Topics

46

Off-Topic / Ever wonder if your waiter/waitress picks their nose and put it in your food ?

« on: May 15, 2018, 12:24:24 pm »Message ID: 1215670

Or when ordering Chinese food is that a vegetable or nose candy ?

47

Off-Topic / Would you spend a year doing a survey ?

« on: May 15, 2018, 01:34:32 am »Message ID: 1215541

For the possibility of 1000 dollars but you could get dq'd on the last day and only get 1 cent ?

48

Off-Topic / What's the most 2 cent plus videos you've done in a session

« on: May 15, 2018, 01:24:39 am »Message ID: 1215540

I wish I could do a hundred in an hour since they're easier than surveys and no dqs

49

Off-Topic / Israel's shame — and America's complicity

« on: May 14, 2018, 02:50:56 pm »Message ID: 1215461

Gruesome violence directed against unarmed protesters is becoming a terrifyingly regular occurrence in Gaza, where another huge storm of protests was just inspired by the Trump administration moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Gazans massed near the borders of their open-air prison, with some attempting to break through the fence. The Israeli military responded by spraying live ammunition into the crowd and bombing several targets in Gaza. Scores of Gazans have been killed, including several children. Thousands have been injured.

On the other side, so far no Israelis have been hurt, and not a single rocket has been fired at Israel.

Let us call this what it is: naked tyranny by the Israeli apartheid regime. And America is complicit in the regular murderous violence necessary to maintain it.

Remember, it is not just the Jerusalem embassy being protested. Monday's protests were part of a series to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, in which about 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were ethnically cleansed, mostly from what is today official Israel, to make room for Israeli settlers. The #GreatReturnMarch hashtag refers to Gazans' demand for a "right of return" to their former villages and homes.

Hundreds of Gazans have already been shot by Israeli snipers in previous protests, dozens fatally, and several at least directly in the back as they were fleeing to safety. They had to know that many were going to be gunned down like dogs today — a previous video showed IDF soldiers whooping and cheering after one sniped a man simply standing on the other side of the fence. (Vicious racism is an undeniable reality in the IDF, and increasingly in Israel itself. It's not a coincidence that it's one of two countries on Earth that prefers Donald Trump to Barack Obama.)

Why would Gazans run into Israeli gunfire? Sheer desperation. Under the Israeli blockade, Gaza is a hellish open-air prison which is every day becoming less inhabitable. As Peter Beinart writes, despite ludicrous Israeli claims that it has "withdrawn" from the territory, Israel maintains absolute control over Gaza "the way a prison guard might control a prison courtyard in which he never actually sets foot." There are only a handful of border crossings, and Israel controls them all, even the one on Egypt's side. One needs a South Africa-style pass to enter or exit. Israel lets almost no imports through, restricts fishing kilometers off the coast (well short of where most fish are), bans access to a large swathe of Gazan territory, and sharply restricts exports.

As a result, the Gazan economy has all but collapsed. Unemployment is nearly 30 percent, over half the population doesn't have enough to eat, fresh water is running out, and all its medical facilities are severely short of supplies. Gazans get only a few hours of electricity a day at most, and famine is staved off only with international aid and a tiny trickle of supplies from Israel. The United Nations predicts that on its current trajectory, by about 2020 Gaza will reach a comprehensive humanitarian crisis.

The original Israeli justification for the blockade was the victory of Hamas in the Gaza elections of 2006. The increasingly obvious reality, as Israel was tightening its grip over Gaza well before 2006, and has contemptuously dismissed hesitant peace overtures since then, is that Hamas is just an excuse. Israel wants to maintain its iron grip over the West Bank and Gaza, and barely even cares anymore about not appearing to enforce an apartheid regime.

In this light, consider the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. Palestinians view this as a vile provocation, as they have long regarded Palestinian East Jerusalem as the logical future capital of a Palestinian state. America's action signals tacit acceptance of Greater Israel in the form of a full apartheid state — one which will never renounce political control over the West Bank and Gaza (as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly promised during his last election campaign, though he disingenuously reversed himself after the election victory); one which will continue to gradually steal more and more West Bank land for itself; one which will continue its monstrous collective punishment of Gazans every time they attempt more than a whisper of protest over their nightmarish conditions.

Israel, sitting safe behind a blanket use of the United States' U.N. Security Council veto, currently has more than enough power to maintain its tyrannical occupation of the West Bank and bludgeon Gaza into submission whenever it is deemed necessary. But there may come a time when that veto is withdrawn, or the United States becomes so dysfunctional and isolated itself that it no longer provides any defense. If or when that comes to pass, Israel will regret poisoning its reputation with these vile and indefensible tactics. But the rest of world will surely not forget.

50

Off-Topic / Needle by Needle, a Heroin Crisis Grips California’s Rural North

« on: May 13, 2018, 02:03:19 pm »Message ID: 1215233

EUREKA, Calif. — The dirty needles can be found scattered among the pine and brush, littering the forest floor around Eureka, a town long celebrated as a gateway to the scenic Redwood Empire. They are the debris of a growing heroin scourge that is gripping the remote community in Northern California.

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While the state as a whole has one of the lowest overall opioid-related death rates in the country, a sharp rise in heroin use across the rural north in recent years has raised alarms. In Humboldt County, the opioid death rate is five times higher than the state average, rivaling the rates of states like Maine and Vermont that have received far more national attention.

The problem is exacerbated here in Eureka, the county seat, by a sizable homeless population that is growing amid an extreme lack of affordable housing and a changing, weakened economy that relies heavily on tourism. The combined ills have devastated a particularly vulnerable community that is often overlooked in the state. Now those problems are spilling into public view, sparking grievances and anger among the town’s residents.

“I’ve lost so many people to this,” said Stacy Cobine, 46, who has battled her own chaotic drug use and been chronically homeless.

Intravenous drug use has been a persistent menace across rural California for decades, but longtime drug users who once sought methamphetamine — which is also often injected — are increasingly looking to score heroin or opioid pills instead. An astonishingly high rate of opioid prescription in Humboldt County has bred addiction, officials said, and the craving is increasingly sated by a growing market for heroin.

While meth “is still king” in Humboldt after decades of entrenched use, Ernie Stewart, the Chief Deputy Coroner at the County Sheriff’s Department, said he is certain that the county’s heroin-related overdoses are “way underreported.” He said meth and heroin abuse has touched every type of person locally, not just the homeless.

With the sharp increases in use and overdoses, syringe litter has become a significant flash point for the town’s middle-class residents, particularly because tourism is so important for Eureka and the surrounding region. The town’s homeless have borne the brunt of the blame and frustration. Many Eurekans described various shocking experiences, including witnessing injections on public streets. They worry that discarded syringes could threaten children and tourists playing in the area’s parks.

The Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction, which distributes clean needles through a syringe exchange program, has also drawn the ire of many in the community who blame the organization for the proliferation of needles. Brandie Wilson founded the organization in 2014 in part to combat the spread of hepatitis C, which is widespread in Humboldt County. The exchange, Ms. Wilson said, has distributed close to one million clean syringes since 2017. Data provided by Ms. Wilson showed that it gets about 94 percent of them back again.

“Our Hep C and mental health and drug use and homeless and opioid use issues, all of those are so intertwined with being rural, and with a culture of silence,” she said. “No matter where I looked, there was no help. There was no help.”

Ms. Wilson said the organization has also distributed thousands of kits of naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses.

The needle litter problem intensified two years ago when the town removed a homeless encampment along the Palco Marsh where somewhere between 250 and 400 homeless people had been sleeping.

City officials and health service workers had encouraged the town’s large homeless population for years to go there. The tent city, which was colloquially called Devil’s Playground, provided a place to sleep and to linger during the day, but it also saw severely unsanitary health conditions and, at times, violence. In 2016, the town decided to clear the camp to install a bike path along the water, and did not allow a new camp anywhere else.

Now “everybody wants to focus on syringes instead of lives,” said Ms. Wilson.

[We’re interested in hearing from people who live in rural communities in California. What are the main issues facing your area? What do you think has not received enough attention? Email our reporter Jose Del Real at jose.delreal@nytimes.com. Please include your name, town, and a phone number if you would like us to follow up]

Ms. Cobine said that the town’s decision to clear the homeless encampment “tore us down emotionally and psychologically.” Ms. Cobine said she stopped taking her medications for bipolar disorder because she was afraid that a side effect, drowsiness, could leave her vulnerable to sexual assault when she did not have somewhere safe to sleep; she carries a hatchet around in her bag for protection.

“They shouldn’t have closed the playground down if they didn’t want homeless people all over town,” Ms. Cobine said. “They should have let them stay back there where they were, if they didn’t want drug paraphernalia all over town, or give us somewhere else to go.” She noted that just a fraction of the town’s homeless who were living in the tent city found accommodations through support programs.

Steve Shockley said he and other homeless people in the area do not just use meth recreationally: they often use it to stay awake at night. The homeless in town have fewer and fewer places where they can sleep without risking a ticket for loitering, or having their few possessions seized by the police. So they take meth to keep moving at night, and take heroin during the day to feed their cravings.

Another homeless man, Michael Myers, said that heroin was easier to acquire than meth or on some days, even marijuana, which is surprising in a region known as the Emerald Triangle where marijuana is widely grown.

If there has been a saving grace in Northern California, it is that a much more powerful illicit opioid, fentanyl, is far less common on the West Coast than in other parts of the country. Fentanyl, which is 50 times as strong as heroin, is increasingly being mixed into batches of heroin and is largely responsible for the devastating rise in opioid-related deaths nationally.

Unlike the supply of heroin primarily found on the East Coast, the so-called Black Tar heroin seen in the West is harder to mix with fentanyl, according to public health experts.

But even without fentanyl, Humboldt County is ill equipped to handle rising heroin abuse and addiction. Access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid abuse disorder is severely limited in these remote parts of California — a problem shared by rural counties across the country.

“The state is failing miserably, and you can quote me on that,” said Mr. Stewart, the deputy coroner. “The state is failing miserably across the board. They are not putting enough funding and resources toward rehabilitation.”

Mike McGuire, who represents several Northern California counties including Humboldt in the State Senate, said that government leaders needed to be more proactive about expanding resources in rural parts of the state. He said rural Californians are “desperate” for more assistance.

“Humboldt County is just a few hours up Highway 101,” he said, “but as an individual travels further north on the highway, it’s like you take a step back in time. We need to step up to the plate and provide rural counties with the tools they need to combat this crisis.”

Mr. McGuire said that between 500 and 700 residents of Humboldt and nearby Trinity and Del Norte counties are on a waiting list for opioid treatment services.

Marlies Perez, the chief of the California Department of Health Care Services’ Substance Use Disorder Compliance Division, said the state is working on increasing the number of treatment options available in rural areas.

“One of the problems is stigma,” Ms. Perez said. “We have county supervisors who don’t want a treatment program located in their area.”

Some options are on the way. The treatment provider Aegis is scheduled to assist in opening a center just outside Eureka by early 2019. The hub is meant to treat up to 200 patients and to serve as a center for smaller “spoke” centers in the region, including Del Norte and Trinity counties.

Once there are more treatment options in place, the challenge will be getting the people who need them most to buy in, and to offer them mental health services as well.

“Every time I’m almost off this” stuff, said Mr. Shockley, “somebody dies — which is kind of a cop out. But it is what it is.”

Ms. Cobine, for her part, believes that housing needs to be the priority in a comprehensive program to deal with drug use in the area.

“I don’t know why treatment and rehab and these services always have to come into play first,” said Ms. Cobine. “If there was just affordable housing, people wouldn’t be using as much.”

Finding stable housing situations for those who are most vulnerable, to encourage recovery, is another challenge. Sally Hewitt of the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services said the county’s inability to expand public housing options will make that far more difficult, particularly because of local resistance.

As a result of restrictions on public housing development in California, Ms. Hewitt said, county officials must largely deal with private landlords when seeking to house the homeless. Many of the landlords require potential tenants to have references, good credit and an income at least three times the cost of rent. Those are each obstacles for the homeless, particularly those with drug addictions.

While the county seeks solutions to those systemic issues, Ms. Wilson said her organization will continue distributing needles in the region, despite opposition from town residents and despite efforts by the City Council to regulate her organization more heavily.

“We’re just trying to figure out how to keep people alive while we wait for more treatment up here,” Ms. Wilson said.

51

Off-Topic / Woman stunned as boyfriend proposes while dressed as college mascot

« on: May 13, 2018, 01:58:39 pm »Message ID: 1215231

A New Jersey man dressed up as a college mascot to set up the ultimate surprise proposal for his girlfriend. It was a typical day at Montclair State University when Stacy Albanese, the associate director of alumni relations, was approached by Rocky the Red Hawk, the school's mascot, who got down on one knee and opened a ring box.                                                                 Nothing like embarrassing yourself for love in public and it all works out for the best.

52

Off-Topic / Teens' experience shows campus reality for Native Americans

« on: May 13, 2018, 01:50:19 pm »Message ID: 1215228

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The teenage brothers — both shy and Native American — had just entered a recreation center on a tour of their dream university when a parent in the group stepped away to call 911.

"Their behavior is just really odd," she said from the Colorado State University campus. "They won't give their names .... They just really stand out."

The teens' quiet disposition and dark clothing were unnerving, the caller told the dispatcher. Campus police responded by pulling them from the tour, patting them down and asking why they didn't "cooperate" when others asked them questions.

Yet for many Native Americans, much of 17-year-old Lloyd Skanahwati and 19-year-old Thomas Kanewakeron Gray's reserved conduct followed cultural norms often expected of youth — especially those taught in their schools and communities to be humble, as well as thoughtful about how and when to draw attention to themselves.

"Students who are quieter are taking information and processing it and thinking about information before they speak," said Megan Red Shirt-Shaw, who is Oglala Lakota and a counselor for high school students at the Albuquerque Academy. "That shouldn't be an indicator that a student isn't fully engaged in the process."

The teens' April 30 encounter with police has been met with shock and outrage nationwide, as one of numerous examples of racial profiling to make headlines in recent weeks. At Yale University, a white student called campus police last week about a black graduate student sleeping in a residential common area. The graduate student fell asleep while working on a paper.

In the Gray brothers' case, the discomforting interrogation also highlighted the complicated cultural circumstances Native Americans often must navigate in mainstream settings. That includes universities where they are likely to encounter students, professors and parents unaware of tribal value systems and how they differ from their own.

In some tribes, for example, it's considered a sign of respect when youth avoid eye contact with adults during conversation, while non-Native Americans may interpret such conduct as dismissive. Listening also can be of greater value than talking in Native American communities.

"It's not uncommon to have the students being really intent on listening to somebody as a means of learning and means of respect," said Kara Bobroff, who is Navajo and Lakota, and founded the Native American Community Academy, a charter school in Albuquerque. "It's not a value to put yourself out in front of everybody, necessarily. It doesn't need to happen to define success."

On campuses, Native Americans typically make up a sliver of the student body. They comprise 1 percent of U.S. college students. Once enrolled in a four-year institution, fewer than half finish, according to a 2016 report by the National Center for Education Statistics.

It's incumbent on higher education institutions to take responsibility for improving those numbers, Bobroff said. The isolating experience of campus life — from admission tours to graduation — is eased when schools plan a welcoming environment, taking into account the communities and cultures students call home, she said.

"They might be stepping onto a campus where they are going to be one of the only Native students," Bobroff said. "So trying to build a strong community around them is really important from the moment they interact with that school."

Her charter school takes measures to prepare students for life after graduation, including sending faculty members to accompany groups of students on campus tours, she said. Afterward, they debrief.

