A new study delves into the intricate psyche of conspiracy theorists, attributing their beliefs to a mixture of personality traits and motivations. The study suggests conspiracy theorists are not necessarily ‘mentally unwell’, but often resort to conspiracy theories to fulfill unmet needs and rationalize distress. Analyzing data from 170 studies with over 158,000 participants, it identifies a need to understand and feel secure in their environment, and a sense of superiority over others as key drivers. In addition, personality traits such as paranoia, insecurity, impulsivity, and egocentrism were found to be common among conspiracy theorists.

South Carolina, where the Civil War began, illustrates the familial ties between the American political elite and the nation’s history of slavery. Every member of the state’s nine-person delegation to the last Congress has an ancestral link. The state’s two Black members of Congress – Senator and Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott and Representative James Clyburn, a powerful Democrat – have forebears who were enslaved. Each of the seven white lawmakers who served in the 117th Congress is a direct descendant of a slaveholder, Reuters found. So too is the state’s Republican governor, Henry McMaster.

In order to test whether improving people’s lives can convince them to support Democrats, you have to, well, improve people’s lives.

While guns get purchased, programs on drug addiction and job training get cut at city jails.

After the Dobbs decision leaked, the Supreme Court more than doubled its protective detail, despite no evidence of a heightened threat.

“Harlem is the place that gave me a second chance,” he said Tuesday night. “I am my ancestors wildest dream”

How a doctor’s two-decade quest to grow the penis is leaving some men desperate and disfigured.

A local homeowner is fighting for her safety living next to an RTD bus stop that she said has become a nightmare. [...] Her home camera has captured some of the daily and nightly disturbances: music blaring from the stop before 8 a.m. and late at night. Then, earlier this month, Kasnoff captured a picture of a box of live bees thrown at her from the bus stop while she was in her yard. “I had a box of live bees thrown at me about a shoe size box and the queen was still in there. And when the bees hit the ground, they just went everywhere,” she said. “It’s just horrible. It really is. And I’m concerned for my own safety now.”

Over the last 10 years, there were more than 1,600 days when a heat record was matched or broken at one of 22 weather stations across Texas. That’s more than 1,000 more record-breaking days than the 561-day average at those stations in the decades prior to 2013, the Tribune’s analysis found.

Charges were dropped Wednesday against two of the three men accused of killing an off-duty Chicago police officer in 2011, the latest twist in a case marred by allegations of misconduct by police and prosecutors. Tyrone Clay faced nearly 80 felony counts and Edgardo Colon was charged with 18 counts in connection with the fatal shooting of veteran Officer Clifton Lewis during the robbery of an Austin convenience store. Those charges were dismissed ahead of a hearing where detectives and prosecutors were to be questioned under oath about their handling of the case. As the hearing was set to open, Assistant State's Attorney Kevin DeBoni announced that all charges were dismissed. "In light of previous rulings... and after thorough and exhaustive review of the remaining evidence in this case... at this time we do not believe we can meet our burden at trial," DeBoni said. Clay walked out of Cook County Jail a free man with his hands held high Wednesday night. "It feels good after 12 years," he said. "Feels real good." The dismissal comes a week after the state's attorney's office had filed a motion seeking to bar testimony from Andrew Varga, a longtime prosecutor often assigned to high-profile cases, and Nancy Adduci, a respected assistant state's attorney who was removed from her post as head of the office's Conviction Integrity Unit last year.

Director Colin Salisbury put more than US$2 million ($3.24m) of customer funds into multiple cryptocurrency platforms from October 2020 until mid-2022, all of which was now lost, according to a report from liquidators BDO released last week. We Are Bamboo announced in late October it was closing, blaming the failure of the business partly on Covid. In a statement at the time of its closure, the company also blamed the collapse on a group of customers who “were not prepared to wait [for delayed trips], and their actions and online influence have broken us, which impacts us all”. “Our intentions here are not to play the victim but simply share with you the levels to which this group has gone to ensure our downfall, and made it their sole purpose to attack us, our families, our staff, and our customers with the intent to destroy Bamboo. “Our lawyers have advised us that several individuals have crossed the line, and there is a case and evidence for criminal proceedings.”

Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, the world’s new biggest cruise ship, has completed its first round of sea trials after construction at a shipyard in Finland. It’s set to debut in the Caribbean in January 2024.

A new report detailed several failures that led to Epstein’s death by suicide at the since-shuttered Manhattan federal jail.

A senior Google VP said earlier this month that Google users who couldn't add "Reddit" to their queries were “not quite happy” following the protest.

Landlords are using AI to screen their tenants, heightening errors and discrimination.

GOP Senator Markwayne Mullin challenged Teamsters president Sean O’Brien to an MMA fight on Monday after O’Brien called him a “greedy CEO” and a “clown & fraud” in a tweet last week. “You know where to find me,” O’Brien wrote in his tweet. “Anyplace, Anytime cowboy.” Mullin screenshotted this tweet, and responded, “An attention-seeking union Teamster boss is trying to be punchy after our Senate hearing. Okay, I accept your challenge. MMA fight for charity of our [sic] choice.” He offered a time and place of September 30 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is Mullin’s hometown, and gave O’Brien three days to accept.

Jealousy, anger and a quest for online notoriety are just some the factors driving the bitter online response to the fate of the Titan submersible. (>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> but actually $$$)

Popular Japanese kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke, 47, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of helping his mother take her own life in mid-May, in what is believed to have been a family suicide pact, an investigative source said. Ennosuke, whose real name is Takahiko Kinoshi, was found collapsed at his parents' home in Tokyo on May 18, along with his mother Nobuko, 75, and his father Hiroyuki, 76, known as kabuki actor Ichikawa Danshiro. The couple was later pronounced dead, with Ennosuke having been hospitalized until he was taken to the police station Tuesday morning for voluntary questioning, where he was subsequently arrested. Ennosuke admitted to the allegation and was quoted by the police as saying, "It is true I helped my parents commit suicide. I had also intended to follow them by killing myself."

The poster in vinyl copies of ‘The Beggar’, out today on Young God Records (illustration by Nicole Boitos) Does time slow to a crawl during a Swans performance, or does it approach the speed of light? At the two-hour mark, have your feet really floated off the ground? If it’s a commonplace to compare a Swans show to a ritual, that’s because the shows really are like rituals in at least three respects: as reliable techniques for ecstasy, as exchanges between officiants and audience, as sacrificial acts. Like Sufi trance music, say, or Penderecki, the sound scrambles your sense of clock time, building and prolonging an almost unbearable tension, the expectation that a secret is about to be disclosed, that another dimension in time is close at hand, that the band’s labor will eventually divert the timestream’s flow from the horizontal to the vertical axis. Swans are one of the...

James Crown, a billionaire businessman who held several leadership roles including board member of JPMorgan Chase, died Sunday in a racing accident in Colorado. All we need now is an airplane or helicopter and we hit the trifecta.