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If only Andrew Stanton's John Carter had sneaked into the multiplex with its mostly shirtless Earth-man hero (Taylor Kitsch) fighting fourarmed green dudes and assorted hairy apes from Mars, audiences might have given it a pass as the mildly entertaining, old-school adventure it is.

 But nooo! John Carter, a post-Civil War-era Confederate soldier from Virginia who finds himself zapped onto the red planet (called Barsoom instead of Mars), must face a deadlier enemy than author Edgar Rice Burroughs could have dreamed up when he created the character 100 years ago. I'm talking about the toxic buzz that has curled around the movie before anyone had seen it. How dare it cost so much money ($250 million)! How dare Stanton think he can switch from animation (WALL-E, Finding Nemo) to directing live actors! How dare they rip off Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Avatar? (Hey, haters: Burroughs got there first.)

 My advice? Shut out the noise and just watch the movie. For all the bumps in the narrative, concocted by Stanton, Mark Andrews and novelist Michael Chabon, and less-than-stellar 3D effects, John Carter exerts the pull of a tall tale told by a campfire. Stanton takes his time to show us how life lost meaning for Captain Carter after the war. And the Canadian Kitsch, so fine as the alcoholic bad boy on Friday Night Lights, brings a bruised heart and welcome gravity to a role a lesser actor might have turned into heroic cardboard. It's fun to watch JC find that the atmosphere on Mars allows him to leap around like a human shot put. And though it's shameless to give JC a mutt as a protector, Woola – the toothy, 10-legged lizard dog – is a beauty of a beast. Uggie from The Artist needs to watch his back.

 I've been avoiding the plot, since its convolutions are headspinning. Burroughs, who later created Tarzan, wrote 11 books on Carter. You may leave this movie never knowing the difference between a Thark and a Thern. Willem Dafoe's matchless growl enlivens Tars Tarkas, a 10-foot-tall Thark who befriends JC. And Mark Strong, as the shapeshifting Matai Shang, is one wily Thern. But you will know that JC truly loves Dejah Thoris (the excellent Lynn Collins), a defiant princess who won't stand behind any man in a fight. John Carter bites off more than even Woola can chew, but it's built on something rare: wonder instead of Hollywood cynicism. ||||| The mess that is "John Carter" is signaled early on when our hero finds himself on a strange planet that literally puts a bounce in his step. Why, he could leap tall buildings in a single bound. Instead, John, played with chest-baring kitsch by "Friday Night Lights" Taylor Kitsch , ends up sprawled on his face, eating a lot of dirt.Sadly, John's problems are "John Carter's" problems, it's just that while our hero eventually figures out how to stop falling down, the movie never does. "John Carter" is the latest version of a long and rich Hollywood tradition: The big-budget (a reported $250-million-plus) fiasco. It's enough to make your jaw drop.That "John Carter" is so hit and miss, and miss, and miss is unfortunate on any number of levels. It starts with a great story — of love and politics, time travel and mystical pathways between planets — badly sucked dry. Based on "A Princess of Mars," the post-Civil War/pre-Tarzan brainchild of arguably one of the most entertaining non-Disney imagineers of all times, Edgar Rice Burroughs , the book and the Barsoom (a.k.a. Mars) series that would follow has been picked over for plot points by Hollywood for years.So what will feel like ideas stolen from other movies in "John Carter" (echoes of " Star Wars ," "Star Trek," Superman ," to name just a few),is really more a case of going back to the source. But just as you can't put Pandora back in the box, filmmaker Andrew Stanton can't find a way to make Burroughs' now-familiar fantasy themes feel fresh.Stanton, who directed and shares writing credit with Mark Andrews and novelist Michael Chabon , is a Pixar veteran who won an Oscar for 2004's "Finding Nemo" and another for 2008's " Wall-E ," both wonderful mixes of fun and fantasy. But in making the move from animation to live action, he never finds his footing. There is much more heart in "Wall-E's" junkyard robot and in the merest flick of Nemo's fin than you'll find in all of Barsoom with its dying-planet woes, warring factions, beautiful warrior princess and brazen four-armed green alien savages, despite its fantastic look.The film starts playfully and promisingly in some dusty Western outpost on planet Earth with John, a former Southern Civil War hero, conscripted by the cavalry to help tame the badlands and the Indian tribes. Or at least they try, making for one of the film's funnier bits, because John has other things on his mind. Soon both he and we will be transported to Barsoom (Mars to both John and to us) with the help of a cheesy-looking medallion. Getting back is even weirder, what with the chanting that's required to activate some not-so-special special effects.There is a glimpse of the red planet's issues before John gets involved, starting with a raging battle with very cool spaceships that look like ancient sailing vessels plucked out of the sea. It serves to introduce the chief villain, a fierce Zodanga fighter named Sab Than ( Dominic West ), and the difficulties that ultimately undo the writers: How to fill in a complex back story for newcomers without boring fans.Sab is just the beginning of Barsoom's problems. It turns out that he's under the control of the shape-shifting, agenda-setting immortal Therns, with Matai Shang ( Mark Strong ) the main man of action here. Meanwhile, Sab is out to crush the residents of Helium, the smart, peaceful set, with the first step to marry their beloved princess, Dejah Thoris ( Lynn Collins ). Then there are the Tharks, multi-armed green savages riding around in their loincloths, staging barbaric arena-style spectacles and waiting for Helium and Zodanga to destroy each other. And you thought our planet was in trouble.Once John does land, dazed and confused, on a Martian desert, he's captured by Thark leader Tars Tarkas ( Willem Dafoe ). Tars is entertained enough by John's jumping that he saves him, and soon John's fate is tied to another Thark, Sola ( Samantha Morton ), something of a rule-breaker herself. Eventually circumstance will throw John in Dejah's path, sparks will fly, sort of, plans will be hatched, and so on.All of the intrigues play out against an exceptionally fine background, from the cave dwellings of the Tharks, whose misunderstanding of John's name provides the film its best running gag, to the towering spires of Helium. Barsoom's barren wasteland is a terrific visual staging ground for the many battles to come and where Stanton's strengths come to the surface. The action itself is intricate but ultimately not that satisfying since, even as guns blaze, there is never a feeling of real jeopardy.Kitsch, who has brought so many moods and so much swagger to his football bad boy in "Friday Night Lights," simply fades here. When John should overpower not only his enemies but that very big screen, it never happens. Meanwhile, Collins ( "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" ) is much better when she's armed and dangerous than when she's smitten. All of which leaves "John Carter" in serious need of someone, something, to really root for other than this two-hour-plus film to finally end. ||||| John Carter

 March 7, 2012

 Cast & Credits John Carter Taylor Kitsch

 Dejah Thoris Lynn Collins

 Tars Tarkas Willem Dafoe

 Tal Hajus Thomas Haden Church

 Sola Samantha Morton

 Sab Than Dominic West

 Tardos Mors Ciaran Hinds

 Disney presents a film directed by Andrew Stanton. Written by Stanton and Mark Andrews, based on the story “A Princessof Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Running time: 132 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action). Printer-friendly »

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 I don't see any way to begin a review of "John Carter" without referring to "Through Time and Space With Ferdinand Feghoot." That was a series of little stories that appeared in the magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction from 1956 to 1973 and had a great influence on my development as a critic. In one of the Feghoot adventures, the hero finds himself on Mars and engaged in bloody swordplay. He is sliced in the leg. Then in the other leg. Then an arm is hacked off. "To hell with this," Feghoot exclaims, unholstering his ray gun and vaporizing his enemies.

 I may have one or two details wrong, but you understand the point: When superior technology is at hand, it seems absurd for heroes to limit themselves to swords. When airships the size of a city block can float above a battle, why handicap yourself with cavalry charges involving lumbering alien rhinos? When it is possible to teleport yourself from Earth to Mars, why are you considered extraordinary because you can jump really high?

 Such questions are never asked in the world of "John Carter," and as a result, the movie is more Western than science fiction. Even if we completely suspend our disbelief and accept the entire story at face value, isn't it underwhelming to spend so much time looking at hand-to-hand combat when there are so many neat toys and gadgets to play with?

 But I must not review a movie that wasn't made. What we have here is a rousing boy's adventure story, adapted from stories that Edgar Rice Burroughs cranked out for early pulp magazines. They lacked the visceral appeal of his Tarzan stories, which inspired an estimated 89 movies; amazingly, this is the first John Carter movie, but it is intended to foster a franchise and will probably succeed.

 Burroughs' hero is a Civil War veteran who finds himself in the Monument Valley, where he has an encounter that transports him to the red planet Mars. This is not the Mars that NASA's Rovers are poking into, but the Mars envisioned at the time Burroughs was writing, which the astronomer Percival Lowell claimed was criss-crossed by a system of canals. Luckily for Carter, it has an atmosphere that he can breathe and surface temperatures allowing him do without a shirt. In a delightful early scene, he finds that his Earth muscles allow him great leaps and bounds in the lower Martian gravity.

