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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/24/caitlyn-jenner-halloween-costume-sparks-social-media-outrage-.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...een-costume-labeled-817515?utm_source=twitter

It's nowhere near October, but one ensemble is already on track to be named the most controversial Halloween costume of 2015.

Social media users were out in full force on Monday criticizing several Halloween retailers for offering a Caitlyn Jenner costume reminiscent of the former-athlete's Vanity Fair cover earlier this year.

While Jenner's supporters condemned the costume as "transphobic" and "disgusting" on Twitter, Spirit Halloween, a retailer that carries the costume, defended the getup.

"At Spirit Halloween, we create a wide range of costumes that are often based upon celebrities, public figures, heroes and superheroes," said Lisa Barr, senior director of marking at Spirit Halloween. "We feel that Caitlyn Jenner is all of the above and that she should be celebrated. The Caitlyn Jenner costume reflects just that."
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www.bbc.com

Man joins search party looking for himself - BBC News

A Turkish man joined a search party without realising he was the person they were looking for.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

Turkey: 'Missing' man joins search party looking for himself​


Beyhan Mutlu had been drinking with friends on Tuesday when he wandered into a forest in Bursa province.

When he failed to return, his wife and friends alerted local authorities and a search party was sent out.

Mr Mutlu, 50, then stumbled across the search party and decided to join them, NTV reported.

But when members of the search party began calling out his name, he replied: "I am here."

He was taken aside by one of the rescuer workers to give a statement.

"Don't punish me too harshly, officer. My father will kill me," he reportedly told them.

Police then drove Mr Mutlu home. It is not clear if he was given a fine.
 
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www.nbcnews.com

Virginia woman says neighbor's racist taunts include speakers playing slurs, monkey noises

Virginia Beach police have described the neighbor's alleged actions as "offensive" but say they don't rise to the level of criminal behavior.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

Virginia woman says neighbor's racist taunts include speakers playing slurs, monkey noises​

Virginia Beach police have described the neighbor's alleged actions as "offensive" but say they don't rise to the level of criminal behavior.

A Black woman in Virginia alleges that a neighbor plays monkey noises and racial slurs over speakers to taunt her family from inside his home, but authorities say there's little they can do about it.

The woman, Jannique Martinez, says her family and other neighbors have been harassed in her Virginia Beach neighborhood for more than a year, NBC affiliate WAVY of Norfolk reported.

"Whenever we would step out of our house, the monkey noises would start. It's so racist, and it's disgusting. ... I don't even know how else to explain it," Martinez said.

NBC News could not immediately reach her for comment Thursday.

City officials have described the neighbor's alleged actions as "offensive" but not criminal.

The neighbor, Martinez said, also monitors her family's movements with multiple home cameras and blinking lights that appear to be hooked up to sensors.

Martinez told WAVY that the neighbor's alleged harassment escalated to monkey noises and audio of racial epithets after she reported him for loud music.

"He found out that we called the police on him to turn down the music one morning. And it's just been nonstop with the N-word," Martinez said. "My son is terrified of him. Terrified!"

The Virginia Beach Police Department did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment Thursday.

The police department released a statement Wednesday describing the neighbor's behavior as "appalling," "offensive" and "unpleasant."

The statement, however, said there was little police could do. "The city attorney and Virginia magistrates have separately determined that the actions reported thus far did not rise to a level that Virginia law defines as criminal behavior," it said. "This means the VBPD has had no authority to intervene and warrants were not supported."

A reporter for WAVY tried to speak to the neighbor by knocking on his front door, but no one answered.

Martinez told the station that she is exasperated after having tried to find solutions within the criminal and civil courts. She said the system is not protecting her family, with authorities telling her that the neighbor has not assaulted or threatened her family.

"I've done what I can to do it the right way," she said. "I've spent 11 years in the military. My husband is also a vet. We fought for this country, but yet, there is no one to fight for us."
 
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LordofTendons said:
www.nbcnews.com

Virginia woman says neighbor's racist taunts include speakers playing slurs, monkey noises

Virginia Beach police have described the neighbor's alleged actions as "offensive" but say they don't rise to the level of criminal behavior.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

Virginia woman says neighbor's racist taunts include speakers playing slurs, monkey noises​

Virginia Beach police have described the neighbor's alleged actions as "offensive" but say they don't rise to the level of criminal behavior.

A Black woman in Virginia alleges that a neighbor plays monkey noises and racial slurs over speakers to taunt her family from inside his home, but authorities say there's little they can do about it.

The woman, Jannique Martinez, says her family and other neighbors have been harassed in her Virginia Beach neighborhood for more than a year, NBC affiliate WAVY of Norfolk reported.

"Whenever we would step out of our house, the monkey noises would start. It's so racist, and it's disgusting. ... I don't even know how else to explain it," Martinez said.

NBC News could not immediately reach her for comment Thursday.

City officials have described the neighbor's alleged actions as "offensive" but not criminal.

The neighbor, Martinez said, also monitors her family's movements with multiple home cameras and blinking lights that appear to be hooked up to sensors.

Martinez told WAVY that the neighbor's alleged harassment escalated to monkey noises and audio of racial epithets after she reported him for loud music.

"He found out that we called the police on him to turn down the music one morning. And it's just been nonstop with the N-word," Martinez said. "My son is terrified of him. Terrified!"

The Virginia Beach Police Department did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment Thursday.

The police department released a statement Wednesday describing the neighbor's behavior as "appalling," "offensive" and "unpleasant."

The statement, however, said there was little police could do. "The city attorney and Virginia magistrates have separately determined that the actions reported thus far did not rise to a level that Virginia law defines as criminal behavior," it said. "This means the VBPD has had no authority to intervene and warrants were not supported."

A reporter for WAVY tried to speak to the neighbor by knocking on his front door, but no one answered.

Martinez told the station that she is exasperated after having tried to find solutions within the criminal and civil courts. She said the system is not protecting her family, with authorities telling her that the neighbor has not assaulted or threatened her family.

"I've done what I can to do it the right way," she said. "I've spent 11 years in the military. My husband is also a vet. We fought for this country, but yet, there is no one to fight for us."
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god bless you John Eskildsen
 
Joe Biden will not like that the French did with their migrants recently.
www.dailymail.co.uk

French police open fire on migrants' dinghy with rubber bullets

The shooting happened in darkness at Dunkirk as eight Iranian Kurds carried a dinghy towards the sea. It was destined to bring 40 migrants from France.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk

French police open fire on migrants' dinghy on Dunkirk beach with potentially lethal rubber bullets to stop their illegal boat crossing the Channel to the UK​

  • French police shot migrants with rubber bullets to prevent Channel crossings
  • Investigation by French national police authorities got under way last night
  • Shooting happened at Dunkirk as eight Iranian Kurds carried a dinghy to the sea
French police have shot migrants with potentially lethal rubber bullets to stop their illegal boat crossing the Channel to the UK.

An investigation by French national police authorities was under way last night into the first known case of gun tactics to halt a migrant boat launch.

It marks a major escalation of tension on the beaches as gendarmerie night patrols struggle to control the armada of boats heading for Britain.


The shooting happened in darkness at Dunkirk as eight Iranian Kurds carried a dinghy towards the sea. It was destined to bring 40 migrants from France.
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Married couple become throuple after wife falls in love with her gym buddy​


metro.co.uk

Married couple become throuple after wife falls in love with her gym buddy

The trio are planning to have kids when they feel society is more tolerant of non-monogamy
metro.co.uk metro.co.uk
Archive

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A woman who lives with both her husband and ‘wife’ has shared the reality of their relationship – and wants people to know that polyamorous people aren’t ‘sex-hungry’

In 2019, 28-year-old Saskia Michalki met a woman in a fitness class she was teaching in Hamburg, Germany. At this point, she had been with husband Marcin, 34, for four years.

Saskia instantly bonded with 29-year-old Lui, who is a lesbian, and they started spending more time together as friends. It was then that she began to realise there was more of a romantic connection.

Saskia was open with Marcin, who is heterosexual, and she says he wasn’t surprised by the news.

