Nipsey Hussle’s shooter has been apprehended by California police Tuesday afternoon and is in custody. Eric Holder, 29, was apprehended and placed into custody 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles CBS reported according to LA County Sheriff’s deputies.
Charges against Holder were not announced yet, and the arrest came just hours after LAPD policeman Michel Moore implored him to surrender.
Eric Holder, alleged shooter of Nipsey Hussle.
The gunman suspected of killing Nipsey Hussle had a personal dispute with the rapper that did not involve gang activity, the Los Angeles police chief said Tuesday as he urged the man to surrender.
Hussle and the suspect,
29-year-old Eric Holder, knew each other, Chief Michel Moore said, but he did
not reveal how they were acquainted or offer any details about the dispute.
Hussle was fatally shot
Sunday outside his South Los Angeles clothing store. Moore said Holder
repeatedly approached Hussle and talked with him before returning with a gun
and opening fire. Holder then fled in a waiting car driven by a woman, the
police chief said.
Moore, speaking at a news
conference that was being broadcast live, said he was confident that Holder was
watching. “I ask you to surrender,” he said.
The police chief and the
president of the city’s Police Commission had been scheduled to meet with
Hussle on Monday to discuss the relationship between the police force and the
inner city.
Moore said he was
devastated when he learned Hussle had been killed.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said
Hussle’s killing occurred during a surge of gun violence, and he announced
plans to deploy new resources to roll it back.
A fight apparently broke
out Monday night at a memorial for Hussle, and a stampede ensued, leaving at
least 19 people hurt, including two who were taken to hospitals in critical
condition. Dozens of police officers cleared the memorial site.
At least one
of the critically injured persons was struck by a car, and the other one had a
“penetrating injury,” although it was unclear whether that person was stabbed
or cut by broken glass, a fire department spokeswoman said.
Two other people suffered
serious injuries and 15 had injuries that were considered non-life threatening.
An autopsy completed
Monday showed that Hussle, 33, died after being shot in the head and torso. The
rapper, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, had recently purchased the strip
mall where the shop is located and planned to redevelop it into a mixed-use
commercial and residential complex.
The plan was part of
Hussle’s broader
ambitions to remake the neighborhood where he grew up and attempt to break
the cycle of gang life that lured him in when he was younger.
David Blaine Sexual Assault Claims
David Blaine
denies sexual assault allegations under investigation in New York City and
intends to cooperate with authorities, his publicist said in a statement
Tuesday.
New York police confirmed
Monday that the magician is under
investigation, following a Daily Beast report that
the department had taken statements from two women accusing Blaine of sexual
assault.
Chief of Detectives Dermot
Shea, speaking at an unrelated news conference, declined to discuss any details
about Blaine’s case and wouldn’t say whether police had sought to interview
him.
“David denies the
accusations that have been reported and he takes these allegations seriously,”
the statement from Blaine’s publicist said. “He intends to cooperate with any
investigation.”
The Daily Beast, citing
unnamed sources, said one of Blaine’s accusers alleges he attacked her inside
his Manhattan apartment in 1998, which may fall outside the statute of
limitations.
The Daily Beast had
previously reported that a former model alleged Blaine raped her in London in
2004, an allegation he denied. Scotland Yard detectives later declined to take
further action after investigating her claim, the news website said.
Blaine, 45, is known for
stunts like being buried underground for a week without food or water in New
York in 1999. He also lived in a plexiglass case suspended 30 feet (9 meters)
above the Thames River in London for more than 40 days in 2003.
Blaine is scheduled to
start a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland in June, according to his
website.
In a separate statement
about the New York City case, the NYPD said Monday it “takes sexual assault and
rape cases extremely seriously, and urges anyone who has been a victim to file
a report so we can perform a comprehensive investigation, and offer support and
services to survivors.”
The master
illusionist first rose to fame in 1999 when he was buried in a plexiglass
coffin under a three-ton water-filled tank for seven days. Since then, Blaine
has encased himself in a six-ton block of ice in Times Square for 58 hours,
stood atop a flagpole for 35 hours and spent 44 days suspended in a glass box
in London.
Blaine is
scheduled for a European tour that kicks off in June.
Jack Montague Moves Ahead With Yale
Lawsuit
A federal
judge has ruled that a former Yale basketball captain who was expelled for
sexual misconduct that he denies can move forward with his lawsuit against the
university.
U.S. District Judge Alfred
Covello, in a ruling released Monday, denied Yale’s motion to throw out many of
Jack
Montague’s claims, including that a Title IX officer improperly coerced the
woman involved to cooperate with the school’s complaint that led to his
February 2016 expulsion.
“Jack Montague has always
maintained that his expulsion from Yale in February 2016 – at the very moment
he and the Yale basketball team were about to head to the NCAA tournament, and
just three months before he was to be awarded the degree which he had all but
earned – was the result of an unfair and biased disciplinary process which had
been programed from the start to result in his dismissal,” said Montague’s
attorney, Max Stern. “Now a federal judge, having made a thorough review, has
rejected Yale’s claims that Montague lacks evidence to support his case.”
Montague was expelled
after that woman testified before Yale’s Unified Committee on Sexual Misconduct
that much of a 2014 sexual encounter with the player was not consensual. No
criminal charges were ever brought.
Yale’s attorneys have said
the woman, identified only as Jane Roe, made it clear that she did not want to
have intercourse and that the school and its officials acted appropriately.
Montague’s lawsuit alleges
the woman only agreed to cooperate with Yale’s complaint after a Title IX
officer informed her that Montague had received sensitivity training in another
case. His lawyers contend that is a violation of the school’s own
confidentiality rules.
That earlier case had
involved an argument in which Montague allegedly shoved a folded paper plate
down a woman’s top.
Montague also argues that
his accuser was allowed to give a lengthy, emotional statement to the
committee, while he was denied a similar opportunity.
“The court concludes that
there are issues of material fact with regard to whether Yale
violated their own procedures by allowing Roe full participation in the
hearing, even though she was not the complainant,” Covello wrote.
The judge tossed out
several of Montague’s arguments, including that the school’s actions in both
cases were the result of a bias against him as a man.
Yale said in a statement
that it is pleased “that the court ruled Yale did not discriminate against Jack
Montague and that he cannot pursue several other claims from his lawsuit.”
Montague, who had been
seeking readmission to the school, went on to attend Belmont University in
Tennessee. His lawsuit also seeks monetary damages.
Facebook claims they have made it safer for users on their site with privacy issues, but they’ve still not been able to clamp down on the growing number of ad scams. As we’ve seen recently, none of this actually appears to be the case as they continue getting into one problem after another.
Hundreds of
ads running on Facebook for over a year promised U.S. homeowners that governors
in their state had just signed off on big tax breaks for installing solar
energy panels on their roofs.
But the tax incentives
were simply made up.
The scam ads used photos
of some U.S. governors and sometimes President Donald Trump to claim that with
new, lucrative tax incentives, people might actually make money when they add
solar technology to their home. Facebook users only needed to enter contact
information to find out more.
Governors’ offices confirmed
the offers aren’t real.
Experts say these kinds of
ads show how easily misinformation festers online and raises questions about if
big tech companies such as Facebook are really capable of policing their own
ads.
A Florida
mom has been putting
out an alert to expectant mothers about another Facebook scam focused on
them. This one is about a baby stroller selling for less than $90. Any mom
knows these can run over $500 easily so this too good to be true is just that.
The site even shows up as secure with the trusty HTTPS sign. They even have 51
positive reviews, but it’s all fake.
You can look up a website’s registration by searching “who is
(company’s domain)” on Google. The website 1supershop was created in 2017.
It’s registered in Tokyo and the domain is on GoDaddy.com’s server. You can
email Go Daddy about abuse on any site on their server at abuse@GoDaddy.com.
You can also report an ad on Facebook by clicking the … icon next to the ad.
You can also report these scams to the Better Business Bureau
along with filling out a consumer complaint form to the state’s
attorney general’s office if you’ve also been hit by this scam. If you have
been hit with another scam, report it to the BBB and go to your state’s
attorney generals website as they’ll have a form for you to fill out.
FBI Fails To Alert Hacking Victims
Americans
caught up in international cyberespionage campaigns are routinely being left in
the dark by the FBI, the U.S. Justice Department’s watchdog said in a report published
Monday.
The Justice Department’s
Office of the Inspector General said that advisory letters typically sent by
the FBI to victims of cybercrime were almost never issued in “national security
cyber cases,” echoing a 2017 report that found the FBI was routinely failing to
warn targets of Russian hackers that their personal emails were under threat.
The inspector general
quoted the FBI’s Office of Victim Assistance saying that out-of-date guidelines
were among the problems that kept American victims of foreign spies from
getting timely advice.
In a letter dated Dec. 21,
2018, and published alongside the report, the FBI said it agreed with the need
to strengthen its procedures and said it was “imperative that victims of
cybercrime are informed of their rights.”
Caring for the Americans
caught in foreign hackers’ crosshairs has shot up the agenda since Russian
spies intervened in the 2016 election. An investigation found that
only a handful of the hundreds of Americans targeted by the hackers received
any help from the FBI.
Few if any appear to have
heard anything since. Even former intelligence workers who have spent months
trying to pry information from the government have been left none the wiser.
Authorities have shown
“zero interest” in communicating, said Joe Mazzafro, a former U.S. Navy
intelligence officer whose email was among those targeted by Russian hackers.
“Not even the proverbial
‘thanks for your interest in national defense,’” he said.
A message seeking comment
from the Office of the Inspector General was not immediately returned.
Just months ago, Michael Avenatti didn’t meet a television camera he didn’t like, but lately, his fortunes have changed, and now R. Kelly is pulling him into his own sex abuse case. This legal filing is combining three of the biggest crime stories in America.
A lawyer defending R. Kelly said Monday that the prosecution’s sex-abuse case against the R&B singer had been marred by the involvement of attorney Michael Avenatti, who faces extortion charges in New York and embezzlement charges in California.
The singer’s lead
attorney, Steve Greenberg, said in comments to reporters and a court filing
that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx relied way too much on Avenatti in
deciding in late February to bring charges against Kelly, saying Avenatti’s
involvement irreparably tainted the case.
There was, Greenberg told
reporters after a brief pretrial hearing, “a rush to prosecute because of
pressure — all polluted — by Michael Avenatti,” who gained national fame by
filing an ultimately failed lawsuit against President Donald Trump on behalf of
porn star Stormy Daniels.
Greenberg went into detail
in a seven-page court filing Monday, saying Avenatti has appeared to take on
the mantel of “a de facto prosecutor” in the Kelly case.
“Given the allegations
against (Avenatti) one must wonder what he has told those he has interacted
with in these matters, and what is true and what is not,” the filing says.
Avenatti, who represents
two Kelly accusers, has said a video he gave prosecutors in mid-February
purporting to show Kelly having sex with a minor was key in Foxx’s decision to
seek charges, something her office hasn’t disputed. Avenatti also met
with prosecutors at least twice before indictments accused Kelly of abusing
three girls and one woman.
Criticism over Foxx’s
handling of the Jussie Smollett case also makes her more vulnerable to the
kinds of accusations leveled by Kelly’s attorney Monday.
Last week, prosecutors
dropped all charges against the “Empire” actor that accused him of staging a
racist, anti-gay attack. Foxx and her staff offered often contradictory,
muddled accounts for their logic behind the sudden dismissal of the case.
A Foxx spokeswoman
declined comment on Greenberg’s comments. Prosecutors said in a brief filing
Monday that Greenberg’s “accusations and speculation” were “lacking in factual
support.”
Avenatti is accused in
California of fraudulently obtaining $4 million in bank loans and pocketing
$1.6 million that belonged to a client. Federal prosecutors in New York allege
that Avenatti tried to shake down Nike for millions of dollars so he wouldn’t
reveal allegations the apparel company paid off high school basketball players.
Greenberg’s Monday filings
asks the judge in his case for an order that all communications between
Avenatti and the state’s attorney’s office be preserved as possible evidence of
inappropriate
coordination and communication leading up to charges. Judge Lawrence Flood
said he’d rule on the request later.
Avenatti shot back in a
series of tweets later Monday, accusing Greenberg of “trying to distract
attention away from the clear guilt of his client by raising bogus arguments
about me and Kim Foxx.”
“There was never anything
improper about our involvement in the case and we are going to continue to
press forward,” Avenatti said.
Greenberg and Avanetti
have hurled insults at each other on Twitter for weeks. After Avenatti’s arrest
last week on the New York charges, Greenberg offered his legal services in a
wry tweet: “I hear he needs a good lawyer.”
Just hours after
Avenatti’s arrest last week, Greenberg also tweeted references to the New York
federal complaint in which Avenatti mentions Kelly to Nike executives in a
secret recording. He’d go public with damaging information if they didn’t pay
up, and emails and texts would pour in claiming the sportswear giant of
wrongdoing, Avenatti allegedly said.
“It’s always (BS) 90
percent of the time, always, whether it’s R. Kelly or Trump,” Avenatti said,
according to the complaint. “But 10 percent of it is actually going to be true,
and then what’s going to happen is that this is going to snowball.”
Avenatti denied any
wrongdoing after his release from custody last week, declaring he’d be fully
exonerated.
Among the questions that
must be answered, Greenberg said in his Monday motion, is whether Avenatti
influenced his clients in ways to improve the odds of charges against Kelly. He
said the accusations of one accuser — an Avenatti client — was investigated
around 2002 and prosecutors decided not to prosecute.
“The case laid dormant
till Mr. Avenatti joined in,” Greenberg said in his motion. “Then it
miraculously was resurrected, although nothing had changed” over more than 15
years.
Greenberg said Avenatti’s
interest in the Kelly case corresponds with his own legal and professional
problems, including his falling out with Daniels.
“He drums up problems for
others to deflect from his own,” Greenberg said.
The motion also says Foxx
has demonstrated bias against Kelly, including by mentioning her own experience
as a victim of abuse and by characterizing the allegations before Kelly was
ever charged. He said that “creates the appearance of bias and an
understandable willingness, desire and propensity to rush to judgment in
prosecuting.”
The motion also mentions
Foxx’s recusal in the Smollett case after she spoke to a member of Smollett’s
family and before charges were filed and dropped.
“Plainly, this particular
State’s Attorney is able to be influenced and wowed, as evidenced by the facts
of her recusal and the subsequent series of events in the Jussie Smollett
case,” it says.
Kevin Hart has already been crowned Star of the Year at this year’s CinemaCon, but the big elephant in the room will be Netflix. After Steven Spielberg had his say on the streaming network’s award chances, the spotlight will be on streaming services.
The schedule looks to be much lighter this year with Fox being pulled into the Disney Family, Sony’s noticeable absence and Amazon skipping it’s annual luncheon. That doesn’t make the event less noteworthy as more eyes will be focused on the studios and theater owners.
The movie industry — everyone from the Hollywood studios that produce the films to the companies that make the screens, speakers, and seats in theaters — are descending on Las Vegas this week for CinemaCon. The future of film going will be in the spotlight as the annual trade show kicks off Monday at Caesar’s Palace.
There will surely be much
celebration and self-congratulation for the record 2018 box office year, which
exceeded $11.8 billion in ticket sales in North America, and recent successes
like “Us” and “Captain Marvel.” Yet this year’s CinemaCon is coming at a time
of great change in Hollywood. Streaming and how long movies play in theaters
have been a conversation staple at CinemaCon in recent years, but Walt Disney
Co.’s just-completed acquisition of 20th Century Fox will be the elephant in
the room.
“People are really
wondering what this consolidation is going to look like for the entire
business,” said Kevin Grayson, the president of domestic distribution for STX
Films.
On a practical level, it
means there won’t be a separate presentation from Fox, which always staged an
elaborate production, usually involving its former distribution chief in some
kind of costume.
“We will absolutely miss
the Fox presence, but we also need to support and embrace Disney for what they
bring to our industry and what they’re going to look to do to further bolster
the distribution line of great product,” said Mitch Neuhauser, the managing
director of CinemaCon. “It’s going to be a very bittersweet convention. But we
will change with the times and move forward in a productive way.”
In other words, the show
must go on. Disney, which has been the market-leader for three years running,
along with three of the other major studios, Universal, Warner Bros. and
Paramount (Sony is sitting this year out), will come armed with splashy new
footage, trailers and some of their biggest stars to hype their slates for the
summer movie season and beyond to an audience of theater owners, from the
biggest chains to the smallest mom and pop shops.
It’s not just the biggest
studios: Lionsgate, Amazon, Neon and STX Entertainment will also be present,
with some showing sneak peeks of upcoming films like “Wild Rose,” ″Late Night”
and “Long Shot.”
STX will kick off the main
studio presentations Tuesday morning after a few remarks on the state of the
industry.
“It really gives us that
opportunity to shine a light on STX and show that we are not here for the short
term, we are here for the long term,” said STX’s Grayson.
STX specializes in
mid-range and mid-budgeted commercial films like “The Upside” and “Second Act,”
and CinemaCon is an essential space to interact with not only the big players
in exhibition but the people who own “twins and triples” in the middle of the
country that are just as essential to their business.
“We’re releasing 10 to 12
films this year and 12 to 15 next year, “Grayson said. “So when the other
studios are making the tentpoles, it allows us to fill that gap. ”
Outside of the main
theater, there will also be a whole world on the trade exhibition floor showing
the latest and greatest in everything from theater technologies to concession
snacks.
“There has been a non-stop
momentum of new technology that is driving the industry,” said Neuhauser.
Ray Nutt, the CEO of
Fathom Events, which specializes in event cinema, from classic movies to the
Metropolitan Opera and even sporting events, agrees.
“That box office record
doesn’t just happen because there’s good content out there,” Nutt said. “It
happens because the amenities in the theaters are awesome these days, whether
it’s luxury seating or enhanced food and beverage. These are all things that
make going to the movie theater special and one of a kind.”
Julien Marcel, the CEO of
Webedia Movies Pro, a tech and data company for the theatrical industry,
predicts that there will also be much discussion over the “second digital
revolution” in movie going.
“All movie experiences
start online and the key challenge for exhibitors is how to adapt with this
second digital revolution,” Marcel said. “The first digital revolution was when
projection moved from analog to digital. Now we’re at the heart of the second
digital revolution where the marketing goes all digital and the ticket sales go
all digital.”
Marcel’s company recently
published a study that said there was 18.7 percent growth in online ticket
sales in 2018. Movie tickets purchased online currently make up about a quarter
of all ticket sales.
He also expects there to
be a lot of focus on the “subscription economy.” MoviePass might be struggling,
but AMC and Cinemark have found successes with their own models and more
companies are gearing up to do the same.
And even with all the
changes afoot, the mood as ever going into CinemaCon is optimism.
“I’ve been around this
business for 30 years now and it was always something that was coming along
whether it was cable television or the VCR that was going to kill the
industry,” said Nutt. “But people in this industry keep innovating in different
ways to keep people coming back out to the theater to have that communal
experience. It’s pretty gratifying to see the resiliency of the industry.”
5 Burning Questions For Studios and Theater Owners
1.) Will Release Windows Shrink?
Studios say yes, theater owners say no way. The issue of windowing, the amount of time that major releases remain exclusively in theaters, is a prickly one. But it will likely be raised in some way at CinemaCon, particularly with Comcast (corporate parent of Universal), WarnerMedia (corporate parent of Warner Bros.), and Disney all poised to launch streaming services in the coming months. As these players invest in premium content the lines between theatrical movies and streaming shows will continue to blur. In order to justify the tens of millions they spend distributing movies and advertising them, studios argue that they need to be able to release them on home entertainment platforms earlier. Theaters counter that doing so would cannibalize their revenues and would encourage consumers to just skip the multiplexes in favor of streaming a hot new release when it lands on the on-demand platform of their choice within a matter of weeks. This debate isn’t going away any time soon.
