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APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
VOLUME 24 NO. 16
RIGHT TO AN ATTORNEY? NOT SO FAST America’s public defender system is underfunded and overwhelmed – with no relief in sight. BY SARAH BREITENBACH STATELINE.ORG / TNS
MIAMI – Cecelia Greene came into the South Dade courthouse on a recent Monday ready to go to trial. Accused of battery, a crime she denies committing, the homeless South Florida woman almost refused the help of public defenders who eventually might help prove her innocence. “I thought they were telling me to pay more or some-
thing,” Greene, 54, said. “At this point, I’m not able to pay anything.” Had Greene arrived in court a year ago, Marissa Glatzer, an assistant public defender, would not have been there to explain that a public defender could help manage her case.
‘Small’ crimes count Since August, public defenders in Miami-Dade County have been dispatched to courtrooms to work on misdemeanor criminal cases. Public defenders across the nation typically don’t show up for the low-level cases, which include petty theft and marijuana possession. But Glatzer said putting lawyers in these courtrooms can prevent indigent defendants from taking disadvantageous plea deals that result
New law eases finding insurance beneficiaries
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Civil rights icons die Tampa teen who appeared on ‘Oprah’ still racking up science honors A3
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NOW WITH THE ANCESTORS COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS
The lives of Dr. Benjamin Hooks and Dr. Dorothy Height remind us that the struggle for equality continues.
There were stylistic differences. Benjamin Hooks was a sharptongued Baptist preacher and lawyer. Dorothy Height, who always looked as if she were going to church, was known for quietly bringing “mother wit” and a woman’s sensibilities even to a civil rights movement largely led by Black men who believed that a woman’s place was “in the back.” But both lived long lives. Both battled aggressively for racial equality. Both lived to see a Black man become U.S. president. Neither believed that the battle for equality had been won with Barack Obama’s election.
aul University in Chicago, where he earned a law degree in 1948. He returned home to Memphis to practice law. “At that time you were insulted by law clerks, excluded from White bar associations and when I was in court, I was lucky to be called ‘Ben,’” he once said in an interview with Jet magazine. “Usually it was just ‘boy.’”
First trial judge
The fifth of seven children, he was born in Memphis, Tenn., in 1925. Hooks’ inspiration to fight bigotry stemmed from his experience guarding Italian prisoners of war while serving overseas in the Army during World War II. Foreign prisoners were allowed to eat in “for Whites only” restaurants while he was NAACP head barred from them. When no law school in the Benjamin Lawson Hooks died at home on April 15 at age South would admit him, he used the GI bill to attend DeP85, after a long illness.
In 1965, he was appointed to a newly created seat on the Tennessee Criminal Court, making him the first Black judge since Reconstruction in a state trial court anywhere in the South. President Richard Nixon nominated Hooks to the Federal Communications Commission in 1972. He was its first NNPA AND WHITE HOUSE/PETE SOUZA Black commissioner, serving for Former NAACP national president Ben Hooks and ‘godmother of civil five years before resigning to rights’ Dorothy Height – the subject of President Obama’s kiss – died Please see DEATHS, Page A2 within a week of each other.
GOP or NPA?
2010 U.S. CENSUS / FLORIDA
‘We mailed our Census form back!’
Crist’s veto of Senate Bill 6 was the last straw for many Florida Republicans COMPILED FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Charlie Crist continues to fuel the “What Will Charlie Do?” firestorm that has national repercussions, telling reporters in Tallahassee on Tuesday that he is unmoved by leading Republicans urging him not to run for U.S. Senate as an independent candidate, perhaps with no party affiliation (NPA).
No GOP future? Crist fired back at Texas Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Cornyn has said that if Crist left the Republican Party and continued his campaign for U.S. Senate as a non-party contender that he would “be a man without a party,” with no future within the GOP. Cornyn, who endorsed Crist over rival Marco Rubio almost immediately after the governor announced his candidacy last May, has been signaling that Crist should remain in the party and drop out of the race. “I think I’ll take the advice of people in Florida instead of the advice of people in Washington,” Crist said. “They try to tell us a lot, and I don’t think we need to listen.” Asked why he was retreating from earlier pledges that he would run only in the GOP primary, Crist responded, “Things change, things change.”
BY HAZEL TRICE EDNEY NNPA WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
Ad targets woman who blasted Scott
Lawsuit: Muslims unfairly put on terrorist watch list
See ATTORNEY, Page A2
SARAH BREITENBACH/STATELINE/TNS
Attorney Andy Byrd explains the services offered by the Miami-Dade County Public Defender’s Office to defendants awaiting arraignment at the courthouse in the South Dade Government Center.
JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT
Gov. Charlie Crist campaigned for Republican vice president nominee Sarah Palin in November 2008.
Various options The comments come as speculation mounts that the governor, who has also served as a Republican state senator, education commissioner and attorney general, will at any minute abandon the GOP primary and run as an independent. Under that scenario – which has been racing along the political grapevine for weeks – Crist would retain his Republican registration
CHARLES W. CHERRY II/FLORIDA COURIER
Chayla Cherry, 9, and Charles W. Cherry III, 5, completed the form for the Cherry family and mailed it back last week. See Black Florida’ Census participation rate for this week on Page A2.
See CRIST, Page A2
Will Obama appoint Black woman to Supreme Court?
FLORIDA | A3
NATION | A6
Miami’s effort is rare at a time when many public defender’s offices are struggling to provide adequate representation for people unable to pay for their own lawyer in more serious felony cases, a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The lack of funding for public defenders has gotten so bad in Louisiana that the state’s Public Defender Board has been sued for putting new clients on a waitlist because there are not enough attor-
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Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday signed a bill that supporters say will help make certain that people receive life-insurance benefits after family members die. The bill (SB 966), sponsored by Senate Banking and Insurance Chairwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, and Rep. Bill Hager, R-Delray Beach, involves requirements for insurers to use what is known as the United States Social Security Death Master File to help find beneficiaries. The state Office of Insurance Regulation issued a statement after Scott signed the bill saying Florida will be the first state to approve “comprehensive” legislation involving the requirements. “Today’s new law makes sure all life insurance companies doing business in Florida will abide by the same guidelines in their searches for beneficiaries, meaning more life insurance benefits will be discovered and returned to their rightful owners where they belong,” Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said. Hager’s office issued a statement that said many life insurers historically have held policy benefits until contacted by beneficiaries. As a result, the companies have not paid benefits if they haven’t been contacted. “This consumer-friendly bill will ensure that when family members take steps to provide comfort and financial protection by purchasing life insurance, that companies ensure those beneficiaries receive what is due,” Hager said.
System struggling
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FROM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
in prohibitive fines and court costs. Convictions can also have long-term consequences: They can make it hard to get a job or get into public housing, she said.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama needs only to turn over in his bed to be reminded of all the Black women who are powerfully qualified to be U.S. Supreme Court justices. If First Lady Michelle Obama was not his wife, some legal scholars say she would be a clear and obvious candidate for the short list to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Yet, when Stevens announced his retirement April 9, not one Black woman immediately surfaced as a candidate, despite the fact that no Black woman has ever served on the high court.
Names surface This week, the name of former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears began circulating as one that the president is seriously considering. The National Bar Association, the nation’s oldest and largest national association of predominantly African-American lawyers and judges, has put forth the name of Justice Ann Claire Williams, the first African-American ever appointed to the Seventh Circuit and the third African-American woman ever to serve on any United States Court of Appeals. “I think that President Obama has an enormous task and a wonderful opportunity to find a person with the combination of talents that will help solidify a great choice,” says
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the stars we have who are not well known to a large extent, but clearly have every one of the qualities and qualifications necessary for the job.”
FLORIDA| A3
Former Miami TV anchor combing country to find a husband
Others qualified Judges Leah Ward Sears, left, and Ann Claire Williams, right, have been mentioned as possible Supreme Court choices. Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree in an interview. “The fact of the matter is that you can look at profiles in Ebony magazine or some of the women in Jet or Essence magazine, or just look at the National Bar Association, which has a contingent of Black women judges and lawyers, to see some of
Penn State constitutional scholar Mary Frances Berry, former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, quickly ticked off several names of qualified Black women in addition to Sears. They included Elaine Jones, former directorcounsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Jacqueline A. Berrien, chair of the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Berry also agreed that NNPA columnist and Children’s
FINEST | B3
Tennis phenom Venus Williams NATION | A6
VA struggling with surge of disability claims
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Please see COURT, Page A2 Statistical information provided by The Media Audit Survey/January 2005-March 2006
ALSO EDITORIAL | LENORA ‘DOLL’ CARTER REMEMBERED AS A VOICE OF CONSCIENCE | A4 INSIDE PERSONAL FINANCE | WHAT 2010 GRADS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FINDING A JOB | B4
Six years ago, the Florida Courier noted the deaths of the NAACP’s Benjamin Hooks and the National Council of Negro Women’s Dr. Dorothy Height, who died within a week of each other.
Offshore tragedy Three die after boat sinks BY ADAM SACASA AND KATE JACOBSON SUN SENTINEL / TNS
FORT LAUDERDALE – A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy and his 9-yearold son have been identified as two of the three people who died when their boat sank during a Sunday fishing trip off Stuart, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. The lone survivor, Robert Stewart, 45, stayed alive by clinging to the side of the black, 24-foot center console Sea Ray boat overnight. Stewart told authorities he tried to keep the 9-year-old, who was wearing a life jacket, alive. Stewart was found walking on a beach Monday morning, and was shown in dramatic video released by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office standing in the sand and looking exhausted, waving overhead to a sheriff’s helicopter. He was taken to Martin Medical Center and was in critical condition, said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder at a news conference Monday.
Bodies found The bodies of corrections deputy Fernandas Jones, 51, his son Jayden, and Willis Bell, 70, were found Monday morning, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Officials believe the Joneses, Stewart and Bell are related. Michele Jones, the wife of Fernandas Jones, told Sun Sentinel news partner WPEC-TV on Monday morning before the deaths were confirmed that she got home at about 8:30 p.m. to notice that some of the men’s cars were still parked in the yard. “That’s when I got nervous because usually they’re in, they’re usually at home by 5 o’ clock,” Jones said. State records show Jones began working in law enforcement in 1986 with the Broward Correctional Institution. He then worked at the South Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center from 1988 to 1990, then the South Florida State Hospital from 1993 to 1994. He then worked at the Miami-Dade County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for about 16 years from 1994 to 2011 before joining the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Windy conditions The group went fishing at about 8 a.m. Sunday from the Sandsprit Park. Snyder said cellphone records show one of the men onboard made a call between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Snyder said one of the men, whom Snyder did not identify, called his wife but said the wife had trouble hearing because of the windy conditions. He said this call happened before the boat started taking on water and startSee TRAGEDY, Page A2
ALSO INSIDE
COMMENTARY: REV. SUSAN K. SMITH: DO DRUG-ADDICTED BLACK LIVES MATTER? | A4 COMMENTARY: RAYNARD JACKSON: HOMOSEXUALITY IS THE NEW BLACK | A5
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APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
Bernie ‘Mack’ and Applejack Bernie “The Mack” Sanders and Applejack have at least one thing in common: “crack!” “Crack” killed Applejack and the “crack vote” brought Bernie Mack back to a respectable place in the race for the 2016 Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. (Editor’s note: “Crack Killed Applejack” was the title of a 1986 anti-drug rap song by a group called General Kane.) Before you start tripping, there is no crack vote. “Crack vote” is just a symbolic phrase like, “truck vote,” that symbolizes votes from people and places where they are not always frequent voters.
