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by Paul D. White
Rapper Nipsey Hussle’s recent murder in Los Angeles was tragic. The reverent accolades bestowed since then by celebrities, glorifying his life and musical work, have been absurd.
Hussle’s rap messages were cancerous to our nation’s youth, and showcase the morally sick culture of the rap universe that has infected society.
Singer Bruno Mars’ postmortem praise highlighted this fact more than he realized when he stated, “It was very obvious that (Hussle) had so much more to offer than music.” Indeed he did.
Misogny
Guns, money, and bitches, that’s the way that we do it…” (from “Hussle in the House”). In Hussle’s rhymes, women are one-dimensional “bitches”, useful only for sex-on-demand. They are always available to the unemployed, violent, and substance abusing young men his songs glorify. Love, marriage and monogamous relationships are not mentioned.
Gangs
Hussle was unashamed and proud of his gang affiliation: never denounced it, praised other gang members, and spoke constantly about the manly, heroic nature of the cowardly and pathetic gang life. Hussle obviously knew nothing about real manhood, and therefore was unable to write about it.
Tax Evasion
“Couple mil’, tour the world, dawg, my life crackin’…cook the books, bring it back so it’s no taxes (from “Young Nigga”). Hussle repeatedly promotes a big advantage of drug selling and getting paid in cash: the opportunity to break federal laws by lying about your income. This type of lifestyle leads not only to no values and prison, but also to the kind of idiotic money management that keeps poor people and poor neighborhoods from being able to take the financial step-up Hussle wanted for them.
Violence and Guns
“Got my chopper (machine gun or assault rifle) in the trunk…” (from “Hussle in the House”). Hussle’s songs imply that illegal guns are a natural part of life, and brags about his indifference to innocent people getting shot (“splatting them with blood”) if they get in the way of the #! killing targets – other gang members.
Drug/Alcohol Abuse
“I been driving, I been smoking, Almost forgot what I was doing, Almost forgot what I was drinking…” (from Status Symbol 3″) Nothing in the boastfully irresponsible and immoral lifestyle advocated by Hussle’s music is done without first numbing your conscience with drugs or alcohol. What he fails to describe is the unescapable, soul-crushing guilt that accompanies ruining human lives, and has to be faced sooner or later, in the sobering light of day.
Racism
Hussle’s musical anthology would almost disappear if the words “nigga” and “f_ _k” were removed. His songs also racially insult Whites (e.g.: “crackers”, “white boys”), while periodically inserting hypocritical pious references to “slave ships”, slaves, and racism.
No Moral Values
“Movin’forward with speed, all your morals will leave…got infected with greed…” (from “Double Up”). You have to look hard to find even one moral value in any of Hussle’s music that any parent would want their child to have. The irony of Nipsey Hussle’s life is that he made the money he incessantly bragged about by selling songs promoting the very things he claimed to want to remove from his neighborhood: crime, violence, poverty, and hopeless lives.
All of this, and more, makes beyond ludicrous the twitter eulogies of NBA players like Steff Curry and LeBron James who said, respectively, that , “(Hussle’s) message tried to inspire people,” and “I told (him) how proud I was of (him).” But nothing tops the idiocy of LA Police Chief Michael Moore, who was planning to meet with Hussle to “…talk about ways (Hussle) could help LAPD stop gang violence and help us help kids.” Hussle couldn’t have done more to PROMOTE gang violence and HARM kids if he’d tried.
No Apologies
“Damn right, I like the life I built….” “This is all I’m tryna do: hustle and motivate.” (from “Grinding all my life”) Nipsey Hussle was definitely a happy, successful hustler: making his millions promoting a false, mesmerizing picture to innocent children and immature adults that glamorized unemployment, drug abuse, murder, misogyny, racism, and incarceration as worthy goals and a part of real manhood. Sadly, his Crenshaw neighborhood and young Black men – the place and people he claimed to love, who swallowed and followed his highway-to-hell message – will be paying the price of believing him for generations.
Paul White has spent most of his life working with young people whose lives and families were ruined by believing the self-destructive messages promoted by rappers like Nipsey Hussle.
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The NPVIC is an agreement between states to pool their electoral votes together for the candidate who wins the states’ aggregated popular vote. States will award their electoral votes regardless of individual state voting results.
States that have passed similar legislation to join the NPVIC now represent 189 electoral votes. The compact could become official when that number hits 270, enough votes to elect the president of the United States.
Under the U.S. Constitution, a state gets one Electoral College vote for each of its seats in Congress. New Mexico is a winner-take-all state, which means it allocates all five of its Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in the state. If the NPVIC ever takes effect, New Mexico would instead award those votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote of the compact.
Current compact states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Including the District of Columbia, there are 15 electoral jurisdictions with 189 votes. (RELATED: Delaware Joins States Pushing For A Popular Vote)
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Westlake Village, Calif.—The official grand opening of the Yarrow Family YMCA in Westlake Village is set for Saturday, April 27 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The afternoon will be filled with facility tours, raffles and games. The public is invited.
