JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? President Barack Obama encouraged leaders in Africa and around the world Saturday to follow former South African President Nelson Mandela's example of country before self, as the U.S. president prepared to pay personal respects to relatives who have been gathered around the critically ill anti-apartheid icon.
"We as leaders occupy these spaces temporarily and we don't get so deluded that we think the fate of our country doesn't depend on how long we stay in office," Obama said.
Obama spoke at a news conference with South African President Jacob Zuma in the midst of a weeklong tour of the continent that also included stops in Senegal and Tanzania. But many other African nations are embroiled in religious, sectarian and other conflicts.
Obama decided to avoid stopping in his father's home nation of Kenya because of international disputes there. The International Criminal Court is prosecuting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta for crimes against humanity, including murder, deportation, rape, persecution and inhumane acts allegedly committed by his supporters in the violent aftermath of Kenya's 2007 elections.
"The timing was not right for me as the president of the United States to be visiting Kenya when those issues are still being worked on, and hopefully at some point resolved," Obama said. He noted he's visited Kenya several times previously and expects he will as well in the future.
Obama and Zuma appeared at the Union Buildings that house government offices and the site of Mandela's 1994 inauguration as the country's first black president after 27 years behind bars for his activism.
The 94-year-old Mandela has been in a nearby hospital for three weeks after being admitted with a lung infection. Zuma told reporters that Mandela is in critical but stable condition and the whole nation is praying that he will improve.
Obama and his wife visited with some of Mandela's relatives Saturday at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, part of the former president's foundation. The White House didn't say which relatives were meeting with Obama. In accordance with the family's wishes, Obama doesn't plan to visit with Mandela.
Obama revered Mandela as "one of the greatest people in history," referred to him by his clan name as he praised South Africa's historic integration from white racist rule as a shining beacon for the world.
"The struggle here against apartheid for freedom, Madiba's moral courage, this country's historic transition to a free and democratic nation has been a personal inspiration to me, it has been an inspiration to the world," Obama said.
"The outpouring of love that we've seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and this nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit, the yearning for justice and dignity that transcends boundaries of race and class and faith and country," Obama said. "That's what Nelson Mandela represents, that's what South African at its best represents to the world, and that's what brings me back here."
Zuma told Obama he and Mandela are "bound by history as the first black presidents of your respective countries."
"Thus, you both carry the dreams of millions of people in Africa and in the diaspora who were previously oppressed," Zuma said, reading from a prepared statement.
On other topics, Obama declined to commit to supporting South Africa's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. He said the U.N.'s structure needs to be updated and it would be "odd" for an expanded Security Council not to have African representation.
"How we do that and what fashion is complicated, it's difficult and it involves all kinds of politics," Obama said.
"Everybody wants a seat at the table, but when it comes time to step up and show responsibility, sometimes people want to be free riders," Obama said, adding he wasn't referring to South Africa specifically.
Zuma responded that he wishes the process of change at the U.N. would speed up.
Obama also said he wants to boost trade with Africa and plans to renegotiate an African trade pact to improve it for American businesses. He said he welcomes competition from other nations who have been aggressive in pursuing commercial opportunities in Africa, including China.
"I don't feel threatened by it. I think it's a good thing," he said. He added: "Our only advice is make sure it's a good deal for Africa." He said that includes making sure foreign investment employs Africans and doesn't tolerate corruption or take its natural resources without compensation for Africans.
Obama also is paying tribute to South Africa's fight against apartheid by visiting the Soweto area Saturday afternoon for a town hall with students at the University of Johannesburg. At least 176 young people were killed in Soweto township 27 years ago this month during a youth protest against the apartheid regime's ban against teaching local Bantu languages. The Soweto Uprising catalyzed international support against apartheid, and June is now recognized as Youth Month in South Africa.
The university plans to bestow an honorary law degree on the U.S. president.
Protesters under police watch demonstrated outside the university against Obama's record on surveillance and foreign policy. Demonstrators from a range of trade unions and civil society groups chanted, "Away with intelligence, away," holding posters depicting Obama with an Adolf Hitler moustache.
"People died in Libya. People are still dying in Syria," said 54-year-old Ramasimong Tsokolibane. "In Egypt, in Afghanistan in Pakistan drones are still killing people. So that's why we are calling him a Hitler. He's a killer."
Obama has been trying to inspire the continent's youth to become civically active and part of a new democratically minded generation. Obama hosted young leaders from more than 40 African countries at the White House in 2010 and challenged them to bring change to their countries by standing up for freedom, openness and peaceful disagreement.
Obama wraps up his South Africa stay Sunday, when he plans to give a sweeping speech on U.S.-Africa policy at the University of Cape Town and take his family to Robben Island to tour the prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars.
Obama has visited the island before, but said it's a particular privilege to bring his daughters back to learn its lessons.
___
Associated Press Television News reporter Bram Janssen contributed to this report.
Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler and Julie Pace at https://twitter.com/jpacedc
At Radical Parenting we believe that board games are a great way for families to bond and connect. We highly encourage our readers and teen interns to buy board games as gifts, bring board games on family vacations and always keep a board game on hand during free time.
We have chosen 5 of our favorite board games for families:
These are our absolute favorite board games for families. They are the best out of all the categories.
1. Cranium
Cranium is one of my family?s all time favorite games. This is played in teams and is wonderful because it is a combination of all the best games?drawing, humming, trivia and even sculpting!
Description of Cranium:?The outrageous multi-activity game Cranium Classic now features 600 exciting new playing cards, flexible play length, and a 60-card bonus Family Pack. Add to that 14 wacky activities including hilarious sculpting, acting, and sketching, and you?re in for a fun night of play. So whether you?re an artist, a singer, an actor, or a professional speller?there?s something for everyone in this endearingly oddball board game.
2. Scene It
This is a game for movie buffs. This game incorporates technology right into playing. You can watch the DVD while moving around the board game and guess movie and celebrity trivia.
Description of Scene It:?Let the movie magic begin by simply popping the Scene It? game disc into your DVD player. Enjoy timeless stars, unforgettable moments, classic lines and laughs in real movie clips from your favorite films, as you answer trivia questions and race around the game board. Scene It? turns a flat board game into a 3-D multimedia match of memory, logic and pop movie culture. Includes: DVD game, game board, four metal movers, 160 trivia cards in a box, 30 Buzz cards, four reference cards, one 6-sided die, one 8-sided die and instructions. Requires DVD player and TV. For 2 to 4 players players.
3.?Cashflow Game!?
This is one of the most amazing board games I have ever played. It might seem a little expensive but it is amazing?not just for your kids, but for you as well. It is played in schools across the country and is the most fun way I have found to teach (and learn) about finances.
Description of the Cashflow Game: ?The Board Game?USA Today?Calls ?Monopoly on Steroids?.?It?s Time to Get Out of the Rat Race.?What?s your dream? Freedom of time? Unlimited resources to travel the world? Whatever it may be, CASHFLOW 101 teaches you how to get out of the Rat Race and onto the Fast Track, how to make your money work for you ? not the other way around.?CASHFLOW 101 is an educational board game that simulates real life financial strategies and situations. As a simulation, you learn valuable lessons and gain priceless insights into personal finance and investing without having to put your actual money at risk.?Developed by Robert Kiyosaki, author of the #1 personal finance book of all time,?Rich Dad Poor Dad, CASHFLOW 101 is the ultimate realization of Robert?s vision of an interactive tool for financial education, and the fulfillment of his belief that we learn best by doing.?With CASHFLOW 101 you:?Practice real world investing with play moneyLearn the differences between an asset and a liabilityDiscover the power of understanding your personal financial statementPlan your strategy with Opportunity Cards that include Big and Small DealsChoose your dream, learn the secrets of the rich, and get on the financial fast track.?CASHFLOW 101 is an educational board game that teaches accounting, finance, and investing at the same time -?and makes learning fun!?
4.?Apples to Apples
Apples to Apples is a great game for families of kids with all ages because it is a great way of starting conversations and getting to know each other. In fact, according to the University of Michigan, Time Use Study children spend only 45 minutes per week in conversation with any family member! This game will help get families talking and laughing together.
Description of Apples to Apples: ?Apples to Apples is an award-winning party game that will have everyone laughing. We had a blast playing this game and think it is a perfect game for a ?board game night? with friends and family. It is quick to set up, easy to learn, challenging, and a whole lot of fun.?Unexpected and funny comparisons make the game fun to come back to again and again.?Apples to Apples has won numerous awards including ?Party Game of the Year? by Games magazine and ?Mensa Select? by Mensa International. And for good reason: it involves quick thinking, humor, and strategy. For teens, the game teaches them to think about how different things can be compared to one another and how analogies are formed. One of our criticisms is that although the game states that it is designed for ages 12 and older, many of the subjects are clearly for older teens.
5.?Monopoly
Monopoly is a great way for teens to learn about money and real estate. Here at Radical Parenting we talk a lot about?financial literacy?and playing Monopoly is an easy way to talk to kids about saving, spending and getting good at math skills. Play it as a family to encourage discussion and friendly competition. Let your children be the banker to get used to handling the money.
Description of Monopoly: In 1934, in the midst of the Great Depression, an unemployed heating engineer from Pennsylvania created the game of Monopoly. Realizing that his get-rich theme might appeal to other Americans, he had the game printed and distributed in a Philadelphia department store. When he couldn?t keep up with the overwhelming requests for more sets, he arranged for Parker Brothers to take over the game. And the rest, as they say, is history. But Monopoly is far from a quaint historical relic. To this day, it remains a riveting game of luck, chance, and savvy wheeling and dealing?all of which can make some lucky dog rich, rich, rich! Based on the purchase of Atlantic City real estate (a city currently renowned for its get-rich gambling opportunities), Monopoly is now printed in 26 languages with more than 200 million sets sold worldwide. Players still scoot the same beloved board pieces: the old shoe, the terrier, and the hot rod. This set also includes rules for a shortened version of the game and a new token, winner of Monopoly?s recent ?design a token? contest. This is capitalism at its most fun and ruthless, a must-have edition in the family game closet.
Board games are an awesome way to learn strategy and bond with family and friends. Try having a game night in your house or hosting a game night for your child and their friends.
Have you seen our other top picks??
If you liked this article get more Radical Parenting in our new book: Do I Get My Allowance Before or After I?m Grounded?
U.S. President Barack Obama says former South African leader and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela is a personal inspiration and an "inspiration to the world."
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, during the second leg of his three-nation tour of Africa. Obama and South African President Jacob Zuma held bilateral talks there Saturday, with a state dinner planned in the evening.
White House officials say Obama and first lady Michelle will not visit anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, who has been in a Pretoria hospital for three weeks.? The Obamas will instead meet privately with family members of the former president, who is in critical but stable condition.? The decision was made out of deference to Mandela's "peace and comfort and the family's wishes."
While in South Africa, President Obama plans to visit Robben Island, the prison where Mandela spent much of his 27 years behind bars after being convicted of conspiracy to overthrow South Africa?s apartheid government.
Also Saturday, Obama will hold a town hall-style meeting in Soweto, the Johannesburg township that played a pivotal role during protests against apartheid.
While meeting with President Zuma Saturday, Obama discussed issues of economics and governance, as well as neighboring Zimbabwe, which is facing a turbulent presidential election.
U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told VOA that the U.S. wants to see a free, fair and credible election in Zimbabwe, as well as space for an independent media and other elements of democracy in the country. ?
South Africa is the continent's largest economy.? Obama was last in the country in 2006 as a U.S. senator. ?
Ahead of Obama's arrival, protesters rallied in Cape Town and Pretoria on Friday.? They sang and waved banners as they voiced their displeasure with Obama on a wide range of issues, including the use of drones, the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and U.S. support of Israel.
President Obama is on a week-long visit to Africa, saying he wants ties with the continent based on trade and partnership, instead of aid and assistance.? He will finish his tour in Tanzania before returning to Washington.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Several current and former judges say Social Security is pushing judges to approve disability benefits for people who may not deserve them in an effort to reduce a huge claims backlog.
Larry Butler, an administrative law judge from Fort Myers, Fla., called the system, "paying down the backlog."
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is investigating why many judges have high approval rates for claims that have already been rejected twice by field offices or state agencies.
The judges spoke at a committee hearing Thursday.
The number of people getting Social Security disability benefits has increased by 44 percent over the past decade. Social Security officials say the primary driver of the increase is a surge in baby boomers who are more prone to disability as they age.
June 28, 2013 ? Scientists using sophisticated imaging techniques have observed a molecular protein folding process that may help medical researchers understand and treat diseases such as Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's and cancer.
The study, reported this month in the journal Cell, verifies a process that scientists knew existed but with a mechanism they had never been able to observe, according to Dr. Hays Rye, Texas A&M AgriLife Research biochemist.
"This is a step in the direction of understanding how to modulate systems to prevent diseases like Alzheimer's. We needed to understand the cell's folding machines and how they interact with each other in a complicated network," said Rye, who also is associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Texas A&M.
Rye explained that individual amino acids get linked together like beads on a string as a protein is made in the cell.
"But that linear sequence of amino acids is not functional," he explained. "It's like an origami structure that has to fold up into a three-dimensional shape to do what it has to do."
Rye said researchers have been trying to understand this process for more than 50 years, but in a living cell the process is complicated by the presence of many proteins in a concentrated environment.
"The constraints on getting that protein to fold up into a good 'origami' structure are a lot more demanding," he said. "So, there are special protein machines, known as molecular chaperones, in the cell that help proteins fold."
