Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

06 Nov 2010 10:53

tags

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

tags

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

tags

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

05 Nov 2010 23:18

tags

Tech: Steve Ballmer decides to cash out some Microsoft shares

  • $1.3 billion, or 12 percent, of Ballmer’s stake sold source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Nov 2010 23:08

tags

World: Hurricane Tomas latest disaster to ruin Haiti’s year

Dear higher power…. can you find another group of people to royally screw over multiple times? Even a modest disaster like Tomas totally sucks for them. Thanks, rest of world. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Nov 2010 21:54

tags

U.S.: Depressing proof of Gulf Oil Spill’s ecological destruction, right here

  • “I think we have the smoking gun.” The Gulf Oil Spill hasn’t been in the news too much lately, but we’ve been making an effort to post about it as often as we find stuff. In this case, a bunch of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers happened to find evidence of environmental damage caused specifically by the Deepwater Horizon crapfest. See that thing wrapped around those ugly, blackened branches of coral? That’s a starfish. (In case you’re curious, you can find more photos from the research right here.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Nov 2010 21:32

tags

Politics: Nancy Pelosi’s next House move, in historical perspective

  • 1998 Newt Gingrich steps down from his House leadership role after a particularly rough midterm; his party was still in the majority
  • 2006 Dennis Hastert leaves his House leadership role after his party lost the majority; he later left the House entirely without much fuss
  • 2010 Nancy Pelosi defies the logic set by previous House speakers and announces that she plans to run for House Minority Leader (oh boy) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

05 Nov 2010 21:18

tags

U.S.: Light sentence in Oscar Grant case leaves Oakland on edge

  • 14 years the amount of jail time the mother of Oscar Grant, Wanda Johnson, wanted for BART officer Johannes Mehserle in the police brutality case where the unarmed Grant was killed
  • 2 years the amount of jail time Mehserle will get for his YouTube-spread actions, which have the entire city of Oakland on edge; he’ll also get credit for time already served source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Nov 2010 21:08

tags

U.S.: Preliminary “Don’t Ask” ruling winds its way to Supreme Court

  • federal A federal judge in California ruled the military’s controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy unconstitutional; Obama then appeals.
  • appeals After the appeal was filed, the 9th Circuit ruled that the policy should stay in place while the case goes to trial – a win for the Pentagon.
  • supreme The Log Cabin Republicans have now appealed that decision to the Supreme Court in hopes of getting it overturned again. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Nov 2010 20:14

tags

Politics: Why MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann decision was a really bad idea

  • Keith Olbermann stepped in it when he donated to a political candidate. What happened next, though, was a really bad precedent for MSNBC that’ll prove more controversial than Olbermann’s original move was. While we don’t think Keith should’ve been donating to candidates immediately after talking to them on TV, we also think the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. It also opens NBC Universal up to double standards, especially if Gawker’s right, and MSNBC doesn’t actually have the standards that NBC News does. Some other points to come out of this whole mess:
  • one Even William Kristol, a conservative commentator who has no reason to support the ideologically opposed Olbermann, had his back, which was really nice of him.
  • two Salon offers up another relevant point: If CNBC were held to the same standards as Olbermann, most of their staff would have to be suspended. Oy vey. source
  • » Correction: An earlier version of this post noted The Nation’s Washington Editor, Chris L. Hayes, no longer doing a replacement MSNBC show because of campaign contributions of his own. This was based on a still-online Wall Street Journal article. Hayes himself denied the allegations: “OK: I’m not filling in on Countdown tonight because I didn’t feel comfortable doing it given the circumstances. My not hosting tonight has *nothing* to do with several donations I made to two friends *before* I ever signed an MSNBC contract.” Thanks to Ilya Gerner and Susan Pruden for tipping us off to this. (And for reading!)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>