Blue Blood

Dec. 22, 2014 The Agenda Two NYPD officers murdered in Brooklyn in "assassination" Mic Two New York Police Department officers were shot dead Saturday while seated in their patrol car. In a press conference following the shootings, Commissioner William J. Bratton declared that the officers "were, quite simply, assassinated." + Following the execution-style shootings, the first on-duty deaths of New York police officers since 2011, the 28-year-old suspect, identified by the NYPD as Ismaaiyl Brinsley, fled into a subway station where he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. + Brinsley reportedly bragged about murdering police officers to pedestrians before shooting the two officers. + The NYPD suspects that Brinsley was a member of the Black Guerrilla Family prison gang. + The police officers' union has put the blame squarely on protesters and anti-police sentiment following the Eric Garner grand jury decision. + Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani: President Barack Obama and black leaders incite "anti-police hatred." + Police officer's union: "The blood of two executed police officers is on the hands of Mayor de Blasio." + Kareem Abdul-Jabbar parses the difference between Garner protests and the monster who murdered to innocent policemen: "The police aren't under attack. Institutional racism is." President Obama: Sony hack "not an act of war." Reuters President Obama moved to "prevent U.S. anger at North Korea from spiraling out of control" on Sunday by saying the massive hacking of Sony Pictures "was not an act of war but instead was cyber-vandalism," Reuters reports. + "No, I don't think it was an act of war," he told CNN's State of the Union on a show that aired on Sunday. "I think it was an act of cyber-vandalism that was very costly, very expensive. We take it very seriously. We will respond proportionately." + Sony hasn't totally given up on The Interview yet. Marvels Here's what it's like when you have a famous Internet doppleganger. [Mic] Twenty years of street photography shows just how boring we all are. [Slate] Facebook, but for felons. [BuzzFeed] Holiday travel is going to really suck this year. [Mic] When it comes to gun violence, suicides outnumber homicides. [Vocativ] Twenty-four years later, Home Alone is still the best Christmas movie of all time. [Mic] The Hobbit was good, but Peter Jackson must be stopped. [Wired] There are few fantasies so absurd as the idea of living on through fame. So why does immortality still beckon? [Aeon] We now have scientific proof that TV doctors are full of shit. [Mic] Scientists have managed to translate monkey language into English. [Scientific American] The average cost of college in the U.S. is just under $30,000 per year. In nine countries, it's free. [Mic] Photo of the Day Dr. Evil returns: On this week's episode of Saturday Night Live, former cast member Mike Myers stopped by to take over the show's cold open as one of his characters from the Austin Powers movies, and he shed some light on this supremely perplexing Sony hack. Mic Check is carefully and dutifully assembled each day by Jared Keller. Did we miss something you wanted to read about? Want to see us focus on an under-covered issue? Have a tip for the next edition? Email jared@mic.com. Share Mic Check and help your friends stay informed: http://eepurl.com/of1jj. Follow Mic!      Copyright © 2014 Mic, All rights reserved. You are receiving this because you opted in while creating an account on Mic. Our mailing address is: Mic 325 Hudson Street 1001 New York, NY 10013 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences