Saturday, November 2, 2013

Pentagon training manual: white males have unfair advantages

"A black, homosexual, atheist female in poor health receives many unearned disadvantages of social privilege,” reads a statement in the manual for Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI).

  • toddstarnes.jpg
    Army.mil
A controversial 600-plus page manual used by the military to train its Equal Opportunity officers teaches that "healthy, white, heterosexual, Christian" men hold an unfair advantage over other races, and warns in great detail about a so-called "White Male Club."
“Simply put, a healthy, white, heterosexual, Christian male receives many unearned advantages of social privilege, whereas a black, homosexual, atheist female in poor health receives many unearned disadvantages of social privilege,” reads a statement in the manual created by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI).
The manual, which was obtained by Fox News, also instructs troops to “support the leadership of people of color. Do this consistently, but not uncritically,” the manual states.
The military manual goes into great detail about a so-called “White Male Club.”
The Equal Opportunity Advisor Student Guide is the textbook used during a three month DEOMI course taught at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. Individuals who attend the training lead Equal Opportunity briefings on military installations around the nation.
The 637-page manual covers a wide range of issues from racism and religious diversity to cultural awareness, extremism and white privilege.
I obtained a copy of the manual from an Equal Opportunity officer who was disturbed by the course content and furious over the DEOMI’s reliance on the Southern Poverty Law Center for information on “extremist” groups.
“I’m participating in teaching things that are not true,” the instructor told me. He asked not to be identified because he feared reprisals.
“I should not be in a position to do that,” he said. “It violates Constitutional principles, but it also violates my conscience. And I’m not going to do it – not going to do it.”
Read an excerpt from the EOAC student manual here.
DEOMI instructors were also responsible for briefings at bases around the country that falsely labeled evangelical Christians, Catholics and a number of high-profile Christian ministries as domestic hate groups.
I contacted the Pentagon as well as the DEOMI multiple times for comment on this story, but so far they have not responded to my requests.
DEOMI opened in 1971 in response to the civil rights movement. It’s responsible for Equal Opportunity/Equal Employment Opportunity education and training for military active duty and reservists, according to its website.
The subject of white privilege emerged in a 20-page section titled, “Power and Privilege.”
“Whites are the empowered group,” the manual declares. “White males represent the haves as compared to the have-nots.”
The military document advises personnel to “assume racism is everywhere, every day” and “notice code words for race.” They are also instructed to “understand and learn from the history of whiteness and racism.”
“Assume racism is everywhere, everyday,” read a statement in a section titled, ‘How to be a strong 'white ally.'"
“One of the privileges of being white is not having to see or deal with racism all the time,” the manual states. “We have to learn to see the effect that racism has.”
On page 181 of the manual, the military points out that status and wealth are typically passed from generation to generation and “represent classic examples of the unearned advantages of social privilege.”
“As such, the unfair economic advantages and disadvantages created long ago by institutions for whites, males, Christians, etc. still affect socioeconomic privilege today,” the manual states.
The guide also points out that whites are over-represented and blacks are underrepresented in positive news stories, that middle class blacks live in poorer neighborhoods than middle class whites and that even though there are more white criminals than any other race, the news coverage of black criminals is about equal to the news coverage of white criminals.
The military manual goes into great detail about a so-called “White Male Club.”
“In spite of slave insurrections, civil war, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, the women’s suffrage movement leading to the 19th amendment, the civil rights movement, urban rebellions and the contemporary feminist movement, the club persists,” the document states.
DEOMI states that “full access to the resources of the club still escape the vision of equitable distribution.”
The military also implies that white Americans may be in denial about racism.
In a section titled, “Rationalizations for Retaining Privilege and Avoiding Responsibilities,” the military lays out excuses white people use.
“Today some white people may use the tactic of denial when they say, ‘It’s a level playing field; this is a land of equal opportunity,’” the manual reads. “Some white people may be counterattacking today by saying political correctness rules the universities or they want special status.”
DEOMI points out that if “white people are unable to maintain that the atrocities are all in the past, they may switch to tactics to make a current situation seem isolated.”
They said some of the ways whites may claim to be victims include saying things like, “I have it just as bad as anyone else,” “They’re taking away our jobs,” or “White people are under attack.”
The military concludes the section by urging students to “understand and learn from the history of whiteness and racism” and “support the leadership of people of color.”
I called former Congressman and Lt. Col. Allen West (ret.) to get his take on the manual. In a nutshell – he wants a congressional investigation.
“This is the Obama administration’s outreach of social justice into the United States military,” he told me. “Equal Opportunity in the Army that I grew up in did not have anything to do with white privilege.”
West said he is very concerned about the training guide.
“When the president talked about fundamentally transforming the United States of America, I believe he also had a dedicated agenda of going after the United States military,” he said. “The priorities of this administration are totally whacked.”
West said the DEOMI manual reminded him of a similar program inflicted on the military by President Clinton.
“They came down with a new training requirement called, ‘Consideration of Others Training,’” he said. “The soldiers were supposed to sit around and go through vignettes and talk about their feelings.”
I truly wish the Pentagon and the DEOMI would return my telephone calls. I’d like to know how teaching soldiers, airmen and sailors about white privilege and fomenting racial division helps them protect our nation from the enemy.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter.

Friday, November 1, 2013

IS PEDOPHELIA REALLY JUST A SEXUAL PREFERENCE?

IS PEDOPHELIA REALLY JUST A SEXUAL PREFERENCE?


http://www.dw.de/image/0,,15824030_303,00.jpg

 IF SO, DO WE HAVE TO LET JERRY SANDUSKY OUT OF THE PEN NOW?

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Second NC Zoo polar bear dies -- gorilla also dead from unidentified illness

Verne Strickland November 1, 2013 
 
Bear "on loan" to Milwaukee zoo for two years. What happened? Where's our replacement polar bear? New bear sought. Stop the cruelty. Leave polar bears alone! We can live without them. But they can't live with us!

Wilhelm, NC Zoo polar bearx








print friendly
North Carolina Zoo officials said Tuesday that their second male polar bear has died.
Wilhelm had been on loan to the Milwaukee County Zoo since September 2011 while the N.C. Zoo underwent an $8.5 million expansion of its polar bear exhibit.
“Over the past couple of days, 'Willie' was not eating and could not stand,” Milwaukee Zoo Curator of Large Mammals Tim Wild said in a statement. “Our veterinary staff did an exam on Willie and found fluid in his abdomen.”
The 28-year-old bear was euthanized, and a necropsy will be done to determine the cause of its illness, officials said.
Wilhelm had been slated to remain in Milwaukee until the renovations to the Asheboro zoo were completed next fall. The N.C. Zoo's female polar bear, Snow Lilly, remains at the Milwaukee Zoo on public exhibit.
Last month, Aquila, a 21-year-old male polar bear, was found dead at the N.C. Zoo. Officials said the bear had a hernia, which led to a stomach rupture and its lungs collapsing.
The N.C. Zoo is working with the Polar Bear Species Survival Program of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums to find animals for the expanded exhibit. Due to climate changes, including habitat loss, wild polar bears have been placed on the endangered list.

Pakistani Government Says Drone Death Reports Inflated






Verne Strickland Blogmaster / Oct. 31, 2013

Drone Deaths: 3 Percent Of People Killed By U.S. Strikes Since 2008 Were Civilians, Pakistan Reports

