An excerpt from Essence -
Black Girl Brilliance Project: Glory Edim On How Well-Read Black Girl Is More Than A Book Club
By BRITNI DANIELLE
It all started with a t-shirt. Three years ago, Glory Edim’s boyfriend gave her a gift that perfectly spoke to her love of books, a shirt with “well-read Black girl” emblazoned on the front. Edim loved the thoughtful present and began wearing the one-of-a-kind item all over town. Soon, people wanted one too.
“It was our inside joke, but it triggered a lot of conversations with folks when I was out in the world,” Edim tells ESSENCE. “I kept having conversations with strangers, other Black women, in public spaces about books.”
The experience inspired Edim to form a book club, and three years later Well-Read Black Girl is a bona fide movement that hosts reading with authors, a thriving online community and an annual festival.
https://www.essence.com/culture/black-girl-brilliance-glory-edim
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
A Welcoming Space
An excerpt from the NY Times: California Today -
A Space for Students Who Need Something to Eat
By JENNIFER MEDINA
As you walk into the room at University of California, Irvine the first thing you notice are the fruit and vegetable baskets: apples, onions, broccoli. There’s a table of students chatting and eating, while one thumbs through a cookbook.
It’s called the Basic Needs Hub — a space for anyone on campus who needs something to eat. It looks like a miniature gourmet grocery, but it is, effectively, a food pantry.
For the last six months, the doors to the hub have been wide open, and the pantry has doled out produce, meat and granola bars, among other goods. Students are not required to show any proof of income to receive the food, though they do receive a document stating that it is meant for those who cannot afford it on their own.
“We are making it O.K. for students to say that they do need help,” said Edgar Dormitorio, the assistant vice chancellor of students affairs. “We know there are students who do without meals rather ask for assistance. We want this to be as low barrier as possible.”
https://static.nytimes.com/email-content/CA_477.html?nlid=38867499
A Space for Students Who Need Something to Eat
By JENNIFER MEDINA
 |
| The grand opening of the University of California, Irvine food pantry in September. Steve Zylius/University of California, Irvine |
It’s called the Basic Needs Hub — a space for anyone on campus who needs something to eat. It looks like a miniature gourmet grocery, but it is, effectively, a food pantry.
For the last six months, the doors to the hub have been wide open, and the pantry has doled out produce, meat and granola bars, among other goods. Students are not required to show any proof of income to receive the food, though they do receive a document stating that it is meant for those who cannot afford it on their own.
“We are making it O.K. for students to say that they do need help,” said Edgar Dormitorio, the assistant vice chancellor of students affairs. “We know there are students who do without meals rather ask for assistance. We want this to be as low barrier as possible.”
https://static.nytimes.com/email-content/CA_477.html?nlid=38867499
Lives Didn't Matter?
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
21 Times Cops Weren’t Held Accountable For The Death Of Black Victims
These are egregious reminders of repeated injustice.
By Lilly Workneh and Taryn Finley
Sandra Bland. Freddie Gray. Sean Bell. Tamir Rice. Alton Sterling. Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
The list goes on and on of black men, women and children who died as a result of encounters with law enforcement and receive no justice while those responsible for their deaths ― the same ones who pledge to “protect and serve” ― face little to no repercussions.
The St. Anthony, Minnesota, cop who shot Philando Castile, a 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker, seven times was acquitted in June 2017. Castile was in the car with his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter at the time of his death.
Castile’s mother, Valerie, expressed her outrage during a press conference after the trial.
“The system in this country continues to fail black people and will continue to fail us,” she said. “My son loved this city, and this city killed my son. And a murderer gets away.”
Sadly, the anger Castile conveyed is a familiar feeling for those who have witnessed the repeated acquittal of cops who have been involved in unjust killings of black men and women, often over prosecutors’ claims of “lack of evidence.”
Time and again, the nation has mourned the loss of black lives and taken to the streets and social media to demand both an end to these killings and accountability for those involved. Here are 20 other cases where officers have escaped prosecution and walked free.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/14-times-cops-werent-held-accountable-for-the-death-of-black-victims_us_5798d249e4b01180b53114ec
21 Times Cops Weren’t Held Accountable For The Death Of Black Victims
These are egregious reminders of repeated injustice.
By Lilly Workneh and Taryn Finley
Sandra Bland. Freddie Gray. Sean Bell. Tamir Rice. Alton Sterling. Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
The list goes on and on of black men, women and children who died as a result of encounters with law enforcement and receive no justice while those responsible for their deaths ― the same ones who pledge to “protect and serve” ― face little to no repercussions.
The St. Anthony, Minnesota, cop who shot Philando Castile, a 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker, seven times was acquitted in June 2017. Castile was in the car with his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter at the time of his death.
Castile’s mother, Valerie, expressed her outrage during a press conference after the trial.
“The system in this country continues to fail black people and will continue to fail us,” she said. “My son loved this city, and this city killed my son. And a murderer gets away.”
Sadly, the anger Castile conveyed is a familiar feeling for those who have witnessed the repeated acquittal of cops who have been involved in unjust killings of black men and women, often over prosecutors’ claims of “lack of evidence.”
Time and again, the nation has mourned the loss of black lives and taken to the streets and social media to demand both an end to these killings and accountability for those involved. Here are 20 other cases where officers have escaped prosecution and walked free.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/14-times-cops-werent-held-accountable-for-the-death-of-black-victims_us_5798d249e4b01180b53114ec
Teen Inventor
An excerpt from CNN -
Teen serial inventor returns with pollution filter to clear city skies
By Zeena Saifi, Daryl Brown and Tom Page
Angad Daryani. Remember the name.
The 19-year-old from Mumbai has already gained a reputation. He left school in the ninth grade and then self-educated while working with MIT Media Lab until the age of 17. Daryani has launched multiple startups and social initiatives, and collaborated on a string of inventions that fall squarely into the "Why hasn't someone thought of that before?" category.
There was the "eye-pad," designed to instantly convert written English and French into Braille. The Sharkbot, a $350 3-D printer. A low-cost ECG heart monitor and a vehicle controlled by hand gestures.
Now, Daryani is pushing forward with an industrial-scale air filter to rid skies of pollutants and carcinogens that plague modern cities.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/28/health/angad-daryani-tomorrows-hero/index.html
Teen serial inventor returns with pollution filter to clear city skies
By Zeena Saifi, Daryl Brown and Tom Page
Angad Daryani. Remember the name.
The 19-year-old from Mumbai has already gained a reputation. He left school in the ninth grade and then self-educated while working with MIT Media Lab until the age of 17. Daryani has launched multiple startups and social initiatives, and collaborated on a string of inventions that fall squarely into the "Why hasn't someone thought of that before?" category.
There was the "eye-pad," designed to instantly convert written English and French into Braille. The Sharkbot, a $350 3-D printer. A low-cost ECG heart monitor and a vehicle controlled by hand gestures.
Now, Daryani is pushing forward with an industrial-scale air filter to rid skies of pollutants and carcinogens that plague modern cities.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/28/health/angad-daryani-tomorrows-hero/index.html
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
The 2nd Amendment - A Relic From the 18th Century
An excerpt from the NY Times Opinion -
Repeal the Second Amendment
By John Paul Stevens (Retired Supreme Court Justice)
Rarely in my lifetime have I seen the type of civic engagement schoolchildren and their supporters demonstrated in Washington and other major cities throughout the country this past Saturday. These demonstrations demand our respect. They reveal the broad public support for legislation to minimize the risk of mass killings of schoolchildren and others in our society.
That support is a clear sign to lawmakers to enact legislation prohibiting civilian ownership of semiautomatic weapons, increasing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years old, and establishing more comprehensive background checks on all purchasers of firearms. But the demonstrators should seek more effective and more lasting reform. They should demand a repeal of the Second Amendment.
Concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states led to the adoption of that amendment, which provides that “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Today that concern is a relic of the 18th century.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/opinion/john-paul-stevens-repeal-second-amendment.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Repeal the Second Amendment
By John Paul Stevens (Retired Supreme Court Justice)
Rarely in my lifetime have I seen the type of civic engagement schoolchildren and their supporters demonstrated in Washington and other major cities throughout the country this past Saturday. These demonstrations demand our respect. They reveal the broad public support for legislation to minimize the risk of mass killings of schoolchildren and others in our society.
That support is a clear sign to lawmakers to enact legislation prohibiting civilian ownership of semiautomatic weapons, increasing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years old, and establishing more comprehensive background checks on all purchasers of firearms. But the demonstrators should seek more effective and more lasting reform. They should demand a repeal of the Second Amendment.
Concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states led to the adoption of that amendment, which provides that “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Today that concern is a relic of the 18th century.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/opinion/john-paul-stevens-repeal-second-amendment.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Not Even Close
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
The strange, unexpected public contribution of Stormy Daniels
By Michael Gerson
Americans who find this unremarkable have missed an extraordinary cultural moment. Daniels’s allegations are denied by the White House and an attorney for President Trump’s lawyer. Yet who in their right mind would trust Trump’s word over hers? In this case, the porn star has more credibility than the president of the United States. It is not even close.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-strange-unexpected-public-contribution-of-stormy-daniels/2018/03/26/2c2bce4e-312a-11e8-8abc-22a366b72f2d_story.html?utm_term=.b0fdc1b48a8c
The strange, unexpected public contribution of Stormy Daniels
By Michael Gerson
Americans who find this unremarkable have missed an extraordinary cultural moment. Daniels’s allegations are denied by the White House and an attorney for President Trump’s lawyer. Yet who in their right mind would trust Trump’s word over hers? In this case, the porn star has more credibility than the president of the United States. It is not even close.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-strange-unexpected-public-contribution-of-stormy-daniels/2018/03/26/2c2bce4e-312a-11e8-8abc-22a366b72f2d_story.html?utm_term=.b0fdc1b48a8c
Monday, March 26, 2018
This brilliant 11-year-old girl is doing more to address gun violence and systemic racism than most adults pic.twitter.com/oRqCFMBAqz— NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 22, 2018
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Fault Lines
An excerpt from the NY Times -
A Rampage Exposes Racial Fault Lines
By Manny Fernandez and Richard Fausset
Ora Houston, an African-American councilwoman here, stood as a proclamation was read inside City Hall on Thursday.
It had nothing to do with the Austin serial bomber, Mark Conditt. It had to do with a deeper, older and far more invisible hurt — the 90th anniversary of a 1928 city plan that created a “Negro district” on the east side of town.
“The Negro district was intentionally created by the Austin City Council to force Negros and Mexicans who lived in other parts of Austin to move to the Negro district,” Mayor Steve Adler said as Ms. Houston, a longtime East Austin resident, looked on at his side. “And the effects are apparent in the racial and economic disparities found in East Austin today.”
Three of the five bombs that terrorized Central Texas this month went off in East Austin, where the majority of the city’s black and Hispanic residents live, prompting the police to investigate them as possible hate crimes. When the fourth bomb was planted in an upscale gated and largely white community west of Interstate 35, the issue of race disappeared from most official statements — a fact that has stirred deep resentment among many black residents. The only two people killed, many have been quick to point out, came from two of the city’s most prominent black families.
The debate over how to characterize the bomber’s nearly three-week campaign of violence has been a reminder, for many, of the ways in which race, geography and class continue to play out in a city that prides itself on tolerance and diversity.
Though Austin is widely seen as a liberal island in a deeply conservative state, the attacks have stoked the raw racial, economic, political and geographical divisions that continue to shape life here, 90 years after the city was segregated by decree. Austin and its suburbs remain sharply divided by class, race and even religion. Like Houston, it is an urban, diverse and Democratic hub surrounded by largely white, Republican suburbs, including Pflugerville, Mr. Conditt’s hometown.
https://static.nytimes.com/email-content/RR_427.html?nlid=38867499
A Rampage Exposes Racial Fault Lines
By Manny Fernandez and Richard Fausset
Ora Houston, an African-American councilwoman here, stood as a proclamation was read inside City Hall on Thursday.
It had nothing to do with the Austin serial bomber, Mark Conditt. It had to do with a deeper, older and far more invisible hurt — the 90th anniversary of a 1928 city plan that created a “Negro district” on the east side of town.
