• A Klansman for Halloween

    While other 7-year-old boys were dressing up as superheroes or their favorite video game character for Halloween, Jackson Black went trick-or-treating as a member of the Ku Klux Klan, dressed full on in a white robe and a pointed white hood, with a red-and-white cross emblazoned on his chest. “It was cool,” the little boy…

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  • Not Smart Enough to Commit Premeditated Murder?

    There is no doubt as to whether Arthur James Martin shot Javon Abdulla Daniels to death while he was sitting in a car outside an apartment in Jacksonville, Florida in late 2009, according to court documents the Florida Times-Union reports. While the shooting isn’t disputed, whether or not Martin’s intelligence is too low to be…

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  • University of Michigan Fraternity Throws 'Ratchet' Party

    Everyone take note: Throwing parties that play up offensive stereotypes is never going to work. Members of a University of Michigan fraternity are learning this lesson as they face backlash for planning a “World Star Hip Hop Presents: Hood Ratchet Thursday” bash. Theta Xi Fraternity advertised the party on Facebook with a picture of a…

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  • Racist Whites More Likely to Own Guns

    The more racist a white person is, the more likely he or she is to own a gun, a new international study released on Thursday has found.  The report, done by researchers at Australia’s Monash University and Britain’s Manchester University, was conducted to better understand gun culture in the United States, the Daily News reports.…

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  • Sanford Bans Neighborhood-Watch Guns

    The city of Sanford, Fla., is now prohibiting its civilian neighborhood-watch team from carrying firearms on patrol, following the 2012 incident in which then-neighborhood-watch leader George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, Yahoo! News reports. This change of rules is aimed at preventing another such incident — which shook the state…

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  • Introducing Sen. Cory Booker

    (The Root) — Cory Booker is officially a U.S. senator. Vice President Joe Biden swore in the former Newark, N.J., mayor, known for his boots-to-the-ground approach to governing, at noon today in the Old Senate Chamber of the U.S. Capitol. While the event was technically open to the public, viewers were not allowed in to…

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  • Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Preterm Births in Black Women

    Black women are more likely to deliver premature babies when a vitamin D deficiency is found during pregnancy, a new study, led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, has found.  According to the research, which included Puerto Rican women, premature birth in nonwhite mothers naturally going into labor before the pregnancy…

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  • Forbes: Putin More Powerful Than Obama

    Forbes magazine’s “World’s Most Powerful” title was handed to Russian President Vladimir Putin for 2013, moving him one step ahead of President Barack Obama, who previously held the title.  According to Forbes, Putin has kept steady control over Russia, while Obama’s “lame duck” period, which the magazine says “has seemingly set in earlier than usual for…

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  • Obama Administration to Senate: Vote on Mel Watt

    Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling urged the Senate to confirm Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. “Confirming Mel Watt is a top economic priority for this White House,” Sperling said Wednesday on an on-the-record press call. “Having Mel Watt confirmed…

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