Current Events
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A fundraiser event for New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo was notable for the high amount of powerful women who attended.
Last Friday (March 7), former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo received a big boost for his mayoral campaign, thanks to a breakfast fundraising event that counted over 250 notable women in different fields in the audience. The fundraiser was held at 425 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Those who wished to attend were required to pay $250 for an individual ticket, with supporters chipping in $2,100 and chairpersons required to pay out $10,000. “Once a small group started talking about this event, it took off. We’re now having to turn people away,” a source close to the organizing group said.
Cuomo spoke to everyone in attendance, according to reports. There was even a surprise appearance by Brooklyn Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, who gave her endorsement of Cuomo for mayor. Her endorsement, along with that of former City Comptroller Carl H. McCall and Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres represents striking early political support from some representing the city’s Black and Brown communities.
The attendees included Cuomo’s family – his mother, Matilda Raffa Cuomo, sister Maria Cuomo Cole, sister-in-law Cristina Greeven Cuomo as well as his daughters Cara, Mariah, and Michaela. Other attendees included Tribeca Enterprises co-founder Jane Rosenthal, Renee Rockefeller, Margie Loeb, Tanya Zuckerbrot, Jen Bayer, Simone Levinson, Judith Hope, Fern Mallis, Jennifer Gilbert, Harriet Schleifer, and former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. Activist Patricia Duff, Serena Roosevelt, Melissa DeRosa, and Second Shift co-founder Jenny Galluzzo rounded out the notable personas in the audience.
Cuomo’s fundraiser marks a significant increase in his public appearances since he declared that he would run in the Democratic primary for mayor last week, reminding people of his achievements as governor. His opponents in the primary, including state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, have attacked him on his having to step down as governor due to numerous allegations of sexual harassment in 2021. A recently released poll from Gotham Polling & Analytics favors a Cuomo win in ranked-choice voting, with him beating out Lander and Mamdani at 51% to 31% and 18%, respectively.
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An activist who was a key organizer of the pro-Palestinian student protest movement at Columbia University was arrested by ICE over the weekend.
The effort to detain and deport student activists by President Donald Trump took a new turn as federal authorities arrested an activist who helped organize pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University. Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at the university until last December, was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last Saturday evening at his university-owned apartment. According to his lawyer, Amy Greer, Kahlil is a legal green card resident of the United States. They also threatened to arrest his wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant.
Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Khalil’s arrest on Sunday night to the press. “Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” she said. “ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio went further in a post on X, formerly Twitter, linking to another article covering the arrest and writing: “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
“We will vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud’s rights in court, and will continue our efforts to right this terrible and inexcusable — and calculated — wrong committed against him,” Greer said in a statement, adding that Khalil’s arrest “follows the U.S. government’s open repression of student activism and political speech.” Greer said that they were unsure of his “precise whereabouts,” stating that they were told that he was being held in an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, but when his wife arrived to visit she was told he wasn’t there. She speculated that he could be as far away as Louisiana.
Khalil had served as a negotiator between students who erected encampments at Columbia and university officials last spring. It made him a target for pro-Israel figures who labeled him as antisemitic, including Columbia University professor Shai Davidal who openly called for him to be deported. The arrest has sparked outrage from several civil liberties groups. Columbia Law School immigrant rights director Elora Mukherjee said that revoking Khalil’s green card with no criminal offense “in retaliation for his public speech, that is prohibited by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” expressing it was a rare situation.
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Republicans in the House of Representatives voted on Thursday (March 6), to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for protesting during President Donald Trump’s address to Congress.
The congressman, who has long opposed Trump, responded to the president’s claim that his election was a “a mandate, like has not been seen in many decades.” Per Blavity, Green stood up, pointed his cane at the president and said, “You have no mandate.”
https://x.com/RepAlGreen/status/1897448534821019858
As previously reported by HipHopWired, the 77-year-old Congressman was chastised by House Speaker Mike Johnson who had him escorted out of the chamber by the Sergeant-at-Arms.
Nearly all Republicans voted to censure Green, one of the strongest forms of disapproval in Congress. Two Republicans voted present and, surprisingly, 10 Democrats sided with Republicans to censure the Texas democrat.
Per Blavity, the defectors were Ami Bera of California, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California, Laura Gillen of New York, Jim Himes of Connecticut, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Tom Suozzi of New York.
Green remains unapologetic. He told the media, “It’s worth it to let people know that there are some of us that are going to stand up against this president’s desire to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security,” he said, per the Washington Post.
https://x.com/ArtCandee/status/1897674378898244031
Numerous pundits and social media users have noted that House Democrats missed an opportunity when they didn’t all walk out of the address after Green was escorted out.
https://x.com/iamchanteezy/status/1897322562235105537
https://x.com/Tanishaevonne/status/1897860057297047576
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We’re only two months into Donald Trump’s second presidency and already it seems like the honeymoon phase for MAGA voters is coming to a painful end, as many of Cheeto Jesus’ cult followers are beginning to regret letting their personal prejudices and grievances influence their choice at the ballot box.
