If wearing a Trump hat at a Sept. 11 commencement wasn't something, President Joe Biden is getting most of the blame for Vice President Kamala Harris' shocking lost to Donald J. Trump.
Biden and his staunch support for Israel done the Democrats in.
So I will say this in two words: Get Angry!
Revenge, oh hell yeah.
If you angry about the election, yeah I get it. I am too shocked but not surprised.
Supporting Israel, putting faith in Republicans who hate Trump, being truthful despite an onslaught of lies, misogyny, racism and just too much bullshit will be the Democrats failing.
Jaime Harrison will be ousted.
The Democrats will have to build a different ground game now that President Donald J. Trump will get to appoint up to three new Supreme Court nominees again.
His first term was a disaster. His second term.... who knows?
No more mocking the white angry voters. No more taking advantage of the non college educated voter. Democrats need to get into the business of troll farming, disinformation, grievance politics and less about identity politics.
No more idol worshiping. The Republicans worship Trump.
The Republicans worship greed, hate, getting in people's businesses and sexual predatory behavior. If a Democrat has a sex scandal that doesn't involve legal ramifications, fucking embrace it and ignore the calls to leave.
Stop trying to paint MAGAland as idiots. I know that sounds like I am siding with Trump but I am not. I am no longer going to embrace the social influencers who try to paint the Trump supporters as morons.
The time to do soul searching is over. It is all out war.
We must stop aiding Israel, Ukraine and other foreign countries. We must stop appeasing white supremacy. The border wall isn't going to stop immigrants.
If Republicans want to keep their guns, maybe Democrats should keep theirs.
No more condemning racism. It is time to just allow the conspiracy theories, racism and hate fester. Cause it may eventually be the Republican Party's undoing.
Cause if you can call Puerto Rico an island of garbage, let's no longer seize on it.
Let the right deal with it and no longer allow our impulses to react to it.
He's back.
No more happy clappy liberal. I am sorry Stephanie Miller, Clay Kane and Thom Hartmann, we ain't winning on being positive. I think it time to go negative and embrace the right's definitions of the left.
I am not advocating for violence but I will no longer condemn it if it's done in the name of politics. I am tired of trying to push for issues that are ignored.
I will register as an independent. I will not support the Republican or Democratic Party any longer. I am going to have progressive views on human rights and a conservative view on finances.
I will not worry about what Biden, Trump or any future president. They will have costly mistakes and proven successes. I must accept it.
Prepare yourselves for 2025. The Trump years are more chaos.
Trump will pardon the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, pardon himself, launch investigations into Biden, Harris, Hillary Clinton and his political enemies. He will try to punish news and cable outlets that criticize him. There will be more freedoms lost to the government.
The stress will have Trump deteriorate at a rapid pace being under the presidency. Trump will likely have more health conditions and it will likely cost him his life. I'm not advocating for any harm on the future president, but I see that at 78 years old, Donald J. Trump will suffer from dementia or heart disease.
The Israeli regime is continuing to ignore President Joe Biden.
The Benjamin Netanyahu coalition of far right extremists celebrate the results.
President-elect Donald J. Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance will take office in 2025 and the United States will soon find out how incompetent they are once again.
But alas, the double standards.
White supremacy won again.
Netanyahu fires Yoav Gallant in his latest attempt to keep the genocide going.
The settlers held in Gaza are long dead. Along with 50,000 Palestinians.
American democracy will soon die as well.
Israel was the big reason why Vice President Kamala Harris lost. The Arab American voters soundly rejected her stance and believe that Trump, the guy who lies and manipulates will do something.
Fuck these idiots.
World War III.
Iran will retaliate against Israel in some way. They are glad Trump won because they will not hold back like they've have with Biden.
Gallant is still under an indictment where he could be arrested and hauled into the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands.
The American voters spoke and we must accept the results. The former president will be our next president. We will see him age even further and his coalition of extremists will drive us to civil war and global war.
It is time to play dirty. No more making nice with Republicans, the media and pollsters. Democrats need to start playing like Trump and Republicans.
Do you feel like the junk food media been too easy on Donald J. Trump?
Because I sure feel like he got away with his white privilege.
Do you want to just give up on listening to influencers on the left?
I mean they seem to give you false hope.
I sure feel like I am giving up on supporting progressive causes because we are own worst enemy.
I mean the Republican Party does not have any standards to govern. They built the legacy on white supremacy, endless bitching and always scapegoating.
Now President-elect Donald J. Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance will take helm on Jan. 20, 2025. No historical moment other than a 78 year old morbidly obese man who spent his four years plotting for revenge. A man who never worked a day in the fields. A man who will lie and deceive to win.
Republicans are masters of this.
Why can't the Democratic Party go dirty? I mean they call Democrats every freaking name out the book.
I am tired of being peaceful resistance. It is time to just play by their rules.
We need to eliminate the good versus evil mantra.
I don't know Trump or Vance personally so I am done with attacking their character (despite their hatefulness).
The Democrats need to stop supporting fucking Israel. I am so sorry for the people of Ukraine, Gaza, The West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Iran. The Democrats failure to reach out Arab American and Muslim voters doomed them.
We gambled everything.
The Trump agenda will allow Israel to continue its genocide on Palestine. The Trump agenda will Russia to continue its genocide on Ukraine.
I am sorry to the young LGBTQ and women. The Republican Party will strip away the right to marriage, the right to make your own decisions with your body, force you to accept your birth gender identity. They will outlaw adult entertainment. They will make it hard for you to adopt if you're a gay couple.
I am sorry to the people who are special needs, poor, homeless, mentally ill and victims of sexual violence.
Stop listening to moderates to appeal. Stop thinking young voters will support Democrats. Stop trying to court Republicans to join us. White voters are forever Republican. If we can't pull over 50% of the vote, stop courting them.
Forget the white woman and Black male vote, they are unreliable. If you want to court their vote, start talking like a genie and make them wishes.
No more politicians over 70 year old. Joe Biden will be the last president over the age of 70. I want a president who isn't a grandfather.
Trump will be the oldest elected president surpassing President Joe Biden by three months. Biden turns 82 in November.
Stop placing our faith in entertainers and athletes. They have no sway in elections.
Stop mocking the nuts. It is time to get nuts.
Start posting misinformation and disinformation. Stop trying to win over non educated Americans with facts. Tell lies and watch them spread. Cause if Trump can lie about immigrants getting FEMA, we can talk about how Republicans are having orgies and cocaine fueled parties.
C'mon folks, let's get dirty. Let's stop being the party of common sense. Enough of the peace rhetoric. If they want to say violent things to us, return the favor.
I am not advocating violence against Americans but I am not condemning it. If anything happens and it involves politics, I will look the other way.
In December, my final weeks and the Yearly Wrap Up.
By the way, congratulations to Angela Alsobrooks (Maryland), Lisa Blunt Rochester (Delaware), Adam Schiff (California), Elisa Slotkin (Michigan), Jim Justice (West Virginia), Andy Kim (New Jersey), Jim Banks (Indiana), Bernie Moreno (Ohio) and Tim Sheehy (Montana).
I am going to officially go independent and officially end my role here on the blog around December.
I am not mad. I am shocked.
Like I said, President Joe Biden support for Israel doomed Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The Democrats had momentum but it wasn't enough to stop Donald J. Trump.
Now he will return to the White House at 78 years old with J.D. Vance as his New Vice president. He will continue to drive American influence into the toilet.
The former president now President-elect managed to tap into the voters with his rambling about immigration, the economy, transgender Americans and bring an end to wars.
The Israelis, Russians, AIPAC and Heritage Foundation will get their stooge.
Biden will call Trump to congratulate him and Vance and offer the smooth transition.
I strongly doubt any Harris supporters will riot or storm the U.S. Capitol come Jan. 6.
We elected a racist, sexual predator, habitual liar, convicted felon, online troll again. This country is going down hard. The U.S. will no longer reign as the leader thanks to Trump and Biden.
We will elect old men as our president.
Racism will continue to be the status quo.
Democrats can't trust Republicans or celebrates.
Allan Lichtman is going to be the biggest loser besides Kamala Harris.
