LIVE: The Obama Foundation Summit

Kirk,

My name is Theaster Gates and I'm an artist from the South Side of Chicago. In a few minutes, I'll be speaking at the first-ever Obama Foundation Summit, right here in my hometown.

You should join us -- watch the official livestream at 4:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. CT today.

Before you tune in, I'd like to share a little bit about myself, and how I ended up attending the Obama Foundation Summit:

I'm a sculptor, and working with my hands taught me how to reimagine ordinary materials. From a simple block of clay I've learned how to shape new vessels, push boundaries, create beautiful things -- and these lessons from sculpture eventually expanded beyond the confines of my studio.

I began to take notice of the realities of my neighborhood -- everywhere I looked buildings were abandoned and lifeless. Yet these abandoned buildings did not discourage me -- I found that my work with sculpture inspired me to see the potential in these buildings. Where others saw poverty and desertion, I saw opportunity.

Once I got enough money together, I bought and revived a building on my block. I began by using this building on Dorchester Avenue for performances and, eventually, more and more community events. Significant people from Chicago began coming out, and I saw that this property helped transform the way people saw the South Side, which is so important in a community like ours. This building, now known as the Archive House, proved that art plays a meaningful role in creating spaces that foster community engagement and inspire shared humanity.

That's what I'll be speaking about this afternoon, and I hope you'll join me for that, plus many, many more discussions led by some people I'm truly humbled to join:

https://www.obama.org

Don't miss out --

Theaster Gates

Link to Donate today to support the Obama Foundation's work: https://go.obama.org/page/contribute/support-our-work-r?utm_medium=email&utm_source=obamafound&utm_content=4&utm_campaign=20171031_OF_summit_gates_s3&source=20171031_OF_summit_gates_s3&utm_expid=.kDI5kkMoTyqmSsrdX-uSrw.1&utm_referrer=

Investigation into the Trump Hotel near the White House

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jennifer Werner/ Aryele Bradford
October 31, 2017
(202) 226-5181

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

THURSDAY:

Oversight Committee Democrats to
Hold Press Conference on Significant
New Step in Trump Hotel Investigation

Washington, D.C.—On Thursday, November 2, 2017, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, will lead Committee Democrats in holding a press conference to announce a significant new step in their investigation of President Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C.

Oversight Committee Democrats have sent multiple letters to the General Services Administration (GSA) seeking documents relating to the ongoing operations of the hotel, monthly income statements, foreign payments, and the reversal by GSA of its previous legal interpretation of the lease.

During the Obama Administration, GSA complied with requests from Democrats and produced a wide range of documents in unredacted form. After Donald Trump was sworn in as President, however, GSA suddenly reversed its position and began refusing all Democratic requests for documents relating to the hotel.

Who: Ranking Member Cummings and Oversight Committee Democratic Members

Where: House Triangle, East Front of the U.S. Capitol

When: 1 pm, Thursday, November 2, 2017

Congressman Elijah Cummings (Md) Issues Statement on Guilty Plea and Indictments of Top Trump Campaign Officials

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Jennifer Werner/Aryele Bradford
October 30, 2017
(202) 226-5181

Washington, D.C. (Oct. 30, 2017)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued the following statement on the guilty plea of Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos:

“The guilty plea against Mr. Papadopoulos confirms that while he was serving as a campaign advisor to Donald Trump, he communicated extensively with Russians who claimed they had dirt on Hillary Clinton, highlighted his Russian connections to campaign supervisors and the President himself, and then lied about it to the FBI. These stark admissions directly contradict the President’s blanket denial on February 16 that nobody on his team had anything to do with the Russians. These are no longer mere allegations—they are damning facts established in a guilty plea by one of the President’s own advisors.”

Ranking Member Cummings also issued the following statement on the indictment of former Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates:

“According to this indictment, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were engaging in this criminal conspiracy against the United States—during the entire time they served in high-ranking positions on President Trump’s campaign—to conceal millions of dollars they received from a Russian ally.”

According to the Papadopoulos guilty plea, which was entered in secret on October 5, 2017, he confirmed an extensive timeline of contacts from March 24 to August 15, 2016, with three Russian nationals, including one who claimed he had connections in the Russian government with “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, including “thousands of emails.”

The guilty plea states that Papadopoulos told then-candidate Donald Trump himself and other campaign officials during a meeting on March 31, 2016, that “he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and President Putin.”

In contrast, President Trump held a lengthy press conference on February 16, 2017, after firing Michael Flynn for failing to disclose his communications with the Russian Ambassador, during which the President claimed: “I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge no person that I deal with does.”

According to the indictments against Manafort and Gates, they engaged in their conspiracy against the United States from 2006 through 2017—including the entire period they both served as top officials on Donald Trump’s campaign.

According to the indictments, Manafort concealed the fact that he was an agent of a foreign government allied with the Russians, in part by making false statements while acting as Chairman of Donald Trump’s campaign when he distributed talking points on August 16, 2016, as part of a “false and misleading cover story.”

Manafort and Gates are also accused of a conspiracy to launder money from 2006 through 2016, including concealing $18 million in payments from a foreign government and political party allied with the Russians.

On March 28, 2016, Trump hired Manafort to lead the delegate effort at the convention. On May 19, 2016, Trump promoted Manafort to Campaign Chairman and Chief Strategist. On August 19, 2016, Manafort resigned from the campaign.

Cummings and top Democrats first raised concerns about Manafort, Gates, Flynn, and others in a letter to the FBI in August 2016.

Unfortunately, Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy is blocking requests to conduct basic oversight of President Trump and his top advisors while announcing new investigations of Hillary Clinton:

• Gowdy has refused a request for a subpoena to compel the White House to produce documents it is withholding relating to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn that were requested on a bipartisan basis on March 22, 2017.

• Gowdy has refused a request for a subpoena to compel the White House to produce documents it is withholding relating to private email accounts used by the President’s top aides.

• Gowdy has refused to even request documents relating to the use of private email accounts, non-governmental servers, and private domains by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, who reportedly defied the Committee’s direction and relocated their accounts to the Trump Organization after being directed not to relocate them.

Cross-Ownership Changes In Cue For Radio.

Story by Inside Radio

The media marketplace today is nothing like it was in 1975 – that’s the message Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai told Congress in a hearing this week. With release of his draft order to make several changes to the agency’s media ownership rules he’s proposing rule changes that may be of some value to radio operators whose growth has been hampered by cross-ownership limits.

“We refuse to ignore the changed landscape—and we deliver on the Commission’s promise to adopt broadcast ownership rules that reflect the present, not the past,” the 86-page document says http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db1026/DOC-347453A1.pdf.

The FCC tentatively concludes that by relaxing and eliminating outdated rules, broadcasters and local newspapers will be given a greater opportunity to compete and thrive in a fast-changing marketplace. “And in the end, it is consumers that will benefit, as broadcast stations and newspapers—those media outlets most committed to serving their local communities—will be better able to invest in local news and public interest programming and improve their overall service to those communities,” the draft says.

To that end, Pai is proposing the radio-television cross-ownership ban be lifted completely. If approved it would allow a company to own as many as two TV stations and six radio stations in a market. It’s not expected the change would have much of an impact because the separate local radio and TV ownership rules will still need to be abided by. FCC officials say it’s pretty clear to them that the evidence collected during the past two quadrennial media ownership reviews has shown the radio-television cross-ownership ban isn’t needed to protect ownership diversity. In fact, they’ve concluded radio itself is not all that strong an element in viewpoint diversity in media markets across the country.

The other rule that a radio group could take advantage of if Pai’s proposals are approved would be the elimination of the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban. Pai has called it a regulatory relic and a change could lead to combined clusters with improved local newsgathering capabilities. Considering the print industry is struggling to stay afloat one FCC insider said if someone wants to buy a newspaper in 2017 they should be thanked rather than have regulatory barriers thrown in their way.

