Abraham Lincoln’s surprising strength
Photo: Corbis Steven Spielberg’s Abraham Lincoln may be more historically accurate — and far more Oscar-likely — but “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” wasn’t far off with its focus on No. 16’s colonial ax-fu. While Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal focuses on bringing the union together as the commander in chief, Lincoln had…
Abraham Lincoln Steals Thanksgiving
Photo: Dreamworks Did Abraham Lincoln “steal” Thanksgiving Day from the states? And was he merely a hired thug for the woman best known for a nursery rhyme? Before 1863, observing Thanksgiving fell to the province of the states. Having an annual day of thanks was controversial for many reasons; while…
Female Fights: #1 Sandra Fluke
Radio show host Rush Limbaugh called the Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” for advocating contraceptive health coverage, vaulting both of them to the forefront of birth control debates in 2012. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Chris Carlson/AP Photo) In 2012, women put up a good fight to defend their interests, even…
Y! Big Story: How the media should cover mass shootings, and why it can’t
The ghastly theatricality of the July 20 shooting in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater guaranteed nonstop media attention, amplified by social media. What wasn’t guaranteed, yet inevitable, would be the dizzy scramble to name the offender, count the bodies, release unconfirmed details, speculate on madness — and then criticize the…
Decisions, Wildfires, Health Care Act (June 2012 Buzz)
Colorado wildfires Decisions, decisions. About halfway through the year’s a good time to make them, and many were laid out judicially (although to some thinking, not judiciously), politically, competitively, and romantically. Some decisions though are beyond that of man and instead are up entirely to Mother Nature: Disastrous floods, roiling…
Y! Big Story: “Fast and Furious” meets “The Wire”
“Fast & Furious” (Jamie Trueblood_Universal Pictures) The federal investigation into Mexican gun-trafficking was dubbed Operation Fast and Furious, because the suspects involved liked a little auto-sideshow action. The better analogy might be “The Wire”—to cover a roiling case of vindictive office politics, cowboy agents, sensationalized reporting, the clash of Second…
Y! Big Story: Operation Fast and Furious timeline
Funeral for fallen Border Patrol agent Brian Terry Fortune magazine released a six-month investigative report in Operation Fast and Furious. Here’s a timeline based on that report and other sources. —1993-2005: ATF reputation suffers in high-profile cases. —October 31, 2009: Operation Fast and Furious is launched. —December 2009: David Voth…
Y! Big Story: Operation Fast and Furious timeline
Fortune magazine released a six-month investigative report in Operation Fast and Furious. Here’s a timeline based on that report and other sources. —1993-2005: ATF reputation suffers in high-profile cases. —October 31, 2009: Operation Fast and Furious is launched. —December 2009: David Voth heads Phoenix Group VII, which lacked funding, to…
Y! Big Story: Bumper-sticker politics
Retiring a slogan (Justin Sullivan:Getty Images) Stand Your Ground. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Show Your Papers (Please). Reducing a complex concept into a slogan is an uncertain art, but one that people have tinkered with for centuries. The word “slogan” itself hails from the Gaelic sluagh-ghairm—a battle cry, one that…
Y! Big Story: Gut reactions on why food allergies are on the rise
Drink up? Trading lunch boxes isn’t what it used to be. Overall, about 15 million Americans lay claim to food allergies (as opposed to food intolerances, but more on that later). One out of 13 children may be susceptible. Some allergies can trigger anaphylaxis, when your body goes into immune…