David W. Obst's Journal

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U of M crime alerts spark backlash Dec. 14, 2013    original Campus crime alerts are supposed to make students safer, but black students call it racial profiling. MINNEAPOLIS--Black students at the University of Minnesota say racial descriptions in crime alerts does not help catch suspects. Instead, it's hurting black male students. There have been more than two dozen crimes on or near the U this year. Crime alert after crime alert describes many of the suspects as young black males. "There are a plethora of young black men on campus who fit that description," Abdel-Kader Toovi, a college senior and vice president of the Black Men's Forum on campus, said. Ian Taylor, a junior and president of the Black Men's Forum, said many of their members have expressed concern over how other students treat them. "You might walk a certain side of the street and someone might walk the other way or the other direction…just this feeling that people feel unsafe around you,...

Woman Gives Neighbor the Middle Finger in Xmas Lights

I believe it has to be a Photo ID South Africa, under a constitution signed by Mandela in 1996, has a rigorous election integrity system. Voters are required to have valid government-issued IDs to register to vote and then cast a ballot. And a photo even shows Mandela urging supporters to get IDs. The photo was captured by an AFP photographer in late 1998 ahead of the 1999 African National Congress elections, according to a caption on Yahoo News.

Norman Rockwell’s Saying Grace became the most expensive American painting ever sold at auction last week, fetching $46m (£28m) at Sotheby’s in New York. ... While most people are still reeling from the financial  crisis, the world’s wealth has risen to those at the top. A recent report found there were 2,170 billionaires worldwide, three times as many than five years ago. To many of them, art seems a safer place to spend their money than the financial system – and contemporary art is what comes to market most frequently.