What We Wanted | Official Trailer | Netflix
Alice (Lavinia Wilson) and Niklas (Elyas M'Barek) are a young couple who's biggest wish is to have a child of their own. After several failed attempts they decide to go on a holiday in Sardinia to clear their minds. There they meet a family from Austria that seems to have everything they ever wished for. But appearances can be deceiving... SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. What We Wanted | Official Trailer | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix A couple facing fertility issues finds their marriage tested on a vacation to a Sardinian resort — and the family next door only adds to the tension.
View on YouTube
Monday, October 19, 2020
Sunday, October 18, 2020
What are the odds your vote will not count?
This is part 2 of a two-part MIT News series on voting research and the 2020 election. Part 1 focuses on shifts in post-Election Day vote tallies.
In elections, every vote counts. Or should count. But a new study by an MIT professor indicates that in the 2016 U.S. general election, 4 percent of all mail-in ballots were not counted — about 1.4 million votes, or 1 percent of all votes cast, signaling a significant problem that could grow in 2020.
The study quantifies the range of reasons for this, including late-arriving ballots, problems with ballot signatures and envelopes, and improperly marked ballots, among other things.
“Mail ballots tend to have more mistakes on them,” says Charles Stewart, a professor in MIT’s Department of Political Science and author of a paper detailing the study, which looks at data from all 50 U.S. states.
Voting by mail — the same thing as absentee voting — will probably be more prevalent than ever in 2020, as voters seek to avoid crowds at polling places during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the study suggests, states that have more experience with mail-in voting tend to have a slightly lower percentage of lost votes. Thus the 2020 election could feature an unusually high percentage of lost mail-in voting attempts, and the odds of your mail-in ballot counting may vary a bit, depending on where you live.
“The likelihood of a vote being lost by mail is, in part, determined by how the state feels about that,” says Stewart, who is the Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science and head of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab. “States can put more or less effort into ensuring that voters don’t make mistakes. … There are different mail-ballot regimes, they handle the ballots differently, they operate under different philosophies of what mail balloting is supposed to achieve, and who bears the risk of mail balloting.”
The paper, “Reconsidering Lost Votes by Mail,” appears as a working paper on the Social Science Research Network, and will be published by the Harvard Data Science Review.
Check your work
The concept of “lost votes” was first studied comprehensively by the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project (VTP) following the contested 2000 U.S. presidential election. The VTP concluded that of 107 million votes cast in 2000 — of all kinds, not just mail-in voting — between 4 million and 6 million went unrecorded. The federal Help America Vote Act of 2003 (HAVA) subsequently reduced that number to between 2 million and 3 million.
The current paper extends that line of analysis to absentee votes, and updates a 2010 Stewart study. Overall, there are three main types of problems with mail-in votes: postal issues, procedural problems involving things like signatures and ballot envelopes, and vote-scanning problems.
In the first case, about 1.1 percent of all mail-in votes are lost because of problems during the mailing process — from unfilled absentee ballot requests to the return of those ballots. Some of those lost votes represent election-administration errors, not postal issues. Stewart does not think recent reductions in U.S. Postal Service capacity will necessarily change that, although many experts are urging voters to mail in their ballots promptly.
“Postal service problems, literally the ballot not arriving, the ballot arriving late, getting lost in the office, that’s one source,” Stewart says. “But it’s probably the least important source of loss, despite all the controversy about the postal service.”
Secondly, votes can also be lost when voters handle the process incorrectly: They fail to sign ballots, are judged to have submitted mismatched signatures, or do not use the ballot’s safety envelope, among other things. About 1.5 percent of mail-in votes suffer from these problems, Stewart estimates.
“The voter can make a mistake in the certification process,” Stewarts says. “They don’t sign the envelope where they’re supposed to, they don’t seal it properly … there are all sorts of things that lead to rejected ballots.” Still, Stewart observes, “Election offices could be less persnickety about technical issues.”
The third type of problem, comprising 1.5 percent of all attempts at absentee voting, occurs when scanning machines in polling places reject ballots.
“The scanning problems, nobody really talks about because it’s the most abstract, but I think it may be the most important,” Stewart says.
This category includes voter mistakes that could be corrected in person, but lead to rejection on absentee ballots. When people “overvote,” selecting too many candidates, scanning machines catch the errors — and HAVA mandates that in-person voters can re-do the ballot.
“If you overvote, there’s a requirement in federal law that the ballot be kicked back to you,” Stewart says about in-person voting. “If you undervote, there’s not a requirement, but many states will kick back the ballot [to voters]. But if you do that and drop your ballot in the mailbox, there’s nobody to kick the ballot back to you.”
One frequent type of overvote happens when voters redundantly add their chosen candidate’s name to the write-in line, Stewart says: “The most common reason for overvotes is people will fill in the bubble for their candidate, and then they’ll go down to the bottom and write in the name of their candidate.”
There are other ways a voter can foul up a ballot as well.
“It could be, if you’re making choices and put your pencil down next to every name, that could be picked up as a vote by the scanners,” Stewart says. “There are things you just don’t think about that could go wrong.”
The geography of lost votes
To conduct the study, Stewart used a variety of data sources, including U.S. Postal Service on-time rates, the Survey of the Performance of American Elections, the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, and the Current Population Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau.
One finding of the study is that the percentage of lost mail-in votes is lower in states that lean more heavily on absentee balloting overall. It is 3.5 percent in states that conduct their elections almost completely by mail (Colorado, Oregon, and Washington) and in those that keep a permanent absentee ballot list (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Montana, and Utah, plus Washington, D.C.). But the lost votes percentage for mail-in ballots is higher, at 4.4 percent, in states that honor absentee ballot requests with no excuse needed, and it’s 4.9 percent in states that require an excuse for absentee balloting.
That suggests both that voters become more proficient when they have more experience at mail-in voting, and that states may process mail ballots more effectively when it becomes routine for them. Stewart, for one, believes that election officials do an exceptional job overall.
“I’m very sanguine about the integrity of the process, from what I know about election officials,” Stewart says. Still, he acknowledges, absentee voting can be a tricky process, and a significant number of votes may be lost in 2020.
“That’s why we have a lot of voter education going on right now,” Stewart says.
from MIT News https://ift.tt/2Hf2Cto
via Gabe's Musing's
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff developed this mindset to help him lead through crisis
Before building Salesforce into the multibillion-dollar cloud computing behemoth it is today, founder and CEO Marc Benioff experienced his share of ups and downs.
from Wealth https://ift.tt/347niwi
via Gabe's MusingsGabe's Musings
from Wealth https://ift.tt/347niwi
via Gabe's MusingsGabe's Musings
Trump, Biden go on offense in states they’re trying to flip
Both candidates are trying to make inroads in states that could help secure a path to victory
President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden went on offense Sunday, with each campaigning in states they are trying to flip during the Nov. 3 election that is just over two weeks away.
Trump began his day in Nevada, making a rare visit to church before a fundraiser and an evening rally in Carson City. Once considered a battleground, Nevada has not swung for a Republican presidential contender since 2004.
The rally drew thousands of supporters who sat elbow to elbow, cheering Trump and booing Biden and the press. The vast majority wore no masks to guard against the coronavirus. The president, as he often does, warned that a Biden election would lead to further lockdowns and at one point appeared to mock Biden for saying he would listen to scientists.
“If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression,” Trump said.
Biden, a practicing Catholic, attended Mass in Delaware before campaigning in North Carolina, where a Democrat has not won in a presidential race since Barack Obama in 2008.
Both candidates are trying to make inroads in states that could help secure a path to victory, but the dynamics of the race are remarkably stable. Biden enjoys a significant advantage in national polls, while carrying a smaller edge in battleground surveys.
Read More: Gov. Whitmer accuses Trump of inciting violence during rally
With Trump seated in the front row at the nondenominational International Church of Las Vegas, the senior associate pastor, Denise Goulet, said God told her the president is the apple of his eye and would secure a second term.
“At 4:30, the Lord said to me, ‘I am going to give your president a second win,’” she said, telling Trump, “you will be the president again.”
Trump offered brief remarks, saying “I love going to churches” and that it was “a great honor” to attend the service. The president also said that “we have a group on the other side that doesn’t agree with us,” and he urged people to “get out there on Nov. 3 or sooner” to vote. He dropped a wad of $20 bills in the collection plate before leaving.
Trump also attended a fundraiser at the Newport Beach home of top GOP donor and tech mogul Palmer Luckey, which raised $12 million for his election. The Beach Boys performed.
The message was far different later in the day, when Biden attended a virtual discussion with African American faith leaders from around the country.
Biden held up a rosary, which he said he carries in his pocket every day, and described it as “what the Irish call a prisoner’s rosary” since it was small enough to be smuggled into prisons.
“I happen to be a Roman Catholic,” Biden said. “I don’t pray for God to protect me. I pray to God to give me strength to see what other people are dealing with.”
Earlier, at a drive-in rally in Durham, North Carolina, Biden focused heavily on promoting criminal justice changes to combat institutional racism and promised to help build wealth in the Black community.
He noted that Trump had said at one of his rallies that the country had turned the corner on the pandemic.
