Tuesday, June 23, 2009 - Posts
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From Nico Pitney's blog yesterday:
5:20 PM ET -- A word about the past two days. In ordinary times, the violence in the streets on Sunday and Monday would have been shocking. But compared to Saturday's massive outpouring, the turnout of demonstrators has been significantly smaller. There is a good reason for it.
Over the past week, the reformist rallies that have succeeded were those scheduled days in advance, with turnout aided by massive word-of-mouth promotion. Today's mourning rally for Neda, on the other hand, was announced only this morning on Karroubi's social networking sites. In the midst of a near-complete media and technological blackout, these large demonstrations need time to develop. [E.A.]
I guess Twitter and Facebook are not enough. ... 12:04 A.M.
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Aslan v. Dickey, Part II:
Reza Aslan on MSNBC yesterday:
"First of all, Ahmadinejad doesn`t even have the national security clearance to even look at Iran`s nuclear portfolio, let alone make any decisions about it. The president doesn`t have national security briefings in that regard."
Chris Dickey in his recent Newsweek piece (which Aslan praised as "brilliant"):
According to a European intelligence source, early in Ahmadinejad's first term, the man leading the country's nuclear negotiations presented several options about how and how fast Iran's nuclear program should proceed. Ahmadinejad said there was only one option: full-scale industrial production. Khamenei's response: Yes, that's what we will do.
So which is it? ... 12:10 A.M.
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'If Nikki Finke is worth $14 M, then I'm worth ... ': Even The Wrap's Sharon Waxman seems almost happy that DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com blogger Nikki Finke has had a big payday. Green shoots! It's lucky Finke is not a cantankerous person. ... Actually, their interview is fabulously tense and confrontational. ...
P.S. Gawker's Gabriel Snyder is skeptical of the $14 million figure reported by Waxman's site. ...
P.P.S.: I'm more interested in the indirect Rattner/Penske connection revealed in an earlier Gawker post on Finke's deal. It seems Obama auto czarito Steve Rattner's firm put money into a firm run by Finke's new owner, Jay Penske, the son of Detroit auto entrepreneur Roger Penske:
[Jay] Penske's Mail.com Media Corporation took a $35 million investment from Steve Rattner's Quadrangle Group in September; but we hear he's been having trouble finding properties to buy.
Hmm. A few months later Rattner helped restructure/dismantle General Motors, and Jay's father Roger wound up buying its Saturn brand. All innocent I'm sure! And Roger Penske has a record of business success that GM (and Rattner) can only envy. ... 11:23 P.M.
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The Truth About Cars on why that J.D. Power and Associates "Initial Quality" survey is not worth paying that much attention to. ... 11:45 P.M.
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