Florida Courier - December 11, 2015

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DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015

VOLUME 23 NO. 50

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CHICAGO HYPOCRISY

Mayor Rahm Emanuel apologizes for the police killing of a Black teen, even as his lawyers convince a judge to keep video of a second police killing secret. Local activists want Emanuel to resign.

COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

CHICAGO – On Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel apologized for the video-recorded police killing of Laquan McDonald, a Black teen, “that happened on my watch” – on the same day city attorneys convinced a federal judge to keep a second video-recorded police killing of an unarmed Black teen from going public, and hundreds

of protesters demanded the mayor’s resignation.

“If we’re going to fix it, I want you to understand it’s my responsibility with you,” Emanuel said in a rare speech to the full City Council. “But if we’re also going to begin the healing process, the first step in that journey is my step, and I’m sorry.”

Emanuel, who has dismissed his police superintendent, parted ways

with the head of the police shooting review agency and dropped opposition to the release of the McDonald shooting video during the last two weeks, framed the situation as “a defining moment on the issues of crime and policing – and the even larger issues of truth, justice and race.”

Seventeen-year-old McDonald was killed by a White police officer who

JOSE M. OSORIO/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Protesters yelled “16 shots and a cover up” as they stopped traffic in Chicago on See CHICAGO, Page A2 Wednesday.

PEARL HARBOR BOMBING / DEC. 7, 1941

Remembering the day of infamy

Is $3.1 billion enough?

Scott’s deal with Seminoles under review

BY DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Far from a sure bet, Gov. Rick Scott’s $3.1 billion gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida is getting a tepid response from some legislative leaders, virtually guaranteeing that the proposal could require major changes to win enough support for passage.

The agreement, signed by Scott and tribal Chairman James Billie on Monday, equates to a major expansion of gambling in Florida, bringing to the state craps and roulette for Seminole casinos and opening the door for slots and blackjack in areas where a previous agreement prohibited the games.

Seven-year deal

MCSPEC. 2ND CLASS TAMARA VAUGHN / U.S. NAVY

Nelson Mitchell, the oldest living African-American Pearl Harbor survivor, reflected in the shrine room of the USS Arizona Memorial during a Pearl Harbor Survivor/ World War II, Family and Friends Harbor Tour at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Dec. 5. The harbor tour was one of several events commemorating the 74th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day.

Under the 20-year compact signed Monday, the Seminoles could add craps and roulette to their seven casinos in exchange for $3.1 billion in payments to the state over seven years. The Seminoles could also expand blackjack games, now limited to five of their facilities, to all of their casinos.

The compact would also allow slot machines at the Palm Beach Kennel Club and at a new location in Miami-Dade County. And it would also permit horse and dog tracks to stop racing altoSee DEAL, Page A2

Court could change Florida’s death penalty COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS

TALLAHASSEE – With the lowest threshold in the nation for death sentences, Florida juries are sentencing prisoners to death faster than Gov. Rick Scott can sign their death warrants.

Most of the other 31 states that have the death penalty require a unanimous jury vote. Alabama requires at least a 10-2 vote. Delaware requires jurors to find an aggravating circumstance.

But a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the state’s majority vote is constitutional could go against Florida.

Some lawmakers are pushing

ALSO INSIDE

bills to require a unanimous jury vote for the death penalty.

“I think it just makes sense,” said Sen. Thad Altman, R-Viera, who is sponsoring SB 330, which would mandate a unanimous jury vote.

Prosecutors object Prosecutors, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, have argued against changing the jury threshold in the past. They say some of Florida’s most notorious murderers who committed heinous crimes, including serial killer Ted Bundy, would have been spared the death penalty if the

Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, DMiami, the sponsor of the House version of the bill.

Rodriguez also said there will likely be a parade of appeals if the court rules against Florida.

Any death row inmate who got a less than unanimous jury vote would have a brand new argument in court.

The current threshold has helped add to the death row roster. According to a legislative analysis, from 2000-2012, only 60 out of 296 jury recommendations on death sentences – about 20 percent – were unanimous.

threshold were increased.

What could change things this year is the U.S. Supreme Court case and the timing of its ruling.

If the court overturns Florida’s death penalty threshold and issues a ruling before the legislative session ends in March, it gives lawmakers a chance to pass a bill requiring the unanimous jury.

But if that decision isn’t rendered until after the session ends, lawmakers couldn’t do anything about it until 2017, unless they called a special session to deal Gray Rohrer of the Orlando with the matter. That could create a “moment of chaos in the Sentinel / TNS contributed to criminal justice system,” said this report.

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

FAMU board member resigns NATION | A6

Court won’t hear challenge to weapons ban BUSINESS | B4

Easy ways to cut taxes now

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: ‘WE WILL DESTROY ISIL’ | A5

FOOD | B5

How to spice up holiday meals

FOCUS

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DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015

The NAACP is broken and members must fix it Having served the NAACP for 10 years in several capacities, including branch president, and having donated money to its causes, I take no pleasure in writing this exposé. But it is our responsibility to clean up our own organizations.

President Cornell Brooks sends missives on a regular basis, asking for money but also complaining about “voter suppression” by various states. Yet Brooks and chairman of the board, Roslyn Brock, accept voter suppression in their own ranks in various branches across the country. My grandmother would call that “hypocrisy.”

Accepting dysfunction within our organizations only diminishes our capacity to achieve meaningful economic progress. If all they do are 1,000-mile marches, pledge allegiance to the Democrat Party, and beg for money – the perception of our organizations will continue to be that of dependence, irrelevance, and impotence. We will be relegated to an afterthought, a nonthreatening group of Black folks who can be bought off for a pittance.

Sham and disgrace The national NAACP has be-

JAMES CLINGMAN NNPA COLUMNIST

come a sham and a national disgrace to Black people. President Brooks’ latest request states, “…we need to raise at least $300,000 in December to continue our fight for voting rights, justice, and educational and economic opportunity for all.” In addition to that request, there are the ongoing solicitations for $30 memberships.

Of those $30 local membership fees, $18 goes to the national office, as does 25 percent of funds raised by local branches from their annual Freedom Fund banquets.

Here’s the rub: The Columbus Dispatch (September 2013) pointed out, “The NAACP’s most recent filings with the IRS showed the organization ended 2013 with a $5.7 million operating deficit, with $36.7 million in expenditures and $30 million in revenue.”

Yet, according to outgoing president Ben Jealous, the NAACP doubled its funds from

$23 million in 2007 to $46 million in 2012. “In the last five years, we’ve had double-digit revenue growth, we’ve spent five years in the black,” Jealous told USA Today in September 2013. What happened to all that money?

Former president of the Columbus, Ohio branch, Noel Williams, who was also a victim of national NAACP corruption, says, “Today’s NAACP represents only the ‘entitled’ few, comprising representatives of the national board, special contributors, and connected state conference presidents. Local members suffer victimization by the national NAACP personnel who rake in millions of dollars from Corporate America but very little, if any, goes to the local units. Our branches are left to scrimp, beg, borrow or use any means necessary to accomplish our work, many operating on $2,000 or less per month.”

National ‘abusive’ Williams continued, “The national NAACP is abusive toward its units. The circuit court judge in the West Memphis, Arkansas said it best: ‘The intervener (national NAACP) seems to regard itself as a feudal liege; the mem-

CHICAGO shot him 16 times. It took 13 months for video of the incident to be made public by court order and for a murder charge to be brought shortly before the video’s release.

Video remains secret

Took off running Officers responding to a report of a carjacking at 1:46 p.m. stopped the car Chatman was driving. Police said that as the two plainclothes officers approached, Chatman ran, with one of the officers trailing close behind. The second officer – identified as Kevin Fry in the lawsuit – ran diagonally to try to cut off Chatman’s path, police said.

At some point, Chatman “pointed a dark object back toward the officers as he continued to run,” according to IPRA. Fry, allegedly fearing for his life, fired four shots, striking Chatman once each in the right side of his body and right forearm, IPRA said in its report. He later died of his injuries.

The dark object police recovered at the scene was a black iPhone box that authorities believe he obtained from the car-

DEAL from A1

gether – known as “decoupling” – while still maintaining cardroom or slot machine operations.

The agreement would also permit lawmakers to lower the tax rate on slot machines for Broward and Miami-Dade pari-mutuels and would allow those “racinos” to add blackjack, something now limited to tribal casinos, although on a small scale.

The racinos would only be allowed to have a maximum of 15 blackjack tables, and bets would be capped at $15.

Referendum required But, as they once did for slots, voters would have to sign off on the card games for the Miami-Dade and Broward county facilities.

Economic strategy In September 2005, Black Encial time of his tenure, was more of a political speech designed to assuage Chicagoans than one filled with specific plans that several aldermen called for this week to deal with entrenched problems in the Chicago Police Department.

The mayor talked about many Chicagoans’ lack of trust in police officers, and returned to his oft-discussed argument that there are too many guns on Chicago streets. He reiterated his frequent argument that elected officials and community leaders have a responsibility “to earn back that trust and to change that narrative,” and said there’s a need for police to build trust with young African-Americans.

from A1

Within hours of Emanuel’s emotional speech, a federal judge said he would not order the release of videos that captured a Chicago police officer fatally shooting 17-year-old Cedrick Chatman as he fled officers in January 2013. City attorneys continued to oppose making the videos public, arguing the case should not be tried in the media.

Chatman had only a black iPhone box in his hand, according to the federal lawsuit filed by attorney Brian Coffman, who represents Chatman’s mother.

Several cameras outside a nearby food market and at local high school recorded different portions of what happened, according to Coffman and a report by the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), the city agency that investigates police shootings.

ber branches, in general, its fiefdom.’”

“The national NAACP considers itself master and the local members their servants. The animus displayed by the national NAACP towards its units, and even a court of law, is evident in the Arkansas case in which the judge wrote, before issuing a judgment against the national NAACP of $120,000: ‘If the court had the least doubt about the utter disdain that its orders are held by the intervener (national NAACP), the testimony of its principals (national NAACP staff ) has put that doubt to rest.’”

“The national NAACP has an internal cancer that was benign, but now the malignancy has spread to once healthy parts of the organization. Units in Ohio, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Florida, to name a few, have all been metastasized and now find themselves in the stream of suspended memberships, manipulated elections, character defamation, and a host of other non-judicious offenses,” Williams stated.

Money and perks are at the root of this cancerous corruption. Roslyn Brock has a milquetoast malleable president in Cornell Brooks, who is just what the doctor ordered for an egotistical, self-centered chairman only interested in individual acclaim.

‘Painful process’

ZBIGNIEW BZDAK/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Linda Chatman, 40, talks about her son Cedrick, an unarmed 17-year-old who was shot and killed by Chicago police. jacking, according to IPRA, which is under intense criticism for never finding an officer at fault for an on-duty shooting.

Coffman said the officer had not been disciplined for the shooting.

Secrecy maintained U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman cited a protective order entered in Chatman’s mother’s lawsuit as the reason why the videos can’t be made public at this point.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown had sided with the city in her decision Nov. 19 – the same day a Cook County judge ordered the Laquan McDonald shooting videos to be made public. Then last week, attorney Brian Coffman, who represents Chatman’s mother, asked Gettleman to overturn Brown’s order keeping the videos confidential.

“When Judge Brown made her ruling, she was worried about the jury pool being tainted and the The proposal also envisions a new, voter-approved gambling facility with slot machines in Miami-Dade County. Lawmakers plan to require a bid process to determine who would get the new gambling license, said House Regulatory Affairs Chairman Jose Felix Diaz, the chamber’s chief negotiator on the compact.

In the signed compact, the Seminoles also pledge “to make significant investments” – $1.8 billion – in their gambling facilities, which Allen said would mostly be spent on non-gaming construction like hotel rooms.

Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning, Scott praised the deal, which is triple the current $1 billion the Seminoles agreed to pay in 2010 in exchange for exclusive rights to “banked” card games like blackjack.

The proposal would cap the

citizens of Chicago being traumatized by this,” Coffman said last week. “Unfortunately, now seeing the (McDonald) video, that (concern) doesn’t exist anymore.

There needs to be transparency with what has gone on with the city of Chicago and its police officers, and also the investigation into it.”

Coffman, who has viewed the videos, denied they depict Chatman reaching behind him and pointing anything at the officers.

Coffman also said the incident unfolded in less than 5 seconds.

“He was running as fast as he could away from police,” Coffman said. “He glances back, like anyone would if they’re being chased, and that’s it. As soon as he looks back, he starts running. For (Fry) to say he was somehow in fear for his life or in fear for his partner’s life is laughable.”

Crucial speech Emanuel’s address of 40 minutes or so, coming during a crunumber of slot machines the Seminoles are allowed to have at 6,000 at any one facility, with an average of 3,500 among its seven locations. Tables for banked card games, such as blackjack, would be capped at an average of 150, with a maximum of 300 at any one facility. Allen said none of the tribe’s current casinos are at those maximums.

Overhaul likely As lawmakers scrutinized the plan Tuesday, it became almost certain that the proposal would require what could be a major overhaul to get the requisite support from the GOP-dominated Legislature, including the historically gambling-averse House.

Key issues that could bog down passage of the compact – which would also allow lottery tickets to be sold at gas pumps – include allowing the Palm Beach Coun-

“This time must be different.

It will be a bumpy road, make no mistake about it,” Emanuel said.

“It is a painful process, and it is a long journey because of the issues we need to confront. But we as a city will not hesitate in the pursuit of what is right. We cannot shrink from the challenge any more than we can ignore the wrenching video of a troubled young man, a ward of the state of Illinois, failed by the system, surrounded by the police and gunned down on the streets of Chicago.”

The mayor was at his most emotional when he discussed the need for respect between officers and young Black men, and when he mentioned parents who have lost children to violence and people who get out of jail with few options.

He talked about a recent lunch with young men who had been in trouble with the law.

“So I asked them, tell me the one thing I need to know,” Emanuel said. “And rather than tell me something, one young man asked me a simple question that gets to the core of what we’re talking about. He said, ‘Do you think the police would ever treat you the way they treat me?’ And the answer is no, and that’s wrong,” Emanuel said, his voice rising before he began to pound the lectern.

“And that has to change in this city. That has to come to an end and end now. No citizen is a second-class citizen in the city of ty dog track to add slots, considered a snub to five other counties where voters have given slots a thumbs-up.

By early Tuesday, lobbyists were already arming themselves for a major turf war when the legislative session kicks off on Jan. 12.

Ron Book, who represents tracks owned by the Havenick family in Bonita Springs and Miami, was outraged that the compact gave preference to “rich” Palm Beach County over more financially strapped regions, such as Gretna Racing in Gadsden County.

Approvals necessary Scott and tribal leaders – along with high-ranking GOP lawmakers – have been negotiating for months, spurred by a component of a 2010 compact that gave the Seminoles exclusive rights to op-

terprise magazine interviewed new NAACP president Bruce Gordon. Speaking about New Orleans, Gordon said, “Most recently there are a lot of concerns about the way African-Americans are treated in the French Quarter. I would say in addition to [marching], we should take our dollars elsewhere…That, to me, is a more significant message than a protest because it has an economic impact on the offenders.”

In March 2007, the Washington Post (in response to Gordon quitting the NAACP) wrote, “In choosing Gordon, the NAACP veered from its tradition of selecting ministers, politicians, and civil rights figures. Gordon’s strong management skills as a former Verizon executive factored into why he was selected to run the 500,000-member NAACP.” Gordon would not be micromanaged. Maybe that’s why he is no longer president of the NAACP. Members, the NAACP is broken; hold on to your money and fix it.

James E. Clingman is the nation’s most prolific writer on economic empowerment for Black people. His latest book, “Black Dollars Matter! Teach Your Dollars How To Make More Sense,” is available on his website, Blackonomics.com.

Chicago. If my children are treated one way, every child is treated the same way.”

Speech doesn’t matter Within minutes of the mayor finishing his speech, protestors began demonstrating outside council chambers. There was no mea culpa great enough, no promises convincing enough to satisfy hundreds of protesters who converged downtown in a vociferous rebuke of how Emanuel has handled issues of police misconduct.

Even as he pledged to give citizens opportunities to more freely voice their concerns and worries, his administration confirmed spectators had to be on a list to be allowed inside to hear the speech.

Protesters streamed through downtown, stopping briefly in front of City Hall, the Chicago Board of Trade and at Congress Parkway near Interstate 290, snarling traffic and causing some bus delays. They want Emanuel gone.

“This is not a Black problem, this is a democracy problem. We don’t want your apology, we want your resignation!” one woman yelled.

Prosecutor targeted While the ire seemed mostly directed at Emanuel, demonstrators similarly are demanding the resignation of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Many citizens and political leaders have taken aim at how Alvarez’s office has prosecuted police-involved shootings. She came under scrutiny last spring after a Cook County judge acquitted Detective Dante Servin in the fatal shooting of Rekia Boyd in 2012.

The judge intimated in his ruling that prosecutors should have charged Servin with murder, not manslaughter.

Criticism of Alvarez grew when she formally charged Officer Jason Van Dyke with McDonald’s killing, but did so the same day the city released the McDonald video.

John Byrne and Jason Meisner of the Chicago Tribune (TNS) contributed to this report. erate banked card games at most of their casinos. The card games portion of the larger, 20-year deal, expired this summer, but the Seminoles have continued to run the games.

As they did five years ago, lawmakers expect to handle the issue in two separate pieces of legislation – one dealing with the compact and another focused on provisions related to the state’s pari-mutuel industry.

Lawmakers in 2010 sued thenGov. Charlie Crist for entering an agreement with the Seminoles without their approval, and the Florida Supreme Court decided that such a deal requires ratification by the Legislature.

Any deal between the tribe and the state also requires approval from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees Indian gaming.

DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015

FLORIDA

A3

Key opponent of FAMU president resigns trustee board THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

The former chairman of the Florida A&M University (FAMU) Board of Trustees,

who resigned that post in October but stayed on the board, stepped down altogether on Nov. 3.

Rufus Montgomery sent

a letter of resignation, effective immediately, to Gov. Rick Scott, according to a copy of the letter provided by the board’s public-rela-

tions firm. Montgomery’s appointment would have been up next month, subject to reappointment by the governor.

“I wish the best for Florida A&M University,” the Atlanta-based lobbyist wrote.

The move came after a turbulent period at the univer-

Here’s to keeping bills low.

sity, which was capped in October when Montgomery led the trustees in an effort to fire President Elmira Mangum.

When two votes failed in an Oct. 22 emergency board meeting, FAMU students marched to the Capitol to support Mangum, and Montgomery stepped down as chairman the next Rufus Montgomery day.

Last month, a Mangum ally, Cleve Warren, was elected to chair the board, with Montgomery alone speaking against his nomination.

Driver challenges state’s decision on Uber status A former Uber driver is appealing a decision last week by Gov. Rick Scott’s administration that drivers for the app-based transportation company should be considered independent contractors instead of employees.

Darrin McGillis filed a notice on Dec. 4 in the 3rd District Court of Appeal as an initial step in challenging the decision by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, according to court documents.

The state agency’s decision means that former Uber drivers are not eligible to file unemployment claims and is part of a broader debate about how state and local governments should view the fast-growing car services.

McGillis and another former Uber driver, Melissa Ewers, filed unemployment claims in April.

The state Department of Revenue in May issued findings that McGillis and Ewers had been employees of Uber. That led the company to file a protest with the Department of Economic Opportunity, which handles appeals of such issues. The decision last week reversed the findings of the Department of Revenue.

Judge rejects contract award for I-75 job

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An administrative law judge Monday rejected a contracting decision by the Florida Department of Transportation for tens of millions of dollars on work on Interstate 75 in Hernando County.

Judge William Quattlebaum issued an order recommending that the department award the contract to The Middlesex Corp., rather than Prince Contracting LLC. Middlesex filed a challenge after the department said earlier this year it would award the contract to Prince for a project that includes adding and reconstructing lanes on the interstate.

Quattlebaum’s order, which now goes back to the department, said Prince submitted a bid of $84.9 million, while Middlesex proposed a price of nearly $94.7 million. But the judge sided with Middlesex’s arguments that Prince did not properly comply with the specification for the project.

“The deficiencies in the Prince proposal were not minor irregularities that could be addressed through the evaluative process because they precluded an appropriate comparison of proposals,’’ the judge wrote. “They were material deviations that, through the omission of materials and construction costs related to the deficiencies, provided Prince with an economic advantage over other firms because the adjusted score calculations incorporated each firm’s price proposal.”

EDITORIAL

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DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015

Another day, another shooting in gun-crazy USA Gun violence has become so commonplace in the United States that reacting to it has now descended into gallows humor.

Only this explains Reddit compiling a list of every mass shooting this year – now at 355 – under the heading “Guns Are Cool.” (A mass shooting is defined as any shooting that results in four or more people being killed or wounded.)

But nothing puts the crazy nature of gun violence in the United States into perspective quite like this “politifact,” courtesy of the August 27, 2015 edition of the New York Times: “More Americans have died from guns in the United States since 1968 than on battlefields of all the wars in American history…There have been 1,516,863 gun-related deaths since 1968, compared to 1,396,733 cumulative war deaths since the American Revolution.”

Terrorist organization Think about that. Then ask yourself why the National Rifle Association (NRA) is not considered a greater threat to this country than ISIS and every other terrorist group combined.

The NRA propagates a constitutional justification for the rabid proliferation of guns, which are specifically designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible. But this is even more spe-

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

cious than the religious justification ISIS propagates for the rabid proliferation of terrorism.

The NRA has perpetrated a brazen and unconscionable fraud on the American people by pretending to be arch-defenders of their right to keep and bear arms. Because the NRA is just the lobbying arm of gun manufacturers, and its sole mission is to ensure that those manufactures have the right to sell as many guns of every type to as many people as possible.

Called GOP out I applaud the New York Daily News for calling out Republican politicians for continually rushing to offer prayers for the victims of gun violence, while continuing to legislate what the NRA propagates. Here is the pithy, provocative headline it emblazoned over its entire front page: GOD ISN’T FIXING THIS. Now if only the media would neutralize their anti-Muslim headlines about radical Islamic terrorism by screaming headlines about radical Christian terrorism

Youth lead the struggle in Chicago Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet said she hadn’t seen Mayor Rahm Emanuel so shaken in 20 years, as when he was forced to fire his police superintendent, Garry McCarthy, last month. It seemed as if the protective shield of Black Misleadership Class collaboration that has for the last 30 years insulated White mayors from the wrath of Chicago’s outraged Black rank and file, had suddenly been stripped away.

Black ministers joined militant youth in marching down the city’s “Magic Mile” Michigan Avenue shopping district, demanding that heads roll for hiding video evidence in the death of 17 year-old Laquan McDonald, shot 16 times by Officer Jason Van

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

Dyke.

For 400 days, Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez refused to indict the cop, or release the police dashboard video of the shooting, or to explain why another critical video had apparently been destroyed. Alvarez finally bowed to pressure – and a court order – indicting the cop for first-degree murder and releasing the death video.

every time a Christian goes on a rampage, especially given that Christians commit over 95 percent of the mass shootings that terrorize this country.

More to the point: unless advocates for gun control can raise more money to defeat these venal politicians than the NRA raises to elect them, Congress isn’t fixing this either. Republicans are now so committed to championing NRA propaganda, they argue – with a straight face – that even legislation that merely prevents certifiably insane Americans from buying assault weapons would violate the fundamental liberty of all Americans.

Even more reprehensible, though, is the way gun merchants salivate after every shooting tragedy.

Nothing new for me I have waxed indignant about gun violence in too many commentaries to comment on this latest fusillade much further. Indeed, how can outrage be anything but contrived now that gun violence has become as American as apple pie and Chevrolet?

I end with these points: • Just as jihadi Muslims terrorize fellow Muslims more than anybody else, gun-loving Americans terrorize fellow Americans more than anybody else. So, who’s calling whom fanatics?

• Political quibbling over labelBut the community’s rage could not be contained. The Black Caucus of Chicago’s Board of Aldermen demanded that Police Superintendent McCarthy resign. So did Rev. Jesse Jackson and even Bobby Rush, the sellout Black Congressman who has been a dependable servant of the Emanuel administration.

Strong movement The strength of the movement in Chicago can be measured by the fact that so many elements of the Black collaborationist political class have been forced to take a stance in opposition to Mayor Emanuel and the White corporate forces that he represents, and ultimately to compel the mayor to fire his favorite cop.

However, if left to their own devices – if allowed to seize control of what is essentially a Black youth political rebellion – the Black Misleaders will smother

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 272 Florida Classic – Time for adult supervision. I’ve written about how the competition, especially between the bands and their public address announcers, has gotten out of hand. I also wrote how the FAMU ‘100’ band formed a military ‘tank’ and ‘shot’ Bethune-Cookman’s band as it waited in the end zone. The ‘100’ cussed at and trash-talked the Marching Wildcats – who didn’t respond. You don’t joke about shooting somebody, especially around Black youth. FAMU band leadership must be oblivious to the fact that two B-CU students were murdered a few months ago by gun violence. And was there a tribute to those students or to former FAMU drum major Robert Champion, killed in a hazing incident on the night of the 2011 Florida Classic? If so, I missed them both. Florida Classic halftime recognition of Champion should be permanent…

Gambling in Florida – Go to any casino. You’ll see Black folks bellied up to the slots. The Florida Lottery wants to allow folks

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

to buy lottery tickets – which a whole lotta Black folks budget for and buy weekly – with credit and debit cards. The Florida Lottery and the Seminoles – neither of whom advertise appreciably in Black-owned media, use Black vendors or professionals, or contribute to Black charities or nonprofits – are making BILLIONS off of Black Floridians. What’s in it for us? Where is the Florida Black Legislative Caucus on this? Any conscious Black people in the room as this huge deal is being cut? Are there any other Black media owners or businesspeople other than us asking questions?

I’m at ccherry2@gmail.com.

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: GUNS IN AMERICA

RIBER HANSSON, SYDSVENSKAN

ing gun violence “a mass shooting” or “terrorism” amounts to a perverse distinction without a difference.

• The venality of politicians is surpassed only by that of journalists, who provide obsessive media coverage of mass shootings more to generate TV ratings (by preying on fears) than to provide any public service.

As I originally wrote in 2007: “Why do the media always reward these psychotic people by giving them the fame they covet by plastering their pathetic mugs all over television and on the front page of every major newspaper worldwide, and reporting pop psychology about why and how they did their dastardly deeds? Isn’t it clear to see, esthe movement in long, drawn out studies and compliant advisory boards other diversions. As the Black junior partners in the permanent White corporate state, that’s what they have always done.

Righteous demands The young people in this struggle understand that movements are defined by their demands.

In a joint statement by the Black Youth Project 100, We Charge Genocide, Assata’s Daughters, the #LetUsBreathe collective, and a Black Lives Matter chapter, they declared that “Indicting cops does not change the policies that promote the violence and trauma inherent in the Chicago Police Department.” They want Rahm Emanuel’s resignation, too.

The Black Youth Project also demands defunding of the Chicago police, and investment of

Who’s afraid of the wolf?

It’s December 2015. In these days and times, more and more people are afraid of the wolf.

The devil’s news networks and the imperialist press suggest that the good and righteous people of America and the world should be fearful of the “lone wolf.”

If Goldilocks, the three bears and Little Red Riding Hood are not afraid of the big, bad wolf, you shouldn’t be scared of the wolf either!

No such thing In my mind, there is no lone wolf! No man, or wolf, stands alone.

The forest wolf or the terrorist wolf is like any other wolf. Even if the terrorist wolf appears to strike alone, come from out of nowhere and goes on a suicide mission to kill himself or herself and others, that wolf has gotten instruction, inspiration, or motivation from someone else!

Any wolf, four-legged or twolegged, that would use weapons of mass destruction on innocent people is not a brave wolf. That kind of wolf is a punk!

If you want to be a fighting wolf, be a wolf that fights for equal rights, justice, truth and righteousness!

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

A punk A lone or single wolf is a punk, because one punkish wolf doesn’t want to have a fair fight with one of you. A punk lone wolf wants to bring pipe bombs and assault rifles to a fistfight.

A punk lone wolf wants to prey on unarmed people at a church bible study. A punk lone wolf wants to kill doctors and pregnant women at a women’s health clinic. A punk lone wolf wants to kill innocent bystanders on the streets of the world’s largest and smallest cities.

No, there are no lone wolves.

People described as lone wolves are merely Satan’s puppets masquerading as single wolves.

Even a child knows that real wolves run in packs. In fact, the strength of most wolves is in the strength of the wolfpack!

One exception There is one exception to the wolf pack theory and that ex-

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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pecially in this age of instant celebrity, why some loser kid would find this route to infamy irresistible?

“You’d think – given the record of these psychotic and vainglorious episodes since Columbine – that we would have figured out by now that the best way to discourage them is by focusing our attention on the victims and limiting what we say about the shooter to: May God have mercy on your soul as you burn in hell!”

Anthony L. Hall is a Bahamian native with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com. those dollars in the Black community. They call for reparations for slavery, Jim Crow and mass Black incarceration; an end to all profit in the criminal justice system; a guaranteed income for all; a federal jobs program, and freedom from discrimination for all workers; and an end to displacement of Black people through gentrification.

These are demands for social transformation – demands that will put the young activists on a collision course with the Black Misleadership Class who are the first line of defense for the white ruling class, and who will soon close ranks in Chicago and elsewhere to try to stop this movement.

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. Email him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com. ception is akin to America’s socalled Negro leadership.

A real wolf is a fighter, a predator, a hunter and a survivor that can live through the rain, snow, cold, and storms. A real wolf follows the leader of the wolfpack.

A real wolf doesn’t take orders from the chicken, the sheep, or the snake!

However, the African-American leadership wolf is a “zoo wolf,” a wolf that can’t fight, can’t hunt and can’t survive unless the zookeeper wants him to survive! The Negro leadership wolf can’t eat unless the enemy zookeeper feeds him. The Negro leadership wolf wouldn’t last a day in the concrete jungles of America’s, and other cities, ghettos, barrios and low-income housing projects!

When you get rid of the terrorist wolf, you should also eliminate or get rid of the zoo wolf that pretends to be the Black man’s savior and guide to progress!

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.

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DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015

Syria and World War III The United States and its allies seem determined to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I by starting World War III. Some of the same players are involved, and their motives are as ignoble in the 21st century as they were in the 20th.

Region carved up Nations like Iraq and Syria didn’t exist at all until after the defeat of the Ottoman Turks in 1918. Britain and France carved up the region and established the boundaries that are still in use for these countries. The Europeans have returned to their imperialist past and want to resume their interventions – but now as clients of the United States.

The United States is the world’s only true superpower and it has used that position to wreak the most havoc. Every crisis in the region from the flight of desperate refugees to the creation of the Islamic State can be laid at America’s doorstep.

America had willing puppets as it destroyed Iraq and Libya and

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

then assumed it could easily do the same to Syria. They plotted and spread propaganda that the Assad government would fall. But instead it hung on for four years, despite the aggressions waged against it.

Russia finally stepped up as an ally and made good on its promise to support the government that asked for its assistance. Of all the players now pledging to bomb the Islamic State in Syria, only Russia does so while respecting international law and Syria’s sovereignty.

