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February 26, 2013 | | HOT READ A tawdry new book accuses the late Christopher Hitchens of betraying his convictions for publicity, and of plagiarism. Newsweek's James Kirchick dismantles all the accusations in Richard Seymour's biography, UnHitched: The Trial of Christopher Hitchens. MOVING ON One thing has been accomplished in Washington: the Senate filibuster of Chuck Hagel is over. On Tuesday, the Senate ended the debate over Hagel's nomination for Secretary of Defense, paving the way to confirm him. A number of key Republicans who had been blocking Hagel's nomination, including John McCain, Tom Coburn, and Kelly Ayotte, voted to end the filibuster. It's likely Hagel will be confirmed by the end of the day. BUNGA BUNGA Italy's gone rogue! In national elections on Monday, global embarrassment Silvio Berlusconi and comedian Beppe Grillo, who both ran against European-imposed austerity measures, grabbed a surprising share of the vote. Now fears are rising that the victors won't be able to form a functional governing coalition—or keep the nation's debt under control—sending markets tanking around the world. U.S. stocks had their worst day since November, Japan shed two percent, and the euro crisis worsened. With these results, voters in Italy are now openly in rebellion against the European Central Bank and any politicians seen to be aligned with austerity.
Cooked The Cannibal Cop's darkest fantasies were illuminated Monday as the wife of NYPD Officer Giberto Valle—the man charged with plotting to kidnap, rape, kill, and cannibalize a series of women—took the witness stand. Kathleen Mangan-Valle revealed, for example, that she discovered a fetish website, with a photograph of a dead girl, displayed on her husband's computer. It's the tip of the iceberg of evidence she said she uncovered about his plans, which allegedly included wanting to rape women "in front of each other to heighten their fears," burn some alive, and cook others on a spit. Because no women were actually harmed, prosecutors and the defense argued over whether the pure fantasizing of a crime constitutes breaking the law. DIG OUT A huge storm that slammed the Texas Panhandle on Monday and moved north on Tuesday is already being blamed for two deaths—and it's showing no signs of stopping. In Oklahoma, one man was killed after his roof collapsed under 15 inches of snow. The storm also killed a motorist in eastern Texas, where some areas saw record accumulations of snow. Hurricane-force winds also whipped Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, knocking out power to thousands. Fueled by a low-pressure system, the storm didn't just dump snow: it also caused thunderstorms, and tornado watches were issued in Arkansas and Louisiana. It gets worse: up to 15 inches of snow were expected in Missouri, which was slammed by a blizzard just five days ago. | | 
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