Viacom's BET awards last night really sucked! The nearly four-hour show stunk from the first act of the New Edition butchering up the songs "ABC" and "The Love You Save." The host Jamie Foxx seemed to be off tempo the whole night. Well he did do a good job with a Micheal Jackson song with Ne-Yo.
Ne-Yo performs "I'll Be There" at the BET Awards Sunday - Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images
Michael Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, sat in the front row, as bogus half ass tributes were made with bogus lines like, "This is to you, Michael."
Thank God Janet was present to pay tribute to her brother. Janet Jackson broke her silence about her brother's death, making a dramatic appearance at the close of Sunday night's BET Awards. She said, "To you, Michael is an icon. To us, Michael is family," Janet Jackson said, her face quivering with emotion. "And he will forever live in all of our hearts."Read more: HERE AAPP: If her and her family were expecting a high-end tribute from BET, they were unfortunately disappointed.
Pizzello/AP
Janet Jackson speaks for the Jackson family in an emotional appearance at Sunday night's BET Awards in Los Angeles.
The folks at MTV (also owned by Viacom) also loved the BET program. Surprise!
JENA, La. —- Five members of the Jena Six pleaded no contest Friday to misdemeanor simple battery and won’t serve jail time, ending a case that thrust a small Louisiana town into the national spotlight and sparked a massive civil rights demonstration.
The five, standing quietly surrounded by their lawyers, were sentenced to seven days unsupervised probation and fined $500. It was a far less severe end to their cases than seemed possible when the six students were initially charged with attempted murder in the 2006 attack on Justin Barker, a white classmate. They became known as the “Jena Six,” after the central Louisiana town where the beating happened.
As part of the deal, one of the attorneys read a statement from the five defendants —- all of whom are black —- in which they said they knew of nothing Barker had done to provoke the attack.
“To be clear, not one of us heard Justin use any slur or say anything that justified Mychal Bell attacking Justin nor did any of us see Justin do anything that would cause Mychal to react,” the statement said.
By pleading no contest, the five do not admit guilt but acknowledge prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction.
Charges against Carwin Jones, Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw had previously been reduced from attempted murder to aggravated second-degree battery.
The only member of the group to serve jail time was Bell, who pleaded guilty in December 2007 to second-degree battery and was sentenced to 18 months. More HERE
Oh My God, as reported by Reuters news service - Michael Jackson, the child star turned King of Pop who set the world dancing but whose musical genius was overshadowed by a bizarre lifestyle and sex scandals, died on Thursday. He was 50.
Jackson was pronounced dead at about 2:26 p.m. PDT (5:26 EDT) after arriving at a Los Angeles hospital in full cardiac arrest, said Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County Coroner's office. The cause of death was not known and an autopsy would likely take place on Friday, he said.
Jackson's sudden death had been reported earlier by U.S. media, which said he was taken ill at his home and rushed to the hospital by paramedics who found him not breathing when they arrived.
Known as the "King of Pop," for hits that included "Thriller" and "Billie Jean," Jackson's dramatic, one-gloved stage presence and innovative dance moves were imitated by legions of fans around the world.
He transformed music videos and his lifetime record sales tally is believed to be around 750 million, which, added to the 13 Grammy Awards he received, made him one of the most successful entertainers of all time.
But Jackson's belief that "I am Peter Pan in my heart", his preference for the company of children, his friendship with a chimp, his high-pitched voice and numerous plastic surgeries also earned him critics and the nickname "Wacko Jacko."
Jackson, who had lived as a virtual recluse since his acquittal in 2005 on charges of child molestation, had been scheduled to launch a comeback tour from London next month.
Quincy Jones, who helped arrange the music on the album "Thriller" and produced the "Off the Wall" album, told MSNBC: "I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news."
"For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words. I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him."
SOLD-OUT SHOWS
Jackson had been due to start a series of concerts in London on July 13 running until March 2010. The singer had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months. The shows for the 50 London concerts sold out within minutes of going on sale in March. People from Africa and around the world are paying tribute to the King of Pop.
"Rarely has the world received a gift with the magnitude of artistry, talent, and vision as Michael Jackson," said Neil Portnow, president and CEO of The Recording Academy in a statement.
Cynthia Gordy writes a great article on Essence OnLine regarding the U.S. Senate's bogus apology for slavery.
Photo, Congresswoman Maxine Waters
Cynthia Gordy writes: With a unanimous vote last week, the United States Senate passed a resolution formally apologizing for the enslavement and segregations of African-Americans. The strongly-worded resolution, which comes 144 years after the Civil War and 45 years after the Civil Rights Act, describes "the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws," and states that Congress "apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors." It now moves to the House.
Speaking from the Senate floor about the apology, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, who first introduced the resolution, remarked that former presidents have acknowledged slavery. While traveling in Uganda, President Bill Clinton expressed regret for America's role in the slave trade, and President George W. Bush called it "one of the great crimes of history" when he visited Goree Island off the coast of Senegal. "Yet, this Congress has never offered a formal apology for slavery and Jim Crow, and it's long past due," Harkin said. "A national apology by the representative body of the people is a necessary collective response to a past collective injustice."
The resolution ends, though, with a disclaimer saying that it does not support or authorize any claim against the United States. In other words: We're sorry. But that doesn't mean you're going to get anything for it. It's a stipulation that has concerned some African-American lawmakers in the House of Represenatatives.
"I think that was unnecessary as part of the Senate resolution," says Congressman William Lacy Clay, who says he otherwise welcomes the gesture. "But I understand the politics of it. The way they were able to get it voted through the Senate was to have that disclaimer so that anyone, with guilt on their conscience, could not object."
Congresswoman Maxine Waters holds a similar outlook. "There is some discomfort with the disclaimer provision in the Senate resolution," she says, but adds that she's confident that it does not rule out pending reparations efforts, such as Congressman John Conyers's proposal for a commission to study reparation proposals for African-Americans. "In short, this is an apology bill and not a reparations bill."
There is, however, a historic precedent to reparations paid by the U.S. government. The 1988 Congressional apology to Japanese-Americans for internment during World War II, for example, was followed by about $1.6 billion in reparations that were given to victims of internment and their heirs. The government has also paid reparations to some of descendants of Native Americans. So, is an apology to African-Americans without accountability enough? Read More HERE
Let' talk about this issue on AA Political Pundit's Political Slugfest on BlogTalkRadio.
Another black man dies, as police cover up wrongful death by saying a black man pulled a stolen gun and pointed it after being shocked by a Taser and falling to the ground.
According to the Associated Baptist Press, Black Baptist preachers in Jacksonville, Fla., are calling for an independent investigation into a rash of recent shootings by police.
Family members said Kiko Battle, fatally shot by police, wanted to be a barber.
The call follows the June 15 fatal shooting of 24-year-old Kiko Battle by two-off duty officers who stopped him for questioning while he was walking down the street not far from his home. Local media said it was Jacksonville's eighth police-involved shooting of 2009 and the fifth fatality.
"We just want the killing to stop," Edward Preston, president of Baptist Ministers Conference, said in comments aired on local TV news broadcasts. "There have been too many killings, and it's time to bring it to an end."
Police said Battle was a dangerous felon who pulled a stolen gun and pointed it after being shocked by a Taser and falling to the ground. Afterward they say he got up and started to flee by climbing over a fence.
Battle's grandmother gave a different account. Ruth Sanders, 70, told the Florida Times-Union moments after he left her house she received a call from a neighbor saying her grandson was being shocked.
Sanders said she ran to the corner before shots were fired and could not see Battle because he was lying on the ground. She said she cried out to the officers begging them not to shoot.
Family members told the newspaper there was no reason to shoot Battle nine times after he had already been subdued.