He let his ego get ahead of the internal polls and the thought we can turn the page. It is a damn shame that we allowed Trump back into power.
President-elect Donald J. Trump and Vice President-eledt J.D. Vance will be our next leaders. Trump served as the 45th and soon the 47th President of the United States. The joyful warriors were defeated by the noise of MAGA.
Republicans were motivated to vote.
His assassination attempt may have been a key factor in him winning. Also the Democrats ignored the base which demanded they do something about Israel.
Israel will magically end the war and return to their apartheid ethnostate.
Trump will pardon the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. He will pardon himself.
He will drive our economy into the ground.
The Democrats support for Isrsel may have cost them big time.
Rep. Collin Allred (D-TX) is defeated by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is defeated by former car salesman Bernie Moreno.
Gov. Jim Justice is now West Virginia's Republican Senate-elect.
Ohio Issue 1 redistricting ballot measure goes down hard.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) defeats Debbie Mussel Powell.
Florida voters reject abortion ballot measure and marijuana legalization.
All the celebrity and anti-Trump support did not matter.
History will have to wait this round. No woman or person of color will ever be president as long as white privilege exists in the United States.
Winners and losers of 2024.
Regardless of the outcome, I said I will become an independent and no longer back the Democratic Party or Republican Party come this election.
Israel will lead us into World War III, Trump will pick more Supreme Court nominees and enact revenge against his political enemies.
Congratulations to President-elect Donald J. Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. The junk food media and American people voted for a convicted felon become the president again.
Trump can immediately remove the federal investigations on him. He will enact Agenda 47 or Project 2025. He will hire more idiots and conspiracy theorists to the government. He will rollback decades of progress and President Joe Biden's agenda.
He will continue to attack Vice President Kamala Harris and her allies for years to come.
Surviving a near assassination, the Democrats refusal to win over Arab American voters, Israel, Russia, the economy and the double standards allowed a 78 year old man who rambles about nonsense to be the 45th and 47th President of the United States.
With a Republican Senate, they will end the filibuster and ram through more Supreme Court nominees and continue our path towards far right politics.
Women did not come through.
Celebrates did not come through.
Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Lebron James, Madonna, Katy Perry, Fat Joe, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Lil Nas X, GloRilla, Cardi B, Marc Anthony, Kerry Washington, Jennifer Lopez and so many others couldn't get people out.
Jill Stein once again wins the fight. The protest vote does matter.
We will see our country rebound in some form. I mean who know what the outlook is, we got four years.
Okay, we will await the results of the 2024 U.S. election.
Who will be the 47th President of the United States?
Who will have control of the U.S. Congress?
What will the future be like if former president Donald J. Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the president?
Will the Democratic Party break another barrier?
Will the Republican Party break a barrier?
If Harris is elected, she will become the second African American, first woman, first South Asian and the latest incumbent vice president since George H.W. Bush to become president.
If Trump is elected, he will be the second oldest, second since Grover Cleveland, first convicted felon, first sexual predator and the longest running candidate to become president. Trump announced his campaign in Nov. 2022.
Trump was the 45th President of the United States.
Harris is the 49th Vice President of the United States.
J.D. Vance will be the first Ohioan to be Vice President of the United States.
Tim Walz will be the newest Vice President of the United States replacing Walter Mondale, the late vice president of former president Jimmy Carter.
Kamala Harris has over 1.43 billion in campaign contributions.
Donald J. Trump has over 398 million in campaign contributions.
I will say again, I won't be flooded by text messages, emails, campaign ads, endless drivel of who is good and who is bad.
I know a lot of Americans are nervous about the election. Trust me, I have anxiety about a second Trump presidency. He was incompetent during the coronavirus pandemic. He also led a mob of his supporters to a domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol. That alone should have stopped any consideration.
But Republicans devoted to "owning the libs" allowed Trump the opportunity to run again. He used his white privilege to avoid jail, debates, accountability for actions and paying debts. He also exploited his near death experience in Butler, Pennsylvania.
I mean who would promote a near assassination as a campaign meme?
Anyway, please vote.
Regardless of who wins, I will stay humble and post the aftermath once a president-elect is named.
