Editor’s Note: The report below contains graphic content. Please read at your own risk.
A Florida man has been accused of ripping out his girlfriend’s intestines and using a flat iron and beer bottle to mutilate her because she called out her ex lover’s name during sex.
Fidel Lopez called 911 about 3:39 a.m. Sunday and told the operator his girlfriend Maria Nemeth was having trouble breathing and was going to die, according to the arrest report filed in the case.
Sunrise police found Lopez crying for help next to Nemeth’s naked body on the floor of the bathroom with blood and body tissue around the apartment that Nemeth, 31, and Lopez, 24, had shared for about one week in the 1600 block of Northwest 128th Drive, the report stated.
The bathroom door was ripped off its hinges and there was blood and tissue in the bathroom, a bedroom closet, and smeared on walls and doors. There were several holes in the walls and a shattered sliding glass door, police said.
Sunrise Fire-Rescue pronounced Nemeth dead at 4:02 a.m.
Detectives said they found a half empty bottle of 1800 Tequila and cut limes in the kitchen and signs of a physical struggle and foul play.
Two people in a neighboring apartment reported hearing a man’s voice yelling and lots of loud noises that lasted for about two hours, police said.
During questioning Sunday morning Lopez initially told investigators that he and Nemeth had been having rough sex and that she went into the bathroom, vomited and collapsed, the arrest report said.
Further questioning revealed a different story.
Lopez told detectives he became a “monster” when Nemeth called out her ex-husband’s name two times while they were having sex. He said hearing someone else’s name during sex upset and enraged him, investigators said.
Lopez said he left Nemeth in the closet where they were having sex and started breaking things throughout the apartment, smashing the rear sliding glass door and punching holes in the walls, police said.
He went back to the closet where Nemeth was lying unconscious and he started inserting a beer bottle, a flat iron for hair, and both fists inside of her, investigators said.
Lopez said he inserted his arm up to his elbow and ripped out part of her intestines, detectives said.
He carried her into the bathroom and tried to put water on Nemeth’s face, but she did not wake up.
Lopez told police he then washed the blood off his hands in the bathroom sink, went out on the porch to smoke a cigarette and then started to panic.
After further efforts to clean the apartment, Lopez told police he checked on Nemeth in the bathroom, found that she wasn’t breathing and called 911, according to the arrest report.
Lopez was arrested at 2 p.m. Sunday and charged with first-degree murder, records show.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows only one other arrest for disorderly intoxication in 2014 on Lopez’s record.
In this Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015 photo, Chinese women try iPhone sets at a newly-opened Apple Store in Nanjing in east China’s Jiangsu province. Apple Inc. has removed some applications from its App Store after developers in China were tricked into using software tools that added malicious code in an unusual security breach. (Chinatopix via AP) CHINA OUT
BEIJING (AP) — Apple Inc. has removed some applications from its App Store after developers in China were tricked into using software tools that added malicious code in an unusual security breach.
Apple gave no details of which companies were affected. But Tencent Ltd. said its popular WeChat app was affected and the company released a new version after spotting the malicious code. Chinese news reports said others affected included banks, an airline and a popular music service.
The malicious code spread through a counterfeit version of Apple’s Xcode tools used to create apps for its iPhones and iPads, according to the company. It said the counterfeit tools spread when developers obtained them from “untrusted sources” rather than directly from the company.
The malicious software collects information from infected devices and uploads it to outside servers, according to Palo Alto Networks, a U.S.-based security firm, which investigated the malware. It was first publicized last week by researchers at Alibaba Group, the e-commerce giant, who dubbed it XcodeGhost.
Cybersecurity experts say the episode shows that any device, including those running Apple’s iOS software, can be vulnerable to hackers even though Apple is known for rigorously scrutinizing apps that are offered in its store.
“I wouldn’t say that the floodgates for iOS malware are open now, but this vector is probably something that other attackers are going to try to replicate in the future,” said Ryan Olson, director of threat intelligence for Palo Alto Networks, in an interview. He said Apple is undoubtedly working on improving its ability to block similar attempts.
Hackers are increasingly looking for new ways to target mobile apps and devices, including iPhones, because they are so widely used by many consumers, added Darren Hayes, a cyber-security expert at Pace University in New York.
The creators of this malware took advantage of public frustration with Beijing’s Internet filters, which hamper access to Apple and other foreign websites. That prompts some people to use copies of foreign software or documents that are posted on websites within China to speed up access.
“Sometimes network speeds are very slow when downloading large files from Apple’s servers,” wrote Claud Xiao, a Palo Alto Networks researcher, on its website. Due to the large size of the Xcode file, “some Chinese developers choose to download the package from other sources or get copies from colleagues.”
Companies with apps that were affected include taxi-hailing service Didi Kuaidi, Citic Industrial Bank, China Southern Airlines and the music service of NetEase, a popular Web portal, according to the newspaper Yangcheng Evening News.
The incident is the only the sixth time malicious software is known to have made it through Apple’s screening process for products on its App Store, according to Xiao.
___
AP Technology Writer Brandon Bailey in San Francisco contributed to this report.
It was a banner week for kicking children out of class. Along with Ahmed Mohamed and his homemade clock, a Native American student in Utah was told to lop off his Mohawk or leave school… until tribal leaders were forced to step in.
Jakobe ‘Kobe’ Sanden entered his second-grade classroom rocking a ‘hawk, not because it looked cool but because of his Native American roots. But the 7-year-old was kicked out of class because the “distracting” hairstyle was a potential violation of Arrowhead Elementary School’s dress code.
