The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

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HOME, HOME ON LAGRANGE: EARTH FINDS ITS TRUE COMPANION?

Meanwhile, in non-debtpocalypse news, I read today that a Canadian-led team of astronomers has discovered Earth's "First Asteroid Companion," the as-yet-unnamed 2010 TK7.

Fascinating -- except that the headline is totally wrong. None of the articles I scanned today mention it, but we've known about another "asteroid companion" for nearly a quarter-century. It's called Cruithne (pronounced KROOeee-nyuh), and it orbits the sun in a somewhat more elliptical version of Earth's path.

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MAN BITES DOG, SCANDAL-PLAGUED SCANDAL SHEET BITES DUST

Wow! If you care about the media, and specifically the dangers of media concentration, today's news that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is shutting down its News of the World is huge news. The fact I had to use the word "news" four times in a single sentence tells you just how huge.

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Canada's Conservatives craft a cabinet

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, newly re-elected and with his party finally holding a majority of seats in Parliament, announced his new cabinet today. Underlying message: “What were all you voters so scared of?”

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CANADA VOTES 2011: DECISION DAY

Fresh thread. Polls have closed across Canada, and it's finally legal to post election results nationwide. Counting has just begun in the western provinces, and voting in Quebec and Ontario ended only about half an hour ago. Too fragmentary to report for now.

So we're left to look at results from the Atlantic Provinces, and extrapolate (if we can) from that.
I know quinn hates poll aggregator ThreeHundredEight.com, But I'm going to use its predictions as an arbitrary baseline, and try to weigh how real-time results vary from them.

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CANADA'S ORANGE REVOLUTION: FINAL WEEKEND

Quinn's Tuesday post has almost slipped off the page, so consider this a new open thread.

The New Democratic tsunami rolls on, picking up almost one percentage point of support over the past 24 hours, and finally ThreeHundredEight.com is showing that translating into seats. Six new ones added overnight to the party's projected total, which now stands at 53.

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Playa Girón: the demi-centennial

Bay of Pigs museum

We've been commemorating failed rebellions lately, so it's worth noting this is the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Or, as the sign at the entrance to the Playa Girón beach resort puts it (in Spanish): "First Defeat of Yanqui Imperialism in the Americas."

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A CANADIAN ELECTION PRIMER

We Canadians take our politics very seriously. Also our hockey. Hard to say which we care more about. Oh no, wait. It's not:
http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/04/10/french-debate-rescheduled-to-avoid-habs-playoff-game/

acanuck's picture

Squaring the circle: Tahrir as metaphor for Egypt

As soldiers and civilians cart away the metal barricades and debris, Tahrir Square has begun to return to normal. But what's normal has forever changed. For Egyptians, Tahrir finally does mean Liberation.

Like many things in that country, Tahrir Square hasn't always been what it purports to be.
At its core, it isn't even a square; it's a circle. An enormous traffic circle -- what the Brits call a roundabout.

acanuck's picture

DENIAL IS JUST A REGIME IN EGYPT

Today's pair of speeches by Mubarak and Suleiman have left me speechless.

Ditto for President Obama. After optimistically predicting this afternoon the world was about to watch history unfold, he avoided appearing on camera to eat his words. But the White House's written statement conveyed a clear sense of disappointment, if not betrayal.

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Spinning the revolution

Sometimes, seemingly inconsequential things make me really, really angry. And by inconsequential things, I mean articles that appear in the Washington Post. Like this one:

Free, fair elections still distant prospect for Egypt

By Craig Whitlock and Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 8, 2011; 9:21 PM

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