The Dirty South Gets Dirtier!

Once again conservative “moral” republicans show their true colors….

The implosion of Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley’s political career has, even by the standards of Southern state government, moved at a snail’s pace. But nearly 13 months after a bitter ex-state employee announced to the world that the Republican had been having a long-term affair with an aide, Bentley’s slow-burning scandal has culminated with his resignation from office.

Hours after the Alabama House Judiciary Committee began hearings to consider Bentley’s impeachment from office on Monday, the two-term governor was fingerprinted at the Montgomery County jail after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges, part of a deal struck with state law enforcement to avoid impeachment and multiple felony charges in exchange for his resignation.

After being booked on one count of failure to file campaign disclosures and one count of failure to disclose economic interest, Bentley made his way to the Old House Chamber of the Alabama state capitol and announced that he had ceded power to Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey.

“I’ve not always made the right choices, I’ve not always said the right thing. Though I have sometimes failed, I’ve always tried to live up to the high expectations that people place on the person who holds this esteemed office,” Bentley said. “There have been times that I’ve let you and our people down, and I’m sorry for that."

“I can no longer allow my family and my dear friends, my dedicated staff and cabinet, to be subjected to the consequences that my past actions have brought upon them,” Bentley continued. “The time has come for me to look at new ways to serve the good people of our great state. I have decided it is time for me to step down as Alabama’s governor.”

Bentley's resignation comes three days after the committee’s special counsel released a 3,000-page report on Bentley’s relationship with his married chief adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, and more than four years after the first stirrings of an illicit affair that ended the governor's marriage and his political career.

The 130-page summary of the committee’s investigation—which was comprehensive enough to have merited its own web domain reads more like a rejected Nancy Meyers script treatment than the result of a government investigation: texted professions of undying love, indiscreet assignations in the governor’s office, and accusations that the governor directed a bodyguard to break up with his mistress for him.....

The last item, a result of what the committee characterized as “increasing obsession and paranoia,” has prompted allegations that Bentley used state resources to conduct—and, apparently, to break off—his affair. It was this charge, more than any moral opprobrium, that led to calls for the governor's impeachment. Especially given the fact that Alabama is one of the poorest states in the country.

The leadership of Alabama Republican Party said it couldn't support Bentley on Monday afternoon. "When situations arise that are in direct conflict with the betterment of our people, we will speak up regardless of political party," it said in a statement.

Bentley, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary, denied that a “physical affair” took place for more than a year, but he has apologized for making “inappropriate remarks” to Mason.

The end of Bentley's two-decade political career may be the least of his worries, however. On April 5, a state ethics commission found probable cause to believe that Bentley had violated both the Alabama Ethics Act and the Fair Campaign Practices Act. Although the details of the specific allegations are sketchy, they are Class B felonies. Were Bentley to be charged by the Montgomery County district attorney and convicted, he faced 20 years in jail and a fine of up to $20,000 for each violation. The reported deal between Bentley and the Montgomery County district attorney, however, reduces those potential charges to the two misdemeanor charges.

The plea deal also stipulated Bentley's resignation from office—sparing the governor potential jail time in exchange for sparing the people of Alabama the specter of drawn-out impeachment proceedings against the state's chief executive.

What Bentley may be most guilty of, though, is being really stupid.

Starting in 2013, according to Bentley’s now ex-wife, Dianne, Mason began staying overnight in the pool house of the governor’s mansion, an arrangement that raised eyebrows in Montgomery.

At first, Dianne Bentley excused the frequent sleepovers, according to the report. Mason’s home with her husband, the head of the governor’s Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, was in Tuscaloosa, nearly a two-hour drive from the state capital. But the first lady of Alabama, a devout Christian who would write prayer requests for her husband on sticky notes that she kept in her personal devotional, was eventually informed by Heather Hannah, her chief of staff, that the governor and Mason would “jump” when interrupted by other members of his staff and that he had begun to return home from work with makeup on his shirts.

The governor’s wife and Hannah were among the more than 20 witnesses interviewed by the special counsel appointed by the Alabama House Judiciary Committee to investigate Bantley's relationship with mason. The report is based on their testimony, as well as a review of more than 10,000 pages of documents, text message transcripts, and audio recordings.