But how the molecular chaperones help protein fold when it isn't folding well by itself has been the nagging question for researchers.
"Molecular chaperones are like little machines, because they have levers and gears and power sources. They go through turning over cycles and just sort of buzz along inside a cell, driving a protein folding reaction every few seconds," Rye said.
The many chemical reactions that are essential to life rely on the exact three-dimensional shape of folded proteins, he said. In the cell, enzymes, for example, are specialized proteins that help speed biological processes along by binding molecules and bringing them together in just the right way.
"They are bound together like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle," Rye explained. "And the proteins -- those little beads on the string that are designed to fold up like origami -- are folded to position all these beads in three-dimensional space to perfectly wrap around those molecules and do those chemical reactions.
"If that doesn't happen -- if the protein doesn't get folded up right -- the chemical reaction can't be done. And if it's essential, the cell dies because it can't convert food into power needed to build the other structures in the cell that are needed. Chemical reactions are the structural underpinning of how cells are put together, and all of that depends on the proteins being folded in the right way."
When a protein doesn't fold or folds incorrectly it turns into an "aggregate," which Rye described as "white goo that looks kind of like a mayonnaise, like crud in the test tube.
"You're dead; the cell dies," he said.
Over the past 20 years, he said, researchers have linked that aggregation process "pretty convincingly" to the development of diseases -- Alzheimer's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease, Huntington's disease, to name a few. There's evidence that diabetes and cancer also are linked to protein folding disorders.
"One of the main roles for the molecular chaperones is preventing those protein misfolding events that lead to aggregation and not letting a cell get poisoned by badly folded or aggregated proteins," he said.
Rye's team focused on a key molecular chaperone -- the HSP60.
"They're called HSP for 'heat shock protein' because when the cell is stressed with heat, the proteins get unstable and start to fall apart and unfold," Rye said. "The cell is built to respond by making more of the chaperones to try and fix the problem.
"This particular chaperone takes unfolded protein and goes through a chemical reaction to bind the unfolded protein and literally puts it inside a little 'box,'" Rye said.
He added that the mystery had long been how the folding worked because, while researchers could see evidence of that happening, no one had ever seen precisely how it happened.
Rye and the team zeroed in on a chemically modified mutant that in other experiments had seemed to stall at an important step in the process that the "machine" goes through to start the folding action. This clued the researchers that this stalling might make it easier to watch.
They then used cryo-electron microscopy to capture hundreds of thousands of images of the process at very high resolutions which allowed them to reconstruct from two-dimensional flat images a three-dimensional model. A highly sophisticated computer algorithm aligns the images and classifies them in subcategories.
"If you have enough of them you can actually reconstruct and view a structure as a three-dimensional model," Rye said.
What the team saw was this: The HSP60 chaperone is designed to recognize proteins that are not folded from the ones that are. It binds them and then has a separate co-chaperone that puts a "lid" on top of the box to keep the folding intermediate in the box. They could see the box move, and parts of the molecule moved to peel the chaperone box away from the bound protein -- or "gift" in the box. But the bound protein was kept inside the package where it could then initiate a folding reaction. They saw tiny tentacles, "like a little octopus in the bottom of the box rising up and grabbing hold of the substrate protein and helping hold it inside the cavity."
"The first thing we saw was a large amount of an unfolded protein inside of this cavity," he said. "Even though we knew from lots and lots of other studies that it had to go in there, nobody had ever seen it like this before. We can also see the non-native protein interacting with parts of the box that no one had ever seen before. It was exciting to see all of this for the first time. I think we got a glimpse of a protein in the process of folding, which we actually can compare to other structures."
"By understanding the mechanism of these machines, the hope is that one of the things we can learn to do is turn them up or turn them off when we need to, like for a patient who has one of the protein folding diseases," he said.
Rye collaborated on the research with Dong-Hua Chen and Wah Chiu at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Damian Madan and Zohn Lin at Princeton University, Jeremy Weaver at Texas A&M and Gunnar Schr?der at the Institute of Complex Systems in Germany.
Different-shaped beams could be used to increase fiber-optic capacity, thereby easing online congestion
By Maggie McKee and Nature magazine
Twisting light could create a new lane of traffic on the information superhighway.Image: Wikimedia Commons/?berraschungsbilder
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
Read More??
Twisty beams of light could boost the traffic-carrying capacity of the Internet, effectively adding new levels to the information superhighway, suggests research published today in Science.
Internet traffic is growing exponentially and researchers have sought ways to squeeze ever more information into the fiber-optic cables that carry it. One successful method used over the last 20 years essentially added more traffic lanes, using different colors, or wavelengths, for different signals. But to compensate for the added lanes, each one had to be made narrower. So, just as in a real highway, the spacing could get only so tight before the streams of data began to jumble together.
In the last few years, different groups of researchers have tried to encode information in the shape of light beams to ease congestion, using a property of light called orbital angular momentum. Currently, a straight beam of light is used to transmit Internet signals, but certain filters can twist it so that it corkscrews around with varying degrees of curliness as it travels.
Previous experiments using this effect have found that differently shaped light beams tend to jumble together after less than a meter.
Now, a team of researchers from Boston University in Massachusetts and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles has found a way to keep the different light beam shapes separated for a record 1.1 kilometers.
The researchers designed and built a 1.1-kilometer-long glass cable, the cross section of which had a varying index of refraction ? a measure that describes how fast light can travel in a particular medium. They then sent both twisty and straight beams of light down the cable.
The team found that the light output matched the input ? light beams of each shape were not getting muddled together. The varying index of refraction apparently affected each light shape uniquely, so that different shapes moved at different speeds down the cable. "That meant that I could keep them separated," says Siddharth Ramachandran, an electrical engineer and leader of the Boston University team.
Improving infrastructure The work published today used clockwise and anticlockwise versions of twisted light with a specific curliness, but Ramachandran says that the team has since done other research that suggests that about ten different beam shapes can be used to convey information.
That is exciting because each shape could potentially act as an entirely new level of traffic on the information superhighway. On each level, streams of data could be further divided into narrow lanes of color, maximizing flow. "We showed a new degree of freedom in which we could transmit information," says Ramachandran.
Translating the work from the lab to the real world will take time, however, in part because current Internet cables carry only straight beams of light. A more immediate goal, says Ramachandran, might be to install cables that are capable of carrying twisty light on the short distances between servers on giant 'server farms', used by large Web companies such as Facebook.
Miles Padgett, an optical physicist at the University of Glasgow, UK, is impressed with the work and is optimistic about its potential. "One day, more bandwidth will mean we can all Skype at the same time," he says.
This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on June 27, 2013.
June 26, 2013 ? Being in good physical shape at 18 years of age can be linked with a reduced risk of attempted suicide later in life. So says a study of over one million Swedish men conducted by researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
A new, extensive report from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare on child and adolescent health shows that teenagers and young adults in Sweden have worse mental health than their age cohorts in other western countries.