In addition to a focus on cross-ownership limits, Pai is also proposing easing the rules to help more companies own a second television station in a market. Currently a broadcaster can own up to two TV stations in the same market if at least one is not among the top four rated stations in the market and at least eight independently owned stations would remain following the combination. Pai’s proposal would eliminate the so-called eight voices and allow two of the stations to be among the top four if the broadcasters can show the transaction would be in the public interest. FCC officials describe that case-by-case review process as a middle course set to appease some commissioners who wanted to keep the prohibition while others wanted to eliminate it altogether.

The proposal also includes reversing a 2014 party-line decision that made television joint sales agreements (JSAs) attributable toward ownership caps. JSAs would, however, remain attributable in radio.

Incubator Program Remains a Work In Progress

When votes are cast next month to change some rules, the Commission will only start the process of creating an incubator program. The proposed order would establish an incubator program but leave many of the key factors left to be filled in a subsequent rulemaking. That includes how to identify who qualifies as a beneficiary, what kind of activities would qualify as incubation, how it would be monitored to make sure the rules are being complied with, and what benefits would be given to existing broadcast stations that serve as an incubator.

The proposals will be voted on at the Commission’s Nov. 16 meeting and any changes approved will take effect 30 days after they appear in the Federal Register. Because the item is coming to the floor late in the year, FCC officials told Inside Radio on Thursday that the scheduled 2018 quadrennial review isn’t expected

NAACP issues National Travel Advisory for American Airlines

Contact: Malik Russell 
mrussell@naacpnet.org

BALTIMORE (October 27, 2017) - The NAACP, the nation's original and largest social justice advocacy organization, has released the following statement today announcing a travel advisory warning African Americans about their safety and well being when patronizing American Airlines or traveling on American Airlines flights:

"The NAACP for several months now has been monitoring a pattern of disturbing incidents reported by African-American passengers, specific to American Airlines. In light of these confrontations, we have today taken the action of issuing national advisory alerting travelers-especially African Americans-to exercise caution, in that booking and boarding flights on American Airlines could subject them disrespectful, discriminatory or unsafe conditions. This travel advisory is in effect beginning today, October 24, 2017, until further notice.

The series of recent incidents involve troublesome conduct by American Airlines and they suggest a corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias on the part of American Airlines.  Among these incidents:

1. An African-American man was required to relinquish his purchased seats aboard a flight from Washington, D.C. to Raleigh-Durham, merely because he responded to disrespectful and discriminatory comments directed toward him by two unruly white passengers;

2. Despite having previously booked first-class tickets for herself and a traveling companion, an African-American woman's seating assignment was switched to the coach section at the ticket counter, while her white companion remained assigned to a first-class seat;

3. On a flight bound for New York from Miami, the pilot directed that an African-American woman be removed from the flight when she complained to the gate agent about having her seating assignment changed without her consent; and

4. An African-American woman and her infant child were removed from a flight from Atlanta to New York City when the woman (incidentally a Harvard Law School student) asked that her stroller be retrieved from checked baggage before she would disembark.

The NAACP deplores such alarming behavior on the part of airline personnel, and we are aware of these incidents only because the passengers involved knew their rights, knew to speak up and exercised the courage to do so promptly. Historically, the NAACP has issued travel advisories when conditions on the ground pose a substantial risk of harm to black Americans, and we are concerned today that the examples cited herein may represent only the 'tip of the iceberg' when it comes to American Airlines' documented mistreatment of African-American customers." 

"All travelers must be guaranteed the right to travel without fear of threat, violence or harm," stated Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP. "The growing list of incidents suggesting racial bias reflects an unacceptable corporate culture and involves behavior that cannot be dismissed as normal or random.  We expect an audience with the leadership of American Airlines to air these grievances and to spur corrective action.  Until these and other concerns are addressed, this national travel advisory will stand."

Fats Domino, Early Rock ’n’ Roller With a Boogie-Woogie Piano, Is Dead at 89

Fats Domino in 1967. Elvis Presley once pointed at him and said, “There’s the real king of rock ’n’ roll.” (PhotoCredit Clive Limpkin/Daily Express, via Getty Images)

Story by NY Times
Written by Jon Pareles and William Grimes

Fats Domino, the New Orleans rhythm-and-blues singer whose two-fisted boogie-woogie piano and nonchalant vocals, heard on dozens of hits, made him one of the biggest stars of the early rock ’n’ roll era, died on Tuesday at his home in Harvey, La., across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by the Jefferson Parish coroner’s office.

Mr. Domino had more than three dozen Top 40 pop hits through the 1950s and early ’60s, among them “Blueberry Hill,” “Ain’t It a Shame” (also known as “Ain’t That a Shame,” which is the actual lyric), “I’m Walkin’,” “Blue Monday” and “Walkin’ to New Orleans.” Throughout he displayed both the buoyant spirit of New Orleans, his hometown, and a droll resilience that reached listeners worldwide.

He sold 65 million singles in those years, with 23 gold records, making him second only to Elvis Presley as a commercial force. Presley acknowledged Mr. Domino as a predecessor.

“A lot of people seem to think I started this business,” Presley told Jet magazine in 1957. “But rock ’n’ roll was here a long time before I came along. Nobody can sing that music like colored people. Let’s face it: I can’t sing it like Fats Domino can. I know that.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/obituaries/fats-domino-89-one-of-rock-n-rolls-first-stars-is-dead.html?_r=0

FCC Chair tells House Oversite Committee today that the Vote to Abolish Media Ownership Rule is set for November 16th, 2017

Story by Inside Radio

FCC Chair Ajit Pai told a House oversight committee Wednesday afternoon that he plans to bring to a vote at the Commission’s Nov. 16 meeting an order that would abolish the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule, the radio-television cross-ownership rule, and several media ownership regulations targeting the television industry—including replacing the eight voices test with a case-by-case review and eliminating the attribution rule for TV joint sales agreements.

In testimony before the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, Pai said the moves will “belatedly recognize” the reality of the modern media landscape.

He also announced that the FCC will vote on creating an incubator program that would “encourage greater diversity” in broadcasting. The text of the proposal will be released on Thursday.

Next month’s vote will technically be a response to a petition filed by the National Association of Broadcasters last December asking the FCC to take a second look at its most recent quadrennial review which kept nearly all the Media Ownership rules untouched. With three Republicans now on the five-member Commission, it appears there are enough votes to pass Pai’s proposal.

The NAB said in a statement that it “strongly supports” Pai’s plan for modernizing broadcast media ownership rules.

“For 40 years, policymakers and the courts have blessed countless mega-mergers among national telcomm, cable and satellite program giants, while at the same time blocking broadcast/newspaper or radio/TV combinations in single markets,” spokesman Dennis Wharton said. “This nonsensical regulatory approach has harmed the economic underpinning of newspapers, reduced local journalism jobs, and punished free and local broadcasters at the expense of our Pay TV and Radio Competitors. We look forward to rational media ownership rules that foster a bright future for broadcasters and our tens of millions of listeners and viewers.”

Plans Welcome on Wall Street

“All of this will be a welcome change for a sector that has suffered undue regulatory handcuffs, in our opinion, given the changing competitive environment,” Wells Fargo media analyst Marci Ryvicker said.

But in a note to clients Ryvicker said she also doesn’t expect the cross-ownership rule change to have that big an impact since none of the television companies she tracks are interested in buying radio stations or local newspapers. “We anticipate a much stronger industry to result from consolidation and view 2018 as the start of the next round of M&A,” she added.

Yet Ryvicker doesn’t expect a “transformative” wave of deal-making as a result of any rule changes. “What we are talking about is in-market transactions, which would involve swaps and other small-scale deals,” she said. That’s most likely to occur in the television industry although multi-billion dollar deals like Sinclair Broadcast Group’s proposed $3.9 billion deal to buy Tribune Broadcasting would be the oddity she predicts, saying it’s more likely to lead to the creation of in-market duopolies where operators can take advantage of a higher margined business. “We anticipate a stronger industry overall,” she predicted.

Regardless of what the FCC decides to do, a decision on whether those rule changes ever take effect is expected to come in the federal courts. In a tradition no one celebrates, the agency’s quadrennial media ownership proceedings have been the first act in a protracted legal battle between the FCC, broadcasters, and deregulation critics.

