CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
08-11-16
By Cash Michaels
OUR TEAM IN
THE RIO OLYMPICS – I haven’t been able to watch too much of the Rio Summer
Olympics of late, but just watching the news clips of the men’s and women’s
gymnastics teams, the men’s basketball team, and of course our great swimmers,
you simply have to be in awe of the years of hard work and training each has
undertaken in order to qualify and compete.
Yes, there
will be plenty of American superstars
who will come out of the Rio games when it’s all said and done. We’ll wait to
hail themonce the gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded. But one thing
we’re certain of, and that’s that First Lady Michelle Obama will have plenty of
warm hug for all of them, and Pres. Obama certainly will beam with pride that
the last American Olympic team of his presidency performed so well.
All of them
are our young people, working very hard to represent their country against the
best in the world. Let’s fully support them, and cheer them on.
WHAT IN THE
WORLD? – It has been a long time coming that the operation at Fox News has been
revealed for what it apparently really was beyond a vocal mouthpiece for the
Republican Party and conservative movement – namely and allegedly a nefarious
enterprise masterminded by now former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes.
By now you
know about the sexual harassment allegations that former “Fox and Friends”
hostess Gretchen Carlson lodged Ailes in a much-publicized lawsuit that cost
fearless leader his job over a month ago.
Since then,
upwards of 25 women have also reportedly come forward, alleging various
indiscretions of the part of Ailes. Recent published reports allege that
employee at Fox were afraid to even complain to each other over the company
phone for fear that their phones were being tapped.
And new
reporting suggests that Ailes, like his former boss, Richard Nixon, had an
“enemies list” that he ran out of Fox News headquarters from a secret room. The
reports also allege that Ailes hired private detectives to spy on his enemies,
and may have paid for the whole operation with Fox News money, not his own.
That could make 21st Century Fox, Fox News’ parent company, directly
culpable for some of Ailes’ alleged shenanigans if legally determined true.
On CNN
earlier this week, there was speculation that Fox may want to consolidate any
and all claims for a mass settlement just to keep much of the ugly stuff out
court. That could most likely happen, because Lord knows the weeks of juicy
testimony would be something even the Home and Garden Channel would cover.
But there
is still one fact surrounding all of this that could till force a public trial –
Roger Ailes maintains that he is innocent of all allegations, especially since
21st Century Fox want him to pay part of whatever settlement they
reach with Gretchen Carlson.
Boy, this
could be fun. Fair and balanced too.
Cash in the Apple - honored as the Best
Column Writing of 2006 by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Columnist Cash Michaels was also honored by the NNPA for Best Feature Story
Journalist of 2009, and was the recipient of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP’s
President’s Award for Media Excellence in Sept. 2011.
Until
next week, keep a smile on your face, GOD in your heart, and The Carolinian in
your life. Bye, bye.
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NCNAACP RAMPS UP
GENERAL ELECTION
PLANS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
It’s
looking less and less like Gov. McCrory’s attorneys will be able to cajole the
US Supreme Court to stay the recent US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling
dismantling the state’s 2013 voter ID law, especially after the federal appeals
court turned the Republican governor down last week.
That means
the NCNAACP is “full speed ahead” with strategies to maximize voter
registration, voter education and getting-out-the-vote in time for the November
general elections. On Saturday, hundreds of activists from NAACP chapters and
coalition groups across the state gathered at Christian Faith Baptist Church in
Raleigh not only to celebrate their recent federal court victory, and
commemorate the 51st anniversary of the signing of the 1965 Voting
Rights Act, but also to plot the way forward now that 17-day early voting,
same-day registration, out-of-precinct provisional balloting and
pre-registration for 16 and 17-year-old prospective voters has been legally reinstated.
The NC
NAACP and Democracy NC, a nonpartisan advocacy group, estimate that as a result
of the federal appellate court ruling, at least 100,000 more North Carolinians
will now be eligible to vote in November.
“It takes all of us to win these battles,”
declared a jubilant, but cautious NCNAACP
Pres. Rev. William Barber.
“We must be
mindful that we must continue to mobilize…so we must activate mobilization
plans to ensure that we continue to protect this franchise because this
struggle is still real,” said Derick Smith, Political Action Chair of the
NCNAACP.
According
to Rev. Barber, the NCNAACP is coordinating over 1300 churches, synagogues,
temples and mosques to be a part of the Sunday “Souls to the Polls” early
voting effort. Thousands of volunteers across the state have been recruited for
both voter registration, and education of the issues; and during the early voting period and on
November 8th, there will be volunteers assigned to voter protection,
making sure that the letter of the law is being carried out to ensure a fair
election.
