Thirty-Five Years in Prison: Today a military judge sentenced Private Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for releasing over 700,000 government files to WikiLeaks. He was also dishonorably discharged from the military.
Restaurant Industry Study Says Paid Sick Leave Is Bad for Restaurants: But Goldy explains how the study is totally unscientific, self-reported, statistically insignificant bullshit. "So yeah, if EPI can be trusted, about 56 percent of the 191 employers surveyed said that Seattle's paid sick leave ordinance would increase their cost of doing business. But they weren't asked to prove it."
Belltown's New Building Blocks: A new apartment building going up in downtown is having its 49 units built in Oregon and shipped here for on-site assembly, making it "the first of its kind in Seattle," reports KOMO.
Yesterday's Georgia School Shooting: The elementary school's bookkeeper was left alone with the gunman, who was firing shots as the school evacuated. In an extraordinary move, she talked him into surrendering himself to police. There were no casualties.
Sticky Fingers, Buried Treasure: Former King County Sheriff's deputy Mitchell Wright reportedly admitted to stealing heroin while working undercover, and burying it in his backyard.
God Made Me Do It: Contradicting statements he made in February, ex-Pope Benedict now says that God told him to resign during a mystical experience.
Unnerving Chemical Attacks? Syrian activists claim that government forces have doused citizens—many of them women and children—with chemical weapons, killing hundreds, and have disturbing video to back up their claims. The government denies the attacks, while various media outlets are working hard to confirm the reports.
Government Thugs Unite: Several weeks ago, UK authorities threatened The Guardian with legal action and police raids unless the paper destroyed all materials provided by Edward Snowden. Authorities even sent agents to the paper's offices to oversee the destruction of physical hard drives—a largely symbolic gesture in the age of the internet. The paper explains their actions, and what it signifies for the future of journalism and government surveillance. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that the NSA has the power to monitor about 75 percent of all US internet traffic.
Amazon Snuggles Up to the CIA: A redacted lawsuit that Amazon filed against the federal government last month—in an attempt to block the CIA from reopening a contract bid Amazon had won to provide cloud services and other web-based infrastructure—has been made public.
Because Only (Female) Virgins Deserve to Graduate High School: A (male) Indonesian education adviser has proposed giving all (female) teens a virginity test before they can enter their senior year of high school.
Love Thy Neighbor, Conditionally: "After 60 years of attending a Tennessee church, a family in Collegedale has been exiled because they supported their daughter while she fought for same sex benefits from the town where she worked as a police detective," reports Rawstory.com.
And finally, let's learn some true facts about the Aye Aye:
