The blackest group of critics are back with their picks for the best of the best during the 2019 movie season! That’s right, you don’t have to worry about our black excellence not being recognized (you know, since other folks have apparently lost their minds), the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) are…
Last week, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) introduced changes to the eligibility rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—more commonly known as food stamps.
As NBC News reported, current USDA rules require individuals between the ages of 18 to 49 to work a minimum of 20 hours per week for more than three months over a 36-month period to be eligible for food stamps. However, states have the autonomy to waive the federal mandates amid periods of high unemployment.
But as of April 1, 2020, the new SNAP rules would limit states from unilaterally waiving the new standards and only allow such in areas that have an unemployment rate of 6% or higher. As of October 2019, Alaska is the only state that has an unemployment rate slightly above the 6% threshold that is currently holding at 6.2%.
Related: How Allyson Byrd Went From Living on Food Stamps to Running a Profitable Business
The sudden changes to SNAP sparked outrage by community activists, civil rights groups, and media pundits who opined on the alleged impact on underprivileged families and the timing of the announcement ahead of the Christmas and holiday season. But is the outrage a fair assessment and critique?
An objective analysis of the SNAP rule changes revealed that certain demographics between the ages of 18 to 49 will not be impacted. The demographics that would be excluded from the new SNAP eligibility requirements are:
At a mere glance, one can clearly see that seniors, people with children, and the disabled do not fall within the changes to SNAP rules.
According to USDA’s analysis, approximately 2.9 million people receiving food stamps were able-bodied adults without dependents of which 2.1 million were not working. Based on the rule changes and protections, the USDA further estimated that only 688,000 people are in jeopardy of losing food stamps under the rule changes.
But why announce the SNAP changes now ahead of Christmas and Kwanzaa?
Well, there’s no better time than the present. Just last week the November 2019 national employment report revealed that 266,000 jobs were created vs 187,000 estimates by economists, resulting in the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years: 3.5%.
Additionally, the preceding September and October 2019 job reports were revised higher adding 13,000 and 28,000 jobs, respectively. The upward revisions bring the monthly average for the year to 180,000 jobs created.
And there is more good news, the average hourly wages for the working class continued to increase by 3.1% from the last year that also exceeded estimates by economists that were polled by Dow Jones.
The modifications to SNAP encourage able-bodied individuals to find work in the best economy in modern times. Hence, even a cursory review of the American economy and USDA rule changes provide insight worth considering before public opinions are ossified by uninformed hearsay and false perceptions.
For those who think job seekers will have a difficult time finding employment, CBS News reported earlier this year that there are one million more job openings than unemployed workers. According to the November 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment opportunities hold steady at one million more job openings than job seekers. And let’s not forget, there are federal and local government programs that provide job placement assistance.
The well-known truth about work is that it provides dignity and invokes self-discipline, which gradually increases confidence as one gains experience and hones skillsets. And I can tell you from personal experience at an early age that holding down a job, any job, makes it much more possible to land a better job. And there is no better time than now to explore work opportunities to journey down the path of empowerment to live a better life.
By LISA MASCARO and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment Tuesday against President Donald Trump — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — pushing toward historic votes over charges he corrupted the U.S. election process and endangered national security.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, flanked by the chairmen of the impeachment inquiry committees, stood at the Capitol in what she called a “solemn act.” Voting is expected in a matter of days in the Judiciary Committee and by Christmas in the full House.
“He endangers our democracy, he endangers our national security,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the Judiciary chairman announcing the charges before a portrait of George Washington. “Our next election is at risk… That is why we must act now.”
The charges unveiled Tuesday stem from Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to announce investigations of his political rivals as he withheld aid to the country.
Trump tweeted ahead of the announcement that impeaching a president with a record like his would be “sheer Political Madness!”
The outcome, though, appears increasingly set as the House prepares for voting, as it has only three times in history against a U.S. president.
In drafting the articles of impeachment, Pelosi is facing a legal and political challenge of balancing the views of her majority while hitting the Constitution’s bar of “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Some liberal lawmakers wanted more expansive charges encompassing the findings from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Centrist Democrats preferred to keep the impeachment articles more focused on Trump’s actions toward Ukraine. House Democrats have announced two articles of impeachment charging President Donald Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are expected to unveil two articles of impeachment Tuesday against President Donald Trump — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — pushing toward historic votes as the president insists he did “NOTHING” wrong.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said ahead of the morning announcement that Trump tried to “corrupt our upcoming elections” and remains a “threat to our democracy and national security.”
