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VIDEO: Alabama Teen Accused of Terrorist Plot to Kill Black Students

PHOTO: AP

Just another day in "post-racial" America ....

A 17-year-old self-described "white supremacist" has been accused of planning to use homemade explosives in a terrorist attack on Black students at an Alabama high school. Only one white student was targeted on the hit list ... and that was because he was believed to be gay.

Authorities believe that Derek Shrout was inspired by the horrific Connecticut school massacre to begin building homemade explosives, reports ABC News.

Shrout was arrested Friday after a teacher at Russell County High School found what appears to be the teen's journal and contacted authorities. Police said the journal contained plans to kill six students and one teacher with homemade grenades. Six of the seven individuals were black. In the journal, police say that Shrout thought the white male on his list was gay. "That's the reason the white male was on the list. It screams hate crime," Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor said.

Investigators say Shrout started writing in his journal just three days after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14.

The journal was covered with "‘white power’, the F-word, and Nazi symbols,” a teacher told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. A search of Shrout’s home found dozens of small cans "all with holes drilled and containing pellets."

Shrout faces one charge of attempted assault. He was released Monday afternoon on a $75,000 bond. Watch WTVM's report AFTER THE JUMP ...

EBONY: "Artur Davis is the Sheree Whitfield of the Republican Party"

PHOTO: GETTY

Artur Davis has become the Sheree Whitfield of the Republican Party. He's more likely to win the Player Hater's Ball than a Senate seat as a Republican. Our latest for EBONY: "Hater Player: Artur Davis, GOP Black Gold"

Giving up his gubernetorial dreams, he has moved to Virgina and is thought to be interested in running for Congress "or even the Senate", according to many reports. Davis has also embraced voter suppression laws as his signature issue. Republican-controlled legislatures from coast to coast—most notably in Florida, Texas and Wisconsin—have attempted to pass these laws to suppress voter turnout among Blacks, Latinos and youth. "Giddy at their unexpected good fortune, Republicans awarded Davis a prime speaking slot at the Republican convention," noted BusinessWeek.

Just like Sheree Whitfield thought her diva-like behavior would never be challenged—"Who’s gonna check me, boo?"—the former congressman boasted Tuesday night about voting against the best interests of his former congressional district. "We don't need a party that has led while poverty and hunger rose to record levels to give us lectures about suffering," said Davis to applause.

It takes a certain originality for a Black man to stand before an audience of 50,000 mostly White Republicans and lecture Democrats on “poverty and hunger.” It was the Republican Party that gutted food stamps and child nutrition policy—remember when the Reagan Administration wanted to classify ketchup as a "vegetable" in school lunches? Davis owed his political career to the Voting Rights Act—and it takes even more nerve for him to make suppressing voting rights his signature issue.

Thanks so much for all the great feedback on Twitter and Facebook. Read the article HERE.

Also: Check out our articles earlier this week at EBONY on the leadership change in Ethiopia and Mitt Romney's "joke".

ALABAMA: Legislator "Apologizes" After Calling Blacks "Aborigines"

One of the Alabama Senate's Republican leaders has been forced to issue an "apology" after referring to Blacks as "aborigines. Social conservative and Tea Party favorite State Sen. Scott Beason's recorded remarks were heard in court as part of an undercover federal investigation, reports The Birmingham News.

The comment was caught on tape when Beason wore a wire for FBI agents during an investigation into alleged State House corruption and vote-buying. But Senate Democrats on Tuesday said Beason's apology was inadequate for the offense he caused and that he should step down as Rules Committee chairman or be removed from the position by GOP leaders. The committee sets the debate agenda in the Alabama Senate.

The wire Beason wore during the FBI investigation recorded him and two other Republicans joking about economic development in predominantly black Greene County and Greenetrack casino, which was one of the county's largest employers. "That's y'all's Indians," former Rep. Benjamin Lewis said. "They're aborigines, but they're not Indians," replied Beason. ...

Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said Republicans were giving Beason the "benefit of the doubt" following his apology at a caucus meeting last week and to Alabama citizens Tuesday. ... But some Republicans also wanted Beason removed as rules chairman and some Senate leaders have suggested that Beason resign his committee position temporarily.

Beason's comments come the same week that Black GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain claims the Tea Party is not "racist."

In related news: A federal judge is set to rule today on three lawsuits that challenge Alabama's new and restrictive immigration law, which Beason sponsored.

Birmingham Church: Sexual Misconduct Lawsuits "Will Not Effect" Relationship w/ Eddie Long

Disgraced anti-gay mega-church "Bishop" Eddie Long asked for "larger" donations last week to launch ministries in Birmingham, Alabama and Denver. The announcement was made only ten days after settling the four sexual misconduct lawsuits filed by young men against him and his church. 

The sexual misconduct settlements will not effect the Birmingham's church's decision to afiliate with New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, the Rev. Stephen A. Davis tells the Birmingham News.

The 2,300-member Refiner's House in Huffman announced that it will change its name and be affiliated with the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. .... Rev. Stephen A. Davis, founding pastor, started The Refiner's House in a former auto parts store in Center Point in 2001. Davis said that he had been mentored since 2006 by Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of New Birth in Lithonia.

Long, the controversial TV evangelist, recently settled lawsuits against him by several young men in the church who accused him of sexual improprieties.Long's legal problems didn't affect the association between the two churches, Dailey said. "That's our bishop and we love him," Dailey said. "We thank God what transpired is over. We're moving ahead."

Long sure has been doing a lot of "mentoring" ....

The four young men—Maurice Robinson, Jamal Parris, Anthony Flagg and Spencer LeGrande—filed sexual coercion lawsuits against Long and New Birth last fall.  Long is accused of using church funds to give the four men cash, gifts and cars.The sexual relationships reportedly began when each of the plaintiffs were around 16 years old. 

Read the complaintsHERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

What's "over", pastor? The litigation and sexual coercion lawsuits that your "bishop" was forced to settle? Or the "bishop's" predatory habits around teenage boys?

SPORNO: Cam Newton is Nipple- and Ab-Tastic at the NFL Combine

Bulging biceps? Shoulders like boulders? Skin tight and nipple-tastic UnderArmour? Check, check, check!

Heisman Trophy winner and former Auburn University quarterback hotness Cam Newton strikes a flawless pose at the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine last weekend in Indianapolis.

Speaking of being flawless: Cam held a press conference to clarify previous remarks about being an "icon" ...

More muscles, more "iconic" sporno plus watch Cam workout and run the 40 WHEN YOU JUMP ...

College Student Shares Story of Coming Out and Attempted Suicide

PHOTO: Laurel Golio

We Are the Youth is a new, photographic journalism project chronicling the individual stories of LGBT youth across the country. One of the newest stories is that of Quincy, an 18-year-old student at the University of Montevallo in Alabama.

Like many other Black gay men, his youth was heavily influenced by the traditional anti-gay church. That upbringing, plus being often bullied and harassed by fellow students, made him consider suicide.

I got picked on, especially in the South. This guy in eighth grade rode our bus and hit me upside the head. We took it to the police and met with the middle school administrators. Then I had to go to high school with him. I reported every single thing he did to the school counselor. He eventually dropped out of high school.

I was always really quiet and more feminine, so people thought I was gay, but I didn’t want to be. My local church was really conservative. I was really afraid I wasn’t going to make it to heaven. In tenth grade, I was dating someone, but wasn’t open about my relationship.

During that time, I was really depressed a lot. I can honestly say I thought of ending everything. There was one day, I got in a fight with my mom. I remember crying so hard that day. Then later, I was clenching a bottle of her painkillers. I really think it was divine inspiration that I didn’t die. I just sat there and eventually calmed down. I thought about how I wanted to be a music teacher, and if I died I wouldn’t be able to do that. I talked to a school counselor. I never did tell my mom about that.

Unlike so many other LGBT youth, Quincy did not take his own life. Instead, he became more proactive, deciding to attend an affirming church, a progressive school and coming out to his family.

Around tenth grade I started telling a lot of my friends I was gay. I’m kind of glad. Before then I was scared, but once people were like, “whatever” I could be more open. That was really great. My dad is really cool about it and my mom has gotten better. I brought my last boyfriend around, but we don’t really talk about it. My grandmother’s amazing. She’s a member of PFLAG. She just wanted to understand.

I’m so happy with how things are now. I’m in one of the best schools ever. I feel really good about myself. I think I’m making a lot of good decisions.

Bravo. Quincy is making some excellent decision.

Read the full story. It's beautiful and very inspirational.

SPORNO: Auburn's Cam Newton Celebrates After Winning BCS Title

The thigh's have it. Auburn University quarterback and number one stunna Cam Newton relaxes for a moment after the team's 22-19 last-second win over Oregon in the BCS Championship Game.

Moments before, Cam celebrated by jumping on Emory Blake.

Cam gives some oral attention  AFTER THE JUMP ...

 

BP CEO Tony Hayward's Yacht Outing Outrages Gulf Residents

While Rome burned, Nero fiddled. And while tens of thousands of gallons of spilled oil, natural gas and methane burn near the site of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf Of Mexico ... British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward spends the day off the south coast of England watching his yacht compete in an exclusive yacht race.

"Hayward took Saturday off to see his 52-foot yacht "Bob" compete in a race around the Isle of Wight off southern England. It was a good day for sailing — breezy and about 68 degrees — but anger simmered on the steamy Gulf Coast, where crude oil is still gushing from a blown-out well. 'Man, that ain't right. None of us can even go out fishing, and he's at the yacht races,' said Bobby Pitre, 33, who runs a tattoo shop in Larose, La. 'I wish we could get a day off from the oil, too.'

"BP spokespeople rushed to defend Hayward, who has drawn biting criticism as the public face of BP PLC's halting efforts to stop the spill. Company spokesman Robert Wine said the break is the first for Hayward since the Deepwater Horizon rig that BP was leasing exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the undersea gusher. 'He's spending a few hours with his family at a weekend. I'm sure that everyone would understand that,' Wine said.

"But Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, who taped an interview for ABC’s This Week called Mr. Hayward’s attendance at the race 'part of a long line of P.R. gaffes and mistakes' that he has made. 'To quote Tony Hayward, he’s got his life back,' Mr. Emanuel said."

The yacht outing comes two days Hayward's hostile interrogation on Capitol Hill. It also comes one day after BP’s chairman announced Hayward would not be as involved in daily operations in the Gulf.

Alabama's conservative Republican Sen. Richard Shelby delivers the money quote to The New York Times: "I can tell you that yacht ought to be here skimming and cleaning up a lot of the oil. He ought to be down here seeing what is really going on. Not in a cocoon somewhere."

UPDATE: Appearing on CBS News' Face the Nation, Shelby calls on Hayward to resign. Think Progress reports: "[Shelby's] comments were echoed by Louisiana Republican Congressman Joseph [Cao], who added BP is 'out of touch'."

WATCH: Alabama DJs Mock Obama's LGBT Pride Proclamation

Happy gay pride from your racist and homophobic shock jocks!

Pam Spaulding points us to this clip from Birmingham, Alabama radio dj's Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey, the hosts of WZZK and XM Radio's The Rick and Bubba Show. The good ole boys mocked President Obama's LGBT Pride Month Proclamation. "There's nothing about special about gay people, why the Pride?" asks Bubba, who adds that there are no "fornicator pride" or "adulterer pride" days.

Oh no, the mega-churches and the Republican Party recognize and justify those sins daily, "Bubba."

Make sure to visit "Rick and Bubba Must Go" on Facebook. Watch the "biblically justified" homophobic rant AFTER THE JUMP ...

PHOTOS: Devastating New Images of Oil-Coated Wildlife

AP photographer Charlie Criedel has just filed what surely will become the iconic images of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: Wildlife turned into mutant, unrecognizable monsters at Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island.

BP does not want you to see these images and have threatened reporters and photographers with arrest.