News Features
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Visit John Brown’s new website and check back each Thursday for a new “Politickin With John Brown” post.
Ever since John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his Hail Mary running mate, she’s been a treasure chest of entertainment inspiration, comedic relief and controversy. When their ride to the White House crashed, she stuck to her personal maverickness—burning bridges and blazing her own path in the pursuit of attention. Her new ghostwritten bestseller, Going Rogue, digs its literary nails into all her perceived enemies like an insecure disgraced cheerleader enraged at her ex-teammates.
Surely, most politicians possess a level of egotistical self-importance, but Palin displays a unique disregard for public service, her family and former colleagues. Her willingness to blurt out whatever talking point is politically advantageous shades any minuscule shred of credibility she retained following the election. She’s just trying to get paid. To zero in on her leadership style, here’s some of her most rogue moments…
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A throng of young female fans sounds awesome…until they tear you limb from limb.
Is it a full moon that’s driving young girls crazy? Nah, just a Twilight: New Moon. The new vamps and werewolves flick is making fans hormonally insane, just like the original Twilight film did in 2008. Over the last few years, the franchise’s star Robert Pattinson has gotten it the worst, dodging a mini-riot at an autograph session and taxis on the streets of NYC while running from his crazed fans. His co-stars Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart have caught their share of craziness too: last week in Brazil, 2,000 fans stormed their hotel and tried to rush their rooms before they were ultimately subdued by riot police.
It’s all proof that teenage girls are too imbalanced to be right in the head. It’s not like this should be news to any of us, either. This shit has been going on longer than Kotex has been easing girls’ transition into womanhood. Check out some of the crazier ways fans have showed their appreciation for the stars they love…
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Visit John Brown’s new website and check back each Thursday for a new “Politickin With John Brown” post.
After over 30 years of association with CNN, Lou Dobbs resigned his post yesterday as in-house xenophobe, and will now most likely head over to FOX. While unsurprising, it’s not entirely clear what closed the deal for his pink slip. Perhaps it was the continual calls for his ouster by opponents, or maybe it was the gun shots fired at his New Jersey home last month. Whatever the case, adios, cabrón!
The patronizing pseudo-journalist built his recent career around fomenting fear and hatred towards “illegal” undocumented workers who probably helped supply many of the fruits and vegetables he ate in his 300-acre upscale horse farm. While identifying himself as part of the conveniently-ambiguous “independent” political movement, it was clear that Lou “I’m married to a Latina, so I can’t be racist” Dobbs, was dealing with anger issues as an aging white man clinging to the good ol’ days. So, to celebrate his overdue departure, here’s a look at some of the events leading up to his exit…
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Visit John Brown’s new website and check back each Thursday for a new “Politickin With John Brown” post.
Michael Steele has a tough job. Clearly exploited by Republicans for his assumed appeal to a diverse populace, the RNC Chairman is consistently mocked by both sides of the aisle. With a long history of GOP service, the son of a military man is now on the front lines of the GOP’s image makeover. And it’s ugly out there. His awkward attempt to co-opt “hip-hop slang”—such as referring to Obama’s stimulus plan as “bling bling“—has been embarrassing, if not offensive.
But that’s not to say he lacks any supporters. Even Mike Tyson, who was once married to Steele’s sister, considers him a long-time friend and once offered to literally fight on his behalf. And with some GOP victories in Tuesday’s election—most notably, governorships in Virginia and New Jersey—Steele was feeling himself. Now with chatter of possibly running against Obama in 2012, it’s important to get up to speed with Steele’s most recent nail-on-the-chalkboard moments…
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Visit John Brown’s new website and check back each Thursday for a new “Politickin With John Brown” post.
It’s been an embarrassing month for Rush Limbaugh: rejected by the NFL; humiliated for running with a false story about President Obama’s “thesis”; even clowned by Dr. Dre. And I’m sure there’s more to come. Limbaugh’s multi-million dollar ascent is proof that hate-mongering is a lucrative business. As a rapper once said, “f*ck livin’ positive, cause negativity spreads faster” . But with Racist Rush’s profile as high as ever, it’s only a matter of time before his stumbles make him fall off into the world of disregarded crackpots. To get up to speed, here’s some of Limbaugh’s biggest L’s…
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Visit John Brown’s new website and check back each Thursday for a new “Politickin With John Brown” post.
