Florida Courier - December 16, 2016

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Heroes & Legends: Space Center exhibit combines technology, tales of heroism See Page B1 DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016

VOLUME 24 NO. 51

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MAKING HIS LIST… …and checking more than twice.

President Obama is rushing through his ‘to-do’ list to Trump-proof the White House.

place that he wants to outlast his presidency in the final weeks before Donald WASHINGTON – Since Trump takes over. And his Election Day, President supporters want more, way Obama has appointed 56 more. people to boards, commissions and offices in the hopes Frantic push that they remain in those Every president tries to posts for years to come.

He has reduced the pris- push through last-minute on sentences of 79 federal policies before their time in inmates. He has handed out office comes to a close. But the nation’s highest civilian this year has a more franhonor to 21 people who he tic feel as special interest said personally made an groups push Obama to do impact on his life. And he more, not just because the has churned out rules, reg- president-elect is of a difulations and policies sever- ferent party but because al times a week. few people know what he Obama is trying to put will do. the people and policies in “People are, as you can

BY ANITA KUMAR TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

imagine – they are getting quite desperate,” said Rena Steinzor, a member of the Center for Progressive Reform, a liberal advocacy group, who is pressing Obama to act. “Filling boards and doing whatever he can to establish protections that Trump would have to unwind is a good strategy.”

Long list With six weeks remaining, their to-do list for Obama is long: They want him to issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose their political donations. They want him to pardon immigrants in the country illegally and direct federal employees to quickly process applications for immigrants who came into the United States illegally

as children. And they want him to make good on his campaign pledge to close the prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

‘Voters have spoken’ No one disputes that Obama has the authority to do what he is doing, but Trump supporters don’t think he should be doing them anyway.

“There’s a few weeks left. The voters have spoken,” said Diane Katz, a senior research fellow in regulatory policy the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. “Someone who is more humble or respectful might say ‘they made a choice different than me’ and allow the new administration to do it.”

This month, the Obama family sent their last ChristSee OBAMA, Page A2

mas card out as America’s “First Family.”

What’s next?

Lawmakers argue over medical ‘weed’

BY DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – A Senate panel Tuesday began exploring issues surrounding medical marijuana as lawmakers prepare to carry out a constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved by voters in November.

The Senate Health Policy Committee heard from a cannabis vendor, patient advocates, doctors and opponents of Amendment 2, which legalized medical marijuana for a broad swath of patients and set Florida in position to become one of the largest pot markets in the nation.

“The voters have spoken. It is our duty as their elected representatives to implement this amendment appropriately,” committee Chairwoman Dana Young, R-Tampa, said at the onset of the two-hour meeting.

ETA NU CHAPTER / OMEGA PSI PHI FRATERNITY, INC.

Deep roots in Pompano Beach

Expand or not?

One of the biggest issues facing the Legislature is whether to expand the number of businesses authorized by the state to grow, process and distribute marijuana to an estimated 500,000 patients who would be eligible for the treatment when the amendment goes into effect in January.

Florida lawmakers first approved non-euphoric medical marijuana for a limited number of patients in 2014 and expanded the law to include full-strength pot for terminally ill patients early this year.

Members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity’s chapter in Pompano Beach held their grand opening of their new educational building on Dec. 8 in the city. Chapter members, fraternity officials and local city leaders were in attendance.

COURTESY OF ETA NU CHAPTER

See WEED, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

Scott lifts last Zika zone in Miami Beach NATION | A6

China condemns president-elect over policy on Taiwan FOOD | B4, B5

Holiday recipes keep everyone satisfied throughout the party, from start to finish

ALSO INSIDE

Business groups fight Miami Beach wage hike

BY JIM SAUNDERS THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

in January 2018 violates a state law.

TALLAHASSEE – Amid debates across the country about higher minimum wages, three major Florida business groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a plan to gradually raise the minimum wage in Miami Beach.

The lawsuit, filed in MiamiDade County by the Florida Retail Federation, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and three corporations, alleges that a city ordinance to start raising the minimum wage

‘Unintended consequences’ “The government shouldn’t dictate the relationship between an employer and employee,” Carol Dover, president and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, said in a prepared statement. “If this ordinance is upheld it could have severe, unintended consequences for employers and employees across the Sunshine State and See WAGE, Page A2

ELLEN CREAGER/DETROIT FREE PRESS/TNS

Miami Beach, the location of vintage hotels like The Avalon on Ocean Drive, passed a local ordinance raising the minimum wage in the city.

COMMENTARY: BRUCE A. DIXON: ANOTHER EMPTY BLACK FACE IN A HIGH PLACE | A4 COMMENTARY: ANTHONY L. HALL: THE ISSUE ISN’T WHETHER RUSSIA ‘ELECTED’ TRUMP | A5

FOCUS

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DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016

Dating Donald Trump Internet dating sites are a quick way to see and consider men and women that appear to be relationship possibilities.

It doesn’t take long, however, to realize that photos and information considered from afar, so to speak, are oftentimes far from looking and being good.

Website profile To me, President-elect Donald Trump is like many of the people that have profiles on dating websites. If you scroll through 100 profiles on any of the dating sites, you will find that 90 percent of what you find is not what you thought you had found!

The person’s names are not their names. Their hometowns are not their hometowns. Their education status is not a measure of their schooling. Their income is not nearly what their worth is.

And the pictures they post on their dating profiles is not a true

statewide or local elections!

Anything for victory

LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

and recent photo of how they currently look!

America’s 2016 voters were just like the people that surf the Internet dating sites. They were looking for someone to love – looking in all of the wrong places!

I’ve told you time and time and time again that Republicans had this campaign thing down pat, while Democrats and others had no clue about how to influence voters, how to determine a political professional from a political charlatan, how to effectively mobilize and solidify its most loyal base of voters, how to create and deliver successful political messages, and how to win national,

Some candidates will do anything to win. They will lie, they will cheat, they will steal. They will hire anybody that can help them win, and it doesn’t matter what race they are, what party they are affiliated with, or what campaign contributors – who know little or nothing about winning elections – tell them to do.

Who can help them win is the primary motivating factor in putting together a campaign team that can win elections!

President-elect Donald Trump may be a fool, but he is no dummy! Trump knew what was on the minds of business owners, racists, sexists, segregationists, White nationalists, unemployed Americans, rural Americans, war mongers, industrialists, and many other groups. He knew what words to use and speeches to

make to fire them up during election time.

Trump blamed everybody in elected office for both existing and non-existing governmental problems. He described himself as “perfect.” He said he knew more about government, military operations, international governmental relations, foreign trade, race relations, religion, health care and other issues than anyone else in America.

And the people believed him.

The people were looking for someone to love.

It won’t last Well, most marriages don’t last happily ever after. They don’t last through better and worse, or through richer and poorer.

I believe the love affair between the president-elect and the people that voted for him will one day end in divorce!

When you meet that allegedly special person on match.com or Blackpeoplemeet.com and they turn out to be totally differ-

ent than what they advertised on their profiles, love can turn to hate.

Don’t worry Once the people discover who they voted for, they will desire to make a change. Once people realize they have been politically pimped, they will seek to choose a different political “mack.”

And once the people find out that you can’t depend on governments or elected officials to solve all of their most important life issues, the people will begin to take care of and believe in themselves!

The date with Donald will not last as long as you thought it would!

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

“Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants. net.

WAGE from A1

across the nation.”

The Miami Beach City Commission in June approved an ordinance that sets a minimum wage of $10.31 an hour in 2018, with the wage going up $1 a year to $13.31 on Jan. 1, 2021. In a news release, Miami Beach said it had become the first Florida city to establish a “citywide minimum living wage with a phased-in approach.”

The state’s minimum wage is $8.05 and is slated to rise to $8.10 next month.

“I am proud of our city for leading the way in reversing the trend that makes Florida a high-cost, low-wage state,” Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine said in the June news release.

“Cities throughout the United States have passed similar local minimum wage ordinances and the evidence shows the positive impact they have had on the local economy.”

Violates state law?

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

Legislators are trying to determine how regulate growing and prescribing full-strength medical marijuana in the state.

WEED from A1

The Florida Department of Health has issued licenses to six “dispensing organizations” and could issue three more, once the number of patients in a statewide registry reaches 250,000. The Legislature added the provision for the additional licenses during the spring session in anticipation that the constitutional amendment would pass.

Not enough licenses But Ben Pollara, campaign manager for the “United for Care” political committee that backed the initiative, told the Senate panel on Tuesday that the current number of licenses would not meet the expectations of voters or the language of the amendment, which requires health officials to issue “reasonable” regulations regarding medical marijuana.

Since the initiative received more than 70 percent approval in November, “it is more than a fair assessment to say that a vote for Amendment 2 was a vote to ex-

OBAMA from A1

White House press secretary Josh Earnest pushed back on that notion, saying Obama is president until Jan. 20 and that the administration is engaged in “a continuous and persistent effort to complete the work that’s already been started.”

In the month since Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, Obama has: • Appointed people to a slew of boards and commissions, including the American Battle Monu-

pand the market here,” Pollara said.

The six dispensing organizations now authorized to sell medical marijuana were supposed to provide products to an estimated 100,000 patients, Pollara said. To expect those businesses to serve a consumer base five times greater than anticipated “simply doesn’t make sense,” he added.

Expanded capacity But Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers, the head of the first company to start distributing medical marijuana in Florida, told the committee that her organization now has the capacity to serve 72,000 patients and would soon be able to provide products to 650,000 patients.

About 1,300 patients eligible for medical marijuana under the laws passed in 2014 and early this year are registered in a statewide database, and 240 doctors have received the training required to order the treatment, state Office of Compassionate Use Director Christian Bax said Tuesday.

Those numbers are expected to escalate after the amendment goes into effect next month, Bax predicted.

ments Commission, United States Air Force Academy’s Board of Visitors, the Pacific Salmon Commission and National Council on Disability. Some are new appointments, some are renewals.

• Granted a record number of commutations to federal inmates as part of an initiative announced in 2014 to reduce the sentences of nonviolent drug dealers to a sentence they likely would have gotten under today’s more lenient sentencing guidelines.

• Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 21 more recipients, which pushed him to a record

“As a state, we will be watched to ensure we have a robust regulatory system,” he said.

Restrictions recommended Law enforcement officials and opponents of the amendment asked lawmakers to consider imposing restrictions on the kinds of products that can be sold, including candy, and want local governments to have the discretion to regulate issues such as zoning and signage.

