Overnight News Digest, aka OND, is a community feature here at Daily Kos. Each editor selects news stories on a wide range of topics.
The OND community was founded by Magnifico.
How the Occupy movement may yet lead America
By Reihan Salam
This coming Monday, Sept. 17, is the first anniversary of the day when protesters gathered in Lower Manhattanâs Zuccotti Park under the banner of Occupy Wall Street. The occupation was first dreamed up by Kalle Lasn and Micah White, the close collaborators behind Adbusters, a slickly produced, high-art magazine that uses the tools of commercial culture to make the case against capitalism. Having decided that America needed an uprising akin to those that had shattered authoritarian governments across North Africa, Lasn and White chose a date, created an arresting image emblazoned with the Occupy Wall Street slogan, reached out to potential collaborators and then watched as their creation seized the imagination of millions of Americans.
One year on, the encampments that had sprung up in Lower Manhattan and in cities, college campuses and foreclosed homes across the country have for the most part been abandoned. And so at least some observers are inclined to think, or to hope, that the Occupy movement has been of little consequence. That would be a mistake. Occupyâs enduring significance lies not in the fact that some small number of direct actions continue under its banner, or that activists have made plans to commemorate âS17â in a series of new protests. Rather, Occupy succeeded in expanding the boundaries of our political conversation, creating new possibilities for the American left. |
TRENDING: Pelosi says Ryan pick makes it easier for Dems to take House
Kevin Liptak
Mitt Romney's pick of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate will give Democrats a better shot at retaking control of the House of Representatives, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, said in an interview airing Sunday.
Pelosi, a Democrat, said Ryan's plan to overhaul Medicare was a nonstarter among senior citizens, meaning Democrats are better poised to assume the majority in the lower chamber. |
Boy Scouts helped alleged molesters cover tracks, files show
By Kim Christensen and Jason Felch, Los Angeles Time
Over two decades, the Boy Scouts of America failed to report hundreds of alleged child molesters to police and often hid the allegations from parents and the public.
A Los Angeles Times review of 1,600 confidential files dating from 1970 to 1991 has found that Scouting officials frequently urged admitted offenders to quietly resign â and helped many cover their tracks.
Volunteers and employees suspected of abuse were allowed to leave citing bogus reasons such as business demands, "chronic brain dysfunction" and duties at a Shakespeare festival.
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Retirees head to unconventional destinations
photo-lkfall
AP
CAMDEN, Maine â When Peg Davis was ready to find a retirement community to move to, she looked north â not south â for a place to spend her later years.
Rather than set her sights on Florida, Arizona or some other warm-weather locale, she packed up and moved from Big Flats, N.Y., to the small coastal Maine town of Camden.
Davis, 73, was in search of the slow pace of a small town with natural beauty, cultural opportunities and "a sense of place." She hasnât been disappointed since arriving in 2010. |
Zombies under attack in counterterrorism training program
NBC News staff
Zombies may have a tougher time taking over the world after a counterterrorism training program scheduled next month in San Diego.
MilitaryTimes.com on Sunday reported that California-based security firm HALO Corp. will incorporate training to fight the undead during its Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 Counter-Terrorism Summit expected to draw 1,000 military personnel, law enforcement officials, medical experts and government workers to the 44-acre Paradise Point resort island in San Diegoâs Mission Bay.
The company, founded by former special operations, national security and intelligence personnel, says its annual summit this year will include a realistic tactical training environment using âHollywood magicâ in live action demonstrations, realistic tactical training scenarios and classroom education.
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Winklevoss twins invest in social network company: report
Reuters
The Winklevoss twins, best known for their legal battle against Mark Zuckerberg over the founding of Facebook Inc, have invested in SumZero, a social network company aimed at professional investors, The Wall Street Journal said on Sunday.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have put $1 million into SumZero, which was founded by fellow Harvard University alumni Divya Narendra and Aalap Mahadevia in 2008, the article said. Narendra was an ally to the Winklevoss twins during their lawsuit against Facebook, which won the brothers a cash and stock settlement valued at $65 million at a time when the company was valued at $15 billion.
Facebook's market cap is currently valued at $47 billion. |
Used pacemakers might have second life in developing world
By Andrew M. Seaman
Some pacemakers removed during hospital autopsies have enough battery life left in them to be reused in people with heart problems in developing countries, a new study says.
Researchers found that of 334 autopsies performed at the University of Pennsylvania between February 2009 and July 2011, 27 pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) were recovered.
Of those, eight devices had at least four years of battery life remaining.
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How artificial intelligence is changing our lives
Christian Science Monitor
In Silicon Valley, Nikolas Janin rises for his 40-minute commute to work just like everyone else. The shop manager and fleet technician at Google gets dressed and heads out to his Lexus RX 450h for the trip on California's clotted freeways. That's when his chauffeur – the car – takes over. One of Google's self-driving vehicles, Mr. Janin's ride is equipped with sophisticated artificial intelligence technology that allows him to sit as a passenger in the driver's seat.
At iRobot Corporation in Bedford, Mass., a visitor watches as a five-foot-tall Ava robot independently navigates down a hallway, carefully avoiding obstacles – including people. Its first real job, expected later this year, will be as a telemedicine robot, allowing a specialist thousands of miles away to visit patients' hospital rooms via a video screen mounted as its "head." When the physician is ready to visit another patient, he taps the new location on a computer map: Ava finds its own way to the next room, including using the elevator.
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Four US soldiers killed in Afghan 'insider' attack
NBC News staff
Four U.S. soldiers fighting with the NATO-led alliance were killed in an apparent insider shooting in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, the Pentagon confirmed.
A Pentagon spokesman did not have further details, including which branch of services the Americans belonged to, Reuters reported.
The shooting took place in Zabol, a southern province where U.S. forces are based, and came a day after two British soldiers were shot dead by an Afghan policeman while returning from a patrol in southern Helmand province — a stronghold of the Taliban-led insurgency. |