culture
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Washington State Teen Pleads Guilty to Murder of WWII Vet
A Washington-state teen is pleading guilty to the murder of a World War II veteran whom he attacked in 2013 during what he claims was a drug deal, the New York Post reports. Kenan Adams-Kinard, 17, changed his plea to guilty on Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court on his charge of first-degree murder in the…
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Pa. Man Tries to Run Over Police Officers in NYC and Yells, ‘I Want to Kill Cops’
Matthew Christian Cash, a 24-year-old Pennsylvania man with a lengthy rap sheet, attempted to run over as many of New York City’s Port Authority police officers as possible Wednesday night near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, the New York Post reports. Fortunately, Cash’s car missed the officers who were patrolling the tunnel and instead…
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Black Guerrilla Family Group Suspected of Planning Attack: Police
The Black Guerrilla Family, a black revolutionary group founded in prison and believed to be inspired by Marxist principles to eradicate racism, has the Baltimore and New York City police departments on edge after one of its members walked into a Baltimore police precinct “reeking of marijuana,” the New York Daily News explains. The man…
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Watch: Cleveland Releases Footage of Police Tackling Tamir Rice’s Sister, 14
Cleveland authorities have released longer video footage showing the aftermath of 12-year-old Tamir Rice’s shooting death, during which his 14-year-old sister can be seen running to his side, only to be tackled by one of the Cleveland officers, the Northeast Ohio Media Group reports. “This has to be the cruelest thing I’ve ever seen,” attorney…
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‘Terrible’ Empire Is Still Good TV
Have you ever had a feeling that you knew something was terrible, but you loved it anyway? Like the extra-greasy fast-food burger that you knew wouldn’t settle well on your stomach hours later, but you’d still eat again? That’s the aftertaste of Fox’s new hip-hop drama Empire, created by film producer-director Lee Daniels and Danny…
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Federal Judge Strikes Down Texas Laws on Hair Braiders
A federal judge in Texas has ruled that a set of state laws dictating how hair-braiding stylists could gain certification to teach students how to braid hair was unconstitutional, the Associated Press reports. Isis Brantley, a Dallas hair-braiding salon owner, with the help of the Institute for Justice, filed the federal lawsuit against Texas in…
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Chicago Man Arrested While Trying to Save His Dog From Burning Home
Around 2 p.m. last Friday, Samuel Lee Bassett arrived at his Chicago home to find the place on fire. Police and firefighters were already outside battling the blaze, which had grown intense. Bassett was reportedly told to get back, but the 48-year-old wanted to save his dog. In an attempt to get into his home,…
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The Problem Is the Abuse of ‘Broken Windows,’ Not the Policy
The irrepressible “broken windows” debate is a battle between two camps: the scientific one that questions whether it works and the practical one of old-fashioned common sense. But in the movement to do away with broken windows, let’s not get comfortable with the notion that we suddenly don’t need police in communities that still need a police…
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The City of Selma Is Hoping to Cash In on Selma
Almost 75 percent of the registered voters in Selma, Ala., and the surrounding areas went to the polls in the 2012 general election, casting a majority of their votes for President Barack Obama and Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell. The movie Selma depicts the 1965 struggle for voting rights in the Alabama town where cotton…
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Bye, Phylicia Rashad. Your Romanticizing of Cosby—and Cosby—Is Wrong
Editor’s note: In an interview with ABC’s Linsey Davis, Phylicia Rashad said that she never said “forget those women.” Instead, the Tony Award-winning actress claims that she said, “It’s not about these women.” Showbiz 411’s Roger Friedman insists that Rashad did, in fact, say “forget these women” but that the intent has been misconstrued. “[Rashad]…