Florida politician is rejecting calls to resign after a high school photo showing him in blackface
A Florida politician is rejecting calls to resign after a high school photo showing him in blackface surfaced — claiming the image was merely a prank with a black classmate.
State Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a 30-year-old Republican representing House District 32, said the image showing him as a teen with darkened skin while wearing sunglasses, a New York Yankees cap, a do-rag and gold chains has been “decontextualized” since his days at Eustis High School, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
“I’m 16 years old, one of my best friends of the time was black, and we thought at the time — looking back, it was immature — it would be funny to dress as each other,” Sabatini told the newspaper. “He dressed in my clothes — a Ralph Lauren polo shirt, shorts, Converse — and I dressed in his clothing … None of us thought 14 years later any of us would be a public figure and the photo would be decontextualized.”
Sabatini insisted that the controversy surrounding the image, which has resurfaced on social media after being mailed anonymously to media outlets in Lake County prior to his defeat of Democratic Cynthia Brown in November, had “zero” in common with the blackface scandals that prompted Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel to resign and calls for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to do the same over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook from 1984.
Sabatini, who denied the photo was racist, accused the Democratic Party of doing “whatever it takes to influence” elections in the Sunshine State, including “going into high school yearbook pictures of you.”
But Brown on Monday renewed her call for Sabatini to resign over the photo, calling the behavior “mean, cruel and unacceptable for anyone,” particularly an elected official.
“Floridians need to know that our elected leaders will not accept this behavior and will stand consistently in opposing racism,” Brown wrote on Facebook.
Brown said in a separate post that the specifics behind the photo, including how old Sabatini was at the time and his political party today, should not factor into the discussion on whether he should step down.
“Anthony you cannot represent ALL of the people of our district, just as the Florida Secretary of State decided he couldn’t,” Brown wrote. “Do what is right for once, step down and resign.”
The state’s Democratic chair, Terrie Rizzo, echoed Brown’s sentiment, calling for Sabatini to step down in a statement released Tuesday.
“Governor DeSantis did the right thing in accepting Michael Ertel’s resignation — and he and Leader Jose Oliva should do the right thing and ask for the resignation of Rep. Anthony Sabatini,” Rizzo’s statement read. “In calling out racist behavior Florida Democrats and Republicans should stand united.”
A message seeking comment from Sabatini early Wednesday was not immediately returned.
Sabatini’s high school friend, meanwhile, defended the image picturing Sabatini and himself, saying he didn’t understand the controversy surrounding it.
“Every year at high school homecoming week, we had things like ‘80s day and celebrity days,” Brandon Evans told the newspaper. “We said, ‘I’m going to be you and you’re going to be me.’ I don’t know how it got to be seen as racial. That’s all it was.”
Sabatini, a native of New York state whose campaign website billed him as a “true conservative,” defeated Brown by 13 percent in November, one month after the photo initially surfaced.
“When we were 15, 16 sophomore year, it was OK to joke around like that,” Sabatini told the Orlando Sentinel in October. “It’s changed, OK? There is definitely a different standard. I get it.”
Asked if he would be photographed in blackface again, Sabatini said at the time: “Are you joking? Of course not.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/06/florida-pol-rejects-calls-to-resign-over-high-school-blackface-photo/
Lorena Bobbitt opens up about the night she cut off John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis
Lorena Bobbitt has no regrets about the infamous night, nearly 26 years ago, when she chopped off her husband’s penis.
“How can you regret something that was not planned?” Bobbitt, 49, says in a snippet of an interview for the “Today” show that will air Friday.
“You have to understand, I wasn’t in my right mindset.”
The interview comes in advance of the new Amazon documentary “Lorena,” which aims to retell the sensationalized story in order to address issues of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Bobbitt has always maintained that her then-husband John Wayne Bobbitt raped and abused her — including on the night of June 23, 1993, when, after he fell asleep, she hacked off his penis with a kitchen knife.
It was reattached following a 10-hour surgery, and John Wayne went on to have a career in porn.
The gruesome story made headlines around the world, but Lorena tried to stay out of the spotlight.
She says people focused more on what she did rather than why, “based on the act itself, that it was a severe organ, a male organ.”
With this new documentary, she hopes to steer the story away from the gory details and onto the alleged abuse that lead her to cut off her ex’s penis in the first place.
“As a victim… I felt very alone, isolated. I thought it was happening to me only,” Bobbitt says in another clip.
“I applaud the MeToo and TimesUp because those are voices that need to be heard, we need to be strong and I think my story, documentary, will actually push that conversation on the table again.”
