The Senate Just Went Nuclear

Adam Weinstein · 11/21/13 12:50PM

Harry Reid is probably pretty happy today. 52 Democrats in the Senate just voted to change the chamber's rules so that they only need a simple majority, rather than a 60-vote threshold, to confirm certain presidential nominees and do other minor senator-type business.

Max Read · 11/21/13 12:28PM

[An Afghan bus driver offers prayers in front of his empty bus, as the center of Kabul comes to a standstill. Thousands of prominent Afghans gathered to meet for a Loya Jirga to debate a contentious security agreement with the United States in the Afghan capita. Photo by Anja Niedringhaus via AP]

James Murdoch’s Daddy Puts Him on Board of Vice Media

J.K. Trotter · 11/21/13 12:25PM

It turns out that one point of launching an ostentatiously renegade bad-boy media company is so that one day it can be inherited by an upwardly failing scion. More than a year after resigning from his chairmanship at News International, Rupert Murdoch's son James has found a new position as director of at Vice Media, according to the London Evening-Standard.

Unpatriotic Americans Are Not Driving Enough

Hamilton Nolan · 11/21/13 11:55AM

Want to do something patriotic? Want to show your national spirit? Want to help the economy, by contributing to the coffers of a speculative private investment firm? Drive more. Wall Street is depending on you.

Your Best Friend Jennifer Lawrence Shat Her Pants A Thousand Times

Caity Weaver · 11/21/13 11:30AM

Everyone in the imaginary celebrity-filled high school you—being a quirky and adorable adult with an active fantasy life—attend in your mind is gossiping about your best friend Jennifer Lawrence today, after she spent a large portion of her Wednesday interview with David Letterman talking about being gassy and shitting herself.

It's No Surprise the Air Force Academy Has a Gay Conversion Therapist

Adam Weinstein · 11/21/13 10:55AM

Don't Ask, Don't Tell is dead, so opponents of gay military equality have to fine-tune their message again. Or to simply conceal it behind a veneer of "character" pseudoscience. Which probably explains why the once-gay Dr. Mike Rosebush has a job teaching leadership to future Air Force officers.

Adam Weinstein · 11/21/13 10:48AM

Tallahassee newspaper commenter: "FSU QB Jameis Winston is only being accused of sexual battery because the accuser's lawyer went to UF." Tallahassee newspaper's editor in chief: "Interesting."

Verily, Nuts Are the Food of the Gods

Hamilton Nolan · 11/21/13 10:03AM

Nuts: the demure yet dynamic dynamos at nature's table. Might it be true, friends, that eating nuts will actually cause you to not die? Yes. It is absolutely true. Science celebrates The Nut!

Max Read · 11/21/13 09:39AM

William Weaver, the Italian translator who rendered Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco into English, has died at 90. If your obituary can include this sentence it's fair to say you led a good life: "Midway through our meal of pasta with lemon and cream sauce, Muriel Spark walked in with a basketful of forest mushrooms[.]"

Lacey Donohue · 11/20/13 11:59PM

Sylvia Browne, psychic, bestselling author, and frequent guest on The Montel Williams Show, died Wednesday in a Northern California hospital. She was 77.

Lacey Donohue · 11/20/13 11:42PM

[Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signs the state's Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act into law during ceremonies on Wednesday in Chicago. The bill, which won't take effect until June 1, makes Illinois the 16th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast via AP]