World Focus on Ukraine, Oscar Selfie

Ukraine Crisis: Russian troops have surrounded or taken control of all the Ukraine military bases in Crimea. They are ordering Ukrainian troops to leave. “This is a question of defending our citizens and compatriots, ensuring human rights, especially the right to life,” the Russian foreign minister said in Geneva.

  The NY Times reports that after speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told President Obama that she doesn’t think Putin is in touch with reality. “In another world,” she said.

Secy. Of  State John Kerry plans a visit to Kiev tomorrow to lend support to the interim Ukraine government. Kerry said yesterday that Russia’s takeover of Crimea is “a 19th century act in the 21st century.” Kerry threatened Russia with trade and investment restrictions, asset freezes, and visa bans. He even threatened Russia with eviction from the G-8 group of industrialized nations. Russia is scheduled to host the next G-8 meeting in June in Sochi.

World: Over the weekend in Nigeria two car bombs attributed to the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram exploded in a dense area of the city of Maiduguri killing scores of people, including children at a wedding and fans watching a soccer match in a movie theater. Boko Haram also hit a rural village, killing 39 people. Just a week ago they killed 40 children at a boarding school.

Winter Weary: Washington, DC is shut down today under heavy snowfall as yet another winter storm hits the mid-Atlantic. Nearly 2,400 US flights are cancelled.

Oscar Night: Ellen DeGeneres hosted a classy, humorous, and tastefully understated Oscar night in which she ordered out for pizza and distributed it to the stars. She took a star-studded selfie which immediately became Twitter’s most re-tweeted item.

The envelopes, please.

Best Picture: “12 Years A Slave”. The first time a black director has won an Oscar. It took 12 years to get the picture made; Best Actor/tress; Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”; Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”; Best Supporting: Jared Leto of “Dallas Buyers” and Lupita Nyong’o of “12 Years”.

Wow Factor: Lupita Nyong’o in pale ice blue, Charlize Theron in black, Jessica Biel in sparkles, and Kate Hudson in cleavage.

The Bjork Award: Whoopie Goldberg.

Fall Fashion Award: Jennifer Lawrence, who stumbled on the stairs last year accepting her Oscar, fell getting out of her limo yesterday. Best Picture, Worst Speech: Director Steve McQueen, “12 Years.” Just thank them all later, thank you.

Least Recognizable After Surgery: Liza Minnelli, Goldie Hawn, and a woman we think was Kim Novak.

Box Office: Liam Neeson finished the weekend slightly more popular than Jesus in the theaters. Neeson’s action thriller “Non Stop” beat Christian flick “Son of God” by $5 million. The infomercial posing as “The Lego Movie” was third.

Spot News: Engaging in the television news tradition of “reporter involvement,” NBC News reporter Miguel Almaguer had to be rescued Friday night after doing a live standup thigh deep in a Southern California mudflow. When his shot was done Almaguer was stuck and had to be pulled out by firefighters. Afterwards the cops ordered all the press out of the area because they were tired of interfering with natural selection.

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It's Been Said

"Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."

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