President Donald Trump is doubling down on a strategy he believes worked to his advantage four years ago: seizing on divisive culture wars and using race-baiting rhetoric as he seeks to fire up his base to give him a second term in office. His GOP allies on Capitol Hill are looking on with alarm. Uncertain […]
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Apple and Disney prove reopening isn’t easy
Companies that were forced to shut down parts of their business due to Covid-19 have seen this summer as a chance to start getting back on track. But surging cases in a number of US states are forcing firms like Disney and Apple to scuttle their plans or reverse course, underscoring the difficulty of planning […]
Posted inEntertainment
Spike Lee’s ‘Rodney King’ to stream on Netflix
Netflix will make the Spike Lee directed “Rodney King” available to stream for free, as part of its Black Lives Matter collection of films, TV shows and documentaries. The film, which stars Roger Guenveur Smith, portrays King, whose 1991 videotaped beating by the Los Angeles police led to riots when the officers were acquitted. According […]
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Trump administration prepares major effort to protect monuments that includes US Marshals and executive order
The Trump administration is preparing a major effort to protect national monuments that President Donald Trump has described as part of the country’s heritage, including assigning US Marshals to oversee them and signing an executive order meant to protect them, people familiar with the plan say. Trump personally instructed Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to restore […]
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This is pop culture’s moment of reckoning on matters of race
From Motown and “The Cosby Show” to hip-hop and “Black Panther,” America has long consumed Black culture — even as our country’s systemic racism sent a very different message. But never quite like this. In the weeks since the recent Black Lives Matter protests, Black-themed cultural media have been having a moment. Books, music, movies, […]
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Impatience grows for cops’ arrests in Breonna Taylor’s death
The outcry has reverberated for weeks online and at demonstrations nationwide: Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor. But three months after plainclothes detectives serving a warrant busted into her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment and shot the 26-year-old Black woman to death, only one of the three officers who opened fire has lost his job. No […]
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When it comes to policing the police, strong watchdogs are the exception
The video showed a police officer from Austin, Texas, yanking a Black elementary school teacher out of her car and slamming her to the ground for an alleged speeding violation. The dashboard-cam footage went viral in 2016, and local activists that year demanded the officer be fired. When it didn’t happen, Austin police reformers clamored […]
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Georgia lawmakers approve more generous jobless benefits
Workers in Georgia would be allowed to earn several hundred dollars more a week while keeping their full unemployment benefits under a bill that passed the General Assembly on Wednesday. Employees also would potentially be eligible to receive benefits for a longer period of time under Senate Bill 408, which the Senate sent to Gov. […]
Posted inElection Central
Trump entrenched in failed strategy as virus surges and polling drops
A little more than four months before facing voters, President Donald Trump appears at one of the weakest points of his presidency, with few signs the mounting health and civic crises he currently faces will subside and a spate of national polls indicating if the election were held today, he would lose badly. Trump still […]
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Georgia legislature agrees to tax on vaping products
Thursday evening, the Georgia House of Representatives voted in favor of creating a 7% tax on vaping products, Senate Bill 375, passing 123-33. It also raises the legal smoking age from 18 to 21, which is in line with federal law that went into effect Jan. 1. “The imposition of the excise tax is meant […]
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Woman charged in Atlanta Wendy’s arson given $10,000 bond in first court hearing
The woman facing first-degree arson charges in the Wendy’s restaurant fire that broke out during protests over Rayshard Brooks’ death in Atlanta appeared in court on Wednesday. Natalie White, 29, made her first appearance in Fulton County, Georgia, Magistrate Court and did not make a plea. The judge set bond at $10,000 and ordered White […]
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Prosecutors accuse Barr and Justice Department of politicizing investigations
Two prosecutors in the Justice Department leveled remarkable allegations against Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department on Wednesday, accusing senior Justice Department officials of politicizing DOJ investigations and the sentencing of a friend of President Donald Trump. Aaron Zelinsky, a prosecutor on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, told a congressional committee that […]
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Georgia measure would stop officials mailing ballot requests
Republicans controlling a Georgia House committee approved legislation Wednesday that would prevent election officials from proactively sending mail ballot request forms to voters ahead of an election. If it makes it through both chambers and gets Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature, it could take effect ahead of November’s general elections. To protect voting rights during the […]
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Love and Hip Hop’s “Arkansas Mo” indicted with fed bank fraud charges
Maurice Fayne aka Arkansas Mo, who stars on “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta”, was indicted Wednesday afternoon by a federal grand jury. Fayne is charged with bank fraud, making a false statement to a federally-insured financial institution, and money laundering, all in connection with a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. In addition, Fayne is charged […]
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Gun and ammunition sales soar as defund-the-police movement grows
Coronavirus-fueled fears of social unrest already had Americans panic-buying guns and bullets at record rates earlier this year. That was before the police killing of George Floyd caused an international uproar, leading to protests that, at times, descended into riots, arson and looting in cities across the United States. Those circumstances and the rise of […]