Here it is, y’all: Your how-many-episodes-of-Bob’s-Burgers-can-I-get-through-before-I-absolutely-have-to-study-for-my-midterms edition of Darts & Laurels
The battle between the press and the Obama administration to release the 41-page memo ordering a drone strike on Yemen in 2010, which resulted in the September 2011 targeted killing of an American citizen who was accused of plotting terrorist attacks, rages on this week. The New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union has been pressuring the administration for years to disclose the memo to the public, as per the Freedom of Information Act. Though the Obama administration claimed they had complied with a federal appeals court ordering the disclosure of portions of the memo, The New York Times reported yesterday that the administration is appealing to censor additional parts of the memo.
This tug-of-war between the press and the president is keeping the media from performing its watchdog function. For going back on its word and attempting to keep important documents out of the hands of journalists, we’re tossing a that’s-not-how-you-democracy DART at the Obama administration.
Ladies: Are you tired of Tinder photo after Tinder photo of frat daddies on fishing boats holding dead snappers? Guys: Are you sick of reading the same “Live, Laugh, Love <3” or a random, inaccurate Marilyn Monroe quote on girls’ online dating site bios? Then you may be ready for BarkBuddy, a new app with a user interface similar to Tinder that matches users with adoptable dogs in the area. Let’s face it, cute pups are a much more worthwhile endeavor than trying to get coffee with a potential Internet murderer. BarkBuddy, we’re awarding you a yes-I’d-like-to-meet-local-fluffy-singles-in-my-area LAUREL.
In other media news, a German tabloid called Bild has attracted criticism for publishing photos of Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton when wind caused her skirt to reveal her bare behind. Even the Daily Mail commented, which shows you how tasteless the decision to run the photos was.
An Australian newspaper defended Bild, saying “If the Duchess can’t be bothered protecting herself by having hem weights sewn into her garments, why should the media protect her?”
Ugh, what a gross attitude. The members of the royal family are public figures, yes, but Kate Middleton’s butt shouldn’t be news, and furthermore, lumping a tabloid that would publish the photos with “the media” is unsettling. We’re tossing a duchesses-have-a-right-to-privacy-and-the-right-to-wear-thongs DART to the German and Australian news organizations who ran the Middleton photos.
We close on our final LAUREL to the late Maya Angelou, who died this week at 86 in her home in North Carolina, according to CNN. It’s truly a tragedy to say goodbye to a woman — a legend — who forever influenced American literature with her description of the brutality of a Jim Crow South in “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
We leave you with a passage from her poem “Phenomenally”: “It’s the fire in my eyes/And the flash of my teeth/The swing in my waist/The joy in my feet./I’m a woman,/Phenomenally./Phenomenal woman,/That’s me.”
[A version of this editorial ran on page 6 on 5/29/2014 under the headline "Darts & Laurels"]
