This is playing in the coffee shop while I write this. I'll leave it to all of you to decide what that augurs for the day. Personally, I'm optimistic.

Pakistanis are voting today, and voting well. Despite a bombing and gun skirmishes with Taliban fighters, turnout is looking like it'll be high. No big surprise, really. Fluoride's on the ballot. (Sorry. Fluoride's not on the ballot. They're voting in a pivotal election that might decide the future of their still-youngish nation. It was a terrible joke but, as I think about it, maybe also a poignant one? We've all got things that bring us out to the polls and drive debate. For Pakistanis it's trying to secure freedom and reform amid constant threats of violence. Just saying.)

And OH SNAP, this just came on. If you only knew how many times I've karaoked this bad boy, everybody. Day's getting still better.

As scrutiny over e-mails around how the US government publicized the Benghazi attacks continue to make waves, the rough shape of what's sure to be a stultifying and draining 2016 presidential election is coming into clearer focus. We shall see, Rand Paul.

SPACE STATION LEAK! is clearly how any story about the leak in the International Space Station should begin. It's the clearest distillation of what the astronauts working feverishly to patch the hole are thinking.

You know, I'm not sure I've ever truly appreciated how much I treasure Madonna's early hits. If this GMN isn't up to snuff, it's partly because it's hard to think soberly about current events while, ever so slightly, grooving.

Baz Luhrmann's garish Gatsby did big things on its opening day. There are plenty of people who'll explain why you probably shouldn't have been there to help it out, but few as cogently as our own Alison Hallett.

The woman who took the reigns reins and secured a Virginia burial for slain Boston bombings suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev says she's been "reviled and maligned" since.

You're cruising along on a fantastic Saturday morning Madonna kick, and then this comes on. It's a shame, is all.

One of three kidnapping victims held captive in a Cleveland house for a decade has completely withdrawn from sight since her liberation, not even reuniting with family members.

The Connecticut elementary school that played host to a massacre in December might be torn down, doomed by the horrific events within its walls.

A 21-year-old Ghanaian went nuts with a pickaxe on the streets of Milan this morning.

Weather Widget says cloudy today. Sun's coming through the windows of the cafe, but Madonna's just been replaced by something Coldplay-esque so she's DEAD ON.

Keep it fresh today, everybody.