Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox went on a local radio show Tuesday and left few doubts that he was seriously considering jumping into the race for governor in 2018.
“It’s not a no. It’s certainly not a no,” Maddox said in a interview with The Steve Shannon Morning Show. “For me, over the next few months, I’ve got to look at three things. Number one, can your family take on a statewide campaign? That is tremendous to say the least on your family. Number two, if you win, can you govern? And number three, can you win?”
According to AL.com, Maddox won re-election in March, beating Stepfon “Step” Lewis 5,956 votes to 541 votes.
Maddox, a Democrat is considered by many to be a rising figure in the state and could be his party’s best chance at winning back the Governor’s Mansion.
Listen to Maddox’s interview:
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Photo Credit: Walt Maddox/ Facebook
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AUDIO: North Miami Police Chief Tells FDLE How Dysfunctional Department Is
In audio recorded during a Florida Department of Law Enforcement interview with North Miami Police Chief Gary Eugene in the aftermath of the Charles Kinsey shooting in July, 2016, Eugene outlined some troubling things about his department.
Eugene who took over as the North Miami Police Chief six days before the shooting of Kinsey made his department sound like a more crooked version of the Keystone Cops.
Some highlights from the audio obtained by the Miami New Times:
The cop who shot Kinsey knew the autistic kid was holding a toy and not a gun
“I [Chief Eugene] heard the shooter, Officer Aledda, make a statement to the nature of, ‘Be advised, I have clear shot [at] subject. Later on, a sergeant … got on the air and said, ‘I have a visual, it is a toy. Is it a toy? QRX.’ That means, ‘Stand by, don’t do anything.’ Then, there is a conversation back and forth. The next transmission was by [another officer saying] ‘Shot fired!’”
The North Miami police are horribly trained
“The scene was a mess, to be honest with you… People were walking all over the place. Thank God [Kinsey] did not die. I realized I have a problem with the training of my staff. We’re talking about some 15- or 16-year veterans, but in North Miami, a 15- or 16-year veteran may have less experience than a two-year cop in Miami.”
Some of the cops don’t like each other very much
“I find out that that commander who got suspended and Angel Rivera, who was the commander at the scene- they don’t like each other, it is dangerous… I realized there is so much animosity among them that anything I say can be used for the officer against the officer.”
Chief Eugene was worried that his department couldn’t fairly investigate the shooting
“They were more concerned about clearing the officer of any wrong doing than actually conducting an impartial investigation… I realized the chemistry of what was going on. At that time I decided not to talk to anyone…because I have a better picture of what is going on in my department… it is sad but it is the reality.”
City Manager Larry Spring refused to listen to Eugene
“I said, ‘City Manager, I’m telling you, listen to this CD and make a decision based on this CD,'” Eugene said. “[Spring] slapped his hand on the desk and said, ‘You don’t understand what I’m telling you. Get control of your people!'”
Assistant Chief Larry Juriga lied to Eugene
From the Miami New Times story:
“Eugene said he immediately went to Spring and City Attorney Jeff Cazeau with the information. They all agreed to suspend Hollant. But on the drive home, Eugene had second thoughts. He recalled that Juriga and Hollant didn’t get along, so he decided to listen to the audio from the shooting himself. That’s when he realized Juriga had lied.”
The State Attorney’s Office is “Very Close” to coming to a decision on whether to indict Jonathan Aledda
Ed Griffith, a spokesman for Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle’s office, told the Miami New Times that, “we are very close to coming to a decision” in the case.
A RISE NEWS investigation previously found that the cop who shot Kinsey had not been properly trained for how to deal with people who have developmental disabilities.
In fact, the North Miami police department does not any “specific policies” in terms of how its officers interact with people with disabilities, including autism.
Aledda shot unarmed therapist Charles Kinsey three times in the leg in a North Miami street. Kinsey was in the street trying to help an autistic patient.
Listen to the full interview:
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Alabama GOP Leaders Must Reap What They Sow With Trump’s Downfall
By Everett Secor
I’m not mad at Trump.
Sure, the things he’s revealed to have said during a 2005 taping of Access Hollywood are beyond repugnant. More than the blatant objectification of women, they describe harassment and sexual assault with a sense of pride and bravado.
But it feels a little silly to feel sudden anger towards someone for once again genuinely displaying who we already knew they are.
Trump’s history of misogyny steeped in sexual objectification, body shaming, and toxic masculinity is well documented.
We have several decades of sexual harassment, vulgar language about women, incestuous remarks about his own daughter, and even rape allegations to show for it.
The recent revelation of how he described Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado as “Miss Piggy” and an “eating machine”, forcing her to embarrassingly exercise in front of a horde of news crews, resulted in his bizarre response of feigning disgust at her involvement in a non-existent sex tape to discredit her.
This comes from a man who has proudly been featured giving intros in multiple exploitive Playboy films.
We all knew who he was.
Which is why, when the recordings were released two weeks ago, my shock was not at all at their content, but at the reaction to them.
What I saw as run-of-the-mill behavior for this man was finally drawing harsh rebuke from his political supporters.
Multiple Republican politicians who have either endorsed Trump, or stated they’re voting for him, have since withdrawn their support.
Read More: Tuscaloosa Isn’t Such A Good Place For The LGBT Community According To HRC
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan disinvited Trump from a speaking engagement in Wisconsin.
Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence said, “I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them.”
None of these objections were more shocking than when they came from one of the most steadfast strongholds of republican power: Alabama.
If there’s a place that will bend before it breaks blue, it’s the land that proudly pronounces “we dare defend our rights.”
And yet, United States Representatives Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, and Bradley Byrne, R-Mobile, both made announcements denouncing Trump.
They were joined by none other than Robert Bentley, Alabama’s own sex-scandal plagued governor who was elected twice in landslide elections on sentiments of Christian family values and integrity and is now facing impeachment.
Even AL.com, Alabama’s #1 online media site and the state wide web presence of the Birmingham News offered up their endorsement to Clinton.
Alabamians are no strangers to making excuses and seeking reconciliation for impropriety, but it seemed this time, Trump’s actions were beyond absolution.
Representative Martha Roby (R-AL) did the right thing by withdrawing her support for Trump. Photo Credit: (S.K. Vemmer/Department of State)
At least for some.
Rather than rebuke Trump, unendorse him, renounce his words, denounce his behavior, or share any sentiment that women should be treated better than this, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions decided the best response to Trump’s comments that his power and influence allowed him to grope women without consequence was to say “I don’t characterize that as sexual assault.”
As one of Trump’s most vocal supporters who reportedly helped him prep for the second Presidential debate, it seems Sessions has strapped himself to the Trump Rocket and is prepared to go wherever it takes him.
But as this shock wave of disgust spreads through the rest of the GOP, the question is:
Why now?
Why, after all Trump has said about women, are they suddenly surprised and offended?
Even outside the realm of misogyny, why did his disparaging marks about Latinos, Muslims, and African Americans not disqualify him from being the party’s standard bearer long ago?
That he has consistently been giving the benefit of the doubt again and again, to the extent that his VP pick just flatly denies his words ever happened, proves how acceptable these attitudes are to the Republican party until they’re staring the worst manifestation of them squarely in the face.
Read More: Jeff Sessions Says That Trump “Grab Them By The P—y” Video Comments Not Sexual Assault
Take out the private microphone conversation on the bus in the leaked tape.
Watch only the video of Donald Trump and self described “apolitical” Presidential nephew/cousin and Ryan Lochte apologist Billy Bush walking with Arianne Zucker onto the set of Days of Our Lives.
Their immediate focus on her physical appearance and jockeying for opportunities for her embrace is a pathetic and disgusting spectacle on its own.
But without the preceding conversation on the bus, this tape wouldn’t raise an eyebrow among Trump’s prior supporters.
The fact is that this treatment of women as an inferior gender whose primary purpose is to serve the sexual appetites of men is central tenant to the Alabama Republican party.
Senator Jeff Session continues to be a strong Trump supporter. Photo Credit: Ryan J. Reilly/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Beyond the typical hyper-masculine attitude associated with American conservatism, the religious right’s war on sexual education has done nothing but perpetuate these attitudes in the name of “family values”.
The sort of abstinence-only sex education taught in Alabama refuses to teach our kids about the nature of consent, instead treating sex like a shameful act in which young women, trained frequently on how to say no, are the responsible gatekeepers while young men, rarely taught how to take no for an answer, are the hapless victims of their own hormonal urges.
This stigma is strong enough to drive young female victims of sexual assault to stay silent about their experiences, driven by a sense of shame and diminished self worth.
The state’s flagship college, The University of Alabama, is not immune from the sexual assault epidemic plaguing American universities, and recently announced the number of reported sexual assaults more than doubled from 2014 to 2015.
While an increase in reports could be indicative of better support programs to shed light on sexual assault rather than an increase in incidents, the school still has a long way to go.
Last month, Rebecca Walden, a woman who attended a UA football game, published a piece in the Huffington Post telling “young ladies of the SEC, cover it up!”.
She claimed female Alabama students they looked like they were at a “Victoria’s Secret fashion show” and that any sense of class they had was rendered “tasteless” by their attire.
Huffington Post has since deleted the controversial article, but not before RISE NEWS captured her indignant slut shaming that perpetuates the idea that women are not allowed to make decisions about their own sexuality.
There was no word from Ms. Walden what she thought about the young men who proudly go shirtless every game with letters painted on their chest.
WATCH: What Real “Ladies Of The SEC” Have To Say About That Slut Shaming HuffPost Piece
“Boys will be boys” should just be a permanent item on the RNC Platform.
In fact, that’s essentially Donald Trump’s response in 2013 when facing the staggering rate of sexual assaults that occur in the US Military:
“26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”
Men are left largely unaccountable for toxic behavior and women are left to deal with the consequences.
