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DNA eviden ng the campaign. sure juwere stice is hristopherld daughter Jessica ifane Doug and Peggy belonging toiana Roper came foprw whenonheThursday, e anstore claims, a w summoned to the near Tampa se rv im ed “N ce al g ,” b o h o Hughes. Po ca d an 11-yea w u t er t ar t o as n otragedy only is itthey utli-to chec test mbigger blocking ing there like this, timeheltop be and lawsad in thisiscaa se than a hothe r-old inal. She turned former boyfriend wd with blood“After Dale lice found profound Anim enfo y clotha in ven Michael rcemenwhere al CHudson use would on the evidence the bloodie E ho t solvstore cat. venthis trol The tog mourn.

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Tampa Bay m cr o ce u an e im d destroyed it. g rs at im h es over to thweasthere’s rushed is bold, he this hasNbeen nao cost to th , trau t crinimour al hospital, ewsobuilding m now community, for ’s e ble pright African Am d is o w ec e Times reports he was demanding to speak to a manager. m li tr h st is ce a. ea er at io , but they issue that dingshops e it was dth e.” n in the C ericans, His carefuatllythat long time,” said Ms. Reyes-Lopez, who same C o o al p o As deputies spoke to Hudson, they say he sudden-iagnose if D er n o panics and r. rn a ca K p ia se w ri o v te at st o n i ch te Krause, a v Customers tiallydrove rs acrohave ingfamily. otherEl she ex Paso with her . He is“These polaritoward ss thebeen min store’s pects main eterinarian zing the oritiWalmart keepinclouds politicaly the 11entrance. es livthunder g hthis l spectrum - Conhas , tells th -pothrough is folightening b circling.

This and ac und (5-kthe k cu tinubeen jumped out of the way as he barreled in s to o ar ed obuilding n th e ilogdoor. fa e ir n w n racusp il es m) cat to d a s g af have struck. And we’re very angry about e A2it. Many of the te d justtoward r Heanraced the checkout area, hitting several M it cG re ice th gains streng u e visited people I’ve spoken to in the last 24 hours have told me, th. at if he seir tomers. es it again, the bobcat on Fri friends, activists, people that have had their feet on the day. h He was jailed on multiple charges, including e’ll issue aaggraground for a long time, said, we are talking about voting, vated battery. A lawyer wasn’t listed in jail records. ticket for ja we’re talking about legislation, and gun control.”

These mass shootings are happening more often. On February 14, 2018, 17 people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a high school in Parkland, Florida. On May 18, 2018, 10 people were killed at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas. On November 5, 2017, 25 people were killed at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. On October 1, 2017, 58 people were killed when a mass shooter opened fire from a hotel room at the Harvest Music Festival, at a Las Vegas strip in Nevada. On June 12, 2016, 49 people were killed at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

SILER CITY, N.C. (AP) – A North Carolina restauOn June 17, 2015, 9 people were killed at Emanuel rant that received a racist, threatening letter says it ran out African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South of food after it was overwhelmed by customers who came Carolina. to show their support.

Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, southwest regional The owners of A&I’s Chicken Shack in Siler City student minister of the Nation of Islam in Houston said, said on Facebook the restaurant had to close Sunday. They God loved us so much, he set up a military structure and said some “drove miles” to show support. The restaurant security apparatus for his servants, the Most Honorable plans to reopen Tuesday.

Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan, and the Andre Chaney, who is black, is one of the owners.

Nation of Islam in anticipation of the current dark days.

He says he found the letter Wednesday. News outlets re“If we love our people as much as Allah (God) loves us, we port it contained a racist epithet and was signed “white Mourners gather at a vigil following a nearby mass shooting Aug. 4, in Dayton, Ohio. Multiple people in will be found teaching and training our people to make nationalists.”

Ohio have been killed in the second mass shooting in the U.S. in less than 24 hours, and the suspected our neighborhoods and institutions safe places to live, The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office is investigatshooter is also deceased, police said. Photo: AP/Wide World Photos work, play, learn, and pray. Offering thoughts and prayers ing to determine who sent it and whether it constitutes or finger pointing is not sufficient today,” Dr. Haleem a hate crime. Sheriff Mike Roberson says felony charges

By Rhodesia Muhammad and Bryan Crawford Muhammad stressed. “Love is a verb. We must show and could be filed.

Contributing Writers prove the unequaled wisdom Allah has taught us through Siler City is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of NNPA NEWSWIRE — According to authorities, Aug. 4. Connor Betts, 24, killed nine people, including his his Christ and Messiah.”

Raleigh.

Patrick Crusius, the 21-year-old White male identified as own 22-year-old sister, in less than a minute, authorities Student Minister Abel Muhammad agreed that this is the shooter, drove nearly 10 hours from his hometown of reported. Thirty-one other people were reported injured. not the time for finger pointing. “This is what has angered Allen, Texas, about 30 miles north of Dallas, to carry out The suspect was eventually shot and killed by police. me, the response has been politicized, where Democrats an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime against the Authorities are saying the two shootings are not linked. are pointing at Republicans now trying to win the Latino Hispanic community. Mr. Crusius surrendered to police During an Aug. 5 press conference, President Trump votes by saying, ‘oh look what they’ve done, they’ve allowed shortly after his reign of terror, leaving many baffled as to said the nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and White this to happen because of their gun laws’ when for eight why he didn’t take his own life like many mass shooting supremacy. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated,” he years the Democrats had charge of the Congress and the suspects. “Ya basta!” Estela Reyes-Lopez pleaded, which added. “Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the presidential office and they were not able to fix anything means “enough” in English. mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.” in terms of immigration or in terms of those things which “Twenty lives were taken from us because of some Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the ill-affect our people.” young man filled with so much hate, so much ignorance, House Judiciary Committee, said the shootings were Dee Woo, operations manager of KTEP FM, El Paso,

By KATHLEEN FOODY so much hostility toward people he doesn’t even know,” clearly, at least in part, a result of Mr. Trump’s divisive, a public radio station, commended the residents of El Associated Press said Ms. Lopez, the media and public information officer racist rhetoric and condemned the president’s proposed Paso for being a strong community that bands together DENVER (AP) – Attorneys for the family of a for Centro De Salud Familiar La Fe, the center for faith legislative fix for strong background checks for gun users in times of need. She believes parents are the root of the young black man who was fatally shot by Colorado police and family health, a non-profit social justice organization and tougher immigration laws. Many questioned why hatred that leads to mass shootings. “Parents need to stop called Monday for an independent special prosecutor to based in El Paso.

Mr. Trump connected the two issues, especially since the teaching racism and hatred at home. And, they need to investigate his death.

It was a hail of bullets that sent families who were shooting suspects are U.S. citizens. address it with their children as early as two and three years Surveillance video obtained last week by The Gazette back to school shopping, screaming and running for their Many social media users’ disdain for the U.S. old, because as we’ve seen, children will play with other showed 19-year-old De’Von Bailey running from two lives, when a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, government, including the president for hesitancy and children because they want to play with other children and officers before falling to the ground. Colorado Springs Texas, around 10 a.m. Aug. 3, killing at least 22 people and refusal to call these mass shootings what they really are hate for no other reason but to have fun. And it doesn’t matter police have said an officer shot Bailey on Aug. 3 after he wounding more than two dozen. crimes and domestic terror. who it is or the color of their skin. So, stop teaching the reached for a gun but they have not elaborated, citing a According to authorities, Patrick Crusius, the 21-yearStudent Minister Abel Muhammad, Latino children racism and prejudice and instead start teaching pending sheriff’s office investigation and subsequent reold White male identified as the shooter, drove nearly 10 representative of the Nation of Islam, said, “President them universal love, which is respect for one another and view by the district attorney. hours from his hometown of Allen, Texas, about 30 miles Trump’s rhetoric has emboldened and lit fire to many being able to help one another,” she told The Final Call.

