Saturday, August 19, 2017

Pastor quits Trump's evangelical advisory board


A.R. Bernard, the pastor of the Christian Cultural Center Megachurch in Brooklyn, New York is the first religious leader to step down from President Trump's evangelical advisory board. Trump blaming the violence in Charlottesville on both sides was the final straw for Bernard. Read his statement on why he stepped down below:


Colin Kaepernick items to be part of Smithsonian's Black Lives Matter collection

Items pertaining to Colin Kaepernick will be part of the Black Lives Matter collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

"The National Museum of African American History and Culture has nearly 40,000 items in our collection," Damion Thomas, the Washington museum's sports curator, told USA Today Sports. "The Colin Kaepernick collection is in line with the museum's larger collecting efforts to document the varied areas of society that have been impacted by the Black Lives Matter movement."

Thomas had previously told USA Today Sports that items would include a game-worn jersey and shoes.

Kaepernick, as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, kneeled during the playing of national anthem throughout the 2016 season. The free agent quarterback said he was protesting racial inequality and social injustice in the country.

[SOURCE: ABCNEWS]

Friday, August 18, 2017

Senator Cory Booker wants Confederate statues removed from Capitol Hill

Sen. Cory Booker plans to introduce a bill to remove statues from the US Capitol honoring Confederate soldiers despite President Donald Trump calling these memorials "beautiful."

"I will be introducing a bill to remove Confederate statues from the US Capitol building. This is just one step. We have much work to do," the New Jersey Democrat tweeted Wednesday.

There are at least 10 Confederate statues in the Capitol, distributed between the Hall of Columns, the Capitol Visitor Center and other locations, most notably Statuary Hall, where each state chooses two statues to be on display.

Booker said in a statement to CNN that having to see Confederate statues in a position of honor in a place as public as the Capitol can be "painful."

"The Capitol is a place for all Americans to come and feel welcomed, encouraged, and inspired," he said. "Confederate statues do the opposite."

"They are, unequivocally, not only statues of treasonous Americans, but are symbolic to some who seek to revise history and advance hate and division," the lawmaker added. "To millions of Americans, they are painful, injurious symbols of bigotry and hate, celebrating individuals who sought to break our nation asunder and preserve the vile institution of slavery and white supremacy."

Read more: There are Confederate statues on Capitol Hill. Cory Booker has a bill that removes them.

NBA star Kevin Durant will not visit Trump White House

NBA superstar and now champion, Kevin Durant told ESPN that he will not be visiting the White House when the Golden State Warriors visit in February because he doesn't respect the man in office right now. Read his statement below:

"Nah, I won't do that," said Durant when questioned about a White House visit by ESPN. "I don't respect who's in office right now."

"I don't agree with what he agrees with, so my voice is going to be heard by not doing that," said Durant, who said it wasn't an organizational decision. "That's just me personally, but if I know my guys well enough, they'll all agree with me."

Roger B. Taney statue removed from Maryland State House ground

A statue of the of the U.S. Supreme Court justice who wrote the Dred Scott decision that upheld slavery and denied citizenship to African-Americans has been removed from the grounds of the Maryland State House.

The statue of Roger B. Taney was lifted away by a crane at about 2 a.m. Friday. It was lowered into a truck and driven away.

A panel voted by email Wednesday to remove the statue, which was erected in 1872.

House Speaker Michael Busch, who voted for removal, wrote this week that the statue “doesn’t belong” on the grounds. His comments came after the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. Gov. Larry Hogan said this week that removing the statue was “the right thing to do.”

Roger B. Taney statue removed from Maryland State House ground