Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Skimm for November 10th

Skimm’d over sushi and football.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“An all-new Orca experience” – SeaWorld’s CEO. Yesterday, he said the company is ending killer whale shows in San Diego and putting the animals in a more “natural” setting. This is his way of saying he hopes people forget about “Blackfish.”

THINGS IN THE PENALTY BOX

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

THE STORY

Yesterday, a job opened up at the University of Missouri.

WHAT HAPPENED?

The school’s president stepped down. And the chancellor got demoted. That’s because over the past few months, racial tension on campus has been high. Think: racial slurs and a swastika symbol being smeared in poop in a dorm. Recently, students have been calling on the president to resign, saying he didn’t do enough to handle the incidents. Last week, a student went on a hunger strike in protest. But the tipping point happened over the weekend, when dozens of football players said they would boycott the sport until the president resigned. It worked. Yesterday, the president said he takes “full responsibility for the inaction,” and the chancellor will “transition” into another job.

theSKIMM

A lot of people are thinking it’s no coincidence that the resignation comes just after the football team’s boycott. Forfeiting this weekend’s game could have cost the school $1 million. Translation: money talks.

RUSSIA

THE STORY

Yesterday, Russia was accused of being really, really good at cheating.

WHAT HAPPENED?

An international anti-doping commission reported that there’s a “deeply rooted culture of cheating” in Russian sports. Examples? A lot of its athletes — especially in track and field — are allegedly doping, and officials were reportedly bribed and intimidated to look the other way. Meanwhile, the government has been accused of destroying drug test samples before an inspection. The report says the cheating is so bad that Russian athletes should sit out track and field competitions at next year’s Olympics in Brazil.

theSKIMM

A lot of people are getting bad deja vu, saying this reminds them of Soviet times when cheating among athletes was a big problem. But Russian officials are saying ‘nyet true.’ They have until the end of the week to respond to the allegations.

REPEAT AFTER ME...

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOUR FRIEND ASKS IF YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT JEB BUSH’S BABY HITLER COMMENT...

Hell yeah! Tonight is GOP fight night on Fox Business at 9pm ET. Fox has wasted zero time reminding everyone just how badly its rival network CNBC was thought to have screwed up the last debate. Fox promises a “real debate” this time. Nice. Meanwhile, frontrunner Ben Carson has some explaining to do. He’s been re-memorizing his resume ever since it came out last week that he never got a scholarship to West Point ...although Carson said he did in his memoir. Details, details. Who won’t be there? Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AK), who didn’t poll high enough to make the cut. They’ll be at the kids table debate. PS – drink when you hear these terms.

WHAT TO SAY TO YOUR FRIEND WHO KEEPS GETTING SPEEDING TICKETS IN THE MAIL…

It could be worse. Yesterday, Rolling Stone got hit with yet another lawsuit in a string of lawsuits related to last year’s campus rape article. Refresher: last November, everybody read the magazine’s story detailing an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Rolling Stone later retracted the story. Earlier this year, a UVA associate dean named in the article sued the magazine, saying it made her out to be the “chief villain.” Then, three fraternity members sued the magazine. Now, the UVA chapter of Phi Kappa Psi is suing Rolling Stone for $25 million, saying the story did major damage to its members’ reputations.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU GET DEJA VU...

Myanmar can relate. Earlier this week, the country had what’s being called its freest election in decades . The results are still coming in, but it’s looking like the pro-democracy party led by Aung San Suu Kyi is headed for a big W. Her party won the last time the country had free elections in the 90s. But it turned out the military – which had been in power for a long, long time – wasn’t quite ready to give up control just yet. Cue Suu Kyi spending a lot of time under house arrest. And becoming a Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy symbol around the world. Fast forward to today, and it looks like the country still wants her party in charge. Now, everybody’s holding their breath to see if the military is finally ready to sing a few rounds of “Let It Go,” and step outta the way.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN THAT GUY YOU’VE BEEN SEEING TAKES HOURS TO TEXT YOU BACK...

Now I know how Spain feels. Yesterday, lawmakers in Catalonia – hint: the part of Spain that includes Barcelona – OK’d a plan for eventual independence from the motherland. For years, a lot of Catalans have been feeling like they’re ready to break free. Spain thinks this is no bueno. It’s not thrilled about the idea of Catalonia — which makes up a huge part of Spain’s GDP — flying solo, especially while the country is still recovering from a recession. But Catalonia – which has its own language and traditions – isn’t a fan of paying taxes to Spain while being treated like the newbie matador at the bullfight. Yesterday’s move puts them on the road to a referendum vote, maybe by 2017.

THING TO KNOW

“Nu Couché”: The name of a painting that you can’t afford. By the artist Amedeo Modigliani. Yesterday, it sold for $170.4 million at a Christie’s auction, aka the second highest price ever paid for an artwork at an auction.

SKIMM GIFT

Bonjour. You look like you could use a trip. How does the South of France sound? For two? C’est bon. Enter here.

SKIMM'BASSADOR HALL OF FAME

We love all Skimm’bassadors. But we really, really love ones who make it into the Hall of Fame…

Elizabeth Gregory (Villanova, PA); Ali Diehl (Athens, GA); Amy Morrison (Toronto, Canada); Emily Fleming (San Antonio, TX); Lainey Segel (Needham, MA); Lauren Blood (Columbia, MO); Lucy Magnus ( Hartford, CT); Kiersten Fisher (Raleigh, NC); Samantha Cooper (Long Beach, NY)

SKIMM SHARE

SKIMM BIRTHDAYS

* indicates Skimm’bassador. Make a wish.

Skimm Dad Ken Zakin (New York, NY); *Krista Smith (Exeter, NH); *Courtney Dameron (Shelby, NC); *Dani Duguay (Gainesville, FL); *Caitlin Beasty (New York, NY); *Daniel Rosa (Washington, DC); *Krupa Gajera (New York, NY); *Meg Buda (West Hartford, CT); *Shauna Golden (Hamden, CT); *Beth Patnode (Eagan, MN); *Colleen Saitz (Boynton Beach, FL); *Sofia Stafford (New York, NY); Jessica Geren (Defiance, OH); *Kimberly Stetson (Portland, ME); *Laura DeGrandis (Chicago, IL); Michael Aprati (Tempe, AZ); Marianne Lawhead (Newnan, GA); David Stuczynski (Brecksville, OH); Emily Snedeker (Manhasset, NY); Tracy Giesler (Washington, DC); Michael Montalvo; Natalie Kutney (Manhattan, KS); Nicole Wylie (Chicago, IL); Nancy Parnes (New York, NY); Lauren Bowyer (Atlanta, GA); Victoria Sotomayor (Los Angeles, CA); Sarah Biedermann (Charlotte, NC); Nikki Constantine (Chicago, IL); Tiffany Gingerich (Orlando, FL); Liz Fisher (Downieville, CA); John Ambler (Hilton Head Island, SC); Liz Schiavone (Baltimore, MD); Morgan Alexander (Cincinnati, OH); Kelly Carr (Philadelphia, PA); Caitlin Mather (Christchurch, New Zealand); Teresa Wollen (Omaha, NE); Marian Lauer (Gates Mills, OH)