SAR #13233

Despite recent events here and abroad, there is a difference between terrorism and journalism.

Motions, Going Through: The Guardian, knowing that it had encrypted copies of the Snowden documents 'elsewhere' happily went along with Great Britain's GCHQ in the "slightly pointless" task of destroying computer hard drives in the newspaper's press offices. 
 
Chrysalis: If Caterpillar, the global economy's signpost, reports successive monthly global retail sales of -7%, -8% and now -9%. Their Asia/Pacific (for which read China) y/y results were down 28%. 
 
It Was Only Business... Pakistan's former president, Pervez Musharraf, will stand trial for his alleged role in the murder of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. 
 
Credit, Where Due: JCPenney wants everyone to know that their crappy results should be blamed on Bill Ackman and not the customer; that the company went through $2.1 billion in the first six months of the year was strategy. That noise you hear off-stage is the fat lady, warming up.

The Headline: Man’s scrotum swelled to 132 pounds due to lack of health insurance. Don't go there. 
 
Where In The World Is... The Obama administration wants the Supremes to bless warantless cellphone searches by any and all police agencies, school principals and parking lot attendants. They say the 16 gigabytes of personal information stored on your iPhone is the same as a pone number scribbled on the back of a book of matches. Really. They say the Fourth Amendment allows warantless searches, along with indefinite detention, torture, and death by drone.

Some Numbers: In June, Saudi Arabia produced 9.64 million barrels of oil and exported 7.32 million. The first number is lower than May, the second higher. Rinse and repeat. 
 
Just Justification: The British government now claims to have found ‘highly sensitive stolen information that would help terrorism’ on a computer belonging to David Miranda, Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald's partner. It is obvious that the UK and the US have been tracking anyone close to Snowden or Greenwald and intends to harass each and evey one of them. Sort of a tantrum to vent their displeasure. 
 
Sounds Like: In Mulberry , Florida, Pastor Terry Jones intends to burn 2,998 Korans on September 11. He says he respects Muslims, just can't abide Islam. This sort of thing never happened in Mayberry.

Orphans: PG&E says that the $2.25 billion penalty it has been assessed for the 2010 pipeline explosion that killed 8 is too severe and will have to seek bankruptcy as a way to avoid paying the judgment.

Enigma Machine: The right-wing Heritage Foundation is frothing at the mouth about stopping the “unconstitutional” attempt by Congress and the President, with the support of the Supreme Court, to take care of the sick and the poor among us. 
 

Your Results May Vary: A new study suggests that the more sex you have, the higher your income, even if you're not a prostitute in the traditional sense.

Questions: Mr. President, why have you not closed Guantanamo? Why do you treat whistle-blowers as though they were terrorists? Why is the US prison population so high and why does the nation keep executing prisoners at a pace and rate higher than North Korean and Yemen and nearly tie with China and Iran? Mr. President, if you can justify killing your own citizens by drone strike, how many innocent foreigners do you think is acceptable to kill because they are in the in the wrong place at the wrong time? How do you justify NSA's operations in light of what used to be the US Constitution? Should Americans be able to send an email without it being read by the government?

Porn O' Graph: Here's where them that's got it put it.

The Parting Shot:

Seasonal greetings from Solidago odora.