“We are not here to be obstructionists. We are here to be honest brokers in dealing with this matter, trying to provide a law enforcement perspective that is a value-add to this. The people have spoken. It is clear,” Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson, Jr., said.

Others urged lawmakers to tread carefully with what some opponents deem a “gateway” to more hardcore drugs.

‘Skunk-smelling coastline’ “If we don’t aggressively seek to limit the use and sale of marijuana, our country and state as we know it will never be the

number for his tenure, to “folks who have helped make me who I am.”

• Finalized rules to determine whether schools were succeeding or failing under the sweeping Every Student Succeeds Act; released the next five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing, which blocks drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic; and denied a permit for a pipeline to run through North Dakota, a victory for local Native Americans.

“It’s his job,” said Carmel Martin, a former Obama appointee who is now executive vice president of policy at the left-leaning Center for American Prog-

same. Florida will be trading our beautiful white, sandy beaches filled with vacationing families for a hazy, skunk-smelling coastline laden with unemployable, unmotivated homeless people,” said Teresa Miller, a drug prevention activist and founder of the “no2pot.org” website.

As the committee mulls imposing restrictions, some people in the pot business are asking legislators to loosen provisions in the current laws they contend are a barrier to treatment.

Rivers and Mark Hashim, a pain management physician, asked the Legislature to consider doing away with the requirement that doctor treats patient for at least three months before being able to order medical marijuana for them.

Hashim said he recently encountered a terminally ill patient who likely had less than two months to live, but he could not assist her because he had not treated her for 90 days. The patient was unable to access the marijuana treatment because her other doctors were not authorized to order it, Hashim said.

“I have to look her in the face and say, I have something that might help you but I can’t give it to you,” he said.

ress. “I think it’s … not just appropriate but necessary for the current president to keep moving forward.

President Obama is trying to leave the house in good working order.”

Difficult reversals Trump won’t be able to reverse Obama’s actions easily.

Sure, he can change Obama’s executive actions with a quick stroke of the pen. But rule changes require justification following a Reagan-era court case mandating that regulation changes aren’t done on a whim. Many of the appointments could out-

But the lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that the ordinance violates part of state law that seeks to bar local governments from approving minimum wages that differ from the state or federal rates. The lawsuit, which seeks an injunction to block the ordinance, said the plaintiffs and the city “are in disagreement as to the construction and validity of the city wage ordinance.”

“The plaintiffs are not merely seeking legal advice or the answer to a question for curiosity,” the lawsuit said. “Instead, they are seeking a declaratory judgment from this court that the city wage ordinance is unlawful.”

Florida voters in 2004 overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment that has led to the state having a higher minimum wage than the federal rate. The state minimum wage is indexed to inflation, so it typically increases each year.

While the lawsuit cites a section of Florida statutes, the June news release from Miami Beach said the 2004 constitutional amendment “allowed municipalities to set a higher minimum wage than the state to more accurately reflect the higher cost of living in some parts of our very diverse state.”

City minimum wages have led to battles across the country, with many advocates seeking minimum pay rates of $15 an hour.

last Obama and Trump because the terms are five to seven years and require Senate confirmation.

“When the new president gets in there and sees what it takes to change – or has to pay the price to change it – it may take longer,” said George Edwards, a presidential scholar at Texas A&M University who wrote the book “Overreach,” analyzing presidential leadership during the Obama presidency.

Still, Obama needs to be careful he doesn’t push out last-minute actions subject to a rarely used law, Congressional Review Act, designed to prevent so-called

midnight regulations.

House Republicans recently sent a letter to Obama administration officials – similar to a request in 2008 – asking that they not try to push new regulations before leaving office.

Some of the special interest groups pushing Obama know that whatever he does could end up in court, but they don’t mind because at least that provides a chance at maintaining the action.

“If you don’t even try, you don’t get there,” Steinzor said. “People are saying ‘see you court.’”

DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016 ing the constitutionality of the death penalty. But his pointed comments Monday came as Florida’s death penalty has been on hold for nearly a year because of court rulings that found parts of state law unconstitutional.

40-year ‘threat’ Justice Stephen Breyer

Henry Sireci

U.S. justice criticizes the death penalty in Florida case

BY JIM SAUNDERS THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up a death row inmate’s appeal in the four-decadeold murder of an Orlando

car salesman – but Justice Stephen Breyer used the case to raise broader questions about the death penalty.

Breyer, who wrote a dissenting opinion in the case of death row inmate Henry Sireci, has called in the past for reconsider-

Breyer focused his dissent, in part, on the length of time since Sireci was first sentenced to death in 1976 and whether that violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

“He has lived in prison under threat of execution for 40 years,” Breyer wrote.

“When he was first sentenced to death, the Berlin Wall stood firmly in place.

Saigon had just fallen. Few Americans knew of the personal computer or the Internet. And over half of all Americans now alive had not yet been born.”

Breyer added later, “I should hope that this kind of delay would arise only on the rarest of occasions.

But in the ever diminishing universe of actual executions, I fear that delays of this kind have become more common. The number of yearly executions has fallen from its peak of

98 in 1999 to 19 so far this year, while the average period of imprisonment between death sentence and execution has risen from 12 years to over 18 years in that same period.”

Testimony challenged Sireci, now 68, was sentenced to death in the murder of used-car dealer Howard Poteet, who suffered 55 stab wounds, according to a brief filed

by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office.

A death warrant was issued for Sireci’s execution in 1986, but an appeal led to a new sentencing hearing. Sireci was again sentenced to death, but a series of state and federal appeals played out over more than two decades.

In the appeal before the Supreme Court on Monday, the issues focused on a crime-lab analyst’s testimony about a hair that was found on one of the victim’s socks and linked to Sireci. Sireci’s attorneys challenged the testimony and argued that DNA testing should be conducted.

But Bondi’s office asked the Supreme Court to turn down the appeal, arguing that “upon any reasonable interpretation of the

FLORIDA facts of this case, the result of the trial would not be different absent the challenged forensic testimony.”

Series of issues The Supreme Court, as is common, did not detail its reasons Monday for declining to take up Sireci’s appeal.

Breyer’s dissent did not address the rulings that have tied up Florida’s death penalty since January, but it came as prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and policymakers grapple with a series of issues about capital punishment in the state.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that Florida’s death-penalty sentencing process was unconstitutional because it gave too much authority to judges, instead of juries.

State lawmakers quickly passed a law to try to address the issues in the ruling. But the Florida Supreme Court in October found the law unconstitutional because it did not require unanimous jury recommendations before imposing death sentences.

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Lawmaker proposes $10 million for jobs for veterans A South Florida lawmaker Tuesday filed a proposal that would set aside $10 million for grants to small businesses that hire veterans. The proposal (SB 152), filed by Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, will be considered during the 2017 legislative session, which starts in March.

Under the bill, lawmakers would earmark $10 million for the group Florida Is For Veterans, Inc., which would administer the grants. The group would award grants totaling up to $900,000 a year.

Small businesses would be able to receive onetime grants of $3,000 for each newly hired veteran and $5,000 for each newly hired disabled veteran, the bill says. A small business would not be eligible to receive more than $25,000 a year in grants.

– The News Service of Florida

Governor lifts last Zika zone in Miami Beach TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

MATIAS J. OCNER/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Yessica Flores, 38, talks to reporters after a press conference on Oct. 24 at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ira Clark Diagnostic Treatment Center in Allapattah, Fla. Flores, who is pregnant, has tested positive for the Zika virus.

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FLORIDA COURIER

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has lifted the final zone of active Zika transmission in Miami-Dade, eliminating the last hot spot where mosquitoes were transmitting the virus.

The governor held a news conference at the Betsy Hotel in South Beach earlier this month to make the announcement. The lifting of the zone comes nearly four months after health officials first reported that mosquitoes were spreading the virus in a 1.5-square-mile area between Eighth and 28th streets from the ocean to the bay.

Florida Surgeon General Celeste Philip said al-

though Miami-Dade has hit a milestone on battling the mosquito-spread Zika, people need to continue to wear mosquito repellant and eliminate standing water.

“We must remain on alert and continue all of the protective efforts that have led to this success,” she said.

The elimination of the zone of active transmission removes the warning to pregnant women to avoid travel from the area. A broader warning remains in place for the whole county advising pregnant women and those who may become pregnant to consider postponing nonessential travel to all parts of Miami-Dade.

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1 of only 5 ethnic papers worldwide selected by the Poynter Institute for Obama election front-page coverage and design TO ADVERTISE STATEWIDE OR IN A SINGLE ZONE call 877-352-4455 or email Sales@flcourier.com

Adoption: A home for Antonio SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

Winner of numerous journalism awards from Associated Press, National Association of Black Journalists, Florida Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/flcourier/ Follow us on Twitter @flcourier

PHOTO BY AMY PEZZ

Antonio is one of the many children in Florida waiting for a permanent home.

GOT NEWS, EVENTS, OR COMMENTARY? E-mail to news@flcourier.com

One Church One Child of Florida is reaching out to families and individuals in communities across the state in efforts to help find permanent homes for children.

Children featured in this spotlight are waiting for a permanent home and/or mentor.

Often in the stories of successful artists, there’s one connecting thread – the triumph over difficulty.

Antonio’s going to have one of these stories. He uses his magnificent artistic abilities to express himself, and draws on his own triumphs to propel his art.

He lives and breathes to create, taking small breaks to admire another one of his loves: fast cars.

He’s got a unique sense of style and a sweet, shy personality. If he could go anywhere in the world, it would be Paris. Antonio’s whole life would be changed by stable, supportive parents who make his dreams theirs.

Churches are asked to partner with One Church One Child in sharing information with congregations and extending Watch-Care Ministries to children.

For more information about becoming an adoptive or foster parent, mentor, partner or volunteer, call 888-283-0886 or send an email to info@ococfl. org. The website for One Church One Child of Florida is www.ococfl.org.

EDITORIAL

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DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016

Black fear in the age of Trump Black Americans were lost and politically helpless before Election Day in 2016.

Having a Black Democrat in the presidency hid a multitude of sins.

As a group, we have lost jobs, the little wealth we had, and literally our lives and freedom from the police state. Donald Trump’s election just made what was already true crystal-clear.

In a panic The victory of a Republican is always cause for some degree of panic among Black people. They are, after all, the White people’s party and their ascension creates anxiety among us.

Donald Trump’s appeal to White nationalism has certainly upped the ante. The people who hold onto the feckless Democrats with a vice-like death grip now believe they have nowhere to turn.