The Gray brothers were alone on their Colorado State tour in Fort Collins, which is a seven-hour drive from their home in Santa Cruz, New Mexico.

Since they arrived late, they hadn't been a part of an initial group introduction. But the older teen still introduced himself and his brother to the guide during a stop in the library, he said.

Their mother said Fort Collins was the farthest they had travelled together from home on their own, and they had saved money for the trip. They also registered in advance for the tour.

Police required the teens to provide an email confirmation from the university as proof they signed up before releasing them.

The brothers are Mohawk. Originally from upstate New York, they recalled attending cultural gatherings in which as children they kept quiet out of respect. Those experiences continue to influence how they conduct and carry themselves, especially while participating in an organized activity, they said.

The younger brother is now a high school senior at Santa Fe Indian School, a boarding school owned by the 19 Pueblo tribes. The older teen, who graduated from there two years ago, attends Northern New Mexico College. He talked for months about transferring to Colorado State, their mother, Lorraine Gray, said.

One officer told her on the phone that perhaps the experience would teach her sons to speak up for themselves, she said.

The extent to which the brothers seemed to have been penalized for their shyness stood out for Roy Taylor, who is Pawnee and whose son was graduating Sunday from Pomona College in California. However, the caller's initial curiosity and discomfort with their presence was less surprising, said Taylor, of Minneapolis.

He recalled he and his son encountered parents who peppered them with questions about their backgrounds while touring colleges.

"It was disconcerting at times and felt intrusive, but nothing of the scale of this woman's intrusions," he said. "I think sometimes those parents they believe that's their way of being friendly. But it doesn't come across that way."

Police have not identified the 911 caller, except to say she was 45 years old and white. In the call, she acknowledged she might be "completely paranoid" about the teens, whom she guessed were Hispanic. She said they were disinterested and evasive.

She said their clothing had "weird symbolism or wording," which turned out to represent metal bands they follow.

In this Friday, May 11, 2018 photo, Thomas Gray, left, and Lloyd Gray laugh outside Santa Fe, N.M. The brothers, who are Mohawk and live in New Mexico, were pulled from a campus tour at Colorado State University on April 30 in an experience that has been decried as yet another example of racial profiling in recent weeks, and has highlighted complications some Native Americans must navigate in mainstream settings, such as universities. (AP Photo/Mary Hudetz)© The Associated Press In this Friday, May 11, 2018 photo, Thomas Gray, left, and Lloyd Gray laugh outside Santa Fe, N.M. The brothers, who are Mohawk and live in New Mexico, were pulled from a campus tour at Colorado State University on April 30 in an experience that has been decried as yet another example of racial profiling in recent weeks, and has highlighted complications some Native Americans must navigate in mainstream settings, such as universities. (AP Photo/Mary Hudetz)
Colorado State has offered to compensate them for their trip, calling their experience "sad and frustrating." The Grays haven't responded. The American Civil Liberties Union said it has been in conversation with the family as it decides how to proceed.

The university is taking steps to avoid similar incidents. It will provide badges to tour participants and require police to alert guides if they need to approach someone.

Admissions tours are often students' first introduction to a school and help them decide whether it's the right environment, said Red Shirt-Shaw, a former undergraduate admissions officer at the University of Pennsylvania.

First impressions can be crucial, given college's low enrollment rates among Native Americans. At Colorado State, for example, only 125 students identified as Native American out of 33,400 students enrolled last fall, according to school statistics.

Red Shirt-Shaw said she was concerned the Grays' encounter would discourage others from going on tours and to college.

53

Off-Topic / Former NFL coach Chuck Knox dies

« on: May 13, 2018, 01:39:53 pm »Message ID: 1215222

Former NFL coach Chuck Knox died after battling a lengthy battle with dementia. He was 86.

Knox's granddaughter, Lee Ann, confirmed his passing Sunday morning on Twitter.

Known as "Ground Chuck" for his team's emphasis on running the ball, Knox is best remembered for coaching the Los Angeles Rams (1973-77, 1992-94), Buffalo Bills (1978-82), Seattle Seahawks (1983-91). He recorded a 186-147 record in the regular season, however his clubs combined for just a 7-11 mark in the playoffs.

