• By a 5-4 vote the Supreme Court decided that the police really don't have to knock to execute a warrant. If they just break in it will be okay. But Justice Kennedy, among the majority, thought it shows bad form: "it bears repeating that it is a serious matter if law enforcement officers violate the sanctity of the home by ignoring the requisites of lawful entry." Why, yes. It is a serious matter. So why did he vote to allow it? CBS News calls it "a huge government victory."
• Is there anyone not related to Barack Obama? First there was Dick Cheney. Now comes Raila Odinga, leader of the Kenyan opposition and member of the Luo tribe, claiming Obama is his cousin. Obama's father is also a member of the tribe, where the joke going round is that a Luo "stands a better chance of becoming president of the United States than being elected president of Kenya."
• Starbucks, which lost half its value in 2007, has fired its CEO. The BBC reports that "... consumers hit by the slowdown have cut back their spending on expensive coffee. There has also been increased competition with the likes of Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's introducing their own lines of gourmet coffee."

I have an idea! Why don't they merge?! Call it StarDunkin or McStarbucks. Oh, I forgot. There's no money for mergers.

• India's stock index, the Sensex, hit a new high yesterday. The BBC says that "Foreign investment has been continuing to flood into India. This is both because of the country's economic boom, but also because of the continuing weakness of the US economy and dollar, which makes India and the rupee an even more attractive investment." When I last called BellSouth with a problem, the customer service representative seemed inordinately cheerful.
• Religious violence in Palestine. Just after Christmas Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic priests and deacons got into a brawl in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity that had to be broken up by Palestinian police. The Orthodox were said to have encroached upon the Armenians' territory within the jointly-run church. Fortunately it concerned the placement of a ladder and not a wall. Should we call such violence in microcosm "fractal violence"?

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