Ben Carson forced by court to implement Barack Obama-era rule at HUD
Ben Carson forced by court to implement Barack Obama-era rule at HUD
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January 04, 2018
Mia Love Could Move to the Senate, Alex Wagner Joins The Circus, and Michelle Obama Returns to Canada
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It was all good just a month ago. Stand down JAY-Z and Kanye. Donald Trump and Steve Bannon are the latest broken bromance and it’s getting ugly. In their version of diss tracks (Twitter and book interviews), the two are trading ether. Trump's lawyer has even sent Bannon a cease and desist notice. Journalist Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House is filled with accounts of infighting, insults, and insight into the President’s psyche the past year. The takeaway? The book echoes the thoughts and remarks of “Never Trump” Republicans and Dems that have dogged this administration since the beginning. It’s kind of like the literary version of Love & Hip Hop: the old, white Beltway edition. Except, in this case, the insults matter and the drama carries global consequence. With all the leaked quotes, it seems like everyone at the White House is getting more distrustful of colleagues these days. Citing security concerns, WH Chief of Staff John Kelly has imposed a ban on the use of personal cell phones while at work, starting Friday. This is despite concerns among some staffers that they’ll be cut off from children and other relatives trying to reach them. And, breaking this morning, AG Jeff Session is rescinding the Obama-era policy that had paved the way for legalized marijuana to flourish in states across the country. Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, a bipartisan group of Senators continues to work on a deal for “Dreamers.” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said their plan would include a pathway to citizenship. And Donald Trump is spending the weekend with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) at Camp David to discuss the 2018 legislative agenda. Break out the fake smiles and s’mores. And Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), whose flight from Charleston was canceled, took a tumble trying to snowboard to the Beltway. The House and Senate are out until next week -- and so are we! We’ll be back on Monday! In the meantime, we’re leaving you with this...
  • Congressmen Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) pause POTUS on nukes.
  • Trump dumps controversial voter fraud commission and shifts to pushing voter ID.
  • FCC Chair Ajit Pai cancels appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show.
  • HuffPost’s BlackVoices Editor lands at Blavity as Editor-in-Chief.
  • Native Americans across the country battle at the ballot box.
  • Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) to lead CBC forum on the lack of diversity in Trump judicial nominees.
  • Will Congresswoman Mia Love (R-UT) make a Senate run?
  • Meet the first Asian American to own and publish an LGBT newspaper.
  • CBS News’ Alex Wagner to join The Circus.
  • Essence Magazine is once again Black-owned.
  • EPIX EVP Jocelyn Díaz steps down.
  • Former Mike Pence advisor announces congressional run.
  • Washington City Paper taps José Andrés and Ta-Nehisi Coates.
  • GOP finds that Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is irreplaceable.
  • HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson forced to implement Obama-era rule on housing vouchers.
  • BuzzFeed names Global Women’s Rights Reporter.
  • Michelle Obama heads back to Canada.
Actors Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep with Univisión's Jorge Ramos snapping a selfie last month at the DC screening of The Post.
Keisha Lance Bottoms is sworn in on Sunday as Atlanta's newest Mayor.
After Donald Trump’s my-nuclear-button-is-bigger-than-yours tweet to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, members of Congress have begun calling for action to limit Trump’s abilities to launch a nuclear strike without oversight or congressional approval. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) has been notably outspoken on the issue, tweeting, “Congress needs to pass this Monday — on the first day of votes in 2018 — legislation restricting Trump’s ability to launch a preemptive nuclear strike without authorization.” Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) yesterday tweeted, “#HR669 continues to gain support from Members of Congress who agree that Congress must be a check on @POTUS authority to use nuclear weapons. Is yours one of them? Check here: http://bit.ly/2qm9OuN . #NoFirstUse.” This was in reference to the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act, introduced by Lieu in January 2017 -- which has 73 co-sponsors (including one Republican) -- to prohibit the president from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress. And in October, former Congressman John Conyers had also introduced a bill to stop the president from launching a preemptive strike against North Korea unless he first receives authorization from Congress. That bill had 61 co-sponsors (including two members of the GOP), and more than half of them were members of color. Read more about their efforts here.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Judicial Nominations Working Group, will lead a CBC forum on the lack of diversity and, in some cases, lack of qualifications, of Donald Trump’s nominees for the federal bench. More than 90% of the president’s nominees have been white. By comparison, 72.3% of President Clinton’s nominees were white, as were 86.2% of President George W. Bush’s, and 48.5% of President Obama’s. Experts who will testify and answer questions from CBC members include: Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Vanita Gupta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Todd Cox, Director of Policy, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; and Louis Michael Seidman, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown University Law Center. The forum will take place on Tuesday, January 9th, at 3:30P, in 2253 Rayburn House Office Building. More here.
Michelle Obama is heading to Vancouver in February to speak at a special event, hosted by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. FLOTUS44 will be the keynote speaker on February 15th, at Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre. There has not yet been a topic announced for the engagement, but a spokesperson says the Board of Trade and Obama have shared values surrounding the promotion of women's leadership. When the same group hosted Hillary Clinton in 2014, they say it attracted a sold-out audience of 2,781. Tickets for the public will go on sale January 18th. More here.
Melvin Carter is sworn in on Sunday as Mayor of St. Paul, MN, becoming the first African American Mayor in the city’s history.
The Today show's co-anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb snapping a selfie on Tuesday as they make history as the first female co-anchors of the show.
HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson is being forced by a court to implement a new rule that will give more than 200,000 low-income families in 24 cities significantly improved access to housing in high-income neighborhoods. The rule was crafted by the Obama administration, and a court ordered the Trump administration to enforce it. The policy attempts to resolve a seeming defect in HUD’s housing voucher program: that vouchers are worth the same amount across an entire region. The Intercept breaks it down as such: it means most voucher holders can’t afford to move into wealthier neighborhoods because their subsidy isn’t large enough to cover rent. Landlords in poor neighborhoods can, in turn, price gouge voucher holders, who have nowhere else to go. The new rule requires public housing authorities to alter the way they calculate rent subsidies, effectively making vouchers worth more in affluent areas and less in poorer communities. More here.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is pulling out of his scheduled appearance at the popular Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week, missing the show for the first time in five years and what would have been his first appearance as head of the commission. Pai was slated to appear weeks after his agency scrapped the popular Obama-era net neutrality rules. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), a trade group that hosts the annual convention, did not give a reason for the cancellation. "Unfortunately, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is unable to attend CES 2018,” Gary Shapiro, CTA’s President and CEO, said in a statement. “We look forward to our next opportunity to host a technology policy discussion with him before a public audience." The FCC declined to comment on Pai’s cancellation. More here.
Yale University psychiatry Professor Dr. Bandy X. Lee visited Capitol Hill in December to brief lawmakers concerned with Donald Trump’s mental state, Politico reports. Lee said that the meetings took place December 5th and 6th, and that she met mostly with Democratic lawmakers; she met with one Republican Senator though she declined to name them. Lee is the editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, which includes testimonials from 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts assessing the president’s level of “dangerousness.” Lee said that the lawmakers’ “level of concern about the president’s dangerousness was surprisingly high,” and that she has told them that in her professional opinion, “[h]e’s going to unravel, and we are seeing the signs.” Asked about the Donald Trump’s mental state on Wednesday, WH Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that there is nothing to worry about. Yet, Trump’s most recent tweets, especially his tweets about North Korea, have added fuel to the fiery debate. Lee and two other mental health professionals issued a statement on behalf of the National Coalition of Concerned Mental Health Experts on Wednesday, signed by more than 100 others, that read: “We believe that he is now further unraveling in ways that contribute to his belligerent nuclear threats. ... We urge that those around him, and our elected representatives in general, take urgent steps to restrain his behavior and head off the potential nuclear catastrophe that endangers not only Korea and the United States but all of humankind.” More here.
Commentator Tara Setmayer and her husband Marcelle ringing in the new year in Key West, FL.
Resident Commissioner Congresswoman Jenniffer González (R-PR) last week chilling with her puppy. 
Yesterday, we told you about Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) retiring. All the buzz was around Mitt Romney possibly making a go for the seat. But what about Congresswoman Mia Love (R-UT)? She has the distinction of being the only African American Republican woman in Congress. She has been an outspoken supporter of "Dreamers," and criticized Donald Trump for ending TPS status for Haitians who relocated to the United States after the 2010 earthquake. She introduced the Stop Taxpayer Obligations to Perpetrators of Sexual Harassment (STOP) Act, which would end the practice of making taxpayer-funded payments to settle those cases on behalf of members of Congress. The 42-year-old was born to Haitian parents in Brooklyn. Love was elected Mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah in 2010, and was previously on its city council. She is facing a primary challenger, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, and from a newcomer, Democrat Darlene McDonald. Love said of Hatch’s retirement, “Personally, I will miss his leadership, his guidance and the wonderful friendship he has given me.” More about Love here.
Diego Morales, an advisor to Mike Pence when he was Governor of Indiana, is running for Congress in Indiana’s Fourth Congressional District. Morales migrated to the U.S. from Guatemala, grew up in Indiana, and speaks five languages. He is a U.S. Army veteran and holds an MBA from Purdue University. An avid supporter of Donald Trump, he is running on a multi-front platform focusing on border security, the opioid epidemic, the economy, and helping veterans. He’s currently the Chief Business Development Officer for The Sodrel Holding Companies and an adjunct professor at the Ivy Tech Community College. More about him here.