Family members also questioned why police were bothering a young black man walking down the street in his own neighborhood in broad daylight. "It means everyone who was walking in the street was suspicious," said Wallace Eberhart, an uncle. More HERE
Over the weekend, a gorilla escaped from a zoo in Columbia, and according to the New York Daily News, DePass just couldn't resist what he saw as the perfect opportunity for humor, updating his status message to read,
A Post-Racial Minute from Sherri Goforth, a legislative aide for Sen. Diane Black. As reported by the blog, Black Politics On The Web.com Tennessee Democratic legislators are expressing outrage over a racist e-mail about President Barack Obama that was sent by a state employee who works for a Republican lawmaker.
The e-mail from Sherri Goforth, a legislative aide for Sen. Diane Black, was sent last month to other staff for Republican senators. The e-mail, first reported by an East Tennessee
blog, shows a portrait or photo of each U.S. president except Obama, who is depicted only as wide eyes in a black background. MORE HERE
News outlets are reporting on Sen Diane Black's (R-Gallatin) legislative aid circulates bigoted and color aroused email. WTF - Get this. - Yet, another Republican feels free to attack the dignity of our presidential office with vile hate and racism. In what has become an almost daily occurrence in Republican circles, a staffer for Tennessee State Senator Diane Black sent out a racist email last month, demeaning President Obama, using her work computer and state email account .
The Republican staffer’s name is Sherri Goforth and she emailed a racial smear against President Obama to a long list of recipients, including co-workers. The email was entitled, “Historical Keepsake Photo,” and included a picture of all of our 44 presidents, except that President Obama’s portrait only contained two white eyes against a black background.
You would think that after her disgusting racial smear was revealed, Sherri Goforth would be suitably apologetic, humiliated and shamed. But that’s not the case, not at all. She doesn’t comprehend how reprehensible her actions were.
When asked about the racist email, Goforth was only sorry that her racism was made public and she showed no remorse. She was only sorry she sent the email smear to the “wrong list.”
Nico Pitney over at The Huffington Post is providing great coverage on what could be the fall of Iran as we know it. Other newspaper outlets such as my hometown Boston Globe have a number of great high-quality photos. Candidly I'm not surprised that Ahmadinejad may have engaged in election fraud. But I guess elerction fraud is no big deal to the Barack Obama administration as it has reiterated its dialogue offer. But wasn't Ahmadinejad a terrorist during the Carter administration?
The National Democratic Institute has a great graphic on what they term a complex system. I guess the National Democratic Institute has not developed a graphic on our system of government lately.
As reported by Electronic Village, officials say he became uncooperative on Friday when deputies tried to fingerprint him, fighting with two correctional deputies and one civilian employee. [SOURCE]
Iranian supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hurl stones towards supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi who are inside Tehran university during riots in Tehran. Meanwhile Joe Biden has doubts about the outcome of the vote.
Ok, As you know I'm usually talking about the tasering of black folks on my blog Tasered While Black. But I must say incidents of tasering involving people of every group, including the tasering of seniors in the United states are rising. Take for example the recent killing of Brian Cardell who was recently tasered to death. As reported by Electronic Village, Brian Cardall, recently diagnosed with bipolar disease, was driving home from a family wedding in Salt Lake City with his wife when he became disoriented. He stopped the car and got out. His wife called 911 to request medical assistance. More HERE
Now, as reported by KCSZ TV, A Hurricane man has come forward with an eyewitness account of Tuesdays tasering incident that led to the death of 32 year old Brian Cardall.
Lorry Stratton, a propane service man, was traveling on SR 59 Tuesday afternoon when two hurricane officers with lights flashing passed him going up the hill.
Moments later Stratton pulled up on scene and saw Hurricane City Police Chief Lynn Excell and another Hurricane officer standing near a man who was undressed and holding his clothes in his hands. Stratton said he watched the officer say something to the man and the man took a step forward.
