Tina Turner mural defaced at record store

Employees at a record store in North Carolina say a mural of pop star Tina Turner has been defaced
with a red swastika.

The Citizen Times reported Thursday that the mural is outside Static Age Records in downtown Asheville.


Store owner Jesse McSwain said someone unconnected to the store apparently covered the mural in a black sheet before he could address the situation. Static Age called police and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

McSwain said that his store is “a widely inclusive, safe space” and that “hate speech will get you out the door.”

The record store uses its pulldown storefront to honor music legends. They have included Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Lemmy from Motörhead and Lou Reed. Turner’s mural was based on her character in the film “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome”. RGA

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Millions in US prepare for potentially catastrophic Florence

RALEIGH, N.C. — Millions of Americans are preparing for what could become one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to hit the Eastern Seaboard in decades.

Hurricane Florence is carrying winds of up to 140 mph as a Category 4 storm. It is expected to strengthen and possibly become a Category 5 storm Tuesday before closing in on North or South Carolina on Thursday.


Mandatory evacuations have been issued for parts of South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, including the entire coast of South Carolina.

Since reliable record-keeping began more than 150 years ago, North Carolina has been hit by only one Category 4 hurricane: Hazel, with 130 mph winds, in 1954.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

LOOK: North Carolina restaurant serves tarantula-topped burgers

A freshly made hamburger usually consists of a juicy patty, fresh tomatoes, crunchy lettuce, melt-in-your-mouth cheese and a soft bun. But in this burger joint in North Carolina, they chose to take it to the next level.

As part of their sixth annual Exotic Meat Month, Bull City Burger and Brewery is serving its customers burgers topped with an oven-roasted tarantula. The burger has 100 percent North Carolina pasture-raised beef, gruyere cheese and spicy chili sauce. Bull City Burger even shared a photo of what the burger looks like on its Twitter page posted last Saturday.

In the post, it seemed that two people had the guts to try the meal. It was David D’s turn to give it a shot.

And giving a brief description, customers who ordered it said it tasted “most like crab, or other shellfish, sometimes with a bit of a metallic-y taste.” They added: “BUT, the legs, the body…each bite tastes a bit different.”

It has been the second year since they served this kind of variety. Other choices include alligator, iguana, bison, turtle, bugs and python, among others, as reported by WRAL.com yesterday.

With the burger priced at $30 (P1,560), are you up for the challenge?  Katrina Hallare /ra

source: usa.inquirer.net

Trump: Saddam killed terrorists ‘so good’

RALEIGH, North Carolina  — Donald Trump, who frequently criticizes U.S. foreign policy under President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is praising Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s ruthlessness.

“Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right? … But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good,” Trump told supporters at a campaign rally Tuesday night in Raleigh, North Carolina. “They didn’t read ’em the rights, they didn’t talk. They were a terrorist, it was over.”

Trump has previously said the world would be “100 percent better” if dictators like Hussein and Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi were still in power. Prior to the U.S. invasion, Iraq was listed by the U.S. as a state sponsor of terrorism. Hussein suppressed dissent in his country and used poison gas against 5,000 Iraqi Kurds.

Jake Sullivan, a Clinton senior policy adviser, said Trump’s “praise for brutal strongmen seemingly knows no bounds.”

Sullivan said such comments “demonstrate how dangerous he would be as commander-in-chief and how unworthy he is of the office he seeks.”

Trump’s foreign policy pronouncements have proved controversial, even within the Republican Party that is poised to nominate him for president in a few weeks. He has said the United States is too fully engaged around the world and has questioned the role of NATO and said the United States has been taken advantage of by nations benefiting from its security cooperation and troop presence. Some critics within the GOP have said his policies suggest an isolationist stance in an increasingly dangerous world.

Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, partners among Republican congressional critics of Obama administration foreign policy, carried out a fact-check on Trump’s national security statements earlier this year at a Capitol Hill hearing.

On April 19, when the Army general selected to lead U.S. forces in South Korea testified before the committee, McCain seized the opportunity to undermine Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. withdraw its forces from the South because Seoul isn’t paying enough to cover the cost of the American military presence.

“Isn’t it the fact that it costs us less to have troops stationed in Korea than in the United States, given the contribution the Republic of Korea makes?” McCain asked Gen. Vincent Brooks.

Yes, Brooks said, telling McCain the South Koreans pay half, or $808 million annually, of the U.S. presence there.

Two days later, Trump’s claim that NATO is irrelevant and ill-suited to fight terrorism came under the microscope. As president, Trump has said he would force member nations to increase their contributions, even if that risked breaking up the 28-country alliance.

In early March, more than 70 conservative national experts, including former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, wrote in an open letter that they have disagreed with one another on a variety of issues but are united in their opposition to a Trump presidency. Chertoff served in President George W. Bush’s administration. TVJ

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Shooting deaths of young Muslims leave North Carolina community reeling

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina - In post-9/11 America, Aya Zouhri and her fellow Muslim female friends who cover their heads with scarves say they are used to getting occasional dirty looks or ugly comments from strangers.

But when Zouhri, 22, left home for school on Wednesday, a day after three of her Muslim friends were gunned down near the University of North Carolina in a shooting authorities are investigating as a hate crime, her father's warning for her to be careful took on a sobering new reality, she said.

"The way he said it was very much like, 'I'm actually worried something could happen to you,'" the senior global studies major recalled outside a room at the university where Muslim students gathered for afternoon prayers.

Several Muslim students who attend the university said they have always felt safe and accepted in Chapel Hill, a college town about 30 miles (48 km) from Raleigh that is known for basketball and affordable higher education.

But the triple slaying at a condominium complex about two miles (3 km) from campus Tuesday evening fractured their sense of security, Zouhri said, describing it as "a punch in the gut when you didn't step into a boxing ring."

The three victims, a newlywed couple and an undergraduate student with close ties to two universities in the vicinity, came from two of the most prominent Muslim families in the Raleigh area, friends said.

Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, was a University of North Carolina dental student, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, was preparing to start at the dentistry school in the fall, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, was a sophomore at nearby North Carolina State University, where the couple were both alumni.

Friends grappled not only with the loss of three people known for their kindness, vigor and charity work, but with how their deaths might affect everyday life for local Muslims in the future.

"It's not actually as safe and progressive a community as we thought it was," said Sofia Dard, a 21-year-old senior majoring in psychology. "It's just that extra edge of caution that we're going to have to incorporate in our lives now."

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, a full-time paralegal student who posted anti-religious messages on Facebook, has been charged with three counts of murder. Authorities said the killing, sparked perhaps by a parking dispute, did not appear to be part of a targeted campaign against Muslims in North Carolina.

Manzoor Cheema, co-founder of the Raleigh-based Muslims for Social Justice, linked the shootings to what he called a "rising tide of Islamophobia" in the state and region.

Last month, Duke University in Durham scrapped a plan to have the Muslim call to prayer emanate from its chapel after fierce opposition from Christian critics, including evangelist Franklin Graham, who said on Facebook that "followers of Islam are raping, butchering, and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn't submit to their Sharia Islamic law."

"We are seeing multiple cases of attacks against Muslims in North Carolina that are very troubling," Cheema said. "I hope this terrible tragedy will be a turning point that brings the reality home that if we keep demonizing Muslims and equating their religion to terrorism, it will lead to more attacks." —Reuters