GOP Thinks Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Is Irreplaceable
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is irreplaceable. Literally. Apparently, the GOP can’t find a viable contender to hold the seat that encompasses Little Havana, most of downtown Miami, and Miami Beach. And, according to reports, some Republicans are ready to write off the race, calling it unwinnable and shift money and attention to contests where they have a better chance. Candidate Bettina Rodríguez-Aguilera received some media attention due to claims she made in a 2009 television interview about being abducted by aliens. Raquel Regalado, a candidate for Miami-Dade Mayor, recently announced she was dropping out of the congressional race. And the remaining GOP candidates -- Bruno Barreiro, Gabe Ferrer, María Peiro, and Gina Sosa-Suárez -- have failed to make a splash. The filing deadline for all candidates is May 4th. The primary is August 28th. More here.
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) meeting last week with Israel Consul General Aviv Ezra to discuss Indian American-Israeli community relations.
CBS News Correspondent Errol Barnett proposing to his fianceé over the holidays. Congrats, guys!
Alex Wagner Will Host Showtime’s The Circus
Showtime announced yesterday that its political documentary series, The Circus, will continue for a third season this spring with CBS News’ Alex Wagner joining John Heilemann and Mark McKinnon at the helm. Wagner replaces Marc Halperin, who was let go after he was accused of sexual harassment by several women. Fans of Wagner on CBS This Morning Saturday and The Atlantic need not despair -- the Brown University grad will still be with both outlets. Wagner, whose mother is a Burmese immigrant, was previously the host of MSNBC’s Emmy-nominated NOW with Alex Wagner and has also worked as a reporter with Huffington Post, as the White House correspondent for Politics Daily, and as the Executive Director of Not On Our Watch, an advocacy and grant-making nonprofit founded by actors George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, and Don Cheadle. Her new book, Futureface: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging, will be released this April. Read more here.
Michael Yamashita has become the first Asian American to both own and publish an LGBT newspaper. He will take over the Bay Area Reporter, a publication he has been involved with for 20 years. The 51-year-old has been the publisher of the paper for four years. He became the majority owner after purchasing shares from two investors. The move ensures the San Francisco publication will remain locally owned and operated by someone from the gay community. Yamashita will also run BAR Media, which formed four years ago as part of the paper’s restructuring. “I believe in the B.A.R. as a community resource in our fight for equal rights and am honored to play a role in keeping it a local institution and connected to San Francisco,” said Yamashita. More here.
Last month, we told you about Lilly Workneh leaving HuffPost BlackVoices as Senior Editor. Well, now we know where she landed -- Blavity. She has been named Editor-in-Chief. She will also lead Blavity’s Shadow and Act website. Workneh previously worked for The Grio, where she was a Lifestyle News Editor. The 2012 University of Georgia graduate issued this statement to readers, “As the first-ever editor-in-chief of Blavity.com and Shadow & Act, I will strive to build these platforms to offer the best Black news and entertainment coverage on the web. As a journalist/ advocate for Black people and our stories, I want to work with writers to provide thorough and credible coverage of issues important to communities of color. As an Ethiopian-American, I want to identify successful ways we can better tell the stories of black people not just in America but in Africa and all over the world.” Congrats, Lilly! More here.
Jocelyn Díaz is leaving Epix, and her exit as EVP of Original Programming comes on the heels of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer naming Michael Wright as President. Díaz joined the Pay-TV service in 2015 from Walt Disney, where she worked as a VP of Production, specializing in the development and production of drama series. Epix launched in 2009 as a joint venture of Viacom, MGM, and Lionsgate, and last year was taken over by MGM as part of a $1 billion deal. No word yet on Díaz’s next move. More here.
Commentator Monique Pressley last month with NEA's Tiffany Loftin.
AP Reporter Errin Whack visiting the Trap House in Atlanta over the holidays.
Recently formed Essence Ventures LLC -- an independent African American-owned company created in 2017 and chaired by entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist Richelieu Dennis -- yesterday announced that it had bought Essence Communications from Time Inc. Essence President Michelle Ebanks will continue at the helm of the company and will also join its board of directors. In addition, the all-Black female executive team of Essence, including Ebanks, will have an equity stake in the business. “This acquisition of ESSENCE represents the beginning of an exciting transformation of our iconic brand as it evolves to serve the needs and interests of multigenerational Black women around the world in an even more elevated and comprehensive way across print, digital, e-commerce and experiential platforms,” said Ebanks. “In addition, it represents a critical recognition, centering and elevation of the Black women running the business from solely a leadership position to a co-ownership position.” Learn more here.
