The Disturbing Fetish Images the Cannibal Cop's Lawyers Don't Want You to See

Max Read · 01/30/13 03:34PM

Images released today by a judicial order provide a disturbing window into the hard drive — and fantasies — of "Cannibal Cop" Gilberto Valle, the NYPD officer accused of plotting to kidnap, kill and eat a woman: a photo of a naked woman, face down, hog-tied on a pan with an apple in her mouth. Another woman, bound and tied to a spit, rotating over an open campfire. A cartoon of a guy in an apron, adding salt to a pot in which a woman is being boiled alive.

America Has Two Black Senators For the First Time Ever

Robert Kessler · 01/30/13 01:24PM

This morning, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced he would appoint William "Mo" Cowan as interim senator to fill newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry's seat until a special election. Cowan was Gov. Patrick's chief of staff from January 2011 to November 2012; before that he served as Patrick's chief legal counsel.

Manti Te'o Hoaxer Tells Dr. Phil He Was 'Deeply, Romantically in Love'

Robert Kessler · 01/30/13 12:05PM

Dr. Phil says the man behind Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend Lennay Kekua, Roniah Tuiasosopo, told him he was "deeply, romantically in love" with Te'o and claims that the voice talking back to Te'o for countless hours on the phone was not his cousin, as reported by the New York Post, but him. Asked by Dr. Phil if he is gay, Tuiasosopo says that, yes, he is, then clarifies that he is "confused."

Watch Gabrielle Giffords' Moving Statement at the Senate's Gun Safety Hearings

Max Read · 01/30/13 11:08AM

"Speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important," former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, currently convening hearings on gun safety. "We must do something. It will be hard but the time is now." This is the full text of her statement:

Thomas Friedman: Hyperconnected

Hamilton Nolan · 01/30/13 10:22AM

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, a mustachioed humanoid robot with a limited vocabulary, was programmed by his creators to do whatever it takes to get his simple, cartoonish message across, even if that means repeating that message over and over and over without end in the nation's premier news outlet until all of us bow down and accept it, just to get him to stop saying it.