Threat Assessment: September 26-30
WITH US
Economists give Obama's jobs plan the thumbs up
A Bloomberg survey of economists found the experts overwhelmingly in favor of the president's jobs initiative, predicting it would give the U.S. economy a 1.3 to 2 percent boost. The economists also said that Republicans' plans, by contrast, would actually harm the economy and increase the chances of another recession. [Atlantic Wire]
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Coffee cuts depression risk in women
Women who are regular coffee drinkers have a 20 percent lower risk of depression than their non-caffeinated counterparts, according to a ten-year Harvard study of 51,000 women. “We know that caffeine enters the brain and activates the release of different neurotransmitters that are related to mood, like dopamine and serotonin,” said the lead scientist on the study. While further research is needed, he said, the study suggests that “caffeine may have some beneficial effect on neuronal health." [New York Times]
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AGAINST US
American students flunk civil rights history
American students' knowledge of the country's civil rights history has deteriorated, according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The report assigned letter grades to each state based on its curriculum and how well it covers the civil rights movement; 35 states got an F grade, since they require little or no mention of the subject. [New York Times]
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AGAINST US
Cleared of charges but stuck on terror list
The FBI is allowed to keep individuals on the government's terrorist watch list even after they've been cleared of terrorism-related charges, according to newly-released government documents. Being included on the watch list is not trivial: it can keep a person off planes, bar non-citizens from entering the country and cause delays at traffic stops or checkpoints. “In the United States, you are supposed to be assumed innocent," said a lawyer at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "But on the watch list, you may be assumed guilty, even after the court dismisses your case.” [New York Times]
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AGAINST US
Food pantries facing high demand
With a high one-in-six hunger rate in America, the country's food pantries are struggling to accommodate surging demand. The West Side Campaign Against Hunger, Manhattan's largest food pantry, for example, has seen a 48 percent spike in clients since 2008. "In this economic downturn, we have found that those very same seniors who were once our volunteers, are now in need of our services," the founder of Meals on Wheels told reporters. [Huffington Post]
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WITH US
Vast majority support Millionaires' tax hike
The first poll results about the so-called "Buffett Rule" are in: 73 percent of Americans support raising taxes on millionaires, with every demographic sub-group in favor of the idea. Even a majority (66 percent) of Republicans are in favor, as well as just over half of Tea Party members. And yes, millionaires are supportive, too, by a whopping 73 to 16 percent margin. [Talking Points Memo]
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AGAINST US
Saudi woman to stand trial for driving
Najalaa Harriri, a Saudi activist, will be tried for violating her country's ban on female drivers, AP reports. The announcement follows – and sits oddly with – Saudi King Abdullah's recent decree that women will be able to vote and run in municipal elections starting in 2015. Harriri is one of dozens of women arrested for driving this summer, and one of the founders of the "My Right, My Dignity" campaign, which calls for gender equality in Saudi Arabia. She will stand trial next month. [AP]
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WITH US
NJ Governor Not a 'Jersey Shore' Fan
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has vetoed a $420,000 tax credit for MTV's "Jersey Shore" on Monday, saying taxpayers don't need to support a show that sullies the state's reputation. "I am duty-bound to ensure that taxpayers are not footing a $420,000 bill for a project which does nothing more than perpetuate misconceptions about the state and its citizens," Christie told reporters. [National Journal]
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AGAINST US
Washington Monument closed indefinitely after new damage found
The 5.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked the East Coast in August has done more damage to the Washington Monument than previously thought, according to the National Park Service. A "debris field," comprising mortar dislodged during the earthquake, was found at the base of the monument, and larger pieces of stone had come loose inside. Officials are now bringing in a "difficult access team" – engineers trained to rappel down the monument – to assess the damage done to the exterior stones. [Washington Post]
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WITH US
Arnold orders up bronze statues … of himself
Arnold Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding days may be behind him, but he's making sure no one forgets his chiseled abs and ripped biceps. The California governor has commissioned between three and seven larger-than-life bronze statues of himself from his time as Mr. Olympia, with the finished products set to be shipped to an Arnold museum in Austria and the Ohio site of Arnold Fitness Weekend, among other locales. [NY Daily News]
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AGAINST US
Pawlenty sought fallback gig on Fox News
Former Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty had hoped to parlay his failed run for the White House into a gig at Fox News, according to Newsweek's Howard Kurtz. Three weeks after dropping out of the race, Pawlenty approached Fox News head Roger Ailes about a job at the network. But Ailes was wary of the Minnesotan, especially since he was close to endorsing Mitt Romney. “I’m not sure I want to sign you as a paid spokesman for Romney,” Ailes is quoted as saying. [Talking Points Memo]
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WITH US
The Sun Also Sets – On Catalonian Bullfighting
Spain's most famous matadors – and a crowd of 20,000 – descended on La Monumental arena in Barcelona on Sunday for the last bullfights of the 2011 season. Since a ban on bullfighting is to begin next year, the occasion marked the last time a bull can be killed for sport in Catalonia, in northeastern Spain. The ban has been hailed by animal-rights activists and assailed by bullfighthing afficionados; the owner of La Monumental along with promoters and breeders across the country are expected to sue Catalan officials. [TIME]
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Pentagon leading push for clean energy
The Pentagon is the country's biggest energy consumer, and so it's a big deal that the military is making strides to diversify the sources of that energy. The Defense Department has upped its quota of renewable energy increased by 300 percent between 2006 and 2009 (from $400 million to $1.2 billion) and promises to to get 25 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2025. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has set the bar even higher, promising that his agency will get half of its energy supply from renewable sources by 2020. [Washington Post]
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AGAINST US
Dead federal workers still getting paid
In the past five years, the U.S. government has doled out over $601 million in benefits to dead federal retirees, according to a new report. The Inspector General of the Office of Personnel Management, the agency that's been paying the deceased workers, wrote that "it is time to stop, once and for all, this waste of taxpayer money." [Washington Post]
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AGAINST US
Bake sale pioneers race-based pricing model
A bake sale at UC Berkeley, sponsored by the school's Campus Republican group, is stirring national attention for all the wrong reasons. The "diversity bake sale" will base its food prices on race and sex: white men will pay $2.00; Asian men, $1.50, Latino men, $1.00; black men, $0.75; and Native American men, $0.25. Women will get $0.25 off of these prices. College Republicans are holding the bake sale to make a statement about affirmative action, "to bring attention [and] to cause people to get a little upset," according to the group's president. Mission accomplished. [Politico]
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SF Nudists Protest New Law
San Francisco somehow has no law on its books against being naked in public, but a local lawmaker is seeking to change that; city supervisor Scott Wiener recently introduced a law to prohibit nudity in the city's restaurants, and to require naked residents to cover any public seat before sitting down. SF's small but active nudist population responded with a "Nude-In" this weekend, protesting in the buff. [New York Times]
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AGAINST US
U.S. Leaving Billions of Dollars Worth of Stuff in Iraq
As the U.S. prepares to take its last troops out of Iraq, the Department of Defense has begun to turn its equipment, trucks and bases over to the Iraqi government, essentially walking away from billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money. [Huffington Post]