Tuesday Open Thread | HBCU’s

Posted on May 9, 2017 by rikyrah

Remember this shit show?

Trump Seems to Question Constitutionality of Federal Funding for Black Colleges

President Donald Trump added his first-ever signing statement to the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill he signed into law on Friday, but made a confusing addition which would seem to call into question whether or not the White House will seek to block federal funding for historically black colleges and other minority-focused education programs. In his signing statement, which presidents typically use to indicate that they may attempt to disregard something contained in the bill, Trump suggested that such funding was not constitutional on account of it allocating benefits “on the basis of race, ethnicity, or gender.” He mostly used the statement to note the provisions in the spending bill which he — or more likely, his advisers — thought would unconstitutionally conflict with his authority and duties as president, including this final section:

My Administration shall treat provisions that allocate benefits on the basis of race, ethnicity, and gender (e.g., Division B, under the heading “Minority Business Development”; Division C, sections 8016, 8021, 8038, and 8042; Division H, under the headings “Departmental Management Salaries and Expenses,” “School Improvement Programs,” and “Historically Black College and University Capital Financing Program Account”; Division K, under the heading “Native American Housing Block Grants”; and Division K, section 213) in a manner consistent with the requirement to afford equal protection of the laws under the Due Process Clause of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.

Black Colleges Matter
Journalists love to write about how historically black colleges serve non-black students, writes C. Rob Shorette. The real story is about how essential these institutions are to black students.  Love to read your thoughts on this essay.

The history of HBCUs in America

Thanks for giving these sites we’ve linked some LOVE.

2017 Best HBCU Schools in America

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51 Responses to Tuesday Open Thread | HBCU’s

  1. rikyrah says:
    May 9, 2017 at 9:00 pm

    The Healthcare Bill Exposes Trump’s Chilling Authoritarian Agenda

    It’s not only an assault on our bodies, but on our political will.
    By Sarah Kendzior
    May 8, 2017

    The image is now iconic: a group of old white men stand at a podium, announcing that a healthcare bill that disproportionately hurts women has passed the House. The men include a beaming Mike Pence, who once signed a law forcing women to bury or cremate aborted fetuses, and President Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault by at least 13 women, and, lest we forget, once bragged about his ability to “grab” women “by the pussy” on tape.

    All thirteen of the members who designed this bill were men. And while the legislation has the potential to hurt every American, many of its stipulations are explicitly designed to render women unable to acquire basic care. If the new bill is signed into law, rape and sexual assault—far more common among women than men—could be considered pre-existing conditions by the federal government. For women who let their insurance lapse, maternity coverage will no longer be guaranteed, and pregnant women may face surcharges up to $17,000 for care. C-sections could also be considered a pre-existing condition, meaning that a woman could incur costs of roughly $50,000 for simply wanting another child. States could determine that having a heavy period or other menstrual irregularities is a pre-existing condition to be paid for out of pocket.

    Erectile dysfunction, at the moment, is still covered.

    It is not surprising that no women were involved in the creation of the healthcare bill. Women currently comprise only 19.4% of the House, are in no senior cabinet positions, and remain a minority in every branch of government and most sectors of public influence, like business, media, and technology. To be clear, this gender imbalance existed under the Obama administration and all others before it; half of the population being represented by a fragment is nothing new. The difference is that prior administrations were not fledgling kleptocratic autocracies whose primary opponents are female citizens.

    All thirteen of the members who designed this bill were men. And while the legislation has the potential to hurt every American, many of its stipulations are explicitly designed to render women unable to acquire basic care. If the new bill is signed into law, rape and sexual assault—far more common among women than men—could be considered pre-existing conditions by the federal government. For women who let their insurance lapse, maternity coverage will no longer be guaranteed, and pregnant women may face surcharges up to $17,000 for care. C-sections could also be considered a pre-existing condition, meaning that a woman could incur costs of roughly $50,000 for simply wanting another child. States could determine that having a heavy period or other menstrual irregularities is a pre-existing condition to be paid for out of pocket.

    Erectile dysfunction, at the moment, is still covered.

