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01 Jan 2011 21:54

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Biz: Henry Paulson personally lost $1 million in the housing crisis

  • See? Treasury secretaries suffer just like the rest of us. You can call Henry Paulson a lot of things, but one thing you can’t call the Bush-era Treasury Secretary is “unaffected by the financial crisis.” See, Paulson’s home just got sold on the D.C. housing market, and it went for far less than he bought it for. Let’s check the numbers already:
  • $4.3M the cost he paid for his home, near the National Cathedral, in 2006 (which is swank, BTW)
  • $4.6M the amount Paulson, no longer a bureaucrat, put the home on the market for in April
  • $3.25M the amount Paulson’s home finally sold for a couple of weeks ago – a $1 million loss source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2011 21:20

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U.S.: Mario Cuomo tickled pink over son’s footsteps-following

Meet the happiest man in Albany: Nearly two decades since Mario Cuomo left the governor’s mansion in Albany, his son Andrew checked in today. Someone’s planning a sleepover! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2011 20:06

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U.S.: Good: Some airports replacing the TSA with private firms

  • If you look at [the TSA’s] performance, have they ever stopped a terrorist? Anyone can get through. We’ve been very lucky, very fortunate. TSA should focus on its mission: setting up the protocol, adapting to the changing threats and gathering intelligence.
  • Rep. John L. Mica • Arguing that the TSA should go away in some of the nation’s largest airports. Some of them have already made the decision on their own – sixteen separate airports have switched to private firms since 2002, some in cities as big as San Francisco and Kansas City. And DC’s two main airports are thinking of getting rid of the TSA, too. Not that we’re going out of the way to agree with GOP members, but we think that Mica is absolutely right that the TSA was “never intended to be an army of 67,000 employees.” The private firms, by the way (so we don’t get too crazy effusive with our praise here), have to provide the same level of security and must use the same tools (including the pat-downs and the full-body scans), and must follow TSA guidelines … so it’s not that different. But they can provide a personal touch that a blob like the TSA might not. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2011 19:31

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U.S.: DC’s “murder capital” status fades away, and then some

  • 131 number of homicides in DC in 2010, down nine percent from 2009 (from 141 killings)
  • seven of the last ten years have had fewer than 200 homicides; DC was once the U.S. “murder capital”
  • 1963 the last year the homicide total was so low in the nation’s capital source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2011 12:12

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World: Protip to Zimbabwe: Don’t screw with Anonymous or Wikileaks

  • lawsuitZimbabwe president Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace, sued a Zimbabwean newspaper that printed Wikileaks reports that suggested she was profiting from the controversial diamond trade.
  • retaliation In the wake of the $15 million lawsuit, 4chan did its thing, attacking numerous government Web sites, and even defacing Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Finance with Anonymous slogans. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2011 10:50

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World: VOA’s “Daily Show”-styled “Parazit” strikes chord with Iranians

  • See this clip right here? It’s from a “Daily Show”-styled program for the Iranian market called “Parazit.” The show, created by Voice of America and tough to come by unless you have an illegal satellite, nevertheless has a huge fan base – over 200,000 Facebook followers and thousands more YouTube visitors. And, considering the country, the tone of the show isn’t nearly as lighthearted as “The Daily Show.” “We have to walk a fine line,” said Saman Arbabi, one of the show’s DC-based hosts. “We come from that generation of kids who got up in Iran and protested the government. We share their politics, so we echo their voice.” But that doesn’t mean they don’t get a kick out of making fun of Ahmadinejad. “His bloopers are fantastic,” he said. The show is so popular that Iran has had to create an anti-“Parazit” show which reportedly isn’t as funny. Awesome. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2011 10:22

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Politics: Chicago mayoral race: Danny Davis chooses not to split the vote

Davis, who’s been very critical of Rahm Emanuel’s mayoral run, is out. This is smart, because he’s putting his energy behind fellow black candidate Carol Moseley Braun, a former senator. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Jan 2011 10:04

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World: Egyptian bombing attack targeted minority Christian sect

  • We heard a thunderous sound of explosion. I fell on the ground. I saw a car burning. You cannot imagine what we have seen there. … It was a horrible scene.
  • Eyewitness Nermin Nabil • Describing the scene near a church where a blast went off on Saturday, reportedly caused by a suicide bomber. The blast claimed at least 21 deaths and 79 injuries. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak expressed rage and retaliation at the bombing: “I would say with confidence, that we will chase the people who planned and committed this terrorism act, and we will chase the people involved with them.” The victims of the attack were Copts, who follow an Egyptian sect of Christianity. They make up nine percent of the country’s population – versus 90 percent Muslims. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2011 09:35

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U.S.: Protip: Sexual enhancement drinks really freaking dangerous

  • Soooooo … word of advice: If you end up on a site like this that sells a beverage-like product supposedly designed to increase your sexual stamina, do yourself a favor and don’t buy the drink, because it includes unsanctioned drugs that could lower your blood pressure. In case you’re wondering where we got the advice from, it’s from this guy named “Common Sense.” Also, the FDA pushed its maker into a voluntary recall. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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