By MUNIR AHMED and SEBASTIAN ABBOT 10/31/13 12:36 AM ET EDT AP

ISLAMABAD -- ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani government said Wednesday that 3 percent of 2,227 people killed in U.S. drone strikes since 2008 were civilians, a surprisingly low figure that sparked criticism from groups that have investigated deaths from the attacks.
The number, which was provided by the Ministry of Defense to the Senate, is much lower than past government calculations and estimates by independent organizations that have gone as high as 300. The ministry said 317 drone strikes have killed 2,160 Islamic militants and 67 civilians since 2008.
The attacks, which mainly target suspected Islamic militants near the northwestern border with Afghanistan, are widely unpopular in Pakistan because they are viewed as violating the country's sovereignty and killing too many civilians. The Pakistani government regularly criticizes the drone program in public, even though it is known to have secretly supported at least some of the strikes in the past.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pressed President Barack Obama to end the attacks in a visit to the White House last week, but the U.S. considers the attacks vital to its battle against al-Qaida and the Taliban and gave no indication it was willing to abandon them.
The latest strike occurred around midnight Wednesday, when missiles destroyed a vehicle in Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, a major militant sanctuary, Pakistani intelligence officials said. No one was killed in the attack, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Defense Ministry officials could not be reached for comment on their civilian casualty figure, and the statement posted on the Senate's website did not give any indication why the number was so much lower than past government calculations and outside estimates.
A U.N. expert investigating drone strikes, Ben Emmerson, said earlier this month that the Pakistani Foreign Ministry told him that at least 400 civilians have been killed by the attacks in the country since they started in 2004.
Emmerson called on the government to explain the apparent discrepancy, saying the figures provided by the Foreign Ministry since 2004 indicated a much higher percentage of civilian casualties.
"If the true figures for civilian deaths are significantly lower, then it is important that this should now be made clear, and the apparent discrepancy explained," Emmerson said in an email.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, based in London, has estimated that drones have killed at least 300 civilians in Pakistan since 2008, while the Washington-based New America Foundation put the figure at 185. These estimates are often compiled based on media reports about the attacks.
Pakistan's overall death toll is lower than some other totals, although not to the same degree as its figure for civilians. The New America Foundation registered 2,651 people killed in the same period, while the Long War Journal website has 2,493.
The danger of traveling to the remote tribal region targeted by the strikes makes it difficult to compile an accurate number of civilian casualties.
The U.S. rarely speaks publicly about the CIA-run drone program in Pakistan because it is classified. But some American officials have insisted that the strikes have killed very few civilians and that estimates from the Pakistani government and independent organizations are exaggerated.
Amnesty International called on the U.S. to investigate reports of civilians killed and wounded by drone strikes in Pakistan in a report released earlier this month that provided new details about the alleged victims of the attacks, including a 68-year-old woman killed while farming with her grandchildren.
Mamana Bibi's grandchildren told the London-based rights group that she was killed by missile fire on Oct. 24, 2012, as she was collecting vegetables in a family field in North Waziristan. Bibi's relatives testified before members of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.
The Amnesty report also cited witnesses as saying that a volley of missiles hit a tent where 18 men with no links to militant groups were eating after work, then a second struck those who came to help the wounded on July 6, 2012 in North Waziristan. Pakistani intelligence officials at the time identified the dead as suspected militants.
In its latest statement, the Pakistani government said 21 civilians were killed in 2008, nine in 2009, two in 2010 and 35 in 2011. But it insisted no civilians have been killed since then.
Amnesty researcher Mustafa Qadri said he was skeptical about the government figures because it conflicted with their research and indicated a failure of the state to adequately investigate alleged civilian casualties.
The London-based human rights group, Reprieve, called the government's civilian casualty figures inaccurate, based on higher numbers it said were submitted to the Peshawar High Court by the top official in North Waziristan earlier this year.
An Associated Press study in early 2012 of 10 of the deadliest drone strikes in North Waziristan over the preceding 18 months found that of at least 194 people killed in the attacks, about 70 percent — at least 138 — were militants. The remaining 56 were either civilians or tribal police, and 38 of them were killed in a single strike.
The Interior Ministry also said Wednesday that "terrorist" attacks have killed 12,404 people and wounded 26,881 others since 2002, although these figures were disputed by some senators. The government has been battling an insurgency by the Pakistani Taliban, which seeks to topple the country's democratic system and impose Islamic law. It was not clear if the figure involved only attacks on civilians, or also attacks on security forces.
A roadside bomb killed five soldiers and wounded three others Wednesday in the South Waziristan tribal area, the Pakistani Taliban's main sanctuary before the army conducted a large ground offensive in 2009, said military officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military policy.
Also Wednesday, a bomb exploded in a market in southwestern Pakistan, killing two people and wounding at least 20 others, said police official Ahmad Raza. The attack occurred in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. The province is home to both Islamic militants and separatists who have waged a low-level insurgency against the government for decades.
___
Associated Press writers Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / October 30, 2013
    


     DO YOU THINK WE ARE FOOLS?


obama smiling getty President Obama Earns a Second Term

                     OH REALLY?

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Diplomat gives stunning pro-life speech at U.N.

