Today marks the 15oth Anniversary of the signing of The Emancipation Proclamation, that in theory declared 4 million slaves living in most of the South to be “forever free.” One hundred and fifty years later, and there’s still a lot of “free” to be had. There’s nothing harder than transforming an enslaved, helpless, fearful, dehumanized mind and soul into a strong, healthy, self-determining spirit. And Black folks need to credit themselves more for doing this. And least we forget, Blacks were taking freedom seriously long before Abe and his fellow legislators put their John Hancock on that sheet of paper. Running away, armed slave revolts, covert destruction of slave owner properties and slave owner themselves and willfully disobeying their captors and the laws that protected and encouraged them, literally at the risk of life and limb. The biggest thing we take away from that experience, and we carry it around with us like a gift today, is that you can eventually enslave a strong body, but you can’t ever enslave a strong mind and soul. Never. ♦
In an interesting and slightly suspicious turn-of-events, The Vatican says it may be stepping up the election of the next Pope sooner than usual. The original date of the conclave, March 15 of this year, was set under the current rules that require a 15 to 20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant allowing time for cardinals living outside Rome to fly in, so to speak.Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said that Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation and that “this is a question that people are discussing.” Which means they’ve already decided on it.
This sort of takes that fairness element out of the equation doesn’t it? Whats’s the hurry? If Pope Benedict were to die today, the rules still require a waiting period before the election of a new Pope. Am I the only one who finds this suspicious!!?? ♦
With his reign soon coming to an end, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave his last last State of the State Address this past Thursday, bragging more than Muhammad Ali at the start of a match. The central theme of his 7,000-word speech, was that because he was so gosh darn wealthy he wasn’t beholden to any of those nasty lobbyists, unions and campaign donors that so often corrupt the lesser politician, thus leaving him free to run the city in a more humanistic, businessman type manor working solely on behalf of all the little people of this great city. How big of you Mayor. But he did have a point.
Well Mr. Bloomberg, thanks for everything. And in your final 320 days as king please try to concentrate less on your desire to ban plastic-foam products, ease the consequences of marijuana possession, install curbside charging stations for electric cars and creating European-style youth hostels across the city, and more on repairing our inner city school buildings, creating facilities and programs to get the still too many homeless people off the street, and revitalize the building of more affordable housing in the city. You know, for the sake of us little people. ♦
And here’s a little something for you sports fans:
NBA player Kris Humphries, Kim Kardashian‘s soon-to-be-ex, has already made up his mind — if his divorce trial falls on the same day as the 2013 Playoffs, dude said he’s going to divorce court. Not willing to give poor Kardashian the quiet, uncontested divorce she seeks, the Brooklyn Nets baller says he’ll ditch the games if it means he’ll have his long awaited opportunity to get in front of a judge and explain why he’d like to sue Kim for an annulment on grounds she allegedly defrauded him.
The crazy part is that Humphries is willing to risk his 2-year, $24 million contract for nothing. There was a prenup and the marriage lasted all of 72 days, so you ain’t getting squat my man. ♦
Is he even a good ballplayer?
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Note: No Lean Cuisine last night. Had a dinner out so I had to fall off. But back on the saddle tonite, promise!
After demanding that the mother of a crying toddler “shut that nigger baby up,” a male passenger allegedly slapped the 19-month-old across the face as a flight prepared to land in Atlanta last Friday evening, The Smoking Gun has learned.
The shocking February 8 incident aboard Delta Air Lines Flight 721 resulted in Joe Rickey Hundley, 60, being charged with simple assault, according to a U.S. District Court affidavit. Hundley, seen at right, is president of an aircraft parts manufacturer headquartered in Hayden, Idaho.
Joe Rickey Hundley
In an interview, Hundley denied striking the toddler or using a racial slur, though he did acknowledge that he “asked the mother to quiet the child.” Hundley, who said he was traveling to Atlanta to visit a hospitalized relative, described himself as “distraught” on the flight, during which he said he consumed a single alcoholic drink.
As detailed by FBI Agent Daron Cheney, Hundley was traveling to Atlanta from Minneapolis in seat 28A on the MD-90 twin-engine jet. He was seated next to Jessica Bennett, who shared seat 28B with her son Jonah.
Bennett, 33, told investigators that the “aircraft was in final descent” to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when her child “started to cry due to the altitude change.” Bennett added that she “was trying to get [her son] to stop crying, but he continued.”
At this point, Bennett recalled, Hundley used the racial epithet as he told her to shut the child up. He then allegedly “turned around and slapped” the toddler in the face “with an open hand, which caused the juvenile victim to scream even louder.” The slap, Bennett said, “caused a scratch below [the child’s] right eye.”
After Hundley hit the child, Agent Cheney reported, Bennett received assistance from several other passengers, including Todd Wooten, who was in seat 16C. Wooten told agents that he “heard derogatory language coming from the rear of the aircraft” and got up to investigate. “According to Mr. Wooten,” Cheney noted, “he saw Joe Rickey Hundley strike” the toddler.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular, 98% Fat Free or Healthy Request®) 1/2 cup water
Directions:
Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes or until well browned on both sides. Remove the chicken from the skillet.
Stir the soup and water in the skillet and heat to a boil. Return the chicken to the skillet. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Here is another example of what the Republicans would prefer – allow a certain group to make as much money as possible, while making all provisions for those people to game the system and get even more. Such is the story of Facebook and their 2012 taxes.
According to Citizens For Tax Justice, Facebook made $1 billion in profits in 2012, paid zero in taxes and received a $429 million tax refund.
Republicans must be happy!
Facebook is reporting a $429 million net tax refund from the federal and state treasuries. And it’s not because they weren’t profitable. Indeed, Mark Zuckerburg’s little company earned nearly $1.1 billion in profits.
