The Manning Verdict And Other Stories

Pfc. Bradley Manning, who disclosed a large number of government documents to Wikileaks, has been acquitted of the charge of aiding the enemy but convicted of over 20 other charges, including espionage.  The judge, Col. Denise Lind, reached the verdicts after a trial that lasted about 8 weeks, which took place at Fort Meade.  Although acquitted of the most serious charge, Manning still faces a maximum possible sentence of 136 years.

Read more at the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, NBC News, Reason(dot)com and WJLA.

In other news:

The Chattanooga Times Free Press tells President Obama, quite literally, where to put his new jobs plan.  (via The Examiner)

From CBS News, unemployment is up in 90% of American cities.

From The Daily Beast, the U.S. cities that offer the best combination of economy and culture are "mostly southern and modest sized".

From US News, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) has invoked the death of Trayvon Martin in sponsoring his End Racial Profiling Act.  (via Weazel Zippers)

From the Associated Press, an appeals court has ruled against New York City's prohibition on large sodas.

From The Daily Galaxy, for the first time, x-ray observations have detected an extrasolar planet passing in front of its parent star.  (Is The Daily Galaxy anything like the Daily Planet?)

Global Research answers the question, "How rich is Congress?"

From CNN, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) calls Governor Chris Christie the "king of bacon".

From USA Today, a girl in Arkansas, after swimming in a lake in Little Rock, has been infected with a brain-eating amoeba.

From NBC News, an outbreak of food poisoning in Iowa and Nebraska has been traced to a prepackaged salad mix.

And from CNS News, Saddam Hussein's "ceremonial sword" has been returned to Iraq.

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An Eventful Few Days

It seemed that no sooner than I arrived at my parents' house this past Wednesday that the news arrived that President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt had been ousted by his country's military.  The Egyptian constitution has been suspended and the head of constitutional court, Adli Mansour, has been appointed interim president.  Morsi is now under house arrest.  President Obama has called for a review of U.S. aid to Egypt since American law forbids aid to countries in which a democratically elected leader is ousted in a coup.  Egypt's people are divided between supporters of Morsi and supporters of his ouster, stirring fears of civil war.  In reaction to Morsi's ouster, Egyptian stocks surged and oil prices had a slight decline.

I drove through light rain on the way down to Virginia on Wednesday.  The rain became heavier during the last 20 miles or so of my trip.  The heavy rain continued during the evening and most of the following might.  On Thursday, July 4th, I saw water spouting through a hole in a manhole cover down the street, and slightly downhill, from my parents' house.  Friday morning, it was still coming up.

Now that I'm back home in Maryland, I find out that an airplane come Seoul, Korea has crash-landed at the San Francisco Airport.  Some facts and video of the crash may be found here.  More on the story may be read here, here and here.

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A Few Stories Before The Weekend

I'll shortly be heading out of town to visit my family over the Easter weekend.  Meanwhile, here are some things in the news:

From the Military Times, a U.N. arms trade treaty gets some opposition - from Iran and North Korea.

From CNN, a former U.S. soldier has been charged with firing an RPG in Syria.

From Prophecy News Watch, there are only 57 churches left in Iraq.

Business Insider reveals what is the most hacked mobile device.

From the Christian Science Monitor, actress Ashley Judd has decided against running for the Senate against Mitch McConnell (R-KY), but the Democrats have found another potential challenger.

From the New York Post, some artifacts belonging to the author William Faulkner will be auctioned off, including an unpublished story.

From Heritage Action, 75 Senators have voted for what might be called the "shop China bill".

From the Associated Press, the American economy grew at a 0.4% annual rate during the last quarter of 2012, up from a previous estimate of 0.1%.  (via Gateway Pundit)

The Washington Times reports that Food Stamp use has increased 70% during the Obama presidency.

From Natural News, that old saying about "an apple a day" is starting to make a lot of sense.

From Fox 8 in Cleveland, I tawt I taw a putty tat.

And from Duh Progressive, some satire aimed at the Mayor of New York.

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