Rich Robinson, Author at RISE NEWS

House Republicans Nominate Paul Ryan As Next Speaker, Expected To Take Office Thursday

By Rich Robinson

House Republicans overwhelmingly voted for Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to be the party’s nominee to be the next Speaker of the House in a vote Wednesday afternoon.

Ryan made quick work of his only active opponent for the job- Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) and is expected to face a full house vote tomorrow before taking office. (Ryan is expected to easily win the full house vote, considering his party has a solid majority.)

According to the Huffington Post, the final vote count among Republicans was 200 votes for Ryan, 43 votes for Webster, 1 vote for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN.) and 1 vote for Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

If he is elected tomorrow, Ryan will be the youngest Speaker of the House since the Civil War.

Cover Photo Credit: Tony Alter/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

SOUR: Thousands Sign Online Petition Calling For CNN To Drop Don Lemon

By Rich Robinson

Don Lemon is one of the most controversial figures in modern media today.

A talented broadcaster and solid interviewer, Lemon also is not afraid to mix his journalism with a healthy dose of opinion from time to time.

And it turns out that lots of people on the Internet don’t like him at all.

An online petition calling for CNN to fire Lemon has already racked up 17 thousand virtual signatures in less than 24 hours.

“Since the tragic incident of Trayvon Martin, Mr. Don Lemon has consistently antagonized and defamed the characteristics of the African-American race on the national scale in mass communications,” a statement attached to the petition reads. “From the holding of the ‘N’ word sign before the national audience, to his most recent comments of the unfortunate incident where a student was removed from their chair like a rag-doll by an officer, Mr. Lemon has avoided the obvious to blatantly state that an attack on the African-American race is real and that real solutions need to take place.”

The most recent outcry regarding Lemon came after he made controversial remarks indicating that he wanted more context before passing judgement on a South Carolina cop who slammed a teenage girl in a classroom.

More from Jamell Henderson, the organizer of the Change.org petition:

“We, the people want a journalist and an anchor that will not be afraid to accept the facts that are occurring within the African-American community and who will encourage our people the same way that person will encourage others across the board. We, the people, have no confidence in Mr. Lemon’s ability to do that,therefore we are asking CNN to remove him from his position.”

Like this piece? Rise News just launched a few weeks ago and is only getting started. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with global news. Have a news tip? (No matter how big or small!) Send it to us- [email protected].

Cover Photo Credit: Neon Tommy/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Up A Notch: In War Against ISIS, American Troops Will Begin Direct “Action On The Ground”

By Rich Robinson

In a surprising statement, American Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that the United States would begin more “direct action on the ground” against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

“We won’t hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground,” Carter said during a hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services committee.

The announcement came a few days after an American soldier- Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was killed during a mission to liberate a ISIS prison camp in Iraq.

From NBC News:

“Carter and Pentagon officials initially refused to characterize the rescue operation as U.S. boots on the ground. However, Carter said last week that the military expects “more raids of this kind” and that the rescue mission “represents a continuation of our advise and assist mission.”

This may mean some American soldiers “will be in harm’s way, no question about it,” Carter said last week.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made it clear that he was not a believer in the strategy Carter presented during the hearing.

“This is a half-assed strategy at best,” Graham, a Republican presidential candidate said.

WATCH: Video of American liberation of ISIS prison camp from Global Leaks News (Obtained by NBC News)

Cover Photo Credit: 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Miami Shores Councilman Resigns From Office, Says “It Just Isn’t Fun Anymore”

By Rich Robinson

Miami Shores councilman and former Vice Mayor Jesse Walters resigned from office on Tuesday in a surprise announcement that has jarred the local political scene.

Walters announced his resignation before Tuesday’s regular Village Council meeting and was replaced by Mac Glinn, the man who barely lost out on a seat in the council election held in April. Glenn will serve out the remainder of Walters term, which runs out in April of 2017.

Walters will continue as the Executive Director of the Miami Shores Chamber of Commerce.

In an interview with Rise News, Walters said he resigned because he no longer enjoyed the job.

“It just isn’t fun anymore and I crossed it off my bucket list,” Walters said.

Former Miami Shores councilmember Jesse Walters. Photo Credit: Miami Shores Village.

Walters also said that the tenor of correspondence between himself and members of the Shores community has grown darker in recent months.

“Some of the people that email you are really really angry,” Walters said. “I just feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”

Walters said that he intended to stay an active member in the community and now has more time to spend with his family.

“We love it here,” Walters said. “The vast majority of people are nice and great.”

Rise News reached out to Glinn but could not reach him before the publication of this story. We will update it with his comments.

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Freshly appointed Miami Shores council member Mac Glinn. Photo Credit: Facebook

Glenn did post a message to Facebook however celebrating his new role in the community.

“While I was very sorry to see Jesse resign and I am grateful for his years of service to the Village, I am also very honored to have been selected and am excited about this chance to directly influence our Village’s path forward,” Glinn wrote on the social media site. “I cannot thank you enough for all you did this year to help me reach this incredible opportunity. I look forward to the opportunity to deliver on the faith you have placed in me.”

Walters made news in in 2011, when he was only the fourth openly gay public official elected in the history of Miami-Dade County.

Cover Photo Credit: Phillip Pessar/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Could Abi Ann Be The Next Breakout Country Music Star?

By Rich Robinson

Across America, a new song about female empowerment is starting to gain traction in the most peculiar of places- on Radio Disney.

“Slide over, I’m driving, I ain’t just another cliché riding,” Abi Ann’s song “Truck Candy” commands.

A catchy tune poking fun at some of the more ridiculous tropes in country music, “Truck Candy” is enjoying a run on the kids centric radio network and on iTunes Radio where it is featured.

Rise News recently spoke to the 18-year-old rising star via phone from her apartment in Nashville, TN about her upbringing, her music and what she hopes to accomplish in the changing country landscape.

“I think that history repeats itself,” Ann said when asked about changes in the genre. “I see country music becoming more open to seeing more unique changes. A good twenty years ago that may not have happened.”

Abi Ann was born in Texas but raised in Los Angeles.

“I was an extremely ADD kid, my parents threw me into a whole lot of different activities. Music was the only thing that really stuck,” Ann said. “I grew up with very strong country roots.”

She attended Campbell Hall School where she said that she was encouraged to try to strike it big.

“I grew up in LA and my friends called me Hannah Montana growing up,” Ann said. “I went to a very understanding school and they were very helpful with everything.”

One of her first big breaks came when she was able to join Kelly Clarkson on tour, performing before the superstar in 36 cities in the US and Canada. She said that she learned a great deal from the experience.

“It was my first major tour. Kelly really runs a very loose camp and there is like no tension on the tour. It was just really eye-opening and I learned about my craft,” Ann said of Clarkson. “She really plays with her sound. I have so much more respect for her because of how versatile she is.”

Abi Ann, an 18 year old rising star in the country music world.

After graduating from high school, Ann enrolled in Belmont University in Nashville where she is studying entrepreneurship, not exactly a major for those who wish to skirt through school.

She has a strong business sense, learning from her small business owning father the importance of being self-reliant.

“I’ve always been very much a believer in a separation of church and state in my life. I really like school and music,” Ann said. “I’m going to school for business because I want to be self-sufficient. I’ve just always had a knack for business. And I’ve always loved academics as much as music.”

The Clarkson tour wrapped up on September 20, which cut into the start of the fall semester. As a result, Ann is taking classes online but she hopes to take on campus classes in the future.

In terms of her sound, Ann said that she is very willing to mix different influences into her music from current pop and country music to some older legends that helped define the genre.

“My main influences were Johnny Cash and Shania Twain. That’s a weird combination for sure,” Ann said. “Shania, I look up to as a very strong woman figure.”

And that brings us back to her hit “Truck Candy”, a song that could easily be seen as a modern-day feminist ballad.

“It’s not that intense,” Ann said. But I’m very supportive of female empowerment.”

Saying that she views music as a form of therapy, Ann indicated that the song was more a direct response to the default masculinity that exists in much of country today.

