Like many other kids his age, a 12-year-old boy took his bike out for a spin in Florida last week. Unlike many other kids his age, that boy hopped off of the bike and stole an SUV from an unsuspecting old man.

The boy has more arrests on his record than he’s had birthdays, according to ABC Action News—more than 20 counts to date, many for car theft and his first arrest being at the ripe age of 10 years old. That either means the kid is just an early bloomer (in criminal activity) or he was never told that “sharing is caring” doesn’t mean that you can go around sharing people’s cars.

An 89-year-old man was his most recent victim in St. Petersburg, Florida, at about 11 a.m. local time and in broad daylight. The video shows an SUV pulling up to a service station, as a seemingly innocent young boy circles around on his bike. But that’s not exactly the case. ABC reports that the boy coaxed the man into pulling up to the pump shown by saying that a tire was low on the vehicle, executing his plan once the man exited the car.

As the car owner walks around to the other side of his vehicle to check on the “low” tire, the boy casually dismounts from his bike and walks over to the driver’s side of the vehicle like he’s done this a thousand times (but really, he’s only done it about 20). Despite the man being fairly close to the car when the boy gets in, he speeds off and leaves the owner standing, carless, on full display of the surveillance camera.

The man, identified as Raymond Raftery, told Bay News 9 that the boy was “off the bike and in the car and gone” all within 20 seconds:

Raftery, who was not injured in the robbery, said he was caught completely off guard.

“Broad daylight, in a public place at 11 in the morning and a 12-year-old kid? No. Never even thought about it,” Raftery said.

According to ABC, a local detective recognized the infamous 12-year-old car thief pretty quickly—after all, they’ve been dealing with him for a whole two years by now. Police arrested the boy soon after, charging him with grand theft motor vehicle.

Santa would plan to give this kid coal in his stocking, but he’s probably already stolen it all out of the poor old man’s bag.

Contact the author at alanis.king@jalopnik.com.

What is real, and what’s a hoax these days? Better question: does any of it even matter?

No, said The Washington Post on Friday, not it does not. Caitlin Dewey, The Post’s digital culture critic, announced in a post that the site will be discontinuing its “What was Fake” column, a series begun in May 2014 to debunk “an epidemic of urban legends and Internet pranks.” The column was devoted to sussing out internet hoaxes and doctored viral videos, many of them shared widely on Facebook and other social media sites.

Dewey’s reason for ending the column, she writes, is that in 2015, hoax stories are just not worth it any more. These kinds of stories, she says, are pretty much exclusively shared by the type of person who already believes that that story is likely to be true. For instance, a middle-aged conservative person is most likely to believe that, say, this story about an Alaska judge calling for President Obama’s arrest, is true. She writes:

... the sort of readers who would unskeptically share such a far-fetched story site are exactly the readers who will not be convinced by The Washington Post’s debunking.

Hoaxes have become negligible because the truth of the story doesn’t matter to readers any longer. If that’s so, does the truth of the news matter, then? Do we matter? Does anything matter?

[Image via Flickr]

Contact the author at melissa.cronin@gawker.com.

The Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic where three people were killed and nine were injured is still closed but, as The Guardian reports, anti-choice protesters have already returned.

The clinic has been closed since November 27 when Robert Lewis Dear walked in and opened fire on patients and staff. Though PP employees haven’t even entered the building since the shooting, anti-choice protesters replete with obligatory signage, stand on the corner outside of the closed clinic.

Joseph Martone, a regular protester of the clinic spoke with The Guardian while holding a sign that read, “Our prayers and condolences to all affected by the recent shooting at Planned Parenthood.”

“Something tells me to go out there right away. What he did was more than a few steps beyond what I would do.”

When asked about the patients, Martone said:

“No one deserves to go through what they have gone through, even though they put themselves in harm’s way.”

In addition to Martone, a prayer group that regularly holds vigils outside of the clinic has reformed. Normally, The Guardian notes, clinic supervisors and employees would take the protestors as part of their day-to-day work lives, but post-attacks and in the midst of discussions about how to better secure PP clinics, the protesters feel more threatening.

