Nick Denton is saving Democracy, one pubic hair at a time.

​Gawker Media's latest sex stunt has backfired.

Hot on the heels of its success with the Brett Favre penis sexts, Gawker went to the well one too many times and dredged up a not-very-lurid tale about Christine O'Donnell sleeping in bed with (but not having sex with) a younger dude. The website paid "low four figures" for the story, which is perhaps the sleaziest detail of all.

After a backlash from all the internets, including its sister site Jezebel, Gawker has published a mea culpa, though its more of a mea did nothing wrong.
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Shane Bauer can't count on Mama Grizzly.

​We can probably all agree that a public Twitter account isn't the best place to shoot for nuance in U.S. diplomatic relations. But that didn't stop U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

We also can't be too surprised that Sarah Palin would pick apart his words and feed them into the meat grinder of political spin.

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Jenn Sterger couldn't draw enough eyeballs.

​Brett Favre's still got his job as quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings -- at least for now. But Jenn Sterger just got pink-slipped. The Versus cable network has canceled her "Daily Line" show.

Limp ratings, the network told the AP. Nothing personal.

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Ronald Moore, left, and Carlos Harris

​Ronald Harold Moore and Carlos Maurice Harris were formally charged today in Wednesday's pistol whipping and robbery at an Uptown Dunn Bros coffeehouse.

Moore, 47, and Harris, 38, each face one felony count of first degree aggravated robbery and two counts of kidnapping in Hennepin County Court. The kidnapping charges alone could carry a 40-year sentence for each man if convicted.

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Wisc. Secretary of State candidate David King is in hot soup just days before the election.

​This one may take the cake for the strangest political scandal of the 2010 season.

Charlette Harris was supposed to be having a business lunch with David King, a candidate for Wisconsin Secretary of State, after he helped get her a job. But the Milwaukee God Squad conservative wasn't as interested in wage negotiations as he was in keeping Harris's margarita glass full, according to a lawsuit Harris filed this week.

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CLF

Science!

​College, it has been said, is a time for experimentation. Which means it's all about working through the steps of the scientific method. You remember how that goes.

Here's how your lab notebook might read if you were 19-year-old Andrew Welshons, a student at Minnesota State University in Moorhead:

• Ask a question: What will happen if I get unreasonably drunk, strip naked, and start bothering women in the female wing of my dorm?
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Andrew Welshons, Minnesota State University at Moorhead

Photo by JeffK, Flickr.

On the upside, a fire at the station means big savings on gas.

​This has got to be a little embarrassing.

A fire broke out in a St. Cloud fire station this morning, destroying a rig and causing smoke damage to the building. At lease one fire fighter was even admitted to the hospital afterward.

The fire alarms in Station 3 went off around 6 a.m. On-duty fire fighters rushed to the truck bay to find one of the rigs had gone up in flames. This was surely never addressed in training.

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There may be more to Horner's newspaper endorsements than his qualifications.

​​With the election only days away, Tom Horner's chance at moving into the Governor's Mansion are looking pretty slim. After all, leading political statistician Nate Silver gives Democrat Mark Dayton an 85% chance of victory, and Horner has consistently trailed the field in statewide polls.

But that hasn't prevented him from picking up endorsements from newspapers around the state. With a pair of exceptions, he's won support from each and every one.

His policies may not be the only reason behind the sweep.

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Photo by debaird

Election Integrity Watch wants to see your ID

​A group of Tea-partying conservative activists is suing for the right to wear campaign slogans and intimidating buttons to polling places on Nov. 2. And oh yeah -- they just might ask to see your ID.

So far, 7,390 people have signed up to watch the polls, pester voters and follow people exercising their voting rights around with notebooks and video cameras.

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benhully

We all mourn in our own way.

​Jacob Hanson was having a difficult month when he attended a  house party last April. His father, Timothy Hanson, had been killed by police in March after shooting at them and hitting one of them with his .357 Magnum in a firefight on his front lawn.

So chalk it up to grief, or to the alcohol and marijuana that witnesses say the younger Hanson was enjoying at the April soiree, but at some point, he pulled his own handgun out and started pointing it at his fellow party-goers.

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