Thursday Miscellany!

[maxomai]

• Three Senators are drafting new Iran sanctions in defiance of the Obama Administrations recent peace overtures. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) aren't surprises - they're both hawks - but Bob Menendez (D-NJ) is.


• The Snowden NSA revelations apparently just cost Boeing a $4 billion ($4,000,000,000.00) contract to supply Brazil with fighter jets. If other American businesses are losing money for this same reason, then that might explain why one US tech leader asked the President to pardon Snowden.


• Cover Oregon is asking a different contractor to step in and build the Oregon exchange. This is happening, by the way, among massive finger pointing by everyone involved, including in the linked story. The success or failure of that project will tell us whether blaming Oracle is just a part of that finger pointing, or if there were real problems.


• Pussy Riot might be granted amnesty soon thanks to a bill that just passed the Duma (Russia's legislature).


• Conservative news outlets are thrilled that The Drunk is now a hipster icon. Someone should tell them that hipsters are known for their horrible taste.


• WSJ tech columnist Walt Mossberg writes his final column, wherein he reviews the most influential consumer electronics of the last two decades. Unsurprisingly, Apple dominates the list.