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11 Apr 2011 13:49

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Politics: Trump thinks he’s Obama’s worst nightmare

  • Plouffe On ABC’s This Week, Obama aide David Plouffe referred to Donald Trump’s burgeoning political career as a “sideshow,” adding that Trump has “zero chance” of beating President Obama in 2012.
  • Trump The bombastic Republican businessman and reality TV star responded on Fox and Friends: “I can tell you I’m their worst nightmare. I am not the person they want to run against. They know it, and I know it.”  source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Apr 2011 11:14

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Tech: Dear Steve Jobs: Please reconsider your biography writer choice

  • So what Steve, are we chopped liver? We don’t know of any bigger Apple fanbois than us and … and … you didn’t even bother to call us to see if we were interested in doing an authorized biography? Who is this Walter Isaacson dude, anyway? Just some assclown with a name designed to be on the cover of a book? Just because he was the CEO of some two-bit operation named CNN doesn’t mean that he’s worth your time. We’re really upset about this. You should have called us, Steve. Now we’re going to write an unauthorized biography about you. It’s going to be called “iPusher: Steve Jobs and Apple’s legion of designer drug addicts.” Don’t like that title, Steve? Well, maybe you should’ve thought about that before working with Wal-TER. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Apr 2011 10:59

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World: Key differences in style: The Bush CIA vs. the Obama CIA

  • Bush The CIA became known for its heavy detention and interrogation policies — and drew lots of controversy for some of them, like bringing detainees to Guantanamo Bay and stuff.
  • Obama Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan, the CIA has largely left this strategy behind. “The CIA is out of the detention and interrogation business,” said one U.S. official not speaking on the record. source
  • » Whaddya mean you don’t want to talk? A great example of this is the case of Umar Patek, the main suspect in a 2002 nightclub bombing in Indonesia that killed 202 people. Seven of those people were Americans — and Patek himself possesses a wealth of knowledge about groups linked to al-Qaeda in Southeast Asia. But the CIA has taken a hands-off approach to Patek. They haven’t even bothered to interrogate him. That’s the key thing here — while the CIA certainly has a bunch of detainees from the Bush era that they don’t know what to do with, they’re not actively trying to pick up any new ones, it seems.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Apr 2011 10:21

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World: Ouattara’s spokeswoman: How Gbagbo’s capture went down

  • There [was] heavy fighting involving French soldiers, the United Nations and our forces against Mr. Gbagbo’s forces. Once all heavy weapons were destroyed, Mr. Gbagbo was there and we arrested him.
  • Paris-based Alassane Ouattara spokeswoman Sogona Bamba-Arnault • Explaining how Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo was captured, after months of conflict over an election that didn’t go Gbagbo’s way. The conflict pushed the world’s largest cocoa producer in a direction towards civil war. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Apr 2011 21:38

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Politics: Eleanor Holmes Norton: Screwing over DC “frosting” on budget deal

  • Having given the Republicans more than I am sure any Democrat in the House ever envisioned, it was surely unnecessary to pile on the District of Columbia and give them some frosting on what was already a very big cake. All along they said it is about ‘spending, spending, spending.’ How does the District of Columbia get into that equation?
  • DC’s House Delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton • Offering a pretty blunt take on the DC-damaging riders in the latest budget bill. One blocks the city from using its own money to fund abortions. The other allows funding for controversial school vouchers — without any consultation from local officials. (Vince Gray probably knows more than Boehner does on this; just a thought.) These are policies the city doesn’t want, but have to take because they’re technically part of the federal government. Norton has the most demeaning job in Congress. She has to basically take and take all these awful policies that get shoved down her constituents’ residents’ throats, and all she can give back is her opinion. She doesn’t even have a horse to jockey in the matter. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Apr 2011 21:09

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Biz, World: Exports: China’s focusing less outward, more inward

  • $1.02B China’s trade deficit in the first three months of 2011
  • $140M the trade surplus China had in March alone, which is tiny, by the way
  • seven years since China last had a quarterly trade deficit source
  • » Less global, more domestic: You can blame the decline on two things. First, as global economies (particularly the U.S. and Europe) start to improve, there’s less of a need to import things, creating lower demand. And secondly, in the face of criticism about its exports-first economic policy, China is giving its own domestic economy a little more love. So exports are down in China, but that’s because they’re becoming less reliant on exports.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Apr 2011 20:34

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World: Jacob Zuma throws himself head-first into Gaddafi dramarama

  • The brother leader’s delegation has accepted the roadmap as presented by us. We have to give cease-fire a chance.
  • South African President Jacob Zuma • Pushing to get folks to back a peace plan that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has agreed to. The plan, which could lead to a cease-fire, may be just what Libya needed. Now we’re sure Zuma, representing the African Union, probably has a better handle on Gaddafi than most, but we’re going to say that this probably isn’t going to be particularly effective. And Zuma has a history of backing a soft-pedal approach to leaders that probably don’t deserve it. Robert Mugabe for starters. We’re sure Morgan Tsvangirai feels pretty good about Zuma’s help in that situation right now. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

10 Apr 2011 12:17

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World: Human Rights Watch: Both sides commit abuses in Ivory Coast

  • The group wants Alassane Ouattara to investigate. With incredibly high stakes at play, the situation in the Ivory Coast certainly had the potential to get very bad very quickly, and that’s exactly what Human Rights Watch claims has happened. “While the international community has been focused on the political stalemate in Abidjan over the presidency,” said Human Rights Watch Africa director Daniel Bekele, “forces on both sides have committed numerous atrocities against civilians, their leaders showing little interest in reining them in.” On Alassane Ouattara’s side, the group claims supporters “summarily executed and raped perceived Gbagbo supporters in their homes.” On Laurent Gbagbo’s side, supporters reportedly retaliated by killing more than 100 civilians. In case you haven’t been watching this story, now might be the time to use your non-blind eye. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Apr 2011 11:42

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Politics: Obama adviser: Donald Trump’s birther campaign “a sideshow”

  • I saw Donald Trump’s kinda rising in the polls. Given his behavior over the last couple weeks, I hope he keeps on rising. … There’s zero chance that Donald Trump would ever be hired by the American people to do this job. There may be a small part of the country that believes these things [birthers]. But mainstream Americans think it’s a sideshow.
  • Obama senior advisor David Plouffe • Ripping Donald Trump’s whole birther campaign as what it is. You know, a “sideshow.” Can we get this whole quote printed on a T-shirt or something like that? That’d be cool. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Apr 2011 11:31

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Tech, World: Fukushima now has its own unmanned remote-controlled mascot

  • This little guy right here? He’s a T-Hawk drone, a little unmanned remote-controlled flying thingamajig, built by Honeywell, that engineers used to get an up-close view of the situation inside the damaged Fukushima reactors. It can shoot both normal pictures as well as infrared shots. Plus, if you own one of these, you’ll be the coolest kid on your block. Engineers say that they’ll have some photos to share with the world on Monday. But we want them now! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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