2.) Netflix: Friend or Foe?
Most theater owners would
say the latter, but the situation is becoming more complicated. After being
dismissive of cinemas as anachronisms, the streaming leviathan is making more
of an effort to play nice. Initially, Netflix insisted that all of its movies
debut on its streaming service at the same time they premiered in theaters. But
that’s changing. “Roma,” for instance, was in theaters for three weeks before
it started streaming, and Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Netflix release “The
Irishman” is expected to have some sort of exclusive theatrical run. Most major
chains refuse to show these movies however, because they debut on Netflix
within weeks of their opening. They want the streaming service to adhere to the
roughly 90-day exclusive theatrical window that other studios honor. Can these
two sides find some common ground?
3.) Will CinemaCon
lack firepower?
With Sony sitting out
CinemaCon and Amazon opting to just screen “Late Night,” this year’s gathering
looks a little light on the presentations. Plus, Hollywood is down a studio.
Twentieth Century Fox could reliably be counted on to put on one of the
biggest shows of any CinemaCon, replete with dancing showgirls, full size
orchestras, and, in one instance, Vanilla Ice. However, there will be no Fox presentation this year as Fox,
at least in its standalone incarnation, is no more. It has been purchased by
Disney as part of a $71.3 billion, industry-shaking, mega-merger.
Plus, the absence of Sony,
which apparently thought it wasn’t worth it to spend $2 million-plus hawking
the next “Spider-Man” to exhibitors, means that theater owners won’t get a look
at the studio’s upcoming releases. That means no sneak peek at Quentin
Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Men in Black: International, ” or
“Spider-Man: Far From Home.”
The loss of Fox points to
another troubling problem. Theater owners will have one fewer studio providing
product for their screens. That means that their customers will have fewer
choices on any given weekend. And that’s not good for business.
4.) What Will be
the Sleeper Hits?
Everyone knows that
“Avengers: Endgame” and “The Lion King” will be box office winners. You don’t
have to sit through Disney’s CinemaCon presentation to make that kind of
prediction. Where CinemaCon is most valuable is in giving theater owners a
sense of what lower profile releases have the potential to break out in a big
way. Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi,” Matthew Vaughn’s ‘Kingsmen,” and Bradley Cooper’s
“A Star is Born” are just a few of the films that got a big boost from strong
showings at CinemaCon. This year upcoming releases such as “Gemini Man,” a
trippy thriller that unites Lee and Will Smith, “Motherless Brooklyn,” a murder
mystery directed by and starring Edward Norton, and “The Woman in the Window,”
an adaptation of A.J. Finn’s best-selling novel, could all see their fortunes
rise if they nail the landing at CinemaCon.
Of course, CinemaCon cuts
both ways. It can also give reporters who attend and theater owners a pretty
good sense of what films are likely to be turkeys. One look at “Geostorm” or
“Mortal Engines” was all most people needed to predict they had a date with
flophood.
5.) Are
Subscription Services Here to Stay?
MoviePass was all the rage at last year’s
CinemaCon. Twelve months ago, the company had disrupted the exhibition space
with its low-cost subscription model and its ambitions to be the Netflix of
moviegoing. However, the company has suffered a steep fall in recent months and
is currently teetering on the brink of insolvency. MoviePass, it seems, could not make the math
work. It was losing money nearly every time on of its subscribers bought a
ticket.
But are subscription services here to stay? AMC and Cinemark have introduced their own MoviePass-like services. Moreover, before MoviePass began suffering financial problems, millions of people signed up for the service, which would indicate that audiences like the idea of a subscription service. Now comes the difficult task of finding a sustainable business model.
As Donald Trump has publicly opposed sending any more aid to Puerto Rico, Republicans put forth a $13.45 billion disaster bill that only provided $600 million for Hurricane Maria help.
Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican disaster aid bill, saying it doesn’t do enough to help hurricane-torn Puerto Rico. The move tossed long-sought relief for victims of hurricanes, floods and western wildfires into limbo.
The vote escalated a fight
between Democrats and President Donald Trump, who opposes further rebuilding
aid for the U.S. island territory, which was slammed by back-to-back hurricanes
in 2017.
The 44-49 vote fell short
of a majority, much less the 60 votes required to overcome a Democratic
filibuster. It sent GOP leaders back to the drawing board but seemed unlikely
to kill disaster aid efforts outright, since there is much political support to
send aid to Southern farmers, wildfire-ravaged California towns and Midwestern
flood victims.
Trump allies such as Sens.
David Perdue, R-Ga., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., are among the strongest backers of
the legislation, which has already faced significant delays.
“We will get this done
eventually,” Perdue said, promising relief to struggling farmers in his state.
The path forward is not clear, but a leading option is for the Senate to pass a
much more narrowly drawn bill simply to get the issue into a House-Senate
conference committee. House Democrats insist the talks must produce a final
measure with help for Puerto Rico.
The amount of money in
dispute is relatively small, but Trump feels antipathy toward Puerto Rico’s
government and Senate Republicans backed him up — for now — in denying
Democratic demands for more aid to rebuild its badly damaged water systems and
to ease the requirement that Puerto Rico financially match a portion of the
federal government’s aid contribution.
Democrats say Trump has
been slow to release already-appropriated funding for Puerto Rico and has
exhibited little urgency in helping the island. Trump poor-mouthed the island’s
government at a meeting with Senate Republicans last week and suggested Puerto
Rico has gotten too much disaster help compared with states such as Texas,
using inflated numbers to make his case.
“Just as we leave no
soldier behind on the battlefield, we help our fellow Americans when there’s a
disaster, wherever the disaster strikes. We do not abandon them. Period,” said
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Trump weighed in on
Twitter Monday to preemptively attack Democrats for blocking the measure.
“Democrats should stop
fighting Sen. David Perdue’s disaster relief bill. They are blocking funding
and relief for our great farmers and rural America!” Trump tweeted.
The $13.5 billion Senate
measure mostly mirrors a $14.2 billion measure passed by the House in January,
combining aid to Southern farmers, California communities devastated by last
summer’s wildfire, and hurricane-hit states such as Florida, Georgia and North
Carolina. Hurricane-damaged military bases in Florida and North Carolina would
receive rebuilding funds.
Democrats want to add
almost $700 million more to unlock further disaster aid for Puerto Rico and
several states, including help to rebuild badly damaged water systems.
Democrats are also trying to force the administration to release billions of
dollars in rebuilding funds that have already been approved.
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell said the measure is the fastest way to get aid to the
hurricane-slammed South and the badly flooded Midwest, along with nutrition aid
to Puerto Rico, where food stamp benefits have already been cut.
“It’s our only sure path
to making a law with anywhere near the urgency these Americans deserve. It is
the only bill on the table with any provision for the Midwest flooding,”
McConnell said. “And it’s the only bill on the table that could earn a
presidential signature in time to deliver urgent relief on the nutrition
assistance in Puerto Rico.”
The political momentum for
the measure — strongly backed by Trump’s allies in Georgia, Florida and North
Carolina, among other states — has only been heightened by massive flooding in
Midwestern states such as Nebraska and Iowa, whose nominating caucuses are the
first test for Democrats hoping to challenge Trump next year. The GOP measure
would make Midwestern states eligible for more aid, and by blocking the bill, Democratic
presidential contenders in the Senate are likely to face criticism.
Trump has yet to veto a
spending bill despite some tough talk, and he has signed off on $600 million to
ease food stamp cuts in Puerto Rico.
“I have taken better care
of Puerto Rico than any man ever. We have $91 billion going to Puerto Rico. We
have $29 billion to Texas and $12 billion to Florida for the hurricane,” Trump
said last week. “They have to spend the money wisely. They don’t know how to
spend the money and they’re not spending it wisely.”
Trump’s $91 billion
estimate, said a White House spokesman, includes about $50 billion in expected
future disaster disbursements, along with $41 million that’s already been
approved. Actual aid to Puerto Rico has flowed slowly from federal coffers.
President Donald Trump has been telling anyone and everyone who’ll listen that he’s been fully exonerated when it comes to Russia. Attorney General Barr helped make that possible, even though Trump is stretching the truth considerably. He is taking his interpretation of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation well beyond the facts.
He says he’s been fully
exonerated based on a four-page summary of Mueller’s nearly 400-page
report and is casting himself as a victim of illegal practices by the FBI
because the agency investigated him in the first place.
But Trump is overstating
his case. The FBI has legal grounds to open a probe if investigators have
information they believe could lead them to a crime, even if one is not
ultimately found. And the summary released by Attorney General William Barr
says Mueller did not reach a conclusion about whether Trump obstructed justice.
Nor was the Russia
probe hatched
by Democrats, as Trump asserts. He often cites a so-called dossier funded
by the Democratic Party, but the probe’s origins in fact were based on other
evidence.
Trump’s claims came in a
week of plentiful exaggerations and misstatements, seen most prominently in a
speech to Michigan supporters in which he sought credit for all manner of
things, including money to clean up the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes
Restoration Initiative actually was already getting that money ; Trump had proposed
slashing it.
Meanwhile, Democratic
presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke misstated the length of U.S. involvement
in the Iraq war.
A look at the political
rhetoric and the facts:
RUSSIA INVESTIGATION
TRUMP: “People were hurt so badly, so badly. Their lives have been ruined and
over — you know, over something that should have never taken place, an
investigation that should have never happened. There was no crime, as you know.
You’re only allowed to do this legally if there is a crime. There was no
crime.” — Fox News interview Wednesday.
THE FACTS: Trump is wrong to suggest that the FBI acted illegally by
investigating him. The FBI does not need to know if, or have evidence that, a
crime occurred before it begins an investigation.
In fact, many
investigations that are properly conducted ultimately don’t find evidence of
any crime. The FBI is empowered to open an investigation if there’s information
it has received or uncovered that leads the bureau to think it might encounter
a crime. Apart from that, the investigation into the Trump campaign was
initially a counterintelligence investigation rather than a strictly criminal
one, as agents sought to understand whether and why Russia was meddling in the
2016 election.
