Morning Coffee (3/23/16)

ICYMI: I was disappointed with An Ember in the Ashes.

Brussels Attacks Underscore Vulnerability of an Open European Society

And some useful background: The Brussels attacks are a profound threat to the European project

(My boss, not the Rent character) Maureen Johnson has announced a new book series and I am very excited about it! Boarding school and murder!

This is a little old now but very well-written and illuminating: How America Made Donald Trump Unstoppable

I feel like this has gotten lost in a lot of the discussion: "Rubio would have easily been the most radical nominee in Republican Party history."

Hillary Clinton, ‘Smart Power’ and a Dictator’s Fall

The hope and hype of super delegates

I finally read the Jennifer Garner Vanity Fair piece and it's just as good as you've heard.

Our relationship with TV is messed up. It’s time for a change.

This is a little hard to describe but quite compelling: Blood Ties: Conjuring up my own personal conquistador

Why Everyone on TV Has the Same Hair

Lines of Text I've Clicked to Exit Pop-Ups, Ranked From Least to Most True

Morning Coffee (3/19/16)

ICYMI: Our Friday Five was about literary songs.

What Went Wrong With Marco Rubio?

Useful! Brazil's Petrobras scandal, explained

Scientists claim New York police forced them to fake DNA tests to convict more suspects

Irish terrorist Gerry Adams whines on Twitter about US airport security is funny but also makes some good points about the interplay between terrorism and diplomacy.

It’s Time for Welfare Reform Again

Here's an important read about kids being ARRESTED for (sometimes mildly) misbehaving at school.

This story about the plot to take down a fake former CIA Fox News analyst is INSANE but my personal favorite part was the bit about the overhyped movie option for his novel.

The Onion, barely: GOP Leaders Assure Sobbing Rubio It Not His Fault Party Splitting Up

World-shaking: Have We Been Playing Gershwin Wrong for 70 Years?

This piece on an Army detachment taking out the original Ku Klux Klan is long but worth reading.

Ooh: Anita Sarkeesian’s next Feminist Frequency project tackles women’s history

WHY ARE YOU LONELY: A TEXT GAME

Morning Coffee (3/16/16)

The President is naming a Supreme Court nominee at 11!

Hillary Clinton had an amazing night — and not just because of her victories

Shocker: Hillary Clinton Won Big Tuesday. Male Pundits Responded With These Sexist Tweets.

John Kasich: Super into confetti.

Heh: The New York Times Had an Awful Lot of Second Thoughts About Its Story on Bernie Sanders' Legislative Record

In the wake of his departure from the race, this Tampa newspaper profile of Rubio and how everyone he worked with in Florida wound up feeling betrayed is worth a read.

The Smear Campaign Against Potential SCOTUS Nominee Jane Kelly Is an Attack on the Constitution

Trust me, you want to read the whole piece about Trump's butler. There's some understatedly amazing stuff in there about Trump's general disregard for the truth, among other things. (Also, did you realize a Post cereal heiress left Mar-a-Lago to the government TO BE A PRESIDENTIAL RETREAT? Maybe we can blame HER for all this.)

Guys. GUYS. Ben Carson: I Didn’t Want To Endorse Trump, But He Promised Me A Position

GUYS. Sanders says he ran as a Democrat for 'media coverage'

WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY.

Morning Coffee (3/13/16)

Don't forget about the springing forward nonsense.

Donald Trump ditched free market ideology for nationalism — and it's working

Why #NeverTrump is doomed

It scared me that a third of Sanders supporters say they wouldn't vote for Clinton in the general, but: "To be fair, the #BernieOrBust temper tantrums come from a minority of Sanders supporters; most Bernie backers, like most people supporting Hillary, will gladly vote for either candidate should they be the nominee, in part because they are adults who realize "democracy" is not a synonym for "give me whatever I want or I'm calling my mom!" and in part because Clinton and Sanders are more similar than they are different — and they are both very different from anyone running on the Republican ticket."

Rubio tried to give Kasich an olive branch. Then Kasich's campaign lit it on fire.

There is no "real" Donald Trump

#VettingBernie, aka a Timeline of Sanders Bull@#$%

UGH, John Goodman: "The entire point of this story is vengeance against a woman who "embarrassed" him by not treating him like the most important thing on the planet the moment he arrived in her vicinity. And I'm not going to pretend for a moment that it was ever intended to be anything else."

