Emmy Award-winning actress Catherine O&#8217;Hara has died at the age of 71.
The iconic star was best known for her roles in movies such as “Beetlejuice” (1988), “Home Alone” (1990), “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992), “Waiting for Guffman” (1996), and “Best in Show” (2000). O’Hara also starring in the cult classic TV comedy &#8220;Schitt&#8217;s Creek,&#8221; which earned her the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.
O&#8217;Hara&#8217;s manager confirmed the news of her death Friday, per <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/actress-catherine-ohara-dies-71/story?id=129711879">ABC News</a>, but no other details were immediately available.
O&#8217;Hara had a long and varied Hollywood career spanning across TV and movies, mostly in the comedy genre. Her most recent project was the Apple TV+ series &#8220;The Studio&#8221; along with Seth Rogen. Her role in the series earned her an Emmy nomination in 2025.
The Canadian actress was born in Toronto in 1954 as the sixth of seven children. Like so many other comedic actors, she got her start at the Second City Theater in Toronto alongside legends such as Dan Aykroyd, Joe Flaherty, Gilda Radner, and Eugene Levy. She became a staple character before moving on to films and scripted television.
O&#8217;Hara met her husband, production designer Bo Welch, on the set of &#8220;Beetlejuice&#8221; in 1988. The pair wed in 1992 and had two sons: Matthew in 1994 and Luke in 1997.
O&#8217;Hara stayed close with her &#8220;Home Alone&#8221; co-star Macaulay Culkin for decades and was there when he <a href="https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/home-star-macaulay-culkin-honored-walk-fame-ceremony-105315227">received his star</a> on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
The actress said &#8220;Home Alone&#8221; got her recognized plenty, but the massive fandom of &#8220;Schitt&#8217;s Creek&#8221; was surprising.
&#8220;I used to mostly get people named Kevin who&#8217;d come up to me and ask me to yell &#8216;Kevin!&#8217; in their faces,&#8221; O&#8217;Hara <a href="https://people.com/catherine-ohara-schitts-creek-star-dies-71-8659396">told</a> People in 2020. &#8220;Now it&#8217;s mostly about Moira and &#8216;Schitt&#8217;s Creek.&#8217; I&#8217;ve never gotten this kind of attention in my life. It&#8217;s crazy.&#8221;

Catherine O’Hara

Iconic ‘Home Alone’ Actress Catherine O’Hara Dead At 71

Celebrities

Death

Entertainment

Hollywood

Movies

Television

U.S.

Winter Storm Fern is <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/winter-weather/live-blog/live-updates-winter-storm-freezing-rain-snow-rcna255871">responsible</a> for at least 17 deaths so far, with fatalities reported in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Kansas, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Arkansas.
Officials in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Louisiana have each reported three deaths. Mississippi and Texas have reported two deaths each. The other states have reported one death each, per officials.
The Louisiana Department of Health confirmed that an 86-year-old man died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves also confirmed two weather-related fatalities from the winter storm, per NBC News. Ohio police announced a tragic incident in which a snowmobiler was struck and killed by a plow truck.
<a href="https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/deadly-historic-winter-storm-ice-power-outages-south-snow-northeast">Fox Weather</a> reported on the death of a 16-year-old girl in Frisco, Texas. The teenager died after a sledding crash, and another teenager is in critical condition. Local police said the two were being pulled by an SUV when the sled hit a tree.
In Pennsylvania, the coroner&#8217;s office said three people died in three separate medical incidents while they were cleaning up snow on Sunday, according to Fox Weather. The outlet also reported that a Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority snowplow struck a married couple who were on a walk. The wife died from her injuries.
In New York, several deaths are being investigated as potentially weather-related, so the number of dead could rise.
The Northeast is getting the last bit of snowfall from the storm, but the bitter cold temperatures aren&#8217;t moving out.
According to The Weather Channel, the cold could last well into next week. The National Weather Service has issued extreme cold alerts in parts of the Midwest, South, and Ohio Valley as the frigid air arrives.
More than a dozen low-temperature records were broken Monday morning. Some of the cities that dropped to their lowest temperatures include: New Orleans at 27 degrees, San Antonio and Austin at 19 degrees, Tulsa at 0 degrees, and Springfield, Missouri, at a record -11 degrees.
The Arctic blast will refreeze existing ice and snow, making power outages worse, especially in the South, where ice has been the biggest threat.
The cold temperatures are devastating to regions of the country dealing with power outages. There are more than 800,000 people without power, including 250,000 in Tennessee alone.
In Mississippi, more than 145,750 people are without power. Louisiana isn&#8217;t far behind, with 117,325 customers still in the dark. Texas has nearly 50,000 without power.

Credit: Jon Cherry via Getty Images

Death Toll Rising From Winter Storm As Parts Of Country Remain In Sub-Freezing Temperatures

cold temperatures

Severe Weather

winter weather

At least 5,000 people have been killed in protests in Iran, including about 500 security personnel, an Iranian official in the region said on Sunday, citing verified figures and accusing &#8220;terrorists and armed rioters&#8221; of killing &#8220;innocent Iranians.&#8221;
Nationwide protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled over two weeks into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule &#8211; resulting in the deadliest unrest since Iran&#8217;s 1979 Islamic revolution.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if protesters continued to be killed on the streets or were executed. In a social media post on Friday, he thanked Tehran&#8217;s leaders, saying they had called off scheduled executions of 800 people.
A day later, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a public speech branded Trump a &#8220;criminal&#8221; for the casualties he inflicted on Iran by supporting protesters.
&#8220;We will not drag the country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,&#8221; Khamenei said, acknowledging &#8220;several thousand deaths&#8221; that he blamed on &#8220;terrorists and rioters&#8221; linked to the U.S. and Israel.
Iran&#8217;s judiciary indicated that executions may go ahead.
&#8220;A series of actions have been identified as Mohareb, which is among the most severe Islamic punishments,&#8221; Iranian judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir told a press conference on Sunday.
Mohareb, an Islamic legal term meaning to wage war against God, is punishable by death under Iranian law.
Trump said in an interview with Politico on Saturday: &#8220;it&#8217;s time to look for new leadership in Iran.&#8221;
U.S.-based rights group HRANA said on Saturday the death toll had reached 3,308, with another 4,382 cases under review. It said it had confirmed more than 24,000 arrests.
The Iranian official said the verified death toll was unlikely to &#8220;increase sharply,&#8221; adding &#8220;Israel and armed groups abroad&#8221; had supported and equipped those taking to the streets.
The clerical establishment regularly blames unrest on foreign enemies, including the U.S. and Israel, an arch foe of the Islamic Republic which launched military strikes in June.
The violent crackdown appears to have broadly quelled protests, according to residents and state media.
One resident in Tehran said he had witnessed riot police directly shooting at a group of protesters, who were mostly young men and women. Videos circulating on social media, some of which have been verified by Reuters, have shown security forces violently cracking down on demonstrations across the country.
The Iranian official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, also said some of the heaviest clashes and highest number of deaths were in the Iranian Kurdish areas in the country&#8217;s northwest.
Kurdish separatists have been active there and flare-ups have been among the most violent in past periods of unrest.
Three sources told Reuters on January 14 that armed Kurdish separatist groups sought to cross the border into Iran from Iraq in a sign of foreign entities potentially seeking to take advantage of instability.
&#8220;I am against this regime and have taken part in protests, but I witnessed some armed individuals disguised as protesters shooting at civilians. They were not ordinary protesters, they carried guns and knives,&#8221; an Iranian in a northwestern town told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The Norway-based Iranian Kurdish rights group Hengaw has said some of the heaviest clashes during protests that erupted in late December were in Kurdish areas in the northwest.
Getting information out of Iran has been complicated by internet blackouts, which were partly lifted for a few hours early on Saturday. But internet monitoring group NetBlocks said the blackout seemed to have later been reimposed.
Faizan Ali, a 40-year-old medical doctor from Lahore, said he had to cut short his trip to Iran to visit his Iranian wife in the central city of Isfahan as &#8220;there was no internet or communication with my family in Pakistan.&#8221;
&#8220;I saw a violent mob burning buildings, banks and cars. I also witnessed an individual stab a passer-by,&#8221; he told Reuters upon his arrival back in Lahore.
(Additional reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore,Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Alexander Smith)

BRITAIN-IRAN-PROTEST-RIGHTS

At Least 5,000 Dead In Iran Unrest, Official Says, As Judiciary Hints At Executions

Global Politics

Iran

Protests

World

People Magazine and several other outlets are getting dragged for the headlines they used to report the death of cartoonist Scott Adams on Tuesday.
Adams, best known for creating the satirical comic strip “Dilbert,” died at the age of 68 following a terminal cancer diagnosis. Most mainstream outlets stuck to the facts or buried their criticisms of Adams deep in the article copy. The Left despised him for being a conservative and a huge fan of Donald Trump.
But some outlets put their bias front and center. People ran an article by staff writer Victoria Eden, which had the headline: “Scott Adams, Disgraced Dilbert Creator, Dies at 68,” and followed up with the subheading, “&#8217;Dilbert&#8217; was pulled from wide circulation after Adams’ racist rant in 2023.”
Social media followers expressed their frustration over the phrasing.
“You cannot hate the media enough,” one X reply <a href="https://x.com/mattvanswol/status/2011128217609130295">said</a> in response to the article being tweeted from the official People X account. That tweet was later deleted, but the article with the same headline still remains on the website as of Tuesday afternoon.
The outlet also removed Edel’s name from the online article and replaced it with “People Staff” after commenters began calling her out by name on the social media platform.
It wasn’t just People disparaging Adams as they reported on his death. While The New York Times selected a neutral headline on their website, the accompanying social post was more opinionated.
“Breaking News: Scott Adams, whose comic strip &#8216;Dilbert&#8217; was a sensation until he made racist comments on his podcast, has died at 68,” the legacy outlet shared in an X post.
“Stuff like this used to make me angry, but I honestly laughed as your hack behavior is too predictable. You will be hated until your dying days, you have no loved ones, when you die, people will rejoice,” one response to the NYT post <a href="https://x.com/Cernovich/status/2011135485494829274">said</a>.
“You have no shame. Unreal,” echoed <a href="https://x.com/realELFIGURIN/status/2011129288146210992">another</a>.
BBC News went with the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y320k72vyo">headline</a>: “Controversial Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams dies aged 68.” NPR also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/01/13/nx-s1-5413219/scott-adams-dilbert-dies">referred to</a> Adams as a “controversial cartoonist” in their article.
“Scott Adams, ‘Dilbert’ Creator Who Courted Controversy, Dead at 68,” the headline from far-Left outlet Rolling Stone <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/scott-adams-dilbert-creator-dead-obtiuary-1235496233/">said</a>.
Some X users contrasted this phrasing to how mainstream outlets covered other notorious figures like convicted sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. For Epstein’s death, The New York Times ran the headline, “Jeffrey Epstein Dead in Suicide at Jail, Spurring Inquiries.”
The controversy these outlets reference goes back to the “Dilbert” cartoon being dropped from major newspapers following an incident in 2023. During a podcast episode, Adams discussed a Rasmussen poll, which found that nearly half of black Americans were unable to agree with the phrase, “It’s okay to be white.” Adams’ reply suggesting that the poll results indicate that black Americans are a “hate group” went viral.
“Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black people. Just get the f*** away,” Adams said at the time after commenting further on race relations and crime.
“Wherever you have to go, just get away. Because there’s no fixing this. This can’t be fixed. So I don’t think it makes any sense as a white citizen of America to try to help black citizens anymore. It doesn’t make sense. There’s no longer a rational impulse. So I’m going to back off on being helpful to black America because it doesn’t seem like it pays off.”

Scott Adams

People Magazine Obit Calls Scott Adams ‘Disgraced Dilbert Creator,’ Spurring Backlash

People Magazine Obit Calls Scott Adams 'Disgraced Dilbert Creator,' Spurring Backlash

Conservatives

Mainstream Media

Media

Media Bias

Cartoonist Scott Adams, best known for creating the hilariously relatable, satirical comic strip “Dilbert,” has died at the age of 68 following a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Adams’ ex-wife, Shelly Miles, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs_JrOIo3SE">revealed the news</a> via the “Real Coffee With Scott Adams” YouTube show. Miles also shared a “final message” from Adams.
“If you are reading this, things did not go well for me. I have a few things to say before I go. My body failed before my brain,” she read, noting that Adams professed to be “of sound mind” when he wrote the note.
“Many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go. I’m not a believer, but I have to admit the risk-reward calculation for doing so looks so attractive to me, so here I go. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior and look forward to spending an eternity with Him. The part about me not being a believer should be quickly resolved if I wake up in heaven. I won’t need any more convincing than that. I hope I’m still qualified for entry.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A Final Message From Scott Adams <a href="https://t.co/QKX6b0MFZA">pic.twitter.com/QKX6b0MFZA</a>
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/2011116140626657458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The letter goes on with the story of Adams’ life. “I had an amazing life,” he said via Miles at one point. “I gave it everything I had. If I got any benefits for my work, I’m asking that you pay it forward as best as you can. That’s the legacy I want: Be useful and please know I loved you all to the very end.”
Adams announced his prostate cancer diagnosis in May 2025.
“I have the same cancer that Joe Biden has. I also have prostate cancer that has also spread to my bones,” the beloved cartoonist said. “My life expectancy is maybe this summer. I expect to be checking out from this domain sometime this summer.” He noted that he’d been dealing with the cancer for some time and that it had progressed to Stage 4 and spread to his bones.
Miles told <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2026/01/12/dilbert-creator-scott-adams-hospice-prostate-cancer/">TMZ</a> that Adams had begun hospice care earlier this week at his home in Northern California as his health had begun declining “rapidly.”
Adams created “Dilbert” in 1989, and it quickly grew in popularity as white-collar workers related to the pitfalls of office life and clueless managers. 
“[I]n many cases the least competent, least smart people are promoted, simply because they’re the ones you don’t want doing actual work,” Adams <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090206065944/http://aacsb.edu/publications/bized/p16-21.pdf">said</a> during a 2002 interview. “You want them ordering the doughnuts and yelling at people for not doing their assignments — you know, the easy work. Your heart surgeons and your computer programmers — your smart people — aren’t in management.”
At its height, Dilbert was syndicated in 2,000 newspapers in 57 countries and 19 languages. There were also comic books, a TV show, endless merchandise, and worldwide recognition. Adams was ostracized from the mainstream after broadcasting his conservative views and making statements about race, which were deemed problematic by the Left.
Adams said he was floored when President Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/scott-adams-reveals-trump-called-him-to-check-in-after-terminal-cancer-diagnosis?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Scott+Adams+Reveals+Trump+Called+Him+To+%E2%80%98Check+In%E2%80%99+After+Terminal+Cancer+Diagnosis">called him personally</a> after he revealed his cancer diagnosis. Trump also shared his condolences Tuesday morning shortly after Adams’ death was announced.
“Sadly, the Great Influencer, Scott Adams, has passed away. He was a fantastic guy, who liked and respected me when it wasn’t fashionable to do so. He bravely fought a long battle against a terrible disease. My condolences go out to his family, and all of his many friends and listeners. He will be truly missed. God bless you Scott,” the president <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115888656099131562">shared</a> on Truth Social alongside a photo of him and Adams posing together.

‘I Had An Amazing Life’: ‘Dilbert’ Creator Scott Adams Dies At 68 Following Cancer Battle

'Dilbert' Creator Scott Adams Dies At 68 Following Cancer Battle

Jonathan Gerlach, a 34-year-old Pennsylvania man, was arrested on Tuesday after vandalizing a cemetery — only later did police discover human remains in his basement and storage unit, including more than 100 skulls, several long bones, mummified feet, and decomposing torsos.
The <a href="https://x.com/FOXLA/status/2009736991189979136">arrest</a> follows a months-long investigation of burglaries at graves and mausoleums. From November 7 to early January, 26 underground vaults and mausoleums were broken into or damaged, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Surveillance footage from Mount Moriah Cemetery on January 6 shows the suspect&#8217;s car with “numerous bones and skulls in plain view in the back seat,” Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said. From there, police observed Gerlach leaving the cemetery with a crowbar and a burlap bag filled with the skeletal remains of two small children, skulls, and other bones. He was taken into custody and, according to police, confessed to stealing roughly 30 sets of human remains. Authorities say a Monster drink was also found nearby and was later processed for DNA and fingerprints.
It is still unclear what Gerlach was doing with the bones, Rouse noted, some of which were more than a century old.
“Very simply, detectives have recovered an awful lot of bones at this point, and we are still trying to piece together who they are, where they are from, and how many we are looking at, and it’s going to be quite some time before we have a final answer,” Rouse said.
He called the sight &#8220;horrific,&#8221; adding, “Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life in that home.”
Yeadon Borough Police Chief Henry Giammarco also said it was one of the worst things he had witnessed in his 30-year career. &#8220;When people are laid to rest, that&#8217;s important,&#8221; he added. &#8220;The remains, they&#8217;re so old, but still, when they lived, they had a life, they mattered. It was important to us to get justice, and that&#8217;s working with the DA&#8217;s office. Hopefully justice will be served.&#8221;
Gerlach is charged with more than 300 counts, including 100 counts each of abuse of a corpse and receiving stolen property, multiple counts of desecrating a public monument, desecrating a venerated object, desecrating a historic burial place, burglary, trespassing, and theft. He is also accused of stealing jewelry, possibly taken from human remains.
He is jailed on a $1 million bond with no lawyer listed in court records, and an arraignment hearing is scheduled for January 20.

