Stern but lovable news show host John McLaughlin has died at the age of 89. He hosted his iconic, low-fi political talk show for 34 years. Now he is presiding over Pat Buchanan- Eleanor Clift shoutfests in heaven. “Bye BYE,” John.

Are you now or have you ever been a smoker of the dreaded “tobacky?” Perhaps you gave up the habit long ago, for your health? No matter—you are doomed.

Amanda Lauren’s tagline on her website reads “I write things that become a thing,” and boy does she! This week two pieces of hers received an influx of attention and response—a Your Tango essay called “Staying Hot For My Husband Is ESSENTIAL To A Successful Marriage” and a now-deleted xoJane essay titled “My Former Friend’s Death Was a Blessing.” In the latter, our focus here, Lauren expressed relief over the death of her estranged former friend, whom she had seemed to decide was a lost cause by looking at said friend’s Facebook page. My first impression was, “What was she thinking?” So I called her up.

Mariam Dansoko, a three-year-old girl, was crossing the street near Yankee Stadium with her mother yesterday when she noticed an approaching car. “Mommy, the car is coming,” she said. By the time her mother turned around, the driver of the oncoming Nissan Altima struck Mariam, giving her injuries that later killed her. The driver was not arrested at the scene and will likely not be charged with a crime.

T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oil man, is 87 years old. T. Boone Pickens announced this week that he is supporting Donald Trump for president. Death looms in front of us all.

When it comes to discussions of mortality rates, it seems like all we hear these days is “middle-aged white Americans are dying more.” Okay, fine—but here’s the good news.

In 1998, Prince called up Mel B out of the blue, and asked if she’d like to interview him, at his house. She, of course, accepted the invitation. “This is the best interview I’ve ever had,” Prince said afterward. Here, he gives his thoughts on mortality, and makes it clear that he would have wanted you to be partying right now.

The exquisitely taxidermied corpse of Russia’s communist revolutionary turns 146 next week. Just this January, two Russian deputies urged to “end the outrage” and “inhumanity” and bury Lenin already, the “Christian” way, but Putin didn’t want to “divide society.” And so, the sarcophagus is to remain above ground, on display in the Red Square mausoleum.

Actor and comedian Garry Shandling died Thursday in Los Angeles. Shandling, 66, was among the most influential figures in modern American comedy and television, thanks to two brilliant shows he co-created and starred in in the 1980s and 1990s.

On the morning of February 13, the owner of Cibolo Creek Ranch, in the west Texas town of Shafter, discovered the cold body of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in one of the ranch’s hotel rooms. The owner, John Poindexter, later told the San Antonio Express-News, “We discovered the judge in bed, a pillow over his head. His bed clothes were unwrinkled. He was lying very restfully. It looked like he had not quite awakened from a nap.”

Even if President Obama cannot get a new Supreme Court justice confirmed before he leaves office, Antonin Scalia may have singlehandedly saved America’s public sector unions by dying when he did.

Some very visible bad things have happened. Dozens of people have been shot. Some people are very afraid. They don’t need to be.

“While my family may be the first guests to speak out about a wrongful death at an Airbnb rental, it shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise. Staying with a stranger or inviting one into your home is an inherently dicey proposition.”

Between 1999 and 2013, the death rate for middle-aged white people with less than a college education in America rose markedly, in contrast with comparable demographic groups in other wealthy nations as well as with steadily dropping death rates for that group before 1999.

A group trying to entice “Diamond” Joe Biden into the presidential race is making the vice president an attractive offer: run, and we won’t show this dramatic television ad about your dead wife and daughter.

Bad news for the narcissistic. Not only are we embarrassing ourselves with our selfies, but we appear to be killing ourselves as well. So far this year, there have been 12 reported deaths while attempting to take a selfie, compared to only eight from shark attacks, UPROXX reports.

When you return home from work, mentally exhausted despite having done mostly nothing all day, what do you do?

On Friday, Sandra Bland was arrested in Prairie View, Tx., following a routine traffic stop for failure to signal a lane change. Three days later, she was dead in her cell at Waller County Jail. Suicide by hanging is the official cause of death, but Bland’s family believes it was something much more sinister.

I bet you thought there was only a slight chance you’d die from taking nonaspirin pain relievers like Advil, Aleve, Ibuprofen, Motrin and the like. Nope! Researchers are now saying they’re actually much more likely to kill you than they originally thought. How likely? The technical answer, I guess, is “it depends.”

Police say a clothing giveaway in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, a city north of the capital, ended in the deaths of at least 20 people on Friday when a stampede broke out among hundreds of people trying to rush through narrow factory doors in order to get free clothing.