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| Friday, June 12, 2020 | It’s Friday! It’s been a tough few days. This new single that R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe just released with Big Red Machine sums it up. But we hope you have a restful weekend coming up. Join us below for music, laughs, trivia, recommendations, love and more, as you gear up. But first, here are the news updates... |
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| | | 1. Humbled Bragg Bipartisan proposals introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives on Thursday are strengthening the movement to change the names of military bases honoring Confederate generals, setting the stage for a clash with President Donald Trump, who rejects altering a “great American heritage.” But even Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri supports the effort, saying North Carolina’s Fort Bragg was named after “probably the worst commanding general in the Confederate Army.” | |
| 2. Compassionate DominationSound like an oxymoron? Not to President Trump, who said Thursday he is finalizing an executive order that will encourage police agencies to improve their practices following the killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day, but rejected calls to defund police departments. The president said he believed in “dominating the streets with compassion. ” At the opposite end of the spectrum, progressive Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has also slammed calls to defund the police as a “bourgeois, liberal” solution to a problem needing deeper fixes. | |
| | 4. Facebook Wants to Fund You If you agree to give up your privacy. (We’re kidding.) The social media giant is reportedly planning to launch its own venture capital fund to back tech startups. | |
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| | | 2. Cat CallHello Kitty says Black Lives Matter! Sanrio, the company behind the iconic Japanese character has issued a statement supporting recent protests and criticizing racism. | |
| 3. Slime Waits for No One Ok, many of you might find this disgusting. But there are Android games that let you take your slime, add color, glitter and foam beads and watch it ooze. Here’s what it looks like. Statues and statements are important markers of these times, but real change will demand more. That’s why… | |
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| | OZY and the A&E Network… …partnered for a special town hall show, The Time if Now: Race and Resolution, which aired on Monday across A&E channels. Watch it here. Squeamish about going to a theater or hopping onto an international flight? We understand. But there’s a lot of fun stuff happening around the world, much of which you can catch online. | |
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| | | 1. Movie MarathonThree big films will be released online: Artemis Fowl on Disney+; Spike Lee’s new drama Da 5 Bloods on Netflix; and a comedy from Judd Apatow, The King of Staten Island, which Universal is releasing to digital rental platforms. |
| 2. India’s Pride The country has long had an LGBTQ rights movement. But with some lockdown restrictions still in place, Rolling Stone India is providing an online platform for queer artists. The Pride Gig on June 14 will showcase some of this increasingly vocal community’s top talent. Register here to attend. | |
| | 3. Rugby ReturnsEarlier this week, New Zealand declared itself coronavirus-free. And on Saturday and Sunday, the eyes of the sporting world will be on Dunedin and Auckland, as the cities host an estimated 60,000 fans for games marking the return of Super Rugby. Sure, we’ve seen plenty of hate recently. But there’s also a lot happening in the… |
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| | 1. Cleric CupidA pastor at Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Michael Todd is all the rage with his series of sermons called Relationship Goals, which he then turned into a book with tips on dating, marriage and sex. Watch him here, and catch him on Instagram, where he has 1.2 million followers. | |
| | 2. Anything for Love…or SexThe U.K. recently made it illegal for couples who live in different homes to have sex indoors or stay the night together, as part of lockdown rules. But two in five singles confess to breaking that law, risking the £100 fine if caught, according to a survey by dating app happn. | |
| 3. Gerkin It Watch 19-year-old TikTok star Lauren Godwin put her boyfriend in a pickle— almost literally. Amid the fun and games, here’s a little teaser for your brain. | |
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| | Which country has reduced HIV infection rates the most since the turn of the century? Hint: Its former leader was known as Africa’s Che Guevara. Which country lost 60 percent of its population in a single war? Hint: It’s also a rare landlocked country in South America. Where was the world’s biggest school shutdown — before the coronavirus? Hint. It was because of politics, not public health. Which European country ranks as the most LGBTQ friendly? Hint: It has an area half that of New York City. Check your answers at the end of the email. Tell us how you did and whether you would like more quizzes, games and trivia in your newsletter, by clicking on the button below. Your Voice | |
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| Just so you know I’m human — and not one of the AI bots that are replacing editors at some media outlets — I’m happy to recommend, in Julie Andrews style, a few of… | |
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| | 1. Board Games Miss playing them on weekends with friends? You can still do it — each of you in your own homes. And no, not on some app, but with the real board spread out before you, and your friends on a video chat. Read out our quarantine-era rules for popular board games. | |
| 2. Yamazaki I first tasted this iconic Japanese whiskey on a bitterly cold Tokyo night, in a tiny two-person bar. And I was hooked. Now I can’t claim to have tried every whiskey in the world, so I would love to hear from you on any that you think outdo Yamazaki. Click on the button below. Your Voice | |
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