The statehouse in Montgomery, AL. Photo Credit: David Brossard/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Forty-three years after the passage of Roe V. Wade, Alabama still isn’t sold on the notion that women have autonomy over their own bodies.
The abortion battle rages on, with new legislation constructed every year finding loopholes in the decision to combat a woman’s right to chose whether she serves a purpose beyond procreation.
Trump’s past comments that women seek abortions should be punished drew some ire, but this isn’t a far cry from the already established stance of the GOP.
Many lawmakers even believe in preventing abortions in rape cases, attempting to give the sort of legislative legitimacy to sexual assault that most infamously resulted in former Congressman Todd Akin’s comments that “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
In Alabama, legislation signed this year blocks abortion clinics from being within 2,000 feet of public K-8 schools, or from performing a common method of second trimester abortions. While currently being considered by a federal judge who may block the statutes, the laws threaten the operation of the state’s four abortion clinics which serve over four million people.
This misogyny is present in stances all across the board of the Republican party:
Their anti-transgender laws, fueled by a notion that a transgendered woman who doesn’t fully conform to their notions of desired femininity doesn’t fulfill the value of a woman.
Their opposition to equal pay legislation.Their opposition to paid maternity leave (something Trump is bizarrely progressive on by comparison.)
Their opposition to mandating employers allow contraception to be covered by health insurance.
Conservative have spent years decrying “political correctness”, but are now running for the hills when given an politically incorrect phrasing of their attitude towards women.
Make no mistake.
Sexual assault and mistreatment of women are by no means purely a conservative problem.
They exists in “progressive” realms of literature and academia.
Misogyny was seen too well by the often gendered vitriol thrown at Hillary Clinton and Debbie Wasserman Schultz by a certain sect of Bernie Sanders supporters during the Democratic primaries.
Heroes of the new atheist movement have expressed seriously disturbing attitudes towards women.
While it doesn’t serve as any sort of defense of Trump, try as me might to leverage it, former President Bill Clinton has his own troubling history with crass behavior and sexual assault allegations.
The Alabama GOP headquarters. Photo Credit: Dystopos/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Additionally, conservatives certainly have their champions, too.
Governor Bentley’s deeply religious ex-wife, Dianne, endured her marriage well after clear evidence of infidelity by the governor to continue to push through her agenda giving stronger support to domestic violence victims in Alabama.
But despite the actions of these individuals, you’d be hard pressed to find an organization in America where misogyny such an unabashed, central theme as it is in the Republican party.
Barring the impossible, it seems Trump will lose in November. But that’s not enough to stem the right’s war on women, and all of those who have stood by him until now should not suddenly be able to jump ship without being taken down too.
Denouncing Trump is an absolute necessity, but it’s not enough to hide how they’ve enabled him until now, or to rescue the heart of dixie from its politicized misogyny.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Vicky van Santen/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Admitting Your Machine Backing Isn’t Courageous
By Mike Smith
Alabama SGA Presidential candidate Jared Hunter dropped a bomb on campus politics after he wrote a piece in The Crimson White acknowledging his Machine backing.
It was a bold, surprising act rarely seen among Machine supported candidates.
The response on social media so far has been a mixture of appreciation and support.
I am here to say that this should stop.
Don’t get my wrong, publicly announcing your Machine backing takes a lot of guts and the honesty Jared displayed should be admired.
But that doesn’t make his actions right.
No matter what is written in a Crimson White column, the fact still stands that The Machine acts as a vehicle for certain Greek students to pad their resume and has systematically oppressed women and minorities for a century.
I will remind you that The Machine has burned crosses on campus lawns, painted swastikas on university sidewalks, and literally physically assaulted an independent presidential candidate.
Jared Hunter is the Machine backed candidate in the SGA election. Photo Credit: Facebook
Within the past decade alone, The Machine has systematically suppressed numerous rape allegations among their members, tossed out FYC applications for black students after labeling them with the N-word, and delayed the racial integration of sororities until 2013.
Being associated with this organization is not something that can be written off in one column.
Having its support is not a cute, little trivia fact.
Being backed by The Machine is something to be ashamed of.
Lillian Roth getting sworn in as SGA President in 2016. Photo Credit: Lillian Roth/ Facebook
SGA candidate Gene Fulmer. (r). Photo Credit: Trinidad Miller/ Facebook
Over social media, I have heard plenty of people say that admitting to be a Machine candidate takes some real courage.
I vehemently disagree.
It takes real courage for my friends who stay in their Machine sororities even though they have verbally abused, socially ostracized, and personally threatened.
It takes real courage for Lillian Roth (the incumbent and prior Machine backed candidate) to run for re-election even after some of her best friends started working against her.
It takes real courage for Gene Fulmer to run a huge grassroots campaign in the face of two giant competitors.
It doesn’t take real courage to admit something everyone already knew.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo: The University of Alabama/ Facebook
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