Checkered Lounge Pants

Hip-hop’s elder statesman dished on his new HBO show, continued evolution, and a life-changing moment with Willie Nelson over KFC during his SXSW Music keynote. Nearly a quarter century after the heyday of West Coast hip-hop, several of the movement’s key players remain fixtures in the entertainment industry. Ice-T has ironically been a cast member on  Law and Order: SVU  since 2000; Dr. Dre is worth nearly a billion dollars thanks to Beats By Dre; and mean-mugging Ice Cube has appeared in more big-screen comedies than most of us are able to keep up with. They’ve all gone on to achieve incredible extra-musical success, but no one has evolved into such an omnipresent cultural icon as  Snoop Dogg . While it’s easy to mock images of Dre shaking hands with Apple executives or Cube comically overacting in a Coors Light commercial, in 2015 Snoop’s cool is unimpeachable, and the beloved former gangbanger from the L.B.C. is all but beyond reproach in the court of public opinion. Wherever

Six   Western   economies   apply   to   join   AIIB ( China Daily )    10:30, March 21, 2015 Email | Print 1 China ' s   Finance   Minister   Lou   Jiwei  ( C )  signs   a   document ,  with   the   guests   of   the   signing ceremony   of   the   Asian   Infrastructure   Investment   Bank   at   the   Great   Hall   of   the   People   in Beijing   October  24, 2014. [ Photo  /  Agencies ] Six   Western   countries   have   applied   to   become   founding   members   of   the   China-led   Asian Infrastructure   Investment   Bank ,  the   Ministry   of   Finance   confirmed   on   Friday . Britain ,  Germany ,  France ,  Italy ,  Luxembourg   and   Switzerland   have   officially   sought founder   membership   of   the   bank ,  the   ministry   said . The   bank ,  which   already   has  27  such   members ,  will   be   established   formally   by   the   end   of the   year ,  Finance   Minister   Lou   Jiwei   said   on   Friday . The   United  

 How the right foreignized the first black president — again From Walker and Giuliani to Netanyahu, here's how GOP efforts to undermine the president’s Americanness persist MARTIN A. PARLETT Benjamin Netanyahu, Scott Walker, Rudy Giuliani  (Credit: AP/Cliff Owen/Reuters/Yuri Gripas/Richard Drew) If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting a different result, then Republicanism of late might be less politics, and more pathology. Some six years in office, two presidential elections, countless impeachment attempts, litigated birth certificates, and a heavy dose of Donald Trump paranoia later, and here we go again: the racial “othering” of Obama as a president  non grata  is making a clear comeback in the American (and international) zeitgeist. Not that it ever really went away. For its initial ugly encore, there was, of course, Rudy Giuliani and Scott Walker. A curiously desperate double act – it must be said – of dog-whist

Privacy Commissioner slams anti-terror legislation Bill C-51 BY  KARL NERENBERG  |  MARCH 6, 2015 e on facebook Share on twitter Share on email More Sharing Services 99 Canada's Privacy Commissioner, Daniel Therrien, has issued a devastating critique of the Conservative government's anti-terror legislation, Bill C-51.  At the time the Conservatives unveiled Bill C-51, cabinet ministers told Parliament that the government had "consulted" the Privacy Commissioner.  They did not say what the Commissioner's view of the legislation was, but gave the impression he was onside. Now, we learn that the Conservative ministers were being disingenuous. In a letter to Conservative MP Daryl Kramp, the Chair of the House Public Safety and National Security Committee, Commissioner Therrien says: "The scale of information sharing being proposed is unprecedented, the scope of the new powers conferred by the Act is excessive, particul

Liberia Discharges Last Ebola Patient James Giahyue/Reuters Liberia’s last-known Ebola patient was discharged from a hospital Thursday. The release of Betrice Yardolo, who tested negative for the virus this week, brings the number of Ebola cases down to zero. Yardolo lost two sons and a daughter to Ebola, some of the thousands of victims in West Africa. Although Liberia celebrated Yardolo’s release, officials were still issuing warnings, and the country is still weeks away from being declared Ebola-free. “We are still cautioning people. We told them they must still protect their villages, their towns,” said Tolbert Nyenswah, the Liberian deputy health minister who oversaw the Ebola response. “But, it’s exciting, man.”

Shortchanging New Jersey by Billions Chris Christie’s Exxon Settlement is Bad for New Jersey By  BRADLEY M. CAMPBELL MARCH 4, 2015 Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Share This Page Email Share Tweet Save More Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story This story is included with an NYT Opinion subscription. Learn more » THE decision by the administration of Gov. Chris Christie  to settle an environmental lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corporation for roughly three cents on the dollar after more than a decade of litigation is an embarrassment to law enforcement and good government. Even more troubling are the circumstances surrounding the decision, which recently came to light. As a judge deliberated whether to assess the $8.9 billion in damages New Jersey sought, the administration stepped in and agreed to take about $250 million and settle the case. Former co