Egypt bans a pilot for life for allowing actor Mohamed Ramadan to sit in the cockpit during a flight.
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Friday, October 18, 2019
Rep. Elijah Cummings, Donald Trump relations soured amid House investigations
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Elijah Cummings said somebody once told him he would see one guy when he sat down with President Donald Trump “and then you might see another guy” the next day.
Cummings eventually saw that other side of Trump — the one who called the longtime Baltimore-area congressman a “brutal bully” and his district a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” That was after the burly Cummings, as chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, angrily berated a Homeland Security official at a congressional hearing on the administration’s policy of separating migrant families at the southern border.
Cummings, who died Thursday at age 68 of complications from chronic health issues, refused to respond in kind. Instead, he invited Trump to come see the district for himself.
Trump on Thursday had nothing but praise for Cummings, tweeting that he was a “highly respected” leader whose voice “will be very hard, if not impossible, to replace.” He ordered that U.S. flags fly at half-staff through Friday out of respect for the congressman.
Relations between the veteran Democratic lawmaker and the Republican political newcomer seemed to get off to a positive start just a few weeks after Trump took office.
The two met in the Oval Office in March 2017 to discuss legislation Cummings and other lawmakers planned to offer to help lower prescription drug prices, an interest the two men shared. Cummings told reporters afterward that the issue had come up when he ran into Trump at the president’s inaugural lunch in January and they agreed to talk more.
Trump was “enthusiastic” about the proposal, Cummings said, and Trump tweeted about the “Great discussion!” they’d had. A White House statement said Trump had expressed to Cummings his interest in working in a “bipartisan fashion” to help make prescription drugs more affordable.
But the relationship collapsed after the drug proposal stalled, voters put Democrats in control of the House in the 2018 elections and Cummings, in his new role as chairman, ramped up oversight of a White House that had faced scant scrutiny when Republicans ran the chamber.
At the time of his death, Cummings was among the House committee chairmen leading an impeachment inquiry Trump has denounced as “witch hunt.”
On its own, Cummings’ committee was examining conflict-of-interest issues involving Trump’s hotel in Washington and family members serving in the White House. It also was looking into how the White House, and Trump, approved security clearances, including for Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The committee also heard testimony from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, a key figure in federal law enforcement probes of potential coordination between Russia and Trump’s campaign, and campaign finance violations involving hush money paid to women who said they had had intimate relationships with Trump. Trump has denied those relationships.
Cummings had also reviewed the administration’s treatment of migrant children after they were separated from adults who brought them to the border.
Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., who served on Cummings’ committee, said the chairman believed in his constitutional responsibility to keep watch over the executive branch.
“He was so committed to protecting our democracy,” Lawrence told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. “He did not take his role lightly.”
In response to the series of July attacks by Trump, Cummings invited the president to tour his district, from the poorest parts of the majority-black city of Baltimore to the more well-off areas in suburban Baltimore and Howard counties.
“Come to Baltimore. Do not just criticize us, but come to Baltimore and I promise you, you will be welcomed,” the lawmaker said in August in his first public comments about the president’s criticism. Trump had also complained about other cities run by Democrats he did not name. The comments were widely seen as a race-centered attack on big cities with minority populations.
Trump defended his comments, which were widely condemned, before moving on from Cummings. He also said he would visit Baltimore “at the right time.”
That turned out to be in September, when he addressed House Republicans holding their annual retreat in the city. But Trump did not meet with any city officials or otherwise tour the city while there.
In a subsequent August appearance at the National Press Club, Cummings recalled being interviewed by a newspaper reporter, who said he was Trump’s “worst nightmare.” Cummings, the son of sharecroppers who rose to become a civil rights champion and leading member of Congress, said he explained that that was not his intention.
“I said, ‘You know, I’m doing my job,'” Cummings said. “I said the president is probably a nice guy but I love my democracy. I love my country and I love my countrymen more.”
___
Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap
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Willow and Jaden Smith are gearing up to hit the road for concert tour
The dynamic brother and sister duo of Jaden and Willow Smith have united like ‘Wonder Twins’ to launch a North American co-headlining tour.
READ MORE: Wendy Williams celebrates her new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Willow & Erys tour kicks off on Nov. 12 at Soma in San Diego, Billboard reports.
The singer and rapper will make tour stops in Austin, Houston, Nashville, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Toronto and more.
The month-long tour will conclude Dec. 19 at the Novo in Los Angeles.
Jaden previously said he and his sister “are like a band,” comparing their artistry to hip-hop duo OutKast and their famed Speakerboxxx/The Love Below album.
“Me and Willow are like OutKast except we only ever release individual albums.” You remember how OutKast did that one album where it was like two albums? That’s me and Willow. It’s like we’re not really a band, but we kind of are. It’s Jaden and Willow, we have to have the uniform names.”
Jaden recently released a new album ERYS, along with its first single “Again,” and has been prepping to hit the road with Tyler the Creator for the IGOR tour. But even with his musical talent, the son of Hollywood royalty says “I’m not a musician. I’m an inventor. Elon Musk is my idol and I’m not gonna stop until I’m like Elon Musk.”
As previously reported by theGrio, Smith’s celebrated his 21st birthday (on July 8) by launching his I Love You mobile restaurant; a food truck servicing L.A.’s Skid Row district. Back in March Smith’s foundation made headlines for helping bring clean water to Flint, Michigan by deploying a mobile water filtration system known as “The Water Box” that reduces lead and other potential contaminants.
READ MORE: Nivea says Lauren London became her friend when the two were pregnant
In his interview with Complex, Smith also explained why he dropped his last name on music streaming services.
“You want to know why? Because Willow’s name is “just Willow.” And everything is a character. I feel like I had to separate the things that I do as different characters,” he explains.
Tickets are on sale now for the Willow & Erys tour. Check out a full list of dates below.
Willow & Erys Tour Dates:
Nov 12 — San Diego, CA @ SOMA
Nov 13 — Tempe, AZ @ Marquee
Nov 16 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s
Nov 17 — San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre
Nov 18 — Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
Nov 20 — Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
Nov 21 — Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
Nov 22 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
Nov 24 — Washington, DC @ Echostage
Nov 25 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
Nov 26 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
Nov 30 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
Dec 1 — Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
Dec 3 — Toronto, ON @ Rebel Complex
Dec 6 — Denver, CO @ The Paramount Theater
Dec 8 — Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues
Dec 9 — Anaheim, CA @ City National Grove
Dec 10 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
Dec 19 — Los Angeles, CA @ Novo
xxx
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New York Comic Con becomes a welcome home for Black nerds
With movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Black Panther having multi-million dollar box office results, families across the nations are becoming more familiar with Black superheroes on their screens, and in their lives. From comic books to the big screen, characters like Miles Morales, the first Black Spider-Man, have been around for a while. Yet, a majority of the heroes we are familiar with are white, much like the perceived nerd demographic.
Well, contrary to popular belief, there really is a Black nerd culture. The best place to confirm this was at New York City’s Javits Center for Comic Con 2019, the holy grail of fan conventions for nerds of all kinds. TheGrio was on hand to find and celebrate the glory of other Blerds through cosplayers, comic book creators, photographers and publishers to understand why this Black nerd culture if finally getting its just dues.
Let’s start with the great art of Cosplay, the act of dressing in the likeness of a fictional character. Leigh “Dr.Law” Willis is a photographer who runs a cosplay photography service that focuses on Black cosplayers at Comic Con’s across the country. Willis has made it his duty to photograph Black cosplayers after witnessing the way they were excluded.
“I used to go to Cons and I honestly would see a lot of photographers not really want to take photos of Black [cosplayers] at all because they weren’t ‘canon,'” said Willis. “Why shouldn’t they have nice photographs of themselves too?”
In order for something to be ‘canon,’ it has to be considered authentic among fans, as part of a story line. For example, Miles Morales being from New York City is considered canon, as opposed to him being from California. If you want to cosplay Morales as a surfer, that’s fine, just know that while it may be a valid cosplay, it’s just not canon.
READ MORE: Black Panther’ Cheat Sheet: 11 things you should know before Friday’s premiere
Visibility is very important for Blerd culture, if they aren’t seen then how will they know there are others like them?
For Kaylah Oglesby, cosplaying as Kim Possible made NYCC her second con. Her experience during a themed “dress up like at character day, “at her private school revealed another problem Blerds often face: Inclusion.
“They’re all Disney princesses, like Marvel heroes, and you show up like a Black Leia, you’re not usually the coolest girl in class after that,” said Oglesby. “It was kind of weird for me because I didn’t see myself as Black Leia.”
Kaylah’s experience is why Black people need to be represented in their own spaces, and its why Black characters featured in their own movies, shows, and even animes are also becoming more recognizable.
“I don’t think Black Panther would have been like a billion dollar success without Black people,” said Erika Hardison, publisher and founder of Fabulize Magazine.
“I believe that we can produce creators and we can produce comics and books and novels without censoring anyone else but ourselves.”
READ MORE: Black Captain America leads comic book diversity
Independent examples of this do exist. Manuel Godoy, is the President of Black Sands Entertainment, a publishing company that features a comic book with Black characters for Black children and families.
Godoy has witnessed first hand the the power of the Black community when we galvanize to support Black content creators.
“The whole idea of the Black community don’t got money and stuff like that. That’s nonsense,” he said.”Whenever I did a Kickstarter, people came out, and they came hard. Some people were dropping $1,000 to $2,000 on a campaign themselves, just because they were feeling it.”
READ MORE: Comic book genius Stan Lee, Spider-Man creator, dies at 95
Godoy has been successful at creating content for, and being supported by the Black community. His comics, books and novels all feature Black families, and will soon be part of their own animated series.
“We don’t need to pander to the general audience in order to be successful,” said Godoy.
The community exists and it is thriving, but it needs a different kind of support from the Black community that goes beyond just buying a Black Panther t-shirt. Support independent comics, support cosplayers, and support Black content creators. Together we can elevate the culture.
Kiana Matthews-Quinonez is a freelance production assistant at theGrio. She’s a recent graduate of the
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Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland Signs Podcast Deal with iHeartRadio
According to The New York Times, Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes has signed a lucrative podcast deal. Rhimes’ production company, Shondaland, has inked a deal to create a new slate of podcasts for iHeartRadio over the next three years.
“Podcasting continues to see tremendous growth and I’m excited to partner with iHeartMedia as Shondaland expands its storytelling journey into this medium which has seemed to usher in a unique sense of boldness, intimacy, and connection,” Rhimes said in a statement. “With iHeartMedia we aim to share stories that are engaging, insightful, and reflect a robust world-view while staying true to the authentic storytelling voice that has become synonymous with Shondaland.”
“Shonda Rhimes is one of the greatest storytellers of our time,” said Conal Byrne, president of the iHeartPodcast Network. “We’re honored that she’s chosen the iHeartPodcast Network to extend her storytelling craft to audio, bringing a massive slate of new original podcasts to the world. With our unparalleled reach across multiple platforms, we can’t wait to introduce the incredibly engaging and brilliant Shondaland podcasts to millions of listeners.”
Shondaland is the pioneering storytelling company founded by award-winning writer and producer Rhimes. The company has produced the television series Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, For The People and Station 19 for ABC. Through the company’s unprecedented shift to streaming, it is producing content exclusively for Netflix including upcoming series Bridgerton, Inventing Anna and Notes on Love. In recent years the company has expanded into other divisions including launching the website Shondaland.com, part of the Hearst Digital Networks, and Shondaland Audio, part of the iHeartPodcast Network. The company is rooted in the ideals of creating content that changes culture, changes perceptions, and writes the future.
“Our fans have been dedicated to the Shondaland brand in a big way for many years, and similar to when we launched our website Shondaland.com with Hearst Digital Networks, we definitely see this as a brand extension,” Rhimes said on her website, Shondaland.com. “We know our fans well and we’re hopeful they will continue this journey with us in the audio space. Shondaland has always had a history of sharing compelling stories that reflect the full range of the human experience so we’re confident that the new voices and concepts we’re considering will excite our fans and general podcast listeners.”
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Lee Merritt critiques DA in charge of Atatiana Jefferson case
Civil Rights attorney Lee Merritt blasted the Tarrant County District Attorney (DA) Sharen Wilson and called her “a racist,” who he believes can’t effectively handle the investigation involving a white Fort Worth cop who killed a Black woman, Atatiana Jefferson.
READ MORE: Mom, who lied about her white son’s race to get into college, goes to jail
On Tuesday Merritt criticized Wilson for what he believes are past indiscretions that serve as evidence that she’s biased against Black women.
Case in point: Wilson is the same DA who jailed a Black woman Crystal Mason for voting illegally in an election even though she was a felon and didn’t realize it was against her rights.
“We do know this district attorney,” Merritt said. “Her name is Sharen Wilson. She’s the woman responsible for sentencing a black woman to five years in prison for voting in the last election–a young woman named Crystal Mason,” he said during a Tuesday interview with SiriusXM’s Joe Madison.
Earlier this year Mason was sentenced to 10 months in prison for voting in the 2016 Presidential election, which violated the terms of her release for a felony conviction. Mason was convicted of a felony and unbeknownst to her, the past criminal record prohibited her from voting.
Even though Mason’s vote wasn’t even counted, Wilson’s office still pushed to prosecute her.
“I call Sharen Wilson the Bull Connor of our generation. She is a bad district attorney and she is a racist, quite frankly. And it concerns that this case is landing in her lap. I’m hoping that the Department of Justice will step in and prosecute this case on their own.”
