<p><strong>[WARNING: A</strong><b> VIDEO IN THIS PIECE CONTAINS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT]</b></p>
<p>Law enforcement officials have arrested a man for allegedly beating an elderly man in a nursing home in Detroit, Michigan, after disturbing videos of the alleged incident surfaced online and were viewed millions of times.</p>
<p>&#8220;Police said in a statement that they are holding a 20-year-old man in connection to the assault and battery of an elderly male at a nursing home on Detroit’s west side,&#8221; The Detroit News reported. &#8220;A video had been posted on social media and shared several times by concerned citizens of an incident that allegedly occurred on May 15. Police said both the 75-year-old male victim and the suspect are patients at the nursing home located in the 16500 block of Schaefer.&#8221;</p>
<p>Detroit Police Chief James Craig said at a press conference,&#8221;The nursing home was unaware of the assault until they saw the video. We are still investigating that aspect of the case, but we do have a suspect in custody.&#8221;</p>
<p>Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer has not made any statements about the horrifying attack despite the fact that the video appears to have circulated widely online since early this week. The Daily Wire contacted Whitmer&#8217;s chief of staff, but did not receive an immediate response. However, Whitmer, who is reportedly being <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-still-in-talks-to-be-bidens-vp">considered</a> as a potential vice president pick for presumptive Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden, has had time to go <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/02/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-show-comedy-central-whitmer/5115422002/">get</a> custom political t-shirts to promote herself on Comedy Central.</p>
<p>WATCH <b>[WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT]</b>:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Detroit Police have indicated there has been an arrest in this atrocity. No name, no picture and no indication of the citizenship status of the arrestee. This video will remain pinned here until they offer that information. What are they hiding?  <a href="https://t.co/Dzs8QYykIv">pic.twitter.com/Dzs8QYykIv</a></p>
<p>&mdash; James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1263565728386387968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Whitmer is facing a similar scandal as New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo over her coronavirus nursing home policy, which reportedly instructed nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients.</p>
<p>The Detroit News Editorial Board <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/editorials/2020/05/20/editorial-whitmer-order-endangers-nursing-homes-end-now/5220929002/">wrote</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Gov. Gretchen Whitmer must reverse course on her executive order that is placing Michigan’s most vulnerable seniors at risk. It’s a matter of life and death.</p>
<p>In mid-April Whitmer issued an executive order that ultimately instructed many of the state&#8217;s nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients. That put other residents in jeopardy, and may well have contributed to the high death rate in Michigan nursing homes.</p>
<p>About a third of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have been at nursing homes, and the same is true in Michigan, according to some estimates — although the state Department of Health and Human Services hasn’t been able to offer concrete numbers.</p></blockquote>
<p>The Detroit News added that lawmakers in the state have demanded an investigation into Whitmer&#8217;s order directing nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients.</p>
<p>Whitmer has come under intense fire for numerous highly controversial decisions that her administration has made during the coronavirus, including the decision to give taxpayer money to Democrat organizations and operations.</p>
<p>The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/governor-gretchen-whitmer-grilled-over-contract-scandal-has-to-use-notes-to-answer">reported</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer struggled to defend her administration on Wednesday when she was grilled over a scandal involving who was responsible for awarding taxpayer-funded coronavirus relief money to Democrat organizations and operatives.</p>
<p>Whitmer rushed to cancel the contracts on Tuesday after information surfaced online about who the entities were who were going to receive the funds.</p>
<p>When asked during a press conference on Wednesday about who was responsible for selecting the partisan organizations, Whitmer refused to answer and had to repeatedly look down at her notes.</p></blockquote>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of people in Michigan have signed an online petition to recall Whitmer over her controversial handling of the pandemic in her state.</p>
<p>&#8220;Michigan now bans lawn and landscaping services, motor boating and golf. Large stores can’t sell paint, furniture or garden equipment,&#8221; The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/michigans-draconian-lockdown-provokes-a-backlash-11587163325">reported.</a> &#8220;People aren’t allowed to travel between residences, which blocks them from visiting second homes and hunting cabins. Long-distance drives that don’t meet a “critical” need, according to the governor’s definition, are prohibited.&#8221;</p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a </span></i><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">member</span></i></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></i></p>


Michigan Democrats On The Midterm Ballot Attend Election Night Party In Detroit

Detroit Police Make Arrest After Horrifying Video Emerges Of Elderly Man Beaten At Nursing Home. Governor Gretchen Whitmer Silent.

Coronavirus

Crime

Detroit

Gretchen Whitmer

Michigan

<p>Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) defended herself against a slew of racist accusations after she urged the Detroit Police Department to only hire black individuals to work as facial recognition analysts.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to call out every injustice I see. It&#8217;s probably what makes most people uncomfortable when I speak the truth,&#8221; Tlaib <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/letters/2019/10/04/rashida-tlaib-im-wide-awake/3857010002/">wrote in an op-ed</a> on Friday. &#8220;My comments weren&#8217;t racist, out of order, or &#8216;inappropriate.&#8217; It is inappropriate to implement a broken, flawed and racist technology that doesn’t recognize black and brown faces in a city that is over 80% black.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to mince words when my residents are threatened. The Detroit News should not take Detroit Police Chief James Craig&#8217;s bait and help him to distract from the fact that broken technology is being used to lock up black and brown people in Detroit,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;While the continued fascination with my every word is flattering, it will not get me to back away from the truth.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tlaib&#8217;s remarks were in reference to a <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/editorials/2019/10/03/editorial-rashida-tlaib-should-wake-up/3845566002/">Detroit News editorial&#8217;s declaration</a> that the freshman congresswoman &#8220;should wake up&#8221; and realize that she has followed President Donald Trump &#8220;down the racist rabbit hole.&#8221;</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rashida-tlaib-demands-the-detroit-police-department-only-hire-african-americans-for-facial-recognition-program">controversy arose</a> after Tlaib publicly called the department&#8217;s facial recognition program &#8220;bulls***&#8221; in August. Officials subsequently responded by inviting her to tour the Public Safety Headquarters and see how the police force uses the software.</p>
<p>While touring the Real Time Crime Center last week, Tlaib stated to Craig that &#8220;analysts need to be African-Americans, not people that are not.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;No, this happens all the time,&#8221; Tlaib said after Craig shook his head at the demand. &#8220;It&#8217;s true. I mean, I think non-African Americans think that African-Americans all look the same.&#8221;</p>
<p>While Craig responded at the time that he trusts his trained employees regardless of race, he later slammed the Michigan lawmaker while speaking to a local news outlet.</p>
<p>&#8220;The fact that she made that statement, what does that say to the members of this department who are analysts, who are trained, who are white? That they in some way can&#8217;t do their job professionally? That&#8217;s insulting,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But here&#8217;s what is troubling: As a police chief who happens to be African-American in this city, if I made a similar statement, people would be calling for my resignation right now.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s our analysts who go through with tremendous rigor and identify the most probable suspect, if at all,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;It&#8217;s not the technology — it&#8217;s the people behind the technology. If we just relied solely on the technology and we went to the top match, we would misidentify probably as much as 95% of the time.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tlaib, however, seemed to ignore Craig&#8217;s contention that the facial recognition technology relies on human training to identify criminals, as well as his assertion that the technology alone does not incriminate individuals, but rather is merely a tool.</p>
<p>&#8220;I was elected to serve my residents, and I cannot in good conscience sit by while inaccurate facial recognition technology is deployed in ways that run the risk of false arrests and over-policing,&#8221; Tlaib said. &#8220;Facial recognition technology will have racist results and relying on human analysts for intervention is inadequate. We need to ban facial recognition.&#8221;</p>


us-politics-immigration-migrants

Tlaib Defends Her Demand To Detroit Police To Only Hire Black Individuals: ‘My Comments Weren’t Racist’

