Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx took the first step toward wiping more than 1,000 marijuana convictions off the books, appearing at a court hearing Wednesday afternoon to call for the expungement of low-level cannabis convictions.
Cory Booker still sees a “path to victory” although he won’t be on the Democratic debate stage next Thursday.
Booker hasn’t raised enough money through fundraising and hasn’t reached the 4 percent threshold of people backing him in at least four national polls to qualify to participate in the debate, reports the New York Post.
The results of a Quinnipiac University poll on Tuesday reveal that Booker only has 1 percent of voter support. In order to qualify to participate in the debate, Dem candidates must reach either the 4 percent support in four national or 6 percent support in two early-polling state polls. Also, there is a requirement that candidates receive donations from least 200,000 unique donors.
Still, the New Jersey senator said he sees a path forward.
“Today is the deadline for the DNC’s December debate qualifying threshold — and while I may not be on the debate stage next Thursday, thanks to the outpouring of support over the past few weeks, we know there’s a path to victory, and we no longer need the debate stage to get there,” the New Jersey senator tweeted.
Today is the deadline for the DNC’s December debate qualifying threshold—and while I may not be on the debate stage next Thursday, thanks to the outpouring of support over the past few weeks, we know there’s a path to victory, and we no longer need the debate stage to get there.
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) December 12, 2019
Booker then tweeted another message to his supporters, on why he is staying in the race.
“I’m not sticking around for vanity or ego — I’m in this to win it because I believe I’m the best candidate to beat Donald Trump and lead this country to higher ground,” Booker wrote.
I’m not sticking around for vanity or ego—I’m in this to win it because I believe I’m the best candidate to beat Donald Trump and lead this country to higher ground.
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) December 12, 2019
Although Booker is still far behind the fundraising efforts of frontrunners like Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders, he took in more than $6 million in donations this past quarter.
Addisu Demissie, Booker’s campaign manager, said the focus moving forward would be on President Trump’s impeachment.
READ MORE: Cory Booker announces initiative that would provide almost $100 billion to HBCUs
“We will build our entire campaign around that. We don’t really know how long it’s going to be… so we’re staying flexible in that regard,” Demissie said, according to the AP.
The Dec. 19 debate will be hosted by PBS NewsHour and Politico and will take place at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. In addition to Biden, Warren, and Sanders, Andrew Yang, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, and Pete Buttigieg qualified to participate.
The post Cory Booker still sees “path to victory,” despite not qualifying for debate appeared first on theGrio.
The year is winding down and as I take my inventory of goals achieved, abandoned, or rolled over to next year, I’m especially satisfied with one big checked box: I finally did a TEDx Talk.
As someone who does public speaking regularly, you might think the idea of TED was no biggie to me. Just another speech, right? Uh, wrong.
I was deeply intimidated by the idea (1) Because it will live online FOREVER. (2) Because it’s typically LIVE—no notes, no teleprompter. (3) Did I mention … FOREVER? Call me a commitment phobe, but that eternity piece is scary.
Despite my fear, an affiliation with TED offers a sort of seal of approval on your brand, a bit of credibility you can leverage. If you make any part of your living as a speaker, a lack of TED in your life feels akin to a skills gap.
The good news is, the risks are relatively small and if your talk takes off, it could be the most efficient work you’ll ever do. The most successful TED Talk of all time was a lighthearted riff by a British neuroanatomist, on whether schools kill creativity. To date, it’s been viewed 63,284,949 times.
The distinction for the longest standing ovation in TED conference history goes to civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who delivered an 18-minute talk in 2012 about the power of identity. To date, more than 6 million viewers have watched it online and Stevenson has said his nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative received about $1 million from those who attended the live speech alone. It may not have been his goal, but almost eight years later, the video continues to serve as a powerful fundraising vehicle for Stevenson’s work.
My “The Power of Belonging” TEDx Talk goals were simple. (1) I wanted to communicate clearly (2) I wanted to move people to embrace the importance of belonging—because, as corny as it sounds, I believe that if we all thought more, cared more, and worked harder to create a world where everyone feels they belong, everything that most divides and conquers progress on a daily basis would change for the better. (3) I wanted to feel good about it when it was over, a.k.a., I didn’t want to mess up and then be able to revisit my embarrassment, forever.