Want to make Republicans even more happy? Take grandma’s social security and send it to Mark Zuckerburg. They wouldn’t be able to contain themselves!
Don’t count on ever seeing the “Kenan and Kel” reunion you always hoped for — because Kel Mitchell tells TMZ, Kenan’s dropped him like a hot potato … and is actively avoiding him.
Kenan Thompson
Kenan Thompson — who starred with Kel in a million different Nickelodeon projects back in the day — is currently developing a new comedy pilot with NBC, so we reached out to Kel to see if he’d be making a cameo.
BUT OUR DREAMS WERE DASHED TO PIECES.
Kel Mitchell
Kel tells TMZ, “The truth is Kenan does not want to be seen with me in any form of media, or even have my name mentioned around him.”
Kel says he nearly reunited with Kenan for an interview with a popular magazine but Kenan pulled out at the last minute … and he thinks it’s because Kenan’s still trying to separate himself from his old co-star.
But Kel’s not bitter, explaining, “I have not been upset about this. I respect his choice of wanting to make a name for himself solo.”
“There is no bad blood on my side, I’m not declining a reunion, I know the fans love the show and would love to see some type of appearance with us … I just don’t see that ever happening because of how he really feels.”
We reached out to Kenan’s camp multiple times — but our calls and emails were not returned.
The manhunt for escaped convict Alberto Morales ended early Saturday in a hail of gunfire as the fugitive was cornered by police and shot and killed in a small town in Texas.
Authorities said Morales, who had somehow slipped out of his handcuffs since escaping police Monday, lunged at the officers with wooden sticks, according to Texas authorities.
Morales, 41, had been on the run since overpowering a Miami-Dade police detective, stabbing him with his eyeglasses and disappearing from a Walmart in a Dallas suburb. Two Miami-Dade detectives had been escorting Morales, a violent sex offender, to a Las Vegas prison at the time of his escape to finish serving a 30-years-to-life prison term.
“Obviously, we are very relieved,’’ Miami-Dade Deputy Mayor Genaro “Chip” Iglesias said Saturday. “We are relieved that he will not be able to hurt anybody else.’’
The detective, Jaime Pardinas, survived but suffered a collapsed lung. He is recovering at a Dallas-area hospital.
The President’s weekly address can be summed up in this statement: No one in America should work full-time and raise their children in poverty. The statement is part of the address as President Obama called on Congress to do what is necessary to bring jobs back to America to “help grow and strengthen the middle class.”
What is it about public figures that make them do dumb things they’ll eventually get caught at because, well, they’re public figures. I mean, I can understand us little folk trying to pull off some kinda hustle cuz we’re figuring maybe no one’s even paying any attention to us. And nowadays that’s a BIG maybe. But you Public Figures!? You guys are either oblivious, get off on extreme risk-taking, or have a distorted view on the best ways to draw attention to yourselves.
Case in point: Jesse Jackson Jr., son of notable civil rights activists and cultural icon Jesse Jackson Sr. (also, not without his issues) is under investigation for embezzling money from his own campaign funds to buy more than $20,000 worth of Michael Jackson memorabilia, $10,000 in Bruce Lee paraphernalia, as well as fur coats and capes. Yep! Certainly worth going to the Booty-Pen for, Junior.
Jackson is expected to plead guilty to federal charges filed today in Washington. He faces up to five years in federal prison for his bad judgement or lack thereof. His wife, an ex-Chicago alderman, has also been charged with falsifying tax records and underrepresenting her income. SMH!…♦
Few folks would believe that Congress will actually take us to the brink of a dreaded sequester of $85 billion in automatic spending cuts due to its failure to come up with a solid, mutually satisfying balanced budget, but here we are 2 weeks til the deadline and we’ve got nothin’.
“We’re pretty far away because we have revenue in ours…”– Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
“It’s my guess that sequester is going to kick in on March 1 because, again, unless you have real reductions in spending, this bill just kicks the can down the road…” — Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)
[*NOTE: Colors correspond to inadequate response to the sequester by affiliated Parties.] ♦
So someone tell me what’s the dating scene is like out here these days?
I’m only asking because some concerned friends of mine, abhorred that I’d write about my contentment to sit at my computer all day and claim to have a satisfying relationship with it, mentioned to me that my present state of single-ness was unacceptable. Actually they used more harsh terms, but I won’t print them here.
Suffice it to say, they’ve given me an assignment to break it off with PC and go out and find a RealGuy. O000 — I don’t know, that sounds like a lotta work. But Spring is coming, and God willing, will soon be followed by Summer and I’ll only regret not listening to their threats when those glorious Summer Nights start rolling in in the world’s greatest city, New York and I’ve got no one to spend time with. So, I’ll indulge them for as long as I can. I don’t know how MyComputer’s gonna take it though. He’s scary-jealous. ♦
In a related subject: Last night was my 2nd night of my pledge to eat a Lean Cuisine meal for 21 days to trim down a bit. LC’s Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom Panini was good-to-go, although the frozen chicken pieces were a hideous grayish brown until zapped in the microwave. I suggest microwaving it a little bit longer than the 2 3/4 minutes suggested if you like your panini bread a bit stiffer. I went for a full 3 minutes. A little too lightly seasoned for my tastes ( I had to at least add some pepper), but still tasty and hunger satisfying. The all important cheese in the panini was of course reduced fat so it didn’t really give you that mouth-watering effect that an authentic Panini would normally give when you caught the aroma of seared mozzarella cheese melting down into the toast, but hey, its diet food. I’d give this meal a 3 out of 5, and in the future I’ll reserve the LC sandwiches for a snack rather than dinner. ♦
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