Curated knowlege, trenchant insights & witty bon mots
Italy and Germany prevail. Ukraine and Argentina pack their bags. For tomorrow, I think Brazil and Portugal will remain standing, and England and France will be done. Argentina lost a tough one in a shoot-out, and the Ukraine-Italy game was actually closer than the 3-0 score indicated. After the game was over, Italian fans went [...]
Fri, June 30 2006 » Main Page » Comments Off
This is a breaking story, folks. Here's the Washington Post's story.
Thu, June 29 2006 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
On Tuesday, the Council of Europe issued its report on the CIA rendition flights in Europe. Here's the BBC news story, an FAQ and some analysis by Beeb European Editor Mark Mardell.
Thu, June 29 2006 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
This June 27 BBC story says that The Netherlands' Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk has found a loophole in the Ayaan Hirsi Ali case. Thus, the ex-MP won't be stripped of her Dutch citizenship.
Thu, June 29 2006 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
This Beeb piece is a competent overview of the decision by some U.S. newspapers to publish stories about the existence of a program to track the finances of suspected terrorists. A good starter if you're new to this story.
Thu, June 29 2006 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page, Media » Comments Off
An NYT editorial on the Bush administration's heated reaction to the revealing of its program for monitoring the financial transactions of suspected terrorists: An excerpt: Our news colleagues work under the assumption that they should let the people know anything important that the reporters learn, unless there is some grave and overriding reason for withholding [...]
Thu, June 29 2006 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page, Media » Comments Off
This has got to rank as the most bizarre case ever: An ex-judge in Oklahoma is on trial for indecent exposure — He allegedly used a penis pump on himself while court was in session! More from the AP story on Yahoo! News: Over the past few days, the jurors have watched a defense attorney [...]
Thu, June 29 2006 » Main Page, Minutiae » Comments Off
From the Salon blurb: The success of the documentary Loose Change spotlights the thousands of online sleuths who believe the U.S. government was behind the terror attacks — to get gold, justify war, or serve Satan. Update: Brett Lamb has a post that breaks out the part about the dueling conspiracy theorists! :) An excerpt: [...]
Wed, June 28 2006 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
From the BBC: Reports in the Swedish media identified the journalist as Palestinian-born Rachid Alhajeh, 61. They say he is being questioned over a 10-year-old interview with an asylum-seeking Syrian on Swedish TV. A spokeswoman for Sweden's foreign ministry told AFP news agency it had not yet been informed of the nature of the charges [...]
Wed, June 28 2006 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
From the BBC: Al-Dustour chief editor Ibrahim Issa and reporter Sahar Zaki were found guilty of insulting and harming the president and the Egyptian people. In April the paper reported on a legal case against the president accusing him of misusing public money during the privatisation of state-owned companies. The man who filed the lawsuit, [...]