This is disappointing: The Mass-Market Edition of To Kill a Mockingbird Is Dead

This "eating out of a bowl" trend piece is hilarious, but also, I would give a LOT to have one of those restaurants here.

I don't even watch dating shows, but this history of them was fascinating.

Morning Coffee (3/7/16)

Me elsewhere: TV news for the week, including a premiere date for the Hot Vicar Show! Er, I mean Grantchester.

Important: How young ‘liberal’ Americans could become racist right-wingers

Fascinating: Inside the Republican Party’s Desperate Mission to Stop Donald Trump

Uncovering the Bad Math (or Logic) of an Economic Analysis Embraced by Bernie Sanders (They did a really good job of explaining how the economic analysis works here.)

Marcia Clark continues to be pretty awesome: I prosecuted O.J. Simpson. Here’s what I learned about race and justice in America.

I meant to link this last week but it's important and newly relevant in light of last night's debate: Hillary Clinton on ‘superpredator’ remarks: ‘I shouldn’t have used those words’

Marco Rubio’s Trump Attacks Expose Uncomfortable Truths for the Right

"Mr. Obama insisted that in private conversations, Republican bluster was tempered. 'They’re pretty sheepish about it,' he said." ONE WOULD HOPE.

Meet the man who can basically read President Obama’s mind

Whoa: A Plagiarism Scandal Is Unfolding In The Crossword World

This absolutely made me want to read/watch more Didion: How Joan Didion the Writer Became Joan Didion the Legend

Morning Coffee (3/2/16)

This is long but perhaps the most important thing you will read about this year's election and the current political situation in general: The rise of American authoritarianism

After Super Tuesday, it's clear that only Hillary Clinton can stop Donald Trump

That said: Inside the Clinton Team’s Plan to Defeat Donald Trump was SO SOOTHING to read.

I genuinely love the point in any campaign season when people start turning to Max Weber.

Meanwhile, Rubio's people are claiming his path to victory doesn't require winning states, so.

Trying to sabotage Republicans by supporting Trump is a very bad idea

Politico's story on the workings of the Sanders campaign was very interesting and made me even more positive that this man would not be a good president.

I ...okay, guys: Union Leader Retracts Christie Endorsement: 'Boy, Were We Wrong'

Black Former Law Students of Antonin Scalia Recall Unfair Treatment at the University of Chicago

Joyless Children’s Games in Western Art History

Morning Coffee (2/25/16)

ICYMI: I liked The Big Short.

Never let it be said that the President is not good at this game: Republican governor of Nevada Brian Sandoval being considered for Supreme Court

ALSO: HE GUEST POSTED ON SCOTUSBLOG. (Yesterday a friend and I mapped out a whole post-presidential guest blogging career. Let him drop in on sports blogs! Handle some Dear Prudence questions! Recap a political TV drama! PUT HIM ON THE SLATE GABFEST.)

This this this: Why I'm more worried about Marco Rubio than Donald Trump

"But the Republican Party did try to stop Trump. It just failed. And until the nature of that failure is appreciated, the strength of Trump's candidacy is going to be underestimated."

As someone who was too young/oblivious to follow the 1994 crime bill at the time, this piece was very helpful in understanding the discussions of it now.

Of all the ridiculous things happening in this campaign, Glenn Beck lying about carrying around George Washington's copy of Don Quixote is possibly the most hilarious. (Me: "Aside from everything else, do you think the Cruz campaign wants to be just INVITING people to think about the word 'quixotic'?" Friend: "Do you think they even know what that means?" Point.)

Trump is consulting with Giuliani because of course he is.

Oh for the love of - Georgetown Law Professors Say Students Are “Traumatized” by Criticisms of Scalia, Demand “Remedies”

Vice President Biden is presenting at the Oscars! (I'm not sure . . . why . . . but I am generally in favor of him doing WHATEVER HE WANTS.)

"What all of these scenes have in common, though, is a recognition that simply having characters shift away from the missionary position does not constitute insight."

Morning Coffee (2/13/16)

Justice Dept. sues the city of Ferguson to force policing reform

"The winning strategy for Trump in a general election is actually pretty simple: Stop saying racist and sexist stuff, pretend he never said racist and sexist stuff, and say whatever he has to to appeal to swing voters."

