“Congratulations, nerds.”

That might have been the upbeat theme of last night’s Oscars, where a co-host live-tweeted from backstage, ABC hosted an online party at Oscars.com concurrently with the televised ceremony, and a presenter made a scripted “app” joke.

But instead, those two words from James Franco were a deadpan reaction to the winners of this year’s scientific & technical awards, delivered in a faux derisive tone that could have come straight from the lips of Daniel Desario, the stoner character played by Franco in Freaks and Geeks.

Was it any surprise the Academy voters...

The accusation was explosive and unambiguous: A top general in Afghanistan used illegal “information operations” to influence visiting U.S. Senators. But military documents obtained by Danger Room show that at least one Army lawyer deemed the work legal. What’s more, the alleged information operator’s bosses repeatedly told him that he was just another communications staffer, not some bender of minds.

At the very least, this new information complicates the charges, first leveled by Lt. Col. Michael Holmes in Rolling Stone magazine. At most, it could neuter Holmes’ allegations, just as an i...