Can’t draw flies So-called Black community leaders that rushed to endorse Sanders’ opponent in the Democratic primary process before even giving a listening ear to Sanders apparently couldn’t draw flies to an outhouse, and
LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT
they couldn’t draw the masses of Black voters to support a campaign of any candidate! Don’t take my word for it. But in my opinion, most candidates in the party that Negroes love cannot win a rat race without the overwhelming support of African-American voters. Yes, whoever the Democratic candidate is in the 2016 general election will get 90 percent of all Black votes cast. But 90 percent of a total turnout of 25 percent or 35 percent of all of America’s registered Black voters will make the race for president too close to call until very late on Election Night. At the time of this writing, Bernie Sanders had won about nine
of 10 statewide primary contests over his more widely known Democratic challenger. The primary in the state of New York will take place soon. If Sanders wins the New York primaries, he will be a contender at the Democratic National Convention.
Do the right thing In political elections and in life, if you do the right things and say the right things, God will help you. Earlier in my own life, I was arrested and charged with felony assault on a law enforcement officer. I was accused of trying to kill a police officer. I was taken to a holding cell and immediately handcuffed, torture-style, to the cell bars. In this position, anyone could have robbed me, beaten me, raped me or killed me. But I was uncuffed after about an hour in the tortuous position, the cell doors were opened and I walked right out of the jail house. At the subsequent trial in federal court, I had to represent myself because no lawyer would represent me against government and police. The trial lasted eight days and went all the way to
the jury, even though I never had a Florida Bar card or a minute of legal training. None of the people I stood up for and spoke out for came to court to support me, because they were scared of the police. None of my friends showed up to comfort me. Nearly none of my family members came to court to be with me.
‘Blessed and protected’ But let me tell you what happened. I’ve called policemen “beasts with badges,” but the assistant police chief told the devilish, lying police officers at the holding cell to take the cuffs off and release me. I’ve called judges “devils in black robes,” but the judge in my case ruled in my favor numerous times and made legal history when he ruled that I could cross-examine police administrators, the city manager, and every elected city official that voted on the city budget about why millions were spent on law enforcement training and the city policemen were not trained. To make long stories short – if you are a righteous person in times of political trouble or life troubles, God doesn’t al-
TRAGEDY from A1
ed to sink, sometime after 9 a.m. The boat, with its twin white Evinrude outboard motors, had just taken anchor and the men had just begun fishing when they took on water from the back end, Snyder said. They estimate the group was at least two miles offshore in 80-foot waters.
Lost one by one
KATE JACOBSON/SUN SENTINEL/TNS
Martin County Sheriff’s deputies meet at Stuart Public Beach, near where the bodies of three missing boaters washed ashore, on Monday in Stuart. Palm Beach Sheriff’s corrections deputy Fernandas Jones, 51, and his son Jayden Jones, 9, died after a fishing boat accident this week.
Choppy conditions Matt Volkmer, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said the weather was generally fair Sunday with partly cloudy skies but no rain, and that an alert for small craft to exercise caution was issued that day due to choppy conditions. Waves of 4 to 5 feet near shore and up to 6 feet off shore created challenging boating conditions,
COURTESY OF THE JONES FAMILY
ATTORNEY from A1
neys to take their cases. In Missouri, lawyers reported only being able to do a fraction of the work needed to effectively represent their clients. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has called insufficient criminal defense for indigent people a national crisis, and the Justice Department has investigated constitutional violations in representation.
Disproportionate impact There is a lack of funding for public defense in every state, according to Colette Tvedt of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; and people charged with low-level misdemeanors – often poor nonWhites – suffer the most. “I’m sitting in courtrooms and seeing mass amounts of men, women and children, often in poor, Black communities, that are being shuffled through the system without any representation,” Tvedt said. Without a lawyer to argue against what Tvedt calls exorbitant fees, fines and court costs, defendants are likely to end up in jail when they cannot pay. Public defender’s offices across the country are struggling because state and local funding has been cut while legislatures have simultaneously elevated many infractions from civil to criminal
Snyder said the survivor, Stewart, told officials the four fishermen held onto the boat and one by one became lost. Carol Lyn Parrish, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the first to let go was Bell. Then the elder Jones went under. Stewart tried to hang onto Jones’ son, Jayden, who was wearing a life jacket. At some point Jayden wasn’t able to hang on and let go of the boat, Stewart told officials. The father and son were found lying near each other near the St. Lucie Inlet. Officials said there was no distress call made from the boat, and think the boat sank fairly quickly.
penalties, Tvedt said. In many places, she said, crimes like driving on a suspended license, possessing alcohol underage or even sleeping in public have become arrestworthy offenses, with severe outcomes – like job loss or deportation – for those convicted of such crimes.
Low priority Only 27 percent of countybased and 21 percent of statebased public defender’s offices have enough lawyers to appropriately handle their caseloads, the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) found in 2011. “There’s discussion that there’s no money for repairing the roads, for education; but public defense, for whatever reason, is on the lowest priority list, even though it impacts the communities probably the most,” Tvedt said. In Missouri, the state’s public defenders spend an average of nine hours on certain felony cases that really need about 47 hours of work, a 2014 American Bar Association study found. Michael Barrett, director of the Missouri State Public Defender System, said the study proves he would need to add 254 more lawyers to a staff of 361 to adequately serve clients. Last year, his office handled about 74,000 cases, Barrett said, giving between 200 and 300 cases to each lawyer.
Trials ‘impossible’ “If all those clients wanted to go to trial, that’s impossible,” Bar-
rett said. “If 10 of them wanted to go to trial, it’s impossible, and if one of them wants to go to trial, it’s near impossible.” The U.S. Department of Justice also found defendants in St. Louis County, Mo., were experiencing an unconstitutional denial of due process because of the size of public defenders’ caseloads. There is no federal mandate for how states fund public defense, and though most public defender’s offices rely on state money for most or all of their funding, 19 states shift that responsibility to the counties.
Can’t keep up Since 1992, Mark Stephens, the head of the public defender’s office in Knox County, Tenn., has only been able to use state money to pay for four new lawyers on his 26-person legal staff. That sluggish growth has made it difficult to respond to the increasing size of police departments and changes in prosecution techniques like the advent of DNA testing, he said. “You’ve got a lot more officers who do what officers do – and that is enforce the law and arrest people,” Stephens said. “But you don’t see a corresponding increase in the funding for public defenders.” For every dollar spent on public defense, taxpayers in the United States spend another $14 on correctional systems, according to JPI. Stephens has consistently received local funding – an amount based on allocations to the coun-
ty state’s attorney – but expects a budget cut this year. In Missouri, Barrett hopes lawmakers will maintain the more than $4 million allocated in a state budget proposal, but even if they do, it doesn’t mean he will be able to hire new lawyers.
Charged for defense In addition, Missouri defendants are also charged a small fee that goes toward attorney training; and in Florida, people like Greene are assessed a one-time $50 fee for their defense. “Of course we’re not thrilled about charging people for exercising their constitutional rights,” Barrett said. “But at the same time, it’s a drop in the bucket of what we need.” In other states, defendants are on the hook for the entire cost of their court-appointed lawyer. South Dakota defendants are charged $92 per hour spent on their case, an impossible rate for most clients to pay, said Katie Dunn, an assistant public defender in Minnehaha County. Though judges are supposed to assess defendants’ ability to pay, their failure to do so, and to pay other court costs, often lands them back in jail, where it costs the state $94 a night to house them, Dunn said. Incarceration leads to time away from work, and soon South Dakota officials will also start suspending the driver’s licenses of people who cannot pay. As of July, 31,638 people owed the state more than $16 million in judicial system fines and resti-
ways send angels to protect you. Sometimes God will send your enemies to you to ensure that you are blessed and protected! Read the Biblical book of Isaiah if you don’t know that story.
Get it upfront So, Bernie Sanders was blessed to get just enough of the Black vote recently to derail the train that your Negro leaders were riding to the Democratic National Convention. If Sanders continues to win primaries, the Negro leaders that you love will look pretty dumb, ineffective and unconvincing! If you’re going to sell out Black voters and Black people for jobs in the big house, political appointments, titles and photo opportunities, at least get those things before your candidate of choice gets beaten and beaten and beaten again by a political underdog!
Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. “Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www. allworldconsultants.net. he said. Volkmer said the weather service doesn’t have any formal definition for ‘small craft’ but said they’re typically recreational boats. “They’re the types of boats you’d see in marinas,” Volkmer said. U.S. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Randy Ryan said the water was 73 degrees. Investigators say there doesn’t appear to be any criminal wrongdoing. Officials from Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties helped out with the search, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Palm Beach County and Martin County sheriff’s offices and the Port St. Lucie Police Department.
‘Extended family’ Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Monday morning said his agency was going to do whatever it could to help Jones’ family. “We’re going to wait and let the initial blow wear off to the family and then we’ll do what we always do as a larger extended family, make sure that they have everything that they need and we’re going to take care of them as best we can,” said Bradshaw. Bradshaw didn’t know Jones personally, but he said that all of his 4,500 employees are hardworking and dedicated. “People sometimes forget that we’re just human beings,” he said. “People see us in a different light sometimes because we wear this particular outfit but we have family members and we have lives just like everybody else and when a tragedy hits, it hits you hard just like every other family member that loses somebody.”
Staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report. tution. “I am not operating under any illusion that any of them will be able to pay it back,” Dunn said.
Ruining themselves Fees and fines levied against indigent defendants are compounded by the fact that in the majority of misdemeanor cases, defendants like Cecelia Greene take plea deals or go to trial without a lawyer and suffer the consequences, said Carlos Martinez, who heads the Miami-Dade County Public Defender’s Office. “People are getting convictions without an attorney and ruining their lives because they can’t get jobs,” Martinez said. Making his staff available to monitor misdemeanor cases is possible in part because funding for the department has stabilized in recent years and crime rates in the county of more than 2.6 million have dropped. He’s still studying the program’s effectiveness, but already knows that judges are reluctant to appoint a defense attorney unless a prosecutor is pursuing jail time, and defendants are not quick to request the service. This month, Glatzer and another attorney picked up just three clients from a docket of 60 misdemeanor cases. “We have not been able to yet change the culture in our courts,” Martinez said. “Changing it to a culture of knowing you have a right to an attorney.”
APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
FLORIDA
A3
Ad targets woman who cursed at Scott Governor’s ‘Let’s Get to Work’ website responds to Starbucks customer who called him out in public for not expanding Medicaid. BY GRAY ROHRER AND DAN SWEENEY ORLANDO SENTINEL (TNS)
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott isn’t going to take being yelled at lying down. After being screamed at in a Gainesville Starbucks last week by Cara Jennings, a former Lake Worth city commissioner, Scott’s political committee, Let’s Get to Work, released an ad attacking Jennings for her outburst. The ad is a short video playing on the Let’s Get to Work’s website. The ad attacks her as a “latte liberal” and a “selfproclaimed anarchist” who wants more government spending. Jennings was blasting the Republican governor for not doing more to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Scott announced his support for Medicaid expansion in 2013 and said he would continue sup-
A video went viral last week featuring Florida Gov. Rick Scott being cursed at in a Gainesville Starbucks by Cara Jennings. porting it during his 2014 re-election campaign, but reversed course last year.
Coffee invite Much of the ad, though, focuses on Scott’s response to Jennings: Florida has added more than 1 million jobs during his tenure. “A million jobs? Great, who here has a great job?”
Jennings said. “Well, almost everybody. Except those who are sitting around coffee shops demanding public assistance, surfing the Internet and cursing at customers who come in,” the ad retorts. Meanwhile, in a letter to Scott’s office, Jennings invited the governor to meet her for coffee on April 20 in
Tallahassee at the cafe of his choice. She wants to discuss Planned Parenthood, voting disenfranchisement, increasing the minimum wage, climate change and deaths in Florida’s prison system. “I feel that it is important for two Floridians to be able to sit down and discuss civilly what is harming
working families and the environment in our state,” Jennings wrote.
More money Jennings said she doesn’t understand why the governor would release a video attacking a private citizen. “So I guess this means that he doesn’t want to meet me for coffee?” she
Hillsborough seats draw campaign cash THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Ed Narain
Races to replace outgoing House Majority Leader Dana Young, R-Tampa, and Rep. Ed Narain, D-Tampa,
drew more than $140,000 in cash and candidate loans during March, newly filed finance reports show. Tampa Republican Rebecca Smith, who is seeking to replace Young in House District 60, pulled
in $81,703 during the month, her first in the race. Her GOP primary opponent, Jackie Toledo, raised $10,402 during the month and also loaned $25,000 to the campaign. Toledo had raised an
overall total of $50,012 in contributions as of March 31, while spending a total of $10,409, the reports show. Meanwhile, in nearby House District 61, Tampa Democrat Sean Shaw
asked, when she learned his video had been released. Let’s Get to Work took in more than $250,000 last month, with $100,000 coming from Floridians for a Stronger Democracy, another political committee that received $150,000 in contributions from HCA, a hospital chain formerly run by Scott.
raised $21,493 during March, his first month in the race to replace Narain. Shaw’s primary opponent, Dianne Hart, raised $2,386 and loaned $1,500 to her campaign. Young and Narain are leaving the seats to run for the Senate this year.
The new law, signed by Gov. Rick Scott last month, also addressed problems with a 2014 law – which legalized noneuphoric marijuana for patients with severe muscle spasms or cancer and was aimed at helping mainly children with severe epilepsy. THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
New marijuana law prompts another challenge A new law that legalized full-strength marijuana for terminally ill patients has spurred the latest challenge in the competition for coveted medical marijuana licenses in Florida. The new law, signed by Gov. Rick Scott last month, also addressed problems with a 2014 law – which legalized non-euphoric marijuana for patients with severe muscle spasms or cancer and was aimed at helping mainly children with severe epilepsy. The 2014 law authorized nurseries that have been in business for 30 years and grow at least 400,000 plants to apply for one of five highly sought-after “dispensing organization” licenses to grow, process and distribute cannabis products that are low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabadiol, or CBD.
Growers’ complaint Doctors were supposed to begin ordering low-THC cannabis products for patients last January. But implementation of the law was delayed because of legal challenges and administrative problems. Health officials selected five nurseries to be the state’s first dispensing organizations in November, prompting another series of challenges. Under the new law signed by Scott, the five dispensing organizations can keep their licenses, and applicants whose challenges are successful can also get licenses. The Department of Health also has granted a license to San Felasco Nurseries, after an administrative law judge decided health officials wrongly disqualified the Gainesville-based grower. In the latest challenge, McCrory’s Sunny Hill Nursery – already involved in a
challenge for a license in the Central region of the state – is seeking a license under the new law. In a challenge filed, lawyers for the Eustis-based nursery argued that McCrory’s – which received a score that was one one-thousandth of a percent lower than Central region “winner” Knox Nursery – should have received the highest score of the eight growers vying for a license in the region. In the filing, McCrory’s asked that its petition be assigned to an administrative law judge and that the judge grant the nursery a dispensing organization license.
Future growth The new law carries the potential for a much more lucrative future for the dispensing organizations. While it allows the nurseries – and their affiliates – to grow full-strength marijuana for terminally ill patients, that market could be expanded if voters approve a constitutional amendment on the November ballot. That proposal would allow doctors to order medical marijuana for a broader base of patients. The expectation is that the dispensing organizations already licensed would be able to expand their operations if the constitutional amendment passes.
State GOP defeats Dems in contributions The Republican Party of Florida raised about $1.56 million during the first three months of 2016, more than double the amount raised by the state Democratic Party, according to newly filed finance reports. The GOP had about $15.89 million in available cash as of March 31. Among its large contributors during the first quarter were Gov. Rick Scott’s “Let’s Get to Work” political committee, which sent $95,000 to the party in January. The Florida Democratic Party raised $682,171 during the quarter and had about $4.24 million in cash on hand as of March 31, according to totals posted on the state Division of Elections website.
EDITORIAL
A4
APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
Do drug-addicted Black lives matter? I find it difficult to listen to the outpouring of concern about opiate drug addiction, with politicians expressing their desire to find help for these young people before they overdose, and to keep them from destroying their lives, their families’ lives and their communities. There was never such an outpouring of concern for those addicted to crack cocaine. There was no worry expressed about what incarcerating non-violent drug offenders would do to individuals, families and communities.
War on people No. In contrast, politicians declared a “war” on drugs, intimating that it was the duty of “the law” to defeat the enemy. That enemy was not the drugs per se, but those who became addicted. Unfortunately, most of the people who were thrown into prison for crack cocaine addiction were Black, Brown and poor people. Drug addiction has always been a part of all societies. People resort to drug use when they feel hopeless, when poverty overwhelms them, when they see no way out. There are certainly physiological factors that go into becoming addicted, but it seems that the threat of drug addiction is highest when individuals feel like there is no way out of their despair.
REV. SUSAN K. SMITH GEORGE CURRY MEDIA
Richard Nixon declared the “War on Drugs” in 1971. The admission of one of his top aides, John Ehrlichman, that the “war” was devised to fight against “Blacks and hippies” comes as no surprise. Nixon wanted to be president, and he had to find a way to capture the Southern White vote. It was unpopular to use racist terms outright, and so politicians had to find a way to cater to White voters’ fear of Black people without using overtly racist words.
Strategy worked The “Southern Strategy” helped them do that. There were words with which White people would resonate, including “entitlements” and “welfare” and “law and order.” In order to keep “law and order,” the “bad people” had to be identified. Drug users would be those people. Street drug users would be criminalized and anyone who pushed for their arrest and incarceration would be hailed as being tough on crime. That failed “War on Drugs” has caused immeasurable damage
A few CBC members question Israel Black Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson has written a letter that puts him in the cross-hairs of the Israel lobby – and he’s managed to bring eight other members of the House with him, including three colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus. Johnson teamed up with Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, a longtime – and usually very lonely – critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. The senator is the author of the Leahy Law, which requires the United States to cut off military aid “to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information” that the unit has “committed a gross violation of human rights.”
GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT
Applied to Israel, Egypt Congressman Johnson believes this language applies to Israel and to military and police units in Egypt. Together, the two countries account for more than 75 percent of total U.S. military assistance to foreign states: $3.1 billion a year to Israel, and $1.5 billion to Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding that the U.S. in-
American banks shortchange justice While our attention was focused last week on Bill Clinton becoming unhinged while defending his indefensible crime bill and insulting the Black Lives Matter movement in the process, Wells Fargo and billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson were demonstrating how the wealthy escape personal responsibility when they misbehave badly. In the case of Wells Fargo, bank executives agreed to pay a $1.2 billion fine for hiding their bad loans leading up to the 2008 housing market debacle. The bank admitted certifying that thousands of faulty home mortgage loans were eligible for Federal Housing Administration insurance when, in fact, they weren’t. “Wells Fargo enjoyed huge profits from its FHA loan business, the government was left holding the bag when the bad loans went bust,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement Friday announcing the settlement. “Today, Wells Fargo, one of the biggest mortgage lenders in the world, has
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: GOP FAMILY FEUD
to individuals, communities and families. This country incarcerates more people than any other modern nation in the world, largely because of the inordinate arrests made by law enforcement officers empowered to lock away Black, Brown and poor people who used drugs. Although Whites used and continue to use drugs more than African-Americans, they were not demonized. They were, in fact, given slaps on the wrist for offenses that earned Black and Brown people literally years in prison. Black people’s lives were considered dispensable and disposable. The sentiment of the majority population was that Black people were bad and “belonged” in prison.
their drug use. Many who are finally released from prison are so unable to “make it” once released that they end up back in jail.
Can’t be hidden
Yes, I am angry
But now things have changed. Now the problem of drug addiction in the White community can no longer be hidden. Now White people, many of them young, are dying of heroin overdoses. The situation has caused a stir. The majority population has been shaken into the reality that drug addiction is not race-specific, and that it kills good people. Now politicians are upset and are crying for drug policies that emphasize drug addiction as a public health problem. Meanwhile, far too many Black people are locked up because of
But there are people on the ground, in this nation and all over the world, who are working to change drug policy. There will be a gathering of faith leaders in New York at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on April 18-21 who will work to draft statements and initiatives to be presented to legislators. The faith leaders, convened by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc., and other drug policy advocates and activists, believe that current drug policies are racist, draconian and inhumane. They are pushing for law-
crease its annual gift to the Zionist State’s military to $4.5 billion. Congressman Johnson’s letter urges Secretary of State John Kerry to do as the Leahy Law requires, and make a determination if Israel and Egypt have engaged in gross violations of human rights. The letter calls Kerry’s attention to specific cases of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians and the use of torture by Israeli security forces, and it cites the Egyptian military regime’s 2013 massacre of as many as a thousand unarmed civilians at Rab’aa Square, which Human Rights Watch describes as “the world’s largest killing of demonstrators in a single day in recent history.” In addition to Senator Leahy, Hank Johnson convinced eight other House Democrats to sign his letter, including Black Caucus members Andrè Carson of Indiana, Eddie Bernice Johnson of
Texas, and Eleanor Holmes Norton, the congressional delegate from Washington, D.C.
agreement, Lofrano, vice president of credit risk and quality assurance for Wells Fargo, admitted his team identified 2,900 problematic loans between 2005 and 2010, but reported only 300 as troublesome.
gambling center. The SEC and the Justice Department were looking into whether the company had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits U.S. companies from bribing officials of foreign governments. In the end, the SEC didn’t directly accuse Sands of paying bribes, but said it violated provisions of the law that require companies to maintain proper financial controls.