Another report that is part of a new social welfare study shows that the number of serious suicide attempts among 19-23 year olds with activity compensation has increased from 115 per year to 460 per year in Sweden between 1995-2010.
At the same time, the number of suicides in the 10 to 45 age group increased. Even the percentage of young people with no activity compensation who attempted to take their life increased.
In order to break this trend, research has now focused on the factors that can prevent mental illness and the risk of suicidal behavior.
Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, have been able to use a study of 1,136,527 Swedish men to show that there is a link between exercising as a young person and a reduced risk of suicidal behavior later in life.
"Being in poor physical shape at 18 years of age, measured as the test results on an exercise bike during their medical exam for compulsory military service, can be linked to a risk of suicidal behavior as an adult that is 1.8 times greater," says Margda Waern, researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg.
The study shows that the increased risk was evident even 42 years after the exam for military service.
It has previously been shown that physical exercise has a highly positive effect on brain function, e.g. more nerve cells are developed with physical exercise.
"The teenage years are a critical period in terms of brain development since this is when social and emotional faculties are established. Therefore, it was important to do a larger study on the importance of physical fitness in terms of suicidal behavior in this age group," says Maria ?berg, researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy who led the study together with Professor Margda Waern.
In the study, which covers all Swedish men born between 1950 and 1987 who completed the previously mandatory exam, researchers compared the results from physical tests during the exam with the national registers of disease and death.
By carefully examining the roughly 340,000 brothers who took part in the study, researchers were able to study how hereditary factors and the home environment affect this relationship.
In a much discussed study published in 2012, the researcher group showed that good physical fitness as a teenager can also be linked to decreased risk of severe depression later in life.
"But even when we exclude individuals who suffer from severe depression in connection with suicide or attempted suicide, the link between poor physical shape and an increased risk of suicidal behavior remains," says Margda Waern.
While depression is a particularly strong predictor of suicidal behavior in later life, the picture among younger people is complex and many factors are involved.
"One theory is that the brain becomes more resistant to different types of stress if you are physically active," says Maria ?berg.
Researchers think that physical exercise should be considered in suicide prevention projects aimed at young people.
The new findings are supported by earlier cross-sectional studies where teenagers are interviewed about their physical fitness connected with the risk for suicidal thoughts.
Home improvement is likely an engaging topic for nearly every homeowner. Everyone wants their home to look great; however, undertaking a large improvement project can be overwhelming. Read this article to learn what you need to know about the basics of home improvement.
Changing air filters is paramount. This will bring in healthier air and keep your air conditioners and heaters running efficiently. Many service calls are placed each year because of dirty filters.
If you are running out of counter space in your kitchen, consider an over-the-range microwave. You can find these type of microwave ovens in a variety of prices. Many of them have special features like convection cooking. A lot of units use a filter and not a vent; these are meant for those who do not need a lot of ventilation.
It is important that you focus your improvement work on the visible portions of your home. Potential buyers base their judgment on things they see, and having unsightly things such as cracked and peeling paint or a yard overgrown with weeds can be a cause for them to walk from a good deal. It is very true that a lot of home improvments cannot be seen but you need to take care of the ones that can be seen first.
In many home improvement projects, using ?premium? materials is a way to maximize the value of the work. Comparison shop for these building supplies before choosing a vendor! It can cost a lot of money to install a new floor, so be sure to shop around to find the best deals. There are supply stores that give out discount and you could also look for bargain places that could help you.
As you read in the beginning of this article, improving your home is not as scary as it may seem. The skills you learn in one renovation project make future projects much easier to take on. Follow our tips to be ready for the next home improvement project that presents itself.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Even as they celebrate a momentous legal victory, supporters of gay marriage already are anticipating a return trip to the Supreme Court in a few years, sensing that no other option but a broader court ruling will legalize same-sex unions in all 50 states.
In the meantime, as one gay-rights leader said, there will be "two Americas" ? and a host of legal complications for many gay couples moving between them.
Wednesday's twin rulings from the high court will extend federal recognition to same-sex marriages in the states where they are legal, and will add California ? the most populous state ? to the 12 others in that category. That will mean about 30 percent of Americans live in states recognizing same-sex marriage.
But the court's rulings have no direct effect on the constitutional amendments in 29 states that limit marriage to heterosexual couples. In a handful of politically moderate states such as Oregon, Nevada and Colorado those amendments could be overturned by ballot measures, but that's considered highly unlikely in more conservative states.
"It would be inefficient to try to pick off 30 constitutional amendments one by one," said Fred Sainz of the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights group. "Eventually this will have to be settled by the Supreme Court."
The Human Rights Campaign's president, Chad Griffin, told supporters outside the Supreme Court building that the goal would be to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide within five years.
To sway the justices in such a time frame, activists plan a multipronged strategy. In addition to possible ballot measures in a few states, they hope lawmakers will legalize same-sex marriage in states which now offer civil unions to gay couples, notably New Jersey, Illinois and Hawaii.
There also will be advocacy efforts in more conservative states, ranging from expansion of anti-discrimination laws to possible litigation on behalf of sex-couples there who are denied state recognition even though they married legally in some other jurisdiction.
The Supreme Court's decisions "underscore the emergence of two Americas," Griffin said. "In one, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) citizens are nearing full equality. In the other, our community lacks even the most basic protections."
Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, suggested that efforts to end that division would not be easy, given that many states have electorates that seem solidly opposed to gay marriage.
"The fight is far from over," Rauch wrote in a commentary. "By refusing to override those majorities, the court green-lighted the continuation, probably for a decade or more, of state-by-state battles over marriage."
In Florida, where voters approved a ban on gay marriage with 62 percent support in 2008, the gay-rights group Equality Florida called on its supporters to "get engaged and fight" for recognition of same-sex marriage.
The high court rulings "are a major step forward for the country, but for Floridians they fall far short of justice," said the group's executive director, Nadine Smith. "The Supreme Court has said we can go states like Minnesota or Iowa and get married, but we return to Florida legal strangers in our home state."
Florida State Rep. Joe Saunders, a Democrat from Orlando and one of the state's first openly gay lawmakers, said "every strategy is on the table" as activists ponder ways to eliminate the 2008 ban, including warnings of economic consequences.
"If 13 other states provide protections to gay and lesbian families, what does that mean for our ability to keep those families here in Florida?" he said. "Until we can promise them the same basic protections, we're going to be economically disadvantaged."
Increasingly, political swing states like Florida, as well as more solidly Republican states, could become gay-marriage battlegrounds.
One example of the forthcoming strategy: The American Civil Liberties Union announced Wednesday that it has hired Steve Schmidt, former communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee and adviser to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to build support among GOP state politicians for striking down gay-marriage bans.
