Hundreds of smart devices—including pacemakers—are exposed thanks to a series of vulnerabilities in the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol.
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Thursday, February 20, 2020
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Cryptographic “tag of everything” could protect the supply chain
To combat supply chain counterfeiting, which can cost companies billions of dollars annually, MIT researchers have invented a cryptographic ID tag that’s small enough to fit on virtually any product and verify its authenticity.
A 2018 report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates about $2 trillion worth of counterfeit goods will be sold worldwide in 2020. That’s bad news for consumers and companies that order parts from different sources worldwide to build products.
Counterfeiters tend to use complex routes that include many checkpoints, making it challenging to verifying their origins and authenticity. Consequently, companies can end up with imitation parts. Wireless ID tags are becoming increasingly popular for authenticating assets as they change hands at each checkpoint. But these tags come with various size, cost, energy, and security tradeoffs that limit their potential.
Popular radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, for instance, are too large to fit on tiny objects such as medical and industrial components, automotive parts, or silicon chips. RFID tags also contain no tough security measures. Some tags are built with encryption schemes to protect against cloning and ward off hackers, but they’re large and power hungry. Shrinking the tags means giving up both the antenna package — which enables radio-frequency communication — and the ability to run strong encryption.
In a paper presented yesterday at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), the researchers describe an ID chip that navigates all those tradeoffs. It’s millimeter-sized and runs on relatively low levels of power supplied by photovoltaic diodes. It also transmits data at far ranges, using a power-free “backscatter” technique that operates at a frequency hundreds of times higher than RFIDs. Algorithm optimization techniques also enable the chip to run a popular cryptography scheme that guarantees secure communications using extremely low energy.
“We call it the ‘tag of everything.’ And everything should mean everything,” says co-author Ruonan Han, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and head of the Terahertz Integrated Electronics Group in the Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL). “If I want to track the logistics of, say, a single bolt or tooth implant or silicon chip, current RFID tags don’t enable that. We built a low-cost, tiny chip without packaging, batteries, or other external components, that stores and transmits sensitive data.”
Joining Han on the paper are: graduate students Mohamed I. Ibrahim, Muhammad Ibrahim Wasiq Khan, and Chiraag S. Juvekar; former postdoc associate Wanyeong Jung; former postdoc Rabia Tugce Yazicigil; and Anantha P. Chandrakasan, who is the dean of the MIT School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
System integration
The work began as a means of creating better RFID tags. The team wanted to do away with packaging, which makes the tags bulky and increases manufacturing cost. They also wanted communication in the high terahertz frequency between microwave and infrared radiation — around 100 gigahertz and 10 terahertz — that enables chip integration of an antenna array and wireless communications at greater reader distances. Finally, they wanted cryptographic protocols because RFID tags can be scanned by essentially any reader and transmit their data indiscriminately.
But including all those functions would normally require building a fairly large chip. Instead, the researchers came up with “a pretty big system integration,” Ibrahim says, that enabled putting everything on a monolithic — meaning, not layered — silicon chip that was only about 1.6 square millimeters.
One innovation is an array of small antennas that transmit data back and forth via backscattering between the tag and reader. Backscatter, used commonly in RFID technologies, happens when a tag reflects an input signal back to a reader with slight modulations that correspond to data transmitted. In the researchers’ system, the antennas use some signal splitting and mixing techniques to backscatter signals in the terahertz range. Those signals first connect with the reader and then send data for encryption.
Implemented into the antenna array is a “beam steering” function, where the antennas focus signals toward a reader, making them more efficient, increasing signal strength and range, and reducing interference. This is the first demonstration of beam steering by a backscattering tag, according to the researchers.
Tiny holes in the antennas allow light from the reader to pass through to photodiodes underneath that convert the light into about 1 volt of electricity. That powers up the chip’s processor, which runs the chip’s “elliptic-curve-cryptography” (ECC) scheme. ECC uses a combination of private keys (known only to a user) and public keys (disseminated widely) to keep communications private. In the researchers’ system, the tag uses a private key and a reader’s public key to identify itself only to valid readers. That means any eavesdropper who doesn’t possess the reader’s private key should not be able to identify which tag is part of the protocol by monitoring just the wireless link.
