Mermaids are taking over New York this weekend. Here’s why
Around the first day of summer, a gaggle (or is it a school?) of mermaids descends upon Coney Island, New York. Creatures of the sea old and young, clothed or otherwise, take over the Brooklynneighborhood for one day every year to celebrate art, culture and pride for their hometown in what might just be the nation’s largest art parade.
The Coney Island Mermaid Parade borrows a bit from predecessor pageants, but it’s a spectacle all its own — it’s not every weekend you can find merpeople walking on asphalt in New York. Here’s what you need to know ahead of the 37th annual sea-themed bash on Saturday:
What is the Coney Island Mermaid Parade?
It’s a lot of things: a celebration of artists, a mythology lesson, a statement of pride. Coney Island resident and arts advocate Dick Zigundreamt it up in 1983 to make a name for the neighborhood’s arts scene, then maligned as an artifact of an entertainment destination past its heyday.”We decided we’d take over the entire neighborhood one day a year and put on a wacky art parade,” he told CNN. So he did, inviting artists to don handmade nautical-themed costumes and march, dance and float as a show of pride for their corner of New York City. What started as a local event eventually began to attract a global following.
Why do they dress as mermaids?
That’s where the mythology comes in. When Zigun moved to Coney Island in the 1970s, many of its crumbling buildings were topped with nautical stone figures, including mermaids, porpoises and Neptune clasping his trident. There are even streets named Neptune and Mermaid. When Zigun announced mermaids would be walking on land, people balked. But sirens of the sea are an integral part of Coney Island’s history and a big draw for parade-goers.
So there’s a parade. What else happens?
Nobody would dress up if there wasn’t borough-wide glory at stake. The best-dressed compete in a beach pageant that follows the parade. But be warned: Zigun says a “beautiful mermaid doesn’t get you anything in the Mermaid Parade,” so Ariel imitators will not be rewarded.A queen mermaid and king Neptune are crowned each year, too. This year, the royals are Arlo and Nora Guthrie, who grew up on Mermaid Avenue with their legendary singer-songwriter father, Woody Guthrie Ahead of Saturday’s parade kickoff, Coney Island will honor the late Guthrie by renaming the street where they lived “Woody Guthrie Way.” Stars like Queen Latifah, Debbie Harry, Lou Reed and David Byrne have all reigned over the parade proceedings throughout its history.
Does it happen the same time every year?
Yup. The mermaids march the same weekend as the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and official start to summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Zigun originally asked the city to hold the Mermaid Parade on the Fourth of July, but officials told him the day was already too busy. So he settled on the start to summer, the season that earned Coney Island its claim to fame. He said he modeled the paradeafter international summer solstice celebrations, so at the end of the route, he and a priest of varying faiths — this year, it’s a Native American shaman of the Lakota people — ask the neighborhood water spirits for good weather during the summer, booming business and safety for those who visit its beaches.
How big of a crowd does it draw?
In its first year, there were more participants than spectators. But last year’s parade was its biggest yet, Zigun said, with more than 825,000 people coming to watch. That means 140,000 more people visited the Mermaid Parade than live in Boston. Around 3,000 participants have registered to march in the parade this year, Zigunsaid, either on foot and fin in carefully crafted costumes or on elaborate, people-powered floats. Rounding out the procession are 12 marching bands, 30 antique cars, a slew of dance groups and even an act called the “Wu Tang Clam.” Clearly, creativity is encouraged.
Is the parade family friendly?
Well, that depends on your definition of “family friendly.” While children make up a sizable chunk of the parade’s marchers and spectators, 3,000 participants mean a wide range of interpretations of “mermaid” and what the mythical creatures wear (or don’t).At the Mermaid Parade, glitter is considered clothing, Zigun said.
Who throws the parade?
It’s put on by Coney Island USA, a nonprofit arts organization that works to “defend the honor” of boardwalk entertainment thatmade the place famous. The organization operates a museum, circus sideshow and shooting gallery whose proceeds help fund the $200,000 parade along with support from the city and sponsors.
Is it similar to other parades, like Mardi Gras or Pride?