The Democrats’ allegiance to neoliberal deal-making instead of meeting the needs of the rank and file resulted in a presidential defeat and Republican control of both houses of Congress.

They long ago conceded fighting for control of state legislatures.

The result is that the Republicans hold all the electoral cards.

Instead of fear, we should be angry that we denounced what we once supported and supported what we once denounced in a losing effort to keep Democrats in office. We made a tacit agreement with the Democrats to follow them at times blindly, and at others with eyes wide open, in exchange for protection from the White people’s party.

Dems failed After supporting mass incar-

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

We survived the Confederates and we can survive anyone named after them. That will mean shaking off fear, the Democrats, and the Black misleaders all at once. ceration, the end of welfare as a right, regime change and austerity, the Democrats didn’t come through. They failed to prop up Hillary Clinton and now most of Black America is shocked and fearful of what the Trump presidency will bring.

Every move Trump makes is followed like a sign of Armageddon. Announcements of his appointments and his bizarre ranting tweets are followed with obsessive fixation – like watching a monster movie meant to create terror.

It is interesting that there has been no revolt against the Democratic Party and their coterie of Black misleaders after this political debacle. Black people came to believe that not only were we supposed to give the Democrats

Another empty Black face in a high place In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, Democratic party honchos are scrambling to reassure their funders and to shore up the careers of Democratic elected officials who serve those funders.

They must justify and retain whatever hold they still have on the millions of nominal Democratic voters who actually have no voice whatsoever in what their party stands for.

The two capitalist parties are owned by the same class of elite one percenter funders, but with different voting bases At least one U.S. party is always the self-declared White Man’s Party. Since the late sixties Republicans have reserved that slot for themselves, leaving Democrats to claim the allegiance of racial minorities

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

and some other groups.

On the same team The different voting bases of the two parties mean they have different campaign styles, but when the campaigns are over they’re both as Barack Obama affirmed, on the same team.

Both parties deliver the mandate of their constituencies to their common funders, Big Ag, Big Oil, Big Insurance, Big Pharma, Big Real Estate, the military

Enslavement of Africans is America’s economic foundation I have spent some 14 hours in the recently opened National Museum of African American Culture and History (NMAAHC) and still have only seen one-half of its historical content. My plan is to spend a few more hours checking things out before writing a column focusing on it.

However, it is not too early for saluting the museum for doing something that I have never seen done in an American public institution: to tell the truth about the economic foundation of the continent of North America, and in two separate narratives.

Clear statements The first narrative states without qualification, “The Atlantic

A. PETER BAILEY TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

slave trade was the largest forced migration of people in world history. Profits from the sale of enslaved human beings and their labor laid the foundation for Western Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas.” Personally, I would have said “enslaved Africans,” but the point is clear.

A second narrative emphasized “Slavery’s success built the economic foundation of American in two generations. Cotton

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: ‘UNITED CORPORATIONS OF AMERICA’

carte blanche but, like domestic violence victims, we had to keep quiet about our humiliation, too.

Now we are alternately afraid, angry and confused because we still think we must censor ourselves about our bad political decision making.

There should be serious introspection amongst us now. We must ask ourselves how we ended up in this situation.

The fault is not ours alone.

Our liberation movement was crushed and leaders were imprisoned or killed.

Freedom for all We began to err when we accepted the first foolish agreement to be satisfied with the success of a small group of people, instead of working for everyone’s freedom. That thinking culminated in the joy of seeing Barack Obama elected president in 2008. In 2016, we watched his hollow legacy go down in flames to the man who said he wasn’t born in the United States.

Black people have always made the greatest strides when unafraid. We speak endlessly of the days of the liberation movement without appreciating what we accomplished.

Racism was open, as politicians and other “respectable” people had no qualms about using racial slurs and threatening and carrying out violence against us. Sometimes we voted with our feet away from the Jim Crow South; at other times, we rose up in open rebellion. We did not allow fear to rule the day.

Now we quake in our boots with every announcement from the Trump transition team. Instead of panicking because Dr. Ben Carson will be secretary of

contractors and Wall Street.

After the departures of Debbie Wasserman-Schulz and Donna Brazile, both deeply implicated in the sabotaging of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton’s loss, Democrats need a new face at the head of the Democratic National Committee, the national party’s executive body. Ideally it should be someone who reassures the funders and can help rally the base voters. The leading contender is Keith Ellison, just elected to his sixth term in Congress from Minneapolis.

Keith Ellison seems a good fit. He was the first Muslim ever elected to Congress and current co-chair of the large and virtually impotent House Progressive Caucus. He was an early endorser of Bernie Sanders, who did his duty trying to lead leftward strays back into Hillary’s big tent.

Didn’t say much In a decade on the House Financial Services Committee, El-

produced by enslaved people transformed the fledgling nation into a world power and leader in global trade...”

Again, I would have said “enslaved Africans,” but again this is a harsh truth about this country’s economic wealth that is not taught in American history courses throughout the country.

My position is re-enforced by comments made by Professor Craig Steven Wilder in his must-read book, “Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities,” which provides comprehensive details on how many of this country’s major colleges and universities were launch and financed by wealth obtained from enslaving African people.

‘Cleansing the stain’ In a chapter entitled, “Cotton Comes to Harvard,” Professor Wilder explains the connection in two different passages. The first noted: “The Northern elite was

ADAM ZYGLIS, THE BUFFALO NEWS

HUD, we should remember that HUD exists at all because of the demands that Black people made on our political system.

Create crisis Creating political crisis should be the order of the day. That has always been the game changer, not necessarily getting Democrats into office instead of Republicans.

Should we be able to reverse this fortune through electoral politics, just remember who we will be resurrecting. Nancy Pelosi says that the Democratic Party doesn’t want a new direction.

Senator Cory Booker is mentioned as a 2020 contender, but Ivanka Trump and her husband raised $40,000 for his last campaign.

If Trumpism is to be destroyed, it cannot be through the same measures that brought us to this ignominious political end. It also can’t be done with the same fac-

lison managed not to deeply offend the banksters who flooded the market with predatory housing and student loans, or the payday lenders and credit card racketeers, and he didn’t embarrass or insult the colleagues who openly shill for them. In that target-rich environment Ellison managed not just to keep from hitting anything, but not even to take aim.

By contrast, Senator Elizabeth Warren in 2014 made headlines when she grilled Ellison’s former Congressional Black Caucus colleague Mel Watt on why the agency he heads, despite a clear mandate from Congress to reduce the principals on potentially millions of unpayable predatory home loans, refused to reduce the principal on a single one. Three years later, the news is that the agency may reduce principal on a mere 3,100 home loans at most.

We’re still waiting to hear from Ellison and the other eight Black Democrats on the committee on

cleansing the stain of human slavery from the story of its prosperity. Some of the best-educated people in the nation were revising history to romanticize and sanitize their relationship to bondage. They erased their pasts as masters or reimagined their slaves as a lower order of adopted family – trusted, faithful, and beloved servants whom they had treated with dignity and human sympathy. They recast their enslavement of African into a tale of decorative servitude.”

The second noted, “The great families distanced themselves rhetorically from the planters of the West Indies and the South – despite numerous shared surnames – by claiming histories as merchants, investors, and insurers, and then elevating underwriting, finance, and trade to high arts. Slave traders became Atlantic merchants, and the biggest firms received the greatest praise. It was an age of euphemism, populated with fragile lies, half-truths, and deflections.

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.

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es who brought us here, or with bought-off progressives. Al Gore and Tulsi Gabbard may stop by to kiss Donald’s ring, but that doesn’t mean we must either “give him a chance” – or believe the end is nigh.

The desire for self-determination brought people out of slavery and out of Jim Crow segregation. It can certainly save us from the alt-right, Donald Trump, and an attorney general named Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. We survived the Confederates and we can survive anyone named after them. That will mean shaking off fear, the Democrats, and the Black misleaders all at once.

We have never had anyone to depend on except ourselves. We do best when we acknowledge and honor that fact.

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

this failure.

Black and Muslim But Ellison is Black, Muslim, smart enough, and telegenic.

He votes infallibly to support the apartheid regime in Israel, and he says if it were up to him there’d have been a no-fly zone (and possible shooting war with the Russians) a long time ago.

Hillary’s indispensable firewall was supposed to be the Black vote, for which she needed to do little else than mumble about “Black lives mattering” and pose occasionally with the mothers of some of those murdered by police.

Democratic shot callers seem to still believe that all they need is another empty Black face in a high place.

Now it’s Keith Ellison’s turn.

Bruce Dixon is managing editor of BlackAgendaReport.com.

Contact him at bruce.dixon@ blackagendareport.com.

Tied to slavery “If most White Northerners found it difficult to tolerate antislavery zealots pointing fingers at the South, they also dreaded the abolitionists’ critique of the social order of New England and the Mid-Atlantic. The shipping, finance, and manufacturing economies of New England and the Mid-Atlantic remained firmly tied to human slavery long after the retreat of slaveholding in the Northern states.”

I would have called them “powerful” families rather than “great” ones. But Professor Wilder’s comment and the narratives from the museum shows clearly how the history of the United States has been falsified and deceitful. We owe NMAAHC and Professor Wilder for the proper documentation of that history.

A. Peter Bailey’s latest book is “Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the Master Teacher.” Contact him at apeterb@verizon.net.

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DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016

The issue isn’t whether Russia ‘elected’ Trump The issue is whether Russia intervened or interfered. Period.

According to the Washington Post, “The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.

“Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances.”

The real ‘crime’ If the police catch a burglar in your home, you would not demand they show proof that he actually stole something or let him go. The break-in itself (or in this case, the hack) is the thing that should cause alarm and warrant not just outrage, but punishment.

I preempted the CIA’s “secret assessment” in previous commentaries earlier this year. But more importantly, President Obama and Hillary Clinton say this assessment is credible. President-elect

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin say it is incredible, not least because – as Trump exclaimed in his December 10 interview with TIME – “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction… [The hacking] could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.”

Doesn’t make sense No doubt claims about Iraq’s WMDs constitute an open and notorious intelligence failure that will live in infamy. But it’s plainly foolhardy to use that failure to justify mocking and dismissing claims about Russia’s intervention in this presidential election.

This is rather like refusing to believe scientific evidence that the world is round because scientists used to claim that it is flat.

