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15 Dec 2010 22:35

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World: Wiki-update: Britain against Julian Assange’s bail, U.S. builds its case

  • The decision was made by the British prosecutor. I got it confirmed by the CPS this morning that the decision to appeal the granting of bail was entirely a matter for the CPS. The Swedish prosecutors are not entitled to make decisions within Britain. It is entirely up to the British authorities to handle it.
  • Karin Rosander, spokesperson for the Swedish prosecutor’s office  • Revealing that Britain, not Sweden, appealed against Julian Assange’s bail. Which is kind of a big thing. “The Swedish authorities are not involved in these proceedings,” Rosander continued. “We have not got a view at all on bail.” Assange will find out tomorrow whether or not he’ll be allowed to be a (somewhat) free man for a few weeks. Oh yeah … there’s this. That’s right, the U.S. is now trying to build a case against Assange. Have fun with that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2010 22:17

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U.S.: Border agent’s death suggests smugglers becoming more dangerous

  • 111 unlucky border agents have died in the line of duty since 1919
  • one of those agents was killed in a gunfight on the Arizona border last night
  • 17 months since an agent was shot and killed in the line of duty source
  • » Why this is different: In the past, when a drug deal’s been going on at the border, the drug smugglers usually run away. (No, it’s not like “No Country for Old Men” or “Machete,” strangely enough, guys.) But this attack, which killed agent Brian Terry, suggests that they’re becoming more willing to fight the authorities. And this is bad. The suspects are still on the run, by the way.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2010 21:43

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Politics: Tom Coburn making big deal out of relatively small earmark issue

  • $2.2
    billion     the amount Senator Tom Coburn – the guy who held up the food safety bill – says Senate leaders are putting aside in earmarks; Politico dug these numbers out of his database
  • $1.1 
    trillion     the size of the total omnibus spending bill the Democrats are trying to push through; just pointing out for comparison’s sake, because it’s good to note source
  • » OK, Tom, you’ve made your point: Democratic and Republican leaders alike in the Senate are taking a lot of federal money and giving it to the states. But you’re trying to deceive us. Here’s why; see, a trillion dollars is a thousand billion by our last count. And Tom, who’s anti-earmark, is pointing out how wrong it is for Senate leaders to throw roughly two-thousandths of the entire spending bill back to the states, $2.2 billion which would get spent by the federal government otherwise. (The total amount, $8.3 billion, is still absurdly tiny in comparison to the entire spending bill.) To put it another way, Tommy Boy’s trying to make hay out of an issue that’s actually needle-sized. You know what the real problem is? The hay. Not the needle. (And in case you’re wondering, these earmarks were made earlier this year, before the current anti-earmark vibe hit.)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2010 21:21

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Politics: Rahm Emanuel leads mayoral race – if he’s eligible to even run

  • If Rahm Emanuel still lives in Chicago, he’ll probably be its next mayor. See, Emanuel is facing lots of questions over his residency, due to the fact that he lived in D.C. while he was Obama’s Chief of Staff. He never changed over his license, though, and owns a home in the city. Thing is, though, he had a guy renting his apartment while he lived elsewhere, and while he paid the bills, he wasn’t living in the home full-time (for obvious reasons). Around 30 residents are challenging his eligibility to run for mayor; the court has been hearing his case all week. Thing is, if Rahm can get through this roadbump, he’ll be the guy most likely to win. With two months to go, here’s how he’s doing in the polls:
  • 32% of those polled would vote for Rahm “I still live here!” Emanuel
  • 30% the share of undecideds in the Chicago mayoral race (understandable)
  • 34% the combined polling of five non-Rahm mayoral candidates source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2010 20:54

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U.S.: NYC TV meteorologist arrested for filing false rape report

  • accusing Heidi Jones, an on-air personality and meteorologist for WABC in New York City, claimed that she was sexually assaulted in Central Park, then ran into her alleged victim a couple months later.
  • recanting Jones, when questioned about the accusations by police, recanted her story and said she made it up. She was later arrested for filing a false report and has been suspended by her employer. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2010 11:21

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U.S.: NYT decides to show off by making insane demographic map

  • There’s everyone else, and then there’s the NYT. And we’re proven this fact yet again with his crazy demographic map based on U.S. Census data. You can get very detailed with this thang. We think they’re just showing off this time. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2010 11:09

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Tech: Major sites force password changes after Gawker’s security lapse

  • action A bunch of hacker thugs who we’d turn in if we knew who they were leaked over a million Gawker usernames and passwords online. We hate those guys.
  • reaction Other sites, such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Yahoo, have asked large swaths of users to change their passwords, which is pretty smart, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Dec 2010 11:02

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Tech: Random legal issue brought up by Wikileaks: Tweeting in court

  • The sky did not fall in as a result of yesterday’s tweeting, so why not allow it again? For the decision to gain wider acceptance we really need a crown court judge or high court judge to follow suit.
  • The Guardian columnist and media law expert David Banks • Discussing the legal implications of letting Twitter in the courtroom, as the district judge deciding Julian Assange’s case did. Banks’ argument? It’s very much a good thing, but journalists need to be given guidelines about what they can and can’t do to protect from libel and other issues, that citizen journalists might report things that they aren’t allowed to, and the constant danger that a journalist might want to use their camera phone since it’s right there. All of which are interesting angles. See? Julian Assange is a journalism trailblazer even when he’s not actively trying to be. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2010 10:41

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U.S.: Ineffective gunman Clay Duke had an extra box of bullets on him

  • 11 number of bullets fired by Clay Duke at the Bay District School Board; none of them connected, even though he was point-blank
  • two number of bullets fired by security guard Mike Jones, who connected both times; Duke then killed himself after the incident
  • yes Duke had more bullets; he had an extra clip and an entire box of bullets; considering how bad of a shot he was, he needed them source
  • » Why did he snap?: Duke was apparently upset that his wife, a teacher, was fired by the school district, based in Panama City, Fla., earlier this year. Oh yeah, Duke asked a couple of ROTC members that he ran into if their weapons were loaded. Should’ve asked the security guard. That said, we’re very happy that the intended victims weren’t hurt by this guy. Whew.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2010 10:24

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Culture: Who did Zuckerberg beat out to become Time’s “Person of the Year”?

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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