Without wishing to sound unduly morbid, death is irrefutably part of life; or, as the poet T.S. Eliot famously remarked in Sweeney Agonistes (pdf), “Life is death.” From classical writers who expounded the notion of dying to African-American novelists James Baldwin and Walter Mosley, much of whose work is permeated by the fear of it, the…

After Democrats were delivered a resounding defeat this midterm election season, President Barack Obama asked the next Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to the White House to hash out their differences over bourbon—a meeting that is still in the planning stages.  The offer sparked speculation across the Internet about the potential outcome of the…

A lawyer for Bill Cosby released a statement Sunday, saying the veteran comedian would not dignify “decade-old, discredited” claims of sexual abuse with a response. The lawyer, John P. Schmitt, released the statement to the Associated Press and it was also posted at the comedian’s website. The statement represents the first comment from the 77-year-old…

As a nation awaits a grand jury decision in the Ferguson, Mo., police shooting case that has divided some Americans along racial lines, members of a Missouri-based Ku Klux Klan chapter have been distributing fliers that promise to use “lethal force” against “terrorists masquerading as ‘peaceful protesters,’’’ Vice News reports. The fliers, reportedly distributed by…

A 50-year-old man who has fathered 26 children with 20 different women has been ordered to pay child support to the mother of a 2-year-old boy in Arkansas,  the Smoking Gun reports, citing court documents. The man, Terry Turnage of Memphis, Tenn., was ordered this month to pay $60 per week to the mother of…

The deadly encounter between Ferguson, Mo., police Officer Darren Wilson and unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9 lasted less than two minutes, according to records obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The dispatch records, obtained under Missouri’s Sunshine Law, provide the best timeline yet for the events surrounding the shooting of Brown, the report…

Update: In a prerecorded appearance on NPR’s Weekend Edition, Bill Cosby was joined by his wife, Camille, to discuss a loan of his extensive collection of African-American art to the Smithsonian Museum. According to NPR, host Scott Simon, during the interview, offered Cosby the opportunity to address the allegations that have been swirling in the…

In a move that could bolster 34-year-old Marissa Alexander’s case, a judge ruled this week that evidence of prior alleged acts of domestic violence against other women by her estranged husband would be allowed at her December retrial, First Coast News reports. Circuit Judge James Daniel on Wednesday stipulated certain conditions in the ruling, including…

By all accounts the family of 17-year-old Jessica Lynn Brewster, a high school senior with a 4.0 grade-point average, had high expectations for her, and a pregnancy would be viewed as hampering her future. That is why, police allege, the Muskegon, Mich., teen hid her pregnancy from her mother. And when she gave birth last…