Here's the daily rundown.
Sikh Shooting In Wisconsin. Shooter Identified. - Shooter identified as white supremacist. Such a lazy, catch-all label that allows us as a country to subconsciously write this off, instead of taking a good hard, long look at what causes people to do such demented things in the first place. There will be no "national conversation" about semi-automatic gun control, terrorism, or anti-Islamic sentiment (yes, I know, Sikhs are not Muslims). Nope, this is just the lone action of one wacko who hated brown people. Hey, when's Usain Bolt racing next?!?
Sadly, this is just par for the course. You could argue that the media's gonna pay less attention to this because of the white supremacist/brown people angle, and while there's some truth to that, reality is we as a country really don't care to ask the tough questions when this happens. Has there been any substantive discussion about semi-automatic gun control since the Aurora shooting? Hell, has there been any coverage of the Aurora shooting since the Olympics began? Answer that one yourself...
Mars Landing - True story: I had a job offer from JPL my final semester in college. They flew me to Pasadena, wined and dined me, then presented me with an offer so low I would have had to commute in from Mexico. They even brought out two token black employees to explain to me how living in Compton was very affordable and not nearly as bad as it might sound in those NWA songs. My mind was already made up by then, I was staying my a$$ on the East Coast. I mean, seriously, with the cost of living in SoCal, you'd think NASA would pay more. They don't. Or at least didn't. Which prolly explained the relative lack of black faces in the control room when Curiosity touched down on Mars this morning at 1:30am (yes, I was up). Or maybe it doesn't explain anything. I just wanted to tell that story. Yes, I, could have been a rocket scientist. Chew on that one.
The Olympics - Since we're already sorta on the topic, pick your angle. Gabby Douglas' $90M in endorsement deals. Usain Bolt's excellence. Phelps goes out on top. Team USA's scare vs Lithuania. All them fast track chicks. Go for it. The story I found most interesting personally was...
Serena Williams' C-Walk After Winning Gold- More cultural anthropology, with a bunch of wingnuts claiming Serena was "celebrating gang culture" when she briefly crip-walked after disemboweling Maria Sharapova. Bull. It's just a freakin' dance. Nobody complains when she curtsies. Knock it off. And props to Serena for keepin' it hood'. Eff' a hater.
NFL Preseason Football Kicked Off Last Night - Did you watch? Nope, me neither. I will, however, tune in later this week as RGIII makes his Redskins debut Thursday at Buffalo.
Condi Rice To Speak At RNC - Let the loony VP speculation begin.
Question: What do you think about these issues?
