Egypt Shuts Off The Internet

“Egypt may have turned off the Internet one phone call at a time,” Los Angeles Times

“Egypt cuts off internet access,” Charles Arthur, The Guardian

“How Egypt Turned Off the Internet,” Kyle VanHemert, Gizmodo

“The Internet goes dark in Egypt,” Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ZDNet.com

“Egypt severs internet connection amid growing unrest,” BBC News

“Egypt’s Internet Blackout: Extreme Example of Just-in-time Blocking,” Masashi Crete-Nishihata and Jillian C. York, OpenNet Initiative

“Egypt: An Internet Black Hole,” Global Voices

“Egypt shutdown worst in Internet history: experts,” Katia Dolmadjian, AFP via Yahoo News

“In Egypt, should Internet access be an inalienable right?” Monica Hesse, Washington Post

“The Tweets Must Flow,” Twitter Blog

“Statement on Internet Shutdown in Egypt,” Global Network Initiative

“Egypt turns off internet, Lieberman wants same option for US,” Sean Bonner, BoingBoing

“Internet Security Savvy is Critical as Egyptian Government Blocks Websites, Arrests Activists in Response to Continued Protest,” Eva Galperin, EFF

“Egypt Cuts Off The Net. Net Fights Back,” Ben Rooney, Wall Street Journal

“6 Ideas For Those Needing Defensive Technology to Protect Free Speech from Authoritarian Regimes and 4 Ways the Rest of Us Can Help,” Peter Eckersley, EFF

 

Short link: http://bit.ly/f4xE1B

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Sharron Angle for President?

Famous Nevada Senate campaign loser Sharron Angle communed with her fellow loons this week in Iowa. Mrs. Angle attended a movie premiere. The film, “The Genesis Code,” stars GOP sex symbol Fred Thompson, glorifies ignorance, and is bound to be a hit in Tea Party land.

But Iowa is Presidential Caucus Land, so the Des Moines Register asked Sharron Angle if she was contemplating a run at the GOP nomination in 2012. “I’ll just say I have lots of options for the future, and I’m investigating all my options,” she replied. This either demonstrated an uncharacteristic coyness, delusions of grandeur, or a complete misunderstanding of the question. You choose.

Minimalist Minimized; Food Bloggers Panic

Mark Bittman is retiring his weekly “Minimalist” column after 13 years, but he will stay with the New York Times, writing  for the Op Ed page and Sunday Times Magazine and producing “Minimalist” cooking videos for the paper’s website. He has a cooking blog – actually, two cooking blogs — and will start another on food policy.

Nonetheless, these changes have provoked panic in the Foodie Blogosphere, dished up in this platter of link-guini:

 

Happy National Pie Day

National Pie Day – January 23, 2011
“Grab a Slice of Life.”

“Created by the American Pie Council®, National Pie Day is dedicated to the celebration of pie. As part of our American heritage, this day is a perfect opportunity to pass on the love and enjoyment of pie eating and pie making to future generations.”

 National Pie Day website.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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GOP Claims EPA Costs Jobs

Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R, TN-7) has performed a remarkable scientific feat, eliminating the polluting and climatic effects of carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. She did so at a single stroke by introducing H.R. 97, the “Free Industry Act.”

The act would deny the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to enforce control of those harmful substances by declaring the overwhelming body of scientific evidence to be erroneous. The Republican justification for H.R. 97 is the claim that EPA regulation of the aforesaid substances would be “job-killing.” As Dean Baker puts it, “Republicans call … policies ‘Job Killers’ because the media might ask for evidence if they called them ‘Baby Killers.’”

Italian — Moroccan Relations

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is being hounded by prosecutors in Milan just because he had sex with a sixteen-year-old girl. Why not? After all, he paid for it. A billionaire media mogul, Berlusconi is a firm believer in free market capitalism, but prostitution is considered terribly unfashionable in Italy. The Berlusconi government even passed strict laws against prostitution, but also another law making the Prime Minister immune from prosecution. Che dilemma!

The courts revoked the immunity law? Ha! Silvio Berlusconi refuses to be questioned by magistrates about prostitution, and refuses to leave office for refusing to testify.

The young lady in question, runaway teen dancer Karima el-Mahroug (aka Karima Keyek), is nicknamed “Ruby Rubacuori,” “Ruby Heart-Stealer.” She must still be a teenager since she’s on Facebook [we pause briefly so you can "Like" her]. Ms. el-Mahroug was born in Morocco, so perhaps her compensation was merely an aspect of Italian foreign aid policy.

Bonneville Sells WTOP Radio

 
Washington DC’s leading radio station, all-news WTOP, will be sold by Bonneville International, along with 16 other stations in and around Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati. The buyer is privately held Hubbard Broadcasting of St. Paul, Minnesota. Sale price for all 17 stations: $505 million. The deal is expected to be finalized by May after FCC and anti-trust reviews.

Classic Guitar Riffs

Jason Persse posted his list of the “50 Greatest Guitar Riffs in Rock ‘n’ Roll.” While we may disagree with some of his choices, you can’t beat the way he did it, with streaming sound clips.

“50 Greatest Guitar Riffs in Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Jason Persse, Spinner.

 

Image (“Gentleman in a Blue Jacket with a Red Guitar, after Jacopo Amigoni”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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GOP’s Repeal is the Job-Killer

Instead of fixing the economy their own party destroyed, Congressional Republicans are wasting limited agenda time and scarce public money pretending to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The posturing begins with the name of their bill, the “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act.” As Dean Baker puts it, “Republicans call Obama policies ‘Job Killers’ because the media might ask for evidence if they called them ‘Baby Killers.’”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Health Care

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Addressing the Medical Committee for Human Rights
Chicago, 1966

 

Image source: Library of Congress.

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