An Open Letter to the DNC Chair: ‘There’s Too Much at Stake to Ignore Black Women’

Today Black women activists, civic and community leaders, and elected officials penned an open letter to Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez calling for a meeting to discuss the state of Black women and the Party. 

Dear Chairman Tom Perez:

Black women have consistently shown up for Democrats as a loyal voting bloc, demonstrating time and again that we are crucial to the protection of progressive policies such as economic security, affordable healthcare and criminal justice reform.

We have voted and organized our communities with little support or investment from the Democratic Party for voter mobilization efforts. We have shown how Black women lead, yet the Party's leadership from Washington to the state parties have few or no Black women in leadership. More and more, Black women are running for office and winning elections — with scant support from Democratic Party infrastructure.

Well, like civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, who testified at the 1964 Democratic convention demanding Blacks have a seat and voice within the Party, we are "sick and tired of being sick and tired." 

Click here to read the letter in its entirety. 

Source: NBC News 

Texas Rep. Al Green Faces Threats of Lynching & Murder After Calling for Trump's Impeachment

This video was published on YouTube on May 24, 2017. 

Last week, Texas Democratic Congressmember Al Green became the first congressmember to call for President Trump’s impeachment from the floor of the House of Representatives. Since then, the African-American lawmaker has received a barrage of racist threats, including voicemails in which callers threaten to lynch him. 

Source: Democracy Now!

Note: From The G-Man is interested in knowing why members of the Congressional Black Caucus, NAACP and other African-American organizations have not addressed this matter via a press conference or statement. I suspect this news and information site isn't the only one.  

Economist Joseph Stiglitz: Trump's Budget Takes a Sledgehammer to What Remains of the American Dream

This video was published on YouTube on May 24, 2017. 

The Trump administration unveiled its $4.1 trillion budget Tuesday. The plan includes massive cuts to social programs, while calling for historic increases in military spending. The budget proposes slashing $800 billion from Medicaid, nearly $200 billion from nutritional assistance programs, such as food stamps and Meals on Wheels, and more than $72 billion from disability benefits. 

Source: Democracy Now!

President Trump Gives Remarks at the Israel Museum

This video was published on YouTube on May 23, 2017.

Intel Committee Pressures Flynn to Hand Over Documents

 

This video was published on YouTube on May 24, 2017.

The House Intelligence Committee has issued two more subpoenas for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to hand over documents about his contact with Russian officials. CBSN political contributor Caitlin Huey-Burns discusses the Russia investigations on CBSN.

Source: CBS News

Democratic Lawmaker Calls President's Budget "Cruel and Morally Bankrupt"

Budget Committee member Barbara Lee (D-CA) condemns President Trump's fiscal year 2018 budget, calling it a betrayal and saying it is "cruel and morally bankrupt." She asks OMB Direct Mick Mulvaney to defend the president's priorities, including his proposed cuts to food stamps (SNAP). 

Source: C-SPAN

Speaker Ryan and Bob Woodward: Conversations with Axios

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) talked about the Republican agenda, including health care and tax policy at a forum hosted by the news media organization Axios. He also described working with President Trump. Speaker Ryan was interviewed by one of Axios’s co-founders, former Politico reporter Mike Allen. 

Source: C-SPAN

Education Secretary Pressed on Accountability for Charter Schools

Wisconsin Democratic Representative questions Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on ensuring accountability for Charter Schools operating in his state and around the country. Secretary DeVos says the states are required to ensure those standards.

Click here for video. 

Source: C-SPAN

'Artist of the Week': A Celebration of Artwork by Children

 Click on the drawing to increase its size.

From The G-Man is proud to announce the launch of its special "Artist of the Week" series, which showcases the artwork of children from the New York City area and other sections of the country. 

The first drawing to be featured, entitled "Love, Love", was created by Missronaisha Quattlebaum. The 11-year-old was born in Brooklyn and now resides in Columbus, Ohio. She intends to be a cartoonist. 

If your child, grandchild or extended family member is an aspiring artist, and you would like to encourage their effort by having it showcased to the online community, you're invited to email a photo of their drawing to FromTheGMan@gmail.com. Be sure to include their name, age and information on their future goals.

The invitation is also extended to elementary school teachers in the state of New York and across the country. Thank you. 

"G-Man"  

Black Men In College: Four Success Stories

 

This video was published on YouTube on June 24, 2014. 

Contrary to oft-repeated claims, there are more Black men in college than in prison. However, in 2011, Black men accounted for less than 6 percent of undergraduate students and less than 4 percent of the students enrolled in graduate studies, although they made for 8.7 percent of the population of 18-29 year olds. This under-representation of Black men in higher education is unacceptable. We all can do better to support policies and programs to encourage more young Black men to go to and graduate from college. 

 

Source: Children's Defense Fund

Trailblazers in Black History: Willie Mays

Eartha Kitt Talks About Being Blacklisted by LBJ

Cosby’s Lawyers Accuse DA of Blocking Black Jurors

 

by Tracy Connor

PITTSBURGH — Bill Cosby's defense lawyers accused prosecutors Tuesday of trying to keep black jurors off the mostly white panel that will decide if he's guilty or innocent of sexual assault.

The charge came after the Montgomery County district attorney's office used one of its seven peremptory challenges to remove a black woman with a scandal in her past. 

"We believe this is systematic exclusion of African-Americans," defense lawyer Brian McMonagle complained, lodging what's known as a Batson challenge.  

Click here for the full article. 

Source: NBC News 

Clinton Calls Trump Budget an 'Unimaginable Level of Cruelty'

Poll: Millennials Down on Trump’s Budget, Economic Priorities

 

by Mark Murray 

A majority of Americans ages 18 to 34 disapprove of President Trump's budget and economic priorities, according to a recent GenForward poll of millennials, a project of the University of Chicago.

Sixty-eight percent of millennials say they disapprove of increasing military spending by cutting spending for the State Department, Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies, while just 32 percent approve.

And two-thirds of these younger Americans — 66 percent — say Trump's budget proposals do more to help the rich, versus 28 percent who say they're aimed more at the middle class. The poll was conducted before the Trump White House officially unveiled its budget this week, but after it had already released key details of its proposals. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: NBC News  

Congressional Budget Report Could Upset GOP Efforts to Repeal Obamacare

 

by Benjy Sarlin

House Republicans passed their health care bill in early May. Now, they get to find out what's in it.

In a highly unusual move, House leaders brought the American Health Care Act to a vote three weeks ago without waiting for the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan agency responsible for scrutinizing legislation, to evaluate its effects.

The agency is scheduled to release its report on the AHCA on Wednesday afternoon. The CBO previously weighed in on a version of the AHCA that the House was set to vote on in March before Republican leaders withdrew the bill due to lack of support.

The bill that passed in May included major changes to satisfy conservative members, however, including a provision allowing states to waive key protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The new report will provide the most detailed nonpartisan analysis yet of the bill's potential impact and its findings will be dissected by critics and supporters of the bill for weeks to come. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: NBC News  

Taiwan Court Rules Same Sex Marriage Legal in Asia First

 

by The Associated Press

In a first for Asia, Taiwan's Constitutional Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage on Wednesday, punctuating a yearslong campaign by advocates for gay rights in one of the continent's most liberal democracies.

In its majority opinion, the court said a provision in the current civil code barring same-sex marriages stood in violation of two articles of the constitution safeguarding human dignity and equality under the law. 

Authorities must now either enact or amend relevant laws within two years, failing which same-sex couples could have their marriages recognized by submitting a written document, the court said. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: NBC News  

France Extends Emergency Powers

Source: euronews (in English)

The Pope Meets Donald Trump at the Vatican

Source: euronews (in English)

Philippines: Duterte Vows to Be 'Harsh' with Martial Maw in Mindanao

Source: euronews (in English)

Sydney Coroner Says Police Acted Too Slowly in Cafe Siege

Source: euronews (in English)

Maduro Pushes Ahead with His 'Constituent' Congress

Source: euronews (in English)

UK Raises Its Terror Threat Level to Critical

Source: euronews (in English)

Defiant North Korea Says Missile Tests Are Self-Defence

Source: euronews (in English)

Gaza Struggles Under Blockade

Source: euronews (in English)

Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s Address on Removal of Four Confederate Statues

On Friday, May 19, 2017, Mayor Mitch Landrieu delivered an address about the City of New Orleans’ efforts to remove monuments that prominently celebrate the “Lost Cause of the Confederacy.” The statues were erected decades after the Civil War to celebrate the “Cult of the Lost Cause,” a movement recognized across the South as celebrating and promoting white supremacy.

There are four prominent monuments in question. The Battle of Liberty Place monument was erected by the Crescent City White League to remember the deadly insurrection led by white supremacists against the City’s racially integrated police department and government. The Jefferson Davis statue on Jefferson Davis Parkway, the P.G.T. Beauregard equestrian statue on Esplanade Avenue at the entrance to City Park, and the Robert E. Lee statue at Lee Circle.

Source: Office of Mayor Mitch Landrieu | City of New Orleans

'The Fall' (The Donald J. Trump Show) by Mumia Abu Jamal

 
Click here to listen to the commentary. 

Source: Prison Radio

President Trump Address at Israel Museum

President Trump delivered a speech at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. He began with a call to U.S. allies to help defeat radical ideologies following the terrorist attack at a concert in Manchester, England.