“I wrote it with Walker Hayes. This was before Maddie and Tae and we were concerned about the gender imbalance in country music,” Ann said. “I definitely think it is an acquired taste. Country is not something that everybody loves.”

Ann made it clear that she deeply loves country music and sees it as one of the most vibrant music scenes going today.

Having only turned 18 a few months ago, Ann is still very young.

“I’ve had instances where I couldn’t go and do the typical teenage thing but I keep a pretty tight circle,” Ann said of some of the challenging aspects of fame. “But I have the best friends. My roommate is with me now and she’s smiling [listening to the interview].”

Photo Credits: Submitted

Criminalizing Disability: This Autistic Man Arrested For Watching Child Porn Should Not Be Tried

By Rich Robinson

In Miami, a magistrate judge will soon be making an important decision that will have wide implications regarding the character of the United States.

Alberto Rodriguez, a 24-year-old North Miami man admits to viewing a large amount of child pornography. The feds raided his parents home last year and took computers full of the disgusting images of men raping children.

A terrific piece by Jay Weaver in the Miami Herald lays out the situation.

Federal prosecutors are pushing for Rodriguez to be put on trial where, if found guilty, he could serve 20 years in prison. It is up to the magistrate judge to decide whether Rodriguez can stand trial.

I do not believe that Rodriguez should be put on trial or spend another night behind bars for his actions. He had no way of knowing that his actions were wrong, let-alone “illegal” and it is a moral failing of our nation that he has spent months behind bars already.

Rodriguez is autistic and while being “high functioning” when compared to other people on the spectrum, he has the “emotional and intellectual maturity of a 10 to 12 year old child” according to the Herald.

Our society would not stand for a 10-year-old child to be tried for a crime of this magnitude. And we should not stand for this either.

I understand that it is difficult to get past the alleged wrongdoings in this case. Surely interacting with child pornography in any way is shameful and bad for society. We have a duty to protect those that are most vulnerable, and must crack down on those that harm our innocents.

We can not pretend to protect the most vulnerable in our society when we prosecute and criminalize the even more vulnerable.

But Rodriguez is another innocent in this situation and not a criminal.

The hard truth is that our criminal justice system is not equipped to render judgement on the cruel mysteries of the human mind.

Rodriguez has an IQ of 73- which places him in the range of “borderline impaired” according to the Herald.

Of course stupid people can commit crimes. But Rodriguez is not stupid. He is disabled and therefore should be protected by the gross incompetence of a system that can’t even offer equal justice to normally functioning people because of something as simple as their skin color.

From the Herald story:

“[Dr. Jacqueline] Valdes [a neuropsychologist] said his only interests are watching cartoons for young children, playing video games and looking up child pornography-though he does not have a “deep understanding” as to why he got in trouble.”

Let me be clear. Very few autistic adults are searching the web for child porn. This is a very isolated innocent and an uncomfortable situation to be sure. But reality is uncomfortable as anyone that has ever had to face adversity in their lives can attest to. And disabled reality does not play by the same set of rules that we do in the so called “functioning” world.

I have serious doubts about the “education” that Rodriguez received at North Miami Senior High School and as such, his graduation is no indication of intelligence.

The impulse to prosecute Rodriguez is clear and easily understood. He graduated from high school and is able enough to find child porn on the Internet after all, clearly he is competent to stand trial. Not so fast. Put the lynch mob away.

Rodriguez was pushed up the grades at North Miami Senior High School, a school where the night principle was recently arrested for accepting bribes, and the day principle rushed to social medi a to defend a cop who slammed a black Texas teenager to the ground at a swim party.

And most disgustingly and interesting for this conversation, this is the same high school where four students allegedly gang raped a mentally disabled girl in a darkened janitors closet. The victim had the vocabulary of a toddler and yet the school was so negligent to misplace her for a long enough period of time for her to be orally, anally and vaginally raped by four fellow students. Other than that, I’m sure she was learning a great deal in a safe environment.

According to the Herald, Rodriguez didn’t have to take the FCAT (Florida’s mandated testing battery) and was given a “special” diploma after graduating with a 2.0 flat GPA (how convenient).

I have serious doubts about the “education” that Rodriguez received at North Miami Senior High School and as such, his graduation is no indication of intelligence. This is especially accented because the Herald report indicated that Miami-Dade Public Schools psychologists and Rodriguez’s parents misdiagnosed his autism for ADHD.

It is not clear if he has ever received any treatment or therapy designed for autistic people at any point in his development.

America doesn’t care about autistic adults. They are scary and burdensome. Sometimes they are big and can cause harm. And yes sometimes, one may look at child porn.

But he has received four months of training in a federal jail in North Carolina on how to defend himself in a criminal proceeding. Only in America do we give you the best education you’ve ever had in order to prove that you are a criminal.

The truth is that Rodriguez’s situation is unique only in the extent of what he is being accused of. Millions of disabled people in this country are basically left to fend for themselves.

Our Social Security system deducts entitlement payments from severely autistic adults who live at home because they don’t contribute to the monthly rent, even if they could never hold a job. Police officers are often not trained to deal with disabled people and sometimes kill them. Our public education system does the bare minimum it needs to do under law- and that’s not very much at all.

America doesn’t care about autistic adults. They are scary and burdensome. Sometimes they are big and can cause harm. And yes sometimes, one may look at child porn.

But that is not their failure. It is all of ours. And we should be ashamed of ourselves.

We can not pretend to protect the most vulnerable in our society when we prosecute and criminalize the even more vulnerable, especially when we don’t even care to understand them.

Free Alberto Rodriguez.

Cover Photo Credit: Aapo Haapanen/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Exclusive: The Rent Is Too Damn High Guy Is Running For President In 2016, And He’s Totally More Reasonable Than Trump

By Rich Robinson

Jimmy McMillan is best known as the founder and leader of the Rent Is Too Damn High party in New York state.

He is also a perennial candidate for public office, having run for Governor of New York in 2010, President in 2012 and in a number of other races dating back to the early 1990s.

He is running for office again in 2016, this time for president as a member of the Republican Party.

Perhaps only in the strange show that is the 2016 GOP primary for president would McMillan’s candidacy actually make sense.

It still doesn’t, but in a race with the likes of Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Florina leading the pack, McMillan actually sounds like a viable alternative.

He has a plan to unite young people to form a quasi-conservative counterweight to the Tea Party in the GOP.

He also really doesn’t like Democrats; believing that the party manipulates minorities to vote for them and blames President Barack Obama for much of the nation’s issues.

If you close your eyes and ignore the periodic conspiracy theories that he spouts in a reserved tone, then you can almost envision McMillan on the debate stage next to Bobby Jindal and George Pataki. (If not Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee.)

In a phone interview with Rise News, McMillan said that he was running as a Republican so he could reach out to young people.

“My job is to put the presidency in perspective. They’re [his opponents] all contributors to the failures of this nation,” McMillan said in a phone conversation last week. “We’re at the crossroads right now where the candidates running for president don’t really know what’s going on in America.”

McMillan came to national fame in 2010 when he basically hijacked a debate for New York Governor and pressed his famous message, a screed against the high cost of living in the City into nearly every answer he gave- “the rent is too damn high!”

Five years on from that viral campaign and McMillan is back to being being a fairly obscure figure. But his message and ideology have remained pretty consistent. He wants to lower the high cost of living in the country and things that statewide leaders are clueless on how to get it done.

He has special scorn for the current and former governors running for president in 2016.

“If they [governors] would have reduced the cost of living in their states, then we’d be in a different position but they didn’t do that,” McMillan said. “The governors need to come to my class to learn how to create jobs in their states.”

McMillan said that he also has an agenda for how to take America back over from “third world countries”, something that he contends is a legitimate thing.

Greg Fisher, a teacher from Long Island is his running mate. Because why not?

Here’s what a McMillan/Fisher administration would bring to America:

-Supports canceling student loan debts for all Americans.

-Wants to bring martial arts to the White House for national demonstrations.

-Supports reducing the cost of living while also encouraging wealthy people to spend more money to spur economic growth.

-Improving the Veterans benefits system.

If you look past the martial arts thing, those are actually legitimate, close to mainstream political views.

So why should we take this person any less seriously than Donald Trump?

Like Trump, McMillan is also really quotable. Here’s some of the best verbatims from our 45 minute conversation:

“I endorsed Deez Nutz, he’s only 15 but he sees what’s wrong with this nation.”

“We have a precedent right now, not a president,” McMillan said in reference to President Obama being the first African-American president.

“The Democratic Party has used the minority people to get elected. The’ve used ministers, who I think are the biggest nincompoops in the world to brainwash minorities.”

“I have nothing to say about Trump. He’s not saying anything about policy, he’s just talking about Trump.”

Photo Credit: dumbonyc/Flickr (CC By 2.0)

” When I ran in 2012, I wanted Donald Trump to be my running mate.”

“Here in New York, you have a mayor and a governor who are stuck on stupid.”

“I’m a Vietnam vet. The Viet Cong almost caught me but I knew two things: how to speak Vietnamese and how to smile.”

“Even if the whitest guy in America found out that he has that nigger in him then it would make a difference,” McMillan said while talking about educating all Americans about our common African ancestry.

“I’m not African-American. I’m Jimmy McMillan, I’m a Vietnam veteran.”

“We’re not trying to reach out to conservatives. We’re trying to get young people to vote. When mommy and daddy go to the polls, try to put some butter on the ground or a banana peel on the ground to get them to slip so they don’t vote.”

“I want to talk to the people in the street. I want to be the father of the country. It’s time for daddy to say its all alright. I’ll be daddy.”

Well what say you America? Ready to call Jimmy McMillan daddy? That probably beats the hell out of calling Donald Trump Mr. President.

Cover Photo Credit: Paul Stein/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

This Miami Bakery Will Make Anti-Gay Cakes, But Not For The Reason You Think

By Rich Robinson

The owners of Enchanting Creations, a small business located in the heart of Miami Shores, a suburb of 10,000 people situated just north of the city of Miami say they’ve been harassed over the past few months by anti-gay rights activists. The alleged harassment has included numerous phone calls from people asking to place orders for cakes with anti-gay sayings and messages on them as a way to “trap” the store into making a tough business and moral decision.

The tiny shop located on a side street of a quiet block of Miami Shores has finally had enough. Last week, in-between making wedding cakes and cupcakes, they posted the following message to their website. It’s pretty short, and you should probably read the whole thing: (Emphasis added to make reading easier)

“In recent weeks Enchanting Creations has received a series of inquiries seeming to have stemmed from recent events… all of which begging the same basic question:

Will you make us an Anti-gay Cake?

Unfortunately, we haven’t been the only targets; the idea of “setting a trap” for small bakeries to catch them in the act of discrimination has become increasingly more common, and we feel it’s time to clarify our stance on this issue.

The fact of the matter is that we are an American business. As such, it is our responsibility to uphold the law and to refrain from discriminating against our customers, no matter how hurtful or personally offensive we might find their particular beliefs.

Enchanting Creations is a small bakery in Miami Shores that is making a statement for both equality and the First Amendment. (Photo Credit: Rich Robinson)

We believe that no one should ever be refused service – opposing discrimination by practicing it is not the answer. The only way to uphold our integrity as a company, and to maintain any hope of an eventual triumph over bigotry and discrimination is to act in accordance with this belief. We will not discriminate against potential customers, not even against those whose beliefs directly contradict our own – if the request is protected by the First Amendment we will honor it. This issue isn’t about approval; it’s about respect.

That said, so far these inquiries have amounted to nothing more than trolling; we have yet to receive a serious order. However, should the day come when an actual order is placed and paid for, we will not profit from discrimination.

Today we pledge that any profits we generate from the sale of a cake intended to discriminate against same-sex couples will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign, an organization who continues to fight for LGBT Equality.

We are extremely honored to be featured as an LGBT-Friendly vendor on both EnGAYgedWeddings.com and GayWeddings.com, and we will continue to proudly serve South Florida’s gay community. We sincerely hope that others will join us in finding ways to derive something positive from this ongoing negativity, because in the end we truly do believe that love conquers hate.”