Human Bones

Hands, Feet, And Hundreds Of Bones Found In Pennsylvania Man’s Basement And Storage Unit

Crime

Law Enforcement

Pennsylvania

Victoria Jones, the 34-year-old daughter of actor Tommy Lee Jones, was discovered dead in a San Francisco hotel room in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, according to multiple reports.
TMZ originally broke the story, <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2026/01/01/tommy-lee-jones-daughter-victoria-dead/">noting</a> that local law enforcement responded to a medical emergency at the upscale Fairmont San Francisco just before 3 a.m. local time. 
The San Francisco Police Department confirmed that officers responded to the call on Thursday and that paramedics declared an unnamed adult female dead. NBC Bay Area reported that the cause of death is unknown, but <a href="https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/woman-found-dead-sf-hotel/4006464/">noted</a> that foul play is not suspected.
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Victoria was the daughter of the “No Country for Old Men” star and his first wife, Kimberlea Cloughley. Her brother, Austin, is 43.
She dabbled in acting when she was younger, appearing alongside her father in the popular “Men in Black II” (2002). In 2005, Victoria appeared in “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” which Jones directed. She had a guest appearance on one episode of the teen drama series “One Tree Hill” in 2003.
According to the New York Post, Victoria was <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/01/02/entertainment/guest-who-discovered-tommy-lee-jones-daughters-lifeless-body-thought-she-was-drunk-as-mystery-around-her-death-deepens/">arrested</a> three times in the past year for various offenses, including obstructing a peace officer, being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of a narcotic controlled substance, domestic battery, and domestic violence/elder abuse charges. Court records show she pleaded not guilty to all of those charges.
Jones is an Oscar-winning actor who got his start in the 1960s and became a big-time player in the 1990s after winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in “The Fugitive” (1993). He has also appeared in other profile projects, including “JFK” (1991), the “Men in Black” franchise, “Natural Born Killers (1994), “No Country for Old Men” (2007), and Lincoln (2012), which also earned him an Oscar nomination.
The actor also earned an Emmy Award for his role as executed murderer Gary Gilmore in “The Executioner&#8217;s Song” (1982).

Tommy Lee Jones Victoria Jones

Tommy Lee Jones’s 34-Year Old Daughter Found Dead In San Francisco Hotel

Tommy Lee Jones's 34-Year Old Daughter Found Dead At San Francisco Hotel

San Francisco

Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr., best known for appearing in “The Wire” and “Veep,” has died at the age of 71. 
The Hollywood mainstay passed away peacefully at home following a brief illness, per his manager Brian Liebman. 
&#8220;It is with tremendous sadness that I share the passing of my dear friend and client Isiah Whitlock Jr. If you knew him — you loved him,” Liebman <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DS5za6eEdp2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D">posted</a> on Instagram. “A brilliant actor and even better person. May his memory forever be a blessing. Our hearts are so broken. He will be very, very missed.&#8221; 
Whitlock was born in South Bend, Indiana. He got into acting by joining the San Francisco American Conservatory Theater after graduating from college. 
His first important role was on the CBS show “Cagney &amp; Lacey” in 1987. Whitlock spent more than 30 years in Hollywood, appearing in major television franchises, including “Law &amp; Order,&#8221; per <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/12/isiah-whitlock-jr-dead-the-wire-spike-lee-movies-1236658855/">Deadline</a>.
He’s best known for playing the corrupt state senator R. Clayton “Clay” Davis on HBO’s “The Wire.” He also took on the role of George Maddox, U.S. Secretary of Defense, on the popular HBO Max political comedy series, &#8220;Veep&#8221; (2012-2019). 
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The actor had roles in several Spike Lee movies, including &#8220;25th Hour&#8221; (2002), &#8220;She Hate Me&#8221; (2004), &#8220;Red Hook Summer&#8221; (2012), &#8220;Chi-Raq&#8221; (2015), &#8220;BlacKkKlansman&#8221; (2018), and &#8220;Da 5 Bloods&#8221; (2020). 
It was in “25th Hour” that Whitlock’s popular catchphrase, an elongated pronunciation of the word “sh**” that sounds like, “sheeeeeeeeit,” was born. 
Whitlock said hearing fans mimic his performance made him happy.
“I did it there, and I did it in ‘She Hate Me,’” the actor said during a 2008 interview. “But then, when I got on to ‘The Wire,’ I saw a couple of opportunities where I could do it, and I did. And they started writing it in.”
&#8220;I was in, I think, Grand Central Station and far away I heard someone say it and they’d be kind of smiling. I’m glad people enjoy it,” he added.
Whitlock&#8217;s last role was on the Netflix series &#8220;The Residence,&#8221; which debuted in March of this year. He has a voice role in the upcoming Pixar film “Hoppers.”

