On facts

Nicholas Kristof gives us a substantiated explanation for what Jon Stewart has been saying for years. Kristof's most recent column is worth a read, too.

Other stuff I saw today was kind of meh. This piece on the impact of traumatized immigrants on hospitals could have dug deeper, but as it is it's too general to be informative. Kind-of interesting piece on Spirit Airlines. As someone who rarely checks luggage (and will do so even less once the liquids ban is lifted), I'm not sure why I should subsidize the expensive infrastructure that I rarely use. But I do think that the airlines have an obligation beyond getting me safely from point A to point B: they have an obligation to get me safely from point A to point B on time, or-- even amid events beyond their control-- compensating me for time wasted and expenses incurred as a result of delays.

But back to facts. There was a great piece in the New Yorker a month or so ago, unfortunately only available now through its cumbersome digital reader, but it's quite worth it. Everything that goes out the door of my organization undergoes quite the fact-checking process, in which I was immersed for the last couple of months, so the article had special meaning to me, but it's a good read in general.