LIFESTYLE

How to Be an Antiracist: A Conversation With Ibram X. Kendi
LIFESTYLE

How to Be an Antiracist: A Conversation With Ibram X. Kendi

In his new book, the professor challenges traditional definitions of racism, and who can be racist. A universal understanding, particularly in academia and among racial justice advocates and activists, has been that race and racism are based on a concept of whiteness as superior over other racial constructions (such as Black, Brown, or Indigenous). Whole bodies of scholarship under the Critical Race Theory framework have discussed this power dynamic inherent in racism, which also yields to classism, sexism, and most other forms of social injustice. In fact, the term is often substituted with a more specific descriptor: “white supremacy.” Gender scholar bell hooks eventually coined the term “imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy,” to capture the intersecting ...
It’s Time for Effective Oversight of Police Violence
LIFESTYLE

It’s Time for Effective Oversight of Police Violence

Would the possibility of mandatory sentencing make a police officer think twice before pulling the trigger? What about them having to forego their pensions, or pay victims’ families from their 401Ks? Atatiana Jefferson is dead. The 28-year-old was shot and killed in her Texas home by a Fort Worth police officer on October 12. According to reports, the officer was responding to a nonemergency call for a wellness, or welfare, check. Jefferson’s neighbor made the call when he saw “both her front doors opened and all the lights on in her house” at 2 a.m. Police body cam footage of the shooting shows the officer walking around Jefferson’s house for a little over a minute before yelling, “Put your hands up. Show me your hands [unintelligible],” and immediately fires his weapon...
Silent Book Club: A time to get away from it all
LIFESTYLE

Silent Book Club: A time to get away from it all

It’s a guilt-free way to block out time in your schedule to do nothing but read. Shhhh! Silent book clubs are in session all across the United States. According to an Aug. 12 National Public Radio report on the subject, Guinevere de la Mare co-founded the Silent Book Club organization with Laura Gluhanich in 2012 because the two were annoyed by the demanding imperatives of traditional book clubs. In chroniclebooks.com’s “How to Start a Silent Book Club,” de la Mare offered: “It’s a guilt-free way to block out time in your schedule to do nothing but read. It’s the gift of stepping away from the computer and the god-awful news for a couple of hours to simply relax with a book.” SBC currently recognizes 70 active chapters (no book pun intended). Rules are loose and simple: ‒ Arrive at a de...
LIFESTYLE

Suspects Arrested for Shipping Drug-Stuffed Children’s Toys Through US Post Offices

Three people were recently arrested in a sizable drug bust conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The suspects, hailing from Southern California, were allegedly operating their business using dark web markets to sell cocaine and methamphetamine to users around the U.S. The trio allegedly concealed the drugs in children’s toys and then shipped the toys using post offices around the country. These sales were executed through different darknet markets, including Silk Road and AlphaBay, where they would receive payment in cryptocurrency as a more anonymous way of managing illicit sales. A Nationwide Narcotics Operation The three men that were arrested recently—Anh Pham, Joseph Michael Gifford and Carlos Miguel Gallardo—were allegedly running a major drug ring that was dis...
Ex-Cop Called “Piratedeadpool” Stole Pensioner’s $3.4 Million Share Portfolio Using Dark Web
LIFESTYLE

Ex-Cop Called “Piratedeadpool” Stole Pensioner’s $3.4 Million Share Portfolio Using Dark Web

James Goris has pleaded guilty to one count each for obtaining property by deception, making identification information, child pornography, and using fake documents. The 46-year-old man used the dark web to make millions of dollars from Kenneth Holt, a pensioner, according to a report read at the Victoria County Court. In a statement released by Penny Thorp, the prosecutor, Goris used illegal means to take control of the pensioner’s portfolio shares. As claimed by a report, Goris created a fake document and a post office box address to obtain complete access to Holt’s portfolio shares. James Goris, who happens to be a former police officer, has been identified as a notorious forger who operates under the username “piratedeadpool” on the dark web. He is well known for his illegal sales of ...
LIFESTYLE

