Saturday Open Thread

Posted on May 5, 2018 by rikyrah

Good Morning. I hope that you are enjoying this weekend with family and friends.

You might be taking a vacation soon…..just planting a seed…

The 10 Most Beautiful Black-Owned Hotels Around The World
By Shontel Horne

Between Airbnb, hostels, hotels and traditional bed and breakfast properties, travelers have countless options for accommodations when traveling around the world. There is a hotel for every type of experience a traveler could want, and with enough research, you can even support black hospitality entrepreneurs in the process.

From Virginia to Marrakesh, if you want to support a black-owned hotel while you explore new destinations, these gorgeous properties are well worth the visit.

The pictures look fabulous. And, they are in such diverse places.

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I love finding out about people who have done wonderful things.

FLUENT IN FRENCH, GREEK, AND TURKISH, SHE SHARES HER 42-YEAR ADVENTURE AS A U.S. DIPLOMAT
Robin White Goode by Robin White Goode
February 7, 2018

Before she spent 42 years in the Foreign Service, before going to Africa or the Middle East, before learning Greek or Turkish, Ambassador Harriet Elam-Thomas was just Harriet Elam, a student at Simmons College, enjoying being an exchange student walking down the streets of Lyon, France, with a friend.

A man on the street called out, “La jeune noir, comme elle est belle!” Translation: “The young black one, how pretty she is!”

No one had ever said that to her before. Elam had grown up in the Roxbury section of Boston.

“I overcame my sense of not having value when that comment was made,” Ambassador Elam-Thomas told me.

That singular moment may have been the beginnings of Elam-Thomas’s career in the diplomatic service. In 2005, she retired after serving her country in Senegal, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, France, Belgium, and back to Senegal as an ambassador 28 years after first arriving there.

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And, some positive Black Youth:

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason to play at royal wedding

Teenage cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has been selected to play at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The 19-year-old from Nottingham made history in 2016 when he became the first black winner of the BBC Young Musician competition.

Kensington Palace tweeted Prince Harry had seen Sheku play at a charity concert in London.

In response, Sheku said he was “excited and honoured” and was “bowled over” when Ms Markle rang him up to ask.

After winning Young Musician, Sheku recorded an album of classical pieces and arrangements of modern songs.

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58 Responses to Saturday Open Thread

  1. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 6, 2018 at 12:22 am

    I don’t blame him whatsoever. I wouldn’t want that scum anywhere near my family. May God’s mercy and grace be with John McCain.

    https://twitter.com/RealMuckmaker/status/992951281374277633

    Reply
  4. vitaminlover says:
    May 5, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    Mrs. Elam-Thomas is sooooooo distinguished, beauthful and classy. Her hair is lovely!

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      May 5, 2018 at 4:12 pm

      When narcissism, thirsty opportunism and the desperate desire to be legitimized and normalized collide..

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      May 5, 2018 at 5:11 pm

      All starting to make sense now.. And somehow, this one ‘commutation/pardon’ if it does happen, will end up touted more than the 1715 clemencies (including a historic 212 pardons) President Obama granted ..

      https://twitter.com/TrickFreee/status/991664116019281926?s=20

      Reply
      • eliihass says:
        May 5, 2018 at 5:20 pm

        “…on Thursday, his last full day in office, Obama announced 330 more commutations, for nonviolent drug offenders, bringing his total number of clemencies to 1,715. He has granted commutations to more people than the past 12 presidents combined, including 568 inmates with life sentences. He has granted 212 pardons. His final group of clemencies was the most Obama granted in a day and the most granted on one day in U.S. history…”

        Based on recommendations by the DOJ after review..

        “By restoring proportionality to unnecessarily long drug sentences, this administration has made a lasting impact on our criminal justice system,” said Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates. “With 1,715 commutations in total, this undertaking was as enormous as it was unprecedented.”

