Woman Fired For Racist Obama Facebook Post

Turlock Woman Loses Job over Facebook Post

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  5 days ago
  by Ian McDonald
  Web Producer
• Woman’s Facebook Post Referencing Obama’s Assassination Investigated by Secret Service 
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A woman who made a post, using a racial slur and referencing assassination, about President Obama on Facebook has been fired from her job.

Cold Stone Creamery spent much of Thursday responding to angry tweets about the woman’s post.

“This employee is no longer w/the (sic) company & her disgraceful and completely unacceptable comments do not reflect our views,” one such tweet read.

Denise Helms had already removed her post and has since deactivated her Facebook account.

In and interview with FOX40 News Thursday, she said that what she posted was wrong. She also maintained that she is not a racist.

“I think I was just really upset, and (the post) just kind of came out,” Helms said.

Since initially speaking with FOX40 Wednesday evening, the story has inspired a strong and emotional reaction from both sides of the issue.

Bayside of South Sacramento’s Bishop Sherwood Carthen said that while race is a touchy subject, it needs to be discussed.

“In America, we want to believe that we’ve healed the race issue. We haven’t touched it. So, we’ve got to do something about it,” Bishop Carthen told FOX40. “Unfortunately, we don’t like seeing it, we don’t want to hear about it but it still exists and we’ve got to be willing to confront it.”

Supreme Court decision to hear Shelby Voting Rights challenge met with praise, worry | al.com

Supreme Court decision to hear Shelby Voting Rights challenge met with praise, worry | al.com

Shelby County's challenge to a provision of the Voting Rights Act that requires certain states with a history of racial discrimination to get federal approval before changing their election procedures.

The decision was greeted with cheers from Shelby County's attorney, who said Southern communities have changed and no longer need such burdensome 1960s-style oversight from Washington. However, it was met with concern by others who argued that things haven't changed that much and the protection for minorities remains merited.

"We're extremely pleased. Section 5 pre-clearance is a burden on local governments and 16 states," said Shelby County attorney Frank "Butch" Ellis.

Ellis said the pre-clearance requirement served a critical function for 40 years, but is no longer justified. Eighty-five percent of Shelby County's residents are white. But Ellis said black residents have been elected as mayor and to other political positions.

"The South is not the same old South that it was," Ellis said.

Section 5 of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires all or parts of 16 states with a history of racial discrimination in voting to get federal approval before making any elections-related change such as redrawing lines or implementing voter identification requirements.

The justices said they will examine whether the formula determining which states are covered is outdated because it relies on data that is now 40 years old.

Alabama was part of a coalition of states that supported Shelby County's challenge.

"Section 5 served a critical and laudable function 40 years ago, and the court held that it was constitutional then. But Section 5 is not justified now, and its re-authorization in 2006 was not constitutional. Section 5 currently serves only to allow federal bureaucrats to block good-faith and nondiscriminatory changes in state law and to impose unjustified costs on state and local governments," said a statement issued by the office of Alabama's attorney general.

The South is not the same old South that it was," said Shelby County lawyer Frank Ellis.

However others took a different view.

Ryan Haygood, of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represents black residents in Shelby County, said the court's decision to hear the case provides the court an opportunity to review a "very substantial record."

"Congress considered Section 5's utility in 2006 and found discrimination in voting persists and the Act was needed for another 25 years, and Alabama is a very good example of why Section 5 is still needed," Haywood said.

Haygood said Section 5 was used in this election to stop discriminatory redistricting and voter photo identification efforts in Texas, and also in Florida to stop early voting days from being cut in half.

Birmingham's Rep. Demetrius Newton, who served as the first African-American Speaker Pro-Tem of the Alabama House of Representatives, said he was not surprised the high court agreed to hear the Shelby case, but he is concerned about what it could mean.

Newton said he believes there are still efforts to try to limit the voting power of minorities.

"I still see a lot of problems that I believe need to be addressed," Newton said.

Staff writer Brian Lawson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Conservative Politics, 'Low-Effort' Thinking Linked In New Study

Conservative Politics, 'Low-Effort' Thinking Linked In New

Conservatives and liberals don't seem to agree about much, and they might not agree about recent studies linking conservatism to low intelligence and "low-effort" thinking.

