White House Communications Director Hope Hicks resigning
Story by AP
Written by Zeke Miller and Jill Colvin
WASHINGTON DC — White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump's most loyal aides, is resigning.
In a statement, the president praises Hicks for her work over the last three years. He says he "will miss having her by my side."
The news comes a day after Hicks was interviewed for nine hours by the panel investigating Russia interference in the 2016 election and contact between Trump's campaign and Russia.
She acknowledged to a House intelligence panel that she has occasionally told "white lies" for Trump. But she said she had not lied about anything relevant to the Russia investigation.
Hicks served as Trump's one-woman communications shop during his winning campaign. She says in a statement, "There are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump."
National Democratic Redistricting Committee introductory letter
Kirk,
I’m Kelly Ward, Executive Director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. I want to start off by thanking you for supporting our work.
NDRC is a groundbreaking organization that’s already making waves in the fight against gerrymandering. With our three-point strategy -- winning key state elections, fighting in the courts, and supporting ballot initiatives -- we’re fighting for fairer districts all over the country.
I can’t tell you how much this work matters. As the Executive Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, I saw first-hand how gerrymandered districts gave Republicans an unfair advantage.
So we’re fighting back. We’re building a broad-based organization to fight in the states and in the courts and, importantly, to expose what the GOP is doing. Because look -- Republicans are going to great pains to redraw their district boundaries in secret. They don’t want you to know what they’re up to.
But we will bring you that information. Follow us on social media for breaking news, rapid response alerts, and takeaways from leaders like our Chair and former Attorney General, Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Like us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DemRedistricting/?fref=ts
Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/DemRedistrict
Things are already moving quickly (for example, courts in Virginia and Texas just told Republicans the districts they drew are unconstitutional), so don’t wait.
Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DemRedistricting/?fref=ts
and Twitter now - https://twitter.com/DemRedistrict
Thanks,
Kelly Ward
Executive Director, National Democratic Redistricting Committee
Dick’s Sporting Goods, Major Gun Retailer, Stops Selling Assault-Style Weapons
Story by NY Times
Written by Julie Creswell
One of the nation’s largest sports retailers, Dick’s Sporting Goods, said Wednesday morning it was immediately ending sales of all assault-style rifles in its stores.
The retailer also said that it would no longer sell high-capacity magazines and that it would not sell any gun to anyone under 21 years of age, regardless of local laws.
The announcement, made two weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 students and staff members, is one of the strongest stances taken by corporate America in the national gun debate. It also carries symbolic weight, coming from a prominent national gun seller.
____________________________________
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/business/dicks-major-gun-retailer-will-stop-selling-assault-style-rifles.html
Jalen Rose: Players should boycott NCAA tournament
Story by USA Today
Written by Andrew Joseph
ESPN personality Jalen Rose is tired of waiting for change to happen with the NCAA. He wants to see players take a stand now.
College basketball was rocked over the weekend with the latest report into the sport's widespread corruption. None more shocking than the ESPN report alleging that Arizona head coach Sean Miller was caught on FBI wiretaps discussing payment to star prospect Deandre Ayton.
It was another major black eye to the sport. Yet, come Monday, it was almost business as usual. Players named in the Yahoo! Sports report were cleared to return to action within days. Miller - after denying the ESPN report - chose to travel back to Tucson while Ayton still played against Oregon on Saturday. Really, little changed in the short term.
That was why Rose called on NCAA players to take the drastic step of boycotting next month's NCAA tournament. He explained during Monday's Jalen & Jacoby that the only way to bring along change in a broken system is to hit the NCAA's bottom line.
Rose said:
"I wish NCAA players understood the power that they now have. In a climate of so many things that are changing, so many discussions that have now come to the forefront that have been closeted for so very long - for a multitude of reasons. I wish NCAA players would exercise that power by boycotting the NCAA tournament."
He continued:
"Imagine this: No different from what I said with the NFL players when they were doing their protest at the beginning of the year. Imagine if they would have shown up on a Sunday and decided not to play. The exact same thing with the NCAA tournament. How many people pay attention to collegiate basketball in March? (Millions). How many people in office pools and casual basketball fans or people who never watch basketball at all are filling out NCAA brackets? (Tons) Why are they filling out those brackets?
"Fun? Interesting?! They're doing it to bet! They're doing it for the money. The mula. The dinero. That's why they're doing it. So as a player you now have equity. If they decided and band together and said, 'We not performing tonight. We want to make a statement.' Do you think reform would start happening real fast? I do."
In 2016, the NCAA and CBS/Turner extended NCAA tournament broadcast rights until 2032 in a deal worth $8.8 billion.
___________________________________________
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2018/02/28/why-missouri-bet-big-cuonzo-martin-and-pay-keeps-rising-sec-big-ten/365869002/
USA 's Georgia GOP leader threatens Delta over cutting its NRA ties
Story by AP
Written by R.J. Rico and Ben Nadler
Atlanta, Ga. USA — Georgia's lieutenant governor on Monday threatened to prevent Delta Air Lines from getting a lucrative tax cut after the company ended its discount program with the National Rifle Association, in the latest fallout from a deadly school shooting in Florida.
Delta is part of a growing chorus of businesses cutting ties with the NRA after the Valentine's Day shooting at a Florida high school left 17 people dead. But now the airline is coming under attack, with Georgia's lieutenant governor threatening a sales tax exemption making its way through the legislature.
Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, president of the state Senate and a leading candidate to succeed Gov. Nathan Deal, tweeted that he would use his position to sink the proposed sales tax exemption on jet fuel.
"I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA," Cagle tweeted. "Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back."
More than a dozen companies, including Metlife, Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, Best Western, Wyndham and United Airlines have ended NRA partnerships since the school shooting. Police say the suspect, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, gunned down students with an AR-15 assault-style rifle.
On Saturday, both Delta and United said they will no longer offer discounted fares to NRA members to attend their annual meetings, and both have asked the gun rights group to remove any references to their companies from the NRA website. One of the school shooting survivors also suggested Saturday on Twitter that tourists stay away from Florida.
Cagle's comments come as Delta, one of the Georgia's largest employers, appeared close to convincing lawmakers to restore a $50 million sales tax exemption on jet fuel. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta would be the prime beneficiary of the tax cut.
The proposed exemption had been part of Deal's larger tax overhaul, which has passed the House and awaits Senate input.
As the powerful leader of the Senate and one of the top contenders for the governor's office, Cagle would wield considerable power over the future of the jet fuel sales tax exemption in the Senate.
Cagle was not alone in his push to punish the airline, and the issue appeared poised to become part of the upcoming gubernatorial race in the gun-friendly state.
Sen. Michael Williams, another Republican candidate for governor who had opposed the Delta tax cut before the NRA controversy, praised Cagle's statement, saying his political rival "is feeling the pressure that we are putting on him." He applauded Cagle for listening to what he says is the "vast majority" of Republican senators who now want to quash the proposed jet fuel tax cut.
"When Delta came out and pretty much dumped on all the NRA members, it invigorated a lot of our base," Williams said. "We're going to fight."
A spokeswoman for the governor did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives at Delta and the NRA did not respond to requests for comment Monday evening.
On the other side of the aisle, the communications director for the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams weighed in, saying that this was proof that Republican leaders are in the pocket of the gun lobby.
"Casey Cagle would sacrifice thousands of jobs, endanger our state's economy, and stick a finger in the eye of a huge employer in our state just to satisfy his buddies at the NRA," Priyanka Mantha said.
Another Democrat, Senator Steve Hanson, said Republican leaders had been arguing that the tax cuts were good for business and now were changing their tune.
"Republican fear of the NRA is evidently more important than the Georgia business climate, jobs, or the well-being of Georgia citizens," Henson said.
In its Saturday statement, Delta said it supports the Second Amendment and its decision "reflects the airline's neutral status" in the national debate over guns.
The airline also pointed out that last year it withdrew sponsorship from a theater than staged a controversial "Julius Caesar" production that depicted the assassination of a Donald Trump look-alike.
