Unfortunately, Indiana also seems to want Donald Trump, which means we’re all in trouble. If you’d like to comment on that or anything else, type away:

1. Indiana Votes, in What Could Be Knockout Blow in Races — If you have thoughts as the results come in, leave them here. Me, I’m fantasizing that Cruz gets fed up and quits after tonight, and Kasich starts getting the attention he deserves, and manages to win enough delegates in the remaining primaries to deny Trump a first-ballot win. Hey, it could happen. If Donald Trump can be on the verge of obtaining a once-great party’s nomination, anything can happen. Oh, you don’t believe in underdogs? I refer you to “Hoosiers.” See photo below.
2. Democrats’ Brand Is Bad, But Republicans’ Is Way Worse — I sense it approaching… the UnParty Moment!
3. US accuses Russia of nuclear sabre-rattling, amid NATO tensions — While we make a mockery of the process of choosing our commander in chief, there’s some serious s__t going on in the world…
4. American killed as U.S. troops get closer to Islamic State battle in Iraq — As this administration continues its excruciatingly gradual escalation, at what point do we drop the “adviser” shtick, and go after ISIL?
5. Father-daughter dance canceled following complaints at elementary school — The complaint apparently was that a lot of kids are left out by a father-daughter dance. After having worked with the SC Center for Fathers and Families for several years, I’ve been acutely aware of the severe problem of father absence in far too many families. This dramatizes it.

“OK, boys — we’re gonna run the picket fence at ’em!”

So, did you have a good May Day, comrades? Well, if not, don’t come crying to me. Nichevo. It can’t be helped:

1. Terrible, awful, horrible news out of Indiana — Did you see the poll results showing Trump with a double-digit lead? Yep. It’s just getting harder and harder for the Republicans to avoid nominating this bizarre character. Which leads to such cringe-inducing stories as this one: What would Trump be like as the Republican nominee? Meanwhile, the candidate’s latest gem: “Trump accuses China of ‘raping’ US with unfair trade policy“
2. Should your workplace have a nap room? — Absolutely. One of the few nice things about our steadily decreasing staff those last few years I was at the paper was that we had an empty office in which we kept a couch. Sometimes, along about 4 in the afternoon when I needed to concentrate on proofs, I’d get this debilitating sinus headache. So I’d go into that room, set my phone to wake me in 12 or 15 minutes, and drop off immediately. I’d wake up feeling great and ready to work hours more — which is great, because I had to do just that. I highly recommend it if you can swing it.
3. CIA ‘Live Tweets’ Bin Laden Raid On 5th Anniversary — Fortunately, the raid itself was well thought-out. This Twitter stunt, I’m thinking, not so much. Look, we killed the guy; it was a thing that needed doing. Let’s not invite the country to celebrate each moment of the experience, OK?

Or maybe you’ve run across something more interesting, which wouldn’t be all that hard. If so, please share…

Several interesting items out there that I’ve run out of time today to turn into separate posts:

1. Roof friend Meek to plead guilty to federal charges — I still find myself wondering, based on what has been reported, why the feds bothered with Meek — did they really think there was a realistic chance the slaughter could have been prevented by him? I suspect it was mostly about having leverage over him when it comes time to prosecute Roof.
2. Cruz and Kasich team up to try to stop Trump — Fascinating. And, I suppose, it’s a good thing. Although it does have its Orwellian aspect. Cruz was going around acting like it’s a personal affront that Kasich was still running, and now he’s is all like, Oceania was always allied with Eurasia…
3. Federal Appeals Court Rules Against Tom Brady, Says He Must Serve Suspension — REALLY? People are still talking about this? An actual, literal federal case about whether a football was sufficiently inflated?
4. Obama outlines plans to expand U.S. Special Operations forces in Syria — Obama is SO intent on not repeating our experience in Iraq. I think he’s safe on that point. This gradual escalation of the involvement of “advisers” feels a lot more like Vietnam… By the way, you may also be interested in reading this recent piece by the editorial page editor of The Washington Post (because editorial page editors are always right), headlined “Obama destroyed Syrians’ ‘glimmer of hope’ that America would intervene“…
5. Cleveland To Pay $6 Million To Settle Tamir Rice Lawsuit — I heard an interesting observation on the radio this afternoon. Some note that in settlements regarding Walter Scott in North Charleston, Eric Garner in New York and a couple of other cases, the amounts were also about $6 million. Leaving the person on the radio to observe that $6 million seems to be the “going rate” for the wrongful death of a black man — on in the Cleveland case, a 12-year-old boy…

Flag of Ecuador. I used to be able to sing the national anthem, but it’s been awhile.

