It Takes 'Morning Joe' to Make Russell Brand Likeable
Today in viral videos: Russell Brand gets sympathetic, 50 (completely unscientific) ways to trick people into thinking you're smarter than you are, and summer treat from Disney.
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Michael Hastings, most recently of Buzzfeed but well-known and respected for his fearless reporting in Rolling Stone, Newsweek, and elsewhere, has died at the age of 33
Today in viral videos: Russell Brand gets sympathetic, 50 (completely unscientific) ways to trick people into thinking you're smarter than you are, and summer treat from Disney.
The former government contractor who leaked National Security Agency documents that turned the world's digital privacy expectations upside-down appears to be keeping up with his plan to seek asylum in Iceland, with an assist from Wikileaks, of course. And the Icelandic government tells The Atlantic Wire that won't be easy.
North Korea, land of gulags, government-enforced information blackouts, and humans so hungry they eat other humans, has finally weighed in on the NSA-spying controversy and has become ... an advocate for American civil liberties.
A former college professor accused of going overseas to have sex with minors has become the 500th person to hold a spot on the FBI's famous Ten Most Wanted List. Here's a look back at some "fun" facts about the publicity stunt turned surprisingly effective law-enforcement tool.
George Packer on the reach of Silicon Valley, Tim Shorrock on consolidating our spies, Leigh Alexander on the future of video games, Noreene Malone on Michael Bloomberg's composting plan, and Ramesh Ponnuru on the coming judgment of the Supreme Court.
President Obama defended the administration's decision to "ramp up" their support to Syrian rebel forces by, among other things, providing some lethal aid, during a sprawling interview with Charlie Rose that aired late Monday night on PBS.
In April, The New York Times' Charles Savage asked the government to release a list of the people still detained at the government's prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On Monday the Justice Department responded, providing one of the first complete looks at who the United States is holding, and what it plans to do with them.
The story of blind Chinese dissident and human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, currently a visiting scholar at NYU, has taken an all-too-familiar turn: Chen has reportedly fallen in with a group of strident religious conservatives who have persuaded him to accuse NYU (falsely) of evicting him.
A disgusting plot involving the smuggling of Pakistani immigrants, stealing their wages, and forcing them to pay for housing was busted by federal agents in New York and Virginia. This is going to look very bad for your local Slurpee shop, and the great bodega takeover of New York City.
It is possible that Edward Snowden is a Chinese spy, as Dick Cheney might have you believe. If he is, Snowden is one of the most capable and least predictable spies in American history. A cursory look at the evidence at hand suggests that Cheney is wrong.
I have no idea where to even begin the process of procuring an 8-pound half of a pig's head. As I typed "half pig head ... New York" into Google, I couldn't help but feel that Franny's: Simple, Seasonal, Italian, which is being lauded as one of this season's best cookbooks, was belligerently lying to me about the "simple" part.
A nation continues to wait for final word on the Supreme Court's Big Four cases, but the justices' closest call arrived first on Monday, in a ruling that just made your right to remain silent a lot more complicated — just ask Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Heidi Moore on the recent impact of financial lobbying, Joan Walsh on the return of Sarah Palin, Mary Ann Mason on the challenges women face in academia, Hendrik Hertzberg on the security state laid bare, Adrian Walker on Gabriel Gomez's troubled Senate campaign.
We may have to wait another week or so for the Supreme Court's decisions on two key same-sex marriage cases, but we at least now have a better sense of which media outlets reflect our prejudices on the issue. Supporter of same-sex marriage? You're in luck; nearly every outlet leaned that way. Opponent? Meet Mr. Limbaugh.
We're halfway through one of the least-deadly years in recent Chicago homicide history, but here's a reminder that summer is just getting started: over 40 were shot and 7 killed in Chicago this weekend.
Are you a student in New York using prescription performance enhancing drugs like Adderall or Ritalin to finish your work in a timely manner? Well, let's hope you've got a rock solid diagnosis because Sen. Chuck Schumer wants to crack down on "academic doping."
An exchange between Rep. Jerrold Nadler and FBI director Robert Mueller is coming under some scrutiny after a reporter claimed it concretely proves that NSA analysts can listen to domestic phone calls without a warrant.
There was a classified meeting for Senators wanting to learn more about the National Security Agency's PRISM program from the top security officials, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and NSA chief Keith Alexander, but attendance was sparse.
According to an alarming report published by The New York Times on Friday, reporters at the company were for decades not only permitted, but frequently and forcefully encouraged, to monitor potential story subjects with the terminal software's UUID function.
