Philip Bump
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The Comics Curmudgeon: What I Read
Josh Fruhlinger, better known as The Comics Curmudgeon, talks about the newspapers he still reads and their, well ... comics. Plus, he tells us about his favorite meth-addict Mary Worth character and how he ended up in the comics he lovingly mocks.
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The World's Carbon Dioxide Levels Just Set a Record High. Will We Ever Be Below It Again?
For nearly every day of April, from every recording center around the world, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was over 400 parts-per-million — and it's not clear if it will ever decrease.
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Big Brother Would Like to Warn You About Big Brother, Inc.
We will summarize this lengthy new report from the White House as such: Yes, yes, the NSA. But you need to worry about the private sector collecting your data, too.
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Did the Long-Term Unemployed Get Jobs Because They Lost Benefits? It's Not Clear.
During April, the number of long-term unemployed dropped nearly eight percent, to about 3.5 million. Does this mean that the end of benefits for the group in December actually spurred them to get jobs? Not necessarily.
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Associated Press State Rep. Steve Hickey Wants South Dakota Doctors to Say That Being Gay Is Dangerous
Steve Hickey is a member of the South Dakota State House and a religious leader and the sort of person who will send letters to newspaper editors calling for doctors to declare that being gay is dangerous.
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The Insane Rainstorms We've Seen This Week Are What Climate Change Looks Like
Massive flooding on the Florida panhandle. More rain in Central Park on Wednesday than it saw during Hurricane Sandy. Big storms with lots of rain is one of the things that we can expect more of as the world gets warmer.
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Here Are the 55 Colleges Being Investigated for Allegedly Mishandling Rape Cases
Just two days after the White House released its recommendations to curb sexual assault on college campuses, the Department of Education released the names of 55 colleges currently under investigation for possible Title IX violations regarding sexual assault.
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Until Walmart Sells Childcare and College Diplomas, Poor People Will Still Be Poor
Poor people, you may be aware, own televisions. This has been used as evidence that they're not, you know, poor-poor — but as a piece in Thursday's Times explains, ever-cheaper one-time costs pale next to ongoing life expenses.
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Hillary Clinton Works to Neutralize the Only 2016 Opponent She Fears: The Media
There are two reasons for a national politician to participate in a lengthy story about how overbearing the media can be: Because you are naive about the media or because you are trying to guilt the media into being less critical. When that national politician is Hillary Clinton, the options narrow.
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How American Industries Were Resurrected — or Not — After the Recession
Let's say you had a time machine that transported you back in time to January 2008 and you wanted to find work. According to the data, you should have gone into oil. You should not have become a teacher.
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Sorry, Rick Perry: Dick Morris Thinks You Could Win.
One-time Clinton confidante-turned-conservative pundit Dick Morris has returned to Newsmax.com to pronounce that Texas Governor Rick Perry could make a comeback in 2016. Sorry, Rick. That pretty much means it will never happen.
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People Distrust Corporations, Don't Know the Kochs, and Still Blame Bush for the Economy
A new poll reminds us of an important truism. For as much attention and time as some people (such as myself) pay to politics, many of the most volatile topics in punditry are nonvolatile mysteries to the rest of the country.
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Tuesday Was the Worst Day for Death Penalty Advocates Since 1972
The faltering, error-filled execution attempt in Oklahoma on Tuesday night came at the end of a day which began with a new study demonstrating that an unknowable number of people on death row are or were innocent.
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Here's How Newly Released Benghazi Emails Could Actually Embarrass the White House
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the White House quickly jumped from questions about the cause of the attack to blaming the incendiary YouTube video promoted by Florida pastor Terry Jones.
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The 2014 Political TV Ads Are Coming. Here's Where They've Already Landed.
It's almost everyone's favorite time of year: when the TV commercial breaks are choked with well-scrubbed people saying that they approve various messages.
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John Boehner Tells the People He Mocked About Immigration That He Wasn't Mocking Them
Remember when John Boehner appeared to mock his Republican colleagues, blaming them for blocking immigration reform? Well, he wasn't mocking them, really, Boehner clarified, and, besides, everything is President Obama's fault.
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Another Poll, Another Reason for Democrats to Panic
A new Washington Post / ABC poll adds another coat of paint to the portrait that's emerging for this November: President Obama's popularity is falling, Obamacare is unpopular, and voters would like a GOP Congress that can keep Obama in check.
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John Kerry's Dream of Diplomatic Glory Is Further Away than Ever
Secretary of State John Kerry has a humble goal: Be the greatest Secretary of State ever and bring peace to the Middle East. In the wake of his "apartheid" comments, that goal has never seemed more distant.
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We Found the ZIP Codes Politicians Use as ATMs — and the Ones They Ignore
There is a refrain common in the wealthy area of blue and red states: Politicians see us as a piggy bank, a place to come pick up checks and then fly away. I decided to figure out where these ATMs are located.
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Of Course Donald Trump and Alex Jones Have Joined the Defenders of Donald Sterling
Let it not be said that Donald Sterling lacks defenders. Among them? Donald Trump, who thinks Sterling was "set up" and Infowars' Alex Jones, who, surprisingly, sees this as part of a vast conspiracy.
