TRUMP SAYS KANYE WEST HAS ‘GOOD TASTE’ FOR LIKING HIM
PHOTO COURTESY OF MIND EQUALS BLOWN
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump praised Kanye West last week for having “good taste” for supporting the president. Trump said in an interview with “Fox & Friends” that he knew the rapper “a little bit” and always got along with him, and said that West has noticed the low unemployment rate for black Americans.
“He sees that stuff and he’s smart and he says, `you know what, Trump is doing a much better job than the Democrats did,”’ the president said. West recently offered his support for Trump in a series of tweets, saying they both share “dragon energy.” That caused a backlash among other public figures who oppose the president In a tweet on Thursday, West wrote that while hate is a similar emotion to love, “hate is not the answer.”
He also tweeted a link to a TMZ.com story about himself with a headline that described West as “the opposite of erratic.” The story noted that West is releasing a new album in the coming months. West has toyed with running for president himself and on Wednesday tweeted a poster of his face emblazoned with the slogan “Keep America Great” and “#Kanye2024.”
KENYA BANS FILM FOR PROMOTING ‘LESBIANISM’
NAIROBI, Kenya – The Kenyan government has banned a film which it said has “clear intent to promote lesbianism in Kenya contrary to the law.” The film entitled “Rafiki,” which is the first feature film to premiere at the annual Cannes Film Festival, shows intimate sexual scenes between two women. In Kenya, being convicted of homosexual and lesbian sexual relations can result in a prison term of up to 14 years.
The right to have same-sex relations is “not of any major importance” in Kenya, said President Uhuru Kenyatta in a CNN interview earlier this month. Film director Wanuri Kahiu said she is “incredibly sorry” to confirm the ban of “Rafiki,” or “Friend” in Swahili, by the Kenya Film Classification Board, according to Associated Press reports.
“I think that there are discerning audiences not only in Kenya but the entire world that are able to judge what’s good and bad and it’s not what’s defined by the Kenya Film Classification board,” the film’s director told The Associated Press.
She said she has tried to have the film classified for viewers 18 and above. Many African nations have laws against sodomy and have been regularly criticized by LGBTQ and human rights activists. Out of 56 nations in Africa, only 22 have laws which allow same-sex relations. In some countries, like Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia, homosexuality is punishable by death.
NEW STATUE HONORS CIVIL RIGHTS ICON CORETTA SCOTT KING
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW HURLBUT/NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
BOSTON (AP) – Coretta Scott King’s alma mater in Boston has unveiled a new statue honoring the civil rights icon. The New England Conservatory revealed the bronze bust, titled “Continuation of a Dream,” last week to mark King’s birth on April 27, 1927, in Marion, Alabama. King was a human rights and social justice activist and wife of Martin Luther King Jr. The couple met as students in Boston. Martin Luther King Jr. received his theology doctorate from Boston University while Coretta Scott King graduated with a music education degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1954. She received an honorary doctorate from the school in 1971 and gave commencement speeches in 1971 and 2004. The bust, which was designed by MacLean Tiffany, is on permanent display in the school’s library.
NIGERIAN LEADER URGED TO REMOVE US TRADE BARRIERS
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE STATE HOUSE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump urged Nigeria’s leader to remove trade barriers to allow additional U.S. investment in the African nation. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is the first African leader to visit him at the White House. Trump noted that the U.S. sends more than $1 billion in foreign aid annually to Nigeria and said the U.S. should get something in return. “We think that we are owed that,” Trump said at a joint White House news conference. Trump said the U.S. “will be investing substantially in Nigeria if they can create that level playing field.”
The Nigerian president’s visit followed an uncomfortable start to the Trump administration’s approach to the world’s second-most-populous continent. Trump stirred anger in Nigeria last year after reports that he said during an Oval Office meeting that Nigerians wouldn’t want to go home to their “huts” if they were permitted to visit the U.S. Nigeria was among the African nations that summoned the U.S. ambassador to explain Trump’s comments that he wanted less immigration from “shithole”’ countries in Africa and more from places like Norway. Trump denied using the vulgar term, but others who were present said he used that language.
Asked whether he and Buhari had discussed the remark, Trump said they had not, but he told Buhari: “You do have some countries that are in very bad shape and very tough places to live in. But we didn’t discuss it because the president knows me and he knows where I’m coming from.” Buhari deflected, saying he was unsure about “whether that allegation against the president was true or not.” He said, “So the best thing for me is to keep quiet.”
HISTORICALLY BLACK MISSISSIPPI COLLEGES TO GET NISSAN DONATION
CANTON, Miss. (AP) – Nissan has announced it will give $250,000 to seven historically black colleges and universities in Mississippi to support science, technology, engineering and math programs. The Japanese company says it has now given nearly $2 million to the seven schools since it began making cars at its Canton plant in 2003. Nissan Motor Co. says to Alcorn State University, Coahoma Community College, the Utica campus of Hinds Community College, Jackson State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Rust College and Tougaloo College are getting the money. Jeffrey Webster, director of diversity and inclusion for Nissan North America says the schools are using proven practices to help students studying technical subjects. Figures show historically black institutions produce 27 percent of African American students with bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields.
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