Growing up in the then-murder capital of America, Gary, Indiana, local barber turned talk show host Jamie McGrone knows all too well what it means to have to turn tragedy into triumph. Although he grew up in a loving, large family, he understood that nothing would be given to him. He would have to earn it.
McGrone decided to step out on faith and create a platform where other business owners and everyday people could share their stories on how they have survived life’s most damnable moments.
“Living your most incredible life is a choice,” says McGrone.v
We had the pleasure of sitting down and speaking with McGrone.
Please tell us about your new talk show?
I’m so excited about my talk show, That’s Why I’m Here. I created this platform because I wanted to give people the opportunity to come and tell their story of how they turned tragedy into triumph. It was for those who may have never got a chance to be bold and be vocal about life’s traumatic events and to talk about their brokenness in the midst of people who were there for support as well. I saw the need for broken men and women to be restored through life, love, and relationships and I wanted every guest and my viewing audience to get to the greatest part of life.
What is it you want people to take away from being on your show/watching your show?
I want my guests and my viewing audience to be motivated and inspired to do something greater with their lives. I want to touch the hearts of people because at the end of the day, it’s all about living your best life. And you get to define what that is.
What is next for Jamie McGrone for the rest of the 2020?
Well, I’m ending the year with a red carpet premiere for the media world, giving them an opportunity to see what I have created and why television needs this platform. It’s entitled, “The Oscars in November” and I am looking to have a blast. Also, I’ll be filming more episodes for the 2021 season.
What can people expect from you in 2021?
In 2021, I expect my talk show to be well on its way for its introduction to the media world and to be on pace to change the face of television one episode at a time. I expect to help my guests get to their greatest part of life and begin to live life beautiful.
Dr. Jessica Mosley is a serial entrepreneur who loves teaching fellow CEO women how to show up in their truth & power. As Steward Owner of MizCEO Entrepreneurial Media Brand, Sovereign Care Home Care, Sovereign Care Medical Training Center, and Deborah’s Place for Battered Women, Jessica is busy making moves that impact her community & those connected to her.
from Black Enterprise https://ift.tt/34s0sQf
via Gabe's Musing's
There are still safe ways to celebrate and break the stress. Here are some places to find costumes, including adaptable and accesible ones—and DIY advice.
from Wired https://ift.tt/3juvif0
via Gabe's Musing's
“Because you got guns out – I’m not finna move my hands from the steering wheel,” the rapper said.
It is not immediately clear why he was pulled over, but the police officers in the video said that they were told the rapper or people around him, were waiving guns around.
“You just watched somebody beat my car up with a flag – what are you talking about?” said Offset in response.
The Migos star continued arguing with police about his rights when another officer forced him to open his door.
“You’re going to get out of this car right now,” said the officer.
Offset told the officers that he was going to sue them, but they still pulled him out of the car.
Offset and Cardi B attend the UGG 12X12 Sneaker Launch During AW20 Paris Fashion Week Men’s on January 16, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images For UGG)
Offset was also stopped in July 2018 for a traffic violation in Georgia. He was subsequently arrested and faced multiple charges including improper lane change, marijuana possession, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime.
After his 2018 arrest, Offset was released on $17,000 bail. His wife, Cardi B, received gifts from Dior, Louis Vuitton, Saks Fifth Avenue as an apology.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
The Trump-Kusher family sent a letter to the Lincoln Project, with their Attorney, Marc Kasowitz, warning that the ads are “false, malicious and defamatory” — as well as “outrageous and shameful libel.”
The advertisements show a smiling Ivanka next to the number of American deaths due to COVID-19, subtly implying that the Trump-Kushner is not concerned what is happening in the U.S., Huffington Post reported.
The ads also attributed an anonymous quote from Kushner in a September Vanity Fair article. Kushner was critical of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for not doing enough to work with the White House to secure protective gear against the coronavirus, saying, “His people are going to suffer and that’s their problem.”
Jared and Ivanka’s lawyers are threatening to sue @ProjectLincoln for putting up these billboards up in Times Square so please don’t hit that retweet button pic.twitter.com/xm7nHtaOxQ
Portions of the letter written by Kasowitz stated the following: “Ms. Trump smiling and gesturing toward a death count of Americans” and “attribute to Mr. Kushner the statement” that New York residents will “suffer and that’s their problem.”
The Trump-Kushner family has not publicly responded to ads, but the Lincoln Project said the letter was “nuts,” further saying that “their empty threats will not be taken any more seriously than we take Ivanka and Jared. It is unsurprising that an administration that has never had any regard or understanding of our Constitution would try to trample on our First Amendment rights, but we fully intend on making this civics lesson as painful as possible.”
