ALL OR NONE

Mark Wahlberg is seeking a pardon because his criminal past is preventing him from easily franchising his burger joint. He shouldn't get one. Not because we have something against pardons. He shouldn't get one because instead of pardoning him, state and federal governments should ease laws that prevent convicted felons like him from fully participating in society.

HEAVY TOLL, LIGHT PENALTIES

The first time Brian Simpkins was arrested on a charge of drunken driving — after ramming his Chevy pickup into a tree — he was just 19. The second time he was arrested — after he was found passed out in his car with the engine running in September 2012, a half-empty can of Coors Light lying on the floor — he was a state trooper, charged with keeping the roads safe from drunk drivers.

'IT'S ALL GONE'

"Serial," a podcast exploring the case of Adnan Syed, who was convicted of the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, has become a global phenomenon. In an exclusive interview, Adnan’s family talks about listening to "Serial," toxic Reddit threads and how his imprisonment has destroyed their lives.

LOW COST AT AN ENORMOUS PRICE

It seems churlish, at best, to lament easy access to one of the world’s most vital commodities. But cheap gas has become like an industrial form of crack. It doesn’t really matter how much damage it causes, because we simply don’t have the power to walk away.

TACKLING SMARTIES

“TACKLE!” the head coach yells, and thus begins a five-minute period the likes of which most of us haven’t seen in American football. Yes, the University of New Hampshire football team, the best in the FCS, is about to practice tackling. But before doing so, 25 players drop their helmets on the turf.

HANGING 10 OR JUST HANGING OUT?

So, is surfing a sport? Brah, I'm not sure. It's a question that has floated around in my head since high school. Back then, on weekends, I'd often strap my board to the top of a friend's car and drive, at absurd pre-dawn hours, from suburban Los Angeles to the beach. I can tell you, knowing how silly it must sound if you've never tried it, just how amazing surfing is, how connected to the Earth it makes you feel. It's magic. But is it a sport?

WELL THIS IS DISRUPTING

"By their account, this was a clash of cultures : Silicon Valley versus tradition, and everyone must choose a side. I believe this dangerously oversimplifies a debate many journalistic institutions are having today. They were colleagues whom I personally liked and respected, so I was sad to see them go and regret much of how it happened. But the New Republic is too important an institution to accept their departures as its end."

'DARKSEOUL'

The computer hackers drilled into the network at the elegant St. Regis Bangkok that night and, with a keystroke, laid bare the secrets of Sony Pictures Entertainment. What had begun with a secret incursion into the Hollywood studio’s computer system was reaching its climax in, of all places, a five-star hotel in the capital of Thailand.

PETER, PANNED

Well, guys, another year, another major NBC live musical production to transition us from the awkward weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the senioritis of months, when no one wants to work, errbody wants to shop, and all Allison Williams wants to do is prove that she’s not just a pretty face... she’s also a pretty boy, people.

EXPECT A RELEASE DECEMBER 26

Secretary of State John Kerry personally phoned Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Friday morning to ask her to delay the imminent release of her committee’s report on CIA torture and rendition during the George W. Bush administration, according to administration and Congressional officials.

BANDIT BROTHERS

The Boston Bandits were unknown in their own sports-crazed city until one of their players was allegedly murdered by ex-Patriots star Aaron Hernandez. Ever since, Odin Lloyd’s teammates have been using this tragedy — the team’s fourth death in the past few years — as motivation to band together and win a ring in his memory, all while shining a light on a gritty pay-to-play semipro league that has existed for decades on the outer fringes of organized sports.

THIS SHOULD BE A CRIME

Charles C. Johnson, a former Daily Caller writer and founder of GotNews (a conservative site rife with racist and Islamophobic content parading as "Independent, Unbiased & Unafraid") has claimed that multiple sources have confirmed to him the identity of "Jackie," the woman whose alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia was recounted in the Rolling Stone piece "A Rape on Campus." So, in an absolutely disgusting move, Johnson has published her name, or what he thinks her name is.

HE CHOKED

Staten Island's top prosecutor did not ask grand jurors to consider a reckless endangerment charge in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a source familiar with the case told NBC 4 New York. District Attorney Daniel Donovan only asked grand jurors to consider manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges against NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo.

A BOND WOMAN, NOT GIRL

There is another James Bond movie in the works, the 24th in the series of gun-slingin', sex-havin', Russia-or-whoever-it-is-nowadays-hatin' flicks to appear on-screen since Sean Connery kicked the whole thing off. But next year's film, Spectre, features something rarely seen in the Bond world: an age-appropriate co-star.

136 REMAIN

The U.S. military overnight transferred six Guantánamo detainees to Uruguay. All of them had been imprisoned since 2002 – more than 12 years. None has ever been charged with a crime, let alone convicted of any wrongdoing. They had all been cleared for release years ago by the Pentagon itself, but nonetheless remained in cages until today.