Pelosi said in a tweet that the House was taking next steps to “defend’ the democracy.”
Democratic leaders are laying out next steps after their impeachment inquiry determined Trump put U.S. elections and national security at risk when he asked Ukraine to investigate his rivals, including Democrat Joe Biden, while withholding needed military aid. They say he then tried to obstruct Congress’ investigation.
Trump, meanwhile, insisted he did “NOTHING” wrong and that impeaching a president with a record like his would be “sheer Political Madness!”
Democrats have not public released their plans. Details were shared by multiple people familiar with the discussions but not authorized to discuss them and granted anonymity.
Pelosi declined during an event Monday evening to discuss the articles or the coming announcement. Details were shared by multiple people familiar with the discussions but not authorized to discuss them and granted anonymity.
When asked if she has enough votes to impeach the Republican president, Pelosi leader said she would let House lawmakers vote their conscience.
“On an issue like this, we don’t count the votes. People will just make their voices known on it,” Pelosi said at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council. “I haven’t counted votes, nor will I.”
The outcome, though, appears increasingly set as the House prepares to vote, as it has only three times in history against a U.S. president.
Trump, who has declined to mount a defense in the impeachment proceedings, tweeted Tuesday just as the five Democratic House committee chairmen prepared to make their announcement.
“To Impeach a President who has proven through results, including producing perhaps the strongest economy in our country’s history, to have one of the most successful presidencies ever, and most importantly, who has done NOTHING wrong, is sheer Political Madness! #2020Election,” he wrote on Twitter.
The president also spent part of Monday tweeting against the impeachment proceedings. He and his allies have called the process “absurd.”
Pelosi convened a meeting of the impeachment committee chairmen at her office in the Capitol late Monday following an acrimonious, nearly 10-hour hearing at the Judiciary Committee, which could vote as soon as this week.
“I think there’s a lot of agreement,” Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the Democratic chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee, told reporters as he exited Pelosi’s office. “A lot of us believe that what happened with Ukraine especially is not something we can just close our eyes to.”
At the Judiciary hearing, Democrats said Trump’s push to have Ukraine investigate rival Joe Biden while withholding U.S. military aid ran counter to U.S. policy and benefited Russia as well as himself.
“President Trump’s persistent and continuing effort to coerce a foreign country to help him cheat to win an election is a clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security,” said Dan Goldman, the director of investigations at the House Intelligence Committee, presenting the finding of the panel’s 300-page report of the inquiry.
Republicans rejected not just Goldman’s conclusion of the Ukraine matter; they also questioned his very appearance before the Judiciary panel. In a series of heated exchanges, they said Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, should appear rather than sending his lawyer.
From the White House, Trump tweeted repeatedly, assailing the “Witch Hunt!” and “Do Nothing Democrats.”
In drafting the articles of impeachment, Pelosi is facing a legal and political challenge of balancing the views of her majority while hitting the Constitution’s bar of “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Some liberal lawmakers wanted more expansive charges encompassing the findings from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Centrist Democrats preferred to keep the impeachment articles more focused on Trump’s actions toward Ukraine.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., was blunt as he opened Monday’s hearing, saying, “President Trump put himself before country.”
Trump’s conduct, Nadler said at the end of the daylong hearing, “is clearly impeachable.”
Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the committee, said Democrats are racing to jam impeachment through on a “clock and a calendar” ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
“They can’t get over the fact that Donald Trump is the president of the United States, and they don’t have a candidate that can beat him,” Collins said.
In one testy exchange, Republican attorney Stephen Castor dismissed the transcript of Trump’s crucial call with Ukraine as “eight ambiguous lines” that did not amount to the president seeking a personal political favor.
Democrats argued vigorously that Trump’s meaning could not have been clearer in seeking political dirt on Biden, his possible opponent in the 2020 election.