As theGrio previously reported, cases of COVID-19 in New York City area is on the rise, but the Lincoln Project is adamant that a Billboard in Times Square, “ the crossroads of the world,” is the perfect location to remind voters and the American people of the Trump adminstration’s “lack of empathy.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
Mahershala Ali is set to play the main character, Eric Brooks
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV reboot of Blade, the story of a Black vampire slayer, will be getting the same editorial treatment as Black Panther – a mostly Black writing team to tell the story.
President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige took part today in the Walt Disney Studios presentation at Disney’s D23 EXPO 2019 in Anaheim, Calif. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
The Blade TV series, which does not have a scheduled release date on Disney+, will have Black talent writing the film’s script. Like other studios, Marvel Studios wants to diversify its movie production.
2018’s Black Panther is the 12th highest grossing movie in U.S. box offices after making $1.3 billion worldwide and in order to keep up the momentum, Disney is searching for a Black writing team for Blade, The Direct reported.
Information on the TV show is scarce, but as theGrio previously reported, Mahershala Ali is set to play the main character, Eric Brooks.
Marvel Studios is looking for Black writers to hire for their upcoming film, 'Blade'.
— Geeks of Color #BlackLivesMatter (@GeeksOfColor) October 23, 2020
Ali is more than qualified for the role having won two Oscars for his work in Green Book and Moonlight. Ali has also played in countless other roles in movies like Hidden Figures, Alita: Battle Angel and most recently in the third season of HBO’s drama series True Detective.
The original Blade franchise starred Wesley Snipes and was first released in 1998. The movie had two spin-offs, Blade II in 2002 and Blade: Trinity in 2004.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
You're a writer on AI, ML, or various and sundry other data-oriented TLAs, and you'd like to write an article for Data Science Central. Great! This article is for you. Becoming a blogger on DSC is a good way to promote your proficiency in the field, to get the word out about interesting topics, or to gain the respect of your peers.
The mechanics of publishing on Data Science Central are straightforward:
If you are not already a member of DSC, set up an account on Data Science Central or one of its related accounts (we're working on single sign-on, but we're not quite there yet).
Wait for approval (you should receive an email letting you know when we add you to the membership roster.
Once you are a member, log in, then select Home/Add Blog Post from the menu at top.
You can use the WYSIWYG editor for content, or slip into HTML Editor mode. We hope to add support for Markdown and code display blocks early next year, but for now, you're somewhat limited in working with code.
Save your draft with the Save Draft button. When you're ready to publish, select the Publish button.
All content is moderated. This means that if the editor decides not to publish your article, they will not publish your article. If they do, then it will be published, typically within 2-3 days. If you have any questions, please contact the editors (including me).
Data Science Central currently does not pay for content. On the other hand, the platform has more than half a million subscribers, so it is a fantastic place to post for exposure, and we do our best to promote content that we feel is worthwhile.
While the mechanics are important, it's also worth spending some time trying to understand what DSC is looking for in content:
First up: Topics. When DSC was a brand new site, way back in 2012, the term Data Science itself was very novel, and it usually meant people who were able to use a new breed of programming tools (most specifically R, but later Python), to do analytics work, in the wake of the Big Data and Hadoop revolution that was going on at the time. Data Science Central was a cool, pithy name for the site, and as interest in the field grew, so did DSC.
Coming up on a decade later, things have changed. Being a data scientist has overtaken programming as the wish list career topper that all aspiring nerds want to be when they grow up. Machine learning algorithms and convolutional neural networks are increasingly replacing traditional programming for a variety of activities, and data is becoming strategic within organizations rather than simply tactical.
To that end, what we at DSC are looking for are stories about data. This can include data analysis tools and modeling, neural networks and data storage and access strategies, modeling, and knowledge representation. It also includes the strategic uses of data, governance, provenance, quality and protection, visualization and creative data story-telling. We're also expanding into those areas of artificial intelligence that are critical to cognitive computing, knowledge graphs, mathematics, and science. Why? Because data science is as much about science as it is about algorithms. Finally, DSC will focus more on the implications of data transformations on businesses, government, manufacturing, society and the individuals within it.
We're looking for journalism. Some examples:
"How AI is transforming retail",
"Will GPT-3 win the Pulitzer Prize?",
"Data scientists and the political realm",
"Challenges of contact tracing in a post-COVID world",
"Penrose, Tiles and the Nobel Prize".
We're looking for in-depth technical articles -
"How to digitally transform a company",
"AI in the Browser",
"Deep Fakes and the Algorithms That Drive Them",
"Knowledge Graphs for Publishing".
We're looking for case studies
"Point of Failure: When AI Goes Rogue", "
Wrangling Drones",
"What happened to the Self-Driving Car?".
Finally, we're looking for thought leadership -
"Where Do We Go From Here",
"Trolley Ethics",
"Who Really Benefits From AI?".
We're looking for you to put on your teacher's hat, your prognosticator's hat, your analyst's hat, and tell us the about the world that YOU see.
All this being said, it's also worth understanding what we're NOT looking for.
We are not looking for marketing pieces. If your product has an interesting toolset and you can dig into how to work with that toolset to solve complex problems, we might consider it, but we're more likely to send our sales-people to you to talk about ways that we can benefit one another (that's beyond of this editor's paygrade ... thankfully).
We are not yet posting advertisements for jobs (or posting resumes, for that matter). This is not to say we aren't considering doing this, but like everything else, there's complexity in the implementation. If you have questions about either of these, feel free to contact the editors directly, and we can talk. We also have educational promotional products for universities and private institutions.
Similarly, if you have events that you want to promote, talk to the editors. With the pandemic, we're awash in virtual seminars and conference notifications, but they do have value to the community.
We occasionally do webinars and interviews, though in general this is likely to be something that we will handle directly. If you LIKE to interview others, either via video or digital print, please contact the editors.
If you are the author of a book that you'd like to promote in the data science or knowledge engineering space, contact the editors.
Finally, a bit on style - things that will make your editors all tingly with delight, rather than awash in apathy.
We prefer original content. If you have a paper on ArXiv, for instance,write up a story that summarizes the importance of that content, in more readable and less academic terms. If you want to repost elsewhere, you can do so, but we generally do not repost to existing articles not on the site unless they are exceptional, and that's usually at the editor's discretion, not the writer's.
DSC is NOT a peer-reviewed journal. We welcome code and data samples (especially as we migrate to a new platform) but ultimately your audience is going to likely be technically proficient but not necessarily deep experts. As a rule of thumb - write to a tenth-grade audience, not a post-doctoral one.
We LIKE pictures. Diagrams, illustrations, photos, the whole worth a thousand words thing. However, if you do use pictures, make sure you have the rights to them. Our lawyers get unhappy when we have to speak with the other guy's lawyers. While on the current platform it's a bit awkward to do, we would also like to start including a splash graphic at the top of the article, primarily to generate thumbnails.
Also, make sure you upload a good image of yourself when you are making your account.
In general, we prefer articles that run between about 600 and 1800 words.
We're looking for professional writing - concise, easy to read, broken up into clear paragraphs.
Identify your name, your title, and work or school affiliation.
If you can, include a three to six bullet point list (called Data Points) covering the highlights or takeaways for the article itself. If these correspond with section headers, even better, but try to provide to your reader something to make them want to read your article.
In general, DSC editors prefer fewer (or no) links to outside references, especially if they are promotional in nature. We also reserve the right to link to definition content on other TechTarget properties. If you do include links, try to make sure that they open in a separate pane (should be easier to do shortly), and in general such links should only appear at the bottom of the article, rather than inline (think footnotes)
Include a short bio at the bottom of your article. You can link to a personal website or linked in page in the bio.
Articles that are in draft form for longer than three months will be deleted.
If you wish for an editor to review your comment and give you feedback, add an [Editor] tag at the bottom of the article with your questions. This will be deleted once the article is ready for publication.
DSC makes no guarantees that it will publish an article once it has been submitted, though we will attempt to get back to you as quickly as possible about whether the article was accepted or not.
Have fun, be creative, and take a chance. Welcome to Data Science Central.
The second season of Verzuz is set to begin on November 19 at 5pm PT/8pm ET and viewers are invited to watch the epic battle between Atlanta rappers, T.I. and Jeezy, on Instagram or in HD on Apple Music.
T.I. has been campaigning for a spot on Verzuz ever since the Timbaland and Swizz Beatz-created series first began.
After T.I. respectfully declined to go head-to-head with Busta Rhymes, reasoning that the generation gap between him and the New York based artist might be too much, Tip put out a call to Jeezy.
“Everybody keep saying me and Young [Jeezy]. But if Young wanted this smoke, he’d say it. If y’all want it, tell him to say it,” T.I. said on Instagram Live.
Jeezy responded to the “Whatever You Like” rapper by posting a cryptic video message on Instagram in which he didn’t call T.I. by his name, but indirectly let him know he was ready to battle.
“Say, bruh. You done been around the whole world on your campaign. Now you back here,” Jeezy said. “I don’t know what you avoiding me for.” Jeezy then challenged T.I. to “put a date on it.”
