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GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — Police in a quiet Fort Worth suburb worked Monday to piece together a family history after a man dressed in a Santa Claus suit apparently shot six relatives and himself on Christmas.
Grapevine police spokesman Sgt. Robert Eberling said the shooter showed up in the Santa outfit shortly before gunfire erupted and that the family appeared to have been opening Christmas presents. Police responding to a 911 call found four women and three men dead, along with two handguns.
“We think he was just inside there celebrating Christmas with the rest of them and decided for whatever reason that’s how he’s going to end things,” Eberling told The Associated Press.
Investigators worked through Sunday night and into Monday morning, meticulously searching the apartment where the bodies were found, along with vehicles parked outside. Police said they believe the victims were related, though some were visiting and didn’t live in the apartment.
Eberling said investigators are piecing together a “family history,” but he declined to get into specifics. Autopsies of the shooter and the victims were being done Monday by the Tarrant County medical examiner, but it would probably be Tuesday before their identities were released, he said.
Records show the couple had financial problems and that their home, most recently valued on the county tax rolls at $336,200, had been sold in 2010 at a foreclosure auction.
Police and firefighters rushed to the Lincoln Vineyards complex about 11:30 a.m. Sunday after receiving a 911 call in which no one was on the other end of the line. Because no one responded on the phone, police went into the apartment, located at the back of the complex.
They found the seven, aged 18 to 60, dead.
Many of the nearby apartments are vacant, and police said no neighbors reported hearing anything on a quiet Christmas morning when many people were not around.
The apparent murder-suicide involved the first homicides in Grapevine in more than a year and a half.
A heavenly ad is turning hellish for Axe.
The deodorant brand has seen its latest campaign banned in South Africa because its depiction of gorgeous angels falling from heaven offends Christians, the Daily Mail reports.
Carrying the tagline “Angels will fall,” the 60-second commercial sees models sporting wings and halos crashing down from the sky as a man walks down an Italian street. The smitten angels then throw their halos down as they chase after their fresh-smelling prey.
Following a complaint from a male Christian viewer, who said he was upset by “the suggestion that God’s messengers could literally fall for a man on the basis of his shop-bought fragrance,” the country’s Advertising Standards Authority moved to ban the ad on the presumption that other viewers would also be offended.
“The problem is not so much that angels are used in the commercial, but rather that the angels are seen to forfeit, or perhaps forego their heavenly status for mortal desires,” the ASA ruled.
“This is something that would likely offend Christians in the same manner as it offended the complainant.”
In a blog entry at News One, Dr. Boyce Watkins examines Ann Coulter’s recent sound bite of “our blacks are better than their blacks” and disparages the treatment of African Americans by liberals and conservatives alike. Ultimately, Watkins says, black politics must go beyond choosing the better pimp.
Ann Coulter, the woman who makes her money with silly soundbites, decided to offend half the world by stating that “our blacks are better than their blacks,” referring to conservatives vs. liberals. I wasn’t surprised to hear this kind of banter from Coulter, who is smart enough to know how to sell books by saying things that most decent human beings would not. Sadly for poor Ann, she is an embarrassment to serious conservatives, but all the while seems content engaging in the political promiscuity of a woman desperately seeking out her next gig.
“Nanny Annie” Coulter’s remarks (which make her sound like a character from “Gone with the Wind”) also spoke to the peculiar fight between liberals and conservatives, who are trying to toss around the Black community like two pimps arguing over a prostitute. Rather than adjusting their platforms to fit issues that matter to Black America, each party is only able to point out the fact that they believe the other group abuses Black people more than they do. In that regard, neither conservatives nor liberals are innocent when vying to put Black folks on their own plantation.
When Coulter makes reference to “her Blacks,” which include the always-entertaining Herman Cain, she is referring to Black folks who embody the values that Coulter and her friends believe to be true. When someone like Cain attempts to genuinely lead the party in a different direction, he is spit out like a sex offender at a debutante ball. An example is when he challenged Rick Perry over the “niggerhead” controversy and was quickly told to sit down and shut up. Political analyst Yvette Carnell described things beautifully when she said, “The rendering of Black people as the ornaments of diversity, rather than incarnations of it, is one of the essential reasons why Blacks clash with conservatism.”
SIDEBAR: Ann Coulter can kiss my grits sideways to the 2nd power!
So much of our history is lost to us because we often don’t write the history books, don’t film the documentaries, or don’t pass the accounts down from generation to generation.
One documentary now touring the film festival circuit, telling us to “Always Remember” is “Black Survivors of the Holocaust” (1997). Outside the U.S.., the film is entitled “Hitler’s Forgotten Victims” (Afro-Wisdom Productions). It codifies another dimension to the “Never Forget ” Holocaust story–our dimension.
Did you know that in the 1920′s, there were 24,000 Blacks living in Germany ? Neither did I. Here’s how it happened, and how many of them were eventually caught unaware by the events of the Holocaust. Like most West European nations, Germany established colonies in Africa in the late 1800′s in what later became Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, and Tanzania.
German genetic experiments began there, most notably involving prisoners taken from the 1904 Heroro Massacre that left 60,000 Africans dead, following a 4-year revolt against German colonization. After the shellacking Germany received in World War I,it was stripped of its African colonies in 1918.
As a spoil of war, the French were allowed to occupy Germany in the Rhineland -a bitter piece of real estate that has gone back and forth between the two nations for centuries. The French willfully deployed their own colonized African soldiers as the occupying force. Germans viewed this as the final insult of World War I, and, soon thereafter, 92% of them voted in the Nazi party.
Hundreds of the African Rhineland-based soldiers intermarried with German women and raised their children as Black Germans. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote about his plans for these “Rhineland Bastards”. When he came to power, one of his first directives was aimed at these mixed-race children. Underscoring Hitler’s obsession with racial purity, by 1937, every identified mixed-race child in the Rhineland had been forcibly sterilized, in order to prevent further “race polluting”, as Hitler termed it.
Hans Hauck, a Black Holocaust survivor and a victim of Hitler’s mandatory sterilization program, explained in the film “Hitler’s Forgotten Victims” that, when he was forced to undergo sterilization as a teenager, he was given no anesthetic. Once he received his sterilization certificate, he was “free to go”, so long as he agreed to have no sexual relations whatsoever with Germans.
Although most Black Germans attempted to escape their fatherland, heading for France where people like Josephine Baker were steadily aiding and supporting the French Underground, many still encountered problems elsewhere. Nations shut their doors to Germans, including the Black ones.
Some Black Germans were able to eke out a living during Hitler’s reign of terror by performing in Vaudeville shows, but many Blacks, steadfast in their belief that they were German first, Black second, opted to remain in Germany. Some fought with the Nazis (a few even became Lut waffe pilots)! Unfortunately, many Black Germans were arrested, charged with treason, and shipped in cattle cars to concentration camps. Often these trains were so packed with people and (equipped with no bathroom facilities or food), that, after the four-day journey, box car doors were opened to piles of the dead and dying.
Once inside the concentration camps, Blacks were given the worst jobs conceivable. Some Black American soldiers, who were captured and held as prisoners of war, recounted that, while they were being starved and forced into dangerous labor (violating the Geneva Convention), they were still better off than Black German concentration camp detainees, who were forced to do the unthinkable–man the crematoriums and work in labs where genetic experiments were being conducted. As a final sacrifice, these Blacks were killed every three months so that they would never be able to reveal the inner workings of the “Final Solution”.
In every story of Black oppression, no matter how we were enslaved, shackled, or beaten, we always found a way to survive and to rescue others. As a case in point, consider Johnny Voste, a Belgian resistance fighter who was arrested in 1942 for alleged sabotage and then shipped to Dachau . One of his jobs was stacking vitamin crates. Risking his own life, he distributed hundreds of vitamins to camp detainees, which saved the lives of many who were starving, weak, and ill–conditions exacerbated by extreme vitamin deficiencies. His motto was “No, you can’t have my life; I will fight for it.”