Other members of the governor’s staff began to notice Bentley’s increasingly close relationship with his chief adviser. According to the House committee’s report, Bentley would call Mason “baby” in meetings, and Ray Lewis, the leader of Bentley’s security detail, told the House committee that he had once observed Mason leaving the governor’s office with tousled hair, her outfit disheveled.

The governor’s apparent indiscretion in conducting the affair was matched only by his paranoia about the affair being publicly revealed. Hannah, Dianne Bentley’s chief of staff, testified to the House committee that the governor personally confronted her on multiple occasions about leaking information about the affair.

The confrontations featured open threats from the governor, Hannah told the House committee’s special counsel.

“You will never work in the state of Alabama again if you tell anyone about this,” Hannah recalled Bentley telling her in the kitchen of the governor’s mansion, a finger pointed in her face.

On another occasion, Hannah testified that Bentley warned her to “watch herself” because she “did not know what she was getting into,” and that his position as governor meant that the people of Alabama would “bow to his throne.”

Meanwhile, the once-close Bentley marriage was collapsing. During a ritzy National Governors Association dinner in Washington, D.C., the governor texted Mason—seated across the table—in full view of his wife, who was sitting next to him.

The text, Dianne Bentley later testified, read: “I can’t take my eyes off of you.”

Other members of the governor’s family became aware of the affair, according to the report, after perusing a state-issued iPad that Bentley had given to his wife. The 74-year-old governor was apparently ignorant of the fact that the tablet was logged into the same iCloud messaging account that he used to text sweet nothings to Mason.

Bentley’s four adult sons were apparently so worried that they came to suspect that the affair was the result of “dementia,” according to the report. The Bentley children went so far as to attempt to have the governor evaluated by medical specialists, although no such evaluation ever took place.

Meanwhile, the governor’s wife began taking screenshots of the governor’s texts with Mason that appeared on her iPad—conversations that eventually became crucial and cringeworthy evidence in the impeachment case against Bentley.

Perhaps the most egregious moment in the Bentley-Mason affair came when the governor, as cheating husbands have done since text messaging was invented, accidentally texted “I love you Rebekah” to his wife.

To Bentley’s credit, he followed up 17 hours later by texting “I love you Dianne” with an emoji of a rose.

On Aug. 28, 2015, the governor’s wife filed for divorce.

Cheating on one’s spouse isn’t against the law, even in Alabama. So many “family values” Republicans have turned out to be guilty of sexual impropriety that Bentley’s worst mistake might just have been unoriginality.

But it was the governor’s alleged use of state employees to facilitate and cover up his affair—and the eventual firing of the state’s top law enforcement official—that turned a tale of political peccadilloes into threats of impeachment and possible jail time.

According to the House committee’s report, Bentley directed Lewis, his security chief, to confront office staff whom he believed to be gossiping about the affair, as well as to convince one of his adult sons to turn over surreptitious recordings his wife had made of him and Mason.

The governor allegedly even used Lewis as a go-between to finally end his relationship with Mason, according to the committee’s report. After Lewis confronted the governor about the affair, the report alleges, Bentley “asked Lewis to go upstairs to meet with Mason and end the relationship.”

After the hour-long breakup meeting in a conference room at the state capitol in which Lewis conveyed the governor’s wishes, Bentley entered the room and placed a hand on Mason’s shoulder. “It’s all right, baby,” Lewis later testified that Bentley said. “It’s going to be all right.”

But although the affair was over, the report alleges, the cover-up continued.

Bentley apparently became suspicious that Spencer Collier, the head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, was in possession of some of the recordings containing evidence that he had been engaged in an affair with Mason. After attempting to sideline Collier by placing him on medical leave, Collier alleges, the governor fired him on March 22, 2016, alleging misuse of state funds by the agency Collier oversaw. (Collier has since been cleared of any wrongdoing.)

That same day, Collier told AL.com that he had seen text messages and heard audio recordings showing that Bentley had been conducting an affair, igniting the public scandal that has finally lead to the demise of the once-popular governor’s political career

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News

There's a fine line between love and stupidity, guess which side of the line this guy fell on.

She said “yes” and cops read him his rights.

An Ohio boyfriend probably thought he was being super-romantic when he spray-painted a proposal to his girl on a shopping-center wall. Cops, however, thought he was breaking the law.

Kyle Stump, 23, painted: “Michelle Marry Me. I Love You” (with a heart) in huge red letters on the side of a building in the city-owned mall at Lake Sheffield. His proposal consumed 30 feet of wall space.

