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Cyntoia Brown Granted Clemency After 14 Years in Prison

Brown was sex trafficked as a teen and given a life sentence for murdering the man who paid for her.

Cyntoia Denise Brown was granted clemency after serving 15 years in prison for murdering the sex trafficker who solicited her for sex. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam granted Brown's early release on Monday after years of lobbying by prison rights' activists, state lawmakers, and high-profile celebrities, including Amy Schumer, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, and Ashley Judd. In December, Judd posted a message to Governor Haslam on Twitter, "Cyntoia Brown was a victim of child sex trafficking, raped, and forced into paid sexual exploitation to stay alive. She deserves our empathy and your mercy."

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Criminal Charges Against WikiLeaks Founder Revealed

A call for Julian Assange's arrest and extradition was found in an unrelated court filing.

U.S. Department of Justice charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have been discovered through an administrative error in an unrelated court filing late Thursday night.

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Admitted to Hospital for Broken Ribs

The 85-year-old Supreme Court Justice fell in her office on Wednesday night.

According to a statement from the Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fell in her office Wednesday night and fractured three ribs. Initially, the Justice thought all was well following the fall and went home. After experiencing pain throughout Wednesday night, however, she was admitted to George Washington University Hospital Thursday morning.

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Chinese "Internment Camps" Detain One Million Muslims

China has forced at least 1,000,000 Uighur Muslims to undergo "re-education" training.

Remote buildings fenced in by barbed wire, governmental slogans urging citizens to declare their loyalty, and armed guards preventing entry and exit: history has highlighted these as familiar omens of totalitarian oppression. Now the international community is condemning the Chinese government's "re-education camps," in which approximately one million Uighur Muslims have been detained, as the latest government machination violating human rights.

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What Some French Women Misunderstand About #MeToo

100 prominent French women have signed an open letter arguing that the #MeToo movement has gone too far.

The #MeToo movement, first sparked by allegations against Hollywood heavyweights like Harvey Weinstein, has shown Americans just how many of us are survivors of sexual violence. Not only did #MeToo empower women to talk about our experiences with abuse and harassment, but it also inspired many employers to work toward creating a safer, more equitable workplace.

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Trump Administration Aims to Redefine Gender

A government agency proposes to restrict gender identity to only "male" or "female."

The Trump administration is attempting to scale back civil rights of transgender and non-binary identifying persons. The New York Timesexposed an interoffice memo from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposing to dictate the definitions of "sex" and "gender" "on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable."

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Kavanaugh Nomination Advances, Flake Calls for Delay and Investigation

Kavanaugh's supreme court nomination will now head to the senate floor.


Amidst controversy and drama, Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination has been approved and now heads to the full senate for approval.

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Brett Kavanaugh and the Quiet Coup

Amidst the chaos of confirmation, the real force behind right-wing policy is going unnoticed

When a storm hits, it can be difficult to remember everything that came before. After the revelations of the past week regarding allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, the relative calm that was the previous months of the confirmation process seem like hazy half-memories.

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Where are you really from: Race, Identity and Power in the U.S. and France

Since President Barack Obama first stepped into office, the American people were startled by a possibility that there didn't have to be a "Black America and White America," anymore, but just "the United States of America." According to New Yorker contributor, author, and associate professor at the University of Connecticut, Jelani Cobb, that was some promising presidential rhetoric, but overall, a lie.

Anyone who's read the headlines or seen the news for the past few years can recognize that race relations are far from stable, and the U.S. is far from "united." With issues such as police violence, racial profiling, and the "Black Lives Matter" movement as our modern-day Civil Rights movement, the rift between black and white transcends skin color—it's also a matter of class, power, and the notion of our republic.

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Media Musings: Supreme Court and covering court cases

Court cases you should know about

The Supreme Court's term ended with several huge decisions in cases dealing with abortion, affirmative action and immigration. With several hot-button issues being examined, the Supreme Court has been front page news for several days.

Two colleagues discuss mistakes made in reporting on court cases and how to avoid them.

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