Christopher Hitchens Revises The Ten Commandments

“The Ten Commandments were set in stone, but it may be time for a re-chisel.”

Obama On Drinking With Mitch McConnell

In fairness, a root canal without anesthesia sounds better than hitting up a bar with my man Mitch.

Death Over Indefinite Detention

The Article: Hunger Strike at Guantánamo by the Editorial Board in The New York Times.

The Text: The hunger strike that has spread since early February among the 166 detainees still at Guantánamo Bay is again exposing the lawlessness of the system that marooned them there. The government claims that around 40 detainees are taking part. Lawyers for detainees report that their clients say around 130 detainees in one part of the prison have taken part.

The number matters less than the nature of the protest, however: this is a collective act of despair. Prisoners on the hunger strike say that they would rather die than remain in the purgatory of indefinite detention. Only three prisoners now at Guantánamo have been found guilty of any crime, yet the others also are locked away, with dwindling hope of ever being released.

Detainees there have gone on hunger strikes many times since the facility opened in 2002. A major strike in 2005 involved more than 200 detainees. But those earlier actions were largely about the brutality of treatment the detainees received. The protest this time seems more fundamental. Gen. John Kelly of the Marines, whose Southern Command oversees Guantánamo Bay, explained the motivation of the detainees at a Congressional hearing last month by saying, “They had great optimism that Guantánamo would be closed” based on President Obama’s pledge in his first campaign, but they are now “devastated” that nothing has changed.

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Modeling Agencies Recruit Outside An Eating Disorder Clinic

Because, you know, why not profit off of someone else’s suffering?

Aaron Swartz Slams Academic Journal Practices

His mind was obviously in the right place; it was our laws that did him–and do countless others–a disservice.