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Kim Kardashian Joins Vice President Harris for a Criminal Justice Roundtable Featuring Formerly Incarcerated Black and Brown Citizens

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Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a roundtable on criminal justice reform on Thursday that included Kim Kardashian and 4 Black and brown individuals who were recently pardoned by President Joe Biden.

The vp invited Kardashian to listen to from former inmates Bobby Lowery, Jesse Mosley, Beverly Robinson and Jason Hernandez, who shared their personal stories of how they turned their law enforcement backgrounds into purpose as entrepreneurs and community leaders.

“I believe very much in the power of redemption,” Harris said within the Roosevelt Room on the White House. “Everyone makes mistakes. For some it may be a crime, but isn’t it a sign of a civil society that we enable people to make a living and give them the support and resources they need to do it?”

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The vp’s convocation marks the ultimate days of Second Chance Month, a holiday that raises awareness of the results of incarceration and promotes the importance of making second-chance opportunities for those that have served their time to re-enter society as contributing residents.

Kardashian, a reality star and longtime criminal justice advocate, said she got here to the White House to listen to from the 4 pardonees about their journeys through the criminal justice system and to learn more about what it could be like helpful” and “amplify” their stories.

“There are a lot of people in your position who could use some inspiration,” the 43-year-old star said. “I’m honored to be here to continue this fight and learn more every day. Every visit. Every administration.”

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Kardashian is not any stranger to the White House. The star has visited President Donald Trump quite a few times to defend prisoners and formerly incarcerated people, including Alice Smith, who was released from prison after serving a life sentence. During Thursday’s remarks, she said her visit to the Trump White House inspired her to go to law school to learn more about how she will help others.

Reality TV star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian speaks during a roundtable discussion on Vice President Kamala Harris’ criminal justice reform within the Roosevelt Room of the White House on April 25, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In her remarks, Harris highlighted actions taken by the Biden-Harris administration to make criminal justice reform more equitable for Americans, especially Black and brown people.

The vp announced the completion of Small Business Administration regulations that will remove most restrictions on loan eligibility based on a person’s criminal history. She also highlighted the administration’s expansion of Pell Grants for people currently in prison.

Sitting next to Haris and Kardashian, Lowery, Mosley, Robinson and Hernandez explained how they first learned about their recent pardon. Everyone spoke with joy, some with tears of their eyes, about what the relief meant for them and their families.

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Mosley, a real estate investor, described the strategy of filling out the paperwork to use for a pardon, saying it “wasn’t a difficult process.” He revealed that he eventually desires to change into a curator. Mosley even suggested to the vp that he help him make his aspirations a reality, to which Harris jokingly said, “I caught what you dropped!”

Robinson, who owns an academic facility that academically prepares children ages 14 months to five years old, said that when she learned her pardon had been approved, she needed to go to the playground to “scream at the top of her lungs.”

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden marked Second Chance Month by announcing pardons for 11 people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes, including 4 who joined Harris on Thursday. Biden also commuted drug-related sentences for five other people.

“Many of these individuals received disproportionately longer sentences than would be possible under current law, policy and practice,” Biden said in a statement. “Individuals who have received clemency have demonstrated their commitment to improving their lives and positively transforming their communities.”

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The president added: “Those who received commutation have shown that they deserve forgiveness and a chance to build a better future for themselves outside prison walls.”

Biden said his clemency actions, including pardons issued in October 2022 and December 2023 for nonviolent marijuana convictions, reflect his “overarching commitment to eliminating racial disparities and improving public safety.”

The president promised to proceed to review clemency requests and “enact reforms in a way that advances equal justice, supports rehabilitation and re-entry, and provides meaningful second chances.”

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks after signing a bill providing $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan within the State Dining Room of the White House, April 24, 2024, in Washington. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist, said the Biden-Harris administration’s criminal justice reform efforts represent a possibility to inform the American public a “good story” because the president and vp run for re-election in November.

Biden and Harris’ historic victory in 2020 followed nationwide Black Lives Matter protests through which as many as 26 million Americans took part in demonstrations calling for police accountability and criminal justice reform following the police-involved deaths of unarmed Black Americans, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

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Since taking office, President Biden has sought to take executive motion on criminal justice reform within the absence of laws from a divided Congress.