The Mermaid Parade draws inspiration from a little bit of everything, including the Fourth of July parade in Zigun’s hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and New Orleans’ famous Mardi Gras celebration. Its influences are evident in the outlandish costumes, massive floats and the handmade touch that gives it its spunk. But the Mermaid Parade is ultimately uniquely Coney Island’s, with entertainment and hometown spirit deeply embedded in its DNA. Mermaids only walk on land once a year in one place, and it’s there.
Article via CNN
U.S. Soccer, women’s team tentatively agree to mediate gender discrimination lawsuit
REIMS, France — U.S. Soccer and players for the women’s national team have tentatively agreed to mediate a lawsuit that accuses the federation of gender discrimination and seeks equitable pay.
The federation and representatives for the players confirmed the agreement, first reported in the Wall Street Journal, to pursue mediation following the Women’s World Cup.
“Here to win a World Cup, lawyers are at home to do their thing, so we both have our jobs,” defender Kelley O’Hara said Saturday. “This team has always been good at compartmentalizing. We focus on the task at hand and I haven’t paid any mind on anything that’s been going on. That’s something we’ll pick back up when we get home but right now my only focus is winning the World Cup.”
The United States, the defending champion and three-time World Cup winner, won its first three games of the tournament and is set to play Spain on Monday in the knockout stage. The championship game is set for July 7 in Lyon.
Twenty-eight members of the current player pool filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in March. The lawsuit alleges “institutionalized gender discrimination” that includes inequitable compensation when compared with their counterparts on the men’s national team.
“While we welcome the opportunity to mediate, we are disappointed the plaintiffs’ counsel felt it necessary to share this news publicly during the Women’s World Cup and create any possible distraction from the team’s focus on the tournament and success on the field,” U.S. Soccer said in a statement.
The federation has maintained the differences in pay are the result of different collective bargaining agreements that establish distinct pay structures for the two teams. Those agreements are not public. Court documents said decisions surrounding the teams have been made for “legitimate business reasons and not for any discriminatory or other unlawful purpose.”
The lawsuit was an escalation of a long-simmering dispute over pay and treatment. Five players filed a complaint in 2016 with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleged wage discrimination by the federation. The lawsuit effectively ended that EEOC complaint.
The federation and the team reached a collective bargaining agreement in April 2017. The agreement, which runs through 2021, gave the players higher pay and better benefits.
Defender Ai Krieger said she hasn’t given the lawsuit any thought.
“Right now we’re so focused on the game against Spain, and that’s what’s important for us right now,” she said.
Article via NBCNews
8 Social Media Tips for Small Businesses
The small business world can be a grind working in and on the business to reach goals and milestones and grow.
Owners and employees wear a lot of hats and often excel at filling a lot of roles.
The day-to-day requirements of sales, operations, payroll, invoicing, service, and fulfillment take a ton of time and energy.
Something that gets squeezed out is marketing.
The marketing mix for a small business often covers the essentials and things that are closest to the bottom line.
These are often identified as the website and campaigns that impact lead or sales generation closest to the last click or to the conversion. Those include things like email marketing, SEO, and paid search.
Often, social media is left out of that mix or only done in a way that meets a bare minimum to show the business is real.
Social media doesn’t have to be a massive commitment or time investment. It also doesn’t have to be a big mystery as to how it could impact the business and fit into the marketing mix.
By working smarter and not harder, you can use eight tips to put together a social media strategy that makes sense for the resources you have and ultimately can engage your audience and positively impact your business.
1. Identify Personas
There are a lot of resources that speak to the process of persona development and how it can help in the content marketing and overall marketing strategy for your business.
If you haven’t defined who the target audience is for your products, services, or offering, then you should start here.
You don’t have to go through a massive branding or research project to get to the info you need.
If you don’t know where to start, I suggest jumping into your current Google Analytics account and activating the interests section and seeing which affinity groups are noted.
If you don’t have the luxury of current data, you can dig into the Google Ads display planner and Facebook ad planning tools to explore the options for interests, demographics, and behavior and see how the categories and targeting fit with your understanding of your clients or customers.