Knox was a three-time Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year (1973, 1980, 1984) and was also inducted into the Seahawks' Ring of Honor on Sept. 25, 2005.

John Turney posted a story on Pro Football Journal early Sunday morning recalling a memorable exchange involving Knox, as told to him via Jack Youngblood.

"Jack Youngblood once told me this story -- In 1976 during what would now be called a rookie camp Youngblood walked up to Knox who was watching a field full of rookie draft picks and free agents practice. Knox, with his steely gaze set towards the action, muttered to Youngblood, 'They switched the baby'. Youngblood had no clue what he was talking about, asked Knox what he meant. Knox nodded toward the Rams first-round draft choice Kevin McLain and said 'McLain ... they switched the baby. They told me he was 6-3, 230. He's barely 6-1 and not even 220.'

"When I met Knox I asked him for more details. He responded that McLain had size 9 feet and Knox knew he would never be a good linebacker with feet that small. 'I got stuck with another one in Seattle --Brian Bosworth. He had feet this big,' stated Knox. He amplified his point by holding his hands maybe 10 inches apart to show the smallness of Bosworth's feet."

54

Off-Topic / Remains of 10-Year-old Lindsey Baum Found 10 Years After She Went Missing

« on: May 13, 2018, 01:23:44 pm »Message ID: 1215213

Remembering and celebrating incarcerated mothers on Mother’s DayRemembering and celebrating incarcerated mothers on Mother’s Day
Inside the Trial Joaquin 'El Chapo’ Guzman
Remains of 10-Year-old Lindsey Baum Found Nearly 10 Years After She Went Missing© Provided by CBS Interactive Inc. Remains of 10-Year-old Lindsey Baum Found Nearly 10 Years After She Went Missing
The body of a 10-year-old girl who has been missing for nearly ten years has been found in Washington State.

Lindsey Baum disappeared in 2009 when she was walking to a friend’s house. Her body was found last fall but the remains weren’t identified as hers until this week by authorities due to a delay in DNA testing.

Baum’s body was found by hunters on rocky terrain, 180 miles east of where she disappeared from her McCleary home. Her mom vehemently denied her daughter ran away at the time of her disappearance.

Kittitas County Sheriff's Office led a search Saturday of the terrain that Undersheriff Clay Myers described as "steep, heavily timbered with large cliffs and deep ravines."

The case has now been ruled a kidnapping and homicide investigation, police said.

"For the last nine years we've not been able to definitively say what this was, beyond this was a missing child," Sheriff Rick Scott said. "...Now, the reality is we need to find a homicide suspect."

He said the family is "understandably devastated" at the news.

It was not immediately clear when Lindsey died, police said.

55

Off-Topic / Terry Crews explains why he didn't punch his harasser

« on: May 13, 2018, 12:08:50 am »Message ID: 1215129

Just one day after news broke that Fox is canceling "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," Terry Crews is staying positive, pointing out to CBS News that the show lasted for more than 100 episodes. The actor, who plays Sgt. Terry Jeffords, said, "I'm super proud of all we've done and if by some incarnation we can come back in some kind of way -- another network or something -- I'm jumping at the chance, but as it stands right now, we are gone, and I'm not mad."

Crews says he's grateful for the run the show's had and says it's been "a privilege" to play a feminist, self-aware cop who loves his family. Crews tells CBS News he has a lot in common with his character, including their approach toward masculinity.

"As a man, you have to be invincible, which is impossible, and that's the thing that really, really resonates with a lot of people -- Terry Jeffords is not ashamed to say what he's scared of, and he doesn't even have to hide it through bravado," Crews says. "Terry's just like, 'I'm very, very scared right now and that's OK. We can talk about it and deal with it.' I see a lot of me in that, especially since I came out and went through all my therapy. I've been so transparent and able to do the same thing and just say what could hurt me and how I've been hurt."