‘I faced a big identity crisis when falling in love with Lui,’ said Saskia, who co-owns a media company with her two lovers.

‘I always thought you could only fall in love with someone new if your feelings for your partner were getting less – but this wasn’t the case.

‘I loved Marcin in the same way I had in the beginning, and the last thing I wanted was to lose him. But my feelings for Lui were suddenly there and I couldn’t deny them anymore.’

Saskia says that she and Marcin would have described themselves as ‘extremely monogamous’ before meeting Lui, with the pair being happily married and 100% exclusive.

Although Saskia was crying telling Marcin her feelings, he was supportive. He added that he would be happy to add a third partner to their situation.

From there, Saskia and Lui started dating, and within a few weeks the trio had decided to take the relationship forward as a threesome, moving into a new apartment together after six months.

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Marcin – who is straight – and Lui formed a platonic connection that has led to them becoming ‘best friends’, while Saskia alternates between sharing a bed with each of them separately.

While Marcin and Saskia share their legal surname, Lui has adopted it as an ‘artist’s name’ as it is not currently legal for her to take on the name because she is not married to them.

Saskia said: ‘We always say we are a family. Lui and Marcin are like best friends or siblings – their love is queer-platonic and they don’t have a sexual or romantic relationship towards each other.

‘The three of us function like a team. I swap where I sleep regularly but we don’t live after a calendar or rules. Often it just happens randomly or however the mood is.’

The three spend about 90% of their time all together, saying they’ve never needed to figure out a schedule for alone time or who sleeps where.

Their cohabitation has been helped enormously by the fact that neither Marcin or Lui are jealous by nature, which Saskia says is ‘lucky’.

She said: ‘We don’t have the feeling that we are sharing any love – it’s more like we are all putting our love into one big bucket and it becomes so much more love.

‘It’s really important that we are not two relationships – we are one family, one team.’

When it comes to intimacy, the trio says sex takes a backseat – and they never have threesomes.

Saskia said: ‘Marcin and I have a sex life and Lui and I have a sex life. There is no three-way sex life.

‘People often reduce our relationship to sex. The funny thing is, none of us is super needy or prioritises sex highly. Cuddling, kindness and kisses are valued so much higher by us than sex.’

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She added that they’ve never encountered ‘a situation where one had to hear the others through the door or something,’ and that they’re happy going with the flow when it comes to sex and intimacy.

Now, Saskia and her lovers want to start a family together and hope that people will be more tolerant of their relationship one day.

‘We are dreaming of getting old together, raising children and grandchildren and someday sitting on our porch and looking back at a wonderful family life,’ said Saskia.
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LordofTendons said:
www.nbcnews.com

Virginia woman says neighbor's racist taunts include speakers playing slurs, monkey noises

Virginia Beach police have described the neighbor's alleged actions as "offensive" but say they don't rise to the level of criminal behavior.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

Virginia woman says neighbor's racist taunts include speakers playing slurs, monkey noises​

Virginia Beach police have described the neighbor's alleged actions as "offensive" but say they don't rise to the level of criminal behavior.

A Black woman in Virginia alleges that a neighbor plays monkey noises and racial slurs over speakers to taunt her family from inside his home, but authorities say there's little they can do about it.

The woman, Jannique Martinez, says her family and other neighbors have been harassed in her Virginia Beach neighborhood for more than a year, NBC affiliate WAVY of Norfolk reported.

"Whenever we would step out of our house, the monkey noises would start. It's so racist, and it's disgusting. ... I don't even know how else to explain it," Martinez said.

NBC News could not immediately reach her for comment Thursday.

City officials have described the neighbor's alleged actions as "offensive" but not criminal.

The neighbor, Martinez said, also monitors her family's movements with multiple home cameras and blinking lights that appear to be hooked up to sensors.

Martinez told WAVY that the neighbor's alleged harassment escalated to monkey noises and audio of racial epithets after she reported him for loud music.

"He found out that we called the police on him to turn down the music one morning. And it's just been nonstop with the N-word," Martinez said. "My son is terrified of him. Terrified!"

