From New York City to Portland, Oregon, officials consider regulating how government and private businesses deploy the technology.
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Friday, October 11, 2019
Student activists at USC want John Wayne display removed after racist interview resurfaces
Actor John Wayne’s racist statements from the past are coming back to haunt his legacy.
Students at the University of Southern California are demanding that the Easy Rider actor’s exhibit honoring him, be removed after Wayne’s Playboy magazine interview from 1971 started making rounds again.
Wayne was 63 when he gave the interview, and it is filled with rather racist thoughts coupled with his strong beliefs in white supremacy and bigoted notions about how he felt about people of color and gay people, The Independent reports.
READ MORE: N.C. schools investigated after Black student uncovers racist group chat
Wayne suggested that there’s empirical evidence that Black folks aren’t capable of developing the same level of smarts as our white counterparts:
“The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the Blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically. But some Blacks have tried to force the issue and enter college when they haven’t passed the tests and don’t have the requisite background.”
The interviewer asks Wayne if systemic inequalities can be fixed without governmental advantages provided to minorities, to which he responds: “I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves. Now, I’m not condoning slavery. It’s just a fact of life… I think any Black who can compete with a white today can get a better break than a white man. I wish they’d tell me where in the world they have it better than right here in America.”
He was also quoted saying flatly: “I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.”
Wayne also didn’t mince words when he asserted, “I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them, [Native Americans]. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival.”
READ MORE: Kavanaugh calls out racism on the first day of the new Supreme Court term
He stated that there were “great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves”.
Student activists are demanding the removal of his posters and memorabilia honoring him that have been on display since 2011.
They have stated it needs to be removed because of Wayne’s “legacy of endorsing white supremacy and the removal of indigenous people.”
The students’ have also rallied to have the name of Orange County’s John Wayne Airport changed.
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Judge Tammy Kemp explains actions of Black bailiff who appeared to primp Amber Guyger in court
Judge Tammy Kemp who made headlines for hugging convicted murderer Amber Guyger and handing her a Bible in the high-profile case, appeared on the Tamron Hall Show and defended her actions, saying it wasn’t as unorthodox as people perceived it to be.
READ MORE: Judge says she couldn’t refuse convicted ex-cop Amber Guyger a hug in the courtroom
Kemp presided over the case involving Guyger who shot and killed an unarmed Black man, Botham Jean. Kemp said after she urged Guyger to give her life to the Lord, the former Dallas cop then told her she didn’t know where to start and didn’t even have a Bible, so Kemp said she offered hers.
“[Amber] said, ‘Do you think God will forgive me? … I don’t even have a Bible, I don’t own a Bible, I don’t know where to begin,'” the judge recalled. “In that moment I didn’t want to lose Amber Guyger and so I said, ‘Hold on, I’ll get you a Bible.'”
Kemp then went into her chambers and grabbed her book to give to Guyger.
“You can have [my Bible]. I have three or four more at home,” Kemp said to Guyger in the courtroom. “This is your job for the next month. Right here, John 3:16.”
That controversial move even prompted The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a secular Wisconsin-based organization, to file a formal complaint against Kemp. The group is asking for a judge to launch a misconduct investigation.
Tamron Hall asked about her actions: “But does it get confusing when a judge behaves that way? In that, you are there for the law, not for religion,” Hall asked.
“No, I was not there for the law. My legal duties had been concluded,” Kemp said.
“Well, it’s not as though I said, ‘Ms. Guyger, you need a Bible,’” Kemp explained. “It was at [Amber’s] request.”
Kemp also hugged Guyger which caused outrage online by many. Others applauded the judge for showing compassion. She defended the hug saying it’s something she often does after a verdict is read. She said she also hugged members of Jean’s family.
Still, she said while she hasn’t read the barrage of “brutal” comments thrown her way, her family is deeply concerned.
“My family’s concerned [for my safety], but I am not.”
“My faith is strong. If God brings me to it, he’ll bring me through it,” an emotional Kemp said to audience applause. “This is one of the reasons I’m addressing the hug so that people will understand the sum total of what happened.”
READ MORE: Amber Guyger: Key witness in murder conviction slain outside home
Kemp also cleared up the widely circulated video of a bailiff in the courtroom touching Guyger’s hair, saying she actually was not primping and fixing Guyger’s hair. Instead she explained that Guyger was getting processed ahead of going to jail and the bailiff was charged with searching her hair to check for contraband.
“If you know anything about the jail, you gotta search every part of a person, including their hair, because we have people smuggle contraband and weapons in all manner of ways,” Kemp said.
“This is why we do this show. This moment went viral, this woman was mocked on social media, people said things about her — they referred to her [in ways] that were horrible,” Hall said. “They assaulted her on social media and she was doing her job.”
Griofam, are y’all sorry for dragging Kemp and the bailiff now that she has explained herself or nah?
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Mathew Knowles encouraged daughters Beyoncé and Solange to get BRCA gene cancer testing after his breast cancer diagnosis
Mathew Knowles recently revealed that he was diagnosed with breast cancer and like any concerned parent, he immediately urged his superstar daughters, Beyoncé and Solange, to get genetic testing.
READ MORE: Beyonce’s dad, Mathew Knowles reveals he has breast cancer
Knowles battled with breast cancer and underwent chemotherapy after a shocking diagnosis back in July. One of the first things Knowles, 67, said he did was share the news with Beyoncé and Solange Knowles and encouraged them to get BRCA genetic testing.
The BRCA test is designed to detect if a gene exists that is more likely to develop into
According to BRCA Aware, “BRCA stands for BReast CAncer susceptibility gene. Mutations in the BRCA gene are associated with breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic cancer. Women with a BRCA1 mutation have up to a 39% chance of developing ovarian cancer by age 70.”
The test will work to identify if a person had a BRCA mutation, that makes them at a higher risk of developing cancer.
Knowles told PEOPLE he first noticed he was bleeding from his nipple when blood specks appeared on a T-Shirt – a tell-tale sign of breast cancer.
“My initial reaction was maybe I worked out too hard,” he says. “Then I thought, maybe it’s some kind of reaction to my medication.”
But as he kept bleeding over a few days, he said: “That’s when I knew I should go to the doctor,” he said.
From there he got testing and tested positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation.
Knowles said “Beyoncé and Solange have an increased risk” because the BRCA can be inherited.
“They have an exceptional team, and they’ve gone through precautionary measures,” Knowles said.
“They have taken care of that, (the BRCA testing) it’s simple testing,” he says. “And they’re moving on.”
After Knowles received a mammogram, he soon learned he had stage 1A breast cancer.
“I had no pain whatsoever,” he says. “It wasn’t like I had discoloration — nothing. Thankfully I had this dot of blood coming out and thankfully I wore white T-shirts. If I didn’t wear white T-shirts, then I might not have noticed.”
Knowles said after he learned of his diagnosis at his doctor’s office with his wife, Gena Charmaine Avery by his side, he said he called his ex-wife Tina Knowles to tell her.
The diagnosis, Knowles said is something he had never imagined hearing, but admits his family has a history of it. Breast cancer affects some 1 in 800 men.
READ MORE: Mathew Knowles says Beyoncé wouldn’t be as successful if she was a dark skin Black woman
After his treatment, Knowles reports that he is cancer-free.
“There’s always a risk it will come back,” he says. “But today I am cancer-free. It just requires me, on a six-month basis, to go to a get an early detection [screening] for my prostate, pancreas, melanoma and breast cancer. If that’s the only price I have to pay — every six months spend a day in my life to be inconvenienced to take exams — then I’m very grateful for that.”
“It’s all about early detection,” he says. “The earlier you detect, the better your outcome will be.”
Knowles who spoke out recently on Good Morning America said he wants to spread the word so men feel comfortable getting tested.
“I wanted to take away the stigma of shame — the stigma that men have to be tough,” he says. “And then I hope I have the opportunity to talk to the heads of the American Cancer Society at some point to voice my feedback, because what I’m hearing is that men actually prefer — regardless if it’s the medically correct term — [to call this] ‘chest cancer.’ That’s the word men often use for that area of our body, our chest. I think if we did that, we would have a lot more men go and get exams.”
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Kevin Hart’s car crash investigation completed, driver error cited as cause
The verdict is in involving the car crash that resulted in Kevin Hart’s critical back fracture and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) concluded that the actor wasn’t wearing a seat belt.
READ MORE: Docs give Kevin Hart greenlight to return to work to promote ‘Jumanji’ movie
In fact, the CHP has finished its investigation of the horrific car crash in Calabasas Sept. 1 and determined that none of the three in the car were wearing seatbelts when Hart’s 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, driven by Jared Black, plummeted off the side of the road into an embankment.
Rebecca Broxterman, another passenger reportedly had minor injuries.
“There were fold and crease marks on the belt surfaces consistent with being folded and tucked into the seats and no indicators of occupant loading were present,” the report says, Yahoo reports.
If Hart and the passengers argue that the belts were worn, the reports still uncovered an error. If the seatbelts were worn, the report states they were on “improperly due to excessive slack in the belts.”
As previously reported, the comedian suffered major injuries to his back in the wreck of a classic car he had recently purchased for himself. During the accident, Hart received three spinal fractures that required fusions surgery.
TMZ reported that Hart could be suing the company that customized the car because it didn’t have safety harnesses.
The report determined that the crash happened due to driver error. Black lost control of the muscle car in Calabasas and reportedly accelerated around a bend off Mulholland Highway, which caused a tire to spin and lose traction and crash into a fence. Black was driving recklessly, the report states.
The car then slid down an embankment and slammed into a tree, according to the report. The car also flipped up and the roof of the car hit the tree before slamming back down, the report states.
Hart has spoken out through his lawyer, tell Yahoo: “I have nothing but love for Jared and wish him and Rebecca a speedy recovery.”
READ MORE: Let’s discuss why Kevin Hart gaslighting Lil Nas X is so infuriating
Hart recently got his doctor’s approval to go back to work and talk about his new movie Jumanji: The Next Level. He plans to go on a media blitz joining Dwayne Johnson and Danny DeVito.
But according to a source, Hart will have a reduced work schedule which is understandable given that he had major back surgery to fix fractures in his spine following the car crash.
A source said Hart is “nowhere near 100 percent yet,” but “is committed to fulfilling his commitments as best as he can.”
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Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed wins Nobel peace prize
By ELIAS MESERET, CARA ANNA and GEIR MOULSON Associated Press
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 in recognition of his efforts to end his country’s two-decade border conflict with Eritrea.
The Norwegian Nobel Institute on Friday also praised the “important reforms” that Abiy, Ethiopia’s leader since April 2018, has launched at home. The prize comes as Abiy faces pressure to uphold the sweeping freedoms he introduced, and critics warn that his ability to deal with rising domestic unrest may be slipping.
The Nobel committee said some people may consider it too early to give him the prize, but “it is now that Abiy Ahmed’s efforts need recognition and deserve encouragement.”
The award, the 100th Nobel Peace Prize, reflects the committee’s taste for trying to encourage works in progress.
Abiy said he was “humbled and thrilled.”
In a call with the Nobel committee, he laid out his hope that the award will be taken “positively” by other African leaders “to work on (the) peacebuilding process on our continent.”
Abiy, 43, took office after widespread protests pressured the longtime ruling coalition and hurt one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Africa’s youngest leader quickly announced dramatic reforms and “Abiymania” began.
On taking office, Abiy surprised people by fully accepting a peace deal ending a 20-year border war between the two East African nations that saw tens of thousands of people killed. Ethiopia and Eritrea had not had diplomatic ties since the war began in 1998, with Abiy himself once fighting in a town that remained contested at the time of his announcement last year.
Within weeks, the visibly moved Eritrean president, Isaias Afwerki, visited Addis Ababa and communications and transport links were restored. For the first time in two decades, long-divided families made tearful reunions.
The improving relations led to the lifting of United Nations sanctions on Eritrea, one of the world’s most reclusive nations. But Ethiopia’s reforms do not appear to have inspired any in Eritrea, which has since closed border posts with its neighbor.
The Nobel committee also pointed to Abiy’s other efforts toward reconciliation in the region — between Eritrea and Djibouti, between Kenya and Somalia, and in Sudan.
Ethiopia is Africa’s second-largest country in terms of population with about 110 million people.
Eritrea, which has a population of about 4 million, gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. About 80,000 people died in a war between the two countries from 1998-2000.
The Nobel committee acknowledged that “peace does not arise from the actions of one party alone.”
It said that when Abiy “reached out his hand, President Afwerki grasped it, and helped to formalize the peace process between the two countries.”
It added that it “hopes the peace agreement will help to bring about positive change for the entire populations of Ethiopia and Eritrea.”
The government of Eritrea, still one of the world’s most closed-off nations, did not immediately comment but its ambassador to Japan tweeted congratulations, adding: “People of #Eritrea & #Ethiopia with blood, sweat & tears have won again over evil.”
Leaders elsewhere in Africa, including those of Liberia, Ghana and neighboring Somalia, responded with praise and encouragement. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he has often stated that “winds of hope are blowing ever stronger across Africa” and that Abiy was one of the main reasons why.
The U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia joined in the congratulations, noting the “incredible progress” made under Abiy.
At home, Abiy offered one political surprise after another. He released tens of thousands of prisoners, welcomed home once-banned opposition groups and acknowledged past abuses. People expressed themselves freely on social media, and he announced that Ethiopia would hold free and fair elections in 2020. The country has one of the world’s few “gender-balanced” Cabinets and a female president, a rarity in Africa.
And for the first time Ethiopia had no journalists in prison, media groups noted last year.
The new prime minister also announced the opening-up of Ethiopia’s tightly controlled economy, saying private investment would be welcome in major state-owned sectors — a process that continues slowly.
But while Abiy became a global darling, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, troubles arose at home.
A grenade was thrown at him during an appearance in the capital. A large group of soldiers confronted him in his office in what he called an attempt to derail his reforms. In a display of the brio that has won Abiy widespread admiration, the former military officer defused the situation by dropping to the floor and joining the troops in pushups.
More troubling these days are Ethiopia’s rising ethnic tensions, as people once stifled by repression now act on long-held grievances. Some 1,200 people have been killed and some 1.2 million displaced in the greatest challenge yet to Abiy’s rule. Some observers warn that the unrest will grow ahead of next year’s election.
The Nobel committee acknowledged that “many challenges remain unresolved.”
Amnesty International secretary Kumi Naidoo said the award should “push and motivate (Abiy) to tackle the outstanding human rights challenges that threaten to reverse the gains made so far.”
“He must urgently ensure that his government addresses the ongoing ethnic tensions that threaten instability and further human rights abuses,” Naidoo said.
Abiy had been among the favorites for this year’s prize in the run-up to Friday’s announcement, though winners are notoriously hard to predict. The Nobel committee doesn’t reveal the names of candidates or nominations for 50 years.
The committee has in the past used its prestigious award to nudge a peace process forward and Friday’s recognition of Abiy falls into that line of thinking.
“The committee want to be actors. They want to make decisive interventions because the world listens to their opinion, Nobel historian Oeivind Stenersen said. “There have been laureates such as (Jose Ramos) Horta in East Timor who have said that the prize was crucial in the process. The committee will hope to emulate that.”
Since 1901, 99 Nobel Peace Prizes have been handed out, to individuals and 24 organizations. While the other prizes are announced in Stockholm, the peace prize is awarded in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
So far this week, 11 Nobel laureates have been named. The others received their awards for their achievements in medicine , physics , chemistry and literature . There were two literature laureates, Poland’s Olga Tokarczuk and Austria’s Peter Handke, after no prize was awarded last year due to sex abuse allegations that rocked the Swedish Academy.
With the glory comes a 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma. Even though the peace prize is awarded in Norway, the amount is denominated in Swedish kronor.
___
Read more stories on the 2019 Nobel Prizes by The Associated Press at https://ift.tt/31TaQwv
___
Anna reported from Johannesburg and Moulson reported from Berlin. Mark Lewis in Oslo, Norway and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark also contributed.
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Gadget Lab Podcast: Put Down Your Phone
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Thursday, October 10, 2019
Robots help patients manage chronic illness at home
The Mabu robot, with its small yellow body and friendly expression, serves, literally, as the face of the care management startup Catalia Health. The most innovative part of the company’s solution, however, lies behind Mabu’s large blue eyes.
Catalia Health’s software incorporates expertise in psychology, artificial intelligence, and medical treatment plans to help patients manage their chronic conditions. The result is a sophisticated robot companion that uses daily conversations to give patients tips, medication reminders, and information on their condition while relaying relevant data to care providers. The information exchange can also take place on patients’ mobile phones.
“Ultimately, what we’re building are care management programs to help patients in particular disease states,” says Catalia Health founder and CEO Cory Kidd SM ’03, PhD ’08. “A lot of that is getting information back to the people providing care. We’re helping them scale up their efforts to interact with every patient more frequently.”
Heart failure patients first brought Mabu into their homes about a year and a half ago as part of a partnership with the health care provider Kaiser Permanente, who pays for the service. Since then, Catalia Health has also partnered with health care systems and pharmaceutical companies to help patients dealing with conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and kidney cancer.
Treatment plans for chronic diseases can be challenging for patients to manage consistently, and many people don’t follow them as prescribed. Kidd says Mabu’s daily conversations help not only patients, but also human care givers as they make treatment decisions using data collected by their robot counterpart.
Robotics for change
Kidd was a student and faculty member at Georgia Tech before coming to MIT for his master’s degree in 2001. His work focused on addressing problems in health care caused by an aging population and an increase in the number of people managing chronic diseases.
“The way we deliver health care doesn’t scale to the needs we have, so I was looking for technologies that might help with that,” Kidd says.
Many studies have found that communicating with someone in person, as opposed to over the phone or online, makes that person appear more trustworthy, engaging, and likeable. At MIT, Kidd conducted studies aimed at understanding if those findings translated to robots.
“What I found was when we used an interactive robot that you could look in the eye and share the same physical space with, you got the same psychological effects as face-to-face interaction,” Kidd says.
As part of his PhD in the Media Lab’s Media Arts and Sciences program, Kidd tested that finding in a randomized, controlled trial with patients in a diabetes and weight management program at the Boston University Medical Center. A portion of the patients were given a robotic weight-loss coach to take home, while another group used a computer running the same software. The tabletop robot conducted regular check ups and offered tips on maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle. Patients who received the robot were much more likely to stick with the weight loss program.
Upon finishing his PhD in 2007, Kidd immediately sought to apply his research by starting the company Intuitive Automata to help people manage their diabetes using robot coaches. Even as he pursued the idea, though, Kidd says he knew it was too early to be introducing such sophisticated technology to a health care industry that, at the time, was still adjusting to electronic health records.
Intuitive Automata ultimately wasn’t a major commercial success, but it did help Kidd understand the health care sector at a much deeper level as he worked to sell the diabetes and weight management programs to providers, pharmaceutical companies, insurers, and patients.
“I was able to build a big network across the industry and understand how these people think about challenges in health care,” Kidd says. “It let me see how different entities think about how they fit in the health care ecosystem.”
Since then, Kidd has watched the costs associated with robotics and computing plummet. Many people have also enthusiastically adopted computer assistance like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. Finally, Kidd says members of the health care industry have developed an appreciation for technology’s potential to complement traditional methods of care.
“The common ways [care is delivered] on the provider side is by bringing patients to the doctor’s office or hospital,” Kidd explains. “Then on the pharma side, it’s call center-based. In the middle of these is the home visitation model. They’re all very human powered. If you want to help twice as many patients, you hire twice as many people. There’s no way around that.”
In the summer of 2014, he founded Catalia Health to help patients with chronic conditions at scale.
“It’s very exciting because I’ve seen how well this can work with patients,” Kidd says of the company’s potential. “The biggest challenge with the early studies was that, in the end, the patients didn’t want to give the robots back. From my perspective, that’s one of the things that shows this really does work.”
Mabu makes friends
Catalia Health uses artificial intelligence to help Mabu learn about each patient through daily conversations, which vary in length depending on the patient’s answers.
“A lot of conversations start off with ‘How are you feeling?’ similar to what a doctor or nurse might ask,” Kidd explains. “From there, it might go off in many directions. There are a few things doctors or nurses would ask if they could talk to these patients every day.”
For example, Mabu would ask heart failure patients how they are feeling, if they have shortness of breath, and about their weight.
“Based on patients’ answers, Mabu might say ‘You might want to call your doctor,’ or ‘I’ll send them this information,’ or ‘Let’s check in tomorrow,’” Kidd says.
Last year, Catalia Health announced a collaboration with the American Heart Association that has allowed Mabu to deliver the association’s guidelines for patients living with heart failure.
“A patient might say ‘I’m feeling terrible today’ and Mabu might ask ‘Is it one of these symptoms a lot of people with your condition deal with?’ We’re trying to get down to whether it’s the disease or the drug. When that happens, we do two things: Mabu has a lot of information about problems a patient might be dealing with, so she’s able to give quick feedback. Simultaneously, she’s sending that information to a clinician — a doctor, nurse, or pharmacists — whoever’s providing care.”
In addition to health care providers, Catalia also partners with pharmaceutical companies. In each case, patients pay nothing out of pocket for their robot companions. Although the data Catalia Health sends pharmaceutical companies is completely anonymized, it can help them follow their treatment’s effects on patients in real time and better understand the patient experience.
Details about many of Catalia Health’s partnerships have not been disclosed, but the company did announce a collaboration with Pfizer last month to test the impact of Mabu on patient treatment plans.
Over the next year, Kidd hopes to add to the company’s list of partnerships and help patients dealing a wider swath of diseases. Regardless of how fast Catalia Health scales, he says the service it provides will not diminish as Mabu brings its trademark attentiveness and growing knowledge base to every conversation.
“In a clinical setting, if we talk about a doctor with good bedside manner, we don’t mean that he or she has more clinical knowledge than the next person, we simply mean they’re better at connecting with patients,” Kidd says. “I’ve looked at the psychology behind that — what does it mean to be able to do that? — and turned that into the algorithms we use to help create conversations with patients.”
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8-year-old Black girl held at gunpoint on school playground
This week, an 8-year-old girl in Atlanta was held at gunpoint while on her school’s playground. Now authorities are looking to identify the armed man who attempted to abduct her.
According to a local FOX affiliate, Deerwood Academy student Bailey Hudson was playing outside during recess when she was attacked by the unknown assailant. Because there is no fence around the jungle gym that faces Fairburn Road, the young girl says a man was able to scurry across the grass and grabbed her neck.
READ MORE: Washington, DC votes to change ‘Columbus Day’ to ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day’
“The man, he walked up to me, he pulled my shirt, started choking me, and while he was choking me, his gun fell out of his pocket and he pointed it at my face,” recalls the third grader.
Hudson fought back but admits, “I was very scared. I tried to scream, but he was choking me so I couldn’t.”
Fortunately for the child, only a few moments later a teacher blew a whistle to signal that recess had ended. Sensing his window of opportunity had passed, the man ran off, and Hudson passed out.
The child was taken back to class by school employees and when her mother was informed of the incident she was understandably shaken.
“Just being my age, I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said the child’s mother Shayna Huff. “And she’s so young and she’s experienced this. Especially at school on the playground–that’s the last place you’d think someone would approach you,” said Huff.
READ MORE: Montgomery, cradle of the Civil Rights movement, elects first Black mayor
Atlanta Public Schools Police Department spokesperson, Ian Smith, has since released this statement regarding the attack stating, “The Atlanta Public Schools Police Department is investigating an allegation made by a student that a man with a gun attempted to abduct the student from the playground at Deerwood Academy, Monday afternoon. Out of an abundance of caution, after the incident was reported to school staff, students were immediately evacuated from the playground, and the entire school was placed on lockdown until police were able to assess the situation. The student who reported the incident was examined and cleared by the school nurse. The safety and security of students and staff is a top priority in APS.”
However, Carlos Campos from the Atlanta Police Department released a statement of his own stating that although his officers were called to the scene later in the day, the school did not react with the sense of urgency that was required.
“This is an incredibly disturbing incident and once we learned about it, the department immediately begin mobilizing resources to assist Atlanta Public Schools Police,” read Campos’ statement. “We are disappointed, however, to have been notified about the incident late Monday by APS more than four hours after it took place. The incident took place at 1:40 p.m. and we were notified shortly before 6 p.m. We believe there were numerous measures that should have been taken during that time period to protect children in the area from further incidents and to immediately launch a search for the suspect.”
The child’s mother agrees, opining, “The ball has been dropped, and I’m very disappointed all the way around.”
Despite the glaring oversights about how quickly authorities needed to be called in, her continues, assuring the community that APD, “quickly developed an action plan once notified and have stepped up patrols in the area and assigned some discretionary units to aid in the search for this dangerous suspect. We also have investigators looking at the possibility that Monday’s incident is related to an incident on October 2 when a naked man wearing a Power Rangers mask entered an apartment on Fairburn Road and committed a lewd act in the presence of a 14-year-old girl. A connection has not been made, but the incidents were a little more than a mile apart.”
Police say they are stepping up patrols in the vicinity of the incident while they search for the attacker.
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Braves fans taunt Native American pitcher with ‘tomahawk chop’ but karma struck back
On Wednesday night, Atlanta Braves fans showed a display of disrespect by continuing to do the tomahawk chop despite a Native-American pitcher saying he’s offended by the gesture.
—Washington, DC votes to change ‘Columbus Day’ to ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day’—
The Braves agreed not to distribute foam tomahawks based on a complaint made by St. Louis Cardinals rookie pitcher Ryan Helsley who is Cherokee. On Friday Helsey criticized sports teams, the Braves and the Washington Redskins saying he disliked how they use indigenous people as mascots.
“I think it’s a misrepresentation of the Cherokee people or Native Americans in general, just depicts them in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren’t intellectual,” Helsley told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“It’s not me being offended by the whole mascot thing. It’s not. It’s about the misconception of us, the Native Americans, and it devalues us and how we’re perceived in that way, or used as mascots.”
“Out of respect for the concerns expressed by Mr. Helsley, we will take several efforts to reduce the Tomahawk Chop during our in-ballpark presentation today,” the Braves team said in a statement reported by WSB-TV.
“We will continue to evaluate how we activate elements of our brand, as well as the overall in-game experience. We look forward to a continued dialogue with those in the Native American community after the postseason concludes.”
However, Atlanta fans still performed the chop and yelled out the battle cry despite the Braves organization’s attempt to halt the game ritual.
But karma had other plans, as Helsley and the Cardinals sent the Atlanta fans home with their tails tucked between their legs after whooping their team in their home stadium 13-1.
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Cuba Gooding Jr. charged with new crime in sexual assault case
Back in June, Cuba Gooding Jr. was accused of touching a woman’s breast without consent at a swanky Manhattan nightclub and now, according to TMZ, the actor is facing an additional charge.
Gooding was in court this morning about the initial charges of misdemeanor forcible touching and one count of sexual abuse in the third degree. But reportedly, the district attorney dropped a bombshell in court, telling the judge that there is a new charge stemming from an additional incident.
As of press time, it was unclear whether this new incident involved the same accuser or if it occurred on the same night.
Previously, the actor’s reps have vigorously denied the claims of the initial accuser. Gooding’s attorney Mark Heller went so far as to create a #NotMe hashtag, his take on the powerful #MeToo movement.
This past August, Judge Phyllis Chu refused to drop the misdemeanor forcible touching and sex abuse charges against Gooding Jr. for allegedly squeezing a woman’s breasts inside the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar. Gooding Jr’s team filed a motion asking for the charge to be dismissed, Page Six reports.
The judge wrote in her decision Gooding hasn’t proved why the case shouldn’t move forward.
“The court finds the defendant has failed to meet his burden of setting forth compelling reasons to warrant dismissal.”
Heller contended that the accuser has “certain mental characteristics” that make it more likely for her to fudge the truth.
And it hasn’t helped that the accuser wrote on Facebook previously her “brain was one big fat mess…Some people are scared of others and want nothing more to be invisible. I am not that type of person. I am starving to be seen.”
Gooding Jr’s attorney says that he has activated the “Not Me Movement” in response.
“After fifty years of defending innocent, falsely accused and unfairly prosecuted defendants, I am igniting the ‘Not Me Movement’ (#NotMe).’ ”
Heller has been scolded by Manhattan prosecutors for victim shaming and the actor has maintained his innocence.
Reportedly, Gooding will be arraigned on the new charge next week.
The post Cuba Gooding Jr. charged with new crime in sexual assault case appeared first on theGrio.
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Rihanna Put Principles Before Paycheck; Turned Down Super Bowl Because She’s With Kaep
Rihanna is calling the shots, shots, shots. And putting her money where her morals are. According to Vogue, Robyn ‘Rihanna’ Fenty declined an offer to perform at the National Football League’s Super Bowl halftime show last year.
Vogue’s Abby Aguirre asks Rihanna if it’s true that she turned down the Super Bowl halftime show in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. “Absolutely,” she says. “I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
Kaepernick had played in and started Super Bowl XLVII for the San Francisco 49ers in 2013. He ended up losing his job and shortly after taking a knee during the national anthem to protest racial injustice in America. He has not played in an NFL game since 2016. In May 2018, he and former teammate Eric Reid filed a collusion grievance with the NFL and settled out of court. Reid signed a contract with the Carolina Panthers and is currently playing.
In the article, Rihanna didn’t mince any words about the president of the United States regarding his racist views and mental state. “It is devastating,” she says. “People are being murdered by war weapons that they legally purchase. This is just not normal. That should never, ever be normal. And the fact that it’s classified as something different because of the color of their skin? It’s a slap in the face. It’s completely racist.”
She goes on: “Put an Arab man with that same weapon in that same Walmart and there is no way that Trump would sit there and address it publicly as a mental health problem. The most mentally ill human being in America right now seems to be the president.”
Recently, the Bajan singer has secured $50 million in new funds from investors for her celebrity fashion line, Savage X Fenty. It was reported by Forbes earlier this year that Rihanna is reportedly worth $600 million, which placed her as the wealthiest female musician.
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