NSA REFORM?

NSA GATHERS 200 MILLION TEXT MESSAGES DAILY

President Obama scaled back the National Security Agency’s ability to collect and store telephone data, but did not embrace many of the recommendations experts have proposed to reform the NSA.

In a heavily-anticipated speech Friday, Obama said intelligence agencies can still collect millions of Americans phone records but will instead have to turn them over to a third party and get a judge’s approval before accessing them.

“When you cut through the noise, what’s really at stake is how we remain true to who we are in a world that is remaking itself at dizzying speed,” Obama said.

The NSA, however, will hold onto the records for now until the U.S. Department of Justice, Congress and national security officials agree on who will store the phone data. Starting immediately, the agency must get a secret court’s approval before tapping into the database. They must also start limiting their inquiries into American citizens who are “two hops” away from suspected terrorists, rather than three.

The presidential policy directive released Friday ahead of the speech specified that signals intelligence collection could not occur “for the purpose of suppressing or burdening criticism or dissent, or for disadvantaging persons based on their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.” The administration will also separately study privacy issues in big data collection in both the public and private sector, perhaps suggesting more sweeping reforms to come.

In its recommendations, the president’s NSA review board suggested phone companies or an independent, private third party keep the bulk phone data to reduce the risk of government abuse. Then the NSA and other intelligence agencies could only retrieve it after getting a court order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Even though it hasn’t been decided who will house the phone data, Obama’s decision aligns with a bill introduced Tuesday by Rep. Adam Schiff that mandates the government ask phone companies for records on a case-by-case basis. But the president’s reforms fall short of the pending Senate bill that seeks to abolish phone metadata collection altogether.

Obama addressed very few of the 46 recommendations drafted by his hand-picked review group.

But among the panel’s recommendations, Obama said there should be a public advocacy panel to monitor government programs that may compromise civil liberties. Obama asked Congress to assemble a panel of privacy experts that will weigh in on only “significant and novel cases” that could have broad privacy implications, a senior Obama Administration official said during a news conference call Friday. Because the FISA court also handles individual criminal cases, the privacy and civil liberties panel will only take part in cases “where the court is rendering a judgment that affects a broader privacy equity,” the official said.

However, Obama ducked some changes offered by the NSA panel. For example, no mention was made of the panel’s recommendation to close loopholes that allow government backdoor spying through U.S.-based tech companies, or reforming whistleblower protections.

Cross posted from thinkprogress.

NFTOS
STAFF WRITER

RAPING WIFE OK IF SHE IS IN A NIGHTIE

RIGHT WING NUT JOB DICK BLACK

Rep. Frank Wolf is retiring from Congress, leaving his Northern Virginia congressional seat open in a competitive race. At least two teapublicans, state Senator Dick Black and Delegate Barbara Comstock, are vying for their party’s nomination.

Black has a controversial record on rape, women’s health, slavery, and LGBT rights, as discussed by Mother Jones Wednesday. Comstock stands for ultra-conservative policies, too, particularly when it comes to restricting abortion and women’s health.

Those views complicate the GOP’s effort to moderate their policies and appeal to minority, gay, and women voters and resemble the positions of Ken Cuccinelli, the party’s failed gubernatorial candidate:

Abortion is like slavery and the Holocaust: According to Black, contraception is “baby pesticide” and a “toxic method of eliminating a child” (even though contraception prevents abortions). In addition to saying abortion is worse than slavery, Black has compared abortion clinics to Nazi concentration camps. Without making such stark comparisons, Comstock drew comparisons between abortion, infanticide, and execution in a 2008 NBC interview.

Denying abortion even if it puts the mother at risk: Comstock answered simply that the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade should be overturned to deny abortions even if the mother’s health is threatened. She insisted that the woman be forced to carry to term, even if late-term pregnancy complications put lives in danger.

Allowing guns in bars: Comstock’s record on guns has earned her an “A” NRA rating. Her voting record on guns include allowing firearms inside bars that serve alcohol. The bill passed the legislature, making Virginia one of at least six states permitting loaded guns in some of the most dangerous circumstances.

Spousal rape and military rape is fine: Mother Jones pointed out that Black defended spousal rape, saying he “did not know how on earth you could validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape, when they’re living together, sleeping in the same bed, she’s in a nightie, and so forth, there’s no injury, there’s no separation or anything.” After that comment, Black only clarified he was not “taking a position for or against marital rape.” Before that, Black — a former military prosecutor — dismissed rape in the military “as predictable as human nature.” “Think of yourself at 25,” he said. “Wouldn't you love to have a group of 19-year-old girls under your control, day in, day out?”

Same-sex couples pose danger to the public In Virginia’s state Senate, Black promoted a slew of bills discriminating against gay men and women. On gay people serving in the military, Black has said “It’s a question of whether we will force soldiers to bond with homosexuals in the showers and the barracks, knowing that doing so will result in sexual bullying, male rape and forcible sodomy.” He has proposed a bill to ban same-sex couples from adopting children, using the reasoning that they are more likely to be violent and suicidal. He has attempted to ban same-sex couples from applying for public home loans. Black has even said public discussion of gay relationships puts children at risk of contracting HIV. Polygamy, he says, is “more natural” than being gay.

The candidates are far to the right of where the district leans politically. Wolf held his seat for 17 terms, but the “increasingly purple” district is seen as competitive for either party. Though it went 50-49 for Mitt Romney in a state that voted for President Obama in 2012, the district was 51-48 for Obama in 2008.

Dick Black, you are today's worst person in the world!

NFTOS

STAFF WRITER

THE BOSS MOCKS CHRIS CHRSITIE

Embroiled "Bridge Over Hubris" Governor Chris Christie adores him some Bruce Springsteen - when it comes to the GW traffic jam, the feelings don't seem to be reciprocal.




Freaking hilarious!

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

The American Taliban Stonewalls On Two Unemployment Bills

Senate Republicans once again blocked emergency unemployment aid for Americans unemployed six months or longer. In fact, Senate Republicans filibustered an extension of the jobless benefits into November, and they blocked a three-month extension. After the votes, Sen. Jack Reed pointed out that the CBO had estimated that the longer aid extension would create 200,000 jobs.

Republicans continued to whine over procedure in an attempt to distract from the fact that they are standing in the way of unemployment insurance. What they want is to force a lengthy series of votes on poison pill amendments, both slowing the bill's progress and trying to weaken it or pass something unrelated as well as harmful. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid did offer a deal on amendments; it just wasn't the capitulation Republicans sought:

In response to Republican requests that they be allowed votes on their amendments to the bill, Democrats agreed to consider five Democratic and five Republican amendments at a 60-vote threshold, with a catch: That the GOP would consent to a simple majority vote on the underlying bill, which would extend emergency benefits through November. 

Republicans swiftly rejected the offer from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said Republicans were trying to “have their cake and eat it too” by requiring 60 votes on the underlying legislation while also demanding consideration of their amendments. 

“Are Republicans filibustering unemployment insurance benefits, or are they not?” Reid said on the Senate floor.

They are. And, infuriatingly, on the longer-term extension, they had the support of three Democrats: Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Udall and Michael Bennet of Colorado.

More than 1.3 million Americans, a number growing every week, are desperately in need of this unemployment insurance extension. So is the American economy.

NFTOS

STAFF WRITER

ITS ALL ABOUT ME

SANDYGATE AND BRIDGEGAZI CONSUME CHRIS CHRISTIE

The Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has opened a federal investigation into whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie improperly used Hurricane Sandy relief funds to produce commercials starring himself and his family ahead of his re-election campaign. Auditors will examine how the Christie administration used $25 million set aside for “a marketing campaign to promote the Jersey Shore and encourage tourism,” focusing on the bidding process awarding a $4.7 million contract to a politically connected firm that cast Christie and his family in the Sandy ads, while “a comparable firm proposed billing the state $2.5 million for similar work” but did not include Christie in the commercials.

The ads produced by the company, MWW, attracted significant criticism. The New Jersey Star Ledger accused Christie of siphoning off “money that was intended for victims of Sandy to promote himself in a series of TV ads,” and described the move as “offensive” and a ” new low.”

CHRIS CHRISTIE AD

Congress raised alarms about the ads in August. In August, Rep. Frank Pallone alerted the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that the Christie administration may have “irresponsibly misappropriated funding allocated by Congress from the Sandy aid package” and used funds set aside for promoting the state “for political purposes.” “The contract was awarded to a firm that is charging over $2 million more than the next lowest bidder to develop the marketing plan,” Pallone wrote, noting that “the winning bid proposed including Governor Chris Christie in the advertisements, while the lower cost proposal that was not selected did not.” “It is inappropriate for taxpayer-funded dollars that are critical to our state’s recovery from this natural disaster to fund commercials that could potentially benefit a political campaign.”

Conservatives questioned Christie’s staring role. In November, Sen. Rand Paul said Christie’s appearance in the television ads gave the recovery effort a “black eye.” “People running for office put their mug all over these ads while they were in the middle of a political campaign,” Paul said during a committee hearing. “In New Jersey, $25 million was spent on ads that included somebody running for political office. You think there might be a conflict of interest there? That’s a real problem and that’s why when people who are trying to do good and trying to use taxpayers’ money wisely, they’re offended to see our money spent on political ads. That’s just offensive.”

Chair of bidding committee has close ties to Christie. A six-member bid evaluation committee of Christie administration officials selected the higher price despite issuing a report that said Sigma’s proposal also “addressed the tasks and deliverables specified in the RFQ (request for quotation) … (and) could effectively meet the requirements of this RFQ.” Michele Brown, a close Christie aid, led the bid evaluation. “Brown is a former federal prosecutor in New Jersey but resigned that post in 2009 amid controversy over a loan of $46,000 from Christie,” Asbury Park Press reports.

The winning firm donated thousands to Republicans. The East Rutherford, New Jersey based MWW Firm has donated heavily to Democrats, but “MWW employees donated $1,000 to Christie’s 2009 Republican gubernatorial primary campaign and $1,500 to his 2010 inaugural committee.” The MWW Group PAC “spent $95,250 in the 2012 federal election cycle, with 73 percent of the money going to Democrats, though the largest single expenditure, $5,000, went to the National Republican Congressional Committee.” The losing ad firm, Sigma, did not make any political contributions.

The winning firm originally sought more money. Contract documents reveal that “MWW’s team had sought $5.2 million in labor costs and markups, with company CEO Kempner requesting his own compensation to be set at $595 per hour. After negotiations with state officials, MWW reduced its price and removed Kempner from the compensation list.”

