Month: September 2020

One night in 2018, Sheila and Steve Albers took their two youngest sons out to dinner. Their 17-year-old son, John, was in a crabby mood—not an uncommon occurrence for the teen who struggled with mental health issues—so he stayed home.

A half hour later, Sheila’s started getting text messages that John wasn’t safe. He had posted messages with suicidal ideations on social media and his friends had called the police to check on him. The Albers immediately raced home.

When they got there, they were met with a surreal scene. Their minivan was in the neighbor’s yard across the street. John had been shot in the driver’s seat six times by a police officer who had arrived to check on him. The officer had fired two shots as the teen slowly backed the van out of the garage, then 11 more after the van spun around backward. But all the officers told the Albers was that John had “passed” and had been shot. They wouldn’t find out until the next day who had shot and killed him.

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Despite the entire incident being caught on film, the Overland Park, Kansas police officer who fired the shots, Clayton Jenison, was not found guilty of any wrongdoing. The department said the shooting was justified because the officer felt his life was in danger. He resigned with $70,000 severance pay less than a month after the shooting. Sheila Albers filed a wrongful death lawsuit and the city paid $2.3 million to settle it last year.

It was announced Thursday that the FBI has opened its own investigation into the case.

The Albers shared their story with Fox 4 News last year—their first time speaking publicly about their son’s death—and it’s worth a watch to get more of the story:

Unanswered questions and unimaginable grief

www.youtube.com

There are many striking moments in the video, but perhaps one of the most mind-blowing is when the police chief shares changes made to department policy in the wake of the shooting. “I think the most important addition to our policy is to specify that all reasonable means of defense be exhausted, to include moving out of the path of the vehicle. I think that’s probably the biggest takeaway in the new part of our policy.”

Moving out of the way of a moving vehicle is now part of department policy to avoid having to shoot someone that you know is in a mental health crisis? Seriously? Is that not just common sense?

Bridget Patton, spokeswoman for the FBI in Kansas City, announced the new investigation in a written statement:

“The Kansas City FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights division, and the US Attorney’s office for the District of Kansas have opened a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of an Overland Park teen, John Albers. The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner. As this is an ongoing investigation we are not able to comment further at this time.”

“The FBI investigation highlights the failure of Overland Park and District Attorney Steve Howe to be transparent in their investigations and be accountable to their constituents,” Sheila Albers said in a text message to the Kansas City Star on Thursday. “We are thankful to the FBI and the US Attorney for the district of Kansas for reopening the case and shed light on what Overland Park and our DA have been able to keep hidden.”

This case is a reminder that the push to end police brutality and reimagine our systems of policing isn’t just a message coming from the Black Lives Matter movement. A militarized police force, a system that doesn’t know how to respond to mental health calls, and issues with transparency and impunity should concern all Americans.

How we talk about Black Lives Matter protests across America is often a reflection of how we personally feel about the fight for racial equality itself. We’re all biased toward our own preferences and a fractured news media hasn’t helped things by skewing facts, emphasizing preferred narratives and neglecting important stories, oftentimes out of fear that they might alienate their increasingly partisan and entrenched audiences.

This has been painfully clear in how we report on and talk about the protests themselves. Are they organized by Antifa and angry mobs of BLM renegades hell bent on the destruction of everything wholesome about America? Or, are they entirely peaceful demonstrations in which only the law enforcement officers are the bad actors? The uncomfortable truth is that both extreme narratives ignore key facts. The overwhelming majority of protests have been peaceful.protests have been peaceful. The facts there are clear. And the police have also provoked acts of aggression against peaceful demonstrators, leading to injuries and unnecessary arrests. Yet, there have been glaring exceptions of vandalism, intimidation and violence in cities like Portland, Seattle, and most recently, Louisville. And while some go so far as to quite literally defend looting, that’s a view far outside the mainstream of nearly all Americans across various age, racial and cultural demographics.

But what if we step away from the larger philosophical debate and narrow things down to one very important fact: the vast majority of those stirring division at protests are white.

And if you don’t believe me, just listen to Durham, North Carolina’s mayor and what he had to say about how white people are “hijacking” Breonna Taylor’s legacy and transforming a movement that has suddenly split Americans after having near unanimous support just a few months ago.

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“People who inflicting the damage last night are not advancing the calls to justice, in fact what they are doing is co-opting this movement for racial justice for their own purposes,” Durham Mayor Steve Schewel, who is white, a Democrat, and who publicly supports the Breonna Taylor protest movement, said at a press conference Wednesday night before a grand jury issued a charge against one of the officers involved in the Taylor shooting. “The folks that were inflicting the damage last night were white. I want to be really clear about this. I believe that is an indication of the fact that this is an attempt to co-opt a racial justice group. This is not something we can accept.”

Schewel’s words are important for a few reasons. White people who want to make racist protests all about themselves are the epitome of what non-white people say is the problem: white people enacting a solipsistic worldview even when supposedly fighting for the rights of non-white people. White people, we just can’t seem to get over ourselves.

However, this co-opting of Black voices also extends to the bad actors who oppose equality. Local Black activist Paul Scott pointed out in the same story that much of the violence and vandalism is being perpetrated by white people who are actively against the Black Lives Matter movement.

“There has been a history in this country of white anarchists manipulating Black suffering,” Scott said. “In this country right now, courtesy of the man in the White House, there is a civil war going on between White people and they’re using Black people as political pawns.”

There are no quick and easy answers to the larger debates over police reform and racial inequality. But there are a few easy to follow guidelines if you’re a white person who wants to fight for justice. Let’s stop assuming we have all the answers. And let’s stop using these protests as an opportunity to vent our frustrations over President Trump and the coronavirus in violent and anti-social ways. That energy can be directed toward amplifying Black voices, countering racist voices and standing in solidarity with the march toward progress.

Think about it this way, without the distraction of so-called riots, the media would be under even more pressure to focus on the real issues at hand, not whether someone was throwing tuna fish at cops. The last thing Trump, racists and counter-protestors want is an honest debate about what to do about our country’s systemic racism. Let’s bring the focus back to that so we can all move forward together.

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

Fargo (Sunday, FX 9:00 p.m.) — The FX anthology series is back and as weird as ever. Chris Rock stars as a 1980s Kansas City crime syndicate leader, who must navigate a precarious situation when the head of one family unexpectedly dies and takes the peace with him. Timothy Olyphant, Jason Schwartzman, and Jessie Buckley help fill out a massive ensemble cast of typically strange-named characters this season.

Utopia (Amazon Prime series) — Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn is a showrunner now, and she also wrote this U.S. remake of the U.K.-born series for Amazon. The show, which stars John Cusack, Desmin Borges, and Sasha Lane, is a conspiracy thriller that just happens to include details of a pandemic. Flynn didn’t plan for the show to arrive in the middle of an actual pandemic, but here we are.

Sneakerheads (Netflix series) — An ex-sneakerhead and stay-at-home dad, Devin, jumps back into the game and loses five G’s in a get-rich-quick scheme. Before his wife finds out what’s amiss, Devin must go on the hunt for the holy grail of hard-to-find shoes, “Zeroes,” along with a ragtag gathering of fellow shoe addicts.

The Boys: Season 2 (Amazon Prime series) — This season’s gone weekly from here on out while diving deeper, and Episode 6 sees Starlight join the boys to follow a lead on one of Vought’s darkest secrets. In the process, they discover someone from the past who’s even more ominous than the secret. Oh, and Homelander and Stormfront’s relationship is, well, advancing.

Tehran (Apple TV+ series) — This series promises the exhilarating story of a Mossad agent undercover in a deep way during a mission in (of course) Tehran, where she and those who surround her find themselves in peril. The first three episodes drop on Friday with weekly episodes to follow.

Enola Holmes (Netflix film) — Netflix loves Stranger Things‘ Millie Bobby Brown, who’s now making her turn as Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister Enola Holmes. As a bonus, The Witcher‘s Henry Cavill is onboard to play Sherlock with Sam Claflin stepping in as Mycroft Holmes, and between the two of them, they have the fancy hair and twirling-of-mustaches quotient covered.

