The John Williams piece performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman at Obama's inaugural ceremony was not only god-awful, it was pre-recorded.
Former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice, who helped expose the NSA's warrantless wiretapping in December 2005, has now come forward with allegations that the programs that spied on Americans were not only much broader than previously acknowledged (surprise, surprise) but also specifically targeted journalists.
Ciudad Juarez, the real life Santa Teresa (of Roberto Bolano's 2666), is being torn apart by violence. According to Mayor John Cook of El Paso (the 3rd-safest city in the United States, ironically just across the border from Ciudad Juarez), the problems in Juárez began when a Mexican crackdown on drug dealers backfired. The operation smashed the drug-distribution network on the Mexican side, leading to turf wars.