The Virginia Beach Police Department did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment Thursday.

The police department released a statement Wednesday describing the neighbor's behavior as "appalling," "offensive" and "unpleasant."

The statement, however, said there was little police could do. "The city attorney and Virginia magistrates have separately determined that the actions reported thus far did not rise to a level that Virginia law defines as criminal behavior," it said. "This means the VBPD has had no authority to intervene and warrants were not supported."

A reporter for WAVY tried to speak to the neighbor by knocking on his front door, but no one answered.

Martinez told the station that she is exasperated after having tried to find solutions within the criminal and civil courts. She said the system is not protecting her family, with authorities telling her that the neighbor has not assaulted or threatened her family.

"I've done what I can to do it the right way," she said. "I've spent 11 years in the military. My husband is also a vet. We fought for this country, but yet, there is no one to fight for us."
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Welp, they could always move. The neighbor will feel really silly about playing monkey noises on a loudspeaker for his new white neighbors.

Speaking of which, I gotta wonder what the noise ordinances are like in those parts.
 
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Sarah Silverman says Hollywood has a ‘Jewface’ problem
archive.md

Sarah Silverman says Hollywood has a 'Jewface' problem

archived 4 Oct 2021 15:01:02 UTC
archive.md archive.md
Sarah Silverman called out Hollywood’s tendency to cast non-Jewish actors to play Jewish characters, referring to the practice as “Jewface.”

The comedian, 50, pointed to Kathryn Hahn as the most recent example after the Catholic-raised actress, 48, was tapped to portray the late Joan Rivers, who was Jewish, in an upcoming limited series.

“There’s this long tradition of non-Jews playing Jews, and not just playing people who happen to be Jewish but people whose Jewishness is their whole being,” Silverman said in Thursday’s episode of her eponymous podcast, adding, “One could argue, for instance, that a Gentile [a non-Jew] playing Joan Rivers correctly would be doing what is actually called ‘Jewface.'”

She continued, “It’s defined as when a non-Jew portrays a Jew with the Jewishness front and center, often with makeup or changing of features, big fake nose, all the New York-y or Yiddish-y inflection. And in a time when the importance of representation is seen as so essential and so front and center, why does ours constantly get breached even today in the thick of it?”

The “School of Rock” actress pointed out common anti-Semitic tropes that so often get thrown around like “Jews run Hollywood,” “Jews are rich” and “Jews are powerful,” which she said then “renders people very righteously unsympathetic toward Jews.”

“I wish they would realize that that is by design,” she said.

Silverman expressed her belief that if there is a female Jewish character who is “courageous or deserves love, she is never played by a Jew.”

She then listed other examples, pointing out that Felicity Jones played Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Rachael Brosnahan plays fictional Jewish character Miriam Maisel, Margo Martindale portrayed Bella Abzug and Tracey Ullman was Betty Friedan.

While Silverman noted that she thinks none of the actresses she named are “doing anything wrong,” she said that the theme is “f–ked up.” She added that she understands that idendity politics is “annoying” and “acting is acting,” but then doubled down, saying, “Right now, representation f–king matters.”

“It has to also finally matter for Jews as well,” she added. “Especially Jewish women.”
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What is considered 'professional' in the workplace in 2021? Mackenzie's boss says her electric-blue hair is a no-no

Mackenzie Devine loves sporting brightly coloured hair.

So when her employer — a clothing store in Brisbane — asked her to dye her electric blue locks a "more natural tone" she was disappointed, but not surprised.

"My manager pulled me aside and just went, 'Hey, you've got to change your hair colour because we're a lot more formal. We have an older clientele and we can't have coloured hair because it seems unprofessional to them,'" the 18-year-old says.

"I sort of expected it."

Mackenzie's manager told her she could keep "a little bit" of colour but "the majority" needed to be a natural colour.

"I felt a little bit disappointed that I was losing my bright-coloured hair because I feel it's very me," she says.

"But I was okay doing it because I had to do it for most of my high-school life."

Mackenzie, who has been dying her hair since year seven, has grown accustomed to having to dye it back.

"It became a tradition every school holiday," she says.

"I would put a bright, fun colour in my hair for the two weeks and then when school came back I would dye it to a natural colour.

"I've pretty much had every colour in the rainbow."

So, just like the night before a new school term, Mackenzie and her mum dyed her hair brown the day before she started her new job.

'Honestly, it's 2021'
While Mackenzie was accepting of her new manager's request, her mum, ABC Radio Brisbane presenter Kelly Higgins-Devine, was a little "miffed" on her daughter's behalf.

"Honestly, it's 2021. I couldn't care less what somebody looked like when they were selling me clothes, giving me a coffee, any of that kind of stuff," says Kelly, who dabbles in a bit of hair dye herself.

"You go into any of the tech stores and there's earrings aplenty, tats aplenty and I think, 'Good. This person's gonna know their stuff.'"

In fact, while dying Mackenzie's hair brown, Kelly dyed her own hair lavender, in a sort of pastel, parental protest.

"Everyone's dying their hair, there's no age group to it," Kelly says.

"I'm in my early 50s and I dye my hair strange colours all the time.

"I know a lot of women in the same age group, and older, that do [too]."

So do traditional ideals of professional presentation still stand?
Declan Kluver runs a recruitment agency in Brisbane and says presentation requirements often depend on the organisation and setting.

"We recruit salespeople and they are the frontline of the company so presentation is a massive thing," he says.

"[In a corporate setting], most people like clean-shaven men and females with neat presentation."

He says if a company has to choose between someone who presents as traditionally professional, and someone with a more outlandish look, an employer might let that make the decision for them.

But Declan says ideas of professional presentation do evolve, especially now working from home is commonplace.

"No one wears ties anymore and norms around professional attire are changing," he says.

"Now people are wearing chinos, jeans, sneakers and everyone has got tattoos."

But for now, coloured hair might still be grouped in with things like facial piercings, which some employers are not yet open to.

"I've said to people they need to lose their piercings and say: 'Would you give them up for a job?' and they were like, 'Nah mate,'" Declan says.

"Maybe it's about finding the workplace that works for you and your personality."

Declan says the trade-off for when organisations stick to employing one particular kind of person can be the diversity of its workforce.

"Diversity in appearance, age, background and education, that's what strengthens an organisation," he says.
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Feds just raided a NYPD headquarters in Manhattan (Archive: https://archive.is/sb41J )
The FBI says it has raided the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association headquarters in Manhattan as well as a location in Port Washington.

News 12 Long Island has learned the search warrant was executed this morning.

“I can confirm we were at 35 Worth Street today, and in Port Washington. At both locations we were carrying out a law enforcement action in connection with an ongoing investigation. I cannot comment beyond that," a spokesperson for the FBI said.
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Christmas Tree shortage this year (Archive: https://archive.is/E9JkQ )
A warning for the holidays - we're facing another Christmas tree shortage.

Drought conditions in the Pacific Northwest are being blamed for a poor crop of trees this year.

The nation's largest tree-grower, Oregon, was especially hard hit which is making it tougher for retailers to order real trees for the upcoming season

It's also causing bigger demand on artificial trees.
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Back to the 70s and 80s, I see? https://www.outkick.com/new-york-city-to-eliminate-gifted-and-talented-student-program/

New York City’s gifted and talented student program will no longer exist for incoming kindergarten students next fall. New York schools will then eliminate the program entirely within a few years.

The New York Times, the outlet that first reported the news, labeled the program “highly selective and racially segregated.” Mayor Bill de Blasio says the removal will fight segregation.

The gifted and talented program admitted 2,500 students based on test scores, which includes many Asian Americans. New York thought that was racist.

The inept mayor says he will replace gifted and talented with Brilliant NYC, a program to offer students aged 8 and up accelerated learning while keeping them in their regular classrooms.

“The era of judging 4-year-old’s based on a single test is over,” Mayor de Blasio said in a statement. “Brilliant NYC will deliver accelerated instruction for tens of thousands of children, as opposed to a select few,” he said.
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