Attorneys for Bailey’s family said that system has too north of Dallas, to carry out an act of domestic terrorism extremist groups. There is a hesitancy and a slowness in Others say separation is the only solution. That there many conflicts, as the police department, sheriff’s office and a hate crime against the Hispanic community. Mr. labeling this in what seems to be apparent to every one of are already two Americas, one White and one non-White. and district attorney work together. City officials should Crusius surrendered to police shortly after his reign of us. So many of our Black and Brown brothers and sisters Jay Hernandez, a resident of El Paso, noted, “Some in appoint a special prosecutor to refer the case to a grand terror, leaving many baffled as to why he didn’t take his are being killed for far less. Yet, somehow these extremists the Latino community in El Paso may have been injured jury, they said. own life like many mass shooting suspects. who take the life of our people somehow always makes it but didn’t seek treatment because of their lack of citizenship “An independent and impartial special prosecutor A manifesto apparently posted on social media by Mr. safely to be arrested without incidence. But our people and I think that’s hurtful and disgraceful. This is America, should be given the important responsibility of bringCrusius outlined his intentions and his racist and anti- unarmed can’t seem to make it out of a traffic stop.” yet we don’t have the freedom to shop for school supplies ing charges against the officers involved in this tragedy,” immigration views, said authorities. Perhaps he surrendered “It’s absolutely a sign of the times as the Honorable for our children.” attorneys Darold Killmer and Mari Newman said in a that he wanted to be heard.

Minister Louis Farrakhan has been warning the American “I think it’s a wakeup call,” added Student Minister statement on Monday.

Just 12 hours later, another gunman opened fire in a people for years now, that the injustices within the country The shooting comes at a time when law enforcement crowded bar in Dayton, Ohio, early Sunday morning, on create an imbalance and if not addressed the results of Continued on page A2 agencies across the country are under scrutiny in the killing of black men. Bailey’s death has prompted several protests in Colorado Springs, including one heated rally that ended when police arrested two bail bondsmen who arrived on motorcycles and drew guns after a scuffle with some of the protesters.

Attorneys said Bailey’s relatives also want all footage from officers’ body-worn cameras and patrol dash cameras to be released.

Monroe, the 2019 Commemoration of the First The Rev. Promise Lee, a pastor working with Bailey’s African Landing Ceremony will include remarks from family, said Monday that Bailey’s body has been released CNN political contributor Van Jones and remarks and to the family. Lee said he observed gunshot wounds on greetings from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam; U.S.

By Stacy M. Brown Bailey’s body at a funeral home.

Senator Mark Warner; U.S. Senator Tim Kaine; U.S. NNPA Newswire Correspondent “Regardless of how many times you look at that vidRepresentative Bobby Scott(VA-3), and Dr. Joseph In August 1619, more than 20 Africans landed at eo, it’s undeniable that this shooting was excessive and Green, Jr., Chair of 400 Years of African American Old Point Comfort, the present-day Fort Monroe in uncalled for,” Lee said.

History Federal Commission.

Hampton, Va., and were forced into labor as slaves.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday The ceremony will feature African drumming and That was the beginning of the slave trade in America. that it expects to complete its investigation by the end the I.C. Norcom High School Choir from Portsmouth, This month, 400 years after that humiliating and of this week for review by prosecutors. A spokesman for Va. disgraceful day, the city of Hampton will commemorate the police department said Friday that it will allow body Following the ceremony from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 “African Landing Day.” camera footage from two officers capturing “the moments p.m., there will be musical performances by Cheick The three-day commemoration, which begins Aug. leading up to, including and immediately following the Hamala Diabate, a GRAMMY-nominated World Music 23, will include a host of special guests and a variety of Artist; EMA Live, a billboard chart topping gospel shooting” to be released. history tours, education programs and special exhibits. group, RaJazz, “One of the objectives we want to achieve is to 2019 First African Landing Commemoration correct history,” said retired Lt. Col. Claude Vann, the This model shows a typical ship in the early 1700s on the Middle Passage. To preserve their profits, Concert, Hampton Coliseum, Common, with Sounds of Hampton 2019 Commission co-chair.

“I think history has done the African American a captains and sailors tried to limit the deaths of Blackness, Day of Healing and Gospel Music Festival, disservice because we have never been told what our real slaves from disease, suicide, and recolts. In the The event will include a bell ringing across the history was. For the folks here at Hampton, particularly, grisly arithmetic of the slave trade, captains usuwe were taught that the first African landed in Jamestown. ally chose between two options: pack in as many United States, gospel choir performances, and a keynote slaves as possible and hope that most survive, or speech by Michael Eric Dyson.

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) – A prosecutor says an Well, that’s incorrect,” Vann said.

The event will feature a National Park Service Town internal investigation of a white police officer whose The place where the first African landed was Point put fewer aboard, improve the conditions between house had an apparent Ku Klux Klan document on disComfort, described by PRI.org as as far east as you can decks, and hope to lose fewer to disease. (Pho- Hall, libation ceremony, blessing of the land, a tribute play will help determine whether there will be further get in Virginia — on a peninsula that extends out into to: Ken Lu ? Wikimedia Commons / This file is li- to the ancestors with a release of 400 butterflies, and censed under the Creative Commons Attribution Ghanaian drumming. review of the officer’s 2009 fatal shooting of a black man. the Chesapeake Bay. 2.0 Generic license.)

“From a historian’s perspective, we hope people The Muskegon Police Department opened an interTo get to it, you have to cross a bridge over a moat. will take away that all of this wasn’t an accident,” said nal investigation of Officer Charles Anderson after a poOn the other side is the largest stone fort in America — According to a news release, the commemoration Beth Austin of the Hampton History Museum, who tential homebuyer, who is black, reported seeing a framed Fort Monroe — encompassing 565 acres, according to kicks off on Friday, August 23 at 12:00 p.m. at conducted much of the research. “It happened in a global KKK application at Anderson’s home.

PRI. Anderson was placed on paid administrative leave.

“The city saw the importance of this commemoration the Hampton Roads Convention Center where Byron context both in terms of the wider Atlantic world in Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson says the early on and they created a commission within the city Pitts of ABC Nightline, and formerly of CBS Evening 1619 and it had the enormous global impact. The slave investigation’s results will drive reconsideration of the for it,” said Luci Cochran, the executive director of the News and 60 Minutes, will host the African-American trade and the practice of slavery in America impacted the Political Firsts Luncheon featuring panelists Kentucky Lt. New World and Africa and it’s had a very long-term and 2009 case. Anderson was cleared of fatally shooting Julius Hampton History Museum.

Johnson following a traffic stop. Johnson had fought with “This is a history that so many people are not aware Governor Jenean Hampton; L. Douglas Wilder, former profound legacy.”

For more information about the 2019 of and we want people to understand that the landing of governor of Virginia; U.S. Representative Bobby Scott Anderson, who was beaten. Anderson said he feared for (VA-3), and former mayor and North Carolina State Commemoration of the First African Landing in the first African is a thread that shaped everything. his life.

Hampton, Va., visit www.firstafricanlanding.com.

“It shaped our country and it continues to affect our Senator Howard Lee. Anderson has declined comment. His wife has said On Saturday, at 9:30 a.m. in Continental Park, Fort country today,” she said. her husband isn’t a Klan member.

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Abel Muhammad. “I hope ultimately, the only good that can come of this is that perhaps our people will awaken to the fact that these people do not see us as their brothers, they do not see us as their equals. They have no desire for truth, or fairness, or equity or justice with us if they’re not in a position of superiority, not based on truth or goodness, but simply on their Whiteness and we as subordinate and subservient to them. They don’t even want us alive in their presence. Hopefully, as harsh as that may be, I think it’s waking up people to understand and to look at what is it that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan are offering, which is the best and only solution, separation from these people.”

There has been an average of one mass shooting every 12 days in 2019, with the total so far being 18.

All told, as many as 102 people have been killed this year in mass shootings, with many of them being committed by White men; all of whom adhere to and embrace the ideology of White nationalism.

Compounding the issue is the reluctance to paint these men as what they are: domestic terrorists.

