I know I'm a day late with this one, but I had to absorb it all before I spoke on it.
From the AJC:
Rapper T.I. stepped in to help police negotiators trying to talk a man out of jumping to his death from a 22-story Midtown building Wednesday afternoon. ...
The rapper told WSB Radio he was on the way to shoot a video when he heard about the man threatening to end his life. He drove to the scene and told a police officer he wanted to help. Another officer taped a quick video message which was then sent to the man on the roof, T.I. told the radio station.
And just like that, this anonymous dude no longer wanted to Shoulder Lean his ass off of One Atlantic Center.
I call bullshit on this one. More after the stretch.
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OK, I believe in coincidence, but a coincidence of this proportion is a lil' too coincidental.
You mean to tell me that a jumper just randomly chose One Atlantic Center — the building that houses local radio station V-103 — to jump off of? You mean to tell me that T.I. just happened to be listening to the station and was in the area? You mean to tell me that he rolled up to the scene and just happened to be allowed to intervene in a police negotiation? You mean to tell me that this suicidal man just happened to have a change of heart at T.I.'s behest? And all this just happened to happen two days before T.I.'s court date?
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but wouldn't it be really easy for Tip's lawyers to stand before the judge and play the "this guy is REALLY needed" card again in attempts to get his impending sentence reduced? My far-fetched theory is that the "jumper" was planted and that the whole "suicide attempt" was orchestrated to make The Rubberband Man look like an actual superhero.
And don't think I'm sayin' this because I've got a problem with Tip 'cause I don't. I think his probation violation was really fuckin' stupid, but we all do dumb shit sometimes so I get that. I'm sayin' this because if it smells like bullshit, walks like bullshit and claims to jump off a building like bullshit, it probably is bullshit.
I really hope I'm wrong.
**UPDATE**
Guess I wasn't the only one whose eyebrow was raised by T.I.'s apparent heroism earlier this week. CNN interviewed Kang Cliff and had him address, among other things (i.e. his court appearance today), his part in the rescue and whether or not it was a stunt designed to gain some positive press before his court appearance. You can probably guess his response.
**UPDATE #2**
Verdict's in. Back to the bing Tip goes. Eleven months. Obviously, the hero card didn't play too well. Here's his lawyer:
Damn, Tip. SMH.
Supplier: AJC
When I hear about someone hitting one of these big, multi-million dollar lotto jackpots, more often than not I get a mental picture of what the lucky bastard looks like: rural, possibly toothless hick-type from the middle of nowhere wearing cowboy boots or rubber fishing waders and drinking moonshine from a Mason jar. Oh, and I ALWAYS envision them being White.
And I'm usually right.
Not this time, though. Garina Fearson, a 34-year-old corrections officer from BK, is the country's latest multimillionaire after hitting last week's $54 million Mega Millions jackpot.
From the NY Post:
"Fearon said she bought the wrong ticket at a Sutter Avenue bodega, where she went to play Powerball, not Mega Millions.
"I only play every six months or so," said Fearon, who has a 16-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter.
She held on to the ticket all weekend, and didn't think about it until Monday, when she asked a co-worker for a newspaper. She scribbled the winning numbers on the back of an inmate pass as her shift ended.
As she waited for the bus, she made the amazing discovery.
"I was about to fold up the lottery ticket," Fearon said. "Then I saw the numbers, and I started running from one part of the parking lot to the other screaming."
Fearon will take the lump sum cash option, which will pay about $30 mil before taxes.
She says that other than buy a home for her ailing mother in Jamaica, she doesn't really know what she'll do with the money — but she does NOT plan on quitting her job.
Shit, I wouldn't be surprised if she took on eight or nine more jobs. Even with millions of dollars, one job is not nearly enough. Hey mon!
She's better than me, 'cause quitting my job is the FIRST thing I would do. The second thing I'd do is buy a platinum-and-diamond grill and get a replica of the Sistine Chapel tattooed on my back. Then I'd start a record label ("Squeezebox Entertainment") and make accordion-based Hip-Hop. I'd call myself "Polka Flocka Flames" or "Polkaveli."
All jokes aside, congrats to Garina. She's been through some shit in her life and can finally live it up.
Read the whole story here.