Martone himself has numerous arrests for trespassing, apparently he followed numerous women onto the clinic’s privately-owned property. He acknowledged to The Guardian that many of his friends initially thought he was connected to the shooting:

“I understand everybody’s viewpoints and the possibility that I did something. I am probably one of the most aggressive pro-­lifers out there ... I have had a lot of confrontations with people. I’ve been assaulted. I’ve gotten a little nasty, maybe, with a couple people.”

Meanwhile, Vicki Cowart, CEO of PP of the Rocky Mountains, said that the organization was looking for ways to better secure the Colorado Springs clinic without making the space feel like “an armed encampment.”

Image via AP.

The skirmish between the Sanders and Clinton campaigns this week continues, with Sen. Bernie Sanders regaining access to his own voter files, after the Democratic National Convention had cut him off.

Earlier this week, reports surfaced that the Sanders campaign had improperly downloaded voter files belonging to the Hillary Clinton campaign, taking advantage of a glitch in the internal firewall at the DNC’s data vendor. Shortly after, the DNC cut off Sanders’ access to his own voter data in retribution, a move that prompted a lawsuit and allegations that the DNC was purposefully sandbagging Sanders.

http://gawker.com/bernie-sanders...

According to Politico, on Saturday the DNC “capitulated” and agreed to restore access to the campaign. In a statement, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said:

“The Sanders campaign has now complied with the DNC’s request to provide the information that we have requested of them. Based on this information, we are restoring the Sanders campaign’s access to the voter file, but will continue to investigate to ensure that the data that was inappropriately accessed has been deleted and is no longer in possession of the Sanders campaign. The Sanders campaign has agreed to fully cooperate with the continuing DNC investigation of this breach.”

Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, said that he was “extremely pleased that the DNC has reversed its outrageous decision to take Sen. Sanders’ data.”

Among the data reportedly retrieved by Sanders staffers were lists of critical Clinton supporters supporters in 10 states, as well as lists of people Clinton feared would side with Sanders instead.

But the battle isn’t over yet. According to The Huffington Post, the Sanders campaign does not plan to back down on its lawsuit, and is demanding an independent audit of the DNC and the data vendor involved in the case, NGP VAN.

[Image via Getty]

Contact the author at melissa.cronin@gawker.com.

Kristin Cavallari, whose debut memoir will reportedly be published sometime next year, had lamb chops for dinner yesterday. Here is a photo of them:

Will she include the recipe in her book?

That’s not for Kristin to say right now.

This has been 500 Days of Kristin.

[Photo via Getty]

A data security glitch led to a Democratic party squabble this week, complete with a lawsuit, and accusations of spying and sabotage hurled between campaigns. I didn’t know it was possible to make Bernie Sanders more ornery, but here we are!

Here’s what you need to know about the conflict, and why voter data played such a big role:

Presidential candidates need money to campaign. A fuck ton of money. To get cash, they rely on political action committees and individual donations. Some political action committees have been called Super PACs since campaign donation limits were changed in 2010. Bernie Sanders has distanced himself from Super PACS as a political stance, since they can accept unlimited corporate donations. For Sanders, they represent a nasty strain of campaign finance corruption. The Sanders campaign, more than its rivals, relies on individual donations to keep chugging along.

Sanders, Clinton, and other candidates use voter databases to target people they can hit up for those donations. These databases aren’t just “John Doe, Chicago, registered Democrat.” They can be way more specific and detailed, as the Washington Post pointed out: “John Doe, Chicago, registered Democrat, donated $1k to Obama in 2008, divorced, 48” etc. etc. etc. Knowledge is power is money is winning is the reason why these databases are crucial to presidential hopefuls.

Sanders and Clinton both use a service provided by a company called NGP VAN to see the precious data compiled by the Democratic National Committee—but each campaign can add extra data into the voter list on top of what NGP VAN provides. For instance, Clinton’s campaign could add that John Doe was divorced, while Sanders’ campaign could dig up his donation history. The Clinton campaign could know more about certain pools of voters than the Sanders campaign, and vice versa—and it sure as hell wouldn’t tell the Sanders campaign about the extra information it had, since that’d be giving valuable help to a direct competitor.

This week, a staffer or group of staffers from the Sanders campaign noticed that they could see the Clinton campaign’s data. We don’t know exactly what they saw, but at least one staffer was fired. The Sanders campaign claims this happened because of a “dropped firewall.”

Bloomberg reported last night that the Clinton campaign had conducted an audit on the data to save some of that data:

According to an audit obtained by Bloomberg, Sanders staffers exploited a temporary glitch in the DNC’s voter database on Wednesday to save lists created by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told reporter there were “24 intrusion attempts” by the Sanders campaign. He and Mook insisted that the Clinton campaign did not take advantage of the bug to look at Sanders’ data.

NGP VAN gave a statement that code it released “contained a bug” and emphasized that the Sanders campaign could briefly see some of the Clinton campaign’s proprietary data, but that it couldn’t download or export it. The technical details haven’t come out, but basically: The Sanders campaign could lurk on secret Clinton campaign data because of a technical problem.

This did not go over well with the Clinton campaign. Here’s a tweet from her press secretary:

It didn’t go over well with the DNC either. In fact, DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz straight-up called it theft. “That is just like if you walked into someone’s home when the door was unlocked and took things that don’t belong to you in order to use them for your own benefit. That’s inappropriate. Unacceptable,” she told Wolf Blitzer.

The DNC cut off the Sanders campaign’s access to the database, which is like ripping a little liberal pig away from suckling a money-teat. Without that database, the Sanders campaign’s primary mode of fundraising was screwed, which is why Sanders sued the DNC, accusing it of sandbagging his campaign by choking his fundraising efforts.

“The DNC, in an inappropriate overreaction, has denied us access to our own data,” Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said at a press conference Friday. “In other words, the leadership of the Democratic National Committee is actively trying to undermine our campaign.”

Late last night, the DNC and Sanders reached an agreement. Sanders got his access back, and his campaign agreed to cooperate with an investigation.

Meanwhile, the next Democratic debate is scheduled for tonight, and there’s a good chance this data-snatching ruckus will come up. Now you’ll know what they’re sniping about it if does—and why the volunteer calling and asking you to donate is so damn sneaky-knowledgeable about your soft spots.

Updated to include more detail about Super PACs and to include Bloomberg’s audit reporting

Image: AP

It didn’t take long for the moderators at tonight’s Democratic primary debate to get into the data breach that occurred earlier this week—Bernie Sanders received the first question of the night about it. “Our staff did the wrong thing,” Sanders said.

http://gizmodo.com/a-quick-guide-...

Before apologizing, Sanders emphasized that his campaign had also discovered Clinton campaign data through a similar glitch two months prior, placing responsibility on the DNC’s data vendor for its repeated security holes.

Clinton responded by accepting the apology. Meanwhile, presidential candidate Martin “Who?” O’Malley used his time to respond to direct people to MartinOMalley.com.

Image: AP

Hillary Clinton suggested that tech companies work together with the government to create a “a Manhattan-like project” at tonight’s Democratic national debate.

The Manhattan Project, if you a need a refresher, was a research and development collaboration between the US, UK, and Canada to develop weapons during World War II, culminating in the development of the atomic bomb. It was initially a secret military project. Over a hundred civilians died working on it.

Uh.

Clinton also said that she did not want to force tech companies to provide back doors. “I would not want to go to that point,” Clinton said.

“Maybe the backdoor isn’t the right door,” she continued, emphasizing that she trusted Apple and other companies on the problem with the idea of encrypted tech.

“I don’t know enough about the technology to say what it is,” Clinton said. “But I have a lot of confidence.”

“I believe we should never give up our privacy,” O’Malley said, before proposing more or less exactly what Clinton said.

Calling for a Manhattan Project for tech problems isn’t anything new. Wired discussed how frequently it gets used in an article last February:

“What we really need is a Manhattan Project for cybersecurity.” It’s a sentiment that swells up every few years in the wake of some huge computer intrusion—most recently the Sony and Anthem hacks. The invocation of the legendary program that spawned the atomic bomb is telling. The Manhattan Project is America’s go-to shorthand for our deep conviction that if we gather the smartest scientists together and give them billions of dollars and a sense of urgency, we can achieve what otherwise would be impossible.

