#FreeKwame
Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
Showing posts with label Jesse Jackson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesse Jackson. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Monday, November 4, 2019
The Funeral Of John Conyers, Jr.
Detroit — The late U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. was praised Monday as a giant for civil and voting
Former President Bill Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and dozens of congressional and community leaders attended the more than five-hour funeral to laud Conyers, the longest-serving African American congressional member in the nation’s history.
In his 53 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Conyers became the first black chairman of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees. The longtime Democrat created a federal holiday for Martin Luther King Jr., and various speakers noted how he served as a mentor on public service and politics.
Conyers, who died Oct. 27 at age 90, was "an incredible thinker politically," said Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson, the congressman's main eulogist — “what he did legislatively, what he did politically, what he did in terms of changing the tide for black people is incalculable.”
Issues such as reparations for blacks and the struggle for civil rights were his legacy, Dyson said after the funeral.
“So he leaves a huge gulf,” he said. “Plus he was a progressive in the pure sense. He was willing to compromise to be certain, but he was unstinting in his advocacy for those who were most vulnerable.”
Clinton thanked the leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus and others who joined him to pay tribute to Conyers, thanking the people of Detroit “for electing him 27 times.”
“When somebody served as long and as well as John did, it’s tempting to list every last bill that he sponsored or co-sponsored or had anything to do with,” Clinton said.
“In a way, that’s a big mistake because it tends to turn history into dry bones. The most important thing is to remember how different the playing field was when he began rather than ended … how many lives were improved by his labors.”
Conyers’ casket sat just below the packed stage, a folded American flag resting on top next to a spray of red flowers. Former Detroit Pistons star Isiah Thomas paid a special tribute.
Among the dignitaries who attended but did not speak were civil rights icon and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia; U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing; and U.S. Reps. Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield; and Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who eventually replaced Conyers after his resignation in December 2017.
Conyers came to Washington in January 1965, voted for the Voting Rights Act and ended up sponsoring three years later legislation to create Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday in the wake of the civil rights leader's 1968 assassination.
At the time Conyers took office, Clinton said, millions of African Americans still could not exercise the right to vote.
“When it (The Voting Rights Act) passed, he said it was the most important thing he would ever work on,” the Democratic former president said of Conyers. “He had no way of knowing then, he’d be hanging around in Congress for 54 years.”
The effects of that bill were immediate, Clinton said.
“When he did all this there were fewer than 1,000 African Americans in any form of local, state or national office in this whole country,” he said. “Today, there are more than 10,000.”
Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton would never have become president without the Voting Rights Act, Clinton said.
“He fought tooth and nail against every encroachment on the right to vote,” he said, including restoring elements to the Voting Rights Act that were nullified by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. “He kept on going right to the very end.”
Rosa Parks story
Clinton shared a story Monday of Conyers’ reaction to Rosa Parks moving to Detroit. Parks couldn’t make a living at her home in Alabama.
“Even an icon has to eat, buy clothes, have a place to sleep. We often forget that,” Clinton said. “John Conyers, a young congressman, knew that she was in a fix, so he hired her. And she worked for him in his local district for 23 years, until she retired."
Clinton also shared some personal experiences with Conyers, including how Conyers brought jazz great Lionel Hampton to the White House in 1998 to play for Clinton.
“John Conyers’ autobiography might have been subtitled Jazz in the Key of Life,” he said. “He was not perfect and that made all of his achievements all the more important. Remember the circumstance, the action, the impact and make your own music.”
Conyers resigned in December 2017 after several former female staffers accused him of sexual harassment. He denied the claims of misconduct and said at the time of his resignation he hoped his departure would be viewed "in the larger perspective of my record of service."
Motown singer Stevie Wonder hailed Conyers as the catalyst for the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday legislation in 1968 and pushing it through to passage in 1983. It helped inspire Wonder's "Happy Birthday" song in tribute to King.
"We cannot forget the life of John Conyers, and getting people registered to vote is the way to honor him," said Wonder, who later played his 1969 hit "My Cherie Amour" in honor of the congressman.
Conyers' wife Monica told the audience toward the end of the funeral “don’t feel sad for us.”
“We feel sad for ya’ll," said Monica, the 55-year-old former Detroit City Council president. "You don’t have anyone to fight for you. Can you call somebody, really call somebody who is going to pick up the phone and stop it (a problem) in an instant.”
She warned people to be mindful of who they elect and “allow in your circle.”
'Losing too many giants'
The funeral followed a weekend of remembrances for the man who became the dean of the U.S. House of Representatives as he lay in state at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
Among those at the service were Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Detroit Councilman Gabe Leland and former Detroit city councilwoman, the Rev. JoAnn Watson.
Lawmakers and colleagues of Conyers reflected on the legacy of the civil rights champion who loved Detroit.
