Author: Alexander Abad-Santos

The Gay Boy Scouts Are Still Impossible

Reuters

What seems like progress from the top-down may reveal the problem with Boy Scouts from the inside-out: its first official coming out party is still a microcosm of discord on gay acceptance, especially in Christian America, no matter what polls say today or the Supreme Court declares in a few weeks. Here's a survey of the reaction so far.

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

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 1, 2013

Ed Koch Has Died at the Age of 88

Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York City died from congestive heart failure around 2 a.m. on Friday at New York Presbyterian Medical Center.

Comments | 1,112 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 31, 2013

Yes, Dr. Phil Made Roniah Tuiasosopo Do the Lennay Kekua Voice

After the mastermind behind the Manti Te'o hoax came clean, revealed the source of the fake-girlfriend name, and admitted he might be gay and that Te'o most certainly wasn't, Dr. Phil McGraw apparently decided there was only one more thing to ask.

Comments | 7,256 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 31, 2013

Nobody Cares About 'Star Trek' Anymore

Today in viral videos: Dr. Spock gets no love, puppies predict the big game, and Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, and Bob Odenkirk team up for the Samsung Super Bowl commercial.

Comments | 1,398 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 31, 2013

How Chris Culliver's Anti-Gay Comments Actually Started a Dialogue in the NFL

The 49ers cornerback's non-apology apology for his much maligned comments on gay players in the locker room won't win him any fans heading into the Super Bowl this weekend, but his offensive remarks already appear to have had an unintended effect.

Comments | 1,724 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 31, 2013

Jack Donaghy's Princeton Yearbook Page Mysteriously Emerges for '30 Rock' Finale

What's one great thing about 30 Rock ending? Well, we finally figured out that Princeton has a sense of humor.

Comments | 4,345 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 31, 2013

Facebook Saved This 'Gay' Dog from Being Euthanized

This dog was surrendered to rabies control in Tennessee — entirely because his owner saw him mounting another male dog and thought the bulldog mix was homosexual. The dog was scheduled to be put down at 1 p.m. today ... until some sane people on Facebook got involved.

Comments | 11,035 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 31, 2013

Dan Marino's Secret Love Child Is Going to Make the Super Bowl Very Awkward

The football gossip-mongers are now wondering how Hall of Fame quarterback — and CBS pre-game/halftime analyst — Dan Marino is going to handle a report that he paid millions of dollars to keep an extramarital seven-year-old daughter secret.

Comments | 6,775 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 31, 2013

Gunman Who Shot 3 People In Phoenix Is Still on the Loose

Arthur Douglas Harmon is the man Phoenix police are looking for as he's believed to have shot three people and killed one at an office complex yesterday—while the Senate hearing on gun violence carried on in Washington.

Comments | 5,023 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 31, 2013

Don't Look Now, but Iran and North Korea Are Upping Their Nuclear Games

There are two countries in this world that we'd rather not see tinker with nuclear energy: Iran and North Korea. And it just so happens one of those is now prepping for a nuclear test, while the other is bragging about how it's putting its own program into overdrive.

Comments | 2,720 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 30, 2013

Lance Armstrong's Radiohead Apology

Today in viral videos: Lance Armstrong "sings" the song "Creep," an Oscar-nominated Disney short film that's almost as good as the beginning of Up, and 60 years of pop music's valiant attempt to woo men. 

Comments | 2,944 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 30, 2013

Israel's Attack on Syria-Lebanon Border Said to Target Military Research Hub

After morning reports of an overnight incident as Syria's war may spill over the border, Syrian state TV is now reporting that the Israeli warplanes bombed a military research center. Confirmations from U.S. officials are also spilling in.

Comments | 4,373 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 30, 2013

There Was a Shooting in Phoenix During the Gun-Violence Hearing in the Senate

Maybe it's just another public coincidence since the Newtown massacre, or maybe shootings in safe places occur so frequently these days that it's impossible to hold a public meeting with the NRA without a bunch of people getting shot at the same time.

