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This week: West Virginia considers a law that would impose criminal penalties to people who expose children to "obscene literature," and similar moral panics grip lawmakers across the nation. The Alabama Supreme Court rules that frozen embryos are people "regardless of developmental stage," putting the legality of in vitro fertilization in jeopardy. Anti-abortion figures try to keep quiet that the Comstock Act could be used, in a second Trump term, to harm access to abortion drugs nationwide without going through Congress. And Now: More Explicit Readings From Concerned Citizens At Public Meetings. Main story: "Pig Butchering Scams," where malign entities send out-of-the-blue messages to people attempting to engage them in conversation, build a connection with them, and eventually con them. And Now: Local News Loses It Over Major League Baseball's New Pants. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Feb 25, 2024 - 4 comments

Follows the investigation which occurred when the Bishop Sycamore Centurions, a presumed high school football team from Columbus, Ohio, took on perennial prep powerhouse, IMG Academy. [more inside]
posted by drewbage1847 on Sep 5, 2023 - 3 comments

Telemarketers turns documentarians Sam Lipman-Stern and Patrick J. Pespas delve into who benefits from the scammy calls that claim to benefit police union charities.
posted by larrybob on Aug 21, 2023 - 8 comments

David Maurer's account of con artists running the "big con" to fleece victims in the first half of the 20th century. This non-fiction book is the basis for the movie The Sting [more inside]
posted by mark k on Jun 29, 2021 - 4 comments

How a few bad seeds became a movement. Covers the growth of conspiracy theorists and their interaction with health and wellness. For example, you can take a cruise with Andrew Wakefield!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit on Feb 22, 2020 - 1 comment

A mid level con artist who runs a few palm reading and tarot card shops gets into trouble with the Gypsy family who runs their local circuit. His wife wants him to stand up and get out from under their control. [more inside]
posted by numaner on Jan 23, 2017 - 2 comments

If you lose something in a cab in New York City: Call 311 or go to the Taxi and Limousine Commission website. It's easy if you know already... but if you don't, welcome to Scamville and the nefarious users of Google AdSense.
posted by psoas on Sep 28, 2016 - 4 comments

This week.... Cuba allows their US embassy to reopen for the first time in decades. Historians confirm that US President Warren G. Harding had a child out of wedlock. New Zealand is considering changing their flag, and held a competition for people to suggest designs. John Oliver points out some particularly ludicrous entries. And Now: Six More Actual Flag Designs Submitted to the New Zealand Goverment, With Descriptions of What They Look Like. Main story: Televangelists, those forgotten scourges of the poor, their tax-exempt status, and the surprisingly legal things they get away with. YouTube (20m) To demonstrate the extent of the problem, LWT started their own church, "Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption." Said church has a website, www.ourladyofperpetualexemption.com. Metafilter thread about the episode. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Aug 18, 2015 - 8 comments