Conyers served with 10 presidents and continued to be successful even in his final years, said former House Judiciary Chairman Robert Goodlatte of Virginia, who was the only Republican to speak at the event.
Goodlatte said he worked with Conyers against government surveillance, on criminal justice reform and policing strategy.
“He didn’t just care about people here in Detroit or elsewhere in the United States, he cared about people all across the globe,” Goodlatte said, adding that the congressman was a gentleman with strong convictions but who was always polite and soft spoken.
Conyers was a giant who stood amid turmoil and "kept on standing," said U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.
Conyers introduced a bill for a committee to study reparations proposals in 1989, one of the “continuously unpopular things” he did it to “give a voice to the silenced and he gave them hope," Jackson Lee said as the crowd rose to its feet and applauded.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, hailed Conyers as a mentor who showed that "a progressive is someone who has no fear.”
“John Conyers gave me the spirit. He helped me to know I can have a voice. You can do all of this and still be respected,” said Waters, who has criticized and called for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
She also took a swipe at Trump, who she said “doesn’t understand the Constitution” or “have an appreciation for the democracy” and “doesn’t deserve to be the president of the United States.”
The impeachment inquiry will continue despite death threats that have come her way, Waters said.
“John Conyers, whether you said it or not, this fight is for you," she said. "I’m not walking away from this fight. You have done too much to allow that this man who is that office illegally be allowed to stay in this office and to undermine all that you have done, all that you have cared about, all that you have thought about.”
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, who lost husband U.S. Rep. John Dingell earlier this year, said she knew the family’s pain.
“We’ve lost so many people this year,” she said. “...We’re losing too many giants.”
When he first ran for office, Conyers won by 158 votes, Dingell said.
“John Conyers was a fighter,” she said. “He always had a vision for the future and a respect for the past.”
Conyers knew she had been sad when Dingell’s husband fell ill after she took office and always took the time to check on her, Dingell said.
“He was dean of our region and he never left our side to make sure we were taken care of,” she said.
Julian Epstein, a congressional staffer for Conyers, said remembered the longtime congressman as a man who was “unfailingly dignified.” He was “the first to call whenever the chips were down” and “I never knew him to take a day off," Epstein said.
“He loved the people of this great city of Detroit,” he said. “He was never too busy or never to self-important to make time for any of you.”
Sen. Gary Peters said Conyers was a “living legend” who freely gave advice, even when the Bloomfield Township Democrat said he did not ask for it.
“But I always gladly accepted it,” Peters said. “It always was wise and from his heart.”
Memorial in works
Conyers “was my man,” said the Rev. Wendell Anthony, senior pastor of Fellowship Chapel and president of the Detroit branch of the NAACP.
“He was consistent, he was a leader and he was our own national treasure," Anthony said.
“John Conyers went out on the limb for us. He shook the tree,” he added. “Who will pick up the fruit and who will shake the tree now?”
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he and City Council President Brenda Jones will be working with the Conyers family on a permanent memorial.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer noted the auto workers, seniors and everyday people whose lives were made better because of Conyers’ work.
“Jobs, justice, peace …,” Whitmer said. “That is a legacy that everyone in our state is proud of.”
The Democratic governor said she had ordered all flags be flown at half-staff in Michigan through Sunday to pay tribute to the former congressman who enlisted as a soldier in the National Guard just after high school.
“He could not have known at the time how appropriate the guard could be for his life; always ready, always there,” she said. “It is on us to mentor the next generation and make sure they know the legacy of John Conyers.”
Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist added Conyers, a family friend, created conditions that “propelled us to places that were unavailable and unimaginable” to prior generations.
“Every time there was a wrong to be righted, John Conyers was there,” he said. “These historic actions will reverberate for eternity … and no innuendo will take that away. We have to commit to honoring him.”
First family of Detroit
Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, pastor of Greater Grace Temple, opened the Monday service, noting that the Conyers’ family is one of the most significant in the history of Detroit.
“This is not just a distinguished gentleman, this is the distinguished gentleman,” Ellis said of Conyers.
Bishop P.A. Brooks, during the invocation, called Conyers a “man of steel and velvet.”
Before the funeral, former Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said he was surprised by Conyers' passing. He had been looking well a month ago when the two spent time together during an outing at the Detroit Golf Club, Bing said.
Bing said he regarded Conyers as a “warrior, a fighter, another great man” who dedicated his life to service.
Stabenow said Conyers cared about people and his city of Detroit.
“He was a man who put his imprint on the fight for civil rights, and justice and equal treatment for people,” Stabenow said.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hugs the Rev. Jesse Jackson during the family hour.Buy Photo
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hugs the Rev. Jesse Jackson during the family hour. (Photo: Robin Buckson, The Detroit News)
“He was a gifted politician,” Dyson said before entering the church on Seven Mile. “His life was its own eulogy. All I have to do is narrate the details of his tremendous and transcendent career. An extraordinary figure, he lived his life fully every day.”
