Black Voters Make Texas Biggest Battleground State In 2020
Texas is now the Biggest Battleground State (BBGS) in America because it has the largest Black population in America.
If Texas Democrats invest in registering one million new Black Democratic voters for the 2020 General Election, educating them on the need to Vote the Entire Ballot From Top To Bottom because there will be no straight ticket voting in 2020, and turnout 1.5 million Black Democratic voters in 2020, Democrats will turn Texas Blue.
If Texas Democrats invest in a Black to Blue strategy of voter
registration, voter education and Black GOTV, not only will Democrats win the
White House, we will also elect a Democratic United States Senator from Texas,
retake the Texas State House, secure a Democratic State House Speaker, send
more Texas Democrats to Congress, win statewide executive, regulatory and
judicial elections as well as sweep county elections and county judicial races
all across Texas. Black voters, especially Black women, will decide if Texas moves from a battleground state to a solid Blue state in 2020.
Texas will turn Blue in 2020 if Texas (and national) Democratic Party leaders recognize and acknowledge that Black Voters are the Decisive Voters in turning Texas Blue in 2020.
Black voters have been, and still are, the most loyal voting block and constituency in the Texas and national Democratic Party coalition.
If Texas–and national–Democratic Party leaders really want the biggest bang for their investment in winning Texas in 2020, then their priority must be investing in Black voter registration, education and turnout because it will produce the best and highest return on their investment. Black voters vote 90% or more for Democrats. No other group comes close to that level of political support, commitment and loyalty.
It’s time for Black voter loyalty to be fully acknowledged, recognized, rewarded and respected. If Democrats have not already recognized it by now, Democrats can’t win, and won’t turn Texas Blue, without massive Black voter turnout in 2020. To do that, the Democratic Party at the national, state and county levels must all hire local Black consultants, policy advisors and field organizers and also invest in local Black media outlets, radio and newspapers, and in mail, robocalls and door knocking in the Black community all across Texas; rural, suburban and urban.
Thank you and God Bless Houston. For constructive dialogue, you may contact me directly >>>
Hon. Robinson is the former Chairman, City of Houston Transportation, Technology and Infrastructure Committee; Former Vice Chairman, Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Policy Council (H-GAC TPC) and Associate Professor of Public Administration, Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs, Texas Southern University.
Mayor Turner’s “$95,000-a-year internship” story: Is KPRC 2 News trying to meddle with the City Election?
With the city elections less than a month away, the current recycling of “The Sylvester Turner “$95,000-a-year internship” story segment with no new information is becoming unprofessionally redundant and may signify election meddling.
The timeline trailing KPRC 2 News
segments on how an intern recommended by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner earns
$95,000 a year suggests there might be hidden or perhaps abnormal motives. But
the story is substantial and admirably investigative. KPRC 2 reporters had
penetrated Mayor Turner’s business and fished out a breaking news report, that
an entry-level local government job which he recommendation carries abnormal
salary earnings of $95,000 a year.
In the middle of this storm is a 31-year-Marvin Agumagu who was offered a position in an airport’s Executive Internship Program in rather a suspicious manner, raising concerns about why he was given the salary of a senior staff analyst, $95,000 a year with benefits whereas the average internship makes about $22,000 annually.
Meticulously, KPRC 2 News might have invested more resources in this story than their coverage of Hurricane Harvey.
But Mayor Turner defended his
actions explaining that Mr. Agumagu’s salary was appropriate based on his
education and experience. For instance, noted Turner in a statement made available
to the media, “He has three advanced degrees, including a bachelor’s degree,
Master’s Degree and a law degree. He also has experience in international
relations and governmental affairs which is an asset for the City of Houston’s
5-star international airports.”
Apparently, Mayor Turner’s
explanation was not enough for KPRC 2 News. They had run this same story over
three times with different headlines, teasers, powerful promos, and ambiguous
story riders. Meticulously, they might have invested more resources in this
story than their coverage of Hurricane Harvey.
This sarcastic sub-headline caught
my attention, “How much would you pay someone to fetch
coffee and make photocopies? $10,000 a year? $20,000 a year?” But KPRC 2
News knew that this was not just a basic internship position. As the Mayor’s
camp noted, “The official job title for the Executive Intern is Senior Staff
Analyst (Executive Level) with a pay grade of 28. The Department Director chose
the job title and pay grade and the Human Resource Department determined both
were consistent with the specified duties and responsibilities of the
position.”
But for the records, approval was
done under the City of Houston’s Administrative policy. According to the Mayor,
“The process is routine, and I have signed 122 of these reclassifications for
each of the 23 city departments since taking office in January 2016.”
