Wednesday evening roundup

Malawi's new president has wasted no time in being awesome. Bring on the female presidents!

At her request, I'm going to criticize Alexandria Petri's mediocre writing without referencing her appearance. She's not a great writer. I often click on her columns because they're on topics of interest... but she often-but-not-always squanders the space and just rambles on. It took me half-way through the column to understand what it was about, and at that point, I was angry about the substance of her argument. Can't actresses (1) be judged by their skill as well as, if not instead of, their appearance and (2) not have every change in facial puffiness scrutinized? If her point is to complain about the quality of Ashley Judd's writing, that's one thing; if it's to argue that Ms. Judd has no right to complain and/or publicly philosophize about media attention to her appearance, that's another thing entirely, and that thing is a load of crap.