To our friends in Brazil we say congratulations on a great World Cup, thanks for the many memories and we will see you at the Olympics.
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Wednesday, July 02, 2014
World Cup Brazil Images - Thanks for the Memories
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To our friends in Brazil we say congratulations on a great World Cup, thanks for the many memories and we will see you at the Olympics.
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To our friends in Brazil we say congratulations on a great World Cup, thanks for the many memories and we will see you at the Olympics.
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Tim Howard Wins USA Loses in World Cup Quarters
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Despite a record performance by goalie Tim Howard and a shot of adrenalin in the final 12 minutes by two USA rookies the bookies had it right, Belgium was the better team. Yet perhaps the future is brighter with the World Cup drawing about 27 million viewers, second in sports only to the Super Bowl for a single sports broadcast, according to overnights.
The headlines said it all.
Tim Howard Emerges As Hero In U.S.
As one story reported...
Seems as if one fan went so far as to hack Wikipedia and change the Secretary of Defense photo into our new Secretary of Defense.
Here is what The New York Times had to say about the game.
Wild Ride by
World Cup
2014:
SALVADOR ,
Brazil United States would never go down,
standing there, taking shots like an undersize fighter clinging desperately to
a puncher’s chance. Howard saved with his hands. His feet. His legs. His knees.
At one point, Howard even had a shot bounce off the crest over his heart.
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Despite a record performance by goalie Tim Howard and a shot of adrenalin in the final 12 minutes by two USA rookies the bookies had it right, Belgium was the better team. Yet perhaps the future is brighter with the World Cup drawing about 27 million viewers, second in sports only to the Super Bowl for a single sports broadcast, according to overnights.
The headlines said it all.
Human wall Tim Howard sets World Cup save record in U.S. loss to Belgium
As one story reported...
Howard's performance emerged as a brilliant
star turn in a tense game that saw Belgium's lauded young stars make repeated
runs at the U.S. net, streaking past American defenders. They sent the ball
high and low – and for more than 90 minutes, Howard turned them all away.
But two shots eluded the goalie in the extra
periods, dashing the Americans' hopes of reaching the quarterfinals.
"We dreamed and again we fell short of our
dream," Howard said afterwards. "Gosh, we were right there. We nearly
had it. But this is a young group and we'll be back for more."
To put the 16 saves in perspective, we'll note
that back in 2010, Howard was named man of the match for making 8 saves against
England
Even Belgium
Here is what The New York Times had to say about the game.
Wild Ride by U.S.
World Cup
2014: Belgium Eliminates
Team U.S.A.
Trying to figure out where soccer fits into the fabric of America is a
popular topic but, for one afternoon at least, there was this unexpected truth:
All around the country, from coast to coast and through the nation’s belly,
sports fans of every kind were inspired by the performance of a soccer goalkeeper.
In a loss.
When it was over, the fans at the shimmering Arena Fonte
Nova applauded knowingly, as if paying tribute to the ride this team provided.
Americans purchased more tickets to games at this tournament than fans from any
country other than Brazil .
Television ratings in the United
States blasted through ceilings, surpassing
those of the N.B.A. finals or the World Series. Watch parties popped up in
places far more varied than just craft breweries in Brooklyn, with fans
gathering everywhere from Hermosa Beach in California to a library in Birmingham ,
Ala. , to the Tulsa Drillers’ minor league
baseball stadium in Oklahoma .
A gathering at Grant Park in Chicago was moved to Soldier Field to
accommodate a crowd reported to have exceeded 25,000.
World Cups have been growing in popularity among Americans
for some time, but this tournament has felt different. Explanations for the
surge vary, with some pointing to Brazil ’s
time zone being favorable for American viewers, especially compared to South Africa
four years ago. Others say soccer’s spike is simply the result of a growing
Hispanic population in the United
States as well as the inevitable aging of
Millenials. A great number of soccer-loving children have now become consumer
adults.
