Thursday, August 8, 2019
Cyntoia Brown is married and has a memoir on the way!
Recently released sex trafficking victim, Cyntoia Brown got married while in jail and has a book deal brewing.
—She’s Free! Cyntoia Brown has been released from prison after serving 15 years—
Brown’s book publisher, Atria Books, announced that Brown “looks forward to starting her life as a recently married woman,” and will discuss her life in a new memoir set to drop October 15.
On Aug 7, after 15 years, Brown was been released from a Tennessee prison after being granted clemency in January from former Republican Governor Bill Haslam.
More about her plight will be outlined in her upcoming book, “Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System,” which contains her thoughts and writing from the years she was imprisoned, The Tennessean reports.
“For the first time ever, Cyntoia shares the details of her transformation, including a profound encounter with God, an unlikely romance, and an unprecedented outpouring of support from social media advocates and A-list celebrities which ultimately lead to clemency and her release from prison,” a press release said.
The memoir is a “coming-of-age memoir set against the shocking backdrop of a life behind bars”. While in prison, Brown earned two degrees and started the GLITTER Project, (Grassroots Learning Initiative on Teen Trafficking, Exploitation and Rape).
Yona Deshommes, associate director of publicity for Atria, which is a division of publishing giant Simon & Schuster, revealed that Brown now goes by “Cyntoia Brown-Long.”
The 288-page hardcover book is set to cost $26.
Brown was officially released early Wednesday morning, according to a press release sent at 3:30 a.m. local time, according to ABC News
—Wesley Snipes snags a role on the upcoming ‘Coming 2 America’ sequel—
“Early this morning offender Cyntoia Denise Brown was released from the Tennessee Prison for Women,” the Nashville District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “Per the commutation, Brown has now been released to parole supervision.”
Brown, who has requested to “leave the prison and seek some time for privacy and transition,” says she will make no public appearances for now. She will spend the first few days adhering to the conditions of her release.
The post Cyntoia Brown is married and has a memoir on the way! appeared first on theGrio.
from theGrio https://ift.tt/2YzhBWH
via
Wesley Snipes snags a role on the upcoming ‘Coming 2 America’ sequel
Blade may not have welcomed him back, but Zamunda is welcoming Wesley Snipes with open arms.
Snipes reportedly has been cast in the upcoming “Coming 2 America” sequel starring comedic icon Eddie Murphy, who plays Prince Akeem. The movie is slated to hit theaters August 7, 2020, reports The NY Daily News.
—Mahershala Ali to star in ‘Blade’ series reboot—
The former Blade actor who recently was not re-cast in the upcoming Marvel reboot will play General Izzi, the ruler of a neighboring nation to Zamunda, the place where Prince Akeem reigns, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Also on board for the next installment of the cult classic movie is “Saturday Night Live’s” Leslie Jones and the legendary James Earl Jones. TMZ also caught up with comedian Michael Blackson who revealed that he got a dream call to play in the movie too.
And of course, Arsenio Hall reprises his role of Semi, Prince Akeem bosom buddy.
It sounds like movie magic is happening and we’re here for it!
The script was written by industry vet and Black-ish creator Kenya Barris along with original Coming to America writers, David Sheffield, and Barry Blaustein. Craig Brewer has also been tapped to direct.
The idea of a sequel for Coming to America was first floated by Murphy himself in 2017 when he posted a picture of Vanessa Bell Calloway along with the caption, “Coming to America sequel?”
The original film was centered around Prince Akeem, who traveled from his wealthy African country to a modest neighborhood in Queens in order to escape an arranged marriage and find a wife who will love him in spite of his wealth and nobility. Arsenio Hall brilliantly co-starred as the prince’s loyal handler, while James Earl Jones, Shari Headley, and John Amos were also featured in the hit.
—Back to Zamunda: ‘Coming To America’ sequel gets a release date!—
Reportedly, the plot for the second installment will follow Akeem as he learns about a long-lost son in America, so he returns to meet the unlikely heir to the throne of Zamunda. Given the recent international, blockbuster success of Black Panther, there’s no doubt that Paramount is feeling confident about revisiting their beloved cult classic and appealing not just to long-time fans but also to a younger audience that may not have even been alive when the first movie hit theaters.
The original movie also made over $128 million domestically and another $160 million globally, according to IMDb so it might just break the bank the second time around too.
The post Wesley Snipes snags a role on the upcoming ‘Coming 2 America’ sequel appeared first on theGrio.
from theGrio https://ift.tt/2KlnFcK
via
Nigeria army-police shoot-out sees kidnap 'kingpin' flee in Taraba
Cuba Gooding Jr.’s attorney starts #NotMe movement after judge denies motion to dismiss his sex abuse case
Cuba Gooding Jr.’s lawyer has launched a #NotMe movement after a Manhattan judge decided she wouldn’t dismiss his upcoming sex abuse case.
The actor’s attorney is walking a fine line by throwing his alternative take of the #MeToo movement into the mix after a woman accused him of getting too handsy and groping her in New York nightclub in June.
—Cuba Gooding Jr. accused of putting his hands where they didn’t belong, report says—
On Wednesday, Judge Phyllis Chu refused to drop the misdemeanor forcible touching and sex abuse charges against Gooding Jr for allegedly squeezing a woman’s breasts inside the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar. Gooding Jr’s team filed a motion asking for the charge to be dismissed, Page Six reports.
Heller wrote in her decision Gooding hasn’t proved why the case shouldn’t move forward.
“The court finds the defendant has failed to meet his burden of setting forth compelling reasons to warrant dismissal.”
The judge did however contend that the accuser has “certain mental characteristics” that make it more likely for her to fudge the truth.
And it hasn’t helped that the accuser wrote on Facebook previously her “brain was one big fat mess…Some people are scared of others and want nothing more to be invisible. I am not that type of person. I am starving to be seen.”
Gooding Jr’s attorney Mark Heller announced that he has activated the “Not Me Movement” in response.
“After fifty years of defending innocent, falsely accused and unfairly prosecuted defendants, I am igniting the ‘Not Me Movement’ (#NotMe),’ ” Gooding Jr’s attorney Mark Heller announced.
—Atlanta hotel guest dies after contracting disease that has affected up to 73 other guests—
Heller has been scolded by Manhattan prosecutors for victim shaming. Gooding Jr has maintained his innocence.
At issue is video of the Oscar winner which appears to show Gooding Jr. motion his hard toward a woman’s chest and then pull back before kissing her hand.
“I am totally confident that when a jury of Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s peers assess all of the exculpatory evidence in this case, that he will be totally exonerated,” Heller said. “His case will be a hallmark example for the #NotMe Movement.”
The post Cuba Gooding Jr.’s attorney starts #NotMe movement after judge denies motion to dismiss his sex abuse case appeared first on theGrio.
from theGrio https://ift.tt/2YSKj01
via
An Old-School Auto Supplier Is Betting on an Electric Future
8 Great Grilling Accessories and Tools (2019)
Nicolas Dupuis' future as Madagascar coach unclear
DR Congo medics arrested over death of Ebola doctor
Mo Salah: Racist tweet about Liverpool star probed by Merseyside Police
AI Needs Your Data—and You Should Get Paid for It
Shoot-'Em-Up Videogames Don't Warp Minds—Big Tech Does
Backcountry Semiannual Sale: 18 Favorite Summer Deals
We’re Eating This Planet to Death
New IPCC Report Shows How Our Abuse of Land Drives Climate Change
Saido Berahino: Stoke City release £12m striker
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Does cable news shape your views?
It’s a classic question in contemporary politics: Does partisan news media coverage shape people’s ideologies? Or do people decide to consume political media that is already aligned with their beliefs?
A new study led by MIT political scientists tackles this issue head-on and arrives at a nuanced conclusion: While partisan media does indeed have “a strong persuasive impact” on political attitudes, as the researchers write in a newly published paper, news media exposure has a bigger impact on people without strongly held preferences for partisan media than it does for people who seek out partisan media outlets.
In short, certain kinds of political media affect a cross-section of viewers in varying manners, and to varying degrees — so while the influence of partisan news is real, it also has its limits.
“Different populations are going to respond to partisan media in different ways,” says Adam Berinsky, the Mitsui Professor of Political Science and director of the Political Experiments Research Lab (PERL) at MIT, and a co-author of the study.
“Political persuasion is hard,” Berinsky adds. “If it were easy, the world would already look a lot different.”
The paper, “Persuading the Enemy: Estimating the Persuasive Effects of Partisan Media with the Preference-Incorporating Choice and Assignment Design,” is now available in advance online form from the American Political Science Review.
In addition to Berinsky, the authors are Justin de Benedictis-Kessner PhD ’17, an assistant professor of political science at Boston University; Mathew A. Baum, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School; and Teppei Yamamoto, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Political Science.
Breaking down the problem
A substantial political science literature has debated the question of media influence; some scholars have contended that partisan media significantly shapes public opinion, but others have argued that “selective exposure,” in which people watch what they already agree with, is predominant.
“It’s a really tricky problem,” Berinsky says. “How do you disentangle these things?”
The new research aims to do that, in part, by disaggregating the viewing public. The study consists of a series of experiments and surveys analyzing the responses of smaller subgroups, which were divided according to media consumption preferences, ideology, and more.
That allows the researchers to tease apart the cause-and-effect issues surrounding media consumption by looking more specifically at the impact of media on people with different ideologies and different levels of willingness to view media. The researchers call this approach the Preference-Incorporating Choice and Assignment design, or PICA.
For instance, one experiment within the study gave participants the option of reading web posts from either the conservative Fox News channel; MSNBC, which has several shows leaning in a significantly more liberal-left direction; or the Food Network. Other participants were assigned to watch one of the three.
By examing viewer responses to the content, the scholars found that people who elected to read materials from partisan news channels were less influenced by the content. By contrast, participants who gravitated to the Food Network but were assigned to watch cable news, were more influenced by the content.
How big is the effect? Quantitatively, the researchers found, a single exposure to partisan media can change the views of relatively nonpolitical citizens by an amount equal to one-third of the average ideological gap that exists between partisans on the right and left sides of the political spectrum.
Thus, the influence of cable news depends on who it is reaching. “People do respond differently based on their preferences,” Berinsky says.
And while the impact of partisan cable news on people who elect to watch it is smaller, it does exist, the researchers found. For instance, in another of the study’s experiments, the researchers tested cable news’ effects on viewers’ beliefs about marijuana legislation. Even among regular cable-news viewers, partisan content influenced people’s views.
Overall, Yamamoto states, the PICA method is novel because it “allows us to make inferences about what is never [otherwise] directly observable,” that is, the impact of partisan media on people who would normally choose not to consume it.
“Most people just don’t want news”
To put the findings in the context of daily news viewership in the U.S., consider the recent congressional hearings in which special counsel Robert Mueller testified about his presidential investigation. Fox News led the cable ratings with an average of 3 million viewers during most of the day, while MSNBC had an average of 2.4 million viewers. Overall, 13 million people watched. But the Super Bowl, for example, regularly pulls in around 100 million viewers.
“Most people just don’t want to be exposed to political news,” Berinsky notes. “These are not bad people or bad citizens. In theory, a democracy is working well when you can ignore politics.”
One implication of the larger lack of interest in politics, consequently, is that any audience gains that partisan media outlets experience can produce relatively greater influence — since that growth would apply to formerly irregular consumers of news, who may be more easily influenced. Again, though, such audience gains are likely to be limited, due to the reluctance of most Americans to consume partisan media.
“We only learned those people are persuadable because we made them watch the news,” Berinsky says.
Other scholars in the field say the paper is a valuable addition to the literature on media influence. Kevin Arceneaux, the Thomas J. Freaney, Jr. Professor of Political Science and director of the Behavioral Foundations Lab at Temple University, says the study “represents an important methodological leap forward in the study of media effects.”
Arceneaux says the researchers “convincingly demonstrate that partisan news media have the largest effects among individuals who tend to avoid consuming news,” and suggests some possible implications pertaining to the larger media landscape.
For people who do follow politics, he suggests, having many news options available may “blunt the persuasive and polarizing effects of partisan news media”; at the same time, social media could be “an important source of polarization” by introducing some people to news. Arceneaux also notes that further research on the effects of “counterattitudinal” partisan news — content that argues against the beliefs of consumers — would shed more light on the dynamics of media influence.
The study was supported by a National Science Foundation grant and the Political Experiments Research Lab at MIT; Berinsky’s contribution was partly supported by a Joan Shorenstein Fellowship.
from MIT News https://ift.tt/2YO9mVV
via
Fox News host Tucker Carlson thinks white supremacy is fake news
FOX News host Tucker Carlson has set social media ablaze after he stated on his Fox News show on Tuesday night that white supremacy is “a hoax.”
Watchers of Tucker Carlson Tonight heard the host dispel the idea that white supremacy exists and essentially labeled it as a fake problem. The topic arose in response to how President Donald Trump has addressed the mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas where 31 people were killed.
READ MORE: Tucker Carlson comes for Joy Reid during his show, says her whole career built off ‘race baiting’
“If you were to assemble a list — a hierarchy of concerns, of problems this country faces — where would white supremacy be on the list? Right up there with Russia, probably. It’s actually not a real problem in America,” Carlson said
The Wrap details while Carlson is issuing the idea that white supremacy is a hoax, a four-page, anti-immigration screen was issued by the El Paso Walmart shooter, 21-year old, Patrick Wood Crusius, who is white and deliberately wanted to kill Latinx people.
The FBI, who clearly does not think white supremacy is a fake concept, is treating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a possible hate crime.
Even so, Carlson would go on to dispel the concept that white supremacy is impacting America by stating that all of the groups and their members could “fit inside a college football stadium.”
READ MORE: Rep. Ilhan Omar claps back at ‘racist fool’ Tucker Carlson, calls for boycott of his show
“I mean seriously. This is a country… where the average person is getting poorer,” Carlson said. “The suicide rate is spiking. White supremacy — that’s the problem? This is a hoax. Just like the Russia hoax; it is a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power. That is exactly what’s going on.”
Across social media, Americans are critical of his response using the hashtags #FireTuckerCarlson and #BoycottTuckerCarlson to let their thoughts be known.
Tucker Carlson just called white supremacy a hoax — just days after a white supremacist killed 22 people in El Paso.
Here’s some of his top advertisers:@StarKistCharlie@Nestle@WeatherTech
RT to ask if they support this rhetoric. #BoycottTuckerCarlsonpic.twitter.com/zGpxHQ3MKs
— Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) August 7, 2019
Why does this still have a job! #BoycottTuckerCarlson #BoyottFoxNews#BoycottHateakaTrump pic.twitter.com/kjuwQ9ieXO
— Anita Hicks (@AnitaHTweets) August 7, 2019
Criticisms of Carlson’s claims were also swift with CNN’s Don Lemon who stated, “Was that not the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard?” Jon Cooper, chairman of the Democratic Coalition, labeled Carlson as a “White supremacist Fox News host” on Twitter.
READ MORE: Donald Trump blames faulty White House air conditioner on former President Barack Obama
President Donald Trump has not directly mention Carlson’s comments on Twitter or otherwise, however, in his morning run of tweets he did celebrate a New York Times article that used a headline which questions whether or not Trump’s rhetoric is steeped in racism. He proudly tagged Carlson, likely as a guarantee to be mentioned on tonight’s show.
Carlson has yet to address the backlash.
The post Fox News host Tucker Carlson thinks white supremacy is fake news appeared first on theGrio.
from theGrio https://ift.tt/2OKRGqv
via
Reginae Carter quits YFN Lucci after he attends Love & Hip-Hop” star Alexis Skyy’s ‘Cucumber Party’
Reginae Carter has had enough of keeping her man YFN Lucci on a short leash.
That daughter of rapper Lil Wayne, said she’s young and she’s learned that it’s time to move on after she caught Lucci front and center attending a risqué party that involved “Love & Hip-Hop” star, Alexis Skyy very graphically using a cucumber on a young woman’s lady parts as a crowd gathered and watched.
—Lil Wayne and Birdman’s daughters debut as authors—
Skyy hosted the pool party in Atlanta with her boyfriend Trouble.
Videos of the cucumber-themed party circulated on the internet quickly and a fight even reportedly broke out after things got wild at the pool party, Yahoo reports.
Rapper, Boosie BadAzz posted NSFW clips and proclaimed his six million followers, “”FRONT ROW SEATS TO THE BEST FIGHT EVER @trouble U the truth best party ever I WAS A JUDGE AT THIS THUG LIFE EVENT.”
The explicit videos hit a nerve in the worst way for many people, including Carter who took to social media to air her disgust and come to terms that her on-again, off-again relationship with the rapper has met its end.
The 20-year-old said she went to the party to “spy” on Lucci and when she was what was occurring, she bounced.
“When I heard about the cucumber activities, I left. Tbh, I’ve made myself look like a fool for this man and I apologize for allowing you guys to see it .”
—She’s Free! Cyntoia Brown is released from prison after serving 15 years—
She admitted, “I’m young and still learning. Unfortunately, every move I make is publicized. I can’t control it . Imma try to be more private for now on . It’s hard because I’ve always been so open and honest . But I gotta learn how to deal with my problems alone and in private.”
Carter slammed the thirst trap party saying: “if you have a daughter, that shit is not cool. If you got kids your kids going to school and trust me they are talking about it.”
“I grew up in this life, everything came back to me … it’s not cute,” sahe said about her life as a rapper’s daughter.
Carter said the #CucumberChallenge was “childish, dirty and pathetic.”
The post Reginae Carter quits YFN Lucci after he attends Love & Hip-Hop” star Alexis Skyy’s ‘Cucumber Party’ appeared first on theGrio.
from theGrio https://ift.tt/2yKWRMo
via