With all the controversy over #OscarsSoWhite, now may not have been the best time to announce that a white actor has been cast as African-American pop star Michael Jackson.
According to The Guardian, Joseph Fiennes will play the late superstar in a comedy to appear on the British channel Sky Arts. The half-hour show, called “Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon,” centers around a fabled road trip in which Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando tried to get home to Los Angeles from New York after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
One of Jackson’s former employees insisted to Vanity Fair in 2011 that the trip did happen and that the trio “actually got as far as Ohio — all three of them, in a car they drove themselves!”
For some, the casting decision has been just as unbelievable as the idea that Jackson, Taylor and Brando (who supposedly insisted on frequent stops at fast food restaurants) would just hop in a car and take off cross-country.
As the debate rages on about the lack of quality roles for actors of color and thus the lack of representation at awards shows, one person tweeted, “Joseph Fiennes can play Michael Jackson. (A real person). But Idris can’t play James Bond (a fake spy for a fake agency)?”
“Grease’s” Stockard Channing has reportedly been cast as Taylor, and “Troy” star Brian Cox will appear as Brando.
Woman accused of beating husband with nun-chucks because he refused sex
A woman in South Carolina hurled ceramic figurines at her husband and hit him with nun-chucks after he refused to have sex with her, police revealed Wednesday.
Sondra Earle-Kelly, 51, faces aggravated domestic violence charges, Fox 8 reports. The fight took place the night of Jan. 17 in Rock Hill, north of Columbia, investigators say. Kelly’s husband was watching TV in his living room when she asked him to go to bed with her, police told The Charlotte Observer. When he refused, she kept “assaulting him with whatever she could pick up,” police report.
They also say the woman claimed she had no idea how her husband got hurt. Police said she’d been taking the sedative Xanax.
Officers said the wife had wounds to her abdomen that were apparently self-inflicted. She was released on $15,000 bond.
The Frank Carson et al case will resume next week and there will be an interesting development regarding allegations of misconduct by the DA’s office regarding their intent to get rid of Frank Carson at any cost. Except the cost to the taxpayers which will turn out to be astronomical when the DA’s office will be forced to reveal the numbers spent and the source of some of the funds used to “get rid” of Frank Carson. Chicago? No. Modesto.
With the Bee reporter staying away from the hearing at someone’s request you will have to visit backstorynews.com or right here in Dawgs-Blog to be kept abreast of what is going on in the courtroom.
Now for a little update on the proceedings. As some of you will remember, back in November 2015, it was mentioned that one of the first upstanding prosecution witnesses was Sabrina Romero. If you remember, she is the person that committed felony embezzlement from a local doctor and stole $12,000 from his business.
A complaint was filed on February 27, 2013 and this case is still awaiting a preliminary hearing. This is the case that has now had 21 pretrial conferences and there had been three preliminary hearings scheduled. On January 4, 2016 when I authored a comment titled “AS THE WORM SQUIRMS”, the Stanislaus County court index on that date showed that another preliminary hearing had been scheduled for January 11, 2016.
Upon checking the Stanislaus County court index today, that entry for the preliminary hearing on January 11, 2016 disappeared. On January 6, 2016 there is a log entry stating court calendar request which apparently took the preliminary hearing off the calendar. IMAGAINE THAT!!! Then there was another pretrial conference on January 8, 2016.
It just seems like justice just cannot go forward for this accused felon and in a couple of weeks it will have been three years since the complaint was first filed. Possibly if a preliminary hearing was calendared and adhered to, that might interfere with the proposed date for her additional testimony in the Frank Carson matter.
However, it is deputy Dist. Atty. Ferreira’s contention that no consideration, favors, reduced sentences or any other deals have been made with any of the prosecution star witnesses. We know that there is a severe backlog of cases within the District Attorney’s Office.
The District Attorney’s Office has blamed the courts and defense attorneys for this backlog. Sabrina Romero’s case has to be monitored closely so that a rookie deputy Dist. Atty. , and there is a substantial turnover within the office, does not “INADVERTANTLY” dismiss the charges when no one is looking.
There is also a question as to whether or not Ronald Cooper Junior as was promised by the District Attorney’s Office, was able to go directly to his home prison, Pleasant Valley State Prison instead of being processed through Duel Vocational Institute where he would be welcomed with his “snitch jacket” on.
And when the proceedings commence next week many in the gallery have made the comment that when Patrick Hampton resumes the stand, the first time he uses vulgar and profane language that Judge Zuniga will muzzle him with a citation for contempt of court and have him taken into custody and held in jail until he can come into court without using street scum language. But again, he is a star witness for the prosecution.
A formal request has been made by Mr. Carmen Sabatino to make the District Attorney’s Office disclose all the monies spent zeroing in take Frank Carson down. An anonymous source advised Mr. Sabatino but some of the grant money for the gang task force may have been siphoned off and into the Frank Carson investigation. If not, then the full disclosure of all the money spent and the source it came from would alleviate that question.
Well that’s about enough information for now but be sure to keep an eye out on backstorynews.com and dawgsblog to be informed about the proceedings in the Frank Carson matter. 01-26-16.
Dipshidiot of the day: Jeremy “The Bigot Educator” Spencer
A top Georgia Department of Education official has been fired for comments made on his personal Facebook page.
Jeremy Spencer was the Associate Superintendent of Virtual Instruction for the Georgia Department of Education. Spencer was hired in 2015 by State School Superintendent Richards Woods and, according to the state’s website,open.georgia.gov Spencer’s salary in 2015 was $73,697.30.
In a series of Facebook posts, Spencer shared posts from right-winged websites about politics and social issues. In one post, he suggests that U.S. public schools cannot compete with schools in Finland because we don’t have all white students. He also made a comment about gay people and poles after sharing an Atlanta Journal Constitution article.
The most recent post was on January 1, said, “If I read one more thing about the Finland education system….not everybody in the US public schools are WHITE.”
Advocacy group Better Georgia called for Woods to fire Spencer and the called the posts, “Vile, racist and bigoted.”
“He (Spencer) doesn’t think Georgia students can compete with students in other countries because we have non-white students here. That is a vile and racist thought and he should not be in charge of creating curriculum in Georgia,” said Better Georgia Executive Director Bryan Long. “What’s important to know is this wasn’t one wrong post. This wasn’t one mistake. This was a toxic stream of racist posts and bigoted posts and anti-Muslim posts and anti-gay posts going back months.”
State Superintendent Richard Woods released this statement about his firing Tuesday morning.
“Like most people, I was disheartened and disgusted to see the posts made by Mr. Spencer on his Facebook page. These posts in no way reflect my opinions, or those of the Department of Education. As of this morning, Mr. Spencer is no longer an employee of the Department of Education. My job, and the job of all employees at the Department of Education, is to look out for the educational well-being of all of Georgia’s 1.7 million students, and more than 100,000 teachers and educators.”
In addition, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) it its Code of Ethics for Educators states: “Unethical conduct includes but is not limited to any conduct that impairs and/or diminishes the certificate holder’s ability to function professionally in his or her employment position, or behavior or conduct that is detrimental to the health, welfare, discipline, or morals of students.”
A PSC power point presentation on social networking cautions educators about posts.
“Don’t post anything on a website that you would not post on the front door of the school,” according to the presentation.
According the the Georgia Virtual School website, Spencer is a graduate of The University of Georgia, Piedmont College and Valdosta State University.
When are people going to learn that Facebook is not always your friend when you have a job that can be used against you.
Freedom of speech is not Always Freedom from consequences.
