Often is it said, "It's what's on the inside that counts." When I hear those words, I laugh and laugh, and laugh and laugh. What is this, amateur hour?

Professor David Petraeus will return to CUNY this fall to re-teach a course called “Are We on the Threshold of the (North) American Decade?” Enrollment starts on Monday.

On Friday, divers searching the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol discovered the bodies of 48 girls crammed into a cabin designed to hold just 38. Authorities believe the girls—all of whom were wearing life jackets—may have been following orders when they packed into the room and then became trapped as the boat tilted and sank.

A Tea Party Republican House candidate and author of the self-published sci-fi novel "George Buchanan Enters the Wormhole" vows to stop all immigration into the U.S. because immigrants vote for "big government." It's an improvement on his deportation plan, "Operation Wetback."

Over 1,000 residents of Venice make up this giant rosebud in St. Mark's square in Venice for the "Festa del Bocolo", a tradition dating back to the Middle Age, on Friday. Image via Sebastiano Casellati/AP.

Hey there, sweetness. No cavities. You are a great flosser. But why don't you smile more? I bet it's 'cause of this little gap here in your cute little bunny teeth. No, here. Open up, let me show you. I've got just the thing you need. Your boss'll give you a raise! Just lie back and let me take care of it.

A federal judge has struck down New York state's $150,000 annual limit on individuals' contributions to super PACs. Buy yourselves some of that Free Speech™, y'all. It's really getting to be worth something.

A pregnant South Carolina woman says she was asked to leave a Planet Fitness gym because her "belly was hanging out." Can all these outrageous Planet Fitness stories even be real? Burn it down either way.

A sheriff's deputy responding to burglary report at a dairy in Rains County, Texas, approached the farmhouse and shot the family's dog while the homeowners rushed to meet him. The deputy has been fired, and the county may pursue criminal charges.

According to a survey of 418 escorts from RentBoy.com, the top concerns of male escorts are branding and marketing. Safer sex came in at No. 12.

"On Monday night I was pulled out of a car at a checkpoint, then blindfolded, beaten, and tied up with tape." Vice News journalist Simon Ostrovsky details his experience of being kidnapped and held captive by pro-Russian gunmen in eastern Ukraine.

Mike Allen is the most famous journalist at THE POLITICO. His "Playbook" newsletter sets the agenda for much of DC's media class. Mike Allen's dad, Gary Allen, was a racist, lunatic right wing author. Let's peruse one of his books, shall we?

Oh, damn. Who's that baby?

Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin spends its 92 minutes tightening itself around your neck and intermittently striking like a snake. Part genre flick, part meditative indie, Blue Ruin follows protagonist Dwight (Macon Blair) through mostly backwoods Virginia in his attempt to avenge the death of his parents after their murderer is released from jail. Dwight, though, isn't exactly built for vengeance as his bumbling and repeated fuck-ups show. The result is a brutal, sometimes darkly funny exercise in suspense that reminded me of Breaking Bad and the Coen Brothers.

Dan Bilzerian, the king of Instagram, is known for a few things: playing high-stakes poker, buying his way into film roles, and posting photos of guns, cars, and women. On Thursday, he threw one of those women off a roof, aiming for a swimming pool. It didn't work out.

As you've undoubtedly heard, earlier this week the FCC reportedly threatened to change the rules on net neutrality. Here's a good overview of why that's wrong and why you should care, and here's a petition you can sign about it.

A Connecticut high school went on lockdown early this morning after a female student was stabbed to death by a classmate, reportedly because she rejected his request to go to prom with him tonight.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Paroline v. United States. The case raised an emotional issue — the right of a victim of a child pornographer to compensation for the pain and suffering the dissemination of her images caused — and then wrapped it up in a lot of legalese about restitution and causation and statutory construction. And what comes out of it is a simple conclusion: that Congress needs to act if we want to create a solution.

Former associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States John Paul Stevens wanna legalize it and blaze up that blunt so hard. Man, if only he still worked someplace that could effect that sort of change.

Late-stage Alzheimer's disease can be a cruel and brutal thing, as the loss of vocabulary gives way to the inability to speak at all. That's the situation Lisa Abeyta's father finds himself in most days, but there's one thing that seems to help: the family dog.