“These are all young people who grew up with the game,
whether it be the English Premier League or Major League Soccer, and they don’t
need to be convinced that soccer is a sport that is worthy of their attention,”
said Don Garber, the commissioner of M.L.S. “The country has changed. This is a
new America .”
Statistics seem to support that claim. Fourteen percent of
people between the ages of 12 and 24 said professional soccer was their
favorite sport, second only to the N.F.L., according to Rich Luker, who runs a
sports research firm. That means a greater number of fans are more likely to
continue following the sport even when the pageantry of the World Cup is over.
“Fans are connecting the dots,” said Jeff L’Hote, who runs a
soccer-focused management consultancy. “One of the great things about the
continued maturation of the sport is people know that Messi plays for Barcelona , not just Argentina .”
Whatever the baseline theory, the sheer entertainment value
of this tournament has piqued interest even more. Including Tuesday’s games,
154 goals have been scored, which is more than the total for the entire 2010
World Cup. Also, for casual American fans who find watching games end in ties
about as appealing as doing their taxes, the past few weeks have been a
revelation: There were only nine draws in 48 group stage games, or four fewer
than the average over the past four World Cups.
The grittiness of this United States team was an
attraction, too. Drama, in one form or another, has followed the United States
team ever since its pretournament training camp in May, starting with the
uproar over Coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s decision to leave Landon Donovan at home.
Then came concerns about whether the Americans could win a
must-have game against Ghana
(yes, barely); whether they could get a decent result against Portugal (yes, agonizingly); and whether they
could avoid a blowout against Germany
(yes, mercifully).
“I think every player went to his limit,” Klinsmann said.
Tuesday followed a similarly tense script. Belgium , which
won all three of its group games with late goals, was the aggressor from the
start, neutralizing Klinsmann’s attempts to open up the American attack.
Divock Origi and Dries Mertens had early chances for Belgium , and things got worse for the United States
when Fabian Johnson, one of the most reliable players on the outside, pulled up
with a hamstring injury after half an hour.
The United
States spent most of the rest of the game
buckled in, holding off an onslaught from the Belgians with Howard standing
squarely in the middle. Making it to extra time felt like a small victory on
its own, but Lukaku’s fresh legs led to Kevin De Bruyne finally lashing a shot
past Howard from close range. Moments later, Lukaku followed with a goal of his
own, and the American fans slumped. The players, though, gathered together
during the short break between the two 15-minute halves of extra time and
steeled themselves for one last burst.
“If we were going home,” midfielder Michael Bradley said,
“we wanted to go home going for it.”
And they did. Julian Green, a World Cup rookie, provided a
flicker of hope with a smooth volley two minutes into the final period, and
Howard made another slew of important saves to keep the game in range while the
United States
pushed and pushed and pushed.
The chances were there. Jermaine Jones blasted a shot over
the net. A header went awry. Dempsey, at the end of a gorgeous passing play
from a free kick, had his attempt smothered just yards away from the goal.
It was tantalizing and teasing. But this time the miracle
never came. When the final whistle sounded, many of the American players simply
collapsed, as if the strings holding up their legs had just been cut.
Howard was not one of them. He bent at the waist, only for a
moment, his hands on his knees and his mouth open. Then he stood up tall and
walked forward with his chest out.
It was fitting: Even in defeat, his tournament over, the
American goalkeeper refused to tumble.
Ken Belson and Marc Tracy contributed reporting from New York .
Obama Beats Bush, Nixon and Carter as Worst Modern Day President since World War II
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POLL: Obama Worst Modern-Day President
TheQuinnipiac University survey
Asked about the 2012 presidential race, 45% of respondents said the country would be better off if the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, had won. Slightly less — 38% — said the country would be worse off under a President Romney.
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By Colin Campbell
AP
President Barack Obama is the worst president since World War II, according
to a plurality of voters in a new poll published Wednesday.The
"Over the span of 69 years of
American history and 12 presidencies, President Barack Obama finds himself with
President George W. Bush at the bottom of the popularity barrel," Tim
Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a
statement.