DEMOCRAT’S WITCH HUNT
TRUMP: “The Russia witch hunt was a plan by those who lost the election to try
and illegally regain power by framing innocent Americans. Many of them, they
suffered, with an elaborate hoax.” — rally Thursday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
THE FACTS: He falsely suggests that the Russia investigation was
started by Democrats after losing the 2016 election.
Trump typically points to
a dossier of anti-Trump research financed by the Democratic Party and Hillary
Clinton’s campaign, which he incorrectly claims was the basis for the Russia
probe. The research that was ultimately compiled into the dossier was initially
financed by anti-Trump conservatives, and later by the Democrats.
The FBI’s investigation
actually began months before it received the dossier.
Last year, the
Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee found the Russia
investigation was initiated after the FBI received information related to Trump
campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, not the dossier. Trump
praised the committee’s final report at the time.
HOW IT BEGAN
TRUMP: “Everybody is asking how the phony and fraudulent investigation of the
No Collusion, No Obstruction Trump Campaign began.” — tweet Sunday.
TRUMP: “After three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is
finally dead. The collusion delusion is over. The special counsel completed its
report and found no collusion and no obstruction. …Total exoneration,
complete vindication.” — Michigan rally.
THE FACTS: Mueller did not vindicate Trump in “total” in the Russia
probe, explicitly declining to clear him of obstruction.
Mueller’s exact words in
the report, as quoted by Barr, say: “While this report does not conclude that
the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
The summary of principal
conclusions by Barr notes Mueller did not “draw a conclusion — one way or the
other — as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction,” but rather
set out evidence for both sides, leaving the question unanswered of whether
Trump obstructed justice. Barr wrote in the summary that ultimately he decided
as attorney general that the evidence developed by Mueller was “not sufficient”
to establish, for the purposes of prosecution, that Trump committed
obstruction.
Barr’s summary also notes
that Mueller did not find that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with
Russia to tip the 2016 presidential election in Trump’s favor. To establish a
crime, Mueller must generally meet a standard of proving an offense beyond a
reasonable doubt. The summary did not clear the president of improper behavior
regarding Russia but did not establish that “he was involved in an underlying
crime related to Russian election interference,” Mueller said in a passage from
the report quoted by Barr.
The summary signed by Barr
gave the bottom line only as he and his deputy saw it. Democrats are pushing
for release of Mueller’s full report. Barr is expected to release a public
version of the document in the coming weeks.
STEELE DOSSIER
TRUMP, speaking about allegations in a so-called dossier about contacts between
Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election: “It came out after the
election and everybody had a big fat yawn. …All of the sudden I hear, ’Were
you involved with Russia? I say, ‘Russia? What the hell does Russia have to do
with my campaign?’” — Michigan rally.
THE FACTS: Russia actually had plenty to do with Trump’s campaign.
According to U.S.
intelligence agencies and lengthy indictments brought by Mueller’s team, Russia
orchestrated a multipart influence campaign aimed at hurting Clinton’s
candidacy, undermining American democracy and helping Trump get elected.
That effort included the
hacking of the Democratic National Committee, Clinton’s campaign and other
Democratic groups. Russian intelligence officers then coordinated the release
of stolen emails and internal documents.
There were also plenty of
people around Trump receptive to Russia’s help, though Mueller’s report
ultimately did not find that those contacts amounted to a criminal conspiracy,
according to Barr’s summary.
In the middle of the
campaign, Donald Trump Jr. met at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer thinking he
would be getting “dirt” on Clinton. Trump Jr. agreed to the meeting, which
included Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump campaign chairman Paul
Manafort, despite it being described to him as part of a Russian government
effort to help his father.
RUSSIA’S CHOICE
TRUMP: “You look at all of the different things, Russia would’ve much rather
had Hillary than Donald Trump. I can tell you that right now.” — Fox News
interview Wednesday.
THE FACTS: Not according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Asked at
a news conference with Trump in July whether he wanted Trump to win the 2016
election, Putin responded, “Yes, I did.” Putin said he favored Trump “because
he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.”
MIGRANT CHILDREN
TRUMP, on the care of migrant children apprehended at the border and the Dec. 8
death of Jakelin Caal Maquin, 7, of Guatemala: “I think that it’s been very
well stated that we’ve done a fantastic job. … The father gave the child no
water for a long period of time – he actually admitted blame.” — to reporters
Friday.
THE FACTS: That’s a misrepresentation of the circumstances behind the
girl’s death as Trump seeks to steer any potential blame for it away from his
administration.
An
autopsy report released
Friday found she died of a bacterial infection just more than a day after being
apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol. The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s
office said Jakelin experienced a “rapidly progressive infection” that led to
the failure of multiple organs.
Neither the autopsy
report, nor accounts at the time by Customs and Border Protection , spoke of
dehydration. The Border Protection timeline on her case said she was checked
for medical problems upon her apprehension and: “The initial screening revealed
no evidence of health issues.” And through family lawyers, Nery Gilberto Caal
Cuz said after his daughter’s death that he had made sure she had food and
water as they traveled through Mexico. He did not say her death was his fault.
GREAT LAKES
TRUMP: “I support the Great Lakes. Always have. They are beautiful. They are
big, very deep, record deepness, right? And I’m going to get, in honor of my
friends, full funding of $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative, which you have been trying to get for over 30 years. So we will get
it done.” — Michigan rally.
THE FACTS: Trump’s recent budget proposal sought to cut federal
financing of that program by 90 percent. His comment actually meant that his
administration would — presumably — give up its efforts over the last few years
to cut the program, which has been receiving about $300 million a year since
2010.
His assertion that this
money has eluded supporters of the lakes for three decades is wrong.
The program is popular
with lawmakers from both parties and it was unlikely that the Trump cut would
prevail.
Also, the Great Lakes are
not the world’s deepest, or even among the 20 deepest .
SPECIAL OLYMPICS
TRUMP: “I have overridden my people. We’re funding the Special Olympics.” —
remarks to reporters Thursday.
THE FACTS: In this instance, unlike in the Great Lakes matter, Trump is
acknowledging that it was his administration that had proposed to cut the
money, though by blaming “my people” he did not take direct responsibility.
In any event, spending is
up to Congress, not him. What he means is that the White House is dropping its
budget proposal to deny federal money for the games.
HEALTH CARE
TRUMP: “We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions, always.”
— Michigan rally.
THE FACTS: He’s not protecting health coverage for patients with
pre-existing medical conditions. In fact, the Trump administration is pressing
in court for full repeal of the Affordable Care Act — including provisions that
protect people with pre-existing conditions from health insurance
discrimination.
Trump and other
Republicans say they’ll have a plan to preserve those safeguards, but the White
House has provided no details. And it’s a stretch to think they could get a
Republicans-only plan passed through Congress with the House under Democratic
control.
President Barack Obama’s
health care law requires insurers to take all applicants, regardless of medical
history, and patients with health problems pay the same standard premiums as
healthy ones. Bills supported in 2017 by Trump and congressional Republicans to
repeal the law could have pushed up costs for people with pre-existing
conditions.
REPUBLICANS SAVE HEALTH CARE
TRUMP: “The Republican Party will become the party of great health care. …
Republicans want you to have an affordable plan that’s just right for you.” —
Michigan rally.
TRUMP: “If the Supreme Court rules that Obamacare is out, we will have a plan
that’s far better than Obamacare.” — remarks Wednesday to reporters.
THE FACTS: Republicans may aspire to great health care but they don’t
have a comprehensive plan for it. And there’s no indication that the White
House, executive branch agencies like Health and Human Services, and
Republicans in Congress are working on one.
Trump’s recent budget
called for repealing “Obamacare” and setting hard limits on federal spending
for Medicaid, which covers low-income people. Some Republicans argue that would
be better, because the federal government would create a new program of health
care grants to states. But when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office
analyzed similar proposals a couple of years ago, it estimated such changes
would result in deep coverage losses, not to mention weaker insurance
protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Trump’s budget also called
for hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare cuts to hospitals and other
service providers, a nonstarter with lawmakers in Congress worried about
re-election next year.
The Supreme Court has
upheld the health care law twice in previous challenges. The five justices who
first upheld it in 2012 are still on the court.
Congressional Republicans
are generally trying to steer away from Obamacare spats. Some are trying to
focus on areas where they might find common ground with Democrats and the
president, such as reducing prescription drug costs.
U.S. President Donald Trump talks with auto industry leaders, including General Motors CEO Mary Barra (L) and United Auto Workers (UAW) President Dennis Williams (R) at the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, U.S. March 15, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst – RC1B68C8FF60
AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY
TRUMP: “We are bringing a lot of those car companies back. … They are pouring
back in.” —Michigan rally.
TRUMP: “We’re opening up car plants in Michigan again for the first time in
decades. They’re coming in, really pouring in. … And this has been happening
pretty much since I’ve been president. It’s really amazing what’s going on …
We’ve brought back so much industry, so many car companies to Michigan, so
we’re very happy.” — remarks Thursday while departing for Michigan.
THE FACTS: There is very little truth in those remarks.
The only
automaker announcing plans to reopen a plant in Michigan is Fiat Chrysler,
which is restarting an old engine plant to build three-row SUVs. It’s been
planning to do so since before Trump was elected. GM is even closing two
Detroit-area factories: one that builds cars and another that builds
transmissions.
Automakers have made
announcements about new models being built in the state, but no other factories
have been reopened. Ford stopped building the Focus compact car in the Detroit
suburb of Wayne last year, but it’s being replaced by the manufacture of a
small pickup and a new SUV. That announcement was made in December 2016, before
Trump took office.
GM, meantime, is closing
factories in Ohio and Maryland.
Trump can plausibly claim
that his policies have encouraged some activity in the domestic auto industry.