Let me just toss out a few topics before I go give platelets:

1. Ecuador quake death toll rises to 350 — This might not hit home for you, but I lived there for the longest period that I lived anywhere in my peripatetic childhood. Small quakes that would move furniture in our house were a regular part of life.
2. Dow Closes Above 18000 for First Time Since July — And if that floats your boat, I’m happy for you.
3. Oil Slips After Output Deal Fails — Which is both good and bad news. Good because I really don’t want to go back to paying more for gas, and it’s been creeping up lately. Taking the long view, it’s bad from an Energy Party perspective. You know who is the world’s largest producer now? Russia. Because it costs a lot less to produce a barrel there than it does here.
4. Supreme Court Sharply Divided on Obama Plan for Immigrants — Again, it would be nice to have nine justices!
5. A cold-eyed view of allies has left Obama with few overseas friends — Which is not good, geopolitically speaking.

I hope Breakthrough Initiatives doesn’t mind my using this image of a “Starchip” on its way to another star system.

Once, I had to come up with a front page every day whether there was news or not. Now, if there really isn’t enough front-worthy news out there, I can do an Open Thread instead. It’s liberating. No need to find a lede! Nothing even has to be important!…

1. Forget Starships: New Proposal Would Use ‘Starchips’ To Visit Alpha Centauri — This NPR story is very cool. It seems according to Stephen Hawking this other guy, before too much longer we should be able to send tiny, postage-stamp sized probes to other star systems, using sails (check it out, Brian) and lasers. And they’d get there in about 20 years. We’d send bunches of them, to make sure some made it. Interestingly, there are several different artists’ conceptions of what this craft would look like, such as this one.
2. Despite Party Pleas, Ryan Rules Out Presidential Bid — That’s OK, I wasn’t holding my breath for this anyway. Besides, I think he’s doing a passable job as speaker thus far. Let him stick to that — if, you know, the GOP can hang onto the House when their nominee is Trump or Cruz.
3. This white nationalist shoved a Trump protester. He may be the next David Duke. — Interesting piece on a guy who’s gone off the deep end.
4. STIs may have driven ancient humans to monogamy, study says — Well, yeah… and maybe to drink as well. Because this was right about the time we invented beer. “STI,” by the way, is Brit for STD. This is from The Guardian.

Don’t quite feel up to a VFP today, but here are some possible topics:

1. White officer gets probation in black driver’s shooting in Edgefield — They didn’t exactly throw the book at him; they just wafted a few pages in his general direction. The black driver in question was killed. This is kind of a weird outcome. One expects that either the cop would be cleared of wrongdoing, or receive a heavy penalty. This is odd. Oh, and guess what — we still haven’t seen the video.
2. Bible makes list of ‘most-challenged’ books — Methinks the American Library Association is trying to drum up some sympathy from conservative quarters for its concerns about efforts to “ban” books. Where did Holy Writ rate? No. 6 — Four slots below Fifty Shades of Grey and four ahead of Two Boys Kissing.
3. The fall of Edward Lin, the Navy officer accused of espionage and hiring a prostitute — Does the second charge sound kind of anticlimactic after espionage? Like, “We may not get him on the spy charges, but he’s a sailor, so everyone will believe the second one. Let’s also charge him with jaywalking while we’re at it…”
4. Why I’m quitting the ‘Walking Dead’ franchise — I confess I gave up on it myself a couple of seasons back. Are you still watching it? Why? And don’t give me any spoilers. I especially don’t what to know if something bad happened to Daryl…
5. Masters winner was a Gamecock, but not from USC — I had no idea that the Jacksonville State team also called itself the “Gamecocks.” I thought our Gamecocks were unique, for good reasons. The only other thing that interested me out of the Masters was this item from The Onion: “Jordan Spieth’s Family To Wait A Few Days Before Asking Him What The F__k Happened.”