We are now entering Trump’s post-fact, post-truth world. His refusal to believe the truth of what no less than 17 U.S. intelligence agencies have found about Russia’s intervention is entirely consistent with his failure to release

Why ‘Black Liberation theology’ is necessary Many (but not all) White evangelical preachers don’t care about Black people, illegal immigrants, and those who are disenfranchised. I am not lumping all evangelical White preachers into the mix of racists, bigots, and misogynists.

But looking at the recent election of Donald J. Trump, one must conclude that those within the White evangelical preacher establishment who supported and promoted the ideology of one who ignited racism, bigotry, and misogyny don’t know the true meaning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which they claim to preach.

DR. SINCLAIR GREY III GUEST COLUMNIST

about the message of Jesus Christ will conclude that love and mercy is available to all persons. Sadly, shamefully, and sinfully, what has transpired is that the love of God to all persons has been replaced with the love of the need to reclaim White power. Let’s not fool ourselves for a moment and think every White preacher is our friend.

Not our friends When people say the church Theologians who are serious and state ought to be separate, the

Cheap illegal labor That’s what most of MVP Staffing’s clients want: undocumented Mexicans who are in no position to argue about working conditions or pay. Temporary work agencies and their business clients conspire to extract superprofits at the expense of both the undocumented workers, who are locked in a twilight zone of low pay and fearful silence, and Black applicants who line up for work every day, but are seldom hired.

The temporary work agencies and their clients play a cynical game, blaming each other for excluding Blacks from the workplace. The agencies say they are simply complying with their clients’ wishes. The clients say they’re not responsible, because the agencies do the hiring.

Some of MVP Staffings employees have told on their bosses. A former dispatcher said the company used a system of code words to deny Black people jobs. African-Americans were sarcastically referred to as “guapos” – which means “the handsome ones” – while Hispanics were code-named “feos,” or “the ugly ones.” It’s a nasty way of saying that Blacks don’t want to get their hands dirty or work as hard as the Mexicans.

Of course, Blacks showed up at the agency every morning, willing to get down and dirty on just about any job.

RICK MCKEE, THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE

before the antic “bromance” between Trump and Putin has its day of reckoning. Because, like the scorpion that stings the frog, it’s simply Putin’s nature (stemming from long-simmering superpower envy) to provoke confrontations with U.S. presidents — as George W. Bush soon realized and as I presaged in commentaries going back to 2005.

The world should be afraid, be very afraid, when that moment comes, whether in the form of Putin’s military incursions in Eastern Europe or the Baltic States, or the mere flexing of his military muscles on the high seas or throughout the Middle East.

Trump, who premised his presidency on being the strongest and Just wait smartest SOB on the world stage, Incidentally, it won’t be long is bound to overreact — not to dequestion that needs to be asked is what role does the church play? Is the role of the church to get people saved and that’s it? Sadly, too many only think so. Whenever the church is silent on issues, people like Donald Trump and his “me, myself, and I” ideology will prevail. In addition, the White evangelical preachers’ ideology is confirmed.

White is superior What is this White evangelical preacher mentality? That White is right and superior and everyone else is inferior. Hidden messages are seen throughout their churches – White angels, White saints, and a White Jesus. Those who confront the White evangelical preacher mentality and bring about the need to embrace unity and the fact that Jesus was a person of color are told that “God loves everybody” and that color doesn’t matter. Guess what? Col-

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

But most often, the Black applicants would wind up sitting in the office beginning at dawn, watching Hispanics get assigned to work all day long, until nobody was left in the room but broke and bitter Black folks.

The unwanted It was said to be common for managers to ask MVP to only send them workers that listened to 107.9 FM, a Spanish language radio station in Chicago.

If Black applicants somehow got placed on jobs, their paperwork would often be marked “D.N.R.,” meaning “do not return” this person to that job again.

Of course, if Black people didn’t want to work or get their hands dirty, companies like MVP wouldn’t have to deploy such elaborate – and illegal – codes, lies and dirty tricks to keep them unemployed. And if the Mexican workers were not in dread of deportation, they would be just as willing to stand up for decent pay and conditions as Black workers are.

Taking turns But businessmen control the state and the two political parties that take turns running the state. It’s in these businessmen’s interests for people to believe that Black unemployment in Illinois is three times that of White people and twice the rate of Hispanics because of some flaw in Black culture.

The flaw is in the system of capitalism as it exists in a thoroughly racist United States.

Glen Ford is executive editor of BlackAgendaReport.com. E-mail him at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

his tax returns; his efforts to intimidate, undermine, and otherwise curtail the freedom of the press; and his refusal to separate his business interests from his presidential duties and powers.

And he has yet to suffer any negative consequence for denying generally accepted truths or defying norms of presidential behavior, despite the surreality and foreboding inherent in the president-elect of the United States siding with Russia’s FSB (nee KGB) instead of America’s CIA on any question of intelligence.

And don’t get me started on the irony and hypocrisy inherent in him whining about the intelligence community conspiring with Democrats to delegitimize his election. He’s the conspiracy nut who spent the past eight years trying to delegitimize Obama’s presidency – variously insinuating that Obama was not born in the USA (aka the “birther” madness) and that his Harvard degree is a fraud.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Trump’s political values are more akin to those of Vladimir Putin than Barack Obama (or any previous president). And Trump is assembling a cabinet that seems designed more to appease Russia than to “Make America Great Again.”

Blacks barred from some temp jobs in Chicago A national temporary worker staffing agency and some of its clients have been sued for discriminating against Black workers. It’s a class action suit, filed in federal court by the Workers Law Office, a small but dedicated team of people’s lawyers in Chicago.

The offending agency, MVP Staffing, has 60 offices in 38 states and connects hundreds of businesses with tens of thousands of people seeking temporary employment. But, according to Workers Center lawyer Christopher Williams, 98 percent of the jobs in the Chicago area go to Hispanics, most of them undocumented.

EDITORIAL

or matters to many of them.

How should Black people deal with the White evangelical preacher mentality?

Leave the predominantly White church that refuses to address injustice and disenfranchisement of those who are the least and left out.

Challenge these leaders on their theology. A leader who neglects to call out politicians on policies isn’t fit to be a leader of the people of God. When these White evangelical preachers have a mixed congregation, are they addressing issues that are important to people of color?

Stop supporting their ministries and redistribute money towards Black community development. Many White evangelical preachers are living lavish lifestyles based on what Blacks them give financially. How many people within the Black community could benefit from those financial

fend America so much as to save his own (orange) face.

An equally ominous day of reckoning seems in store for Trump’s blustering blather with respect to China.

All the same, there’s no denying that this post-fact, post-truth buffoon was duly elected president of the United States. Which moved me to exclaim the morning after: “WTF! President-elect Donald J. Trump?! America. What. Have.

You. Done?”

All that’s left to be said is that you made your bed, America…

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. resources?

Call out these ministers via social media. Because social media is the main source of information for so many people, it’s imperative that we come together to expose crooked and corrupt behaviors.

According to the Washington Post, “Exit polls show White evangelical voters voted in high numbers for Donald Trump, 81-16 percent, according to exit poll results.”

Here’s a word of caution to Black people. Stop being so quick to integrate on Sunday mornings.

Integration doesn’t always mean things will work out smoothly.

Stop trying to integrate with people who don’t care about you, your community, and your concerns.

Dr. Sinclair Grey III is a speaker, business trainer, writer, and success coach. Contact him at drgrey@sinclairgrey.org.

Stop drinking the political ‘Fool-Aid’ The term “drinking the Kool-Aid” has been taken to a new level among many of our people. In many circles, we have gotten so intellectually lazy that we will believe just about anything from anyone –as long as we don’t have to do anything except trumpet a utopian message, and if we never have to sacrifice for the collective benefit of one another. The Kool-Aid cliché, as far as I am concerned, has now become “Fool-Aid,” and Black folks are gulping it down by the barrel.

There are so-called Black leaders who, despite their unseemly tactics, their portrayals of themselves as “honest” brokers, and their shadowy deal-making and sellout prowess, seem to be exempt from exposure by our people. While Black folks have always had to deal with these scoundrels, we have been reluctant to call them out – to expose them for what they are.

Real leaders suffer On the other hand, we have leaders among us who are totally dedicated to the collective economic advancement of African-Americans. These are the ones who are usually sacrificed by Black people – thrown out because they are a threat to the establishment or because they are “too Black.”

That frightens some people and, sadly, we play into that fear by participating in the demise of the very people who would help pull us out of our economic problems.

We willingly drink the Fool-Aid of those who are only interested in themselves, only to end up in the same place or even further behind than we were before we took the first sip. That must change. But it won’t change simply because it ought to change; it will only change when we change our behavior and our penchant for choosing the “wrong kind” of leader.

I have seen folks stroll through our communities and be held up as paragons of Black liberation, all while filling their pockets with the filthy lucre from their sell-out deals with the powers that be. They have their hands in every deal, program, transaction, and scenario that involves Black people, making certain that they will be the first in line to be paid. They rob the community and blame that same community for not moving forward. How can we move forward with crooks like these among us?

JAMES CLINGMAN TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

Gullible people Many people have drunk the Fool-Aid of folks like Jim Jones in Guyana, David Koresh in Waco, Texas, and many other cult figures. We have been mesmerized and captivated by individual preachers, politicians, and leaders who have absolutely no interest in anything other than their own selfish interests and advancement usually economic.

I contend that Black folks are far too intelligent to be reduced to a bunch of voluntary “Fool-Aid” drinkers, lapping up every word spoken by anyone, without doing our homework and making sure that what they say is true and illustrated by their subsequent actions.

Don’t believe everything you hear or read on the Internet. Don’t be a sycophant for a shyster or a puppet for a prevaricator. Hold their feet to the fire after they speak, and use your own discernment to ascertain the wealth of their words – or the lack thereof.

Wide gate Black folks have authentic leaders who have “constructive programs” but who are seldom followed. Unfortunately, we have more folks drinking the Fool-Aid of hucksters than we have those who refuse it or at least read the label before they are willing to take a drink. But to borrow a verse from Matthew 7:13 “...For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”

Think for yourself, and be willing to accept the consequences thereof. Fool-Aid may taste good, but it will make you very sick.

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, and Amazon Kindle eBooks.

TOJ A6

NATION

DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016

‘As ignorant as a child’ China condemns president-elect over policy on Taiwan

BY JESSICA MEYERS AND BARBARA DEMIC LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

BEIJING – China issued its strongest condemnation yet of President-elect Donald Trump on Monday, after he hinted his administration might toss aside four decades of U.S. policy recognizing Taiwan as part of China.

