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Turkey’s Dirty Energy Boom: Hyperactive, Hyperbolic, Hydrocarbonated by James Ryan
Turkey’s rush to privatize state assets and mine its natural resources is turning a nation blessed with tremendous clean energy potential into a dirtier one. And it’s not just the environment that’s polluted. James Ryan investigates from Istanbul.
WHO
Jon Stewart, the Fake Newsman Who Made a Real Difference
After nearly 17 years at the helm of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart shocked everyone with a teary-eyed announcement of his coming departure from the wildly popular “fake news” show. The juxtaposition between Stewart’s acerbic wit and the mainstream media’s flaccid infotainment propelled The Daily Show from a mere comedy program to a political and cultural phenomenon. The impact of his departure, and the praise he’s receiving from the media he skewered relentlessly, offers an ironic juxtaposition to the announcement of NBC News Anchor Brian Williams’ 6-month suspension and the revelation that he really just wanted to be host of The Tonight Show.
Bush’s 2016 Tech Officer Ousted Over Offensive Remarks
Well, that didn’t last long. Just yesterday, we highlighted the launch of “Bush 2.0” and its first big hire, Hipster.com co-founder Ethan Czahor. The Bush team today announced Czahor will no longer be the chief technology officer in light of the “bad jokes” he posted to Twitter. He held the job for one whole day. But that wasn’t the only tech fail for the Next Bush In Line. The Verge reported on a problem with Jeb’s big data dump of e-mails from his time as Florida Governor. Done in “the spirit of transparency,” the searchable database includes e-mail addresses, home addresses, phone numbers, and the Social Security numbers of Florida residents. Who needs hackers?
With These Hires, Congress Becomes Even More Like a Corporation
Congressional watchdog Lee Fang reports on the latest spate of corporate lobbyists to spin through the revolving door between K Street and Capitol Hill. With the coming of the new Congress, industry lobbyists have taken up positions on the Senate Agriculture Committee (PepsiCo), the House Intelligence Committee (General Dynamics, Boeing and Academi), the Joint Committee on Taxation (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and the Senate Aviation Subcommittee (US Airways) … and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. According to Fang, “On almost any big issue coming up for debate during the final two years of the Obama administration—surveillance, trade, healthcare, entitlements, tax reform, climate change—corporate lobbyists will now be attempting to influence their own former colleagues, whose salaries are now covered by US taxpayers.”
WHAT
UN Rights Report Illustrates ‘Bleak Picture’ of Libya in 2014
As President Obama lobbies Congress for authorization to expand his war against the Islamic State, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights previewed a new report detailing the crisis in one of the President’s previous targets—the failing state of Libya. The report, to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in March, “depicts a country suffering from increasing turmoil and lawlessness, inflamed by a multitude of competing, heavily armed groups and a broadening political crisis.” Sadly, Libya’s descent into chaos has failed to seep through the semi-permeable barrier around the mainstream media.
NSA Claims Iran Learned from Western Cyberattacks
Glenn Greenwald writes about a top secret National Security Agency document from April 2013 detailing fears that Iran used the West’s aggressive and sophisticated cyberattacks as a training manual to help sharpen their own cyberwarfare capabilities. The assessment, part of the trove of documents released by Edward Snowden, offers more evidence that the cyberwar tactics and viruses employed by the United States and Israel helped Iran develop a “much more formidable cyberforce.”
WHY
Food Fat Warnings: Why You Should Add Butter to Your Shopping List
Finally, some really-really-really good news! An article in BMJ’s Open Heart journal argues that official warnings against the consumption of saturated fats should never have been introduced! New research found that the advice—which was distributed widely in the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 1980s—was based on flawed data and “very limited evidence.” It turns out that fat isn’t that bad for you. According the Telegraph, you should stock up on butter, whole milk, bacon, cheese, sausages and “cake and biscuits (within reason, of course).”
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