In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

There was an earthquake in the Los Angeles area this morning of a 4.4 magnitude followed by at least six aftershocks. Thankfully, there are no reports of injuries or serious damage.

[Content Note: Violence; guns] Joseph Andrew Felton, Jr. is now in custody after a nearly nine-hour standoff with Chicago police yesterday. Felton is suspected of having killed his wife.

The Crimean parliament voted this morning to declare independence from Ukraine, "a first step toward the goal backed by 96% of voters during a weekend referendum: becoming part of Russia." This is the beginning of...something.

[CN: Death; homophobia; war on agency] The founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, Fred Phelps, is reportedly on the verge of death. Westboro, of course, is the outfit known for picketing the funerals of soldiers and picketing or harassing queer activists and abortionists. They are a harmful, contemptible lot, and, because I don't subscribe to the Fred Phelps Doctrine of Reprehensible Fuckery, I will not celebrate that he is dying. Instead I will wish on him the enlightenment of compassion, in the hope he will apologize to the people he has harmed with his last breaths. It's never too late for decency as long as you're not yet dead, Fred.

[CN: Violence; guns] A witness at the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius testified that Pistorius once went into "combat mode" and searched his house with a gun because he was startled by the sound of a washing machine. "Pistorius tweeted about the incident in November 2012: 'Nothing like getting home to hear the washing machine on and thinking its (sic) an intruder to go into full combat recon mode into the pantry!'" This guy.

[CN: Rape apologia] Scarlett Johansson, who has starred in three Woody Allen films, says that Dylan Farrow was "irresponsible" in naming her, among others, in her New York Times piece about having survived sex abuse at the hands of her adoptive father. "I think it's irresponsible to take a bunch of actors that will have a Google alert on and to suddenly throw their name into a situation that none of us could possibly knowingly comment on. That just feels irresponsible to me." And further: "I think [Allen will] continue to know what he knows about the situation, and I'm sure the other people involved have their own experience with it. It's not like this is somebody that's been prosecuted and found guilty of something, and you can then go, 'I don't support this lifestyle or whatever.' I mean, it's all guesswork. I don't know anything about it. It would be ridiculous for me to make any kind of assumption one way or the other." Welp.

Former Republican Congressman and current MSNBC host Joe Scarborough is maybe (?) considering a presidential run. Well, he's definitely signing books, anyway! Joe Scarborough is terrible, and also he would probably be the best candidate the Republicans could muster.

Here is some fun stuff from a 10th (!) anniversary panel of Lost. For some value of "fun," which may be "totally fucking infuriating," depending on your view of the finale.