Since September 11, 2001, preventing terrorism in the United States has become one of the main concerns of citizens, policymakers, and law enforcement agencies. Leaders believe that battling “terror” isn’t just done by waging war on jihadists themselves, but also on their ideology. When an attack whose perpetrator is affiliated with Islam occurs on American soil, the nation collectively recoils in horror at the audacious attack, mourns for those we’ve lost, and then subsequently doubles down on rooting out any semblance of pro-extremist thought in our society.
When the assailant is identified, intelligence agencies conduct a thorough investigation into the subject’s known terror ties. These ties are provided to outlets that, in real time, condemn the violent extremism that animated the subject. When bad actors align themselves with extremist Islamic ideology, information about those who propagate this dangerous dogma is eagerly consumed because we deem it essential — not to just know what happened, but everything and every person that may have influenced what happened. Yet when it comes to domestic terrorism carried out by white men, such thorough accounting lacks.
Mimi Mbah is a 19-year-old college student from Maryland with dreams of being a model — and more than 11,000 Instagram followers to boot. Therefore, she has no time for anyone who dares to try shaming her for the color of her skin.
That much was evident when the Twitter account African Beauties, which aims to show the beauty of African people, tweeted some of Mbah’s own pictures from her Instagram account, showing her lounging on a beach and generally looking super cute.
The Oscars host used his gig to poke fun at Mahershala Ali’s name and the name of his newborn daughter, and lots of people are getting pretty fed up with the joke.
Bill Paxton, the actor known for starring in films such as “Twister” and “Apollo 13,” died on Saturday due to complications from surgery, according to a family statement. He was 61.
“It is with heavy hearts we share the news that Bill Paxton has passed away due to complications from surgery,” a representative for the family told NBC News. “A loving husband and father, Bill began his career in Hollywood working on films in the art department and went on to have an illustrious career spanning four decades as a beloved and prolific actor and filmmaker.”
Paxton first got a start in the 1970s playing minor roles, but he won over audiences in the following two decades. The journeyman actor played notable characters in “The Terminator,” “Weird Science” and “Aliens” in the 1980s, and he grew to have a larger profile in the 1990s in films such as “Tombstone,” “Apollo 13,” “Twister” and “Titanic.”
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Actor Bill Paxton poses at the premiere of “She’s Funny That Way” in Los Angeles, California, Aug. 19, 2015. Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
Who killed Walter Scott? Apparently, we’re not really sure.
That’s according to a jury in Charleston, South Carolina, which was unable to reach a reach a verdict Monday in the murder trial of Michael Slager, who shot Scott and whose actions were captured by a witness in a video that went viral.
Of course, the jury has its reasons — apparently one juror, identified only as a 50-year-old male in press reports, said he “cannot in good conscience consider a guilty verdict.” Slager may still wind up being put on trial again.
But the takeaway for black people whose daily encounters with police end in harassment, violence or death, is simple: Our lives don’t matter, even when they’re being taken in front of millions of viewers.
An Ohio State University student posted a rant shortly before he plowed a car into a campus crowd and stabbed people with a butcher knife in an ambush that ended when a police officer shot him dead, a law enforcement official said.
Abdul Razak Ali Artan, 18, wrote on what appears to be his Facebook page that he had reached a “boiling point” and made a reference to “lone wolf attacks.”
“America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially Muslim Ummah (community). We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that,” the post said.
Two hours before that, a cryptic post on the page said: “Forgive and forget. Love.”
Officials cautioned that they have not determined a motive for the Monday morning ambush, which sent 11 people to the hospital.
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A photo of Abdul Razaq Ali Artan that accompanied an interview in the OSU publication The Lantern. Kevin Stankiewicz / The Lantern
Ten people were shot, one of them fatally, in the crowded heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter early Sunday, police said.
Shots were fired at around 1:30 a.m. on the famous Bourbon Street at its intersection with Iberville Street, one block from Canal Street.
Forty police officers were already in the same block as part of extra patrols following the earlier Bayou Classic college football game and were able to respond quickly, Superintendent Michael Harrison told NBC station WDSU.
Pioneering television news anchor Gwen Ifill died Monday after a battle with cancer. She was 61.
One of the nation’s most prominent black journalists and a longtime newscaster at PBS who previously worked at NBC News, Ifill was in hospice care when she passed away.
“Gwen was a standard bearer for courage, fairness and integrity in an industry going through seismic change,” Sara Just, PBS News Hour’s executive producer, said in a statement.
“She was a mentor to so many across the industry and her professionalism was respected across the political spectrum. She was a journalist’s journalist and set an example for all around her.”
Ifill was the host of PBS’ Washington Week and co-host of PBS NewsHour. She covered seven presidential campaigns and moderated the vice presidential debates in 2004 and 2008. She was also the author of “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” which was published on inauguration day 2009.
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Gwen Ifill of PBS watches a clip of “Saturday Night Live” during a live taping of “Meet the Press” from NBC October 5, 2008 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images
For the last six months, Republican leaders walked a careful line supporting Donald Trump. They supported his campaign and loved his running mate, Mike Pence, but they didn’t agree with his positions on banning Muslims or mass deportations, or with the far-right figures who backed them.
That line was easy enough to maintain when it was just campaign rhetoric. But now Trump is signaling that the far right wing of the party will be going with him to the White House, where it will have a chance to influence policy, as well.
Steve Bannon, former president of the incendiary Breitbart News and more recently chief executive of Trump’s campaign, is taking on a role as “chief strategist and senior counselor.” Bannon’s ascension is the clearest sign yet that Trump will maintain his ties to the populist white nationalism that helped propel him to the White House against overwhelming opposition from party leaders and traditional media.
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Steve Bannon – Presidential Campaign Brings the Alt-Right Out of Shadows
Musician, poet and author Leonard Cohen, whose works spanned six decades and inspired numerous other artists, has died aged 82.
“It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away,” a statement on his Facebook page on Thursday said. “We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries.”
His music label, Sony Music Canada, confirmed the death in a statement. “Leonard Cohen was an unparalleled artist whose stunning body of original work has been embraced by generations of fans and artists alike.”
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Leonard Cohen performs on stage at the Isle of Wight Festival on Aug. 30, 1970. Tony Russell / Getty Images
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