RSN: Oil Consultant Turned Whistleblower Exposes Fracking Crimes in Alberta, A Stupid Senate Tradition Could Force Obama to Put a Tea Party Judge on the Federal Bench, et al

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Reader Supported News

RISKING TEN-DOLLARS A MONTH: Ok, there's some risk. Ten-dollars isn't much, but sure there's some risk involved. Take that risk, take it. What you stand to lose is so small compared to what you gain every day. Look at what we do day in and day out and ask, 'what if?' Where would this thing go with funding? The risk is not so much. Marc Ash - Founder, Reader Supported News

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Frank Rich | Obama Won the Obamacare War, But the GOP Won't Concede

Frank Rich, New York Magazine
Rich writes: "We can only hope that Karl Rove will have another breakdown on television when he faces the reality that Obamacare has won over a significant segment of the electorate just as surely as Obama took Ohio on Election Night."
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Fury at Attack on Dianne Feinstein by Ex-CIA Director Michael Hayden
Rory Carroll, Guardian UK
Carroll writes: "Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, said on Monday that Michael Hayden's attack on Feinstein, the committee chairperson, was 'outrageous' and fitted a pattern of 'misleading' the American public."
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A Stupid Senate Tradition Could Force Obama to Put a Tea Party Judge on the Federal Bench
Ian Millhiser, ThinkProgress
Millhiser writes: "Until recently, Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate delegation seemed all but certain to recommend that President Obama nominate a conservative attorney with close ties to former senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum (R-PA) for a federal judgeship in that state."
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Ukrainian Troops Move to Reassert Control in East
David M. Herszenhorn and Andrew Roth, The New York Times
Excerpt: "Ukrainian Interior Ministry troops expelled pro-Russian demonstrators from a regional administration building in the eastern city of Kharkiv early on Tuesday, arresting about 70 protesters as the provisional government in Kiev moved to exert control over unrest."
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Senate Votes to Extend Unemployment Benefits
Wesley Lowery, The Washington Post
Lowery writes: "The deal, carried by Democratic senators but struck with the support of several prominent Republicans - including Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) and Mark Kirk (Ill.) - came on the Senate's fourth vote on a bill to renew the benefits."
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Oil Consultant Turned Whistleblower Exposes Fracking Crimes in Alberta
Anthony Hall, EcoWatch
Hall writes: "In 2007, Jessica Ernst the scientist became Jessica Ernst the whistleblower. Bringing forward evidence that her own water well and those of her neighbors had been severely contaminated, Ernst sued the EnCanada Corporation."
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RSN: 11 Jaw-Dropping Lines From Dianne Feinstein's CIA Torture Statement, et al

Andy Borowitz | G.O.P. Race Turns Ugly as Paul Head-Butts Cruz

Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker
Borowitz writes: "In a preview of what promises to be a heated race for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) head-butted his rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on the floor of the United States Senate this morning."
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11 Jaw-Dropping Lines From Dianne Feinstein's CIA Torture Statement
Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone
Dickinson writes: "Today, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein released an astonishing statement on her committee's investigation into torture by the CIA - and the intelligence agency's shocking, and possibly illegal, activities to spy on the committee itself."
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Robert Scheer | Feinstein v. the CIA: A Moment of Truth
Robert Scheer, TruthDig
Scheer writes: "It was a truly historic moment Tuesday when Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein took to the Senate floor to warn that the CIA's continuing cover-up of its torture program is threatening our constitutional division of power."
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An Online Magna Carta: Berners-Lee Calls for Bill of Rights for Web
Jemima Kiss, Guardian UK
Kiss writes: "The inventor of the world wide web believes an online 'Magna Carta' is needed to protect and enshrine the independence of the medium he created and the rights of its users worldwide."
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Ralph Nader | Boehner Unmasked: Profits Over People
Ralph Nader, Reader Supported News
Nader writes: "'Nobody working full time should have to live in poverty.' This firm statement of equality comes -- surprisingly -- from a July 2006 letter from 26 House Republicans to then Majority Leader John Boehner.'"
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In a Victory for Ending Mental Health Stigmas, Jonathan Martin Lands With the 49ers
Dave Zirin, The Nation
"When offensive lineman Jonathan Martin did the unthinkable and walked away from the Miami Dolphins in the middle of the 2013 season, some said he would never play in the NFL again."
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Agent Orange to Farm to Table
Anna Lappé, Al Jazeera America
Lappé writes: "With all these risks, why are chemical companies like Dow and Monsanto formulating seeds to be resistant to this decades-old chemical with a terrible health track record?"
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RSN: Dianne Feinstein Launches Scathing Attack on CIA Over Alleged Cover-Up

WE CAN’T PROVIDE SERVICE TO A MILLION ON THE BACKS OF A HANDFUL: 300,000 Readers, 180 Donors: Can’t Work, That’s what we have in the first 3 days of this funding drive. A few people have taken a moment to chip in to this month’s funding drive, but not many. We can’t provide service to a million on the backs of a handful. Help out, it’s really painless. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

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FOCUS | Dianne Feinstein Launches Scathing Attack on CIA Over Alleged Cover-Up

Dan Roberts and Spencer Ackerman, Guardian UK
Excerpt: "In a bombshell statement on the floor of the US Senate, Feinstein, normally an administration loyalist, accused the CIA of potentially violating the US constitution and of criminal activity in its attempts to obstruct her committee's investigations into the agency's use of torture."
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CLG: Hanford DOE plan to wait two years to pump radioactive waste 'unacceptable', Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Passengers' Mobile Phones Ring But Not Answered, et al

News Updates from CLG11 Mar 2014

http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

Previous edition: Has Blackwater been deployed to Ukraine? Notorious U.S. mercenaries 'seen on the streets of flashpoint city' (Google subscribers: Google Filter Instructions for CLG Newsletter.)

Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Passengers' Mobile Phones Ring But Not Answered --A man from Beijing also called his missing brother on the plane, and reported to the airlines that the phone connected three times and rang before appearing to hang up, according to Shanghai Daily. 10 Mar 2014 The mystery surrounding the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has deepened with the Chinese media reporting that several of the passengers' mobile phones were connecting when called by relatives, but the calls were not picked up. The sister of one of the Chinese passengers on board the vanished flight rang his phone live on TV, the Mirror reports...The Straits Times reported that many of the family members told MAS commercial director Hugh Dunleavy that the commuters' mobile phones were ringing but they were not picked up. Dunleavy replied that MAS was calling the mobile phones of the crew members as well, which were ringing, and that he had given the numbers to Chinese investigators. Relatives of the passengers are urging the authorities to search for the location of phones that rang using the Global Positioning System.

Missing Malaysia Airlines plane passenger: 'Stop hiding the truth from us!' 10 Mar 2014 ANGER, anxiety and false hope filled a meeting room in a Beijing hotel yesterday where more than a hundred family members and loved ones of Flight MH370 passengers were gathered, wanting only one thing: answers. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) had few, and when commercial director Hugh Dunleavy addressed the families in the afternoon with no new information, several people started shouting for him to "stop hiding the truth from us!" A disturbing twist arose when the authorities confirmed that two passengers had boarded the plane with stolen passports. In the holding room of about 1,500 sq ft at Metropark Lido Hotel, rumours spread that as many as five passengers were using stolen passports. "They are not updating us that it is a possible hijacking," said a white-haired man who gave his name as Mr Li. His daughter was on board. "This means a greater chance that they are alive."

CIA Accused of Illegally Searching Computers Used by Senate Committee 11 Mar 2014 The chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee said Tuesday that the Central Intelligence Agency had improperly [aka illegally] searched computers her committee had been using to investigate C.I.A. interrogation procedures at its secret Bush-era prison system. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and the chairwoman of the committee, said on the Senate floor that the agency had violated federal law and undermined Congress's constitutional right to oversee the actions of the executive branch. The dispute stems from an effort by her committee to investigate allegations of torture and to determine whether what the Bush administration labeled "enhanced interrogation methods" ever produced useful intelligence.

Feinstein accuses CIA of torture report smears --US senator and intelligence committee chair accuses CIA of intimidation in effort to block publication of controversial torture report 11 Mar 2014 The chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein, on Tuesday accused the Central Intelligence Agency of a catalogue of cover-ups, intimidation and smears aimed at investigators probing its role in an "un-American and brutal" programme of post-9/11 detention and interrogation. In a bombshell statement on the floor of the US Senate, Feinstein, normally an administration loyalist, accused the CIA of potentially violating the US constitution and of criminal activity in its attempts to obstruct her committee’s investigations into the agency’s use of torture. She described the crisis as a "defining moment" for political oversight of the US intelligence service. Her unprecedented public assault on the CIA represented an intensification of the row between the committee and the agency over a still-secret report on the torture of terrorist suspects after 9/11.

TEPCO wants to dump hundreds of thousands of tonnes of radioactive water into Pacific Ocean 10 Mar 2014 A senior adviser to the operator of the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has told the firm that it may have no choice but to eventually dump hundreds of thousands of tonnes of contaminated [radioactive] water into the Pacific Ocean. Speaking to reporters who were on a rare visit to the plant on the eve of the third anniversary of the March 2011 nuclear disaster, Dale Klein said Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco] had yet to reassure the public over the handling of water leaks that continue to frustrate efforts to clean up the site.

DOE plan to wait two years to pump radioactive waste 'unacceptable' - state of Washington 10 Mar 2014 The Department of Energy's plan to wait at least two years to pump radioactive waste from a damaged double-shell tank at Hanford is unacceptable, the state of Washington says. DOE's plan "demonstrates the federal government's lack of commitment to set a firm, near-term schedule for the removal of [radioactive] waste from leaking double-shell Tank AY-102," the state Department of Ecology said in a statement Monday. DOE confirmed in October 2012 that Tank AY-102, the oldest of Hanford's 28 double-shell tanks, had leaked [radioactive] waste from its inner shell. The [radioactive] waste then was in two places in the space between the inner and outer shells, and DOE says no waste has breached the outer shell to reach the soil beneath the underground tank.

Russian Paratroopers Hold Massive Drills as Crimea Vote Nears 11 Mar 2014 An airborne division based in central Russia began large-scale exercises Tuesday against the backdrop of an ongoing political and security crisis in Ukraine. The Defense Ministry said units of the 98th Guards Airborne Division, based in Ivanovo, a city east of Moscow, were put on high alert and moved to unspecified locations to "check readiness" in simulated combat conditions. Four thousand troops, 36 military transport aircraft and an unspecified number of combat vehicles are taking part in the exercises, which will run until March 14.

Bridge scandal hearing draws gaggle of Christie protesters 11 Mar 2014 Today's court hearing on the George Washington Bridge scandal drew more than 50 protesters outside the Mercer County courthouse -- including those who are unhappy with Gov. Chris Christie on other issues. As Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, arrived this morning for her first public appearance since Bridgegate erupted, she had to push past a noisy line of picketers and a crush of cameras. Kelly, a key figure in the controversial lane closures at the bridge last September, was there for a court showdown over whether a state legislative committee investigating the scandal can compel Kelly and Bill Stepien, Christie's former campaign manager, to hand over subpoenaed documents.

Christie bridge scandal hearing begins on fight over subpoenas 11 Mar 2014 Lawyers for a legislative committee and two former advisers to Gov. Chris Christie implicated in the lane closings at the George Washington Bridge tangled today over whether the pair had to turn over records subpoenaed by the panel. "This is not, has not been, and the subpoenas are not fishing expeditions of any sort," Reid Schar, a lawyer for the legislative committee, told Judge Mary Jacobson. But a lawyer for one of the former advisers argued that the committee's assertion that its subpoena was specific enough to identify documents it knew existed was "astonishing."

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Tea Baggers: Incapable of Respect? Disgraceful! Irrational! Sexist!

How long must we endure the Tea Baggers irrationality?




“Let the record show that you can be a United States senator for 21 years. You can be 79 years old. You can be the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and one of the most recognizable and widely-respected veteran public servants in your nation. But if you are female while all of those things, men who you defeat in arguments will still respond to you by calling you hysterical and telling you to calm down. They’ll patronize you and say they admire your passion, ‘sweetie,’ but they deal in facts, not your silly, girly feelings. It’s inescapable. You can set your watch by it.” Rachel Maddow commenting on the scuffle between Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Sen. Ted Cruz this past Thursday. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/vp/51188139#51188139.

“Let the record show that you can be a United States senator for 21 years. You can be 79 years old. You can be the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and one of the most recognizable and widely-respected veteran public servants in your nation. But if you are female while all of those things, men who you defeat in arguments will still respond to you by calling you hysterical and telling you to calm down. They’ll patronize you and say they admire your passion, ‘sweetie,’ but they deal in facts, not your silly, girly feelings. It’s inescapable. You can set your watch by it.” Rachel Maddow commenting on the scuffle between Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Sen. Ted Cruz this past Thursday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/vp/51188139#51188139