Disappointingly, love-of-his-life Michelle Astorino, 21, failed to notice the proposal until Stump took her to the building one night with a flashlight to point it out to her, the determined beau told “Inside Edition.”

He got a “yes” — and a criminal mischief charge from police. Investigators tracked Stump based on a tip and matched the handwriting on the graffiti to a form Stump had filled out in 2012.

Stump pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief earlier this week. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and fined $500, but the magistrate suspended the jail term and all but $200 of the fine. Stump also will have to pay $332 to sandblast his proposal, and will have to perform 80 hours of community service. He’ll likely spend it painting town fire hydrants, the Chronicle-Telegram reported.

“One of the things I told him was that I may be old-fashioned and I prefer a more traditional way of proposing with getting down on one knee with the ring,” Magistrate Kreig Brusnahan told the newspaper.

“They don’t have to be so hard on me,” Stump complained.

He said he and his fiancee are trying to stay focused on the positive. But the legal setback means he’ll have to buy an engagement ring on an installment plan.

“We’ve basically just brushed it off and are excited about our engagement,” Astorino told “Inside Edition.” “It’s still a crime, we understand that, but, I mean, it’s not that serious.”

CVS has now decided it won’t press charges against a homeless man who employees at a Trenton, Michigan, store accidentally locked inside the establishment. Even though it was all their fault.

Multiple outlets reported this week that Henry Brettschneider, 56, faced charges for eating some snacks after he found himself locked inside the pharmacy. 

Brettschneider told police that he had fallen asleep by the blood pressure machine last week. He awoke around 1 a.m. to find himself locked in the store, according to local reports. He snacked on some Fig Newtons, chocolate milk and grabbed a bottle of soda. Brettschneider also took what he thought was a watch but turned out to be a heart rate monitor. After an alarm was set off, police were called to the area and arrested him. 

Local media sources reported that the pharmacy faced intense backlash on social media once the story went viral.

A CVS spokesman said in a statement, “CVS has researched this more extensively and based on extenuating circumstances we are not going to press charges.”

In a statement provided to CBS Detroit, the pharmacy said, “CVS is not charging him. Once the police were looking at his criminal record there were other things to take care of, so CVS is not pursuing it.”

Brettschneider reportedly has misdemeanor warrants out for his arrest.

M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand, so a man trying to buy a bag had the meltdown instead.

https://youtu.be/7v3NboV2hNM

Police in Santa Ana, California, are looking for a suspect who was caught on surveillance camera going on a rampage in a 7-11 after his card was declined.

A newly released surveillance video taken Feb. 11 shows a white male who appears to be in his 30s attempting to buy a 75-cent bag of almond M&Ms.

When the card is declined, the man lunges towards the cashier, hitting him on the noggin, shoving the register off the counter and then pushing everything else he sees.

As he walks towards the door, he throws a handful of bananas at the other clerk’s head and knocks over another terminal.

The complete surveillance video can be seen here, but you can see the highlights via the magic of “GIFarama.”

Santa Ana Police Dept. Cpl. Anthony Bertagna thinks the suspect may have overreacted a tad.

“Based on his actions over a 75 cent-bag of M&M’s, I’m not sure what his reaction would be to something that’s really serious,” Bertagna told KTLA TV.

The suspect’s actions caused an estimated $700 in damage, he said.

Authorities believe the man was with another customer in the store. However, since the card was declined, the store only has the last four digits, so tracking him down hasn’t been easily. 

“How do we know the card wasn’t stolen? We don’t at this point. I mean it wasn’t reported,” Bertagna told NBC Los Angeles. “It just came up that it was non-sufficient funds to buy a 75 cent bag of M&M’s.”

The suspect is described as a white male in his 30s, about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing around 180 pounds.

Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call (714) 245-8647.

As wild as this incident was, the brother of the man who owns the 7-11 thinks it’s part of a bigger problem.

“The country’s polarized right now,” the man told KTTV. “You have a bunch of high-profile people acting out. It doesn’t surprise me this happened.” 

PR

Just When You Thought Yo Heard It All News

There are words that only apply to a special breed of people. The word moron is one of them. These people are a danger to each and every one of us especially themselves. A man who must have been snorting bath salt, was prowling on the fenced campus of an elementary school in Tucson, Arizona, when he got his baggy pants stuck on a spiked gate as he tried to flee. Here’s the upside-down, pants-less result.

