Since the early 2000s, when Vladimir Putin came to power and transferred vast quantities of wealth into the hands of loyal Kremlin-linked oligarchs, beautiful women from Russia and former Soviet bloc countries have been branded with a strikingly similar fairy-tale narrative, a Cinderella story featuring capitalism as Prince Charming.
Read MoreAs different as the charges were, both trials raised uncomfortable questions about gender, underscoring how seriously our legal system takes protecting the interests of rich white men. Remember that Maxwell is the only person to have faced federal prosecution for her involvement in Epstein’s vast criminal enterprise—besides Epstein, who died in prison in what was ruled a suicide. Holmes is a “unicorn”—the first Silicon Valley CEO to be convicted of white collar crime, who also happens to also be a female founder, an under-represented demographic that receives just 11 percent of VC funding. “I wonder if [Holmes would] be going to prison if she didn’t have ovaries,” mused NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway on his podcast, Pivot.
Read MoreFor actor Michael Stuhlbarg, who has played many real-life characters in his long career–including Apple’s Andy Hertzfeld in Steve Jobs and Arnold Rothstein in Boardwalk Empire–embodying a person who is not only still alive but extremely in the news was a unique experience. Under normal circumstances, Stuhlbarg embraces any opportunity to meet the person he’s about to portray on stage or screen. But in this case, meeting Richard Sackler wasn’t going to be an option: his lawyers went so far as to send Stuhlbarg’s attorneys a letter before filming began last year.
Read MoreThe star of the hit HBO series on power, privilege, and what's next for Shiv Roy in everyone's favorite one-percent family feud.
Read MoreThe wife of WeWork’s founder Adam Neumann carved out her own little space as a New Age exec—and the company’s downfall isn’t slowing her.
Read MoreWhen I read the news last week that Bill and Melinda Gates were divorcing after 27 years of marriage, my first reaction was empathy. The pandemic has been hard on all couples, I thought, even the ones who happened to have been quarantining in a 66,000-square-foot compound with 18.75 bathrooms called Xanadu 2.0. Melinda told The New York Times in October 2020 that being stuck working from home with her husband, after years of frenetic traveling, “was a piece that I think we hadn’t really individually prepared for quite as much.” This was somewhat relatable. No matter the size of your home, there is such a thing as too much togetherness.
But then there were questions. Foremost among them: Why now?
Read MoreJudge Barrett demonstrates her utter lack of courtesy and consideration by needlessly exposing various people—her own family among them—to a deadly virus at a party.
Read MoreThis week, we shut down the debate from hell and Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s endorsement from Atilla the Hun. Brian unearths a letter he wrote to President Carter in 1980. And we explore a new service that bills itself as the Uber of bodyguards.
Read MoreThis week, Michael Caputo had a meltdown on Facebook, Donald Trump was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and–spoiler alert–90-year-old retired Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a pardoned criminal, came out on Cameo as a member of the “furry” subculture. Also: we decide which animals emerged as the biggest winners and losers of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read MoreThis week, in between bouts of hurling soup cans at passersby, we shut down the controversial theories of two renegade orthodontists in Britain who have become a sensation in the incel community. A woman learned of her ex-husband’s infidelity in his New York Times wedding announcement, leading her to tell her own story in the New York Post. Finally, for our final Summer Music Series we discuss Quarterflash’s “Harden My Heart” with NOPE’s corridor correspondent, Lauren Mechling.
Read MoreThe coronavirus crisis could have been abated by a president with a modicum of competence. Here’s what I learned about politics, power, and the human spirit when my husband almost died of COVID-19.
Read MorePublicly identifying oneself as an aroused woman is having a moment. Call it the hornissance.
Read MoreJournalist and podcast host Leon Neyfakh has spent much of the last few years unpacking the last half century’s worth of American political scandal—starting in 2017 with Slate’s Slow Burn and since last year with Fiasco on the subscription-based network Luminary. During that time he’s observed that there seems to be a strange kismet unleashed each time one of his series drops. It’s almost as if the podcast itself is conjuring invisible historical forces, as past disgraces and present realities coincide with astonishing specificity.
Read More“Blood Ties” is the latest in a growing wave of fictional podcasts featuring top-tier talent and compelling, ripped-from-the-headlines narratives, arriving at a time when podcasting advertising revenues are poised to exceed $1 billion for the first time by 2021.
Read MoreOn this historic day in American history, as the House of Representatives found itself in “deep yogurt,” we were joined by Friend of Nope Jill Kargman, creator and star of Bravo’s “Odd Mom Out,” author, radio host, comedian and sorceress. We explored the plight of the impeachment Undecideds, personalized potatoes, and items from the garbage that are later resold on Amazon. Plus, we take sides in the battle between an eagle and an octopus and don't even get us started on penis fish.
Read MoreFor our 100th episode, we decided to cut all of the material about Donald Trump, because we just can’t stand it anymore. Instead, we discussed other horrible topics, like Mark Zuckerberg’s Caesar haircut, the advent of Sweetgreen 3.0, the downward spiral of Peter Luger, a disco group that believes it helped the Philippines avoid a super-typhoon, and, finally, Netflix’s foray into chipmunk mode.
Read MoreAs we enter the mob phase of the Trump presidency, we dig into the inspiring story of Pierre Delecto, the once-secret Internet persona of Mitt Romney. I share a personal story about how Countess Luann de Lesseps transformed me into a cabaret critic. There's been a chef’s mutiny at Barneys, and killer asteroids are hitting Britain daily (at least according to The Daily Express.) Plus, a French scientist who developed a creepy skin for iPhones that responds to tapping and unwanted sexual contact.
Read MoreAmid one of the most troubling weeks in recent memory, we were joined by Friend of Nope Lauren Goode, senior writer for WIRED and host of the Gadget Lab podcast, to shut it all down.Hobgoblin Rudy Giuliani called former national security adviser John Bolton an “atomic bomb” in response to Bolton’s assessment that Giuliani is “a hand grenade.” And Trump’s China muse, Peter Navarro, has his own muse: Ron Vara, an economist Navarro is fond of quoting, even though he doesn’t exist.
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