AP sources: Immunity offered to certain immigrants

(AP) ? The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. The election-year initiative addresses a top priority of an influential Latino electorate that has been vocal in its opposition to administration deportation policies.

The policy change, described to The Associated Press by two senior administration officials, will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation. It also bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act, a long-sought but never enacted plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally but who have attended college or served in the military.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was to announce the new policy Friday, one week before President Barack Obama plans to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials' annual conference in Orlando, Fla. Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney is scheduled to speak to the group on Thursday.

Obama planned to discuss the new policy Friday afternoon from the White House Rose Garden.

Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed. The officials who described the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it in advance of the official announcement.

The policy will not lead toward citizenship but will remove the threat of deportation and grant the ability to work legally, leaving eligible immigrants able to remain in the United States for extended periods. It tracks closely to a proposal offered by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as an alternative to the DREAM Act.

"Many of these young people have already contributed to our country in significant ways," Napolitano wrote in a memorandum describing the administration's action. "Prosecutorial discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here."

The extraordinary move comes in an election year in which the Hispanic vote could be critical in swing states like Colorado, Nevada and Florida. While Obama enjoys support from a majority of Hispanic voters, Latino enthusiasm for the president has been tempered by the slow economic recovery, his inability to win congressional support for a broad overhaul of immigration laws and by his administration's aggressive deportation policy. Activists opposing his deportation policies last week mounted a hunger strike at an Obama campaign office in Denver, and other protests were planned for this weekend.

The change is likely to cause an outcry from congressional Republicans, who are sure to perceive Obama's actions as an end run around them. Republicans already have complained that previous administration uses of prosecutorial discretion in deportations amount to back-door amnesty. Romney and many Republican lawmakers want tighter border security measures before considering changes in immigration law. Romney opposes offering legal status to illegal immigrants who attend college but has said he would do so for those who serve in the armed forces.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll last month found Obama leading Romney among Hispanic voters 61 percent to 27 percent. But his administration's deportation policies have come under fire, and Latino leaders have raised the subject in private meetings with the president. In 2011, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record 396,906 people and is expected to deport about 400,000 this year.

A December poll by the Pew Hispanic Center showed that 59 percent of Latinos disapproved of the president's handling of deportations.

The changes come a year after the administration announced plans to focus on deporting serious criminals, immigrants who pose threats to public safety and national security, and serious immigration law violators.

One of the officials said the latest policy change is just another step in the administration's evolving approach to immigration.

Under the plan, immigrants whose deportation cases are pending in immigration court will have to prove their eligibility for a reprieve to ICE, which will begin dealing with such cases in 60 days. Any immigrant who already has a deportation order and those who never have been encountered by immigration authorities will deal with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The exact details of how the program will work, including how much immigrants will have to pay to apply and what proof they will need, still are being worked out.

In making it harder to deport, the Obama administration is in essence employing the same eligibility requirements spelled out in the proposed DREAM Act.

The administration officials stopped short of calling the change an administrative DREAM Act ? the name is an acronym for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors ? but the qualifications meet those laid out in a 2010 version that failed in the Senate after passing in the House. They said the DREAM Act, in some form, and comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system remained an administration priority.

Illegal immigrant children won't be eligible to apply for the deportation waiver until they turn 16, but the officials said younger children won't be deported either.

Last year, Napolitano announced plans to review about 300,000 pending deportation cases and indefinitely suspend those that didn't meet department priorities. So far, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reviewed more than 232,000 cases and decided to stop working on about 20,000. About 4,000 of those 20,000 have opted to keep fighting in court to stay in the United States legally. For the people who opted to close their cases, work permits are not guaranteed.

Associated Press

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Wounded warrior seeks to represent America ? again

Dan Koeck for msnbc.com

Lt. Brad Snyder lost his sight in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last September. The Navy officer is now training to represent the U.S. at the London 2012 Paralympics.

By Bill Briggs

Even in the water, amid a furious race to win back his confidence, the blind swimmer needs a cane.

Actually, Lt. Brad Snyder relies on two canes to avoid the sort of ugly collisions he has suffered?repeatedly on dry land.

At one end of the pool, his swimming coach stands above Snyder?s starting block, clutching a walking cane affixed with a tennis ball. As Snyder nears that hard edge, his coach leans down, extends the cane and taps the Navy officer on the back of his head with the ball, alerting him to abruptly finish his stroke and execute a flip turn. At the opposite end of the lane, Snyder?s brother, Mitchell, is armed with the same device and the same task.


?Any communication between the tapper and the swimmer is illegal -- other than: ?You?re close to the wall!? ?said Mitchell Snyder, 25, a former college swimmer. ?Of course, you?re natural instinct is to tell him how he?s doing. You?re the one who can see the clock and see the whole pool. You want to tell them where they?re at in the race. But I don?t give him any extra signals.?

