You can’t please everyone: nearly two years after former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich became the face of disgraceful political mischief worldwide, the ethics lecturer and warrior poet has become so predictable and trite that even Chicago media– who actually have to deal with the circumstances of his governorship, are bored with his current trial.

After a failed attempt earlier in the week to provide his birth certificate, Donald Trump on Tuesday proved that he is in fact an American citizen. Trump is the latest person to demand that President Obama prove he, too, is an American, and the stunt got people wondering about Trump’s intentions. The birther movement may [...]

From the Northeast to the Northwest, the country is cleaning up and dealing with snow today. Florida is the lone exception, as it remains snow-free. Concerns over nasty commutes and dangerous roads have people worried, and newspaper editorials this morning captured the fear, anger, and good will that Americans are experiencing in the face of the [...]

One of the saddest indirect consequences of the Shirley Sherrod story—after the obvious direct ones— has been the fact that it has completely eclipsed what could have been one of the summer’s most fascinating spectacles: the Rod Blagojevich trial. In today’s chapter of the ongoing dramady, Judge James Zagel sent the jury home after objecting to the defense’s attempt to attack prosecutors for not calling certain witnesses to the stand.

Not only is Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich a master of silly, short-lived enterprises (see both his run on Celebrity Apprentice and his attempt to live tweet his own corruption trial), but he’s also apparently a master of procrastination. Testifying at his trial yesterday, Blagojevich’s former deputy governor Robert Greenlee said Blagojevich took to hiding in the bathroom and cutting out of work early to avoid his budget director and other aides.

If those rumors that surfaced across the pond that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is gearing up to quit the Obama administration pan out, he should have enough to keep him busy at him with the trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. The latest from the greatest show in Springfield is that reports show Emanuel, then a Congressman, may have traded a supportive letter to the editor in the Chicago Tribune for a $2 million public school grant.

After appearing on a local talk show with his wife to confirm rumors of beating, attempted rape, using steroids, and not paying his alimony or his taxes, Illinois Lieutenant Governor candidate Scott Lee Cohen gave a tearful farewell to his campaign, presumably never to return to the political world again. Three months later, Cohen is reanimating his campaign for a shot at the big time, announcing an independent run for governor yesterday.

We’ve seen a lot of reaction to the Bret Baier-Pres. Barack Obama exclusive Fox News interview, so why not one from FNC Chairman Roger Ailes?

He commented on the FNC get, Conan O’Brien and more in an interview with Chicago Tribune‘s Phil Rosenthal.

A little over a month ago, The New Yorker ran a little investigative story by David Grann about the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, who had been accused of setting fire to his house and killing his three daughters inside in 1991. Now The New York Times has taken up a Texas death sentence beat, and we have little doubt that Grann’s piece has something to do with it.

Charles M. Madigan, presidential writer in residence at Roosevelt University, opining on the real reason behind Glenn Beck’s surging popularity. Madigan’s column was apparently inspired by Tom Friedman’s recent piece, which worried that the atmosphere in the States right now resembled that in Israel right before Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.

Last week, when a video purporting to show Michael Jackson alive and exiting the back of a coroner’s van started picking up viral steam, we were skeptical — not of the video, which was definitely a hoax — but of the mainstream media outlets shamelessly running the clip. Now, CNN is reporting that the hoax was an “experiment” designed by a German television station to “show how easy it is to spread rumors online.” Novel!

Gossip Cop is reporting that both the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles station KTLA are prominently featuring a bogus online video that stars an allegedly alive Michael Jackson walking out of an L.A. coroner’s van. The 30-second clip, courtesy of Live Leak, is impossibly shaky and features a literally three-second glimpse of a shadowy waif with dark hair exiting a van from the back.

To date, the Dr. McSteamy sex tape is pushing over 2.25 mil. page view on Defamer — a refreshing reminder that Internet content consumers (aka sketchy pervs) love nothing more than watching celebs have sex … or watching them lie around naked and smoke crack, as the case might be. Today Sex Watch follows Eric Dane, wife Rebecca Gayheart and crack-smoking ex-beauty queen friend Kari Ann Peniche around the Web to see just how far one sex tape can go.

News reporters like to catch readers’ attention with a few zingy lines at the start of each article. Sometimes, these so-called “ledes” go horribly wrong. In Today’s Worst Ledes, we highlight some of the (you guessed it!) worst ledes: