"His datapoints proving that Wall Street is irrelevant are (a) the fact that Lloyd Blankfein has hired a criminal defense lawyer; and (b) the megamerger between Deutsche Börse and the NYSE. Both stories, of course, have been extensively covered by DealBook; they’re right in its wheelhouse. And neither of them shows what Brisbane seems to think they show — that DealBook is an anachronistic throwback because Wall Street is less relevant than it used to be. Wall Street has always had lawyers and mergers; they’re what it’s built on." READ MORE

These pictures of the Oslo bombing today are terrible. And there's much more, to get a sense of the severity.

Oh perfect, Google News has announced a revolutionary new product: badges for your Google News Reading Activity. See now when you prove you are Good At Reading, your Google Teacher gives you a gold star for the day. READ MORE

What are we to do about the disgusting plan to keep America's unemployment high? Since we're not marching on Washington, the right and the left aren't unifying on this issue on which we both agree and basically no one in the business world cares in the slightest, all we can do is create a few jobs ourselves and also keep putting out there what's really happening, which Yahoo!'s The Lookout is doing admirably. They've created a Tumblr where people tell their stories—lots of people. They got thousands of letters when they asked people to tell them what's really going on. You could just start here at the imposing wall of stories, or maybe you'd like to start with this one and page back.

Hey, did you read that Times story on the celebrity-media sexy pillow-fight that is our age? It is pretty dark! And kind of incredible! Sure, every last bit of what you see out there is pay-for-play. And it may come as no surprise to you that famous people and the gossip biz are deep in bed together but it really should make one absolutely unable to consume any of this gross, cynical garbage.

Unsurprisingly, I'm not particularly enjoying each morning's report from the New York City police offer rape trial. (Yeah, go figure.) Here's part one and here's part two, and it's a rotten thing to wake up and read. The story, in brief, is that a young woman came home to the East Village intoxicated; she needed help getting out of the cab, so the cabbie called 911; two cops arrived, took her in; paid the cab; and then they returned to her apartment three more times that night. (They said they were discussing her alcoholism with her, which, that's not something you do while someone has come home while vomiting in a cab; that's something you do the next day?) On the final visit, one of the officers said that he "succumbed" to "physical contact" after she "became flirtatious" (oh brother) while the other one slept, which, where to even start with that? Why is there even a cop sleeping in some woman's house after a 911 call??? READ MORE

The 11-year-old in Texas who was raped by a group of men was not, it turns out, asking for it, reports the paper of record, which was previously not really clear regarding the sixth-grader's ability to be considered a "proper" rape victim. (That is, when the paper wasn't overly concerned about the futures of the young men involved.) Yes, it's do-over time on the most outrageous story in the world, one that was so wildly mishandled that it prompted world-wide outcry and now... another, more thorough story—a story that is now about a "nightmarish ordeal." (You think?) It turns out the 11-year-old in question was a very happy, "bubbly" young person who underwent a drastic and rapid personality change over a period of months. This personality change—in which she began to "dress older than her age," as per the original story—apparently manifested at the same time that she began to be regularly sexually assaulted. (Go. Figure.) READ MORE

Last year, the Army undertook a war crimes probe, with, as evidence, some 4000 photos and videos from Afghanistan. Which sound in some cases really bad, and in some cases, in extremely poor taste: posing next to dead bodies alone seems like a gross way to pass the time. Apparently people really get into this: "Soldiers have told investigators that such photos of dead bodies were passed around like trading cards on thumb drives and other digital storage devices." 12 soldiers in all have been charged, most of them for lesser crimes; five were charged regarding "premeditated murder." Now Der Spiegel has just published three of the photographs, but apparently has access to a large number of them. And now, what will happen? "Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by the publication of 'trophy' photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenceless Afghan civilians they killed." The first court martial will result in a guilty plea to murder—and evidence against the others involved.