MBTA bag searches turn up no weapons, arrests, only false alarmsIn the first 2 1/2 months of random bag searches on the MBTA, police found no weapons, made no arrests, but had nearly two-dozen false alarms for explosives.
Of the 2,449 inspections between Oct. 10 and Dec. 31, the bags of 27 riders tested positive in the initial screening for explosives, prompting further searches, the Globe found in an analysis of daily inspection reports obtained under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
In the additional screening, 11 passe... (more)
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Maine rejects Real ID ActMaine overwhelmingly rejected federal requirements for national identification cards on Thursday, marking the first formal state opposition to controversial legislation scheduled to go in effect for Americans next year.
Both chambers of the Maine legislature approved a resolution saying the state flatly "refuses" to force its citizens to use driver's licenses that comply with digital ID standards, which were established under the 2005 Real ID Act. It asks the U.S. Congress to ... (more)
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Shooting the MessengerLinda J. Bilmes, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University, calls her latest paper “pretty dry.” That hasn’t prevented it from riling high-ranking Pentagon officials — who called her and her dean to complain about her work. When they questioned her sources of material, they ran into a bit of a problem: She did most of her research with data on federal Web sites. So what did the Pentagon do? It changed the Web sites, and now continues to trash her research.
... (more)
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Rant: Smile, You're on the TelescreenReality TV has many lessons to teach us, but there is one it reiterates with a frequency even parrots can’t match: If you want people to behave badly, stick a camera in their faces.
It doesn’t matter if they’re stranded on a South Pacific island or huddled in the back of a police car; there’s something about the intrusive, unblinking gaze of a Sony Betacam that makes people feel invisible, beyond censure.
Apparently our legislators and... (more)
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Arrest Made After 'Suspicious Packages' Paralyzed Boston as Part of Cartoon Network Marketing CampaignBOSTON — More than 10 blinking electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city in what turned out to be a publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. The devices depict a character making an obscene gesture.
Boston police said Wednesday night that one person had been arrested, and authorities scheduled a news conference later in the evening to provide details.
Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles R... (more)
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Chirac retracts relaxed comments on nuclear IranThe French president, Jacques Chirac, has said a nuclear-armed Iran would not be "very dangerous", in controversial comments he retracted the next day.
In an interview conducted on Monday and published today, Mr Chirac contradicted official French policy by saying that even if Iran possessed an atomic weapon this would not be perilous, since it would never dare to use it.
"Where will it drop it, this bomb? On Israel?" he asked reporters fr... (more)
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Coming Soon: More Big Brother to Love Over the past several months, the FCC and Justice Department have been working overtime, and fighting hard to tap not only your landline phone, your cellphone, but to tap Internet phone calls, as well.
Effective in May, those who provide "voice transmission," and broadband services will have to ensure that their equipment that is wiretap-ready, and accessible to your local police force, and the FBI. The new legislation is modeled after the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law E... (more)
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US money is 'squandered' in Iraq Millions of dollars in US rebuilding funds have been wasted in Iraq, US auditors say in a report which warns corruption in the country is rife.
A never-used camp in Baghdad for police trainers with an Olympic-size swimming pool is one of the examples highlighted in the quarterly audit.
Billions of budgeted dollars meanwhile remain unspent by Iraq's government.
The report comes as President Bush is urging Congress to approve $1.2b... (more)
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For Windows Vista Security, Microsoft Called in ProsWhen Microsoft introduces its long-awaited Windows Vista operating system this month, it will have an unlikely partner to thank for making its flagship product safe and secure for millions of computer users across the world: the National Security Agency.
For the first time, the giant software maker is acknowledging the help of the secretive agency, better known for eavesdropping on foreign officials and, more recently, U.S. citizens as part of the Bush administration's effort to c... (more)
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Washington Post Drops Demand To View Cheney's Visitor LogsThe Washington Post has quietly retreated from a legal battle with Vice President Cheney by dropping a lawsuit demanding Secret Service logs of visitors to his office and residence.
The newspaper's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit prompted a flurry of press attention and court action just prior to the November election. In October, a district court judge in the capital, Ricardo Urbina, cited the looming vote when he ordered the Secret Service to comply immediately with the Post'... (more)
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Camera Crews Threatened With Arrest for Filming Peace DemonstrationMonday morning - the cold wind nipping at the few exposed square inches of my face reminded me that some higher power must have intercepted on our behalf last Saturday when half a million people had encircled the Capitol complex during a perfectly-timed respite from the frigid temperatures and wind that book ended the event. Surely the Gods were smiling on the peace movement. As I walked the dozen blocks from my hotel, I thought about the campaign I’d waged in the prior 18 months to be ele... (more)
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Bush has near 'tractor accident' in visit to Illinois factory The White House announced its visit to a Caterpillar factory in East Peoria, Illinois, yesterday, where President George W. Bush advanced his case for expanding free trade negotiations. But it didn't detail the President's clumsy driving of a giant D-10 tractor that sent the White House press corps and presidential staff scrambling, as reported at a Newsweek blog.
At "The Gaggle," Newsweek reporter Holly Bailey writes that the president clambered into the ... (more)
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Same-sex diversity video shown to third-graders roils Evesham districtNew Jersey's preeminent gay rights group came to the defense yesterday of Evesham's school district, which is facing questions from some parents for showing a diversity video that includes families headed by same-sex couples.
The video, called "That's a Family!," depicts children being raised in a variety of family structures, including those headed by divorced and single parents, grandparents, guardians, and gay and lesbian couples.
The video is used around the sta... (more)
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SPIEGEL Interview with CIA's Former Europe Director: "We Probably Gave Powell the Wrong Speech"The former chief of the CIA's Europe division, Tyler Drumheller, discusses the United States foreign intelligence service's cooperation with Germany, the covert kidnapping of suspected terrorists and a Bush adminstration that ignored CIA advice and used whatever information it could find to justify an invasion of Iraq.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Drumheller, do you still dare to travel to Europe?
Drumheller: Yes, absolutely. I was a great friend of the Europeans... (more)
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Iran daily says 9/11 a 'White House conspiracy'TEHRAN (Sept. 11, 2006) - A hardline Iranian newspaper on Monday described the September 11 attacks as a "black conspiracy inside the White House", publishing what it said was evidence the strikes could have been staged by US officials.
The paper, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, compiled a full page of reports from foreign press sources which it said cast serious doubts on the official version of events.
The reports "show th... (more)
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Two New Books Confirm Global Warming is Natural; Not Caused By Human ActivityTwo powerful new books say today’s global warming is due not to human activity but primarily to a long, moderate solar-linked cycle. Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years, by physicist Fred Singer and economist Dennis Avery was released just before Christmas. The Chilling Stars: A New Theory of Climate Change, by Danish physicist Henrik Svensmark and former BBC science writer Nigel Calder (Icon Books), is due out in March.
Singer and Avery no... (more)
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Communist China Sets Up Internet Propaganda DepartmentAccording to reports from China Times, the highest authority controlling all of the CCP's foreign propaganda, the International Communication Office of the Central Committee has set up a new internet communication department to manage internet communications. This organization's authority is higher than the Internet Bureau of the State Council Information Office, indicating that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has realized the rapidly increasing and widespread influence of... (more)
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