Curated knowlege, trenchant insights & witty bon mots
This NYT story looks at the growing clash between those with kids and those without when they intersect in the public space of restos — a problem that's worsening as young couples choose city living over the 'burbs. An excerpt: Bridget Dehl shushed her 21-month-old son, Gavin, then clapped a hand over his mouth to [...]
Wed, November 9 2005 » Main Page, Minutiae » Comments Off
Judith Miller and the NYT have agreed on the terms of her departure from the paper. Now she's free to peddle the Bush administration's spin on WMDs to whoever will have her. Here's the NYT story. Here's a note from executive editor Bill Keller to NYT newsroom staff. Editor and Publisher has some reaction from Miller [...]
Wed, November 9 2005 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
Globe and Mail TV critic John Doyle isn't prepared to give The Colbert Report the benefit of any doubt. The Colbert Report is awful. Honestly, it is a one-joke sketch stretched to appalling tedium. … Often Colbert is uncannily like O'Reilly or Scarborough, or a hundred other wannabies. But it's funny for five minutes, tops. This [...]
Wed, November 9 2005 » Main Page, Media, Minutiae » Comments Off
The New Yorker's Jane Mayer on how a suspect at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison died while undergoing an interrogation by the CIA. Some excerpts: At the end of a secluded cul-de-sac, in a fast-growing Virginia suburb favored by employees of the Central Intelligence Agency, is a handsome replica of an old-fashioned farmhouse, with a white-railed [...]
Wed, November 9 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
The CIA wants the Justice Department to investigate the source of a Washington Post story that said the spy agency was operating a global network of covert prisons. An excerpt from the NYT story: The C.I.A.'s request, known as a crimes report or criminal referral, means that the Justice Department will undertake a preliminary review to determine [...]
Wed, November 9 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page, Media » Comments Off
British MPs have voted 322-291 against giving British police the power to hold terror suspects for up to 90 days without charge, although they did approve an expansion to 28 days. Forty-nine Labour MPs voted against the bill, putting a dent in the authority of Prime Minister Tony Blair. Here's the BBC story.
Wed, November 9 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
The Washington Post revealed recently the CIA is operating a global network of secret prisons for terrorism suspects. But at the Pentagon's request, they wouldn't say where those prisons were. The group Human Rights Watch, citing military flight records, says Poland and Romania, to name two (those countries deny the allegation; however, they are part of the “war [...]
Wed, November 9 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page, Media » Comments Off
The CIA's inspector general warned the agency that some interrogation procedures approved in the wake of 9/11 might violate some parts of the International Convention Against Torture, the NYT is reporting today. An excerpt: The previously undisclosed findings from the report, which was completed in the spring of 2004, reflected deep unease within the C.I.A. [...]
Wed, November 9 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
This headline on CTV.ca caught my eye: Michael Jackson may never live in U.S. again.
Wed, November 9 2005 » Main Page, Minutiae » Comments Off
The Toronto Star's Antonia Zerbisias wrote Tuesday about the weekend encounter between herself, four young journalists — and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post. Here's an excerpt: He clearly had expected the reporters gathered on a slow news Sunday to ask about the White House, but we have different questions on our minds. Like what [...]