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| JonBenet Ramsey |
The mystery of the month is who killed JonBenet Ramsey. The 6-year-old beauty-pageant starlet was sexually assaulted and strangled in her Colorado home Christmas night; her skull was fractured and her mouth sealed with duct tape. Police haven't named JonBenet's parents--a prominent businessman and a former Miss West Virginia--as suspects, even though they were alone with her and her brother in the house that night, have refused to be interrogated by police, and have hired separate attorneys and a media consultant. (On the other hand, several other people reportedly had keys to the house.) The parents have hired a private eye and announced a $50,000 bounty for the killer's capture. Foreign reporters are flocking to Colorado; the local police chief has accused outsiders of "a sick curiosity" in the case. Theories on whodunit boil down to three analogies: Susan Smith (the parents are guilty and will be caught despite their attempts to plant false leads), O.J. Simpson (they're guilty, but it will never be proven), and Richard Jewell (they're innocent and are being crucified by stubborn cops and pack journalists). The latest spin is that the mother's obsessive orchestration of JonBenet's sultry career in the kiddie-pageant circuit is enthrallingly sick, even if it has nothing to do with the murder. (posted 1/11) | | The Supreme Court heard arguments over whether the Constitution guarantees a right to doctor-assisted suicide. Analysts called it one of the most profound and controversial cases since Roe vs. Wade. Supporters of assisted-suicide pleaded that patients be allowed to choose to end their suffering, and pointed out that a lot of doctors are killing patients anyway without official sanction. Opponents, including the Clinton administration, warned that heartless HMOs and family members would use official sanction as an excuse to unburden themselves of old folk and cripples. The justices' questions, reflecting grave concerns about a slippery slope, prompted legal experts to predict that the court won't recognize a broad right to assisted suicide. Pundits speculated that the court has learned from its mistake in Roe: Rather than constitutionalize another inflammatory medical practice, thereby inviting the combatants to clog the courts with further cases, the justices will leave the whole business to the states, thereby inviting the combatants to clog the legislatures. (posted 1/11) |
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| Martin Luther King Jr. (1965) |
Martin Luther King Jr.'s estate announced a multimillion-dollar deal with Time Warner to repackage and sell his speeches and writings. Products will include audiotapes, a CD-ROM, a Web site, and numerous books, including an anthology for the Book of the Month Club and yet-to-be-written volumes by King's widow, his third son, and a scholar who will manufacture an "autobiography" from King's works and letters. King's estate has also struck a deal with Oliver Stone to make a movie about the late leader. His widow says the Time Warner deal will popularize King's teachings. Critics call the "autobiography" a sham and dismiss the whole joint enterprise as a new low in the commercialization of martyrdom. (posted 1/11) | | Global-conflict scoreboard: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat still haven't resolved their negotiations over removing Israeli troops from Hebron, and Netanyahu is hinting that he might end the talks entirely after pipe bombs wounded 13 people in Tel Aviv Jan. 9. Meanwhile, military clashes in the north are escalating tensions between Israel and Syria. And, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic is trying to appease demonstrators who have mobbed the capital to protest his party's fraudulent victories in the latest municipal elections; but the mob isn't backing down, and diplomats now expect a violent confrontation unless Milosevic cedes control of the capital's city government. The guerrillas who seized hundreds of hostages in Peru last month are winning the P.R. war abroad but losing it at home; Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is hanging tough, and Peruvian civilians are getting sick of the guerrillas and their sympathizers in the foreign press. (posted 1/11) |
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| Newt Gingrich was re-elected House speaker by a vote of 216-205. After days of arm-twisting by GOP leaders, only nine Republicans chose not to support Gingrich. The media played up the size of the dissenting faction anyway. Pundits agreed that the GOP won the battle and lost the war: Gingrich's ethics case will drag on through congressional hearings; the GOP will then force the House Ethics Committee to close the case, enabling Democrats to cry "cover-up" for months afterward; members will have to vote again on his punishment; he'll be distracted, tarnished, and weakened; having lost prestige and twisted arms just to get re-elected, he'll have no clout left to keep his troops in line; the Republican policy agenda will languish; Gingrich will be forced to make concessions to Clinton in order to pass legislation and repair his own image; and, above all, Democrats will sing from Gingrich's rap sheet throughout the coming hearings on Clinton's ethical troubles. White House aides reportedly were delighted by the outcome. Commentators chuckled that the GOP was replaying its '96 Dole catastrophe, clinging fast to a sinking ship. (posted 1/9) |
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| The Advisory Council on Social Security released its prescriptions for the trust fund's solvency problems. Members agreed to hike payroll taxes, raise the retirement age, and invest some money in stocks, but failed to agree on how far to privatize the system. One faction favors letting individuals manage their own investment accounts; another favors leaving the stock-picking to the government; a third would set up individual accounts but would fund them separately through a payroll tax hike. Conservatives hailed the rough consensus on stock investment as a "paradigm shift," while critics warned of leeching by Wall Street brokers and asked whether the government will bail out retirees who lose their savings because of market volatility. Union leaders vowed to kill any privatization scheme; politicians signaled they're not ready for full privatization but are willing to experiment with stocks as long as the government picks the stocks. Since the commission failed to reach a consensus that would give politicians cover, politicians are calling for another commission. (posted 1/9) |
