Daily 30: Mon 10.20.2014

Beyond The Headlines! 5mo
October 20, 2014

2 October 20, 2014 Vice News

Today: heavy smog doesn't stop marathon runners in Beijing, Sweden investigates reports of 'foreign underwater activity' in Baltic Sea, death of northern white rhino in Kenya brings species closer to extinction, and not everyone is enthusiastic about the 'Clean India' campaign.
5mo
Immortalizing Michael Jackson

9 Immortalizing Michael Jackson Forbes

Madame Tussauds Wax Museum has been modeling figures after history’s most influential figures for over 200 years. FORBES went to take a look at how this years’ highest-earning dead celebrities fit into the museums’ exhibits.
Classic Record! 5mo
"It Was a Good Day"

10 "It Was a Good Day" Complex

In this installment of "Magnum Opus," Ice Cube shares the story behind his classic song "It Was a Good Day."
The People vs. Freddie Gibbs 5mo
Why Crack Isn't Cool

12 Why Crack Isn't Cool Noisey Raps

We asked Freddie Gibbs to respond to some of the comments left on Youtube about the music video for his track “Thuggin”.
5mo
Facebook Fight With the DEA

17 Facebook Fight With the DEA Daily Dot

Facebook is fighting back after learning that the DEA created a fake account using the information of a woman whose cellphone had been seized (that information included provocative photos from her phone, as well as photos of some of her family members). The agency was using this account to interact with suspected criminals. While the woman, named Sondra Arquiett, had at one point been arrested as a suspect in a drug ring, she was put on probation instead of serving time. Later she learned her likeness was being used on a Facebook page that was not her own (in fact, she didn’t even have an account) and that information and photos from her seized phone were used to create the profile. Arquiett is sueing the DEA and the specific agent who created the profile with her information. The Justice Department says the case is being reviewed, but Facebook is speaking out asking that the DEA “cease all activities on Facebook that involve the impersonation of others.” In a letter, Facebook says the DEA’s actions undermine its community and purpose, and that it has suspended the account in question. The social network also says it has “taken all necessary steps to prevent further unauthorized use of Facebook by the DEA and its agents.” Facebook’s real name policy is a driving force behind the site; the site strictly enforces its users to go by their real names and provide true information in their profiles. This isn’t the first time in recent weeks that Facebook has found itself having to respond to issues with this policy. Facebook has been removing the names of drag queens and other LGBTQ users who’ve adopted new names and in some cases, discovered their gender identities were not what they were when they originally joined Facebook. It’s a complicated issue, wherein Facebook is attempted to stay true to its real name clause but also, now, seems to be realizing that this is not a black and white issue and that some room for exception must be allowed. However, in the case of DEA agents allegedly stealing a woman’s identity and photos, there is no gray area. While the agency defends its actions as used for law enforcement purposes, it will have to answer for its actions in court per Arquiett’s lawsuit—and possibly to the Justice Department, which is reviewing the case.
Classic Hip Hop Doc 5mo
Murder Was The Case

18 Murder Was The Case Snoop Dogg

He may have been usurped in recent years, but during the period detailed in Murder Was the Case, Snoop Doggy Dogg was the last word in gangsta rap. As with Eminem, the power behind Snoop's throne was undoubtedly producer Dr. Dre, and he is included in nearly as much of the documentary footage as the rapper himself. While not exactly in-depth, a few of the interviews do scratch beneath the surface of the gangsta veneer (when asked if he is a violent man, Snoop's reply is a slightly chilling "When I have to be"). Along with clips from live television performances are a selection of music videos, the usual mix of edgy urban funk and street style coupled with the rather tired visual imagery.
8mo
The Up In Smoke Tour Live 2000

19 The Up In Smoke Tour Live 2000 Aftermath Entertainment

The Up in Smoke Tour was a West Coast hip hop tour in 2000 which was headlined by Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg also featuring artists Ice Cube, Eminem, Proof, Nate Dogg, Kurupt, D12, MC Ren, Westside Connection, Mel-Man, Tha Eastsidaz, Doggy's Angels, Devin The Dude, Warren G, TQ, Truth Hurts, Xzibit and The D.O.C.,Hittman and Six-Two.
8mo
Planet Rock

20 Planet Rock VH1

A look at the rise of crack cocaine in urban America in the 1980s and it's influence on popular culture, especially in hip-hop music.
Must Watch! 5mo
Chemical Secrets of the Iraq War

23 Chemical Secrets of the Iraq War Breaking News

The United States went to war in Iraq expecting to destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program. Instead, it found only remnants of chemical arms built in close collaboration with the West.
5mo
Faith on Biggie's Affair With Lil Kim

24 Faith on Biggie's Affair With Lil Kim Vlad TV

Faith Evans sat down with VladTV where she briefly discussed her marriage to the legendary Notorious B.I.G., and more specifically, his ongoing affair with Brooklyn rapper Lil Kim. Evans reveals that Kim and Biggie carried on their affair for at least a year and a half without Faith noticing, as she wasn't really focused on Kim specifically, but had issues with Biggie sleeping with other women in general. Faith also discusses Charlie Baltimore playing the role of Big's wife in the "Get Money" video, which most people believe is about her. She reveals that she was asked to play the lead role and turned it down, proving that the song actually wasn't about her.
Sports News 5mo
Ray Rice Could Return