Wilson has been charged with leading the case investigation.
Jefferson reportedly heard noises in her backyard. Her nephew recalled that it was so concerning for her that she grabbed her gun from out of her purse to defend herself, and “pointed it toward a window.” Former Fort Worth cop Aaron was creeping around out back and shot Jefferson through the window. She died at the scene.
READ MORE: ‘The Squad’ members reportedly plan to endorse Bernie Sanders’ 2020 run
“We’re nowhere close to being concluded that this officer is even going to be formally charged with murder,” Merritt told Madison. “There’s still so much more work to do in this case.”
While Dean was charged with murder, currently his case is presented to a grand jury. There’s no assurance that he will be indicted though.
Check out more of what Merritt had to say below
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Wendy Williams celebrates her new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
From the hot seat to a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Wendy Williams was shining on Thursday when she was honored for her successful years in the entertainment industry.
READ MORE: Wendy Williams earns a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Williams attended a ceremony paying homage to her multi-disciplined career. She first rose in notoriety as a mouthy DJ, earning her famed by dropping dimes on the stars to being an author. Later, she re-invented herself, becoming a successful talk show maven, who’s been a TV mainstay for the last 11 years.
Williams, who has had a rocky year with health setbacks and dealing with a bed-hopping husband, now says her personal life is better than ever, ExtraTV reports.
“My personal life has been better than ever, you know, all things considered. I’ve got love. I’ve got my family. I’ve got loyal staffers at ‘Wendy,’ who aren’t just there because it’s a paycheck, like, we love each other. You know, I’ve got great bosses at FOX. What gets better than [CEO of FOX Television Stations] Jack Abernethy coming out of his office to talk about me?”
READ MORE: Wendy Williams takes subtle jab at estranged husband with new executive producer credits
Williams, who made her name as a controversial radio host in radio for 20 years. Williams was known for her shocking commentary, dishing dirt that sometimes earned her the ire of celebrities.
She had stints at the former KISS, Hot 97, and WBLS in New York as well as Philadelphia’s Power 99 from 1989 until she left radio in 2009.
The moment was surreal for Williams who received the 2,677th star on Hollywood Boulevard thanks to her work on her popular Emmy-nominated daytime talk show.
“I mean, you know, just the girl from Jersey, trying to make our bones, trying to figure out how to keep the mic hot without being thrown off.” She added, “You know, I’ve been having the mic for over 30 years of my career… the last 11 years, I never imagined that would happen.”
READ MORE: Wendy Williams ordered to pay cheating ex-husband $250,000
“I’m genuinely happy about my career today and the direction that it’s going to be taking for the next few years.”
And despite the difficult year, Williams pulled up her bootstraps, and put on her best face for the occasion.
“Well, you don’t want to have a hellish year and then look horrible,” she quipped.
And Williams had some parting words about what she thinks of her own achievements:
“You showed them — and stay humble. It’s a pretty heady ride.”
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Nivea says Lauren London became her friend when the two were pregnant
Nivea sat down with VLAD TV to dish about her ex Lil Wayne, and the humiliating reality that he also fathered a child with Lauren London who ultimately became an unlikely ally.
READ MORE: Nipsey Hussle’s family granted guardianship of daughter, Lauren London of son
On Wednesday, the Grammy-nominated singer revealed that she and Wayne dated for years. Despite having an on-again off-again relationship and getting engaged, the “Young Money” rapper called it off in 2003.
PEOPLE reports, however, that the two the childhood sweethearts ultimately reconnected after Nivea divorced her ex-husband, Terius “The-Dream” Nash in 2007,
“He reached back out like, ‘Where have you been?’ It had been five years,” Nivea, 37, said. “He wanted to apologize for the way it ended before. And I needed a damn friend. I felt like the whole world was laughing at me.”
It was a vulnerable time for the singer. She admits that despite the rapper being a rolling stone and he having a son on the way with his Sarah Vivian, she still decided to rekindle their relationship. Wayne proposed (again) to Nivea in 2009.
They would be a blended family, as Wayne already had a daughter Reginae, with his ex Toya Wright and Nivea shared three kids with The-Dream. Together they decided to forge ahead with their big family – at least that’s what Nivea thought.
“When we reconnected, I had three [kids],” Nivea said. “I wasn’t pregnant. That’s not the reason he proposed to me or anything like that. I took it for, ‘You accepted mine.’ If this occurred before us and we’re just now getting back to it, why wouldn’t I accept that son if you’re telling me you want to marry me? So that was that.”
Nivea got pregnant with her fourth child, her son Neal. This would be her first son, who is now 9, with Lil Tunechi. Things seemed perfect, until she was hit with a bombshell: actress Lauren London, 34, was pregnant too, and the impending deliveries were not far off from each other.
“I found out the day I was confirmed pregnant with our son that he had another one that should be expected three months ahead of ours,” Nivea said. “I’m like ‘Wow.’ Then my mama died. So yeah, life!”
Life came at Nivea fast, so she decided to end her relationship with the rapper.
“I ended our relationship while I was carrying our son was because I couldn’t take that,” she said. “I thought I could. I’m a different type of woman. I was like, ‘You know what? You love me? F— it!’ But then I realized that’s not what I wanted. So I let it go.”
While most situations like this result in baby mommas feuding on end, Nivea said London became the relatable friend that she needed.
“It was very crushing, then she and I became very close, ironically, after he and I decided to let it go,” she said. “She was a real good friend to me during my mother’s death. I know that sounds weird, but we were two people going through something that was along the lines of humiliating. It felt like, who else could you share this oddly unique situation with?”
READ MORE: Music producer claims he wrote Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts,” and wants credit
“We called each other to get information because she and I were both previous relationships of his in our younger years as well,” she about London.
“But it was our first time ever talking. We talked about all kinds of stuff from the past and in that we connected as friends. It’s still a testament to the type of man he is because all of his baby mothers, we’re all cool with each other. We get now that the children are here, damn it! They’re here now. You can’t take nothing back. So we are the best mothers that I’ve ever seen in a group with the same baby father. I think it’s amazing.”
London had a son Kameron, 10, with Wayne but went on to find love with slain rapper Nipsey Hussle.
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Thursday, October 17, 2019
Computer science in service of medicine
MIT’s Ray and Maria Stata Center (Building 32), known for its striking outward appearance, is also designed to foster collaboration among the people inside. Sitting in the famous building’s amphitheater on a brisk fall day, Kristy Carpenter smiles as she speaks enthusiastically about how interdisciplinary efforts between the fields of computer science and molecular biology are helping accelerate the process of drug discovery and design.
Carpenter, an MIT senior with a joint major in both subjects, said she didn’t want to specialize in only one or the other — it’s the intersection between both disciplines, and the application of that work to improving human health, that she finds compelling.
