A.M. Links: Chris Christie: You Can't Lead by Being an Enigma, Police Shootings From Alaska to Virginia, Google to Pay $22.5 Million FTC Fine

|

  • Speaking at the Brookings Institute, Chris Christie had some advice for politicians in Washington (and maybe those looking to get there?): "We shouldn't be listening to political consultants whispering in our ears, 'Say as little as possible,' we shouldn't be listening to those voices that say, 'Just use the party doctrine and don't stray.' We should be telling people how we think and how we feel and let them judge us up or down. You can't lead by being a mystery. You can't lead by being an enigma. You can't lead by being aloof. You can't lead by being programmed. I think you have to lead by being yourself and who you are and then people will trust you."

  • A young Detroit woman died after a cop's holstered gun accidentally went off while she was hugging him at a house party, according to police. In Saginaw, Michigan the police shooting of a homeless man wielding a knife is being questioned by a local councilman. A local community coalition in Virginia is asking why a bat-wielding man was shot dead by cops. A Houston man was shot and killed after allegedly twirling towards officers with his hands in his shirt; he was unarmed. Two police shootings in the last month in Anchorage have yielded protests from the Polynesian community. Cops in New Hampshire say they shot an armed man after a confrontation; neighbors say at least ten state trooper cars came in to the neighborhood and some say they were evacuated from their homes. In Oregon, deputy sheriffs shot a man a neighbor says was pointing an assault rifle at passing cars, nearby areas, and finally at the cops who showed up.  Meanwhile in New York City, the police department has put out a $10,000 reward for a 20 year old accused of shooting a police officer last week.
  • Chicago's mayor Rahm Emanuel is defending the new police chief's strategy of increasing cops on beat patrol rather than relying on specialized military-style units that drop into crime-ridden areas; some of the alderman in those areas want those units back as the homicide rate is up 38 percent so far this year; the overall crime rate, the police chief notes, is down 10 percent. 
  • Egypt's newly elected president, a Muslim Brother, plans on reconvening Egypt's parliament, controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, despite a ruling by the country's highest court upholding the military's dissolution of the legislative body.
  • Floods caused by record-breaking rain in several mountain cities in Russia are spurring conspiracy theories on the internet revolving around an intentional discharge of the natural water basin in the mountains, which the government says actually collected massive amounts of water and prevented an even more severe flood.
  • Google will pay the Federal Trade Commission $22.5 million to settle charges of invading the privacy of Safari users by using cookies to bypass certain tracking safeguards. Google maintains it was inadvertent, but will pay what is the largest FTC penalty in history.
  • Prince Fielder became the second player (after Ken Griffey Jr) to win multiple homerun derbies, winning yesterday's in Kansas City. Matt Cain will start for the NL in today's game, joining three other Giants on the line-up.

Don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily AM/PM updates for more content.

New at Reason.TV: "Public-Private Partnerships in Puerto Rico"