“As my grandfather would say, this guy’s gone around the bend if he thinks we’ve turned the corner. Turning the corner? Things are getting worse,” Biden said.
In addition to public polling that indicates Biden has an edge, the former vice president enjoys another considerable advantage over Trump: money. Over the past four months, his campaign has raised over $1 billion, and that has enabled him to eclipse Trump’s once-massive cash advantage.
Read More: Biden, Harris dodge questions about Supreme Court expansion
That’s become apparent in advertising, where Biden and his Democratic allies are on pace to spend twice as much as Trump and the Republicans in the closing days of the race, according to data from the ad tracking firm Kantar/CMAG.
Though Trump has pulled back from advertising in Midwestern states that secured his 2016 win, he’s invested heavily elsewhere, including North Carolina, where he is on pace to slightly outspend Biden in the days ahead.
In Nevada, which Trump came close to winning in 2016, Democrats are set to outspend Trump in the closing days by a more than 3-to-1 ratio.
Trump’s visit to the state is part of an aggressive schedule of campaign events, where he has leaned heavily into fear tactics.
As he tries to keep more voters from turning against him, Trump has sought to paint Democrats as “anti-American radicals” on a “crusade against American history.” He told moderate voters they had a “a moral duty” to join the Republican Party.
If elected, Biden would be only the second Roman Catholic president in U.S. history and first since John F. Kennedy. Biden speaks frequently about his faith and its importance in his life.
Biden started his day with Mass in Delaware at St. Joseph’s on the Brandywine, as he does nearly every week. He and his wife, Jill, entered wearing dark-colored face masks. She carried a bunch of flowers that including pink roses.
The church is a few minutes’ drive from Biden’s home. Biden’s son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, is buried in the cemetery on its grounds. Joe and Jill Biden visited the grave after the service.
Trump attends church far less often but has drawn strong support from white Evangelical leaders and frequently hosts groups of pastors at the White House. Trump often goes to the Church of Bethesda-By-The Sea near Mar-a-Lago in Florida for major holidays, including Easter, and he attended a Christmas Eve service last year at Family Church in West Palm Beach before the onset of the pandemic.
As the virus forced most churches to pause in-person services this spring, Trump announced plans to tune into live-streamed worship led by some leading evangelical supporters, including Texas-based megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress’ Easter service and a March service by Georgia-based pastor Jentezen Franklin.
Slodysko reported from Washington and Weissert from Durham, North Carolina. Associated Press Writer Elana Schor in Washington contributed to this report.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Trump, Biden go on offense in states they’re trying to flip appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3dPm8ZH
via Gabe's Musing's
Black-owned gym, Harlem Cycle, vandalized
The owner is seeking $5,000 to help offset the cost of damages
Harlem Cycle, a Black-owned workout studio in Harlem, was vandalized over on the weekend.
The owner, Tammeca Rochester, was at a loss for words when she found out. The gym was already facing mounting pressure from the pandemic.
Read More: Harlem’s small Black businesses struggle amid pandemic
“On Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020 I received a call noting me that our studio had been vandalized. As I arrived to our location I was met with the police who informed me of a break-in and the glass in our our front door completely shattered,” Rochester said.
So far, details of the vandalism are not known besides the fact that the front glass door was busted, and the vandals who broke into the gym have not yet been found.
“I’m slowly loosing my faith ….. Woke up this morning and Harlem Cycle has been vandalized. In my 5 years at this location I’ve never worried about theft because I believe when you take care of the community they will take care of you. Well today I’m feeling quite let down and heart broke,” Rochester wrote on Instagram.
“[With] 8+ months of business closure, broken pipes, constantly pivoting our business, creating a whole new digital business, not knowing if we will ever be able to hold classes again and now this. I’m so f*ing tired,” Rochester continued.
theGrio has reached out to Harlem Cycle for comment, but did not immediately get a response.
Harlem Cycle saw an outpouring of love from the community after the vandalism.
“We will come back stronger TOGETHER,” Rochester said.
Rochester has launched a GoFundMe page to help with the cost of repairs.
As of reporting, Rochester has raised more than half of her goal.
Located on 2350 Adam Clayton Powell, in the heart of Harlem, Harlem Cycle hosts various health classes for Harlemites of all level of fitness.
“Whether you are a seasoned athlete or a newcomer to strength and cardiovascular training, Harlem Cycle has a program for you,” Harlem Cycle wrote on their site.
READ MORE: Harlem church hit hard by coronavirus loses nine members within a month
On March 15th, New York City mandated a citywide shutdown. The company began uploading a series of paid, on-demand videos on its Vimeo account in order to stay afloat.
Available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast, those willing to get a Harlem-style workout can pay $40 for a collection of videos designed to keep members in shape.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Black-owned gym, Harlem Cycle, vandalized appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/2IBwSPy
via Gabe's Musing's
Black officers break from unions over Trump endorsements
Many Black officers say the endorsements for Trump don’t fairly represent all dues-paying members
Police unions nationwide have largely supported President Donald Trump’s reelection, amid mass demonstrations over police brutality and accusations of systemic racism — but a number of Black law enforcement officers are speaking out against these endorsements, saying their concerns over entering the 2020 political fray were ignored.
Trump has touted his support from the law enforcement community, which includes endorsements from national, city and state officers’ unions — some of which publicly endorsed a political candidate for the first time. He’s running on what he calls a “law and order” platform and tapping into a strain of anger and frustration felt by law enforcementwho believe they are being unfairly accused of racial discrimination.
Read More: Trumps says ‘more white people’ are dying from police violence than Blacks
There are more than 8,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S., with large departments holding sway nationally. The number of minority officers in policing has more than doubled in the last three decades, but many departments still have a smaller percentage of Black and Hispanic officers compared to the percentage of the general population those communities make up.
Many fraternal Black police organizations were formed to advocate for equality within police departments but also to focus on how law enforcement affects the wider Black community. There have often been tensions between minority organizations and larger unions, like in August, when the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers issued a letter condemning use of deadly force, police misconduct and abuse in communities of color.
While support for the Republican incumbent does not strictly fall along racial lines, many Black officers say the endorsements for Trump don’t fairly represent all dues-paying members.
“We are members of these unions, and they don’t take into consideration our feelings about Donald J. Trump, then they don’t care about us and … they don’t care about our dues,” said Rochelle Bilal, the recent past president of the Guardian Civic League of Philadelphia, calling the National Fraternal Order of Police’s Trump endorsement an “outrage.”
Bilal, who was elected as Philadelphia’s first Black female sheriff last year, spoke at at an early October news conference with other Black law enforcement groups in Philadelphia to condemn Trump endorsements and the process they say ignored their concerns over what they perceived to be racist remarks, support for white supremacist groups and a lack of respect for women from Trump.
But national union leaders say the process is designed to give everyone a voice and the endorsement represents the majority of officers. The Fraternal Order of Police represents close to 350,000 officers nationally, but does not track racial demographics.
“I am a Black American and a Black law enforcement officer,” said Rob Pride, the National Fraternal Order of Police chair of trustees. “It’s been emotionally a rollercoaster ride for me since the George Floyd incident. It was horrific.”
Pride, who oversees the vote that leads to the organization’s presidential endorsement, says the May 25 police killing of Floyd in Minneapolis and the political climate “is tearing America apart” and having a similar effect on the FOP.
National FOP leaders said they have heard from members who don’t agree with the Trump endorsement — and they’re open to talking over concerns — but that all 44 state Fraternal Orders of Police chapters that cast a ballot voted for Trump. Pride said the whole process starts locally, with lodges passing out candidate survey answers and ballots and then voting at a statewide meeting. State delegates then voted at the national meeting.
Read More: U.S. police chiefs worried about armed men at polling stations
“We could probably have an hourlong conversation about why some folks feel President Trump is racist and why others disagree,” he said. “But there are a lot of officers of all races of all backgrounds who feel he best represents and supports the interests of law enforcement.”
On the local level, police reform bills driven by protests against police brutality in the wake of Floyd’s killing have also stoked local unions’ endorsements of candidates for state offices at higher rates this year — some issuing endorsement for the first time in decades. While many union leaders say the endorsements aren’t based on political parties, they have largely been for Republicans challenging candidates who have voted for what unions call “anti-police” reform bills.
Philadelphia’s FOP Lodge 5 President John McNesby said in a statement that the group, which represents 6,500 members, did not make an endorsement in the presidential race, and deferred to its parent union’s endorsement. But members said that despite being the largest lodge in the state, they weren’t given a chance to vote or be counted by the state or national delegates.
Denouncing the endorsement processes, The Guardian Civic League has asked its about 1,200 members to be prepared to withdraw their dues from the national FOP, as has the Club Valiants of Philadelphia — an organization of more than 500 minority firefighters — from the Local 22 of the International Fire Fighters and Paramedics Union. In endorsing Trump, Local 22 broke from its parent organization, which endorsed Democrat Joe Biden.
Valiants leaders said the Local 22′s endorsement was based on survey responses from about 500 of the union’s nearly 5,000 members. Local union leaders said a redo survey is being sent to members in response to the backlash and its endorsement will be revised if necessary by the end of the month.
