Dial H For Hero
Dial H For Hero's Journal'Magic: The Gathering' Removes Racist Cards From The Game
https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurenorsini/2020/06/10/magic-the-gathering-removes-racist-cards-from-the-game/#4e54d1fcd46bBack in 1994, Magic: The Gathering printed Invoke Prejudice, a card that appears to depict a horde of hooded Klansmen. The cards action, which allows a player to counter creatures of a different mana color, makes the implication even less subtle. Now, the games parent company, Wizards of the Coast, is removing the controversial card for good.
As global civil rights activism brings racism to the forefront, Magic: The Gathering is taking a hard look at its own history. Wizards of the Coast began by removing seven cards from play and from Gatherer, its official database.
There's no place for racism in our game, nor anywhere else, the company said Wednesday. The events of the past weeks and the ongoing conversation about how we can better support people of color have caused us to examine ourselves, our actions, and our inactions.
Wizards of the Coast began by removing Invoke Prejudice, Cleanse, Stone-Throwing Devils, Pradesh Gypsies, Jihad, Imprison, and Crusade from the game and from its official database of all Magic cards. But a Wednesday tweet indicates that this is just the beginning.
We are starting a review of every card we have printed, the official Twitter account shared. This first pass isn't meant to be an exhaustive catalogue of every problematic card in Magics history, and we will continue to take actions on similar cards in the future.
Looking at it in context, Invoke Prejudice probably should have been removed years ago. Ordered alphabetically and by release date, the card has been assigned the ID 1488 in Gatherer, an unfortunate coincidence which seems to refer to two numbers significant to Nazis and white supremacists. To make matters worse, the cards artist, Harold McNeill, is known for his references to Nazi imagery.
At the same time, its clear that Wizards of the Coast has been making a multi-year effort to promote diverse representation. Today, Magic: The Gathering features gay, lesbian, transgender, and nonbinary characters in its official canon. Hugh McMullen, former Wizards Director of Communications, told me in 2016 that it is important to the game to offer a representation of anyone who might play it.
Look at a typical Magic set today, McMullen said, There are black characters in the world inspired by Greek mythology. We spent a year on worlds inspired by Asian cultures. There are women warriors, women wizards, women sages, and women goblins. Whoever you are, you can see yourself in the game.
Responses on Twitter indicate that fans see Wizards announcement as a step in the right direction, but point out a more glaring problem in Magic: a lack of diversity among the staff. The blog post hints at further progress in its closing remark: There's much more work to be done as we continue to make our games, communities, and company more inclusive. Ive reached out to Wizards of the Coast to see if a spokesperson can clarify further.
Incidentally, I just checked Ebay, and the "Invoke Prejudice" card is currently selling for around $500.
Disney fans say Splash Mountain, a ride inspired by 'Song of the South,' should be re-themed
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/disney-splash-mountain-theme-racist-trnd/index.htmlSplash Mountain, a mainstay at both Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California, stars the animated characters from "Song of the South," the 1946 film long criticized for stereotypes of "spiritual" black men and its seemingly nostalgic view of the antebellum South.
Fans want to keep the ride. But they're asking Disney to scrap all mention of the movie.
A number of suggestions have cropped up urging Disney to retheme the popular ride. The most widely shared one proposes retooling it for "The Princess and the Frog," the first Disney film to introduce a black princess. Some of them have turned into Change.org petitions.
The petitions come at a time when companies -- and the country -- are reckoning with their own biases and, on occasion, racist histories.
The problems with 'Song of the South'
Splash Mountain stars Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox, along with all the ducks & chickens & frogs who share their Southern home, and culminates in a tall drop that sends riders straight through the thorny briar. But the animated characters that appear throughout originated in the 1946 film, "Song of the South," best known for the song "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah."
The film has long been criticized for its romanticized view of the post-Civil War South. The Guardian's Scott Tobias wrote in 2019 that the "world and themes of both [the live-action portion and animated segments starring Brer Rabbit] reinforce a nostalgia for a plantation in the Reconstruction era."
Brer Rabbit's history is controversial, too.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, he was a figure in African folklore that traveled with slaves to the US. Then, in the mid-19th century, author Joel Chandler Harris took the character and popularized it in stories that adopted the dialect he picked up from slaves.
Harris' stories were narrated by an old black man named Uncle Remus, who regales the son of a plantation owner with stories about Brer Rabbit and his animal companions. Those stories formed the basis for "Song of the South."
Today, scholars and readers say Harris' stories employ unquestionably racist stereotypes.
Disney, which unearthed dozens of forgotten films to stream on Disney+, decided to keep "Song of the South" in the vault. It never got a wide at-home release in the US either because of criticisms of racism.
