WJZ-TV [Baltimore, MD]
25 January 2019
Reports Of Gang Initiation In
Fells Point, Canton ‘Unsubstantiated’
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore city officials are on
rumor control after social media posts spread information about a gang
initiation in the Fells Point and Canton neighborhoods this weekend. […] The
rumors stated that people could be the target of a large gang’s initiation,
which would include violent robberies.
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The Sun [UK]
26 January 2019
Bar sign which compares beer
to women and jokes about oral sex blasted for being ‘sexist’
A BAR in Reading has been slammed for its
"misogynistic" signs after a punter spotted "horrific"
phrases written on signs and walls. Customer Johnathan Benson was shocked when
he saw the "artwork" in Caffeine and Cocktails bar this week. The
remarks included "jokes" about why "beer is better than
women"[.] […] Responding to the complaint, the venue confirmed they had
taken Johnathan's concerns seriously, explaining they have now painted over the
phrases. […]
[Folklorist Alan Dundes and copylore collector Carl
Pagter (Never Try to Teach a Pig to Sing
(Wayne State University Press, 1991, 408-9)) note that the earliest version of
this list they found was from 1987. An email list of why beer is better than
women was part of the evidence in a sexual harassment charge brought by four
female employees against the Chevron Corporation, which paid $2.2 million to
settle the case in 1995.]
New York Times
22 February 1995, p. A16
Chevron Settles Sexual Harassment Charges
=====
The Sun [UK]
27 January 2019
Muslims demand Nike recall
‘offensive’ Air Max trainer with ‘Allah written on the sole’
NIKE has been urged to recall “offensive” Air Max
trainers because they have “Allah’s name in Arabic” on the sole. Saiqa Noreen
was appalled when she spotted text on the bottom of the show and accused the
sports brand of “blasphemy”. […] Saiqa launched a petition for Nike to recall
their train with more than 4,800 signing it. […]
New York Times
27 January 2019
Quest
to Solve Assassination Mystery Revives an AIDS Conspiracy Theory
[…] In the film, “Cold Case Hammarskjold,”
which debuted Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival, a former militia member
claims that his organization used phony vaccinations in the early 1990s to
spread HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in an attempt to wipe out the black
population. “We were at war,” said the former militia member, Alexander Jones.
“Black people in South Africa were the enemy.” Scientists immediately cast
doubt on the claim, which they called medically dubious. […]
=====
Emily Flake, The
New Yorker, 4 February 2019. [As the ultimate “killer clown,” the Grim
Reaper, wearing a clown mask, asks his panicky victim, “What? Is this not
better?”]
=====
In the “Weekend Update” segment of Saturday Night Live (NBC, 26 January
2019), the character Cathy Anne (played by Cecily Strong) tells co-host Michael
Che that she is missing two ribs.
Michael Che: You have two ribs missing?
Cathy Anne: Yeah, I got them taken out ‘cause of that
Marilyn Manson thing. Apparently, it’s two ribs if you’re a girl. Spoiler
alert: It doesn’t work. You can’t reach.
Scott Koblish, “Winging It.” The Many Deaths of Scott Koblish (San Francisco: Chronicle Books,
2018); unpaginated. A collection of cartoons showing the artist dying in
various ways, including by avian abduction.
Geof Darrow, The Shaolin Cowboy: Who’ll Stop the Reign? Milwaukie, OR: Dark
Horse Books, 2017. Darrow’s graphic novel features trash-filled cityscapes
overrun by giant lizards, cigarette-smoking feral dogs and cats, and
pterosaurs, one of which abducts a diaper-clad human baby (see pages 33
(detail, below left), 45, 56, 60, 75, 77 (detail, below right), 97). The baby’s
fate, given the unremitting carnage depicted in the novel, is unlikely to be
favorable.
