An excerpt from the Washington Post -
From the NFL to the FBI? Former Bears CB Charles Tillman reportedly is in training
By Cindy Boren
Criminals and bad-deed doers might soon be learning something NFL offensive players long knew: Do not — repeat, do not — mess with Charles Tillman.
Tillman, the former cornerback for the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers, is training to become an FBI agent, according to the Chicago Tribune and ESPN. The player nicknamed “Peanut” by a relative for how he looked as a baby happens to have earned a degree in criminal justice at Louisiana-Lafayette and presently is at the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Va.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/09/20/from-the-nfl-to-the-fbi-former-bears-cb-charles-tillman-reportedly-is-in-training/?utm_term=.41c420750476
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
The Worst
An excerpt from Vox -
“He took the job and made it smaller”: how Rex Tillerson failed the State Department
Experts believe he’s one of the worst secretaries of state in history. Here’s why.
Updated by Zack Beauchamp
“Tillerson would be at or near the bottom of the list of secretaries of state, not just in the post-Second World War world but in the record of US secretaries of state,” says Paul Musgrave, a scholar of US foreign policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The former Exxon Mobil CEO — whose nomination was initially greeted warmly by prominent foreign policy hands — has failed to wield any significant influence in internal administration debates over issues like Syria, North Korea, or Russia.
His push to slash “inefficiencies” in the State Department and seeming disinterest in working closely with longtime staff were even more damaging. By failing to get people into vital high-level posts and actively pushing out talented personnel, he ended up making America’s response to major crises incoherent and weakening the State Department for a “generation,” according to George Washington University’s Elizabeth Saunders.
https://www.vox.com/world/2017/9/20/16330028/rex-tillerson-secretary-state-trump-un-haley
“He took the job and made it smaller”: how Rex Tillerson failed the State Department
Experts believe he’s one of the worst secretaries of state in history. Here’s why.
Updated by Zack Beauchamp
“Tillerson would be at or near the bottom of the list of secretaries of state, not just in the post-Second World War world but in the record of US secretaries of state,” says Paul Musgrave, a scholar of US foreign policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The former Exxon Mobil CEO — whose nomination was initially greeted warmly by prominent foreign policy hands — has failed to wield any significant influence in internal administration debates over issues like Syria, North Korea, or Russia.
His push to slash “inefficiencies” in the State Department and seeming disinterest in working closely with longtime staff were even more damaging. By failing to get people into vital high-level posts and actively pushing out talented personnel, he ended up making America’s response to major crises incoherent and weakening the State Department for a “generation,” according to George Washington University’s Elizabeth Saunders.
https://www.vox.com/world/2017/9/20/16330028/rex-tillerson-secretary-state-trump-un-haley
Not a Gamer
But I have much respect for traffic engineers.
An excerpt from Wired -
LIVE THE MADDENING LIFE OF A TRAFFIC ENGINEER WITH A $3 GAME
By AARIAN MARSHALL
THE AIR SINGS with four-letter words. The iPad sits stoic as fingers poke, jab, and prod at its screen. Traffic engineering, it turns out, is a difficult job, even when you're working in a fantasy "city" made up of nothing but one office building and a solitary tree.
This is the world of Freeways, a new release from independent game maker Justin Smith, who owns Captain Games. The objective is simple enough: build a road network that connects a series of highways and buildings. When you've finished, you'll be scored on three metrics: the average speed of cars on your network, how much concrete you used to build it, and how easy it is for drivers to get from one point to another.
https://www.wired.com/story/freeways-traffic-engineer-game?mbid=nl_092017_daily&CNDID=%%CUST_ID%%
An excerpt from Wired -
LIVE THE MADDENING LIFE OF A TRAFFIC ENGINEER WITH A $3 GAME
By AARIAN MARSHALL
THE AIR SINGS with four-letter words. The iPad sits stoic as fingers poke, jab, and prod at its screen. Traffic engineering, it turns out, is a difficult job, even when you're working in a fantasy "city" made up of nothing but one office building and a solitary tree.
This is the world of Freeways, a new release from independent game maker Justin Smith, who owns Captain Games. The objective is simple enough: build a road network that connects a series of highways and buildings. When you've finished, you'll be scored on three metrics: the average speed of cars on your network, how much concrete you used to build it, and how easy it is for drivers to get from one point to another.
https://www.wired.com/story/freeways-traffic-engineer-game?mbid=nl_092017_daily&CNDID=%%CUST_ID%%
I Love Neil DeGrasse Tyson
From Salon -
Fired Google employee James Damore has Twitter war after KKK questions
A nerd fight breaks out after Neil DeGrasse Tyson schools Damore on why the Klan is not like Dungeons & Dragons
By SOPHIA TESFAYE
http://www.salon.com/2017/09/20/fired-google-employee-james-damore-has-twitter-war-after-kkk-questions/?source=newsletter
Fired Google employee James Damore has Twitter war after KKK questions
A nerd fight breaks out after Neil DeGrasse Tyson schools Damore on why the Klan is not like Dungeons & Dragons
By SOPHIA TESFAYE
http://www.salon.com/2017/09/20/fired-google-employee-james-damore-has-twitter-war-after-kkk-questions/?source=newsletter
Serena's Letter to Her Mom
From Reddit -
Dear Mom,
You are one of the strongest women I know. I was looking at my daughter (OMG, yes, I have adaughter 😳) and she has my arms and legs! My exact same strong, muscular, powerful, sensational arms and body. I don't know how I would react if she has to go through what I've gone through since I was a 15 year old and even to this day.
I've been called man because I appeared outwardly strong. It has been said that that I use drugs (No, I have always had far too much integrity to behave dishonestly in order to gain an advantage). It has been said I don't belong in Women's sports -- that I belong in Men's -- because I look stronger than many other women do. (No, I just work hard and I was born with this badass body and proud of it).
But mom, I'm not sure how you did not go off on every single reporter, person, announcer and quite frankly, hater, who was too ignorant to understand the power of a black woman.
I am proud we were able to show them what some women look like. We don't all look the same. We are curvy, strong, muscular, tall, small, just to name a few, and all the same: we are women and proud!
You are so classy, I only wish I could take your lead. I am trying, though, and God is not done with me yet. I have a LONG way to go, but thank you.
Thank you for being the role model I needed to endure all the hardships that I now regard as a challenges--ones that I enjoy. I hope to teach my baby Alexis Olympia the same, and have the same fortitude you have had.
Promise me, Mom, that you will continue to help. I'm not sure if I am as meek and strong as you are yet. I hope to get there one day. I love you dearly.
Your youngest of five,
Serena
https://www.reddit.com/user/serenawilliams/comments/714c1b/letter_to_my_mom/?st=j7tsl0tx&sh=b1f13ac6
Dear Mom,
You are one of the strongest women I know. I was looking at my daughter (OMG, yes, I have adaughter 😳) and she has my arms and legs! My exact same strong, muscular, powerful, sensational arms and body. I don't know how I would react if she has to go through what I've gone through since I was a 15 year old and even to this day.
I've been called man because I appeared outwardly strong. It has been said that that I use drugs (No, I have always had far too much integrity to behave dishonestly in order to gain an advantage). It has been said I don't belong in Women's sports -- that I belong in Men's -- because I look stronger than many other women do. (No, I just work hard and I was born with this badass body and proud of it).
But mom, I'm not sure how you did not go off on every single reporter, person, announcer and quite frankly, hater, who was too ignorant to understand the power of a black woman.
I am proud we were able to show them what some women look like. We don't all look the same. We are curvy, strong, muscular, tall, small, just to name a few, and all the same: we are women and proud!
You are so classy, I only wish I could take your lead. I am trying, though, and God is not done with me yet. I have a LONG way to go, but thank you.
Thank you for being the role model I needed to endure all the hardships that I now regard as a challenges--ones that I enjoy. I hope to teach my baby Alexis Olympia the same, and have the same fortitude you have had.
Promise me, Mom, that you will continue to help. I'm not sure if I am as meek and strong as you are yet. I hope to get there one day. I love you dearly.
Your youngest of five,
Serena
https://www.reddit.com/user/serenawilliams/comments/714c1b/letter_to_my_mom/?st=j7tsl0tx&sh=b1f13ac6
Monday, September 18, 2017
Spreading the Foodie Love
Excerpts from the NY Times -
What Happens When Marcus Samuelsson Takes Harlem to London?
By NIKITA STEWART
Marcus Samuelsson lives in Harlem. He loves Harlem. He loves it so much that he decided to spread it to east London.
Mr. Samuelsson’s Red Rooster Harlem, a neighborhood restaurant known for its soul food and soul-stirring gospel brunches, has birthed a doppelgänger Red Rooster Shoreditch.
~~~~~~~~~~
Since adopting Harlem as his home and choosing it to hone his skills as a showman restaurateur, Mr. Samuelsson has masterfully straddled a fine line between gentrification, appropriation and approbation. Mr. Samuelsson, born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, has garnered enough Harlem street cred to successfully strut out Streetbird Rotisserie, a more casual, less expensive eatery less than mile from Red Rooster Harlem, and Harlem Eat Up, an annual food festival that takes over Morningside Park each May. He has found a culinary aesthetic that’s the equivalent of the electric slide, a line dance that still prompts black families to rise up in unison at backyard cookouts but equally rouses a crowd at a predominantly white wedding.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/travel/red-rooster-london-shoreditch-marcus-samuelsson.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
What Happens When Marcus Samuelsson Takes Harlem to London?
By NIKITA STEWART
Marcus Samuelsson lives in Harlem. He loves Harlem. He loves it so much that he decided to spread it to east London.
Mr. Samuelsson’s Red Rooster Harlem, a neighborhood restaurant known for its soul food and soul-stirring gospel brunches, has birthed a doppelgänger Red Rooster Shoreditch.
~~~~~~~~~~
Since adopting Harlem as his home and choosing it to hone his skills as a showman restaurateur, Mr. Samuelsson has masterfully straddled a fine line between gentrification, appropriation and approbation. Mr. Samuelsson, born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, has garnered enough Harlem street cred to successfully strut out Streetbird Rotisserie, a more casual, less expensive eatery less than mile from Red Rooster Harlem, and Harlem Eat Up, an annual food festival that takes over Morningside Park each May. He has found a culinary aesthetic that’s the equivalent of the electric slide, a line dance that still prompts black families to rise up in unison at backyard cookouts but equally rouses a crowd at a predominantly white wedding.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/travel/red-rooster-london-shoreditch-marcus-samuelsson.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
A Bad Dude
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
‘The first white president’ is a ‘bad dude’
By Jonathan Capehart
I have a confession to make. I have not been as enamored of Ta-Nehisi Coates and his writing on race as some white people, particularly liberals, are. In fact, recently, I’ve discovered that I’m not alone in thinking that Coates’s views on race are too emotional, too dark, too relentlessly pessimistic. As one friend wrote in an email, “I tend not to agree with Coates because the premise of everything he writes is all white people in this country are evil and just look at the history of America to prove it. I tend to be a lot less cynical than that.”
When it comes to race and the United States, I am Martin Luther King Jr. to Coates’s Malcolm X. But ever since the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 and the ensuing grim roll call of black lives felled by law enforcement and wannabe cops and others who simply felt empowered, my views on race and our nation have moved steadily closer to Coates’s. With “The First White President,” Coates’s epic examination of and explanation for President Trump’s victory last November in the Atlantic magazine, there no longer is any daylight between me and the provocative chronicler of America’s racial divide.
In paragraph after paragraph, Coates articulates what has roiled my heart and mind since election night. He lays out with precision and data what I knew in my bones. White people, generally speaking, were not and are not going to slip into their impending status as “the new minority” without a fight — a fight successfully waged by a man who ran the most racist, xenophobic, misogynistic campaign for president in memory. And that was after spending years questioning the legitimacy of his predecessor, Barack Obama, by peddling the racist birther lie that the nation’s first African American president wasn’t born in the United States.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/09/18/the-first-white-president-is-a-bad-dude/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-f%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.077fef3511cc
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/the-first-white-president-ta-nehisi-coates/537909/?utm_source=nl-atlantic-daily-091217&silverid=MzEwMTkwMTQ4ODk4S0
‘The first white president’ is a ‘bad dude’
By Jonathan Capehart
I have a confession to make. I have not been as enamored of Ta-Nehisi Coates and his writing on race as some white people, particularly liberals, are. In fact, recently, I’ve discovered that I’m not alone in thinking that Coates’s views on race are too emotional, too dark, too relentlessly pessimistic. As one friend wrote in an email, “I tend not to agree with Coates because the premise of everything he writes is all white people in this country are evil and just look at the history of America to prove it. I tend to be a lot less cynical than that.”
When it comes to race and the United States, I am Martin Luther King Jr. to Coates’s Malcolm X. But ever since the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 and the ensuing grim roll call of black lives felled by law enforcement and wannabe cops and others who simply felt empowered, my views on race and our nation have moved steadily closer to Coates’s. With “The First White President,” Coates’s epic examination of and explanation for President Trump’s victory last November in the Atlantic magazine, there no longer is any daylight between me and the provocative chronicler of America’s racial divide.
In paragraph after paragraph, Coates articulates what has roiled my heart and mind since election night. He lays out with precision and data what I knew in my bones. White people, generally speaking, were not and are not going to slip into their impending status as “the new minority” without a fight — a fight successfully waged by a man who ran the most racist, xenophobic, misogynistic campaign for president in memory. And that was after spending years questioning the legitimacy of his predecessor, Barack Obama, by peddling the racist birther lie that the nation’s first African American president wasn’t born in the United States.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/09/18/the-first-white-president-is-a-bad-dude/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-f%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.077fef3511cc
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/the-first-white-president-ta-nehisi-coates/537909/?utm_source=nl-atlantic-daily-091217&silverid=MzEwMTkwMTQ4ODk4S0
Report Confirms What We Already Know
From the Huffington Post -
Exclusive: New Report Offers Proof Of US Hate Crime Rise In The Trump Era
New data obtained by HuffPost shows hate crimes rose nationally in 2016. The numbers for 2017 aren’t looking great either.
By Christopher Mathias
The number of hate crimes rose across the United States in 2016, marking the first time in over a decade that the country has experienced consecutive annual increases in crimes targeting people based on their race, religion, sexuality, disability or national origin.
Data collected by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, and provided exclusively to HuffPost, shows hate crimes rose about 5 percent from 2015 to 2016.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hate-crime-rise-2016-united-states-trump_us_59becac8e4b086432b07fed8?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Exclusive: New Report Offers Proof Of US Hate Crime Rise In The Trump Era
New data obtained by HuffPost shows hate crimes rose nationally in 2016. The numbers for 2017 aren’t looking great either.
By Christopher Mathias
The number of hate crimes rose across the United States in 2016, marking the first time in over a decade that the country has experienced consecutive annual increases in crimes targeting people based on their race, religion, sexuality, disability or national origin.
Data collected by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, and provided exclusively to HuffPost, shows hate crimes rose about 5 percent from 2015 to 2016.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hate-crime-rise-2016-united-states-trump_us_59becac8e4b086432b07fed8?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
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