 This attracts the attention of the inhabitants of Mars, represented by two apparently human cities at war with each other, and a native race called the Tharks, who look like a vague humanoid blend of weird green aliens from old covers of Thrilling Wonder Stories. They have four arms, and it was a great disappointment to me that we never saw a Thark putting on a shirt. John Carter feels an immediate affinity for the Tharks and also gets recruited into the war of the cities — choosing the side with a fiery beauty named Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins, who is the movie's best character).

 John Carter is played by Taylor Kitsch, who co-starred with Collins in "Wolverine." Yes, I agree Kitsch is a curious name for a star in action movies. Still, that is his real name, and one can wonder how many fans of "Wolverine," for example, are familiar with the word or its meaning. As an actor, he is perfectly serviceable as a sword-wielding, rhino-riding savior of planets.

 The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, whose credits include "A Bug's Life" (1998), "Finding Nemo" (2003) and "WALL-E" (2008). All three have tight, well-structured plots, and that's what "John Carter" could use more of. The action sequences are generally well-executed, but they're too much of a muchness. CGI makes them seem too facile and not tactile enough. Although I liked the scene where Carter was getting his Mars legs with his first low-gravity steps, the sight of him springing into the air like a jumping jack could inspire bad laughs.

 Does "John Carter" get the job done for the weekend action audience? Yes, I suppose it does. The massive city on legs that stomps across the landscape is well-done. The Tharks are ingenious, although I'm not sure why they need tusks. Lynn Collins makes a terrific heroine. And I enjoyed the story outside the story, about how Burroughs wrote a journal about what he saw and appears briefly as character. He may even turn up in sequels. After all, he wrote some. |||||

– John Carter was burdened by production drama and bad press about its giant budget; now critics are getting a chance to see what the fuss was all about. It's no great work of art, but the story of a Civil War veteran turned Martian hero is reasonably exciting, they say: In Slate, Dana Stevens calls the film "a strange, at times misshapen, but somehow lovable thing: a movie that keeps trying to be smaller and simpler than its $250 million special-effects budget will permit." Its best moments are simply as a "bare-bones space western," but there aren't enough of those moments. Roger Ebert calls the movie a "rousing boy's adventure story" that "will probably succeed" at generating a franchise. Does it "get the job done for the weekend action audience? Yes, I suppose it does," he writes in the Chicago Sun-Times. "For all the bumps in the narrative ... and less-than-stellar 3D effects, John Carter exerts the pull of a tall tale told by a campfire," notes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. But in the Los Angeles Times, Betsy Sharkey can't forgive the movie's flaws. She calls it "hit and miss, and miss, and miss," noting that it's "the latest version of a long and rich Hollywood tradition: the big-budget fiasco. It's enough to make your jaw drop."


By

 GQ recently unveiled its list of the 50 Most Powerful People in Washington, a look at who's up in the nation's status-obsessed capital. But power is fluid in Washington, and it's wielded in ever-changing ways, from the city's establishment bosses to its hungry young strivers. So now we're bringing you the most powerful person in D.C. this week (and the least powerful): a mini-guide to the players in American politics and why they matter now.

 Most Powerful Person in Politics: Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State

 Those who doubt Hillary's viability in 2016 should take note of the viral meme "Texts From Hillary." It's a Tumblr that pairs a photo of HRC looking like a boss on a C-17 with even more boss quotes, retweeted ad infinitum this week. How much do Washington women love the texts? "For attribution: omgsomuch," EMILY's List spokesperson Jess McIntosh emails. "It's just the idea that Hillary is a force to be reckoned with, and she is still very relevant among Americans," says Stacy Lambe, one of D.C.'s young communications professionals who came up with the idea with a friend over drinks last week. "We just captured on a simple idea about who she is, this whole 'head bitch, in-charge, badass' image that the photo itself demonstrated and we just had fun with that. It wasn't a commentary on anything, but the success might be due to the fact that there's this appreciation for her that has grown since she took over as Secretary of State. I think people have learned to appreciate who she is and value her again."

  ||||| Clinton: Stop talking.

 Worried woman: It’s 3 a.m. and I think something’s happening.

 Clinton: On it.

 Like most Internet sensations, the “Texts from Hillary” took a winding path from artifact to thing. When the photo first appeared last fall, a blogger from Reuters suggested that it made Clinton look bad: stuck on a plane, overloaded with work, falling asleep in her chair. “Quick quiz,” he wrote. “You realize your job may sort of suck if you . . . are trying to read your PDA with your sunglasses on.”

 But when the photo turned up, inexplicably, on his Facebook feed last week, Adam Smith saw it differently. Smith, 29, who works for a campaign-finance nonprofit in Washington, D.C., reposted the shot on Twitter with a comment along the lines of, “Have you seen how fierce Hillary is in this picture?”

 Last Wednesday at a bar, Smith showed the photo to his friend Stacy Lambe, 26, who works for a D.C. communications firm. “I said, ‘Have you seen this Hillary picture? I think we could make a meme out of it’ ” Smith told me by phone. “And he said, ‘Texts from Hillary.’ And I said, ‘Done.’ ” They went home and started a Tumblr blog, and before long, people were sending suggestions of their own.

 Nearly every contribution falls along the same theme: Hillary’s not beleaguered, she’s in charge. This is the story the photo tells. The frown makes her seem impatient. The sunglasses make her look aloof, but also glamorous. Gone are the man’s-world accessories, the pantsuit and masculine haircut. Secretary Clinton is a woman, comfortably feminine, with long blonde hair, a chunky necklace, a giant broach.

 And, crucially, she’s texting. In an age of impersonal communications, there’s no medium more distant or nonchalant. Texting requires no utterance, no grammar, no coherent thought, and barely any physical effort. (The other day, a friend texted me: “k.” I knew what she meant.) To send a text is to say, “I’m sending you this message with my thumbs. That’s all you get of me.” ||||| It’s been an overwhelming–and hilarious–week for us here at Texts from Hillary (TFH). What started as a joke at the bar between two friends turned into a national conversation about Secretary Clinton and went as far as talks about 2016.

 After a week that included 32 posts, 83,000 shares on Facebook, 8,400 Twitter followers, over 45K Tumblr followers, news stories around the world, Renee Montagne from Morning Edition saying “ROFL,” a Maureen Dowd column, and a tweet from ?uest Love, we think it’s time to stop while we are ahead.

 As far as memes go – it has gone as far as it can go. Is it really possible to top a submission from the Secretary herself? No. But then when you get to text with her in real life – it’s just over. At least for us. But we have no doubt it will live on with all of you on the Internet.

 The site will stay up but we won’t be posting anything new here. You can follow us on Twitter (@ASmith83, @Sllambe) and Tumblr (Stacy at ImWithKanye and Adam’s work account, Public Campaign Action Fund).

 Thanks for all the LOLz. We truly appreciate all the support.

 It turns out that memes really do come true.

 -Stacy and Adam ||||| So it's week two and we're still talking about Texts From Hillary, the simple-yet-brilliant meme started by D.C.-based communications professionals Stacy Lambe and Adam Smith.

 Here's why it works: Most memes make fun of their subjects. This one is all about respect. As Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal said yesterday, Hillary Clinton is "one of the few people who is in the Obama administration whose reputation from her work there has been enhanced as opposed to roughened." Where Obama, Biden, Gates, Geithner et al have suffered gray hairs and waning enthusiasm, Clinton — who entered the administration as Obama's graying runner-up — has undergone a reinvention and seems more powerful and unflappable than ever.

 Two takes from today:

 Benjy Sarlin, Talking Points Memo:

 Her 2008 campaign, which once seemed a cautionary tale about hubris, looks at least somewhat better with age. Obama touted a unifying national message in his run against Clinton, suggesting that Clinton’s scars from decades of battling Republicans would make it difficult to ever be effective in the White House. Now Obama’s post-partisan vision has given way to a tough dogfight of a general election in which he’s running against the intransigent Republican party’s “thinly veiled social Darwinism.” And Clinton’s popularity — including with Republicans — has never been higher, prompting yet another boomlet of interest in a 2016 presidential run.

 Marin Cogan, GQ's Death Race 2012: ||||| What a difference four years makes: When she was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton was parodied as drab and calculated, especially compared with young and vigorous Barack Obama and winking and fresh-faced Sarah Palin. Now, she’s fueling Internet jokes based on her own brand of badass cool.

 More than just an image rebound, Clinton is enjoying a genuine resurgence.

 Her 2008 campaign, which once seemed a cautionary tale about hubris, looks at least somewhat better with age. Obama touted a unifying national message in his run against Clinton, suggesting that Clinton’s scars from decades of battling Republicans would make it difficult to ever be effective in the White House.

 Now Obama’s post-partisan vision has given way to a tough dogfight of a general election in which he’s running against the intransigent Republican party’s “thinly veiled social Darwinism.” And Clinton’s popularity — including with Republicans — has never been higher, prompting yet another boomlet of interest in a 2016 presidential run.

 Part of this is the nature of her position. The secretary of State has traditionally been an apolitical figure and, consequently, those who have held the position have often enjoyed higher approval ratings than their boss. Clinton has held fast to this tradition and avoided injecting herself into the day’s hot-button issues. There are some occasional exceptions — last month she told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that she was glad to see Rush Limbaugh’s screed against law student Sandra Fluke draw widespread condemnation.

 Still, given how well established — and polarizing — a political figure Clinton was considered prior to her appointment compared to many of her predecessors, the scale of her popularity is impressive. A recent Gallup poll showed her favorability rating reach new heights at 66 percent, including 40 percent of Republicans who view her positively, an astronomical figure for a prominent Democrat these days. From the public’s perspective, it’s clear that she’s settled easily into a behind-the-scenes role as a loyal and competent secretary of State.

 Her lower visibility seems to have created some pent-up demand from her fans, though. This week a website “Texts From Hillary” created by two supporters, Stacy Lambe and Adam Smith, exploded on the Internet, generating tens of thousands of links on Facebook and Tumblr in its first 24 hours. The site features several two-panel gags that show Clinton on her Blackberry, clad in shades on a military jet, purportedly texting with various political and pop culture figures, from Condoleezza Rice to Ryan Gosling.

 Clinton’s cold, relentless style was considered one of her biggest vulnerabilities, forming the basis for parodies of her on “Saturday Night Live” and attracting a number of sexist jabs from pundits. By the end of her campaign, however, she had drawn considerable respect even from many critics for her toughness and resolve during a long and difficult primary. Lambe told TPM he was hoping to capture this trait in his site.

 “That photo just captures how people tried to make her out to be a bitch when she’s actually the head bitch in charge,” Lambe said. “Ever since she was appointed secretary of State there’s been a renewed appreciation for Hillary.”

 As for the idea for the initial two-panel gag, “the alcohol helped,” said Smith.

 It’s no accident that the notion of Clinton as the peak of steady competence has proven so resonant. Phil Singer, a spokesman for her 2008 presidential campaign, told TPM Clinton’s recent success follows a consistent trend in which she is best regarded when working on policy instead of politics. Before her 2008 run, for example, Clinton was an extremely popular senator both in New York and among her colleagues.

 “When people see her doing her job and not getting involved with the back-and-forth, they’re happy,” Singer said, acknowledging that it was “ironic” given her highly political roles as First Lady, a tough Senate candidate in 2000 and an even tougher presidential candidate in 2008.

 The fact that she’s kept her hands clean during an incredibly tense three-year standoff between the White House and national Republicans may also artificially boost her standing as voters imagine what could have been if she had won the nomination.

 “Some people’s views on her may be reflective of the fact people had higher hopes for Obama,” Republican strategist Liz Mair said, “and its sort of evened out so she looks better by comparison.”

 Not surprisingly, the 2016 speculation that began even before the 2008 election ended is worming its way back into the press in a major way. Plenty of Democrats are hoping she’ll run again, with Nancy Pelosi declaring just last week that she should consider waging another bid.

 Clinton has mostly avoided the topic, though she’s hinted that her political days may be behind her at this point. She would be 69 on inauguration day, 2017.

 “I believe that she’s being absolutely honest with you when she says she doesn’t think she’ll go back into politics,” Bill Clinton told ABC News recently. “But if she comes home and we do this foundation stuff for the rest of our lives, I’ll be happy; if she changes her mind and decides to run, I’ll be happy.”

 Were Clinton to run she would almost certainly shed a significant amount of her current popularity with the right as soon as she seized a partisan mantle again. But her impressive tenure as secretary of State in a difficult transition period from the tumultuous Bush era would only boost her core appeal as the party’s most battle-tested heavyweight. One need only look to the equivalent time period in the 2004 presidential cycle to underscore how unpredictable things are in politics — Barack Obama was a virtually unknown state senator then, and George Allen was widely considered the man to beat on the Republican side.

 Benjy Sarlin Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun. |||||

Write a summary.

– The latest meme to take the Internet by storm also might just indicate a Clinton renaissance: Texts From Hillary features imagined conversations between Clinton and pretty much anyone—other politicians, Sarah Palin, Mark Zuckerberg, Jay-Z—using a photo of Clinton taken last fall on a flight to Tripoli, in which she looks particularly badass in sunglasses while, apparently, texting. Sample line, from Clinton to John Boehner: "Baby in the room next to me at the hotel wouldn't stop crying last night. Thought of you. LMAO." Interestingly, when the now-iconic photo first appeared, a Reuters blogger noted that it was unflattering to Clinton, reports the Boston Globe, making her look tired and overworked. But when Adam Smith saw it recently, he thought she looked "fierce," shared the photo with a friend, and started the Tumblr account. Now, people are sending in their own suggestions for imaginary conversations, all of them featuring a take-charge Clinton. A few reactions from around the WWW: "More than just an image rebound, Clinton is enjoying a genuine resurgence," writes Benjy Sarlin on Talking Points Memo. Four years ago, her "cold, relentless style was considered one of her biggest vulnerabilities," but now people respect it. In fact, this meme "is all about respect," notes Dylan Byers on Politico. "Where Obama, Biden, Gates, Geithner, et al have suffered gray hairs and waning enthusiasm, Clinton … has undergone a reinvention and seems more powerful and unflappable than ever." "Gone are the man’s-world accessories, the pantsuit and masculine haircut," notes Joanna Weiss in the Globe. "Secretary Clinton is a woman, comfortably feminine, with long blonde hair, a chunky necklace, a giant brooch." The popularity of the meme proves that Hillary could be a contender in 2016, adds Marin Cogan in GQ. Check out the Tumblr in full here.


News article:

The political party led by the former cricket star Imran Khan claims to have blown the cover of the CIA's most senior officer in Pakistan as part of an increasingly high-stakes campaign against US drone strikes.

 The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party named a man it claimed was head of the CIA station in Islamabad in a letter to police demanding he be nominated as one of the people responsible for a drone strike on 21 November, which killed five militants including senior commanders of the Haqqani Network.

 John Brennan, the CIA director, was also nominated as an "accused person" for murder and "waging war against Pakistan".

 The US embassy said it could not comment but was looking into the matter. The CIA spokesman Dean Boyd would not confirm the station chief's name and declined to immediately comment, AP reported.

 If his identity is confirmed it will be the second time anti-drone campaigners have unmasked a top US spy in Pakistan.

 In 2010 another CIA station chief, Jonathan Banks, was named in criminal proceedings initiated after a drone strike. Banks was forced to leave the country.

 As with the Banks case, questions will be raised about how the PTI came to know the identity of the top US intelligence official in the country.

 Although nearly all foreign spies in Pakistan use diplomatic cover stories to hide their occupation, many, including station chiefs, are declared to the country's domestic spy agency.

 The letter signed by the PTI spokeswoman Shireen Mazari demanded the named agent be prevented from leaving the country so that he could be arrested. The PTI said it hoped he would reveal "through interrogation" the names of the remote pilots who operated the drone.

 "CIA station chief is not a diplomatic post, therefore he does not enjoy any diplomatic immunity and is within the bounds of domestic laws of Pakistan," the letter said.

 The accusation comes at a time when drones have once again become a matter of intense controversy in Pakistan.

 The country's interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar, denounced a drone strike in early November. Although the attack killed the much hated chief of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, Nisar said it had wrecked the government's efforts to hold peace talks with militant groups.

 And it infuriated Khan, who has built much of his political platform around opposition to drones, which he claims are largely responsible for the upsurge of domestic terrorism in Pakistan in recent years – a suggestion disputed by many experts.

 The 21 November strike was even more provocative as it was one of the first ever strikes outside the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where nearly all attacks by the unmanned aircraft have taken place in the past.

 The attack on a religious seminary associated with the Haqqani Network was in Hangu, an area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province where Khan's PTI leads a coalition government.

 Khan responded with a massive rally in the provincial capital of Peshawar and ordered PTI activists to block vehicles carrying supplies to Nato troops in Afghanistan.

 However, party workers have struggled to identify Nato cargo amid all the sealed containers plying the roads to Afghanistan. The exercise has received no support from the national government and the police have tried to stop PTI workers blocking lorries. ||||| A political party opposed to U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan revealed what it said was the name of the top CIA spy in the country on Wednesday and called for him and the head of the agency to be tried for a recent missile strike.

 Shireen Mazari, information secretary of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, shows a document during a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013. A political party opposed to U.S.... (Associated Press)

 Supporters of Tehreek-e-Insaf or Movement for Justice party chant anti-U.S. slogans during a rally in Peshawar, Pakistan, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013. Thousands of people protesting U.S. drone strikes blocked... (Associated Press)

 A Pakistani man walks by a truck carrying NATO military vehicles at a terminal in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013. Trucks carrying NATO troop supplies to Afghanistan remained stuck in Pakistan... (Associated Press)

 Supporters of Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf party, headed by cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, wave their party's flag while burning a representation of a U.S. flag during a protest against U.S. drone... (Associated Press)

 CIA spokesman Dean Boyd would not confirm the Islamabad station chief's name and declined to immediately comment. The Associated Press is not publishing the name given by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party because it could not verify its authenticity.

