Jr.

As the 2012 Judicial Elections begin in earnest, we at Outlier Magazine are taking a look at these judges we have given so much power to rule over our lives. Case in point. Business Court Chief Judge John R. Jolly, Jr. (kinda rolls right off your tongue doesn't it?). I once drove an hour and a half to appear before him for a Monday morning calendar call. When I got there, he proclaimed my case wouldn't be held that day, but later "sometime" during the week. Maybe Wednesday or Thursday. He wasn't sure. (scheduling...hey it happens).

I asked him if he could let me know the day so I could get a hotel room in town the night before or schedule the case for the afternoon of whatever day he chose so I could be sure to be there because I-40 is a bear in the morning and the inclement, snowy weather was brutal. He simply said "No!"

A sophomoric attempt to discredit the African-American Museum in DC:

The late Sen. Jesse Helms was an ardent opponent of establishing a Smithsonian museum for African-American history. He argued that it would trigger a string of history museums based on race and culture.

The more likely reason for his opposition is the very strong possibility that he himself would be on exhibit, and not in a position of honor, either. Not only did he adamantly and powerfully oppose civil rights, desegregation, voting rights, affirmative action, etc., he also spent 16 days filibustering the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday.

Cross-posted from a Facing South article by Sue Sturgis.

With the American people still struggling to make sense of the recent shootings in Arizona and the role that violent political rhetoric may have played, we revisit the words of the minister from Georgia who we honor this weekend.
Following is the text of a sermon Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered on Nov. 17, 1957 at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. Eleven months earlier, King and other civil rights activists had founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to harness the power of African-American churches in the fight for racial justice -- a fight that was met with violence both rhetorical and very real.

In fact, the sermon was delivered a year before King was almost killed -- stabbed in the chest by a mentally ill woman who believed that King and the NAACP were communists conspiring to keep her from getting a job.

From his hospital room in Harlem, Dr. King issued a statement bearing no ill will toward his assailant, Izola Ware Curry, and hoping she would get help. King saw the incident not as an attack on one man, but as an attack of hatred.

Ralph Campbell Jr. will lie in state at the North Carolina Capitol rotunda from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 14.

A memorial service for Mr. Campbell will be held Friday, Jan. 14 in the Fletcher Opera Theater of the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. The service will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (It had been announced previously the service would start one hour earlier.)

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Ralph Campbell, former State Auditor and Raleigh Council member, dead at age 64 - Raleigh Statehouse | Examiner.com

Embarassing himself in the process:

North Carolina elected officials cheered the confirmation to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals of Judge Jim Wynn.

In his statement, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, noted that under President George W. Bush, Democrats had blocked confirmation of nominees to the 4th Circuit.

"After the treatment some of these nominees were subjected to, it is a wonder that others are still willing to step forward to put themselves through the nominations process," Burr said.

Judge Wynn (you know, the guy you're supposed to be talking about) was originally blocked by Republican Jesse Helms, you dummy.

Thumbing his nose at the general public, Admiral Harvey holds secret meeting with people of "influence":

Carolyn Riggs, a former Camden County commissioner, said the purpose of the meeting was to give business owners a chance to express their concerns to Harvey “one on one” about the Navy’s OLF study in Camden.

The meeting was also an effort, she said, to put the Navy commander with authority over the OLF project in touch with “people who are influential and who have their pulse on the community” in Camden and Currituck.

Placing unity above disunity:

Citing the need for Democratic Party unity, Ed Hanes Jr. has suspended his primary challenge against incumbent N.C. Sen. Linda Garrou, D-Forsyth, for the 32nd district seat.

Hanes' name will still be on the ballot, but he said he is backing Garrou for re-election.

Moulin Rouge.

The mention of that name, in the right circles, brings back a flood of associations.

Among them: a famous cabaret in Gay Paree, a Nicole Kidman movie rich in costume and set design and…well, a movie, anyway; or, if you really know your films, perhaps the association is with the 1952 John Huston “biography” film of the same name.

The one association that might not quickly come to mind, even though it should: ground zero in a battle that led to the desegregation of Las Vegas.

Today’s story will fill in the blanks that you might have regarding that association—and by the time we’re done, we’ll have covered, just as we promised last time, the 55-year history of a place that began in 1955, lasted for not quite six months, and ended just last week…maybe.

It’s another one of those American history stories you never heard before, and it’s well worth the telling…so let’s get right to it.

There may be no more recognizable icon of “Retro-Cool” than that photograph of the Rat Pack standing in front of the marquee at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.

They’re right there, lined up in front of their own giant names on the marquee: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop.

Night after night they would gather with friends such as Shirley MacLaine, Angie Dickinson, and Johnny Carson, to deliver some of the greatest nightclub performances in entertainment history.

Today’s story, however, focuses on what happened after the show: when four of those five could leave the showroom, drink at the bar, gamble at the casino, and go upstairs to their rooms.

In a town sometimes known as the “Mississippi of the West”, however, one of those five performers could not do any of those things.

Our Journey In Two Parts literally crosses over to the “wrong side of the tracks”, tells a story of segregation overcome, and recounts the six-month history of a Las Vegas hotel that has a 55-year history: the Moulin Rouge.