As The Huffington Post reported in February, a study published in the journal "Psychological Science" showed that children who score low on intelligence tests gravitate toward socially conservative political views in adulthood--perhaps because conservative ideologies stress "structure and order" that make it easier to understand a complicated world.

Ouch.

And now there's the new study linking conservative ideologies to "low-effort" thinking.

"People endorse conservative ideology more when they have to give a first or fast response," the study's lead author, University of Arkansas psychologist Dr. Scott Eidelman, said in a written statement released by the university.

Does the finding suggest that conservatives are lazy thinkers?

"Not quite," Dr. Eidelman told The Huffington Post in an email. "Our research shows that low-effort thought promotes political conservatism, not that political conservatives use low-effort thinking."

For the study, a team of psychologists led by Dr. Eidelman asked people about their political viewpoints in a bar and in a laboratory setting.

Bar patrons were asked about social issues before blowing into a Breathalyzer. As it turned out, the political viewpoints of patrons with high blood alcohol levels were more likely to be conservative than were those of patrons whose blood alcohol levels were low.

But it wasn't just the alcohol talking, according to the statement. When the researchers conducted similar interviews in the lab, they found that people who were asked to evaluate political ideas quickly or while distracted were more likely to express conservative viewpoints.

"Keeping people from thinking too much...or just asking them to deliberate or consider information in a cursory manner can impact people's political attitudes, and in a way that consistently promotes political conservatism," Dr. Eidelman said in the email.

The study was published online in the journal "Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin."

White-on-White Crime: It Goes Against the False Media Narrative

White-on-White Crime: It Goes Against the False Media Narrative

Trayvon Martin's tragic death reveals the worst ills at play within America's criminal-justice system. Not only was he murdered in large part because of dangerous, persistent stereotypes, but the failure of police to judiciously respond to the crime underscores the inequities that characterize institutionalized racism.

Those who respond to the tragedy by retreating to narratives of black-on-black crime seek to promote it as a defense against an innocent child's violent homicide. This reveals how entrenched the lies have become and how eager too many people are to absolve both Zimmerman's guilt and their own tacit consent.

African-American media and policymakers have been equally complicit in promoting a "black-on-black crime" anecdote, thinking that it could help address some of the community's problems; but what it has actually done is provide support for racial profiling and promote the disproportionate policing of black criminality as "legitimate" and "acceptable." This over-policing has led to disproportionately higher rates of arrests in black communities, reinforcing the idea that blacks commit more crimes.

If we were to talk about "white-on-white crime," then at least we'd be addressing issues like gun violence in a racially neutral way. That doesn't happen because too many Americans remain convinced that black or brown people are the problem. Respected journalists like George Will further perpetuate lies as fact when they make blanket statements that support an ill-conceived narrative.

It seems that the media in general and white American society in particular prefer to focus on crime perpetrated by African Americans because it serves as a way to absolve them from the violence, prejudice and institutionalized discrimination engendered for generations against blacks. It offers a buffer against responsibility, a way to shift blame and deflect cause and effect. But the truth, and numbers, tell a different story.

The myth of black-on-black violence has become a stain on the sociopolitical consciousness and indelibly imbues mindsets as well as public policy. At the heart of an increasingly violent society is not a subculture among blacks but the violence and criminality of many Americans, and whites in particular. No one seems to speak about this. Why? Because the snake oil was duly purchased and consumed. It is time for race-based pseudo-facts to be challenged and dismantled.

Read the rest of this story by clicking on the link above. 

6 Largest Government Contractors Slideshow | Investopedia

6 Largest Government Contractors Slideshow | Investopedia

6 Largest Government Contractors

There's a lot of controversy over the United States government's balance sheet. Many argue that the U.S. spends too much money, but where that money goes very few know. Here is a list of the top five companies that receive the most government contracts. Most of the contracts are in the areas of defense and technology, but science also receives a large amount of government dollars.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/slide-show/gov-contractors/#ixzz2BnKOpFBX

Amazing Acrobatic Dog - slackline

This video is pretty cool! Check it out and tell me what you think!! :  )