According to Raw Story, many Trump supporters have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to express their regret over their vote for Donald Trump, as the leopard has begun to eat their faces. But Hispanic Trump supporters, in particular, are learning that his deportation policies also extend to them, as they too are now in the crosshairs of ICE.
Last Wednesday (March 5), Jensy Machado found out the hard way that the color of his skin was reason enough for ICE agents to harass him at gunpoint as they assumed that he was an illegal immigrant. Though the man is actually neutralized and living in the United States legally, ICE agents didn’t give him the opportunity to prove that his status in America was kosher before putting him into handcuffs.
Per Raw Story:
“They just got out of the car with the guns in their hands and say, ‘Turn off the car, give me the keys, open the window,’ you know,” Machado said. “Everything was really fast.”
Machado, who showed WRC reporters documentation showing his legal status, said the agents were seeking a man for a deportation order who had given his home address, and Machado said he didn’t know anyone by that man’s name and offered to show his REAL ID-compliant Virginia driver’s license.
“They didn’t ask me for any ID,” Machado said. “I was telling the officer, if I can give him ID, but he said just keep my hands up, not moving. After that, he told me to get out of the car and put the handcuffs on me, and then he went to me and [asked] how did I get into this country and if I was waiting for a court date or if I have any case, and I told him I was an American citizen, and he looked at his other partner like, you know, smiling, like saying, can you believe this guy? Because he asked the other guy, ‘Do you believe him?’”
Luckily for Machado, he was let go after agents finally looked at his drivers license, but the incident left him pondering whether he made the right choice in voting for someone who’s main policies are aimed at making life harder for Brown and Black people living in America.
“I voted for Trump last election but, because I thought it was going to be the things, you know, like … just go against criminals, not every Hispanic-looking, like – that they will assume that we are all illegals,” Machado said, according to Raw Story. “That’s what they’re doing now, they’re just following Hispanic people.”
Many Trump voters are in the “find out” stage after they done “f*cked around,” and they’re not liking it one bit. We on the other hand are low-key enjoying the rude awakening they’re experiencing. Just sayin’.
What do y’all think about this situation? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Source: Arnold Jerocki / Getty / Doechii
Doechii’s preferences regarding dating are no secret, but that didn’t stop straight men from blowing a gasket on social media over the weekend.
During an episode of Hot Ones Versus featuring DJ Miss Milan, the “What It Is” crafter revealed that her biggest red flag was heterosexual men when asked what some of her dealbreakers were.
“Is it being on the DL?” Milan first asked. The rapper also touched on this situation in her latest album, Denial Is A River. Doecii responded “You’re on the right track,” urging her DJ to take another guess, leading to her saying “Bad music taste?” which the rapper admitted “That is a good one, but that’s not what I put.”
She finally flipped over her board, revealing her answer as “A straight man.”
“You know what’s so crazy? I was going to say men,” Milan said as the two laughed.
https://x.com/Glock_Topickz/status/1898100042839314548
For many, Doechii’s joke isn’t shocking because she has been quite open about her bisexuality. On the song “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake,” the Swamp Princess rapped, “I think I like girls, but I think I like men/ Doechii is a d**k, I never fit in.”
Still that didn’t stop straight men from losing their collective sh*t over the rapper’s personal preference.
“And this is where my Doechii train stops at. Good luck out there,” one person wrote in response to a Glock Topickz post sharing the now viral clip.
Another hater used the moment to talk about Doechii’s looks, “That her preference & that’s cool. But can I finally say this bitch is ugly as HELL without getting backlash for it???”
Though they are wrong, because Doechii is far from ugly, allow us to present some evidence.
But with all the bellyaching from sensitive straight men and “pick me’s” there are plenty of people defending Doechii as well.
“They could NEVER make me hate you Doechii. How is straight women not wanting to date queer men okay for y’all but queer women not wanting to date straight men isn’t? Let’s unpack that rq. Yall mad about nothing,” one user on X, formerly Twitter wrote.
Another Doechii defender added, “If you’ve ever been with an openly bi sexual / pan sexual man you know EXACTLY why a straight man is a red flag for a QUEER woman. From the spaces she hangs to the community she builds.”
Basically, folks are losing their minds over absolutely nothing.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
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President Donald Trump is facing questions after walking back threatened tariffs on Mexico & Canada for the second time.
On Thursday (March 6), President Donald Trump reversed course and postponed tariffs of 25% of goods that he levied against Mexico and Canada on Tuesday (March 4) for the second time, leading many to question his process. He stated that they would be postponed until April 2. Trump had bragged about the tariffs at his State of The Union address then, claiming they would lead the U.S. to success. “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening, and it will happen rather quickly. There’ll be a little disturbance. We’re okay with that. It won’t be much,” he said at the time.
Canada, Mexico, and China immediately responded with their retaliatory tariffs, which sent the stock market tumbling on Wednesday (March 5)with the Dow falling 1,300 points in response to consumer concerns stateside about rising prices. On Thursday, Trump spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who said afterward in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that they “had an excellent and respectful call in which we agreed that our work and collaboration have yielded unprecedented results.” Hours later, Trump signed an executive order granting the same postponement to Canada.
Commerce Secretary Harold Lutnick mentioned the possibility of tariff postponements in a CNBC interview, stating that it would cover all goods. “ I think it’s likely that it will cover all USMCA-compliant goods and services,” he said. The USMCA refers to the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that was signed in 2018, and enforced beginning in 2020. Initially, Trump was seeking to relieve tariffs on automakers, no doubt in response to a Fox News segment where an auto dealer explained that the immediate effect of the tariffs would add $20,000 to the price of a car on the lot.
Trump’s backpedaling didn’t come without criticism. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blasted him in a press conference on Tuesday. “Today the United States launched a trade war against Canada, their closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time, they are talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying, murderous dictator. Make that make sense,” he said. China was more direct, expressing that they would “resolutely counter” all tariffs placed on their goods.
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Source: Robert Smith / Getty / Megan Thee Stallion
The hotties were not feeling an interview featuring their favorite hot girl, Megan Thee Stallion, conducted on the Vanity Fair Oscars after party red carpet.
Megan Thee Stallion had tongues on the floor thanks to her Vanity Fair Oscars after-party look, while comedian Hannah Berner and her Giggly Squad podcast co-host, Paige DeSorbo, who the magazine hired to conduct interviews on the red carpet, and many people feel they did a horrible job, specifically, Berner.
Fans on TikTok have been taking Hanner Berner to task for what they deemed an interview with racist microaggressions. The interview began harmlessly with the two women fawning over the Houston rapper. DeSorbo admitted that she started her day listening to a little bit of Megan Thee Stallion’s music.
Berner made things awkward when she said, “Your music has literally made me … when I want to fight someone, I listen to your music.”
The “Savage” rapper reeled Berner telling her “You want to throw that fighting shit out the window. You want to get cute and be a bad bitch,” quickly shutting down the notion that her music perpuates violence.
“When people are talking shit, I go, ‘Turn on Megan Thee Stallion!’” Berner continued.
Quickly trying to pivot during the interview, Megan Thee Stallion replied, “Body-ody-ody, I look beautiful, I look so great.”
Megan Thee Stallion has been trying to move forward with her life and career after rapper Tory Lanez was found guilty of shooting her in 2020.
The Vanity Fair Oscars Party red carpet is the last place she thought she would be revisiting those moments, but thanks to Berner, she did.
“I know, because I watched your documentary,” Berner told Thee Stallion “you’ve been through so many dark things. How do you get yourself up and inspire people?”
“I just look in the mirror, and I be like, ‘Damn, you that girl. Right? Yeah, you are that girl! So, go outside and act like you that girl!’ And that’s how I tackle my day,” the rapper replied.
Megan Thee Stallion responded gracefully but fans were mad for her, and slammed the interview on TikTok.
“This felt so racist. And they didn’t let her finish most her sentences,” one TikTok user said in the comments.
Another TikTok user added, “Very micro aggressive. Megs music isn’t about fighting and the fangirling is a spectacle. Please hire real interviewers that know how to talk to black women as PEOPLE and not characters.”
In response to the backlash, Berner did apologize, saying that she should used another term instead of “fight” calling it “a poor choice of words.”
Megan Thee Stallion has yet to respond to the incident, but it seems folks could care less about the apology and feel Vanity Fair needs to do better when picking people to work red carpets.
You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
1. Required reading
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Rev. Jamal Bryant made a public declaration to boycott Target due to its shift in DEI policies assumed to be in response to the Trump-Harris administration’s stances. Rev. Jamal Bryant is urging that the Target boycott take place for 40 days in conjunction with the holy lenten season period, which began on March 5 and extends into April.
As spotted on Newsweek, Rev. Jamal Bryant, Senior Pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Dekalb County, Ga., joined forces with the Black Chamber of Commerce and OurMoneyUnited.com to launch the Target Fast. A quick scan of the website for the organized boycott effectively explains the aims of the 40-day ban from shopping at the major retail giant.
