- So, about that whole eradicating racism
thing…..Mississippi need some help. Not known as the most forward-thinking
state in the union at any point since the Civil War, the Hospitality State now
has another incident of hate and bigotry from which it must recover. Thanks for
that fact goes to a former University of Mississippi student who has been
indicted on federal charges connected to a noose being put on a statue of the
student who integrated the school. Because of the whole hate crime angle, the
Justice Department is involved in the situation, which saw a noose and a former
Georgia flag that prominently featured the Confederate battle emblem placed on
the James Meredith statue on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford. Those who know the
state’s ugly history will recall that back in 1962, anti-integration protests
erupted into violence and Meredith had to be escorted by armed federal agents
as he enrolled under court order as the first black student at the university. Graeme
Phillip Harris of Alpharetta, Georgia, has been indicted on one count of
conspiracy to violate civil rights and one count of using a threat of force to
intimidate African-American students because of their race or color and the
Justice Department hit it on the nose in announcing his indictment. "This shameful
and ignorant act is an insult to all Americans and a violation of our most
strongly-held values," Attorney General Eric Holder. Pretty much, E. Harris
is a white hatemonger who was also an Ole Miss student when the noose was
placed on the statue and sadly, the man depicted in the statue is still alive
to see this awful act. "I think Mississippi is better than that. If it's
not better than that, it should be made better than that,” Meredith said of the
crime. Yes, it definitely should be………..
- Some professional athletes return to cities where they
used to play and receive warm receptions for all they did they and the
relationships they built within the community. Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter isn't really
the warm-and-fuzzy type and seems to prefer napalming the bridges behind him
rather than keeping a positive vibe for when he comes back to his old town. As
he returned to Salt Lake City to play against his former team, Kanter could not
wait to talk about how much he loves his new home and how miserable he was
playing for the Utah Jazz. "I love it," Kanter said. "It's a
team I've never experienced before and I actually like playing basketball
there. I'm just so comfortable and everything is in the right place. I'm just
really happy to be there. I think the difference is, I like playing basketball
there." What he doesn’t seem
to have loved is the people of Salt Lake City, who booed him lustily during
introductions and every time he touched the ball. Perhaps enjoying the role of
a villain, Kanter even egged on the crowd before the game and said after the
fact that he never really felt at home in Utah. "I didn't really care. I
like pressure, the boos didn't mean nothing to me," Kanter said. "It
was just a regular game. I never felt like I was a part of this thing, so it
was just a regular game. We came and we leave and that is it. I am not taking
nothing back." Wow…shots fired. Kanter delivered 18 points and 11 rebounds
in a 94-89 loss to the Jazz and has been an offensive stalwart for the
Thunder, so maybe a fresh start was truly what he needed……….
- Look at you Mexico, ahead of the curve and putting the
rest of the world’s industrial powers to shame by becoming the
first developing nation to submit pollutant reduction goals for next fall's Paris
climate change talks. As the nations prepare to get together in the City of
Lights and see all of the sights in between posh cocktail receptions and swanky
parties while occasionally finding time to address the subject matter that
(allegedly) will have brought them all together, Mexico is setting the pace by
pledging to cut greenhouse gas and black carbon emissions 25 percent by 2030.
That potentially hollow promise was hailed by tree huggers and foreign governments
alike and seeking to gravy train some of Mexico’s positive momentum, the United
States announced plans for the two countries to soon launch a "high-level
bilateral clean energy and climate change policy task force." That
two-nation wrecking crew will focus on "clean energy, grid modernizations,
appliance standards and energy efficiency" as well as more fuel-efficient
vehicle fleets. For those who don’t know, black carbon is essentially soot
produced by burning wood, dung, coal and some diesel fuels. Mexico isn't as big
a polluter as many of the countries that will take part in the Nov. 30-Dec. 11
climate conference in Paris, but perhaps setting the bar high will inspire the
bigger nations in the mix to adjust their aim and try to mitigate their substantial
impact on our collective ecosystem………
- An animated alien can be a recipe for box office success
and for “Home,” it was a winner in the film’s debut to the tune of $54 million.
That leaves it well short of its $135 million budget, but there’s still time.
The news was better for Will Ferrell’s largely panned “Get Hard,” which rode a
wave of ridiculousness to an impressive $34.6 million debut and with a $40
million budget, it’s well on its way to profitability. “The Divergent Series: Insurgent”
fell two spots to third place in its second weekend of release, adding $22.1
million to its domestic haul for a running total of $86.4 million. It was a
banner third week for “Cinderella,” which added a fourth-place finish and $17.5
million to its resume and has banked a whopping $150 million and counting. The
biggest jump of the week belonged to “It Follows,” which rose 14 spots to fifth
place with $4 million and has done $4.8 million in business in three weeks of über-limited
release. “Kingsman: The Secret Service” claimed sixth place this time around
and after accruing another $3 million, the action flick has a total of $119.4
million in seven weeks domestically. The fall was four spots for “Run All Night”
in its third week of release, with a $2.3 million haul taking its unimpressive
tally to $23.8 million. Eighth place went to “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,”
which snared $2.2 million and has nearly tripled its $10 million budget with
$28.1 million in domestic money in a month in theaters. “Do You Believe?” found
enough believers for a $2.1 million second weekend and $7 million in cumulative
domestic earnings. The final top 10 spot went to “The Gunman” with $2 million
and the wildly disappointing flick has a mere $8.8 million in two terrible
weeks. “Focus” (No. 11) and “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” (No. 14)
both lost their top spots from last week………
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