If you would like to learn more about Enchanting Creations, you can visit their website at www.enchantingcreations.net

This was originally published on RiseMiamiNews.com on April 15, 2015.

Ole Miss Students Want To Take Down Racist Mississippi State Flag, Will Rally Friday

By Rich Robinson

Student groups at the University of Mississippi in Oxford will rally Friday afternoon in order to bring attention to a cause they believe is worthy of national attention the removal of the state flag from the campus.

Mississippi is the only state in the Union that still has the Confederate battle flag as part of the official state flag. Georgia was the second to last state to rid its state flag of Confederate iconography and did so in 2003.

At 12:30 CST on Friday, numerous progressive student groups and those associate with minority including the campus chapter of the NAACP will be rallying in front of a well-known Confederate Statue in the Circle, a historical central location on campus.

The organizations, which include the Black Student Union, UM Pride Network, College Democrats and others want the Associated Student Body, the student government of Ole Miss to pass a resolution that would call for the removal of the state flag from campus.

Allen Coon is a student senator and also the president of the campus College Democrats chapter. He authored the resolution and has helped organize the event.

As a native Mississippian, the fight is a personal one for Coon.

“I love my state and I care about it deeply. But every-time, I see that flag it reminds me that we are promoting a perspective that led to a war of injustice and pain,” Coon said in a phone interview with Rise News. “And that’s not representative of my Mississippi and that’s why it has to change.”

According to the Daily Mississippian, there are 49 student senators in the Associated Student Body. That would mean that at least 25 of them would have to vote in favor of taking down the flag in order for the resolution to pass. Coon told Rise News that it would be a difficult fight to win the vote in the student senate.

“If this resolution fails, then it will bring a lot more scrutiny on the campus from a national perspective,” Coon said. “The very test of a symbol is that it should be divisive. On that basis alone, it is grounds enough to take down the flag.”

“When people think of Ole Miss I don’t want them to think, ‘oh that’s a racist school,’” Buka Okoye, the president of the Ole Miss NAACP said in an interview with Daily Mississippian reporter Dawn Boddie. “Therefore, what are we doing to rid ourselves of that image?”

According to the Mississippi Business Journal, five other public universities in the state do not currently fly the official state flag: Delta State University, Mississippi State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi Valley State University and Alcorn State University.

Even if student government passes the resolution, it will be up to campus administrators to make the final decision.

Rise News is looking for a few Ole Miss students to report for us during the rally on Friday afternoon. If you are interested then please email [email protected] with a phone number and we will get back to very quickly.

Read: Proposed Ole Miss student government resolution to take down state flag on campus

Cover Photo Credit : /\ \/\/ /\/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Man At Virginia Commonwealth University Loses It Over Planned Parenthood Lies

By Rich Robinson

The culture wars are alive and well on some college campuses across the United States.

This reality is documented by a video uploaded to Youtube this past Tuesday by Students for Life of America, which as you can imagine is an anti-abortion national student group.

In the 100 second long video titled, “#DontFundPP Tour: Virginia Commonwealth University”, a man on a bicycle is seen to get very upset at student anti-abortion organizers due to their apparent belief that Planned Parenthood traffics in the sale of fetal body parts.

That claim has been proven incredibly misleading at best.

It is not clear what provoked the man to begin screaming, but Students For Life Of America have an idea as fleshed out in a blog post on their site titled “Embracing some controversy this semester? #worthit”

“Upon one look at the #PPSellsBabyParts banner, he shouted that we were all liars and the videos were a hoax,” an unnamed regional coordinator for the group said. “There have been a number of other students claiming the videos are fake, but most students stop and take time to have a discussion.”

The unnamed regional coordinator went on:

“I patiently stood with copies of the forensic report in my hand while this man yelled in our faces interrupting every response we offered. I was also holding my four-month-old, Lucy, when another woman rushed over to stand in between him and the baby.”

60% of Americans want to maintain federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

You be the judge. Did the man go too far? Was he justified in the way he behaved? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Cover Photo Credit: Screenshot of Students for Life of America Video/ Youtube

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