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10 Mar 2011 12:47

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U.S.: The Wire’s Snoop arrested in massive drug arrest

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson
Remember Snoop (aka Felicia Pearson) from The Wire? She and 30 others got arrested in a massive Baltimore drug sting. She’s still totally one of the best parts of Season 4. (thanks Margaret Leist) source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2011 20:23

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U.S.: Wisconsin Republicans pull shifty-eyed trick to pass union bill

  • crap Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker pushed to strip collective bargaining rights as part of a larger budget bill, which required a quorum to be passed. Senate Dems left the state to prevent it from passing. Protests roared.
  • bull*#(&@ After weeks of dispute, debate, and drama, the GOP senators stripped the bill down to the collective bargaining bit and passed it – because they didn’t need a quorum that way. We hope they all get recalled after a mess like this. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2011 15:06

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U.S.: Suspect arrested in connection with MLK parade bomb plot

  • This is a story you should follow, not least of all because amidst all the brew-ha-ha about Rep. Peter King’s radical Islam hearings, people seem to be overlooking a near-miss attempt at domestic terrorism of a chilling sort. Last January, a backpack was left at a bus stop alongside an MLK Day parade route, inside which was a bomb. And not just any bomb; it was packed with shrapnel designed to ricochet out towards the expected crowd, and would have caused massive casualties. The FBI has now announced the first arrest associated with this case, though the suspect’s identity has not yet been released. The Seattle Times reports that the person may have ties to white supremacist groups – which matches earlier speculation that Aryan Nations, which makes its home in the region, may have been involved in the attack. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2011 14:11

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U.S.: Washington Post political reporter David S. Broder has died

  • David S. Broder, dead at 81: The legendary Washington Post political reporter passed away today. A veteran of cataclysmic American news stories, not least of all the Watergate scandal, Broder was a deeply respected and revered figure in print news, and had last contributed a column to the Post on February 6th. I think most everybody understands the dream of loving your work so much that you want to just keep doing it, even into your 80s. That Broder knew this joy, and showed this industriousness, is a credit both to himself and the people who surrounded him. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2011 13:35

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U.S.: California headlines America’s shifting racial demographics

  • 50%+ of children in California are Latino, says the U.S. Census
  • 1:4 children under 18 are non-Hispanic whites, a rate which decreased
  • 38% of all Californians are Latinos, compared with 40 percent whites source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2011 10:02

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U.S.: Whoa … NPR’s CEO, Vivian Schiller, just quit. O’Keefe drew blood.

  • schiller #1 Last night, NPR’s Senior Vice President for Fundraising, Ron Schiller, pushed up his resignation two months. The change was caused  by the release of a gotcha video clip. He’s now resigning “effective immediately.”
  • schiller #2 The CEO of NPR, Vivian Schiller, who’s unrelated to Ron, has resigned herself in the wake of the news. That was fast. Point to James O’Keefe: Your guys went past “finish him!” and scored a fatality on NPR. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2011 20:57

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U.S.: Nanny state: People up in arms about the smoking in “Rango”

  • 100+ number of scenes where characters smoke in the just-released animated flick “Rango”
  • 60 number of smoking scenes in “101 Dalmations,” the only other animated film that comes close source
  • » Won’t someone please think of the CHILD-REN?! Some groups are coming out against the Johnny Depp film as a result, saying that there are so many scenes of characters smoking in “Rango,” they need a DVD to get a firm number. “A lot of kids are going to start smoking because of this movie,” said Stanton Glantz, an anti-tobacco activist and official at the University of California-San Francisco. While they have a point, is it really worth all this hand-wringing?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

07 Mar 2011 20:20

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U.S.: Wisconsin update: Are all Wisconsinites named Scott total jerkwads?

  • So, earlier today, Wisconsin Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller said he wanted to talk. After 18 days worth of holding out, it’s become clear that the MIA Democratic senators want to go home – but they want a deal, first. And that’s reportedly tough to come by. “I have personally called Senator Fitzgerald and the Governor and his office on a regular basis but have not received return calls,” Miller told the press today. Miller meant his statements as an olive branch, but they weren’t necessarily taken with much love in mind. A recap:
  • guv’nor Scott Walker says he’s actually talking to the cell-phone-wielding legislators “I called one of these senators myself (Monday morning). It could not be more abundantly clear how serious we are about getting this done.”
  • majority Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who has talked with Senate Dems in person, was pretty blunt. “I hope you are enjoying your vacation, and your vacation from reality.” What is it with Wisconsinites named Scott? Pricks.
  • Dems The Senate Democrats aren’t on some sort of unified message here. Some claim that no compromise talks are in the works; others say that the end is near. We say that the state needs a compromise, stat. And a good one. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2011 11:22

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U.S.: Supreme Court narrowly favors death row inmate’s DNA fight

  • 6-3 the SCOTUS decision to favor a Texas death-row inmate source
  • » More rights for death row inmates? Inmate Hank Skinner, based on this decision, will be able to file a civil rights lawsuit to get DNA material. It’s a narrowly-scoped decision, however, and one that only allows Skinner to claim that the state didn’t follow its own policies on acquiring DNA evidence. What does that mean, in layman’s terms? It means that inmates don’t have a broad constitutional right to acquire DNA material in court – a decision which would have much larger ramifications and give inmates a quite-large bargaining point in criminal cases (including the ability for their defense to independently test such DNA material). Still, though, it buys Skinner time.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2011 11:00

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U.S.: Wisconsin Senate Dems pushing for border-line meeting

  • yesterday A report came out suggesting that Wisconsin Democrats were willing to come back to the state without any major victories in tow. The report was later denied, with one state senator suggesting they were taken out of context.
  • today State Sen. Mark Miller is in fact pushing for a meeting between Walker, the Senate Majority Leader and the Dems near the Wisconsin-Illinois border. We bet Walker will trap one of them in a car and bring them back to Madison. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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