Using any working or refined models of specific personas, you can save time and fine tune your messaging and targeting in the social media networks to cast the right-sized net and get specific enough with your content.
2. Know the Customer Journey
We all typically know the most about what step or two is the best at driving engagement, sales, or leads. That may be a specific marketing channel, a campaign, or even a category of content.
The problem is that most companies don’t have a 1-touch customer journey that results in a sale on their first visit.
The customer journey can be a little difficult to get a complete picture of, but there are ways to look at what content is resonating with your audience before they convert and you can talk with them to see what they find valuable in making their decision.
There are reporting platforms that can tie it all together, but at the very least, you should get some visibility into the steps in the funnel that customers go through ultimately as they research before buying.
3. Track Everything
If you’re finding challenges with the first two tips, it is likely because you don’t have as much data or information as you’d like. I’m glad you’re still reading and made it this far.
Tracking and measuring are critical for digital marketing.
Without capturing data, you’re left with using industry trends or just giving it your best guess based on what you know about your industry and the things that work in the offline world.
Make sure that all pages on your site are tracked in Google Analytics.
Ensure that all content you are deploying in email, social, and other sources uses UTM tracking parameters so it can be properly categorized in Google Analytics.
Find ways to utilize promo codes and other source codes to merge offline and online data.
The more you can track and measure, the more informed you can be as you evaluate the worth of your time and dollars in your content investment and specifically when you deploy it through social.
4. Use Agile Methods
Ebooks, whitepapers, webinars, and long-form content may be the perfect thing to use to engage and resonate with your audience.
However, these are all big investments to make in the content creation stage before even deploying.
A great way to test out social and figure out the right types of content, frequency of posting, targeting options (for sponsored and ad content), timing, etc., is to perform more frequent, smaller tests.
Agile marketing has become a valuable strategy in recent years. It features an agile mindset similar to what you’d expect in software development and other disciplines.
As a small business, you probably don’t have the time or budget for a statistically significant sample size anyway, so go all in with a wide range of content and options and see what works before you invest a ton into a single piece of content or single strategy by which you plan on judging the viability of social as a channel.
5. Repurpose Content
Where possible, you could and should look for opportunities to leverage existing content and sources.
If you created a great blog post as part of your SEO strategy, test it on social?
If you’re creating content for your email audience, repurpose some of it on social.
By using content in more than one place, you can get a better return on investment for individual pieces of content, plus get more data and see how it performs across various channels.
Also, just because something is evergreen or a tip is not new, that doesn’t mean it isn’t to your audience.
As long as the information is still accurate and relevant, there’s no harm in sharing something that has been on your site for a couple of years.
Your hidden gems of quality content might be a little too hidden or limited to just your search or other audiences. Using content you know works and resonates is a solid strategy for testing on social as well.
6. Learn From Your Competition
When asked how often a company should be posting on social media and what types of content, I can never right away answer the question directly for them.
The answer is always “it depends.” I don’t have a special best practice number of times to post per week or month. It is all relative to the industry and audience.
Competitors are a great place to look for cues and help. Don’t assume that any or all of your competitors are doing it right.
Do know that you can look externally at their social profiles and see:
- How often they post.
- What days of the week and times of the day they post.
- How large their follower bases are.
- What specific types of organic, sponsored, and ad content they post.
- Which types of posts get the most engagement.
Whether capturing all of this in a spreadsheet or other format, you can quickly see patterns that emerge in what is working and what isn’t.
I recommend doing this type of basic research or study before arbitrarily deciding what your social plan should be.
7. Plan for Times When You Don’t Have Time
Even if you’re 100% committed to staying on the social media plan, things will happen.
With the hats that you wear, you’ll get pulled into something that is a higher priority. Or, maybe you’ll get to take a vacation and unplug.
Regardless, there will be times when you don’t have time to focus on social media. That’s OK!
Plan for the times when you don’t have the time and attention now.
Build a content calendar and framework. Know who is posting what content and when.
If you can spread the roles around to others and make sure everyone is committed and following the plan and guidelines, you can ensure that the content strategy, implementation in social, and testing process won’t fall apart the second that other things take attention away from it.
