TOP STORIES
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THE OSCARS GOT POLITICAL To no one’s surprise, President Donald Trump and his policies (and tweets) featured heavily in the evening’s ceremonies. Yet the big news of the night was the massive mix-up after Warren Beatty was handed the wrong envelope and “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as having won Best Picture when in fact “Moonlight” had taken home the top trophy. Here’s a minute-by-minute breakdown on how that went so, so wrong. Twitter understandably freaked out over the debacle, with all the Steve Harvey and election jokes (and so many fake envelope memes). In things the Oscars got right ― the Academy broke records for the number of wins by black stars and the first win by a Muslim actor. Here’s who else actually won, as well as some killer red carpet fashion. [HuffPost]
INSIDE TRUMP’S FIRST BUDGET DRAFTS To put it simply, the military is getting more money and most everything else ― other than entitlement programs ― is taking a hit. [Reuters]
TOM PEREZ WINS DNC CHAIR The former labor secretary, who was an Obama administration-era Democrat, immediately named Rep. Keith Ellison as deputy DNC chair. Ellison is considered to be representative of the party’s more progressive wing. [HuffPost]
‘THE FIRST 100 LIES’ Took 36 days. [HuffPost]
DOZENS OF GRAVESTONES TOPPLED AT JEWISH CEMETERY The incident in Philadelphia occurred just days after similar vandalism in St. Louis, Missouri. [HuffPost]
LITTLE TIKES RECALLS OVER HALF A MILLION SWINGS After an outpouring of injury complaints. [Reuters]
TRUMP’S NAVY SECRETARY PICK PHILIP BILDEN WITHDRAWS It is the second time in this administration that a nominee chosen to lead one of the armed services bowed out because of government conflict-of-interest rules. [HuffPost]
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM Through this one propaganda photo. [NYT]
WHAT’S BREWING
MORE LITTLE GOLD MEN FUN If you haven’t seen Viola Davis’ acceptance speech after becoming the first black woman to win an Oscar, Emmy and Tony for acting, you’re missing out on the best minutes of the Oscars. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Dev Patel’s moms stole the spotlight on the red carpet. The real-life inspiration for “Hidden Figures” was honored on stage. Here’s what all those blue ribbons were for. And The New York Times ran quite the ad during the Oscars. [HuffPost]
TRIBUTES POUR IN FOR BILL PAXTON The actor, who starred in “Titanic,” “The Terminator,” “True Lies” and “Aliens” was 61. He died following complications from a surgery. [HuffPost]
WE ALL MIGHT NEED ANOTHER MMR SHOT Health officials are going to decide if we all need another booster due to the rise in mumps outbreaks. [HuffPost]
WE WISH WE LOOKED AS RELAXED AS OBAMA DOES RIGHT NOW Seriously. How can we get this zen? [HuffPost]
BREAKING DOWN THE REMY MA-NICKI MINAJ RAP BEEF A timeline. [Essence]
BEFORE YOU GO
~ Malaysian authorities say that Kim Jong Un’s half-brother died less than 20 minutes after being poisoned.
~ Authorities have arrested the man who plowed into Mardi Gras celebrants in New Orleans with his truck, saying the suspect was “highly intoxicated.”
~ Casey Affleck took home the Oscar for Best Actor amidst his sexual harassment controversy.
~ Trump announced he’s skipping this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
~ We probably should have expected all of these “Moonlight” surprises after the film swept the Independent Spirit Awards over the weekend.
~ Twitter had no chill for Demi Lovato tweeting she was 1 percent African.
~ Your next Broadway obsession may be courtesy of the “La La Land” songwriters.
~ Yes, “Suicide Squad” now has an Oscar.
~ Here’s what happens when the president ditches the press to have dinner.
~ This is not how we expected brussels sprouts to grow.
~ And it’s that time again ― Warren Buffett’s annual letter is out.