Steve Carell stole the show from Jimmy Fallon's barbershop quartet, the Ragtime Gals, last night, taking center stage in the a cappella version of "Sexual Healing" that you never knew you needed (probably because you didn't need it).

While I'm inherently wary of anything that might prompt one to consider what having sex with a horny Jimmy Fallon would be like, a post-Office Carell appearance is never unwelcome.

"When I get that feeling / I want sexual healing. - Marvin Gaye" - Michael Scott

[h/t Digg]

"Mama didn't raise no victim": That's how a controversial Texas gun-rights group described one of its dedicated members last May. That activist was arrested Wednesday for allegedly murdering her estranged husband and stepdaughter, then driving herself to a mental hospital.

Authorities locked down a nearby elementary school as a precaution after discovering the bodies yesterday at the Arlington home Veronica Dunnachie, 35, had shared with her husband Russell, according to the Daily Mail. Dunnachie reportedly shot the Russell and his adult daughter from a previous marriage, but left three of her own children in the house unharmed.

Police found Dunnachie after the incident attempting to check herself into nearby Millwood Hospital, which "specializes in mental health and chemical dependency care," according to CBSDFW.com.

Multiple reports say relations were strained and a divorce was imminent between Russell and Veronica, who lists an armed-guard service as her employer and who, according to relatives, had recently "become very distant, lost weight and become heavily involved in gun-rights activist groups."

Indeed, Dunnachie's Facebook account was full of images showing her shooting and participating in activities with the local chapter of Open Carry Texas, a Second Amendment group so provocative that even the NRA has distanced itself from the group's tactics at times.

Dunnachie could be seen gathering with fellow gun-owners and a child at an open-carry action in a local restaurant:

Participating at several "don't comply," "come and take it" pro-gun, anti-government rallies:

Chilling in a Target parking lot with fellow armed citizens:

Firing a Chinese-made version of the AK-47 assault-style rifle:

Target-shooting a bipod-mounted AR-15 variant:

And expressing her political preferences:

Open Carry Texas hasn't made an official comment on Dunnachie's case yet, but the group's head, C.J. Grisham, issued a personal condolence on his Facebook site. "My thoughts are with my friends who lost a good friend," he wrote. "You know who you are and I'm thinking of you." That led to some interesting responses from his followers and friends:

"I knew her, I'm not that surprised," commenter Bobby Thomas wrote. Another commenter responded: "A few people are saying what you said, Bobby Thomas. Still, when anyone does something like that it's a little shocking.. Just a bit."

As police assemble their case against Dunnachie, those who know her in the pro-gun cause and outside it will likely pore over her posts for clues as to what may have happened—posts like the profile picture she added on New Year's Day 2013:

Extreme Cheapskates, TLC's Wednesday night reality show, is basically like if someone made a documentary about a series of "yo mama" snaps. Your mama is so cheap, for Christmas dinner she made a turkey out of cheap chicken and called it a churkey.

The key word here is "cheap" and not "poor." The show is careful to make the distinction that these Cheapskates COULD afford to get nice Christmas meals, trees, and decorations but choose instead to go a different route. Your mama is so cheap, she saves up dirty cotton balls all year and uses them as fake snow around her house at Christmas.

In a way, these people are puzzle solvers, where life is a game and every dollar saved is a point earned. You can feel the addictive thrill of saving emanating from this "Cheapskate" who's trying to put together a nativity scene from knick-knacks around her large, lovely home. You can sense her excitement when she finds a mystical masquerade-themed porcelain doll in a clown costume and whispers, triumphantly, "Joseph!"

While clearly a lot of these interludes are staged, these are definitely not actors. These are actual Cheapskates who refuse to be good consumerist sheeple, and the TLC cameras pressure them to take their frugality to wacky lengths and involve friends and family in labeling their behavior as shameful. The surreal combination of non-actors essentially performing improv with their actual family in hilariously awkward situations is something I treasure like a triple coupon, even if the underlying message of "Just buy some shit already, asshole" is a mild form of cultural policing.

Because hey, if necessity is the mother of invention, cheapness is the feisty, embarrassing mom of creativity... and occasionally food poisoning.

[ Videos via TLC]

Morning After is a new home for television discussion online, brought to you by Gawker. Follow @GawkerMA and read more about it here.

A Keystone Heights, Fla. couple turned themselves in to Clay County police earlier this week after allegedly forging documents to live in their $1.4 million, 7,000-square foot "home." The couple's ruse was exposed when the home's new, actual owners discovered people were already living in their house.

Jenna Dean, 23, apparently bragged about her new home on Facebook, allegedly posting, "This is the house we just bought. We have a lot of work to do, it'll take some time but Rome wasn't built overnight." (So true.)

"It's amazing...way better than you made it sound!" one friend supposedly told the couple. "I'm totally jealous!" (Same!!!)

All it takes to find a home like theirs—with six bedrooms, double two-car garages, spiral staircases, and a swimming pool—is "years of looking and harassing banks about their foreclosures," Jenna allegedly told friends. Easy.

Landing a sick mansion like that isn't so easy, apparently. Police claim Jenna Dean, and her husband Justin, 24, forged bank documents to secure the home from foreclosure. From the Florida Times-Union:

In September, the Clay County Sheriff's Office was contacted by an attorney who completes real estate transactions for Ameris Bank.

The attorney said the Deans filed a fake quit-claim deed with the Clay County Clerk of Courts and the property had not been sold, according to the police report.

A quit-claim deed is used to transfer property rights from one person to another.

The fraudulent deed featured the forged signatures of three employees of Ameris Bank.

The couple has since been released on bond and it would appear they have skedaddled: The Facebook page of their horse shoeing and grooming business, J.D. Farrier Services, claims they have closed shop after accepting a job offer out of state.

[Screengrab via WJXT]

The West Coast is famous for its "feast or famine" approach to the weather, and true to form, people from southern California through British Columbia are getting clobbered by an immense storm. The storm is causing so many issues that it's tough to list them all. Welcome back to the world of weather, West Coasters.

The List

As of the writing of this post, there were 31 different types of watches, advisories, and warnings in place across the western United States. The alerts range from flash flood warnings to an air quality alert for Salmon, Idaho, where a temperature inversion is trapping fireplace/wood stove smoke at ground level.

Aside from the fact that this many alerts can prove confusing to the public (especially since so many of them overlap), it shows how much more robust and dynamic Pacific storms can be compared to storms typically seen in the rest of the United States.

The storm is so bad that many schools cancelled classes today. In fact, today is the first time since 9/11 that they've had to close public schools in San Francisco.

Rain

Heavy rain is the biggest and most welcome story with this system, but as usual, too much at once does more harm than good. Forecast precipitation values for the next seven days from the Weather Prediction Center show a huge portion of central and northern California seeing five or more inches of precipitation—rain below freezing, snow in the mountains above the freezing level.

The highest rainfall totals will occur along the higher elevations near San Francisco, with the combination of tropical moisture and orographic lift (enhanced lift caused by higher terrain) producing more than six inches of rain. A couple inches of rain are even possible down around Los Angeles.

