Daily Bafflements

• Persecution of Christians has taken a number of different forms over the years, from being burned alive, stoned to death, crucified (both then and now), and perhaps the most sinister of them all, asked awkward questions over brunch. Yes, that’s the sort of awkwardness that comes only when dating while Christian among the godless urbanites in the northeastern United States, notes one Buzzfeed contributor. Disregard that Buzzfeed’s conception of faith is one that is so sterile and banal that it fits nicely into a corporate-friendly YouTube video about how religion and “open mindedness” aren’t at odds with one another—this is serious persecution that we’re talking about! 

• Taking a breather between swapping hipster furniture and posting their babysitting needs, the users of Oakland social network Nextdoor.com have taken to using the forum to engage in a grassroots racial profiling effort: “residents have called Black and Latino men suspicious for being near bus stops, standing in “shadows,” making U-turns, and hanging around outside coffee shops.” At the drop of a hat, off the back of this secondhand advice, these curtain twitchers encourage each other to participate in community life by alerting the cops. Hm. 

• Conservative Cheshire Cat William F. Buckley’s fawning correspondence with the FBI is up online, including a thank you letter written by Buckley’s son, who decided to be “an action man” after visiting the bureau. (Thanks Muck Rock!)

• “The word that kept coming up was prick,” says Lou Reed’s disappointed biographer. “Girlfriends called him a prick, people he was at school with called him a prick; people in his band called him a prick.”