Dallas Man Charged with Using Stolen Credit Card Information Obtained from the Dark Web

A 38-year-old man from Dallas was charged by a federal jury last week on allegations of making fraudulent credit cards using information obtained from the dark web. Carlos M. Garza Junior would purchase the card details on the darknet then use the information to reproduce similar copies of the cards using a magnetic encoder. Garza’s arrest came on May 15 after a complaint of theft was made by an employee of a local store. The employee worked at Lubbock’s Home Depot store that dealt with electric appliances, construction tools, and services. Soon after the complaint was made, Lubbock police met the employee at the store on 50th street to investigate the case. According to the police report, the employee said that Garza had been in the store just moments before and he had purchased items w...
Protesters ousted from sacred site where Elvis filmed movie
LIFESTYLE

Protesters ousted from sacred site where Elvis filmed movie

State sheriffs on Thursday removed protesters from the ruins of a Hawaii hotel where they have been squatting since last year in an attempt to block redevelopment of land where Hawaiian chiefs once lived and where Elvis Presley’s character got married in the movie “Blue Hawaii.” The Hawaii Department of Public Safety said in a statement Thursday that state sheriffs arrested 23-year-old Mahealani Hanie-Grace for trespassing at Coco Palms on Kauai. The protest began when two men arrived claiming they owned the property because they descend from King Kaumualii, the last ruler of Kauai. They’ve been joined by dozens of others. Police have cited protesters for trespassing. A judge last month issued an order to evict them. The public safety department said 25 deputy sheriffs participated in ...
Sale of Harvey Weinstein’s company up in air after lawsuit
LIFESTYLE

Sale of Harvey Weinstein’s company up in air after lawsuit

New York’s attorney general said Monday that executives at Harvey Weinstein’s movie studio enabled and covered up dozens of sexual misconduct allegations against the Hollywood mogul and that any sale of the company must include compensation for victims and protections for employees. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said his office filed a lawsuit against the company on Sunday, as a deal was expected to close, to make sure that potential purchasers know the extent of “pervasive patterns of illegal activity” at The Weinstein Co. and to ensure executives involved in the alleged cover up are ousted. Schneiderman said an offer from a group led by former U.S. Small Business Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet would have put Weinstein Co. executive David Glasser in charge of the company despi...
Hollywood producer dies by suicide, family says, lashing out at Weinstein, McGowan
LIFESTYLE

Hollywood producer dies by suicide, family says, lashing out at Weinstein, McGowan

Jill Messick, a Hollywood producer and executive who once worked for Miramax under Harvey Weinstein’s leadership and served as Rose McGowan’s manager, took her own life on Wednesday after a long battle with depression, her family said. She was 50. Following her death, Messick’s family released a blistering statement condemning Weinstein, McGowan, and the media for their portrayals of Messick, who “became collateral damage in an already horrific story.” “Jill was victimized by our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact,” the family said in a lengthy statement to the Hollywood Reporter. “The speed of disseminating information has carried mistruths about Jill as a person, which she was unable and unwilling to challenge. The family accuse...
Grumpy Cat owner awarded over $700,000 in lawsuit. Cat still won’t smile.
LIFESTYLE

Grumpy Cat owner awarded over $700,000 in lawsuit. Cat still won’t smile.

To most Internet users, Grumpy Cat - the feline with a furry frown - is a minor celebrity that capitalized on the popularity of memes in 2012 as a perpetual sourpuss. One of the most famous images of the cat, for example, was overlaid with the text, “I had fun once. It was awful.” To her owner, Tabatha Bundesen of Morristown, Arizona, she was a cash cow and lifeline. The cat’s unexpected fame allowed Bundesen to quit her job waitressing at Red Lobster, according to the Hollywood Reporter. She later formed Grumpy Cat Limited, monetizing the dour kitty. The company has produced a line of branded clothing, pillows, mugs, pens, bags and books “written” by the unhappy cat, including a New York Times bestseller. The cat herself - real name: Tardar Sauce - has appeared on “Today,” “Good Morni...