Former Detroit Democratic Congressman Hansen Clarke, the friend, former aide and fundraiser to Conyers, held back tears as he described how “I owe the fact that I held political office to him.”
“I saw firsthand how he would help people and support causes that were unpopular,” Clarke said. “But he would do it because it was the right thing.”
In Washington, D.C., Rocky Twyman of Rockville, Maryland, organized a prayer vigil in front of the White House in Conyers’ honor. He asked passerby to sign a card for Conyers’ family.
“He fought many different presidents to get the King Day celebration,” Twyman said of Conyers.
“I don’t want him to be forgotten,” he said. “He really gave his life fighting for people and all of us got something.”
Conyers was scheduled to be interred after the funeral at Detroit Memorial Park in Warren, according to the funeral program.
Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Cocktails & Popcorn: The #coloredrevolution Has Hit Benton Harbor, Michigan - David Bullock Has Been Activated
I see Reverend David Bullock.
He was on the show Preachers of Detroit.
An activist throughout the city of Detroit, Pastor David Bullock has an outspoken, engaging personality that has established himself as a media sensation with a loyal fan base. Relishing in his reputation and driven by a sense of purpose, he is known for having a Bible in one hand and a bullhorn in the other. Although he plans to run for office in hopes of making substantial changes to the city, Pastor Bullock’s first love is practicing ministry as the leader of the Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church.
Not afraid to speak his mind, Pastor Bullock’s name has often been seen in the news for organizing sit-ins, marches, and political rallies. He always puts his work first and spends much of his time reading and educating himself. Pastor Bullock is a philosopher, musician and currently an eligible bachelor.
It is just one of those "colored" revolution thangs you do when you know your dirt is about to come out of what you did in the 2016 election...or maybe not...but hey, what do I know?
WARNING: GRAPHIC COLORED REVOLUTION LANGUAGE ADVISED
He was also very mean to my Sweetie, and so was his girlfriend who used to send him lots of confidential federal information to do stuff like interfere with elections, and anything else they could hustle a dollar, but that is another tale to unfold.
I also know for the right price, he will do just about anything.
Anyway, meet the National Action Network, not to be confused with the NACCP and the launch of the #coloredrevolution.
I told you Gretchen was going to be thrown under the bus before she was elected by the Action Network.
I am so prescient.
Benton Harbor Schools ‘urgently requesting’ that Gov. Whitmer reconsider plan
BENTON HARBOR, Mich.—Benton Harbor Area Schools officials have written an open letter to Governor Gretchen Whitmer “urgently requesting” that she appear in person at the June 4 public meeting regarding the proposed plan to close Benton Harbor's high schools.
The state met with officials from Benton Harbor on Friday to discuss the plan that recommends the closing of Benton Harbor High School and the alternative high school so that the district can focus on students in K-8th grade.
In the proposed plan, Benton Harbor High School and the alternative high school would close as of the 2020-2021 school year.
The school board issued the following open letter to Governor Whitmer, with an urgent request for her to attend the June 4 meeting in person, which is open to the public and will be held at 6 p.m. in the Benton Harbor High School Student Commons.
Letter to Governor Whitmer written by the Benton Harbor Area Schools Board (BHAS):
Dear Governor Whitmer –
We respectfully and urgently request that you visit Benton Harbor in person to meet in an Open
Public Meeting with the community and the elected School Board trustees regarding the future of
Benton Harbor High School and the K-12 District as a whole.
The School Board is hosting an Open Public Meeting at the Benton Harbor High School Student
Commons on Tuesday June 4 at 6pm. We would love to host you and let you hear the full story.
Hopefully you are aware that representatives from your office, Treasury and the Department of
Education are claiming that, on your behalf, a unilateral decision has been made to close Benton
Harbor High School in 2020. The Board was told by your representatives that a decision was made
by your office to intentionally exclude the elected School Board trustees and exclude open
community input from the decision-making process. Honestly, we are completely shocked and
dismayed by this action. Our Board has been working in good faith with both Treasury and
Education to address issues at BHAS including an outline for a new Strategic Plan, submitted to
Treasury, but upon which your departments have taken no action.
We also want to openly confront the many “elephants in the room” that neither your staff nor the
news media have addressed:
• The land upon which the Benton Harbor High School sits with its athletic fields and adjacent
School Board properties are the LAST MAJOR UNDEVELOPED WATERFRONT PROPERTIES in
Berrien County, Michigan. Is this just a coincidence, given that your office just told our
Board representatives on 5/24/19 that your plan to close Benton Harbor High School has
major (but unnamed) supporters in the nearby business community?
• The Draft Plan from your office is explicitly a transfer of wealth from an overwhelmingly poor
and black community (Benton Harbor) to nearby white, more affluent communities. Under
your Plan, that transfer of wealth will occur through the loss by Benton Harbor of its school
facilities and use of school land, transfer of state funding from Benton Harbor to the
adjacent nine school districts where you plan Benton Harbor students to be redistributed,
and loss of jobs for local teachers and staff of all levels.
• The contention by representatives of your office that hiring a single staff person to act as a
“Cultural Dean” to smooth over “discomfort” that the displaced 700 black students might
feel when transported out of their community to predominantly white schools is an
appalling insult to our youth and the community. Such insensitivity to the painful history of
racial segregation, unsuccessful past desegregation efforts, and continued State-sponsored
dis-investment in Benton Harbor calls for a swift and strong response.
We call upon you to meet with us – to hear the students voices and the expertise of our teachers.
We call upon you to fulfill your 2018 campaign promises to support public schools, especially in
high-poverty communities, to fight urban poverty, and to hold government accountable.
BHAS needs balanced, constructive leadership from you, your office and all State agencies.
We need complete transparency. We need State and local leaders to stop sensationalizing limited
facts about Benton Harbor in the media and on the Michigan.gov website created by your office to
promote your Plan to close Benton Harbor High School. Our community needs to feel that our
youth are respected, valued and worth meaningful investment so that they may achieve their
tremendous potential. The students, their families, our teachers, and our community deserve that.
Sincerely, Steve Mitchell, Trustee and Board President
Joseph Taylor, Trustee and Board Vice-President
Patricia Rush, Trustee and Board Secretary
Denise Whatley-Seats, Trustee and Board Treasurer
Matthew Bradley, Trustee
Lue Buchana, Trustee
Michelle Crowder, Trustee
Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Cocktails & Popcorn: The "Colored" Revolutionary Re-Writers Of Civil Rights History v. The Old School Civil Rights Legal Playas - Call For Congress To Reopen MLK & RFK Assassination Probes - Prepare For The Detroit #Cyberwar
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| "Look at the 'Legal Geniuses' (trademark pending) trying to re-write our civil rights legal history." "I wonder what the Celestial Goddess of the Woodshed is going to do?" "I do not know but I bet she has cocktails & popcorn." |
On this exciting adventure on Cocktails & Popcorn, we have a group of individuals to launch the call for congress to reopen the King and Kennedy assassinations.
I took a look at the group and found it quite odd that the Old School Civil Rights Legal Playas (not players) were intentionally omitted as participants.
I took another look and found the spokestokens, but no one from the inner circles of King or Kennedy.
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| "Say his name!" "They do not want to say his name!" "I know. That is why it is so funny." |
Then, I went through and took one last look at the group and found that they all have NGOs and Hollywood projects listed as their expertise.
It was at that point I sat down and poured myself a lovely, warmed Frangelico, to relax, for I am about to report, from the frontlines of the "Colored" Revolution.
These people are about to clown like you have never seen clowning before in preparation for what is about to come out of Detroit.
No matter what predictive modeling crap they generate, no matter what augmented dossiers they throw out there, no matter how they spin and twist in a furry of "he-said-she-said" television ads, dripping with "blackman-hate-whiteman-hate-brownman-hate-yellowman-hate-rainbowman-woman-haters" porn, nothing will wash away the history of how they were stealin' our children, land and votes, in the name of the tax exempt god.
If you do not know the Old School Civil Rights Legal Playas or their histories, you can learn about Detroit and Civil Rights History here.
Kennedy and King Family Members and Advisors Call for Congress to Reopen Assassination Probes
On the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a group of over 60 prominent American citizens is calling upon Congress to reopen the investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Signers of the joint statement include Isaac Newton Farris Jr., nephew of Reverend King and past president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Reverend James M. Lawson Jr., a close collaborator of Reverend King; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, children of the late senator.
Other signatories include G. Robert Blakey, the chief counsel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which determined in 1979 that President Kennedy was the victim of a probable conspiracy; Dr. Robert McClelland, one of the surgeons at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas who tried to save President Kennedy’s life and saw clear evidence he had been struck by bullets from the front and the rear; Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower who served as a national security advisor to the Kennedy White House; Richard Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and a leading global authority on human rights; Hollywood artists Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Rob Reiner and Oliver Stone; political satirist Mort Sahl; and musician David Crosby.
The declaration is also signed by numerous historians, journalists, lawyers and other experts on the four major assassinations.
The joint statement calls for Congress to establish firm oversight on the release of all government documents related to the Kennedy presidency and assassination, as mandated by the JFK Records Collection Act of 1992. This public transparency law has been routinely defied by the CIA and other federal agencies. The Trump White House has allowed the CIA to continue its defiance of the law, even though the JFK Records Act called for the full release of relevant documents in 2017.
The group statement also calls for a public inquest into “the four major assassinations of the 1960s that together had a disastrous impact on the course of American history.” This tribunal -- which would hear testimony from living witnesses, legal experts, investigative journalists, historians and family members of the victims -- would be modeled on the Truth and Reconciliation hearings held in South Africa after the fall of apartheid. This American Truth and Reconciliation process is intended to encourage Congress or the Justice Department to reopen investigations into all four organized acts of political violence.
Signers of the joint statement, who call themselves the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, are also seeking to reopen the Robert F. Kennedy assassination case, stating that Sirhan Sirhan’s conviction was based on “a mockery of a trial.” The forensic evidence alone, observes the statement, demonstrates that Sirhan did not fire the fatal shot that killed Senator Kennedy -- a conclusion reached by, among others, Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the Los Angeles County Coroner who performed the official autopsy on RFK.
The joint statement -- which was co-written by Adam Walinsky, a speechwriter and top aide of Senator Kennedy -- declares that these “four major political murders traumatized American life in the 1960s and cast a shadow over the country for decades thereafter. John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were each in his own unique way attempting to turn the United States away from war toward disarmament and peace, away from domestic violence and division toward civil amity and justice. Their killings were together a savage, concerted assault on American democracy and the tragic consequences of these assassinations still haunt our nation.”
The Truth and Reconciliation Committee views its joint statement as the opening of a long campaign aimed at shining a light on dark national secrets. As the public transparency campaign proceeds, citizens across the country will be encouraged to add their names to the petition. The national effort seeks to confront the forces behind America’s democratic decline, a reign of secretive power that long precedes the recent rise of authoritarianism. “The organized killing of JFK, Malcolm, Martin, and RFK was a mortal attack on our democracy,” said historian James Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. “We've been walking in the valley of the dead ever since. Our campaign is all about recovering the truth embodied in the movement they led. Yes, the transforming, reconciling power of truth will indeed set us free."
***
The Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s Calls for Action:
1.
We call upon Congress to establish continuing oversight on the release of government documents related to the presidency and assassination of President John F. Kennedy, to ensure public transparency as mandated by the JFK Records Collection Act of 1992. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform should hold hearings on the Trump administration's failure to enforce the JFK Records Act.
2. We call for a major public inquest on the four major assassinations of the 1960s that together had a disastrous impact on the course of American history: the murders of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. This public tribunal, shining a light on this dark chapter of our history, will be modeled on the Truth and Reconciliation process in post-apartheid South Africa. The inquest -- which will hear testimony from living witnesses, legal experts, investigative journalists, historians and family members of the victims -- is intended to show the need for Congress or the Justice Department to reopen investigations into all four assassinations.
3. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we call for a full investigation of Reverend King’s assassination. The conviction of James Earl Ray for the crime has steadily lost credibility over the years, with a 1999 civil trial brought by Reverend King’s family placing blame on government agencies and organized crime elements. Following the verdict, Coretta Scott King, the slain leader’s widow, stated: “There is abundant evidence of a major, high-level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband.” The jury in the Memphis trial determined that various federal, state and local agencies “were deeply involved in the assassination … Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame.” Reverend King’s assassination was the culmination of years of mounting surveillance and harassment directed at the human rights leader by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and other agencies.
4. We call for a full investigation of the Robert F. Kennedy assassination case, the prosecution of which was a mockery of a trial that has been demolished by numerous eyewitnesses, investigators and experts -- including former Los Angeles County Coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi, who performed the official autopsy on Senator Kennedy. The forensic evidence alone establishes that the shots fired by Sirhan Sirhan from in front of Senator Kennedy did not kill him; the fatal shot that struck RFK in the head was fired at point–blank range from the rear. Consequently, the case should be reopened for a new comprehensive investigation while there are still living witnesses -- as there are in all four assassination cases.
A Joint Statement on the Kennedy, King and Malcolm X Assassinations and Ongoing Cover-ups:
- As the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979, President John F. Kennedy was probably killed as the result of a conspiracy.
Dr. Gary Aguilar Daniel Alcorn Russ Baker Alec Baldwin G. Robert Blakey Denise Faura Bohdan Abraham Bolden Rex Bradford Douglas Caddy Rodnell Collins Debra Conway David Crosby Edward Curtin Dr. Donald T. Curtis Alan Dale James DiEugenio James Douglass Laurie Dusek Daniel Ellsberg Karl Evanzz Richard Falk Isaac Newton Farris Jr. Marie Fonzi Libby Handros Dan Hardway Jacob Hornberger Douglas Horne Gayle Nix Jackson Stephen Jaffe James Jenkins Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Bill Kelly Andrew Kreig John Kirby Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. Jim Lesar Edwin Lopez David Mantik Dr. Robert N. McClelland Mark Crispin Miller Jefferson Morley John Newman Len Osanic Lisa Pease William F. Pepper Jerry Policoff Rob Reiner Abby Rockefeller Dick Russell Mort Sahl Vincent Salandria Martin Sheen Lawrence P. Schnapf E. Martin Schotz Paul Schrade Peter Dale Scott John Simkin Bill Simpich Oliver Stone Dan Storper David Talbot Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Adam Walinsky Benjamin Wecht Dr. Cyril H. Wecht Betty Windsor
Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
Friday, December 14, 2018
Michelle Obama Came To Detroit
I have never been a fan of Michelle.
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| John Conyers, Jr. & Michelle Obama at Detroit Institute of Arts |
She has refrained from allowing the words of foster care and adoption to leave her lips in public.
That means she is either ignorant, or complicit in the suppression of the trafficking of tiny humans, of which I elect the latter.
I have heard chatter that she has a familiarity with the SOS Children's Village of Illinois, but do not know if she addresses this in her book, as I shall make it a point to never find the time to read it.
I wonder if she shared, in her new book, stories about Bobby Rush and that "royal clique" who have a strong aversion to those who hail from the fairer persuasion.
But, allow me to stop there because opening up to tell one's story is the focus of her book tour.
Perhaps, she could help America become 'a little unlost right now' by telling her story about child welfare and the politics behind it.
Michelle Obama in Detroit: America is 'a little lost right now'
For the women who showed up at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday night, seeing Michelle Obama was like meeting up with their super-smart best friend who just happens to be the former first lady of the United States and author of the best-selling hardcover book of the year.
They praised her intelligence, her poise, her grace, her style, her penchant for shopping at Target, her ability to live in the spotlight but remain down to earth. "She was a regular person, she was relatable," said Jacqueline Coleman, who lives in Lansing and brought her sister to the event as a birthday gift.
"She is an African-American woman who stands for peace," said Devin Massengale, who is 34 and lives in Detroit. "She speaks for the people."
But maybe Donna Ford-Brown, a 60-year-old Detroiter, best summed up the connection so many women feel with Obama: "She's us."
Obama took the stage in front of a sold-out audience of about 12,000 as Alicia Key's "Girl on Fire" pumped in the background.
On the latest stop of the book tour for her memoir "Becoming," Obama spoke about growing up in her hardworking family on the south side of Chicago, being a black student at a majority white Ivy League college, how she met her husband and wasn't interested in dating him, at first. "It's really the fuller picture of who they are and how they treat women in the world. That's not something you learn the first date or two," she said. "That's one of the reasons why I don't believe in love at first sight. Love is just so much deeper. ... I got to see that in Barack before I even considered him as a person to date."
Obama talked about the scrutiny that she and her family endured as the first black family in the White House. "We can't make mistakes. We can't get indicted," she said, as the crowd roared with approval at the zing of the current president's administration. "There is a difference in standards," she said. "We are seeing that right now. We live with double standards all the time."
People need to get to know themselves and each other, Obama said. And that's the purpose of her book.
"For me, I knew that, for folks to really understand me, they needed to know my whole story and they needed to know the context of my life. ... I think that's true for all of us. ... We see the superficial. We see each other through stats and skin color and race and party and that tells us nothing about each other ... which is why we feel so disconnected. ... We have to share ourselves with each other if we want to break this cycle of discontent and fear, we have to be brave enough to open ourselves up to each other. ... It's hard to hate up close."
The program, billed as an intimate conversation, was moderated by comedian Phoebe Robinson, who promised a "deep and profound" conversation.
Obama ended up being a motivational speaker ("women need to learn to stop putting themselves last"), big sister ("young people need to explore more possibilities so they don't pick the wrong career") and best friend.
"No matter what we're feeling now, I've traveled all around this country, there is more good, more possibility, more kindness, more openness than than not," Obama said. "The here truly is. I'm an honest broker. If I was seeing stuff ... I would tell you. We're just a little lost right now."
Women described her message as uplifting yet real.
"I think she is a true role model for any person," said Katherine Kochanek, who is 49 and lives in South Lyon.
"I'm so proud of her and what she accomplished," said Denise Coleman of Detroit. Her sister treated her to the event as a birthday gift.
And if she had the chance to talk to Obama, here's what she would say: "Thank you."
Sales of the book, which hit the stores four weeks ago, have exceeded 3 million, according to its publisher, Crown Publishing. The hardcover version of "Becoming" is $32.50.
Also on Tuesday, Obama's book tour was extended to include 21 more cities in 2019.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama makes a surprise visit at the Motown Museum in conjunction with her "Becoming" book tour. Detroit Free Press
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Saturday, June 30, 2018
Cocktails & Popcorn: Day 623.6. Cristal Pepingnan’s Mom Is Sheila Jackson Lee?
Oh, Sheila.
You know I am watching you...eating popcorn, sipping on my cocktail.