Christie says he selected firm for its “statewide connections.” The Christie administration insists that MWW was the best choice, claiming that it had “statewide connections that would allow it to mobilize quickly to perform the high-stakes work of boosting tourism in the first summer season since superstorm Sandy.” “The size and scope of the PR campaign that MWW undertook was far larger and more labor-intensive than any other bidder’s,” said Michael Drewniak, a Christie spokesperson.

Christie has responded by attributing the ads to Obama: “The Stronger Than The Storm [ad] campaign was just one part of the first action plan approved by the Obama Administration and developed with the goal of effectively communicating that the Jersey Shore was open for business during the first summer after Sandy,” Christie spokesperson Colin Reed said in a statement. “We’re confident that any review will show that the ads were a key part in helping New Jersey get back on its feet after being struck by the worst storm in state history.” While the Obama administration approved a waiver to allow the state to spend $25 million on ads, it was not involved in the bidding process under federal review.

I am reminded that "Deep Throat" once told Bob Woodward. "follow the money" - apparently this is still prudent advice today. At this rate maybe we could get Christie to the big house, the gray bar hotel, jail.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

C'EST LA VIE TRANSVAGINAL BOB

BOB MCDONNELL'S CLAIM TO FAME

Gov. Terry McAuliffe was inaugurated as Virginia's Governor yesterday, succeeding now-former Gov. Bob McDonnell . Over his tenure as a state Delegate, Virginia Attorney General, and Governor, he amassed a shockingly right-wing record.

Here are the biggest disappointments of his two decades as a public official:

He and his family took tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts from a supporter — and helped his controversial business. In what Republican state legislator Bob Marshall called the “type of activity” that “undermines public confidence,” McDonnell and his family reportedly accepted $145,000 in gifts and/or loans from Jonnie R. Williams Sr., the CEO of Star Scientific Inc. The McDonnell's then helped promote the scientifically-unproven dietary supplements line made by the controversial tobacco company-turned-supplements manufacturer. While Virginia’s lax gifts law allows elected officials to accept unlimited gifts — even from lobbyists and those with business before the state — McDonnell may still have broken the law by not fully disclosing what he and his wife received. A possible federal indictment was reportedly put on hold until after McDonnell left office. This was not McDonnell’s first time under ethical fire: in 2005, he exploited a loophole to evade disclosure requirements, hiding corporate contributors to his attorney general campaign.

He consistently opposed LGBT equality. As a legislator, McDonnell launched a crusade against LGBT rights. In 2004, he authored a resolution calling on Congress to pass a federal marriage inequality amendment. A year later, he helped to write the state’s constitutional amendment which bans same-sex marriages, unions, and partnerships. He even voted against a proposal in 2000 that would have changed Virginia’s unconstitutional law banning consensual sodomy between two adults from a felony to a misdemeanor and used that antiquated ban to oust a state judge he believed might be a lesbian. Among his first acts as governor was rescinding protections for gay and lesbian state employees via executive order (though he later issued a less potent “executive directive” telling his appointees not to actually discriminate). McDonnell said that this decision was made because LGBT Virginians don’t face widespread discrimination. He has opposed adoption rights for same-sex couples and signed bill allowing child-placing agencies and clubs on public college and university campuses to discriminate based on sexual orientation if their “conscience” so dictates.

He worked tirelessly to block women’s reproductive rights. As a graduate student at Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network University (now Regent), McDonnell wrote a thesis laying out a far-right agenda for the Republican Party that included significant restrictions on women’s reproductive health. He brought that agenda to the House of Delegates, where he voted for numerous abortion restrictions and actually voted against a bill to clarify that “abortion” was not defined to include “contraception.” As governor, he has backed a radical “personhood for fetuses” bill and signed TRAP restrictions aimed at closing abortion clinics and an unfunded mandate requiring women to receive a medically unnecessary ultrasound before having an abortion.

He dismissed climate science and pushed for more fossil-fuel use. Falsely claiming that the science showing that climate change is real and caused by humans is “mixed,” McDonnell eliminated his predecessor’s state climate change panel. He strongly supported the coal industry (for whom his wife worked as a consultant) and touted off-shore oil drilling at a BP-funded conference in Texas. He amended a 2010 bill to weaken state air pollution regulations.. And last year, he pushed for and signed a transportation bill that lowered the gasoline tax and shifted highway costs to bikers, pedestrians, and people with hybrid vehicles.

He rolled back voting rights. In 2012, McDonnell signed a voter ID law aimed at combating virtually non-existent voter impersonation fraud. The bill was cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice as it included enough options for types of valid identification as to not disproportionately disenfranchise minority voters. After the 2012 elections were marred by long lines, confusion about voter ID laws among poll workers, and insufficient staffing and equipment, McDonnell decided to respond by making it harder still to vote. Last March, he signed a strict photo ID law that will cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

He rolled back gun violence legislation, while working to slash mental health funding. Despite Virginia’s history as a haven for gun trafficking, McDonnell signed a bill repealing the state’s one-gun-a-month law. He also signed a bill to allow guns in bars and another which he used to bring the National Rifle Association’s controversial “Eddie the Eagle” gun safety program into elementary school classrooms. As he rescinded gun violence prevention laws, he simultaneously proposed major cuts to mental health services. The NRA and many Congressional Republicans have often suggested that an improved mental health system, rather than gun laws, is the way to reduce gun violence.

In 2009, Virginia was rated the nation’s best state in which to do business. But thanks in no-small-part to his backwards-moving policies as governor, Virginia has dropped significantly and, in 2013, tied for fifth-best.


