Month: May 2013

Categories
basketball Sports twitter

Nike “You Showed Us”

The day after Kobe Bryant went down with his torn Achilles Tendon, Nike launched an ad titled “You Showed Us” in a local LA newspaper

“You Showed Us That An 18-Year-Old Could Play With The Best.

You Showed Us That A ChampionShip, An Exhibition Game And A Charity Event Are All Must-Wins.

You Showed Us How To Play Chess While Others Played Checkers.

You Showed Us How To Hit Game-Winner After Game-Winner.

You Showed Us That An 81-Point Game Is A Real Thing.

You Showed Us That Gold Still Matters.

You Showed Us How To Take An Ice Bath.

You Showed Us How To Score 30 Points In a Quarter, Twice.

You Showed Us The Mamba Face.

You Showed Us How To Demand Perfection And Demand It From Everyone.

You Showed Us How To Put Big-Boy Pants On.
You Showed Us That You Were Never Out Of It. Ever.

You Showed Us How Inspirational A Pair Of Free Throws Could Be.

 

Now, Show Us Again.”

The ad surprised Bryant, he responded to Nike on his Twitter by saying:

“Thank you @nike for this surprise spread in the paper this am. It touched me beyond words. #showuIwill instagram.com/p/YX3oQxxNr8/

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) April 21, 2013“

The ad can also be seen here as a video. Overall, it’s a timely and well thought our tribute to a great superstar in basketball. Get well Kobe.

 

Categories
Featured

New Poll: Some Believe An Armed Revolution Is Necessary

And the insanity continues. A new poll shows that some Democrats, Independents and Republicans out there think an armed revolution is their only way to take back the government. And the insanity continues with the conspiracies surrounding Sandy Hook

Eighteen percent of Democrats said an armed revolt “might be necessary,” as compared to 27 percent of independents and 44 percent of Republicans. Support levels were higher among less educated voters, but similar along gender lines.

It turns out a full quarter of Americans believe the Newtown shooting was a so-called “false flag” operation orchestrated by the government to push stricter gun control.

The poll found that 25 percent of voters believe the American public is being lied to about the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting “in order to advance a political agenda.” An additional 11 percent said they weren’t sure.

The statement “Congress needs to pass new laws to protect the public from gun violence,” was agreed to by 50 percent of Americans. The poll found that 39 percent disagree, and 2 percent were unsure.

Categories
Relationships

A Nickname Is Worth A Thousand Words

Branden Lee is a blogger, screenwriter, producer, and actor, currently residing in Boston, MA. Follow Branden on Twitter and Tumblr.

 A couple months ago Jezebel posted an article about giving nicknames to guys while dating multiple men. The piece really resonated with me, since I’ve been assigning guys nicknames for years.

I date a lot. It seems like with each new semester I tend to go on even more dates than the last. I’m 22, never had a boyfriend, don’t have a real job, and am a broke college student, a boy’s gotta eat. I only accept dinner dates. I believe that unless a guy is obviously a potential rapist, killer, or repulsive to look at, then you should always accept his invitation. Why not? Most of the time I have nothing else to do with my time, so I might as well be going on as many dates as possible.

I do meet most of my dates online through the various (gay) dating apps I use. Most people are online dating nowadays anyway. I used to be against online dating, until I realized every single gay person I knew in Boston was using it too. And when I hear about someone else going on a date, that makes me want to go on a date. I shouldn’t be disadvantaged, so I gave in to online dating and now 2 years later I currently actively use 5 of them. The past semester I had 9 dates with 7 guys, and that’s a lot of stories to relay back to my friends and blog about.

There’s no point in using a guy’s real name, it’s not descriptive enough when telling my friends or to blog about. A nickname can pretty much sum up a guy in one or more words to set the tone for the story. Over year years I’ve given guys monikers such as Guy-With-Girlfriend, The Accountant, Boy Toy, BC Boy, Guy-With-Girlfriend 2, Fake Boyfriend, Tranny Chaser, Former Fat Boy, Colombian… and the list goes on. There have been so many boys in my past, present, and future to remember. Nicknames are necessary to keep track of them, or at least try to.

Whenever I discuss a new boy with my friends, and when they discuss a new boy with me, it’s necessary they provide a brief biography of their latest paramour. I also demand pictures. Don’t tell me all about a guy, without at least providing a photo. I always send pictures of guys I’m going on a date with or hooked up with to my friends. Even for a one night stand I’ll hunt them down on Facebook or Google to find at least one photo to relay back to my friends. Nothing’s worse than giving a long detailed story about a guy without being able to show your listeners who you’re talking about.

But if a guy does make a repeated appearance, it’s definitely necessary to give him a nickname. Your friends won’t remember who “Tom”, “Mike”, or “Paul” are. Especially if they’ve never met and most likely never will meet them, and they know several other guys with those names. Thus making it absolutely imperative to give your dates/hookups a nickname.

A nickname can consist of anything that is remotely unique to the guy. Don’t label a guy as “black guy” if you hookup with multiple black guys, or as “The Doctor” if you’ve been with multiple doctors. Granted it’s easy to label a guy by his race or profession if he’s the first of his kind you’ve been with, but you never know what the future holds. Hence why I have a Guy-With-Girlfriend and a Guy-With-Girlfriend 2. With my rate at attracting guys in relationships I’m surprised I haven’t gotten up to Guy-With-Girlfriend 10 yet. Try to stick with whatever is the weirdest thing that stuck about him, well unless you don’t want to be reminded of it, then choose something else. Like a sexual fetish that was unique to him or something he wore that was different.

Basically you have the complete freedom to label a guy whatever you want when discussing him with other people. Though do try to make sure he never hears about the nickname, especially if it’s something he wouldn’t like to find out you shared. Unless you’re never planning on seeing him again, then it doesn’t even matter. Label him with whatever moniker you want if he finds out about it or not!

Categories
News

33 High School Students Suspended Over ‘Awesome Twerk Video’

Over thirty students at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego have been suspended after allegedly using school equipment to film a twerking video.

Urban Dictionary defines “twerking” as “the act of moving/ shaking ones ass/buns/bottom/buttocks/bum-bum in a circular, up-and-down, and side-to-side motion. basically a slutty dance. derived from strip clubs.”

All told, some 33 media class students involved in the production of the video have been sent home for at least five days for violating the school’s zero-tolerance sexual harassment policywhich prohibits “verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature made by someone from or in the educational setting.”

Suspended seniors may also be banned from attending prom and graduation.

Many Scripps Ranch students took to social media following the suspension to express their displeasure.

“Suspended, banned from prom, and prevented from walking at graduation all because of an awesome twerk video,” tweeted one student, according to NBC 7. “I don’t understand.”

Another suspended student tweeted: “Suspended for twerking. What do I do? Twerk. At the beach. I twerk at the beach.”

Supporters of the twerkers have also been voicing their disbelief along with the hashtag “#freethetwerkteam.”

Meanwhile, parents are saying that the school should not have suspended the students, but rather used the incident “as a teaching moment to remind students that when a person is videotaped, he/she never knows where it’s going to go.”

At least one school board member, Scott Barnett, plans to bring up the twerking video at Tuesday’s board meeting to ensure that the punishment fit the crime.

h/t – gawkers

Categories
child News NFL

Former NFL Star Michael Boley ‘Secretly’ Arrested for Abuse of his 5-year-old Son

Former New York Giants linebacker Michael Boley was arrested for child abuse in February just three days after he was cut from the team, it was revealed today.

Boley, 30, had been under investigation in Alabama stemming from a 2011 incident involving his then-5-year-old son.

The details of the case involving the ex-NFL star have been under wraps, but sources told the gossip site TMZ that the alleged abuse was physical and not sexual in nature.

The starting linebacker in Super Bowl XLVI was set to go before a grand jury in February, but he reached a plea agreement with the prosecution.

The 30-year-old father of six admitted to child abuse, and in exchange was ordered to enter a pre-trial diversion program. Upon completing the course, the charge would be dropped against Boley, who indicated that he intends to comply with these conditions.

As part of the plea deal, the football player was also required to turn himself in February 8 in Etowah County, Alabama. He was released without posting a bond later that day.

Boley, who was first drafted in 2005 by the Atlanta Falcons, ended his career with the Giants on February 5, just three days before his arrest. He is currently a free agent.

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Categories
Barack Obama Politics

Obama Administration To Fight Plan B Decision

The Obama administration will appeal a court decision that required the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make the controversial contraceptive known as Plan B available to women of all ages.

The Justice Department (DOJ) filed its appeal with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday — just 24 hours after the FDA relaxed its restrictions on Plan B.

A federal judge ruled last month that the FDA had no scientific basis for a policy that said Plan B could only be sold without a prescription to women 17 and older.

The agency lowered the age to 15 on Tuesday — a move that women’s health groups called constructive, but said still lacked a solid scientific foundation.

The agency said its decision was not a response to the court’s ruling striking down age limits. And the Justice Department will defend the agency’s authority to impose age limits as it appeals the ruling.

Justice also asked the appeals court to block the lower court’s ruling from taking effect until the appeal is decided.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit challenging the FDA’s age restrictions, slammed the appeal.

“We are deeply disappointed that just days after President Obama proclaimed his commitment to women’s reproductive rights, his administration has decided once again to deprive women of their right to obtain emergency contraception without unjustified and burdensome restrictions,” the group said in a statement

Read more: Here

Categories
News Rape

Rape Accusations Against Morehouse Athletes

Channel 2 Action News has learned that at least three Morehouse College athletes are charged in connection with a rape.

The three men play on the college’s basketball team. A player on the college’s football team has also been charged in a separate rape case.

Attorney Jackie Patterson told Channel 2’s Tom Jones his client, Chukwudi Ndudikwa, never touched the victim and will be vindicated.

Jones talked to students from the Morehouse campus about the allegations and they told him they are appalled that something like this could happen on campus.

“It’s sad and it really hurts me as a student and those are my Morehouse brothers,” student Dominique Merriwether said.

Two Spelman College students, in two separate incidents, accused the four of rape. The allegations stunned Spelman students.

“To know that it was somebody, a Spelman sister, somebody so close, is very frightening,” Spelman student Lorraine Levels told Jones.

In the first incident, police said Morehouse basketball players Malcolm Frank and Shukwudi Ndudikwa raped an 18-year-old female student on campus in the East Suites in March.

Tevin Mgbo faces kidnapping, reckless conduct and sodomy in the attack.

“My client never touched the alleged victim,” Patterson told Jones Wednesday. She said the alleged victim was drunk and high the night of the alleged attack.

“This was a case where a young lady used very bad judgment by being high on Molly, which is a form of powdered Ecstasy,” Patterson said.

Police believe someone placed the drug in the student’s drink.

In the second incident, also in March, the female student complained Lucien Kidd, a Morehouse football player, raped her off campus, and then is accused of saying, “Did I lose a friend?”

Levels told Jones she is proud the students didn’t let the athlete’s popularity silence them.

h/t – WFSB

Categories
News

Saudi Ambassador Denies Warning U.S about Tsarnaev

The Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C. today denied its government warned the U.S. about accused Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

According to a highly placed source who spoke to MailOnline, the Saudis sent a written warning about Tsarnaev to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2012. That was long before pressure-cooker blasts killed three and injured hundreds.

The official told MailOnline about a written warning from the Saudi government to the Department of Homeland Security, and said he had direct knowledge of that document.

But the Middle Eastern nation’s embassy in Washington denied that account on Wednesday.

It issued a statement which read: ‘The Saudi government had no prior information about the Boston bombers. Therefore, it is not true that any information, written or otherwise, was passed to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or any other US agency in this regard,’ an embassy statement statement claimed.

‘The Saudi government also does not have any record of any application by Tamerlan Tsarnaev for any visa to Saudi Arabia.’

The Saudis’ warning, the official told MailOnline, was separate from the multiple red flags raised by Russian intelligence in 2011, and was based on human intelligence developed independently in Yemen.

The Saudis’ warning to the U.S. government was also shared with the British government. ‘It was very specific’ and warned that ‘something was going to happen in a major U.S. city,’ the Saudi official said during an extensive interview.

It ‘did name Tamerlan specifically,’ he added. The ‘government-to-government’ letter, which he said was sent to the Department of Homeland Security at the highest level, did not name Boston or suggest a date for his planned attack.

If true, the account will produce added pressure on the Homeland Security department and the White House to explain their collective inaction after similar warnings were offered about Tsarnaev by the Russian government.

A DHS official denied, however, that the agency received any such warning from Saudi intelligence about Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

‘DHS has no knowledge of any communication from the Saudi government regarding information on the suspects in the Boston Marathon Bombing prior to the attack,’ MailOnline learned from one Homeland Security official who declined to be named in this report.

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Categories
News racist

‘Racist’ Mountain Dew Commercial Pulled By PepsiCo After Criticism

NEW YORK — PepsiCo is once again learning the risks of celebrity partnerships after an ad for Mountain Dew was criticized for portraying racial stereotypes and making light of violence toward women.

The soda and snack food company said it immediately pulled the 60-second spot after learning that people found it offensive. The ad was part of a series developed by African-American rapper Tyler, The Creator, and depicted a battered white woman on crutches being urged to identify a suspect out of a lineup of black men.

A goat character known as Felicia is included in the lineup and makes threatening comments to the woman, such as “Ya better not snitch on a playa” and “Keep ya mouth shut.”

The woman eventually screams “I can’t do this, no no no!” and runs away. The word “do” is in apparent reference to the soft drink’s “Dew It” slogan.