25 Ray Rice Could Return CBS Sports

Former Ravens running back Ray Rice remains suspended indefinitely following the publication of the video of him striking his now-wife, Janay, in a casino elevator, but he could be reinstated within the next four weeks, sources said. An appeal hearing date has been set, with a final decision expected to come in an expeditious manner thereafter, and all of that could be resolved by mid-November, which would conceivably allow Rice to sign with another team this season. Perhaps, even if reinstated, teams will find him too controversial to sign, but there is every expectation his playing status will be resolved before the NFL's investigation into its handling of his case, being conducted by former FBI chief Robert Mueller, is completed. Former U.S. District Court Judge Barbara S. Jones is handling the appeal as a neutral, third-party arbitrator, and all sides in the case have agreed to a date to conduct the hearing in the near future. That date could change somewhat based on what Jones rules this week on some requests the NFLPA made to have certain materials available to them in discovery, but sources said Rice's legal team has made it explicitly clear it has no desire to wait until the NFL and the NFLPA's investigations are concluded to resolve the matter of this suspension appeal. Rice has maintained he did not lie in his testimony to Commissioner Roger Goodell, and his legal team will make the case that even under the NFL's new domestic violence policy, and as a first-time offender, Rice should be suspended a maximum of six games, which has already passed. Furthermore, they will make the argument that the video tape of Rice's actions were available to the team and the league throughout the process of determining his discipline, and thus nothing changed whatsoever with the case from the time Rice was suspended two games, until eventually being suspended indefinitely, save for TMZ obtaining and posting the video. Numerous legal experts I've spoken to believe Rice has an exceedingly strong case, and, considering it could be Week 10 or so before this hearing is resolved, it's hard for them to conceive that Rice isn't reinstated by Jones as part of her decision. If he is, would a team like the Colts, coached by former Ravens assistant Chuck Pagano who thinks highly of Rice, or New England, where Bill Belichick has very strong ties to Rice's college coach, Greg Schiano, take a chance on Rice if they need a running back down the stretch? We just might find out.
unbelievable 5mo
Supreme Court Allows Texas Voter ID Law

26 Supreme Court Allows Texas Voter ID Law Huffington Post

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Saturday that Texas can use its controversial new voter identification law for the November election. A majority of the justices rejected an emergency request from the Justice Department and civil rights groups to prohibit the state from requiring voters to produce certain forms of photo identification in order to cast ballots. Three justices dissented. The law was struck down by a federal judge last week, but a federal appeals court had put that ruling on hold. The judge found that roughly 600,000 voters, many of them black or Latino, could be turned away at the polls because they lack acceptable identification. Early voting in Texas begins Monday. The Supreme Court's order was unsigned, as it typically is in these situations. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, saying they would have left the district court decision in place. "The greatest threat to public confidence in elections in this case is the prospect of enforcing a purposefully discriminatory law, one that likely imposes an unconstitutional poll tax and risks denying the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of eligible voters," Ginsburg wrote in dissent. Texas' law sets out seven forms of approved ID — a list that includes concealed handgun licenses but not college student IDs, which are accepted in other states with similar measures. The 143-page opinion from U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos called the law an "unconstitutional burden on the right to vote" and the equivalent of a poll tax in finding that the Republican-led Texas Legislature purposely discriminated against minority voters in Texas. Texas had urged the Supreme Court to let the state enforce voter ID at the polls in a court filing that took aim at the ruling by Ramos, an appointee of President Barack Obama. Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican who's favored in the gubernatorial race, called Ramos' findings "preposterous" and accused the judge of ignoring evidence favorable to the state. The court had intervened in three other disputes in recent weeks over Republican-inspired restrictions on voting access. In Wisconsin, the justices blocked a voter ID law from being used in November. In North Carolina and Ohio, the justices allowed limits on same-day registration, early voting and provisional ballots to take or remain in effect. Ginsburg said the Texas case was different from the clashes in North Carolina and Ohio because a federal judge held a full trial on the Texas election procedures and developed "an extensive record" finding the process discriminated against ballot access. Texas has enforced its tough voter ID in elections since the Supreme Court in June 2013 effectively eliminated the heart of the Voting Rights Act, which had prevented Texas and eight other states with histories of discrimination from changing election laws without permission. Critics of the Texas measure, though, said the new ID requirement has not been used for an election for Congress and the Senate, or a high-turnout statewide election like the race for governor. Ramos' issued her ruling on October 9. Five days later, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans put her decision on hold and cited a 2006 Supreme Court opinion that warned judges not to change the rules too close to Election Day. The challengers in Texas said that the last time the Supreme Court allowed a voting law to be used in a subsequent election after it had been found to be unconstitutional was in 1982. That case from Georgia involved an at-large election system that had been in existence since 1911. Republican lawmakers in Texas and elsewhere say voter ID laws are needed to reduce voter fraud. Democrats contend that such cases are extremely rare and that voter ID measures are thinly veiled attempts to keep eligible voters, many of them minorities supportive of Democrats, away from the polls.
5mo
Taken 3

27 Taken 3 20th Century Fox

Liam Neeson returns as ex-covert operative Bryan Mills, whose reconciliation with his ex-wife is tragically cut short when she is brutally murdered. Consumed with rage, and framed for the crime, he goes on the run to evade the relentless pursuit of the CIA, FBI and the police. For one last time, Mills must use his “particular set of skills,” to track down the real killers, exact his unique brand of justice, and protect the only thing that matters to him now – his daughter.
8mo
Dumb and Dumber To

28 Dumb and Dumber To Universal Pictures

20 years after the dimwits set out on their first adventure, they head out in search of one of their long lost children in the hope of gaining a new kidney.
8mo
Annie

29 Annie Columbia Pictures

Wealthy businessman Benjamin Stacks comes to the aid of a young girl living in an orphanage run by the tyrannical Miss Hannigan.
7mo
Outcast

30 Outcast Arclight Films

A mysterious warrior teams up with the daughter and son of a deposed Chinese Emperor to defeat their cruel Uncle, who seeks their deaths.