That is when the officer deployed his taser causing him to drop to the ground. Stratton says the man did not seem to be a threat. More HEREThe police killed Cardall with 50,000 volts of electricity from their taser gun. As Villager from the blog Electronic Village said, "Brian Cardall is the 21st person in America to die from taser-related shooting this year. Torture isn't limited to Dick Cheney. Taser-torture is occuring all over our nation." As reported by KSL TV, Taser International says "exposure to tasering is not risk free, but there's no conclusive evidence [it says] for a high risk of serious injury." But the death this week of a 32-year-old man who was tased by police in Washington County is again drawing questions from cardiologists who specialize in the electrophysiology of the heart.
While police have experienced tasing themselves and the manufacturer has tested the device on numerous volunteers, cardiologists still question the effects of the gun's jolt on the heart.
Dr. Brian Crandall specializes in the electrophysiology of the heart. He says making a blanket statement about a Taser's low risk when users often don't know the medical background of the person they're tasing.
Crandall said, "If someone is going to get tasered, they're not evaluating their medical history going into it, so you don't know those things in advance, so it's difficult to make any blanket statements."
Dr. Crandall says the balanced electrical rhythm of the heart can be fragile even in a normal heart, depending on what's happening at the moment inside the body.
In a heightened mental condition where anxiety is pervasive, circulating hormones and the nervous system have an impact on the heart. Crandall explained, "The heart is heavily nerved and the nervous system has a big influence on the heart and the heart rhythm."
Also, a lot depends what part of the body is targeted by the Taser user. For example, if the victim is hit in the chest. "The proximity would definitely play a role," explained Crandall. "It would hit the heart much more there than if it were at a further distance away."
Tasing is simply not a "one-for-all" answer in disabling someone.
In an officer's judgment when to use the device, The U.S. Department of Justice warns, "Abnormal mental status in a combative or resistive subject may be associated with a risk for sudden death."
Crandall said, "A sick heart is one that would be at high risk … but it can even happen in people with normal hearts that, given the right circumstances, that if the rhythm is thrown off and there is no immediate remedy to it, that it could be a life threatening situation."
Crandall says physicians know a lot about electrical currents used in medicine to restart a failing heart, but researchers need more extensive studies on the effects of tasing. More HERE
This pundit and other bloggers like Pam at Pam's House Blend have been warning about this for some time. Now, there is a big debate regarding hate crimes and extremist politics. We have been warning about right-wing extremism and this type of violent anti-Semitic behavior. Now it has happened. The twist is that it was a 88 year oldWhite supremacist and Mensa member,James von Brunn, who decries Jews, blacks on his rambling, color aroused, bigoted anti-Semitic website - killed a Security guard today. There are some bloggers that are excusing the killer, saying he wasn’t “left” or “right,” he was just plain loony. RIGHT!
This guy represented right wing Republicans and their buddy's the Ku Klux Klan, White Citizens Council, skinheads, Neo Nazis, Christian Identity, and many others.
Get this, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama was "concerned" and "saddened by what has happened" at the Holocaust Memorial Museum today, where a man described by police as a white supremacist opened fire, killing a security guard before being shot by other guards.
"With all the color aroused, home grown terrorism against blacks and now Jews, it's time that the Obama administration address political violence and domestic terrorism in America." AAPP: As reported by Crooks and Liars:
Glenn Beck and his fellow wingnuts -- the ones who have been whipping up hysteria among their right-wing populist followers since Obama's election and before -- essentially announced they have no intention of reflecting on their roles in today's horrifying shooting at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.
They did this by doing what they always do whenever these situations arise: First call it all an "isolated incident" committed by a "lone nutcase" who just happens to be acting out beliefs emanating from their own quadrant. Then, when that fails, blame it on the Left.
As reported by Crooks and Liars: Beck offered the following rationale on his Fox News show tonight:
Beck: What they're missing is: The pot in America is boiling. And this is just yet another warning to all Americans of things to come.
