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Kara Menini

Adam Mayes kills himself, kidnapped sisters returned to family

Two week manhunt for FBI Most Wanted list man is over

Adam Mayes, the man who kidnapped two girls who he had been obsessed with, killed himself on Thursday with a gunshot to the head just as enforcement was closing in on his hiding spot.

Adam Mayes, who had been put on the FBI’s Most Wanted list on Wednesday, kidnapped Alexandria Bain, 12, and her sister, Kyliyah Bain, 8, almost two weeks ago after he killed their mother and eldest sister. The sisters have been released from a Memphis Hospital after suffering from mild dehydration and poison ivy, but they are considered safe and healthy.

Adam Mayes kidnapped the girls because he believed he was their real father. Adam Mayes had been a close family friend to the Bain family, whom lived in rural western Tennessee in Hardeman County. According to the mother-in-law of Adam Mayes, he was a “control freak” who blamed his paternity as reasons for problems in his marriage to Teresa Mayes. Teresa’s mother told NBC’s “Today,” “I’m scared about what will happen to my daughter, that she will take the brunt of the punishment. If she participated in any way, it was because she was too scared to stand up to Adam or she was brainwashed.”

Teresa faces murder and kidnapping charges because she helped transport the bodies of the girls, their mother and their sister to Mary Mayes’ house, the mother of Adam Mayes.

According to reports, Adam Mayes got into a fight with Jo Ann Bain about the girls, which lead to the murder. It is unknown why he also killed Bain’s eldest daughter. Adam Mayes and ex-wife Teresa then took the bodies and buried them in a shallow grave behind his mother’s home.

Adam Mayes then took the girls to a “densely wooded and shrub-laden sea of verdant green Mississippi backwoods,” reported the L.A. Times. The area where he kept hidden with the girls was behind the Zion Hill Baptist Church in a wooden structure.

A tip was given, said FBI spokesman Joe Siskovic, which led officials to contact a special unit the Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks that specialized in rescues in difficult terrain. “We reached out to them and brought in their skills,” said Siskovic. “It is a heavily wooded area like most of the area out that way; thick with brush and timer in uneven terrain. It is not great conditions.”

Just after 7 p.m. on Thursday, officers spotted the oldest girl, Alexandria and then spotted Adam Mayes. After telling Adam Mayes to show his hands, Mayes took a semiautomatic pistol from his waistband and shot himself in the head.

The girls were then rescued, given water and brought to the hospital. They have been released to their family.

Even though Adam Mayes is dead, officers are still looking into the case, especially at Teresa Mayes and Mary Mayes. It is unclear who will receive the $171,000 reward that was offered for the capture of Adam Mayes.

Bristol Palin blames the Obama girls for Presidents stance on gay marriage

Article written on Patheos.com stirs controversy

Oh, Bristol Palin.

Bristol Palin, the 21-year-old daughter of former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin decided to weigh in on President Obama recently going public with his stance on gay marriage. Bristol Palin wrote “Hail to the Chiefs—Malia and Sasha Obama,” which blames the Obama girls for changing their father’s mind about gay marriage.

Bristol Palin, the unwed mother of three-year-old Tripp, decided to get up on her high horse and give the world her very important opinions on the matter.

President Obama said his stance on gay marriage was one that evolved. He said, “You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and, frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.” 

Bristol Palin took these comments to mean that the President is asking his daughters about their opinions on policy change, when in reality he was simply shown a new perspective from his children, an observation on his part. “So let me get this straight … it’s a heroic act if the President made a massive change in a policy position that could affect the entire nation after consulting with his teenage daughters?” Bristol Palin wrote.

Bristol Palin continued, “While it’s great to listen to your kids’ ideas, there’s also a time when dads simply need to be dads. In this case, it would’ve been helpful for him to explain to Malia and Sasha that while her friends parents are no doubt lovely people, that’s not a reason to change thousands of years of thinking about marriage. Or that—as great as her friends may be—we know that in general kids do better growing up in a mother/father home. Ideally, fathers help shape their kids’ worldview.”