To review the rules — this not being a Virtual Front Page, it is not intended as a complete summary of the most important news of the moment. It’s just stuff I think might be interesting to talk about — or that I think you might find interesting:

1. The Outsize Role of Brothers in Terror Plots — The two dead Brussels bombers have been identified as brothers — one of whom, if you’ll allow me a wildly irrelevant digression, looked weirdly like Will Folks (see above) — and The New York Times examines this pattern of brothers doing such things.
2. Obama rejects calls for change in strategy against Islamic State – At least on one level, I’m with POTUS on this. It’s ridiculous to say that because a terrorist attack occurs, an overall military strategy is a failure. It was grossly unfair several years back for Bud to keep claiming that the Surge didn’t work in Iraq because there were still terrorist attacks, and it’s unfair to say Brussels proves the Obama Doctrine isn’t working today. As long as there are people insane enough to blow themselves up to make a political point, it will still sometimes happen, even if your strategy is ideal. No, I’d go more by who is controlling what parts of Iraq and Syria to judge the efficacy of the president’s approach. But his position will become increasingly untenable if he keeps telling his staff about how many people fall in bathtubs in the U.S. And he needs to recognize that there is a lot of room for maneuver between his strategy and “carpet-bombing.”
3. Richland Sheriff’s Department now has three mobile gizmos — They may not be as awesome as having a tank (technically, an armored personnel carrier), but they look like they might be a lot more useful in the everyday business of law enforcement.
4. Religious groups take on government in supreme court battle over contraception — You know, whatever the ins and outs and legal fine points, you’re going to have a really uphill battle ever convincing me that the big ol’ government trying to force the Little Sisters of the Poor to do something that violates their consciences is a good thing. If nothing else, from a PR standpoint, it casts our system in a terrible light. It makes the federal government look like the kind of overbearing bully that my libertarian friends think it is. If only the order was named something else, like “Big, Mean Nuns Who Whack You on the Knuckles with a Ruler.”

Official White House photo of the president greeting Cubans while some guy in the background picks his nose.

So spring officially begins and it turns chilly again, eh? Go figure. Here’s some other stuff to talk about:

1. Obama does Havana — In case you haven’t heard. Overall, a nice visit. Of course, Raúl had to be a bad host and spoil the buzz by demanding we leave Guantánamo. He could have been cool about it and let the nice vibes rule the day, but nooooo…. “Es Un Nuevo Dia” was the right tone to strike today. Brutal dictators are so bad at PR…
2. Former Lt. Gov. McGill running for governor as a Republican — You’ll know him as longtime Senator Yancey McGill (he was Gov Lite for a comparative hiccup). And as a Democrat. Hey, it worked for David Beasley. It remains to be seen whether it still works more than two decades later.
3. Apple Unveils New Smaller iPhone as Cook Addresses Security — Tim, I love the smaller iPhone — the move toward bigger and bigger was ridiculous (I mean, I have an iPad for that sort of thing) — but I hate your antiAmerican position on security. Just FYI.
4. Kasich working in SC to get friendly delegates — I found this encouraging — Kasich is working on getting friendly SC delegates, for the critical votes after Trump fails (the nation must hope) on the first ballot. And he seems to be be out ahead of Cruz and Trump in working on this. Meanwhile, Reince Priebus is starting to get his mind right (although he still needs to work on the name) about a contested convention.

Official White House photo.

I liked the above picture of the Obamas arriving in Havana because it reminded me of this scene from “Bananas:”

Caesar, beware of Brutus. Take heed of Cassius. Come not near Casca. Have an eye to Cinna. Trust not Trebonius. Mark well Metellus Cimber. Decius Brutus loves thee not. Thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent against Caesar. If thou beest not immortal, look about you. Security gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods defend thee!

As for the rest of y’all, here’s some other stuff:

1. Kasich MUST win Ohio tonight — Otherwise, I don’t hold out much hope for the Republic, Julius.
2. Nikki Haley calls Kirkman Finlay “childish” and “rude” — For bullying and intimidating DJJ employees in a hearing. It’s fascinating to see Nikki Haley, Tea Party darling, defending bureaucrats from a fellow Republican. Of course, they’re her bureaucrats now. But I take it as further evidence that she’s grown in office — a lot.
3. Offshore drilling plan scrapped for South Carolina, other Atlantic states — That’s been out there all day, but here’s your chance to comment.
4. Former USC teacher, sister arrested after meth bust — He apparently was not a chemistry teacher, yo, so I don’t know how this happened.
5. US millennials feel more working class than any other generation — But if you say to them, “A Working Class Hero is something to be,” they look at you and go, “Huh?”
6. Obama condemns ‘vicious atmosphere’ in 2016 campaign — Bless him, but that’s just not going to have any effect at all…

Could his moment be about to arrive?