This is, however, a particularly high-profile invocation, and it’s as silly as past invocations. While it’s good that Clinton isn’t calling for a law to force tech companies to put holes in their security measures, the idea that all we need is to put our best and brightest minds together! to come up with a way to give the government special access to encrypted communications continues to ignore the tech experts who explain, over and over, that creating special access gaps for the government is not feasible without undermining security.

Image: AP

In New Delhi on Sunday, demonstrators took to the streets to protest the release of a juvenile convicted in the fatal 2012 gang rape of a young woman. At the time of the attack, the man was 17 years old. He will finish his three-year sentence in a reform home, the Associated Press reports.

http://gawker.com/5971875/woman-...

The Supreme Court rejected a motion submitted by the Delhi Commission for Women, the Times of India reports, seeking to stay his release while determining whether the now-20-year-old man has truly been reformed.

The Delhi High Court rejected a petition to extend the man’s term on Friday, the AP reports, although it will hear a similar petition Monday.

From the AP:

The woman and a male friend were returning home from seeing a movie at an upscale mall when they were tricked by the attackers into getting on the bus, which the men had taken out for a joyride.

The attackers beat the victim’s friend and took turns raping her. They penetrated her with a rod, leaving severe internal injuries that led to her death two weeks later.

Four men were convicted of rape and murder in an unusually fast trial for India’s chaotic justice system. A fifth man died in prison.

The four adults who went to trial confessed to the attack but later retracted their confessions, saying they’d been tortured into admitting their involvement. Legal appeals against their death sentences are pending in the Supreme Court.

The man will no longer be under police supervision, Indian Express reports. “We have left him with an NGO,” police sources said.

Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.

“Let’s not underestimate the significance of Hillary Clinton’s Star Wars mic drop. On one level, it was the ultimate example of a politician co-opting a popular phenomenon to make herself seem relatable.” This post doesn’t need to continue. And yet it does!

Flying over the Indian Ocean on Sunday, an Air France jetliner was forced to make an emergency landing in Kenya after a passenger noticed a suspicious device in the bathroom. Later, the CEO of Air France said the scare was a “false alarm.”

According to the New York Times, the passenger noticed the suspicious device—which, it turned out, was made of cardboard, sheets of paper, and a timer—as Air France Flight 463, Boeing 777 with 459 passengers and 14 crew members, was flying from Mauritius to Paris.

“This object did not contain explosives,” Air France CEO Frederic Gagey at a news conference in Paris, the Associated Press reports.

The passenger notified the crew, Kenyan officials said, who notified the captain, who made the emergency landing in Mombasa.

The AP reports that six passengers are being questioned.

Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.

Despite calls from human rights activists, Nicki Minaj performed in Angola at a holiday concert hosted by Unitel, a company controlled by the country’s dictator, José Eduardo dos Santos. According to reports, she received $2 million for the performance. “The payment you are receiving from your Angolan sponsors is the result of government corruption and human-rights violations,” Thor Halvorssen, president of the Human Rights Foundation (the group calling for Minaj to cancel the concert), wrote in a letter to Minaj last week.

Minaj never addressed or responded to the open letter. Following her concert, she shared this photo on Instagram:

It sounds like Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton might be a real couple—the real celebrity couple of your nightmares—either that or they’re making their poor parents engage in the charade. According to reports, Stefani and Shelton have now met each other’s parents. I’m not certain why, but meeting Blake Shelton’s parents in Oklahoma sounds like the stuff of nightmares. [Just Jared]

John Legend seems to be pretty good at giving gifts. Chrissy Teigen, my new favorite celebrity person, shared this on Instagram:

• Farrah Abraham called her fellow teen moms “losers” after they were caught on video calling her a “hoe bag.” [Us Weekly]
  
• The Rock responds to the sleeve-buttoning meme. [Huffington Post]
  
• Kim Kardashian has “been chilling at home” while “being cozy in robes.” Same. [Too Fab]
  
• Here’s Iggy Azalea riding a horse. [Just Jared]
  
• Mayim Bialik writing about the sex scene on The Big Bang Theory is, um, something. [Fox]
  
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens had the highest single-day opening of any movie. [Entertainment Weekly]
  

Image via AP.

