Fed to End Easing, Supply Rocket Explodes

Easing Off: The Federal Reserve today is expected to announce the end of “quantitative easing,” the purchasing of bonds that stimulated the economy all through the Great Recession. The Fed has bought $3.5 trillion worth of securities in the last six years. Once panicky at the thought of getting off the Fed’s financial steroids, the stock markets appear to be relaxed at the prospect now.

Outbreak: Sierra Leone is angry with Australia for denying entry to anyone who has come from Ebola-stricken countries. Australia has not had a case of Ebola yet, but it is home to a growing population of West Africans.

Medical experts say such closures are not medically necessary, or even wise.

World: Investigators in the southern Mexican city of Iguala searching for 43 college students who went missing a month ago have identified human remains in a garbage-filled ravine. The bodies have not been identified. Previous discoveries of mass graves in the Iguala area revealed bodies, but no trace of the missing students. What has become clear in the investigation is that people have been murdered and dumped by the dozens around Iguala.

Nation: An unmanned private rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff last night in eastern Virginia. The Antares rocket was carrying 5,055 pounds of supplies, science experiments and equipment. The launch was the third of a $1.9 billion contract to send supplies to space. NASA has given the launches to private companies to save money, and most have been successful. NASA says the loss will not cause any immediate troubles for the space station.

> A friend of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been found guilty of lying to FBI agents about covering up for Tsarnaev after the bombing the killed three people and wounded 260. Robel Phillipos, 21, was one of three young med who went to Tsarnaev’s dormitory room and removed evidence, including his laptop. Phillipos faces up to eight years in prison.

The Series: The Kansas City Royals destroyed San Francisco in the second inning, scoring seven runs and putting the sixth game of the World Series out of reach for the Giants. Final score, a shutout, 10-0. The series is 3-3 with the final game in Kansas City tonight.

Google That: Google, the company founded on searching for information, is working on technology to search for cancer and impending heart attacks in the human body. The patient would have to swallow a pill containing disease-detecting nano-particles and wear a wristband sensor. The aim is to get an early diagnosis before there are any symptoms. Of course Star Trek invented this years ago; it’s called a tricorder.

Games: Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, known as the “Pineapple” for his pockmarked complexion, has lost a lawsuit against a video game maker in which he claimed the game “Call of Duty: Black Ops II, used his likeness without permission.

A Los Angeles County judge ruled the game did no harm to Noriega’s reputation because he was a known thug, killer, and drug lord. The game made a billion dollars in its first two weeks of release. Noriega’s point was that no matter what his reputation, when people are making money from it, he has a right to a piece of the action.

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Monday, April 29, 2024

Page Two

The Most Corrupt Justice

Monday, October 2, 2023

Democracy and Video in the Dark

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Page Two: Do the Right Thing

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Page Two: Sound Recall

Monday, September 13, 2021

Page Two: Cuomo Must Go

Friday, August 13, 2021

Trump and the Truth

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

The “Great” President

Monday, March 30, 2020

The Wright Stuff

Saturday, February 29, 2020

It's Been Said

"In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate, and I should have, no excuses."

-Andrew Cuomo, resigning as governor of New York after accusations of sexual harassment

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