The GOP Walkout on Obama's EPA Pick Shows Senate Is as Polluted as Earth

AP

Republican members of a key committee announced that they were not going to attend a hearing meant to advance Gina McCarthy to head the EPA. Which problem is trickier to solve: Senate chicanery or environmental pollution?

By Jen Doll

May 9, 2013

The Lunchtime Dance Trend You Didn't Know You Needed

Thursday Styles is bumping and grinding with all the vim and vigor of a sunny day. Have you heard of the latest trend in lunch, what all of the coolest office-weary kids are doing on their mid-day gruel breaks? They're. Dancing. 

Comments | 1,828 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

May 9, 2013

These Gay-Bashing Knicks Fans Are Still the Problem After Jason Collins' Moment

The NYPD has released video of eight New York Knicks fans wanted in connection with a potential hate crime outside Madison Square Garden. And that kind of attack against a gay couple, by a bunch of straight guys in Carmelo Anthony jerseys outside an NBA playoff game, is exactly what pro sports leagues have been worried about — even before the official embrace of Collins.

Comments | 5,078 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

May 9, 2013

Why You'll Never Know Where Tamerlan Tsarnaev Is Now Buried

He's in the ground at an undisclosed location, police confirmed Thursday. But considering the existing threats, Tsarnaev's burial plot was destined to become a destination for angry American protesters, so it's probably best that nobody ever finds out — and it's likely that nobody ever will.

Comments | 8,938 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 9, 2013

Soon Facebook May Have Waze (of Knowing Where You Are)

Facebook's in "advanced talks" to buy Waze, an Israeli mapping start-up, for somewhere between $800 million and $1 billion, according to multiple sources at Calcalist and TechCrunch, making it the social media company's biggest acquisition to date.

Comments | 609 Views

By Philip Bump

May 9, 2013

A State-By-State Look at the Record Black Turnout in 2012

The Census Bureau has verified that turnout among black voters for the first time topped that among whites in 2012. That shift may have affected the results in some states — and could affect perceptions of the Voting Rights Act.

Comments | 609 Views

By J.K. Trotter

May 9, 2013

Today's Best

Five Best Thursday Columns

Amy Davidson on sexual assault in the military, Fareed Zakaria on U.S. credibility toward Syria, Jill Filipovic on "purity culture," Michael Hirsh on the Benghazi "cover-up," and Farhad Manjoo on his dog dilemma.

Comments | 1,625 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

May 9, 2013

The Stars You Will (and Will Not) Be Watching on TV Next Season

While a number of questions about next fall's primetime lineup still remain, Fox has jumped the gun on next week's upfronts with the shows it is (and isn't) pushing next season, and NBC has already shot down hopes and dreams of eager executive producers, so there's early word on faces taking up your TV screen later in 2013.

Comments | 1,016 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 9, 2013

Australians Demand to Know Who Threw at Sandwich at Their Prime Minister

A high school kid in Australia was suspended for two weeks for an attempted assault on Prime Minister Julia Gillard with a Vegemite sandwich. But the kid says he's just a patsy set up to take the fall the second sandwich thrower. It's not quite Aussie knoll, but welcome to Sandwichgate.

Comments | 3,047 Views

By Richard Lawson

May 9, 2013

The Smart Set

Harry Styles Has New Lady, Teens Upset

Today in celebrity gossip: A One Direction star gets frisky in Norway, the Vampire Diaries love affair is over, and Kim Kardashian really might move to Paris. 

Comments | 40,969 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 9, 2013

How Would We Know If Google Glass Was Any Good?

Google Glass has itself a marketing problem: the glasses might be as cool as some Glassheads say, but the rest of us non-early adopters are stuck with boring first-person videos and banal pictures of the world's foremost face computer, without any of the cool face-computer functionality.

Comments | 1,016 Views

By Jen Doll

May 9, 2013

The Author Everyone's Interested In: Meg Wolitzer and 'The Interestings'

Let's just go ahead and call Meg Wolitzer's fantastic The Interestings the book of the moment, the novel you should really read, if you haven't already. At a cafe in Manhattan recently, I spoke to the author about the need to "radicalize your work," why a novel is like an accordion, and how getting a bad review is like having your head shaved in public, to name just a few things.

