Tracy L. Bell, Author/Host
The house move to vote on impeaching President Donald Trump as Democrats prepare their historic vote in the Senate.
A young women in New York send her friends, family and the world into a frenzy as her abduction is played out on television, issuing an all-out amber alert, all behind her scam. An abduction she planned with her boyfriend.
An ethics complaint has been filed against a Dallas, Texas judge who hugged former cop Amber Guyger and gave her a Bible following her guilty verdict on Wednesday.
Guyger, who is white, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison for fatally shooting 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean, an unarmed Black man who was relaxing in his own apartment when Guyger barged in.
Judge Tammy Kemp fueled outrage when she embraced Guyger in court and handed her a Bible after Guyger was sentenced on Wednesday, Oct. 2.
The judge’s actions prompted many to question why Black defendants aren’t treated the same way.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed an ethics complaint against the judge with the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct on Thursday.
The FFRF group said Kemp went too far by embracing the former cop in court and praying with her before Guyger was shipped off to prison.
The FFRF called Judge Kemp’s behavior inappropriate and unconstitutional.
After a victim impact statement by Jean’s brother, Brandt Jean, he told Guyger he loved her and embraced her.
Then Kemp embraced Guyger and spoke with her before leaving the courtroom and returning with her personal Bible.
She turned the pages to John 3:16 and told Guyger, “This is where you start.” She continued, saying, “He has a purpose for you,” referring to God.
In the complaint, the FFRF said Judge Kemp, “Handled a difficult trial with grace” but that she “signaled to everyone watching… that she is partial to Christian reform and Christian notions of forgiveness.”
Legal experts have noted that the hug and the Bible could cause a conflict if Guyger files an appeal, which her attorneys have stated she will.
Other legal experts weighed in, saying Kemp’s actions bordered on judicial misconduct.
“I did not see why the judge did what she did,” said C. Victor Lander, a former municipal judge who spent 27 years behind the bench.
“Once there’s an appearance that the judges are not impartial, we lose our entire criminal justice system,” Lander said.
Without much fanfare (totally apropos, given what’s been happening in the world of the White House in the last 72 hours), President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that will force recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, Medicaid and low-income housing subsidies to find work or lose their assistance.
Trump quietly signed the long-anticipated order, oddly named “Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility.” Given that many government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, have already begun issuing waivers to Republican governors who want to impose stricter work requirements on Medicaid recipients to cut costs, it will not make much of an impact, according to the New York Times.
The fact remains that most able-bodied adults who receive federal aid in the form of subsidized health care or housing already work—but are still unable to make ends meet; others receive exemptions for legitimate reasons.
Trump also reportedly wants to change the word “welfare” to include not only cash payments but also food and medical benefits (SNAP and Medicaid).
Or he just doesn’t give AF. And I quote: “Mr. Trump, several aides said, is unconcerned—or perhaps even unaware—of the distinction between cash assistance and other safety-net programs … he calls them all welfare.”
President Trump has no clue of how average Americans live, nor is he privy or empathetic to the everyday challenges of an average family. For those who have been riding the system for years, the president’s goal is to trim the fat, cut the gravy and stop the train.
PARAMUS, N.J. – Former President Bill Clinton will be in Paramus Today.
Clinton will be campaigning for Phil Murphy, the Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor, at a get-out-the-vote rally at the electrician union’s local headquarters.
Last week Former VP Joe Biden stomped the campaign trail as well as former President Barack Obama.
Clinton is slated to speak at 5 p.m. at the IBEW Local 164 headquarters on West Century Road.
Murphy is facing Republican nominee Kim Guadagno, New Jersey’s current lieutenant governor, in the Nov. 7 election.
After nearly nine years in prison, O.J. Simpson was granted his freedom today by four members of the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners and will leave prison on or after Oct. 1.
The Hall of Famer reacted emotionally and with a smile as each of the four delivered their votes on whether he should be freed after serving nearly nine years of a nine-to-33-year sentence for 12 convictions, including kidnapping and armed robbery, stemming from a 2007 sting operation in which he tried to recover sports memorabilia from two collectors.
Simpson said “Thank you” graciously as he stood to return to his cell.
