Stand up for yourself and don't let anyone push you around.
STAND YOUR GROUND !!
Friday, December 11, 2020
Black Farmers, Civil Groups ‘Enraged’ After Joe Biden Selects Tom Vilsack Over Rep. Marcia Fudge to Head USDA
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Politics
Black Farmers, Civil Groups ‘Enraged’ After Joe Biden Selects Tom Vilsack Over Rep. Marcia Fudge to Head USDA
Black farming and civil rights groups are giving President-elect Joe Biden an earful about his decision to bring former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack back to head up the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a job he held for eight years under former President Barack Obama. According to Politico, leaders of farming and civil rights organizations say Vilsack’s inconsistent record on civil rights have disqualified him for the role, which is charged with overseeing programs supporting the nation’s farmers, providing crucial food assistance programs, and managing the agency’s $146 billion budget. The outlet writes that the decision has “enraged many farmers of color.”
“Vilsack is not good for the
agriculture industry, period,” Michael Stovall, founder of Independent
Black Farmers told Politico. IBF is a coalition of Black growers and
producers from Southern states that works to raise awareness on the
issues Black farmers face. “When it comes to civil rights, the rights of
people, he’s not for that. It’s very disappointing they even want to
consider him coming back after what he has done to limited resource
farmers and what he continues to do to destroy lives.”
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Vilsack’s
selection was announced this week, after Ohio Congresswoman Marcia
Fudge and high profile members of the Congressional Black Caucus spent
weeks publicly lobbying for Fudge to be the first Black woman to head
the USDA. Fudge leads the House Agriculture Committee and reportedly
wanted to shift the focus of the department from farming to addressing
hunger, including in non-rural areas. While the USDA is most associated
with its work supporting farmers, the agency has a substantial impact in
providing assistance to millions of Americans dealing with food
insecurity, including through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program and school meals.
Some
of the criticism against Vilsack is rooted in the USDA’s history. As
Politico notes, it has historically been led by white men, and the
agency has actively contributed to massive land loss sustained by Black
farmers.
Vilsack’s supporters suggest that the former USDA secretary brings a lot of “deep knowledge” at a crucial time. From Politico:
Biden chose Vilsack because he wanted someone at USDA with deep knowledge of the department’s operations and who can immediately address the problems facing rural communities, farmers and low-income families in need of food assistance during the pandemic, according to a person familiar with Biden’s thinking. The person also pointed to Vilsack’s work at USDA establishing the department’s first Minority Farmers Advisory Committee and creating the Office of Advocacy and Outreach to serve small, beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers.
NAACP
President Derrick Johnson, on a previously scheduled call with Biden,
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, warned Biden and his transition team
that the Vilsack pick may work against Democrats in the crucial Georgia
Senate races. More from Politico:
Black voters, and particularly rural Black voters, there have not forgotten that Shirley Sherrod, the former head of USDA rural development in Georgia and a well-respected civil rights leader, was wrongfully forced out of her job under Vilsack’s leadership after a deceptively edited video featured on Breitbart falsely suggested she was racist.
...Biden listened to the concerns, quietly taking notes throughout the roughly 90-min Zoom meeting, but when Johnson specifically suggested the president-elect owed Sherrod a call to discuss selecting Vilsack, Biden looked up and appeared to be taken aback, the source said, perhaps suggesting the former vice president began to understand just how upset the Black community remains about the episode a decade later.
The
USDA is best known for its role in supporting the nation’s farmers,
though that protection has rarely applied to Black farmers in the same
way it has to white ones. As Mother Jones
reports, in the 1910s, approximately 200,000 Black farmers owned 20
million acres of land, with most of that farmland being in the South.
Only 2 percent of that number remains, the result of systemic barriers
and outright land theft, aided and abetted by federal agencies.
This
history has prompted a Senate bill, the Justice for Black Farmers act,
that aims to redress this massive land loss and support Black farmers,
including devoting an $8 billion fund within the USDA that would buy
farmland and grant it to new and existing farmers.