The tap is merely one of the tactics and tools that Brad Snyder -- blinded last September by an Afghan bomb blast -- now uses to swim competitively in utter darkness. During each length of every race, he silently tracks his stroke count to hold a steady clip. He occasionally brushes a finger or shoulder, lightly, against the lane marker to verify his location. And, oddly, he must wear blacked-out goggles, by rule, over both of his blue prosthetic eyes.?

Through Saturday, the former Naval Academy swimmer is vying for one of 14 roster spots at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials in Bismarck, N.D. If Snyder, 28, equals or nears a current world-best time in one of his five events, he?ll join the American team bound for the 2012 London Paralympics, held later this summer.

Wearing one of his old college caps with the Navy star on one side and the American flag on the other, he?s racing to again represent his country, this time on the international sports stage. He?s racing to help restore his self-image as a fully capable man -- a sacred piece of himself he lost when the IED detonated in his face. He?s racing to deliver a deeper message about thriving amid life?s occasional rough waters.?

Editor's note: This is the second installment that chronicles Lt. Brad Snyder's efforts to earn a spot on Team USA's roster for the 2012 London Paralympics.?Read the first story here.

Racing the clock
?All sorts of people have contacted me on Facebook, or by e-mail, or they come up to me in person and say, ?You really inspired us, just by the fact that you?ve moved forward, that you don?t let this thing slow you down.? I want them to see that, hey, you can go out (despite this type of wound) and excel at something -- become a really good writer, or a good cook; it doesn?t matter,? Snyder said. ?Hopefully, we can utilize this as a platform.?

That platform, he understands, will become far larger if he makes the 2012 U.S. Paralympic team. But getting to London is all about minutes, seconds and tenths of seconds -- the fewer of those during his heats, the better. And as a swimmer without sight, ensuring a brisk time is all about maintaining tight direction: the straighter he goes, the quicker he touches the finish line.

But, much like his delicate job in Afghanistan and Iraq -- dissecting and dismantling homemade explosives -- haste in the pool can be Snyder?s enemy.

When he swims fast and tries to increase his (arms?) turnover rate, he ends up almost pin-balling in the lane -- one side to the other, one side to the other -- ricocheting off that lane line,? said his coach, Brian Loeffler. ?If he gets going too much and crashes into a lane line, he can just be stopped in the water and lose all forward progress.?

When he swam for Navy in the early 2000s, Snyder?s initial style was to dive in and sprint -- no other strategy, no clean technique, just winning on pure guts. Eventually at the Naval Academy, he began to hone his strokes, evening his pace and becoming more efficient. Now, he and Loeffler are focused on keeping each 50-meter race length (or ?split,? in pool jargon), as even as possible to all other trips up and down the pool -- both in terms of his times and his stroke counts.

Lt. Brad Snyder, blinded by an IED explosion in Afghanistan, is now training for the London 2012 Paralympics.

That physical symmetry allows Snyder to better hold his course and avoid side-swiping the lane markers.

?When he can keep a long, steady stroke, he has a real good rhythm,? said Loeffer, the head swimming coach at Loyola University in Baltimore. He also will serve as one of the assistant swim coaches for the U.S. Paralympic team. ?We?ve got to find a balance between that kind of speed but also being able to be real straight in the water.?

Golden vision
Snyder?s best shot at making the American team, he believes, will come in the 400-meter freestyle. At the Bismarck trials, he?ll also aim to notch qualifying times in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle heats as well as the 100-meter butterfly and 200-meter individual medley.

For each heat, he?ll don special goggles ? not, however, to boost his pace. Swimmers competing in the Paralympics? fully blind division?must wear the black, plastic eye covers to ensure that they can?t see even a glimmer of light.?That would give those swimmers an advantage in a sport that takes itself as seriously as any Olympic endeavor.

?When I swam in my last Paralympic-sanctioned meet, every time I got out of the pool after racing, an official came over and looked at my goggles to make sure he couldn?t see through them,? Snyder said. ?But there?s another reason for them. If one of the prosthetic eyes comes out, my goggle would catch it. I wouldn?t have to ask someone to go search the pool for my eye.?

But behind those artificial eyes, Snyder has begun to visualize a blissful finish ? especially if he makes the U.S. team. The final men?s Paralympic swimming roster will be announced on Sunday.

?I really hope to bring attention to the wounded warriors (fellow servicemen and servicewomen hurt in Afghanistan and Iraq). And I hope my story maybe gives people some perspective,? Snyder said.

?You know how people get upset about silly things, like they get all fired up in rush hour? Well, let?s give them a story they can rally behind and say, hey it?s not that bad, maybe I should probably calm down a little bit.?

If Snyder earns a Paralympic slot, his best race ? the 400-meter freestyle ? is scheduled in London for Sept. 7. That means exactly one year to the day that the U.S. sailor lost his sight after stepping on a battlefield bomb, he?ll be wearing American colors, swimming for gold.?

COMING MONDAY: Did Lt. Brad Snyder make the U.S. men?s Paralympic swimming team??

Bill Briggs is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com and author of ?The Third Miracle.??

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow US News on msnbc.com on?Twitter?and?Facebook

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William Bradley: Midway: 70th Anniversary of One of History's Most Pivotal Battles Came in Midst of Obama's Big Strategic Pivot to the Pacific

The 70th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, one of history's most important battles, has come and gone, with little attention paid. The anniversary, June 4-7, took place while Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was in the midst of a very important trip to the Asia Pacific region which also passed with little notice.

The former CIA director and veteran California political figure's nine-day trip was merely to lay the groundwork for a major re-set of America's geopolitical priorities, what's been called "the Pacific Pivot" (though lately re-dubbed the "rebalancing" to calm Europeanists), from over-engagement with the Islamic world to increased engagement with Asia.

And Midway? In my opinion, this Pacific battle was merely the most important American battle since Gettysburg. No, I don't think the most important battle since the hinge of the Civil War, without which the Union would have been rent asunder, was D-Day, as epic as that was. By June 6th, 1944, the fascist forces in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East had been driven back, and Hitler was hunkering down in his "Festung Europa." The Allies were winning with greater numbers and materiel. D-Day was a culmination of a process years in the making. It might have failed, but that was unlikely, for it had massive, even inexorable, might behind it.


The battle footage in John Ford's The Battle of Midway was shot in large part by the then three-time Academy Award-winning director himself from the roof of the power plant on Midway using a small handheld camera. The Grapes of Wrath director, a naval reserve commander, was sent there by new Pacific Fleet commander Chester Nimitz shortly before the battle.

Midway, in contrast, was a far more perilous encounter. It found the US Navy at a decided disadvantage against the Imperial Japanese Navy. In the six months between Pearl Harbor and Midway, the US and its allies in the Pacific had suffered an endless string of losses. If the Navy lost its precious handful of aircraft carriers off Midway, to the superior Japanese force, Hawaii's defense would have been untenable and an already romping Japanese military would have had free reign across the Pacific, where it had already made incredible progress in setting up an empire under the rubric of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

The sacrifice of the US Asiatic Fleet, virtually forgotten today, except for aficionados of one of John Ford's greatest films, 1945's They Were Expendable, a mostly true life story about the PT boats and others fighting a losing battle in the Philippines to buy time for the US to regroup after December 7th, 1941, was huge. The larger US Pacific Fleet, devastated by the Pearl Harbor attack, survived with a series of raids, largely to boost morale, by the handful of aircraft carriers that fortunately escaped the carnage of Oahu. Franklin Roosevelt had perhaps his greatest test of public leadership in keeping American spirits up during this very dark period.

This otherwise valuable AP story, the only major article to mark Midway's 70th anniversary, is misleading in making intelligence sound far more precise than it was, extensively a retired officer who'd been a young ensign at the time. The US was able to read Japanese code, but only parts of messages, here and there. In fact, it took a faked American message about a non-existent drinking water crisis on Midway, which the Navy knew that Japanese would pick up and report on, to determine that it was Midway under discussion in the Japanese plans.

But even that left vast elements to chance. There were no satellites in those days. Radar was unreliable. All the aircraft were propeller-driven. Slow-flying scout planes, were used extensively to try to find enemy ships. Aircraft navigation and communications were spotty.

The reality is that the battle was marked by massive uncertainty and the groping in the dark of broad daylight that one would expect of only the second sea battle fought with ships out of visual contact. The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought a month earlier to a stand-off, though Japanese invasion forces were repelled, was the first such battle.


Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta delivered the commencement address on May 29th at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. The veteran California political figure and former CIA director says that building U.S. maritime strength across the Asia Pacific region will be the main project of the new generation of America's naval officers.

Most of the the most dramatic and consequential action took place on June 4th. When all was said and done, four Japanese aircraft carriers had been sent to the bottom of the Pacific, with only one of America's precious carriers lost. In addition, the Japanese lost many of their best pilots, as well as highly skilled and experienced air crews.

After Midway, the US was able to turn to the offensive, with the Marines invading Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands two months later. Which is not to say that there was not hard and heavy fighting through most of 1945, especially with most of the US effort going to the fight against Fascist Italy and especially Nazi Germany.

The story of Midway is highly dramatic, making the rather dull and soapy 1976 movie made about it all the more regrettable. But that doesn't explain why it gets such short shrift compared to D-Day, a story endlessly retold in film and literature.

Part of the reason, of course, is that this is an ahistorical, moment to moment culture, and getting more so all the time. But there's another reason.

Midway is a tiny atoll roughly "midway" between North America and Asia -- it's 3200 miles west of San Francisco and 2500 miles east of Tokyo. It is no tourist destination. Unlike Normandy, a natural beacon for tourists in France, Midway, which I have visited, is just a couple of tiny islands around a lagoon. Nobody lived there before it became a stop-over point for maritime and aviation ventures. And since the Navy closed its Midway base, hardly anyone lives there now.

But despite the lack of a glamorous locale, Midway was absolutely central to our past and present. And the big geopolitical pivot, again centered on the Pacific, now underway looks to be central to our future.

I discussed the Pacific Pivot last Thanksgiving here on the Huffington Post in "Darwinian: Obama Goes Post-Iraq in Oz, Republicans Race To the Past."

The big pivot will make Darwin, Australia, where we are liked, much more important to US strategy than Kabul, Afghanistan, where we are not liked.

Panetta laid out the approach, first in his little-noted commencement address late last month at the U.S. Naval Academy, then in a session at the annual Shangri-la Dialogue on security issues in Singapore.

Last weekend, at the Shangri-la Dialogue on security policy in the Pacific Basin, Defense Secretary Panetta discussed the scenario.

Panetta said that the US Navy will shift most of its ships to the Asia Pacific region in coming years, and that six of the fleet's 10 aircraft carriers and their supporting strike groups will be based and on patrol in the Pacific.

He stressed that the US seeks cooperation with China and not confrontation. But having more USN firepower in the region will backstop Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines, all of which share the South China Sea but which are having serious problems with China, which attempts to claim nearly all of it.

Panetta went on to the Philippines, and to Vietnam -- an historic visit for a US defense secretary -- where he visited the massive US-built base at Cam Ranh Bay and requested its use by the Navy.

Then he went to India for two days of talks.

The Obama Administration is trying to make India a much closer ally, which would help tremendously in providing a counter-weight to China, an effort that began early in Obama's first term. The first state dinner of the Obama White House was in honor of India, but naturally the substance was overshadowed by a pair of reality TV yo-yos who snuck in.


Speaking in India's capital city New Delhi, where the veteran California political figure continued a big tour of the Asia Pacific region as part of the US geopolitical pivot, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta defended US drone strikes inside Pakistan. In the wake of the killing of Al Qaeda's second in command, Abu Yahya al-Libi, Panetta made it clear that the drone strikes will continue.

While India has long history of serious trouble with neighboring China, it also has a very long history of non-alignment.

Panetta is also trying to get more Indian help in Afghanistan, where its efforts to date have focused on economic development and humanitarian aid.

But Panetta's push for help from India may make the bad situation with Pakistan, India's bitter rival, even worse.

Speaking in New Delhi, Panetta defended US drone strikes inside Pakistan. In the wake of the killing of Al Qaeda's second in command, Abu Yahya al-Libi, Panetta made it clear that the drone strikes will continue.

Skipping over Pakistan, which he hasn't visited as defense secretary, Panetta wrapped things up in Afghanistan. Speaking at a press conference in Kabul, he indicated that US patience with Pakistan on the disrupted supply route and on safe havens for jihadists is at a breaking point. We can probably count the courting of India as a further tear in the US/Pakistan relationship.

We won't know for some time how India is really responding to the US move. But there are signs of more joint exercises, and a desire on India's part for more advanced American weaponry.

Another major question surrounds Vietnam's response. We just normalized trade relations with the victor of the Vietnam War five years ago. Hanoi lets the US Navy use its former base at Cam Ranh Bay already, but only for non-combatant ships. What about combat ships using the finest deep water shelter in Southeast Asia? Vietnam's desire for advanced US weapons and technology may hold the key.

As Panetta made clear in his talks in Annapolis and Singapore, the Navy takes the lead in the big pivot. That is because of vastness of the Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific occupies one-third of the Earth's surface. It's more than twice the size of the Atlantic, containing nearly half the world's water. In fact, the Pacific, which can be anything but peaceful when its truly terrifying storms hit, covers more space than all the land area of the Earth combined.

Much of the rationale for the big strategic pivot is provided by the rise of China. But here we are moving back into more normal geopolitical territory than we've had since the rise of Al Qaeda and the disastrous adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. For a nation-state, defined by territory and predictable interests, can be influenced and negotiated with much more readily than transnational, essentially stateless, jihadists.

The fact is that the US and China have a symbiotic relationship. China needs our markets for its export-oriented economy. And we need their finance. War between the two countries makes no sense.

But China could bully its neighbors, absent assistance to them.

And in the South China Sea, there are major disputes over China's extraordinary claims to sovereignty there.

Will the US still be involved with NATO? Sure. Europeanists, in the US and Europe, needn't worry about that. But NATO, which has no obvious rationale for its existence with the collapse of the Soviet Union two decades ago, is in deep trouble. The mission in Libya, driven by the UK and France, succeeded, but only with the US backstopping it every step of the way with a technological infrastructure that no other NATO member could match even before the crisis of the Eurozone.

Will the big pivot happen or will we be dragged back to our quagmire in the Middle East and Central Asia?


Panetta became the first US defense secretary to visit the massive former US Navy base at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam.

Some, like Obama's conservative Republican challenger Mitt Romney, really seem to want war with Iran. And we're not out of Afghanistan, which has become a big embarrassment, yet.

As the great sociologist Max Weber put it: "Politics is the slow boring of hard boards. And anyone who seeks to do it must risk his own soul."

Though there is much truth in that saying, it can also be a massive excuse. But let's assume that no real world administration is going to simply pull up stakes and lose face.

Changing a big country's geostrategic posture, which is what the Obama Administration is fixing to do, is like turning around not a speedboat but an aircraft carrier. Especially when the country is still heavily engaged in the old direction.

Of course, Obama himself made it harder to do by ramping up dramatically in Afghanistan, which has turned into the predictable cluster, ah, scene.

And, as long as America is stuck on oil, it's going to be involved in the Islamic world. All the more reason to focus at last on the need to shift away from the old energy economy of fossil fuels to the new energy economy of renewables and efficiency.

But there is involvement and there is disastrous entanglement. And that's the distinction that must be drawn as the big pivot begins and carries on.

It's all going to be quite fascinating, with many questions to raise and answer as we go.


You can check things during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com.


William Bradley Huffington Post Archive

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Browse like Bond: Use any PC without a trace

12 hrs.

If James Bond logs on to a computer, he doesn't want to leave a bunch of files, cookies, or his IP address out there for someone to find. It might seem extreme, but sometimes it's a good idea to take the same precautions yourself.

In this post, we'll walk through how to use a USB stick or DVD to anonymize, encrypt and hide everything you do on a computer no matter where you are. When we say "browse without leaving a trace", we truly mean it. Using the Linux-based, live-boot operating system Tails (The Amnesiac Incognito Live System), you can use any computer anywhere without anyone knowing you were ever on it.?

Tails is a portable operating system with all the security bells and whistles you'll ever need already installed on it. You can install Tails on one of your many dust-gathering USB drives or a DVD. We'll show you how to set up your own portable boot disc in the second section, but let's start by taking a look at what you get with Tails.

What Tails Is and What's Packed Into It
The magic of Tails is that you don't have to do a lick of work: once you create your boot disc you'll have a completely anonymous, totally private operating system preloaded with all the software you (or James Bond) would need. What's packed into it? Let's take a look.

The Software Packed Directly into Tails
Once you create your Tails boot disc, you'll be ready to reboot your computer into an encrypted and private operating system preloaded with all the software you'll need to browse the Web, email, IM, and edit documents. Regardless of whether you choose a DVD or USB nothing you do is left on the computer you booted from.

  • Built-in online anonymity: The key feature that's going to appeal to most people is Tails' built-in online anonymity. This comes in the form of the customized web browser Iceweasel built using the anonymous Web browsing technology from Tor. The browser also includes popular security extensions like HTTPS Everywhere for secure browsing, Adblock Plus to block ads, and NoScript to block Java and Flash. Other than those features, the web browser works exactly like you'd expect a web browser to work.
  • Built-in encrypted email and chat: Additionally, you also get encrypted and private messaging. Tails includes the Claws email client with OpenPGP for email encryption and the instant messaging client Pidgin with an OTR cryptography tool that encrypts your IM conversations.
  • Built-in file encryption: When boot Tails from a USB drive instead of a DVD, you can save documents to the thumb drive and they're automatically encrypted using an encryption specification called LUKS. (Since the DVD is read-only, you can't save any files?which is its own form of security.)
  • A full suite of editing software: On top your web access being private you also get a full suite of work and creative software. Tails comes preloaded with Openoffice for editing documents, Gimp for editing photos, Audacity for editing sound, and plenty more additional software.

Now let's walk through how to set up a boot disc for yourself.

Step-by-Step Guide to Set Up Your Own Tails DVD or USB Drive?
Tails is pretty easy to set up on your own and it doesn't differ much from setting up any other Linux Live CD. However, a few extra steps do exist to verify your download.

Step 1: Download the Necessary Files

You need to download two different files to get started with Tails: an ISO (an image of Tails that is burned to a disc) and a cryptographic signature to verify the ISO image:

  1. The ISO Image (Direct download / Torrent)
  2. Cryptographic Signature (Direct download / Torrent)

The developers behind Tails recommend you verify your Tails ISO to make sure it's an officially released version that hasn't been tampered with. We won't walk through that process here, but they have instructions on their website for Windows and Mac or Linux.

Step 2: Burn Tails to a CD/DVD

You can find documentation for creating a Tails USB from scratch on each operating system here. Alternately, you can more easily make bootable USB installation of Tails after you boot from a Tails live DVD. For our purposes we're going to burn Tails to a bootable DVD because it's an easier process than creating a USB stick from scratch.

On Windows: Right-click the ISO image, select Burn Disc Image, select your DVD drive.

On Mac: Right-click the ISO image, select Burn "tails..." to Disc, select your DVD drive.