On “Face the Nation” Sunday, Jeb Bush told CBS News’ John Dickerson that he’s happier in fifth place than leading the field, as he did over the summer. “I hated that,” Bush said. “I feel much better back here.” For sure, man.

“I’ve always thought that there was going to be a high expectation for me. And I totally get it,” Bush said. Totally.

“Being the frontrunner made me feel like the other guys just dancing right through this. I have to go earn it. I have higher expectations on me than people have on me. So it doesn’t bother me a bit that the expectations are high. And I want to win, which means that you garner momentum when it matters and so feel I good about where we are right now.” Loving it. Having the time of his life.

During the Republican debate Tuesday, Bush tried out a new zinger on Trump, saying, “You’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency.” Later, after the debate, at a rally, he called Rump a “jerk,” which, on Sunday, Dickerson pointed out was itself an insult.

From CBS:

“No I’m trying to point out that he’s not a serious candidate,” Bush said. As an example, he said Trump’s struggle to answer a question about the nuclear triad, which is the ways the U.S. can fire nuclear weapons, was “mind blowing.”

“The fact that he wouldn’t know what it is is kind of that’s one of those questions that I think you have to answer in a thoughtful way if you’re running for president of the United States,” Bush said.

He said Trump is “not a serious man.” Bush said he doesn’t take personally the insults Trump lobs his way - but neither should Trump, because “someone needs to call him out.”

Bush said he plans to “campaign my heart out” and “show who I am.” Can’t wait.

Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.

Vacuums, hot tubs, and stainless steel straws lead a solid set of deals today. Bookmark Kinja Deals and follow us on Twitter to never miss a deal. Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here to learn more.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0146HSJ5A

Amazon’s got a great vacuum gold box going on, so get yourself something to suck up all those pine needles. [Black+Decker Vacuum Gold Box]

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-C...

http://www.amazon.com/BLACK-DECKER-C...

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-B...

http://www.amazon.com/DECKER-BDH2400...

http://www.amazon.com/DECKER-BDH3600...

For just $6 today, you can sip your drinks in style with a four pack stainless steel drinking straws. Use them for everything from Coke Zero to Moscow Mules. [X-Chef Stainless Steel Bend Replacement Metal Straws with Cleaner Brush, Set of 4, $6]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0146HSJ5A

Here’s a great stocking stuffer if ever we’ve seen one, down to its lowest price ever. [Leatherman Skeletool 7-in-1 Multi-Tool, $30]

The Blue Yeti Microphone is the best around, and just $80 today. Time to start that podcast. [Blue Microphones Yeti USB Microphone, $80]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008F4USMS/

http://lifehacker.com/five-best-desk...

We’re going to keep recommending All-Clad Pans and Lodge Cast Iron until the end of time, but there’s also a place for non-stick cookware in your kitchen, and this is a great deal. [Calphalon Simply Easy System Nonstick, Set 11-Piece, Aluminum, $180]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XW068Q0/

http://www.amazon.com/All-Clad-Stain...

http://bestsellers.kinja.com/bestsellers-lo...

But what if you did? [Coleman Lay-Z Spa Inflatable Hot Tub, $250]

You can pick up all five seasons of The Walking Dead at discounts today, including the Season 5 Limited Edition Set. [Walking Dead Gold Box]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...

We’ve posted deals on these smartphone lens kits enough that you probably already own a set, but if you need an easy stocking stuffer idea, this checks all the boxes: It only costs $10, it has nearly universal appeal, and relatively few people already own something like it. [Mpow 3 in 1 Fisheye, $10 with code RF6YDGK5]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QXT58JA

This seemingly-basic remote might not look like much at first blush, but it can actually control eight of your favorite home theater devices, and even turn your smartphone into a universal remote as well.