Republicans, you need to find a better way to win over Black voters.
Someone decided to use an AI voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a desperate attempt to court Black voters to support former president Donald J. Trump.
This is the last hurrah!
Vote.
Vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
Dr. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III demand the the X handle @MAGAResource remove the video. They said that the video is disinformation and trademark violation.
The video is still up and it is a dozy!
In a video posted to the social platform X, the account @MAGAResource shares a “deepfake” video of King praising Trump.
“We’ve been told again and again that we cannot vote for the man that did more for the Black community than any other president,” the ad begins, with King’s famed baritone. “If a Black man dares speak out in support of Donald Trump, a Democrat is always there to call that man an Uncle Tom, a house negro or even worse.”
The ad alleged that Democrats are failing Black Americans and have taken the demographic for granted for decades.
The account the video was posted to is not officially affiliated with the Trump campaign.
Bernice King denounced the video, demanding the account delete it and saying that it stands in opposition to everything her father was for.
“It’s vile, fake, irresponsible, and not at all reflective of what my father would say,” King wrote. “And you gave no thought to our family.”
The King family has become increasingly involved in the 2024 presidential race, with some members endorsing first President Biden then Vice President Harris. They have repeatedly denounced Trump, particularly as the GOP nominee has continually invoked the civil rights legend’s name.
Delete this, @MAGAResource. It’s vile, fake, irresponsible, and not at all reflective of what my father would say. And you gave no thought to our family. https://t.co/v03vZmlwfO
Trump has falsely claimed that his 2020 inauguration speech drew the same number of people to the National Mall as the March on Washington that saw King give his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
He also compared North Carolina’s GOP gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, to King. Robinson reportedly described himself as a “black Nazi” on an online message board, and has faced a deluge of scandals throughout the campaign.
The fabricated video comes at a time when both parties are concerned about the role of deepfakes influencing voters, with both candidates having been targets of AI-generated videos over the course of the campaign.
Vice President Kamala Harris hosted her final rallies with Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry and Alicia Keys. The vice president also took time to honor Quincy Jones, the famed music producer and media mogul.
Former president Donald J. Trump is late at his final three rallies. His final rally at Grand Rapids was supposed to start at 9:00pm but he is over two hours late.
Let me clear up some things.
The Democratic Party has nominated two women for president. The Democrats had nominated two African Americans for president. The Democrats have elected African American men for governor. The Democratic Party has three African American senators in the current session. The Democratic Party has its top leader being an African American. The Democratic National Committee has its party leader being an African American.
If the Republican Party nominates a Black person as their presidential nominee.... then they won't be the party of white supremacy.
Byron Donalds, Wesley Hunt, Burgess Owens, John James, Tim Scott and Black MAGAland make only 2% of the Republican Party. The Republican Party is 92% cocaine and 8% what else.
Republicans stop using MLK in your propaganda. If he was alive, y'all would have vilified him like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Black Lives Matter.
Randall Terry puts out his latest campaign ad aimed at Kamala Harris. Networks slap viewer discretion on it.
Be warned, there will be graphic content.
Operation Rescue, a far right anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ organization led by Randall Terry is not doing former president Donald J. Trump any favors.
Terry who is running for president under the Constitution Party released a graphic political ad depicting dead fetuses and what could happen if America votes for Vice President Kamala Harris as the next president.
Terry, a white extremist opposes human induced abortion and its legality, Islam, and homosexuality.
He joins Trump, the far right, tankies and leftists in the mispronouncing of the vice president's name, her policies and her stances on many issues.
Terry is a fringe candidate for president who has qualified for the ballot in a dozen states as the standardbearer of the Constitution Party, a status that has enabled him to get airtime for his commercials.
Under Federal Communications Commission regulations, broadcast stations “are prohibited from censoring or rejecting political ads that are paid for and sponsored by legally qualified candidates,” a standard that Terry has met.
“This is the last bastion of free speech,” Terry said in an interview. “The only place that you can still have free speech is on a licensed station as a federal candidate.”
Randall Terry and Stephen Broden are extremists.
