TV stations predictably sue Aereo over antenna-to-internet streaming plans

We had to wonder if Aereo / fka Bamboom would actually be able to launch its $12 / month antenna-based live TV over the internet service before the networks tried to sue it out of existence and the answer is in: no. Ahead of Aereo's planned March 14th launch, AllThingsD reports several New York Area broadcasters including Fox and PBS have filed suit in US District Court to stop it from getting off the ground. Put simply, they don't believe copyright law allows Aereo to retransmit their OTA broadcasts on the internet without obtaining a license from them to do so, whether it uses one large antenna or an array of tiny antennas (pictured above) -- one for each subscriber -- as it says it will. Clearly Aereo disagrees, however we don't recall that argument working out so well for Zediva. Hit the source link to read the entire complaint in PDF form for yourself or just peep a press release from the National Association of Broadcasters after the break, we'll let you know if Aereo has any response.

Update: Check out Aereo's response, also included after the break. Just as predictably, it "does not believe that the broadcasters' position has any merit and it very much looks forward to a full and fair airing of the issues."

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the tapes Breitbart has of Obama’s college years

Via Mediaite, here’s the hotly anticipated answer to the lingering question raised byBreitbart’s CPAC speech. No, he wasn’t just messing with the left’s head when he said he has tapes of The One in his younger years. They exist, says Bannon, and he and some of the “Big” guys like Joel Pollak and Larry O’Connor are going through them. They must be near the end of their review too if Bannon can promise them as soon as 10 days from now. Obviously there’ll be organizational upheaval for them to deal with in the days ahead, especially with a new Breitbart site set to launch imminently. Watch to the end for a hint about that; supposedly it’s been in the works for two years and AB was putting the finishing touches on it last night in preparation for a Sunday launch. I assume it has to do with Obama and the election, but stay tuned.

On Israel and Iran

A very big question mark hanging over the global table is what the hell is going to happen between Iran and Israel. I spoke with a fellow in Europe I know who has an informed opinion. There were no secrets discussed, but his thoughts on some of the variables including Syria, bunker bombs and timing were interesting.

Will Israel allow Iran to develop a nuke?

Not a chance in hell.

What is the “over - under on timing”?

Certainly less than two years.

Does Israel have the capacity to take out concrete hardened facilities in Iran?

Yes, but this is by no means an easy task.

Explain?

It is not possible for the Israel Air force to attack without going over some other country’s border. The choices are Turkey (Iraq then Iran), Jordan (Saudi Arabia, Iraq then Iran), Syria (Iraq then Iran) or Saudi Arabia (Direct to Iran).

Which route will Israel choose?

It will go over Syria. There would be hell to pay if Israel went over Turkey or Jordan. If the Saudis “permitted” it, the Iranians would retaliate by assassinating Saudis all over the world. So it will be Syria. This is especially true as the country is in chaos today.

Will Syria attempt to shoot down Israeli aircraft flying over its territory?

Yes, it has surface-to-air capability and it also has MiG-23 and MiG-27 fighters. The Israelis will escort their bombers over Syria with their F16s. These fighters will wipe out anything that Syria puts up. The ground-based defenses are old, and no doubt, poorly manned these days.

Is it a problem if Israeli attack bombers fly over Iraqi territory?

No one gives a shit about Iraq anymore.

What happens when the Israeli bombers get over Iranian air space?

This question has no answer. If it happens, this would be the most advertized air attack in history. The Iranians have sophisticated radar and surface to air capability they bought from China. It would be a mistake to assume that an attack can be made without losses.

How would the attack take place?

Israel will use its F15s. Each plane will be armed with a single laser-guided bunker buster bomb.It will use their F16s as escorts.

As of today, Israel “officially” has only thirty of these bunker bombs. It has a total of 100 F15 attack bombers, so it needs more bombs to fully utilize their strike capability.Look for a sign on this. If the US agrees to supply more bombs, the timing is close.

What is your guess on the outcome?

It is not possible to predict what will happen in Syria. The chaos today creates the best opportunity for Israel. Who knows what can happen in six-months? Every week Iran's defenses get stronger. This will be resolved, one way or the other, in less than six-months.

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When the World Did Nothing

My wife and I just saw the film “In Darkness,” which tells the true story of a Polish man who saved a dozen Jewish men, women and children from the Nazis by hiding them for 14 months in sewers. The heroism of the man is clear, but so is the depressing state of a world that forced human beings to hide in sewers.

