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Yglesias admits ignoring Berger story
Cheers to Matthew Yglesias for noting the Sandy Berger debacle. Unfortunately, he admits that he previously ignored the story for ideological reasons: With what I consider a great deal of justification, I tried to rigorously ignore the story of Sandy Berger poaching documents when it was first being pushed by conservatives who wanted to use
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Duke lacrosse rape charges dropped
The Duke lacrosse rape charges were dropped Friday while I was stuck in traffic on I-95, but district attorney Mike Nifong is still pursuing other charges, baffling everyone: A prosecutor’s decision to drop rape charges but keep other counts against three Duke University lacrosse players has left many legal experts – including some who had
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Crude NYT recounting of Summers remarks
A New York Times story yesterday offered an especially crude summary of former Harvard president Lawrence Summer’s controversial remarks on gender and aptitude: Organizers of these events dismiss the idea voiced in 2005 by Lawrence H. Summers, then president of Harvard, that women over all are handicapped as scientists because as a group they are
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Thomas Friedman’s latest cliche
Thomas Friedman’s cliche-spouting has entered the realm of geometry : Rule 2: Any reporter or U.S. Army officer wanting to serve in Iraq should have to take a test, consisting of one question: “Do you think the shortest distance between two points is a straight line?” If you answer yes, you can’t go to Iraq.
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Light holiday blogging
Due to family obligations, trips, and so forth, blogging is going to be intermittent here through mid-January. But keep an eye out; I’ll still be posting when I have time.
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Duke lacrosse case in free fall
DNA Security director Brian Meehan dealt yet another blow to the crumbling Duke lacrosse prosecution yesterday with this testimony about DNA test results from his lab that were not provided to the defense: [Defense attorney Jim] Cooney continued: Did Nifong and his investigators know the results of all the DNA tests? “I believe so,” Meehan
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Reporting without reading? NYT on Carter
Yesterday’s New York Times featured a story on controversy over Jimmy Carter’s new book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid in which the reporter, Julie Bosman, quotes a misleading Michael Kinsley column without mentioning that it is apparently wrong: [T]he bulk of outrage has come from his use of the word apartheid in the title, apparently equating
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Rush Limbaugh attacks Obama as “Odumbo”
Via Drudge, Rush Limbaugh is running tape from Barack Obama’s appearance in New Hampshire in which Obama apparently complains to Maureen Dowd about a reference to his ears. Limbaugh’s response was as constructive as you’d expect (Windows Media Player audio): Obama up in New Hampshire being treated like a god making a speech. Now, apparently
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Eric Alterman on a Bloomberg run
Eric Alterman appropriately sums up the prospects for a Bloomberg presidential run in 2008: My buddy John Heilemann skillfully spun 6,617 words, here, out of a story that has no significant possibility of happening, as Bloomberg himself asks: “What chance does a five-foot-seven billionaire Jew who’s divorced really have of becoming president?” The answer is
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Duke lacrosse: More evidence against Nifong
New evidence has emerged that casts even more doubt on the rape case against the Duke lacrosse players: DNA testing conducted by a private lab in the Duke lacrosse rape case found genetic material from several males in the accuser’s body and her underwear — but none from any team member, including the three charged