The area desperately needs rain, but too much rain falling all at once causes flooding and doesn't let the water seep into the ground effectively. Drought essentially causes the soil to develop malabsorption—the dry soil doesn't absorb rainwater instantly. It takes a long, steady, light to moderate rain to moisten the soil and help replenish its nutrients. The good thing about all of this, however, is that this rain is helping to refill the reservoirs that supply communities their drinking water.

Flooding

Communities (especially valleys) caught under the heaviest bands of rain are experiencing flash flooding. Flash flood warnings are in effect for many areas across central California this afternoon as storm sewers can't handle the runoff from the heavy rain. The NWS has issued flash flood warnings for Sonoma County down to Santa Cruz County.

The difference between a flood and a flash flood is that water rises very rapidly in the latter, with water possibly measuring several feet deep in a matter of minutes.

Radar estimates show that bands of showers and thunderstorms coming in off the coast are producing rainfall rates of up to two inches an hour. Radar estimates also show that most of the San Francisco area have seen upwards of four inches of rain over the past day or so, with measurements exceeding five inches in northern parts of the state.

The video at the top of this post (showing a person kayaking in the streets) was taken in Healdsburg, California, a city in central Sonoma County north of San Francisco. The area has seen about four inches of rain so far, and rain will continue coming down at a steady clip through nightfall.

Snow

Speaking of drinking water, most of the water that California residents use comes from snow melt in the Sierras. Blizzard warnings are currently in effect for the mountain peaks as heavy snow and incredible winds (on the order of 100+ MPH) are expected to occur as the storm moves further inland this afternoon. The highest elevations could see three or more feet of snow on the ground by Saturday evening.

Wind

8AM - Wind Reports this morning. Please share any wind reports and/or wind damage below. #RenoWind pic.twitter.com/81BdTy9nX3

— NWS Reno (@NWSReno) December 11, 2014

The other big story with this storm is the winds. Pacific storms are notorious for the ferocious winds they produce when they crash ashore. The highest elevations in California are measuring wind gusts above 100 MPH, with one location seeing a 113 MPH wind gust earlier this morning.

CBS reports that nearly 100,000 people who get their electricity from PG&E had no power this morning, and that number is likely going to rise as more trees and lines fall due to the high winds.

Unbelievable destruction. #Q13FOX pic.twitter.com/6D4acRCOSx

— Jeff Van Sant (@JEFFQ13) December 11, 2014

The wind is also whipping up house-sized waves, with heights reaching more than 30 feet from British Columbia through northern California. The rough seas are causing major problems for beaches and coastal communities, with at least one house (above) washed into the ocean thanks to erosion.

The weather should start to clear by tomorrow and it'll be out of here by the weekend, causing issues for the rest of the country. This isn't the worst storm they've ever seen, but it is the worst the West Coast has seen in five years, and that seems like forever when you've been in a drought for so long.

[Images: NWS, Gibson Ridge | Video: The Press Democrat]

You can follow the author on Twitter or send him an email.

The perfect gift says something about you, something about me, and something about our relationship. That's a lot of things for one consumer product to say, but it's absolutely essential that you nail this, which is a lot of pressure at an already stressful time. So let us do the heavy lifting. Presented for you below are gift ideas for every single kind of person you are likely to encounter this holiday season to whom it is obligatory that you give something.

Moms

Moms like hunks, and Celtic music, and there is no Josh Groban shit they don't already have, so why not think outside the box this holiday:

If your mom isn't that kind of mom, just get her Firefly. I don't know why, but it works like a charm.

Dads That Can Work Netflix

Chromecast.

Don't let him see you connect it, and he will think you are a technical wizard. Bonus kid points! Or, if you don't want to be fixing his broke computer forever, let him see the secret, which is that you plug it in. Then you give it a fun name, connect it to whatever he thinks is a tablet, and he enters the future painlessly.

Dads That Cannot Work Netflix

The Sopranos, because True Blood got "too weird." Will also work with The Wire...

...Or anything that has the magic phrase "Ken Burns" in the title.

Ken's not afraid to dive deep, just like your dad likes!

Small Children

Something about Frozen? Only if your small relative is super basic. It is a very good movie, but they already have all the Frozen paraphernalia a person will ever need in their lifetime. Instead, go hard with the real Hans Christian Andersen, whose bloody shitshow stories are the true things children crave.

The best one is called "The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf." She treads on a loaf and the next thing you know she is tortured to death while the Christ child just watches. Kids are so into shit like that, why act like they aren't? It's good for them to explore the shadows in a safe environment, such as storytelling, rather than just out on the street with the maniacs and who knows what. They won't tread on any more fucking loaves, tell you that much.

Tween Children

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Don't worry about it, just give it to them and watch it with them, because it's so good. Just be careful or you may find yourself telling other adults how much you love it, like I am doing right now.

Or else give them The O.C. Kids grow up fast these days and they need to know the score.

White Elephant Cousins: Price Limit $15-50

Ideally you will find something that isn't streaming yet, but is still cheap. They don't care, and you don't care, so even if it goes online January 1, you still win. And that is what the holidays are about. I suggest a single season of Friday Night Lights or Gilmore Girls, just to prove the point how much you love them (precisely in the $15-50 range).

White Elephant Cousins: Price Limit $100+

Amazon Prime
Congratulations, you are in control forever. Every year from now until the end of days you can celebrate your holiday by doubling down on this gift that is not only useful but a wonderful way to declare "I am the one with the power now."

Or if you really like the person and want them to think you are an "outlaw" you can give them a piece of paper with all of your passwords on it: Netflix, Hulu+, what have you. Now you have a secret! Cousin secrets.

Aunt with Too Many Animals

We Bought a Zoo to show the consequences of too many animals, or, if a more intensive intervention is required, the Jurassic Park trilogy.

Then when she has anxieties about the rampant dinosaurs, you can say "this is a good time to talk about animals" in a non-confrontational fashion. Life finds a way!

Indigo Children

The most special person in your universe deserves the most special gift in the universe, so think hard. What says, "There has never been anyone like you born into this world" or "We are all in the gutter looking at you, a star"? Our suggestion is the movie Ender's Game.

Just do Chik-Fil-A rules and contribute double this amount ($30) to the LGBT charity of your choice, and then share that information with them also. They'll know you really took the time to understand their unique selves.

Or if that's too complex, Anne of Green Gables. A wonderful miniseries that is the perfect gift for any human being, but especially the ones nobody fully understands.

One bonus here is that Gilbert Blythe can get it, which means when they watch it their brains will produce the "love hormone" oxytocin, which means you will be in their fond thoughts, always.

Your Brother

Already watches too much TV and plays on his phone too much and cares about sports too much. The best gift you can give him is no TV but something that requires him to be in another location, such as on the toilet reading The Goldfinch, nature's number-one longest Pulitzer Prize winner.

A real page-turner at certain points, but even during the months when he puts it down and forgets about it, the book will still be there, on the back of the toilet, reminding him daily that you love him, and he's an intelligent person, but those things don't define him. Only he can do that.

Your Sister

Is a pretty brave person if you think about it, what with all the pressures of body image, sexual mixed-messages, gluten, and the constant threat of microaggressions. Tell her that you love her and trust her judgment implicitly by giving her movies about sisters who are shittier than her, or than you: Margot at the Wedding is superior in this one, and works well within a trilogy of sister movies about sisters, like the obnoxious Rachel Getting Married, which is a completely different film, or even The Family Stone, which is about Xmas so you can watch it immediately and celebrate the holidays quietly together in a room without speaking, just like you are away in a manger.

Or if you are cool, random sisters like The Banger Sisters, or the magical witch sisters in Practical Magic and Thelma & Louise, or off-the-wall like the Switchblade Sisters, add a fun note like, "This is just like us!"

If you want to hurt her, or simply curb some behaviors, just give her something with Gwyneth Paltrow in it. She'll get the message all right.

Somebody That You Don't Really Care to Know Much About Them

Sometimes Christmas means you have to wing it, based on the bare minimum of information. If you find yourself in this situation, like say if there is a fiancé coming to Christmas this year that you don't think will be in the picture next year but you still have to get him something, why not go with the Breaking Bad Box Set? It comes in a barrel shape.

Nothing says quite so eloquently "My opinion of you is that you are a person." Plus, you get to relive the Breaking Bad experience by putting a lot of money into a barrel you will never see again.

Stepmoms, Good Ones or Bad Ones, Either Way

All stepmoms love two things: Your Dad and a bargain. Whether you have a good stepmom or a bad one, it doesn't matter: your job here is to love her more than she loves you, but not in a way where you will get caught wanting her to love you. So pick a TV show or movie she mentioned over a year ago, in passing, and when she opens it you say, "I remember the event when you mentioned this thing," and fill in lots of details like it was the first day of the rest of your life. Here are some likely candidates:

You will either cement a blossoming love relationship with a wonderful woman who will always feel a little out of place, or you will be making her feel like dirt. Either way that's the holidays.

[Image via AP]

Morning After is a new home for television discussion online, brought to you by Gawker. Follow @GawkerMA and read more about it here.

Chet Haze, the biological son of Hollywood star Tom Hanks and America's unintentionally funniest young man, is speaking out via social media after a variety of hilarious Chet Haze-related events.

In a bold video statement posted to Instagram yesterday, Chet Haze says the following, while walking down a sidewalk and looking at a downward angle into his phone's video camera: "If I was just an anonymous person, people wouldn't have problems with how I carry myself. But because my dad is famous, everybody has an expectation of who I should be and who I shouldn't be. But you know what, at the end of the day, I have a voice, I'ma use it, cause I'm just Chet."

Haze's statement comes in the wake of the time Chet Haze tweeted photos of himself holding guns earlier this week, shortly after tweeting a photo of "Young Rico [Chet Haze] striking the 80's b-boy pose on the lawn of the White House in a tuxedo," shortly after spending the last few years morphing from a college rapper to an R&B singer to what I would humbly call America's foremost comic philosopher.

He's just Chet.

[Pic: Chet]

Here is an image of one of last nights undercovers pointing his gun directly at a person with a camera. #oakland pic.twitter.com/lVEsNEhFpu

— Courtney Harrop (@CourtneyPFB) December 11, 2014

During a Bay Area protest last night over the failure to indict the police officers who killed Michael Brown and Eric Garner, an undercover law enforcement agent who'd been marching with demonstrators pulled out his gun and aimed it at a crowd of protestors.

Cop draws gun on demonstrators in dramatic photos at overnight protest via @reuterspictures: http://t.co/EIjmB61afD pic.twitter.com/shDr1uzgIU

— NBC News Pictures (@NBCNewsPictures) December 11, 2014

The officer reportedly drew his weapon after the crowd—reported by NBC News to be about 100 people—confronted him and his partner. Several witnesses tweeted first-hand accounts of the incident.

Undercover cop pulls out gun, threatens crowd after protesters outed them #oaklandprotest

— Erin Baldassari (@e_baldi) December 11, 2014

Tall 6'8" undercover and shorter 5'8" undercover with mask on were confronted in dark part of 27th street. Tall cop pulled out baton...

— Dave Id (@DaveId) December 11, 2014

Tall cop quickly threw baton on ground and then pulled out gun, holding it sideways all gangster. Someone then clocked the masked cop...

— Dave Id (@DaveId) December 11, 2014

Masked undercover wasn't beaten badly as I first heard from witness further away, but hit straight in face and knocked down...

— Dave Id (@DaveId) December 11, 2014

The Oakland Police Department later confirmed one the undercover officer's presence at the march but denied that he worked for their department.

The #OaklandProtest pictured man isn't an OPD officer & not an OPD arrest. OPD 1st responded to scene on report from other agency. 1/1

— Lt. Chris Bolton (@OPDChris) December 11, 2014

2/2 That outside agency has been notified to provide details and address concerns re #OaklandProtest concerns.

— Lt. Chris Bolton (@OPDChris) December 11, 2014

A mass facesitting demonstration is taking place outside Parliament in London to protest new U.K. pornography regulations that will hold online porn to the same standards as DVDs: That means no spanking, no bondage, no watersports, no fisting, no squirting, and, of course, no facesitting.

Protestors opposed to the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014, led by sex worker Charlotte Rose, staged the facesit-in to coincide with a parliamentary debate on what should be allowed in internet porn. Rose argues the new guidelines are sexist, because the list of banned acts seems to target female pleasure.

"These laws are not only sexist but they taking away people's choices without consent," she told the Independent.

Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert made a move to annul the new rules, calling it a "very odd" double standard to ban videos of acts that are legal between consenting adults. Huppert "tabled an Early Day Motion in order to ensure that the topic is debated in the House of Commons," the Independent reported.

Protestors had a secondary goal of setting a Guinness World Record for most people sitting on faces at the same time—500 people were expected to show up, based on Facebook RSVPs—but Guinness apparently rejected the record attempt.

[Screengrab via RT/LiveLeak]

At least 12 mid-ranking enlisted crewmen are now implicated in an investigation over secret cellphone videos of female officers showering and dressing aboard the ballistic-missile submarine USS Wyoming, according to documents obtained by Navy Times.

News of the incident, the first such large-scale lechery allegation since women were cleared for submarine service three years ago, broke in early December. But the extent of the alleged cyber-peeping tom case is only emerging now. "Three or four" women, all officers, were apparently shown undressed in seven separate videos recovered by authorities, the Times reports:

12 male sailors are suspected of viewing the videos taken from August to November 2013 and March to June 2014. The videos were first reported to the command in mid-November.

Submarine Force Atlantic confirmed the second incident report, but a spokesman declined to elaborate about the command report's findings.

All of those implicated are petty officers, most of whom had seen or known about the videos but did not report it, said a senior Navy official familiar with the investigation. The official emphasized that only one sailor, a second class petty officer, is believed to have recorded and distributed them using a smart phone.

