Month: July 2021

This article originally appeared on 01.09.18

Why should a superintendent get a raise while teachers in the same district struggling to make ends meet see their paychecks flatline — year after year after year?

Teacher Deyshia Hargrave begged the question. Minutes later, she was handcuffed and placed in the backseat of a cop car.

The scene was captured below by YouTube user Chris Rosa, who attended a board meeting for Vermilion Parish Schools in Louisiana.

You can watch Hargrave begin speaking about 33 seconds in. The situation starts becoming contentious around 6:35 minutes. Hargrave is arrested at 8:35, and then walked outside in handcuffs and placed in the back of police vehicle. (Story continues below.)

“We work very hard with very little to maintain the salaries that we have,” Hargrave, who teaches middle school language arts, said during a public comment portion of the meeting, stating that she’s seen classroom sizes balloon during her time at the school with no increased compensation. “We’re meeting those goals, while someone in that position of leadership [the superintendent] is getting raise? It’s a sad, sad day to be a teacher in Vermilion Parish.”

According to comments Hargrave made to BuzzFeed News, she believes Superintendent Jerome Puyau was already making $110,000 before the board voted to give him a raise of $38,000. The raise alone is roughly the salary of “a teacher, or two cafeteria workers, or two janitors,” Hargrave told the outlet.

After Hargrave spoke out again later in the meeting, a city marshal on duty asked her to leave — even though the school board was still addressing her.

“You’re going to leave, or I’m going to remove you,” the officer told her, as seen in the video. Many people in attendance seemed shocked. “Are you serious?” someone asked, aghast, in the crowd.

Hargrave leaves the room, followed by the officer. But moments later, someone chimed in, “he’s putting her in handcuffs” — and the room erupts in disarray.

“I am not [resisting], you just pushed me to the floor!” Hargrave is heard screaming at the officer, as he forcibly removes her down the hallway and out the building in handcuffs. “Sir, hold on! I am way smaller than you!”

Image via KATV/YouTube.

According to KATV News, Hargrave was booked in the city jail for resisting an officer — a fact that left many commenters online flabbergasted. School officials are reportedly not pressing charges. “Umm … what charges could they possibly make?” one Redditor noted.

With help from the Reddit community, Rosa’s video has gone viral, garnering more than 600,000 views in less than 24 hours. Clearly, Hargrave’s earnest question about inequality in our education system — met with a grotesque abuse of power — has clearly touched a nerve with people across the country.

“I don’t know how this teacher could have been more polite and patient in her earnest desire to find out why the superintendent deserves a raise while the teachers work harder with less,” YouTube commenter Scott Wells chimed in. “She continued to press because they refused to come up with an answer. Seems like a good question to me.”

We agree.

Drake will join forces with LeBron James, Maverick Carter, and Adel “Future” Nur to executive produce a new documentary about the experiences of Black hockey players in both Canada and The United States. Titled Black Ice, it will also be directed by Oscar nominee Hubert Davis and it will explore, as per a press release, “the history, influence and racialized journey of Black hockey players” in addition to their dealings with systemic racism.

A number of Black players who participated in the sport’s Colored Hockey League — from Canada’s Maritimes all the way to today’s NHL — will be highlighted in the documentary. In a statement about Black Ice, Davis shared his feelings about the film and what he took away from it.

“I was not only surprised but inspired to learn about the stories of the often overlooked and unheralded Black pioneers of hockey,” Davis said, according to Complex. “I think it is more important than ever before for all generations, particularly young people of colour, to understand and see the diverse faces who have contributed and shaped one the essential fabrics of our country.”

Black Ice is the result of a partnership between Uninterrupted Canada and The SpringHill Company, which was founded by James and Carter. The company is also responsible for Space Jam: A New Legacy, More Than A Game, and The Carter Effect. A release date for Black Ice has not yet been shared.

After weeks of rumors and speculation, Thursday being NBA Draft day brought actual action to the rumblings that have been circulating around the league.

While there was one blockbuster getting worked out early on as the Lakers and Wizards tried to finalize a deal to send Russell Westbrook home to Los Angeles, other teams were making moves to adjust depth on their rosters. Ricky Rubio got sent to Cleveland for Taurean Prince, once again finding himself on the move on Draft day, while Landry Shamet got sent from Brooklyn to Phoenix for Jevon Carter and the No. 29 overall.

The Draft is also a great place for teams to try and make moves to clear cap room prior to free agency, which is what happened with the Detroit Pistons who effectively paid the Hornets the 37th overall pick to take Mason Plumlee off of their hands and the two years, $16.5 million remaining on his contract he signed last offseason in Detroit.

Getting the 57th overall pick back is necessary to make the trade legal, but this is clearly a cap move for the Pistons and, for Charlotte, a smart use of some of their cap space to fill a need (center depth) while also adding what could be a decent pick in the early second round. For Detroit, they gain a bit of cap space this year and, maybe more importantly, next season with this move for the cost of business that is a second rounder. This is far from a blockbuster, but it’s more in line with what many Draft night trades look like.

It was once the most expensive movie ever made — and of course it didn’t make much of a profit. But Waterworld, the first post-apocalyptic fiasco starring Kevin Costner did better than the second such film, namely 1997’s The Postman. It may have even aged well — or so claims the producer who’s exhuming it for today’s IP revival craze, giving it a sequel, albeit in the form of a TV series, not a super pricey blockbuster that’s a bear to make.

As first reported by Collider, John Davis, one of the original film’s producers, is looking to return to the sizeable Waterworld well, saying he’s working on “he streaming version of that movie, the continuation of that movie.” What does that mean exactly? Well, Davis says it’s all in the early stages, but the hope is to catch up with the characters “20 years later. All those people, 20 years later.”

Does that mean Costner’s back? Or co-stars Jeanne Tripplehorn and Tina Majorino? Who knows at this point! But the series already has a director: Dan Trachtenberg, of 10 Cloverfield Lane as well as the pilot of The Boys and the freaky Black Mirror episode with Wyatt Russell. Trachtenberg is currently helming the Predator prequel Skull, also for Davis. The Waterworld series has yet to find a home, though Davis names Peacock as a possible destination.

Waterworld is set in far-flung 2500, when sea levels have risen so high that all seven continents are under water. Costner played a mutant known only as the Mariner — a drifter who happens to have gills, and who helps out some nice people against some evil people, who are known as the Smokers, after their love for inhaling nicotine. One can watch it on Peacock.

(Via Collider)

Click to download here.

Tony Please Don’t Cuck Me Just Because You Can

Writer and podcaster PFT Commenter from Pardon My Take joins Matt & Vince to teach you how to get a second slice at The House of Prime Rib and also talk about The Sopranos season five episode five “Irregular Around the Margins.”

If you’re worried about spoilers, first of all, I’m surprised you’re still listening, but skip the first seven minutes. There, you’ve been warned.

Adriana’s got stress-induced IBS because of the war in the Middle East and Christopher is not a sympathetic partner. As pointed out in the podcast, Christoper is a collection of bad boyfriend clichés, which is maybe why everyone believed that she would hook up with Tony. It really looked like they were going to do it, if they hadn’t been in that car accident. This has the guys wondering, is it possible for two people to go on a late night coke run platonically? That conversation dovetails into a surprisingly detailed discussion of the attractiveness of every Flinstones character (turns out they’re all pretty hot).

Who is the hottest Flinstones character? Tell us in a five-star review on Apple Podcasts.

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-Description by Brent Flyberg.

Festivals and big concert events are in full-swing for 2022 so far, and today another event has let fans know it will be moving forward next year. The Days Of Summer cruise fest has officially announced it will take place July 1-4 next year, featuring Lil Baby as a headliner and DJ Khaled as a host, with plenty more artists to be unveiled closer to the date. Fans on the cruise will board the cruise ship known as The Norwegian Sky in Miami and sail through Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay.

