The Plot Thins: The FBI has arrested a 20-year-old Ohio man and accused him of plotting to bomb the US capitol and kill government officials in support of the Islamic State. Christopher Cornell is a recent convert to Islam who still lived at home with his parents. He spent a lot of time on the computer, according to reports.

  It’s not clear whether Cornell really had the ability to carry out his plot. The Cincinnati Enquirer quotes his father describing him as a “momma’s boy who never left the house.” Cornell was arrested yesterday after buying two semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition.

In the Line of Fired: Four high-ranking Secret Service officers have been reassigned in the wake of scandals and screw-ups. They are the assistant directors for investigations, protective operations, technology, and public affairs. Interesting that they also fired the image burnisher in public affairs.

  An independent report described the agency as “insular” and “starved for leadership.” It didn’t help that a wacko was able to jump the fence and get into the White House.

  Acting Director Joseph P. Clancey said in a statement that”Change is necessary to gain a fresh perspective on how we conduct business.”

Hooray for Hollywood: The movies “Birdman” and “Boyhood” led this morning’s Oscar nomination with nine nominations each, among them Best Picture and Best Director. “The Imitation Game,” about cracking the German Enigma code, came in with eight nominations, including Best Picture and Actor.

  The list of eight Best Picture nominees also include: “American Sniper”; “The Grand Budapest Hotel”; “The Imitation Game”; “Selma”; “The Theory of Everything”; “Whiplash.”

Peaked: Two American climbers yesterday completed an historic summit of the near impossible 3,000-foot Dawn Wall on El Capitan in Yosemite Park. They were the first to do it only with their hands and feet, clinging to tiny cracks and features in the 3,000-foot sheer wall. By the end their fingers were bandaged and bleeding. It took Tommy Caldwell, who’s missing his left index finger, and Kevin Jorgeson, 17 days to do it. They were held by safety ropes that broke occasional falls, and had support teams, but they used no hardware to hold them to the mountain.

  After all the effort, the two climbers rappelled down the mountain in minutes for hot showers and food.

Jihad: Satellite images of two Nigerian towns show that about 3,700 homes and structures have been damaged and destroyed by the Islamic extremists of Boko Haram. Amnesty International says that the attacks on Baga and Doron Baga in northeast Nigeria are the worst they’ve seen in the campaign by Boko Haram. By some estimates as many as 2,000 people were killed in the assault on the two towns, but the Nigerian government claims it was only 150.

High Water: Ocean levels are rising at a faster rate that was thought for the last 20 years, according to a team of scientists who published their findings in the journal Nature. The oceans are rising 25 percent faster than previous estimates, about 3mm a year.

Teacher’s Pet: Alabama school employees were more likely to be accused of having sex with students last year than in any other state. Twenty-five Alabama educators were accused of having sex with the kids last year, about one case for every 194,000 students. Texas had the most actual cases with 116, but the state’s larger population lowered the probability of a teacher scoring with a student. Alabama’s schools have been rated among the ten worst in the country, but evidently not in sex education.