A day after the U.N. Security Council rejected a Palestinian resolution to end Israeli occupation by 2017, President Mahmoud Abbas announced that Palestine would pursue war-crimes charges against the Jewish state in the International Criminal Court.

"They attack us and our land every day, to whom are we to complain?" Abbas told a gathering of Palestinian leaders, according to Reuters. "The Security Council let us down—where are we to go?" The remarks were broadcast on official television.

Israel is not a member of the international court at The Hague, and does not recognize its jurisdiction. The court has no police force of its own, according to the Associated Press, "but it could issue arrest warrants that would make it difficult for Israeli officials to travel abroad."

According to the Jerusalem Post, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would defend the men and women of the IDF—"the most moral soldiers in the world."

A U.S. State Department spokesperson called the Palestinian move "entirely counterproductive," the AP reports. Presumably Palestinians feel the same about American opposition to their bid for independence.

[Image via AP Images]

As the next step in his journey towards possibly considering running for president (maybe) Jeb Bush has resigned from all his remaining non-profit and business board memberships, the Associated Press reports. Happy 2016!

Bush resigned from the board of his own education foundation, the Washington Post reports. He also resigned as a paid adviser to "a for-profit education company that sells online courses to public university students in exchange for a share of their tuition payments."

A spokeswoman told the AP that the younger Bush brother's review of his business interests "a natural next step as he turns his focus to gauging whether there is support for a potential candidacy."

An email from an aide to the Post said that the resignations were effective today.

[Image via AP Images]

An intense video surfaced on YouTube this afternoon showing a powerful dust devil destroying tents, umbrellas, and even an inflatable slide during pre-game festivities at Pasadena, California's Rose Bowl on Wednesday. Four people sustained minor injuries as the whirlwind launched debris in the air.

Dust devils can appear similar to tornadoes—especially when they kick up dust and dirt—but they form through completely different processes. Dust devils form as a result of rapidly rising air at the surface. Direct sunlight causes the surface of the Earth to heat much more quickly than the air. As the surface warms, air immediately above the surface is able to warm up faster than the atmosphere above it due to conduction.http://thevane.gawker.com/oklahoma-milit...

This layer of warm air is usually capped by cooler, more stable air above it, preventing it from rising and mixing with the rest of the atmosphere. Sometimes if a pocket of warm air is able to break through the cap, it will rapidly begin to rise. Light winds can cause the rising column of air to begin rotating, and as the column grows and stretches out, the air will rotate more quickly thanks to the conservation of angular momentum (think of a figure skater pulling her arms in during a spin).

Dust devils are most common over large areas of hot surfaces such as parking lots, large gravel fields, or even the desert. Dust devils are usually weak, with maximum winds equal to that of a breezy day, but some stronger dust devils can cause structural damage with winds equivalent to those found in EF-0 tornadoes.

[Video: adsport via YouTube]

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Florida's Duval, Clay and Baker counties have ended the practice of courthouse weddings to avoid performing ceremonies for gay couples, the Florida Times-Union reports.

Florida is waiting for U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle to clarify whether his ruling to strike down the state's ban on marriage between couples of the same sex actually applies to the whole state. If it does, Duval Clerk of Courts Ronnie Fussell, Clay Clerk Tara Green and Baker Clerk Stacie Harvey will be legally obligated to issue marriage licenses to such couples.

From the Times-Union:

Fussell says the decision came after a series of discussion with members of his staff who currently officiate wedding ceremonies. None of them, including Fussell, felt comfortable doing gay weddings so they decided to end the practice all together, he said.

"It was decided as a team, as an office, this would be what we do so that there wouldn't be any discrimination," Fussell said. "The easiest way is to not do them at all."

Uh huh. "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman," Fussell continued. "Personally it would go against my beliefs to perform a ceremony that is other than that."

"I needed the space and our county we're in the Bible Belt," Baker Clerk Harvey told the Times-Union. "If we're made by the law to issue a gay marriage license (we will) do that, but we are not mandated to marry couples in our courthouse."

[Image via AP Images]

Earlier this week, Vocativ interviewed an eyewitness who said a viral video that has raised over $130,000 in questionably held donations was staged. Now a man who claims he's related to the video's homeless star has come forward, saying "it's all a scam" and his seemingly penniless brother is actually due to inherit $150,000 from their parents' estate.

In the video, YouTube prankster Josh Paler Lin gives a panhandler named "Thomas" $100. Expecting him to spend it on booze, Lin "secretly" films the man, who instead uses the money to buy food for others.