If the 2022 event is able to go off without a hitch — COVID-19 has interfered with lots of live events over the last year and a half — it will be the second time through for the cruise fest. Their debut event in 2019 included artists like June 2019 Post Malone, Cardi B, City Girls and Dej Loaf, along with many others. The event organizers for Days Of Summer are the same ones who produced DJ Khaled’s Summerfest Cruise in 2017, featuring Future and A$AP Rocky, so they definitely have the experience necessary to get massive performers on board.

All the cabins for Days Of Summer go on sale today, July 29, and guests can purchase all levels of tickets with a deposit of just $99 if locked in before September 1, 2021. Get more info here.

Jim Jordan wasn’t among the fellow Trump die-hards — i.e., the 4G Network comprised of Republican representatives Gaetz, Greene, Gosasr, and Gohmert — who tried and failed to trespass a D.C. jail housing Jan. 6 perpetrators. But that’s in part because he was a little busy nervously trying to duck a question about his communiqués with former president Donald J. Trump on the day the Capitol was besieged by his violent supporters.

On Thursday, Jordan — who was recently booted from a bipartisan committee probing into the deadly day, partly because he may be a key witness — spoke with Spectrum News, in what he seemed to think would be a softball interview. It wasn’t. Reporter Taylor Popielarz asked him point-blank whether or not he had been in contact with Trump the day his fans endangered he and his colleagues’ lives.

Jordan tried to duck the question, saying he often speaks with Trump. “I spoke with the president last week, I speak with the president all the time, I spoke with him on January 6,” he said, making sure to suggest he was still somehow in power. “I don’t think that’s unusual.”

But Popielarz wasn’t having Jordan trying to play dumb, asking him, “On January 6, did you speak with him before, during, or after the Capitol was attacked?”

It was here that Jordan stammered, eventually claiming he’d have to look, but that he thinks he spoke with him after. “I don’t know if I spoke with him that morning,” he said, as if it hadn’t been a momentous, history-altering day that he probably doesn’t forget.

But people were not buying it, saying that, at the very least, Jordan looked and sounded more nervous than Hugh Grant in a hundred ’90s rom-coms.

To some he even looked “scared as f*ck.”

Should Jordan be called upon by the bipartisan committee looking into what caused the Jan. 6 riots and what happened step-by-step, he should probably find a better or at least less fidgety answer.

While NBA fans were waiting for the culmination of the Lakers trade saga involving Russell Westbrook (after apparently shifting focus away from Buddy Hield), the reset of the league was still working the phones and making other deals.

First, it was Landry Shamet getting sent from Brooklyn to Phoenix for Jevon Carter and the No. 29 pick in Thursday night’s Draft. That was followed by the Wolves and Cavs linking up to send Ricky Rubio to Cleveland for Taurean Prince and a second round pick, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and confirmed by The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski.

Rubio’s fit back in Minnesota was questionable at best last year and with D’Angelo Russell returning in full and Anthony Edwards emerging as an on-ball player, their greater need was to upgrade their wing rotation. Prince will do that for them, with his leading quality being static three-point shooting. For Cleveland, they get a veteran guard who could either be the backup to their young backcourt duo of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton or could be the starter if Sexton gets traded as rumors swirl about his future in Cleveland with an extension looming. In any case, it’s not a massive blockbuster like the Westbrook deal has the potential to be, but it is a sensible deal for two teams trying to find better roster balance.

Suni Lee, 18, a Team USA member from Minnesota, became the Olympic all-around gymnastics champion on Thursday night.

“It feels super crazy, I definitely didn’t think I’d be here in this moment with the gold medal,” Lee said after her win. “I’m just super proud of myself for making it here because there was a point in time when I wanted to quit.”

Lee may be proud of herself, but she is just as excited to share the victory with the Hmong community and her father. Lee is the first Hmong American athlete to ever compete in the Olympics and the first Asian American to win the gold in the Olympics’ all-around competition.

The Hmong people are a Southeast Asian ethnic group that lives mostly in southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. After the Vietnam War, many Hmong refugees settled in America, with the largest communities developing in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. As of the 2010 census, 260,073 Hmong people reside in the United States.

