IKEA Monkey

As the world crumbles around us, the gossip machine keeps sputtering and turning. Here’s a fun little tidbit of information about Ryan Phillippe, a man I have not thought about in quite some time–people often mistake his 17-year old daughter Ava for his freakin’ sister. Surprise: she hates it.

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A man shown in a viral video getting punched and kicked as a crowd yells, "Don't vote Trump" acknowledges he supports Donald Trump but said Thursday that's not what started the beating on the West Side the day after the presidential election.

David Wilcox, 49, said he was about to turn left from...

   This is so pretty, so shiny, so I’m Going To An Amazing Gatsby Party — up to and including her hair. Read More ...

There’s something uniquely satisfying about a flavorful soup that’s filled to the brim with noodles and topped with meat, vegetables, and spices. A classic chicken noodle soup always hits the spot, but today let’s branch out to a few delicious noodle soups that are the perfect belly-warming meal.

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Leonard Cohen, the hugely influential Canadian singer and songwriter died on Thursday, November 10 at the age of 82.

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Post-Brexit, people in the UK started wearing safety pins to show their stance against racism and their solidarity with immigrants.

In response to the open environment of hatred, people across the U.K. are now wearing safety pins — and tweeting pictures of themselves wearing them — in an act of solidarity with immigrants.

In the wake of the election and reports of racism incidents across the nation, some are advocating using the safety pin strategy here too.

We need a symbol like that in the United States now. These are vicious days in America. The deplorables are emboldened. The Washington Post reports that there have already been two attacks on Muslim women on college campuses. At San Diego State University, two men ranting about Trump and Muslims robbed a student wearing hijab.

I like this idea, that a subtle marker can denote a social safe space of sorts, a signal to someone who might feel uncomfortable that an ally is nearby. That’s not to say you can put a pin on your coat and *dust off your hands, job well done* but it may help. I’m going to try it.

Update: During the Nazi occupation of Norway in World War II, Norwegians took to wearing paperclips to signal their rejection of Nazi ideology.

The people of Norway also had to deal with German soldiers day in and day out for five years. By 1945, some 400,000 German troops were operating in Norway, controlling the population of about 4 million people.

It was in the autumn of 1940 when students at Oslo University started wearing paperclips on their lapels as a non-violent symbol of resistance, unity, and national pride.

Symbols related to the royal family and state had already been banned, and they wanted a clever way of displaying their rejection of the Nazi ideology. In addition to wearing a single paperclip, paperclip bracelets and other types of jewellery were fashioned as well, symbolically binding Norwegians together in the face of such adversity.

Of course, once the Nazis got wind of this, wearing paperclips became a crime. (via @ckrub)

Update: That co-opting thing I warned against above? Seems like it’s happening.

wear safety pin to fool people into thinking you’re a safe space, trigger them

If I had to guess however, this behavior will be short lived and they’ll move on to some other genius scheme. I’m not taking my pin off. (via @_McFIy & @pattersar)

Update: There’s no safety pin emoji, but some people are adding the paperclip emoji to their Twitter usernames as a virtual world counterpart to the safety pin.

Tags: 2016 election   Brexit   emoji   Nazis   Norway   racism   UK   USA   World War II

Rudy Giuliani, a leading contender to be President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general, said Thursday that President Barack Obama shouldn't pardon Hillary Clinton.

Obama "should leave it to the system we all believe in," Giuliani said on Fox News.

The White House on Wednesday wouldn't rule out...

Report: It Still Nowhere Near Okay To Act Like Donald Trump

In the hours since the Republican nominee’s stunning election to the nation’s highest office Tuesday night, reports have confirmed that, regardless of circumstance, it is not even remotely close to okay to act like Donald Trump. “Just to be perfectly clear, speaking or behaving in a manner similar to President-elect Trump is just as unacceptable now as it has ever been,” the reports stated, adding that in zero percent of cases is it even borderline permissible to conduct oneself either personally or professionally in a fashion akin to Trump, and that has not changed in the past two days. “In fact, acting like Mr. Trump does for even a moment will result in a wide range of negative social—and in some cases, criminal—consequences for you personally. Put simply, you should not be engaging with the world in any way comparable to Mr. Trump. This was true before he was elected, and it will be true long after he’s gone.” At press time, the reports’ findings were being summarily dismissed out of hand by roughly 45 percent of the nation’s population in a manner identical to that of Donald Trump.

Area Liberal No Longer Recognizes Fanciful, Wildly Inaccurate Mental Picture Of Country He Lives In

You have to feel bad for the Republican Party. Since 1992, only one of its presidential nominees has gotten the most votes for president — George W. Bush in 2004. Donald Trump was the latest also-ran, losing nationally to Hillary Clinton by more than 200,000 votes.

It didn’t matter, of course,...