Hitler rearmed Germany, thus breaking the treaty that ended World War I. Then he reoccupied the Rhineland. Then he seized part of Czechoslovakia, and then the rest of it. Still the world did nothing, hoping the Nazi regime would be satisfied. But its appetite was merely whetted. Before the Nazis were defeated, at least 40 million people were dead, including one-third of all the Jews in the world, and four out of five European Jews.

At first, Hitler wanted the Jews to leave, “For all I care, on luxury liners.” But with few exceptions, no nation admitted them. In 1938, delegates from 32 nations, including the United States, met in the French resort town of Evian. The result: no one did anything. Whenever I see a bottle of Evian water, I think about apathy in the face of evil, and I remember this quote from Leon Wieseltier:

Obama seems to think that there is some force in the admonition that the world is watching; but history plentifully demonstrates that when the world is watching, all the world does is watch.

During his 2009 trip, President Obama visited the site of the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald. Over 56,000 civilians and prisoners of war were murdered there. The president declared that no one should deny the Holocaust.

But the purpose of remembering the Holocaust is to prevent a recurrence. The leaders of Iran threaten to wipe Israel off the map, and at the same time are developing nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. What is the “world community” doing about it?

With Holocaust 2 on the horizon, it does no good to remember Holocaust 1, while making the same mistake that allowed it to occur − attempting to appease aggressors. What are we doing about Iran? Economic sanctions areproving useless. Meanwhile, President Obama distances himself from Israel.

The strong make demands of their enemies. The weak make demands of their friends. The strong evoke anxiety in their enemies. The weak evoke anxiety in their friends. As a result, the weak have more enemies and fewer friends.

History tends to repeat itself, because human nature doesn’t change. There are variations on the themes, but the themes recur with depressing regularity:

● When tyrants make promises, we shouldn’t listen.

● When tyrants make threats, we should listen.

● When tyrants threaten mass murder based on myths of racial or religious superiority, we should listen carefully.

● When tyrants build weapons with which to carry out their threats, we are fools if we don’t act before the weapons are operational.

What is the lesson of the Holocaust? To people of good will, it is: Never again. But to people of ill will, the lesson is:It succeeded. Four out of five European Jews were murdered, and the “world community” did nothing. Do you believe that the leaders of Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah haven’t studied that lesson attentively? What reason are we giving them to believe that things will be different this time? None. What reason are we giving them to believe that they can’t murder another six million? None.

I wonder what many people in many nations, including our own, are really thinking. Could it be this? − “Let the crazies in Iran build their nukes. Let them eradicate Israel, which is just a pain in the backside. Then we’ll do something, in case they’re serious when they chant, ‘Death to America.’ We can serve tea and cookies, and collect money for the few survivors, just like last time. That will make us feel really self-righteous. And we can build an annex to the Holocaust Museum. It’s the least we can do. Literally.”

For every Evangelical or Jew who wants Obama to do something before Iran nukes Israel, there is at least one closet anti-Semite who wants Obama to do nothing until after Iran nukes Israel. We hear much about the pro-Israel lobby, but there is also an anti-Israel lobby that is at least as powerful. Which will prevail remains to be seen.

Even if Iran acquires nuclear weapons but doesn’t use them, its neighbors will be terrified and rush to acquire nukes themselves. The Mideast is unstable now − imagine what it will be like with nuclear-armed Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Gulf States. If Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, who will dare to break the blockade? Regardless of what happens to Israel, this prospect is frightening.

Dem leaders, WH silent on Media Matters’ hostile rhetoric against Israel, Israel’s supporters

Alan Dershowitz is on a crusade against Media Matters.

The liberal Harvard Law School professor has taken every opportunity to lambast the left-wing organization for the bile it spills against Israel and its supporters. He is also critical of the association the Democratic Party has with the group.

Dershowitz has written that the rhetoric used by Media Matters senior foreign policy fellow MJ Rosenberg is like the “virulent hate speech you’d expect to find on a neo-Nazi website.”

Despite this hostility towards America’s strongest ally in the Middle East, The Daily Caller has reported that the White House maintains close ties with the group, even including the organization on weekly strategy calls.

But Dershowitz says such a connection between Media Matters and Democratic leadership is unacceptable.

“The president should quickly dissociate himself and his administration from Rosenberg’s hate speech,” Dershowitz wrote in a recent op-ed in the New York Daily News. “And unless Media Matters fires Rosenberg, the president should also distance himself from Media Matters.”