The man was apparently spooked on the grounds of Miles Elementary School by a locksmith, who reportedly said he saw the man trying to break into classrooms on Friday, a school official said. School was not in session at the time.

Police rushed to the school “two cars deep.” Witnesses sat that they saw the man cuffed in the back seat of a squad car.

A police spokeswoman says that cops talked to the man, but she had no other information.

Corey Greenhill, general manager of the nearby Welcome Diner, says that he saw the man acting erratically before he got snagged on the fence. The man walked into the restaurant, borrowed the cordless telephone and walked out with it, Greenhill said. Greenhill followed him and noted that the man had tried to call the police three times. “He seemed confused,” Greenhill said.

 

A high school student in Tennessee says she served an in-school suspension after she said "bless you" when a classmate sneezed, according to news reports.

Kendra Turner, 17, a senior at Dyer County High School, says she was standing up for her religious beliefs when she broke the classroom's no-speaking rule by saying "bless you".

Turner said on a friend's she was acting on authority of her faith and her church pastor's interpretation of the Constitution when she offered what she viewed as a "courtesy."

The teacher of the class asked Turner why she spoke out, and Turner said, "Because it's a courtesy." More from OpposingViews.com:

When the teacher continued pushing the matter and asked who exactly considers it a courtesy, Turner reportedly shot back, "My pastor." Turner posted about the incident on Facebook, explaining that her teacher "yelled at me and said, 'we do not do Godly speaking in my class!' That is when I stood up and said, 'My pastor said I have a constitutional right - 1st amendment freedom of speech.'" In response, the teacher allegedly said, "Not in my class you don't."

The teacher sent Turner to see a school administrator and Turner says she spent the rest of the period at in-school suspension, according to reports. UPI.com reports Turner's classmates cheered her actions, to the point that assistant principal Lynn Garner had to be called in to control them.

Garner says that the issue had nothing to do with the religious persecution claimed by Turner. Turner's family met with school leaders Tuesday. They say the teacher claimed Turner was being disruptive and aggressive and shouted "bless you" from across the room.

Some classmates showed support by wearing hand made bless you shirts, according to local media reports.

Turner said she doesn't want trouble for her teacher but says she'll stand up for her faith.

"It's alright to defend God and it's our constitutional right because we have a freedom of religion and freedom of speech," said Turner.

Atlanta couple Elizabeth Handy and Bilal Walk named their daughter “ZalyKha Graceful Lorraina Allah” but have been unable to get a birth certificate for her. The child will be two next month but doesn’t have a legal name.

The reason? It appears that the Georgia Department of Public Health believes that young ZalyKha’s last name of “Allah” doesn’t fit the state’s naming conventions. The state says that the child’s name should either be “Handy,” “Walk,” or some combination instead of “Allah.” The thing here is that the couple has a child name Masterful Allah........, just let that sink in for a minute, with a birth certificate.

The situation has resulted in the couple being unable to get a birth certificate. This means things such as getting insurance and assistance will be a hassle if not impossible.

Enter the ACLU’s Georgia branch. Executive Director Andrea Young says that the Department of Health is overreaching in its refusal to give the couple a birth certificate for ZalyKha. Handy and Walk reached out to the ACLU to help them exercise their rights in this case.

“We don’t want to go through that process again,” Handy says. She is six months along with their third child.

So maybe they should try naming their next child something that might help them get a job like like, Sarah, Michael, or Jennifer....

The lawsuit lists the department’s commissioner, Brenda Fitzgerald, and the state registrar and director of vital records Donna L. Moore. The department’s general counsel Sidney Barrett says that the couple could put in a “valid” birth certificate and change the name via a superior court petition.

This means more time and money put into a legal exercise that could be avoided if the couple were allowed to name their daughter as they pleased in the first place.

Bilal Walk says that the couple has a process they go into when naming their children. “It is nothing that we want to go into detail about because it is not important,” he says. “What is important is the language of the statute and our rights as parents.”

Elizabeth Handy says they are still thinking of a name for their third child. “We are still in the process of coming up with a name, and we don’t even know if it will be a girl or a boy,” she says. “But the child will definitely have a noble title. Something to live up to.”

You can read the original story here, but I suggest caution when venturing into the comments section.

Epic FAIL.

I have a question for all of you Trump supporters. Just to be clear this is not a rhetorical question. I'm genuinely curious as to what your reasoning could possibly be. Here goes. How can you continue support a "president" who not only failed to deliver on his key promise, but had no idea how he was going to do so? Yes! I'm talking about Obama Care or the Affordable Health Care Act. Trump promised his constituents that he would repeal Obama Care because it was "terrible" and it would put a strain on the economy. Playing on the innate hatred of the average American racist to invalidate an idea that the Black president conceived and put into motion. Trump did not offer a solution, a better idea, an alternative or an improvement. Unless you count a health care plan that would have stripped 24 million Americans of basic care and would drastically hike premiums for people over 60, a solution, a better idea, or an improvement. But of course, no sane person would. The fact that this bill failed is not surprising in the least given the fact that House Speaker Paul Ryan has absolutely no concept of how insurance works. Then again maybe he actually does and chose to present old facts as new horrendous ideas. Ryan said that under Obama Care young people would have to pay for older people. In other words, everyone would contribute to a "pool" that would benefit each other when needed. But that is how insurance does and has always worked. So, at best Ryan is spelling it out and making it sound worse than it is, and it worse he's preying on those who are uneducated and or ignorant. Either way it is a gross misrepresentation of the facts. An "alternative truth" as they say. But here is the truth. There was never any real GOP interest in a viable option in regards to healthcare for the American people. The primary goal of the Republican Party is and perhaps always will be to destroy the Obama legacy even if some of their poor constituents suffer. I imagine by now that many who cast their ballots for Trump are beginning to realize that the enemy of their enemy is not their friend. He is actually everybody's enemy.

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (3-18-2017)

Yeah, they're cute. But this is still a dumb idea!

If you enjoy the gentle nuzzle from a soft, tiny kitten, we’ve got good news. Demeter Fragrance Library, a New York-based company that develops fragrances based on everyday scents, has developed a new perfume that will bring memories of a dozen kitten cuddles.

Get ready to spritz yourself with Demeter’s “Kitten Fur".

“Now after 15 years of effort, Demeter has captured the olfactory essence of the warmth and comfort of that purrfect spot, just behind kitten’s neck,” the company wrote on its website. 

The scent of “Kitten Fur” is being sold in several Demeter products, including cologne, roll-on perfume oil, body lotion, shower gel and a diffuser oil, in case you wanted an entire room to smell like one giant kitten.

Prices range from $6 for a half-ounce of cologne to $39.95 for four ounces of cologne.

Demeter develops and sells of wide range of weird scents like  “Popcorn", "Earthworms" and “Fuzzy Balls.” (The last one, in case you were curious, smells like “the woosh of a freshly opened can of tennis balls.”)

A substitute teacher desperately in need of a 12 step program may have unintentionally taught her students a lesson about the dangers of drinking on the job.

Police in Lexington County, South Carolina, said Judith Elizabeth Richards-Gartee was allegedly so intoxicated during class on Friday that she reportedly vomited on the classroom floor.

Officers who arrived on the scene said they found a box of wine in the suspect’s purse.

Administrators at Brookland-Cayce High School in Cayce called police around 9:45 a.m. after noticing Richards-Gartee allegedly acting in a manner that suggested she might be under the influence of alcohol.

Besides the alleged vomiting, Richards-Gartee was reportedly unable to stand. School officials removed her from the classroom in a wheelchair and sent her to a school resource officer, according to TheState.com.

A deputy from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office reported seeing a box of wine in her purse. Students in the class told the officer Richards-Gartee was allegedly consuming the wine during class.

The officer charged Richards-Gartee with dis orderly conduct before releasing her to paramedics who took her to the hospital, according to The Smoking Gun.

The Lexington School District Two released a statement on Monday explaining that Richards-Gartee wasn’t actually employed by them.

“On Friday, March 10, 2017, it was reported to the Administration of Brookland-Cayce School that a substitute teacher was behaving erratically and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. This substitute is not an employee of the District, but works for Kelly Services. Kelly contracts with the District to provide substitute teachers.

The Administration responded immediately, removing the substitute from the classroom and sending her to the School Resource Officer. The District has been advised that law enforcement has filed criminal charges against the Kelly employee.” 