It’s that time again. Nordstrom Rack has brought back their Clear the Rack sale and it’s full (and I mean FULL) of really incredible deals. Designer clothing, brands you’ve never heard of, everything an extra 25% off. Maybe that will help today be okay, who knows.

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You stupid fucking racist piece of shit cocksucker dicks.

Hillary Clinton spoke Wednesday morning from the ballroom of the New Yorker Hotel in midtown Manhattan, where she calmly, graciously conceded to Donald Trump and urged her supporters to keep fighting for Democratic values. Clinton appeared before a crowd of staff and supporters, many of them looking stricken or openly crying. It was one of the saddest moments in American public life in a long, long time.

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The man who styled himself "America's toughest sheriff" lost his job in Tuesday's election.

Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio was defeated Tuesday in his bid for a seventh consecutive term by his Democratic challenger, Paul Penzone, a 21 year veteran Phoenix police officer.

Penzone campaigned...

   I don’t say this very often but I think this looks better on her than it did on the model. Read More ...

Spatchcocking is the simplest, most efficient route to juicy, flavorful turkey meat and ultra-crisp skin. Here's how to get started. Read More

Possibly the greatest scene in documentary history. Incredible. #PlanetEarth2 pic.twitter.com/01dDjDJcdX

— (@MrLukeJohnston) November 7, 2016

The year’s best action sequence isn’t in a Marvel movie or prestige TV drama, it’s from the first episode of Planet Earth II, which aired in the UK over the weekend. In it, a group of snakes chase a small iguana, which seems at the outset to have a tiny chance of escape.

Good god, that was thrilling. We might have a new champion.

Update: I love Tony Zhou’s cut with the soundtrack from Mad Max: Fury Road (with temp music, he says). Be sure to watch to the end.

Much as I like the final version of #iguanavssnake, I think I prefer the original cut with temp music pic.twitter.com/rUySlXamWa

— Tony Zhou (@tonyszhou) November 7, 2016

(via @philnicklin)

Tags: Mad Max   movies   Planet Earth   remix   Tony Zhou   TV   video

On Monday, at around 1:20 pm, a woman waiting on an subway platform in Times Square was pushed in front of southbound 1 train and killed.

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Pardon me a moment, while I pull out the usual Samuel L. Jackson reference out and dust it off: passengers on an Aeromexico flight experienced a real life Snakes On A Plane moment on Sunday after a large green snake slithered from the ceiling to greet his captive audience.

Passengers on the flight from Torreon to Mexico City caught the moment when the snake emerged from behind an overhead baggage compartment and dropped partially into the cabin on video, and of course, posted it to social media. One traveler called the appearance of the “flying snake” a “unique experience”:

The airline said the flight made a quick landing and the stowaway snake was captured by animal control, CNN reports.

As for how the reptile ended up on the plane in the first place, the airline isn’t quite sure yet.

“The procedures carried out for this flight are currently being evaluated to determine how the animal entered the cabin and measures have been taken to avoid such incidents in the future,” Aeromexico said in a statement to CNN.

It’s hard to imagine a more fitting bookend to Donald Trump’s freudian howl of a presidential campaign than a 67-year-old in a camo hat jiggling his tiny man parts onstage at a campaign rally. Just one more day, ladies and gentlemen.

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Larabar brand is known for their eponymous fruit and nut bars that are gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, dairy-free, and kosher. They've recently expanded their repertoire of offerings to include new Larabar Bites, which is their healthier take on the chocolate truffle.

Larabar Bites come in four different flavors: Cherry Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Macaroon, Double Chocolate Brownie, and Mint Chocolate Truffle. All flavors are made with dates, almonds, and fair-trade chocolate chips plus flavor-specific ingredients, dusted with a coating of coconut flour to keep them from sticking to each other.

These have a suggested retail price of $5.99 per 5.3 oz. pouch, but I received these courtesy of Larabar.

The Larabar Bites taste very similar to one another, which is no surprise considering they share primarily the same ingredients. The dates provide a sweet, almost nutty flavor with just a touch of tartness at the tail end. The texture is velvety yet slightly chewy and includes a little graininess, interspersed with bits of almonds and chocolate chips. They aren't overwhelmingly sweet so that you can taste each of the ingredients. If you've had Larabars before, then these will taste very familiar to you albeit softer.

The addition of the coconut flour dusting really bothers me. I think coconut flour should never be eaten alone if possible simply because it's so desiccated. The coconut flour is the first thing to hit your tongue and it just feels like it's wicking away all the moisture in my mouth. Likewise, it has a very grainy texture that detracts from the truffle-like texture of the Larabar Bites. I can understand their reasoning for using coconut flour, but I sort of wish they had gone with a cocoa powder dusting like traditional chocolate truffles.

Cherry Chocolate Chip - These can be quite tart depending on the dried cherry you get! The fruit flavor is very forward with the chocolate leaving a pleasant aftertaste. This one is probably the chewiest in terms of texture thanks to the dried fruit.

