Texas House Votes to Close 37 Abortion Clinics

After nine hours of overnight debate in a loudly protested special legislative session, the Texas House voted early Monday morning to pass sweeping legislation that would ban abortion after twenty weeks and drastically restrict abortions before then, requiring providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals and clinics to have ambulatory surgical centers, among other regulations. (The hashtags #sb5 and #txleg provide a nice account.)

It's the latest episode in the national pro-life TRAP movement (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers), which seeks to limit abortions by getting restrictive regulations on the books in state legislatures. The laws are usually cast as a way to make abortions safer — even though less than .3 percent of abortions end in hospitalization — to "ensure that women are given the highest standard of health care in a very vulnerable time in their life," as the Texas bill's predictably ill-spoken Republican sponsor, state Rep. Jodie Laubenberg said. Reproductive rights advocates say the laws only serve to block access to abortions and shut down clinics. According to the Texas Tribune, the latest bill would close 37 of the state's 42 clinics, which cannot afford the upgrades necessary to meet the standards of surgical centers. The Senate is expected to accept the House's changes to the bill Tuesday. 

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Lindsay Lohan Fled Rented House After It Was Hit by Bling Ring

Ever wondered what it’s like to rent your home to Lindsay Lohan? The answer is in this Wall Street Journal article, which checked in on the celebrities burglarized in the now-immortal Bling Ring, to see who left and who stayed. 

Paris Hilton is still in her narcissist's temple (Sofia Coppola shot her in it for Elle this month), and Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr recently listed the “gated estate” hit by the teen criminals to rent for $18,000 a month. Megan Fox's husband Brian Austin Green sold his in 2010, and Rachel Bilson sold hers last year, both for a small profit.

Lohan was living in a $10,000-a-month rental in the Hollywood Hills at the time. “We were desperate to rent the house, which was expensive, so we thought, 'What's the worst that could happen?'” owner Jenna Gering, also an actress, told the Journal. Nine months later, her house was on the national news. Lohan moved out “immediately” following the burglary. The Journal writes: 

Sounds uncharacteristically responsible, but then again, this was 2008.

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Trent Franks’s Abortion Bill Passes the House, With One Last Gaffe

Now that Trent Franks's 20-week abortion ban has passed the House, it stands no chance in the Senate. So the debate before its 228-196 passage was probably the last opportunity for the bill's supporters (and its opponents) to get in some grandstanding on this bit of legislation. This is probably just as well for Franks, who last week said the "incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy (is) very low," to no shortage of criticism. Franks has since been sidelined, and while the commentary from representatives on both sides was less controversial this week, it was not without its batty moments.

As debate on the bill started, Rep. Michael Burgess, a Republican supporter from Texas and a former OB/GYN, appeared to argue that fetuses in the womb were conscious because they masturbate: "They stroke their face. If they’re a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. If they feel pleasure, why is it so hard to believe that they could feel pain?" It's not the world's biggest gaffe, but it gets "masturbating fetus" into a headline.

That's just the kind of thing Dave Weigel was on about in Slate Tuesday evening:  that Democrats love to point to problematic Republican science in these debates. And point they did. "Republicans have repeatedly demonstrated a lack of understanding about basic women’s healthcare, and this bill is just one more example of their continuing attack on women’s rights," said Dina Titus, a Nevada Democrat.

The bill was never going to get to President Obama's desk, and he said he'd veto it anyway, so it's not like it's a viable threat to Roe v. Wade. But it does show us what the new abortion debate will look like: gaffey.

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White House mandates that federal agencies make better use of spectrum

White House mandates that federal agencies make better use of spectrum data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 315};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20622427' !== '') ? 'bsd:20622427' : ''; var postID = '20622427'; var modalMNo = '93319229', modalVideoMNo = '93320648', modalGalleryMNo = '93304207'; when.eng("eng.omni.init", {pfxID:"weg",pageName:document.title,server:"acp-ld39.websys.aol.com",channel:"us.engadget", s_account: "aolwbengadget,aolsvc", short_url: "",pageType:"",linkInternalFilters:"javascript:,",prop1:"article",prop2:"wireless",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"jon-fingas", prop54:"blogsmith",mmxgo: true }); adSendTerms('1')adSetMOAT('1');adSetAdURL('/_uac/adpagem.html');lab._script("http://o.aolcdn.com/os/ads/adhesion/js/adhads-min.js").wait(function(){var floatingAd = new AdhesiveAd("348-14-15-14d",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); onBreak({980: function () { adSetType("F");htmlAdWH("93319229", "LB", "LB"); adSetType("");}}); EngadgetMenu NewsReviews Features Galleries VideosEventsPodcasts Engadget ShowTopics Buyers Guides Sagas Store HD Mobile Alt Announcements Cameras Cellphones Desktops Displays Gaming GPS Handhelds Home Entertainment Household Internet Laptops Meta Misc Networking Peripherals Podcasts Robots Portable Audio/Video Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Blackberry Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon About UsSubscribeLike Engadget@engadgettip uswhen.eng("eng.nav.init")when.eng("eng.tips.init") onBreak({980: function () {htmlAdWH("93308280", "215", "35",'AJAX','ajaxsponsor');}});White House mandates that federal agencies make better use of spectrum MobileByJon FingaspostedJun 14th, 2013 at 1:51 PM 0