Crews, who wrote a book called "Manhood" in 2014, was one of the few men in Hollywood to tell his story as part of the #MeToo movement. He and Tarana Burke, the founder of #MeToo, are being honored on Tuesday by Safe Horizon, an organization that works with victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking.

He says he got "choked up" meeting Burke at the Oscars.

"Fear begets fear, but courage begets courage," says Crews. "Her courage spread like a wildfire. Her stand against this activity, this kind of violence, this kind of manipulation was so strong that it's still reverberating right now. It's this fearlessness the changes the world and to be honored at the same event with her -- it's one of the greatest honors of my life." He says Burke is like a sister to him and adds, "Those who've been victimized -- we're kind of our own little family. … We're not going to be quiet. We're not going to be silent."

Last year, Crews made headlines when he said that in February 2016, Adam Venit, the former longtime head of William Morris Endeavor's motion picture group, groped his genitals at a Hollywood event. Though he didn't make his accusations public at first, Crews says he felt like he had to come forward when people started maligning women who spoke up in the #MeToo movement.

"People were calling the women opportunists, gold-diggers, 'They just want a payday' or 'Why are they coming forward now?'" he explains. "And I'm going, 'Anybody who's behind enemy lines needs to get to a safe spot.' I couldn't stand it. I had to lend my voice, because it happened to me, and people were saying, 'These women are crazy,' and I said I gotta lend my voice to this."

Crews says that when the incident happened, he felt he was in a particularly vulnerable position as a black man up against one of Hollywood's most powerful players.

"Look at who I am," he told CBS News. "I am 240 pounds, about 3 to 4 percent body fat. If I would have hit him, imagine, in the mouth or the eye and he had any sort of injury -- I told the president of William Morris Endeavor, 'If I had hurt him, would you give me any mercy?' And you know what he said? 'Nope. No.' When you look at black men in society, the only way you get recognized as being victimized is when you're dead. Anything before death is, 'You should walk it off.' Or if a guy shot you, 'What were you doing that you got shot? Why were you there, that someone shot you in the back?""

Crews says people often ask him why he did not hit Venit.

"This guy said, 'Terry Crews' career isn't even all that, for him to get felt on and not fight back,'" recalls Crews. "But I thought, 'But my family is all that. My wife and kids are all that. I don't want my daughters seeing me in jail. … I'm a 48-year-old big, giant, grown man and he's [a partner] at William Morris Endeavor and [if] I knock him out, am I getting mercy? I know how this story goes. 'This is America,' as Donald Glover says."

Crews says when he complained to WME, Venit called him with a brief apology and nothing came of the complaint until after he aired his grievances in public.

"You're an agent," Crews says of WME. "Your whole purpose is to protect us. If you abuse us, who do we go to now?"

Since Crews went public with his accusations, WME suspended Venit for a month last year and stripped him of his department head title. In March, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office announced that they were not pursuing charges against Venit, saying,"Given that the suspect did not make contact with the victim's skin when he grabbed the victim's genitals and there is no restraint involved, a felony filing is declined." Afterward, the Los Angeles City Attorney declined to pursue misdemeanor charges because the case exceeded the statute of limitations, reports Variety.

Crews responds, "You can just grab people through their clothing in front of everyone? And the thing is, what he did is considered a misdemeanor and the statute of limitations had run out, but if I had reacted violently -- that would be a felony. It's a trap, and all I could think about was all the young black men in jail right now who were probably reacting to things that were done to them." Crews is pursuing a civil case against Venit.

Crews says that ironically, Russell Simmons, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault and rape, was one of the people who asked him to drop his case against Venit and WME. He also says people at WME told him that what happened was no big deal and to "let it go."

"I was like, this is what women go through all the time," he says. "This is the gaslight."

The actor says Safe Horizon provides services to victims who may not have the same strong support network he had. Crews says the key to healing is to overcome the feeling of shame.

"I tell people all the time, get rid of the shame," he says. "Don't hold it, because it's not yours. It's never yours."

The actor says he also wants people in the black community to change their attitudes about masculinity.