"For a full civil liberties victory, we need broad-based support from coast to coast," the ACLU's executive director, Anthony Romero, said.
On the conservative side, there was deep dismay over the Supreme Court rulings, but little indication of any new strategies or initiatives.
"The debate over marriage has only just begun," said Austin Nimocks, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which staunchly opposes same-sex marriage, called upon Americans "to stand steadfastly together in promoting and defending the unique meaning of marriage: one man, one woman, for life."
Lee Badgett, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, predicted that the ruling on federal recognition would prompt thousands of gay couples to get married, now that there were additional financial incentives to so.
This group could include couples in states which don't recognize same-sex marriage but who are willing to travel to a state that does recognize such unions.
However, Rea Carey of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said many gay couples either would be hard pressed to afford such trips or would forgo them out of principle.
"Many people in this country, straight or gay, want to get married in their own state, their own backyard," she said.
While gay-rights activists pursue their ultimate goal of nationwide recognition of same-sex marriage, the short-term legal situation for many gay couples could be complicated.
Peter Sprigg of the conservative Family Research Council said the court ruling on federal recognition "raises as many questions as it answers."
"Will recognition be based on the law in the state where the marriage was celebrated or the state in which the couple resides?" he said. "The doors may now be wide open for whole new rounds of litigation."
The National Conference of State Legislatures said the situation was clear for married gay couples in the 13 states recognizing same-sex marriage: They will be eligible for all federal marriage benefits.
"Outside of these states, federal marriage benefits become more complicated, as many commonly thought-of federal benefits, such as jointly filing on federal income taxes, are tied to a married couple's place of residence," the conference said.
Gay-rights activists immediately began lobbying the Obama administration and other federal officials to extend as many benefits as possible on the basis of where a gay couple's wedding took place, not on the state where they live.
"The Obama administration can make clear, through regulation, that the federal government will recognize those marriages and not participate in state-sponsored discrimination," said Suzanne Goldberg, a professor at Columbia Law School.
Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry, one of the groups most active in building support for same-sex marriage, urged the administration to adopt a "clear and consistent" standard that would apply equally to all married gay couples, regardless of their state of residence.
"Marriage should not flutter in and out like cellphone service," he said. "When it comes to federal programs, even if states are discriminating, the federal government should not."
Wolfson, like many of his allies, was already looking ahead to another rendezvous with the Supreme Court, confident that public support for same-sex marriage would continue to increase.
"We have the winning strategy," he said. "We win more states, we win more hearts and minds, and we go back to the Supreme Court in a matter of years, not decades, to win the freedom to marry nationwide."
___
Follow David Crary on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/craryap
Because it?s not something they do every day, hiring and negotiating with an executive recruiter makes many HR pros nervous. The stakes are high indeed: Slip-ups can result in excess costs, a painfully prolonged hiring process and bad hires.
You?ll increase the odds of making a good hire by avoiding these common headhunter mistakes:
1. Automatically picking a big firm
Sure, a big firm may be able to provide a large pool of candidates. However, a small recruiting firm may offer more personalized service?and charge less.
Find the firm with the best networks and expertise in your market, whether it?s large or small. Seek recommendations from HR colleagues.
2. Neglecting to check references
Request references from clients who requested job searches in the same occupational areas that you need filled.
Ask how satisfied they were with the degree of hands-on help they received.
To access all the great content on TheHRSpecialist.com, become a Premium Plus subscriber today!
3. Accepting a replacement guarantee in the contract
A replacement guarantee calls for the search firm to find another candidate if the person you hire leaves the job after a certain period, usually 90 days.
Search firms prefer replacement guarantees, which call for finding another candidate if your new hire quits or doesn?t work out.
You probably want a money-back guarantee, instead.
4. Negotiating the recruiter?s fee down too low
Fees generally range from 15% to 35% of the employee?s first-year salary. Headhunting is a process in which you tend to get what you pay for. Be cost-conscious but not cheap. Pay enough to allow the recruiting firm to succeed.
On the other hand, watch out for recruiters who justify a high-percentage with an offhand, ?Oh, that?s the industry average.? Don?t hesitate to negotiate.
Become a Premium Plus member and access all the great content on TheHRSpecialist.com today!
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Aspyr Media has announced the release of Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, the newest Downloadable Content (DLC) for the hit action game Borderlands 2. It's available for download from Steam, and it's out the same day as it was released for the PC.
Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep adds some Dungeons & Dragons-style flavor to Borderlands 2. It's a game within a game, as Tiny Tina assumes the role of Bunker Master in "Bunkers & Badasses." You fight skeletons, orcs, dragons and other creatures as you make your way through dungeons, castles and magic forests on a quest to save the queen.
Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep requires the original Borderlands 2 to play.
Cynthia Cruz?is a contemporary?American poet who has published work in countless journals and magazines including The?New Yorker, The?Paris Review, and The?American Poetry Review. Today?s Read of the Day is Cruz?s beautiful Rumpus essay on writing, risk and choosing life.
When I begin, I don?t know where I am going. Writing poetry is probably the only example in my life of that kind of risk. I?m terrified of change. I have fear when my daily structure is upset but here, working on my poems, I am able to practice risk, to enter not knowing and follow intuition: sound, music, movement. Not that entering the unknown isn?t also terrifying. It is. Writing is the one thing I put off doing. I can?t bear the thought of entering its rooms. I?d much rather waste my hours doing what I know: reading, cleaning the apartment, going online, daydreaming. To enter a poem is to enter a dream, awake.
But writing poems allows me mastery over a miniature universe. For those moments or hours, I am God of my kingdom. No one tells me how things go. No one can argue against me when I?m writing poems. When I am writing, I get to speak.
Anorexia was about making my world small. The world was too large for me. I was confronted with too many choices, so I made my world miniature, manageable. I still have a tendency to do this: isolating alone in my apartment, not making plans with friends, following the highly structured dictates of my day-to-day schedule. Then my world contracts, again. My life is a box, tamped down. I like it that way. Get up at six, pray, meditate, eat breakfast. Read the?New York Times, write, answer emails.
I utilize this same structure, this same control, in my poems. The poem must sing, it must have music. Music and language and beauty and a tear of darkness. In poetry, I take what I don?t know, and follow the music, the sound, until the thing becomes a warped little song. I make meaning out of chaos.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? Qatar's ruler says he has transferred power to the 33-year-old crown prince in a long-anticipated move that puts a new generation in charge of the Gulf nation's vast energy wealth and its rising political influence.
The 61-year-old emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, said in a televised address Tuesday that the decision has been made to step down. Now, the British-educated crown prince, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, will likely begin the process of putting together a new government that may be in direct contrast to the old guard leaders across the Western-backed Gulf Arab states.
The decision has been rumored for months. Qatar has given no official explanation, but it is widely believed that Sheik Hamad is suffering from health problems.