Optimizing the cryptographic code and hardware lets the scheme run on an energy-efficient and small processor, Yazicigil says. “It’s always a tradeoff,” she says. “If you tolerate a higher-power budget and larger size, you can include cryptography. But the challenge is having security in such a small tag with a low-power budget.”
Pushing the limits
Currently, the signal range sits around 5 centimeters, which is considered a far-field range — and allows for convenient use of a portable tag scanner. Next, the researchers hope to “push the limits” of the range even further, Ibrahim says. Eventually, they’d like many of the tags to ping one reader positioned somewhere far away in, say, a receiving room at a supply chain checkpoint. Many assets could then be verified rapidly.
“We think we can have a reader as a central hub that doesn’t have to come close to the tag, and all these chips can beam steer their signals to talk to that one reader,” Ibrahim says.
The researchers also hope to fully power the chip through the terahertz signals themselves, eliminating any need for photodiodes.
The chips are so small, easy to make, and inexpensive that they can also be embedded into larger silicon computer chips, which are especially popular targets for counterfeiting.
“The U.S. semiconductor industry suffered $7 billion to $10 billion in losses annually because of counterfeit chips,” Wasiq Khan says. “Our chip can be seamlessly integrated into other electronic chips for security purposes, so it could have huge impact on industry. Our chips cost a few cents each, but the technology is priceless,” he quipped.
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Why rapper Pop Smoke’s death is a tragedy bigger than music (PICS)
Today a friend asked me, “Who was Pop Smoke and why should we care about him? Rappers die every day.”
And perhaps part of this statement holds true.
While rappers die every day, we should never be so numb that we shirk our shoulders and don’t care when one loses his life. That’s what seems to happen far too often in this fast-paced, social media-driven world.
This is what too much information and not enough information at the same time does to us.
Pop Smoke was an emcee out of Brooklyn, leading the charge for the New York’s incarnation of the Trill movement.
Charismatic. Handsome. Fashionable. As a new rapper on the scene, he seemed to be living the life that many only dreamt about. But as quickly has his star shot up into the sky, it was extinguished by part of the industry few people ever talk about: the shadow dwellers.
The world knew the “Welcome to The Party” chart-topper for his infectious grunts and adlibs. Some associated him with the notorious Brooklyn blended gang, The Woo. But I knew him as Bashar Jackson, one of the young kings of our church.
“That’s Why I Turn To God”
Years before he picked up a flag or a mic, Bashar was a dancer, a singer and a valued member of my faith community. He participated in the sacred arts and the Quiver ministry. Before the Christian Dior swag was his staple… before his voice deepened and his hair grew longer… Bashar was the man-ish tyke struggling to express himself as a warrior in the context of the images of manhood around him.
I first met Bashar when he was in early elementary school. He and my daughter, actress Eden Duncan-Smith (See You Yesterday, Annie) and actor Aubrey Joseph (Cloak and Dagger) were cast members of the church’s answer to the Black Nativity musical, Unto Us.
READ MORE: Rapper Pop Smoke reportedly shot and killed in Los Angeles
Bashar, Aubrey, and Eden were too young join the older kids in the cast (this trio would eventually enjoy success in their careers in pop culture around the same time) and were paired up with other little ones to perform a dance to “Who Would Imagine a King” by Whitney Houston from the Preacher’s Wife soundtrack.
Bashar and Eden were partnered together and located in the back of the performance, which persisted for years, but there was something about them that always beaconed forth.
While some might say it only talent, I believe it was their natural light.
Bashar would share many front-of-stage moments in the church. He also would share some behind the scene heartbreaks in the church. And as time went on, he grew up and found footing in other spaces.
Yet, his imprint on the building for the number of years he and his family spent in our midst was and still is immeasurable. His death is shaking us to our core.
“His death is shaking us to our core.”
Could we have done more to support his spiritual and religious growth? Perhaps. Maybe we could have stopped him from answering the call of the street that is so ever-present in the music that made him famous? I guess.
What we can say is that those early church experiences created a man-child of promise tapping into a gift that touched millions of people all over the world.
I recently heard Pop Smoke talk about Paris in an interview with Angie Martinez. He was so excited and in love with the opportunity to see and do more than his wildest dreams had whispered were possible.
It made me think about “The Barsharettes.” Once, Bashar sang Sam Cooke’s “A Change Gonna Come” during a Maafa Moment and he had the appropriately named shoo wop pop girls backing him up.
He approached the song with a passion that spoke to his man-child soul and it separated him in many ways from boys his age in the church.
Afterward, he and I spoke openly and honestly about what it was like to have such a spirit trapped inside of a world that did not always welcome it. He told me, “That’s why I turn to God.” And we would pray, until eventually he moved and we lost contact.
Lasting Legacy
One young person spoke about Pop Smoke’s passing and compared the pain his generation is feeling as similar to that pang we encountered when The Notorious B.I.G. was murdered. While, at first, I dismissed that thought, I had to admit that maybe this death is that for them. As Nip was this generation’s Tupac.
The similarities are eery. Both were murdered a year apart and both claimed different coasts- one a vet in music but just coming into their shine (Nip/Pac), and the other just dropping their second record and promoting it heavy (Pop/ Big).
READ MORE: New York City street named for rapper Notorious B.I.G.
And so I get why you all are numb. You are numb because TMZ shared the details of his death before they thought to check in with Bashar’s mother. You are numb because this is not the first time that TMZ has looked at Black bodies and commodified them before they honored them. You are numb because we absorb trauma, and we don’t stop to see the soul behind the quick tweet or fading snap chat.
Pop Smoke was a king. Not just a trill rapper. Not the sum of his flaws and shortcomings. Not just another dumb n*gga out there promoting dumb n*gga sh*t.
Pop Smoke was a king, with a bounty of people that loved him like crazy. And he will be missed.
Nicole Duncan-Smith is from West Philadelphia born and raised, and in the playground is where she spent most of her days. Currently, she serves as a and a contributing editor at theGrio and an ordained Reverend at the St. Paul Community Baptist Church, where she lectures on Hip-Hop as a viable love language to teach the Gospel.
The post Why rapper Pop Smoke’s death is a tragedy bigger than music (PICS) appeared first on TheGrio.
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Tyrone D. Smith Jr.: Human Capital Strategist Is Invested In Developing Young Leaders
BE Modern Man: Tyrone D. Smith Jr., Ph.D.
Innovator, future of work enthusiast; 33; Human capital strategist, analytics leader; Board Member, New Leaders Council
Instagram: @dr_tsmith
Having completed my doctoral degree, I’m presently in the field of human capital analytics in a human capital strategist leadership role. I take advantage of people analytics to drive action and insights by leveraging a customer-centric, evidence-based approach to align talent strategy with business strategy. I also link talent with value creation by enabling cutting-edge techniques, modeling and technology, and advanced consulting skills, to drive better business outcomes regarding talent and the future of work.
I’m also an active volunteer involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters with a little brother who I share experiences with and help guide. Additionally, I’m a board member (and former 2018 fellow) for the New Leaders Council in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a fellowship program that helps develop leadership skills in young leaders. It’s amazing to do such work and see the impact and how much it truly helps others.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF IN LIFE?
As a young boy growing up in Miami, at a very young age I began to understand the intrinsic value of the power of giving back to the community and others.
