Change? Like Previous Presidents, Obama Shmoozes Top Campaign Donors At White House Dinner

AP | The White House extended state dinner invitations to more than 30 of President Barack Obama's top fundraisers, including a handful of donors to an independent political group backing his re-election effort, an Associated Press review has found. Such coveted seats for Wednesday's event honoring British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife went to about two dozen supporters who each raised $200,000 or more for Obama's campaign. Those included film producer Harvey Weinstein, New York financier Orin Kramer and Miami public-policy consultant Joseph Falk.

DARPA & The Origins Of Apple's "Siri"

Wired | Siri — the voice-activated data assistant available on Apple’s iPhone upgrade — is a veteran. Nearly 10 years ago, Darpa funded a project known as PAL, for Personalized Assistant that Learns. It was an adaptive AI program for both data retrieval and data synthesis. If you told PAL what information you needed, and it observed what you did with that information, it would figure out a more efficient path to acquiring and sorting relevant information the next time around. The project started out with a California company called SRI International. With a five-year, multimillion dollar grant from Darpa under the PAL program, SRI developed a system called CALO, for Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes.

US Drones Strike In Yemen Killing At Least 64 Alleged Insurgents

UPI | U.S. drone strikes on hideouts and arms reserves killed at least 64 suspected al-Qaida militants over three days, Yemeni officials said. "The United States did not inform us on the attacks. We only knew about this after the U.S. attacked," a member of Yemen's military committee told CNN. Officials at U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon contacted Sunday declined to provide information about the attacks Yemeni officials said were carried out by unmanned U.S. aircraft, CNN reported Monday.

The Enforcement Façade

Immigration911 | For the past year, the Obama administration has been working hard to convince the American people that the President is tough on enforcement, the border is secure, and conservatives are the roadblock keeping America from solving our illegal immigration problems. To a large degree, this campaign has been a success. Obama has touted fewer apprehensions as proof the border is secure and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano never wastes an opportunity to proclaim the Obama administration has deported more illegal immigrants than any other in history. But do these two claims accurately reflect reality? Or is Obama using misdirection to advance his political agenda?

New Type Of Extra-Chromosomal DNA Discovered

PhysOrg | A team of scientists from the University of Virginia and University of North Carolina in the US have discovered a previously unidentified type of small circular DNA molecule occurring outside the chromosomes in mouse and human cells. The circular DNA is 200-400 base pairs in length and consists of non-repeating sequences. The new type of extra-chromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) has been dubbed microDNA. Unlike other forms of eccDNA, in microDNA the sequences of base pairs are non-repetitive and are usually found associated with particular genes. This suggests they may be produced by micro-deletions of small sections of the chromosomal DNA.

Israel Asks U.S. For Arms To Aid Iran Strike

Reuters | Israel has asked the United States for advanced "bunker-buster" bombs and refueling planes that could improve its ability to attack Iran's underground nuclear sites, an Israeli official said on Thursday. "Such a request was made" around the time of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week, the official said, confirming media reports. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue, played down as "unrealistic" reports that the United States would condition supplying the hardware on Israel promising not to attack Iran this year.

Pink Slime For School Lunch - Government Buying 7 Million Pounds of Ammonia-Treated Meat

Huff Post | Pink slime may have been rejected by fast food joints like McDonald's, Taco Bell and Burger King, but is being brought in by the tons for the nation's school lunch program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is purchasing 7 million pounds of the "slime" for school lunches, The Daily reports. Officially termed "Lean Beef Trimmings," the product is a ground-up combination of beef scraps, cow connective tissues and other beef trimmings that are treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill pathogens like salmonella and E. coli. Carl Custer, who worked at the Food Safety Inspection Service for 35 years, said "We looked at the product and we objected to it because it used connective tissues instead of muscle. It was simply not nutritionally equivalent [to ground beef]. My main objection was that it was not meat."

Blogger Proves Body Scanners Worthless, Sues TSA

TSA Out Of Our Pants | This video is here to demonstrate that the TSA’s insistence that the nude body scanner program is effective and necessary is nothing but a fraud, just like their claims that the program is safe (radiation what?) and non-invasive (nude pictures who?). The scanners are now effectively worthless, as anyone can beat them with virtually no effort. The TSA has been provided this video in advance of it being made public to give them an opportunity to turn off the scanners and revert to the metal detectors. I personally believe they now have no choice but to turn them off. Please share this video with your family, friends, and most importantly, elected officials in federal government. Make sure they understand that your vote is contingent on them fixing the abuse that 200,000 passengers face from the TSA on a daily basis.