The Pentagon has announced that the United States and five unnamed Arab nations have begun joint airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria.

Back in June 2012, a tortoise died. That is, in and of itself, kind of newsworthy, given that giant tortoises have a lifespan of well over 100 years; the oldest one, the un-creatively named Jonathan, is still kicking at 182. But the death of Lonesome George was particularly sad, given that the old fellow was believed…

A Colorado taco truck — arguably the greatest taco truck in Colorado or anywhere else — has been driven out of business by people who disapproved of its business model. That model: selling methamphetamine in addition to tacos, a move which presumably delighted its customers, but seems to have really displeased the…

In a dance as old as time (or 2011), Occupy Wall Street types headed to New York's Financial District to protest corporate greed, and the NYPD responded by marinating some of them in pepper spray. Here's a video:

A country club wedding in a Buffalo suburb devolved into an enormous melee that required police officers from seven different agencies to respond, the Buffalo News reports. Hours after the happy couple exchanged their vows, one witness told the newspaper, family members were screaming that they hated each other,…

Steve Forbes, the mostly shiftless heir to a crumbling media empire, has opinions about tomorrow's referendum on Scottish independence, and has been allowed, for reasons we find obscure, to air them in the Telegraph.

Texas has executed a 38-year-old woman who was sent to death row for starving her girlfriend's 9-year-old son to death nearly a decade ago. Lisa Ann Coleman died by lethal injection shortly after 6 p.m. tonight at the state execution chamber in Huntsville, Texas. She's only the 15th woman to be executed in the United…

A 44-year-old physical education and health teacher in Virginia was subjected to a bizarrely creepy attack Friday, when her one-time boyfriend gave her a hug, then chopped off eight to twelve inches of her hair.

The St. Louis-Post Dispatch is reporting that Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Mike Brown in early August, appeared before a St. Louis County grand jury today to testify about the shooting. An unnamed source "with knowledge of the investigation" tells the newspaper that Wilson…

The suspects in a violent gang assault on two gay men in Philadelphia have apparently been located by an anonymous Twitter sleuth from Jersey. The victims, who haven't been publicly identified, were walking in Center City around 10:45 p.m. on September 11 when they came face-to-face with a large, clean-cut-looking…

The super-smart takes on the Adrian Peterson debacle just keep coming. Almost as soon as the Minnesota Vikings running back was indicted for child abuse, people started chiming in with all sorts of opinions they should probably have kept to themselves: Charles Barkley called beating a child just a black, Southern…

Joan Rivers' doctor took a selfie with the unconscious comedian in the operating room before her endoscopy, according to a new report from CNN. The ear, nose and throat specialist, who hasn't been publicly identified, was also allowed to perform a biopsy on her vocal cords, a procedure that Rivers hadn't previously…

A pair of Austrian teenagers who apparently fled to Syria to support ISIS may be pregnant by a pair of Chechen fighters, according to a probably-fake report in the New York Post. Several more reputable news outlets, meanwhile, are reporting that either Samra Kesinovic, 16, or her friend Sabina Selimovic, 15, may have…

By now, the oh-my-God-we're-all-going-to-get-Ebola fever that gripped much of the United States this summer has pretty much subsided. Although one study suggests that the virus could reach the U.S. by late September, we all pretty much know that any outbreak here would likely be a relatively small cluster and more…

A Russian neo-Nazi gang leader nicknamed "The Hatchet," best known for leading a group that filmed themselves violently humiliating and harassing young gay men, has been sentenced to five years in prison for making a video of himself beating and torturing a gay Iraqi man.

The rest of the world might be falling apart, but Rikers Island is still reliably horrific. A New York mother is suing Corizon, the company that provides healthcare at Rikers, New York City's largest jail complex, saying her 19-year-old son died in a cell there last year after being denied adequate medical treatment.

As another long night in Ferguson begins, the National Guard is on the scene, but so too are the local police, who continue to demonstrate great judgment and a keen grasp on how they're coming across to the outside world. A few minutes ago, police tried to shut down CNN anchor Don Lemon's live broadcast as he stood on…

When you think of McDonald's, the corporate powers that be behind the golden arches would really prefer if your mind didn't immediately flash to expired garbage meat or wages barely preferable to indentured servitude or even their terrifying new toothed box of a mascot. No, McDonald's would rather be synonymous with…