Page 1 Roundup (03/30)

The Daily News: Rusty Staub, beloved Mets icon, dead at 73

This might have been hot if the victim were a dude

Towleroad: Kathy Griffin to play Kellyanne Conway on Comedy Central's 'The President Show' 

Mother Jones: Hundreds attend funeral for Stephon Clark a week after he was shot by Sacramento Police

Politico: Advertisers -- including TripAdvisor, Nestle, Wayfair and Hulu -- are dumping Laura Ingraham after she slammed Parkland survivor

Page Six: This has the makings of my favorite celebrity couple ever

The New York Times: Tabloid mogul used Trump’s friendship to court Saudis

 EPA prepares to roll back regulations that require cars to be cleaner and more efficient -- prepare for the L.A. smog I first encountered in 1981 ...

The Washington Post: How Peeps, pensions and a lawsuit threaten to upend the American retirement system

The Wall Street Journal: Sloths hot, armadillos not: Zoos seek affection for overlooked species

#JobApplicationsMatter

While it's good to hear that the Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 as he held a pellet gun has finally been fired, it's not comforting to know it was because the officer, Timothy Loehmann, lost his job for lying on his employment application -- not for what he did. Perhaps if he had been properly vetted in the first place -- the deceit was only discovered during the investigation into the shooting -- Tamir would be alive today.

Iowa Man Arrested in ‘Ambush-Style’ Deaths of 2 Officers

Two men in blue had to die because of this racist piece of shit?

The New York Times reports:

Two police officers were shot and killed early Wednesday while sitting in their patrol cars in the Des Moines area, and the authorities later arrested a 46-year-old Iowa man in connection with the “ambush-style attacks.”

The man, identified as Scott Michael Greene, of Urbandale, Iowa, was taken into custody in Dallas County, just west of Des Moines, said Sgt. Paul Parizek, a spokesman for the Des Moines Police Department.

Mr. Greene had had some confrontations with the police in the recent past, as well as minor criminal convictions, but Sergrant Parizek, a spokesman for the Des Moines Police Department, said that the authorities did not yet know of any motive for the shooting, and that “we may never actually know what motivated this act.”

Just a few weeks ago, Urbandale police escorted Mr. Greene from an Urbandale High School football game, Chief McCarty said, after he waved a Confederate flag in front of black students, and others in the crowd complained that he was creating a disturbance. The chief said that Mr. Greene, whose daughter attends the high school, was given a trespass warning, and “was working out with the school officials what are the parameters of when he could be on the school grounds and when he could not.”

The first fatal shooting Wednesday, of Officer Martin, occurred at the intersection where that football field is found, a few blocks from the house where Mr. Greene lives.

A video, apparently shot by Mr. Greene and posted on Oct. 16 to a YouTube account in his name, shows the latter part of that confrontation, in which an officer refers to the man recording the scene as Scott Greene.

In the video, the man is angry, saying that while he was at the game, someone hit him and took away the Confederate flag. Throughout the 10-minute video, the officers tell the man he is being accused of trespassing and causing a disturbance, and that he is no longer permitted on the grounds.

He repeatedly demands that officers return his flag and file assault and robbery charges against “the African-American people that were behind me.”

“I was peacefully protesting,” he said, and asked officers dozens of times what crime he had committed.

And the saddest thing is that half of America seems to be thinking: Why do black people have to be so intolerant of white people being intolerant of blacks?

Page 1 Roundup (09/23)

Cuomo confidantes hit with corruption charges / Read HERE.

New NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill opens up about cop-related killings and improving relations with community after 'stop and frisk debacle' / Read HERE.

Yahoo Says Hackers Stole Data on 500 Million Users in 2014 / Read HERE.

Homely fruits are having their day in the sun / Read HERE.

Page 1 Roundup (09/22)

Anthony Weiner clearly has a problem. But something tells me he's about to become the poster child for something that plagues many more people than we think. 

Anthony Weiner may face criminal prosecution for allegedly sexting 15-year-old girl, sending her shirtless pictures / Read HERE.

More violence hits Charlotte after shooting. Now the police are resisting releasing the video.

If the Government Thinks You’re Dead, That’s Really Hard to Fix / Read HERE.

At Least It Was Realistic

Woman Is Accidentally Killed by Police Officer Playing ‘Bad Guy’ at Training Academy in Florida

Sigh. As Damian pointed out, this would have never happened if she had just "cooperated." Read HERE.

3 Killed in Baton Rouge as Fears Rise Over Police Safety

I haven't watched "The Daily Show" since Jon Stewart left. But I don't think anyone has summed up what happened in Dallas -- and now, sadly, Baton Rouge -- more perfectly than Trevor Noah. And now today a judge in Baltimore is going to rule on the highest-ranking police officer charged in the Freddie Gray case. Something's got to give. 

UPDATE: And, of course, the cop was acquitted of all charges.

A Black Christmas Story

Timely because of the sad state of affairs in the world -- and because I just saw the holiday classic for the first time!

WATCH: Kentucky Police Officer Shoots Black Man for No Reason

When will these senseless shootings stop?