Jess Lahitou

Silicon Valley companies defending sex trafficking has made me question if good people — or even baseline-human people — actually exist anymore.

The year ahead promises to be a whopper of political intrigue, events, and (probably) scandal. Here are the top stories to watch as we head into the hype that comes but once every four years: A presidential election.

It’s early 2008 in Iowa. Hillary Clinton had been leading in the early polls, but her numbers have been steadily dropping when she is suddenly – shockingly – bested by a young, almost unknown senator from Illinois.

Rejoicing or weeping will depend on who you are, but let’s look at what happened either way.

Democrats:

One question here: why is a major government agency unable to fix its Twitter account for over a year? Two questions: Who is Marc Rich?

Last night, the saga continued. Fox Business Network hosted the fourth Republican Primary debate, with a slightly winnowed set of contenders: the top eight candidates were on stage, compared with ten in the previous showdown.

For the mental health of underprivileged victims of natural disaster, navigating the aftermath can be as much a struggle as surviving the original disaster.

Will every story that Trump doesn’t approve of get the “fake news” label, its authors permanently blacklisted forever?

While watching the third Republican debate last night on CNBC, I thought to myself: Self, you’re going to have to write a straight review of this thing. The candidates are too wonky tonight to be caricatured, and even Donald Trump has reigned himself in significantly. The debate was billed as “Your Money, Your Vote,” and the questions hewed pretty close to the economy. Read: not many social-issues gaffe bait.

Watching recent cable news talking heads chat about the prospect of Trump/Cruz/Clinton/Sanders being “denied” the Republican/Democratic nomination, you would think that entertainment media is run by 5th graders. (Although... That WOULD explain a lot.)