If You Have Ever Smoked, Just Give Up

Hamilton Nolan · 06/20/16 08:20AM

Are you now or have you ever been a smoker of the dreaded “tobacky?” Perhaps you gave up the habit long ago, for your health? No matter—you are doomed.

Oakland Is Fresh Out of Police Chiefs 

Hannah Gold · 06/18/16 09:45AM

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced on Friday that Oakland Police Chief Paul Figueroa, who had been at the job for all of two days, has decided to step down. Figueroa is the third Oakland police chief to resign in the last eight days.

What Did Internet Troll Chuck Johnson Know About Peter Thiel’s Secret War on Gawker?

J.K. Trotter · 06/17/16 04:05PM

Earlier this week, Forbes revisited the tale of the notorious right-wing internet troll Charles C. Johnson and his $55 million defamation lawsuit against Gawker Media. The lawsuit, which concerns a series of stories Gawker and Deadspin published in late 2014, was dismissed in Missouri earlier this year; a similar complaint has languished in California with no action for several months (Gawker Media expects that it will be dismissed as well). What makes Johnson’s litigation particularly noteworthy, however, is the circumstantial evidence surrounding it. According to Forbes, some of this evidence suggests that Johnson had knowledge of Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel’s secret, decade-long legal attack on Gawker prior to its exposure last month.

Either Donald Trump Can't Read or He's Just Happy to Be Nominated

Gabrielle Bluestone · 06/17/16 03:50PM

Today, the presumptive Republican nominee for president Donald Trump did something remarkable—he tweeted out a poll showing him trailing Hillary Clinton. Is this the first look at the presidential Donald Trump he promised to be in the general election?

Contrary to DNC Claim, Hacked Data Contains a Ton of Personal Donor Information

Sam Biddle · 06/17/16 02:36PM

When the Washington Post reported Monday that the Democratic National Committee’s servers had been breached by a team of Russian hackers, the DNC was quick to claim that nothing pertaining to the party’s many supporters had been pilfered. But a new cache of apparently hacked documents obtained by Gawker contains a wealth of donor information, including e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers for hundreds of high-profile and wealthy Democratic fundraisers.