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March 16, 2012 | | OOPS The program This American Life is retracting one of its most popular episodes—a story by playwright Mike Daisey dedicated to exposing the allegedly poor labor practices of Apple—because it was found to be partially fabricated. TAL said it was devoting “the entire hour to detailing the errors” from the retracted show this week. The episode includes an interview with Daisey, who issued a response today on his personal site: “I stand by my work … What I do is not journalism … I regret that I allowed This American Life to air an excerpt from my monologue … But this is my only regret.” RUTGERS VERDICT Dharun Ravi, the Rutgers student who spied on his gay roommate with a webcam, received a mixed verdict Friday morning at a New Jersey courthouse. Ravi was found guilty in some facets of all 15 of the charges that he faced, most notably of invasion of privacy for spying with a webcam on Tyler Clementi, his gay roommate who was engaging in what Clementi thought was a private sexual encounter with another man. Ravi was convicted on parts of all 15 counts against him, which included four counts of bias intimidation, a hate crime under New Jersey law. The jury, however, found him not guilty on portions of the bias counts, rewarding a split verdict on some of the specific acts within those charges. Ravi could face up to 10 years in prison and possible deportation to his native India. The 20-year-old showed no emotion as the jury read through the 15 charges. Ravi had not been charged in connection with Clementi’s suicide. Sentencing is set for May 21. ASSASSINATION Osama bin Laden, before he was killed last year, had ordered al Qaeda to kill President Obama by attacking his aircraft, administration officials told The Washington Post Friday. “The reason for concentrating on them,” bin Laden reportedly explained to his top lieutenant, according to one of the documents taken from his compound when U.S. forces raided it and took him out last May, “is that Obama is the head of infidelity, and killing him automatically will make [Vice President Joe] Biden take over the presidency … Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis.” Officials apparently said the plot was never a serious threat. OUTCRY Hundreds of Egyptians took to the streets of Cairo on Friday to protest the acquittal of a military doctor charged with forcing a “virginity test” on female activists. Protesters hoisted posters of Samira Ibrahim, a young woman who sued the military doctor for subjecting her to a “virginity test” last March after the Army detained her during a protest in Tahrir Square. “I was forced to take off my clothes in front of military officials,” Ibrahim said in an interview last fall. “The person that conducted the test was an officer, not a doctor. He had his hand stuck in me for about five minutes. He made me lose my virginity.” A Cairo court recently cleared the doctor of charges, citing contradictory witness testimonies. Ibrahim, who was one of seven women forced to take the test, says she plans to take the suit to an international court. New Project Rick Santorum has finally figured out what’s really destroying the United States. It’s not the unemployment rate, or the rising gas prices, or even the national debt. It’s porn. “America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography,” reads a new message on the presidential candidate’s website. “Pornography is toxic to marriages and relationships. It contributes to misogyny and violence against women. It is a contributing factor to prostitution and sex trafficking.” And how, exactly, does Santorum plan to tackle the morally corroding pornography industry? Ban hardcore porn, of course. And he might be able to do it. “If the government wanted to aggressively move against internet pornography, it could do so,” said UCLA Law Prof. Eugene Volokh. “Here’s the deal: in most parts of the country, a lot of pornography on the Internet would plausibly be seen as obscene.” | | 
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