THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF 5-4 SCOTUS RULINGS

The Times analyze the recent puzzling disappearance of 5-4 rulings by the Supreme Court, led currently by Chief Justice John Roberts, in this term as opposed to the previous term where the judges split 5-4 on 13 cases out of the 41 cases they decided. In addition to the election year effect (a correlation that suggests that during election years the Court tries to achieve more consensus on cases in order to avoid controversy), the Times contends that criticism from the public as well as some from certain respected conservative voices on decisions from the last term might be influencing factors this year, particularly on the chief justice.  The combined result is the appearance that the conservative judges shepherded by Roberts are hewing narrowly and "closely to the facts of each case" and avoiding broader activist decisions to appease their liberal colleagues and thus avoid the divisive 5-4 results.

Read more here.

LOOK! IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A PLANE! IT'S A FLYING FISH?

A Japanese TV crew captured a record setting 45 second flight by a flying fish near Japan's southwestern Kagoshima Prefecture. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io3u7diLCfU]

Read more here.

LOST PARROT REUNITED WITH FAMILY AFTER RECITING HOME ADDRESS

Even the parrots in Japan are smart!

Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor's roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said.

He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

Read more here.

[Thanks Moudhy!]

NEWS THAT MAKES ME HATE MY LIFE

Twitter received $15 million in a fresh collection of VC funding.

@Twitter: I HATE YOU SO MUCH.

Read more here.

WEDDING PHOTOS DURING CHINESE EARTHQUAKE

Kottke linked to a shocking collection of photos taken by a photographer documenting a couple's wedding that occurred at the same time as when the tragic earthquake in China hit.  If not for the subject matter, these photos are incredible.

View more here.

View more here.

FORMULA WTF

I don't even know what to say about this story. In fact I was speechless from the moment it first hit the wires a while back but now there's an added twist that includes the wife of a MI5 (The British spy agency) officer. Suffice to say at this juncture this story involves the following: Nazi-esque S&M orgy with 68 year-old Max Mosley (the president of Formula One racing) and 5 prostitutes including the MI5 officer's wife. It's like the plot for bad porno spin off of popular movies, like The Porn Identity (You know, like The Bourne Identity) or James Boned: Try Another Lay. What's wrong with Europeans? At least our guys keep it simple and easy with saucy brunette escorts (1).

Not sure why you'd want to but you can read more here.

1. The Wikipedia entry on Ashley Dupre, the escort that former New York Governor Spitzer ran around with is absurdly comprehensive with 44 citations.

COMPARATIVE DISENFRANCHISEMENT

The latest Economist's Lexington section, which is where they discuss US topics, contends that "America is also one of the few countries to ban felons and, in some states, ex-felons from voting." 11 states currently deny ex-convicts the right to vote. The states are:

Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wyoming.

These disenfranchisement laws impact male African Americans the most, of whom 14 percent have past criminal convictions: It's well documented that our criminal justice system is not race blind. It is pretty remarkable that we still have states in our union that disenfranchise ex-felons--essentially individuals who have served their time--and prohibit their participation at the voting booth.

So after reading the Economist I was curious to see what other countries are on this list. I did some research and came across this study that examined 45 "democratic" countries' voting restrictions for felons. The following 6 countries prohibited (with certain caveats noted) ex-felons from voting:

• Armenia
• Belgium
• Chile
• Finland
• Germany
• United States

Read more here.

LIST OF AMERICAN AND BRITISH DEFECTORS WHO DECLINED REPATRIATION AFTER KOREAN WAR

Wikipedia has an interesting list and recap of the 22 US and British soldiers who voluntarily refused repatriation, that is return to their homeland, after the end of the Korean War much to the shock of their government.  Most moved to China. One American soldier, Cpl. Clarence Adams stated the racism and discrimination he endured from his fellow white POWs and back home as a reason for his decision to not return to the US.  During the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution, Adams returned to the US where he was charged and acquitted of treason.