“The Negro district was intentionally created by the Austin City Council to force Negros and Mexicans who lived in other parts of Austin to move to the Negro district,” Mayor Steve Adler said as Ms. Houston, a longtime East Austin resident, looked on at his side. “And the effects are apparent in the racial and economic disparities found in East Austin today.”
Three of the five bombs that terrorized Central Texas this month went off in East Austin, where the majority of the city’s black and Hispanic residents live, prompting the police to investigate them as possible hate crimes. When the fourth bomb was planted in an upscale gated and largely white community west of Interstate 35, the issue of race disappeared from most official statements — a fact that has stirred deep resentment among many black residents. The only two people killed, many have been quick to point out, came from two of the city’s most prominent black families.
The debate over how to characterize the bomber’s nearly three-week campaign of violence has been a reminder, for many, of the ways in which race, geography and class continue to play out in a city that prides itself on tolerance and diversity.
Though Austin is widely seen as a liberal island in a deeply conservative state, the attacks have stoked the raw racial, economic, political and geographical divisions that continue to shape life here, 90 years after the city was segregated by decree. Austin and its suburbs remain sharply divided by class, race and even religion. Like Houston, it is an urban, diverse and Democratic hub surrounded by largely white, Republican suburbs, including Pflugerville, Mr. Conditt’s hometown.
https://static.nytimes.com/email-content/RR_427.html?nlid=38867499
The Top 25 HBCU Athletes of All Time
From the Undefeated -
We rank ’em: The Top 25 HBCU athletes of all time
Althea Gibson, Jerry Rice and Earl the Pearl, Sweetness represent the best of HBCU athleticism
BY DONALD HUNT
https://theundefeated.com/features/best-hbcu-athletes-top-25/?ex_cid=ForTheCulture
We rank ’em: The Top 25 HBCU athletes of all time
Althea Gibson, Jerry Rice and Earl the Pearl, Sweetness represent the best of HBCU athleticism
BY DONALD HUNT
https://theundefeated.com/features/best-hbcu-athletes-top-25/?ex_cid=ForTheCulture
A Ballin' Bowler
From the Undefeated -
He’s the only active black bowler to have won a major pro tournament
But Gary Faulkner Jr. is struggling to repeat that success
BY PAUL WACH
https://theundefeated.com/features/gary-faulkner-only-active-black-pba-bowler-to-have-won-a-major-pro-tournament/
He’s the only active black bowler to have won a major pro tournament
But Gary Faulkner Jr. is struggling to repeat that success
BY PAUL WACH
https://theundefeated.com/features/gary-faulkner-only-active-black-pba-bowler-to-have-won-a-major-pro-tournament/
Grandmas Protest in Boise
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/3/24/1751791/-This-red-state-says-enough-is-enough?detail=emaildkre
Up, Up & Away!
From the Associated Press -
Self-taught rocket scientist blasts off into California sky
By PAT GRAHAM and MICHAEL BALSAMO
https://apnews.com/870b745abdfe41dfa3bb79b49d60f117
Self-taught rocket scientist blasts off into California sky
By PAT GRAHAM and MICHAEL BALSAMO
https://apnews.com/870b745abdfe41dfa3bb79b49d60f117
Number 4 is CRAZY!
From Buzzfeed -
26 People Who Have WAAAAAY More $$$ Than You Ever Even Thought
Celine deserves it, though.
By Matt Stopera
https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/26-people-who-have-waaaaay-more-than-you-ever-even-thought?utm_term=.ro90gBXeJ#.xe5L20wbz
26 People Who Have WAAAAAY More $$$ Than You Ever Even Thought
Celine deserves it, though.
By Matt Stopera
https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/26-people-who-have-waaaaay-more-than-you-ever-even-thought?utm_term=.ro90gBXeJ#.xe5L20wbz
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Between a Rock & a Hard Place
An excerpt from the Associated Press -
District arms teachers with rocks in case of school shooter
By KRISTEN DE GROOT
A rural school district in Pennsylvania is arming teachers and students with buckets of rocks as a last resort should an armed intruder burst in, the superintendent said Friday.
Every classroom in the district about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia has a 5-gallon bucket of river stones, said Blue Mountain School District Superintendent David Helsel.
“We always strive to find new ways to keep our students safe,” Helsel told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, adding that the rocks are one small part of the district’s overall security plan.
Throwing rocks is more effective than just crawling under desks and waiting, and it gives students and teachers a chance to defend themselves, he said. The district has about 2,700 students at three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.
Staff and students in the Blue Mountain district have been trained in a program called “ALICE” which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate. Helsel said the rocks are part of the “counter” portion of training, fighting back if the intruder makes his way into the classroom.
The buckets are kept in classroom closets.
https://apnews.com/1bc6a265cddf4ec19001a00cfb92fd7e
District arms teachers with rocks in case of school shooter
By KRISTEN DE GROOT
A rural school district in Pennsylvania is arming teachers and students with buckets of rocks as a last resort should an armed intruder burst in, the superintendent said Friday.
Every classroom in the district about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia has a 5-gallon bucket of river stones, said Blue Mountain School District Superintendent David Helsel.
“We always strive to find new ways to keep our students safe,” Helsel told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, adding that the rocks are one small part of the district’s overall security plan.
Throwing rocks is more effective than just crawling under desks and waiting, and it gives students and teachers a chance to defend themselves, he said. The district has about 2,700 students at three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.
Staff and students in the Blue Mountain district have been trained in a program called “ALICE” which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate. Helsel said the rocks are part of the “counter” portion of training, fighting back if the intruder makes his way into the classroom.
The buckets are kept in classroom closets.
https://apnews.com/1bc6a265cddf4ec19001a00cfb92fd7e
Filed Under: How to Survive in America
An excerpt form the Root -
An Incomplete List of Things Black People Should Avoid Doing so They Won’t Be Killed by Police
By Michael Harriot
On Sunday, March 18, police in Sacramento, Calif., fired 20 shots at Stephon Clark, killing him. Clark was unarmed and in his own backyard, leading many to ask what black people must do to escape the indiscriminate killing of black people.
A 2015 study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, showed that there is no relationship between criminality and race in police killings. A study by the Center for Policing Equity concluded (pdf) that police use more force against black suspects even when the data was adjusted for whether the person was a violent criminal.
To combat this deadly epidemic, we put together a handy guide to help black people end this trend that disproportionately affects black people. Here are the things you should avoid doing when police are around:
Running: Stephon Clark was unarmed, but he ran. We learned from the deaths of Walter Scott and Freddie Gray that running away from police is both a criminal offense and an act of aggression.
Walking: Amadou Diallo was simply walking to his apartment. When Chicago Police Detective Dante Servin shot Rekia Boyd, she was not involved in any crime or altercation. She just happened to be walking by. Terence Crutcher was shot in the back when he was killed by Tulsa, Okla., Police Officer Betty Shelby.
All three victims were unarmed.
https://www.theroot.com/an-incomplete-list-of-things-black-people-should-avoid-1824032408
An Incomplete List of Things Black People Should Avoid Doing so They Won’t Be Killed by Police
By Michael Harriot
On Sunday, March 18, police in Sacramento, Calif., fired 20 shots at Stephon Clark, killing him. Clark was unarmed and in his own backyard, leading many to ask what black people must do to escape the indiscriminate killing of black people.
A 2015 study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, showed that there is no relationship between criminality and race in police killings. A study by the Center for Policing Equity concluded (pdf) that police use more force against black suspects even when the data was adjusted for whether the person was a violent criminal.
To combat this deadly epidemic, we put together a handy guide to help black people end this trend that disproportionately affects black people. Here are the things you should avoid doing when police are around:
Running: Stephon Clark was unarmed, but he ran. We learned from the deaths of Walter Scott and Freddie Gray that running away from police is both a criminal offense and an act of aggression.
Walking: Amadou Diallo was simply walking to his apartment. When Chicago Police Detective Dante Servin shot Rekia Boyd, she was not involved in any crime or altercation. She just happened to be walking by. Terence Crutcher was shot in the back when he was killed by Tulsa, Okla., Police Officer Betty Shelby.
All three victims were unarmed.
https://www.theroot.com/an-incomplete-list-of-things-black-people-should-avoid-1824032408
"A Cabal of Cronies"
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
Trump Wants His Cabinet To Serve His Ego, Not The Nation
By Neil J. Young, Columnist
All of these moves undercut Trump’s businessman boasts that he would bring only the “best people” to Washington, of course. But they also make plain that the real business of this administration is to serve Trump’s ego rather than the nation. In cutting out dissenters or even strong counterweights in his administration for the steady stream of sycophants and, let’s not forget, fawning family members he has gathered around him, Trump has ensured his White House will never be mistaken for Abraham Lincoln’s “team of rivals.” Instead, Trump is assembling a cabal of cronies.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-young-trump-cabinet_us_5ab51bbbe4b0decad0497fca?ncid=APPLENEWS00001
Trump Wants His Cabinet To Serve His Ego, Not The Nation
By Neil J. Young, Columnist
All of these moves undercut Trump’s businessman boasts that he would bring only the “best people” to Washington, of course. But they also make plain that the real business of this administration is to serve Trump’s ego rather than the nation. In cutting out dissenters or even strong counterweights in his administration for the steady stream of sycophants and, let’s not forget, fawning family members he has gathered around him, Trump has ensured his White House will never be mistaken for Abraham Lincoln’s “team of rivals.” Instead, Trump is assembling a cabal of cronies.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-young-trump-cabinet_us_5ab51bbbe4b0decad0497fca?ncid=APPLENEWS00001
Suffering or Inconvenienced?
An excerpt from the Sacramento Bee -
Mad about Stephon Clark protesters shutting down the Kings and I-5? Check your privilege
BY ERIKA D. SMITH
Dear well-meaning progressives of Sacramento:
So I hear you’re a little upset about the way, on Thursday, some people — OK, people with Black Lives Matter — were peacefully protesting the police shooting of Stephon Clark.
I know, I know. You’re as troubled as any other "woke" progressive about his death on Sunday night. The 22-year-old father of two shouldn’t have died the way he did, standing in his grandmother’s backyard in Meadowview after being chased down by two cops and a helicopter.
You think it’s unacceptable that the officers didn’t identify themselves before shouting “gun” and sending 20 bullets flying through the dark toward his body. And you’re suspicious about why, after the shooting, cops at the scene turned off the microphones on their body cameras and had a conversation amongst themselves for a couple of minutes.
~~~~~~~~~~
First of all, let's get one thing straight: Being inconvenienced for one day or even two is not “suffering,” a word I’ve heard far too many times since Thursday. “Suffering” is what Clark’s family is doing right now. "Suffering" is what young black men do all over this country, living with the fear of their lives being taken by gun violence.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/erika-d-smith/article206567754.html#storylink=cpy
Mad about Stephon Clark protesters shutting down the Kings and I-5? Check your privilege
BY ERIKA D. SMITH
Dear well-meaning progressives of Sacramento:
So I hear you’re a little upset about the way, on Thursday, some people — OK, people with Black Lives Matter — were peacefully protesting the police shooting of Stephon Clark.
I know, I know. You’re as troubled as any other "woke" progressive about his death on Sunday night. The 22-year-old father of two shouldn’t have died the way he did, standing in his grandmother’s backyard in Meadowview after being chased down by two cops and a helicopter.
You think it’s unacceptable that the officers didn’t identify themselves before shouting “gun” and sending 20 bullets flying through the dark toward his body. And you’re suspicious about why, after the shooting, cops at the scene turned off the microphones on their body cameras and had a conversation amongst themselves for a couple of minutes.
~~~~~~~~~~
First of all, let's get one thing straight: Being inconvenienced for one day or even two is not “suffering,” a word I’ve heard far too many times since Thursday. “Suffering” is what Clark’s family is doing right now. "Suffering" is what young black men do all over this country, living with the fear of their lives being taken by gun violence.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/erika-d-smith/article206567754.html#storylink=cpy
Friday, March 23, 2018
New Weather Man
An excerpt form the New York Post -
Comedian Byron Allen buys the Weather Channel for $300M
By Alexandra Steigrad
The Weather Channel TV network was sold Thursday — to comedian-turned-media-mogul Byron Allen.
Allen’s Entertainment Studios Inc. bought the 36-year-old TV staple from the Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Comcast.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but sources pegged the price at about $300 million.
https://nypost.com/2018/03/22/comedian-byron-allen-buys-the-weather-channel-for-300m/?utm_source=email_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
Comedian Byron Allen buys the Weather Channel for $300M
By Alexandra Steigrad
 | |||
| Byron Allen - WireImage |
The Weather Channel TV network was sold Thursday — to comedian-turned-media-mogul Byron Allen.
Allen’s Entertainment Studios Inc. bought the 36-year-old TV staple from the Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Comcast.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but sources pegged the price at about $300 million.
https://nypost.com/2018/03/22/comedian-byron-allen-buys-the-weather-channel-for-300m/?utm_source=email_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Mystery Solved
From CNN -
The identity of the lone woman scientist in this 1971 photo was a mystery. Then Twitter cracked the case
By David Williams
Illustrator Candace Jean Andersen was doing some research for a children's book on orcas when she stumbled into a mystery.
In an old article, she discovered a photo of scientists at the 1971 International Conference on the Biology of Whales in Virginia. And she noticed so
The article named all the men, but the African-American woman was listed as "not identified."
"Not identified, why? Who is she? What did she contribute to the conference? What's HER story?" Andersen wondered.
She put down her picture book project and started looking.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/health/woman-scientist-1971-twitter-mystery-trnd/index.html
The identity of the lone woman scientist in this 1971 photo was a mystery. Then Twitter cracked the case
By David Williams
 |
| This lone woman at a 1971 gathering of scientists sparked a flurry of amateur sleuthing on Twitter. |
Illustrator Candace Jean Andersen was doing some research for a children's book on orcas when she stumbled into a mystery.
In an old article, she discovered a photo of scientists at the 1971 International Conference on the Biology of Whales in Virginia. And she noticed so
The article named all the men, but the African-American woman was listed as "not identified."
"Not identified, why? Who is she? What did she contribute to the conference? What's HER story?" Andersen wondered.
She put down her picture book project and started looking.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/health/woman-scientist-1971-twitter-mystery-trnd/index.html
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Teacher Salaries
From NPR -
https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/03/16/592221378/the-fight-over-teacher-salaries-a-look-at-the-numbers#nws=mcnewsletter
https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/03/16/592221378/the-fight-over-teacher-salaries-a-look-at-the-numbers#nws=mcnewsletter
Monday, March 19, 2018
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Daily Affirmations From the White House
From the NY Times -
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/opinion/sunday/daily-affirmations-from-the-white-house.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/opinion/sunday/daily-affirmations-from-the-white-house.html
More Sac Love
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
You’re going where? Sacramento
By Megan McDonough
California’s capital city has long lived in the shadows of its flashier neighbors. Sandwiched between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, “Sac,” as the locals call it, is often underestimated and overlooked as a small and sleepy cow town — a rest stop on the way to greener and glitzier pastures. But thanks to the downtown revitalization and the rousing success of “Lady Bird” — Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated homage to her home town — Sacramento has been suddenly, and rightfully, thrust into the spotlight.
Following in the footsteps of the Forty-Niners , I came to Sacramento with the aim of striking it rich. My mission: to mine the city’s treasures while home for the holidays in December. Technically, I was born in Sacramento, but I grew up about 20 minutes away in Davis. And while my teenage self would make regular pilgrimages to the city’s thrift stores and shopping centers, I didn’t fully appreciate what the City of Trees had to offer.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/classic-apps/youre-going-where-sacramento/2018/03/14/3aaf23ce-20bf-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html?utm_term=.3d7554376760
You’re going where? Sacramento
By Megan McDonough
California’s capital city has long lived in the shadows of its flashier neighbors. Sandwiched between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, “Sac,” as the locals call it, is often underestimated and overlooked as a small and sleepy cow town — a rest stop on the way to greener and glitzier pastures. But thanks to the downtown revitalization and the rousing success of “Lady Bird” — Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated homage to her home town — Sacramento has been suddenly, and rightfully, thrust into the spotlight.
