Cheat Sheet - Snow Way Out: Blizzard to Paralyze Northeast

Today: Times, Guardian: Snowden Clemency , 2013 Was a Terrible Year for Evolution , Germany Is Falling Apart January 02, 2014 SNOW WAY OUT 1. 36 Hours of Frozen Fury Headed to Northeast Hold on to your ear muffs! An impending East Coast winter storm, dubbed Hercules, is poised to be the biggest blizzard since Nemo, which paralyzed the northeast last February. Covering 100 million Americans it has the ingredients—fluffy flakes, strong winds, and record-low temps—to virtually shutdown the entire northeast. From canceled flights to school closings, The Daily Beast's Eric Holthaus outlines what to keep an eye on. Read it at The Daily Beast ZERO TO HERO? 2. Times, Guardian: Snowden Clemency Seven months after NSA contractor Edward Snowden stole more than a million classified documents and released some of them to the press, the editorial boards of The New York Times and The Guardian are urging the Obama administration to offer Snowden clemency as a whistleblower. (The Guardian has worked with Snowden from the beginning.) The Times declared: "Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear, and flight." The Guardian called what Snowden did, "an act of courage." One imagines the administration disagrees. Read it at Huffington Post DEVOLVING 3. 2013 Was a Terrible Year for Evolution Evolution did not fare well in 2013. An anti-evolution book, Darwin's Doubt, was Amazon's top seller in the "Paleontology" category while the state of Texas fought to keep the country's most respected high school biology text out of its public schools. Karl W. Giberson on the white evangelical Protestants who are ignoring the increasing evidence pounding the "final nail" into the coffin of Darwin's beleaguered theory of evolution. Read it at The Daily Beast AUSTERITY 4. Germany Is Falling Apart One point for the German-skeptics. Despite its reputation for on-time world-class infrastructure, officials in Germany, which has been implementing austerity policies since the recession, are sounding the alarm about the nation's decaying infrastructure. Roughly half of Germany's municipal bridges are in poor condition as well as one-fifth of its highways. In 2011, Germany spent 0.6 percent of GDP on inland infrastructure, less than France, Britain, or Canada, causing its rankings worldwide in infrastructure to slip from third in 2006 to tenth in 2013. Read it at the Washington Post ASS BACKWARDS 5. Walmart Recalls Donkey Product How does this even happen? Walmart is recalling donkey meat from some of its stores in China after the Shandong Food and Drug Administration said the product contained fox meat. The tainted "Five Spice" donkey meat could hurt WalMart in what is the largest grocery market in the world. In some parts of China, donkey meat is a popular snack, and in 2011 China slaughtered 2.4 million donkeys for food. Read it at Reuters EH? Rob Ford Officially Running Files his reelection papers. PESSIMISTIC Ariel Sharon in Critical Condition According to hospital. SAD SONG Customs Destroys Virtuoso's Flutes Loses 13 handmade instruments. SHOCK Popular CA Priest Found Slain In rectory. SWIPE RIGHT Mindy Kaling on Tinder? Show is featuring an episode devoted to dating website. 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. Where Being Gay is a Crime by James Kirchick Behold the Secret Power of Squats by Ari Meisel 71 Most Anticipated Movies of 2014 by Marlow Stern

ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBE Copyright 2013 The 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.