Jess Lahitou

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.

The Republican National Convention ended July 21. If you’re checking the calendar, that puts us at twelve days post-nomination wrap up for Donald J. Trump.

In that tiny window of time, DJT has managed to wreck any conceivable polls-bounce he might have gained from the star-spangled show of pretend Republican unity.

A tradition dating back to 1997, starting each November 1st, Starbucks introduces their holiday cup. So after 10 long months of waiting, forgive me for experiencing childlike letdown over this year’s Red Cup.

The blatant promise of a career in the spotlight has stripped the Bachelor/Bachelorette of its beautiful, benign lie: that we could watch “regular” people navigate the perils and pitfalls of modern dating, that such a quest was in and of itself enough, and that a happy ending was a real possibility.

Everyone but Michael Moore underestimated the level of economic angst and cultural upheaval occurring in the Rust Belt, that collection of states forming a sloped capital “E” along the Great Lakes: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania.

Wayne Tracker. When I first came across this made-up alias, it didn’t speak to me like someone’s first and last name.

If you’re a 20 or early 30-something, odds are high that you or someone you know has boomeranged back into a parental basement. In 2012, an estimated 36% of young adults lived at home with one or more parents.

Nothing about his sexism is complicated. Right? According to election results, wrong.

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

Never before has a group of college students expressed such clever commitment… to the tax code.