The country’s Foreign Ministry warned that any damage to that principle could rupture diplomatic ties. State media called him “as ignorant as a child,” and Chinese social media users upbraided the future leader’s comments.

Geng Shuang, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, expressed “serious concern” and said that any change to this established policy could render cooperation between Washington and Beijing “out of the question.”

“We urge the U.S. leader and government to fully understand the seriousness of the Taiwan issue,” he said.

Stroking tensions In just over a month, Trump’s comments have cast uncertainty over the future of U.S.-Sino relations.

His recent tweets ac-

cuse China of manipulating its currency, unfairly taxing American imports, and stoking tensions in the South China Sea. Trump’s latest remarks, made Sunday on Fox News, came just a week after he broke with long-standing precedent and accepted a call from Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen.

Trump’s brinkmanship with China comes at a time when the country has been growing increasingly assertive under President Xi Jinping.

“There is nothing more dangerous than two thinskinned bullies slugging each other,” said Orville Schell, the director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society.

“I understand Trump’s gut feeling that China shouldn’t set the terms of the game when it comes to Taiwan. It is a natural human sentiment, but it is not good foreign policy.

Trump is so unmodulated. He reacts viscerally in a way that can be very dangerous and destructive.”

Dates back to 1972 “I understand the one China policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a one China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump said in the Fox News interview.

The “one China policy” dates to 1972, when thenPresident Richard Nixon met with Chinese lead-

TIME TO CASH IN!

and withdraw its cooperation on international matters, such as relations with North Korea and Iran. But whatever measures Beijing takes are likely to harm Taiwan more than the United States, analysts said.

“China’s tool kit for bedeviling America is limited. Where they do have leverage is over Taiwanese companies, by continuing to squeeze the international space for Taiwan, cutting tourism to Taiwan and scaring the hell out of the island with saber-rattling and war games,” Pomfret said.

Defending the call

MARK BOSTER/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Ling Zeng, a Chinese Americans for Trump supporter, takes the stage with Donald Trump during a campaign stop at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., on May 25. er Mao Zedong and enshrined the United States’ acknowledgment that Taiwan was part of China.

The Communist Party’s defeated rivals, led by Chiang Kai-shek, fled to the island in the 1940s and established their own antiCommunist government.

Although Nixon’s agreement was something of a diplomatic sleight of hand since the United States would subsequently sell arms to Taiwan, it was enough for China and the United States to set aside their differences and build a relationship that now accounts for $600 billion in annual trade.

Display of displeasure The fragile status quo

has also allowed tourism and trade between Taiwan and the mainland to flourish, with Taiwanese companies like Foxconn making iPhones in China, and some 3.4 million mainlanders visiting Taiwan last year.

“The one China policy is an agreement to disagree,” said John Pomfret, author of “The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom,” a newly released book on the history of U.S.-Chinese relations. “By throwing it under the bus, Trump is taking away the weak ballast that is holding the relationship together.”

Last week, China flew a nuclear-armed bomber over a disputed boundary in the South China Sea. Analysts believed it was a

display of displeasure over Trump’s phone call with Tsai — a call that marked the first direct contact between a current or incoming American president since 1979, when the U.S. broke off formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of Beijing.

Retaliatory reaction?

China watchers anticipate possible retaliatory action from Beijing. China conducted a series of missile tests in the Taiwan Strait in 1995 in reaction to a U.S. decision to grant a visa to Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to speak at Cornell University.

Beijing could also punish U.S. companies doing business inside China

Beijing shrugged off Trump’s anti-China remarks during the campaign as the usual political rhetoric, but grew alarmed when Trump broke precedent and took Tsai’s telephone call.

Some viewed Trump’s move as a political gaffe; others saw it as a definitive statement.

Trump told Fox News he knew about the Tsai call “an hour or two” in advance and that it would have appeared disrespectful not to take it.

“Why should some other nation be able to say I can’t take a call?”

Beijing at first lodged a formal protest about the conversation, but played down its significance.

That tone has started to change.

“It’s generally interpreted here that Trump wants to negotiate the basic agreements that touch upon China’s most sensitive core interests,” said Tong Zhao, a fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing.

“The natural reaction is China will stand tough and signal strongly to Trump there is no room for renegotiation.”

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HEROES & LEGENDS

New Kennedy Space Center exhibit combines hightech theater, tales of heroism and a 21st-century setting for space vehicles and astronaut memorabilia.

BY MARJIE LAMBERT MIAMI HERALD/ TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Space memorabilia and astronaut tales are almost always a draw. Just ask the people who run the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, which gets more than 1.5 million visitors a year. But the setting can make a difference.

For years, the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame – brainchild of the Mercury 7 astronauts and loaded with artifacts from the space program – sat six miles down the road from the Kennedy visitor complex near Titusville, technically part of the Kennedy operation but getting few of its visitors.

Now the Hall of Fame has moved into a new $20 million exhibit at the space center’s visitor complex on Merritt Island. Heroes & Legends, which opened Nov. 11, combines hightech theater, tales of heroism, a 21st-century setting for space vehicles and astronaut memorabilia, and poses the question: What makes a hero?

PHOTOS BY MARJIE LAMBERT MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Painted on glass, this artwork represents the Mercury 7 astronauts, NASA’s class of astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. tion are snippets of videos submitted by members of the public in which they answer the question “what is a hero?” and name their own heroes. The answers range from parents and teachers to astronauts, Chuck Yeager and fictional characters like Superman.

Compelling exhibit Beating the drama of the space shuttle Atlantis exhibit or the enormous Saturn rockets on display at the visitor complex is hard. But the new exhibit captures the human element of the space program. With its hightech and interactive elements added to stories by and about astronauts, it is a compelling exhibit.

The highlight is a 7-minute movie, “Through the Eyes of a Hero,” that tells stories about four astronauts – Alan Shepard, Neil Armstrong, John Glenn and James Lovell – enhanced by old film clips and new computergenerated images.

In it, there’s a re-creation of a young Lovell walking on the beach with the man he names as his hero, Charles Lindbergh, who was a fan of the space program.

In another vignette, Armstrong tries to stop the end-overend tumbling of Gemini 8 during a docking exercise in space, and we hear “We have serious problems here ... The capsule is spinning out of control.”

Panoramic view Act 2 is “Through the Eyes of a Hero.” The 225-degree curved screen stands 28 feet tall, putting observers into the action.

Stand in the front balcony, and you get caught up in the details of what’s right in front of you.

Stand in the top balcony, set furthest back, and you’ll see the panorama more than the details of the movie. Best bet is the second or third tier – or watch it twice from different angles.

Artifacts, holograms

The Mercury-Redstone 6 is in the Heroes & Legends exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.

IF YOU GO The visitors complex at the Kennedy Space Center is on State Route 405 on Merritt Island, just northwest of Cape Canaveral.

Dangerous missions The movie reminds us why we think of astronauts as heroes and teaches us about the meaning of courage. Astronauts are pioneers in an environment more hostile than any place on Earth.

They face risks every minute of their missions, from fiery launch to space walks to the hazardous re-entry, knowing there is no outer-space version of AAA to rescue them if something goes wrong.

Honoring space travelers was the goal of the six surviving Mercury 7 astronauts and Betty Grissom, widow of the seventh, Gus Grissom, when they founded the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990.

Starting with the Mercury 7, a few U.S. astronauts were inducted every year. Currently, 93 of 338 U.S. astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs are in the hall of fame.

But the hall had some rocky times and was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2002 when NASA and Delaware North, the privately held company that operates the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, took it over.

The hall of fame was then included in admission to the visitor complex, but after touring

Admission is adults $50, children 3-11 $40. It includes a general bus tour (not special behind-thescenes tours), Legends & Heroes, Atlantis exhibit and launch experience, Angry Birds Space Encounter, IMAX 3D films, Apollo/Saturn V Center.

NASA/TNS

A short film, “Through the Eyes of a Hero,” shares stories about Alan Shepard, Neil Armstrong, John Glenn (above) and James Lovell. Glenn died on Dec. 8 at age 95. the sprawling space center, few visitors stopped at the hall six miles away.

Appealing to youth A year ago, Delaware North closed the hall of fame in order to move it to the visitor complex as part of the planned Heroes & Legends exhibit.

Heroes & Legends, in turn, is part of Delaware North’s effort to modernize the visitor complex, parts of which still have a ‘70s look. That look is consistent with the era of the Apollo space program but doesn’t help the space center compete with the theme parks just an hour’s drive away in Orlando.

The new exhibit is sponsored

by Boeing and was designed by Falcon’s Treehouse, an Orlan-

Hours: Opens daily at 9 a.m.; closing times vary by season.

Information: 855-433-4210, kennedyspacecenter.com

do attractions-design company, which interviewed more than 60 astronauts and produced more than 60 hours of content and 10,000 photos.

One of their goals: To create an experience that will appeal to young people.

New look Heroes & Legends moved into the building that used to house the Early Space Exploration display and incorporated some of its elements. It was deliberately placed near the visitor complex entrance so that it would be guests’ first stop.

“We’ve been focusing on a story to create what we consider a ‘launch pad’ for our visitors that really sets the stage for their full-day experience here,” Ther-

rin Protze, chief operating officer of the visitor complex, said in a statement.

The building got a new look too. The facade has a new 30-foot-by-40-foot bas relief sculpture of the Mercury 7 astronauts. An entrance ramp, an elongated loop representing the journey into space, curves through the adjoining Rocket Garden.

‘What is a Hero?’

If you think of the exhibit as a show, it has four acts.

Act 1 is an array of photos on a 360-degree screen that morph into a film called “What is a Hero?” featuring astronauts, celebrities and ordinary people talking about their heroes. Included in the seven-minute presenta-

Act 3, called “A Hero Is ...” features displays of astronauts’ artifacts and discussions of the characteristics of heroes.

The designers built displays to illustrate each of nine qualities: A hero is passionate, curious, tenacious, inspired, confident, disciplined, principled, selfless and courageous.

Each pod is designed to look like the inside of a space capsule and contains artifacts – many of them donated by astronauts – and offers interactive components, including audio or video of astronauts talking about something related to that characteristic. Other larger exhibits use holograms or augmented reality.

Among the artifacts are Gus Grissom’s Mercury spaceflight suit; Deke Slayton’s World War II bomber jacket; a Gemini IX capsule with a hologram of astronaut Gene Cernan climbing out of it; a Sigma 7 Mercury spacecraft paired with a Mercury-Redstone rocket; and an old NASA logo that was hung on the wall of the Mercury Mission Control Center at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 1959.