Once it's finished burning let's boot into Tails and kick the tires.

Step 4: Boot into Tails

Stick your Tails DVD, CD, or thumb drive into your computer and reboot. The process for booting into a disc or external drive depends on your system, so lets look at how to do it on Windows and Mac.

On a Windows System: Different Windows computers have different default settings for booting from an external drive. If yours doesn't already check for a boot DVD first you can always edit the BIOS boot order (often the DEL key at startup) to make sure your computer looks for a CD or USB before it starts. Alternately, you can closely watch the BIOS screen at the beginning of your computers startup for the Boot options shortcut (usually one of the function keys). When you get to the boot option menu, select your DVD drive and you'll boot into Tails.

On a Mac System: When you turn on your Mac immediately press and hold down the Option key to access the Startup Manager. Select the Tails DVD (the description will actually say "Windows") and you'll boot into Tails.

Step 5 (Optional): Clone the DVD onto a USB Drive
Now that you're booted into Tails it's easy to clone your boot DVD onto a USB drive directly from the Tails operating system. Here's what you need to do:

  1. Connect your USB drive to your computer.
  2. Select Applications > Tails > Tails USB Installer.
  3. Click the Clone and Install Button.
  4. Select your USB drive, click "Create Live USB Drive" and let the program run.

When the installation is complete you'll have a bootable USB drive. The benefit of the USB drive is that any files you create in Tails are saved and encrypted directly on your device. However, a USB drive could theoretically be hacked into if you leave it around which is why the ultra-paranoid might prefer a read-only DVD for Tails.

Also, Macs don't support USB booting without downloading and installing additional software called rEFit. This means you have to download and install rEFit on every Mac you want to boot into Tails from a USB drive.


Creating a bootable Tails disc is a simple process and a great use for one of those USB drives you have laying around doing nothing. Since you can use Tails on about any public computer you run into it's a great way to keep your browsing and usage hidden from the world. It's even beneficial on your home computer since you don't have to alter your system in any way.

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Door County?The Other Silent Sports Mecca | Bicycle Federation of ...

Biking on cottage rown outside of Fish Creek

When most Wisconsinites hear the term ?silent sports?, they think of Cable, Wisconsin?home to the American Birkebeiner and the Chequamegon fat tire races. Cable should pride itself in making their area home to human powered activities, however, in it?s shadow, a few places get overlooked. My husband and I have made our silent sports second home in Door County. This spring marks our seventh year of coming up to DC, five of which have been to our friends? cabin in Ephraim called ?Relative Harmony?.

For fifteen years, we were known for our ?nomadic? lifestyle and ?grand? trips to places like Alaska, Honduras, France, Hawaii and other mountainous regions. We worked to live and had much more abundant time off for multi-month excursions. When we purchased our house in Madison?and got a cat?those trips abruptly ended. Oh sure, we tried to do the quick two-week United States mountain trips but the driving damn near killed us. Neither of us found any pleasure in spending our vacations cooped up in a car. This is what brought us first to Door County. A short four hour drive led us to a place with great cycling (road and mountain), a plethora of hiking options as well as sailing, kayaking and cross country skiing.

Me and my husband biking through Peninsula state park

When people find out that we use so much of our vacation time up here, they often give a quizzical look since they know we?re not into shopping (DC is also known for their shops). Although we will go into a few favorite art galleries, most of our days consist of a morning 30-60 mile ride followed by a little rest and relaxation and lunch, then a hike in the afternoon.

Lady Slipper

We have become so predictable and set in our ways that the only questions we ask each other in the morning are ?Which bike route should we do today (we have six or seven planned routes)?? and ?Which state park should we hike in after lunch (there are four that we frequent)?? A quick check of the wind direction and strength?yes, wind can be a factor up here?and we are off on beautiful, low-traffic roads that wind through wheat fields and dense stands of cedar, go by rows of lake cottages and hug two distinctly different shorelines (three if you count the interior lakes). Most roads are extremely well kept and during the shoulder seasons, cars are not an issue.

Heron just North of Baileys Harbor

Aside from our solo rides, we?ve been lucky enough to participate in the Ridges Ride for Nature?the annual century (shorter options are available) put on to benefit the Ridges Nature Sanctuary. We?ve also gotten to ride and become friends with the ride organizer, Brian Fitzgerald. While chatting with Brian in his pottery studio, Ephraim Clayworks, and while hiking and biking with him, we are getting to realize how much energy Door County is putting into promoting silent sports. Each year, the list of events grow and each year, more and more cyclists, runners, kayakers and campers come up here to enjoy the diversity and beauty of it?s natural areas.

Columbine

On our first ride this week, for miles we were treated to roadsides filled with lady slippers, indian paintbrush, columbine, maidenhair fern, may apple, wild geranium and horsetail. Coyote and deer crossed our path several times and at a creek, we came up on a white heron. This type of ride is common here. Just insert a different flower or bird for each season. A special thing that allows for this multitude of natural diversity, in a somewhat ?touristy? area, is the Door County Land Trust. Since 1986, this organization has protected more than 5,000 acres and over three miles of shoreline, keeping alive what the area is known for.

Land trust sign

For those of you who love cycling but have families that aren?t into the long road or mountain bike rides, Peninsula State Park offers a mellow trail that winds through the woods and down near the shore?completely separate from motorized traffic. And remember, entrance into the state parks is completely free if done by bike!

Each year my husband and I think of other places to travel and each year we end up in Door County. It?s not that we don?t want to explore new areas, it?s just that DC feels like ?home? now and we can?t imagine a year without it.

Between ellison Bay and Sister Bay

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Public-employee pensions face rollback in California

SAN DIEGO (AP) ? For years, companies have been chipping away at workers' pensions. Now, two California cities may help pave the way for governments to follow suit.

Voters in San Diego and San Jose, the nation's eighth- and 10th-largest cities, overwhelmingly approved ballot measures last week to roll back municipal retirement benefits ? and not just for future hires but for current employees.

From coast to coast, the pensions of current public employees have long been generally considered untouchable. But now, some politicians are saying those obligations are trumped by the need to provide for the public's health and safety.

The two California cases could put that argument to the test in a legal battle that could resonate in cash-strapped state capitols and city halls across the country. Lawsuits have already been filed in both cities.

"Other states are going to have to pay attention," said Amy Monahan, a law professor at University of Minnesota.

The court battles are playing out as lawmakers across the U.S. grapple with ballooning pension obligations that increasingly threaten schools, police, health clinics and other basic services.

State and local governments may have $3 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities, and seven states and six large cities will be unable to cover their obligations beyond 2020, Northwestern University finance professor Joshua Rauh estimated last year.

In San Jose, current employees face salary cuts of up to 16 percent to fund the city's pension plan. If they choose, they can instead accept a lower benefit and see the current retirement age of 55 raised to 57 for police officers and firefighters, and to 62 for other employees.

The voter-approved measure in San Diego imposes a six-year freeze on the pay levels used to determine pension benefits for current employees, a move that is expected to save nearly $1 billion over 30 years. Public employee unions have sued to block the measure, saying City Hall failed to negotiate the ballot's wording as required by state law.

Legal experts expect the cities to argue that their obligations to provide basic services such as police protection and garbage removal override promises made to employees.

In San Diego, the city's payments to its retirement fund soared from $43 million in 1999 to $231.2 million this year, equal to 20 percent of the operating budget. At the same time, the 1.3 million residents saw roads deteriorate and libraries cut hours. For a while, fire stations had to share engines and trucks. The city has cut its workforce 14 percent since 2005.

San Jose's pension payments jumped from $73 million in 2001 to $245 million this year, or 27 percent of its operating budget. Four libraries and a police station that were built over the past decade have never even opened because the city cannot afford to operate them. The city of 960,000 cut its workforce 27 percent over the past 10 years.

"It's a problem that threatens our ability to remain a city and provide services to our people," said Mayor Chuck Reed. "It's huge dollar amounts and has a huge impact on services."

Unions representing police officers and firefighters in San Jose claimed in lawsuits filed last week in state court that the measure violates their vested rights.

"What they've done in San Jose is patently unlawful under existing court precedent," said Steve Kreisberg, national collective bargaining director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "We know of no other places where this has survived legal scrutiny. ... There is no justification for essentially seizing the property of employees."

Michael Lotito, a San Francisco labor lawyer who has represented governments, predicted that dire fiscal straits may carry weight with judges.

"It's a horrible, horrible story for the taxpayer. But worse off the city is, the more they have to lay off, the stronger legal argument they have," he said.

The cities are also expected to argue that they are not stripping workers of anything they already earned, only changing what they will earn in the future.

"You don't have a vested right to keep having your salary increased," said San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith.

The University of Minnesota's Monahan said some state courts have recognized that distinction, but not in California, where she said the state courts have held since the 1940s that benefits granted on the first day of employment are protected.

Private companies, whose pensions are governed by federal law, have been whittling away at current employees' retirement benefits for years. Pensions for state and local government workers are covered by state laws, and those benefits have been left alone for the most part.

Rhode Island has gone further than any other state to cut pensions for current workers under legislation approved last year, and opponents have vowed to challenge it in court, said David Draine, senior researcher at the Pew Center on the States. Other states have fended off legal challenges to the relatively modest step of eliminating pension increases for inflation.

"This is an area that remains legally unsettled," Draine said.

City Councilman Carl DeMaio, a chief backer of the San Diego measure who is staking his mayoral bid on a pension overhaul, said he has fielded scores of calls from government officials nationwide interested in copycat measures. He predicted the legal challenges in San Diego will fail.

"We're showing the way," he said. "We're offering a model ? at least one model."

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CannaShield Legal- Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Licensing ...

