Good week for:
Stoners with aspirations, after author David Maraniss’s new biography of Barack Obama reported that in high school, the future president was a leader of a group of potheads called “The Choom Gang,” and frequently bogarted that joint.
Feuds, after Madonna pointedly segued from singing her 1989 song “Express Yourself” to Lady Gaga’s very similar hit, “Born This Way,” as she began a worldwide tour in Tel Aviv. Madonna has accused Gaga of ripping off her song—a charge Gaga has called “ridiculous.”
Mocking campaign finance law, after new political action committees registered under such names as Talkin’ Smack PAC, Bears for a Bearable Tomorrow, and Joe Six PAC.
Bad week for:
Oversharing, after a 17-year-old Australian girl posted a picture on Facebook of a large stack of cash—her grandmother’s life savings. Two masked men armed with a knife and a club promptly showed up at the girl’s house. Since the cash was elsewhere, they robbed the girl’s mom and stole some property.
The Force, after a man dressed as Darth Vader robbed a Toledo bank. The powerful Sith lord used a semiautomatic pistol instead of the more traditional light saber.
Charity, after motorist John Davis of Ohio tried to hand two $1 bills to a wheelchair-bound panhandler, and dropped one to the ground. Minutes later, police gave Davis a $500 littering ticket. His offense was listed as: “Throw paper out the window.”