“Some of the elements of Biden’s criminal justice reform they would have touted included steps to decriminalize marijuana use and possession, executive orders to reform police procedures like chokeholds, and an attempt to end the use of private federal prisons,” said Payne, the previous staffer campaign for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In the months leading as much as the 2024 presidential election, Payne said Biden and Harris must ensure their message and record on crime reform, in addition to other essential issues essential to Black voters, are “clear and enduring.”

“Cooperation with such a famous messenger as Kim Kardashian will help them in this,” he noted.

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“It’s important to remind voters who’s fighting for whom,” Payne said. “At a time when Donald Trump and his MAGA allies are calling those convicted of January 6 crimes ‘hostages,’ the vice president meeting with someone as prominent as Kim Kardashian to discuss criminal justice reform is a helpful split-screen contrast.”

Payne said Vice President Harris’ Wednesday roundtable also helps her “make a statement” on “an issue of great importance in many communities across the country.”

Kardashian thanked Harris for her “deep commitment to second chances” and also thanked President Biden for “all the commutations and pardons that are taking place.” She said creating pathways to make life easier for formerly incarcerated people, similar to providing access to small business loans, is “life-changing.”

At the tip of the roundtable, the vp admitted that there remain “many aspects of the system that create obstacles and barriers that prevent people from realizing” their dreams and aspirations.

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She added: “We need to help people earn a living and invest in their potential.”

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Politics and Current

Black Democrats who attended Harvard and Candace Owens agree to one thing: the repression of the Trump campus goes too far

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This is a rare moment in American policy, when the ultra-conservative personality of Candace Owens Democrats are on the opposite side of Donald Trump. The political brand of the bonfire publicly condemned the president’s crusade against Harvard University and other university campus; Trump threatened to annul the billions of federal subsidies if the institution disagrees with the list of demands that Harvard described as “going beyond the power of the federal government.”

As Owens put it, Trump’s fight with Harvard – which increased to the federal lawsuit filed by the very wealthy Ivy league – is a struggle for freedom of speech.

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“We cannot allow us to violate our rights. And if you think it will stop at university campus, you have no head,” said Owens, who previously supported President Trump. “So it’s better in this fight Harvard University. You should hope that they will overcome the Trump administration and this absurd definition.”

In his lawsuit, Harvard claims that their rights to the first amendment as a non-public institution are violated by the administration of Trump, who tried to force the university to meet their requirements regarding policies related to the solution to anti -Semitism in campus, in addition to other policies and reforms, corresponding to eliminating diversity, own capital and inclusion in principles, scholarship and honesty.

Apart from the violations of the first amendment, Edwards, a democrat applying for Congress in the 18th Congress District in Texas, said that her attempt to dismantle the Harvard of federal financing, which is used for research to increase innovation in medicine and technology, is especially disturbed.

A former member of the Houston City Council said that aiming administration on Harvard and other university campuses is “effective” and “irresponsible”.

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Everton Blair, a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Graduate School of Education, who also candidates for Congress in the thirteenth Congress District in Georgia, said that he “enjoys” that the institution “will be in a state of himself”.

However, Blair said that he was and remains to be critical of his home parent, because the problem with how they handled campus tensions during the war in gas and other matters – even when he was a student.

“It is a bit interesting that only because it violates their ability to be independently conducted institution, that it recalled this resistance,” said Blair, former chairman of the board of Gwinnett County Board of Education. “They showed me once and again that they have very peculiar cash interests.”

Blair noticed that Harvard, who has over $ 50 billion equipment, has a “privileged position” to find a way to “work fully, even if he loses billions of dollars”, unlike other campuses. He said that he shows that “not all we are simply forced and forced to do things that are bad for people, bad for students (and) for the community.”

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Obama praises Harvard University for the defense of Trump despite the threat of financing USD 2.2 billion

Edwards said that the attacks of the first correction of Trump’s administration on Harvard “cannot be normalized”.

“These are dangerous practices that do not intend to develop us. It must be more than revenge and political punishment. What is happening in our academic institutions affects how tomorrow may be clear tomorrow,” said the candidate for Congress in Texas.

In the future, attacking American universities and universities will affect the “position in the world”, said Edwards, including “what we produce, available talent and information to which we have access”.

She added: “The precedent, which is established along with the Trump administration attack on a higher ED and other institutions that were very significant and valuable in our society … This is something that we have to repel with, because our future depends on this.”

