Please excuse the tardiness. I’m pinch-hittting for my estimable ace, blackink, who is out being journalist-y and productive. Hope y’all had a grand President’s Day, and that you poured out some liquor for George Washington, Abe Lincoln, et al., ‘cuz they were gully as hell:
The New York Times is reporting that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the leader of the Taliban, was captured several days ago in a secret joint raid by U.S. and Afghan forces. This, it goes without saying, is a really, really big deal: He is the biggest fish the U.S. have caught since the war in Afghanistan began. (G.D.)
Evan Bayh, the conservative Democratic senator from Indiana and former short-lister for Barack Obama‘s veep slot, said he would not run for re-election when his term ended this year. As early as last week, Bayh had assured party leaders that he was going to run for a third term, so the timing of his announcement came as a surprise. Bayh was up by double digits in a recent poll, and he already had $13 million socked away for the bid. Bayh the Senator least likely to vote with his party this Congress, did not tell anyone in his party about his decision, which suggests that he had timed the move — just days before the filing deadline for the party’s primaries in Indiana — to screw Democrats over. (G.D.)
Texas Monthly suggests Governor Rick Perry, facing a tough GOP primary against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, could be looking past Austin to the White House. Because things went so well the last time a Texas governor ascended to the presidency. (Blackink)
Also in Texas Monthly, we learn about the plight of another death-row inmate who faced execution even though six different physicians and scientists said there’s no way he could have murdered Melissa Trotter and left her body in the Sam Houston National Forest in December 1998. Larry Swearingen was recently granted a stay of execution by a federal court. Because Texas is apparently not serious about justice. (Blackink)
Speaking of Texas, Terri Gross has a fascinating interview with David Dow, who for the last 20 years has defended inmates in the state who were on death row. (G.D.)
Speaking of Texas some more, the New York Times Magazine looks at the push by Christian conservatives to change the curriculum and textbooks in the Lone Star State to reflect Christian values. The effort that has huge national ramifications because the state is the largest customer of textbooks of the country, which means they essentially set the curriculum standards for textbook publishers around the country. (G.D.)
The misnomer for today’s holiday — which drives editors crazy — explained. (quadmoniker)
The NYT has a fairly damning story on the Congressional Black Caucus, made up of the black legislators in the House. “The caucus has built a fund-raising juggernaut unlike anything else in town. It has a traditional political fund-raising arm subject to federal rules. But it also has a network of nonprofit groups and charities that allow it to collect unlimited amounts of money from corporations and labor unions. …But the bulk of the money has been spent on elaborate conventions that have become a high point of the Washington social season, as well as the headquarters building, golf outings by members of Congress and an annual visit to a Mississippi casino resort.” Members of the caucus have come under scrutiny from ethics investigators for their dealings with corporations who donate to them.
Hawaii was the only state Friday that did not have snow on the ground.
Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman who died of an aggressive form of cervical cancer around her 30th birthday in1951. For decades, her uniquely hardy cells have been kept alive and reproducing in research labs all over the country and been integral in all sorts of scientific studies, and her patented tissue has earned some researchers millions of dollars. Her life, those of her impoverished, uneducated relatives, and the role of race in class in American medicine are the focus of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a new book by Rebecca Skloot. (G.D.)
Charles Peterson at the New York Review of Books on Facebook: “It’s true that Facebook can lead to a false sense of connection to faraway friends, since few members post about the true difficulties of their lives…All of these “technologies,” however laconic or verbose, can express an intimacy reserved for one alone.” (belleisa)
Also in the New York Review of Books, Francine Prose discusses Marry Karr and her memoirs Cherry, Lit and the anniversary of the The Liar’s Club. This book was on the NYT bestseller lists for over a year. (belleisa)
It doesn’t matter if it says ‘pre-washed’ on the bag. Wash that bagged salad again. (shani-o)
From Jezebel: “A British study indicates that a majority of respondents said victims bear responsibility for rape in some cases. And women were even harsher than men.”(belleisa)
FiveThirtyEight points out just how confused Americans are about how we spend our tax dollars. (quadmoniker)
Via Michael Roston at [True/Slant], on Gerald Posner’s resignation from the Daily Beast due to plagiarism: “It’s strange in a way to hear Posner faulting the ‘warp speed of the net’ (alongside himself) for his missteps. I might argue that his real problem was that he was not abiding enough by the habits of the blogosphere on the Internet, and this was a cause of his difficulties. There have been a number of big plagiarism scandals in the years that I’ve been a working journalist. But few notable incidents have involved writers whose primary method of communication is blogging.” (belleisa)
Why would anyone think Sarah Silverman would be a good choice for a TED talk? (shani-o)
Mashable says social media is creating opportunities for more women to enter technology. (shani-o)
Instaboner’s tribute post to fashion giant Alexander McQueen. (shani-o)
Today’s ampersand. (shani-o)
Remember, folks: Lincoln is the reason for the season. And Happy Lunar New Year!
