Wednesday, June 27, 2018
This is Where the Catholic Church Draws the Line?
From CNN -
'The use of rap music is not allowed in preaching,' Catholic Church suspends rapping priest
By Idris Mukhtar
Nairobi (CNN)A priest has been suspended by the Catholic church in Kenya for rapping his sermons.
On a typical Sunday at the St. Monica Catholic Church in south west Kenya, Father Ogalo would be draped in his usual church vestments for morning mass.
Later in the day, he would change into shorts, a long t-shirt and tie a red bandana tied around his head, spitting hip-hop rhymes into his mic as he entertained his congregation.
But his unconventional preaching style has landed him in hot water with Catholic Church heads.
Father Ogalo says he was simply trying to "bring the youth closer to the church," in an interview with local media.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/26/africa/kenya-catholic-church-suspends-priest/index.html
'The use of rap music is not allowed in preaching,' Catholic Church suspends rapping priest
By Idris Mukhtar
Nairobi (CNN)A priest has been suspended by the Catholic church in Kenya for rapping his sermons.
On a typical Sunday at the St. Monica Catholic Church in south west Kenya, Father Ogalo would be draped in his usual church vestments for morning mass.
Later in the day, he would change into shorts, a long t-shirt and tie a red bandana tied around his head, spitting hip-hop rhymes into his mic as he entertained his congregation.
But his unconventional preaching style has landed him in hot water with Catholic Church heads.
Father Ogalo says he was simply trying to "bring the youth closer to the church," in an interview with local media.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/26/africa/kenya-catholic-church-suspends-priest/index.html
From the Fields to the Farm
An excerpt from USA Today -
Meet the farmworker's daughter who just landed a $350K scholarship to Stanford
By Cristian Ponce
SALINAS, Calif. — Everett Alvarez High School's valedictorian will attend Stanford University this fall, and one of the world's richest couples will be picking up the $350,000 tab.
Salinas-native Angela Gomez, 17, is just one of two Monterey County students to receive the Gates Scholarship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation this year.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/26/gates-foundation-farmworkers-daughter-stanford-scholarship/737077002/
Meet the farmworker's daughter who just landed a $350K scholarship to Stanford
By Cristian Ponce
SALINAS, Calif. — Everett Alvarez High School's valedictorian will attend Stanford University this fall, and one of the world's richest couples will be picking up the $350,000 tab.
Salinas-native Angela Gomez, 17, is just one of two Monterey County students to receive the Gates Scholarship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation this year.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/26/gates-foundation-farmworkers-daughter-stanford-scholarship/737077002/
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Black Brew
An excerpt from the Root -
Meet the 1st Black Brewers of Georgia
By Montana Couser
Here’s something you don’t see every day: a black-owned brewery.
Out of the 66 breweries in Georgia, only one is owned by black people: Down Home Brewing Co. Chris Reeves and William Allen Moore, the two men behind the brewery, started canning beer in March 2018 at BlueTarp, Georgia’s smallest production brewery, east of downtown Decatur.
https://www.theroot.com/meet-the-1st-black-brewers-of-georgia-1827105562?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-06-25
Meet the 1st Black Brewers of Georgia
By Montana Couser
 | ||
| Chris Reeves and William Allen Moore of Down Home Brewery | Screenshot: WXIA-TV |
Here’s something you don’t see every day: a black-owned brewery.
Out of the 66 breweries in Georgia, only one is owned by black people: Down Home Brewing Co. Chris Reeves and William Allen Moore, the two men behind the brewery, started canning beer in March 2018 at BlueTarp, Georgia’s smallest production brewery, east of downtown Decatur.
https://www.theroot.com/meet-the-1st-black-brewers-of-georgia-1827105562?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-06-25
Another Day. Another Incident.
An excerpt from the Root -
Black Firefighter Conducting City-Mandated Inspections in Oakland Hills, Calif., Questioned by Residents, Reported to Police
By Breanna Edwards
An Oakland, Calif., firefighter doing his duty to serve his community, conducting city-mandated inspections around Oakland Hills, actually had the police called on him, and on another occasion, he was harassed questioned and recorded by a resident who thought he was suspicious even though he was in full uniform and had his fire truck parked nearby.
Again, we are witnessing black people not being able to exist without being greeted by racial biases and sometimes the outright ugly face of racism.
“It’s extremely unfortunate,” Fire Capt. Damon Covington, president of the Oakland Black Firefighters Association, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “From the outside, it certainly appears to be unfair and unwarranted. The fire service is a microcosm of the world. Racism exists in the world, and it exists in Oakland and everywhere else.”
https://www.theroot.com/black-firefighter-conducting-city-mandated-inspections-1827099670
Black Firefighter Conducting City-Mandated Inspections in Oakland Hills, Calif., Questioned by Residents, Reported to Police
By Breanna Edwards
An Oakland, Calif., firefighter doing his duty to serve his community, conducting city-mandated inspections around Oakland Hills, actually had the police called on him, and on another occasion, he was harassed questioned and recorded by a resident who thought he was suspicious even though he was in full uniform and had his fire truck parked nearby.
Again, we are witnessing black people not being able to exist without being greeted by racial biases and sometimes the outright ugly face of racism.
“It’s extremely unfortunate,” Fire Capt. Damon Covington, president of the Oakland Black Firefighters Association, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “From the outside, it certainly appears to be unfair and unwarranted. The fire service is a microcosm of the world. Racism exists in the world, and it exists in Oakland and everywhere else.”
https://www.theroot.com/black-firefighter-conducting-city-mandated-inspections-1827099670
Saying It Without Saying It
From VerySmartBrothas -
40 Ways White People Say ‘White People’ Without Actually Saying ‘White People’
By Damon Young
https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/40-ways-white-people-say-white-people-without-actually-1827101126?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-06-25
40 Ways White People Say ‘White People’ Without Actually Saying ‘White People’
By Damon Young
https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/40-ways-white-people-say-white-people-without-actually-1827101126?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-06-25
The Ripple Effect of High Housing Costs
An excerpt from the New York Times -
San Francisco Restaurants Can’t Afford Waiters. So They’re Putting Diners to Work.
The city offers a case study of how high housing costs alter the economics of everything else, including restaurant service.
By Emily Badger
SAN FRANCISCO — Souvla, a Greek restaurant with a devoted following, serves spit-fired meat two ways: in a photogenic sandwich, or on a photogenic salad, either available with a glass of Greek wine. The garnishes are thoughtful: pea shoots, harissa-spiked yogurt, mizithra cheese.
The small menu is so appealing and the place itself so charming that you almost forget, as a diner, that you have to do much of the work of dining out yourself. You scout your own table. You fetch and fill your own water glass. And if you’d like another glass of wine, you go back to the counter.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/dining/san-francisco-restaurants-service.html
San Francisco Restaurants Can’t Afford Waiters. So They’re Putting Diners to Work.
The city offers a case study of how high housing costs alter the economics of everything else, including restaurant service.
By Emily Badger
SAN FRANCISCO — Souvla, a Greek restaurant with a devoted following, serves spit-fired meat two ways: in a photogenic sandwich, or on a photogenic salad, either available with a glass of Greek wine. The garnishes are thoughtful: pea shoots, harissa-spiked yogurt, mizithra cheese.
The small menu is so appealing and the place itself so charming that you almost forget, as a diner, that you have to do much of the work of dining out yourself. You scout your own table. You fetch and fill your own water glass. And if you’d like another glass of wine, you go back to the counter.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/dining/san-francisco-restaurants-service.html
If This is Low income . . .
An excerpt from SFGate -
A six-figure salary is considered 'low income' in San Francisco, and the threshold is rising
By Michelle Robertson
The Bay Area is so expensive, earning $117,400 a year qualifies you as "low income" in some counties.
Every year the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development releases "income limits," the minimum income level required to qualify for some affordable housing programs.
To be considered "low income" in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties, a family of four must earn $117,400 a year. "Very low income" is considered $73,300.
https://www.sfgate.com/expensive-san-francisco/article/low-income-families-sf-bay-area-hud-statistics-13024580.php
A six-figure salary is considered 'low income' in San Francisco, and the threshold is rising
By Michelle Robertson
The Bay Area is so expensive, earning $117,400 a year qualifies you as "low income" in some counties.
Every year the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development releases "income limits," the minimum income level required to qualify for some affordable housing programs.
To be considered "low income" in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties, a family of four must earn $117,400 a year. "Very low income" is considered $73,300.
https://www.sfgate.com/expensive-san-francisco/article/low-income-families-sf-bay-area-hud-statistics-13024580.php
I Was There - Go Rattlers!
From the Tallahassee Democrat -
Rattler Redux: FAMU documentary celebrates 1978 championship
By Rory Sharrock
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/famu/2018/06/22/famu-documentary-celebrates-1978-championship/723104002/
Rattler Redux: FAMU documentary celebrates 1978 championship
By Rory Sharrock
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/famu/2018/06/22/famu-documentary-celebrates-1978-championship/723104002/
Monday, June 25, 2018
Firemen Save the Day
From CNN -
These kids were carrying water in pots to fill up their pool. Then firefighters stopped to help.
By Amanda Jackson
It was a hot summer day in Charlotte, North Carolina, and these kids just wanted to splash around in their kiddie pool. But the only way they had to fill it was to carry pots of water from the sink.
Thanks to their local firefighters with the assist on the water, the children were cooling off in no time.
"Today, after leaving a medical call, Engine 18 stumbled across a family desperately trying to fill up a kiddy pool by filling pots from the sink for a little boys birthday on this sweltering day," Charlotte Fire Station 18 posted on Facebook on Sunday.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/25/us/firefighters-fill-pool-trnd/index.html
These kids were carrying water in pots to fill up their pool. Then firefighters stopped to help.
By Amanda Jackson
 |
| Charlotte firefighters stopped to help fill up this pool on Sunday. |
Thanks to their local firefighters with the assist on the water, the children were cooling off in no time.
"Today, after leaving a medical call, Engine 18 stumbled across a family desperately trying to fill up a kiddy pool by filling pots from the sink for a little boys birthday on this sweltering day," Charlotte Fire Station 18 posted on Facebook on Sunday.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/25/us/firefighters-fill-pool-trnd/index.html
Good Dog?
From CNN -
$10 million worth of pot found, thanks to police dog
By Amanda Jackson
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/25/us/chicago-k9-officer-pot-bust-trnd/index.html
$10 million worth of pot found, thanks to police dog
By Amanda Jackson
 |
| Chicago police shared this image on Facebook showing the K-9 surrounded by the seized product. |
Christianity, Trump Style
Christianity, Trump style: “Jesus was a loser. A failed carpenter. He's a savior because he was crucified. I like people that weren't crucified.” https://t.co/NrLGWEXcRi pic.twitter.com/tiSCoPdTpX— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 25, 2018
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Personalizing the Pain
From the Washington Post -
This is what it feels like to be separated at the border
By Victoria Smolkin
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/this-is-what-it-feels-like-to-be-separated-at-the-border/2018/06/20/ecdc6d50-74b5-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html?utm_term=.dca9aedef24d
This is what it feels like to be separated at the border
By Victoria Smolkin
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/this-is-what-it-feels-like-to-be-separated-at-the-border/2018/06/20/ecdc6d50-74b5-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html?utm_term=.dca9aedef24d
The Downside of Tech
An excerpt from the NY Times -
Thermostats, Locks and Lights: Digital Tools of Domestic Abuse
By Nellie Bowles
SAN FRANCISCO — The people who called into the help hotlines and domestic violence shelters said they felt as if they were going crazy.
One woman had turned on her air-conditioner, but said it then switched off without her touching it. Another said the code numbers of the digital lock at her front door changed every day and she could not figure out why. Still another told an abuse help line that she kept hearing the doorbell ring, but no one was there.
Their stories are part of a new pattern of behavior in domestic abuse cases tied to the rise of smart home technology. Internet-connected locks, speakers, thermostats, lights and cameras that have been marketed as the newest conveniences are now also being used as a means for harassment, monitoring, revenge and control.
In more than 30 interviews with The New York Times, domestic abuse victims, their lawyers, shelter workers and emergency responders described how the technology was becoming an alarming new tool. Abusers — using apps on their smartphones, which are connected to the internet-enabled devices — would remotely control everyday objects in the home, sometimes to watch and listen, other times to scare or show power. Even after a partner had left the home, the devices often stayed and continued to be used to intimidate and confuse.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/23/technology/smart-home-devices-domestic-abuse.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share
Thermostats, Locks and Lights: Digital Tools of Domestic Abuse
By Nellie Bowles
SAN FRANCISCO — The people who called into the help hotlines and domestic violence shelters said they felt as if they were going crazy.
One woman had turned on her air-conditioner, but said it then switched off without her touching it. Another said the code numbers of the digital lock at her front door changed every day and she could not figure out why. Still another told an abuse help line that she kept hearing the doorbell ring, but no one was there.
Their stories are part of a new pattern of behavior in domestic abuse cases tied to the rise of smart home technology. Internet-connected locks, speakers, thermostats, lights and cameras that have been marketed as the newest conveniences are now also being used as a means for harassment, monitoring, revenge and control.
In more than 30 interviews with The New York Times, domestic abuse victims, their lawyers, shelter workers and emergency responders described how the technology was becoming an alarming new tool. Abusers — using apps on their smartphones, which are connected to the internet-enabled devices — would remotely control everyday objects in the home, sometimes to watch and listen, other times to scare or show power. Even after a partner had left the home, the devices often stayed and continued to be used to intimidate and confuse.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/23/technology/smart-home-devices-domestic-abuse.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share
More Black Girl (Woman) Magic
Michelle Alexander joins @nytopinion as a columnist https://t.co/MpFPi3Om01— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) June 21, 2018
When Daddy Was a Serial Killer
From the Huffington Post -
How The Daughter Of A Serial Killer Coped With The Gravity Of Her Dad's Crimes
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-the-daughter-of-a-serial-killer-overcame-her-shame-of-her-fathers-crimes_us_5b2a8e2fe4b0a6b96a33b60c
How The Daughter Of A Serial Killer Coped With The Gravity Of Her Dad's Crimes
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-the-daughter-of-a-serial-killer-overcame-her-shame-of-her-fathers-crimes_us_5b2a8e2fe4b0a6b96a33b60c
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Fresh Off the Boat - True Story
https://www.ozy.com/true-story/watch-now-how-eddie-huang-launched-the-supreme-of-restaurants/87501
Yes He Is.
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Trump is a baldfaced liar
By Colbert King
In all my years, I have never seen anything quite like this: a U.S. president who lies and demonizes at the drop of a hat. I don’t just mean President Trump makes statements that tend to be inaccurate or misleading or that he exaggerates, equivocates and, at times, shades the truth.
No, this president repeatedly makes declarations that are flat-out at variance with established facts; assertions that on their face cannot be true.
As The Post’s “Fact Checker” column noted this week, until Wednesday, when Trump signed an executive order ending the separation of migrant families at the Mexican border, his “administration was insisting that it didn’t have a policy of separating families (false), that several laws and court rulings were forcing these separations (false), that Democrats were to blame (false), that only Congress could stop family separations (false) and that an executive order wouldn’t get the job done.”
No other words for it: Trump is a baldfaced liar.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-a-bald-faced-liar/2018/06/22/75d70334-7576-11e8-805c-4b67019fcfe4_story.html?utm_term=.fbb2e91cb9b1&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1
Trump is a baldfaced liar
By Colbert King
In all my years, I have never seen anything quite like this: a U.S. president who lies and demonizes at the drop of a hat. I don’t just mean President Trump makes statements that tend to be inaccurate or misleading or that he exaggerates, equivocates and, at times, shades the truth.
No, this president repeatedly makes declarations that are flat-out at variance with established facts; assertions that on their face cannot be true.
As The Post’s “Fact Checker” column noted this week, until Wednesday, when Trump signed an executive order ending the separation of migrant families at the Mexican border, his “administration was insisting that it didn’t have a policy of separating families (false), that several laws and court rulings were forcing these separations (false), that Democrats were to blame (false), that only Congress could stop family separations (false) and that an executive order wouldn’t get the job done.”
No other words for it: Trump is a baldfaced liar.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-a-bald-faced-liar/2018/06/22/75d70334-7576-11e8-805c-4b67019fcfe4_story.html?utm_term=.fbb2e91cb9b1&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1
A Father's Day Letter
http://theundefeated.com/videos/kevin-durants-dad-writes-a-letter-to-his-son-on-fathers-day/?ex_cid=ForTheCulture
Black Girl (Woman) Magic on Full Display
An excerpt from CNN -
The entire justice system here is run by black women. It's not a diversity experiment. They do things differently.
By Doug Criss
The entire justice system here is run by black women. It's not a diversity experiment. They do things differently.
By Doug Criss
 |
| These women hold the reins of power in the municipal criminal justice system of South Fulton, Georgia. Foreground, from left, LaDawn Jones, Lakesiya Cofield, Viveca Famber Powell, interim Police Chief Sheila Rogers. Background, from left, clerk Kerry Stephens, Chief Judge Tiffany Carter Sellers, clerk Ramona Howard, clerk Tiffany Kinslow
South Fulton, an Atlanta suburb and one of Georgia's newest cities, has the distinction of being perhaps the first city in the nation to have its criminal justice system led entirely by black women:
Chief Judge Tiffany Carter Sellers
Interim Police Chief Sheila Rogers
Solicitor LaDawn "LBJ" Jones
Public defender Viveca Famber Powell
Court administrator Lakesiya Cofield
Chief court clerk Ramona Howard
Court clerk Tiffany Kinslow
Court clerk Kerry Stephens
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/22/us/south-fulton-georgia-women-leaders-trnd/index.html
|
Friday, June 22, 2018
More Babies Are Born at This Time
An excerpt from Romper -
Babies Tend To Be Born At One Certain Time, According To A New Study, & This Could Be Why
By Jen McGuire
A study of child birth by researchers out of the University College London in the United Kingdom was published in the medical journal PLOS ONE earlier this month. Specifically researchers looked at whether there was a time of day when most babies might be born. And after analyzing more than 5 million singleton births (which sounds like an excerpt from Bridget Jones' Diary, but I digress) in England between 2005 and 2014, they found their answer: yes. Around 4 a.m., in point of fact.
https://www.romper.com/p/babies-tend-to-be-born-at-one-certain-time-according-to-a-new-study-this-could-be-why-9550101
For Those of Us Who Care
Since Melania Trump's jacket said "I really don't care"...
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) June 21, 2018
I set up https://t.co/GL1FF0KpBs
Click the link and it'll take you to a site where you can donate to 14 awesome groups helping immigrants all at once. Feel free to RT if that's your jam. pic.twitter.com/TPc4y4ZUfh
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Juneteenth
An excerpt from Vox -
Why celebrating Juneteenth is more important now than ever
It’s time for America to truly grapple with its legacy of slavery.
By P.R. Lockhart
As the Civil War came to a close in 1865, a number of people remained enslaved, especially in remote areas. Word of slavery’s end traveled slowly, and for those who were largely isolated from Union armies, life continued as if freedom did not exist.
This was especially the case in Texas, where thousands of slaves were not made aware of freedom until June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued an order officially freeing them. Their celebration would serve as the basis of June 19 — or Juneteenth — a holiday celebrating emancipation in the US.
Ironically, while Juneteenth has become the most prominent Emancipation Day holiday in the US, it commemorates a smaller moment that remains relatively obscure. It doesn’t mark the signing of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, which technically freed slaves in the rebelling Confederate states, nor does it commemorate the December 1865 ratification of the 13th Amendment, which enshrined the end of slavery into the Constitution. Instead, it marks the moment when emancipation finally reached those in the deepest parts of the former Confederacy.
In many ways, Juneteenth represents how freedom and justice in the US has always been delayed for black people.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/6/19/17476482/juneteenth-holiday-emancipation-african-american-celebration-history
Why celebrating Juneteenth is more important now than ever
It’s time for America to truly grapple with its legacy of slavery.
By P.R. Lockhart
As the Civil War came to a close in 1865, a number of people remained enslaved, especially in remote areas. Word of slavery’s end traveled slowly, and for those who were largely isolated from Union armies, life continued as if freedom did not exist.
This was especially the case in Texas, where thousands of slaves were not made aware of freedom until June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued an order officially freeing them. Their celebration would serve as the basis of June 19 — or Juneteenth — a holiday celebrating emancipation in the US.
Ironically, while Juneteenth has become the most prominent Emancipation Day holiday in the US, it commemorates a smaller moment that remains relatively obscure. It doesn’t mark the signing of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, which technically freed slaves in the rebelling Confederate states, nor does it commemorate the December 1865 ratification of the 13th Amendment, which enshrined the end of slavery into the Constitution. Instead, it marks the moment when emancipation finally reached those in the deepest parts of the former Confederacy.
In many ways, Juneteenth represents how freedom and justice in the US has always been delayed for black people.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/6/19/17476482/juneteenth-holiday-emancipation-african-american-celebration-history
Hostages
An excerpt form the New York Times -
Trump’s Small Hostages
By Frank Bruni
Why don’t we call the terrified children whose incarceration is riveting the country what they are at this point?
Not migrants. Not detainees. Not pawns, although that comes closest to the mark.
They’re hostages.
President Trump is using them as flesh-and-blood bargaining chips, hoping that their ordeal and reasonable Americans’ disgust with it will get him what he wants. This isn’t some theory that I’m basing on the whisperings of unnamed administration officials whose candor the president can dismiss as fake news put out by a maleficent media.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/opinion/donald-trump-immigrants-children.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share
Trump’s Small Hostages
By Frank Bruni
Why don’t we call the terrified children whose incarceration is riveting the country what they are at this point?
Not migrants. Not detainees. Not pawns, although that comes closest to the mark.
They’re hostages.
President Trump is using them as flesh-and-blood bargaining chips, hoping that their ordeal and reasonable Americans’ disgust with it will get him what he wants. This isn’t some theory that I’m basing on the whisperings of unnamed administration officials whose candor the president can dismiss as fake news put out by a maleficent media.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/opinion/donald-trump-immigrants-children.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share
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