Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon

What is the “Escape From Alcatraz” triathlon?

Every year, thousands of professional athletes from all over the world come to compete in the “Escape from Alcatraz™” Triathlon, writes businesswire.com.

On June 7, more than 2,000 amateur and professional athletes took the plunge into the 60 degree water of San Francisco Bay to compete in the 35th Annual event.

It features a grueling 1.5-mile swim from Alcatraz Island to the shore, an 18-mile bike ride, and an 8-mile run through San Francisco.  It is considered one of the most punishing triathlons in the world, according to businesswire.com.

First-time Escape-from-Alcatraz competitor Eric Lagerstrom won this year’s men’s professional triathlete division.

For the first time in years, the race came down to the wire, with Lagerstrom pulling ahead of six-time champion and competitor Andy Potts in the final seconds.

“It’s been a lifelong goal to win the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon and right now I feel like I’m on top of the world,” said Eric Lagerstrom, pro athlete and brand ambassador for the solar-panel financing company Equal Earth.

“Running down the finish line neck-and-neck with six-time champion Andy Potts was epic. It is something I will never forget.”

Lagerstrom’s finish time was 2:02:06 – a remarkable accomplishment for the Alcatraz race course.

Lagerstrom is a 2013 Super Sprint National Champion and sponsored by Equal Earth, based out of San Diego.

“We are thrilled for Eric and couldn’t be more proud of him,” said Andrew Duggan, Chairman and CEO of Equal Earth.

“Eric sets out to accomplish big goals, puts in the hard work and delivers results. He defines what makes a true champion – and embodies the type of values that are important to us at Equal Earth.”

Lagerstrom is an accomplished triathlete, Super Sprint National Champion and has been racing since he was 12 years old. He currently trains in California with the Triathlon Squad and serves as a brand ambassador for the company Equal Earth.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150610006364/en/Equal-Earth-Athlete-Eric-Lagerstrom-Wins-Escape#.VX8mfPlViko

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150607005061/en/Professional-Triathlete-Eric-Lagerstrom-Wins-2015-Escape#.VX8mxflViko

NBC News: O’Malley May Be The Best Democrat To Take On Clinton

According to the Associated Press, former Governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley declared his candidacy for U.S. President today, May 30th.  He will be running under the Democratic ticket and will face Hillary Clinton in the primaries.

Recently, NBC News wrote that former Maryland Governor is the strongest candidate to take on Hillary Clinton.

Throughout last year, O’Malley has been making appearances in Iowa and New Hampshire and giving speeches around the country to tout himself as a potential Democratic presidential candidate.

The former governor has been trying to cast himself as the alternative to Hillary Clinton for Democrats who either are tired of the Clinton family or prefer a more liberal candidate.

O’Malley is probably the strongest candidate in the Democratic field to take on Clinton, writes NBC News.  Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and ex-Virginia Senator Jim Webb are also seeking the nomination, and former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee is expected to jump in the race as well.

(Updated articfle)

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/martin-omalley-clintons-strongest-rival-hes-still-way-behind-her-n366046

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/30/politics/martin-omalley-2016-presidential-announcement/index.html

Police Video Shows Questionable Arrest Of Pregnant African American Woman Over Schoolyard Driving Dispute

CNN

Police body-cam video shows what the ACLU states was a wrongful arrest of a pregnant woman in a school parking lot. The arrest involved the wrestling to the ground of the eight months pregnant African American woman after she got into an argument with a white woman outside a school in Barstow, California. The women were upset with each over a driving dispute.  Some are calling the arrest “unlawful.”

Were the police too aggressive?

Senator Lindsey Graham Would ‘Drone Americans For Thinking About Joining ISIL’

Secular Talk

Does South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham go over-the-top in regards to stopping Americans from joining ISIS?

The Republican Graham “quasi-announced” that he is running for president on Monday, writes Slate Magazine.

On Saturday, he gave a foreign policy-oriented speech at a dinner event hosted by Iowa Republicans. During that speech he made either a very bad joke or an extremely aggressive remark about drone warfare, according to Slate.

(Updated title to reflect the Senator’s use of ISIL instead of ISIS)

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/05/18/lindsey_graham_drone_attacks_threatens_jokingly_to_kill_americans.html

Another Look At The Michael Savage ‘Race War’ Discussion With Alex Jones

Sam Seder

Right-wing radio host Michael Savage apparently tells radio host Alex Jones that President Obama will arm “Bloods and Crips” gang members in Baltimore in order to start a civil war. They said the riots are the beginning of the civil war.  They include gratuitous Nazi references.

Does this sound extreme?

Right-Wing Talk Show Host: Obama May Arm U.S. Gangs For Race War

RWW blog

Does this seem a little far-fetched to you?

Recently, the right-wing publication WND published an article titled “Savage: Obama may arm U.S. gangs for race war.”

World Net Daily is a right-wing news publication and Michael Savage is a right-wing radio talk show host.

Warning of a coming “race war,” Savage appeared as a guest on Alex Jones Infowars program Monday, and said President Obama would “deputize and arm gang members such as the ‘Crips and the Bloods’ to keep order in American streets,” writes World Net Daily.  Do his comments seem over-the-top?

“Remember my last book, ‘Stop the Coming Civil War’? Guess what. It started,” said Savage.

“Has there been a civil war? Yeah, it’s a slow-burning civil war. What do you think we are looking at here? It’s a race war. These are their shock troops, they don’t have the brown shirts yet, they don’t have the armbands, but soon Obama could deputize them. Isn’t that a natural army for him, Alex? Take the Crips and the Bloods, give them a green uniform and give them a weapon and they’ll keep order in the streets. Won’t they?”

WND claims that Savage’s ideas are not unlike that sparked by critics of then-candidate Obama’s plan, announced at a 2008 appearance in Colorado Springs, to create a “civilian national security force.”

“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we set,” Obama said at the time. “We’ve got have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”

Savage told Jones that Obama has “the gangs on the streets on his side, he’s got them awakened, he’s got them armed – they’re armed to the teeth with illegal weapons.

“You’re going to see more race war right up until the Labor Day of 2016 for an obvious reason,” he said, referring to the presidential election.

Agreeing with Jones that Obama’s “agenda is succeeding,” Savage warned: “The guillotines are ready, the guillotines are ready and they are greasing the blades. How much more successful can they be? Internment camps? I mean, what is next with this group of maniacs?”

Savage said Americans “can’t count on the military to protect them from Obama because his administration has purged military leaders who were competent to do so,” writes WND.

“One general after the other was purged like Stalin purged them, only instead of shooting them first they smeared the generals,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s going to come down to the camps, the internment and the martial law,” Savage said, mercifully. “…I think it would upset the economy and the world.”

Is Michael Savage not kind and understanding?

He claimed that Obama won’t declare martial law or force people into internment camps “just yet” because “they’re going to take the street garbage and they’re going to take the illegal immigrants and they’re going to warp the entire election.”

Nice of Savage to refer to people as “street garbage.”

“He’s the smoothest conman America’s ever seen in the White House…He’s performing along the lines of any other ‘petty dictator,’” Savage said. “He is Al Sharpton with a ‘smoother act.’”

Are these statements by Michael Savage questionable?

(Updated article)

http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/savage-obama-will-arm-u-s-gangs-for-race-war/#f8WfIU0F82EZVevG.99

Two ‘Second-Tier’ Republicans Enter Race For President

Dr. Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and conservative pundit, has confirmed that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Carson, who has never run for public office, is expected to be the only high-profile African-American to enter the GOP’s presidential primary as he tries to use his success as an author and speaker into a competitive campaign against established politicians.

“I’m willing to be part of the equation and therefore, I’m announcing my candidacy for president of the United States of America,” he said in an interview Sunday night on Ohio’s WKRC television station.

He plans to make a more formal announcement during a speech from his native Detroit on Monday.

