Cheat Sheet - Italy’s Election: Send in the Clowns

Today: Steenkamp's Father Gives Seething Interview , Deluded Republican Reformers , New England Preps for Third Snowstorm February 23, 2013 THEATER OF THE ABSURD 1. Italian Election: Send in the Clowns Next week, Italian voters will go to the polls to choose their next leader. But once again the campaign has turned into a theater of the absurd. Barbie Latza Nadeau explores the laughable list of characters on the ballot. Read it at The Daily Beast 'HE MUST SUFFER' 2. Steenkamp's Father Gives Seething Interview On the heels of a South African judge's decision to grant Olympic double amputee Oscar Pistorius $113K bail, the father of Reeva Steenkamp—who died after sustaining four gunshot wounds on Valentine's day—spoke to the press Saturday. Barry Steenkamp told the South African newspaper Beeld that Pistorius "will have to live with his conscience" if he is in fact lying about the events that unfolded in his home on February 14. June Steenkamp, Reeva's mother, also spoke to Beeld, saying that the flowers their daughter's ex-boyfriend sent to their home meant "nothing." While Pistorius maintains that he shot the 30-year-old model by accident—mistaking her for a thief—Steenkamp's father remains skeptical. "If it didn't happen the way he says it did," he said, "he must suffer and he will suffer." Read it at BBC THE GOP PROBLEM 3. Deluded Republican Reformers Conservative pundits' ideas about fixing the GOP are totally meaningless, says Michael Tomasky, until they deal with the problem of their party's rage-driven fanaticism. Read it at The Daily Beast THATS ENOUGH, WINTER 4. New England Preps for Third Snowstorm New England is on a roll, getting ready to go three for three on snowstorms. Bracing for its third blizzard in three weekends, governments in the region had crews working hard Saturday morning—salting roads and trimming trees in preparation for what has the potential to be another historic storm. The snow and sleet scheduled to hammer the northeast, blanketed the Midwest earlier in the week. Winter storm warnings are in effect from Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening, with up to a foot of snow in the forecast for some areas. Hopefully after strike three, winter will be on its way out. Read it at Reuters CONCLAVE 5. Vatican Slams Media Has mud-slinging finally made its way into papal politics? The Vatican lashed out at the media on Saturday for newspaper reports that it claims are defamatory attempts to influence the election of the next pope. The reports in question come from various Italian newspapers and report a secret dossier on the origins of the Vatileaks scandal assembled for Pope Benedict XVI by three cardinals. The dossier allegedly factored into the pope's decision to step down. The Vatican claims the unsourced reports are an attempt to influence public opinion and the vote of the three cardinals. Look out: the future of Catholicism's about to get dirty. Read it at The Globe and Mail CHILLING 5-Year-Old Boy Shot in Bedroom Listed in stable condition. WATCH YOURSELF, AMERICA N. Korea Warns of 'Miserable Destruction' If Gen. Thurman goes ahead with military drill in South Korea. DRONE WARS U.S. Troops Launch Drone Base in Niger Officials claim the drones are for surveillance only. RUMOR MILL Joy Behar May Move to CNN 'The View' host was spotted meeting with Jeff Zucker. AW SNAP, FLOTUS! Michelle Obama Does the 'Dougie' Alongside Jimmy Fallon to promote her Let's Move! initiative. GET The Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of news and must-reads from across the Web. You'll love the featured original stories on politics, entertainment, and more from The Daily Beast's diverse group of contributors. GET Culture Beast Weekly cultural recommendations from The Daily Beast. Teach Me How To Dougie, Madame Obama Watch as the first lady takes us through the complete evolution of mom dancing - courtesy of her jovial dancing partner, Jimmy Fallon. More Videos Pistorius: The Next O.J. Trial? by Lauren Ashburn The Week's Best Longreads by David Sessions The Uncomfortably Mature Shia LaBeouf by Rick Schwartz

ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBE Copyright 2013 The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC 555 W. 18th Street , New York NY 10011 Privacy Policy

If you are on a mobile device or cannot view the images in this message, click here to view this email in your Web browser. To ensure delivery of these emails, please add thedailybeast@e2.thedailybeast.com to your address book. If you have changed your mind and no longer wish to receive these emails, or think you have received this message in error, you can safely unsubscribe here.