Yet
KPRC 2 News remained adamant in its story segments, recycling the same content
and rewording every sentence to fake freshness.
In fact, they have indirectly fed Mayor Turner’s election opponents with
both campaign talking points and advertisement catchphrases.
For example, One of Mayor Turner’s
major opposition in the upcoming City general election, Tony Buzbee has already
called for a full investigation into the issue. According to Buzbee “The mayor
claims he can’t find the money to pay for police, fire, and floods, but based
on three emails, he can hire an intern for 95K a year plus benefits.”
Currently, the Buzbee campaign has infiltrated the networks will advertisements
created off of KPRC 2 News’ consistent bashing of Mayor Turner.
KPRC 2 has indirectly fed Mayor Turner’s election opponents with both campaign talking points and advertisement catchphrases.
Nevertheless, Mayor Turner is not
new to such media campaign machinations.
Recall Turner v. Dolcefino when in November 1991, KTRK Channel 13 ran a
news story about Turner during a close mayoral race. Turner lost that election
and ended up in a very lengthy libel lawsuit with both the TV station and their
reporter.
So it could be said that Mayor Turner again might be under the
mainstream media bombardment and as we can see, this trend increases as the
polls draw closer. Just two weeks ago, KTRK-TV ran another investigative story
linking a rapport between Mayor Turner and Kelsey-Seybold Clinic to a breakfast
meeting, campaign donations, and city insurance contract.
It is not a coincidence that all
these are coming less than one month when Houston voters will decide the next
mayor for another four-year tenure.
Mayor Turner has consistently led in the polls. In a recent poll of 501
registered voters that Houston Public Media commissioned together with KHOU,
Mayor Turner led his rivals with than a third of respondents.
At this point, if there are substantial updates in this story, let viewers know if not, KPRC 2 News should wrap it up or shut up
With the city elections less than a month away, the current recycling of Turner’s “$95,000-a-year internship” story segment with no new information is becoming unprofessionally redundant and may signify election meddling. If there are substantial updates in this story, let viewers know, if not KPRC 2 News should wrap it up or shut up.
Impeachment Investigators Subpoena White House and Ask Pence for Documents on Ukraine
WASHINGTON — House impeachment investigators widened the reach of their inquiry on Friday, subpoenaing the White House for a vast trove of documents and requesting more from Vice President Mike Pence to better understand President Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.
The subpoena, addressed to Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, calls for documents and communications that are highly delicate and would typically be subject in almost any White House to claims of executive privilege. If handed over by the Oct. 18 deadline, the records could provide keys to understanding what transpired between the two countries and what steps, if any, the White House has taken to cover it up.
The request for records from a sitting vice president is unusual in its own right, and Mr. Pence’s office quickly signaled he may not comply. In a letter to Mr. Pence, the chairmen of three House committees conducting the impeachment inquiry wrote that they were interested in “any role you may have played” in conveying Mr. Trump’s views to Ukraine. They asked for a lengthy list of documents detailing the administration’s dealings with Ukraine, to be produced by Oct. 15.
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The actions came at the end of another day of fast-moving developments in the House impeachment investigation, which is centered on allegations that Mr. Trump and his administration worked to bend America’s diplomatic apparatus for his own political benefit.
Mr. Trump himself appeared resigned to the prospect that he would be impeached, and was gearing up for an epic political battle to defend himself, predicting the Democrat-led House would approve articles of impeachment against him and the Republican-controlled Senate would acquit him.
“They’ll just get their people,” he said of House Democrats. “They’re all in line. Because even though many of them don’t want to vote, they have no choice. They have to follow their leadership. And then we’ll get it to the Senate, and we’re going to win.”
Privately, Mr. Trump briefly joined a conference call of House Republicans, defending his interactions with Ukraine and rallying his party to fight for him.
On Capitol Hill, the impeachment investigation continued gaining steam, as requests and information from witnesses began to stack up. For more than six hours on Friday, the House Intelligence Committee questioned the intelligence community’s independent watchdog who first fielded a whistle-blower complaint that has spurred the formal impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump. Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general, had received the complaint and explained his own preliminary investigation into its validity before seeking to deliver it to Congress.
“What the inspector general said last time was, the whistle-blower pulled the fire alarm,” Representative Mike Quigley, Democrat of Illinois, told reporters. “We have now seen the smoke and the fire.”
How the White House, which has routinely rejected congressional requests for information, responds to the demands for documents could significantly shape the impeachment investigation going forward. Under normal circumstances, the White House could claim materials referred to in both requests were privileged, using that as a defense in court.
