America’s Problem with Mass Incarceration
One in nine children in the United States has a parent who has been incarcerated. America is leading the world in the number of people place behind bars, according to a video visualization by The Atlantic. In fact, for African-American men born in the 1970s, who dropped out of high school, there is a 70 percent chance of being imprisoned. The numbers are staggering. [The Atlantic]
Stephen Colbert Addresses His White Privilege
Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson joined Stephen Colbert on his show to talk about police violence, creating space for conversations about race in the U.S. and Colbert's own white privilege. [Vulture]
British Parliament Debates Banning Trump From U.K.
British lawmakers debated on Monday whether Donald Trump should be banned from the country. The debate was prompted by an online petition signed by more than 570,000 people, calling for the Republican presidential candidate to be barred from the United Kingdom for making controversial anti-Muslim comments. During the debate, which was political theater, as Parliament has no power to deny Trump entry, the businessman was called a racist, a buffoon and a misogynist. [CNN]
Anthony Weiner Let Filmmakers Document His Campaign and No One Understands Why
Why? Why, if you were (again!) secretly sexting strange women, would you let people make a documentary of your political comeback? This is the question underlying the New York Times’ sneak peek into “Weiner” (that’s really the title!), a film premiering at Sundance on Sunday, that apparently got a very close and personal look at Anthony Weiner’s 2013 campaign for mayor. [NYT]
Scholastic Pulls 'Happy' Slave Children’s Book, Amid Controversy
A children’s book depicting George Washington’s slave chef making a birthday cake, was released on Jan. 5., and controversy erupted soon after. Critics said “A Cake for George Washington” glorified slave history. Soon after its release commenters clogged up the book’s Amazon page, Buzzfeed reported. “It’s like Anne and Otto Frank baking cookies for Adolf Hitler on Christmas,” one commenter wrote. By Sunday, Scholastic said it was pulling the book, the Associated Press reported. [AP]
Pete Rose To Be Inducted Into the Cincinnati Reds’ Hall of Fame
Former slugger and manager for the Cincinnati Reds, Peter Rose, might still be banned from Cooperstown, but that isn’t stopping his old team from indicting him into its hall of fame. Rose was banned from the MLB in 1989 for gambling on the sport, a decision that was overturned last year. The franchise announced via Tweet on Tuesday that it will retire Rose’s jersey number as part of the induction weekend on June 24-26. [NBC Sports]
Pete Rose to be inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame during 2016 Reds HOF Induction Weekend, June 24-26. pic.twitter.com/oVgEZFDHpO
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) January 19, 2016Before You Spend $600 for "Hamilton" Tickets Found on Craigslist, Make Sure They Aren’t Fake
Counterfeit tickets to Broadway’s acclaimed hip-hop musical "Hamilton" are running amuck, the New York Times reports. The Richard Rogers Theater has turned people holding fake tickets about five times a week since August. [NYT]
Inside the Smorgasburg Vendor Taste Test
Snagging a spot a Smorgasburg is no easy feat, with thousands competing for about a dozen available booths at the popular food market each year. Only 10 to 20 percent of applicants make it to the next stage, where organizers meet the applicants and try out their food. Eater sat in on one of the tastings to see how one of the city’s most popular food markets selects its vendors. [Eater]
Don’t You Wish You Had Adopted Adam Driver’s Cat-Twin?
Luckily for this cat — who is the spitting image of “Girls” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” star Adam Driver — a loving family decided to take him in. Unluckily for you, you’re going to have to keep waiting for a cat that looks like a dark warrior or an angry woodworking boyfriend. [Vulture]
'Sesame Street' Just Got Fancier
"Sesame Street" recently aired its debut episode on HBO, and the series has already seen some changes compared to its old home on PBS. For instance, Oscar the Grouch now lives in a recycling bin, while Elmo is chilling in a brownstone. The show will also be 30 minutes instead of an hour, and stories will focus on a relatively smaller group of characters — presumably the ones who can still afford to live there. [Gawker]
We’ve Reached Our Peak in Buying Stuff, IKEA Says
IKEA’s Head of Sustainability admitted we’ve reached our stuff-buying limit: “In the West, we have probably hit peak stuff ... peak home furnishings,” he said at a recent conference. But he’s specifically referring to developed countries, on the global scale there’s “growth opportunity.” The brand has lofty sales goals though, and so will start creating ways you can repair and recycle its products and making more sustainable products to inspire Western consumers, it said. [Quartz]
Meet Spock, The 27-Pound House Cat Repeatedly Mistaken for a Bobcat
Giant 27-pound house cat gets mistaken for bobcat: “He eats about a pound of meat" https://t.co/tqoBGrdBKm pic.twitter.com/BXCyM9yZfN
— ABC News (@ABC) January 19, 2016A woman in California says that passersby who spot the massive cat in her window think the 27-pound feline is a wild bobcat. But it’s just Spock, a four-year-old Maine Coon who loves watching YouTube videos, can open doors on his own and eats “about a pound of meat” a day, according to his owner. [ABC]
This column was compiled by DNAinfo reporter Lisha Arino, Julia Bottles, Jeanmarie Evelly, Emily Frost, Gwynne Hogan, Noah Hurowitz, Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska, Carolina Pichardo, Eddie Small, Danielle Tcholakian, Shaye Weaver and Nikhita Venugopal.
