The XX Factor

We’re Talking About: Norris Church Mailer, Cruel Children, and Bristol Palin

- Frank Rich ponders why logic doesn’t apply to Sarah Palin , and why she may get to the top of the Republican Party, as well as a few Alaskan rock formations. [ New York Times ]

-Meanwhile, on another channel, Bristol Palin finds herself dividing a nation, fueling tempers and at the center of a voter fraud controversy. All in a day’s work on Dancing with the Stars . [ Washington Post ]

-At 61, after an 11-year battle with gastrointestinal cancer, Norris Church Mailer died yesterday . The former pickle-factory worker, art teacher, and model made a name for herself as a writer as well as being Norman Mailer’s wife and widow. [ New York Times ]

-Budding adventurer or mini-psychopath? A new study finds a positive correlation between fearlessness and lack of empathy in children. [ New York Times ]

- These smoldering photographs are all that remain of Lindsay Lohan channeling Linda Lovelace after she was dropped from the Inferno cast. [ TMZ ]

Photograph of Norris Church Mailer by Stephen Lovekin for Getty Images.