Richard Nixon, whose presidency ended
in scandal, received only 13% of the vote and Jimmy Carter scored 8%. None of
the remaining eight presidents received more than 3%.
Asked about the 2012 presidential race, 45% of respondents said the country would be better off if the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, had won. Slightly less — 38% — said the country would be worse off under a President Romney.
"Would Mitt have been a better
fit?" Malloy asked. "More voters in hindsight say yes."
[MORE SPIN ON POLL!]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two years into President Barack Obama's
second term, more voters say they are dissatisfied with his administration's
handling of everything from the economy to foreign policy, giving him the worst
marks of any modern U.S.
president, a poll on Wednesday said.
In a survey of 1,446 registered voters, 33 percent said Obama was the worst president since World War Two, while 28 percent pointed to his predecessor, George W. Bush, as the worst, the poll byQuinnipiac University
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Bill Trott)
[EVEN MORE MEDIA SPIN]
Obama's Terrible Approval Numbers Are Terrible
When asked a question often discussed with dread at family Thanksgiving dinners, a plurality of voters — 33 percent — believe President Obama (or "Nobummer," amirite?) is the worst president since World War II. In second place on the same question was George W. Bush with 28 percent. These are the numbers you will read in several headlines today. The thing is, the "worst president since World War Two" results aren't really the worst numbers for the president in the Quinnipiac poll from which they're drawn.
Let's address the headlines
first. In the Quinnipiac poll, Obama finds himself among a handful of post-war
presidents who garner polarizing reactions from voters. Those presidents,
roughly, are Kennedy, Reagan, and the three most recent: Obama, Clinton, and
George W. Bush. When asked to choose the best post-war president, for
instance, Ronald Reagan snagged 35 percent of voters. But 18 percent
thought it was Kennedy. Clinton
took 18 percent of voters, and 8 percent think it's Obama, putting him in
fourth place. (George W. Bush, for what it's worth, had just 1 percent of
voters on this question).
If you look at the political breakdown by party of who is saying Obama is the worst, it falls strongly along party lines, with a little bit of help from independents: 63 percent of Republicans chose Obama, while 54 percent of Democrats said George W. Bush. Independents voted "for" both: 23 percent said George W. Bush was the worst, while 36 percent chose Obama. On a similar question directly comparing Bush and Obama, the expected partisan divide is even stronger:
Although the poll marked a slight uptick in his overall approval rating to 40 percent, the president didn't fare too well when respondents were asked to rate his performance on a bunch of crucial issues:
[MORE SPIN ON POLL!]
U.S.
poll: more voters see Obama as worst president in modern times
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two years into President Barack Obama's
second term, more voters say they are dissatisfied with his administration's
handling of everything from the economy to foreign policy, giving him the worst
marks of any modern In a survey of 1,446 registered voters, 33 percent said Obama was the worst president since World War Two, while 28 percent pointed to his predecessor, George W. Bush, as the worst, the poll by
Voters were split over which of the two
most recent presidents has done a better job with 39 percent saying Obama has
been a better president than Bush and, 40 percent saying Obama is worse.
Most voters said Ronald Reagan, who
served two terms in the 1980s, was the best president since 1945, the survey
showed.
"Over the span of 69 years of
American history and 12 presidencies, President Barack Obama finds
himself with President George W. Bush at the bottom of the
popularity barrel," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of Quinnipiac University
While Obama's job approval rating has
inched higher to 40 percent, up from 38 percent in December, more voters gave
him largely negative marks in key areas: the economy, foreign policy,
healthcare and terrorism, according to the poll.
On the environment, 50 percent gave
Obama positive marks.
