May 4, 2015

High school baseball star loses college scholarship after yelling ‘f*****g n****rs’ at black family

Racial slurs caught on camera and spread on social media cost a high school star baseball player his college scholarship, KGO reports. Video of the incident on Twitter shows a player using the phrase “f*****g n****rs.”

The student player from Pinole Valley High School of Alameda, California said those hateful words following a game against Saint Mary’s College High School of Berkeley Wednesday. The racial slurs were slung at the family of an opposing player. “Obviously, I was dismayed, very distressed by what had occurred and without question it was unacceptable,” Bussell Bloom, a parent of a Saint Mary student said.

The athlete had signed a letter of intent and was offered a scholarship from California State University Northridge. However, the recruiters dropped him after they found out the controversy as the athlete was tagged in tweets with the video.

“It’s given these kids an opportunity to see how far reaching their conduct can be and that’s an important lesson,” Bloom commented.

“Discipline is essential, consequences are essential, but redemption is also essential,” the principal of St. Mary’s, Peter Imperial said to KGO.

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http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/high-school-baseball-star-loses-college-scholarship-after-yelling-fg-nrs-at-black-family/

May 4, 2015

The tragedy of Ben Carson: How a brilliant doctor turned into a right-wing provocateur

The GOP's newest presidential candidate is intent on making a fool of himself before as many people as possible

JIM NEWELL

The Ben Carson phenomenon is a case lesson in how some really smart, impressive figures in certain fields should never talk about politics.

Carson is now an official presidential candidate, representing a subset of grassroots conservatives who enjoy being played. This is not an insignificant number of people. He is, to the horror of the people who run the Republican party, polling viably. No would-be candidate has a more dedicated corps of volunteers supporting him. Whether it’s CPAC or the First in the Nation Summit in New Hampshire, the Carson people are everywhere, handing out stickers and buttons and t-shirts and assorted other tchochkes from dusk till dawn.

But why? What is it that they like about someone who’s quite obviously trying to separate conservative movementarians from their money?

Carson’s rise to prominence among Tea Party conservatives, or whatever we’re calling that element of the GOP now, should be bizarre to everyone. It’s especially baffling, though, to people like your trusty Salon writer, who grew up in the mid-Atlantic in the 1990s. Most elementary and middle school students from Maryland were at some point assigned to read Ben Carson’s autobiography, Gifted Hands — typically ahead of a visit from the man himself. Carson was raised in Detroit, rising from abject poverty to Yale, eventually becoming the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, one of the best medical centers in the world. To children and adults alike, he was the reigning regional saint. (Along with Cal Ripken Jr., who didn’t pull off masterful feats of neurosurgery but did play in thousands of consecutive baseball games.)

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http://www.salon.com/2015/05/04/the_tragedy_of_ben_carson_how_a_brilliant_doctor_turned_into_a_right_wing_provocatuer/

May 4, 2015

Rush Limbaugh: Obama gave ‘green light’ for ‘people in ISIS’ to shoot up Texas cartoon contest

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh accused President Barack Obama of effectively giving members of the terrorist group ISIS the “green light” to carry out a deadly shooting at an event in Texas

According to Garland police, two attackers armed with assault-style rifles on Sunday opened fire at an event sponsored by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI). It’s co-founder and president of Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), Pam Geller, was also reportedly in attendance. Both groups have been listed as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

One security guard was shot in the leg during the incident, and both suspects were killed by a police officer.

On his Monday radio program, Limbaugh complained that liberals wanted to respect Islam when it came to not depicting the Prophet Muhammad, but they did not want to obey Islamic laws against homosexuality.

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http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/rush-limbaugh-obama-gave-green-light-for-people-in-isis-to-shoot-up-texas-cartoon-contest/

May 4, 2015

GOP lawmaker links Hillary to Tx shooting: She wants to disarm cops while ‘we’re at war’ with Islam

Speaking with the hosts of Fox & Friends, New York Congressman Peter King (R) managed to link potential 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to Sunday’s shooting in Texas, saying she would disarm police in the face of a war with Islam here at home in the U.S.

The former secretary of state recently said she wanted to restore “balance” to the U.S. justice system, and last December hit the militarization of police departments, saying “weapons of war” have no place in American communities.

In inflammatory rhetoric normally expected from Iowa Rep Steve King (R), the New Yorker sounded the alarm about Islam in America, reports The Hill.

“When people like Hillary Clinton say that police should not have weapons of war, the fact is we are at war, we are at war with Islamist terrorism and we have to have all weapons and all resources available,” King said.

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http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/gop-lawmaker-links-hillary-to-texas-shooting-she-wants-to-disarm-cops-while-were-at-war-with-islam/

May 4, 2015

Texas Senate testimony: It’s a ‘hate crime’ to make people not discriminate against gays

A Texas church member testified to a state Senate committee on Monday that the government would be guilty of a “hate crime” if he was forced to recognize that LGBT people had an equal right to marriage.