City Paper Taps Ta-Nehisi Coates and José Andrés
DC businessman and philanthropist Mark Ein has purchased the alt-weekly Washington City Paper, just days after its current owner threatened drastic salary cuts. He has formed an alumni group featuring Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jake Tapper, and Kate Boo to help energize the paper. He's also created a "Friends of Washington City Paper" group that includes Chef José Andrés, former DC Mayor Anthony Williams, and other business and civic leaders. More here.
BuzzFeed has named Nishita Jha as their Global Women Rights Reporter. She will be based in Delhi, India. She was previously Features Editor at Scroll.in and has worked as a journalist for a decade in India, including stops at Tehelka Magazine as a Senior Correspondent and at WorldSpace radio’s web journal, The Voice. Her work has also been featured by NYT Live, Elle, The Wire, and The Daily Beast, among others. Nishita went to school at New Delhi’s Sardar Patel Vidyalaya and then studied philosophy at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. She is also a New India Foundation Fellow. Previously, she worked with Lalit Kala Akademi as Chief Coordinator for an international poetry festival. See Jha’s work here.
#TBT in Pics
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley rocking the classic 1980s bangs.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in his high school yearbook pic.
Donald Trump signed an executive order terminating his election fraud commission which included former Ohio Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell. In a statement, WH spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders blamed states’ refusal to turn over data to the special panel. Okay. Trump falsely claimed three million to five million people voted illegally in the election.The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity was created in May. He charged the commission with investigating his own allegations of voter fraud. In June, the commission had sent out letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia seeking information on voters, including names, addresses, birthdates, partial Social Security numbers and voting records. Many states declined the request. Now that the commission has been terminated and Dems have enjoyed sweeping wins in special elections across the country, right on cue -- the president is tweeting about voter ID. “Many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data from the 2016 Election to the Commission On Voter Fraud. They fought hard that the Commission not see their records or methods because they know that many people are voting illegally. System is rigged, must go to Voter I.D.” More here.
Native American Battles at the Ballot Box
There’s an escalating battle over Native American enfranchisement. It comes amid a larger wave of voting rights movements spreading across the country. Court battles playing out over indigenous voting rights have the potential to tip tight races in states with large native populations and to influence matters of national importance. Today, Native Americans are suing over a new voter identification law in North Dakota, where lawyers say there is not a single driver’s license site on a reservation in a state that requires identification to vote. The NYT reports that the outcome of the lawsuit could help to secure or flip the seat of Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND). In the battleground state of Nevada, the Pyramid Lake and Walker River Paiutes won a lawsuit in late 2016 that charged that tribal citizens had to travel as many as 100 miles to vote. And in Alaska, where native people make up a fifth of the population, officials recently rolled out election materials in the Yup’ik, Inupiaq and Gwich’in languages, following federal rulings that found the state had failed to provide materials equivalent to those used by English speakers. Other native voting cases are proceeding or have been recently settled in Arizona, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The NYT has more.
We Stand Corrected
Yesterday, we said that Trump’s judicial nominee, Jill Otake, was the first Japanese American to serve on the Federal Bench. She was not. Shout out to John Trasviña, Dean of the Law School at the University of San Francisco, who promptly emailed us yesterday to point out the error. Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway was the first Japanese American appointed to the federal bench. Thanks, John! We stand corrected.
FOMO
Monday, January 8th, 5:30P: A reception to support Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, candidate for Governor of Maryland. 413 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. RSVP to: halle@hmconsultingdc.com or 202.543.8555.  
Tuesday, January 9th, 3:30P: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Judicial Nominations Working Group, leads a CBC forum on the lack of diversity and, in some cases, lack of qualifications, of Donald Trump’s nominees for the federal bench. 2253 Rayburn HOB.
January 15, 8:30A: The National Action Network sponsors the Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast. Mayflower Hotel, DC. Click here to RSVP.  
February 21 - 23: The NFL, Morehouse College, and the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) host a program in Atlanta to educate athletes on how to develop and implement effective advocacy platforms that positively impact society. Click here for more information
February 22: The Power Rising: Building an Agenda for Black Women summit. Atlanta. Click here for more information and to register.
February 22 - 28: The National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators 15th National Summit. Chicago. Click here for more information and to register.
March 7 - 10: The 2018 Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit. Orlando, FL. Early-bird registration began November 25th. Click here for more information and to register.
April 18 - 21: The National Action Network hosts its annual conference, this year commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Sheraton Times Square, NYC. Click here for more information.
April 19: The University of North Dakota sponsors a conference on the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Standing Rock protests. Click here for more information
June 6 - 9: The Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Summit. Charlotte, NC. More than 1,000 CEOs, investors, and business experts are expected to attend. Click here for more information and to register.
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