His mother, Teyawwna Sanden, was shocked when Susan Harrah, the principal of the Santa Clara school, called her to say she needed to pick up Kobe and get his hair cut.
“We had the students that weren’t used to it,” Harrah told KSTU. “They had called that out. So the teacher brought the student to my attention.”
The school’s online handbook stipulates only that “hair color should be within the spectrum of color that hair grows naturally.” The school district’s dress code goes further, stating: “Students have the responsibility to avoid grooming that causes a distraction or disruption, interrupting school decorum and adversely affecting the educational process.” It also notes that “Extremes in body piercings, hair styles and hair colors may be considered a distraction or disruption.”
Mrs. Sanden expressed her frustration with the school’s reaction on Facebook.
“So f’n irritated right now,” she wrote. “I get a call from the boys’ school and she said Kobe’s not allowed to have a Mohawk … that’s it’s school policy. WTH! Really? It’s hair!”
Kobe’s father, Gary Sanden, was traveling on business, but reached out to the Washington County School District’s superintendent of primary education.
“I was sympathetic to what they were saying ‒ that it was not conducive to learning,” he told the Washington Post. “But I couldn’t understand how it could be a distraction to the kids.”
The superintendent told Mr. Sanden to obtain letters from tribal leaders supporting the family’s claim that the hairstyle is part of their heritage.
“That’s like calling up the governor of our state,” he said. “But I called and got the letter. My wife did too.”
CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE VIDEO
Mr. Sanden is a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians, which is based out of New York. Mrs. Sanden belongs to the Kaibab Band of Paiutes Indians.
“It is common for Seneca boys to wear a Mohawk because after years of discrimination and oppression, they are proud to share who they are,” Seneca Nation Tribal Councilor William Canella wrote. “It’s disappointing that your school does not view diversity in a positive manner, and it is our hope that Jakobe does not suffer from any discrimination by the school administration or faculty as a result of his hair cut.”
Canella told Native News Online that it was “ironic” that he had to step in to address such a situation at a school named Arrowhead. The Utah school is near several Indian reservations, including the Shivwits Band of Paiutes, which is less than 10 miles from the school, and the Kaibab Paiutes near the Utah-Arizona border.
Harrah told the Salt Lake Tribune that she felt the school had handled the hairstyle hubbub with aplomb, though she was surprised by the attention it received because “It took about a half hour of my time.”
“If there’s any kind of a hairstyle that is a distraction, then we have to tell the parents that we’ve got a problem,” she said.“There’s a protocol that we go through, and I felt like it was handled efficiently and that we respected their culture.”
Mr. Sanden disagreed, however, noting that Kobe had to sit by himself in Harrah’s office for part of the day.
“That’s the sad part of the whole situation,” he told the Salt Lake Tribune. “To ostracize him like that ‒ that’s stuff from the ’50s.”
“It could have been handled 10 different ways,” he added.
Kobe’s removal from class happened less than three weeks after Malachi Wilson, a 5-year-old member of the Navajo Nation, was sent home on his first day of kindergarten at F.J. Young Elementary in Seminole, Texas because his long hair violated that district’s dress policy. The school required Malachi’s mother, April Wilson, to obtain documentation proving her son’s indigenous heritage, Indian Country Today reported.
In Louisiana last August, a Rastafarian teenager was suspended for three weeks from South Plaquemines High School for his dreadlocked hairstyle. The unnamed student claimed that not cutting his hair was a religious mandate, and his mother presented a letter from the 1st Church of Rastafar I explaining the religious significance of not cutting one’s dreadlocks. He eventually received an exemption from the school.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Seattle man was arrested in January during a demonstration to protest police violence. Though he has yet to be charged with an offense, his arrest – captured on police body-camera recordings, along with his full name, address, phone number and birthdate – are public records.
The use of police body cameras, like those used in Seattle, is spreading to keep officers honest about using force against citizens. But how and when the public gets to see the footage is up for debate.
Months after the arrest of Michael Moynihan, the 32-year old Seattle man, the Seattle Police Department said his case is under review. Moynihan said he supports police wearing body cameras, but his own experience shows the unsettling consequences.
“That’s a very dangerous weapon that they have there,” Moynihan said.
Videos of police shootings across the country have become critical to determining what happened in situations that turn deadly. In some cases, strapping cigarette pack-size cameras to officers’ uniforms has been framed as a way to curb police brutality and stem deteriorating trust in law enforcement.
It’s not that simple. While the recordings may help get to the truth of an incident with police, they also record distraught victims, grieving family members, people suffering from mental illness and citizens exercising their rights to free speech and civil disobedience. Cameras may solve one problem but create others.
“Any policy that categorically shields or opens up body-camera footage is probably wrong,” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union.
The use of police body cameras is still in its infancy, with no official count for how many of the 18,000 state and local departments have turned to them. But dozens of agencies across the country are testing them, and many have plans to roll them out more broadly.
Some existing laws that govern what information is released to the public are on the chopping block, as states try to strike the balance between a citizen’s right to privacy and making officers answer for their actions.
A policy to release all police-recorded videos could mean footage of the inside of a person’s home or a hospital would be available. But if the policy is not to release footage in order to protect a person’s privacy, that could mean a video of an officer shooting someone would not be made public, defeating the main purpose of the use of these cameras.
“What started as an effort to capture or prevent bad police behavior, I think now we’re starting to see the realities of it capturing true human suffering,” Frank Straub, chief of the Spokane, Washington, Police Department, said earlier this year at a policy forum on Capitol Hill.
