Britney Spears news

• Cops: 1 dead, another injured in shooting at Buffalo bar

  20-05-2016 23:18 via salon.com
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Police say one person is dead and another has been injured after a shooting at the Buffalo bar widely credited with inventing the spicy chicken wings now known everywhere as Buffalo-style wings.
  The incident happened around 7 p.m. at the Anchor Bar.
  Police say shots rang out in the kitchen and two people were hit. They say one person has died and the other was grazed with a bullet. That person’s condition wasn’t immediately known.
  Police say the shooting ap
  
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• Struggling ace Harvey to make next scheduled start for Mets

  20-05-2016 23:13 via salon.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Matt Harvey wants to keep plugging away at his problems on the mound. Whether that ends up helping or hurting the New York Mets early this season remains to be seen.
  The struggling Harvey will make his next scheduled start for the Mets next week at Washington, manager Terry Collins said. Following the shortest outing of his career Thursday night in a 9-1 loss to the Nationals, the Mets left open the possibility of skipping Harvey’s upcoming turn in the rotation.
  But i
  
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• Blimp makes emergency landing at construction site, deflates

  20-05-2016 22:53 via salon.com
  
  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A blimp has made an emergency landing and deflated at a construction site next to a Philadelphia highway.
  No injuries have been reported on the two-passenger blimp or on the ground where it landed, near the SugarHouse Casino.
  The blimp floated over the Delaware River on Friday night before going down in the Fishtown neighborhood.
  It’s unclear what caused the blimp to go down. Police say the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Boa
  
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• Civil rights activist, Carter administration official dies

  20-05-2016 22:46 via salon.com
  Patricia M. Derian, who actively supported Mississippi public school desegregation and served as assistant secretary of state for human rights during the Carter administration, has died.
  Derian’s son, Michael Derian, confirmed his mother died early Friday. She was 86.
  Derian, former President Jimmy Carter’s assistant secretary of state for human rights, made the Argentine Dirty War one of her top causes. Though the Argentine military denounced Derian’s interference, the lives o
  
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• Sugar shortage leads Coca-Cola to halt Venezuela production

  20-05-2016 22:23 via salon.com
  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Coca-Cola is halting production in Venezuela of its namesake beverage due to a sugar shortage brought on by the country’s grinding economic crisis.
  The Atlanta-based company said in an emailed statement Friday said that its production of sugar-sweetened beverages will be suspended in the coming days after local suppliers reported they had run out of the raw material. Sugar-free beverages are not affected and the company said its offices and distribution cent
  
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• North Korean diplomat who negotiated ’94 deal with US dies

  20-05-2016 22:23 via salon.com
  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s state media says a top diplomat who negotiated a short-lived 1994 deal with the United States to freeze its nuclear programs in exchange for international aid has died.
  The North’s Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that Kang Sok Ju died of esophageal cancer on Friday at the age of 76.
  Kang was a longtime foreign policy specialist for the North who negotiated the deal with the U.S. to freeze and eventually dismantle the North’
  
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• AP NewsAlert

  20-05-2016 22:22 via salon.com
  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says diplomat who negotiated short-lived 1994 deal freezing nuke programs has died.
  
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• Worst personal essay ever? xoJane scrapes the bottom of the hate-read barrel

  20-05-2016 22:16 via salon.com
  
  (Credit: lightlens via Shutterstock/Salon)
  It’s no secret that xoJane is the very bottom of the Internet Confessional with a Shabby Veneer of Legitimacy barrel. So when I say this is likely the worst, most irresponsible thing they’ve ever published, understand that the competition is fierce. But with a title like “My Former Friend’s Death Was a Blessing,” you can also see how it sails to the top spot.
  The story, published on Thursday, tells the tale of a &ldquo
  
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• Sharks ride top line to 2-1 series lead against Blues

  20-05-2016 22:03 via salon.com
  SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Joe Thornton and his linemates have managed to do what Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Jamie Benn couldn’t in the first two rounds of the NHL playoffs: control the play against the St. Louis Blues.
  San Jose’s top line of Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl have dominated the play over the first three games of the Western Conference final and are a major reason why the Sharks lead the Blues 2-1 to put them as close as they have ever been to reaching t
  