While you waste the last drips of this Friday afternoon at your desk, just know there's someone out there who is much more famous than you, is much less deserving than you, and gets paid more than some people make a year to talk about motivational things for about half an hour. The gory, torturous details are all in the latest issue of The New Republic.
Lululemon, purveyor of crotch-flashing yoga wear, is looking for a new CEO after Christine Day stepped down this week. They placed an ad looking for the position that is looking for someone who will "wear The Mansy to lead our company-wide morning chant and kombucha ritual" to lead their company. They're joking ... we hope?
Yes, journalists: even you can get hacked. On Friday morning, a spokesperson for CBS News announced that veteran reporter Sharyl Attkisson's computer had been "accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions late in 2012."
Kirsten Powers on the backlash to Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald on his long week, Francis X. Rocca on the new pope's relationship with Jews, Sherrilyn A. Ifill on the future of affirmative action, and Sasha Weiss on our age of online exposure.
When his father dies just months after his mother, a reporter searches for answers — and finds more than just a coincidence.
We knew Snowden had new information about hacking, but new reports today suggest that he has targets — and that they may affect diplomatic relations as the leaker seeks to put off extradition back home.
What happens to the unpaid intern that sues their former employer? Good news for the two former underpaid Condé Nast magazine slaves who just filed a suit: It turns out filing a very high profile lawsuit against one of the biggest names in the industry doesn't ruin your career — depending on exactly what kind of professional life you want, that is.
An investigation by the Associated Press has found that a 94-year-old man who moved to the United States in 1949 was actually the commander of Nazi SS-led unit during World War II.
Have faith, Supreme Court rabble-rousers: the highest bench in the United States remains open to protests, speeches, demonstrations, and vigils. You may have to follow a few ground rules, though.
There was a big storm set to attack the East Coast heading into this weekend, and it hit Washington, D.C. — and hit hard — until it didn't. By Thursday evening the ominous impressionist-grey skies over the nation's capital had turned yesterday's-news blue, leaving behind only photo evidence and a windswept, powerless streak of a so-called "derecho" that never quite was.
Based on multiple media reports, all citing unnamed officials, the Obama administration has decided to start supplying some Syrian rebel groups with arms and ammunition.
If a federal court determines that the NYPD systematically violated the civil rights of residents through its stop-and-frisk behavior — which the court probably will — the Department of Justice may provide a monitor for oversight. Bloomberg is mad about it, to which there is only one reasonable response: Get over it.
Following the big Black Swan unpaid intern win yesterday, former unpaid laborers at Condé Nast have sued the magazine publisher for back wages.
Judge Debra Nelson ordered the deciders-in-waiting to be sequestered for the length of the trial, in a kind of side jab at the defense potentially signaling that she is unwilling to let George Zimmerman's attorneys sway objectivity with a public smearing of Martin's past. But this may not be a direct blow to Team Zimmerman.
Congressman Steve King is no fan of immigration reform — nor, apparently, the democratic process.
Last year, for apparently the first time, more non-Hispanic white people died than were born. Other trends confirmed by the Census compilation of population estimates for the year 2012 were expected: the U.S. population is shifting to the Southwest, getting older, with more people moving to cities.
Margaret Carlson on Marco Rubio's GOP campaign, Laurie Shrage on forced fatherhood, Jim Naureckas on how journalists identify with states, Sonja West on Anthony Kennedy's gay marriage decision, Rachel Arons on TV's recent depictions of Jewish people.
The Supreme Court announced one ruling of relative landmark status on Thursday — on gene patenting — but the justices kept America in waiting on three key issues on which it still holds the key to the future: gay marriage, the Voting Rights Act, and affirmative action. The latter of those, well, the wait will last longer than the end of the Court's spring term later this month.
Did you know that the Brooklyn-based Food Coop has its own official newsletter, The Linewaiters Gazette? It's been around since way back in 1973, and it is its own source of fascinating information. In the latest issue, The New York Times' A.O. Scott dissects the Coop.
The man responsible for inspecting the Philadelphia construction site where a building collapse killed six people last week, reportedly committed suicide yesterday.
Lego figurines are increasingly being designed to look full of "anger" and "disdain," according to a group of New Zealand researchers. But before you throw the building blocks out with the bathwater and lose all faith in humanity over a long-time childhood staple, there's a logical explanation for why Legos are bringing out the bad in people. And it involves Harry Potter.
After enduring weeks of acronym-heavy scandalmania — IRS! DoJ! NSA — President Obama is refocusing on his favorite acronym from the stump: GOP. Yes, Obama is back — albeit temporarily — in campaign mode
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