But will Obama and Democratic leaders heed Dershowitz’s advice and distance themselves from the group?

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It’s hard to say — since no Democratic leader seems to want to talk about it. (RELATED: More stories in the ‘Inside Media Matters’ series)

TheDC contacted the White House for comment on Dershowitz’s statement calling for the president to distance himself from Media Matters, but got no response.

TheDC also did not receive a response from the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid when it asked whether the number one ranking Senate Democrat finds Media Matters’ rhetoric on Israel acceptable and whether the Democratic Party should continue to maintain close ties with the group.

Reid attended a book party for Media Matters founder David Brock at the organization’s headquarters Tuesday night. He reportedly told attendees he would do what he could to promote Brock’s anti-Fox diatribe, “The Fox Effect,” because he thought it was nice to have an ally in a fight against the cable news channel.

The office of the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate, Majority Whip Dick Durbin, also did not return TheDC’s request for comment.

Nor did the office of the third most powerful Senate Democrat, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who serves as vice chair of the Democratic Conference and chair of the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center.

The offices of other members of the Senate Democratic leadership — Washington Sen. Patty Murray, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Alaska Sen. Mark Begich — also, shockingly, failed to respond to TheDC’s request for comment.

Democratic leadership in the House was little better. House Minority Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office followed the trend by not responding to TheDC’s email requesting comment.

One faint glimmer of hope was the office of House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer. Maureen Beach, Hoyer’s press secretary, did initially reply to TheDC’s request, writing in an email that she would try to get a statement from the congressman. But, in the end, no statement was ever received by TheDC.

Not to be left out, the Democratic National Committee was also unresponsive to TheDC’s request for comment.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/01/dem-leaders-wh-silent-on-media-matters-hostile-rhetoric-against-israel-pro-israel-supporters/#ixzz1nrgqHrKv

Unbelievable Stress of Making "Only" $200,000 After Taxes

People who have nothing to eat, no job, and are about to be tossed out of their homes in foreclosure, really do not know what stress is.

To fully appreciate stress, please consider the sorry "plights" of Andrew Schiff, marketing director for Euro Pacific Capital, Daniel Arbeeny, a Wall Street headhunter, and hedge-fund manager Richard Scheiner.

Bloomberg describes the out-and-out horror stories of all three in Wall Street Bonus Withdrawal Means Trading Aspen for Coupons

Andrew Schiff said the $350,000 he earns, enough to put him in the country’s top 1 percent by income, doesn’t cover his family’s private-school tuition, a Kent, Connecticut, summer rental and the upgrade they would like from their 1,200-square- foot Brooklyn duplex.

“People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress,” said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. “Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?”

Wall Street’s cash bonus pool fell by 14 percent last year to $19.7 billion, the lowest since 2008, according to projections by New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

“It’s a disaster,” said Ilana Weinstein, chief executive officer of New York-based search firm IDW Group LLC. “The entire construct of compensation has changed.”

Wall Street headhunter Daniel Arbeeny said his “income has gone down tremendously.” On a recent Sunday, he drove to Fairway Market in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn to buy discounted salmon for $5.99 a pound.

$17,000 on Dogs

Richard Scheiner, 58, a real-estate investor and hedge-fund manager, said most people on Wall Street don’t save.

Scheiner said he spends about $500 a month to park one of his two Audis in a garage and at least $7,500 a year each for memberships at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester and a gun club in upstate New York. A labradoodle named Zelda and a rescued bichon frise, Duke, cost $17,000 a year, including food, health care, boarding and a daily dog-walker who charges $17 each per outing, he said.

He described a feeling of “malaise” and a “paralysis that does not allow one to believe that generally things are going to get better,” listing geopolitical hot spots such as Iran and low interest rates that have been “artificially manipulated” by the Federal Reserve.

Poly Prep

The malaise is shared by Schiff, the New York-based marketing director for Euro Pacific Capital, where his brother is CEO. His family rents the lower duplex of a brownstone in Cobble Hill, where his two children share a room. His 10-year- old daughter is a student at $32,000-a-year Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn. His son, 7, will apply in a few years.

“I can’t imagine what I’m going to do,” Schiff said. “I’m crammed into 1,200 square feet. I don’t have a dishwasher. We do all our dishes by hand.”

He wants 1,800 square feet -- “a room for each kid, three bedrooms, maybe four,” he said. “Imagine four bedrooms. You have the luxury of a guest room, how crazy is that?”

