A Florida based company is under fire (no pun intended) for Tweeting out an insensitive message about Muslims and 9/11- all to sell firearms.
Florida Gun Supply sent out the following message on Wednesday, announcing a sale for “9/11 week.”
It’s 9/11 week. Use coupon code “muslim” at our site for $25 off any gun. Come in Fri for a free car wash and beer! pic.twitter.com/x1sTZPFk0V
— Florida Gun Supply (@FLGunSupply) September 9, 2015
That’s right. Use the coupon code “Muslim” and get $25 off any gun in the store. Wow. But this isn’t the first time the store has pulled a racially charged stunt in order to promote their brand. Just watch this video they posted back in July about how the store is a “Muslim free zone”.
And oh yeah, they don’t really like Black Lives Matter too:
America is under attack by Black Lives Matter: Unite Against BLM!: http://t.co/Pmsb7SvV5t via @YouTube — Florida Gun Supply (@FLGunSupply) September 4, 2015
So much for 9/11 being about unity in America.
H/T: Observer.com
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Pokemon Creative Director Dies In Freak Windstorm In Seattle
Eric Medalle, the Pokemon Company Interational creative design director died last Sunday in a windstorm after a tree fell on his car according to multiple sources.
Medalle was 42 years old and a father of two.
According to the Seattle Times:
“The 42-year-old was in a black BMW X3 in Seward Park, less than 4 miles from his reported home, when a massive evergreen tree snapped in fierce winds, according to public records and authorities. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Medalle’s family was heartbroken by the tragic accident.
“It’s very sad and tragic to lose someone so young so suddenly,” Estrella Ferrer, Medalle’s aunt told the Seattle Times. “Everybody was shocked. I was completely shocked. I can’t believe it happened.”
According to a local tv report, Medalle was driving in the car with one of his daughters when the tree fell on the car. The girl only experienced minor injuries.
A crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the family has been set up and has already raised over $20,000.
According to gaming industry website Nintendo Everything, Medalle had a long track record of work on a number of Pokemon games.
They included:
Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
Pokemon X and Y
Pokemon Black and White Versions 2
Pokemon Conquest
Pokemon Black and White Versions
Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs
Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of AlmiaCover Photo Credit
H/T: Nintendo Everything
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Why Do So Many Minority Republican Politicians Change Their Names?
Barack Obama was not always “Barack.” Yes, it was always his legal name, but his childhood nickname had always been Barry.
According to his half-sister, Maya, Obama came home for Christmas in 1980 adamant on being called Barack. According to a 2008 Newsweek article, he became Barack in a conscious attempt to find a community – something which had eluded him throughout his complicated childhood.
Obama’s father was also Barack, but he actively took on the name Barry in order to fit in as an African immigrant when he came to the United States for college. The younger Obama’s reversal to Barack was to connect him to a “black America he had never really known as a child in Hawaii and abroad.” Although this name change came 28 years before Obama’s 2008 presidential run, it exposes a marked difference between him and his Republican colleagues.
Nimrata Randhawa, Rafael Cruz, and Piyush Jindal do not sound like stereotypical names of American politicians.
Then again, neither does Barack Obama.
The difference is that Obama was able to win two general elections with an “ethnic” name, while Nikki (Nimrata) Haley, Ted (Rafael) Cruz, and Bobby (Piyush) Jindal all have embraced nicknames in public life.
Haley, the Republican Gov. of South Carolina, delivered a well-received response to Obama’s State of the Union.
She also identified herself on her 2001 voter registration card as “white.” Nikki Haley is by no means Caucasian. Both of her parents emigrated to the U.S. from India, and Haley was born in South Carolina.
In 1996, she married Michael Haley in a mixed Methodist and Sikh ceremony, although she now identifies as Christian. As a Republican politician, Haley needs to appeal to a largely white constituency. It is therefore unsurprising that she would shed herself of her Indian name.
The governor told the Charlotte Observer that she shortened her name to Nikki because her official name “wouldn’t fit on a yard sign.” Obviously, it was a little more complicated than that.
The governor told the Charlotte Observer that she shortened her name to Nikki because her official name “wouldn’t fit on a yard sign.” Obviously, it was a little more complicated than that.
According to a 2012 Gallup poll, “non-Hispanic whites” accounted for 89% of Republican self-identifiers nationwide. Haley, rather than face the obstacles of her Indian name and Sikh religion, actively chose to identify as “white” in order to fit in with the constituency she needed to appeal to.
Haley is by no means alone. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the recent winner of the Iowa Caucus, was born Rafael Cruz. Cruz changed his name when he was 13, like Obama, long before he launched his political career and White House run.
However, unlike Haley, Cruz’s lack of true whiteness, and in some minds, Americanness, has started to become an issue. Donald Trump has decried Ted Cruz as an “anchor baby,” and some question whether he is a natural born citizen, and is therefore not qualified for the presidency.
Bobby Jindal also comes to mind. Jindal dropped out long ago and was never considered a true contender, but his story fits this narrative of name and identity changes. Jindal, like Nikki Haley, was born to Indian parents in the United States.
Like Cruz and Obama, Jindal’s name change came in childhood. When he was four years old, he took the name Bobby from one of the brothers of The Brady Bunch. Jindal converted to Christianity in high school after a friend shared his faith. Jindal would read the Bible in secret, in his closet, in order to hide his conversion from his parents.
Jindal’s story of Americanization mirrors Cruz’s as one that was not for political gain. It appears that they both made conscious, personal changes to their names and identifies, while Haley’s appears to have been largely for political gain.
However, there is little doubt that all three of these candidates benefited from their “Americanization” of their own identities. Bobby, Nikki, and Ted are far more palatable to an 89% white base than Piyush, Nimrata, and Rafael.
Cover Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Fred Thompson, Law And Order Actor And Former US Senator Dies At 73
Fred Thompson, a former United States Senator and well known actor died at the age of 73 after a battle with leukemia.
The Thompson family broke the news to the media in a statement.
“It is with a heavy heart and a deep sense of grief that we share the passing of our brother, husband, father, and grandfather who died peacefully in Nashville surrounded by his family,” the statement read according to the Tennessean. “Fred was the same man on the floor of the Senate, the movie studio, or the town square of Lawrenceburg, his home,” the statement read in part.
From the Tennessean
“As an attorney, he helped lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. As a politician, he served the state of Tennessee for eight years as a conservative Republican in the U.S. Senate and briefly as a possible GOP presidential nominee. As an actor, he stared in some of the most prominent films and television series of his time.
At 6’5″ with a booming voice, Mr. Thompson and his larger-than-life persona played a role in several key moments that shaped the U.S. and Tennessee political landscape.”
Thompson was best known for his campaign for president in 2008 and for his role as the Manhattan District Attorney Arthur Branch in Law And Order. Thompson won 11 delegates in his 2008 race for the GOP nomination for the highest office in the land and dropped out after competing in 5 states.
Stay with Rise News as we continue to update this developing story.
Sad news from Tennessee: Fred Thompson died today in Nashville. A recurrence of lymphoma, per a statement. Quite a life.
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) November 1, 2015
Cover Photo Credit: IowaPolitics.com/Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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