I heard early in November–and then confirmed–that Dave Weigel was leaving Reason, but for reasons you’ll see in my huge disclaimer, I respected Weigel’s request that I keep it on the DL until he announced it himself. From his blog:

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Hope you all had pleasant Thanksgivings, readers. Here are some tasty tidbits from today’s news:

-Mumbai (India) is a disaster. Daniel Politi at Slate writes a smart synopsis.

-Ever been Rick-Rolled? (It’s terrible–google it with caution). Andrew Sullivan has a way for you to enjoy the Rick without the Roll.

-The Washington Post has the latest on the Chevy Chase killings. (Insert deserved cynicism here over the efficiency with which the cops are solving the murders of two old, white, rich folk–while shrugging their shoulders over various shootings and deaths in the ghettos.)

-Writing in the Washington Times, Ziad Asali asserts post-election that “Racism, the 800-pound gorilla in the American living room, has shrunk and is now no bigger than a jackass.” Whew, glad that’s over with!

And other equally vapid questions answered by yours truly and the Sexist’s Amanda Hess in this week’s Five Minutes You’ll Never Get Back. Head on over to gender land to check out our Twilight-centric podcast.

A month ago I suggested that Slate was growing old. I based my opinion on a rather untimely article about the word “FAIL.” The argument still stands. My evidence? A new article by Farhad Manjoo on how to use Skype.

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AMENDMENT: City Paper’s Ted Scheinman rightly points out that a serious crime occurred two hours before the All Hands on Deck effort was supposed to wrap up, and not two blocks from the MPD’s Kennedy Street efforts: The burning of a car that may be a significant piece of evidence in the Chevy Chase murder. Whatever confidence the MPD’s fliers inspired in Petworth residents has likely expired, although a case could be made that preventing car fires wasn’t part of the plan.

The Politico’s Ben Smith threw up the MPD’s community outreach flier on his blog today, but made one huge mistake in his write-up:

The Washington, D.C. police department launched a new initiative with a familiar slogan today, hoping to bring the sense of national change to urban youth.

The “No Shots Fired” initatiative “encourages youth to have a peaceful gunfire-free weekend,” according to the press release.

The “No Shots Fired” initiative began–and ended–this past weekend. And those fliers? They were handed out in Petworth on Friday and Saturday nights, at the MPD’s questionable checkpoints on Kennedy Street (I have two at home, along with a sheet detailing recently-solved homicides, which MPD officers were handing out to drivers after they questioned them over unbuckled seatbelts and outstanding tickets). The press release for the initiative, part of phase IV of “All Hands on Deck,” went out Friday afternoon.

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Washington City Paper had heard from various readers that the MPD was setting up checkpoints in Petworth, and as of this evening can now verify two checkpoints, which the MPD conducted under the guise of  “community outreach efforts” tonight for an hour at the intersections of Kennedy & 7th and Kennedy & 1st streets. Around 25 officers  could be seen stopping cars, checking licenses, running plates, and citing minor seatbelt and cell-phone infractions. Many road flares and many police vans.

UPDATE: The MPD is flooding the neighborhood with recruits. They can be heard yelling “HOORAH.”

UPDATE: According to Officer R. Mullins, the MPD is conducting “a routine walk-through,” something it does “every four to five months” using recruits from the police academy. Mullins said three classes are out tonight, or about 75 recruits, plus various commanding officers.

UPDATE: According to a release that went out to the MPD-4D listserv around 2 p.m., Mayor Fenty is calling tonight’s MPD activities “City-wide All Hands on Deck Phase IV.” In addition to the MPD maintaining checkpoints and conducting foot patrols, “homicide detectives [will be] following up with victims.” No word yet on whether said follow-ups will involve members of DC’s medium community.

From Ward’s email:

In the next few months I will be transition from my role as Executive Director of the Washington Project for the Arts and join the WPA Board of Trustees. The decision to leave as Executive Director is solely precipitated by my desire to spend more time with my immediate and extended family. In the next few years my children will begin leaving home and starting college and I would like to be more present in their lives and see them as much as possible.

More info on WPA’s search for a new executive director coming shortly.

Olsson’s is dead and gone, but that doesn’t mean DC’s meatspace is without some fine used-bookstores. Vertigo Books in College Park has some sweet deals going on right now. (I know, I know, it’s not technically in DC, but spare me the geography lessons–it’s close enough.)