The White House has long been calling for smarter use of spectrum among federal institutions, and it's translating some of those words into deeds through a new Presidential Memorandum. The new set of guidelines requires that agencies wanting spectrum prove that they've both explored alternatives and will make efficient use of the airwaves they'll get. The NTIA also receives an expanded role under the mandate: it should offer wider access to government-owned frequencies and work more closely with the private sector. Not much changes for the FCC, though. The White House wants it to largely stay the course and prevent carriers from hogging spectrum. Accordingly, we're not expecting a sudden surge in wireless capacity as a result of the memorandum; it might, however, cut back on some waste.

when.eng("eng.perm.init")

Via: GigaOM

Source: White House

Tags: broadband, fcc, memorandum, mobilepostcross, networking, ntia, presidentialmemorandum, spectrum, WhiteHouse, wireless

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New Bill Legalizing Cellphone Unlocking Introduced in House

By Alex Fitzpatrick2013-05-09 19:05:58 UTC

A new bill making it legal to unlock your cellphone or other mobile device has arrived in the House of Representatives.

The Unlocking Technology Act of 2013 would also make it legal to circumvent digital rights management (DRM) locks to use protected content in a way that doesn't violate copyright law and to develop and sell cellphone unlocking software. It was introduced Thursday by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and backed by co-sponsors Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Lofgren and Polis in particular have earned a reputation for being closely involved in technology policy issues.

The Unlocking Technology Act comes after an intense lobbying effort spearheaded by copyright activists Sina Khanifar and Derek Khanna. Their campaign to legalize unlocking began in January, when the Librarian of Congress failed to include unlocking in an updated list of exemptions to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Written in 1988, the DMCA made it illegal to create or sell software for circumventing anti-piracy locks on digital content. It also made it illegal to circumvent those locks to use protected content regardless of whether the intended use was a violation of existing copyright law. The Librarian of Congress is authorized to update a list of exemptions to the DMCA once every three years.

While several unlocking bills have been floated over the past four months, the Unlocking Technology Act comes with Khanifar and Khanna's seal of approval.

"This legislation substantively addresses the concerns of 114,000 Americans when they signed our White House petition which resulted in the White House reversing and endorsing phone unlocking," wrote Khanna in an e-mail referencing a petition the pair opened to call attention to the issue. "It's really quite an amazing step forward. Not only does it completely legalize unlocking cellphones, but goes the extra step of amending Section 1201 of the DMCA," said Khanifar in a separate email.

The White House responded to the pair's petition in March, announcing its support for legalizing unlocking and thus signaling the president would sign an unlocking bill should one reach his desk. Outgoing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski later said the ban raises "concerns."

Digital rights activists are applauding the Unlocking Technology Act.

"This bipartisan bill not only makes it clear that consumers can, of course, unlock their phones without fear of legal repercussions; it also addresses a longstanding problem with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)," said Sherwin Siy, Vice President of Legal Affairs for Public Knowledge, in a statement.

Owners of a mobile device might choose to unlock their device for several reasons. It's most commonly done to switch a mobile phone from the wireless service on which it was originally sold to another service. Globe trekkers also favor unlocked cellphones as it's easy to drop a new SIM card into unlocked devices to get them working in a new country.

The full text of the Unlocking Technology Act, which will be debated by the House Judiciary Committee, is embedded below. Should it be once again legal to unlock a cellphone? Share your thoughts in the comments.

H.R. 1892 Unlocking Technology Act of 2013

Image via Sean Gallup/Getty Images

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Hilarious 'House of Cards' Spoof Opens White House Correspondents' Dinner

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2013-04-28 15:30:10 UTC

Kevin Spacey reprised his House of Cards character in a hilarious six-minute video that opened the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, also known as "Nerd Prom," Saturday in Washington, D.C.

In the skit, Spacey uses his character's Machiavellian maneuvers to complete the seating chart at the dinner and, in the meantime, pokes fun at a long list of personalities attending the dinner. A number of them even participated in the spoof, including Sen. John McCain and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Spacey even makes some tongue-in-cheek criticism. Referring to the night's host, comedian Conan O’Brien, he says that "it must be so hard to write jokes about a town that already is one."

"Democrats, Republicans, the White House, Congress, you all came together to make this spoof. That's what real bipartisanship looks like," he says at the end, addressing the camera. "I may lie, cheat and intimidate to get the job done, but at least I get the job done. So I hope some of you are taking notes."

Image via Pete Marovich-Pool/Getty Images

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