Roland S. Martin's Blog, page 706

Bernanke: U.S. Default Would Cause 'Major Crisis'

Source: Annalyn Censky / CNN Money The Federal Reserve Chairman has issued a stern warning to Congress repeatedly this year: if it fails to raise the U.S. debt ceiling by Aug. 2, the economic fallout could be "catastrophic," "self defeating" and "dire." And yet, here we are in mid-July, with the country only three weeks away from a possible default, and Bernanke is repeating his warning again — this time in his semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress. "Clearly, if [...]

Mom Gets Layover In Jail After Yelling At TSA

Source: Joe Myxter /MSNBC A Tennessee woman landed in jail after allegedly yelling at Transportation Security Administration officers and refusing to allow her daughter to go through a full-body scanner and a pat-down search. According to a report in the Tennessean, Andrea Fornella Abbott shouted and cursed at TSA workers at Nashville International Airport on Saturday. Abbott said she didn't want her daughter's "crotch grabbed," the paper reported, citing a police report. The 41-year-old was charged with disorderly conduct. She [...]

Rodney King Faces New Arrest

Source: CNN Los Angeles – Rodney King, whose videotaped beating by police ultimately led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on Tuesday, police said. King was behind the wheel of a 1994 Mitsubishi when he was pulled over in Moreno Valley, in Southern California's Riverside County, the city's police department reported. Officers saw King — who has acknowledged a longstanding drinking problem — commit "several traffic violations," a police statement said. [...]

Woman Jailed After Cutting Off And Throwing Away Husband's Penis

Source: KTLA News Garden Grove, Calif. – A woman is under arrest after police say she drugged her husband, cut off his penis and threw it into the garbage disposal. Garden Grove police were sent to the home in the 14000 block of Flower Street around 9 p.m. Monday night after a woman called 911 for a medical emergency, according to Lt. Jeff Nightengale. When officers arrived, they found a man bleeding from the crotch area. The woman, identified as [...]

Explosions Kill At Least 3 In Mumbai, India

Source: AP / CBS News Mumbai, India – Police say three explosions have happened at busy locations in India's business capital of Mumbai, reportedly leaving three dead. A freelance reporter tells CBS News that the blasts killed at least three people and left about 150 people wounded. An official at the city's Police Control Room said one blast was the crowded neighborhood of Dadar in central Mumbai. The others were at the famed jewelry market Jhaveri Bazaar and the busy [...]

Obama Campaign/DNC Raise $86 Million In Second Quarter (VIDEO)

Source: ABC News Obama campaign manager Jim Messina in a video sent to supporters this morning announced that the Obama 2012 campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised a whopping$86 million, far surpassing their stated goal of $60 million. Messina said that the sum — more than $47 million for Obama for America, more than $38 million for the DNC –came from 552,462 donors. He said 98% of all donations were $250 or less. The average donation was $69. To [...]

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Says More Stimulus Could Be Coming

Source: AP / NPR Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the central bank is prepared to provide additional stimulus if the current economic lull persists. Delivering his twice-a-year economic report to Congress, Bernanke laid out three options the central bank would consider. He says the Fed could launch another round of Treasury bond buying, the third such effort since 2009. It could cut the interest paid to banks on the reserves they hold as a way to encourage them to [...]

Former Bengal David 'Deacon' Turner Shot, Killed By Police

Source: Bob Velin / USA Today Former Cincinnati Bengals RB David "Deacon" Turner was shot and killed Sunday by a deputy in front of a Bakersfield, Calif., convenience store after he allegedly hit a police officer with a bag holding two cans of beer. Turner was 56. He played with the Bengals for three years (1978-80) but had long history of arrests after his career ended. Deputies were investigating reports of teenagers asking adults to buy alcohol and cigarettes and [...]

Bachmann's Clinic Tries To Cure Gay Patients

Source: Catalina Camia / USA Today ABC News reported Monday on the controversial therapy used by Bachmann & Associates, a Christian-based counseling clinic run by Marcus Bachmann, on Monday night. The clinic is co-owned by the Minnesota congresswoman. The "path for my therapy would be to read the Bible, pray to God that I would no longer be gay," Andrew Ramirez told ABC News, who went to the clinic as a high school student in 2004. "And God would forgive me if I [...]

Westboro Baptist Church Plans To Picket Betty Ford's Funeral

Source: Garret Ellison / Religious News Service / The Huffington Post Grand Rapids, Mich. – The anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church has announced plans to picket this week's funeral services for former first lady Betty Ford in California and Michigan. The website of the Topeka, Kansas-based church said the fringe group will demonstrate at Ford's funerals because she divorced her first husband William Warren prior to marrying the late president Gerald R. Ford. In Westboro's eyes, that makes Ford an adulterer [...]