Chairman Cummings Issues Statement on Mueller Report

Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, issued the following statement on the release of the redacted version of Special Counsel Mueller’s report:

“The President and his Attorney General expect the American people to be blind to what we can now see. This report catalogues in excruciating detail a proliferation of lies by the President to the American people, as well as his incessant and repeated efforts to encourage others to lie. Contrary to Attorney General Barr’s attempts at misdirection, it is crystal clear from the report that the Justice Department’s policy against indicting a sitting President played a key role in Special Counsel Mueller’s analysis—in fact, it is the very first point in the obstruction section of his report. Unfortunately, we still have only part of the story, and Congress must subpoena the full report and all underlying documents.”

Peggy Alford First African American Woman Nominated to Facebook Board of Directors

MENLO PARK, Calif., April 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Facebook has announced that Peggy Alford, Senior Vice President, Core Markets of PayPal Holdings, Inc., has been nominated for election to the company's board of directors at its annual meeting of stockholders to be held on May 30, 2019.

Founded in 2004, Facebook's mission is to make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them. (PRNewsfoto/Facebook, Inc.)

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and Chairman/CEO of Facebook said: "Peggy is one of those rare people who's an expert across many different areas — from business management to finance operations to product development. I know she will have great ideas that help us address both the opportunities and challenges facing our company."

"What excites me about the opportunity to join Facebook's board is the company's drive and desire to face hard issues head-on while continuing to improve on the amazing connection experiences they have built over the years," said Peggy Alford. "I look forward to working with Mark and the other directors as the company builds new and inspiring ways to help people connect and build community."

Ms. Alford has served as Senior Vice President, Core Markets of PayPal Holdings, Inc., a digital payments company, since March 2019. From September 2017 to February 2019, Ms. Alford served as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Operations for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization. Ms. Alford previously held a variety of senior positions at PayPal from May 2011 to August 2017, including Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Americas, Global Customer and Global Credit, and Senior Vice President of Human Resources, People Operations and Global Head of Cross Border Trade. From 2007 to 2011, Ms. Alford served as President and General Manager of Rent.com, an eBay Inc. company, and also served as its Chief Financial Officer from October 2005 to March 2009. From 2002 to 2005, Ms. Alford served as Marketplace Controller and Director of Accounting Policy at eBay. Ms. Alford currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Macerich Company, a real estate investment trust. Ms. Alford holds a B.S. in accounting and business administration from the University of Dayton.

Facebook's current board members are: Mark Zuckerberg; Marc L. Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz; Erskine B. Bowles, President Emeritus, University of North Carolina; Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and Managing Director, General Catalyst; Susan D. Desmond-Hellmann, CEO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Reed Hastings, Chairman and CEO, Netflix; Sheryl K. Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook; Peter A. Thiel, Founders Fund; and Jeffrey D. Zients, CEO, the Cranemere Group. Mr. Bowles and Mr. Hastings, who have both served on the board since 2011, will not be nominated for re-election at the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders.

Kamala Harris Regrets That Parents Were Arrested Under Her Truancy Law

Sen. Kamala Harris said Wednesday that she regrets that some California prosecutors “criminalized the parents” of truant children using a controversial 2011 law she helped pass when she was the district attorney of San Francisco.

“My regret is that I have now heard stories where in some jurisdictions, DAs have now criminalized the parents,” Harris said in an interview with “Pod Save America.”

“And I regret that that has happened and the thought that anything that I did could have led to that,” she added.

Truancy — which refers to unexcused school absences — was one of Harris’ signature issues while she was the San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.

The law in question imposes fines and jail time on parents of children in kindergarten through eighth grade who have missed 10 percent of school days or more without a valid excuse.

Harris championed the law in the state legislature after she successfully reduced truancy in San Francisco by threatening to prosecute parents under a more dated law.

Many observers also questioned whether Harris’ push to address truancy through the criminal justice system inherently punished low-income and struggling families. She has previously framed truancy as “a parent issue” that stems from parental “neglect.”

Harris has always said her goal in involving prosecutors in the truancy process was not to punish parents but to give schools more leverage to bring them to the table.

When she was district attorney of San Francisco, she noted, her office never jailed any parents.

“I realized that the system was failing these kids, not putting the services in place to keep them in school, to make it easier for parents to do what parents naturally wanted to do around parenting their children,” she said in the interview. “And so I put a spotlight on it.”

“As a result of doing that, we ended up increasing attendance by over 30% because we actually required the system then to kick in and do the services that they were required to do and sometimes had available, but they weren’t doing outreach with the parents,” she continued. “And so that was the whole purpose.”

If any parents who were punished as a result of the law she later helped pass, that was an “unintended consequence,” Harris said.

[SOURCE: HUFFPOST]

Seventh District Baptist Association raising money to help black churches burned down in Louisiana

The Seventh District Baptist Association, is a 149 year old non-profit religious organization. They are working with the Governor of Louisiana, local leaders, elected officials, the impacted churches and their pastors, other faith organizations and the community to raise money and to ensure 100% of all funds raised will be evenly distributed to the three churches affected by suspicious fires.

The historically black churches have burned in less than two weeks in one south Louisiana parish, where officials said they had found “suspicious elements” in each case. The officials have not ruled out the possibility of arson, or the possibility that the fires are related.

“There is clearly something happening in this community,” State Fire Marshal H. Browning said in a statement on Thursday.

Please donate here and look for upcoming opportunities to help these churches and communities begin to heal: Seventh District Baptist Church Fires St Landry

The Seventh District Baptist Association lead by President Freddie Jack, is comprised of approximately 60 Baptist churches from seven parishes in Southwest Louisiana, which includes the three churches affected by the recent fires. The District meets on a quarterly and annual basis emphasizing Christian Education, Evangelism, Discipleship and fellowship in the Body of Christ.

The District's annual session is held the first week in June where we celebrate our legacy and plan continual ministry events to reach the lost and edify the Saints. The District will be holding its 149th Annual Session in Lake Charles, Louisiana the week of June 2nd.

President Jack requested that a Go Fund Me campaign be initiated to show our support for our church families and the communities affected. We are unequivocally committed to aiding our Sister Churches. The donations received are earmarked specifically for the Seventh District's member churches - St. Mary Baptist Church, Greater Union Baptist Church and Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. All of your generous donations will be disbursed equally among all three churches for not only rebuilding their sanctuaries, but for the purchase of all necessities lost in the fires, including pews, sound system, musical instruments, etc.

Seventh District and the Pastors and congregations of the St. Mary Baptist Church, Greater Union Baptist Church and Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church thank you and solicit your continual prayers and support as we will overcome this tragedy together because we are ONE BODY IN CHRIST!

Ruth V. Jack, Finance Secretary

Seventh District Baptist Association

Contact information: sdbajack@gmail.com

Pete Buttigieg pledges to 'do better' at attracting black voters

2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg pledged on Tuesday to do more to reach out to African-American voters, laying out specifics of how he'll address the lack of diversity.

"We need to invite more and more people into the process. We do it through our team and the team that we're building," Buttigieg told CNN's Poppy Harlow and John Avlon on "New Day."

The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said he needs to do better when it comes to reaching out to African-American voters and increasing the diversity of the crowd at his campaign events.

"I think we need to do better," Buttigieg told CNN. "As I've been on the trail, we found, to some extent, it depends on geography. We had a very diverse crowd at my first stop in Nevada, but less so in South Carolina. One of the most important things you can achieve in South Carolina is engage with African-American voters in particular, which represents such an important part of our party's coalition."

Buttigieg said his outreach to African-American voters will include ensuring his campaign addresses "issues that disproportionately affect families of color," like housing, income, entrepreneurship and criminal justice reform.

He also plans to reach out to African-American voters by "working to build a diverse team within our organization."

"Some of it is quantity time. Where do you go on these campaign visits? They're very traditional and important places where you can engage in voters of color, from church networks to some of the associations that have built up around the search for justice," Buttigieg said.

"But also, there's a bit of a generational divide here. Younger people of color are less likely to organize in some of the traditional structures that would be true for my parents' generation. And that's where digital organization and reaching into different media venues is going to be important to make those connections."

Asked if he was disappointed that his crowds have not been more diverse, Buttigieg said on Tuesday it means "we've got our work cut out for us."

[SOURCE: CNN]