Description

It does not take a medical marijuana expert to understand the potential for medical marijuana patents, trademarks, and copyrights. My expertise in marijuana cultivation, history, strains, culture, distribution and legal issues combined with my attorney training in intellectual property uniquely qualify my office to prosecute quality intellectual property filings for medical marijuana. Where will you be when the country legalizes marijuana, and your strain name is taken by a competitor? Where will you be when some stranger thinks of your invention for cultivating, extracting, curing, drying, manicuring, or chemically analyzing cannabis and that stranger patents your invention before you? Where will you be when your design for a logo becomes the logo of the biggest Medical Marijuana business in the state? Where will you be when a competitor uses your business name and leaves you powerless to collect damages? There are steps you can take now to prevent the loss of your rights in the future. Please contact me at CannaShield Legal, so we can protect that creativity now and for a time when marijuana laws change.

CannaShield Legal
(303) 877-2351

Nothing in this posting is legal advice; this posting is merely a representation made by a person who is not your attorney, unless you and I have already signed a client-attorney agreement. Responding to this posting does not create an attorney-client relationship. This serves as notice that an attorney-client relationship will only be formed upon signed agreement and payment. I will keep all communications that are not threats or harassment in confidence as per my duty to the California State Bar. By responding to this posting, you affirmatively waive any right to confidentiality with respect to threatening or harassing communications.

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'Teen Mom' Amber reveals recent suicide try

Madison County Sherrif's Dept.

By Anna Chan

Just days after getting a five-year prison sentence for quitting her court-ordered drug treatment program, ?Teen Mom? star Amber Portwood is speaking out about her problems -- including another suicide attempt --?from behind bars. The reality personality is serving time for her felony possession and domestic battery charges.

?I took 30 Suboxone within three days,? she told ABC News on Wednesday. The prescription medication is used to treat opioid dependence. ?The depression took over and I?d just take four or five at a time under my tongue and nod out.?

Last June, the 22-year-old was hospitalized after trying to take her own life, and later entered rehab for anger and depression.

Clare Waismann, a registered addiction specialist, told TODAY.com it?d be important to understand the dosage of Suboxone Portwood was taking to know how much danger she had put herself in, ?but with any opiate, there is a major risk of respiratory depression that could cause her to stop breathing.? She noted that even though the medication contains drugs that have a ceiling effect (a plateau, in other words) on the respiratory depression, ?there is still a tremendous risk when taking any opiate, especially at that high of a dose.?

So why didn?t Portwood stick with her court-ordered treatment? She told The Herald Bulletin, the paper in her hometown of Anderson, Ind., that the program didn?t work for her because of her status as a reality personality.?

?You sit in a room with tons of people and they expect you to completely open up about your life and say personal things. It was very uncomfortable,? she explained.

Instead, she opted to drop out of the required program and take on a five-year sentence. ?I felt like I?d rather do my time and get it over with and make the best out of the situation that?s been handed to me,? she told ABC News.

Not only that, she also said, ?I felt like I was wasting my time? because she couldn?t deal with the requirements of the drug program.

Bad move, said Waismann, who is also the administrative director of the Waismann Method treatment, a pioneering treatment for opiate dependency. ?I believe prison will do more harm than good in the long run for Amber,? Waismann told us. The reason, she explained, is that people with mental health issues ? as Portwood has admitted she has, and as her history of suicide attempts shows ? need to be treated by psychiatrists and not law enforcement officers. But that?s not all.

?Amber will not have the chance to adjust to a life outside of prison without drugs, which may make it easier for her to fall into the same habits once she returns to her daily routine,? Waismann said.

Though MTV?s cameras have been there to capture many of Portwood's troubles, don?t blame ?Teen Mom? for her issues. Portwood said her problems began long before the popular docuseries.

?Everybody wants to blame the show, but I don?t,? Portwood told The Herald Bulletin Wednesday, explaining that she was partying well before MTV appeared in her life. She admitted that she started taking drugs around age 13, and stopped only when she was pregnant with her daughter, Leah, now 3. Her ex-fiance, Gary Shirley, now has custody of their little girl.

It was an explosive season two episode of ?Teen Mom? that first landed Portwood in legal trouble. In 2010, the show aired a scene during which the young mother repeatedly hit Shirley. She eventually pled guilty to felony domestic violence charges and was given a two-year suspended sentence and two years of probation, which she later violated.

Though she may not blame ?Teen Mom,? Portwood told The Herald Bulletin the show didn?t exactly help either. ??When you get so much money at a young age, you do what you want. When you go to a bar, people recognize you and buy you drinks.? She also said that the negative attention from the show also made her depressed.?

Now that she?s behind bars, Portwood plans to put her life back together. ?I?m not just gonna sit,? she told ABC News. ?I?m going to do substance abuse classes, I?m going to get my GED.?

Do you think Amber will stick to her plan to get her education and take substance abuse classes? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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