This man was arrested by Capitol Police today after disrupting the Senate by yelling, “Abortion! Abortion! Stop Obama! Stop the Congress!”
Hawaii Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye has died at age 88, his office confirmed Monday night.
His last words, according to a statement released by his staff, were “Aloha”.
Inouye has been hospitalized since early December due to respiratory problems. His cause of death was “respiratory complications”.
(Source: shortformblog)
The presidential race may have been called, but six Senate races remain undecided and gay marriage is on the ballot in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington.
It’s still a long night.
Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) — Senator Harry Reid was hospitalized after a crash on Interstate 15 Friday.
The crash happened just after 1 p.m. on I-15 northbound near Sahara, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol.
Multiple cars were involved in the crash, including four cars in Senator Reid’s caravan. Two other cars outside of the caravan were involved.
The extent of Reid’s injuries were not immediately clear.
"By taking detailed pictures of individuals in intimate locations such as around a pool, or in their backyard, or even through their windows, these programs have the potential to put private images on public display. We need to hit the pause button here and figure out what is happening and how we can best protect peoples’ privacy, without unduly impeding technological advancement."
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Sen. Charles Schumer • Arguing that Google and Apple’s separate, upcoming 3D aerial maps raise major privacy concerns. He even wrote an open letter to the companies on the matter, which features this all-caps scare message: “TECHNOLOGY STRONG ENOUGH TO SEE THROUGH WINDOWS AND EVEN CATCH SUN BATHERS IN BACK YARDS” Problem is, Schumer appears to be citing a Daily Mail report on the matter that suggested that “military grade” spy planes were used to get this data, despite the fact that appears to not be the case. Google, in fact, responded, suggesting Schumer misunderstood the technology. “We currently don’t blur aerial imagery because the resolution isn’t sharp enough for it to be a concern,” a spokesperson said in a statement. (via shortformblog)
This is what happens when we have people making laws about technologies they do not understand nor make an attempt to understand.
(via shortformblog)
On representation
- Friend: Don't be gettin' your House bullshit all up in my Senate.
- Me: Technically they're both yours; you just prefer one over the other.
- Friend: Well, neither of them is yours because you're a DC resident. Ha ha.
- Me: Damn you.
"On Saturday, Senator Kirk checked himself into Lake Forest Hospital, where doctors discovered a carotid artery dissection in the right side of his neck. … Due to his young age, good health and the nature of the stroke, doctors are very confident in the Senator’s recovery over the weeks ahead."
— The office of Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) • Discussing the stroke he suffered on Saturday and revealed Monday. He underwent surgery to relieve swelling around his brain earlier this morning. Kirk, 52, holds the seat vacated by Barack Obama when he ran for president in 2008. (via shortformblog)
(via shortformblog)
"Today in the Senate, I met with Senators Jon Kyl and Mark Kirk. The meeting is very useful because it shows that the alternative to Barack Obama is a collapse of all the programs of cooperation with Russia. Today, I had the impression that I was transported in a time machine back several decades, and in front of me sat two monsters of the Cold War, who looked at me not through pupils, but targeting sights."
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Russia’s ambassador to NATO is none too pleased with US conservatives. Wait till you see what one of those conservatives said in response. (via adamweinstein)
I’m no longer an Illinois voter, so no longer represented by a “monster of the Cold War.” I think having no voting representation in Congress is a fair trade .
(via motherjones)
SAN FRANCISCO -(Dow Jones)- A hacker group that has claimed attacks on media and law enforcement affiliates extended its month-long cyber rampage on Monday, boasting that it had cracked the U.S. Senate’s website.
On Monday, the group—known as Lulz Security—posted a configuration file for the Senate’s main website on its homepage. The material in the file doesn’t suggest sensitive information was breached, but it does indicate Lulz Security infiltrated the Senate’s network.
“This is a small, just-for-kicks release of some internal data from Senate.gov,” Lulz Security said in its release. “Is this an act of war, gentlemen?”
The group appeared to be referencing a recent Wall Street Journal article that reported the Pentagon considered some forms of computer sabotage constituted warfare.
A Senate representative said she was unaware of any breach of the body’s web site.
The intrusion is part of a spree of hacks by the group, which has targeted Japanese media-and-technology giant Sony Corp. (SNE, 6758.TO), the Atlanta chapter of Federal Bureau of Investigation affiliate InfraGard and U.S. public broadcaster PBS.
Also on Monday, LulzSec, as the group sometimes refers to itself, said it had broken into a website run by Bethesda Softworks LLC., which makes horror and fantasy games.
Bethesda acknowledged its network had been breached but said that no personal financial information or credit card data had been stolen.
“The hackers may have gained access to some user names, email addresses, and/ or passwords,” the company said. “As a precaution, we recommend that all our fans immediately change passwords on all our sites.”
Dems: People think they want to do everything, always, regardless of the Constitution.
Republicans: Actually want to subvert the Constitution.
"We are in the bottom quartile; we are not the worst utility that is out there."
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Pepco Executive Vice President of Power Delivery Dave Velazquez apologizes to the Montgomery County Council after the power company left 140,000 people without electricity following a relatively light winter storm.
Pepco has faced extensive criticism, complete with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Representative Chris Van Hollen sending separate letters, for its overall poor service and inability to restore power to tens of thousands of DC area residents following a storm two weeks ago. The utility company took out a full page ad in the Washington Post to apologize for its poor service. In response, Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski wants the federal government to investigate Pepco and establish reliability standards for power companies.
Lost in the excitement of the Senate’s repeal of DADT was another bill they passed today: S. 592 Local Community Radio Act
In passing this bill, the Senate opened up the doors to thousands of Low Power FM radio stations across the nation. These “hyper-local” stations generally have a range of only a few miles, are largely run by volunteers and broadcast a variety of programs including community news, local music and educational and multilingual programs.
On Tuesday, Craig Aaron of Free Press wrote a piece for the Huffington Post on the bill, in anticipation of its passage. It’s a great read.