There are books on how to nail a TED Talk. There are even TED Talks on how to give great TED Talks. They all say pretty much the same thing: Attempt to touch people with something unique that they won’t forget. Breaking that down, there are about eight fail-safe steps:
1. Tap into a topic you’re truly passionate about.
2. There are sermons, lectures, powerpoint presentations, and straight talks. Your goal is to tell a vivid story.
3. No matter how serious the topic, be conversational, casual, chill.
4. Teach something new.
5. Throw in a surprise or two.
6. Make ’em laugh.
7. Be brief (the TED timing sweet spot is 12-18 minutes).
8. Aim for 360-degree authenticity.
I add this trio of tips that were key to me leading up to my TEDx Talk:
1. Over-prepare. Weeks ahead, I knew anxiety was my enemy. It was going to keep me up at night, fretting and sweating until I had my talk written out and was fully satisfied. Whatever mode of preparation works for you, be sure of exactly what you plan to say well ahead. I refined, rehearsed, and memorized every word. Did I rigidly stick to my script? No. But I had it down, and that was key.
2. Phone a friend. TEDx usually assigns a mentor or small group of knowledgeable people—let’s call them TEDdies—who will help you. I gratefully used them and took their advice, but I also leaned on two close, discerning friends of my own. A few times. On the phone and in person. You don’t want to find out in the midst of your big moment that your big joke or reveal is a big, fat fail.
3. What will you wear? TED is notoriously casual and they offer little advice on the matter other than standard broadcast news fashion tips like don’t wear plaid or busy patterns; don’t wear grey or blindingly bright colors. I was so focused on the speech that I honestly didn’t put much thought into my look—and it shows. If my biggest flubs were in the fashion lane, I can live with that. Until next time!
Regina King is having a great year.
In 2019, King won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for If Beale Street Could Talk. She then was selected to direct her first feature film, One Night in Miami. As if that was not enough, she has scored a major buzz in HBO’s Watchmen, where she plays Tulsa police detective Angela Abar, better known as “Sister Night.”
All year long, she has been doing her thing.
READ MORE: Regina King brings four Black icons back together in directorial film debut, ‘One Night in Miami’
Entertainment Weekly interviewed the star about her incredible year and her impressive career – from the early days with cult-classic, Boyz n the Hood, to her voice work on The Boondocks and everything in between. She is it and people are noticing.
King, who has directed for TV episodes on Insecure and This Is Us, was excited at the possibility of getting a big screen directorial debut when her agent called. It was just before the Oscars and King told EW she had just met with producers from One Night in Miami.
The screen version of One Night in Miami is based off of the play by Kemp Powers, a fictional story that’s centered on a very real date – Feb. 25, 1964, the day that Cassius Clay became the World Heavyweight Boxing champion. The play supposes that Clay celebrates his win with friends, Sam Cooke, Malcolm X, and football legend, Jim Brown inside of a segregated hotel in Miami and that after that night, the men vow “a change is gonna come” (of course playing off the legendary song).
“My agent called and said, ‘They’re going to roll with you, they don’t want to see anybody else,’ ” King, 48, told EW. “I can say it now, I was like, ‘If I don’t win the motherf—ing Oscar, that is okay. I’m about to do a film.’ ”
Yaasssss! This confidence and self-love and spice is what we have come to love about King. It’s on full display in Watchmen, from Damon Lindelof.
After acting in The Leftovers, King was already interested in what came next. This is when she received a script from Lindelof.
“[Lindelof] had the script delivered with a lovely note, saying that he sees me as this and would I take this ride with him,” King told EW. “I started reading the pilot and five pages in I was like, ‘Oh, oh, he’s going here? Black Wall Street?’” she says discussing Watchmen’s opening scene showing the 1921 Tulsa massacre. “I had to just sit with that for a second because it had been something that my sister and I, for a long time, had been like, ‘Why hasn’t this story been told?’”
READ MORE: Regina King wins first Oscar for ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’
Balancing all of her projects has kept her busy throughout the year. No… Busy would be the wrong word. It has kept her productive, which would be a better adjective. The work that she has put forth is basically soil, fertile ground for all that is coming next year. And we are here for it.
We never needed Entertainment Weekly to tell us how “bomb” she is. We’ve known since she was Brenda Jenkins in the Black family’s sitcom canon, 227, that she was a force to be reckoned. Dang on shame it has taken the world 35 years to catch up.
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