C'est La Vie douchebag.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

THE BRDIGE OVER RIVER HUBRIS DOCUMENTS

BRIDGEGATE - THE DOCUMENTS

Finally, NFTOS was able to get the full document disclosure of Chris Christie gate, or as its better known, BRIDGEGATE, or as I like to call it, "Bridge Over River Hubris".

Below is the entire lot of documents, enjoy.

Note to readers: This page will take several seconds to fully load all documents. Scroll down to view Exhibits A through G, released by the NJ Assembly committee investigating the George Washington Bridge controversy and the Christie administration's role in it. Also if you click the "exhibit" hyperlink it will take to a scribd viewer which is larger than what NFTOS can provide.

  Exhibit A

   Exhibit B

   Exhibit C

   Exhibit D

   Exhibit E

   Exhibit F

   Exhibit G

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

AND NOW THE REAL TRUTH

CHRIS CHRISTIE AND BRIDGEGAZI

Rachel Maddow presents a new possibility of what the induced Ft. Lee traffic jam was retribution for. If it wasn't over the mayor’s gubernatorial endorsement, what was it for? Keep reading as it doesn't have a thing to do with the Mayor of Ft. Lee, New Jersey.

If Christie was telling the truth when he said the mayor of Fort Lee wasn't really on his radar, then perhaps the retaliatory action wasn't aimed at the mayor at all. Maybe it was aimed at someone else.

Bridget Kelly sent the infamous email at 7:34 AM on August 13, 2013 saying it was "time for some traffic problems around Fort Lee." What would have prompted her to send that? What was happening in the middle of August (besides endorsements) that would have given rise to this particular form of political retribution?

New Jersey Supreme Court battles were happening.


MADDOW VIDEO COURTESY OF MSNBC




It certainly makes more sense than the theory that Christie was getting revenge on the mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing him. As Maddow pointed out in the segment, there were quite a few Democrats who didn't endorse Christie and they didn't experience any payback from the governor.

I anxiously await the song bird to start singing......enter Bridget Kelly.

RELATED: Documents released: Download the documents here (download speeds are slow due to demand) or view them here without downloading.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

CORRUPT OR INCOMPETENT?

Today Chris Christie found himself waist deep in cow dung - today he spent the better half of two hours trying to tell both his state and the country that he knew nothing about "Bridgegate".

It's no surprise that Christie says he didn't know anything about his administration's involvement in the Fort Lee lane closure scandal until Wednesday of this week. But what is surprising is his explanation for why we should believe him, because it's a really flimsy one.


MADDOW Video Courtesy of MSNBC




E-mails show that the Christie administration wanted to create traffic problems in Fort Lee.

Even as Chris Christie attempts to distance himself from responsibility for the GWB fiasco, e-mails recently released to the public show that his administration orchestrated the traffic delays, with no concern about medical emergencies or the health and safety of New Jersey residents. This was apparently done in order to retaliate against the Mayor of Ft. Lee, Mark Sokolich.

CHRIS HAYES Video Courtesy of MSNBC




Wildstein today refused to testify before the Assembly, on January 9th.

Another Christie staffer, David Wildstein, later gave the order to close down the three lanes around the GWB. The public was not notified, nor were any plans made to prevent accidents and injuries, or ensure the safe flow of traffic for emergency vehicles.

Wildstein has been fighting against state and federal authorities, in effort to get a quash for a subpoena from the New Jersey State Assembly. A superior court judge denied his motion to quash and ordered him to testify before the Assembly, on January 9, 2014. Almost as soon as Wildstein took the stand, he exercised his right to remain silent, in order to avoid incriminating himself.

Christie can forget ever being President, and if a fired staffer steps up and speaks up, and they can link the bloviated road blocker to this fiasco, his days as governor are numbered as well.

Christie spent an enormous amount of his time today telling us how much of a bully - he is not -trying to slip-n-slide away from the narrative of - " are you sure you knew nothing of this plan"

Personally I could care less if Christie is a bully, my concern is- if he knew of this diabolical retribution schema, then he is one of the most corrupt deviant f*cks to ever hold a governors office - and if he indeed knew nothing of this, then he is the most incompetent Governor to ever hold office. Embarrassed, shamed, who cares.

So, I propose two queries, is Chris Christie a corrupt bastard, or is he incompetent? Does it matter if he is either of the two?

I would imagine that there is much more to story to be told, I'll hold judgment until the smoking gun is fully engulfed before I go full throttle on his ass. I would imagine there is a weasel in the weeds just waiting to sing the "Chris Christie knew of the plan" song. Stay tuned!

RELATED:

This is not the first time Christie has conducted retribution.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

CHRIS CHRISTIE INVOKING PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY

NEW JERSEY GOVNA CHRIS CHRISTIE ON THE TRAFFIC JAM

Look, it's Dick Cheney ordering Scooter Libby to take the fall for him all over again - oh no wrong liar.


Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive.




Governor Soprano just turned rat.

As they said of the GOP God Ronnie Reagan during the Iran-Contra affair - if he knew that this was happening on his watch, then he's corrupt as hell - if he didn't know about it then he's completely incompetent. Which is it Chris?

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

THE TURTLE NEVER BATS AN EYE AS HE HONES HIS HOSTAGE TAKING SKILLS

MITCH "THE TURTLE" MCCONNELL

As Congress is attempting to negotiate a deal to extend unemployment benefits to the 1.3 million Americans who lost them at the end of December, Senate Minority Leader Mitch "the turtle" McConnell is seizing the opportunity to refocus attention on Obamacare. On the Senate floor on Tuesday, McConnell suggested that Democrats should agree to a one-year delay in Obamacare’s individual mandate in order to offset the cost of reinstating unemployment benefits for one year.