Hall of Fame Largest of all is a display containing the original consoles of the Mercury Mission Control room and the map of the world on which John Glenn’s 1962 flight on Friendship 7 was tracked.

Act 4 is the Astronaut Hall of Fame. The walls of the rotunda are lined with plaques and images of the 93 astronauts who have been inducted.

A statue of Alan Shepard from the old hall stands in the center of the room. Another component offers hundreds of photos of the Mercury astronauts and a wall where a visitor can pose with an image of a Mercury astronaut.

SPORTS

B2

DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016

STOJ

Top 10 bowl games to watch this season a 9-0 record. Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield and receiver Dede Westbrook were Heisman Trophy finalists and will challenge an Auburn defense that’s allowed just 15 points per game.

BY MATT MURSCHEL ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

As bowl season kicks into gear later this week, here are the top 10 games I’m looking forward to watching this holiday season:

Alamo Bowl

PlayStation Fiesta Bowl

Matchup: No. 12 Oklahoma State vs. No. 10 Colorado When: Thursday, Dec. 29, 9 p.m. TV: ESPN The Buzz: Colorado is coming off its best season since 2001 thanks to a defense that ranks among the top 20 teams in the nation. The challenge for the Buffaloes will be taking on an Oklahoma State offense that is averaging more than 38 points per game under the guidance of quarterback Mason Rudolph, who has 31 total touchdowns this season.

Matchup: No. 3 Ohio State vs.

No. 2 Clemson When: Saturday, Dec. 31, 7 p.m. TV: ESPN The Buzz: Both of these programs have played in the national-championship game the past two seasons, with Ohio State claiming the 2014 title. Clemson’s Deshaun Watson finished as the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy race after amassing more than 4,400 yards of total offense with 43 total TDs.

Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Matchup: No. 4 Washington vs.

No. 1 Alabama When: Saturday, Dec. 31, 3 p.m. TV: ESPN The Buzz: Alabama has been so dominant this season as a double-digit favorite in all but one game (LSU), and the Crimson Tide are a 16-point pick over the Huskies. The Dogs’ challenge is facing off against a defense that’s the best in the nation thanks to players like Jonathan Allen.

Orange Bowl Matchup: No. 6 Michigan vs.

No. 11 Florida State When: Friday, Dec. 30, 8 p.m.

TV: ESPN The Buzz: Michigan failed to land a spot in one of the playoff semifinals, providing the Wolverines with a huge chip on their shoulders. FSU’s Dalvin Cook, meanwhile, was snubbed by all of the major awards despite rushing for 1,620 yards with 18 touchdowns and could carry his own chip as well.

Rose Bowl Matchup: No. 9 USC vs. No. 5 Penn State When: Monday, Jan. 2, 5 p.m.

TV: ESPN The Buzz: Two of the hottest teams in the country square off

Las Vegas Bowl

ETHAN HYMAN/RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER/TNS

Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson, who was named this year’s Heisman Trophy winner last week, will headline the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31. The Cardinals will face LSU at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. in the Granddaddy of Them All. Penn State has won nine straight games, including its first outright Big Ten championship since 1994. USC, which has won eight in a row, is all too familiar with the Rose Bowl but is making its first trip back since 2008.

Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl Matchup: No. 20 LSU vs. No. 13 Louisville When: Saturday, Dec. 31, 11 a.m. TV: ABC The Buzz: Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson headlines one of the top games outside of

the New Year’s Six bowl games.

Jackson became the school’s first Heisman Trophy winner after amassing more than 4,900 yards with 51 total touchdowns. Meanwhile, Leonard Fournette looks to wrap up his LSU career as the Tigers running back hopes to bounce back from an injury-riddled season.

Cotton Bowl Matchup: No. 15 Western Michigan vs. No. 8 Wisconsin When: Monday, Jan. 2, 1 p.m.

TV: ESPN The Buzz: Western Michigan is only undefeated team in the

Football Bowl Subdivision other than Alabama. The Broncos are 2-7 against Power 5 opponents under highly touted coach P.J. Fleck, with both of those wins coming this season against Northwestern and Illinois.

Sugar Bowl Matchup: No. 14 Auburn vs.

No. 7 Oklahoma When: Monday, Jan. 2, 8:30 p.m. TV: ESPN The Buzz: Oklahoma claimed its first back-to-back Big 12 championships since 2007 and 2008 after the team ran through the conference schedule with

Why TV sports is driving your cable bill up

A new ball game Sports have become the glue holding the pay-TV bundle together. While Internet streaming options including Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.com offer thousands of hours of scripted shows, there is little in the way of live sports. So sports fans remain tethered to their cable bundle.

But heading into 2017, it could be a new ball game. The cable business model that sports channels helped build is under siege.

Pay-TV companies are balking at paying higher rights fees, fueling the kind of standoff that, for example, has kept thousands of fans from watching the Los Angeles Dodgers’ channel.

Pay-TV penetration peaked in 2009, and declines in the num-

Russell Athletic Bowl Matchup: No. 16 West Virginia vs. Miami When: Wednesday, Dec. 28, 5:30 p.m. TV: ESPN The Buzz: West Virginia flirted with a possible spot in the College Football Playoff early in the season but stumbled in losses to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. The Mountaineers feature the third-best defense in the Big 12, forcing a league-best 25 turnovers. That could be crucial against a Miami team that has only turned over the football an ACC-low 10 times in 2016.

American Football League.

Lucrative business model

BY MEG JAMES LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

LOS ANGELES – Last year, Americans collectively spent 31 billion hours watching sports on TV – a 40 percent increase from a decade ago.

They watched football, baseball, basketball, hockey, horse racing, NASCAR, rowing, rugby, soccer and volleyball — even Little League championships and poker games.

“Live sports is the most valuable content on the planet,” said Adam Ware, head of digital media at Tennis Channel.

Pay-TV distributors like DirecTV and Charter Communications have written bigger and bigger checks for the rights to carry sports channels — fortifying a business model in which cable and satellite TV subscribers, and advertisers, underwrite the costs.

Matchup: Houston vs. San Diego State When: Saturday, Dec. 17, 3:30 p.m. TV: ABC The Buzz: San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey became the NCAA’s No. 2 career rusher with 6,290 yards during the Aztecs’ win in the Mountain West title game. He needs 108 yards in the bowl game to surpass Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne to become the all-time leading rusher but will have to do so against a Houston defense that is allowing just 97 yards per game this season.

BRIAN CASSELLA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Last month, Fox Broadcasting scored 40 million viewers for the final World Series game. The Chicago Cubs are shown celebrating after defeating the Cleveland Indians, Nov. 3 in Game 7 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. grams live, rather than fast-forwarding through the ads, which allows networks to charge a premium for the commercial time.

Sports broadcast fees climbing Television, radio, phone and Internet outlets pay huge fees for the rights to broadcast sports. Here are the media rights fees paid in North America to broadcast sporting events on TV, radio and the Internet.

$21.3 billion

$25 billion

$18.2 billion

projected figures

20

15

$10.8 billion

10

5

’11

’12

’13

’14

’15

Source: PwC Sports Outlook

ber of households that subscribe to a satellite or cable TV service have accelerated. Since 2010, basic cable channels, including ESPN, TNT and Discovery, have lost more than 8 million subscribers.

Cheaper alternatives Consumers are weary of neverending increases in their monthly pay-TV bills, which have been partly fueled by rising sports costs. And unlike years ago, they have cheaper online alternatives.

“Every year, there are more entertainment options for peo-

’16

’17

’18

’19

’20

Graphic: Los Angeles Times/TNS

ple to fill their leisure time,” said Dennis Deninger, a former ESPN production executive who now teaches sports communications at Syracuse University.

Nonetheless, sports channels retain considerable leverage.

Sports programming generates $30 billion a year in revenue for TV companies, according to Barclay’s Capital. Big games grab the highest ratings.

Last month, Fox Broadcasting scored 40 million viewers for the final World Series game. And fans tend to watch sports pro-

Raking in billions Broadcast and cable TV executives teed up more than 127,000 hours of sports programming last year, according to audience measurement firm Nielsen. That represents a 160 percent increase compared with 2005.

The major beneficiaries have been sports leagues and teams, which are expected to rake in an estimated $18.9 billion in media rights fees next year from TV, radio and Internet outlets, according to a recent PwC report on sports.

The NFL alone collects nearly $7.5 billion a year from media companies, including nearly $1.9 billion a year from Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN for “Monday Night Football” and other football extras.

The NFL reaps $1.5 billion a year from DirecTV for its Sunday Ticket package and roughly $3.7 billion a year from NBC, CBS and Fox. That’s a long way from the first national TV sports contract, which was struck in 1960 between the ABC network and the

That year, ABC agreed to pay $8.5 million over five years to televise weekly games and championships, said Deninger.

The rival NFL then “saw the wisdom of doing a national television contract to replace the 12 regional television deals that each of the NFL owners had,” he said.

A lucrative business model was born. But the game-changer was Rupert Murdoch’s upstart Fox Broadcasting’s gambit in 1993 for television rights for Sunday afternoon NFL games.

Though TV broadcasters were losing money on the NFL, the network bid a staggering $395 million a year — $100 million more than CBS had offered.

“That’s when the rights fees started to soar into the stratosphere,” Deninger said.

Higher costs Having football put Fox on the map. Affiliate TV stations flipped their alliances to Fox. A few years later, when the rights package was up again, CBS swallowed another huge increase, dislodging NBC, and the race was on.

Now, Fox pays $1.1 billion a year for pro football, and CBS pays $1.4 billion for its Sunday afternoon and Thursday night games. NBC’s total is nearly $1.2 billion.

The rising cost of sports is a major reason for the higher cable bills.

Sports now make up about 40 percent of programming costs paid by cable and satellite TV operators.

For example, ESPN costs an average $7.20 a month, per subscriber home, and a channel like SportsNet LA has been offered for about $4.50 a month, per subscriber home, according to consulting firm SNL Kagan.

The NFL Network costs payTV companies $1.39 a month per subscriber — nearly twice the fee of such popular channels as Nickelodeon or CNN. SNL Kagan estimates that payTV customers next year will chip in an average $18.37 a month for sports, up from $2.85 a month in 2001.

