The Government Partially Shut Down at Midnight. Here's What That Means
If President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders in Congress don't come to an agreement over funding for Trump's proposed border wall before midnight on Friday, a partial government shutdown could leave hundreds of thousands of federal employees without their paychecks over the holidays. The House yielded to Trump's demands late Thursday night, passing a short-term spen...
4m Dec 22, 2018
4m
These Were the Most Disappointing TV Shows of 2018
A generation ago, when “I don’t have cable” was a boast rather than the preamble to a detailed account of someone’s personal cord-cutting journey, we didn’t expect much out of television. But now that showrunners are fêted as auteurs and movie stars deign to appear on the small screen, many new titles surf into our homes on a wave of anticipation. Of course, they can’t all...
10m Dec 21, 2018
10m
The Pentagon Is Planning to Withdraw Up to 7,000 Troops From Afghanistan, Officials Say
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon is developing plans to withdraw up to half of the 14,000 American troops serving in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Thursday, marking a sharp change in the Trump administration's policy aimed at forcing the Taliban to the peace table after more than 17 years of war. One official said the troops could be out by summer, but no final decision h...
3m Dec 21, 2018
3m
Here Are All the Times Defense Secretary James Mattis Publicly Disagreed With President Trump
Jim Mattis will leave his post as President Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense in February – a move that Trump billed in tweets Thursday night as a long-deserved retirement. Mattis' own letter of resignation – released by the Pentagon – seemed to indicate that the retired Marine general was actually being pushed out because he disagreed with Trump on policy issues. ...
6m Dec 21, 2018
6m
Flights Resume at London’s Gatwick Airport After Drones Caused a Temporary Closure
(LONDON) — Flights resumed at London's Gatwick Airport on Friday morning after drones sparked the shutdown of the airfield for more than 24 hours, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded or delayed during the busy holiday season. The airport said in a statement at 6:14 a.m. (1:14 a.m. EST) that "Gatwick's runway is currently available and a limited number of ai...
2m Dec 21, 2018
2m
The House Approves Funding for President Trump’s Border Wall as Shutdown Looms
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump's demand for border wall funds hurled the federal government closer to a shutdown as the Republican-led House approved a package Thursday with his $5.7 billion request that is almost certain to be rejected by the Senate. The White House said Trump will not travel to Florida on Friday for the Christmas holiday if the government is sh...
7m Dec 21, 2018
7m
Here's the Best Way to Boost Your Immune System
Some people seem to breeze through cold-and-flu season without so much as a sniffle. What’s their secret? Regular exercise is a prime candidate. “If you look at all the lifestyle factors that decrease the number of days you suffer from common cold, being a physically active and fit person is the most important,” says David Nieman, a professor of public health and direct...
5m Dec 21, 2018
5m
Broken Hershey's Kisses Are Distressing Bakers This Holiday Season
While festive cookies are often a source of joy, this holiday season, a batch of broken Hershey's Kisses are dampening the merry spirit. A vocal Facebook group called The Wedding Cookie Table Community pointed out that many of the Kisses this year had broken or flat tips in their personal expeirence, which has negatively influenced the aesthetics of their baking efforts...
2m Dec 21, 2018
2m
Mom Arrested After Leaving Kids Home Alone Watching 'Home Alone'
Sometimes, life is better off not imitating art. In an interesting twist, an Indiana mother was arrested this week after police in the town of Muncie, Indiana discovered she had allegedly left her two young sons home alone — while watching Home Alone. (Home Alone, the 1990 holiday classic film starring Macalauy Culkin, is about the perils of leaving a kid unattended in a h...
2m Dec 21, 2018
2m
Review: Mary Poppins Returns Honors the Spirit of Its Predecessor
We have so much invested in memories that it’s a wonder anything new ever gets made—and yet revisiting treasured texts from the past invites even thornier problems. The “book is better than the movie” brigade is always out there banging their tin pots, refusing to recognize that books and movies are separate modes with different aims and different ways of reaching us. ...
8m Dec 20, 2018
8m
The U.S. Will Withdraw From Syria. No One’s Sure What Comes Next
President Donald Trump has directed the U.S. military to withdraw all 2,200 American ground troops from Syria within 30 days, marking a swift end to the four-year-long conflict against ISIS there. “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” Trump said Wednesday on Twitter. But pulling out of the war-ravaged country is a ...
9m Dec 20, 2018
9m
Doctors Aren’t Getting Better at Treating Shooting Victims Even As Gun Deaths Rise
In November, after the American College of Physicians published a position paper on firearms and safety in a medical journal, the National Rifle Association publicly warned doctors to "stay in their lane". Surgeons around the U.S. responded by posting grisly photos and stories of treating shooting victims—and the hashtag #ThisIsOurLane was born.
5m Dec 20, 2018
5m
Here's How Heavy Storms Could Disrupt Your Holiday Travel Plans
The weather outside could be frightful along the East Coast, Pacific Northwest and other regions in the coming days, leading to less-than-festive conditions for travelers hitting the roads and skies for the holidays. Heavy rain and wind are expected to cause flight delays and clog roadways along the I-95 corridor later this week, and meteorologists warn drivers that the...
5m Dec 20, 2018
5m
Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself. Science Says You Have a Pretty Good Sense of Your Own Personality
It's a common belief among psychologists that people's perceptions of themselves should be taken with a grain of salt, because they're often thought to be positively biased and less accurate than the judgments supplied by others. But you really do know yourself best, according to a new paper published in the journal Psychological Science.
4m Dec 20, 2018
4m
The Most Common Type of Birth Control In the U.S. Might Surprise You
Most women in the U.S. between the ages of 15 and 49 use contraception, according to federal data released Wednesday — and the most common form is permanent. According to the new report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which polled women from 2015 to 2017, sterilization was the most common contraceptive method for the roughly 47 million women in th...
3m Dec 20, 2018
3m
The Fed Just Raised Interest Rates Again. Here’s What That Means for You, According to Market Pros
The U.S. economy has been humming along – helped by near-record low interest rates. But that's slowly changing. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to a range between 2.25% and 2.5%. It was the fourth time the Fed has done so this year. The market reacted badly, with the Dow shedding 500 points as Fed Chair Jerome Powe...
5m Dec 20, 2018
5m
Nearly 430 People Are Already Running Against Trump in the 2020 Election
In the last five years, Michael Bickelmeyer has been a Domino’s Pizza driver, a Honey Baked Ham crew-member and a Holiday Inn bellhop, according to his résumé. But that’s not all — he was also a 2016 candidate for president of the United States. And he's going to run again in 2020.
4m Dec 20, 2018
4m
Martha McSally's Never-Ending Campaign Continues With Appointment to McCain's Senate Seat
For many politicians, the allure of the Senate is its relatively sane pace. It means one election every six years, rather than the two years for House members or the four years most governors face. Not for Arizona’s Martha McSally, who is moving from the House to the Senate next year and continues what will in effect be an almost-five-year campaign.
4m Dec 19, 2018
4m
Trump’s School Safety Commission Is Targeting Obama Anti-Discrimination Rules and Not Guns
The school safety commission established by President Donald Trump in the wake of February's Parkland shooting barely addressed guns, but recommended rolling back Obama-era guidelines aimed at making sure minority students aren't disproportionately targeted for discipline.
7m Dec 19, 2018
7m
Bill Clinton Was Impeached 20 Years Ago. Here’s How the Process Actually Works
Three presidents and countless scandals later, the impeachment of President Bill Clinton on Dec. 19, 1998, may seem like a relic of a different time. But that day 20 years ago remains an extraordinary moment in American history — Clinton became only the second president ever to be impeached when, in the wake of his affair with a 22-year-old White House intern, the House of...