Country-ish (Netflix original) — Country singer Coffey Anderson and his wife, Criscilla (a hip-hop dancer), open up their Los Angeles home to cameras while they navigate their opposite country vs. city perspectives. The series follows up on their social media popularity with humor and heart.

Fandango at the Wall (HBO and HBO Max) — This music documentary chronicles Grammy winners Arturo O’Farrill and Kabir Sehgal throughout an extraordinary journey in Veracruz, Mexico. There, they recruit master musicians to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border wall and record a live album.

Patria (HBO Europe and HBO Max) — The series premiere launches the adaptation of a novel by Spanish writer Fernando Aramburu. The story hopes to shatter Basque country’s taboo on speaking of the bloody campaign waged by separatist group ETA.

Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (Disney+ film) — A rebellious princess discovers her own superpowers, along with a secret group who’s tasked with (secretly) keeping the kingdom’s peace.

Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:

Room 104 (Friday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — The fourth season of the Duplass Brothers’ bizarre playground continues with childhood best friends reuniting to utter disaster when old wounds readily open.

Lovecraft Country (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — It’s finally time to circle back to Hippolyta’s search for answers, which leads her into another dimension. Meanwhile, Atticus seeks wisdom from an old family friend.

The Comey Rule (Sunday, Showtime 9:00 p.m.) — Based upon former FBI Director James Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty, this film stars Jeff Daniels as James Comey, Brendan Gleeson as President Trump, Holly Hunter as Sally Yates, William Sadler as Michael Flynn, and Scoot McNairy as Rod Rosenstein.

The Vow (Sunday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — An early NXIVM defector offers insight while the concerned trio attempts to persuade authorities to take action by contacting more news outlets.

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (Sunday, HBO 11:00 p.m.) — He’s back, baby.

In case you missed this fantastic movie last week:

The Devil All The Time (Netflix film) — Robert Pattinson portrays an unholy preacher while Sebastian Stan steps into a crooked sheriff’s shoes, and Tom Holland’s simply trying to stay out of the line of fire while evil forces surround him. It’s a battle between the corrupt and the so-called just that should provide a nice midweek viewing break. This Antonio Campos-directed story spans the period between WWII and Vietnam and co-stars Jason Clarke, Riley Keough, Bill Skarsgård, Eliza Scanlen, and Mia Wasikowska.

It’s been a minute since Bon Iver was giving a late-night TV, since the last album they had to promote, i, i, came out last summer. Today, Justin Vernon returned as part of The Late Show‘s #PlayAtHome performance series, busting out a rendition of the 22, A Million track “22 (OVER S∞∞N).”

For the entire performance, voting information was superimposed over Vernon’s face, moving as he did to make sure he was constantly obscured. The text read, “Wisconsin: Register to vote online or by mail by Wednesday, October 14, 2020.”

That’s because the performance is part of the “For Wisconsin” initiative, which was launched earlier this week by Vernon’s Eaux Claires festival. It’s a partnership with 88Nine Radio Milwaukee that’s described as “a positive, action-based voting initiative.” A press release notes the campaign will include various events, including contests to meet Vernon and discuss voting.

Vernon previously said in a statement, “I try not to judge people. The temperature of our society has us divided. We all want different things, so that makes sense in one way, but in another, I feel we are unduly divided. We all need to listen more. And the best way we can communicate with each other on this largest scale is to vote. The campaign I am participating in, For Wisconsin, is a non-partisan drive for voting and a plea to listen. That means all of us listening to all of us.”

Watch Vernon perform “22 (OVER S∞∞N)” above.

Lindsey Graham is already a bit sleep deprived these days, and now his ever-changing opinion on whether you can fill a Supreme Court seat during an election year seems to have put him behind the eight ball when it comes to campaign finance in his heavily-contested senate race. Perhaps that’s why the South Carolina senator appeared on Fox News this week begging for donations to his campaign, stating that he’s being “killed financially.”

“My opponent will raise almost $100 million,” Graham said of Democratic opponent Jamie Harrison. “The most money in the history of the state in a senate race was by me in 2014, when I spent $13 million.”

