American Blog

Mr. Michael Vass is a contributing author, and also writes to Black Entertainment USA and Vass

The latest film in the Die Hard series delivers in its goal to stand out from the summer movie crowd. It’s a blockbuster film in all the classic senses. Action, fast pace, good story, and compelling.

John McClane is played with the same smart-alec attitude that we have all come to love from Mr. Bruce Willis. Yet this time he is the one behind the eight ball. Technology, and those that know how to master it, are the ones pushing the pace with McClane doing his best to keep up and getting things done. Don’t think that Mr. Willis has slowed much at 52. His character is the guy you want in a bar fight, or any other mass problem, on your side. Just don’t let him near your collector miniature figures.

Many will be able to relate to the confusion that the various good and bad guys create rattling off computer and internet jargon that honestly I don’t understand more than 15% of either. You feel for McClane. As for the bad guys, you want them dead just like he does.

When I say there is action, there were several points where the action just makes you wince. Even McClane is impressed and surprised by some of the events that happen. Of course this series has always tried to keep the stunts in the realm of believable, yet there is always one or 2 things that cross that line. This film does the same thing. Even so, you really won’t care.

In an interview on the Bill O’Reilly show, Mr. Willis mentions that this movie is worth seeing 2x, and he is right. This is what the trailers build it up to be. If anyone will be upset, it will be PC watchdogs, who won’t get what this New York detective says. I thought it was funny, some in the theater just gasped, unsure how to react. That may be worth watching the film a third time.

Live Free or Die Hard wins.

Mr. Michael Vass is author of Vass, and Black Entertainment USA

Today on Neil Cavuto’s show (on Fox News from 4-5pm) Mr. Cavuto had on a guest, a professor whose name I did not catch, to discuss a proposed law. I need help on verifying what this law states, but it seems that Home Depot is being required to provide for illegal immigrants that are looking for day labor in front of their stores.

Again, I need to read this proposed law (someone must be familiar with it and can provide me a link), but if this is the essence of the law, then someone has lost their mind. How can anyone realistically expect a company to provide for illegal workers?

First let’s think this through, which the professor defending this proposed law seems not to have done. In essence it means that if a panhandler is standing in front of your grocery store, as an example, you the owner must provide for that individual. You have a Mime; you need to provide them with shelter, water, restroom facilities, and anything else you would provide an employee. According to my understanding you must essentially take on another employee, that you have not hired, that provides no benefit to your business, which could theoretically sue you if you failed to provide these benefits to them.

Then add the fact that this person is an illegal immigrant (alien) and you have a person that has violated the law pays no taxes, and may well be taking money out of the economy if they send any money to their home country. There is a business plan.

Perhaps I am wrong. The law may not state this. I may be missing something, and I hope I am.

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Mr. Michael Vass is the author of Black Entertainment USA and Vass

With all the negative media that hits the airwaves it’s great to hear something positive from time to time. Pay attention because you may not notice this being covered by the cable news networks.

Mr. Barrington Irving has just set a new world record, actually 2 of them. The records are for being the youngest to fly solo around the world. This young pilot, only 23, has just finished his world hopping flight after starting 93 days ago. He is also the first African American to make the trip.

Mr. Irving is a senior majoring in aerospace at Florida Memorial University, who started to learn to fly when he was just 16. His motivation to take on and create this world record?

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Full post can be found at Black Entertainment USA

Here is something not getting any press so far. Considering the millions of fans of American Idol I will presume that everyone knows who Ms. Frenchie Davis is. I’m sure millions are familiar with her, as even I recognize her photo.

It seems that there was an incident on a plane with her. So far there is only her side of the story, but it does sound odd. I’ll summarize but all the reported news can be found at EURweb.com…

If you ask me it seems there were a lot of hyper sensitive people on that plane. Over-reactions seemed to happen like dominoes falling. Who was right? To some degree none of them. I don’t understand why the father and son didn’t just change their seats, exchanging them if there were not enough of them.

Why the pilots reacted as they did seems odd. Something seems to be missing in this….

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Mr. Vass is author of www.blackentertainmentblog.com , this post is an excerpt from there

It’s a sad day when a pregnant mother is found dead, murdered, leaving a child without their mom. I give my condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Jessie Davis. Such things should never happen, and whomever is guilty should be punished harshly in this life and the next.

I want to make this abundantly clear, this post is not about whether Mr. Bobby Cutts Jr did anything. I, like most observers, don’t know nearly enough to know if he is guilty. I do not presume to know anything. Given that this post will address some aspects of that case, no offense is intended.

