House Republicans passed their tax overhaul yesterday; the Senate will reconvene after Thanksgiving to vote on its own package.
Under the new GOP plan, the only clear winners are businesses. While many Americans will receive tax cuts, about 13 million middle-class households will pay more. And by eliminating the ACA's individual mandate, the Senate's tax plan will result in a tax hike on those earning $30,000 a year and below.
Tucked away in the House bill is a tax on tuition waivers, which universities use to shelter grad students whose salaries far outpace their take-home pay, and without which students will be effectively bankrupted.
Yesterday more than 200,000 gallons of oil spilled from the Keystone pipeline in South Dakota, reviving concerns about the controversial Keystone XL extension.
Al Franken joins the growing list of powerful men now publicly outed for sexual misconduct.
The Trump administration lifts a ban on import of elephant-hunting trophies from Zimbabwe, which has now come back into reporting compliance on its elephant population. Though apparently "the issue was a priority for Interior’s political appointees."
“It disallows contributions, donations, or ‘anything of value’ provided by a foreign national to sway an election. It also bars a campaign from offering ‘substantial assistance’ to a foreign national engaged in spending on American races.” Trump Jr.’s Wikileaks chats may have been brief, but they also may have violated federal campaign-finance rules.
The Facebook hearings show lawmakers are too focused on the problems of 2016, leaving future elections unprotected.
“Over time, its wood surface became cracked and chafed, and it had been crudely overpainted, as an image in the sale catalog shows. The painting now appears in some limbo state between its original form and an exacting, though partially imagined, rehabilitation.” A critique of da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi,” which broke the record for the most expensive art sold at auction.
A visual timeline of Guernica explains the work's own complex history and its enduring anti-war commentary.
As seen from space, how all of Earth's plant life breathes, based on 20 years of satellite data.
An interactive map of every record store on Earth.
Recently discovered, one of the last stories Raymond Chandler wrote took aim at the US healthcare system.
Kansas shrouds its operations from Kansans; 90 percent of the last decade's laws were authored anonymously.
“The Federal Reserve found that over the course of a 30-year career, women with children are more productive than other workers in nearly every career phase.” The much-supposed motherhood penalty isn’t just inaccurate, it’s actually backwards.
France's teachers unite to open the gender of French plural nouns, which have defaulted to masculine for centuries.
A heatmap of New York Times crosswords shows the likelihood of which squares will be black versus white.
Sexual partners are less likely than total strangers to give CPR to someone having a heart attack.
"Bail Bloc" is a cryptocurrency scheme that uses your computer's processors to pay low-income New Yorkers' bail.
To exist on the internet and navigate its heaps of fake news, everyone must improve their critical thinking skills.
For regular people who aren't being spearphished by Fancy Bear: "The Motherboard Guide to Not Getting Hacked."
Today in Not Making This Up: In 1986, Arthur Russell tried to produce a rap record with a teenage Vin Diesel.
To relax: Stare at this moving gif and listen to this song.