Your Tuesday Random-Ass Roundup: Winning?

Or something like that.

Now let’s all learn together:

1. Hunting for bin Laden, by the numbers. (G.D.)

2. India’s home secretary has taken this opportunity to say Pakistan is a sanctuary for terrorists.  I’m sure that’s excellent for India-Pakistan relations.  Speaking of Pakistan, The New Yorker called it “the A.I.G. of nation-states.” (Nicole)

3. Much of the online reaction on jihadist and right-wing web sites echoed each other: they thought Obama was lying about bin Laden’s death and stunting for 2012. (G.D.)

4. Newspapers keep obits written in advance for luminaries in the event that they die suddenly, and they polish the pieces semiregularly to keep them up to date.  Michael Kaufman, the reporter who penned the NYT’s Illiad-length obituary of bin Laden, actually died in 2010, of prostate cancer. (The writer of the NYT’s Elizabeth Taylor obit had been dead for six years by the time the article ran.) (G.D.)

5. Also, a roundup of newspaper front pages from around the country. (G.D.)

6. ColorlinesKai Wright thinks that Obama’s speech was militaristic and divorced from reality. “He leads a nation that can afford billions of dollars annually for war but cannot feed the nearly 18 million children who lived in homes without food security in 2009. And yet, the Nobel Peace Prize winner can fix his mouth to say that killing a man on the other side of the globe provides proof of America’s exceptionalism. The gap between rhetoric and reality has long been a defining trait of American life. … But it is in times like these that the dissonance becomes unbearable.” (G.D.)

7. In other important political news, Donald Trump had a terrible week. Anna Holmes reminds us that Trump is an unrepentant sexist. And Nicole has a suggestion for the fledgling presidential contender.  (Blackink)

8. A recent Hamilton College study found Paul Krugman is the top prognosticator among political pundits while Cal Thomas is the worst. It should surprise no one that U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman ranks among the worst too. (Blackink)

9. Food prices are on the rise in Haiti. (Nicole)

10. A high school cheerleader in Texas was kicked off her team after she refused to root for a cheerleader she accused of sexually assaulting her”When the player went to the free-throw line during a 2009 game, [the cheerleader] silently refused to cheer for him along with her fellow cheerleaders. According to court papers filed by the school district, the cheerleader’s refusal caused a disruption in the stands, and officials told her she had to participate in the cheers or else go home. H.S. went home, and she was removed from the cheerleading squad the next day. (She later rejoined the squad.)” The free speech case has wound its way through the court system, but the Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal. (G.D.)

11. For better or worse, U.S. schools are faring no worse in international assessments than they were 50 years ago. (Blackink)

12. Jane Black checks out school lunches in Huntington, West Virginia (site of Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” TV show) and learns that they’re pretty awesome. (Nicole)

13. When in New York, rent don’t buy. (Blackink)

14. I saw “Fast Five” this weekend.  I went because I like fast cars and any movie with Ludacris (and The Rock), but from now I’m going to tell people that I actually went because it’s the most progressive force in American cinema today. (and because the Rock knew about bin Laden’s death before you did.) (Nicole)

15. Does the NFL have an anti-Nigerian bias? (Blackink)

And because I am a real American, now it’s time for a lunch of Extra Big Ass fries, burrito coverings and Mountain Dew.  Taste the electrolytes, Osama.

Joel

Joel Anderson —blackink —  writes about sports, politics, crime, courts, and other issues far beyond his competence at BuzzFeed. He has worked at media outlets in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Atlanta and contributed to a number of publications, including The Root and The American Prospect, among many others.