I told you not to be mean to my Sweetie.
Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
Monday, June 25, 2018
Day 619.1 Awan Spy Ring's iPhone Thefts At Capitol Eludes Capitol Top Cop Irving
I forgot Yvette Clark was on the Ethics Committee.
Interesting, because she knows stuff.
DEM CHIEF OF STAFF TRIED TO EXPOSE SUSPECTED THEFT RING ON CAPITOL HILL, WAS MET WITH RESISTANCE
- A top aide to Democrat Rep. Yvette Clarke told Capitol Hill investigators she believed the New York congresswoman’s chief of staff, Shelley Davis, was working with IT aide Abid Awan to steal equipment from the congressional office.
- Clarke “wrote off” one-tenth of her annual budget after $120,000 in equipment could not be located.
- She did not mention it publicly and waited to fire Abid until House officials approached her about it months later. Davis no longer works there, but has not been arrested.
Rep. Yvette Clarke’s deputy chief of staff came into the office on a Saturday in December 2015 and caught the New York Democrat’s part-time IT aide, Abid Awan, rummaging through the congresswoman’s work area with new iPods and other equipment strewn around the room, according to a House document and interviews with Hill staff.
Wendy Anderson told Abid to get out of the office, the document said. She told Capitol Hill investigators that she soon suspected Clarke’s chief of staff, Shelley Davis, was working with Abid on a theft scheme, multiple House staffers with knowledge of the situation told The Daily Caller News Foundation. They also said that Anderson pushed for Abid’s firing.
But Clarke did not fire Abid until six months after the congresswoman formally acknowledged that $120,000 in equipment was missing, records show — not until after House investigators independently announced a review that would potentially catch financial discrepancies. Even then, Anderson told investigators she believed another top staffer in Clarke’s office was subverting their efforts, a House staffer with knowledge of the investigation said.
Four months later, Anderson took a job with another congressional office. Clarke’s office declined to say under what terms she left.
Abid — known in the office as Omar — and his brothers, fellow IT workers Imran Awan and Jamal Awan, are suspected of making “unauthorized access” to congressional servers during the 2016 election and of running a theft scheme, according to the House Inspector General (IG). Together, the family had access to all the emails and files of 1 in 5 House Democrats.
Members like Clarke have refused to discuss the case. The New York congresswoman, meanwhile, has described Donald Trump’s presidency as the product of an “illegally hacked, illegitimate election.”
House Chief Administrative Officer Phil Kiko testified in a public hearing in April that “the House IG discovered evidence of procurement fraud and irregularities [and] numerous violations of House security policies” by the Awans. The alleged procurement fraud included submitting suspicious invoices to bill equipment to House offices.
Each invoice requires sign-offs from chiefs of staff or congressmen. House office budgets are tight enough that unnecessary purchases would be hard to miss, three chiefs of staff told TheDCNF.
A Feb. 3, 2017 letter from Kiko and the House’s top law enforcement officer, Sergeant-At-Arms Paul Irving, to the Committee on House Administration — kept secret by the House, but obtained by TheDCNF — quotes from notes on an interview with Anderson:
Coming in on a Saturday and finding Omar in the office with equipment everywhere. She stated, ‘it looked like Christmas with Apple TV’s, iPods, etc. scattered around the room.’ She stated that Omar told her ‘these items were not her office’s equipment but they belonged to another office.’ She told him to get them out of her member’s office.
One House staffer who said Anderson confided in them told TheDCNF of the views she expressed: “She knew it was obviously stolen … What business case would they have had for iPods? … He’s a shared employee, basically a contractor. Why would he be camped out … in her personal office?”
“Wendy was actually a truth-sayer, she wanted the right things to happen, enforce rules, and Yvette Clarke did not,” the staffer continued.
Anderson was promoted to chief of staff soon after she encountered Abid in Clarke’s office near Christmas 2015. Her predecessor, Davis, departed the payroll on Feb. 11, 2016.
Once Anderson became responsible for the office’s finances, she found that Clarke’s office had for years been ordering abnormal quantities of equipment, much with seemingly dubious business value, she later told House investigators, according to multiple congressional officials with knowledge of the probe who spoke with TheDCNF. After some investigating, Anderson told investigators she believed Davis was working with Abid to steal taxpayer funds, the officials said.
“She thought that Shelley and Omar had too tight of a relationship,” one said. “She’d been going through old email and could see that it basically smacked of Omar was ordering stuff for Shelley and there was no business reason.” Anderson gave House officials copies of those emails, the source said.
“She said to Abid, ‘I want to do an inventory of the office,’ and he couldn’t come up with $120,000 [in equipment], so he said, ‘Oh I don’t know, people lost it,” the source said.
The sum amounted to one-tenth of the office’s entire annual budget.
A lawyer for Abid’s brother Imran, Aaron Marr Page, later addressed the situation in Clarke’s office: “An outgoing chief of staff who — I don’t remember the guy’s name off the top of my head, but I think there was potentially some issues there… There may be cases on Capitol Hill of other people — certainly not Imran — who are enriching themselves who are taking devices.”
Davis answered a phone call from TheDCNF on his cell phone, but hung up after hearing Abid’s name and then apparently blocked TheDCNF’s phone number.
Clarke’s office wrote off the $120,000 of missing equipment in February 2016. A write-off is an accounting practice used to remove financial errors from the books without actually correcting the problem.
Under House rules, if a Congress member can’t account for office funds, he or she may be personally liable.
By April 2016, Chief Administrative Officer Kiko independently noticed financial anomalies in multiple congressional offices that employed Abid. He told the Administration committee, and by September the committee’s top Democratic staffer, Jamie Fleet, told employing offices that authorities would be auditing financial records connected to the Awan family, a committee source told TheDCNF.
It was only then that Clarke’s office told the committee of the circumstances surrounding the missing equipment, and House authorities began working with Clarke’s office to investigate the Awans’ activities.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong told TheDCNF the Capitol Police “requested that the shared employees be allowed to continue to use their IT credentials until [February 2017] because they didn’t want to tip off the employees.”
But Anderson soon concluded that the investigation was compromised because another high-level staffer based in New York was feeding information about authorities’ activities to Abid, a House staffer Anderson spoke with in detail about the situation told TheDCNF.
“Her district office chief, a female, was actively going against Wendy,” the staffer said. “She was good friends with Omar and was feeding him information. Clarke would tell this person and the woman was backdooring stuff to Omar. She was undermining the investigation.” Anderson told that to House investigators as well, the staffer said.
TheDCNF laid out Anderson’s allegations in this story — including that she presented evidence that Davis was involved in a fraud scheme, that Clarke declined to fire Abid for months despite Anderson’s urging, and that the office for years ordered abnormal quantities of equipment that was not present in the office — to Clarke’s spokeswoman, Christine Bennett. Bennett addressed only one, involving the suggestion that District Director Anita Taylor tampered with the investigation: “Anita Taylor vehemently denies the accusations made against her,” she said.
Clarke is up for re-election in her Brooklyn district’s primary on June 26. She is also a member of the House Committee on Ethics.
Investigators eventually interviewed Abid about the missing equipment. He blamed Clarke staffers for some and claimed the office never received others, according to a House IG presentation dated Sept. 20, 2016 that also says:
75 pieces of equipment with a purchase price of $118,416 were recently written off the House inventory for a member because one of the subjects could not produce them
- Shared employee stated that the items were never received, shouldn’t have been inventoried, or the staff lost the equipment
- However, equipment could not be on inventory or have asset tag unless it had arrived in office and EIN [Equipment Identification Number, a form that must be signed for a piece of equipment to be paid for] had been signed
- Missing equipment includes laptops, iPads, TVs, video conferencing equipment, and computers
Clarke gave Abid the passwords to many of her personal and professional web accounts — including those for her personal credit cards — and the Democrat’s staff were concerned that he would retaliate, according to a House staffer Anderson spoke with about the situation in detail. In the days before he was finally fired on Sept. 19, 2016, a carefully-orchestrated operation took place in which House security personnel changed Clarke’s passwords and the lock on a storage locker she used, the staffer said.
“That night, after they told him that he was fired, Wendy went to the office late at night and Clarke’s office door was a little open and she felt like someone was on the other side of the door. She ran out of the office frightened,” the staffer told TheDCNF.
Even then, Clarke repeatedly spoke about her former part-time computer guy, saying she felt she needed to undo the firing, Anderson told that staffer.
Anderson continued to express concern about what she viewed as Capitol Hill crimes that seemed to be resulting in little action. Soon after, she moved to a different office — that of newly-elected Florida Rep. Val Demings.
After Abid was fired by Clarke, Abid was hired by new congressmen in early 2017, payroll records show: Democrats Stephanie Murphy and Darren Soto of Florida, and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. In February 2017, his family was banned from the network.
The Department of Justice has not charged Davis or Abid with any crime. TheDCNF has no way of corroborating whether what Anderson told investigators is true. However, the voluminous evidence the House IG possessed, combined with the lack of charges, has led some Republicans to allege a cover-up.
“The FBI has had the opportunity to have those invoices presented to them, and each time they have instructed, ‘Don’t bring any of those documents,'” Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said on the House floor, quoting what the FBI told him about the case. “They continue to report … ‘We’ve still found no evidence’ … Why? Because they’ve instructed, ‘We don’t want to see those documents.'”
A senior Republican congressional official with direct knowledge of the probe previously told TheDCNF, “The only reason you’re not seeing charges is because the Democrats who employed him are not cooperating.”
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