“Yes we had this happen 25 years ago but things are not changing much, things need to be changed a lot more.”
The series premiered at The Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 29 and will launch on Amazon Prime Feb. 15.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/07/lorena-bobbitt-opens-up-about-the-night-she-cut-off-john-waynes-penis/
‘Anti-natalist’ suing parents for having him without his consent
New vocab word for the day: anti-natalism. If you need a quick primer on what it means, just ask Raphael Samuel, a 27-year-old from India who’s suing his parents based on just that philosophy.
To wit: He doesn’t think they had the right to force him to be born without his consent.
The BBC notes that Samuel gets the seeming illogic behind the concept—after all, how can you ask someone who hasn’t been born yet if they agree to be born?—but his point is that since “it was not our decision to be born,” our parents should have to pony up the funds to take care of us for life.
Per the Facebook page he created devoted to anti-natalism, Samuel says people bringing kids into a miserable world is akin to “kidnapping and slavery,” and an act that strains the Earth’s resources, per News18.
This isn’t a new thing that’s been bugging Samuel, either: He says he first felt the anti-natalism pull when he was 5 and he didn’t want to go to school one day. He and his parents fought back and forth, until finally he blurted out, “Why did you have me?” The fact that his father had no answer got him to thinking.
The Times of India cites a now-viral YouTube videoin which he expands on his thoughts, and why he’s suing his mom and dad. Samuel tells the BBC that his parents, both attorneys, are pretty good-natured about his whole philosophy, though when he told them about his plans to sue them, his mom replied, “That’s fine, but don’t expect me to go easy on you. I will destroy you in court.”
He also concedes he’s not even unhappy with his life—it’s just that he wishes he’d had the choice whether to have one.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/02/07/anti-natalist-suing-parents-for-having-him-without-his-consent/
Calls for Liam Neeson to be digitally removed from ‘Men In Black’ after racist comments
Article via FOXnews
Calls for Liam Neeson to be removed from the upcoming “Men In Black” film are making the rounds on social media after the actor made highly controversial statements about wanting to find and kill a black person.
As previously reported, Neeson spoke in an interview where he revealed that he walked the streets with a “cosh” years ago hoping that a black man would accost him so that he could take out his anger over the recent rape of a close friend. The star appeared on “Good Morning America” to address the controversy, but fans far and wide felt he missed the mark once again.
“We were doing a press junket and the topic of our film was revenge,” he said. “The lady journalist was asking, ‘How do you tap into that?’ and I remembered an incident nearly 40 years ago when a friend of mine was brutally raped I was out of the country and when I came back she told me about this … I had never felt this feeling before which was a primal urge to lash out.”
Following the remarks, a large contingent of critics took to Twitter to call for Neeson’s character in the upcoming “Men In Black International” to be digitally removed. The film takes place in the world of the first three “Men In Black” movies but stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson rather than any of the series’ original stars. Neeson plays one of the higher-up agents in the ranks, but several fans are asking for him to be given the boot.
“I really hope it’s not too late to digitally erase that racist f— Liam Neeson from the new Men In Black movie,” one user wrote.
“Was really excited for Men in Black: International with @chrishemsworth & @TessaThompson_x. Was 1 of my most anticapated (sic) films for 2019. Hated his casting before the horrifying controversy, but now really hope it’s not too late to digitally erase racist f— Liam Neeson from it,” another said.
“You can literally hear Liam Neeson evaporating from all the upcoming Men in Black International marketing,” wrote another.
“@MenInBlack boycott Men In Black the gutless coward Liam Neeson said he was walking around looking to kill an innocent black man who had nothing to do with his personal issues he’s a gutless coward and a racist bigot boycott Men in Black,” a more blunt user noted.Whoops! We couldn’t access this Tweet.
Others noted the parallel between Neeson’s situation and the recent predicament the film “All The Money In The World” faced. When it was revealed that Kevin Spacey was caught up in a sexual misconduct scandal, actor Christopher Plummer was brought in to do reshoots on the film so as to remove the specter of Spacey entirely.
“I guess Sony pictures will soon be hiring Christopher Plummer to replace Liam Neeson in the upcoming Men In Black reboot,” one user joked.
“Christopher Plummer is currently reshooting Liam Neeson’s scenes in Men In Black International,” said another.
