Friday, October 4, 2013
Video: Oral Arguments In $250M Lawsuit; Obama Birth Certificate
ORAL ARGUMENTS IN
$250M DEFAMATION CASE
WND vs. Esquire goes to second-highest court in the land
By Garth Kant @ WND
Federal Judge Stephen F. Williams asked the attorney for Esquire magazine what in the First Amendment permitted his client to accuse someone of making money off of gullible readers?
That question suggested the crux of the matter in the lawsuit brought by WND against Esquire: If a political attack is called satire, is any message permissible, even if it cause damages?
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral arguments Thursday in Joseph Farah v. Esquire Magazine. Farah is the founder and CEO of WND.com.
WND filed a $250 million defamation suit against Esquire magazine and its publisher, Hearst, because of a May 18, 2011, report on the magazine’s website by Executive Editor Mark Warren that falsely claimed the WND Books exposé “Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible To Be President” by Jerome Corsi had been recalled and repudiated by publisher WND Books and by Farah.
Esquire argued the article was satire and is entitled to First Amendment protection. The WND suit, however, contends the article is not protected by the First Amendment, because its publication caused real damage by defaming WND and suppressing book sales. Many potential book buyers and media members clearly believed the article was a news story reporting the demise of the book, not a work of satire.
VIDEO HERE:
WND is appealing a decision in June 2012 by Judge Rosemary Collyer of the U.S. District Court in D.C. to grant Esquire’s motion to dismiss the case based on D.C.’s anti-SLAPP law, which protects media and public figures from frivolous lawsuits regarding their First Amendment rights.
After Judge Williams asked Esquire’s attorney what in the First Amendment allowed Esquire to accuse WND of making money off gullible readers, defense attorney Jonathan R. Donnellan called the article in question “classic satire” and deserving of special protections.
Furthermore, Donnellan claimed satire is “designed to fool readers.” But then, he made just the opposite argument, insisting “reasonable readers” should have been able to tell it was satire.
That remark prompted Judge Janice Rogers Brown to note that Farah had said he received calls from the top editors of major media companies from all over the country, asking if the story was true.
She asked Donnellan if he would consider those top media professionals to be “reasonable readers?”
[..] Continued @ WND.
FLASHBACK:
VIDEO HERE:
( Previous reports here. )
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Team Arpaio: Rep. Stockman On Board; There Will Be Obama ID Fraud Action
Team Arpaio: Rep. Steve Stockman IS On Board; There Will Be Obama ID Fraud Action In Congress
Here are some excerpts from Mike Zullo's interview on Where's Obama's Birth Certificate Blog Talk Radio show... We'll post the full audio once the show ends. Much more in the hour+ long interview. Show live stream here.
AUDIO EXCERPT HERE:
AUDIO: FULL INTERVIEW;
Team Arpaio: Rep. Stockman On Board; There Will Be Obama ID Fraud Action wheresobamasbirthcertificate.com on BlogTalkRadio
Team Arpaio: Rep. Stockman On Board; There Will Be Obama ID Fraud Action wheresobamasbirthcertificate.com on BlogTalkRadio
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Posse website: www.mcsoccp.org
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Miley Cyrus and Sinead O'Connor row escalates
O'Connor wrote a letter to Cyrus warning her about her "dangerous" behaviour
Pop star Miley Cyrus has hit back at Sinead O'Connor, after the Irish singer warned her not to be exploited by the music business.
In a series of tweets, Cyrus mocked O'Connor, comparing her to US actress Amanda Bynes before alluding to O'Connor's mental health problems.
O'Connor responded with another open letter to the singer, accusing her of "irresponsible" behaviour.
The Irish singer told her to "remove her tweets immediately".
The tit-for-tat conversation began after Cyrus, 20, cited O'Connor's video Nothing Compares 2 U as an inspiration for her explicit Wrecking Ball video.
