Note To Self

If you buy a bullet proof vest, don't test it by having someone shoot you.

Meeting the Criteria

Police Chief of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire: "I believe I did use the 'N' word in reference to the current occupant of the Whitehouse (sic)," Copeland wrote in an email to the resident, as quoted by WMUR. "For this, I do not apologize -- he meets and exceeds my criteria for such."

Wolfeboro has 6,300 residents, twenty of whom are African-American.

Two Points on Abramson

First, don't miss this essay by Amanda Marcotte on Abramson's rough defenestration. We're always excited to have her in our pages.

Second, it may get lost in all the high-octane drama but in Ken Auletta's second dispatch on Abramson's dismissal, Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy, appears to concede explicitly a fairly clear case of wrongful termination.

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Uh Oh

If this is true, it could be one of the most damaging things for Gov. Chris Christie to emerge from BridgeGate yet.

'Deep, Immoveable, And Totally Realistic Fear'

Read Amanda Marcotte on why Jill Abramson's firing "speaks to the deep, immoveable, and totally realistic fear many women have that there’s nothing they can do to overcome sexism in the workplace."

If At First You Don't Succeed?

After Ann Coulter's first try at hijacking the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag failed in spectacular and hilarious fashion, she's apparently decided to try it again.

More on Firing Abramson

As I noted below, Ken Aulleta at The New Yorker puts a heavy emphasis on Jill Abramson finding out a male predecessor and a male subordinate both had higher compensation then she did. She purportedly approached senior management about this and this, in part, led to her dismissal.

The Times version of the story puts considerably more focus on an issue Aulleta treats in passing: Abramson's desire to Janine Gibson from The Guardian to the paper to oversee digital with at least nominally the same title. Aulleta said it was understood that Gibson would report to Baquet. The Times has this point rather differently ...

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World of Hurt

I have a feeling that the Times, as an institution, has a world of hurt in front of it.

Some key nuggets from a piece just out from Ken Auletta in The New Yorker. Put on your seat belts ...

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ICYMI

If embittered hostility to President Obama is tied to race, why did the GOP go the full crazy on Bill Clinton? My take on the presidency and race.

Oh Please

For those of you who think millennials are getting too PC or persnickety with their commencement speaker protests, open your eyes. This has been going on for decades. Great piece.