(CNN) – Sarah Palin accused President Obama of “scaring” the American people over the importance of raising the debt ceiling…
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“I hope we gave a little lesson to the people in Washington because the debt ceiling is a lot easier to fix than this was.” — ROBERT KRAFT, New England Patriots owner, speaking about the end of the NFL lockout (via CNN)
Continue reading …The struggling US Postal Service could close 3,700 post offices starting in January, a full 11% of its retail operations and the largest downsizing in the agency’s history. The targeted offices span 49 states. The exception: Delaware, which has only one post office for every 12,000 people. About…
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Top law official agrees to discuss progress of FBI investigation into allegations against journalists working for News Corp Relatives of victims of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York are to meet with America’s top law enforcement official to discuss allegations that journalists working for News Corporation tried to gain access to the phone records of the dead. The US attorney general Eric Holder has agreed to see a group of family members and their legal representative to discuss the progress of an FBI investigation. A date for the meeting has yet to be set, but the agreement to hold it is a sign of how seriously the inquiry is being taken. Norman Siegel, a New York-based lawyer who represents 20 families who lost loved ones on 11 September 2001, confirmed the meeting and said he intended to take as many of the relatives as possible to see Holder in Washington. “We are hoping the allegations of hacking prove to be untrue but we want a thorough investigation to determine what happened,” he said. The allegation that News of the World reporters attempted to gain unauthorised access to victims’ voicemails was made in an article in the Mirror earlier this month. The paper said the journalists had approached a former New York police officer working as a private detective and asked him to do the hacking, which he declined to do. So far no evidence has emerged to corroborate the Mirror’s story but, should the allegations firm up, News Corp could face a rash of civil litigation from family members. Lawyers have begun preliminary discussions with relatives pointing out their legal options. “If there is something to the story, then there are a number of different claims that people could file,” said Mark Vlasic, a Washington-based lawyer and professor at Georgetown University. Vlasic said one possible legal recourse open to families would be to sue under the electronic communications and privacy act. Title 18 USC section 2701, which carries a minimum fine of $1,000 (£612) for every event proved, makes it unlawful to obtain unauthorised access to stored communications, including voicemail. Title 18 USC section 1030, barring unauthorised access to protected computers, could also be invoked in relation to the mainframe computers on which the phone companies store voicemails. Siegel said that he had pointed out to the families he represents that civil legal action could be open to them. Any attempt by News of the World reporters to gain access to voicemails, even if such an attempt were unsuccessful, could be liable to penalties. But Siegel said that the priority at this stage was to find out whether the allegations were true. “Family members are painfully going back to the period of 9/11 and trying to recall whether there were articles about their loved ones that could only have been written on the basis of hacking of calls or computers.” Sally Regenhard, who lost her firefighter son Christian at the World Trade Centre, said families were adopting a wait-and-see policy: “We just want to know what’s happening with the investigation.” Another victim’s relative, who asked not to be named, said she had been talking to a lawyer about a possible lawsuit. “Between Osama bin Laden’s death and the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in September, this is a very stressful time for us. If the phone-hacking allegations turn out to be true it would be very upsetting for us – it would be such a violation.” During his testimony to the UK parliament earlier this month Rupert Murdoch referred to the 9/11 phone-hacking claim and said “we have seen no evidence at all and as far as we know the FBI haven’t either”. But he added that he did not know whether News of the World employees or the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire could have taken it upon themselves to do the hacking. On Wednesday Piers Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, denied for the second time in a week that he printed stories obtained through phone hacking. CNN, which employs him as a chatshow host, issued the latest denial over comments Morgan made when he was on Radio 4′s Desert Island Discs. FBI United States Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News of the World News Corporation Media business Daily Mirror Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Amy Winehouse Autopsy Results Inconclusive: Cause Of Death Waits For Toxicology Report
July 27, 2011 No Comment
The cause of Amy Winehouse’s death will remain a mystery for at least another fortnight as autopsy results found Monday were inconclusive. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Metropolitan Police will investigate her death, which was given a “Section 20″ postmortem, which means they have reason to believe the death was violent or suspicious. That being said, it was earlier Monday reported that police did not find any reason for suspicion. The inquest, as the investigation is known, is being closed until October 26th so that investigators can look into the death; toxicology test results are expected in 2-4 weeks. On Sunday, the Mirror reported that Winehouse had been on a weeks-long bender and that friends claimed she died from a cocktail of alcohol and ecstasy; whether that is true remains to be seen. Her mother Janice, who saw Winehouse just the day before she died, said that she seemed out of it and the death seemed sadly inevitable. UPDATE: It was announced on Monday that Winehouse would be buried on Tuesday.
