January 16, 2015

And the Oscar For Best Headline Goes To...

http://tktk.gawker.com/and-the-oscar-for-best-headline-goes-to-the-oakland-tri-1679943758

...The Oakland Tribune.



Jason Parham

1/16/15 11:55am

Friday's front page of the Oakland Tribune captures the whitewashed Oscar nominations with a flawless headline.

After yesterday's announcements, there were, among other categories, blaring omissions from the Best Director (Ava DuVernay), Best Actor (David Oyelowo), and Best Cinematography (Bradford Young) slots. But maybe that's not so surprising when you consider "the overall academy is still 93% white" and 76% male.

Writing for the Tribune, David E. Early noted: "For the second time in 14 years, not one actor of color was among the 20 nominees in the best actor and supporting actor categories for men or women."

January 15, 2015

Most Measles Patients in Disney Cases Unvaccinated, State Says

Source: Bloomberg News

Most Measles Patients in Disney Cases Unvaccinated, State Says

By Anna Edney
January 15, 2015 5:42 PM EST

Most of the children and young adults in California who contracted measles in an outbreak linked to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park hadn’t been fully vaccinated against the disease, state health regulators said.

Twenty-eight people in California have come down with measles linked to the adjoining Walt Disney Co. parks and just three were fully vaccinated, the state’s Department of Public Health said in an e-mail Thursday.

The outbreak is the worst linked to a single chain of transmission since measles was eliminated in the U.S., according to the department. Health officials in 2000 declared that the disease was no longer native to the U.S., meaning cases occur when others bring it into the country.

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease that spreads through the air, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While there have been a few hundred cases at most documented in the U.S. each year since 2000, 2014 saw a sharp increase to 644 cases representing 23 outbreaks, the CDC said. The majority of people who got measles were unvaccinated, according to the Atlanta-based agency.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-15/most-measles-patients-in-disney-cases-unvaccinated-state-says.html

January 12, 2015

UK Prime Minister on Fox News 'Expert:' "Clearly a Complete Idiot"

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/01/12/3610608/fox-terrorism-expert-calls-britains-second-largest-city-totally-muslim-uk-prime-minister-calls-him-a-complete-idiot/

UK Prime Minister Shames Fox News Expert For Islam Bashing

BY JACK JENKINS POSTED ON JANUARY 12, 2015 AT 11:29 AM

CREDIT: FOX NEWS
Citizens in the United Kingdom — including Prime Minister David Cameron — are expressing frustration with Saturday’s episode of the Fox News show Justice with Judge Jeanine, blasting one of the show’s guests for making wildly inaccurate claims about Islam and a British city.

In a segment meant to discuss “no-go zones” — or regions in Europe that are supposedly off-limits to non-Muslims — host Jeanine Pirro called on guest Steven Emerson, a Fox News terrorism “expert” whose career is riddled with hyperbolic claims, inaccurate reporting, and even suspicious financial arrangements. After riffing on “no-go zones” as “a country within a country,” Emerson specifically cited the British city of Birmingham as home to a population that is “totally Muslim.”
“And in Britain, it’s not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don’t go in,” he said. “And parts of London, there are actually Muslim religious police that actually beat and actually wound seriously anyone who doesn’t dress according to Muslim, religious Muslim attire. So there’s a situation that Western Europe is not dealing with.”

Check out a video of the exchange — complete with Pirro’s seemingly horrified reaction to Emerson’s remarks — below:

Unfortunately for Emerson, almost all of his claims are either unsubstantiated or wildly inaccurate. Birmingham’s Muslim population is large, but still doesn’t even make up a quarter of the city: according to the 2011 UK census, 21.8 percent of Birmingham is Muslim, compared to 46.1 percent that are Christian and 19.3 percent that don’t identify with any religion. Emerson’s assertion that Birmingham’s Muslim population is “a country within a country” is also dubious, and vague descriptions of “Muslim religious police” who “beat” and “wound seriously” people in London is unprovable without specific examples.

January 12, 2015

TOM TOMORROW: And Then - The Hot Takes

January 12, 2015

Supreme Court rejects Louisiana same-sex marriage case, takes no action on 4 others

Source: Reuters

@BreakingNews: Supreme Court rejects Louisiana same-sex marriage case, takes no action on 4 others - @Reuters http://t.co/UMDS8HuKTQ/s/7wU8

@SCOTUSblog: No new grants; Court refuses early review of Louisiana SSM case, as expected. Other SSM cases will be reconsidered Friday and likely granted

Supreme Court rejects Louisiana gay marriage case, takes no action on four others

WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:56am EST

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court, which is in the midst of deciding whether to take up the issue of gay marriage, on Monday declined to take an early look at a challenge to Louisiana’s state ban.

The court took no action on four other pending cases concerning gay marriage bans in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, but could act on those cases as soon as later this week.

The decision not to hear the Louisiana case was not unexpected as gay rights advocates had sought to skip the regular judicial process by seeking Supreme Court review before the case had been decided by an appeals court. Gay rights advocates representing the Louisiana plaintiffs said in court papers there is a “pressing need” to resolve the issue once and for all.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which has jurisdiction over the state of Louisiana, heard arguments in the case on Friday and has not yet ruled. The same court is also weighing challenges to bans in Texas and Mississippi.

In the Louisiana case, a federal district court judge upheld the state ban in September 2014.

If the court were to take up one or more of the gay marriage cases, it would then issue a ruling that would determine whether 14 remaining state bans will be struck down. Gay marriage is currently legal in 36 states.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0KL1G220150112