STOJ

DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

Mahershala Ali won best supporting actor from the Critics’ Choice Awards on Dec. 11 for his best role in the film “Moonlight.’’ The winners are voted on by members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association. “Moonlight’’ chronicles the life of a young Black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighborhood in Miami.

B3

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.

Thandie Newton won best actress in a drama series from the Critics’ Choice Awards on Dec. 11 for her role in “Westwood,’’ a science fiction action thriller. In the series, Newton is Maeve Millay, the madam of “Westworld.’’

A24 FILMS

Jaden Piner (Kevin) is shown in a scene from the movie “Moonlight” directed by Barry Jenkins.

Golden Globe nods for ‘Moonlight,’ and ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’

BY JOSH ROTTENBERG LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

RAY MICKSHAW/FX

Sterling K. Brown (left) is Christopher Darden and Cuba Gooding, Jr. is O.J. Simpson in “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”

LOS ANGELES — Early awards season front-runners “La La Land,” “Moonlight” and “Manchester by the Sea” made strong showings in the Golden Globes nominations, while potential contenders such as “20th Century Women,” “Hacksaw Ridge” and “Lion” also received boosts.

But it wouldn’t be the Golden Globes without some curve balls, and the nominations announcement Monday morning by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association offered several – including a surprising pair of nods for the raunchy, R-rated superhero movie “Deadpool” for best picture in the comedy or musical category and for the film’s star, Ryan Reynolds.

Denzel Washington was nominated for his roles as Troy Maxson in the movie “Fences.’’ He also starred in the Broadway version of August Wilson’s screenplay.

Six for ‘Moonlight’ The romantic musical “La La Land” led the film pack overall with seven nominations, including best picture in the musical or drama category as well as nods for stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling and director Damien Chazelle.

The coming-of-age drama “Moonlight” followed

closely behind with six nominations, including a nod for best picture in the drama category along with recognition for the supporting turns by Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris and for director Barry Jenkins.

The wrenching drama “Manchester by the Sea” received five nominations – including best picture in the drama category as well as nods for director Kenneth Lonergan, actor Casey Affleck and actress Michelle Williams – while the period comedy “Florence Foster Jenkins” and the uplifting drama “Lion” each received four nods.

‘Simpson’ cast nods On the television side, “The People v. O.J. Simpson” led the field with five nominations, including four nods for series cast members Sarah Paulson, Courtney B. Vance, Sterling K. Brown and John Travolta.

The 74th Golden Globe Awards will be handed out on Jan. 8, with Jimmy Fallon hosting.

FOOD

B4

DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016

STOJ

Fruit and fowl for family Make your meal delightfully tasty with simple-to-create Pan Chicken with Grapefruit Shallots and Mint Sauce. This quick, easy recipe pairs succulent chicken with sweet Texas grapefruit juice, which provides a light flavor enhancement and a fatfree source of beneficial components such as vitamin A, vitamin C and lycopene. Find more recipes that take advantage of grape­fruit’s quality and taste at Texasweet.com.

PAN CHICKEN WITH GRAPEFRUIT, SHALLOTS AND MINT SAUCE Servings: 4 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus additional, to taste 1/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper, plus additional, to taste 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided 1/4 cup shallots 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 1 cup chicken broth 1/2 cup fresh Texas Rio Star Grapefruit juice 1 tablespoon minced mint, divided 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour 4 mint leaves Salt and pepper chicken.

In large skillet, heat half the oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sear until both sides are browned well, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer chicken to plate and tent with foil.

Reduce heat to medium and add remaining oil to pan. Add shallots and crushed red pepper. Cook about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

In small bowl, whisk together broth, grapefruit juice, half the minced mint and flour. Add to skillet. Cook, whisk­ing until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.

Return chicken to skillet with juices; reduce heat to low. Season with addi­tional salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes.

Serve chicken with sauce spooned over.

Use remaining minced mint and mint leaves to garnish.

magic

HOLIDAY MENU

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

Planning ahead for family meals around the holidays can be a headacheinducing practice, but putting to work recipes that everyone can enjoy makes it a much more enjoyable process. By planning out an evening’s worth of courses, you can take care of hungry pre-dinner guests, knock a main dish

Melted and amazing From the presentation to the pairings, it’s easy to make an ordinary spread extraordi­nary this holiday season. Cheese is a good starting place for properly pairing food and wine to make flavors more vibrant. Take this year’s event to the next level with this Culinary Education Center House Fondue to bring the wow-factor to your gathering by combining three melted cheeses with light wine for an enjoyable appetizer. To find more ways to incorporate cheese into your holiday entertaining, visit rothcheese.com.

CULINARY EDUCATION CENTER HOUSE FONDUE Cook time: 45 minutes Servings: 6 3/4 pound Grand Cru Original, shredded 3/4 pound Grand Cru Reserve, shredded

out of the park and cap off everyone’s night with a spectacular dessert.

These recipes for Culinary Education Center House Fondue, Pan Chicken with Grape­fruit Shallots and Mint Sauce, and Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake will help keep every­body satisfied throughout the party, from start to finish.

Find more holiday recipes at culinary. net.

1/2 pound Roth Fontina, shredded 16 ounces Pinot Grigio or other light- to medium-bodied white wine 1 loaf crusty artisan bread fresh apples, grapes and pears black and white pepper (optional) nutmeg (optional) In ceramic fondue pot, combine cheeses and wine; stir to combine. Allow mixture to soak 15-30 minutes.

Heat mixture over low heat, approxi­mately 7-10 minutes, stirring constantly with wooden spoon.

Do not allow mixture to boil. When cheese has melted completely, remove from heat and transfer to tabletop burner.

Serve fondue with chunks of bread and fruit. If desired, provide pepper and/or nutmeg guests can sprinkle onto a plate and use for dipping bread and cheese. Pair with chilled dry Riesling and a shot of authentic Swiss kirschwasser.

A chocolatey finishing touch There’s no better way to round out a holiday party than with a delicious dessert, especially one packed with everyone’s favorite ingredient – chocolate. This candy-coated Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake can put the finishing touch on your holiday celebration. Find more scrumptious dessert recipes at nestle.com.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERMILK LAYER CAKE Servings: 12 3/4 cup Nestlé Toll House Baking Cocoa, plus extra for coating pans 2 1/4 cups cake flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon fine salt 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, at room temperature 1/2 cup brewed coffee or water 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 2 cups superfine sugar 4 large eggs, at room temperature 2-3 containers (16 ounces each) prepared chocolate frosting, or about 3 3/4-5 1/2 cups homemade 1-2 Nestlé Crunch Candy Bars, finely chopped 24-36 pieces Nestlé Butterfinger Bites Candy, finely chopped Heat oven to 350 F. Grease bottoms of three 8- or 9-inch-round cake pans; line with parchment or wax paper

circle. Grease parchment then coat lightly with small amount of cocoa, tapping out excess.

In large bowl, sift together flour, 3/4 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt. In small bowl, combine butter­milk, coffee and vanilla extract.

In large mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth.

Beat in sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; beat again. Alter­nately add flour mixture in three additions with butter­milk mixture in two additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape down sides of bowl; beat again.

Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.

Bake 20-25 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Invert each layer onto wire rack; remove parchment paper then invert right-side-up. Cool completely.

To assemble, level cakes (trim tops off), if desired, using serrated knife. Place dollop of frosting in center of cake pedestal or serving platter. Tear four strips of parchment paper and place in square around outer 3 inches of pedestal.

Place one cake layer over dollop of frosting.

Spread about 1 cup frosting over top; sprinkle top evenly with about 1/4 cup chopped candy bar. Top with another cake layer; spread with about 1 cup frosting. Sprinkle with remaining chopped candy bar. Top with third cake layer. Cover top and sides with thin layer of frosting.

Refrigerate 15 minutes then cover with remaining frosting. With hands, press chopped candy pieces around sides of cake. After frosting has set, gently remove strips of parchment paper.

Cut cake into slices to serve.

STOJ

DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016

elegant AN

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

There is no time like the holiday season to get together and make memories with family and friends. Nothing brings people together quite like an elegant meal featuring a standout main dish – an exceptionally prepared entree that pays true homage to the season and all that you celebrate. This focal point dish should not only look delightful, but needs to also be a masterful presenta­tion of mouthwatering flavor to keep your loved ones gathered around the table.

PRIME RIB ROAST WITH ROSEMARY AND THYME AU JUS Serves: 10-14 Prep time: 30 minutes Total cook time: 3 hours, 50 minutes 6 pound Omaha Steaks Bone-In Prime Rib Roast 3 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 cup Omaha Steaks Private Reserve Rub 5 carrots, chopped into 1-inch pieces 5 celery stalks, chopped into 1-inch pieces 1 medium onion, chopped into 1-inch pieces 1 1/2 cups red wine 3 cups low-sodium beef broth 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme, finely chopped Thaw roast completely (3-4 days for 6-pound roast) in refrigerator before cooking.

Heat oven to 250 F. Remove roast from packaging and pat dry with clean paper towels.

Coat outside of roast with olive oil and liberally season with rub.

Start with something sweet Satisfy the sweet tooth of all your guests with a sweet glaze on a juicy ham, another flavorful option to be the centerpiece of a holiday celebration. With Apricot Ham Glaze or Cranberry Orange Ham Glaze, you’ll know that you’re bringing the best flavor out of a premium, delightful ham, and pleasing the palates of those around the dinner table.

APRICOT HAM GLAZE Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Total time: 15 Serves: 6-8 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon corn starch 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 cup canned apricot nectar

FOOD

B5

HOLIDAY FEAST

Creating this perfect dish begins with choosing a premium cut of meat. Take the guesswork out of this year’s meal with a selection from Omaha Steaks, a leading provider of premium beef and gourmet foods. You can select the right cut of meat, flash-frozen to capture freshness and flavor at its peak, from the comfort of your home and have it delivered directly to your door.

Invite elegance to your holiday table with this recipe for a succulent prime rib roast and find more inspiration at omahasteaks.com.

Place carrots, celery and onion in even layer on bottom of large roasting pan to catch beef drippings.

Place roast in roasting pan on elevated wire rack. Sprinkle any leftover rub on roast to ensure generous coating.

Roast until roast reaches an internal temperature of 125 F (for medium-rare), approximately 3 hours for 6-pound roast.

Remove roast from oven and let rest 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat broiler to high, with rack positioned for roast to sit about 4 inches from heating element.

After roast has rested, place in oven under broiler, fat side up, about 5 minutes to brown roast.