 It was the second time in recent years that Pakistanis opposed to drone strikes targeting Islamic militants have claimed to have revealed the identity of the top CIA spy in the country. The missile attacks have become an increasing source of tension between the U.S. and Pakistan, but Washington has shown no willingness to stop them.

 Shireen Mazari, the information secretary for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, called for the current station chief and CIA director John Brennan to be tried for murder and waging war against Pakistan in connection with a drone strike in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Nov. 21. She claimed the station chief did not enjoy diplomatic immunity.

 Mazari said in a news conference that the strike on an Islamic seminary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Hangu district "killed and injured a large number of those present, including children."

 But Pakistani intelligence officials say the attack killed five Afghan militants, one of whom was a deputy to the leader of one of the most dangerous groups fighting American troops in Afghanistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

 The Hangu district police chief, Iftikhar Ahmad, said at the time that no one was seriously wounded in the attack.

 The strike was one of the first to take place outside of Pakistan's remote tribal region and outraged members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which controls the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

 The party is led by cricket star Imran Khan, who has been an especially vocal critic of drone strikes. He and other Pakistani officials publicly criticize the strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty, although the government secretly supported some past attacks. They also say the strikes kill too many civilians.

 Human rights organizations say the attacks have killed hundreds of civilians. The U.S. rarely discusses the covert CIA drone program in Pakistan, but officials have insisted the civilian casualty figures are much lower.

 Khan's party pledged on Saturday to block trucks carrying NATO troop supplies to and from Afghanistan until the U.S. stopped drone attacks. Protesters stopped trucks and roughed up drivers before the police intervened to stop them. The NATO supply trucks remain stuck though because transportation officials are still worried about what protesters will do.

 The CIA pulled its top spy out of Pakistan in December 2010 after a Pakistani lawsuit accused him of killing civilians in drone strikes. The lawsuit listed a name lawyers said was the station chief, but the AP learned at the time it was not correct. Nevertheless, the CIA pulled out of the country after militants threatened to kill him.

 It's rare for a CIA station chief to see his cover blown. In 1999, an Israeli newspaper revealed the identity of the station chief in Tel Aviv. In 2001, an Argentine newspaper printed a picture of the Buenos Aires station chief and details about him. In both instances, the station chiefs were recalled to the U.S.

 The CIA's work is unusually difficult in Pakistan, one of the United States' most important and at times frustrating counterterrorism allies.

 The station chief in Islamabad operates as a secret general in the U.S. war against terrorism. He runs the Predator drone program targeting terrorists, handles some of the CIA's most urgent and sensitive tips and collaborates closely with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

 The CIA station chief who ran operations in Pakistan during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden left his post in 2011 due to illness, U.S. and Pakistani officials say. American officials said at the time that the station chief clashed with the U.S. ambassador in Pakistan, who objected to CIA drone strikes during diplomatic negotiations.

 ___

 Associated Press writer Lara Jakes in Washington contributed to this report. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– A political party in Pakistan has publicly identified the top CIA spy in the country—and it wants him interrogated and put on trial over a recent US drone strike, reports the Guardian. The PTI party, notably led by a former cricket star named Imran Khan, identified the Islamabad station chief in a letter to police. It named him and CIA chief John Brennan as responsible for a drone strike earlier this month that killed civilians along with militants. Wire services are not naming the station chief. PTI officials say he doesn't have diplomatic immunity and therefore should be tried for murder, reports AP. They also say he should be interrogated to provide the names of the drone pilots who controlled the plane from afar. Assuming the identity is correct, it would be the second time in three years that those opposed to drone strikes in the country have identified a station chief. The first one had to leave the country in 2010.


Here is a news article: REPORTING LIVE FROM KENDALL, I'M JOHN TURCHIN, LOCAL10 NEWS COVERAGES. Calvin: OUT. Reporter: A WORD THAT A PEMBROKE PINES POLICE OFFICER WAS ALLEGEDLY DENIED SERVICE AT AN ARBY'S RESTAURANT BECAUSE SHE'S A COP. BUT THE MANAGER ON DUTY SAYS THIS IS ALL ONE BIG MISUNDERSTANDING. OUR LOCAL10 NEWS REPORTER TERRELL FORNEY JOINING US LIVE NOW WITH THE STORY. TERRELL. Terrell: CALVIN, THAT MANAGER OPENING UP TO US OFF CAMERA JUST ABOUT AS HER WAS ABOUT TO HEAD INTO WORK ON PINES BOULEVARD NEAR FLAMINGO ROAD. HE SAYS IT WAS A BADDIE ATTEMPT AT HUMOR. HE MAY STILL HAVE HIS JOB TONIGHT BUT THE CONTROVERSY IS CERTAINLY GROWING AROUND WHAT HAPPENED. DON'T EAT HERE. THEY HATE COPS TRENCH THE BOYCOTT OF A POPULAR FAST FOOD CHAIN HAS ALREADY STARTED AT THIS PEMBROKE PINES ARBY'S. IT'S NOT SOMETHING TO MAKE LIGHT OF AND MAKE A JOKE ABOUT. I DON'T FIND THINGS LIKE THAT VERY FUNNY. I HOPE THE REST OF THE NATION DOESN'T, EITHER. Terrell: HE IS WIVES OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ARE TALKING ABOUT THE MONDAY NIGHT INCIDENT INVOLVING PINES POLICE SERGEANT JENNIFER MARTIN WHO ORDERED A MEAL IN THE RESTAURANT'S DRIVE-THROUGH. IN YOU A DETAIL POLICE REPORT SHE SAID A SHIFT MANAGER STEPPED IN FOR AN EMPLOYEE AND SAID "HE DOESN'T WANT TO SERVE YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE A POLICE OFFICER." SOMEBODY TURNED A LOVER AWAY. DID YOU HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT IS THAT. IN NO, NOT REALLY. I'M NOTE AT LIBERTY TO SAY EVEN IF I WAS. IT'S UPSETTING TO SEE THIS IS HAPPENING ACROSS THE NATION AND PEOPLE ARE ANG SO NASTY AND DISRESPECTFUL TO PEOPLE WHO GO OUT AND PROTECT EVERYONE'S LIVES EVERY DAY. Terrell: REACTION POURING IN ON SOCIAL MEDIA. FACEBOOK COMMENTS WITH ONE SAYING "GOODBYE ARBY'S. ANOTHER ONE WRITING, I DON'T THINK I WILL EVER EAT THERE AGAIN. THEN THIS TWEET, SO DISAPPOINTED IN ARBY'S. THERE IS NO POSITIVE WAY TO SPIN THIS STORY. THE ENTIRE SOUTH FLORIDA LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMUNITY IS NOT LETTING THIS ONE SLIDE. I HOPE IT'S AN ISOLATED INCIDENT. WE'RE GOING TO WATCH VERY CAREFULLY HOW ARBY'S LEADERSHIP DEALS WITH THAT. IF THEY DON'T DEAL WITH IT APPROPRIATELY WE'RE GOING THE MAKE SURE WE BOYCOTT THAT RESTAURANT ACROSS AMERICA. Terrell: AND PBA NOW WANTS A PUBLIC APOLOGY TO EVERY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER INSTEAD OF THE ONE GIVEN TO JUST THE CHIEF OF THE PEMBROKE PINES POLICE DEPARTMENT WHO GOT ONE TODAY FROM THE CEO OF ARBY'S. WE'RE TOLD THAT THE CHIEF WAS VERY APPRECIATIVE AND HE ACCEPTED THAT APOLOGY, BUT WHEN WE AT LOCAL10 REACHED OUT TO ARBY'S VIA EMAIL AND PHONE CALLS, IT WAS RADIO SILENT. WE'RE STILL WAITING ON OUR PHONE

 PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. -

 The chief of police in Pembroke Pines has received an apology after one of his officers was denied service at a fast-food restaurant in the city.

 Pembroke Pines police spokeswoman Amanda Conwell said a uniformed officer was denied service Tuesday night at the Arby's on Pines Boulevard. The reason, Conwell said, was because the customer was a police officer.

 "I am offended and appalled that an individual within our community would treat a police officer in such a manner," Police Chief Dan Giustino said in a news release. "It is unacceptable, and I will be contacting the Arby's CEO to demand an apology."

 Conwell said Giustino called the restaurant's corporate office and spoke to Arby's executives, who apologized on behalf of their organization. She said Arby's CEO Paul Brown and senior vice president of operations Scott Boatwright assured Giustino that the employee's behavior was "unacceptable and not representative of the company's values."

 "Chief Giustino was appreciative and accepted their apology and now considers this matter closed," Conwell said.

 According to an offense report filled out by the officer, identified as Sgt. Jennifer Martin, the officer ordered her food in the drive-through of the restaurant and drove to the window to pay.

