But, the second reason, and, by far, the more important one was that, believe it, or not, those companies were way ahead of the NSA in their ability to collect, organize, diagnose, and, analyze their customer's vital, personal information. The NSA's I.T. experts were stunned by the sophistication of those data mining techniques. It, instantly, became a no-brainer to just "hitch a ride" onto Verizon, EBay, Amazon, etc. rather than build a system from scratch. We saw a good example of that approach in the rollout of the ACA.

And, just when you thought that nothing could surprise you any more about these giant's snooping capabilities, get a load of this: Suppose you're just walking down the street and check your smart phone for a nice deli to have lunch. Of course, the little screen will display everything you want to know about local eateries. However (you know the old KGB saying, "shhh, the walls have ears?") well, so does your smart phone. It listens, and, screens the background for sounds that the phone/computer will recognize, and, build a data base with that information like, where you are. But, wait! There's more: The listening/screening/analyzing capabilities are so sophisticated it will differentiate between Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. Everything you do, based on the sounds around you, will go into your data base. Just let your imagination run wild as to what they'll know: Your preference: "top," "bottom," or, "Doggy?" What makes you sneeze, and, how often. Are you aggressive, or, passive, in your discussions? And, so on, and, so on.

Laugh if you want to, accuse me of exaggerating. But, then do a little googling, and, you'll find out how just conservative my examples are.

I've been watching this story because I hope to attend this year's Lockn Festival down in Virginie (Furthur's only 2014 performance! Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers! Many many more!)...and the Virginia Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control is out to win the killjoy of the year award and pull the beer license.  Why?  One pair of breasts and some reefer at last years Fest, and inadequate lighting.  The horror!

BOSTON (AP) -- The FBI agent in charge of the investigation into the theft of $500 million worth of masterpieces from a Boston museum nearly a quarter century ago says the bureau has confirmed sightings of the missing artwork from credible sources.

The art, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer and Manet, was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 by two men disguised as city police officers.

FBI Special Agent Geoff Kelly, the lead investigator, tells WFXT-TV the trail for the missing artwork has not grown cold.

NBC News's Lester Holt on Wednesday night anchored "NBC Nightly News," substituting for Brian Williams, who was said to be "on assignment."

Accurate: Williams went to Russia for an exclusive interview with famous National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, an NBC News source confirms.

That's not all. Glenn Greenwald, who helped boost the Guardian to a public-service Pulitzer Prize, showed up as well. The result of all this on-the-sly travel will be a tripartite NBC News interview extravaganza: one session of several hours with Williams and Snowden, which will constitute the majority of the on-air presentation; one with Williams and Greenwald; and a third with Williams and both Snowden and Greenwald. As opposed to conducting the interview, which he did previously with Snowden, Greenwald will be an interviewee in this go-round. The NBC News primetime special from the interview will air on May 28 at 10 p.m. EST.

Speaking to a massive crowd in Rome, the first Argentinian pope delivered a short address in which he argued that respect for the "beauty of nature and the grandeur of the cosmos" is a Christian value, noting that failure to care for the planet risks apocalyptic consequences.

"Safeguard Creation," he said. "Because if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us! Never forget this!"

The pope centered his environmentalist theology around the biblical creation story in the book of Genesis, where God is said to have created the world, declared it "good," and charged humanity with its care. Francis also made reference to his namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi, who was a famous lover of animals, and appeared to tie the ongoing environmental crisis to economic concerns -- namely, instances where a wealthy minority exploits the planet at the expense of the poor.

"Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude," Francis said.

Francis also said that humanity's destruction of the planet is a sinful act, likening it to self-idolatry.

"But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God's love for us, in destroying Creation we are saying to God: `I don't like it! This is not good!' `So what do you like?' `I like myself!' - Here, this is sin! Do you see?"

v. 358
v. 357
v. 356
v. 355

why on earth would she deliberately lie about something to her boss when he was going to find out anyway? She was Baquet's boss.

Baquet and Abramson did not have a great relationship according to reports.. and apparently Baquet and Gibson sparred during the Snowden

Baquet was the point person at the Times on the Snowden stories, and he and Gibson sometimes clashed, according to a former Times executive who knew them both. (Reached for comment, Baquet acknowledged some tension in the partnership between the Times and the Guardian over the Snowden documents, but said he liked Gibson and thought she was a fine editor. Gibson declined to comment.)

VF

story about Abramson not disclosing full story to Baquet here:

According to reports, Abramson was planning to install Gibson but had failed to apprise her managing editor, Dean Baquet, on the full extent of Gibson's portfolio -- especially the fact that Gibson would come aboard as a co-equal of Baquet's. Another allegation is that Sulzberger felt deceived by Abramson over the question of whether Baquet knew all about the plans.

link

As I suspected, Abramson was offered the same deal as Raines; to resign:

Abramson turned down an offer from Times leadership to engineer a happy-face exit. "Jill said no," Sulzberger told Ellison.

Whereas the March 2014 Marquette University poll had Walker up by only seven points over his likely but still relatively unknown Democratic challenger, Mary Burke, the latest MU poll released this week shows the two now locked in a dead heat, a startling 14-point swing in only eight weeks which potentially bodes ill for the incumbent.

One probable reason for that is Gov. Walker's now-crumbling standing among both Wisconsin's women and its young adults, thanks in no small part to the Republicans' continued hostility to women's reproductive rights, their repeal of the state's Equal Pay Enforcement Act, and the governor's highly partisan refusal to accept federal monies to expand Wisconsin's Medicaid program in accordance with provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Further, whereas Ms. Burke was heretofore suffering from a serious lack of name recognition, her campaign now appears to be making substantial headway as more Wisconsin voters more and more Wisconsinites find Gov. Walker's performance wanting, and are open to consideration of his likely Democratic opponent. And this same MU poll indicates that voters are also starting to like what they see in her.

So while the race is still considered by most political prognosticators as the governor's to lose, it's also quite evident that as Wisconsin voters are getting to know Burke better, this election is starting to shape up less as a valedictory victory lap for the incumbent, than as yet another public referendum on Walker himself.

Only 5 more comics to go until I reach my goal of 365 within a calendar year. Then AXE goes on sabbatical, and into reruns, for a good spell.