Author: Alexander Abad-Santos

Why Is Twitter Letting Jose Canseco Set Another Example of Rape Victim Shame?

Reuters

In a year when young victims of sexual assault have been shamed on social media by young people siding with accused athletes from Torrington to Steubenville, here is a six-time All-Star (albeit a very strange and estranged one), live-tweeting his self-defense to more than 510,000 Twitter followers and calling into question the judgment of a woman who appears to have accused him of a crime. The cops have nothing to say. But why isn't Twitter doing anything about it?

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 12, 2013

Indiana's Anti-Gay Prom Is Getting Worse

The latest options, it now appears, are for high-schoolers to attend prom with classmates who don't approve of kissing or "grinding" your date... or stay at home while a teacher compares gay students to the mentally disabled.

Comments | 2,491 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 12, 2013

The Chris Dorner Chase Has a Sad Meme

This whole thing "Don't Shoot Me" thing might be pretty funny if people weren't spotting random black guys near L.A. and ID-ing them to the cops as Dorner — and if the LAPD weren't firing on innocent people who don't even match his description.

Comments | 14,312 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 12, 2013

Two Gang Members Charged with the Murder of Obama Inauguration Performer

We've inched toward a bit of closure in what was one of the most heart-breaking stories coming out of this new year.

Comments | 2,929 Views

What We Know About North Korea's Nuclear Test

International officials have confirmed that North Korea conducted its third nuclear weapons test on Tuesday, and that the rogue state may be hinting at more tests to come. Check here for all the latest updates.

Comments | 27,689 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 11, 2013

How Bill Gates Won Over Reddit

A lot of it had to with a photo almost certainly intended to excite the nerds.

Comments | 2,588 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 11, 2013

Viral Video and Leaks Won't Expand Steubenville Charges to 'Rape Crew'

With a month to go before the delayed trial of the so-called "rape crew" begins, the Ohio attorney general now says he doesn't have enough evidence to charge any of the other members of the "crew" already tried in the court of social media.

Comments | 18,610 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 11, 2013

Why the Pope Really Stepped Down: Your Guide to Ridiculous Conspiracy Theories

Far from the Vatican, the non-believers of the Internet aren't quite buying the old-age excuse — or at least they're getting distracted on a Monday by alleging everything from Benedict's Nazi past to new sex scandals.

Comments | 29,345 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 11, 2013

Are Spy Drones Being Used to Find Fugitive Christopher Dorner?

The Internet erupted with some pretty shocking news yesterday: that the police were using drones to find wanted cop-killer Christopher Dorner. If true, it would be another odd turn in this massive manhunt, but despite claims to the contrary, he wouldn't be the first human target on American soil.

Comments | 6,832 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 11, 2013

Terrifying Footage of the Hattiesburg Tornado

As the East Coast of the United States was digging itself out of a blizzard on Sunday, a monster tornado ripped through the town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, destroying hundreds of homes and injuring at least 12. 

Comments | 9,861 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 8, 2013

Everyone's Seen Chris Dorner Because This Is Everywhere He's Allegedly Been

The hunt is still on for the ex-LAPD officer who allegedly killed three people and then definitely sent most of Southern California into a massive panic/manhunt that stretched across, well, most of Southern California. Here's a map of all the "reported" sightings.

Comments | 11,155 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 8, 2013

What Horse Meat Tastes Like

Amid a crisis that's gripping the United Kingdom and frightening eaters everywhere, here's how to tell if you've accidentally tastes horse meat — and, relax, turns out it's not that bad, and that you probably haven't anyway.

Comments | 3,160 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 8, 2013

Dalton Will Survive Its Rejection Payoff Scandal, and That's a Bad Precedent

The Manhattan private school that got caught sending a list of rejected and pending applicants, has suddenly side-stepped the leak — and a lot of people seem to be accepting it, despite a potential "domino effect" of pay-for-acceptance in exclusive schools. 

Comments | 862 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 8, 2013

The Best Ways to Track the Big Blizzard

Until the white-out begins — and as it continues to hammer the Northeast all weekend — here are the weather experts you should be reading and/or following on Twitter and beyond, plus what they can already teach you about this "Nemo" storm.

Comments | 3,696 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 8, 2013

Hunt for Rampaging Ex-Cop Spreads Far Across Southern California

Police are still on the hunt for Christopher Dorner, the ex-cop accused of killing at least three people who published a manifesto promising to kill more. They've locked down the mountain resort town of Big Bear, California, but there's a new problem: He's allegedly been spotted some 200 miles away near San Diego this morning.

Comments | 3,372 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 7, 2013

What Makes Ellen DeGeneres Laugh?

Today in viral videos: Ellen DeGeneres gets the giggles, the cure for Hipsterism, and Ryan Seacrest enjoys being pick-pocketed a little too much.

Comments | 862 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 7, 2013

Manhunt for Ex-Cop Chris Dorner Takes Over L.A. Freeways, Ski Resort & Beyond

After a truly bizarre day that stretched from a cop killing in Los Angeles to a manhunt from San Diego to the San Bernardino Mountains, night fell on Big Bear ski resort as authorities were still going to door-to-door and checking vehicles for the Chris Dorner, the ex-LAPD officer who shot at least five people and is still on the lam. Get the best updates right here.

