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**KING**SOLOMON*S**WISDOM**

**PROVERBS**13**5**
**A**RIGHTEOUS**MAN**
**HATETH**LYING**
**BUT**
**A**WICKED**MAN**
**IS**LOATHSOME**
**AND**
**COMETH**TO**
**SHAME**
**MUCH**LOVE**

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GM recalls 3.4M more cars for ignition problems

Posted: Jun 16, 2014 4:03 PM CST Updated: Jun 16, 2014 9:16 PM CST

By TOM KRISHER
AP Auto WriterDETROIT (AP) – General Motors is recalling another 3 million cars because of a defect that causes a similar problem to one that led to an earlier massive recall of small cars, and is linked to 13 deaths.

MORE

The ignition switches in Chevrolet Impalas, Cadillac Devilles and five other models can slip out of the “run” position if the keychain has too much weight on it and the car is jarred, for example, by hitting a pothole. To fix the problem, GM will revise or replace the key.

Similar to the 2.6 million small cars GM began recalling in February, drivers of the newly recalled models could experience an engine stall, loss of power-assisted steering and brakes, and the air bags may not inflate in a crash. GM says the latest recall involves six injuries and no deaths, and is related to the design of the key. A mechanical defect in the switch is at the heart of the other recall.

GM is in the midst of a companywide safety review, and has now issued 44 recalls this year covering more than 20 million vehicles – nearly 18 million the U.S. The latest recall is likely to spark more questions about GM’s commitment to safety when CEO Mary Barra testifies for the second time before a House panel investigating why it took GM 11 years to recall the small cars.

Barra endured some harsh questions in April, but refused to answer most pending the release of an internal investigation. GM released those results on June 5, blaming a dysfunctional corporate structure and poor decisions by some employees for the crisis. The company also announced plans to establish a fund to compensate the families of those who died, plus those injured in more than 50 crashes.

“This latest recall raises even more questions about just how pervasive safety problems are at GM,” said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, whose oversight panel is investigating GM’s handling of the ignition switch defect.

Internal investigations found that the switches used in small cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion were approved even though they didn’t meet GM specifications. The force required to turn the switches didn’t meet GM’s specifications, meaning the switches can be turned too easily.

The engineer who designed and approved the switches, Ray DeGiorgio, subsequently had the part supplier change the switch, but didn’t properly document the change. That proved to be a roadblock in GM investigations over a number of years.

GM spokesman Alan Adler said that DeGiorgio also worked on the switches in the cars recalled Monday, but those met GM specifications. GM is still reviewing the performance of other switches across its vehicle lineup, Adler said. So more recalls are possible.

GM also raised its expected second-quarter charge for recall expenses to $700 million from an earlier estimate of $400 million. That brings total recall expenses for the year to $2 billion.

The latest recall covers the 2005-2009 Buick Lacrosse, 2006-2014 Chevrolet Impala, 2000 to 2005 Cadillac Deville, 2004-2011 Cadillac DTS, the 2006-2011 Buick Lucerne, the 2004 and 2005 Buick Regal LS and GS, and the Chevy Monte Carlo from the 2006 through 2008 model years.

GM says dealers will add an insert to the car keys to change the hole from a slot to a circle, so the weight of anything attached to the keychain is more evenly balanced. The company says that until the repairs are made, owners should remove everything from their key chains and drive with only the key in the ignition.

GM also is recalling 166,000 different cars and trucks for a series of other problems.

GM has now surpassed its old U.S. full-year recall record of 10.75 million vehicles set in 2004.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D.-Colo., the ranking member of a House committee investigating GM’s small-car recall, said Monday she will ask Barra how she plans to fix GM’s corporate culture. DeGette said Barra has spent her entire career at GM, leading some people to question if she’s the right person to fix the company. “I think you can make that argument both ways. She knows it intimately, so I’m hoping she’ll have some suggestions for us,” DeGette said.

DeGette also questioned why Congress is just now hearing about millions more recalled vehicles when the company knew of additional problems.

Christian Mayes, an analyst for Edward Jones, said the additional recalls give Barra more actions to point to when asked about how she is changing GM.

GM announced the recalls just before the markets closed. Shares rose 43 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $36.06.

When GM announced the earlier ignition switch recalls in stages earlier this year, the shares took a hit. But they have rebounded despite the bad news of additional recalls.

