Author Archives: dmachado

About dmachado

Follow Danny Machado

Gandhi Would Have Been Proud

Indefinite Solitude

California prisoners finally start to eat again as a week-long hunger strike draws to an end.  Approximately 200 inmates between two California prisons refused to eat in protest to new regulations being proposed for higher-security in prisons.  One of the concepts being considered to highten security levels is to increase solitary confinement to span as long as decades.  Prison officials believe that the only way to effectively disban gangs in prison is to physically seperate the prisoners.  Keeping prisoners in solitary confinement is their most effective (only way) of keeping inmates from fraternizing.

Read more

Look Who’s Holding The Hose Now

Firefighter

This week New York’s Fire Department hit headlines with a civil rights issue that has everyone heated!  The FDNY decided to administer a new entrance exam in an effort to hire new firefighters for the first time in 5 years.  However, some of the existing New York firefighters feel that the FDNY are pandering to minorities by lowering the standards of the entrance exam to accommodate diversity. The FDNY’s lack of racial diversity has been a subject of ridicule for the past several years. There is no doubt that the diversity in the FDNY is surprisingly pitiful, 91% white, and only 3% black, shocking I know!  But the department is walking a fine line between promoting equal employment opportunity and tilting the scales to help minorities.  Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that “retroactive seniority and priority hiring of 293 minorities” would begin “immediately”. This decision caused an uproar resulting in 200 firefighters protesting outside of the courthouse in Brooklyn, NY.

Read more

NFL Up For Grabs?

NFL referee

The NFL is the Titanic of sports.  It’s big, fast, powerful, and at the moment it’s sinking fast.    After watching last nights match up between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks, I think it is safe to say that Roger Goodell has done a poor job “protecting the shield”.  I was originally a supporter of Goodell’s reluctance to give in to the NFL referees demands.  In reality, being an NFL referee is the best part-time job anyone can have.  So give me a break refs, you guys need to appreciate the fact that you have the highest per-game salary in American sports.  That being said, Goodell has truly tarnished one of the most powerful and influential brands in the world in the course of 3 short weeks.  The debate is over and the verdict is in, the replacement referees are taking away from the integrity of the game.  As Steve Young put it last night after the game, “everybody senses it, that this is impacting the competitive landscape of the NFL and it brings it down”.  Trent Dilfer, an ESPN analyst, took it one step further by claiming that “the NFL has insulted our intelligence by trying to tell us that this isn’t a big deal.”

Read more

Spoiled Milk

A baby’s world

The most famous set of breasts since Kate Middleton’s are still fueling debates across the country a week after their debut.  American University professor Adrienne Pine, reluctantly become the new face of the feminist movement after breast feeding her infant in the middle of a class lecture.  Pine felt uncomfortable leaving her sick daughter at her regular day care center.  Rather than cancel her first lecture of the year, Pine thought it would be better to bring her daughter to work with her.  During the lecture the infant was crawling around on the classroom floor, and at one point the TA (Teachers Assistant) felt it was necessary to hold and comfort the disrupted baby.  Although this must have all been very distracting, the highlight of the lecture was when Pine unbuttoned her blouse and breast-fed her child in the middle of lecturing.

Read more

Man On The Lamb Turns Himself In

A lamb on the lamb

A career criminal John Thomas, turned himself in after being on the lamb for a month. He first caught the attention of Detective Nick Romano and Sergeant Craig Brier for suspicious activity in the parking lot of an auto-supply store in Jamaica Queens.  When the law enforcers approached Thomas in an attempt to question him he made a run for it.  As Romano and Brier chased Thomas he let off four shots, hitting Brier once in both legs.  After the massive manhunt spanning an entire month, the wounded 15-year veteran was relieved when John Thomas decided to turn himself in.  This uncharacteristic surrender comes as a welcome surprise to everyone, especially Brier’s mother who said she got goose bumps when she heard the news.  Now, Thomas faces charges of attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and assault.

Continue reading →