Chief of CIA's 'Global Jihad Unit' Revealed Online

John Cook · 09/22/11 02:28PM

The CIA is having trouble keeping its secret agents off the internet. First, it allowed the White House to publish a photograph of the man behind the operation to kill Osama bin Laden. And now the identity of the woman who runs its "Global Jihad Unit"—and who has a long (if pseudonymous) history of being associated with some of the agency's most disastrous boondoggles—has been published online by two documentary filmmakers who sussed it out with the help of some "savvy internet research."

Today in Stupid Boycotts: The People vs. Schweddy Balls

Richard Lawson · 09/22/11 02:07PM

People are always getting upset about things and boycotting products and usually it's very dumb. There are two cases in point today: First, a conservative group wants Ben & Jerry's limited-edition "Schweddy Balls" ice cream boycotted, and then Glenn Beck is against revolutionary jeans.

The Many Campaign Trail Adventures of Michele Bachmann

Jim Newell · 09/22/11 01:36PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann has had all sorts of fun adventures on the presidential campaign trail, whether it's by introducing herself to likely voter babies, playing with heavy machinery, or gazing down long rows of hanging animal carcasses. When will she finish losing this race already?

Washington Post Discovers Concept of 'Links'

Hamilton Nolan · 09/22/11 01:08PM

In your throwback Thursday media column: WaPo reporters now required to learn about the "internet," UK tabloid journalists are unpopular, Walter Cronkite's nepotistic legacy, The Onion is leaving NYC, and Scotland Yard is coming for your video footage.

A Brief Guide to Tonight's Fox News/Google Debate of the Future

Jim Newell · 09/22/11 12:57PM

The Republican presidential candidates are debating tonight in Orlando, shining city of "corporate amusement parks"! Our hosts for the evening are Fox News and Google, who have planned all sorts of gimmicky social media bullshit to whiz by the candidates' faces throughout the evening. Which of these nine suckers will lose the most? Let us consider that, and other concerns.

Hipster Music Blogs Need to Get Over Their 'Authenticity' Problem

Brian Moylan · 09/22/11 12:26PM

Have you heard of singer Lana Del Rey? Well, probably not, because she doesn't even have an officially released single yet, but the hipster music blogs are all abuzz about her. Her music is great, but they still hate her because she's not "authentic." But that's not the problem at all.

The X Factor: American Idiots

Richard Lawson · 09/22/11 12:14PM

Last night Fox unveiled its latest brilliant, innovative idea: A vote-based singing competition judged by Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell. Who are the TV wizards who come up with these ideas??

We Just Can't Get Excited About the Environment Any More

Hamilton Nolan · 09/22/11 11:15AM

For a brief period in the 90s—before 9/11, before the global economic collapse, before endless wars in the Middle East—it was fashionable to "care" about the environment. (You could still get laid wearing a World Wildlife Fund t-shirt, in other words.) Now? I mean, yeah, the environment... eh.

Lindsay Lohan's New Job: 'Modeling' in Milan

Maureen O'Connor · 09/22/11 10:21AM

Lindsay Lohan is an Italian fashion plate. Emily Deschanel gives birth. Scarlett Johansson's late-night rendezvous with Timberlake. Bethenny Frankel's maritime rescuer thinks she's a jerk. Minka Kelly's butt gets slapped. Thursday gossip makes love to the camera.

Which Reality Host Forces Female Contestants to Sleep with Him?

Brian Moylan · 09/22/11 10:19AM

This former reality star is trying to sell a story about having illicit threeways with the show's host. This singer is back on the drugs, and this married rocker spent a weekend hooking up with an old flame. Give that girl a reality show!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Stark Swedish Sex

Richard Lawson · 09/22/11 09:49AM

Here's the first full trailer for David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, the runaway airport-read sensation that, in its original Swedish, was called Men Who Hate Women. This trailer hints at why.

Mystery Arab Invisible Ink Attacks America's Airliners

Hamilton Nolan · 09/22/11 09:14AM

Fresh on the heels of the tenth anniversary of That Horrible and Fateful Day When Everything Changed, a new reason to Never Forget: an unidentified group of shadowy Arabs—or someone familiar with their secret communication codes—has managed to infiltrate our nation's commercial air system once again, and scrawl mysterious unknown gibberish terror messages on the underbelly of planes. Will these messages explode?