The Week: Most Recent U.S. Posts

Hide your baby!

The Week — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:45:00 -0400

A North Carolina teen's photo was pulled from her high school yearbook because it showed her holding her baby. Students at Wheatmore High School were told to pose with something that best represents them, so Caitlin Tiller, 17, chose her 1-year-old son, since he changed her life. School officials said the photo "promoted teen pregnancy."

Finding a new normal after the Boston bombings

The Week — Sun, 19 May 2013 08:00:00 -0400

PAUL NORDEN NEEDS a break. He is winded, sweating heavily after a stint on a stationary bicycle and the slow walk to a padded treatment table. It is hard work for Norden, who lost his right leg that Monday afternoon in April.

"I used to say, 'I'll never go to a gym,'" he says with a weary smile. "Now I'm stuck here."

He is in Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital's large state-of-the-art gym for his afternoon physical therapy session. Just a few short weeks ago — a lifetime ago — Norden, 31, was clambering on the very roof above his head, a "tin knocker" who helped attach sheet metal...

Handicapped poseurs

The Week — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:45:00 -0400

Wealthy Manhattanites are paying handicapped tour guides to help their kids circumvent long lines at Disney World. The guides charge $130 an hour to pose as family members and use their handicapped privileges to get on rides without waiting. "You can't go to Disney without a tour concierge," one parent told the New York Post. "This is how the 1 percent does Disney."

10 things you need to know today: May 18, 2013

The Week — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:14:00 -0400

1. CONGRESS GRILLS IRS OFFICIAL
Congress heard testimony from Steven Miller, the acting IRS commissioner who was forced to resign by President Obama after it was revealed that the agency flagged Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny. Miller told the House Ways and Means Committee that while the agency's actions were "obnoxious," they weren't motivated by partisanship. [New York Times]
……………………………………………………………………&hellip...

Do Americans care about the IRS and Benghazi scandals?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:10:00 -0400

Last week, Saturday Night Live aired a skit in which Republicans trotted out convicted murderer Jodi Arias in an attempt to boost the public's interest in the Benghazi hearings (watch below).

Turns out SNL's writers were on to something: The Benghazi scandal has not exactly captivated America. According to a new Gallup poll, 53 percent of Americans are following the Benghazi situation very or somewhat closely, with 54 percent saying the same about the IRS scandal.

"The amount of attention Americans are paying to the IRS and the Benghazi situations is well below the average for news stories Gallup...

The right to police indifference

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:30:00 -0400

When you call 911 in an emergency, the police don't have to respond to your call.

If someone breaks into your house or your partner threatens to hurt you, the police don't have to respond. If you report a neighbor's continual slashing of your tires, the cops can ignore your calls. If a cross burns in your front yard, no one from the precinct must investigate. Despite all talk of "taxpayer dollars," your crisis is completely optional to law enforcement, even in the worst of circumstances. The public can protest and bewail this seeming governmental indifference, but no citizen is legally entitled...

Put down the pencil!

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:15:00 -0400

A Virginia second-grader was suspended from school for pretending to be a Marine and making "gun noises" while pointing his pencil at another student. The father of 7-year-old Christopher Marshall thinks the school's zero-tolerance policy for weapons goes too far, but a school spokesman disagreed, calling a pencil "a weapon when it is pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made."

Today in history: May 17

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:05:00 -0400

May 17

On this day. 1954: Arguably the 20th century's most important Supreme Court ruling: Brown v. Board of Education, which ended school segregation. But Brown v. Board of Education was not endorsed by President Eisenhower; he also did not condemn segregation as morally wrong. Eisenhower feared the ruling would spark racial unrest. But he enforced it with vigor, sending federal troops to Arkansas in 1957 to ensure the enrollment of the "Little Rock Nine."

Quote of the day

"Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength...

