This White Woman from Massachusetts Might Win Arabs Got Talent

Neetzan Zimmerman · 11/25/13 06:52PM

That Jennifer Grout, a white, 23-year-old classically trained singer from Cambridge, Massachusetts, might win a Got Talent competition is not really news. That she might win the Arab world's version of the popular talent show is.

Adam Weinstein · 11/25/13 04:43PM

For years, doctors have agreed: Smoking prevents one serious disease. They just have no freaking clue why. Guess which disease it is?

Pies, Ranked

Max Read · 11/25/13 04:03PM

Thanksgiving is coming, blah blah blah. Let's cut the bullshit: it's pie week. Better choose wisely.

You Can Vacation at a Fake Shanty Town With Luxury Amenities

Hamilton Nolan · 11/25/13 03:27PM

Though "authentic" tourism experiences will always carry a whiff of the ridiculous, a case can be made that visiting a country's slums does have some redeeming side effects. Unless you're visiting fake slums built inside a luxury resort.

Animal Abuse Whistleblower Charged for Not Blowing Whistle Fast Enough

Neetzan Zimmerman · 11/25/13 03:08PM

An animal rights activist who spent the summer working undercover at a cattle ranch suspected of mistreating its animals has been charged with animal cruelty after blowing the whistle on the operation because it took her too long to report the abuse.

Your Local Cops Are Probably Out Buying Ex-Iraq Death Trucks Right Now

Adam Weinstein · 11/25/13 02:59PM

This is an MRAP, a mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle. It didn't exist until well into the Iraq War, when we went to war with the Army we had, and that Army's Humvees didn't survive very well. We bought a lot of MRAPs. The Iraq War is over. Now, how many of these MRAPs can we put your police down for?

Cord Jefferson · 11/25/13 02:45PM

About that "Knockout Game" from your uncle's chain email: "[P]olice officials in several cities where such attacks have been reported said that the 'game' amounted to little more than an urban myth, and that the attacks in question might be nothing more than the sort of random assaults that have always occurred."

Some Lucky U.S. Clergy Have Been Getting Tax-Free Housing for Years

Adam Weinstein · 11/25/13 02:01PM

A federal court in Wisconsin* ruled last Friday that the First Amendment invalidates a 1921 section of the US tax code that allowed religious leaders to get tax-free payments to cover their living expenses, separate from their salaries. Oh wait, you didn't realize religious leaders get their living expenses paid tax-free?

Hamilton Nolan · 11/25/13 02:00PM

As Amazon workers in Germany strike for better wages, a UK doctor warns that Amazon warehouse jobs put workers at "increased risk of mental illness and physical illness." Americans are just happy to be employed.