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06 Nov 2010 12:00

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U.S.: Oscar Grant death: Oakland gets unruly after yesterday’s sentencing

  • 1,000+ number of letters the judge received recommending a harsh sentence for BART officer Johannes Mehserle
  • 152 people arrested in Oakland last night in the wake of the light sentence for Mehserle source
  • » Why was the sentence so light? Well, a few things. First, Superior Court Judge Robert Perry felt that the cop had “tons of remorse” for his actions, and that lots of evidence suggested Oscar Grant’s killing was accidental. “I did the best I could with this case,” Perry said yesterday. “My decisions today will not be well-received by many people. I’m sorry for that.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Nov 2010 11:38

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U.S.: Waste of time: The TSA’s coming ban on printer ink cartridges

  • Let’s admit a basic fact here: If you’re a passenger carrying a printer ink or toner cartridge on a plane, you’re probably a terrorist. It’s such a weird thing to be carrying on a plane in the first place that we can feel safe in saying this. This will inconvenience nobody except printer and printer ink manufacturers. Even so, when the TSA bans this device, it’s going to be a huge waste of time, because now that al-Qaeda knows that the TSA knows about it, they’ll never use it again. This, friends, is called security theater and won’t actually keep anyone safe. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Nov 2010 11:08

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World: Beyond package bombs, al-Qaeda takes credit for random Dubai crash

  • claim On top of taking credit for the package bombs last week, al-Qaeda claims they were behind a UPS plane bombing in Dubai back in September.
  • denial United Arab Emirates officials claim that there was no explosion in that crash, which killed two pilots and probably destroyed quite a few care packages. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Nov 2010 10:53

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U.S., World: India trip: Obama chooses Mumbai hotel attacked by terrorists

  • We visit here to send a very clear message that, in our determination to give our people a future of security and prosperity, the United States and India stand united.
  • President Barack Obama • Explaining why he chose to stay in, of all places, a Mumbai hotel that was infamously attacked back in 2008. Around 30 staff members and guests at the Taj were killed in November 2008, out of 164 overall deaths. Beyond commemorating the memories of those killed in the terrorist attack, dude’s working out some deals on his tour of India, including a $4.1 billion agreement to buy military transport planes from Boeing which would support 22,000 jobs. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Nov 2010 00:23

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Politics: Rachel Maddow: “We should have Keith back hosting ‘Countdown'”

  • Leave it to Rachel Maddow to put a useful period on the end of that sentence.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Nov 2010 00:01

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Biz: Fannie Mae’s losses like a depressing slow-motion car crash

  • $3.5billion lost in the most recent quarter; that’s great!
  • 13 number of quarterly losses the government-owned mortgage finance firm has had in a row
  • $19.8B the amount of money it lost in the same ultra-depressing quarter about a year ago
  • $89B the amount of money the government has poured into Fannie Mae during the recession source
  • » Oh yeah, they need more help. We can’t imagine how much fun it is to work at Fannie Mae right now. The company, after all the loans they’ve already gotten from the government, needs another $2.5 billion from the U.S. Treasury. And their buddy Freddie Mac had an even bigger loss last quarter, with $4.1 billion falling in their depressing money pit.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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