There has been a huge media surge on the case of Ms. Jessie Davis. … While reporting this case several other items of news have been virtually ignored. My question is why?

… I understand that a, then, missing pregnant woman whose birthing was imminent missing from her home and her 2 year old son being apparently abandoned is shocking. …

During the last 10 days all media has focused on this case, and Mr. Cutts directly. But on June 14th a mother and 3 children were found dead in a SUV, reported at the time as a murder-suicide… Mr. Christopher Vaughn (the husband and father) was not considered a suspect. …

Let’s compare a few things, in the Vaughn case the media attention was large but not intense. Questions were in the air, but there was an assumption that the father’s story was true. … The arrest of Mr. Vaughn popped up on the national radar, but just barely registering as the overwhelming news was on the Jessie Davis case.

In terms of media time there was about 1-5 ratio at best on the coverage of the Vaughn case versus the Davis case. So far today I have noticed about 5 minutes of news on the Vaughn murders, versus 1 ½ hours (at least) on Mr. Cutts. ….

Either issue is reprehensible. Neither victim deserved their fate, and the guilty should be punished. But I wonder why the media chose the Davis case to smother the airwaves. I agree that when there is the chance of finding Jessie Davis, attention is due. But the media was focused equally during that time to question Mr. Cutts. … Fox News are declaring how they always knew there was guilt but had to maintain the pretense of innocence until proven guilty.

Conversely I ask, what do you know about Mr. Christopher Vaughn? This man has allegedly killed his wife and 3 children in cold blood. …If you can’t answer those questions you have to ask why.

Both acts, I say again, are evil. I would never stick up for anyone capable of this. But I am questioning why the media picked one case over the other, which is what has been done. …

If either of these men is guilty of the charges placed against them, I have no problem seeing them sped quickly to the hell they would deserve. But my point is not about guilt. I am speaking about the media, and the preferences they pose to the public. The ramifications go much farther than these alleged killers. …

Mr. Vass is author of www.blackentertainmentblog.com and www.mvass.com :

Continued from Media and justice equal?

“For the last year we have seen anger in white men about the miscarriage of justice they claimed occurred against these kids. In the last year they have had a chance to get a taste of the imbalance that can occur when a prosecutor decides he wants to go after a defendant. They got a glimpse of what Black men get all the time.”

But I am not the only voice in this matter. I have not been the only one to question the ‘innoccence’ of they boys. Has everyone forgotten that this incident started because these ‘upstanding young men’ decided that they needed to call an escort service to have women perform sex acts with a broomstick, while they engaged in under-age drinking?

“… ive decided to have some strippers over to eden 2c. all are welcome.. howerver there will be no nudity. I plan on killing the bitches as soon as the walk in and proceding to cut their skin off while cumming in my duke issue spandex.. “

Innocent of the charges but not innocent individuals, though the media has glanced way past this.

But when was the last time that Black defendants received this same level of positive coverage by the media or the justice system? What case can you name?

In the OJ Simpson case the nation displayed a

reaction to seeing how dismayed whites were when the legal system worked for a Black man in the same way that it had worked for whites all too many times. The intelligence of the mostly Black jury was questioned by the media and became a national punch line on late night television.

The Rodney King case, which prompted the riots, had many

figured the case for police brutality was pretty obvious. Everything you needed to know was right there on video. Instead many white people accepted the LAPD’s defense that King was a threat and the Simi Valley jury’s acquittal of the officers. The juror’s intelligence was never questioned the way the jurors in the O.J. trial was.

Beyond this, how many cases have we heard where an ambiguous African American was the perpetrator only to learn that the actual criminal was the supposed victim. How many times has an African American been arrested based solely on this presumption, and the media demanded their conviction with the harshest penalties only to become completely silent when the truth becomes known?

Injustice is not a Black and White issue, according to the law. Inequality under the law is a fact of life. Now that former D.A. Nifong has been quickly disbarred, the alleged rapists decried innocent of their charges, purported millions paid to their families, and the original victim discredited by the media – who have released her name and image – what happens next?

[I have to mention that I have never heard of a case, no matter the outcome, where an alleged rape victim’s name, image and virtually their address has been released to the public and promoted on several broadcasts. It was an unheard of act, but in this case, for this woman, there was an exception of what was previously a media rule.]

Will the justice system and the media start treating all defendants the same? Will Blacks be defended vigorously when potentially involved in an event? Well just observe the coverage on the missing mother Jessie Davis. Perhaps the father-to-be is guilty, but the media seems sure of it. These kinds of cases often involve someone close to the victim so it could be. But if you compare the questions and amount of coverage being directed to the father-to-be versus the coverage and questions of the man whose entire family was found dead in a car, you see a big difference.

