41 Comments
Peter Coyote narrates. Ironies abound.
Federal authorities who seized a popular hip-hop music site based on assertions from the Recording Industry Association of America that it was linking to four “pre-release” music tracks gave it back more than a year later without filing civil or criminal charges because of apparent recording industry delays in confirming infringement, according to court records obtained by Wired.
The Los Angeles federal court records, which were unsealed Wednesday at the joint request of Wired, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the First Amendment Coalition, highlight a secret government process in which a judge granted the government repeated time extensions to build a civil or criminal case against Dajaz1.com, one of about 750 domains the government has seized in the last two years in a program known as Operation in Our Sites.
Apparently, however, the RIAA and music labels’ evidence against Dajaz1, a music blog, never came. Or, if it did, it was not enough to build a case and the authorities returned the site nearly 13 months later without explanation or apology.
Cindy Cohn, the EFF’s legal director, said the site’s 13-month seizure by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau highlights the RIAA’s influence over the government. President Barack Obama has tapped at least five former RIAA attorneys for senior positions in the Justice Department.
Executive Producers: Sir Ilan Shemes, Sir Aslak Christensen, Sir Dwayne Melancon, Anthony Montgomery, Aaron Magoffin
Art By: Joe the Dish Slave
Listen to show by clicking ►
Direct link to show.
Show Notes here.
Show forum here.
Sign up for No Agenda Mailing List here.
Sites to consider: No Agenda Nation, No Agenda Films, No Agenda Records
Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, was recently captured on video asserting that there are “78 to 81” Democrats in Congress who are members of the Communist Party. Of course, it’s not unusual for some renegade lawmaker from either side of the aisle to say something outrageous. What made West’s comment — right out of the McCarthyite playbook of the 1950s — so striking was the almost complete lack of condemnation from Republican congressional leaders or other major party figures, including the remaining presidential candidates.
Thinking critically, this should be obvious.
Religious faith is likely a complex phenomenon, shaped by multiple aspects of psychology and culture, say the authors of a new study. But the researchers, Ara Norenzayan and Will Gervais of the University of British Columbia in Canada, showed in a series of clever studies that at least one factor consistently appears to decrease the strength of people’s religious belief: analytic thinking.
[…]
There are surely many factors at play here, but the researchers say their results suggest that one’s style of thought may be a crucial contributor to religious belief. Intuitive thinkers are more likely to be religious; analytical types, less so.
On this first anniversary of the execution of Osama bin Laden we hear the Republicans crying foul because of the Democrats dirty politics. The Democrats have the audacity to run on their accomplishments, Republicans complain. “How dare they! How dare they!”
The reason accomplishments are unfair to Republicans is that they now against accomplishment. They want to distinguish themselves from the “reality based world” and to accomplish something is a sign of weakness. It implies that a reality based world exists and that one should put out and effort to make things better. That is now blasphemy. Instead it’s all about what you believe. And if enough people believe something then it becomes true. The world, for example, used to be flat until enough people believed it was round. The liberals with their science brainwashed us into believing the world is round and so now it is.
The sun may be entering a period of reduced activity that could result in lower temperatures on Earth, according to Japanese researchers. Officials of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the Riken research foundation said on April 19 that the activity of sunspots appeared to resemble a 70-year period in the 17th century in which London’s Thames froze over and cherry blossoms bloomed later than usual in Kyoto. In that era, known as the Maunder Minimum, temperatures are estimated to have been about 2.5 degrees lower than in the second half of the 20th century.
[…]
If that trend continues, the north pole could complete its flip in May 2012 but create a four-pole magnetic structure in the sun, with two new poles created in the vicinity of the equator of our closest star.
YouTube and CBS have disabled embedding, so you will need to click here to watch. Part 1 and Part 2.
Some of the enhanced interrogation techniques apparently were just like exercising (holding your arms over your head for hours) and jet lag (3 day sleep deprivation). It’s a weight loss program, too!
A Californian motorcycle enthusiast has taken legal action after a bike seat gave him long lasting erections.
If you’re in Starbucks and notice a nondescript individual paying for their coffee with cash – watch out. According to the FBI you might have found evidence of a terrorist plot.
A series of fliers distributed to companies around the United States by the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Assistance appear to give workers and business owners exactly this advice. The fliers, as highlighted by the miscellania blog BoingBoing, are intended to help various businesses from hobby shop owners to car rental services identify suspicious people who might be involved in terrorist activity.
They have been collected online by the Public Intelligence collaborative research project, and are not normally released en masse by the FBI.
“Using cash for small purchases like a cup of coffee, gum and other items is a good indication that a person is trying to pass for normal without leaving the kind of paper trail created using a debit or credit card for small purchases.
The most recent update asks coffee shop owners, baristas and other customer-service specialists to be on the lookout for the enemy who walks among us (who evidently has been reanimated from the graves of the 1950s Red Scare era of blacklisting and Communist-baiting or the KGB’s constant witch hunt for capitalist sympathizers or people who resent being witch-hunted for their political beliefs). “
The best part is, we get to pay for this stuff….ya gotta love that.
See more FUD flyers at Public Intelligence.
Executive Producers: Sir S. Russell Williams, Miz Kahn, Dame Astrid Klein, Black Knight Kelly, Keith Bradshaw, Sir A.J. Rystad
Associate Executive Producers: William Baughman, Sean Zinsmeister, Kristina Caldwell
Art By: Nick the Rat
Listen to show by clicking ►
Direct link to show.
Show Notes here.
Show forum here.
Sign up for No Agenda Mailing List here.
Sites to consider: No Agenda Nation, No Agenda Films, No Agenda Records
Support the Blog — Buy This Book!
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
Put this ad on your blog!
Syndicate
Subscribe to Main Blog feed here:
Subscribe to Comments too (below):
Junk Email Filter