Lee says that the Hmong community back home is “really close.” She says that her success “means a lot to the Hmong community … and to just be an inspiration to other Hmong people [means] a lot to me too.”

The gold medalist also shares the victory with her father John Lee who built her a balance beam when she was a child because her family couldn’t afford to buy one. The beam still sits in the family’s backyard to this day.

SHE DID IT 👏

Suni Lee’s family reacting to her gold medal is incredible 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺
(via @Gia_Vang)
https://t.co/ze0WJSjCp8

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter)
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John Lee was injured in 2019 after falling from a ladder and became paralyzed from the chest down.

John’s injury happened two days before his daughter was to participate in the 2019 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships. She almost backed out of the competition but her father encouraged her to continue from the hospital. She later told NBC that she thought of him “the whole time and it helped me a lot.”

Gymnast Suni Lee’s biggest cheerleader on her unbelievable journey to the #TokyoOlympics?

Her dad. And now she’s… https://t.co/oLJhZA1ZJl

— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics)
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“I wish he was here,” she said on the Today Show Thursday after her victory. “He always told me if I win the gold medal he would come out on the ground and do a backflip. It’s sad that he can’t be here, but this is our dream, and this our medal.”

“We both worked for this. He sacrificed everything to put me in gymnastics. Both my parents really have,” said Lee, one of six children in her family. “This is my family’s medal, my medal, my coach’s medal.”

Lee had stated publicly that her goal was to win the silver in the all-around because she was competing against teammate Simone Biles who is considered by many to be the greatest gymnast of all time. Biles withdrew from the all-around because of mental stress, giving Lee a path to victory.

Suni Lee just did that… She’s now the All-Around champion!!! https://t.co/L4pZ22sUvz

— Tyler Roney (@TylerJRoney)
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On Thursday, Lee seemed to nail every routine with a sense of ease like it was practice, not the greatest competition of her life. She performed exquisitely in the floor exercise, even though her coach, Jess Graba, added new choreography that morning.

Rebeca Andrade of Brazil won silver and Angelina Melnikova of Russia won the bronze in the all-around.

“I didn’t even think I’d ever get here,” Lee said after her victory. “It doesn’t even feel like I’m in real life.”

Scarlett Johansson is done with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but she’s not leaving quietly. On her way out, she hit her soon-to-be-former employers with a lawsuit. On Thursday, the actress filed against Disney, claiming that by releasing Black Widow, her long-awaited solo MCU movie, simultaneously on PVOD Disney+, they breached her contract. No so, the mega-corporation later claimed in a response that found them not mincing words.

“There is no merit whatsoever to this filing,” Disney said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson’s contract and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date.”

Johansson’s lawsuit alleged that her contract guaranteed that Black Widow would receive an exclusive theatrical release, and that they should have waited till theater-going was seen as more safe than it was when it was released in early July.

“Why would Disney forgo hundreds of millions of dollars in box office receipts by releasing the Picture in theatres at a time when it knew the theatrical market was ‘weak,’ rather than waiting a few months for that market to recover?” reads the filing.

It also charges that Disney saw it as an “opportunity to promote its flagship subscription service using the Picture and Ms. Johansson, thereby attracting new paying monthly subscribers, retaining existing ones, and establishing Disney+ as a must-have service in an increasingly competitive marketplace.”

Johansson’s contract, moreover, was allegedly not renegotiated before they announced Black Widow would wind up on Disney+ at the same time it hit theaters, thereby forcing her to file a lawsuit.

Upon its release during the second week of July, Black Widow’s relatively large box office debut was seen as a harbinger that movie theatergoing was back. Disney also claimed that its Disney+ bow was also a big money-maker. Its box office haul has subsequently dropped precipitously, making it one of the lowest-grossing MCU titles. Its Blu-ray debut was bumped extra early, to mid-August. Of course, this has all happened amidst a once-in-a-century public health crisis that has been surging once more.

(Via THR)