Bits & Pieces
Bits and pieces from this reporter’s notebook.
Da-deet-da-deet...A museum in Marseilles opened one morning last week to discover that it had been looted of a couple of dozen serious paintings. One was Degas’ Les Choristes, which local police said was worth about $42 million, but which the French national museum later priced at $1 million.
Da-deet-da-deet...If the top brass in the most important spy center in Central Asia gets wiped out along with six other officers, it tells you something about security, and the degree of their success to date. This was a stunning strategic and tactical blow by the Taliban, and an equally stunning failure by the CIA. And raises the question of why the CIA is investigating their own lapses, again.
Da-deet-da-deet...A U.S. federal judge threw out charges against five Blackwater agents accused of heinous crimes in the slaughter of 17 Iraqi civilians two years ago. Apparently the Justice Department, before questioning the men, agreed to not use what they learned in the interviews against them. Then they built their case on that information. Here's an irony. Another Blackwater agent already pleaded guilty and turned on the other five.
Da-deet-da-deet...Life, or at least the end of it, is getting simpler in The Treasure State. The Supreme Court in Montana has ruled that seeking medical help to commit suicide does not conflict with the state law. (They join Washington and Oregon. Curious that the three states are all in the Northwest.)
Da-deet-da-deet...How did you do financially last year? You probably didn’t beat out one of the government bailout recipients. Last January, Goldman Sachs’ stock was $59.20 a share. It closed out 2009 at $169.
Da-deet-da-deet...Finally, in what should be considered related news, researchers say that half of all American children will be on food stamps at some point in their young lives. Obviously, they should have bought Goldman Sachs last year.
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