Nokia on Saturday expanded its apology for misleading marketing materials used in the launch of a new line of phones.
The company earlier this week admitted to not having used the “PureView” camera on Nokia’s forthcoming Lumia 920 hand-held device to shoot a portion of a video that initially was represented as being captured by technology on that phone. On Saturday, the company said additional pieces of the promotional material, such as still photography, were also a simulation.
She was a known name only because Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut” after she was denied a chance to testify at a congressional hearing to advocate for birth-control coverage in the Affordable Care Act. She was the ruination of feminism. Ann Coulter tweeted, “Bill Clinton just impregnated Sandra Fluke backstage.”
The former president did ask to meet Fluke backstage after her address, she said Thursday.
He told her she did a great job, asked if she had been nervous, then volunteered:
“I’m nervous. I’m nervous about going out there and getting it right for the president,” Fluke said. To which she responded, “Sir. Please.”
Within the secure perimeter of Dem Worldhere, Fluke is an official star: recognized by the partisans who saw her in the convention center or on TV the night before as she described a stark choice for women between President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. They wanted a picture, or a handshake, or to offer their thanks as she made her way from one media appearanceto another.
She is learning that it takes a long time to traverse a city block that way. She is learning that she has to avoid literal missteps, immediately jumping off a grate that blew up her dress in Marilynesque fashion. When her body man offered to give her a piggyback ride because her ankles were hurting, she smiled and said no.
Yes, Sandra Fluke now has a body man. He is her longtime boyfriend, Adam Mutterperl, a comedy writer and producer in Los Angeles — the guy who did the “JibJab” cartoons on “Saturday Night Live.” They got engaged this past spring, right before she graduated from law school and took the boards.
In jeans and a “Sesame Street” T-shirt, he was giving her cough drops when her voice cracked from so much talking. “I love being a body man, actually,” he said Thursday. “I can watch, read the signs, say, ‘It’s time to get her out of here.’ ”
She also is getting pro bono representation from the Democratic strategy firm SKDKnickerbocker. Her debt is piling up, she said, because most of the nonprofits to which she speaks can’t afford to pay her.
Fluke received the call from the Obama campaign two weeks ago to speak at the convention, while she was in Sacramento marching with domestic workers for a bill of rights, which she had worked on as a lawyer. “And I was marching with a suitcase, because I was going next to the airport” — to talk to Democrats in Manhattan — “and so it was a pretty chaotic phone call,” but she got the gist of the request.
She has been gratified, she said, by the number of men, young and old, who have voiced their support. “I get frustrated sometimes with young women. They never for one minute considered that women’s health policies might be limited. They say, ‘Oh, they won’t really roll back Roe v. Wade. They wouldn’t do that,’ ” Fluke said. “And I have to say, ‘Look at what they’ve already done.’ ”
1. As I suspect you have not read the Constitution, I would like to remind you that the very first, the VERY FIRST Amendment in this founding document deals with the freedom of speech, particularly the abridgment of said freedom. By using your position as an elected official (when referring to your constituents so as to implicitly threaten the Ravens organization) to state that the Ravens should “inhibit such expressions from your employees,” more specifically Brendon Ayanbadejo, not only are you clearly violating the First Amendment, you also come across as a narcissistic fromunda stain. What on earth would possess you to be so mind-boggingly stupid? It baffles me that a man such as yourself, a man who relies on that same First Amendment to pursue your own religious studies without fear of persecution from the state, could somehow justify stifling another person’s right to speech. To call that hypocritical would be to do a disservice to the word. Mindfucking obscenely hypocritical starts to approach it a little bit.
2. “Many of your fans are opposed to such a view and feel it has no place in a sport that is strictly for pride, entertainment, and excitement.” Holy fucking shitballs. Did you seriously just say that, as someone who’s “deeply involved in government task forces on the legacy of slavery in Maryland”? Have you not heard of Kenny Washington? Jackie Robinson? As recently as 1962 the NFL still had segregation, which was only done away with by brave athletes and coaches daring to speak their mind and do the right thing, and you’re going to say that political views have “no place in a sport”? I can’t even begin to fathom the cognitive dissonance that must be coursing through your rapidly addled mind right now; the mental gymnastics your brain has to tortuously contort itself through to make such a preposterous statement are surely worthy of an Olympic gold medal (the Russian judge gives you a 10 for “beautiful oppressionism”).
3. This is more a personal quibble of mine, but why do you hate freedom? Why do you hate the fact that other people want a chance to live their lives and be happy, even though they may believe in something different than you, or act different than you? How does gay marriage, in any way shape or form, affect your life? If gay marriage becomes legal, are you worried that all of a sudden you’ll start thinking about penis? “Oh shit. Gay marriage just passed. Gotta get me some of that hot dong action!” Will all of your friends suddenly turn gay and refuse to come to your Sunday Ticket grill-outs? (Unlikely, since gay people enjoy watching football too.)
I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won’t come into your house and steal your children. They won’t magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster. They won’t even overthrow the government in an orgy of hedonistic debauchery because all of a sudden they have the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population—rights like Social Security benefits, child care tax credits, Family and Medical Leave to take care of loved ones, and COBRA healthcare for spouses and children. You know what having these rights will make gays? Full-fledged American citizens just like everyone else, with the freedom to pursue happiness and all that entails. Do the civil-rights struggles of the past 200 years mean absolutely nothing to you?
In closing, I would like to say that I hope this letter, in some small way, causes you to reflect upon the magnitude of the colossal foot in mouth clusterfuck you so brazenly unleashed on a man whose only crime was speaking out for something he believed in. Best of luck in the next election; I’m fairly certain you might need it.
Sincerely,
Chris Kluwe
P.S. I’ve also been vocal as hell about the issue of gay marriage so you can take your “I know of no other NFL player who has done what Mr. Ayanbadejo is doing” and shove it in your close-minded, totally lacking in empathy piehole and choke on it. Asshole.
NEW YORK (AP) — Get ready, presidential swing states. Now the campaign ad crush — and TV spending spree — really begins.
The TV ad war for the 2012 presidential contest, its total spending expected to swell to $1.1 billion, is set to start anew now that both party conventions are over and the two-month sprint to the general election is under way. Just over a third of that amount has been spent so far, according to the Kantar/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks campaign ad spending.
That means the campaigns and independent groups will spend more on the air in the final eight weeks of the presidential contest than they did in the first five months.
The biggest change is on the Republican side, with Mitt Romney now free to tap millions in general election funds he had collected but could not spend until becoming the party's official nominee. With that accomplished, the GOP's already significant spending advantage over President Barack Obamaand his Democratic allies will grow larger still — the first time in history an incumbent president will have been outspent on the air by his opponents.
While the level of spending may be eye-popping, the playing field is even narrower. National polls show Obama and Romney in a virtual dead heat, but only eight states are considered true battlegrounds: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. Obama carried all of them against Republican John McCain in 2008, but they are too close to call for now.
Flush with new cash, the Romney campaign moved quickly to take advantage — pouring nearly $5 million into a new ad campaign across those states beginning this weekend after being dark for nearly two weeks. A series of state-specific ads hit Obama on defense spending, business regulations and housing, while another ad uses President Bill Clinton's words from the 2008 primary race against Obama.
A proliferation of Republican-leaning independent groups led by the two-pronged juggernaut American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS kept Romney in the game throughout the summer while he regrouped from a bruising GOP primary contest that tapped considerable campaign resources.Priorities USA Action, the only significant pro-Obama super PAC, has been far outpaced by the conservative-leaning groups.
Those and other independent groups emerged after the Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case in 2010 loosened campaign finance laws, allowing wealthy individuals to spend unlimited sums on political activity as long as they stay separate from the campaigns themselves. The Crossroads groups are backed by former President George W. Bush's longtime political counselor Karl Rove, while Americans for Prosperity, another pro-Romney group, was founded by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.