But Disneyland opened Splash Mountain in 1989, decades after the film debuted and was denied a video release. Uncle Remus doesn't appear anywhere in the ride, but the country animals still speak in the same dialect Harris used in his stories and Disney used in the film.
CNN reached out to Disneyland and Walt Disney World for comment and is waiting to hear back.
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Looney Tunes Has Taken Elmer Fudd's Gun Away for HBO Max Revival
https://tvline.com/2020/06/06/looney-tunes-elmer-fudds-gun-hbo-max-revival/Its wabbit hunting season once again, only this time, someone has come for Elmer Fudds gun.
In the new Looney Tunes Cartoons series (which debuted May 27 on HBO Max), the huntsman is back in action, but his signature rifle is gone. (And he often doesnt even appear in his hunting outfit.) Instead, Fudd as does Yosemite Sam, who used to pack a pair of pistols sometimes swings a scythe. The switch-up is reportedly a change made in response to U.S. gun violence. Yet despite this modification, the classic Looney Tunes violence and mayhem will still be allowed
Were not doing guns, executive producer and showrunner Peter Browngardt told the New York Times. But we can do cartoony violence TNT, the Acme stuff. All that was kind of grandfathered in.
The show will stay true to the spirit of the original, while reflecting modern sensibilities, the EP said. What does that mean exactly? Maaaaany sticks of dynamite, elaborate booby traps and cannons-at-close range will very much be in play, in addition to the requisite anvils, bank safes and pianos that famously fall on unsuspecting heads.
The EP also touched on another modern issue plaguing youth and society today: bullying. Were going through this wave of anti-bullying, Everyone needs to be friends, Everyone needs to get along. Looney Tunes is pretty much the antithesis of that. Its two characters in conflict, sometimes getting pretty violent.
An all-new series from Warner Bros. Animation, Looney Tunes Cartoons finds many of the beloved classic characters in their standard pairings in simple, gag-driven and visually vibrant stories. The new series consists of 80 11-minute episodes, each comprised of animated shorts that vary in length and include adapted storylines for todays audience, in addition to forthcoming holiday-themed specials.
Arrest in fatal shooting of beloved retired St. Louis police captain during protests
Source: CBS News
St. Louis A 24-year-old St. Louis man has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a retired police captain who died on a night of violent protests while trying to protect his friend's pawn shop, the city's prosecutor announced Sunday.
Stephan Cannon was being held without bond on a first-degree murder charge in the death of David Dorn, 77, who was killed Tuesday on the sidewalk outside Lee's Pawn and Jewelry. Dorn's last moments were caught on video and apparently posted on Facebook Live, though the video has since been taken down.
Dorn's death came on a violent night in St. Louis, where four officers were shot, officers were pelted with rocks and fireworks, and 55 businesses were burglarized or damaged, including a convenience store that burned.
The unrest came as cities across the U.S. have seen protests and violence since George Floyd died May 25 after a white Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for several minutes, even after the handcuffed black man stopped moving and pleading for air.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-dorn-arrest-suspect-killing-st-louis-police-captain-protest/
Elon Musk tells SpaceX employees that its Starship rocket is the top priority now
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/07/elon-musk-email-to-spacex-employees-starship-is-the-top-priority.htmlSpaceX launched astronauts for the first time barely a week ago but CEO Elon Musk does not want the company resting on its laurels.
Instead, Musk urged SpaceX employees to accelerate progress on its next-generation Starship rocket dramatically and immediately, writing Saturday in a company-wide email seen by CNBC.
Please consider the top SpaceX priority (apart from anything that could reduce Dragon return risk) to be Starship, Musk wrote in the email.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to CNBCs request for comment on Musks email.
His space company launched a pair of NASA astronauts on May 30, marking a historic first for SpaceX and a crucial step forward for the U.S. space program. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule carried the astronauts to orbit and on to the International Space Station. That mission is ongoing, as Musk noted, with the spacecraft set to return the astronauts to Earth in the next couple months.
The Falcon 9 rocket that launched the astronauts is the mainstay of SpaceXs business, with 85 missions over the past decade. But Starship represents the companys aim to make obsolete even the cost-saving advances of its Falcon 9 fleet. Its Falcon 9 rockets are partially reusable, as the company often lands the large booster stage of the rocket and recovers the rockets nosecone. But Musks goal is to make Starship fully reusable envisioning a rocket that is more akin to a commercial airplane, with short turnaround times between flights.
Musk last year unveiled the Starship prototype, built of stainless steel and dwarfing the companys existing spacecraft. SpaceX is developing Starship with the goal of launching as many as 100 people at a time on missions to the moon and Mars.
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Looters who hit L.A. stores explain what they did: 'Get my portion!'
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/looters-who-hit-la-stores-explain-what-they-did-get-my-portion/ar-BB155hREThe young man flanked the shattered entry of a ransacked CVS in Santa Monica, where people had swept the shelves clean of everything from diapers to detergent. The man, who did not cover his face, admitted he was a looter. He did not apologize.
Weve got no other way of showing people how angry we are, he said.
Out of the store ran another young man, this one holding a carton of eggs. He grabbed a friend and started scanning the street for targets: police cars. Were doing it because we can, he said.
Over in Van Nuys, a teenage boy standing outside a ravaged Skechers store held up a backpack. That was all he took. But it was enough, he said.
We are just trying to provide and take up the opportunity that we are getting right now. Thats all.
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Americans are loading up on guns and ammo in the wake of race protests
https://www.yahoo.com/news/americans-loading-guns-ammo-wake-153936309.htmlAn AT&T store across from her apartment in Buckhead, Georgia, was ransacked, Rambert said. And owning a gun would give her a greater sense of safety.
"During the times we're living in, you just never know what might happen," Rambert said.
She was met with long lines at two nearby gun shops when she went to purchase a pistol. "At first, I was surprised at the number of people, but I was happy to see so many of us exercising our amendments," Rambert said.
She is part of a wave of Americans shopping for firearms as protests erupt across the country triggered by the death of 46-year-old George Floyd, who was unarmed when a white police officer pinned him to the ground with a knee to his neck.
Gun and ammunition sales have lifted since mid-March when the pandemic was declared. And higher-than-average sales continued through May. Now, there are signs that gun sales may start to surge again in June.
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Retired police captain shot to death at St. Louis pawn shop in slaying caught on Facebook Live
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/retired-police-captain-shot-to-death-at-st-louis-pawn-shop-in-slaying-caught-on/article_d482138c-0224-5393-bd87-9898bebb3fd1.html#tracking-source=home-top-story?resize=300%2C326
David Dorn, 77, was shot in the torso about 2:30 a.m. He died on the sidewalk in front of the shop, Lees Pawn & Jewelry, at 4123 Martin Luther King Drive.
Police have made no arrests and said they have no suspects. Authorities have announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
The killing north of downtown happened on a night of violence and destruction in St. Louis, as rioting followed protests over the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Dorn was at the pawn shop to protect it from looting.
Looters Snag 50+ Cars Including $100K Hellcats, Chargers, Challengers, And Trackhawks
https://www.yahoo.com/autos/looters-snag-50-cars-including-205816642.htmlThere's no denying that 2020 is a year for the history books that nobody in this lifetime could forget even if they tried. While we are still dealing with a global pandemic that has been spreading like a wildfire doused with gasoline, protests have turned into violent riots across the country following the recent death of George Floyd after his neck was pinned by the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin during an arrest. Businesses, apartments, police stations, you name it, have been completely destroyed and/or set ablaze in cities everywhere. Adding insult to injury, people have turned to looting and ravaging businesses, even the small local stores that are already trying to stay afloat due to COVID-19 and the plummeting economy. One particular Dodge dealership located in San Leandro, California, was a recent target of such mayhem. Not only was the dealership heavily damaged, but more than 50 of their high-performance vehicles were stolen and driven right off the lot. That includes almost every single one of their Dodge Challenger Hellcats worth $100,000 apiece.
Right now were thinking 50 [vehicles] Gone," said Carlos Hidalgo, owner of the dealership. "We have trackers on them so were seeing which ones are out there. Theyre running around everywhere.
The town of San Leandro, set in between Hayward and Oakland, saw its fair share of the chaos. As mentioned above, their local Dodge dealership suffered a great deal as their showroom windows were smashed out allowing easy access to the keys for the most valuable vehicles on the lot. A large group of looters were able to take off with over 50 performance models and that includes almost every single $100k Dodge Challenger Hellcat in the dealership's inventory.
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Florida sheriff warns potential rioters 'the people of Polk County like guns'
https://www.wate.com/news/florida-sheriff-warns-potential-rioters-the-people-of-polk-county-like-guns/I would tell them, if you value your life, you probably shouldnt do that in Polk County, said Sheriff Grady Judd. I encourage them to own guns, and theyre going to be inside their homes tonight with their guns loaded. And if you try to break into their homes tonight and try to steal, to set fires, Im highly recommending they blow you back out of the house with their guns.
The Polk County Sheriffs Office has extended the countys curfew another night following a weekend of unrest and criminal activity.
The death of George in Minneapolis at the hands of that police officer was outrageous, Judd said. Had that police officer done here what he did there, he would have been locked up in the county jail by sundown.
But Minneapolis is not Polk County, Judd continued. And I want to say unequivocally that the community here is unbelievable But please understand, that if you come here to riot, to loot, to injure people, were going to lock you up in the county jail.
Judd emphasized his appreciation for peaceful protests, but condemned those who were there over the weekend looting and rioting.
Polk Countys curfew goes into effect from 8 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.
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