Supplier: NY Post
ATLANTA (AP) — Two men have filed a lawsuit accusing Bishop Eddie Long of exploiting his role as pastor of an Atlanta-area megachurch to coerce them into sexual relationships when they were young members of his congregation.
Lawyers for the men, now 20 and 21, say they filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in DeKalb County Court. ...
Craig Gillen, Long's attorney, said Tuesday the pastor "categorically denies the allegations." ...
The men were 17- and 18-year-old members of Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, when they say Long abused his spiritual authority to seduce them with with cars, money, clothes, jewelry, international trips and access to celebrities. ...
"Defendant Long has utilized his spiritual authority to coerce certain young male members ... into engaging in sexual acts and relationships for his own personal sexual grafitication," the lawsuits read.
That shit is nasty. As fuck. This goes to show you that the pastor — yes, even YOUR pastor — is just a man. Stop treatin' that nigga like HE's the one being worshipped. That's all I'm gon' say about that.
Anyway, check out the "Pause" episode of The Boondocks after the stretch. This Eddie Long situation kinda reminds me of it.
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Supplier: USA Today
This is crazy.
From Fanhouse:
All summer, Garrett had worked to improve his passing accuracy, for moments just like these, rivalry games in East Texas.
Against arch-rival Jasper, the work paid off. Garrett dropped back to pass and in the words of his head coach Dan Hooks, a 72-year-old East Texas coaching legend with over 250 career wins, "just threw a perfect post-corner route for a touchdown. It was a beautiful pass."
The crowd of 6,500 exulted. Garrett's second touchdown pass of the game, midway through the second quarter, put his team up 21-0. Hooks remembers locking eyes with his quarterback as Garrett ran off the field. "He was smiling, the biggest smile you'd ever seen, just happy at what he'd done," Hooks told FanHouse on Saturday
As Coach Hooks, a 48-year coaching veteran who has been head coach at West Orange-Stark for the past 30 years, turned to ensure that his special teams were ready to attempt the extra point, Garrett collapsed on the sideline.
"It happened so quick none of us knew what to think," Hooks said. ...
Paramedics rushed to the senior quarterback's aid and at first everyone on the sideline assumed all would be fine.
"It's hard to believe," a shaken Hooks said the next morning. "We've had injuries before, but nothing like this."
Garrett was placed in an ambulance and rushed to the local hospital as the game continued. By the fourth quarter rumors began to circulate throughout the stadium and filter to the sidelines. Reggie Garrett, the quarterback whose final pass was a touchdown, had died at the hospital.
"None of us could believe it," Hooks said, "none of us."
He was only 17. They don't know what happened to the kid. Very sad story. This happened on Friday, the 17th of this month, just a few days ago.
R.I.P.
Suppliers: Fanhouse & Beaumont Enterprise
From WTSP:
Temple Terrace, Florida - In the middle of a normally quiet neighborhood, police say 31-year-old George Thomas put two women through nearly a full week of terror.
According to an arrest report, Thomas kidnapped, raped and filmed two women, one of them only 16 years old, at his house on Rain Forest Street in Temple Terrace.
Temple Terrace police say Thomas brought the first woman to his house last Saturday, forced her to have sex with him three times and threatened to kill her if she left.
Then, police say, the first victim got ahold of a friend through Facebook, and told her to come to the house and rescue her.
But, according to the arrest report, when she showed up, Thomas came out with a gun and forced her inside as well.
That's when he's accused of making the two women have sex in the living room, while he recorded it with his cell phone and a webcam. ...
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Thomas has been arrested nearly two dozen times since 1997, on everything from DUI and drug possession to stalking. ...
Some who live nearby tell 10 News he's known around the area for his strange behavior.
"Nickname is 'George the perv,'" [neighbor Alan] Winton said.
Thomas is being held in jail without bond, facing six felony charges.
With that rap sheet, I don't know why this dude wasn't already locked up. He's also listed as a member of a Folk Nation gang — which was odd to me, 'cause I thought the Folk Nation was only a Chicago and Milwaukee thing. Turns out I was wrong about that.
Video report from WTSP after the stretch.
