O-Bits: No Thanks Edition

There are many awful things about Donald Trump; everyone has their own list, so we’re not going to re-numerate them here. But for one retired journalist with a late-stage cancer diagnosis, he’s become a reason to live. Writing in the Los Angeles Times op-ed section, Melina Walsh, the former editor of the Sacramento News and Review, says the utter awfulness of our current Commander-in-Chief has given her reason to live: she wants to outlive his stay in the White House. “The president represents the flip side of everything I love about America,” she writes, and has made her fear for future generations. And while we hope for a quick end to his administration, we hope Ms. Walsh lives to see it, and lives to see the our country’s “ideals upheld and America set back on its imperfect but still exceptional trajectory toward the light.”

Have we become overly obsessed with curating our Instagram feeds? Is it possible to die by selfie?  Apparently, yes. In London, Toni Kelly, a 20-year-old New Zealander who the New York Post reports was “known for documenting her travels,” died falling out of a window in her new home while trying to take a selfie.  Her family is raising money to being her remains home; you can donate here. Her organs were donated to “save other lives.”

Finally, in upstate New York, a woman was shot by her neighbor, who apparently mistook her for a deer. Rosemary Billquist was out walking her dogs in the early evening in the rural town of Sherman, when she was shot once by Thomas B. Jadlowski. He immediately called 911 once he realized his mistake, but she was pronounced dead soon after. Jadlowski claims he thought she was a deer, but that excuse might get him into more trouble. Hunting deer after sundown is against the law in New York State.

Steven Mirkin

Steven Mirkin’s diverse career has taken him from politics to pop culture to high art, offering him a front row seat to some of the most fascinating events and personalities of our time: writing speeches, fundraising appeals and campaign materials for Ed Koch, John Heinz and independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson; chronicling the punk/new wave scenes in New York and London; interviewing musicians such as Elton John, John Lydon and Buck Owens; profiling modern masters Julian Schnabel, Paul Schrader and Jonathan Safran Foer; and writing for TV shows including 21, The Chamber, Let's Make A Deal, and Rock Star: INXS.

Leave a Reply

Notify of
avatar
1000
wpDiscuz