News
Well, things are getting hot and heavy in the GOP Presidential race!... Hmmm. Hot and heavy probably isn't the phrase I'm looking for. Oh God, so many unfortunate images. Rick Perry, long polling in numbers you can count on one hand, has finally announced his long-expected departure from the campaign. Ah, remember those ten minutes when everyone thought he was pretty much a shoo-in for the Presidency? And then we realised he couldn't actually speak properly. And then
he got drunk at a campaign rally. Those were the days. Perry has thrown his support behind the paragon of fatuousness that is Newt Gingrich, currently surging in the South Carolina polls despite new allegations from his ex-wife that he asked her for an open marriage.
After having been cheating on her for six years. And
the GOP powers-that-be in Iowa have stripped Mitt Romney's of his 8 vote victory there, a recount finding Santorum actually had 34 more votes than him. Nonetheless, they've declared the vote unresolved, meaning that neither candidate can claim it and giving the South Carolina primary a certain edge. Also, there's some stuff about
Romney almost killing a woman by forcing her to have a baby, but he was a Mormon bishop at the time so it was totally alright.
The SOPA protests seem to be having their desired effect, with
sponsors of the bill from both sides of the political divide deserting it in droves. This is a pleasantly surprising outcome considering that just before the Christmas break, SOPA/PIPA were being seen as a rare opportunity for Congress to show some bipartisan camaraderie and pass something in unison. While the Senate is due to vote on the bill next Tuesday, it's looking increasingly unlikely that the deadline will be made. And on a side note,
one of the authors of the SOPA bill has been using copyrighted images on his website without authorisation. So that's fun.
News International is turning to old faithful in the UK and has begun the happy process of
paying out the people whose phones they hacked. If you were lucky enough to be targeted by the company, you can expect anywhere from 5000 to 100000 pounds. Problem be gone!
Given that 30 people may have died, I probably shouldn't be enjoying this Italian cruise farce as much as I am, but goddamn the details continue to reward: apparently Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' was playing in the dining room when the ship ran aground. Yes, that's right, the theme to THE TITANIC was playing when the ship crashed. And now the captain, fresh from claiming that he tripped and fell into a lifeboat, which was why he ended up on shore hours before the rest of the ship was evacuated, and on the back of revelations that he calmly took a cab in to town to get some socks while thousands of people struggled to escape his ship, is
protesting that he saved "hundreds, if not thousands of lives" by steering the boat closer to shore after it had struck the reef. I just... oh, it's good.
Iran is selling weapons to Syria. Europe is up in arms, but they're hardly the first country to sell weapons to a despotic regime. I'm pretty sure 90% of Egypt's military might could be traced back to the US and the UK was arming Gaddafi up until the point they decided to oust him. Either way, it's a useful pretext for a new round of sanctions expected to be implemented by the EU in the coming months.
End of an era: Kodak has filed for bankruptcy. So much for the Kodak smile, the Kodak colour scheme and all the other jokes and clichés of our childhood. Although how they managed to achieve this after actually pioneering the digital camera remains a mystery for future generations to pore over.
Features
Two stories from Iraq:
the story of Baghdad's first bar and the death-defying quest for beer; and
the much less pleasant story of Iraq's professional torturers, security officials who arbitrarily and brutally detain young men and then extort bribes from their families for their freedom.
An old (well, 2010) but still compelling reflection on 19th century Germany, a country where copyright law didn't exist and which witnessed one of the most rapid and profound intellectual evolutions in human history.
Oddities/Curiosities
Bob Marshall, Virginian Senate candidate, made headlines last week for his claim that disabled children were God's punishment for women who have had abortions. Which seems empirically measurable. Because that was only the tip of the iceberg,
Think Progress have put together a list of his ten greatest hits. Keep pitching up the best of the best, America.
Man marries deceased bride in joint wedding/funeral ceremony. The reception/wake must have been amazing.
Some SOPA protests were better than others. This one has kittens.
Video
I can't embed these, but I really would encourage you to spend a few minutes watching Stephen Colbert, Republican Presidential candidate,
ripping through the lunacy of America's Super PAC laws and taking on the fact that
he's now the most favourably viewed candidate in the race. This campaign is turning into some magic moment in satire's history.
Oh, and just so there is something to embed: LEMURS.