It really is a mad, mad world...

"Victim" Joseph Torrez, 27, was at home in Las Cruces, N.M., on New Year's Day with his fiancee and young son when four men barged in (after threatening Torrez on the telephone with "I'm big Eastside," "I'll kill you and your family," "I will go to your house"). Torrez is a mixed-martial arts fighter, and by the time it was over, he and his family were safe, but one home invader was dead, another was in the hospital, and the other two (including the telephoner) under arrest. 

Ryan Bensen, 40, and Erica Manley, 37, were arrested in Seaside, Ore., in January, shortly after they expressed their gratitude to a waitress at the Twisted Fish by leaving, as a tip, a plastic bag of methamphetamine. 

A 31-year-old nun in Rieti, Italy, "unaware" that she was pregnant, gave birth to a boy whom she named "Francis." No details were released. 

America's returning warriors continue to experience inexplicable difficulty after putting their lives at risk for their country. It took 13 years for Army Sgt. Maj. Richard Erickson to get his job back from his civilian employer after he took leave in 2000 to serve in the National Guard special forces. The employer soon fired him for taking "excessive military leave." The employer? The U.S. Postal Service, for which Erickson worked as a window clerk (and which was forced to reinstate him after a January 2014 ruling awarding him $2 million in back pay). Erickson had won several interim victories, but USPS fought each one, extending the case, and said in January that it might even appeal the latest ruling. 

Today’s Reflection:

I was just sitting here trying to imagine you with a personality… 

Live Long and Posper…