For yer buyin’ pleasure:

The Trials of Lenny Bruce can be had for $6.99, Langston Hughes’ The Dream Keeper (illustrated, no less) for $3.99, and The House at Pooh Corner for $4.99. Vertigo is also selling both American Splendor (starring Paul Giamatti) and Cotton Comes to Harlem on DVD for $6.99. Good deals, all.

Check ‘em out at 7346 Baltimore Ave., College Park. 301-779-9300.

Well, not literally, but moviegoers and fans of prog can catch the godfather of strange-rock’s most notorious film, Uncle Meat, next week at the Library of Congress.

I was surprised to learn that an institution as fundamentally square as the LoC would screen something as inherently controversial as a Zappa flick (four of them, actually), so I rang Norman Middleton, a senior producer at the Library of Congress and the host of the Frank Zappa Mini-Film Festival, and asked him how in God’s name he obtained permission to show obscenity-laden classics like Uncle Meat, The Amazing Mr. Bickford, Does Humor Belong in Music?, and Motels.

Middleton began our interview with a clarification: Zappa’s not obscene, “he’s diverse.”

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Good morning, District denizens! And now, the news:

• Lt. James A. Cullen posted on the MDP-4D listserv that the 17 year old who was shot while near the 700 block of Decatur St. NW was treated and released from the hospital. Cullen also said that a “white Lexus sedan” may have been involved in the incident. According to Linda Brown, MPD Commander of the Fourth District, police are responding with gusto to the most recent shooting on Kennedy St. (which City Paper missed): “Our attention is continually focused in the 600-700 blocks of Jefferson, Kennedy and Longfellow.  We have executed several search warrants in this target area in the last few days in an effort to bring this gun violence to an end.”
• Looking to rent out your place for inauguration but worried about getting busted for violating housing regulations? Fear not! According to The Washington Post Mayor Adrian M. Fenty decided yesterday to suspend “requirements for property inspections…from Jan. 13 through 27,” as well as various other obstacles to renting out one’s futon in Brightwood Park. (*Ahem* We have wireless Internet, folks! And the place is clean! *Ahem*) The last obstacle is the landlord. (Don’t hold your breath for Fenty to suspend other pointless laws, the kind that do nothing to curb the behaviors they criminalize and generate less money than is required to enforce them.)
• Twilight, the vampire movie every chick wants to see, opens tonight. Critics have mixed opinions. Moviegoers should prepare themselves for violent hordes of XX’s, ranging from 13 to 30 years of age, all of them screaming for the blood of Robert Pattinson. Check out Washington City Paper’s showtimes for other movie listings.
• Prince of Petworth has a question for you.
• Calling all nerds: New FreakAngels, new Marriedtothesea, and new Penny-Arcade. Check them out now.

Historically addresses ending in “SE” haven’t received the arts coverage that they would otherwise be showered with if they were located near 14th St. NW, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a thriving arts scene on the other side of the river. FOTO Week DC ends Saturday, but we at City Paper would be remiss not to point out some of the great SE venues participating in the festival:

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DC smokers, will you accept the Great American Smokeout Challenge, sponsored by the American Cancer Society? If you’re feeling up to the task–which involves abstaining for one day (today)–check out the society’s guide to quitting and staying that way (sadly, the guide was unavailable to one Mark Twain, the speaker of this post’s title. Perhaps with it, he would’ve quit only once, but I doubt it.)

For those of you who are too cool to quit, join me in asking Michael Kinsley to extend to us his blessing of President-Elect Barack Obama’s addiction.

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File this news under “For Your Health”:

The Prince George’s County Council adopted one of the nation’s most sweeping restrictions on the sale of cigars yesterday, an effort to curb a growing trend among urban youths of using hollowed-out cigars to smoke marijuana.

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As if his soft stance on corruption wasn’t sufficient evidence enough that Eric Holder is a questionable choice for attorney general, there’s also his stance on drugs, which during his time as a U.S. Attorney in D.C. was too harsh.

In 1996, Holder proposed cracking down on marijuana users and sellers, a policy perspective which was and—assuming he still holds it—is completely antithetical to President-Elect Barack Obama’s promise to end federal crackdowns on medical marijuana dispensaries.

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Paul Cullum at Vanity Fair snagged a memo from Thomas Kinkade to the workers on the set of his direct-to-DVD, X-Mas bomb. The best parts parts of the memo (ranked as superlatives) after the jump.

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