“For me, to be really fulfilled in my work as a scientist, I want to have some tangible impact,” she says.
Carpenter explains that artificial intelligence, which can help compute the combinations of compounds that would be better for a particular drug, can reduce trial-and-error time and ideally quicken the process of designing new medicines.
“I feel like helping make drugs in a more efficient manner, or coming up with some new medicine or way to tackle cancer or Alzheimer’s or something, would really make me feel fulfilled,” she says.
In the future, Carpenter hopes to get a PhD and pursue computational approaches to biomedicine, perhaps at one of the national laboratories or the National Institutes of Health. She also plans to continue advocating for diversity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), throughout her career, drawing in part from her experiences as part of the leadership of the MIT chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) and the MIT Women’s Independent Living Group.
Finding her niche in STEM
Carpenter was first drawn to computer science and coding in middle school. She recalls becoming engrossed in a program called Scratch, spending hours in the computer lab playing with the block-based visual programming language, which, as it happens, was developed at MIT’s Media Lab.
As an MIT student, Carpenter found her way into the computational biology major after a summer internship at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, where researchers were using computer simulations and physics to look at a particular protein implicated in tumors.
Next, she got hooked on using computational biology for drug discovery and design during her sophomore year, as an intern at Massachusetts General Hospital. There, she learned that developing a new drug can be a very long, tedious, and complicated process that can take years, but that using machine learning and screening drugs virtually can help hasten this process. She followed that internship with an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) project in the lab of Professor Collin Stultz, within the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics.
Building community
For Carpenter, who is part Japanese-American and part Alaskan Native and grew up outside of Seattle, the fact that there were Native American students at MIT, albeit just about a dozen of them, was an important factor in deciding where to attend college.
Soon after Carpenter was admitted, a senior from MIT’s AISES chapter called her and told her about the organization.
“They sort of recruited me before I even came here,” she recalls.
Carpenter is now the vice president of the chapter. The people in the organization, which Carpenter describes as a cultural group at MIT, have become her close friends.
“AISES has been a really important part of my time here,” Carpenter says. “At MIT, it’s mostly about having a community of Native students since it’s very easy for us to get isolated here. It’s hard to find people of a similar background, and so AISES is a place where we can all gather just to hang out, socialize, check in with each other.”
The organization also puts on movie screenings and other events to “show that we exist and that there are Native people at MIT because a lot of people forget that.”
Carpenter first became a member of the national AISES organization as a high school student, when she and her father made serious efforts to reconnect with their Alutiiq heritage. She began educating herself more about the history of Alaska Natives on Kodiak Island, and learning the Alutiiq language, which is severely endangered — just about a couple hundred people still speak it and even fewer speak it fluently.
Carpenter started to teach herself the language and then took an online class in high school through Kodiak College. She said she learned very basic amounts and knows simple sentences and personal introductions.
“I feel like learning the language was one of the best ways to connect to my culture and sort of legitimize myself in a way. Also, I knew it was important to keep the culture around,” she says. “I would always be telling my friends about it and trying to teach them what I was learning.”
Carpenter has also built her MIT community through the Women’s Independent Living Group, one of the few all-women housing options at the Institute. She joined the group of about 40 women the spring semester of her sophomore year.
“I really appreciate the group because there’s a lot of diversity in major and diversity in [graduation] year,” she says. “The living group is meant to be a strong community of women at MIT.”
Carpenter is now the president of the living group, which has been a significant source of support for her. When she was trying to increase her iron intake so she could donate blood, her friends in the living group helped cook meals and cheered her on.
Carpenter also hopes to rise in the ranks at the organizations where she ends up working after MIT, taking a leadership role in advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“I don’t want to lose sight of where I came from or my heritage or being a woman in STEM,” Carpenter says. “Wherever I end up working, I hopefully will move up and keep my Native and Asian identity visible, to be an example for others.”
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Giving robots a faster grasp
If you’re at a desk with a pen or pencil handy, try this move: Grab the pen by one end with your thumb and index finger, and push the other end against the desk. Slide your fingers down the pen, then flip it upside down, without letting it drop. Not too hard, right?
But for a robot — say, one that’s sorting through a bin of objects and attempting to get a good grasp on one of them — this is a computationally taxing maneuver. Before even attempting the move it must calculate a litany of properties and probabilities, such as the friction and geometry of the table, the pen, and its two fingers, and how various combinations of these properties interact mechanically, based on fundamental laws of physics.
Now MIT engineers have found a way to significantly speed up the planning process required for a robot to adjust its grasp on an object by pushing that object against a stationary surface. Whereas traditional algorithms would require tens of minutes for planning out a sequence of motions, the new team’s approach shaves this preplanning process down to less than a second.
Alberto Rodriguez, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, says the speedier planning process will enable robots, particularly in industrial settings, to quickly figure out how to push against, slide along, or otherwise use features in their environments to reposition objects in their grasp. Such nimble manipulation is useful for any tasks that involve picking and sorting, and even intricate tool use.
“This is a way to extend the dexterity of even simple robotic grippers, because at the end of the day, the environment is something every robot has around it,” Rodriguez says.
The team’s results are published today in The International Journal of Robotics Research. Rodriguez’ co-authors are lead author Nikhil Chavan-Dafle, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, and Rachel Holladay, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science.
Physics in a cone
Rodriguez’ group works on enabling robots to leverage their environment to help them accomplish physical tasks, such as picking and sorting objects in a bin.
Existing algorithms typically take hours to preplan a sequence of motions for a robotic gripper, mainly because, for every motion that it considers, the algorithm must first calculate whether that motion would satisfy a number of physical laws, such as Newton’s laws of motion and Coulomb’s law describing frictional forces between objects.
“It’s a tedious computational process to integrate all those laws, to consider all possible motions the robot can do, and to choose a useful one among those,” Rodriguez says.
He and his colleagues found a compact way to solve the physics of these manipulations, in advance of deciding how the robot’s hand should move. They did so by using “motion cones,” which are essentially visual, cone-shaped maps of friction.
The inside of the cone depicts all the pushing motions that could be applied to an object in a specific location, while satisfying the fundamental laws of physics and enabling the robot to keep hold of the object. The space outside of the cone represents all the pushes that would in some way cause an object to slip out of the robot’s grasp.
“Seemingly simple variations, such as how hard robot grasps the object, can significantly change how the object moves in the grasp when pushed,” Holladay explains. “Based on how hard you’re grasping, there will be a different motion. And that’s part of the physical reasoning that the algorithm handles.”
The team’s algorithm calculates a motion cone for different possible configurations between a robotic gripper, an object that it is holding, and the environment against which it is pushing, in order to select and sequence different feasible pushes to reposition the object.
A new algorithm speeds up the planning process for robotic grippers. A robot in the lab is shown picking up a block letter, T, and pushing it against a nearby wall to re-angle it, before setting it back down in an upright position.
“It’s a complicated process but still much faster than the traditional method — fast enough that planning an entire series of pushes takes half a second,” Holladay says.
Big plans
The researchers tested the new algorithm on a physical setup with a three-way interaction, in which a simple robotic gripper was holding a T-shaped block and pushing against a vertical bar. They used multiple starting configurations, with the robot gripping the block at a particular position and pushing it against the bar from a certain angle. For each starting configuration, the algorithm instantly generated the map of all the possible forces that the robot could apply and the position of the block that would result.
“We did several thousand pushes to verify our model correctly predicts what happens in the real world,” Holladay says. “If we apply a push that’s inside the cone, the grasped object should remain under control. If it’s outside, the object should slip from the grasp.”
The researchers found that the algorithm’s predictions reliably matched the physical outcome in the lab, planning out sequences of motions — such as reorienting the block against the bar before setting it down on a table in an upright position — in less than a second, compared with traditional algorithms that take over 500 seconds to plan out.
“Because we have this compact representation of the mechanics of this three-way-interaction between robot, object, and their environment, we can now attack bigger planning problems,” Rodriguez says.
The group is hoping to apply and extend its approach to enable a robotic gripper to handle different types of tools, for instance in a manufacturing setting.
“Most factory robots that use tools have a specially designed hand, so instead of having the abiity to grasp a screwdriver and use it in a lot of different ways, they just make the hand a screwdriver,” Holladay says. “You can imagine that requires less dexterous planning, but it’s much more limiting. We’d like a robot to be able to use and pick lots of different things up.”
This research was supported, in part, by Mathworks, the MIT-HKUST Alliance, and the National Science Foundation.
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New $25K reward offered in search for abducted 3-year-old girl
The search continues for a 3-year-old Alabama child, Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney, who was snatched on Saturday from an outdoor birthday party.
READ MORE: Accused rapist who kidnapped 10-year-old girl and fled twice, granted bond a third time
Gov. Kay Ivey’s office has joined in the efforts to find Kamille and offered a $5,000 reward to anyone who can help find the child. On Wednesday, Crime Stoppers also put up a $20,000 reward to help bring the baby girl home.
According to reports, Kamille was playing at a birthday party in Birmingham when she disappeared, authorities said. An Amber alert was activated by the Birmingham police, yet there are still no leads on the child’s whereabouts.
The heart-wrenching case moved Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith, who directed his comments directly to the kidnapper and pleaded for Kamille’s safe return when he spoke at a news conference on Wednesday.
“If you have her and you’re not sure what to do … please bring her to one of our fire stations, police station, a hospital,” Smith said. “If you don’t know what to do or where to go and you’re frightened, we’re here to help you … please bring her to a safe location.”
READ MORE: Stepfather arrested in connection to kidnapping of 4-year-old stepdaughter
Jasmaine Deloach, the head of Angel Arms Operation Exploited and Missing Persons in Birmingham also tried to reason with the unknown abductor at a vigil for Kamille on Monday.
“She might not even remember who you are, so if you have any heart, please let her go.”
“If they don’t want to deal with the officers, they can call my number,” Deloach told ABC News. “We’re begging.”
“I don’t want a bad outcome from all of this,” Deloach said. “I pray no one hurts this baby.”
Deloach herself is familiar with this scenario. She said her 16-year-old daughter human trafficked some five years ago. Her child was ultimately found five states away and the case is still under investigation with no suspects.
There are two persons if interest who were questioned by police, but the charges against them are unrelated to Kamille’s disappearance.
READ MORE: Houston police looking for three men who reportedly abducted 4-year-old girl
Authorities are asking anyone with information in connection to the case to call 911 or Birmingham police at 205-254-1757. Deloach also said the kidnapper can call Angel Arms Operation missing persons group at 205-585-8076.
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Court seems split on possible resentencing for teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo
By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Liberal and conservative justices seemed split Wednesday on whether to grant a new sentencing hearing to Lee Boyd Malvo, one of two snipers who terrorized the Washington, D.C., region in 2002 when he was a teenager.
The Supreme Court heard arguments on whether Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the killings, was wrongly sentenced in Virginia to life without parole.
His attorneys say he deserves a new hearing because of recent Supreme Court rulings barring mandatory life sentences for juveniles and reserving the punishment for those “rare children whose crimes reflect irreparable corruption.”
Virginia argues Malvo’s life sentence was not mandatory because the judge theoretically had discretion to suspend part of Malvo’s life sentence, despite a state law mandating either execution or life without parole as the only sentencing options for a capital murder conviction.
Even if Malvo prevails at the high court and gets a new sentencing hearing, a Virginia judge could reimpose a life sentence. Malvo also faces six life-without parole terms in Maryland that are not technically in front of the high court, though courts there have placed Malvo’s Maryland appeals on hold while the Supreme Court decides this case.
Elena Kagan, a justice on the court’s liberal wing, said the high court’s previous rulings on the subject should be understood broadly, and that courts are bound to give serious consideration to the notion that “youth matters” in determining a juvenile’s sentence.
On the other side, conservative Justice Samuel Alito suggested the court should simply apply the wording from its earlier case, which bans only mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles. Because Virginia’s Supreme Court has already ruled that Malvo’s trial judge had discretion to lower Malvo’s sentence, he would not be entitled to any relief under the court’s previous ruling.
Malvo was a 15-year-old from Jamaica who had been sent to live in Antigua when he met John Allen Muhammad and latched onto him as a father figure. Muhammad trained and indoctrinated Malvo, and in 2002 the pair embarked on a nationwide killing spree that concluded with a three-week rampage in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia that left 10 people dead and three wounded.
The random shootings terrorized the region, and featured bizarre coded conversations from police to the snipers delivered during live news conferences with phrases like “Call me God” and “We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.”
Notes left behind at the shooting scenes included demands for ransom, but trial testimony indicated the shootings were a plan for Muhammad to regain custody of his children by killing his ex-wife, who lived in the region, and making her death appear to be a result of random violence.
Muhammad was sentenced to death and executed. Malvo pleaded insanity but was convicted. The jury was then tasked with sentencing Malvo either to death or to life without parole. It opted for the latter.
Malvo’s lawyer, Danielle Spinelli, said that when the court issued its initial ruling banning mandatory life sentences for juveniles, in 2012’s Miller v. Alabama, about 2,800 individuals were affected. Since then, the Supreme Court ruled in a follow-up case that the Miller case should be applied retroactively, and Spinelli said all but 60 defendants in six states have been granted some form of relief.
“Virginia is not doing anything to comply with Miller,” Spinelli said.
Victims of the snipers are divided on the question. Some survivors and family members say they oppose a resentencing.
Cheryll Shaw, whose father Jerry Taylor was killed by the snipers in Arizona, is one of several surviving victims and family members who have endorsed resentencing.
Shaw, who attended Wednesday’s arguments, said after the arguments that she hopes Malvo gets a new hearing and that he is transferred from Virginia’s notorious Red Onion prison, but she is unsure whether she wants to see him released.
“I’m not ready to see him get out any time soon,” she said.
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Black Women Lose Out Over $1 Million in Their Careers Thanks to the Wage Gap
A black woman will lose out on $946,120 over a 40-year career if she continues to make 61 cents on the dollar that every white man earns due to the wage gap, analysis by The National Women’s Law Center shows.
“Assuming she and her white, non-Hispanic male counterpart begin work at age 20, a black woman would have to work until she is 86 years old to catch up to what a white, non-Hispanic man has been paid by age 60,” the press release states.
The National Women’s Law Center found that black women face even larger pay disparity in certain states. In the state of Louisiana, black women are paid on average 47 cents for every dollar their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts make, which is the worst state for black women’s wage equality.
“There’s a significant racial wealth gap in America and black women’s wage gap certainly plays a role in it,” said Emily Martin, vice president for Education & Workplace Justice. “For many black women, the cost of the lifetime wage gap comes close to a million dollars—and in some states it’s more. It’s time for the Senate to follow the lead of the House and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. Women and their families literally can’t wait any longer.”
Advanced education among black women has not been shown to lower the wage gap, in fact, the gap is largest for the most educated black women. Doctorate degree holders who are black women tend to make 60% of what their white, male counterparts make.
“Black women have the highest student loan debt of any racial or ethnic group. For an undergraduate degree, the average black woman carries nearly $30,400 in debt, compared to $19,500 for white men. The wage gap lessens black women’s ability to pay off educational debt, creating an additional barrier to saving money that could be used to buy a home, start a business, or used for emergencies,” the report stated.
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Gabrielle Union defends her family with a classy clapback on Twitter
Gabrielle Union took the high road and issued a classy clapback when an internet troll questioned her husband Dwyane Wade’s post calling his 12-year-old son Zion, wife and daughter, “my girls.”
READ MORE: Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade support 11-year-old son, Zion at Miami Beach Pride festival
On Tuesday, a Twitter user reposted Wade’s Instagram story, writing, “What y’all think about this?” apparently making reference to how Wade included his son as part of the trio as one of his girls.
Union offered her thoughts on the matter to the troll and replied:
“Looks like love to me,” Union wrote. “I truly hope that everyone gets the love, support and hugs they deserve. Also Kaav ain’t with the dumb s—. Peace & Blessings good people.”
Looks like love to me 🤷🏾♀️ I truly hope that everyone gets the love, support and hugs they deserve. Also Kaav ain’t with the dumb shit. Peace & Blessings good people. https://t.co/faFyusNktj
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) October 15, 2019
In the past, Wade has openly supported Zion at the Gay Pride parade.
According to Variety, back in April, while Wade was at an away game in Toronto, his 12-year-old-son Zion posted photos of himself with his siblings and stepmother, Union, all attending the annual Miami Beach Pride march.
Wade reposted them along with the caption, “We support each other with Pride!”
Zion’s older brother Zaire also echoed that sentiment by sharing photos of them at the parade on his Instagram Story along with the caption, “Love you lil bro no matter what.”
Wade said previously about his son’s gender identity, “I don’t really talk about it much because it’s Zion’s story to tell,” he told Variety. “I think as a family, we should support each other. That’s our job. And my job as a father is to facilitate their lives and to support them and be behind them in whatever they want to do.”
READ MORE: Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union support LGBTQ youth with limited edition T-shirt and donation
Wade has admitted getting pummeled with backlash before when supporting his son and he said previously he intends to keep rolling out support.
“It’s my job to be their role model, to be their voice in my kids’ lives, to let them know you can conquer the world. So, go and be your amazing self and we’re going to sit back and just love you.”
Moral of he story, folks need to mind the business that pays them.
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LisaRaye On Nicole Murphy Response: “She Might Wanna Come See Me”
LisaRaye McCoy is still dragging Nicole Murphy’s tapered edges, and claiming she had an affair with her ex-husband Michael Misick.
Murphy flatly denied the claim that she had a fling with a married man when she appeared on The Wendy Williams Show.
However, The Player’s Club actress has thrown down the gauntlet. OK Magazine reports that McCoy said if Murphy has a problem with her her account of an alleged hooked up between she and her ex-Misick (while they were still married), she might want to have a “face-to-face.” McCoy says that the beautiful vixen “might want to come see me.”
“She [Nicole] did this play on words. ‘I did not break up LisaRaye’s marriage.’ It’s like, nope. No. I didn’t say that. I never said that you broke up my marriage, that ain’t what I said. So you know, I’m going to let her play on words on that and she might want to come see me, she might see me and tell me that face-to-face. I would accept that,” LisaRaye, 52, explained Tuesday on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show.
Murphy has been on the defense battling against claims that she’s a hot-mess of a homewrecker after she was caught on camera kissing up on Training Day director Antoine Fuqua who is actively married to actress Lela Rochon.
READ MORE: Nicole Murphy publicly apologizes for controversial kiss with director Antoine Fuqua
When the news broke, McCoy stirred the pot and accused Murphy of trying to take her husband too.
“Gurl @nikimurphy you went after @iamlelarochon husband too? … SMH so wrong … again!” she wrote on Instagram.
Murphy then went on an apology tour after getting blasted online for kissing Fuqua.
“Without going into the entire situation, I want to apologize to my family, and to [Antoine’s wife] Lela [Rochon] and to the Fuqua family for what transpired. It was not my intention to be in this situation. I do not condone women kissing or interacting in anyway inappropriately with a married man. I too was once married and I would never intentionally undermine another woman, despite what has been written,” Murphy, 51, said in a statement.
McCoy’s sister rapper Da Brat who co-hosts the show has also confirmed that she had knowledge Murphy had a thing going with McCoy’ss ex, former chief minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
“Absolutely. When my sister was the First Lady of the Turks and Caicos, absolutely. Absolutely. It was a couple of them hoes that did that,” the rapper said July 24 on Dish Nation about Murphy.
However, on September 24 while on Williams’ show, Murphy denied interfering in McCoy’s marriage to Misick.
“It says I broke up someone’s marriage, which is absolutely false. I never did that,” Murphy said. “You are talking about when LisaRaye got involved in said you slept with her husband?” Williams asked. “It’s not true,” Murphy replied.
Grio fam, do you think LisaRaye is right to continue to drag Nicole Murphy?
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Boxer Patrick Day dies from brain trauma suffered in last week’s fight
Boxer Patrick Day never regained consciousness and died after he was knocked out and suffered a “traumatic” head injury on Saturday during a fight in Chicago.
