Did They Do Anything Wrong? →

Jeffrey Toobin examines whether or not the IRS did anything wrong:

So the scandal—the real scandal—is that 501(c)(4) groups have been engaged in political activity in such a sustained and open way. As Fred Wertheimer, the President of Democracy 21, a government-ethics watchdog group, put it, “it is clear that a number of groups have improperly claimed tax-exempt status as section 501(c)(4) ‘social welfare’ organizations in order to hide the donors who financed their campaign activities in the 2010 and 2012 federal elections.”

State Secrets →

Chuck Klosterman’s latest piece for Grantland is terribly funny.  He chronicles all of the things he wasn’t allowed to write about while trying to write about the Cleveland Browns and the NFL Draft:

During the three days I visit the Browns organization, I hear the phrase “This is off the record” more often than I’ve heard it during the past 10 years of my career. The team told me I would have unprecedented access to its workplace, which (I suppose) was technically true. I could walk around the halls and peer inside the empty offices. I could hang out in the weight room and use the locker room lavatory. The only problem was that almost none of the 150 people who work in this facility were allowed to answer any specific questions pertaining to football. It was a little like being allowed inside Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory but being informed that no one in the building was allowed to discuss the manufacturing of candy.

The Critics Agree!

This morning, I launched a new blog with my good friend Nick Klinger.  The site is called The Critics Agree!, and you can visit it here:

www.thecriticsagree.org

Each day, Nick and I will scour reviews across the Internet to bring you the *best* that film has to offer, whether it’s in theaters or on home video.  For launch day, we have six new summaries for you to enjoy. Our top in-theater pick for the weekend (The Great Gatsby), plus five white hot selections from the archives: Jack and Jill, Couples Retreat, The Happening, New Year’s Eve and Scary Movie 5.

We hope you like it, and that you’ll follow along.  We’ll have up one new post per day, Monday to Friday. You can subscribe to us on Tumblr, via RSS, or on Twitter.