“I’d like to propose that… my side be allowed to offer an amendment to pay for these benefits by lifting the burden of Obamacare’s individual mandate for one year, and take care of our veterans who were harmed by the recently agreed to budget deal while we are at it, in the same amendment,” the Kentucky lawmaker said.

The GOP has repeatedly pushed to delay Obamacare’s individual mandate, a proposal that would ultimately increase the number of uninsured Americans and raise premiums in the individual market. Health policy experts agree that it’s too late to make such a major change to the structure of the health reform law, since the individual mandate — which incentives people to purchase health care — is a central component of Obamacare. On January 1, the health law’s coverage expansion officially took effect.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that delaying this Obamacare provision could saving the U.S. $35 billion over the next 10 years. But that’s because it would prevent millions of low-income people from accessing Medicaid coverage, so fewer taxpayer dollars would be spent on extending health care to that population.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid has already rejected McConnell’s request.

Quickly reaching a deal on unemployment benefits, rather than haggling over proposals to attack the health law, could actually end up benefiting the economy. In the week immediately following Congress’ failure to extend unemployment benefits, states lost out on $400 million. According to the CBO, if these federal benefits aren't restored, the U.S. could lose about 200,000 jobs this year due to reduced consumer spending.

If this Einstein and his band of tin foil hat society members had not held us hostage last year to the tune of 24 billion dollars, maybe helping those in need wouldn't be such a problem. The turtle is happy to balance the budget on the backs of the poor, the needy, the unemployed, and especially the middle class - anybody except for the filthy rich.

Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor. The turtle believes in stealing from the poor to give to the poor.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

POLAR VORTEX

COMPUTER MODEL OF POLAR VORTEX

On Sunday night, a reporter for The Weather Channel stood in a Minnesota snowstorm, talking about local efforts to move homeless children into heated shelters. “How cold is it supposed to get?” the anchor, back in the studio, asked. The reporter replied: “Colder than Mars.”

Indeed, recent temperatures across the U.S. have been Mars-like. Forecasts in the midwest call for temperatures to drop to 32 below zero in Fargo, N.D.; minus 21 in Madison, Wis.; and 15 below zero in Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Chicago. Wind chills have been predicted to fall to negative 60 degrees — a dangerous cold that could break decades-old records.

All of which begs the question — if climate change is real, then how did it get so cold?

The question is based on common misconceptions of how cold weather moves across the planet, said Greg Laden, a bioanthroplogist who writes for National Geographic’s Scienceblog. According to Laden, the recent record-cold temperatures indicate to many that the Arctic’s cold air is expanding, engulfing other countries. If true, this would be a perfect argument for a “global cooling” theory. The Arctic’s coldness is growing. Laden asks, “How can such a thing happen with global warming?”

1989 POLAR VORTEX

The answer, he writes, is that the Arctic air that usually sits on top of our planet is “taking an excursion” south for a couple of days, leaving the North Pole “relatively warm” and our temperate region not-so-temperate. “Go Home Arctic, You’re Drunk,” he titled the explanation.

“The Polar Vortex, a huge system of moving swirling air that normally contains the polar cold air, has shifted so it is not sitting right on the pole as it usually does,” Laden writes. “We are not seeing an expansion of cold, an ice age, or an anti-global warming phenomenon. We are seeing the usual cold polar air taking an excursion. So, this cold weather we are having does not disprove global warming.”

In fact, some scientists have theorized that the influx of extreme cold is actually fueled by effects of climate change. Jennifer Francis, a research professor at Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Science said today that it’s not the Arctic who is drunk. It’s the jet stream.

Arctic warming, she said, is causing less drastic changes in temperatures between northern and southern climates, leading to weakened west-to-east winds, and ultimately, a wavier jet stream. The stream’s recent “waviness” has been taking coldness down to the temperate United States and leaving Alaska and the Arctic relatively warm, Francis said. The same thing has been happening in other countries as well. Winter storms have been pounding the U.K., she noted, while Scandinavia is having a very warm winter.

“This kind of pattern is going to be more likely, and has been more likely,” she said. “Extremes on both ends are a symptom. Wild, unusual temperatures of both sides, both warmer and colder.”

Dr. Kevin E. Trenberth, a distinguished senior climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research said: "The answer to the oft-asked question of whether an event is caused by climate change is that it is the wrong question, All weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be."

So sorry GOP science deniers, this influx of cold weather is not your debunking trump card to the reality of climate change. 

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

MADDOW DOESN'T COWER TO THE KOCH WHORES

THE KOCH WHORES DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH TOLD

“We will not stop reporting on the political actions and the consequences of the political actions of rich and powerful men, even if they send angry letters every time we do it. I will not read scripts provided to me by anyone else. I do not play requests.”

Rachel Maddow has spoken of her tussles with the Koch brothers on-air before, and last night she did it again with a blistering indictment of the legal letter sent to her on the Kochs’ behalf to publicly correct a report she did on them. Maddow did a report this week on Florida’s “drug test the poor” law (now on its way out) being tried in other states, partly at the urging of a conservative group that’s part of a network that receives funding from the Koch brothers.


VIDEO COURTESY OF MSNBC

Maddow showed the letter that the lawyer sent, including a script for her to read clarifying that they are “not involved in promoting any such issue.” Maddow said quite sternly, “I’m not going to read their script. I’m not going to renounce my own reporting on this story, because the reporting on this story stands. It is true.”

She found it amusing that the key objection is they don’t want people to know about their political activities, and said that’s not good enough to stop people from reporting negative things about them.

This blistering response is exactly what the doctor ordered. These two money ladened troglodytes need to learn that not all Americans, nor businesses answer to these two trolls.

Maybe the Koch whores are so accustomed to writing scripts for Fox & Friends and congressional GOPers, that they assumed Maddow or MSNBC would cave - guess again asshats.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

WE'VE BEEN TEA-BAGGED

WE'VE BEEN TEA BAGGED!

Many moons ago, almost four years ago now, and some thirteen hundred blogs later - we at NFTOS used to use Current TV's Super News cartoons in our blogs - often. In 2010, when we had maybe 20 readers or visitors to our blog a day, [we now average 35,000 daily] we leaned heavily on both Super News and MSNBC GOP slayer Keith Olbermann, to garner readership.

Three things that led me to start blogging was; Tea-Baggers, Dana Loesch and Keith Olbermann [who is my writing mentor]. My distaste for both Loesch and the tea bagger was overwhelming, and both Super News and Olbermann dissected these nasty beasts with such ease - we thought how could we go wrong connecting the dots with these two sources.

So I thought this morning, this cold frigid day [The recent winter storm proves that global warming does not exist, and so we must repeal Obamacare.] for the old school readers of our blog, why not revisit Super News. With over 46 million visits to our site, we are certain some clung to NFTOS early on due to these two sources. So thanks Super News, we at NFTOS miss your work!

PARTY LIKE ITS 1776 SUPER NEWS

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

LEAKED ZIMMERMAN TAPE A DOUSE

LATEST ROUND OF AS THE GEORGE ZIMMERMAN TURNS

After a domestic dispute and call to 911 in November, George Zimmerman's girlfriend told police officers that he had threatened her with a shotgun. The allegations echoed those of Zimmerman's ex-wife following his acquittal on charges of murdering unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, and seemed to signal a pattern of uncontrolled violence.

Pregnant girlfriend of George Zimmerman explains in vivid details of his frequent "episodes" of anger and fondness for handguns, shotguns, and a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle.





"I feel like he always gets off," pregnant 27-year-old Samantha Scheibe told a police investigator after her boyfriend, George Zimmerman, pointed a shotgun at her and smashed her belongings. Scheibe was right, again.

Scheibe later recanted, saying in a sworn statement that she was "intimidated" during police questioning and believed investigators had "misinterpreted" her words.

A recently released video of Scheibe's police interview leaked online by ZimmermanVerdict.net, not only casts doubt on her disavowal, it also adds credibility and disturbing violent new details to Scheibe's original account.

Mother Jones reports, "Far from intimidating, the officer who questioned Scheibe, Stephen LaGuardia of the Seminole County Sheriff's office, is a mild-mannered civil servant. And Scheibe's description of events was detailed and vivid—not exactly the kind of thing most people concoct on the fly. Having broken off the relationship, Scheibe said she told Zimmerman to leave her house. He began packing his belongings, including his AR-15 assault rifle. As he removed the clip and shoved it in his rifle bag, a bullet fell on the floor. Zimmerman then grabbed and cocked his shotgun, apparently so that there was a shell in the chamber, and stuffed it in the rifle bag, too."

"Scheibe began carrying Zimmerman's belongings outside "to get him out faster," at which point Zimmerman grew agitated and retrieved the shotgun. "The bag was right there, let’s just say this is the couch, he grabbed it, unlocked it, opened it," she explained, acting out Zimmerman's gestures. Initially, she suspected Zimmerman might commit suicide. "I was trying to figure out, honestly, whether or not he intended to hurt me or himself." But then, Scheibe said, he pointed the gun at her."

Asked again how she felt when Zimmerman aimed the scattergun at her, Scheibe said, "I was trying to figure out, honestly, whether or not he intended to hurt me or himself at that very first moment.

"And then I realized he was pissed at me."

After Scheibe recanted her allegations, prosecutors dropped the domestic violence and assault charges against Zimmerman.

The sixty million dollar question is, will Georgie kill someone else before he kills himself, or vice versa? Its only a matter of time. Hopefully its the latter.



NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

SEAQUESTRATION THREATINING PUBLIC SAFETY SAYS…..

….Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, in his annual Year-End Report on the State of the Federal Judiciary, blasted the 2011 Budget Control Act’s automatic “sequestration” federal spending cuts and warned that the cuts to the federal court system’s budget “pose a genuine threat to public safety.”

Roberts, appointed to the Supreme Court in 2005 by President George W. Bush, listed “adequate funding for the Judiciary” as the “single most important issue facing the courts” and offered a Dickensian look at the federal judiciary past, present, and future.

Conceding that balanced budgets are important, Roberts blasted the Draconian sequester — cuts that came after nearly a decade of belt-tightening by the judicial branch. Because they had previously reduced costs significantly, the $350 million in new across-the-board cuts have already made it difficult for justice to be protected, Roberts argued, noting that “because virtually all of their core functions are constitutionally and statutorily required,” the courts have little discretion over what they spend:

ROBERTS: Sequestration cuts have affected court operations across the spectrum. There are fewer court clerks to process new civil and bankruptcy cases, slowing the intake procedure and propagating delays throughout the litigation process. There are fewer probation and pretrial services officers to protect the public from defendants awaiting trial and from offenders following their incarceration and release into the community. There are fewer public defenders available to vindicate the Constitution’s guarantee of counsel to indigent criminal defendants, which leads to postponed trials and delayed justice for the innocent and guilty alike. There is less funding for security guards at federal courthouses, placing judges, court personnel, and the public at greater risk of harm.

