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North Korea Denies Involvement in Sony Hacks, Threatens U.S.

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North Korea Denies Involvement in Sony Hacks, Threatens U.S.

North Korea has said that it would like to work together with the United States to prove that it had nothing to do with the Sony hacks while also threatening the United States if it refuses to cooperate with this very sincere and real invitation.

"The U.S. should bear in mind that it will face serious consequences in case it rejects our proposal for joint investigation," an unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement given to the Korean Central News Agency. "We have a way to prove that we have nothing to do with the case without resorting to torture, as the CIA does." Sick burn.

The FBI announced yesterday its conclusion that the North Korean government is responsible for the hacks, which resulted in the cancellation of the movie The Interview, which is about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, production of which is the motivation for the hacks in the first place.

President Obama criticized the decision to cancel the movie's release. "I think they made a mistake," he said yesterday. "We cannot have a society where some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States." Again, Gawker would be happy to host a screening.

UPDATE: A spokesman for the White House National Security Council defended the FBI's findings, saying "If the North Korean government wants to help, they can admit their culpability and compensate Sony for the damages this attack caused."

[h/t CBS News]


Four Gitmo Detainees Released, Repatriated to Afghanistan

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Four Gitmo Detainees Released, Repatriated to Afghanistan

The Department of Defense announced this morning the release and repatriation of four detainees from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the government of Afghanistan. According to the Associated Press, the Afghan government is not required to further detain the men.

The four detainees—Shawali Khan, Khi Ali Gul, Abdul Ghani and Mohammed Zahir—have been held for more than a decade. All four men have long been approved for transfer, and at least one of those released today, Shawali Khan, was never charged with anything.

"He was sent to Guantanamo on the flimsiest of allegations that were implausible on their face and never fully investigated," J. Wells Dixon, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights who has assisted with Khan's case, told the AP. "He never should have been there."

Six detainees were released to Uruguay earlier this month. "Around half" of those remaining, the BBC reported at the time, "have been cleared for transfer but have nowhere to go because their countries are unstable or unsafe."

132 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay. Meanwhile, a U.N. report found that civilian casualties in Afghanistan are expected to exceed a record-high of 10,000 this year.

[Image via AP Images]

Leaked: "Asshole" Adam Sandler Demanded $200 Million Candy Land Movie

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Leaked: "Asshole" Adam Sandler Demanded $200 Million Candy Land Movie

One of the first leaked documents to come out of the Sony hack revealed numerous employee complaints about producing "mundane, formulaic" Adam Sandler movies. But according to emails recently uncovered by The Daily Beast, frustrations with Sandler were shared by Sony Pictures head Amy Pascal, who referred to the comedian and his production company Happy Madison as "assholes" on at least two occasions.

After a September incident where Sandler allegedly cornered Sony execs to demand, point-blank, that the studio commit to producing his reportedly $200 million Candy Land adaptation, Pascal called Sandler "an asshile [sic]" in an email, writing:

Adam is an asshile [sic] and this is more his fault than anyone's but what we did was not communicate with each other and make assumptions maybe I didn't pay attention when you were telling me what I was walking into but it also comes from a non alien meant between us all and too many people doing everything and no one taking responsibility and I mean myself as it is my responsibility to let you guys know what I want to breath [sic] life into

Later, while discussing a fee dispute over Hotel Transylvania 2, Pascal similarly disparaged Sandler's team as a whole, telling another executive, "They are such assholes."

Just for reference, at $200 million, Candy Land would tie Titanic, Spider-Man 2 and Iron Man 3 as the 22nd most expensive film ever made. Perhaps more troublingly, however, it would still be $9 million cheaper than 2012 board game to big screen adaptation Battleship.

[Image via AP Images]

"I have buried bodies of the deceased of different ages, sizes, and weights," Taj Muhammad, a graved

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"I have buried bodies of the deceased of different ages, sizes, and weights," Taj Muhammad, a gravedigger at Peshawar, Pakistan's largest graveyard told the AP after this week's school massacre. "Those small bodies I've been burying since yesterday felt much heavier than any of the big ones I've buried before."

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard Do Another Disservice to Baby Names

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Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard Do Another Disservice to Baby Names

The Baby Name Critic had not yet been called to service when Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, a couple claiming to be Hollywood talents, gave life to their firstborn, a girl child unfortunately named Lincoln. If the Baby Name Critic had been writing for hire then, she might have said: Do not name your daughter after a geriatric brand of automobile/the 16th male president. Really, must we burden our young women by giving them both the first names and the surnames of men? A better solution for parents interested in honoring Lincoln's values, but also bolstering the feminist cause, would be to name your daughter after a strong woman of the Civil War era: Harriet (Tubman or Beecher Stowe!). Clara. Lucretia. All stunning names.

Anyway. That could have been a great column, but little Lincoln Shepard's fate is already sealed, alas. Perhaps the Bell-Shepards felt my thought vibrations—the wires have informed me that Kristen and Dax (still processing what, exactly, a Dax is) have had another girl, this one given an unambiguously feminine name: Delta.

And so the pendulum swings. There is a certain hilarity in having children named Lincoln and Delta. It's like naming your children Union and Confederacy. Union is cerebral, studious, and sexually confused. Confederacy is drunk.

Whatever is happening in the Bell-Shepard household, I feel it cannot be good for the country.

This has been Baby Name Critic.

Leah Finnegan is Gawker's Baby Name Critic.

[Pic via Getty]

Muslim Woman Claims Jail Made Her Attend Christian Prayer Service

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Muslim Woman Claims Jail Made Her Attend Christian Prayer Service

A Muslim woman in Ohio is suing a county jail after she says corrections officers forced her to go to Christian church services, the L.A. Times reports.

According to 24-year-old Sakeena Majeed, an officer at Cuyahoga County Corrections Center threatened her with solitary confinement when she refused to attend the jail's weekly Christian prayer service, led by a Baptist minister.

Even after she attended, the practicing Muslim alleges in her lawsuit that she was "openly chastised and mocked" by another officer for not participating.

"That should be offensive to anybody, no matter what your religion is," her attorney Matthew Besser told The Guardian. "The government can't tell you what god to pray to or to pray at all."

Contacted by multiple news outlets, Cuyahoga County spokespeople have declined to comment on Majeed's lawsuit.

[Image via AP Images]

C.I.A. to Give Itself a Pass for Spying on Oversight Committee

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C.I.A. to Give Itself a Pass for Spying on Oversight Committee

A C.I.A.-appointed panel will recommend that C.I.A. officers who were found to have spied upon members of the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating the agency's use of torture not be punished for getting caught, the New York Times reports.

Some of those under investigation for this flagrant breach of the separation of powers defended themselves by saying C.I.A. director John O. Brennan supported the action. According to the Times, they "pointed to documents — including notes of a phone call with Mr. Brennan — that they said indicated that the director supported their actions, according to interviews with a half dozen current and former government officials and others briefed on the case."

The C.I.A. began monitoring Senate staffers as the Intelligence Committee began an investigation into whether the agency did or did not torture people, the results of which were released this week. Turns out, they did.

Brennan authorized his officers to look into whether Senate staffers had found out about the so-called "Panetta review," an internal investigation ordered by former director Leon Panetta in 2009 which was never provided to the Intelligence Committee.

"While effectively rejecting the most significant conclusions of the inspector general's report, the panel, appointed by Mr. Brennan and composed of three C.I.A. officers and two members from outside the agency, is still expected to criticize agency missteps that contributed to the fight with Congress," the Times reports. Haha. Okay! Sure, why not.

[Image via Getty Images]

Craig Ferguson Ends Show with Tribute to TV's Biggest Twist Endings

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Craig Ferguson Ends Show with Tribute to TV's Biggest Twist Endings

As host of The Late Late Show, Craig Ferguson spent much of his 10-year tenure dragging the talk show format into increasingly bizarre territory. So when he hosted his final episode on Friday, it was only fitting that Ferguson would cap it off with an homage to some of the most inexplicable twists in television history.

In just three minutes, Ferguson managed to pack in references to the finales of Newhart, St. Elsewhere and The Sopranos, not to mention an extended riff on his Mr. Wick character from The Drew Carey Show.

So if find yourself already missing The Late Late Show's Ferguson era, just remember that it's all a dream.

[Image via YouTube]


From the Comments on the New York Times Story about "Manspreading"

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From the Comments on the New York Times Story about "Manspreading"

The New York Times' readers have some opinions about the paper of record's piece on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's new campaign against men who take up too much room on the subway, a practice which has been dubbed "manspreading."

Siddhartha Vicious:

As a man, I find this behavior to be extremely irritating as well. Just because men do it, doesn't mean that it doesn't piss off other men as well.

Jake S:

It's not just women who hate this! Us guys are missing out on seats too, and this behavior makes us all look bad.

Joe:

The coining of the term seems sexist to me, against men. I've seen women spreading out, as well — not just with shopping bags, but by also by spreading their hips and legs. Why not just call is spreading? It's an unfair generalization. Not to mention tacky, aesthetically.

Mike:

If we're going to make gender based complaints about the train, how about women should stop perfume bombing entire cars?

Alan:

It creates a space cushion. Men are less comfortable being touched by other men then women. And some men feel they are entitled to more space, as the article points out, and have no qualms about claiming it. I see the same thing on golf course practice ranges. Some men (women don't seem to do this) will put their bucket of balls into the next stall in front of them to try and keep others from using it. A lot of this is primal instinct. A need to avoid potentially dangerous contact. And if you don't believe in primal instinct why do you like bacon and french fries?

"Bucket of balls." Heh.

[Image via Shutterstock]

Two Cops Killed Execution-Style in Brooklyn

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Two Cops Killed Execution-Style in Brooklyn

Two police officers were shot "execution-style" in their car in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood at around 3 p.m. today. The New York Post reports that both officers have died, as has the shooter. The officers' names have not yet been released.

"It looks like they were shot in the upper body," Deputy Chief Kim Royster told the New York Times. The suspect then fled to the nearby Myrtle-Willoughby subway station where he shot himself in the head.

"The perp came out of the houses, walked up behind the car and lit them up," a high-ranking police official told the New York Daily News.

The suspect has been identified as a 28-year-old man named either Ismail or Ishmael Brinsley, according to New York Times police reporter J. David Goodman, and it's possible that he may be connected to an earlier shooting death in Baltimore today.

This Instagram account, belonging to a man claiming to have killed two police officers in Brooklyn, has been suspended.

Two Cops Killed Execution-Style in Brooklyn

Two Cops Killed Execution-Style in Brooklyn

Two Cops Killed Execution-Style in Brooklyn

Photographs published by both the New York Post and the New York Daily News show a man wearing similar camouflage pants and similar silver sneakers being carried away from the scene on a stretcher.

[Image via Google Maps]

Mike Myers Resurrects Dr. Evil, Addresses North Korea on S.N.L.

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Mike Myers Resurrects Dr. Evil, Addresses North Korea on S.N.L.

For last night's Saturday Night Live cold open, alumnus Mike Myers reprised his classic Austin Powers character "Dr. Evil" to address Kim Jong-un, North Korea, and the Sony hack. "Look, I know Kim Jong-un," Dr. Evil claims. "We went on a Viking river cruise together."

The sketch doesn't exactly reveal anything new about the nature of authoritarianism, the projection of power, or life under totalitarian regimes, but that rubber cat sure is creepy.

[Image via Hulu]

People Keep Getting Stuck in Things, Maybe We Need Whiskers

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People Keep Getting Stuck in Things, Maybe We Need Whiskers

People think that they are small and that the world is big, but sometimes the world shrinks unexpectedly and you find yourself to be a lot bigger than you had thought, and maybe you get stuck in a chimney or a revolving door or a relationship.

A British man, Leo Wan, told The Guardian, a serious newspaper, about the time that he got stuck in a chimney at a party. Wan and his friends were on someone's roof in east London, watching the sunset, when Wan decided to sit on the chimney, because there wasn't much room anywhere else. "I thought it would be dangerous to have my back to the chimney, so I sat on the rim with my legs dangling inside," he says. "In hindsight, that was my first mistake."

Wan made it out alive. And thank goodness! What a way to go that would have been. Meanwhile, for The Awl, a serious website, Jess Lowry recounts the 51 minutes she spent in a revolving door. It gets bleak at 45 minutes:

At this point, I start to lose it. Stuck in the revolving door, this is where I'm going to die. Of course it is, though. Fueled by indecisiveness. Wholly transparent. Locked in frustrated, circular motion. Tights-that-I-thought-were-black-but-that-are-navy. Everything within reach. But nothing attainable. Thin air (?). On my knees. With my laptop. And lots of chewing gum. Goodbye world. I call my father again. "Now honey, are you sure you've pushed the door?"

I have had two experiences getting stuck in things. When I was in the third grade, I think, I was driving to soccer practice with my dad. He was the coach, and we were late, so he was anxious and hurrying. We pulled into the parking lot, I got out of the car, he popped the trunk and I grabbed the bag of balls and orange cones we would use to set up a field. He shut the trunk and walked away. I didn't move, because my hand was caught in the trunk. "Brendan, come on," he said. "Brendan. Come on. We're late." I couldn't. I was stuck. Help.

Eventually he stopped being mad, because he realized it was all his fault and I couldn't talk because my hand was stuck in the trunk of the car and it hurt, excuse me, hello, ow. In any event, it was fine: one of my fingers was fractured or something, but it wasn't a big deal.

A year later I was on a class trip to the Liberty Science Center, a very cool science museum-place that kids in New Jersey get to go to, I guess, to do science stuff? Right, so, everyone was very excited, because you could pick up cockroaches and play with robots and things, so we were all rushing to get inside, and there was a revolving door, and my two classmates ahead of me jumped into the vestibule in front of me and somehow—really, this is a true story, somehow, don't ask me how, but it happened, I promise—my head got stuck in the door, and the kids in front of me were pushing harder and harder because what the heck, why is the door stuck. They were panicking, and understandably so! Because as Jess Lowry so artfully recounted, what could be worse than getting stuck in a revolving door? (Answer: getting just your head stuck in a revolving door.)

So. They kept pushing, and my head kept being stuck. Eventually someone alerted them that the blockage was my big stupid head, and they stopped pushing, and the revolving door swung backwards, and I pulled my head out, a little dizzy, but none worse for the wear, really.

Anyway, we made our way into the Liberty Science Center, the main attraction of which was, at the time, a pitch-black touch-tunnel, into which some 50-something fourth-graders poured, and immediately started screaming, because some idiot at the front led us down a dead-end and we were all going to die.

And that's why people need whiskers, because whiskers are how cats avoid getting stuck in things, and that seems like a useful trait to have.

[Image via Shutterstock]

Obama: Sony Hack Not an Act of War

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Obama: Sony Hack Not an Act of War

President Obama has said that he does not consider the Sony hacks to be an act of war by North Korea—which the president's administration has blamed for the attack—but rather vandalism, the Chicago Tribune reports.

"No, I don't think it was an act of war. I think it was an act of cyber vandalism that was very costly, very expensive. We take it very seriously. We will respond proportionately," Obama told CNN's Candy Crowley.

However, the Obama administration is considering putting North Korea back on the White House's list of state sponsors of terrorism, the Associated Press reports. North Korea was included on the list for two decades before being removed in 2008 by the Bush administration during nuclear negotiations.

According to CBS News, David Boies, a lawyer representing Sony Pictures Entertainment, said that The Interview is still going to be released. "How it's going to be distributed, I don't think anybody knows quite yet," Boies said on NBC's Meet the Press. "I think we've got to recognize that this is not a Sony security problem. This is a national security problem."

[Image via Getty Images]

Cop Killer's Instagram: "I'm Putting Wings on Pigs Today"

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Cop Killer's Instagram: "I'm Putting Wings on Pigs Today"

Just hours before 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot two cops "execution-style" in Brooklyn on Saturday, the killer announced his planned crime on social media, writing, "I'm Putting Wings on Pigs Today. They Take 1 of Ours...... Let's Take 2 of Theirs."

Cop Killer's Instagram: "I'm Putting Wings on Pigs Today"

Chillingly, Brinsley's Instagram post showed a silver Taurus pistol—matching a photo of the murder weapon later released by police.

Cop Killer's Instagram: "I'm Putting Wings on Pigs Today"

According to The Baltimore Sun, authorities in Maryland first became aware of the message at 1:30 p.m., calling New York police at 2:10 p.m. At around 2:45 p.m., Brinsley took "a shooting stance" behind an NYPD patrol car and fired on the officers sitting inside.

Baltimore-area police had already been searching for Brinsley, who they believed to have shot his ex-girlfriend early Saturday morning, a crime also apparently referenced on Instagram.

Cop Killer's Instagram: "I'm Putting Wings on Pigs Today"

A photo uploaded shortly after Brinsley's initial threat showed smeared blood on his pants alongside the 50 Cent lyrics "never had a hot gun on your waist and blood on your shoe."

Other photos on the account included comments from a woman who appeared to be the aunt of Brinsley's first victim. "If anyone see this punk ass call the police he shot my niece this morning!!!" read one message. "She didn't want you so u shoot her really," read another.

On Saturday, the killer posted a final status update on his Facebook page. "I Always Wanted To Be Known For Doing Something Right," wrote Brinsley. "But My Past Is Stalking Me And My Present Is Haunting Me."

[Images via Instagram]

Slain Officer's Son Mourns "Best Father I Could Ask For"

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Slain Officer's Son Mourns "Best Father I Could Ask For"

On Facebook, Jaden Ramos has been sharing photographs of his father, Rafael Ramos, one of the two NYPD officers slain yesterday. "I will always love you and I will never forget you. RIP Dad," he wrote.

"Today is the worst day of My Life," reads Ramos's first post from yesterday. Ramos's father Rafael was 40 years old. Wenjian Liu, the other officer, was 32. Jaden continued:

Today I had to say bye to my father. He was their for me everyday of my life, he was the best father I could ask for. It's horrible that someone gets shot dead just for being a police officer. Everyone says they hate cops but they are the people that they call for help. I will always love you and I will never forget you. RIP Dad.

Last night members of the NYPD in attendance at Woodhull hospital turned their backs on the mayor as he passed on his way to deliver a press conference with Commissioner Bratton.

Slain Officer's Son Mourns "Best Father I Could Ask For"

As Ramos and Liu's bodies were taken away, officers lined up to salute the ambulance, and impromptu memorials have sprung up around the city.

Slain Officer's Son Mourns "Best Father I Could Ask For"

[Images via Facebook and AP Images]


A Florida cop who served five years with the NYPD was shot and killed while on duty last night outsi

Here Are the Scumbags Blaming de Blasio and Obama for Slain Cops

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Here Are the Scumbags Blaming de Blasio and Obama for Slain Cops

After shooting his girlfriend Saturday morning, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley of Union City, Georgia traveled from Baltimore to New York and gunned down two NYPD officers, apparently in retaliation for recent police-related homicides. According to some commentators, however, Brinsley was only partially responsible for the murders, aided by accomplices Bill de Blasio and Barack Obama.

During a press conference held outside Woodhull Hospital, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said, "there's blood on many hands tonight" and "that blood on the hands starts on the steps of city hall in the office of the mayor."

Former New York Governor George Pataki shared a similar statement via Twitter, calling the shocking murders "a predictable outcome" of Mayor de Blasio and Attorney General Eric Holder's "divisive anti-cop rhetoric."

On Sunday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani weighed in, telling Fox & Friends it "goes too far" to blame Mayor de Blasio and ask he resign, before clarifying that de Blasio should still be held accountable, saying:

But I don't think it goes too far to say the mayor did not properly police the protests. He allowed the protesters to take over the streets. He allowed them to hurt police officers, to commit crimes, and he didn't arrest them. And when you do that, similar to what happened in Crown Heights, you create a great riot. He should have known better. For that he has to take accountability.

Giuliani had even stronger words for President Obama, Attorney General Holder and Rev. Al Sharpton:

They have created an atmosphere of severe, strong, anti-police hatred in certain communities. For that, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Tea Party Republican and former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh went even farther, asking people to "connect the dots" between statements by Obama, de Blasio and Holder and Saturday's murders.

Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham momentarily brought responsibility for the murders back to Brinsley, saying, "I blame the shooter and nobody else," before adding, "The tone [de Blasio and Holder are] setting around the rhetoric regarding the cops incites crazy people. But I blame the shooter."

[ Image via AP Images]

Leaked Amy Pascal Email: Idris Elba Should Be the Next James Bond

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Leaked Amy Pascal Email: Idris Elba Should Be the Next James Bond

Gawker favorite Amy Pascal wants Idris Elba to play James Bond, The Daily Beast reports. "Idris should be the next bond," Pascal wrote in a January 4, 2014 email to Elizabeth Cantillon, former executive vice president of production for Columbia Pictures. Columbia distributes the Bond franchise.

Daniel Craig is contracted for at least one more Bond flick subsequent to Spectre, due out November 6, 2015. Craig, however, has expressed ambivalence about his continued participation in the series. "I've got a contract that somebody will happily wipe their ass with," he told Rolling Stone in 2012.

The idea that Elba might take over remains a fantasy, albeit one to which Elba himself is open. "It would be the will of a nation," he told The Huffington Post. "Everyone has been saying that to me." The voice of the people is the voice of God.

[Image via AP Images]

Kourtney Kardashian Has Given America, Finally, a Tiny King

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Kourtney Kardashian Has Given America, Finally, a Tiny King

The Baby Name Critic was just eleven when Princess Diana died. It was a horrible day. Diana was like a fictional aunt to her, and even inspired her to get into the academic field of Baby Name Criticism (royals really do have the best time dredging up arcane names from the past for their children, and also giving their kids 19 middle names). When Diana died, the royal family lost most of its panache. Even Waity Katie can't really make up for the void Diana left, no matter how good her blowout is.

This is why the Baby Name Critic is thankful for the Kardashians: They are the royal family America never knew it wanted, or needed. Forget presidential families as our royals; Chelsea Clinton, a robot, was never going to be caught in Vegas wearing a Nazi costume and Malia and Sasha Obama, those precious teens, should be kept in a impermeable bubble so no press or men can get to them at least for ten years. The Kardashians, meanwhile, are a product of America's two favorite things, capitalism and sex. They are beautiful, wacky, stupid, funny, and entertaining. They are ours, and they own us. Every single time.

There was a slight chance Kourtney Kardashian might have given her new baby with Scott Disick a relatively normal (i.e. existent) but buzzy name. My money was on Isis or Ferguson. But no. Kourtney has laid down her cards, and along with her cards, her baby: Reign Aston Disick. And thus, we now have our baby Kardashian King to whom we bow. I believe Reign will grow up not just to own a very successful custom sock company like his uncle Rob but will also likely rule the free market economy. Perhaps he will be a Nobel Laureate. Anything is possible for this child, whose name is synonymous with power, prestige, expensive shit, and the social caste system.

All hail Reign Disick.

This has been Baby Name Critic.

Leah Finnegan is Gawker's Baby Name Critic.

[Pic via Instagram]

Cop Killer Moments Before Shooting: "Watch What I'm Going to Do"

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Cop Killer Moments Before Shooting: "Watch What I'm Going to Do"

According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, cop killer Ismaaiyl Brinsley spoke with two passersby "just prior" to Saturday's shooting in Brooklyn, asking them for their gang affiliation and to follow him on Instagram before saying, "Watch what I'm going to do."

In a press conference on Sunday, Boyce revealed this and other details about the shooter discovered during the ongoing investigation, including that Brinsley's mother believed her son to have an undiagnosed mental illness and that he had reportedly attempted suicide as recently as a year ago.

Boyce said that Brinsley's social media posts expressed anger against the government, the police and himself. "Right now we have no gang affiliation, at all, attributed to this man," said Boyce, adding,"he has no religious statements that we found on Instagram at all, none whatsoever."

[Image via Instagram]

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