Not-so Kool Keith vents Keith Olbermann was very much in Edward R. Murrow mode for his “Ground Zero Mosque” special statement on Monday night, and while it was largely over-the-top, he made some good points, and an entertaining “This is America, dammit!” pitch for religious freedom.
Glenn guffaws, and then some Apparently, the only part of the entire twelve-minute statement Beck heard was the “This is America, Dammit!” part, because he kept replaying it over and over, and didn’t tackle the argument at all. He chose, instead, to ridicule Olbermann, saying nobody watches his show.
awful The suspect in a Colorado iPad robbery, Brandon Darnell Smith, apparently pulled so hard that he ripped the victim’s pinky to the bone, later causing it to be amputated. the Which is unspeakably awful.
dumb Smith, who’s been in jail ever since, tried to send a letter to a friend ordering a hit on the victim. “I really need this otherwise it’s a wrap!! If you do this, case is dropped,” he wrote. That’s not how the criminal system works, idiot. source
Judges are human beings. If there is an easy way out, most people will look for it. And this would be an easy way out for the judges.
George Washington University Law Professor Alan Morrison • Regarding the possibility that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and later the Supreme Court, could use a distinction known as “standing” to allow gay marriage in California but invalidate the right of the supporters to represent the case for the state of California. The reason why this would be appealing? It wouldn’t allow a broader decision on gay marriage throughout the country. It would be a partial victory for those who support gay rights, rather than the one they really want. source
onethe number of charges that Blago is guilty of (lying to federal invesigators)
23the number of charges that the jury can’t agree he’s guilty of (yay deadlocks!)
fivethe number of years Blago could go to prison for that one charge alone source
» What does this mean? Two things. First, Blago isn’t off the hook just yet. Stuart Slotnick, a criminal defense attorney specializing in white collar crimes, suggests that the verdict is simply a safeguard to ensure more consideration for the other, more complex charges he’s facing.
This was all inevitable. It is the cycle of capitalism. The story of industrial revolutions, after all, is a story of battles over control. A technology is invented, it spreads, a thousand flowers bloom, and then someone finds a way to own it, locking out others. It happens every time.
Wired editor Chris Anderson • Discussing the possibility that the Web is becoming less important in our lives. Why? Well, the Web is complicated, with many layers. Apps and other forms of connecting to the ‘net just work. We don’t buy this. As Anderson notes himself at the start of his article, they were wrong about Push notifications killing the Web way back in 1997. Why should we believe them now? (Also, the mag takes an interesting approach to laying this story out; Michael Wolff is on the other side of the coin, claiming that other companies forced apps onto us. Yeah, that’s it, too.) source