While last month’s Ryan-Murray budget deal will mitigate the sequestration cuts somewhat, Roberts warns that without more restored funding to the federal courts, the future “would be bleak” for America’s judiciary — which “undermines the public’s confidence in all three branches of government.”




NFTOS
STAFF WRITER

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014





NFTOS wishes all our readers a happy and prosperous new year.

NFTOS STAFF &

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

TOBY KEITH SAYS NOT TO GUNS......

.....inside his restaurant.

Country music star Toby Keith is facing some backlash from gun owners after one of his new I Love This Bar And Grill restaurants in Woodbridge, Virginia posted a “No Guns Permitted” sign outside its premises.

“I’ll never eat here. Lawfully armed and spending my money elsewhere,” read one of many disgruntled reviews on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

The furor spurred a response by the restaurant, explaining, “While we understand and respect every person’s right to own and bear arms, we at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill, with guidance from the State of Virginia and based on insurance regulations, have adopted a no weapons policy. It is our desire to provided a safe, enjoyable and entertaining experience for our patrons and staff.”

That did little to quell the ire of gun owners, one whom responded to the restaurant’s Facebook message by saying, “Your post regarding your stance on not allowing patrons to defend them selves should the need arise is a total cop out to the bad publicity that your bad policy has initiated.”

But gun owners may actually be legally allowed to carry loaded weapons in Keith’s restaurant under Virginia law, irrespective of what the sign says. Virginia is one of at least six states — the others being Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona — that explicitly allows loaded guns in bars. “No Guns Permitted” signs don’t actually have the force of law in Virginia unless the state specifically lists the facility as one where people cannot carry guns.

Another 18 states allow loaded weapons in restaurants that serve alcohol, according to a 2010 New York Times report — and data on violence in America suggests that could be dangerous policy. Gun owners are far more likely to binge drink, drive drunk, and engage in other risky behaviors than people who don’t own guns, according to a 2011 report in the medical journal Injury Prevention. Furthermore, arguments and fights that often involve drinking or a perceived insult lead to nearly half of all homicides and an estimated 40 percent of men and 30 percent of women who killed someone had been drinking at the time.

Keith has previously performed at rallies sponsored by the National Rifle Association and has spoken in support of gun rights. “If one percent of non-felons would go get their concealed weapons license and carry a gun where they can, one percent puts you in a pretty good position of being somebody that could save a bunch of people’s lives,” he said at a 2011 event.

Cross Posted from thinkprogress

NFTOS

Staff Writer

SAY IT ISNT SO DARRELL ISSA

Who the phuck knew?

An incredibly in-depth New York Times report on the Benghazi attack of September 11th, 2012 concludes that there is “no evidence that Al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the assault,” instead led by rebel fighters that were supported by the U.S. during the uprising against Moammar Qaddafi. And on top of all that, the Times report says that despite what members of Congress have claimed to the contrary, that the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims actually played a pretty significant part in fueling the anger surrounding the attack that left four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, dead.

The Times says that both major narratives (“the attack was spontaneous” and “the attack was meticulously planned in advance”) surrounding Benghazi are both lacking, and points to what it deems as the real intelligence failure in all this.

The Benghazi-based C.I.A. team had briefed Mr. McFarland and Mr. Stevens as recently as the day before the attack. But the American intelligence efforts in Libya concentrated on the agendas of the biggest militia leaders and the handful of Libyans with suspected ties to Al Qaeda…

Members of the local militia groups that the Americans called on for help proved unreliable, even hostile aide. The fixation on Al Qaeda might have distracted experts from more imminent threats. Those now look like intelligence failures.

The report includes interviews with Libyan rebel fighters, and provides some in-depth details about the attack itself and the security at the Benghazi compound when the attack occurred.

You can read the full report here.

REMEMBER READERS HOW MANY BENGHAZI'S HAPPENED ON BUSH'S WATCH

Here are six major takeaways from the report:

1. Al Qaeda was not involved in the assault. It has become an article of faith for some in the GOP that the Benghazi attack was a highly orchestrated terrorist attack led by the same group that carried out the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. “It was very clear to the individuals on the ground that this was an Al Qaeda-led event,” said Michigan Republican Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, in an interview on Fox News in November. But according to the Times report, there is no evidence to support this assertion. 

2. Anger at the “Innocence of Muslims” video motivated the initial assault and fueled the anger that powered the attack. After the film appeared online dubbed into Arabic in September 2012, media in Cairo played a major role in stoking the rage that led to an assault on the American embassy in Benghazi. Witnesses on the ground at the attack recount numerous ways in which leaders of the assault used the video to stoke the rage of militiamen. 

3. The spontaneous response to the video stoked another attack that was already in the works, planned by smaller militia not affiliated with Al Qaeda. Evidence suggests that hardline elements within the complex web of Islamist militias operating in Benghazi, including an uneducated loner and contrarian named Ahmed Abu Khattala, had been planning an attack, though it’s unclear when they had intended to strike. The U.S. government has sought to have Khattala apprehended in order to press charges, but authorities and powerful Islamist elements in Libya have closed ranks around the hardliner. 