Isiah Whitlock

Isiah Whitlock Jr., Actor In ‘The Wire’ And ‘Veep,’ Dies At Age 71

actor

Actor James Ransone, who played Chester “Ziggy” Sobotka in the acclaimed crime drama series “The Wire,” has died at the age of 46.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner&#8217;s office said in online records that Ransone, who was married with two children, died by suicide. His widow, Jamie McPhee, posted a tribute on Instagram.
&#8220;I told you I have loved you 1000 times before and I know I will love you again,&#8221; McPhee shared on the social platform. &#8220;You told me — I need to be more like you and you need to be more like me — and you were so right. Thank you for giving me the greatest gifts — you, Jack and Violet. We are forever.&#8221;
Besides his role in “The Wire,” Ransone was known for playing Eddie Kaspbrak in “It: Chapter Two.” He also appeared in films such as &#8220;The Black Phone&#8221; and &#8220;Black Phone 2,&#8221; and TV shows including the police drama &#8220;Bosch,&#8221; &#8220;Poker Face,&#8221; and the HBO miniseries “Generation Kill” opposite Alexander Skarsgård.
Ransone was born in Baltimore in 1979, per Variety, and attended the Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Maryland. He broke into acting with a part in the teen drama “Ken Park” (2002). He scored his career-making role on “The Wire” one year later.
Ransone <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/james-ransone-dead-the-wire-it-chapter-two-actor-1236456278/">revealed</a> in a 2021 social media post that he was sexually abused as a child by his tutor in the 1990s when he was 12. The actor said in his Instagram post that he had suffered a “lifetime of shame and embarrassment” and became addicted to drugs after. He <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/james-ransone-widow-reveals-gifts-163001136.html">spoke openly</a> about his recovery and staying sober after 27 years of heroin use. 
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

