It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which means the online magazines, in addition to everyone else, are in an all-out war to out-black each other. Except here, the result – a healthy discussion about race in America, not a discussion about lynching – might actually be worth your time.

On Slate.com, we've got the first of three excerpts from Richard Thompson Ford's The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse, where Ford "sets the stage with the 1991 nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, in an effort to determine whether and in which ways his detractors were truly racists."

And over on Salon.com? Wise words from N-Word author Randall Kennedy on … Clarence Thomas.

Stay tuned for February, when Black History Month offers a full 28 days of this.

• Is crazypants pop star Britney Spears more likable than Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas? Possibly! says this disturbing article in the New Republic.

• Will Smith proves that Phili natives with negligible rapping skills can make their way onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

• Jennifer Lopez reminds us all that while money can't buy love, it can buy you the experience of watching your newborn baby poop all over an elegant cashmere onesie.

• Crisis! The days of free porn might be numbered! Related: You utter a disingenuous sigh of disgust and then totally click this link as soon as your boss isn't looking.

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