Like other endeavors in business and in life, if you fall off, get back on soon. Stick with it as there’s value in the information gained and meaningful connections made by utilizing social media in your digital marketing mix.
8. Optimize Like You Would in Other Channels
Know that there are going to be some home runs as well as some strikeouts. Take an optimization and agile mindset into social like you would in search marketing.
Set a period of time that you want to test, set your strategy, and then optimize through testing.
- For ads and sponsored content, you can A/B test.
- For organic content, you can at least compare and contrast the different pieces of content, messages, types of posts, and see how they perform if you can control enough of the variables.
Always be testing!
Conclusion
There are a lot of reasons why social media is not at the top of the priority list in the marketing mix of small businesses. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be effective.
There’s also no reason it should be the biggest investment you make.
Smart strategies that are designed to stay on track and properly leverage social through:
- Utilizing content you already have.
- Properly measuring performance.
- Having a system that is less likely to break down are all important aspects to leveraging the power of social to help grow your business.
More Resources:
- Top 9 Benefits of Social Media for Your Business
- Why Social Media Marketing Is Crucial for Your Local Business
- Should I Outsource My Social Media? 6 Questions to Ask Yourself
Article via SearchEngineJournal
Isis King Talks ‘When They See Us,’ Becoming Marci And Trans Visibility
In the Spring of 1989, a white female jogger was savagely beaten, sexually assaulted and left for dead in New York City’s Central Park. Before she introduced herself to the world as Trisha Meili, years later, she was known publicly under the protected alias as The Central Park Jogger. Ava DuVernay’s limited mini-series When They See Us, masterfully tells the real-life story of how five teenage black and Latino boys (Korey Wise, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana Jr., and Yusef Salaam) were wrongfully accused and convicted of the crime. The four-part series shows how the boys, aged 14-16, were handpicked by police and held in police custody (the majority of the time without an adult family member present) for over a two day period before the boys were coerced into videotaped confessions. Those confessions led to a media frenzy, sparking panic and outrage that would label them as The Central Park Five. In the court of public opinion, they were nothing more than a gang of hoodlums and received hate mail, death threats and ads in all major city newspapers where America’s current President called for the boys to be executed. Despite conflicting “confessions” and no physical evidence or DNA linking them to the crime scene, they were found guilty and went on to spend between 5-13 years in prison.
One of those young men was Korey Wise. Wise was 16 at the time of his arrest and was sent straight to Rikers Island, the most notorious maximum security prison in the country. The others were sent to juvenile detention centers until they aged out and were transferred to adult prisons. All five would be exonerated of the charges when the real perpetrator, Metis Reyes, felt compelled enough to confess to his crime after a chance encounter with Wise, who was still incarcerated. DNA evidence linked him solely to the crime scene and after a decade’s fight, the men were awarded a $41 million settlement as restitution from the City of New York to share between them.
While many are focusing on the amazing survival of the five men and the stellar performances of the actors who portrayed them in When They See Us, another character has also garnered a great deal of attention. Marci, Korey Wise’s sister. A trans woman, Marci is verbally and emotionally abused by her and Korey’s mother. Unlike their mother, Korey adores and accepts Marci and the two share a special bond with Marci acting as a second mother and source of support to him. Her life was tragically cut short during Korey’s time in prison –causing a major emotional breakdown for him in one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the series. Model and actress, Isis King, skillfully plays the role of Marci, tugging at viewers heartstrings as she steals each scene.
As a transwoman of color, King’s ability to transform into the role of Marci was effortless since she was able to pull from the unique personal experience the two shared. When speaking with King on her preparation for the film and the significance of a Marci in Korey’s life, King explained to STYLECASTER that with the perception of trans women historically being negative, it was time to showcase the opposite.
“I am honored that Ava included Marci because she didn’t have to,” King emphasizes. “For her to include Marci in the way that she did honored not just the relationship of the siblings but also sparks a larger conversation.”
When discussing the work she did to embody the character of Marci and understanding the relationship between the siblings, King explained that while she did not get a chance to actually speak with the real Korey Wise prior to working on the series, there was an ironic connection between herself the Wise family that she discovered after the film was released on Netflix.
