Round 2: The second round of public impeachment hearings took place today, as the House Intelligence Committee interviewed former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch—and boy, what a mess it was. Between the White House releasing a transcript of a call (though not the call) between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky that only proved the administration lied, Trump attacking Yovanovitch through Twitter in the midst of the hearings, Republicans attempting to manufacture outrage throughout the entire process, and Trump’s chances of impeachment increasing, it’s been quite a day for the ruling class. Again, catch up on all our exciting impeachment coverage here.
The voyage home: Sci-fi writer John M. Ford was a multiple award–winning author with a massive bibliography that influenced peers like Robert Jordan and Neil Gaiman, who said he could have “been George R.R. Martin.” So why, years after his death, is most of his work out of print, and his name obscure? Isaac Butler set out to track down what happened to the greatest sci-fi author you’ve never read—and bring his name back into the public consciousness.
Angry and young: Earlier this week, a unique outrage cycle took off when popular YA author Sarah Dessen found a quote from a 2017 college graduate in a local news publication dissing her work. When she mournfully posted a screenshot of the comment, several authors rushed to support her—and then took out their fury on the commenter, who then deleted all her social media accounts in response. Ruth Graham looks at a very 21st-century literary saga.
Rendition: The new movie The Report dramatizes the investigation into the CIA’s post-9/11 “enhanced interrogation” program, and it doesn’t pull its punches on the government officials who approved the torture and tried to cover it up. But how does the film do on the details? Matthew Phelan separates what’s fact from what’s fiction.
For fun: What to do about a kid who picks his nose and eats the boogers.
But don’t lie—more (gross) adults do it than you think,
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