James Ransone

‘The Wire’ Actor James Ransone Dies At Age 46

'The Wire' Actor James Ransone Dies At Age 46

Suicide

America has a basic moral rule that used to be understood without explanation: when someone dies, especially violently, you put down the rhetorical knives.
You don’t dance on graves, and you don’t treat a coffin like a political prop.
This rule is not about pretending we agree with the dead. It is not about suspending our convictions. It’s about preserving the last thin strand of decency that keeps politics from becoming blood sport.
In 2025, America learned again what happens when that strand snaps.
When Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University on September 10, the country did not just witness a murder, we witnessed a national test. Would we respond like a serious people, or like a civilization that has forgotten the difference between a political opponent and an enemy?
We all saw what followed. Social media was filled with people eager to prove they had no soul left to guard. Some didn’t simply mourn differently. They mocked. They rationalized. They insinuated that Kirk somehow “deserved it.” One of the most grotesque examples came from longtime left-wing commentator Keith Olbermann, who wrote that someone should “burn in hell… alongside Charlie Kirk,” a post that quickly spread before being deleted.
That moment felt clarifying — and damning. For years, conservatives have argued that parts of the modern Left have normalized a kind of moral vandalism: that if you label someone “dangerous,” you can justify anything done to them. That if you call someone “literally Hitler,” the next step is always implied. The reaction to Kirk’s murder made that argument impossible to ignore.
But something else happened, too.
In the immediate aftermath, many conservatives made a conscious choice to be better. They mourned a young father and husband. They prayed for his family. They condemned the violence without qualification. They insisted that assassination can never be a political tool.
Even voices on the Left noticed the contrast. Bill Maher, hardly a conservative, criticized the ghoulish reactions from his own side and condemned those who mocked or justified the killing. He warned about what happens when tribalism makes basic humanity optional. That acknowledgment mattered, not because it redeemed anyone, but because it underscored something essential: this was no longer a Left-Right debate. It was a human one.
Then, this week, the country faced the test again.
Director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found murdered in a horrifying family tragedy, with their son arrested in connection with the killings. Reiner spent years as one of Donald Trump’s most relentless critics. Conservatives have no shortage of reasons to oppose his politics, his activism, or his rhetoric. But this was not a policy dispute. It was a tragedy.
And once again, conservatives initially rose to the moment.
Prominent right-of-center voices expressed sympathy and restraint. Ben Shapiro wrote that, regardless of political differences, “The murder of Rob Reiner and his wife is horrific, and their family deserves prayers and privacy.” Speaker Mike Johnson called it “a heartbreaking loss” and urged Americans to “lower the temperature and remember our shared humanity.” Even figures known for sharp rhetoric paused, recognizing that death demands humility, not point-scoring.
In that moment, conservatives were proving something — to the country and to ourselves. We were showing that our condemnation of the Left’s reaction to Charlie Kirk was not merely tribal outrage. We were passing our own test.
And then Donald Trump logged on.
Trump took to <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115724141568860081">Truth Social</a> to frame Rob Reiner’s murder through the lens of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” writing that Reiner “spent his life consumed by hatred” and implying that his death was somehow a reflection of that obsession.
It was not restraint. It was not leadership. It was mockery dressed up as commentary — and it detonated the moral high ground conservatives had just earned.
This is why the Reiner tragedy is not just another cycle of outrage. It’s a verdict.
Conservatives can argue, correctly, that the Left’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s assassination exposed something deeply broken. But if we insist we are better, we have to prove it when it costs us something — when the deceased is someone we disagree with, someone who attacked our side, someone who spent years calling our leaders names.
This is the leadership test. And Trump failed it.
Some will dismiss this as overblown. It was just a post, they’ll say. Just Trump being Trump. Just rhetoric. But that defense collapses under scrutiny. Rhetoric is not incidental to leadership; it is central to it. Leaders do not merely reflect the temperature, they set it. When the most powerful voice on the Right treats murder as an opportunity for mockery, he licenses the very sickness conservatives claim to oppose.
The Right cannot be a movement that condemns grave-dancing only when the dead wear our jersey. We cannot demand dignity for our slain and deny it to others. That is not strength, it is tribal weakness. It is not principle, it is reflex.
After Charlie Kirk’s assassination, conservatives promised the country we would not become what we despise. In the immediate aftermath of the Reiner murders, many conservatives honored that promise. Our most influential leader did not.
There is still time to recover what has been lost, but it will require making some adult decisions:
That we will treat death with dignity, not like content.
That we will make room for grief even when we disagree.
That we will reserve our sharpest words for arguments, not funerals.
And that we will demand more from our leaders because if they cannot pass the decency test when blood is on the ground, they become unfit to lecture the country about moral decline.
* * *
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast “We The People.” Follow him on Instagram and X @GatesGarciaFL.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Premiere of “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” – Arrivals