John Boyd,
president of the National Black Farmers Association, told Politico he
was disappointed about Vilsack’s nomination, particularly after he had
“spent months working with Biden’s campaign and his transition team,”
the outlet writes. Boyd said he has contacted Vilsack to learn how he
plans to reach out to and support Black and non-white farmers, including
improving access to land and credit.
“I am hopeful he comes with a different attitude for the next four years than he had his first eight years he was at USDA and solves the issues facing Black, other minorities and small farmers,” said Boyd. “There has to be some real initiative and focus that has to come from him. The agency is not going to do anything if it is not coming from him.”
Australia abandons COVID-19 vaccine due to false HIV positives
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World
Australia abandons COVID-19 vaccine due to false HIV positives
Australia has cancelled the production of a locally made Covid-19 vaccine after trial volunteers falsely tested positive for HIV, meaning the drug could interfere with diagnosis of that virus.
Antibodies generated by the jabs developed by the University of Queensland (UQ) and biotech firm CSL led to trial subjects wrongly testing positive for the virus that causes AIDS. Further trials have been stopped.
Scientists said the results were a blow to Australia's vaccine development and was likely to force the country to buy more doses of imported shots.
"While this is a tough decision to take, the urgent need for a vaccine has to be everyone's priority," said UQ professor Paul Young.
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Australia has ordered a total of 140 million shots from different suppliers, to inoculate its 25 million people, making it one of the most highly stocked countries in the world.
"We want to ensure that Australians ... have full confidence, absolute full confidence that when it gets the tick, they can get the jab, and they can make that decision for themselves and for their families, confidently,” said Scott Morrison, prime minister.
Prof Sarah Palmer, from the faculty of medicine at the University of Sydney, said: “Sadly, this is a set-back for the development of Covid-19 vaccines. Generating a false positive for HIV is entirely unexpected for this vaccine, but underscores the critical necessity of testing the safety of newly-developed vaccines in large numbers of volunteers.”
She said the Australian government, which was a major backer of the UQ vaccine effort, would have to consider funding other alternatives, including imported vaccine from firms such as Pfizer and Moderna.”
Australia's strict quarantine regime has seen the country quash earlier outbreaks and its tally of 28,000 infections is far fewer than in many other developed countries
Its success in keeping a lid on infections has meant the country is not racing to start vaccinations like countries in Europe and jabs are not scheduled to begin until March.
CSL, had been under a contract to produce 51 million doses of the UQ vaccine, and will instead produce an extra 20 million doses of the Oxford vaccine being developed with Britain's AstraZeneca.
Thursday, December 10, 2020
Health
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the inequities of the health-care system: ‘Black lives are at risk. Serious risk'
“Our lives are at risk. The health-care system — and everyday individuals —have to do a better job to protect us,” writes NBA legend, activist, writer and UCLA Health Ambassador Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a compelling account of his unique experience as a Black American man living with serious health risks who happens to be a celebrity — speaking, most saliently, to how his experience compares with that of the Black American community at large.
In the Wednesday piece, “Black Lives Matter,” for WebMD’s social justice magazine series, Abdul-Jabbar begins by recounting his own health battles: “My life is at risk. Not just because I’m 73 with the usual annoying aches and pains that accompany age, but because I’m tall and I’m Black. At 7 feet, 2 inches, I’m statistically more prone to blood clots, lower back and hip problems, higher risk of cancer, especially prostate cancer, atrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm disorder), and a shorter life span in general. Being Black means I’m more likely to suffer from diabetes, heart problems, obesity, cancer, and a shorter life in general. Yup, tall people and Black people have shorter life expectancies. So far, in keeping with these statistical risks, I’ve had prostate cancer, leukemia, and heart-bypass surgery.”
Still, he notes, “I’ve been fortunate because my celebrity has brought me enough financial security to receive excellent medical attention. No one wants an NBA legend dying on their watch. Imagine the Yelp reviews.”
Further, Abdul-Jabbar says he’s lucky that one of his sons is an orthopedic surgeon while another is a hospital administrator, affording him with free, at-will medical advice. But while he’s grateful for his advantages, he writes, “I’m acutely aware that many others in the Black community do not have the same options and that it is my responsibility to join with those fighting to change that. Because Black lives are at risk. Serious risk.”
