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30 Oct 2011 09:34

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U.S.: Didya guys hear about all this snow in the friggin’ Northeast?

  • 22″ the amount of snow that fell in one Massachusetts town on Saturday — one of the highest points for the major storm
  • 2.3M the number of people that lost power during the storm, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (oh no!)
  • three the number of deaths reported from the storm, including an 84-year-old hit by a tree that fell into his home source
  • » A Halloween surprise? For many people, the dramatic change in weather was surprising, to say the least. “This is absolutely a lot more snow than I expected to see today,” said New Jersey resident and driveway-shoveler Carole Shepherd. “I can’t believe it’s not even Halloween and it’s snowing already.” (Edit: We’re idiots, we put a single prime instead of a double prime on the first number. Our bad. Fixed.)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Oct 2011 18:12

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U.S.: Joe Biden is not actually comparing Republicans to arsonists, kids

  • Republicans moralizing about deficits. That’s like an arsonist moralizing about fire safety. These guys have zero credibility.
  • Vice President Joe Biden • Turning up the funny at a speech to Florida Democrats at Walt Disney World on Saturday afternoon. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Oct 2011 10:38

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U.S.: Occupy Wall Street: Protesters lose generators, generate backup plan

  • bad Claiming a fire hazard, yesterday FDNY officials showed up at Zucotti Park and took the generators Occupy Wall Street was using.
  • worse To put salt in the wounds of the protesters, it’s expected to snow tonight (in freaking October!),  with 2-4 inches hitting NYC tonight.
  • betterHowever, the Occupy folk aren’t getting too down — they plan to set up bike generators, which will be ready early next week. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Oct 2011 19:40

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Biz, U.S.: Barbara Walters interviews Bernie Madoff from jail

  • For our interview, I was permitted only to bring in pen and pad. I was also allowed to bring in $20 in quarters since there were vending machines near our meeting room, which prisoners and guests are permitted to use during the visit. As it turns out, Madoff didn’t want anything, but I did mention it during the meeting in case we were hungry.
  • Barbara Walters • Delivering a first-hand account of her jailhouse interview with convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. The interview, which airs on ABC during ‘World News’ and ‘Nightline,’ comes several days after a short segment was released from an upcoming episode of ’60 Minutes’ in which Madoff’s wife Ruth admitted the pair had attempted suicide. source
Posted by Matthew Keys • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Oct 2011 14:27

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U.S.: Occupy Oakland, after a chaotic night, expected to return tonight

 

  • There were trash cans on fire. Some people got knocked unconscious from the flash-bangs and tear gas. I saw one girl being carried over a guy’s shoulder, and he was trying to find a paramedic, but there just weren’t any around.
  • Oakland resident Tony Santiago • Giving his first-hand account of the scene in downtown Oakland last night, as the Oakland Police Department (as you probably already know) raided and dispersed some 1,000 protesters in the Occupy movement. The police had denied using such things as flash-bang grenades and rubber munitions, but thanks to eyewitness accounts, amateur video, and work by professional journalists, such denials have been shown to be untrue. Occupy Oakland is expected to return for protests at 6:00 PM tonight, and with last night’s grisly scenes still fresh in their memory it’s anybody’s guess how they’ll react — especially if/when the OPD descends on them once again. (Editor’s note: The source story was written by Seth Millstein, a SFB writer who also writes for The Daily.) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Oct 2011 10:41

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U.S.: Occupy Oakland: Protesters arrested en masse, tear gassed

  • We weren’t there but a minute before they started giving the dispersal order. The first time they said five minutes, this time they said ‘now.’ They shot off the flash grenades and people scattered.
  • Occupy Oakland activist Kat Brooks • Discussing the method in which the police booted them out of Frank Ogawa Plaza last night, arresting over 100 people and destroying their camp in the process. It was the second time in two days such an order was offered. “From the way they came into the camp [Tuesday] morning to the way they acted tonight, they have gone beyond what was necessary,” Brooks said. For their part, Oakland police claim that the tear gas was partly defensive in nature. “We were in a position where we had to deploy gas in order to stop the crowd and people from pelting us with bottles and rocks,” said interim police chief, Howard Jordan. Officers on the ground reported getting hit with paint, beer and eggs. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2011 00:04

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U.S.: Occupy Chicago: Nurses union protests controversial Grant Park arrests

  • cause Early Sunday, police arrested two members of National Nurses United who cared for protesters at Occupy Chicago, in the process ignoring Grant Park’s closing time of 11 pm. They were among 100 people arrested.
  • reaction After getting out of jail on Monday morning, the nurses were joined by more than two dozen fellow union members outside of Mayor Emanuel’s office on the fifth floor of Chicago’s City Hall, causing a bit of an emotional scene. source
  • » Hiding a story from the media? The nurses arrested suggest that police were trying to hide an awkward scene from the cameras. “We were among the last protesters released, for no good reason that we can tell, except for they clearly knew when the media cameras had left,” said Jan Rodolfo, the Midwest director for NNU. “We were tearful and exhausted and shell shocked.” Rodolfo was among those arrested; her court date has been set for November 15.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

23 Oct 2011 16:33

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Politics, U.S., World: Bachmann: Iraq should repay money used in US invasion

  • I believe that Iraq should reimburse the United States fully for the amount of money that we have spent to liberate these people. They are not a poor country.
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann during an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday morning.• Bachmann added that Iraq was a “wealthy country” that would be “subject to dominance by Iran and their influence in the region” once American troops withdraw by the end of the year. source
Posted by Matthew Keys • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Oct 2011 11:31

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U.S.: Occupy Chicago protesters kicked out of Grant Park, arrested

  • 130 Occupy Chicago protesters arrested for trespassing source
  • » An attempt to move the show: This is the second weekend in a row that protests have been squashed at the park. Why’s that? Well, a group of protesters are attempting to move the protests outside of the city’s financial district. However, they haven’t gotten permits. “We are going to hold this space, and that’s what we are going to do,” said organizer Brit Schulte. “Our ability to invoke our civil rights to protest shouldn’t be limited, and we shouldn’t be censored.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Oct 2011 16:57

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U.S.: FBI panel votes to update their definition of “rape”

  • The previous definition the FBI used dated way back to 1929, a bad era for victims’ rights. The Federal Bureau of Investigations has been operating a definition of “rape” from an era which was not especially kind to victims of sexual assault (which is not to say our present times are sterling by any stretch). The definition: “Carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” That’s self-evidently a very broad and vague way to describe it. The new proposed definition: “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” This notably removes the requirement that the event be “forcible” to qualify as rape, as well as the gender-specific expression that only women can be rape victims. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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