ACLU of Georgia Executive Director Andrea Young criticized Cagle's move and highlighted Atlanta's status as a finalist for the location of Amazon's second U.S. headquarters.
"Politicians should not use taxpayer dollars to impose ideological litmus tests and punish organizations that express views that politicians dislike. Amazon should take note," Young said in an emailed statement.
_______________________________________
Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2018-02-26/georgia-senate-moves-to-punish-delta-for-cutting-ties-with-nra?src=usn_fb
MSNBC Analyst and former RNC Chairman Michael Steele To Conservative Honcho: “I’ve Taken Crap You Have No Idea About”
Story by Deadline.com
Written by Greg Adams
Republican MSNBC Political Analyst and former RNC Chairman Michael Steele confronted the head of the American Conservative Union over controversial comments made at CPAC yesterday suggesting Steele had previously been chosen the Republican National Committee chairman because “he was a black guy.”
“I’ve taken crap you have no idea about,” Steele said to ACU chairman Matt Schlapp on Steele’s SiriusXM radio show today. (Watch the segment below).
Schlapp, himself a familiar MSNBC pundit, attempted the sort of peace-brokering after Ian Walters, communications director for the Conservative Political Action Conference, last night attributed Steele’s selection as RNC chairman in 2009 as a response to the election of Barack Obama.
“We elected Mike Steele as chairman because he was a black guy,” Walters said at a CPAC dinner Friday night. “That was the wrong thing to do.”
Schlapp attempted to smooth things over but only seemed to dig himself and his organization deeper into the muck. He called Walters’ comment “unfortunate words,” and repeatedly professed his love and friendship for both Steele and Walters.
“It’s not ‘unfortunate,’ ” said Steele. “Call it what it is. It is stupid to sit there and say that we elected a black man chairman of the party…Do you know how that sounds to the black community?”
“I’ve spent 41 years in this party. Forty-one, all right?” Steele continued. “I have taken crap you have no idea about, and I have carried this baggage. And for him to stand on that stage and denigrate my service to this party, and for you as a friend to sit there and go, ‘Well, you have been critical of this party.’ There is only one word I can say, and I can’t say it on this air.”
Schlapp suggested that Steele was unpopular among some conservatives because of his lack of support for Donald Trump. “You have not been very graceful to the Republicans and conservatives in this room for a very long time,” Schlapp said, prompting Steele to snap,”What the hell does my race have to do with any of that, at the end of the day? What does the color of my skin have to do with anything you just said?”
Schlapp, conceding that Walters’ comment was “not our best moment,” advised Steele not to “jump to the conclusion that just because people use inarticulate words that they have it in for you.”
“I didn’t say he had it in for me,” Steele said. “It’s just stupid.”
The Second Amendment was "ratified" to preserve the Slave Patrol Militias in the Southern States
Story by Raw Story
Written by Thom Hartmann, Alternet
The real reason the Second Amendment was ratified, and why it says “State” instead of “Country” (the Framers knew the difference – see the 10th Amendment), was to preserve the slave patrol militias in the southern states, which was necessary to get Virginia’s vote. Founders Patrick Henry, George Mason, and James Madison were totally clear on that . . . and we all should be too.
In the beginning, there were the militias. In the South, they were also called the “slave patrols,” and they were regulated by the states.
In Georgia, for example, a generation before the American Revolution, laws were passed in 1755 and 1757 that required all plantation owners or their male white employees to be members of the Georgia Militia, and for those armed militia members to make monthly inspections of the quarters of all slaves in the state. The law defined which counties had which armed militias and even required armed militia members to keep a keen eye out for slaves who may be planning uprisings.
As Dr. Carl T. Bogus wrote for the University of California Law Review in 1998, “The Georgia statutes required patrols, under the direction of commissioned militia officers, to examine every plantation each month and authorized them to search ‘all Negro Houses for offensive Weapons and Ammunition’ and to apprehend and give twenty lashes to any slave found outside plantation grounds.”
It’s the answer to the question raised by the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained when he asks, “Why don’t they just rise up and kill the whites?” If the movie were real, it would have been a purely rhetorical question, because every southerner of the era knew the simple answer: Well regulated militias kept the slaves in chains.
Sally E. Haden, in her book Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas, notes that, “Although eligibility for the Militia seemed all-encompassing, not every middle-aged white male Virginian or Carolinian became a slave patroller.” There were exemptions so “men in critical professions” like judges, legislators and students could stay at their work. Generally, though, she documents how most southern men between ages 18 and 45 – including physicians and ministers – had to serve on slave patrol in the militia at one time or another in their lives.
And slave rebellions were keeping the slave patrols busy.
By the time the Constitution was ratified, hundreds of substantial slave uprisings had occurred across the South. Blacks outnumbered whites in large areas, and the state militias were used to both prevent and to put down slave uprisings. As Dr. Bogus points out, slavery can only exist in the context of a police state, and the enforcement of that police state was the explicit job of the militias.
If the anti-slavery folks in the North had figured out a way to disband – or even move out of the state – those southern militias, the police state of the South would collapse. And, similarly, if the North were to invite into military service the slaves of the South, then they could be emancipated, which would collapse the institution of slavery, and the southern economic and social systems, altogether.
These two possibilities worried southerners like James Monroe, George Mason (who owned over 300 slaves) and the southern Christian evangelical, Patrick Henry (who opposed slavery on principle, but also opposed freeing slaves).
Their main concern was that Article 1, Section 8 of the newly-proposed Constitution, which gave the federal government the power to raise and supervise a militia, could also allow that federal militia to subsume their state militias and change them from slavery-enforcing institutions into something that could even, one day, free the slaves.
This was not an imagined threat. Famously, 12 years earlier, during the lead-up to the Revolutionary War, Lord Dunsmore offered freedom to slaves who could escape and join his forces. “Liberty to Slaves” was stitched onto their jacket pocket flaps. During the War, British General Henry Clinton extended the practice in 1779. And numerous freed slaves served in General Washington’s army.
Thus, southern legislators and plantation owners lived not just in fear of their own slaves rebelling, but also in fear that their slaves could be emancipated through military service.
At the ratifying convention in Virginia in 1788, Henry laid it out:
“Let me here call your attention to that part [Article 1, Section 8 of the proposed Constitution] which gives the Congress power to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States. . . .
“By this, sir, you see that their control over our last and best defence is unlimited. If they neglect or refuse to discipline or arm our militia, they will be useless: the states can do neither . . . this power being exclusively given to Congress. The power of appointing officers over men not disciplined or armed is ridiculous; so that this pretended little remains of power left to the states may, at the pleasure of Congress, be rendered nugatory.”
George Mason expressed a similar fear:
“The militia may be here destroyed by that method which has been practised in other parts of the world before; that is, by rendering them useless, by disarming them. Under various pretences, Congress may neglect to provide for arming and disciplining the militia; and the state governments cannot do it, for Congress has an exclusive right to arm them [under this proposed Constitution] . . . “
Henry then bluntly laid it out:
“If the country be invaded, a state may go to war, but cannot suppress [slave] insurrections [under this new Constitution]. If there should happen an insurrection of slaves, the country cannot be said to be invaded. They cannot, therefore, suppress it without the interposition of Congress . . . . Congress, and Congress only [under this new Constitution], can call forth the militia.”
And why was that such a concern for Patrick Henry?
“In this state,” he said, “there are two hundred and thirty-six thousand blacks, and there are many in several other states. But there are few or none in the Northern States. . . . May Congress not say, that every black man must fight? Did we not see a little of this last war? We were not so hard pushed as to make emancipation general; but acts of Assembly passed that every slave who would go to the army should be free.”
Patrick Henry was also convinced that the power over the various state militias given the federal government in the new Constitution could be used to strip the slave states of their slave-patrol militias. He knew the majority attitude in the North opposed slavery, and he worried they’d use the Constitution to free the South’s slaves (a process then called “Manumission”).