Since it was uploaded last week, the touching video has been watched almost 30 million times and raised over $130,000 on a donation page managed by Lin to help Thomas "get a fresh start." But according to a Huntington Beach man, nothing in the video is as it seems, down to its star's name.

Kevin Nickel told KCBS-TV that "Thomas" is actually his brother, Kenny Nickel, showing the station family photos of the sibling he reportedly fears is "being manipulated."

From KCBS-TV:

His brother also says Kenny is actually not broke. He is due $150,000 from his parents' estate.

"He's sitting on money," Kevin said, not sure if his brother is even aware of the Indiegogo money being collected on his behalf. "But this is a scam. This money needs to go to people who really need it."

This echoes the sentiments of eyewitness Taugan Kadalim, who claims he saw the video being filmed. "[I]t is clear that from what I saw every part of that scene was staged," Kadalim told Vocativ on Tuesday. "The whole thing is bullshit."

[Images via YouTube/KCBS-TV]

Police union officials have denied that last week's plummeting arrest numbers are a result of an organized work stoppage or slowdown, according to the New York Times. Rather, officials say, this is a result of cops being scared and sad.

Michael J. Palladino, the head of the Detectives' Endowment Association, told the Times that while a stoppage had not been ordered and was not sanctioned for his detectives, it was nevertheless understandable that, in the wake of two fellow officers being killed, there would be a slowdown of some kind. "Cops have feelings, too," he said. "Now they are the targets of execution. That's enough to make anyone hesitate, regardless of your profession."

"No one has sanctioned a slowdown or stoppage," Edward Mullins, the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association told the Times. "That is not something that anybody came out and said to do."

After the deaths of officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, a memo attributed to the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association circulated: "Absolutely NO enforcement action in the form of arrests and or summonses is to be taken unless absolutely necessary." The P.B.A. denied authorship, though its president, Pat Lynch, echoed much of the memo's language in an address to reporters later that same night.

An unprecedented meeting between the mayor and representatives of the police unions on Tuesday was apparently unproductive, if civil. "There was no yelling," a P.B.A. spokesman told the Times, "and there was no laughing."

"I was expecting more," an unnamed union official who was present said. "In fairness to the mayor, he is asking for conversation to move forward." At the end of the meeting, he said, "we were all scratching our heads over what is getting solved."

As far as the (alleged) work stoppage goes, Commissioner Bratton is certain that there's nothing to worry about. "I would point out it has not had an impact on the city's safety at all," he told the Times. So... broken windows policing is a sham?

"Ironically, this is the kind of thing we're calling for," Robert Gangi, the director of the Police Reform Organizing Project, told the Times. "It's officers deciding on their own to, in effect, scale back on the application of broken-windows policing."

[Image via AP Images]

Where did the 120-mile-high geysers spewing out of the south pole of Jupiter's icy moon Europa go? Nobody knows!

Teens today are less lonely but have fewer friends than teens did twenty years ago a study conducted between 1991 and 2012 found. The research was published in this month's Personality and Psychology Bulletin. Did you forget to renew your subscription?

The 2012 teens felt less isolated and less left out than the 1991 teens, but that their "social network isolation" had been amplified. Cripes!

"Historically people had to rely on others more," lead researcher David Clark wrote in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail. "Modern times may foster independence. If you are in a situation where you need help from friends if you get sick, you may feel that you need a number of close friends. But if you are economically well off, you may need less practical support and you may be satisfied with less friends."

Teens are less likely now to join things, the study found, as emphasis on individual success continues to grow.

But! All is not lost. "They may have greater quality friendships. They may have less need for [more] friends," Clark wrote. "Belonging is one of the strongest human motivations. This research is some good news on this front."

The teens are probably all right. They usually are.

[Image via Shutterstock]

Mario Cuomo, three-term governor of New York and near-presidential candidate, died Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 82.

Cuomo, whose son Andrew Cuomo was inaugurated for his second term earlier in the day, served as governor from 1983 to 1994, when he was defeated by Republican George Pataki.

Thanks in part to his famous "Tale of Two Cities" speech, which was the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 1984, Cuomo was a nationally prominent figure who flirted with presidential runs for the 1988 and 1992 elections—famously bailing five minutes before the filing deadline in 1991.

While his public indecisiveness over campaigning for president earned him the nickname "Hamlet on the Hudson" he will likely always been remembered for the speech that put him on the national stage.

"Mr. President, you ought to know that this nation is more a tale of two cities than it is just a shining city on a hill," Cuomo—a master orator—said in his rebuke to President Reagan. "Maybe, Mr. President, if you visited some more places; maybe if you went to Appalachia where some people still live in sheds"

At his inauguration today, Andrew Cuomo paid tribute to his father.

"We're missing one family member. My father is not with us today. We had hoped that he was going to be able to come; he is at home and he is not well enough to come. We spent last night with him, changed the tradition a little bit. We weren't in Albany last night; we stayed at my father's house to ring in the New Year with him. I went through the speech with him. He said it was good, especially for a second-termer. See, my father is a third-termer. But he sends his regards to all of you. He couldn't be here physically today, my father. But my father is in this room. He is in the heart and mind of every person who is here. He is here and he is here, and his inspiration and his legacy and his experience is what has brought this state to this point. So let's give him a round of applause."

Cuomo is survived by his wife, Matilda, his children Chris Cuomo, Dr. Margaret I. Cuomo, Maria Cuomo Cole, and Madeline Cuomo O'Donohue, and several grandchildren.

In a long obituary at the New York Times, Cuomo is given his own last word:

He was always attuned to how he was perceived by the public, and when invited to sum up his own life for this obituary, he characteristically turned to self-deprecating humor.

"People asked me what I want as an epitaph," Mr. Cuomo volunteered. He proceeded to reprise a line he had used many years earlier while traveling across upstate New York, a fresh public figure displaying astonishing talent and obvious potential.

"He tried," Mr. Cuomo said.

[Image via AP]

Looks like we all got it all wrong again: that Ohio State fan whose spot was blown the hell up for allegedly fondling her side-action live on ESPN? That's her boyfriend, who she probably loves more than anything in your life.

Is it a criminal act to show affection in public? You'd think so, based on some of the sick, parasitic blogging we've found today on lesser sites.http://deadspin.com/whats-the-deal...

But a well-connected (in Ohio) Gawker reader who knows the mystery fan sent us a screenshot of her Facebook wall—and pointed us to this specific status:

We're still not sure why she withdrew her scratching hand. (Though we'd still love to talk! You can email me at biddle@gawker.com.) The rest of you owe her an apology, and Jesus Christ, man, smile when your girlfriend is trying to do something nice on your dome.

The only thing worse than paying out the tuchus for unreliable internet from Time Warner Cable and Comcast is being forced pay a monthly rental fee for a modem you need to access that crappy internet. Happy New Year! The fees on both TWC and Comcast are going up yet again. Here's how to buy your own modem so you can save some money.

Yup, right in the middle of the holidays, both TWC and Comcast announced that the monthly fee for renting their modems would be going up. Time Warner Cable will jump from $6 to $8 per month and Comcast is going from $8 to $10 per month. As Ars Technica notes in that second link, the rates aren't all going into effect at the same time, so just because you haven't seen the new fee on your bill yet doesn't mean it's not coming.

But the bottom line is the you shouldn't be paying a monthly fee at all for a modem because you can get a higher quality modem than what your cable company is renting you, and it'll pay for itself in under a year.

Time Warner Cable Modems

You can buy your own TWC modem as long as it's on the company's pre-approved list of which modems work in your region.

You'll notice that the list of "approved for retail" modems list is much shorter than the "approved for rental list," which means that, as per usual corporate fuckery, Time Warner will rent you an older, outmoded POS, but they won't approve it for use if you bring your own hardware to the party.

Here are the highest rated future-proof modems supported by TWC. The Wirecutter note, you want to avoid any router-modem 2-in-1 combinations, if possible, so we've culled those out as well.

• Motorola SB6141 ($90)
• Zoom 5341 ($77)

When I originally published this post two years ago, I said that you could go ahead and buy either a DOCSIS 2.0 or DOCSIS 3.0 modem, mostly because though the future standards of the internet standards will require DOCSIS 3.0, the reality is that a DOCSIS 2.0 modem is more than enough.

These days, though, the Motorola SB6141 modem has gotten cheap enough that you might as well buy the modem that's going to last you into the future. At $90, it'll pay for itself in a year at the $8 rental fee rate.

One final note: If you're on one of TWC's new Ultimate 200 and Ultimate 300 plans, you'll need to use the new Motorola SB6183 modem to really max out those download speeds. It's worth checking to make sure you're actually getting those speeds, since you know, TWC's infrastructure is garbage.

