Washington, D.C. has always existed as a town known for bureaucracy and gridlock; early Tuesday afternoon, the city briefly experienced life off the grid. reportedly caused by an explosion and resulting fire at a Maryland substation — affected much of the D.C. area, including numerous offices home to our own federal government.

Comedian Chris Rock has built his career around his refusal to shy away from controversial topics — most notably, race relations. Some of his most famous jokes center around the semantic nature of the “N-Word,” whether or not white people should have the right to use the term, and what African-Americans should do to avoid being pulled over by the police.

From any point of view, there’s no denying the tragic nature of Lufthansa flight 9525. The co-pilot, Andrea Lupitz, locked the pilot out of the cockpit and re-set the autopilot. He sent the plane into a rapid descent to a mere 100 feet above the ground, slamming it into the French Alps. There is also no denying that Lubitz was suicidal.

The blockbuster has long existed as a staple of American cinema. Ever since “Jaws” opened in 1974, people have flocked to movie theaters to see the next epic adventure. While action and movies have always gone hand in hand, 1996’s “Independence Day” took sci-fi carnage to another level. Director Roland Emmerich managed to convincingly portray the destruction of the U.S.

In a time when racial tensions seem to perpetually run high, conflicts rarely end peacefully. That makes every instance where we can find the strength to forgive each other all the more welcome. Taraji P Henson, star of the hit show “Empire,” controversially announced last week that she would send her son to Howard University as opposed to the University of Southern California, after alleged instances of racial profiling near the latter’s campus.

“The truth is out there.”. For many avid television fans, these words defined the 1990s. This simple phrase encapsulated the mystery of “The X-Files,” a classic Emmy award winning series starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI paranormal investigators. The show is remembered for helping innovate many common tropes of modern television.