Rashida Tlaib

<p>While touring the Detroit Police Department&#8217;s Real Time Crime Center on Monday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) urged the department to only hire black individuals to work as facial recognition analysts.</p>
<p>&#8220;Analysts need to be African Americans, not people that are not,&#8221; Tlaib told Police Chief  James Craig while he was showing her live footage from video cameras around the city.</p>
<p>&#8220;No, this happens all the time,&#8221; Tlaib added after Craig shook his head at the demand. &#8220;It&#8217;s true. I mean, I think non-African Americans think that African Americans all look the same.&#8221;</p>
<p>The freshman congresswoman put forth that non-African Americans have even confused Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and John Lewis (D-GA) while on the floor of the House of Representatives.</p>
<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re totally different people. I&#8217;m just saying,&#8221; Tlaib said. &#8220;I see it all the time and I love them because they, like, go along with it.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I trust people who are trained regardless of race and regardless of gender,&#8221; Craig replied. &#8220;It is about the training.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;But it does make a huge difference,&#8221; Tlaib interjected.</p>
<p>Tlaib later defended her calls for a team of only black analysts to George Hunter, a reporter with <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2019/10/01/tlaib-use-only-blacks-detroits-facial-recognition-analysts/3830360002/">The Detroit News</a>. When Hunter questioned whether she believes that white people are not qualified for employment, she contended that studies have shown that individuals have an easier time identifying members of their own race.</p>
<p>After he pressed her further on whether that means African American individuals should be prohibited from identifying white individuals with the technology, Tlaib told him to &#8220;look it up&#8221; and walked away.</p>
<p>&#8220;The studies (Tlaib mentioned are) related to cross-race effect or other-race effect,&#8221; Tlaib&#8217;s spokesman later followed up with The Detroit News. &#8220;This has shown that individuals are less accurate when identifying people from a race other than their own.&#8221;</p>
<p class="p-text">&#8220;Detroit has a black population of more than 80%, so that is where her basis came from and what she was trying to convey when it comes to accurate identification,&#8221; he continued, with a link to a study from <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23162788" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-track-label="inline|intext|n/a">Memorial University of Newfoundland.</a></p>
<p>The tour comes nearly a month after Tlaib publicly referred to the facial recognition program &#8220;bullsh**&#8221; and urged the Detroit Police Department to rethink their program. Officials with the department responded by inviting the Michigan lawmaker to tour the Public Safety Headquarters and see how the police force uses the software.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Rashida Tlaib], Before you criticize the software, come to our Real Time Crime Center to see how we [Detroit Police] responsibly use it in efforts to identify criminals involved in violent crimes,&#8221; the police department responded through its official Twitter account. &#8220;Let&#8217;s set a date.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/RashidaTlaib?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RashidaTlaib</a> Before you criticize the software, come to our Real Time Crime Center to see how we <a href="https://twitter.com/detroitpolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@detroitpolice</a> responsibly use it in efforts to identify criminals involved in violent crimes. Let’s set a date. <a href="https://t.co/aR7DOjQe2a">https://t.co/aR7DOjQe2a</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Detroit Police Dept. (@detroitpolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/detroitpolice/status/1163807592344412160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Tlaib&#8217;s initial remark was in response to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders&#8217; (I-VT) recently released criminal justice plan which calls for a nationwide ban on facial recognition technology, among other things.</p>
<p>The Democratic lawmaker has made vulgar comments while serving in her official capacity as a member of Congress on multiple occasions. Only hours after Tlaib was sworn into office, she was recorded vowing to go after President Donald Trump. Referring to the president, Tlaib shouted at a crowd of her left-wing supporters that she is going to go in and &#8220;impeach the motherf****r.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the profanity drew immediate criticism from both sides of the political aisle, the Michigan congresswoman has touted her vulgar statement as an anti-Trump rallying cry.</p>


House Financial Committee Hearing Reviewing The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Rashida Tlaib Demands The Detroit Police Department Only Hire African Americans For Facial Recognition Program

<p>A high-ranking United Auto Workers (UAW) official is quietly assisting in the negotiations between General Motors Co. (GM) and the workers&#8217; union despite facing a host of federal charges, including embezzlement, money laundering, and conspiracy.</p>
<p>UAW Regional 5 Director Vance Pearson was advising the bargaining team over the weekend in Detroit, Michigan, as the union attempted to settle an impending strike between its members and GM. Only days earlier, Pearson was indicted by a federal prosecutor on charges of embezzling union funds, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy, according to <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/columnists/daniel-howes/2019/09/13/uaw-leaderships-credibility-evaporating/2301692001/">The Detroit News</a>.</p>
<p>Pearson has been keeping a low profile during the negotiations. After a reporter approached him on Sunday and inquired whether he was, in fact, Pearson, he deceptively replied, &#8220;no, ma&#8217;am.&#8221;</p>
<p>The senior officer, however, was photographed walking into the UAW-GM negotiation meeting, and was later confirmed to be in attendance by Rich LeTourneau, shop chairman of Local 2209, which represents thousands of workers at a separate GM plant in Indiana. Roughly 200 local UAW union leaders in total attended Sunday&#8217;s meeting, which ultimately failed to come to a consensus.</p>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>A little detail from the sidelines of UAW-GM meetings yesterday&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/Ys0swDGNAp">pic.twitter.com/Ys0swDGNAp</a></p>
<p>— Robert Snell (@robertsnellnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/robertsnellnews/status/1173650945676328960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>UAW called on its members to strike following the unsuccessful bargaining over the weekend. The strike, which kicked off at 11:59 P.M. on Sunday night, is the first work stoppage in America&#8217;s automotive industry in over a decade.</p>
<p>Accordingly, nearly 50,000 union members walked out of the more than 50 GM facilities across nine states. Negotiations are reportedly still ongoing in an attempt meet a bevy of UAW demands, including increased hourly wages and a clearer path for temporary workers to permanent employment.</p>
<p>&#8220;Everyone is innocent until proven guilty in his country,&#8221; LeTourneau responded when <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2019/09/16/accused-uaw-thief-vance-pearson-negotiates-worker-deal-gm/2341056001/">The Detroit News</a> asked about Pearson&#8217;s attendance at the meeting despite the slew of charges.</p>
<p>The 40-page complaint filed against Pearson on Thursday outlines a years-long pattern of corruption involving other high-ranking UAW officials. The criminal case alleges union leaders spent upwards of $1 million in member dues on California villas, clothes, cigars, steakhouse dinners, golf clubs and apparel, rounds of golf at prestigious clubs, and high-end alcohol such as Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne, which sells at $400 per bottle.</p>
<p>In addition to Pearson, five other unnamed individuals — one former and four current UAW senior officials — were alleged to be complicit in the embezzlement scheme. While federal authorities refrained from naming the union leaders, sources revealed to <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2019/09/12/uaw-presidents-gary-jones-dennis-williams-implicated-in-federal-probe/2302410001/">The Detroit News</a> that the individuals include UAW President Gary Jones and former President Dennis Williams.</p>
<p>&#8220;It increases the likelihood that the government will come after the union with a RICO charge,&#8221; University of Michigan Professor Erik Gordon told The Detroit News. &#8220;The union cannot defend itself on the basis that there were some renegade bad apples.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve got a former president. You&#8217;ve got a sitting president,&#8221; he added. &#8220;[And] you&#8217;ve got the union as a whole that has aggressively defended the sitting president.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;GM is outraged and deeply concerned by the conduct of union officials as uncovered by the government&#8217;s investigation and the expanding charges revealed today,&#8221; GM issued in a statement on Thursday. &#8220;These serious allegations represent a stunning abuse of power and trust. There is no excuse for union officials to enrich themselves at the expense of the union membership they represent.&#8221;</p>


uaw.jpg

Union Boss Quietly Negotiating Deal With GM While Embroiled In Million Dollar Corruption Investigation

