Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

22 Jun 2011 15:30

tags

World: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei earns rare reprieve from prison

  • Receiving bail for any reason is a rarity in China, so he’s lucky. In Weiwei’s case, he confessed to committing tax evasion, which many activists claim is untrue. The world-famous artist, noted for his criticism of the country’s Communist Party, is out of jail as a result, but on a form of probation that doesn’t allow him to leave or talk to anyone. “I’m sorry I can’t (talk), I am on probation, please understand,” Ai told the Associated Press. Experts have said that international pressure is the only reason authorities released him (well, along with some health problems). Meanwhile, Weiwei, who says officials treated him well in prison, isn’t the only dissident forced to keep quiet after coming out of jail — hundreds of other outspoken opponents of the Chinese government have kept quiet after their arrests. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jun 2011 14:44

tags

Politics: Sarah Palin’s “One Nation” bus tour runs out of gas

  • Sarah’s tour has made a premature stop. It’s pretty unclear exactly why. There she was, soaking up the national spotlight, making moves to make herself a top contender for the GOP’s presidential nomination. Then, after getting some facts wrong about Paul Revere, she vanished from the spotlight. Now, she’s back in Alaska, and her plans for the rest of her road trip are on hold. She never did get a chance to meet up with prominent people in those always-important early voting states, and heading home early could cost her a lot of the momentum she’d built thus far. She’s doing a few other things — namely, she has a documentary coming out — but other than that, she’s left her followers wondering what she’s doing. Frankly, we are too. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jun 2011 14:26

tags

Politics: Anderson Cooper questions Obama’s sincerity on gay issues

  • Hard to see how the president’s position has changed so much, The only thing that has changed is his need for a wider audience to vote for him. … Democrats attack conservatives for being hypocritical on issues that they’re hypocritical about. But I don’t hear a lot of Democrats attacking their own president for hypocrisy.
  • CNN anchor Anderson Cooper • Giving voice to dissatisfaction with President Obama’s tact on gay rights issues. We happen to agree strongly with his premise, if not entirely his closing (Democrats on the left end of the spectrum were fairly vocal about Obama’s listlessness during the push for DADT repeal). There’s an extent to which candidate Obama’s stance against gay marriage never seemed terribly genuine. When you consider that he supported the idea in 1996, the reality starts to look pretty stark — a flip-flop for political expedience. But, Mr. President — gay marriage has since polled with majority support! And considering you have tepid enthusiasm from the liberal Democratic base ahead of the election, would there ever be a better time to give up the game? The LGBT movement deserves better than this, frankly. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jun 2011 10:46

tags

Tech, World: So how closely involved was Ryan Cleary with LulzSec?

  • Officials called his arrest “very significant” and the rising spate of cyberattacks “deeply worrying.” As we pointed out yesterday, LulzSec said that Cleary wasn’t tied to the group. However, reports from The Guardian suggest that he at least had a tenuous tie — as the host of an IRC chatroom that the group reportedly uses — though he wasn’t directly involved with the group. “No way is he capable of pulling off what LulzSec are doing,” a source said. LulzSec denies involvement in the reported attack that led to Cleary’s arrest — a break into the British Census database. British information security officials say they haven’t received evidence from the Office for National Statistics that supports such an attack took place, however. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jun 2011 10:26

tags

World: Mexican drug gang leader arrested, authorities say

  • With this capture, what was left of the command structure of this criminal organization is destroyed.
  • Mexican security affairs spokesperson Alejandro Poire • Discussing the arrest and capture of Jose de Jesus Mendez, also known as “El Chango.” Mendez is a reported leader of the La Familia drug-trafficking gang, and Mexican authorities accuse him of a number of crimes of many types — extortion, murder, kidnapping and so on. La Familia, a cult-like group, reportedly makes and ships lots of methamphetamine to the U.S. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jun 2011 09:55

tags

Tech: Samsung’s legal ploy to see the new iPhone early fails miserably

  • lawsuit A while back, Apple sued Samsung, claiming that they basically ripped off the iPhone’s designs for their phones, a charge Samsung denies.
  • evidence In an effort to defend itself, Samsung’s lawyers requested that they get access to the new iPhone and iPad before their release. No, really.
  • denial Unfortunately for them, the court ruled against Samsung; if you want to see the new iPhone, you have to find it in a bar like Gizmodo did. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jun 2011 09:37

tags

Politics: Bloomberg Poll: Obama’s pretty much sucking these days

  • 44% of Americans say that they’re doing worse economically under Obama
  • 61% of Americans claim that Obama will have had his chance to fix the economy by 2012
  • 30% of Americans would definitely vote to give the president a second term in 2012 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

21 Jun 2011 23:27

tags

Politics: Newt Gingrich needs to stop having Breakfast at Tiffany’s

  • funny A while back, Newt Gingrich took heat for having a huge line of credit at Tiffany and Co. — roughly in the $250,000 to $500,000 range. It was one of many things that week, so if you missed that wrinkle, it’s understandable. It’s been a disastrous campaign for Newt.
  • funnier Now, in the wake of two key fundraisers leaving the former House speaker’s campaign, The Washington Post found another credit line for Tiffany’s in his name — this one for roughly $500,000 to $1 million. If you need to sit down to crack up, we understand. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jun 2011 17:29

tags

World: Hillary Clinton voices support for Saudi women driving in protest

  • What these women are doing is brave and what they are seeking is right, but the effort belongs to them. I am moved by it and I support them, but I want to underscore the fact that this is not coming from outside of their country. This is the women themselves, seeking to be recognized.
  • Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • Speaking about last week’s protest in Saudi Arabia, where many women took to automobiles to violate one of the country’s sexist laws, which prohibits female drivers. Clinton is clearly stressing the internal origin of the protests, as the claim of foreign interference is one that Saudi Arabia could potentially get a lot of mileage out of. Regardless, she’s voiced her support, and we feel nothing but pleased about it — protests against laws like these just need support, pure and simple. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jun 2011 17:19

tags

World: Human rights groups claim terrible deathtoll in Syria

  • 1,400 Syrians killed since March, say activists source
  • » Quashing dissent, Bashar style: The above number, shocking as it is, isn’t even the full story — in addition to the 1,400 civilians believed dead, human rights groups (according to the good people at Voice of America) estimate as many as 10,000 are in detention. The Syrian government has no compunction about torture, either, leaving the grim task of wondering how many of those 10,000 are going through brutality above and beyond being locked in a cell. Bashar al-Assad’s speech on Monday, full of vague talk of reform and accusations against foreign saboteurs (this is a common tactic for him) has already been broadly dismissed by the Syrian public.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>