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Day: August 14, 2013
Despite the fact that he and his party are doing all they can to suppress the votes of African Americas and Latinos.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a tea party senator with a long history of opposition to civil rights laws, told an audience in Louisville, Kentucky on Wednesday that there is no evidence of black voters being excluded from the franchise. According to local NPR host Phillip Bailey, Paul said that he does not believe “there is any particular evidence of polls barring African Americans from voting,” during a speech to the non-partisan Louisville Forum.
If Paul is not aware of the evidence indicating widespread efforts to prevent African Americans from voting, then he must not be looking very hard. During the 2012 election, black and Hispanic voters waited nearly twice as long to cast a ballot as white voters. In Florida, lines of up to six hours led an estimated 201,000 people to become frustrated and leave the polls.
These lines existed largely because of a voter suppression bill signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) which reduced early voting hours in the state. After the election, top Republicans admitted that the purpose of cutting early voting was to reduce Democratic turnout.
One Republican operative conceded that early voting was cut on the Sunday proceeding Election Day because “that’s a big day when the black churches organize themselves.”
Get a clue Paul! You’re blinded by your own politics.
Michelle Obama is an accomplished lawyer, mother of two and, of course, the first lady. And now, she’s adding hip-hop artist to her impressive resume.
The first lady is lending her star power to a new rap album to inspire people to live healthier, more active lives.
Before you get your hopes up too high, no, the first lady does not actually rap on the album. But she is playing a speaking role in a new song titled “Everybody,” featuring Jordin Sparks, Doug E. Fresh, Dr. Oz and the Hip Hop Doc.
Obama teamed up with Partnership for a Healthier America to make the album as part of her Let’s Move! healthy eating initiative.
The record, “Songs for a Healthier America,” features music by Matisyahu, Travis Barker, Artie Green, Ashanti and Monifah, among others, and includes songs titled “U R What You Eat,” “Veggie Luv” and “Hip Hop F.E.E.T.”
I’ve been waiting for this game for quite a long time and two days into playing, I am in love.
Payday 2 is a team based game where you are a squad of criminals who embark on various missions. Doing so, you receive cash which can be used to buy new weapons, new masks, and can be also used to customize all your gear.
What I love:
-The first Payday was also team based but just wasn’t very good at it. The HUD was too limited, the missions could be done without a team, the classes showed no major difference, and you really never needed help. In Payday2 the HUD now shows your entire team, their health, armor, ammo, and equipment. Each mission requires you to work with them and use their special skills to accomplish each heist.
-Every time you level up, you gain a skill point that can be used to level up certain classes. Now thankfully each class is significantly different from one another and each has a special ability
-The first Payday had..uh maybe 5 or so missions? Now we have upwards of 12 missions (probably more) and certain missions has various parts to them.
-I love being the bad guy in a game, it’s something you rarely are in video games. There’s a certain essence of “badass” about it.
-The guns! Oh how I love the choices of them all! The first Payday was limited to just a hand few, Payday 2 has over 9 standard weapons and just as many secondary weapons.
-The graphics! Oh this game looks beautiful compared to the last game. Then again a video in 360p would look better than the first Payday.
-The options to do each Heist are endless. You can stealth it or go in guns blazing. A door can be opened in four different ways, cameras can be taken down in numerous ways, locks can be broken or picked; Oh the choices are wonderful!
What I dislike:
-Nothing honestly.
Bonus section! What I hate:
-The leveling system is just stupid. Each skill costs 1 skill point and a large amount of cash. To “Ace” a skill requires three points and an even larger amount of cash. Tier 3 level skills cost three points and a six figure cash amount….
-The guns are so expensive that I want to cry. A G36 rifle costs $200k and each upgrade can vary from $10k to even more. Thankfully we don’t have to pay for ammo, otherwise I’d quit.
-Grinding every level. I’ve put five hours into the game and hit have hit level 24. Once I hit 24 I spent the next hour playing a serious heist, earned a ton of cash, but gained next to nothing in experience. The grind begins.
-Crime.net. I don’t even know where to start with this. In the first Payday, you simply went to the multiplayer menu, selected a map and difficulty, and you were shown the available games. For Payday 2 they introduced Crime.net. A large, constantly updating map which shows all the available heists, their difficulty, pay, experience, lobby leader, and the open slots available. As nice as it sounds, having all that info shown to you, the map is glitchy move around, it updates too slow, and new missions aren’t able to be set up by yourself so you must play what the game says you must.
-You’re being shot! In a normal first person shooter, when you’re being shot at a red arrow or something of similar nature pops up in the direction you’re being shot from. It’s a tried a truth method that nearly ever shooting game uses. In Payday2 a half red circle shows up from what part of your is being shot it, in example an enemy can be in front of you but shooting at your left arm, thus it’ll show your left side is being shot. This has completely confused me and led me to be spinning in circles to find a guy who’s probably just right behind me.
Don’t get me wrong, I will max out my level in Payday 2 and continue to play this game till I find something more exciting to play with my friends. It’s a fun fun game and can be replayed till time ends. I love being a criminal, love the new improvements they’ve made, and love the gameplay. It’s not a perfect game, but I’m quite alright with that.
New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker moved a step closer to the US Senate on Tuesday, defeating his three Democratic challengers.
Booker will face off against the Republican nominee Steven Lonegan in a special election on October 16th.
A US team found tell-tale signs on scans that have already been seen in adults with the condition.
And these brain differences could be a cause rather than a consequence of dyslexia – something unknown until now – the Journal of Neuroscience reports.
Scans could allow early diagnosis and intervention, experts hope.
The part of the brain affected is called the arcuate fasciculus.
Among the 40 school-entry children they studied they found some had shrinkage of this brain region, which processes word sounds and language.
They asked the same children to do several different types of pre-reading tests, such as trying out different sounds in words.
Those children with a smaller arcuate fasciculus had lower scores.
It is too early to say if the structural brain differences found in the study are a marker of dyslexia. The researchers plan to follow up groups of children as they progress through school to determine this.
Lead researcher Prof John Gabrieli said: “We don’t know yet how it plays out over time, and that’s the big question.
“We do not know how many of these children will go on to develop problems. But anyway, we want to intervene before that, and the younger you do that the better. We already know that reading programmes and interventions can really help.”
ST. JOSEPH, La. (AP) — A man who took hostages at a bank in rural Louisiana shot the two remaining hostages, killing one of them, before being shot and killed by police, authorities said.
During negotiations with law enforcement late Tuesday, the suspect — identified as 20-year-old Fuaed Abdo Ahmed — said he was going to kill the hostages, Louisiana State Police superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said. State police then entered the building just before midnight Tuesday.
That’s when Ahmed shot the two hostages and then state police shot and killed him, Edmonson said. Edmonson said the hostages were shot in the upper body. He did not have any other information on the condition of the second hostage who was shot.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Miss. Winfrey explained that her intentions were not to cause a media feed fest when she mentioned what happened to her in Switzerland.
“I think that incident in Switzerland was just an incident in Switzerland. I’m really sorry that it got blown up. I purposefully did not mention the name of the store. I’m sorry that I said it was Switzerland. I was just referencing it as an example of being in a place where people don’t expect that you would be able to be there.”
The incident became international when Oprah suggested that it was racism that caused a store clerk in Switzerland to deny her seeing a handbag of her choice because it was too expensive.
She told Entertainment Tonight: “I was in Zurich the other day, at a store whose name I will not mention. I didn’t have my eyelashes on, but I was in full Oprah Winfrey gear. I had my little Donna Karan skirt and my little sandals on. But obviously ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ is not shown in Zurich.”
Oprah’s apology comes after the sales clerk accused her of lying. In a recent interview, the clerk emphatically denied being a racist and said she was shocked that Oprah made such a claim.
“It is absolutely not true that I declined to show her the bag on racist grounds. I even asked her if she wanted to look at the bag,” she said.
This has the makings of a lawsuit. Its the natural progression.