Reporter expelled from public university 'Black Lives' event for not being of 'African descent'

Reporter harassed by 'Black Lives' protesters at campus rally

A reporter was harassed at a "Movement for Black Lives" rally at Cleveland State University after an announcement to the crowd that "this is a peoples of African descent space. If you are not of African descent please go to the outside of the circle immediately."

That according to a video circulating which shows reporter Brandon Blackwell, who is not of African descent, quickly retreat to the back of the gathering amidst cheers from activists surrounding him, seemingly in support of the banishment.

The video, recorded by Blackwell himself on Sunday, was posted on Cleveland.com, and captured the events that occurred on the steps of a Cleveland State University building while the university's crest loomed above.

Reached for comment Tuesday by The College Fix, Blackwell stated via email: "I respectfully decline to comment. I'll let the video speak for itself."

Blackwell had continued to record after he moved to the back of the circle, to the disapproval of many in attendance. Shouts of "stop filming" can be heard echoing from those in attendance.

Members of the crowd took to blocking Blackwell's camera with their hands, a traffic cone, and a T-shirt that reads "The Movement for Black Lives."

Seen in the video is an aggravated crowd of primarily black activists. The group consists of all ages and genders and includes a small contingent of young children located close to the main speaker. Several in attendance are young adults, college aged, and wearing backpacks, presumably students at the university.

At points throughout the roughly 20 minute video, Blackwell is accused of being a federal agent and an agitator while he explains to them he is a reporter and identifies himself by name and occupation.

Activist: "That's why you want to tell my story right? 'Cause you know why I'm angry"

Blackwell: "I'm happy to talk to you, and hear your story, and tell your story."

Activist: "I don't want to talk to you."

Toward the end of the video, Rosa Clemente, a speaker and a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, suggested the recording was not allowed due to the presence of children at the rally.

"Because the children become targets on YouTube, or whatever, by crazy supremacists and crazy people" explained Clemente on the video, to which Blackwell responds that he did not hear any sort of request to not tape children.

The video concludes with Blackwell repeatedly asking one activist to not touch his camera.

"I got 800 black people behind me, what the f**k are you gonna do?" replied the activist, while standing face to face with Blackwell.

According to Cleveland.com, "the three-day conference held at Cleveland State University kicked off a new campaign, Movement for Black Lives, which is fueled by national outrage over a series of deaths of minorities at the hands of police."

"The focus of the conference was police use of force against black and brown people, race relations, economic justice and other related topics," it added.

The event had many sponsors and endorsers including Black Lives Matter, Ferguson Action, and the Ohio Student Association, according to their official website.

Clemente did not respond to requests by The College Fix seeking comment Tuesday.

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Police cars in Jefferson County, Illinois will now say "In God We Trust".

JEFFERSON COUNTY, IL (KFVS) -

"In God We Trust" is the motto you see on money and soon it'll be shown on Jefferson County, Illinois' squad cars as well.

"This is our national motto, it's on every bit of our currency, it's important, it's the moral fabric of what our country's made of," Jefferson Co. sheriff, Travis Allen said.

That's why Sheriff Allen said he's putting "In God We Trust" on his squad cars. 

The stickers will be placed on all 12 marked cars; a decision drawing mixed reaction from the community.

 "That's what our country was built on, it's as simple as that," Jefferson Co. resident Jessica Baird said.

"In God We Trust should be on the dollar bill only…not on the back of no police car," said Jerry Gill, of Jefferson Co.

"I personally do believe in God, but I would say that it could be discriminating towards certain people," Carla Moussette said.

Sheriff Allen got the idea from another department in Stone County, Missouri and was surprised by the amount of controversy it received.

"I can't believe that people were so upset about this, it's our country's motto." Sheriff Allen said. "It's on all of our national currency."

Sheriff Allen said all the deputies were on board for the stickers and while he got mostly positive feedback from the community, he knows this idea won't sit well with everyone.

"There's no doubt this will offend somebody," Sheriff Allen said. "My answer to that is that I'm never going to apologize for loving God, loving America and loving the principles this country was founded on. That's why we're all here today."

Sheriff Allen said a local business has donated all of the stickers and they will be placed on the squad cars next week. 

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Text reveals Subway's Jared paid 16-year-old for sex

Former Subway sandwich spokesman Jared Fogle appears to admit in a text messsage to paying a 16-year-old girl $100 for sex, it was reported Friday.

The Business Insider Web site says the FBI subpoenaed an affidavit containing texts between Fogle and a former female Subway franchisee who apparently were in a relationship.

In several messages, he allegedly asks the woman to advertise herself on Craigslist for sex with other men so he could watch.

She responds to one text saying, "Is this the same website you found that 16-year-old girl that you f–ked. . . .I still can't believe you only paid $100 for her.''

Fogle responds, "It was amazing,'' the story says.

BI's source is an unidentified lawyer the woman hired after she complained to Subway, which allegedly did nothing.

Business Insider says it "independently verified'' the authenticity of the affadavit. The age of consent in Indiana, where Fogle lives, is 16.

The franchisee also claims that Fogle asked her to set up a meeting with her underage cousin.

It was reported earlier that a Florida woman who worked as a TV journalist tipped the feds that Fogle told her he thought "middle school girls are hot.''

Subway suspended its relationship with Fogle last month after authorities raided his home in Indiana.

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Report: Police Department In Massachusetts Gave Higher Points To Candidates Who Pledged Not To Arrest Fellow Officers For DUI

There is an interesting story out of Massachusetts where an official at the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission found that the Methuen Police Department admitted that job applicants were given higher scores if they indicated that they would never arrest a fellow officer for drunk driving and other applicants were downgraded for saying that they would apply the law equally to all citizens — officers and non-officers alike.