Comcast Modems

Comcast's list of approved modems is much longer than Time Warner Cable's, though, you're looking at many of the same options, as i'll explain below. For its part, the company strongly recommends at a DOCSIS 3.0 modem. If you pay for the Performance, Blast!, or Extreme speed tiers, you need a DOCSIS 3.0 modem.

After culling away the less-well reviewed modems as well as those that are combination routers, or just aren't widely available, you're left with just three.

• Motorola SB6141 ($90)
• Motorola SB6121 ($70)
• Zoom 5341 ($77)

All of the above modems are extremely well reviewed on Amazon and are relatively inexpensive. Thought the SB141 costs slightly more than the rest, it's SO well regarded that you really can't go wrong. At the $10 per month modem rental fee, this guy pays for itself in just nine months.

Note: This post is updated from time to time as new information becomes available. It originally ran in 2013.

Madonna is doing something really unfortunate on social media right now.

Her new album is called Rebel Heart, and the album cover looks like this.

This morning, she has used Twitter and Instagram to post photos of some of history's great political warriors (and also Bob Marley) with similar black rope wrapped around their heads.

"This ❤️#rebelheart had a dream!" she says of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Madonna's typing is very interesting.)

This ❤️#rebelheart had a dream! pic.twitter.com/PIwcwosS2G

— Madonna (@Madonna) January 2, 2015

Here is Nelson Mandela looking extremely dismayed about being on Madonna's Twitter.

This❤️#rebelheart fought for freedom! pic.twitter.com/7OxGT28TuY

— Madonna (@Madonna) January 2, 2015

Bob Marley looks like he is watching someone die.

This❤️#rebelheart sang about ONE LOVE! pic.twitter.com/7RGdpL4yzy

— Madonna (@Madonna) January 2, 2015

Madonna should go play with her kids or something.

[image via Madonna]

Dozens of cars—some reports put the number as high as 100—slammed into each other during a heavy snow squall in New Hampshire this morning, forcing authorities to shutdown a stretch of I-93 just north of Ashland. Photos of the fiery wreckage were posted by witnesses to Twitter and Instagram:

@WBINTV 93 North near Ashland. pic.twitter.com/BnRJXyezzj

— Hillary Susan (@hillarysusans) January 2, 2015

#Skyfox captures a shot of some of the cars involved in the Ashland, NH pileup on I-93 pic.twitter.com/VNDk3pjTU0

— FOX 25 News Boston (@fox25news) January 2, 2015

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CBS News reports that some injuries were reported, though none were life-threatening. Most of the accidents happened in northbound lanes, all of which remain closed to traffic.

[Top photo via Ben Baldwin]

Dennis the Dachshund once weighed 59 pounds—pretty healthy if you are four dogs, but Dennis is just one dog—due to his bad diet of "human food and excessive treats." Now he's down to a reasonable 13 pounds thanks to one weird trick (not eating human food and excessive treats).

Dennis's current owner, unlike her relatives who transformed him into a plump li'l sausage the size of a chubby first-grader, put him on "a strict regimen of diet and exercise." He's now able to run up and down the stairs, something he couldn't do when he was the saddest, fattest little weenie.

This year, Dennis will have his second skin-removal surgery.

He's not the first tragically overweight Dachshund to drop a huge amount of weight. Back in 2012, a wiener dog named Obie made the news at 77 pounds. A year after being adopted by a veterinarian, he'd reached his weight goal of 28 pounds.

These dogs teach us an inspiring lesson, just in time for new year's resolutions: You, too, can totally transform your body if someone strictly regulates your food intake and forces you to get regular exercise.

[h/t ABC]

Naaaants een-vwen-yaaaaaaa ma-ba-gee-chi-ba-va (See-tee-hoummmm gwen-ya-maaaaa). And the old lion Giorgio Armani rose anew from the sea Thursday, January 1, 2015, surrounded by youthful companions.

Giorgio Armani,80 ans, a plein d'amis beaux et jeunes. http://t.co/4Hwj6ywI0H pic.twitter.com/IcQzhIOsQR

— Matthieu Renard (@Profitendieu) January 2, 2015

"@DailyMailCeleb: Giorgio Armani does trust fall exercises at the beach, or something http://t.co/8J0RXlpJqU pic.twitter.com/hmrUcvzQLy" #ack

— Worst & Best Posts (@RexMaxington) January 2, 2015

Round-faced mezzo soprano Selena Gomez has been living it up Sex and the City 2-style in Abu Dhabi and Dubai for the last week, ringing in the new year with Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, and other lesser-known individuals. Unfortunately, Selena wasn't able to keep her ankles to herself for one damn day.

