Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re in prison for murder, may I suggest getting yourself onto a podcast? It worked for Kaj Linna, a Swedish man just released from prison after a podcast got him a retrial.

Rejoice! The work week is over.

1. Trump plans to roll back Obama’s reforms on U.S.-Cuba relations. Say goodbye to any progress we made over the last eight years. More here.

2. The U.S. is sending 4,000 troops to Afghanistan, reminding us it’s not only Russia who sticks their nose where it doesn’t belong. This doesn’t sound like something the Trump administration can handle. More here.

3. Facebook plans to use artificial intelligence to fight “terrorist content”. It’s unclear what exactly they mean by this but we assume there will be an AI dedicated to scrubbing the site for Pepe memes. More here.

4. A Russian lobbyist has claimed he attended two separate dinners during the 2016 presidential election that were hosted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. I mean, we already knew Sessions was full of shit but this has got to be a smoking gun, right? More here.

5. Indigenous groups are calling on the U.N. to make cultural appropriation illegal. But, how will young, white, rich pop-stars and festival attendees look cool? More here.

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After the Department of Education and the Department of Justice rescinded Obama administration guidance regarding transgender students in February, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has received new guidance on how to deal with cases of discrimination against transgender students.

The instructions, issued to employees last week, say officials should rely on “Title IX and its implementing regulations … in evaluating complaints of sex discrimination against individuals whether or not the individual is transgender.”

The Los Angeles Times first reported that OCR employees were given new instructions about how to investigate transgender issues.

An employee familiar with the guidance ― which was obtained by HuffPost and can be read in full below ― says he interprets this to mean that officials should investigate issues of discrimination just as they would have before the Obama-era rules were implemented.

The Obama administration called on school districts to treat a student’s gender identity as their sex. After rescinding this guidance, Trump administration agencies sent a letter saying the issue should be decided at the local level.

Groups that advocate for LGBTQ students are meeting with Department of Education officials Friday morning for more clarification.

Read the full guidance below:

This is a developing story and will be updated.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Embattled “Bachelor in Paradise” contestant DeMario Jackson has found an unlikely supporter: the ex-girlfriend who exposed him as a liar on national TV.

Jackson faces allegations that he engaged in nonconsensual sexual acts with fellow contestant Corinne Olympios during filming of ABC’s “Bachelor” spinoff in Mexico. Both parties released conflicting statements this week about the evening in question, and now Jackson’s former flame, Lexi Thexton, is weighing in.

In a video statement released via TMZ, Thexton claims that Jackson wouldn’t take advantage of someone who’s unconscious, as some reports have described Olympios, despite labeling him a “30-year-old man-child and a “shitty guy.”

Thexton previously made a surprise appearance on the current season of “The Bachelorette,” where Jackson had been competing for affection of Rachel Lindsay. In a dramatic confrontation, Thexton revealed that she and Jackson had dated right before the show, prompting Lindsay to swiftly boot him from the competition.

“I was not at all shocked that he got wasted and got involved in some drama, but it doesn’t sound to me like he was predatory or like an aggressor,” Thexton said. “It sounds like the situation got messy.”

After a producer reportedly filed a complaint about the incident, production on the upcoming season of “Bachelor in Paradise” was temporarily shut down to allow for an official investigation. 

Olympios has since tapped top Hollywood attorney Marty Singer as her legal counsel and, in a statement released earlier this week, she told a story very different from Thexton’s, describing herself as a victim. 

“I have little memory of that night, something bad obviously took place, which I understand is why production on the show has now been suspended,” Olympios’ statement read. “As a woman, this is my worst nightmare and it has now become my reality.” 

Jackson maintains that the incident was consensual, and believes he’s now the victim of character assassination. 

Watch Thexton confront Jackson on “The Bachelorette” below. 

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

There’s been an increase in multiracial babies born in the U.S. in recent years, a new report states. 

New analysis from Pew Research indicates that the number of multiracial or multiethnic infants has tripled since 1980, making up 14 percent of infants born in 2015. The growth coincides with the rise of interracial marriages, which has more than doubled in that time as well.

Pew’s data shows that 42 percent of multiracial and multiethnic babies are born from one white parent and one hispanic parent, the most common mix. Babies from one Asian and one white parent make up 14 percent, with infants born from one black and one white parent making up 10 percent. 

Sharon Chang, author of “Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children In a Post-Racial World,” told HuffPost that data about mixed race children is significant as it highlights the diversity of experiences in the United States beyond just single-race background. 

“We have to notice the narrative,” she said. “Our stories have so much nuance and depth.”

When looking at populations across the country, states showed dramatically different demographics. Hawaii had a particularly high concentration of multiracial or multiethnic children, who made up 44 percent of the state’s infants in 2015. But in Vermont, the group only made up 4 percent of babies that year. 

Researchers say that the trend is consistent with the country’s increase in racial and ethnic diversity. The public’s opinion of multiracial or multiethnic children seems to reflects the group’s population increase with about 22 percent of American adults saying that more children with parents of different races was positive for society. About 11 percent said it’s negative. The majority of Americans, however, believe it doesn’t make much of a difference. 

Of course, the rise of multiracial or multiethnic babies won’t quickly result in the elimination of racial inequalities, Chang pointed out.

“The mere fact of birthing a multiracial child does not suddenly reconcile centuries of unreconciled racist history, immediately erase inequity and solve systemic oppression,” she explained.

Moreover, while researching for her book, the author found that parents of multiracial or multiethnic children could still retain their own biases, particularly if they are unwilling to engage in conversations surrounding race. So using those of multiracial or multiethnic backgrounds as absolute evidence for social progress can be dangerous, Chang believes. 

“Choosing to buy into the dominant post-racial narrative that ‘mixed race equals the end of race’ is a deflect from the real racial problems we continue to face.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.