READ MORE: Floyd Mayweather Jr. becoming pay-per-view king
On Wednesday, Day’s promotor Lou DiBella released a statement announcing his death.
The statement reads:
“Patrick Day passed away today, October 16, 2019, succumbing to the traumatic brain injury he suffered in his fight this past Saturday, October 12, at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, IL. He was surrounded by his family, close friends and members of his boxing team, including his mentor, friend and trainer Joe Higgins. On behalf of Patrick’s family, team, and those closest to him, we are grateful for the prayers, expressions of support and outpouring of love for Pat that have been so obvious since his injury.”
It’s a sad ending, after Day fought against defending champion Charles Conwell during a USBA super welterweight title bout in Chicago. He was struck with a right hand that stunned him, and then “floored the challenger with a left hook in the 10th round.”
ESPN reports that the 27-year-old Freeport, N.Y., native was hospitalized with a “traumatic brain injury,” according to DiBella Entertainment, his management team. He is also said to have suffered seizures on the way to the facility and had to undergo emergency surgery.
“Patrick’s condition is extremely grave,” Day’s trainer, Joe Higgins, said Sunday. “He is fighting for his life. That’s all we can really say right now.”
READ MORE: Powerful Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings has died
Day was an alternate on the 2012 Olympic team and has a record of 17-4-1 with six victories coming by knockout. Saturday marked only the second time he has ever lost by knockout.
As his opponent, Conwell expressed concern for Day in an interview right after he was taken out of the ring on a stretcher, and elaborated on his feelings in a heartfelt letter he penned to Day and posted on social media.
We send our condolences to his family.
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The NRA remains silent on the murder of Atatiana Jefferson
The National Rifle Association has been tight-lipped in its defense of Atatiana Jefferson, a Black woman who legally owned a gun she used to defend her family in their home when she was shot and killed by a white cop.
READ MORE: Former police officer Aaron Dean, who killed Atatiana Jefferson, out of jail on $200K bond
The NRA is notorious for speaking out in support of legal gun owners and were key players is getting the castle doctrine legislation passed Texas in 2007, which protects people who use deadly force to protect themselves while in their own home, according to The Associated Press.
According to Jefferson’s nephew, his aunt heard noises and grabbed her gun from her purse likely to assess if a prowler was outside. Jefferson was fatally shot and killed by former Fort Worth Texas police officer Aaron Dean, who fired a single shot through her bedroom window.
Jefferson, 28, who legally owned a gun, pointed her weapon “toward the window” and was shot and killed, the nephew said, according to the arrest-warrant affidavit.
The nephew watched as his aunt fell to the ground. She was pronounced dead at 3:05 a.m. on Saturday. Police body cam footage failed to show the officer barking out any commands to announce his presence.
The NRA has remained mum on the high-profile case and Jefferson’s actions as protected under the castle doctrine.
“And where is the NRA?” with Rep. Mac Veasey (D-Texas) tweeted Monday. “Once again they prove to the world that rigorous defense of [the Second Amendment] doesn’t extend to black America.”
The ofcr resigning is not good enough! @tarrantcountyda should file charges now and he should be behind bars! And where is the @NRA? Once again they prove to the world that rigorous defense of 2nd Amd doesn’t extend to black America. Justice4 #AtatianaJefferson https://t.co/fOIVgBDZeG
— Marc Veasey (@MarcVeasey) October 14, 2019
Jefferson’s home is in Veasey’s district.
Interim chief of Fort Worth police Ed Kraus believes it was the homeowner’s right, and defends the decision that ultimately cost Jefferson her life.
“It’s only appropriate that Ms. Jefferson would have a gun,” Kraus said at a news conference Tuesday, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Kraus contends that it “makes sense” that Jefferson was armed.
READ MORE: 5 things to know about police shooting victim Atatiana Jefferson
“When you think there’s someone prowling around in the back at 2:00 a.m. in the morning, you may need to arm yourself. That person could have a gun.”
“We’re homeowners in Texas,” Kraus said. “Most of us, if we thought we had somebody outside our house that shouldn’t be and we had access to a firearm, we would be acting very similarly to how she was acting.”
“It’s only appropriate that Ms. Jefferson would have a gun,” the family’s attorney Lee Merritt said at a news conference.
“When you think there’s someone prowling around in the back at 2 in the morning, you may need to arm yourself. That person could have a gun.”
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Powerful Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings has died
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a sharecropper’s son who rose to become the powerful chairman of a U.S. House committee that investigated President Donald Trump, died early Thursday of complications from longstanding health issues, his office said. He was 68.
Cummings was a formidable orator who passionately advocated for the poor in his black-majority district , which encompasses a large portion of Baltimore as well as more well-to-do suburbs.
As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings led multiple investigations of the president’s governmental dealings, including probes in 2019 relating to the president’s family members serving in the White House.
READ MORE: Rep. Elijah Cummings sympathizes with Michael Cohen, bringing him to tears
Cummings was a formidable orator who passionately advocated for the poor in his black-majority district , which encompasses a large portion of Baltimore as well as more well-to-do suburbs.
As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings led multiple investigations of the president’s governmental dealings, including probes in 2019 relating to the president’s family members serving in the White House.
Trump responded by criticizing the Democrat’s district as a “rodent-infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.” The comments came weeks after Trump drew bipartisan condemnation following his calls for Democratic congresswomen of color to get out of the U.S. “right now,” and go back to their “broken and crime-infested countries.”
Cummings replied that government officials must stop making “hateful, incendiary comments” that only serve to divide and distract the nation from its real problems, including mass shootings and white supremacy.
READ MORE: Congressman Elijah Cummings’ Baltimore home burglarized the same day Trump launched verbal attacks
“Those in the highest levels of the government must stop invoking fear, using racist language and encouraging reprehensible behavior,” Cummings said in a speech at the National Press Club.
Cummings’ long career spanned decades in Maryland politics. He rose through the ranks of the Maryland House of Delegates before winning his congressional seat in a special election in 1996 to replace former Rep. Kweisi Mfume, who left the seat to lead the NAACP.
Cummings was an early supporter of Barack Obama’s presidential bid in 2008. By 2016, Cummings was the senior Democrat on the House Benghazi Committee, which he said was “nothing more than a taxpayer-funded effort to bring harm to Hillary Clinton’s campaign” for president.
Throughout his career, Cummings used his fiery voice to highlight the struggles and needs
of inner-city residents. He was a firm believer in some much-debated approaches to help the poor and addicted, such as needle exchange programs as a way to reduce the spread of AIDS.
A key figure in the Trump impeachment inquiry , Cummings had been hoping to return to Congress after a medical procedure he said would only keep him away for a week. His statement then didn’t detail the procedure. He had previously been treated for heart and knee issues.
