NNPA -
http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/black-unemployment-rate-falls-to-8-1-percent-in-august/
TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM -
http://triceedneywire.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7064:lack-of-sleep-can-lead-to-false-confessions-by-andy-henion&catid=54&Itemid=208
http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/black-unemployment-rate-falls-to-8-1-percent-in-august/
TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM -
http://triceedneywire.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7064:lack-of-sleep-can-lead-to-false-confessions-by-andy-henion&catid=54&Itemid=208
CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
9-8-16
By Cash Michaels
FOX BLUES – Call it fate, but the
all-mighty arrogant Fox News is sure
getting its lumps this week. First former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, who left the network a few months ago alleging
that she was a victim of sexual
harassment by former Fox News CEO Roger
Ailes, settled with parent company 21st
Century Fox and Ailes for a reported $20 million, as well as an apology.
Last week it was reported that
Carlson had secretly taped Ailes saying all of those unpleasant, sexual things
to her.
Carlson was someone I always
considered to be a bit too much mom and apple pie, but I have to hand it to her
and her attorneys (who certainly got a third of the $20 mil and none of the
apology), they ragged Fox good. Reportedly, there are at least 18 to 25 other
women who also reportedly accuse Ailes of sexually harassing them. Looks like
Fox will need to keep their checkbook out for a while, because Mission One now
is tp protect the company at all costs, meaning no court dates, no trial, no
blazing daily headlines with lurid details of Fox executives cornering young
females.
Sexual
harassment is real in the workplace, and you would think that the folks at Fox
would be smart enough to take it seriously before it cost them a bundle. I
guess it’s true what they say….one way or another , you do pay for your
education.
And then
there is the abrupt exit of Fox talk show hostess Greta Van Susteren earlier this week. No exact reason was reported,
but Van Susteren did defend her boss, Roger Ailes, after the sexual harassment
allegations by Carlson were revealed.
It has been reported that Van Susteren did have a clause in her contract
that if Ailes left Fox, then she could leave too. Apparently she had enough
after Ailes was forced to vacate.
So long,
Greta. It was not nice watching you.
BELIEVE IT
OR NOT – One of my favorite actors, Martin
Sheen, is producing a new television
documentary titled “OJ is Innocent” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Sheen is not only producing, but he’s
narrating as well, Reportedly, the project shows evidence as to why O.J. could
not have killed his ex-wife, Nicole,
and her young friend, Ron Goldman in
1994.
Now I don’t
know what “evidence” Martin Sheen and company plan to present, but it better be
pretty compelling. It’s been over 20 years since O.J.’s acquittal, and he
promised to “track down” the real killer or killers of his ex-wife. Until he
got into more legal trouble a few years later (sending Simpson to prison for a
while, where he remains), O.J. had been searching for the “real” culprits
seemingly on every golf course in America, because that’s where cameras always
caught him.
I hope
Sheen has the goods, because proving O. J. Simpson innocent of anything is a
tough act to pull off.
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 CONCERNED ABOUT
STATE BOE MEETING
TODAY
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
With any
relevant legal challenge now behind them thanks to the US Supreme Court upholding
an appellate court’s recent smack down of North Carolina’s voter ID law, the NC
NAACP remains concerned about how the Republican-led state Board of Elections
[BOE] will resolve local BOE split decisions involving the number of sites and
hours that will be allotted for the 17-day early voting period beginning
Thursday, Oct. 20.
All one
hundred local BOEs are comprised of two Republicans and one Democrat because,
by law, the board majorities must reflect the party of the sitting governor.
The state BOE currently has three Republican members and two Democrats.
The state
BOE is scheduled to meet today, and civil rights advocates, like Rev. Dr.
William Barber, president of the NC NAACP and leader of the coalition that
successfully fought in the courts to overturn the voter suppression law, are
concerned that what the Republicans, and particularly Gov. Pat McCrory,
couldn’t win in court, they will try to do through the state BOE by devising
early voting plans that limit voting sites and hours.
An emailed
memo to all local BOEs from NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse, revealed
in published reports weeks ago instructions to the local boards urging them, in
light of the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling dismantling voter ID, to
minimize sites and hours of operation.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg,
Wake and Lenoir counties are just three counties where Republican-led local
BOEs have done just that.
Rev. Barber
says what many of the local boards did, and what the state Board is likely to
do is “a travesty.”
“We are petitioning
the state Board of Elections not to allow the system to be gamed and used in a
way that is racist and unjust,” Rev. Barber told MSNBC Saturday. “This is a
travesty for our governor, and our legislature and local boards of elections in
the 21st century to continue to try this level of voter
suppression.”
Rev. Barber
added that what we’re seeing now from the local BOEs is not just about Gov.
McCrory trying to win re-election, though he’s several points behind Democratic
challenger Atty. Gen. Roy Cooper, but also a “desperate attempt [by
Republicans] to hold onto power, “…and doing it in a way that undermines
people’s right to vote.”
“It’s immoral,
it’s unconstitutional, and we are fighting it with everything we can,” Rev.
Barber said.
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ABSENTEE BALLOTS
URGED
SINCE STRAIGHT-TICKET
BALLOTING NO MORE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
One of the
major concerns about the 2013 voter suppression law was that the requirement
for voters to brandish their government-issued photo identification would
ultimately cause long lines at the polls during the early voting period and on
Nov . 8th Election Day. So when the July 29th federal
appellate decision doing away with voter ID was handed down, many cheered,
until they realized there was still one key part of the voter suppression law
still intact.
The part
that did away with straight-ticket balloting.
In North
Carolina, Michigan and other states without straight-ticket voting, Republicans
say forcing voters to choose candidates race-by-race allows them to do their
research on who has the best positions. But critics say given the partisan
atmosphere, voters pretty much know what parties they support, so not being
able to mark one party of candidates only creates longer lines and greater
confusion.
According
to the US Fourth Circuit ruling, one of the reasons why early voting was
targeted by Republican lawmakers was because it was so popular with
African-American voters. Thus, virtually all of the voter suppression
requirements were applied accordingly.
But not so
with mail-in absentee balloting, a voting feature dominated by Republicans who, for whatever reason,
aren’t able to cast an in-person ballot on any of the early voting days or on
Election Day.
Unlike
in-person voting, absentee balloting has virtually few restrictions.
According
to local Boards of Election, “Any registered North Carolina voter can request a mail-in
absentee ballot. This type of absentee voting allows a voter or a near relative
or legal guardian to request that an absentee ballot be sent to the voter by
mail. The voter may vote the ballot and return it to the county board of
elections by the ballot return deadline.”
Even though in-person early voting begins on
Oct. 20th across the state, mail-in absentee-voting in North
Carolina began this week.
No reason
is needed for a North Carolina resident to request a mail-in absentee ballot
from their local county BOE, or obtain it online from the state BOE at
https://www.ncsbe.gov/Portals/0/FilesP/AbsenteeBallotRequestForm.pdf.
Just fill it out, use either your NC driver’s license number or the last four
digits of your Social Security number for identification, and mail it back in
to your local BOE by Tuesday, Nov. 1st, 2016.
-30-
CAN TRUMP ATTRACT
BLACK SUPPORT IN NC?
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Last
Saturday in Detroit, Michigan, Republican presikdential nominee Donald Trump
visited a black church not only to do an
interview with the church’s pastor, buy also in an effort to convince African-Americans that he’s serious about
wanting their support.
“[T]hose who seek office do not do enough
to step into the community and learn what’s going on,” Trump told those
gathered at Great Faith Ministries
International Church. “They don’t know. They have no clue.”
Ironically, the controversial
billionaire was echoing the same sentiment that he was being charged with by
critics, noting that all of his public
messaging up until then for black people was actually to white Trump
supporters in an effort to demonstrate
that he was not a racist.
The hope in Detroit was kissing babies, singing gospel and greeting
black people at a black church would sofeten Trump’s image in key tates like
North Carolina, where shaving off some of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s black
support could make a difference 60 days from now in the November gen eral
elections. Especially if the polls in North Carolina remain as tight as they
are now, knotted up at 44 percent.
If Trump can win what is now
considered a “toss-up” state, like Mitt Romney did in 2012 over incumbent Pres.
Barack Obama, he can claim North Carolina’s 15 Electoral College votes, hurting
Clinton in the process. Thus, the reason why Trump and his vice presidential
running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, have repeatedly come back to the stte to
campaign as recently as this week.
Trump has been gaining ground on
Clinton, so taking aim at her considerable black voter support – measured at
over 90 percent to Trump’s between one and eight percent according to the
latest polls – is not a surprise.
And he may have some black NC
support that could make a even a small difference.
A month ago, the congregation at Charlotte’s Antioch Road to Glory
International Ministries, a predominately black church, endorsed Trump for
president after welcoming his daughter-in-law,
Lara Trump, to worship with them.
The pastor’s daughter, Katrina
Rodgers, told a local television station that Trump’s promise of jobs for
blacks and improving their communities was more than Hillary Clinton and the
Democratic Party has done.
Indeed, this church is indicative of
many conservative black churches in North Carolina that joined with right-wing
activists to support HB 2, the Republican-passed law that restricts transgender
use of public bathrooms. Gov. Pat McCrory, who is running for reelection, fully
supports the measure, and the GOP-led legislature refuses to retract it, even
though North Carolina has lost tens of millions in business, including the 2017
NBA All-star game as a result.
Two of Trumps earliest black
supporters were two black female who called themselves “Notorious Diamond and
Silk .“So outrageous was their endlorsement of Trump on national television,
that he invited them to one of his first North Carolina rallies at Dorton Arena
last December before a cheering crowd, and asked them to do their “routine.”
There’s no telling what black
support their wide exposure, especially online,
will attract.
Finally, many never realized that
the Trump campaign’s North Carolina state director, Earl Phillip, was black.
According to a release last November from the campaign, “Earl Phillip previously served
as the North Carolina African American State Director for the Republican
National Committee (RNC), Director of The Frederick Douglass Foundation in the
Greater Charlotte Area, Chairman of National Veterans for Republicans
Association and Chairman of National Minority Conservative Convention. Earl
also consulted for the Director of Minority Engagement for the NCGOP. He is the
President and owner of Innovative Consulting Services and the current Director
of North Carolina Black Engagement.”
But by August, Phillip was gone,
according to Politico, replaced by
the campaign. “Phillip
"just had a difficulty relating to the grassroots activists and did not
share a lot of information," one local activist close to the campaign told
Politico.
Mrs.
Clinton has taken no chances with Trump’s outreach to black voters in North
Carolina. Today she’s in Charlotte at HBCU Johnson C. University in Charlotte
for a voter registration drive. Her husband, former Pres. Bill Clinton, was in
Durham on Tuesday, also for a voters’ registration drive.
-30-
TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS
FOR 09-08-16
AUTHORITIES PROBE
SWIMMING POOL ELECTROCUTION
A
17-year-old Enloe High School student was found dead and floating in a North
Raleigh swimming pool Saturday. Rachel Anna Rosoff was a lifeguard at the
Heritage Point subdivision swimming pool, and authorities say she was
electrocuted and drowned when she apparently went to the poll early Saturday to
clear out debris from the storm the day before so it could be used for the
Labor Day holiday. The Wake County Sheriff’s Office is among the many agencies
investigating this case.
DIVERSITY IGNORED IN
DRAFT OF WAKE STUDENT ASSIGNMENT PLAN
With a
priority of making sure three new schools have adequate student capacities, the
latest draft of the WCPSS 2017-18 student assignment plan does little to
promote student diversity, critics charge. That means at least 50 schools will
be designated high poverty/low performing, something many in the community
though a Democratic-dominated board would try not to allow. Students are being moved to fill the new
Horton’s Creek Elementary and River Bend Middle, and well as Rogers Lane
Elementary. A second draft for public comment is expected in October.
RALEIGH FIREFIGHTERS
PROTEST AGAIN OVER WEAK PAY RAISES
Not pleased
that the Raleigh City Council has decided against the 7 percent pay raises that
they and police officers demanded earlier this year, Raleigh firefighters
demonstrated in front of City Hall Tuesday evening prior to the Raleigh City
Council meeting. The Council decided on offering upwards of 3.5 percent to 4
percent, but firefighters said that was still too low for the hard work that
they do. Many say they and their
families can’t even live in the city they work for t their current salaries.
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 09-08-16
TWO HARNETT COUNTY
SCHOOLS SHO LEAD IN WATER
[DUNN] Two
Harnett County elementary schools have registered slightly elevated levels of
lead in their water, health officials say. Bottled water is being distributed
to student at both Erwin Elementary and Benhaven Elementary schools. The water
systems at both schools have been flushed on weekends. Water is being brought
in for use in the ice machines and cafeterias. Ironically, the elevated lead
levels have not shown up in the school kitchens.
HB 2 TRIAL IS
POSTPONED SEVERAL MONTHS
[RALEIGH]
At the request of North Carolina Republican officials, a federal judge has
delayed the trial over the state law restricting public bathroom use by
transgender citizens until next year. The request comes as the US Supreme Court
decides whether to hear a Virginia case involving the same issue. North
Carolina’s trial is now moved from November to May 2017.
PRESIDENTIAL
CANDIDATES FLOOD NORTH CAROLINA THIS WEEK
[CHARLOTTE]
Today, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was scheduled to join a
voter registr”ation drive at Johnson C. Smith University. On Tuesday, her vice
presidential running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, made what was billed as a “major”
national security speech in Wilmington. Also on Tuesday, Republican
presidential nominee Donald Trump talked about immigration in Greenville during
remarks there. The reason why North Carolina has become so important to the
major candidates in the next 60 days leading to the Nov. 8 general election?
Both Clinton and Trump are tied, according to the latest polls, at 44 percent,
and North Carolina’s 15 electoral College votes are at stake for the winner.
-30-
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