Politics

LONDON — Britain’s phone hacking scandal truly is the gift that keeps on giving. On Sunday, news broke from the Cannes Film Festival that “Rebekah Brooks: The Movie” will be coming soon to a theater near you.

Most people know Rebekah Brooks as Rupert Murdoch’s erstwhile girl Friday in the British arm of his media empire, News Corp. Until July of last year, she served as chief executive at the London-based News International, before abruptly resigning over her alleged role in the phone-hacking scandal.

Should American citizens who have been convicted of crimes and served their time have their right to vote restored?

The question is a political issue, part of a voting-rights debate that is being fought in the states and among political candidates. To ex-felons, it
From left: 2 Chainz, Kanye West, Rosci and Terrence J in New York City in April. Rapper 2 Chainz has his voting rights after a conviction on drug possession when he was 15. (Craig Barritt - GETTY IMAGES) can be a personal challenge, as well: Will their votes matter, and why should they care?

The rapper 2 Chainz, made the case for the vote at a pre-show stop at the Urban League of Central Carolinas in Charlotte on Saturday. He told his story for 40 young people, a few with criminal records. The 35-year-old Atlanta-based performer said he was first arrested at age 15 for cocaine possession. When it came to voting, he thought he was “counted out” and didn’t know he was eligible until he picked up a brochure at a registration drive at an Atlanta mall. Along with 10 friends, he recruited from his recording studio, “I walked around with a sticker the whole day” they voted.

Cher is a household name. Grover Norquist is not.

Cher, the singer, actress, activist and gay icon, never holds back. She has often come under fire for her outspokenness, and her boldness is no different on Twitter, where she has more than 600,000 followers.

(LENNOX MCLENDON - AP)

Norquist is the conservative founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform. Political junkies and politicos know him, but the random man or woman on the street probably don't. It’s almost a guarantee they would know Cher.

Cher and Norquist are in a Twitter tete-a-tete. Cher often mixes politics into her tweets, and that doesn’t sit so well with Norquist.

On May 3, Cher tweeted: “Whats the difference between Mitt Romney & a Jellyfish??? NOTHING ! Whats the difference between Grover Norquist & the Devil ?? SAME THING !”

Norquist, who only has 22,000 followers, responded Friday night: “Hi Cher. get some sleep.”

Or maybe they just never gave up on it.

Arizona — where a top election official has said President Obama might not make the ballot because of questions about his birth certificate — is one place where it is enjoying a resurgence.

And then there is the latest version of Obama birthology, with a new twist: Okay, maybe he wasn’t born in Africa, but he tried to pretend he was.

Here’s where it comes from: A few days back, Breitbart.com came across a 1991 short bio of Obama published by his then-literary agency, which described him as “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.” It was included in a booklet that contained descriptions of 90 agency clients and was distributed only within the publishing industry, according to Breitbart.

President Obama walks from the White House Fridayto board Marine One for the trip to Camp David for the G-8 summit. (Carolyn Kaster - AP) This has set off a frenzy in the conservative blogosphere, with the Drudge Report describing it as “Obama Lit Agent Shocker.” Speculation as to why he would be described that way ranges from declarations that this is proof that he was indeed born in Kenya to the supposition that he was seeking some kind of professional advantage by suggesting in a narrowly circulated pamphlet that he was.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Mecklenburg County commissioner Bill James survived his own primary race on May 8. But it was the marquee fight over Amendment One that topped his agenda the following day.

Pastor Richard Stidham, center left, embraces his daughter Nicole Stidham as they hear the news that Amendment One has passed during an election party in Raleigh, N.C. Tuesday May 8, 2012. (Robert Willett - AP)

It was predicted that the change to the state constitution, with its broad language proclaiming “marriage between one man and one woman … the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized,” would cause confusion. Did it cover civil unions and relationships between unmarried heterosexual couples, and would it affect domestic partnership benefits already adopted in Chapel Hill, Durham and other municipalities across the state?

After voters approved Amendment One, by 61 to 39 percent -- though without the support of Mecklenburg County, which includes the state’s largest city of Charlotte -- James, a Republican, sent an e-mail to the county attorney and county manager asking for clarification and action: