Politics

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Wednesday Link-Off: Apart From the Royal Baby…

edita-vilkeviciute-victoriassecret13-14I don’t know if you heard but a royal baby was born on Monday. However, since it’s not really a news story and won’t affect 99.99% of us in any way, I won’t be mentioning it here. We have other news that you might have missed. First, though, we have Lithuanian model Edita Vilkeviciute.

Barack Obama might be America’s first black President but he identifies as a black American first. When he says that he could’ve been Trayvon Martin, it’s not hyperbole. (Washington Post)

In case you missed among non-stories, there was a massive breakout of Al Qaeda prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison. (Reuters)

Anthony Weiner is sexting again. This time, he used a pseudonym… Carlos Danger. (Post Politics)

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Sunday Link-Off: In Profile

nina-agdal-leonisa13-15It’s the end of the week so it’s time for the links. While longer form pieces are a little bit harder to write about with none of the usual topics providing much to write about, it should pick up this week.

For now, let’s start the links with Nina Agdal.

Joe Biden might be the butt of many jokes but he just might be the most qualified man to be the next President of the United States. (GQ)

The cover might have been controversial but Rolling Stone magazine did a proper story with their profile of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. (Rolling Stone)

The EPA headquarters building has been named in honour of Bill Clinton. He’s certainly earned that one. (Washington Post)

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Sorkin, The Newsroom and the Price of Perfection

the-newsroom-season-2-promoWhen you talk about great modern TV series, the conversation will always include a mention of Aaron Sorkin. The man was the driving force behind not one but two modern classics, Sports Night and The West Wing.

However, Sorkin’s current series, The Newsroom, isn’t considered a classic by most TV critics. It’s not because it’s a bad show. Anyone that has watched network TV over the last few years will know that most series on TV now are pretty poor. Critics don’t like The Newsroom because it doesn’t live up to Sports Night and The West Wing.

That’s the problem when you set the standard too high.

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Wednesday Link-Off: The Real Point

olivia-garson-rosafaia13-01It’s the middle of the week which means that it’s time for the links. It’s a news heavy set but hopefully you still enjoy. Let’s kick off with South African model Olivia Garson.

The verdict in the George Zimmerman trial certainly brought out some very strong opinions about what this says about race in America. (Gawker)

Is it possible that high levels of news coverage of a trial before it happens could correlate with not guilty verdicts for those defendants. (Washington Post)

A freelance journalist talks about her work in the middle of the Syrian conflict. (Columbia Journalism Review)

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Sunday Link-Off: Common Sense Prevailing

andi-muise-fredericks13-07It’s the last link-off of the Google Reader era. What am I going to do without it? I basically rely on it to help run my blogging pseudo-empire. Well, I’m boned. In the meantime, here’s our pre-Canada Day linkdump. We have our usual Canada Day fare tomorrow with the F1 recap and analysis on Tuesday.

So let’s start off our day before Canada Day post with Canadian model Andi Muise.

Texas governor Rick Perry is just the worst. He thinks filibustering god Wendy Davis should support a near ban on abortions in Texas because she was a teenage mother. What a fool. (Think Progress)

Rather than allow general trolling, two major newspapers used a new commenting system  to categorize the people commenting on stories about gay marriage. (Nieman Lab)

Pandora might be great for us as music lovers but it doesn’t pay to have your music on there. (The Trichordist)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Just the Worst

giada-de-laurentiis-daytimeemmys13-02I’m working on a couple of video games post for the next couple of days, including a fun little column about the gaming industry’s obsession with copying Call of Duty. For now, it’s the middle of the week links. Let’s start off with celebrity chef Giada de Laurentiis.

I know that EA is the twice-defending Worst Company in America but the Bank of America really should have won. (The Consumerist)

Dick Cheney thinks that Edward Snowden is a traitor. Says the man who led America into a fictitious war. (Politicus USA)

Bill Nye has gone from the Science Guy to the Science Warrior. He’s not just teaching kids about science but people who should know better like the media and politicians. (New York Times)

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Sunday Link-Off: Home Is Where the Crack (Allegedly) Is

deborah-mace-saha13-05It’s Canadian Grand Prix race day so you know what I’ll be watching this afternoon. It’s also Sunday which means that you know what I’ve been up to for this morning. Let’s kick things off with newcomer to the blog, French model Deborah Mace.

You knew it was a matter of time before the press was able to find the exact house where the picture of Rob Ford with a drug dealer. (Toronto Star)

And that house has a bit of reputation for disreputable and illegal activities. (Gawker)

In a funny turn of events, Toronto blogger Toronto Mike actually had this story two months ago thanks to a comment on his blog. If only he knew that the comment was legit. (Toronto Mike)

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Sunday Link-Off: Cracked Up

heather-graham-maxim13-01Okay, I missed the Wednesday set of links because I was busy with all my Xbox One launch coverage and the lack of decent links over the first half of the week. We don’t have that problem today, though. We’ve got a cool collection of links for you today. First, since Hangover 3 is out this weekend, let’s start with Heather Graham.

Rob Ford said on Friday that he doesn’t smoke crack. Well, apparently that won’t be in keeping with his family’s history of drug dealing. (The Globe & Mail)

Prior to Friday’s straight denial, Ford’s office’s position was that the video was faked. The problem is that it would be impossible to fake even with an unlimited budget. (Hazlitt)

We’re still a long ways from another US election but it’s never a bad time to look at some interesting facts about Presidential elections. For example, Democrats weren’t impressed with the continuously changing message of Mitt Romney. He scored an all-time low among Dems in exit polling. (Prez16)

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Sunday Link-Off: Economics 101

adriana-lima-victoriassecret13-03I didn’t have a lot of time to write this up yesterday. I’ve been busy building a PC… Or trying to build a PC. Let’s hope that it works as advertised. I’ve read good things and bad about that graphics card I got. It came in a bundle. I could’ve gone for something different and paid more. Still, I was amazed how much cheaper going AMD was than Intel & NVIDIA when gaming performance is similar. Right now, my biggest complaint is that it’s not as powerful as I expected but I’ll see if I can’t tweak a bit on that.

Right, it’s Sunday which means it’s time for the links. Let’s kick it off with Adriana Lima who surprisingly hasn’t been featured on the blog in nearly two years. It’s about time that I corrected that.

So the US deficit is being reduced but at what cost? Economists say that the cost cutting and tax increase plans agreed upon by both parties is slowing economic recovery. (The New York Times)

Remember Instagram? It was big before Facebook bought it and Twitter dropped integrated image support for the app. Anyway, here’s a look at the rise and Zuckerberg-ification of Instagram. (Vanity Fair)

One social network that isn’t in danger of going away anytime soon is Reddit. If you want news and memes fast, Reddit will have it first. (Ad Age)

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Have Attack Ads Outlived Their Welcome?

harper-vs-trudeauA funny little poll came out late last week. It was the first national poll conducted after the Liberals selected Justin Trudeau as their new party leader. Oddly enough, the results of the poll showed that the Liberal Party holds a seven point lead over the governing Conservatives.

While there are plenty of explanations that one could attribute to the reason for the swing in polling numbers, my theory is that it comes down to the Conservative response to Trudeau’s election. Rather than promote themselves, the Conservatives have gone back to the well with attack ads about Trudeau’s inexperience and past statements. Could this mean that their old attack ad strategy might not be working anymore?

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