Together, the Crossroads groups spent about $66 million on ads through the end of August. The vast majority — $58 million — came from Crossroads GPS, which is organized as a social welfare group under tax laws and thus does not have to disclose its donors. AFP, which also does not disclose its donors, spent $35.2 million during that time.
The Obama campaign spent $166 million on ads through Aug. 30, compared with $74 million by the Romney campaign and $22 million by the Republican National Committee. But now, with Romney's general election resources unleashed and the Republican-leaning groups continuing to air ads backing his candidacy, the Obama campaign will be all but swamped on the air.
"It will be no holds barred on the Republican side. All that money the Obama campaign has been expecting Romney to spend on ads will finally start to flow," Kantar/CMAG vice president Elizabeth Wilner said. "The Obama campaign is betting on their message, while the Romney campaign is betting on tonnage."
Obama campaign officials acknowledged Friday how outmatched they are by Republicans on TV but said they had enough money to compete. They also pointed to their sophisticated ground organizing efforts, saying their ability to identify voters and get them to the polls would in part offset their advertising disadvantage.
Romney and the independent groups spent $245 million on ads through the end of August while Obama and his allies spent $188 million, according to information from media buyers provided to The Associated Press. Obama's team front-loaded its ad spending in the spring, but Republicans caught up in June and began outspending Obama by mid-July — often by a 2-1 margin.
Republicans abandoned their efforts in Michigan and Pennsylvania after hoping to make those Democratic-leaning states competitive for Romney. The GOP hopeful was born in and grew up in Michigan, where his father served as a popular two-term governor. And Pennsylvania has a large population of white, working-class voters, which has long been one of Obama's weakest demographic groups. A significant shift in momentum for Romney could put those and other states back in play.
Carl Forti, a top adviser to the Crossroads groups and Restore Our Future, another pro-Romney super PAC, said the battleground map "absolutely" could expand and that, if it does, the Republican-leaning groups will be eager to take advantage.
"For people who have only partially been paying attention until now, we have an opportunity to win them over," Forti said. "As long as they're disgruntled with the current president, they'll continue to look elsewhere."
Both sides are eyeing Wisconsin as a potential new battleground after Romney named Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate. Americans for Prosperity and Restore Our Future each spent about $2 million there earlier in the campaign after Republicans beat back a Democratic- and union-backed effort to recall GOP Gov. Scott Walker. Priorities USA Action has recently begun airing ads in Wisconsin, where polls still show Obama leading Romney.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration declared Friday that the Pakistan-based Haqqani network of militants is a terrorist body despite misgivings about how the largely symbolic act could further stall planned Afghan peace talks or put yet another chill on the United States' already fragile counterterrorism alliance with Islamabad.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's decision, signed Friday ahead of a Sunday deadline set by Congress, bans Americans from doing business with members of the group and blocks any assets it holds in the United States. The order, which will go into effect within 10 days, completes an odyssey of sorts for the Haqqanis from the days they partnered with the CIA during the Cold War and were hailed as freedom fighters.
Clinton, whose advisers were of two minds about whether the designation was the right path, said in a statement Friday that the U.S. will "also continue our robust campaign of diplomatic, military and intelligence pressure on the network, demonstrating the United States' resolve to degrade the organization's ability to execute violent attacks."
FILE- In this Aug. 22, 1998, file photo, Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the militant group the Haqqani network, speaks during an interview in Miram Shah, Pakistan. The Obama administration faces a weekend deadline to decide whether the Pakistan-based Haqqani network should be declared a terrorist organization, a complicated political decision as the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan and pushes for a reconciliation pact to end more than a decade of warfare.
- Mohammed Riaz, File /AP Photo
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Enraged by a string of high-profile attacks on U.S. and NATO troops, Congress insisted Clinton deliver a report on whether the Haqqanis should be designated a terrorist organization and all of its members subjected to U.S. financial sanctions.
A subsidiary of the Taliban and based in the remote North Waziristan region of Pakistan, the Haqqani network is responsible for several attacks in Kabul, including last September's rocket-propelled grenade assault on the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters. American officials estimate its force at 2,000 to 4,000 fighters and say it maintains close relationships with al-Qaida.