Some things to talk about..

1. Putin announces Russia will pull most of its military from Syria — Whoa! What is this — some kind of judo thing, where you pull back and use your adversary’s momentum against him? What’s his game?
2. American Fighting for Islamic State Is Captured in Iraq — We’re told this is the first American captured fighting with ISIS. I guess that’s because capturing terror suspects isn’t President Obama’s style. He prefers blowing them up. He’s a bit like Omar Bradley in that respect.
3. If Kasich wins Ohio tomorrow, a door opens to a new possibility — I thought I’d go ahead and throw this out. If I get time, I’ll write a separate post about it. If Kasich wins Ohio and Rubio loses Florida, you have a three-man race — and while Cruz will argue that Kasich should then drop out (as if we’d really be better off with Cruz than Trump), the WSJ this morning made a good case that the three-way competition could make it less likely that Trump can get the full 1,237 delegates by the convention. I think they’re right…
4. Ex-trooper pleads guilty to shooting — Actually, the headline pretty well states it.
5. N.C. sheriff weighs ‘inciting a riot’ charge against Trump — Might as well. Things aren’t crazy enough yet, right? And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy…

I’ve been out of town today — made a run up to my hometown, Bennettsville, on bidness — but here are some things for y’all to ponder:

1. Obama’s shortlist for the Supreme Court nomination — The names are in this WashPost story. The White House is leaning toward a federal judge who has already been vetted and was confirmed with bipartisan support — ya know, to make it even more obvious how ridiculous the GOP refusal to consider anybody is…
2. Now there is one: Beatty and only Beatty running for SC chief justice — OK, but… Didn’t Pleicones just get the job? I’m confused… I mean, at least the SCOTUS position is actually open. (OK, after I posted this, a trusted source reminded me that Costa has to retire at the end of this year because of his age. There will be a vote on his successor this spring. So… never mind…)
3. Michael Bloomberg Says He Won’t Run for President — Just in case you were holding your breath on that one…
4. US air strike ‘kills 150 Somali militants’ — This is leading the BBC, but not any of the American outlets I’ve looked at. British publications are less insular, more interested in the world than we are — even when it’s about what we are going in the world.
5. White House to reveal death toll of US drone strikes for first time — Taking it to another level, this leads The Guardian. One can sometimes get the impression, reading that publication, that all we do here in the U.S. of A. is send drones to kill people abroad, and kill each other with handguns at home. Still, (sort of) neocon that I am, I enjoy reading the paper. I read it most days when I was in England.
6. Inside the Rubio meltdown: Frustration, perceived blunders — Yay for Marco, he won Puerto Rico! Otherwise, not doing so hot. I was looking to a story to link to about all the activity on the GOP side over the weekend, and this was the first thing I landed on…
7. Shush now, Hillary; don’t you know a man is tawking? — A lot of people think Bernie still needs to learn a few things about running against a woman…

Screengrab from The State’s video of Kelvin Washington leaving the jail without answering reporters’ questions.

A few topics that may be of interest:

1. President Obama Presents Medal Of Honor To Navy SEAL Hero — Just to lead off with something positive, a news item in which the word “honor” can be used without irony.
2. Iranian Moderates Make Big Gains In Parliamentary Elections — Whatever is in the water over there, we could use some of that in this country.
3. Clarence Thomas asks first questions in 10 years — That’s a pretty long silence.
4. Kelvin Washington charged with felony DUI — Yep, that Kelvin Washington, the Richland County councilman.

Hey, YOU’RE a Republican governor! Do you know this Sandoval guy?