The abolitionists would, he was certain, use that power (and, ironically, this is pretty much what Abraham Lincoln ended up doing):
“[T]hey will search that paper [the Constitution], and see if they have power of manumission,” said Henry. “And have they not, sir? Have they not power to provide for the general defence and welfare? May they not think that these call for the abolition of slavery? May they not pronounce all slaves free, and will they not be warranted by that power?
“This is no ambiguous implication or logical deduction. The paper speaks to the point: they have the power in clear, unequivocal terms, and will clearly and certainly exercise it.”
He added: “This is a local matter, and I can see no propriety in subjecting it to Congress.”
James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution” and a slaveholder himself, basically called Patrick Henry paranoid.
“I was struck with surprise,” Madison said, “when I heard him express himself alarmed with respect to the emancipation of slaves. . . . There is no power to warrant it, in that paper [the Constitution]. If there be, I know it not.”
But the southern fears wouldn’t go away.
Patrick Henry even argued that southerner’s “property” (slaves) would be lost under the new Constitution, and the resulting slave uprising would be less than peaceful or tranquil:
“In this situation,” Henry said to Madison, “I see a great deal of the property of the people of Virginia in jeopardy, and their peace and tranquility gone.”
So Madison, who had (at Jefferson’s insistence) already begun to prepare proposed amendments to the Constitution, changed his first draft of one that addressed the militia issue to make sure it was unambiguous that the southern states could maintain their slave patrol militias.
His first draft for what became the Second Amendment had said: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed, and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country [emphasis mine]: but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person.”
But Henry, Mason and others wanted southern states to preserve their slave-patrol militias independent of the federal government. So Madison changed the word “country” to the word “state,” and redrafted the Second Amendment into today’s form:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State [emphasis mine], the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Little did Madison realize that one day in the future weapons-manufacturing corporations, newly defined as “persons” by a Supreme Court some have called dysfunctional, would use his slave patrol militia amendment to protect their “right” to manufacture and sell assault weapons used to murder schoolchildren.
West African countries poised for a single currency in 2020
West African leaders at the meeting
Story by Face2Face
Written by Mildred Europa Taylor
West African countries may soon witness a boost in growth and wealth as their leaders have reaffirmed their political will to meet the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) single currency programme deadline by 2020.
The leaders made this commitment this week at the fifth meeting of the Presidential Task Force on the ECOWAS single currency programme in Accra, Ghana.
Speaking at the meeting, Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo said the single currency, the ECO, will remove trade and monetary barriers and ultimately improve the economies of West African states.
“It is meant to encourage production of goods and services within the region. It is, thus, incumbent on us to strengthen the productive base of our economies, and to improve agricultural productivity and industrial production,” he said.
“With a population of some 350 million, which is expected to increase to 500 million in the next 20 years, and with a total GDP of some US$600 billion, there is a viable market ready to absorb the goods, which will be produced by our industries.”
The president urged the leaders to work towards achieving the convergence criteria needed for the implementation of the single currency.
The four primary criteria to be achieved by each member country are: A single-digit inflation rate at the end of each year, a fiscal deficit of no more than 4% of the GDP, a central bank deficit-financing of no more than 10% of the previous year’s tax revenues and gross external reserves that can give import cover for a minimum of three months.
Concerns
The idea to have a single legal tender for West Africa was mooted about two decades ago, with many saying that it has been long overdue.
ECO is the proposed name for the common currency that the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) plans to introduce. The aim is to merge ECO with West African CFA France, which is used by French-speaking members of ECOWAS, and then ultimately create a common currency for West Africa.
But to implement the single currency, ECOWAS set some conditions (the convergence criteria). These conditions are, however, believed to be the main obstacle of the single currency programme. For instance, the first convergence criteria require all countries to achieve a single digit inflation of 5% or less. This is a difficult task for many of the countries involved.
Experts have, therefore, asked for a revision of the convergence criteria to enable them to be a reflection of the real macroeconomic situation in the sub-region. There are also concerns that a single currency programme will lead to loss of monetary sovereignty, and this is a move many politicians involved might not allow.
Black Panther movie sets records across the African Continent
"We are the new THEY" states Zimbabwean Actress Danai Gurira stars as General Okoye in movie Black Panther at the South African movie premiere. Nigerian Actor/Filmmaker Fabian Lojede: "The Pro-Black movement on screen started way before Black Panther." (Report by BBC)
"We here at the Black Panther Movie Premiere in Wakanda/Ghana! Accra was Lit. We enjoyed the night, loved the film and shared a few thoughts about the film." Native Borne on Ghana's Movie Premiere.
New South African President wants to seize land from white farmers without compensation
Story by RT
South Africa’s New President Cyril Ramaphosa, has pledged to return the lands owned by White Farmers since the 1600s to the Black Citizens of the country.
The government plans to accelerate land redistribution through expropriation without compensation.
“The expropriation of land without compensation is envisaged as one of the measures that we will use to accelerate the redistribution of land to black South Africans,” said Ramaphosa, who was sworn into office to succeed Jacob Zuma as President last week.
The millionaire ex-businessman Ramaphosa promised that land expropriation operations will not be a “smash and grab” exercise and promised to handle the matter properly, adding that people “must see this process as an opportunity.”
“No-one is saying that land must be taken away from our people,” he said, “Rather, it is how we can make sure that our people have equitable access to land and security of tenure. We must see this process of accelerated land redistribution as an opportunity and not as a threat,” he added during a speech to parliament on Tuesday.
Such a drastic move would not damage the country’s agriculture or economy, the South African President promised.
“We will handle it with responsibility. We will handle it in a way that will not damage our economy, that is not going to damage agricultural production,” he said.
More than two decades after the end of apartheid in the 1990s, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party is under pressure to tackle racial disparities in land ownership in South Africa. The country is home to over 50 million people, with whites owning most of the land.
According to a recent study, Black South Africans constitute 79 percent of the population, but directly own only 1.2 percent of the country’s rural land. Meanwhile, White South Africans, who constitute 9 percent of the country’s population, directly own 23.6 percent of its rural land, and 11.4 percent of land in towns and cities, according to the Land Audit report.
A similar program of land redistribution was carried out by then-Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Thousands of White Farmers were forced from their lands.
However, food production plummeted without the experienced farmers’ contribution, and Zimbabwe’s economy suffered massively. In 2010, the Guardian reported that Mugabe used land reform to reward his allies rather than ordinary Black Zimbabweans. In 2016, Mugabe signed a decree that foreign companies would face closure unless they sold or gave up 51 percent of their shares.
Speaking about the redistribution of land in his country, Ramaphosa said that “in dealing with this complex matter” South Africa would not “make the mistakes that others have made.”
United States Congressman and Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn's (S.C.) Op-Ed on Black History Month
Op-Ed by Assistant Democratic Leader Congressman James Clyburn
Contrary to the expressions of some, celebrating black history in February -- the shortest month of the year -- is not a slight. When launched in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, it was for a week.
Dr. Woodson selected the second week of February because it envelopes the birth dates of Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) and Frederick Douglass (Feb. 14).
In 1976 President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month, calling upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often-neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Every President since has designated February as Black History Month. Woodson’s recognition of Lincoln is pretty obvious, but maybe not so much of Douglass.
Last week the U.S. House of Representatives observed the 200th birthday of Frederick Douglass. Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Cedric Richmond organized the program and invited me to make remarks.
I invoked Martin Luther King Jr.’s edict that, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'” In my opinion, few Americans have been more impactful in answering that question than Frederick Douglass.
Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass became a fugitive from injustice in 1838 and lived the rest of his life between Rochester, N.Y., and Washington, D.C. Douglass became a lion of the women's suffrage movement and the lion of the anti-slavery movement. He was at Seneca Falls in 1848, and speaking at the International Council of Women in 1888, Douglass said to the men in the audience. “Get out of her way,” and let them lead.
