The State Board of Education in Texas has proposed some rather interesting cuts to the their social studies curriculum. Read the rest

After five days of silence, Hillary Clinton finally weighs in on the Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein sex scandal. Through her spokesperson Nick Merrill, she said:

"I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior."

Weinstein, who has donated heavily to the Democratic Party, has had ties with the Clintons since Bill Clinton's presidency. According to CNN:

Weinstein is a longtime associate of the Clintons and a major Democratic Party donor who bundled funds for their political campaigns.

Many Democratic office holders quickly repudiated Weinstein, with some going so far as to send donations given by Weinstein to charity. But Clinton's statement makes no mention of Weinstein's sizable donations to her own war chest...

In 2015, the Clintons rented a home next to Weinstein in the Hamptons, and Weinstein served as a connector between Hollywood stars and Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.

Image: Gage Skidmore Read the rest

No, she's not running for president again.

In an interview with Kara Swisher at the RECODE conference, Hillary Clinton was in full zero hecks given mode. Read the rest

But his intel.

The Washington Post has a bombshell report out today on how the Russians may have hoaxed former FBI director James B. Comey into his public statement on the Hillary Clinton "but her emails" investigation, which helped swing the election in Donald Trump's favor. Read the rest

As news of the CIA's assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election spreads, top Hillary Clinton adviser and likely Russian hacking victim John Podesta today publicly voiced support for a push by some members of the Electoral College to receive an intelligence briefing ahead of their formal vote next week. Read the rest

Maybe next presidential election, it would behoove pollsters to check in with flagmakers of Yiwu, China's main manufacturing center for flags exported to America. One manufacturer told a Chinese video site he knew Trump would win because they were exporting so many more Trump flags. Read the rest

Hi Kid,

On Election Night, you went to bed crying, and this time, I couldn't fix it. Like half the country, you thought you would be going to bed with your candidate as the president-elect. I wiped away a big, globby tear from the end of your nose, proud of you for caring so deeply about your country. I said it was going to be OK. I explained that, "politics goes back and forth, and this year it just wasn't our turn. Remember when I was for Obama and you were for Hillary, and she lost the primary, but you ended up liking Obama?" Your thirteen year-old defiance broke through your tears, as you declared, "No, this is different!"

You then spouted off a litany of things I didn't know you thought much about:

"It's different because Donald Trump doesn't have the basic morals of everything our country stands for. He doesn't even have the morals of a normal Republican. It's not that the other side won. It's that the person who won is literally against half of the people in the country. He doesn't like Muslims, Mexicans, anyone who is LGBT, he definitely doesn't like women, or people of color. He doesn't like ME. It seems like he only likes people like himself -- white males. How can he be our president?"

He's our president because people voted for him and he won the election. I will be raising you under a Donald Trump presidency until you go to college in four years. Read the rest

Oh, just the 7th largest gathering of humans in history happened last week.

Five million of the most patient humans in the world -- Cubs fans -- descended on Chicago's lakefront last week to celebrate a victory that was against all odds. But win they did, ending the longest World Series drought in baseball history -- 108 years -- and the lifting of the Billy Goat Curse. Friday's event was the 7th largest get-together in human history, about a million shy of the 2015 papal visit to the Philippines. The rest of us can keep it simple and get a glimpse of the Cubs on The Tonight Show Monday. The event in Grant Park turned out to be a pretty tame party for Chicago, when you consider the things fans have done over the years to try to lift the curse.

But first, what is the Billy Goat Curse? In 1945, Billy Goat Tavern owner Billy Sianis and his goat were ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the Cubs first World Series since 1908. Apparently the goat's odor was offensive, Sianis was offended and enraged, and legend has it that he declared, "Them Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more." The Cubs lost the game that day and haven't even been a contender in another World Series, let alone champions, in the 108 years since. Until last week.

Actual Things People Did -- and Ate -- To Lift the Curse

As the century passed without a win, younger generations sought to "reverse the curse." Here's a few notable attempts from just the last ten years:

Hanging a butchered goat on the statue of beloved Cubs sports announcer, the late Harry Caray, famous for his hearty rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Passionate move, folks, but gross. Read the rest

From the Wall Street Journal tonight, just a few days from the presidential election on Tuesday, a sleaze exposé involving the GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump. Read the rest

Last week, FBI director James Comey released a vague letter saying the FBI was investigating more emails that had something to do with Hillary Clinton's personal server. The media largely ran with the GOP characterization of this as reopened investigation into Clinton herself, but things soon got muddy and even conservative commentators found the situation deeply unsettling.

For starters, the emails were on disgraced politician Anthony Weiner's computer, impounded in his teen sext case, meaning Clinton's authorship or receipt of the emails is anyone's guess. Worse, it soon became clear the FBI had failed to get a warrant to read the emails before Comey's announcement, giving the impression of an attempt to tip the election, or of appeasement to political pressures. Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General until last year, writes that Comey's made a "serious mistake." Read the rest

Ken Crossland has a good explainer piece on the Hillary Clinton email issue that conservatives have used to bludgeon her campaign for months.

Hillary Clinton isn’t a technophile. She viewed her set-up as a means to an end. Was it working? Great. Did she care how it worked? No. It’s likely as simple as that.

...

I’m pretty convinced, viewing the evidence, that Hillary Clinton believes she’s in the right with her email server, that it helped her do her job well, and that it kept America safe. What irks the public is that we know that she knows that we know that Clinton doesn’t actually care that she used a private server, and the only thing she laments is that it blew up in her face. Read the rest

Boing Boing pal Joe Sabia and friends created this surreal edit of the third 2016 presidential debate, which took place last night and creeped everyone out big league. Read the rest

“Nasty Woman vs. Bad Hombre”  is a nifty new number on the nutty 2016 presidential campaign by Jonathan Mann, who writes and publishes a new song every single day, as he's been doing for the last 7+ years. Read the rest

Remix of the 3rd un-presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump from with a hip-hop "Hail To The Chief" backing track, by Eclectic Method.

Read the rest

This video released today from the social media campaign “Humanity for Hilary” features Meryl Streep, Amy Schumer, Lena Dunham, Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and other women who share their own experience of surviving sexual assault. It's a powerful response to recent events surrounding the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump. Read the rest

Vogue today endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton as the first ever female president of the United States of America, and ran this gorgeous portrait of our future POTUS by photographer Annie Leibovitz for Vogue, in December 1993. Read the rest

An ultra-right Russian politician aligned with Vladimir Putin says American voters should elect Donald Trump for president, or prepare for nuclear war. Vladimir Zhirinovsky likes to compare himself to Trump, and is a similarly unrestrained blowhard.

"Americans voting for a president on Nov. 8 must realize that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump,” he said. “But if they vote for Hillary it's war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere." Read the rest