Confirming fan’s speculations, T.I. popped up in Jeezy’s comments, writing, “Hmmm. Could this long time constituent of mine be referring to me???”
Later in his own Instagram post, T.I. tagged Jeezy, Swizz and Timbaland, letting them know he’s ready to schedule the face-off ASAP.
Though excited about the upcoming Verzuz battle, fans of both artists aren’t thrilled that the long-awaited match-up is so far off in the future, but admit that greatness is worth waiting for.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
The unnamed officer was fired for ‘multiple policy and procedure violations,’ local police say
An Illinois police officer has been fired for his role in a police shooting in the Chicago suburbs that left a Black man dead and a Black woman hospitalized earlier this week, according to media reports.
The man, Marcellis Stinnette, was a passenger in a car with the woman, Tafara Williams. Williams was in the driver seat when another officer began “investigating an occupied vehicle” in Waukegan, Illinois late night Tuesday, local authorities said. She then “fled” the scene, and the vehicle was later spotted a roughly half mile away by the now-fired officer, CNN reports.
The ex-officer, a Hispanic man who was a five-year veteran of the Waukegan Police Department, was approaching the car when it began to reverse in his direction, prompting the officer to fire his semi-automatic pistol at the car, as reported by CBS News. Waukegan Police Chief Wayne Walles said the officer was “in fear for his safety” when he discharged his weapon, but he was fired for “multiple policy and procedure violations,” violations that were not identified. The officer was initially placed on administrative leave.
Sherrellis Sheria Stinnette, grandmother of Marcellis Stinnette, 19, speaks to the media during a protest rally for Marcellis Stinnette who was killed by Waukegan Police last Tuesday in Waukegan, Ill., Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. (Brian Hill/Daily Herald via AP)
Stinnette, 19, died after being taken to the hospital, while Williams, who is in her 20s, is expected to make a recovery from the gunshot wounds. Williams, who is identified as Stinnette’s girlfriend, made a video statement from the hospital, asking why the officer felt the need to use his firearm on the vehicle.
“I didn’t do nothing wrong,” Williams stated in a video posted by WLS-TV. “I have a license. You didn’t tell me I was under arrest. Why did you just flame up my car like that? Why did you shoot?”
The Illinois State Police has now been brought in to investigate the police shooting, while the family of Stinnette is receiving legal representation from Ben Crump, the attorney who represents the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who were also killed at the hands of police.
“We do not trust the police narrative in this case,” Crump said. “We have seen over and over that the ‘official’ report when police kill Black people is far too often missing or misrepresenting detail.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
The Joe Biden campaign sees Kamala Harris playing a critical role in its efforts to urge Black turnout
ATLANTA (AP) — Democratic vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris made a direct appeal to Black men Friday, defending her record as a prosecutor, blasting President Donald Trump as “racist” and vouching for Joe Biden as a man capable of addressing systemic racism and leading a diverse country.
“I’m not going to tell anybody, including Black men, that they’re supposed to vote for us. We need to earn that vote,” Harris told a roundtable of Black men in one of several stops across Atlanta, the Democratic base of Georgia, an emerging battleground state.
The California senator warned that Trump wants to “turn 20% of Black men in favor of him,” a mark that could tilt a range of battleground states in the South and Upper Midwest to the president. But Harris, the first Black woman on a major party’s national ticket, said Trump’s pitch is rooted in “spinning” and misrepresenting her record and the Democratic ticket’s proposals.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during a campaign event at Morehouse College , Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis)
“Joe Biden has the ability to say the words ‘Black Lives Matter,’ unlike that other fella,” Harris told a group of students from Atlanta’s historically Black college campuses.
Still, Harris faced new questions Friday about her record as a prosecutor. She cast herself as a change agent in a “flawed” structure and promised that a Biden White House would understand that “Black boys and Black men have to be seen through the prism of life” and that “these systems have failed them.”
Her Georgia itinerary — small events with Black audiences, a stop at an iconic Black-owned restaurant near Atlanta’s HBCU campuses and a drive-in rally at Morehouse College, whose alumni include Martin Luther King, Jr. — highlighted how critical the Biden campaign sees Harris in its efforts to urge Black turnout.
“We’re not going to let anyone mess with our right to vote,” she said at Morehouse, calling voting a way “to honor the ancestors.”
The drop-off in Black votes from President Barack Obama’s reelection in 2012 to the 2016 election was a critical factor in Trump managing narrow victories over Democrat Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, a trio of Great Lakes states that gave the president his Electoral College majority. Higher Black turnout also could push North Carolina, Georgia and Florida into the Democratic column.