I have not been able to establish that Frederick Douglass ever visited South Carolina, but his influence upon the Palmetto State was profound. Two people who revered and idolized him were Robert Smalls and Richard Greener.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, and honor the roles that Black Americans have played in warfare from the American Revolution to the present day, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History selected “African Americans in Times of War” as the theme for this year’s celebration.
Frederick Douglass met with President Lincoln in 1862 to discuss allowing Blacks to fight for their own freedom. Eventual U.S. Congressman Robert Smalls, who had just escaped from slavery earlier that year, attended that meeting and sat next to Douglass.
Congressman Smalls returned to South Carolina and became a delegate to the 1868 State Constitutional Convention, where he authored the resolution that provided for free public education for ALL South Carolinians. Congressman Smalls served 10 years in the State Legislature and 10 years in the U.S. Congress.
He was a catalyst in the establishment of South Carolina State College. One of the historical missions of land-grant colleges is military training, an area in which S.C.S.U. has excelled. S.C.S.U.’s ROTC program is one of the most productive in the nation, and I'm looking forward to celebrating Black History Month with them on Friday.
Richard Greener made a self-described pilgrimage to Rochester to visit and consult with Douglass, whom he called "The Grand Man." Of that meeting, Greener wrote in his biography that “the hero and the hero worshiper” were in their elements.
Greener would go on to become the first African-American to graduate from Harvard University, and in 1873 became the first African-American Professor and Librarian at the University of South Carolina. I am proudly participating in the inaugural Richard T. Greener Symposium at the University of South Carolina, and will attend the dedication of a Memorial to Greener near the Thomas Cooper Library.
________________________________________________________
Please send all media requests to Patrick Devlin at Patrick.Devlin@mail.house.gov.
When Malcolm X visited Smethwick after racist election
Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City on February 21, 1965 [File: AP]
Fifty-three years after his assassination, Britain who welcomed Malcolm X remembers iconic figure's final foreign trip.
Story by Al-Jazeera
Written by Aina Khan
On February 12, 1965, Malcolm X, with his brow-line glasses perched high above his nose, walked along the terraced houses of Marshall Street in Smethwick, a small and bleak UK town in the West Midlands.
Nine days later, on February 21, 1965, he would be assassinated having returned to New York City.
His final foreign trip saw him travel to the relatively unknown English town, near the city of Birmingham, and home to a large Asian and West Indian immigrant population.
In the year before his arrival, Smethwick hosted Britain's most racist election.
In 1964, 800,000 immigrants lived in the UK, 70,000 of whom resided in Birmingham, dubbed "the British Harlem" by the press.
White, working-class communities ignited racial tension as they transferred their economic frustrations onto immigrants.
In Smethwick, the immigrant population was 6.7 percent, far higher than the national one percent.
The local Conservative-led council purchased houses on Marshall Street in a bid to prevent immigrants from moving into the area.
Over the years, the town was drip-fed racist rhetoric - first by Oswald Mosely, leader of the British Union of Fascists who was elected as MP of the constituency in 1926, followed by Conservative candidate Peter Griffiths, who was elected in 1964, having campaigned on a hostile anti-immigration platform.
As his supporters chanted: "If you want a n****r for a neighbour, vote Labour," Griffins backed banning immigration minimum of five years and supported the council's efforts to segregate housing, which he said prevented a "coloured 'ghetto'".
Griffins refused to condemn the vile election slogan, justifying it as a "manifestation of popular feeling".
________________________________________
"On the far end, a group of white women shouted abuse at Malcolm. He did not respond to the abuse and calmly walked back to the point where we were standing."
AVTAR SINGH JOUHL, CHAIRMAN OF THE ORGANISATION WHICH INVITED MALCOLM X
________________________________________
"Racial prejudice, though, was a constant blight," said Avtar Singh Jouhl, who was chairman of the Indian Worker's Association (IWA), the socialist organisation which invited Malcolm X.
"IWA devoted its energies to demonstrating that racism is a product of capitalism, and that the workers, no matter where they came from, shared common interests."
Jouhl told Al Jazeera immigrants had flocked to Smethwick for employment opportunities.
With his large coat and black, woollen hat, Malcolm X asked Jouhl for time alone on Marshall Street to meet the locals and inspect the sale signs, which permitted white-only buyers.
"On the far end, a group of white women shouted abuse at Malcolm. He did not respond to the abuse and calmly walked back to the point where we were standing."
At the time, it was common for pubs, landlords and workplaces to refuse entry to or segregate black people and ethnic minorities.
The monarch did not approve the Race Relations Act - the UK's first legislation to address racial discrimination - until the end of 1965.
When Malcolm X and Jouhl entered the smoke room of the Blue Gates pub with IWA members, they were told that they had to buy their drinks elsewhere because they were black.
________________________________________
Malcolm shook the hand of every person of colour who was there. He kept his calm, but he was disgusted with what he saw at the Marshall Street and the Blue Gate Pub.
AVTAR SINGH JOUHL, CHAIRMAN OF THE ORGANISATION WHICH INVITED MALCOLM X
________________________________________
"As we approached the bar counter, a barmaid came face to face with us and told me, 'I know you don't get served in here. If you want to have a drink, go around to the public bar room.' We walked around to the public bar room where several IWA members and fellow Afro-Caribbeans were present," Jouhl said.
"Malcolm shook the hand of every person of colour who was there. He kept his calm, but he was disgusted with what he saw at the Marshall Street and the Blue Gate Pub."
'Dangerous possibility'
A day before visiting a predominantly Asian immigrant community, Malcolm X had been deported from Paris on the grounds he was an "undesirable person".
He had been broadening his vision away from the racial exclusivity of the Nation of Islam following a Hajj pilgrimage, in which he witnessed solidarity among minority communities.
For Shirin Hirsch, an academic at the University of Wolverhampton, the historical anti-racist struggles between the US and UK often goes forgotten.
"In Britain, we are much more familiar with an American history of race and racism represented much more widely in our popular culture," Hirsch told Al Jazeera.
"When we think of colour bars, for example, we often associate this history with America, although they existed in Britain, too," she said, referring to the social and legal system which ensured racial segregation and discrimination.
_______________________________________
His presence was opposed by both liberals and conservatives within Britain, representing the dangerous possibility of black resistance spreading from America to the West Midlands.
SHIRIN HIRSCH, AN ACADEMIC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON
_______________________________________
"The politics of racism and anti-racism that was born out of American struggles strongly influenced the ways in which race was conceived of in Britain. The ripples of the civil rights movement were felt across the Atlantic in 1960s Britain, where images of the civil rights movement in the South and urban revolts in the North were circulated widely by the media.
"This was brought into sharp focus by Malcolm X's visit to the Black Country town of Smethwick. His presence was opposed by both liberals and conservatives within Britain, representing the dangerous possibility of black resistance spreading from America to the West Midlands. This anxiety was powerfully expressed by Enoch Powell in his Rivers of Blood speech three years later."
In an interview with a local BBC journalist, when asked why he decided to visit Smethwick, Malcolm X drew parallels with Nazi Germany.
"I have heard that the blacks ... are being treated in the same way as the Negroes were treated in Alabama- like Hitler treated the Jews."
For Jouhl, inviting Malcolm X to Smethwick was an expression of solidarity.
"We didn't hope to take anything from it other than strengthening the bonds between us. It was an act of proletarian internationalism," he said.
"We hoped to show solidarity with the struggle of the African Americans who, at that time, were involved in a bitter struggle with US imperialism."
_____________________________________
"I have heard that the blacks ... are being treated in the same way as the Negroes were treated in Alabama- like Hitler treated the Jews."
MALCOLM X IN AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BBC
_____________________________________
Video: Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Face to Face in Unity!
Fifty-three years on since Malcolm X's assassination, the dynamic between the American and British anti-racist struggle remains, said Hirsch.
"The language of anti-racism in Britain continues to be shaped by America, with 'privilege', 'whiteness' and 'intersectionality' all travelling from American to British university campuses," she said.