The Republicans tried numerous times to halt or slow the proceedings, and the hearing was briefly interrupted early on by a protester shouting, “We voted for Donald Trump!” The protester was escorted from the House hearing room by Capitol Police.
The White House is refusing to participate in the impeachment process. Trump and and his allies acknowledge he likely will be impeached in the Democratic-controlled House, but they also expect acquittal next year in the Senate, where Republicans have the majority.
The president was focused instead on Monday’s long-awaited release of the Justice Department report into the 2016 Russia investigation. The inspector general found that the FBI was justified in opening its investigation into ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia and that the FBI did not act with political bias, despite “serious performance failures” up the bureau’s chain of command.
Democrats say Trump abused his power in a July 25 phone call when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a favor in investigating Democrats. That was bribery, they say, since Trump was withholding nearly $400 million in military aid that Ukraine depended on to counter Russian aggression.
Pelosi and Democrats point to what they call a pattern of misconduct by Trump in seeking foreign interference in elections from Mueller’s inquiry of the Russia probe to Ukraine.
In his report, Mueller said he could not determine that Trump’s campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia in the 2016 election. But Mueller said he could not exonerate Trump of obstructing justice in the probe and left it for Congress to determine.
___
Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Laurie Kellman, Matthew Daly and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
The post Democrats unveil 2 articles of impeachment against Trump appeared first on theGrio.
Cardi B and her daughter, Kulture, grace one of four Vogue magazine covers in January – paying tribute to moms and moms-to-be who are also fashion or entertainment icons.
Appearing on the cover in a red Michael Kors polka dot dress and red heels and holding her smiling and adorable baby girl in her lap, Cardi, 27, told Vogue that motherhood has allowed her to “forget about the issues.”
READ MORE: On My Own: Cardi B says nah to a nanny for baby Kulture… for now
“I could shake my ass, I could be the most ratchet-est person ever, I could get into a fight tomorrow, but I’m still a great mom,” Cardi B tells Vogue. “All the time I’m thinking about my kid. I’m shaking my ass, but at the same time I’m doing business, I’m on the phone with my business manager saying, make sure that a percentage of my check goes to my kid’s trust. I give my daughter so much love, and I’m setting her up for a future. I want to tell her that a lot of the shit that I have done in life—no matter what I did, knowing that I wanted to have kids made me go harder to secure a good future for my kids.”
Vogue’s other three January covers feature Stella McCartney with her four kids, Greta Gerwig, and her new infant, and Ashley Graham was photographed holding her baby bump. The covers were shot by famed photographer, Annie Leibovitz.
When discussing the new album she’s working on, Cardi muses that she needs a slow song. Then she reveals how tough it is for her to be vulnerable.
“I need a slow song, a personal song. And those are harder for me — I always need help when it comes to talking about my feelings,” she tells Vogue. “It’s hard for me to be soft, period.”
She also addresses the pressure to create a work that is as big or bigger than her debut album.
“I thought ‘Press’ was fun and it was gangsta, and then because it didn’t perform as good as my other songs, people was like, Oh, she’s a flop; oh, she’s dying out,” Cardi explains. “This whole year has just been a lot for me. I feel like people are just so tired of me winning. I will look for my name on Twitter, and it’s like hate tweets, hate tweets, hate tweets.”
Many of those hate tweets come from women disappointed that she opted to stay with her husband, Offset, after learning that he cheated. Cardi addresses this and explains why she decided to forgive him and reunite.
READ MORE: Cardi B has a blast in Africa: performs two shows, makes it rain naira and gives back in a major way
“When me and my husband got into our issues—you know, he cheated and everything—and I decided to stay with him and work together with him, a lot of people were so mad at me; a lot of women felt disappointed in me,” Cardi explains to Vogue. “But it’s real-life shit. If you love somebody and you stop being with them, and you’re depressed and social media is telling you not to talk to that person because he cheated, you’re not really happy on the inside until you have the conversation. Then, if you get back with them, it’s like, how could you? You let all of us down. People that be in marriages for years, when they say till death do us part, they not talking about little arguments like if you leave the fridge open. That’s including everything.”
Do you, Cardi B. That’s why people love you.
The post Cardi B and daughter, Kulture, grace January cover of Vogue appeared first on theGrio.
