Lindsay Lohan was banned from driving by movie insurers before LA crash

LOS ANGELES — Troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan was banned from driving while filming “Liz and Dick” by the insurance company used to cover the movie…

via NY Post: Page Six http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/lohan_was_banned_from_driving_crash_ykdcuyhtcVqSH2Qanu9KZP?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Page%20Six

Bodie (From “The Wire”) at Sunday’s Silent March

He may have played the young drug dealer Bodie on “The Wire,” but J.D. Williams is, in fact, simply another innocent black man sick of being profiled and stopped and frisked. Capital ran into Williams at Sunday’s Silent March to End Stop and Frisk, where he was marching with a poster of Trayvon Martin to highlight how dangerous racial profiling can be. As for how his celebrity contributes to his being stopped by police officers, Williams, pictured far right in top image, said, “I might get recognized, but they’re not sure where they know me from…So, a lot of times an officer might think he’s arrested me before.” (Photo: HBO)

via ANIMAL http://www.animalnewyork.com/2012/bodie-from-the-wire-at-sundays-silent-march/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+animalnewyork+%28ANIMAL%29

Poll: Americans Favor Obama’s Immigration Policy 2-to-1

By a two-to-one margin, Americans favor the Obama administration’s new immigration policy, according to a Bloomberg poll released on Tuesday.

The results, which show that 64 percent of Americans agreed with the policy announced on June 15, suggest that the president has reinforced his standing on immigration, an issue that Romney and Republicans have tried to make gains in recently. Just 30 percent said they disagreed with the policy.

“President Obama announced that the U.S. would halt the deportation of some illegal immigrants if they came here before age 16, have been in the country for five years, have no criminal record, are in school or have a high school diploma or have been honorably discharged from the military. Do you agree or disagree with this new policy?” the poll asked.

Read More

via Homepage http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/poll-americans-favor-obama-s-immigration-policy-2-to-1-20120619

UNPRECEDENTED: China Blocked Every Japanese Domain For Almost Two Days Last Week

China computer

China has blocked a number of websites before, for a variety of reasons, but observers believe that last week marked the first time that an entire country has been blocked by the “Great Firewall”.

According to reports on Yahoo Japan, sites with a “co.jp” top domain were blocked for around a day and a half over June 15 and 16.

China and Japan enjoy a bitter regional rivalry of course, but quite why the co.jp domain was blocked remains a mystery. Tech blogger William Long has pointed out Japanese sites with “.com” and “.jp” domains had not been blocked, perhaps implying that the move was simply a mistake.

Of course, this being China, there’s also a much more fun, conspiratorial theory. And of course, it involves the incredible scandal of ousted Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai.

Multiple Weibo users have pointed towards the possible interference of “Headmaster Fang” — the un complementary nickname for Fang Binxing, the man behind China’s incredible online censorship project

Jimmy at Tea Leaf Nation has put together a great summary of the crazy “Headmaster Fang” theory.

Basically — Headmaster Fang himself grew extremely angry at Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun after it reported that he personally had a link to former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun’s US consulate visit in February (the incident that sparked the whole Bo Xilai controversy) and also may have played a role in Bo’s alleged surveillance of senior Communist Party officials (including President Hu Jintao).

He then used his power to block all Japanese domains for an day and a half before something (higher powers in Beijing?) prompted him to stop.

It’s clear that Fang was outraged — he expressed his anger on Weibo and called for an investigation — but the idea of him personally (and presumably, without the Party’s consent) banning all Japan’s domains with the push of a button really seems crazy.

But then again….

Watch the video below for a refresher of what happened to Communist bigwig Bo Xilai and his fall from grace:

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Produced by Daniel Goodman

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Macaulay Culkin’s Life After Fame

Ramin Setoodeh attends a party of the ‘Home Alone’ star and ends up with a T-Rex painted to his face.

via The Daily Beast – Latest Articles http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/19/macaulay-culkin-s-life-after-fame.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailybeast%2Farticles+%28The+Daily+Beast+-+Latest+Articles%29

Hollywood backs NYC mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn

Christine Quinn has won the backing of Hollywood’s heavy hitters in her quest to be mayor of New York. We can reveal that “Tower…

via NY Post: Page Six http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/wood_for_chris_cri6QVPBhagvmj1M2mD75J?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=%20%20%20%20%20%20Page%20Six

Swingers sex party at Mondrian SoHo comes to a premature end

A Swingers’ sex party in the penthouse of the Mondrian SoHo came to a premature end on Saturday night, following a clash between hotel security…

via NY Post: Page Six http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/swing_interrupted_iuwnjFUFMKU3DCuuiJjaxM?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=%20%20%20%20%20%20Page%20Six

Diff’s of CNN and NYT articles

Online articles often change after publication, except there is no history tab and sometimes those revisions are controversial, for example this Politico story on General Stanley McChrystal. Enter NewsDiff: Tracking Online News Articles Over Time. It allows you to compare evolving versions of online news articles after they are published, starting with The New York Times and CNN. Here are some example diffs – see anything controversial? Last year, Times executive editor Jill Abramson called the idea “unrealistic” in response to an OpEd calling for diffs. (via)

via MetaFilter http://www.metafilter.com/117080/Diffs-of-CNN-and-NYT-articles

Are the Jobs Numbers Killing Jobs?

The report on past job performance has morphed into a driver of future job performance.

via NYT > Most Recent Headlines http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/magazine/are-the-jobs-number-killing-jobs.html

AIJ Employees Arrested in Japan

Japanese police arrested the president of asset manager AIJ Investment Advisors and three others for allegedly selling funds with the knowledge that performance figures had been fabricated.

via WSJ.com: What's News US http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303836404577475740520186900.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us