The solution is somewhere in the middle. Some departments redact the faces of bystanders or those arrested, or blur a video so much that little is recognizable. Others won’t release video if it’s part of an ongoing investigation. Some policies allow officers to turn their cameras on and off. Even completely uncensored footage may not crystalize an incident because it’s taken from one officer’s physical position, often a moving one. This can create shaky footage and in some cases won’t capture all details of a violent encounter.
State laws vary about what the public can see. Existing recordings are covered under these laws, such as videos from cameras mounted inside patrol cars. But body cameras produce more footage than dashboard cameras – footage that can show officers inside peoples’ homes and other private places.
Body cameras have become an easy political answer to the complex problem of crumbling trust in police.
In South Carolina, for example, police footage initially released after an officer shot a suspect in April showed the suspect running away during a routine traffic stop. Cellphone footage from a witness told a different story, and the North Charleston mayor quickly called for all uniformed officers to wear body cameras.
President Barack Obama supports using them, and his administration has pledged millions of dollars to local departments.
Police in Seattle received so many requests for body-camera footage under the state’s open records law that the department decided proactively to release videos on a YouTube channel that are censored beyond what is required by the state’s law. Police say they’re blurring the videos in order to protect the privacy of those recorded. Some are blurred beyond the point of recognition. An activist who once pushed the department to be more transparent is now working on the project, Seattle police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said.
(TheRoot.com)
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, currently struggling to gain a foothold in Republican presidential-primary polls, decided to throw some red meat to the conservative base in a Tuesday appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, stating that if he were mayor of New York City, he would reinstate the controversial stop-and-frisk law within five minutes of taking office.
The comment was in response to comments by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio echoing New York City Police Department reports showing that this is the safest summer the city has had in 25 years. But even though crime has reportedly dropped during the summer months, the murder rate in the city over the past year remains high, something that Christie feels a little racist policing will cure.
“Stop and frisk would be back in about five minutes,” Christie said. “We would empower the police and not undercut them. If police officers step over the line, they deserve to be taken care of and prosecuted, but this guy, this mayor [Bill de Blasio], presumes guilt on the part of the police officer before anything happens.”
Here’s the thing: The NYPD has proved time and time and time again that the only line it respects is the blue one. In 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled stop and frisk to be unconstitutional because it led to the systemic discrimination of black and Latino citizens. Between 2004 and 2012, 10 percent of stop-and-frisk stops were of whites; 84 percent were of blacks and Latinos. As previously reported by The Root, in 2014, 83 percent of New York City residents stopped under stop and frisk were black or Latino, with just 12 percent of them white. Those numbers have held true through the first two quarters of 2015.
Stop and frisk, in and of itself, is crossing the line. It also does not lead to any significant reduction in crime.
In 2013 the New York State Attorney General’s Office released an in-depth analysis of the city’s stop-and-frisk policies (pdf), reporting that only 1.5 percent of stop-and-frisk stops have resulted in a jail or prison sentence. And of those, only 0.1 percent involved convictions for a violent crime.
“My office’s analysis of the city’s stop-and-frisk practices has broad implications for law enforcement, both in New York City and across the state,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement at the time. “It’s our hope that this report—the first of its kind—will advance the discussion about how to fight crime without overburdening our institutions or violating equal justice under the law.”
It’s also important to note that when city police officers took their batons and went home after the killing of two officers in Brooklyn—which they falsely claimed was encouraged by de Blasio’s “anti-police sentiment”—the arrest rates plummeted, while murders in New York City continued their steady decline to the lowest numbers the city had seen since 1963.
Maybe Christie missed that memo or, because of his dismal poll numbers, he feels he’s better off ignoring them. He doesn’t have a rich daddy, like Jeb Bush; nor has he been able to appeal to Bible thumpers in the Deep South the way Donald Trump has by being as bigoted as humanly possible. This leaves Christie strategically positioning himself as far right as he can and still be considered electable in an increasingly diversifying country. It’s a spineless, transparent move for someone who prides himself on being Jersey tough.
But then again, spineless, transparent moves that perpetuate systemic racism are the American way.
Christie is using his meager political capital to traffic in fear of the black body, something that resonates with many conservatives who believe that people of color are innately criminal and in need of hyperpolicing so that white Americans can be safe. This is not a new tactic. Protecting white America by profiling black America has been at the root of policing in this country since the days of slave patrols.
If the governor from New Jersey is really serious about reducing crime, he might be better-served implementing stop and frisk in affluent white neighborhoods, colleges and universities, where drug use is consistently high, or profiling lone white men, who are more likely to be serial killers and to shoot up churches and movie theaters.
But then he’d have to reckon with the reality that there are criminals terrorizing this country who look a lot like the man staring back at him in the mirror.
Dr. Jesse Lewis, Sr. is the founder of The Birmingham Times.
Immigration, Abortion, Guns
These are the three (3) things that the Republicans are definitely concerned with and so are the Democrats, but they add to the list women’s issues, income and equality.
Immigration
Illegal immigration has become a defining issue in the race for the Republican nomination for president, as GOP front-runner Donald Trump has focused his campaign on claims that illegal immigration is destroying the country and his ideas for solving the problem. Most Americans say the solutions ought to focus more on border security and a path to citizenship over deportation, but about half are receptive to Trump’s proposals including building a wall along the entire border with Mexico and ending birthright citizenship for children of those in the country illegally.
Asked whether the nation’s top priority in dealing with illegal immigration should be deporting those already in the country, developing a plan to stop new illegal immigration, or developing a plan to allow those already in the U.S. illegally with jobs to become legal residents, a plurality say a plan to make those here illegally, legal residents is most important (46 percent), next 39 percent chose border security, and just 14 percent called deportation the top priority.
Both the Democrats and Republicans believe something should be done about immigration, but they differ on the process.
Abortion
A congressional fight looms over funding for Planned Parenthood following the release this summer of several secretly recorded, heavily edited videos of Planned Parenthood employees discussing the sale of fetal tissue for scientific research, but the new CNN/ORC Poll shows the public would much rather continue funding Planned Parenthood than face a government shutdown.
About 71 percent say it’s more important for Congress to approve a budget agreement that would avoid a government shutdown than to defund Planned Parenthood, 22 percent say it’s a bigger priority to eliminate the organization’s federal funding. That’s more saying it’s important to avert a shutdown now than in September 2013, just before a budget fight over federal funding for some portions of the Affordable Care Act led to a partial government shutdown.
In the new poll, 87 percent of Democrats and 74 percent of Independents say avoiding a shutdown is the key priority while Republicans are just about evenly divided, with 48 percent saying avoiding a shutdown is more important and 44 percent saying ending Planned Parenthood’s funding is most important.
Guns
Most polling has shown the public broadly in favor of expanded background checks for gun buyers and preventing those with mental health issues from purchasing guns, but the new poll shows majorities think current laws are about right or even too harsh, and doubt that expanded background checks would keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill or convicted.
Overall, 41 percent say existing laws make it too easy for people to buy guns, down from 56 percent saying so about a month after the shooting deaths of 27 people at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. About half, 49 percent, say current laws are about right, and 10 percent that they make it too difficult to buy a gun.
At the same time, many express doubts that expanded gun laws would be able to prevent those with mental health problems from buying guns (44 percent see that as likely, 56 percent unlikely), or that such laws would keep guns out of the hands of convicted criminals (42 percent say that’s likely, 56 percent unlikely). But most also say it wouldn’t necessarily make it harder for a law-abiding citizen without mental health problems to buy one, 57 percent say it’s unlikely to do that.
Making the Middle Class Secure
Republicans have seized on the populist moment. Trump, Scott Walker, John Kasick and others have all promised to help the “average” Americans who have been left behind in recent years. They have railed against big interests, warning that most families are struggling to make ends meet. The halting nature of the economic recovery has been one of the principal factors they’ve cited to question the recovery that has taken place in the last several years of President Barack Obama’s administration.
The problem is that the candidates have not said much about exactly how they would actually help the middle class. Many of their stances – going after unions (what does that mean?) or opposing the minimum wage – would actually reduce the number of middle-class wage earning positions.
I still contend that Donald Trump will not be president of the United States. His only claim to fame is that everybody is stupid, but him.
Ben Carson rose to fame only because he criticized Barack Obama.
COOL WEATHER FOR FOOTBALL, AND TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY! IT’S FALL AND TAILGATING TIME!!
Here are a few things to do….and ‘not to miss’ coming soon!
DON’T MISS….
(Photo Guy: iamjasmineguy.com)
**JASMINE GUY AND THE AVERY SHARPE TRIO – RAISIN’CANE: A HARLEM RENAISSANCE ODYSSEY is starring award winning Jasmine Guy and the acclaimed Avery Sharpe Trio, tomorrow, in the Wright Center at Samford University , 7 p.m.as they celebrate the legendary voices of the Harlem Renaissance through text, song, music, movement and imagery. Guy transports the audience back to New York’s 1920s Harlem and explores the rise of artists like Langston Hughes and Fats Waller.
(Photo Credit: Blog.cleveland.com)
FOR GREAT FOOD….
**MIDDLE EASTERN FOOD FESTIVAL – Saint George will celebrate its 34th Annual Middle Eastern Food Festival today through Saturday. Amin Sultan, of New York, an internationally recognized Arabic artist, and his band will perform and embraces the opportunity to introduce the beauty and richness of Middle Eastern music to Americans. Along with the band, parish dance troupes clad in colorful costume will perform. Food will be served all day, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. A drive through service will operate until 7 p.m. Informative church tours will be conducted during festival hours of operation. Homemade foods include Kibbee, rolled grape leaves, Mediterranean style chicken. A tasty selection of vegetarian foods include spinach pies, falafel, and hummus. A wide variety of pastries and cakes will be available at the “mile long” sweet booth. Proceeds will benefit local charities, diocesan charities and major maintenance projects of the church. Saint George Melkite Catholic Church is located in the heart of Birmingham’s Southside, at 425 16th Avenue South. Call 492-9621 for more.
**WORLD CUP CHAMPIONSHIPS – The USA will play Haiti Sunday, 1:30 p.m. at Legion Field. TODAY, there is a Detroit Watch Party, 6 p.m. of USA vs Haiti at the Good People Brewery, FRIDAY, Trophy Display, 2 p.m. – FIFA World Cup Trophy Display, 6 p.m. at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, SATURDAY, there is Open Practice 12:30 p.m. with parking lots open 2:30 p.m. Gates Open at Gate 10 and 11 FREE ADMISSION. SUNDAY starting at 9 Legion Field Parking Lots Open, 10 a.m. Round Trip Shuttle begins and runs until 90 minutes after the game with pickup at corner of 23rd Street North and Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd North in front of Uptown and Ticket Windows Open, 12 p.m. Noon – Legion Field Gates Open, 12:30 – Official American Outlaws March begins in Lot K with a 1:30 p.m. Kick-Off
(Photo Credit: bbkingblues.com)
Spinners, (Photo Credit: Spiritmountain.com)
Photo: Manhattans (Photo Credit: Livenation.com)
FOR MUSIC LOVERS….
**SOUND OF MOTOWN – ALL THE HITS IN ONE NIGHT – See the WHISPERS, THE SPINNERS, and THE MANHATTANS with the Sounds of Motown, next Friday, September 25th at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater.
FOR GOLF LOVERS….
**STILLMAN COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP GOLF TOURNAMENT – Join the fun at the 15th Annual Stillman College Scholarship Golf Tournament, September 25. Registration is 7 a.m. and Tee-Time is 8 a.m. The tournament will be held at the Roebuck Golf Course and will feature some of Birmingham’s finest golfers including NFL football celebrities, local community public officials and top female golfers. There will be door prizes, raffle prizes, awards and delicious lunch. Proceeds will go to the deserving Birmingham students to attend Stillman College. For more information (205) 925-9373, gdennard2@aol.com, (205) 247-8145 or ascott@stillman.edu.
**SRMSDC GOLF TOURNAMENT – FORE IN THE FALL is Friday, October 2 at the Oxmoor Valley Golf Course in Birmingham, Alabama. Registration is 7:30 a.m. with Shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. There is a Southern Hospitality Networking BBQ immediately following golf. Go to Southern Region MSDC for more.
**HOMEWOOD CHAMBER GOLF CLASSIC – The Annual Homewood Chamber Golf Classic will be held on Thursday, October 8 at Robert Trent Jones – Oxmoor Valley Golf Course. Registration and the Putting Contest will be held at 8 a.m., and the Tournament will officially begin with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. The Golf Classic supports economic development efforts in the City of Homewood. Participants will enjoy a light breakfast, full round of golf, the chance to win fantastic door prizes from area businesses, a locally sourced lunch from Urban Cookhouse and so much more. Call (205) 871-5631 for more.
**2016 AMPUTEE GOLF TOURNAMENT – The 67th National Amputee Golf Championship and International Cup is back in Sweet Home Alabama after more than 20 years! At this 67th annual event, the U.S. and International players will compete for the titles hosted by Birmingham’s own Chris Osborne, who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. The public can meet PGA pro Chad Pfeifer aka “Captain Clutch” from the Golf Channel’s Big Break and Dancing With the Star’s Noah Galloway. Both of these athletes are also military veterans and will be taking pictures on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 6 p.m. Admission is free to watch. The public can play too in the scramble on Monday September 14th at Bent Brook Golf Club. For more information visit nagagolfbham.org.
**FOOTBALL …..AND…. RACING AT ITS FINEST AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY…..
If golf is not your cup of tea, football season kicked off recently so check out the games now until the first of the year. AND, if you love cars, then the Talladega Superspeedway races October 23-25 are right around the corner.
….There are always plenty of things to do around the southeast. Here are a few things going on in town…
TODAY…, Check out PLUM and LEGENDS LOUNGE, downtown Birmingham.
FRIDAY…, Laughter… at the StarDome Comedy Club!
SATURDAY…FACE 2 FACE, a Worship and Deliverance Ministries present At His Feet, 10 a.m. – Noon with panel guests Pastor Jonathan L. Woods, Sr. , Monique Henry, Overseer Freddie Washington, Valerie T. Smith, Curtiss Glenn, Demetrius Hicks, Jaquise Harville-Speight, Pastor Jonathan Fox, and Charmayne Wilson-Mayowa at 711 22nd Street, in Ensley, Birmingham, 35218.
FOR ART LOVERS…
IN TUSCALOOSA….
**THE LIFE OF A COSTUME: FROM PAGE TO STAGE – This exhibition is at The University of Alabama Gallery in the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center September 4 through the 25th. The gallery is located at 620 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL. 35401.
**ROOTS AND ALL – P.H. POLK and GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER – This exhibition now through September 25 is at the Paul R. Jones Gallery, 2308 Sixth Street in Tuscaloosa. Call (205) 345-3038 for more.
FOR EXERCISE….
**2015 COUCH TO 5K FITNESS – The cool weather is the right time to get your exercise in at the Couch to 5K Fitness Sessions every Thursday, 5-6 p.m. at the Norwood Community Center, located at 1330 28th Street North.
**SISTAH STRUT – Brenda’s Brown Bosom Buddies will run, walk, stroll or strut next Saturday at Legion Field, 7 – 11 a.m.
NOW…on to the rest of the happenings…. THIS WEEKEND….A FEW THINGS IN BIRMINGHAM!
CHECK OUT….the TIDE AND TIGER every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday on Graymont Avenue.
HERE ARE A FEW MORE THINGS GOING ON…THIS WEEKEND…
TODAY….
**Ona’s Music Room is relocating…. look for more soon.
**JORDAN HULL and GABRIEL TAJEU at The Nick.
FRIDAY…
**TIDE AND TIGER LOUNGE, 8 p.m. on Graymont Avenue across the street from Legion Field. Open Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.
*FRIDAY AFTER WORK – For those that want ‘a break’ before the weekend ‘Friday after Work’ has food and more, 5 – 10 p.m. Call (205) 572-1295 for more. Get your palates ready!
**DEAD FLOWERS, THE SUN, THE MOON and DANIMAL PLANET at The Nick on southside.
SATURDAY…
**TIDE AND TIGER LOUNGE, 8 p.m. on Graymont Avenue across the street from Legion Field. Open Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.
**OH MY LOVE, CORNBRED and THE RUNTS at The Nick.
SUNDAY…
**SKATE PARTY 7 – 11 p.m. at the Roller Motions Skate Center located at 2474 Morgan Road, in Bessemer with DJ CJ “Tha Sticman” in the mix.
**MIDNIGHT MOB and MONSTERS OF THE WEEK 8 p.m. at the Nick. No cover.
**LEA’ AND ANTHONY performing at the #ShinDigSundays every 1st and 3rd Sunday at the M North located at 2215 First Avenue North Downtown Birmingham. Tell them Gwen sent you.
TUESDAY…
**MATTHEW McNEAL and HUNNICUTT WILLIS at The Nick on southside..
**TIDE AND TIGER LOUNGE, 8 p.m. on Graymont Avenue across the street from Legion Field. Open Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.
WEDNESDAY…
BILLY STRINGS and DON JUAN at the Nick.
FOR COMEDY LOVERS…
DON’T MISS….
Photo: Mike Epps) (Photo Credit: thedmvnetwork.com)
**AT THE STARDOME… this weekend…TOMORROW…MIKE EPPS…. You’ve seen this mega movie and comedic star in The Honeymooners, Next Friday, Friday After Next, How High and All About the Benjamins to name a few. This show will sell out so make your plans now.
COMING SOON…, STEVE WILSON & GUY TORRY – September 25-27, BRUCE BRUCE – October 2-4, ETTA MAY – October 9-11, TOM SEGURA – November 2 (ONE NIGHT ONLY). Call (205) 444-0008 for more.
COMING SOON….
**OCTOBER 10 – UNITY BALL– The second Annual Unity Ball by the Lovely Ladies of Stewart Success is Saturday, October 10, 7 p.m. to midnight at the Boutwell Auditorium. For more call 223-1160.
**OCTOBER 10-11 – LIFE ISN’T FAIR – NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST, a stage play by Award Winning Film-Maker/Play-Writer DERRELL LAWRENCE featuring Grammy Award Winner REGINA BELLE, Emmy Nominated SEAN BLAKEMORE, International Actor JOHN TERRELL, Lawrence (himself) and more at the BJCC. The performances are Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.
**OCTOBER 15-16 – DON’T MISS… CLEARWATER JAZZ FESTIVAL, with Gladys Knight, the O’Jays, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy, The Averett Brothers and more.
**OCTOBER 18 – BIG DADDY’S NEW BAND will perform at Daniel Day Gallery Dream Meccas Studio, 3025 Sixth Avenue South, 2- 6 p.m. Call (205) 223-9882 for more.
**OCTOBER 31 – MAGIC CITY CLASSIC is the largestHistorically Black College and University (HBCU) football game in the country. Alabama A&M University and Alabama State University play in the game annually at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, and the winner could potentially earn a spot in the SWAC Championship. Festivities surrounding the event include the Magic City Classic Alumni Pep Rally, Magic City Classic Parade, Coors Light Pre-Game Tailgate Party and the famed halftime show performed by the Marching Hornets and the Marching Maroon and White. For more information, visit www.themagiccityclassic.com.
NOW…. BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUTS!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU… AND TO ALL CELEBRATING!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL YOU BIRTHDAY BALLERS…MANY, MANY MORE HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!! ENJOY!! Celebrate ‘your’ month…I do…all 30 days ‘and’ some!
Sexy, Sleek, Stylish, Stealth, Smooth. I’m talking about the 2015 Chrysler 200S AWD model that I had the esteem pleasure of test driving.
This performance Sedan came in a color that is exclusive to the 200S model: Ceramic Blue. This is a blend of blue and gray that met somewhere in the middle at exactly the right time. That description wasn’t meant to be confined to the exterior of the car only. The interior of the 200S featured leather vented, sport seats, wood grain trim, a LED console that was so easy to access that even a child could do it and the cabin was very luxurious. The amount of space in the cabin of the car, to describe it as roomy or comfortable is an understatement.
This Performance Sedan does not try to come off as a Sports Sedan, it exceeds that title.
The exterior of the car featured LED lights that are so sleek and stylish it makes you take notice. Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself! The Chrysler 200S is designed to appeal to the younger car buyer and it doesn’t disappoint.
The model that I test drove had a base price of $29,370, which included a 3.6L V6, 9-speed automatic transmission, suspension that is sport tuned with a long list of standard amenities. When you add the leather heated and vented sport seats, the navigation/sound group, the blind spot/cross path detection, the comfort group and the premium lighting group you walk away with a vehicle that will have your neighbors constantly giving you the thumbs up as you drive down the street and expect phone calls asking if they can come over and “peek” inside your new ride. And I realized quickly that if the 200S was parked in my neighbor’s driveway or I saw them riding down my block in it I would be tempted to flag them down to compliment their new purchase too.
The Chrysler 200 comes in four trim packages: LX, Limited, S and C. The Chrysler 200C is the top of the cream of the Chrysler 200S series.
The Exterior of the Chrysler 200S looks sporty but not overly sporty for a sedan. It’s sleek enough to get that second look and I especially like the dark black versus the silver trim on the LED lights along with the 19-inch black wheels.
The Interior of the Chrysler 200S is what really got my attention. Although the cabin follows the trends of midsize sedans it has that more factor. The sport seats were of a black leather with a S on the back of the seats – that were very comfortable for not only the driver but the rear passengers – with lots of elbow room. The UConnect information system features a large touch screen mounted on the dash with the traditional knobs and buttons on the lower shift console. It has a rotary shift knob for the 9-speed transmission located just past the driver’s armrest and when placed into the Sports mode the gears can be changed by simply tapping a sports shifter located on the steering column. Simple controls for the sound system and controlling the climate in conjunction with the touch screen, the hands-free phone system and the information display for the driver in the middle of the console made it a very pleasurable drive. The push button start/stop button and the push button parking brake with a long list of other specific gadgets on the dash made the interior ultra modern.
The driving and handling of the Chrysler 200S was quite pleasing in both clear and rainy weather. The 3.6 L V6, 9-speed automatic transmission funnels 295 horsepowers/262lb-ft torque to all of the wheels, allows you to go from 0 to wheee doggy in a matter of seconds.The handling due to its weight was great.
HORGOS, Serbia— Baton-wielding Hungarian riot police unleashed tear gas and water cannons against hundreds of migrants Wednesday after they broke through a razor-wire fence and tried to surge into the country from Serbia. Crying children fled the acrid smoke and dozens of people were injured in the chaos.
With their path blocked, hundreds of other asylum-seekers turned to a longer, more arduous path to Western Europe through Croatia, where officials said 1,300 had arrived in a single day — a number that was sure to grow.
On the sealed border into Hungary, frustrated men — many of them war refugees from Syria and Iraq — hurled rocks and plastic water bottles at the helmeted riot police as they chanted “Open” Open!” in English. Children and women cried as the young men, their faces wrapped in scarves, charged toward the police through thick smoke from tear gas and tires set on fire by the crowd.
“We fled wars and violence and did not expect such brutality and inhumane treatment in Europe,” shouted an Iraqi, Amir Hassan, his eyes red from tear gas and his hair and clothing soaked after being hit by blasts of water cannon spray.
“Shame on you, Hungarians,” he shouted pointing in the direction of the shielded Hungarian policemen who were firing volleys of tear gas canisters directly into the crowd.
Around him, women screamed and wailed, covering their faces with scarves as they poured bottled water into their sobbing children’s eyes to relieve the stinging. Children gasped from the gas; blood streamed down the face of one man as he ran from the melee, carrying a small child. People fainted from the noxious plumes of tear gas, including one woman who collapsed while holding a baby.
At least two people were seriously injured and 200 to 300 others received medical care for tear gas inhalation and injuries such as cuts, bruises and burns, said Dr. Margit Pajor, who treated people at a medical center in Kanjiza, Serbia.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed “shock” at the behavior of Hungarian police, calling it unacceptable. Referring to Syria, he said: “People facing barrel bombs and brutality in their country will continue to seek life in another.”
Hungarian authorities insisted they acted legitimately in self-defense, describing the migrants as violent and dangerous.
“We will employ all legal means to protect Hungary’s border’s security,” said Gyorgy Bakondi, homeland security adviser to Prime Minister Viktor Orban. “We will not permit violent, armed, aggressive attackers to enter.”
The ugly developments in Europe’s migrant crisis took place after some of those massed in Serbia broke through a gate. They and hundreds of others had grown desperate after Hungary sealed off its border with Serbia with a razor-wire fence the day before to stop the huge numbers of migrants entering Hungary, which lies on a popular route to Western Europe.
More than 200,000 have entered Hungary this year alone, turning the country into one of the main entry points into Europe for the rising numbers of people fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.
Orban said Wednesday he plans to also build stretches of fence along the border with Croatia. A day earlier his government said it was also extending the fence along a stretch of its border with Romania. Both Croatia and Romania, like Hungary, are members of the EU, and the moves are straining ties with those allies and herald the unusual prospect of fortress-like barriers between EU states.
After the clashes with police, chaotic scenes also erupted as some private groups delivered aid in trucks. People fought over food, water and clothing, with no Serbian policemen or anyone else to establish order.
It was clear that Hungary’s ties with Serbia were facing deep strains.
Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, decried what he called “brutal attacks” by the migrants against Hungarian police and asked Serbian authorities to crack down on the migrants on its soil.
Serbia said it would send more police to the border to separate the migrants from Hungarian police. But Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, on a visit to the United States, condemned the “brutal treatment” of migrants by Hungarian police.
“We will not allow anyone to humiliate us and we will not allow anyone to throw tear gas on Serbia’s territory,” Vucic said.
Meanwhile, Serbian state television said three of its staff members reporting at the border were beaten by Hungarian police with batons and that their equipment was broken.
Radio-Television Serbia said that Hungarian police pushed a cameraman against the wall and then beat him on the head and back and then smashed his camera. A reporter’s arm was also hurt. The beatings occurred while the journalists stood between police and the migrants even though they identified themselves as journalists, the broadcaster said.
Hungarian authorities said they have arrested 519 migrants who tried to cross the border since tough new laws went into effect Tuesday that make it a crime to cross from Serbia anywhere other than at legal checkpoints. Authorities launched 46 criminal prosecutions and found nine people guilty, the first convictions based on the new laws.
The asylum-seekers, who were escorted into court in handcuffs, were expelled from Hungary and banned from re-entering the country for either one or two years. They were provided with lawyers and translators.
Syrian President Bashar Assad blamed Europe for the crisis, saying it was a direct result of the West’s support for extremists in Syria over the past four years.
