Religion
Long takes the short road
Eddie Long
Bishop Eddie Long of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church reached a settlement with his four accusers in the sexual coercion lawsuits filed against him. It was reported that Long agreed to pay $24.8 million to his four accusers to make the matter go away.
When the allegations broke, the embattled Bishop vowed to fight to the end. “I feel like David against Goliath, but I’ve got five rocks and I haven’t thrown one yet,” Long told his congregation last year. However, Long ended up taking the short road and not throwing one, single rock. He entered into mediation, and paid off his accusers instead of going to trial.
Redemption song
Owes by Schwartz
A lot has been said about the ‘good’ Afrika Owes. “She’s a good girl … she’s well-liked and well-loved … she was valedictorian of her charter school before winning a scholarship to prestigious Deerfield Academy, a $43,800-a-year college prep school in Massachusetts … she attended Abyssinian Baptist Church, sang in the choir and was a member of its youth ministry … she was a scholar … she attended basketball camp and won a poetry contest … she had a great future ahead of her … Harlem’s darling … smart girl with fantastic credentials.
And then there’s the ‘other’ Afrika Owes. “She was kicked out of Deerfield Academy … she was running drugs and guns for the ‘137th Street Crew” – a violent gang in Harlem … she carried guns for her boyfriend and happily accepted the bling and other gifts he bought her with drug money … she was considering opening an operation for the gang in Massachusetts … she was an “entrenched” member of the violent gang.”
Snyder v. Phelps
Snyder v. Phelps by Kamm
In an 8-1 decision issued today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects anti-gay picketers at military funerals from tort liability. The majority opinion in Snyder v. Phelps was written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Only Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented. Here are excerpts from the decision.