May 26, 2023

Friday, May 26, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

I think the Roundup makes people feel not so alone.

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Joe is always busy.

On 3rd anniversary of George Floyd's death, Biden stops GOP-led effort to block DC police reform law.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday — the third anniversary of George Floyd’s murder — vetoed an effort led by congressional Republicans to overturn a new District of Columbia law on improving police accountability.

The law was part of a push to reform policing nationwide and passed in the wake of the police killing of Floyd in 2020 in Minneapolis. Biden has said he supported many parts of the law, including the banning of chokeholds, limiting use of deadly force, improving access to body cameras and requiring training for officers to de-escalate tense situations.

“I believe we have an obligation to make sure that all our people are safe and that public safety depends on public trust,” Biden said in a statement to Congress vetoing the effort. “It is a core policy of my administration to provide law enforcement with the resources they need for effective, accountable community policing.” (Associated Press).

Biden picks Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. to serve as next chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In this image provided by U.S. Air Force, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., his wife Sharene Brown, and sons, Sean and Ross, pose for a photo during the CSAF Transfer of Responsibility ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Aug. 6, 2020.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will announce Thursday that he is tapping a history-making Air Force fighter pilot with years of experience in shaping U.S. defenses to meet China’s rise to serve as the nation’s next top military officer, according to a senior U.S. official.

The nomination of Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. has been long expected. If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley, whose term ends in October.

Brown's confirmation would mean that, for the first time, both the Pentagon’s top military and civilian positions would be held by African Americans. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the first Black Pentagon chief, has been in the job since the beginning of the administration. The only other Black person to serve as Joint Chiefs chairman was Army Gen. Colin Powell. (Richmond.com).

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The Supreme Court continues its march against a world we want.

Supreme Court Limits E.P.A.’s Power to Address Water Pollution.

Experts said the decision would sharply undercut the agency’s authority to protect millions of acres of wetlands under the Clean Water Act, leaving them subject to pollution without penalty.

The Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to police millions of acres of wetlands, delivering another setback to the agency’s ability to combat pollution.

Writing for five justices, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that the Clean Water Act does not allow the agency to regulate discharges into wetlands near bodies of water unless they have “a continuous surface connection” to those waters.

The decision was a second major blow to the E.P.A.’s authority and to the power of administrative agencies generally. Last year, the court limited the E.P.A.’s power to address climate change under the Clean Air Act.

Experts in environmental law said the decision would leave many wetlands subject to pollution without penalty, sharply undercutting the E.P.A.’s authority to protect them under the Clean Water Act.

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January 6 Sentencing.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes gets 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy.

More than 1,000 individuals have been arrested across the U.S. for crimes related to the Capitol breach, including more than 320 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, per the Justice Department. (Axios).

Yesterday, Kelly Meggs, head of the Florida Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021

Richard "Bigo" Barnett, of Gravette, AK, photographed with his feet on a desk inside then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the Capitol riot was sentenced to four-and-a-half-years in prison on Wednesday.

Details: He was also ordered to 36 months of supervised release and a $2,000 fine, the U.S. (Axios).

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Tributes. Tina.

Tina. The Sound of Pain. The Sound of Pushing beyond all limits.

A remarkable eulogy by Chris Richards, pop music critic, The Washington Post. 👇

Tina Turner sang beyond her pain.

Tina Turner’s voice. You can hear it inside your mind right now. But what is that sound, exactly? Not a house burning down at 4 in the morning. Not a sports car slamming its brakes in the rain. Not some fighter jet ripping through the blue. Not the atom being split. We’re meant to believe that it’s just carbon dioxide sliding past tongue and teeth, but somehow that seems like the least likely option of them all.


Either way, that friction is responsible for some of the most unmistakable music ever generated by the human body — and because we know so much about what this voice has been through, we explain its visceral majesty to ourselves in the most sobering way: It’s the sound of someone who knows pain.

Diana Ross, Angela Bassett Pay Tribute to 'Incomparable' Tina Turner - Variety.

Music makers and entertainers were quick to react to the news of Tina Turner’s death on Wednesday evening, penning touching tributes to the soulful diva across social media. Turner was said to have died peacefully in her home in Switzerland at age 83.