“Outside of the script, I didn’t know anything about Marci but ironically, recently I received a DM from Marci’s younger sister,” she explained. “Before shooting, Ava told me that there was another Wise sibling who transitioned. Niecy Nash, who played our mother–her character was pregnant at the beginning of the series. She eventually had the baby, a boy. He later transitioned. I knew both of them from my time living in New York City shelters and hanging on the Pier. I was introduced to them through the ballroom scene. I actually knew the younger sister before she transitioned and we met way back in 2007. She reminded me of who she was and thanked me for doing a good job playing her sister. It was a full-circle moment for me. I got chills when her sister wrote me that message.”
When King was finally introduced to the real Korey Wise at the series wrap party, he praised her work and expressed his excitement that she was portraying his beloved sister. King knew how important her role was, but she had no idea that the character of Marci would impact audiences around the globe. “Marci’s life was cut short and it’s a potential reality that trans women face daily,” she said with conviction. “The way that people treat others just for being who they are is horrible. Right now in Dallas, there’s a string of murders and the victims are trans women of color. I think it shows a lot about the space of the black community. Because of the stigma of being a trans woman and the thought that all are sex workers, it seems as if we are easily discarded. We are sought after for that purpose–to harm.”
To combat this time of hate and violence, King says creating a safer and more accepting environment during childhood would spark the change needed. “We need to be taught at a young age to accept everyone and not reprimand children who are different,” she articulated. “Having that freedom allows them to have a safe haven in the house that will allow them to create safer spaces externally. It will eradicate the homelessness issue my community faces. The need to resort to sex work won’t be there any longer. It’s coming from the outside world, but it starts within our own communities. Opportunities are constantly denied to trans women but black people are upset when we are profiled or judged by the color of our skin by others, yet we turn our backs on our trans family. This is why Marci being a positive influence in Korey’s life is important to show.”
Though the character of Marci is loved, the LGBTQ and trans rights activist in King says more needs to be done and on a grander scale. “I knew the basic story of the men but was shocked to find out that Trump was involved in some way,” she exclaimed. “He was causing trouble then and is still causing trouble, especially for the LGBT community. More public figures need to step up and use their voice on our behalf and not just people within the community. More white people, more cis-gendered people, more politicians –everyone needs to align themselves and rid themselves of the fear of being ostracized for speaking out. Our white trans community needs to speak out because we are in this fight together or are supposed to be.”
Being out as a trans woman for the past 11 years since making her historical debut as the first trans woman to compete on America’s Next Top Model, King says though there has been progress –there is still a long way to go.“In communities of color, transitioning isn’t necessarily a topic of discussion, nor is it widely accepted,” she explained. “If you go even deeper within our community, specifically within the church, there are so many contradictions. Infidelity is forgiven, there’s mismanagement of money. You can do anything in the black church and get away with it except transition. There’s such a stigma attached to being transgender. However, showcasing who Marci was, humanized an entire community.”
Aside from being trans, King was able to relate to Marci in many other ways. “I’m the oldest child and so was Marci,” she said. “The oldest child has it the hardest and I truly believe Marci’s goal was to make it easy for Korey. She was his voice of reason, as I am for my little brothers. Marci was that positive influence of support in the home even once Korey was away. His devastating reaction to her death proves that.”
Although Korey and Marci shared such a close bond and she was such an important fixture in his life, King notes that with such a tough task of trying to cover the details related to the case for the boys, Marci could have easily been left out. “There’s always room for improvement,” she explained. “When I was on Top Model and starting out, it was so different. It was just me and Laverne (Cox) doing this. Cyberbullying was just starting and I wasn’t even accepted by the cis-women in the ANTM house. Even after the show, I received so many nasty comments and threats. But we have come far. Media is getting a little better. I like what POSE on FX is doing by providing the platform they are for the community.”
King is making it her mission to continue to add to the advancement of the transgender community by continuing to use her voice to make raise awareness to these issues.“It’s PRIDE month so I am extremely busy teaming up with organizations,” she boasted proudly. “If you follow my social media, you know I go in about LGBT rights and injustices of all kinds. And I won’t stop. One of my last posts on Twitter read: “Who would think casting a trans woman to play a trans woman would be groundbreaking?!”
“Often times, we have been left out of the conversation, but we are slowly but surely seeing more. The role of Marci happened and it’s sparking a conversation. It would be a disservice to not continue the conversation.”
Article via StyleCaster
Check out some Lovelyti videos:
Let’s talk about Central Park Five -“when they see us” by Ava Duvernay
Youtube’s AR Beauty Let’s Viewers Try On Makeup
Makeup tutorials and reviews are some of the most popular content on YouTube, as they help people learn about new products as well as how to apply them. YouTube is now kicking that experience up a notch with the introduction of a new AR feature for virtual makeup try-on right from the YouTube app. Called AR Beauty Try-On, the feature is designed to be used in a split-screen experience while YouTube viewers watch the makeup tutorial.
When available, the YouTube makeup review or tutorial video plays at the top of the screen, with a stream from your own front-facing camera below. Here, a YouTube viewer could access a palate of colors — like new lipstick shades, for example — and tap to apply them to their own face while the video plays above.
The feature is currently in the very early stages of development — alpha testing — and is being offered to YouTube creators through Google’s in-house branded content program, FameBit. Through this program, brands are connected with YouTube influencers who market their products through paid sponsorships.
YouTube says it already tested AR Beauty Try-On with several beauty brands, and found that 30% of viewers chose to activate the experience when it was available in the YouTube iOS app. While that’s not a majority by any means, those who did try the feature were fairly engaged, spending more than 80 seconds trying on the virtual lipstick shades.
M·A·C Cosmetics is the first brand to launch an AR Beauty Try-On campaign, which includes the ability for the brand to see real-time results from the try-on activity.
AR Beauty Try-On is the latest of several AR initiatives from Google, including also the recent launch of AR in Google Search and updates to its developer platform ARCore.
However, Google is not the first to offer a virtual makeup try-on experience. Beyond the fun makeup filters in various social networking apps, there are a number of AR beauty apps offering a similar experience to YouTube’s AR Beauty Try-On, including YouCam Makeup, Sephora’s Virtual Artist, Ulta’s GLAMLab and others. L’Oréal also offers Live Try-On on its website, and partnered with Facebook last year to bring virtual makeup to the site. Target’s online Beauty Studio also offers virtual makeup across a number of brands and products.
The difference with YouTube’s AR Try-On is that it’s really more about offering an AR-powered ad campaign, not just a fun consumer product or a tool for on-site e-commerce conversions.
The AR ad format launch is one of several new ad products Google announced today.
The company is also introducing a new immersive display format called Swirl for the mobile web that lets consumers view products in a 360 format. Swirl allows for rotating a product, zooming in and out, or playing an animation.
The format is only available through Display and Video 360, says Google. Brands will be able to use a new editor on Google’s 3D platform Poly to create their Swirl display ads. If they already have 3D assets, they can build a Swirl ad using the 3D/Swirl component in Google Web Designer instead.
Perfume maker Guerlain is using Swirl for ads that animate to capture consumers’ attention.
Another new format in Display & Video 360 lets brands run their YouTube live stream content in display ads, which can also be built with Google Web Designer.
The new tools will be available to brands and advertisers this summer, Google says.
Article via TechCrunch
Sandy Hook dad wins suit against massacre deniers
A parent of a slain student won a civil lawsuit against two deniers of a 2012 mass shooting who published a book called “Nobody Died At Sandy Hook.”
Lenny Pozner had sued James Fetzer and Mike Palecek for defamation in November, documents show. The suit focused on claims, both in the book and in Fetzer’s blog, that Pozner had circulated a false birth certificate for his son Noah, one of the 20 children and six adults killed in the elementary school massacre.
Judge Frank D. Remington of the Dane County Circuit Court in Wisconsin signed an order on Tuesday finding that the statements published by the two men were in fact defamatory. Fetzer lives in Wisconsin.
The judge granted Pozner’s motion for summary judgment, allowing the case to proceed to a trial by jury to determine the damages.
Pozner’s attorney, Jake Zimmerman, told CNN his client is seeking $1 million in damages. The jury selection is set to start in mid-October. “The damages go beyond Mr. Pozner’s feelings being hurt, there are real-world implications,” Zimmerman told CNN, saying the real damage is that people who read these defamatory claims have taken against his client.
In 2016, a Tampa woman was indicted on four counts of making threats against Pozner. According to a federal indictment, the woman called him and said, “You gonna die, death is coming you real soon,” as well as “death is coming to you real soon and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
She pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting threats and was sentenced to five months in federal prison in 2017. Zimmerman told CNN that part of the woman’s probation terms is that she isn’t allowed to visit websites like Fetzer’s. In a phone call with CNN, Fetzer, who represented himself in court, said that the judge’s decision was “completely inappropriate” and “a violation of proper legal protocol.”
“This case is a sham, just as fabricated as the documents involved here. I stand for the truth,” Fetzer said. “I’m out for the truth and to protect the American people from scams.”
Mike Palecek, who was also self-represented, did not respond to a request for comment.Wrongs Without Wremedies LLC, which publishes Moon Rock Books including “Nobody Died At Sandy Hook,” was named in the initial complaint but settled. An attorney for the company told CNN it had no comment.
Article via CNN
Gang leaders met face-to-face in Newark to talk peace
Article via NJ.com
Newark gang members and activists working for peace in the city gathered Saturday and reached a truce aimed at reducing gang violence.
So-called “violence interrupters” and gang members gathered for private peace talks at 3 p.m. The talks were followed by a 5 p.m. “Kings Stop Killing Kings” rally at Newark’s Symphony Hall and march down Broad Street.
A draft of the the agreement, which was passed out to those who attended the peace talks between the sometimes rival gangs, stated that public places such as schools, houses of worship, recreation centers and funeral homes would be “designated buffer or neutral zones against violence.”
The agreement went on to outline expectations for the gang members, including not using social media to “dispute, call for, glorify or insinuate the killing of a member of another organization,” and not invading “upon each other’s community or neighborhood” without prior notice.
Gang leaders sat around four tables, organized in a square in the center of the Terrace Ballroom, while Newark Mayor Ras Baraka gave an impassioned speech. He implored the gang leaders to cease violence and instead turn their energy towards building the community by doing things like purchasing empty buildings to start businesses or homes.
“I’m not into coddling grown men,” he said. “Some of you guys know better…It is more comfortable for you to act like you are asleep, to blend in with everybody else, when you know better. And the reality of that is you just don’t just have no courage. You’re just scared.”
Following the speeches from other anti-violence advocates, spectators and families were asked to leave the ballroom while leaders negotiated the truce. Cassady Fendlay, a spokeswoman for the Justice League NYC who was involved in the talks, told NJ Advance Media that the gang leaders reached a truce Saturday night.
Over 100 people gathered outside the hall and began marching down Broad Street, under the watchful eyes of Newark police officers wearing bulletproof vests. Children sat on their father’s shoulders and young people carried signs and flags.
“Stop the violence. Peace in the streets.” the marchers yelled as pedestrians on the sidewalk stopped to watch, some raising their fists in solidarity.
Organizers said the crowd was there in honor of Nipsey Hussle, a Grammy-nominated rapper, who was killed on March 31, just one day before he was slated to meet with the Los Angeles Police Department about curbing street violence. Hussle, who was born with the name Ermias Asghedom, was known for giving back to his community.
“This rally and peace march is a tribute to the late, great Nipsey Hussle, whose tireless work on behalf of social justice inspired countless activists to join our movement,” Carmen Perez, executive director of the Gathering For Justice and a former co-chair of the national Women’s March, said.
The demonstrators marched about a mile, stopping at Washington Park around 6 p.m. There, several city employees — including one that offered to help residents find jobs and another that provided information from the Department of Health and Community Wellness — awaited the demonstrators.
From a small stage in the park, actors, musicians and social media influencers encouraged the crowd to pursue nonviolent conflict resolution and told their own stories of getting shot, or explained the emotional trauma of a family member dying from gang violence.
“There is a war on us, why are we at war with each other?” actress and producer Yandy Smith-Harris said.
Other speakers included Justice League NYC member Tamika Mallory, hip hop artist and author Chi Ali, and leading “violence interrupters” and community organizers like Shanduke McPhatter and Jamila T. Davis.
The Newark rally follows a similar demonstration in The Bronx last month where former and active gang members called for better conflict resolution among community members and a stronger City crisis management system, according to News 12.
Although violent crime is down slightly in New Jersey, according to State Police data, there was an increase in minors who were arrested for having a firearms, the State Commission for Investigation said last year. Officials point to increased gang violence among children. These new gangs are less-organized, less-established but more deadly, officials said. The gangs recruit children as young as 12, and frequently use social media to broadcast shootings, according to testimony from the State Commission for Investigation.
In 2015, 472 minors had been arrested for having a firearm in New Jersey. In 2017, nearly 600 were booked — a 26 percent increase, officials said. More up-to-date statistics were not readily available.
Still, violence remains an intractable problem in Newark. On Saturday, just minutes from where the gang leaders met to discuss peace, two men in masks pulled up on a woman in a car and shot her in the back. The woman was not seriously injured and that incident has not been determined to be gang-related.
For the smattering of nonprofit and activism groups that organized The Bronx and Newark rallies, this street crime is exactly what they hope to prevent. Perez said she hopes “Kings Stop Killing Kings” becomes a movement that impacts not just Newark and New York, but the whole nation.
OJ Simpson Addresses Khloe Kardashian Rumour
OJ maintains his innocence…
Check out some Lovelyti videos:
OJ joins Social media~Bella Thorne shares nudez after a hacker tried to release them+Cuba Gooding Jr
Rotimi pays 50 cent $100k, R. Kelly Hit With New Charges, OJ puts kris jenner in the hospital!
O.J. Simpson gets granted Parole & Ron Goldman’s family is pissed off about it!
Strawberry Moon 2019: Best times to watch and a special viewing bonus
Article via CNN
It’s time for another noteworthy celestial event. Be sure to cast your gaze toward the sky for 2019’s Strawberry Moon. And for the keen-eyed, there’s a heavenly bonus with a prominent appearance from one of our fellow planets.So you’re not disappointed or confused, first things first: The moon isn’t going to actually look like a big, round strawberry. That’s because in North America, the name comes from Algonquin tribes of Native Americans. This full moon was their sign to harvest wild strawberries, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. This moon has other names in other parts of the world. In Europe, you may hear it called the Honey Moon, Mead Moon or the Full Rose Moon. In the Southern Hemisphere, it can go by Oak Moon, Cold Moon or Long Night Moon, according to EarthSky.org.
In the Eastern Time Zone of the United States, that will happen at 4:30 a.m. Monday, June 17. On the West Coast with Pacific Time, the peak will be 1:30 a.m. On the other side of the globe, New Delhi, India, will see peak time of 2 p.m. See the upper right side of the timeanddate.com page to get the time for your location.But remember, peak time doesn’t mean your only viewing time. As The Old Farmer’s Almanac points out, the moon will appear full to viewers on Father’s Day (Sunday, June 16) shortly after sunset.
For the best impression, take a look not at peak time but while the moon is still low on your horizon, says CNN meteorologist Judson Jones.”My favorite time to watch the full moon is as it is rising over the eastern horizon. When the moon is low on the horizon, it allows you to capture the view with objects in the foreground, making the moon appear bigger,” Jones said.”Say you are in the city, and you’re watching between a couple of buildings or over the skyline, it will make it feel that much bigger and give it more impact.” He adds that if you’re around the ocean, a lake or mountains, the perspective could be very pleasing.
Special guest
Now, about that heavenly bonus. You may notice a bright object floating just above the moon. That will be not a star, but Jupiter. The solar system’s largest planet actually made its closest approach to Earth in 2019 back on June 10, but it’s still showing prominently in the night sky. Even ordinary binoculars should yield impressive viewing results.
What’s next?
For those who like to follow earthly and celestial events, we’ve got the summer solstice coming up in just a few days — on Friday, June 21.And the next full moon after the Strawberry is the Full Buck Moon on July 16.