Jackson Free Press

The website BoomFantasy.com, which up until now has focused on sports, is launching a "live fantasy" game to coincide with the GOP debate planned for Saturday, February 6, 2016.

For sporting events, the website focuses on in-game predictions such as "What will be the result of Payton Manning's next throw?"

For the debate, questions will hinge more on typical talking points and drinking-game style observations, such as: "Who will Donald Trump go after next? Which will be mentioned first: Ted Cruz's Canadian citizenship or his questionable Iowa tactics?"

Saturday's Republican debate, which begins at 8 pm ET, will be the first ever non-sports event for the Stanford startup, according to a press release.

"Watching Trump and Cruz combat each other seems like more of a sporting event than the Nets-76ers game on Saturday evening," said Stephen A. Murphy, co-founder and CEO of Boom Fantasy, in the release. "Our live fantasy format adds fun and excitement to all types of events, not just athletic contests."

After Saturday's foray into politics, Boom Fantasy returns to football on Sunday, when the Broncos face the Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

Boom Fantasy games can be played for real prize money in 12 U.S. states - California, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Residents of all states can participate in free-to-play tournaments, according to the company.

Boom Fantasy can be played at www.boomfantasy.com, and is available in the App Store and on Android.

The United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent visited Jackson in late January. Read a column by human-rights attorney Adofo Minka on the significance of their work. Here are the group's initial findings:

WASHINGTON D.C. (29 January 2016) - The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent thanks the Government of United States of America for its invitation to visit the country, from 19-29 January 2016, and for its cooperation. This visit is a follow up to the 2010 visit of the WGEPAD and includes other cities. We thank in particular the Department of State for arranging the visit and the local authorities who met with the Working Group during our visit to Washington D.C., Baltimore, Jackson-Mississippi, Chicago and New York City. We would like to give special thanks to the hundreds of civil society representative organizations, lawyers and individuals from the African American community for sharing their concerns and recommendations with our delegation. We also thank numerous human rights defenders and activists who reached out to us from other parts of the country that we could not visit.

The Working Group regrets that it did not receive access according to the terms of reference for special procedure mandate holders to visit Mississippi State Penitentiary Parchman. It also regrets that it was not possible to meet with all of the high level state and local level authorities requested.

The views expressed in this statement are of a preliminary nature, our findings and recommendations will be presented in our mission report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2016.

During the visit, the Working Group assessed the situation of African Americans and people of African descent and gathered information on the forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, Afrophobia and related intolerance that they face. We studied the official measures and mechanisms taken to prevent structural racial discrimination and protect victims of racism and hate crimes as well as responses to multiple forms of discrimination. The visit focused on both good practices and challenges faced in realising their human rights.

We welcome the work of the Civil Rights centers, in all Government departments, and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission that implement the Civil Rights legislation through investigation of complaints, litigation, issuance of guidance and remedies including compensation.

We also acknowledge the work of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division regarding access to justice, investigations of excessive use of force by the police and patterns of discrimination.

We welcome the recent steps taken by the Government to reform the criminal justice system and combat racial discrimination and disparities through the following initiatives:

• The Fair Sentencing Act.
• The Justice Department's "Smart on Crime" initiative.
• The report and recommendations of the Task Force on 21st Century Policing to strengthen community-police relationships across the country.
• The new Guidance for Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Regarding the Use of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, National Origin, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Or Gender Identity
• The Guidance for consideration …