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Suppliers: WTSP & TampaBay.com
Independent film house Big Noise Films is set to premiere their latest project, entitled "Justice On Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal," on September 21 in Philadelphia. The film is a documentary piece examining the life and trial of the former Black Panther.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is the most recognized death row inmate in the world today. In 1982, he was was tried and convicted for the murder of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Since then, the Abu-Jamal trial proceedings have come under scrutiny and today his case is one of the most contested legal cases in modern American history. A former Black Panther and now renowned author, his books and writings in venues as diverse as the Yale Law Review, Forbes, Nation and street-papers for the homeless, have led many to hail him “the voice of the voiceless.”
Justice on Trial navigates the tempest of the Abu-Jamal trial by reviewing the known facts of the case. It demonstrates that the major violations in the Abu-Jamal case — judicial bias, prosecutorial misconduct, racial discrimination in jury selection, police corruption and tampering with evidence to obtain a conviction — are not special to this case. Instead, they are commonly practiced within the criminal justice system and account for the disproportionate incarceration of African Americans and Latinos in the United States. The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal is a microcosm of greater problems in the criminal justice system in the United States today. The attention that its many violations have received make the Abu-Jamal case one of the most important civil rights cases of our time.
In a related story, Tigre Hill, another indie filmmaker, is releasing his own film about the Daniel Faulkner murder and Mumia's trial on the same day. Hill's film, entitled "Barrel of A Gun," is obviously the counterpoint to "Justice On Trial," focusing not on the alleged conspiracy to frame Mumia but instead on uncovering "'rare new insight' concerning what [Hill] boldly asserts was the premeditated killing of Faulkner," according to a brief write-up on the Official Daniel Faulkner Website.
Watch the official trailers for both films after the stretch and judge for yourself.
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While I certainly feel for the Faulkner family and understand their desire to want someone to hold responsible for Daniel's murder, I just don't think Mumia is the right one. There are just too many inconsistencies in his case and there was entirely too much governmental fuckery goin' on at the time. As Hill allegedly asserts, Daniel Faulkner's killing certainly seems to have been premeditated — the question is, by whom?
If you're not familiar with Mumia, his case or the government's counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO), do the knowledge. You can start here.
Suppliers: EUR Web, Big Noise Films & DanielFaulkner.com
Soopaman, the return of Rare Air, Hancock, Ugly Sweaters and Gilbert Hall.
Details after the stretch.
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This one is deep. Watch:
From the Orlando Sentinel:
Seminole County sheriff's deputies on Thursday [Sept. 16] arrested [James] Jones on charges of disorderly conduct and disturbing a school function stemming from the incident [above].
Jones, 42, bailed out of the Seminole County Jail later that day after paying a $2,000 bond. A judge ordered that he cannot contact the bus driver and must stay 100 feet away from all Seminole County school buses.
Deputies said that on the morning of Sept. 3, Jones boarded the school bus headed to Greenwood Lakes Middle School at W. Airport Boulevard and Bungalow Avenue in Sanford [FL] because several boys on the bus were allegedly bullying his daughter.
"He believed in his mind, he had to take action against the children on the school bus before they hurt his little girl," according to the arrest report.
Jones told deputies the boys had placed an open condom on his daughter's head, smacked her on the back of the head, twisted her ear and shouted rude comments at her, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office report shows.
Video surveillance taken inside the school bus shows Jones' daughter pointing at the students accused of harassing her. Jones walks up the aisle to the student's seat, points at him and threatens to kill him and others who bully his daughter.
Some of the children on the school bus watch quietly as Jones yells profanities and gestures wildly, while others giggle at the man's reactions.
Jones is then seen walking toward the bus driver and threatening to kill him as well before he steps off the bus.
He told deputies he has complained to school administrators in the past, but nothing had been done about the alleged attacks on his daughter.
Now his daughter is afraid to ride the bus to school, Jones said.
What would you have done in this situation? My thoughts after the stretch.
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For the record, I am NOT a parent; I do, though, have a niece and a nephew of middle school age — 11 and 12 years old, respectively — that I love as if they were my own children, so I understand the protective nature of a father.
If this were my niece being tormented, I can't honestly say that I would not at least be compelled to do the same thing Jones did.
