Headlines from December 8, 2011

China on climate change: bumbling, probably devious, and definitely confusing.
Conversations I have had with government supporters no longer follow a rational chain of thought. Letter from inside Damascus.
Costco shows what Americans want to buy: milk, eggs, and diamond rings.
Giving a kidney to a stranger shouldn’t be applauded or considered heroic—it should be worth money. #opinions
Kurt Anderson on contemporary style’s refusal to try anything new.
Hitchens: The phrase “whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger” is stupid.
Story of why Air France 447 crashed: simple but persistent mistake on the part of one of the pilots.
Ta-Nehisi Coates on the need for more Civil War scholarship by African-Americans.
For Branford Marsalis, moving from New York to Durham, NC, was “a self-punishing trip to the woodshed” to perfect his craft and go avant-garde.
Kyra Sedgwick and The Closer praised for revamping the police procedural.
Since I am not alone in my shoe fetish, I have concluded that shoes are… an index to civilization.
Enormous collection of miniature books.
Web comic: Three Word Phrase.
Tintinologist explains what makes Tintin comics special, and why Hergé spilled beans on himself.
Latest update to David Hill’s “Fading the Vig,” in which he attempts to count cards at Foxwoods.
By calling Russia’s election rigged, Putin says Clinton “gave a signal” to his enemies.
Brief account of Gorbachev’s long road to becoming a dissident who is ignored at home.
Uproar after Medvedev retweets an insult directed at a jailed activist.
Seven easy steps to understand how the Euromess developed and who deserves a bigger share of the blame.
“If I can’t sell something, I just double the price.” The art market is roaring; still, why is art so damned expensive?
Filming of Cloud Atlas—financed by international backers and filmed by two crews—shows way forward for 21st-century moviemaking.
U.S. and Canada sign biggest border deal since NAFTA.
Bachmann believes half of Mexico lives in the U.S and every immigrant should be publicly humiliated.
The image of the year is one you may never have the opportunity to see.
If you can’t believe 2011 is already over, you weren’t paying attention: Buzzfeed’s most powerful images.
2011’s top photography websites.
Massoud Hossaini, whose picture was on the cover of yesterday’s Times, explains why it made him cry.
Lindsay Vonn wins record fourth straight Alpine World Cup race and celebrates by “Tebowing.”
Chilean communists to exhume Neruda’s body to see if Pinochet poisoned him.
Snow Falling on Cedars author wins Bad Sex in Fiction award.