Comments | 2,429 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

May 9, 2013

It's the Little Things That Count for Paul Ryan

The revelation that Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and White House chief of staff Dennis McDonough had a successful secret beer date might be cause to fundamentally rethink skepticism that dinner diplomacy could end Washington gridlock caused by Republicans and Democrats holding diametrically opposed positions.

Comments | 202 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 9, 2013

Non-Satirical Advice from 'The Onion' on How Not to Get Hacked Like 'The Onion'

The Onion has released a detailed account of how it believes the Syrian Electronic Army hacked into its extremely popular Twitter account the other day, providing a rare glimpse at the simple yet devious spear-phishing emails that can crack major media outlets — and probably you.

Comments | 3,222 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

May 9, 2013

Did a Female North Korean Traffic Cop Save Kim Jong-un from Assassination?

This week, an emotional young traffic officer named Ri-Kyong Sim was honored at a military ceremony with the North Korean equivalent of the Medal of Valor — for what, nobody on the outside is exactly sure, but the best guess is that she may have inadvertently saved Kim Jong-un's life.

Comments | 20,645 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

May 9, 2013

Jon Stewart Rips Apart Fox's Benghazi Obsession by the Ifs, Ands, and Buts

With Fox News continuing its all-out coverage of the ongoing Benghazi hearings in Congress, it was only natural that Stewart go after his least favorite cable-news network on The Daily Show last night.

Comments | 5,667 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 9, 2013

Bangladesh Garment Industry Hit with Another Deadly Accident

As workers continue to pull bodies out of the wreckage of the collapsed Bangladeshi factory, another factory in the capital of Dhaka caught on fire, killing eight more than people.

Comments | 405 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 9, 2013

Ariel Castro Is Arraigned, Confession Note Found in His Home

When Ariel Castro is eventually brought to trial for his crimes in the Cleveland kidnappings (he appeared in court Thursday morning), one of the key pieces of evidence may be a letter he wrote confessing to his many crimes — a letter made more awful by the fact it was written nine years ago.

Comments | 13,018 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

May 8, 2013

Believe It or Not, the Electric Car Business Is Actually Profitable

Despite a contentious New York Times review, the crushing weight of the oil companies on its back, and ten years of hard work, Tesla says it finally managed to turn a profit in the first quarter of 2013.

Comments | 4,655 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

May 8, 2013

Up to Half a Million People Want to Spend the Rest of Their Lives on Mars

If you thought the Mars One mission (a.k.a. the one-way ticket to the Red Planet in the name of reality TV) sounded oddly appealing, you were hardly alone. Newly released numbers show that the contest has already garnered almost 80,000 applications.

Comments | 2,226 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

May 8, 2013

Kids Are the Only Ones Who Like Bolivia's New Cheesy Coca Puffs

As the world's third largest supplier of the plant, Bolivia's trying to shake itself free from coca's drug-addled past and turn the crop into nutritious food. There's only one problem: It tastes terrible.

Comments | 607 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

May 8, 2013

Benetton Finally Admits Its Role in the Bangladeshi Garment Factory Collapse

Over a week after multiple parties found condemning evidence, the Italian clothing company Benetton admits that it bought clothes from the garment factory in Bangladesh that recently collapsed and killed over 800 people.

Comments | 5,667 Views

By Richard Lawson

May 8, 2013

The Call Sheet

Robb Stark to Charm 'Cinderella'

Today in show business news: A Game of Thrones hunk gets a hunky role, Jurassic Park 4 might be in trouble, TNT has another new show, and more Coen Brothers.