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(Tagstotransate) candia o Owens

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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The federal judge abandons the case of corruption against the mayor of New York Eric Adams – essence

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The federal judge abandons the corruption case against the mayor of New York Eric Adams

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The federal judge dismissed the corruption case against the mayor of New York Eric Adams. The decision of the US District Judge Dale Ho takes place almost two months after the controversial Trump administration, tried to desert the allegations of a democratic mayor.

Judge Ho threw the case “with prejudices”, which permanently prevents Department of Justice From refusal against Adams in the American District Court in Manhattan. In his ruling, the judge criticized the request for dismissal of the case without prejudices, which might allow for future prosecution, CNBC reports.

He expressed concern that such an exemption might be seen as a political opportunity, stating: “Everything here strikes the opportunity: releasing the indictment in exchange for concessions regarding the immigration policy” by Adams.

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He argued that continuing the case could make Adams’ ability to manipulate and cooperate with the immigration policy of President Donald Trump. This attitude led to internal fights inside the TO, which resigned from several prosecutors, including the function of prosecutor Manhattan Danielle Sassoon.

Judge Ho emphasized the unprecedented nature of the reasoning of the state, noting: “The state does not cite any examples, and the court is not able to find any government rejecting the allegations against the selected official, because it would allow an official to facilitate the goals of federal policy.” ​

Adams, who didn’t plead guilty for the allegations, including bribery and fraud, maintained his innocence in all proceedings. After the release, he said: “This matter should never be brought and I did not do anything bad.” ​

The release allows Adams to concentrate on his re -election campaign. He faces pretenders, including the former governor Andrew Cuomo, in its offer for the second term. On Thursday The mayor announced that now it’ll be Start for recurring as an independent candidate.

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“I strongly believe that this city is better served by truly independent leadership, and not leaders pulled by extremists on the left or extreme right, but instead rooted in a common middle, a place where the vast majority of New Yorkers are very planted,” said Adams.

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Susan Rice calls Pete HegeSeth “stupid as rock” in an interview with the podcast

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Susan Rice, Pete Hegseth


Susan Rice, a former national security advisor during the administration of President Barack Obama, was open, discussing what, in response to the Secretary of Defense Pete HegeSeth, as rumors, they spin about his future in Trump’s administration.

According to , During a conversation Thanks to the host “No Lie with BTC” Brian Taylor Cohen, Rice didn’t draw any blows when he described HegeSetha in unflattering categories, discussing some rainfall from the so -called signal controversy.

“Well, if you are a white Christian Cisgender Macho Maga, you can be as stupid as a rock and be considered a qualification to be the secretary of defense. We apparently learned this episode,” said Rice Cohen.

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Rice continued, compiling the Trump’s concentration on combating diversity, equality and inclusion in how hegeSeth is just not eligible in her eyes.

“Dei was used as a suspension to suggest that anyone who is usually a woman is usually a color person, is usually a religious minority, might be disabled … he is usually a veteran of native origin, anyone who has used in any way, shapes or forms that we should always all treat and that we ought to be perceived on the basis of our substances, not discount, because we grow to be a lady or discount, That anyone should treat anyone.

According to Rice, he was a member of the Defense Policy Council until HegeSth allegedly removed the board members after a 45-day review On April 24, but time suggests that HegeSeth actually removed these members after indignant of right -wing influential in social media.

In an interview with Fox News, “Tucker Carlson, a dismissed adviser of HegeSeth, Dan Caldwell, mentioned that the management was currently involved in people who, according to Caldwell, were” extremely hostile “in the order of Donald Trump.

Caldwell called Rice specifically as a source of leaks in the HegeSetha Defense Department, for being blamed himself.

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“She (Rice) and a group of other people who are extremely hostile to the president, and his worldview remain in the Defense Policy Council,” said Caldwell Carlson. “I would just say that if you want to look where the leaks come from, it would be a place where you can start.”

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell suggested in a press release that the changes reflect the values ​​and direction of Trump’s administration.

“Secretary of HegeSeth appreciates the efforts of members on behalf of the Department and the United States of America, but it is necessary to change to support the new strategic direction and political priorities of the department and ensure effective use of departmental resources,” said Parnell.

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(Tagstranslate) National security

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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