Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/168784978?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
NYC mayor tells of 'smoked up' college days
A declaration that NYPD is Mayor Michael Bloomberg's "own army" has many critics upset. Melissa Russo reports.
By Melissa Russo, NBCNewYork.com
Some New Yorkers may have wondered what Mayor Michael Bloomberg was smoking when he proclaimed he has his "own army? and admitted he "smoked up" in college during an unscripted speech at MIT Tuesday.
During that speech, Bloomberg let down his guard on a wide range of topics ? including his own drug and alcohol use in the 1960s.
?I don?t know where you went to school, but we were too smoked up and drunk to carry a gun,? Bloomberg said, after describing a conversation with an Oklahoma lawmaker about legislation banning guns on college campuses.
See video and read the original report at NBCNewYork.com
The ?smoked up? comment came after Bloomberg described how powerful his job is.
?Where else would I run an organization with 330,000 employees? I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh-biggest army in the world,? Bloomberg said.
He added, ?I have my own State Department, to Foggy Bottom's annoyance. We have the U.N. in New York, so we have entr?e into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have.?
Bloomberg made the comments as he gave the keynote address at MIT?s Collaborative Initiative Conference, on the tech campus in Cambridge, Mass.
Bloomberg?s spokesman said there was ?nothing new? about the mayor?s puzzling statements on Tuesday.
Stu Loeser said ?he was speaking a bit euphemistically to a bunch of college students.?
Bloomberg also raised eyebrows when he said it wouldn?t be so bad to double class sizes as long as the teachers are capable, and said the reason students aren?t allowed to bring their iPads to class is because they would download pornography, causing lawsuits.
?This is Bloomberg unbound,? political strategist Dan Gerstein said. "He doesn?t have to run for reelection. I think you?re actually gonna see more of this over the next couple of years until he leaves office.?
More news and feature stories from msnbc.com:
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iPhone 4S video vs. a great white shark: They?re going to need a bigger boat [NSFW-L]
A huge Great White Shark was spotted in the wild by a boat owner and luckily for us, he was an iPhone 4S user. We already knew that the iPhone 4S was capable of capturing some fantastic 1080p video content but when you see the result with this...
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/QSQPu83N02I/story01.htm
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Friday, December 2, 2011
Mindy McCready Expecting Twins
On the same day she insisted that, despite reports, she did not kidnap her 5-year-old son Zander, a rep for the troubled country singer confirms to PEOPLE that McCready, 36, is five months pregnant with twins.
Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/6gh5tuFDEJk/
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US cleric: American jailed in Cuba in good spirits (AP)
HAVANA ? A U.S. government subcontractor jailed for nearly two years for bringing restricted communications equipment to Cuba has lost a lot of weight but seems in good humor, a prominent U.S. religious leader said after visiting the prisoner Wednesday.
The Rev. Michael Kinnamon, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches who is leading a 15-person delegation to the island, gave few details of his interview with Alan Gross.
"Two of us went to see him today. ... We had a good conversation, and we're grateful for the government for enabling us to have that visit," Kinnamon told reporters.
Kinnamon echoed reports from previous visitors who said Gross, 62, had dropped more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and suffered from other ailments.
"We have concerns for his health, but he's in good spirits," Kinnamon said. He said he hoped Gross may be freed on humanitarian grounds, but had no knowledge of when or whether that may happen.
Gross, a native of Maryland, was arrested Dec. 4, 2009, while working as a subcontractor on a democracy-building project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Cuba considers such programs an affront to its national security, and last March he was sentenced to 15 years under a statute governing crimes against the state.
Gross has said he was working to help the island's small Jewish community improve its Internet access and was not a threat to the Cuban government.
On Monday, his wife, Judy, said Gross had sought reassurance that what he was doing was legal, but was told by his company not to ask Cuban officials.
Kinnamon is the latest in a string of visitors allowed to meet with Gross this year, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a delegation of U.S. women leaders and a Washington-area rabbi.
Judy Gross visited her husband earlier this month for the third time since his arrest, and officials at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana have also had periodic consular access to the man.
Kinnamon said he would meet on Thursday with Interests Section diplomats to report on his group's trip. He said he would also note the National Council of Churches' view that U.S.-Cuban relations should be normalized and lobby for change in U.S. policy toward Cuba.