When I think of how Jones probably found out about this latest round of bullying his baby girl was being subjected to, I can't help but envision a man watching and listening to his beloved, cerebral palsy-inflicted daughter cry her eyes out because of the way some of her classmates have been treating her on the schoolbus. A man whose rage grows more and more as his little girl details for him the cruel way the other kids have been treating her; listening intently as she describes how they throw things at her, put open condoms on her, slap her in the head, twist her ears and call her names. A man who finds out that the children making his precious daughter's life a living hell are boys. A man who has probably already heard some of these stories and who claims to have already reported them to school officials, who apparently ignored them. A man who now has to send his sick little girl back to school on that same bus with those same little boys who probably plan on doing more of the same mean-spirited things to his baby. A man who thinks the bus driver, a grown man, should have done something to defend her. Basically, a man at the end of his rope.
This man was gonna put a stop to this bullshit by any means necessary — ANY means necessary, even if it meant personally threatening the lives of the children involved. Since the school wouldn't do anything, Jones surely felt it was duty as a father to do something to protect his helpless child. Since he couldn't go to school with her and act as her personal bodyguard, he felt his next best course of action was to strike the fear of God into her tormentors.
This I fully understand. The man was worried about his child and took it upon himself to protect her. I don't know a man who wouldn't do that.
On the flip side, I also think about the parents of the children on the receiving end of James' threats, in this case represented by the mother interviewed for this story who, understandably, says she's "pissed" at what happened on her son Alonzo's bus ride.
If my nephew were to come home saying that some crazy man had stormed onto his bus and threatened to kill him and everybody on it, I'd be pissed, too. I can imagine a parent's initial reaction being something like, "Who the fuck does this man think he is talking to my child like that?" Regardless of what they've done, you don't want anybody coming at your children that way.
But I would also take issue with my child — probably after making several phone calls in attempts to find out who/where this crazy man is so I could begin planning ways to have him fuckin' killed — and would want to know why someone would even be directing such threats towards him in the first place. "Did you do something to this man?" I would ask. After finding out what my child allegedly did to some poor disabled girl on his schoolbus, please believe that lil' nigga's ass would be so sore after I whooped it that he wouldn't be able to use it for about a month. Alonzo looked all sweet and innocent in the news story above, but we all know that kids often act differently in front of Mama than they do when around their friends. (I'm not accusing the kid of anything, I'm just sayin'...) Don't let the babyface fool ya.
(Remember Kenard from The Wire? That boy looked totally innocent until he opened his mouth and nothin' but filth fell out. Of course, that's only a TV show; but if you think that there aren't kids who really talk and act that way, you're playin' yourself. But I digress.)
Still, the fact of the matter is that you can't just jump on a schoolbus and threaten to "fuck up" the bus driver "and everybody on this muthafucka." While I understand and applaud his motives for doing so — along with the things already mentioned, children could DIE as a result of bullying, as evidenced by numerous school shootings and the numerous kids who've committed suicide because of bullies — Mr. Jones should probably expect some serious legal backlash for his momentary, passion-fueled lapse in judgment (at least as serious as "disorderly conduct" and "disturbing a school function" charges can get). I just hope the courts sympathize with the man, as he was certainly under extreme stress and is clearly remorseful.
Again I ask, what would you have done? How would you handle such a situation?
Supplier: Orlando Sentinel
CHICAGO - An Elmhurst grandmother charged with attempted murder in the stabbing of her infant grandson told police she believed the child was the antichrist, prosecutors said at her bond hearing this morning.
Bond was set at $2 million for Sandra Clanton, 39. She has been confined to a hospital mental health ward over the last several days after trying to harm herself.
Assistant State's Attorney Michael Fisher told DuPage County Judge Liam Brennan Clanton was in her kitchen Saturday with her boyfriend, the child's mother and the 9-month-old infant "when she went into a rage."
"She picked up the baby, slammed its head into the sink and took a large butcher knife and began slicing the child under an eye in a sawing motion," Fisher said.
The infant's mother grabbed the child and ran to the police station while the boyfriend wrestled Clanton to the floor, he said.
Clanton told police at the Elmhurst station that the "baby was the antichrist." ...
Fisher said the child suffered a "substantial wound" under his eye and bruising to his head, but a scan showed no other serious damage.
Yikes. Poor kid. Thank God somebody was there to save him.
Supplier: Chicago Breaking News Center
Yesterday, on a show called "Money Rocks," former U.S. Senator Al D'Amato unloaded on Republican Strategist Jack Burkman for what he considered to be racist comments about African post office employees, calling him a "nasty racist" after sitting through what he called Burkman's "racist bullshit." The conversation the panel is having is actually very boring, so jump straight to the 5:00 mark to see the shit hit the fan.
The old dude checked the shit out of Burkman's ass, didn't he? It's not often that you get to hear White dudes cussin' each other out on TV. I thought that shit was hilarious.
Supplier: HuffPo
(CNN) -- An Ohio mother has been accused of teaching her 2-year-old daughter to smoke marijuana after prosecutors said she e-mailed to friends a video of the child puffing on a joint.
Jessica Gamble is charged with child endangerment, evidence tampering and "corrupting another with drugs," according to an indictment returned by a grand jury in Cincinnati. The 21-year-old mother could face up to 11 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
They need to lock this woman up — and the parents of the Indonesian baby who smoked 40 cigarettes a day — IMMEDIATELY.
Watch the news report from HLN after the stretch.
STRETCH...
Supplier: CNN
Meet Rickey Hendon, an Illinois State Senator who recently announced his intention to run for mayor of Chicago after longtime mayor Richard Daley's term ends. That sounds good, but his comparing himself to former Alaska governor, VP candidate and world-class dumbass Sarah Palin certainly does not.
Obviously, the Palin comparison was referring simply to the grassroots means by which he plans to campaign and win the upcoming election, but I'd have to think that, despite its innocence, such a comparison is basically campaign suicide. Bad move, my brotha.
Supplier: MyFOX Chicago
Perhaps you've heard the story of Bethany Storro, the 28-year-old woman who claimed to have been attacked by an unknown Black woman wielding a cup of acid. This chick had the whole world feeling for her — until she admitted that she made the whole thing up and had actually burned herself with the acid.
VANCOUVER, Wash. (Associated Press) - A woman who gained sympathy worldwide after she claimed a random assailant threw acid on her face came forward Thursday with a startling admission: She inflicted the attack on herself.
Vancouver police chief Clifford Cook said Bethany Storro admitted under police questioning to fabricating a story about the attack, in which she suffered severe burns. ...
"During the interview, Ms. Storro admitted the injuries were self-inflicted," Cook said.
Police had been seeking a black woman with a ponytail after Storro described the Aug. 30 attack. She had said the woman asked her, "Hey, pretty girl, want something to drink?" then threw acid in her face. ...
A burn surgeon who operated on Storro said the substance thrown on her face was an acid as strong as hydrochloric or sulfuric acid.
What a crazy thing to do. Maybe this chick has Munchausen Syndrome.
Whatever the case, she's definitely an asshole for this one.
Check out some pictures of Storro's self-inflicted wounds and the non-existent Black woman she blamed for them after the stretch.
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"My heart stopped. I almost passed out. Once it hit me, I could actually hear it bubbling and sizzling on my skin," Storro told reporters.
Suppliers: HuffPo & AOL News
So now you can get a tatt that can only be seen under a blacklight. Uhhhh... ok.
Of course Lil' Wayne has a few. Considering that just about all of his flesh is already covered in the traditional, you-can-see-em-in-any-light tattoos, ink that can only be seen in the dark is the natural next step.
Apparently, Ultraviolet (UV) tattoos are the latest trend in the tattoo world, but make sure you do some research before you go get one, as the jury's still out on how safe these things are.
I've done a lil' of the research for you. You can thank me later (No Jimmy Brooks).
Check it out after the stretch.
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From TattooHealth.org:
Are UV Tattoos safe?
Safety concerns about UV tattoos remain. The chemicals that compose UV ink are not considered 100% safe due to the number of reported skin irritations. Numerous skin rashes, blisters and infections have been reported with UV ink. In addition, there is some concern that these inks may contribute to cancer.
Do all tattoo artists use UV Inks?
The concern for the health of consumers and questions related to UV ink safety lead many tattoo artists to avoid UV ink. Since there is little or no FDA regulation of tattoo inks in general however, some tattoo artists make their own tattoo inks, including UV. With more awareness and newer formulations, UV ink tattoos are making a small resurgence after an initial decline associated with health risks. Researching UV ink is a great way to learn more about potential risks.
Have any health risks been reported with UV Ink?
The health risks associated with UV ink have been linked to the presence of phosphorous. This chemical is known to cause severe blistering, pain, burning sensations and even skin rashes. Many reports of skin problems have been reported to federal agencies.
Is UV Ink approved by the FDA?
Even though advertisements may suggest that UV ink is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it is not approved for human use. UV ink is currently only approved for use in agriculture and fishing industries. There are no reliable safety studies which explore the effects of human UV ink use.
Numerous rashes, may contribute to cancer AND not approved for human use? I don't know about you, but I'm goin' with the big FUCK no on the UV tatts.
Video Heads Up: Double R
I just read a pretty stupid story about criminal fashion in New York.
From the NY Times:
Gym-locker heists, bank robberies, daylight holdups — these New York City crimes have only one thing in common, and it is not the culprits.
It is the Yankees caps they wore. ...
Yankees caps and clothing have dominated the crime blotter for so long, in so many parts of the city and in so many types of offenses, that it defies an easy explanation. Criminologists, sports marketing analysts, consumer psychologists and Yankees fans have developed their own theories, with some attributing the trend to the popularity of the caps among gangsta rappers and others wondering whether criminals are identifying with the team’s aura of money, power and success. ...
One criminologist said the trend might be a result of what could be called the Jay-Z effect.
The rapper Jay-Z has worn a Yankees cap for years — on his album covers and in his videos — and has helped turn the cap into a ubiquitous fashion accessory for urban youths (“I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can,” he boasts in one song).
Criminals might be wearing Yankees merchandise not because they are fans of the team, but because they are fans of the cocked-hat look popularized by Jay-Z and other rappers, said the criminologist, Frankie Y. Bailey, an associate professor at the University at Albany, who is writing a book about the role of clothing and style in criminal cases.
“He wears it and makes it look cool,” Ms. Bailey said of Jay-Z and the cap. “It’s almost like the Yankees have acquired a kind of street rep, a coolness.”
Are they trying to attribute the crimes committed in Yankee caps to Hip-Hop? This, of course, is only one of the theories offered in the story, but it is easily the most absurd.
My thoughts after the stretch.
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It's so absurd because Yankee paraphernalia is probably more popular in America than that of any other sports team in the world. Considering that notion, I'm sure that if you took a poll or did a study on the sportswear worn by people doing ANY-damn-thing — going to the grocery store, gardening, changing diapers, filing their taxes, etc. — there's a strong chance that Yankee apparel would be the most prevalent. So by throwing Jay-Z's name and "gangsta rappers" in the mix, all they seem to be trying to do is further criminalize Hip-Hop and its fans.
But hey, maybe I'm being too serious here. Basically, my feelings about this entire issue can be summed up with one image:
'Nuff said.
It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you — but, unfortunately I did.
And since I've been gone, a lotta stuff has happened that I would've shared on this site but ended up sharing only on my Facebook page. So, as I get back into the swing of this blogging shit, allow me to share a few (just a few — neither of us has time to go over everything) of those interesting things I've come across over the last 13 months (in no particular order).
Check 'em out after the stretch (and the song).
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- LeBron goes to Miami, Dan LeBatard rejoices:
When King Raymone decided to go South, people were uuuuuupset. They called him a coward, a diva, accused him of making a punk move, even set his jersey on fire. Between his decision and The Decision, it seemed that he'd rubbed everybody in sports the wrong way for one reason or another.
Everybody except Miami Herald columnist Dan LeBatard. LeBatard practically had a fuckin' orgasm on his radio show a day or so after The Decision, even going so far as to hilariously ensure the people of MIA that "the royal penis is clean." Kinda gay, but very funny.
- When Freestyling Goes Terribly Wrong:
I don't know who this guy is, but he got the SHIT slapped out of himself.
- Researchers Try to Develop A Way For Blind People to Drive:
From the Huffington Post:
The National Federation of the Blind and Virginia Tech plan to demonstrate a prototype vehicle next year equipped with technology that helps a blind person drive a car independently.
Advocates for the blind say it will take time before society accepts the potential of blind drivers and that the safety of the technology will need to be proven through years of testing. But more than anything, they say it's part of a broader mission to change the way people perceive the blind.
Dr. Dennis Hong, who directs the school's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, said they hope to turn the technology into a consumer product. But he added, "This is not going to be a product until its proven 100 percent safe."
Safe?? It's BLIND PEOPLE DRIVING!!!! Worst. Idea. EVER.
