Poll after poll after poll has found that a large majority of Americans opposed a strike on Syria.

But Pew found that, "in the week studied, the overall percentage of cable stories conveying a message that America should get involved (47% ) solidly outnumbered stories with messages counseling against a strike (27%)."

The breakdowns are striking. For Al Jazeera, pro-strike messages outnumbered anti-strike ones by 43-24%. On CNN, it was 45-23. On Fox News, it was 45-20.

MSNBC, Pew found, had by far the most pro-strike sentiment, with a whopping 64%. But the network also had far more messages of opposition (39%) than its counterparts.

Even so, Americans tuning in to their news networks saw a debate that was far more skewed in favor of the pro-strike view than the debate happening off-screen.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3940141?ref=topbar

Soft drinks should carry tobacco-style warnings that sugar is highly addictive and dangerous, a senior Dutch health official has warned.

Paul van der Velpen, the head of Amsterdam's health service, the Dutch capital city where the sale of cannabis is legalised, wants to see sugar tightly regulated.

"Just like alcohol and tobacco, sugar is actually a drug. There is an important role for government. The use of sugar should be discouraged. And users should be made aware of the dangers," he wrote on an official public health website.

"This may seem exaggerated and far-fetched, but sugar is the most dangerous drug of the times and can still be easily acquired everywhere."

Mr Van der Velpen cites research claiming that sugar, unlike fat or other foods, interferes with the body's appetite creating an insatiable desire to carry on eating, an effect he accuses the food industry of using to increase consumption of their products.

"Sugar upsets that mechanism. Whoever uses sugar wants more and more, even when they are no longer hungry. Give someone eggs and he'll stop eating at any given time. Give him cookies and he eats on even though his stomach is painful," he argued.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/10314705/Sugar-is-addictive-and-the-most-dangerous-drug-of-the-times.html

Her research on Syria influenced key lawmakers—but Dr. Elizabeth O’Bagy wasn’t who she said she was. For the first time, she tells Josh Rogin she was never even in a PhD program.

Elizabeth O’Bagy, the Syria researcher at the center of a week-long controversy surrounding her academic credentials and her work with the Syrian opposition, admitted for the first time to The Daily Beast she was never enrolled in a Ph.D. program despite representations she made to the press and multiple organizations for whom she worked.

O’Bagy, whose work on the Syrian opposition was hailed by Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), was fired from her job as the lead Syria researcher at the Institute for the Study of War on Sept. 10 after it was revealed that she misled her bosses by telling them she had completed a dissertation defense for a Georgetown Ph.D. Subsequently, questions arose as to whether or not O’Bagy was ever enrolled in the joint MA/Ph.D. program that she claimed in her official biography.

O’Bagy confirmed to The Daily Beast that she was only enrolled in a master’s program at Georgetown and had applied to join the joint MA/Ph.D. program but was never accepted.

“I would like to deeply apologize to every person with whom I have worked, who has read and depended upon my research, and to the general public,” O’Bagy said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “While I have made many mistakes and showed extremely poor judgment, I most particularly regret my public misrepresentation of my educational status and not immediately disclosing that I had not been awarded a doctorate in May, 2013.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/16/embattled-syria-expert-was-never-in-phd-program.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government legal opinions that interpret the powers that the FBI has to conduct surveillance should be declassified and released to the public, a civil liberties group said.

In a report set for release on Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union said the proliferation of secret legal interpretations threatened the rights of U.S. citizens to be free from warrantless government searches.

The ACLU launched the criticism just as new FBI Director James Comey settled in at the bureau charged with preventing militant attacks and investigating major U.S. crimes.

The report listed numerous complaints against the expansion of the FBI's authority during the 12 years since the September 11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/civil-liberties-group-accuses-fbi-misusing-authorities-010102970.html

Reuters – 54 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aaron Alexis, the 34-year-old suspect in Monday's shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, had "secret" clearance and was assigned to start working there as a civilian contractor with a military-issued ID card, his firm's chief executive told Reuters.

"He did have a secret clearance. And he did have a CAC (common access card)," said Thomas Hoshko, CEO of The Experts Inc, which was helping service the Navy Marine Corps Intranet as a subcontractor for HP Enterprise Services, part of Hewlett-Packard Co.


"We had just recently re-hired him. Another background investigation was re-run and cleared through the defense security service in July 2013," Hoshko said.
Hoshko said he believed that Alexis' "secret" security clearance dated back to 2007.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/suspected-u-shooter-had-secret-clearance-employer-says-010927653.html

One of the biggest new features of iOS 7 are "iBeacons". Apple (AAPL) said nothing about iBeacons in either June or the more recent September presentation. However beacons were mentioned in at least 3 WWDC sessions. iBeacons may explain why Apple has been ignoring NFC (Near Field Communication) technology.

Beacons are a small wireless sensors placed inside any physical space that transmit data to your iPhone using Bluetooth Low Energy (also known as Bluetooth 4.0 and Bluetooth Smart).

BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) uses the same 2.4Ghz radio spectrum as classic Bluetooth, it's not backwards compatible but Bluetooth 4.0 can support both classic Bluetooth and BLE. Apple first introduced BLE in the iPhone 4S (In mid-2011 Apple joined the board of directors of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group) and hardly anyone noticed. The difference now is that iOS 7 is introducing a new level of integration and possibilities.


How it Might Work

You walk in range of a sensor (beacon) in a shop and you are sent personal notifications and actions. These might be personalised deals or coupons, or recommendations based on your past purchase history. You can then pay for your items much faster perhaps without even needing to queue. The benefits to both the user and retailer are clear.

According to Retail-Week

Joel Blackmore, senior innovation manager at mobile consultancy Somo, says: "iBeacons will be the biggest change for retailers since smartphones. Within the space of a month or so there will be 700 million iOS devices with iBeacons, enabling indoor positioning, micro-location and a new form of contactless payment."

Another useful feature of beacons is that iOS devices can act as beacons themselves. The potential for iBeacons goes well beyond retail. An iBeacon user could potentially trigger events around them such as turning lights on or opening doors. Apple's WWDC presentation showed how beacons could be used throughout a museum.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1696142-apple-may-have-just-killed-nfc-and-revolutionized-another-major-industry-part-1?source=email_rt_article_readmore

Aaron Alexis had been working much of this year as a computer contractor for The Experts, and appeared to have a government contractor access card that would have allowed him onto the Navy Yard and other military installations, according to the company’s CEO, Thomas Hoshko. He was working as an hourly technical employee on a massive subcontract with Hewlett Packard to refresh computer systems worldwide at Navy and Marine Corps installations.

Alexis had a security clearance that was updated in July, approved by military security service personnel.

“There had to be a thorough investigation,” Hoshko said. “There is nothing that came up in all the searches. “
Alexis had finished a contract with the company in Japan as part of the work and was about to be reassigned to do additional contract work at the Navy Yard.


“Discharge from the military does not automatically disqualify a person from getting a job as a military contractor or a security clearance. It depends on what the circumstances are,” Hoshko said, adding that he and his co-workers are still reeling. Alexis received a general discharge. “Obviously he was well-qualified. This really came out and shocked all of us.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/liveblog/wp/2013/09/16/shooting-at-washington-navy-yard/?hpid=z2#liveblog-entry-17942

@CommonCenser: Just learned that Aaron Alexis was a sub to HP on the NMCI contract: http://t.co/KMJgvPXqIW #navyyardshooting

Marjorie Censer
Government/defense contracting reporter for The Washington Post's Capital Business.

@CNBC: $HP on #NavyYardShooting: Aaron Alexis was an employee of a subcontractor to HP Enterprise Services; HP is cooperating w/ law enforcement.

Suspect In Navy Yard Attack Previously Arrested In Seattle For “Anger-Fueled” Shooting
Sep 16th, 2013 @ 02:37 pm › Jonah Spangenthal-Lee

Aaron Alexis, the man identified by Washington D.C. police as a suspect in this morning’s tragic attack on a US Navy Yard, was previously arrested by Seattle police in 2004 for shooting out the tires of another man’s vehicle in what Alexis later described to detectives as an anger-fueled “blackout.”

Because Seattle police have received numerous inquiries about the incident, we are posting the details, detective logs, and the original report for the May 6, 2004 case.


Following his arrest, Alexis told detectives he perceived he had been “mocked” by construction workers the morning of the incident and said they had “disrespected him.” Alexis also claimed he had an anger-fueled “blackout,” and could not remember firing his gun at the victims’ vehicle until an hour after the incident.

Alexis also told police he was present during “the tragic events of September 11, 2001″ and described “how those events had disturbed him.”

Detectives later spoke with Alexis’ father, who lived in New York at the time, who told police Alexis had anger management problems associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and that Alexis had been an active participant in rescue attempts on September 11th, 2001.

http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2013/09/16/suspect-in-navy-yard-attack-previously-arrested-in-seattle-for-anger-fueled-shooting/

More info from Seattle:

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/09/washington-navy-yard-shooter-once-lived-in-seattle/

Larry Summers' Federal Reserve Job Sunk By Liberal-Populist Coalition, Deep-Pocket Donors
Ryan Grim, Michael McAuliff

Sep 16, 2013

WASHINGTON -- A progressive-populist coalition fueled by women's groups and high-end donors was responsible for undoing President Barack Obama's bid to install Larry Summers as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

On Friday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) told the White House, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the Senate Banking Committee chairman that at least five Democrats would vote against Summers in committee, according to a Democratic aide who was involved in the intra-party brawl.

The five opposing senators were a combination of traditional progressives -- Merkley, Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio) -- and prairie populists -- Jon Tester (Mont.) and, according to three Senate Democratic sources, Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.). Tester's opposition was reported Friday by Reuters; Heitkamp's intention was not previously public.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3935861?utm_hp_ref=tw