From Target Fast: (click to learn more)
This Lent, we will begin a corporate fast, starting with Target, as a spiritual act of resistance. Just as Jesus overturned the tables in the temple, challenging the exploitation and hypocrisy of his day, we too must disrupt business as usual. Fasting is not just about what we abstain from—it is about what we embrace. By redirecting our resources toward businesses that uphold justice, we embody our commitment to God’s vision of equity and love in action.
This is a fast for accountability. A fast for justice. A fast for a future where corporations do not bow to pressure at the expense of marginalized communities. As we journey through these 40 days, let us pray, reflect, and act—knowing that our collective sacrifice can bring about transformation.
The company has already faced backlash for its rollback of DEI policies, reporting lower than normal earnings totals since making the announcement. The effort from Bryant and the other organizing bodies could extend toward other entities and will assess data collected during the fast, which will end on April 17.
Participants are asked to use the Voter Wallet tool to find Black businesses to support in place of any retailers named in the economic fast.
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Photo: Anadolu / Getty
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Source: Win McNamee / Getty / Mike Johnson
Like many Americans, MAGA Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s chief of staff got drunk during Donald Trump’s meandering/lie-filled joint address to the nation to get through it, but he made the stupid mistake of getting behind the wheel and getting pinched for drunk driving.
NBC News reports that Hayden Haynes, Speaker Mike Johnson’s chief of staff and one of the most powerful aides on Capitol Hill was arrested for driving under the influence after crashing into a Capitol vehicle.
If you thought Mike Johnson would reprimand or fire Haynes for his dangerous behavior, spoiler alert: of course he’s not.
Per NBC News:
One of the sources told NBC News that a police report indicated that Haynes hit a Capitol vehicle around midnight and was arrested and released with a citation to appear in court. The arrest came after Trump’s speech Tuesday night, when Johnson presided over the House floor and sat just behind the president’s left shoulder.
“A driver backed into a parked vehicle last night around 11:40 p.m.,” the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement to NBC News. “We responded and arrested them for DUI.”
He has served as chief of staff in the speaker’s office since Johnson won the top job in the House in October 2023. Before that, Haynes served as chief of staff to Johnson in his personal office from 2017 to 2023. He also had worked in various roles for former Sen. David Vitter, another Louisiana Republican, from 2009 to 2016.
Asked by NBC News Wednesday whether Johnson was standing by Haynes, he said, “I am. I am.”
We Don’t Expect Haynes To Face Any Serious Consequences Or Lose His Job
According to Crooks & Liars, a first offense for drunk driving in DC “gets an individual up to 180 days in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, driver’s license suspension, enrollment in an alcohol intervention program, and community service.”
We don’t expect Haynes to suffer any consequences for his dangerous behavior because nowadays these people get away with anything, unless you’re a Democrat, then all bets are off.
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Representative Jasmine Crockett had a choice term to describe President Donald Trump’s deference to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
The actions of President Donald Trump since the beginning of his second term in office have cast him as being highly deferential to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. It hasn’t gone unnoticed, and Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett was explicit in her description of the alliance. She was interviewed by Call To Activism’s founder Joe Gallina after Trump’s State of The Union address on Tuesday (March 4), who asked her, “ If you could tell Donald Trump anything tonight, what would you tell him? Crockett paused briefly, then said: “I would tell him to grow a spine and stop being Putin’s ho.”
https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1897088100851192307
“That’s all we got right now, is Putin’s little ho that is out here really doing the bidding of Russia in a way we’ve never seen an American president do,” she continued, referencing Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s disastrous meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky which devolved into a shouting match. Trump accused Zelensky of disrespecting the United States and issued an order to pause funding and the sharing of military intelligence to Ukraine in their fight against Russia.
Crockett also called Trump out for abandoning the nation’s allies. “For those that believe that we should only focus on the United States, this is a focus on the United States,” she said. “We need a president that understands what diplomacy looks like, and it doesn’t look like the disgrace that we saw that took place in the Oval Office.” The Texas representative also called out Trump’s tariff war with Canada and Mexico, telling Gallina that allyship “doesn’t look like s—ting on our allies by telling them we’re going to impose tariffs to the north and the south of us.”
She expressed her sympathy for Canada and Mexico’s decision to impose retaliatory tariffs, noting that Trump needs to work with them. “As people are still complaining about their eggs, now they’re going to have to worry about the rest of their groceries,” she said. “Listen, it is time for him to grow a pair and start to do the work of an American president and stop pretending that he is on some terrible reality TV show that is looking for ratings. I am hoping that America turns off the TV today, and tunes in to people like you, because all he does is look for ratings and we shouldn’t give them the attention.”