Although not widely known, Jamaicans have been involved in some of the worst or potentially devastating acts of terrorism of the last decade.A recently-uncovered Wikileaks cable from a U.S. diplomat in Jamaica • Suggesting that Jamaicans are a serious terror threat … a claim that the diplomat makes by linking three separate notable terror incidents in the past decade to people of Jamaican descent: Shoe bomber Richard Reid (his parents were Jamaican), D.C. sniper co-conspirator Lee Boyd Malvo and 2005 London bomber Germaine Lindsay. As Talking Points Memo points out, the ties are weak at best, making this 2010 diplomatic cable a bit of a bizarre footnote in the annals of Wikileaks — one with plenty of bizarre footnotes already. source (via • follow)
An unexpected homecoming: On the heels of revealing his medical plight to the Venezuelan public (he recently revealed he had cancer surgery), Hugo Chavez has returned to his homeland. “Here I am then, in my house and very happy!! Good day to my lovely Venezuela! Good day to the lovely people! Thanks to my God! This is the beginning of the return,” the leader wrote on Twitter. This comes as a surprise — he was expected to stay in Cuba for further treatment for some time, but it makes sense that he’d see a return as the only way to quell speculation he’s physically unable to remain President. source
Wolf Blitzer tries out a Situation Room without walls, magic or otherwise: A massive power outage over at CNN’s DC bureau forced the network into some unexpected measures to get Situation Room on the air. After all, what would America do if they missed just one scheduled day with Wolf Blitzer? Looks like Situation Plaza might be more appropriate.
By combining HuffPost with AOL’s network of sites, thriving video initiative, local focus, and international reach, we know we’ll be creating a company that can have an enormous impact, reaching a global audience on every imaginable platform.Arianna Huffington • Revealing to her readers that, holy crap, AOL JUST BOUGHT THE HUFFINGTON POST FOR $315 MILLION! THIS IS HUGE. LIKE BIG HUGE. This would be the largest deal AOL’s ever been involved in if not for that pesky Time Warner thing that ended up in tears for all involved – especially stockholders. source (via • follow)
Give us a bit of credit for getting eight years out of him. That’s the longest he’s been anywhere.A NBC News executive • Discussing Keith Olbermann’s ouster late last week. Olbermann’s departure (which was mutual) continued a long trend for the fiery-but-talented anchor, who has left every network he’s worked for on not-so-hot terms. Most famously, of course, was his departure from ESPN, which Olbermann described as a “nuclear war.” But his resume is littered with similar explosive exits. So maybe it was time. source (via • follow)
Personally, I liked Olbermann better as a sports anchor. He could be funny, but he wasn’t expected to wad up paper, or quiver his lip, or what have you.SB Nation’s Jon Bois • Offering a relatively fresh view on Olbermann’s departure, whatever the cause. Fact is, as many wonky fans as he has, some still love him more for his ’90s run on ESPN’s “Sportscenter.” (We disagree, by the way, but that’s just us.) Should Keith get back into sports? He was pretty good back in the day at doing this, so it’d be an interesting time to return. But he might be harder to accept in this role, considering the by-default divisive nature of “Countdown.” Keith’s done some sports stuff in recent years, most recently with “Football Night in America.” But doing sports full-time might be a bit of a harsh left turn for a guy who’s banked so much on the cult of personality and earned many fans because of it. source (via • follow)
Maybe we’re showing our age, but we don’t get why Minecraft has gotten a disproportionate level of hype. It’s made its developer lots of money, though it’s effectively a really next-level version of Lego with a multiplayer element. Oh, and those pseudo-8-bit graphics are a nice touch. These are elements of a good game, but a multi-level success like Minecraft? Color us impressed. In this clip over here, some guy built an 8-mile long train tunnel using the game. And last week we saw that someone made a to-scale version of the Star Trek Enterprise. Really? People have this much time to spend on this game?
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