4. American officials were overly reliant on moderate Islamist elements for protection. As the assault turned full fledged, officials called on the leaders of militias that had been publicly friendly to the U.S. to come to their aid. But when the time came, almost none turned up to rescue Americans trapped inside the compound. “Whatever happened, they were other Libyans,” said one Islamist leader who eventually did enter the compound after resisting at first. 

5. Inside the compound, attackers looted and plundered wildly. Witnesses describe men taking out suits on hangers, televisions and found food. One man reportedly poured what appeared to be Hershey’s chocolate syrup into his mouth. 

6. Benghazi joined the list of Faux News scandals such as- Obama's birth certificate is fake, he's Muslim, he's appointing more "czars" than anyone before, he's playing more golf than anyone before, he's creating FEMA camps, the IRS targeting the Tea Party gave him the election, he's a Marxist because he said "spread the wealth around".....

Fox News, Darrell Issa, Lindsey Graham, and other radical tin foil hat society members owe many apologies, most going to Susan Rice.

Reiterating, who the phuck knew Darrell Issa? You sir are today's asshat of the year! Congratulations Einstein, maybe you should go back to doing what you do best.....stealing cars.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West
 

BAD POLLO

BAD [Chicken] POLLO

The last several decades have seen the U.S. food production system privatized and deregulated to the point that it has become a menace to public health and a major contributor to climate change. It's amazing, that in the richest country in the world, it's "consumer beware." It's left to consumers to empower themselves with information to even begin to navigate healthy food choices for themselves and their families.

Some non-governmental nonprofit groups are trying to take up the slack left by a governmental system which most often represents the interests of multinational corporations rather than the American consumer.

One of the nonprofit groups which has gained consumer trust is Consumer Reports, which since 1936 has published reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from its in-house testing laboratory and survey research center.

SALMONELLA

Consumer Reports has recently turned its independent testing laboratory to investigating our broken food production system with a report on the American poultry industry. The results of its testing are unsettling:

Every one of the four major brands we tested (Perdue, Pilgrim’s, Sanderson Farms, and Tyson) contained worrisome amounts of bacteria, even the chicken breasts labeled “no antibiotics” or “organic.” 

Almost none of the brands was free of bacteria. And we found no significant difference in the average number of types of bacteria between conventional samples and those labeled “no antibiotics” or “organic.” 

More than half of the chicken breasts were tainted with fecal contaminants (enterococcus and E. coli), which can cause blood and urinary-tract infections, among other problems. 

Enterococcus was the most common bacterium we found, occurring in 79.8 percent of our samples. Next was E. coli, in 65.2 percent of them; campylobacter, 43 percent; klebsiella pneumoniae, 13.6 percent; salmonella, 10.8 percent, and staphylococcus aureus, 9.2 percent.
About half of our samples (49.7 percent) tested positive for at least one multidrug-­resistant bacterium, and 11.5 percent ­carried two or more types of multidrug-­resistant bacteria. 

Of the 65.2 percent of samples testing positive for E. coli, 17.5 percent of the bugs were “ExPEC” bacteria, a nasty type of E. coli that’s more likely than other types to make you sick with a urinary-tract infection.

World healthcare in general takes antibiotics for granted. Strep throat, sinus infection, UTI—a quick visit to the doctor, a prescription, and you’re feeling better. But that era is coming to an end because these lifesaving drugs are being overused, particularly in livestock production.

Already 2 million Americans are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and at least 23,000 die each year. The spread of these "superbugs" is happening so fast the Centers for Disease Control says if we don’t act, our national medicine cabinet will soon be empty.





Portions of blog from DailyKos and Meatless Advocates.

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

MCDONALD'S HAS A POT AND KETTLE MOMENT

Apparently McDonald's now has a Director of Parody, Satire and Self-Deprecation.

On its employee resources website, McDonald’s offers workers reasonable if not unexpected advice for a healthier diet. McDonald’s employees should steer clear of fast food, the website warns, because meal consisting of burger, fries, and a soda cause weight gain.

“Fast foods are quick, reasonably priced, and readily available alternatives to home cooking,” one post on the McResource Line site says. “While convenient and economical for a busy lifestyle, fast foods are typically high in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt and may put people at risk for becoming overweight.”

Illustrating this point is a picture of what looks suspiciously like McDonald’s food. At 550 calories, McDonald’s Big Mac delivers nearly 50 percent of one’s daily recommended fat. That’s not including the fries and soda.

McDonald’s defended the McResource posts, saying it has been “taken entirely out of context.” “This website provides useful information from respected third-parties about many topics, among them health and wellness,” they told CNBC. “It also includes information from experts about healthy eating and making balanced choices. McDonald’s agrees with this advice.”

The company pointed to its healthier fare; however, these menu adjustments are often superficial and misleading or slow-coming in the fast food industry. By adding a green label to its McWrap, McDonald’s hopes to attract a younger consumer base that associates green with health.

The McResource Line is now infamous for advising low-income fast food workers to sell Christmas presents for cash and to live on food stamps. The corporation stands firm against raising wages, despite facing embarrassment whenever McDonald’s discusses its $7.81 hourly wage workforce. On these wages, even McDonald’s admitted it is nearly impossible for workers to afford basic expenses from healthy food to heating to transportation.

With McDonald size wages, it truly amazing their employees eat at all.

NFTOS

STAFF WRITER