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05 Dec 2010 23:56

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Politics: Max Headroom: Newt Gingrich calls Julian Assange a “terrorist”

  • Newt calls Julian Assange an “enemy combatant”: Talk about harsh words, but Newt Gingrich’s take on how bad Julian Assange is for the country is perhaps a weeee bit over the top. No matter, he just keeps on talking anyway, calling Obama’s approach to handling national security matters “amateurish.” Maybe we’re crazy here, but we have to imagine that the Obama administration didn’t singlehandedly build all of these security mechanisms that broke down. Rather, the work of MANY presidential administrations nosedived.
  • Like “groundhog Day”On “Meet the Press” today, Mitch McConnell claimed that he’s been talking to the Obama administration more in the last two weeks than he has in the last two months. However, he claimed (bizarrely) that Saturday’s vote on the tax cuts was like “Groundhog Day” – the same thing over and over again. That’s a good look for you, Mr. Kettle; reminds us of Mr. Pot.
  • Did he say “more immigrants”?The New York Times’ Thomas “Tommy Boy” Friedman was also on “Meet the Press” today talking (in that big-idea mode of his) about globalization and immigration. During the chat, he suggested that (in a talk about ways to boost the American worker’s value) the U.S. bring in “more immigrants” – which we’re still trying to wrap our heads around.

05 Dec 2010 23:16

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Tech: Mark Zuckerberg’s “60 Minutes” appearance gets testy

  • On the plus side, at least he wasn’t sweating. Months after Kara Swisher turned Mark Zuckerberg into a puddle of goo over privacy issues, the Facebook founder was on “60 Minutes” talking privacy with Lesley Stahl, and not turning into a puddle of goo. Odds that he’s been coached since that infamous incident: Even. source

05 Dec 2010 23:00

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Offbeat: Scots upset that they have to wear undies under their kilts

  • A man’s a man. A Highlander doesn’t need underwear. … If we did wear underwear, it would be made of, like, twigs.
  • Washington, D.C. resident William Oscar Fleming • Expressing anger at a recent decision made by the Scottish Tartans Authority to change the underwear standards of its kilt-wearers. SImply put, now Scots looking to prove they’re real men have to wear undies, to the benefit of absolutely everyone who isn’t Scottish (and lots of people who are). Next step for them: Learning to stop playing dress-up, like they were at this weekend’s Scottish Christmas Walk and Parade in Alexandria, Va. source

05 Dec 2010 22:36

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U.S.: Today in random-plane-crash-in-residential-neighborhood news …

… a plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in Roy, Utah. Nobody has died, but the pilot took the brunt of the crash and is severely injured. source

05 Dec 2010 21:56

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Politics: Obama’s tax-cut compromise has Democrats in Congress very sad

  • causeObama was handed an obvious, but still painful defeat after the GOP declined his plan to extend the Bush tax cuts to only the middle class.
  • reaction Now Obama’s hoping for a compromise by midweek to ensure that the rest of his agenda for this year gets through the ever-shrinking pipeline quickly.
  • responseDemocrats in Congress look like they’re about to slit their wrists, which suggests that the compromise might not go through, either. source

05 Dec 2010 21:09

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U.S.: “Why Sam, why?” Marinette, Wisconsin mourns student in standoff

  • Sam, you are in good hands now. Someday when we meet again, you can tell me what happened.
  • Marinette, Wisconsin resident Jon Hengel • Expressing grief towards his son Sam, who held a classroom hostage last week and ended up shooting himself to death. Sam’s memorial service was today, and hundreds of mourners found themselves at Marinette High School staring at one of his favorite things in the world – a campground, complete with trees, a tent, a canoe and even a fake campfire. The younger Hengel, who was the only person hurt during the six-hour standoff, left behind more questions than answers, sadly. “This is not about Sam’s sin. This is about the world’s sin,” said the Rev. Nick Johannes, a local Lutheran pastor who presided over the somber ceremony. “Something has gone terribly wrong.” source

05 Dec 2010 13:01

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Offbeat: Too rich: Peanut butter, chocolate & bacon’s unholy union

  • Etsy was designed to combine these three things. Oh, and to convince people that their homespun hobbies deserve financial backing. source
 

05 Dec 2010 12:12

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Culture: Shocking injury on German television overshadows Justin Bieber

  • bad Last night, Justin Bieber had to cancel a planned performance on German television at the last second. (So did the reunited Take That.) Always a bad day when that happens to the Bieb.
  • worse It was because a guy trying an insane stunt involving spring-propelled stilts, Samuel Koch, failed at his attempt on the show and is severely injured, possibly paralyzed. Yikes. source

05 Dec 2010 11:59

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Politics: Columbia University to public affairs students: Don’t read Wikileaks

  • Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.
  • A message from Columbia University’s Office of Career Services • Offering a word of advice to its School of International and Public Affairs that reading the Wikileaks data dump and talking about it could endanger their chances of ever working with the State Department. The recommendation was forwarded to them by an alumnus now working at the State Department. Meanwhile, the State Department itself claims it hasn’t made an official statement on anything like this. But by us posting about this, we’ve hurt our future job chances. Damn. source

05 Dec 2010 11:48

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Offbeat: Looking for great land deal? Buy the Unabomber’s old plot

  • 1.4 the number of acres the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, called his own in western Montana
  • $69.5k the cost of buying the Unabomber’s old land, down from its old price of $154,500
  • no the dude’s cabin isn’t part of the deal; the Newseum in D.C. owns that thang source