Summer Rentals

The family rents a three-bedroom summer house in Connecticut and will go there again this year for one month instead of four. Schiff said he brings home less than $200,000 after taxes, health-insurance and 401(k) contributions.

“I wouldn’t want to whine,” Schiff said. “All I want is the stuff that I always thought, growing up, that successful parents had.”

Imagine the Stress

• Imagine the stress of renting a three-bedroom summer home for only one month instead of four.
• Imagine the stress of only making $350,000 pre-tax
• Imagine the stress of making a mere $200,000 after tax and IRA contributions, and having to wash dishes by hand
• Imagine the stress of being able to send your kids to the $32,000-a-year for the Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn

Imagine the stress knowing full well that none of the above is enough, yet not being able to whine about it.

“I wouldn’t want to whine,” Schiff said. “All I want is the stuff that I always thought, growing up, that successful parents had.”

This is more than nauseating, so if you need to excuse yourself to take care of matters, please do so now.

Deepening US-Israeli discord on Iran. Obama says no to nuclear red lines

Barring last-minute changes, US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will still be at profound cross purposes on Iran when they meet at the White House on March 5. Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak flew to Washington to try and work out with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Wednesday, Feb. 29 a formula for bridging the widening gap. DEBKAfile’s Washington sources report that notwithstanding their smiling embraces, Barak flew straight back home to inform the prime minister they had failed.

While still airborne, Barak heard White House Spokesman Jay Carney further sharpen Obama’s current tone: “I think we have been clear about this – that any (Israeli) military action in that region threatens greater instability in the region, because Iran borders both Afghanistan and Iraq – we have civilian personnel in Iraq, we have military personnel as well as civilians in Afghanistan.”
Carney added “But our approach right now is to continue to pursue the diplomatic path that we’ve taken, combined with very aggressive sanctions.”

Senior American and Israeli officials said on Thursday, March 1 that this statement confirmed that the president had turned down two key Israeli requests:

1. To set final and absolute red lines for Iran’s nuclear program which, if crossed, would provide the grounds for the US and Israel to strike its nuclear sites. Israel maintains that Washington’s Iran policy can be summed up as “shifting red lines:” Whenever Iran moves ahead with another nuclear achievement, the US sets new “red lines” to avoid a confrontation. This enables Tehran to jump its nuclear program forward from one US “red line” to the next.
2. To stop reciting the mantra that “all options are on the table’ for stopping Iran gaining a nuclear weapon and moving on to more definite language for specifying American military contingencies. However, the attempt to formulate a new locution evaded the efforts of Panetta and Barak.
President Shimon Peres is due to meet President Obama Sunday, March 4 although the hour has not yet been set. Whether it takes place before or after the US President’s speech to the AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) National Convention opening that day in Washington is significant.
If it takes place after, it would mean that the Americans are no longer amenable to Israeli persuasion to give up their objections to an Israeli attack and they expect Jerusalem to respect the Obama administration’s demand to give sanctions and diplomatic pressure more time to persuade Iran’s leaders to pack up their nuclear weapon program.

Obama is waiting anxiously to see if the Iranians turn up for nuclear talks with the five UN Security Council permanent members and Germany in Istanbul next month. To meet one of their conditions for coming to the table, the US stalled on leading the West and Arab powers into military intervention to overthrow Syria’s Bashar Assad.

But even if Peres gets to see Obama before the AIPAC speech, there is not much he can do to persuade the US president to accept a compromise formula that would save his talks with Netanyahu from digging the rift between them on Iran still deeper.
Thursday, March 1, senior American sources listed the US-Israeli schedule for the coming days:

Thursday: Former US presidential adviser Dennis B. Ross holds a background briefing on US policy for Iran with American journalists. Although he holds no official White House position, Ross is considered sufficiently influential and well-informed to outline the next stages of the presidential Iran strategy.

Sunday, March 4: President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu both address the opening of the national AIPAC Convention in Washington. The extremely sensitive order of appearance has not yet been settled.
Jerusalem would rather Obama go first to give Netanyahu the chance to answer his comments. For that very reason, the Americans would prefer their president to follow the prime minister and so, in a manner of speaking, carve his policy in stone.

The White House is making every effort to make sure no public confrontation over Iran takes place between the American and Israeli leaders in their widely broadcast and televised appearances before an audience of some 14,000 Jewish delegates from across America.

Monday, March 5: The Obama-Netanyahu summit at the White House.