"There are problems, as well as opportunities, with these imported words and sometimes they do not capture the realities of racial inequalities in Britain today. Yet this relationship has also spurred on action.
"Britain has witnessed some of the largest protests in recent years, opposing Donald Trump's inauguration and the Muslim travel ban."
Story by The Hill
Written by Brandon Carter and Lydia Wheeler
President Trump said Tuesday he has directed the Department of Justice to propose regulations that would ban bump stocks, devices that allow semi-automatic guns to be modified to shoot hundreds of rounds per minute.
“We can do more to protect our children. We must do more to protect our children,” Trump said during the announcement at the White House.
Trump's decision comes days after 17 people were killed in a school shooting in Florida. The killings have increased pressure on Trump and lawmakers in Congress to do something about the epidemic of mass shootings in the United States.
Bump stocks came to the forefront of the gun control debate after the deadly mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival in October that left nearly 60 dead and more than 500 injured. The gunman in that incident allegedly used a bump stock device while firing rounds on the crowd of concert-goers from a hotel room above them.
It does not appear that a bump stock device was used in the Florida shooting, nor does it appear a prohibition on the devices would have stopped that shooter.
Still, Trump's remarks illustrate a desire on the part of the White House to show action on the issue of guns.
__________________________________________
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/374722-trump-to-take-steps-to-ban-bump-stocks?userid=260620
A letter from UofL President Postel on the NCAA infractions
President Greg Postel responds to NCAA infractions on the UofL Men's Basketball team.
Story by University of Louisville
Written by Interim U of L President Greg Postel, M.D.
Dear U of L Family,
Today the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee upheld earlier penalties imposed on the University of Louisville, including vacation of victories from 2011 to 2015. That includes the 2013 national championship and the 2012 Final Four appearance.
I cannot say this strongly enough: We believe the NCAA is simply wrong.
We disagree with the NCAA ruling for reasons we clearly stated in our appeal. And we made a strong case – based on NCAA precedent – that supported our argument.
From Day One, the university has admitted that the actions of the former operations director and any others involved under previous leadership were offensive and inexcusable. That is why we apologized immediately, cooperated fully with the NCAA, self-imposed penalties that were appropriate to the offenses and made significant changes to ensure incidents like this never happen again. Under the NCAA’s own rules, this cooperation should have been a factor in the severity of the punishment. Instead, it was ignored.
Like you, I believe the university needed to appeal the decision as strongly as possible. We brought in some of the best legal minds in the country, including the nation’s top litigator, who helped develop and argue our case. This effort was costly both financially and in the time commitment. We felt, and still feel, that the young men who earned those victories and the thousands of fans who supported them deserved our best effort. The pain caused for our fans and the players who were not involved is perhaps the most regretful result of this decision.
Link to NCAA sanctions: https://www.yahoo.com/sports/ncaa-strips-louisville-wins-2011-2015-including-2013-championship-180219347.html
This dark cloud has hung over our heads for more than two years, and it has had a negative impact on our athletics program, our fans and the entire university family. While we disagree with the NCAA’s decision, it is time for the university to close this chapter and move forward with a stronger commitment to excellence on and off the court.
First and foremost, we are a university. However painful, this situation gives us the opportunity to turn the corner. We will move forward in an open, transparent and collaborative way. We will need your help to do so.
The NCAA’s ruling cannot change the accomplishments or the excitement generated by our Cardinals basketball team. It cannot change the feeling many of us shared as we experienced the victories those teams earned. And it cannot change the love so many of us have for this great university.
I hope you will join me in continuing to remember those teams and their contributions. And I hope you will join me as the university looks to brighter days in athletics and as an academic institution.
How The Black Panthers Revolutionized Healthcare In The U.S.
Story by AJ+
Written and Produced: by Omar Duwaji, Dylan Bergeson, Imaeyen Ibanga
Guns, berets and leather jackets are what many folks typically associate with the Black Panther Party. But the Black Panthers were instrumental in bringing healthcare to neglected communities. The reason you may not know about it? A covert government program tried to bury it.
Bill Whitfield of the Black Panther chapter in Kansas City serves free breakfast to children before they go to school, April 16, 1969. (Photo by William P. Straeter AP)
COINTELPRO, or “Counter-Intelligence Program,” was a propaganda and surveillance operation that the FBI used to target activists, political groups and minorities. Of the 290 operations carried out by COINTELPRO, the Panthers were targets of 245. The program was designed not only to ruin the Panthers' image, but also to cripple them financially and keep them from carrying out their social and health programs.
____________________________________ Read more:
1. New York Times. “Reconsidering the Black Panthers Through Photos.”
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/reconsidering-the-black-panthers-through-photos-stephen-shames/
2. National Geographic. “The Black Panthers: Revolutionaries, Free Breakfast Pioneers.”
http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/04/the-black-panthers-revolutionaries-free-breakfast-pioneers/
3. Jacobin. “The FBI’s Secret War.”
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/08/fbi-cointelpro-new-left-panthers-muslim-surveillance
Congressman Elijah Cummings (Md) Issues Statement on Russian Indictments by the FBI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jennifer Werner/Aryele Bradford
Feb. 16, 2018
(202) 226-5181
Cummings Issues Statement on Russian Indictments
Washington, D.C. (Feb. 16, 2018)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued the following statement in response to the announcement by the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller of indictments of Russian businesses and nationals for a criminal conspiracy to interfere with the presidential election in 2016:
“For all of those who have been asking ‘where is the evidence of a crime?’—this is it. This is the criminal conspiracy. This is what President Trump and his allies have repeatedly called a ‘hoax’ and ‘fake news.’ This is what they tried to cover up. This is what we might never have known if President Trump had been successful in shutting down this investigation. Today’s indictments show precisely how the Russians worked to help the Trump campaign, in startling and extensive detail. And of particular concern, the indictments show how the Russians tried to suppress the votes of minorities across the United States in order to help Donald Trump win the presidency. The Special Counsel’s probe is still ongoing, and we don’t know what the next step will be. We all must support his ability to complete his investigation independently and prevent anyone from undercutting or interfering with his continued work.”
Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr calls out politicians, says 'nothing done' to protect us
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr feels the government needs to play a bigger role in preventing gun violence (USA TODAY Sports).
In 1996, Australia Enacted Strict Gun Laws. It Hasn't Had a Mass Shooting Since. http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2012/12/16/gun_control_after_connecticut_shooting_could_australia_s_laws_provide_a.html
Las Vegas Autopsies Reveal The True Brutality Of Mass Shootings
Story by Huffington Post
Written by Nick Wing
Link to Autopsies: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/las-vegas-autopsy-documents_us_5a8234efe4b01467fcf08b97?ema
The bullet struck the woman’s right forearm, passing cleanly through the flesh below her wrist and exiting the other side. The round was tumbling now, but still carrying enough force to re-enter her arm, lower down this time, before exiting again and plunging into her chest. The lead projectile then burst through her liver, finally coming to rest in the first lumbar vertebra of her lower back. Her death, described by a medical examiner, was determined to be a homicide.
The unnamed woman was one of 58 victims killed by a lone gunman at a country music concert on the Las Vegas Strip on Oct. 1, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
HuffPost obtained autopsies for each of the 58 victims. The reports, released by the Clark County, Nevada, coroner’s office earlier this month, offer a raw account of the power of civilian weaponry and the damage it inflicts on human bodies, even when the gunman appears to have no particular firearms expertise.
They describe catastrophic injuries, most the result of single rounds striking from a range of nearly 500 yards ― details of carnage that we tend to shy away from in media coverage.
After a mass shooting, news stories often reduce victims to parts of a larger body count, the latest casualties of this particularly American form of gun violence. Just look at the headlines for the school shooting in Florida on Wednesday: “Mass Casualty Shooting At Florida School.”
Other coverage focuses exclusively on honoring slain individuals, a celebration of life that seeks to underscore the tragedy of a mass shooting.
Both types of stories can obscure and desensitize us to the disturbing violence. The autopsies, on the other hand, give an unsanitized truth to those stories.
Among the victims in Las Vegas were 36 women and 22 men; 51 were killed by a single shot, while seven were hit by multiple rounds; 34 suffered fatal gunshot wounds to the body, while 21 were struck in the head or neck and three were struck in their extremities. In addition, 851 people were injured in the attack, including 422 who suffered non-fatal wounds from gunfire.
With bullets exiting the shooter’s weapons at a velocity of about 3,000 feet per second ― about three times as fast as a bullet fired out of a handgun ― and spinning at thousands of revolutions per second, the consequences for anyone hit directly were dire.
“You’ve got a relatively small cross-sectional area with a tremendous amount of kinetic energy lined up behind it, so that just penetrates,” said Arthur Alphin, a ballistics expert and former West Point professor who has testified in a number of multiple shooting cases.
The autopsies describe bullets carving through flesh, leaving massive trauma in their wake. One victim suffered a gunshot wound to the left upper back. The round appeared to be tumbling end over end at the moment of impact, said Alphin, likely a sign that the gunman’s weapon had begun to overheat from firing so rapidly, sending the bullet on an unstable trajectory out of an expanded barrel.
After being struck in the back, the round coursed through the woman’s body, ricocheting off a rib and perforating her left lung before stopping between her eight and ninth vertebrae, where a medical examiner recovered the bullet.
The autopsy for the woman described at the beginning of this article shows she was shot in the forearm. The bullet passed through her arm twice and then entered her body.
“I’m thinking that this person had their arm up at the shoulder, but bent back at the elbow, as if scratching their ear or trying to shield their eyes or keep a hat from flying off their head,” said Alphin.
It’s also possible she was trying to shield herself. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/las-vegas-autopsy-documents_us_5a8234efe4b01467fcf08b97?ema
Another report describes a woman who was struck in the head. As with the other victims who suffered direct shots to the head, the impact caused “instant death,” Alphin said.
“The only good thing is she didn’t suffer. She felt no pain at all,” he said. “Some of those others, even though they died with the chest cavity wounds, they survived on the ground for 60 to 90 seconds, their heart continued to beat, the blood filled up into the pleural cavity and the thoracic cavity, their brain was still functioning, and they knew they were dying and they were in pain. At least this poor woman, it was instant.”
The only good thing is she didn’t suffer. She felt no pain at all. Arthur Alphin, ballistics expert
Wounds from these military-style rifles look much different from those caused by a handgun, said Dr. Brian H. Williams, a trauma surgeon who now serves as medical director of the Parkland Community Health Institute in Dallas.
Williams said that most of the gunshot wounds he’s treated appeared to be from handguns, but he was on duty during a July 2016 mass shooting in Dallas in which a gunman killed five police officers with a semi-automatic rifle. To get a sense of a handgun shot, Williams compared the impact to what happens when you drop a rock in the water and it makes a small splash and some ripples. Now, take that same rock, bring it up over your head and slam it into the water. That much bigger splash with larger ripples that emanate farther illustrates the difference of a rifle round hitting human flesh.
“That’s similar to what a bullet does when it enters the body,” said Williams. “The projectile from the military weapon that’s going much faster can cause much more damage.”
In just 10 minutes, the Las Vegas shooter was able to fire off more than 1,100 of these rounds from his perch on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, each one a potential death sentence. Investigators say he was outfitted with more than a dozen assault-style rifles, many of them equipped with 100-round magazines and bump stocks, after-market accessories that simulate automatic fire.
With this sort of firepower, the gunman didn’t even need to have good marksmanship or anything more than a basic understanding of his weapons. All he needed to do was pick up a loaded gun, point it toward the helpless people in the distance and pull the trigger until it was empty, discard the spent rifle and pick up another one.
At the range he was firing from, the rounds had likely lost enough speed to make them subsonic when they reached their target, meaning they wouldn’t have made the cracking noise a bullet makes when it breaks the sound barrier, said Alphin. As a result, the concertgoers stayed tightly packed for moments before they had any idea they were under fire.
There was no hope of survival for many of those unlucky enough to be hit.
“These are military rounds, and they’re designed to be one shot, one kill,” said Dr. John Fildes, a trauma surgeon at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, who was on duty the night of Oct. 1. “They do more than just bore holes through people. They tumble and they create cavities, and that tears at tissue.”
To get a sense of the extent of the wounds, Fildes recommended looking at what happens when a round of this caliber passes through ballistic gel, which is meant to mimic human flesh.
It appears that the bullets functioned as intended in many cases. Other patients ended up in the hospital with a variety of gunshot-related injuries, though many appeared not to have been struck cleanly, Fildes said.
“We had patients that had bullet fragments that tore blood vessels, like an artery or a vein,” said Fildes. “We had patients who had fragments that went into their chest and caused bleeding but didn’t kill them, and they had to have a chest tube placed. We had patients who had fragments that went into the abdomen and injured their intestines, so those had to be repaired.”
Fildes added that some of the fragments were traveling fast enough to puncture the chest, abdomen or extremities, and even to fracture bones. And it’s possible that victims were hit by shrapnel from sources other than bullets.
“You could’ve been standing at row 32 at the concert and a guy off to your right at row 35 gets hit in the back. That bullet might exit his body, turn in flight and hit you,” said Alphin. “Or it might be tumbling in the guy’s body, hit his femur or some other major bone, eject a bone fragment and it hits you with a bone fragment. That’s just common.”
Over the past decade, we’ve seen Americans gunned down en masse at concerts, in churches, schools, movie theaters and nightclubs. We’re often called upon to remember the victims who’ve died in those incidents, but rarely are we asked to confront the unsettling circumstances of the deaths themselves.
In 2015, then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris, now a U.S. senator, argued that lawmakers should have been forced to do exactly that before voting on gun legislation after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
“Spread out the autopsy photographs of those babies and require them to look at those photographs,” Harris said. “And then vote your conscience.”
______________________________________________
Read More: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/las-vegas-autopsy-documents_us_5a8234efe4b01467fcf08b97?ema
Statement by United States President Trump on the Shooting in Parkland, Florida USA
Diplomatic Room
11:22 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: My fellow Americans, today I speak to a nation in grief. Yesterday, a school filled with innocent children and caring teachers became the scene of terrible violence, hatred, and evil.
Around 2:30 yesterday afternoon, police responded to reports of gunfire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida — a great and safe community. There, a shooter, who is now in custody, opened fire on defenseless students and teachers. He murdered 17 people and badly wounded at least 14 others.
Our entire nation, with one heavy heart, is praying for the victims and their families. To every parent, teacher, and child who is hurting so badly, we are here for you — whatever you need, whatever we can do, to ease your pain. We are all joined together as one American family, and your suffering is our burden also.
No child, no teacher, should ever be in danger in an American school. No parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning.
Each person who was stolen from us yesterday had a full life ahead of them — a life filled with wondrous beauty and unlimited potential and promise. Each one had dreams to pursue, love to give, and talents to share with the world. And each one had a family to whom they meant everything in the world.
Today, we mourn for all of those who lost their lives. We comfort the grieving and the wounded. And we hurt for the entire community of Parkland, Florida that is now in shock, in pain, and searching for answers.
To law enforcement, first responders, and teachers who responded so bravely in the face of danger: We thank you for your courage. Soon after the shooting, I spoke with Governor Scott to convey our deepest sympathies to the people of Florida and our determination to assist in any way that we can. I also spoke with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
I’m making plans to visit Parkland to meet with families and local officials, and to continue coordinating the federal response.
In these moments of heartache and darkness, we hold on to God’s word in scripture: “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you.”
We trust in that promise, and we hold fast to our fellow Americans in their time of sorrow.
I want to speak now directly to America’s children, especially those who feel lost, alone, confused or even scared: I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be. You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you. If you need help, turn to a teacher, a family member, a local police officer, or a faith leader. Answer hate with love; answer cruelty with kindness.
