Morning Coffee (1/10/16)

"He hasn’t taken office yet, but Donald Trump is lost, wandering in a labyrinth of lies and trying to drag the country in with him."

Good for him (and this is the first time a senator has done this): Cory Booker to Testify Against Fellow Senator Jeff Sessions at Attorney General Hearing

Jeff Sessions Has a History of Blocking Black Judges

It's Official: Kushner To Serve As Unpaid Senior Adviser To Trump What nepotism rules? Also, I believe the "unpaid" part means he won't be subject to financial disclosure.

Drought worsens deadly battle between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria

This is great: Kerry Apologizes For Past LGBT Discrimination At State Department

Teachers unions mount campaign against Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education pick

!!! Queen Elizabeth I’s long-lost skirt to go on display after being found in a Herefordshire church

Whoa, drama: Inside The Million-Dollar Get-Rich Doula Clique

Fifty Years of Disquietude

Earth's day lengthens by two milliseconds a century, astronomers find

Found: A Map of the Entire Internet, As of 1973

Morning Coffee (1/9/16)

Me elsewhere: Catching up on TV news.

As Donald Trump Denies Climate Change, These Kids Die of It

Trump said he had $315 million in debt. He left out $1.5 billion.

How to Overwhelm the Media

The Unraveling of Julian Assange

Murder in the Bayou

Chris Christie Can't Even Get a Book Deal

These Are the First Glorious Images From Cassini's Ring-Grazing Orbits

This is perfect: Did Inadequate Women’s Healthcare Destroy Star Wars’ Old Republic?

How Suzy Ruled Society Gossip for Five Decades, as Told by Aileen Mehle

The Sweet, Savage Sexual Revolution That Set the Romance Novel Free

The bibliophilia of Anglo-Saxon England

Morning Coffee (1/8/17)

Putin Ordered ‘Influence Campaign’ Aimed at U.S. Election, Report Says

"Such is his influence in the geopolitical realm that transition officials have told the Obama White House that foreign policy matters that need to be brought to Mr. Trump’s attention should be relayed through his son-in-law."

Trump has been slamming US intel agencies. They just fired back.

Heh: The Most Interesting Intelligence Briefing in the World

Ultra-rare Jane Austen £5 note found in Christmas card in Scottish Borders

This is great: Food stamps can now be used for online grocery shopping

The Conjunction Fallacy Explains Why People Believe Fake News

Democrats neither can nor should ditch “identity politics”

SO BOSTON: This thief is being tracked through his Dunkin' Donuts cup.

NASA Is Building a $127 Million Space Mechanic

Fascinating: Banned Books and Blockbusters

Here's an interesting look at historians consulting on TV shows.

Morning Coffee (1/7/17)

In One Of Latin America’s Poorest Countries, Boosting The Economy Is Women’s Work

Republicans Want Revenge for Obamacare and It’s Making Them Do Stupid Things

Mattis clashing with Trump transition team over Pentagon staffing

Well this is worrisome: The GOP Just Gave Congress the Power to Cut the Salaries of Individual Civil Servants to $1 (Not that EVERYTHING isn't worrisome these days, but.)

Memo to the Media: Stop Giving Trump the Headlines He Wants

Why Vera Rubin Deserved a Nobel

!! A Brand-New Human Organ Has Been Identified

Explaining My Multiracial Identity (So Others Don’t Do It For Me)

This about Charlotte Bronte's juvenilia is interesting: Little Books, Big Books

How Maps Shaped Shakespeare

A Peek Inside the Strange World of Fake Academia

Whoa: The blue screen of death is going green for Windows testers

Morning Coffee (1/6/17)

Time for some happy Friday links. It's been a weird week, huh? Remember, if you'd like to receive my thoughts on books in your email inbox, sign up here.

Ooooh: J.K. Rowling Says This Painting Is A Clue To Her Future Projects

I jumped up in the middle of writing this to try the Bookout app because it says it's like a workout tracker for your reading. SOUNDS GOOD.

Yeah, I absolutely want lip color that looks like Crayola crayons.

I don't often read actor interviews, but this one with Matthew Daddario of Shadowhunters is a COMPLETE JOY.

Aaah, look at this Hamilton hat knitting pattern.

Whoa: P.E.I. Lego aficionado recreates Anne of Green Gables out of iconic toy

Speaking of, let's have an Anne of Green Gables party.

I LOVED this stuff: Remembering Pepsi Holiday Spice, the Winter Tradition That Could Have Been

The Onion, BARELY: Man Not Accepting Any More Television Recommendations At This Time

The Ice-Skating Dandies of 18th-Century Paris

Striking New Maps Show the Beauty of Earth's Shadows

18 Book Bags (And Totes) You’ll Want To Spend Your Holiday Loot On

Morning Coffee (1/5/17)

Well, this is terrible: Trump transition seeks info about undocumented immigrants

Cyberwar for Sale

The Russian billionaire carrying out Putin’s will across Europe

Hmm: California Hires Eric Holder as Legal Bulwark Against Donald Trump

Why do Republicans want to repeal Obamacare so much? Because it would be a big tax cut for the rich.

A Convicted Felon Registered A Bunch Of Trump-Related Domains In Asia (And he has links to Trump, it's not just... some random felon.)

Meet the Press: The hustlers, hucksters, hacks, and cowards who helped elect Donald Trump

Pilgrim’s Progress: Inside the American Nuclear-Waste Crisis

In 2017, publishing really needs a blockbuster

Obviously this is terrible but it also sounds like it should be a movie: Thieves steal $6M in jewels while ball drops on New Year’s Eve

Chief Justice, Not President, Was William Howard Taft’s Dream Job

Not My Sherlock

Morning Coffee (1/4/17)

This story was amazing and made me tear up: David Fahrenthold tells the behind-the-scenes story of his year covering Trump

How Russia Recruited Elite Hackers for Its Cyberwar

Something good: Flooded with phone calls from voters, House GOP drops effort to gut ethics panel

But: Senate Republicans just introduced an Obamacare repeal plan Democrats can’t stop

Donald Trump is for sale

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Donald Trump appears alongside convicted felon with mobster ties at New Year's Eve party

Trump Kicked His Old Biographer Off His Golf Course

New Congress, same massive gender disparity

Val McDermid: ‘It Doesn’t Get Easier, It Gets Harder!’

The surprising racial and gender bias in ‘Law and Order’

Heh: Disastrous Cheese Festival Turns Londoners Into a Bunch of Munsters

Here's the Medieval Manuscripts Blog's calendar for January.

Morning Coffee (1/3/17)

With No Warning, House Republicans Vote to Gut Independent Ethics Office

The neo-Nazi murder trial revealing Germany's darkest secrets

Stop Calling Everything “Fake News”

Thomas Schelling has died. His ideas shaped the Cold War and the world.

Friday Night Lights Out: The Case for Abolishing High School Football

This is great: This Women's Refuge Launched a Hidden, Untrackable Site for Women Experiencing Abuse

I can't believe we're still finding things in Egypt! Newly Uncovered Ruins Reveal 7,000-Year-Old City in Egypt

9 Awards Season Movies You Can Binge from the Comfort of Your Couch

The Brilliance of a Stradivari Violin Might Rest Within Its Wood

!! New Spider Species Is Named After 'Harry Potter' Sorting Hat

Ask the Publicists: An Author’s Survival Kit for Dark Times

Morning Coffee (1/2/17)

ICYMI, I have a new email newsletter about what I'm reading. Sign up here!

Nixon's Vietnam Treachery

‘Putin’s Rasputin’ has lauded Donald Trump as a ‘sensation’

While we're at it: The Murder of Rasputin, 100 Years Later

Documentary filmmakers fear more legal challenges in Trump era

Sigh: Poll: Republicans less supportive of Obamacare repeal since election

I want to go there: Universal CityWalk's AMC Theater redesign: No concession lines, a total black box auditorium and a social lounge

Wow, this cult story: Thirty Years in Captivity

!! 'Mythical' Sea Blob Finally Spotted a Century After Its Discovery

Wow: BMW remotely locks a thief inside a car

It's not your grandma's Book of the Month Club

A leaf from Mozart's grave: curiosities from British Library Music Collections

Morning Coffee (1/1/17)

Happy New Year! Thanks so much for reading.

NEWS: If you'd like to hear more from me about the books I'm reading, come subscribe to my newsletter! It's basically a little diary I'm sending out a few times a week about reading and life.

How to survive 2017: believe in protest, barricade your uterus and tax yourself

Of course they did: Mar-a-Lago sold tickets to New Year’s Eve party with Trump

Oh yay, the American Girl doll of the year is an African-American girl named Gabriela, the first non-white Girl of the Year in several years.

How Russians Pay to Play in Other Countries

I think this gets a lot right about the discussion around Milo Yiannopolous's book deal.

A Majority Agreed She Was Raped by a Stanford Football Player. That Wasn’t Enough.

The most dangerous thing about fake news sites is not what they say, but how they say it

I contributed to this roundup of the Best Female Performances on TV in 2016

What Happened To This Cult Leader's Lost Treasure?

Huh: Scottish spirits are soaring (but it’s gin, not whisky)

I'm going to join the Book Riot 2017 Read Harder Challenge. Join me!