TRENDING UP
People complaining about the media
Major publications like the Los Angeles Times took flak for for not putting coverage of the 9/11 anniversary on the front page of yesterday’s papers. Ignoring that it’s impossible for newspapers to print a story about an event on the same morning as the day the event is to take place, readers felt the day had been ignored.
Understandably, no one believes the anniversary of 9/11 should be forgotten. Newspapers from the Daily Wildcat to The New York Times, prepared special sections for the 10th anniversary. But if you continue to make it front-page news every year, what do you do on the 12th anniversary? The 24th?
It’s important to never forget, but it’s also important to move on.
Women being awesome
The Senate confirmed the appointment of Stephanie Rose on Monday. She’s the first female District Court judge in Iowa’s Southern District, not to mention the 72nd woman appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama.
George W. Bush also appointed 72 women to the bench — throughout his entire presidency. Bill Clinton appointed 111 women, but only 61 in his first term.
Obama set the record for most female judges confirmed, and has demonstrated a strong record for diversifying the bench overall by having 31 black federal judges confirmed (compared to Bush’s 26) and three openly gay judges (compared to zero by Bush).
Given most presidents’ history of appointing mostly white males, more people from all backgrounds on the bench is a welcome sign diversity is on the way up.
TRENDING DOWN
Chris Brown, creepy neck tattoos
Singer Chris Brown, famous for radio hits like “Don’t Wake Me Up” and for beating then-girlfriend and fellow musician Rihanna in 2009, set gossip sites on fire when he debuted a tattoo on his neck.
The tattoo, according to some critics, resembles Rihanna’s face, post-beating. You might have to squint your eyes and tilt your head to the left to see it, but apparently it’s Rihanna’s face, complete with bruised lip and black eye.
A rep for Brown has said it’s not supposed to be Rihanna or any beaten woman. It’s a MAC cosmetics design of a sugar skull associated with the Day of the Dead.
Given that neither musician can walk two steps without being linked to the other somehow, it’s not a surprise the media jumped all over this one. But no one’s said the most important part:
Neck tattoos are really, really ugly.
New York banning big sodas
Yeah, that New York soda ban is still a thing. It first made headlines in May as an ambitious effort by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to counter obesity, but it was met by critics who said it was their right to drink giant sodas if they wanted to.
Recently, the National Restaurant Association has released a statement saying that the ban, if approved, “will result in customer confusion and operational difficulties.” The board is expected to meet and vote on the proposed ban Sept. 13.
At this point, the question is not whether or not the ban is fair. The real issue at hand is why we’re still talking about this.