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Baltimore picked for federal program to help eradicate HIV/AIDS
Article via BaltimoreSun
Baltimore is one of dozens of hotspots the federal government plans to target as it aims to drastically reduce HIV and AIDS nationwide during the next decade, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The city, along with Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, is among the areas where the federal health department estimates about half of new HIV cases occur — including 48 of some 3,000 counties nationwide, seven states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The department plans to direct funding to those areas to boost resources for fighting HIV and AIDS.
But the day after President Donald Trump announced the initiative in his State of the Union address, neither the Maryland Department of Health nor the Baltimore City Health Department had received details about how the initiative might be implemented locally.
The program was among the public health goals Trump mentioned in his State of the Union address Tuesday.
“In recent years we have made remarkable progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS,” Trump said. “Scientific breakthroughs have brought a once-distant dream within reach. My budget will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years. Together, we will defeat AIDS in America.”
While Trump spoke of eliminating HIV within 10 years, the program’s actual goals are to reduce new HIV infections by 75 percent in five years and 90 percent in a decade, according to a statement posted by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
Maryland ranked fifth of all U.S. states and territories in HIV diagnosis rates, with 20.4 diagnoses per 100,000 people in 2017, according to data from the state health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Baltimore City and Prince George’s County had the highest diagnosis rates in the state that year. In Baltimore, the rate of new HIV diagnoses among patients age 13 and older was 44.7 per 100,000 people in 2017, according to the city health department.
In Baltimore, 231 new HIV cases were diagnosed in 2017, the most recent year for which data were available, said Dr. Adena Greenbaum, assistant commissioner of the clinical services and HIV/STD prevention for the Baltimore City Health Department. She said the city already surpassed its goal of a 25 percent reduction in annual HIV diagnoses between 2010 and 2020.
More than 12,000 people are living with HIV in the city, she said. Statewide, there were 30,566 adults or adolescents living with HIV at the end of 2017, according to state health department data.
Federal health officials analyzed data on the spread of HIV to identify the counties with the highest number of new HIV diagnoses and states with high rates of HIV in rural areas, according to information from the department. The initiative will provide funding to those jurisdictions in phases, “starting with the areas with the highest burden,” according to the federal health department.
The Maryland Annual HIV Epidemiological Profile for 2017 estimated 11.6 percent of people living with HIV in Maryland had not been diagnosed.
Of those people who were diagnosed with HIV in Baltimore, about 73 percent were men, 24 percent were women and 3 percent identified as transgender according to Greenbaum. About 80 percent of those patients were black, 13 percent were white and 3 percent were Hispanic. And 37 percent of all the new cases were diagnosed in people younger than 30, she said.
“HIV does not affect all communities equally. That’s true nationwide and it’s also true in Baltimore, and there are those who are disproportionately affected by HIV,” Greenbaum said. “We cannot address HIV without reducing disparities and reducing health inequities.”
The city health department already offers free HIV testing, works with community groups and clinics to reduce the stigma around HIV and AIDS, and is aiming to increase access to a pill that can prevent HIV infection for people who are exposed to the virus. The department also works to link HIV and AIDS patients with health care providers by making appointments and arranging transportation for them.
“We would certainly welcome any additional resources that were available to Baltimore City to be able to increase our efforts surrounding HIV prevention and treatment,” Greenbaum said.
The federal health department said it plans to meet with community members to develop plans tailored to communities in the program and ensure the initiative is meeting their needs.
While Trump spoke of wiping out HIV in 10 years, the program’s actual goals are to reduce new infections by 75 percent in the next five years and by 90 percent in a decade.
Azar said the initiative would increase investments to existing programs in geographic hotspots, establish a new program through community health centers to provide medicine to protect persons at highest risk, use data to target services and fund the creation of a local HIV HealthForce in these targeted areas.
The proposal was met with a mix of skepticism and cautious optimism by activists in the fight against AIDS. And state and local health officials warned the administration not to take money from other programs to finance the initiative.
“This effort cannot move existing resources from one public health program and repurpose them to end HIV without serious consequences to our public health system,” said Michael Fraser, CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, in a statement.
While Trump spoke of wiping out HIV in 10 years, the program’s actual goals are to reduce new infections by 75 percent in the next five years and by 90 percent in a decade.
Azar said the initiative would increase investments to existing programs in geographic hotspots, establish a new program through community health centers to provide medicine to protect persons at highest risk, use data to target services and fund the creation of a local HIV HealthForce in these targeted areas.
The proposal was met with a mix of skepticism and cautious optimism by activists in the fight against AIDS. And state and local health officials warned the administration not to take money from other programs to finance the initiative.