"Black men, you are seen as invincible. … There's this thing that doesn't exist -- somehow bullets are supposed to ricochet off your chest," says Crews. "As a black man, I look in my own culture and we're telling each other stories that -- why do we believe them? The fact that getting a therapy is seen as weak."

Crews is concerned that this mindset stops victims from sharing their stories about assault or molestation, and points to R. Kelly's long career as proof that there was a "complicit system" surrounding the singer, who has been accused of sexual abuse by several women.

But Crews is hopeful for the future where male victims will feel empowered to speak out. "They're coming. But they're scared, you know, and I understand."

He also has a message for perpetrators of sexual abuse and those who've protected them.

"Healing can't happen until there's concession," he says. "Until somebody says, 'We messed up. We're sorry and we ought to make up for it,' and then everything can move forward."

56

Off-Topic / Top 10 TV Revivals No One Asked For

« on: May 13, 2018, 12:05:08 am »Message ID: 1215128

Bad enough movies are doing remakes like there's no tomorrow, Wonder when Murder She wrote is coming back ?

57

Off-Topic / Dog missing for more than a week. Then his whimpers was heard from a drainpipe

« on: May 12, 2018, 11:59:03 pm »Message ID: 1215127

The Central Taney County Fire Protection District rescued a dog, Jack, that had been stuck in a culvert for several days.
TANEY COUNTY, Mo. - A dog named Jack got stuck in an underground pipe in southwest Missouri and was there for days - as many as eight - before he was rescued by firefighters.


Jack's owners told the local fire department that the dog had disappeared more than a week ago - until when one of them heard whimpering while checking the mail, the Springfield News-Leader reported.

"Crews responded to the needs of this fine dog, Jack," the Central Taney County, Missouri, Fire Protection District wrote on its Facebook page. "Jack decided to get himself stuck in a culvert (possibly) 8 days ago."

The firefighters said they found Jack in the middle of the 15-foot pipe under the owners' gravel driveway.

It's unclear how he ended up there.

"Hey, Jack?," a volunteer says, pointing a camera in the pipe.

Curious, and a little sad-looking, the dog turns toward the volunteer.

"You about ready to get out of there?"

After some digging, firefighters used a saw to cut into the culvert to help free the poor pup.

Volunteer firefighters and bystanders are heard in a video clip trying to lift the dog's spirits.

"Come on, Jack," one says.

"Come on, baby. Come on. We're going to get you out," a woman tells the dog, petting his head.

Jack was weak. He needed a little help getting out through the hole, the fire department said. But, as KOLR 10 reported, it looks like the 12-year-old Lab mix will be OK, despite being stuck.

He was given some water and a minute to rest, the fire department said, before his family took him home "to his favorite bed."

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Off-Topic / It was a no brainer for me.' Employee donates kidney to co-worker

« on: May 12, 2018, 11:54:19 pm »Message ID: 1215126

Impressive to say the least, I know ppl that won't even donate a can of Kidney beans.

59

Off-Topic / Queens woman turns 105, offers advice for troubled time

« on: May 12, 2018, 11:49:05 pm »Message ID: 1215119

n her 105th birthday Wednesday, in the presence of family, friends and a woman playing the harp, Frances Abbracciamento shared the secret to long life.

She says it’s kindness, gratitude and a good amount of pasta.

“I don’t look over my shoulder,” Abbracciamento said, dispensing the wisdom that comes with more than 10 decades of living.

“I always feel nobody is better than me and I’m not better than anybody else. You have to give and you have to be responsible for who you are.”

What Abbracciamento gave on her birthday was a real good party, complete with music, a ton of stories and enough cake to open a bakery.

With the sun shining brightly on her tiara and the deck of her Breezy Point home, Abbracciamento reminisced about a full life that included raising four kids, running three restaurants and meeting the president of the United States

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Off-Topic / Florida Officer Saves Baby's Life on Side of Road

« on: May 12, 2018, 11:46:46 pm »Message ID: 1215115

Many Ppl bash cops until something like this.