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10 Oct 2011 21:40

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World: WTF: Wikileaks diplomatic cable claims Jamaicans are terror threat

  • Although not widely known, Jamaicans have been involved in some of the worst or potentially devastating acts of terrorism of the last decade.
  • A recently-uncovered Wikileaks cable from a U.S. diplomat in Jamaica • Suggesting that Jamaicans are a serious terror threat … a claim that the diplomat makes by linking three separate notable terror incidents in the past decade to people of Jamaican descent: Shoe bomber Richard Reid (his parents were Jamaican), D.C. sniper co-conspirator Lee Boyd Malvo and 2005 London bomber Germaine Lindsay. As Talking Points Memo points out, the ties are weak at best, making this 2010 diplomatic cable a bit of a bizarre footnote in the annals of Wikileaks — one with plenty of bizarre footnotes already. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jul 2011 15:36

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World: Hugo Chavez returns to Venezuela

  • An unexpected homecoming: On the heels of revealing his medical plight to the Venezuelan public (he recently revealed he had cancer surgery), Hugo Chavez has returned to his homeland. “Here I am then, in my house and very happy!! Good day to my lovely Venezuela! Good day to the lovely people! Thanks to my God! This is the beginning of the return,” the leader wrote on Twitter. This comes as a surprise — he was expected to stay in Cuba for further treatment for some time, but it makes sense that he’d see a return as the only way to quell speculation he’s physically unable to remain President. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 00:23

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Biz, Tech: Three things to know about AOL’s Huffington Post merger

  • one The buyout fits perfectly in with AOL CEO Tim Armstrong’s content strategy. It’s a strategy that led him to buy TechCrunch last year.
  • two The merger of the two companies has the potential to draw in 100 million viewers to a single Web conglomerate with many tentacles.
  • three Arianna Huffington will now be in charge of all of AOL’s editorial content – including such notable things as Moviefone and Mapquest.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 00:10

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Biz, Tech: Huffington Post, AOL getting married, having lots of little articles

  • By combining HuffPost with AOL’s network of sites, thriving video initiative, local focus, and international reach, we know we’ll be creating a company that can have an enormous impact, reaching a global audience on every imaginable platform.
  • Arianna Huffington • Revealing to her readers that, holy crap, AOL JUST BOUGHT THE HUFFINGTON POST FOR $315 MILLION! THIS IS HUGE. LIKE BIG HUGE. This would be the largest deal AOL’s ever been involved in if not for that pesky Time Warner thing that ended up in tears for all involved – especially stockholders. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2011 11:14

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Politics: Keith Olbermann: A long history of bad-terms departures

  • Give us a bit of credit for getting eight years out of him. That’s the longest he’s been anywhere.
  • A NBC News executive • Discussing Keith Olbermann’s ouster late last week. Olbermann’s departure (which was mutual) continued a long trend for the fiery-but-talented anchor, who has left every network he’s worked for on not-so-hot terms. Most famously, of course, was his departure from ESPN, which Olbermann described as a “nuclear war.” But his resume is littered with similar explosive exits. So maybe it was time. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 22:07

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Politics: Question: Post-MSNBC, should Keith Olbermann return to sports?

  • Personally, I liked Olbermann better as a sports anchor. He could be funny, but he wasn’t expected to wad up paper, or quiver his lip, or what have you.
  • SB Nation’s Jon Bois • Offering a relatively fresh view on Olbermann’s departure, whatever the cause. Fact is, as many wonky fans as he has, some still love him more for his ’90s run on ESPN’s “Sportscenter.” (We disagree, by the way, but that’s just us.) Should Keith get back into sports? He was pretty good back in the day at doing this, so it’d be an interesting time to return. But he might be harder to accept in this role, considering the by-default divisive nature of “Countdown.” Keith’s done some sports stuff in recent years, most recently with “Football Night in America.” But doing sports full-time might be a bit of a harsh left turn for a guy who’s banked so much on the cult of personality and earned many fans because of it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 21:33

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Politics: So, what happens to Keith Olbermann’s old MSNBC slot now?

  • departure Keith Olbermann shockingly announced his departure from MSNBC tonight, making the left half of the Interwebs explode. (Here’s the video.)
  • replacement Lawrence O’Donnell will be replacing Keith in the 8 p.m. slot, and Ed Schultz will replace O’Donnell at 10 p.m. Why not give our boy Cenk his own show? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

12 Oct 2010 10:32

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Tech: Minecraft’s success, while pretty cool, utterly baffles us

  • Maybe we’re showing our age, but we don’t get why Minecraft has gotten a disproportionate level of hype. It’s made its developer lots of money, though it’s effectively a really next-level version of Lego with a multiplayer element. Oh, and those pseudo-8-bit graphics are a nice touch. These are elements of a good game, but a multi-level success like Minecraft? Color us impressed. In this clip over here, some guy built an 8-mile long train tunnel using the game. And last week we saw that someone made a to-scale version of the Star Trek Enterprise. Really? People have this much time to spend on this game?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

22 Sep 2010 11:06

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U.S.: Bishop Eddie Long’s allegations shocking, contradictory

It’s weird when some of the staunchest anti-homosexuality figures are accused of homosexuality. Megachurch leader Bishop Eddie Long could be in huge trouble. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jun 2010 10:28

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Politics: Defending Alvin Green: It’s the Democratic Party’s fault, really

  • You have to admit: there’s something vaguely joyous about a no-name guy who lives with his mom screwing up the best-laid plans of the pack of pragmatic losers that is the Democratic leadership of South Carolina.
  • Salon writer Gabriel Winant • Offering a spirited defense for Alvin “what am I doing here” Greene, whose win in the Democratic Senate primary is about to make the South Carolina elections a little more fun. While Democratic leaders want him to step down, Winant notes that it’s all their fault – not Greene’s. “(Vic) Rawl was a classic sacrificial lamb,” he writes, “selected because he’s plausible enough on paper not to embarrass the party or hurt the down-ticket candidates.” Let’s face it, the South Carolina Democrats are more annoyed that he ruined their plans than anything else. Jim DeMint is going to win. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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