These alliances create great risk. Turkey contributed to the danger on November 24, 2015 when it shot down a Russian fighter jet. Despite a claim of a 17-second incursion into Turkish airspace, the plane and its pilots who

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/TNS

‘We will destroy ISIL’

What we know The FBI is still gathering the facts about what happened in San Bernardino, but here is what we know.

The victims were brutally murdered and injured by one of their coworkers and his wife. So far, we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas, or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home.

But it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of Islam that calls for war against America and the West. They had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition, and pipe bombs. So this was an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people.

Our nation has been at war with terrorists since al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11.

In the process, we’ve hardened our defenses – from airports to financial centers, to other critical infrastructure. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies have disrupted countless plots here and overseas, and worked around the clock to keep us safe.

Our military and counterterrorism professionals have relentlessly pursued terrorist networks overseas – disrupting safe havens in several different countries, killing Osama bin Laden, and decimating al Qaeda’s leadership.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Threat ‘evolved’ Over the last few years, however, the terrorist threat has evolved into a new phase. As we’ve become better at preventing complex, multifaceted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turned to less complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society.

It is this type of attack that we saw at Fort Hood in 2009; in Chattanooga earlier this year; and now in San Bernardino. And as groups like ISIL grew stronger amidst the chaos of war in Iraq and then Syria, and as the Internet erases the distance between countries, we see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of people like the Boston Marathon bombers and the San Bernardino killers.

For seven years, I’ve confronted this evolving threat each morning in my intelligence briefing.

And since the day I took this office, I’ve authorized U.S. forces to take out terrorists abroad precisely because I know how real the danger is.

As Commander-in-Chief, I have no greater responsibility than the security of the American people. As a father to two young daughters who are the most precious part of my life, I know that we see ourselves with friends and coworkers at a holiday party like the one in San Bernardino. I know we see our kids in the faces of the young people killed in Paris. And I know that after so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure.

Well, here’s what I want you to know: The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it.

We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us. Our success won’t depend on tough talk, or abandoning our values, or giving into fear. That’s what groups like ISIL are hop-

ing for. Instead, we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless, and by drawing upon every aspect of American power.

Here’s how First, our military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary. In Iraq and Syria, airstrikes are taking out ISIL leaders, heavy weapons, oil tankers, infrastructure.

And since the attacks in Paris, our closest allies – including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom – have ramped up their contributions to our military campaign, which will help us accelerate our effort to destroy ISIL. Second, we will continue to provide training and equipment to tens of thousands of Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting ISIL on the ground so that we take away their safe havens. In both countries, we’re deploying Special Operations Forces who can accelerate that offensive. We’ve stepped up this effort since the attacks in Paris, and we’ll continue to invest more in approaches that are working on the ground.

Third, we’re working with friends and allies to stop ISIL’s operations – to disrupt plots, cut off their financing, and prevent them from recruiting more fighters.

Since the attacks in Paris, we’ve surged intelligence-sharing with our European allies. We’re working with Turkey to seal its border with Syria. And we are cooperating with Muslim-majority countries – and with our Muslim communities here at home – to counter the vicious ideology that ISIL promotes online.

Fourth, with American leadership, the international community has begun to establish a process – and timeline – to pursue ceasefires and a political resolution to the Syrian war. Doing so will allow the Syrian people and every country, including our allies, but also countries like Russia, to focus on the common goal of destroying ISIL – a group that threatens us all.

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: OBAMA AND ‘RADICAL ISLAM’

ejected all descended onto Syrian territory.

As the guilty party always does, the Turks screamed like scalded dogs. They asked NATO to defend them when it was they who did the attacking. They faced the wrath of Vladimir Putin and lost out on a gas pipeline and now face sanctions, but they decided it was worthwhile to toady for the United States and NATO. The Turks have been proven right as the European Union makes plans for a 3 billion euro payment in exchange for a promise to stem the refugee tide making its way through that country. Turkey has made good on its desire to be part of the European empire. Its troops now occupy the northern regions of Iraq which leads to the creation of the and refuse to leave despite angry demands from the Iraqi govern- Islamic State, which attacks Beirut, Ankara, Paris and a Russian ment. passenger plane.

Regime change in Libya makes Vicious cycle that country a route for refugees The world is now descending into a vicious cycle of war and who flood Europe. The attempt terrorism. The United States and to do the same in Syria also sends the U.K. invade and occupy Iraq, people fleeing and makes Euro-

The White House released an order to fly the American flag at half-staff in honor of the victims of the San Bernardino shooting.

Editor’s note: President Obama delivered this speech from the White House’s Oval Office on Sunday, Dec. 6.

On Wednesday, 14 Americans were killed as they came together to celebrate the holidays.

They were taken from family and friends who loved them deeply.

They were White and Black; Latino and Asian; immigrants and American-born; moms and dads; daughters and sons. Each of them served their fellow citizens and all of them were part of our American family.

Tonight, I want to talk with you about this tragedy, the broader threat of terrorism, and how we can keep our country safe.

EDITORIAL

RICK MCKEE, THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE

peans fearful of a brown-skinned Muslim horde. Racist fears lead to rationales for more war and on it goes.

Margaret Kimberley’s column appears weekly in BlackAgendaReport.com. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@BlackAgendaReport.com.

Coalition support

How to succeed

This is our strategy to destroy ISIL. It is designed and supported by our military commanders and counterterrorism experts, together with 65 countries that have joined an American-led coalition.

And we constantly examine our strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to get the job done.

That’s why I’ve ordered the Departments of State and Homeland Security to review the visa *Waiver program under which the female terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to this country.

And that’s why I will urge hightech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice.

Now, here at home, we have to work together to address the challenge. There are several steps that Congress should take right away.

To begin with, Congress should act to make sure no one on a nofly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon?

This is a matter of national security. We also need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons like the ones that were used in San Bernardino.

I know there are some who reject any gun safety measures. But the fact is that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies – no matter how effective they are – cannot identify every wouldbe mass shooter, whether that individual is motivated by ISIL or some other hateful ideology.

What we can do – and must do – is make it harder for them to kill.

Next, we should put in place stronger screening for those who come to America without a visa so that we can take a hard look at whether they’ve traveled to warzones. And we’re working with members of both parties in Congress to do exactly that.

Here’s what else we cannot do.

We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam. That, too, is what groups like ISIL want.

ISIL does not speak for Islam.

They are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death, and they account for a tiny fraction of more than a billion Muslims around the world – including millions of patriotic Muslim Americans who reject their hateful ideology. Moreover, the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are Muslim.

If we’re to succeed in defeating terrorism we must enlist Muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspicion and hate.

That does not mean denying the fact that an extremist ideology has spread within some Muslim communities. This is a real problem that Muslims must confront, without excuse. Muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with us to decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that groups like ISIL and al Qaeda promote; to speak out against not just acts of violence, but also those interpretations of Islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity.

But just as it is the responsibility of Muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all Americans – of every faith – to reject discrimination.

Congress must vote Finally, if Congress believes, as I do, that we are at war with ISIL, it should go ahead and vote to authorize the continued use of military force against these terrorists.

For over a year, I have ordered our military to take thousands of airstrikes against ISIL targets. I think it’s time for Congress to vote to demonstrate that the American people are united, and committed, to this fight.

My fellow Americans, these are the steps that we can take together to defeat the terrorist threat. Let me now say a word about what we should not do.

We should not be drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in Iraq or Syria. That’s what groups like ISIL want. They know they can’t defeat us on the battlefield. ISIL fighters were part of the insurgency that we faced in Iraq. But they also know that if we occupy foreign lands, they can maintain insurgencies for years, killing thousands of our troops, draining our resources, and using our presence to draw new recruits.

The strategy that we are using now – air strikes, Special Forces, and working with local forces who are fighting to regain control of their own country – that is how we’ll achieve a more sustainable victory. And it won’t require us sending a new generation of Americans overseas to fight and die for another decade on foreign soil.

No discrimination It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. It’s our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim Americans should somehow be treated differently. Because when we travel down that road, we lose. That kind of divisiveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups like ISIL. Muslim Americans are our friends and our neighbors, our co-workers, our sports heroes – and, yes, they are our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. We have to remember that.

My fellow Americans, I am confident we will succeed in this mission because we are on the right side of history. We were founded upon a belief in human dignity – that no matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you look like, or what religion you practice, you are equal in the eyes of God and equal in the eyes of the law.

Even in this political season, even as we properly debate what steps I and future presidents must take to keep our country safe, let’s make sure we never forget what makes us exceptional. Let’s not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear; that we have always met challenges – whether war or depression, natural disasters or terrorist attacks – by coming together around our common ideals as one nation, as one people. So long as we stay true to that tradition, I have no doubt America will prevail.

Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

TOJ A6

NATION

DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015 ited effectiveness of such measures, since France and California already strictly regulate gun sales.

Scalia, Thomas dissent

ALLEN J. SCHABEN/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Above is a Dec. 4 view of one of the shooters' assault rifle on a curb, along with other evidence and markers, near their SUV and a damaged San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department patrol car on San Bernardino Avenue in San Bernardino, Calif.

Court won’t hear challenge to assault weapons ban Justices refuse to consider gun rights advocates’ appeal in Chicago case

BY DAVID G. SAVAGE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court gave an apparent green light Monday to lawmakers who want to restrict the sale of guns such as the rapid-fire weapons that have been used in the recent wave of mass shootings from Paris to San Bernardino, Calif.

The justices by a 7-2 vote turned down a Second Amendment challenge to a local ordinance in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park that banned the sale or possession of semi-automatic guns that carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

In dissent, Justice Clarence

Thomas said the high court, by refusing to consider a challenge to that law, was “relegating the Second Amendment to a secondclass right.”

No formal ruling The court’s decision was not a formal ruling — the justices simply decided not to consider an appeal by gun rights advocates.

But it strongly suggests the majority of the court does not see the Second Amendment as protecting a right to own or carry powerful weapons in public.

“The court’s decision will encourage gun control advocates to push more cities and states to enact assault weapons bans,” said University of California, Los Angeles, law professor Adam Winkler, an expert on gun rights.

“The justices appear anything but eager to enter into the Second Amendment fray again,” he add-

ed. “Perhaps, like many in America, some of the justices are viewing gun control through the lens of the recent mass shootings.”

The court’s only two previous decisions upholding gun rights struck down city ordinances in Chicago and Washington, D.C., that prohibited residents from keeping a handgun at home for self-defense.

Since then, the justices have repeatedly refused to hear appeals from gun rights advocates who have sought to extend the Second Amendment right beyond handguns at home, to include, for example, carrying weapons in public.

Restrictions proposed The high court’s action comes at a time of renewed public debate and fear over the use of military-style assault weapons in mass shootings in recent weeks.

Advocates of bans on militarystyle weapons had pointed to mass shootings before this year and argued that rapid-fire rifles and handguns posed a special danger to public safety.

Eight states — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York — have adopted laws similar to the Highland Park ordinance as have several other cities in the Chicago area.

The court’s decision not to hear the appeal has the effect of upholding the laws in Highland Park and elsewhere.

In the aftermath of the San Bernardino shooting, several California lawmakers have proposed additional restrictions on gun sales to close what they characterize as loopholes in the state’s restrictions, which already are among the toughest in the country.

The justices meeting in their private weekly conferences had considered the gun-rights appeal over two months at a time of repeated mass shootings.

Gun control supporters argue that the recent shootings demonstrate the need for tighter controls. Opponents of gun control say, to the contrary, that the shootings demonstrated the lim-

Because the court decided not to consider the appeal, the justices in the majority did not issue a written opinion. The dissenters in Friedman vs. City of Highland Park, Thomas and Justice Antonin Scalia, wrote to explain why they thought the court should have considered the appeal.

The decision upholds “categorical bans on firearms that millions of Americans commonly own for lawful purposes,” they wrote. “If broad bans on firearms can be upheld based on the conjecture that the public might feel safer (while being no safer at all), then the Second Amendment guarantees nothing.”

The case began after Highland Park adopted its ban on semiautomatic weapons in 2013. Arie Friedman and the Illinois State Rifle Association filed suit and contended the measure was unconstitutional. They argued the weapons affected, including the AR-15, were among the most popular guns sold in this country.

“The millions of Americans who use such ‘assault weapons’ use them for the same lawful purposes as any other type of lawful firearm: hunting, recreational shooting and self-defense,” they argued in court papers.

But a federal judge upheld the law. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Chicago, did the same in a 2-1 decision in April.

‘Weapons of choice’ Appeals court Judge Frank Easterbrook said judges should defer to city and state officials who seek to protect the public’s safety.

“Assault weapons with largecapacity magazines can fire more shots, faster and thus can be more dangerous in the aggregate,” he said. “Why else are they the weapons of choice in mass shootings?”

Friedman filed an appeal with the high court in July, which won the backing of the National Rifle Association and the state attorneys from 23 mostly Republicanled states.

Bans on rapid-fire weapons have been upheld by federal appeals courts in San Francisco and New York in addition to the 7th Circuit panel that upheld the Highland Park ordinance.

States buying more coastal homes to fight flooding The post-Sandy programs in New York and New Jersey, which rely on allotments from HUD are the largest buyout investments by single states.

BY TIM HENDERSON STATELINE.ORG

WASHINGTON — For decades, state and local governments across the country have been buying private homes near flood-prone rivers and tearing them down to save millions on flood insurance.

But as coastal communities are confronted with increasingly costly storms, they, too, are turning to buyouts, to create natural buffers along the coast and help protect nearby neighborhoods and businesses from flooding.

And while some efforts have met resistance — some don’t want to leave their beachfront homes, some fear a declining property tax base — others are showing results.

After suffering heavy losses from Hurricane Sandy in 2012, New York pledged to spend $400 million in federal and state money on buyouts to create more buffers on the coasts of Long Island and Staten Island. The state has made 525 offers, worth $64 million, out of 750 to 1,000 it had anticipated in 2013.

New Jersey has a similar goal.

After Sandy, the state used the same mix of federal grants and state funds to put $300 million into its existing Blue Acres program, and said it expected to clear 1,300 homes from floodprone areas near rivers and the coastline.

The Garden State has made 700 offers and closed on more than 400 properties.

Valuable rental property Although many coastal homeowners were willing to sell, the state found it was unable to buy enough houses — despite offering pre-storm prices for stormdamaged houses — in clusters that would allow for buffers of open space.

Some property owners simply didn’t want to leave, said Bob Considine, of the state’s environmental agency.

That’s not unusual, said Chad Berginnis, director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. Beachfront houses serve as valuable rental property that owners don’t want to part with.

The post-Sandy programs in New York and New Jersey, which rely on allotments from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), are the largest buyout investments by single states.

But similar programs exist in nearly every state, and are run by other federal agencies with state and local partnerships. A program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency has spent almost $900 million since 1998 on buyouts in 48 states.

State and local governments organize the buyouts, and typically provide 25 percent of the funds, with the rest coming from the federal government. In some cases, the federal share can be higher.

Florida included In almost two decades, about $108 million went to North Carolina, according to a Stateline analysis of FEMA data. Seven other states received more than $30 million each: Georgia, Iowa, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.

About 7 percent has gone to coastal buyouts, with Florida and Mississippi leading the way.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also does buyouts, usu-

THOMAS A. FERRARA/NEWSDAY/TNS

Devastation is shown in Lindenhurst, New York in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Nov. 4, 2012. ally against inland farm flooding.

Since 1996, USDA has purchased 180,000 acres for emergency flood control in 36 states. After Sandy, USDA bought out another 671 acres as part of a $99 million emergency watershed protection program in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.

Several factors add urgency to state efforts to combat flooding.

The National Flood Insurance Program, which insures 5 million properties nationwide, likely will be unable to repay the $23 billion it owes the U.S. Treasury Department because of heavy losses after Sandy and Hurricane Katrina.

At the same time, coastal communities face a worsening threat.

A September study from Columbia University’s Earth Institute concluded that a combination of rising sea levels and larger storms likely would magnify East Coast flooding hundreds of times in the coming decades.

Local buyouts too Solutions like beach replace-

ment and seawalls have been losing their appeal as communities find even routine storms will overrun man-made obstacles and wash away millions of dollars in replacement sand, said Berginnis of the floodplain managers group.

Severe flooding of the Mississippi River in 1993, from Minnesota to Missouri, boosted interest in buyouts and sparked legislation that increased the federal share of buyouts from the previous maximum of 50 percent.

Some 12,000 properties were bought out and entire communities were shifted away from the river. But buyouts in Louisiana found less support after Katrina, and the state ended up spending more on elevating coastal houses than on removing them to create buffers.

Today, buyout programs are often large and statewide, but they can be small and local.

In Lusby, Md., along the Chesapeake Bay, for instance, coastal cliffs had eroded so badly by

2013 that Susan Davis’ home was in danger of collapse and a neighbor’s patio was dangling over the bay. County officials told her that they could raise the funds to match the federal dollars needed to buy her home because a mild winter had left a surplus in the storm budget. And they warned she might not get another chance.

Davis said she and her husband wished they could have stayed and fought the cliff erosion by adding rocks at sea level. But they took the buyout and moved to a house on a creek a few miles inland.

“The situation was horrible,” Davis said. “There’s no way we could win. The house would have been worthless because there’s no way to sell it.”

Buyout programs are most cost-effective, and get most local support, when governments develop new housing in safer areas that keeps bought-out residents nearby and minimizes tax losses, according to a study by Columbia Law School.

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SECTION

B

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WHERE BLACK ART

MATTERS Art Basel Miami Beach showcases plenty of creations by artists of color

BY JULIE WALKER THE ROOT

B

lack art mattered at Art Basel Miami Beach, the premier art show in the United States, which was held in South Florida Dec. 3-6.

During a time when “Black lives matter” has become a rallying cry for people across the country, it is important to remember that Black artists have been contributing to social-justice movements from the beginning of time. They chronicle the challenges we face and the inequality we deal with, while also celebrating the lives we live.

It has been said that art is colorblind.

Whether true or not, at Art Basel Miami Beach, Black and Brown artists enjoyed healthy sales and enormous adoration.

On view everywhere Many of the works at the Jack Shainman Gallery, which represented a roster full of Black artists, sold out. While the biggest names in the art world show were there, other Black artists were on view at the more than two-dozen satellite art fairs that revolved around the big show.

A viewer would be hard-pressed to walk into any show in Miami and not spot artwork from someone of color – or, for that matter, not spot someone of color walking the show. One such show, the Prizm Art Fair, was completely devoted to Black artists.

Also, this year in Miami, rapper Swizz Beatz curated a collection called “No Commission,” and Lenny Kravitz showed his photography.

The Root put together a sampling of the work from artists available for sale and on view this year.

More information: www.artbasel.com/ miami-beach

Top left

Top center

Top right

Terra pericolosa III, 2015,

by Meleko Mokgosi

Clarivel #1, 2015,

by Mickalene Thomas Mickalene Thomas was showing at the Lehmann Maupin Gallery at Art Basel Miami Beach. The New York-based artist is known for her elaborate portraits of strong Black female figures. Her painting of Michelle Obama in 2008 was the first individual portrait done of the first lady. Her work can be found in several collections, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as in the fictitious collection of Lucious Lyon on “Empire.’’

And STILL I Rise, 2015,

by Fahamu Pecou Fahamu Pecou’s work was on view at the Lyons Wier Gallery at Pulse Miami. He is currently a Ph.D. student at Emory University, according to his website. His work “addresses concerns around contemporary representations of Black masculinity and how these images impact both the reading and performance of Black masculinity.” In his painting “And STILL I Rise,’’ hip-hop, pop culture and fine art collide in the form of a male wearing baggy pants with his underwear showing, jumping upward.

Bottom left

Bottom center

Bottom right

Portrait of Dacdjo Ndie Joseph, 2015,

by Kehinde Wiley

Artist Wardell Milan stands in front of his work

Chocolate Nguva, 2015,

by Wangechi Mutu

Kehinde Wiley’s “Portrait of Dacdjo Ndie Joseph was shown at the John Berggruen Gallery. The artist, known for his large-scale oil portraits of Black men in Baroque-style settings (and women), had a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum earlier this year. Wiley’s work can also be seen on the Fox series “Empire,’’ adorning the walls of Lucious Lyon’s home.

As part of his World Stage series, the artist recently completed a project based on Haiti that showcases people there.

Below the calm sky an orchestra of trees and flowers,’’ 2015. Wardell Milan’s paintings were on view at the David Nolan Gallery. Milan was an artist in residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2006. The following year he was awarded a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant.

On Dec. 17, Milan will have a book signing at the Studio Museum for his first monograph. The event, which celebrates his 10-year history with the museum, will include a panel discussion covering his studio and exhibition practice over the years.

