Much has been made of the controversy surrounding how black shoppers are treated at high-end stores. The scandal kicked off after two people accused Barneys and the NYPD of racially profiling them as they shopped. In one incident, 21-year-old Kayla Phllips was surrounded by cops after purchasing a $2,500 Celine handbag. They demanded to know why she had used a debit card without a name on it. It happened to be a temporary card until her new one arrived. She avoided arrest but not complete and utter humiliation. To them, she didn't look like someone who could actually afford that swank accessory.

Other shoppers have made similar complaints about Macy's. Shameful? Without a doubt. But if you are black and like to buy things at upscale stores, this is nothing new. In fact, I have long referred to this as "Shopping While Black." However, now there is a proposed cure-all for this form of discrimination -- a Bill of Rights to protect black shoppers.

Wondering if racial profiling really exists? This may answer that question for you. Three Rochester, New York teens say they were waiting for the school bus when they were arrested. According to the kids, they weren't bothering anyone or even causing a ruckus as they waited for a ride to a basketball scrimmage. The charge? Obstructing pedestrian traffic on a public sidewalk and blocking a store entrance.

Oh California … you are such a nanny state sometimes.  The city of San Rafael, CA, recently passed one of the most restrictive smoking bans in the whole country -- it’s now illegal to smoke in your own home if you share walls with another residence.

The ban applies to all condos, townhouse, and apartments -- regardless of whether the occupants are owners or renters.

A cheapskate couple got out of tipping their waitress by convincing themselves that they were taking the moral high ground. Dayna Morales was left a disgusting, bigoted note about her “gay lifestyle” in lieu of a tip on a $93.55 bill.

A server at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, New Jersey, Dayna wrote an email to the gay-friendly blog “Have a Gay Day” detailing her horrible experience. She also included a photo of the receipt, which read, “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I don’t agree with your lifestyle & how you live your life.”

Thanks, feminists. Now look at what you did! Seriously guys, sometimes I just can’t even fathom what the mindset is with all this clamoring for free birth control. It’s like some people believe they’re being oppressed if Big Daddy Government doesn’t give them free contraceptives or something.

There’s an insulting new ad campaign out called got insurance?, which of course plays off the famous (infamous?) got milk? ads from a few years back. According to the website, the initiative is a “project of the Thanks Obamacare campaign, created by the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and ProgressNow Colorado Education to educate everyone about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.”

One of the rooms where Bockoras was told to pump.A woman named Bobbi Bockoras has filed a lawsuit against her employer, Saint-Gobain Containers' glass factory in Port Allegany, Pennsylvania. Bockoras alleges that when she requested a sanitary space to pump, her bosses offered her various disgusting areas as options ...

First, she was sent to a bathroom, then to a first aid room where male staff members would regularly heckle and harass her (OMG!), after which came a room with glass walls and no lock on the door, a filthy shower room that had dead bugs on the floor, and finally, an old locker room, which "was covered in dirt and dead bugs" and without air conditioning -- which Bockoras notes "is serious, because temperatures can get up to 106 degrees on the factory floor." As if that wasn't enough, colleagues then greased the doorknob, and when she complained, her shifts were changed to nights and early mornings. Can you believe this?!

Renisha McBride was just 19 years old. She was all alone in an unfamiliar -- but safe -- neighborhood in Detroit late at night, and she needed help after a car accident. She did what many of us wouldn't think twice about doing and rang the doorbell of someone's house, expecting that person to let her use his telephone, maybe, or offer any assistance he could. But Renisha was African American and her accident had occurred in a predominantly Caucasian community. Instead of letting her in or at least listening to what the young woman had to say, the homeowner panicked, assumed she was an intruder, and shot her dead on his porch. And the shooter may get off scot-free, thanks to a pretty vague law. 

A teenage cross-country runner in Kentucky recently forfeited her spot in a race to qualify for the regional championships, because her bib number “666” conflicted with her Christian faith.

Codie Thacker, a junior at Whitley County High, claims that she and her coach argued that she should be allowed to switch bib numbers for religious reasons, but weren’t granted the request.