“The idea for a YMCA in Westlake Village began 20 years ago,” says Ronnie Stone, President/CEO of the Southeast Ventura County YMCA. “After years of planning, designing, fundraising and construction, the 60,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art Yarrow Family YMCA is finally finished. It can now begin to fulfill the YMCA’s mission—impact lives, strengthen our community and insure everyone has an opportunity to learn, grow and thrive. Visitors on opening day will have an inside look at this beautiful new Y.”
The Yarrow YMCA features a fitness center, eight-lane indoor lap pool, warm water pool, gymnasium, group exercise classes, meeting space, café and lounge. A Kids’ Zone, for kids age six weeks to 12 years, offers childcare and age-specific STEAM-based sensory learning while parents use the facility.
During the grand openings, community members can take part in tours, a scavenger hunt, face painting, obstacle courses, raffles (prizes include one week at the Y’s summer resident, camp, a two-month family membership and a week of group swimming lessons). The first 250 people who attend receive a free taco. Wear red to the event and get an extra raffle ticket.
The Yarrow Y is located is at 31105 Thousand Oaks Blvd. in Westlake Village and serves Westlake Village, Agoura Hills and Oak Park. It is a branch of the Southeast Ventura County YMCA. Other branches are the Conejo Valley YMCA in Thousand Oaks and the Simi Valley Family YMCA.
For more information, go to www.yarrowymca.org or call 818-707-9622.
The Southeast Ventura County YMCA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building positive relationships, impacting lives and strengthening the community through youth development, healthy living programs and social responsibility. It serves the Conejo Valley, Simi Valley, Westlake Village, Oak Park, Agoura Hills and Moorpark through its three branches. www.sevymca.org
Yarrow Family YMCA
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In recognition of National Volunteer Week, St. John’s Regional Medical Center (SJRMC) and St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital (SJPVH), members of Dignity Health, celebrates and says thank you to all the dedicated and caring volunteers, who make a difference in our health care facilities.
St. John’s is hosting an array of activities throughout National Volunteer Week to honor adult and student volunteers, whose wide-ranging roles include: patient services, pet therapy program, baby cuddler program, gift shop, surgery and intensive care unit waiting services, spiritual care, and more.
“Our volunteers are an integral part of the compassionate, quality health care offered at St. John’s Hospitals,” said Darren W. Lee, President and CEO, St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital and St. John’s Regional Medical Center. “We cannot thank our volunteers enough for their ongoing commitment and service. They bring joy to our patients all around the hospital.”
St. John’s volunteers, numbering approximately 400 strong, give generously of themselves, each one contributing to the smooth operation of many hospital services. In addition to logging an average of over 62,625 hours each year, St. John’s volunteers have also purchased various items that enhance the caring atmosphere of the hospitals.
Volunteers at St. John’s are the heart of our hospital and share a desire to use their life experiences, education and concern for others to support our patients, visitors, and staff. High school and college students (16 and older) are also offered volunteering activities through the Student Volunteer Program. To request an application to volunteer at St. John’s, or to have questions answered, please contact Volunteer Services Manager Stephanie Garofalo at 805.988.2627.
About Dignity Health St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital and St. John’s Regional Medical Center
St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo and St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard are members of Dignity Health Central Coast, an integrated network of top quality hospitals, with physicians from the most prestigious medical schools, and comprehensive outpatient services – all recognized for quality, safety and service. Combined both hospitals have received more than 66 quality awards and have been named among America’s Top 100 Hospitals by Healthgrades. Both hospitals are supported by an active philanthropic Foundation to help meet the growing health care needs of our communities. Hospitals in the Dignity Health Central Coast region also include Arroyo Grande Community Hospital in Arroyo Grande, French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria. Learn more at dignityhealth.org/pleasantvalley and dignityhealth.org/stjohnsregional.
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The Scuba Show
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By Michael Hernandez
Local theaters in Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley continue their showing of “Unplanned”—the story of Abby Johnson—the former Planned Parenthood director in Bryan, Texas. Abby left the Planned Parenthood clinic to join the Coalition for Life—the pro-life local group led by Shawn Carney–that has been protesting abortions outside the $1.8 million clinic in this east Texas city. It would be out of this same city of 85,000 that 40 Days for Life—the nation’s largest pro-life campaign would originate.
The faith-based film distributor Pure Flix said “Unplanned” net $6.1 million in its release to 1,059 screens. The film was partially financed by My Pillow founder Mike Lindell, a born-again Christian and Donald Trump supporter. This is the second-highest opening for a Pure Flix film, only behind the $7.6 million earned for “God’s Not Dead 2.”
Film producers said that a strong opening was not an easy feat since the film was rated R for its graphic scenes and multiple TV networks declined to air spots for the film and the movie’s Twitter page was briefly suspended. Critics gave the film a 50 percent Rotten Tomatoes score while Christian audiences embraced the film and gave it an A+ on CinemaScore.
“We are very happy for the success of this film,” said Pure Flix CEO Michael Scott in a statement in which he said the movie will expand to 1,700 screens this weekend. “To bring the story of Abby Johnson to audiences and have them show up in such large numbers shows how the topic of abortion is so important to bring to audiences. We hope that those on both sides of the debate will see ‘Unplanned’ and begin to have their own dialogue. This film can be the spark to bring more hearts and minds to understanding the value of life.”