Corporate tax cuts freed more money for investment, and potential tariff
increases on imported vehicles are an incentive to build in the U.S.
But automakers have not
been “pouring in” at all, as he persistently claims, and when expansion does
happen, it’s not all because of him.
Fiat Chrysler has been
planning the SUVs for several years and has been looking at expansion in the
Detroit area, where it has unused building space and an abundant, trainable
automotive labor force.
Normally it takes at least
three years for an automaker to plan a new vehicle, which is the case with the
three-row Jeep Grand Cherokee and the larger Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer SUVs
that will fill the restarting Detroit-area plant and an existing one. Several
years ago then-CEO Sergio Marchionne said the Wagoneer would be built in the
Detroit area.
Detroit automakers usually
build larger vehicles in the U.S. because the profit margins are high enough to
cover the higher wages paid there versus Mexico or another lower-cost country.
IMMIGRATION
TRUMP, on diversity visas: “They are giving us their worst people.” — Michigan
rally.
THE FACTS: That’s false.
The diversity
visa lottery program is run by the U.S. government, not foreign
governments. Other countries do not get to sort through their populations
looking for bad apples to put in for export to the U.S. Citizens of qualifying
countries are the ones who decide to bid for visas under the program. Trump
routinely blames foreign states.
The program requires
applicants to have completed a high school education or have at least two years
of experience in the last five years in a selection of fields. Out of that pool
of people from certain countries who meet those conditions, the State
Department randomly selects a much smaller pool of winners. Not all winners
will have visas ultimately approved, because they still must compete for a
smaller number of slots by getting their applications in quickly. Those who are
ultimately offered visas still need to go through background checks, like other
immigrants.
The lottery is extended to
citizens of most countries, except about 20. The primary goal is to diversify
the immigrant population by creating slots for underrepresented parts of the
world.
JOBS
TRUMP: “We have created, since my election, 5.5 million new jobs. Nobody would
have believed that was possible.” — Michigan rally.
THE FACTS: His number is
about right, but he’s counting jobs created before he became president. And the
progress does not defy belief. The economy created about 6 million jobs in the
roughly two years before the election, then again in the roughly two years
after.
VETERANS
TRUMP: “They’ve been trying to get VA Choice for over 40 years. Couldn’t do it.
I got it. We signed it six months ago.” — Michigan rally.
THE FACTS: Not true. He’s not the first president in 40 years to get
Congress to pass a private-sector health program for veterans; he expanded it.
Congress first approved the program in 2014 during the Obama administration.
The program currently allows veterans to see doctors outside the VA system if
they must wait more than 30 days for an appointment or drive more than 40 miles
(65 kilometers) to a VA facility.
Now, starting in June,
they are to have that option for a private doctor if their VA wait is only 20
days (28 for specialty care) or their drive is only 30 minutes.
Veterans Healthcare
TRUMP: “Instead of waiting online for one day, one week, two months …now they
go outside, they see a private doctor, we pay the bill, they get better
quickly.” — Michigan rally.
THE FACTS: Also, not right. Veterans still must wait for weeks before
they can get private care outside the VA system.
And the expanded Choice
eligibility may do little to provide immediate help. That’s because veterans
often must wait even longer for an appointment in the private sector. Last
year, then-Secretary David Shulkin said VA care is “often 40 percent better in
terms of wait times” compared with the private sector. In 2018, 34 percent of
all VA appointments were with outside physicians, down from 36 percent in 2017.
At a hearing Tuesday, the
top health official at VA, Dr. Richard Stone, described the start of the expanded
Choice program to “almost be a non-event,” in part because wait times in the
private sector are typically longer than at VA.
The VA also must resolve
long-term financing because of congressional budget caps after the White House
opposed new money to pay for the program. As a result, lawmakers could be
forced later this year to limit the program or slash core VA or other domestic
programs.
In just moments after tennis legend Roger Federer won his 101st career title, he performed a classy gesture for his shattered opponent, John Isner. While waiting for post-match presentations, Federer checked on Isner’s injury, sharing a touching moment with his hobbled rival.
He then paid tribute to the American in his victory speech.
“I love standing here with John, he’s a great player and great
person,” he said. “I’m really happy for you that you’re playing as well as you
are. I’m so sorry for your foot but I’m sure you’ll recover well and play great
for the rest of the season.”
Orange
streamers rained down while Roger Federer held another championship trophy
aloft, his familiar grin as wide as ever.
For the ageless Federer,
winning never gets old.
Now 37, Federer became
tennis’ first repeat champion of 2019 when he won his 101st career title Sunday
by beating a hobbled John Isner in the Miami Open final, 6-1, 6-4.
Federer neutralized
Isner’s big serve and won 32 of 35 points on his own serve. The 6-foot-10 Isner
scrambled so desperately to stay in rallies that he hurt his left foot and limped badly through the final few points.
Isner said afterward he
didn’t yet know the nature or severity of the injury.
Federer, by contrast, is
just fine. He was the Dubai champion on March 2, and runner-up to Dominic Thiem
at Indian Wells two weeks ago.
“This is a good phase, a
good stretch for me right now,” Federer said. “I really feel super healthy.
That’s why I have been able to play every day for the last four weeks. That’s
something that maybe hasn’t always been the case for the last few years. So you
appreciate these moments.”
Federer is 18-2 this year,
best on the men’s tour, which stamps him as a threat to add to his record total
of 20 Grand Slam titles in 2019.
“Unbelievable for you to
keep winning and playing this level of tennis,” Miami tournament director James Blake, a former
top-five player, told Federer at the trophy presentation. “It makes me feel
like such an underachiever. We’re all just in awe.”
Isner also paid tribute to
Federer during the ceremony.
“You were entirely too
good today, entirely too good this whole tournament,” Isner said. “You are
entirely too good your whole career. It’s absolutely incredible what you’re
doing. We’re so lucky to have you in this game, and we all want you to keep
playing and literally never retire. So keep it up, man.”
The first 33 men’s and
women’s titles in 2019 were won by 33 different players, including Ashleigh
Barty in the Miami women’s final Saturday. Federer is the first repeat winner in 20 men’s
tournaments this year.
“Kind of fitting,” Isner
said.
Federer first played in
the Miami tournament as a wild card 20 years ago. He won the title in 2005,
2006 and 2017 before it moved from Key Biscayne to its new home this year in
the Dolphins’ complex.
“It has been a super long
journey for me here,” Federer told the crowd. “To stand here right now really
means a lot after so many years.”
The temporary stands
inside the NFL stadium were almost full for the final, but Federer quickly
defused any drama. He broke in the opening game and then twice more in a first
set that lasted only 24 minutes.
“Champion, Roger!” one fan
yelled during a lull, prompting cheers. Federer went on to earn the adjective
yet again.
To complicate matters for
Isner, he said the top of his foot started to hurt during the first set, and
the problem grew worse as the match progressed.
“It’s a terrible feeling,”
Isner said, “going up against the greatest player ever, playing in this
incredible atmosphere, and my foot’s killing me.
“Not that I would have won
the match anyway. Let’s make that clear. But, you know, I think I could have
made for a more interesting match, and one that was a little more fun.”
Federer said he felt badly
for Isner but didn’t let that affect his game.
“It was just important to
keep on doing what I was doing, and if he’s hurt, well, then so be it, and bad
luck for him,” Federer said. “After the game, of course, you hope it’s nothing serious .”
While Isner may need time
to heal, Federer will begin preparations for the clay court season, which he
skipped last year. He’ll play Madrid in May as a tuneup for the French Open.
“I’m not very confident
going into this clay court season, I can tell you that, because I don’t even
remember how to slide anymore,” Federer said. “I’m taking baby steps at this
point. I’m very excited. It’s a good challenge, a good test. Confidence? It’s
in no man’s land.”
In tennis, no man’s land
is the area around the service line. Federer hits lots of winners from there.
Rather than begin with the standard introductory remarks, the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame began with Stevie Nicks entering the stage signing “Stand Back.” The singer can still belt them out, and both she and Janet Jackson took the opportunity to call out for more women to be inducted in to the Hall of Fame.
Nicks, who became the first woman inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Janet Jackson, the latest member of the Jackson clan to enter the hall, called for other women to join them in music immortality on a night they were honored with five all-male British bands.
Stevie Nicks in a tight 12 minute speech.
Jackson issued her
challenge just before leaving the stage of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. “Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame,” she said, “in 2020, induct more women.”
Neither Jackson or Nicks
were around at the end of the evening when another Brit, Ian Hunter, led an
all-star jam at the end to “All the Young Dudes.” The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs
was the only woman onstage.
During the five-hour
ceremony, Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music thanked multiple bass players and album
cover designers, the Cure’s Robert Smith proudly wore his mascara and red
lipstick a month shy of his 60th birthday and two of Radiohead’s five members
showed up for trophies.
During Def
Leppard’s induction, Rick Allen was moved to tears by the audience’s standing
ovation when singer Joe Elliott recalled the drummer’s perseverance following a
1985 accident that cost him an arm.
Jackson followed her
brothers Michael and the Jackson 5 as inductees. She said she wanted to go to
college and become a lawyer growing up, but her late father Joe had other ideas
for her.
“As the youngest in my
family, I was determined to make it on my own,” she said. “I was determined to
stand on my own two feet. But never in a million years did I expect to follow
in their footsteps.”
She encouraged Jimmy Jam
and Terry Lewis, producers of her breakthrough “Control” album and most of her
vast catalog, to stand in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for recognition, as well
as booster Questlove. She thanked Dick Clark of “American Bandstand” and Don
Cornelius of “Soul Train,” along with her choreographers including Paula Abdul.
There was some potential
for awkward vibes Friday, since the event was being filmed to air on HBO on
April 27. HBO angered the Jackson family this winter for showing the
documentary “Leaving Neverland,” about two men who alleged Michael Jackson
abused them when they were boys. Jackson never mentioned Michael specifically
in her remarks but thanked her brothers, and he was shown on screen with the
rest of the family.
