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During African-American Music Appreciation Month, we celebrate the tremendous achievements and contributions of African-American musicians. The musical ingenuity of talented African American artists laid the foundation for so many recognizable and cherished genres of music, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues, jazz, gospel, hip hop, and rap. Throughout our history, African-American music has demonstrated its power to elicit comfort, healing, happiness, conviction, and inspiration — as well as its ability to unite people of all backgrounds. Today, it resonates in jazz quartets, rock and roll guitar solos, gospel choirs, and hip hop beats. The expression of these artistic and...

President Trump tore into the so-called "resistance" of Democrats opposed to his agenda on Saturday, accusing them of "resisting the will of the American voter." In his weekly address, Trump blamed Democrats for slow-walking many of his nominees through the confirmation process, saying that Senate Democrats had "shamelessly obstructed" hundreds of qualified picks. "Senate Democrats call it 'the resistance,'" he said. "From day one, Senate Democrats have shamelessly obstructed, stalled, and filibustered the confirmations of hundreds of talented men and women who are eager to come to Washington, D.C., to make a difference," he said. "They want to serve our...

Following concerns that foreign actors influenced American voters using online platforms like Facebook, the social media giant has taken steps to prevent the same thing from happening again. And while Facebook’s efforts are well-intentioned, its solutions are just the latest in a series of unwise, excessively broad reforms. In its most recent move, Facebook will now require those who create advertisements about candidates and certain policy issues on its platform to fulfill three steps: They must input the last four digits of their Social Security number, upload a photo copy of a form of government-issued ID, and input their mailing...

Maybe you can help me out. I'm puzzling over a line in a New York Times story on The World As It Is, the forthcoming memoir from Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes. The article, by Peter Baker, is about the parts of Rhodes's book that deal with Donald Trump's surprise victory over Hillary Clinton. "In the weeks after Mr. Trump's election," Baker reports, "Mr. Obama went through multiple emotional stages," including flashes of "anger," "rare self-doubt," and taking "the long view." Do not think, however, that during the final weeks of his presidency Barack Obama was withdrawn...

MARION, Ind. -- The Marion Community Schools board president has stepped down from her position following backlash over a post that she shared on her personal social media page in support of actress Roseanne Barr. Cathy Mortiz emailed her resignation to the rest of the board on Thursday saying "I am sorry for the message that was conveyed" In the message, Moritz said she plans to serve out her elected tenure and use her situation as a "learning opportunity" for herself and the community. "For the integrity of this board and out of love for this community, I am stepping...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is hailing Rep. Will Hurd's (R-Texas) support for young undocumented immigration in its first-immigration focused campaign ad of the 2018 election cycle."Will Hurd is fighting to protect the Dreamers," the ad, released on Thursday, says. "He's also leading the charge for new border security measures that will keep our communities safer. Will Hurd is working for all of us." The term "Dreamers" refers to beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which temporarily shielded young undocumented immigrants from deportation and gave them permission to work in the U.S. President Trump rescinded that...

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Saturday that President Trump should submit any eventual deal with North Korea to the Senate for approval as a treaty, saying lawmakers should have a full say on the matter. The California Republican said President Obama bungled the Iran nuclear deal negotiations by not treating them a treaty but instead as an executive agreement. That made it easy for Mr. Trump to revoke U.S. participation in the deal earlier this year. Mr. McCarthy told MSNBC’s Hugh Hewitt the treaty route is a way of not only making the deal lasting, but also of countering...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Mike Parson was sworn in as the 57th Governor of Missouri Friday afternoon, ending the tumultuous term of Eric Greitens, who resigned amid accusations of campaign impropriety and sexual misconduct involving a mistress. The oath was administered at 5:30 p.m. by Judge Mary Rhodes Russell in a private ceremony due to time constraints. Parson said he'll hold a public swearing-in at a later date. Parson, 62, was born and raised in Wheatland, Missouri and is a third-generation farmer. He spent six years in the US Army, serving two tours with the Military Police Corps, before returning...

Houston-based hedge fund manager John Arnold and his wife, Laura, plan to spend $20 million over the next five years to fund gun violence research. The couple's private foundation, The Laura and John Arnold Foundation, will also seek to raise an additional $30 million for a grant they're calling the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, bringing the total grant amount to $50 million, Forbes reported. Mrs. Arnold made her and her husband's plans known during a speaking engagement at Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy on Wednesday: Ninety-six people are killed by guns in the U.S. every day. More people...

Employees who attended Starbucks' unconscious bias training on Tuesday said the seminar was all about police brutality Philadelphia, PA – Employees of color who attended the highly-publicized “unconscious bias training” for Starbucks employees on Tuesday have reported it was more of a lesson on police brutality than anything else. Starbucks closed 8,000 stores for several hours on May 30 to facilitate seminars for its employees after the coffee shop was at the forefront of a racial controversy in April. “It felt like we were off task the entire time because we didn’t reflect on the situation itself,” a black 18-year-old...

President Donald Trump wants to create a safe public space for ugly, unvarnished, unambiguous racism, which he knows he can exploit for political advantage. This cynical and destructive ploy must not be allowed to succeed. But since Tuesday, there has been not a word of censure for Barr's vile "joke" portraying Valerie Jarrett, a top adviser to President Barack Obama, as the result if "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby." Disney pulled the plug on 'Roseanne.' It's on the rest of us to pull the plug on racism Disney pulled the plug on 'Roseanne.' It's on...

California's attorney general announced Friday that he's imposing a ban on state-funded travel to Oklahoma in response to a new law that allows faith-based adoption agencies to deny placement services to same-sex parents. Eight other states have earlier been brought under California's so-called anti-discrimination travel ban."California will not use state resources to support states that pass discriminatory laws," Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Friday, according to the Los Angeles Times. "California taxpayers are taking a stand against bigotry and in support of those who would be harmed by this prejudiced policy."The ban will take effect on June 22.California prohibits state-funded travel...

The National Football League has done nothing to recover during the off season from it’s miserable popularity ratings that are now at the lowest ever. Rocked by the issues of players taking a knee during the playing of the National Anthem, overly long games, and scandalous players, just 35 percent say they have a favorable view of “America’s sport.”

[Editor' note: To help Tommy, visit his website, tommyrobinson.online, and also go to Rebel Media, which has nobly taken up his cause.] One of Britain’s most prominent human rights activists is being held as a political prisoner for reporting on a brutal Muslim child-rape gang, one of many such “grooming” gang cases that country’s government has been downplaying or outright covering up in recent years. Authorities in the United Kingdom are notorious for protecting Muslims who rape Britons and for covering up the crimes of Muslim rape rings. Some government officials and journalists suppress news of the sex crimes out...

The special, World Cup-themed soccer ball-shaped bottles have proven to be the perfect shape to start fires by concentrating the sun's rays. Russian supermarket chains Ashan and Lenta had pulled the ball-shaped Svyatoy Istochnik (Holy Spring) water bottles after it was reported that they could cause fires.

President Trump’s response to the Roseanne Barr controversy this week exemplified a concern many Americans have about him: He does not understand the history of race in America.

Originally President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum exempted imports from Canada, Mexico, and Europe. No longer. The administration has broadened the application of its tariffs even as their strategic and economic costs are becoming more apparent. The law gives Trump the authority to impose tariffs to protect national security. These tariffs are, however, an abuse of that law. The Department of Defense has explained that the military needs only 3 percent of our domestic steel and aluminum production, and our largest supplier, Canada, is an ally — albeit one that now has reason to be miffed with us....

. Recently, Garrison posted a lucky motherlode of morel mushrooms, saying he intended to sauté them with brown sugar and cinnamon and “see how that turns out.” It turned out poorly for Garrison As Garrison put it in a later post, “He thought he was on the biggest bust of his career thinking we were having a magic mushroom party.” ...Garrison was exceedingly good-natured about the incident

The New York Times headline reporting on the May jobs numbers that came out yesterday might go down in history: "We ran out of words to describe how good the jobs numbers are." The real question in analyzing the May jobs numbers released Friday is whether there are enough synonyms for "good" in an online thesaurus to describe them adequately. So, for example, "splendid" and "excellent" fit the bill. Those are the kinds of terms that are appropriate when the United States economy adds 223,000 jobs in a month, despite being nine years into an expansion, and when the unemployment rate falls...

The eight puppies born at Airside F in Tampa International Airport last week were adorable instantly, internet famous quickly and controversial not long after. The white golden retriever parents, a male named Golden Nugget and the pregnant Eleanor Rigby, were set to board an American Airlines flight to Philadelphia with owner Karen Van Atter. That’s when "Ellie" went into labor, while Nugget jumped around like a nervous dad-to-be. It made national news, met mostly with congratulations and "awws" when the airport posted photos online. But the photos drew substantial negative reactions from people complaining that the dogs were not service...