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Here’s What the Boston Bombing Trial Judge Thinks a Good Juror Looks Like by Andy Thibault
Once again, the judge in the Boston Marathon Bombing trial is insisting that there will be no problem seating an impartial jury in the city traumatized by the attack. His latest motion denying the defense’s request to move the trial holds up one juror as a shining example of fair-mindedness. Andy Thibault looks at some of the juror’s statements which didn’t make it into the judge’s motion.
WHO
Jeb Bush Hires Co-Founder of Hipster.com
The Next Bush In Line is reaching out to tech-savvy youngsters. So, to burnish his tech cred, Jeb’s campaign is reframing him as a “Blackberry-obsessed” eGovernor. He’s even reached out to Hipster.com to hire away co-founder Ethan Czahor, installing him as chief technology officer at Jeb’s Right to Rise PAC. One problem: It turns out that Czahor’s first tech campaign for Right to Rise was the righting of previous online wrongs. He quickly purged his Twitter feed of “old jokes” about the tendency of art and science majors to be “ugly sluts,” his strategy of burping in gyms to let gay men know he’s not gay, and how he’d like to sleep with Lindsay Lohan before her impending death.
Axelrod: Obama Misled Nation When He Opposed Gay Marriage In 2008
Get ready for the fallout. Former Obama political strategist David Axelrod has a new book titled “Believer: My Forty Years in Politics.” In it, he claims the president misled the American people regarding his stance on gay marriage. In fact, the president supported it all along, but was “bullshitting” the American people during the 2008 presidential election because of strong opposition to gay marriage among certain voter groups including black churches. Axelrod also admits to counseling then-candidate Obama to keep up appearances on the campaign trail.
We Dream About Drones, Said 13-year-old Yemeni Before His Death in a CIA Strike
This is the story of Mohammed Tuaiman, the third member of his family to be killed by a U.S. drone strike. The boy spent much of his life preoccupied with a fear of what he called “death machines in the sky,” according to an interview with The Guardian months before his nightmare became a fatal reality. “In their eyes, we don’t deserve to live like people in the rest of the world and we don’t have feelings or emotions or cry or feel pain like all the other humans around the world,” he told the Guardian in September.
WHAT
What the CIA Didn’t Want Americans To Know
Politico traces the story of a story—and how the CIA successfully spiked it in Newsweek, only to see it published in The Washington Post. At issue was the story of the assassination of top Hezbollah operative Imad Mughniyeh in a 2008 car bombing in Damascus, Syria. Newsweek developed the story, but the CIA brought Editor-in-Chief Jim Impoco to Langley and convinced him to hold it. Meanwhile, The Post was working the story of the Mossad-CIA operation and pushed ahead. They published it on January 30, and Newsweek was left holding the bag. They had little choice but to publish it … bobbing in The Post’s wake. At odds, though, are the details of the two stories. The Post has the Mossad running the show and the CIA providing support, while Newsweek has it the other way around. Although we may never know the full details, this story offers a peek into the backchannel world of the mainstream media.
The Latest Border Control: Blimps From the Iraq War
Blimps are back! Some 70 blimps have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan and they are available for deployment along America’s southern border. The giant surveillance blimps are a big hit because they “fill a niche between costly, free-flying drones and binocular-toting agents in pickup trucks.” Lockheed, Raytheon Co. and Technology & Supply Management LLC all have blimps currently in border trials. And the Obama Administration has $8.5 million allotted to add another re-fitted drone to the four already deployed. Oh the humanity!
WHY
Netflix Begins Streaming in Cuba as Relations with US Thaw
On Monday, the people of Cuba were finally exposed to freedom … the freedom to binge-watch “House of Cards” or “Breaking Bad.” That’s because Netflix finally landed in Cuba. For $7.99 per month, Cubans who earn well more than the average monthly wage of $17 can sign up for the streaming service and enjoy the fruits of liberty. Although Internet service is still spotty, the industry expects that to improve over the coming months. The thaw also means Cubans will be able to make MasterCard and American Express transactions as soon as March 1. Let freedom ring.
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