When Death Comes, Rhetoric Matters

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Twin sisters Alice and Ellen Kessler, known in the entertainment world as the Kessler twins, both died by assisted suicide at the age of 89.
The sisters rose to fame in the 1950s and performed with some of the biggest stars of the day, including Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Rock Hudson, and Sammy Davis Jr., per <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/18/entertainment/kessler-twins-die-assisted-suicide-intl-scli">CNN</a>. They enlisted the help of the German Society for Humane Dying to commit suicide. 
“The decisive factor is likely to have been the desire to die together on a specific date,” society spokesperson Wega Wetzel told the outlet about their planned deaths. “Their desire to die was well-considered, long-standing, and free from any psychiatric crisis.”
Assisted suicide in certain circumstances has been legal in Germany since 2020.
During an <a href="https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/25_novembre_17/intervista-gemelle-kessler-morire-stesso-giorno-1a477229-e2ed-4a5a-b161-f3aae3d3exlk.shtml">interview</a> last year with the Italian outlet Corriere della Sera, the twin sisters <a href="https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/25_novembre_17/intervista-gemelle-kessler-morire-stesso-giorno-1a477229-e2ed-4a5a-b161-f3aae3d3exlk.shtml">said</a> they were choosing assisted suicide because of their &#8220;desire is to go away together, on the same day. The idea of ​​one of us going first is very hard to bear.”
“They had been considering this option for some time. They had been members of the organization for over a year. A lawyer and a doctor conducted preliminary discussions with them,” the German Society for Humane Dying said in a statement, per <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/news/kessler-twins-die-together-rcna244638">Today</a>. “People who choose this option in Germany must be absolutely clear-headed, meaning free and responsible. The decision must be thoughtful and consistent, meaning made over a long period of time and not impulsive.”
The Kessler sisters were born in Nazi Germany and escaped with their family from East Germany to West Germany in 1952. They launched their careers by performing at Lido in Paris, which was a popular place for cabaret performances. The twins went on to achieve international fame and also appeared on popular American television programs, including “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “The Dean Martin Show.”
The official Instagram account for “The Ed Sullivan Show” paid tribute to the sisters following their deaths, writing, “Honoring the extraordinary lives of the Kessler Twins. Alice &amp; Ellen were dazzling stars, true legends, and sisters whose grace, charm, and magic will shine forever.”
Assisted suicide is becoming increasingly more common around the world, with Canada leading the charge as the world leader in euthanasia. As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/canada-lost-over-15000-citizens-to-assisted-suicide-in-2023-now-britain-wants-in-on-the-action?author=Ashley+McGuire+and+Leigh+Fitzpatrick+Snead&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Canada+Lost+Over+15%2C000+Citizens+To+Assisted+Suicide+In+2023.+Now+Britain+Wants+In+On+The+Action.">reported</a>, assisted suicide accounts for one in 20 deaths in Canada. The country is also planning to start offering euthanasia to the mentally ill and to minors.

Alice and Ellen Kessler

Kessler Twins, Who Performed With Frank Sinatra, Die By Assisted Suicide On The Same Day

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The first known fatality from a red meat allergy intolerance spread by ticks has been recorded.
The otherwise healthy 47-year-old New Jersey man died abruptly after consuming beef at a restaurant in the summer of 2024. He had been camping with his family two weeks prior, per <a href="https://newsroom.uvahealth.com/2025/11/13/1st-death-linked-to-meat-allergy-spread-by-ticks/">UVA Health</a>. 
The man&#8217;s son found him unconscious on the floor of a bathroom surrounded by vomit, and the man was declared dead at a hospital. The autopsy declared it was a &#8220;sudden unexplained death,&#8221; but his wife pushed for answers, and eventually it was discovered that his death could be traced back to a tick bite.
Former Chief of UVA Health’s Division of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Thomas Platts-Mills determined via blood samples taken post-mortem that the man had been sensitized to alpha-gal, a sugar found in mammalian meat, the outlet noted. Alpha-gal syndrome is caused by a bite from the Lone Star tick, which causes people to have an anaphylaxis reaction. Symptoms include a rash, nausea, and vomiting after consuming meat.
The same man had become ill after a steak dinner two weeks prior and had told his son he felt like he was dying. 
“The important information for the public is: First, that severe abdominal pain occurring 3 to 5 hours after eating beef, pork or lamb should be investigated as a possible episode of anaphylaxis; and, second, that tick bites that itch for more than a week or larvae of ticks often called ‘chiggers’ can induce or increase sensitization to mammalian-derived meat,” Platts-Mills said. “On the other hand, most individuals who have mild to moderate episodes of hives can control symptoms with an appropriate diet.”
While most individuals who develop alpha-gal sensitivities don’t have such an extreme allergic reaction, it is a possibility that severe illness or death can occur. Platts-Mills also warned doctors to be on the lookout for these types of responses in their patients.
“It is important that both doctors and patients who live in an area of the country where Lone Star ticks are common should be aware of the risk of sensitization,” Platts-Mills said. “More specifically, if they have unexpected episodes of severe abdominal pain occurring several hours after eating mammalian meat, they should be investigated for possible sensitization to the oligosaccharide alpha-gal.”
Lone Star ticks are common throughout the South, Southeast, and much of the eastern and midwestern United States, and their range has been expanding northward and westward in recent years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7230a2.htm?s_cid=mm7230a2_w">said</a> more than 110,000 suspected cases were identified between 2010 and 2022, but the actual number is likely higher, as people aren’t likely to test for it. The CDC also found in 2023 that 42% of health providers had never heard of Alpha-gal syndrome.

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