<p>After a series of unflattering headlines and &#8220;threats from white supremacists,&#8221; the organizers of a music and arts festival in Detroit, AfroFuture Fest, have reversed course on their plan to charge double to white attendees — but they&#8217;ve also added a strongly suggested donation from &#8220;nonPOC&#8221; attendees.</p>
<p>&#8220;For the safety of our community, family, elders who received threats from white supremacists,&amp; youth who were subjected to seeing racist comments on our IG pg,Afrofuture Fest has changed our ticketing model to $20 General Admission &amp; suggested donation for nonPOC on @eventbrite,&#8221; the group behind the event, AfroFuture Youth, tweeted Sunday.</p>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p>For the safety of our community, family, elders who received threats from white supremacists,&amp; youth who were subjected to seeing racist comments on our IG pg,Afrofuture Fest has changed our ticketing model to $20 General Admission &amp; suggested donation for nonPOC on <a href="https://twitter.com/eventbrite?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@eventbrite</a> <a href="https://t.co/6wQXEjRKtt">pic.twitter.com/6wQXEjRKtt</a></p>
<p>— Afrofuture Youth (@AFYDet) <a href="https://twitter.com/AFYDet/status/1148015443355082754?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>As <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/festival-scraps-cheaper-people-of-colour-tickets-after-white-supremacist-threats-11758953">Sky News</a> reports, tickets for AfroFuture Fest, which will be held in the first weekend of August, initially announced two different rates based on skin color: &#8220;early bird prices starting at $10 for &#8216;people of color&#8217; and $20 for &#8216;non-people of color.'&#8221;</p>
<p>On AfroFuture Fest&#8217;s <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/afrofuture-fest-tickets-64562699773">Eventbrite page</a>, organizers presented the racially discriminatory pricing model as a way to give &#8220;the most marginalized communities&#8221; a chance to attend the event (formatting adjusted):</p>
<blockquote><p>Equality means treating everyone the same. Equity is insuring everyone has what they need to be successful. Our ticket structure was built to insure that the most marginalized communities (people of color) are provided with an equitable chance at enjoying events in their own community (Black Detroit).</p>
<p>Affording joy and pleasure is unfortunately still a privilege in our society for POC and we believe everyone should have access to receiving such. We&#8217;ve seen too many times orgasmic events happening in Detroit and other POC populated cities and what consistently happens is people outside of the community benefiting most from affordable ticket prices because of their proximity to wealth.</p>
<p>This cycle disproportionately displaces Black and brown people from enjoying entertainment in their own communities. As an Afrofuturist youth lead initiative the voices of our youth inform our resistance. Here&#8217;s what they have to say: &#8220;If you don&#8217;t see my Blackness, you don&#8217;t see me. Periodt!&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>&#8220;Some &#8216;POC&#8217; tickets were also made available for free and were quickly snapped up,&#8221; Sky News notes, but as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49228/biracial-rapper-enraged-exits-music-festival-after-hank-berrien">The Daily Wire</a> highlighted, biracial female rapper Jillian Graham, known as &#8220;Tiny Jag&#8221; — whose grandmother was white — drew national attention to the segregated pricing when she announced that she was dropping out of performing at the event over the &#8220;non-progressive&#8221; pricing model.</p>
<p>&#8220;I was immediately enraged just because I am biracial. I have family members that would have, under those circumstances, been subjected to something that I would not ever want them to be in &#8230; especially not because of anything that I have going on,&#8221; Graham told the <a href="http://www.metrotimes.com/city-slang/archives/2019/07/04/tiny-jag-pulls-out-of-afrofuture-fest-after-learning-white-people-would-be-charged-a-different-price-to-attend">Detroit Metro Times</a> Thursday. &#8220;A lot of the songs that I perform are from my first project called <em>Polly</em> — that is my grandmother’s name. How do you want me to come to a performance and perform these songs off a mixtape that is titled after this white woman that you would have charged double to get in here? Like, it’s just outrageous from so many different angles.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s non-progressive and it’s not solution-focused in my eyes,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;It seems almost like it has spite, and unfortunately with spite comes hate, and that’s just not obviously going to be a good direction for us to go if we’re looking for positive change … It’s not fun to withdraw out of shows, especially at home, especially in your hometown, and especially when your supporters have been so good to you. It’s also not fun to do that to my fellow Black women, like that sucks too. It sucks that this is a thing that’s put a wedge here.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Graham says after the festival confirmed the price structure, she immediately withdrew from the event and requested that she be removed from any promotional materials,&#8221; the Detroit Metro Times reported. &#8220;She says because she had publicly supported the festival without knowing about the discrepancy between the ticket prices, that she had to publicly withdraw her support as well.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tiny Jag&#8217;s decision to pull out of the racially segregating event was backed up by fellow rapper Zuby, who tweeted: &#8220;Props to @tinyjaguar for standing up on principle and pulling out of the performance. Want people to recognise that.&#8221;</p>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p>Props to <a href="https://twitter.com/tinyjaguar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tinyjaguar</a> for standing up on principle and pulling out of the performance.</p>
<p>Want people to recognise that.</p>
<p>— ZUBY: (@ZubyMusic) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZubyMusic/status/1147899772109545474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p><strong>Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49188/san-fran-paint-over-historic-george-washington-james-barrett">San Fran To Paint Over Historic George Washington Mural; Left Now Worried About FDR’s New Deal Legacy</a></strong></p>


UPDATE: Detroit Music Festival Rethinks Charging White People Double, Cites ‘Threats’

Race

<p>A biracial female rapper from Detroit decided to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/afrofest-festival-biracial-rapper-white-people-of-color">skip performing</a> at a local music festival after discovering that the organizers intended to charge white people twice the price of what “people of color” would pay to attend the event.</p>
<p>Jillian Graham, aka “Tiny Jag,” whose grandmother was white, was supposed to rap at AfroFuture Fest&#8217;s August event, but then a white friend sent her a photo that revealed the early bird ticket for “people of color” cost $10 while the same ticket for whites cost $20. Once Graham confirmed that the event was indeed charging white people more, she quit the program and asked to be elided from promotional materials.</p>
<p>Graham told the <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/city-slang/archives/2019/07/04/tiny-jag-pulls-out-of-afrofuture-fest-after-learning-white-people-would-be-charged-a-different-price-to-attend">Detroit Metro Times</a>, &#8220;I was immediately enraged just because I am biracial. I have family members that would have, under those circumstances, been subjected to something that I would not ever want them to be in &#8230; especially not because of anything that I have going on.&#8221; She added, &#8220;A lot of the songs that I perform are from my first project called <em>Polly</em> — that is my grandmother’s name. How do you want me to come to a performance and perform these songs off a mixtape that is titled after this white woman that you would have charged double to get in here? Like, it’s just outrageous from so many different angles.&#8221;</p>
<p>Graham continued, &#8220;It’s non-progressive and it’s not solution-focused in my eyes. It seems almost like it has spite, and unfortunately with spite comes hate, and that’s just not obviously going to be a good direction for us to go if we’re looking for positive change … It’s not fun to withdraw out of shows, especially at home, especially in your hometown, and especially when your supporters have been so good to you. It’s also not fun to do that to my fellow Black women, like that sucks too. It sucks that this is a thing that’s put a wedge here.&#8221;</p>
<p>On their <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/afrofuture-fest-tickets-64562699773">Eventbrite page</a>, AfroFuture stated:</p>
<blockquote><p>Equality means treating everyone the same</p>
<p>Equity is insuring everyone has what they need to be successful</p>
<p>Our ticket structure was built to insure that the most marginalized communities (people of color) are provided with an equitable chance at enjoying events in their own community (Black Detroit).</p>
<p>Affording joy and pleasure is unfortunately still a privilege in our society for POC and we believe everyone should have access to receiving such.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve seen too many times orgasmic events happening in Detroit and other POC populated cities and what consistently happens is people outside of the community benefiting most from affordable ticket prices because of their proximity to wealth.</p>
<p>This cycle disproportionately displaces Black and brown people from enjoying entertainment in their own communities.</p>
<p>As an Afrofuturist youth lead initiative the voices of our youth inform our resistance.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s what they have to say</p>
<p>&#8220;If you don&#8217;t see my Blackness, you don&#8217;t see me. Periodt!&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Fellow rapper Zuby praised Graham, tweeting, &#8220;Props to @tinyjaguar for standing up on principle and pulling out of the performance. Want people to recognise that.&#8221;</p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p>Props to <a href="https://twitter.com/tinyjaguar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tinyjaguar</a> for standing up on principle and pulling out of the performance.</p>
<p>Want people to recognise that.</p>
<p>— ZUBY: (@ZubyMusic) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZubyMusic/status/1147899772109545474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
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Biracial Rapper,  ‘Enraged,’ Exits Music Festival After Discovering Tickets For Whites Cost Double The Price

Racism

<p><a href="https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/05/flint-lead-pipe-replacement/">A new report from The Daily Caller claims</a> that the city of Flint, Michigan, which has suffered from a headline-commanding water crisis for half a decade, may have steered tens of millions in aid money meant to help replace lead water pipes to a contractor that had no experience, but who <em>did</em> have a close relationship with Flint city officials.</p>
<p>The controversy may go straight to the top: to the Flint mayor&#8217;s office.</p>
<p>The Caller reports that $22 million in &#8220;water crisis aid&#8221; was directed to a company with ties to city officials, even though that company didn&#8217;t have experience replacing leaded water pipes &#8212; what the aid money was meant to help do.</p>
<p>Administrators in charge of the project also ignored cost-saving models that would have allowed water replacement companies to test for older pipes before digging up huge swaths of land, opting instead to follow a plan that had contractors digging up yard after yard to replace water pipes, even if they found copper or new piping underground.</p>
<p>&#8220;The city prohibited contractors from using an efficient method of digging holes known as hydrovac excavation,&#8221; a Flint councilwoman told the Caller. &#8220;That leveled the playing field for a contractor, WT Stevens, with no experience or the appropriate equipment &#8212; and let it bill far more to taxpayers, she says. All of these factors, [the councilwoman] adds, needlessly led to more waiting for anyone who actually has lead pipes.&#8221;</p>
<p>They &#8220;chose to dig up yards that they knew were copper, and they decided to hand dig instead of hydrovac,&#8221; the councilwoman said. &#8220;That was because WT Stevens didn&#8217;t have the ability, and you get more money [digging by hand]. It costs $250 [to hydrovac] versus thousands to dig a large hole without the equipment.&#8221;</p>
<p>Flint&#8217;s mayor, Karen Weaver, and one key Flint city councilman, Eric Mays, both appear to have cozy relationships with WT Stevens, and supported the contractor even when the work looked shoddy. The pair were also behind the decision to dig up every yard looking for lead pipes, even though a University of Michigan study was able to predict where the problematic lead pipes were with stunning 94% accuracy.</p>
<p>The &#8220;predictive model&#8221; could be extrapolated, Flint clean water activists said, but WT Stevens dug up areas where there were no predicted lead pipes in &#8220;exploratory&#8221; projects.</p>
<p>This latest revelation is one of just a handful of discoveries that have called aspects of the nearly billion-dollar Flint clean water rescue program into question. Flint&#8217;s water systems had a lead problem that came to light when state administrators made the decision to shift Flint from the costly Detroit water system to a cheaper local system in an effort to save the city from descending into bankruptcy. Once the shifts began to occur, authorities discovered that Flint&#8217;s infrastructure had been completely neglected for decades, leaving Flint citizens exposed to dangerous levels of lead in their drinking water.</p>
<p>Since then, state and federal officials estimate that more than half a billion dollars has been allocated to alleviate Flint&#8217;s water issues, but that a great deal of that money has been mismanaged. Besides the $22 million in pipe replacement contracts and a similarly mismanaged wastewater contract, a <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2019/01/lawsuit-filed-by-ex-city-administrator-against-flint-mayor-back-in-court.html">whistleblower lawsuit is currently making its way</a> through federal court, alleging that Flint&#8217;s mayor, Karen Weaver, diverted money meant to help Flint&#8217;s citizens to her campaign coffers.</p>
<p>Flint&#8217;s water has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/flint-water-tests-show-safe-lead-levels-nrdc-report-says-1523650453">been safe to drink since early 2017</a>, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and the amount of lead in the water has continued to fall to where it is now well below levels considered &#8220;safe&#8221; by the federal government and the National Resources Defense Council.</p>


