user: Q: Column: Finally, some hope for central Africa

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Roughly half of our columns come from our Board of Contributors, a group whose interests range from education to religion to sports to the economy. Their charge is to chronicle American culture by telling the stories, large and small, that collectively make us what we are.

We also publish weekly columns by Al Neuharth, USA TODAY's founder, and DeWayne Wickham, who writes primarily on matters of race but on other subjects as well. That leaves plenty of room for other views from across the nation by well-known and lesser-known names alike.

A machine-gun-wielding Christian missionary builds an orphanage in Sudan and takes up arms against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the rebel group known for sadistic methods and child soldiers.

This true story unfolds in the newly released movie Machine Gun Preacher, starring Gerard Butler as the bad-guy-turned-preacher Sam Childers, the founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization. Directed by Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, The Kite Runner), Preacher has stirred controversy in the human rights community where Childers' "armed humanitarianism" has been greeted with disapproval, and where some have questioned the veracity of his claims.

But the one thing everyone can agree on is that the movie does the critical service of shining a light on a desperate situation in central Africa that the world has largely ignored. And whether coincidence or something else, the Obama administration on Friday announced plans for greater U.S. involvement in the troubled region.

The movie's opening scene is a harrowing LRA raid on a village where a young boy is forced to smash his mother's skull until she dies. This is not a Hollywood over-dramatization. This type of sick brutality is all too common in central Africa today.

The Lord's Resistance Army organized in northern Uganda in the late 1980s. It is led by Joseph Kony, who claims to be guided by a host of spirits. His forces are active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Kony's fighters raze villages, disfigure and torture people of all ages, and kidnap children to use as soldiers or sex slaves. Other children — mainly girls — are reported to have been sold, traded, or given as gifts by the LRA to arms dealers in Sudan.

The numbers are staggering. The 2006 Survey of War Affected Youth reported that just in Uganda, the LRA kidnapped at least 66,000 minors during its reign of terror. Human Rights Watch reports that since 2008, the LRA is responsible for nearly 6,000 killings and kidnappings in the remote regions of central Africa, and for driving more than 400,000 people from their homes. Though the LRA is the most notorious, many militias terrorize the region with impunity.

Lauren Wolfe, who runs the War Against Women Project, told me, "Girls and women are abducted to be 'wives' and sex slaves. Young girls are thought to be free of HIV. They are raped and starved until they will kill others and sometimes forced to go back to their own villages to kill their own families."

Though activist communities are wary of Childers-like vigilantism, they understand his frustration and fear that meek actions won't stop the killings. Will the world wait too long, as it did in Rwanda in the 1990s?

In May, dozens of human rights organizations sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to do more. Though he last year signed bipartisan legislation giving him a mandate to combat the LRA, and released an anti-LRA strategy in November 2010, the killings have not subsided.

On Friday, Obama responded to the cries for action and announced that he is sending 100 U.S. troops (including Special Forces) to serve as military advisers. Human rights groups greeted the news enthusiastically but continued to call for higher level U.S. diplomatic action to put pressure on regional governments to help combat the LRA.

In an interview, Childers didn't sound like a man who believed a one-man army was the answer. In fact, he'd clearly prefer something else: "We have to remember that if everyone does something little, it turns out to be something big. So there is something we all can do. Do research. … Get out there and do as much work as you can."

Kirsten Powers is a columnist for The Daily Beastand a Fox News contributor.

A: Kirsten Powers: Sex slaves, child soldiers, senseless killings. The world mustn't look away.


IN: Mysterious "Horse Boy" Shows Up on Google Street View
Although many might think that Google Street View was created for navigational purposes, IMHO, it was created solely for our collective entertainment. That’s right, another apparition from the realm of weird has appeared on Google’s service: the mysterious, the elusive, the equine… Horse Boy.

According to the BBC, Horse Boy — who was captured on film standing by a wall in Aberdeen, Scotland — has become a phenomenon among InternetInternet denizens in the country.

Apparently, dozens of users have e-mailed the BBC to assert that they know the identity of the mystery man-steed. Many have even sent in images of what they claim is the stallion.

Secret identities (and privacy issues) aside, we’re happy to see more weird stuff cropping up in Street View. Not that there’s a dearth of oddities or anything — but since that first kiss was removed from the service, we were aching for something new to entertain us. Thanks, Google Street View, and thank you, Horse Boy.

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OUT: Horse Boy — who was captured on film standing by a wall in Aberdeen, Scotland — has become a phenomenon among Internet denizens in the country.


Q:
Lamar Odom Spotted Drinking Again
was spotted out drinking Sunday – and

does not seem happy about it.

In pictures published by X17, the former NBA pro was spotted sipping on cognac at the Beverly Center mall in Los Angeles.

“He was very nice to everyone taking photos with him,” an onlooker tells PEOPLE.

Odom, 36, was alone and ordered two drinks during his time at the bar, the onlooker says.

On Sunday night, Odom’s estranged wife, 31, tweeted, “People disappoint.”

— Khloé (@khloekardashian) May 9, 2016

Odom spent months under medical care after being found unconscious in a Nevada Brothel in October. Odom was also spotted out drinking in March, and a medical source told PEOPLE at the time the drinking gave cause for concern.

“Lamar needs to focus on staying healthy. He should not be consuming any alcohol,” a source at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said. “In Lamar’s case, as someone who only a few months ago had several life threatening health issues, including kidney failure, he needs to live clean. The trauma to his body after the drug overdose was devastating. Alcohol can cause more damage.”

In April, Odom addressed reports that he was falling into bad habits after he was seen drinking.

“I mean, it gets tough, especially if so much gets speculated,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “Only a few people know the truth, and I just keep that close to my heart.”
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A:


assistant: The star continues to recover after being hospitalized in October