According to Essex University ‘s Delroy Constantine-Simms, there were Black Germans who resisted Nazi Germany, such as Lari Gilges, who founded the Northwest Rann–an organization of entertainers that fought the Nazis in his home town of Dusseldorf –and who was murdered by the SS in 1933, the year that Hitler came into power.
Little information remains about the numbers of Black Germans held in the camps or killed under the Nazi regime. Some victims of the Nazi sterilization project and Black survivors of the Holocaust are still alive and telling their story in films such as “Black Survivors of the Nazi Holocaust”, but they must also speak out for justice, not just history.
Unlike Jews (in Israel and in Germany ), Black Germans receive no war reparations because their German citizenship was revoked (even though they were German-born). The only pension they get is from those of us who are willing to tell the world their stories and continue their battle for recognition and compensation.
After the war, scores of Blacks who had somehow managed to survive the Nazi regime, were rounded up and tried as war criminals. Talk about the final insult! There are thousands of Black Holocaust stories, from the triangle trade, to slavery in America , to the gas ovens in Germany .
We often shy away from hearing about our historical past because so much of it is painful; however, we are in this struggle together for rights, dignity, and, yes, reparations for wrongs done to us through the centuries. We need to always remember so that we can take steps to ensure that these atrocities never happen again.
For further information, read: Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany, by Hans J. Massaquoi.
One by one, our NBA stars are finding other means of employment as the NBA lockout forges on.
The Washington Post reports that Delonte West, who made a little more than $1 million last year with the Boston Celtics, has taken a warehouse job with the Regency Furniture store in Brandywine, Md.
During his seven-year NBA career, West, 28, has been paid about $14 million, according to the Post. But West tweeted this week that he needed a second job “to stay afloat during the lockout.”
As previously reported, Kobe Bryant is reportedly signing with a team in Italy. But an overseas move is not allowed for West. During the summer, a judge rejected his request to be allowed to work abroad, because he’s on probation stemming from a weapons case.
After that decision came down, West, currently a free agent, tweeted that it was time to put his pride aside, and that he had applied for work at Home Depot. Apparently, that gig never came through.
Television personality Tavis Smiley and political pundit Sean Hannity exchanged jabs against president Obama Thursday on Hannity’s FOX News television program.
During the segment called is “President Obama Losing His Base?,” Hannity all but ignores Smiley’s real purpose of appearing on the show, to promote his new PBS special about the Black male achievement gap, and instead focused in on criticizing the president and the Congressional Black Caucus.
Smiley was evidently there with a goal of promoting his PBS special about the special problems facing Black boys in our education system. But Hannity covered up his lack of interest in the issue by playing a brief clip from the special and saying, “Before we get to that which I think we’re going to agree on, so let’s start with the point at which we disagree. I think Barack Obama’s failed as president.”
SIDEBAR: Uhmnnnnnn what goes around comes around…….
The 2010 census report coming out Tuesday will include a boatload of good political news for Republicans and grim data for Democrats hoping to re-elect President Barack Obama and rebound from last month’s devastating elections.
The population continues to shift from Democratic-leaning Rust Belt states to Republican-leaning Sun Belt states, a trend the Census Bureau will detail in its once-a-decade report to the president. Political clout shifts, too, because the nation must reapportion the 435 House districts to make them roughly equal in population, based on the latest census figures.
The biggest gainer will be Texas, a GOP-dominated state expected to gain up to four new House seats, for a total of 36. The chief losers – New York and Ohio, each projected by nongovernment analysts to lose two seats – were carried by Obama in 2008 and are typical of states in the Northeast and Midwest that are declining in political influence.
Democrats’ problems don’t end there.
Diddy is out to do something good and charitable this holiday season. He and his vodka brand, Ciroc, have partnered with NYC DOT and E! Entertainment to stop drunk driving.
