The Divided Ukraine

Shared by a friend who would know.  The mainstream media in the US is feeding us simplistic garbage.  Don't buy it.

The “divided Ukraine” narrative is seductive in its simplicity and disastrous in its ramifications. Sure, it’s easier to consume. But it’s also wrong—and it contributes to Putin’s plan to bring catastrophe to a nation that is struggling for democracy and human rights.

If It Happened There ... the Government Shutdown

The typical signs of state failure aren’t evident on the streets of this sleepy capital city. Beret-wearing colonels have not yet taken to the airwaves to declare martial law. Money-changers are not yet buying stacks of useless greenbacks on the street. But the pleasant autumn weather disguises a government teetering on the brink. Because, at midnight Monday night, the government of this intensely proud and nationalistic people will shut down, a drastic sign of political dysfunction in this moribund republic.

It's full of hyperbole. But, then, isn't our media?

Fox Complains Unopened Obamacare Exchanges Haven't Insured Enough Americans Yet

During the September 27 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy misleadingly suggested that the health care reform law had failed to insure many Americans who currently lack health insurance coverage:

Steve Doocy. Of course.

Water on Mars!

What jumps out of the analysis right away is that the soil — mostly sandy grains dug from a mound in a spot known as Rocknest, inside of Gale Crater — is the presence of water, which adds up to about 2% of the soil, by weight. “If you took a cubic foot of this material and heated it,” says Leshin, “you’d about get two pints of water. I think that’s pretty amazing.”

Something good in the news...

Moving The Goalposts: CNN Now Says Gingrich Is "Not In Violation" Of Network Rules

We are clarifying the policy and making it clear Newt Gingrich is not in violation. The policy: If a Crossfire co-host has made a financial contribution to a politician who appears on the program or is the focus of the program, disclosure is not required during the show since the co-host's political support is obvious by his or her point of view expressed on the program.

CNN is irrelevant. Does anyone actually watch it anymore?

Florida, You fucked up!

We'll all pay for this. No, thank you...

New App Lets You Boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto And More By Scanning Your Shopping Cart

Buycott shows you a product's corporate family tree while you shop. In her keynote speech at last year’s annual Netroots Nation gathering, Darcy Burner pitched a seemingly simple idea to the thousands of bloggers and web developers in the audience. The former Microsoft MSFT +0.94% programmer and congressional candidate proposed a smartphone app allowing shoppers to swipe barcodes to check whether conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch were behind a product on the shelves.

Awesome!

Government Lab Reveals It Has Operated Quantum Internet for Over Two Years

One of the dreams for security experts is the creation of a quantum internet that allows perfectly secure communication based on the powerful laws of quantum mechanics. The basic idea here is that the act of measuring a quantum object, such as a photon, always changes it. So any attempt to eavesdrop on a quantum message cannot fail to leave telltale signs of snooping that the receiver can detect. That allows anybody to send a “one-time pad” over a quantum network which can then be used for secure communication using conventional classical communication.

That's pretty cool!

Dick Cheney slams Obama administration's Benghazi performance as 'a failure of leadership ... I cannot understand why they weren't ready'

Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized the Obama administration on Tuesday for its handling of the September 11, 2012 terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, calling it 'a failure of leadership.' Cheney said U.S. leaders should have been better prepared for violence on the anniversary of the al-Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001.

Seriously????



Go fuck yourself, Cheney!

U.S. Lawmaker Proposes New Criteria for Choosing NSF Grants

The legislation, being worked up by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), represents the latest—and bluntest—attack on NSF by congressional Republicans seeking to halt what they believe is frivolous and wasteful research being funded in the social sciences.

Seriously, WTFF??!!?!?!?!? He wants to kill peer review? This was also the genius behind SOPA.