O'Connor, 46, said she was prompted to write, "in the spirit of motherliness" after "dodging phone calls from various newspapers" who wanted the singer-songwriter to comment upon similarities between the two videos.
'Concerned' In the video for Nothing Compares 2 U, O'Connor sheds a single tear as she performs the Prince-penned break-up ballad.
Cyrus cries in the promo clip for Wrecking Ball, which shares similar lyrical themes to O'Connor's song. But the video also finds her licking a sledgehammer and swinging naked on a metal demolition ball.
Some scenes in the videos share a similar asthetic O'Connor said she was "extremely concerned" that those around Cyrus had led or encouraged her to believe "that it is in any way 'cool' to be naked and licking sledgehammers in your videos".
Cyrus, who found fame as the child star of Disney children's show Hannah Montana, has been criticised in recent weeks for her controversial performances, particularly at the MTV Video Music Awards in Brooklyn last month.
O'Connor continued: "The message you keep sending is that it's somehow cool to be prostituted.. it's so not cool Miley... it's dangerous.
"It is in fact the case that you will obscure your talent by allowing yourself to be pimped, whether it's the music business or yourself doing the pimping," added O'Connor.
Responding on Twitter, Cyrus wrote: "Top of the mornin to ya."
She added a screen shot of O'Connor's tweets from 2012 in which the Irish star, who has bi-polar disorder, referred to her own mental health problems, asking for Twitter followers to recommend a psychiatrist.
She compared the singer to former child actress Amanda Bynes, who is currently undergoing psychiatric treatment.
"I don't have time to write you an open letter cause I'm hosting & performing on SNL this week," Cyrus continued.
Cyrus also tweeted a picture of O'Connor ripping up a photograph of the pope, an infamous on-stage stunt by the singer, before asking her to "meet up and talk".
'Staggered'
Responding to Cyrus, O'Connor said she would take legal action against her if she did not remove the tweets.
"You have posted today tweets of mine which are two years old, which were posted by me when I was unwell and seeking help so as to make them look like they are recent.
"In doing so you mock myself and Amanda Bynes for having suffered with mental health issues and for having sought help," said O'Connor.
She added: "It is most unbecoming of you to respond in such a fashion to someone who expressed care for you," O'Connor added.
Article Source here
Author: bbc.co.uk
Adobe says hackers stole source code, customer data
Adobe Systems said Thursday that hackers had stolen source code to popular software such as Adobe Acrobat, plus data about millions of customers' accounts.
BOSTON — Adobe Systems Inc. said on Thursday that hackers had stolen source code to some of its most popular software and data about millions of its customers.
Security experts worry about the theft of source code because close review of the programs can lead to the discovery of new flaws that can be used to launch hard-to-detect attacks against all users of that software.
The hackers took source code for Adobe Acrobat, which is used to create electronic documents in the PDF format, as well as ColdFusion and ColdFusion Builder, used to create Internet applications, Adobe said.
Adobe Chief Security Officer Brad Arkin said the company had been investigating the breach since its discovery two weeks ago and that it had no evidence of any attacks based on the theft. "Based on our findings to date, we are not aware of any specific increased risk to customers as a result of this incident," Arkin wrote on an Adobe blog.
Arkin said hackers also took information on 2.9 million Adobe customers, including their names, user identification numbers and encrypted passwords and payment card numbers. He said the attacks may be related.
The company said it was resetting passwords for affected customers worldwide and warning people to change any passwords reused at other sites. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's computer incident response team on Thursday warned that Adobe customers should be on the alert for fraud.
Adobe said it was working with banks and federal law enforcement to mitigate intrusions on customer accounts and to pursue those responsible.
The company said it had been helped by cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs and security expert Alex Holden, who found a cache of Adobe code while probing attacks at three major U.S. data providers.
Krebs wrote on his blog, KrebsonSecurity.com, on Thursday that the two men discovered the code while investigating breaches at Dun & Bradstreet Corp, Altegrity Inc's Kroll Background America Inc and Reed Elsevier's LexisNexis Inc.