You’re probably used to seeing Logitech Harmony remotes with screens built-in, but it turns out that you already carry a much better screen in your pocket. So in addition to controlling your TV, cable box, game console, stereo, and more from the remote itself, the Logitech Harmony Smart Control can now do the same from your iPhone or Android from anywhere in the house. That’s especially handy when your favorite show is about to start and you can’t find the remote anywhere. Today’s $70 deal is the best we’ve ever seen, but I’d expect it to sell out quickly. [Logitech Harmony Smart Control with Smartphone App and Simple Remote, $70]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BQ5RYI4?...

This was $5 cheaper on Black Friday, but if you find yourself in need of a lot of extra file storage, it’s tough to beat 5TB for $115. [Seagate Backup Plus 5TB Desktop External Hard Drive, $115]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

More Deals

SanDisk Ultra 64GB USB 3.0 OTG Flash Drive With micro USB connector ($20)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

Knife Sharpener, Edge Pro 2 Stage Sharpening System ($10)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011N0S1D8

HomeBeck LED Beanie ($17) | Use code 8LSHHUUH

http://www.amazon.com/HomeBeck-Hunti...

String Lights, 2 Set of Micro 30 LEDs Super Bright Warm White Color Wire Rope Lights Battery Operated ($9)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014QMDRUC

Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance ($37)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here to learn more. We want your feedback.Send deal submissions to Deals@Gawker and all other inquiries to Shane@Gawker

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler returned to Saturday Night Live last night, likely making for the most watchable episode of the season. Fittingly, the pair revisited some of the most successful characters from their tenure on the show, namely Fey’s Sarah Palin and Poehler’s Hillary Clinton.

“A Hillary Christmas” had Poehler’s buttoned-up Clinton of 2008 visiting current Kate McKinnon’s manic and “likeable” Clinton of 2015. The resulting sketch was the kind of humor that’s marked Fey and Poehler’s careers, the comedy found in the sometimes ridiculous expectations of women. McKinnon’s Clinton, always desperate to be perceived as fun and relatable, uses slang unfamiliar to Poehler’s Clinton, McKinnon’s Clinton explains: “It’s not enough to work hard, we have to be cool but tough, soft but strong, sweet old lady, but a sweet old lady who says YAS KWEEN!” Certainly topical since hours before the show the actual Hillary Clinton ended the Democratic debate with a Star Wars reference.

Similarly in “Dope Squad,” Fey and Poehler, with some help from Aidy Bryant, parodied Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood,” giving the girl squad a mature update. In the video, Fey and Poehler sing an ode to their squad, which consists of childcare workers, gynecologists and a confused Amy Schumer.

Adding insult to injury, it appears that the Twitter account of capitalist cartoon villain Martin Shkreli, recently arrested for fraud, has been hacked.

Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.

During the third Democratic presidential debate, on Saturday, Hillary Clinton claimed that Donald Trump “is becoming ISIS’s best recruiter. They are going to people, showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.” This is not exactly true.

According to the Washington Post, the Clinton campaign backed up the candidate’s claim by referencing a quote from Rita Katz, the executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group. “They love him from the sense that he is supporting their rhetoric,” she told NBC News earlier this month. “They follow everything Donald Trump says. When he says, ‘No Muslims should be allowed in America,’ they tell people, ‘We told you America hates Muslims and here is proof.’”

However, Katz was speaking specifically of social media. Neither the Post nor the Associated Press could find evidence of an ISIS-produced video including footage of Trump. Indeed, Katz told the Post, “ISIS didn’t feature Trump in a video, but ISIS supporters and recruiters have used Trump’s rhetoric to promote ISIS’ ideas and agenda.”

The campaign was already walking back the claim on Sunday. From the AP:

“If you go back and look at social media, if you look at what’s going on, they are definitely pointing at Mr. Trump,” her campaign chairman, John Podesta, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” But he cited no IS videos.

Palmieri said on ABC’s “This Week,” ‘’She didn’t have a particular video in mind, but he is being used in social media.”

When his claim about a video showing “thousands and thousands” of Muslims celebrating 9/11 was debunked weeks ago, Trump dug in his heels on the assertion about “plenty of people cheering.” He repeated that position Sunday. Asked about IS recruitment videos, he told ABC: “She just made it up.”