Leaders at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi tell TMZ that they are disappointed in Selena for posting photos of herself straight-up flaunting her delicate tibias and fibulas after a visit to the holy space. Can you find Selena Gomez in this shot? Because she is the only individual displaying her ankle skin for god and everyone else.

And this one is just egregious—Selena has since deleted it.

Mosque leaders tell TMZ that additionally, "mosque rules prohibit laughing and smiling." May Selena find redemption in the new year.

[Photo via Getty]

Hey, a new print magazine is on the way! How quaint, artisanal, and authentic.

Contrary to the gloomy prognostications that "print is dead," Ad Age reports that Hearst boss David Carey told staffers that the company "is planning to introduce a new print magazine" early this year. A lively contrarian bet! It's important that The New Yorker get some competition every once in a while. So what sort of journalism can we expect from the bold new venture? Perhaps history will provide a clue...

In a time when print titles are under stress, Hearst has introduced several recent titles in tandem with well-known brands and personalities in the TV world. This year, the company introduced "Dr. Oz The Good Life" in partnership with celebrity physican Mehmet Oz. And in recent years, it has rolled out HGTV and Food Network magazines.

Ah yes—garbage.

The future of print media is TV on paper.

["Mr. Carey deemed the Dr. Oz rollout successful in his note to staff Dec. 31." If you don't mind the fact that the magazine's namesake was repeatedly slammed in the media and in front of Congress for being a charlatan, then yes, it was successful.]

Sixty miles doesn't seem that far on a bike. Some of us commute that every day. But we don't do it through the jungles of Brazil and we don't do it with a damn chef's knife stabbed through our skull.

Juacelo Nunes reportedly got into an altercation with one man, who then called three of his friends, one of which reportedly pulled a 12-inch knife and began stabbing Nunes in the torso and head.

The blade missed his left eye, but embedded itself through his mouth and into the right side of his jaw.

"I did not see the moment of the stabbing," says Nunes. "But at no time fainted and remained conscious even with pain."

Nunes – a 39-year-old motorcycle cabbie – eventually staggered to his bike, then road north for two hours from Agua Branca to a hospital in Teresina where doctors removed the knife and repair his face and jaw over a three-hour surgery. He's expected to make a full recovery and made it home to his wife for New Year's.

Happy New Year! Apparently a fun new year activity for many Gawker readers is uploading pictures of famous people from their yearbooks or Google Images. Therefore, we have compiled yet another compendium of all-star yearbook photos for you to peruse. Look at all these shining little faces before they made it big. Some of them look the same because they only graduated high school two years ago. Lol.

Mindy Kaling

Submitted by punkybrewster

Paul Ryan

Submitted by Lifehacker weekend writer Dave Greenbaum, who writes: "I had a political science class with Paul Ryan and picked him as a project partner mostly because of those eyes :-) After we got started he reminded me that we would get a joint grade. He was betting I wanted an A more than he did, so he had no incentive to work on the project. So I did all the work and "we" got the A. Sound familiar? Last time I pick a project partner based on looks. I was friends with a few of the Delta Tau Delta brothers so I'd see him on occasion."

Michelle Malkin

Submitted by ednabuxton

Lea Michele

Submitted by IkerCatsillas

David Foster Wallace

Submitted by GnashBridges

Josh Hutcherson

Submitted by elsmer, who writes: "I was 2 years ahead of him at Ryle High School in Union, KY. He was a really nice guy. I had a locker right next to him my senior year. Only real memory I have of him is that he and his girlfriend were like...inseparable. Lots of awkward PDA going on at the locker in between classes."

Emily Ratajkowski

Submitted by Nick Foote, who writes: "her dad was an art teacher at the school, very chill guy."

Will Ferrell

Submitted by alohahomer

Megyn Kelly

Submitted by banalbany

January Jones

Submitted by EOTT

Bruno Mars

Submitted by tmgo

James Franco

Submitted by steakfrites

Grimes

Submitted by emillilia

New year, new you. New teen trend?

"I am a professional burper, and this is the best thing I've ever seen :')" writes YouTube commenter LittleghOstGreen. I am no professional burper, but I've let out a few in my day, and he's right: that was a great burp.

Woefully, burping on helium hasn't yet unseated smack cams and Justin Beavers on American teens' Twitter screens, but the vid above—by far the finest example of the genre—does have a few forebears.

Helium burps: let's make it happen in 2015.

[h/t Digg]