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Rogue tweet by Secret Service! Oh, the dangers of social media! Those instant, regrettable outbursts of unvarnished truth and scantily clad photos. Today's victim: the Secret Service! 4 Reasons Positive Thinking Doesn't Work (And What to Do Instead) Don’t you just love how whenever you’re struggling with a goal or problem, the first thing anyone tells you is, “It’s okay, just think positive!” While the advice is well-meaning, I’m sure most of the time you met it with a grateful, “Thanks for the encouragement. Yeah, I’ll do that.” Secretly, you thought to yourself: “That’s a bunch of B.S. I can’t just Vulcan mind-meld myself into conquering this problem!”
Al Jazeera news director, Wadah Khanfar, resigns: GlobalPost Al Jazeera's top news director Wadah Khanfar resigned Tuesday after eight years as the network's top executive. The move came after a WikiLeaks cable suggested that Khanfar changed the network's coverage of the Iraq War as a result of U.S. pressure, The New York Times reports. He will be replaced by a member of the Qatari royal family. Al Jazeera is a network controlled by Qatar. According to a cable sent by U.S. ambassador Chase Untermeyer in October 2005, an embassy official gave Khanfar reports by the United States Defense Intelligence Agency that showed the agency was critical of Al Jazeera's coverage of the war in Iraq, the Times reports. In the cable, Khanfar comes across eager to convince the U.S. official that Al Jazeera's coverage was fair and refers to an "agreement" made between the network and the U.S. government.
Lobby group objects to new regulation banning gifts to all federal employees The American League of Lobbyists on Monday called for the withdrawal of a new ethics regulation that would prohibit all government employees from accepting gifts from lobbyists. The regulation, proposed two weeks ago by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), follows a tough executive order issued by President Obama in the early days of his administration banning political appointees from accepting gifts from lobbyists. The proposed rule expands the ban to career employees. “The administration has offered no reports of even a single abuse of its current regulations to warrant the severe restrictions it has proposed on the mutual flow of information and expertise between lobbyists, their employers, and federal workers,” said Howard Marlowe, the lobbyists’ group president, in a statement. “If it is not withdrawn, this rule will prevent government workers from having even casual social contact with registered lobbyists. OGE is accepting public comments on the proposed rule until Nov. 14.
Behind Court Challenge to Health Care Lies the Right’s ‘Freedom Fetish’ A relationship that started on 9/11 was strengthened by the Boston Marathon bombings and endures through smaller but no less painful moments. For all the raucous rivalry between Red Sox and Yankee fans, there is a bond between Boston and New York that is as strong as both cities proved to be when terrorism struck. A soul-stirring reminder of that came on March 26, as members of the FDNY Emerald Society Pipe and Drum Band were preparing to return from playing at a Burn Association gathering in Boston. As they departed the hotel, the New York firefighters paid a noontime visit to a firehouse around the corner, the quarters of BFD’s Engine 33/ Ladder 15.
Benghazi inquiry sparks Hill turf battle - POLITICO.com Print View A turf battle is brewing over Benghazi. When GOP Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham stepped before the cameras Wednesday and renewed their calls for a Watergate-like committee to probe the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Libya, their longtime partner — Sen. Joe Lieberman – was noticeably missing. U.S.: dismiss lawsuit over Americans killed by drones The U.S. Government on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit over the killing of three American citizens in drone strikes in Yemen earlier this year: alleged Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Anwar Al-Awlaki, his son Abdulrahman, and alleged AQAP magazine editor Samir Khan. The administration also threatened to invoke the State Secrets Privilege if the suit is not dismissed on other grounds. The privilege, which 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama regularly blasted the Bush administration for invoking, allows the government to seek dismissal of a suit if it could expose national security secrets.
Americans Call for Term Limits, End to Electoral College PRINCETON, NJ -- Even after the 2012 election in which Americans re-elected most of the sitting members of the U.S. House and Senate -- as is typical in national elections -- three-quarters of Americans say that, given the opportunity, they would vote "for" term limits for members of both houses of Congress. Republicans and independents are slightly more likely than Democrats to favor term limits; nevertheless, the vast majority of all party groups agree on the issue. Further, Gallup finds no generational differences in support for the proposal. These findings, from Gallup Daily tracking conducted Jan. 8-9, are similar to those from 1994 to 1996 Gallup polls, in which between two-thirds and three-quarters of Americans said they would vote for a constitutional amendment to limit the number of terms that members of Congress and the U.S.
Sex, power, and money: how a porn star took on web payments and won The trouble started with an infection. An actress named Eden Alexander had a bad drug reaction, which triggered a rare skin infection, building into a swarm of secondary illnesses. She needed to raise money for treatment. It should have been a simple thing — she has plenty of fans, plenty of would-be donors — but Alexander is a porn actress, and when you’re moving on the web, that makes things complicated. Instead of a quick fundraiser, she ended up tangling with a payments company, rallying a following, and finally leading a flamewar that cut to the core of the way money moves on the internet. Payments "in connection with pornographic items" are prohibited