He said the Adobe code was on a server that he believed was used by those who hacked into LexisNexis and the others. The hackers offered Social Security numbers, credit report information and other highly sensitive data for sale over the Internet and had access inside the companies' websites through hacked computers, Krebs said.
In a 10-Q filing on Thursday, Adobe referred to the recent attacks in one paragraph. "We do not believe that the attacks will have a material adverse impact on our business or financial results," it said. "It is possible, nevertheless, that this incident could have various adverse effects."
Article Source here
Author:
By Joseph Menn of Reuters
Police suspect dental hygienist Miriam Carey was behind the wheel of Capitol chase
She had a toddler with her, confounding everyone who watched the car crash through barriers and lead police through the heart of high-security Washington.
Law enforcement officials said the black Infiniti was registered to a 34-year-old mother named Miriam Carey, a dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn. They think it was Carey, with her 1-year-old daughter sitting behind her, who flattened barricades outside the White House, struck officers and then set off at high speed down Pennsylvania Avenue.
D.C. police confirmed that the driver was shot and killed after careening around the Capitol grounds and crashing at Second Street NE. There was no sign that she was armed, police said.
Video images showed a young child, her hair in braids, being carried by an officer to the back of a patrol car.
The initial portrait of Carey that emerged suggested a person unlikely to be found in the center of such violence. Carey, according to public documents, friends and family members, had finished college and established a work history as a dental hygienist.
Her sister, Amy Carey, a Brooklyn nurse, was incredulous when she was reached Thursday afternoon and told what had happened.
“That’s impossible. She works, she holds a job,” said Amy Carey, who confirmed that her Stamford-based sister drove a black car. “She wouldn’t be in D.C. She was just in Connecticut two days ago, I spoke to her.. . . I don’t know what’s happening. I can’t answer any more.”
About 11 p.m. Thursday, at least a dozen local police cars, fire trucks and ambulances lined a street in Stamford outside the apartment complex where Miriam Carey reportedly lived. Sections of the complex were cordoned off with yellow crime tape.
Eric Sanders, an attorney for the Carey family, said outside the Brooklyn home of another sister, Valarie Carey, that the family was struggling to absorb the news. He said he would release an official statement Friday.
“We have to mend the family first and find out what happened in D.C.,” Sanders said.
People who knew Carey described her as friendly and dedicated.
Angela Windley, 33, befriended Carey while both attended Hostos Community College in the Bronx and graduated with an associate’s degree in dental hygiene. Officials at Brooklyn College confirmed that a student named Miriam Carey graduated in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in health and nutrition science.
Windley said she and Carey went on a vacation to Cancun together about three years ago but that she had lost touch with Carey in the past two years or so after Carey stopped replying to messages that Windley left on Facebook.
“She was really just a sweet and nurturing person,” said Sara Vega, a former schoolmate of Carey’s in Brooklyn, where Carey was born and raised. Vega, who now lives in Georgia, said she hadn’t seen Carey in recent years but that the two had been in touch occasionally on Facebook. “I know she had a daughter about a year ago.”
Windley said she and Carey had attended the same high school but did not become friends until their days at the community college. Carey had four sisters, including one who was a longtime New York police officer.
Carey “wanted to have a better life,” Windley said. “The neighborhood we both grew up in wasn’t the greatest, and she always talked about getting out.”
Carey moved to Stamford after “some problems with her landlord,” Windley said, “but the Brooklyn rents were getting so high . . . that’s how she landed in Stamford.”
Carey was “always very professional” and “very focused,” according to Windley. “She wanted better, always.”
Windley said she knew of no connections to the District that Carey might have had and had never heard Carey express any opinion about the government. “This is very shocking,” Windley said as she fought back tears during a telephone interview.
