Nanny. Domestic caregiver. Housekeeper. These are some of the most difficult (and often demeaning) jobs in the American work force. How much do you pay your nanny? The national median is only $11 an hour. For housecleaners or "caregivers," the average is only $10, according to the "first-ever national statistical study of domestic workers," which was released today. It ain't hard to tell: domestic workers are in desperate need of a union.

Last week, actress Halle Berry observed Thanksgiving with the traditional Violent Fight—Almost to the Death—Between Frenchmen on her lawn, where her fiancé beat the shit out of the father of her child. Since then, accusations have been flying like bloodied fists:

The husband of a Bronx woman who weighed 425 pounds at the time of her death says the three airlines that failed to fly her back home for medical treatment are directly responsible for her untimely demise.

Last week we asked for your suggestions of what "books" (i.e. ancient Kindles made of wood pulp and ink and with the capacity to store only one title) to get your loved ones for Christmas. Here are some of your suggestions.

For most of the afternoon Sunday, the open roof deck at the InterContinental Cairo Semiramis hotels had two sunbathers and a young boy swimming in the Olympic size pool by himself. Six stories down, and 200 hundred yards away, on Abd El-Quader Hamza street, reckless policemen (aka the Central Security Force, or CSF) were launching tear-gas shells against the multiple protesters who were hurling rocks back at them.

Richard Cohen, who is employed by the Washington Post as an opinion writer for reasons which, like God's peace, passeth all understanding, saw Skyfall this weekend, and something is bugging him: This Daniel Craig fellow is rather... muscly.

The Tennessee Republican Party's nominee for Nashville's Congressional seat was arrested on Sunday and charged with domestic assault.

Four Ohio college students were indicted earlier this month on a multitude of drug charges, after they were caught last May trying to steal chemicals from a school chemistry lab in order to cook up some ecstasy in "an empty dorm room." An all too typical tale. For purposes of instruction—and to ensure that future college ecstasy labs are more professionally run—allow us to examine what mistakes they made in their budding criminal enterprise, all detailed exhaustively in this Plain-Dealer story:

On a gray Wednesday morning in October, the car headed west on the Lincoln Highway Bridge hit 100 miles per hour and I started to worry it might hurtle off into the tangle of rusted-out warehouses and smoke stacks that pass for a landscape in northeastern New Jersey. I peeked over the driver's shoulder, watching the speedometer approach the sound barrier. But my companion in the back seat of the Buick, the 27-year-old hacker and internet troll Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer, seemed not to notice as we nearly doubled the speed limit. He slouched and explained to the driver, who had asked him for a cigarette, why he didn't have any.

The Empire State Building's new Philips Color Kinetics LED lighting system already gave us a glimpse of its potential on election night, when it was used to display results in real-time.

On the eve of a $425 million Powerball drawing, a reminder: you are not going to win the lottery.

China may be leading the US in many areas, but, thankfully, we've still got a clear edge in both satire and snark.

It's tough to beat the New York Post's lede - "There's no business like snow business" - so I'll let it stand. In what authorities are describing as a "dramatic drug gang takedown," New York State police seized over 100 pounds of cocaine – worth an estimated $5 million – from the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square last month.

Earlier today, a man learned the hard way that, no matter how funny your joke might be, it's never a good idea to make it if it's subject is dynamite and you're in an airport. When a TACA Airlines agent asked Alejandro Hurtado if he was carrying any hazardous materials, Hurtado joked that he packed dynamite in his luggage.

Poor Elmo: Earlier today, a third man announced a lawsuit against Kevin Clash, accusing the Elmo voice actor of instigating a relationship with the man in 2000, when the alleged victim was just 16. The accuser, who is going by "John Doe" for now, says he met Clash on a gay chat line, where the two talked for several days before Clash invited the teen to his apartment.

According to this interview, Brad Pitt fully supports legalizing pot and gay marriage. His mom must be so ashamed.

For starters, Tim Allen's favorite car isn't a Porsche or a Jay Leno-ish vintage ride; no, it's a souped up 1996 Chevy Impala, which, according to Allen's website (totally worth a visit, by the way), "holds a DOHC 32-valve Corvette ZR1 engine and delivers 446 hp at 5500 rpm." I don't know what that means, but it sounds fast and loud. Also of note: "The rear also includes a "Binford 6100" badge. (Binford is the hypothetical tool manufacturer from Home Improvement's "Tool Time" show.)"

Three members of a Northern California family — a mother, father, and son — were swept out to sea after jumping into the ocean to save their dog and each other.

All the men in Halle Berry's life are trying to kill one another. Here's what her fiancé did to Gabriel Aubry's face.

Do you have any idea how many words we haven't been saying since 1972?