10m Dec 19, 2018
10m
The Best iPhone and Android Apps of 2018
Between the iPhone XS, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Google Pixel 3, our smartphones have gotten better than ever. But great hardware means almost nothing without great software to take advantage of those high-performance processors, brilliant displays and incredible cameras. To that end, these are our favorite iPhone and Android apps of 2018, from productivity to photo...
6m Dec 19, 2018
6m
A Judge Ruled Obamacare is Unconstitutional, Here’s How it Could Impact Your Health Insurance
A federal judge's ruling late Friday that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional is raising questions for tens of millions of Americans who depend on the law for their health insurance. However, the law has not been invalidated yet, and the White House, Healthcare.gov, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have said that 2019 enrollment will proceed ...
8m Dec 19, 2018
8m
Trump Foundation Agrees to Dissolve Amid Legal Battle
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump's charitable foundation reached a deal Tuesday to go out of business, even as Trump continues to fight allegations he misused its assets to resolve business disputes and boost his run for the White House. New York's attorney general and lawyers for the Trump Foundation agreed on a court-supervised process for shutting down the charity...
5m Dec 19, 2018
5m
Penny Marshall Played an Underachiever on TV. In Real Life She Was Anything But
In the olden days of TV, long before Netflix or binge-watching and certainly before DVRs, people used to tune in on certain days and times to watch the shows they liked: If you were a kid in the mid-1970s—maybe, particularly, a girl—one of those shows was likely to be Laverne & Shirley, the Happy Days spinoff that became a huge hit by itself. Its stars, Penny Marshall and ...
5m Dec 19, 2018
5m
The Senate Just Passed a Major Criminal Justice Bill. But the Fight’s Not Over Yet
In a surprise end-of-the-year move, the Senate late Tuesday passed a sweeping and bipartisan rewrite of the nation's criminal code with 87 votes in favor of the most ambitious changes in a generation. Despite the headline-grabbing action, skeptics warned that there are still plenty of ways this can be derailed, especially as Congress is trying to pass a basic measure to...
6m Dec 19, 2018
6m
Lawmakers Call for Probe Into 7-Year-Old Guatemalan Girl’s Death
(LORDSBURG, N.M.) — Lawmakers visiting the Border Patrol station where a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl was taken hours before her death demanded an independent investigation Tuesday into the response by federal agents. "There are things that we need to learn," said U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz, a California Democrat who was part of the delegation visiting the Border Patrol station ...
2m Dec 19, 2018
2m
A Revolutionary Suggestion for Word of the Year: Listen
My word of the year is listen. It’s one of those words whose meaning is in its music. Listen is a quiet word, that half swallowed L and diffident I and softly hissing S. It defies the clamorous words it absorbs, the words that have defined this year, the shouts and roars, the bray and bluster. Listening is hard when the sounds around us grow mean and ugly. And listen...
6m Dec 19, 2018
6m
NASA Engineer Came Up With a Sparkly Way to Thwart Package Thieves
A resourceful NASA engineer used both his industry expertise and some clever creativity to thwart thieves stealing packages from his porch. Mark Rober, an engineer for NASA, came up with a sparkling, ingenius solution to stop bandits with a glitter bomb disguised as a parcel.
1m Dec 19, 2018
1m
The Supreme Confidence of Nancy Pelosi—and Why It Matters Now More Than Ever
Nancy Pelosi is having her big meme moment. Images of the Speaker-elect leaving her meeting with the President last week clad in a stylish red coat, cool shades and a slightly exasperated expression have proliferated on the internet. As observers praised Pelosi for her poise in the meeting itself, Max Mara, the company that made that fiery coat, has gone so far as to reiss...
8m Dec 18, 2018
8m
Doctor V. Barber: Who Is Better for Keeping Blood Pressure Under Control?
Despite everything we know about how important it is to get regular health checkups, not many people like going to the doctor — so some physicians are coming up with creative ways to bring health care directly to their patients. In a study published in the journal Circulation, researchers led by the late Dr.
