News & Analysis

Abraham Lincoln’s surprising strength

Photo: Corbis Steven Spielberg’s Abraham Lincoln may be more historically accurate — and far more Oscar-likely — but “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” wasn’t far off with its focus on No. 16’s colonial ax-fu. While Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal focuses on bringing the union together as the commander in chief, Lincoln had…

Abraham Lincoln Steals Thanksgiving

Photo: Dreamworks Did Abraham Lincoln “steal” Thanksgiving Day from the states? And was he merely a hired thug for the woman best known for a nursery rhyme? Before 1863, observing Thanksgiving fell to the province of the states. Having an annual day of thanks was controversial for many reasons; while…

Female Fights: #1 Sandra Fluke

Radio show host Rush Limbaugh called the Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” for advocating contraceptive health coverage, vaulting both of them to the forefront of birth control debates in 2012. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Chris Carlson/AP Photo)  In 2012, women put up a good fight to defend their interests, even…

Y! Big Story: “Fast and Furious” meets “The Wire”

“Fast & Furious” (Jamie Trueblood_Universal Pictures) The federal investigation into Mexican gun-trafficking was dubbed Operation Fast and Furious, because the suspects involved liked a little auto-sideshow action. The better analogy might be “The Wire”—to cover a roiling case of vindictive office politics, cowboy agents, sensationalized reporting, the clash of Second…

Y! Big Story: Operation Fast and Furious timeline

Funeral for fallen Border Patrol agent Brian Terry Fortune magazine released a six-month investigative report in Operation Fast and Furious. Here’s a timeline based on that report and other sources. —1993-2005: ATF reputation suffers in high-profile cases. —October 31, 2009: Operation Fast and Furious is launched. —December 2009: David Voth…

Y! Big Story: Operation Fast and Furious timeline

Fortune magazine released a six-month investigative report in Operation Fast and Furious. Here’s a timeline based on that report and other sources. —1993-2005: ATF reputation suffers in high-profile cases. —October 31, 2009: Operation Fast and Furious is launched. —December 2009: David Voth heads Phoenix Group VII, which lacked funding, to…

Y! Big Story: Bumper-sticker politics

Retiring a slogan (Justin Sullivan:Getty Images) Stand Your Ground. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Show Your Papers (Please). Reducing a complex concept into a slogan is an uncertain art, but one that people have tinkered with for centuries. The word “slogan” itself hails from the Gaelic sluagh-ghairm—a battle cry, one that…