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| car-crash site |
A furor has erupted over foreign diplomats' immunity from prosecution for crimes committed in the United States. Georgia's second-ranking diplomat in Washington, D.C., reportedly caused a series of car collisions that killed a 16-year-old girl; police allege he was drunk and speeding, and that he ran a stop sign. In New York, Russian and Belarussian diplomats reportedly resisted police who were trying to ticket their car because it was parked at a fire hydrant; police said the diplomats appeared to be drunk. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani demanded their expulsion and denounced the Russians as scofflaws, noting that their U.N. mission had accumulated 14,437 parking and traffic citations in the first half of 1996. Russian and Belarussian authorities ignored him and blamed the police. Under the international policy of diplomatic immunity, the diplomats cannot be prosecuted in America unless their governments waive immunity, which is highly unlikely. Pundits rushed to join the outcry to modify this policy to allow the scoundrels to be brought to justice. Acknowledgments of similar exploitation of immunity by American diplomats abroad were buried near the bottom of most stories. (posted 1/9) | | The Los Angeles Dodgers are for sale. Analysts predicted that with its prestigious history and associated properties, the team might fetch at least $350 million, twice the previous record for a baseball franchise. Sports historians noted that the O'Malley family, which owns the team, launched one revolution in sports commercialization 40 years ago--when they uprooted the team from Brooklyn to make more money in Los Angeles. Now they are completing another, as they become the last of the old-time family owners to sell out to corporations or baseball-ignorant moguls. "The time is approaching when a family cannot support a major-league baseball team. It is the time of corporate ownership," said owner Peter O'Malley. Among the leading potential buyers: Rupert Murdoch's Fox Television, or a consortium headed by O.J. lawyer Robert Shapiro, former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, or various Hollywood executives. The New York Times' Dave Anderson recalled the O'Malleys' betrayal of Brooklyn and scoffed that they were proving once again that baseball is "a business, not a game." New York Gov. George Pataki urged New York business leaders to bid for the team, but the early line is that this would be a long shot. (posted 1/9) |
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| Eight letter bombs disguised as Christmas cards and postmarked from Alexandria, Egypt, were mailed to the Washington, D.C., bureau of an Arab newspaper (Al Hayat) and to Leavenworth prison. All were discovered without injury. Although the Egyptian government swears they couldn't have originated there, U.S. investigators think they did and are warning everyone to beware of unexpected parcels from the Middle East. Analysts suspect the culprit may be somebody offended by Al Hayat's eclectic articles and editorials--which is to say, just about anyone. Early speculation focused on supporters of Mohammad Salameh, a Leavenworth inmate involved in the World Trade Center bombing. The National Press Building, which houses Al Hayat, was evacuated; the media responded with outrage at this heinous act against the media. Middle Eastern analysts and Al Hayat's editor wondered why terrorists would target a paper that has been so hospitable to the views of terrorists. The Washington Post weighed in with articles on how easy it is to construct letter bombs and ship them undetected through the U.S. mail. (posted 1/7) |
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| The two-year-old Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars are within one victory apiece of meeting in the Super Bowl. Having already pushed aside the once-feared San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills, the two expansion teams ousted the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos in the weekend playoffs. Sports columnists declared the old guard dead, lamenting the Broncos' traditional season-ending choke and celebrating the demise of the Cowboys, widely attributed to their dissolute lifestyle. Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders were carted off the field with season-ending injuries. Cowboy-haters insinuated that they deserved it. "The Wicked Witch is dead, baby," gloated Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post. Established teams are now complaining that the expansion teams' success proves they were given too many picks in the college and expansion drafts. Sportswriters reply that these teams have had plenty of similar chances, have blown them, and may be booted from their jobs now that the Panthers and Jaguars have proven that it doesn't take years to build a winner. (posted 1/7) |
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| Eileen McGann and Dick Morris |
Celebrity rites of passage: Dick Morris' wife announced she is divorcing him. Real-estate mogul Harry Helmsley died, raising speculation that his wife, Leona Helmsley, will lose control of his financial empire. Czech President Václav Havel married a movie and stage actress. NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell agreed to marry Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan. Col. Sanders' 94-year-old widow died, 17 years after the colonel kicked the bucket. The British government announced that Paul McCartney will be knighted. Prince Charles has reportedly installed his lover, Camilla Parker Bowles, as mistress of his country manor. George Stephanopoulos is said to be considering a role as campaign adviser to the British Labor Party. Ivana Trump, upset with her "abysmally constructed" yacht, is suing its Italian manufacturer for $35 million for emotional distress. Ben & Jerry's has raised socially conscious eyebrows by hiring its new CEO away from the U.S. Repeating Arms Co., which manufactures rifles. Ben & Jerry's Chairman Ben Cohen points out that at least the new CEO agrees with the company's stand against handguns. (posted 1/7) | Photograph of JonBenet Ramsey from HO/Reuters; photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. from Bettmann-UPI; photograph of car-crash site from NBC-TV/Reuters; photograph of Eileen McGann and Dick Morris by Tim Dillon/Reuters
--Compiled by William Saletan and the editors of S LATE.