The first
priority for NAACP and coalition members was to pressure their local county boards of election across the
state to institute new plans that expand early voting sites and accessibility
starting Oct. 20th. Rev. Barber vowed that the NAACP would “show up at
every” local BOE meeting, “Because we
will not have a ruling by the courts that calls what you have done
“unconstitutional”, and then allow you to play mischief with it and still
suppress the right the vote.”
In Guilford
County on Monday, over 300 activists heeded the call, storming the BOE meeting
there, demanding that the board to do away with plans to drastically cut a
dozen of 25 designated early voting sites, including at NC A&T University
and UNC – Greensboro. Under pressure, the GOP-led board capitulated, allowing
sites to at stay at the two schools, and not cutting any other sites.
But for the
first seven-days, early voting will be only held at the Guilford County Board
of Elections.
Later that evening
in Wake County, the local BOE met by teleconference, thus disallowing any
public input, deciding to also extend the initial seven-days of the 17-day
early voting period, starting Oct. 20th, only at the downtown Raleigh BOE office. Prior
to the decision, NAACP activists objected to that option, saying that in a
county as large and populated as Wake, having only one early voting site for
the first seven days was most inconvenient.
One
Republican Wake BOE member, Edwin Woodhouse, cousin to Dallas Woodhouse,
executive director of the NC Republican Party, proposed eliminating Sunday
“Souls to the Polls” voting that African-American churchgoers favor, and also
the voting site at N.C. State University. Both motions were rejected 2-1.
New Hanover
County’s BOE will meet August 18th at 3 p.m. to make its decision.
On
Saturday, NCNAACP Pres. Rev. Barber told those gathered that “Now that we have
won the case, we must use what we’ve won, and we must protect what we’ve won. We
must have millions to march to the polls, and hundreds to march to these boards
of elections.”
“Our
excitement…,” Rev. Barber added, “…must
now be turned into effort.”
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TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS
FOR 08-11-16
FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS
2011 MAPS TO BE USED FOR WAKE RACES
The federal
judge tasked with replacing the 2013 Wake County school board and 2015 Wake County commission
district lines drawn by the Republican-led state Legislature, has decided to
indeed replace them, with the 2011 district lines that were thrown out in the
first place. US District Court Judge James Dever decide this week that the 2011
maps were constitutional, something the US Fourth Circuit of Appeals ruled the
2013 and 2015 lines were not. Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association was one of the
plaintiffs in the case. The 2011 maps will be used for the November 8th
general election.
NCCU CHANCELLOR TAKES
LEAVE FOR CANCER TREATMENT
Debra
Saunders-White, who has served as
chancellor of North Carolina Central University in Durham since 2013, has taken
an undetermined leave of absence from her post in order to seek prolonged
treatment for cancer, a school spokesperson says. Johnson O. Akinleye, NCCU provost
and vice chancellor for academic affairs, will serve as acting chancellor in
her absence.
POLITICO TAGS WAKE AS
A “BATTLEGROUND COUNTY” IN THE NATION
Wake
County, where Democrats have successfully dominated school board and county
commissioner elections in recent years, is considered one of 25 important
so-called “battleground” counties across the nation during the 2016
presidential election season, according to Politico,
the national political news website. Wake chose Barack Obama for president in the
2008 and 2012 elections, but Politico
says Republicans are going to make an effort to be competitive there, since
Mecklenburg County is seen as going strong Democratic. Forsyth County is seen
as North Carolina’s other battleground county.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR
08-11-16
TRUMP SUPPORTS
DISMANTLED VOTER ID LAW IN WILMINGTON
[WILMINGTON]
Despite a recent federal appellate court ruling that found racial bias was
behind the Republican-led legislature’s 2013 voter ID law, GOP presidential
nominee Donald Trump expressed his support for the law during a campaign stop
in the port city Tuesday. Trump charged that North Carolina Democrats “will
vote 15 times for Hillary Clinton,” alleging still unfounded GOP claims of
voter fraud. Trump also caused a national stir when he suggested that Clinton,
if elected, would abolish the Second Amendment right to own guns if she
appointed justice to the US Supreme Court, but gun supporters might be able to
do something about it.
NC TAXPAYERS FOOT
LEGISLATURE’S $9 MILLION LEGAL BILL
[RALEIGH]
Every time the Republican-led NC legislature has gone to court to defend one of
its many criticized laws since 2011, price was no object when it came to the
numerous legal bills. According to published reports, private law firms have
charged state lawmakers over $9.3 million for legal work – more than 20 times
what the legislature spent for private legal work in the ten years prior - even
though technically the state Attorney General’s Office is General Assembly’s
legal representative in most matters. Half of the big bill comes from fighting
to defend the 2013 voter ID law, which was recently overturned by the US Fourth
Circuit of Appeals.
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