‘Heartbreak and regret’
Bautista tweets his loss of a Lee:
Those who know me, knew him. Wasted talent.Brothers dispute.Heartbreak and regret. #RIPImani https://t.co/ZMMefw3Lam pic.twitter.com/ot5F68cEI9
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) June 18, 2015
WITNESS Media Lab
YouTube partners with WITNESS to back the WITNESS Media Lab. The Media Lab is a novel method for addressing critical human rights issues by analyzing and interpreting first hand citizen video footage.
The WITNESS Media Lab – in collaboration with innovators in the technology, advocacy and journalism fields – will produce a series of in-depth projects that focus on human rights struggles as seen from the perspective of those who live, witness, and experience them. The first project from the WITNESS Media Lab will explore the impact of bystander video in bringing about justice in police brutality cases in the United States.
First Draft Coalition
Youtube creates a coalition of social media journalism experts to design educational resources aimed at learning how to verify eyewitness news reports. First Draft Coalition will also examine the ethics of using eyewitness reports in journalism media. Experts will be recruited from Eyewitness Media Hub, Storyful, Bellingcat, First Look Media’s Reported ly, Meedan, Emergent, SAM Desk and Verification Junkie.
The Coalition will develop and program a new site for verification and ethics training, tools, research, and, most importantly, case studies around the biggest news stories of the moment. The site will launch this fall.
YouTube Newswire
YouTube partners with Storyful, a social news agency to create YouTube Newswire. Newswire is a screened newsfeed of the most important stories that occur each day. The stories are verified by Storyful’s editors. Each story can be embedded from the source.
With the Newswire, we hope to provide journalists with an invaluable resource to discover news video around major events, and to highlight eyewitness video that offers new perspectives on important news stories.
Confirms Texas’ Confederate plates rejection
In a 5-4 decision, the justices rule that Texas did not violate the First Amendment when it refused to allow specialty license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag. Justice Breyer writes for the majority that such plates are the government’s speech and are thus immune from First Amendment attacks.
Children’s abuse statements can be evidence
Justices unanimously rule that statements made by children to teachers about possible abuse can be used as evidence, even if the child does not testify in court. The ruling is expected to make it easier for prosecutors to convict people accused of domestic violence. The justices state that defendants don’t have a constitutional right to cross-examine child accusers unless their statements to school officials were made for the primary purpose of creating evidence for prosecution.
Releases climate change letter
Pope Francis blames human selfishness for global warming in his long-awaited encyclical calling for action on climate change. In the letter, he urges the rich to change their lifestyles to avert the destruction of the ecosystem. In excerpts from the 184-page document:
What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? The question not only concerns the environment in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal…Today, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.
Says ‘No biological proof’ parents are hers
When presented with a birth certificate on NBC News, Dolezal says Larry and Ruthanne Dolezal may not be her parents:
I haven’t had a DNA test. There’s been no biological proof that Larry and Ruthanne are my biological parents. I’m not necessarily saying that I can prove they’re not. But I don’t know that I can actually prove they are…Nothing about being white describes who I am. The closest thing that I can come to is if — if you’re black or white, I’m black. I’m more black than I am white.
Objects to Trump’s song use
Young writes on Facebook (text) that he objects to Trump using his song, Rockin’ in The Free World, in his presidential run announcement.
Yesterday my song Rockin’ in the Free World was used in an announcement for a U.S. presidential candidate without my permission. A picture of me with this candidate was also circulated in conjunction with this announcement but It was a photograph taken during a meeting when I was trying to raise funds for Pono, my online high resolution music service. Music is a universal language. So I am glad that so many people with varying beliefs get enjoyment from my music, even if they don’t share my beliefs. But had I been asked to allow my music to be used for a candidate – I would have said no….I am Canadian and I don’t vote in the United States, but more importantly I don’t like the current political system in the USA and some other countries. Increasingly Democracy has been hijacked by corporate interests…I do not trust self-serving misinformation coming from corporations and their media trolls. I do not trust politicians who are taking millions from those corporations either. I trust people. So I make my music for people not for candidates.
Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World.
Trump rep:
Through a license agreement with ASCAP, Mr. Trump’s campaign paid for and obtained the legal right to use Neil Young’s recording of ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ at today’s event. Nevertheless, we won’t be using it again — there are plenty of songs to choose from. Despite Neil’s differing political views, Mr. Trump likes Neil very much.
Told to quit Ombudsman position
Mayor Condon calls for Dolezal to resign from her chairpersonship of the Office of the Police Ombudsman Commission. A city report states that she has failed to safeguard secret information and talks about it publicly, among several violations. Report findings:
Commissioner Dolezal engaged in conduct that humiliated, insulted or degraded…While working for the commission, she was simultaneously protesting police violence and speaking out about recent police cases involving violence against blacks.
Training incident details:
[She] asked questions that were, ‘hostile and accusatory,’ specifically inquiring if all the suspects in the training scenarios were black. When told that the first scenario of training had included only white suspects, she turned her body away from the officers and busied herself with her cellphone.
Parents reject childhood account
Dolezal’s parents say that her comments about painting her face with crayon are false. Mother:
That didn’t happen. We were very much in touch with her during her childhood and during those years, and we did not ever see any kind of representation of her, nor her teachers at school, of that kind of items. It’s not rational.
It’s disappointing to see that Rachel is still making false statements… I was hoping to see a change.
ESPN interview
James explains the Cavaliers NBA Finals loss and reviews the season:
It’s never a success if you go out losing. But I think we put ourselves back where this franchise needs to be, being a contender. But we’ve still got a lot of work to do…It hurts me to know that I wish I could have done better and done more and just put a little bit more effort or whatever the case may be to help us get over the hump. But it just wasn’t our time…I knew it was going to be a tough task, and I continued to tell you guys we were undermanned…I don’t even know if it’s ever happened, for a team to lose two All‑Stars and still be able to make it to The Finals…I put my body through a lot, you know, but it’s the price for your body feeling this way for winning…I didn’t win a championship, but I’ve done a lot of good things in this first year back, and hopefully I can continue it.
Confirms album collaborators
Blake confirms forthcoming third album, Radio Silence, to feature Vernon and West. Blake:
I can confirm they’re on it. Kanye — I’m with him today. We’d already started on something but it’s not in full swing. Today we should nail something down. If it doesn’t end up on the album you know it hasn’t worked.
Ginsburg: Portman wants female director
Ginsburg reveals that producing her biopic was delayed because Portman has been holding out for a female director.
Natalie Portman came to talk to me about [the film landing a female director], and we had a very good conversation. And one thing, interesting, that she insisted on, it held up the project for a while. She said, ‘I want the director to be a woman. There are not enough women in this industry. There are many talented out there.’ And now they do have a woman director.
Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl) is in talks to direct the film.
Wants more diverse ISS
The European Space Agency says that the International Space Station should be opened up to astronauts from India and China.
We need to get away from the principle of being a closed club.
Role in movie ‘Southpaw’
In her Marie Claire interview, Ora discusses her role as a drug addict who attempts to seduce a boxer played by Jake Gyllenhaal in Southpaw:
I arrived on the set, and the makeup artist said, ‘You’re kind of ready to go onstage.’ I’m like, ‘You know I’m playing a crack whore?’ Which shows: Don’t look at me when I’m waking up.
Lander awakes
After seven months Rosetta’s lander Philae comes out of hibernation, sending more than 300 packets over 85 seconds to ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt. Ulamec:
Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available. The lander is ready for operations. We have also received historical data – so far, however, the lander had not been able to contact us earlier.
Canaverso, Spiridonov meet
Canavero and Spiridonov meet at the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons to discuss a possible head transplant. Canavero says that his contribution would solely be dealing with the spinal cord, and that reattaching Spiridonov’s spine would require building a nano-blade with the ability to cut through nerve fibers without hurting them. He would also cut a bit lower than needed on Spiridonov’s spinal cord and a bit higher on the transplant body before giving them a last-minute second cut, which he said would help minimize cells dying off from the severed ends. Polyethylene glycol is then used to join the ends together, adding electrical stimulation to encourage attachment.
Claims Kleiner broke confidentiality
Pao says Kleiner is improperly publicizing confidential negotiations and asking her to pay unreasonable legal costs. The filing says Pao should not have to pay Kleiner’s “gargantuan and unreasonable charges” of nearly $1 million for expert witnesses and trial expenses. Pao claims that her request for $2.7 million to cover her costs to forgo an appeal, was part of a confidential discussion between attorneys for the two sides, and not intended to be publicized. Kleiner’s attorneys say that it was Pao who made the case so expensive:
If counsel for plaintiff wanted the demand to be confidential he should have said so.
Pluto’s different features
NASA releases a series of photos as the New Horizons probe approaches showing areas of intermediate brightness and also very bright and very dark surface features. The probe is 4.7 billion km (2.9 billion miles) from Earth and 39 million km (24 million miles) from Pluto.
Even though the latest images were made from more than 30 million miles away, they show an increasingly complex surface with clear evidence of discrete equatorial bright and dark regions—some that may also have variations in brightness. We can also see that every face of Pluto is different and that Pluto’s northern hemisphere displays substantial dark terrains, though both Pluto’s darkest and its brightest known terrain units are just south of, or on, its equator. Why this is so is an emerging puzzle.