It gets better. Bristol Palin wrote, “Sometimes dads should lead their family in the right ways of thinking. In this case, it would’ve been nice if the President would’ve been an actual leader and helped shape their thoughts instead of merely reflecting what many teenagers think after one too many episodes of Glee.”

First of all, Bristol Palin, it would be nice to see that evidence you speak of that says children do better in a “mother/father home.” Seeing as her son doesn’t have parents that live together, will he be “worse” because of it? Second off, the idea that marriage hasn’t changed in the past two thousand years is just wrong. Marrying for love is actually a relatively new concept. Marriage used to be a game of class, tying families together and popping out kids; wives and husbands very often had extra marital affairs with one or both sexes—just read any biography of Shakespeare.

It’s always infuriating to watch people claim that the U.S. was founded on Christian values (because it wasn’t) but it’s funny to see when people take the same position as Bristol Palin on an issue that has been compared to the Civil Rights movement. The opposition to the rights of a minority group in the 40s and 50s look ignorant to everyone today, but the opposition to a minority group in the in the 2000s doesn’t look ignorant to at least half the population today. It’s interesting to wonder if our children will look back on the battle of gay marriage and see it in the same light that we see the Civil Rights movement: What kind of idiots were against equal rights?

Between Two Ferns saw a bigger screen yesterday

30-minute special aired before the Comedy Awards on Sunday

Between Two Ferns, the internet show by Zach Galifianakis, has finally found its way to a bigger screen. Between Two Ferns debuted a 30-minute television special, “A Fairytale of New York,” on Sunday night before the Comedy Awards on Comedy Central.

Between Two Ferns saw three big names for its debut episode: Tina Fey, Sir Richard Branson and Jon Stewart. Zach Galifianakis asked the pressing questions like how much Sir Richard Branson makes or if Jon Stewart thinks Bill O’Reilly smells like mothballs or a moth’s balls. The air of awkwardness that Galifianakis has perfected so well in Between Two Ferns definitely didn’t hurt the show’s success. The first television episode also saw the genuine hatred of Galifianakis from its celebrity guests that Between Two Ferns’ fans have come to expect. Jon Stewart puts down Galifianakis’ movie career by saying that he is only successful because he carried something that people like; a monkey and a baby. “Do you think I would have been cut out of First Wives’ club if I had been carrying a baby?” Stewart asks.

Although Between Two Ferns has taken a year-long hiatus, Galifianakis’ show has remained popular. The show where Galifianakis interviews celebrities literally between two ferns has won several awards, including a nomination for “Best Viral Original” at this year’s Comedy Awards. 

Director Scott Aukerman is the man responsible for making Between Two Ferns a real comedy show. It is unclear whether Between Two Ferns will permanently be on television or if it will continue to delight us, online, four minutes at a time.

Eli Manning hosts SNL

New York quarterback proved his talents in comedy

Eli Manning hosted “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, and although the Giant’s quarterback felt “a little bit out of [his] element,” he still did a pretty good job.

Eli Manning, in his monologue, made the audience laugh right off of the bat, “It’s great to be here hosting Saturday Night Life. After two Super Bowls, this is definitely the third most exciting night of my life.” Eli Manning said that even though he wasn’t born there, playing for New York has made him feel like a real New Yorker; he then proceeded to give fantastic recommendations to tourists in the audience like the best place to get Italian is Olive Garden.

Eli Manning appeared in drag, as Miss Chicken Fried Steak who couldn’t comprehend losing in a drag show and the third unknown member of Cheech and Chong, but Eli Manning really flourished in the skits Text Message Evident, Little Brothers and Motion Capture where Eli Manning decides on a iconic move, like Tebow’s, by miming making a sandwich, dropping it on the ground, making sure no one is watching and then taking a bite.

Eli Manning is getting positive reviews for his performance especially since the quarter back hasn’t had much experience in the acting world.

Rihanna was the guest singer on Saturday’s show and E News called her song Where Have You Been, “one of the most elaborate sets a performer has had this season.”