U.S. defense officials said the administration doesn't believe the Haqqanis have designs to attack the United States. But they said the group shelters al-Qaida and other militant groups, allowing them to plan and train for possible operations targeting the U.S.
The U.S. already has sanctioned many Haqqani leaders and is pursuing its members militarily. But it resisted the terrorist designation because of worries that it could jeopardize reconciliation efforts between the U.S. government and insurgents in Afghanistan, and ruffle feathers with Pakistan, the Haqqanis' longtime benefactor.
"The only reservation - and it's only a mild one - is whether this complicates reconciliation at all," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said. "I see only a very small downside to the designation and that's more than offset by the financial pressure on the network."
Friday's decision also could complicate talks to free the only U.S. prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a 26-year-old from Idaho who has been held by the Haqqanis since 2009.
State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell dodged questions about reported Haqqani threats to further mistreat Bergdhal as a result of the designation but said the U.S. was doing everything it could to free him.
"He's just been held for too long," Ventrell told reporters.
American officials have held talks with Ibrahim Haqqani, the brother of the network's founder, Jalauddin Haqqani, to try to further peace talks with the Taliban, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the negotiation attempts. The designation does not stop the U.S. from meeting with the Haqqanis, who've been among the least interested in talking reconciliation before American troops make an almost complete withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, officials said.
Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The designation risks straining U.S.-Pakistan relations. Last year, outgoing Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen argued that the Haqqani network "acts as a veritable arm" of Pakistani intelligence - the most far-reaching volley in a long dispute between Washington and Islamabad.
Other U.S. officials dispute that assessment but still accuse Islamabad of giving the network a free hand in North Waziristan region and providing it some logistical support. The accusation could take on added significance now that the Haqqanis are officially a foreign terrorist organization - something the U.S. hasn't issued for the Taliban.
Sherry Rehman, the Pakistani ambassador in Washington, brushed off the designation, calling it an internal U.S. matter and noting that Haqqanis are not Pakistani nationals.
"It's not our business," she said, but added that Pakistan would maintain its counterterrorism cooperation with the United States.
Islamabad says that its forces are stretched thin in fighting an insurgency that already has killed more than 30,000 people and that it cannot also take on the Haqqanis near the Afghan border. Many analysts attribute the military's reluctance to take them on to historical ties and an assessment that the group can be an important ally in Afghanistan after U.S. and allied forces withdraw.
Imtiaz Gul, head of the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies, predicted little additional fallout in a relationship that has suffered severe blows in the last 20 months, including a CIA contractor's killing of two Pakistanis, the unilateral U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden and NATO's accidental killing of two dozen Pakistani soldiers. But he said the U.S. sanctions wouldn't prompt a Pakistani crackdown or hurt the Haqqanis significantly.
"They are not a corporate sector entity maintaining bank accounts and working via the Internet doing banking transactions online," said Gul. "They operate covertly through intermediaries."
Fighters for the head of the network, Jalauddin Haqqani, were among the leading recipients of CIA money during the 1980s Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, when U.S. money helped finance Afghan rebels. They ousted the Russians in February 1989, overthrowing the Moscow-backed government in Kabul three years later before turning their guns on each other.
Haqqani developed extensive foreign contacts over the years, getting money, weapons and supplies from Pakistani intelligence and serving as justice minister after the Soviets left, and minister of tribal and border affairs after Taliban fundamentalists seized power in 1996. He joined the Taliban insurgency when the U.S. helped overthrow the regime after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Since then, the network has developed a sophisticated, mafia-style financing operation that relies on extortion, kidnapping, smuggling and legitimate businesses, according to a recent report by the Combating Terrorism Center in West Point, N.Y.
Last month, the U.S. scored a major counterterror success when an unmanned drone strike in Pakistan near the Afghan border killed one of Haqqani's sons, Badruddin, considered the group's No. 3.
