POTUS and SCOTUS, protests and arrests, and agitpop and hip hop. It’s Tuesday, and here are the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door:
1. SUPREME COURT
Plot twist:
Republicans to Obama: Don’t even think about nominating a successor for Scalia.
Obama: Hmm, you know what? I think I will.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death has placed the Prez on a collision course with Republicans and thickened the plot of an election that now leaves the White House, the Senate and the nation’s top court up for grabs. The GOP wants the next president to pick the successor. The Dems want Obama to – just so the Republicans can block him or her. That’ll fire up the Democratic base and get more of them to the polls. “House of Cards” has nothing on what’s coming up this season on Capitol Hill.
2. SYRIA AIRSTRIKES
This has to stop: What part of ‘off-limits’ do they not understand? Once again, a Doctors Without Borders hospital was bombed in Syria – not once, not twice but four times within minutes. At least seven were killed and an unknown number of patients are missing. The U.S. and Syria blamed each other. Turkey blamed Russia. Earlier this month, another Doctors-supported hospital was bombed. These medics work selflessly in impossible conditions and their facilities are clearly marked. And yet time and again, this keeps happening.
3. ELIOT SPITZER
She said/ he said/ they said: This is all kinds of confusing. A woman says Eliot Spitzer choked her over the weekend. Spitzer’s people say no he didn’t. Cops say they’re investigating. The woman says Spitzer’s her boyfriend. Spitzer’s peeps say he isn’t. A law enforcement source says after the woman was taken to a hospital, Spitzer tried to visit using a fake name. (Spitzer, ICYMI, was New York’s governor who had to take an incredibly public walk of shame after he was exposed blowing wads of cash on prostitutes.)
4. BAHRAIN ARRESTS
Hints, allegations and things left unsaid: Bahrain has arrested four Americans and are leveling some pretty serious charges against them: that they entered the country illegally and one of them attacked cops during a protest. Whoa! The four are all believed to be journalists. The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain says it’s aware of the arrests but is mum on everything else. The Americans’ arrival coincided with the fifth anniversary of a pro-reform uprising that Bahrain not-so-gently quashed and is very sensitive about.
5. GRAMMYS
Mind. Blown: The Grammys last night was so dull and subdued that – as one tweet put it – you’d think the acts were doing their best not to wake a sleeping baby. Except of course, Kendrick Lamar — who literally set the stage on fire. You think Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance was political? Pshaw. Lamar referenced Ferguson, black incarceration and Trayvon Martin in six glorious show-stopping, face-melting, blow-the-roof-off-this-mutha minutes of manic, machine-gun tempo magic. Oh, and the show also gave out some awards.
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Quote of the day: “A stalking ground for the sanctimoniously self-righteous who love to second-guess, to leap to conclusions and be offended – worse, to be offended on behalf of others they do not even know”
— Comedian Stephen Fry, on quitting Twitter after coming under fire for calling a BAFTA winner “a bag lady,” Couldn’t stand the heat, out of the kitchen
Today in facepalm
Marco Rubio’s “Morning in America” ad features a skyline of … Vancouver.
Calling Pharell
The UAE, the 20th happiest country in the world, has appointed a minister of happiness. That didn’t work out too well for Venezuela which dropped in the ranking after it created a Ministry of Supreme Happiness.
Shine on you crazy diamond
It’s the length of a credit card, is of the rarest color grade and is virtually flawless. And it’s 404.2 carats – the largest diamond ever found. Glad Valentine’s Day is over.
And finally…
Lounge act
Baby Love and Buddy Love chilling on miniature couches like a boss.