"This was not 11 guys, each with different" cameras, said the source. "It was really one guy doing the videography piece and then sharing it with other people."

The logistics of life aboard a sub were already complicated before the silent service began integrating women in earnest in 2011. The Times describes how men and women, for now, share the restrooms ("heads," to salty sea dogs) on the Navy's largest boomer subs:

A ballistic missile sub typically has 15 officers and 140 enlisted on board, with unisex showers in "officer country." When a woman is using the shower, for example, she puts up a sign to indicate the head is in use by a female officer and men must wait to enter until it's unoccupied.

It's possible that the cameras caught both men and women showering, but the final incident report only cites women as victims.

Women are slated to join the crews of the Navy's smaller fast-attack subs next year, in similar fashion to the way they integrated on ballistic-missile boats: a few officers at first, then more enlisted sailors later.

[Photo credit: AP Images]

How do you get a quote from Sony Pictures chair Amy Pascal for a column you want to write about her? It helps if you're good friends with her husband—and it helps even more if you show him your column in advance to assure Pascal that the coverage is positive.

That New York Times op-ed columnists kiss their sources' asses and promise positive coverage seems so obvious as to be a given. But it's always nice to get a look behind the butcher counter. According to emails leaked from Sony servers, first reported by BuzzFeed, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd appears to have allowed Pascal's husband Bernie Weinraub—a former Times writer himself—to read an advance advance copy of her column—which centered on Sony Pictures, and co-chair Amy Pascal.

Update: Dowd says she didn't show Weinraub the column, and didn't promise to do so either. In a statement emailed to Gawker—the same she sent to Times public editor Margaret Sullivan—Dowd writes:

I never showed Bernie the column in advance or promised to show it.

Bernie is an old friend and the Times' former Hollywood reporter, and he sometimes gives me ideas for entertainment columns.

In January, he suggested a column, inspired by a study cited in the L.A. Times, about the state of women in Hollywood. Amy is a friend and I reassured her before our interview that it wasn't an antagonistic piece. She wasn't the focus of the story, nor was Sony.

I emailed with Bernie and talked to him before I wrote the column in March, getting his perspective on the Hollywood old boys' club and the progress of women. But I didn't send him the column beforehand.

In the exchange from the leaks, reproduced below (click to expand), Weinraub tells his wife that he'd spoken with Dowd and that Dowd would be calling Pascal soon. "I'M NOT TALKING TO HER IF SHE IS GONNA SLAM ME," Pascal responds (all quotes sic). "PLEASE FIND OUT."

"you cant tell single person that I'm seeing the column before its printed…" Weinraub writes. "its not done…no p.r. people or Lynton or anyone should know."

There's no evidence in the leaked emails that Pascal herself saw the column—but there's ample demonstration of the Sony executive's friendly relationship with Dowd. Not only did Pascal forward Dowd a charmingly insane email about airlines written by Nikki Finke, a month before Dowd's column, Pascal offered to introduce Dowd and Times reporter Mark Mazzetti to an unnamed screenwriter, probably American Hustle writer Eric Singer.

If Dowd showed a pre-publication column to Weinraub (or, worse, to Pascal) it'd be a violation of a rarely upheld ethical standard preventing reporters from showing sources advance copies of their pieces. But the Times op-ed desk is untethered from the standards of the newsroom, not to mention the real world in general, and it's unlikely that Dowd will be reprimanded, let alone fired.

(And anyway, she should be fired because her columns are bad, not because she showed her bad column about her rich friends to her rich friends before it was published in the paper.)

In an unprecedented display of personality, Kim Kardashian revealed to Paper magazine during her infamous nude photo shoot that she has a favorite Vine. It is the Tish classic "in my mums car," otherwise known as "Broom Broom Get Out Me Car." The above video shows Kim Kardashian performing that Vine.

"Have you ever seen this one Vine where this girl, she says, 'Broom broom...get out me cah?'" Kim asks at 1:24. We've seen it!

"I say 'broom broom' all the time because of her," Kim explains.

Kanye: Hey Kim can you come here for a second

Kim: broom broom

Kris Jenner: Kimberley you need to sign this contract

Kim: broom broom

North West: mama

Kim: broom broom

Kim: broom broom

Selecting and buying a new car isn't easy. That's why, before resorting to the traditional but unreliable method of reading otter entrails, we at Jalopnik would like to invite you to try using this quiz, which harnesses the power of the Jalopnik Mainframe (located in Dale Earnhardt, Jr's Sex Bunker) to use math and stuff to find you the right car.

The quiz will measure your responses and desires, work them into a highly sophisticated algorithm, factor in the current automotive market, technological developments, and wind chill, and select the absolute ideal car for you from our vast database of new cars.

Enjoy!

Buried among thousands of messages in the mailbox of Sony Pictures chief counsel Leah Weil is a long, upsetting accusation of abuse. The claim comes from a former female employee of top Sony exec Keith Le Goy, and details years of threats, insults, racism, and nasty harassment.

The email—sent to Weil, Sony Pictures chairman Michael Lynton, and Sony Pictures Television prez Steve Mosko, comes just three days after the employee was terminated:

What follows is a long statement of wrongdoing aimed at Le Goy, the president of international distribution at SPT. You can read the most pertinent parts below, edited for brevity:

To all concerned:

I have worked for executives at Sony for approximately 7 years, the last 5+ of which have been in International Distribution assisting Keith Le Goy. My experience in the International Distribution department has been marred by disparate and unfair treatment in promotion and hiring practices, harassment, retaliation, bullying women, name-calling, offensive language, threats, blocking my advancement and transfers, withholding information to paint a negative opinion, maligning, unsolicited hugs and invitations, resulting in sexual harassment and drinking during work hours in the office. Despite my repeated conversations, complaints, filings with Ethics and HR, nothing has been done to abate the problematic environment. In fact it has returned to the level of hostility it was in January 2009. We should add to that that the discriminatory practices in our department are now grossly evident:

Accusations of racial discrimination:

Before I joined International Distribution at Sony, my childhood passion for TV had been honed by working for a tough partner at William Morris, an SVP at Lion's Gate and assisting an executive in legal at Sony. Despite my experience, bilingual ability and 4 year degree, Monica Howe, a Caucasian female, who has less seniority than I, no 4 year degree, far less entertainment experience, by her own admission worked less for her 2 SVPs than I did for my busy EVP, and had less of a an overall contribution to the office, was promoted to "Analyst" in our department within 18 months leapfrogging over me.

[...]

So the situation is a Caucasian person promoted twice above the more experienced, more senior African-American person and the African-American has yet to get the title for the job that she actually does. My case isn't isolated, my African-American tub mate, works for the same SVP, now EVP, who promoted Monica in 18 months, has not given her, the African-American assistant the classification for the job she is doing—Admin III. The only other African-American in our department in the last 10 years, was Paul Bledsoe, who was laid-off in 2009, after 10 years as a Manager. I asked to take over some of his duties and learn more and was rebuffed; another Caucasian was hired 5 months later.