Ryvicker told clients that she unequivocally believes the fate of the media regulations is again destined for the courts. “We fully expect any and all lawsuits to end up with the Third Circuit court in Philadelphia given that this is where jurisdiction seems to lay specifically for media ownership rules,” she said. Although the hurdle to win a stay preventing the new rules from taking effect is high, Ryvicker points out federal courts have put FCC media rule changes on hold in the past.

FCC eliminates "Main Studio" Rule today

Media Contact:
Janice Wise, (202) 418-8165
janice.wise@fcc.gov

Link: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db1003/DOC-347048A1.pdf

For Immediate Release

FCC ELIMINATES MAIN STUDIO RULE
Action Will Further Reduce Regulatory Burdens and Costs for Broadcasters
--
WASHINGTON, October 24, 2017—The Federal Communications Commission today eliminated the broadcast main studio rule. The Order retains the requirement that stations maintain a local or toll-free telephone number to ensure consumers have ready access to their local stations.

The main studio rule, adopted nearly 80 years ago, currently requires each AM radio, FM radio, and television broadcast station to have a main studio located in or near its local community. The rule was implemented to facilitate input from community members and the station’s participation in community activities.

The Commission recognizes that today the public can access information via broadcasters’ online public file, and stations and community members can interact directly through alterative means such as e-mail, social media, and the telephone. Given this, the Commission found that requiring broadcasters to maintain a main studio is outdated and unnecessarily burdensome.

Elimination of the main studio rule should produce substantial cost-saving benefits for broadcasters that can be directed toward such things as programming, equipment upgrades, news gathering, and other services that benefit consumers. It will also make it easier for broadcasters to prevent stations in small towns from going dark and to launch new stations in rural areas.

The vote was 3-2. The two Democrats dissenting

Action by the Commission October 24, 2017 by a Report and Order (FCC 17-137). Chairman Pai, Commissioners O’Rielly and Carr approving. Commissioners Clyburn and Rosenworcel dissenting. Chairman Pai, Commissioners Clyburn, O’Rielly, Carr and Rosenworcel issuing separate statements.

MB Docket No. 17-106

###

Story below by Inside Radio

FCC VOTES TO ELIMINATE MAIN STUDIO RULE

By a 3-2 vote along party lines, the Federal Communications Commission today scrapped the nearly eight-decade-old rule requiring radio and television stations to operate and staff a main studio in their community of license in order to originate live programming. The move also does away with the requirement that the main studio have full-time management and staff present during normal business hours.

While stations will now have more flexibility on where they locate a main studio, the changes adopted by the Commission will require stations to maintain a local telephone number in their community of license or else have a toll-free number.

Broadcasters have been shifting from local public inspection files to an online file since 2014 in a transition that will wrap up by March 2018. The Commission says any part of the public file that isn’t part of its online public file will still need to be housed at an accessible location within the station’s community of license such as a public library.

FCC chair Ajit Pai said the record clearly showed that few listeners every stopped into a studio to interact with the station, relying on phone calls and online contact. He also said that stations use their cost savings to improve local programming and news gathering. “Continuing to require a main studio would detract from, rather than promote, a broadcaster’s ability and incentive to keep people informed and serve the public interest,” Pai said.

The date the rule change takes effect will be set once the decision is published in the Federal Register.

Calling it “unnecessarily burdensome” for broadcast stations, the FCC voted in May to open a rule-making to do away with the 78-year-old rule, which was originally designed to make it easy for community leaders and listeners to walk in the front door. Since then it received scores of comments from many broadcasters and other interested parties, the vast majority of which said it’s time to abolish the dated edict.

The National Association of Broadcasters has advocated for the change, telling the FCC that there’s no link between the physical location of a station’s main studio and local news and information. The rule has also come under fire from the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC), which pointed to an analysis it commissioned that indicated the rule disproportionately impacts minority- and female-owned companies.

But the Commission’s two Democrats weren’t onboard with the revisions, arguing it would undercut a local station’s ability to server its community. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called it a “solemn day,” saying the FCC decision signals it no longer believes stations should have a presence in their local communities. “Why would an industry that repeatedly exposes the virtues of its local roots want to eliminate the only real connection to that very same community,” she said. Clyburn thinks the FCC should have taken a “more measured approach” such as offering waivers that took into account market size and financial hardship. But she said Pai’s office rejected such a proposal.
_______________________________________
Read more:
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db1003/DOC-347048A1.pdf

http://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/0002/applause-derision-follow-fccs-main-studio-ruling/340646
https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2017/10/october-2017-open-commission-meeting
https://www.rbr.com/on-party-line-vote-fcc-votes-to-end-main-studio-rule/
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/356887-fcc-eliminates-local-studio-requirement-for-broadcasters
http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/fcc-main-studio-rule-ajit-pai-sinclair-1202597651/

Does the "Main Studio" Rule really need to be eliminated?

The FCC meets today at 10:30 a.m. in Washington, DC. On the agenda is a Report and Order eliminating the rule that requires radio stations to maintain a "main studio" located in or near its community of license. The NAB, and most broadcasters, say that rule must go. Franklin Raff is one broadcaster who says that’s a big mistake…

Story by Radio Ink
Written by RaffRadio's Franklin Raff

Fifteen years ago in Minot, North Dakota, a train carrying caustic chemicals derailed, releasing deadly gas. Police tried to contact local radio stations to warn the public, to no avail. EAS failed. Phones went unanswered in the empty studios and offices of six radio stations – owned by one company – as a thousand people were injured and one died. Desperate citizens tuned in; satellite-fed deejays kept the hits coming.

The new ruling will read: The dereliction of the group in Minot was deemed a freak lapse in corporate responsibility and a gross violation of FCC regulations, namely the long-standing "Main Studio Rule" requiring stations to have a responsive physical presence in or near their communities. All of that is about to change. The FCC now says it’s time to abolish the Main Studio Rule, ending even the ability of station operators to originate programming.

Eliminate existing requirements associated with the main studio rule, including the requirement that the main studio have full-time management and staff present during normal business hours, and that it have program origination capability.

The FCC has always maintained stations “must serve the needs and interests of the communities to which they are licensed.” The new logic is that by "Eliminating The Cost" of being in their communities, stations will be better able to serve their communities. But experience shows, of course, stations leave and don’t return. “Community presence” means tower lights on the skyline and the station ID at the top of the hour.

According to the FCC:

The Commission first adopted main studio requirements in 1939 to ensure that stations would be accessible and responsive to their communities. However, a local main studio is no longer needed to fulfill these purposes.

How can a broadcast facility be “accessible and responsive to its community” when it is not in the community, is not a facility, and cannot broadcast?

Many broadcast studios are long-abandoned. Few groups even have a receptionist. These are cost-cutting measures, and efficiency is good. But let us see these trends in context. Our industry is in the hands of very few players: two companies now own half of our country’s stations.

As we know, the well-intentioned 1996 Telecommunications Act changed ownership rules so that near-monopolies could exist in most markets. It was billed to increase profitability and enhance consumer choice. The result was also a decline in local service and — not coincidentally, for a medium whose unique selling proposition is local service — audience share and revenue. The “better for the consumer” part – “competition” – meant drastic programming cuts. Local radio came to offer what emergent smartphones and satellite radio did – along with interminable commercial breaks.

Let’s zoom out. Stations are licensed to serve local communities for commercial benefit. Licenses granting significant power and coverage at desirable frequencies are enormously valuable. They are generally held by the same interests who pushed for deregulation and who now, again citing competition, want to ditch the Main Studio Rule.

Fair competition entails rules. If a broadcaster cannot profitably fulfill FCC-mandated obligations, instead of lobbying to change them, should it not sell the station? The FCC recently released a flurry of low-power FM licenses. Many of these stations, with transmitters emitting as much power as a light bulb, manage to maintain “staff present during normal business hours” and “program origination capability.” Why can’t the big boys do it?

We have all seen, through the arc of deregulation and the rise of the Internet and smartphones, a decline in terrestrial radio listenership. Syndication and homogenization was good for short-term profitability but radio’s best position against media competitors withered just when it was needed.

Now, after years of regurgitating the sort of impersonal, cookie-cutter audio we associate with streaming services, disaster event listenership and news/talk ratings trends confirm a strong demand for the intimate “localism” we do best. This is our time to shine. Why would we want any part of our public-service mandate and unique selling proposition – localism – to be extinguished?

By absolving radio owners of local obligations, the FCC will help owners cut costs. That’s a good thing for the owners. Market forces and experience indicate it will also open up even more opportunities for local content providers in less-regulated, less-reliable, less-ubiquitous media: Not so good for listeners, or radio, in a time of crisis or any other time.

When this next cost-cutting binge is over, when the winners in this deal cash out and Minot becomes a tragic prophesy, why would anyone rely on radio?

Franklin Raff was a General Manager in the radio business by the age of 20. He’s worked in both major markets and unrated markets. He can now be reached at franklin@raffradio.com or (212) 203-2100

Villagers Suspected of Luring Green Berets into Niger Ambush

Story by Voice of America
Written by Idriss Fall and Bagassi Koura

A local official and an analyst say residents of the Niger village where four Green Beret soldiers were killed this month may have delayed the soldiers while an ambush was set up and helped to lead the victims into a deadly trap.

"The attackers, the bandits, the terrorists have never lacked accomplices among local populations," said Almou Hassane, mayor of Tongo-Tongo where the attack took place, in what is believed to be his first interview with a Western news organization.

The village chief in Tongo-Tongo, Mounkaila Alassane, has been arrested since the attack, Hassane said, lending credibility to the suspicion of local involvement. He is in government custody according several officials.

His arrest was also confirmed by Karimou Soumana, a representative of the Tillaberi region, during a National Assembly debate to extend the state of emergency in that part of Niger.

Speaking by telephone to VOA's French-to-Africa service, Mayor Hassane said the dead Americans were part of a patrol made up of eight U.S. Green Berets and about 20 Nigerien special forces, which arrived in pickup trucks at the village near the Mali border the evening before the attack.

"They must have spent the night in the northwest of Tongo-Tongo," Hassane said.

Moussa Askar, director of the newspaper l'Evènement in the capital, Niamey, said the soldiers were in the area to track down an accomplice of Abu Adnan al-Sahraoui, a former member of the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), who joined the Islamic State terror group in the Sahara Desert.

Aksar, a specialist on terrorism in the Sahel region of Africa, told VOA that members of the patrol questioned residents of the village, who dragged out the discussions, possibly giving the attackers time to organize an ambush.

'Contaminated' village

"It turns out that this village was a little contaminated by hostile forces," said Aksar, who said he received the details from Defense Minister Kalla Moutari. "The unit stayed a little longer than expected because, apparently, people were aware that something was going on."

While the soldiers were still in the village, a fake terror attack was staged nearby, according to Aksar and local sources. The soldiers rushed to the scene, where about 50 or more assailants with vehicles and motorcycles opened fire with Kalashnikovs and heavy weapons.

Four Nigerien soldiers and three Americans were killed on the spot. The body of the fourth American soldier was found 48 hours later, about a mile away from the initial site, CNN reported.

Rhissa Ag Boula, a high-ranking government official and a former Tuareg rebel chief in Niger, told VOA that the fourth soldier, La David Johnson, had remained at the front line while the others retreated under heavy fire.

The attack has raised questions in Niger, especially since the U.S. Army operates drone bases in the country and has significant intelligence resources there.

"That's what really shocked us: how, at their level, with all the resources they have, they could not have strong intelligence to avoid what happened there," said Hassane.

Responsibility for attack

No group has officially taken responsibility for the attack. According to sources in the region, however, it is the work of Abu Adnan al-Saharaoui, who calls himself the Islamic Emir of the Great Sahara, affiliated with the Islamic State group.

According to a Tuareg from the region, al-Saharaoui is believed to be involved in arms and fuel trafficking. He is a former member of the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), which occupied and imposed sharia law in northern Mali in 2012 before being dislodged by French forces.

Al-Saharaoui, a former acquaintance of Algerian extremist and trafficker Mokhtar Bel Mokhtar, had led the kidnapping of the nine-person staff of the Algerian consulate in Gao in 2012. Originally from Western Sahara, he wants to control the band on the common border of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

"He wants to take control of all these communities facing poverty and governance issues so that they can join his cause," said Aksar.

The group is the latest of several jihadist organizations in the Sahel region, including the Defenders of Islam group linked to militant Iyad Ag Ghali in northern Mali. The movement for the Liberation of Macina, led by Hamadoun Koufa, remained very active in central Mali.

Ansarul Islam, on the other side of the border, is increasing its attacks in northern Burkina Faso, while Boko Haram continues to launch attacks in the countries in Africa's Lake Chad Basin.

The al-Mourabitoun group, which is led by Moktar Belmokhtar — declared dead several times — has perpetrated several terror actions in the vast Sahel region, including the 2013 attack on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria that left 67 people dead.

Former Presidents speak at relief concert

Former Presidents speak at College Station on campus of Texas A and M for the hurricane relief fund concert

Myeshia Johnson, Gold Star Widow of Sgt. LaDavid Johnson, says 'I was very angry' at Mr. Trump

Myeshia Johnson spoke out about President Trump's condolence call to her after her husband, Sgt. LaDavid Johnson, was killed in Niger on Oct. 4. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Myeshia Johnson, the wife of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, looks down at his casket after the burial at Hollywood Memorial Gardens, Oct. 21, 2017, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (Photo by Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/Polaris)

Story by ABC News
Written by M.L. Nestel (Contributor Kelly McCarthy)
Video by Washington Post

The pregnant widow of U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who was among four U.S. service members killed in Niger this month, expressed a mix of blame and sorrow today on "Good Morning America," saying she was "very angry" about President Donald Trump's condolence phone call and upset because she says he struggled to "remember my husband's name."

ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos spoke to Myeshia Johnson, who criticized Trump's handling of the phone call, which started a firestorm of controversy.

"I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband's name, and that's what hurt me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country, why can't you remember his name?" said Johnson, who had known her husband since she was 6 years old.

"That's what made me upset and cry even more, because my husband was an awesome soldier."

After Myeshia Johnson's interview aired, Trump argued on Twitter today that he said La David Johnson's name "from the beginning" and "without hesitation."
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Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!
8:30 AM - Oct 23, 2017
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Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., last week adamantly defended her version of Trump's phone call to Myeshia Johnson in an interview with ABC News.

Wilson, who was accompanying Johnson to Dover Air Force Base when Trump called, heard him on speakerphone attempting to console her.

"I heard him say, 'Well I guess you know he knew what he was signing up for, but it still hurts,'" Wilson told ABC News.

Trump called her description a "total fabrication."

But Johnson today said Wilson was "100 percent correct" about the call from Trump, saying this morning, "Why would we fabricate something like that?"


Sgt. La David Johnson, 25, died from wounds sustained during enemy contact. He was assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) on Fort Bragg (US Army Photo)

Johnson said she was barred from seeing her husband's body and was not given a straight story on how he died in Niger. He was 25.

"I need to see him so I will know that that is my husband," said Johnson, who's expecting to give birth to their daughter in January.

She added, "They won't show me a finger, a hand. I know my husband's body from head to toe, and they won't let me see anything."


Myeshia Johnson, the wife of Army Sgt. La David Johnson at his casket after the burial at Hollywood Memorial Gardens, Oct. 21, 2017 (Photo by Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/Polaris)

She said the casket her husband came home in, adorned with a U.S. flag, remains a mystery box for her. "I don't know what's in that box," she said. "It could be empty, for all I know."

Johnson added, "I need to see my husband."

As for the circumstances of her husband's death, she said she wants "to know why it took [soldiers] 48 hours to find my husband."


Myeshia Johnson spoke with ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos for the first on-air interview since her husband's death in Niger (Photo by ABC News)

"I don't know how he got killed, where he got killed or anything," she said. "I don't know that part. They never told me, and that's what I've been trying to find out since Day One, since Oct. 4."

Asked today what she wants people to know about her husband, she said, "I want the world to know how great of a soldier my husband was and a loving and caring father and husband he was to our family."

'President Trump is messing with the wrong woman' in Congresswoman Frederica Wilson

Rep. Frederica Wilson is pictured.(AP photo)

Story by Politico PRO
Written by Mark Caputo

The President has never feuded with a politician quite like Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson.

Of President Trump’s many opponents in Congress, none looks or sounds remotely like Rep. Frederica Wilson, the Miami Democrat known for her bedazzled, sequined-blinged hats, her vibrant matching outfits and her reputation in Florida for never backing down from a fight.

But Wilson has never had an foe like Trump or a fight this personal, which began with the president’s condolence call to the widow of a young soldier the congresswoman helped steer away from Miami’s mean streets — only to see him die in a mysterious ambush in sub-Saharan Niger.

Despite tough criticism and insults from the president and his allies — a top African-American Trump surrogate, former Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke, characterized Wilson as “a buffoon” while White House Chief of Staff John Kelly teed off on her from a White House lectern — the 74-year-old Democrat hasn’t flinched, firing back with caustic responses honed by years of full-contact Miami politics.

President Trump is a “jerk” and a “liar” who “doesn’t know how to be a president,” Wilson said. She then mocked him for raising her profile.

“You mean to tell me that I have become so important that the White House is following me and my words?” Wilson laughed. “This is amazing. That's amazing. That is absolutely phenomenal. I'll have to tell my kids that I'm a rock star now.”

Yet the technicolor clothes and flashy demeanor belies the grim legacy that made her an icon in the African-American community in Florida and, now, the nation: her advocacy for young black men, particularly those who end up dead. Since her time in the Florida legislature, Wilson’s political identity has been forged by fights – often with a white, male-dominated establishment -- to figure out what happened to them and why.

More than 11 years before Sgt. La David Johnson was killed with three other soldiers in Niger, a 14-year-old named Martin Lee Anderson died after he was beaten by guards at a boot camp in Panama City, a Deep South city in northern Florida.

The sheriff’s office ran the boot camp and was slow to investigate. So was the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Wilson, however, joining with other a bipartisan team of legislators, helped forced an independent investigation and an exhumation of the child’s body for a second autopsy. While the boot camp guards and a nurse were acquitted of charges, the state legislature ultimately changed boot camp laws and compensated the family for the teen’s death.

For the Anderson’s family attorney, Benjamin Crump, the public relations tactics that snagged statewide headlines — from a second autopsy to organized marches featuring Al Sharpton — became a template for drawing national attention to another death of another 14-year-old seven years later, Trayvon Martin, who was shot by a neighborhood watchman named George Zimmerman.

Wilson stood by the side of the parents of Trayvon, who hailed from her district based in the heavily African-American city of Miami Gardens in the shadow of the stadium where the Miami Dolphins and Miami Hurricanes play.

“Black men are targets. The system has the scope aimed directly at our backs and Frederica Wilson has devoted a life to exposing that,” said Crump, who has allied with her in yet another case involving the shooting death of motorist Corey Jones by a Palm Beach Gardens police officer.

“From our first case with her, with Martin Lee Anderson, she was vocal. She would begin every press conference by saying, ‘it’s murder.’ She would not be quiet. She demanded the truth,” Crump said. “And it’s similar to La David Johnson’s case. She will not be quiet … Trump is messing with the wrong woman.”

Unlike all of the other high-profile cases Wilson has been involved with, Johnson’s death after an Oct. 4 ambush in Niger had a deeply personal dimension.

Johnson had enrolled in Wilson’s nonprofit, 5000 Role Models of Excellence, a program for at-risk African-American kids. His father had been a student when Wilson was a principal at a local school decades before. Johnson’s mother is a constituent, as well as a bus driver with the school district where Wilson has deep roots.

When the congresswoman and the family tried to find out what happened, Wilson said, the Pentagon gave no answers. She joined with her fellow Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings, a Democrat and fellow member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and penned a letter seeking answers. Still nothing. Wilson said she wanted to know not just why Johnson and his fellow soldiers were so at risk, but why Johnson appeared to have been left behind when the others were evacuated shortly after the attack.

“Why was he separated?” Wilson asked. “Was he kidnapped? Was he lost? Was he already expired? What happened to him? Why, 48 hours later, did we still not know where he was?”

Johnson’s family, meanwhile, had not heard from the president with a condolence call, either. When reporters finally asked about the attack in Niger, Trump, who had not acknowledged the deaths publicly, responded by inaccurately criticizing President Obama and suggesting his predecessor never called Gold Star families of the fallen.

“Throughout all this time, Trump had been tweeting and carrying on about NFL football players taking a knee and not one damn time did he say a word about Niger,” Hastings said. “But if he thinks someone like Frederica Wilson is going to let this go, he doesn’t know Frederica Wilson.”

On Thursday, it was Kelly’s turn with Wilson after the retired Marine Corps general denounced Wilson as a grand-stander who politicized what should have been a personal private call. It was an example of “empty barrels making the most noise,” he said, and falsely claimed that she gave a speech at the dedication of an FBI building in 2015 in Miami where she bragged about securing money for the facility due to her connections with President Obama. Video of her speech showed she made no such statement.

Wilson promptly attacked Kelly, a Gold Star dad himself, as someone willing to “say anything to save his job.”

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican, said she thought the entire episode was a big misunderstanding. A persistent Trump critic, Ros-Lehtinen faulted the president because he “waited so long, so many golf days, for him to express words of condolences about these brave heroes’ deaths in an operation that is mired in controversy and secrecy.”

A fierce liberal in a Republican-controlled Congress to which she was elected in 2010, Wilson is known more for her advocacy than her legislative accomplishments. The few Republicans in her heavily Democratic, African-American district — which backed Hillary Clinton over Trump by 83-15 percent — periodically grouse she's ineffective. And after her dustup with Trump this week, conservatives nationwide began examining her votes and called her anti-veteran for voting against numerous bills concerning active and former military personnel.

Ros-Lehtinen said Wilson won’t let go of issues important to her. In one instance, Wilson persuaded many of her fellow House colleagues to periodically wear red articles of clothing and post “#bringbackourgirls” tweets aimed at the terrorist group Boko Haram after it kidnapped 300 girls in Nigeria.

“I have five red jackets thanks to her,” Ros-Lehtinen laughed.

Like Hastings, she said Wilson has “stick-to-it-iveness.” And unlike others Trump has clashed with, Wilson probably won’t go away quietly.

“She will go toe to toe with President Trump and who knows who will stop tweeting and talking first,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “I wouldn’t bet against her.”
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Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/african-american-members-congress-demand-003109286.html

Soul Train "The Hippest Trip in America" documentary

Few television series were as innovative and influential as Soul Train. Set first in Chicago, and later in Los Angeles, the Soul Train dance party reached national significance and became one of the longest running syndicated shows in television history.

In commemoration, Soul Train: The Hippest Trip In America is a 2010 documentary celebrating the show's many contributions to pop culture, music, dance and fashion.

From 1970-2006 the series offered a window into the history of Black music, and its charismatic host, Don Cornelius was The Man responsible for a new era in Black expression. A trained journalist, Don created a media empire that provided an outlet for record labels and advertisers to reach a new generation of music fans. As the epitome of cool, many of his expressions entered the popular American lexicon: "A groove that will make you move real smooth," "Wishing you Peace, Love and Soul!"

The documentary by VH1 feature performances and great moments from the show, as well as behind-the-scene stories and memories from the cast and crew. In addition, popular musicians, comics and actors of yesterday and today will comment on growing up with the show and will share their stories of how Soul Train affected their own lives.

Top 10 Soul Train Dancers of All Time - Collection by Terry Swoope

Top 10 Soul Train Dancers of All Time (Collection by Terry Swoope)


Top 20 Soul Train Dancers of All Time (Collection by Terry Swoope)


Soul Train Dancer Jeffrey Daniel, also member of Shalamar, here first performing to Europe "the backslide", now known as the "moonwalk" on British television, during a performance of Shalamar's "A Night to Remember" on hit TV show Top of the Pops. A year before Michael Jackson "Moonwalked" on the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television broadcast. Jackson was a big fan of Soul Train, and according to sister La Toya, Jackson was a fan of Daniel's dancing and sought him out. He soon met, hired and learned from Daniel.


Soul Train Dancer, Shalamar member, and Michael Jackson's video cinematographer (including M.J.'s Bad) infiltrates London's hit dance show Top of the Pops. Jeffrey Daniel had a major role in bringing street dance to the UK and Europe. Daniels' tells the story of how he was pursued by both Europe and Michael Jackson for his Soul Train moves.


Jeffery Daniel credits the dance group "The Electric Boogaloos" with the backslide (moonwalk), and finds out for the first time on interview show Soccer AM that the "Mooonwalk" was originally created by tap-dancer Bill Bailey. Daniel states Soul Train's Owner, the late Don Cornelius, put together the group "Shalamar".

Donnie Simpson Celebrates 40 Years in DC

Story by NBC4 in Washington DC

Donnie Simpson has been a D.C. staple for 40 years. His velvety smooth voice can be heard on Majic 102.3, but his T.V. career started here at News4. Just days before a star-studded anniversary celebration, Donnie met with our Molette Green at a local coffee shop. The Detroit native proudly sported a D.C. bomber jacket and talked about how some of music’s biggest stars are now among his closest friends.

Tom Joyner New 2-Year Agreement with Reach Media

Reach Media today announced a two-year agreement that extends the Tom Joyner Morning Show in radio syndication through December 31, 2019, as he culminates his trailblazing career. The renewed agreement comes as the broadcast pioneer prepares to mark his 25th year in syndication (#TJMS25). To commemorate the anniversary, Joyner plans to launch a two-year-long celebration campaign, sharing events and experiences with his listeners highlighting the past, present and future of the Tom Joyner brand. Joyner will reveal more as his show moves forward with events and activities as a lead-up to the conclusion of his iconic morning show.

In making the announcement, Tom Joyner wanted everyone to know, “We’ve touched a lot of lives and we love and appreciate the millions of people who are part of the TJMS family. So much has happened since we went on the air in 1994…good and bad…and we all went through it together. Well, the Party with a Purpose isn’t over. The celebration will be epic as we remember the guests, the laughs, the tears, the bits, the unforgettable moments we’ve shared together…and, of course we’ll be making new memories along the way. When we go off the air each morning, I never say goodbye…and I’m not saying it now!

Urban One’s CEO of Reach Media and Radio One Stations, David Kantor, complimented Joyner saying, “Tom has not only advanced radio and established new mediums to inspire people, but he’s brought change to our communities on an individual level. When he says ‘I’ve got an idea,’ he pursues it with a passion and everyone is better for it. He is the best business partner and friend I could ever have.”

NBA is finally back!!! Tonight starts the long-awaited 2017-18 season

Link to TNT NBA Broadcast Schedule: https://www.sbnation.com/2017/8/14/16127462/nba-schedule-2017-18-national-television-abc-espn

Link to ESPN's Predictions: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21039684/predictions-division-conference-nba-champs

Link to Will Warriors win again: http://www.nba.com/article/2017/10/16/golden-state-warriors-ready-challengers-around-league#/

Link to Sports Illustrated: https://www.si.com/nba

Link to SBNation: https://www.sbnation.com/2017/8/14/16127462/nba-schedule-2017-18-national-television-abc-espn

Senators reach bipartisan deal to restore Obamacare payments

Trump on ObamaCare 2 year extention, due to not having the vote to repeal and replace

Story by Yahoo News
Written by Liz Goodwin

WASHINGTON — Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Tuesday announced a deal to stabilize Obamacare markets that the president has tentatively blessed. Republicans are selling the plan as a stopgap measure to stabilize individual markets for two years as they muster the votes to repeal and replace the law entirely.

The deal would restore billions of dollars in cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers that the president announced last week he would no longer make, prompting concerns of steep premium hikes in the individual markets.

It would also allow states to sell stripped-down “catastrophic” or copper plans to anyone, not just people under 30 as allowed under current law, according to Alexander. The deal would allow “many more states” to qualify for waivers that give them some flexibility in what plans they sell on their exchanges, though exactly how is still unclear.

And, in a boon to Democrats, the deal restores more than $100 million in Obamacare enrollment outreach funds stripped by Trump. Those funds would be distributed as grants to States. https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrats-scramble-prop-obamacare-amid-trump-sabotage-200318539.html

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/senators-reach-bipartisan-deal-restore-obamacare-health-care-payments-195750866.html

QB Colin Kaepernick files grievance for collusion against NFL owners

Free-agent QB Colin Kaepernick has been without an NFL team since severing his contract with the 49ers in March. AP Photo
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Update: Quote from Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy on hiring Quarterback Colin Kaepernick, after starting QB Aaron Rodgers is injured and out for the season
“I got three years invested in [backup QB] Brett Hundley, two years invested in [3rd backup quarterback] Joe Callahan,” he said. “The quarterback room is exactly where it needs to be.” Link: https://www.yahoo.com/sports/packers-coach-mike-mccarthy-goes-off-reporter-asking-colin-kaepernick-233059140.html
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Story by ESPN

Free-agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick has filed a grievance under the latest collective bargaining agreement against NFL owners for collusion, according to his attorney, Mark Geragos.

Kaepernick is not going through the NFL Players Association but has instead hired Geragos, who has represented several high-profile clients, including Michael Jackson, former NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield and musician Chris Brown.

The filing, which demands an arbitration hearing on the matter, says the NFL and its owners "have colluded to deprive Mr. Kaepernick of employment rights in retaliation for Mr. Kaepernick's leadership and advocacy for equality and social justice and his bringing awareness to peculiar institutions still undermining racial equality in the United States."

Kaepernick's attorney sent a copy of the complaint to the NFLPA, as well as the NFL and all 32 teams. He tweeted out a statement Sunday saying he filed the grievance "only after pursuing every possible avenue with all NFL teams and their executives.''

"If the NFL (as well as all professional sports teams) is to remain a meritocracy, then principled and peaceful protest -- which the owners themselves made great theater imitating weeks ago -- should not be punished and athletes should not be denied employment based on partisan political provocation by the Executive Branch of our government," Geragos said in a statement. "Such a precedent threatens all patriotic Americans and harkens back to our darkest days as a nation. Protecting all athletes from such collusive conduct is what compelled Mr. Kaepernick to file his grievance.


Colin Kaepernick with teammates take a knee (AP)

"Colin Kaepernick's goal has always been, and remains, to simply be treated fairly by the league he performed at the highest level for and to return to the football playing field," the statement continued.

The NFLPA responded with a statement later Sunday offering Kaepernick its support and reiterating its readiness to assist him, "as we do all players."

The NFLPA also revealed that it learned of the filing's existence earlier in the day via news reports.

"We first learned through media reports today that Mr. Kaepernick filed a grievance claiming collusion through our arbitration system and is represented by his own counsel," the union statement said. "We learned that the NFL was informed of his intention to file this grievance before today."

Kaepernick's grievance will be overseen by Stephen Burbank, the NFL's special master, who will likely hold a conference call with both sides this week, a source who has seen the grievance and is familiar with the procedure told ESPN's Jim Trotter.

The filing was first reported by Bleacher Report.

San Francisco safety Eric Reid, Kaepernick's former teammate, has been kneeling during the anthem before games, including Sunday's 26-24 loss at the Washington Redskins.

"I'll have to follow up with him,'' Reid said after the game. "It sure does seem like he's being blackballed. I think all the stats prove that he's an NFL-worthy quarterback. So that's his choice, and I support his decision. We'll just have to see what comes of it.''

Kaepernick drew national attention last season when he knelt during the national anthem before games to protest social injustice. His kneeling led to a movement that has spread through the league while also being vilified -- including multiple comments from President Donald Trump.

Kaepernick has not been with an NFL team since severing his contract with the 49ers in March. Sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter at the time that Kaepernick would stand during the anthem in 2017.

