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27 Dec 2009 23:27

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Politics: Max Headroom: Two Peters make a homeland security sandwich


  • Finger-Pointing Rep. Peter Hoekstra seems ready to stick a fork in Obama’s handling of terrorism on Fox News, blaming his staff for downplaying the threat. We think it’s a bit overblown.

  • “The System Worked” Of course, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano disagrees with Rep. Hoekstra’s assessment, and she was on CNN trying to calm the American public’s frayed nerves.

  • “No it didn’t, Janet” Rep. Peter King, looking like he’s going to rip someone to shreds, totally disagrees with Janet Napolitano’s assessment, but says that they need to work towards a bipartisan solution.

27 Dec 2009 21:14

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Offbeat: Clever bastards invert the Nigerian 419 scam, actually pay out

  • Because there always must be exceptions to the rule, these guys decided it’d be funny/awesome to write an e-mail like a spam, and offer $10,000, only to pay out as a devilishly amusing Christmas present, presented by the court of awesome. And boy, was the guy shocked when he found out they were actually going to give it to him. He didn’t want it, so they gave it to a Nigerian charity instead. And the cycle begins anew …

27 Dec 2009 21:09

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Culture: “Avatar” barely even budged from its opening weekend

  • 2% less – and less snow – than last weekend source

27 Dec 2009 20:58

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Culture: This weekend was huge for the box office, with lots of hits

  • $75M the take of “Avatar,” which led the pack and held on for its second weekend
  • $65M the take of 2nd-place Robert Downey Jr.’s take on “Sherlock Holmes”
  • $50M the take of crap machine “Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakuel” source

27 Dec 2009 20:50

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World: The U.S. says Iranians deserve to see their “universal rights”

  • We strongly condemn the violent and unjust suppression of civilians in Iran seeking to exercise their universal rights. Hope and history are on the side of those who peacefully seek their universal rights, and so is the United States.
  • White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer • Condemning the latest violent response to protests in Iran today. Four people died as a result of the protests by freedom-wanting, tech-savvy Iranians. This, by the way, is the first time people have actually died during protests since the original Iran election protests in June, which makes them all the more depressing. source

27 Dec 2009 20:38

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Tech: AT&T is a company run by people who don’t want your money

  • problem AT&T has a sucky network that can’t handle iPhones making phone calls in New York City because they don’t have the infrastructure.
  • solution They’ve stopped the sale of iPhones in the NYC area on their Web site, blaming the lack of coverage. Freaking brilliant! source

27 Dec 2009 20:30

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U.S.: Detroit terror flight, Mach 2: Don’t fly to Detroit from Nigeria

  • Human beings scared of their own shadow – more at 11. What happens when a guy from Nigeria flies to Detroit and is caught nearly committing a terrorist act, hangs out in the bathroom for an hour, and is stopped only by his own incompetence (and a brave Dutchman)? He gets caught. And what happens when a second guy from Nigeria takes the exact same flight two days later under almost identical circumstances, and also heads to the bathroom for an hour? We freak out and overreact. Human nature. source
 

27 Dec 2009 15:26

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World: Is the Detroit terror attempt part of a larger plot, guys?

  • ? Who knows? We’ll update this post as it happens source

27 Dec 2009 14:48

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27 Dec 2009 11:40

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Politics: A quick note to the Obama administration on airline security

  • The president is very confident that this government is taking the steps that are necessary to take our fight to those who seek to do us harm.
  • Robert Gibbs • Speaking about airline security and Obama’s role in making sure it’s done right. You know, Barack, you seem like a reasonable dude, so whatever you do, keep in mind that you were once in coach like the rest of us, and you know what it’s like. Don’t force rules on us that fudge the real issues of improving security. It helps nobody and angers normal people greatly instead. source