The Great Wave off Kanagawa (c. 1829–32)
Welcome to
Overnight News Digest, where the usual crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, side pocket, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, Interceptor7, jlms qkw, and ScottyUrb, guest editors annetteboardman and Doctor RJ, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with tonight's news.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
From CBS News: Obama wishes he closed Gitmo on first day
Asked what advice he'd give himself if he could go back to his first day in office, President Obama said Wednesday, "I would've closed Guantanamo on the first day."
"I didn't because at that time we had a bipartisan agreement that it should be closed," Mr. Obama said at a town hall-style event in Cleveland, Ohio. "I thought that we had a consensus there that we could do it [in a deliberate] fashion."
Instead, he continued, "The politics got tough, and people got scared by the rhetoric around it... The path of least resistance was to leave it open, even though it's not who we are as a country."
From the
New York Times:
In Wisconsin, a Trial Run for a New Law
Since the deaths of Michael Brown Jr. in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner on Staten Island, police use of deadly force against unarmed black men has become a topic of national discussion.
Protests recently flared in Madison, Wis., after the killing of Tony Terrell Robinson Jr., 19, there. Mr. Robinson was shot on March 6 inside an apartment by Matt Kenny, a veteran officer who responded to reports of a man jumping in front of traffic and assaulting someone in a home.
Mr. Robinson’s shooting is significant for another reason: Wisconsin has a unique way of investigating police shootings.
In most places, shootings involving officers are investigated by those officers’ own police departments. But Wisconsin has a one-year-old law that mandates that an outside agency investigate cases of police shootings.
From
ABC News:
University of Virginia Student Beaten, Arrested By Alcohol Control Agents
The state is investigating whether excessive force was used during the arrest of a 20-year-old black University of Virginia student after he attempted to enter a bar near the college early Wednesday morning, officials said.
Third-year student Martese Johnson was arrested by Alcoholic Beverage Control agents after he was rejected entry from a University Avenue bar, authorities said. The agents then approached Johnson and “a determination was made” to arrest him – during which time “the arrested individual sustained injuries,” according to the ABC agency, which is charged with enforcing alcohol laws in the state.
Cell phone video of the incident shows the student lying face down on the sidewalk with two agents detaining him as bystanders yell, “His head is bleeding!” From another angle, he is shown with his face bloodied, shouting, “I go to UVA!” and then “You f---ing racists!”
From
The Guardian:
Obama snubs Netanyahu and criticises Israeli PM's 'divisive rhetoric'
The White House has made clear its dismay at Binyamin Netanyahu’s sweeping victory in the Israeli elections with a stinging rebuke of the “divisive rhetoric” used by the Israeli leader in the closing stages of the election.
President Obama has not called to congratulate Netanyahu, who is now attempting to build a coalition between rightwing parties and his own Likud, which won decisively in parliamentary elections on Tuesday.
But the White House said it would be forced to re-evaluate its policy on the Middle East peace process after Netanyahu abandoned a prior commitment to an independent Palestinian state, apparently to shore up support among conservatives in Israel.
Obama’s press secretary, Josh Earnest, reaffirmed the president’s belief in the two-state solution, and strongly condemned Netanyahu’s decision to rally support with incendiary remarks about a high turnout among Israeli Arab voters. Netanyahu used a 28-second video on election day to warn that Israeli Arabs were being bussed to the polls “in droves”.
From the
Washington Post:
Jeb Bush’s tie to fugitive goes against business-savvy image he promotes
Jeb Bush was a young man building a real-estate business in Miami in 1985 when a health-care entrepreneur named Miguel Recarey Jr. hired him to help locate office space in South Florida.
Bush, then the son of the vice president, later provided another service: opening doors in Washington, where Recarey had mounted an aggressive lobbying effort for a waiver from Medicare rules that would allow his fast-growing company to continue to expand.
Recarey got what he wanted. But two years later, the firm, International Medical Centers, was shut down as regulators searched for millions in missing federal funds. Facing charges of bribery and bilking Medicare, Recarey fled the country to avoid prosecution. He remains a fugitive in Spain, where a court denied U.S. requests for extradition.
From
BBC News:
Tunis Gunmen Target Tourism, Killing 19 at an Art Museum
Tunisia's president has vowed to fight terrorism "without mercy", following a gun attack on the Bardo Museum in the capital Tunis that killed 19 people.
Seventeen tourists were killed in the attack, including visitors from Japan, Italy, Colombia, Australia, France, Poland and Spain, officials said.
Two Tunisians, one a police officer, were also killed in Wednesday's attack.
Security forces have killed two gunmen but are continuing the search for accomplices.
Officials say that more than 40 people, including tourists and Tunisians, were injured.
From the
Arizona Republic:
Suspect arrested in Arizona shooting spree
A gunman shot six people, killing at least one Wednesday morning in Mesa.
Mesa police identified the suspect as Ryan E. Giroux, an ex-convict with a criminal record dating back to the mid-1990s.
Giroux was taken into custody near Longmore and Emelita in connection with today's shootings shortly before 1 p.m.. The suspect was hit with a stun gun and found in a vacant condo, police said.
Television cameras then captured authorities walking a suspect completely covered from head-to toe in a white biological evidence suit. The suit had a hood and the suspect's hands were shackled in front of him.
From
Al Jazeera:
Germany bans Uber's ridesharing service
A German court on Wednesday banned Uber from offering some of its ridesharing services nationwide and imposed stiff fines for any violations of the country’s local transport laws, adding to the San Francisco-based company's troubles in Europe.
Uber, which enables users to summon taxi-like services on their phones, is under fire from taxi operators and city officials across Europe who allege its system breaches licensing laws governing professional taxi drivers and informal ridesharing arrangements.
Frankfurt state court spokesman Arne Hasse said the ruling banned the company’s UberPop service from offering rides with drivers who don't have taxi permits. The company said it would continue to operate other services, such as UberBLACK and UberTAXI, that were unaffected by the ruling.
UberPOP links private, unlicensed drivers with passengers via their mobile phones. UberBLACK and UberTAXI use professional limousine drivers and licensed taxi cab drivers, respectively.
From
CNBC:
Euro-dollar parity may be more elusive after Fed
The Fed tripped up the dollar's rally and may have pushed the greenback into a short-term correction with its forecasts for a slower pace of interest rate hikes, strategists say.
The dollar index slumped as much as 3 percent in the worst selloff in six years, after a dovish U.S. central bank on Wednesday pared back its own forecasts for interest rate hikes, cut its outlook for inflation and warned the economy has been moderating. The euro hit a high of about $1.10 to the dollar, in Wednesday afternoon trading, from a low point of $1.05.
As the dollar fell, stocks rallied and bond yields declined. The strengthening greenback has been a key factor in markets, sending ripples through U.S. equities, as traders worry about its impact on the profits of multinationals. The strong dollar has also fanned fears about deflation, as it pounded commodities markets, like oil and gold and weighed on emerging markets.
From PBS'
Frontline:
Texas Bar Charges Willingham Prosecutor with Misconduct
There’s been yet another blow to the case against Cameron Todd Willingham, the Texas man who was executed in 2004 for setting a fire that killed his three young daughters at their home.
This month, the State Bar of Texas formally accused the lead prosecutor of misconduct after an investigation requested by the Innocence Project. The filing, first reported by The Marshall Project, said that John H. Jackson knew about evidence that bolstered the case for Willingham’s innocence and kept it from his attorney.
“Before, during and after the 1992 trial, [Jackson] knew of the existence of evidence that tended to negate the guilt of Willingham and failed to disclose that evidence to defense counsel,” the bar said.
Specifically, the bar said that Jackson kept quiet about a deal he struck with his star witness: a prisoner named Johnny Webb, who testified that Willingham told him he had started the fire. Up until his death, Willingham had always maintained his innocence.
From
CNN:
NATO intercepts Russian military aircraft
NATO jets scrambled to intercept Russian military aircraft as they neared Latvian airspace, officials said on Wednesday.
Estonian radar detected the aircraft over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday night, NATO said. Other than the lead aircraft, NATO said, none of the other Russian military aircraft was on a flight plan.
NATO sent jets to identify the planes and later reported that the military aircraft flew on into Russian airspace.
NATO didn't say how many Russian aircraft were involved. The flights come as Russia's Northern Fleet has been placed on full combat alert for military exercises involving nearly 40,000 troops and 50 warships.
The exercises have rattled nerves in nearby NATO states, including Latvia, where U.S. troops and equipment recently arrived for NATO training, and where fears are growing about Russian President Vladimir Putin's next move.
From
NBC News:
Mastermind of Deadly Kenyan Mall Attack Killed by U.S. Drone
The mastermind of the terrorist attack that killed 67 people at the Westgate Mall in Naibrobi, Kenya, in 2013, has died after a U.S. military drone strike in Somalia, the Defense Department said Wednesday.
Adan Garar was described as a member of the security wing of al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-aligned group that is seeking to topple the Western-backed government of Somalia and impose its strict version of Islamic law.
U.S. military officials told NBC News that Garar was one of several people in a vehicle struck by as many as three Hellfire missiles last Thursday. He apparently survived the attack with severe burns, but he was paralyzed from the waist down and later died.
The Pentagon said the attack took place in Somalia's southern Bay region.
From
USA Today:
Visiting the future in Mercedes' F015 autonomous car
Mercedes' F015 self-driving concept car sits in a bay charging its electric batteries before taking journalists on a ride.
Sitting inside the Mercedes-Benz F015 Luxury in Motion self-driving car, the future is now.
Four of us face each other as the silver-skinned concept vehicle charts a pre-programmed zig-zagging course along an abandoned runway just across the bay from San Francisco.
The steering wheel is now at the driver's back. One passenger touches a button and a small coffee table levitates from the floor. Another taps a touch-screen door panel and commands the vehicle to drive in a more spirited fashion.
For 15 minutes, we talk, check our smartphones, listen to music and generally forget about the world outside. And that's the point, Mercedes engineers say. The automobile soon will cease to become just a car, and turn into a living space.
"It will become the third place you will spend time, after your office and your home," says Holger Hutzenlaub, a member of the company's Advanced Design team. "In the future, when cities will be bigger and the chaos greater, the greatest luxury goods will be privacy and time."
From the
Los Angeles Times:
Breast-feeding pays: Babies who nursed earn more as adults, study says
It pays to breast-feed – for babies. When they grow up, that steady diet of breast milk may boost their monthly income by up to 39%, according to a new report.
Researchers tracked down nearly 3,500 Brazilian adults who were enrolled in a study within days of their birth in 1982. Back in the '80s, interviewers had asked their mothers how long their children were breast-fed and how old they were when they were introduced to other foods.
At the time, breast-feeding wasn’t associated with any particular socioeconomic class in Brazil, the study authors said. That was true of the families in this study – 21% of the children nursed for less than one month and 17% nursed for more than a year. (Among the rest, 26% were breast-fed for one to three months, 23% for three to six months, and 14% for six to 12 months.)
Fast-forward to 2012. Those children are now 30-year-olds with jobs.
So the researchers, from the Federal University of Pelotas and the Catholic University of Pelotas, asked them how much income they earned in the previous month. They also administered an intelligence test to see if they could find a link between breast-feeding and adult IQ.
From
TMZ:
Robert Durst Arrested with Latex Mask In Apparent Attempt to Change Identity
According to the search warrant, which we obtained, the mask -- which was recovered in the New Orleans hotel room where he was arrested -- covered his head and neck and served to completely alter the characteristics of his face. Cops also found a fake Texas ID with the name Everette Ward.
According to the warrant, Durst was using the mask and ID to flee the country. And get this ... also included in the docs, Durst had more than $42,000 in cash, but the money was in hundred dollar bills, parceled out in various small envelopes.
Authorities believe Durst wanted to use the envelopes to send money to the place where he was fleeing. Cops even found a UPS tracking number in the hotel, which Durst told them was so he could ship a large sum of cash.
The docs say Durst is worth $100 million and he was in the process of planning to ship a lot more than $42k. Authorities obtained bank records showing Durst withdrew $9k a day for 35 consecutive days ($315,000).
Authorities recovered the .38 Smith & Wesson revolver with one spent shell casing and 4 live rounds. It's unclear where the gun was fired.
From
New York Magazine:
Wait, Don’t Cut That Cord!
It's never been obvious that patching together a personalized hodgepodge of TV channels is actually a better, cheaper choice than buying in bulk from a cable company. But technology and media companies have heard the call of the cord-cutters, and they're getting more and more eager to offer consumers new options for watching what was formerly known as TV. This week, Apple let on that it'll be offering "an Internet-TV service with some 25 channels," for the seemingly low price of $25 to $35 per month, and Sony released more details for PlayStation Vue, its own pricier package of streaming, live TV.
Now that companies are striving to actually offer streaming-TV services, the math is becoming a little bit more clear. And it's not looking particularly good for anyone who cares about watching good TV. Say, for instance, you're a fan of Game of Thrones, Transparent, House of Cards, and Broad City. Plus, you want to keep up on sports. Here's what you could be paying:
ESPN, via Apple: $300–420
Game of Thrones, via HBO Now: $179.88 per year
Transparent, via Amazon Prime: $99 per year (plus free shipping)
Broad City, via PlayStation Vue: $600 per year
House of Cards, via Netflix: $107.88 per year
That's more than $1,200 a year. Add on to that what you're paying for internet, and cable comes out cheaper.
From
The Hollywood Reporter:
How 'House Of Cards' Costume Designer Would Style Hillary Clinton
Kemal Harris recommends a rally-ready burgundy two-piece she designed for Robin Wright on the show.
With Robin Wright's stylist Kemal Harris pulling double-duty as her costume designer on the third season of House of Cards, first lady Claire Underwood is getting the Jackie O treatment. Wright's wardrobe still is extremely fitted and tailored but with a shock of color (after two seasons of monochromatic tones) and that much-talked-about Ralph Lauren silver gown. When it comes to giving presumed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton styling advice, however, Harris demurs: "I don't want to change her wardrobe. I want her to change the world!" Still, she offers up a few ideas.
From the
Bloomberg News:
Tesla is free to sell electric cars in New Jersey after Gov. Chris Christie signs bill
Tesla Motors will be allowed to sell its electric cars straight to consumers in New Jersey, resuming those deliveries after Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill overhauling the state’s dealership laws.
Christie on Wednesday said he signed legislation allowing direct sales by manufacturers of zero-emission vehicles. The law requires Tesla to maintain a service center in the state where consumers can have their cars fixed. The governor, a Republican, previously said he would sign such a bill.
Diarmuid O’Connell, the company’s vice president of corporate business development, said in a statement: “We are proud to tell New Jersey that we are open for business.”
The measure caps a yearlong struggle by Tesla and its supporters to allow the sales. Tesla has sold more than 600 Model S sedans in New Jersey, but the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission voted unanimously in March 2014 to bar direct sales ... The New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers still opposes the legislation signed by Christie, saying that Tesla’s model creates a vertical monopoly and eliminates competition.
“The factory store model advocated by Tesla generates jobs, tax revenue and economic benefits in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street, but not here in New Jersey,” James B. Appleton, the group’s president, said in a statement.
From
ESPN:
President Obama: Cats wear crown
Like Las Vegas oddsmakers and nearly half the people making picks in ESPN's Tournament Challenge, President Barack Obama likes Kentucky to win the NCAA men's basketball championship.
Obama, a die-hard basketball fan who has filled out a bracket for ESPN since he became president in 2009, picked Kentucky to beat Villanova in the title game. His complete bracket was revealed Wednesday morning.
Obama has Kentucky beating Arizona and Villanova beating Duke in the national semifinals, which are set for April 4-6 in Indianapolis.
The president's bracket includes several early-round upsets, and one that extends a little further. Obama has No. 10 Davidson getting to the Sweet 16, beating No. 7 Iowa in the second round and second-seeded Gonzaga in the third round before losing to Iowa State. His other opening-weekend upsets include 12th-seeded Buffalo beating No. 5 West Virginia in the Midwest, 11th-seeded Texas beating No. 6 Butler in the Midwest and 12th-seeded Wyoming beating No. 5 Northern Iowa in the East. None of those underdogs advances beyond that, however.
From the
Charlotte Observer:
NFL sues to get evidence from Greg Hardy’s trial
On the day Greg Hardy became a Dallas Cowboy, the NFL made it clear that the league – and Hardy – have unfinished business in Charlotte.
The NFL filed suit Wednesday, seeking the evidence gathered against the former Carolina Panther defensive end in a domestic-abuse case involving his former girlfriend. Mecklenburg County District Attorney Andrew Murray was named as the defendant.
In May, Hardy was arrested at his uptown condo, accused of assaulting and threatening to kill waitress Nicole Holder. He was convicted of both misdemeanors, then appealed. Murray dropped the charges last month, saying Holder agreed to a civil settlement with Hardy and vanished.
Hardy officially left the Panthers on Wednesday, signing a $11.3 million, one-year contract with the Cowboys. However, the 26-year-old former Pro Bowler remains on the NFL’s exempt list until the league decides his punishment stemming from the domestic-abuse case. He faces a likely suspension next season, though the number of games remains up to the NFL.
From
Salon:
“To Pimp a Butterfly”: Kendrick Lamar’s unapologetic black American dream
Black culture is the white world’s pimping playground—Iggy Azalea and co. playing appropriation, flaunting dollar signs and spitting phony reparations in tone-deaf ebonics. We sit there laughing, ’til we realize it’s all really sad. In his new album “To Pimp a Butterfly,” Kendrick Lamar hints at Harper Lee’s historically significant tale of racial injustice “To Kill a Mockingbird,” but his album is not concerned with white saviors. He uses piece storytelling to tackle issues such as depression, racism, colorism and economic inequality — all topics he and Tupac would have discussed if they could have conversed face-to-face. But while Lamar rattles off radical lyricism strung together with jazz, rap, spoken word and soul, he’s not catering to white comforters. He’s black and unapologetic about it.
“To Pimp a Butterfly” (which he released Tuesday, a week ahead of schedule) is Lamar’s follow-up to his 2012 “Good Kid Maad City,” which touched on the mental and emotional impact of living in the ‘hood as an African American youth. K.Dot’s tell-it-like-it-is blackness sets the stakes high for the rebirth of a renaissance movement: a paradigm shift back to raw black creativity. That’s truth that can’t be taken and pimped — if we’re woke, that is.
It starts with the album’s cover. The art addresses the masquerading of black culture, and what happens when the tables are turned — when black power is understood and not objectified. The black-and-white cover features a gathering of black men on the White House lawn, basking in schadenfreude while crushing a gavel-swinging judge. When Kendrick first released the album cover a little over a week ago he captioned it on Facebook: “Don’t all dogs go to heaven? Don’t Gangsta’s boogie? Do owl shit stank? Lions, Tigers & Bears. But TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY. Its the American dream nigga….- lil Homie.”
From
/Film:
Watch ‘The Leviathan’ Concept Trailer, Has Shades of ‘Moby Dick’ and ‘Dune’
Irish filmmaker Ruari Robinson, who made the short Blinky and was attached to one version of the live-action Akira remake, wants to make a large scale sci-fi film inspired in part by Moby Dick, and he’s created a proof of concept trailer to show off some of his ideas. The Leviathan would be a film in which hunters harvest the eggs of a mind-bogglingly huge animal in order to power interstellar travel. While the particulars of the film remain mysterious, if that idea sounds good you should immediately watch The Leviathan concept trailer.
All we have about the plot of the potential film is this:
By the early 22nd century mankind had colonized many worlds. Faster than light travel was made possible by harvesting exotic matter from the eggs of the largest species mankind has ever seen. Those that take part in the hunt are mostly involuntary labor.
From
The Atlantic:
The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous
The debate over the efficacy of 12-step programs has been quietly bubbling for decades among addiction specialists. But it has taken on new urgency with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which requires all insurers and state Medicaid programs to pay for alcohol- and substance-abuse treatment, extending coverage to 32 million Americans who did not previously have it and providing a higher level of coverage for an additional 30 million.
Nowhere in the field of medicine is treatment less grounded in modern science. A 2012 report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University compared the current state of addiction medicine to general medicine in the early 1900s, when quacks worked alongside graduates of leading medical schools. The American Medical Association estimates that out of nearly 1 million doctors in the United States, only 582 identify themselves as addiction specialists. (The Columbia report notes that there may be additional doctors who have a subspecialty in addiction.) Most treatment providers carry the credential of addiction counselor or substance-abuse counselor, for which many states require little more than a high-school diploma or a GED. Many counselors are in recovery themselves. The report stated: “The vast majority of people in need of addiction treatment do not receive anything that approximates evidence-based care.”
Alcoholics Anonymous was established in 1935, when knowledge of the brain was in its infancy. It offers a single path to recovery: lifelong abstinence from alcohol. The program instructs members to surrender their ego, accept that they are “powerless” over booze, make amends to those they’ve wronged, and pray.
Alcoholics Anonymous is famously difficult to study. By necessity, it keeps no records of who attends meetings; members come and go and are, of course, anonymous. No conclusive data exist on how well it works. In 2006, the Cochrane Collaboration, a health-care research group, reviewed studies going back to the 1960s and found that “no experimental studies unequivocally demonstrated the effectiveness of AA or [12-step] approaches for reducing alcohol dependence or problems.”
From
NPR:
How Malaria In The Brain Kills: Doctors Solve A Medical Mystery
Malaria is one of the oldest scourges of mankind. Yet it's been a mystery how the deadliest form of the disease kills children.
One doctor in Michigan has dedicated her life to figuring that out. Now she and her team report their findings in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The key to solving the mystery was looking inside the brain.
Most of the time malaria causes a bad fever and body aches. But in rare cases — often in children — the parasite gets stuck in the capillaries of the brain. The child has a seizure, goes into a coma and can die.
This all happens in only two or three days, says Dr. Terrie Taylor of Michigan State University. "These are bright, happy children who are suddenly felled by a disease that quickly renders them unconscious. And quickly kills them. It's a catastrophe."
From
Slate:
Six Months of Fraternity Behavior That Was “Inconsistent With [Embarrassed Institution’s] Values”
On Tuesday, Penn State called evidence that Kappa Delta Rho fraternity members had posted pictures of nude, unconscious women on Facebook “appalling, offensive and inconsistent with the university community’s values and expectations.” On the same day, a statement by the national Sigma Chi organization described the possibly criminal hazing activities for which its University of Houston chapter had been suspended as “inconsistent with our values.”
Both incidents were reminiscent of a statement made earlier this month by the University of Washington, which called racial slurs allegedly shouted at Black Lives Matter protesters by Sigma Alpha Epsilon members “completely inconsistent with the university’s values and expectations.”
The University of Washington’s statement was reminiscent of one voted on in February by the University of South Carolina board of trustees, which condemned hazing practices that had led to the suspension of four fraternities as “inconsistent with the Carolinian Creed and the values and campus community standards at the University of South Carolina.”
Observers may have noted that South Carolina’s statement was reminiscent of several declarations made in January, when Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s national organization issued a statement that described the alleged behavior of an Iowa State member accused of sexual assault as “inconsistent with our values” and a different statement that described that the alleged rape of a woman at a Loyola Marymount chapter’s party as “inconsistent with our values.”
From
Rolling Stone:
Rare, Candid Photos of the Beatles & Rolling Stones
Last month, 30 rare photographs of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones went up for sale on eBay. The shots came from the private collection of Bob Bonis, the tour manager for both bands from 1964 to 1966. Over the next two years, the Bonis Archive will be making more available to the public. Here, check out some of the best shots – relaxed, unposed behind-the-scenes photos of the rock icons working, playing and lounging by the pool.
From
Ars Technica:
Gaye family asks judge to ban all sales, performances of “Blurred Lines”
Late Tuesday afternoon, the family of Marvin Gaye asked a federal judge to block the sale and performance of “Blurred Lines,” the 2013 hit written by Pharrell Williams and co-performed by Robin Thicke. Last week, a Los Angeles jury awarded the Gaye family $7.4 million in damages and determined that Thicke and Williams had infringed on Gaye’s copyright for the 1977 hit “Got To Give It Up.”
The Gaye family’s lawyers asked for a permanent injunction, but said they weren’t looking to eradicate new sales of the song entirely. (Too bad, in a way, because some of us would be happy if that particular earworm died an inglorious radio death.) Rather, they wanted the injunction as a way to begin negotiations over royalties, the Los Angeles Times reported. Thicke and Williams’ lawyers contend that the judge should not grant the Gaye family the requested injunction because the companies that recorded and distribute the song were not found liable for infringement in the jury’s verdict from last week.
The jury also ruled that rapper T.I., who is featured on the “Blurred Lines” track, was not liable for copyright infringement. But Gaye’s family’s lawyers fired back a motion on Tuesday asking the judge to correct the ruling and hold T.I. and the record companies responsible, because even if they were not directly involved in the copying, they profited from an infringing track.
Without Gaye’s influence, the family argued with a dramatic flourish, “all Interscope would be distributing is a picture of Robin Thicke and a CD containing silence.”
From
People:
The 'Empire' Soundtrack Beat Out Madonna for the Top Spot on the Charts
For the first time since 1998, Madonna released an album that didn't debut at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Her usurper? The Empire soundtrack. (Fun fact: The Titanic soundtrack is what ousted her in 1998. Even the Queen of Pop can't beat a cultural juggernaut.)
Featuring Courtney Love, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Juicy J, Rita Ora and more, only Taylor Swift could have beat Fox's record-breaking series on the charts.
From
Reuters:
Liza Minnelli back in rehab for substance abuse
Singer and actress Liza Minnelli has returned to rehab for treatment of substance abuse, her spokesman said on Wednesday.
“Liza Minnelli has valiantly battled substance abuse over the years and whenever she has needed to seek treatment she has done so,” Scott Gorenstein said in a statement.
“She is currently making excellent progress at an undisclosed facility,” he added, while declining to provide further details.
From
The Hollywood Reporter:
Two and a Half Men's Jon Cryer once turned to Charlie Sheen for help hiring prostitutes
I was in a bad state right after my divorce, and I certainly didn't feel dateable. I was an emotional basket case. What good was I to any woman I might have interest in? I decided I might as well pay someone for company and certain intimate pleasures so that I could at least get my equilibrium back with the opposite sex. Charlie suggested a few online purveyors he used, as this was when prostitution was gaining a foothold on the Internet.
My forays into prostitution were about as awkward as you might imagine. I went with an out-call for my first try, which means they come over to your house. My chosen vendor drove a white BMW and sported a sexy Finnish accent. It was really a very friendly experience, maybe because the act of having sex is quite the conversational icebreaker. The next time, I went to her place, which probably wasn't really her place. We sat down, tried to make small talk and halfheartedly stumbled into a conversation about recent fluctuations in the stock market. Somehow I ended up spending 25 minutes of my hour helping her with financial planning.
If Charlie's example of his evening's entertainment was best exemplified by a snapshot of lady parts, mine would be a picture of me hunched over a table of papers and telling a hot lady, "The real estate boom is building, you need to diversify."
From
Variety:
‘Game of Thrones': See Scheming Sand Snakes, Tyrion and Jon Snow in Season 5 Sneak Peek
HBO has released two preview clips from “Game of Thrones” season five, along with a slew of new photos that include a first look at Oberyn Martell’s (Pedro Pascal) deadly daughters, The Sand Snakes, who are out for revenge after their father’s gruesome murder at the hands of The Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) last season. The images also feature Cersei Lannister’s (Lena Headey) daughter Myrcella Baratheon (Nell Tiger Free), who is currently in Dorne, where she is expected to marry Oberyn’s nephew, Prince Trystane Martell (Toby Sebastian) when she comes of age.
The first preview clip sees Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) discussing his unlikely escape from King’s Landing with Lord Varys (Conleth Hill), who freed him from the Red Keep because Tyrion’s brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) asked him to — but was that the only reason for Varys’ uncharacteristic altruism?
From
Billboard:
Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars Lead Hot 100; Sam Smith, Fetty Wap Hit Top 10
As we do each Wednesday, let's cover all the "up" and "down" action in the top 10 on the sales/airplay/streaming-based Hot 100.
"Funk!," released on RCA Records, becomes just the 19th No. 1 in Hot 100 history to lead for at least 11 weeks. It's just the second to reach that level this decade: Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," featuring T.I. and Pharrell, began a 12-week command in June 2013.
"Funk" logs an 11th week atop the Digital Songs chart with 189,000 downloads sold (down 10 percent) in the week ending March 15, according to Nielsen Music. It's now one of just three songs to lead Digital Songs for at least 11 weeks: Flo Rida's "Low," featuring T-Pain, racked a record 13 weeks on top in 2007-08, while Pharrell Williams' "Happy" dominated for 11 weeks last year.
From
Cosmo:
Whoa, the Miley Cyrus Cheating Drama Just Took a Crazy Turn
After all the recent drama surrounding rumors of Miley Cyrus's boyfriend Patrick Schwarzenegger possibly cheating on her, by now you probably think you've heard or read everything there is to know about the story. (He went to Cabo for Spring Break and hugged a non-Miley person, Miley posted weird memes on her Instagram, etc. etc.) But it seems there's more to the story than we knew.
It turns out, the girl in the photos with Patrick was actually seen with Miley at a University of Southern California football game last year. US Weekly reports they apparently hung out together while Miley was there supporting Patrick's school team. (You'll remember it as the first time Miley and Patrick were photographed publically kissing and you went "Awww, that's adorable OMG wait—Miley is dating the Terminator's son.")
The revelation lends credibility to Patrick's story about the woman in the photo being just a friend.