[...]

Additionally, in 2011 I have not received a bonus, nor has the only other Africa-American in our department. I would guess that in our thriving department, everyone else including the assistant, who received preferential treatment from her SVP boss and left the company after 1 ½ year on the heels of her SVP yelling at the other African-American assistant for an innocuous email she sent to his pampered assistant, also received a bonus. In 2010 when Keith left for vacation having negotiated and signed everyone's deals and increases except mine, I called the new HR partner, Jessica Parris to inquire and I said, parenthetically, "He's still retaliating against me for having reported his harassing me." She laughed, thinking I was joking or perhaps she knew and just didn't find it valuable.

Mistreatment by Le Goy (emphasis added):

In January 2009, Keith harassed me by yelling at me, charging at my desk for dial-in instructions, after providing them, I hastened out and he chased, blocked my exit and threatened me not to take overtime, in front of several witnesses. I was terrified. This anger was in retaliation for my having reported him to the Ethics Hotline 3 weeks earlier, when he called me "[Expletive] useless," and slammed his computer down for emphasis in front of a female VP. I reported it all to Ethics and he received little more than a slap on the wrist—Harassment training for ½ day and HR counseling.

A continuing pattern of abuse, harassment, misogyny and homophobia (emphasis added):

Keith bullied and threatened me, bullied Natalie Garcia threatening her not to poach his assistant, bullied in the open Marie Jacobson about his money, but she brought him back to his office and rifled back admonishing him for his temper tantrum and that ended their previously close relationship. He bullied LeDon from Ambassor Services and me on July 26^th 2011, the very day and within 15 minutes of my informing him that I might have a serious illness and have to go to the hospital per my oncologist. Keith agreed that I should go, but first get Ambassador Services on the line about his passport renewal. He was leaving for vacation in a week and needed his passport renewal expedited. I had done so 4 weeks earlier. Because they hadn't fulfilled their promise, they blamed me for having given him the wrong expectations, he agreed, but the website confirmed my explanation. He had a tantrum, banging on the desk, stomping his feet and yelling at both LeDon and me, "Don't interrupt me while I'm ranting!" Then he bullied, yelled and cut off LeDon as she attempted to give him the exceptions and rules to the 1 year temporary passport he would need from the British Consulate. This kind of bullying is reserved for women.

I am offended by the language and manor that Keith speaks to me and usage of the constant "F" word, his derogatory language, once calling a married President a [Expletive] faggot, and another high level executive a "dyke," "Forty year old women need tits", regarding a high executive, "Was that before or after she wiped the coke off her upper lip," accused another married high level executive of sexual dalliances with an international star, his own indiscretions and calling me a "Bitch, referring to me as a "Dumb Bitch" and calling me "Queen B" out in the open for years, despite my telling him that it is his covert and now overt way of calling me a Bitch. His response to me, "…If the shoe fits" . I asked him and demanded that he stop, complained about most of the above to HR's, and little happened. The beginnings of the sexual abuse occurred in 2007 when he asked me to join him while he serenaded HR and Operations managers in his dimmed office. I refused him twice saying that I had an abundance of work to complete. The final time that he asked, he offered me, "Veuve Cliquot with HR, I told him in no uncertain terms, "I don't drink." He yelled slapping at me, "Then, you're not on my team!" Initially, it seemed like a joke, later it became apparent with the comments, like I'm imperious and then he began calling me a "Bitch" in many incarnations and that became de rigueur in the office.

The letter ends with an almost resigned note of fear and despair:

I am afraid that as a result of this written complaint, I will be the target of further retaliation. My concerns have been communicated to HR and my work environment has not improved. I need someone to protect me from Keith.

Thanks for your assistance.

Followup emails between Sony lawyers instruct Le Goy to not "respond to the email or otherwise engage with her," and note that "Keith denied most" of the woman's allegations.

O cummm, all ye faithfulllll. Cummm cummm cummm, it's Christmas.

I was just singing that! Oh my god! That's how girls talk. I always find it funny myself. Why the vocal fries? The truth is though I shouldn't be making the jokes—I was just singing that. I'm a big caroler. When I espy the Christmas lights going up across the street on the sad retired man's house, I know that the holidays are here. Come-a come-a come-a, down my chim-ney, hey! It is almost Christmas time now! All you faith-ful, friends or whatever, lis-ten to me sing—-holidays!

If you were to transcribe it in a phonetic way it would sound like "A roooo, roooo roo roooo, a-rooo roooo rooo, Roo roooo." I don't have lips. Big deal!!! You can trust me when I tell you that the holiday season has no bigger booster than me. If I had a booster seat—and I did once, but let's not get into that right now—I would humbly give up that booster seat and allow the holidays to sit in it. As I've often said when whiling away the hours by a crackling winter time fire, "Santa is my main man-ta!" Prior to Santa, my main manta was Omar, a manta ray I met off of Fernandina Beach in the summer of aught nine. Omar was a gem. He passed away and only then did I select a new main manta. I assure you of that much.

Well well. It seems that we find ourselves once again at Christmas time. Another year has passed by. I have been in the house, out of the house, in the yard, on the street. I have seen and done it all and I am only getting better with each passing season. I hope that you can say the same for yourself. Let me get serious for a second: I love you. Is this not the fundamental truth of the holiday spirit? Simple love. A joyous cacophony of loving embrace. An aura of kind blessing and bites. A mutual agreement to respect and not bite one another in an aggressive way, but only in a fun way. A pinch of warmth. A nip of friendship.

I know that I am not always easy. I live in your house. I consider it my house, but it's been pointed out to me often, by you, in your angrier moments, when you have "lost your cool," that the house is in fact yours, and that you have pieces of paper that allegedly prove that. I will for the moment refrain from demolishing this argument with facts. In the holiday spirit I will acknowledge that the house is yours, and that I just live there, and by the way thank you for all the food you bought me this year. Just so you know I would be fine even if you didn't buy me food—I have an extensive network of outdoor food sources in the area about which I will say no more—but I sure do appreciate the fact that you do buy me that food. It sure is nice. And, my friend, I got you a little something, as a token of my appreciation, and of my love, for you, this Christmas season.

It's a stick.

Without getting into it too much I'll just tell you this is the best stick on this entire side of our block, and if Charles across the street tries to tell you any different, let's just say he's a sore loser with a remarkably weak set of jaws. Okay? Let's just leave it at that. This is the supreme stick. There is not a more symmetrical stick as far as the eye can see down our block, through all of the back yards. Most anyone would be drooling over this stick. Wanting to chew it up. Chew it and chew it and chew it. I know I do. I want to chew it so bad. But I did not. My friend, I saved it for you. Merry Christmas.

What's this? You got me something too? I won't say that you shouldn't have because you totally should! This was unexpected, but I won't argue with it. A present for me? Anything that feels so right has got to be right (my saying). Yes—please yes—let me tear into that brightly colored wrapping paper with my slobbering canines. Let me cast aside the audacious bow with a violent shake of my rippling neck. Let me lick the glue off of the tape to loosen it just enough to reveal the contents hidden within. At last, I have reached the present's promise. The unveiling of my gift is upon us! Here it is...

It's a stick.

It's...

It's....

It's just what I wanted. [Crying now but on the inside because of my tear duct disorder]

Merry Christmas, my friend. I just might have a brand new main man-ta. When Santa dies.

[Image by Jim Cooke]

If American Indian tribes decide they want to grow and smoke and sell weed on their land, the U.S. Department of Justice said yesterday, then so be it.

As of this week, the DOJ is instructing U.S. attorneys not to prosecute the 566 federally recognized tribes for pot offenses, as long as they are following the same federal guidelines established for states like Washington and Colorado, where weed is legal. The amnesty applies even to Native American land in states where weed remains illegal.

The news, besides being a boon to Native Americans who enjoy a toke, could provide tribes with an economic boost, the way that casinos and tobacco sales have in the past. However, the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times report, several tribes are strongly opposed to the idea. From the AP:

Seattle attorney Anthony Broadman, whose firm represents tribal governments throughout the West, said the economic potential is vast. "If tribes can balance all the potential social issues, it could be a really huge opportunity," Broadman said.

But many in Indian Country are wary of compounding existing drug and alcohol problems by growing and selling pot.

The Yakama Nation in weed-legal Washington is one such tribe, having recently banned possession of the plant on its land, the AP notes. According to U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall, three tribes—in Washington, California, and "the midwest,"—have expressed interest in establishing a cannabis market.

[Photo: Dave H/Flickr]

A Korean Air Lines executive resigned this week and issued a pubic apology for a completely bonkers incident where she kicked a crew chief off a flight at JFK because she was served macadamia nuts in a bag, not a dish. The flight was delayed 20 minutes while officials decided whether to proceed without the ousted employee.

The disgraced executive, Heather Cho, was the vice president in charge of in-flight service until she stepped down this week. She's also the daughter of Korean Air's chairman, Yang-ho Cho.

"Please blame me; it's my fault," the elder Cho said at a press conference Friday, according to the New York Times, "I failed to raise her properly."

Heather Cho, stripped of her VP title, may also face prosecution for violating aviation laws when she "raised hell" on the December 5th flight, the Times reports. Korean Air is also under investigation for allegedly conspiring to cover up the incident.

The airline, part of the much larger Hanjin Group megacorp, has turned into something of a national joke since the Dec. 5 debacle. Sales of macadamia nuts are up, consumers are threatening to boycott Korean Air, and this parody video exists:

A partial translation, according to Koreabizwire: "We at Peanut Airlines serve fresh peanuts harvested in specially contracted farms on a plate. If any of our executives are on board in the first class cabin, we grind the nuts right on site and serve them."

Despite her apologies, Cho has been stripped of her VP position. The backlash from the "peanut incident" may scuttle Hanjin's campaign to build a giant new hotel in downtown Seoul, the Times reports.

[h/t Today Online, Photo: AP Images]

Through major hurricanes and sunny days, few media companies have created as much reach, recognition, and unlikely controversy as The Weather Channel. I lived out a weather geek's dream on Wednesday and flew to Atlanta to visit their headquarters for a day, and it was incredible experience to see how they work.

Most people who regularly follow weather news have a love/hate relationship with The Weather Channel. On the one hand, they provide top-notch forecasts that are rarely beaten by their competitors. The company has built an outstanding network of reporters who can cover even the smallest storms with a level of professionalism and detail that's hard to match. On the other hand, as I've covered extensively here on The Vane, you've got things that detract from that professionalism and accuracy like winter storm names, their recent focus on non-weather reality programs, "weather-adjacent" articles and outlandish headlines on their website, a string of really ugly social media incidents, and the occasional botched live shot.

I interact with the folks at The Weather Channel on Twitter and via email every once and a while, including the company's president, David Clark. About a month ago, Clark invited me down to Atlanta to visit their studios and let me speak with their experts about how the sausage is made. The company very generously arranged transportation between The Vane's luxurious headquarters (my bedroom) in the boondocks of North Carolina and their studios in Atlanta, and I deeply thank them for their generosity.

Housed in an unassuming, eight-story office building in the northwest suburbs of Atlanta is the central hub of The Weather Company, which consists of The Weather Channel, Weather Underground, and WSI. You can catch a peek of the building from Interstate 75 if you're looking through the trees at just the right moment. Atlanta seems like such an odd spot for a media company to plant its roots, but it works for the Blue Behemoth just as it does for fellow cable newser CNN, whose headquarters are located in the city's downtown core. Atlanta allows the network to remove itself from the urban sphere of influence that other media outlets can find themselves trapped in, while also providing the company's well-traveled reporters easy access to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the busiest airport in the world and most extensive domestic hub in the country.

If you've read The Vane before, you know that I take the weather personally. It's not just interesting or something to write about, it's a passion. Almost all weather geeks will tell you that their passion for meteorology started when they were young and grows more intense with age. My interest in the field is not unique—it follows that same path.

When I was eight, my family brought me to The Weather Channel('s parking lot) while we were in town visiting my cousin. I hopped out of the car and snapped a picture of the front entrance while a Steve Wilkos-esque security guard stared daggers into me. You know how threatening those eight-year-olds can be.

Fast forward fifteen years, and I made it a point to take the same picture (who doesn't love continuity?). This time, instead of a security guard staring at me, it was a very confused landscaper.

After passing through security, you enter the main lobby, which is exactly how you would picture The Weather Channel's lobby. They have a simple, tall Christmas tree in the center of the room surrounded by walls decorated with every type of extreme weather you could imagine—tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, floods, lightning—and embedded among the images was the company's slogan: "After all, when you see the world through the weather, it's amazing out there."

The lobby also features various tablets and smartphones loaded with the company's apps and websites, along with dozens of awards that sit on two shelves around a modest-sized television tuned to, what else?, The Weather Channel. Clark walked into the lobby and introduced himself, and we quickly embarked on a whirlwind tour of the building.

My first thought after leaving the lobby was "this place looks nothing like I imagined it would." It wasn't at all a feeling of disappointment. Before they modernized, the most you would ever see during broadcasts was a meteorologist sitting at an anchor desk with a newsroom full of old CRT computer monitors behind them. Whatever mental image you have of what their building looks like, it's probably as far off as mine was.

We got out of the elevator and turned to see two huge glass doors with a control room setup behind it. It was a veritable glass-enclosed nerve center. I was so taken by the screens and meeting people that I didn't think to snap a picture of the newsroom, but it's pretty impressive.

Along the back wall of the room are dozens of small monitors where they keep track of all of the feeds coming into the network. The center of the room is full of what had to be about a hundred computers, each staffed with meteorologists and producers getting ready for broadcasts and retrieving/compiling information on the day's weather. More glass encloses a handful of conference rooms to the right, while the left side of the room is dominated by The Lab, which is a new stage designed to provide severe weather experts the ability to conduct technical coverage during major events like tornado outbreaks or hurricanes.

No matter where you are in the building, it is impossible to turn around without running into a television screen showing a feed of The Weather Channel from somewhere in the country. There are hundreds of television sets all tuned to the product they produce—I jokingly told Clark that I expected to see at least a few of them watching WeatherNation instead of their own network. Every desk has a small TV tuned to the network, and there are sets hanging from the ceiling and walls showing their feed, as well. Using their in-house system, they have the ability to flip through the national feeds and watch coverage from different cities—one of the large televisions hanging from the ceiling showed the Local on the 8s from Buffalo, for instance.

The first impression I got of the people who work in the building calls back to The Weather Channel's slogan when they started up in the early 80s—"We Take The Weather Seriously, But Not Ourselves." They do professional work while maintaining a relaxed and almost casual atmosphere. I expected to see a bunch of people in stiff suits talking in hushed tones while scurrying around, but it was very comfortable. One of the more surprising things is that even Clark himself doesn't have an office—outside of the PR/accounting/legal department, it's all open. Much like management and the editors-in-chief sit among their employees at Gawker Media, Clark sits at a small corner spot among the rows of computers in the newsroom.

After a quick tour of the newsroom and some introductions, we went deeper into the operation and stopped by the Global Forecast Center, where a handful of experts manage the millions of forecasts the company produces for locations around the world. As I met some of their meteorologists (including hurricane expert Bryan Norcross and winter weather expert Tom Niziol), Carl Parker had just finished a live shot and walked past me. I awkwardly waved like a doofus, and Clark and I went on to one of the studios.

Just as we walked into the studio, I heard someone call out my name, and Parker was following behind us so he could introduce himself and shake my hand. The fact that he made it a point to go out of his way to introduce himself was great—if you ever get a chance to speak with him, he's one of the nicest people on earth, and he reads The Vane, too. Good taste. When I speak with people about going to the network, the first question they have is about the meteorologists they watch on a regular basis. All of the on-camera meteorologists I met—Carl Parker, Reynolds Wolf, Greg Forbes, Stu Ostro, Greg Postel, Dave Schwartz, Bryan Norcross, Marshall Shepherd, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few—are all wonderful and friendly people.

I'd be naive if I didn't acknowledge that at least some of the reasoning behind the trip was a charm offensive—I'm just a blogger and a strong critic of their network, after all—but one of my biggest concerns going into this is that everyone would be insincere just to flatter me so I would swing around to their way of thinking and lighten up a little bit. I was very pleased to have been wrong. It's pretty easy to tell fake from genuine, and everyone who works there, both on-camera or behind the scenes, is a genuinely nice and welcoming person.

You know, they say that the camera adds ten pounds, but it adds a thousand square feet to the studio. The set that they use for shows like AMHQ and Weather Center look enormous on television, but it blows you away how small they are in person. Most of the screens you see on television are actual monitors—they've still got the green screen, too—while the cylindrical column that has "Winter Storm Damon" proudly displayed (ugh) uses a projector. I took the above picture from behind the desk of their main studio just before they started the day's first block of Weather Center.

Out of the three studios I saw, the weather geek in me fell in love with The Lab. There are easily more than twenty computer monitors that populate the desk that wraps around three of the four walls of the set. Meteorologists are able to stand just about anywhere behind the desks to discuss the weather. The center of the room is where the floor "pulls away" and they digitally insert an enormous three-dimensional globe that they can use to illustrate things better than they could on a flat wall.

In the above picture, Dr. Greg Postel was doing a live spot on the winter storm affecting the northeast.

The monitors behind the desk show just about everything, including a live feed of the network (top-left), their in-house system of weather alerts called BreWS, a monitor showing a feed from the camera watching over the desk (and me—hi!), Gibson Ridge weather radar, NWS Chat...just about any tool the experts need to help them communicate during a severe weather event, you can find in The Lab.

The bulk of my tour at the network involved a thorough look at how their meteorologists go about creating the forecasts you get on television and over on weather dot com. It was incredibly nerdy and just as fascinating. I won't go into too many details (it's proprietary, after all), but they've developed an advanced and unique way to blend the power of weather models and the skill and expertise of their meteorologists in order to develop forecasts for locations around the world with relative ease and precision.

I've always been scathingly critical of The Weather Channel when it strays from its focus, but I'm equally forceful in asserting that they're spot-on when it comes to the actual weather. The Weather Channel is at its best when they focus on the weather and eschew all the junk that sets them apart from their fellow cable networks. Back in May, we published a small project using data pulled from Forecast Advisor showing that The Weather Channel's forecasts are consistently on top around the country, even beating out the National Weather Service in most spots. The network's in-house accuracy numbers reflect what we found here at The Vane—they're consistently at the top of the forecasting game in the United States.

The dedication and knowledge of the people back up their forecasts. The whole "weather nerd" persona they're trying to portray these days isn't an act—everyone in the building is a weather geek, through and through. I could see their unadulterated love for the weather shine through during personal conversations. Between all of the people who work behind the scenes, to Cantore out in the field, to watching Carl Parker dive into weather data like a hawk between live shots, it is incredible to watch how dedicated they are to the science of meteorology. As long as they stick to the topic at which they excel—the weather—and display that professionalism to its fullest extent on their website without some ridiculous crap masking it (New Jersey Storm Produced THIS!?!?) or shows like Scruffy Huffing Woodsfest and Truckers Cussing on Ice taking up television real estate, they'll manage to stay on top.

One of the biggest sticking points regarding their coverage over the past few years has been their naming of winter storms. Unfortunately, Tom Niziol had to leave before I had a chance to speak with him about the network's naming practices. I remain unconvinced that they serve a greater purpose than providing the network free advertising on social media. The unnamed Buffalo lake effect snow event and this week's unnamed west coast storm (no snow in the cities, but it's affecting 40+ million people) show that they're, at the very least, missing opportunities to create continuity, let alone have the names contribute to science in any meaningful way. Since I got home on Wednesday night, I've spoken with at least one person who didn't think the west coast storm was a big deal because, and I quote, "they didn't name it, so it's not that bad."

The Weather Channel shines when it comes to the science, but the battle between Corporate Weather Channel and Weather Weather Channel (as I like to call it) still has some pretty big issues it needs to work out to stay at the top of their game.

The end of my tour at the network included a real treat—meeting Dr. Marshall Shepherd, host of WxGeeks, and shaking hands with President Obama's science advisor, Dr. John Holdren. WxGeeks (pronounced "weather geeks") the network's Sunday morning talk show that goes pretty deep into the science and issues behind meteorology. It's Meet the Press for weather nerds, but with fewer softball questions and no John McCain.

After interacting with one another for the past few months on Twitter, it was nice to have the chance to speak with Dr. Shepherd for a little while before standing in on the taping of a segment of the show. His resume is pretty impressive—aside from hosting WxGeeks, he's a professor at the University of Georgia and serves as director for the university's atmospheric sciences program, and he also served as the president of the American Meteorological Society in 2013.