REPORT: Flint, Michigan Administrators Mismanaged Clean Water Funds, Hired Firm With No Experience Replacing Pipes

Democratic Party

Flint

<p>Kelly Stafford, wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matt Stafford, recently learned that she will have to undergo brain surgery this month to remove a noncancerous tumor sitting on her cranial nerves. Kelly, who has three young daughters with Matt, revealed the news via social media on Wednesday in a candid post, asking the public for prayers.</p>
<p>The 29-year-old published a photo of her and Matt taken on the day they learned the news of the tumor.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a picture of Matthew &amp; I the day we found out,&#8221; she captioned the photo. &#8220;I said I wanted this picture of us, so that the day this was all over, we could look back at this photo &amp; remember.&#8221;</p>
<p>Kelly told her 177,000-plus followers that she began noticing changes in her body over the past year. &#8220;I began to notice things that I thought was just me getting older,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I would show my girls how to do a front roll or twirl in ballet class and immediately feel dizzy &amp; off balance. Things that I had been doing my entire life were now, all of a sudden, difficult.&#8221;</p>
<p>In January, she started having fits of vertigo, one of which she said occurred while she was holding their daughter, Hunter. &#8220;Matthew took me straight to the ER. They checked vitals &amp; bloodwork, all were fine,&#8221; she wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;Several vertigo spells later,&#8221; Kelly continued, &#8220;Matthew&#8217;s team doctor recommended we go get an MRI of my brain to rule everything major out. A few days later we were hit with the results.&#8221;</p>
<p>That&#8217;s when the couple found out she had &#8220;a tumor sitting on some of my cranial nerves.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;The medical term they used was an acoustic neuroma or vestibular schwannoma,&#8221; Kelly explained. &#8220;All I heard was brain tumor &amp; that they had to do surgery to take it out&#8230;so that is what we are going to do &amp; we believe we found the best doctor to do it.&#8221;</p>
<p>The young mother candidly expressed her fears over the upcoming surgery and asked the public for prayers:</p>
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<p><em>&#8220;I&#8217;d be lying if I said I wasn&#8217;t completely terrified of brain surgery. I am. I am terrified of them opening my head, I&#8217;m terrified of losing my hearing, I&#8217;m terrified of losing facial function, I&#8217;m terrified of far worse things that could happen and I&#8217;m terrified that I won&#8217;t take the time I need to recover because the guilt I might feel of being absent from my kids for too long.. I am telling y&#8217;all this to ask for prayers and support.</em></p>
<p><em>&#8220;Things to pray for: -calmness in these next 2 weeks as I know anxiety will run high in myself &amp; my whole family leading up to the day of surgery. -that God be in the room with the surgeons &amp; give them all the guidance, steadiness, &amp; confidence they need. -my safety during and after surgery. -please pray for [M]atthew as I know his nerves will be high during this surgery. I couldn&#8217;t imagine being out in that waiting room.&#8221;</em></p>
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<p>She ended the post by thanking everyone for their support and prayers.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvy_Wi4B2Mv/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">This is a picture of Matthew &amp; I the day we found out. I said I wanted this picture of us, so that the day this was all over, we could look back at this photo &amp; remember. Within the last year, I began to notice things that I thought was just me getting older.. I would show my girls how to do a front roll or twirl in ballet class and immediately feel dizzy &amp; off balance&#8230; Things that I had been doing my entire life were now, all of a sudden, difficult. The beginning of Jan was when I experienced my first spell of vertigo..It kept happening &amp; then it happened while I was holding Hunter. Matthew took me straight to the ER. They checked vitals &amp; bloodwork, all were fine.. Several vertigo spells later, Matthew&#8217;s team doctor recommended we go get an MRI of my brain to rule everything major out. A few days later we were hit with the results. I had a tumor sitting on some of my cranial nerves. The medical term they used was an acoustic neuroma or vestibular schwannoma.. All I heard was brain tumor &amp; that they had to do surgery to take it out.. so that is what we are going to do &amp; we believe we found the best doctor to do it. I&#8217;d be lying if I said I wasn&#8217;t completely terrified of brain surgery. I am. I am terrified of them opening my head, I&#8217;m terrified of losing my hearing, I&#8217;m terrified of losing facial function, I&#8217;m terrified of far worse things that could happen and I&#8217;m terrified that I won&#8217;t take the time I need to recover because the guilt I might feel of being absent from my kids for too long.. I am telling y&#8217;all this to ask for prayers and support. Things to pray for: -calmness in these next 2 weeks as I know anxiety will run high in myself &amp; my whole family leading up to the day of surgery. -that God be in the room with the surgeons &amp; give them all the guidance, steadiness, &amp; confidence they need. -my safety during and after surgery. -please pray for matthew as I know his nerves will be high during this surgery. I couldn&#8217;t imagine being out in that waiting room. Thank u. Thank u for reading this novel. thank u for all your support and most importantly, thank u for your prayers.</a></p>
<p>A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kbstafford89/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Kelly Stafford</a> (@kbstafford89) on Apr 3, 2019 at 7:27am PDT</p>
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<p>Folks in Detroit quickly reacted with words and encouragement and prayers for the Staffords, who&#8217;ve been a part of the community since Matt was drafted by the Lions in 2009. The team immediately released a statement offering its express support:</p>
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<p><a href="https://t.co/qvFW3v23Ck">pic.twitter.com/qvFW3v23Ck</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Detroit Lions (@Lions) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lions/status/1113544443976663040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>As <a href="https://www.faithwire.com/2019/04/04/wife-of-detroit-lions-qb-requests-prayer-following-brain-tumor-diagnosis/">noted</a> by Faithwire, high-profile Detroit community members rallied around the Staffords, too. For example, former Lions QB Dan Orlovsky also offered support online, &#8220;You&#8217;ve got a whole community of people and friends and family and fans behind you with prayer and belief. We love y&#8217;all,&#8221; he wrote.</p>
<p>&#8220;Prayers up!!&#8221; said Kerryon Johnson, a running back on the team.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have been blessed to know Kelly and Matthew Stafford since their arrival in Detroit,&#8221; wrote Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press. &#8220;While we were stunned to hear this news, we also know there is no couple stronger, more determined or more united in love, and this is great preparation for the challenge that lies ahead. Kelly, you know you have the support and prayers of every one of us&#8230;&#8221;</p>
<p>ESPN&#8217;s Sam Ponder posted, &#8220;Praying for you today and every day through your surgery. Thanks for sharing with everyone&#8230;your openness and honesty helps so many people. You are so strong mama.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;There are honestly no words for what I have felt in the past few days,&#8221; Kelly gushed in a follow-up post. &#8220;I am beyond grateful and just want to thank everyone who has reached out with their support and especially with prayers for me and my family In these past few days. The ability to connect and support each other is what makes social media such an amazing thing. I truly am beyond grateful. I am going to take some time away from social media so that I can focus on what&#8217;s most important in life&#8230;my family.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Thank y&#8217;all so much again for all of the support and prayers, it means more than you will ever know. Until then. [Peace] and [love],&#8221; she added.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv38We0B2Re/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">There are honestly no words for what I have felt in the past few days. I am beyond grateful and just want to thank everyone who has reached out with their support and especially with prayers for me and my family In these past few days. The ability to connect and support each other is what makes social media such an amazing thing. I truly am beyond grateful. I am going to take some time away from social media so that I can focus on what&#8217;s most important in life.. my family. Thank y&#8217;all so much again for all of the support and prayers, it means more than you will ever know. Until then. and </a></p>
<p>A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kbstafford89/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Kelly Stafford</a> (@kbstafford89) on Apr 5, 2019 at 5:37am PDT</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.faithwire.com/2019/04/04/wife-of-detroit-lions-qb-requests-prayer-following-brain-tumor-diagnosis/">H/t</a> Faithwire</p>


