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Josh Luckenbaugh | July 22, 2016
During a panel discussion of his new movie "Snowden" at San Diego Comic-Con Thursday, Hollywood filmmaker Oliver Stone expressed a deep mistrust of the new smartphone app "Pokemon Go," which he claimed was sending society in the direction of "totalitarianism." "Snowden," a biopic of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, of course, deals with questions of government…
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Josh Luckenbaugh | July 22, 2016
The NBA announced on Thursday that the league will relocate the 2017 All-Star game from Charlotte, N.C. because of the state's controversial law House Bill 2, which requires people to use the restroom based on their biological sex.  The league released a statement regarding the decision: Since March, when North Carolina enacted HB2 and the issue of legal protections for the LGBT community in…
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Josh Luckenbaugh | July 21, 2016
On Thursday at the MIT Media Lab, famous NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, along with hacker Andrew "Bunnie" Huang, introduced the idea of a case-like attachment for smartphones that can detect the radio transmissions within a device.  According to Snowden and Huang, the project is designed to ensure that journalists are not being tracked by malicious forces when working under uncertain…
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Josh Luckenbaugh | July 21, 2016
On Wednesday, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey declared she is stepping up enforcement of the state's assault weapon ban, including a crackdown on the sale of "copycat" assault weapons. Healey's office released a statement regarding these efforts, which contained the following: The Massachusetts assault weapons ban mirrors the federal ban that expired in 2004. It prohibits the…
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Josh Luckenbaugh | July 20, 2016
Donald Trump's campaign released a statement on Wednesday regarding the accusations that Melania Trump plagiarized sections from a 2008 Michelle Obama speech for her own speech Monday night at the Republican National Convention. In the statement, Trump in-house staff writer Meredith McIver took responsibility for Melania's controversial phrasing. McIver described the apparent plagiarism as an…
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Josh Luckenbaugh | July 20, 2016
Cepeda Brunson, a self-taught artist whose painting of a hooded figure slitting the throat of a police officer went viral earlier in July, started a GoFundMe to raise money for his own personal art gallery and web site.  The graphic image, which Brunson calls "American Freedom Fighter," met widespread outrage after he posted it on social media, and was eventually removed by Facebook and…
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Josh Luckenbaugh | July 19, 2016
Following a trend in the entertainment industry to incorporate LGBT characters and themes, it was revealed over the weekend that Nickelodeon's hit cartoon "The Loud House" will feature an interracial gay couple. It will be the first show in the history of the children's network to include a married, same-sex couple.  A clip from an upcoming episode of "The Loud House" featuring the couple …
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Josh Luckenbaugh | July 19, 2016
Nigeria is still reeling from the uprising of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, as UNICEF revealed on Tuesday that 49,000 children will die of malnutrition as a result of the revolution.  The United Nations's children's agency announced the disturbing news on their website Tuesday: An estimated quarter of a million children in Borno state, North-East Nigeria, face severe malnourishment…
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Josh Luckenbaugh | July 18, 2016
While millions are tirelessly searching for computer-generated monsters through the new smartphone app “Pokemon Go,” many users may have overlooked the rights they surrender by playing the game, including their rights to a trail by jury and to take class action against the game's developer, Niantic Labs. First reported by The Consumerist, “Pokemon Go's” terms of service agreement contain this…
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Josh Luckenbaugh | July 18, 2016
In an attempt to promote officer safety, police departments in several major cities ordered officers on Sunday to begin patrolling in pairs, hours after three cops in Baton Rouge, La. were gunned down in what is being called an "ambush." While reminding its officers to remain extra vigilant over police radios, the Boston Police Department announced the command to patrol in pairs publicly on …