Sony is steering its mobile ship into deeper waters with the Xperia Z Ultra. The 6.4-inch device slots in the size gap between its former flagship handset, the 5-inch Xperia Z, and its 10.1-inch Android slate, the Xperia Z Tablet. The Xperia Z Ultra might have more sensibly been named the Xperia Z Tablet Mini. Instead, Sony has hedged its bets with a name that doesn't exclude either possibility.
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival, of the Czech Republic, hoists the Stanley Cup after the Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The Chicago Blackhawks celebrate after beating the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Harry How, Pool)
Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks fans celebrate on Madison St. in Chicago after the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 to win the Stanley Cup on Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Andrew Shaw
Chicago Blackhawks center Andrew Shaw skates from the glass after celebrating with fans after the Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Rich Peverley, Patrice Bergeron
Boston Bruins centers Rich Peverley, left, Patrice Bergeron (37) and teammates acknowledge their fans after the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Bruins 3-2 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Corey Crawford, Tuukka Rask
Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) is congratulated by Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40), of Finland, after the Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Michal Handzus , Patrice Bergeron
Chicago Blackhawks center Michal Handzus (26), of Slovakia, shakes hands with Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (37) after the Blackhawks beat the Bruins 3-2 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Michal Handzus , Zdeno Chara
Chicago Blackhawks center Michal Handzus (26), and Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33), both of Slovakia, speak at center ice after the Blackhawks beat the Bruins 3-2 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Corey Crawford, Johnny Oduya
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya (27), of Sweden, hugs Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) after winning Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals 3-2 against the Boston Bruins, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The Chicago Blackhawks pose with the Stanley Cup after beating the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Chicago Blackhawks left wing Bryan Bickell, center, celebrates his goal with Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) and Chicago Blackhawks center Michal Handzus (26), of Slovakia, during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston Bruins, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Marcus Kruger, Dave Bolland
Chicago Blackhawks center Dave Bolland (36) celebrates his game-winning goal against the Boston Bruins with Chicago Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger (16) during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. The Blackhawks won 3-2. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Milan Lucic, Duncan Keith, Corey Crawford
Boston Bruins left wing Milan Lucic, left, reacts after scoring past Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith (2) and goalie Corey Crawford, hidden during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Milan Lucic, Duncan Keith, Corey Crawford
Boston Bruins left wing Milan Lucic, foreground, reacts after scoring past Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith (2) and goalie Corey Crawford, right, during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Milan Lucic, Kaspars Daugavins
Boston Bruins left wing Milan Lucic, right, celebrates with left wing Kaspars Daugavins, of Latvia, after scoring against the Chicago Blackhawks during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Johnny Boychuk, Patrick Sharp
Chicago Blackhawks center Patrick Sharp (10) shoots as Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk (55) defends during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Corey Crawford, Daniel Paille
Boston Bruins left wing Daniel Paille (20) moves the puck in front of Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Brandon Saad, Patrice Bergeron, Dennis Seidenberg
Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (44), of Germany, and center Patrice Bergeron (37) check Chicago Blackhawks left wing Brandon Saad, center, in front of the goal during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Harry How, Pool)
David Krejci, Michal Rozsival
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival (32), of the Czech Republic, and Boston Bruins center David Krejci (46), of the Czech Republic, tangle during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Johnny Boychuk, Michael Frolik
Chicago Blackhawks center Michael Frolik, top, of the Czech Republic, rides down Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk (55) during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Patrick Kane, Zdeno Chara, Tuukka Rask
Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33), of Slovakia, turns the puck from the net in front of Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, right, of Finland, as Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane, left, moves in during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Harry How, Pool)
Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Tuukka Rask, Dennis Seidenberg
Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews, left, skates past the net after his puck landed in the net, right, behind Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, of Finland, as Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane, right celebrates during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. Watching at center is Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, of Germany. (AP Photo/Harry How, Pool)
Corey Crawford, Johnny Oduya, Daniel Paille
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya, right, of Sweden, knocks Boston Bruins left wing Daniel Paille (20) into the crease in front of Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Harry How, Pool)
Daniel Paille, Chris Kelly, Claude Julien
Boston Bruins center Chris Kelly (23) and left wing Daniel Paille, right, hop from the bench in front of head coach Claude Julien during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Patrick Kane, Michal Rozsival, Duncan Keith
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival (32), of the Czech Republic, looks to the scoreboard during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston Bruins, Monday, June 24, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Rich Peverley, Marcus Kruger
Boston Bruins center Rich Peverley (49) checks Chicago Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger (16) during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Corey Crawford, Duncan Keith, David Krejci
Boston Bruins center David Krejci (46), of the Czech Republic, and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith (2) rush the net in front of Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Harry How, Pool)
Joel Quenneville
Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville walks behind the bench during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston Bruins, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Brad Marchand, Corey Crawford
A puck goes past the shoulder of Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Patrick Kane, Zdeno Chara, Tuukka Rask, Rich Peverley
Boston Bruins center Rich Peverley (49), defenseman Zdeno Chara, second from left, of Slovakia, and goalie Tuukka Rask, center, of Finland, defend the net against Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane (88) during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Brad Marchand, Corey Crawford
Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) pokes the puck away from Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Johnny Oduya, Daniel Paille
Boston Bruins left wing Daniel Paille (20) checks Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya (27), of Sweden, during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Johnny Oduya, Daniel Paille
Boston Bruins left wing Daniel Paille (20) checks Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya (27), of Sweden, during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane
Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) celebrates his goal with right wing Patrick Kane (88) during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston Bruins, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Carl Soderberg, Johnny Oduya
Boston Bruins center Carl Soderberg (34), of Sweden, and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya (27), of Sweden, fight for position along the boards during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Tuukka Rask
Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, of Finland, checks the scoreboard after giving up a goal by Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Corey Crawford, Johnny Oduya, Daniel Paille
Boston Bruins left wing Daniel Paille (20) ties up Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya (27), of Sweden, in front of Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Tuukka Rask, Jonathan Toews
A goal by Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews hits the net behind Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40), of Finland, during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane
Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) celebrates his goal with right wing Patrick Kane (88) during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston Bruins, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Michal Rozsival
Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews, left, celebrates his goal against the Boston Bruins with right wing Patrick Kane, center, and defenseman Michal Rozsival (32), of the Czech Republic, during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Johnny Oduya, Chris Kelly, Tyler Seguin
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya (27), of Sweden, Boston Bruins centers Chris Kelly (23), and Tyler Seguin (19) fight for position in front of Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Harry How, Pool)
Chris Kelly, Corey Crawford
Boston Bruins center Chris Kelly, left, scores past Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Harry How, Pool)
Corey Crawford, Chris Kelly
Boston Bruins center Chris Kelly (23) scores past Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50)during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Johnny Boychuk, Duncan Keith
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith (2) checks Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk (55) during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Jonathan Toews, Corey Crawford, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Chris Kelly
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson (4), of Sweden, and Boston Bruins center Chris Kelly (23) go down between Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford, left, and Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews, right, during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Tuukka Rask, Michal Handzus , Patrice Bergeron
Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (37) and Chicago Blackhawks center Michal Handzus (26), of Slovakia, fight for the puck in front of Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40), of Finland, during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Monday, June 24, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Standing on artificial legs, Boston Marathon bombing victim Jeff Bauman and Carlos Arredondo, wearing the hat, who assisted him at the scene, waves the Boston Strong banner before Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Dave Sandford, Pool)
Standing on artificial legs, Boston Marathon bombing victim Jeff Bauman and Carlos Arredondo, wearing the hat, who assisted him at the scene, waves the Boston Strong banner before Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Dave Sandford, Pool)
Johnny Oduya, Shawn Thornton
Boston Bruins right wing Shawn Thornton (22) and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya (27), of Sweden, scrap for the puck during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Chris Kelly
Boston Bruins center Chris Kelly (23) celebrates his goal against the Chicago Blackhawks during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Andrew Shaw
Chicago Blackhawks center Andrew Shaw lays on the ice after taking a puck to the face against the Boston Bruins during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
When Anderson Silva fights Chris Weidman at UFC 162 next weekend, he will be putting his 17-fight win streak, consecutive wins record, and consecutive title defenses record on the line. Silva's last five fights have ended in a stoppage. He is the closest thing the UFC has to unbeatable.