So, it seems likely that the first part of Clinton’s claim—that Trump is “ISIS’s best recruiter”—is at least partly true. They’re not putting him in videos, though. (Not yet, at least.) Which is to say: there’s no need to make things up when the truth is as awful as it is.

Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.

If you’re going to steal nearly $2,000 worth of items from Walmart, it’s probably not the best idea to be cooking meth in the back of a Mazda SUV at the same time. But that’s just a suggestion.

First Coast News reports that a group of Florida cops responded to a shoplifting call at a local Walmart on Saturday afternoon, only to find out that the suspect had a bit more than just theft going on. An employee said the guy tried to steal $1,700 worth of items from the store—if he attempted that all at once, it’s no wonder he got caught—before leading authorities straight to his mobile meth lab in the parking lot.

And get this—according to First Coast News, the stolen items “will have to be decontaminated before they can be sold again.” Does some kind of discount go along with that? “Fifty percent off of these meth-infused items! It’s good for the soul!”

The four deputies dealing with the suspect arrived at his car and saw a white bucket inside, believing that the man could be hiding additional stolen items in the vehicle. But fumes from the lab wafted out of what cops refer to as a “one-pot operation” upon opening the vehicle, and the officers went to the hospital for precautionary measures afterward. The hospital treated and released all four deputies, according to The St. Augustine Record.

If stealing items from the store wasn’t enough, the car wasn’t even his. First Coast News added that police discovered the car to be borrowed property and it will have to be decontaminated as well before it returns to the owner.

The man also underwent decontamination before being shipped off to jail, and the area shut down for a few hours while hazardous-materials cleanup crews came in to deal with the meth lab.

If you’re looking for an obscure place to do your unlawful business, a Walmart parking lot in the middle of the day is probably not where you want to be. But if we’ve learned anything from Florida, it’s that those folks like doing it big when it comes to breaking the law—let us never forget the guy who got caught going 110 mph with three naked women in his car.

Oh, Florida.

Contact the author at alanis.king@jalopnik.com.

Anthony Cumia, formerly of radio show “Opie and Anthony,” was arraigned Sunday on second-degree strangulation charges after a fight with a woman at his New York home, the Associated Press reports.

The 26-year-old woman contacted authorities Saturday, Nassau County police said. Cumia was arrested shortly thereafter.

According to CBS News, a police spokeswoman said that Cumia “got into an argument with an individual that stemmed into this physical violence. That’s as far as we’re going to discuss this at this time.”

“Mr. Cumia emphatically denies the allegations brought against him, and is optimistic that when the truth comes out, he will be exonerated,” Cumia’s attorney, Alan Schwartz, said. “Simply put, things are not always what they appear to be, and this case is a perfect example of that.”

Satellite radio company SiriusXM fired the 54-year-old Cumia last year after the shock jock went on a violent, racist rant on Twitter, in which he complained it was “open season on white people in this day and age.”

Photo via CBS News. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.

In one of his rare, lengthy news conferences, on Thursday, Vladimir Putin called Donald Trump “brilliant” and “talented without doubt.” Trump, who always accepts compliments gracefully, welcomed the Russian’s plaudits and defended his new best friend from criticism.

“If Putin respects me, and if Putin wants to call me brilliant,” Trump told ABC News. “I’ll accept that, and I’ll accept it on behalf of our country.”

Trump deflected questions from ABC’s George Stephanopoulos about the history of accusations against Putin connecting him to the deaths of reporters killed in Russia.

“Nobody has proven that he’s killed anyone,” Trump said. “He’s always denied it. It’s never been proven that he’s killed anybody.”

“You’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, at least in our country. It has not been proven that he’s killed reporters.”

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, since 1992, 36 journalists have been murdered in Russia. Investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, for example, who reported aggressively on Putin’s regime, and especially its involvement in Chechnya, was murdered in 2006. Her killers were sentenced to life in prison last year.

“If he has killed reporters, I think that’s terrible,” Trump added. “But this isn’t like somebody that’s stood with a gun and he’s, you know, taken the blame or he’s admitted that he’s killed. He’s always denied it.”

Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.