Most recently, the Tennessee Titans were in the market for a backup quarterback, given Marcus Mariota's hamstring injury, and coach Mike Mularkey said "I'm not aware if there was" interest in Kaepernick.

Mularkey said familiarity was the biggest factor in the team's decision to sign Brandon Weeden.

In September, Ray Lewis said the Baltimore Ravens chose not to sign Kaepernick after his girlfriend posted a "racist" tweet featuring former All-Pro linebacker and owner Steve Bisciotti. Coach John Harbaugh did not directly address the assertion.

Earlier this month, Kaepernick spoke with CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora for an off-camera interview and reportedly said he'd go anywhere to work out for an NFL team and was fine if that workout was kept private. Kaepernick said he was looking for an opportunity to play and wanted to be judged as a football player.

Kaepernick said he has remained quiet about his desire to play to avoid causing a distraction. His agent has reportedly reached out to all 32 teams to note his availability.

The NFL has not reached out to Kaepernick to discuss social issues. Trump's comments last month drew a leaguewide response, as more players chose to kneel, link arms or otherwise react during the national anthem.
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Quote (5:45 in video) from Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy on hiring Quarterback Colin Kaepernick, after starting QB Aaron Rodgers is injured and out for the season
“I got three years invested in [backup QB] Brett Hundley, two years invested in [3rd backup quarterback] Joe Callahan,” he said. “The quarterback room is exactly where it needs to be.” Link: https://www.yahoo.com/sports/packers-coach-mike-mccarthy-goes-off-reporter-asking-colin-kaepernick-233059140.html

Randall Woodfin: A Son of Birmingham Becomes its Mayor

Randall Woodfin: A Son of Birmingham Becomes its Mayor

Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League

“Local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Town-meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people’s reach, they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty.” — Alexis de Tocqueville, Author, “Democracy in America,” 1835

The first line of Randall Woodfin’s official autobiography on his mayoral campaign website is: “I am a proud son of Birmingham.” In our nation’s history, Birmingham, Alabama will forever be tied to some of the most troubling and tragic imagery of the civil rights movement—from the bombing of a church that killed four innocent little girls to African Americans braving fire hoses, police batons and attack dogs in their struggle to end racial discrimination and secure basic rights. While we have yet to wipe out discrimination and its attendant consequences, our nation—including Birmingham— has made some progress. The proud son of a city once tarnished as regressive and hostile to the plight of its African-American residents, will lead its 23 communities and 99 neighborhoods on a progressive platform as its next mayor.

For many, Randall’s win was unlikely for obvious and not so obvious reasons.

Randall suffered a family tragedy during his campaign to unseat William Bell, the seven-year, two-term incumbent. He lost his nephew in a shooting death. And sadly, it was not his first brush with the gun violence plaguing Birmingham. Five years earlier he lost an older brother in a shooting death. Before running for mayor, Randall amassed an impressive resume as a public servant, but his first foray into politics proved unsuccessful, running for a seat on the Birmingham Board of Education in 2009 and losing. As he tells it, in losing, he ended up winning. He won the attention of the community and local stakeholders, and won time to prepare and hone his message for another run in 2013 that would prove successful.

When this former city attorney and board of education president decided to run for mayor, he chose to do so on a progressive platform in a region of our nation not synonymous with progressive politics. Our Revolution, a progressive political organization that works to organize and elect progressive candidates, backed his run, helping to turn out the vote with volunteers, text messages and calls, including calls recorded by Bernie Sanders endorsing Randall’s candidacy. As a Morehouse College alumnus, Randall relied on his close relationship and extensive ties to the Atlanta HBCU. Morehouse alumni held events and fundraisers on his campaign’s behalf and canvassed Birmingham, knocking on doors and getting out Randall’s message.

His ground game plan, coupled with a message, vision and platform for Birmingham that resonated with the residents of the city, led Randall to a commanding victory with 58 percent of the vote, making him, at the age of 36—coincidentally the same age I was when I was elected mayor of New Orleans—the youngest mayor elected in Birmingham since 1893.

Randall has proposed bold, progressive solutions for Birmingham, including debt-free community college for public high school students, boosting the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, and running a city hall that is inclusive of all people—and he’s not the only one. Randall is part of a growing wave of young leaders in the South, and elsewhere, like Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba Jr. in Jackson, Mississippi, who are determined to turn the tide on national trends and policies that hurt, not help, our communities and cities.

Americans are notorious for not going to the polls to vote when the stakes are less than presidential. But in reality, it is what happens at the local level that has the most everyday impact on your life. The president is not responsible for your local community, you and your locally elected officials are. If you are frustrated by the rhetoric and policies coming from the executive branch, you must remain engaged in local races. The men and women who campaign to run your city, your school board, and your criminal justice system are your voice and your frontline against policies that hurt your community and communities across our nation. The resistance to unfair immigration policy, stagnate minimum wages and a myriad other challenges will not trickle down from the top. The seeds of resistance will be planted at the local level and grow into a movement.

The National Urban League congratulates Randall on his recent win, and supports his vision for a Birmingham that is progressive, thriving, inclusive and allows all its residents to reach their highest potential.

'Shame on you!': San Juan mayor fires back after Trump warns about disaster relief

Story by Yahoo News
Written by Dylan Stapleford
CNN Link: http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/12/politics/trump-puerto-rico-texas-florida/index.html

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz fired back at President Trump on Thursday after he warned that federal relief workers can’t remain in Puerto Rico indefinitely even as the hurricane-ravaged island struggles to recover.

“Your comments about Puerto Rico are unbecoming of a Commander in Chief they seem more to come from a ‘Hater in Chief,’” she tweeted. “It is not that you do not get it; you are incapable of fulfilling the moral imperative to help the people of PR. Shame on you!”

Trump issued his warning about pulling federal aid to the U.S. island territory earlier Thursday.

“We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!” Trump tweeted after quoting conservative television host Sharyl Attkisson and suggesting that Puerto Rico’s poor infrastructure was a “disaster” before Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Irma struck.

Trump made no such threats to Texas or Florida after Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma battered those states. Both disasters triggered massive federal responses in the U.S. mainland.

The tweets came a day after officials in Puerto Rico said the death toll from Maria has risen to 45, with at least 113 people unaccounted for. The hurricane battered Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 20, leaving millions without power and virtually the entire island without cellphone communication.

According to a website set up by the Puerto Rican government for updates on the recovery efforts, more than 80 percent of the island remains without power, and nearly half its residents still have no cellphone or landline service. Parts of Puerto Rico continue to be running low on medicine and fuel.

Trump has come under sharp criticism for his combative response to the situation in Puerto Rico. The president attacked Cruz after she made a public plea for more federal resources.

“Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help,” the president tweeted on Sept. 30. “They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.”

He stirred controversy by picking a fight with National Football League players shortly after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico last month. And while visiting the island last week, Trump applauded his administration’s relief efforts while simultaneously attempting to downplay the devastation, comparing the death toll from Hurricane Maria to “a real catastrophe” like Hurricane Katrina, which caused more than 1,800 fatalities when it slammed into Louisiana and Alabama in 2005.

Trump sits between Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello and first lady Melania Trump as he receives a briefing on hurricane damage in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 3.

During a meeting with local officials there, Trump also complained about the island’s drain on the federal budget.

“I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack,” Trump said. “We’ve spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico, but it’s fine.”

A day later, Trump complained that the media’s coverage of the trip was “fake.”

In Washington, D.C., on Oct. 6, three days after touring the devastation, Trump said there were more than 15,000 federal workers on the island.

“Puerto Rico has a long road of recovery ahead,” Trump said. “We will not rest until that job is done.”
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Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/12/politics/trump-puerto-rico-texas-florida/index.html

Marshall (Thurgood Marshall) begins tomorrow October 13th at a theater near you

Trailer to Marshall, which starts Friday the 13th of October in a theater near you


Mr. Civil Rights: Thurgood Marshall incorporates rare archival film and extraordinary interviews to chart Thurgood Marshall's life (1908-1993) in the years leading up to and following the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. This documentary explores his upbringing in Baltimore, his education at Howard University Law School ("the West Point of the civil rights movement"), his status as a rising star within the NAACP, his skill as an orator and storyteller, his relationship with his mentor Charles H. Houston, and his high-profile segregation cases involving voting, transportation, housing, labor and the military.