But more and more MMA folks say Weidman is the guy who can take him out. He is undefeated, and has six wins by a stoppage. UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has trained with Weidman and said he will beat Silva. UFC commentator Joe Rogan said Weidman has the game to take out Silva. Frankie Edgar said he thinks Weidman will win, and noted BJJ expert Roger Gracie said Weidman can submit anyone, even Gracie.
Are you on board with the Weidman hypetrain? Will he win, or will it be Silva's 18th straight? Speak up on Facebook or Twitter.
Edward Snowden is reportedly seeking political asylum in Ecuador after arriving to Moscow today. Meanwhile, the US has revoked his passport. The former NSA contractor has been on the run since he first revealed details of Verizon's participation in a telecommunications industry program to store information on all telephone calls, and then broke news of the NSA/Silicon Valley PRISM system that watches over the whole Interent. Developing...
Snowden's final destination may not be Havana, however. The current speculation is that he may go to Caracas after landing in Havana. Other rumors point to Iceland. Wikileaks claims his final destination is Ecuador. Julian Assange and his organization claim they are helping him.
And it's not just data that flows between the California technology giants and the NSA. Facebook's former security chief, Max Kelly, left the social network to take a similar jobwith the National Security Agency.
Tuesday, June 18, 10:45 PM?The surveillance of Americans' phone calls and Internet activity is "transparent," President Barack Obama said on television Monday night. The names of these secret programs revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden are turning up on job sites all over the Internet.
The NSA and FBI has had access to private accounts on Facebook, Microsoft,Google and Apple during the last six months, and appears to be expanding and extending online surveillance that first began with the controversial Patriot Act programs launched after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Monday, June 17, 10:45PM?Edward Snowden?the NSA contractor employee who revealed the secret US government spy program Prism on June 6?now says that more details are coming.
11:23 AM?Answering The Guardian readers' questions, Prism whistleblower Edward Snowden claims that more details are coming no matter what happens to him: "All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."
10:42 AM?Today, Apple has admitted that the government obtained data from 9,000 to 10,000 devices as part of investigations on "robberies and other crimes, searching for missing children, trying to locate a patient with Alzheimer?s disease, or hoping to prevent a suicide." The company also claims it doesn't chat messages or videoconferences and that "it doesn't store Maps, location, or Siri data in any way that could identify you."
Saturday, June 15, 2013 3:00 PM?The Associate Press has numerous sources detailing that Prism's collaboration with tech companies is just the tip of the iceberg?the NSA actually captures every single bit of data that comes in and out the United States, storing it for analysis:
...larger NSA effort that snatches data as it passes through the fiber optic cables that make up the Internet's backbone. That program, which has been known for years, copies Internet traffic as it enters and leaves the United States, then routes it to the NSA for analysis.
Thursday, June 13, 2013 1:55 PM?The Silicon Valley giants are telling a very different story than the NSA, which explained in top secret Power Point presentations exactly how the data comes from the biggest Internet companies to the government's massive spying operations.
Patriot Or Traitor: Edward Snowden and the NSA Prism Surveillance Web
Wednesday, June 12, 2013, 7:25 PM?More Americans see Prism whistleblower Edward Snowden as a patriot than as a traitor, according to a new opinion poll. But the 29-year-old former intelligence contractor who leaked the details of the NSA's massive data mining operation is still unknown to most Americans?46% have no opinion on his motivations.
1:40 PM?Prism whistleblower Edward Snowden has resurfaced in Hong Kong, telling the South China Morning Post that he's "revealing criminality" and has no other motives. He plans to stay in Hong Kong and has more secrets to reveal.
Since the shocking revelations were revealed a week ago, Snowden has been vilified as a defector but also hailed by supporters such as WikiLeaks? Julian Assange.
?I?m neither traitor nor hero. I?m an American,? he said, adding that he was proud to be an American. ?I believe in freedom of expression. I acted in good faith but it is only right that the public form its own opinion.?
Snowden tells the Hong Kong paper, ?I will never feel safe."
Ron Paul Fears Edward Snowden Will Be Assassinated
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 11:39 PM?Congressman Ron Paul, the Texas Republican who first became a hero to young computer technicians in 2007, said today that he fears that the United States government will assassinate Edward Snowden using either a "cruise missile or a drone missile."
Google, Microsoft and Facebook released open letters today asking the U.S. government to get the tech firms off the hook for cooperating with widespread electronic spying on Americans by the biggest tech firms as revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
In Maryland, the father of Snowden's girlfriend described Snowden as a man of "strong convictions of right and wrong." But because Snowden is generally "shy and reserved," Jonathan Mills said he was shocked by the revelations.
Lindsay Mills, the 29-year-old girlfriend of Snowden, reportedly texted her father but did not reveal her whereabouts. Snowden disappeared from his Hong Kong hotel at least a day ago, and has yet to surface.
6:40 PM?While the world's attention turned to Edward Snowden's pole-dancing ballerina girlfriend today, the American Civil Liberties Union launched a legal backlash against the NSA and FBI's widespread domestic spying as Google and Apple sought permission from the U.S. government to disclose at least some of what's going on.
The ACLU lawsuit is the first challenge to the widespread phone company spying revealed by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old American who has single-handedly brought the nation's attention back to the long forgotten issue of constant surveillance.