In 1996, shortly after Republicans took control of Congress, new draconian immigration laws were enforced that encourage authorities to deport convicted criminals to their native country, even if the individual is a legal resident. The law is xenophobic at its core. In fact, US-born citizens are five times as likely to go to prison than those born elsewhere. But after 9/11, the deportation frenzy intensified. In total, over 700,000 immigrants have been removed from the States since 1997, even for misdemeanor offenses or basic civil immigration violations.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) runs their own detainment facilities, which are often outsourced to private companies who have a financial incentive to keep the beds filled. And while inhumane conditions are rampant, coverage is rarely given due to its low-profile residents. But the recent case of celebrity rapper, Shyne—born in Belize but raised in Brooklyn—has pushed the immigration dilemma to the fore-front of pop-culture dialogue. Shyne isn’t the first celebrity to face threats of deportation. Here’s a brief look back…
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The “Balloon Boy” story was full of helium hot air? Say it ain’t so! Turns out young Falcon Heene was just hiding in a box in the attic because his parents, former Wife Swap reality TV morons Richard and Mayumi Heene, told him the family was pulling off a stunt “for a show.” Now we can collectively despise and shame them for using their kid to get publicity (and causing lil’ homie to vomit repeatedly when they put him in front of media vultures who grilled him) and feel less disgusted with ourselves for morbidly following the balloon flight live in the off chance that we’d see a dead boy pulled from wreckage.
Of course, Balloon Boy’s parents weren’t the first people to pull one over on us, then eventually get caught in their lies. Check out more sensational publicity hoaxes after the jump…
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Visit John Brown’s new website and check back each Thursday for a new “Politickin With John Brown” post.
When seeking public office, there’s always the potential of screw-ups that result in grueling embarrassment for the entire family. It comes with the territory. While I’ve touched on the subject of male politicians who engage in extra-curricular smashing, I’ve yet to explore the other side of the coin: embarrassments by the wife. While few and far between, there is a history of First Ladies— most recently Maria Shriver who was caught talking on her cellphone while driving twice in California this week—who have made their governing husbands blush. Although Shriver is the latest, here’s a few more examples of when first ladies embarrass their politician spouses…
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By now we all know about Bernie Madoff’s corporate gangsta, with the $50 billion ponzi scheme he pulled on thousands of investors. But who woulda thunk the billionaire conman was down to get gully in the yard?
According to reports, 71-year-old Madoff floored a fellow inmate after getting into it about the state of the stock market! Sure, it’s not an Aryan Brotherhood blood vendetta or enlisting the other guy into sexual servitude, but it sounds fucking jailish to us. It’s tough enough for the average Joe to survive prison without ended up in a scene straight out of American History X, but it’s a given that anyone with celebrity is gonna have to knuckle up from time to time; after all, “famous and scraped” > “anally raped.” So in a nod to Badass Bernie and his combative compatriots, here’s a brief history of other celebrity prison fights…
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They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery—except when it’s an insidious form of racist fuckery. Case in point? Blackface, the American theater tradition that portrayed African-Americans as stupid, lazy, and buffoon-like. Blackface had an undisputed detrimental impact on the country’s perception of black people, and, as a result, its existence today in America is limited mostly to history books and satirical works a la Spike Lee’s 2000 film Bamboozled (and probably Rush Limbaugh’s community theater group).
In other countries, however, blackface still has contemporary cultural relevancy. Korean recording artists “Bubble Sisters” released an album which showcased the group with their faces painted in black on the cover, and Japanese toy maker Sanrio at one point produced Bibinba, a small action figure with features easily attributable to blackface. And most recently, a group of white Australian performers performed a sketch mimicking/mocking the Jackson 5. Shake.Our.Heads. Complex looks at some of the other controversial foreign blackface moments…
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