Johnson, the former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Texas told Fox News at the time of her resignation that she had quit her job (fall of 2009) and joined a pro-life group in praying outside the facility after she watched a fetus “crumple” as it was vacuumed out of a patient’s uterus.
“When I was working at Planned Parenthood I was extremely pro-choice…but after seeing the internal workings of the procedure for the first time on an ultrasound monitor, “I would say there was a definite conversion in my heart…a spiritual conversion.”
Johnson, 29, who had worked for the clinic eight years, told Fox News that she became disillusioned with her job after her bosses pressured her for months to increase profits by performing more and more abortion which cost patients between $505 and $695.
“Every meeting that we had was, ‘We don’t have enough money—we’ve got to keep those abortions coming. It’s a very lucrative business and that’s why they want to increase numbers.”
Johnson, who had an Episcopalian upbringing, said the pressure came in personal interactions with her regional manager from the larger Houston office. She had originally got involved with Planned Parenthood “to help women and…(do) the right thing” and the idea of raking in cash seemed to go against what she felt was the mission of the 93-year-old organization.
Without a doctor in residence, the Bryan clinic offered abortions only two days a month, but the doctor could perform 30 to 40 procedures on each day. Johnson estimated that each abortion could net the branch about $350, adding up to more than $10,000 a month.
Johnson, who helped facilitate 22,000 abortions before quitting, had been meeting with Shawn Carney, the Coalition For Life executive director, whose offices were down the street and who had been seen outside the Planned Parent clinic helping women find alternatives.
Today, Abby travels sharing her story, educating the public on pro-life issues, advocating for the unborn, and reaching out to abortion clinic staff who still work in the industry. She is the founder of “And Then There Were None,” a ministry designed to assist abortion clinic workers in transitioning out of the industry. To date, this ministry has helped over 500 workers leave the abortion industry. Abby lives in Texas with her husband and eight children.
“Unplanned” is the second anti-abortion movie to have been produced under an assumed title—“Redeemed”—and in secrecy—the first being “Roe. V. Wade,” which resulted in crew members quitting once they learned the movie leaned anti-choice. However, in the case of “Unplanned” the crew were aware of the content and were primarily in sync with the pro-life message.
“But no matter which side you come down on, there’s a big chunk of this movie that will make you uncomfortable because Abby has been pro-choice and pro-life,” said Chuck Konzelman, who co-wrote and co-directed with Cary Solomon.
The movie is produced by Daryl Lefever, who produced “I Can Only Imagine,” a Christian film that earned $83.4 million on a $7 million budget.
Michael Hernandez, Co-Founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service, founder of History Makers International—a community nonprofit serving youth and families in Ventura County, is a former Southern California daily newspaper
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By Sheryl Hamlin
During the presentations section of the April 3, 2019 Santa Paula Council meeting, William LeFeuvre, SPARC Board President, informed the council and the audience of the upcoming SPARC Community Survey.
The survey is being conducted under the guidance of the Institute of Human/Animal Studies at the University of Davis. Mr. LeFeuvre stated that they expect the survey to be complete and ready for distribution by the next week. He did not say how and where the survey would be distributed. Presumably it will be on the SPARC website and/or Facebook page.
The goal of the study is to obtain feedback from the community on the social and financial impacts of the shelter.
Additionally, SPARC is conceptualizing a new animal shelter with the help of Indigo Architects who specialize in sustainability. And, he was pleased to report the Dr. Joythi Robertson is working with SPARC to analyze their operations.
Citizen Murphy Hauls SPARC Animals to New Shelter
In other SPARC related news, Pam Murphy, lifetime resident of Santa Paula and animal lover, loaded up her truck with animals from overflowing SPARC and drove over night to a shelter in Northern California, where they hope to be able to adopt the animals. The clip below is taken from a Facebook screenshot.
Thanks to citizens and to the SPARC Board for their commitment to animals.
To watch the SPARC presentation, click here.
For more information on author click sherylhamlin dot com
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By Stephen Frank, California Political News and Views
Did you know that under Obama your tax dollars were used to give illegal aliens Federal assistance in mortgages? Free health care, free education, allowed to work and vote, protected by the police from Federal law enforcement—why shouldn’t our nation be flooded with criminals from foreign nations—we even use tax dollars to buy a home for them!
“In December, a letter from three Senate Democrats claimed that HUD barred “approximately 800,000 individuals approved for DACA from FHA-insured mortgage loans”. This refers to the total number of DACA illegal aliens and it’s unknown how many of them have obtained FHA loans in past years.
Ellie Mae’s millennial tracker estimated that the average size of an FHA loan to millennials is $186,454. Potential exposure to illegal alien mortgages could then climb as improbably high as $150 billion.
It’s unknown how many illegal aliens have taken out FHA loans, but some media stories have cited loan officers for whom illegal alien FHA loans represent a significant percentage of their business.”
I hope President Trump releases those numbers—the American people need to understand how the Democrats have been undermining our nation, using our tax dollars.
Related article: Trump Ends Obama’s Taxpayer-Funded Mortgages for Illegal aliens
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