- Aaron McGruder Introduces the Boondocks Bootleg YouTube Channel:
While we waited for him to finish the third season of The Boondocks, Aaron McGruder kept us entertained with a series of hilariously ghetto web shorts on his "unofficial official YouTube channel." My favorite character? The one and only Tubesteak, the realest nigga ever. Still on the block, like he always do. Slangin' "sheetrocks, nigga!"
(FYI: I think Tubesteak does Thugnificent's voice, too. I'm not sure about that, though...)
- Verdict Reached in the Oscar Grant Shooting Case:
On New Year's Day, 2009, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer Johannes Mehserle fatally shot an unarmed civilian named Oscar Grant on an Oakland subway platform, dividing the city's populace along racial lines as the majority of the Black community wanted this cop immediately fired and arrested while most of the White community tried to understand and sympathize with him. On July 8, Mehserle was found guilty of the shooting — but only of involuntary manslaughter, not the more serious murder charge that many sought. Angry and feeling helpless — and having flashbacks of the Rodney King case back in 1992 — many citizens lashed out in the worst way and rioted, terrorizing the city. Another sad moment in the history of police brutality and civic unrest.
----
That's enough for now. Of course, there was much, much more that happened, but I'm tired of looking back. Let's get on to some new shit.
This is crazy:
If this really went down the way this guy explains it, heads should really roll.
Of course, these are the police, so I wouldn't be surprised if a slap on the wrist is the only punishment administered. SMH.
Supplier: illseed
NEW YORK — Few if any of the deals retailers have offered online during the recession have been as good as Best Buy Inc.'s sale price of $9.99 on a 52-inch TV Wednesday. But it quickly turned out the offer was too good to be true.
The electronics retailer said it will not honor the $9.99 price posted Wednesday morning on its Web site for a 52-inch Samsung flat-screen TV. By early afternoon, the TV was listed at $1,799.99, almost half off the original $3,399.99 price.
Bloggers and Twitterers lit up the Internet with posts about the offer, some insisting Best Buy must honor it, others making jokes.
Best Buy, based in Richfield, Minn., said it has corrected an online pricing error and will not honor the incorrect price. Orders made Wednesday morning at the incorrect price will be canceled and customers will receive refunds, the company said.
Best Buy did not immediately return a call for additional comment.
I see some "false advertisement" suits looming. Don't know if there's an actual case for 'em, but please believe they're coming.
Supplier: HuffPo
From Reuters:
MOGADISHU: Residents of a coastal town in southern Somalia are living by the skin of their teeth, quite literally. Somali Islamist group al Shabaab is forcibly removing gold and silver teeth from residents in southern Somalia because it says they contravene the strict law of Islam, residents said on Monday.
Residents in Marka say al Shabaab has been rounding up anyone seen with a silver or gold tooth and taking them to a masked man who then rips them out using basic tools. “I never thought al Shabaab would see my denture as a sin. They took me to their station and removed my silver tooth,” resident Bashir said.
“In the station, I met several men and women whose dentures were being pulled out by a masked man they called a doctor. The doctor used a pincer or his gloved hand depending on the strength of the tooth,” Bashir said.
The group says the gold and silver teeth are used for fashion and beauty, which is against strict interpretations of Islam, residents said. Al Shabaab, which means “youth” in Arabic, is a Qaida-inspired outfit.
Well, damn. If that's what they do to the gold-toothed, wonder what they'd do to these platinum mouth havin'-ass niggas 'round here.
The Somalis are NOT fuckin' around.
From MSNBC:
ASUNCION, Paraguay - A baby boy born 16 weeks prematurely was declared dead by doctors at a hospital in Paraguay only to wake up in time for his funeral wake hours later.
Dr. Ernesto Weber, head of pediatric care at the state-run hospital in the capital of Asuncion, said the baby weighed just 500 grams when he was born.
"Initially, the baby didn't move, he practically didn't have any respiratory reflexes, nor did we hear a heartbeat and, as a result, we declared a premature fetus of 24 weeks dead," Weber told Reuters Television.
But when the family took him from the hospital to prepare him for his funeral, the unbelievable happened.
"I opened the box and took the baby out and he cried. I got scared and I said "the baby's crying" ... and then he started moving his arms, his legs and I got scared, we got very scared," said one member of the family, Liliana Alvarenga.
The hospital has begun an investigation and the baby is now in a stable condition in an incubator.
That's pretty fuckin' weird.
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