Comments | 3,440 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

May 8, 2013

Baz Luhrmann's 'Hamlet' with Leo Would Be So... Baz — in a Waterpark Nightclub

Baz Luhrmann's Jay-Z and Prada-infused The Great Gatsby (in 3D) is here this weekend, for better or for worse, and Luhrmann is already dreaming up his next project. Luhrmann said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he is interested in directing Leonardo DiCaprio in an adaptation of Hamlet

Comments | 607 Views

By J.K. Trotter

May 8, 2013

Romney Campaign Staff Still Squabbling, This Time Over a 74-Page eBook

A Time story about "senior advisor" Gabriel Schoenfeld offers a sneak peek at his short eBook, A Bad Day On The Romney Campaign, which comes out on May 14. The gist: Romney should have listened to Schoenfeld more. Duh.

Comments | 1,214 Views

By Philip Bump

May 8, 2013

Chart of the Day

Nearly a Third of America's Bee Colonies Died Over the Winter

A preliminary tally indicates that almost a third of all of the managed bee colonies in the United States — 31.1 percent — didn't survive the winter. That makes it the fourth-worst winter since 2006.

Comments | 1,822 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

May 8, 2013

John Krasinski's Version of Multitasking: Melting Hearts While Lip-Syncing

Today in viral videos: John Krasinski proves there is life beyond The Office, a Thai pile driver, and all the grammar mistakes you've ever made. 

Comments | 1,012 Views

By Connor Simpson and J.K. Trotter

May 8, 2013

Ariel Castro Charged with Kidnapping & Rape, but His Brothers Got Nothing

The 52-year-old former schoolbus driver accused of holding and abusing three women in his Cleveland home, will face four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, police announced Wednesday afternoon. Castro's two brothers, Pedro and Onil, have not been charged at this time.

Comments | 11,132 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 8, 2013

Charles Ramsey Has a Rap Sheet

He is the neighbor who helped save three women and apparently a child from living in captivity in brutal conditions in Cleveland. He also gave a couple interviews that led the Internet to turn him into a meme. Now it turns out that Ramsey has a few convictions to his name.

Comments | 7,489 Views

By Philip Bump

May 8, 2013

Do CNN's Split-Screen Anchors Hate Each Other? Also, Jodi Arias Guilty

Outside a Phoenix courthouse Wednesday afternoon, America watched the final stage of one of the more interesting mysteries we've seen in recent television history: Why doesn't Nancy Grace just walk over to be interviewed by Ashleigh Banfield?

Comments | 22,034 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

May 8, 2013

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, 911 Callers Can't Tell if You're Dead or Sunbathing

Here's a disturbing sign of how truly puzzling the up-and-down weather has been in Wisconsin this year: On Tuesday, when Madison residents enjoyed temperatures that hit 78 degrees, a number of calls filtered into the 911 system with reports of dead people in the grass. Also known as, you know, sunbathers.

Comments | 10,322 Views

By Philip Bump

May 8, 2013

Conspiracy Theorists Would Have Loved Tom Coburn's Government Ammo Law

Senator Tom Coburn withdrew a proposed amendment making government agencies report on the number of firearms and amount of ammunition they possess. Why he introduced it in the first place is a much more interesting question, so we asked his people.

Comments | 1,822 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 8, 2013

HTC Just Put the Facebook Phone on Its Dollar Menu, and That's Bad News

It's never a good sign when a cellphone company lowers the price of a cellphone so soon after its release, which makes the new, very low $0.99 price of HTC's so-called Facebook phone so very foreboding.

Comments | 1,822 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 8, 2013

Silvio Berlusconi Always Has a Get-Out-of-Jail Free Card

This we know for sure: Silvio Berlusconi is still guilty of tax fraud. But the former three-time Italian prime minister and long-time media baron may never see the inside of a jail cell, on account of being a wealthy political fat cat, and also because he's really old.

Comments | 202 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

May 8, 2013

Tom Hanks Turns the Real Somali Pirate Crisis into Oscar Bait in 'Captain Phillips'

Here's the trailer for the Paul Greengrass-directed, Hanks-starring take on the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates. See how he stacks up against the real captain — and the made-for-the-movies original story.