Staff at a Washington state thrift shop were stunned on Monday to find $24,000 worth of weed inside a donated cooler.

Police said the workers at the Goodwill store in Monroe were sorting through donations when they stumbled across the marijuana haul.

“We went over there and they opened the lid and in there was five large bags of marijuana,” Debbie Willis of the Monroe Police Department told KTLA5. “Normally when we go there, it is for a shoplifter, but not anything like this.”

Police said store employees are combing through surveillance tapes for any clues to the person’s identity.

People 21 and over can legally possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana in the state. Cops said this haul will be destroyed, however, as legal marijuana must come from a licensed producer and seller.

PR

The King of Lies.......

Here we go again! Every now and then some white elected official becomes emboldened enough to expose their own personal brand of idioticy. Their opinions are usually very racist, extremely stupid, and based on nothing but paranoia.

Iowa Rep. Steve King said Monday that blacks and Hispanics "will be fighting each other" before overtaking whites in the US population. The most disturbing aspect of this statement is the fact that he thinks that he is an authority on how Blacks and Hispanics behave.

King, a Republican, obviously, was on the radio responding to a question about Univision anchor Jorge Ramos' comment to Tucker Carlson on Fox News that whites would become a majority-minority demographic in America by 2044, a point Ramos used to make the argument that it is a multiracial country.

"Jorge Ramos' stock in trade is identifying and trying to drive wedges between race," King told Iowa radio host Jan Mickelson on 1040 WHO.  "Race and ethnicity, I should say to be more correct. When you start accentuating the differences, then you start ending up with people that are at each other's throats.

It is easy to talk about the dangers of  “accentuating the differences” when you belong to a demographic that is in jeopardy of loses it’s strangle hold on society.

King then goes on to say. “And he's adding up Hispanics and blacks into what he predicts will be in greater number than whites in America. I will predict that Hispanics and the blacks will be fighting each other before that happens."

King's prediction comes on the heels of a controversy the Iowa congressman spurred when he tweeted Sunday, "We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies."

Those comments were praised by white nationalist and former KKK grand wizard David Duke and condemned by civil rights icon, Rep. John Lewis, as "bigoted and racist."

In the interview on Iowa radio, King reiterated comments he made Monday to Chris Cuomo on CNN's "New Day," saying, "This isn't about race." Even though he made a racist comment.

He said his comments were instead, about "our stock, our country, our culture, our civilization," and that "we need to have enough babies to replace ourselves." Notice, King uses the word our 4 times in his statement. Exactly who is he referring to? I don't get the impression that the "our" is all inclusive. More like all elusive with the exception of a selected few.

But King decided to shift the blame on others, such as Ramos, arguing that they were "celebrating" the success of a plan to make whites a majority-minority. Because, of course that would be the absolute worse thing in the world........

"Their effort here is to be celebrating because the United States is moving towards becoming, the whites becoming a minority, a majority-minority within the country according to what their plan is," he said.

King concluded the interview by recommending that listeners read the novel, "The Camp of the Saints," by French author Jean Raspail, a book about Europe being overcome by immigrants which has also frequently been referenced by top Trump adviser Steve Bannon. The book has been criticized as presenting a racist view of immigration.

What King and those of his ilk often choose to ignore is the fact that most of the U.S. population is made up of people whose ancestors came here from other countries. Some were kidnapped, and brought here in chains, and others were immigrants. But the fact of the matter is, none of us are really Native American's, and no matter how often King and people like him seek to confuse the American people with alternative facts, the truth is still the truth.

PR

Moron's Threaten Black Children At Birthday Party

In Douglaston, Georgia, a sick white man and a sick white woman who were among a large group of people waving Confederate flags and threatening violence at a black child’s birthday party in 2015 have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Jose Ismael Torres, 26, and Kayla Rae Norton, 25, were part of a group of 15 people who disrupted the 8-year-old’s party in Douglasville in July 2015, less than a month after white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine African-Americans at a historic black church in South Carolina.

Roof brandished Confederate flags in several photographs that came to light soon after his arrest and had said he intended to start a race war with the killings.

Torres and Norton were found guilty Monday of yelling racial slurs and threatening to kill partygoers, even the kids. At one point, Torres aimed a shotgun at the party, prosecutors said.

Torres was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Norton received six years, according to local media sources.

They were among four people in the group charged with felonies. The other two pleaded guilty and are serving shorter prison sentences.