“The election is Nov. 3, and people are out there voting now. What is it going to do to rescind the endorsement days before the election?” said John Elam, a Philadelphia firefighter and Valiants member. “We want a fair process. We wanted a fair process from the beginning.”
In New York City, Patrick Lynch — the head of the Police Benevolent Association that represents about 24,000 officers — announced the union’s endorsement of Trump at August’s Republican National Convention, something members said they had no warning would happen. An unsigned letter from the Guardians Association said the Black and minority officers the group represents felt blindsided by Lynch’s endorsement and wished the union had stayed neutral.
Lynch said it was the union’s first presidential endorsement in at least 36 years.
“That’s how important this is,” Lynch said to the crowd during an event at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, telling the president: “You’ve earned this.”
During September’s presidential debate, Trump ticked off the locations where he felt he had support from law enforcement. “I have Florida, I have Texas, I have Ohio,” he said. “Excuse me, Portland, the sheriff there just came out today and said, ‘I support President Trump.’”
That sheriff — Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese — quickly took to Twitter to deny any support.
Terrance Hopkins, president of the Black Police Association of Dallas, said a handful of officers left the Dallas Police Department’s largest union, partly driven by its support for Trump, and had joined his organization.
“A lot of these officers feel like they aren’t being considered. A lot of the issues that push them to that point border along racial lines,” Hopkins, a 30-year veteran officer, said. “And it’s not just here. I got a call from some Black officers in Kansas City, Missouri, who wanted to join my organization because they don’t have any other outlet and they don’t feel like they are being represented.”
Associated Press writers Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Black officers break from unions over Trump endorsements appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3kngy2M
via Gabe's Musing's
Supreme Court set to have 3 Bush v. Gore alumni sitting on the bench
ACB declined to commit to recusing herself from any Trump election case even though she worked on Bush v. Gore
After her confirmation, Amy Coney Barrett will be one of the three current Supreme Court justices who assisted the legal team of then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the Florida ballot recount conflict that came down to only one vote at the Supreme Court.
The court’s decision to cut off Florida recounts in 2000 tore apart the justices and the nation, and now, twenty years later, the controversial case still hovers in the air as America approaches the next presidential election.
Read More: Trump selects Amy Coney Barrett for SCOTUS seat
Other current-day justices benefited from the ruling that gave Bush the White House over Vice President Al Gore, as they ultimately became Bush appointees to the bench.
In November 2000, John Roberts, then in private practice, flew to Florida to assist Bush’s legal team. He helped prepare and offered advice to the lawyer who presented Bush’s case to the Florida state Supreme Court.
After Bush became president, he nominated Roberts to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and the Senate confirmed him in 2003. In 2005 Bush elevated Roberts to the chief justice position. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Roberts refused to disclose his opinion of the justices’ 2000 decision, stating that a disputed election could come to the court again.
Read More: Biden says he’s open to adding Supreme Court justices if needed
Justice Brett Kavanaugh was also in private practice in 2000 and assisted the Bush legal team. After the election, Bush hired Kavanaugh to be a counsel and then staff secretary.
Bush later appointed Kavanaugh to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. In 2018, President Donald Trump elevated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
During her hearings, Barrett admitted to working on the Bush v. Gore case, but she told senators that she couldn’t recall specifics of her involvement.
Under questioning from Democratic senators she declined to commit to recusing herself from any Trump election case.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Supreme Court set to have 3 Bush v. Gore alumni sitting on the bench appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3o3yXEh
via Gabe's Musing's
Black businesses get fewer loan opportunities, study shows
In 2019, only 3% of the $23.2 billion in loans from the SBA went to Black businesses
There has been an 84% national decline in lending money to Black-owned businesses since 2007 under the Small Business Administration’s small business lending program.
Read More: Black-owned businesses see sales boost from Blackout Day
In Sacramento, white businesses have received more money for their businesses than all Black businesses nationally from the SBA program, Census data showed.
According to the Sacramento Business Journal, a majority-Black census shows that Black businesses nationally received $157.58 per capita in business loans compared to majority-white businesses which received $304.59 per capita in Sacramento alone.
Business owners in white neighborhoods received $254.67 per capita, whereas neighborhoods with majority people of color received $153.72 per capita.
The problem is not exclusive to California, with states like Ohio facing similar issues.
In the County of Cuyahoga, where 1,439 federal small business loans were awarded in 2018, white businesses received $366 per resident whereas Black businesses received $182 per resident.
The four biggest banks – Chase, Bank of America, CitiBank and Wells Fargo – gave a total of 334 loans to Black-owned businesses in 2019, a 91% decrease compared to 2007, according to the Clevend Business Journal.