Verne Strickland / Blogmaster / October 28, 2013

Archibishop Francis Chullikat gets tough on children's issues

Peter Smith, of SPUC - a prolife group of the United Kingdom - and the International Right to Life Federation, praised a speech given by Archbishop Francis Chullikat at the United Nations. Archbishop Chullikat is the Permanent Observer of the Vatican at the UN, a powerful voice for human rights. In his speech, the Vatican diplomat made a plea to the world's conscience as the the international body deliberated on the protection of children throughout the world. In addition, he took a swipe at the the committee that has jurisidction over children's issues. Smith said, "This speech was very pro-life and pro-family and took a swipe at the crooked compliance committee that oversees the Convention on the rights of the child.”
 
The text of the speech follows:
 
Intervention of Archbishop Francis Chullikatt
Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of The Holy See to The UN
Third Committee of the 68th General Assembly
Item 65: Promotion and Protection of The Rights of Children
 
Mr Chairman:
 
This year’s Secretary General’s Report on the Status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (A/68/257) helpfully draws attention to child mortality, which goes to the heart of what the Convention in article 6 enshrines as the child’s “right to life, survival and development”. Indeed, without life, all other rights are meaningless. It is a cause for encouragement that his Report concludes that the goal of ending all preventable child deaths is now within our reach.[1]
 
Among the key factors for achieving this goal the Report identifies maternal health.[2] This is confirmed by the logic of the Convention itself, which affords the child the right to both pre-natal and post-natal healthcare (article 24(d)). This provision has meaning only if the unborn baby is first afforded the right to life and survival. This accords with my Delegation’s understanding of the Convention’s definition of the term “child”, which article 1 addresses with an explicit terminus ad quem of 18 years and a terminus a quo implicit in the preamble’s clear reference to the child’s rights “before and after birth”.
 
It follows that each child must be accorded in the first place the right to be born. This is a right, moreover, which must be protected equally – without discrimination on any grounds, including those of sex or disability or policies dictated by eugenics. Thus, pre-natal diagnosis undertaken for the purpose of deciding whether or not the baby will be permitted to be born is inconsistent with the Convention, which my Delegation regards as the fundamental normative instrument on the rights of the child. The unborn baby is a member of our human family and does not belong to a “sub-category of human beings”.
 
Mr Chairman:
 
My Delegation takes a holistic view of both health and education, identified by this year’s Secretary General’s Report as fundamental to the State’s obligations. As the Secretary General acknowledged in his previous year’s Report (A/67/225, paragraph 41): health “extends beyond the physical and mental well-being of an individual to the spiritual balance and well-being of the community as a whole”. This includes the duty to take concrete steps to support parents in their proper role of raising their children, so that, as the Declaration of the Rights of the Child asserts, each child may be given “opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to enable him [or her] to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.”
 
Mr Chairman:
 
My Delegation concurs with the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (A/68/275), that prevention is a key aspect for the protection of children from sale and sexual exploitation.  In this regard, the Report devotes significant attention to the indispensable role of the family for the protection of children.  Indeed, “The family represents the first layer of a protective environment”.[3]  Parents, in the first instance, have the responsibility to secure the conditions of living, necessary for the child’s life, survival and development.[4]
 
States have the duty to protect, support and strengthen the family for the best interests of the child.  This is all the more important – as the Report observes — given that poverty, unemployment, disease, disability and difficulty in accessing social services as a result of discrimination and exclusion may affect the ability of parents to care for their children; and that mental or behavioural disorders, conflicts, substance addiction and domestic violence may weaken the ability of families to provide a harmonious and safe environment and make children more likely to engage in risky behaviours.[5]
 
Mr Chairman:
 
While protection of the rights of children begins with full respect for children themselves at all stages in their development, from conception onwards, parents, for their part, possess an indispensable role in their formation and education, and the family is the proper place for their development, as the Secretary General’s Report acknowledges.[6] Defense of the rights of the child requires, as its necessary corollary, defense of the family, for which the societal benefits are obvious: it is the family, not the State, that houses our children, feeds them, instructs them, and raises the next generation of society.
 
When it comes to the upbringing and education of children, therefore, the provisions of the Convention cannot disregard the specific rights and responsibilities of parents. The Convention perfectly reflects the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which in its preamble privileges parents’ “prior right”   (article 26.3) in the education of their children – which is to say, a right prior to that of the State or other actors –  especially in the important arena of religious liberty which includes human sexuality, marriage and the statute of the family.
 