The telephone survey, taken June 24 to
June 30, had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Bill Trott)
[EVEN MORE MEDIA SPIN]
Obama's Terrible Approval Numbers Are Terrible
By Abby Ohlheiser
14 hours ago
When asked a question often discussed with dread at family Thanksgiving dinners, a plurality of voters — 33 percent — believe President Obama (or "Nobummer," amirite?) is the worst president since World War II. In second place on the same question was George W. Bush with 28 percent. These are the numbers you will read in several headlines today. The thing is, the "worst president since World War Two" results aren't really the worst numbers for the president in the Quinnipiac poll from which they're drawn.
- Obama is the worst president in 70 years, says America The Week (RSS)
- Obama Worst President Since World War II: Poll The Fiscal Times
- U.S. poll: more voters see Obama as worst president in
modern times Reuters
- Obama's abysmal new poll numbers: Is his presidency 'over'?
The Week (RSS)
- Devastating New Poll Shows Americans Believe Obama Can No
Longer Lead the Country The Fiscal Times
If you look at the political breakdown by party of who is saying Obama is the worst, it falls strongly along party lines, with a little bit of help from independents: 63 percent of Republicans chose Obama, while 54 percent of Democrats said George W. Bush. Independents voted "for" both: 23 percent said George W. Bush was the worst, while 36 percent chose Obama. On a similar question directly comparing Bush and Obama, the expected partisan divide is even stronger:
Obama has been a better president than
George W. Bush, 39 percent of voters say, while 40 percent say he is worse. Men
say 43 - 36 percent that Obama is worse than Bush while women say 42 - 38
percent he is better. Obama is worse, Republicans say 79 - 7 percent and
independent voters say 41 - 31 percent. Democrats say 78 - 4 percent that he is
better.
So the core group of voters strongly
opposed to everything Obama does think he's a bad president, and the people who
voted for him have a more positive opinion of the job he's doing. That's not a
surprise.
Obama's Terrible Approval Numbers Are Terrible
Which brings us to the number that's
arguably the actual worst thing in the poll for Obama: "American voters say 54 - 44 percent that
the Obama Administration is not competent running the government." Politico's Mike Allen agreed, flagging that number as of
most concern to the White House this morning. This is the second recent poll to
give the president or his administration a bad rating on a
"competency" question: an earlier NBC/WSJ poll found that just half of Americans believe
Obama is a competent leader of the federal government.
Although the poll marked a slight uptick in his overall approval rating to 40 percent, the president didn't fare too well when respondents were asked to rate his performance on a bunch of crucial issues:
- Voters were 40 - 55 percent against
his handling of the economy;
- They also were negative on his
foreign policy, 37 - 57 percent. And on the related issue of terrorism? 44
- 51 percent.
- Same goes for healthcare: 40 - 58
percent against.
- He did better on the environment,
with 50 percent of voters approving and 40 percent against.
Then again, basically no one else in government right now
is doing so well in the polls, either.
This article was originally published
at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/07/obamas-terrible-approval-numbers-are-terrible/373832/
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Watch, weep, enjoy, whatever - cyber attacks in real time - the ultimate reality show!
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This Site Shows Who Is Hacking Whom Right Now — And TheUS
U.S.-based computer security firm Norse has released a real-time animated
map that illustrates ongoing cyberattacks around the world. Without a doubt,
the U.S.
is getting constantly hammered by hackers.
In just 45 minutes, theU.S.
was the victim of 5,840 cyberattacks.
The Norse map does not represent all hacking attempts in the world. Instead, according to Smithsonian Magazine, the map relies on a Norse honeypot network — a network purposefully designed to detect hacking — to provide a representative snapshot of global hacking attempts.
In actuality, there are orders of magnitude more hacking attempts on any given day than recorded by Norse. For instance, there are an estimated 20 million attacks per day against locations withinUtah . There are 10 million daily
hacking attempts against the Pentagon alone.
China
is responsible for the vast majority of these attacks. Within the 45-minute
span, China
accounted for 2,513 attacks. The U.S.
accounted for the second highest number of attacks, with 1,550 attacks
originating within America .
However, a number of American attacks targeted computers elsewhere in the United States .
