The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today urged state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate an alleged call to violence against American Muslims during a meeting of hate groups in North Carolina.
According to media reports, a "consortium of tea partiers, patriot groups and other conservative activists" met Thursday at a restaurant in Kernersville, N.C., to hear a presentation on "a supposed Muslim plot to conquer the United States."
The presentation on the "Islamization of America" included "frequent interruptions about supposed Muslim treachery paired with testimonials about preparedness for violent confrontation and even expressions of readiness to kill Muslims."
One meeting participant allegedly asked the presenter for recommendations about how to stop "Islamization," then added, "Because my only recommendation is to start killing the hell out them." That same person allegedly stated: "I'm ready to start taking people out." He replied, "Shed some blood, too," in response to the presenter's call to "shed some light" on the issue.
In response to the reported call to kill Muslims, a member of the hate group ACT for America allegedly stated: "I can understand that. But we're not there yet." ACT for America's anti-Muslim bigotry was highlighted recently in a Washington Post exposé.
"Calls to violence against members of any minority group warrant a criminal investigation by state law enforcement authorities and the FBI," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "We call on President Trump to repudiate the growing bigotry in our nation targeting Muslims, Hispanics, immigrants, refugees, and other minority groups."
He said CAIR has noted an unprecedented spike in hate rhetoric and bias-motivated incidents targeting American Muslims and other minorities since the election of President Trump.
Last month, CAIR condemned a terror attack on a Canadian mosque by a suspect who had expressed anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments on social media. Six worshipers were killed in the attack and 17 others were wounded.
The Washington-based Muslim civil rights group is asking Muslim community members to report any bias incidents to police and to CAIR's Civil Rights Department at 202-742-6420 or by filing a report at: cair.com/civil-rights/report-an-incident/view/form.html
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today concluded a successful visit to France and Germany from February 16 to 17, 2017. During the visit, the Prime Minister addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, and visited Berlin and Hamburg, Germany.
The Prime Minister's visit reinforced the close bonds between Canada, Germany, and the European Union (EU). It was also an opportunity to promote Canada's role as a leader on progressive trade and investment, and highlight how the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) will create good, well-paying jobs, bolster our shared prosperity, and help grow the middle class.
During his historic address to the European Parliament, the Prime Minister spoke of the importance Canada places on its relationship with the EU and welcomed the European Parliament's vote to approve CETA and the Canada-EU Strategic Partnership Agreement.
In Berlin, the Prime Minister met with outgoing President Joachim Gauck and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In these meetings, key economic and foreign policy issues were discussed, including CETA. They also exchanged views on pressing international security concerns, including migration, the situation in Ukraine, and the fight against terrorism and Daesh.
While in Berlin, the Prime Minister paid his respects to the more than six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. During his visit, he laid a wreath in honour of all the victims. He and Chancellor Merkel were greeted by the Mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, at Breitscheidplatz, central square in Berlin. Both leaders laid a rose in memory of the innocent victims of the Christmas Market attack in December 2016.
In Hamburg, the Prime Minister met with Mayor Olaf Scholz as well as officials from several of Germany's federal states. Following the meetings, the Prime Minister attended Hamburg's annual St. Matthew's Day banquet as this year's invited guest of honour and delivered remarks. The German Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel also spoke at the banquet as an invited guest.
Quotes
"It was a great honour to be the first Canadian Prime Minister to address the full European Parliament following this week's positive vote on CETA. This landmark trade deal puts people first, and will strengthen the middle class on both sides of the Atlantic. Together, I know Canada and the EU will continue to champion progressive free trade deals that benefit everyone." —Rt. Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
"Germany is a key partner, ally, and friend. We will continue working with Chancellor Merkel to strengthen this important relationship, while advancing our common goals and growing the middle class in both our countries. I look forward to returning to Germany this July for the G20 Leaders' Summit in Hamburg."
—Rt. Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
Quick Facts
While in Europe, the Prime Minister was joined by the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade; and Stéphane Dion, who has been proposed as Canada's next Ambassador to the European Union and Germany.
Canada and the EU are expected to implement CETA in spring 2017, which will allow businesses on both sides of the Atlantic to take full advantage of the Agreement's significant economic benefits.
With CETA, Canada and the EU have set the bar high for progressive trade agreements, which will benefit consumers and workers, and protect the environment.
J. David Cox Sr., national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 9,000 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, today issued the following statement in response to the Senate's 52-46 vote to confirm Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator:
"As head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt will be responsible for leading the agency's efforts to ensure the safety of our air and water, repair our aging infrastructure of water lines and treatment plants, clean up hazardous waste sites, and enforce environmental laws and regulations that help protect our precious natural resources. EPA's workforce is smaller today than it was in 1999, despite a significant growth in responsibilities. Starving this vital agency of the resources it needs to carry out its important work threatens the health and safety of all Americans. The biologists, scientists, lab technicians, engineers, and other civil servants who work at the EPA must be able to do their jobs without political interference or fear of retribution. Ensuring the independence of our career civil servants at EPA and all federal agencies is an essential part of our democratic government and something that we will fight to maintain."
AFGE logo. (PRNewsFoto/American Federation of Government Employees)
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 700,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.
For the latest AFGE news and information, visit the AFGE Media Center.
Trump poses with his brain trust. Mark Lennihan/AP Photo
By Bert Spector, Northeastern University Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump made much of his business experience, claiming he’s been “creating jobs and rebuilding neighborhoods my entire adult life.” The fact that he was from the business world rather than a career politician was something that appealed to many of his supporters. It’s easy to understand the appeal of a president as CEO. The U.S. president is indisputably the chief executive of a massive, complex, global structure known as the federal government. And if the performance of our national economy is vital to the well-being of us all, why not believe that Trump’s experience running a large company equips him to effectively manage a nation? Instead of a “fine-tuned machine,” however, the opening weeks of the Trump administration have revealed a White House that’s chaotic, disorganized and anything but efficient. Examples include rushed and poorly constructed executive orders, a dysfunctional national security team and unclear and even contradictory messages emanating from multiple administrative spokespeople, which frequently clash with the tweets of the president himself. Senator John McCain succinctly summed up the growing sentiment even some Republicans are feeling: “Nobody knows who’s in charge.” So why the seeming contradiction between his businessman credentials and chaotic governing style? Well for one thing, Trump wasn’t a genuine CEO. That is, he didn’t run a major public corporation with shareholders and a board of directors that could hold him to account. Instead, he was the head of a family-owned, private web of enterprises. Regardless of the title he gave himself, the position arguably ill-equipped him for the demands of the presidency.
Catching up on the news, Senator?Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo
Public accountability Several years ago, I explored the distinction between public and private companies in detail when the American Bar Association invited me to write about what young corporate lawyers needed to understand about how business works. Based on that research, I want to point to an important set of distinctions between public corporations and private businesses, and what it all means for President Trump. Public corporations are companies that offer their stock to pretty much anyone via organized exchanges or by some over-the-counter mechanism. In order to protect investors, the government created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which imposes an obligation of transparency on public corporations that does not apply to private businesses like the Trump Organization. The SEC, for example, requires the CEO of public corporations to make full and public disclosures of their financial position. Annual 10-K reports, quarterly 10-Q’s and occasional special 8-K’s require disclosure of operating expenses, significant partnerships, liabilities, strategies, risks and plans. Additionally, an independent firm overseen by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board conducts an audit of these financial statements to ensure thoroughness and accuracy. Finally, the CEO, along with the chief financial officer, is criminally liable for falsification or manipulation of the company’s reports. Remember the 2001 Enron scandal? CEO Jeffrey Skilling was convicted of conspiracy, fraud and insider trading and initially sentenced to 24 years in prison.
Former Enron CEO Skilling learned the hard way that the buck stopped with him.Pat Sullivan/AP Photo
Internal governance Then there is the matter of internal governance. The CEO of a public company is subject to an array of constraints and a varying but always substantial degree of oversight. There are boards of directors, of course, that review all major strategic decisions, among other duties. And there are separate committees that assess CEO performance and determine compensation, composed entirely of independent or outside directors without any ongoing involvement in running the business. Whole categories of CEO decisions, including mergers and acquisitions, changes in the corporation’s charter and executive compensation packages, are subject to the opinion of shareholders and directors. In addition, the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act requires – for now – regular nonbinding shareholder votes on the compensation packages of top executives. And then there’s this critical fact: well-governed firms tend to outperform poorly governed ones, often dramatically. And that’s because of factors like a strong board of directors, more transparency, a responsiveness to shareholders, thorough and independent audits and so forth.