We must also work together to create a culture in our country that embraces the dignity of life, that creates deep and meaningful human connections, and that turns classmates and colleagues into friends and neighbors.
Our administration is working closely with local authorities to investigate the shooting and learn everything we can. We are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools, and tackle the difficult issue of mental health.
Later this month, I will be meeting with the nation’s governors and attorney generals, where making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority. It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference.
In times of tragedy, the bonds that sustain us are those of family, faith, community, and country. These bonds are stronger than the forces of hatred and evil, and these bonds grow even stronger in the hours of our greatest need.
And so always, but especially today, let us hold our loved ones close, let us pray for healing and for peace, and let us come together as one nation to wipe away the tears and strive for a much better tomorrow.
Thank you. And God Bless you all. Thank you very much.
17 DEAD in shooting at Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida
Story by NY Times
Written by Audra Burch, Pat Mazzei and Adam Goldman
PARKLAND, Fla. — Seventeen people were killed in a shooting on Wednesday afternoon at a high school about an hour northwest of Miami, law enforcement officials said. The dead included adults and students.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said the suspect is in custody.
“This is catastrophic,” he said. “There really are no words.”
A federal official said the gunman had been identified as Nicolas Cruz, 19. The sheriff said the gunman was a former student. He was arrested in Coral Springs, a neighboring city, about an hour after leaving the school.
The gunman was armed with a semiautomatic AR-15 assault rifle, Sheriff Israel said, and “countless magazines.”
Students ran out of the school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, holding on to each other, as law enforcement officers swarmed the building armed with military-grade weapons. Parents rushed to the area to be reunited with their children.
Sonny Rollins, Benny Colson, Theolonius Monk, Charles Mingus, Gene Krupa, Mary Lou Williams, Roy Eldridge, Milt Hinson, Lester Young, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Marian McFarland, Art Farmer..."A Great Day in Harlem" in 1958.
Diplomacy toward North Korea is an opening, not a surrender - Commentary by former Presidential Candidate Jesse Jackson
Story by Chicago Sun-Times
Commentary by former Presidential Candidate Jesse Jackson
The picture of Vice President Mike Pence standing stiffly next to the trusted younger sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un at the Olympics in South Korea spoke a thousand words.
After weeks of escalating tensions, the North Korean dictator decided to use the Olympics to reach out to South Korea and to the world. He sent North Korean athletes to the games. The two Korean teams marched into the Olympic arena under a unified flag. They fielded a joint women’s ice hockey team for the first time. Kim’s sister not only attended the ceremonies, but also issued an invitation to the South Korean president to make an official visit to the North after the games.
Vice President Pence came to the games to enforce the administration’s no-talk policy. He stiffed Kim’s sister on the podium. He and his wife refused to join the crowd in standing when the Koreans marched in.
“We will not allow North Korean propaganda to hijack the message and imagery of the Olympic Games,” he said, vowing to focus on North Korean provocations and human rights abuses, while promising new and harsher sanctions.
But the “message and imagery” of the Olympic Games is that athletes of all nations put aside bitter conflicts to compete in contests. The space for peaceful sports competition could create the opening for serious talks.
When campaigning for the presidency, South Korean President Moon Jae-in promised an opening to North Korea. The jarring North Korean tests of nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles cast a pall on that. President Donald Trump responded with a characteristic combination of insult and bluster. He infamously strutted that he had a “bigger (nuclear) button” than the North Korean president.
The administration ratcheted up sanctions, pushed China to get Kim under control, declared that North Korean possession of nuclear weapons was a dire national security threat and ramped up military exercises to the very borders of the North.
For our South Korean allies, the escalating threats are bone chilling. There is no rational military “option” against North Korea. A pre-emptive attack would be an illegal act of aggression that would lead to massive casualties in both North and South Korea and make the U.S. a pariah among nations.
Worse, the military threats only make the North Korean leadership less likely to negotiate away their nuclear weapons program. The U.S. sees North Korean nuclear weapons as offensive, threatening the U.S. and our allies. North Korea clearly sees its nuclear weapons as defensive. For an isolated dictatorship that is denounced by the U.S., a nuclear weapons capacity may serve the same purpose the U.S. claims for its own nuclear arsenal — deterring any country from attacking.
President Moon would clearly like to lessen tensions and move toward better relations. He has no desire to distance himself from the U.S., but would like to bring the U.S. and North Korea to the negotiating table.
What do Trump and his advisers want? The no-talk, big-stick policy leads to a dead end. North Korea already has nuclear weapons. Severe sanctions have not slowed its development of intercontinental missiles.
The Chinese suggest that talks could start if the U.S. suspends its regular joint military exercises with South Korea and North Korea responds by suspending nuclear and missile tests. Neither the U.S. nor North Korea has expressed support for that.
Kim vows to “mass produce” nuclear weapons; Pence demands that North Korea begin “denuclearization,” the dismantling “permanently and irreversibly” of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs before there are any negotiations or loosening of sanctions or suspension of military exercises.
A no-talk, all-swagger policy has produced nothing. If escalating military exercises and threats don’t produce a war by miscalculation, they end up advertising the impotence of U.S. policy.
Diplomacy isn’t a surrender; it is an opening. The only way North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons is if it can receive concrete guarantees against foreign attack. The only way we can live with North Korea having nuclear weapons is with dialogue and mutual steps to build trust and security.
North Korea is a ruthless dictatorship with a failed economy. South Koreans are understandably fearful of war, but not exactly eager to bear the cost of rebuilding the North. Kim has made an opening gesture at the Olympic Games. Both South Korea and the U.S. have every reason to call his bluff, to seek discussions rather than to continue a no-talk policy that leads only to greater tension and frustration.
How Black Panther's Majestic Costumes Pay Tribute to Africa
Costume designer Ruth E. Carter shares the inspiration behind Black Panther's Afrofuturist costumes.
The costumes actually involve sacred geometry.'Black Panther' Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter tells what the inspiration was behind dressing the characters on the film. Inspired by various African tribes and the symbolic triangle, you can find culture in every piece of the Marvel film.
2018 Winter Olympics an occasion to rein in Rogue Regimes
Story by The Hill
Written by Professor Dr. Raymond Tanter and Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan
Warm gestures and demonstrations of Korean unity at the Winter Olympic Games during the first week of February notwithstanding, President Trump’s claim that Russia is helping North Korea evade sanctions and stepping up its efforts to deliver a long-range ballistic missile to the United States are a reminder of Pyongyang’s threat status.
Vice President Pence’s presence at the Opening Ceremonies increases the possibility he may meet, if only in passing, with North Koreans attending the Olympics, including Kim Jong-Un’s younger sister — a surprise guest at the Opening Ceremonies. “We’ll see what happens,” Pence said before arriving in Seoul. TV cameras have captured the two sitting just a few feet apart.
Given Pyongyang’s goal of dividing Seoul and Washington and taking control of the entire Korean Peninsula, Pence should be careful to refrain from accommodating Pyongyang in its endless quest to end American influence on the Korean Peninsula. Taking a strong stance and keeping sanctions against Pyongyang in place is a step in the right direction.
Athletes have marched in the Olympic Opening Ceremony together on three prior occasions. But they have never paraded against the backdrop of a geopolitical crisis: In 2017 Pyongyang detonated its sixth and most powerful nuclear weapon and launched two new intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. homeland.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared aboard a U.S. Aircraft Carrier on Jan. 17 that international sanctions are “really starting to hurt” Pyongyang. His statement is accurate, but the Dear Leader is hoping to utilize the Games to distract attention from the global perception he poses an ongoing threat to international peace and security.
In last month’s State of the Union address, Trump asserted that no state has oppressed its own citizens more completely or brutally than Pyongyang’s, declaring: “North Korea’s reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland. We are waging a campaign of maximum pressure to prevent that from happening…” Trump went on to contend that no state has oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than Pyongyang’s.