Christopher C. Bowman, chairman of the Civil Service Commission wrote in a July 9 decision that "the City turned the interview process upside down. There is simply no valid basis to award the highest points to candidates who express a willingness to apply one set of rules to strangers and another set of rules to friends and family members."

Methuen asked candidates how they would handle a situation in which where they found a driver in a crash who appeared to be intoxicated. The candidate was then asked if the response would change if it involved a relative or a police officer they knew from a neighboring town. The questions are obviously designed to elevate honest officers but was instead used to select dishonest ones. When candidates said they wouldn't arrest family or fellow officers, the hiring panel noted the person "knows discretion." Indeed, Bowman said that "Some of the interview panelists actually heaped high praise on those candidates who stated that they would arrest a stranger but not arrest a friend or family member based on the same facts, citing their understanding of 'discretion.'"

While Methuen Mayor Stephen N. Zanni (right) said he plans to review the police hiring process and procedures, there was notably no assurance that officials rewarding such pledges to turn a blind eye to crime would be fired. It would seem that this is a fairly good measure of an officer's inability to serve. The grading officer or officers not only selected candidates based on their professed bias but actively sought officers who would ignore crimes.  That does not seem a matter for better training but rather a fundamental misconception of the role of police in our society by those on the panel of review.  It is not the fitness of the candidates that I am most concerned about but the fitness of the panel members who allegedly gave higher score to those who would show bias in the enforcement of the law.

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Texas Gay Man Dies In Custody After Police Refuse To Give Him Medication

A gay  man died in a Texas jail after officials failed to give him his prescribed medicine.

On March 13, Jesse Jacobs—who was serving a 30-day sentence for driving while intoxicated—suffered a seizure and was rushed to the hospital from the Galveston County Jail. He was pronounced dead in the emergency room.

Related: Gay Man Dragged From Home, Beaten By NYPD Officers Yelling "Faggot"

Jacobs, 32, was detoxing from Xanax, which he'd taken for a decade to treat anxiety. He brought his Xanex with him when he checked into jail on March 6, but jail staffers did not administer it while he was incarcerated.

"I'm angry," says Jacobs' father, Jesse Sr, from KTRK-TV. "Because as far as I'm concerned, they executed my son just as sure as if they put a gun to his head and pull the trigger."

His mom, Diane, says Jesse was concerned he might not get his medication. "He told us, 'Mom what will happen, if I don't receive this?'"

Related: Boston Police Academy Graduates First Gay Couple

The Galveston County coroner's office declared Jacobs died from a seizure, but the jail was cleared of any wrongdoing.

"Whatever the doctor, the internal doctor said he was prescribed, was what he was given," said Sheriff Henry Trochesset. "Individuals come into the jail all the time. Some of them are taking medications that they shouldn't be, or they say they're suppose to be on certain medications."

Sheriff Trochesset insists Jacobs' family is "trying to throw some red flag into the air that we apparently did something to him — when he just died of natural causes in jail."

But, Dr. D.M. La Grone, who treated Jesse Jacobs, insists the seizure was caused by being deprived of his Xanax. An attorney for the Jacobs family' reported that the pill bottle he brought with him to jail was never opened.

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Kentucky man shoots down drone spying on 16yo daughter.

Where should we draw the line between the advancement of technology and the protection of personal privacy? For one Kentucky man, his property line is where he gets to make the call, and he made that point of view perfectly clear when he pointed his shotgun at a drone hovering in his backyard and pulled the trigger. 

"It was just right there. It was hovering. I would never have shot it if it was flying," William Merideth said in an interview with Ars Technica. "When he came down with a video camera right over my back deck, that's not going to work." 

Merideth claims that the drone was first spotted hovering over his neighbor's house—a claim his neighbor confirms—and he had no intentions of taking any actions against it until it entered onto his own property. Merideth's 16-year-old daughter was laying out by their pool at the time, and when the drone pilot decided to stop his vehicle and get an electronic eyeful, he decided enough was enough. 

The homeowner fetched his shotgun and pumped three helpings of birdshot into the $1,800 drone, taking it out of the air in short order. Shortly thereafter, the drone pilot and three of his friends arrived at Merideth's property. 

"If you cross that sidewalk onto my property, there's going to be another shooting," Merideth says he told the men.

The police eventually arrived and Merideth was charged with first-degree criminal mischief and first-degree wanton endangerment, both related to his discharge of the firearm. The 47-year-old Merideth is confident that the charges will be reduced or thrown out entirely once his trial date arrives. 

Photo via jack_spellingbacon/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)

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"Rowdy" Roddy Piper has passed away.

WWE Hall of Famer Roderick George Toombs, a.k.a. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, passed away at his home in Hollywood, CA at the age of 61, according to TMZ Sports. According to the report, Piper died from cardiac arrest in his sleep on Thursday night. He was discovered today.

Piper was diagnosed with cancer in 2006. He was scheduled to wrestle at the Survivor Series that year, teaming with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Sgt. Slaughter and Dusty Rhodes against the Spirit Squad, however he was replaced in the match by Ron Simmons. He stated in an interview with The Hillsboro Tribune last November that he was now cancer free.

"The cancer is gone as far as I know," Piper said. "I've passed the five-year mark. It's one of those things that haunts you a little bit, especially when you go as hard as I did. I'm doing OK, but about a year ago, I was driving home and I couldn't breathe and almost passed out. I was trying to ignore it, but I had a blood clot in my lung and spent some time in the hospital. I need to start being careful. I'm not sure we're invincible anymore."

We here at Wrestling Inc. send our sincerest condolences to Piper's family, friends and fans. We will have lots more on this story shortly.

Follow Raj Giri on Twitter at @RajGiri_303. Got a news tip or correction? Send it to us by clicking here.

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