AAPP: "Glenn Beck gets paid millions of dollars for his hysterical ranting about impending apocalypses of various forms. This Glenn Beck Moron should be investigated by the Justice Department - FBI, and charges should be made for his terror threats against people such as the Commander and Chief, Barack Obama."
It's time for black folk to encourage President Obama to stand up and speak out against the spread of bigoted assaults against blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, Jews and Gays. It's time to crack down against those who would spread the seeds of bigotry in America.
UPDATE: The website HATEWATCH reports, Only days before he allegedly shot and killed a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, James von Brunn transferred the domain name of his racist website to a man in Michigan. Records show that von Brunn, 88, created holywesternempire.com in October 2000, and that Steve Reimink of West Olive, Mich., acquired the domain name around June 1 of this year. The website was designated a hate website by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2003.
Reimink’s E-mail address, “steveo1488@hotmail.com” includes the symbolic number 1488. In white supremacist circles, 14 refers to the very popular 14-word slogan coined by the late neo-Nazi David Lane: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The letter H is the eighth letter in the alphabet, and 88 often stands for “Heil Hitler.” Reimink’s cell phone was not accepting messages, and he did not respond to an E-mail request for comment.
Relinquishing the domain name may have signaled von Brunn’s intent to soon “go out with his boots on,” as he once told his former wife. He was about to give away his computer and was living hand to mouth, The Washington Post reported.
Von Brunn is said by police to have entered the Holocaust Museum Wednesday afternoon, where he shot the security guard, and then was shot and critically wounded by other guards. Police say they found a notebook in von Brunn’s car with a list of possible other targets, including the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the National Cathedral and The Washington Post. According to myfoxdc.com, witnesses said he was wearing a confederate soldier’s cap and a long coat, which he may have worn to conceal what police describe as an early-1900s rifle.
Von Brunn wrote racist and anti-Semitic screeds for many years. He worked over the years as an ad agency copywriter and business owner, an artist and a real estate agent, according to his website. He has lived in New Hampshire, California, Florida and most recently, Annapolis, Md. He worked at the anti-Semitic publisher Noontide Press in the 1980s or early 1990s. Noontide Press was founded by Willis Carto, who also started the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby and the Institute for Historical Review, a Holocaust denial outfit. More HERE
Join me as I host my new BlogTalkRadio program "Tasered While Black Show." I'm not against taser use as an alternative to deadly force. However I am against taser abuse by police who would use a taser on the young, elderly, pregnant or physically frail; people offering passive, rather than active resistance; and restrained prisoners.
The grandmother of this young man is not feeling the police reports. The grandmother said police used excessive while police say an officer, who was stationed at the school, saw a male student walking in a hallway talking on a cell phone between classes and ordered the teenager to return to class, according to police Chief Howard Burton.
"The student ignored the officer, who then took him by the arm to escort him to the office," Burton said. "Now the police are saying the student resisted and pushed the officer. More HERE
Dominique Apollon is a graduate of the University of Virginia (B.A., American Government, 1996), and received his doctorate in political science from Stanford University in 2003. See his full bio at this link
We will discuss their new report that demonstrates the link between our current recession to structural color aroused (racial) inequities in lending and employment. Not only does the data reveal that people of color have been disproportionately affected by this economic downturn, it shows that that families of color were systemically targeted for subprime loans when several qualified for prime loans, contributing significantly to the foreclosures that caused the recession. So did banks, lenders, black folks and other folks of color cause the recession?
African American Pundit (AAP) formerly African American Political Pundit, is a nationally recognized, writer, internet political activist, internet blog talk radio host, black internet pundit and political analyst, who addresses black American politics and social issues. He is works with other afrospear bloggers to shape Black America’s political discourse through punditry, pontification and political action organizing.
He has served as a credentialed blogger at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
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