5m Dec 18, 2018
5m
‘A Toxic Place for Women.’ A New Study Reveals the Scale of Abuse on Twitter
Amnesty International has released a study detailing the scale of threats made against women on Twitter, calling the social media platform "a toxic place" in what it claims is the "world's biggest dataset of online abuse targeting women." In partnership with Element AI, an artificial intelligence software company, a so-called "Troll Patrol" group of 6,500 volunteers fro...
5m Dec 18, 2018
5m
Review: An Exhausting Vice Turns Dick Cheney Into a Cartoon Villain
Every year there are at least a few Oscar-prestige movies, usually arriving around Christmastime, that are praised to the skies simply for being adult entertainments. These pictures ostensibly require the use of a few more brain cells than the standard superhero spectacle or lame middle-aged-guy comedy to which we’re subjected during the other months of the year. ...
8m Dec 18, 2018
8m
Where Embattled Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s Resignation Fits in the History of Cabinet Scandals
President Donald Trump's Saturday announcement of the resignation of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke came, via Twitter, with no explanation of why Zinke would be stepping down. But the news broke amid probes into mismanagement and possible ethical misconduct at Zinke's agency, the most serious of which involves a Department of Justice probe into whether Zinke, a ...
7m Dec 18, 2018
7m
Workforce Automation Disproportionately Affects Women, Report Warns
Women are disproportionately affected by the automation of jobs and development of artificial intelligence, which could widen the gender gap if more women are not encouraged to enter the fields of science, technology and engineering, the World Economic Forum warned on Monday.
3m Dec 18, 2018
3m
Actor Geoffrey Rush Accused of Sexual Harassment
(NEW YORK) — "Orange Is the New Black" actress Yael Stone alleged actor Geoffrey Rush engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior when they starred in "The Diary of a Madman" in 2010. Speaking to The New York Times, the 33-year-old said Rush danced naked in front of her in their dressing room, used a mirror to watch her while she showered and sent her occasionally erotic...
2m Dec 18, 2018
2m
Poacher Who Illegally Killed Hundreds of Deer Ordered to Repeatedly Watch Bambi
(SPRINGFIELD, Mo.) — A Missouri poacher has been ordered to repeatedly watch the movie "Bambi" as part of his sentence for illegally killing hundreds of deer. The Springfield News-Leader reports that David Berry Jr. was ordered to watch the Disney classic at least once a month during his year-long jail sentence in what conservation agents are calling one of the largest ...
1m Dec 18, 2018
1m
More People Have Gotten a Flu Shot Than This Time Last Year, CDC Says
Early numbers show that more people have gotten flu shots than they had at this time last year — but there's still plenty of room for improvement. About 45% of both children and adults had gotten a flu shot as of mid-November, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That's almost 7% higher than last year's early-season coverage estim...
3m Dec 18, 2018
3m
On the Anniversary of the Delhi Gang Rape, a 3-Year-Old Girl Becomes India's Latest Victim of Sexual Assault
On the sixth anniversary of a brutal gang rape on a bus that left India reeling, a three-year-old girl has been left in a critical condition after she was allegedly raped by a neighbor in Delhi Sunday. Local media reports that the accused lured the toddler outside her house by promising her sweets, while her laborer parents were away.
2m Dec 17, 2018
2m
Hero Masterfully Creates His Own Hip-Hopera While Driving
A viral singer driving under the "influence" of the power of both rap and opera has created a mashup for our time. "What opera sounds like in my head," was the title of his YouTube video which shows him singing "Largo al factotum" from the Rossini masterpiece Barber of Seville with a more modern masterpiece, the hit track "Humble" from Kendrick Lamar’s acclaimed 2017 al...
2m Dec 17, 2018
2m
Merriam-Webster’s 2018 Word of the Year Is Exactly What America Wants
Merriam-Webster, the American company based in Springfield, Mass., chooses its "word of the year" a little differently than other dictionaries. While every firm tries to anoint a word that sums up the preoccupations of the past year, Merriam-Webster also requires that, according to its own data, the word be one that people were looking up a lot more than usual.
