The Redel Traub Report Presents: The Wednesday News Buffet

This blog is about the exchange ideas, I like to think it owes a lot to the 17th and 18th century 'salons' that served as a locus for the enlightenment. However despite that high minded mission statement I'm only able to expound on so many news items on a daily basis. As your humble blogger wrestles with finding thought provoking content, many interesting stories, which I assure you have many incisive thoughts about, manage to slip through the cracks.

In acknowledgment of that problem I've decided to create a buffet, or more accurately a number of tapas, to satiate your wide ranging appetite for news.

On Pearl Harbor Anniversary, Obama's honor Japanese: Today is the 70th anniversary of the tragedy at Pearl Harbor. As many Americans gather around the country to commemorate the heroism of the fallen soldiers, as well as the service of all U.S. veterans, it seems our first family has their priorities somewhere else. I speak, of course, about the Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia. Their school, the hippie commune Sidwell Friends, in a gross display of multiculturalism gone awry, served Japanese food. Once again, the Obama family has shown they are hopelessly out of touch with the average American, and I would not be surprised if the school served such dishes as garlic roasted edamame on the direction of Comrade Barack.


Mumia is Free!(Except not really): Philadelphia D.A. Seth Williams announced that he was no longer seeking the death penalty against former Black Panter, and cause celebre, Mumia Abu Jamal. Mumia, who has sat in jail for 30 years, convicted of murdering a police officerm, has become an international touchstone for death penalty opponents. They point to an ineffective lawyer, a racist judge, a predominately white misinstructed jury, and the wavering accounts of eye witnesses, as casting doubt on his sentence. His case has been the subject of countless appeals since his conviction, and no less a credible source than Amnesty International, have called his jailing unfair. Though they applauded today's decision Amnesty International reiterated their desire for a new jury trial. Mumia will serve the rest of his life in jail, but at least now the state won't put a possibly innocent man to death, and if further evidence arises perhaps Mumia will regain his freedom.

Blagojevich gets 14 Years: Former Illinois Governor, and male supermodel, Rod Blagojevich was sentenced today to 14 years in jail for political corruption. Perhaps his most notable charge was the attempt to auction off his appointment for the former seat of President Obama vacated when he was elected to the White House. The prosecution had Blagojevich on tape discussing the crime, but he maintained his innocence throughout the trial. Blagojevich, who the judge lauded for his remorse for his mistakes, subtly tried to sway jurors to his side to the bitter end. Noticing one juror was from Boston, Blagojevich bloviated about his love for Boston. Noticing another owned a Greek coffee shop, Blagojevich noted how he used to frequent a similar restaurant near his house. Noticing another was a librarian, he referenced his love for books and his large collection. Blagojevich will join former Gov. George Ryan, who directly preceded him in jail, a fact that can't make current Gov. Pat Quinn rest too easy.

Baldwin Grounded: On the lighter side, movie star Alec Baldwin was thrown off an American Airlines flight for using his cell phone while the plane sat grounded at the gate. Baldwin was approached by a flight attendant and told to turn off his phone, instead went to the bathroom, and according to American Airlines "He slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked." The cabin crew asked the attendants what was going on and after a rude tirade, they kicked Baldwin off the flight. Baldwin has taken to social media, twittering his allegiance to United Airlines and slamming American, and other major U.S. air carriers, for turning the fine art of air travel into something akin to a "Greyhound bus experience" on the HuffingtonPost.