The Killing of Osama bin Laden

Posted on May 12, 2015 by mea

It’s been four years since a group of US Navy Seals assassinated Osama bin Laden in a night raid on a high-walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The killing was the high point of Obama’s first term, and a major factor in his re-election. The White House still maintains that the mission was an all-American affair, and that the senior generals of Pakistan’s army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) were not told of the raid in advance. This is false, as are many other elements of the Obama administration’s account. The White House’s story might have been written by Lewis Carroll: would bin Laden, target of a massive international manhunt, really decide that a resort town forty miles from Islamabad would be the safest place to live and command al-Qaida’s operations? He was hiding in the open. So America said.

via Seymour M. Hersh · The Killing of Osama bin Laden · LRB 21 May 2015.

Many if not most elements of that situation are probably so highly classified only historians far into the future will ever truly know how that raid came to be.  If ISI were involved I can understand why they wouldn’t want to be named and why a good public  cover story as to how it all went down was necessary to protect sources and techniques.  Don’t believe everything you read in the newspaper or especially these Intertubes.

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The Bloomingdale Line

Posted on April 27, 2015 by mea

This article is not intended to be a history of the Bloomingdale Line; that has been covered elsewhere.

Instead, the author examines how the Bloomingdale Line interacted with and affected the lives of Chicago citizens and businesses during its time in service. To that end, Part I attempts to put the remainder of the article in context by discussing the Bloomingdale Line’s establishment, the community’s vehement opposition to its presence during the first 40 or so years it existed and its eventual elevation. Part II is really the heart of the matter. In that section, the author examines how the Bloomingdale Line was, for many years, an integral part of the daily operations of many industrial and manufacturing businesses that existed next to the railway. To illustrate the point, the author profiles seven companies that were adjacent to the Bloomingdale and used it for shipping and receiving. Finally, Part III is essentially a coda reflecting upon the Bloomingdale Line’s disuse and abandonment.

via The Bloomingdale Line | Forgotten Chicago | History, Architecture, and Infrastructure.

From: The 606 park to open in June

A long-planned Chicago park stretching along abandoned Northwest Side train tracks will debut June 6, the city announced Monday.

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Chess grandmaster accused of using iPhone to cheat during international tournament

Posted on April 14, 2015 by mea

“Nigalidze would promptly reply to my moves and then literally run to the toilet,” Armenian grandmaster Tigran Petrosian said. “I noticed that he would always visit the same toilet partition, which was strange, since two other partitions weren’t occupied.”

Petrosian complained to the officials. After Nigalidze left the bathroom once more, officials inspected the interior and say they found an iPhone wrapped in toilet paper and hidden behind the toilet.

via Chess grandmaster accused of using iPhone to cheat during international tournament – The Washington Post.

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Mark Kirk, Foreign Policy Voice of the GOP

Posted on April 4, 2015 by mea

If this is what passes for foreign policy thinking among top Republicans, the party is in a very bad way. I suspect there are Republican office holders who hold alternate views—including those that understand Iran as a complicated country in a mellowing phase a generation and a half after a tumultous revolution, one which probably can be dealt with on a rational basis, as we now deal with Russia and China. But they are almost completely silent. In the vacuum, the Mark Kirks represent the brand of the GOP. Making ignorant and belligerent comments about Iran has now become a form of Republican electioneering.

via Mark Kirk, Foreign Policy Voice of the GOP | The American Conservative.

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How the Leaked TPP ISDS Chapter Threatens Intellectual Property Limitations and Exceptions

Posted on March 30, 2015 by mea

And here is a major one lurking in the shadows. Many copyright intensive industries are hostile to the U.S. fair use doctrine and many of the decisions of courts emanating from it. There have been arguments raised from time to time that the doctrine or its applications are contrary to the so-called Berne 3-step test requiring that limitations and exceptions to rights be limited to certain special cases, not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author (see this rebuttal from Gervais et al.). No other country has attempted to sue the U.S. or the nearly dozen other countries around the world that have fair use. But will the content industry be so reticent with such challenges in the future? With the TPP ISDS chapter, they will not have to in 40% of the global economy.

via How the Leaked TPP ISDS Chapter Threatens Intellectual Property Limitations and Exceptions » infojustice.

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