Seems ages ago. But Eduard Shevardnadze was the Soviet Foreign Minister who helped implement the end of the Cold War. He died today at 86.

Probably not a good idea to use the N-word in a newspaper oped headline.

One of the six Israeli extremists arrested for the vigilante/revenge killing of an Arab teen in East Jerusalem has reenacted the crime for Israeli police investigators.

Not sure I’ve seen much that better captures the cultural moment than this: ‘rolling coal’, the new anti-environmentalism fad in which you trick out your diesel truck to pour out as much black smoke as possible.

Update: We’re currently at 83 sign-ups for the day. So we’re within 200 of our final goal (see below). Help us finish the day with an even 100. And thank you!

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I told you little over a month ago that we were launching a membership drive for Prime. We have one week left. We’ve done well. 1728 of you have signed up. But we really need to get to 2000. So we have 272 sign ups to go and a week to get there. If TPM matters to you, if you want to join us, if you just want a premium, less cluttered TPM experience, please take a moment to sign up. Just click right here.

It really matters a lot. And I personally thank you in advance.

I’ll keep you posted on our progress.

Arresting, fascinating, horrifying photos of ‘Breaker Boys’, young boys usually between 8 and 12 years old, employed in coal mining until the early decades of the 20th century. Amazing photos. Take a look.

Was the Daily Caller’s discredited Menendez/hooker story really the work of a Cuban intelligence operation? The CIA has reportedly obtained evidence that the Caller was actually an unwitting accomplice in a Cuban intelligence operation aimed at discrediting one of the most anti-Castro Democrats in the Senate just as he was about to take over the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Mississippi certifies Cochran win over Chris McDaniel. Ted Cruz calls for investigation of ‘illegal voting.’

Whatever you think of the name “Redskins”, the epically hapless response from the Redskins organization and more pratfalls like this one only becomes comprehensible when you remember that the team hired Lanny Davis and Ari Fleischer to direct their public campaign to defend the name.

Religious right conservatives are prepping a crop of post-Hobby Lobby ‘religious freedom’ bills to turn back gay rights gains.