Iron Man: Female and Black.

Marvel.

Marvel.

Yes! Now I want to see Riri on the big screen.

Tony Stark is stepping down as Iron Man and will be replaced by a young black girl named Riri Williams at the end of the comic book event series Civil War II.

According to Time, “Riri is a science genius who enrolls in MIT at the age of 15. She comes to the attention of Tony when she builds her own Iron Man suit in her dorm.”

[…]

Bendis claims that some of the most die-hard fans have been willing to at least give the casting shake-up a shot, thanks to his involvement with other diverse heroes such as Miles Morales (aka black Spider-Man) and Jessica Jones. He admits, though, that while there are still some bizarrely racist comments out there over Marvel’s increasingly diverse roster of characters, that’s changing.

“There was a part of an audience crawling through the desert looking for an oasis when it came to representation,” he said, “and now that it’s here, you’ll go online and be greeted with this wave of love.”

And from what it sounds like, Iron Man is in good hands with Riri. “Her brain is maybe a little better than his [Tony’s],” Bendis adds. “She looks at things from a different perspective that makes the armor unique. He can’t help but go maybe I should buy her out.”

Via Out.

I Don’t Need to Read.

AP_Poll_Campaign_2016-Issue

The Washington Post has done the regular quizzing about the reading habits of Presidential nominees. Turns out Donald doesn’t think he needs to read at all. Somehow, I am not at all surprised.

…He said in a series of interviews that he does not need to read extensively because he reaches the right decisions “with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I [already] had, plus the words ‘common sense,’ because I have a lot of common sense and I have a lot of business ability.”

[…]

One day last month, Trump had a visit from a delegation of prominent executives in the oil, steel and retail industries, and one of the executives told Trump that the Chinese were taking advantage of the United States. “He said, ‘I’d like to send you a report,’ ” Trump recalled. “He said, ‘I’d love to be able to send you’ — oh boy, he’s got a lengthy report, hundreds of pages. . . . I said, ‘Do me a favor: Don’t send me a report. Send me, like, three pages.’ ”

Trump said reading long documents is a waste of time because he absorbs the gist of an issue very quickly. “I’m a very efficient guy,” he said. “Now, I could also do it verbally, which is fine. I’d always rather have — I want it short. There’s no reason to do hundreds of pages because I know exactly what it is.”

Full story here.

Freddie Gray: Not Guilty Verdict.

Baltimore Lt. Brian Rice (Photo: Baltimore Police Department)

Baltimore Lt. Brian Rice (Photo: Baltimore Police Department)

The final and highest-ranking officer involved in the arrest and ultimate death of Freddie Gray, Lt. Brian Rice, has been found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter, not guilty on the second degree reckless endangerment charge and not guilty on misconduct in office.

Gray suffered a broken neck while in the back of a police van that transported him on April 12, 2015. News of Gray’s death sparked protests across Baltimore, Maryland, and the nation as Black Lives Matter protesters demanded accountability.

The medical examiner in the case ruled that Gray’s injuries occurred inside the police van, but no officer involved has yet to be found guilty of his death. Gray wasn’t properly secured by a seat belt during transit and he didn’t receive immediate medical attention. It has left many in the Black Lives Matter movement frustrated that no justice can be found for those who have been killed at the hands of police.

Oh yes, of course, most people who aren’t properly seat belt secured just happen to break their necks, happens all the time! Thoroughly disgusting.

Via Raw Story.

Welcome to The Power Games!

A moment later, Stephen Colbert brightened and stared out at the assembled masses at the RNC. After quickly apologizing because he “blacked out,” he said “it is my honor to hereby launch and begin the 2016 Republican National Hungry for Power Games!”

However, security appeared to intervene, and as Stephen Colbert was escorted from the RNC stage, he yelled, “Look, I know I’m not supposed to be up here, but to be honest, neither is Donald Trump.”

Via The Inquisitr.

Hollywood Is So Biased…

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against Christians! I guess the God’s Not Dead 2 people are not so happy with the result of their latest flick, because they can’t stop yelling Persecution! It’s persecution that their gigantic ad wasn’t draped on a building, so much so that a congresscritter has vowed to hunt down the person responsible, and apparently, this is the only way Pat Boone can get any publicity anymore.

Christianity is getting a bad rap in movies and TV shows, say 32 percent of Republicans, an opinion shared by only 5 percent of Democrats, according to a scientific poll released on Sunday.

I think we can drop the intended weight of scientific here.

The results of the poll from the Barna Group were shared with The Hollywood Reporter at a screening of God’s Not Dead 2 in Cleveland, ahead of the Republican National Convention, which gets underway Monday. GOP Faith, an arm of the party, co-hosted the screening.

The poll asked consumers: “What is your opinion of Hollywood’s treatment of Christianity?”

Ooooh, opinions! How scientific.

The 32 percent of Republicans who answered that it generally portrays it “negatively” was more than six times the number of Democrats who answered similarly. This result didn’t surprise Pat Boone, one of the stars of the film.

Can we say confirmation bias?

“Christianity imposes restrictions on behavior, even in movies,” Boone told THR. “Hollywood doesn’t like it when people tell them to stick to moral rules because it makes a lot of money breaking those rules. Orgies, vampires, zombies, debauchery of all forms. Anything goes, and it is liberal Democrats who are making these films. Depravity is profitable.”

Yes, depravity is profitable, Pat. It’s profitable everywhere. Where would Christianity be without it? Nowhere at all. Take away your darling devil, and you have nothing.

Boone offered an example from his own career, saying he was recently offered a role in a TV pilot where he’d play a Christian book publisher as “a heathen, money-grubbing hypocrite.”

“This happens all the time,” said Boone. “They tried to utilize my good image to skewer people of faith. They portray us as dunces.”

Prior to the screening was a worship service, the first time the RNC has held such an event at one of its presidential conventions. Among those who spoke was former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who also appears in God’s Not Dead 2. He told the 300 attendees that a billboard advertising the movie was deemed too “incendiary” to be hung near the convention venue. A pro-atheist sign, though, is here, and so is a giant billboard showing Donald Trump and Ted Cruz kissing, with the text: “Love Trumps Hate. End homophobia.”

“If you’ve never had a reason to watch this film, you’ve got one now,” Huckabee said prior to the start of God’s Not Dead 2, which stars Melissa Joan Hart as a teacher in trouble for citing scripture in the classroom. 

“It’s harder today than ever to truly live as a person of faith because you’re subjected to ridicule and scorn and contempt,” he said.

I am so sick and tired of this shit. Ridicule. Scorn. Contempt. Those things, while bad, aren’t happening because you’re a Christian. They’re happening because you’re bigoted asswipes with a vast need to control the lives of every single person on the planet according to your personal values. Bit of a difference there. Besides, Christians are supposed to rejoice in persecution, that’s why you all keep trying to pretend you’re being persecuted all the time. Wanting to have your cake and eat it too.

…Said Medved: “It’s not so much that Christians are lampooned all the time — though that certainly happens — it’s that they’re ignored, and they shouldn’t be. In any given week, four times more Americans go to church than go to the movies.”

So, if Christians are in churches, and not movie theaters, no problem, right? Right?

…The poll, commissioned by the God’s Not Dead 2 filmmakers, indicated that most moviegoers had mixed feelings about Hollywood’s treatment of Christianity, but 4 percent of Republicans said Christians are portrayed “positively” compared with 18 percent of Democrats.

Oooh, how sciencey that all is! I’m so not impressed.

Via Hollywood Reporter.