Trump celebrates the opening of his Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City in 1990.Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo
Trump’s business None of the obligations listed above applied to Trump, who was owner, chairman and president of the Trump Organization, a family-owned limited liability company (LLC) that has owned and run hundreds of businesses involving real estate, hotels, golf courses, private jet rentals, beauty pageants and even bottled water. LLCs are specifically designed to offer owners tax advantages, maximum flexibility and financial and legal protections without either the benefits (such as access to equity capital markets) or the many obligations of a public corporation. For example, as I noted above, a corporate CEO is required by law to allow scrutiny of the financial consequences of his or her decisions by others. As such, CEOs know the value of having a strong executive team able to serve as a sounding board and participate in key strategic decisions. Trump, by contrast, as the head of a family business was accountable to no one and reportedly ran his company that way. His executive team comprised his children and people who are loyal to him, and his decision-making authority was unconstrained by any internal governance mechanisms. Decisions concerning what businesses to start or exit, how much money to borrow and at what interest rates, how to market products and services, and how – or even whether – to pay suppliers or treat customers were made centrally and not subject to review. Clearly, this poorly equips Trump to be president and accountable to lawmakers, the courts and ultimately the voters. Another important aspect of the public corporation is the notion of transparency and the degree to which it enables accountability. A lack of transparency and reluctance to engage in open disclosure characterized the formulation of Trump’s immigration ban that was quickly overturned in federal court. That same tendency toward secrecy was manifest throughout the campaign, such as when he refused to disclose much about his health (besides this cursory “note”) or release any of his tax returns. While there’s no law that requires a candidate to divulge either health or tax status, that lack of transparency kept potentially vital information from U.S. voters. And Trump’s continuing lack of transparency as president has kept experts and advisers in the dark, leading to precisely the confusion, mixed messages and dysfunction that have characterized these early weeks. And, of course, this can quickly lead to a continuing erosion of public trust. Trump, it should be noted, made one stab at a public company: Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts. That was an unmitigated disaster, leading to five separate declarations of bankruptcy before finally going under, all this while other casino companies thrived. Public investors ignored all the signs in favor of the showmanship and glitz of the Trump brand and, as a result, lost millions of dollars. Trump allotted himself a huge salary and bonuses, corporate perks and special merchandising deals. What is especially telling about this experience is that, rather than speaking on behalf of fiduciary responsibilities for the best interests of the corporation, Trump noted, “I make great deals for myself.” Multiplicity of voices There is no need to be overly naive here. Some CEOs also operate in a highly centralized manner, expecting obedience rather than participation from direct reports. All business executives expect a shared commitment from their employees to their corporate goals and value dependability, cooperation and loyalty from subordinates. But the involvement of a multiplicity of voices with diverse perspectives and different backgrounds and fields of expertise improves the quality of resulting decisions. Impulsive decision-making by an individual or small, cloistered group of followers can and often will lead to disastrous results. What lies ahead Virtually every U.S. president, ranging from the great to the inconsequential and even the disastrous, have emerged from one of two groups: career politicians or generals. So why not a CEO president? Without question, a background in politics does not guarantee an effective presidency. Abraham Lincoln, the consensus choice among historians for the best president ever, was a career politician, but so was his disastrous successor, Andrew Johnson. Likewise, we can think of many traits of an effective corporate CEO that could serve a president well: transparency and accountability, responsiveness to internal governance and commitment to the interest of the overall corporation over and above self-enrichment. Sadly, that is not Trump’s background. His experience overseeing an interconnected tangle of LLCs and his one disastrous term as CEO of a public corporation suggest a poor background to be chief executive of the United States. As such, “nobody knows who’s in charge” may be the mantra for years to come.
About Today's Contributor: Bert Spector, Associate Professor of International Business and Strategy at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University
Austin-based, all female pop/rock band THE MRSare set to release their self-titled debut album March 10th, featuring new single "Blink Of An Eye" now available at all digital outlets.
The band, which promotes themes of female empowerment, will perform at SXSW March 12th at The Belmont and March 18 at Texas Rockfest, where they'll play cuts off their debut album just after its worldwide release. The 11-track, self-produced album is designed to connect with today's contemporary woman who strives to live a full and active life, without limitations. They are sexy, modern, liberated and unapologetic wives and mothers who rock.
THE MRS includes founder Andra Liemandt (drums), Jenny Mason(bass), Mandy Prater (guitar/vocals), and Larissa Ness (keyboard/vocals). They broke out onto the music scene with two Top 20 Hot AC singles titled "Enough" and "You Told Me" from their EP, Enough.
Band founder Andra Liemandtwas inspired to study the craft of drumming after taking her daughter to music lessons. Feeling inspired, she sought out like-minded female musicians who would form the nucleus of THE MRS. After logging many hours in the studio, the band's passion and message came to fruition and their movement started to gain traction and pay off.