Wife Of NFL QB Matthew Stafford Asks For Prayers After Shocking Diagnosis

Health

<p>The Detroit School Board voted Wednesday to open consideration into whether a handful of DPS schools should have their &#8220;offensive&#8221; names changed &#8212; including Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine, named for former presidential candidate, accomplished surgeon, and Housing and Urban Development director, Dr. Ben Carson.</p>
<p>The board will seek comment over the next several months on whether to change Carson High, which was named for Dr. Ben Carson before he became active in politics, and well before he became an ally of President Donald Trump, something the Detroit School Board apparently doesn&#8217;t appreciate.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/education/2018/11/13/name-change-eyed-benjamin-carson-high-other-detroit-school/1996761002/">The Detroit News</a> reports that at least one school board member has been campaigning to have Carson stripped of the honor, and that the proposed name change has everything to do with how the Detroit School Board feels about Republicans.</p>
<p>&#8220;Board member LaMar Lemmons had pushed to rename Carson school, which is named after the Housing and Urban Development secretary and former Republican presidential candidate who graduated from the district,&#8221; the Detroit News said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Lemmons cited the neurosurgeon&#8217;s name being added when the district was under an emergency financial manager, saying some residents objected to Carson representing the city,&#8221; they added, quoting Lemmons as noting that &#8220;Residents &#8216;don&#8217;t support the (Trump) administration.'&#8221;</p>
<p>A policy passed in the district last year allows DPS to change school names in order to honor &#8220;individuals who have made a significant contribution to the enhancement of education,&#8221; and if &#8220;the community of the geographic area where the school is located requests a name change that more closely aligns with the history of the locality, or information newly discovered about the current name of the school is negative in nature.&#8221;</p>
<p>Poor Ben Carson isn&#8217;t the only one on the chopping block. Harms Elementary School, Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men, and Detroit School of the Arts are all under consideration for a name change. The most likely name to replace Carson or Douglass? Aretha Franklin.</p>
<p>Fortunately for Dr. Carson, it could be a while before Detroit gets around to renaming his school. The vote Wednesday night was just to open an &#8220;input period&#8221; for community members. The DPS board would have to undertake a separate effort to initiate a name change, and that change would have to pass muster with local voters.</p>
<p>For a brief time in 2017, a &#8220;name-changing&#8221; trend swept the United States as localities looked to rid themselves of monuments to Confederate generals, slaveholders, and other historical figures more recently deemed undesirable.</p>
<p>Although several key monuments were removed, the fervor over &#8220;problematic&#8221; names and statues died down, particularly after President Trump pointed out that those in charge of designating monuments and building names as &#8220;problematic&#8221; weren&#8217;t likely to stop their crusade once Civil War soldiers and Manifest Destiny supporters disappeared from the public square.</p>
<p>Detroit&#8217;s efforts to extricate Dr. Ben Carson from the city&#8217;s legacy is only proof Trump was on the right track.</p>


Detroit’s School Board Is Considering Renaming Ben Carson High School Because It’s ‘Offensive’

Ben Carson

Donald Trump

Education

<p>Democratic Michigan House of Representatives candidate Jennifer Suidan has been accused of embezzling at least $100,000 from a fellow Democratic candidate during her time employed at a Southfield, Michigan-based law firm.</p>
<p>Suidan is running for Michigan House District 39 in Oakland County, just outside of Detroit. She is facing Republican Ryan Berman and libertarian Anthony Croff in the general election. </p>
<p>Fox News <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/25/michigan-house-candidate-allegedly-embezzled-more-than-100k-from-another-campaign.html">reports</a> that on Monday, Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner leveled the allegations of &#8220;misappropriated money&#8221; against Suidan, who was working as his re-election campaign committee&#8217;s record keeper while employed at local law firm Goodman Acker.</p>
<p>In a statement released on Twitter, he said that Suidan &#8220;has betrayed my trust and the trust of all who expected her to perform her duties honestly and in compliance with the law.&#8221;</p>
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<p>Shared with a very heavy heart. <a href="https://t.co/CbwvhGnP2Y">pic.twitter.com/CbwvhGnP2Y</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Andy Meisner (@AndyMeisner) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndyMeisner/status/1044326376856260609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>Meisner, who had previously endorsed Suidan&#8217;s candidacy for the Michigan legislature, has stated that he will no longer support her candidacy. </p>
<p>Local station Fox2 <a href="http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/democratic-candidate-for-michigan-house-accused-of-embezzling-100k">reports</a> that the Michigan Democratic Party released a statement denouncing Suidan and called her to step aside from the campaign. </p>
<p>&#8220;The allegations against Jennifer Suidan are serious, and the only appropriate response is for her to suspend her campaign and we expect her to do so immediately,&#8221; they said. &#8220;These allegations have no impact or connection to the rest of our candidates and we remain focused on the issues that matter to Michigan families.&#8221;</p>
<p>Goodman Acker also denounced Suidan and seemingly confirmed the allegations that she embezzled funds over a period of six months while she was in their employ. </p>
<p>Neither Suidan nor her campaign has released a statement regarding the accusations at this time, but her Facebook and Twitter accounts have been either deleted or placed in private. </p>


Michigan Democratic Candidate Accused Of Embezzlement, Asked To Step Down

Conservatism

Fox News

Oakland

<p>A Vietnam veteran and cancer survivor was sitting on his porch at his Detroit home when two men robbed him at gunpoint on Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>&#8220;The guy kept saying &#8216;I will shoot you.&#8217; I said &#8216;You [don&#8217;t have] to shoot me, take what you&#8217;ve want,'&#8221; Kendrick Holloway, 68, <a href="http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/gunmen-caught-on-doorbell-camera-robbing-detroit-veteran">told</a> Fox 2.</p>
<p>The suspects did not shoot Holloway; they did, however, steal jewelry right off his body that the veteran described as having sentimental value.</p>
<p>Holloway explained that his pupils were still dilated from an earlier doctor&#8217;s appointment, so his vision was blurred during the attack.</p>
<p>&#8220;I dropped the keys, I bent over to pick them up and they were right on me,&#8221; he said, adding, &#8220;It happened so fast, I didn&#8217;t even have a chance to think about it. The biggest thing was, &#8216;don&#8217;t shoot, just take the jewelry.&#8217; That&#8217;s replaceable, I&#8217;m not.&#8221;</p>
<p>A doorbell camera captured the two punks in action, and the surveillance footage helped police land at least one suspect in custody.</p>
<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s fast action,&#8221; said Holloway of the arrest. &#8220;Police is doing their job. They are working it. They are giving a Vietnam veteran some props.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I love them for it,&#8221; added the vet.</p>
<p>Holloway concluded the interview with Fox 2 by wishing his attackers &#8220;well&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;when they go to prison.&#8221;</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
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<p><em><a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/07/25/gun-wielding-men-steal-jewelry-right-off-vietnam-vet-as-he-sits-on-porch-but-theres-hopeful-news?utm_content=buffer814d7&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=theblaze">H/T </a>The Blaze </em></p>