Investors realize that GM has a strong balance sheet and a large cash stockpile, so they see it withstanding the safety problems, said Morningstar analyst David Whiston.

“This is going to cost GM ultimately a number in the billions,” Whiston said. “But it’s a number I think the market is comfortable with, and thus they’re not selling the stock down into the $20s or even back into the high teens like it was in the summer of 2012.”

 

David Koenig in Dallas and Marcy Gordon in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

Mid-South woman fights attacker with umbrella in Walmart parking lot

Posted: Jun 16, 2014 10:02 PM CST Updated: Jun 17, 2014 7:43 AM CST

 
 

A scar is left behind as a reminder of the incident. (Photo Source: WMC Action News 5) A scar is left behind as a reminder of the incident. (Photo Source: WMC Action News 5)

 

Patterson fought off her attacker with an umbrella. (Photo Source: WMC Action News 5) Patterson fought off her attacker with an umbrella. (Photo Source: WMC Action News 5)

 

(Photo Source: SCSO) (Photo Source: SCSO)

MEMPHIS, TN –

(WMC) – One Mid-South woman says she wishes people would stay off their phones when they are driving.

But after her experience in a Walmart parking lot brawl, she does not plan to point it out again.

It became quite the adventure when Gloria Patterson went to Walmart on Winchester Road. She says when she was driving down a lane, Julissa Morales, almost ran into her.

“So I blew my horn at her, and I yelled at her. I said, ‘Get off the phone and pay attention to what you are doing,’ ” said Patterson.

Patterson says she parked and headed into Walmart to exchange her umbrella when Morales looped back around and started calling her names.

Patterson says she kept walking into Walmart when she noticed Morales keying her car. The visible scratches will cost more than $3,000 to repair, according to police.

Patterson ran to her car to make Morales stop. She says Morales kept called her a lot of names and charged at her. Patterson fought back.

“She charged me so I had to hit her with the umbrella. That’s why I was at the store. I was going to exchange my umbrella,” said Patterson. “I had her pinned down … She bit my arm.”

Patterson says during the altercation Morales’ black wig fell off, revealing red hair. According to the victim, Morales made sure to get the wig before leaving.

Patterson says she hopes Morales learned a lesson about driving and talking on a phone.

“I learned a lesson, too. Just to go on,” she said.

Patterson took down the license plate number off of Morales car, and eventually picked her out of a photo line up. There was also a witness to the incident.

Morales is charged with vandalism over $500 and simple assault.

Copyright 2014 WMC Action News 5. All rights reserved. 

Boy On Father’s Day Visit, 5 Others, Die In Fire

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Newark, New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A teenager on a Father’s Day visit to Newark to honor his deceased dad died, along with his mother and four others, when a fast-moving fire ripped through a three-story home early Sunday, authorities and the boy’s grandmother said.

The blaze broke out at the single-family residence about 4 a.m. and soon spread to another home, the Essex County Prosecutor’s office said. Both structures were destroyed.

Iris Sydney, of neighboring Irvington, stood outside the burned-out residence later Sunday, clutching a framed studio portrait of her grandson and his mother. They were supposed to meet her for a Father’s Day service at the Solid Rock church, where his father attended services before he died two years ago in a bicycle accident in Newark, she told The Associated Press. But they never showed up.

When Sydney returned home from church, a sheriff’s deputy was standing at her door and gave her the sad news: 15-year-old Stephan Sydney and his mother, Noreen “Michelle” Johnson, were killed in the fire, along with four others.

Sydney, 77, said the boy and his mother were visiting from Crawford, Georgia, and were staying with Johnson’s relatives at the house, now black and charred, when the fire broke out. The boy had gotten a haircut for church.

“I can’t believe this,” she said. “But I’m telling you: I buried my husband … I bury my son, and now this is my grandchild. I feel it. I feel it in my heart … This is a sad day for the Sydney family. It is.”

Authorities have not determined the cause of the fire but say it doesn’t appear to be suspicious, according to Thomas Fennelly, chief assistant prosecutor. Everyone in the second home managed to escape safely, he said.

All that remained of the home Sunday afternoon was the blackened frame, with piles of twisted furniture and belongings spilling out of the empty sills that once held windows. The white fence around the front of the property was still intact.

Carol Valentine sorted through smoke-damaged photographs and photo albums with charred pages on the sidewalk in front of her fiance’s home, which is next door to the residence where the fire started. Her fiance had been out of town and returned early Sunday to his home, which was already ablaze.

“He’d been delayed on planes for two days. He had gone to a graduation,” she said. “Had he not been delayed, he would have been sleeping, and he probably wouldn’t be alive.”

She said she didn’t know much about the neighbors.

Sydney said both sides of Stephan’s family have ties to the Caribbean. She is a native of Georgetown, Guyana, and Stephan had been scheduled to go with his maternal grandmother on Wednesday to her native Trinidad and Tobago for a month-long visit with family there.

Cheryl Sydney, the teenager’s aunt, was still wearing her white church dress and pearls as she stood across the street from the fire-ravaged house. She described how she admired both her nephew and his mother and listed their good qualities.

“Main thing is that she was a good person, a young, vibrant person,” Cheryl Sydney said. “This is my nephew — young, 15-years-old, artistic, poetry, dancer — did not deserve this.”

Interim Mayor Luis A. Quintana, who went to the fire scene as firefighters worked to control the blaze, said in a statement Sunday: “Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends of our six residents whose lives were taken by this horrific fire.

“As we mourn the loss of these six residents, I ask Newarkers to cherish being with their families today and keep all those affected by this fire in their prayers,” he said.

A small storefront church called Tree of Life Ministries, on the other side of the home where the six died, appeared undamaged. Neighbors gathered outside the home — many in their Sunday church clothes — shaking their heads at the loss of so many lives.

The Rev. Thomas Ellis lives in the neighborhood and stopped by to offer his support.

“For the city of Newark, this is a sad and tragic day,” he said. “The community is hurting.”

He and about 15 others held a prayer vigil Sunday evening.

 

oney, Financial News, money and politics, News

barry

Reported by Liku Zelleke

A new book is titled “Mayor for Life” and it is written by the former Mayor of the District of Columbia, two times over, Marion Barry.

 

In his book, an autobiography, Barry has a lot to say about how his life in politics was openly dogged by institutions like the media and the public, as well as unseen actors behind the scenes whom he claims had even tried to kill him.

A most notable incident during his reign over DC came in 1990 when he was arrested for possession of cocaine and sentenced to six months. He had been caught red-handed after he had smoked crack in a hotel room, in the company of a longtime female friend. What he didn’t know at the time was that he had been under surveillance by the FBI and the “friend” had actually agreed to work with the authorities.

Barry claims that he was targeted, and eventually setup at the hotel, because he had been helping black business owners by giving them city contracts.

“White folks may let you in their country clubs to play golf, invite you out to dinner, take you out to play tennis, but when it comes to dividing up the money, that’s a whole ’nother story. They didn’t want me creating all of these opportunities for black folks. So when the FBI set me up at the Vista [Hotel], they were really trying to kill me. If they killed me, they wouldn’t have to worry about me anymore,” Barry writes in his book.

Of course, some people must have had faith in him, because when he was released from prison, Barry was treated to a hero’s welcome by a huge crowd that was waiting outside to receive him. It didn’t end there; in 1994 he was re-elected as mayor. Even today, he is a member of the Council of the District of Columbia – a position he has held since 2005.

Talking about how he first started smoking cocaine, an experiment that would ultimately lead him to his addiction and time behind bars, he said that a woman introduced him to it after they had been partying at a friend’s house.

“That’s some good shit. You want some?” she said after a couple of trips to the bathroom. “It makes my p—– hot.”

Curious about whether he could feel the same way too, he tried it. After a failed attempt, he finally got it into his system.

“That was my first time ever trying cocaine, and I felt like I had ejaculated. The cocaine was a powerful stimulant that went straight to my penis. What happened next? I had sex with her,” Barry writes.

He was hooked and kept going on the drugs highway until it all ended when he was caught in a hotel room with another woman and went to prison for it.

You will have to read the book to find out more details about the mayor whose slogan was “He may not be perfect, but he’s perfect for D.C.”