"There was racism in the prison camps just as there had been in the Army. There were those whites who openly called us niggers and told us what they would do to us when they got us back in the States. I knew nothing about communism or any other 'ism,' but during many of my sleepless nights, I questioned why America was in Korea and what I was doing there. The more I thought about my life, the more I felt I had been used, cheated and betrayed."

His autobiography was posthumously published last year after his death in 1999.  His family currently owns eight Chinese restaurants in Memphis.

Read more here.

HOW TO AVOID BEING TRAPPED IN THE R KELLY TRIAL JURY

The jury selection process for the R. Kelly child pornography trial is taking longer than anticipated as person after person was rejected due to their partiality. The Chicago Tribune analyzes and highlights some of the more memorable responses:

Two who were kicked off offered this philosophy, one going so far as to suggest that "nature already had an age of [sexual] consent: puberty."

Nothing gets prospective jurors booted faster than telling the prosecution they are a fan of Kelly's. Just ask the woman who called him a "musical genius." When prodded to say something negative about Kelly, the best she could come up with was: "He and [rapper] Jay-Z don't get along?" Prosecutors bounced her soon after.

Overeagerness to serve on the jury is a definite red flag to attorneys. When one man offered to rearrange a trip to see his parents, the prosecution bounced him for being star-struck.

When one juror failed to show up for service, deputies called his house and his mother answered. She told the court that she didn't know where her son was and that he hadn't been "right" since he was shot in the head a while back. The judge and attorneys agreed to let him off the hook.

When the judge asked one prospective juror about his feelings regarding Kelly, he cryptically answered: "R. Kelly may have led the Taliban in attacking us on 9-11, but you can't prove it."

This case will provide the definitive guide on how to avoid jury duty.

Read more here.

UNUSUAL APPLICATION OF FED. LAW USED TO INDICT MYSPACE KILLER

Missouri adult resident Lori Drew was indicted by a federal grand jury for her role in the suicide of 13 year-old Megam Meier.  Lori Drew used a fake MySpace profile under the guise of a teenage Josh Evans to cultivate a relationship with Megan who was a former friend of Drew's daughter.  "Josh" then began harassing Megan.  Soon afterwards Megan committed suicide. In the first case of this kind, Federal prosecutors using statues charged Ms. Drew with "one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing a computer without authorization and via interstate commerce to obtain information to inflict emotional distress."  Typically applied towards cases involving computer fraud across state lines, this indictment, based on the physical location of MySpace in Los Angeles, is a rather creative, if unlikely to succeed application of federal statue.

Read more here.

HELEN THOMAS: THE NEWS MEDIA THEN AND NOW

The always outspoken Helen Thomas writes in response to reader criticism of the Post "rare" decision to publishing an Associated Press photograph taken in Baghdad "of a critically wounded Iraqi child" following a US airstrike, and she wonders aloud why the traditional news media is reticent and more restrained today in its war coverage as opposed to during the Vietnam War when it's editorial decisions helped spread and distribute now iconic images--E.g., Police Chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan street execution of a Viet Cong suspected member--that symbolizes the horrors and savagery of war. She correctly states:

Too often in this war, the news media seem to have tried to shield the public from the suffering this war has brought to Americans and Iraqis.

It's not the job of the media to protect the nation from the reality of war. Rather, it is up to the media to tell the people the truth. They can handle it.

Read more here.

I think it's especially important today more than ever that the media fulfill its journalistic due diligence with photographs and videos as our society becomes increasingly visual and multimedia based. As Bill O'Reilly understands a video today can spread faster than any newswire.

Did you know that Helen Thomas' (who really is quite a remarkable lady) parents are Lebanese immigrants? I like reading trivia like that because they remind me how great our country can be and should aspire to be.

COLBERT: IN DEFENSE OF O'REILLY ONSCREEN MELTDOWN

Colbert defends Bill O'Reilly's volcanic meltdown that occurred during his Inside Edition days. Colbert sympathizes with his counterpart over at Fox News because he too had a similar experience back in the day. Check out the clip where it appears that Colbert does a better Ron Burgundy impression than Ron Burgundy himself. Watch out Ron! Looks like there's an even bigger deal in town. That's what she said! No time! [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=X5esS_ULgjM]

Let he journalist who lives in a glass house cast the first stone.

And here's the actual clip of Bill O'Reilly getting all man angry.  I don't know about you but watching it makes me get all angry too except it makes me want to fight him.  

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=2tJjNVVwRCY]

BEING UPFRONT OF AN END OF AN ERA

What are "upfronts?" Upfronts were lavish industry affairs hosted by the big TV networks so they could preview their upcoming season lineup and schedule to advertisers in order to convince them to part with their money. The networks would whore out their stable of stars at these events giving an opportunity to the mid level ad executive or the reporter to rub elbows with various stars and celebrities. The Comeback, an HBO show which I really enjoyed but unfortunately lasted just one season, had a funny episode involving the upfronts from the perspective of one of these stars, albeit an aging former actress (played by Lisa Kudrow after the conclusion of Friends) attempting a comeback on a new show as the matronly chaperon of a house filled with oversexed young 20-somethings. But the question the Times asks is how will the networks' upfronts change, if any, in light of TV audience's steady decline combined with the impact of the writers strike?

[Jeff Zucker] declared that NBC would be “much more realistic and much more honest” in its presentation of programming to advertisers. ...Fox, which still has a bona fide, if recently weakened, hit in “American Idol,” is planning an upfront as usual, but no surprises or dramatic unveilings are expected. Finally, CBS is doing a programming and advertising presentation. No party.

I just want to be invited to one of these upfronts before they die out completely or stripped of the open bar.

Read more here.

INTERVIEW: BUSH GIVES UP GOLF (!) TO HONOR SOLDIERS

Giving up golf is how President Bush honors the sacrifice of US soldiers in Iraq as he stated in a recent interview with Politico and Yahoo News:

“I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”

Bush said he made that decision after the August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which killed Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top U.N. official in Iraq and the organization’s high commissioner for human rights.

What an asshole.

Read more here and full transcript here.

THIS DISGUSTING STORY IS SURPRISINGLY NOT FROM FLORIDA

I run a classy establishment but occasionally a bit of riffraff will slide in through the doors when I'm not around, which explains this story via the Gothamist about a New Jersey morgue technician caught having sex with a dead 92 year-old woman's corpse.  He plead guilty and faces up to seven years in jail where I bet he won't be too popular with the inmates there who have much love for their abuela.

FACEBOOK FREAK OUT!

Gawker posted on a tip about a mysterious feature on Facebook, the social network for the intellectual masses, that appeared to reveal a very specific listing of five of your friends. To access this list you had to go to the search field and just click the "down" button on your keyboard. Since Gawker's posting--the most viewed currently on Gawker with over 250 comments so far--this feature was disabled. The first theory was that this was a list of the five people that searched you the most. And boy, did people FREAK OUT. And by people, I mean stalkers including yes, YOU. You know who you are. But this was quickly contested by others who pointed to various other theories including this one that seems plausible:

The five friends that you see below the search box are populated based on people whom we think you'd be most interested in. Taking into account various factors, we attempt to make an educated guess as to who it is you're looking for when you start typing a name in the search box. Please note that this information is only visible to you and will not be shared with your friends. We hope that this feature is helpful and we appreciate your feedback. Let me know if you have further questions."

I had the following people appear in my list when I checked earlier today.

1. Hot girl. 2. Good friend. 3. Random girl I met once. 4. Friend's cousin. 5. Friend's cousin

I'm not sure what to make of the list because I don't check any of these people's profile pages (mainly because they are rarely updated), and the third person is just a straight up outlier of this bunch. It would be DOPE (for the ego I suppose) if Facebook DID royally f-up and revealed who was checking your profile page, because the first girl on that list is...HOT. HOT, yo!