Jackson was inducted by an
enthusiastic Janelle Monae, whose black hat and black leather recalled some of
her hero’s past stage looks. She said Jackson had been her phone’s screen-saver
for years as a reminder to be focused and fearless in how she approached art.
Nicks was the night’s
first induction. She is already a member of the hall as a member of Fleetwood
Mac, but only the first woman to join 22 men — including all four Beatles
members — to have been honored twice by the rock hall for the different stages
of their career.
Nicks offered women a
blueprint for success, telling them her trepidation in first recording a solo
album while a member of Fleetwood Mac and encouraging others to match her feat.
“I know there is somebody
out there who will be able to do it,” she said, promising to talk often of how
she built her solo career. “What I am doing is opening up the door for other
women.”
During her
four-song set, she brought onstage a cape she bought in 1983 to prove to her
“very frugal” late mother that it was still in good shape, and worth its $3,000
price tag. Don Henley joined her to sing “Leather and Lace,” while Harry Styles
filled in for the late Tom Petty on “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”
David Byrne inducted
Radiohead, noting he was flattered the band named itself after one of his
songs. He said their album “Kid A” was the one that really hooked him, and he
was impressed Radiohead could be experimental in both their music and how they
conduct business.
“They’re creative and
smart in both areas, which was kind of a rare combination for artists, not just
now but anytime,” he said.
With only drummer Philip
Selway and guitarist Ed O’Brien on hand, Radiohead didn’t perform; there was a
question of whether any of them would show up given the group’s past
ambivalence about the hall. But both men spoke highly of the honor.
“This is
such a beautifully surreal evening for us,” said O’Brien. “It’s a big
(expletive) deal and it feels like it. … I wish the others could be here
because they would be feeling it.”
The Cure’s Smith has been
a constant in a band of shifting personnel, and he stood onstage for induction
Friday with 11 past and current members. Despite their goth look, the Cure has
a legacy of pop hits, and performed three of them at Barclays, “I Will Always
Love You,” ″Just Like Heaven” and “Boys Don’t Cry.”
Visibly nervous, Smith
called his induction a “very nice surprise” and shyly acknowledged the crowd’s
cheers.
“It’s been a fantastic
thing, it really has,” he said. “We love you, too.”
His inductee, Trent Reznor
of Nine Inch Nails, recalled ridiculing the rock hall in past years because he
couldn’t believe the Cure wasn’t in. When he got the call that the band was in,
he said “I was never so happy eating my words as I was that day.”
Def Leppard sold tons of
records, back when musicians used to do that, with a heavy metal sound sheened
to pop perfection on songs like “Photograph” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” They
performed them in a set that climaxed the annual ceremony.
Singer Joe Elliott
stressed the band’s working-class roots, thanking his parents and recalling how
his father gave them 150 pounds to make their first recording in 1978.
Besides Allen’s accident,
the band survived the 1991 death of guitarist Steve Clark. Elliott said there
always seemed to be a looming sense of tragedy around the corner for the band,
but “we wouldn’t let it in.”
“If alcoholism, car
crashes and cancer couldn’t kill us, the ’90s had no (expletive) chance,” said
Elliott, referring to his band mates as the closest thing to brothers that an
only child could have.
Roxy Music, led by the
stylish Ferry, performed a five-song set that included hits “Love is the Drug,”
″More Than This” and “Avalon.” (Brian Eno didn’t show for the event).
Simon LeBon and John
Taylor of Duran Duran inducted them, with Taylor saying that hearing Roxy Music
in concert at age 14 showed him what he wanted to do with his life.
“Without Roxy Music, there
really would be no Duran Duran,” he said.
The soft-spoken Ferry
thanked everyone from a succession of bass players to album cover designers. “We’d
like to thank everyone for this unexpected honor,” he said.
The Zombies, from rock ‘n’
roll’s original British invasion, were the veterans of the night. They made it
despite being passed over in the past, but were gracious in their thanks of the
rock hall. They performed hits “Time of the Season,” ″Tell Her No” and “She’s
Not There.”
Zombies lead singer Rod
Argent noted that the group had been eligible for the hall for 30 years but the
honor had eluded them.
“To have finally passed
the winning post this time — fantastic!”
Facing more scrutiny for privacy issues, social media titan Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is calling for more outside regulation in several areas in which the social media site has run into problems over the past few years: harmful content, election integrity, privacy, and data portability.
In an opinion piece in The Washington Post, Zuckerberg
said governments and regulators rather than private companies like Facebook
should be more active in policing the Internet.
“Every day, we make
decisions about what speech is harmful, what constitutes political advertising,
and how to prevent sophisticated cyberattacks,” he wrote. “These are important
for keeping our community safe. But if we were starting from scratch, we
wouldn’t ask companies to make these judgments alone.”
More regulation over what
constitutes harmful
content could “set a baseline” for what is prohibited and require companies
to “build systems for keeping harmful content to a bare minimum,” he wrote.
He said privacy rules such
as the General Data Protection Regulation, which took effect in Europe last
year, should be adopted
elsewhere in the world.
The piece comes days after
Facebook was criticized when a shooting rampage in New Zealand that killed 50
people was broadcast live on the site. It said Thursday it was
extending a ban on hate speech to white
nationalists.
Zuckerberg and others are
“beginning to realize the wild, wild West of the Internet of the past, those
days are gone,” said Tim Bajarin, president of consultancy Creative Strategies.
“And the Internet and especially social media sites now need to be looked at
closer by government entities.”
Facebook has weathered
more than two years of turbulence for repeated privacy lapses, spreading
disinformation, allowing Russian agents to conduct targeted propaganda
campaigns and a rising tide of hate speech and abuse. Zuckerberg submitted to
two days of grilling on Capitol Hill last April.
Earlier this month,
Zuckerberg said he was shifting the company’s focus to messaging
services designed to serve as fortresses of privacy.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Mysterious Disappearing Facebook Posts
Facebook
says some of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s posts on the social media site were deleted
due to technical errors.
The company says it is
unclear which posts were deleted. Facebook says the posts were mistakenly
deleted a few years ago and the work required to restore them was extensive and
might not have worked.
The deleted posts were
first reported by Business Insider. All posts from 2007 and 2008 have been
deleted, according to the report.
The way Facebook shares
company information has changed over the years. It introduced its current
“Newsroom” page in 2014
and shares and archives major company announcements there.
Facebook Removes Fake Philippine’s Accounts
Facebook
says it has removed 200 pages, groups and accounts
linked to Nic Gabunada, reportedly the former social media manager of
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, for misleading people.
The social network says it
took down the accounts for “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” the term it uses
to describe accounts that work together to mask who is behind them and what
their purpose is. In the past, Facebook has removed accounts linked to Russia, Iran and
other countries for trying to wreak political havoc or influence elections in
the U.S. and elsewhere.
The accounts and posts in
question posted about elections, alleged misconduct by political candidates and
local news. Facebook says they tried to hide their identity but were linked to
a network organized by Gabunada.
Facebook Slapped With Housing
Discrimination Charges By U.S.
The federal
government charged Facebook with high-tech housing discrimination Thursday
for allegedly allowing landlords and real estate brokers to systematically
exclude groups such as non-Christians, immigrants and minorities from seeing
ads for houses and apartments.
The civil charges filed by
the Department of Housing and Urban Development could cost the social network
millions of dollars in penalties. But more than that, they strike at the heart
of Facebook’s business model — its vaunted ability to deliver ads with surgical
precision to certain groups of people and not others.
“Facebook is
discriminating against people based upon who they are and where they live,” HUD
Secretary Ben Carson said. “Using a computer to limit a person’s housing
choices can be just as discriminatory as slamming a door in someone’s face.”
In a statement, Facebook
expressed surprise over the charges, saying it has been working with HUD to
address its concerns and has taken steps to prevent discrimination, including
eliminating thousands of ad-targeting options last year that could be misused
by advertisers.
Just last week, Facebook agreed to overhaul its targeting
system and abandon some of the practices singled out by HUD to prevent
discrimination, not just in housing listings but in credit and employment ads
as well. The move was part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties
Union and other activists.
“We’re
disappointed by today’s developments, but we’ll continue working with civil
rights experts on these issues,” the company said.
The HUD charges were seen
as a possible prelude to a wider regulatory crackdown on the digital
advertising industry, which is dominated by Facebook and Google. And the case
was yet another blow to Facebook, which has come under siege from lawmakers,
regulators and activists and is under investigation in the U.S. and Europe over its data and privacy
practices.
HUD spokesman Brian
Sullivan said the agency has reached out to Google and Twitter to “better
understand their advertising practices.” But he said neither is currently under
investigation. Twitter says it doesn’t allow discriminatory advertising, while
Google says its policies prohibit targeting ads based on sensitive categories
such as race, ethnicity and religious beliefs.
Google, in particular, has
ad-targeting options similar to Facebook’s.
The technology at the
center of the clash with HUD has helped make Facebook rich, with annual revenue
of close to $56 billion. Facebook gathers enormous amounts of data on what
users read and like and who their friends are, and it uses that information to
help advertisers and others direct their messages to exactly the crowd they
want to reach.
HUD said Facebook is
allowing advertisers to practice a sort of high-tech form of red-lining by
excluding people in entire neighborhoods or ZIP codes from seeing their ads.
The company was accused, too, of giving advertisers the option of showing ads
only to men or only to women.
Facebook also allegedly
allowed advertisers to exclude parents; those who are non-American-born;
non-Christians; and those interested in Hispanic culture, “deaf culture,”
accessibility for the disabled, countries like Honduras or Somalia, or a variety
of other topics.
The case will be heard by
an administration law judge unless HUD or Facebook decides to move it to
federal court.
“The nature of their
business model is advertising and targeted advertising, so that is a slippery
slope. That is their business model,” said Dan Ives, an industry analyst with
Wedbush Securities. “The government launched this missile and caught many in
the industry by surprise.”
Ives said the move may
mean U.S. regulators are taking broader aim at the digital advertising market.