Gun-Wielding Punks Caught On Video Robbing Vietnam Vet, Cancer Survivor

Veterans

<p>Take a look at the photo above, a shot of the Washington Nationals ballpark in D.C. Draw a straight line from home plate over the mound and out past the center field wall. See what&#8217;s there? Nothing. Just a big grassy area topped with a green billboard, no fans.</p>
<p>Most modern ballparks are now built like that, and some older ones, too. The goal: Give the batter a better chance to see the ball. If a crowd of people was in the line of sight &#8212; let&#8217;s say all wearing white shirts &#8212; a batter would have a hard time picking up a 97-mph fastball.</p>
<p>Fenway Park in Boston, built in 1912, used to have a small grassy triangular area in dead-away center, but fans are now in that spot. Plus, everyone&#8217;s much closer to the field in the low-slug stadium, where dead center is only 389 feet deep.</p>
<p>And on Wednesday night, fans sought to take advantage of that. Many people in the crowd turned on their cellphone flashlights and pointed them at home plate in the seventh inning of a game between the Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers.</p>
<p>&#8220;You ever tried to hit with a light like that in your face? It&#8217;s not supposed to happen,&#8221; said Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire, according to the <strong><a href="https://nypost.com/2018/06/07/red-sox-fans-using-cell-phones-cause-brief-delay-at-fenway-park/">New York Post</a></strong>. &#8220;The umpires should have, in my opinion, stopped it right away. They see it happen &#8212; it&#8217;s right in dead center field.</p>
<p>&#8220;The fans are just having fun. I get it. But when it&#8217;s in dead center field, my hitters are looking right into it. It&#8217;s dangerous. It&#8217;s very dangerous, if you&#8217;ve ever been trying to hit with a light in your face. So, we just couldn&#8217;t let that happen.&#8221;</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s what it looked like:</p>
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<p>LMAO EVERYONE IN FENWAY PARK HELD UP THEIR FLASHLIGHTS FOR NO REASON AND THE UMPS STOPPED THE GAME AND THEY PLAYED THIS SONG THAT WENT &#8220;when the lights go out&#8221; IM DEAD <a href="https://t.co/RKZK8obzhM">pic.twitter.com/RKZK8obzhM</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Dog Enthusiast (@idkimnotfunny) <a href="https://twitter.com/idkimnotfunny/status/1004537127986761729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>Fans waving the lights in their cellphones across the stands at Fenway Park. <a href="https://t.co/Hfu6ekR1MU">https://t.co/Hfu6ekR1MU</a> <a href="https://t.co/MwzLnWkBaT">pic.twitter.com/MwzLnWkBaT</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Marly Rivera (@MarlyRiveraESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarlyRiveraESPN/status/1004536079339290624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>From center field, Andrew Benintendi could see the constellation of cellphone lights forming in the stands at Fenway Park on Wednesday night. &#8220;It was kind of cool to see,&#8221; Benintendi said. The Tigers weren&#8217;t so captivated. <a href="https://t.co/37F1x36vZ9">https://t.co/37F1x36vZ9</a></p>
<p>&#8212; The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) <a href="https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/1004652052226637825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>The unruly fans were apparently miffed about a call at home plate. During the &#8220;flashout,&#8221; the game was delayed.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Red Sox security asked fans in the center-field bleachers to stop using the phones as flash lights, and play resumed. &#8230;</p>
<p>Red Sox manager Alex Cora joked that &#8220;that&#8217;s a good weapon.&#8221;</p>
<p>Cora said the umpires asked him if they could find a way to make it stop, but security had taken care of the problem.</p>
<p>Says Boston center fielder Andrew Benintendi: &#8220;It was kind of cool.&#8221;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No, that was <em>very</em> uncool.</p>
</p></p>


Horrible Boston Red Sox Fans Do The Most Uncool Thing Ever

Boston Red Sox

<p>A Detroit radio station has <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kanye-wests-music-banned-by-detroit-radio-station-1108575?utm_source=t.co&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=t.co&amp;utm_medium=referral">banned the music of rapper Kanye West</a> after his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/30217/watch-jamie-foxx-says-kanye-needs-some-help-hank-berrien">remarks to TMZ</a> in which he said, &#8220;When you hear about slavery for 400 years&#8212;for 400 years! That sounds like a choice. Like, you was there for 400 years and it&#8217;s all of y&#8217;all? It&#8217;s like we&#8217;re mentally in prison.&#8221;</p>
<p>On Thursday, DJs BiGG and Shay Shay of 105.1 The Bounce posted on Facebook:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We feel like Kanye has gone too far with his latest statement declaring that &#8220;slavery was a choice.&#8221; We are over it. We don&#8217;t want to hear Kanye&#8217;s music, we don&#8217;t want to play Kanye on our show, we don&#8217;t want to talk about Kanye anymore. So we are taking a stand and we aren&#8217;t playing his music anymore; we just are refusing to give him a platform. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>On Wednesday, when Shay Shay was asked how the DJs would deal with airplay of West, she said she was tired of listening to him. Shay Shay also <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/city-slang/archives/2018/05/03/1051-the-bounce-says-it-wont-play-kanye-west-songs-anymore">commented</a> on West asserting that Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were &#8220;too far in the past and not relatable.&#8221; She said, &#8220;As an educator, as someone who works with young kids &#8230; he has a huge platform, OK? I just think that&#8217;s reckless. I think when you have such a huge platform like that, to use it in a reckless way, I mean, you&#8217;re basically saying history is irrelevant.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bigg told <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/music/2018/05/03/metro-detroit-station-bans-kanye-west-songs-after-slavery-comments/577505002/">The Detroit News</a> that the response from fans of the station to West&#8217;s remarks was so massive that the station&#8217;s new program director, John Candelaria, approved the ban. Biggs stated, &#8220;In my 20-year radio career, this is one of the largest responses I&#8217;ve ever seen; the largest reaction on The Bounce, too. It&#8217;s very overwhelming right now. I&#8217;m just trying to keep up. Lots of people in support, but the people that aren&#8217;t are taking personal jabs. Weird.&#8221;</p>


Detroit Hip-Hop Radio Station Bans Kanye’s Music

Kanye West

<p>A Detroit dog named &#8220;Courage&#8221; gave new meaning to that word for the animal kingdom, as it was found with a heavy chain pierced through its neck that veterinarians thought had been there for weeks.</p>
<p>The Rottweiler/Shepherd mix &#8220;came in hooked to a tow chain and a carabiner through the throat,&#8221; according to Kristina Rinaldi, the executive director of Detroit Dog Rescue, who added, &#8220;Dead weight, right on his skin, right where there are several veins, arteries; fifteen pounds of dead weight. I mean, the carabiner alone weighs almost a pound. This is something you would tow your snowmobile, tow your motorcycle, tow your dirt-bike with. &#8230; He was suffering, and I&#8217;ve been doing this for ten years, for over ten years, this looks like something you see out of a horror movie. This looks like a nightmare; to see a dog carrying a tow chain through the throat? I mean, that&#8217;s pretty horrific.&#8221;</p>
<p>Courage had one surgery already to remove the rusted and skin-riddled chain from its throat; a second surgery was planned to replace the skin Courage lost.</p>
<p>Courage is also heartworm positive; the dog&#8217;s medical bills will be roughly $10,000.</p>
<p>Cathy Bissel of the <a href="https://www.bissellpetfoundation.org/about-us/">Bissel Pet Foundation</a> offered to cover all the medical costs for Courage on one condition &#8212; that any funds donated for Courage be used to prosecute whoever maimed Courage in the first place.</p>
<p>Video below:</p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xAtQUqTas1w" width="560"></iframe></div>


GRAPHIC: Dog Found In Detroit With Heavy Tow Chain Through Its Neck

Dogs

<p>The former home of the Detroit Lions, the Pontiac Silverdome, was supposed to collapse in a controlled implosion Sunday, but, in a development emblematic of the team&#8217;s disappointing history, the blast failed and the long-abandoned structure remains standing.</p>
<p>The Silverdome, which is more than 40 minutes outside Detroit&#8217;s city center, has been an eyesore since the team relocated to Ford Field downtown in 2002. It&#8217;s had several owners since its abandonment &#8212; it was, at times, a practice field and a drive-in movie theater &#8212; but it has mostly stood empty, slowly decaying on around 127 acres of land while the city of Pontiac decided what to do.</p>
<p>Several months ago, officials finally decided to implode the eyesore, and Sunday a demolition team claimed to have the structure ready to collapse in on itself. Crowds gathered, and at 9:30 a.m. they heard several explosions and saw a few wisps of smoke, but the arena&#8217;s core framework didn&#8217;t budge.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>We just talked to the city. The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PontiacSilverdome?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PontiacSilverdome</a> implosion has failed. The city said &#8220;what was supposed to happen, did not&#8221;, City doesn&#8217;t know if it will go down today.</p>
<p>&#8212; FOX 2 Detroit (@FOX2News) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOX2News/status/937317905670328320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p>The demolition company told local media that the blast did, in fact, weaken some of the stadium&#8217;s support structures, and it could still fall &#8212; just not on the correct timeline. They also said that a &#8220;faulty wire&#8221; is likely responsible for the failure and that crews are working on figuring out the problem.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unless we find something in the next few hours researching the wiring, we will take it down mechanically,&#8221; a spokesperson said. &#8220;We haven&#8217;t found the wire yet. It&#8217;s going to take us a while to research it all.&#8221;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Detroit Lions (of whom your fair reporter is a fan) are considering adopting &#8220;what was supposed to happen did not&#8221; as their official team motto.</p></p>