Read More: Black-owned OneUnited Bank gets boost after protests
In 2019, only 3% of the $23.2 billion in loans from the SBA went towards Black businesses.
While some might blame bad lending disparities on economic inequality, banks are saying one’s credit determines a person’s ability to get loans and credit issues are rampant in Black communities.
Critics of this data say that using the year before the Great Recession makes the data seem worse. 2007 was a time when getting a loan was very easy to do.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Black businesses get fewer loan opportunities, study shows appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3o5oOa0
via Gabe's Musing's
Issa Rae hosts SNL, Kanye West reacts on Twitter
Kanye West: “I’ve always said SNL uses black people to hold other black people back.”
Issa Rae, star and creator of HBO’s hit series, “Insecure” took on the hosting duties at Saturday Night Live for the first time last night.
During her monologue, Rae joked about having nothing but time on her hands these days. The writer and comedian said her go to response to people inquiring about what she’s been up to is: “Puzzles, bitch — I don’t know.”
Rae showcased her talent best in a date sketch with Chris Redd where a parade of her disreputable exes keep turning up and interrupting the dinner date.
One ex, played by Kenan Thompson, aggressively hawked flowers to vulnerable outside diners, and when he spotted Rae, he vulgarly praised her “titty meat” and stole the couple’s French wine before exiting.
Read More: Issa Rae forms Hoorae media company for TV, film and digital projects
Another live sketch featured Rae alongside Kate McKinnon and Bowen Yang in a Montreal-based morning show, “Bonjour Hi!” In the sketch, Rae displayed a decent, although comical, French accent.
During the “Your Vote Chicago” sketch, Rae played a lawyer for the NAACP. While speaking about political candidates, Rae’s character said she was “voting for everybody Black,” which referenced Rae’s comments that she was “rooting for everybody Black” at the 2017 Emmy Awards.
However towards the end of the sketch she mentioned one Black candidate she would not be supporting.
“When we come back we’ll talk about the presidential race between Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Kanye West,” Thompson’s anchor character said.
Rae’s character fired back, “Kanye? F him!”
Read More: Jimmy Fallon apologizes after drawing social media backlash for ‘SNL’ blackface skit
Responding to the sketch on Twitter, Kanye West wrote: “I’ve always said SNL uses black people to hold other black people back. My heart goes out to Issa Rae. I’m praying for her and her family.”
West also added, “I know that the twenty years of service that I’ve paid in the entertainment field has furthered our ability to be more successful.”
To date, Rae has not commented on West’s tweet.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Issa Rae hosts SNL, Kanye West reacts on Twitter appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/31lTGt4
via Gabe's Musing's
U.S. police chiefs worried about armed men at polling stations
Police are feeling unprecedented pressure to preserve order at the polls
John Clair, the police chief of a rural town in Virginia experienced a particularly hot summer with heavily armed militia men along with other counter-protestors, turning up in droves and engaging in tense standoffs with the peaceful demonstrations of Black Lives Matter protestors.
“People would call me up and ask how I’m doing,” Clair recalled. “And what I’d say is, ‘I’m dealing with the most complex leadership challenge of my career in the midst of the most widespread social crisis in 100 years. But other than that, I’m doing okay.'”
Read More: Trump threatens to send law enforcement to polling places on Election Day
Clair is currently confronting a different kind of leadership challenge: Election Day.
For the past several weeks he’s been trying to figure out how to ensure security at the polls amid the threat of armed troublemakers without scaring away voters who might be offended by the sight of uniformed policemen.
“I feel like I’m walking on the edge of a razor blade,” Clair said in an interview with NBC News.
With extreme partisan rancor and social discontent hovering over the 2020 election, police chiefs and sheriffs are feeling unprecedented pressure to preserve order at the polls.
The scenario is worsened by the increasing threat of conservative militia groups and a president who has called for an “army” of poll watchers to monitor disputed polling places.
In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has cast doubt about the integrity of the election and routinely declined to say that he’d accept the results.
Meanwhile, federal authorities intervened in a militia group’s plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer and the targeting of a second Democratic governor, Ralph Northam of Virginia.
In interviews with NBC News, at least six law enforcement officials throughout the country discussed their preparations for protecting the polls ahead of Election Day.
Read More: Trump refuses to agree to accept 2020 results if he loses to Biden
“There’s not a day that goes by where I’m not up late envisioning what the worst case scenario is to make sure that we are able to prevent it,” said Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wellbrock.