The FCC rule applies only to candidates, not political organizations, meet its criteria and doesn’t apply to cable networks or web-based properties like podcasts. CNN, which is not required to show the ad and said it wouldn’t meet its standards anyway, issued a statement calling it “outrageous, antisemitic and dangerous.”
Terry already has another ad — featured on his website but not yet on television — that specifically targets CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“I’m not going to be the president,” Terry said. “I’m not delusional. The whole point of this is to cause Kamala’s defeat.”
To that end, many of his ads are anti-Harris and, except for a brief printed message on the screen, don’t even mention his candidacy. He has been running advertisements on a local level throughout the campaign, in each of the states where an abortion measure is on the ballot. A total of 40 local ads have been completed, along with a series of national advertisements, Terry said.
His target audience is people aged 50 to 80, an age group that would be most likely to watch broadcast television, who are likely Democratic voters, Catholics and Black.
Christian F. Nunes, president of the National Organization for Women, said she worries that the ads represent a manipulation of FCC regulations and are promoting hateful rhetoric.
Longtime music mogul and media personality Quincy Jones, Jr. has passed away.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former president Barack Obama, former president George W. Bush, former president Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama will react to his passing.
Jones, the multi-talented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album to writing prize-winning film and television scores and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other recording artists, has died at 91.
Jones’ publicist, Arnold Robinson, says he died Sunday night at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, surrounded by his family.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” the family said in a statement. “And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.”
Jones rose from running with gangs on the South Side of Chicago to the very heights of show business, becoming one of the first Black executives to thrive in Hollywood and amassing an extraordinary musical catalog that includes some of the richest moments of American rhythm and song. For years, it was unlikely to find a music lover who did not own at least one record with his name on it, or a leader in the entertainment industry and beyond who did not have some connection to him.
Jones kept company with presidents and foreign leaders, movie stars and musicians, philanthropists and business leaders. He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for “Roots” and “In the Heat of the Night,” organized President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity record for famine relief in Africa.
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote “We Are the World” and was among the featured singers, would call Jones “the master orchestrator.”
In a career which began when records were still played on vinyl at 78 rpm, top honors likely go to his productions with Jackson: “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” were albums near-universal in their style and appeal. Jones’ versatility and imagination helped set off the explosive talents of Jackson as he transformed from child star to the “King of Pop.” On such classic tracks as “Billie Jean” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” Jones and Jackson fashioned a global soundscape out of disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B and jazz and African chants. For “Thriller,” some of the most memorable touches originated with Jones, who recruited Eddie Van Halen for a guitar solo on the genre-fusing “Beat It” and brought in Vincent Price for a ghoulish voiceover on the title track.
“Thriller” sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and has contended with the Eagles’ “Greatest Hits 1971-1975” among others as the best-selling album of all time.
Quincy Jones with daughters Rashida (right) and Kidada (left). Both are actresses and directors.
“If an album doesn’t do well, everyone says ‘it was the producers fault’; so if it does well, it should be your ‘fault,’ too,” Jones said in an interview with the Library of Congress in 2016. “The tracks don’t just all of a sudden appear. The producer has to have the skill, experience and ability to guide the vision to completion.”
The list of his honors and awards fills 18 pages in his 2001 autobiography “Q”, including 27 Grammys at the time (now 28), an honorary Academy Award (now two) and an Emmy for “Roots.” He also received France’s Legion d’Honneur, the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center tribute for his contributions to American culture. He was the subject of a 1990 documentary, “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones” and a 2018 film by daughter Rashida Jones. His memoir made him a best-selling author.
Born in Chicago in 1933, Jones would cite the hymns his mother sang around the house as the first music he could remember. But he looked back sadly on his childhood, once telling Oprah Winfrey that “There are two kinds of people: those who have nurturing parents or caretakers, and those who don’t. Nothing’s in between.” Jones’ mother suffered from emotional problems and was eventually institutionalized, a loss that made the world seem “senseless” for Quincy. He spent much of his time in Chicago on the streets, with gangs, stealing and fighting.
“They nailed my hand to a fence with a switchblade, man,” he told the AP in 2018, showing a scar from his childhood.
Music saved him. As a boy, he learned that a Chicago neighbor owned a piano and he soon played it constantly himself. His father moved to Washington state when Quincy was 10 and his world changed at a neighborhood recreation center. Jones and some friends had broken into the kitchen and helped themselves to lemon meringue pie when Jones noticed a small room nearby with a stage. On the stage was a piano.
“I went up there, paused, stared, and then tinkled on it for a moment,” he wrote in his autobiography. “That’s where I began to find peace. I was 11. I knew this was it for me. Forever.”
Within a few years he was playing trumpet and befriending a young blind musician named Ray Charles, who became a lifelong friend. He was gifted enough to win a scholarship at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out when Hampton invited him to tour with his band. Jones went on to work as a freelance composer, conductor, arranger and producer. As a teen, he backed Billie Holiday. By his mid-20s, he was touring with his own band.
“We had the best jazz band on the planet, and yet we were literally starving,” Jones later told Musician magazine. “That’s when I discovered that there was music, and there was the music business. If I were to survive, I would have to learn the difference between the two.”
As a music executive, he overcame racial barriers by becoming a vice president at Mercury Records in the early ’60s. In 1971, he became the first Black musical director for the Academy Awards ceremony. The first movie he produced, “The Color Purple,” received 11 Oscar nominations in 1986. (But, to his great disappointment, no wins). In a partnership with Time Warner, he created Quincy Jones Entertainment, which included the pop-culture magazine Vibe and Qwest Broadcasting. The company was sold for $270 million in 1999.
“My philosophy as a businessman has always come from the same roots as my personal credo: take talented people on their own terms and treat them fairly and with respect, no matter who they are or where they come from,” Jones wrote in his autobiography.
He was at ease with virtually every form of American music, whether setting Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon” to a punchy, swinging rhythm and wistful flute or opening his production of Charles’ soulful “In the Heat of the Night” with a lusty tenor sax solo. He worked with jazz giants (Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Duke Ellington), rappers (Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J), crooners (Sinatra, Tony Bennett), pop singers (Lesley Gore) and rhythm and blues stars (Chaka Khan, rapper and singer Queen Latifah).
On “We are the World” alone, performers included Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen. He co-wrote hits for Jackson – “P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing” – and Donna Summer – “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger) – and had songs sampled by Tupac Shakur, Kanye West and other rappers. He even composed the theme song for the sitcom “Sanford and Son.”
Jones was a facilitator and maker of the stars. He gave Will Smith a key break in the hit TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which Jones produced, and through “The Color Purple” he introduced Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg to filmgoers. Starting in the 1960s, he composed more than 35 film scores, including for “The Pawnbroker,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “In Cold Blood.”
He called scoring “a multifaceted process, an abstract combination of science and soul.”
Jones’ work on the soundtrack for “The Wiz” led to his partnership with Jackson, who starred in the 1978 movie. In an essay published in Time magazine after Jackson’s death, in 2009, Jones remembered that the singer kept slips of paper on him that contained thoughts by famous thinkers. When Jones asked about the origins of one passage, Jackson answered “Socrates,” but pronounced it “SO-crayts.” Jones corrected him, “Michael, it’s SOCK-ra-tees.”
“And the look he gave me then, it just prompted me to say, because I’d been impressed by all the things I saw in him during the rehearsal process, ‘I would love to take a shot at producing your album,’” Jones recalled. “And he went back and told the people at Epic Records, and they said, `No way — Quincy’s too jazzy.’ Michael was persistent, and he and his managers went back and said, `Quincy’s producing the album.’ And we proceeded to make ‘Off the Wall.’ Ironically, that was one of the biggest Black-selling albums at the time, and that album saved all the jobs of the people saying I was the wrong guy. That’s the way it works.”
Tensions emerged after Jackson’s death. In 2013, Jones sued Jackson’s estate, claiming he was owed millions in royalties and production fees on some of the superstar’s greatest hits. In a 2018 interview with New York magazine, he called Jackson “as Machiavellian as they come” and alleged that he lifted material from others.