During her friendship with Carey, Windley said she had never witnessed Carey lashing out in anger “beyond, you know, normal girl stuff, like, ‘What is up with her?’ about another girl, but nothing crazy. Some sharp words, that would be it.”
Carey also had not shown signs of mental illness during the time Windley knew her and “was not one to even talk about politics.”
Carey did not have many friends, Windley said, and could seem “arrogant. If there was a negative, people said that was it. She could be sort of conceited, like she knew everything.”
That trait surfaced at school during their training and was off-putting to some of the faculty, Windley said. “But that was the most negative thing you could say about her.”
Carey also was a good driver with a good sense of direction, Windley said. “She wasn’t one to get all crossed up, she knew maps — I even recall saying that I hoped I became as good a driver as she was, since I can get lost in a box.”
In a news conference, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the incident did not appear to be an accident, noting there was “a lengthy pursuit.”
Told about the confrontation on Capitol Hill, Windley said: “I would have pulled over, stopped. Why wouldn’t she? Why would she have done this? Why? And why with her daughter in the car? Why would she do something like that?”
Police suspect dental hygienist Miriam Carey was behind the wheel of Capitol chase
Police suspect dental hygienist Miriam Carey was behind the wheel of Capitol chasePolice suspect dental hygienist Miriam Carey was behind the wheel of Capitol chase
Alice Crites, Jennifer Jenkins, Colum Lynch and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
Article Source here
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Tesla's Stock Gets Burned After Car Fire And Downgrading
A Tesla Model S at the 2013 North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Jan. 15. High-flying billionaire Elon Musk's Tesla Motors has seen its shares skid the past couple days because they've been downgraded by analysts and because of a YouTube clip showing one of the all-electric luxury cars engulfed in flames earlier this week.
Just before noon ET, a share of Tesla was trading around $169.50 — down about 6.5 percent for the day and $25 (13 percent) below its 52-week high of $194.50.
The downgrade by analysts from Baird Research, who shifted Tesla shares from a rating of likely to "outperform" to one of "neutral," was basically because Baird believes there's already been "significant price appreciation" in the stock.
The news about Baird's new rating came out Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Jalopnik.com gave wide exposure to the YouTube clip, which shows a Tesla Model S that burned the day before near Seattle. Seeing that video of a vehicle from the company that boasts about making "the safest car in America," seemed to worry investors,AutoWeek writes.
Tesla spokeswoman Liz Jarvis-Shean "said the fire Tuesday was caused by a large metallic object that directly hit one of the battery pack's modules in the pricey Model S," The Seattle Times says. "The fire was contained to a small section at the front of the vehicle, she said, and no one was injured."
Jalopnik adds that firefighters "released more details [Wednesday night] on the fire, saying a battery pack at the front of the car was burning and adding water made the flames worse."
(Note: There are some expletives in the video, so we're pointing to it rather than embedding it. We are a "family" blog, after all.)
Article Source here
Author: by MARK MEMMOTT
Female suspect in US Capitol shooting in police custody
One U.S. official said the woman was killed but this could not be confirmed immediately, and a police official said he did not know the condition of the suspect.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Capitol was briefly locked down on Thursday after gunshots were fired outside the building following a car chase across central Washington which ended with the woman who drove the car being shot, officials said.
One U.S. official said the woman was killed but this could not be confirmed immediately and a police official said he did not know the condition of the suspect.
A U.S. official said there was no apparent connection to terrorism and the police official said it appeared to be an isolated incident.
The shooting rattled the U.S. capital three weeks after a government contractor opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard, about 1.5 miles from the Capitol, killing 12 people and wounding three others before he was shot to death by police.
The incident began near the White House and ended near the U.S. Capitol, where the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate were in session. Lawmakers were trying to find a solution to a budget impasse that partially shut down the U.S. government this week.
Officials said a vehicle struck a security barrier at 15th and Pennsylvania Avenue, near the White House. Police chased the vehicle for about 1 1/2 miles to 2nd Street and Constitution Avenue, near the Capitol, where the shots were fired.
