Daily Archives: 14. Dezember 2016


14.12.2016 - 15:30 [ EmptyWheel.net ]

The ObamaCare Not Comey Effect

As it turns out, the ObamaCare spike was announced on October 24 (and reported heavily starting October 25). That’s precisely when we see the differential moving.

14.12.2016 - 15:19 [ Belleville News-Democrat ]

Park‘s impeachment could split South Korea‘s ruling party

Kim Moo-sung, leader of anti-Park lawmakers in the Saenuri Party, on Tuesday called Park loyalists her „political slaves“ in an escalation of harsh rhetoric between rival factions in the largest political party in South Korea.

He told a televised conference that he and fellow lawmakers are considering leaving the party to create a new political group.

14.12.2016 - 15:11 [ Techdirt ]

Legacy Recording Industry To Trump: Please Tell Tech Companies To Nerd Harder To Censor The Internet

Upon hearing about Trump‘s meeting with the heads of a bunch of top tech companies, the RIAA and a bunch of related recording industry associations (including ASCAP, BMI, A2IM, NMPA, SoundExchange and more… ) have sent a letter to Trump (found via Variety), asking him to force the internet companies to nerd harder to find better ways to censor the internet. This is fairly incredible, seeing as the traditional recording industry wasn‘t exactly a major Trump supporter. For them to now reach out to Trump and urge him to increase censorship of the internet is fairly astounding and sickening.

14.12.2016 - 15:10 [ The Young Turks / Youtube ]

Rick Perry To Head Agency He Forgot Existed

Remember when Rick Perry said he wanted to eliminate three government agencies, but he couldn’t think of the third one? Trump is going to put him in charge of the department he forgot.

14.12.2016 - 14:57 [ ACLU ]

ACLU Wins Case Protecting Identity Of Anonymous Online Critics

In 2012, PubPeer’s founders created a website dedicated to anonymous post-publication peer review of scientific scholarship. They built anonymity into the website to allow scientists to discover the flaws in their peers’ research without having to fear that those same peers would retaliate. In its short lifespan, PubPeer has already been a tremendous success; its users have discovered flaws in high-profile research, leading to many corrections and even retractions.

14.12.2016 - 13:53 [ Craig Murray ]

Obama Loses His War on Whistleblowers

Obama/Clinton have perished politically as an example of the ultimate in political hubris. Downed by their own surveillance super state. Obama/Clinton’s War on Whistleblowers resulted in the most humiliating of defeats, and now they are political history. This is karma for their persecution of some of the best people in their nation. Good riddance.

14.12.2016 - 10:54 [ Fox News ]

Report says ISIS is manufacturing arms on industrial scale

The Islamic State group was manufacturing weapons in and around Mosul on an industrial scale with products largely purchased in bulk from Turkey, according to a report published by an arms research group Wednesday.
The findings show that IS maintained a „robust and reliable“ supply chain between Turkey and Iraq that allowed the fighters to produce tens of thousands of weapons, the London-based Conflict Armaments Research said.

14.12.2016 - 10:20 [ Los Angeles Times ]

To safeguard the Senate report on CIA torture, it will be archived in Obama‘s presidential papers

A scathing Senate report on the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other torture techniques after the September 2001 terrorist attacks will be archived in President Obama‘s presidential papers to ensure it is not destroyed, the White House said Monday.

Defenders of the controversial 6,700-page report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program, which ran from 2002 to 2006, worried that Republicans who disputed the critical findings would try to round up and shred the few existing copies once Obama leaves office.

14.12.2016 - 10:16 [ Techdirt ]

White House Tells Feinstein CIA Torture Report Will Be ‚Preserved‘ But Not Declassified

The full report, approaching 7,000 pages and costing $40 million to prepare, apparently details all sorts of wrongdoing by the CIA in torturing people in the Middle East. It‘s a comprehensive look into not just the horrific program by the CIA, but its failure to produce anything useful and the details of how the CIA lied about it. And here‘s the problem: Feinstein‘s colleague on the Senate Intelligence Committee, the current chair, Senator Richard Burr, wants the report destroyed.

14.12.2016 - 06:36 [ Taipei Times ]

European satnav system Galileo set to be activated

“Having a system that is somewhat independent of the US system that is controlled by the military is probably a good thing,” Rice University senior fellow in space policy George Abbey said in Houston, Texas.
This would be especially pertinent “if there were some conflicts or disagreements … that would cause the United States to have to limit GPS,” he said.

14.12.2016 - 05:38 [ Asia Today ]

New Accelerator VC to Shake Up China’s Food System

Bits x Bites, a new accelerator venture capital fund in China, has launched the country’s first accelerator program for food tech startups tackling food system challenges. By investing across the value chain from seed to table, it seeks to foster an ecosystem of purpose-and-profit companies to create a more sustainable food future.

14.12.2016 - 04:57 [ Channel NewsAsia ]

NASA troubleshooting problem with Mars rover drill

The problem comes as scientists are beginning to glimpse a history of Mars replete with life-friendly, water-rich environments and intriguing chemistry, including the first detection of the element boron.
Scientists believe boron may have led to the formation of the sugar ribose and ribonucleic acid, or RNA, which is present in all living cells on Earth.