Headlines Edition

Wednesday Headlines: The joke’s on us.

Republican senators have chosen Rachel Mitchell, chief of the special victims division of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, to question Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh in tomorrow's Senate hearing.

"The move allows the 11 Republicans on the committee—all white men—to avoid the image on national television of them grilling Dr. Blasey.

The Senate Judiciary Committee could vote on Kavanaugh as soon as Friday, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee chair, has asked senators to stay in DC over the weekend, in order to confirm as early as Tuesday.

Your senators are ready to vote. Are you? Check your voter status and register if you haven’t already.

The General Assembly audibly laughed during Trump's speech at the UN yesterday, after he claimed, "My administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country." Fox News edited out the laughter.

Since the ’80s, Trump has been obsessed with the idea that the world laughs at the president. He’s now the first.

Bill Cosby was sentenced yesterday to three to 10 years in prison for sexual assault.

How do we talk about behavior that is harmful and inequitable but isn’t illegal? How do we talk about the women affected by it? And what happens when accusations of such behavior are made against someone who is supposed to be an ally? Harder to define are the “gray areas” of sexual assault, which are the next step for #MeToo.

Doctors in much of the US still legally perform pelvic exams on anesthetized women who neither know nor consent.

A fact-check finds Beto O'Rourke tried to flee the scene of his 1998 DWI—contrary to what he claimed during his Texas Senate debate with Ted Cruz last week.

Seattle judges vacate all pot convictions between 1996 and 2010, during which time people of color were targeted.

Over the past year, the pro-Trump subreddit The_Donald appears to have become a hotbed of Russian troll activity.

A former Facebook moderator sues for mental trauma, says the company cycles through employees, ignores their health.

Ethicists decry a plan to genetically modify malaria-carrying mosquitoes and spread a sterilizing mutation.

It seems he was cared for well; his skin, preserved by natural mummification for nearly 1,300 years, shows no sign of bedsores, which means he likely benefited from good hygiene and frequent position changes. A study of a paraplegic child’s mummified remains show a high level of care from Peru’s Nasca for disability.

New Juul knockoffs are hitting shelves, breaking an FDA rule that bans the sale of unapproved e-cigarette products.

Because future explorers won't be able to carry all their resources—a new university degree focuses on space mining.

A new book debunks genetic companies' claims of your connections to noble bloodlines—and even the idea of "races."

We descended the steps together—he in boots and flowing coat, I in my pants and whatever—and climbed into the car. People were watching. I wondered who they thought I was. His brother-in-law. John Jeremiah Sullivan meets iconic fashion designer Rick Owens in Paris.

Scrabble updates its allowed words to include "twerk," "facepalm," and other new vernacular.

Critics don't love "museums" that mainly provide visual backdrops for patrons' selfies, but Instagram sure does.

Long derided in architecture circles, brutalism finds a new groundswell of support on Instagram.

A new exhibition of Future Cities, Bodys Isek Kingelez’s astounding, miniature cityscape models.