"I was just eating a hot dog over here and I heard about four or five gunshots, and then a swarm of police cars came in wailing their sirens," said Whit Dabney, 13, who was visiting from Louisville, Kentucky, and heard the shots a couple of blocks away.
Witness Travis Gilbert said several police cars chased a black sedan at high speed toward the Capitol.
"They ran all the red lights. It was a very dangerous situation," Gilbert said.
He said the car stopped outside the Capitol and he heard gunshots. One police car hit a bollard and was damaged.
An injured policeman was taken from the shooting scene in a Medevac helicopter, police said.
"He appears to be conscious and breathing but we're following up," Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said. "As far as we know, no officer has been shot."
Dine said he believed there was a child in the car with the suspect.
Police swarm around car on grass near the U.S. Capitol October 3, 2013 on Capitol Hill in
Just before Capitol Police sealed off the Capitol building, the Senate and House were in session. On the Senate floor, Senator John McCain of Arizona was urging that President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators launch negotiations to break the deadlock over government funding and a debt limit increase.
The House had just passed a bill to fund the National Guard and reservists who are not on active duty during the shutdown.
The Capitol police, who were deemed "essential" staff, were at work despite the shutdown but they are not being paid.
Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi told MSNBC he heard sirens and saw police motorcycles go by and then heard four to six shots fired.
"I was walking in the direction of the gunshots, so I stopped and I noticed Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was headed my way. We both took cover behind an SUV," Wicker said. "And then police officers came and told us to get down."
The lockdown order at the Capitol was called off after about an hour and security along Independence Avenue was eased shortly before 3 p.m. (1900 GMT). Tourists were allowed back onto the Capitol grounds.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the incident, a White House official said, providing no further details.
In 1998, a gunman burst through a security checkpoint at the Capitol and killed two Capitol Police officers in an exchange of fire that sent tourists and other bystanders diving for cover. The suspect, Russell Eugene Weston Jr., was not charged with a crime because of apparent mental instability.
Seen from the US Capitol, tourists flee as Capitol Police are seen outside of the Senate side of the Capitol on October 3, 2013 in Washington. following reports of a shooting. Article Source here
Author:
By MSN News with wire reports
The reason for the government shutdown summed up in one candid Republican quote. Update!
"We’re not going to be disrespected ... We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is." — Rep. Marlin Stutzman, a conservative Republican from Indiana, on why the House GOP won't just send a "clean" spending bill to the Senate.
At this point, with more an more people learning that Obamacare is not the end of all civilization as we know it, the Republicans are simply fighting for the sake of fighting.
They have no end game, besides trying to hang on until the upcoming negotiations on the debt ceiling in the hopes that will give them more ammunition. And in the meantime police officers go without pay, children go without food, and cancer victims go without medical assistance.
(Source.)
Update: I actually wrote this post fairly early in the evening yesterday, and at the time this one source was the only place I had seen reference to Rep. Stutzman's statement. (I had NO idea that the President had referenced the comment yesterday morning in his speech.)
However as the evening progressed I saw it repeated over and over again on Rachel Maddow's show, on the Last Word, and was even mentioned on The Daily Rundown this morning.
Since I wrote this post I have also since learned that Stutzman has attempted to walk it back:
“Yesterday, I carelessly misrepresented the ongoing budget debate and Speaker Boehner’s work on behalf of the American people. Despite my remarks it’s clear that the American people want both parties to come to the table to reopen the government, tackle this nation’s debt crisis, and stop ObamaCare’s pain.”
Nice try. No I think that the reason so many people zeroed in on this statement, including the President, is because it was an honest, exasperated response to just how boxed in the Republican party is feeling right now. Because remember in Republican-speak "misstatement" is just another word for "truth."
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Louisiana state Representative spitting mad that Starbucks won't let him defend his freedom while drinking coffee decides to go to Chick-fil-A instead. Chick-fil-A says, "Not so fast."