Torres and Norton cried like babies as the sentences were handed down.

“Their actions were motivated by racial hatred,” said Superior Court Judge William McClain.

The judge ordered the two permanently banished from Douglas County once they are released.

“This is behavior that even supporters of the Confederate battle flag can agree is criminal and shouldn’t be allowed,” Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner said in a statement.

Norton was sentenced on one count of violating Georgia’s street gang act and one count of making terroristic threats. Torres was sentenced on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of terroristic threats and one count of violating the street gang act.

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News: The Black History Edition

This story blew my mind, and made my day!

In 1886, Ex-slave, Amanda Eubanks, was left millions in the will of her former master. In June of that year, the Georgia State Supreme Court sustained the will of the late David Dickson, making Amanda Eubanks the wealthiest Negro in America. Mr. Dickson, a former slaveholder, willed more than half a million dollars to Ms. Eubanks. White relatives of his had contested the will, on the grounds that it was illegal for a white man to leave property to his black illegitimate children.

The iconic cartoon character Betty Boop was inspired by a Black jazz singer in Harlem. Introduced by cartoonist Max Fleischer in 1930, the caricature of the jazz age flapper was the first and most famous sex symbol in animation. Betty Boop is best known for her revealing dress, curvaceous figure, and signature vocals “Boop Oop A Doop!” While there has been controversy over the years, the inspiration has been traced back to Esther Jones who was known as “Baby Esther” and performed regularly in the Cotton Club during the 1920s.

Baby Esther’s trademark vocal style of using “boops” and other childlike scat sounds attracted the attention of actress Helen Kane during a performance in the late 1920s. After seeing Baby Esther, Helen Kane adopted her style and began using “boops” in her songs as well. Finding fame early on, Helen Kane often included this “baby style” into her music. When Betty Boop was introduced, Kane promptly sued Fleischer and Paramount Publix Corporation stating they were using her image and style. However video evidence came to light of Baby Esther performing in a nightclub and the courts ruled against Helen Kane stating she did not have exclusive rights to the “booping” style or image, and that the style, in fact, pre-dated her.

Baby Esther’s “baby style” did little to bring her mainstream fame and she died in relative obscurity but a piece of her lives on in the iconic character Betty Boop. 

The first licensed African American Female pilot was named Bessie Coleman.

Born in Atlanta, Texas in 1892, Bessie Coleman grew up in a world of harsh poverty, discrimination and segregation. She moved to Chicago at 23 to seek her fortune, but found little opportunity there as well. Wild tales of flying exploits from returning WWI soldiers first inspired her to explore aviation, but she faced a double stigma in that dream being both African American and a woman.

She set her sights on France in order to reach her dreams and began studying French. In 1920, Coleman crossed the ocean with all of her savings and the financial support of Robert Abbott, one of the first African American millionaires. Over the next seven months, she learned to fly and in June of 1921, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale awarded her an international pilot's license. Wildly celebrated upon her return to the United States, reporters turned out in droves to greet her.

Coleman performed at numerous airshows over the next five years, performing heart thrilling stunts, encouraging other African Americans to pursue flying, and refusing to perform where Blacks were not admitted. When she tragically died in a plane accident in 1926, famous writer and equal rights advocate Ida B. Wells presided over her funeral. An editorial in the "Dallas Express" stated, "There is reason to believe that the general public did not completely sense the size of her contribution to the achievements of the race as such." 

PR

Little Cesar's Founder Paid Rosa Parks Rent

This is truly a "just when you thought you heard it all news" story. 

Perhaps the most sincere form of benevolence is that which is not made known. No gifts for glory, and no charity for recognition. Just giving to those who deserve to be given to. 

Those who knew Mike Ilitch, the Little Caesars founder and Detroit Tigers owner who died last Friday, have spent the past few days fondly remembering his impact on friends, on Detroit residents, and on the sports community.

Ilitch also had an impact on the daily life of one of the most iconic figures from the civil rights movement.

For more than a decade, Ilitch had quietly paid for Rosa Parks' apartment in downtown Detroit.

That story came to light thanks to Damon Keith, a Detroit native and federal judge.

"They don't go around saying it, but I want to, at this point, let them know, how much the Ilitches not only meant to the city, but they meant so much for Rosa Parks, who was the mother of the civil rights movement," Keith told WXYZ.