Abdul-Jabbar goes on to draw connections between the nation’s state of racial affairs and health outcomes in Black communities, pointing to “a wide spectrum of health threats built into the foundation of American society as solidly as steel girders holding up a bridge.”
He explains, “Most people know this is true, though some will deny it because they fear removing those rusty girders will cause the whole bridge to collapse. The truth is that those girders are already malignant with rust and will eventually collapse if we don’t address the underlying rot of systemic racism. San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge has 200 ironworkers, electricians, and painters who daily maintain the bridge’s integrity. If we want America to maintain its cultural integrity, we need to fix its structural flaws —and we need to do so on a daily basis.”
Abdul-Jabbar highlighted organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), National Urban League and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which, he says, are doing the work to address these longstanding issues — while also recognizing one of the most widely known, Black Lives Matter (BLM), a “less a traditional organization and more a movement of loosely affiliated activists across the country united by the credo that is their name,” he says.
“BLM started organizing in 2013 … But by 2020, after a series of police killings of unarmed Blacks that culminated with the suffocation of George Floyd, BLM had grown into the largest protest movement in the history of the United States. … But police brutality is merely the most dramatic and violent attack on the lives of African Americans. … The more insidious and damaging threat to the health, lives, and economic well-being of Black Americans is a health-care system that ignores the fact that, though they are most in need of medical services, they actually receive the lowest level,” writes Abdul-Jabbar.
As he connects the dots between COVID-19 disparities, higher health risks and a lack of job opportunities — what he calls “threads” in a “giant quilt that smothers the Black community” — he argues that the complications of pulling on any of them is that “one thread leads to another, to another, to another — each forming an interlinking pattern that seems impenetrable and unassailable.”
Leaving readers — and all of the U.S. — with a word of advice, Abdul-Jabbar compares what it’s like to be Black in this country to the 1993 Bill Murray classic, Groundhog Day.
“It’s as if the Black community is trapped in Groundhog Day in which every day we fight racism, prove it exists, see gains, and then wake up the next day to all the same obstacles. In the movie, Bill Murray escaped the cycle by becoming selfless, caring more about others’ needs than his greedy desires,” Abdul-Jabbar writes. “That’s how America will escape this self-destructive behavior.”
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
African americans complain that they are getting virus more often......(well do you see masks or social distancing? If this behavior goes on here it will go on other places that they ALL go to....... this is just a sample)
Sports
James Harden is making a mess of his forced exit from Rockets
www.yahoo.com
James Harden is effectively practicing social distancing protocols from the Houston Rockets, leaving his coach and teammates to answer for his truancy.
It doesn’t seem like he’s exercising the same discipline elsewhere, being recorded at well-attended events and parties thrown by folks who, at the very least, aren’t exercising social discretion.
It’s clear what he’s doing, something nearly confirmed as much on social media by his mother, Monja Willis, who also serves as his agent.
“He is doing what is best for his career. Please pay attention and understand,” Willis said in response to a fan criticizing Harden’s behavior on Instagram. “He has worked hard every time he suited up for his job, giving 210 percent. He ask[ed] for a chance to get a ring, that’s it. Anyone in their right mind in this bus[iness] would want that.”
Not showing up at a place where he’s scheduled to make over $40 million in each of the next three years, though, is too much to ask.
Will pressing to join Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving work?
Never mind the pandemic and all the hoops the NBA is going through to put on this ambitious enterprise.
Never mind the inherent responsibility NBA superstars have to grow the game, to make it a better league than the one they entered.
Nope, just something as simple as professional courtesy on the front end, or discretion on the back end as a new front office and new head coach have to deal with the carnage of a fractured relationship between a star player and a franchise.
He hasn’t shown up to Rockets camp as the preseason will begin at the end of this week, and the real games to follow in the next two weeks.
Harden wants to join Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, and his actions illustrate nothing more than that.
The Rockets are hoping Harden comes to his senses, looks around at the new roster to see John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins along with the other familiar faces and changes his mind.
Then again, some poor saps from Houston are hoping Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland will come back to rekindle some old high-school puppy love, too.
Trying to force a trade isn’t new, especially in this day of player empowerment. But there has to be a recognition of what’s been done to accommodate the star leading to this point, as well as the practicality of leverage Harden doesn’t possess.
There’s a line between empowerment and insubordination, and Harden currently has a first-year coach like Stephen Silas taking the public bullets, gritting his teeth and sounding like a stepfather waiting on a rebellious child to come home. That sounds more like insubordination than empowerment.
If going out and partying with Lil Baby, potentially putting himself at risk for a deadly virus that can damage organs, gets him the desired result, so be it.
Harden doesn’t have leverage of LeBron, Anthony Davis
More power to him in what appears to be a final power play, after nudging the likes of Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook out of town because none of them could play nice.
But the Rockets don’t have to bow down this time. Three years is an eternity in today’s NBA, especially at max prices.
There’s no power without leverage, hence where Harden either miscalculated these latest public stunts or didn’t factor it in.
Say what you will about Rich Paul, and plenty already have. When it came to Anthony Davis’ impending free agency, it looked like a fait accompli he would wind up a Laker. Paul, though, made himself the bad guy as opposed to Davis, with the public statement his client wanted out of New Orleans before his contract expired. Davis said little, played on and perhaps, played up the notion of being the naive pawn in a bigger game to prevent mass criticism.
It was ugly, and messy, but the devilish details didn’t matter once many saw the manifestation of the vision: Davis with LeBron James, celebrating a title.
Those pesky wrinkles in the middle, hurt feelings, tarnished seasons and temporarily stained reputations got lost in the wash.
If that was ugly, this is messy, as the kids like to say.
Harden, though, hasn’t approached this with sophistication or foresight, perhaps only leaning into the player empowerment tone of the day. But that day was birthed by players who spent a few years too long for organizations that didn’t prioritize winning, or didn’t supplement it with competence.
Kevin Garnett gave the best of his body to the Minnesota Timberwolves before finally getting out after 12 seasons, a one-way ticket to Boston. Charles Barkley never made the conference finals as a headliner and MVP runner-up in Philadelphia, getting shipped to Phoenix after nine years in what could’ve been two years too late.
In a sense, that paved the way for James and Durant and the like to exercise agency and take the hits in the immediate aftermath for sake of freedom and winning. But James and Durant kept the pressure on the respective organizations by signing shorter deals, wielding the ultimate leverage.
Only recently has James cashed in those chips, with an extension for a Lakers franchise that bends to his will and has been rewarded.
It’s hard to argue the Rockets didn’t do plenty for Harden, acquiring players who wouldn’t get in his way or need the ball — and we know what happened to the ones who couldn’t get with the program.
New Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash can barely begin his program, being asked to address “the elephant in the room” following the revelation Harden didn’t make it into the Rockets’ camp.
“I guess we let the elephant be,” Nash said, the only answer he could give.
Harden is more than entitled to want out of Houston, and to try it a different way elsewhere. Perhaps the Rockets should’ve tried building a champion a different way as opposed to hoping Harden would elevate his game in the playoffs where he often didn’t.
But he could certainly make life easier on all involved by showing up and being professional because truth be told, it’s likely the Rockets don’t want a disgruntled employee around while trying to build something new and sustainable.
If a dream without a plan is just a wish, then empowerment without leverage is foolish.
And nobody likes playing the fool.
Monday, December 7, 2020
Detroit police investigating shootout on party bus (party bus? and they wonder why covid is going up there)
Detroit police investigating shootout on party bus
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Posted at 10:48 AM, Dec 07, 2020
and last updated 10:48 AM, Dec 07, 2020
DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit police are investigating a shootout on a party bus that occurred overnight Sunday.
Police say although three were shot, there were four victims overall. Three men, aged 21, 34 and 41, are in stable condition.
Police say a 21-year-old woman was possibly hit by a bottle. She is also in stable condition.
The shootout occurred in the area of Harper and Beniteau. Two handguns were recovered.
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