"Trump’s ethos is simple: he does whatever the hell he wants and he never has to say he’s sorry. If that’s not the dream of the adolescent American male, what is?"

Interesting question: The ethics of advising Donald Trump

"So the meme doesn’t exactly fight fair: It compares how Clinton fields soft questions with how Sanders replies to hard ones."

Marco Rubio's super awkward confrontation with a gay voter, explained

An important read: The Trials of New York’s Family Court

Stranded on the Island of the Blue Dolphins: The True Story of Juana Maria

TV producer Ryan Murphy has a plan to boost Hollywood diversity. It might actually work.

Meet the Guy Behind Amazon’s Secret Retail Store Plans

Morning Coffee (2/10/16)

ICYMI: Joy was an odd movie that I mostly liked.

The rest of this is primary-related - sorry - but first some VERY IMPORTANT NEWS: Bryan Fuller is running the new Star Trek show!

As usual, I collected most of these links before last night's primary results, so keep that in mind if something seems out of date.

"Call me a bad progressive, but I still think the job of president should go to the most qualified candidate and not the one who tells me what I want to hear even though we both know he’ll never accomplish it."

Donald Trump called Ted Cruz a “pussy” — and the media won’t repeat it

Will Marco Rubio’s Fragile Appeal Be Shattered in New Hampshire?

Speaking of, this is absolutely a quality you want in a president: "Though generally seen as cool-headed and quick on his feet, Rubio is known to friends, allies, and advisers for a kind of incurable anxiousness — and an occasional propensity to panic in moments of crisis, both real and imagined."

And: Rubio Glitch Truthers Insist He’s a Poet, Not a Robot

Chris Christie vs. Vermin Supreme is such an amazing, New Hampshire-y story.

Related: Fantastic primary trolls, and where to find them

Heh: 600-Pound Pig Caught Outside New Hampshire Primary Voting Spot

This about how campaigns target New Hampshire voters was interesting but generated completely incorrect results when I put in my real information.

Morning Coffee (5/4/15)

Me elsewhere: Here's your TV news for the week.

In case you somehow missed it over the weekend: The new British princess was born, and the Fug Girls have adorable pictures here and here.

Ooh, the Bartolomeo Cristofori Google doodle!

Only people who have read the Mortal Instruments series will care about this, but I am astonished by how like Simon the newly cast Alberto Rosende is in this video, and I continue to be astonished by the fact of TV shows based on books by people I know being REAL.

Sad news: Ben E. King has died. (And B.B. King is in hospice, which is also sad, and I mention here partially because I kept reading stories about these situations and thinking I must have misread or someone must have typoed the names or something but no, both.)

It's clearly time we all learn about Marilyn Mosby.

Britain’s Drift From the Global Stage Becomes an Election Issue

I'm pretty excited about the new Macbeth photos.

Gail Collins read Marco Rubio's books so you don't have to.

Morning Coffee (4/20/15)

Me elsewhere: Your TV news for the week.

Sad news: Jonathan Crombie (who played Gilbert Blythe) passed away over the weekend.

Dear Marco Rubio, This is not how to win friends in New Hampshire.

This is not how you archive.

If you have Henry VII's bed, maybe don't leave it in a car park.

Elsewhere in famous bed news: Bedspread thought to be from Abraham Lincoln's deathbed to be tested for blood

Maureen Johnson says good things about teachers, sexism, and more.

Fascinating: The lavish lifestyle of India's royalty

Heh: A Day in the Life of a Fictional Female Reporter

Morning Coffee (4/15/15)

(Political links will probably only increase from here on out to the election. You're welcome/I'm sorry. But it'll never be more than a few a day.)

Don't underestimate Marco Rubio

I joke that I can't pick a candidate until they all come to my office and/or buy me breakfast, but that's really not far from the truth in New Hampshire and Iowa, and that may be a problem for Clinton.

Also a potential problem: Scott Walker's dog allergy.

When the Onion is just truth: Nation Hopeful There Will Be Equally Random Chance Of Justice For Future Victims Of Police Abuse

This is one of those things that's simultaneously awesome that it exists and sad that it has reason to exist: Women-only 'pink rickshaw' hits the road in Lahore

Nifty: How to Build a Cocktail, Visualized

Can We Guess Your Age Based On Your Taste In Books? (They got pretty close for me!)

HENRY VIII: who let all these dang wolves in my hall

WOLF IN TUDOR HAT: aaroo