Comments | 7,458 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 30, 2013

The Steubenville 'Rape Crew' Trial Will Be on Display for the World to See

If you thought hackers and the media had brought a lot of attention upon the tough town of Steubenville, Ohio, just wait until everyone gets to see the legal fate of two of its high-school football stars accused of sexual assault play out in public there.

Comments | 30,865 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 30, 2013

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Tells Dr. Phil He Was Behind Te'o Hoax and Thinks He's Gay

The "confused" man behind the Manti Te'o fake-girlfriend hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, is speaking out publicly for the first time — and it appears he'll confess to the whole thing and claim to be the voice of Lennay Kekua, all while coming out as gay.

Comments | 4,483 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 30, 2013

South Korea's Satellite Is Not Going to Go Over Well in North Korea

South Korea has successfully put a homegrown satellite into orbit for the first time in the country's history, officials say. Now, who's going to break the bad news to their big bad neighbors to the North?

Comments | 5,488 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 30, 2013

Nate Silver's Super Bowl Pick: The 49ers

Sure, he was on-point during the 2012 election, but before you place your bets behind the bespectacled number genie, remember that he predicted that this would be a Seahawks-Patriots Super Bowl — and that he's gotten a little better at the politics game than anything else.

Comments | 2,414 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 30, 2013

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Wild Monkeys Ransacked a Town

A pack of 10 monkeys went on a rampage in the town of Toddang Pulu in Sendenreng Rappang, Indonesia, on Tuesday. In their wake, they've left seven people injured—one critically—and one shaken village.

Comments | 2,414 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

Let's Slow Jam the News with Brian Williams

Today in viral videos: the slow jam that the news really deserves, the power of the jumbotron, and a wave that we won't be catching.

Comments | 345 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

Cans of Fresh Air Are an Easy Sell Now That China's Toxic Smog Is So Bad

The increasingly toxic smog in Beijing has reached a level somewhere around "choking," and now it's about to make one of China's most eccentric billionaires even richer by allowing him to peddle one of the most eccentric inventions of all time.

Comments | 1,418 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

This Is Jeff Zucker's CNN Overhaul

As news arrives today that some of its most familiar (and familiarly loud) faces are on the way out and some new (and potentially household-name) anchors may be on the way in, the future of CNN is starting to take shape under its powerful new boss. Here's what that might look like — no Sarah Palin allowed.

Comments | 1,887 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

The Obama Skeet-Shooting Truthers Think the President Is Scared of Guns

President Obama said in an interview published this week that he has, in fact, shot a gun recently, and conservative skeptics are having a field day with the latest in presidential sport shooting.

Comments | 3,247 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

The Most Inspiring Things About Quadruple Amputee Brendan Marrocco

The first solider to survive after losing all four limbs in the Iraq war has been live-tweeting his recovery from a Baltimore hospital room. Here's what we know about him so far — aside from the fact that he is, you know, amazing.

Comments | 818 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

British Troops Are Going to Mali, Despite What David Cameron Said

Today, the U.K. announced that it would be sending around 350 troops to support the French operation in Mali, which means Prime Minister David Cameron has some explaining to do

Comments | 1,379 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

North Korea and Its Gulags Are Now on Google Maps

Thanks to citizen cartographers, Google was able to fill in what was what one of the last blank spaces on earth. And now we can see things like North Korean mass transit routes, the Pyongyang's  parks and of course, the country's gigantic gulags.

Comments | 5,844 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

And Now, Back to Charles (Barkley) with the Weather

Today in viral videos: proof that Charles Barkley should stick to his day job, proof that Australia is pretty scary, Manti Te'o gets auto-tuned, and more.

Comments | 1,058 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

Meet the Rogue Sheriffs Who Won't Enforce Obama's Gun Proposals

Obama and Biden met with a group of sheriffs and police chiefs this afternoon, calling them a representation of law-enforcement officials across the country. But the truly not gun-shy are these 100-something sheriffs — and counting.