Stay tuned on this developing story. It reminds me of the utter panic that ensued when Friendster (remember that site?) quietly and unannounced activated an option that allowed users to see a list of all the people visiting your profile page. THAT was interesting, and kind of awesome.

Update: Gawker has an update on this blitzing story with an officially shady statement from Facebook.

Facebook tries to surface the people we think are most important to users to make it easier and faster for them to navigate the site and find what they are looking for...The search drop down is not a list of those that have searched for the user. It is also not a list of people whose profile the user has viewed the most or who have viewed the user's profile the most. To avoid any confusion, this will no longer appear.

As one snarky Gawker commenter wrote: But WHY won't they tell us how they determine who the most important people are? This is the single most pressing question of my week. Yes, why???

BARNEY FRANKLY SPEAKING

Accused during the 2006 campaigns by Republicans that he would lead a "radical homosexual agenda" Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts and chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the full and entire financial services industry, has surprisingly bridged the partisan gap and "emerged as a key deal-maker" despite or because of his sharp wit.

“I think that Barney is misunderstood in some quarters as just being a hard-bound ideological liberal,” said Michael G. Oxley, the former congressman from Ohio who preceded Mr. Frank as chairman of the Financial Services Committee, “when in fact his legislative career has been really full of accomplishment and understanding of how markets work and how systems work.”

[...]

“Because he is looking to get things done and make a difference, he focuses on areas of agreement and tries to build on those,” Mr. Paulson said. “He doesn’t waste anybody’s time, your time or his.”

And, he added, “It’s always more fun to work with someone who has got a sense of humor.”

Read rest here.

WOW. SUGE KNIGHT AKA SCARIEST MOFO ALIVE GETS KNOCKED THE FFFFFFFFUCK OUT!

Ya'know Suge Knight? Co-founder and CEO of Death Row Records, he is also one of the baddest mofos out there. Suge is basically the hip hop bogeyman.

Remember Deebo? He was that ginormous neighborhood bully in the classic hood stoner film Friday who basically runs around on a "permanently borrowed" bike robbing his neighbors and knocking them out when they try to put up a struggle. Suge Knight IS that dude. And just like what happened to Deebo at the end of that movie, Suge Knight recently got knocked the fffffuck out at a club!

TMZ has the details and more photos, including of the underdog pulled off the upset. Best to skip town for a while would be my advice to this brave cat, because unlike a cat, us people folk only have one life.  I bet Diddy did a little Harlem shake after he heard about this.

SUBPRIME MORTGAGE FOR DUMMIES

Illustrated with stick figures, here's a good simplified explanation of what the whole subprime mortgage failure situation is all about.

UN NEEDS TO FORCEFULLY STEP INTO MYANMAR

I would wholly and unconditionally condone a sizable UN military force stepping into the catastrophic and worsening situation in Myanmar. I nominate China to spearhead or lead this effort. Thoughts? The Times reports that Myanmar's military junta is seizing aid supplies while denying entry to outside aid workers, including UN experts. Unofficial estimates place the dead at over a 100,000.

One United Nations official said he had never seen delays like this before in delivering relief supplies and aid officials. In Indonesia after the tsunami in 2004, he said, an air bridge of daily flights was established within 48 hours.

“The frustration caused by what appears to be a paperwork delay is unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts,” said Mr. Risley. “It’s astonishing.”

There is no other moment other than the present crisis that requires the Chinese government to step up to the plate and demonstrate its leadership. No other country or organization has the political or military influence to compel the Myanmar government to open its borders so the disaster in their country can be addressed. This rather than the pomp and glitter of the Olympics will be more effective means for China to convey the substance behind their claim that they are a leading nation among nations, and ought to be treated as such.