Overall in life, I am most proud of my ability to give back to those around me in order to lift them up as I climb and continue to strive toward excellence. For example, I thoroughly enjoyed watching one of my mentees secure multiple scholarships to help him confidently go for a college education, as well as his first internship to gain some real-world experience. I strongly believe that the impact and power of mentorship can never be overstated. I find it rejuvenating to reach back and help push people forward while helping them realize their full potential. I’m proud to be able to help set another on a path for success. However, I must add, as I only learned of this recently, that I am also proud of being awarded second place for the International Society for Performance Improvement 2019 Distinguished Dissertation Award. It was a complete surprise and an incredible honor for me as a human capital strategist, and I am humbly grateful that others are seeing and celebrating the work I’m passionate about.
HOW HAVE YOU TURNED STRUGGLE INTO SUCCESS?
There’s always an opportunity to change the narrative regardless of your background. For me, my struggle was managing and balancing life as I started my doctoral program, assisted with small academic side assignments, worked a full-time job, and los[ing] my mom. I knew I was doing the doctoral program for myself, but with my mom being the influence in my life and creating a solid foundation for my future, always emphasizing the importance of God, family, and education, I pushed harder through the program as she became my catalyst. I wanted to complete the program for her, too, while never forgetting about my “Why?” for starting the journey. That, along with prayer, perseverance, motivation, and focus helped.
Though I lost her while completing my program, I chose to focus on the positive of that experience rather than the negative. It’s often said that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but what I realized through this is that it’s best to have your own light shine from within you, so that you may light up the present rather than wait on reaching the light at the end. My mother had been my support, motivation, and strength in spirit even when life and this doctoral journey seemed too challenging. I often thought of my her during these challenges, which gave me the courage to push through, as I constantly reminded myself that, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13 [KJV]).
WHO WAS YOUR GREATEST MALE ROLE MODEL AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM HIM?
Although I only had him for a short while in my life, my granddad was my greatest male role model. He was a hardworking man from Georgia. He served in the military, and he always did things that I didn’t see as the norm for people to do at that age. As I became older and had mentors appear in my life, I began to see attributes of him in each of those mentors.
WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?
The best advice I’ve ever been given was by a professor of one of my very first classes at Florida A&M University. She always told our class to “Plan your work and work your plan.” At that time the phrase really didn’t have much meaning to me. However, it was something that somehow stuck with me. Ever since then, everything I did and have done has been in reference back to that quote: I planned my work and worked my plan. I’ve seen dividends pay off from following this advice, including with my work as a human capital strategist. Thus, whenever I come across a challenge, I remind myself of this advice and it has yet to fail me.
HOW ARE YOU PAYING IT FORWARD TO SUPPORT OTHER BLACK MALES?
I pay it forward to support other black males by being involved in various service initiatives. One initiative I started nearly a decade ago at my alma mater, Florida A&M University (FAMU): being on the founding Board of the Collegiate 100 at FAMU. Later, while working my first job after graduating college, I moved to Los Angeles, and I joined a community initiative geared toward helping black males of that city. While on a short assignment in South Africa, I volunteered to help underprivileged males in the community. I have always striven to give back whether through service or speaking opportunities. Most recently, in having moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I joined Big Brothers Big Sisters to continue coaching, mentoring, and facilitating leadership development of young black men.
HOW DO YOU DEFINE MANHOOD?
I associate manhood with strength and courage; the ability to learn from mistakes and take responsibility for one’s actions. It’s a state of being, a mindset, that sets an example to younger men. Be authentic, be consistent and the best king you can be…
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING A BLACK MAN?
What I like most about being a black man is the versatility and how I don’t have to try to be anything or anyone but myself. I like the challenge of the odds being against me, while also being motivated to change the narrative. The challenges and obstacles our ancestors went through give us an incentive to be great in all capacities. I love being a black man, but I especially love being a black man who can be of great influence and inspiration to others.