On Monday, the Senate committee on State Affairs heard testimony in favor of Senate Bill 2065, which would allow religious organizations and their employees to refuse to provide services related to same-sex marriages if it violated their “sincerely held” beliefs. John Torres, who said that he was testifying on behalf of his church, explained that he lived a “common life” and “I don’t discriminate against nobody.”

“I have never stand (SIC) up for something, but I think it’s time that all the people start standing up for the beliefs they have,” he insisted. “And my belief, and a bunch of us have that belief, that it’s one woman and one man. The Bible was clear when it said that.”

“We need y’all to stand up for us,” Torres told the lawmakers, adding that the legalization of same-sex marriage was a “hate crime.”

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http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/texas-senate-testimony-its-a-hate-crime-to-make-people-not-discriminate-against-gays/

May 4, 2015

Ted Cruz: I Understand Why People Fear A Possible Military Takeover Of Texas

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Saturday that he asked the Pentagon for answers about Jade Helm 15, a military training program that has sparked conspiracy theories about a possible military takeover of Texas, Bloomberg Politics reported.

The 2016 presidential candidate told Bloomberg during the South Carolina Republican Party's annual convention that his office had been "assured that it is a military training exercise." But, he added, he also gets where the conspiracy theorists are coming from.

"You know I understand the concern that's been raised by a lot of citizens about Jade Helm," Cruz told Bloomberg. "It's a question I'm getting a lot. And I think part of the reason is, we have seen for six years a federal government disrespecting the liberty of the citizens and that produces fear. When you see a federal government that is attacking our free speech rights, our religious liberty rights, our Second Amendment rights. That produces distrust as to government."

Cruz's comments came after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered the state guard to monitor the military's activities after the conspiracy theorists raised concerns.

Cruz told Bloomberg he has "a great deal of faith and confidence" in the governor.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-jade-helm-15-pentagon

May 4, 2015

Kansas waitress refuses tip from budget-slashing Gov. Sam Brownback: ‘Tip the schools’ instead

A Kansas waitress, who had already given notice that she was quitting her job, refused a tip from tax-cutting Gov. Sam Brownback (R), noting on his credit card receipt “Tip the schools” instead.

As reported by KSN, Chloe Hough took a picture of the receipt and posted it to her Facebook page under the heading “MIC DROP.”

According to Hough, she had already given notice at Boss Hawg’s Barbeque in Topeka when the governor came into the restaurant with his family. Jumping on Facebook she wrote, “You guys 911 emergency. It’s my last shift and I am waiting on our governor. What should I say to him. This is not a test. Go.”

According to Hough, she wasn’t trying to be malicious but she didn’t want to waste a once in a lifetime moment. “I just knew I had to say something, or I would regret it,” she said, adding, “It was my last shift at the restaurant, as I had quit, so it worked out nicely.”

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http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/kansas-waitress-refuses-tip-from-budget-slashing-gov-sam-brownback-tip-the-schools-instead/

May 4, 2015

CarlyFiorina.org is literally just 30,000 sad faces — one for every laid off HP employee

?

Carly Fiorina is under attack. The same morning the former Hewlett-Packard CEO announced her presidential campaign a new website appeared making it clear that she failed to secure ownership of CarlyFiorina.org before her re-entry into the public consciousness.

Someone – exactly who isn't yet clear – pointed out on the site's home page that Fiorina failed to register the seemingly obvious domain name, leaving it open to opportunists. “Carly Fiorina failed to register this domain,” says the page. “So I'm using it to tell you how many people she laid off at Hewlett-Packard.”

The message is followed by 30,000 frown faces, one for each of the former HP employees who were shown the door during Fiorina's time in charge of the technology company from 1999 to 2005.

The domain is registered to Contact Privacy Inc., a privacy service that enables users to register websites anonymously.

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http://www.ibtimes.com/carlyfiorinaorg-domain-fail-highlights-30000-hp-layoffs-sad-faces-1907117?ft=95p2z

May 4, 2015

Supreme Court rejects challenge to New Jersey ‘gay conversion therapy’ ban

Source: Reuters

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left intact New Jersey’s ban on counseling intended to change the sexual orientation of gay children.

The court declined to hear a challenge to the law, meaning that a September ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the ban is the final word on the matter.

The appeals court said the ban, which Republican Governor Chris Christie signed into law in August 2013, did not violate the free speech or religious rights of counselors offering “gay conversion therapy” to convert homosexual minors into heterosexuals. The panel also said the plaintiffs, who included licensed therapists and a Christian counseling group, lacked standing to pursue claims on behalf of their minor clients.

In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder, but various conservative and religious groups have since argued that sexual orientation can be changed.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/supreme-court-rejects-challenge-to-new-jersey-gay-conversion-therapy-ban/