Source: C-SPAN

Former CIA Director John Brennan on Russia and the 2016 Elections

Source: C-SPAN

DNI Director Declines to Comment on Whether President Asked Him to Push Back Against FBI Probe

DNI Director Dan Coats declines to comment publicly on a Washington Post story that President Trump asked him to push back agains the FBI's Russia probe. "It's not appropriate for me to comment publicly on any of this," he says. He also adds that such leaks jeopoardize lives."

Source: C-SPAN

Governor Cuomo Announces Aggressive Plan to Combat Long-Term Crisis at Penn Station

 

This video was published on YouTube on May 23, 2017. 

Governor Cuomo announced an aggressive action plan to address New York’s transportation challenges starting with the near-term crisis at Penn Station and the ripple effect it will have on the entire transit system.

Source: NYGovCuomo

The Power of the Black Woman

 

This video was published on YouTube on April 5, 2017. 

Ramona Smith "The Ladybug Speaker" gives the women of Hiram College a bit of knowledge about the power that lies within the Black woman.

Source:  Ladybug Speaker

Dr. John Henrik Clarke - The Slave Trade

A Song for the Soul: 'War' by Bob Marley

Trailblazers in Black History: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745–1799) was born in Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean, the son of George Bologne de Saint-Georges, a wealthy planter, and an African slave named Nanon. Although his father also had many white children, he took a special liking to Joseph, and in 1753 took his son, age seven, to France, where he began his education in a variety of arts including fencing.

According to the son of the fencing master La Boëssière, “At 15 his [Saint-Georges’] progress was so rapid, that he was already beating the best swordsmen, and at 17 he developed the greatest speed imaginable.”

He was still a student when he publicly defeated Alexandre Picard, a renowned fencing-master in Rouen who had foolishly referred to Saint-Georges as “Boëssière’s mulatto.” Heny Angelo, son of the famous Domenico (and a highly reputed fencing master in his own right) often went to fence with Saint-Georges while in Paris, and wrote about him in his memoirs:

“No man ever united so much suppleness with so much strength. He excelled in all the bodily exercises in which he engaged…He was a skillful horseman and remarkable shot; he rarely missed his aim when his pistol was once before the mark…but the art in which he surpassed all his contemporaries and predecessors was fencing...."

Additional information is available here. 

Source: The Greatest African-American and Afro-American Martial Artists in History

Maryland Stabbing Death Investigated as Possible Hate Crime

Freddie Gray Death: Several Baltimore Officers Face Termination After Internal Investigation: Reports

 

by Safia Samee Ali

Several Baltimore police officers involved in the Freddie Gray case are facing termination after an internal investigation found they committed administrative violations in their handling of the 25-year-old's death, according to reports.

An internal inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Gray's 2015 in-custody death found five of the six officers involved violated internal protocol, according to NBC WBAL-TV in Baltimore.

For three of the officers, the violations were enough to merit termination, the Baltimore Sun first reported. 

Click here for the full article.

Source: NBC News  

O.J. Simpson Will Have July Parole Hearing

by Mike Florio

The Juice could be loose, again.

Via Andrew Blankstein and Daniella Silva of NBC News, Hall of Fame running back O.J. Simpson will have a parole hearing in July. He has served nine years of a 33-year sentence on charges arising from a bungled effort to reclaim memorabilia that he believed was stolen from him.

Some contend the Nevada justice system threw the book at Simpson due to the perception that he got away with a double murder in California, with the alleged killing of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and Ronald Goldman.

The key question regarding Simpson’s potential freedom will be whether and to what extent discretion may be exercised by the parole board. That discretion will allow anyone who thinks he should be serving life without parole for the 1994 killings to justify keeping him behind bars for more of that 33-year term.

Source: NBC Sports (Pro Football Talk) 

Five Jurors Selected for Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Trial

 

by Tracy Connor

PITTSBURGH — Five of the 12 men and women who will decide Bill Cosby's fate were selected Monday on the first day of jury selection in his sexual assault trial.

The anonymous jurors empaneled so far are a middle-aged white woman, a middle-aged white man with a relative who is a sexual assault survivor, a younger white man, an elderly white man and a white woman who appeared to be in her 30s.

In a case where the defense has claimed racism is a factor, it's noteworthy that three black women were questioned, but none of them were chosen. The judge struck two of them from the panel — one because she said she had a strong opinion and another for hardship — and the prosecution used a peremptory challenge to remove a third. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: NBC News  

Conservative Reps Urge Trump to Fire NIH Chief Francis Collins Over Stem Cells

by Maggie Fox

A group of conservative members of Congress wrote President Donald Trump Monday, urging him to fire National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins because he is not pro-life enough.

They specifically object to Collins's support of stem cell research and the use of human embryos in scientific research. 

The 41 House members who signed the letter describe themselves as "staunchly pro-life members of Congress". They oppose abortion rights and some scientific research involving human embryos.  

Click here for the full article.

Source: NBC News