“This effort cannot move existing resources from one public health program and repurpose them to end HIV without serious consequences to our public health system,” said Michael Fraser, CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, in a statement.
It’s unclear how much the federal program will cost. Funding for the initiative, in addition to investments in current efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, is expected to be part of Trump’s budget request for fiscal 2020.
AIDS activists said they’re ready to work with the White House but also wary because of Trump’s previous efforts to slash Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people, and his administration’s ongoing drive to roll back newly won acceptance and rights for LGBTQ people.
“To date, this administration’s actions speak louder than words and have moved us in the wrong direction,” said AIDS United, which funds and advocates policies to combat AIDS.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Ivanka Trump slams art exhibit called ‘Ivanka Vacuuming’
Ivanka Trump on Tuesday blasted a performance art piece that features a lookalike of her vacuuming up crumbs that spectators toss at her.
“Women can choose to knock each other down or build each other up,” the first daughter tweeted, alongside a link to a story on the exhibit. “I choose the latter.”
The piece by New York-based artist Jennifer Rubell, titled “Ivanka Vacuuming,” invites visitors at the Flashpoint Gallery in Washington, DC, to “throw crumbs on the carpet, watching as Ivanka elegantly vacuums up the mess, her smile never wavering.”
A pink-clad model in 3-inch heels plays an ersatz Ivanka making the mess disappear over and over again.
A description of the work calls Trump a “contemporary feminine icon.”
“[She is] a figure whose public persona incorporates an almost comically wide range of feminine identities – daughter, wife, mother, sister, model, working woman, blonde.”
The gallery text also calls the act of throwing bread crumbs for her to vacuum “surprisingly pleasurable.”
Trump’s brothers also slammed the work.
“Sad, but not surprising to watch self professed ‘feminists’ launching sexist attacks against Ivanka Trump. In their crazed world, sexism is OK if hurts their political enemies,” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted.
Added Eric Trump on Fox News: Ivanka is a “powerful woman who has done more for women than probably anybody in Washington, DC.”
The work, presented by the CulturalDC arts organization, is open to the public from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/05/ivanka-trump-slams-art-exhibit-called-ivanka-vacuuming/
Bus driver arrested for watching porn in front of kids
A New Jersey school bus driver has been arrested for allegedly watching pornography in front of elementary school-age children.
Franck Lafortune, 64, of Burlington Township, NJ, was charged with obscenity to minors under the age of 18 for the alleged incident, New Jersey State Police said Wednesday.
According to police, staff members from the Indian Mills Elementary School in Shamong were notified on Monday that two children at the school told their parents that they saw Lafortune watching the X-rated video on his cellphone before they got off the bus around 8:30 a.m.
The bus reportedly was parked at the time, cops said.
The parents of the children later reported the alleged incident to state troopers, prompting authorities to investigate.
Lafortune was charged and released pending a court appearance
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/06/bus-driver-arrested-for-watching-porn-in-front-of-kids/
Gucci slammed for sweater that appears to resemble blackface
A black balaclava sweater from Gucci’s 2018 “Fall Winter” collection has caused an uproar on social media — with some calling it “Haute Couture Blackface for millennials.”
The $900 “knit top” features a large mouth cover with big red lips on it.
“Inspired by vintage ski masks, multicolored knitted balaclavas walked the runway, adding a mysterious feel to this collection,” says an item description from last year. “The Fall Winter 2018 runway show space reflected the stark environment of an operating room, emulating the theme of the collection where reconstructing materials and fabrics created a new identity.”
The sweater couldn’t be found on Gucci’s website Wednesday, but its information was still archived online. Social media users were sharing pics of the listing throughout the day.
“Balaclava knit top by Gucci. Happy Black History Month y’all,” tweeted one person.
“Ah yes, black face but make it fashion,” another said.
User @stegotaurus wrote: “THIIIIIIIS is blackface guys. THIS. huge overdramatic red lips and a literal BLACK face. This is DISGUSTING. I don’t wanna see any of you with Gucci belts and slides after this.”
The backlash caused Gucci to release a statement late Wednesday night, saying it “deeply apologizes for the offense caused” by the sweater.
“We can confirm that the item has been immediately removed from our online store and all physical stores,” the company added. “We consider diversity to be a fundamental value to be fully upheld, respected, and at the forefront of every decision we make. We are fully committed to increasing diversity throughout our organization and turning this incident into a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/07/gucci-slammed-for-sweater-that-appears-to-resemble-blackface/