Tuesday December 3rd, 2013
"It Is Not A
Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong
That Counts."
--Geoff
Metcalf
Updated 0948 PST
World
& National
No security ever built into Obamacare site?
Dissecting the critical security problems with the website
Healthcare.gov, with TrustedSec CEO David Kennedy. "It will take a long
time to address some of the critical and high exposures on the website
itself," he says.
It could take a year to secure the risk of "high exposures" of personal
information on the federal Obamacare online exchange, a cybersecurity
expert told CNBC on Monday.
"When you develop a website, you develop it with security in mind. And
it doesn't appear to have happened this time," said David Kennedy, a
so-called "white hat" hacker who tests online security by breaching
websites. He testified on Capitol Hill about the flaws of HealthCare.gov
last week.
FBI impeding inquiry into IRS targeting of conservative groups
The House’s chief investigator says the FBI is stonewalling his inquiry
into whether the agency and the Internal Revenue Service targeted
conservative group True the Vote for special scrutiny, and Rep. Darrell
E. Issa is now threatening subpoenas to pry loose the information from
FBI Director James B. Comey Jr.
Mr. Issa, California Republican, and Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican,
are leading the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s IRS
inquiry. They also said the FBI is refusing to turn over any documents
related to its own investigation into the IRS, which began in the days
after an auditor’s report revealed the tax agency had improperly
targeted tea party groups for special scrutiny.
The hardwired difference between male and female brains could explain why men are 'better at map reading'
And why women are 'better at remembering a conversation'
A pioneering
study has shown for the first time that the brains of men and women are
wired up differently which could explain some of the stereotypical
differences in male and female behaviour, scientists have said.
Researchers
found that many of the connections in a typical male brain run between
the front and the back of the same side of the brain, whereas in women
the connections are more likely to run from side to side between the
left and right hemispheres of the brain.
Obama launches effort aimed at HIV cure
The Obama administration is shifting $100 million into research efforts aimed at curing HIV, President Obama announced Monday.
A new initiative at the National Institutes of Health will be aimed at
"advanc[ing] research toward an HIV cure," Obama said at a White House
event marking World AIDS Day, which was Sunday.
The initiative is aimed at developing "new therapies," he said. "The
United States should be at the forefront of the discoveries how to put
HIV in long-term remission without requiring lifelong therapies. Or,
better yet, eliminate it completely."
Judge Allows Detroit Bankruptcy to Go Forward
The struggling metropolis of Detroit, overwhelmed by debt and groping
for a path forward, on Tuesday became the largest American city ever to
qualify for bankruptcy protection.
In his ruling, Judge Steven W. Rhodes of the United States Bankruptcy
Court, found that Detroit was insolvent and that the pension checks of
retirees could be cut during a bankruptcy proceeding, a crucial part of
his decision.
Latest Obamacare Glitch: Third of Enrollees May Not Get Insurance
Up to a third of the 149,000 Obamacare enrollees – 44,700 people – may
not actually have health insurance come Jan. 1 even though
HealthCare.gov accepted their applications and confirmed coverage.
In yet another mea culpa, administration officials have acknowledged
that people “might not be officially signed up with their selected
issuer, even if the website has told them they are,” ABC News reports.
Under the terms of the Affordable Care Act, consumers are not
considered to have coverage until they have paid at least the first
monthly premium.
Kissinger, Shultz: Judgde Iranian Progress on Change, not Tone
The
temporary deal struck with Iran to freeze or scale back parts of its
nuclear program in exchange for lifting some economic sanctions will be
meaningless if a firm and final deal is not reached quickly, say former
U.S. secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz.
“Standing by itself, the interim agreement leaves Iran, hopefully only
temporarily, in the position of a nuclear-threshold power — a country
that can achieve a military nuclear capability within months of its
choosing to do so,” the two write in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “A
final agreement leaving this threshold capacity unimpaired would
institutionalize the Iranian nuclear threat, with profound consequences
for global nonproliferation policy and the stability of the Middle
East."
Sequester Causing Lasting Damage to Defense
The 29 members of the House-Senate budget conference committee are at
work as they seek to reconcile differences between their respective
budgets. They face a Dec. 13 deadline.
Members have warned that nobody should expect a grand bargain out of the
conference. The Defense Department and industry are hoping for a delay
to sequestration, so that a return to regular order — that is, real
budgets — can permit rational planning. The delay would allow government
agencies and contractors to attain a more reasonable and doable glide
slope. As things stand now, sequester has been a disaster, but one that
promises to grow much worse.
Aside from the obvious adverse impact to investment accounts and
programs, near term readiness rates are approaching dangerously low
levels.
Guardian: We Have Published 1% of Snowden Leak
The editor of
The Guardian says his newspaper has published just 1 percent of the
material it received from former National Security Agency contractor
Edward Snowden.
Alan Rusbridger is being questioned Monday by Parliament's home affairs committee as part of a session on counter-terrorism.
The Guardian
has published a series of stories based on Snowden's leaks disclosing
the scale of surveillance by spy agencies in the United States and
Britain.
Rusbridger said the leak amounted to about 58,000 files.
113th 'Broken' Congress Least Productive in History
The 113th
Congress has passed only 55 laws this year, making it the least
productive in history, due to the partisan stalemate over spending and
other issues, according to The New York Times.
In their
defense, House Republican leaders say 149 bills sent to the Senate this
year still are awaiting action, including a number that have bipartisan
support such as the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
For its part,
the Democratic-controlled Senate has sent the House a massive farm
bill, a comprehensive immigration-reform measure, and an Internet sales
tax provision that are awaiting action.
Supreme Court Declines Case on Making Retailers Collect Taxes
On perhaps the
busiest online shopping day of the year, the Supreme Court refused on
Monday to wade into a dispute over state sales taxes on purchases on
websites like Amazon.com, an outcome likely to prompt more states to
attempt to collect taxes on Internet sales.
It's part of a
furious battle — also including legislation in Congress — among
Internet sellers, millions of buyers, aggrieved brick-and-mortar stores
and states hungry for billions of dollars in extra tax revenue.
Zucker: CNN Needs More Attitude, Less News
CNN boss Jeff Zucker has big plans for the 24-hour news network that involve less news and more "attitude."
"We're all
regurgitating the same information," the CNN Worldwide president told
Capital New York. "I want people to say, 'You know what? That was
interesting. I hadn't thought of that.
"The goal for the next six months is that we need more shows and less newscasts," he said.
The Next GOP Crackup?
Republican spenders want to break the annual budget caps.
The ObamaCare
rollout has handed Republicans a remarkable gift, and they are now
ahead in the polls for which party should run Congress. The main
obstacle to GOP political gains in 2014 would be another stupid, futile
budget standoff—and Republicans are just the party to try.
This time the
insurrection isn't coming from the Heritage Foundation-tea party
caucus, but from defense hawks and appropriators who want to break the
annual spending caps in current law. This would be another act of
political masochism, handing budget leverage to Senate Democrats and
frustrating the GOP's fiscal conservative base.
Economic Populism Is a Dead End for Democrats
The de Blasio-Warren agenda won't travel. Colorado is the real political harbinger.
If you talk to
leading progressives these days, you'll be sure to hear this message:
The Democratic Party should embrace the economic populism of New York
Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Such economic populism, they argue, should be the guiding star for
Democrats heading into 2016. Nothing would be more disastrous for
Democrats.
While New
Yorkers think of their city as the center of the universe, the last
time its mayor won a race for governor or senator—let alone
president—was 1869. For the past 144 years, what has happened in the
Big Apple stayed in the Big Apple. Some liberals believe Sen. Warren
would be the Democratic Party's strongest presidential candidate in
2016. But what works in midnight-blue Massachusetts—a state that has
had a Republican senator for a total of 152 weeks since 1979—hasn't
sold on a national level since 1960.
Medal of
Honor
The
Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action
against an
enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving
in the
Armed Services of the United States.
GeneTrerally presented
to its recipient by the President of the
United States of America in the name of Congress.
The
first award of the Medal of Honor was made March 25, 1863 to
Private
JACOB PARROTT.The last award of the Medal of Honor was made
September 15, 2011
to Sergeant DAKOTA MEYER.
Since
then there have been: •
3458 recipients of the Medal of Honor.
•
Today there are 85 Living Recipients of the
Medal of Honor.
CSM Jon R. Caviani
UNITED STATES ARMY
CAVAIANI, JON R.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Vietnam
Training
Advisory Group, Republic of Vietnam. Place and date: Republic of
Vietnam, 4 and 5 June 1971. Entered service at: Fresno, Calif.
Born: 2
August 1943, Royston, England. Citation: S/Sergeant.
Cavaiani distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and
intrepidity
at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action
in the
Republic of Vietnam on 4 and 5 June 1971 while serving as a
platoon
leader to a security platoon providing security for an isolated
radio
relay site located within enemy-held territory. On the morning
of 4
June 1971, the entire camp came under an intense barrage of
enemy small
arms, automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenade and mortar
fire from
a superior size enemy force. S/Sergeant. Cavaiani acted with
complete
disregard for his personal safety as he repeatedly exposed
himself to
heavy enemy fire in order to move about the camp's perimeter
directing
the platoon's fire and rallying the platoon in a desperate fight
for
survival. S/Sergeant. Cavaiani also returned heavy suppressive
fire
upon the assaulting enemy force during this period with a
variety of
weapons. When the entire platoon was to be evacuated,
S/Sergeant.
Cavaiani unhesitatingly volunteered to remain on the ground and
direct
the helicopters into the landing zone. S/Sergeant. Cavaiani was
able to
direct the first 3 helicopters in evacuating a major portion of
the
platoon. Due to intense increase in enemy fire, S/Sergeant.
Cavaiani
was forced to remain at the camp overnight where he calmly
directed the
remaining platoon members in strengthening their defenses. On
the
morning of S June, a heavy ground fog restricted visibility. The
superior size enemy force launched a major ground attack in an
attempt
to completely annihilate the remaining small force. The enemy
force
advanced in 2 ranks, first firing a heavy volume of small arms
automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade fire while the
second
rank continuously threw a steady barrage of hand grenades at the
beleaguered force. S/Sergeant. Cavaiani returned a heavy barrage
of
small arms and hand grenade fire on the assaulting enemy force
but was
unable to slow them down. He ordered the remaining platoon
members to
attempt to escape while he provided them with cover fire. With 1
last
courageous exertion, S/Sergeant. Cavaiani recovered a machine
gun,
stood up, completely exposing himself to the heavy enemy fire
directed
at him, and began firing the machine gun in a sweeping motion
along the
2 ranks of advancing enemy soldiers. Through S/Sergeant.
Cavaiani's
valiant efforts with complete disregard for his safety, the
majority of
the remaining platoon members were able to escape. While
inflicting
severe losses on the advancing enemy force, S/Sergeant. Cavaiani
was
wounded numerous times. S/Sergeant. Cavaiani's conspicuous
gallantry,
extraordinary heroism and intrepidity at the risk of his life,
above
and beyond the call of duty, were in keeping with the highest
traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon
himself and the U.S. Army.