OOPS: Detroit’s Pontiac Silverdome Arena Fails To Implode

<p>In a <a href="http://time.com/5016104/stan-van-gundy-nfl-protests/">long-winded essay</a> for TIME Magazine, Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy argues strenuously that NFL and WNBA players who have protested the national anthem are &#8220;role models of American patriotism.&#8221;</p>
<p>Beginning from the premise that he has been coaching for roughly 20 years in a league that is 75% black, Van Gundy writes, &#8220;In a time where <a href="http://time.com/4973738/white-supremacists-charlottesville-rally-richard-spencer/">bigotry seems on the rise</a> and commitment to racial equality on the decline, I have an obligation as a citizen to speak out and to support, in any way possible, those <a href="http://time.com/4956014/history-anthem-protests-nfl/">brave and patriotic athletes</a> who are working to bring change to our country.&#8221;</p>
<p>The irony of Van Gundy claiming &#8220;racial equality is on the decline&#8221; while coaching in a league chock-full of black athletes making millions of dollars each year, can hardly be overestimated.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, in the immortal words used by leftists all too common recently, he persists, citing Michael Eric Dyson&#8217;s distinction between nationalism and patriotism:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Nationalism, he said, is supporting your country no matter what, right or wrong. Patriotism, on the other hand, is caring so deeply about your country that you take it as your duty to hold it accountable to its highest values and to fight to make it the very best it can be. Under this definition, these athletes and coaches are role models of American patriotism.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And so, Van Gundy posits, &#8220;Honoring America has to mean much, much more than standing at attention for a song (one which, by the way, contains racist language in <a href="http://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/the-lyrics.aspx">later verses</a>).&#8221;</p>
<p>A song, one might add, that has been honored by the nation&#8217;s greatest heroes, whether in the military or those defending our streets, for roughly 200 years.</p>
<p>Van Gundy notes that our military, in defending America, has defended the right to free speech, which the athletes have chosen to exercise. Thus he opines that the very act of exercising their right to free speech is an action to be lauded. The question might be asked, is the very act of speaking freely something to be honored? Does the content matter?</p>
<p>Van Gundy likens the athletes to the patriots who launched the Revolutionary War to protest against abuses by Great Britain. He writes, &#8220;Our founding fathers declared independence from Great Britain because they were dissatisfied with the laws and policies that they believed abridged their freedoms.&#8221;</p>
<p>Van Gundy posits that the athletes who protest are willing to make &#8220;significant personal sacrifices,&#8221; adding, &#8220;These athletes and many others are risking future contracts and endorsement opportunities to speak out on issues of racial injustice because they feel duty-bound to do so. These are patriots of the highest order.&#8221;</p>
<p>Then, the condemnation of America as a land of systemic racism:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What is it that they want? Simply and succinctly: equality. Equal rights. Equal justice. Equal treatment by police and others in authority. Equal opportunity. The second sentence of the Declaration of Independence starts with, &#8220;We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.&#8221; In over two centuries, from slavery to segregation to lynchings and <a href="http://time.com/4426433/freddie-gray-charges-dropped-baltimore-officers/">police brutality</a> to the <a href="http://time.com/3965245/john-legend-mass-incarceration/">mass incarceration of people of color</a>, we have not even come close to that ideal. It is our systemic racial inequality, not athletes kneeling during the national anthem, that dishonors our country.</p>
</blockquote>


Detroit Pistons Coach: Athletes Protesting Anthem Are ‘Role Models Of American Patriotism’

Protest

<p>Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, director of the Michigan State Police, was pressured by the politically correct Left into apologizing for a Facebook post criticizing NFL football players for the <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/21589/backfire-nfl-fans-demanding-refunds-over-national-amanda-prestigiacomo">#TakeAKnee</a> protests that many of the wealthy athletes participated in.</p>
<p>Etue said in a statement:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It was a mistake to share this message on Facebook and I sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended.</p>
<p>I will continue my focus on the unity at the Michigan State Police and in communities across Michigan.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Etue garnered controversy on Sunday after posting a meme on her personal Facebook page that was critical of football athletes refusing to stand for the national anthem. </p>
<p>[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;25311&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Etue screenshot&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot&#8221;},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;1&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Etue screenshot&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot&#8221;}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;alt&#8221;:&#8221;Etue screenshot&#8221;,&#8221;title&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot&#8221;,&#8221;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;1&#8243;}}]]</p>
<p>According a <em>Detroit Free Press</em> <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2017/09/26/nfl-anthem-protest-michigan-state-police/705511001/">article</a>, the local left-wing officials became triggered by several of the phrases, including calling the wealthy athletes &#8220;millionaire ingrates who hate America and disrespect our armed forces and veterans,&#8221; and &#8220;a bunch of rich, entitled, arrogant, ungrateful, anti-American degenerates.&#8221; </p>
<p>Reportedly, several African-American troopers under Etue&#8217;s command were &#8220;upset&#8221; by the fact the meme was signed &#8220;we the people,&#8221; a phrase found in the Preamble of the United States Constitution. </p>
<p>&#8220;(The meme demonstrates a) kind of a dangerous mindset for someone in her powerful position,&#8221; said Detroit attorney Leonard Mungo, who has represented states troopers in civil suits. He continued, &#8220;(It&#8217;s) scary that they don&#8217;t understand that America is defined by its freedoms, and one of these freedoms is freedom of speech.&#8221; He adds that posting a meme, &#8220;has implications for why the state police &#8230; don&#8217;t have representative numbers of African Americans in their ranks.&#8221;</p>
<p>Some tweeted their support for Etue:</p>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>FINALLY, a girl cop I love! Col. Kriste Etue on NFL kneelers: &#8220;arrogant, ungrateful, anti-American degenerates.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/OdTNVIu3yw">https://t.co/OdTNVIu3yw</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/913107715907624962">September 27, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>Shannon Banner, spokesperson for Etue, said, &#8220;As a public servant, Col. Etue has great respect for the armed forces and those who fight to protect our freedoms.&#8221; She added, &#8220;Etue did not create the post. It&#8217;s a meme that is posted in other places around the Internet.&#8221; </p>


Michigan State Police Director Apologizes After Posting Meme Criticizing #TakeAKnee

Constitution

Police

Political Correctness

United States

</p>
<p>The frenzy to tear down all public art that could possibly be interpreted as glorifying white supremacy has already claimed a few innocent victims, including a &#8220;<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/19861/oops-antifa-protesters-vandalized-peace-monument-emily-zanotti">peace monument</a>&#8221; dedicated to promoting racial healing following the Civil War and <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/19752/lincoln-memorial-vandalized-fk-law-hank-berrien">the Lincoln Memorial</a>. Over the weekend the Confederate monument protest movement added another non-Confederate name to the list of targets: Christopher Columbus. </p>
<p>On Saturday, dozens of social justice protesters congregated in downtown Detroit and surrounded the bust of Christopher Columbus, which they demanded be removed from the public square. The protest was part of their call to purge &#8220;white supremacy&#8221; from the city and &#8220;reclaim&#8221; history.</p>
<p>&#8220;Reclaiming our history: A Detroit without white supremacy,&#8221; rally organizers from the BYP100 (Black Youth Project 100) announced on Facebook leading up to the event, which took place Saturday. <em><a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2017/08/19/demonstration-white-supremacy-christopher-columbus/583189001/">The Detroit Free Press</a></em> reports: </p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Dozens of demonstrators converged under a raised bust of Christopher Columbus in downtown Detroit on Saturday and demanded the monument come down as they protested against white supremacy and a list of perceived affronts to black Detroiters.</em> &#8230;.</p>
<p>&#8220;A lot of these symbols of genocide and colonialism in America are no longer being tolerated,&#8221; said Adrian Polk, a member of the chapter, which is largely comprised of people ages 18 to 35. &#8220;These symbols need to come down.&#8221;</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>The Detroit Free Press</em> notes that since the organizers of the event &#8220;were unaware of any Confederate monuments in the city,&#8221; they decided to focus on Columbus because they felt he was &#8220;tied to a white supremacy mind-set.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition to the Columbus statue, the demonstrators called on the city to end the &#8220;gentrification&#8221; (attempts to improve of an area, which social justice activists portray as racist) of the down town, the city&#8217;s increased use of security cameras, and water shutoffs. </p>
<p>Also included in their denouncements were Detroit&#8217;s Democratic Mayor <a href="http://dugganfordetroit.com/">Mike Duggan</a> and Quicken Loans founder and Cleveland Cavaliers owner <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/daniel-gilbert/">Dan Gilbert</a>.</p>
<p>The peaceful demonstration reportedly remained orderly and did not devolve into vandalism, as many protests have across the country, including in Durham, North Carolina, where some of those who participated in the destruction of a Civil War monument <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/19787/protester-who-toppled-durham-confederate-statue-emily-zanotti">ended up in jail</a>. </p>
<p>Among the non-Confederate historical figures that have become targets of the monument movement are George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom President Trump named in his controversial <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/19764/watch-trump-gives-fiery-news-conference-defending-daily-wire">press conference</a> last Tuesday. </p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve condemned neo-Nazis. I&#8217;ve condemned very different groups,&#8221; said Trump. &#8220;But not all those people were neo-Nazis, believe me, not all of those people were white supremacists, by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. And you take a look at some of the groups and you see, and you&#8217;d know it if you were honest reporters which in many cases you&#8217;re not, but many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You really do have to ask yourself where does it stop.&#8221;</p></p>