Junior Seau remembered on the surf

Cause for suicide starting to become clearer

Junior Seau, NFL all-star for the better part of 20 years, was remembered on the beachfront near his home where he committed suicide last week. As an avid surfer, it was only natural to remember the linebacker with a paddle-out.

Junior Seau was remembered when several hundred people took part in the paddle-out where they formed a circle, held hands and said a prayer for the former football player. They splashed water towards the sky in remembrance, and a cousin of Junior Seau even took Seau’s board out for one last ride while hundreds looked on and cheered from the beach.

The 43-year-old Junior Seau committed suicide by putting a bullet in his chest in his home in Oceanside. His girlfriend was the one to find him.

Because of his nearly two decades in the NFL, Junior Seau suffered from numerous hard hits that led to head trauma. The repeated traumas most likely lead to Junior Seau developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy that is caused by excessive brain trauma; it cannot be diagnosed before death and is a probable cause for Seau’s suicide.

In an article by Barbara Bruno in a Huffington Post blog, “Junior Seau is the twelfth well-known retired professional football player to kill himself in the last 25 years.” Bruno reported that Andre Waters committed suicide in 2006, and the doctor who examined the defensive back’s brain said the 44-year-old “Waters’ brain tissue had degenerated into that of an 85-year-old man with similar characteristics to those of early-stage Alzheimer’s victims.”

Bruno also points out the similarities of Seau’s suicide and Dave Duerson’s suicide. Duerson took his own life in February of 2011 with a similar self-inflicted gun-shot wound to the chest. The difference is that Duerson “left notes and sent text messages indicating he wanted his brain to be donated to Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy—dementia caused by football-related concussions,” reported the Miami News Time.

Although it doesn’t seem that Junior Seau left any notes, his history of opinions on the violent nature of the game seem to indicate he took his life the way he did for the same reasons as Duerson. When talking about rule changes to make football safer, Junior Seau said, “It has to happen. Those who are saying the game is changing for the worse, well, they don’t have a father who can’t remember his name because of the game. I’m pretty sure if everybody had to wake with their dad not knowing his name, not knowing his kid’s name, not being able to function at a normal rate after football, they would understand that the game needs to change. If it doesn’t there are going to be more players, more great players, being affected by the things that we know of and aren’t changing. That’s not right.”

Bruno, in her article, claims the same thing; “We want so badly to believe that these are isolated, tragic occurrences. But we know better. And it has to change. The game has to change or we can no longer support it in good conscience.”

Currently, the family of Junior Seau is in the process of deciding whether or not to donate his brain for research in football-related injuries.

Joe Biden supports same-sex marriages

Vice President’s comments have Obama administration nervous

Vice President Joe Biden appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday and gave his personal views on gay marriage—a few of which have gotten the Obama administration in trouble because the President hasn’t necessarily conveyed the same opinions.

Joe Biden, although he didn’t say it out right, told Meet the Press that he supports gay marriage and would like it to become a main issue should Obama be re-elected.

“I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction—beyond that,” said VP Joe Biden.  Joe Biden even gave him own definition of what marriage is, “Look—I just think—that—the good news is that as more and more Americans become to understand what this is all about is a simple proposition. Who do you love? Who do you love? And will you be loyal to the person you love? And that’s what people are finding out is what –what all marriages, at their root, are about. Whe—whether they’re—marriages of lesbians or gay men or heterosexuals.”

When asked if the administration will finally take a stance on same-sex marriage, Joe Biden claimed that he couldn’t answer that question, but the President has always fought for equal rights, “Well, the president continues to fight, whether it’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell or whether it is making sure, across the board, that you cannot discriminate. Look—look the the executive orders he’s put in place. Any hospital that gets federal funding, which is almost all of them, they can’t deny a partner from being able to have access to their—their—their partner who’s ill or making the call on whether or not they—you know—it’s just—this is evolving.”

Joe Biden even cited the TV show Will and Grace as a stepping stone of sorts to give insight to the lives of homosexuals to regular Americans who are ignorant of a certain life style choice. “I take a look at when things really begin to change, is when the social culture changes. I think Will and Grace probably did more to educate the American public that almost anything anybody’s ever done so far. And I think—people feat that which is different. Now they’re beginning to understand…”

These comments by Joe Biden have the administration nervous because they don’t want the public thinking that the Vice President and the President are on opposite sides of any issue. A spokesperson said of Biden’s comments, “The vice president was saying what the president has said previously—that committed and loving same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections enjoyed by all Americans, and that we oppose any effort to rollback those rights.”

Suge Knight arrested for the murder of Tupac?

Rumor has surfaced on Twitter

Suge Knight was in the news just a couple weeks ago when he went on 93.5 KDay in L.A. with Tattoo and Cee Cee and brought up the urban legend that Tupac is probably still alive. Suge Knight said, “Maybe the question is…Pac’s not really dead…Pac’s somewhere else.”  Now the Twitter sphere is abuzz with the rumor that Suge Knight has been arrested for the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur.

Suge Knight was with Tupac the night he was shot in a drive-by in Las Vegas after the two had attended a Mike Tyson boxing match earlier in the night. There is a famous picture of the two, Suge Knight driving and Tupac in the passenger seat, that was taken 20 minutes before Tupac was shot. Since then, everyone from Diddy to Suge Knight has been accused of being the murderer, but at the very least, Suge Knight has always been accused of being the one to have set the young rapper up by driving him to his death. There have even been speculations that someone says, “Suge shot me” in the song The 7 Day Theory that have pointed even more fingers at Suge Knight.

However convinced people might be about Knight’s arrest, there have been celebrities like Justin Bieber who have “died” in the Twitter world. There haven’t been any reports from major news networks about the arrest, so most likely, this is just a rumor.
Malamin tweeted, “Suge Knight arrested for tupacs murder!!:OOOOO,” but there are some, like LeavingUMesmerized, who still keep the conspiracy theory going. She tweeted, “AGAIN.. Suge Knight will NEVER be arrested and convicted of Biggie and Tupac’s murders because he has LAPD on his payroll.. #BehindTheMusic.”

Black Media Scoop decided to go on “rumor patrol” and has come to the conclusion that this is, in fact, a rumor. They even posted a video that “proves” Suge Knight has been arrested from a newscast on KTLA, but even Black Media Scoop wrote, “This video looks soooo edited it’s not even funny. Also as my friends over at KTLA will tell you, if anyone is arrested for Tupac’s murder it would be the TOP story on their website and around the world.”

Ted Nugent sits down in first interview after meeting with Secret Service

Conservative rocker goes on unprovoked rant

Ted Nugent appeared on CBS This Morning in his first interview since his meeting with secret service agents about his comments that were taken as a threat against President Barack Obama.

Ted Nugent, back in April, said on a radio show that he would either be dead or in jail this time next year if Obama was re-elected into office. He publically supports the Romney campaign was talking about having to be aggressive to get Mitt into office. That was taken as a threat.

Ted Nugent said of the incident, “I feel sorry for liberal who can be that brain-dead to take a clear statement of fear on my part and turn it into a threat on somebody else.” “I don’t think their [Secret Service] concern was that I threatened someone, I think their concern is that someone claimed I threatened someone. In fact, I got to tell you, and I don’t mean to put any professionally on the spot, but—and I don’t have the greatest hearing in the word – but I thought I heard something to the point of, ‘I didn’t think so.’”

Ted Nugent claims the meeting was about 35-40 minutes and he described it as “adorable.”

Ted Nugent then went on a rant about his charity work, which was unprovoked, and proceeded to yell, “I’m an extremely loving, passionate man, and people who investigate me honestly, without the baggage of the political correctness, ascertain the conclusion that I’m a damn nice guy. And if you can find a screening process more powerful than that I’ll [BLEEP], [BLEED],[BLEED], [BLEEP].” One such bleep was aimed at a female CBS news producer who was off camera.

Ted Nugent also claims he was disappointed by the cancellation of one his shows for the Army, who he sees as a big part of his fan base. Ted Nugent said, “To think that there’s a bureaucrat in the United States Army that would consider the use or abuse of First Amendment rights in determining who is going to perform at an Army base is an insult and defiles the sacrifices of those heroes who fought for the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights.”