BE Modern Man is an online and social media campaign designed to celebrate black men making valuable contributions in every profession, industry, community, and area of endeavor. Each year, we solicit nominations in order to select men of color for inclusion in the 100 Black Enterprise Modern Men of Distinction. Our goal is to recognize men who epitomize the BEMM credo “Extraordinary is our normal” in their day-to-day lives, presenting authentic examples of the typical black man rarely seen in mainstream media. The BE Modern Men of Distinction are celebrated annually at Black Men XCEL (www.blackenterprise.com/blackmenxcel/). Click this link to submit a nomination for BE Modern Man: https://www.blackenterprise.com/nominate/. Follow BE Modern Man on Twitter: @bemodernman and Instagram: @be_modernman.
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Boosie Badazz puts Dwyane Wade on blast for support of Zaya’s Gender Change
While Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union were met with a lot of positive feedback regarding their daughter Zaya Wade‘s change of name and the public reveal of her gender identity, many have chimed in negatively with their thoughts.
Boosie Badazz is among those against the family’s decision to support Zaya. Also known as Lil Boosie, the Louisiana-born rapper, the took to Instagram to rant on the matter. ”Don’t cut his f*cking d*ck off!”
READ MORE: Lil Boosie sets the record straight about his alleged fistfight with George Zimmerman
While at the gym on February 18th, Boosie recorded an Instagram video with a number of transphobic comments in response to Zaya’s decision to come out as a transgender girl.
View this post on Instagram
IM GO SAY IT SINCE THIS PUSSY ASS WORLD AINT GO SAY SHIT ‼️U TRIPPIN NIGGA #period
“I gotta say something about this shit, bro. Dwyane Wade, you went too fucking far, dawg,” he said in his IG video. “That is a male. A 12-year-old. At 12, they don’t even know what they next meal is gonna be. They don’t have shit figured out yet. He might meet a woman, anything, at 16 and fall in love with her. But his dick be gone—how he gon’—like, bruh, you going too far, dawg.”
The “Nasty Nasty” rapper criticized Wade for supporting his daughter’s gender identity and warns that the child is too young to make such a drastic decision. The 37-year-old rapper emphasized that while he is willing to accept Zaya may be gay, referring to him as female is not acceptable.
“Like, bruh, for real, if he gon’ be gay, let him be gay,” he stated. “…Don’t—and dress him as a woman, dawg. He’s 12 years old. He’s not up there yet. He hasn’t made his final decisions yet. Don’t cut his fucking dick off, Dwyane Wade, bruh. You fucking trippin’, dawg.”
The Wades have not shared any information about Zaya undergoing gender reassignment surgery, but have however related information about the pronouns Zaya has chosen to identify herself by.
On social media, Boosie sparked a myriad of reactions, both in support and against his transphobic comments on this child. Many of the comments pushing for Boosie to worry about his own eight kids and not Wayne’s daughter.
Boosie said sum real Shit on IG about Dwayne wade 💯 the world 🌎 so crazy & Influenced by the internet they Normalize a lot weird shit
— Corleone 🙇🏾♂️ (@lovegrams11) February 18, 2020
Boosie & anyone agreeing with him is only proving how ignorant y’all are.. Wade hasn’t mentioned anything about a sex change & yet here’s Boosie talking about “don’t cut his dick off..” you can’t even get a sex change until you’re 18.. “what if “he” meets a woman when he 16?” Ok?
— Majesty Ria (@ToriNicksWho) February 18, 2020
Boosie got a lot of nerve speaking on Dwayne Wade’s daughter like he don’t have 20 kids he need to be focused on raising.
— Zaria Linton (@ZariaFknLinton) February 18, 2020
Boosie known for making controversial comments was also called out after releasing the video for his past remarks in 2017 about wanting his then 14-year-old son to receive “some head” from a ”Bad B*tch”.
Boosie is the same man who said he wanted a grown woman to have sex with his fourteen-year-old son.
I think DWade is good in parenting advice from him.
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) February 18, 2020
READ MORE: Dwyane Wade is proud of his child Zaya and wants her to ‘be her best self’
Union and Wade have not taken to social media to respond to Boosie’s rant, but have made prior posts in complete support of their daughter Zaya’s decision.
