Rachel Maddow talked to McCain challenger J.D. Hayworth last night about his remarks that same-sex marriage could lead to man-horse marriage, and really seemed to irk him when she pointed out that the Massachusetts Supreme Court never wrote that "the establishment of intimacy" was a basis for the definition of marriage. Hayworth had argued that establishing intimacy as the basis of marriage might allow a man to marry a horse that he loved. Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy ...

Because saying "I outright made it up" is much more difficult than smiling mindlessly: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy ...

 Cue the Twilight Zone music. Eerie, otherworldly lights have been appearing over the shores of Lake Erie near Cleveland, Ohio for more than a week and nobody can seem to explain them. Watch local news and MSNBC's David Shuster reporting, AFTER THE JUMP...MSNBC: ...

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Following outrage over Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's advice last week that public universities should rescind their bylaws protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination, Governor Bob McDonnell issued a "directive" late yesterday saying the state should not discriminate based on sexual orientation. The WaPo:   "The directive is a formal statement of McDonnell's position that hiring, promotion, compensation, treatment, discipline and termination of state employees can be based only on an individual's job qualifications, merit and performance. 'We will not tolerate discrimination based on sexual orientation or any other basis that's outlawed under state or federal law or ...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy From CNN.com: A massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, producing powerful aftershocks and triggering a tsunami. The epicenter of the earthquake was located off the coast in Maule, near the city of Concepcion, 212 miles (341 kilometers) from the capital of Santiago. The quake struck at 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. ET). At least 47 people have been confirmed dead, according to government officials, with the death toll expected to rise. Concepcion is Chile’s second largest city with a population of 200,000. There are reports of collapsed ...

span style=”display: block; margin: 0px auto; width: 425px” embed src=’http://widgets.vodpod.com/w/video_embed/Video.3122508′ type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ AllowScriptAccess=’never’ pluginspage=’http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer’ wmode=’transparent’ flashvars=’launch=35572476amp;width=400amp;height=320′ width=’425′ height=’350′ / div style=”font-size: 10px;” more about quot;a href=”http://vodpod.com/watch/3122508-keith-olberman-blasts-dan-abrams-mediaite-fired-msnbc-employee-video”Keith Olberman Blasts Dan Abrams, Med…/aquot;, posted with a href=”http://vodpod.com?r=wp”vodpod/a /div/span ...

Dan Savage appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night to discuss Miss Beverly Hills 2010 and her remarks that gays should know they'll be put to death because it says so in the Bible.They also discuss Ashley's predilection for plastic surgery, her fraudulent claim to the title, and everything else surrounding this fresh pageant controversy.Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy ...

I am back. And I wrote a piece about Sandra Bullock, Jeff Bridges, Christoph Waltz and Gabourey Sidibe and YOU ARE SO EXCITED ABOUT THAT.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35466054/ ...

Not long ago, I had a friend of mine try to convince me of the righteousness of torture. He believes that if you are a terrorist that you deserve to be tortured. I mentioned that that is not consistent with our Judeo-Christian heritage. It didn’t matter to him. I mentioned that George Washington strictly forbade torture during the Revolutionary War. He almost asked, “George who?” I mentioned how we won World War II following the guidelines set out by General Eisenhower, which again forbade torture. He said that was different. I said we almost lost the Philippines by torturing captives. ...

General Petraeus was asked about 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' on Meet the Press and said he supports Gates' plan for a study but is saving his opinion on the DADT repeal for testimony in front of Congress: "The U.S. commander overseeing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan says he's not sure that troops in the field care about the sexual orientation of fellow service members. Petraeus says he's served alongside gays and lesbians, and what matters are someone's skills and smarts...Advocates for a quick repeal have said the yearlong review is a stalling tactic. But Petraeus says it's a ...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy **EARLIER: How gay conservatives do it. ...

I went to check the news about the plane crashing into a building in Austin, TX, and here is what I see on the msnbc.com home page. That man is seriously angry abou ...

Lt. Dan Choi with his National Guard unit photo via Bilerico    ::: After months spent working tirelessly as an advocate for the repeal of the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, Lt. Dan Choi was invited back to a training exercise last weekend with his Army National Guard unit, Bilerico reports. Choi came out very publicly on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show in March last year. Since then, he has been invited to discuss the DADT policy on national media. In June, a National Guard committee recommended that he be discharged under the DADT policy, but ...

I didn’t watch the Super Bowl, even after the power came back on. Frankly, I wasn’t interested. Never have been. I’d rather they put the ads on — maybe even put them in a show of their own — and left it at that. Well, that’s kinda what’s happened online. Now I can see the ads without having to sit through the game. This one is my favorite, hands down. It’s number one right now on MSNBC. Go vote for your fave. These were pretty good too. Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com ...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Free clinic in Hartford, CT cares for over 1000 Americans. Some were turned away. No one from Congress was there. I guess that healthcare is so yesterday’s news. Check out Big Eddie. He lies into Congress for not doing anything. I’ll have more to say on this in a little while. ...

MSNBC's Chris Matthews shows why "Hardball" is the best political show on cable. The debate over Don't Ask Don't Tell between Aubrey Davis of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and Peter Sprigg of the antigay Family Research Council, is given... ...

Some of you probably thought the Family Research Council's Peter Sprigg reached his apex of offense when he said we should export gays from the U.S.  We certainly did.   Now we will learn that we underestimated him at our own perill:Hardball [MSNBC]That sound you hear?  It's the mask of nicety dropping away from the movement that fully depends on the same.  Thank you for that, Liability Sprigg. *****Lest we forget: ...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand vowed on yesterday's The Rachel Maddow Show to do everything she can in the Congress to repeal the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy sooner rather than later. “I do think now is the time to act. And I think Congress can take its own action and repeal the policy and during that time, the President can issue a stop-loss or issue a moratorium.” She said that it’s important to stop the policy as quickly as possible for the sake of military readiness. Watch video at MSNBC ...

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) appeared on Rachel Maddow's show last night to discuss what we might hear in the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' hearings, the possibility of a stop-loss order, and expectations about the timeline of the repeal. Watch, AFTER THE JUMP... Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy ...