“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” – Congressman John Lewis
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Reverend Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, along with Attorney Benjamin Crump and the Families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, Eric Garner & others to convene with National Action Network (NAN), NAACP & Others for a March on Washington in Protest of Police Brutality on August 28
(WASHINGTON, DC) — Reverend Al Sharpton and the National Action Network (NAN) are enforcing strict rules and restrictions to ensure safety during the ‘Get Your Knee Off Our Necks’ march amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The march’s COVID-19 protocols include distributing masks, thermometer check-in stations, restricting access to buses from states or cities that are COVID-19 hot spots, and practicing social distancing. Rev Al Sharpton, National Action Network, Martin Luther King III, NAACP, Attorney Benjamin Crump and families of police brutality victims, along with labor leaders, clergy, activists and civil rights advocates, will lead a Commitment March to fight for criminal justice reform in solidarity with those who have lost loved ones at the hands of the police. The march, under the rallying call, ‘Get Your Knee Off Our Necks,’ will coincide with the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s March on Washington, where he delivered his historic “I Have A Dream” speech in 1963.
Speakers will include the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, Eric Garner, and others led by Attorney Benjamin Crump, who will address the senseless loss of Black lives at the hands of police and advocate for issues including police accountability, criminal justice reform, voter protection and more. Protesters and activists will gather at Lincoln Circle to hear the day’s programming before marching to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
Partners of the Commitment March include the NAACP; National Urban League; the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation; Legal Defense Fund (LDF); Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; The Leadership Conference; American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE); American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AMFSCE); American Federation of Teachers (AFT); Americans for Democratic Action (ADA); A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI); Brady; the Community Action Partnership; Hispanic Federation; One Union; League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC); PERIOD.; Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Dream Corps; Hip Hop Caucus; The Obsidian Collection; United Auto Workers (UAW); United Steel Workers (USW); and UnidosUS.
Black man shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin is paralyzed from the waist down.
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(Tuesday, August 25, 2020) – The father of Jacob Blake says his son has been left paralyzed from shooting by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Blake is the African American shot Sunday by officers in the back as his sons watched.
His father, whose is also named Jacob Blake, told the Chicago Sun-Times that his son was shot eight times during the evening confrontation that was partially captured on cellphone video.
The elder Blake says his son is paralyzed from the waist down, though doctors don’t yet know if the paralysis will be permanent.
The shooting has touched off two nights of unrest in Kenosha with protesters clashing with police. Two of the officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave while the incident is under investigation. Blake is listed in stable condition.
Many parents of young children are scrambling trying to find things to safely do with their little ones as the COVID-19 crisis lingers on. I have details about a virtual program designed for preschoolers, kindergarteners and 1st graders. My guest is Lauren Jones – Executive Director of Propel Productions, Inc.
Mind Body Ready is designed to promote school readiness thru arts based social emotional learning. It’s an 8 week program by Propel Productions Center, Inc. For more information go here:
Tune in to Taking it to the Streets, weekday mornings at 6:15, 7:08 and 8:40 on the Steve Harvey Morning Show on 96.3 WHUR.
Follow me on facebook and twitter at @bobbygailes for updates and to stay connected.
Earlier this month former First Lady Michelle Obama spoke openly about what she described as “low-grade” depression. Her transparency on this issue lit up social media and refocused the issue of mental health for black women. We discuss this issue that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
James 5:13 ESV
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
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Frank Ski’s Inspirational Vitamin is his positive daily spiritual note to keep you going!
“I want you to know if God has given you a vision for your life, stay the course,” he said. “Be patient, stay in faith. If it seems like it’s taking too long, be patient because it will surely take place.”
Her husband, George T. Conway the Third, is also stepping away from his role at the Lincoln Project, an outside group of GOP party members who aim to defeat the President in November.
(Washington, DC) — One of President Trump’s longest serving aides is leaving the White House at the end of the month. Kellyanne Conway, a senior advisor to the president, is stepping away to focus on her family. Her husband, George T. Conway the Third, is also stepping away from his role at the Lincoln Project, an outside group of GOP party members who aim to defeat the President in November. In a statement, Kellyanne Conway wrote that their four children are in their tweens and starting a new academic year and requires a level of “attention and vigilance that is as unusual as these times.”
Three Prince George’s County police officers continue to recover after a shootout yesterday Hyattsville. Prince George’s County police said officers responded to a legitimate home invasion call and they don’t believe the officers were set up, but within minutes of arriving, they were immediately fired upon. County Interim Police Chief Hector Velez said an officer engaged with two men who were walking toward a car. Velez said the men opened fire on the officer, who managed to duck down behind a car door and was shot three times — in the lower right leg, chest and right arm.
The men got into the car and fled. As the vehicle drove away, backup officers arrived and got out of their cars to render aid to the officer who was shot. As they ran toward the officer, the vehicle started to go back toward the officers and “there was gunfire that erupted from the vehicle,” Velez said. The officers returned fire and the vehicle crashed into a tree.
Both suspects are in police custody. One of them is being treated for injuries from the accident. Two of the three officers have been released from the hospital. The third is recovering from surgery.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Ridley will write the new Batman comic series with plans of the Dark Knight being a person of color.
The Oscar-winning screenwriter and DC publisher Jim Lee announced plans for Ridley to write the miniseries during a DC FanDome virtual panel on Saturday. The four-issue comic is scheduled to release in January.
Ridley said the series will focus on the family of Lucius Fox, who is one of Bruce Wayne’s closest allies. Fox was also the president of Wayne Enterprises.
The panel revealed an illustration of a leaping Batman.
Ridley won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay in 2013 for his work on “12 Years of Slave.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kirk Franklin made a splash at the Stellar Gospel Music Awards.
The singer took home six trophies during the 35th annual awards on Sunday night. The two-hour virtual ceremony honored late civil rights icon and Georgia congressman John Lewis with a musical tribute from CeCe Winans who sang “Bridge over Troubled Water.”
The awards also paid homage to first responder heroes who were on the front lines in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
Thanks to his “Long Live Love” album, Franklin collected male vocalist, album, producer, contemporary male vocalist and contemporary album of the year honors. He also won music video of the year for “Love Theory.”
Franklin returned to host the awards with Jonathan Reynolds and Koryn Hawthorne. The ceremony aired on BET and BET Her.
Tasha Cobbs Leonard won the show’s top award as best artist. She also took home contemporary female vocalist of the year through her album “Heart. Passion. Pursuit.”
Donald Lawrence’s “Deliver Me (This is My Exodus)” was named song of the year. He won the second most awards with four.
The best new artist went to Pastor Mike Jr., who also claimed top honors for best rap/hip-hop gospel album of the year.
Some of the performers include Tamela Mann, Marvin Sapp, James Fortune, Tye Tribbett and Anthony Brown.
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Online: http://www.thestellarawards.com
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This story has been corrected to show that Franklin won 6 awards, not 5.
We talked with Pastor Michael Lampkin and Gospel artist Stephen Hurd, whose faith and talents have inspired millions.
Michael Lampkin was born and raised in St. Louis and is the pastor of the Fresh Anointing Prosperity Ministry. He also was a finalist in BET’s Sunday Best competition. Michael talked about his experience on Sunday Best and he promised that a recording of his work will follow shortly.
Stephen Hurd is a talented Gospel artist and faithful Music Minister at First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Maryland. Stephen talked about the importance of the support he receives from Pastor John Jenkins to perform his music ministry and his appreciation for the ability to work with other talented artists in the church such as Anthony Brown, Mike McCoy and Will McMillan.
Believe it or not, Hip-Hop legend Chubb Rock was only 15-years-old when we got his start in the music industry. Chubb, who is of Jamaican decent, gets candid about his radio career, his thoughts on Kamala Harris and also shares some Hip-Hop artifacts that you just don’t see everyday!
Take the time to read the ingredients on everything you buy as it can save you a lot of health issues in the future and promote wellness within your lifestyle!
What does the term “natural” mean to you? What words, thoughts, and ideas come to mind if you hear someone else use it? According to Google, the word natural means existing in or caused by nature, not made or caused by humankind. Natural is a term that is used to describe beauty, hair, food, and so much more! There are many benefits of using and consuming things in the natural form. Have you heard that what you put in your body will reflect on the outside? What about if I can eat it must be good for other parts of my body too? So many preservatives and chemicals in our food, hair products, fabric softeners, cosmetics, cleaning products, aerosol sprays, and even our deodorant can harm our health and harm our bodies.
According to CNN, chemicals such as organophosphate pesticides, phthalates, polychlorinated biphenyls, lead, air pollutants, mercury, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers, are all listed as chemicals that are found in our everyday products that you should keep an eye out for. Most of these chemicals cause cancer, brain damage, thyroid issues, respiratory infections and diseases, and when inhaled or swallowed can aggravate the hormone levels within the body.
Organophosphate pesticides are neurotoxic chemicals that make up half of the pesticides used in the United States. They are harmful and can make their way on to crops that are used as food sources. They cause brain and emotional disorders. It’s better to buy your produce and foods organic or use pesticide alternatives to avoid it.
Phthalates soften plastic and help chemicals and scents bind together. They can be found in shampoos, conditioners, body sprays, perfumes, colognes, soap nail polish, shower curtains and so much more.
Polychlorinated biphenyls are used as coolants and lubricants for electrical equipment, but much like other chemicals have made its way to meat and fish.
Air pollutants can be found in the air from fossil fuels, oils, and gasolines. Air pollutants can negatively affect the air quality. Lead is a natural occurring element, but it can be found in water due to the corrosion of old water pipes. Mercury is also a naturally occurring element, but it can be released in the environment from the burning of coal and oil. Mercury has made its way to food much like pesticides.
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers are chemicals that are used as flame retardants, chemicals that can slow down the speed of a flame. They can be found in televisions, computers, and insulation and foam products. These chemicals have been linked to thyroid issues.
I know this is a lot of unfortunate information to take in, however, there are many ways to combat all of this in the healthiest way possible! See the list below!
1. Ditch the pesticides and use pesticide alternatives such as polyculture, biological control, natural barriers or predators.
2. Go to your local Farmers Market and buy organic produce. Shop at your local Whole Foods or Organic Market.
3. Buy your shampoo and conditioner from organic markets! You can also use mayonnaise, bananas, and avocados for your conditioner!
4. Use a diffuser and 100 percent natural essential oils instead of plug ins.
5. Buy unscented lotions and deodorants.
6. Look to see if the cosmetic brands you support are vegan. Check your nail polishes and lip lubricants too.
7. Use turmeric and apple cider vinegar as a face mask! Turmeric is used for cleansing and hyperpigmentation.
8. Buy vegan and vegan fabric softeners.
Lastly and most importantly read the ingredients on everything you buy as it can save you a lot of health issues in the future and promote wellness within your lifestyle!
DC Health wants residents from so-called hotspot states to self-quarantine for 14 days if they are heading into the city. The expanded list comes as thousands are expected to descend on DC for the so-called Commitment March.
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(WASHINGTON, DC) – Ahead of this week’s Commitment March, DC Health has released an updated list of high-risk states where the seven-day moving average of daily new COVID-19 cases is 10 or more per 100,000 persons.Mayor Bowser issued Mayor’s Order 2020-081 with requirements for all people traveling into Washington, DC from high-risk states.
Anyone coming into Washington, DC from a high-risk state (within the prior 14 days) who was traveling for non-essential activities will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days from their arrival in the District. Individuals traveling from high-risk states after essential travel or arriving in the District for essential travel are required to self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 for 14 days and, if they show signs or experience symptoms of COVID-19, they are to self-quarantine and seek medical advice or testing.
Travel to and from Maryland and Virginia is exempt from the Order. This list should be used until Monday, September 7, when an updated list will be posted on coronavirus.dc.gov.
States that were added to the updated list include: Delaware, Hawaii, and South Dakota.
States that were removed from the updated list include: Montana and New Mexico.
High-risk states that require 14 days of self-quarantine:
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Wisconsin
All individuals coming into Washington, DC from high-risk states can find the full Mayor’s Order at coronavirus.dc.gov/phasetwo.
Talking jobs this morning. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) is host a job fair this week and I have the details of how you can apply and land a new gig. The virtual job fair will include hiring officials from NNSA and its National Laboratories, plants, and sites from around the country. My guest is Frank Lowery – Associate Administrator for Management and Budget at the National Nuclear Security Administration
Joe Biden is now the Democratic nominee for President. When it comes to speeches, he’s no Barack Obama, but he was still surprising to some. We wrap up our coverage of the Democratic National Convention and we’ll also look at what’s ahead for the Republicans.
(Ashburn, VA) — Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera says he has a form of skin cancer. ESPN reports the 58-year-old plans to continue coaching. The team confirmed he was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma located in a lymph node. Rivera said the disease is in the early stages and is considered treatable and curable. He is entering his first season as the club’s coach after leading the Carolina Panthers for the past nine years.
Acts 20:35 ESV
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
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Frank Ski’s Inspirational Vitamin is his positive daily spiritual note to keep you going!
Police have arrested a man wanted for the shooting death of a 10-year-old DC girl two summers ago. The U.S. Marshals say Isaiah Murchison was captured Thursday in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Makiyah Wilson, on her way to get ice cream, was killed in Northeast, DC after being caught in the cross-fire of what police call a gang related dispute. Isaiah Murchison is one of 11 people charged in Wilson’s death.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Joe Biden accepted the Democratic presidential nomination with a vow to be a unifying “ally of the light” who would move an America in crisis past the chaos of President Donald Trump’s tenure.
In his strongest remarks of the campaign, Biden spoke Thursday night both of returning the United States to its traditional leadership role in the world and of the deeply personal challenges that shaped his life. Virtually every sentence of his 22-minute speech was designed to present a sharp, yet hopeful, contrast with the Republican incumbent.
“Here and now I give you my word: If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst. l’ll be an ally of the light, not the darkness,” Biden said. “Make no mistake, united we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America.”
For the 77-year-old Biden, the final night of the Democratic National Convention was bittersweet. He accepted a nomination that had eluded him for over three decades because of personal tragedy, political stumbles and rivals who proved more dynamic.
But the coronavirus denied him the typical celebration, complete with the customary balloon drop that both parties often use to fete their new nominees. Instead, Biden spoke to a largely empty arena near his Delaware home.
Afterward, fireworks lit the sky outside the arena, where supporters waited in a parking lot, honking horns and flashing headlights in a moment that finally lent a jovial feel to the event.
The keynote address was the speech of a lifetime for Biden, who would be the oldest president ever elected if he defeats Trump in November. Trump, who is 74, publicly doubts Biden’s mental capacity and calls him “Slow Joe,” but with the nation watching, Biden was firm and clear.
Still, the convention leaned on a younger generation earlier in the night to help energize his sprawling coalition.
Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois senator who lost her legs in Iraq and is raising two young children, said Biden has “common decency.”
Cory Booker, only the ninth African American senator in U.S. history, said Biden believes in the dignity of all working Americans.
And Pete Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and a gay military veteran, noted that Biden came out in favor of same-sex marriage as vice president even before President Barack Obama.
“Joe Biden is right, this is a contest for the soul of the nation. And to me that contest is not between good Americans and evil Americans,” Buttigieg said. “It’s the struggle to call out what is good for every American.”
Biden’s Democratic Party has sought this week to put forward a cohesive vision of values and policy priorities, highlighting efforts to combat climate change, tighten gun laws and embrace a humane immigration policy. They have drawn a sharp contrast with Trump’s policies and personality, portraying him as cruel, self-centered and woefully unprepared to manage virtually any of the nation’s mounting crises and policy challenges.
Voting was another prime focus of the convention on Thursday as it has been all week. Democrats fear that the pandemic — and Trump administration changes at the U.S. Postal Service — may make it difficult for voters to cast ballots in person or by mail.
Comedian Sarah Cooper, a favorite of many Democrats for her videos lip syncing Trump’s speeches, put it bluntly: “Donald Trump doesn’t want any of us to vote because he knows he can’t win fair and square.”
Biden’s call for unity comes as some strategists worry that Democrats cannot retake the White House simply by tearing Trump down, that Biden needs to give his sprawling coalition something to vote for. That’s easier said than done in a modern Democratic Party made up of disparate factions that span generation, race and ideology.
Though he has been in the public spotlight for decades as a Delaware senator, much of the electorate knows little about Biden’s background before he began serving as Obama’s vice president in 2008.
Thursday’s convention served as a national reintroduction of sorts that drew on some of the most painful moments of his life.
“I know how mean and cruel and unfair life can be sometimes,” Biden said. He added: “I found the best way through pain and loss and grief is to find purpose.”
As a schoolboy, Biden was mocked by classmates and a nun for a severe stutter. He became a widower at just 30 after losing his wife and infant daughter to a car accident. And just five years ago, he buried his eldest son, who was stricken by cancer.
From such hardship, Biden developed a deep sense of empathy that has defined much of his political career. And throughout the convention, Biden’s allies testified that such empathy, backed by decades of governing experience, makes him the perfect candidate to guide the nation back from mounting health and economic crises.
His allies Thursday included Brayden Harrington, a 13-year-old boy from Concord, New Hampshire. The boy said he and Biden were “members of the same club,” each with a stutter they’re working to overcome.
He noted that Biden told him about a book of poems he liked to read aloud to practice his speech and showed the boy how he marks his speeches so they’re easier to read aloud.
“I’m just a regular kid, and in a short amount of time, Joe Biden made me more confident about a thing that’s bothered me my whole life,” Harrington said.
The end of the carefully scripted convention now gives way to a far less-predictable period for Biden and his Democratic Party as the 2020 election season speeds to its uncertain conclusion. While Election Day isn’t until Nov. 3, early voting gets underway in several battleground states in just one month.
Biden has maintained a polling advantage over Trump for much of the year, but it remains to be seen whether the Democratic nominee’s approach to politics and policy will genuinely excite the coalition he’s courting in an era of uncompromising partisanship.
Trump’s Republican Party is expected to deliver a message next week squarely focused on the president’s most loyal supporters.
Biden summed up his view of the campaign: “We choose a path of becoming angry, less hopeful and more divided, a path of shadow and suspicion, or we can choose a different path and together take this chance to heal.”
Don’t get passed over. The 2020 Census is still underway. Take the time to be counted. The process is less than 10 minutes. That message is being driven home in Prince George’s County which is lagging in getting residents to participate. My guest is Councilmember Calvin Hawkins – Vice Chair of the Prince George’s County Council
Last day to self-respond online, by phone or mail is October 31, 2020 .Residents can visit My2020Census.Gov or call 1-844-330-2020 (English) or 1-844-468-2020 (Spanish). 1-844-330-2020 (English) or 1-844-468-2020 (Spanish).1-844-330-2020 (English)/ 1-844-468-2020 (Spanish) to complete the Census
Tune in to Taking it to the Streets, weekday mornings at 6:15, 7:08 and 8:40 on the Steve Harvey Morning Show on 96.3 WHUR.
Follow me on facebook and twitter at @bobbygailes for updates and to stay connected.
It was President Obama last night who leveled a blistering attack on President Trump as he spoke from Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention. The
historic night capped off by Senator Kamala Harris… accepting the party’s nomination for vice-president. We continue our look at speeches from last night and what to expect on the last night.
Guests:
Donna Brazile, Former Chair, DNC
Dr. Ravi Perry, Chair, Howard University Department of Political Science
There’s big news in the fight against HIV in the District. DC Health director, Dr. Laquandra Nesbit announce new HIV infection rates have plummeted… down 16 percent since 2018 and 79 percent since 2007. Nesbit also said the rate among IV drug users is way down.
The DC government is also offering free at-home HIV test kits. If you would like a kit, you can find it on this link. Free HIV Test Kit
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for a New York prosecutor to get President Donald Trump’s tax returns, rejecting a last-ditch attempt by his lawyers to block a subpoena issued to his accounting firm. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero’s ruling echoes his prior decision in the case, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last month. The high court returned the case to Marrero so Trump’s lawyers could get another chance to challenge the subpoena issued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. Trump’s lawyers immediately appealed the decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Both Norman and the victim, who was Robbie Montgomery’s grandson, appeared on “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” which ran for five seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network starting in 2011, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Before opening the restaurant, Robbie Montgomery was a backup singer for Ike and Tina Turner.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The son of the owner of a St. Louis-area soul food restaurant that was the setting for the reality show “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” has been charged in a murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of his nephew four years ago.
James Timothy Norman, of Jackson, Mississippi, was arrested Tuesday in the March 14, 2016, fatal shooting of his nephew Andre Montgomery, who was gunned down near a park in St. Louis. Norman, the 41-year-old son of Sweetie Pie’s owner Robbie Montgomery, faces a federal charge in St. Louis of conspiring to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire, resulting in death.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in St. Louis said in a news release that Norman conspired with a woman, Terica Ellis, of Memphis, Tennessee, in Montgomery’s killing. In 2014, when Montgomery was 18, prosecutors say Norman obtained a $450,000 life insurance policy on his nephew that listed Norman as the sole beneficiary.
Prosecutors allege in the criminal complaint that in the day’s leading up to Montgomery’s death, Norman flew to St. Louis from Los Angeles, where he was living at the time, and Ellis traveled to St. Louis from her home in Memphis.
On the day of the killing, Ellis used a temporary phone to determine Montgomery’s location, then she called Norman. Ellis’ phone location placed her near Montgomery at the time of his death, according to the complaint. Immediately following the shooting, Ellis placed another call and then began traveling back to Memphis.
Prosecutors say Ellis, who faces the same charge as Norman, later deposited more than $9,000 in cash in various bank accounts. A week after the killing, Norman contacted the life insurance company in an attempt to collect on his nephew’s policy, prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors declined to say who was the alleged shooter.
Both Norman and the victim, who was Robbie Montgomery’s grandson, appeared on “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” which ran for five seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network starting in 2011, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Before opening the restaurant, Robbie Montgomery was a backup singer for Ike and Tina Turner.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former White House adviser Steve Bannon was arrested Thursday on charges that he and three others ripped off donors to an online fundraising scheme “We Build The Wall.”
The charges were contained in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court that alleged Bannon received over $1 million himself, using some to secretly pay a co-defendant, Brian Kolfage, and to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars of Bannon’s personal expenses.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Bannon and three others “orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors” in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States.
According to the indictment, Bannon promised that 100% of the donated money would be used for the project, but the defendants collectively used hundreds of thousands of dollars in a manner inconsistent with the organization’s public representations.
The indictment said they faked invoices and sham “vendor” arrangements, among other ways, to hide what was really happening.
The defendants learned last October from a financial institution that the “We Build the Wall” campaign might be under federal criminal investigation and took additional steps to conceal the fraud, according to the indictment.
Charges included conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
A phone at the office of Bannon’s lawyer went unanswered Thursday morning. A spokeswoman for Bannon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear who would represent Kolfage at an initial court appearance.
According to the indictment, Bannon promised that 100% of the donated money would be used for the project and no one would be compensated, but the defendants collectively used hundreds of thousands of dollars in a manner inconsistent with the organization’s public representations.
The indictment said they faked invoices and sham “vendor” arrangements, among other ways, to hide what was really happening.
“It’s not possible to steal the money,” Kolfage once said publicly, according to the indictment. “I can’t touch that money. It’s not for me.”
We Build the Wall originally promoted a project for 3 miles of fence posts in South Texas that was ultimately built and largely funded by Fisher Industries, which has received about $2 billion in funding for wall contracts. Tommy Fisher, CEO, didn’t respond to calls for comment.
Trump recently criticized that section of wall after it showed signs of erosion, saying it was “only done to make me look bad,” even though it was built by his supporters.
Bannon led the conservative Breitbart News before being tapped to serve as chief executive officer of Trump’s campaign in its critical final months, when he pushed a scorched earth strategy that included highlighting the stories of former President Bill Clinton’s accusers. After the election, he served as chief strategist during the turbulent early months of Trump’s administration.
The blunt-spoken, combative Bannon was the voice of a nationalistic, outsider conservatism, and he pushed Trump to follow through on some of his most contentious campaign promises, including his travel ban on several majority-Muslim countries. But Bannon also clashed with other top advisers, and his high profile sometimes irked Trump. He was pushed out in August 2017.
Bannon, who served in the Navy and worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs before becoming a Hollywood producer, has been hosting a pro-Trump podcast called “War Room” that began during the president’s impeachment proceedings and has continued during the pandemic.
Lillie’s Furniture Gallery is affordable, black owned, and in the community.
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Right in the heart of Prince George’s County, sits a contemporary furniture lover’s dream. Lillie’s Furniture Gallery rivals many of their couture counterparts.
Last night, we caught up with the owner of Lillie’s Furniture Gallery, Lillie herself. She took us on a tour of her gorgeous, contemporary designs. Many are imports from Italy, Brazil, and whatever catches her designer eye. In the end, the comment section pledged to come visit soon.
Leslie Odom Jr. and Nicolette Robinson, who are married in real life, co-star and executive produce “Love in the Time of Corona,” which airs this weekend. The title is a take on the 1986 novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Love in the Time of Cholera.”
NEW YORK (AP) — From grappling with big life decisions to a marriage on the brink, a new four-part miniseries tackles relationship struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leslie Odom Jr. and Nicolette Robinson, who are married in real life, co-star and executive produce “Love in the Time of Corona,” which airs this weekend. The title is a take on the 1986 novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Love in the Time of Cholera.”
Filming took place in the actors’ actual homes, and co-stars are either related or close friends. Cameras were operated remotely, and the cast did their own hair and makeup.
The safety precautions alone weren’t enough for Odom and Robinson to want to take the project on. They have a toddler so turning their home into a set needed to be worth it.
“What we didn’t want to do is just tell a story about a couple that was trying to have a baby. It’s they’re trying to have a baby in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of the Black Lives Matter movement and how that is affecting their relationship,” said Odom.
Another actor couple, Gil Bellows and Rya Kihlstedt, play a secretly separated husband and wife forced to quarantine together when their adult daughter (portrayed by their daughter, Ava Bellows) moves back home.
“We were the first family and first house to film so we were truly the guinea pigs,” Kihlstedt said. “We were stop No. 1. But it was amazing. It was like a little indie film and everybody does whatever job there is that needs doing. I love that.”
L. Scott Caldwell plays out the challenges of a woman physically separated from her husband because he’s in a nursing home, which elevates the safety precautions.
“No one could come into my house. Any air that I breathe could not be breathed by someone on the very, very, very small crew. So if somebody had to come in to make an adjustment, I had to leave and then come back in,” Caldwell said. “After a while, you just sort of forgot that you were doing anything unnatural.”
Tommy Dorfman plays a non-binary stylist alongside Rainey Qualley’s aspiring musician. They’re close friends and sometimes more — and during the pandemic they start to realize how their codependency isn’t healthy. Dorfman says having the crew at a distance actually made things go quicker.
“We weren’t getting touched all the time and adjusted all the time, and we didn’t have time to take a lot of breaks between scenes. We were moving at a really fun pace, and it just allowed us to play and be in the moment,” said Dorfman.
As Hollywood plots out ways to resume working in the U.S., Bellows hopes the miniseries serves as an example of how it can be done.
“We have a time capsule miniseries of being some of the first people on the planet to execute a story in this time. And I think that’s great,” Bellows said. “My hope is it’s not the way we have to do everything for much longer. But I think it’s an important little piece of history, not only for audiences but also for other filmmakers to look at and see, ‘OK. These are ways we can overcome the challenges that we’re facing in order to tell the stories we want to tell.’”
“Love in the Time of Corona” debuts its first two episodes Saturday on Freeform, with the second two airing Sunday. The episodes will drop on Hulu the next day.
“This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that’s what it takes to win,” Obama said in unflinching remarks on the third night of the Democratic convention. He spoke from Philadelphia, where the United States Constitution was drafted and signed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama painted a unsparing portrait of American democracy on the brink if President Donald Trump wins in November, warning in a scathing, and at times emotional, address Wednesday that his successor is both unfit for office and apathetic to the nation’s founding principles.
“This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that’s what it takes to win,” Obama said in unflinching remarks on the third night of the Democratic convention. He spoke from Philadelphia, where the United States Constitution was drafted and signed.
Obama’s address amounted to one of the most sweeping condemnations ever of a sitting president by one of his predecessors. It was aimed squarely at jolting Democrats, as well as Republicans who are skeptical of Trump, ahead of the November election, casting the contest not simply as a choice between two politicians or two parties, but as a test of the endurance of American ideals.
Through much of Trump’s presidency, Obama has been restrained in his public comments, hewing to the tradition of former Oval Office occupants giving space to the current commander in chief. Yet he has become more pointed in his criticism in recent months, and his remarks Wednesday revealed the full extent of both his personal disregard for the current president and his belief that Trump presents an existential threat to democracy in the United States.
Obama said he had initially held out hope that Trump would grow into the job of president — but he has now concluded that Trump not only hasn’t, he simply can’t. Instead, he said Trump has focused on using the presidency to benefit his friends and family and turned the nation’s most powerful office into “one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.”
Trump, who appeared to be watching in real time, responded with all-caps tweets, questioning why Obama waited until after the Democratic presidential primary was over to endorse Biden. Obama maintained throughout the primary that he would not endorse a candidate in the large field.
Obama’s address also amounted to a call to action to a weary and anxious nation, particularly younger Americans frustrated with a government that may often appear out of touch with their interests. Democrats see Obama as a bridge to those voters in the 2020 race, someone who can speak both to Biden’s character and to the urgency of progressives pushing for more sweeping change to the nation’s economic and domestic policies.
He called out in particular to young people who took to the streets of American cities earlier this year to protest police brutality against Black Americans, casting them as the heirs to the legacy of civil rights leaders such as Georgia Rep. John Lewis, who died earlier this summer.
“You can give our democracy new meaning,” he said. “You’re the missing ingredient — the ones who will decide whether or not America becomes the country that fully lives up to its creed.”
Obama cast Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, as well positioned to help that younger generation of activists power through many of the changes they seek. Yet there is an inherent tension in Obama, whose own political rise was fueled by the power of barrier-breaking, generational change, touting Biden, a 77-year-old white man who has spent a career in politics, for the presidency.
Indeed, many of Obama’s public comments since leaving the White House have focused on encouraging a new generation of political leaders to step up, both in America and around the world. He drew particular attention during the 2020 Democratic primary when he said many of the world’s problems have been due to “old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way.”
With the general election now in full swing, Obama confidants say that while the former president’s support for Biden is unequivocal, he does worry about enthusiasm among younger voters, particularly younger voters of color. He’s well aware that one of the reasons Trump currently occupies the Oval Office is that those voters did not show up in the same large numbers in 2016 for Hillary Clinton as they did when he was on the ballot.
Obama spoke two nights after his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, headlined the opening night of the convention and delivered her own condemnation of Trump. She urged Democrats to show up to vote the way they did in 2008 and 2012, the elections that sent her husband to the White House on the strength of high turnout among young people, women and voters of color.
The fact that the Obamas were headliners on two of the four nights of the Democratic celebration speaks to the crucial role they have in helping Biden try to reassemble that coalition — and the challenge the Democratic Party has in building a new bench of other leaders who can do the same.
“When you think about folks who have the capacity to really unify us, there are only a few people,” said Yvette Simpson, chief executive of Democracy for America, a progressive political action committee. “Certainly Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are among them.”
Indeed, the former president has enviable popularity, both among Democrats and all Americans. A Fox News poll conducted in May found 93% of Democrats had a favorable opinion of Obama, as did 63% of all registered voters.
Despite that strong support, there has been some rethinking of Obama’s legacy among some of his party’s most liberal activists, who argue he didn’t go far enough in overhauling the nation’s health care system and gave too much away to Republicans in fiscal negotiations. Obama himself has acknowledged there was more he wanted to do, but argued he was hamstrung by the realities of a Republican-controlled House, and eventually Senate, for much of his tenure.
But some of Obama’s more recent comments have energized liberals, who see signs of him embracing some of the tactics of his party’s activist wing. Progressives cheered in particular when Obama called for eliminating the Senate filibuster rules requiring 60 votes on major pieces of legislation, calling it a “Jim Crow relic” that is holding up rewriting voting rights laws. His surprise comments came during his eulogy at the funeral of the late civil rights leader and Georgia Rep. John Lewis.
“That’s the guy we remember from the election of 2008,” Simpson said. “It encouraged me that he might be the guy that pulls Joe Biden along a little bit.”
A federal judge will not release the names of federal law enforcement members who cleared Lafayette Square in June. Protesters, including Black Lives Matter, are suing President Trump, law enforcement officers and Attorney General William Barr for violating their constitutional rights when clearing them from Lafayette Square so that the President could have a photo-op in front of St. Johns Church.
Kamala Harris accepted the Democrat’s nomination for Vice-President. Among other points, Harris spoke of her late mother and historically black colleges and Greek letter organizations.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president on Wednesday, cementing her place in history as the first Black woman on a major party ticket and promising she and Joe Biden will rejuvenate a country ravaged by a pandemic and riven by racial and partisan divides.
In an address capping the third night of the virtual Democratic National Convention, the California senator evoked the lessons of her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a biologist and Indian immigrant, saying she instilled in her a vision of “our nation as a beloved community — where all are welcome, no matter what we look like, where we come from or who we love.”
“In this election, we have a chance to change the course of history,” Harris said. “We’re all in this fight.”
Mixing a former prosecutor’s polish with the deeply personal, Harris also spoke of her Jamaican father and getting a ”stroller’s eye view” of the civil rights movement as her parents protested in the streets in the 1960s.
“There is no vaccine for racism,” Harris said. “We have got to do the work.”
Harris addressed a party that has staked its future on bringing together a racially diverse coalition of voters. She was preceded in the convention program by Barack Obama, meaning the nation’s first Black president introduced the woman trying to be the first Black person to hold the vice presidency. Obama said Harris was an “ideal partner” for Biden and was “more than prepared for the job.”
Harris is a former district attorney and California state attorney general. She promised to speak “truths” to the American public. She said she and Biden, who tapped her as his running mate last week, believe in a country where “we may not agree on every detail, but we are united by the fundamental belief that every human being is of infinite worth, deserving of compassion, dignity and respect.”
Democrats hope Harris can galvanize their party’s faithful — who are divided between progressive and moderate wings — and win over swing voters still deciding between Biden and Trump. But she also was introducing herself to a national audience that may not have been paying close attention to the race until now.
“For somebody with her wealth of background and experience, she’s still fresh. She’s still new,” said Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus who endorsed Harris’ 2020 presidential primary run before throwing her support behind Biden in March.
Harris spoke at a convention center in Biden’s home state of Delaware that was empty except for socially distanced reporters and a few campaign staffers. She was introduced by her sister, Maya, her niece Meena and Ella Emhoff, her stepdaughter who calls her “Momala.” At the end of her speech, Biden walked out to join her from a distance and both were soon joined by their spouses.
In sweeping remarks that touched on the legacy of Black women who paved the way for this moment, Harris noted that this week marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Except that right, Harris said, came much later for most Black women, who helped secure that victory yet were still prohibited from voting.
“Without fanfare or recognition, they organized, testified, rallied, marched, and fought — not just for their vote, but for a seat at the table,” Harris said. “We’re not often taught their stories. But as Americans, we all stand on their shoulders.”
Harris also blistered Trump, something she’s expected to do frequently as she campaigns with Biden in the coming months — though in-person events may remain impossible as the coronavirus rages. She recalled her days in the courtroom when she would declare “Kamala Harris for the people,” reviving a slogan from her presidential campaign, while noting, “I know a predator when I see one.” She didn’t mention the president by name then but didn’t spare him later.
“Donald Trump’s failure has cost lives and livelihoods,” Harris said. She later added, “Right now, we have a president who turns our tragedies into political weapons. Joe will be a president who turns our challenges into purpose.”
The Biden campaign is hoping Harris can excite young voters and people of color, especially after months of protests over institutional racism and police brutality that swept the country. She’s known for her tough questioning in the Senate, particularly during confirmation hearings of two Trump nominees, Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court justice and William Barr for attorney general. She also caused a stir by broadsiding Biden during a primary debate last summer over his opposition to busing in the 1970s to integrate public schools.
But things didn’t always go smoothly. Harris launched her presidential bid with expectations that she would electrify the field, only to see her campaign struggle to find a consistent message and fizzle months before the first votes were cast.
Some voters are paying particularly close attention to Harris because she could be called upon to step into the role of party standard-bearer as soon as 2024, should Biden — who will be 81 by then — opt not to seek a second term. Biden hasn’t expressly said he’d serve just a single term, but he has talked about being a bridge to a new generation.
Harris said her mother instilled in her and her sister values that charted the course of their lives.
“She raised us to be proud, strong Black women,” Harris said. “And she raised us to know and be proud of our Indian heritage.”
The campaign is deeply personal for Harris in others ways, too. She spoke Wednesday of her friendship with the former vice president’s son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015. He and Harris became close while both were state attorneys general.
“I knew Joe as vice president. I knew Joe on the campaign trail,” she said. “But I first got to know Joe as the father of my friend.”
It’s no secret that the coronavirus pandemic has literally changed about every aspect of our lives, including how we travel. More and more people are taking vacations and hitting the roads. Today, I have information on how to make sure you do it safely. My guest is John Townsend – AAA Mid-Atlantic
“Summertime, and the traveling isn’t easy.” Summer vacations will not look the same this summer, as a result of COVID-19. While there is a pent-up demand for travel, many Americans remain cautious as they explore options. Many hope to “travel safely and maintain social distancing.” To do so, they will hit the roads in cars and in recreational vehicles (RVs). Even so, 46 million Americans will take a trip in the next 12 months with almost 51% of those planning to travel via RV doing so because of Covid-19 concerns, estimates the RV Industry Association. More information here:
Tune in to Taking it to the Streets, weekday mornings at 6:15, 7:08 and 8:40 on the Steve Harvey Morning Show on 96.3 WHUR.
Follow me on facebook and twitter at @bobbygailes for updates and to stay connected.
Two nights down, two to go for the Democratic National Convention. Tonight will be the most historic as California senator Kamala Harris will accept the nomination for vice-president. A first for a woman of color on a major political party ticket. But that’s just the beginning. We’re talking about all of the issues for the DNC this week.
Guests:
Nicole Williams, (D) Maryland State Delegate, Dist. 22
Paris Dennard, Republican National Convention Senior Communications Advisor, Black Media Affairs
Mahalia is an alt-R&B/soul artist who counts Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill among her biggest influences. The singer and songwriter made her recorded debut in her early teens, by which point she had already attracted major-label interest.
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@mahalia stopped by the @frankskishow with @peninabrown to talk about music and her latest single. Check out the full video clip below!
Sending a Big “Thank You” to @Mahalia for stopping by The Frank Ski Show with Nina Brown. To find out more about Mahalia and everything they talked about during the interview.. click here Mahalia Music.
Habakkuk 2:3 ESV
For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.
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Frank Ski’s Inspirational Vitamin is his positive daily spiritual note to keep you going!
A Black member of the Harlem Globetrotters is speaking out about an incident earlier this year where fruits, including a banana, were thrown at him by white news broadcasters as he was performing basketball tricks on an Alabama news show. Maxwell Pearce discussed the matter Saturday on social media. His posts came a day after WBRC-TV aired a show that featured an interview with Pearce about the January incident on Good Day Alabama. A news director with the Birmingham news outlet has apologized to Pearce. The director says the fruits were thrown without knowing the racial implications. The Harlem Globetrotters did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the incident.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama will deliver a live address during Wednesday night’s Democratic convention and urge voters to back Joe Biden, who spent eight years by his side in the White House. Obama will aim to serve as a bridge between those reassured by Biden’s lengthy resume and more moderate record, and a younger generation of Democrats pushing for a more sweeping changes to the nation’s economic and domestic policies. Obama’s address comes two days after his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, headlined the Democratic convention.
The U.S. leads the world in the number of coronavirus cases, with 5.4 million cases reported as of Tuesday, and more than 170,000 confirmed dead, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Notre Dame and Michigan State universities became the latest colleges to move classes online because of the coronavirus on Tuesday as colleges struggle to contain outbreaks and students continue to congregate in large groups without masks or social distancing.
The decisions came the same day a third school in the 17-member University of North Carolina system reported a COVID-19 cluster in off-campus housing.
Notre Dame president the Rev. John Jenkins announced the university’s decision to cancel in-person undergraduate classes for two weeks in an address to students and staff.
“It is very serious, and we must take serious actions,” Jenkins said, referring to the news that nearly 150 students had tested positive.
Jenkins said he decided against sending students home after consulting with health care experts. Instead, the university is imposing restrictions on student activity, including limiting access to dormitories to residents and barring students from major gathering places on campus.
Michigan State, which had been scheduled to start in-person classes on Sept. 2, decided to switch to online instruction as a preventive measure amid the ongoing nationwide pandemic, President Samuel L. Stanley said in a statement posted on the school’s website.
“It has become evident to me that, despite our best efforts and strong planning, it is unlikely we can prevent widespread transmission of COVID-19 between students if our undergraduates return to campus,” he said.
Tuesday’s actions followed the decision by officials of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to switch to remote learning starting Wednesday, as the virus makes its mark on colleges — and college towns — across the United States. Other universities are reconsidering plans to hold in-person classes or implementing new testing regimes. And some are threatening crackdowns on students who get too close with others, in violation of social distancing rules.
UNC-Chapel Hill freshman Mackenzie Holland spent two weeks in her dorm before she found herself moving back out again on Tuesday, after the university canceled in-person classes for undergraduates when clusters of coronavirus infection surfaced among students.
Holland said she sobbed for an hour after learning the news.
“I kind of expected it, but I’m just kind of disappointed in my classmates and the people that are out partying and stuff because now I can’t finish my college experience,” Holland said. “I know that we’ll be back one day, but it’s just sad right now.”
In the past few days alone, college students at schools in North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Vermont, Kansas, Colorado and at the Air Force Academy have tested positive, creating a ripple effect that has put hundreds of other students into quarantine or isolation.
The U.S. leads the world in the number of coronavirus cases, with 5.4 million cases reported as of Tuesday, and more than 170,000 confirmed dead, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
“We had anticipated and planned for COVID cases on our campus this fall,” UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz told faculty members in a Zoom call Monday. “However, seeing the COVID-19 positivity rate rise from 2.8% to 13.6% at Campus Health over the past week is very concerning.“
On Tuesday, a smattering of UNC-Chapel Hill students packed up their belongings and headed back home with their families.
Holland said she wants other colleges to learn from the Chapel Hill students who participated in large, maskless gatherings.
“A lot of kids our age don’t understand the result of their actions, and this is kind of showing what can result of that,” she said.
Officials at UNC’s North Carolina State University in Raleigh said Tuesday that health officials had identified a cluster of COVID-19 cases involving some students in off-campus housing where a gathering was held early this month. They did not say how many people were infected but health officials define a cluster as five or more cases in close proximity or in one location.
The University of Oklahoma is requiring its sororities to recruit new members virtually after learning of students attending large social events without taking precautions against the virus.
Students at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville could face punishments as stiff as expulsion if they host big parties, if they won’t cooperate with COVID-19 contact tracing or if they don’t complete forms documenting their self-isolation, Chancellor Donde Plowman said in a video conference Tuesday.
“I will not hesitate to do that if people, our students, are irresponsible,” he said.
Plowman also noted five cases linked to an off-campus party last week.
Wednesday is the first day of classes at the flagship Knoxville campus. School officials have confirmed 75 active COVID-19 cases there, involving 66 students and nine employees. About 6,500 students have moved in on campus, while another 30,000-plus live off campus.
The campus currently has 270 people in isolation due to contacts, symptoms or positive tests, including 51 students living on campus, Plowman said.
In Ames, Iowa, a retired Iowa State professor wrote in an op-ed to the Des Moines Register that he was alarmed at what he witnessed while driving through the Iowa State campus last weekend.
“Hundreds of students, out on the sidewalks, out on the front lawns, out in the street; in some places, sitting in chairs or milling aimlessly or running around and hugging each other because they hadn’t seen each other since last school year,” Richard Haws said.
He estimated that 1% of the students were wearing masks.
Meanwhile, the University of South Carolina said it would use saliva tests for students, faculty and staff as part of its plan to reopen for in-person classes on Thursday. The tests, which require a single spit sample, are an alternative to nasal swab tests and typically deliver results within 24 hours.
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Liu reported from Columbia, South Carolina. AP reporters Herbert McCann in Chicago; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; and Dave Kolpack in Fargo, North Dakota, contributed to this report.
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Anderson and Liu are corps members for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
“This year has been so anxiety filled and chaotic, I figured this experience would be something to lighten the mood,” says Dougherty, who paid to see the stars of TV’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race” dance in front of hundreds of parked cars at a shopping center in Paramus, New Jersey.
NEW YORK (AP) — Angel Dougherty went to the mall last month — not to shop, but to watch a drive-in drag show in the parking lot.
“This year has been so anxiety filled and chaotic, I figured this experience would be something to lighten the mood,” says Dougherty, who paid to see the stars of TV’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race” dance in front of hundreds of parked cars at a shopping center in Paramus, New Jersey.
After being closed for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, malls are bringing all types of drive-in entertainment to their massive parking lots, hoping to lure people back to their properties.
A mall in upstate New York, for example, is hosting a drive-in wrestling match. Others around the country are bringing movies or magic shows that can be watched from a car.
It’s a way to reintroduce people to the mall and eventually get them inside to shop, says retail consultant Kate Newlin. But that’s still a hard sell for anxious shoppers, especially with coronavirus cases spiking around the country.
“Nobody wants to go there,” Newlin says about malls. “Nobody wanted to go there before COVID.”
Malls have struggled to attract shoppers for years as more people shop online. But the pandemic has hit malls especially hard. Stores that they depend on, such as J.C. Penney, have filed for bankruptcy and are permanently closing several locations. Other mall tenants, such as the Gap, stopped paying rent while their stores were temporarily closed.
Retail consultant Jan Rogers Kniffen believes that up to half of the 1,000 malls in the U.S. will either close or be unrecognizable in the next two years. Before the pandemic, he expected only 300 to close over the next decade.
The drive-ins mean extra money for malls since production companies typically pay to rent a section of the parking lot. Details of the deals are kept private, but Newlin says renting out the parking lot won’t make up for the loss of losing a major tenant like J.C. Penney.
Malls can benefit in other ways: Some deliver meals from the food court to the parking lot. Others encourage movie goers to park a couple of hours before showtime to pick up dinner inside.
Brandon Voss came up with the idea of a drive-in drag show at an Olive Garden, where his meal was brought to his parked car.
“If Olive Garden can do it, why can’t I?,” says Voss, whose company had to cancel this year’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race” tour, which would have been held at indoor venues around the world.
He found a willing partner in mall operator Westfield, which brought Drive N’ Drag to three of its malls, including ones in Seattle and Annapolis, Virginia.
Drive ’N Drag tickets start at $70 for two people and their car. About 300 to 400 vehicles can park at each show, a much smaller audience than Voss is used to.
“We usually play in arenas that Lady Gaga plays,” he says.
Westfield says it has been using its parking lots to draw crowds for years, with circuses, ice skating rinks and car shows. But it had to get more creative during the pandemic, hosting drive-thru high school graduations and other events where people can and socially distance in their car.
Kilburn Live, another production company, has turned five mall parking lots into drive-ins and is adding others. Cars are parked at least 8 feet way. Attendees can watch from the roof of their vehicle, outside of it or sit in an opened trunk of an SUV, as long as they stay in their designated spot.
“I’m glad they are bringing drive-ins back,” says Kimberly Shanks, a real estate agent in Lakewood, Colorado, who watched two movies from her SUV, parked near a Nordstrom at the Park Meadows mall in Lone Tree, Colorado.
Outside of malls, drive-in movie theaters have become popular again with people tired of being stuck at home with no where to go. Walmart, noticing the trend, added drive-in movies to 160 of its parking lots where people can order snacks ahead of time from the store.
Shanks, who watched “Detective Pikachu” and a “Harry Potter” movie with her son, felt it was a safer way to have a night out without being “too exposed to crowds.”
Much of what’s played in the drive-ins are older movies, such as “The Goonies” and “Ghostbusters,” since Hollywood has all but stopped releasing new films. But Kilburn has shown some new content, including concerts by country stars Garth Brooks and Blake Shelton, which were filmed just to be shown at drive-ins. And the company plans to keep things fresh by expanding into drive-in stand-up comedy and magic shows
What can be shown is also limited by the malls, which don’t allow R-rated movies.
“We don’t want someone accidentally passing by to see something inappropriate,” says Michelle Snyder, chief marketing officer at Brookfield Properties, a mall operator that partnered with Kilburn.
Besides movies, Brookfield’s malls have used their lots for drive-thru farmer’s markets and drive-thru COVID-19 testing, a service many shopping centers around the country are offering in response to the pandemic. At Brookfield, someone has floated the idea of holding a drive-in wedding. And it’s also considering renting out parts of its parking lots to companies that want to hold drive-in meetings with their employees.
Foxx plays a disgruntled former military officer who has a personal reason fueling his desire to upend the drug’s distribution. “I need to get to the top of the food chain,” he says.
Imagine taking a little pill that could make you strong and vibrant, one that basically unlocks your yearning potential. No, not that pill. Get your mind out of the gutter.
The pill in Netflix’s “Project Power” gives you a superpower — invisibility, bulletproof, elastic body, fiery skin. But there are two catches: The effect lasts for just 5 minutes. And instant death is a possible side effect.
Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dominique Fishback star in this utterly satisfying, stylish R-rated crime thriller that gets extra credit for adding a dash of social critique along with its dazzling special effects.
The pills here are glowing gelcaps that you twist to activate and swallow. It’s creators say their product — called Power — can change the world and lots of ruthless people want to get their hands on it, as you would imagine.
But first they need a place to test the unpredictable pills on an unsuspecting populace and one place turns out to be New Orleans — bringing together our motley group of three heroes to fight against a shadowy conspiracy.
Foxx plays a disgruntled former military officer who has a personal reason fueling his desire to upend the drug’s distribution. “I need to get to the top of the food chain,” he says.
Gordon-Levitt plays a cop not afraid to take the pill if it helps him catch bad guys. He resembles Mark Walberg, swaggering around in a Saints’ Steve Gleason jersey with a gun at his hip and a badge on a chain around his neck. “Maybe we can do some good. Isn’t that our job?” he asks a fellow cop.
Fishback is a high school student by day and a Power dealer at night — but only to raise enough cash to take care of her ailing mom. She’s also a fierce rap star, if only she believed in herself. (Shout-out to rapper Chika for supplying Fishback’s raps and don’t click away before hearing the two women perform “My Power” over the credits).
The three are up against a small army led by rich, faintly accented drug kingpins with glamorous jets and designer clothes whose dialogue seems ripped from a “Miami Vice” episode. “The money is here if the product lives up to its reputation,” one says.
Newcomer Mattson Tomlin’s script is slightly derivative — mixing some “8 Mile” with “Limitless” — but give him credit for making plenty of jokes about other movies, baking in discussion of social power structures and for some frank addressing of race relations.
At one point Fox’s character looks at the schoolkid played by Fishback and tells her: “You’re young. You’re Black. You’re a woman. The system is designed to swallow you whole.”
The film’s coherence falls apart at the end, but the performances from our three heroes are great, with Fox and Gordon-Levitt elevating the material with real pathos. Fishback manages to pull off being a tough and smart high schooler even though she’s almost 30.
Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (“Nerve,” “Catfish”) keep things pretty tight and get help from some extremely good visual effects makers, especially when the film depicts how the pill changes regular people into crazed superhumans (try to catch a cameo from Machine Gun Kelly on fire.)
There’s a brilliant fight sequence shot from inside a protective chamber, a very-hard-to-pull-off comedic scene with Gordon-Levitt in a towel that works, and, in a first, a brutal death via ice sculpture. That’s cold.
“Project Power” nicely mixes elements of sci-fi and crime thriller to create a cool trip with a wink, set against a soundtrack that includes 2 Chainz, Nipsey Hussle and Curtis Mayfield.
In one scene, Fishback’s teen hopes to keep joining forces with Fox’s character, saying they’re like Batman and Robin. His response is a mind-blower: “We ain’t Batman and Robin. That’s a movie. This is real life.”
Wait, what? Actually, don’t ask a lot of questions. Just enjoy this pill going down.
“Project Power,” a Netflix release, is rated R for violence, bloody images, drug content and some language. Running time: 111 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
The lawsuit, dated Monday but filed publicly Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, alleged that the Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” actor attacked the woman, identified in court papers as “Jane Doe” to protect her privacy, after she met him at a Greenwich Village VIP lounge.
NEW YORK (AP) — Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. is accused of raping a woman twice in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013, according to a lawsuit that escalates the severity of the growing number of claims against him.
The lawsuit, dated Monday but filed publicly Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, alleged that the Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” actor attacked the woman, identified in court papers as “Jane Doe” to protect her privacy, after she met him at a Greenwich Village VIP lounge.
Attorney Mark Heller, who represent the 52-year-old actor, said the “alleged event never took place.”
“And my client is totally innocent of any of these false allegations and we’re confident it will be dismissed,” he said.
“She’s probably just somebody who’s looking for some glory to bask in the publicity and notoriety of Cuba Gooding Jr.’s case,” he added.
Gooding already faces misdemeanor criminal charges of sexual abuse and forcible touching related to claims women have previously made against him. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Heller has called the state court allegations “incredulous” and assailed the prosecution as a waste of taxpayer dollars.
The federal lawsuit said the woman agreed to accompany Gooding to a nearby SoHo hotel, where they were to be joined at the hotel’s ground-floor bar and restaurant by Gooding’s friends and a friend of the woman who was with her when she met Gooding at the VIP lounge.
But when they arrived at the hotel, Gooding convinced her to go upstairs with him to a room, saying he wanted to quickly change his clothes, the lawsuit said.
Instead, he put on music and attacked her, taking off her clothing and holding her arms to pin her down as he sexually assaulted and raped her twice, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the woman told Gooding during the attacks “‘no’ numerous times but he wouldn’t stop.”
According to court papers, the August 2013 attack has left the woman with “emotional pain, suffering, and a loss of enjoyment of life.” The suit seeks unspecified damages.
Gooding appeared last week in Manhattan state court, where he has pleaded not guilty to six misdemeanor charges of forcible touching and sexual abuse. If convicted, he faces up to a year behind bars.
State prosecutors say more than two dozen women have made claims against Gooding since allegations first arose against him.
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Associated Press writer Tom Hays contributed to this story.
In this edition of HUR@Home we’re talking about you and your job in black and white. A new report from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) says race-base discrimination in the workplace continues to be a problem. But there’s more to it than that. My guest is Johnny Taylor, Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Society for Human Resource Management.
For weeks, President Trump has been railing against what he calls universal mail-in voting. Claiming without evidence… wide spread voter fraud. Today… the new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy did an about face. He put changes on hold until after the election. Why did that happen and what does this percolating controversy mean for your mail service now and your mail-in ballot in November?
Guests:
Ray Robinson, Executive Vice-President, American Postal Workers Union, Local 140 (not pictured)
U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown (D) Maryland 4th District
Kristen Clarke, Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
(Washington, DC) — The Senate Intelligence Committee is out with a long-awaited final report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The report says Donald Trump’s then-campaign manager Paul Manafort worked closely with a Russian intelligence official who may have been involved in the hacking of Democratic Party emails. The bipartisan panel also accused the Trump administration of obstructing its investigation with “novel claims” of executive privilege. Manafort was later convicted of fraud and tax charges that were unrelated to the Russia investigation.
Wellness should always be a priority! Quarantine has hit us hard and affected many of our goals, weight loss being one of them, but that’s okay! It’s never too late to start over and get it right!
Are you experiencing digestive issues? Struggling with weight loss? Extreme fatigue? Joint pain? Acne? Consistent headaches? Poor sleeping habits? If you are, it may be time for a detox. According to Healthline, detox refers to the different diets that allow your body to rid itself of toxins. If you listen to your body, it will notify you on how it’s functioning. Pay attention to the signs, if you are always under stress, have a busy and overwhelming schedule, or have poor eating habits, these are clear indications that the body will need time to rejuvenate itself. Toxins can creep into the blood stream and digestive system if the body is not properly taken care of!
If you are struggling with improving your health and wellness overall a diet detox is a great place to start. Keep in mind a lot of detoxes demand you to pull back from the unhealthy foods and require you to be mindful by filling your body with fruits and veggies that will provide nutrients in order for the body to function at its highest level. Think of the body like a car. Over time the car endures wear and tear from continuous usage, every now and then it’s time for a tune up! That’s how the body works. The body is made up of several systems with different functionalities that need a jump start from time to time because of usage.
Poor habits as it relates to health leads to weight gain which can lead to obesity if not careful, and several other diseases and health issues such as heart and kidney disease, different kinds of cancers, high blood pressure, and diabetes. According to the CDC, 49.6 percent of blacks suffer from obesity followed by other races. As you can see obesity affects some groups more than others.
My health has been a constant battle for me since quarantine began. I’ve struggled with my weight pretty much all of my life! Since the pandemic began, I developed a severe case of acid reflux also known as GERD. Acid reflux is a condition where the stomach acid flows back up the food pipe. Anxiety and other stressors contribute to acid reflux as a matter of fact they play a huge role in it. My digestive problems had worsened as the months went by. My internal medicine doctor prescribed me an over the counter drug called Prilosec. Prilosec is a popular over the counter acid blocker. I was on 40mg a day. Everything I ate gave me heartburn and indigestion, something I had never experienced before. It was so bad; I was on a bland diet for weeks at a time. I became angry and upset but I knew I was too young for those kinds of constant digestive issues and I wanted permanent relief. I decided to do the Dherbs Full Body Cleanse 20 Day Detox. This detox requires you to eat a raw diet only consisting of fruits, vegetables, and nuts for 20 days while taking herbal supplements created to cleanse each of the body’s systems. Let’s just say I am on day 6 of the detox cleanse and this is day 4 for me with no Prilosec. I am excited. I feel light on my feet and I am acid reflux symptom free!
Sometimes it may feel like it’s very hard to go cold turkey and give up a lot of foods you were eating to start your health journey. It’s okay to crawl before you walk. All that matters is that you are taking steps in the right direction. Below are ways to begin your journey and then possibly you’ll find it much easier to jump into a detox that will require you to eliminate several foods so your body can start running as usual:
Drink plenty of water and try to pull back on the soda and concentrated or artificially flavored juices
Get your sugar in the natural form from fruits and not from artificial sugars like candy
Have a at least 2-3 servings of fruits and veggies a day
Get at least 8 hours of sleep! Sleep is important. The body heals itself when it shuts down and we sleep
Try to exercise for at least 30 mins a day
Cook and eat at home! Eliminate processed foods
Decrease the salt intake
Most importantly, give yourself grace! Don’t be so hard on yourself, it is a process! Whatever you do, don’t quit!
Wellness should always be a priority! Quarantine has hit us hard and affected many of our goals, weight loss being one of them, but that’s okay! It’s never too late to start over and get it right! I’m with you! Let’s do it together!
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Postmaster general says he is halting some operational changes until after the November election. Democrats contended that the changes threatened mail-in voting, and some states planned to file lawsuits. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced Tuesday he would “suspend” his initiatives until after the election “to avoid even the appearance of impact on election mail.” The crisis at the Postal Service has erupted as a major election year issue as DeJoy, a Trump ally who took control of the agency in June, has swiftly engineered cuts and operational changes that are disrupting mail delivery operations and raising alarms among workers.
Ralph Tresvant says he’s a private person, and a family man. But, he adores all of his RT fans.
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Ralph Tresvant has so much to be excited about. The first single on his 4th forthcoming album is called “All Mine” and it’s fire. Ralph beamed as he talked about the producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Hopefully the new album will drop soon.
With unemployment in the U.S. hitting frighteningly high levels, Walmart’s ability to deliver low-priced food, clothing and electronics strengthened its structural advantages further.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans established trusted supply lines as the virus surged in new regions of the U.S. over the past few months and millions did so at Walmart, where online sales nearly doubled in the fiscal second quarter.
They shopped in Walmart’s stores, too, and sales at U.S. locations opened at least a year jumped 9.3%, the company reported Tuesday.
Walmart topped almost all expectations by wide margins and company shares, which hit an all-time high Monday, jumped another 6% before the opening bell though shares retreated to negative territory.
Consumers had already begun to rely on Walmart and other essential retailers like Target and Amazon as lifelines for necessities during the start of the pandemic, sending Walmart’s online sales up 74% for the fiscal first quarter. That trend accelerated in the second quarter and broadened the gap between traditional retailers, many of them anchor stores at the mall, and big box operators like Walmart and Target.
With unemployment in the U.S. hitting frighteningly high levels, Walmart’s ability to deliver low-priced food, clothing and electronics strengthened its structural advantages further.
Walmart’s earnings followed a standout fiscal second-quarter performance from the nation’s largest home improvement chain Home Depot, helped by a frenzied pace for do-it-yourself home renovations. The home improvement chain reported on Tuesday a 23.4% increase in sales at stores opened at least a year globally. That’s almost twice the 12.2% increase that industry analysts had projected. Both companies are setting a high bar for the rest of the retailers and are among the few bright spots in an industry mostly battered by the financial fallout of the pandemic.
Net income for Walmart Inc. reached $6.48 billion in the quarter, or $2.27 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.56 per share, easily outpacing Wall Street projections of $1.22, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.
The world’s largest retailer posted revenue of $137.74 billion, also exceeding expectations.
However, surging sales took place as the U.S. rolled out massive assistance plans for the millions who had lost jobs or who were furloughed.
The $600-a-week federal unemployment check that had been sent to roughly 28 million laid-off workers is gone. And a $1,200 stimulus check that was sent to many Americans in April and May appears to be a thing of the past. Negotiations in Congress on a new economic relief package have collapsed and there is no evidence of an agreement on more aid, at least in the near future.
That had been a concern for analysts trying to predict how that will influence where Americans shop.
Also, Walmart, like any other retailers are facing soaring costs related to the pandemic that include cleaning protocols. It said that costs related to COVID-19 hit $1.5 billion during the fiscal second quarter; up from nearly $900 million in such costs during the fiscal first quarter.