The State Department said in May 2011 that Badruddin Haqqani sat on the Miram Shah Shura, a group that controls all Haqqani network activities and coordinates attacks in southeastern Afghanistan. It also blamed him for the 2008 kidnapping of New York Times reporter David Rohde.
The U.S. already had designated Haqqani and his sons individually as terrorists, but Congress wanted tougher action. In July, it set a deadline to prod the administration into imposing blanket sanctions on the group.
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Lee reported from Vladivostok, Russia. Associated Press writers Sebastian Abbot and Kathy Gannon in Islamabad, and Kimberly Dozier and Donna Cassata in Washington contributed to this report.
PHILADELPHIA — A love triangle is what authorities are blaming for a midair explosives scare that led to an aborted flight and a man being taken into custody twice in two states within about 12 hours.
The curious case of Christopher Shell began Thursday in Philadelphia, apparently triggered by a Facebook photo he posted of his ex-girlfriend and fueled by his feud with her and her new boyfriend. It ended Friday in Texas.
Within that time, Philadelphia police recalled Shell's Dallas-bound flight and marched him off the aircraft at gunpoint; Shell cleared his name; authorities arrested the new beau, Kenneth W. Smith Jr., on charges of making a hoax threat about Shell and explosives; and Shell was taken into custody again, arrested on drug charges, when he finally reached Texas to celebrate his 29th birthday.
Both Shell and Smith posted bonds Friday in their respective cases. Shell declined to comment. Smith's lawyer, Bill Brennan, described his client as "embarrassed" by the consequences of the alleged threat.
"My client is very, very sobered by the amount of attention this has received," Brennan said after Smith's initial appearance in federal court in Philadelphia. "He's not very happy about it."
Passengers weren't very happy either when the scare rerouted US Airways Flight 1267 on Thursday. They were about 90 miles into their trip from Philadelphia to Dallas/Fort Worth when the aircraft turned around, allegedly due to technical problems.
After landing back at Philadelphia International Airport, heavily armed law enforcement officers boarded the plane and removed Shell. During questioning, he told authorities of the romantic feud, which involved hostile text messages with his ex and encounters with Smith, according to a federal affidavit.
Shell gave officers the name of Smith's workplace. And upon arrival, authorities said Smith acknowledged calling airport police from a payphone to say that Shell was carrying liquid explosives.
Smith said he did it to "avenge" his new girlfriend because Shell had posted a compromising picture of her on Facebook, the affidavit said.
"It is the kind of photo that would incense a boyfriend," said Brennan, Smith's lawyer.
Smith, 26, of Philadelphia, was charged with conveying false information that interfered with aviation and using an instrument of commerce — the phone — to do so.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and possible restitution.
Police on Thursday stressed that Shell, who lives in Philadelphia, was blameless for the airplane scare. He continued traveling later that day to his home state of Texas, where he planned to celebrate his birthday with friends and family. But authorities arrested him when he arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Collin County authorities said Shell had outstanding warrants for two drug-possession charges — less than 2 ounces of marijuana and less than 28 grams of a controlled substance.
Could Kris Jenner be feeling a bit of a jealousy these days? According toRadar Online, a source told them that Kris is not a fan of Honey Boo Boo, or her reality shows. But it’s really Honey Boo Boo’s mom that has Kris’ panties in a bunch: “Kris especially has a strong dislike for June, claiming the beauty pageant world is vile and that June is a bad mom for ‘exploiting’ Alana in that way,” the source said. Seriously, that is the pot calling the kettle black, no?
But the source, who went on to reveal: “She thinks the Thompsons are classless, unlike her family and can’t understand why America is so fascinated by them,” also feels that there is a bigger reason behind Kris Jenner’s hatred – jealousy. Why would Kris Jenner feel threatened or be jealous of a family that has nothing to do with her family? Well, because: “The show has become bigger than Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and Kris is starting to feel threatened by its success,” the source added.
Bring on the Kardashian versus Honey Boo Boo battle! What do you think of Kris Jenner’s thoughts? What do you think of Honey Boo Boo and her family? We know you have an opinion, and we want to hear it! Sound off below and let us know!