 READ: Arby's incident report

 Martin claims that the clerk, Kenneth Davenport, took her credit card. She said the restaurant's manager, Angel Mirabal, then approached the window and said, "He doesn't want to serve you because you are a police officer."

 The officer said she told Mirabal that she was uncomfortable and "wasn't certain I wanted to dine at the restaurant."

 According to the report, Mirabal assured Martin that everything was OK, handed her the food and laughed while telling her that Davenport was allowed to refuse her service.

 Martin said that she went inside the restaurant, and Mirabal provided her with a refund and his contact information. She said Davenport refused to give her his contact information.

 Conwell said the incident happened on the same evening that a woman and her daughter visited the Pembroke Pines Police Department to drop off cookies and a "thank you" card.

 "We are very proud of the partnerships we have built within our city, and for an incident like this to have happened is very disappointing for everyone," Giustino said.

 Local 10 News reporter Terrell Forney asked an employee at the restaurant if she had heard about the incident.

 "No, I didn't," the employee said. "I'm not really at liberty to say even if I was."

 Despite employees claiming to be unaware of the incident, a group of police officers' wives held a protest outside of the restaurant Wednesday.

 "It's upsetting to see that this is happening across the nation and people are acting so nasty and disrespectful to people (who) go out and protect everyone's lives every day," protester Adina Alsina told Local 10.

 Broward County Police Benevolent Association President Jeff Marano said that the police union is calling for a national boycott of the fast-food chain. He said that Arby's should not only apologize to the Pembroke Pines Police Department, but to every police officer.

 "This behavior is unacceptable," Marano said. "The disdain and lack of respect for law enforcement, as well as the fatal attacks on the men and women in uniform in America, is due to a lack of leadership -- starting with our commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama."

 However, Davenport's grandfather said his grandson was just making a joke to the officer. Thomas McCutcheon said he raised his grandson "to be honest and respectful of everybody."

 McCutcheon said Davenport's words were "taken out of context and blown into something much bigger than what it should be."

 According to the police union, there have been 83 deaths of law enforcement officers while in the line of duty so far this year in the U.S.

 The police union has asked that the employee who refused to serve the officer be fired.

 "Children will be children," McCutcheon said. "Nineteen years old don't make you grown."

 Follow Terrell Forney on Twitter@TVTerrell

 Follow Local 10 News on Twitter@WPLGLocal10 ||||| Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

 PEMBROKE PINES (CBSMiami) – Is it an example of a diminished respect for police or a poor attempt at humor?

 That’s the question after a Pembroke Pines Police Officer alleged that an Arby’s employee refused to serve her because she’s a cop.

 Kenny Davenport said he was working when Pembroke Pines Police Sergeant Jennifer Martin pulled up to the drive thru.

 Davenport said that he couldn’t serve Martin, but not because she’s a police officer. He said it was because he was so busy with other customers that he had to ask his manager for help. Davenport said that’s when his manager made the unfortunate joke to Martin about not being able to take her order.

 “We don’t hate cops,” Davenport said. “We don’t hate anybody. We’re just trying to get people out of the drive thru.”

 According to a police report on the incident, the police officer was told by the manager, “(Davenport) doesn’t want to serve you because you are a police officer.”

 After that, the officer said she wasn’t certain she wanted to dine at the restaurant but the manager assured her everything was okay and handed the officer the food, according to the report.

 The manager allegedly laughed about it and said the clerk was allowed to refuse to serve the officer.

 That’s when the officer said she was unsure about the condition of her food, decided not to eat there and asked for a refund, the report states.

 A South Florida police union is calling for a national boycott of Arby’s after police say an officer was denied service.

 “I am offended and appalled that an individual within our community would treat a police officer in such a manner. It is unacceptable,” stated PPPD Chief Dan Giustino.

 The incident prompted wives of officers to stage a protest at the restaurant.

 “I wanna cry. My husband spent 25 years. My son is an officer,” said protester Wendy Sorrell.

 In reaction to the incident, the Dade County Police Benevolent Association is calling for the employees involved to be fired.

 “It is beyond comprehension and deeply troubling that a business would deny service to a law enforcement officer just for being a law enforcement officer. In this case, after the clerk refused to serve the officer, the manager came up to the window laughing and said that the clerk had the right to refuse service to the officer. This is yet another example of the hostile treatment of our brave men and women simply because they wear a badge. It is unacceptable and warrants much more than an apology. We support our brothers and sisters who wear the badge in Broward County and across the United States. Until corrective action is taken and the employees involved in this incident are terminated, we are calling for a national boycott of Arby’s,” said Florida and Dade County PBA president John Rivera.

 The incident is considered to be isolated.

 “We are very proud of the partnerships we have built within our city, and for an incident like this to have happened is very disappointing for everyone,” said Chief Giustino.

 Police said Arby’s responded to the incident after Chief Giustino contacted the corporation.

 Arby’s Chief Executive Officer Paul Brown and Senior Vice President of Operations Scott Boatwright contacted Chief Giustino to apologize on behalf of the organization. Both men assured the chief, “the employee’s behavior was unacceptable and not representative of the company’s values,” according to police.

 The company issued a statement on the matter saying, “We take this isolated matter very seriously as we respect and support police officers in our local communities. As soon as the issue was brought to our attention, our CEO spoke with the Police Chief who expressed his gratitude for our quick action and indicates the case is closed. We will be following up with our team members to be sure that our policy of inclusion is understood and adhered to.”

 However, Davenport’s grandfather believes the episode is being blown out of proportion. He said that he and his grandson, whom he raised, have respect for the police. He believes the whole thing is centered on a dumb joke gone awry.

 “Officers lives matter,” he said. “Everybody’s life matters. Somebody made a joke and she just didn’t take it the right way. She didn’t think they were joking. She thought it was a serious matter. Now their job as an officer is very serious and I appreciate all that they do.”

 Kenny Davenport maintains that neither he nor anyone else disrespected Sergeant Martin but he sees little use in explaining himself.

 “There’s no point in talking,” he said. “I’m 19. She’s an officer and I’m colored.” |||||
A summary of this is?

– A Florida police union is calling for a national boycott of Arby's after one of the restaurant's employees allegedly refused to serve an officer this week, CBS Miami reports. According to Local 10 News, 19-year-old Kenneth Davenport failed to serve Sgt. Jennifer Martin, who was in uniform and driving a patrol car according to USA Today, after she ordered in the drive-thru. Davenport's manager allegedly told Martin that Davenport didn't want to serve her because she was an officer and laughed while telling her Davenport had the right to not serve her, but then gave her the food himself. She was ultimately given a refund, though, after deciding she didn't want to eat the food. “I am offended and appalled that an individual within our community would treat a police officer in such a manner," the Pembroke Pines chief of police tells CBS. "It is unacceptable." In response to the alleged slight, officers' wives protested outside the restaurant today, and the Dade County Police Benevolent Association called for a boycott of Arby's until the employee or employees responsible are fired, Local 10 reports. "This is yet another example of the hostile treatment of our brave men and women simply because they wear a badge," according to a statement from the union president, who tells Local 10 he blames Obama for the lack of respect shown officers. Arby's executives have apologized to the chief of police.


Here is a news article: Consider the condescension implicit in the president’s statement—“a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before.” These “people outside of Washington” are not little children being lectured on an obscure subject by a worldly adult. These people outside Washington are ... citizens. Judging by the polls, most of us have opinions about whether, and under what conditions, the debt ceiling should be raised. We don’t seem to be as ignorant as Obama thinks we are of the term or concept of a debt ceiling. But the president assumes we’ve never bothered our pretty little heads about such a thing.

 Understand – raising the debt ceiling does not allow Congress to spend more money. It simply gives our country the ability to pay the bills that Congress has already racked up.

 Now, what makes today’s stalemate so dangerous is that it has been tied to something known as the debt ceiling – a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before.

 And he doesn’t want us to start bothering our pretty little heads about it now. So Obama instructs us as to what the debt ceiling is. He claims that “raising the debt ceiling does not allow Congress to spend more money.” That statement might be true about a rise in the debt ceiling that would take us only through the rest of the current fiscal year, for which funds have already been appropriated by Congress. It is simply not true about the increase Obama is asking for, which is designed to cover the next fiscal year and a bit more. The fact is, Obama’s $2.4 trillion increase (a number that never appears in the speech) does precisely what Obama says it doesn’t: it “allow[s] Congress to spend more money.” It is not the case that Obama’s debt ceiling hike “simply gives our country the ability to pay the bills that Congress has already racked up.”

 It would be nice to have a president who spoke candidly to his fellow citizens as adults. ||||| C-SPAN screen shot

 I intended to write about President Obama's prime-time address on the debt ceiling, but House Speaker John Boehner's performance turned out to be the big news. Last seen Friday evening complaining that the president added new last-minute conditions in their debt-ceiling negotiations, Boehner now seems to have no memory of those negotiations, which by both parties' account left them about $400 billion apart. That's not chump change, but against the backdrop of an attempted $4 trillion deal, it didn't have to be a deal-breaker either.

