On yesterday’s MHP Show, Melissa let tennis star Serena Williams have it for her seemingly admonishment of the teenaged girl who was raped by two high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio last summer.
Serena wrote in response to a query from Stephen Rodrick of Rolling Stone, who asked her about the rape. She said:
“I’m not blaming the girl, but if you’re a 16-year-old and you’re drunk like that, your parents should teach you: Don’t take drinks from other people. She’s 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn’t remember? It could have been much worse. She’s lucky. Obviously, I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t a virgin, but she shouldn’t have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that’s different.”
In Harris-Perry’s ‘Open Letter” segment of the show, she responded to Serena’s comment (see video):
And Ms Harris is absolutely correct. William’s attitude is one that many women share when they hear of rape–even I sometimes engage in such backward thinking at times.
It’s like there’s an automatic defense mechanism that pops up when you hear the word ‘rape’. A defense against the idea that people just go around committing such a horrible crime without somehow being severely provoked.
We hear about a rape and think, “What she was wearing? What was she doing there so late at night? Why didn’t she know any better? What did she expect to happen?
Not rape. No women ever expects or wants that.
Setting the responsiblity for rape on the shoulders of the victim gives the onlooker credence to believe that if they don’t behave or act like however the victim has done, they themselves will remain safe from such horrors. Of course we’re wrong.
When someone decides to harm another fellow human being, it’s their wrong decision, not the unfortunate victim’s. The most cautious, prudent and intelligent among us can still fall victim to someone’s evil intentions.
The screams are clearly coming from a distraught male, whose repeated cries for help end abruptly with a gunshot. What is not clear from a recording of a 911 call, however, is the identity of the screamer: George Zimmerman, the volunteer community watchman, or Trayvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year-old he killed that night.
While jurors in Mr. Zimmerman’s second-degree-murder trial, in which opening statements are scheduled for Monday, may get to hear the recording in court, they will not hear the opinions of two audio experts for the prosecution about who the screamer is, or is not. One concluded that the voice was not Mr. Zimmerman’s; the other said it was very likely Mr. Martin’s.
In an order released on Saturday, the judge in the case, Debra S. Nelson, excluded their testimony. She said the science supporting the experts’ analyses “is not as widely accepted at this time” as the more established methods relied on by defense witnesses who said it was impossible to conclude whose voice it was.
A neighbor made the 911 call on Feb. 26, 2012, during the fatal encounter between Mr. Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, and Mr. Martin, who was black and was returning to a home where he was staying after buying snacks. Citing Mr. Zimmerman’s claims of self-defense, the police did not arrest him for six weeks, setting off protests nationwide.
A woman has been thrown off a cliff by a love rival, with the entire shocking incident caught on camera this past week.
The incident took place in Peru, and a video of the altercation has since gone viral on the Internet, stunning viewers across the world.
Fortunately, the woman only fell about 20 feet and survived the fall, according to CBS News. She did however suffer some injuries and a number of cuts and bad bruises.
The Quik Cook! continues with national cuisine favorites from around the world from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe! Today’s port-of-call: Denmark for Frikadeller!
Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs)
Prep Time: 30 min Cook Time: 25 min Serves: Approximately 30 meatballs, 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 slices fresh white bread 1/4 cup milk 3 tablespoons clarified butter, divided 1/2 cup finely chopped onion A pinch plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt 3/4 pound ground chuck 3/4 pound ground pork 2 large egg yolks 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 3 cups beef broth 1/4 cup heavy cream
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
2. Tear the bread into pieces and place in a small mixing bowl along with the milk. Set aside.
3. In a 12-inch straight sided saute pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sweat until the onions are soft. Remove from the heat and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the bread and milk mixture, ground chuck, pork, egg yolks, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and onions. Beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Using a scale, weigh meatballs into 1-ounce portions and place on a sheet pan. Using your hands, shape the meatballs into rounds.
6. Heat the remaining butter in the saute pan over medium-low heat, or in an electric skillet set to 250 degrees F. Add the meatballs and saute until golden brown on all sides, about 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the meatballs to an ovenproof dish using a slotted spoon and place in the warmed oven.
7. Once all of the meatballs are cooked, decrease the heat to low and add the flour to the pan or skillet. Whisk until lightly browned, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add the beef stock and whisk until sauce begins to thicken. Add the cream and continue to cook until the gravy reaches the desired consistency. Remove the meatballs from the oven,cover with the gravy and serve.
The former National Security Agency contractor is expected to land in Moscow at 5 p.m. Sunday, a Foreign Ministry official told the Los Angeles Times on condition of anonymity.
The next flight to Havana is Monday afternoon so Snowden most likely will spend his time in the transit zone of Moscow Sheremetyevo airport, he said.
“Snowden doesn’t have a Russian visa, and he can’t get outside the transit area of the airport,” the official said. “Even if there is an Interpol warrant for his arrest, of which we are not aware, our law enforcement agencies won’t be able to do that in the transit area.”
The official said Snowden is traveling in the company of at least one lawyer associated with WikiLeaks.
The Kremlin is not aware of Snowden’s plans, said Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman. “We know nothing about [Snowden’s] plans, whether he is coming to Moscow or not,” Peskov said.
Snowden – the man who violated his oath to secrecy and blew the whistle on the United States Government’s NSA program – once said that he cannot allow the U.S Government to destroy privacy and basic liberties. He is now running to a country where the Government destroys citizen’s privacy and basic liberties as part of their governing strategies.
If you own an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S, a free iPhone 5 is just a car ride away for the next week.
On June 1, Best Buy offered a one-day deal: bring in your old iPhone 4 or 4s and trade it for a brand new iPhone 5. The offer was so successful, that the retailer has decided to give it another, longer run.
For the next nine days, you will be able to bring in those iPhone models and trade them in for the newest Apple phone. The offer ends Saturday, June 29.
A teacher in New York stooped to disgusting lows to have sex with his 10-year-old student. According to reports, 5th grade teacher, Anthony Criscuolo deceived the parents of the 10-year-old girl, who was a student in his class.
Criscuolo told the girl’s parents that she won an academic award and was taking her to the ceremony. However, there award ceremony did not exist. On June 17, Criscuolo left his wife and took the the girl to an empty parking lot at a school in Queens, New York. He parked his truck and raped her.
The girl’s mother found sexually explicit emails sent to the student and discovered that the teacher bought the child an iPad Touch and a diamond ring. Students who were interviewed revealed that the teacher passed notes to the girl and slow danced with her during a Valentine’s Day dance.
Criscuolo, who earned $73,000 per year was arrested on June 19. He will be terminated by the school system.
Saw the movie “Last Earth” this past Father’s Day and it was a blast! The flick had everything I like in a matinée sci-fi blockbuster: mind-blowing SFX, a mind expanding storyline, fast-paced action, great acting and a hunky leading man, in this case Will Smith.
On the surface the story appears to be about a young man desperately trying to live up to what he feels are the expectation of a heroic father and falling miserably short in his own eyes.
The big picture centers on the complexities of human nature and family bonding. A father tries to instill in his son everything’s he’s learned about surviving and thriving in an often times dangerous, hostile environment. It was no mistake that the message was particularly aimed towards black boys. The tagline of the movie ” Danger is real, fear is a choice” couldn’t be more poignant. “Last Earth” exemplifies the time when a boy ingests everything taught to him by his father and the breakaway moment when he decides to come out from under his protective wing, to fly on his own. To be his own man.
It is the timeless coming of age story that never gets old, and the real life father/son duo of Will and Jaden Smith only added to the narrative of a rite of passage that all boys of any nationality or race should go through, but often times miss out on.
Imagine my confusion then, when finally reading reviews on ” Last Earth” that called it a flop almost before the movie hit the theatres. Critics have the power to make or break a film because people will totally bypass seeing one based on negative reviews;
NY Daily News:“Summer 2013 has its first bomb, and sadly, it’s landed right on Will Smith.”
The Mirror:“The speaking clock has more emotional range than Will’s son Jaden Smith, with the trite scenes of him bonding with his father simply throw-your-hands-in-the-air bad.”
The Village Voice:“I fear Jaden might face online wrath for his performance here, especially thanks to the numb-tongued Kiwi accent he’s forced to adopt. He’s not bad, especially, but he is a kid asked to do the extraordinary: compel us as he pretends to do ridiculous bullsh–.”
DailyMirror on Twitter:“As Will Smith coldly instructs him to feel, to root in this moment now, to master his own creation, I felt the purest horror I ever have at a Shyamalan film: What if this is what Jaden Smith’s life is actually like?”
These comments left me wondering “What movie did they see?!” There were even cries of nepotism and that senior Smith used his tremendous star power in creating the role of his son in the movie Kitai Raige, for Jaden. Ummm…duh! There’s a long list of movie star parents who starred opposite their children in movies to help push their carreer’s along. That’s what parent’s do when trying to create a legacy. It’s obvious that Will Smith wanted the role to be a gift to his son and that it was meant to help propel the boy into the stardom that he now enjoys. And why the heck shouldn’t he? There’s room at the top of the multi-billion dollar movie industry for more than one black male and female superstar, isn’t there?
Will and Jaden Smith
I would say to those critics that Jaden Smith was the best part of the movie and that his performance held my attention until the very end. And I was clapping at the end (which I rarely do lol!) along with others in my Manhattan theatre audience!
So, I want everyone within the site of this blog to go check out “Last Earth” and if you loved it like I did, spread the word and make this movie the summer blockbuster that its supposed to be!
Shocking, yea, I know. But it’s only shocking to you because you are thinking as a logical person. If you watched Fox News however, you might believe that Trayvon Martin caused his own murder.
That is the kind of information Fox is broadcasting. One of their guest, a former New York Police Detective Harry Houck, actually opened his mouth and made that statement, saying “… listen, Trayvon Martin would be alive today if he didn’t have a street attitude. That’s the bottom line.”
I supposed the “street attitude” Detective Harry Houck is talking about has to do with the Skittles Trayvon had when he was shot by Zimmerman. Or maybe it was the can of Iced Tea he bought at Seven Eleven. Those two things mixed with Trayvon’s skin color automatically equals “street attitude” in this Detective’s mind.
That is a scary statement, but it’s even more scarier coming from someone who was a New York Police detective. With an attitude like this, I wonder how many innocent people are imprisoned because of this stereotypical racist attitude from a detective.
All his cases should be reopened and examined thoroughly! It’s disgraceful that a detective would even entertain this way of thinking.
Paula Deen, the self-proclaimed queen of Southern cooking and a sugary mainstay of the Food Network, was dropped by the network on Friday, following a bewildering day in which she failed to show up for an interview on the “Today” show and then in two online videos begged her family and audience for forgiveness for using racist language.
A network spokeswoman said it would not renew Paula Deen’s contract when it expires at the end of June. Ms. Deen has faced a volley of criticism this week over her remarks in a deposition for a discrimination lawsuit by a former employee. In the document, she admitted she had used racial epithets, tolerated racist jokes and condoned pornography in the workplace.
The Food Network statement did not elaborate on its reasons for dropping her, but a person close to the network said its shows featuring her sons, Jamie and Bobby, would not be affected. Ms. Deen currently has three regular shows on the network, including “Paula’s Best Dishes.”
In her first video on Friday, posted on YouTube and later removed, Ms. Deen, near tears, said: “I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I’ve done. I want to learn and grow from this. Inappropriate and hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable.”
In a longer video posted later in the afternoon, Ms. Deen appeared more composed. “Your color of your skin, your religion, your sexual preference does not matter,” she said, adding, “ I was wrong, yes, I’ve worked hard, and I have made mistakes but that is no excuse and I offer my sincere apology to those that I have hurt, and I hope that you forgive me because this comes from the deepest part of my heart.”
A judge has sentenced an Alabama man to federal prison for threatening President Barack Obama on Twitter, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith Jr. sentenced 26-year-old Jarvis Britton of Birmingham to one year in prison for threatening the life of Obama. He must serve three years on probation after finishing the prison term.
Britton pleaded guilty in March to threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict bodily harm on the president by tweeting the message, “Let’s kill the president. F.E.A.R.,” in September
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