‘Reclaiming Our History’: Another Non-Confederate Historical Figure Targeted

American History

Social Justice

White Supremacy

<p>In one of the most non-shocking developments of the year, the box office showed critical favorite <em>Detroit</em> completely tanking this weekend. The film, made with a budget of $34 million, cleared just $7.25 million domestically on its opening weekend, clocking in eighth, behind blockbusters like <em>The Emoji Movie</em>, now in its second week, and <em>Girls Trip</em>, now in its third. <em>Dunkirk</em>, meanwhile, barely missed winning the box office again, clearing $17.6 million in its third week for a total domestic gross of $133.6 million.</p>
<p>Some of that has to do, no doubt, with the heavy subject matter of the material in <em>Detroit</em>, but some of it also has to do with the fact that audiences have been less than enthusiastic. While critics give the film a Rotten Tomatoes score of 87%, audiences gave it just 76%. <em>Dunkirk</em>, by contrast, earned 82% from audiences, and <em>Girls Trip</em> earned 87%.</p>
<p>This isn&#8217;t about Kathryn Bigelow, the director of <em>Detroit</em> &#8211; <em>Zero Dark Thirty</em> earned $95.7 million at the domestic box office and received an 80% approval rating from audiences. It <em>is</em> about the fact that Americans are sick of being lectured about how their racial attitudes today mirror those of the past. The film centers on the Detroit riots of 1967, which occurred in one of the least-discriminatory, most wealthy black areas in the nation at the time; as Thomas Sowell writes, &#8220;black median family income was 95 percent of white median income. The unemployment rate among blacks was 3.4 percent and black home ownership was higher in Detroit than in any other major city.&#8221; The riots actually destroyed Detroit&#8217;s future by encouraging white flight, destroying the tax base, and creating a left-shift in governance that emptied the city completely.</p>
<p>The film instead reportedly draws the conclusion that America remains a deeply racist place with problems that continue until today; it focuses not on the broader impact of the riots but specifically on racist brutality that occurred at the Algiers Motel. That&#8217;s perfectly worth covering, of course, but determining that such behavior in 1967 represents something broader in American society today isn&#8217;t accurate.</p>
<p><a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/news/detroit-box-office-analysis-kathryn-bigelow-1202517066/">This was a message film</a>. Its producers acknowledged as much: Erik Lomis, Annapurna&#8217;s head of distribution, stated, &#8220;when you look at the movie, we&#8217;re proud of the film, and we stand behind the message of the film.&#8221; Producer Mark Boal stated, &#8220;We&#8217;re in a difficult spot in the world right now, and I&#8217;m hopeful that audiences will respond to the challenge that the movie poses and appreciate not being talked down to.&#8221;</p>
<p>Except that the film does talk down to audiences, apparently. And Americans aren&#8217;t interested in hearing how racist they are &#8211; not from Hollywood, which will declare Americans racist no matter what.</p>


Race Message Film ‘Detroit’ COLLAPSES At Box Office, Finishes 8th

<p>Detroit is in the midst of rebuilding. Once a shining metropolis and home to 1.8 million residents during the 1950s, the city filed for bankruptcy in 2013 and now has fewer than 675,000 who call the Motor City home.</p>
<p>But Detroit is finally out of bankruptcy and is working hard &#8212; to get its crime rate back up. In 2015, the city had its lowest number of murders in 40 years, but last year, Detroit has the second highest murder rate in the United States. Way to go, Detroit! Keep at it and you&#8217;ll soon be No. 1 again!</p>
<p>With all that, it should come as no surprise that half of the eight candidates running for the office of mayor in Detroit&#8217;s primary ballot next week are convicted felons. Just half you say? Hey, it&#8217;s a start. Rebuilding, remember?</p>
<p>Three have been charged with gun crimes and two others for assault with intent to commit murder, the <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/08/02/half-detroit-mayoral-candidates-felony-convictions/104244406/">Detroit News </a>reports. While some convictions stretch back to the 1970s, the most recent was in 2008.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Under state election law, convicted felons can vote and run for office as long as they are not incarcerated or guilty of certain fraud-related offenses, or crimes involving a breach of the public trust. The Detroit News reviewed the backgrounds of all the mayoral contenders.</p>
<p>While some refute circumstances that led to their criminal convictions, three said their past is a motivating factor in their decisions to run.</p>
<p>The two who have polled ahead of the field, incumbent Mayor Mike Duggan and state Sen. Coleman A. Young II, the son of the city&#8217;s first black mayor, have no criminal records. Nor do candidates Edward Dean and Angelo Brown.</p>
<p>First-time contender Donna Marie Pitts, 58, has multiple felony convictions dating back to 1977, according to court records in Wayne and Oakland counties.</p>
<p>Although she denies wrongdoing in the past cases against her, Pitts is open about her convictions.</p>
<p>Pitts, who says she has a business management degree and experience in carpentry, told The News she wants a &#8220;better way of life&#8221; for Detroiters.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t hide it. God has brought me out,&#8221; said Pitts, who wants to improve health care services, and tackle crime and work on rebuilding the community. &#8220;I hope (voters) don&#8217;t look at it as negative but as my experience, and I can help. I want to fight for them.&#8221;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Pitts was convicted of receiving a stolen car in 1977. Ten years later, &#8220;she was charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder and two firearm offenses in connection with two separate shooting incidents on March 24, 1987, Detroit Recorder&#8217;s Court records say.&#8221; <em>Intent</em> to murder. C&#8217;mon, not murder. Sheesh.</p>
<p>But leave it to someone in the city to seek to downplay the candidates&#8217; horrific records.</p>
<p>&#8220;Black marks on your record show you have lived a little and have overcome some challenges,&#8221; said political consultant Greg Bowens, a former press secretary to Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and NAACP activist. &#8220;They deserve the opportunity to be heard, but they also deserve to have the kind of scrutiny that comes along with trying to get an important elected position.&#8221;</p>
<p>Lived a little indeed.</p></p>


Menu

Detroit

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Detroit’s School Board Is Considering Renaming Ben Carson High School Because It’s ‘Offensive’

Michigan Democratic Candidate Accused Of Embezzlement, Asked To Step Down

Gun-Wielding Punks Caught On Video Robbing Vietnam Vet, Cancer Survivor

Horrible Boston Red Sox Fans Do The Most Uncool Thing Ever

Detroit Hip-Hop Radio Station Bans Kanye’s Music

GRAPHIC: Dog Found In Detroit With Heavy Tow Chain Through Its Neck

OOPS: Detroit’s Pontiac Silverdome Arena Fails To Implode

Detroit Pistons Coach: Athletes Protesting Anthem Are ‘Role Models Of American Patriotism’

Michigan State Police Director Apologizes After Posting Meme Criticizing #TakeAKnee

‘Reclaiming Our History’: Another Non-Confederate Historical Figure Targeted

Race Message Film ‘Detroit’ COLLAPSES At Box Office, Finishes 8th

Half Of Detroit’s Mayoral Candidates Are Convicted Felons

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Detroit

Detroit Police Make Arrest After Horrifying Video Emerges Of Elderly Man Beaten At Nursing Home. Governor Gretchen Whitmer Silent.

Tlaib Defends Her Demand To Detroit Police To Only Hire Black Individuals: ‘My Comments Weren’t Racist’

Rashida Tlaib Demands The Detroit Police Department Only Hire African Americans For Facial Recognition Program

Union Boss Quietly Negotiating Deal With GM While Embroiled In Million Dollar Corruption Investigation

UPDATE: Detroit Music Festival Rethinks Charging White People Double, Cites ‘Threats’

Biracial Rapper, ‘Enraged,’ Exits Music Festival After Discovering Tickets For Whites Cost Double The Price

REPORT: Flint, Michigan Administrators Mismanaged Clean Water Funds, Hired Firm With No Experience Replacing Pipes

Wife Of NFL QB Matthew Stafford Asks For Prayers After Shocking Diagnosis

Detroit’s School Board Is Considering Renaming Ben Carson High School Because It’s ‘Offensive’

Michigan Democratic Candidate Accused Of Embezzlement, Asked To Step Down

Gun-Wielding Punks Caught On Video Robbing Vietnam Vet, Cancer Survivor

Horrible Boston Red Sox Fans Do The Most Uncool Thing Ever

Detroit Hip-Hop Radio Station Bans Kanye’s Music

GRAPHIC: Dog Found In Detroit With Heavy Tow Chain Through Its Neck

OOPS: Detroit’s Pontiac Silverdome Arena Fails To Implode

Detroit Pistons Coach: Athletes Protesting Anthem Are ‘Role Models Of American Patriotism’

Michigan State Police Director Apologizes After Posting Meme Criticizing #TakeAKnee

‘Reclaiming Our History’: Another Non-Confederate Historical Figure Targeted

Race Message Film ‘Detroit’ COLLAPSES At Box Office, Finishes 8th

Half Of Detroit’s Mayoral Candidates Are Convicted Felons

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