According to 538, Graham is still favored to win his seat, but in an appearance on the conservative cable news network, he was visibly upset by what’s happened in recent days following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court Justice who died last Friday of cancer. Her passing leaves open a seat on the highest court in the land, and Graham drew immediate criticism after abruptly changing his stance on whether that seat should be filled before the November election. Just four years ago, Graham was aggressively against doing a similar thing, leading the way in a senate that never held hearings about Barack Obama’s appointment, Merrick Garland.

Graham has, of course, changed his stance and insisted he is in favor of Donald Trump filling the seat regardless of what happens in November. And because of that stance, a huge influx of money has come into the campaign for his South Carolina seat, with those angry about the flip-flop donating millions of dollars to Harrison. It was enough for him to look visibly shaken on TV, noting how much money has been raised against him in the hours after Ginsburg’s death.

“He raised $6 million in the time that Justice Ginsburg passed away within 72 hours,” Graham said before begging people to donate to his campaign. As it turns out, he’s done this a number of times over the last few days, specifically speaking to viewers on Fox News to donate to his campaign while appearing on the network.

It’s unclear just how much Graham’s stance on the court seat will impact his standing in the race, as well as how much a late influx of cash for his opponent will impact the election’s result. But what is clear is that a sitting U.S. senator who is not worried about losing would not go on Fox News in near tears asking for donations and saying he was “overwhelmed” if it was something he was not actually very concerned about.

Around this time last month, indie favorites Grandaddy announced they would be re-releasing their defining 2000 album The Sophtware Slump as an expansive 4-LP box set. Part of that box set is The Sophtware Slump ….. On A Wooden Piano, a new version of the album recorded by the group’s Jason Lytle on, yes, a wooden piano.

Today, the reissue officially available… for pre-order. To mark the occasion, the band has shared the new piano version of “The Crystal Lake,” which calms the guitar-driven original down into a more tender ballad.

Lyttle previously said of the song back in 2001, “[It’s about] that age-old story, repeated many times in country music, of the wayward soul who leaves a small town with hopes and dreams of the unknown and winds up full of regret in some horrible little apartment in an unfriendly city.”

When announcing the new version of the album, the band explained its origins, beginning by telling a story about the time Lyttle, before recording sessions began, (attempted to) play the album from front to back on piano. The statement continues, “Early last year, as we discussed if we should commemorate the 20th anniversary, I recalled the memory and wondered what the album would have sounded like before all that wonderful production, before one note had been committed to tape.”

Listen to “The Crystal Lake (Piano Version)” above and compare it to the original version below.

The Sophtware Slump 20th Anniversary Collection is out 11/20 via Dangerbird Records. Pre-order it here.

The Iron Bowl is one of college football’s most beloved and highly-anticipated events each year. It’s also responsible for one of the wildest endings in the history of the sport. This is why a lot of sports fans were shocked when a question about the annual contest blanked Jeopardy! contestants on Thursday night.

The beloved game show is back for a new season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with a socially distanced set and some new qualifying methods for contestants. But apparently the three on stage on Thursday weren’t very big college football fans, as a fairly simple question about the Iron Bowl completely blanked them. The question came in a category called ”A’ Is For Autumn,’ which means it’s both a question about fall and will start with the letter ‘a’.”

“Each fall Alabama and this SEC Football arch-rival meet in ‘The Iron Bowl,’” the question read.

And though it was filmed in a world where it seemed unlikely college sports would be able to take place, there’s really no excuse for football fans not to come up with “Auburn.” But as the question timer starts, it’s clear no one is frantically pressing their signaling device to answer it. Sameer guessed a team that starts with an A — Arkansas, which honestly isn’t a bad try. But the obvious answer never came. And even Alex Trebek seemed disappointed.

It did not get a great reaction online.

At least this time it was the contestants, not the show’s judges, making fans angry.

About a quarter of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are nonverbal, and while that number seems high, there’s been sharp decline from a generation ago when the number was closer to half.

This positive shift is due to an increase in studies on ASD which have resulted in more effective therapeutic strategies.

Children with ASD are often nonverbal, but many go onto acquire language skills. Up to 70% of nonverbal children become fluent speakers or can use simple phrases.

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Having a child that is nonverbal or speech-delayed is terribly frustrating because you want them to be able to clearly communicate how they’re feeling emotionally and physically.

It’s also very hard to see them interact with other children without being able to express their full selves like everyone else.

So when a child with autism spectrum disorder makes their first language breakthrough it’s a monumental moment for themselves and those close to them.

Photographer Haley McGuire shared her son Micah’s wonderful achievement on TikTok and the inspiring video has been favorited over 730,000 times.

The first video she shared was of Micah repeating the names of his family members as they cheer in the background. Every time Micah gets a name right, he leaps in excitement and beams with pure pride.

Since the video was first recorded, Micah has shown no signs of slowing his progress.

“It’s been a day and a half now, and everything we ask him to say, he’s copying,” McGuire told Newsweek.

“He’s not going out of his way to say anything on his own, but he’s literally copying everything we say, which is crazy because he wasn’t talking at all,” McGuire continued. “Every now and then, he’d blurt out a word. But when I say ‘wasn’t talking,’ he would go weeks without saying anything. This is crazy. He’s been doing great.”

The video of Micah repeating the names of his family members was followed up by a new recording where he says his name for the first time that’s received over 2 million favorites.

McGuire says Micah is a very loving child and it’s easy to see ion the videos.

“Micah has always been a really sweet, tender-hearted, quiet kid,” she said. “Obviously, he doesn’t talk, but he kind of keeps to himself. He’s always been extremely loving. I know that that’s not necessarily normal for kids with autism. They like to not be touched and they like to be alone. But he’s very affectionate and loving. It’s been easy for us to be so happy and encouraging with him.”

The videos have warmed a lot of people’s hearts online and have been source of inspiration for the McGuire family. But, maybe the best part about the videos is they also give hope to families of children with an autism spectrum disorder, especially those who long for the day they can hear their child first speak.

Following the announcement that John Cena’s The Suicide Squad character, Peacemaker, is getting his own HBO Max series, writer/director James Gunn has been fielding fan questions on social media and setting the record straight, as he so often does. During a recent Twitter Q&A, Gunn made it a point to note that the timeline for Peacemaker has not been confirmed to avoid spoiling The Suicide Squad. While it’s expected that the film will kill off part of its cast, naturally, Gunn wants to keep fans guessing as to which characters will bite the big one in the upcoming action comedy.

When fans highlighted that the press release referred to Peacemaker as an origin story, Gunn directed their attention to the specific wording of the announcement, which actually said that the series will be “exploring the origins” of the douchebag character. As Gunn notes, that doesn’t exactly mean the show is a prequel.

While Gunn played things close to the chest about Peacemaker‘s timeline, he apparently had no qualms with confirming that members of The Suicide Squad will have cameos, which may or may not include Pete Davidson’s Blackguard:

Earlier in the week, Gunn also used Twitter to calm down Marvel fans who were understandably concerned that Peacemaker could delay the filming of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Gunn put those concerns to rest by revealing that he already wrote all eight episodes of Peacemaker while being bored out of his mind during the quarantine. “I’m stuck at home, so I wrote a TV series,” Gunn tweeted.

On top of that, Peacemaker will film during the scheduled break that always existed between The Suicide Squad and the third Guardians movie, which hasn’t been delayed once since Gunn was rehired:

(Via James Gunn on Twitter)

Where some people have ASMR, I have Jacques Pepin. Something about watching a French grandfather with a lisp casually performing incredibly deft knife work with arthritic hands plays directly into my brain’s pleasure centers. I don’t know how long I’ve been watching Jacques, who’s had various shows on PBS’s Bay Area affiliate, KQED, since the late nineties, partly because I go into a blissful trance state and lose track of time whenever I watch him. I can never tell whether I’m watching a new episode or a rerun from 10 years ago. In some ways, Jacques feels timeless — like he’s always been and always will be.

