A war on cops? As I write this, MSNBC is reporting at least 11 shot in a 24-hour period , which certainly seems to point to something more than coincidence. In just 24 hours, at least 11 officers were shot. The shootings included Sunday attacks at traffic stops in Indiana and Oregon, a Detroit police station shooting that wounded four officers, and a shootout at a Port Orchard, Wash., Wal-Mart that injured two deputies. On Monday morning, two officers were shot dead and a U.S. Marshal was wounded by a gunman in St. Petersburg, Fla. On Thursday, two Miami-Dade, Fla., detectives were killed by a murder suspect they were trying to arrest. “It’s not a fluke,” said Richard Roberts, spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations. “There’s a perception among officers in the field that there’s a war on cops going on.” Last week, a LAUSD police officer was shot in Woodland Hills . The suspect is still at large. One of the shootings that took place in the recent 24-hour swarm was in St. Petersburg, FL. According to witnesses, over 100 rounds were fired . I wonder how many were from the police and how many were from the shooter holed up in the attic? Or the shootings in Detroit, where the bad guy was able to shoot four policemen in their precinct before a cop finally killed him? How did that guy manage to land bullets on four cops before they could shoot him? I’d be willing to put money on high-capacity clips as one possible culprit. When I hear the standard NRA drumbeat about how high-capacity clips are really a good thing because they bolster one’s ability to shoot back at the bad guys, I wonder how they justify that statement when the ones with extended clips who are actually using them ARE the bad guys and they’re shooting at good guys. I don’t know if this rash of shootings is mere coincidence or something bigger. What I do know is that the NRA logic is upside-down and nonsensical. The odds of a police officer or even ordinary citizen being on the receiving end of a high-capacity clip in the hands of a criminal are far higher than an ordinary citizen needing a high capacity clip to defend themselves. Is there any room for some common sense measures here?
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President Obama’s address is underway. Watch the live broadcast right here. Related Entries January 25, 2011 Sundance and the Art of Democracy January 25, 2011 Climate Benefits of Natural Gas May Be Overstated
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enlarge Really hope he’s not describing his personal porn collection here. What does it say about Mitt Romney’s family values that the Marriott board of directors only reached this decision two weeks after Romney stepped down ? The hotel chain Marriott, whose board Romney recently left and whose owners are longtime Romney supporters, released this statement over the weekend to USA Today’s hotel’s blog : It is our practice to keep adult content out of the reach of children and unavailable to any adult who chooses not to view it. We have strong controls in place that allow guests to block these materials. Changing technology and how guests access entertainment has reduced the revenue hotels and their owners derive from in-room movies, including adult content. We are working with in-room entertainment providers and technology vendors to transition to the next generation of in-room entertainment. This new platform of Internet-based video-on-demand will facilitate our exit from the traditional hotel video systems that included adult content in the menu selection, and will also provide guests greater choice and control over what they watch across our system. As we transition to this new platform, adult content will be off the menu for virtually all of our newly built hotels . Over the next few years, this will be the policy across our system. The hotel chain’s lucrative porn sideline was an irritant to Romney during the 2008 campaign, when one social conservative referred to him as a “major pornographer.” Now, he has a better story to tell. (I emailed his spokesman to ask whether he participate in the decision to end the service, and will update if I hear.) And the reader who pointed this decision out notes that Marriott seems to be doing Romney a costly favor: The in-room porn business is in decline, but was still making them some $175 per room annually, according to the most recent figures available Well, given that Marriott claims 3,150 properties worldwide –and assuming a fairly conservative (but easy math of) 100 rooms per property–that $175 per room equates to more than $5.5 million. All to avoid embarrassing questions of Romney the pornographer…even though they were still steeping in porn when Romney sat on the board .
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The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, where big shots go to talk turkey and soak up a bit of Switzerland, is being streamed live across the internet tubes. They’re waiting for you after the jump, prime minister. Related Entries January 25, 2011 Sundance and the Art of Democracy January 25, 2011 Climate Benefits of Natural Gas May Be Overstated
Continue reading …By Amy Goodman While much of the attention is focused on the celebrities, Sundance has actually become a key intersection of art, film, politics and dissent. Related Entries January 25, 2011 Climate Benefits of Natural Gas May Be Overstated January 25, 2011 Rahm Emanuel Catches a Break in Mayoral Race
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The seeming stranglehold that Apple’s iTunes has had on the online music market could be challenged, or at least loosened, by the imminent release of a competitor from Sony this quarter. Author, scholar and Truthdig contributor Aram Sinnreich … Related Entries January 25, 2011 Climate Benefits of Natural Gas May Be Overstated January 25, 2011 Rahm Emanuel Catches a Break in Mayoral Race
Continue reading …By Richard Reeves If Americans had really understood what was happening with the Peace Corps, we might be a much greater country today and the world might be a better place as well. Related Entries January 25, 2011 Climate Benefits of Natural Gas May Be Overstated January 25, 2011 Rahm Emanuel Catches a Break in Mayoral Race
Continue reading …ABC, CBS, NBC All Ignore 2011 ‘March for Life’ In Mon. Evening, Tues. Morning News Coverage
January 25, 2011 1 Comment
None of the broadcast news programs from Monday evening and Tuesday morning covered the 2011 “March for Life” in Washington, DC, a pro-life rally that reportedly drew at least tens of thousands of attendees. Neither NBC, ABC, nor CBS gave any coverage Monday to the march on their respective evening news programs; none of the networks covered the story Tuesday morning. The New York Times did not cover the story, as the MRC's blog “Times Watch” documented. The Washington Post, however, did provide a fair account of the rally in its Metro section. Although the Post did report “thousands” attended the march, good faith estimates are easily in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. The Post reported that attendees were “encouraged by recent federal and state GOP wins and hopeful about proposed measures that would further tighten bans on federal funding for abortions.”
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For seven years Brad Friedman has overseen one of the Web’s indispensable independent media outlets for coverage of all things “unraveling,” but especially the under-reported scandal that is election theft. Be sure to stop by and send Brad a birthday wish. Brad Blog: Here we are. A full seven years as of today, after I began, on a complete lark, what I had thought would be little more than something to keep me occasionally occupied after I had finished up a different project I’d worked on for five years prior. I had no idea or hopes for what it would, and has become—- or that it would keep me from being able to make the living I had been able to before starting—- or even that I’d find myself, with disturbing regularity, having nearly front-row seats to moments of historic importance, as witness to the unraveling of a nation. But here we are. Seven years later, and still at it, still digging, still fighting, still crying, still laughing, still witnessing in wonder as the unraveling continues, and still more disturbed by it all than I could have ever even imagined. Read more Related Entries December 24, 2010 Haiti Wraps Up an Unkind 2010 November 13, 2010 Ortega Stirs Controversy in Re-Election Bid
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