Comments | 805 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

May 8, 2013

A Benghazi Whistleblower Has Now Put Words into Chris Stevens's Mouth

During an emotional day on the witness stand that otherwise went pretty much as expected, Gregory Hicks got more or less forced into a corner. He suggested that the late ambassador would have told him about the Innocence of Muslims video and a protest, even though it was one of the last phone calls of his life. But maybe that's what happens when you keep travelling down the same rabbit hole in Congress.

Comments | 5,060 Views

By Philip Bump

May 8, 2013

The Increasingly Local Politics of Fracking

Voters in Ohio and New York made their own decisions on fracking. Expect more; one of the biggest environmental fights in America is increasingly happening at the country's lowest political level.

Comments | 607 Views

By Jen Doll

May 8, 2013

New York's Worst Apartments Have a Tumblr

Here's the perfect website to fix what ills you, real-estate-wise. Schadenfreude, we have you.

Comments | 6,476 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 8, 2013

Amanda Berry's Baby Was Born in an Inflatable Pool at the Cleveland House

Perhaps the biggest enduring mystery of the Cleveland kidnapping case centers on the circumstances behind Amanda Berry's pregnancy and childbirth while in captivity. Well, today we got more chilling answers as Berry and another captive returned home.

Comments | 23,073 Views

By Philip Bump

May 8, 2013

Here's One Way to Try to Avoid the FBI's Internet Wiretapping Proposal

The Obama administration is "on the verge of" signing off on a proposal from the FBI that would make it easier for the agency's to intercept online communications. Please allow us to offer a tip that may help you avoid the Feds' steely gaze.

Comments | 3,839 Views

By J.K. Trotter

May 8, 2013

Five Best Green Stories

Why You're Not Driving a Natural Gas-Powered Car (Yet)

U.S. News & World Report on natural gas-powered cars, The New York Times on the future of nuclear energy in Japan, Grist on the hidden history of spills in the Gulf of Mexico, Business Insider on how to make money off the fear of climate change, and Nature on the threat of Beijing's air quality.

Comments | 1,214 Views

By Philip Bump

May 8, 2013

Everyone Still Really Hates Congress, but Democrats Can Make the GOP Look Good

A Pew poll released Wednesday offers some interesting insights: Democrats are bored with Democrats, independents blame Republicans, and Republicans hate everyone — but a closer look at the data may reveal why Congressional Republicans are tracking higher than Democrats on some of the key issues of the day.

Comments | 1,822 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 8, 2013

The 'NBA Jam' Theory of Sports Streaks Can't Debunk the Science of Superstars

A Yale biologist has managed to prove that players like Nate Robinson are "on fire" for a reason. But do actual sports teams really care about the phenomenon of heating up for a few games? The MLB and the NHL would say no — and so would Derrick Rose.

Comments | 1,012 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

May 8, 2013

Is David Bowie's New Music Video Too Anti-Religion for YouTube?

Since the video for "The Next Day" debuted overnight, reports have emerged that YouTube has pulled the clip because it "violated YouTube's Terms of Service." There's been no official word, but many are assuming Bowie took things a little too far with his playing on religious symbolism this time around.

Comments | 810 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

May 8, 2013

Walk for Your Lives! Deadly Giant Snails Are Invading Texas

A Houston woman discovered a giant African land snail in her garden—a slimy horror of a creature that is as disgusting as it is deadly.

Comments | 24,692 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

May 8, 2013

The Heritage Foundation's Immigration Guru Wasn't Just Racist — He's Wrong

A co-author of the already controversial new Heritage Foundation study — the one that claims to show immigration reform will cost the U.S. $6.3 trillion dollars — wrote in 2009 that the government should grant immigrants visas based on IQ. And of course his idea that Latinos won't assimilate because they're doomed to low IQs for generations is offensive. But more importantly, his idea is wrong.

Comments | 5,667 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 8, 2013

The Ultimate 'Between Two Ferns' Video Mashes James Franco and Lonely Island

Would you count Edward Norton, James Franco, Zach Galifianakis and the Lonely Island guys among your favorite people? It's your lucky day! Because the Lonely Island troupe just premiered a new video and song inside a "Between Two Ferns" sketch that also stars James Franco. 

Comments | 2,631 Views

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