“This is a clear shot across the bow for Facebook and others,” he said.
Galen Sherwin of the ACLU
likewise warned: “All the online platforms should be paying close attention to
these lawsuits and taking a hard look at their own advertising platforms.”
Facebook is already under
fire for allowing fake Russian accounts to buy ads targeting U.S. users and sow
political discord during the 2016 presidential election. The company has also
been criticized for allowing organizations to target groups of people identified
as “Jew-haters” and Nazi sympathizers.
HUD brought an initial
complaint against Facebook in August. Facebook said in its statement that it
was “eager to find a solution” but that HUD “insisted on access to sensitive
information — like user data — without adequate safeguards.”
In its settlement with the
ACLU and others, Facebook said it will no longer allow housing, employment or
credit ads that target people by age, gender or ZIP code. It said it will also
limit other targeting options so that these ads don’t exclude people on the
basis of race, ethnicity and other legally protected categories, including
sexual orientation.
“Unless and until HUD can
verify that there is an end of the discriminatory practices, we still have a
responsibility to the American people,” said Raffi Williams, deputy assistant
HUD secretary.
Have you heard the one about the robot that went to a comedy club to do a stand-up routine? It’s a true story, but don’t get too excited or nervous that AI has caught up to that part of human beings.
Some robots have been programmed to tell jokes, but it doesn’t mean that AI can understand humor. Alexa and Siri can tell jokes mined from a humor database, but they don’t get them. So don’t worry. They won’t be playing April Fool’s Day jokes on you this year.
Linguists and computer
scientists say this is something to consider on April Fools’ Day: Humor is what
makes humans special. When people try to teach machines what’s funny, the
results are at times laughable but not in the way intended.
“Artificial intelligence
will never get jokes like humans do,” said Kiki Hempelmann, a computational
linguist who studies humor at Texas A&M University-Commerce. “In
themselves, they have no need for humor. They miss completely context.”
And when it comes to
humor, the people who study it
— sometimes until all laughs are beaten out of it — say context is key. Even
expert linguists have trouble explaining humor, said Tristan Miller, a computer
scientist and linguist at Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany.
“Creative language — and
humor in particular — is one of the hardest areas for computational
intelligence to grasp,” said Miller, who has analyzed more than 10,000 puns and
called it torture. “It’s because it relies so much on real-world knowledge —
background knowledge and commonsense knowledge. A computer doesn’t have these
real-world experiences to draw on. It only knows what you tell it and what it
draws from.”
Allison Bishop, a
Columbia University computer scientist who also performs stand-up comedy, said
computer learning looks for patterns, but comedy thrives on things hovering
close to a pattern and veering off just a bit to be funny and edgy.
Humor, she said, “has to
skate the edge of being cohesive enough and surprising enough.”
For comedians that’s job
security. Bishop said her parents were happy when her brother became a
full-time comedy writer because it meant he wouldn’t be replaced by a machine.
“I like to believe that
there is something very innately human about what makes something funny,”
Bishop said.
Comedy performing robot Ginger.
Oregon State University
computer scientist Heather Knight created the comedy-performing robot
Ginger to help her design machines that better interact with — and especially
respond to — humans. She said it turns out people most appreciate a robot’s
self-effacing humor.
Ginger, which uses
human-written jokes and stories, does a bit about Shakespeare and machines,
asking, “If you prick me in my battery pack, do I not bleed alkaline fluid?” in
a reference to “The Merchant of Venice.”
Humor and artificial
intelligence is a growing field for academics.
Some computers can
generate and understand puns — the most basic humor — without help from humans
because puns are based on different meanings of similar-sounding words. But
they fall down after that, said Purdue University computer scientist Julia
Rayz.
“They get them — sort of,”
Rayz said. “Even if we look at puns, most of the puns require huge amounts of
background.”
Still, with puns there is
something mathematical that computers can grasp, Bishop said.
Rayz has spent 15 years
trying to get computers to understand humor, and at times the results were,
well, laughable. She recalled a time she gave the computer two different groups
of sentences. Some were jokes. Some were not. The computer classified something
as a joke that people thought wasn’t a joke. When Rayz asked the computer why
it thought it was a joke, its answer made sense technically. But the material
still wasn’t funny, nor memorable, she said.
IBM has created artificial
intelligence that beat opponents in chess and “Jeopardy!” Its latest attempt, Project
Debater, is more
difficult because it is based on language and aims to win
structured arguments with
people, said principal investigator Noam Slonim, a former comedy writer for an
Israeli version “Saturday Night Live.”
Slonim put humor into the
programming, figuring that an occasional one-liner could help in a debate. But
it backfired during initial tests when the system made jokes at the wrong time
or in the wrong way. Now, Project Debater is limited to one attempt at humor
per debate, and that humor is often self-effacing.
“We know that humor — at
least good humor — relies on nuance and on timing,” Slonim said. “And these are
very hard to decipher by an automatic system.”
That’s why humor may be
key in future Turing Tests — the ultimate test of machine intelligence, which
is to see if an independent evaluator can tell if it is interacting with a
person or computer, Slonim said.
There’s still “a very
significant gap between what machines can do and what humans are doing,” both
in language and humor, Slonim said.
There are good reasons to
have artificial intelligence try to learn to get humor, Darmstadt University’s
Miller said. It makes machines more relatable, especially if you can get them
to understand sarcasm. That also may aid with automated translations of
different languages, he said.
Texas A&M’s Hempelmann
isn’t so sure that’s a good idea.
“Teaching AI systems humor
is dangerous because they may find it where it isn’t and they may use it where
it’s inappropriate,” Hempelmann said. “Maybe bad AI will start killing people
because it thinks it is funny.”
Comedian and computer
scientist Bishop does have a joke about artificial intelligence: She says she
agrees with all the experts warning us that someday AI is going to surpass
human intelligence.
“I don’t think it’s
because AI is getting smarter,” Bishop jokes, then she adds: “If the AI gets
that, I think we have a problem.”
Fake news this week took aim at Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders and Maxine Waters for not getting enough work done. Muslims were also in the crosshairs as a fake Facebook video had people believing a rally in New York City had occurred demanding Sharia Rights. Plus Disney-Pixar won’t be releasing a “Boo” movie sequel for “Monsters, Inc.”
Here are the real facts behind these
fake news stories:
Where Are The Bills?
CLAIM: California Rep. Maxine Waters, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have passed only six bills during their
combined 67 years in office.
THE FACTS: The three Democratic members of Congress have together served more than 80 years and have sponsored a total of 13 bills that became law. The false claim about their combined years of service and number of bills passed is circulating on Facebook. According to Congress.Gov, the government’s official website for federal legislative information, Waters has sponsored three bills in her 28 years in office, all of which have passed, including the National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2010.
Sanders has sponsored three bills that have passed during his 28 years in office, including the Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act, which increased rates of compensation for disabled veterans. Pelosi, who was voted speaker of the house for the second time in January, has sponsored seven bills that have been enacted during her 32 years, including the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which was introduced to address the mortgage crisis, and the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which was passed to help boost the economy. In her time as House speaker, she has played a major role in passing numerous bills, including well-known laws like the Affordable Care Act.
Easter & Christmas Decorating Intact
CLAIM: Muslims in California are asking people to not
decorate for Easter or Christmas this year out of respect.
THE FACTS: There have been no documented cases of any prominent Muslim leaders or Islamic organizations in California requesting that people not decorate for Easter or Christmas this year, as posts circulating social media suggest. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Islam and civil rights advocacy group, said the claim was baseless and conspiratorial in nature. “I’ve never in my life heard Muslims say you can’t decorate for Easter, Christmas or whatever,” Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR national communications director, told media outlets.
“Muslims are not opposed to Christians celebrating Easter, they just don’t celebrate it themselves,” he said. Ishaq Pathan, deputy director of Islamic Networks Group, said his organization had not heard of any such reports. “I’m inclined to believe it’s a hoax,” he said. This claim was circulating widely days after a mosque in Escondido, California, was set on fire, and weeks after the attacks in New Zealand.
Sharia Rights Rally
CLAIM: Video footage said to show Muslims rallying in New
York City demanding their “Sharia Rights.”
THE FACTS: A video circulating on social media that claims to show
Muslims in New York rallying for Sharia law has been falsely captioned. The
footage was taken during the March 24 “United Against Islamophobia” rally in
Times Square. Muslim leaders and allies held the march to combat Islamophobia
and show solidarity following the mosque attacks in New Zealand, where at least
50 people were killed on March 15. Hossam Gamea, outreach director for Majlis
Ash-Shura: Islamic Leadership Council of New York, one of the organizers of the
event, confirmed to media outlets that the footage showed the Sunday rally
against Islamophobia.
No ‘Boo’ For You
CLAIM: Disney-Pixar to release “Boo,” a film spinoff from the
animated “Monsters, Inc.” franchise, in July 2020.
THE FACTS: Disney is not releasing a sequel to the popular animated buddy movie “Monsters, Inc.” this summer, despite social media posts circulating what appears to be a movie poster for “Boo,” which is the name of the child featured in the 2001 movie. The poster, which shows a grown-up Boo with a teddy bear standing in a doorway, says “SHE KNOWS MONSTERS ARE REAL. JULY 2020. The same poster circulated widely in 2016.
At that time, an Instagram user took credit for the poster saying it represented a concept for a movie. A Disney-Pixar spokeswoman, who declined to be identified by name, told media outlets in an email that Pixar is not releasing “Boo” in 2020 and has no such movie in the works. According to reporting, CEO Bob Iger said Disney is planning a “Monsters, Inc.” series for its upcoming streaming service.
After Beyonce was named entertainer of the year at the 50th annual NAACP Image Awards, she delivered a heartwarming speech which you can see here. Before delivering it, she informed the audience that she had written her thoughts down ahead of time so as not to leave anything out.
The superstar paid homage to the people who were nominated in the same category as her including Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, Regina King, Chadwick Boseman, and director Ryan Coogler.
