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12 May 2011 10:03

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World: John Demjanjuk convicted after lengthy Nazi death camp trial

  • before John Demjanjuk, a 91-year-old retired U.S. autoworker, is reportedly a notorious Nazi death camp prison guard. As a result of this he lost his U.S. citizenship and has been tried on various charges since the 1980s.
  • now After his extradition to Germany in 2009, he was tried in a lengthy trial that ended with his conviction as an accessory to murder at a death camp. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Note that he’s 91.
  • next He was released pending appeal. As Demjanjuk no longer has a country to call his own (he’s literally a citizen of nowhere), he’s pretty much stuck in Germany until the appeals go through. Again, he’s 91. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 23:54

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U.S.: Liberal county attempts secession from Arizona

  • Pima County wants to become the 51st state. It’s a left-leaning county in conservative Arizona, and a group of residents have initiated the process of secession. The new state, dubbed “Baja Arizona,” would be larger than four existing states and more populous than five others. The movement gained steam after some controversial moves by Republican Governor Jan Brewer, but it has a long road ahead. First, petitioners must collect 48,000 signatures. Then, voters need to approve a measure to send the proposal to the state legislature. Then, the legislature has to pass it. Then, voters have to approve it again. “All the stars would have to align for this to happen,” a lawyer backing the Baha effort said, “but it could conceivably happen by the fall of 2013.” As residents of California, count us skeptical. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 23:28

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Biz: Blatant evidence the FCC is in bed with big corporate entities

  • January After a long year of hand-wringing, including much complaining by consumer groups, the FCC approved the merger of NBC Universal and Comcast by 4-1. There was much teeth-grinding.
  • May One of the four commissioners who voted for the merger, Meredith Attwell Baker, has a new job. Wanna guess where? It rhymes with “bombast.” Or, perhaps, “total conflict of interest.”  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 20:16

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Politics: Nate Silver: Trump literally has almost no shot

  • While Mr. Trump’s chances of winning the Republican nomination may not be exactly zero, they’re pretty close.
  • Nate Silver • Assessing various GOP candidates chances at getting the nomination. Silver contends that the current field of Republicans is “the most wide-open in the modern era on the GOP side,” with the favorite (Mitt Romney) unable to crack 30% odds. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 19:37

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U.S.: “Mitch The Knife” lives up to name, cuts health services for poor sick people

  • NO Planned Parenthood access for poor Hoosiers source
  • » Last June, he called for a “truce” on social issues. Now, with a presidential run looking ever-so-tempting, Mitch Daniels has no problem cutting reproductive services for 9,300 Medicaid recipients in Indiana, of which he is regrettably the governor. Today, a court rejected Planned Parenthood’s efforts to postpone enforcement of the bill. For low-income Indianans who feared they might have life-threatening illnesses, Planned Parenthood was one of their only resources. Now, thanks to Daniels’ quixotic presidential ambitions, they’re out of luck. (Note: A separate request for an injunction, filed by the ACLU, has not yet been ruled on)
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 18:53

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Offbeat: Donald Trump wants to sell you a necktie

  • Hey, I have the number-one-selling tie in the country. What color tie do you like? Your tie looks like shit. Do you want a tie?
  • Donald Trump • In an interview with Rolling Stone. There’s a bunch of other weird stuff in that interview, including an extended explanation of his hairstyling techniques. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 17:56

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World: Uganda’s anti-gay bill may be moving forward soon

  • Uganda’s anti-gay bill still exists, everyone: The legislation, authored by MP David Bahati, originally imposed the death penalty for people found guilty of “serial” homosexuality (it’s been reported that this penalty has now been removed from the bill), as well as prison sentences for first-time offenders, and heterosexuals who know of a gay person but don’t report it (presumably still in full swing). It’s self-evidently vile, evil, and has no place whatsoever in a civil society. There were reports last night that officials would vote on the bill today, but it’s not on the docket; the AP is reporting that the bill may come up for debate on Friday. source
  • The political connection David Bahati is a member of “The Family,” (though he was dis-invited from their last National Prayer Breakfast, a D.C. staple) a secretive religious brotherhood which counts many U.S. politicians as members — Republican Senators Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint, and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, for a few high-profile examples.
  • Living in Bahati’s world David Bahati had claimed that he would remove the death penalty from the bill, and it’s been alleged that’s happened. Don’t presume a change of heart, though. Journalist Jeff Sharlet, who authored two exceptional books about “The Family,” claims Bahati told him his true ideal very plainly: “to kill every last gay person.”
  • The climate in Uganda Uganda is a pretty harrowing place for gays. Homophobia is rampant throughout Uganda, often hinged on wild, sinister claims about homosexuals stealing away children. It was in this climate that Uganda’s only prominent gay activist, David Kato, was brutally murdered with a hammer in his home, earlier this year. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

11 May 2011 17:01

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World: Underwater robot captures Fukushima plant destruction

  • The scene at a spent fuel-rod pool: Here’s a video captured by an intrepid underwater robot — scenes of the tsunami-wreaked destruction in one of the spent fuel-rod pools at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. Honestly, everything just looks chopped up and blown to hell. It’s a chilling reminder of the threat posed when natural events don’t unfold as planned. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 16:40

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World: Libyan opposition forces seize Misrata airport

  • None of Gaddafi’s soldiers found: Today was a strong day for the Libyan opposition, which seized the airport in Misrata, the city that has seen the big share of bloody fighting this last month. Misrata is a tactically important city for the opposition, lying closer to the capitol of Tripoli than does their eastern stronghold, Benghazi. It’s basically been the front line of this civil war, but with reports in recent days of NATO bombings aimed at Gaddafi’s Tripoli compound, could opposition forces gain some ground? source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 16:18

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Politics: Sarah Palin, Common, and the White House have a tussle

  • This week in objections: There’s been a controversy swirling over the White House’s decision to invite rapper Common (his real name is Lonnie Rashid Lynn) to a poetry event. The outcry, spearheaded by Sarah Palin, centers rather predictably around his lyrics through the years, some of which people might find offensive (the New Jersey State Police union, for example, is upset about this). Here’s the reality: Michelle Obama probably likes Common, mostly known for his socially-conscious rapping and this terrible album, and she wants him to attend. How many of us can honestly say if somebody else found an artist we enjoyed controversial, we’d like the art less? It’s certainly rich coming from Sarah Palin, whose ethics on controversial speech are plainly situational — it places lyrics above actions, which seems backwards to us. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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