Financial Juneteenth lessons from this story:

1)     One of the fastest ways for a great man to destroy his life is through the use of drugs and alcohol.   Millions of black men have lost everything due to a collection of vices, including drugs, sex, alcohol and women.  The best way to stay clear of these problems might be to steer clear of these substances, since they’ve cost people their wealth, their families and their careers.  Even President Barack Obama nearly lost everything due to his desire to experiment with drugs.   He was only saved by careful political calculation and powerful friends who chose to protect him.  There’s no telling how things might have turned out if those same powerful friends had turned against him for not doing what they asked of him once he got into office.

2)     Politics is a dirty game and typically quite corrupt.  Corporate money is everywhere, and there isn’t a huge difference between politicians who get indicted and those who do not.  In many cases, the dividing line is whether or not your political enemies are powerful enough to destroy you.  Barry’s claim that being an outspoken black man may have led others to reveal his weakness is not implausible, since the CIA has been setting up black people for decades, using legitimate weaknesses in order to do so.  This doesn’t mean that he didn’t have a drug problem.  It just means that, when put into a particular light, its easy to convince the world that he is the only politician with a drug problem.  That conclusion would be false.  Many of our most impressive political leaders have skeletons in their closet that will never reach the light of day…until a powerful foe decides to reveal them.

 

america, Financial News, Financial video, money and politics, News

arsenio

by Dr Boyce Watkins

Last year, filmmaker Antoine Fuqua made statements shutting down anyone who somehow believed that Hollywood might be racist.  These remarks may have been made and forgotten by those wo are hellbent on comfortable assimiliation, but I found myself disturbed by what I was hearing.

 

According to Fuqua, the racism in Hollywood is hardly an impediment to one’s ability to receive opportunities: “I wouldn’t use the term racist, as much as I would say the playing field is not even in Hollywood,” he said. “But ultimately, you have to put in the work.  “It’s very easy to cry racism when you’re not qualified to do the work or your work isn’t transcending to where you want it to be. Hollywood is a business and you have to look at it that way.”

In my goal to interpret Antoine’s words in the most positive light, I believe he’s saying that, in order to be successful, one must work as hard as they can, understand the business model of the industry they are in, and ensure that their work fits the needs of existing gatekeepers and the marketplace.

What Antoine may also want to consider, however, is that there are thousands of black actors, actresses and filmmakers who work extremely hard.  In fact, I dare say they work harder than whites in Hollywood, since they know that they have to be twice as good.  However, the opportunities tend to go to white performers, not black ones.  Additionally, the structure of the business model and perception of marketplace needs are driven by a white supremacist model in which the opinion of white guys in Hollywood overrides those of the black community.

In other words, white people get to decide what the marketplace wants, how the business model is going to be structured and who gets those opportunities first.  This is why men like Tyler Perry had to wait for years to get a chance to prove himself, and TD Jakes has complained that Hollywood ignores the massive black church audience.  White supremacy is built and maintained in part because it is a manifestation of the desires and perceptions of those people running the show. White people run Hollywood, so the creative and productive landscape becomes a creation in their own image.

These racially-biased outcomes typically have little to do with deliberate discrimination, but instead, are a function of hundreds of years of white people stealing free black labor to build things that make their children and grandchildren rich.   So, you can have white supremacy even when there isn’t a single racist in the building.  Most of the hard work was done by hundreds of years of shaping our society without much African American input.  Years later, when we are granted our freedom with no reparations for that which was taken from us, we are expected to be able to compete in a world where access to capital is everything, and all of the capital once held by our ancestors lies in the hands of white Americans.   That’s like entering a cooking contest with no cookbook and no access to ingredients or cooking utensils.

With that being said, I did an interview with a brother who had a lot to say about the racism that exists in Hollywood and the music industry.   Leonard Rowe has been a concert promoter for many years, and has a great deal to say about Hollywood discrimination.   Leonard says that black concert promoters are often shut out of the opportunity to promote leading black acts in Hollywood.  He also says that part of the reason that Arsenio Hall was off the air for 20 years is driven in large part by Hall’s defiance and desire to speak on issues that relate to race.

More specifically, Rowe says that it was Arsenio’s desire to interview Louis Farrakhan that led to his demise the first time.  This might seem to suggest that men like Antoine Fuqua are going to be given opportunities because they are more willing to tell the lie of white supremacy.  But we are on the outside of that fence and don’t have to lie in order to feed our children.  It might OK for us to start telling the truth.

Listen to the interview  below, it says a great deal about what’s happening in both concert promotion as well as opportunities in Hollywood.