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• Missouri plans to seek death penalty for Mexican national

  20-05-2016 21:22 via salon.com
  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri prosecutors on Friday filed their formal plan to pursue the death penalty against a Mexican national in the shooting death of a man a day after he allegedly killed four people in Kansas.
  Prosecutors in Montgomery County submitted court papers saying they will seek capital punishment for Pablo Serrano-Vitorino if he’s convicted of first-degree murder in the March 8 death of Randy Nordman at that man’s home in New Florence, about 70 miles west of
  
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• Secret Service shoots man with gun outside White House

  20-05-2016 21:19 via salon.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Secret Service officer shot a man with a gun who approached a checkpoint outside the White House on Friday afternoon and refused to drop his weapon, the Secret Service said.
  The White House was briefly placed on a security alert after the shooting, which happened within view of sightseers as sidewalks were crowded with families, school groups and government workers.
  The armed man approached the checkpoint on E Street shortly after 3 p.m., and ignored repeated order
  
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• Chile says it has struck deal with fishermen to end protests

  20-05-2016 20:50 via salon.com
  SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The Chilean government says it has reached a deal with small-scale fishermen who had blocked access to the Chiloe archipelago after a toxic algal bloom put their livelihoods at risk.
  The government said Friday that an agreement had been struck with the last remaining group of protesting fishermen. They will get $1,000 in compensation. The government aid also extends to other non-fishing families who depend on the sea, including algae gatherers and divers.
  Fishermen h
  
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• Indigenous reality remains grim as UN forum ends

  20-05-2016 20:48 via salon.com
  
  UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Indigenous leaders have painted a grim picture of the reality their peoples face around the globe as a major United Nations forum draws to a close.
  Organizers of the 15th session of the United Nation’s Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues said their languages are rapidly disappearing, human rights continue to be trampled, leaders are being assassinated and suicides rates are on the rise, especially among the young.
  Forum Chairman Alvaro Pop in his closing remar
  
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• Afghan who faced charges at Guantanamo can now be released

  20-05-2016 20:43 via salon.com
  MIAMI (AP) — An Afghan who once faced war crimes charges at Guantanamo has been cleared for release from the U.S. base in Cuba.
  A U.S. review board says it is no longer necessary to continue holding the man known by the single name of Obaidullah. The findings of the Periodic Review Board in Obaidullah’s case were posted on a Pentagon website Friday.
  U.S. forces captured Obaidullah during a raid in Afghanistan in July 2002 when he was about 19. They found about 20 unactivated land min
  
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• Court opens hearing to consider release of conspirator list

  20-05-2016 20:41 via salon.com
  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Friday that a June hearing to consider releasing a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal will be public along with legal briefs previously sealed.
  The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that June 6 oral arguments between an unidentified person, known as John Doe, and media organizations, including The Associated Press, will now be open to the public, along with briefs that have been fil
  
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• Mexico lowers 2016 GDP forecast, sees 2.2 to 3.2 pct growth

  20-05-2016 20:40 via salon.com
  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico is lowering its economic growth forecast for 2016, citing what it calls “adverse” international conditions including sluggish industrial production in the United States.
  The Treasury Department is now predicting GDP expansion of 2.2 percent and 3.2 percent this year. That’s down from its previous forecast of 2.6 percent to 3.6 percent.
  Deputy Treasury Secretary Fernando Aportela said Friday that Mexico’s economy is also being hurt by volati
  
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• Thunder will try to bounce back after big loss to Warriors

  20-05-2016 20:35 via salon.com
  
  Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant (35) dunks past Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) and Festus Ezeli (31) during the first half in Game 2 of the NBA basketball Western Conference finals Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) (Credit: AP)
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma City Thunder have valuable experience bouncing back from disaster.
  In Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, the San Antonio Spurs rolled past the Thunder by 32 points.
  
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• Agency sent reports of suspicious deaths to abandoned email

  20-05-2016 20:14 via salon.com
  MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — There may be a reason a prosecutor’s office says it never received nine reports of suspicious deaths of developmentally disabled people in state care over the past three years: A state oversight agency acknowledged Friday it sent them to an assistant prosecutor’s personal email, an account that apparently had been abandoned.
  This new explanation for the handling of the nine death cases has prompted the agency, the Justice Center, to update its email list an
  
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• 〰〰 https://t.co/FlSMyudRXH

  20-05-2016 20:02 via twitter.com
  
  〰〰 https://t.co/FlSMyudRXH
  
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• Minnesota businessman Wheelock Whitney Jr. dies

  20-05-2016 19:59 via salon.com
  
  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota businessman and former Vikings co-owner Wheelock Whitney Jr. has died. He was 89.
  His son, Ben Whitney, says Wheelock Whitney died Friday at his home in Independence of natural causes.
  The St. Cloud native was CEO from 1963-1972 of the investment banking firm Dain and Co.
  Whitney also helped bring major league baseball and hockey to the Twin Cities and was a former co-owner of the Minnesota Vikings.
  The moderate Republican ran unsuccessfully for governor in 198
  
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• Raptors need Lowry to step up in Game 3 against Cavaliers

  20-05-2016 19:58 via salon.com
  TORONTO (AP) — After two bad games in Cleveland, Kyle Lowry isn’t lacking confidence as the Eastern Conference finals shift to Toronto.
  Still, if Toronto’s All-Star guard doesn’t step up soon, the Raptors look likely to become the latest victim of a Cleveland sweep.
  Lowry made just eight of 28 shots, going 1 of 15 from long range, in Games 1 and 2 at Cleveland. Both were blowout wins for the Cavaliers and they started the postseason 1-0, two shy of San Antonio’s NBA
  
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• If confirmed, Native American site may delay $3.8B pipeline

  20-05-2016 19:56 via salon.com
  
  FILE - In this May 9, 2015 file photo, pipes for the proposed Dakota Access oil pipeline that will stretch from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to Illinois are stacked at a staging area in Worthing, S.D. Construction on the pipeline is now underway in North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois, three of the four states that will carry the oil from western North Dakota. The pipeline also will cross Iowa, but regulators there have declined to act quickly on a request to allow Texas-based Energy
  
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• Honolulu to settle suit from lesbians jailed after kissing

  20-05-2016 19:55 via salon.com
  
  File-This Oct. 28, 2015, file photo shows Courtney Wilson, left, and Taylor Guerrero posing for a photo in Honolulu.Honolulu will pay $80,000 to settle a lesbian couple's lawsuit alleging a city's police officer wrongfully arrested them after seeing them kissing in a grocery store while on vacation. The settlement was announced Friday, May 20, 2016, in federal court in Honolulu. It's still subject to City Council approval. Wilson andGuerrero were visiting Hawaii form Los Angeles last year when t
  
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• Superintendent: No need to obey transgender student policy

  20-05-2016 19:44 via salon.com
  ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s top education official says state school districts don’t have to comply with the Obama administration’s recent guidance that transgender students at public schools be allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.
  Superintendent Richard Woods noted in a letter released Friday that the directive “does not have the force of law.”
  Courts have issued mixed rulings on whether transgender people are protecte
  
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• Business Highlights

  20-05-2016 19:43 via salon.com
  
  ___
  Vin Diesel, Chanel spark cultural backlash in Cuba
  HAVANA (AP) — “Fast and Furious.” U.S. cruise ships. A star-studded private celebration of Chanel.
  The triple tsunami of global capitalism that pounded socialist Cuba this month has spawned a fierce debate about the downside of detente with the United States. Artists, writers and intellectuals who believe deeply in Cuba’s opening to the world are questioning their government’s management of an onslaught of big-m
  
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• Congress warming to idea of medical marijuana for veterans

  20-05-2016 19:27 via salon.com
  DENVER (AP) — Congress is showing an increasing willingness to let VA doctors talk to veterans about medical marijuana in states where it’s legal, although final approval is far from certain.
  The House approved a measure this week that would let Veterans Affairs Department doctors help veterans sign up for state medical marijuana programs, something the VA now prohibits.
  A Senate committee approved a similar measure last month, but the full Senate hasn’t voted.
  Rep. Mike Coffma
  
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• Judge: Kidnapping suspect can’t question girl before trial