The post Boosie Badazz puts Dwyane Wade on blast for support of Zaya’s Gender Change appeared first on TheGrio.
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Fueled by Culture is Creating Space for Black Creatives and Entrepreneurs to Connect with Tech Leaders
Former basketball player Marcus Damas is scoring big as an entrepreneur. As the founder of Fueled by Culture, Damas is at the intersection of marketing and culture. In 2016, he launched the “talent-oriented, creative and event production company founded in deep personal relationships with the drivers of today’s attention,” according to the company’s website.
Since then, he and his team have curated countless experiences for celebrities, executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations across various industries.
Last week, Fueled by Culture partnered with Microsoft for Startups for its signature event, Tech & Culture at The Mezzanine featuring star media personality, author, and philanthropist Karen Civil, joined by Andreessen Horowitz executive and tech leader Chris Lyons.
Merging tech and culture is one of the ways that Damas believes black creatives and professionals can become more fluent in technology and other social languages.
Marcus Damas, founder and CEO of Fueled by Culture (Photo Credit: Jamel Martin)
“Our people work in technology. Some are in technology and they don’t even know it. Or, they’re in technology and they don’t have a voice—and they don’t know how to navigate it. So to me, if our people see things under the lens of culture and see things crystal clear.”
Given Fueled by Culture’s success, Microsoft decided to partner with the marketing company to create a networking experience with the goal to get more black professionals into the tech and culture space.
“Microsoft saw the value in bridging technology and culture and they saw us as being the best partner for them,” said Damas.
Tech & Culture
The Mezzanine was full to capacity with standing room only as creatives, entrepreneurs, and techies awaited Lyons and Civil’s conversation. During the event, Civil and Lyons discussed how technology and culture are making significant impacts in their respective industries in a conversation led by Isa Watson, founder and CEO of Squad, a community for connection.
Civil’s ambition and entrepreneurial mindset have set her apart as a businesswoman. And, she says that it all started by being digitally and tech-savvy.
Chris Lyons and Karen Civil (Photo Credit: Jamel Martin)
“The tech digital space is how I started my career. Remember the AOL disk? That was my way of communicating with people outside of my community.”
Civil went from communicating with a pen pal while in high school to leveraging opportunities like meeting her favorite boy band. From there, she began to strategize ways to tell stories and connect with others while getting paid. She now works with movers and shakers in hip-hop, politics, and leaders at major corporations. And as a businesswoman, she is committed to helping her clients and other entrepreneurs understand how technology can help further their business.
And, she is also excited about the efforts to educate young people about tech.
“In the black community, it’s now a conversation that’s being had more. Seeing girls code and Google opening up their doors is exciting. And now, there are new opportunities and new careers,” added Civil.
For Lyons, fueling the culture looks like being able to ignite communities of color economically through his work at Andreessen Horowitz.
“We have the Cultural Leadership Fund, which is a strategic partnership with the world’s greatest cultural leaders. And that’s in the worlds of athletes, entertainers, musicians, and senior-level executives—who are all African American—who are helping to foster what we call shared genius.”
Those leaders are then connected with tech companies to help foster a new level of culture. Lyons also adds that the fund is an innovative way to move businesses forward.
Additionally, through his work, the tech industry is becoming more diverse.
“One hundred percent of the proceeds from our fund with management fees and carry (carried interest) go to a select number of nonprofits that help advance more African Americans into technology. We think that it’s extremely important to be able to identify the talent outside of the traditional ecosystems where Silicon Valley’s pool is coming from and help equip the next generation,” said Lyons.
Connecting through Culture
Watson, the founder of Squad, says that culture is that one thing that is authentic through and through. Therefore, it impacts the way people connect.
“When you’re online, you have all these, like curated types of interactions, and these curated types of ways that you present yourself. But when you’re in person and you’re live, right? I’m the embodiment of your own culture and your ability to embrace it better enables your ability to connect with somebody,” said Watson.