Jones was hooked on work and play, and at times suffered for it. He nearly died from a brain aneurysm in 1974 and became deeply depressed in the 1980s after “The Color Purple” was snubbed by Academy Awards voters; he never received a competitive Oscar. A father of seven children by five mothers, Jones described himself as a “dog” who had countless lovers around the world. He was married three times, his wives including the actor Peggy Lipton.
“To me, loving a woman is one of the most natural, blissful, life-enhancing — and dare I say, religious — acts in the world,” he wrote.
He was not an activist in his early years, but changed after attending the 1968 funeral of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and later befriending the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jones was dedicated to philanthropy, saying “the best and only useful aspect of fame and celebrity is having a platform to help others.”
His causes included fighting HIV and AIDS, educating children and providing for the poor around the world. He founded the Quincy Jones Listen Up! Foundation to connect young people with music, culture and technology, and said he was driven throughout his life “by a spirit of adventure and a criminal level of optimism.”
“Life is like a dream, the Spanish poet and philosopher Federico Garcia Lorca said,” Jones wrote in his memoir. “Mine’s been in Technicolor, with full Dolby sound through THX amplification before they knew what these systems were.”
Along with Rashida, Jones is survived by daughters Jolie Jones Levine, Rachel Jones, Martina Jones, Kidada Jones and Kenya Kinski-Jones; son Quincy Jones III; brother Richard Jones and sisters Theresa Frank and Margie Jay.
Dirty ex-cop faces at least 15 years for violating his oath of duty and using excessive force when engaging in a no knock that killed Breonna Taylor.
Winners and losers of 2024.
Former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison was convicted in federal court for his role in the Breonna Taylor shooting. He will be getting at least 15 years in federal time out.
The 12-member jury returned the late-night verdict after clearing Hankison earlier in the evening on a charge that he used excessive force on Taylor's neighbors, per the AP. It was the first conviction of a Louisville police officer who was involved in the deadly raid. Some members of the jury were in tears as the verdict was read around 9:30pm local time. They'd earlier indicated to the judge in two separate messages that they were deadlocked on the charge of using excessive force on Taylor, but they chose to continue deliberating. The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated for more than 20 hours over three days.
Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor's glass door and windows during the raid but didn't hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor's adjoining apartment. The death of the 26-year-old Black woman, along with the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked racial injustice protests nationwide. A separate jury deadlocked on federal charges against Hankison last year, and he was acquitted on state charges of wanton endangerment in 2022. Hankison, 48, argued throughout the trial that he was acting to protect his fellow officers after Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired on them when they broke down Taylor's door with a battering ram. Hankison's lawyers argued during closing statements on Wednesday that Hankison was acting properly "in a very tense, very chaotic environment" that lasted about 12 seconds.
Breonna's mom wants the Louisville Metro Police Department to change and put those dirty cops in lockup for killing her daughter.
They emphasized that Hankison's shots didn't hit anyone. Neither of the officers who shot Taylor—former Sgt. John Mattingly and former Detective Myles Cosgrove—were charged in Taylor's death. Federal and state prosecutors have said those officers were justified in returning fire, since Taylor's boyfriend shot at them first. The conviction against Hankison carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He'll be sentenced on March 12 by US District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings. Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, celebrated the verdict with friends outside the federal courthouse, saying, "It took a lot of time. It took a lot of patience. It was hard. The jurors took their time to really understand that Breonna deserved justice." Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., called the verdict "a long-awaited moment of accountability." More here.
Taylor was an African-American woman who was shot and killed while unarmed in her Louisville, Kentucky home by three police officers who entered under the auspices of a "no-knock" search warrant. After Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) ex-detective Brett Hankison was acquitted of felony wanton endangerment of Taylor's neighbors at the state-level, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Department of Justice was charging Hankison with the unconstitutional use of excessive force that violated Taylor's civil rights. He was found guilty in November 2024. Three other officers, who were not present at the shooting, were also federally charged with conspiracy in falsifying evidence to procure the search warrant, and then covering it up.
Then Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron refused to take on the case which prompt the U.S. Assistant to the Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke made sure she pushed for criminal indictments against the three detectives.
The Des Moines Register, Iowa's largest newspaper has released a shocking poll.