“Regina King, I love you
so much. You taught us patience, persistence and how to be masterful in your
craft,” she said. “Chadwick Boseman is teaching children to dream and to be
seen as kings. LeBron James has taught us the strength of all forms, leading by
example and providing education to our kids. Ryan Coogler tells our stories in
a way that celebrates our history and proves we do have power.”
Beyonce added: “I’m
honored to be included among all of you, and to be a part of a vital and
thriving community. Thank you to the NAACP.”
Beyonce released a joint
album last year with her husband, Jay-Z, called “Everything is Love.” The
prolific singer also paid tribute to historically black colleges and
universities, as well as the dance troupes and step teams during her
groundbreaking two-hour Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival performance.
She also performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which is known as the national
black anthem, at the festival and donated $100,000 to four black universities shortly
after her performance.
The awards ceremony aired live on TV One at the Dolby Theatre, the same venue that hosts the Academy Awards.
Jay-Z received the
President’s Award for the rapper’s public service achievements. He was
recognized for his efforts through his Shawn Carter Foundation and serving as
co-founder of the REFORM Alliance.
The rapper executive
produced the documentaries “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story” and “Time:
The Kalief Browder Story,” along with an animated documentary short called “The
War on Drugs is an Epic Fail.” That documentary highlighted the unfavorable
treatment of black and Latino people when it comes to drug-related crimes.
Jay-Z quoted Abraham
Lincoln after he accepted his award and dedicated his trophy to his 93-year-old
grandmother Hattie White, saying: “She’s so full of life.” He also paid homage
to the women in his life, including his wife, Beyonce, who smiled while her
husband made his speech.
“It’s not the amount of
years in your life. It’s the amount of life in your years,” he said. “That
quote embodies my beautiful grandmother.”
“Black Panther” was
awarded best motion picture. The Marvel blockbuster hit beat out
“BlacKkKlansman,” ″Crazy Rich Asians,” ″If Beale Street Could Talk” and “The
Hate U Give.”
The superhero film was a
cultural phenomenon. It earned $700 million domestically during it theatrical
run.
“Black Panther” won in
several other categories, including best actor in a motion picture (Boseman),
supporting actor in a motion picture (Michael B. Jordan) and directing in a
motion picture (Coogler).
Jussie Smollett, who lost
to “Grey’s Anatomy” star Jessie Williams in the supporting actor in a drama
series category, did not attend the awards.
It has been a tumultuous
week for the “Empire” star after a felony case against him was dropped in
Chicago. The handling of the case, which accused Smollett of falsely reporting
to police that he was assaulted by two men in downtown Chicago on Jan. 29, has
drawn widespread condemnation.
Actor-comedian Chris Rock
took verbal jabs at Smollett before he presented outstanding comedy series to
ABC’s “black-ish.”
“They said no Jussie
Smollett jokes,” Rock said. “Yeah, I know, but what a waste of light skin. Do
you know what I could do with that light skin? That curly hair, my career would
be out of here. I would be running Hollywood. What the hell was he thinking?
You are known as ‘Jessie’ for now on. You don’t even get the ‘u’ anymore. That
‘u’ was for respect. You ain’t getting no respect from me.”
In response to Rock’s jokes,
“black-ish” star Yara Shahidi made her stance in the Smollett controversy
obvious.
“I stand with Jussie,”
Shahidi said before she handed the microphone to Marcus Scribner and ducked
into her crowd of castmates including Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross
Anderson returned as host
of the show and won for best actor in a comedy series. He opened the awards
speaking about “black excellence” in film, hoping his behavior wouldn’t get him
removed as host and made several jokes including one about Kanye West not being
invited to cookouts.
Anderson brought his
mother onstage with him and dedicated his award to “the woman who raised me in
Watts (California) and pushed me to become an actor.”
“Everything I do on screen
is for you momma,” Anderson said of his mother, who clutched his award. He also
shouted out U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, who sat in the first row.
Waters received the NAACP
Chairman’s Award for public service. She spoke about young voters taking a
stance at the polls, her thoughts on getting rid of the Electoral College and
President Donald Trump’s presidency.
“I still think he needs to
be impeached,” Waters said of Trump. “This president has defined himself as a
liar.”
Donald Glover, who won
four Grammys this year, won for his directing on “Atlanta.” On the music side,
his alter-ego Childish Gambino’s song “This is America” won for best music
video.
Outstanding Actress: Motion Picture
Amandla Stenberg – The Hate U Give (20th Century Fox)
Outstanding Motion Picture – Black Panther (Marvel
Studios)
Entertainer of the Year –
Beyoncé
Winners announced at non-televised awards dinner
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a
Comedy Series Marcus Scribner, Black-ish (ABC)
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a
Comedy Series
Marsai Martin, Black-ish (ABC)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a
Drama Series Jesse Williams, Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a
Drama Series
Lynn Whitfield, Greenleaf (OWN)
Outstanding Guest Performance in a
Comedy or Drama Series Kerry Washington – How to Get Away with Murder – “Lahey v.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania” (ABC)
Outstanding Television Movie,
Limited-Series or Dramatic Special The Bobby Brown Story (BET)
Outstanding Actor in a Television
Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special Michael B. Jordan, Fahrenheit 451 (HBO)
Outstanding Actress in a Television
Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special Regina King, Seven Seconds (Netflix)
Outstanding Reality Program,
Reality Competition or Game Show (Series) Iyanla: Fix My Life (OWN)
Outstanding Variety Show (Series or
Special) Black Girls Rock! (BET)
Outstanding Children’s Program Doc McStuffins (Disney Junior)
Outstanding Performance by a Youth
(Series, Special, Television Movie or Limited-Series Marsai Martin – Black-ish (ABC)
Outstanding Host in a Talk or
News/Information (Series or Special) – Individual or Ensemble Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield Norris, Willow Smith – Red Table Talk(Facebook
Watch)
Outstanding Host in a
Reality/Reality Competition, Game Show or Variety (Series or Special) –
Individual or Ensemble Steve Harvey – Family Feud (Syndication)
Outstanding New Artist Ella Mai (10 Summers/Interscope Records)
Outstanding Male Artist Bruno Mars (Atlantic Records)
Outstanding Female Artist
H.E.R. (RCA Records)
Outstanding Duo, Group or
Collaboration All The Stars – Black Panther – Kendrick Lamar,
SZA (Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath/Interscope Records)
Outstanding Jazz Album The Story of Jaz – Jazmin Ghent feat. Jeff
Lorber, James P. Lloyd, Kim Scott, Philippe Saisse (Jazmin Ghent Music)
Outstanding Gospel Album (Traditional
or Contemporary) Unstoppable – Koryn Hawthorne (RCA Inspirational)
Outstanding Music Video/Visual
Album This Is America – Childish Gambino (RCA Records)
Outstanding Song – Traditional Long As I Live – Toni Braxton (Def Jam
Recordings)
Outstanding Song – Contemporary Boo’d Up –
Ella Mai (10 Summers/Interscope Records)
Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation Black Panther The Album Music
From and Inspired By – Kendrick Lamar, SZA feat. 2Chainz,
ScHoolboy Q, Saudi, Khalid, Swae Lee, Vince Staples, Yugen Blakrok, SOB x RBE,
Jorja Smith, Anderson .Paak, Ab Soul, Reason, Zacari, Babes Wudumo, Sjava,
Travis Scott (Interscope Records)
Literary Work – Fiction An American Marriage – Tayari Jones (Algonquin
Books of Chapel Hill)
Outstanding Literary Work –
Nonfiction For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics –
Donna Brazile (Author), Yolanda Caraway (Author), Leah Daughtry (Author),
Minyon Moore (Author), Veronica Chambers (With), (St. Martin’s Press)
Outstanding Literary Work – Debut
Author Us Against The World: Our Secrets to Love, Marriage, and Family –
David Mann (Author), Tamela Mann (Author), Shaun Saunders (With), (W
Publishing)
Outstanding Literary Work –
Biography/Autobiography Becoming –
Michelle Obama (Crown)
Outstanding Literary Work –
Instructional Rise and Grind: Outperform,
Outwork, and Outhustle Your Way to a More Successful and Rewarding Life –
Daymond John (Author), Daniel Paisner(With), (Currency)A A
Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart – Alice Walker
(Author) (37 Ink/Atria Books)
Outstanding Literary Work –
Children Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space
Race – Margot Lee Shetterly (Author), Laura Freeman
(Illustrator), (Harper)
Outstanding Literary Work –
Youth/Teens Harbor Me –
Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy M. Paulsen)
Outstanding Documentary
(Television) Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland (HBO)
Outstanding Writing in a Comedy
Series Trevor Noah , Steve Budow , David Kibuuka , Zhubin Parang , Dan Amira ,
Lauren Sarver Means , Mr. Daniel Radosh , David Angelo , Devin Trey Delliquanti
, Zachary DiLanzo – The Daily Show with Trevor Noah – 23087
Outstanding Writing in a Motion
Picture (Television) J. David Shanks – Seven Seconds: Matters of Life and Death (Netflix)
Outstanding Writing in a Motion
Picture (Film) Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole – Black Panther (Marvel
Studios)
Outstanding Directing in a Comedy
Series Donald Glover – Atlanta – “FUBU” (FX Networks)
Outstanding Directing in a Drama
Series
Deborah Ann Chow – Better Call Saul – “Something Stupid” (AMC)
Outstanding Directing in a Motion
Picture (Television) Tracy Heather Strain – Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted
Eyes/Feeling Heart (PBS)
Outstanding Directing in a Motion
Picture (Film)
Ryan Coogler – Black Panther (Marvel Studios)
Outstanding Character Voice-Over
Performance (Television or Film) Samuel L. Jackson – Incredibles 2 (Disney and Pixar Animation
Studios)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a
Motion Picture Michael B. Jordan – Black Panther (Marvel Studios)
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a
Motion Picture Danai Gurira – Black Panther (Marvel Studios)
Outstanding Independent Motion
Picture If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna Pictures)
Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a
Motion Picture Black Panther (Marvel Studios)
