Plank

Professional photographers were horrified by Instagram's new plan to sell their photos, but quitting is easier said than done.

Why are shows like "Homeland" so bad at depicting how technology actually works?

Editor’s Note: We’ll be running the article recommendations of our friends at TNR Reader each afternoon on The Plank, just in time to print out or save for your commute home. Enjoy! First there were cads; then there were phonies; and now, there are assholes. Chronicle of Higher Education | 5 min (1,194 words) The man behind the drone: Learning to kill from a distance. Spiegel Online | 14 min (3,478 words) Ruth Franklin on the strange, stern life lessons of Madeleine L'Engle. Bookforum | 7 min (1,724 words) Why does our sense of moral outrage fade so soon after a tragedy?

In negotiations over the fiscal cliff and the filibuster, Democrats revert to their natural state: wimpy.

Yes, Bork was a conservative judge. But his confirmation defeat remains a shame to this day.

Gun control is one of the great pieces of unfinished business for the Democratic Party. Although the party has never been unified in its support of restrictive gun laws – indeed, gun control historically transcends the usual party lines – for the past century Democrats have pushed for a more vigorous role for government in regulating guns.