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

09 May 2011 10:08

tags

U.S.: POLL: Should Obama release the photos of Bin Laden’s death?

  • The nays have it: Though some might find reason for disagreeing with Obama on whether or not to release death photos of the al-Qaeda leader, a NBC News poll puts that number strongly in Obama’s favor, though some of the people polled weren’t super-passionate about the issue. When we posed this question to our readers last week, we got a lot of passionate response on both sides. Which suggests that people passionate about this are really passionate. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 May 2011 19:55

tags

Politics: Barack Obama explains the Bin Laden thang to “60 Minutes”

Know how sure Obama was that Osama bin Laden was in that Pakistani compound? 55 percent. But he went for it anyway. Like a boss. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 May 2011 14:33

tags

World: U.S.-leaked Osama bin Laden video proves he was apparently vain

  • Bin Laden watching himself on TV: In case you were wondering, the leader of al-Qaeda could be incredibly meta at times, according to this clip just released by the U.S. government. It’s one of five the government released, and this one seems to scream more than any other video ever made, “parody me, citizens of YouTube!” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 May 2011 12:35

tags

World: Navy SEALS didn’t have a tape measure during Bin Laden raid

  • However, the heavily-armed, electronically wired SEALs didn’t come with a tape measure to get an accurate height reading. According to reports, a Navy SEAL of about 6-feet laid out next to bin Laden’s corpse to gauge the Al Qaeda leader’s height. The corpse was several inches taller.
  • An article on CBS’ Dan Farber • Noting the fairly awkward way that they measured Osama bin Laden’s height after the raid that led to his death. Could you imagine? These big hulking men just killed Bin Laden, only to have to force one of them to lay the ground next to him to do rough measurements? That’s weird. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 May 2011 16:37

tags

World: The real question: Was Osama bin Laden smoking marijuana?

  • They were growing pot on his compound: A recent report by our boy Nic Robertson of CNN notes that the slain al-Qaeda leader may have had an interesting crop on his property. Next to the cabbage and potatoes were potent marijuana leaves, which is interesting for a number of reasons. Osama had longstanding kidney problems, which might partly explain it, but if he was smoking recreationally, that adds a new wrinkle to this story. LOOK AT US, SPECULATING! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 May 2011 10:07

tags

World: Note from al-Qaeda: Osama bin Laden dead, but we’ll retaliate

  • Soon — with help from Allah — their happiness will turn into sorrow, and their blood will be mixed with their tears.
  • A message reportedly from al-Qaeda • Revealing that Osama bin Laden is dead (on their end), and that retaliation was likely in the cards. The statement was posted on notable jihadist forums this morning, and SITE Intelligence Group translated it. “We will not deviate from that or change until Allah judges between us and between our enemy with truth,” the note continues. “Indeed, He is the best of all judges. Nothing will harm us after that, until we see either victory and success and conquest and empowerment, or we die trying.” So, to those doubting Bin Laden’s death: So there’s this. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 May 2011 10:41

tags

Politics: Journalists dropped everything after Osama bin Laden’s death

  • Where were you when you found out Osama bin Laden died? If you were anything like us, you were sitting in a bar in Virginia Beach, having your birthday weekend abruptly ended by a historic news story, reblogging and retweeting stuff on your phone and taking grainy photos of the bar’s TV screen when something notable happened. (We have the photos to prove it.) Maybe you might’ve been watching “The King’s Speech” on pay-per-view and had to pause it in the middle. Or perhaps you were getting off a plane when your phone started buzzing with all sorts of crazy crap. Or about to get on one — to Afghanistan — when you suddenly had to jump off and cover a major story at home. Or maybe you were sitting in bed, reading a book about Bob Dylan. Or maybe you were actively ignoring the news, only to have your daughter call you to point out that all hell was breaking loose. All of these scenarios happened to journalists. All of them stopped what they were doing and got directly to work. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 May 2011 15:52

tags

Politics: Maddow wants the media to stick to the facts on bin Laden’s death

  • There’s going to be plenty of time to score political points on this. Osama bin Laden is going to be dead forever. Osama bin Laden is never coming back.
  • Rachel Maddow • Discussing attempts in the news media to tilt the facts of the Osama bin Laden raid to suit certain political themes, in her appearance on The Daily Show last night. Maddow is spot on in this analysis, for a very good reason — it’s demonstrably obvious that news agencies since bin Laden’s death don’t have a conclusive, clear view of exactly what went down. This is borne out by the wild conflicts and discrepancies in reporting various details of the operation since word broke on Sunday. Maddow, to her credit, has done two episodes of her show post-bin Laden, and both were earnestly refreshing in acknowledging that waiting for verifiable fact is more useful than rushing to make the story sound cooler, or fit into a political narrative. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 10:45

tags

Culture: Steelers’ Rashard Mendenhall feeling heat over Bin Laden tweets

The Pittsburgh halfback said this: “It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side.” He also doubted al-Qaeda’s role in 9/11. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 10:07

tags

World: How much money was Osama carrying when he was killed?

  • €500 were on his person — sewn into his clothes source
  • » Ready at the drop of a hat: In case Osama needed to make a run for it, the money sewn in his clothes ensured he might be able to survive for a couple of days. Though … it says a lot about the declining value of the dollar that he chose Euros instead. Among other things officials say they found — 10 cell phones, 10 computers and 100 thumb drives. Since the compound didn’t have internet access, we bet they just tethered their phones like we do.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>