2:31 PM?The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald wrote the shocking stories based on Snowden's leaks, but Greenwald knows firsthand that surveillance dragnets allegedy created to target foreign terrorists are just as easily?and clumsily?turned on U.S. citizens critical of an overreaching government that increasingly seems to exist only to protect itself from the nation it ostensibly serves. The Nation's Lee Fang describes what was revealed just two years ago:
Two years ago, a batch of stolen e-mails revealed a plot by a set of three defense contractors (Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies, and HBGary Federal) to target activists, reporters, labor unions, and political organizations. The plans ? one concocted in concert with lawyers for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to sabotage left-leaning critics, like the Center for American Progress and the SEIU, and a separate proposal to "combat" WikiLeaks and its supporters, including Glenn Greenwald, on behalf of Bank of America ? fell apart after reports of their existence were published online. But the episode serves as a reminder that the expanding spy industry could use its government-backed cyber tools to harm ordinary Americans and political dissident groups.
The episode also shows that Greenwald, who helped Snowden expose massive spying efforts in the U.S., had been targetted by spy agency contractors in the past for supporting whistleblowers and WikiLeaks.
Majority of Americans Support NSA Spying
Monday, June 10, 2013 5:42 PM?NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has left his Hong Kong hotel as Republican members of Congress call for his extradition and the White House. The 29-year-old contractor for U.S. intelligence services provided details of Washington's decade-long spree of data collection on the phone calls and Internet use of all Americans, and now fears for his life.
Nearly 19,000 people have signed the "Pardon Edward Snowden" petition at WhiteHouse.gov. Daniel Ellsberg, whose life was upended by his decision to leak the Pentagon's bleak assessment of its war in Vietnam, today is praising Snowden's "conscience and patriotism."
Meanwhile, a solid majority of Americans surveyed by Pew Research Center say they're just fine with the constant surveillance of telephone calls and Internet use?56% of Americans support the illegal domestic spying, but only 27% of Americans claim to be closely following the scandal.
3:04 PM?Palantir, the Silicon Valley startup named for an evil all-seeing rock from Lord of the Rings reportedly behind the NSA's Prism program to spy on all Internet activity, takes the hobbit life very seriously. A company director explained in 2010 that a surveillance program called "Save the Shire" saw America's perceived enemies as orcs and dark wizards.
Sunday, June 9, 10:00PM?Edward Snowden: This is the man who told the world about PRISM, the NSA spy network capable of grabbing all your personal data?including private messages, photos and videos?with the help of America's top tech companies.
According to the Guardian, Snowden worked for the last four years at the National Security Agency. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," Snowden told The Guardian. ?I don?t want public attention because I don?t want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the U.S. government is doing.?
Following the revelation of his identity, Edward Snowden was hiding in a Hong Kong hotel.
Despite Denials, Tech Companies Collaborated With NSA
Saturday, June 8, 3:30 PM?The Guardian has revealed the existence of a second NSA surveillance network. Its name is Boundless Informant and, unlike PRISM, it covers the entire planet. Unlike PRISM, however, this network doesn't capture the data but merely organizes it, indexing countries by the metadata obtained from local phone and computer networks.
3:10 AM?The New York Times says that Facebook, Google and Apple are collaborating with the NSA, rebutting the companies' carefully worded statements. According to their sources, companies like Facebook built specific systems so the government could easily request and access their data.
This information contradicts Zuckerberg's denial, posted on his Facebook page Friday afternoon, which has the vague sound of many, many lawyers parsing their own language:
Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access [added emphasis] to our servers. We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of PRISM before yesterday.
First, we have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government?or any other government?direct access [added emphasis] to our servers. Indeed, the U.S. government does not have direct access or a ?back door? to the information stored in our data centers. We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday.
According to the Times, the key words here are direct access. The government didn't have a backdoor to access the data, but these companies built a system for them:
[C]ompanies were essentially asked to erect a locked mailbox and give the government the key, people briefed on the negotiations said. Facebook, for instance, built such a system for requesting and sharing the information, they said.
Obama Says PRISM Exists To "Keep Us Safe"
Friday, June 7, 3:31 PM?A mysterious Facebook-connected startup called Palantir?a Lord of the Rings reference to a magical method of surveillance?appears to be the entity that runs the NSA's PRISM program just revealed to be spying on all Americans at all times, with Barack Obama's approval. Obama was in Silicon Valley this morning shaking down the tech billionaires for campaign money:
1:36 PM?Obama claimed the massive, unprecedented national surveillance system involves only "modest encroachments on privacy." As for any political fallout in Congress, Obama also made it clear that "your duly elected representatives have been consistently informed on exactly what we're doing."
12:41 AM?Barack Obama, speaking live in Silicon Valley right now, said the electronic snooping "helps protect us from terrorism" and insists all the eavesdropping of every mobile call, email, instant message and file attachment is completely legal. Obama is in San Jose raising campaign money from the Internet billionaires who allow the NSA to spy on all Americans.
Newly exposed proof that all the major telecommunication companies in America continue to hand over all phone data to the National Security Agency means that the White House's illegal mass wiretapping of people suspected of no crime has continued for a dozen years.
Along with monitoring of web traffic, email and searches through the major telecom carriers, all phone calls been wiretapped with full cooperation of the communications companies since at least 2001. That the practice is illegal hasn't stopped the White House or NSA from continuing the wholesale surveillance. Congress reliably moves to make illegal spying legal whenever there's a scandal like the current Verizon outrage.
White House Says Spying On Millions of Verizon Calls a "Critical Tool"
Wednesday, June 6, 2013 9:03 AM?America's spy agencies have had full access to US cellphone call data to and from Verizon customers since April, the Guardian reports. The Obama Administration is defending the National Security Agency phone spying as a "critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States."
The secret order was obtained by the British newspaper and reported Wednesday night.
The Obama administration on Thursday acknowledged that it is collecting a massive amount of telephone records from at least one carrier, reopening the debate over privacy even as it defended the practice as necessary to protect Americans against attack. Read...
The White House on Thursday defended the National Security Agency's need to collect telephone records of U.S. citizens, calling such information "a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats." Read...
[T]he extent of the NSA?s surveillance shows that it has focused specifically on Americans, to the degree that its data collection has in at least one major spying incident explicitlyexcluded those outside the United States. Read...
A senior Obama administration official [...] stressed that the information acquired by the purported order "does not include the content of any communications or the name of any subscriber. It relates exclusively to metadata, such as a telephone number or the length of a call." Read...
Data from all incoming and outgoing calls is provided to the NSA under the top secret order, which the Washington Post describes as a "routine renewal of a similar order first issued in 2006." The White House did not specifically address the Verizon order this morning, but referred to at least one telecommunications company.
Past revelations of major U.S. telecommunications companies spying on Americans suspected of no crimes has shown that the other carriers have consistently opened their lines and data banks to America's spy agencies since 2001.
[Photos by the Associated Press and Getty Images. Illustrations by Front]
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