Wangechi Mutu’s sculpture was shown at the Carolina Nitsch Contemporary Art Gallery. She was born in Nairobi, Kenya, but lives and works in New York. This summer her studio started a campaign where art and activism converge, called Africa’s Out! Mutu calls it “a dynamic, far-reaching platform to initiate, create and make happen the radical ideas that change the way we all engage with Africa and, more specifically, the way Africans reach out to empower one another.”

Meleko Mokgosi’s work was on view at the “Unrealism” show presented

by Larry Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch.

The mega-dealers said in a press release that the more than 50 artists they chose to be part of the exhibition are “the most original and compelling artists working in figuration from the 1980s to the present.”

Mokgosi was born in Francistown, Botswana. Most of his work is largescale, project-based installations that “address questions of nationhood, anti-colonial sentiments and the perception of historicized events,” according to the artist’s website.

PHOTOS BY JULIE WALKER/THE ROOT

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FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Hollywood: Kevin Hart’s What Now Tour makes a Dec. 26 stop at Hard Rock Live Hollywood. The show begins at 8 p.m.

Miami: Nicole Henry presents her annual Winter Concert to benefit Miami Children’s Initiative. Concert at 8 p.m. at Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road. Tickets: colonytheatremiamibeach.com.

Fort Lauderdale: A Peter White Christmas with Rick Braun and Mindi Abair is Dec. 12 at the Parker Playhouse.

Tampa: The Weeknd’s Madness Fall Tour stops at the Amalie Arena on Dec. 17 and AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami on Dec. 19.

Orlando: An “XL’ent Xmas’’ show featuring Shaggy, Walk the Moon and Tori Kelly will be at the House of Blues Orlando on Dec. 17.

Fort Lauderdale: The Marcus Roberts Trio performs Dec. 12 at the Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center.

CALENDAR

DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015

Miami: Tickets are on sale for Katt Williams’ “Conspiracy Theory’’ show at the James L. Knight Center on Jan. 17, the USF Sun Dole in Tampa on Feb. 6 and the CFE Arena in Orlando on Feb, 19.

ion Movement, the “Bow Ties and Clutches: International Style Night Party” is Dec. 11 at 9 p.m. at The Vault, 611 N. Franklin St. RSVP at www. bowtiesandclutches2015. eventbrite.com.

Miami: “Christmas in Jazz: A Holiday Show’’ is Dec. 11 at the Miami Dade County Auditorium. The show starts at 8 p.m.

Miami: The Comedy Get Down tour stops at the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami on Dec. 11. The tour features D.L. Hughley, George Lopez, Cedric the Entertainer, Eddie Griffin and Charlie Murphy.

Jacksonville: Tickets are on sale to see Patti LaBelle on Jan. 28 at the Times Union Center for the Performing Arts, Feb. 5 in Miami, Feb. 6 in Fort Pierce, Feb. 20 in Orlando, Feb. 21 in Tampa and Feb. 23 in Sarasota.

St. Petersburg: “The Family Blessing,’’ a play featuring local performers, will be at the Mahaffey Theater on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 20 at 2 p.m.

Jacksonville: The D.I.P. Foundation’s annual Heal A Heart food clothing and toy giveaway is Dec. 20 from noon to 2 p.m. at the Maceo Elk’s Lodge, 712 West Duval St. Donations are still needed. Visit www.Dipfoundation. org or call 904 438-4347.

Tampa: Hosted by the Fash-

Palm Coast: The Community Chorus of Palm Coast will perform a holiday concert on Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 12 at 4 p.m. The concerts will be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 156 N. Florida Park Drive. Donations welcome. More information: 386-986-8899 or www.communitychorusofpalmcoast. com.

Tampa: Candy Lowe hosts Tea & Conversation every Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at 3911 N. 34th St., Suite B. More information: 813-3946363.

BY DR. GLENN C. ALTSCHULER SPECIAL TO THE COURIER

Blackface era Dancing in an era when Jim Crow was the law of the land, Bill Robinson onstage seemed like a citizen of an America “where a black man could earn the respect of audiences on both sides of the color line.” And yet, he also had to navigate a “painful present: movies put him back in the version of the minstrel mask he’s jettisoned onstage.” And many of the entertainers who learned Robinson’s

Jazz in the Gardens tickets are on sale. The lineup for the March 18-20 event include Usher, Kool and the Gang along with the Average White Band.

FOUR TOPS & THE TEMPTATIONS

Catch the Four Tops and the Temptations on Jan. 20 at Ruth Eckerd Hall. The show starts at 7:30 p.m.

St. Petersburg AKAs to celebrate 60th anniversary The Zeta Upsilon Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (AKA) will celebrate 60 years of service Dec. 18-20 at the St. Petersburg Hilton Hotel. The St. Petersburg chapter was chartered on Dec. 15 in 1955 by 15 women.

The chartering members were Annie Barton, Ruth Batson, Pauline Besselli, Lena Brown, Mary O. Brown, Claronell Griffin, Bertha James, Rubye Wysinger, Dorothy Johnson, Elizabeth Jones, Annie McLin, Willie M. McMurray, Eloise E. Per-

kins, Verdya Robinson, and Florence Williams. Lena Brown was the first president.

Under the leadership of Cassandra Williams, chapter president, the sorority will host a weekend of activities including a holiday party on Dec. 18 and a members-only gala on Dec. 19. The public is invited to attend a free reception at 4 p.m. Dec. 20 at the St. Petersburg Hilton Hotel, 333 1st Street S. During the public event, the sorority will announce the recipients of its inaugural Community Assistance Grant awards, launched this year to support the development of community service projects and increase civic engagement among youth and families. Award amounts range from $500 to $1,000.

For more information, visit ZUOChapter.org.

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson performed on Broadway and in Hollywood. He was best known for his dancing roles with Shirley Temple in films of the 1930s.

Bojangles to Jackson With chapters on Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Agnes De Mille, Paul Taylor, and Michael Jackson (and sketches of Vernon and Irene Castle, Bert Williams, Hermes Pan, Martha Graham, Charles “Honi” Coles, and “Cholly” Atkins), she provides an elegant and informative chronicle of the dancers’ divergent backgrounds, the musical genres and themes on which they drew, and the degree to which they borrowed (or stole) from one another and crossed racial lines to captivate and, on occasion challenge, their audiences.

Pugh provides fascinating and at times surprising examples of the creative exchange that has characterized dance in America.

Often, she writes, “the familiar stories repeat themselves: love and theft, black innovation and white assimilation.”

USHER

Miami: Christmas in Jazz: A Holiday Show takes place Dec. 11 at the Miami Dade County Auditorium.

Book examines how dance helped shape national identity In 1984, 18-year-old Larry T. Ellis performed his imitation of Michael Jackson to high school students in Pittsburgh, football halftime shows, and hotel bars around the country. Ellis had never met his idol, but he told reporters, “I dance with him every night in my dreams.” He did not need to add that millions of admirers throughout the world did the very same thing.

Great dancers have often taken center stage in the United States. Their routines and their careers, freelance writer and poet Megan Pugh reminds us, often reflected our country’s cultural, social, and political ideals and realities.

In “America Dancing,’’ Pugh reveals the myriad ways in which dance has helped shape our national identity.

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BOOK REVIEW Review of America Dancing: From the Cakewalk to the Moonwalk. By Megan Pugh.

Yale University Press. 398 pp. $32.50. steps wore blackface, “as if race, not art, were central to the dancing.”As a young man, Pugh indicates, Fred Astaire appeared on the same bill as Robinson – and he picked up moves from Black street performers.

Agnes De Mille included “a colored jazz entrance” in “Gershwin,’ a “jungle and jitter” in “Daybreak Express’’ and a “zulu walk” in “Georgia Cracker.’’

And in the expanded version of his dark indictment of American hypocrisy, “From Sea to Shining Sea,’’ Paul Taylor had a Klansman remove his white hat and robe – and reveal himself to be Lady Liberty.

Stolen dance moves Of course, as in all forms of entertainment, dancers stole steps from just about anyone.

Michael Jackson learned his “moon-

walk” from, among others, Eclipse dancer Casper Candidate, French mime Marcel Marceau, and Black kids in Harlem “sliding backwards kinda like an illusion.”

The opening of Jackson’s “Beat It,” Pugh reveals, is an homage to “West Side Story,’’ with young men walking the streets and snapping their fingers as gangs gather for a rumble.

And “Black and White” seems to offer a critique of “Singin’ in the Rain,’’ “and of the Hollywood musical writ large.”

And so, Pugh concludes, performers have been “haunted by a past, both acknowledged and unacknowledged,” and seek, however momentarily, to excise it; draw on the work of “vernacular and professional dancers” stretching back for decades; seek a future “unconfined by space and time and gravity,” while being constrained “both physically and metaphorically;” and embody a country that always seems on the move.

It may be no exaggeration, then, to claim that, individually and collectively, America’s dancers in all their varied forms and styles have “conjured up the spirit of the nation, a spirit that their audiences recognized as the homeness of a home.”

Dr. Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He wrote this review for the Florida Courier.

UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS A LITTLE STRANGER/EVERYMAN PICTURES PRODUCTION “SISTERS” TINA FEY AMY POEHLER MAYA RUDOLPHEXECUTIVE IKE BARINHOLTZ JAMES BROLIN JOHN CENAPRODUCEDJOHN LEGUIZAMO AND DIANNE WIEST MUSIC

BY CHRISTOPHE BECK PRODUCERS AMY POEHLER JEFF RICHMOND BRIAN BELL BY TINA FEY p.g.a. JAY ROACH p.g.a. JOHN LYONS p.g.a.

WRITTEN DIRECTED

BY PAULA PELL BY JASON MOORE A UNIVERSAL PICTURE © 2015 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

STARTS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18 CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES

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DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

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Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.

These masqueraders participated in the Seventh Annual Miami Broward One Carnival’s Parade of the Bands at the Dade County Fairgrounds recently.

The Florida Courier staff selected them as this week’s Florida’s Finest – for obvious reasons.

PHOTOS BY CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

given the high-profile year he enjoyed thanks to the glowing reception for the “Straight Outta Compton” film, which detailed the rise and fall of his former group, N.W.A. Overall, nine artists scored four nominations each, and an additional 17 are up for three awards apiece. With more than 400 nominations across 83 categories for 2016, there is plenty more recognition spread out among the music community.

11 Grammy nominations for Kendrick Lamar Rapper leads pack; Swift and Weeknd garner seven each

BY RANDY LEWIS LOS ANGELES TIMES (TNS)

Rapper Kendrick Lamar, pop superstar Taylor Swift and Canadian R&B experimentalist the Weeknd led the field in the 2016 Grammy Award nominations, collectively taking 25 nods in this year’s industry-bestowed honors.

