scandal - Page 2

Surprise, Surprise: Shonda Rhimes’s ‘Scandal’ Lazily Paints Donald Trump as Sexist, Vulgar Xenophobe

Shonda Rhimes’s hit TV show Scandal often utilizes ripped-from-the-headlines storylines to propel its political drama. An episode earlier in this fifth season explored the undercover Planned Parenthood videos and featured a montage in which the show’s main character, Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), undergoes an abortion set to the hymn “Silent Night.”

Ron Tom/ABC via Getty Images/Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Silicon Valley: $9B Theranos Threatened with Extinction

As Theranos, Inc. was preparing for one of Silicon Valley’s biggest IPO’s when its pin-prick blood test for thousands of diseases was approved by the FDA on July 15, the company was rocked on October 15 by a Wall Street Journal article citing “unnamed” former employees claiming Theranos inflated its testing effectiveness to the FDA.

Theranos Founder and C.E.O. Elizabeth Holmes (Mike Windle / Getty)

The Obama Presidency – A Cacophony of Corruption

Obama apologists have recently been trotted out en masse to absurdly portray the Obama presidency as an entirely scandal-free citadel of piety. It is, they assure us, the political equivalent of the Vestal Virgins who guard the sacred flame. As Obama, himself, has insisted, there is not a “scintilla of scandal” to be seen.

Evan Vucci AP

Governor Brown Signs Multinational Climate Change Pact

On Tuesday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed onto a pact between 12 regions in seven countries, including four U.S. states, binding each to reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically. The goal of the cuts is to keep the rise in global average surface temperatures below 2º Celsius. However, recent revisions by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change suggest global temperatures are projected to rise by less than 1º C over 30 years–and perhaps by less than 0.5º C.

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California State Departments Funded Raises with Ghost Employees

Seven months after a Sacramento Bee investigation revealed how State of California departments play a personnel shell game to pad their budgets with millions in tax dollars earmarked for staffing salaries, an audit released Friday on the Department of Finance’s website confirmed that phantom employees are very widespread, and some of the cash allocated for salaries has been used to pay for raises and other unauthorized spending instead.

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Bolton: Lack of Hillary Email Security ‘800 Lb. Gorilla’

In a conversation with Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow on Breitbart News Saturday radio program, former Ambassador John Bolton called the lack of security on Hillary Clinton’s private email server the “800 pound gorilla” of the scandal that has surrounded the former Secretary of State in recent days.

AP Photo/Dennis Cook

Op-Ed: It Doesn’t End With Bill

When the dust settled in the University of Illinois clout abuse scandal, not only were the institution’s president and regents fired, but a statewide officeholder, the house speaker, a state senator, a congressman, and two state representatives found themselves in hot water and their political careers in ruins. Texas legislators should pay attention.

University of Texas at Austin

Backlash: Lena Dunham’s ‘Girls’ Premiere Plummets 40%

Despite the kind of publicity and hysteria usually reserved for big-budget summer films, Lena Dunham’s HBO dramedy “Girls” earned its worst premiere ratings to date with a paltry (even for “Girls”) 680,000 viewers. By comparison, season 3 debuted to 1.1