Tuesday Scoop: Knocking Down Silent Sam
Welcome to the Morning Scoop for August 21, 2018. Could this fall be one of the biggest for college news ever? The semester got off to a fast start last night at UNC.
Of course, college news is what we do, and for as little as $2 a month, you can help fund the team that supports and trains our students. Way less than a latte, and way more important in the long run.
Protestors Pull Down Statue at UNC
Approximately 250 students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pulled down the controversial confederate statue known as “Silent Sam” last night. The act followed a protest in which the statue was covered with sheets.
CNN reports, “A video and pictures from a student shows the statue coming down as students chant ‘I believe that we will win.’”
Video posted to social media shows students putting up poles and banners around the statue in daylight, with the crowd tearing the statue down by nightfall. Silent Sam was erected in 1913 to remember “sons of the University” who died for the South during the Civil War, but became a polarizing symbol on the campus in recent years. A group of professors threatened to tear down the statue last semester.
Microsoft Says They Stopped new Russian Election Hacking Attempt
Microsoft announced last night that Russian hackers had tried to steal data from multiple political organizations in the US, but they had been stopped when its security staff took over domains that were being used to mimic websites.
In a statement, Microsoft wrote, “We’re concerned that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections.”
National Security Advisor John Bolton warned last week that North Korea, China and Iran could also employ tactics to spread confusion and misinformation ahead of the 2018 midterms. Should we just go ahead and get that investigation going now?
Today in a Tweet
Twitter is pretty sure Madonna’s VMA ‘tribute’ to Aretha Franklin was a dumpster fire...
Last But Not Least: What Happened at the VMAs
Yes, Madonna caused a stir at the 2018 Video Music Awards, which aired from New York last night, but Jennifer Lopez’s throwback performance as she received the Video Vanguard award got some attention, too.
Camila Cabello won two big awards at the show, Cardi B made her first pubic appearance since the birth of her child (but Offset wasn’t too happy), and of course, there was plenty of shade being thrown, and Nicki Minaj wasn’t far from the action.
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