Mountain Dew, known for its neon color and high caffeine content, is generally marketed to younger men and sometimes attempts to have edgier ads. But the controversy over its latest spot illustrates the fine line that companies must walk when trying to be hip.

In fact, Mountain Dew also was criticized recently because of its endorsement deal with Lil Wayne, whose rap lyrics compared a rough sex act to the tortuous death of Emmett Till, a black teen who was murdered in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Last month, Reebok also ended its relationship with Rick Ross after he rapped about giving a woman a drug to have his way with her.

Laura Ries, president of Ries & Ries, a marketing firm based in Atlanta, said companies that want the “street cred” of a celebrity may end up losing control of the message they want to convey.

If PepsiCo had created an ad for Mountain Dew, for example, she said it might not have been considered edgy or cool. But by handing over control to a celebrity, she said the company ran the risk of having an ad that wasn’t appropriate.

PepsiCo Inc., based in Purchase, N.Y., said it understood how the ad could be offensive.

“We apologize for this video and take full responsibility,” the company said in an updated statement late Wednesday afternoon. “We have removed it from all Mountain Dew channels and Tyler is removing it from his channels as well.”

 h/t/ – huffingtonpost
Categories
Entertainment Music

Chris Kelly From Kriss Kross Found Dead

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Rapper Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly died Wednesday afternoon after being found unresponsive in his home.

Kelly, 34, was part of the duo “Kris Kross,” known for their backwards clothes and 1992 hit “Jump.”

Kelly was found unresponsive and transported to Atlanta Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, a spokeswoman for the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Officer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The cause of death was not immediately known. An autopsy is planned for Thursday morning.

An Atlanta native, Kelly and the other half of the duo, Chris Smith, were discovered at a mall in 1990 by now-famous entertainer and producer Jermaine Dupri. “Kris Kross” was one of the first acts Dupri signed to his So So Def Records label, and in February, the duo was among many to perform at an anniversary show at the Fox.

h/t – AJC

Categories
Boston NBA new york knicks Sports

Boston Too Strong For New York – A Game 6 Is On The Schedule

There was hope for New York fans as the Knicks went up by 11 points early in the first quarter of game 5, but it turned out to be a false sense of security as the Boston Celtics just refused to let their season come to an end on the Garden floor. And at the end of the first quarter, that 11 point cushion quickly evaporated resulting in a 22 – 20 lead for New York.

And the evaporation continued with Boston playing their best basketball since this series started. Led by Paul Pierce and Jason Terry in the second quarter, Boston scored 25 points, while keeping the Knicks to only 17.

At halftime, Boston led 45 – 37.

It was a three-point expedition and Pierce was throwing them up all over the place. At one point, it seemed as if the Knicks players were all spectators, sitting on the bench as Pierce put up yet another uncontested three pointer. But Paul Pierce was not the only dagger in the Knicks sides, oh no. The Refs made some calls that had everyone scratching their heads. Reminded me of the NFL lockout when the temporary referees were the laughing-stock of all of sports.

But back to basketball.

Carmelo Anthony did not produce the MVP type game everyone expected. He played 45 minutes, shooting a dismal 8 of 24 field goals for a very quiet 22 points. J. Smith, the missing element in the Knicks loss in Boston was on the court for game 5, but did not produce the Sixth Man of the year caliber game either. Plagued by the constant whistle by the referees, Smith played a total of 36 minutes, shooting a horrendous 3 for 14 field goals, getting only 14 points for his troubles. At one point, he went took 11 straight shots, making zero.

Boston on the other hand couldn’t miss. They were led by J. Green with 18 points, followed by B. Bass who shot 6 of 7 field goals, in his 40 minutes of play. Bass got 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Jason Terry also had 17 followed by Pierce and Garnett with 16 each.

Final score in the game was Boston 92, Knicks 86. The series now heads back to Boston for game 6 on Friday. No other NBA team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series, but Boston is definitely giving it their best shot.

Categories
arrested Boston News

Three More Arrested In Boston Marathon Bombings

Three more suspects have been taken into custody in the marathon bombings, city police said Wednesday.

The police department made the announcement in a tweet Wednesday morning, saying more details would follow. Police spokeswoman Cheryl Fiandaca confirmed the tweet but referred all other questions to the FBI.

Three people were killed and more than 260 injured on April 15 when two bombs exploded near the finish line.

Suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a gunfight with police several days later. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured and lies in a hospital prison.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s relatives will claim his body now that his wife has agreed to release it, an uncle said. Tsarnaev, 26, has been at the medical examiner’s office in Massachusetts since he died after a gunfight with authorities more than a week ago.

h/t CBS Philly

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