With specific regard to “physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development” (article 27, CRC), the Convention (article 18.1) similarly privileges parents with the “primary responsibility” for their children’s upbringing. These rights and responsibilities of parents in international law are the bulwark of their fundamental right to freedom of religion (art. 14, CRC) in regard to which parents are entirely entitled to choose schools “other than those established by the public authorities, [inclusive of home schooling], which conform to such minimum educational standards as may be laid down or approved by the State and to ensure the religious and moral education of their child [] in conformity with their own convictions” (art.13.3, ICESCR).
 
Mr Chairman:
 
In light of the recent output of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, my Delegation would like to address some elements of General Comments 14 and 15. These Comments, my Delegation must point out respectfully, represent only the opinions of the Committee; they do not constitute agreed language and lack all force of judicial precedence. Whatever is contained within them that is not consistent with the normative text of the Convention and other international instruments constitutes a disservice to the best interests of children. Expressions such as “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” (General Comment No. 14 [2013], par. 55, and No. 15 [2013], par. 8)), on which no international juridical consensus exists, are used spuriously and very unfortunately in these Comments. The recommendations, for example, States submit children to education and direction on sexual health, contraception and so-called “safe” abortion (par. 31) without the consent of their parents, caregiver or guardian; abortion be promoted by States as a family planning method (par. 54, 56, 70), and so-called “sexual and reproductive health information or services” be provided by States, irrespective of providers’ conscientious objections (par. 69). Such recommendations are particularly reprehensible. No abortion is ever “safe” because it kills the life of the child and harms the mother. 
 
The Holy See strongly urges the Committee to revise its General Comments in conformity with its guiding international instruments: beginning with the Convention itself, which affirms the right to life of the child, “before as well as after birth” (Preamble, par. 9), the right of conscience[7], and full respect for the rights, responsibilities and duties of parents regarding their children[8]; and including also the explicit affirmation by the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) that abortion should never be promoted as a family planning method (par. 7.24).
 
Mr Chairman:
 
My delegation calls upon the international community to uphold the clear principles of one of the most ratified Convention’s in international law, so that they will do their part in promoting openness to the gift and richness of life which the child represents, and thus foster the common good of all persons, the attainment of which remains “the sole reason for the existence of civil authorities”[9].
 
Thank you, Mr Chairman.
 
[1] ad para. 68 a.
[2] ad para. 57.
[3] ad para. 36
[4] cf. articles 6 and 27 of CRC
[5] ad para. 37
[6] ad para. 61.
[7] CRC, Article 14; cf. also UDHR, Article 18 and ICCPR, Article 18
[8] CRC, Articles, 3, 5, 7, 9, 14, 18, 27, and 29, c; cf. also UDHR, Article 26,3 and ICCPR Article 18,3
[9] John XXIIII, Encyclical Pacem in terris, 54


Spero News editor Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat, who also worked as a democracy advocate and election observer in Latin America. He is also a freelance translator.

Monday, October 28, 2013

BLATHERING BLOWHARD O'REILLY MOCKS CHRIST ON NATIONAL PROGRAM, OFFENDS MANY, GETS OFF LIGHT. HOW SOON WE FORGET.

 
 
 
 
 
 By Verne Strickland   October 28, 2013
In another inane "interview", Bill O'Reilly tonight gave the esteemed Brit Hume a token appearance, interrupting shamelessly, and depriving his guest of the chance to say anything useful. O'Reilly is a blathering blowhard. I am disgusted with his rudeness and incivility. Especially toward kindred conservative spirits like Hume.

But my impatience with O'Reilly hit its zenith recently when he did another self-serving promotion of his squirm-worthy book "Killing Jesus". It was cheeky of the O'Reilly to even claim the topic, much less try to write about it respectfully and intelligently. But what finally blew out all my circuits was when O'Reilly, who was being interviewed on Fox, characterized the Lord Jesus Christ as "a regular guy" who was killed for no reason. Or words to that effect. "A regular guy"? How dare he? Does he know how blessed the Name of Jesus is to the millions of faithful who worship Him, and have for over 2,000 years, and will forever?

To see this boastful, narcissistic grandstander mock Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and belittle Him, referring to the Lord as "a regular guy", is a sin that stands apart, and for which O'Reilly's soul will surely answer in time. I think the Fox pundit has gotten off light, having been given a pass by most of us who would prefer to cower before the cynical media elite rather than speak up for the Lord. "I knew not the man" is a denial which applies now as it did when first uttered by Peter, His most beloved Disciple.

Since this epic effrontery, I have not watched his show with the respect I once did, if at all. And, for me, the O'Reilly "habit" has been snapped like an over-stretched bowstring. That's me. Over-stretched. By one man's insufferable pride -- the singular trait in men that Jesus said offended Him most.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

The Delta Democrat Times censored first versions of this shocking story -- eliminating the fact that the four teens involved were black, and the victim white.

Four black teens charged with capital murder of WWII veteran who died after mugging

Curiously, the headline here ("Four black teens") did not appear on this story in the New York Daily News -- an attempt to mask the fact that the "alleged" attackers, all black, murdered an 87-year-old white World War II veteran. This was added by Blogmaster Verne Strickland after spotting the censorship.

Lawrence E. 'Shine' Thornton, who was known for running his home business Maria's Famous Hot Tamales, was violently attacked on his driveway on Oct. 18. The four thieves, who were black, took his wallet, along with his life, and are being held on bail for as much as $3 million.


























Lawrence E. ‘Shine’ Thornton, a beloved World War II veteran and pillar of his local community, was brutally killed in a violent mugging by four teenagers on his driveway.

Delta Hot Tamale Festival via Facebook

Lawrence E. ‘Shine’ Thornton, a beloved World War II veteran and pillar of his local community, was killed in a mugging by four teens just after recognized as king of the second annual Delta Hot Tamale Festival.

Greenville, MS -- Four teens have been charged in the fatal mugging of an 87-year-old World War II veteran who died two days after the attack on his own driveway , according to police in Mississippi.
The teens, ages of 18 and 19, were all charged with capital murder after Lawrence E. "Shine" Thornton, a beloved member of his Greenville community, was fatally attacked on Oct. 18.
Greenville police tell the Delta Democrat Times that the teens, all from Greenville, "pushed him down and stole his wallet" around 5:30 p.m.
RELATED: CROWD OF VETERANS, SUPPORTERS STORM WWII MEMORIAL IN WASHINGTON
The WWII widower was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson where he later died.
Terrance Morgan, 19, Edward Johnson, 19, Geblonski Murray, 18, and Leslie Litt, 18, were arrested Monday and charged with capital murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit a robbery after Thornton's community launched a reward for the arrest of the culprits responsible for his attack.
Morgan was the sole teen denied bond by a municipal judge Wednesday, the Times reports. Johnson and Geblonski had bond set at $3 million, while bond for Litt was set at $2.5 million.
RELATED: COPS FIND TEENS’ FINGERPRINTS ON MURDERED WWII VETERAN’S CAR
Just hours before the brutal attack, Thornton, who in recent years became a hot tamale entrepreneur, was honored for the second year as king at the local Delta Hot Tamale Festival.
In an article with the Southern Foodways Alliance, Thornton was remembered as not only a skilled hot tamale entrepreneur, but also the owner of a liquor store who ran the shop while working 37 years for the Delta Electric Co.
Prior to this, he served two years as a fireman first class aboard minesweeper the USS Herald, according to his obituary.
RELATED: COPS HUNT SECOND SUSPECT IN WWII-VET BEATING DEATH
After losing his job with the electric company in 1984, the Shaw native focused on his a liquor store he had kept on the side to support his family.
That same year he also started to work in the hot tamale business, where he would craft his moneymaking recipe.
That recipe soon blossomed into Maria's Famous Hot Tamales, which was named after his Sicilian wife, Mary, and was housed in a backyard kitchen.
RELATED: WAR VETERANS TO HONOR WWII AIRMAN WHEN HIS REMAINS RETURN UPSTATE NEW YORK HOME
The Delta Hot Tamale Festival, which celebrated its second anniversary Oct. 17-19, memorialized its late king on its Facebook page with a photo of him seated proudly at his throne.
"Our love and prayers go out to your family. And you will forever be our King Shine," it said.
At least a dozen commenters mourning his loss chimed similar sentiment.
"Our Prayers go out to his Sons and his beloved Grandchildren. A Fine Southern Gentleman. So Sad," wrote Facebook user Ruth Perkins.
ngolgowski@nydailynews.com
On a mobile device? Watch the video here