news
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Uproar Erupts Over HBO Access Writing Fellowship After Website Crashes
There was a ton of excitement when HBO announced the HBOAccess Writing Fellowship, which specifically targets and encourages diverse and female writers to submit scripts. It was unprecedented in many ways, but to add to the competition, HBO made it clear that it would consider only the first 1,000 submissions. The cable network also gave…
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US Justice Department Will Not Bring Federal Charges Against Darren Wilson
As is the case regarding George Zimmerman, the Justice Department announced Wednesday that it will not bring federal charges against now-former Police Officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the New York Times reports. The Justice Department released an 80-page report detailing its investigation and found that while several witnesses were adamant about where…
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Cuban Official: Assata Shakur’s Extradition Is ‘Off the Table’
As if the U.S. government didn’t hear Cuba loud and clear in December, a Cuban official recently told Yahoo News that Cuba has absolutely no intentions of returning Assata Shakur to the U.S. to serve out her prison sentence for the murder of a New Jersey state trooper in 1973, given that Fidel Castro granted her political…
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Ala. Electrical Engineer Sues Police After Being Tased at His Own Home
He had just bought a home near Huntsville, Ala., and was breaking it in with a housewarming party when sheriff’s deputies knocked on the door. When the law-enforcement officials refused to say why they had come to his new home, Dominique Kenebrew denied them entry. It was then, he claimed, that the deputies tried to…
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Ga. 12-Year-Old Who Criticized Obama Is Kicked Off Facebook
C.J. Pearson, the Georgia 12-year-old who became Internet-famous after posting a viral video criticizing President Barack Obama and his perceived weak stance toward the Islamic State group, or ISIS, now believes that he was targeted and kicked off Facebook for his political views, MyFoxDC reports. Days after posting his video, which got almost 1.5 million…
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NYC Man Indicted for Fatally Beating Transgender Woman
James Dixon, 24, was charged Tuesday with manslaughter and assault for fatally beating 21-year-old transgender woman Islan Nettles in New York City in August 2013, the New York Daily News reports. According to the report, Nettles was walking with two other transgender friends in Harlem when Dixon and his friends saw them and began catcalling.…
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Netflix Pays Nearly $12,000,000 to Stream African War Film When It Hits Theaters
Netflix is continuing to turn traditional media and rollout protocols on their heads by acquiring the rights to the African war drama Beasts of No Nation, USA Today reports. The film—which is widely considered to be a serious Oscar contender for next year—will be released in theaters later this year and also streamed simultaneously on Netflix…
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Culture of Abuse and Racism Revealed in Ferguson Police Department
Editor’s note: The Department of Justice issued two reports March 4 regarding its civil rights investigations of Ferguson, Mo. The Department of Justice’s investigation into law-enforcement practices in Ferguson, Mo., is nearly complete, and the full findings could be released to the public as early as this week. From the information that has leaked out, the results of…
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Netanyahu’s Speech to Congress Draws Ire From the President and Other Democrats
President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu don’t like each other, and that rift may have grown wider since Netanyahu delivered a speech to Congress that many Democrats argued was misleading and full of contradictions. The over-30-minute-long speech Tuesday by Netanyahu basically panned a nuclear deal being negotiated by the U.S. and Iran,…
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DOJ Findings Accuse Ferguson Police of Pattern of Racial Bias
The Department of Justice is preparing to release findings this week alleging that the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department practiced routine racial bias and violated the constitutional rights of residents, the Washington Post reports. According to the report, department officials discovered that although 67 percent of Ferguson’s population is black, black people made up 93 percent…