The Short List: Twitter unconvinced #blacklivesmatter; Antarctic melting fast; Google for kids
Twitter is unconvinced #blacklivesmatter as protests over chokehold case heat up
A New York City grand jury cleared white New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the videotaped chokehold death of Eric Garner, 43, an unarmed black man. Garner's death was ruled a homicide. Many felt the ruling was an encore of the Michael Brown case last week, where a grand jury chose not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in Brown's death. Protesters took to the streets in New York and in cities across the country. The big difference between the Brown case and the Garner case is the Garner incident was caught on tape. In it, Garner, who had asthma, is heard shouting "I can't breathe" at least eight times as police take him to the ground in what appears to be a chokehold, which the police department prohibits. Shortly after news of the ruling broke, #blacklivesmatter started trending on Twitter. In the hour afterward, there were more than 13,000 tweets using the hashtag, according to Twitter analytics tool Topsy. See the reactions here.
Chunks of Antarctic ice the size of Mount Everest are melting away
You can file this one under "terrifying global warming news for the week." A new study found that chunks of Antarctic ice the size of Mount Everest are melting away every two years. Everest is the Earth's highest mountain, so yes, that's a lot of ice. Scientists at NASA and the University of California-Irvine say the melt rate of glaciers in West Antarctica has tripled during the past decade. Antarctica may seem like a world away, but this is big deal for all of us. The glaciers hemorrhaging ice will lead to sea-level rise, which means more flooding for everyone.
17 states are suing Obama on immigration
Obama said he was forced to take action on immigration because Congress couldn't get its act together. The GOP said Obama doesn't have the authority to rewrite immigration laws. So Texas and 16 other states filed a lawsuit today challenging Obama's order on immigration, which protects up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told a House committee earlier this week that the Obama administration has "the legal authority to push forward these reforms." Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott said Obama's executive action "tramples" on the Constitution.
'Mommy, you should tell Google about Thomas the Tank Engine'
Ready for your kiddo to have his or her own Gmail account? The invites aren't going out anytime soon, but Google is working to tailor its suite of products to the tween-and-under set. (Traditionally, kids younger than 13 have been off limits.) "Everyone is having kids, so there's a push to change our products to be fun and safe for children," Pavni Diwanji, the vice president of engineering charged with leading the new initiative, told Paste BN. Diwanji's daughter was surprised to find results for Amtrak when she searched "trains" and told her mommy that Google needed to learn about Thomas the Tank Engine. User experiences for a range of Google products are ripe for under-13 makeovers, Diwanji says. What also is being worked out are the ways in which parents will be able to oversee their child's interactions with Google's technologies, perhaps limiting usage to set time frames.
Alleged Army faker gets busted trying to snag Black Friday veterans discount
Things you can fake and get away with: A fever so you can skip school. A doctor's appointment so you can cut out of work early. A toupee. (Well, actually, people probably notice that one.) Things you really shouldn't: military service. A Black Friday shopper in Army camouflage and a Ranger tab caught the attention of combat vet Ryan Berk, who smelled a potential faker. "I heard him say he was Special Forces," Berk said. "Nothing added up with this dude." Berk felt he needed to do something, so he turned on the camera and called the suspected faker over — and started recording. The video went viral.
Extra Bites
Day in Pictures: Our favorite photo from today's gallery.
If you live in any of these cities, we're sorry.
College hoops player Lauren Hill, who is battling an inoperable brain tumor, is now receiving hospice care. Read more about the inspiring athlete here.
Today Show's Dr. Nancy Snyderman explains why she sneaked out on her self-imposed Ebola quarantine.
Will the new lawsuit force Bill Cosby to address the accusations? Maybe.
Here's the latest on that guy who was going to be eaten by an anaconda on live TV.
The caper of 100 missing brains in Texas is worth a read.
Today in Christmas:
Add YOXMAS on the YO app for a daily Christmas treat, as excitement builds leading up to Dec. 25. http://justyo.co/YOXMAS
Don't have time to read the whole Short List? You can listen to the audio below.
This is a compilation of stories from across Paste BN.
Contributing: Melanie Eversley, Catalina Camia, Marco della Cava, John Bacon, Doyle Rice, Ryan Carey-Mahoney, Paste BN; Kyle Jahner, Army Times