THE MRS has been featured on Good Morning America, Huffington Post, People, Cosmopolitan and Buzzfeed among other outlets.
Their music speaks to the modern woman, exploring the daily reality of wives and mothers, while offering a support network and a message of empowerment, in an effort to shift the cultural tide. The group's purpose is to uplift and strengthen women and community, so they can live their best life ever and deflect any negative self-talk that may occur when they look in the mirror. Emphasis is placed on personal relationships, careers, marriages, families and friendships.
THE MRS is excited to share their debut full length with fans and looks forward to live performance dates and touring in the near future.
Michael Jackson'sThrillerhas become the first album in RIAA Gold & Platinum Program history to be certified 33x Diamond forUnited Statessales and streams, it was announced by the Recording Industry of America (RIAA), the Estate ofMichael Jackson, Epic Records and Legacy Recordings (the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment).
Thriller is still the ONLY album ever to have surpassed the RIAA's 30x million mark in U.S. sales.
"Thirty five years later, Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' remains as timeless and iconic as ever," said Cary Sherman, Chairman and CEO, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "'Thriller' has now become the first and only album to achieve an RIAA 33X Diamond Award, a moment forever etched in Gold & Platinum Program history. Congratulations on another 'Thriller' milestone."
The same day as Thriller's record-breaking certification, Michael Jackson'sBad has also achieved RIAA 10x Diamond Award status in recognition of United States sales and streams of 10 million units.
With sales now topping more than 105 million copies worldwide, Thriller has solidified its status as the best-selling album of all-time while Michael Jackson's overall worldwide record sales exceed the 1 billion threshold. During his extraordinary career, Michael Jackson released 13 No.1 singles and became one of only a handful of artists to be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Guinness Book of World Records recognized Jackson as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time and Thriller as the World's Top-Selling Album of All Time. His artistry, choreography and music continue to inspire generations of pop, soul, R&B and hip-hop artists and fans.
Executives from Sony Music Entertainment and the Estate ofMichael Jacksonwere inLos Angelesin a special plaque presentation honoring the most recent RIAA Gold & Platinum Program milestones achieved byThrillerandBad. Featured in the photo left to right are: Doug Morris(Chief Executive Officer, Sony Music),Rob Stringer(Chairman & CEO, Columbia Records),John Branca(Co-Executor of the Estate ofMichael Jackson),Richard Story(President, Commercial Music Group), Antonio "L.A." Reid (Chairman & CEO, Epic Records), andKaren Langford(Estate ofMichael Jackson).
About Thriller Michael Jackson's masterpiece Thriller, produced by Quincy Jones (and co-produced by Michael Jackson on his own songs), won a record setting 8 Grammys, more than any album ever, and has been earning awards and setting new standards of success since its release on November 30, 1982. Thriller spent nearly 2 -1/2 years on the Billboard album chart and holds a modern day record of 37 weeks at #1. It was the first album in history to spend each of its first 80 weeks in the album chart's Top 10, a feat only reached by one other album in the more than three decades since. During its 112th week on Billboard's album chart, it became the first title ever to be certified RIAA 20x Diamond (October 30, 1984) and RIAA 30x Diamond (December 16, 2015). Worldwide, Thriller went to #1 in practically every country in the world, including the UK, France, Italy, Australia, Denmark, Belgium, South Africa, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and apartheid South Africa.
The importance of Thriller was recognized by Michael Jackson's industry peers at the Grammys. Thriller was nominated in a record breaking 12 categories, and won a history making eight, which stands as the record for most Grammy Awards to be won by any album. Seven of those Grammys that year were awarded to Michael for: Album of the Year; Record of the Year ("Beat It"); Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("Thriller"); Best Pop Vocal Performance ("Thriller"); Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ("Beat It"); Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("Billie Jean"); Best R&B Song ("Billie Jean"). (Michael's eighth Grammy that year was in the Best Recording for Children - Single or Album, Musical or Spoken category for "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" which also gave Michael the record for the most Grammys won by a single artist in one year). That same year, Michael Jackson took home eight American Music Awards and three MTV Video Music Awards.
The following year, "The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller" took home the Best Video Album trophy at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards.
More than just an album, Thriller has remained a global cultural multi-media phenomenon for both the 20th and the 21st centuries, smashing musical barriers and changing the frontiers of pop music forever. The music on Thriller is so dynamic and singular that it defied any definition of rock, pop or soul that had gone before. "Beat It" was a new kind of pop-rock hybrid and demolished the longstanding segregation between black and white music with Eddie Van Halen's incendiary guitar. On "The Girl Is Mine," a black man and a white man bantered about the same girl.
