Early Addition: What's Your Most Accurate Celebrity Sighting?

Feb. 28, 2019, 11:17 a.m.

Because you aspire to have a shawl vault, check out today's midday links: Mark Meadows racism, world's most prolific art thief, Stevie Nicks interview, Luke Perry stroke, SAD lamps, most accurate celebrity sightings, and dog succeeds.

david tan's flickr

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dtanist/46500760994/in/pool-gothamist/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">david tan's flickr</a>

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  • So why did almost no Republicans actually defend Trump during yesterday's Michael Cohen hearing? As one senior House Republican told the Washington Post, "Truthfully, it is tough to ignore some of the gross immoral behavior by the president. The reason there was no defense is because there is no defense."
  • Rep. Mark Meadows briefly derailed Cohen's hearing yesterday when he thought someone had accused him of being a racist for using an African-American woman as a prop to defend Trump—but would a racist have made comments about birtherism and joke about sending Obama back to Kenya? Who's to say!
  • Trump had a lot of nice things to say about Kim Jong-un even after their talks broke down, defending the dictator in the case of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died last year after being imprisoned in North Korea. “He tells me that he didn’t know about it, and I will take him at his word."
  • When Future didn't show up for his Tiny Desk Concert, producer Zaytoven and his band turned it into a great flute showcase.
  • Stéphane Breitwieser robbed nearly 200 museums, amassed a collection of treasures worth more than $1.4 billion and became perhaps the most prolific art thief in history—and as GQ writes, how he managed to do all this is every bit as surprising as why.
  • Here is a fun Twitter thread about the "most accurate celebrity sighting" you've ever had.
  • Rob Sheffield talked to Stevie Nicks about Tom Petty, Game Of Thrones and her shawl collection in her "shawl vault."
  • Former Maine governor Paul LePage loves the electoral college and is aghast at the idea of abolishing it: "Actually what would happen if they do what they say they’re gonna do is white people will not have anything to say. It’s only going to be the minorities that would elect. It would be California, Texas, Florida."
  • A Central Park detective and his equine partner, Trooper, who spent a decade as the NYPD’s only mounted team dedicated to patrolling Central Park, are both retiring this year.
  • Actor Luke Perry has reportedly been hospitalized after suffering a massive stroke yesterday.
  • Do SAD lamps actually work?
  • Check out the latest trailer for likely the last Fox X-Men movie Dark Phoenix, which includes a pretty giant spoiler about a major character who dies.
  • And finally, you can do anything you set your mind to, assuming your chubby little limbs can get over the door frame: