Artist and Bird's Nest Designer Ai Weiwei Beaten and Detained

Two pieces of news coming from China this week, split between two posts so things don’t get too long. First, artist Ai Weiwei, who you might recall from last year’s Olympics in Beijing after he disassociated himself from the now-iconic Bird’s Nest National Stadium he helped design, has popped up again as a voice the Chinese government isn’t eager to hear. Following his outcry this past March over his country’s handling of their devastating earthquake in May of 2008, the government has reportedly detained