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Culture Tag

As if the election season isn't scary enough, the start of October a few days away and Halloween-themed everything can be seen everywhere. In Southern California, Knotts Berry Farm pulls out all the stops in making its amusement park the scariest place on earth. However, according to some mental health advocates, the newest attraction was too much.
A popular Halloween attraction at Knott's Berry Farm and California's Great America was shutting down, officials announced Wednesday, after some took to social media calling the display "offensive" to those suffering from mental illness.

We followed the Washington Redskins name controversy rather closely, including legal action taken against them.  Now the Supreme Court is taking up a case that, while not directly related to the Redskins, may impact the team and its name. The Washington Post reports:
The Supreme Court will decide whether a federal law that bars the registration of disparaging trademarks violates free speech, a case with direct implications for the Washington Redskins in their fight to defend their famous team name. The justices on Thursday announced that they will consider whether part of the 1946 Lanham Trademark Act that prohibits registration of a trademark that “may disparage” persons violates the First Amendment, as an appeals court has ruled.
The Court didn't take the Redskin case, but instead took another with similar implications that was further along in the legal process.

I wrote just this past weekend about a "lurking clown" being arrested in Kentucky. Here's yet another "clown" arrest, but this time in Tennessee.  It doesn't appear that this clown was dressed as a clown or wearing a clown mask at the time of his arrest, but it is curious given all the other clown sightings across the South. WKRN reports:
A 64-year-old man claiming to be a clown threatening children in Coffee County has been arrested by Coffee County deputies. Coffee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lucky Knott told News 2 a man called the Coffee County Communications Center’s non-emergency line and identified himself as “the clown who has been threatening children.”

We've been covering the Charlotte protests here at LI, and the lasted development is quite a doozy.  They've released a list of demands that boggles the mind and steps perilously close to the federal definition of terrorism. Mediaite reports:
Protestors in Charlotte have made quite a few demands over when they’ll end their rallies, not the least of which are the “demilitarization” and “defunding” of the city’s police department. The death of Keith Lamont Scott sparked major unrest over the past few days, which created enough pressure on Charlotte police that they released their body cam footage of the fatal encounter. Even so, protest participants of are circulating an online set of terms for when they’ll call it quits completely, and…it’s a pretty sizable assortment.

Thirteen years in the making and the National Museum of African American History and Culture is now open to visitors. The bill, created by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and then Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), now Kansas Governor, was authorized by President George W. Bush. Saturday, the museum held its Grand Opening Ceremony attended by President Bush and President Obama. "I was honored to sign the bill authorizing construction of this national treasure and I'm pleased it now stands where it's always belonged -- on the National Mall," said former President Bush at the opening ceremony. "A great nation does not hide its history. It faces its flaw and corrects them. This museum tells the truth that a country founded on the promise of liberty held millions in chains. That the price of our union was America's original sin."

A prominent Jordanian writer named Nahed Hattar was facing charges in Amman for sharing a cartoon on Facebook which was deemed offensive to Islam. He was killed outside the courthouse this weekend. Al Jazeera reports:
Jordan: Nahed Hattar shot dead ahead of cartoon trial A gunman has shot dead prominent Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar outside a court where he was facing charges for sharing a cartoon deemed offensive to Islam.