All The News They Hope You Miss.
Heh. I've been threatening to do this for awhile. And forgive me if someone else thought of it--they may have, and if so, they maybe do it better than me (and you'll tell me, yes?) While we have several news-link type series, this is a little different, as I'd like to focus strictly on news drops done on Friday starting roughly at 3PM Eastern Standard Time, through the end of the evening national news cycle--say, 1130 PM . I've long suspected that important stuff gets dumped in this time-frame, amid flurries of sensationalized, yet less-important news. The idea--something I know many of you agree with--is to time the release of these news items so that they are all but forgotten about by Monday morning.
All feedback, good and bad, is welcome, as is word on whether or not this violates any "fair use" (as most of this is pulled from Top Headlines on news feeds like AP or AP via Yahoo; if so, I'll pull this asap).
I hope others like this idea. Every week, I see at least one notable news story that seems to be lost in what appears to be deliberate placement, late on a Friday afternoon. Or perhaps we should call this mis-placement, if you prefer...
Briefly, though, since this is a first attempt, my most fervent wishes include:
A) The ability to have enough material to make this into a regular series. Uh, yeah--there's lots of missed news. That much, we do know. The only problem is, I'm not sure if I will have time to oversee this as a regular weekly series. So I'll try a couple and see how they fly.
B) Input from others--to make this interactive, as well as commented on. Feel free to contribute links and a paragraph or two of your own, from items you feel qualify, that I may have missed.
C) another outlet for real, critical news focus
The latter point is not meant to insult anyone from either remaining Democratic candidate camp. It's Primary Season, for goodness sakes--but I still see lots of complaints about the Rec List. So most importantly, please, please, I beg you: do not make this about candidates! They get plenty of space around here :)
I should note, also, that some of these items may have already been known about by some of the Kossacks who regularly scoop the news outlets. Thus, they may already be noted in other diaries--as well they should be. This is not meant to "repeat", or steal anyone's thunder. This will simply contain headlines posted late on Friday afternoons, and allow for discussion on relevance, emerging patterns over time, and possible motivations for said burials. IMO, these items get dumped on Friday afternoons for a reason.
If nothing else, maybe you'll catch something you might have missed otherwise. Lots of diarists here do that for me, so I'd like to return the favor!
SO, having said all that, let's see what choice tidbits we missed today, shall we? Some are local with national implications, and some are national or international, period. Think I'll go with a Top Five for now--and I'll try not to editorialize, but sometimes, I just won't be able to help myself.
Like this first one. No-brainer, anyone?
War Demands Strain US Military Readiness
WASHINGTON - A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis...
Despite security gains in Iraq, the military was not able to reduce the response risk level, which was raised from moderate to significant last year, according to the report.
Gitmo Has Makeover To Reduce Hostilities
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) -- Seeking to ease conditions for angry and frustrated Guantanamo detainees, the commander of the prison camps has instituted language classes, a literacy program and wants to open communal areas for men held in isolation 22 hours a day.
...Army Col. Bruce Vargo, commander of the military's Joint Detention Group at Guantanamo, said he hopes the changes at Guantanamo, where 275 men suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban are held, will lead to fewer attacks on guards....
Gates Cites Europe's Anger Over Iraq War
MUNICH, Germany (AP) -- Lingering anger in Europe over the U.S. invasion of Iraq explains why some allies are reluctant to heed U.S. calls for more combat troops in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday. It was his first public acknowledgment of such a link to the Iraq war.
Gates said he would attempt in a speech here Sunday at an international security conference to decouple perceptions of the Iraq war, in which NATO has no fighting role, from views of Afghanistan, where NATO is in charge of the fighting but has fallen short on commanders' requests for more troops.
Botox Linked to Deaths by FDA
WASHINGTON - The popular anti-wrinkle drug Botox and a competitor have been linked to dangerous botulism symptoms in some users, cases so bad that a few children given the drugs for muscle spasms have died, the government warned Friday.
The Food and Drug Administration's warning includes both Botox, a wrinkle-specific version called Botox Cosmetic, and its competitor, Myobloc, drugs that all use botulinum toxin to block nerve impulses, causing them to relax.
No Charges Filed Against Woman in Best-Buy Tasering Incident
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - The State Attorney's Office this afternoon decided not to prosecute the shopper a police officer stunned with a Taser inside the Best Buy store on International Speedway Boulevard....
(Officer) Wright is seen zapping Beeland in the stomach with the Taser. Beeland was then arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The officer's actions were backed by Police Chief Mike Chitwood. Friday, state attorney's spokeswoman Linda Pruitt said charges won't be pursued because there is no evidence that Beeland committed a crime.
This last one is local to me and the mister O. I've made mention of it in other diaries, and we've both heard plenty about the city of Daytona police (along with the Volusia County force--they serve us out here in the boonies). I have personally witnessed the lengths to which the police here go to with these new toys, during a routine traffic stop (in which I was a passenger in the car). These people have to be stopped with their use of these weapons. Stopped. Now.
OK, enough of me! I'll try not to proselytize so much going forward. Egad. Thanks for reading, and have a luscious evening! I'll be in and out here for about an hour, and then it's off to the beach club. Mr. O's new band debuts. Yikes. Even I'm nervous :)