Press secretaries for the White House and the vice president issued similar statements assailing the demands, but did not clearly indicate whether they would comply or not. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, said the subpoena “changes nothing” and called it “just more document requests, wasted time and taxpayer dollars that will ultimately show the president did nothing wrong.”
Katie Waldman, Mr. Pence’s press secretary, promptly said that “given the scope, it does not appear to be a serious request but just another attempt by the ‘Do Nothing Democrats’ to call attention to their partisan impeachment.”
But that will not help Mr. Trump’s case on Capitol Hill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the chairmen leading the inquiry have consistently warned the White House that noncompliance with their requests will be viewed as obstruction of Congress, itself a potentially impeachable offense.
“The White House has refused to engage with — or even respond to — multiple requests for documents from our Committees on a voluntary basis,” said the letter to Mr. Mulvaney, signed by Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the Intelligence Committee chairman; Representative Eliot L. Engel of New York, the Foreign Affairs Committee chairman; and Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the Oversight and Reform Committee chairman. “After nearly a month of stonewalling, it appears clear that the president has chosen the path of defiance, obstruction, and cover-up.”
In addition to the new subpoena and request, a significant subpoena deadline for the State Department to hand over similar material in its possession was also scheduled to arrive by the end of the day. It was not immediately clear if the department had complied or not.
Even as they worked, lawmakers from both parties continued Friday morning to try to make sense of a tranche of texts between American diplomats and a top aide to the Ukrainian president. Those messages were released late Thursday night, and called into question the truthfulness of Mr. Trump’s claim that there had been no quid pro quo attached to his pressing Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., his son and other Democrats.
The House committees are scheduled to interview additional witnesses implicated in the texts next week. Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union and a Trump supporter who been actively involved in diplomacy with Ukraine, is expected to appear on Tuesday, and Marie L. Yovanovitch, the former American ambassador to Ukraine, on Friday.
Democrats have pounced on the texts as further evidence that Mr. Trump was treating the investigations as a precondition to giving Ukraine, an American ally that borders Russia, a meeting with the president and a $391 million package of security aid. Most Republicans remained silent or stood by Mr. Trump in light of the new messages, but a few raised alarms.
Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, one of the few members of Mr. Trump’s party who have been critical of the conduct at the center of the impeachment inquiry, issued a statement condemning the president’s public comments on Thursday in which he invited China as well as Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.
“When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China’s investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated,” Mr. Romney said. “By all appearances, the president’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling.”
Democrats on Capitol Hill said Mr. Atkinson’s account reinforced the seriousness of their effort.
A Trump appointee, Mr. Atkinson helped set off the current saga less than a month ago when he notified Congress’s intelligence committees that he had received an anonymous whistle-blower complaint that he deemed to be “urgent” and credible. The acting director of national intelligence intervened initially to block Mr. Atkinson from sharing the complaint with Congress, but ultimately the Trump administration relented and allowed its public release.
In the complaint, the whistle-blower wrote that multiple government officials had provided him information that “the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.”
Specifically, he said that Mr. Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, had pressed Ukraine to conduct the investigations, potentially using the prospect of a meeting that the new Ukrainian president badly wanted with Mr. Trump and withholding the aid earmarked for the country as leverage to secure the investigations. The White House tried to cover up aspects of the events, the complaint said.
Mr. Atkinson has already appeared once before the House Intelligence Committee, but he was barred then from speaking in detail about the complaint. On Friday, Mr. Atkinson walked lawmakers through the complaint and some of the steps he took to try to evaluate the veracity of his claims, including showing documents. The inspector general declined to share with the committee names of officials he spoke during his brief investigation, according to one person familiar with his testimony.
Details of the complaint, including a July call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, have already been verified. The texts released late Thursday also appeared to comport with elements of the complaint.
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting from New York, and Annie Karni from Washington.
Grace International Church hosts VOGUE Women’s Conference 2019
International
Guardian – HOUSTON, TX – Grace International Church on Bellaire, Houston has announced the 2019 V.O.G.U.E (Vessels of
Glory Unto Excellence) Women’s Conference tagged “Prepared for Good Works”, a
theme derived from 2 Timothy 2:21. The events start Friday, October 18th and
will run till Sunday, October 20th. All the programs will be held at the Grace
International Church on 15401 Bellaire Blvd, Houston, TX 77083. Program times
are: Friday (7pm), Sat (10am: Registration at 9am with “Breakfast for a Queen”),
Sun (9am and 11am).
VOGUE
Women’s Conference is a free annual symposium. Guests and participants come
from several parts of the country to learn and share biblical messages; receive
the anointing and experience God’s involvement in their endeavors. The theme
for instance would explore the accuracy of biblical understanding about how the
man of God may “be complete, equipped for every good work.” The program will be hosted by Grace Int’l
Church overseers, Drs. Ayo and Alice Ajim, and will also feature as guest
speakers, Dr. Jasmin Sculark and Dr. Dennis and Aity Inyang.
Dr.
Jasmin (Jazz) Sculark is founder and President of The Daughter of Thunder and
Senior Pastor of Victory Grace Center Bowie, MD, a native of island of
Trinidad. She is a globally recognized pastor, Teacher, Evangelist, Author and
Philanthropist.
Dr.
Dennis Inyang is the Presiding Pastor of Sure Word Assembly, Lagos. His wife,
remarkably gifted Gospel music Artiste – Aity
is a multilingual singer, worship leader, and prolific songwriter who has performed on big
stages across the globe ministering alongside gospel music greats like the
legendary Rev. Shirley Caesar, Ron Kenoly, Donnie McClurkin, Israel Houghton,
Alvin Slaughter and Hope Davies, and others.
The
primary focus of Grace International Church is to share the love and joy of
Christ worldwide. As a platform, Grace is a thriving and vibrant congregation set
to worship God and experience a life of peace and abundance. The VOGUE Women’s
Conference coincides with the Church values and expression of faith – a
reflection of the principles of the Doctrine of Christ.
For
more information about The VOGUE Women’s Conference, please call or stop by:
15401 Bellaire Blvd Houston, TX 77083 Phone: (281) 564-7223. Email:
info@graceint.org; or you may visit their Website: www.graceint.org/
Concerns as TSU’s band director Clarence Gibson resigns
School explains “He was immediately placed on administrative leave and has since resigned“
Members of Texas Southern University’s Ocean of Soul Marching Band are questioning why their head band director, Clarence Gibson, was suddenly asked to resign with no explanation, Houston’s Fox 26 reports.
The news comes just days before TSU’s homecoming next weekend.
“We all deserve answers, We all deserve some sort of reasoning why he’s no longer here,” said former TSU drum major, Giovandre St. Cyr.
Band members former and current said Gibson served as a mentor and a father-figure to all his students. They said the last several days without him haven’t been the same.
“It feels very different. It feels like mama no longer coming home or dad no longer coming home, It’s just the kids at home now and now we gotta make the house stand up,” St.Cyr said.
“Even though this is my last year of marching, it wouldn’t feel the same without him being here. Even once I come back as an alum, it wouldn’t be the same without him,” said TSU base drummer, Gianni Bailey.
“He just created a rapport with the students to where we can get to know him personally,” said adjunct professor and TSU band alum, Brittany Paul.
To reinstate his position, Paul created a petition that garnered hundreds of signatures within hours. The petition now has nearly 1200 signatures as of Thursday night.
The petition also suggests the reason why Gibson may no longer have his position at TSU.
“He was giving a speech to the band about making right choices and he shared a story about his past where he had gotten in trouble, It later had gotten dismissed. But he was using that anecdote to tell the students to make right choices and learn from my mistakes. From what I was told, someone went back to the administration and reported that story to them and that’s where we are right now,” Paul said.
In a statement, TSU said, “We were made aware of allegations concerning our interim band director. He was immediately placed on administrative leave and has since resigned. It is TSU’s policy to not comment on personnel matters. TSU is committed to both the privacy and the safety of our students, faculty and staff.”
FOX 26 also spoke to Gibson on the phone. He declined to comment on the matter for now, but said he’s currently out of town and is considering legal action.
Students are reportedly upset by the loss of their director and have created a petition to bring Professor Gibson back to the university that already has about 2,000 signatures.
South Africa, Nigeria mend relations, agree trade deals
Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Cyril Ramaphosa presented a united front on Thursday (October 3) at the end of a two-day visit by the Nigerian leader to South Africa.
The trip comes weeks after a wave of violence against Nigerian nationals in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Which strained relations between Africa’s top two economies.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SAYING;
“We have expressed our deep regret at the events of the past few weeks that manifested themselves through attacks that were directed at foreign nationals.”
(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA, MUHAMMADU BUHARI, SAYING;
“Our two countries have also agreed to unequivocally address the challenges in our relations including recent people-to-people challenges that saw attacks against foreign nationals including Nigerians and their properties which we strongly condemn. We have decided to work and take concrete measures together to prevent the recurrence of such unacceptable incidents in the future.”
The two leaders also pledged to deepen economic ties and signed 30 trade and cooperation agreements.
Nigeria is one of South Africa’s largest trading partners on the continent, accounting for 64% of South Africa’s total trade with the West African region.