Politics
Harry Belafonte Slams White House for Doctoring Fake Video of Joe Biden Sleeping
As the 2020 presidential election draws nearer, Donald Trump and his lackeys have becoming increasingly desperate in their attempts to resuscitate his foundering campaign. Trump himself is attempting to make Americans forget about the still ongoing pandemic that has cost 180,000 lives by starting a race war. His Republican operatives, meanwhile, have been circulating manipulated interview clips involving Joe Biden. Yesterday, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise posted a doctored clip of an interview between Biden and an ALS activist, while White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino uploaded a fake clip in which Biden falls asleep during a television interview. The latter clip is actually of a 2011 interview featuring actor/singer Harry Belafonte, who was then 86 years old. Scavino removed...
Supreme Court upholds Kogi governor’s election
File Photo The Supreme Court, on Monday, affirmed the election of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State. The apex court, dismissed an appeal the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Musa Wada, lodged to challenge the outcome of the gubernatorial election that held in the state on November 16, 2019. It upheld the earlier judgement of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which had on July 4, dismissed the case of the PDP and its candidate, and validated the majority decision of the Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal that affirmed governor Bello’s election victory. Though the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Ibrahim Tanko, led the seven-man panel that heard the case of the appellants, the lead judgement was however prepared by Justice Inyang Okoro and r...
IG orders Edo, Ondo CPs to review preparations ahead of elections
The Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the Edo and Ondo states Commissioners of Police (CPs) to rejig preparations ahead of the governorship elections coming up in the states. The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr Frank Mba, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja. He said the order was to accommodate and address the threats and emerging trends as contained in the Election Security Threat Assessment Reports. Mba said the IG gave the order after reviewing the assessment reports submitted by the CPs from Edo and Ondo states ahead of the elections slated for Sept. 19 and Oct. 10 respectively. He said the report had revealed, amongst other indicators: arming and movement of political thugs, use of inciting statements during political campaigns, hi...
Edo guber: APC, REC bicker over ‘rigging plan’
Edo State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini, yesterday, engaged in verbal war as the APC alleged that Governor Godwin Obaseki has engaged the REC to manipulate the September 19 governorship election. Igini immediately fired back, saying the claim was ‘outright fabrication.’ The Chairman, APC Media Campaign Council, John Mayaki, who started the war, had asked the Akwa Ibom REC to explain his presence at Protea Hotel in Benin City where National Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from Abuja were lodged. The INEC Commissioners had met with the Edo REC and members of his team in the state in Benin-City to strategise ahead of the governorship election last week. Mayaki said the APC ha...
Bayelsa Airport: Deputy governor debunks reports, declares N56 billion as total cost
Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has dismissed reports making the rounds that the immediate past administration spent about N100bn for the construction of the state Airport. Describing the claim as “mischievous and evil”, the deputy governor, said contrary to the unfounded reports being bandied about, only N56bn was used in constructing the Airport which is adjudged as one of the best in the country. Senator Ewhrudjakpo disclosed this at the Airport while receiving the Bayelsa-born conjoined twins who were flown back to the state weekend after a successful surgery at the Federal Medical Centre, Yola. He noted with displeasure that, apart from the erroneous figures, some opposition politicians went about spreading and demarketing the state just to score cheap pol...
Jim Gaffigan Goes on Epic Tweetstorm After Watching Trump’s RNC Speech: “RIP Truth”
Countless celebrities have vocalized how much they loathe Donald Trump lately — Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, Neil Young, Dave Grohl, and even the late Frank Sinatra! — but arguably no person has gone from apolitical to attacking the president as quickly as Jim Gaffigan did on Twitter last night. Once the final night of the Republican National Convention concluded with Trump accepting the nomination, Gaffigan commiserated the end of honesty and transparency for our country, writing, “RIP Truth.” “Look Trumpers, I get it,” the comedian tweeted. “As a kid I was a Cubs fan and I know you stick by your team no matter what, but he’s a traitor and a con man who doesn’t care about you. Deep down you know it. I’m sure you enjoy pissing people off, but you know Trump is a liar and ...
Senator Basiru: Senate has no plan to secretly pass social media bill
Senator representing Osun Central and Chairman Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Ajibola Basiru, has said the Red Chamber has no plan to hurriedly pass the controversial Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation and Other Related Matters Bill 2019 into law. An online platform, SaharaReporters, has published that the Senate on its resumption on September 15 has sealed a plot to pass the Bill popularly known as Social Media bill for presidential assent. Sponsored by Senator representing Niger East, Sani Musa, the bill was unanimously rejected at the Senate Public Hearing. Reacting to the report at the weekend, Senator Basiru dismissed it as “false and a lie concocted by the medium to ridicule and tarnish the image of the senate.” The former Attorney General and ...
Leonard Cohen’s Estate Responds to Unauthorized Use of ‘Hallelujah’ at RNC: ‘We Are Exploring Our Legal Options’
Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah” hit found an unlikely — and unauthorized — stage twice at the Republican National Convention finale, and his estate is considering taking legal actions. Two iterations of the song, Tori Kelly‘s recorded cover and Christopher Macchio’s louder, televised operatic rendition, played as President Donald Trump concluded his speech. Fireworks spelling out “TRUMP” and “2020” shot into the sky to Kelly’s version of “Hallelujah,” igniting anger among the late Canadian singer-songwriter’s fans. Kelly responded in a since-deleted tweet, “Seeing messages about my version of ‘Hallelujah’. All I know is neither myself nor my team received a request.” But ...
Leonard Cohen’s Estate Exploring Legal Actions Against RNC Over Unauthorized Use of “Hallelujah”
Leonard Cohen’s estate is exploring “legal options” following the unauthorized use of “Hallelujah” during Thursday night’s Republican National Convention. In a statement, Brian J. Monaco, president and global chief marketing officer of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, said that “on the eve of the finale of the convention, representatives from the Republican National Committee contacted us regarding obtaining permission for a live performance of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. We declined their request.” The RNC nonetheless played two different versions of “Hallelujah” during last convention: a recorded cover by Tori Kelly and a live performance sung by opera singer Christopher Macchio. Michelle L. Rice, the legal representative for the Cohen Estate, said the family was “surprised and dismayed that...
Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron’s Asymmetrical Line Up Was At The RNC Instead Of Seeking Justice For Breonna Taylor
Breonna Taylor’s death currently sits over 150 days unanswered by Kentucky’s justice system, yet their Attorney General, Daniel Cameron, prioritized a cooning opportunity to invoke her name in a speech at the Republican National Convention. In his six-minute and thirty-second speech, Cameron brandished his dark brown skin to seduce Black voters into choosing Donald Trump for a second term this Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty November. He called out Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for delivering off-collar remarks scolding Black voters. “I think often about my ancestors who struggled for freedom, and as I think of those giants and their broad shoulders, I also think about Joe Biden, who says, ‘If you are not voting for me, you ain’t Black,” he said mechanically at t...
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer Resigns Amid White House Pressure to Sell App
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer resigned Thursday amid U.S. pressure for its Chinese owner to sell the popular video app, which the White House says is a security risk. In a letter to employees, Mayer said that his decision to leave comes after the “political environment has sharply changed.” His resignation follows President Donald Trump’s order to ban TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells its U.S. operations to an American company within 90 days. “I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for,” he said in the letter. “Against this backdrop, and as we expect to reach a resolution very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company...
Kanye West Sues Ohio Election Head to Get on November Ballot
Rapper Kanye West sued Ohio’s election chief Wednesday in an effort to be placed on the November presidential ballot after the Secretary of State deemed him unqualified as an independent candidate. West’s emergency filing against Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose comes days after the election’s chief rejected the nearly 15,000 signatures and other paperwork the rapper submitted earlier this month in an attempt to run for president, citing mismatched information on the signature-gathering documents. In the complaint, attorneys for West’s campaign in Ohio allege that it is LaRose’s duty to accept any petition for an independent candidate as long as there is no protest filed against the petition and it doesn’t violate Ohio law. Ohio was one of a number of stat...