5m Dec 17, 2018
5m
Germany Agrees to Compensate Survivors Who Fled From Nazis as Children
(BERLIN) — Germany has agreed to one-time payments for survivors, primarily Jews, who were evacuated from Nazi Germany as children, many of whom never saw their parents again, the organization that negotiates compensation with the German government said Monday.
4m Dec 17, 2018
4m
Explaining That Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse End-Credits Scene
In an era when end-credits scenes are often used to tease new characters and villains, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse finds an innovative way to both introduce a new character and make fun of a popular Spider-Man meme. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse already counts six Spider-beings among its cast. Several will return to the big screen in the near future: Sony is a...
4m Dec 17, 2018
4m
Saudi Arabia Rejects U.S. Senate’s ‘Interference’ After Resolution on Khashoggi Killing
(RIYADH, Saudi Arabia) — Saudi Arabia issued an unusually strong rebuke of the U.S. Senate on Monday, rejecting a bipartisan resolution that put the blame for the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi squarely on the Saudi crown prince and describing it as interference in the kingdom's affairs.
3m Dec 17, 2018
3m
The Paris Agreement Lives on at the U.N. Climate Change Conference. But Political Disruption Still Remains a Threat
Negotiators from around the world struck an eleventh-hour deal Saturday, laying out rules to implement the Paris Agreement and keep the landmark 2015 climate accord intact. But it wasn't easy. The two-week, drawn-out fight that included a rehashing of old battles and the introduction of new ones stretched late into the night here at the COP 24 UN climate conference i...
7m Dec 16, 2018
7m
Vermont Man Debuts Middle Finger Sculpture in Unsubtle Message to Town Officials
(WESTFORD, Vt.) — A Vermont man who is in an ongoing dispute with his town has let officials know exactly how he feels by erecting a large wooden sculpture of a fist with the middle finger raised on his front lawn. Ted Pelkey said Thursday that he has been trying for about 10 years to move his truck repair and recycling business to his property but has been unable to ge...
2m Dec 16, 2018
2m
Dictionaries Have Been Inspiring Political Debates for Longer Than You Probably Think
This post is in partnership with the History News Network, the website that puts the news into historical perspective. A version of the article below was originally published at HNN. Are dictionaries getting more political? That’s what some people claim. When Dictionary.com or Merriam-Webster.com post Twitter lists of trending lookups that include such politically charg...
7m Dec 16, 2018
7m
The Real History Behind the Movie Roma
Roma, Alfonso Cuarón’s highly personal, critically acclaimed new film, meticulously reconstructs the Mexico City of the filmmaker's 1970s childhood, depicting events both insignificant and monumental — from unfinished colas to political upheavals — with equal care. The movie, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in August and opened in theaters in Nove...
9m Dec 16, 2018
9m
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse Is Filled With Spider-People. Here’s Who They Are
Miles Morales, who took up the mantle of Spider-Man in the comics seven years ago, gets his onscreen debut in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The movie outlines his origin story, from when he's bit by a radioactive spider to the moment he dons his own black-and-red version of the Spidey uniform. But Morales (Shameik Moore) is far from the only Spider-Person in the fi...
7m Dec 16, 2018
7m
Federal Judge Rules Obama’s Affordable Care Act Is Unconstitutional
WASHINGTON — A conservative federal judge in Texas has ruled the Affordable Care Act "invalid" on the eve of the sign-up deadline for next year. But with appeals certain, even the Trump White House said the law will remain in place for now. In a 55-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled Friday that last year's tax cut bill knocked the constitutional found...
5m Dec 16, 2018
5m
Here’s Why People Kiss Under the Mistletoe at Christmastime
From Harry Potter’s first kiss to Justin Bieber’s holiday tune, kissing under the mistletoe is everywhere in pop culture. But this Christmas tradition — that if you're standing under the leafy plant, it's time for a smooch — existed long before it ever appeared in movies and pop songs.
6m Dec 16, 2018
6m