Wealthy, influential, and widely read pundit, author, and pop- sociology-flouter David Brooks today uses his New York Times op-ed column to announce to you, me, and everyone else around the world: he still likes the Mets. Yeah. Thought about liking the Nats, but... had to stick with the old Mets. Mmm hmm. But did he find a way to work in some pop sociology?
The FBI has released some of its files on the late Christopher Hitchens, including records indicating that he was the subject of a counterintelligence investigation in the 1980s.
A friend and graduate of Columbia's journalism school noticed this incredible update in his monthly alumni update email blast today, and thought to pass it along, because oh my god, it is fantastic. Amidst the general, self-congratulatory notes—"Peter Hoffmann '60 has revised and expanded his 2001 book," "Anusha Shrivastava '02 was elected president of..."—lies this gem:
When Slate advice column Dear Prudence explored gay male twin fucking, I assumed it was an aberration in a column otherwise devoted to wedding etiquette and mother-in-law woes. But what if Dear Prudence is actually on the cutting edge of human sexuality? What if Dear Prudence is the Penthouse Letters of tongue-clucking suburbanites?
See that flag? It is the state flag of Wisconsin. On the top there is the name of the state, "Wisconsin," and on the bottom is the year that Wisconsin was admitted to the union.
Fearless Washington, DC TV reporter Andrea McCarren is fearless enough to take on that most taboo of subjects: kids these days. With the drinking, and the boozing. These teenagers and their drunkenness. But lo: a bunch of drunk teens were too much even for fearless reporter Andrea McCarren.
Whitney Houston died on Saturday, and the internet quickly filled with remembrances and tributes. Some of them, despite the short turnaround, were smart and informative and moving: Rich Juzwiak's terrific piece in The Daily, for example. And some of them were so stupid we had to collect them for you.
The slow-moving but determined people of Iowa continue to exact their revenge on uppity University of Iowa professor Stephen Bloom (pictured), who wrote that piece in The Atlantic a couple months back trolling the entire state by depicting them as a bunch of hound-stroking mouth breathers. The backlash led Bloom to flee the state for an "undisclosed location."
Marge Miley, a former editor and columnist at the Manitowoc (WI) Herald Times Reporter passed away this week at the age of 86. Marge composed her own obituary, which she left on file with her funeral home. (Here's the first page—click to enlarge.) She would surely take some satisfaction from the fact that what she wrote was better than the obit the newspaper did for her.
"How any of these people can even look in the mirror, behold the oozing, limitless intellectual dishonesty, and not want to smash what they see is truly mystifying to me."
Greg Kelly, NYC Fox News anchor and son of police commissioner Ray Kelly, is off the hook on rape charges after police decided that his accuser actually had a consensual encounter with him, then changed her story when her boyfriend found out. Fine. Only Kelly and the woman really know what happened. But why is the New York Post such an extremely gleeful Greg Kelly defender?
We take a backseat to no one when it comes to spewing forth venom at the public relations industry. But we feel compelled to stand up and make this point: PR people doing research on what reporters have written and making a file on that topic is not a scandal. It is the same thing that reporters do, okay?