In an interview with Russian media, Assad accused Europe of supporting “terrorism” and providing “protection for terrorists, calling them moderates.”
Earlier in the day, Hungary’s foreign minister denied the closed borders and tough new laws signaled callousness toward refugees, repeating the government’s claim that most of those entering Hungary are actually economic migrants.
“Based on our history, we are always in solidarity with the refugees,” Szijjarto told The Associated Press in an interview. “What we’re saying is that we cannot accept economic migrants because we cannot bear the burden of that.”
Some asylum-seekers trapped at the border were confused about whether to keep waiting or to try to enter the EU through Croatia, where there are still mines left over from the Balkan wars. A de-mining expert was killed earlier this week when one of the mines exploded, but not in the region where the migrants are expected to travel.
Croatia’s Mine Action Center says there are still 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) of suspicious areas throughout the country, but all have been clearly marked.
De-mining experts have been working recently in areas where the migrants will pass to remove remaining mines.
“I don’t know what to do — stay here or try some other way to cross the border,” said Ahmed Sami from Aleppo, Syria. “We walked and traveled for hundreds, thousands of kilometers only to be stopped meters from the European Union. My wife and children cannot stand on their feet any more. This is tragic.”
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic criticized Hungary’s decision to seal its border with Serbia and said Croatia will not do the same.
“We are ready to accept these people, regardless of their religion and the color of their skin, and direct them to the destinations where they wish to go, Germany and Scandinavia,” Milanovic told lawmakers in Parliament.
Elsewhere in Europe, migrants remained on the move.
Greek police said some 5,000 people trying to reach Western Europe crossed the country’s northern border with Macedonia over the 24-hour period from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning.
SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — The Bernie Sanders phenomenon has been driven almost entirely by white supporters. Now the Vermont senator is out to overcome hurdles with prospective black voters who are still learning about him and could shape whether his underdog campaign for the 2016 Democratic nomination can last.
Sanders, who organized sit-ins over segregated housing as a college student during the civil rights movement, must cut into Hillary Rodham Clinton’s advantage with African-Americans if he’s to do well in South Carolina’s February primary, where more than half the voters are expected to be black, and in other Southern states that follow in March.
Polls find the independent Vermont senator building a lead over Clinton in New Hampshire and closing the gap in Iowa, two mainly white states very much unlike the more diverse Super Tuesday states of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and others.
The independent Vermont senator and his advisers say his policies and personal story can resonate among black voters — if the campaign can reach them. He says he plans to emphasize his personal efforts more as he campaigns, beginning this weekend with a swing through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
“I believe when the African-American community in South Carolina and around the country understands that I have one of the strongest civil rights records in Congress and was involved in the civil rights movement for many years before I went to Congress, they will respond,” Sanders said in an interview.
That would mark a shift from recent months. At several appearances in South Carolina in August, he drew overwhelmingly white audiences, and he hasn’t talked much about his civil rights past.
He’s been linking his policy proposals to challenges in the African-American community, citing dire economic statistics for blacks, blasting private, for-profit prisons and their role in incarceration of young black males, and bemoaning “institutional racism” and militarization of local police forces.
He stuck to that script Friday evening at an Atlanta fundraiser, his first event of a busy weekend schedule.
Sanders said emphasis on policy over his biography has been intentional.
Recounting his involvement with the Congress of Racial Equality and his arrest for protesting segregated housing at the University of Chicago in the 1960s, Sanders said he was “proud of the work” he did but “it’s not anything I like to brag about.”
“It’s much more important for me to tell people what I will do as president and how it affects them,” he said.
Still, he acknowledged that Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have a long history with black voters, while Sanders has built his career in Vermont, where 95 percent of the population is white.
Clinton, who also has outlined proposals to address what she sees as the over-incarceration of black men, economic inequality and problems with access to voting, has already picked up support from top South Carolina Democrats, including two former governors and many black leaders.
One of them, 2014 Senate nominee Joyce Dickerson, argued that Sanders is too far behind to catch up.
“I called Bernie Sanders after my race, and no one ever called me back at all,” said Dickerson, a longtime councilwoman in Richland County, home to the state capital of Columbia. “I got more than 400,000 votes. If he’s not interested in my thoughts, in my list of voters, why should I be interested in him?”
Said Sanders: “We have a lot of work to do.”
The senator has emphasized his connections to black leaders in recent weeks and plans to campaign with the academic and civil rights leader Cornel West. Sanders met last month in Chicago with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, whom he twice endorsed for president in the 1980s.
Chris Covert, Sanders’ state director in South Carolina, said the campaign has 15 full-time staff members on the ground, with offices in Columbia and Charleston. More offices will be opening soon, advisers say.
“It’s not that the message isn’t resonating with the African-American community,” Covert said. “It’s that we haven’t communicated with them yet.”
After a rally in Sumter in August, Sanders backer Calvin Bennett, 44, said the candidate simply isn’t known.
“The African-American community, institutionally, has just been a part of the Democratic Party machinery for so long,” he said, explaining why he thinks Clinton, who is more closely connected with that machinery, has an advantage.
But Muhiyidin d’Baha, a lead organizer in Black Lives Matter of Charleston, praised Sanders for “his evolution” in how he talks about economic and social inequities. His group has no interest in endorsements, d’Baha said, but he argued that Sanders has an edge over Clinton.
“She is hopelessly compromised from years in this system,” d’Baha said, while Sanders, despite decades in public office, talks openly of “a political revolution.”
