John Wall re-signed with the Washington Wizards, earning a five-year extension worth $80 million.
“He is the cornerstone of our team,” Wizards owner Ted Leonsis said in the team’s release announcing the extension. “And we have clearly expressed our desire to build around him.”
Wall is one of just four players in NBA history to average at least 16.5 points, 8.0 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals over his career, joining an exclusive list that includes all-star Chris Paul and Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson.
The NYTimes plays the stadium name game, analyzing the rise in naming rights for stadiums and why it may be an irreversible trend in sports.
Mike Vick says the Eagles have already forgiven Riley Cooper.
Alex Rodriguez is scheduled to play a simulated game today, though there seems little point, given his pending suspension which sources say he is now negotiating.
Former UK standout and current Houston Rocket Terrence Jones is accused of stomping on a homeless man's neck.
SI breaks down the MLB trade deadline's winners and losers.
Marcus Landry signed a camp-invite agreement with the LA Lakers.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Yasiel Puig juggled a baseball with their feet before the Dodgers game yesterday.
FLASHING LIGHTS
Drake released a new track with 2 Chainz and Big Sean.
The Oscars nominated their first African-American president, Cheryl Boone Issacs.
Flava Flav discusses the difference between hip-hop and rap music.
Chance The Rapper held an AMA yesterday. Here are a few highlights.
Stalley stops by RapFix for a quick freestyle.
Get More: RapFix Live, Full Episodes
Goodie Mob dropped a video for "I'm Set."
DID YOU REALIZE?
A company in Kansas recalled over 50,000 pounds of beef out of fear that it may be contaminated with E. coli.
Uruguay legalized marijuana yesterday, taking a big step in a growing movement to try and combat heavy drug crimes in the region.
The US and Pakistan will resume negotiations on counterterrorism and boosting the economy in the region, after talks stalled following the secret US raid in Pakistan to kill Osama Bin Laden.
In Missouri, better education for everyone is a great concept until it involves mixing black kids with white kids.
From the NYTimes:
When the Missouri Supreme Court upheld a law in June allowing students from failing school districts to transfer to good ones, Harriett Gladney saw a path to a better education for her 9-year-old daughter.
But then she watched television news clips from a town hall meeting for the Francis Howell School District, the predominantly white district here that her daughter’s mostly black district, Normandy, had chosen as a transfer site. Normandy, in neighboring St. Louis County, has one of the worst disciplinary rates in the state, and Francis Howell parents angrily protested the transfer of Normandy students across the county line, some yelling that their children could be stabbed and that the district’s academic standards would slip.
“When I saw them screaming and hollering like they were crazy, I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, this is back in Martin Luther King days,’ ” said Ms. Gladney, 45. “ ‘They’re going to get the hoses out. They’re going to be beating our kids and making sure they don’t get off the school bus.’ ”
EVERYTHING I AM
Glen Greenwald released his latest findings, courtesy of Edward Snowden, stating in plain terms how the NSA can tap into anyone's internet activity, and even watch it in real time, without court oversight. He uses NSA training material to break down exactly how it happens in the full column.
From the Guardian:
I, sitting at my desk," said Snowden, could "wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email."
US officials vehemently denied this specific claim. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, said of Snowden's assertion: "He's lying. It's impossible for him to do what he was saying he could do."
But training materials for XKeyscore detail how analysts can use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases by filling in a simple on-screen form giving only a broad justification for the search. The request is not reviewed by a court or any NSA personnel before it is processed.
XKeyscore, the documents boast, is the NSA's "widest reaching" system developing intelligence from computer networks – what the agency calls Digital Network Intelligence (DNI). One presentation claims the program covers "nearly everything a typical user does on the internet", including the content of emails, websites visited and searches, as well as their metadata.
Analysts can also use XKeyscore and other NSA systems to obtain ongoing "real-time" interception of an individual's internet activity.
Under US law, the NSA is required to obtain an individualized Fisa warrant only if the target of their surveillance is a 'US person', though no such warrant is required for intercepting the communications of Americans with foreign targets. But XKeyscore provides the technological capability, if not the legal authority, to target even US persons for extensive electronic surveillance without a warrant provided that some identifying information, such as their email or IP address, is known to the analyst.
On a related note, the head of the NSA got heckled at a conference for hackers.
GOTTA HAVE IT
Kirko Bangz has a new track with half of Houston.