Not alone GEORGE E. CURRY GEORGE CURRY MEDIA
been held responsible for years of reckless underwriting.”
Not really What the settlement does is extract a large fine, but let the culprits personally responsible escape punishment. For example, Wells Fargo executive Kurt Lofrano acknowledged hiding bad loans, but was not fined and will not face any criminal charges. We can safely infer that the deal cut with Wells Fargo was done to get the case resolved. But despite former presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s claim that corporations are people, a corporation did not commit these crimes – people did. And those people should be held accountable for violating the law. As part of the settlement
The subprime mortgage crisis that caused many Americans to lose their homes involved some of the best known brands in the U.S. Earlier, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay a fine of $13 billion, Goldman Sachs settled for $5.1 billion and Morgan Staley was fined $2.6 billion. Again, no criminal charges have been brought against the “banksters” themselves. Meanwhile, in a press release, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced, that “Las Vegas Sands Corp. has agreed to pay a $9 million penalty to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by failing to properly authorize or document millions of dollars in payments to a consultant facilitating business activities in China and Macao. The investigation was launched more than five years ago when a former Sands executive Steve Jacobs alleged improprieties in Macao, a Chinese territory that is the world’s largest
RJ MATSON, ROLL CALL
Ignores mass murders The crimes of Egypt’s military regime have shocked the world, but Washington has no problem with mass murder, which is why the Egyptian military has been a U.S. client for the past 40 years. And, there is, of course, not a chance in hell that Secretary of State Kerry will certify that Israel is a gross human rights violator – despite the fact that the entire history of the apartheid Zionist state is an affront to the very notion of civilization. Just two weeks ago, an Israeli soldier was caught on video coldbloodedly shooting a wounded and helpless Palestinian in the head. A poll showed 66 percent of Israeli Jews have good feelings about the soldier’s behavior, and 57 percent don’t even want the
Cutting deals In case after case, other companies strike similar deals. It’s not like they are making a donation to charity. They have clearly violated the law, but officials don’t have to acknowledge any wrongdoing. Instead, they pay the fines, in the words of the SEC, “without admitting or denying the findings.” It’s tough to see low-level drug users being over prosecuted while companies such as Wells Fargo and the Las Vegas Sands Corp., owned primarily by Sheldon Adelson, take a corporate financial hit, but their leaders have no fear of being personally prosecuted for their misdeeds. We also see how the high and mighty cut special deals in other situations. Former House Speaker Den-
Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher
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makers to abandon their resolve to make drug users criminals – most are not. The outcry about the inhumanity of criminalizing drug addicts has come at a propitious moment. In America, issues become “problems” only when the majority population is adversely affected – or when the majority population can no longer hide its participation and complicity in major social problems. Drug use is a social problem from which the majority population can no longer run. I, for one, am glad.
Rev. Susan K. Smith is an author and ordained minister who is founder of Crazy Faith Ministries. Contact her at revsuekim@sbcglobal.net. government to investigate the murder. This is the kind of barbaric society that is bred by apartheid – a society that should be recognized as inherently evil by every member of the Congressional Black Caucus. But only three Black congresspersons joined Hank Johnson in questioning why the U.S. spends billions to arm the last apartheid state on Earth. In 2014, every single Black congressperson, including Hank Johnson, voted in support of Israel even as it was slaughtering more than 2,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Four signatures on a letter will never erase the shame they have brought upon Black America through their support for the most racist regime in the world.
Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. Email him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com. nis Hassert, for example, has acknowledged sexually abusing at least five Illinois boys when he was their high school wrestling coach. He paid one of them nearly $2 million in hush money. Hastert pleaded guilty in October to a single felony count of illegally structuring cash withdrawals to evade federal bank currency reporting requirements. Despite that clear misuse of power as a teacher and coach, Hassert’s plea agreement with prosecutors recommends a sentence ranging from probation to up to six months in prison, the lowest possible sentence under federal guidelines for a felony conviction. The maximum is five years. In addition to seeing Black and Brown people disproportionately imprisoned, looking at how banking officials and political figures are extended undeserved leniency are reminders that our criminal justice system is anything but just.
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APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
EDITORIAL
Homosexuality is the new Black In order to have a fully functioning society, we must have some common baseline of beliefs that join us together. Without this commonality, belonging to a group or a society is impossible. We hold these truths to be selfevident: the Earth is round, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and Barack Obama is the president of the United States. If you are born with a penis, you are a male. If you are born with a vagina, you are a female. These last two are going to get me in trouble. Now I will be called homophobic, hateful, un-Christian, a divider, not fit for public service, unfit for management in corporate America, etc. Why?
Making mistakes In God’s senility, he has become so old and feeble that He is making a lot of mistakes. He is mistakenly putting penises on girls and vaginas on boys. As the philosopher Protagoras argued, “Man has become the measure of all things.” Many Christians and conservatives have willingly bowed at the altar of political correctness for political gain. Why do we feel the need to apologize for not wanting a man going to the same bathroom as our 14-year-old daughter? Why do we feel the need to apologize for not wanting a woman going to the same bathroom as our 16-year-old son? Spineless Corporate America has never shown in any principles when it has come to issues of right and wrong. They respond only to profit and liberal orthodoxy. Why would a business oppose legislation describing those born with a penis as male and those born with a vagina as female?
RAYNARD JACKSON NNPA COLUMNIST
Not ‘hateful’ These orbiters of “moral hypocrisy” have come out of the closet, literally, against the state of North Carolina because Gov. Pat McCrory recently signed legislation codifying the biological principle of male and female. How this bill, HB2, is being described as hateful and discriminatory is baffling to me. If the corporate community showed the same amount of outrage over the real discrimination towards the Black community, we would have more Blacks in the executive suites and on their corporate boards. According to 2013 research by Richard L. Zweigenhaft of Guilford College, the board of directors of Fortune 500 companies are 87.2 percent White (and about 75 percent White male); 6.8 percent Black (5.3 percent Black male); 3.1 percent Latino (2.4 percent Latino male); and 2.4 percent (2 percent Asian male). Now let’s look at sports. Based on 2013 research from Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, the demographic breakdown of the players and owners of the NBA and NFL is as follows. In the NBA, 19 percent of its players are White, 76 percent are Black, 4 percent are Latinos, and less than 1 percent are Asian. Of ownership, 98 percent are White, 2 percent are Black, and there
Here’s the problem with the Panama Papers The worst criminals on earth are not the poor who sit behind bars in jails and in prisons. The biggest thieves are found among the rich. The 1 percent can buy legislation, politicians and the media to carry out and hide their dirty work. If they can’t change the laws to benefit themselves in their homelands, they simply send their money elsewhere through shell holding companies.
MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT
The documents now known as the Panama Papers were leaked to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, who then shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative JournalOpen secret ists (ICIJ). ICIJ is a non-profit with This transfer of wealth – much its own problematic origins. of it diverted from what ought to be tax payments – is an open se- Corporate funding cret. Panama, the Cayman IsIt is funded in part by the Ford lands, British Virgin Islands, Lux- Foundation, Open Society Founembourg and Switzerland are dation, Kellogg Foundation and known for securing the money the Rockefeller Family Fund. and secrets of the rich and the ICIJ then worked with journalists well-connected. around the world including from The leak of 11.5 million docu- the Guardian and the McClatchy ments from the Panama-based newspaper chain. They in turn Mossack Fonseca law firm brings will decide what will be kept seinto the light of day what was long cret and what will be shared with known but passively accepted. the public. But the way in which the revelaThe goal of revealing secrets tions are reported is questionable instead turns into a plan to keep more secrets and to tarnish cerand taints an important story.
Are Blacks ‘strategic voters’ or a captive constituency? Strategy is an overall plan or policy designed to achieve some objective. So what is this thing that Democrats and nominal non-Democrats call “strategic voting?” Will “strategic voting” help us roll back the vicious police and prison states? Will it make the economy work for the 99 percent instead of the 1 percent? Will it help us stop gentrification or the privatization of schools, roads, post offices and public services?
‘Real’ health care Will strategic voting get the 30 million people – whom Obamacare missed, many of them Black – real health care? Will strategic voting stop our drone bombings in Somalia and Pakistan, or U.S. support of apartheid Israel? The proponents of strategic voting readily admit that it will do none of these things. For them,
BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT
“strategy” is simply electing a Democrat –any Democrat – because Republicans are the White Man’s Party. This calculus of fear is the entirety of Black presidential politics. It’s a fantasy world in which overwhelming dread of the White Man’s Party is the first, the last and only thing that matters. The problem is that throwing away our hopes for a just and peaceful society, for getting off fossil fuels and creating millions of new green jobs especially in the inner cities where we need them most, shelving our demands for economic justice and radically shrinking the prison popula-
A5
VISUAL VIEWPOINT: #NEVERTRUMP
are no Latinos or Asians. Of head coaches, 53 percent are White, 43 percent are Black, 3 percent are Latinos, and there are no Asians. Of league office staff, 64 percent are White, 18 percent are Black, 6 percent are Latinos, and there are no Asians. In the NFL, 30 percent of its players are White, 66 percent are Black, 3 percent are Latinos, and less than 1 percent are Asian. Of ownership, 97 percent are White, there are no Blacks or Latinos, and 3 percent are Asians. Of head coaches, 88 percent are White, 9 percent are Black, 3 percent are Latinos, and there are no Asians. Of league office staff, 72 percent are White, 9 percent are Black, 5 percent are Latinos, and 10 per- ground noise. Isn’t this amazing? Former cent are Asians. football player Michael Sam, a homosexual, recently told AttiWhat about sports? tude Magazine, “It’s terrible. You Based on the above numbers, want to be accepted by other peocorporations, the NBA and the ple, but you don’t even accept NFL should focus more on the someone just because of the collack of diversity among Blacks or of their skin? I just don’t unand Latinos on their corporate derstand that at all. How are you boards and the ownership and saying that, “Oh, I want people to management of professional accept me because I’m gay, but I sporting teams, not on this radical leftist agenda to allow confused don’t accept you because you’re people to go into bathrooms with Black or because you’re White or because you’re Asian.” people of the opposite sex. But yet, the corporate commuHomosexuals are estimated nity throws millions of dollars at to be 3 percent of the U.S. poputhe White homosexual commulation, but yet corporations are nity despite their well-known dismore aggressively seeking diversity based on sexual preferences crimination of Black homosexuthan other measures of diversity. als. Can someone please reconThe homosexual community cile this fact for me?
BILL SCHORR, CAGLE CARTOONS
The NBA plays several exhibition games in China and spends millions of dollars advertising in this country. Google, PayPal, Facebook, Delta Airlines, Hilton Hotels, and Coca-Cola do millions of dollars of business in Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. So, if they are so concerned about the treatment of homosexuals, why do they do business in these repressive countries? This has nothing to do with equality and everything to do with the politics. Homosexuals don’t deserve special treatment based on their sexual preferences, but they do deserve equal treatment based on their humanity.
has done a masterful job at the old art of “bait and switch.” They have portrayed their issue as one of equality, but their real goal is to obtain “legal status” as a protected class in order to get their radical agenda codified into law. All this other stuff is simply back-
Still doing business These same corporations that are criticizing HB2 in North Carolina are actively doing and pursuing business in countries that are the most repressive in the world in their treatment of homosexuals.
Raynard Jackson is founder and chairman of Black Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF), a federally registered Super PAC established to get more Blacks, especially entrepreneurs, involved in the Republican Party. For more information, visit www.bafbf.org.
tain reputations based on bias and mysterious criteria. The Panama Papers show that the heads of state of Ukraine, Iceland, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all held shell holding company accounts in different tax haven locations. Vladimir Putin’s name appears nowhere, but the corporate media used his image repeatedly to drum up interest in what is an otherwise newsworthy story. There are Russians who have used Mossack Fonseca services and three of them have close ties to Putin. Guilt by association and innuendo follow instead of disinterested reporting of pertinent facts. While the corporate media happily do the work of imperialism, Russia is making good on its promise to kick ISIS out of Syria. The liberation of the ancient Syrian city Palmyra should have garnered Putin as much press attention as the Panama story. But the United States and NATO have still not abandoned their goal of regime change in Syria. They were ready to let ISIS fight Assad and do the job for them. While they pretend to drive ISIS out of Syria, the Russians are actually getting the job done. If the corporate media want to cover Putin, that development provides an excellent opportunity for them to do so.
Direct evidence
Complete transparency
While news outlets ranging from the Guardian to the New York Times do their best to connect Putin to the Mossack Fonseca scandal without evidence, the prime minister of the United Kingdom and the president of Ukraine are directly involved. David Cameron’s late father is among those mentioned. He established an offshore account to hide the family fortune and keep Cameron family money and the prime minister’s inheritance from being taxed. The president of Ukraine is yet another thief. When Petro Poroshenko came to office after the 2014 anti-Russian coup, he promised to cease playing any role in the operations of his confection company. That business made him a wealthy man with an estimated $800 million personal fortune. Instead, he opened an offshore account in the British Virgin Islands to avoid paying taxes. The media already knew that Poroshenko is richer than many of the Russian oligarchs they obsessively cover. They know that Ukraine is a failed state. They know that Ukraine owes Russia $3 billion. They know that the IMF violated its own rules in not making them pay up.
It is a good thing that the corruption of the world’s elites has been revealed. But as Wikileaks points out, all the documents must be released so that there is transparency available to all and an adherence to journalistic standards. Hopefully, the proof of worldwide corruption will spur protest and opposition to a system which gives the masses nothing except more inequality. The people of Iceland didn’t wait to be told what to do. Thousands took to the streets and forced their prime minister to resign within three days of the story being published. It is interesting but not at all mysterious that there are no Americans named in the Mossack Fonseca documents. The reason is simple. U.S. law so clearly favors the rich that they have no need to go offshore to form shell corporations. They can do so legally in Wyoming, Delaware or Nevada. No need to go to Panama or Switzerland. The U.S. is now the best tax haven on the planet. Hopefully the corporate media will decide to cover that story, too.
tion, putting aside our struggles for higher wages and the right to unionize, for affordable day care, housing and health care, for free quality education from kindergarten through universities – putting all these things on the back burner for fear that the White Man’s Party might gain the White House or the state house is not a strategy. It’s just fear, and fear is not a strategy. Fear is running away from strategy. Fear is fleeing from any meaningful struggle.
I’ll be voting for the Green Party this year because
In the trunk
ly slapped on the wrist instead of broken and imprisoned. African-American voters are what political scientists call a “captive constituency.” The last strategic thing we did was to let our fear of the White Man’s Party induce them to climb into the Democratic Party’s trunk. The Democratic Party is owned by its contributors, by Wall Street and the hedge fund guys, by Monsanto and Big Agriculture, by military contractors, privatizers and gentrifiers. Once we’re in the Democratic Party’s trunk, and we’ve been there for a generation now, the only strategic options are to remain a captive constituency or to pull the latch, escape, and vote our hopes instead of our fears.
“Strategic voting” means jumping back into the trunk of the Democratic Party’s car. If that’s a strategy it ain’t a good one. Democrats in office have often proved themselves the “more effective evil,” executing policies like school privatization, mass surveillance, whistleblower crackdowns and “bankster” pardons that Republicans could only dream of. As passengers in the Democratic Party’s trunk, we don’t get consulted about what the Democrats do once they’re in office. Barack Obama didn’t ask Black America if we wanted public schools defunded, broken and privatized or if we wanted the banksters light-
Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackAgendaReport.com.
it’s the only party that opposes school privatization, drone wars, and gentrification. It’s the only party that thinks voting ought to be a constitutional right and that aid to Saudi Arabia and apartheid Israel ought to end yesterday, and more. I’ll be voting for the Green Party this year because it’s the only party that opposes school privatization, drone wars, and gentrification. It’s the only party that thinks voting ought to be a constitutional right and that aid to Saudi Arabia and apartheid Israel ought to end yesterday, and more. Unlike a vote cast in fear, my vote will be a strategic one. Unlike Democrats, I will be voting my hopes and demands, not my fears.
Bruce Dixon is managing editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact him at bruce.dixon@ blackagendareport.com.
NATION
TOJ A6
APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
Lawsuit: Muslims unfairly on terrorist watch list Class action suit claims US database targets innocent people, even a child
Screening Center. “Individuals must not be watch-listed based solely on race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, or First Amendment-protected activities such as free speech, the exercise or religion, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly, and petitioning the government for redress of grievances.”
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO DETROIT FREE PRESS TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
A lawsuit filed last week claims that thousands of Muslim Americans, among them a 4-year old, have been unfairly put on a federal watch list designed to screen potential terrorists. The class-action complaint criticizes the Terrorist Screening Database, a list of about 1.5 million people overseen by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center. It’s one of several lawsuits that have been filed in recent years challenging the list, saying that it’s unconstitutional in how it’s compiled and used. The lawsuit was filed by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic, two Michigan lawyers and an attorney in Washington against the FBI center and other federal agencies. More than half the 18 plaintiffs listed in the complaint live in southeastern Michigan. “Our federal government is imposing an injustice of historic proportions upon … thousands,” says the lawsuit filed April 5 in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia, which is where the list is compiled. “Through extra-judicial and secret means, the federal government is ensnaring individuals. … The secret federal watch list is the product of bigotry and misguided, counterproductive zeal.”
Jailed, threatened In addition to being unable to fly in some cases, Muslims are being jailed, interrogated and threatened by federal agents, the lawsuit alleges. In other cases, FBI agents pres-
‘SSSS’ designation Plaintiffs said they often see a “SSSS” designation on their boarding passes, which signifies to the airlines and federal officials they are suspected terrorists. The designation is shared with state and local agencies, making it difficult for the plaintiffs in other areas of life, such as interactions with local police, said the lawsuit. The lawsuit says many are either placed on what’s called a Selectee List, which subjects them to extra scrutiny, or the more stringent No-Fly List, which prevents the traveler from flying.
‘Baby Doe’ on list KENNETH K. LAM/BALTIMORE SUN/TNS
President Barack Obama, center, meets with Muslim-American leaders during his visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Feb. 3. A lawsuit has been filed by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic against the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center and other federal agencies. sure people on the list to become informants if they want to get off the list, the complaint says. Another problem is the lack of redress, with many Muslims unable to get off the list and unsure how they got on it, plaintiffs said. The Terrorist Screening Center was established in 2003 by Attorney General John Ashcroft. Since then, the “watch list has swelled,” with more than 1.5 million nominations to the watch list submitted by federal agencies since 2009, 99 percent of which have
been approved, said the lawsuit.
Too broad The lawsuit said such a list is too broad, targeting Muslims because of their faith, and ends up being ineffective in protecting the U.S. “The federal watch list diminishes, rather than enhances, our national security because the number of innocent Americans on the list is becoming so voluminous that the purpose of having a list is significantly undermined as all are being treated as
the same,” says the complaint. A spokesman for the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, Dave Joly, said it couldn’t comment on pending litigation, and can’t comment on who’s on the list. On its website, the FBI defended the list, saying it doesn’t target people solely because of their religion or ethnicity. “Generally, individuals are included in the Terrorist Screening Database when there is reasonable suspicion to believe that a person is a known or suspected terrorist,” says the Terrorist
One of the plaintiffs is a 4-yearold boy from California, listed in the lawsuit as “Baby Doe.” “He was 7 months old when his boarding pass was first stamped with the ‘SSSS’ designation, indicating that he had been designated as a ‘known or suspected terrorist,’” said the lawsuit. “While passing through airport security, he was subjected to extensive searches, pat-downs and chemical testing.” “Every item in his mother’s baby bag was searched, including every one of his diapers.” Akeel, the Troy attorney helped file the lawsuit, said: “Americans young and old are being placed on the list without proper accountability. There is a swelling group of second-class American citizens being formed here at an alarming rate.”
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APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE
Black GOP celebs besides Stacey Dash See page B5
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‘ADVICE FOR LIVING’ FROM MLK
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“He was a church pastor and these are things that might come up in his pastoral work, particularly when the church played a more central role,” Carson said. “The minister was someone who church members could go to with problems. Black people didn’t go to psychologists.”
On Christian living In some of the letters, King also confronted — broadly — issues that could have applied to him. “Almost every minister has the problem of confronting women in his congregation whose interests are not entirely spiritual,” he wrote to a pastor’s wife who feared her preacher husband was being tempted by female parishioners. “But if he carries himself in a manner representative of the highest mandates of Christian living, his very person will discourage their approaches.” Some people might call him a hypocrite, said Alveda King, alluding to FBI allegations that King was not always faithful. “My uncle, my father (A.D. King), my grandfather, were all men of God. But they knew that when you slip, you repent,” she said. “They were clear on what was right and wrong and what to do when you stumbled.”