READ MORE: Cummings’ supporters post pics of poverty-stricken GOP-run districts in response to Trump
His constituents began mourning shortly after his death at 2:45 a.m. Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
In a statement, his widow, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, chairwoman of Maryland’s Democratic Party, said “Congressman Cummings was an honorable man who proudly served his district and the nation with dignity, integrity, compassion and humility. He worked until his last breath because he believed our democracy was the highest and best expression of our collective humanity and that our nation’s diversity was our promise, not our problem.”
Cummings was born Jan. 18, 1951. In grade school, a counselor told Cummings he was too slow to learn and spoke poorly, and he would never fulfill his dream of becoming a lawyer.
“I was devastated,” Cummings told The Associated Press in 1996, shortly before he won his seat in Congress. “My whole life changed. I became very determined.”
It steeled Cummings to prove that counselor wrong. He became not only a lawyer, but one of the most powerful orators in the statehouse, where he entered office in 1983. He rose to become the first black House speaker pro tem. He would begin his comments slowly, developing his theme and raising the emotional heat until it became like a sermon from the pulpit.
Cummings was quick to note the differences between Congress and the Maryland General Assembly, which has long been controlled by Democrats.
“After coming from the state where, basically, you had a lot of people working together, it’s clear that the lines are drawn here,” Cummings said about a month after entering office in Washington in 1996.
Cummings chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 2003 to 2004, employing a hard-charging, explore-every-option style to put the group in the national spotlight.
He cruised to big victories in the overwhelmingly Democratic district, which had given Maryland its first black congressman in 1970 when Parren Mitchell was elected.
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Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Three North Carolina women charged with running an elderly fight club
We’ve heard of dog fight clubs and even cockfighting between roosters, but now three North Carolina women are accused of forcing senior citizens with dementia to come to blows.
READ MORE: Two day care workers charged for starting toddler ‘Fight Club’ that went viral
Marilyn McKey, 32, Tonacia Tyson ,20, and Taneshia Jordan, 26, are charged with running an elderly fight club and pitting the senile residents against each other for a bout of fisticuffs at the Danby House in Winston-Salem, NBC News reported.
In June the three suspects, who were part of the nursing staff, showcased the fights on social media they allegedly organized. The Winston-Salem police and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services are investigating.
One fight resulted “in one resident being strangled with her face turning red … while staff recorded and shared the video through social media,” a state Division of Health Service Regulation report found.
One of the three organizers even egged on a resident who was fighting by ordering her to beat another contender, telling her to “punch her in the face,” the state report said, which cites video of the incident.
READ MORE: Home health aide charged with 11 additional murders of elderly women in Dallas area
In a video, one of the elderly women falls on a bed and yells out, “Let go, help me, help me, let go,” while another woman keeps hitting her, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.
“Are you recording?” a staff member asks on the video. “You gonna send it to me?” the report said.
The women themselves are also accused of getting physical with elderly residents, according to the report.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Danby House, confirmed that the three women have been fired.
“Danby House has a zero-tolerance policy for the mistreatment of those in our care,” the facility said in a statement.
READ MORE: VIDEO: Heartless daycare workers forced toddlers to fight until they cry
“Administrators have been working closely with the Winston-Salem Police Department throughout its investigation to ensure justice is served. Additional staff training and a more rigorous vetting process for all new and existing employees at Danby House has been implemented.”
Danby House has been prohibited from accepted new patients, thanks to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.
The suspects, McKey, Tyson and Jordan are slated to appear in court Nov. 14.
Let’s see how they do defending against other inmates while in jail.
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Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren stockpile millions more than 2020 rivals
By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren don’t just lead the Democratic presidential primary in fundraising. They’ve stockpiled millions more than their rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden, who burned through money at a fast clip over the past three months while posting an anemic fundraising haul.
Sanders held $33.7 million cash on hand on his third-quarter fundraising report. Warren had $25.7 million during the same period, while South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg came next $23.3 million.
Biden, meanwhile, held just $8.9 million, a small fraction of what his leading rivals have at their disposal.
With the first votes of the Democratic contest just months away, the candidates are entering a critical and expensive period when having an ample supply of cash can make or break a campaign. Biden’s total raises questions about his durability as a front-runner.
“Can he do better at fundraising? Absolutely. And I think he will,” said Biden donor and fundraiser Steve Westly.
While many contenders in the crowded field will be triaging resources and making difficult spending decisions in the coming months, the advantage enjoyed by the Vermont and Massachusetts senators means they will have the luxury of spending when and where they want. That will allow them to buy large amounts of advertising, respond to attacks and boost their ground games in early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
“If you are sitting at fourth, fifth or even seventh place and you don’t have the money to have a real paid media campaign, the future for you is probably pretty bleak. You will get drowned out by the rest of the noise,” said Grant Woodard, a Des Moines attorney who is a veteran of John Kerry’s and Hillary Clinton’s Iowa campaigns. “It’s still a fluid race. But to be competitive in this thing you are going to have to be on TV, digital and you are going to have to be on direct mail. The fundamentals still matter.”
Biden has built a formidable campaign, but it’s come at a cost. The $17.6 million he spent over the past three months was more than the $15.7 million he took in, according to his fundraising figures that were submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday’s reporting deadline.
Despite his lackluster totals, he still remains a favored candidate in recent public opinion polls, along with Warren. And in recent weeks, both Biden and his wife, Jill, have kept up a busier fundraising schedule.
“People focused on the minutia and the details,” said Westly, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist. “The reality is this is quickly boiling down to a two-person race — and that’s between Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.”
Still, Biden is not alone in the sprawling field.
California Sen. Kamala Harris had $10.5 million cash on hand but deferred paying consultants including her pollster nearly $1 million, records show. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker held $4.2 million, disclosures show.
And the situation was far more dismal for others. Former Obama housing secretary Julián Castro had just $672,000 cash on hand, while Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan had even less, $158,000, records show.
The advantage Warren and Sanders have was evident in the way they have been able to spend.
Sanders’ $21.5 million in spending between July and the end of September topped the list. It enabled him to spend $3.8 million on advertising and online fundraising, drop nearly $1 million on campaign merchandise and pay his staff a combined $5.6 million, records show.
Warren’s $18.6 million in spending during that period allowed her to fund a sprawling staff operation that includes well over 500 people on the payroll, in addition to financing a more than $3.2 million digital operation, records show.
Buttigieg, too, has hired roughly 100 staffers in Iowa, where his campaign is betting on a strong performance.
But just because they have a massive cash advantage doesn’t mean the other candidates are doomed. Even though time is running out, candidates could still see their financial picture improve, particularly if they have a viral online moment to boost their online fundraising.
“The question is: Do you have enough money to run a strong campaign? North of $5 million and you have the ability to get through the fourth quarter,” said Democratic donor and Wall Street financier Robert Wolf, who was an economic adviser to Barack Obama.
The post Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren stockpile millions more than 2020 rivals appeared first on theGrio.
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