To that point, that is what made the Fueled by Culture event a success. Tech & Culture was a unique networking experience for some of the brightest creatives and entrepreneurs.
“Being an entrepreneur, there is no blueprint to success or to get from A to Z. So, it’s important to gather as much perspective as possible. We want to create an environment where people can pull perspective and apply it as necessary.”
Tech & Culture is an ongoing event series and Damas plans to continue to uplift the community and further the culture.
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LeBron James adds children’s book author to his impressive accolades
LeBron James’ accolades on the court are legendary – three NBA championship rings, four-time MVP, 16 All-Star Game appearances. Now, as a children’s book author, James is making an off-court move that could propel him even further in the hearts and minds of his youngest fans.
READ MORE: Kent State will provide free tuition for eligible students from LeBron James’ I Promise School
HarperCollins Publishers announced a two-book deal with the Los Angeles Laker star starting with an August release of his debut picture book, I PROMISE, to be followed next year by a middle-grade novel, reports Entertainment Weekly.
James, 35, and father of three children, said he was inspired to create a story where every child could see him or herself. The picture book is illustrated by Nina Mata.
“Books have the ability to teach, inspire, and bring people together,” James said in a statement, according to EW. “That’s why these books, and the opportunity to get children and parents reading together, mean so much to me. Most importantly, we wanted to make sure these stories are ones that every single kid can see themselves in. I PROMISE is powerful in that way and I can’t wait for people to read it.”
I PROMISE is described on HarperCollins’ website as “a lively and inspiring picture book that reminds us that tomorrow’s success starts with the promises we make to ourselves and our community today” and “has the power to inspire all children and families to be their best,” reported PEOPLE magazine.
READ MORE: LeBron James and Lakers pay tribute to Kobe Bryant
The book gets its name from James’ I Promise School in Akron, Ohio. The NBA superstar founded the elementary school in 2018, aiming to give a stable learning environment to at-risk kids.
The LeBron James Family Foundation started the I Promise Network in 2011. It has since grown to more than 1,400 Akron students in sixth through 11th grade, who receive mentoring, college and career preparation and family support from the foundation.
The post LeBron James adds children’s book author to his impressive accolades appeared first on TheGrio.
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Kenan Thompson to headline 2020 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Saturday Night Live’s Kenan Thompson and Netflix’s Hasan Minhaj will headline this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April.
Thompson, the long-time SNL comedian, will host the dinner and Minhaj, who can be seen on Netflix’s Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj and was a former Daily Show correspondent, will be the featured entertainer. No word yet on whether President Donald Trump will attend the event. He has broken presidential tradition the past three years and didn’t show up for the affair.
“Kenan and Hasan are two of the most engaged and engaging entertainers in America. I’m thrilled they’ll help us celebrate the role of a free press in our democracy,” Jonathan Karl, president of the White House Correspondents Association and ABC News’ chief White House correspondent, said according to Variety. “We’re looking forward to a lively evening honoring the most important political journalism of the past year.”
Last year, in lieu of the traditional jokes and laughter at the expense of political figures, the White House Correspondents Dinner instead provided guests with a primer on journalism. Historian Ron Chernow discussed journalism’s history and the importance of the First Amendment.
In 2018, comedian Michelle Wolf sparked controversy at the event after she attacked former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
“I think she’s very resourceful, like she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye,” Wolf told the audience about Sanders. “Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies.”
Wolf also went hard at President Trump, his aides, Republicans, Democrats and also the media, which she said let Trump go unchecked too often. “He has helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster and now you are profiting from him,” Wolf said.
READ MORE: Second-time ‘SNL’ host Chance the Rapper brings awareness to Chicago teachers
In 2006, Stephen Colbert headlined the affair and sparked controversy when he delivered a monologue about former President George W. Bush.
“I stand by this man,” Colbert told the audience about Bush. ” I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers, and rubble, and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message: that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound—with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.”
The post Kenan Thompson to headline 2020 White House Correspondents’ Dinner appeared first on TheGrio.
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