 But if you listened to Boehner Monday night, you'd think he and Obama never discussed a deal. In fact you'd believe the president never wanted any kind of deficit-reduction deal at all. In an impressive display of mendacity, Boehner told the American people the president wants "a blank check" to keep on spending, and the House GOP is serving "the American people" by resisting. Instead of talking about how he and Obama might close the gap they faced only three days ago, Boehner went full-tilt Tea Party crazy and presented his own plan, which requires not only brutal spending cuts but a balanced budget amendment -- as well as another congressional vote to hike the debt ceiling again at the height of the 2012 election season.

 Can there be any doubt that the Republicans' only interest here is making Obama fail? Let's review all the ways they moved the goalposts since the 2010 elections gave them new power. In December Boehner told the New Yorker that raising the debt ceiling would be the new House majority’s "first really big adult moment," adding, "We’ll have to find a way to help educate members and help people understand the serious problem that would exist if we didn’t do it." For his part Obama said he expected a clean up or down vote, just like President Reagan got 18 times and George W. Bush got another seven times. But after Boehner negotiated his program-cuts-for-continuing-government deal, in April he began to make threats. "The president says I want you to send me a clean bill. Well guess what, Mr. President: Not a chance you’re going to get a clean bill," he told a GOP fundraiser. "There will not be an increase in the debt limit without something really, really big attached to it."

 Obama decided to negotiate, but he demanded a dollar of tax or revenue hikes for every dollar of spending cuts. Republicans not only rejected revenue hikes, they demanded a dollar of spending cuts for every dollar the debt ceiling was raised. Obama began seeking a "grand bargain," in which he'd discuss Social Security and Medicare cuts (even though Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit) in exchange for at least revenue hikes. The earliest leaks about such a deal, believe them or not, all contained spending cuts three to five times bigger than revenue hikes. Then what happened? Boehner walked away from negotiations to close those deals -- which would have infuriated many progressives, by the way, including me. And a few weeks ago, as the president got ever more conciliating, Republicans got more stubborn, now demanding a balanced budget amendment in whatever deal is reached.

 I honestly don't think anyone has come out and said how extraordinarily apocalyptic and insane it is to tie that controversial old GOP issue to the debt ceiling hike, given the disaster for the American economy if we default. The balanced budget amendment lost favor under the deficit-building Ronald Reagan, when many Republicans decided deficits weren't really an issue -- unless a Democrat held the White House. Tonight Boehner was on prime-time national television telling Americans that's what it will take to increase the debt ceiling. Now, Boehner knows a balanced budget amendment bill can't pass. Hell, he probably doesn't even want it. But this is the way the GOP ups the ante every time the president gets close to a deal.

 And what did the president do? He tried to explain how we got into this mess, and he prepared us for a gut-wrenching, economy-wounding compromise. I liked a lot of Obama's speech tonight, but he made a couple of points that typify the way he ultimately negotiates against himself. He opened with that sad and useless comparison between the federal budget and household budgets. Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, among others, have explained why it's wrong until they're blue in the face -- unlike each of our little families, the federal government correctly goes into deficit spending to spur recovery from recession; in fact, the government does it because our families can't or shouldn't. Obama still found the folksy comparison irresistible. "Every family knows a little credit card debt is manageable," the president said, while arguing that anything more than "a little" hurts the economy.

 His rhetorical climax also left me a little cold. Talking about Americans' many frustrations with the status quo, Obama concluded: "But do you know what people are fed up with most of all? They’re fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word." Does he really think that? Obama continued:

 They work all day long, many of them scraping by, just to put food on the table. And when these Americans come home at night, bone-tired, and turn on the news, all they see is the same partisan three-ring circus here in Washington. They see leaders who can’t seem to come together and do what it takes to make life just a little bit better for ordinary Americans. They are offended by that. And they should be.

 You know, I'm sure that's true for some people who are "scraping by." But I think it's mainly true for the Beltway elites the president hears from way too much. That's the complaint of David Brooks and Tom Friedman, and the hedge-funders backing the frivolous "third party" time-waster, Americans Elect. It's not what the unemployed and the struggling and people afraid they'll lose Social Security or Medicare benefits are "fed up with most of all." Obama can't really think that, can he?

 In this political environment, anything is possible. Prepare to hear that Harry Reid's deal to cut $2.7 trillion from the budget, with absolutely no revenue increases, is a victory for Democrats. It won't be. I hope I'm wrong, but the president is dealing with a conscience-free opposition willing to risk economic tragedy to defeat him. I'd love to see all of his maneuvering result in a clean up or down vote on a debt increase (which some of his most avid supporters insist is his goal). I don't see it from here. Again, I would be thrilled to be wrong. ||||| President Barack Obama elbowed his way back into the debt ceiling debate Monday night, three days after Republicans shoved him out, but he offered no hint of a solution to the escalating political and financial crisis.

 If regular citizens — or markets here and overseas — were looking for reassurance in Obama’s 15-minute speech or House Speaker John Boehner’s five-minute rebuttal, they were out of luck. Instead, the men who hold the fiscal destiny of nearly 312 million people in their hands treated viewers to the unsettling spectacle of two leaders talking past, not to, each other.

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 reset 'Let's seize this moment' 'President wants a blank check today' POLITICO 44

 With neither Obama nor House Republicans yet willing to make the final compromise necessary to seal a deal, the leader of the free world made a stunning appeal for regular citizens to call or email their representatives to end what he called the “most dangerous game.”

 “This is no way to run the greatest country on Earth. … We can’t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare,” Obama added. “If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of Congress know.”

 The tactic seemed to have the desired effect, temporarily overwhelming the website of Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders.

 Obama did call for unity, quoting Ronald Reagan and citing former presidents from both parties who support a “balanced approach” of spending cuts, revenue increases and entitlement reforms. But he also bashed Republicans, arguing that their tactics “risk sparking a deep economic crisis — one caused almost entirely by Washington” and categorically rejected Boehner’s new plan for a short-term debt ceiling hike.

 “Defaulting on our obligations is a reckless and irresponsible outcome to this debate,” Obama said. “And Republican leaders say that they agree we must avoid default. But the new approach that Speaker Boehner unveiled today, which would temporarily extend the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, would force us to once again face the threat of default just six months from now. In other words, it doesn’t solve the problem.”

 Beyond the I’m-still-here theme of the speech, Obama sought to strike the larger themes of his 2012 campaign, aimed at independent voters who have only now begun tuning into the debt debate: the need for compromise, his disgust with partisan Washington and his determination to make the rich pay their fair share. If his campaign-style rhetoric was persuasive, it came at an awkward time, during the final days when a reasonable debt ceiling compromise can still be struck. |||||

 President Obama made clear tonight that the debate over the debt ceiling is not left vs. right. It’s center vs. right. There was nothing remotely “left” in this speech, unless you count higher taxes for corporate jet owners and a few other populist bits.

 He summarized his approach this way: “[L]et’s live within our means by making serious, historic cuts in government spending. Let’s cut domestic spending to the lowest level it’s been since Dwight Eisenhower was president. Let’s cut defense spending at the Pentagon by hundreds of billions of dollars. Let’s cut out the waste and fraud in health care programs like Medicare — and at the same time, let’s make modest adjustments so that Medicare is still there for future generations. Finally, let’s ask the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to give up some of their tax breaks and special deductions.”

 That’s four sentences on cuts and barely one sentence on taxes, and not even tax increases as such — just a request that the privileged “give up some of their tax breaks and special deductions.”

 On the other side are “a significant number of Republicans in Congress [who] are insisting on a cuts-only approach — an approach that doesn’t ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all.” He went on: “And because nothing is asked of those at the top of the income scales, such an approach would close the deficit only with more severe cuts to programs we all care about — cuts that place a greater burden on working families.”

 That happens to be true. The most remarkable thing about this whole debate (other than the dangerous foolishness of one side holding the nation’s credit standing hostage to get what it wants) is that Republicans have defined their party as being committed to low taxes for the wealthy above everything else. If anything good can come out of this strange episode, it is that no one will ever be able to doubt that proposition in the future.

 There were some nice touches in Obama’s address. Who would ever have imagined that it was Ronald Reagan who said: “Would you rather reduce deficits and interest rates by raising revenue from those who are not now paying their fair share, or would you rather accept larger budget deficits, higher interest rates, and higher unemployment? And I think I know your answer.”

 It was also good that right out of the box, Obama reminded Americans where the big deficits came from – and where we were when President George W. Bush took office: “In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus,” Obama said. “But instead of using it to pay off our debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription-drug program were simply added to our nation’s credit card. As a result, the deficit was on track to top $1 trillion the year I took office.” He then explained that the deficit grew further because of the Great Recession, the drop in tax receipts it caused, and the spending he undertook to keep it from being worse. It was a direct hit at Republicans who seemed not to worry about deficits until Obama took office — and now blame him for much of the red ink they themselves spilled.