Comments | 1,995 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

The Ban on Gay Boy Scouts Could Be Gone by Next Week

The Boy Scouts of America's decades-long national policy of banning gay scouts and ex-communicating gay scout leaders could be crashing down, set to be replaced by a new policy that would leave admissions decisions to local sponsoring organizations.

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

Who Shot at Rick Ross and His Rolls Royce?

Fort Lauderdale police have their hands full figuring out what happened during a shooting early Monday morning that eventually led to a Rolls Royce crashing into an apartment building, but Rick Ross fans have been all too eager to help.

Comments | 26,176 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

Was the Brazilian Night Club Disaster Made Worse by Its Bar Tab Policy?

As Brazil and the city of Santa Maria prepare to bury the 233 people who died in a nightclub fire, we are slowly getting more information on what really happened early Saturday morning.

Comments | 5,111 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

Chris Brown Apparently Punched Frank Ocean Over a Parking Spot

Chris Brown is under police investigation for an alleged assault at a Los Angeles recording studio last night involving six men, one of whom happens to be Frank Ocean.

Comments | 5,976 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

Juvenile Accused in Delhi Gang Rape May Only Get Three Years

The Indian Juvenile Justice board ruled Monday that one of the suspects in a fatal gang rape last month will be tried as a juvenile—and if convicted, the worst sentence he can face for the will be three years in a detention facility. 

Comments | 690 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

North Koreans Reportedly Turn to Cannibalism Due to 'Hidden Famine'

News out of North Korean is notoriously unreliable, but food shortages in the country have gotten so bad and people so desperate that there are now reports of men murdering their own children for food.

Comments | 19,596 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

Ryan Gosling vs. Ryan Seacrest: A Battle of Followers

Today in viral videos: Jimmy Kimmel proves that the meek shall inherit Twitter, Christian Bale restores our faith in humanity, and the scientific explanation behind the chicken and the egg.

Comments | 1,371 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

Lennay Kekua's Voicemails Sound Exactly Like Manti Te'o Wants Them to Sound

Manti Te'o's interview with Katie Couric is set to air this afternoon, and from the sound of it, Te'o has come prepared.

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

New Mexico Bill Would Send Rape Victims to Jail for Aborting 'Evidence'

If you thought the so-called "rape caucus" was fading away, there's new evidence — and we mean evidence — that some Republicans are still going to make a lot of people upset with what they see as legitimate concerns about rape.

Comments | 11,392 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

The Evolution of the 'Angry Hillary' Meme

She was all smiles before to introduce John Kerry as her replacement today, but according to plenty of still-swirling reactions to Hillary Clinton's appearance before before the the same Senate committee yesterday, Clinton looked like just like an angry, reactionary lady.

Comments | 1,599 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

The Voice of Manti Te'o Fake Girlfriend Was Apparently Tuiasosopo's All Along

It turns out that all those hours were spent talking to Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, whose lawyer admits the alleged mastermind behind the fake-girlfriend hoax was disguising his own voice the whole time.

Comments | 4,283 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

Meanwhile, in South Africa, 15,000 Crocodiles Escaped from a Farm

The good news is that some of the 15,000 crocodiles that escaped after recent South Africa floods have been recaptured. The bad news is that there are at least 7,500 missing crocodiles still out there somewhere.  

Comments | 4,828 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

Spanish Paper Duped by Fake Hugo Chavez Hospital Photo

The world and Venezuela are anxiously awaiting for Hugo Chavez's first public appearance since fleeing to Cuba for cancer treatment last year. That's why the Spanish paper El Pais decided to run a picture of what they thought was an intubated Chavez.

Comments | 2,017 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 23, 2013

Let's Welcome Back Hockey with This ESPN Commercial

Today in viral videos: ESPN gets a new chef, ponies wear sweaters, and our faith in the awesomeness of people gets renewed.

Comments | 345 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 23, 2013

Salon Gave Truthers a Chance, Decides That's a Bad Idea

After it spent a good portion of last week notably debunking the rise of Newtown conspiracy theories, the editorial team at Salon has come under fire for a decision notable for doing quite the opposite.

Comments | 2,414 Views

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