When Trump pointed to Ji Seong-ho in the audience, he said, “Seong-ho had traveled miles on crutches across Asia to freedom. Now he lives in Seoul, where he rescues other defectors, and broadcasts into North Korea what the regime fears the most – the truth.” Of Seong-ho, he said, “I understand you still keep … (your) crutches as a reminder of how far you have come.”
But Pyongyang isn’t the only repressive regime the Trump administration must deal with, there is also Iran. The circumstances facing the repressive regimes in North Korea and Iran are quite different, however: Pyongyang is isolated and under pressure by external power; Tehran is facing its most significant internal uprising since 2009.
Tehran’s aggression toward protesters demonstrating for freedom has left the regime defensive in the context of Washington’s increasingly offensive posture. Moreover, the bipartisan American coalition backing Iran protesters has rattled the regime’s clerical rulers and increased the prospect of a revolution by the Iranian people.
Trump first put Tehran on notice for engaging in regional destabilization shortly after taking office in February 2017 and then pursued comprehensive sanctions targeting Iranian ballistic missile programs in July 2017. The administration’s October 2017 decision formally to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization — effectively blacklisting it and more than forty related entities from the global economy — was necessary to contain the regime’s belligerence. So too were sanctions by Treasury on the Iran in November 2017 for involvement in terrorist activity and large-scale counterfeiting. But more must be done to accelerate the unrest and support the aspirations of the Iranian people.
Tehran has long embraced a siege mentality to distract from global calls for good governance. But the tactic underscores a little-known truth that distinguishes it from other rogue regimes, including North Korea: Tehran fears internal dissent more than they do external threats — even the threat of preemptive force.
Political scientists understand that deterrence, containment, preemption, and regime change from within require different circumstances and a soft revolution requires an active and credible partner that can lead the charge.
Sanctions and coercive diplomacy are critical to diminishing the threat posed by Pyongyang since no indigenous opposition exists that can strike a fatal blow to the Dear Leader. But this is not so in Tehran where regime change by the people is an option.
U.S. policymakers interested in leveraging the discontent on the Iranian Street should support the ongoing anti-regime uprising. How? By striking a chord of solidarity with the regime’s principal opposition to clerical rule, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). A 2013 Iran Policy Committee study found Tehran pays more attention to this dissident movement than all other opposition groups combined.
Credible regime change in an Iranian context involves empowerment, recognition, and solidarity with the regime’s principal democratic opposition, not preemption or occupation.
Coercive diplomacy and sanctions have been effective in reducing threats posed by Pyongyang and Iran; but regime change from within constitutes a third path between military confrontation and appeasement only in Iran.
As the regime’s ayatollahs seek to expand their violent arc of influence, CNN reports that:
“Iran currently possesses more ballistic missiles than any other country in the Middle East but remains dependent on foreign suppliers for missile development and production.”
With the Winter Games in full swing, Washington should seize the media focus on the rogue regime in Pyongyang to discuss how best to counter its proliferation partner in Tehran, per the research of the authors.
______________________________________________________________
Prof. Ivan Sascha Sheehan is director of the graduate programs in Global Affairs and Human Security and Negotiations and Conflict Management in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore. Follow him on Twitter @ProfSheehan.
Prof. Raymond Tanter served as a senior member on the Middle East Desk of the National Security Council staff in the Reagan-Bush administration, personal representative of the secretary of Defense to international security and arms control talks in Europe and is now professor emeritus at the University of Michigan. Follow him on Twitter @AmericanCHR.
Story by the New York Times
Written by David Halbfinger
JERUSALEM — Israel’s cross-border clash with Iranian and Syrian forces on Saturday was a sharp escalation of long-brewing hostilities along its northern frontier — and a bracing alert to those who have focused on other areas of the Syrian civil war, on other aspects of Iran’s strategic assertiveness, or who believed that Israel’s air superiority left it invincible in its own skies.
In the space of several hours, Israel downed what it said was an Iranian drone that had penetrated its airspace, then struck back at what it called the command-and-control center in Syria from which Iran launched the drone. An Israeli F-16, returning from the attack, crashed in northern Israel after coming under heavy Syrian antiaircraft fire — the first Israeli jet downed under enemy fire in decades.
Israel responded with strikes against eight Syrian and four Iranian targets in Syrian territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the day’s events as proof of Israel’s resolve. “Yesterday we dealt severe blows to the Iranian and Syrian forces,” he said Sunday. “We made it unequivocally clear to everyone that our rules of action have not changed one bit. We will continue to strike at every attempt to strike at us.”
But strategists and military analysts in Israel did not see things quite so simply. As both sides sift through the debris, here are some important points:
This isn’t over. It’s just beginning.
As the Syrian civil war winds down, a new conflict is emerging among Iran, which appears to want a lasting Syrian base to threaten Israel; Israel, which is determined to prevent this; and the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, which showed renewed confidence in firing on Israel’s warplanes.
“We are seeing a renegotiation of the rules of the game with regard to the kind of military activity that each side tolerates in the other,” said Ofer Zalzberg, an analyst at International Crisis Group. “We will see more and more friction between the parties, given that we are seeing more and more this sense that Assad has the upper hand” against Syrian rebels.
______________________________________
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/11/world/middleeast/israel-iran-syria-clash.html
Atlanta's 'Black Panther' Screening Draws Stars, Crowds
Story by Patch
Written by Doug Gross
ATLANTA, GA — It was a packed house at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta on Wednesday night as movie and music stars joined fans eager for an early look at "Black Panther," the Atlanta-filmed Marvel superhero film that opens next weekend.
The crowd roared as actor and Atlanta native Samuel L. Jackson took the stage to introduce the movie.
"This film is the ultimate black superhero movie ...," Jackson said to cheers. "It's taken a very long time for that to happen. It's got an extremely, extremely good cast and it's being done for the enjoyment of one and all in this big, wonderful country — but especially for us."
Also on hand were celebrities including Atlanta rappers Ludacris and Big Boi and actors Kim Fields, Tyrese Gibson and John Amos.
Set in the fictional African nation of Wakanda, "Black Panther" is the story of T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) who returns to the isolated but technologically advanced country to take the throne after the death of his father, the king.
Other stars include Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Denzel Washington, Forrest Whitaker and Andy Serkis. The movie was filmed largely at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayetteville, with scenes also shot in downtown's Sweet Auburn district.
More than a week away from its release, "Black Panther" already is on pace to break box-office records. It has already sold more advance tickets than any superhero movie ever on pre-sales site Fandango and is projected to earn more than $400 million in the United States, according to industry analysts.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, the movie has a 99 percent "fresh" rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes, with 77 of the 78 critics who have gotten an early look giving it positive reviews as of Thursday morning.
Featuring a black hero and predominantly black ensemble cast, it also has garnered extra attention while spurring conversations about the importance of minority representation in television and film. On crowdfunding site GoFundMe, New York resident Frederick Joseph raised more than $40,000 to take underpriveleged children from the Harlem Boys & Girls Club to see "Black Panther."
He followed up on social media by issuing the #BlackPantherChallenge, urging people in other cities to similarly take children to see the film. So far, more than 250 campaigns have raised over $300,000 to do just that, according to GoFundMe.
"All children deserve to believe they can save the world, go on exciting adventures, or accomplish the impossible," Joseph said in a post on the site. "I am grateful that all of you have answered the call and are taking action to help more kids watch their heroes on the big screen.
"If you're a teacher, buy tickets for your entire classroom. If you're a coach, take your team. If you're a community leader, do some organizing and get the kids and parents in your community to the theater."
"Black Panther" is the latest movie blockbuster to film in Georgia.
According to industry analysts Film L.A., Georgia was the production center for more feature films released in 2016 than any other market in the United States. The state single-handledly produced more 2016 features than the United Kingdom and Canada.
The affect on Georgia has been fairly immense. State officials say that, during the 2017 fiscal year, television and film had a $9.5 billion economic impact in the state. During that time, 320 feature films and television productions worked in Georgia, representing $2.7 billion in direct spending in the state, according to the Georgia Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office.
__________________