        “It’s fantastic that the president is using his last days in office to continue to grant clemency to deserving prisoners,” said Julie Stewart, founder and chairman of the board of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which has been fighting for 18 years for clemency for drug offenders sentenced under the tough drug laws of the 1980s and 1990s.

        “But my heart aches for those who will not make the cut,” Stewart said. “After over two years of believing they may have a chance for freedom, they now see that door of hope closing. I can’t imagine what the pall in the prisons will feel like on January 20 when President Obama leaves office.”

        The Obama administration had denied 14,485 clemency petitions and 1,629 pardons, as of Jan. 3.

        Former White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler said that clemency has long been a top priority for Obama. The president frequently complained to her during his first term that he was not receiving enough recommendations from the Justice Department to grant clemency. Shortly after the 2012 election, she said, he directed her to work with the Justice Department to increase the number of clemency applications for him to consider.

        “He told me to be creative and aggressive,” Ruemmler said. She then worked with then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder and Deputy Attorney General James Cole to set up a process to increase the number of clemency petitions coming from the U.S. pardon attorney…”

        https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-grants-final-330-commutations-to-nonviolent-drug-offenders/2017/01/19/41506468-de5d-11e6-918c-99ede3c8cafa_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5500adb4d851

        Reply
    • eliihass says:
      May 5, 2018 at 3:31 pm

      And give up all that faux-power, undeserved elevation, freebies and perks courtesy of the ultimate address in these United States..

      Never..

      Not when there are supposedly ‘sensible’ and previously thought ‘honorable’ folk actively auditioning for positions with the buffoon… or any semblance of ‘access’..

      Including her husband – who was previously promised a top gig, but was subsequently passed over ..

      Reply
  11. Ametia says:
    May 5, 2018 at 1:31 pm

    Meghan Markle’s Mother Gets Formal Role in Royal Wedding
    By ELLEN BARRYMAY 4, 2018

    LONDON — Any child of divorce will tell you that planning a wedding can be contentious, even without the involvement of 5,000 journalists, a thousand-year-old castle, the Royal Gurkha Rifles and the archbishop of Canterbury.
    The American actress Meghan Markle has lobbied behind the scenes to create a role for her mother, Doria Ragland, in her wedding to Prince Harry on May 19.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/world/europe/meghan-markle-doria-ragland-royal-wedding.html

    Reply
  16. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 5, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    Zoom in on that license plate and find his ass.

    https://twitter.com/ABC/status/992766069801734145

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 5, 2018 at 11:31 am

      Another case of fire the damn cop before he kills someone. He should not be a cop, he needs to find another line of work preferably one where he is unarmed.

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      May 5, 2018 at 2:45 pm

      Yup..

      That’s our ‘liberal’ California for you..

      These days one can hardly decipher who’s who and what’s what..

      Between the various varieties of crazies spanning the buffoon’s cheerleaders, aka white supremacists, alt-right folk, libertarians and some Bernie folks.. Once upon a time they were quite easy to pick out in the crowd… and in the parking lot…

      But these days, not so much ..one hardly knows what one is dealing with any longer.. …especially when they try to blend right in with good folks.. In a parking garage entirely filled with Prius’ and Teslas, kinda hard to figure out which one belongs to the white supremacist buffoon supporting a-hole..

      Reply
  25. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 5, 2018 at 10:13 am

    INSANE! These teens had the police called on them because they were quiet and didn’t answer a racist witch’s questions? Who is she to answer to? Racist ass mofo!

    https://twitter.com/APWestRegion/status/992548183552221185

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    May 5, 2018 at 8:21 am

    Too quiet?
    What the phuck is too quiet on a damn tour, where you are supposed to shut up and listen to the tour guide!

    https://twitter.com/metaquest/status/992751576723865600?s=19

    Reply
  34. rikyrah says:
    May 5, 2018 at 3:45 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      May 5, 2018 at 10:55 am

      Good Morning, Rikyrah & 3Chics Family.

      Thanks for the positivity post today, Rikyrah

      Sheku’s whole family is tremendously gifted. Such an inspiration…

      Reply

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