:Adam Christianson.

Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/mbw.

Bandwidth for MacBreak Weekly is provided by Cachefly.

Running time: 1:50:28

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 09:14

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Transcript for Obama's Body Man

Quick who's the one person who spend every day all day with President Obama -- the called the body man Reggie Love is his name. No one's closer he's traveled nearly 900000. Miles with the president but now. He's moving on Rachel Nichols a correspondent for our sister network ESPN. Join Reggie Love for one of his last days at the White House appreciates. The Nightline in it. This door right here -- -- the deal. One of the four doors the president can enter or exit there. This is the tiny office of 29 year old Reggie Love president Obama's body man. It's just four feet away from the Oval Office his modest home base for -- eighteen Allegheny it's he -- even sleeps year. -- face a small but the real -- valuable. And -- you know you can't -- that you. Specialists myself that America first got a glimpse of how important the body man is from Charlie president -- right hand on the west wing. I wanted to remind you that you -- in meeting -- office with senior staff. But after four years lost -- leading his post a year before the next presidential election. It's a cliche to say loved -- had a front row seat to history but as these White House photos show its true. He -- handing the president a note telling him this stimulus bill had been passed and either -- -- health care bill was signed. But now let's just decided it's time to stop living the president's life and start living his -- -- student at the university of Pennsylvania's -- Wharton business school. The actual conversation. Where you said. I'm -- And said you know on this president's point of the year your -- and your opinion on this and he understands that. That is tough that -- around so for me. Tell us also to -- the first namely Obama's daughters Sasha and Malia and First Lady Michelle she's under like so much more pressure this remains -- and the president -- you know anyone else who works in the west lane but it work it's the president and love who play the role of the old married couple. What is he did it drives you crazy and what do you do the -- -- -- I'm 28 when the united stubborn and think that I know things that I may not know the answer to is like. Just take my advice -- like. I got elected president he should listen to me anyway the thing that used to kill me is that the guy loves to ride around what they see off like in the summer. And and Magid -- start sweating it's eighty degrees in the star. I and I pass out within that is to ever got it for something for real. -- I and -- choose not to answer that question. We first met the six foot five former Duke University basketball and football star during the 2008 campaign after starting in the mail room of Obama's senate office he eventually won his -- confidence to travel by his side. The two famously bonded over their shared love of sports -- On the campaign plane look explained tree -- at his job. Carrier in -- it's. Like -- lint brush toothbrush it's scope. -- drugs -- the bed. I've hit -- to. Aretha Franklin. And John Coltrane and he in turn has. Downloaded Jay-Z -- Little warning them so that I'm not a complete funny that you. -- picture -- the first day of the presidency. The two of them walking into the Oval Office. What do you remember from that. And it's kind of -- -- the one thing I remember is that there was still Bush's furniture the other thing I remember was that I had no idea what I was doing. You were there when he was a senator from Illinois you were there when he became. -- the most beloved people in the world you've been there as the popularity has dipped in the polls what is it like for you watching some when you're that close to. Go through section almost historic up and down. Even when he was really popular. There are still a lot of nasty things being said -- and you aren't going to be able to change the hearts and minds of everyone that thinks this way he thought this. The president's life I think I've just been lucky -- have today and very long passenger on an amazing amazing journey for Nightline this is Rachel Nichols in Washington.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

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Wed, 29 Apr 2015 02:44

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Tue, 28 Apr 2015 13:48

Video cross-posted here at NewsBusters. During MSNBC's live coverage of the ongoing riots in Baltimore Monday night, host Rachel Maddow argued that because the police were returing objects being thrown at them back at the protestors "that the police are a little out of control."

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Tue, 28 Apr 2015 13:44

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Tue, 28 Apr 2015 23:51

CBS SF Bay (con't)

Affordable Care Act Updates:CBSSanFrancisco.com/ACA

Health News & Information: CBSSanFrancisco.com/Health

SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) '' As lawmakers at the State Capitol consider a bill that would no longer allow parents to opt out of vaccinating their children over personal beliefs, vaccination critic Robert Kennedy Jr. waded into the debate at a Sacramento appearance.

Kennedy spoke to a crowd Tuesday screening a film that claims a link between autism in children and thimerosal, an ingredient in vaccines, according to the Sacramento Bee.

''They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone,'' Kennedy reportedly told the crowd. ''This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country.''

Multiple studies have rejected any link between thimerosal and autism. Even without any link discovered, the ingredient has been removed from nearly all childhood vaccines.

Click Also: Gay Woman Donates To Pizza Parlor That Won't Cater Same-Sex Weddings

On Wednesday, a State Senate committee will decide on the bill, known as SB 277. The bill was introduced following a measles outbreak that infected more than 100 people in California and several other states.