  20-05-2016 19:14 via salon.com
  CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A man prosecutors accuse of kidnapping a 14-year-old girl and raping her repeatedly during her nine months of captivity cannot question her before his trial, a judge has ruled.
  Lawyers for 35-year-old Nathaniel Kibby wanted to question the girl about exposure to media coverage and the amount of freedom she was given to move about his trailer in Gorham, where prosecutors say he used a stun gun, zip ties and a shock collar to control her.
  The girl returned to her North C
  
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• Murder charge dropped against Houston man in boy’s stabbing

  20-05-2016 19:13 via salon.com
  HOUSTON (AP) — A murder charge was dropped Friday against a man who had been accused of fatally stabbing an 11-year-old Houston boy as the child walked home from school because the man’s alibi checked out, authorities said Friday.
  Houston Homicide Lt. Robert Blain said that means the person who did kill Josue Flores on Tuesday afternoon “is still loose at this point,” and provided a description of a possible suspect. Residents in the neighborhood where Josue was stabbed s
  
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• If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em: Voters in both parties look ready to back their likely nominees

  20-05-2016 19:12 via salon.com
  
  Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton
  Even though the Republicans and Democrats are at different stages of their presidential nominating processes, the talk surrounding both parties deals largely with “unity.” The GOP has chosen Donald Trump as its nominee, and now everyone is waiting to see whether the Republican Party – specifically, the party establishment – will accept him. Meanwhile, the Democrats still have a contest going on, and while it is barreling towards a predetermi
  
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• Fallin vetoes bill criminalizing performing abortions

  20-05-2016 19:12 via salon.com
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Republican Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday vetoed legislation that would make it a felony for doctors to perform an abortion, a measure that would have effectively outlawed the procedure in the state.
  In vetoing the measure, Fallin said it was vague and would not withstand a legal challenge.
  The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Nathan Dahm, said the measure was aimed at ultimately overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision that legalized abortion
  
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• The Latest: Obamas safe after shooting outside White House

  20-05-2016 18:59 via salon.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the shooting outside the White House (all times local):
  4:55 p.m.
  First Lady Michelle Obama was wrapping up a speech in downtown Washington at midday Friday. The shooting happened shortly before 3 p.m.
  Her office would not say whether she, or the Obama daughters, were at the White House at the time.
  The White House was placed on a security alert for about an hour. President Barack Obama was not there — he was playing golf — but Vice President Joe
  
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• Saints owner Tom Benson discusses why he disinherits kin

  20-05-2016 18:56 via salon.com
  NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In a court deposition, Tom Benson says he ousted his daughter and grandchildren from executive positions in the Saints and Pelicans after a confrontation turned physical between his daughter, Renee, and his wife, Gayle.
  The deposition, filed in federal court in New Orleans this week, was taken in late March at Benson’s offices in suburban New Orleans. It’s part of a federal lawsuit over Benson’s decision to remove his family members’ shares in his
  
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• Derby winner Nyquist ready for Preakness, even a rainy one

  20-05-2016 18:43 via salon.com
  BALTIMORE (AP) — Let it rain again on the Preakness. Team Nyquist doesn’t seem concerned.
  A driving rainstorm didn’t faze American Pharoah as he splashed his way to victory in the second leg of the Triple Crown last year, and it sure appears like Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist will have to do the same thing in a bid to set up another Triple try in the Belmont Stakes.
  The National Weather Service on Friday gave a forecast calling for a nearly 100 percent chance of rain beginning
  
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• Sanders campaign down to less than $6 million in cash

  20-05-2016 18:33 via salon.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders began this month with less than $6 million in available campaign cash, new finance reports show.
  The Vermont senator is making his last stand in the Democratic presidential contest, as Hillary Clinton closes in on clinching the necessary number of pledged delegates and superdelegates to secure her party’s nomination.
  Clinton began May with about $30 million.
  The new report, covering the month of April, shows Sanders continued to spend heavily, lodging
  
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• Here are the 7 cowardly Republicans who caused Congress to erupt in chaos after flipping their vote on LGBT discrimination