This Sunday's episode (which airs at noon Eastern) is the first hour-long show, as it features both Dr. Holdren and a special interview with Dr. Jane Goodall on the issue of climate change. The show has a wonderful premise (the name of the show is Weather Geeks, for crying out loud!), but it's painfully short. The program is allotted 30 minutes, but with commercials and Local on the 8s, the actual content only runs for about 13 minutes, give or take a few. Dr. Shepherd can hardly get into the topic before he has to move on—it feels too rushed, too summarized. Extending this episode to an hour (with the potential for more hour-long shows not too far off) is a great step forward, especially this week in order to give ample time to two guests as prominent as Drs. Holdren and Goodall.

Thank you again to David Clark and everyone at The Weather Channel who flew me down and spent the day showing me how the company operates. Visiting the network for a day was an incredible experience that I would do again in an instant. Not only did the trip fulfill a childhood dream (hey, I grew up watching the network like it was Nickelodeon), but it provided a new perspective on how things work and what goes into the making of their forecasts and broadcasts. The experience gives me a better reference point for when I have to hold their feet to the fire in the future.

The Weather Channel is far from perfect—you know it, I know it, and they know it—but even with the silly reality shows and questionable content on their website, the company is at its heart a deeply scientific operation. It's just a matter of letting the science shine through and tempering the fluff, much as they need it to keep the money flowing. My ultimate advice to the network is to stick to their brilliant slogan: "after all, when you see the world through the weather, it's amazing out there."

Through all of their shifts in focus and rebranding efforts, that is the one thing they've truly gotten right—it really is amazing out there.

[All images by the author]

You can follow the author on Twitter or send him an email.

Tamir Rice's death has been ruled a homicide. The 12-year-old boy, who was killed by a Cleveland police officer last month, "died as a result of a gunshot wound to the abdomen which injured his inferior vena cava, intestines, and pelvis," according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner.

On November 22, Officer Tim Loehmann shot Rice in the stomach at a Cleveland park just two seconds after Loehmann and his partner arrived on the scene. Rice, who was holding a BB gun at the time of the shooting, died the next day in a Cleveland hospital.

Rice's family has since filed a wrongful death suit against the Cleveland Police Department, which hired Loehmann two years after another Ohio police department found him unfit for duty.

[Image via AP]

Gawker believes that publicly airing rumors out is usually the quickest way to get to the truth. We also believe that Friday afternoons are a great time to share gossip with your friends. Here’s what Gawker readers have been hearing lately.

Important note: We make every effort to track down and report out the rumors and gossip we hear, but for a variety of reasons we can't always nail them the way we'd like. So let’s acknowledge that we can’t vouch for the veracity or truth of the rumors we’ll be sharing here—but maybe you can.

Rumor: Camille Cosby is leaving her husband.

Camille Cosby is rumored to be leaving Bill Cosby amid rape allegations and is seeking $350 million in their divorce settlement. Allegedly. — Don’t Be Koi

Rumor: The sets of the Hobbit films are very gay.

I’ve got some contacts who were close to the Hobbit movies, apparently not only are half the main cast as gay as the day is long—two of them were/are in a very serious relationship. And no, neither of them are out. Not naming names (not my place to do that, it’s cruel), but it makes me so sad that these men have it all - money, good looks, talent, careers on the up, but they don’t want to be out because they’re (and by they I mean their agents) are afraid of what it would do to their careers.

If you were on set, apparently it was obvious (both the number of men who were gay and the two who were in a relationship) what was going on and these people were happy to be themselves. But outside the set (aside from the likes of Stephen Fry and Ian McKellen), these men are deep deep deeeeeeeeeep in the closet. — Libbityloo42

Rumor: Lee Pace and Richard Armitage are the Hobbit couple mentioned above:

It’s Lee Pace and the King Dwarf Richard Armitage! They had Thanksgiving together at one of their parents’ houses like last year. — Mindovermatteroffact

Rumor: That huge Sony hack is not as it seems.

That the Sony hack was led by Sabu and orchestrated by the FBI in order to make sure people stay terrified of North Korea. Sabu has already hacked Sony repeatedly, and he's been working with the FBI for years. It all makes sense and it would be easy for him, particularly with the resources of the US government behind him. — Raincoaster

Rumor: Matthew Barney is dating Sheryl Crow.

Matthew Barney is dating Sheryl Crow. Whether he is trying to be ironic or not, it’s true. Give it three months until it shakes the art world. I can’t give up my source, but they were spotted at Bed Bath & Beyond [in Chelsea] together in the last month. — Neelloccam

Rumor: Tory Burch is dating Kevin Plank.

Tory Burch and Kevin Plank (Under Armour CEO) are an item. — Lejebird

Rumor: Taylor Lautner was a homewrecker.

Taylor Lautner is gay, and had a brief affair with Bryan Singer around 2009 or 2010, causing the end of Singer’s “monogamous” relationship at the time. — Burner0718

Rumor: Benedict Cumberbatch’s engagement to Sophie Hunter is a public relations ploy.

Benedict Cumberbatch is engaged only as a PR strategy for the Oscars. They look like they hate each other in pics and even got into a brief argument on a recent red carpet. — Aeiou

His engagement is real, but he strategically timed it for the Oscars. He is actually incredibly careerist and very “Hollywood.” He wants to be a huge movie star and was very let down— even a little pissed—that last year didn’t help him break out more and get an Oscar nod. — LAX-Pat

Rumor: TeenLand might be getting a new lesbian couple soon.

There is fierce competition brewing to become the next IT lesbian couple for maximum attention in the teen world which is why all we’ll read in the upcoming months is about Cara Delevingne doing Kendall Jenner vs. Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss’ scissoring. — Icansmellyou

Rumor: Lamar Odom was caught freebasing in Houston.

A very reliable source told me he had an “incident,” I want to say in Houston, when he was still in the NBA where he pretty much blew up himself and the room he was in on some Richard Pryor freebase shit. And the powers that be/were knew about it... — Taint Nuttin

Rumor: Nicholas Brendon and his wife are divorcing.

I just found out this week that Nicholas Brendon, formerly of Buffy the Vampire Slayer now on Criminal Minds, is divorcing his wife of 6 weeks, because she found out he cheated on her. There was a video on youtube where she called him out for alcoholism, cocaine addiction, and steroid abuse, but apparently it was either deleted or privated. — Via email

Now it’s your turn. What have you been lately heard about celebrities, politicians, businessmen, or other public figures? What are you dying to tell someone, anyone, but can’t? Throw it in the comments below or shoot us an email. (If we missed your message the last time around—blame Thanksgiving—feel free to send it again.) As always, anonymity guaranteed.

Previously:http://gawker.com/what-s-the-bes...

http://gawker.com/beyonce-cloone...

http://gawker.com/the-best-rumor...

http://gawker.com/what-s-the-bes...

Email the author: trotter@gawker.com · Art by Jim Cooke