Following in the footsteps of the Forty-Niners , I came to Sacramento with the aim of striking it rich. My mission: to mine the city’s treasures while home for the holidays in December. Technically, I was born in Sacramento, but I grew up about 20 minutes away in Davis. And while my teenage self would make regular pilgrimages to the city’s thrift stores and shopping centers, I didn’t fully appreciate what the City of Trees had to offer.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/classic-apps/youre-going-where-sacramento/2018/03/14/3aaf23ce-20bf-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html?utm_term=.3d7554376760
Quote
When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you. - Ex-CIA Boss John Brennan
SacTown Innovators
An excerpt from SacTown Magazine -
Local eye-care company launches new line of fitness-tracking spectacles
BY HILLARY LOUISE JOHNSON
Step into The Shop, the midtown innovation lab for local eye care giant VSP Global, and you’re in nerd heaven, a place where kids who were called “four-eyes” in high school exact sweet revenge by changing the world through technology. Take Level, for instance: a new line of fitness-tracking glasses developed by The Shop and tested by 300 individuals through USC’s Center for Body Computing.
The project was conceived four years ago, but was so ahead of its time that the team had to wait for chip technology to get smaller and more economical. “It could be no more expensive than any other pair of glasses," says the lab’s co-director Jay Sales. "On top of that, it had to be fashionable—as elegant as it is effective.” Level’s sleek $270 frames currently come in three styles, named after innovators Nikola Tesla, Marvin Minsky and Hedy Lamarr.
http://www.sactownmag.com/Style-Watch/2018/Level-up-with-VSPs-new-fitness-tracking-eyewear/
Local eye-care company launches new line of fitness-tracking spectacles
BY HILLARY LOUISE JOHNSON
Step into The Shop, the midtown innovation lab for local eye care giant VSP Global, and you’re in nerd heaven, a place where kids who were called “four-eyes” in high school exact sweet revenge by changing the world through technology. Take Level, for instance: a new line of fitness-tracking glasses developed by The Shop and tested by 300 individuals through USC’s Center for Body Computing.
The project was conceived four years ago, but was so ahead of its time that the team had to wait for chip technology to get smaller and more economical. “It could be no more expensive than any other pair of glasses," says the lab’s co-director Jay Sales. "On top of that, it had to be fashionable—as elegant as it is effective.” Level’s sleek $270 frames currently come in three styles, named after innovators Nikola Tesla, Marvin Minsky and Hedy Lamarr.
http://www.sactownmag.com/Style-Watch/2018/Level-up-with-VSPs-new-fitness-tracking-eyewear/
Saturday, March 17, 2018
On the List of Things To Do
An excerpt from ProPublica -
The FBI — ‘Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity’ — Still Working on Diversity
The nation’s top federal law enforcement agency is overwhelmingly white, and its top officials acknowledge that’s “a huge operational risk.”
by Topher Sanders
For the FBI, the longstanding failure to diversify its ranks is nothing short of “a huge operational risk,” according to one senior official, something that compromises the agency’s ability to understand communities at risk, penetrate criminal enterprises, and identify emerging national security threats.
Indeed, 10 months before being fired as director of the FBI by President Trump, James Comey called the situation a “crisis.”
“Slowly but steadily over the last decade or more, the percentage of special agents in the FBI who are white has been growing,” Comey said in a speech at Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black school in Daytona Beach, Florida. “I’ve got nothing against white people — especially tall, awkward, male white people — but that is a crisis for reasons that you get, and that I’ve worked very hard to make sure the entire FBI understands.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-fbi-fidelity-bravery-integrity-still-working-on-diversity?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter
The FBI — ‘Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity’ — Still Working on Diversity
The nation’s top federal law enforcement agency is overwhelmingly white, and its top officials acknowledge that’s “a huge operational risk.”
by Topher Sanders
For the FBI, the longstanding failure to diversify its ranks is nothing short of “a huge operational risk,” according to one senior official, something that compromises the agency’s ability to understand communities at risk, penetrate criminal enterprises, and identify emerging national security threats.
Indeed, 10 months before being fired as director of the FBI by President Trump, James Comey called the situation a “crisis.”
“Slowly but steadily over the last decade or more, the percentage of special agents in the FBI who are white has been growing,” Comey said in a speech at Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black school in Daytona Beach, Florida. “I’ve got nothing against white people — especially tall, awkward, male white people — but that is a crisis for reasons that you get, and that I’ve worked very hard to make sure the entire FBI understands.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-fbi-fidelity-bravery-integrity-still-working-on-diversity?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter
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