Lamar is well out in front of the field with 11 nominations, the bulk of them tied to his almost universally lauded third album, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” but also including two for his collaboration with Swift on her hit “Bad Blood” and one for co-writing Kanye West’s nominated rap song “All Day.” Lamar’s politically charged album is nominated in an especially diverse category alongside Swift’s blockbuster “1989,” the Weeknd’s breakthrough collection “Beauty Behind the Madness,” Alabama Shakes’ sonically adventurous “Sound & Color” and country singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton’s powerfully reflective “Traveller.”

“This all comes from artists today who are emboldened, who are fearless and who are not willing, or wanting to be, sort of put

‘The Wiz Live’ returns Dec. 19 In case you missed it, NBC will air an encore of “The Wiz Live’’ from 8 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 19. The musical, which generated 11.5 million viewers during the Dec. 3 broadcast, includes an all-star Black cast, including David Alan Grier, Shanice Williams, Elijah Kelly and Ne-Yo.

in a nice little box with a bow on it,” Recording Academy President Neil Portnow told The Times.

“Artists today have the ability to be exposed to multiple kinds of genres in music, and we’ll give credit to the world of technology we live in that gives easy access to whatever direction you want to head in.”

Plenty of collaborations

Nods for best song Swift (who, like the Weeknd, collected seven nominations) and British pop singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran scored in three of the top four general field categories: record, album and song, with Sheeran nominated in the album category not for his own album but for his participation on the Weeknd’s latest.

Song nominees run from Lamar’s “Alright,” which touches on police brutality, to Swift’s tonguein-cheek celebration of romantic fickleness, “Blank Space.”

The other contenders are Little Big Town’s sly play on controversies over same-sex relations, “Girl Crush,” written by Nashville pros Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose; Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth’s hit from the “Furious 7” soundtrack, “See You Again,” written by Puth, Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks and Cameron Thomaz; and Sheeran’s vulnerable “Thinking Out Loud,” for which he collaborated

LUIS SINCO/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Kendrick Lamar performs during the BET Experience at Staples Center on June 27 in Los Angeles. with Amy Wadge.

The best new artist category singles out Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett, British guitarist-singer James Bay, country singer-songwriter Sam Hunt, YouTube phenom Tori Kelly and pop singer Meghan Trainor.

Five for Drake Among this year’s other multiple Grammy nominees, producer-songwriter Max Martin, who was deeply involved in Swift’s “1989,” has six nominations, and five apiece go to Canadian rapper Drake and recording engineers Tom Coyne, Serban Ghenea and John Hanes, who are recognized for their work on record and al-

bum nominees.

The absence of Madonna and her latest album “Rebel Heart” among this year’s nominees is likely to be viewed by some as a snub of the veteran singer. And despite a massive promotional campaign behind “Cass County,” Don Henley’s first solo album in 15 years received just one nomination, in the Americana roots song category, for “The Cost of Living,” which he wrote with Merle Haggard.

Likewise, Dr. Dre’s well-received “Compton,” his first solo album in 16 years, generated only one nomination for the esteemed hip-hop star and producer, in the rap album category. That’s something of a surprise

Baby names inspired by ‘Empire’ growing in popularity

BY TRACY SWARTZ CHICAGO TRIBUNE (TNS)

The artists from “Empire” are climbing the charts again.

Baby names inspired by characters on the Fox drama about a New York hiphop mogul and his family are growing in popularity, according to babycenter. com, an online parenting resource.

The name Dre rose to 1,676 on the list of most popular male baby names in 2015 from its place of 7,379 last year,

In fact, if West’s Paul McCartney collaboration “All Day” wins the rap song category, a total of 19 songwriters can line up to take the stage Feb. 15 at the Grammys broadcast at Staples Center in Los Angeles when winners are announced. Lamar’s album, should it win, would generate 30 awards for the collective group of performers, producers and engineers who are nominated.

That’s reflective of the broadly collaborative nature of hip-hop, which typically generates the most nominations for individual artists, who often find they are competing with themselves in some categories.

Indeed, even if Lamar wins in every category he’s nominated in, the most Grammy statuettes he can hope to collect is nine, because he is nominated opposite himself in the rap song and music video categories.

Winners will be determined by about 13,000 voting members of the Recording Academy. The 58th Annual Grammy Awards will air on Monday, Feb. 15.

according to site’s analysis of more than 340,000 names of babies born this year to moms registered on the site.

Trai Byers plays business head Andre “Dre” Lyon on “Empire.”

Lyon, the family’s last name, climbed to 2,707th place compared to last year’s 6,960th place while Hakeem (the name of the youngest Lyon brother, played by Bryshere Y. Gray) is up to 2,276th place versus 5,087th place last year.

The name Lucious also entered the BabyCenter’s database for the first time in three years. Chicago-born Terrence Howard plays patriarch Lucious Lyon.

“Empire,” which debuted its first season in January, is filmed in Chicago and set in New York.

Fox is slated to begin airing the second part of “Empire’s” second season March 30.

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BUSINESS

DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015

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JANE TYSKA/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP/TNS

San Francisco police officer Gregory Pak, left, talks with job seekers during the San Francisco/Alameda Point Military Career Expo aboard the USS Hornet aircraft carrier in Alameda, Calif., on Aug. 1, 2013. Veterans from different branches of the military networked at the event in the hopes of finding potential employment.

Push continues to hire more veterans High jobless numbers have dropped due to hiring promises by corporations

BY ALAN ZAREMBO LOS ANGELES TIMES (TNS)

Wal-Mart says it met its goal of hiring 100,000 military veterans and has upped its commitment to 250,000.

A coalition of more than 200 other companies has scrapped its original objective of hiring 100,000 vets and vowed this month to make a million hires.

And a separate campaign by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, called Hire 500,000 Heroes, has surpassed that target and collected promises from more than 2,000 businesses to hire at least 200,000 more veterans or their spouses.

Yes, corporate America loves veterans. There’s just one problem: Most of them already have jobs.

“They won’t be able to hire a million veterans anytime soon,” Jeffrey Wenger, a public policy expert at the RAND Corp. think tank in Santa Monica, Calif., said of the corporate pledges.

“There aren’t a million veterans to hire.”

High veteran unemployment, once rampant among those returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, appears to be a thing of the past, based on data from the Labor Department.

‘Work is not done’ The most recent unem-

ployment rate for veterans who served after the terrorist attacks on Sept.

11, 2001, was 4.6 percent — essentially the same as the rate for nonveterans.

That’s 142,000 recent veterans out of work. An additional 280,000 veterans from other eras are also without jobs.

Overall, 3.9 percent of the 10.8 million veterans in the U.S. labor force were unemployed in October, a rate that economists say is largely attributable to routine turnover in the job market.

The corporate hiring campaigns, however, are not declaring victory. They say the unemployment rate in the general population should not be the bar for veterans.

“Until every veteran who

wants a job is hired, our work is not done,” Ross Brown, head of military and veteran affairs at JPMorgan Chase, said in an email.

No timetable In 2011, the company helped launch the 100,000 Jobs Mission, now called the Veteran Jobs Mission.

With about 200,000 service members leaving the military each year, Brown said, the campaign is confident it will eventually reach its new goal of a million hires.

“We’re not putting a timetable on this,” he said.

Federal, state and local government efforts are not letting up either. Veterans continue to get preference for federal jobs, and federal contractors are expected to employ a certain number of veterans.

A White House initiative known as Joining Forces announced this year that it had secured new commitments from the private sector to hire or train 90,000 veterans and military spouses, in addition to 100,000 already brought on board.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced this summer that his initiative to hire 10,000 veterans was halfway to its goal.

L.A. County supervisors approved a measure last week encouraging major contractors to hire more veterans.

All about timing The employment situation has changed sharply from five years ago, when the country was in the grips of recession, U.S. troops were still immersed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and being a recent veteran seemed to be a disadvantage in the job market.

Many employers hesitated to hire reservists, who could be deployed at any time. The stigma of posttraumatic stress disorder is also thought to have hurt job prospects.

The youngest veterans fared worst, with unemployment rates in some months that were double those of other workers their age. But the latest data show that among 18- to 24-yearolds, unemployment rates

Some easy ways to cut your taxes now

BY GAIL MARKSJARVIS CHICAGO TRIBUNE (TNS)

Right now you’re probably thinking more about Santa Claus than Uncle Sam. But a little attention to Uncle Sam between now and the end of the year may make his visit less painful when you do your tax return in a few months. Consider some relatively simple moves now so you can maneuver through your 2015 return with options to keep your taxes down.

Dump the extras Whether you have clothes, cars or household items like furniture you no longer want, deliver them to charity so you can get a deduction. Just make sure it’s a recognized charitable organization. Provide the organization a list, including value, of each item and keep a copy along with a receipt.

Be kind to your future Everyone knows they should prepare for retirement, but most people save far less than they should.

So get on top of this now, and save taxes while doing the right thing for your fu-

ture. Consider your 401(k) retirement savings plan or start or fund an IRA away from work.

Say you are in the 25 percent tax bracket and put $1,000 into your 401(k) before the end of the year.

You will only be taking $750 out of your pocket because you will be saving $250 on taxes. You can put up to $18,000 in a 401(k) if under 50 and $24,000 if 50 or older. The maximum for an IRA is $5,500 if under 50 or $6,500 if 50 or older. You have until April 15 to make deposits in IRAs. For a tax deduction, use an IRA, not a Roth IRA.

Home sweet home If you pay your January 2016 mortgage payment before the end of this year, you will be able to deduct the interest in 2015. Likewise, if you have property tax due right after the start of the new year, pay it now and deduct that in 2015 too.

Save on college If you are in college or have children in college, you can claim the American Opportunity Tax Credit on as much as $2,500 per student. So if you haven’t spent that much this year but have payments com-

for veterans and nonveterans were statistically equal, at just over 10 percent.

Research suggests the turnaround is largely due to timing. A growing share of recent veterans have been out of the military long enough to find work.

‘Good PR’ Historically, veterans have long been better-employed than the general population. Being accepted into the military and getting out with an honorable discharge is an accomplishment that many employers value.

To a large extent, the promises to hire veterans simply highlight what companies would be doing anyway. Veterans make up about 7 percent of the labor force.

“It’s good PR to say you’re hiring veterans,” said Chris Tilly, an economist who directs the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

“Everybody wants to support veterans. That’s the main motivation for this.”

a losing stock or fund, and have also sold winners, you can use the losses on the stinkers to keep your taxes down on the winners.

Remember, however, this doesn’t apply to 401(k)s or IRAs, and the loss is tallied from the time you bought the investment, not just a loss in a single year. If you offset your gains and have leftover losses, the IRS allows you to use $3,000 to offset other income. If there are still leftover losses, you can carry them over to future years.

Delay income GARY PORTER/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL/TNS

Jessica Gatzke, right, senior manager at Scribner and Cohen and Co. accounting firm, helps intern Lana Jamerson prepare taxes last year in Milwaukee. ing due early in 2016 for tuition, fees and course-related expenses, pay now.

Even computers can qualify. This is a “refundable” credit, meaning: If you claim it and it wipes out your taxes completely, you can still get a benefit — a refund of up to 40 percent. The credit is available for undergraduates for four years. If you’ve exceeded that, or are in graduate school, or taking courses to enhance your work skills, pay in 2015 for the Lifetime Learning Credit. See the IRS site.

Go to the doctor There are several types

of “miscellaneous” deductions possible, and perhaps the most popular is for medical expenses. The trouble is, your medical expenses must be more than 10 percent of your adjusted gross income, or 7.5 percent for seniors.

You can add more before the end of 2015. Consider lab tests, dental work, glasses, medicine, hearing aids, or even surgeries you are planning.

Meanwhile, if you have a flexible spending account at work that needs to be used up before the end of the year, make sure you do it.

Give to charity The most effective way to give is to contribute an asset like a stock, bond or mutual fund shares directly to the charity, which doesn’t have to pay taxes.

So once it has your asset, the charitable organization will sell it and get the full benefit of your donation. If you sold it instead, you’d have to pay taxes and would have less to give away.

Make poor investments count This has been a year of big losses in the stock market. If you want to get rid of

If you have a regular job, this is easier said than done. But if you can control when you get income, you can control the tax bill, to some extent. If, for example, you have a bonus coming, or can delay some pay for a couple of weeks, arrange to get it in January rather than 2015.

If you have a small business and are just completing some work for a client, bill the client at the end of December so you get paid in 2016. But beware.

If you think you are going to make more money next year than this year — you may want to get paid now rather than waiting.

Gail MarksJarvis is author of “Saving for Retirement Without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery.” Readers can email her at gmarksjarvis@tribune.com.

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DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015

FAMILY FEATURES

When the house is filled with the sweet smell of cinnamon, it’s a sure sign the holidays have arrived. This signature flavor of the season can add warmth and nostalgia to everything from traditional baked goods to vegetable sides and cocktails.

“Everyone loves cinnamon in classic desserts like apple pie, but this spice is so versatile, it can be used in countless sweet and savory dishes,” said Chef Kevan Vetter of the McCormick Kitchens. “For the perfect seasonal side dish, you can toss carrots cooked in a slow cooker with a cinnamon-sugar glaze.

Or, add cinnamon sticks to a festive drink, like holiday sangria.”

Try these recipes to showcase that pure cinnamon flavor from cocktail hour to dessert. For more recipes and tips, check out McCormick.com and visit McCormick Spice on Facebook and Pinterest.

Finding the best cinnamon Before you stock up this holiday season, make sure you’re buying the highest quality cinnamon to bring pure flavor to your dishes.

Look for clump-free ground cinnamon that’s a deep brown, mahogany color. It should have a warm aroma and taste with a little “red hot” cinnamon heat.

FOOD

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CARAMEL APPLE SLAB PIE Prep time: 25 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes Servings: 16 2 packages (14.1 ounces each) refrigerated pie crusts (4 crusts), divided 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/4 cup cornstarch 1 tablespoon McCormick Ground Cinnamon 8 cups thinly sliced and peeled Honey Crisp apples (about 8 apples) 1 cup caramel topping, divided Preheat oven to 400°F. Bring crusts to room temperature according to package directions.

Unroll pie crusts. Line bottom and sides of 13x9-inch glass baking dish with 2 pie crusts. Press seams of overlapping crusts in middle of baking dish together to seal.

Mix sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon in large bowl. Add apples; toss to coat well. Spoon into pie crust. Drizzle with 3/4 cup caramel topping. Top with remaining 2 crusts. Pinch edges of top and bottom crusts together to seal. Cut small slits in top crust.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on wire rack.

Drizzle with remaining 1/4 cup caramel topping to serve.

SLOW COOKER CINNAMON SUGAR GLAZED CARROTS Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 3-4 hours Servings: 8 2 pounds baby carrots 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons McCormick Ground Cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon McCormick Ground Ginger 1/2 teaspoon salt Spray inside of 4-quart slow cooker with no stick cooking spray.

Add carrots and melted butter; toss to coat. Cover.

Cook on high 3 to 4 hours or until tender.

Meanwhile, mix brown sugar, cinna­mon, ginger and salt in small bowl until well blended. Toss cooked carrots with brown sugar mixture in slow cooker just before serving.

Tip: Keep cooked carrots in slow cooker when transporting to a party. Bring brown sugar mixture in small resealable plastic bag.

For best results, toss carrots with brown sugar mixture just before serving.

SPICED CRANBERRY SANGRIA Prep time: 10 minutes Servings: 6 1 orange 16 McCormick Gourmet Whole Cloves 1 bottle (750 milliliters) sweet white wine, such as Moscato or Riesling 3 cups cranberry juice 1 cup fresh cranberries 1/4 cup orange-flavored liqueur, such as Grand Marnier 2 McCormick Gourmet Cinnamon Sticks 1 tablespoon McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract Cut orange into 8 wedges. Press 2 cloves into each wedge. Set aside.

Mix wine, cranberry juice, cranberries, liqueur, cinnamon sticks and vanilla in large pitcher until well blended. Add orange wedges.

Refrigerate 3 hours or until ready to serve. Serve in ice-filled glasses, if desired.

Tip: If transporting Spiced Cranberry Sangria to a party, prepare recipe without adding the wine. Take the spiced cranberry juice in a clean, portable tightly covered beverage container leaving enough room for the wine. Then pour the bottle of wine into the container at the party. Serve and enjoy!

FOOD

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DECEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 17, 2015

TOJ

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

ASPARAGUS TART 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed 2 cups Jarlsberg cheese, shredded 1 pound asparagus 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves salt and pepper Heat oven to 400 F. Prepare baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll out puff pastry into 16-by-10-inch rectangle, trimming uneven edges. Place on baking sheet. With knife, lightly score pastry dough 1 inch from edges to mark rectangle.

Using fork, pierce dough inside markings at 1/2-inch intervals. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

Remove pastry shell from oven and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Trim asparagus spears to fit crosswise inside pastry shell. Arrange in single layer over cheese, alternating ends and tips. Brush with oil, sprinkle thyme leaves and season with salt and pepper. Bake until spears are tender, about 20 minutes.

TOMATO GRATIN 8 medium ripe tomatoes 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 4 garlic cloves, sliced 4 sprigs fresh thyme (or 4 basil leaves, chopped) salt and pepper, to taste 2 ounces toasted pine (pignoli) nuts 1/2 pound (8 ounces) grated Jarlsberg cheese Heat oven to 350 F. Cut tomatoes in half.

In bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper; gently mix in tomatoes. Transfer to ovenproof dish, turning tomatoes cut side up before baking 15 minutes.

When tomatoes are cool enough, remove skins before returning to baking dish. Sprinkle tomatoes with nuts and cheese. Return to oven and bake about 10 minutes, or until cheese turns golden and bubbly.

Serve as bruschetta on sliced, toasted Italian bread or as a side dish to fish and meat.

SENSATIONAL PLATTERS Platters featuring savory finger foods are a flavorful and easy solution for holiday entertaining. Simply assemble ingredients, such as those listed below, on a large wooden or slate board and serve. Get creative by adding fig spreads, fresh fruit or other nibbles you enjoy, and don’t forget the toothpicks and napkins. Be sure to take the cheese out of the refrigerator at least an hour before serving to ensure that it is room temper­ ature to bring out the ideal flavor. Never serve cheese cold.

• Wedge or cubed Jarlsberg cheese • Assortment of whole grain crackers and crusty bread slices • Italian Genoa salami, coppa or your favorite charcuterie meats • Assorted olives, nuts and dried or fresh fruits

This holiday season don’t let a main dish hog all the glory. Instead let guests feast on a festive spread of small plates and sides. Snack-size portions of a wide range of deli­cious dishes are the perfect solution for entertaining.

A large, heavy meal can leave guests feeling lethargic. Keep your party lively with lighter bites that guests can nibble on throughout the night. Another advantage of a small plate menu is that guests will appreciate the chance to sample many flavors without fear of over-indulging.

Get your party planning started with these tips: • Keep dishes simple and put the focus on quality ingredients, such as naturally lactose and gluten free Jarlsberg cheese. Best known for the classic wedge available in original and smoked flavors, Jarlsberg cheese offers a mild, mellow, nutty and deli­cious taste that is perfect for any cheese board and pairing with meats of your choice.

• Give traditional vegetable sides a special boost to make them party perfect. Basic asparagus gets a fresh twist with this Asparagus Tart, which blends savory Jarlsberg brand cheese and a pastry for a pretty presentation you can cut into squares before serving.

• Plan your menu with the clock in mind. Choose foods that will taste great for the duration of your party without drying out or loosing flavor, such as this Tomato Gratin.

• Keep cold dishes chilled by setting the serving bowl inside a larger bowl filled with ice (add some flair by tinting the ice or adding decorative accents).

• Use burners to keep the heat on warm dishes, or simply rotate in fresh batches periodically.

Give your holiday entertaining an extra boost this year with Jarlsberg Cheese’s Great Holiday Giveaway, which runs through Dec. 31 and offers prizes for holiday entertaining, including a DSLR camera as the grand prize and weekly charcuterie party kits.

Learn more and enter (once per day) at Facebook. com/Jarlsbergusa, and find more holiday entertaining recipes at jarlsberg.com.

CHEESY MASHED POTATOES 4 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut 1 cup Jarlsberg cheese 1 cup milk 1 container sour cream 1/2 cup butter 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper Heat oven to 350 F. Place potatoes in large pot of salted

water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until tender.

Drain and bring potatoes to food processor.

In food processor, add cheese, milk, sour cream, butter, salt and pepper. Process all ingredients with potatoes until smooth.

Pour mixture into baking pan and cover with tin foil.

Bake 30 minutes.

Uncover potatoes during last 10 minutes to allow browning.