We were thinking about going overseas, worrying about the usual stuff travelers from Washington fret about — a weak dollar, suntan lotion, visa requirements, shots and inadvertently disclosing secret information. Read full article > >

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National Security Agency: Declare foreign sex

Years ago, my Iranian-born father and I watched the news before dinner. At the end of the broadcast, Walter Cronkite gave his usual sign-off along with his now famous countdown of the Iran hostage crisis: “And that’s the way it is, Thursday, June 12, 1980, the 222nd day of captivity for the hostages in Iran.”

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SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN? THE SAME OLD STORY: A History Lesson We Should not Forget

Oh, but don’t we just love to hurl our maidens into the volcano? You can find this ancient ritual just about anywhere on cable’s reality-heavy dial, but E! has always been quite seismically active in this regard, from its epic Kardashiphilia to its devoted chronicling of Hugh Hefner’s multiple consorts. And although its new series, “Scouted,” gives the first impression of merely being a show about models, it turns out to be a watchable session of human sacrifice lite. Instead of the usual competition trope (set in stone by “America’s Next Top Model,” in which aspiring fashion models face off in a series of challenges), “Scouted,” which premieres Monday night, is more interested in the primordial stage of supermodeling. Read full article > >

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E!’s voracious ‘Scouted’: Hide your daughters

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. —The fight song had been played, the alma mater sung, a moment of silence observed — any of them capable of producing goosebumps or tears on a day such as this. Penn State’s players had just burst out of their tunnel — not at their usual brisk run, led by their 84-year-old icon, but at a solemn stroll, arm-in-arm, captains in front. And now, minutes before the cathartic kickoff, the Nittany Lions were moving en masse towards the 50-yard line, joined by their Nebraska counterparts. Read full article > >

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Penn State game vs. Nebraska is an emotional end to an emotional week

A July 2010 photo of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban kissing the hand of a most-delighted U.S. ambassador, Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, suggests they had a warm relationship. Lately, though, things have cooled — a lot. Maybe it’s Orban’s increasingly anti-democratic antics. Just the usual stuff — cracking down on the media, curbing the independence of the judiciary, attacks on minorities and a drift toward one-party rule. Read full article > >

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Hungary’s Viktor Orban has no appetite for democracy

The Rev. Mark Lewis awoke early on the last morning of his life as an Anglican priest and dressed in a suit and tie instead of his usual priestly regalia. That’s different, he thought, for the first of many times on a day when so much was different for St. Luke’s, the small Episcopal church in Maryland where Lewis had been rector since 2006. Read full article > >

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Episcopal parish in Bladensburg converts to Roman Catholic Church

The Post reports : The jump in the unemployment rate to 9.1 percent and the paltry increase of only 54,000 jobs are not easily dismissed. Unlike the usual White House approach to bad news (blame the media, blame the GOP or recast the facts) the unemployment figures accompanied by by poor housing, consumer confidence, growth and inventory numbers, few tools are at the president’s disposal to deflect blame. At a stop in Ohio on Friday, Obama sounded like Mitt Romney on health care — he said as little as possible on a topic he’d rather not talk about. Read full article > >

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Undeniably bad news for Obama

Donald Trump and his faux run for the Republican nomination for president are appalling. On Saturday, he trotted down to a South Florida Tea Party rally to whip up the crowd with his usual one-liners, boardroom bravado and an expletive. The crowd loved it — and, now, so do the polls.

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The ‘negative’ impact of Trump on the GOP

Workers trying to cool one of the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactors are evacuated, as radiation reaches 10 million times the usual level.

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Radiation soars at Japan reactor

It’s with great reservation that I’m recommending the latest from Johnny Knoxville and his band of crazies (the usual suspects return: a newly sober Steve-O, Wee Man, Chris Pontius and the rest) — Jackass 3D

The space that the designer Rei Kawakubo used for Saturday’s Comme des Garcons show reduced the usual allocation of front-row seats from 80 to 30, and the overall seating from 300 to 160.

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On the Runway: For Commes des Garçons, Kawabuko Chooses Art Over Front Row

Bird experts hope for an early spring and an end to the harsh winters as owl deaths run at three times their usual rate.

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Harsh winters threaten barn owls

President Hosni Mubarak has reacted to calls for his resignation with his usual change-resistant manner.

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Prizing Status Quo, Mubarak Resists Pressure

Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlethwaite, who starred in “Inception” and “The Usual Suspects,” has died at the age of 64, his agent said Monday.

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Actor Pete Postlethwaite dies

Harry Potter cast his usual spell on moviegoers Friday: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the latest installment in the long-running series, took in $61.2 million on opening day. Though it didn’t break any all-time records its first day, it…

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Deathly Hallows Rakes it In