It is likely that these intra-U.S. attacks are the result of "zombie computers" — computers that have been compromised by a hacker and carry out attacks at the hacker's discretion.
Chinese cyber attacks are highly damaging to both theU.S. economy
and national security. China
is currently developing a new plane that is modeled after stolen plans for the
U.S. F-35 fifth-generation plane.
This Site Shows Who Is Hacking Whom Right Now — And The
By Jeremy Bender
In just 45 minutes, the
Screenshot/map.ipviking.com
A view of the cyberattacks carried out against the U.S. within a
45-minute span. Within that span of time, the U.S.
suffered from 27 times more cyberattacks than Thailand , the second most targeted
country. Thailand
was the target of only 220 cyber attacks during these 45 minutes.
The Norse map does not represent all hacking attempts in the world. Instead, according to Smithsonian Magazine, the map relies on a Norse honeypot network — a network purposefully designed to detect hacking — to provide a representative snapshot of global hacking attempts.
In actuality, there are orders of magnitude more hacking attempts on any given day than recorded by Norse. For instance, there are an estimated 20 million attacks per day against locations within
It is likely that these intra-U.S. attacks are the result of "zombie computers" — computers that have been compromised by a hacker and carry out attacks at the hacker's discretion.
Chinese cyber attacks are highly damaging to both the
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Obamaville - July 1, 2014 -- Déjà Vu all over again
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So today we look at the headlines then ask ourselves how things have changed during the 6 1/2 years of the Obama presidency.
So today we look at the headlines then ask ourselves how things have changed during the 6 1/2 years of the Obama presidency.
Headline - President
continues to send more troops to Iraq
Headline - Obamacare limited
by Supreme Court ruling!
Headline - Mideast Peace
Talks go up in flames as Israel
Headline - ISIS terrorists
capture huge parts of Syria
and Iraq and move toward Lebanon and Jordan
Headline - Russia defies UN and USA
and moves more troops to Ukraine
Headline - Russia
Headline - Tens of Thousands
of Illegal immigrants overwhelm American borders!
Headline - GMC teeters on
brink of bankruptcy again with 30 million cars recalled!
Headline - US Federal
Deficit blows past $17.5 trillion - has now tripled under Obama!
Headline - Obama has now
completed over 176 rounds of golf during his 78 months as president!
Headline - America
Headline - American
military veterans face death at home as well as in wars with neglect and
corruption permeating the Obama Veterans Administration health program!
Headline - Health care
costs and health insurance costs prepare for massive increases to pay for new
Obamacare program!
Headline - Democrats and
Obama continue to blame Republicans and Bush for everything that has gone wrong
since Obama was elected and Democrats took control of the presidency, house and
senate 6 1/2 long years ago!
Whew! Has anything really changed?
Thank God the USA
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Love 'em or hate 'em - Fox News Continues Domination
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Fox News Exec Talks 50-Quarter Ratings Streak, Megyn Kelly andBenghazi
By Michael O'Connell
Perennial ratings victor Fox News Channel celebrates a new feat this week: it just wrapped its 50th consecutive quarter (and 150th consecutive month) as the most-watched cable news network in both total day and primetime. Its a record only matched by ESPN, which has enjoyed a similar dominance in the sports category.
"For us, that was a big change, we hardly make any adjustments our primetime lineup," Shine says of the decision to move Kelly from daytime to prime. "[She's] much newsier. And I think we're fortunate to have good timing."
"It's happening to most everyone in
television, and in terms of the economics of it, we don't buy and sell on that
data," Shine tells THR. "We buy and sell on the demo, and we're still
clearly winning the demo race amongst our competitors -- combined in some
cases. Is it something we keep our eye on? Absolutely. But it's not something I
currently go home and lose sleep over."
