thepoliticalnotebook:

Picture of the Day. Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. A space capsule (a Russian Soyuz TMA-21, to be specific) carries US astronaut Ron Garan and two Russian cosmonauts, Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyayev, to earth.

In the news: The three returned to earth after a mission to the International Space Station. The US is currently paying Russia to send it’s astronauts into space at the cost of over $50 million dollars per person.

Photo Credit: Sergei Ilnitsky/AFP/Getty. Via.

View more Picture of the Day posts. Submit a photo

(via ikenbot)

(Source: blackfreethinkers, via socialuprooting)

(via r-i-o-t)

thedailywhat:

Sweet Justice of the Day: When Bank of America tried to foreclose on Collier County (FL) homeowners Warren and Maureen Nyerges, the couple went to court to prove they never had a mortgage to begin with, having paid in cash.

It took a year, but the pair won their case, and the judge ordered Bank of America to cough up the legal fees. When, after five month, the bank still hadn’t given the Nyergerses a dime, the couple went to their local branch to collect — bringing a foreclosure defense lawyer, Sheriff’s Deputies, and moving trucks along with them.

Turning the tables on Bank of America, attorney Todd Allen instructed his entourage to seize the bank’s assets. “I instructed the deputy to go in and take desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets, including cash in the drawers,” Allen told WINK News. After a standoff that lasted about an hour, the bank manager cut the couple a check, and Bank of America apologized for the delay, blaming an attorney who went out of business.

“As a foreclosure defense attorney this is sweet justice,” said Allen, “because this is a symptom of a larger problem.”

[wink / mefi / video: adg.]

Earlier: A vampire from Philadelphia who foreclosed on his bank.

(Source: testingdistance)

aljazeera:

The US Naval Institute has released his handy map showing the location and nationality of the international forces brought to bear against Gaddafi.

(via pdl2h)

thedailywhat:

Egyptian Unrest News Round-Up:

Live Updates: NYT, CNN, BBC, Guardian, Reuters, Al Jazeera.

Photo Above: “An Egyptian protester holds a sign that reads ‘Thank you Facebook’.” [credit: @richardengelnbc.]

What You Need To Know:

• Egyptians take to the streets for the 11th straight day (yesterday). “Day of Departure” protests held in Cairo; tens of thousands gather in Alexandria; fewer protesters than previous days, many Egyptians feel Mubarak has done enough; army steps in to protect against further attacks by loyalists.
  

• White House discussing a “verity of different ways” to transition power; VP Suleiman: “Egypt will not be anything like Tunisia”; ElBaradei: “I will not run [for president]” (ElBaradei on AJA: I said no such thing); Muslim Brotherhood: No ambition to seek presidency; Khameni: Egyptian uprising an “Islamic liberation.”

• ABC’s Christiane Amanpour lands exclusive interview with Mubarak; tells her: “if I resign today there will be choas.” Photographers risking their lives to record protests.

• Credit Agricole: Uprising costing $310m a day.
  

• Mapping the protests in Cairo, day by day.
  

[photo: msnbc.]

(via thedailywhat)

onefps:

The Simpsons Takes Swipe At Fox News: ‘Not Racist But #1 With Racists’ | Mediaite

Remember back in 2003 when Fox News threatened to sue Fox Studios? Good times.

(via chartier)

doctorswithoutborders:

One year after a devastating earthquake killed an estimated 222,000 people and left 1.5 million people homeless on January 12, 2010, Haitians continued to endure appalling living conditions amid a nationwide cholera outbreak, despite the largest humanitarian aid deployment in the world.

Now two years later, MSF is increasing hospital capacity in earthquake-affected areas as 500,000 people are still officially displaced and access to health care is nearly non-existent.

Photo: Haiti 2010 © Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

(via socialuprooting)

(via r-i-o-t)

thedailywhat:

Product Displacement of the Day: Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA), the French institution charged with monitoring radio and television content, has banned the words “Facebook” and “Twitter” from French airwaves. The popular social networks are only to be named when immediately germane to the topic at hand (e.g., a news story about either company).

CSA spokesperson Christine Kelly explained the reasoning behind the ruling:

Why give preference to Facebook, which is worth billions of dollars, when there are many other social networks that are struggling for recognition. This would be a distortion of competition. If we allow Facebook and Twitter to be cited on air, it’s opening a Pandora’s Box — other social networks will complain to us saying, ‘why not us?’

Going forward, news organizations will no longer be allowed to send viewers to their Facebook or Twitter page. French blogger Benoit Raphael tragicomically suggested a phrase they might use to skirt the ban: “Find the live coverage of the trial on our thread on the platform that allows the broadcast of 140-character messages.”

[businessinsider / techcrunch / image: cbsnews.]

A video History on Hemp; Marijuana

(Source: ilovecharts)

evilteabagger:

On “Meet the Press” December 26, top White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said President Obama’s “biggest regret” is that the severity of the economic crisis forced him to “spend almost every waking hour in Washington focusing very hard on solving that crisis” …

But it turns out Obama has already spent nearly half his presidency outside Washington.  As of January 2, Obama has been president for 712 days. According to figures compiled by CBS News reporter Mark Knoller, who serves as a sort of unofficial White House record-keeper, Obama has spent 339 of those days — nearly 48 percent — outside Washington.

(Source: antigovernmentextremist, via davereed)