Newsblast!

The news out of Hong Kong has taken a turn. Protesters massing by the thousands, seeking truly open elections despite China’s refusal, have suddenly been set upon by roving packs of anti-democratic, pro-government thugs—who’ve been beating people, ripping down tents, and stealing banners. The attacks may derail tentative plans for protest leaders to sit down […]

Of course Texas is the reason America’s freaking out (or maybe reasonably and sanely concerned) about its first Ebola case. Officials now say “about 100” people had contact with Thomas Duncan after his return from Liberia, including students at a handful of Dallas-area schools—but that the number of people who might require a quarantine will […]

GOOD MORNING, BLOGTOWN! Coming at y’all in stereo, I’m riding that thing like a rodeo. Hang on baby ‘cuz the ride is rough, and don’t stop ’til you get enough. LET’S GO TO PRESS. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, the infamous Christmas Tree non-bomber, who was lured into a fake plan to set off a fake bomb […]

GOOD MORNING, BLOGTOWN! I like the way you do that right thurr (right thurr). Switch your hips when you’re walkin’, let down you’re hurr (let down your hurr). LET’S GO TO PRESS. The chief of the FAA orders an investigation into last week’s fire (and attempted suicide) at a Chicago area air traffic facility, which […]

Hi. That didn’t work out so well. Ferguson’s police chief was fresh from a weeks-late apology over the August shooting death of Michael Brown when he got the bright idea that he’d put on his civvies and join protesters later that night for a stroll through the town. Instead, he ended up marching with riot […]

Attorney General Eric Holder, the first African American to lead the nation’s justice system, has announced his resignation—giving a promise to stay on until a successor is found. (He’d kind of hinted this all might happen at some point this year.) Holder’s US Department of Justice has notably taken on the nation’s myriad police agencies […]

GOOD MORNING, BLOGTOWN! Too hot to handle, too cold to hold. They’re called the Ghostbusters and they’re in control. Had ’em throwin’ a party for a bunch of children, while all the while the slime was under the building. LET’S GO TO PRESS. A massive climate change march in NYC is followed today by activists […]

Great Britain is… still great enough? Scotland turned down independence (and the profound political and economic uncertainty that would have accompanied it) in a decisive, double-digit no vote much larger than polling had predicted. Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, joined with British Prime Minister in pledging unity and calling for enhanced autonomy, at the least, […]

Is Scotland independent yet? For now? No. But that’s partly because voting in a referendum that would undo the 300-year-old political union known as Great Britain isn’t over yet. A survey coming just before the polls opened suggested independence would fail—but in the face of historic turnout, with 97 percent of eligible Scots registered to […]