Chocolate Macaroon - The addition of the dried coconut to these truffles doesn't really add coconut flavor so much as more texture. You can taste the dates most prominently in this flavor, which is good if you're a fan of dates and Larabars in general.

Double Chocolate Brownie - The chewiness of the dates does bring to mind a brownie, but I'm missing the "double chocolate" portion. It is a little more chocolaty than the Cherry Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Macaroon flavors thanks to the addition of cocoa powder into the date mixture, but I sort of wish there were more chocolate chips to up the choco-factor.

Mint Chocolate Truffle - Surprisingly, these were the most chocolaty of all the flavors for me. The peppermint oil actually does quite a good job of masking the flavor of the dates while highlighting the chocolate, so the overall effect was closer to an actual chocolate truffle for me. I would recommend these if you don't actually like the taste of dates but are looking for a healthier chocolate fix.

Overall, the Larabar Bites were pretty nice and a filling snack. They will definitely keep you fuller longer and on less calories than a chocolate candy bar. But will they actually satisfy a chocolate craving? Possibly, if you prefer semi-sweet or dark chocolate. And especially so if you're already a fan of Larabars to begin with. Personally, I prefer the original Larabars to these new Bites and it's most likely due to the coconut flour dusting rather than any problems with the flavors or textures. Plus, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Larabars are sinfully chocolaty and taste more like candy than a healthy energy bar, so I may be a bit biased.

By Renee.

Two former aides to Republican Gov. Chris Christie were convicted on Friday of causing epic traffic jams for political revenge near the nation's busiest bridge, a verdict that further damages his legacy and raises anew questions about why he and his inner circle escaped prosecution.

Bridget Kelly,...

If you’re looking to score a great deal on a wedding dress, we hear there might be sales going on over at J. Crew, after the retailer announced it’s getting rid of its bridal business.

After attempting to attract new customers by offering wedding gowns and other bridal wear, J. Crew has decided it’s not the right way to go, Business Insider reported.

Instead, the retailer is planning to “focus on what women like to wear to someone else’s wedding, versus what they would wear to their own,” a spokeswoman told Bloomberg in an email.

A quick visit to the J. Crew site shows red markdowns all over the place, likely as the company tries to quickly shed all that inventory it was having trouble selling before. Once the merchandise is gone, it’s over — no more bridal line, a J Crew weddings specialist told BI.

J. Crew, like many retailers, has been struggling to boost sales after turning off many shoppers with price increases and other branding miscalculations: same-store sales dropped 8% in the second quarter, Bloomberg notes, which was the eighth straight quarter of declines.

Chief Executive Officer Mickey Drexler blamed a “challenging traffic environment” for hurting business in August, Bloomberg notes.

J. Crew is getting rid of its entire bridal line [Business Insider]
J. Crew to Discontinue Bridal Business in Chain’s Latest Misfire [Bloomberg]

Eye contact is an important part of making a good first impression. But if you have a bad habit of looking elsewhere while people talk, some practice can help. You don’t even need to leave your couch.

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What does it take to unite former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, former Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, liberal columnist Paul Krugman, and pitchfork-wielding former Tea Party Representative Joe Walsh?

In today’s polarized times, it should be practically impossible—but FBI Director James Comey has managed to pull it off. On Friday, Comey sent a letter to the Republican chairs of committees relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, saying that the FBI had discovered new, pertinent emails.

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Related Story

Can the FBI Sway an Election?

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Comey’s short note—just three paragraphs, with little other information about the number of emails, their source, or when they might be reviewed—shook the presidential race. Coming with several polls showing a slightly tighter race, it suddenly looked like the Clinton campaign might be falling apart at the seams, and that Trump had a renewed chance.

Since then, the public has learned more about the emails in question, complicating the picture. Adding to the difficulty, much of the new information has emerged in anonymous leaks to a range of outlets, producing a sometimes contradictory image. It’s been reported that the emails in question were turned up during an investigation into former Representative Anthony Weiner for allegedly sexting a North Carolina 15-year-old. Weiner’s estranged wife is top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, and apparently the emails in question were on a shared laptop. First, there’s no clear figure on how many emails there are, no idea whether there are new emails not previously reviewed, and no sense (at least publicly) of how likely it is that there’s anything that would change Comey’s pronouncement in July that he did not recommend charges against Clinton for her use of a private email server and address. (He later said it wasn’t even a close call.) In fact, the FBI didn’t even get a warrant to look at the emails until Sunday.

Within hours of the letter being made public, the Democratic Party had swung its entire messaging apparatus into attacking Comey.

“It’s pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election,” Clinton said on the trail in Florida on Saturday. “In fact, it’s not just strange; it’s unprecedented and it is deeply troubling.”