I got to attend a live demonstration with Pepin and his daughter Claudine a few years ago, at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival. I waited in line to take a picture with the chef, and when I finally got to the front, I sputtered, “You’re my favorite!” Because what do you say to your culinary hero and the grandfather who never had you?

“Okay,” Jacques replied, amiably.

As far as I can tell, Pepin hasn’t made any new television episodes in a while, but this month PBS started dropping little videos of his recipes on the American Masters YouTube account. There’s one for fried eggs, various types of omelets, etc. The beauty of a Jacques Pepin recipe is that it’s almost always simple and classic, a nice foundation of basic cooking technique that you can build on.

One new recipe that jumped out at me was his video for Rice Cake With Eggs.

There’s no flash here, which is why I love Pepin, in general. Jaques never has to yell to get your attention and his recipes are the same way, unadorned almost to the point of banality. This is just a three-minute video for a 10-minute recipe, which answers the very mundane question: what should I do with my leftover rice?

This week, I set out to see if it was as easy and delicious as Jacques made it look.

PART I — The Ingredients

I cooked one cup of dry rice the night before — Basmati, cooked in some chicken broth I had with a little butter. Then two eggs, a little olive, a little water, and chives to garnish.

PART II — The Process

Heat Some Oil In A Pan

I think I nailed this one.

Next, put a few cups of rice in the hot pan

• Make rice into a patty.
• Add a little (about 1/4th cup) water.
• Cover and cook for seven minutes to form crust.

I only used about a third of the cooked rice I had for this. The way Jacques did it, he put the cold rice into the pan, pressed it gently with the palm of his hand, added a little water, and then covered it to cook. As Claudine described it during their Aspen demonstration, Jacques is like the food whisperer, so things he makes look incredibly easy often aren’t for other people. For instance, when I mash hot rice into a pan with my bare hand, there’s definitely a bit more trying not to burn the hand and getting rice kernels stuck to it. But I think I still managed okay.

Jacques said about seven minutes for this part, on relatively high heat. Mine took a smidge longer at a 6.5 on the burner, I probably could’ve gone a little hotter. I usually judge done-ness for things like this by smell. Same with hash browns, there’s usually a distinct odor change that indicates when they’re done.

Step Three, Flip Rice Patty

Jacques said you could slide the patty out onto a plate and then turn it over back into the pan, but he accomplished it all at once, with just a little flick of the wrist. Naturally, I wanted to do it his way, so I tried to be a hero.

Result? …Not great.

The patty definitely didn’t flip over in one smooth go like when Jacques did it. I think this probably has to do with the fact that he said he was using the kind of steamed rice you get leftover from Chinese take out, while I was using soaked and washed, middle eastern-style basmati, which has thinner grains and less starch and doesn’t stick together quite as well. I was so flustered I didn’t get a picture of this part. In any case, even if it didn’t turn out in one nice piece it was still mostly evenly cooked and circle-shaped.

Step Four, Add Eggs And Steam

Make little seats in the rice with the back of spoon
Crack eggs into their seats
Cover and cook until eggs are done

I was slightly skeptical that this part would work as well as it did for Jacques, but it did. Aren’t they pretty?

Step Five, Garnish And Serve

Like virtually all Jacques recipes, this one ends with salt, pepper, and chives. Jacques Pepin f*cking loves chives. Chives are to Jacques Pepin what “BAM!” is to Emeril Lagasse. Only instead of shouting at you, he just sprinkles them on gently, leaving you to wonder where he got such big, beautiful chives.

Mine never look as good because I suck at gardening, but it’s still shocking how well they go with almost everything.

Is it as pretty as Jacques’ version?

Definitely not, you can tell that my rice didn’t quite make a “cake.” It’s more like a deconstructed fried rice. But even in flawed form, it was still a classic Jacques recipe: light, comforting, and incredibly simple. It’s certainly not a replacement for your usual Asian fried rice recipes — which are nearly as simple, just as comforting, and come in a hundred variations (I’m sure Zach could teach us 50) — but it’s a nice departure. I love the way the runny yolk coats the crispy rice. It feels light and slightly decadent at the same time.

Lesson learned: next time use stickier rice.