Scott Thompson, CEO of Yahoo, may have lied about his college degree

Hedge fund found he may have fudged his computer science degree

Scott Thompson, the recently hired CEO of Yahoo!, will presumably be under investigation after hedge fund Third Point’s CEO Daniel Loeb sent a letter to Yahoo! Inc board of directors addressing the fact that Scott Thompson doesn’t hold the college degree he claims to have.

A Scott Thompson biography and Yahoo! filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission both state that Scott Thompson holds two degrees in accounting and computer science. An activist Yahoo! investor wrote a letter to the company’s board yesterday with the allegations.

Loeb wrote, “A rudimentary Google search reveals a Stonehill College alumni announcement stating that Mr. Thompson’s degree is in accounting only. That announcement is consistent with other documents (including filings with SEC) that reflect Mr. Thompson received a degree in accounting, but not computer science.”
Loeb continued, “Upon recognizing this discrepancy, Third Point initially assumed that the documents we had reviewed were incorrect and the representation in Yahoo!’s public filings were accurate. However, we were then informed by Stonehill College that Mr. Thompson did indeed graduate with a degree in accounting only. Furthermore, Stonehill College informed us that it did not begin awarding computer science degrees until 1983—four years after Mr. Thompson graduated.”

Loeb still gave Thompson the benefit of the doubt, assuming he had taken enough courses that would make him competent in computer science, but instead found “that during Mr. Thompson’s tenure at Stonehill only one such course was even offered—Intro To Computer Science”

Third Point is calling to the board to investigate this situation, and if Scott Thompson does not have an explanation, then he should be terminated.

Loeb not only found the forged degree on Scott Thompson, but another Yahoo! employee, Chair of the Search Committee and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Patti Hart, claims to hold a Bachelor’s degree in marketing and economics but in reality only holds a degree in Business Administration. This finding came when his company was pondering who could have let this simple background check discrepancy was overlooked.

Yahoo! made a statement regarding Scott Thompson, “[Upon] completion of its review,” they said, the board” will make an appropriate disclosure to shareholders.”

Scumbag Steve no longer just a meme

Poor soul who was dubbed Scumbag Steve has made a rap persona out of it

Scumbag Steve is finally cashing in on his unintentional internet fame. Blake Boston, also known as Scumbag Steve, has given the internet world a gem of a music video capitalizing on his meme fame.

Scumbag Steve is that guy who mooches off of everyone and is an all around douche. The Scumbag Steve meme started with a picture of Boston, who was obviously caught off guard by the photographer, looking flushed, dazed and wearing a brown and gold hat, tan shirt, and an assumingly faux-fur coat that was apparently used as part of an album cover for Boston’s rap group, Beantown Mafia, reported Mashable.com.

Scumbag Steve memes could easily span 500 pages and the white lettering that captures a variety of social douchbaggary like: “Pukes on something, disappears” or “Loves Scarface, never seen it” or “Lets buy a shot, wallet’s empty.”

Now the real Scumbag Steve has produced a song and a video about his internet persona. The quality of the music is surprisingly good, but the music video is not-so-surprisingly bad.

Boston claims that the Scumbag Steve persona has actually helped him out, “You can always come up [with] different scumbag stuff that people do. Putting it in the first person is a little bit easier. At the same time, it’s still reaching people who are interested in what Scumbag Steve is all about.” Though Boston claims his internet persona is nothing like what he’s like in real life, but he did say, “Everyone has their scumbag moments. Even before Scumbag Steve happened, I maybe had a couple too many drinks. But right now, it’s more about Scumbag Steve as a character. With the whole persona of the CD, yeah, I’m going to sing about scumbag stuff to do.”

Boston’s rap name “Black Boston AKA Scumbag Steve” is scheduled to release one song with a music video to iTunes every Thursday, until whenever he feels like stopping. The entire album is available for free on his website.

Check out the song for yourself!