Hamilton Nolan · 08/04/16 01:20PM

“Is it rude to ask my [brother-in-law] not to come over for a bbq? I am 3 months pregnant and BIL is Panamanian and my sister mentioned that he traveled there recently to visit his brother. I am afraid he could have zika now.” A reminder that Urbanbaby still exists, and is good.

Russian Prime Minister Tells Underpaid Teachers To Get Side Jobs, Figure “Something" Out

Marina Galperina · 08/04/16 01:00PM

At a public forum on Wednesday, a teacher asked Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev why teachers earn so little while cops earn so much, relatively—according to the Moscow Times, the starting monthly salary for educators is 10,000-15,000 rubles ($150-$225); law enforcement officers earn 50,000 rubles ($750) per month. The teacher tactfully inquired if the government was going to do about that.

NYPD's "Viral Grinding Cop" Shines In New Role As  "Viral Racist Facebook Cop" 

Jordan Sargent · 08/04/16 12:50PM

The NYPD has, according to various reports, been “investigating” years-old racist Facebook posts made by one of its patrolmen. “Racist cop” is not exactly the most surprising news the world has ever presented us. What’s noteworthy about this instance of racism from a person nominally sworn to equally protect all citizens is that the policeman, Gregory Gordon, is already infamously known as the NYPD cop caught wining with various women at the city’s West Indian Parade in 2011.

Sources: "Dumb-Dumb" Trump to Blame For Campaign Disarray

Ashley Feinberg · 08/04/16 12:20PM

Speaking under the condition of anonymity, sources familiar with the Donald Trump campaign revealed to Gawker their many frustrations with the campaign’s current path. One source even went so far as to venture, “He’s probably going to lose.”

Ben Carson Will Never Not Speak His Truth

Brendan O'Connor · 08/04/16 12:05PM

Does Dr. Ben Carson wish that the Republican nominee was someone other than his good friend Donald Trump? Of course he does. But the Republican nominee is Donald Trump, Carson astutely noted in a radio interview yesterday. And that is perfectly fine and okay.

Small Town Newspaper Owned by Roger Ailes’ Wife Goes to Bat for Roger Ailes

J.K. Trotter · 08/04/16 11:45AM

Roger Ailes, who resigned as CEO of Fox News after a barrage of sexual harassment allegations from female subordinates, is married to Elizabeth Ailes, the owner and publisher of the Putnam County News & Recorder, a broadsheet newspaper in Philipstown, New York, where the couple maintains a summer home. Ailes’ ownership of the paper has not been without controversy—mostly, but not entirely, of the hometown-scandal variety—but its editors have avoided covering the dramatic downfall of the owner’s famous husband. Until today.

Andy Cush · 08/04/16 11:32AM

Thanks to a newly released FBI file, we now know that the rabid anti-communist Ayn Rand was very thirsty for attention from the bureau’s equally rabid director J. Edgar Hoover, but Hoover repeatedly snubbed her. “But if you wish to speak to one of my assistants...” he once wrote, “please feel free to communicate.”

Good Help Is So Hard to Find These Days

Gabrielle Bluestone · 08/04/16 11:20AM

“She didn’t separate any of the clothes and just threw all of the laundry together... I was so upset because in the wash there were gifts people had given me, baby blankets, towels, and they were all dyed blue,” TV producer Amy Pack testified this week in the criminal trial of her maid, Jasmin Figueroa.

Notorious UC-Davis Chancellor Charged School Big Money For Lavish Travel 

Hamilton Nolan · 08/04/16 09:10AM

Linda Katehi, the chancellor of UC-Davis, was placed on leave in April after an outcry over conflicts of interest, nepotism, and grossly unwise spending of the university’s money. It turns out she (and her husband) also enjoyed a great deal of international travel at the school’s expense.