This is what I think, what do you think?

Full post can be found at www.blackentertainmentblog.com :

With glee I can say the semblance of justice has been returned. I like the judge in this case. Money and politics has not swayed him. Skinny ultra-rich trust fund, in my opinion inept, individuals beware – you can go to jail too.

There is nothing that satisfied me more than hearing that Paris Hilton was screaming, “It’s not fair” when the judge stated that she must serve all 45 days in jail. Her attempts to avoid appearing before the court today failed. … remanded her to jail for the full 45 day period and not the 23-ish days he had to serve previously.

I have no sympathy. The fact she is crying and reportedly in shock is no surprise. I equate this to punishing a 3 year old, they don’t like it and often they may cry. … consequences of her own actions, and no one else’s. The fact she doesn’t want to go to jail is neither surprising nor unusual…

If Paris Hilton has a nervous breakdown, I will not feel pity. … teach her a lesson that she seems to have never learned in life. A dose of reality can only do her good.

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We all hate spam but the great thing about the blogosphere is some writers are actually incredibly entertaining.

Read this post from the Boomer Blog and it’s almost sure to make you laugh. If it doesn’t, sorry?

Mr. Vass is author of www.blackentertainmentblog.com and www.mvass.com :

Now how can I not comment on the recent actions by rapper Akon? There are numerous incidents of the violence that many rappers propagate seemingly daily. Most of these incidents occur at night, in a club or strip club, but it’s not uncommon to hear about transgressions in airports or on city streets. This though is a new low, and some media seem more than happy to cover it up.

Some may be aware, in a recent performance, that Akon assaulted a fan during the concert. It seems that both on purpose or by accident a fan threw an object at the stage and hit the rapper. Akon stopped performing in the middle of a song and had the kid brought to the stage. The kid was then lifted onto the stage, picked up by the rapper, and forcibly thrown off the stage. The kid had no clue any of this was going to happen, and was quite startled while it was happening. Akon then tells the crowd how lonely he feels (as best as I can tell) and begins to continue performing, having stated “he’s alright.”

I wasn’t there, so I’m guessing at the exact words. According to the Poughkeepsie Journal this entire event was simply an enthusiastic entertainer helping fan ‘crowd surf.’ Isn’t that nice. Reading their published article one would think it was quite harmless. Even the general manager, Mr. Jason Finkelburg, and Fishkill Police Chief, Don Williams, seem to feel it was unimportant. To their benefit, neither was at the event.

I would guess that the reporter wasn’t there either, or missed the event. I say this because it’s all hogwash. At best it’s poor reporting, at worst it’s a media cover-up, protecting entertainers that behave maliciously because they bring money in. How could I possibly say this? What gives me any more right than what was reported and said since I wasn’t there [and I couldn’t get paid enough to be there]? Because there is a video of the event.

It’s just that simple. And the video can be seen on the Poughkeepsie Journal’s site. Obviously, in my opinion, the reporter failed to view it. If they had then I would imagine they would see it quite differently. It seems obvious that rapper Akon isolates grabs and throws this fan with intent to harm him. There is no music during the whole incident, no explanation. The kid looks bewildered. The police officers shown in the video seem as startled as everyone else. The throw was hardly anything friendly or helpful. I’ve seem more kindness in a mosh pit.

The fans cheered this whole event. They thought it was great, seeing this entertainer enact violence on someone that could have just as easily been them. Imagine if it was your kid. Imagine if the kid was hurt.

Think about the fact that often rappers go out and try to outdo each other in acts of violence and rudeness, in an effort to maintain their ‘street cred’. Absolute idiocy. But it happens all the time. So what do all the other tough, bad-ass, malefactors and nay-do-well’s do? What is the next step in this genre? Entertainers in gansta rap have already molested unwary women from the audience on stage, now this ups the ante. Perhaps an actual beatdown on stage. Or a gang rape. If neither of the other acts already done on stage caused a consequence, why should these.

I don’t know. I don’t pay to see an entertainer who pisses in my cornflakes, or those of a friend. I don’t want to see a wrestling match at a music show. Especially when it’s the equivalent of a sucka-punch, and the performer is surrounded by police officers and bodyguards. Yeah, Akon looked real impressive and manly. [That’s sarcasm for those that don’t get it]

I won’t say all rappers act like this, but more than enough do. New rappers try harder than the few that last a while. Too many take pride in being a bullet magnet, a dealer of death (drug dealer), and having a trail of women used for their bodies and children without fathers. The trend isn’t getting better, and newspapers misreporting these acts do harm to the general public.

This is what I think, what do you think?