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| "Welcome to Chick-fil-A please don't shoot us." |
Starbucks boss Howard Schultz runs the “most dangerous” coffee shops in America because he has “respectfully” requested that customers do not pack heat.
So says state Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Bossier City. No legislator is crazier about the Second Amendment than he.
Thompson has called for a boycott of Starbucks and is organizing armed klatches at competing establishments.
Sadly, he did not find a warm welcome at the first one. After Thompson put in a brief appearance at its Bossier City restaurant, Chick Fil A issued a statement dissociating itself from his cause.
The only events scheduled that day were senior bingo and a child’s birthday party, so maybe a bunch of guys toting semi-automatic weapons would not have been a good fit at that.
What? Even an oasis of conservatism, and homophobia, like Chick-fil-A draws the line when it comes to bringing assault rifles into their place of business?
Commies!
I like how this idiot believes that a Starbucks is MORE dangerous without 2nd Amendment morons brandishing their semiautomatic penis extenders rather than LESS dangerous with fewer bullets and guns on the premises. It's like logic simply does not exist in the Right Wing world.
Speaking of logic, I wonder how a certain half term governor, will respond to this news?
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Lifelong Republican who was against Obamacare has a change of heart once he realizes it will save him $13,000 annually.
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| The newest Republican that everybody on the far right really hates now. |
Butch Matthews is a 61-year-old former small business owner from Little Rock, Arkansas who used to wake up every morning at 4 A.M. to deliver canned beverages to retailers before retiring in 2010. A lifelong Republican, he was heavily skeptical of the Affordable Care Act when it first passed. “I did not think that Obamacare was going to be a good plan, I did not think that it was going to help me at all,” he told ThinkProgress over the phone.
But after doing a little research, Matthews eventually realized how much the law could help him. And on Tuesday, his local Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) provider confirmed that he would be able to buy a far better plan than his current policy while saving at least $13,000 per year through Arkansas’ Obamacare marketplace.
Matthews was self-employed between 1997 and 2010, meaning he had to purchase his own plan on the individual market. He chose a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan for himself and his wife that charged a $250 per month premium and had a $2,000 deductible. But the price of that policy kept rising even as it covered fewer of his costs, eventually devolving into his current rate of $1,069 per month with a $10,000 deductible. At this point, it doesn’t even cover his medication or doctors’ visits — particularly concerning considering he had to have two stents placed in his heart in 2006.
“I do not work now, I’m 61, and we do have assets saved up. But still, to come up with that $1,069 per month….” he said, trailing off. “I went to Blue Cross Blue Shield, and they don’t even sell that plan anymore, but I could not change it to anything else. So I was locked in with it.”
That all changed once Obamacare’s state-level marketplaces opened to the public on Tuesday. Matthews knew that, at his income level, the law would help him pay for insurance. But even he might not have expected just how good of a deal he could get: his new coverage will cost him absolutely nothing in monthly premiums after factoring in federal subsidies, and has a deductible of $750. “Which is a lot different from $10,000,” he pointed out, laughing.
Does anybody else hear that popping sound?
I do believe that is the sound of Republican heads exploding in frustration. Or as I like to call it, my new ring tone.
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MSNBC's Thomas Roberts delivers the smackdown to RNC Chairman Reince Prebus.
I really like Thomas Roberts.
I like that he always seems so cool and prepared during his interviews.
For the most part he is also very fair and respectful of his guests. But Prebus was being SUCH a douchebag that I don't think he deserved ANY respect from Roberts.
The video is a little hard to understand at times because Prebus constantly talks over Roberts and tries to bully him into submission.
In the end all Prebus accomplishes is making sure that the viewers know for a fact that the leadership of the GOP is just as immature and unqualified as the Teabaggers that are now running the show.
By the way listen to the end for a great final rejoinder from Roberts.
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