Washington hit the debt ceiling today, barring the Treasury Department from borrowing from the public, so it will begin borrowing from federal workers’ pensions to keep the government afloat. Treasury is legally bound to reimburse the pensions, so retirees won’t be affected, notes the Washington Post , but if the debt…
Continue reading …A Dayton, Ohio, mother says a charter school is punishing her daughter for not immediately reporting that she saw two classmates having sex on a school bus and for changing her seat during the bus trip, reports the AP . Saundra Roundtree’s 14-year-old daughter changed seats with a boy who wanted…
Continue reading …Roswell and Area 51 have long been the focus of alien-hunting conspiracy theorists—and a new book’s theory is likely to disappoint them. Annie Jacobsen’s Area 51 , a history of the top-secret base based on interviews with scientists and engineers who worked there, presents an explanation for the famous “flying…
Continue reading …Legislators in at least seven states have introduced “stealth creationism” bills this year, requiring educators to teach some form of “intelligent design” in schools—and some of those same people have also pushed laws banning Islamic Sharia rules from being used in the courtroom. The message is clear, writes David…
Continue reading …Newt Gingrich “is doubling down on racial politics, and I’m going to continue to call it out when I see it,” declares Joan Walsh on Salon . Most recently, he referred to President Obama as a “food stamp president.” He previously said Obama would only “get the whole country to resemble…
Continue reading …Glenn Beck went to Washington last summer to restore honor; now, he’s planning to bring courage back to Jerusalem. Beck made his promised “big announcement” today on his radio show: Sometime in August, Beck will head to the city for another rally. “I invite you to join me in Israel…
Continue reading …Sassy is back. That sentence probably only means something if you’re a member of “the My So-Called Life generation” who used to read Jane Pratt’s iconic magazine while “wearing ringer tees and listening to Sonic Youth.” But those women—and their daughters—are squarely in the crosshairs of the venture…
Continue reading …Jury selection begins today in a Chicago trial that could reveal links between Pakistan’s intelligence agency and the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The trial of Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana, accused of helping David Coleman Headley serve as a scout for the attacks, “will undoubtedly demonstrate links between Pakistan government agencies…
Continue reading …When Cindy McCain married John, she expected to have a long life as a Navy wife; instead, her husband entered politics. “Back then, the political spouse was just a supportive role. I was expected to go to dinners, barbecues, rodeos, picnics, and not say too much,” she writes for Newsweek…
Continue reading …Plagiarizing Wikipedia: It’s not just for high school students anymore! ePolitix busts John Hayes, Britain’s further education minister, for apparently lifting a portion of a recent House of Commons speech from Wikipedia. Hayes was giving a history of bank holidays, and ePolitix offers up a detailed comparison of what he…
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