    It is not surprising that no women were involved in the creation of the healthcare bill. Women currently comprise only 19.4% of the House, are in no senior cabinet positions, and remain a minority in every branch of government and most sectors of public influence, like business, media, and technology. To be clear, this gender imbalance existed under the Obama administration and all others before it; half of the population being represented by a fragment is nothing new. The difference is that prior administrations were not fledgling kleptocratic autocracies whose primary opponents are female citizens.

    Reply
  6. rikyrah says:
    May 9, 2017 at 7:41 pm

    The Kushner Project Touted in China Is in Trouble at Home
    May 9, 2017, 9:50 AM EDT

    When Jared Kushner’s sister took the stage in two Chinese ballrooms over the weekend to urge investors to fund a New Jersey development through a controversial visa program, she mentioned her brother’s role in the White House and displayed a photo of President Donald Trump. It was a not-so-subtle signal that hers is a family company with connections.

    What she didn’t mention was that the project has suffered a slew of problems: the exit of its anchor tenant, the loss of millions in tax breaks and a curdling political relationship with the mayor of its host city.

    The previously unreported exit by tenant WeWork — which is also expected to sell its stake in the project — as well as the mayor’s shift, add up to a sharp reversal of fortunes that led the family company to do what it has done before: seek Chinese investors.

    Reply
  9. rikyrah says:
    May 9, 2017 at 6:40 pm

    Sessions reviews Justice Department criminal charging policy
    May 9 at 2:07 PM

    Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing policy changes set in place by the Obama administration that eliminated harsh punishments for low-level drug crimes and could direct federal prosecutors to again charge drug offenders with crimes carrying the most severe penalties, according to U.S. officials.

    The change, if adopted, would overturn a memo by then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that instructed prosecutors to avoid charging low-level defendants with drug offenses that would trigger severe mandatory minimum sentences. Only defendants who met certain criteria, such as not belonging to a large-scale drug trafficking organization, a gang or a cartel, qualified for consideration under Holder’s instructions.

    If new charging instructions are implemented it would mark the first significant move by the Trump administration to bring back the drug war’s toughest practices — methods that had fallen out of favor in recent years as critics pointed to the damaging effects of mass incarceration.

    Reply
  17. rikyrah says:
    May 9, 2017 at 6:09 pm

    Al Giordano‏Verified account @AlGiordano

    1. The @OurRevolution candidate in San Antonio school district 1 just lost with only 6% of the vote…
    …
    2. Its candidate in district six got only 20%. Here are the results of all the contests…

    http://www.ksat.com/news/el… …
    …
    3. In district 9 they fared only marginally better, with a pale 22% of the vote…
    …
    4. It spends much time yelling about what the Democratic Party did or didn’t do in elections, but it appears that @OurRevolution does little
    …
    5. It did scrub these losing candidates from its endorsement page after they lost, but they can’t erase the March 30 press release!
    …
    6. This PAC & its spokesmen have a lot of loud opinions about what others must do to win elections but they only lose themselves.
    …
    7. What, then, is the value of its endorsement? Between 6% and 22% of the vote in a highly Democratic city? That’s just sad.
    ….
    8. Press release endorsements do not win elections. You need trained organizers & resources to do that. But they don’t train either!
    …
    9. And apparently when you spend your time attacking others for garnering resources you don’t get much of them yourselves…
    …
    10. I think it’s clear that “Our Revolution” isn’t serious about electing anyone other than its figurehead – & he lost last year, too.
    …
    11. Anyway, I thought y’all would want to know how the scoreboard is going: same as always. Purity progressives always lose. End memo.

    Reply
  29. Liza says:
    May 9, 2017 at 2:32 pm

    Wisconsin’s Voter-ID Law Suppressed 200,000 Votes in 2016 (Trump Won by 22,748) – via @AriBerman @thenationhttps://t.co/k1BiQmy2M4— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) May 9, 2017

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    May 9, 2017 at 1:53 pm

    Afternoon Everyone 😐😐😐

    Reply
  41. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 9, 2017 at 8:55 am

    Look what he did. This is not normal, people.

    https://twitter.com/pattymo/status/861744172990070788

    Reply

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