Slate Articles

Who's Your Daddy?

Daniel Engber — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:45:00 GMT

First Jackie learned her brother Alex (their names have been changed) was her uncle. Then things got a little weird.

Profiling Is Great ... Except When You Do It to Me

Farhad Manjoo — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:04:45 GMT

Pretend you work at the Internal Revenue Service. Actually, let’s make this exercise even more terrible. Pretend you’re an underpaid, low-level clerk working in the understaffed IRS backwater of Cincinnati. Every day, a big stack of files lands on your desk. Every day, the stack gets a little bigger than the last. Each file represents a new application for a certain tax status—501(c)(4), a tax-exempt designation meant for “social welfare” organizations. Nonprofits with this status aren’t required to disclose the identity of their donors and they’re allowed to lobby legislative officials. The catch is that they must limit their political campaign activity. According to IRS rules, 501(c)(4) groups can participate in elections, but electioneering must not be their “primary” mission.

Obama’s Other Secret War

Fred Kaplan — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:07:16 GMT

The Obama Justice Department’s crusade against leakers just took a quantum leap—and it’s extremely worrisome.

A Wealth of GIFs

Emma Roller — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:44:14 GMT

The news of Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr launched many an irritated post on the microblogging site this week; the response is similar to Instagram users’ histrionic reactions after Facebook bought the photo-sharing company last year. The price tag for the free microblogging site is reportedly $1.1 billion. Is Tumblr really worth more than $1 billion?

Obama’s Boyfriend Line

William Saletan — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:37:58 GMT

On Sunday, President Obama gave a commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta. “Keep setting an example for what it means to be a man,” he told the graduates. “Be the best husband to your wife, or boyfriend to your partner, or father to your children that you can be.”

The YouTube Preacher

David Weigel — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:57:12 GMT

On Sunday afternoon, standing outside the Virginia GOP’s headquarters in vote-rich Fairfax County, Bishop E.W. Jackson finally became a real politician. He’d just won his party’s nomination for lieutenant governor. Democrats and the press, dazzled by their luck, had just started digging into Jackson’s YouTube record of incendiary quotes. Jackson asked his fellow Republicans to join him in a belly laugh.

Hang Up and Listen: The Falling Into the Truth Edition

Stefan Fatsis — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:42:01 GMT

Listen to Hang Up and Listen with Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

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Pregnant Pause

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:36:01 GMT

At her live event in New York, Prudence saw no reason why a woman should let her new co-workers know about her pregnancy before she begins working.

But It's Not Fair!

Emily Yoffe — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:45:00 GMT

Emily Yoffe, aka Dear Prudence, is on Washingtonpost.com weekly to chat live with readers. An edited transcript of the chat is below. (Sign up here to get Dear Prudence delivered to your inbox each week. Read Prudie’s Slate columns here. Send questions to Prudence at prudence@slate.com.)

The Coming Acquisition Wave

Matthew Yglesias — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:36:23 GMT

Any time someone spends more than $1 billion to buy a company with little revenue and no profits, someone’s going to raise an eyebrow or two. But Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr, announced Monday morning, makes sense not just as a particular strategy for the businesses in question but as part of the larger macroeconomic landscape. All the pieces are falling into place for a large wave of mergers and acquisitions, particularly of privately held companies.