Where does the word ‘blackmail’ come from, anyway?
Etymology notes on a scandal (via The Christian Science Monitor)
Inquiring minds want to know, perhaps because they’ve been reading about the Petraeus scandal: What’s the origin of the word “blackmail”? The idea of a public official having to resign because moral missteps may have left him vulnerable to blackmail may seem quaint. But so it has played out in the…
Photo: Blackmail (Shutterstock)
Brand new on Raw Story
- John Oliver: Republicans resisting immigration reform ‘like a child with vegetables’
- North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un urges top officials to read Hitler’s Mein Kampf
- Maddow points out ‘fetal masturbation theorist’ is vice chair of House’s health panel
- Rand Paul slams U.S. spy chief for lying to Congress about NSA surveillance
- Doctors urge Obama to provide independent medical examiners to Guantanamo detainees
- Internet freaks out as Facebook goes down
- Young American pianist resurrects lost works of Nazi concentration camp inmates
- Actor Edward Furlong charged with assaulting ex-girlfriend
- Study: Painful and extreme rituals enhance social cohesion and charity
- Conservative Republican at IRS casts doubt on conspiracy to target tea party
Commentary
Republicans’ latest abortion ban is staggeringly stupid
By Ana Marie Cox, The Guardian
The Orange Couch does Mad Men: S6E12, “The Quality of Mercy”
By Amanda Marcotte
The Center For Inquiry Likes Atheism’s Cranky White Guy Image, So Screw You Ladies
By Amanda Marcotte
Raw Exclusives
Featured Video
Follow Us!