Comments | 59,498 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 7, 2013

Book Lovers Are Furious That Anne of Green Gables Is Now a Sexy Blonde

The cover of a self-published new anthology edition of Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic orphan tale has Amazon commenters reaching peak dye-job hysteria right now. Since when is Anne of Green Gables supposed to look like an Abercrombie & Fitch model?

Comments | 3,296 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 7, 2013

Rejected-Students List from N.Y. Private School Hints at Pay-for-Acceptance Plan

Dalton sent out a list of rejected applicants and parents of kids with pending applications, all in an apparent effort to get alumni to push said parents into donating money to the already very well-off school.

Comments | 3,505 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 7, 2013

Russian Jets Get Too Close For Japan's Liking

For the second time in one week, Japan's foreign ministry has had to lodge an international complaint after a neighboring military power got a little too close for comfort.

Comments | 862 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 7, 2013

One Year Out From Sochi 2014, Putin Fires Russia's Deputy Olympic Chief

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi to be perfect, so when he found out who was behind the delays of the site's ski jumping complex, he did the understandable thing and axed the Russian Olympics Committee deputy chief.

Comments | 517 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 6, 2013

The Most Ridiculous Propaganda from Iran's State TV Before Our New Sanctions

The United States leveled sanctions on Wednesday against the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, a gigantic umbrella group that controls Press TV, which has given the world some truly absurd versions of news stories in the past year.

Comments | 1,855 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 6, 2013

Boy Scouts Aren't Ready to Vote on Gays

After a week of speculation, from across America and including the president, the group has pushed off a decision on lifting its national ban on gay scouts and scout leaders until a national meeting in May.

Comments | 690 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 6, 2013

Did a Philly Hospital Try to Charge This 5-Year-Old Croatian Patient Too Much?

Between Croatia's economic troubles and the rogue stories about Nora Situm's treatment costs skyrocketing at the last minute, the public shaming of Children's Hospital escalated quickly, from Zagreb to Philly and social media in between. Maybe too quickly.

Comments | 23,622 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 6, 2013

That Alabama Bunker Had Bombs and One Hidden Camera

On the day of the FBI raid on Jimmy Lee Dykes's bunker, he may have been very close to detonating one of his crude, home-made bombs.

Comments | 862 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 6, 2013

Monopoly's Newest Token Is a Cat

The feline token has beat out fellow newcomers like the robot and the guitar, and will be replacing the unloved iron as the newest game piece in the classic board game, Monopoly.

Comments | 2,698 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 6, 2013

South Pacific Tsunami Leaves at Least Five Dead

This morning's 8.0-magnitude earthquake in the South Pacific generated a 3-foot tsunami which struck the Santa Cruz Islands — a remote part of the Solomon Islands — killing four elderly people and one child.

Comments | 517 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 5, 2013

How to Ruin the Precious Budweiser Super Bowl Ad

Today in viral videos: Conan O'Brien goes there with the baby Clydesdale, a YOLO gone wrong, and the next Larry Bird.

Comments | 3,878 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 5, 2013

The Soccer World Is Not Prepared for the Awesomeness of Gus Johnson

Soccer aficionados love to bludgeon American troglodytes: We don't understand the beauty of soccer, they say, and today's anointment of human sports bullhorn Gus Johnson as the voice of the World Cup won't change that. They may be wrong, but they're not giving in.

Comments | 1,788 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 5, 2013

Zimmerman Tried (and Failed) to Delay His Trial on Trayvon's 18th Birthday

Had he not been killed, Trayvon Martin would have turned 18 today. And had George Zimmerman not shot Martin to death, we wouldn't have to report that a Florida judge just denied the defense's motion to delay the second-degree murder trial past June 10.

Comments | 1,035 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 5, 2013

The 54 Countries That Helped the CIA Kidnap and Torture Terror Suspects

Yes, little old Iceland made the list. So did the Hague's neighbors in Belgium, and Sweden and Finland. Why?

Comments | 5,201 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 5, 2013

America's Toughest Sheriff Is Victim of Identity Theft and Possible Identity Crisis

Someone took Sheriff Joe Arpaio's credit-card information and went on a supermarket sweep, and unlike his obsession with Obama's birth certificate, it sounds like he might actually take it easy on this slightly less important fraudster.

Comments | 2,687 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 5, 2013

Japan Doesn't Appreciate China Targeting Their Ships

Japan's Ministry of Defense is upset with the Chinese navy frigate that locked onto a Japanese navy ship with radar usually used to shoot missiles.

Comments | 3,479 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 5, 2013

Chris Christie Can Take a Good Fat Joke

The likable New Jersey governor swung by Letterman last night (with doughnut in hand) and poked fun at himself, Letterman, and his favorite fat jokes that the late night host has unleashed. Not that this was in doubt, but Chris Christie is a fantastic sport. 

Comments | 5,212 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 5, 2013

North Korean Video Imagines What It Would Be Like to Wipe Out a U.S. City

North Korea likes to drop hints about wanting to annihilate the United States, but just to make it clear, they've produced a helpful propaganda film to show exactly how that's going to go down.

Comments | 9,165 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 4, 2013

The Only Beyoncé Lip-Syncing Scandal Left Is Shaq at the Super Bowl

Today in viral videos: Shaq really enjoyed the halftime show, the YouTube clip that inspired Dodge's farmer ad, and Community gets even more epic.

Comments | 1,207 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 4, 2013

Iran's New 'Super' Stealth Fighter Jet Is Totally Fake

It's a made-in-Iran, "super advanced," radar "evading" military jet, prepared to unleash hell upon the regime's many enemies. Only there's now one major problem: Aviation experts say this plane can't even fly.

Comments | 86,010 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 4, 2013

John McCain Called 'Racist' for Referring to Ahmadinejad as Space 'Monkey'

Iran's president wants to be the first Iranian in space, which might be open to jokes considering his country's mostly debunked claim about sending a monkey into orbit. But actually referring to Ahmadinejad as a "monkey" is a terrible idea, which McCain found out today as he went on the defensive on Twitter.

Comments | 2,939 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 4, 2013

Malala Is Awake, Doing Well, and Already Speaking Out Again

After speaking publicly for the first time since her attack at the hands of the Taliban, the 15-year-old Pakistani shooting victim had two surgical procedures to repair her skull and restore her hearing.

Comments | 346 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 4, 2013

Harry Reid's Pro-Gun Endorsement Up and Vanished from His Campaign Site

With Dianne Feinstein's assault-weapons ban on the table before Congress, Reid's team has chosen a curious time to delete a section of his semi-defunct campaign website touting just how much the NRA approved of his gun-policy beliefs.

Comments | 674 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 4, 2013

Fidel Castro Shows His Face for the First Time in Three Years

For the first time in three years Fidel Castro appeared in public, voting in Cuba's general election on Sunday and looking good for a guy everyone thought was pretty much dead just a year ago. 

Comments | 7,957 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 4, 2013

You Might Want to Be Prepared For Two North Korean Nuclear Tests

Not satisfied with upsetting the entire world with a new nuclear weapons test, there's now speculation that North Korea may be planning two tests, possibly back-to-back or even simultaneously.

Comments | 2,069 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 4, 2013

Workers Are Still Trying to Free Victims From a Horrific Tour Bus Crash

While everyone was tuning into the Super Bowl last night, emergency crews were called to California's Route 38 in San Bernadino County where a crash involving a tour bus killed at least eight people and injured 42.

Comments | 690 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 1, 2013

Lower Manhattan Can't Go to the Bathroom Right Now

It's not that people in New York's East Village, SoHo, and TriBeCa neighborhoods don't want to go to the bathroom, it's just that a bursted water main in the Flatiron District has strangled the water supply for much of the lower portion of the most populous little island in America.

Comments | 3,425 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 1, 2013

Ed Koch Is Retweeting from Beyond the Grave

if you can get over the creepy part of watching Ed Koch RT stuff about his own death, it's actually a fun to remember the mayor — 140 character-style. 

Comments | 345 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 1, 2013

The San Francisco 49ers Still Have a Big Gay Problem

As the controversy over their teammate's offensive comments about gay players in the locker room still brews, two members of the Super Bowl-bound San Francisco 49ers are stirring the pot by denying they ever participated in a gay-rights video — or that it was ever a gay-rights video at all.

Comments | 5,031 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 1, 2013

Newsweek Daily Beast Is NewsBeast, and That's the End of That Chapter

In one of the final, wheezing gasps from the magazine that the world, for 79 years, used to know as Newsweek, there is now word that The Newsweek Daily Beast Company has officially changed its name to "NewsBeast" — which sounds about as fierce as the company is not.

Comments | 3,049 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 1, 2013

This Week's Social Media Power Rankings: The Return of Swatch

This week, Cisco got educational, Swatch got you hooked on love, and Intel parlayed its Ultrabooks to get a jump in the social media ranks.  

Comments | 484 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 1, 2013

Newtown Votes for Armed Guards in Elementary Schools

As the nation continues to confront the concept of "good guys with guns" in schools, two types of guards are coming to elementary schools in Newtown, Connecticut.

Comments | 1,724 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 1, 2013

Don't Be Alarmed By These Airline Pilots Falling Asleep at the Wheel

We learned today the good news that planes don't crash when pilots fall asleep or lose consciousness. But yeah, the news that pilots are falling asleep and or losing consciousness doesn't exactly have us itching for our next flight.  

Comments | 1,379 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 1, 2013

Here's the North Korean Nuclear Site That They're Trying to Hide From the World

Want one more sign that North Korea is getting closer to their third nuclear test? They've started to camouflage and cover the entrance to an underground nuclear testing tunnel at the Punggye-ri facility so that no one can see what they're doing. 

Comments | 5,518 Views

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App