Overnight last November, unknown workers in New York quietly whitewashed 5Pointz, the warehouse complex turned graffiti mecca in working-class Queens, following a losing legal battle by artists, activists and residents to stop the site from being transformed into high-priced, high-rise condos. Overnight this weekend, unknown workers quietly wrapped the now-ghostly buildings with huge faux police tape that reads, "Gentrification In Progress." The perps were reportedly street artists GILF and BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) who have long fought development that invariably drives prices up and residents out. Bertolt Brecht: "Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it."

Detroit police officer Deon Nunlee was charged on three counts of criminal sexual conduct, one count of assault with intent to penetrate, and one count of misconduct while on duty after he allegedly raped a woman who called 911 saying her boyfriend had assaulted her. At the home, Nunlee took the woman upstairs while his partner stayed with the boyfriend. He was arrested when a positive DNA test came back. The third Detroit cop this month to be charged with misconduct, Nunlee definitely wins the grossly dubious prize.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig. “I’m troubled. This is not what our police officers do." (except sometimes)

CPAC is done; the denizens of the gonzo edge of the world have gone home to their caves. The highlights: Paul Ryan showed Democrats offer a "full stomach and an empty soul" with a widely reported story it turned out he stole from someone who heard it from someone who heard it from someone else; Wayne LaPierre said in an uncertain world full of "terrorists, home invaders, drug cartels, carjackers, haters and campus killers, airport and shopping mall killers" etc etc there is "no greater freedom (than) all the rifles, shotguns and handguns we want"; a Pink-Floyd-quoting Rand Paul said his Ukraine foreign policy is to drill everywhere; Sarah Palin, "a poisonous Grimm Sister telling toxic fairy tales to audiences drunk on fear and hate," blathered. More on these people who are both comic relief and feverish nightmare but, alas, real enough that at least some attention must be paid.