White Guys Finish First…on University Catalog Cover

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

Maureen Downey of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote yesterday about a reader who had sent her a copy of the cover of the new University of North Georgia continuing education catalog along with the following question: “Are they crazy?” Downey thought the reader’s question was a valid one “given the awkwardness of the image and its pairing with a headline that asks, ‘Why follow when you can lead?’”

Jessica Roy of New York Magazine also wrote an article about the image published on the university’s catalog cover titled University Catalogue Cover Accidentally Becomes Perfect Metaphor for America.

Crooks and Liars’ article on the same subject asked the question: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Look at the picture–reportedly a stock photo–that the university selected for its catalog cover. What do you think?

image1_0

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Posted in Countries, Education, United States | Tagged , | 28 Comments

UPDATE in the UVA Fraternity Gang Rape Controversy

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

Catherine Thompson of TPM Livewire reported last Friday that the Charlottesville Police Department will be holding a press conference on Monday, March 23rd. The police department plans to announce the results of its investigation into an alleged gang rape that occurred at a UVA’s Phi Kappa Psi frat house. The alleged assault was the  center of a disputed Rolling Stone story that was published in the magazine last fall. The press conference is scheduled to begin at 2:00 pm.

Thompson said that Charlottesville police said back in January that they had found “no basis to believe” that the alleged gang rape detailed in the article by a student named “Jackie” occurred at UVA’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house.

NOTE: The Columbia School of Journalism is also conducting a review of Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s Rolling Stone gang rape story. Last December, the magazine announced that it was seeking help in order to “figure out where exactly it went wrong…”  Rolling Stone editor and publisher said back then that the report will be published as soon as the Columbia School of Journalism is finished with its review.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Frat Boy Admits Singing a Racist Song about Lynching Ni**ers Was a “Horrible Mistake”–But Was the Incident Indicative of More Widespread Racism in the Greek System…and the Country?

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

In his article titled The Ugly, Racist, Deadly History of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Jake New provides a brief history of the college fraternity. New said that SAE has been known as “the singing fraternity.” He added that there is “nothing quaint about the nicknames SAE has these days.” New said that “on many campuses people say the initials stand for ‘sexual assault expected’ or ‘same assholes everywhere.’” According to New, SAE is the fraternity that is also “known as the one in which members are most likely to die.” He added, “And now it may be called the most racist.”

A video of University of Oklahoma SAE frat members singing a racist song recently ignited a national furor.  The University and SAE’s national headquarters “moved quickly to punish the chapter and distance themselves from what they hope will be seen as an isolated incident.” School officials “expelled SAE members Parker Rice and Levi Pettit…after identifying them from a video as leaders of the chant, singing, ‘There will never be a … SAE.’” The racist chant also “alluded to lynching black people.”

New said that “rather than depicting an anomaly, the video may be a rare, tangible piece of evidence of a much larger and persistent problem among America’s predominantly white fraternities.”

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Posted in Countries, Education, Racism, Short Video, Society, United States | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

A Mark Fiore Political Cartoon Video: “Racist EZ-Cash”

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

Unknown copy 9By Elaine Magliaro

Mark Fiore, the Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist, posted a video last week titled Racist EZ- Cash following the release of the Justice Department’s report on the city of Ferguson, Missouri. Fiore said that the veil had “been lifted on a corrupt system that bled that town’s African-American citizens of their income, rights and freedom.” He added that “Ferguson’s Municipal Court had become a criminal enterprise bent on increasing revenue by bleeding citizens dry.”

Fiore:

The racist jokes and comments forwarded by city officials are the tip of the iceberg in this DOJ report.  Though that sort of racism is abhorrent, extorting money under threat of additional fees, fines and jail time is what really boggles my mind.  Funny how problems arise when you’ve got a judge who is also a prosecutor and defense attorney, all at the same time.  (Not to mention the assorted co-conspirators who seem to be straight out of Idiot Racist Central Casting.)

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Corruption, Countries, Courts, Democracy, DOJ, Equal Rights, Government, Humor, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law Enforcement, Local Government, Missouri, Political Science, Politics, Racism, Short Video, Society, United States | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

AZ SB 1071: Right to Petition or Special Interest Corruption?

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Gene Howington

Flag_of_Arizona.svgby Gene Howington

Arizona seems to get in the news quite a bit as of late and it is rarely flattering. This time it is a bill being sponsored to specifically benefit one person. SB 1071 is moving quickly through the state Legislature. It would cap how much counties can charge for recording certain property deeds. Supporters of the bill have said it would protect future buyers of tax liens from excessive fees but that is simply window dressing to make the law more palatable. In reality, the bill works to the benefit of one man and his real estate investment company: Phoenix area attorney Wayne Howard and Sonoran Land Fund LLC.

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Posted in Arizona, Constitutional Law, Corruption, Democracy, Investing, Justice, Local Government, United States | Tagged , , | 26 Comments

Privatization Fail: Company That Runs Toll Road in Indiana Has Filed for Bankruptcy

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro
Mitch Daniels (R) Former Governor of Indiana

Mitch Daniels (R)
Former Governor of Indiana

By Elaine Magliaro

Last week, Mike Spindell wrote a post titled Privatization is a Bad, Immoral Idea and Has Nothing to Do With Free Markets. Like Mike, I think that privatization is a bad idea that has nothing to do with free markets. I believe that most privatization schemes are not about improving things and making them less costly for tax payers. I think they are all about making money for private companies.

Yesterday, I came across a story at Charlie Pierce’s Politics Blog on the subject of privatization that caught my attention. Pierce wrote about a toll road privatization deal in Indiana that had gone bad. According to Pierce, former Governor Mitch Daniels—“the value-sized brainiac from Indiana”—helped the Hoosier State’s turnpike go “belly up.”