Here are three topics that on another day would have made separate posts, but I’ve been on the road all day until now…

1. Obama Vets GOP Nevada Governor for Supreme Court — OK, first, he’s Republican. Second, the Senate confirmed him unanimously for a federal judgeship in 2005. No, neither of those should guarantee him confirmation for the high court. But it would make refusing to consider him an outrage. So, if he goes with this guy, smooth move by POTUS, and one that would deposit a lot of egg on the faces of senators who have refused to consider his nominee — including our own Lindsey Graham.
2. Trump totally creamed Rubio and Cruz in Nevada caucuses — As in, he got more support than both of them combined. Yeah, it’s just Nevada, and yes, it’s just a caucus, not a real vote. But coverage of this is taking on decidedly apocalyptic tones. People — normal people, admitted to polite society — are starting to say that He Who Must Not Be Named could actually become the nominee of the party of Lincoln.
3. Steve Benjamin appears in new Hillary Clinton ad — No, this isn’t as significant as the other two, but an interesting little by-the-way thing. I have a question, though: Why is the mayor writing a letter about Hillary to his kids? Don’t they live in the same house with him? I mean, I don’t even write actual pen-and-paper, 19th-century-style letters to my daughter in Thailand. We communicate instantly via Facebook…

A few topics that may be of interest:

1. Obama on Guantanamo: ‘This is about closing a chapter in our history’ — Yeah, but it’s still probably not going to happen.
2. Senate Republicans rally around plan not to hold hearings for Supreme Court nominee — I thought everybody had agreed that this was a very foolish position for the GOP senators to take. How’d we get back to this?
3. Donnie Myers nabbed on DUI charges AGAIN — Activists say he should get help or resign. I ever tell you about the time Donnie waved a .45 pistol at me? It wasn’t loaded — I think.
4. Should Britain get out of the EU? — The PM says no; “Red Boris” says yes. What say you?
5. Carson says Obama not black enough — No, really. Talk about the pot calling the kettle an Oreo…
6. U.S. Looks Into 14 Reports That Zika Virus Was Spread via Sex — So, are we sufficiently terrified yet?

Sorry about not posting today, so close to the GOP primary. We had the memorial service today for my uncle, Braxton Collins, who passed away on Sunday. So I’ve been out of pocket.

Here are a few things for y’all to chew on:

1. Trump calls Pope Francis “disgraceful” — Which probably won’t hurt him much, because I doubt there are many Catholics among his supporters. At least, I hope not. (If there are, please don’t tell me.) In connection with this, Bryan asked on Twitter whether Satan had endorsed anyone yet. I replied that “if he doesn’t endorse The Donald, then Trump’s gone to a lot of trouble and effort for nothing…”
2. Pope suggests contraception can be condoned in Zika crisis — His Holiness was a really headline machine today, wasn’t he?
3. The Obamas to make historic trip to Cuba, Argentina next month — And why not? The Pope’s been twice, and look at all the great press he’s getting…
4. Clyburn to endorse Hillary Clinton in Democratic presidential primary — There’s a shocker. Seriously, who can imagine a Democrat as orthodox as Clyburn doing anything else?
5. Wounded soldier set to receive first penis transplant in U.S. — The brilliant doctor who developed the procedure was dismissive of all previous organ transplants: “Hearts and kidneys are Tinker Toys!” cried Dr. Frahnkenschteen. Seriously, I hope it’s a success. It could eliminate the greatest fear of many soldiers on the battlefield.
6. Poll: Clinton’s Lead Shrinks as Women Shift to Sanders — However, that’s unlikely to mean much in SC — it’s a national poll.
7. Helicopter crashes near Pearl Harbor memorial — I’m including this because it happened maybe 200 yards from Burl’s workplace. Maybe he could give us an eyewitness account. Bryan pointed me to the Vine, below…

Some topics, if there’s anyone out there at this hour:

1. The election focus turns to South Carolina — Which is a little bit terrifying, given that both parties’ nomination processes are pretty much FUBAR at this point. The WashPost is reporting How New Hampshire turned into a nightmare for the Republican establishment, and it’s no picnic over on the Democratic side, either. FYI, Hillary Clinton lost women to Bernie in New Hampshire.
2. Kelvin Washington pleads guilty to tax charges — That’s the second shoe to drop, after Brian Newman earlier. I see no mention of whether he will, you know, resign from Richland County Council. So I’m guessing the answer to that is “no.”
3. Chris Christie drops out — Earlier in the day, Carly Fiorina did, too. I’m gonna miss Christie. I was looking forward to seeing him campaign down here. Here’s what he said about dropping out, on Facebook. Presumably, Marco Rubio is still running, because he had a rally here in Columbia today.
4. Twitter Posts Loss Amid Growth Woes — Oh, yeah? Well… It’s still awesome, and Facebook still sucks. So there…
5. US will not rule out ground troops being sent into Syria — Oops, I left out a word! It’s Saudi ground troops Ashton Carter was talking about. What did you think I meant? I’m not entirely clear why Saudi troops are the SecDef’s to rule out or rule in, but that’s what the story says.
6. Should we just kill them all? — Mosquitoes, that is. Interesting piece in The Guardian about whether we should just deal with Zika, malaria, yellow fever and the whole mess by getting rid of the blood-sucking pests for good. The phrase is “editing nature,” which I find exciting, since newspapers don’t seem to be hiring editors anymore. Opportunity!

