Current events

"But the science is settled!" department:

An unusual medical brawl erupted on Tuesday when the influential Institute of Medicine issued a report questioning the basis of years of advice for Americans to cut their salt intake in half.

Wow, tough call by Angelina Jolies:

My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.

A lot of people on the right are chortling over The Associated Press' outrage, along the lines of, "Ha. How do you like your hero now, huh?" (See here, for example)

Nancy Pelosi: Hey, the Founders would have been cool with Obamacare; in fact, it's probably something they even had in mind:

From The Associated Press, a poll I wouldn't put much stock in:

Still, a few questions discover 90 percent agreement, or close to it.

Americans nearly all:

—believe in God.

—are very patriotic.

A little scary, yes?

The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.

Remember that O'Henry story about the bum who tried to get thrown in jail so he'd have food and a place to stay on Christmas? This one tops that by a mile:

A Sacramento woman came up with a pretty unique way of forcing herself to stop smoking.

I hate to spoil your Mother's Day, but take a look at this:

Maybe there's hope for the country:

In a survey launched by Young America's Foundation and conducted by the polling company, Kellyanne Conway, Inc.,  more than 60 percent of college-age students feel that government should not take an active role in their day-to-day-lives, and half of respondents believe that the federal government is mostly hurting economic recovery.

[. . .]

Giving illegal immigrants drivers licenses and access to government benefits was dumb. But this is just insane: