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8 Things You Need To Know This AM — Nov 03 2015

Photo: Beretta/Sims/REX Shutterstock.
Adele’s “Hello” continues its reign, becoming the first song ever to sell a million downloads in a week. Glad to see a million of us aren’t over our exes like we initially thought. Adele might have taken three years off from releasing music, but clearly we were all waiting with bated breath and reserved tears for her return. The singer’s newest single, “Hello,” debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Adele’s first top slot debut. But that’s not all: your favorite ballad also set a download record after it sold over 1 million copies in its first week. Add that to the Vevo records that “Hello” smashed, and Adele is having one hell of an autumn. (Billboard)
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Rachel Dolezal admitted to The Real that she was “biologically born white,” but identifies as Black.

Former NAACP chapter president and Black woman, Rachel Dolezal, is back in the public eye, for admitting that she spent most of her life lying about her race. In a gutsy move, Dolezal appeared on the morning talk show The Real, which is hosted entirely by women of color, three of whom are Black. During her uncomfortable and utterly exciting interview, Dolezal finally told the audience what they’ve been waiting to hear: “I acknowledge that I was biologically born white to white parents,” she said, garnering a standing ovation from the audience. But the progress made was slim indeed, since Dolezal confessed that she still “identifies as Black.” (Refinery29)
The military spent $43 million on an Afghanistan gas station and can’t explain why. Don’t worry, Pentagon, we get it — going on Amazon when you’re drunk is incredibly dangerous.

A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction revealed that a now-disbanded military task force spent close to $43 million on a natural gas filing station, which should’ve cost “no more than $500,000 to construct.” Erected by the Task Force for Stability and Business Operations in Sheberghan, Afghanistan, the building of the station required $12 million for construction and $30 million for “overhead.” The report, sent to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, claims that the Department of Defense, “is unable to provide an explanation for the high cost of the project or to answer any other questions concerning its planning, implementation, or outcome.” (USA Today)
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An Oklahoma mayor’s husband and friends dressed up as KKK members, and carried burning torches, but it was all just “a Halloween prank gone bad.”

With great Halloween power comes great responsibility to not be racist monsters. A group of grown men from Oklahoma thought it was hilarious to dress up in white robes, like Ku Klux Klan members, and pretend to burn a cross. One of the men, who happens to be the husband of the town’s mayor, has apologized for the, "Halloween prank gone bad,” saying, “We just thought it’d be something to do, and it’s not something to do. I am embarrassed. I’ve shamed my family and friends, and I apologize for that.” Pretending to be a hate group that is responsible for terrorizing thousands of minorities: it’s not something to do. (Chicago Sun-Times)
An Ohio University fraternity was suspended for serenading a sorority house with a charming little ditty, asking women to “send nudes.” Ohio University’s chapter of the Acacia fraternity has been temporarily suspended after some members were filmed singing a gross sexist parody of "Hey Jude", outside of a sorority house. A staff member of Ohio University’s student paper tweeted out a clip of the frat boys gathered on Alpha Delta Pi’s front porch, singing, “Send nudes, don’t let me down/ Take my soft dick and make it harder.” A university spokeswoman claimed the incident is currently under investigation. (Mic)
A judge ordered Bill Cosby to give a new deposition in Janice Dickinson’s defamation lawsuit. (Refinery29)

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ordered both Bill Cosby and his former lawyer Marty Singer to deliver new depositions in Janice Dickinson’s pending defamation lawsuit. Dickinson filed her suit back in May, after Singer called her allegations of being sexually assaulted by Cosby “completely fabricated” and “an outrageous defamatory lie.” Cosby has been recently deposed in a different sexual assault case filed by Judy Huth, the details of which will be made public in December, unless Cosby’s legal team is successful in its attempts to keep the record sealed. (Refinery29)
The Republican presidential candidates sent letters with incredibly specific demands to all the television networks set to host future debates. Looks like VH1’s Divas Live is back, amirite?

The Republican presidential candidates have finally found something that they can all agree on (you know, other than the need to strip women of all reproductive health and autonomy): they don’t like how the televised debates have been operating. After representatives from most of the candidates met together in a Virginia hotel to discuss the terror of standing at a podium and being forced to answer questions, journalists obtained a drafted letter written by “GOP lawyer and dealmaker” Ben Ginsberg, stipulating demands for the upcoming debates. Requests include “quality and fairness of moderators’ questions,” no “lightening rounds,” and a pledge that “the temperature in the hall be kept below 67 degrees.” (The Hill)
Nearly 500 people were arrested at two separate electronic music festivals in Southern California.

According to local authorities, the jails in Pomona and San Bernardino, California were filled with almost 500 disappointed ravers this Halloween weekend. Arrests at the Day of the Dead Festival and the Escape: Psycho Circus Festival, both of which are two-day raves featuring performances by popular DJs like Skrillex and Benny Benassi, mostly took place around the security screening area, and involved possession of a controlled substance, public intoxication, or fake IDs. (Los Angeles Times)
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