FNC was one of several
outlets that recently greeted former Secretary of State and potential 2016
presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, promoting her book Hard Choices, and
focused some of the interview on Benghazi
"What we heard for years was that it was not a real story -- four dead Americans, including the first U.S. Ambassador in a generation -- but as soon as the Secretary's book came out, it was enough of a story for her to devote an entire chapter of it," says Shine. "And at the beginning of the book tour, all of the broadcast journalists were basing the news around theBenghazi
Second Quarter 2014 Primetime Averages
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Fox News Exec Talks 50-Quarter Ratings Streak, Megyn Kelly and
Perennial ratings victor Fox News Channel celebrates a new feat this week: it just wrapped its 50th consecutive quarter (and 150th consecutive month) as the most-watched cable news network in both total day and primetime. Its a record only matched by ESPN, which has enjoyed a similar dominance in the sports category.
Though FNC, like all cable
news networks, saw year-to-year losses in the second quarter, its average 1.6
million viewers and 267,000 adults 25-54 still gives it large margins of victory
in primetime -- where its biggest competition might be with itself. Recent
weeks have seen 9 p.m. anchor Megyn Kelly enjoying multiple nights out-rating
her lead-in, reigning cable news champ Bill O'Reilly. That achievement is not
lost on FNC executive vp of programming Bill Shine, who spoke with The
Hollywood Reporter about the streak, the year of changes and some recent
coverage choices.
"For us, that was a big change, we hardly make any adjustments our primetime lineup," Shine says of the decision to move Kelly from daytime to prime. "[She's] much newsier. And I think we're fortunate to have good timing."
That timing includes
Kelly's arrival during the rocky launch of HealthCare.gov and the recent story
of released P.O.W. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl -- which Kelly was one of the first to
cover heavily. She's also found herself at the center the pop culture
conversation, at least more so than her FNC colleagues, with interviews like
June's heated exchange with former vice president (and Republican) Dick
Cheney.
"I think it shows who
Megyn is," says Shine. "She's a great broadcaster and she's a great
journalist. I think it also shows some of our competition and some of our
skeptics what we do over here. I always say a lot of people who don't like us,
don't watch us."
There are people watching,
though. And while there have been big changes to primetime, Shine sees the
network's few changes to its talent roster as one thing that has kept them
around. "I think we've had a lot consistency. You look at people like Bill
and Sean [Hannity], they've both been here since day one. Shep Smith and Neil
Cavuto have both been here since day one."
Some critics have called
out that consistency as one reason why FNC's average viewer is now over 65
years old, but Shine says an increased median age is something affecting all
networks.
 |
| Roger Ailes, Fox News President |
Shine also says his eye is
on the competition. He's not ignoring CNN's decision to ditch live news
coverage for documentary news at cable news' traditional flagship hour of 9
p.m. -- "They've decided to go in another direction, and I think you've
got to give them some time to see if it works." -- though he is committed
to live programming and now considers their primetime block beginning at 5 p.m.
with The Five. That show now goes back and forth with Kelly for the No. 2 or
No. 3 telecast on cable news.
One thing Shine says he's
not paying attention to is criticism over the network's reputation for
conservative slant. And he's quick to point at Kelly as someone who can
potentially chip away at that reputation. He also says that the recent
reassurance in attention on the U.S.
handling of the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic mission at Benghazi , Libya
 |
| Fox personalities |
"What we heard for years was that it was not a real story -- four dead Americans, including the first U.S. Ambassador in a generation -- but as soon as the Secretary's book came out, it was enough of a story for her to devote an entire chapter of it," says Shine. "And at the beginning of the book tour, all of the broadcast journalists were basing the news around the
Second Quarter 2014 Primetime Averages
FNC: 1,596,000 viewers,
down 16 percent (267,000 adults 25-54, down 16 percent)
CNN: 459,000 viewers, down
31 percent (157,000 adults 25-54, down 31 percent)
MSNBC: 577,000 viewers,
flat (160,000 adults 25-54, down 16 percent)
HLN: 338,000 viewers, down
35 percent (124,000 adults 25-54, down 30 percent)
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