Vice President Kamala Harris is leading former president Donald J. Trump by two points. The state that Democrats gave up on since then president Barack Obama carried in 2008 (as senator/nominee) and 2012 (as incumbent president).
Trump carried Iowa in 2016 (as nominee) and 2020 (as incumbent).
Iowa is considered a state out of play but who knows? I have no consensus on who will win.
I believe Harris will likely win but again don't count Trump out.
Maya Rudolph, the famous actress/comedian endorsed Harris on SNL.
Harris made a surprise appearance on SNL in their final show before the election.
Harris made a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live” in the final days before the election, playing herself as the mirror-image double of Maya Rudolph’s version of her.
The first lines the candidate spoke as she sat across from Rudolph was drowned out by cheers from the audience.
“It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph, “and I’m just here to remind you you got this.”
In sync, the two said supporters need to “Keep Kamala and carry-on-ala,” declared that they share each other’s “belief in the promise of America,” and delivered the signature “Live from New York it’s Saturday night!”
Harris made the surprise trip to New York City with the election looming, briefly stepping away from the battleground states where she’s been furiously campaigning in favor of the iconic sketch comedy show, where she was hoping to generate buzz and appeal to a nationwide audience.
Maya Rudolph and Vice President Kamala Harris see themselves as one.
Harris arrived in New York on Air Force Two after an early evening campaign stop Saturday on in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was scheduled to head to Detroit, but once in the air, aides said she’d be making an unscheduled stop and the plane landed at LaGuardia Airport.
Harris arrived at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, where SNL tapes, shortly after 8 p.m., enough time for a quick rehearsal before the show airs live at 11:30 p.m. It is the final SNL episode before Election Day on Tuesday.
The visit wasn’t previously announced and an official familiar with Harris’ planning only officially confirmed it for reporters traveling with the vice president moments before the live airing began. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss plans before they were made public.
Harris departed immediately after the opening segment. She told reporters, “It was fun!” as she boarded the plane to leave New York.
Rudolph first played Harris on the show in 2019 and has reprised her role this season, doing a spot-on impression of the vice president, including calling herself “Momala” — a reference to the affectionate nickname her stepchildren gave her.
Rudolph opened the show’s season premiere with the line: “Well, well, well. Look who fell out of that coconut tree.” And she’s joked about keeping President Joe Biden in his place.
Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, was played again by former cast member Andy Samberg and Dana Carvey appeared as President Joe Biden.
Rudolph’s performance has won critical and comedic acclaim — including from Harris herself.
“Maya Rudolph — I mean, she’s so good,” Harris said last month on ABC’s “The View.” “She had the whole thing, the suit, the jewelry, everything!”
Harris added that she was impressed with Rudolph’s “mannerisms.”
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump, expressed surprise that Harris would appear on SNL given what he characterized as her unflattering portrayal on the show. Asked if Trump had been invited to appear, he said: “I don’t know. Probably not.”
Politicians nonetheless have a long history on SNL, including Trump, who hosted the show in 2015 — though appearing so close to Election Day is unusual.
Hillary Clinton was running in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary when she appeared next to Amy Poehler, who played her on the show and was known for launching into a trademark, exaggerated cackle. The real Clinton wondered during her appearance, “Do I really laugh like that?”
Harris repeated that line in response to Rudolph’s portrayal of her laugh in Saturday’s episode.
Clinton returned in 2016, while running against Trump in a race she ultimately lost.
The first sitting president to appear on SNL was Republican Gerald Ford, who did so less than a year after the show debuted. Ford appeared in April 1976 on an episode hosted by his press secretary, Ron Nessen, and declared the show’s famous opening rejoinder, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night.”
Then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama appeared alongside Poehler impersonating Clinton in 2007, and Republican Bob Dole was on the show in November 1996 -- a mere 11 days after losing that year’s election to Bill Clinton. Dole consoled Norm Macdonald, who played the Kansas senator.
Then there was Tina Fey’s 2008 impression of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin — and in particular her joke that “I can see Russia from my house.” It was so good that Fey eventually won an Emmy and Palin herself appeared on the show that October, in the weeks before the election.
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