For three years in a row, the partnership has distributed 2,000 pre-paid debit cards at high traffic locations in the city that are good for $25 worth of travel in the city’s taxicabs, car services, subways, PATH trains and New Jersey transit through the first of the year.
“As the ‘Official Vodka of New Year’s Eve’ Ciroc has made a huge impact over the last two years by helping New York get home safely, so I’m proud to announce that we’re bringing the program back in an even bigger way,” said Diddy. “New York is the world’s most iconic holiday destination, so I’m excited to lead by example to demonstrate that a smooth, sophisticated holiday season doesn’t end when the ball drops, but when everyone gets home safely.”
A great way to save lives and make the holidays safe, the cards will be distributed throughout New York City on Dec. 11, 17, and 31. Click here or follow “YoutheManNYC” on Twitter to find out when and where.
Supermodel Naomi Campbell is coming to TV in a new reality competition show. On the show, The Face Campbell, will serve as a judge. The show will air on the Oxygen channel.
Actor Jaleel White has a new show on the SCI-FI Channel. It’s an extreme game show which airs on Wednesday nights. White was recently bounced from Dancing With The Stars. Many feel his personal life got in the way of his dancing abilities on the show. His baby momma went to the press about past abuse from him. White also in got to an altercation with his dance partner Kym Johnson on the show. I think this hurt his public perception on the show and he got bounced. White is best known for his work as “Steve Urkel” on the show Family Matters.
Towanna Iverson has filed a restraining order against her husband former NBA Superstar Allen Iverson. Mrs. Iverson says her hubby has been harassing her. The Iversons have five kids. Towanna also says Iverson has been hiding money from her, and she can’t afford to feed her family.
No more Khloe and Lamar Odom on the E network! Their self-titled reality show is not being renewed. Odom is now trying to concentrate on his NBA career, and Khloe is in talks to do her own spinoff show minus Odom. In other E network news, get ready for Mary J. Blige. She’s going to be one of the stars of the talent series Opening Act. It’s a talent competition show where they search for talent on the internet. The winner will open up for an A-list music star. The show debuts July 9th.
Will there be a sequel to Steve Harvey’s hit movie Think Like A Man? The movie took in over $60 million at the box office. The movie, based on Harvey’s best-selling book, claimed the no.1 spot at the box office two weeks in a row. I hear they may be a sequel which will focus on marriage and a trip to Las Vegas.
John Legend is replacing Lionel Richie on the ABC singing reality show Duets. Now that Richie will be on tour to promote his number one album Tuskegee, Legend will join Kelly Clarkson and Robin Thicke as they go across the country searching for the perfect duet partner. The show premieres May 24th on ABC.
The Soul Man is the name of Cedric The Entertainer’s new TV Land sitcom. He stars along with Actress/Comedienne Niecy Nash, and he plays Reverend Boyce, an R&B singer turned preacher. The show debuts later this year.
Remember the 1974 movie Uptown Saturday Night with Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and Harry Belafonte (plus a who’s who of cameos)? Well a remake is in the works with possible stars Denzel Washington and Will Smith. Smith bought the rights to remake the three movies Poitier/Cosby films made in the 1970’s. Let’s Do It Again and A Piece Of The Action are the other two.
Cissy Houston is planning on writing a book about her daughter Whitney Houston. Cissy, 78, says she plans to write about the good and the bad with her daughter. Gospel Star BeBe Winans is also writing a book about his friendship with Houston. In other Whitney news, her ex-husband Bobby Brown sat down with Matt Lauer of The Today Show. Brown says he is not the reason for Whitney’s downfall. Brown says he has been clean and sober from narcotics for seven years. He says he saw his ex-wife a week before her death, but didn’t know she was still struggling. He also says their reality TV show, Being Bobby Brown, was a wakeup call for them. Brown says the show made them realize how their drug use was affecting their lives.
Author Toni Morrison is getting a new honor. She is going to be awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom. The 81-year old author just released a new book called Home. Morrison is best known for the books The Bluest Eye, Song Of Solomon and Beloved.