A Georgia County is attempting to force the closure of 7 of its nine voting precincts before November's general election. That county is also 60 percent Black which has raised the questions, is the push for those closures racially or politically motivated or because African American & Democrat Stacey Abrams is on the ballot for governor and African Americans vote overwhelmingly for Democrats?
Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary General and Nobel Peace Laureate, has died. He was 80. A statement posted on his Twitter account said, Kofi Annan died after a short illness. "It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully on Saturday 18th August after a short illness," the foundation said in a statement.
News agency Reuters says Kofi Annan died at a hospital in Bern, Switzerland, in the early hours of Saturday.
Kofi Annan was the first black African to take up the role of the world's top diplomat - United Nations Secretary General - serving two terms from 1997 to 2006. He later served as the UN special envoy for Syria, leading efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
He, along with the United Nations, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world".
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city council took to Twitter to mock Donald trump after he blamed "local politicians" for the cancellation of his overpriced "mine is bigger than yours" military parade. Read their tweets below:
Yup, I’m Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington DC, the local politician who finally got thru to the reality star in the White House with the realities ($21.6M) of parades/events/demonstrations in Trump America (sad). https://t.co/vqC3d8FLqx
— MurielBowser (@MurielBowser) August 17, 2018
Town Council
Better late. Then: never.
— Council of DC (@councilofdc) August 17, 2018
Tanks but no tanks. pic.twitter.com/57WR28RMyU
Both Barack and Michelle Obama released statements via Twitter on the passing of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Read those statements below:
Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade—our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect. May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace. pic.twitter.com/bfASqKlLc5
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 16, 2018
Watching Aretha Franklin perform at the White House, and on so many other occasions, made time stand still. @BarackObama and I are holding Aretha’s family in our hearts right now. She will forever be our Queen of Soul. pic.twitter.com/NhHsbKijpl
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) August 16, 2018
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison won the Democratic Farmer Labor Party primary for Minnesota attorney general Tuesday and will face Republican Doug Wardlow in the November election.
Five Democrats were competing to be their party’s pick in the primary, which came days after an allegation of domestic violence emerged against Ellison. He has denied his ex-girlfriend’s claim, and went on to a decisive victory.
“We had a very unexpected event at the end of this campaign that happened,” Ellison told supporters at Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis. “I want to assure you that it is not true and we are going to keep on fighting all the way.”
The Democrats had a short but fiercely contested primary race. Attorney General Lori Swanson announced in June she would run for governor instead of seeking re-election, leaving two months for candidates to distinguish themselves. Ellison was competing with state Rep. Debra Hilstrom, former Ramsey County Attorney Tom Foley, former state Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman and Minneapolis attorney and DFL endorsee Matt Pelikan.
The election of Minnesota’s next chief legal officer landed in the spotlight with Ellison in the race and an increased focus by Democrats on using the office to challenge President Donald Trump.
Ellison has been one of the most outspoken candidates on fighting Trump administration policies. He has represented Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes Minneapolis and some western suburbs, for 12 years and previously served in the Legislature. He is deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee and was the first Muslim member of Congress.