In last month’s presidential debate, Trump singled out Philadelphia, urging his supporters to monitor the polls very carefully.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post U.S. police chiefs worried about armed men at polling stations appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/37hrxaz
via Gabe's Musing's
AG Daniel Cameron wants Breonna Taylor evidence to stay sealed
Personal information is already redacted, yet Daniel Cameron remains cautious
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and the lawyer representing the officer who was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department for his involvement in the death of Breonna Taylor, do not want certain evidence to be released.
Cameron and Brett Hankison’s attorney, William Stewart Mathews, asked a judge to revoke a previous order to release information about the case to the public.
Read More: Kentucky AG won’t commit to timeline for charges in Breonna Taylor case
Circuit Judge Ann Bailey Smith originally ordered the AG to release the information, ABC News reported.
Even though personal information is redacted, Cameron and Mathews are cautious saying that the evidence is too damning to be seen by the public. They cited safety concerns for those involved as people are already receiving death threats.
“The parties submit that filing discovery in the record would allow said materials, many of which may never be admitted as evidence in court, to be published by the media, and permanently taint potential jurors for trial of this matter,” the motion said, ABC News reported. “Redaction of personal identifiers does not remedy the problem.”
Read More: Officer Brett Hankison fired for misconduct during Breonna Taylor shooting
As theGrio previously reported, Hankison’s firing was a direct result of the actions he took on the night Taylor died. He violated rules and regulations about the use of deadly force by “blindly” shooting at her.
Taylor died on March 13 during a botched drug raid. Taylor, an EMT who worked at two local hospitals, was shot as police were serving a “no-knock warrant” as part of a narcotics investigation.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post AG Daniel Cameron wants Breonna Taylor evidence to stay sealed appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/35aTkXp
via Gabe's Musing's
HBCU students keeping COVID-19 count low at their schools
The daily number of positive COVID-19 tests increased by 3,200 after colleges resumed classes throughout the country
As schools and colleges are reopening nationwide amid the ever present coronavirus pandemic, students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) are leading by example when it comes to containing the spread of the virus around their campuses.
According to The Guardian, positive cases of COVID-19 have been low at HBCU’s compared to other colleges around America. Brian Bridges, vice president of research and member engagement for the United Negro College Fund, states that the students are working and cooperating well with school administrators in terms of avoiding large crowds. He also attributes it to the fact that several of these schools are still doing online classes due to lack of resources.
“[HBCUs] enroll a population that has been ravaged disproportionately by COVID: an African American population that is predominantly low-income,” says Bridges. He continued by saying that the colleges “were trying to be mindful of the needs of their students.”
In contrast, several other universities with majority white enrollment have had to shutdown after reopening. A report show that institutions had to reverse course and close after initially allowing students to come back to campus. This includes The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), which had to close its classroom doors after 1,000 students tested positive after starting the fall semester attending in-person classes. This was largely due to students still not adhering to social distancing protocols and throwing parties.
READ MORE: HBCUs experiencing lower COVID-19 infection rates: report
Overall, the daily number of positive COVID-19 tests increased by 3,200 after colleges resumed classes throughout the country.
The feat of low coronavirus count at HBCU’s is particularly comforting known how much the pandemic has disproportionately affected Black Americans in the nation compared to white Americans. However, with over 70 percent of HBCU students requiring financial aid via Pell grants, the campuses are still necessary for students who need to access proper resources to continue their education if they don’t have them at their homes.
“Institutions have been trying to be mindful about reopening because their students need them,” Bridges said. “For many of the students on their campuses, they’re the safest, most stable, most secure place that those students can be. Where they have reliable access to Wi-FI, where they have a regular and quiet place to study in their dorm room.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post HBCU students keeping COVID-19 count low at their schools appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3lVh0pB
via Gabe's Musing's
Gov. Whitmer accuses Trump of inciting violence during rally
Whitmer was the subject of a right wing kidnapping plot
Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan has accused President Donald Trump of inspiring domestic terrorism and implored him and other officials to “bring the heat down” after the president prompted “lock her up” chants at a rally in Muskegon on Saturday.
Whitmer, the subject of a right wing plot to storm the capital and kidnap her over coronavirus lockdown measures, told NBC’s Meet the Press that the chant was “incredibly disturbing.”
“Ten days after that was uncovered, the president is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism,” Whitmer said.
Read More: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer blames kidnap plot on Trump’s rhetoric
“People of good will on both sides of the aisle need to step up and call this out and bring the heat down. This is the United States of America. We do not tolerate actions like he is giving comfort to,” she added.
State officials said that at least eight of the 14 men arrested for involvement in the conspiracy were associated with a militia group called Wolverine Watchmen and some had surveilled Whitmer’s vacation property to prepare for the plot.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has compiled evidence against the people suspected of plotting to kidnap and kill Gov. Whitmer. Among the evidence are chilling training videos and texts messages sent between the alleged conspirators as well as a wealth of photos and phone calls.
In the videos the men are seen training with semiautomatic weapons and demonstrating a taser that they allegedly planned to use in the kidnapping plot.
A federal judge ruled on Friday that five Michigan men would stand trial on conspiracy to kidnap charges.
Read More: Virginia governor also targeted by group that wanted to kidnap Whitmer, FBI says
While speaking to his supporters at Saturday’s rally, Trump encouraged Whitmer to loosen restrictions in Michigan, even though the Michigan Supreme Court upturned her orders earlier this month.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Gov. Whitmer accuses Trump of inciting violence during rally appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/2HbIx74
via Gabe's Musing's
Democrats outnumber Republicans in Florida’s mail-in votes so far
The Florida Division of Election reports that 49% of mail-in ballots are from Democrats
As Americans have been urged to vote early and mail-in ballots have been put under the microscope, early results in Florida reveal that Democrats have an early edge on Republicans as the November 3 election draws closer. The Florida Division of Elections reports that 49 percent of the mail-in ballots are from Democrats and more than 30 percent are from Republicans thus far.
The Division of Elections shows that 2,423,573 Florida citizens have mailed in the ballots for the forthcoming election as of Saturday, October 17. Of those ballots, 1,190,508 came from Democrats compared to only 730,123 that have come from Republicans. The remaining 502, 942 mail-in ballots came from other parties or were non-party affiliates.
These statistics show that more people have used mail-in ballots for the November 3 election that they did for the August primaries, which was 2,342,751 votes.
With Florida being a swing state, such an early saturation of Democrats voting early by mail is a good sign for Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris. This is the first time Democrats have led the mail-in votes against Republicans this close to an election day, as reported by Politico.
READ MORE: Mail-in ballots from Black NC voters rejected 4 times the rate of white voters
In addition to the mail-in votes, CBS News 5 reported that NewsNation/Emerson College polls show Biden leading over incumbent President Donald Trump in Florida. Biden had 50 percent support while Trump had 47 percent.
Despite having an early lead, Democrats such as political strategist Steve Schale believe it’s still too early to claim victory in Florida at this moment.
“The numbers are pretty staggering for us and the return rates and the polling look good,” Schale stated. “But there’s just a lot we don’t know.”
Florida may prove to be an important swing state for the election. Trump won Florida over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. In 2000, Florida was the deciding state for the George W. Bush vs. Al Gore election with results so close that there had to be a recount.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Democrats outnumber Republicans in Florida’s mail-in votes so far appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/2IEF41v
via Gabe's Musing's
Kirstie Alley doubles down on Trump support, says she’s voting for him because he’s ‘not a politician’
Kirstie Alley tweeted that President Donald Trump will turn the economy around
Kirstie Alley has been trending and it’s not because there’s a Look Who’s Talking reboot or a Cheers virtual table read. The actress made headlines this weekend for reaffirming her support for President Donald Trump.
The two-time Emmy winner took to her Twitter account on Saturday to post who she is endorsing in the forthcoming presidential election. Not only did she reveal that she is voting for Trump, but also stated why.
“I’m voting for @realDonaldTrump because he’s NOT a politician,” Alley tweeted. “I voted for him 4 years ago for this reason and shall vote for him again for this reason.”
READ MORE: Ohio Democratic Rep. Kennedy Kent endorses Trump
Alley, 69, went on to post that she believes that Trump will rapidly turn the American economy around if he returns to the White House.
“He gets things done quickly and he will return the economy around quickly. There you have it folks there you have it,” Alley continued.
She immediately received criticism for her statement, with some people commenting on all the things that Trump have quickly gotten done:
People also commented on her reasoning for voting for Trump:
Read More: Voting email scammers disguised as PAC’s to steal personal information
The backlash was noticed by Alley who responded with more posts. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen so much name-calling in my life,” she tweeted. “Definitely not on my site here anyway I guess I’m not allowed to have a viewpoint without being called a really nasty names by what I’m going to suppose are really nasty people.”
Alley came under fire in April 2016 when she posted her original support for Trump during his first campaign, then against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “HELLO BOYS! this is my formal endorsement of@realDonaldTrump,” she posted, which was retweeted by Trump soon after.
After getting scathing replies back then as well, she quickly responded in similar fashion. “If Ur ‘disappointed in me’ Or can’t hang with my views..so be it..U were never a friend in the 1st place.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
The post Kirstie Alley doubles down on Trump support, says she’s voting for him because he’s ‘not a politician’ appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/3kgiElm
via Gabe's Musing's
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)