Charlie Pierce:

Daniels was a “moderate” and he was seriously considered a man of ideas, despite the fact that his experience in government included working the federal budget for George W. Bush, which should have disqualified Daniels from working at a gas station. Central to Daniels’s Indiana miracle was privatization. Daniels sold off as much of Indiana as he could. Central to the fire sale was the privatization of the Indiana toll road to an Australian company.

Barbara Harrington (Indiana Public Media):

In 2006, then-Republican governor Mitch Daniels leased the Indiana Toll Road for $3.8 billion dollars. The state used that money for construction projects, including U.S. 31 and I-69.

But the company that took on the lease fell into financial troubles and the toll road fell into disrepair.

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Posted in Conservatives, Government, Politics, United States | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

UPDATE: The Huffington Post Says That “Surveillance Video May Poke Holes In Secret Service Drunk Driving Story”

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

SecretService-StarLogo_svgBy Elaine Magliaro

Last Thursday, I posted an article about a Washington Post report that two secret service agents had crashed into a White House barricade and disrupted a bomb investigation. Today, Michael Calderone (Huffington Post) said that an unnamed source who had seen the surveillance video of the two agents suggested that “the agents’ actions that night weren’t nearly as erratic as originally described in news reports…”

Huffington_Post_LogoCalderone said that the source, “who was not authorized to speak publicly about the video, told The Huffington Post that the footage shows two senior agents driving very slowly after arriving at the scene, perhaps just 1 to 2 mph.” The source reportedly said that “the agents’ car nudged a traffic barrel and that the action appeared to be intentional rather than reckless — in an effort to move the object out of the way.”

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Posted in Countries, Government, United States | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Family of Mentally Ill Man Who Was Killed by Dallas Police Releases Video of His Shooting (VIDEO)

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro
Jason Harrison

Jason Harrison

By Elaine Magliaro

A recently released video of the officer-involved shooting of Jason Harrison in Dallas last year shows what happened in the moments before the mentally ill manDallas_PoliceLogodied. Harrison, 38, was shot by police while holding a screwdriver.  His mother had called 911 for help in bringing him to Parkland Hospital while he was in a crisis.

Harrison’s family and their attorney Geoff Henley released the video footage, which shows officers responding to the home of Harrison’s mother on the morning of June 14, 2014.

Police said that Harrison’s mother had told them that her son was making “violent threats” and that “Harrison, who was armed with a screwdriver, became aggressive when the officers ordered him to drop it.”

Naomi Martin (The Dallas Morning News) reported on the story yesterday. She said that the Harrison family and their attorney released the video in hopes that it would “spark reforms for policies and training on how police interact with the mentally ill.” The family also said that police officers “should have first tried less lethal force on Harrison, such as pepper spray or a Taser.”

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Posted in Countries, Courts, Jurisprudence, Law Enforcement, Local Government, Short Video, Society, Texas, United States | Tagged , , | 26 Comments

BREAKING NEWS: Senator Tom Cotton Says That Iran Controls Its Capital City of Tehran (VIDEO)

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas)

Sen. Tom Cotton
(R-Arkansas)

By Elaine Magliaro

Guess what? The country of Iran controls the city of Tehran. Ohmigod! Who knew? Say it ain’t so! Boy, I’m sure glad I learned that important bit of information when Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) was a guest on CBS’s Face the Nation this morning. Cotton was the lead author of the letter signed by himself and 46 other senators that was “sent to Iranian ayatollahs warning them that any deal struck with the Obama administration over their country’s nuclear program could be cancelled by a future administration or Congress.” Cotton and the 46 other letters signers have come under severe criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike “for seeking to undermine ongoing negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program.”

Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer “pointed out that Cotton’s letter to Iran…may have undermined President Barack Obama’s ability to get a nuclear deal with Iran.” But Sen. Cotton defended his decision “to send a letter on a burgeoning nuclear deal directly to Iranian leaders.” He insisted that “Iran’s leaders need to hear the message loud and clear” that a deal brokered by President Obama “might not last past the end of his administration without congressional approval…”

Nicole Flatow (ThinkProgress) said that Cotton appeared to make a “key geographic mistake” when Schieffer asked him what better outcome the Arkansas senator “expects if a White House-led deal falls through.” Cotton seemed to suggest that Tehran, the capital of Iran, “might be controlled by anyone other than Iranian leaders.”

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Posted in Barack Obama, Conservatives, Countries, Democracy, Foreign Policy, Government, Government Propaganda, Homosexual Rights, Iran, Media, Political Science, Politics, Propaganda, Short Video, Television, Treason, United States, War on "Terror" | Tagged , , , , , | 29 Comments

Florida Church Loses Tax-Exempt Status for Hosting Naked Paintball Parties and Lingerie and Pajama Slumber Events

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Elaine Magliaro

ChurchSpringBreakPartiesBy Elaine Magliaro

The Panama City News Herald reported some sad religious news last week. It appears that a local church has lost its tax-exempt status. The Life Center: A Spiritual Community, a church in Panama City, Florida, is now going to be required to pay taxes on its property. The church had reportedly been operating a party schedule as Amnesia: The Tabernacle seven days a week since Feb. 28th. According to the Herald, the church had been hosting naked paint parties and slumber parties with the “sexiest ladies on the beach.” Once authorities were alerted to the church’s goings-on, they began looking into the matter.

Travis Gettys of Raw Story said that police started investigating the church “after it placed ATMs and a banner outside and determined that its activities were a ‘blatant slap in the face’ to taxpayers.”

Sheriff Frank McKeithen said, “They’re trying to get around the laws, and they’re using the church to get there.”

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Posted in Law Enforcement, Religion, Society | Tagged , , | 13 Comments