Remove pan from oven. Remove wire rack with roast from pan and place on carving board. Skim fat from pan, if necessary.

Place pan on top of stove over two burners set on high heat. Add wine to pan drippings and cook over high heat until reduced by half, releasing drippings on bottom of pan with wooden spoon or whisk. Add beef broth and cook until reduced by half again.

Whisk or stir in rosemary and thyme. Strain out vegetables and pour au jus into serving vessel.

Slice roast and serve with au jus.

In small saucepan, combine brown sugar, corn starch and ginger. Stir in apricot nectar.

Cook over medium heat, stirring con­stantly, until mixture thickens and boils.

Serving suggestion: Brush glaze over whole ham before roasting or over ham steaks while grilling.

CRANBERRY ORANGE HAM GLAZE Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Total time: 15 minutes Serves: 10-12 1 can (16 ounces) cranberry sauce 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup orange juice 1/2 teaspoon cloves, ground 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, ground 1/4 teaspoon all spice Place all ingredients in small saucepan over low heat. Simmer 5 minutes, then serve.

New ways to love leftovers This year, when the holiday feast is over, reach for the leftovers to whip up a flavorful meal that will let your taste buds celebrate all over again. For example, leftover turkey can be repurposed into other classic, seasonal entrees, like a turkey melt or a warm, flavorful soup.

TURKEY MELT WITH CRANBERRY PESTO SAUCE 4 slices sourdough bread, cut 1/2inch thick 4 tablespoons butter, softened 1/4 cup prepared pesto 1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce 4 thin slices roasted turkey breast 4 slices fresh mozzarella cheese

Heat heavy skillet over medium heat.

Spread one side of each bread slice with butter. Spread other side of each slice with pesto.

Place 2 bread slices in skillet, butter side down. Top each with cranberry sauce, turkey, cheese and remaining slices of bread, butter side up. Cook, turning once, 6-8 minutes, or until golden brown and cheese is melted.

TURKEY NOODLE SOUP 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup chopped onion 1 cup chopped celery 1 cup sliced carrots 1 tablespoon Omaha Steaks Garlic & Herb Rub 1 package (32 ounces) no-salt-added chicken broth 1 cup dry egg noodles, uncooked

1 cup chopped roasted turkey In large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat.

Add onion, celery, carrots and rub. Cook 5 minutes until onions are softened, stirring occasionally.

Stir in chicken broth and noodles.

Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 minutes until noodles are tender. Stir in turkey; cook 2 minutes until heated through.

B6

CALENDAR & HOLIDAY SEASON

DECEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 22, 2016

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

GLADYS KNIGHT Catch Gladys Knight on Jan. 20 at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater for an 8 p.m. show.

ARNEZ J

Tickets are on sale for the Miami Festival of Laughs on Jan. 14 at the James L. Knight Center. The 8 p.m. show will feature Michael Blackson, Benji Brown, Arnez J, Mike Epps, Jay Pharoah and Felipe Esparza.

CHRIS ROCK

Tickets are on sale for the comedian/actor’s Total Blackout Tour 2017 on April 16 at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando. More info: drphillipscenter.org.

TOJ

Schedule a session by calling M.D. Stewart & Associates at 305-890-4984.

Tampa: The Tampa Bay Soul Fest featuring Brian McKnight, Johnny Gill and Al B. Sure is Jan. 15 at the USF Sun Dome.

Miami Gardens: Obamacare Awareness workshops and enrollment will be held every Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Betty T. Ferguson Center, 3000 NW 199th St. Licensed agents will be on site.

Miami: The Peter London Global Dance Group performs Dec. 16-18 at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

Jacksonville: An Evening with Nth Power takes place Dec. 30 at the Ritz Theatre.

Miami Gardens: Free oneon-one business consulting sessions are available Dec. 19 and 20 at City Hall.

Orlando: Changing the Game for A New Generation’s holiday gala is Dec. 18 from 4 to 9 p.m. Speaker: Dr. Bridget Williams, Chief of Staff, Orange County Public Schools. Tickets: www. ctgforanewgeneration.com or call 407-792-4110.

Orlando: The Roots will perform Dec. 29 at the House of Blues Orlando and at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on New Year’s Eve. Daytona Beach: The NAIA Football Banquet of Champions is 6 p.m. Dec. 16 at the Ocean Center.

Orlando: A Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson Tribute is 7 p.m. Dec. 28 at the House of Blues Orlando.

St. Augustine: Tickets are on sale for a March 9 concert featuring Earth, Wind & Fire at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre.

Ugly sweaters infiltrate holiday season with garish styles partment’s chief financial officer Caroline Sturgis, 41, combining the ugly sweater and cute holiday pajamas will mark a new tradition, as decided by her family after Thanksgiving dinner this year.

“We started thinking about, ‘Well, you know Christmas is around the corner, so what are we going to do?’ We had the debate among our family,” Sturgis said. “Now everyone is on a mission trying to look for their cutest PJs and ugliest sweater.”

BY BRITTANY BRITTO BALTIMORE SUN/TNS

BALTIMORE – Keisha Jones, 32, of Mitchellville, Md., dons a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle” Christmas T-shirt decorated with pizza slices, a nod to her favorite childhood cartoon and her shirt of choice for her friend’s annual ugly sweater party.

Jennifer Eisenberg, 23, of Federal Hill wears a black sweater with glimmering mistletoe and a reindeer with pursed lips that reads “Kiss Me.” Hanukkah sweaters are hard to find, said Eisenberg, who is Jewish, so she’ll likely save it for the coming holiday parties or a night out at the bars.

Dia Hancock displays her fandom for the band The Roots with cartoon versions of its members on her sweater.

“I think if you can think it, they can make an ugly sweater out of it,” said Hancock, 32, who, inspired by hours of binge-watching Netflix, will sport a “Stranger Things”-themed sweater.

Too much pressure

Back in style They’re the tip of the uglysweater iceberg. There are ugly sweater parties, celebrity-endorsed lines, a designated “national day” and major-league sports franchises and big-box retailers in on the act. The theme has been adapted to ugly-sweater shirts, hats, leggings, pajamas and attire for pets, often embracing pop culture.

The roots of the trend date to (non-ironic) holiday sweaterwearing in the 1980s, according to “Bringing Ugly Back: The Ugly Christmas Sweater Handbook,” created in part by online retailer UglyChristmasSweater.com.

The trend fell out of favor in the ’90s — the sweaters came to be seen as unwelcome gifts, generally from grandmothers — but has enjoyed a resurgence that embraces the intentionally unattractive, gaudily knitted threads adorned with holiday motifs, colors and sometimes even lights.

In high demand It has evolved over the years into a holiday phenomenon, earning its own national day (Dec. 16 this year) and turning the weeks

Home for the holidays Issues with drugs pushed Juanita away from her family, down to Florida, where she was homeless for many years.

Last year, with the help of a charity, Miracle Messages, a California-based nonprofit that reunites homeless people with their families through social media, put her in touch with family.

Now, she’ll spend Christmas in her native Hartford for the first time in decades.

AMY DAVIS/BALTIMORE SUN/TNS

From left, Dia Hancock of Mitchellville, Jennifer Eisenberg of Baltimore, and Keisha Jones of Mitchellville show off their “ugly” Christmas sweaters. surrounding Christmas and Hanukkah into jovial dress-up opportunities.

UglyChristmasSweater.com launched in 2011 after finding that used sweaters were in high demand, with some selling online for more than $400.

“We’ve typically seen two types of customers,” said Fred Hajjar, 36, co-founder and president of the Michigan-based company.

“Some people really just want a sweater that they look at and say, ‘Wow, that’s ugly,’ and there’s others that want a trendy-type sweater.”

UglyChristmasSweater.com sold $5 million worth of attire last year and expects to sell around 90,000 sweaters this year (prices typically range from $39.99 to $69.99); popular items this year are sweaters that include a 3-D component or a “Star Wars”

theme in anticipation of the December release of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” More risque options are also for sale, including the “stripper pole sweater,” which features an exotic dancer in the North Pole surrounded by elves tipping dollar bills.

Celebs selling them This year, the website added a customizing tool, allowing customers to design their own sweaters — a strategy to stay ahead of competition like online rival Tipsy Elves, featured on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” and retail giants like Target, Macy’s and WalMart.

Celebrities have also hopped on the bandwagon. Rapper 2 Chainz launched his line of ugly sweaters featuring a “Dabbin’ Santa” in 2015, and actor Whoopi Goldberg released a limited-edi-

tion collection of holiday sweaters, priced at $139, at Lord & Taylor in November. Beyonce and rapper Nas also sell ugly-sweater-themed apparel.

A fun theme At the workplace, the ugly sweater allows colleagues to socialize in a relaxed environment, according to Kelley Chase, 30, and Jessica Laird, 33, who work for the office of advancement engagement at McDaniel College.

Last year, the office sweater party saw “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and Donald Trumpthemed sweaters, sweater pants and even sweater suits.

“Everyone has a lot of fun with it, and we have a chance to do a fun little holiday-themed something before everyone heads out for the holiday,” Laird said.

For the Baltimore Police De-

But while many people seem to view the ugly sweater as a fashion rule-breaker that brings people together during the holiday season, others fear that it has become too commercialized.

To Darlene Pisani, a writer and interior designer in Annapolis, the tradition is now reminiscent of Halloween and is “way too much pressure.” She’d rather see discarded ugly sweaters used as gift wrapping or a tree skirt, or perhaps given to a friend one wishes to see less of.

But to UglyChristmasSweater.com’s Hajjar, the thought and effort put into an ugly sweater is what makes it special.

“Maybe add some lights, things hanging off of it, tinsel. There’s tons of things you can do to really make it unique. It’s like, if you buy a Halloween costume from Spirit Halloween, you’re not gonna win the contest, whereas a person who puts a little more into it — you can really make it ugly.”

Beyond the parties But when the holiday parties are over, and you’re left with an ugly sweater with your favorite cartoon or TV show, don’t be too quick to retire it.

“The one that I bought last year, I’ve worn it so many times since last season,” said McDaniel College’s Chase, who will sport her “Game of Thrones” ugly sweater, which is strewn with wolves and the phrase “Winter Is Coming.”

“You’ll never know when you’ll need it.”

After nearly 30 years, Juanita Haugabook is greeted at Bradley International Airport on Dec. 6 by her family.

She is shown with brothers Leonard, left, and Edward at Bradley International Airport on Dec. 6.

JOHN WOIKE/HARTFORD COURANT/ TNS