culture
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The Never-Ending War on Eric Holder
Writing at the Huffington Post, Earl Ofari Hutchinson says that the attorney general “is an all-purpose tool in the GOP’s relentless drive to mark Obama as a failed president.” There was nothing subtle about The Washington Times’ recent poll question: “Will Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. be forced to resign within the next six months?”…
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Am I Too Successful to Date?
In her xoJane piece chronicling her online dating adventures, India-Jewel muses about why she just might be a bad fit for Match.com. I need to come clean about something — I’m incredibly skeptical about this whole digital dating thing as it relates to me personally. I mean, I know it works, as I know several…
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14-Year-Old Tackled, Choked for Giving Police 'Dehumanizing Stare'
AlterNet is reporting on the story of a 14-year-old Florida boy who says he was feeding and playing with his 6-week-old puppy when he was pinned to the ground and choked by Miami-Dade police officers. His alleged crime: giving the officers “dehumanizing stares” and “clenching his fists.” We would have you guess the teen’s race,…
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The Economic Origins of Black Music Month
(The Root) — Since 1979, June has been designated as Black Music Month. The annual celebration was the result of a collaboration between songwriter and producer Kenneth Gamble, of Gamble and Huff, and broadcasters Ed Wright and Dyana Williams, who lobbied then-President Jimmy Carter for a month, like Country Music Month in October, that celebrated…
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Meet America's Oldest World War II Veteran
America’s oldest living World War II veteran, Richard Overton, is 107 years old (and doesn’t look a day over 90), served in the South Pacific and enjoys up to 12 cigars a day and whiskey in his coffee. He’s clearly not one to be messed with, so we’re glad that Gov. Rick Perry decided to…
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Can Trayvon's Killer Win With Social Media?
(The Root) — Today I’m putting aside Washington politics to talk about political methods of another kind, in the upcoming second-degree-murder trial of Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman. Instead of voters, Zimmerman’s attorneys are trying to sway potential jurors, and the extraordinary campaign could well succeed. For the past year, the Zimmerman defense team has…
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Friends and Family Remember Malcolm Shabazz in New York
(The Root) — Family and friends gathered to remember Malcolm Shabazz at a memorial service at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem on Thursday morning. Shabazz, the grandson of Malcolm X, died in Mexico on May 9 at the age of 28. Unconfirmed reports say that he was killed during a bar fight-cum-robbery. “We are…
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Kerry Washington Got Death Threats for Supporting Obama?
Maybe some Scandal fans thought Olivia Pope’s relationship with a Republican president on the ABC drama somehow informed Kerry Washington’s real-life political views. And apparently they were disappointed when she spoke in support of President Obama at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. The response? Death threats. (What else?) The actress described the ridiculous — and…
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Charles Ramsey Wannabe? Man Stages Kidnapping to Be Hero
Kyle Dube, a 20-year-old from Maine, created a fake Facebook account to lure a teenage girl out of her house and ultimately killed her, the Associated Press reports. His original motive for 15-year-old Nichole Cable’s kidnapping: He planned to “rescue” her and “be the hero.” In an affidavit released after Dube was indicted, Detective Thomas…
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I Want to Marry Her but She Drinks Too Much
(The Root) — “I’m in a relationship of almost two years with a woman I love. Recently she has become a heavy drinker. Her job is demanding and comes with high stress levels. Lately she’s been unusually stressed and has been drinking more often. It makes her aggressive and rude until she sobers up, and…