For 20 years, during wartime and the Depression, Marshall traveled hundreds of thousands of miles through the Jim Crow South, establishing precedent after precedent, leading up to one of the most important legal decisions in American history. Along the way, he escaped the gun of a Dallas sheriff, was pursued by the Ku Klux Klan on Long Island, hid in bushes from a violent mob in Detroit, and even escaped his own lynching. In this impossible environment, Thurgood won more supreme court cases than any attorney in American history and set the stage for the modern Civil Rights movement.
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Coming in November "Roman J. Israel Esq."


Roman J Israel, Esq. Official Trailer #1 (2017) starring Denzel Washington

What Jesse Jackson finds so concerning about Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' anthem stance

Story by Dallas News
Written by Brandon George
Photo by Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News

Jesse Jackson said he's long been an admirer of Jerry Jones, but the civil rights activist isn't happy with the Cowboys owner for telling players they will be benched if they don't stand for the national anthem.

Jackson said Tuesday he was working to get in touch with Jones to tell him he's disappointed in Jones' comments over the past few days. "I'm very concerned about this issue," Jackson told The Dallas Morning News. "President [Donald] Trump is putting pressure on the [NFL] owners. Owners are putting pressure on the players. Fans are confused and players must either submit or rebel, so it's pressure on everybody. Trump was able to hijack the issue. The issue isn't about the flag. The issue is about racial disparities."

Jackson said his relationship with Jones stretches back several years. He said he even attended Bob Hayes' funeral with Jones in 2002 after the former Cowboys receiver died at 59 of kidney failure after battling prostate cancer. "What I admire about him is the many players he has helped far beyond their playing days and he doesn't make it a public issue," Jackson said. "I know him to be a principled, caring and decent person, including caring for his player beyond the playing field. One example that comes to mind is -- he didn't have to, but I happen to know that he did take special care and worked with Bob Hayes' family upon his early death.

"I have high regard for Mr. Jones, but he must not step beyond his boundaries. This is not a patriotism test. When Donald Trump avoids the draft, that was a patriotism test he failed. He just ran. I don't think it is right for the owners to threaten the players. We're all fighting to be free people and make choices."
No Cowboys players have knelt during the national anthem. Defensive linemen Damontre Moore and David Irving did raise their fists at the conclusion of the anthem Sunday before the Green Bay game at AT&T Stadium.

NFL owners are meeting next week in New York to discuss the league's anthem policy and try to find a resolution. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter Tuesday to all 32 owners and clearly stated he wants all players to stand for the anthem.

"Yes, the Dallas Cowboys are the private property of Jerry Jones and he has the right to make his own rules about his players kneeling during the national anthem," Jackson said. "But most of the African-American players come from places where they have experienced firsthand racial injustice."

Jackson said he believes players should continue to take a knee in their push for racial justice. Jackson said he would also like to speak to the NFL owners during their regularly scheduled fall meetings next week.

"Mr. Jones is saying, 'If you honor the First Amendment, you'll be off my team,'" Jackson said. "That's a constitutional right. He should not feel comfortable wielding that kind of power.

"Now the players are being tested by Jerry. He's challenging their manhood and their dignity. This has to stop.

"I think to not protest is to turn your back on the others. Some have to choose conscience over money."

U.S. House of Representatives Passes Cummings and Meadows Bill to Modernize "Federal Thrift Savings Plans"

United States Congress

For Immediate Release:
October 11, 2017

Contacts
Cummings: Jennifer Werner/Aryele Bradford - 202-226-5181
Meadows: Ben Williamson – (202) 225-6401

House Passes Cummings and Meadows Bill to
Modernize Federal Thrift Savings Plans

Washington, DC (Oct. 11, 2017)—Today, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to pass legislation introduced by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Mark Meadows, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, to add more flexibility for federal employees and retirees to withdraw funds from their accounts under the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).

“Today’s vote shows that there is widespread support for modernizing the federal Thrift Savings Plan,” said Cummings. “Providing more flexibility will allow federal employees and retirees to more easily access their retirement savings to address emergencies or life events and encourage them to retain their assets in the TSP, which has one of the lowest administrative fees in the industry. I thank Chairmen Gowdy and Meadows for their support.”

“I want to thank my colleague Mr. Cummings for his support and work on this effort,” said Meadows. “This is a common-sense reform that will go a long way in facilitating needed updates to the Thrift Savings Plan program, providing more flexibility for retirees and allowing TSP recipients to keep taking advantage of benefits, similar to those available for private sector employees, after their time in federal service has ended.”

This bill is supported by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, the agency that administers the TSP, as well as The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, The American Federation of Government Employees, and National Treasury Employees Union.

Current law limits participants to one withdrawal while in federal service after reaching the age of 59 1/2 (age-based withdrawal). Participants who leave federal service can make only one withdrawal of a portion of the balance in their account (post-separation withdrawal).

Cummings’ and Meadows’ bill, H.R. 3031, the TSP Modernization Act of 2017, would eliminate these restrictions and allow participants to make multiple age-based and post-separation withdrawals, revise the timing and amounts of periodic payments, and elect to combine partial withdrawals or an annuity with periodic payments. The bill also would eliminate automatic annuities as a default option in the absence of an election by participants.

A survey issued in 2014 by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board of participants who withdrew funds showed that more than 50% reported that they would like to access additional funds from their accounts to address life events.

A study issued by Vanguard in 2013 entitled Retirement Distribution Decisions Among DC Participants found that “50% more participants and assets remain” in retirement plans when partial distributions are allowed.

Radio Legend Alvin John Waples died yesterday at age 70

Alvin John Waples at WMMJ Majic 102.3's Stone Soul Picnic

Story by EURWeb
Written by Marilyn Smith

*On Saturday, October 7, the 8th Annual Radio & Music Industry Legends and Icons picnic was held at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, CA. Over 200 people attended the event, which included record industry executives, singers, disc jockeys and anyone else associated with the music industry.

There was one legend noticeably missing; former KGFJ, KJLH and KACE disc jockey, Alvin John Waples. Failing health prevented Alvin from attending; however, he was there in spirit and we lifted him up in prayer. Sadly, Alvin succumbed to illness on Tuesday, October 10th. He suffered from kidney failure brought on by diabetes.

Alvin, who was born on November 27, 1946 in St. Louis, MO, was the oldest child of Alvin Sr. and Helen Waples. He had three younger siblings; a sister Pat and brothers Merrill and Martin. Alvin attended Drake University. After college, he landed a job at KDIA radio in Oakland, before coming to Los Angeles and KGFJ in 1972, where he became an audience favorite. He subsequently worked at KJLH and KACE radio stations. He left Los Angeles and became a disc jockey on MAJIC 102.3 in Washington DC until 2010.

On a more personal note, I remember Alvin fondly. As a teenager, I stayed glued to the radio; KGFJ was one of my stations of choice and Alvin John Waples was my guy. I listened faithfully to “Helen Waples baby boy” as he used to refer to himself. I would call and speak with him on the phone and eventually we met in person and developed a brother/sister type friendship. Although just a kid, Alvin let me hang out with him. A 13 year old had no business at Rudy’s Italian Restaurant on a Wednesday evening, but there I was, every Wednesday, hanging with Alvin and whatever celebrity he had joining him that week. Alvin made sure I got home safely.

It was thanks to Alvin that I had the opportunity to meet the Jacksons. He was the announcer for their summer TV show in 1976/1977 and got me tickets to watch them rehearse and tape their show. I also was a spectator at the Jacksons celebrity charity basketball games, of which Alvin was a Jackson team member. I spent time with his family, his then wife, Phyllis and his daughter Rachael and son, actor Wesley Jonathan, a baby back then. His family welcomed me into the fold.

Alvin will truly be missed by all who loved and admired him. Rest in paradise, Legend and Icon.