news
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Marissa Alexander Speaks: The Current System Is ‘a Mess’
Unfortunately, Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville, Fla., is a living embodiment of the vicious discrepancies of our criminal-justice system—both against black defendants and against women. In late January, Alexander was finally able to be done with her debt to the state—one she paid for with years of her life and more than $10,000 in cash (in…
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Black and Brown Elementary School Winners of Indianapolis Robotics Championship Told to ‘Go Back to Mexico’
Some bigoted parents in Indiana prove that the rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the diseased tree. They tried to ruin what should have been a very special moment for five black and Latinx 9- and 10-year-olds after they won a citywide robotics championship in Indianapolis. “Go back to Mexico!” two or three kids and…
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Trump Totally Disrespected Angela Merkel. WTF?
There have been rumors—OK, there was a tape—that our current president has a problem with women. He continually disrespected them during his campaign—calling them slobs, disgusting, blood coming out of their wherever—but his (complicit) daughter Ivanka Trump’s presence sought to absolve him of that. And apparently many women fell for it. In fact, 48 percent…
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Police Have a New Mouth-Swab Test to Check if Drivers Are Under the Influence of Marijuana or Other Drugs
Police departments in more than a dozen states are already using a mouth-swab device to confirm the presence of marijuana or other drugs in impaired drivers, and with the legalization of marijuana, more departments are expected to make use of the device. The Los Angeles Times reports that two $6,000 Dräger DrugTest 5000 machines were…
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NYC Man Faces Murder Charges After Running Over EMT With Stolen Ambulance
A New York City man was charged with murder Friday after authorities say he hijacked an ambulance and ran over and killed an emergency medical technician Thursday evening. The Washington Post reports that 25-year-old Jose Gonzalez proclaimed his innocence as he was led out of a Bronx, N.Y., police precinct Friday morning while angry EMTs…
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Donna Brazile Parses Words in Her Denial of Email Leaks
Updated Sunday, March 19, 2017, 11:30 a.m. EDT: Donna Brazile, in an exclusive interview with Richard Prince, who pens the Journal-isms blog on The Root, flatly denies ever giving questions to the Hillary Clinton campaign during the 2016 presidential election. However, based on Brazile’s own essay in Time magazine, this seems to some as if she…
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Calif. Police Fatally Shoot Pregnant 16-Year-Old Girl During Robbery Investigation
Fremont, Calif., police fatally shot a pregnant 16-year-old girl who was a passenger in a stolen vehicle linked to a series of robberies, authorities say. The girl, identified as Elena Mondragon by family members, was in her first trimester of pregnancy, according to Sgt. Ryan Cantrell, spokesman for the Hayward (Calif.) Police Department, which is…
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Caribbean Poet Derek Walcott Dead at 87
Nobel laureate and poet Derek Walcott died early Friday morning at his St. Lucia home after battling a long illness. He was 87. Walcott was considered one of the world’s best poets, often challenging some of the greatest works written by Dante, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Yeats and Homer. Fiercely Caribbean, Walcott sought to define not only…
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Former SC Cop Michael Slager Can’t Hide the Truth. Jury Will See Cellphone Footage of Fatal Shooting of Walter Scott
Updated Friday, March 17, 2017, 4:10 p.m. EDT: Well, it looks as if former North Charleston, S.C., cop Michael Slager and his defense team won’t get their way in trying to dust away a key piece of video evidence. A judge ruled at a hearing Friday that cellphone footage of Slager shooting Walter Scott, a…
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White Howard University Professor Examined Black Student in Mock Slave Auction: Report
The Caged Bird is an online magazine created by minority students for minority students across the nation. The magazine recently published a story detailing how a white Howard University professor allegedly opened a class on Frederick Douglass’ slave narrative by turning the classroom into a mock slave auction, singling out one of the two black…