  20-05-2016 18:28 via salon.com
  
  WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 10: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) chairs a hearing on Capitol Hill on October 10, 2012 in Washington, DC. The hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee focused on the security situation in Benghazi leading up to the September 11 attack that resulted in the assassination of U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images) (Credit: Getty Images)
  The House erupted in chaos Thursday when Democrats vocally cried foul aft
  
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• Kenny Perry holds Regions Tradition lead by a stroke

  20-05-2016 18:27 via salon.com
  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Kenny Perry maintained a one-stroke lead over Bernhard Langer and Billy Andrade with a 2-under 70 in Friday’s second round of the Regions Tradition.
  Perry followed a bogey-free opening round in the first of the year’s five PGA Tour Champions majors with three birdies and a bogey at Greystone Golf and Country Club. The 2014 Regions Tradition winner at nearby Shoal Creek is at 10-under 134.
  Langer picked up one stroke with a round that also included one bo
  
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• At NRA, Trump slams Clinton for ‘heartless’ gun restrictions

  20-05-2016 18:16 via salon.com
  LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Donald Trump on Friday slammed Hillary Clinton as “heartless” for backing restrictions on gun ownership that he said would leave Americans in high-crime areas unable to protect themselves. He also challenged Clinton to follow his lead and release a list of potential Supreme Court nominees.
  Trump’s remarks came at the National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The gun rights organization endorsed the presumptive Republican nominee
  
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• The Latest: Residents worried boy’s killer not caught

  20-05-2016 18:14 via salon.com
  HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on the investigation of an 11-year-old Houston boy’s murder (all times local):
  3 p.m.
  Residents of the Houston neighborhood where an 11-year-old boy was fatally stabbed in an unprovoked attack earlier this week say they’re upset and scared to learn that a murder charge has been dropped.
  Police say Che Calhoun’s alibi for Tuesday afternoon when Josue Flores was fatally stabbed has checked out. Eyewitnesses described him as the attacker and one man
  
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• Down with celebrity graduation speakers: Stop spending fortunes for irrelevant commencement addesses

  20-05-2016 18:13 via salon.com
  
  HOUSTON, TX - MAY 15: Actor Matthew McConaughey speaks at Commencement at the University of Houston at TDECU Stadium on May 15, 2015 in Houston, Texas. Credit: Louis Dollagaray/MediaPunch/IPX (Credit: Louis Dollagaray/mediapunch/ipx)
  If you’re one of the thousands of people about to graduate college over the next few weeks – or one of the thousands heading to a campus to watch the procession — you probably want a lively, intelligent, even inspiring commencement speech. Everybod
  
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• Trump businesses honored by NY company closely tied to Trump

  20-05-2016 18:04 via salon.com
  NEW YORK (AP) — More than a dozen Donald Trump businesses have received luxury hospitality awards from a company run by one of Trump’s longtime associates, an ex-convict nicknamed “Joey No Socks.”
  Joseph Cinque (CHIHN-kway) has run the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences for years.
  His organization says it honors the world’s greatest hotels, restaurants and resorts.
  A review by The Associated Press shows that more than a dozen of the company’s trustees ar
  
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• “Lady Dynamite” upends prestige comedy: Maria Bamford’s brilliant new Netflix show is unlike anything you’ve seen

  20-05-2016 16:24 via salon.com
  
  Maria Bamford in "Lady Dynamite" (Credit: Netflix)
  It’s difficult to describe “Lady Dynamite,” but the most important thing to know about it is that it is okay if, midway through the pilot, you have absolutely no idea what you’re watching. The first episode of the comedy starts with star and executive producer Maria Bamford speaking directly to the camera, in what might be the beginning of a rom-com and might also be a shampoo commercial. But the segment keeps going, what
  
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• A call for action: Majority of Americans say the U.S. must do more to help refugees

  20-05-2016 16:17 via salon.com
  
  Syrian refugees cross into Jordan, May 4, 2016. (Credit: Reuters/Muhammad Hamed)
  The world is faced with the worst refugee crisis since World War II, and, while racism and xenophobia are on the rise, a new global survey found that average people are much more supportive of refugees than media reports often make them out to be.
  In particular, a new research project called the Refugees Welcome Index found that a majority of Americans agree that their government should do more to help refugees, eve
  
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• Donald Trump won’t stop clowning Chris Christie even while he fundraises on his behalf: “You’re not eating Oreos anymore”

  20-05-2016 16:14 via salon.com
  
  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, accompanied by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, left, speaks during a news conference on Super Tuesday primary election night in the White and Gold Ballroom at The Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, March 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (Credit: Associated Press)
  Chis Christie sure does appear to have made some sort of pact with the Devil, enduring humiliating event after event at the side of his former nemesis all while his own constit
  
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• Donald Trump vows to continue irresponsible tweeting in the face of tragedy: “I can practically guarantee who blew EgyptAir Flight 804 up!”