 And after his angry news conference on Friday, it was a nice touch for him to wrap his arms around his main Republican adversary. “And to his credit, this is the kind of approach” – that would be the one Obama was advancing – “the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, was working on with me over the last several weeks.” It did raise the question of which side Boehner is really on.

 As for Boehner’s speech, he looked pretty good — that green tie was striking — but his speech was directed more to the right-wing base than to the crisis at hand. “The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today,” Boehner said. “That is just not going to happen.” Please. As Obama pointed out, he just wanted what Reagan got 18 times and George W. Bush got seven times — a normal debt-ceiling increase. And I wish the GOP would stop talking about its “Cut, Cap and Balance” bill as “bipartisan.” It got 240 votes, of which only five were from Democrats. It was opposed by 190 House members, of whom nine were Republicans. So opposition to their bill was more “bipartisan” than the support it got.

 On the issue we now confront, the Senate proposal to raise the debt ceiling is much more sensible than the House plan because it insists that we not go through this charade again until Americans get their say at the ballot box a year from November. The most persuasive argument in Obama’s speech may thus have been this one: “Based on what we’ve seen these past few weeks, we know what to expect six months from now. The House will once again refuse to prevent default unless the rest of us accept their cuts-only approach. . . . And once again, the economy will be held captive unless they get their way.”

 This whole mess is not making any politician in Washington look good. Obama has taken a modest hit in his approval ratings, but the Republicans are taking a bigger hit. My hunch is that Obama’s speech spoke more to middle-of-the-road Americans than Boehner’s did because Obama was clearly talking to them. Boehner has to prove over and over that he’s faithful to the folks at the right end of his caucus, and it’s starting to take a toll. That’s why Republicans may yet find themselves wanting to get the debt-ceiling matter out of the way without forcing another round of this madness. |||||
A summary of this is?

– President Obama and John Boehner gave dueling speeches last night, and the news was not good. Here's what the pundits are taking away from it all: If people—or markets—were looking for reassurance, “they were out of luck,” observes Politico. Instead, Obama and Boehner “treated viewers to the unsettling spectacle of two leaders talking past, not to, each other,” with Obama even issuing a “stunning” plea for people to call their representatives. Obama’s speech proved this isn’t a left vs. right debate. “It’s center vs. right,” argues EJ Dionne of the Washington Post. “There was nothing remotely ‘left’ in this speech.” With some deft rhetorical touches—like quoting Ronald Reagan— “my hunch is that Obama’s speech spoke more to middle-of-the-road Americans.” But William Kristol of the Weekly Standard thought Obama came across as condescending—especially when he said most Americans had probably never heard of the debt ceiling. “It would be nice to have a president who spoke candidly to his fellow citizens as adults,” he writes. Boehner, meanwhile, went “full-tilt Tea Party crazy,” writes Joan Walsh of Salon. He acted as though he and Obama had never discussed a deal at all, while demanding a balanced budget amendment—which is “extraordinarily apocalyptic and insane,” because Boehner knows that can’t pass. “Hell, he probably doesn’t even want it.” He’s just moving the goal posts on Obama again.


Write a summary based on this article:

A 20-month-old boy died Saturday morning, six days after his mother allegedly threw him into the Lehigh River from the Hamilton Street Bridge in Allentown.

 Zymeir Perry of Allentown died at 11:51 a.m. at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim said in a news release Saturday night. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday morning to determine the cause of death, says Allentown Police Capt. Tony Alsleben.

 Authorities say the toddler's 19-year-old mother, Johnesha Perry, kissed her baby before pushing him over the rail and into the water, then jumped from the 52-foot-high bridge herself. Witnesses said Perry managed to walk to shore before collapsing, while Allentown police Officer Joseph Ianetta pulled Zymeir from the river about 700 yards downstream and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

 Witnesses told police that Perry said it was her time before she plunged into the water.

 Allentown police had charged Perry with attempted homicide before the baby's death. District Attorney Jim Martin said Saturday evening that Perry has been released from Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest and moved to the Lehigh County Jail. Online documents show Perry's charges have not yet changed, but Martin said he will have more information Monday.

 Mother who threw baby in river charged with attempted murder Johnesha Monae Perry, who posted this photo of herself with her son as her profile picture on Facebook last October, is charged with attempted murder after police say she pushed her son from the railing of the Hamilton Street Bridge on Sunday. Johnesha Monae Perry, who posted this photo of herself with her son as her profile picture on Facebook last October, is charged with attempted murder after police say she pushed her son from the railing of the Hamilton Street Bridge on Sunday. See more videos

 Martin declined to comment on whether Perry has spoken with investigators about what lead to the events on the bridge.

 Perry also had previously been charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a child. She was being held under $100,000 bail.

 Reporter Jennifer Sheehan contributed to this report. ||||| We have breaking developments in the case of a Lehigh Valley mother accused of throwing her baby off a bridge last week. The 20-month old child died over the weekend. NBC10's Keith Jones has more. (Published Monday, May 11, 2015)

 A mom accused of throwing her baby boy off an Allentown bridge 52 feet above the banks of the Lehigh River is charged with homicide.

 Police made the announcement during a press conference Monday afternoon.

 Zymeir Perry, 1, of Allentown, was pronounced dead at 11:51 a.m. Saturday at the Lehigh Valley Hospital, Cedar Crest.

 Witnesses told police Zymeir's 19-year-old mother, identified as Johnesha Perry, was pushing the baby across the Hamilton Street Bridge in a stroller around 1:45 p.m. on May 3 when she stopped mid-span, took the child from the carriage, placed him on the railing, kissed him and then pushed him into the water, investigators said.

 Baby Dies After Mom Allegedly Throws Him Into River

 A 1-year-old baby boy died from his injuries nearly a week after he was allegedly thrown into the Lehigh River by his own mother. (Published Sunday, May 10, 2015)

 She then climbed over the railing and jumped in after him, officials said.

 Neighbors said Perry often made the trip across the river but she never did anything like that before.

 Police arrived moments later. They found Perry conscious on the river bank, according to reports.

 In 911 calls obtained by NBC10, dispatchers can be heard giving locations on the mother and child.

 Mother Charged With Attempted Murder for Throwing Baby Off Bridge

 NBC10 has obtained the 911 calls as a Lehigh Valley mother allegedly threw her baby off of a bridge and then jumped in herself. NCB10's Doug Shimell is in Allentown where he spoke to neighbors and witnesses. (Published Monday, May 4, 2015)

 "Be advised... they have recovered the child.

 Two officers — identified as Joseph Iannetta and John Leonard — spotted the baby about 700 yards downstream, pulled him from the river and performed CPR.

 The boy was rushed to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. He remained in critical condition for several days until he was declared medically brain dead on Saturday and all life support was stopped. An autopsy revealed he died from blunt force trauma and drowning.

 Perry was also rushed to the same hospital with minor injuries. She was guarded by Lehigh County Sheriffs, police confirmed. She was later released from the hospital and taken into custody. While being interviewed by investigators, Perry allegedly admitted that she intended to kill her son.

 Mother Charged With Throwing Baby in Allentown River

 Police say 19-year-old Johnesha Perry threw her one-year-old son into a river before jumping in herself. She's facing multiple charges, including attempted homicide. (Published Monday, May 4, 2015)

 Perry was initially charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. On Monday police announced she was charged with criminal homicide and endangering the welfare of a child in light of her son's death. She remains in jail and will be arraigned through central booking Tuesday morning. |||||

– The 20-month-old boy whose mother allegedly tossed him over the side of a Pennsylvania bridge into the Lehigh River, then followed him in, has died after six days, reports NBC Philadelphia. Police had previously charged 19-year-old Johnesha Perry with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, and endangering the welfare of a child; the Morning Call reports that while those charges haven't been upgraded in light of the death of Zymeir Perry yesterday morning, the Allentown DA says he plans an update tomorrow. An autopsy on Zymeir is also set for tomorrow. Perry, who sustained minor injuries in the jump, has since been released from the hospital and is in the Lehigh County Jail under $100,000 bail.


Summarize this article:

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — About $20 million in cash that was hidden inside a box spring in a Massachusetts apartment has been seized as part of a wide-ranging investigation into an internet telecom company that was actually a massive international pyramid scheme, federal prosecutors said.

 The cash was found Wednesday inside a Westborough apartment by investigators who had tailed a Brazilian man from New York. That man, Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, was charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and was held after an appearance in federal court Thursday pending a detention hearing scheduled for next week. His lawyer could not immediately be reached.

 The cash seizure was made in connection with an investigation into TelexFree, a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based company that purportedly sold VOIP telephone service.

 TelexFree had few customers and made most of its revenue from people buying into the company with a promise of payouts for posting online ads for it, prosecutors have said. They were paid with money from new recruits, often friends and family of earlier investors.

 Although initially aimed at Brazilian immigrants to Massachusetts, authorities allege almost 1 million people worldwide were swindled out of nearly $1.8 billion.

 TelexFree filed for bankruptcy in 2014, its assets frozen, and its two principals were indicted on federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy.

 One of them, former chief executive James Merrill, pleaded guilty in October and awaits sentencing on Feb. 2.

 The other, Carlos Wanzeler, fled to his native Brazil where he remains, U.S. prosecutors said.

 Rocha was part of a scheme to transfer millions of dollars of hidden TelexFree assets to Brazil by laundering the cash through Hong Kong, prosecutors said.

 According to court documents, Rocha, acting as a courier for Wanzeler's nephew, flew from Brazil to New York City a few days ago. Rocha then met with a cooperating witness at a restaurant in Hudson, Massachusetts, and gave him a suitcase containing $2.2 million.

 After the meeting, agents followed Rocha to the Westborough apartment and later arrested him. ||||| BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Thursday announced that about $20 million found under a mattress in a Massachusetts apartment had been seized after a Brazilian man was arrested for laundering money linked to a multi-billion-dollar global fraud.

 Federal prosecutors in Boston charged Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, with conspiring to commit money laundering in a case connected to the investigation of TelexFree Inc, which promoted itself as an internet telecom company but prosecutors say was actually a pyramid scheme.

 Rocha was detained following a court hearing, prosecutors said. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 The arrest stemmed from an investigation into TelexFree, a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based company that sold voice-over-internet telephone service and was founded by James Merrill, a U.S. citizen, and Carlos Wanzeler, a Brazilian.

 Prosecutors said TelexFree was a massive pyramid scheme, making little to no money selling its service while taking in millions of dollars from thousands of people who paid to sign up to be “promoters” and post ads online for it.

 TelexFree filed for bankruptcy in April 2014 owing $5 billion to its participants, prosecutors said. In total, 965,225 victims in the United States, Brazil and various other countries lost $1.76 billion when it collapsed, they said.

 Merrill was arrested in May 2014 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges in October. Wanzeler in 2014 fled to Brazil and could not be extradited.

 According to Thursday’s criminal complaint, in 2015, an individual working on Wanzeler’s nephew’s behalf approached a cooperating witness about laundering money still in the United States through Hong Kong accounts and moving the funds to Brazil.

 The intermediary told the witness that she wanted $40 million transferred out of the country because Wanzeler’s wife, still in the United States, was filing for divorce and knew where it was located, the complaint said.

 On Dec. 31, Rocha, acting as a courier for Wanzeler’s nephew, flew to the United States and subsequently met on Wednesday with the cooperating witness, whom he gave $2.2 million in a suitcase, according to authorities.

 After the meeting, federal agents followed Rocha to an apartment complex in Westborough, Massachusetts.

 They returned to it after arresting Rocha to find a “substantial amount of cash” hidden under a mattress, the complaint said. Rocha said the money totaled $20 million, the complaint said.

 Wanzeler’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 The case is U.S. v. Rocha, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 17-mj-05007. |||||

– You'd think that much cold, hard cash would make for an uncomfortable night's sleep. The AP reports a 28-year-old Brazilian man was arrested this week in Massachusetts after authorities found about $20 million hidden in a box spring. The arrest of Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha is connected to an investigation into TelexFree, an alleged pyramid scheme, according to Reuters. Authorities say TelexFree was originally created to swindle Brazilian immigrants but ended up taking $1.8 billion from nearly 1 million people around the world. Authorities say Rocha, acting as a courier for the nephew of TelexFree's founder, delivered a suitcase containing $2.2 million to a cooperating witness. They then followed him to an apartment where they found $20 million more under a mattress. He's been charged with conspiring to commit money laundering.


News article:

While working the night shift has been previously associated with higher risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer, a new study also links it to a higher risk in women for all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality, as well as lung cancer mortality.

 The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that women working rotating night shifts for five years or more appeared to have a modest increase in all-cause mortality and fatal cardiovascular disease. The study also found that women with 15 years or more of rotating night shift work appeared to have a modest increase in lung cancer mortality, according to a press release.

 The study focused on nearly 75,000 registered U.S. nurses, and analyzed 22 years’ worth of follow-up data compiled by the Nurses’ Health Study. Mortality from all causes appeared to be 11 percent higher for with six to 14 years of rotating night shift work, and death from cardiovascular disease appeared to be between 19 and 23 percent higher.

 While the researchers found no association between rotating shift work and any cancer mortality, they did find a 25 percent increase risk for lung cancer in those who worked a rotating night shift for 15 or more years, according to the news release.

 “These results add to prior evidence of a potentially detrimental relation of rotating night shift work and health longevity,” said Eva Schernhammer, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

 “To derive practical implications for shift workers and their health, the role of duration and intensity of rotating night shift work and the interplay of shift schedules with individual traits (e.g., chronotype) warrant further exploration,” she said.

 The study identified rotating shift work as working at least three nights per month in addition to days or evenings in the same month. ||||| MONDAY, Jan. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Working rotating night shifts may pose a threat to your health, a new study suggests.

 The study defined rotating shift work as at least three nights spent working each month, in addition to days and evenings worked in the month.

 In the new study, researchers led by Dr. Eva Schernhammer of Harvard Medical School tracked 22 years of data from about 75,000 nurses across the United States.

 While the study couldn't prove cause-and-effect, it found that people who worked rotating night shifts for more than five years had an 11 percent increased risk of death from all causes.

 The risk of death from heart disease was 19 percent higher among those who worked such shifts for six to 14 years, and 23 percent higher for those who worked such shifts for 15 or more years, Schernhammer's group found.

 Nurses who worked rotating night shifts for 15 or more years also had a 25 percent higher risk of death from lung cancer, according to the study.

 The findings are to be published in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

 According to the study authors, prior research has shown that night shift work is linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

 "These results add to prior evidence of a potentially detrimental relation of rotating night shift work and health and longevity," Schernhammer, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said in a journal news release.

 Further research is needed to learn how individual traits might interact with rotating night shift work to harm health, she added. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Working the night shift has already been linked to higher risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Now researchers at Harvard—who've combed through 22 years of data tracking 75,000 nurses in the US—write in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that rotating night shifts for five or more years results in higher mortality rates in women. Specifically, death from cardiovascular disease is as much as 23% higher and death from lung cancer is as much as 25% higher, reports Fox News. "These results add to prior evidence of a potentially detrimental relation of rotating night shift work and health and longevity," the lead researcher says. Rotating shift work is defined as working at least three nights a month in addition to working day and evening shifts. And while the researchers acknowledge that more study is needed to learn how a person's individual traits might play a role, people who work rotating night shifts for more than five years do experience an 11% hike in risk of death from all causes, reports HealthDay News. (Researchers blame the disrupted balance of light and dark in the increased cancer rates.)


Here is a news article: Pat Boone I Can Still Get Arrested in This Town

 Pat Boone -- I Can Still Get Arrested In this Town

 EXCLUSIVE

 is wanted in Hollywood again -- a warrant was just issued for the legendary singer's arrest.Here's the breakdown -- 79-year-old Boone was ordered to appear in court in connection with a lawsuit involving a condo he purchased on a luxury cruise liner.The company that's building the boat got sued for some of it's investors and lost the case. The judge ordered the company to pay more than $800K in attorney's fees, but the lawyer's haven't gotten their loot.So apparently the crafty lawyers are trying to get their money from the people -- including Pat -- who bought condos on the ship. The lawyers subpoenaed Pat to court, but he was a no show, so the judge issued the arrest warrant.As for why Boone missed the hearing -- we're told he's on vacation with his wife in Hawaii. ||||| Pat Boone Arrest Warrant It's Nonsense ... Who Am I, LiLo?

 Pat Boone -- Arrest Warrant Is Nonsense ... Who Am I, Lindsay Lohan?

 EXCLUSIVE

 says the arrest warrant issued against him last week is a case of misinformation, but the old guy proved he's got a good sense of humor about it ... by backing up the bus overAs TMZ first reported, a judge issued a warrant for Boone's arrest after he was subpoenaed to testify in a case involving a luxury condo on a cruise liner ... but he was a no-show.Boone tells TMZ his only relationship to the ship is he agreed to be the spokesperson once it launched ... which hasn't happened yet ... and other than that he knows squat about the project.While he fully intends to show up to court ... Boone says the litigant will "be very disappointed to hear how little I know and it won't help him in any way."He adds, "Is this the wayandgot so famous?"It's a little more complicated, Pat ... but, yeah. Sure. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Singer, Tea Party activist, and birther Pat Boone can add one more title to his long list: wanted man. There's a warrant out for the 79-year-old after he was subpoenaed to appear in court and failed to show up, TMZ reports. It all relates to a luxury cruise ship's condos, the San Jose Mercury News explains. Investors ended up suing the company building the ship, and the company lost; it was ordered to pay $800,000 in legal costs but allegedly never did, so now the investors are going after people who purchased the condos—including, in TMZ's telling, Boone, hence the court appearance. But Boone says he was nothing more than a celebrity spokesman for the would-be ship, and he doesn't seem too concerned about the whole thing, saying he does plan to get himself to court and telling TMZ, "Is this the way Lindsay Lohan and Robert Downey got so famous?"