How suspected terrorists gamed the U.S. witness protection program

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:44:00 -0400

"Should you ever be accused of terrorism, here's what you should do," says Spencer Ackerman at Wired: "Snitch on your friends, demand to be placed under witness protection, then fly out of the country." That's one takeaway from a surprising, and somewhat alarming, report released by the Justice Department's inspector general's office on Thursday. (Read the unclassified version of the report below.)

According to the document, the U.S. Marshals Service lost track of two "known or suspected terrorists" who flipped sides, testified against their former conspirators, then entered the Witness Security...

What's behind the U.S. military's climbing suicide rate?

The Week — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:26:00 -0400

In 2012, the U.S. military set a grim record: 350 suicides among active-duty troops. That's more than the number who died in combat in Afghanistan and more than double the number of reported suicides from a decade ago, according to Pentagon statistics.

What's causing this spike in suicides?

Exposure to combat doesn't explain all of it. While post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries both may contribute to suicidal behavior, the Pentagon data shows that half of those who committed suicide were never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and 80 percent of them never even saw...

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's newly discovered note sheds light on his suspected motive

The Week — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:52:00 -0400

The latest piece of evidence in the Boston Marathon bombing case: A confessional note found in the boat that bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was hiding in when police caught him.

According to CBS News, Tsarnaev wrote that the bombings were a response to U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. He added that he wasn't sorry that his brother Tamerlan had died because he was now a martyr in heaven and that Tsarnaev planned to join him.

CBS News didn't publish the full text of the note, save for this one phrase: "When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims."

The note, which sources...

A slice of bacon a day...

The Week — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:22:00 -0400

A 105-year-old woman told a local TV station that her secret to longevity was "hard work and bacon." Pearl Cantrell of Richland Springs, Texas, was given a lifetime supply of Oscar Mayer bacon after the company got wind of her statement. "I love bacon," the centenarian added. "I eat it every day. It's got to be crispy."

A guide to D.C. for the terminologically impaired

Marc Ambinder — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:41:00 -0400

By ABC's definition a scandal is a television show that outdoes itself from week-to-week, and must involve at least one duplicitous betrayal and monumental, earth-shattering cover-up per week, if not per act.

I think actual Washington suffers from Scandal envy.

On television, Fitz has an affair with his long-time image-maker, the White House chief of staff murders someone, and the mole is... well, I won't spoil it. (Actually, the real scandal in the show is how the chief of staff's boyfriend got his White House correspondent's job in the first place, but I'm just vamping).

In reality,...

How UFO believers make our government more transparent

The Week — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:37:00 -0400

There is a group of people in America that may be more committed to prying documents from the government than just about anyone else: People who believe that Unidentified Flying Objects are real.

UFO believers have been dutifully trying to prove the existence of alien life forms for decades, largely by submitting countless Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. These requests are so exhaustive, they've actually spawned new laws for how government decides to give up its other (more mundane) secrets.

"There are individuals who file FOIA requests every single time a new report of a UFO comes...

Today in history: May 16

The Week — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:20:00 -0400

May 16

On this day. 1797: President John Adams told Congress of the "XYZ Affair" — a dispute with France that nearly led to war with Napoleon. The letters X, Y, and Z derive from the names of French diplomats in documents released by the Adams administration. The "affair" began when a U.S. diplomatic delegation went to France in July 1797 to negotiate issues that were threatening to cause war. The diplomats, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, were approached by agents of the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand demanding bribes and a loan before formal negotiations...

Social media saves a life

The Week — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:22:00 -0400

California native Jackie Rosas saved the life of a New Jersey teen after reading her suicidal Tumblr post. Rosas saw the blogger's threat and alerted police. The cops notified schools in the area to no avail. They found the 16-year-old blogger's Twitter account by matching the photo to her Tumblr. Police poured over her tweets, YouTube videos, and blog posts. They found a November tweet that mentioned the "UHS marching band" and matched it to a school in New Jersey. Police found her and took her to a medical facility. "It's an amazing feeling knowing you are able to help someone from thousands...