Harris visited Georgia a day after the final presidential debate, which Trump used to claim that “nobody has done what I’ve done” for Black Americans, “with the exception of Abraham Lincoln — possible exception.” The president blamed Biden for the mass incarceration of “young Black men” via a sweeping 1994 federal crime bill when Biden was a senator representing Delaware.
In this Oct. 1, 2020, file photo, people cast their vote early in Chicago. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Biden touted his support of civil rights measures over the years and said Trump “pours fuel on every single racist fire.” But it was Harris in Atlanta who confronted the issue of race with a personal pitch that neither of the white men at the top of the ballot can muster.
Citing her time as a local district attorney and state attorney general, Harris said she learned that the “war on drugs was, by every measure, a failure, and Black men were hit the hardest.” She said Biden would push to decriminalize marijuana and expunge existing convictions from records — though the former vice president has opposed legalizing it altogether. She promised sweeping programs to expand health care access, capital for small businesses and educational opportunities for struggling communities, all matters aimed at racial disparities.
Among the friendly audiences, though, Atlanta rapper and producer Jermaine Dupri told Harris that “you put a lot of Black brothers away in your past” and asked her to explain her record.
“Yes, I decided to go up the rough side of the mountain, as we say in church,” Harris told him, framing her career choice as a conscious decision to change a “flawed” system from within. She rattled off several efforts, describing a reentry program that she said steered young men arrested or convicted of nonviolent drug offenses into jobs. “They referred to my program as a ‘hug a thug’ program,” she said.
Harris acknowledged she didn’t “change the whole system,” but pushed back on the criticism. “It suggests Black people shouldn’t be prosecutors. … It suggests that you don’t love your community, or you don’t want to reform the system if you decide to go in it.”
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., left, speaks with a supporter at the Busy Bee cafe during a campaign event, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis)
She told the group of Black men that Trump is “spinning” her record and Biden’s to obscure his own priorities on race and ethnicity, from his “birtherism” lies about Obama’s birthplace to his insults of certain political opponents and entire nations.
Trump, Harris said, pushed “the theme that the first Black man to be president of the United States was illegitimately there” and referred “to countries on the continent as ‘shithole’ countries” and “refused to condemn white supremacists.”
At Morehouse, she mused about sometimes being asked whether Trump is racist. “Yes,” Harris said. “It’s not like it’s some random one-off.”
Biden, she added, would be a president “who acknowledges systemic racism, who acknowledges the history of America, and uses that bully pulpit and that microphone in a way that speaks truth … and brings our country together.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
The business is located at 3035 1st Ave. in the heart of the city near the Climate Pledge Arena and famed Space Needle. When it opens its doors on Friday, Oct. 30, it will become Seattle’s first Black-owned dispensary. Kemp’s former teammate, NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton, will join the celebration with a green ribbon-cutting ceremony slated to start at 12:45 p.m. Fifteen minutes later, the store will open to the public.
“I’m looking forward to welcoming Sonics fans on a regular basis, starting with opening day,” said Kemp in a statement.
The opening will feature the unveiling of an art piece on the building’s exterior from well-known local muralist Jeff Jacobson, who also goes by the monikerWeirdo. The 30-by-80-foot mural is rich in color and depicts Kemp playing basketball in his Sonics uniform.
Kemp, who is venturing into the fast-growing cannabis industry for the first time, is partnering with industry veterans Matt Schoenlein and Ramsey Hamide. Schoenlein and Hamide are two of the co-founders of Main Street Marijuana, the top cannabis retailer in Washington state since the company started in 2014. The brand’s three shops have surpassed $150 million in sales and have contributed more than $55 million in excise tax.
“My name is on this company and I have worked hard to bring Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis to fruition,” said Kemp. “I want to provide nothing short of the best selection, customer experience, and prices in Seattle. I have incredible partners in Matt Schoenlein and Ramsey Hamide to make sure we deliver on that promise to our customers, who are our top priority.
“I hope that Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis will be an inspiration for people to get involved with the legal cannabis industry, especially people of color.”
Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. and will offer express order kiosks, online ordering, and curbside pickup. Health and safety measures will include social distancing protocols and mask requirements per state mandates. More information is available by calling (206) 345-0009, at www.KempsCannabis.com, and onFacebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Seattle SuperSonics legend Shawn Kemp is officially opening up his cannabis shop next week. It will become Seattle’s first Black-owned dispensary.
The Reign Man will he joined by former teammate Gary Payton for the grand opening on Oct. 30 at 12:45pm.
