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16 Dec 2011 13:42

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U.S.: Penn State witness Mike McQueary describes his handling of incident

  • There’s no question in my mind that I conveyed to (university officials) that I saw Jerry with a boy in the shower and that it was severe sexual acts going on and that it was wrong and over the line.
  • Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary • Describing his handling of the alleged sexual abuse incident involving Jerry Sandusky back in 2002. McQueary made the statements while speaking at the pre-trial hearing for Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, two former Penn State officials charged with covering up Sandusky’s crimes by not acting upon McQueary’s evidence. The assistant coach, currently on leave, emphasized that when he went to the officials, he expected something to be done: “In my mind, that is the police. I want to make that clear.” In regards to the controversy around his handling of the incident, McQueary, who was “shocked” and “horrified” by what happened, said he wasn’t thinking straight in the direct aftermath of seeing Sandusky, but he was sure that the incident was over at the point he left. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2011 20:20

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U.S.: Howard Stern will be on NBC primetime. Get ready for plenty of #%&@s.

  • I am going to tell you your kiddie has no talent…this nonsense of Howie and Sharon putting through less than talented people has got to stop. Under my administration, there will be no Frank Sinatra impersonators winning.
  • Howard Stern • On his new job as judge on “America’s got Talent,” replacing Piers Morgan, who’s going to focus on his popular CNN show. Some people are not on board with the new addition to the show, while others are ready for the honesty he’ll bring to the table. Especially Stern. “I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but feelings are going to be hurt,” Stern said. Will this discourage some of the softer competitors from trying out or force a tougher crowd? Who knows. We’re just excited to see what names Stern plans to call little children. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2011 11:39

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U.S.: Death penalty: Statistics show significant decline in support, enactment

  • 78 number of death sentences handed out in 2011, which is way down from last year
  • 43 number of executions that happened nationwide this year; that’s down by three
  • 13 number of executions in Texas, the state with the most; they were also down from 2010 source
  • » A decline in the overall numbers: According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the death sentence number is the smallest since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. And public support is starting to fade: According to stats from Gallup, support for the death penalty is at its lowest level in nearly 40 years. Opposition is at its highest level since 1972. Keep this in mind when Rick Perry leads a crowd to cheers during a discussion about the death penalty. Or when cases like Troy Davis‘ widely-contested execution build support against the death penalty.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2011 04:01

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U.S.: Madison Ave. tragedy: Freak elevator accident kills woman in NYC

  • 10 a.m. the time at which Suzanne Hart, an NYC advertising executive, died in a freak elevator accident Wednesday
  • 7 p.m. the time at which officials were able to fully to fully extricate her body from the elevator source
  • » How often does this happen? It’s fairly rare for an elevator to cause such an issue in NYC — despite the fact that roughly 60,000 elevators operate in the skyscraper-heavy city, there were just 53 accidents in 2010, only three of which were fatal. (Accidents of this nature, however, aren’t unprecedented; Jerry Fuchs, a prominent indie rock drummer who played with !!! and LCD Soundsystem, amongst others, died in 2009 after falling into an elevator shaft.) But the level of shock amongst her co-workers at Y&R — which had its employees work from home in the wake of the news — was strong; Hart was a well-respected figure in the advertising world. And to make things worse, the company was in the midst of moving to a newer building with a better elevator. This story is just awful.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Dec 2011 14:06

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U.S.: Sandusky lawyer Joe Amendola inadvertently plugs sex chat line

  • quip Joe Amendola, the defense attorney for former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky, remarked that anybody who believed an account of Sandusky sodomizing a young boy in a gym shower “should call 1-800-REALITY.”
  • oops The punch-line of Amendola’s somewhat unsympathetic joke contained a plug for a service he likely didn’t realize; 1-800-REALITY is a paid, gay sex phone chat line, which bills itself as “the hottest place for triple-X action.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Dec 2011 10:20

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U.S.: In tactical move, Jerry Sandusky waives pre-trial hearing

Sandusky’s decision to waive the pre-trial prevents the alleged victims from having to recollect their cases today, but surprised many; some see the decision as a smart tactical move on his lawyer’s part. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Dec 2011 23:31

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U.S.: San Francisco’s new minimum wage sets the double-digit standard

  • $10.24 San Francisco’s new minimum wage source
  • » Happy New Year, indeed. Starting Jan. 1, San Francisco’s minimum hourly wage will jump above the $10 mark for the first time. That’s about $3 higher than the federal minimum wage and higher than anywhere else in the country, due to the fact that the progressive city ties its minimum wage to inflation and the quite-high cost of living in the area. But with wage hikes, various fees and the sagging economy, employers might have to start laying off workers again to keep up.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

12 Dec 2011 14:36

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U.S.: Obama holds press event with Nouri al-Maliki to mark end of Iraq war

  • A war is ending. A new day is upon us. And let us never forget those who gave us this chance: the untold number of Iraqis who’ve given their lives; more than 1 million Americans, military and civilian, who have served in Iraq; nearly 4,500 fallen Americans who gave their last full measure of devotion; tens of thousands of wounded warriors and so many inspiring military families. They are the reason that we can stand here today. And we owe it to every single one of them, we have a moral obligation to all of them to build a future worthy of their sacrifice.
  • President Obama • In remarks to the press pool, joined by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Obama has pledged that U.S. forces will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year, saying in October that “our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays.” The U.S. presence in Iraq is not, however, going away completely — while some 8,000 active duty military personnel are returning home, along with nearly 5,000 private military contractors, the U.S. embassy in Iraq still boasts a personnel staff of 15,000, making it the largest U.S. embassy in the world. Obama has said he intends to cut that number substantially, but that given Iraq’s situation immediately following the war, the embassy’s security staff will by necessity remain higher than most. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Dec 2011 10:30

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U.S.: More details on Virginia Tech gunman Ross Truett Ashley

  • He visited a shooting range this year, but was often out of bullets. That’s according to Matt Dailey, who calls himself a close friend of the gunman, who reportedly shot himself to death in the aftermath of the killing of police officer Deriek Crouse on the Virginia Tech campus Thursday. “He didn’t keep (the gun) locked away, but all summer I don’t think he had any bullets for the gun,” Dailey said. “He didn’t buy bullets that often because bullets are expensive.” Dailey also claims that Ashley was a little off, but no more than anyone else, and that no red flags showed up before the incident, which also involved auto theft. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Dec 2011 13:32

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U.S.: Congress plans investigations into military burial practices

  • The Tomb of the Unknown is one of our nation’s most hallowed places, guarded around the clock — regardless of weather — every day of the year. We owe this spirit of reverence not only to the unknown service members entombed at Arlington, but to all those who wear the uniform to protect and defend our freedom.
  • A joint statement from Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) • Discussing a Washington Post scoop from the other day, in which reporters found that the remains of hundreds of soldiers taken from the Dover Air Force Base got put in a landfill, because, that, clearly, is the most respectful way to deal with the remains of soldiers who died in the line of duty. The count at this point is 274 soldiers. Cummings and Issa, the top members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, have promised a deeper investigation — they plan to look at all military burial practices over the past decade, beyond just Dover.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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