Shortly after her famed defiance of segregation sparked the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, Parks moved to Detroit and became an important presence in the city for years afterward.

But in 1994, Parks was robbed and assaulted in her home at the age of 81.

Keith, himself an important legal figure in the civil rights movement, worked to find Parks a new, safer apartment at the Riverfront Apartments in Detroit

Ilitch read the story in the newspaper and called Keith, offering to pay for Parks' housing indefinitely. With no fanfare, Ilitch continued paying for the apartment until Parks died in 2005, Keith said.

The entire episode was made public in 2014. Keith even showed the reporter a copy of a 1994 check for $2,000 from Little Caesars Enterprises to Riverfront Apartments.

It has taken on a new life in light of Litches death last week.

Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley posted on Facebook a link to an article on the subject on Friday. "It will give you a sense of the kind of man Mike Ilitch was," he wrote.

The Parks' donation further shows Ilitch's commitment to Detroit, where he was born and raised. Ilitch established Little Caesars headquarters there, owned the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings, and helped usher in a new era for the city.

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (2-11-2017)

A little girl in Georgia called 911 to report her father as a drunk driver.

The dispatcher tried to get the location of the girl and her father, but the 9-year-old was so upset she had trouble communicating.

Dispatcher: "Are you in the car with him?"
Little girl: "Yes, and he's driving really (fast), and I think I'm going to get into a wreck and kill myself."

The girl and her father eventually ended up at her grandparents' home, and police followed.

Authorities said her father "hacked" his breathalyzer device installed in his car in order to drive. He was arrested.

A mother is hoping police press charges against a daycare worker she says was caught on surveillance video breastfeeding her child without her permission.

Kaycee Oxendine recorded video from the security footage inside Carrboro Early School on Friday that shows a woman adjusting her top and bringing Oxendine's 3-month-old son to her chest to breastfeed him.

Oxendine works at the daycare as a pre-kindergarten teacher. On Friday, she said her son's teacher told her he was constipated. When another woman working in the nursery that day asked Oxendine if she could breastfeed the boy to see whether it would help, Oxendine told her no, twice.

"She said that she had a son and did I want her to put my child to her breast and breastfeed?" Oxendine recalled. "And I said no, that's nasty. We don't do things like that."

Oxendine said moments after she left the room, video shows the daycare worker picking up her baby and breastfeeding him for several seconds. The woman stopped when another worker who was in the room at the time, stood up to leave.

"As a mom, you've taken something from me, because I wasn't able to defend my child," Oxendine said. "I wasn't there."

The daycare director, Daron Council, told ABC11 that an employee reported what happened and that the worker who did the breastfeeding is no longer there. He said she usually worked at the Orange Chatham Early School, was licensed, and had been working in childcare for more than a decade.

Oxendine said the woman was fired on Friday, but she wants her to face criminal charges.

Later Friday evening, Oxendine rushed her baby to UNC Hospital because she said he became ill and was throwing up.

Her son was born prematurely, is lactose intolerant and can't have any milk products.

"To me, a criminal act was committed against him," she said. "Not only did you put your breast to my son, you also made my son sick because he's lactose intolerant. So you've put something in his body that his body can't digest."

Records show the North Carolina Dept. Of Health and Human Services inspected both Carrboro and Orange Chatham Early Schools in October and November of last year. Both facilities received superior classifications.

Council said nothing like this had ever happened in one of the facilities. He said as soon as he found out what happened Friday, he reported it to DHHS and informed parents of the children who were under the woman's care that day.

"He's done everything in his power that he can do so I'm not angry at the director," Oxendine said. "I'm not angry at the childcare center. I'm very angry at the employee. I do hope that there's justice for my son."

Carrboro police said they were investigating the incident as misdemeanor child abuse. So far, no charges have been filed.

A psycho Boston-area man wanted a world record and, by gosh, he nailed it  by pounding 38 nails into a board with his skull in under two minutes.

Scratching your head at how Ferraro is able to do that? His skull is more than twice as thick as the average human’s  16 millimeters in thickness compared to an average of 6.5, according to the Daily Mail.

Ferraro discovered he was thickheaded when he was a kid and went head-first through a wooden door while chasing his brother, according to Guinness.

When Ferraro isn’t banging his head against nails for glory, he works as a professional wrestler under the name “Gino Martino.”

PR