On the same album were songs like the African-rooted "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and the rhythm and blues-based "Billie Jean." No one had ever released an album with such a vast range of material.
"Perhaps Michael's most significant racial trailblazing came with music videos," wrote Joe Vogel in Man in the Music. Fascinated with the fledgling art form, Michael wanted to tell a story and entertain on a grand scale and, in fact, called these masterpieces "short films," not "music videos." Despite the luscious cinematography, dramatic narrative and spectacular choreography of "Billie Jean," a fledgling MTV, which was programming white rock artists almost exclusively, refused to play it. Epic persisted.
Once the wall came crashing down, MTV's ratings soared and a door was opened for a generation of African American artists. "He was MTV's Jackie Robinson," said cultural critic Touré. Next, came the unforgettable short film for "Beat It," which featured Michael bringing two gangs together through the power of music and dance. And then there was "Thriller." Premiered at the AVCO Theatre inLos Angelesin 1983, it sold out every night of its limited run.
No other video before or since has generated such excitement and has such a hold on our attention, such that more than 30 years later we all share it as a collective memory and it remains the only music video to be inducted into the elite National Film Registry by the Library of Congress
About Bad One of the 30 top-selling albums of all-time, Michael Jackson'sBad--the artist's third solo studio collection for Epic Records and the eagerly-awaited successor to Thriller--was released on August 31, 1987, and generated a record setting five consecutive #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, a feat that took 25 years to match, with some of Michael's most iconic tracks.
The BAD album is "a fantastical, thematically eclectic, sonically innovative musical odyssey" and, along with Thriller, was one of the best and most influential pop albums of all time. It was monumental in many ways; Michael wrote nine of the album's eleven tracks and co-produced the entire album with Quincy Jones. The album was #1 around the world, made history with five consecutive #1 singles on the Billboard chart, produced ten chart-topping singles, nine ground breaking short films and to date, the Bad album has generated over 45 Million units in sales around the world. Bad was nominated for six Grammys and won two; the album earned Michael the first-ever Video Vanguard Award at the MTV VMA Awards.
Songs on the original album are: "Bad," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Speed Demon," "Liberian Girl," "Just Good Friends" featuring Stevie Wonder, "Another Part of Me," "Man in the Mirror," "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," "Dirty Diana," "Smooth Criminal," with "Leave Me Alone" added to the CD version of the album once released.
Today's email is rather worrying.... apparently, the British Government is toying with the idea of imprisoning anyone daring exposing abuses of human rights? Wow! Last time I checked, we were still living in a democratic nation. WTF happened? The email is from our friends at 38 Degrees. Feel free to read it and, of course, act accordingly. Thanks in advance. Stay safe! Loup Dargent
The Email: "Dear Loup,
The Government’s legal advisers have revealed plans to lock up people who expose things like human rights abuses. They could face prison sentences of up to 14 years.Under these terrifying new laws, even journalists could face charges just because they were sent certain information. [1]
People who reveal things that some would rather the public didn’t know are called whistleblowers. Often they share things that we need to know, because there are serious consequences if the information is hidden. For example, Nurse Helene Donnelly, who helped expose the situation in Mid Staffs NHS trust. [2]
But draft plans to imprison some whistleblowers for up to 14 years were floated by government advisers late last night. It looks like they’re testing the idea to see whether or not the public would let these scary plans go ahead. And that’s where we come in. A huge public outcry would force the government to reject these plans before they get any further than just a draft.
If you believe that no one should face 14 years in prison for exposing truths that we deserve to know, then please sign the petition. It takes less than a minute:
Without whistleblowers, we would never have known about the revelations in last years “Panama Papers” of politicians and big companies avoiding tax through offshore tax havens, or the state of patient care in some of our hospitals. [3] These people put their jobs on the line to tell us things we should know - but under these plans it’s a lot more than just their jobs that could be at risk.
Human rights groups and senior lawyers have already spoken out against these plans, but it would be easy for the government to dismiss them as the usual suspects. [4] They won’t be able to ignore a huge outcry by hundreds of thousands of us who know we have a right to hear what’s going on behind closed doors.
Let’s force the government to scrap these plans before they’re even properly on the table. Sign the petition now asking the government to reject the idea to imprison whistleblowers or journalists who report on the leaks for up to 14 years.
Use the button below to add your name to the petition today:
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