Other Democrats were much less measured. In a letter to Comey, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid wrote, “I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act. Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law.” Reid also alleged, without offering any substantiation, that Comey was withholding information about ties between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government. The Nevadan has a reputation for making outlandish claims with an eye toward forcing others to debunk them.

Meanwhile, liberal writers like Paul Krugman unleashed broadsides, accusing Comey of attempting to aid the Republican Party. Some of the same Clinton allies who spent weeks saying Trump endangered American norms by saying the election was “rigged” were quick to declare corruption when the news cycle turned against their candidate.

As a tutorial in executing a messaging offensive, it was impressive, showing how much more easily Clinton can unite her party and lead a unified front than, say, Trump after the video in which he boasted about sexually assaulting women. But whether it’s the right message remains to be seen. For one, there’s a risk of hypocrisy. While Clinton and her allies were not delighted with the manner in which Comey announced his decision not to recommend charges, calling her “extremely careless” with classified information, many of them were quick to praise Comey’s integrity. Now some of them are even suggesting that Comey is trying to throw the election to Trump. There’s no evidence for that claim, and it’s hard to imagine it being true: As a studiously moderate longtime Washington establishment Republican, Comey doesn’t fit the profile of a Trump fan.

Going to war with the FBI is also a dangerous game. If you work the refs, you might get better calls; or you might just anger them and end up digging a deeper hole. But this is likely a short-term strategy, designed to run out the clock and protect Clinton’s lead ahead of Election Day.

There’s a second, separate type of criticism of Comey, which argues not that his motives are questionable but that his decisionmaking process has been grievously wrong. On Friday afternoon, Benjamin Wittes wrote a much-read piece at Lawfare arguing that Comey was in a bind and had no choice but to inform Congress, even at the risk of thrusting himself into the midst of the presidential race’s final week.

But there’s pushback to that notion, now. Some of it comes from politically interested observers. Former Attorney General Eric Holder, for example, has campaigned for Clinton and made his views on the race clear, but his argument, laid out in a Washington Post column, is procedural rather than political. Several outlets have reported that Comey broke with Department of Justice policies, and that DOJ officials counseled him not to send the letter, but did not attempt to actually stop him. Holder argues that Comey violated protocol. “I fear he has unintentionally and negatively affected public trust in both the Justice Department and the FBI,” Holder wrote. “And he has allowed—again without improper motive—misinformation to be spread by partisans with less pure intentions.” Holder and dozens of other former DOJ officials also signed a letter criticizing Comey.

But it's not just Democrats. Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, argued in a New York Times column and in a formal complaint on Saturday that Comey had violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from using their authority to interfere with elections. (Interestingly, Painter initially told my colleague Emma Green he thought Comey was on solid ground, then changed his mind.)

Other Republicans have argued that Comey made the wrong decision in July when he recommended against charges for Clinton, but that his letter on Friday was misguided as well, sometimes for the same reasons.

Gonzales, who was attorney general under George W. Bush, was critical of Comey’s July announcement, but said on MSNBC on Monday that the new move also seemed dubious. “It was probably inconsistent with protocol, so in that sense, you have to question the decision,” he said. (It’s curious to see Gonzales, who was forced to resign amid questions about his administration of the Justice Department, being cited in discussions of ethics—especially by Democrats.)

Fox New’s Bill Hemmer reported that Karl Rove, the former Bush strategist, said Comey was “wrong in July and was wrong on Friday.” An echo came from Joe Walsh, a controversial former one-term representative from Illinois who was warning just last week that he was “grabbing my musket” if Trump lost:

Look, I think Comey should have said prosecute her back in July.

But what he just did 11 days b4 the election is wrong & unfair to Hillary.

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 31, 2016

William Weld, a former U.S. Attorney and Republican governor of Massachusetts now running for vice president on the Libertarian ticket, was also scathing about Comey’s decision. Weld knows a thing or two about sidestepping policies. He once led the Justice Department’s criminal division, but resigned with other top officials in 1988, to protest the conduct of Attorney General Edwin Meese III. When a special prosecutor declined to indict Meese, Weld and a colleague took their complaints to Congress, forcing Meese’s resignation.

Comey infuriated Republicans by not recommending charges against Clinton in July, and some who are enjoying Clinton’s struggles may, as a result, be less likely to leap to Comey’s defense. Arrayed against him, he finds the Democratic messaging machine plus former Justice Department officials of both parties. So now Comey finds himself a lonely man. Maybe it’s just as well that he won’t have social distractions, though: His agency has a lot of emails to read.

   Well, if you’d asked me whose wardrobe Kate was going to raid, I WOULD NOT have said “Paris Hilton.” But here we are. (I have to admit, I also thought, “it’s a good thing Bex Porter is fictional, because she’s way too tired after last night’s Cubs win to do anything today other than bask Read More ...