  20-05-2016 15:46 via salon.com
  
  Donald Trump (Credit: AP/Mary Altaffer)
  On Morning Joe Friday, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump assured co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that he not only knew what brought down EgyptAir Flight 804, he also knew how to prevent further such disasters in the future.
  Brzezinski had asked Trump about how international allies and enemies would respond to his tweets about them, and suggested he’s using the fear of terrorism to influence people to vote for him. Trump a
  
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• The Latest: Text messages cited in Virginia teen-slaying

  20-05-2016 15:14 via salon.com
  CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) — The Latest on two former Virginia Tech students charged with kidnapping and killing a 13-year-old girl (all times local):
  1:10 p.m.
  Prosecutors cited text messages found on a defendant’s cellphone in the case against two former Virginia Tech students charged with kidnapping and killing a 13-year-old girl.
  At a Friday hearing, prosecutors entered into evidence text messages taken from David Eisenhauer’s cellphone. One message said that if the body isn&
  
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• Knock, knock: No joke, an alligator’s at the front door

  20-05-2016 15:13 via salon.com
  TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida family thought someone was trying to break into their apartment when they heard knocking sounds at 4 a.m.
  It turns out a 5-foot alligator was outside their front door Friday morning. And so were Tampa police officers.
  Police and Florida Fish and Wildlife officers caught the gator and returned it to the wild.
  It was the second such alligator-knocking incident in the South in recent weeks.
  Earlier this month a gator wandered into a neighborhood near Charleston, S
  
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• Iraqi protesters storm Baghdad’s Green Zone, shooting erupts

  20-05-2016 14:59 via salon.com
  BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and gunshots into the air on Friday as hundreds of protesters stormed Baghdad’s heavily secured Green Zone, rushing toward the prime minister’s office and the parliament building.
  An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw several protesters badly wounded and one was shot in the head. The violence prompted Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to impose a curfew in the country’s capital.
  Earlier in the day, crowds of m
  
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• Coroner: Vegas ‘Mini Kim Kardashian’ died of natural causes

  20-05-2016 14:48 via salon.com
  LAS VEGAS (AP) — The coroner in Las Vegas says a 32-year-old performer known as “Mini Kim Kardashian” died of chronic alcohol abuse.
  The Clark County coroner disclosed Kimberly Tripp’s cause of death on Friday.
  Tripp performed at Beacher’s Madhouse at the MGM Grand Las Vegas resort.
  Police said there was no evidence of foul play after she was found dead March 20 at her apartment by her boyfriend. He plays “Mini Kanye West” in the same show.
  
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• Genoa maritime museum seeks possession of Columbus letter

  20-05-2016 14:42 via salon.com
  MILAN (AP) — A state maritime museum in Christopher Columbus’ birthplace of Genoa is challenging a Florence library to be the custodian of the recently returned 1493 letter in which the explorer described his voyages to Spanish royals.
  Maria Paola Profumo, the director of the Galata Sea Museum, told The Associated Press on Friday she wants to put the letter on display in a room with other important Columbus artifacts, including an urn with his ashes, where it can be both protected an
  
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• Gannett urges Tribune holders to reject nominees for board

  20-05-2016 14:38 via salon.com
  
  Five days after boosting its unsolicited takeover bid for Tribune Publishing Co. by 22 percent, USA Today owner Gannett is urging Tribune shareholders to reject the company’s slate of nominees to sit on its board.
  In a letter Friday to Tribune shareholders, Gannett Co. said Tribune’s board “is disregarding your interests by preventing you from realizing superior and certain cash value for your shares.”It asks the shareholders to withhold their votes for Tribune’s ei
  
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