The emergence of Donald Trump on the political scene in America has brought feelings of White pride mixed with concern about Whites acting out in public spaces every day. Videos capture White men and women berating, harassing, insulting and even calling the police on Blacks and other non-White people. Social media is flooded with clips showing the differences in the way law enforcement treats White perpetrators of crime, versus treatment of nonWhite people who don’t have to be committing a crime to

be forcibly attacked—or even killed at the hands of police officers.

All of this could, and should, be very easily categorized as acts of terrorism. But in a society where the thought appears to be only Muslims can be terrorists, White domestic terrorism gets softened to “mental illness.”

“No one is safe. And the days of thinking something like this can never happen to me are pretty much over,” political commentator and activist Mark Thompson, told The Final Call. “[White people’s] fear of genetic annihilation, as Dr. Frances Cress Welsing described it, is enabled by Donald Trump. He can dismiss these mass shootings as mental illness. But White supremacy is a mental illness. To believe that you are a superior race that is supposed to be separate and distinct above every other race, is a form of mental illness.”

“In America, the dangerous are seen as endangered,” Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, wrote in an op-ed for The Atlantic. “Leaders treat white-nationalist terror, not as a broad social ill, but as a fringe problem that will become extinct on its own. To portray white terrorism as an outlier is to ignore America’s entire racial history, not to mention its present.”

Technology and media are part of the phenomenon with White terrorists able to amplify their views through mainstream and social media. And on these platforms, the idea that only Black and Brown people are dangerous can spread like wildfire.

An FBI bulletin disseminated through the agency’s office in Phoenix, Arizona, found conspiracy theories, like

people from South America are invading the United States, can contribute to domestic terrorist threats.

“The FBI assesses these conspiracy theories very likely will emerge, spread, and evolve in the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts,” the memo read in part.

“White folks are upholding a slavery amendment—the 2nd Amendment—that was meant to use violence to keep Black and Brown folks in check. But the 2nd Amendment is now being used in the killing of White folks themselves,” Mr. Thompson explained, adding, “Firearms are an instrument of White supremacy and the enforcement of racist oppression.”

In May, testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, officials from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, that there are more than 850 open cases of domestic terrorism in the United States; 40 percent of them have involved racially motivated violence. However, there is no law on the books in America against domestic terrorism. Perpetrators of these crimes, who are labeled as homegrown terrorists, are often prosecuted using other statutes. This makes it extremely difficult to even prosecute someone as a domestic terrorist in this country.

Thus, charges can be left to the whims of prosecutors dealing with those who commit acts of extreme violence.

After the most recent tragedies, the possibility of making mass shootings, which authorities describe as shootings with four or more victims, capital crimes was raised.

Gun-Control Backers Concerned About Changing Federal Courts

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ California has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, including a ban on the type of high-capacity ammunition magazines used in some of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings.

How long those types of laws will stand is a growing concern among gun control advocates in California and elsewhere.

A federal judiciary that is becoming increasingly conservative under President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate has gun control advocates on edge. They worry that federal courts, especially if Trump wins a second term next year and Republicans hold the Senate, will take such an expansive view of Second Amendment rights that they might overturn strict gun control laws enacted in Democratic-leaning states.

The U.S. Supreme Court so far has left plenty of room for states to enact their own gun legislation, said Adam Winkler, a gun policy expert at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. But he said the success of the Trump administration in appointing federal judges, including to the high court, could alter that.

“Those judges are likely to be hostile to gun-control measures,” Winkler said. “So I think the courts overall have made a shift to the right on guns. We’ll just have to see how that plays out.”

The legal tug-of-war already is playing out in California.

The state banned the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines nearly two decades ago as one of its numerous responses to deadly mass shootings; a voter initiative passed three years ago expanded on that, banning all ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds even among gun owners who already possessed them.

Earlier this year, a Republican-appointed federal judge overturned the ban, triggering a weeklong bullet buying

spree among California gun owners before he put his decision on hold pending appeal. The same judge is overseeing another lawsuit brought by gun-rights groups that seeks to repeal a state law requiring background checks for ammunition buyers.

Legal experts, lawmakers and advocates on both sides said the decision in the case over ammunition limits foreshadows more conflicts between Democratic-leaning states seeking to impose tighter gun laws and an increasingly conservative federal judiciary.

“What you’re looking at in the Southern District of California is happening all over the country,” said Frank Zimring, a University of California, Berkeley law professor who is an expert on gun laws.

Trump has the opportunity to fill a higher percentage of federal court vacancies than any president at this point in his first term since George H.W. Bush nearly three decades ago.

To date, he has nominated 194 candidates for federal judgeships and has had 146 confirmed, out of 860 total federal district court judicial seats, according to the conservative Heritage Foundation. Of 179 seats on the federal appellate courts, Trump has nominated 46 judges and had 43 confirmed. He is poised to fill 105 vacancies in the district courts and four in the appeals courts, according to the Heritage Foundation.

The changes to the federal judiciary could mean that even gun restrictions that were previously upheld by appointees of former Republican presidents may now be in jeopardy, said Hannah Shearer, litigation director at the San Francisco-based Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

“I think the judiciary is headed into a more extreme place on gun control issues because of President Trump’s appointees,” she said.

Even when gun and ammunition limits are upheld, those cases eventually could make their way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Trump may already have tipped the

balance.

The court is currently poised to take up its first Second Amendment case in about a decade. It’s a challenge to a law New York City passed that prohibited people who have home handgun licenses from taking their guns outside the city for target practice or to a second home.

The city has told the court the case should be dropped, however, because it has relaxed its law.

Among other cases working their way through the courts are challenges to a California ban on certain handguns, other states’ longstanding restrictions on carrying concealed weapons and limitations on interstate handgun sales.

Yet forecasting how the Supreme Court might act, or even whether it will take certain cases, is fraught with uncertainty. The court has steered clear of gun-rights cases since establishing an individual right to possess guns in 2008 2010, and has let stand a number of state gun restrictions.

Still, gun-rights supporters are excited by the changes brought by Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate.

The upcoming Supreme Court session “could be a real game-changer” with Trump’s appointments of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, said Chuck Michel, an attorney who represents both the National Rifle Association and the affiliated California Rifle & Pistol Association.

“To the extent that the composition of the court has changed and that it will give the Second Amendment back its teeth, it’s very important,” Michel said. “It looks like there’s enough votes on the court right now to reset the standard.”

His clients are challenging California’s ammunition background check and extended magazine ban before U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.

Other states that limit ammunition magazines in some way, typically between 10 and 20 rounds, are Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New

Thursday, August 15, 2019

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Jersey, New York and Vermont, according to the Giffords Law Center.

Democrats said the prospect of four more years of Trump judicial appointments is helping energize their opposition to his re-election.

“This would be one of the lasting legacies of Donald Trump,” said former California state Senate leader Kevin de Leon, a Democrat from Los Angeles who carried or supported many of the state’s firearms restrictions, including limits on military-style assault weapons. “When Trump is gone, they will be there for lifetime appointments.”

Democratic lawmakers said they will continue pushing more firearms restrictions even as some fear they could be thwarted in the federal courts.

State Sen. Anthony Portantino, a Democrat from Southern California, acknowledges the potential for state gun restrictions to be overturned by federal judges, but said the stakes are too high to back down.

He noted that the gunman who recently killed three people and himself in Gilroy, at an annual garlic festival, was 19 and legally bought his assault-style rifle in Nevada before illegally bringing it into California. The gunman also carried a 75-round drum magazine and multiple 40-round magazines, all banned under California law.

“That he could smuggle that across state lines and kill a 6-year-old, to me that’s an example of why we need federal action and why California should continue to lead and tell our story,” Portantino said.

He is proposing a ban on anyone buying more than one gun a month and prohibiting almost all gun sales to people under age 21.

Experts Push for Domestic Terrorism Law After Attacks

By STEFANIE DAZIO and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Seven days, three mass shootings, 34 dead.

The FBI has labeled two of those attacks , at a Texas Walmart and California food festival, as domestic terror-

ism _ acts meant to intimidate or coerce a civilian population and affect government policy. But the bureau hasn’t gone that far with a shooting at an Ohio entertainment district.

Even if there’s a domestic terrorism investigation, no

specific domestic terrorism law exists in the federal criminal code. That means the Justice Department must rely on other laws such as hate crimes and weapons offenses in cases of politically motivated shootings.

The legal gap has prompted many survivors, victims’ families, law enforcement officials and legal experts to call on lawmakers to create a domestic terrorism law that could aid investigators and punish perpetrators.

“Calling something for what it is is an important first step in combating this problem,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

However, supporters of a domestic terrorism law say some lawmakers may be reluctant to push legislation that could target white supremacists.

“When you dismiss it as a mass shooting or a hate crime or some crazed gunman, you’re minimizing what impact it has,” said Daryl Johnson, a former senior domestic terrorism analyst at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “It’s a double standard. We should be calling all ideologically motivated violence terrorism, whether it comes from the white variety or the Muslim variety.”

The gunmen in Ohio and Texas appear to be white, while the Gilroy shooter identified himself as Iranian and Italian on social media.

In El Paso, authorities suspect a 21-year-old gunman posted anti-Hispanic writings online before killing 22 people Saturday at a Walmart store.

In Gilroy, authorities say, the 19-year-old attacker who killed three people, including two children, had compiled a “target list” that included religious groups, federal buildings and both major political parties. Search warrant records released Thursday show authorities found a passport, clown mask, wilderness survival guide and bottle rockets – as well as a pamphlet for the garlic festival he targeted – in his car.

In Dayton, Ohio, however, the FBI has not yet said if it considers an attack that killed nine people to be domestic terrorism.

The bureau says the 24-year-old gunman expressed a desire to commit a mass shooting and showed an interest in violent ideology. In addition, posts from what appears to be his Twitter account endorsed communism, bemoaned President Donald Trump’s election and supported Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is running for president.

Todd Lindgren, an FBI spokesman in the Cincinnati office, said the bureau is investigating the shooter’s motive and ideologies_ including combing through his social media _ but he declined to address a potential domestic terrorism aspect of the case.

Domestic terrorism has historically been applied to violent anti-government extremists such as Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Crimes targeting African Americans, Jewish people and other minorities have more regularly been treated as hate crimes, rather than terrorist attacks, and investigated by FBI criminal agents instead of counterterrorism agents.

The FBI Agents Association, which represents thou-

sands of active-duty and retired agents, has called for Congress to make domestic terrorism a federal crime to ensure investigators and prosecutors have the “best tools” to fight it.

Mary McCord, former head of the Justice Department’s national security division, has also advocated for such a law.

“It is something we may see come out of this, we may not,” she said.

The punishment for mass killings can be life imprisonment or even death, regardless of the label applied to the crime. Even if a shooter dies, as occurred in California and Ohio, experts said a federal law would help authorities gather evidence and serve as a deterrent.

The legal framework is different in international terrorism cases, where a wide-reaching statute makes it a crime to support a designated foreign terror group such as Islamic State or al-Qaida and often produces arrests long before violence occurs.

As a result, it’s a crime for an American to fly to Syria to join Islamic State, but it’s not illegal for an American to travel in the U.S. to meet with Ku Klux Klan leaders or other white supremacists.

“When politics get involved, we end up playing games,” Levin said. “Had the El Paso killer been named Ahmed, the response of some in government and some in the media would have been markedly different.”

In national security cases with an overseas connection, the FBI can obtain secret surveillance warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor communications of people they suspect of being agents of a foreign power.

Investigators in domestic criminal cases don’t have that tool. They can apply for court-authorized wiretaps but must show there’s probable cause that such surveillance will turn up criminal activity.

Civil liberties groups wary of additional federal surveillance powers say the FBI and Justice Department already have the tools they need.

The FBI says it doesn’t investigate anyone based on ideology alone. Investigators need some sign that they are planning a crime. Many act alone, without any affiliation to a group.

“If they’re just kind of out there sitting in a basement, not going on anything that we can tie them to, they are very hard to find,” said Robert Anderson, a former executive assistant director in charge of the FBI’s criminal branch.

One similarity between contemporary international and domestic acts of terror is the ease of pulling them off.

The Islamic State has encouraged followers to kill where they are, with whatever weapon they have, instead of plotting grandiose bomb plots. Recent suspects in white nationalist killings have taken a page from that book.

“Honestly, it’s a pretty easy thing to do if you think about it,” Anderson said of mass shootings. “This isn’t like you’re going out and building a bomb, this isn’t like you’re thinking about taking over an airplane.”

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Legal Notices /

PUBLIC NOTICE

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE NO: 2019192998 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: PHOTOPOP CO./ PHOTOPOP CO. at 2 Arcadia Terrace, Santa Monica, Ca. 90401 Mailing Address: 1815 Morton Ave B105, Los Angeles, Ca. 90026 County: LA REGISTERED OWNERS(S): ANGELA SHEN, 1815 Morton Ave B105, Los Angeles, Ca. 90026 The business is conducted by: Individual SIGNED: ANGELA SHEN, Owner The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: N/A This statement filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on: July 15, 2019 DEAN C. LOGAN, Los Angeles County Clerk By: JUANITA CARPENTER, Deputy NOTICE: IN ACCORDANCE WITH SUBDIVISION (a) OF SECTION 17920, A FICTITIOUS NAME STATEMENT GENERALLY EXPIRES ST THE END IOF FIVE YEARS FROM THE DATE OF WHICH IT WAS FILED IN THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY CLERK EXCEPT, AS PROVIDED IN SUBDIVISION (b) OF SECTION 17920, WHERE IT EXPIRES 40 DAYS AFTER ANY CHANGE IN THE FACTS SET FORTH IN THE STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 17913 OTHER THAN A CHANGE IN THE RESIDENCE ADDRESS OF A REGISTERED OWNER. A NEW FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT MUST BE FILED BEFORE THE EXPIRATION. EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2014, THE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY THE AFFIDAVIT OF IDENTITY FORM. This statement expires on July 15, 2024 LOS ANGELES BAY NEWS OBSERVER (E) PUB: Aug 15, 22, 29, Sept 5, 2019 ��������������������������������

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ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE NUMBER: 19SMCP00364 Superior Court of the State of California, for the county of LOS ANGELES, 1725 Main Street., Santa Monica, Ca. 90401 Santa Monica Courthouse-West District PETITION OF: PAUL GONZALEZ FOR CHANGE OF NAME TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner: PAUL GONZALEZ for a decree changing names as follows: Present name PAUL GONZALEZ Filed a petition with this court Proposed name PAUL GONZARI THE COURT ORDERS: that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted if no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING Date: Oct 11, 2019 Time: 8:30 a.m.

Dept: K The address of the court is: Same as noted above.

A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of general circulation, printed in this county LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER Date: Aug 8, 2019 LAWERENCE CHO JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT Petitioner or Attorney: Paul Gonzalez 209 S Doheny Dr., Apt 1 Beverly Hills, CA., 90211 Phone: E-Mail: paulgonzari@gmail.com LOS ANGELES BAY NEWS OBSERVER (E) PUB: Aug 14, 21, 28, Sept 4, 2019

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Features

Chevy Silverado Sets the Course for the Next Century

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Correspondent During the 2019 National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Annual Convention, member publishers, editors, writers and guests were greeted with the beauty of the 2019 Chevy Silverado stationed inside the Cincinnati Westin Hotel lobby.

The NNPA is the trade association representing African American-owned media companies throughout the country.

“Chevrolet’s 2019 Silverado is a grand example of precision production of a truck for this age and time.

Having the Silverado at the NNPA convention shows the breadth of the creativity and productivity of General Motors, who produces trucks for our readers across the country,” said NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. “The NNPA’s reach includes 47 million African Americans, and if any of them are in the market for a truck, there could be no better selection. The Silverado is the gold standard of trucks,” Chavis added.

Chevrolet introduced the next-generation Silverado in 2018, exactly 100 years after the brand delivered its first trucks to customers in January 1918.

Experts said the all-new Silverado sets the course for the next century of Chevy Trucks with the most functional bed of any full-size truck, weighs up to 450 pounds less for increased performance and offers a broad range of trims and engine/transmission combinations to help each customer find their ideal truck.

“With the all-new Silverado, we’ve taken the best truck on the road and made it even better,” Mark Reuss, General Motors executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, said in a news release.

“It has a longer wheelbase, more passenger and cargo volume, and yet, thanks to our mixed materials strategy and mass reduction expertise, the new truck is 450 pounds lighter than the current model,” Reuss said.

The truck also comes with a larger, more functional and capable bed, the automaker said.

The bed is the defining trait of every pickup, and bed construction has long been a strength of Chevy Trucks and to improve upon that strength, the 2019 Silverado 1500 bed features a best-in-class cargo volume and it offers storage bins that fit over the wheel wells, providing for nearly seven cubic feet of lockable cargo space for short-

“With the all-new Silverado, we’ve taken the best truck on the road and made it even better,” said Mark Reuss, General Motors executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain.

box models, while easily accommodating a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood flat on the cargo floor.

As before, the Silverado has a roll-formed, highstrength steel bed floor.

For 2019, a higher-grade steel is used, with yield strength increased from 340 to 500 megapascals of pressure for optimal strength and mass, officials said in a news release.

The Silverado now has 12 fixed tie-downs, and their strength has doubled to 500 pounds of force before bending and it also has nine moveable tie points for even

more cargo flexibility.

“Truck customers value capability and functionality above all else,” said Tim Herrick, executive chief engineer of Full-Size Trucks. “Every truck — including the luxurious High Country — is a work truck with a job to do. As such, we set out to create the best tool for the job at hand, one that makes work more productive and more enjoyable, no matter what they call ‘work,’” Herrick said.

To learn more about the Silverado, visit www. chevrolet.com.

Equifax May Owe You a $125 Payment

But, Let’s Be Real, You’ll Get Much, Much Less If all 147 million people end up filing a claim, individual payouts would shrivel down to around .22 cents per person.

By Manny Otiko California Black Media On June 22, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the outcome of a settlement with Equifax, one of the three major credit monitoring firms in the United States.

The settlement requires Equifax to pay somewhere between $500 and $700 million in restitution for a 2017 data breach that affected about 147 million people across the United States, according to Jacqueline Connor, a privacy attorney with the FTC. The amount of the settlement is the highest in U.S. history for a data breach and the number of people impacted represents almost half the United States’ population. That’s nearly every adult in the country who has credit.

In California alone, Hackers were able to access and expose the personal information of about 15 million people.

“Our credit status impacts nearly every aspect of our lives - from purchasing a home or a car to finding a job,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “The same Americans who had to immediately protect themselves from fraudsters or identify thieves will have to be vigilant for the rest of their lives. We encourage every eligible person to apply for the relief they are entitled to as part of our settlement.”

About $300 million of the settlement amount will go to making payments to Americans affected by the breach.

Equifax will pay another $275 million in fines to close the investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and to end legal action by states who filed lawsuits against the company.

The hackers, who have not yet been identified, penetrated Equifax’s data files and were able to steal social security numbers, credit card numbers, addresses and other personal data. The breach affected all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.

To compensate victims, Equifax has set up a website (EquifaxBreachSettlement.com) where you can first check to see if you were affected by the breach. Then, you can apply for a check payment of “up to” $125, or you can choose free credit monitoring with all three major credit bureaus for up to four years, a value of a little over $950. When that period is over, you can choose to opt in for free credit monitoring by Equifax for another six years.

Because “millions of people” affected have filed claims for the $125 payment option since the settlement announcement, the FTC, which is responsible for consumer protection across the country, says applying for a cash payment is not the best way to go. So, as an alternative, Equifax is primarily now offering free credit monitoring to its customers affected by the data breach. If you’re already signed up for a free credit monitoring service and intend to keep it for the next six months, then you can apply for the $125 payment.

“The pot of money that pays for that part of the settle-

Now You Can Get The Los Angeles News Observer Online! ment is $31 million,” the FTC said in a statement. “A large number of claims for cash instead of credit monitoring means only one thing: Each person who takes the money option will wind up only getting a small amount of money. Nowhere near the $125 they could have gotten if there hadn’t been such an enormous number of claims filed.”

For Equifax to have paid out the full $125 to each person affected, a number of no more than 248,000 people would have needed to apply. If all 147 million people end up filing a claim, individual payouts would shrivel down to around .22 cents per person.

The cost for Equifax’s credit monitoring service is $19.99 a month, according to the company’s website. If every victim of the breach signs up, it could cost Equifax up to $2 billion to cover the costs.

Victims of identity theft or other fraud resulting directly from the breach who have documentation to back up their claim, will receive compensation of $25 an hour (for up to 20 hours) of the time they took to resolve the problem. They will be eligible for up to another 10 hours of $25-an-hour payments for the time they took to research or purchase protection services, including freezing their credit, after the fraud happened.

Those who incurred legal expenses or spent money on credit monitoring, notaries and other approved fines as a result of the hack, are eligible for up to $20,000 per person in reimbursements. They will also be required to show proof that their claims are valid.

The deadline to file all claims is Jan. 22, 2020.

For people who have already requested a $125 payment and would now like to opt for free credit monitoring instead, look out for an email from Equifax. The company will allow you to change your choice.

Some consumer advocates and legislators around the country say the settlement didn’t go far enough.

“Equifax’s data breach put over 100 million Americans at risk by exposing their Social Security numbers and other personal information,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey), chair of the House Energy and Commerce committee, in a press release. “This settlement does not come close to making consumers whole and, once again, shows the limitations on the FTC’s ability to seek strong penalties and effective redress for consumers.”

News of data breaches of financial institutions and credit monitoring agencies is becoming an increasingly common occurrence.

Paige Thompson, a Seattle-based hacker, was arrested by the FBI last Monday after she bragged on social media about hacking Capital One and leaking 100 million consumers’ data.

Thompson, who previously worked for Amazon Web Services, bragged about her hacking exploits on Twitter under the username “Erratic.”

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LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER

Sports

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Austin Ekeler finds an opening against the Cardinals in the Chargers Pre-Season opener. (Courtesy Photo)

Los Angeles Chargers Play the Arizona Cardinals

By Cameron Buford whatsgoodinsports.com It’s still hard for me to believe the Chargers are no longer playing football in San Diego. As surprising as that may be, they have seemingly found a nice training facility in Orange County. During the Pre-Season the Chargers are practicing at Orange Coast College, where they allow their fans to come out and watch them practice throughout training camp.

When talking to some of the fans in attendance this past weekend, I was interested in getting a gauge of what their expectations were for the Chargers. San Diego native Matthew Gerrero and Juan Osuna came up to see their team practice, they both expect the Chargers to win the division. Santa Monica’s Myles Amitin and Murrieta’s Eric Donley also were in attendance and told me, “This team should win the AFC West.”

As with every NFL team at this point in their season, they each have uncertainties and questions to have answered. The Chargers, however, have more than the health of their linebacking group to be concerned with, and the contractual issues with Melvin Gordon’s continuing to be an increasingly major issue for them. Yet their initial Pre-Season game gave them a chance to see how they’re young, but talented backfield, responds in live-action.

On their first offensive drive, Chargers backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor took his team on a drive that led them into scoring position. Though Austin Ekeler did some good things on the drive, fumbled inside the 5-yard line took points off the board.

The Chargers defense would have to face the recent #1 draft pick and Heisman Award winner Kyler Murray,

Kyle Kuzma takes it to the rack in Blue vs White game Friday night in Las Vegas. (Courtesy Photo)

quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals. Though the accurate and athletic Murray is likely to surprise many teams this season, he was sacked on their first 3rd down pass attempt.

Though he responded by completing his initial 5 passes in the subsequent drive.

Pre-season games are a good time for these young players to learn to rebound from their mistakes. Rookie Quarterback Easton Stick proved he could bounce back from adversity by throwing an Interception early and coming back to lead his team into the end zone.

According to Head Coach Anthony Lynn he had this to say about the game, “Our situational football could have been better. Our 2-minute situation could have been better, our 4-minute situation could have been better!”

Melvin Gordon’s contract dispute has rightfully garnered the attention from Chargers brass and fans. This situation leads a shortlist of concerns I have for this 2019 Los Angeles Chargers team. Among the concerns, I would be worried about the health of their veteran linebackers Denzel Perryman and Thomas Davis, as each man has been injured in recent years and the play of the offensive line considering the age of their QB Phillip Rivers.

Please share your thoughts and feedback with us by commenting in the comment section of this article on www.whatsgoodinsports.com or by following me on Twitter at “Voice of the Fans” for immediate engagement.

Additionally, subscribe to our weekly “Voice of the Fans” Podcast which is available for you on Apple and Google Podcasts including Spotify, TunedIn, and iHeart Radio. We certainly appreciate you for making our voice your choice!

Coach Popovich coaches up USA team during time out during Blue vs White game in Las Vegas. (Courtesy Photo)

NFL Teaming with Jay-Z Men’s USA Team on Entertainment and Prepares for World Cup Social Activism

FILE - In this July 23, 2019, file photo, Jay-Z makes an announcement of the launch of Dream Chasers record label in joint venture with Roc Nation, at the Roc Nation headquarters in New York. The NFL and Jay-Z’s entertainment and sports representation company are teaming up for events and social activism. The league not only will use Jay-Z’s Roc Nation to consult on its entertainment presentations, including the Super Bowl halftime show, but will work with the rapper and entrepreneur’s company to “strengthen community through music and the NFL’s Inspire Change initiative.” (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File)

By Barry Wilner AP News NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL and Jay-Z’s entertainment and sports representation company are teaming up for events and social activism.

The league not only will use Jay-Z’s Roc Nation to consult on its entertainment presentations, including the Super Bowl halftime show, but will work with the rapper and entrepreneur’s company to “strengthen community through music and the NFL’s Inspire Change initiative.”

Inspire Change was created by the league after an agreement with a coalition of players who demonstrated during the national anthem to protest social and racial injustice in this country. Those demonstrations were sparked by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.

NFL owners agreed to contribute up to $89 million over six years toward causes players were supporting.

Commissioner Roger Goodell sees the partnership with Roc Nation as a significant step in several directions.

“Roc Nation is one of the most globally influential and impactful organizations in entertainment,” Goodell said. “The NFL and Roc Nation share a vision of inspiring meaningful social change across our country. We are thrilled to partner with Roc Nation and look forward to making a difference in our communities together.”

While the entertainment portion of the deal is

important — Roc Nation’s stable includes Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Shakira and, of course, Jay-Z — much emphasis from both the league and the representation group is being placed on the social relations aspect of the agreement.

For Inspire Change to succeed, it must have strong roots within the communities that are most affected by the issues the players want addressed: criminal justice reform; relationships with police; economic growth opportunities; and educational progress.

“With its global reach, the National Football League has the platform and opportunity to inspire change across the country,” said Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter.

“Roc Nation has shown that entertainment and enacting change are not mutually exclusive ideas — instead, we unify them. This partnership is an opportunity to strengthen the fabric of communities across America.”

Jay-Z has been a strong supporter of Kaepernick, who has not played in the NFL the past two seasons and is not with a team now. He has turned down invitations to perform at the Super Bowl, as has Rihanna.

But now there is a working agreement between the league and Roc Nation, which also represents such NFL stars as Todd Gurley, Saquon Barkley and Ndamukong Suh. How that plays out on both the entertainment and social initiatives fronts figures to be newsworthy.

By Cameron Buford whatsgoodinsports.com On the campus of the UNLV Running Rebels, the United States Men’s Basketball team gathered last week to prepare for their upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup tournament. Las Vegas, Nevada was the site of their training camp, where they would compete with future NBA stars on the Select Team.

Though this team doesn’t have the marquee players in the NBA, such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephon Curry, Kawhi Leonard or James Harden, they do have a bunch of talented young stars who have yet to reach that global status. These young NBA stars include guys like Kemba Walker, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kyle Kuzma.

The 2020 USA FIBA World Cup will provide a chance for some of these young players to build up their brands while being coached by the best coaches in the game. Many of these guys also discussed build some comradery with the guys they’ve only seen from afar much of the times.

Kemba Walker mentions when asked about what he plans to get out of this camp “gain some comradery with guys you don’t get a chance to play with and meet new guys; that’s pretty special.” https://youtu.be/NsLYscJIh3I “A different understanding of the game. I talked to everybody in our organization, especially Luke; and his said every player that he has played with we coached, that has gone to (play) USA Basketball, has come back a lot better and a lot better of a leader.” This how De’Arron Fox responded to my question of is looking to gain from this experience. https://youtu.be/zn0AgYJyBAQ Donovan Mitchell says he’s just looking to “compete and finds ways to get better.” He also says he wants “to learn from everybody” out there. Mitchell came ready for this opportunity and is excited about the chance to play with his peers.

https://youtu.be/PIOel3fOBuo When asked what he is looking to do in the next few weeks Kyle says he’s “a little bit everything. Looking to improve his overall game defensively and offensively.” Later I asked Kuzma how he went about getting better on defense he responded by saying “Get in shape! That’s one thing.

Making an effort, trying to be physical and trust e feet.

(Working on) My mind too, watching a film; so, a little bit of everything.” In my few days in Las Vegas watching the USA Men’s practice and scrimmage, Kyle Kuzma stood out to me! He looks like he’s ready to take the next step. https://youtu.be/UF6FKvfgT0A https://youtu.be/VzqlAFp44E0 During this week I also had an opportunity to consult with Managing Director Jerry Colangelo about what type of player would make this team. Colangelo says he’s looking for the “intangibles” of a player. Though he’s looking to see them in specific “circumstances” to make an ultimate decision once “they demonstrate who they are.” https://youtu.be/0jkGAU0pv4Y Many of the guys playing for this USA team for the World Cup are not likely to be on the USA Men’s Olympics team next year. As guys like Kyrie Irving, Klay Thomson, Paul George, Anthony Davis, and Karl Anthony Towns are likely to compete for a few of these spots on the USA team.

However, this remains a great opportunity for all players playing and competing today. I am extremely interested in seeing how these guys develop throughout the season.

Please share your thoughts and feedback with us by commenting in the comment section of this article on www.whatsgoodinsports.com or by following me on Twitter at “Voice of the Fans” for immediate engagement.

Additionally, subscribe to our weekly “Voice of the Fans” Podcast which is available for you on Apple and Google Podcasts including Spotify, TunedIn, and iHeart Radio. We certainly appreciate you for making our voice your choice!

Thursday, August 15, 2019

LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER A5

Entertainment

Jumbo Jet Turned Desert Nightclub Returns to Burning Man Received by Newsfinder from AP RENO, Nev. (AP) – A jumbo jetliner that got stuck in the desert for nearly a month last year has returned for the upcoming Burning Man festival after organizers agreed to post a bond.

The Reno Gazette Journal reports the Bureau of Land Management granted a special permit to the foundation that converted the former Boeing 747 cargo plane into a nightclub.

Burning Man officials reviewed the Big Imagination Foundation’s plans before the group transported the aircraft last weekend to federal land in the Black Rock Desert 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Reno.

Group leaders haven’t disclosed the performance bond’s cost. But they say they have a better plan to get the plane off the playa at the conclusion of the counterculture festival running Aug. 25-Sept. 2.

Critics say it severely damaged the playa last year when it dug holes into the soft alkali dust and got stuck.

The Big Imagination Foundation was able to move the plane by late September using a 1,000-foot-long (304-kilometer-long) path of 4-inch-thick (10-centimeter-thick) mats laid down in stages.

BLM spokesman Rudy Evenson said the permit stip-

ulates that the vehicle will be taken off the playa via paved road after the event. He said it’s the only art piece at Burning Man that requires a separate permit. The bond will be returned to the foundation if it meets all expectations in the permit.

Big Imagination Foundation CEO Ken Feldman said volunteers moved the plane from its holding site on private ranch property to the ancient lake bed on Sunday.

The plane has been one of the largest installations at the annual, 80,000-person event since 2016.

Laura Blaylock, a Gerlach resident and conservation-

ist, said she’s furious that the plane is returning. She said the BLM’s core mission is to protect the Black Rock-High Rock National Conservation Area, and allowing the plane to crush desert dunes to and from its storage site fails to do that.

“Somebody said, ‘How else would they get it out?’ Not my problem. Get a helicopter,” Blaylock told the newspaper.

Evenson said part of the cost of the permit will cover the expense of replanting and then fencing the dune area the plane passed through while being brought onto public land.

FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2013 file photo, the “Man” burns on the Black Rock Desert at Burning Man near Gerlach, Nev. (Andy Barron/The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP, File)

Cosby Appeal Tests Other Accusers’ Testimony in #MeToo Era

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press When three Pennsylvania Superior Court judges gather Monday to hear Bill Cosby’s appeal of his sexual assault conviction, more than the aging comedian’s freedom may be at stake.

As the first celebrity convicted in the (hash)MeToo era, the court scrutiny of the case could cement _ or threaten _ the movement itself.

“If it’s reversed, I worry that it’s going to play into the narrative that stories of people subjected to gender-based violence are not going to be believed,” said Professor Margaret Johnson, who teaches gender law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. “I’ve been struck by ... the power of the backlash against (hash)MeToo.” Just recently, a lawyer for actor Cuba Gooding Jr., accused of grabbing a woman’s breast at a New York nightclub, challenged her mental state as the case was sent to trial. The lawyer, Mark Heller, said he was starting “the “Not Me Movement,” under the hashtag “(hash)NotMe.” Cosby, charged over a 2004 encounter, first went on trial in June 2017 _ months before accusations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein would unleash the (hash) MeToo era. Prosecutors asked to call 13 other women to bolster the account of Cosby accuser Andrea Constand.

Judge Steven O’Neill allowed just one, and the suburban Philadelphia jury deadlocked after six days of deliberations.

Cosby, long beloved as “America’s Dad” for his TV role as Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” left the Montgomery County Courthouse triumphant while his lawyers delivered a scathing attack on the judge and prosecutor written by his wife, Camille Cosby.

Ten months later, the (hash)MeToo movement in full force, District Attorney Kevin Steele doubled down, asking to call 19 of the scores of Cosby accusers at the retrial. O’Neill settled on five, whose accounts of being drugged and molested by the powerful star echoed Constand’s. Chelan Lasha, in her testimony, recalled seeking him out as a 17-year-old aspiring model and actress, only to be violated.

“Dr. Huxtable wouldn’t do this. Why are you doing this to me? You’re supposed to help me be successful,” she recalled thinking.

Accuser Heidi Thomas called the acclaimed entertainer and arts patron “a serial rapist.”

The second jury took just 14 hours to convict Cosby of all three felony sex-assault charges, finding that he drugged and violated the 30-year-old Constand when she went to his home for career advice.

“Not once were race or the (hash)MeToo movement ever discussed, nor did either factor into our decision,” the jury said in a statement, referencing defense suggestions that racism and (hash)MeToo tainted the case. Instead, they said, they found Constand “credible and compelling.”

The appeals court will consider more than a half-dozen alleged trial errors, including the defense claim that Cosby had a promise from a former prosecutor that he would never be charged in the case. That promise, they said, led Cosby to give deposition testimony in Constand’s 2005 lawsuit that prompted his arrest when it was unsealed in 2015.

The defense is also challenging O’Neill’s decision to let the jury hear portions of that testimony, in which Cosby acknowledges getting quaaludes in the 1970s to give women before sex.

Still, the “prior bad act” testimony from the other women is the crux of the appeal. Pennsylvania law allows it only in limited cases: to show a “signature” crime pattern ; to show an act was not an accident; and to rebut defense claims of consent.

Cosby’s lawyers say it was used just to throw mud at him.

“The five (accuser) witnesses were inconsistent in their allegations, remote in time, and used solely as a mechanism to promote hysteria,” appellate lawyer Kristen L. Weisenberger wrote in a recent brief.

Two parties have filed amicus briefs to support the conviction: the state Attorney General’s Office, and RAINN, the nonprofit Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.

“Because this case pitted the victim’s otherwise-uncorroborated credibility against that of a popular, internationally known celebrity entertainer, evidence of his relevant

pattern of prior criminal conduct to rebut his consent claim was clearly admissible,” the Attorney General’s Office wrote.

But some defense lawyers believe O’Neill should have explained why he let more accusers testify at the retrial.

“The fact that he expanded the number from one to five raises a very substantial question,” said lawyer Alan Tauber, who represented a Philadelphia church official whose child-endangerment conviction was overturned because too many priest-abuse victims testified. “What changed between the first trial and the second trial to justify that?”

Cosby turned 82 last month in state prison, where he is serving a three- to 10-year term . Whatever the outcome of his criminal appeal, his insurance company, to his dismay, has quietly settled at least nine pending defamation lawsuits filed by women accusers.

The Superior Court panel, which includes two women, reviews Cosby’s case as a string of other accused predators await their day in court _ Weinstein, and singer R. Kelly among them.

“This is such a high-profile case,” RAINN President Scott Berkowitz said. “It’s particularly important if survivors around the country are watching it closely and making up their minds as to whether to come forward and report their assault to police. And so a bad verdict, or appeal in this case, could be really discouraging.”

Hobbs & Shaw Still No. 1 Against Slew of Newcomers

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Audiences helped the “Fast & Furious” spinoff “Hobbs & Shaw” take another lap at No. 1 even with an onslaught of four new major releases this weekend. From family films to R-rated adult fare, moviegoers had their pick as studios tried to capitalize on the waning days of summer. But although August can be a great opportunity for non-superhero films, it’s not a sure thing. And this weekend some, such as “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” fared better than others, like the Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Haddish mob thriller “The Kitchen.”

“There are always going to be casualties when there are this many openers,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for box office tracker Comscore. “They cannot always be lined up in the top four rankings.”

“Hobbs & Shaw” managed to hold on to first place again. According to estimates from Universal Pictures Sunday, the Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham action flick fell 58% from its first weekend but added $25.4 million from North American theaters. It’s now grossed $108.5 million domestically and $332.6 million worldwide.

Second place went to the PG-13 film “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” from CBS Films and eOne Entertainment, which cut through the clutter with a better than expected $20.8 million. Lionsgate distributed the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror which had been tracking to open in the mid-teens.

“The filmmakers and the team at CBS Films are thrilled that moviegoers are embracing the world of ‘Scary Stories,”’ del Toro said in a statement Sunday. “It’s particularly satisfying to see families experiencing the fun of the movie together.”

Good reviews helped raise its profile, although audiences were more underwhelmed after the fact, slapping it with a C CinemaScore.

Dergarabedian noted that, even with a PG-13 rating, horror movies once again prove to be, “a consistent draw at the box office.”

Close behind in third was “The Lion King” with $20 million in its fifth weekend in theaters. With $1.3 billion globally, it’s now surpassed “Beauty and the Beast” as Disney’s highest-grossing “live-action” release.

Newcomer “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” from Paramount Pictures, found a healthy audience too, earning an estimated $17 million for a fourth place start. Starring Isabela Moner, “Dora,” based on the popular television series, also got good reviews from critics and audiences, who gave it an A CinemaScore.

