Monday Medley

What we read while not being Mirandized…

• So, uh, not such a great week. The carnage at last Monday’s Boston Marathon, which is such a cherished event in that city, shocked the country and brought back memories of 9/11. Luckily there were countless examples of heroism in the aftermath of the tragedy, including an impressive response by Boston’s medical teams. The city went into lockdown in order to find the suspects. One was killed early Friday morning, and the other was found later that evening, capping a turbulent week for one of nation’s oldest cities.

• Of course, there were mistakes along the way, from the rush to blame Islamic radicals without any evidence, to the misidentification of “suspects” based on their nationality and skin color, to false reports from news outlets, to confusing Chechnya with the Czech Republic. Once the proper suspects were identified, Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain rushed to abandon the Constitution, asserting that the Tsarnaevs should be treated as enemy combatants. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was not read his Miranda rights when arrested, with the FBI citing the “public safety” exception (despite repeated assurances from public officials that there was no more danger to the public). Emily Bazelton explains why this is so dangerous.

• Worth remembering this week: We just passed the 50th anniversary of MLK’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

• In other sad news, Pat Summerall, the greatest play-by-play announcer in football history, passed away at the age of 82.

• Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur wrote a baseball “preview” even though the season is already three weeks old. Posnanski also dismissed the notion of “pitching to the score.”

• A very interesting look at income inequality through New York’s subway system.

• How a meeting between Dickens and Dostoevsky that never happened became a part of scholarship.

• A long conversation between Julian Assange of WikiLeaks and Eric Schmidt of Google.

• Whatever happened to Allen Iverson?

• How 37 banks turned into four big ones.

• The top 20 Quentin Tarantino food scenes.

• Sabermetrics in tee ball, or: Why Mike Tanier Is the Best.

• Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign is not feminist.

Monday Medley

What we read while President Obama’s position on gay marriage was intelligently designed…

• Twitter tried to stand up for a user’s privacy, but was blocked by the courts. Speaking of Internet policing, a look at Anonymous, the online hacker collective.

• The Intelligence Squared debate on banning college football is worth watching, if only for the spectacle of Buzz Bissinger.

• In case you weren’t paying attention: On the heels of North Carolina’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and rights for gay couples, President Obama announced his personal support for gay marriage (just as John S predicted he would do three months ago). This is one of Obama’s better flip-flops. Posner and Becker opine on gay marriage.

• The NYPD released troubling numbers on its “Stop and Frisk” policy.

• Roger Ebert likes women.

• A DFW link to more DFW links!

• How did Wall Street kill Dodd-Frank?

• NBC surprisingly renewed all of its low-rated but well-regarded comedies. One of them, Parks and Recreation, aired its season finale last week. Showrunner Michael Schur broke down the season with Alan Sepinwall. Presumably, noted sabermetrician Schur would love this spinoff.

• Brewers’ closer John Axford sums up all postgame interviews in a note.

• Mad Men paid a small fortune for the rights to air a Beatles song last week, as I’m sure John Lennon would have wanted…

Monday Medley

What we read while accidentally occupying Main Street…

• The Occupy Wall Street protests are heating up, with Matt Taibbi offering his uncharacteristically reasonable advice. Meanwhile Mike Konczal does a statistical analysis of the “99%” that’s interesting whether you sympathize with the protests or not.

• The lost notebooks of Hank Williams (it’s the good one, so there are no Obama-Hitler comparisons).

• Jeffrey Eugenides new novel is sort of about David Foster Wallace, kind of!

• Dan Harmon clarifies some stuff about the latest confusing episode of Community, while this chart breaks down the multiple timelines.

• The NBA officially cancelled two weeks of games as the owners look for a bailout.

• A college basketball documentary to get excited about.

• In baseball news, Michael Schur reacts to the Boston Red Sox fallout, Joe Posnanski breaks down the worst contracts in baseball, and the Florida Marlins announce the most beautiful thing in history.

• The last hope for believers in true love dies…

Monday Medley

What we read while Irene thankfully didn’t affect the VMAs…

• NPI-favorite Michael Schur teamed up with The Decembrists to make a video based on the NPI-favorite Eschaton scene in NPI-favorite novel Infinite Jest by NPI-favorite writer, David Foster Wallace. NPI really enjoyed it.

• Speaking of DFW, the New York Times Magazine tried to blame him for bad blog writing.

• Steve Jobs resigned from Apple for health reasons. Whether or not you’re an official member of the cult of Jobs, there’s no denying his profound influence. This Rolling Stone interview, given during his decade-long exile from Apple, shows his intelligence and prescience. Apple, of course, is still in good hands, and new CEO Tim Cook has some great ideas…

• Miranda July has a new movie out, The Future,  which garnered a very positive review from Roger Ebert, who ranked July’s first film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, as one of the best of the Aughts. New York Times Magazine had a feature on July last month.

• The New Yorker details the politics and impact of Clarence Thomas and his wife. Reason Magazine points out Jeffrey Toobin’s inconsistent position on Thomas’s influence on the Court.

• Jeffrey Sachs discusses the dishonest debate about America’s deficit.

• Is the Colbert Super PAC funny or serious? Or both?

• Joe Posnanski talks about pitchers and the MVP award, Jonah Keri tries to figure out how the Angels keep winning, and Joe DeLessio tries to figure out if Jeff Nelson ever effectively used “the old Jeff Nelson.”

• An interview with Paul Rudd.

• Inspirational posters from The Wire.

Monday Medley

What we read while getting ready for our huge Ramadan party…

• Yankee fans ought to have fond memories of Hideki Irabu, who sadly passed away last week.

• Michael Schur discusses Bowling Alone, Thomas Hardy, The Wire, Jason Schwartzman, and The Iceman Cometh in an effort to break down the third season of Parks and Recreation. He also endorsed this website.

• Read Marc Maron’s keynote speech at Montreal’s Just For Laughs Comedy Conference.

• Things did not go well for Kings of Leon in Dallas last week.

• This is why newspapers are dying.

• Why does everyone in Washington dislike Elizabeth Warren? And why does everyone in the world dislike Lloyd Blankfein? (The second question is probably easier than the first one…)

• The story of a scrappy, underdog tech company named Microsoft.

Monday Medley

What we read while believers got their comeuppance…

• With the end of television season, New York Magazine published a “showrunners” issue, including interviews with Dan Harmon of Community, Louis C.K. of Louie, and Amy Poehler of Parks and Recreation. Another Parks & Rec star talks about his most famous television role. Meanwhile, the show’s co-creator, Michael Schur, talked to Alan Sepinwall about the show.

• This 1993 profile of Lenny Dykstra was a watershed piece of sports writing that now seems eerily prescient.

• Hendrik Hertzberg makes an insightful point about Obama’s tiff with Netanyahu. Also in the New Yorker, some musings on the ominous possibilities of the Bradley Manning case.

• A profile of Facebook’s less-famous COO.

• Legal writing superstar Bryan Garner has released interviews he had with eight Supreme Court justices on legal writing. District Court Judge Weinstein, on the other hand, should not be offering writing tips after his 400-page sentencing opinion.

• A famous fellow Duke alum talks about being a Cameron Crazie.

• Black & white pictures of New York City never get old. Nor do the vocals of Beatles’ songs: here’s Paul McCartney’s isolated vocal of Helter Skelter.