Continue reading …NBC’s ‘Today’ Touts ‘Big Setback’ for Boehner Plan, Lauer Lobs Softballs to Dick Durbin
July 27, 2011 No Comment
At the top of Wednesday's NBC Today, as co-host Ann Curry declared that “Americans are just fed up with the stalemate” over the debt ceiling, fellow co-host Matt Lauer announced: “The latest setback came last night when House Speaker Boehner was told by the Congressional Budget Office that his proposal would cut spending far less than advertised.” In the report that followed, correspondent Kelly O'Donnell noted: “Speaker Boehner's team is going back to work to find more cuts, just as the public is so increasingly frustrated.” O'Donnell went on to reiterate “a big setback” for the plan as “The Congressional Budget Office did the math and found the Boehner plan came up short on spending cuts.” O'Donnell continued to pile on criticism of the plan: “More trouble came from an agency that rates the country's credit. Appearing on CNBC Tuesday night, Standard & Poor's was critical of the Boehner plan's two stages for raising the debt limit.” She portrayed Democrats as pushing for a deal: “The White House urged Congress to take the deadline seriously….Senate Democrats have their own plan in the wings, predicting Boehner's will fail.” O'Donnell ignored the fact that the Reid plan had little chance of passing either. Following O'Donnell's one-sided report, Lauer interviewed Senator Dick Durbin, allowing the Illinois Democrat to thoroughly bash the Boehner plan unchallenged. Lauer began with this softball: “You've seen all the plans, you've seen the counter proposals. Is there anything on paper, on the table, or on the horizon right now, Senator, that you think stands a chance of being passed in time?” Durbin took his first shot at the Speaker: “By yesterday, his plan had been rejected by the ratings agencies and even by his own caucus….We've got to understand that we can show a lot of bravery and bluff when we're playing with other people's chips.” Lauer wondered if changes could be made to the Boehner proposal to make it more likely to pass, Durbin continued to attack: “I can tell you that what we're facing here is a Republican caucus that is basically showing its political bravery by giving up Medicare benefits for elderly people, by increasing the cost of student loans for working families, by cutting money for medical research.” The most critical question from Lauer was when he speculated President Obama's threat to veto the Boehner plan may just be “political posturing.” Durbin quickly turned the question around and focused on the GOP: “Speaker Boehner has to realize that this is more than the cheers of his caucus that he's looking for. We've got to lead a nation and put some of these party considerations aside.” Lauer followed up by noting public anger: “…the American people are fed up. After dueling speeches on Monday night where the President pointed a finger of blame at the Republicans and the Speaker of the House pointed a finger of blame at the President.” But rather that holding Durbin and fellow Democrats to account for that anger, Lauer simply asked: “What are you personally hearing in your office from your constituents on this matter?” Again, Durbing used the opportunity to hit Boehner: “…what I'm appealing to Speaker Boehner to do is to set aside some of the partisan differences. Both sides have to come together, both sides have to be willing to give. But this idea of my way or the highway, the old cliche, it just doesn't work when we've got the American economy at stake.” Wrapping up the segment, Lauer gave Durbin an opportunity to appear above the fray, observing: “Don't the American people deserve better than this?” Durbin replied: “Absolutely, Matt. They look at Congress and they say, 'This is so dysfunctional, if you can't get it together and reach an agreement like grown-ups, for goodness sakes, we may need another team on the field.'”
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It looks like Motorola might be prepping to give the Nike+ SportWatch a run for its money. An intrepid tipster sent along a screenshot from a recent survey showing off what looks like a tricked out nano watch . Described as an “all-in-one fitness and music personal fitness device” (redundant much?) that packs a GPS for “accurate performance tracking,” the as of yet unnamed gadget also sports a “smart music player” that compiles a list of songs based on the tunes that help you sweat your best. It also lets you wirelessly sync to your PC for workout analysis, and apparently does the same for Android devices. Among the possible names listed in the survey is the MotoActive, hinting at, but certainly not pinning down, Motorola branding. Of course this is just an online survey, so we wouldn’t get too excited about your new running mate just yet. [Thanks, Anon] Motorola considering Nike+ SportWatch contender? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Mystery solved: Utah’s “John Doe” inmate is a man who had gone missing from New Mexico. Phillip T. Beavers has been locked up for more than three weeks and has barely said a word to authorities, but after his case got more publicity his brother identified him, the AP reports….
Continue reading …A big red kangaroo punched and kicked a 94-year-old Australian woman in her backyard. Phyllis Johnson was hanging laundry when a kangaroo emerged out of the drape on the clothesline and knocked her to the ground. She tried to defend herself with a broomstick but ended up crawling inside the house where her son called
Continue reading …The good news: Al-Qaeda is on the verge of total collapse, thanks to the killing of Osama bin Laden and punishing drone attacks that have killed more than 1,200 militants in Pakistan since 2004, reports the Washington Post . “We are within reach of rendering them … largely incapable of catastrophic…
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