Charlie Brooker’s 2016 News Wipe
Every year Black Mirror writer Charlie Brooker gives us a news summary program called “News Wipe.” News Wipe is a a take on the years news, it’s along the lines of The Daily Show, except it’s funnier. This year filled with celebrity deaths, terror attacks and the rise of the populist right across the Western world made it a bit more difficult to find humor but Brooker found a way. There will no doubt be some news that you don’t recognize as it’s British but by the end of the hour, I promise you’ll understand.
The Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska ADN – Wasilla mayoral candidate’s war against ‘police state’ includes long-ago urge to ambush Vegas officers Loren Means, a candidate for Wasilla mayor and a current city planning commissioner, once stalked and planned to ambush Las Vegas jail officers, and this summer he told a Wasilla police officer that a head shot was the only way to kill an officer wearing body armor. An email about the Las Vegas incident as well as several encounters with local police surfaced Thursday in a packet Mayor Verne Rupright distributed to the Wasilla City Council. Juneau Empire – Suspicious tree fires puzzle Forest Service…
Argentina On Its Knees: Here’s Who Made it Happen
Vulture investor Paul Singer has forced the nation of Argentina into default. Here’s the real story, from Billionaires & Ballot Bandits by Greg Palast. A call came in from New York to my bosses at BBC Television Centre, London. It was from one of the knuckle- draggers on the payroll of billionaire Paul Singer, Number One funder for the Republican Party in New York, million-dollar donor to the Mitt Romney super-PAC, and top money-giver to the GOP Senate campaign fund. But better known to us as Singer The Vulture. “We have a file on Greg Palast.” Well, of course they do. And…
Chevron & Ecuador: The Real Story
Last week, The New York Times reported: Chevron won a major victory. A federal judge in Manhattan ruled that a two-decade legal effort to punish the company was marred by fraud and corruption, making it increasingly likely that the oil company would be ultimately successful in beating back the legal and financial challenge. There’s $9.5 billion up in the air, and the oil giant Chevron will do anything to make sure it doesn’t have to pay up. Greg Palast, who has covered the story for BBC Television says,“The judge is completely, utterly full of s**t.” Palast, who investigated the story for…
Rove’s North Carolina Plan Under Attack By DOJ
Editors note: In 2011 Karl Rove wrote a column called “Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012” – Rove was betting on North Carolina to be a swing state for the Republicans… Romney took the state but to Rove’s surprise he failed at stealing Ohio for the third time. Just Google “Karl Rove Meltdown,” and you’ll see a video from Fox News election night, he did not take it well. After the knock-down of the Voting Rights Act by the US Supreme Court earlier this year North Carolina jumped at the chance to change their voting laws – claiming, as these states…
UPDATE: Whose Tardis is This? Doctor Who’s Tardis found in Alaska
I just received an Update on the origins of the Tardis in Homer. It is not stolen from Gallifrey as early reports originally implied. It was created by the Wolfe’s (Bad Wolf(e)? Rose Tyler might want to watch out…) From Nina: My daughter Rosemary Wolfe and the rest of the family are huge Doctor Who fans. We run the sod farm to the west of the grove where the Tardis is located. She, mostly, built the Tardis but had to leave to return to school and so it needs a bit more touchup, however, I am looking for the sign for…