Female following Not surprisingly, many of the letters were written by women, seeking advice on what would now be considered gender politics. And looking at the era through a 21st-century lens, King might seem out of touch with some of his responses. In an August 1958 exchange, King tells a woman and mother whose husband is having an affair with a neighbor to seek out a marriage counselor. But deeper in the column, he tells the woman — who doesn’t believe in divorce — to look at herself, and her rival. “Since the other person is so near, you might study her and see what she does for your husband that you might not be doing,” King wrote. “Do you spend too much time with the children and the house and not pay attention to him? Are you careful with your grooming? Do you nag? Do you make him feel important … like somebody? This process of introspection might help you to hit upon the things that are responsible for your husband’s other affair.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Writings defended Today, some of King’s advice wouldn’t be considered politically correct. “In reading these, you see that he is progressive, but also a man of his times and age,” Carson said. “They were probably the politically correct answers of the 1950s.” Alveda King defends her uncle’s writings. “What he was saying was not old-fashioned. It was and still is the truth,” she said. “It was a genuine period in his life and he was doing his best. Did he follow all of the rules, no, but he tried the best he could.” King’s sister, Christine King Farris, who she gave her younger brother more advice than he gave her, said the columns were an extension of his ministry and prove simply that King was no different than anyone else. “He was an everyday person, living like we all live,” Farris said. “I want people to think of him as an everyday person, not someone who is unattainable or unreachable.”
Before he became an international icon, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent time dispensing advice on relationships, finances and other issues for Ebony magazine. BY ERNIE SUGGS ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
ATLANTA — “Let the man that led the Montgomery boycott lead you into happier living.” That was part of an advertisement in the September 1957 edition of Jet magazine, announcing the debut of a new advice columnist on the pages of its sister publication, Ebony: Martin Luther King Jr. For more than a year, the 28-year-old King — who had successfully led one of the most important boycotts in the country’s history years before he would win a Nobel Peace Prize — dispensed nuggets of wisdom, advice and, at times, surprisingly dated admonishments to readers of the Black-owned monthly publication. He touched on race, but spent the bulk of his time dealing with marital and family issues, finances, class and sex.
Another side of King It was “Advice for Living.” “For me, this period was very interesting,” said King biographer Clayborne Carson, who published the columns in the fourth volume of the “Papers of Martin Luther King Jr.” “I am always trying to get beneath the public King, and for him to write a column like that gives you a glimpse at what he is thinking. His ideas on these matters — outside of his role as a civil rights leader — are much more personal.” While the columns have mostly faded from memory, Alveda King, King’s eldest niece, said she remembers them vividly, calling the time the last calm period in her family “before the bombings and killings.” King was killed 48 years ago this month.
Tackled love, choices To a Black woman who wanted to marry her White lover: “If persons entering such a marriage are thoroughly aware of these obstacles and feel that they have
the power and stability to stand up amid them, then there is no reason why these persons should not be married.” To a 50-something widow in love with a 28-year-old who her friends say is after her money: “With such a tremendous age gap, there is little possibility for compatibility, either physically or emotionally. It is probably true that you love this young man, but love must always be tempered with reason.” And to a 17-year-old gospel musician who wants to play rock ’n’ and roll, King tells him the two forms of music are incompatible and he therefore has to choose: “The profound sacred and spiritual meaning of the great music of the church must never be mixed with the transitory quality of rock and roll music. The former serves to lift men’s souls to higher levels of reality, and therefore to God; the latter so often plunges men’s minds into degrading and immoral depths. Never seek to mix the two.”
Emerged as leader Fresh off leading the Montgomery bus boycotts, King started to establish himself as a national and international figure. In January 1957, he co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and appeared on the cover of Time magazine for the first time a month later. In March, he went to Africa for the independence celebration of Ghana, and in May his “Give Us the Ballot” speech at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom was his first major address in front of a national audience. “It was certainly the period where he emerged as the leader who transcended the movement that produced him,” said Carson, the director of Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute. “This was the beginning of the time that he became the Martin Luther King Jr. that we know now.”
First issue in 1957 It is no wonder that Lerone Bennett, the associate editor of Ebony, a More-
King became an advice columnist for Ebony in 1957. He was pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church at the time.
First book
house graduate and a former reporter for the Atlanta Daily World, approached King in the summer of 1957 about writing for Ebony. Bennett would send the readers’ letters to King in Montgomery, where he was still pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. King’s secretary, Maude Ballou, likely typed his responses and mailed them back. The first column ran in the September 1957 issue. While the column was practical, as Carson said, it provided glimpses into King’s thinking and how the church and era molded him.
As the 1950s drew to an end, King’s activities increased. In September 1958, aside from all of his other activities and growing family responsibilities, he published his first book, “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story.” Staff members and members of the SCLC urged him to remain focused. “People in his organization were saying he was spread too thin,” Carson said. “(SCLC Executive Director) Ella Baker was saying that. He needed to get back to being a protest leader.” Then on Sept. 20, 1958, during a book signing in Harlem, King was stabbed and nearly died. It’s unclear how many unpublished columns were on file before King was stabbed. But after the stabbing, King essentially let the column go.
Controversial topics
Moving on
In January 1958, someone wrote: “I am a boy, but I feel about boys the way I ought to feel about girls.” King’s first response was that the boy’s feelings were not uncommon and that it was probably “culturally acquired.” “I would suggest that you see a good psychiatrist who can assist you in bringing to the forefront of conscience all of those experiences and circumstances that lead to the habit. You are already on the right road toward a solution, since you honestly recognize the problem and have a desire to solve it.” King didn’t shy away from controversial topics.
Ballou sent Ebony what is assumed to be the last column on Oct. 28, although the magazine continued to publish them through December. In that last column, King answers two questions about the stabbing. “My future plans include a few more weeks of convalescing which my physicians strongly urge,” he wrote to someone questioning what was next for him. “After that, I plan to rejoin the ranks of those who are working ceaselessly for the realization of the ideal of freedom and justice for all men. I do not have the slightest intention of turning back at this point.”
CALENDAR
B2
FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR
APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
STOJ
Edward Waters College recruiting Black males for summer program
SHIRLEY CAESAR
Fort Lauderdale: The AfricanAmerican Research Library and Cultural Center is hosting a poetry slam at 2 p.m. April 23 in three age categories. To participate, contact Desmond Hannibal at 954-357-6224 or email dhannibal@broward.org. The center is at 2650 Sistrunk Blvd. Safety Harbor: Reach Up’s annual Affirming Fatherhood Conference is April 27-29 at 105 N. Bayshore Drive. More information: www. reachupincorporated.org. Tampa: Best Buddies Tampa Bay will hold its annual Friendship Walk on April 16 at Cotanchobee Park. Details: www.bestbuddiesfriendshipwalk.org/tampabay. Miami: The Miami Music Project will present its Leaders Orchestra, comprised of students 9-18, in concert at The Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center Concert Hall at Florida International University on April 17 at 4 p.m. More information: 305-348-0496. Hollywood: A May 10 concert will feature George Benson and Boney James at Hard Rock Live. Orlando: Funk Fest 2016 is scheduled April 16 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando. Performers will include Faith Evans, New Edition, Kenny “Babyface’’ Edmonds, Jagged Edge, Uncle Luke and The 69 Boyz. More information: www.funkfesttour.com. Celebration: The Muscular Dystrophy Association will host an MDA Muscle Walk of Orlando at 2 p.m. on April 23 at Lakeside Park. Details: www.musclewalkmda. org.orlando2016 West Palm Beach: The Blind Boys of Alabama and Mavis Staples will be in concert May 4 at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale
Edward Waters College (EWC) is currently enrolling students for its 2016 Black Male College Explorers Summer Program. The EWC Black Male Explorers Program is an at-risk prevention/ intervention program designed specifically to prevent Black males from dropping out of high school; facilitate their admission to college; and significantly increase their chances of earning a college degree. The program targets students in the 7th through 11th grades who are classified as at-risk by their parents and/or schools they attend. Edward Waters College provides year-round cultural and academic workshop, as well as, five weeks of highly concentrated developmental experiences, which includes weekly seminars, workshops and motivational trips during the summer. Since 2005, the EWC Black Male College Explorers program has had 100 percent high school graduation rate.
VICKIE WINANS
SHIRLEY CAESAR & VICKIE WINANS
The Women of Praise Mother’s Day Concert is May 8 at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables. Performers will include Shirley Caesar, Vickie Winans, Regina Bell and Dorinda Clark-Cole.
Starts June 12
SILK
Keith Sweat and Silk are scheduled April 30 at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater for a 7:30 p.m. show.
and the Kravis Center. Hollywood: Wanda Sykes is scheduled at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood on April 17 for a 7 p.m. show. Orlando: Arsenio Hall and Joe Piscopo will be at Hard Rock Live Orlando on April 15.
Hip Hop show is April 23 at the USF Sundome. Performers include Juvenile, Too Short, Trick Daddy along with 8 Ball & MJG. Orlando: Catch Floetry at the House of Blues Orlando on May 8.
Miami: Beyonce’s Formation World Tour stops at Marlins Park on April 27 and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on April 29.
Orlando: A Ladies’ Tea Party takes place April 23 at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 4851 S. Apopka-Vineland Road. The event begins at 1 p.m. RSVP: www. st.lukes.org/tea or call 407-8764991.
Tampa: The Legends of Southern
Naples: The Collier County Alum-
nae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will present a Red Shoe Fashion Show and Luncheon at noon May 21 at The Colosseum, 2059 E. Tamiami Trail. Tickets are $50. More information: Kimcartis@gmail.com. Longwood: The Central Florida Community Arts’ Community Choir and Symphony Orchestra will perform “A Night On the Red Carpet’’ May 12 and 13 at Northland Church, 530 Dog Track Road. Tickets: http://cfcarts.com/events or call 407-937-1800 ext. 710.
During the summer, these students live on-campus in one of the residential dorms. The 2016 summer program will begin June 12 and conclude July 15. Edward Waters College (EWC) is a private, historically Black, urban college which offers a liberal arts education with a strong emphasis on the Christian principles of high moral and spiritual values. The college was established in 1866 and is an African Methodist Episcopal Church-related institution of learning. It is the oldest private institution of higher education in the state. To apply for the summer program, email Program Director Darren Gardener at d.gardner@ewc. edu. He also can be reached by phone at 904-470-8001.
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APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
HEALTH
Is it possible vegetarianism is in your genes?
tion against prostate cancer. Part of that benefit might be from lycopene — a reddish pigment that gives color to fruit and vegetables like tomatoes, apricots, guavas, and watermelons. Lycopene has been shown to help lower PSA levels and lower the risk for developing prostate cancer. Besides lycopene found naturally in food, some studies have shown a benefit from the use of lycopene supplements; others have not. Remember though, when we eat foods high in lycopene — those with red colored flesh — we also get a host of other nutrients that work together to fight against cancer. By the way, lycopene from food cooked with a little fat is better absorbed into the body than raw foods eaten without fat. Tomatoes cooked in olive oil, for example, release more lycopene into the body than raw tomatoes.
BY ALLIE SHAH STAR TRIBUNE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
Those who favor a plantbased diet may be hardwired that way. In a new study, researchers at Cornell University report the discovery of a genetic variation that evolved over generations in populations who ate vegetarian diets. Historically vegetarian populations are in India, Africa and parts of East Asia, the scientists found. The genetic adaptation allows them to “efficiently process omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and convert them into compounds essential for early brain development,” said the study, which was published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Some risks But Cornell researchers also found that the “vegetarian gene” may increase the risk of heart disease and colon cancer for some. Those who eat green and have the genetic variation, “If they stray from a balanced omega-6 to omega-3 diet, it may make [them] more susceptible to inflammation, and by association, increased risk of heart disease and colon cancer.” The research team studied the frequencies of the “vegetarian” genetic variation in 234 primarily vegetarian Indians and 311 Americans. While only 18 percent of the American subjects had the “vegetarian gene,” a whopping 68 percent of the Indian participants had it.
B3
More Vitamin D
FOTOLIA/TNS
Lycopene, a reddish pigment that gives color to foods like tomatoes, has been shown to help lower PSA levels and lower the risk for developing prostate cancer.
Dietary help for men at risk of prostate cancer Lycopene has been shown to help lower PSA levels and lower the risk for developing it. BY BARBARA QUINN MONTEREY COUNTY HERALD TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
If you’re a man, you have one chance in five to develop prostate cancer in your lifetime. Prostate cancer is the second most common form of cancer in men (behind skin cancer), according to the American Cancer Society.
Men most at risk are over the age of 50, African-American or those with a family history (father, brother or son) of prostate cancer. A blood test called a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) is commonly used to identify problems with the prostate — a walnut-sized gland that is part of the male reproductive system. High levels of PSA mean the prostate may be in-
flamed, infected or enlarged. It may or may not indicate prostate cancer until further tests — such as a biopsy — are performed.
Lycopene’s effect How nutrition affects a man’s risk for prostate cancer is still unclear, say experts. Yet several nutrition interventions show promise in helping to prevent and treat this form of cancer. Some evidence suggests, for example, that a vegetarian diet may exert some protec-
Vitamin D is another newsworthy nutrient in the fight against prostate cancer. This hormonelike vitamin may have a protective effect on the cells of the prostate gland, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Although we still don’t know if taking vitamin D supplements or getting more natural vitamin D from the sun will prevent prostate cancer, it has been observed that men diagnosed with prostate cancer often have low blood levels of vitamin D. Some studies have found that men with prostate cancer who were treated with vitamin D experience lower PSA levels in their blood. Other studies have not shown the same benefit. Still, one review article concluded that “vitamin D-based therapies for prostate cancer may soon be medical practice.” Caution: Vitamin D can be toxic when taken in doses higher than 10,000 IU (international units) per day over a period of many years, says the NCI. Always check with your medical provider before starting any type of nutrition therapy.
Barbara Quinn is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. She is the author of “Quinn-Essential Nutrition.’’
FOTOLIA/TNS
New CDC guidelines recommend that men who have contracted the Zika virus delay having unprotected sex for at least six months after symptoms.
CDC updates guidelines on Zika and pregnancy MAYO CLINIC NEWS NETWORK TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its guidelines to help couples who are thinking about pregnancy after exposure to the Zika virus. The virus, which has been linked to microcephaly — a birth defect which leaves the child with a significantly smaller head than normal — typically is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito; however, it also can be spread from mother to child, and through sexual contact. The new guidelines recommend men who have contracted the Zika virus delay having unprotected sex for at least six months after symptoms.
Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist Dr. Pritish Tosh adds, “Abstinence from sexual activity is ideal or the use of barrier protection such as condoms. The reason is that the virus can live longer in semen than it can in blood. “Because for potential latency of the virus, especially in the semen, the recommendation from the CDC is that for men who have had Zika virus symptoms wait at least six months before engaging in any unprotected sexual activity.”
Warnings for men and women Women who have the Zika virus should wait at least eight weeks after symptom onset to attempt conception.
Men with the Zika virus should wait at least six months after symptom onset to attempt conception. Men and women with possible exposure to Zika, but without clinical illness consistent with to the virus, should wait at least eight weeks after exposure to attempt conception. Men and women who reside in Zika endemic areas should talk with their health care provider about attempting conception. Tosh calls the updated guidelines a critical piece of information that health care providers have been awaiting. He says the new CDC recommendations give clear evidence-based guidance for delaying pregnancy after exposure to the virus.
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PERSONAL FINANCE
APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
STOJ
sign of financial stress, said Sarah Holden, senior director of retirement investor research at ICI. “For some individuals, it may make more sense to take advantage of the 401(k) loan and pay yourself back rather than pay some other lender,” she said. Not all 401(k) participants have access to a loan feature. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College estimates about 90 percent of employers offer loans.
The risks The Internal Revenue Code limits the borrowing to 50 percent of the account balance up to $50,000. Loans do not require approval, but generally must be paid back within one to five years. But such loans do come with risks. If a 401(k) loan is not repaid due to default or job loss, the remaining balance is treated as a lump-sum distribution and is subject to income taxes and a 10 percent penalty for borrowers who have not reached age 59 1/2. Knotick said there is another tax issue that many people don’t take into consideration. “You will be paying back the loan with interest and using after-tax dollars to pay that interest,” he said. “Then once back in the 401(k) account, when you withdraw those funds for retirement in the future, you will be paying taxes again — since with a traditional 401(k) account, withdrawals are taxed at the time of distribution.” FOTOLIA/TNS
More people are dipping into their 401(k) savings plans to take loans.
Loan activity from 401(k) plans rising The majority of the loans are used to make down payments on homes, consolidate high interest credit card debt, buy cars and pay for educational and medical expenses. BY TIM GRANT PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
PITTSBURGH — The temptation to take loans from a company 401(k) retirement savings plan is apparently too hard to resist for some people even after they’ve been warned of how dipping into that account can knock their re-
tirement plans off track. “In addition to the loss of compounding interest, there are other potential downsides or perils of utilizing a loan provision from a 401(k),” said Curt Knotick, owner of Accurate Solutions Group outside Pittsburgh. “One would be taxes — more importantly, paying double taxation on the interest you pay for
the loan itself.”
A last resort While research by the Federal Reserve Bank shows a small percentage of workers use their 401(k)s as a honey pot to fund vacations and live beyond their means, the majority of such loans are used to make down payments on homes, consolidate high interest credit card debt, buy cars and pay for educational and medical expenses. And in recent years, it seems a growing number are a last resort to handle emergencies when the account owners are out of cash
and out of options for getting what they need. A recent report by the Investment Company Institute in Washington, D.C., showed loan activity from company 401(k) plans is higher today than it was seven years ago. As of the end of September 2015, 17.6 percent of 401(k) plan participants had loans outstanding, compared to 15.3 percent with outstanding loans at the end of 2008.
Avoiding lenders The increasing number of workers taking loans from their retirement accounts could be a
Replaced pensions The 401(k), which came onto the scene in 1978, has primarily replaced company pensions as the dominant workplace retirement plan. Pensions provided a monthly fixed income for retirees. The idea behind a 401(k) also is to create income for workers in retirement, which is why financial advisers typically consider such funds off limits until retirement. “When we exercise a loan from our 401(k) which is to be utilized for retirement, we lose the compounding of those dollars, since they are no longer in the plan,” Knotick said. “That can have a dramatic impact over the course of 10, 15 or even 20 years. Don’t underestimate that impact, which can literally be thousands of dollars. “Remember, the 401(k) was created to plan for retirement, and not for use prior to then.
No purchase too small for plastic, survey shows BY LAUREN ZUMBACH TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
CHICAGO — Do you roll your eyes in the checkout line when someone pulls out a card to pay for a candy bar or pack of gum? Get used to the feeling. While 58 percent of Americans still use cash for small purchases, a growing share say they whip out a credit or debit card even when spending less than $5, according to a CreditCards.com survey of 616 people with major credit cards. About 38 percent of people surveyed said they used credit or debit cards for small purchases, up from 33 percent in 2014, the survey found. “Every sign seems to indicate we’re moving farther and farther away from cash, and it seems like things like mobile payments will only end up accelerating that,” said Matt Schulz, senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com.
No more stigma For consumers — particularly millennials who didn’t grow up with the habit of carrying cash like their parents or grandparents — the convenience of cards is hard to beat, said Credit.com expert Bob Sullivan. According to the survey, 46 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds said they used debit cards for small purchases, 18 percent used credit cards and only 36 percent used cash. “There used to be a stigma to using plastic to make small purchases, but that’s clearly gone,” Schulz said.
Debit or credit? Some credit card experts said
the shift away from cash isn’t a bad thing, but that the survey results suggest some spenders aren’t picking the right kind of card. The growth in the share of Americans using plastic for small purchases between 2014 and 2016 came entirely from people using debit cards, while the share using credit cards to pay for items under $5 was flat at 11 percent, according to the CreditCards. com survey. Millennials’ preference for debit cards could be driving some of that growth, Schulz said. Many already have student loan debt, came of age in a recession and don’t want to take on a new kind of debt with credit cards, he said. But treating a debit card like cash is “generally a terrible idea,” said Sullivan, who advocates keeping them tucked in a wallet except during ATM withdrawals.
Risks, rewards Although consumer protection measures have made it harder to get hit with a fee for overdrawing a bank account, “the $5 hamburger that can cost $40 is still a real risk,” Sullivan said. Fraudulent transactions can also be more problematic with debit cards than credit cards, experts said. A fraudulent credit card charge doesn’t need to be paid immediately, and companies usually reverse disputed transactions, while a customer whose debit card is targeted may be liable for a portion of the fraudulent charge and doesn’t have access to stolen money until the case is resolved, said Sean McQuay, credit card expert for NerdWallet. Debit card users may also be
FOTOLIA/TNS
A growing number of Americans say they whip out a credit or debit card even when spending less than $5, according to a CreditCards.com survey. missing out on rewards, experts said. An increasingly competitive credit card market has made rewards programs more lucrative than usual for customers who don’t carry a balance, while debit cards with rewards are increasingly rare, Schulz said.
Think before swiping Even if the dollar amount a typical customer earns in rewards isn’t huge, as long as someone pays the card in full every month, “it’s essentially a debit card that also gives you rewards,” McQuay said. Sullivan said consumers should be wary of making small charges on either type of card, since it can make it harder to stick to a budget. “When people thoughtlessly swipe, swipe, swipe, it’s less tangible and they often don’t under-
stand how much they’re spending,” he said. Lots of small charges can also make it harder for customers to spot fraudulent transactions. A “bad guy” with a stolen card might make a small purchase to test that the card works before racking up big charges, Schulz said. Sullivan said some skip big purchases entirely, hoping many $10 or $20 fraudulent charges will go unnoticed over time. But others said putting even tiny purchases on credit cards can be a smart idea.
Adds up quickly While some people might struggle to keep spending in check when they can’t see a shrinking stack of bills in their wallet, others might find the record of purchases that comes
with a credit card helps them budget, McQuay said. Small everyday purchases add up more quickly than big-ticket items, so customers whose credit cards offer rewards and don’t carry a balance are missing out by not charging those items, he said. And despite worries about credit and debit card fraud, both offer more protections than cash, which once stolen is nearly always gone for good, Schulz said. Experts said they expect the greenback may keep losing market share to plastic, mobile and online payments, but that doesn’t mean it’s going away. “Merchants still pay fees for debit and credit card acceptance,” McQuay said. “For the foreseeable future, cash will be part of the mix because of the cost of accepting anything else.”
STOJ
APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
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Jewell Jones has been named a 2016 Young Futurists by The Root. According to the website, the annual tradition “recognizes and celebrates young AfricanAmerican men and women, ages 15-22, who exemplify greatness.’’ Jones, 20, is the youngest city councilman ever in his hometown of Inkster, Mich.
Spelman College’s Brianna Fugate, 20, who interned last summer at the White House in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, has been named a 2016 Young Futurists by The Root. She recently landed a summer internship with Intel as a CODE2040 fellow in Santa Clara, Calif. She hopes to become a software engineer and social entrepreneur.
Plenty of Black celebs prefer Republican Party EURWEB
When most folks think about Black celebrity Republicans, the name that comes without even thinking about it these days is Stacey Dash. But there are much more. While up to 95 percent of Black voters are aligned with the Democratic Party, in recent months African-American Republicans have been making history with their controversial comments and in some cases, White supremacist views. Their alignment with the current party’s ideals is historic enough. Blacks who are affiliated with the (GOP) include political figures like Condoleezza Rice (former United States Secretary of State), Colin Powell (former United States Secretary of State), Herman Cain (2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential candidate), Ben Carson (2016 U.S. Republican Party presidential candidate), and Clarence Thomas (Associate Justice of the Supreme Court).
Last year, Trump supporter Carson topped Newsmax’s 100 Most Influential African-American Republicans list. Then there are the Republican pundits and political analysts like Armstrong Williams, Larry Elder, Amy Holmes, Juan Williams and Raynard Jackson, per AlwaysAList.com.
50 Cent was big Bush supporter Many may still find it surprising that there are prominent Black celebrities, faith leaders and athletes that are either registered Republicans and/or have publicly supported the GOP. Some celebrities include: LL Cool J, James Earl Jones, The Rock, Stacey Dash, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Sheryl Underwood and 50 Cent, who was a public supporter of President George W. Bush Jr. and in 2005 told GQ magazine he wanted to “just shake his hand and tell him how much of me I see in him.”
50 Cent
Stacey Dash
Sheryl Underwood
The list of athletes and other prominent Black personalities who are down with the GOP are: Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone, NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, Michael Steel (former chairman, Republican National Commit-
tee), “Divorce Court” star Judge Lynn Toler, Jimmie “J.J.” Walker (stand-up comedian; iconic comic actor on “Good Times” in 1970s), and Omarosa Manigault. With conservative values deeply entrenched in Black commu-
nities and the church being the cornerstone of Black culture, it’s no wonder why many lean with the GOP and support the party’s so-called “traditional” and oftentimes extremist values.
La’Porsha gets record contract despite being ‘Idol’ runner-up EURWEB
She didn’t get America’s vote, but Universal Music Group (UMG) has given “American Idol” Season 15 runner up La’Porsha Renae a record deal, along with the winner, Trent Harmon. Unlike recent seasons where only the winner received a contract, deals were awarded to the top two this year from UMG’s 19/Big Machine. Renae has signed with the label’s imprint, Motown Records. “Because of the overwhelming fan demand and success of the farewell season of ‘American Idol,’ we have made the decision to sign both the winner, Trent Harmon, and runner-up, La’Porsha Renae, to exclusive recording agreements,” Big Machine Label Group founder and CEO Scott Borchetta told Billboard. “I can’t think of a better way to bring this American insti-
tution to a close. Everyone at the Big Machine Label Group, the Universal Music Group and Motown Records are so thrilled with the outcome and can’t wait to get to work.”
Nashville for Harmon Harmon, a 25-year-old Mississippi native, will attempt a career in country music. He’ll travel to Nashville as soon as his “Idol” appearance obligations are done. Renae’s album will be overseen by Ethiopia Habtemariam, president of Motown and president of urban music/cohead of creative at Universal Music Publishing Group, who told Billboard, “We are extremely excited to partner with Big Machine and 19 Entertainment on such an incredible talent as La’Porsha.” Both deals were put together by 19 Entertainment executive vice president/worldwide head of music Jason Morey, who added, “American
Idol has always been about the search for a superstar. This season, America helped us find two. We’re ecstatic to welcome these world-class artists to the 19 Entertainment family.”
Judges, divas return “Idol” Producers went all out for the series finale, securing an intro from President Obama, performances from judges (including Jennifer Lopez slinging her new single “Ain’t Your Mama”), a surprise appearance from Simon Cowell (who joined fellow original judges Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul on stage). The show featured many former contestants performing in genre segments, including an “Acoustic” portion featuring Season 2’s Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken; and a “Divas” moment featuring Fantasia Barrino, Jennifer Hudson and Latoya London from Season 3.
RAY MICKSHAW/FOX
University Music Group signs La’Porsha Renae to its imprint, Motown Records.
FOOD
B6
APRIL 15 – APRIL 21, 2016
TOJ
Cod Parmesan with Zucchini Noodles
Swap meat for seafood See how seafood transforms traditional dishes FROM FAMILY FEATURES
Now more than ever, food choices matter. People want healthy, environmentally friendly foods without sacrificing flavor. Substituting the traditional protein in your favorite dishes with seafood is one deliciously smart way to satisfy these demands. Seafood offers numerous health benefits. In fact, because seafood is high in protein, omega-3 fatty acids and essential vitamins and minerals, but low in saturated fat and calories, several health organizations recommend two servings per week. When it comes to the environment, seafood offers an advantage as well – it’s the most environmentally friendly of all the animal proteins. In a comparison of environmental costs, wild-capture fisheries have a miniscule cost compared to foods such as beef, chicken, pork and dairy. Changing up traditional meals to incorporate the goodness of seafood is easier than you may think. Just pick a non-seafood protein dish that you regularly enjoy, and replace the protein with one of Alaska’s many species of seafood. For example, replace veal in veal parmesan with delicious Alaska cod or the chicken in chicken Marsala with flavorful Alaska salmon. Find more easy, meatless recipes and inspiration at wildalaskaseafood.com. SALMON MARSALA Serves: 4 Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes 4 Alaska salmon fillets (4-6 ounces each) salt and pepper, to taste 2 cups flour 1/2 cup olive oil 1 cup Marsala wine 2 cups mushrooms, sliced 2 cups chicken stock 2 teaspoons fresh thyme 2 tablespoons cold butter 4 fresh thyme sprigs, for garnish Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper, to taste. On plate, season flour with salt and pepper, to taste. Dredge both sides of each salmon fillet in seasoned flour, shaking off excess. Heat large saute pan and add olive oil then place each piece of salmon in pan. Cook for 2-4 minutes, turn fillets over and cook until almost done. Remove fillets from pan; set aside. Off heat, add wine to pan, scraping bits off the bottom. Return pan to heat and add mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and cook for 1 minute. Add stock and thyme, and let liquid reduce by half. Return salmon fillets to pan. Cook, while basting fish, until fillets are heated through. Remove fillets to 4 serving plates. Return pan to heat, add cold butter and swirl until incorporated and sauce slightly thickens. Remove from heat and divide sauce evenly over salmon fillets. Garnish each plate with 1 thyme sprig, if desired.
Smothered Cod or Pollock
Salmon Marsala Alaska pollock
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
For many ingredients, substitutions are no problem. For example, pollock, which is a member of the cod family and shares many of its attributes, including a firm texture, mild flavor and snowwhite fillets loaded with lean protein, works in any recipe calling for cod. However, at the fish counter it pays to pay attention to names because the Food & Drug Administration regulates what foods sold in the United States are called. This allows consumers to know more about their origin and be confident in the safety and environmental standards used to raise or harvest the product. Recently, the FDA made a change regarding pollock. Alaska pollock was previously a species name, which meant pollock from Russia or China could be sold as Alaska pollock. To clear up the confusion and help ensure consumers know the source of their food, now only pollock from Alaska can be called Alaska pollock.
Alaska cod
COD PARMESAN WITH ZUCCHINI NOODLES Serves: 4 Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes 2 medium zucchini (5-6 ounces each), thinly sliced 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 teaspoon olive oil salt and pepper, to taste 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1/8 teaspoon dried basil 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano 1/8 teaspoon onion powder 4 Alaska cod fillets (4-6 ounces each) 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese, divided In nonstick skillet, saute zucchini slices in butter and oil just until soft. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Keep warm. Heat oven to broil setting. Mix grated Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, lemon juice, basil, oregano and onion powder together. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Divide and spread topping onto the top of each fillet. Place fillets on foil-lined broiler pan. Broil 5-7 inches from broiler element for 3 minutes, or until top is browned and bubbly. Reduce heat to 300 F and cook 3-5 more minutes. Cook until fish is opaque throughout. To serve, place 1/4 of zucchini on each plate. Top with cod fillet and garnish with 1/2 tablespoon shredded cheese. SMOTHERED COD OR POLLOCK Serves: 4 Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes 1/4 cup olive oil 1/2 cup red onion 2 teaspoons garlic, chopped 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced 1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced salt and pepper, to taste 4 tablespoons flour 2 cups chicken stock 1/2 cup tomato, seeded and chopped 2 teaspoons fresh thyme 4 wild Alaska cod or pollock fillets (4-6 ounces each) 2 cups mashed potatoes, warmed 4 fresh thyme sprigs, for garnish In hot saute pan, cook olive oil, onion and garlic for 1 minute. Add both peppers and salt and pepper, and saute 2 minutes. Add flour and stir until flour turns light brown. Add chicken stock and stir until liquid smooths and starts to thicken. Add tomato and thyme. Season fish with salt and pepper, to taste, and place into simmering sauce and cover. Cook 3-4 minutes, carefully turn, cover and continue to cook until done, 3-4 minutes. To serve, place 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes on 4 serving plates. Carefully remove each piece of fish and place on top of mashed potatoes. Evenly divide sauce over each piece of fish. Garnish each plate with 1 sprig of fresh thyme, if desired.