"It's very clear there are issues we have to discuss between our countries," Kinnamon said. "But the way to address those issues is in the context of mutual respect between nations, and 50 years of animosity and embargo simply must stop."
The New York-based National Council of Churches, an umbrella group of U.S. Protestant and Orthodox Christian denominations, has long been a critic of the U.S. economic and financial embargo against Cuba.
Supporters of the embargo argue that it pressures for democratic opening on the communist-run island by choking off revenue to the government led for decades by Fidel Castro and more recently by his younger brother Raul.
Kinnamon also met Wednesday with relatives of the "Cuban Five," intelligence agents serving sentences in the United States whose return is a top priority for Havana. He expressed concern over their case.
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House approves new TSA rules for US military
By Joy Jernigan, senior travel editor
Members of the U.S. military flying?on official orders while in uniform may soon see?faster security screening?while?traveling through the nation's airports.
The U.S. House of Representatives today voted 404 to 0 to approve H.R. 1801, also known as the???Risk-Based Security?Screening for Members of The Armed Forces Act," which will now be sent to the Senate. If passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Barack Obama, the Transportation Security Administration within six months will be required to implement expedited security screening for members of the U.S. military?and any?family members traveling with them.
?With all the contention and political gridlock we?ve witnessed over the past several months, what?s most important is that we come together to agree where we can,??said Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., in a statement. ?In respect to our men and women in uniform and in the best interest of our national security, this bipartisan initiative is the least we could do for our military personnel and their families traveling our nation?s airports while serving our country."?
Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Calif., a member of the Committee on Homeland Security on which Cravaack also serves, urged support of the bill from the House floor.?"It?s needed, it?s common sense and it?s legislation with bipartisan support,? she said.
The?legislation is a?step toward a more risk-based, intelligence-driven security screening system, rather than a??one-size-fits-all approach. The TSA is currently testing a "PreCheck" program?for travelers who provide personal information in exchange for the possibility of faster screening at airports in?Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit and Miami, with plans to expand to airports in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.??
TSA spokesman Greg Soule told msnbc.com that?the agency already expedites screening for wounded veterans and allows service members in uniform with proper ID to keep their shoes or boots on while passing through security checkpoints.
The?TSA also is testing a military ID card-reading program at Monterey Peninsula Airport, Soule said. The?pilot program is designed to test the technology necessary to verify the status of U.S. service members and could pave the?way for troops to be included in TSA's PreCheck expedited screening program.
?While this program would not guarantee expedited screening?? we must retain a certain element of randomness to prevent terrorists from gaming the system ? the testing of this concept holds the potential to significantly change the travel experience for members of the U.S. Armed Forces in the future,? Soule said.
Brandon Macsata, executive director for the Association for Airline Passenger Rights, said he supports the legislation.
"We contend that like pilots who have already undergone extensive security screenings and [are] put in charge of the aircraft's overall safety and security, men and women serving in our armed services should be afford the same expedited screening," Macsata??told msnbc.com. "U.S. military traveling on official orders are executing their sworn duty to defend the country, and as such they should not be delayed with long airport security screenings."
However, Erica Pena-Vest, founder and travel editor for GuidetoMilitaryTravel.com, told msnbc.com that while she thinks members of Congress have their heart in the right place, she's never heard any active-duty member of the military complain about having to go through airport security, just like any other American. ?Most military people don?t like to be singled out,? she said, adding that only the U.S. Army travels in uniform.
?I think as a society we can think of other ways to honor our military," said Pena-Vest, who is married to an aviator in the U.S. Navy. "I don?t necessarily think that helping them expedite the security screening process is necessarily the answer."
Other stories you might like
Joy Jernigan is a senior travel editor for msnbc.com. Follow her on Twitter.
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China refuses to criticize Iran by name (AP)
BEIJING ? China has refused to criticize Iran by name for the attack on British diplomatic compounds in Tehran but says the dignity of diplomatic missions should be protected.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei refused Wednesday to mention Iran when asked for comment on the attack.
Hong would say only that "China always maintains that the security and dignity of diplomats and diplomatic institutions should be safeguarded and protected."
He said "the relevant action runs counter to international law and basic norms of international relations and should be handled appropriately."
Hard-line Iranian protesters stormed the British compounds Tuesday. They hauled down the British flag, torched an embassy vehicle and pelted buildings with petrol bombs.
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