And in fifth place, Quentin Tarantino’s star-vehicle “Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood” added $11.6 million and crossed the $100 million mark.

But not all the newcomers were so lucky. The dog owner tearjerker “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” with Milo Ventimiglia, opened in sixth place with $8.1 million.

The Fox 2000 property was inherited by Disney in the takeover.

And the ‘70s-set McCarthy and Haddish crime thriller “The Kitchen” flopped in seventh with only $5.5 million.

Based on an obscure Vertigo comic, the film from first time director Andrea Berloff (an Oscar-nominated screenwriter) features both McCarthy and Haddish in more dramatic roles. But critics were not impressed: The film currently has a dismal 20% on Rotten Tomatoes and audiences also largely stayed away.

Warner Bros. distribution head Jeff Goldstein said

The first Fast & Furious spin-off film, Hobbs & Shaw, which features Dwayne Johnson AKA The Rock, Idris Elba, and Jason Statham.

that they were “very disappointed” with the results.

“I think that the filmmakers took a very bold approach to their choice with the movie and I think it just didn’t resonate with the viewers,” Goldstein said. “The good news is the movie was a fairly low-budgeted film.”

Audiences also had a slew of new limited releases to choose between: The BTS concert film “Bring the Soul: The Movie,” which earned $2.3 million from only 873 locations; “Brian Banks,” based on the real story of a false accusation that upends a promising football star’s life which debuted in 1,240 locations and earned $2.1 million; “The Peanut Butter Falcon,” with Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson, which earned $205,236 from 17 locations; and “After the Wedding,” with Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore ($57,124 from five locations).

Still the weekend is down 10.2% and the year continues to lag 6.3% too.

“Audiences are confounded by the number of newcomers,” Dergarabedian said. “There was so much overlap with all of these titles.”

But the marketplace is already looking ahead to the

fall and the release of “It Chapter Two.” “It’s going to feel like summer in September when ‘It’ opens,” Dergarabedian said.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.

Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” $25.4 million ($60.8 million international).

2. “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” $20.8 million ($2.5 million international).

3. “The Lion King,” $20 million ($51.4 million international).

4. “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” $17 million ($2.5 million international).

5. “Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood,” $11.6 million ($7.7 million international).

6. “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” $8.1 million ($1.1 million international).

7. “The Kitchen,” $5.5 million.

8. “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” $5.3 million ($5.3 million international).

9. “Toy Story 4,” $4.4 million ($9.7 million international).

10. “Bring the Soul: The Movie,” $2.3 million ($5.9 million international).

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Comscore: 1. “Ne Zha,” $64.4 million.

2. “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” $60.8 million.

3. “The Lion King,” $51.4 million.

4. “The Bravest,” $28.9 million.

5. “Line Walker 2,” $27.9 million.

6. “Shanghai Fortress,” $16.2 million.

7. “The Secret Life of Pets 2,” $15.4 million.

8. “Exit,” $12.5 million.

9. “The Battle: Roar to Victory,” $11.9 million.

10. “Toy Story 4,” $9.7 million.

A6

LOS ANGELES NEWS OBSERVER

Local

Tim Peterson Singers 25th Anniversary Celebration

We greet you in the Name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

It is with grateful hearts that we announce The Tim Peterson Singers 25th Anniversary Celebration. We are celebrating twenty-five years of gospel music ministry, lifting the Name of Jesus in songs of Praise, Deliverance and Thanksgiving.

This celebration concert will be October 12, 2019, at Six O’clock in the evening. It will be hosted by New Life LA, Pastor Todd Clease, located at: 2600 South La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90016, (La Brea and Adams). Our Concert Theme is: “God’s Been Just That Good”.

You are personally invited to come help us lift the Name Of Jesus. Your presence will be felt in the assembly of God’s People as we gather to worship under God’s Anointing. Come and join the celebration of His Grace & Mercy over the Tim Peterson Singers for over Twenty-Five Years. For more information, please contact Tim Peterson at: (310) 770-3845 or via email at: tps.timpeterson1@ yahoo.com or Evangeline Lane at: (310) 991-5647 or via email at: vangielane@gmail.com

Thursday, August 15, 2019

(TPS Courtesy Photo)

Bringing Community Art Therapy to South Los Angeles Youth Blue Shield collaborates with community organizations and local artist to create “Promise” mural that will be unveiled in the Boys & Girls Clubs Challengers Clubhouse LOS ANGELES (August 8, 2019) – “Speak Life,” “Share Life,” and “Take Flight,” are some of the positive messages on a new colorful mural painted by South Los Angeles at-risk middle school and high school students and community artist Moses Ball.

The 8-week Blue Shield Promise Community Art Therapy program was held in collaboration with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles, Challengers Clubhouse and Wellnest (formerly Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic). The project helps local youth deal with everyday trauma they face by using their creativity to help design a mural based on their hopes and aspirations.

Each week, social workers and behavioral health specialists from Blue Shield Promise and Wellnest joined accomplished artist Ball who encouraged youth aged 11 to 17 to lend their creativity as they participated in the program. Art was used as a tool to help the program participants share their feelings and talk about difficult issues in a safe, nurturing space. As part of the program, a “Promise” theme mural was painted on the 20-foot by 60-foot wall outside the playground of the Boys and Girls Challengers Clubhouse.

The design is a brightly colored blue wall representing the faces of the children and showcasing their dreams about future occupations. For example, a young girl inspired by aviator Bessie Coleman is dressed like a pilot with an image of a plane taking flight behind her. Another shows a young girl rapper inspired by Nipsey Hussle’s music as well as his community work.

“The vision that inspired the mural is to repair the hurt from the challenges the youth face and in turn foster the dreams that still live inside them,” Ball said.

“It gives me great satisfaction to mentor youth both artistically and in life,” said Ball. “I hope to inspire the next generation to become Los Angeles muralists and beautify the community. With the support of Blue Shield Promise that provided resources and staff, I was able to focus on the artistic instruction and guidance of kids who played a key role in creating the mural.”

“It’s exciting to think that every time I come to the center, the mural gives me a sense of pride knowing that I helped paint it,” said Brailyn (12 years old), Boys & Girls Clubs Challenger Clubhouse member.

The mural is part of the Community Art Therapy Program, which includes guidance from trained behavioral health professionals. The goal is to help at-risk youth express their emotions in an invisible form, and assist them in building relationships with others. This program enables kids who are undergoing physical, emotional or mental crisis to increase their ability to explore, discover and interpret reality in a safe space.

“Blue Shield Promise is committed to investing in the communities where our members live to ensure they have every opportunity to have healthy and vibrant lives,” said Dr. Greg Buchert, President and CEO of Blue Shield Promise. “We are thrilled to have the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles and Wellnest joining our effort to create community programming like the youth art therapy that focuses on addressing the health needs of youth using art and engagement.”

“This was a great program for our youth because it provided them with an opportunity that they will be able to experience for years to come with the creating of this colorful new mural at the Challengers Club,” said Calvin Lyons, President and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles. “We’re delighted to work with Blue Shield Promise and Wellnest who understand the needs of healthy communities and offer their time and resources to boost children’s self-esteem and confidence through art therapy.”

“Commenting on the power of art, Charlene DimasPeinado, President and CEO of Wellnest added, “We know that art can be used to engage, educate, express powerful emotions, and develop creative thinking and problem solving that can contribute to their future success. We are honored to be a partner on this program to give these young people those tools.”

Dr. Greg Buchert, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, signs the “Promise” mural. (Photo Credit: Greg Schneider)

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Hasina (right), depicted in the mural holding the basketball, and Brailyn (left) stand in front of the new “Promise” mural at the Boys & Girls Clubs Challengers Clubhouse in South Los Angeles. (Photo Credit: Greg Schneider)

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Community artist Moses Ball speaks to the crowd at the unveiling of the “Promise” mural at the Boys & Girls Clubs Challengers Clubhouse in South Los Angeles. (Photo Credit: Greg Schneider)