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20 Nov 2010 11:07

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U.S.: Screwed-over minorities finally unscrewed by legislative process

  • $3.4
    billion     the amount headed to Native Americans over land trust royalty mismanagement by the government
  • $1.15
    billion     the amount headed to black farmers unfairly refused loans by the Agriculture Department source
  • » The worst part about the mess: The cases dragged on for much longer than they should have partly because the Senate could not get a majority vote on funding either of these settlements over a number of years. They passed the bill Friday. The House has to pass this still, but they’ve already done that twice, so it should be less of an issue.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Nov 2010 21:55

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U.S.: Elizabeth Smart Trial: The weirdest number we’ll post today

  • 350 number of wives Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper wanted source
  • » Wait, what? Well, that’s what Brian David Mitchell’s imprisoned (now-estranged) wife Wanda Barzee said during testimony today. She said he believe that God had told him to “take” young girls and make them his wives. Because that’s not weird or anything. We haven’t exactly been following this trial very closely because we don’t have any interest in it, but the second she said a number crazy enough to go on the site, we posted it.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Nov 2010 11:34

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U.S.: Does Arizona’s transplant cut-off scream “death panel” to anyone?

  • To basically renege on what you promised was [going to] be a chance at life is a very, very bitter indictment of the ethics of the Legislature.
  • University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics head Arthur Caplan • Suggesting that Arizona’s recent plan to stop paying for transplants was very unethical. A total of 98 people have been given something of a death sentence in the wake of all of this, which is ironic because Republicans were the very people to speak out against so-called “death panels” during the health care debate. Now, here it is, and it’s happening on a Republican administration’s watch. In one case, a guy came on the list for a liver transplant and was literally screwed by the changes. The cuts were made to close a $1.5-billion gap in Arizona’s budget, but will only save the state $4.5 million, or .3 percent of that budget gap. (Thanks Jonathan Cunnigham for the find.)  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

19 Nov 2010 10:29

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U.S.: TSA apparently realizes having pilots do full-body scans is stupid

  • We’ve had a number of very good discussions with pilots and hope to be announcing something very soon in terms of a good way forward for the pilots for that very reason, using a risk-based intelligence driven process.
  • Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole • Revealing that the invasive full-body security measures, which have inexplicably been used on pilots EVEN THOUGH THEY COULD THEORETICALLY JUST CRASH THE PLANE BY FLYING VERY POORLY, could go away. Now, this doesn’t help normal passengers, who are forced to hear how the TSA is trying to change the conversation by suggesting that people’s desire to not go through the full-body scans are a “myth,” very much, but it’s a start. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Nov 2010 22:55

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Culture, U.S.: Movie theater accidentally shows “Saw 3D” to children

Kids came to see “Megamind,” but got the latest Saw flick instead. The theater gave the parents free tickets to compensate for having scarred their children for life. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Nov 2010 21:57

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Politics, U.S.: Top Democrat: Election not an apocalypse, just a catastrophe

  • A review of the results finds that were it not for the efforts of our candidates and the DCCC, it could have been even worse.
  • DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen • Sugar-coating the election results, moments after saying that “there is no sugar coating the election results.” He may be right about that counterfactual; however, “it coulda been worse” isn’t much consolation to the 60-some legislators who lost their seats. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Nov 2010 21:04

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Culture, U.S.: Diamonds, Will Ferrell, both very profitable

  • $46
    million    price paid for a bright pink diamond, the most expensive ever sold, auctioned off Tuesday by Sotheby’s
  • $46
    million     made by “MegaMind” its opening weekend two weeks ago; it was the highest-grossing film that week  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

18 Nov 2010 20:44

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Politics, U.S.: Remains from the Sharron Angle campaign

  • the election is over. Sharron Angle narrowly lost her bid to unseat Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada. But Jon Ralston has unearthed a few last bits of trivia about her campaign, including who played Reid in debate prep, the code used by staff to warn of media presence, and Angle’s complicated feelings on dictatorships. Oh, how we miss the election. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Nov 2010 10:50

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U.S.: Four Loko: The FDA’s ban leading to people buying it en masse

  • Just today we sold 10 cases. I think the news is helping sales.
  • DC liquor store cashier Shashi Sharma • Mentioning how the FDA’s coming ban on Four Loko is having something of a Streisand Effect on the remaining product. Reports of sellouts of the drink far and wide have made it a hot commodity, one which may lead to lots of people actually taking this video seriously. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Nov 2010 10:07

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U.S.: Civilian terrorism trials not looking like such a hot idea anymore

  • bad A civilian court trial against embassy bomber Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani only managed to convict the Guantanamo suspect on one charge – out of 285.
  • worse Obama’s failure to secure a conviction in civilian court means other civilian terror trials – including one for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – are off the table. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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