Carly Fiorina made her 2016 presidential plans official Monday morning, announcing her candidacy on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

She will also be running as a Republican candidate.

Actually, she first declared her candidacy via Twitter just minutes before making her television appearance, tweeting a link to the newly minted Carlyforpresident.com.

Fiorina was the CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005, according to MSNBC, and would run as a Republican candidate.  Fiorina ran for the U.S. Senate in California in 2010, losing to the incumbent, Democrat Barbara Boxer.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-fiorina-carson-presidential-campaign-20150501-story.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/here-s-where-carly-fiorina-gets-her-campaign-money-141956879.html

More Rallies Planned On Weekend

Baltimore headed into a weekend of rallies on Saturday after six police officers were charged for the arrest of a 25-year-old black man, who died in a hospital after being assaulted by police and taken away in a police van.  Whose death led to rioting earlier in the week.  Reuters described the mood as “jubilant.”

Demonstrations are expected to continue around the United States through the weekend, and a massive rally is planned for Baltimore city hall with marchers leaving from the Gilmor Homes housing projects where the victim, Freddie Gray, was arrested.

Many in the largely black city erupted with joy on Friday after the officers were charged with crimes ranging from murder to assault and misconduct in Gray’s death on April 19th from severe spinal injuries while under police custody at a hospital.

Baltimore has largely followed the 10 p.m. curfew put in place after unrest that broke out after Gray’s funeral. Dozens of buildings and vehicles were burned, 20 police officers were injured and more than 200 people were arrested in that unrest.

U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, who represents the area where Gray died and has worked to calm Baltimore’s streets the past four nights, said he was glad to see charges filed.

“It feels good, it’s a relief,” he said. “They have to let it play out. It will take time. But so often there are no charges and the process never begins.”

Right-Wing Pundit Bill Kristol: Walker In ‘Spring Training’ In Regards To Foreign Policy

In a Politico report on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s foreign policy, The Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol called the governor “in spring training” on the subject.

Walker broke away from the GOP 2016 scrum two months ago but alarmed Republican donors and establishment leaders when he spoke like a novice on foreign policy, states MediaITE.  Walker claimed his successful battle against public sector unions had given him the ability to stand up to ISIS, and he said that Ronald Reagan’s breaking of the Air Traffic Controller’s Union was the most significant foreign policy decision of his lifetime.

President Obama also took a swing at him, telling Walker to “bone up” on his foreign policy.

That is what Walker has apparently been doing by surrounding himself with Republican foreign policy experts and cramming.

Here is the right-wing pundit Kristol’s quote on Walker:

“In spring training – especially when a player is learning a new position – you want to see basic talent, hard work and real improvement,” said Kristol to Politico. “In Scott Walker’s case, so far we’ve seen all three.”

(Updated photo)

Connecticut College Cancels Classes For A Week Over Racism

The president of a school in Connecticut canceled classes Monday following the discovery over the weekend of racist graffiti, scheduling a series of events in their place to promote discussion and “eradicate this ignorance and hatred,” claims ABC News.

The name of the college is “Connecticut College.”

The private liberal arts school, which was called into question earlier this month by language a professor used to describe Gaza Strip, scheduled a day of campus-wide diversity events including an open discussion with administrators and a faculty-led discussion.

The graffiti, including a racial slur, was found shortly after noon Sunday in bathroom stalls inside a student center at the college of 1,900 students in the town of New London.

In a campus-wide message a few hours later, the college dean and director of campus safety asked for help identifying the people responsible, citing “the egregious nature of the graffiti,” states ABC News.

After meeting with students, college President Katherine Bergeron issued a letter to campus Sunday night, saying classes would be canceled to ensure the dialogue on racism and inclusion received appropriate attention.

“We must take action immediately to expose and eradicate this ignorance and hatred,” Bergeron wrote.

The episode follows a controversy earlier this month over a professor’s Facebook post that compared Gaza Strip to a “rabid pit bull.”

More here

(Updated article)