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01 Apr 2010 11:03

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U.S.: No, really? Judge says NSA’s warrantless wiretapping is illegal

  • The president, just like any other citizen of the United States, is bound by the law. Obeying Congressional legislation shouldn’t be optional with the president of the U.S.
  • Defense lawyer Jon Eisenberg • Regarding the warrantless wiretapping case, which was decided yesterday. Eisenberg claims the decision, based on a Bush-era policy that the Obama administration has been very careful to scale back, is an “implicit repudiation of the Bush-Cheney theory of executive power.” Gawker put the whole thing best: “Shocker: Illegal Government Spying Is Illegal.source

01 Apr 2010 10:49

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World: Pirates apparently aren’t aware that the U.S. Navy is powerful

  • cause A bunch of suspected pirates attempted to attack the U.S. Navy ship, the USS Nicholas, which was in the Indian Ocean. You know, a powerful U.S. Navy ship with a massive crew.
  • effect The crew returned fire, chased after the suspected pirates’ skiff, sank it, arrested them, went to the mothership and arrested THOSE suspected pirates. In all, five stupid people were arrested. source

01 Apr 2010 10:38

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Culture: Here are some faces to go with the names of those bloggers you read

These bloggers totally lead the conversation. Our personal favorite of these guys? The Village Voice’s Foster Kamer, far right, who’s a brilliant media commentator. source

01 Apr 2010 10:32

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Tech: YouTube’s April Fool’s joke, TextP, really works (and is awesome)

  • Perfect response to this feature: “I like the TEXTp, but could you cut the font size in half? some videos look horrible and you can’t even make out what it is with the current font size. If it were 6 or 8 instead of what looks like 12 then you would still cut down on bandwidth but get more people to switch because they will still get their video.” (Oh, and people are downright angry about the new layout, which has been around for a while in beta form, and are threatening to quit the site where they watch all their videos. Because, as we all know, the most rational people in the world are YouTube commenters.) source

01 Apr 2010 10:13

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World: Could Pope Benedict be charged in a abuse scandal cover-up?

  • NO because he’s a head of state, the Vatican says source

01 Apr 2010 10:07

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World: Did a Pope know about sex abuse claims nearly fifty years ago?

Pope Paul VI, shown in 1968, reportedly received a letter about sex abuse claims as early as 1963. A senior church official denies this. source

01 Apr 2010 09:52

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Offbeat: Tit-for-tat: Google makes Topeka’s name their own

  • In fact, Topeka Google Mayor Bill Bunten expressed it best: ‘Don’t be fooled. Even Google recognizes that all roads lead to Kansas, not just yellow brick ones.’
  • Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt • In a post describing the company’s decision to change their name from Google to Topeka. The yearly April Fool’s joke is a homage to Topeka, Kansas, which symbolically changed their name to Google last month in an attempt to become part of the company’s trial super-fast broadband program. On the plus side, at least someone’s called Google still. (In other other news, it’s April Fool’s Day and Justin Bieber isn’t a father.) source
 

01 Apr 2010 01:21

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Culture: One less lonely boy: Soon-to-be dad Justin Bieber engaged

  • Hope he knows as much about diapers as he does about crooning. Self-made teen idol Justin Bieber, 16, plans to take a break from his busy promotional schedule after recently learning that he got a young fan pregnant late last year. Classy guy he is, he plans to take care of her, and has already asked for her hand in marriage. He plans to hold a press conference later today, which TMZ plans to stream live. All of this came at an awkward time for the superstar, whose album “My World 2.0” just hit the top of the charts and whose throng of teen fans may not approve. source

01 Apr 2010 00:59

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01 Apr 2010 00:24

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U.S.: Hutaree militia reportedly thinks the New World Order is coming

  • This is not about militias or a group of militias, but about a group conspiring against the U.S. who have shared beliefs that the New World Order elitists are in charge and seek to have one world government and is working with the U.S. government. Any law enforcement officer is a foot soldier for the New World Order.
  • Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Waterstreet • Regarding the Hutaree militia, which he certainly set up as not the nicest people in the world. He was in a Michigan courtroom as eight of the nine arrested suspects entered “not guilty” pleas to charges that they planned to kill police officers. The ninth is currently in Indiana. The government claims suspected ringleader David Brian Stone Sr. had some grand plans, including carving their own country for crazy people out of four rural Michigan states, which of course is a great idea because Michigan sucks right now. source