I don’t have time today for much, but here are a few topics that might interest y’all:

1. Senate finance panel weighs $400 million in tax cuts as part of roads deal — I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that anyone who thinks the first step in raising badly-needed road funding is to cut an unrelated tax by $400 million shouldn’t be allowed to serve on a finance committee.
2. One Killed in Oregon as Protest Leaders Are Arrested — I’m curious to know more about exactly what happened on that road last night, but it sounds like the cops have pretty well decapitated this movement, even if not as cleanly as they might have liked. But the other occupiers are still occupying.
3.  Zika Testing Is Urged for Some Newborns — This is the scariest thing to come from South of the Border in my lifetime. Way, way worse than Killer Bees. At least that was a threat we could laugh at.
4. Federal jury finds 2 Midlands men guilty of operating gambling ring — These guys shoulda known: State government controls all the gambling in South Carolina, and doesn’t look kindly on anyone poaching on its turf. Why couldn’t they have shown some respect and gone in for prostitution or shylocking instead?
5. Benjamin’s State of the City address — Thoughts on this? I missed it, but The State‘s story (linked) provides a bulleted list of what it covered.
6. Special anti-Trump edition of National Review — I’ve meant to blog about this for days. No, I haven’t read it, but I respect the conservatives who were willing to stand up and be counted in this way.

Anyone have any other topics?

This is weird — I would have sworn I posted this Friday. But apparently not. It wasn’t all that interesting then, but I share it now just to show I was thinking about you Friday. Apparently, it was so dull that I lost interest before hitting “Publish”:

1. It’s the end of the world as we know it — That is to say, it’s expected to snow somewhere within 200 miles of us (perhaps even closer!), and so everyone’s getting very excited. Here’s the song if you want to listen to it. But just to make you feel better as a South Carolinian, they’re going WAY more ape over the weather in New York and Washington. Of course, they’re expecting an actual blizzard, so…
2. Debate Sharpens Over Single-Payer Health Care, But What Is It Exactly? — It’s wonderful; that’s what it is. But unattainable. Kind of like Marilyn Monroe was, unless you were Joe DiMaggio.
3. Obama’s offshore drilling plan meets heavy resistance along Atlantic coast — Thoughts on this? I don’t think we’ve had a discussion of it here. As head of the Energy Party, of course, I have to be for it… although… with oil prices low, and the U.S. actually exporting the stuff again… maybe it’s not that urgent that we hunt for more right now… On the other hand, rising oil prices helped lead to a gain in the market this week, so…

OK, I’m going to stop straining. There’s just not much news out there today…

Some very quick options before I run into a meeting:

1. For The First Time Since 1938, A January Hurricane Has Formed In The Atlantic — Yeah… I don’t know about global climate change, but it sure seems to be changing in the Atlantic…
2. Senators propose 5 percent pay hike for state employees — Senators were Jackson and Courson. There were other things in the proposal too, I believe, but I guess the pay increase grabs attention.
3. 2016 Oscar Nominations Are Announced: ‘The Revenant,’ ‘Mad Max’ Get Most Nods — OK, I saw “Mad Max” in the theater. Please tell me what was so awesome about it. Maybe it was something subtle, although believe me, the folks who made this one weren’t really into subtlety…
4. Ahead of the Debate, Seven Goals for Seven Candidates — So we’ve got that coming up tonight.
5. Jakarta attacks: Islamic State says it was responsible — They mean ISIL. Those jerks will claim responsibility for anything, if it’s horrible enough.

6. Alan Rickman, Actor Known for ‘Harry Potter,’ Dies — Bryan sent me an IM via Twitter to say, “Alan Rickman died, and I’m in Court today. You should blog about this because I can’t. Consider it a guest blog that you do, yourself. Great actor.” To me, he was the one bright spot in the embarrassing “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

And if you’ve got something else, let’s hear it…