Mick Jagger, Gloria Gaynor, Diana Ross and more lauded the “Queen of Rock’n Roll” as a revolutionary performer and music legend for her contributions to the R&B, rock and pop landscapes. After blossoming into a bonafide global superstar in the late ’80s, Turner went on to release classics like “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” and “The Best.” Others praised Turner’s courage, both as an artist and a woman, for reclaiming her freedom in the face of domestic violence.

In a statement shared with Variety, Angela Bassett, who earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Turner in the 1993 biopic, said:

“How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world? Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like.

Her final words to me – for me – were “You never mimicked me. Instead, you reached deep into your soul, found your inner Tina, and showed her to the world.” I shall hold these words close to my heart for the rest of my days.

I am honored to have known Tina Turner. I am humbled to have helped show her to the world. So on today, while we mourn the loss of this iconic voice and presence, she gave us more than we could have ever asked. She gave us her whole self. And Tina Turner is a gift that will always be “simply the best.”

Angels, sing thee to thy rest…Queen.” 

Beyoncé updated her website with a post dedicated to Turner, whom she called the “epitome of power and passion.” The featured image was taken on the stage of the 2008 Grammys when the duo delivered anunforgettable duet of Turner’s “Proud Mary.”

“My beloved Queen. I love you endlessly. I’m so grateful for your inspiration, and all the ways you have paved the way. You are strength and resilience. You are the epitome of power and passion. We are all so fortunate to have witnessed your kindness and beautiful spirit that will forever remain. Thank you for all you have done.”

Oprah shared a lengthy remembrance on Instagram recalling the moment she transformed from Turner’s “groupie” to her friend. “She was a role model not only for me but for the world. She encouraged a part of me I didn’t know existed,” she said. “Once she claimed her freedom from years of domestic abuse, her life became a clarion call for triumph. I’m grateful for her courage, for showing us what victory looks like wearing Manolo’s and a leather miniskirt. She once shared with me that when her time came to leave this earth, she would not be afraid, but excited and curious. Because she had learned how to LIVE surrounded by her beloved husband, Erwin, and friends. I am a better woman, a better human, because her life touched mine. She was indeed simply the best.”

Celebrities and the White House pay tribute to Tina Turner : NPR

President Biden released a statement where he and his wife praised Turner's accomplishments despite the adversities she faced. "Jill and I send our love and prayers to her husband Erwin, the rest of the Turner family, and fans around the world who are mourning today for the woman they agree was 'simply the best.'"

Former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama also paid tribute to Turner. Obama said: "Tina Turner was raw. She was powerful. She was unstoppable. And she was unapologetically herself—speaking and singing her truth through joy and pain; triumph and tragedy. Today we join fans around the world in honoring the Queen of Rock and Roll, and a star whose light will never fade."

https://twitter.com/therickydavila/status/1661753237924642825?s=61&t=I_Od53CbnPTsbLcD0baXPg

Watch Tina go. Touch.👇

Tornado. Treasure. There Was Nobody Like Tina Turner.

She enthralled the masses like she was a wonder of the world, bringing her singular electricity to songs about survival, freedom and bravery. It’s hard to believe she’s gone.

My paperback of “I, Tina” is falling apart. Anytime I open it, a new page goes fluttering out. Last night, it was page 37. Tina Turner’s talking about the songs that grabbed her as a little kid. LaVern Baker’s “Tweedle Dee” got her because it was quick. “I always liked the fast ones,” Turner writes, “liked that energy, even then.”

You can call this thing a memoir — she spoke it, in 1986, to Kurt Loder, who interpolated it as literature. But it’s always read like a recipe book to me. The ingredients include force, power, will, sex, might. Hence the shock at her death. They’re saying she was 83? Nobody’s buying that. The ingredients made her seem immortal. For seven decades of making music, it all sizzled in her. That energy. It shot from her — from her feet, thighs, hands, arms, shoulders, out of her hair, out of her mouth.

Anytime she and a trio of Ikettes would get to jumping forward, bending over and throwing their arms out, then wagging those fingers, hair a-whipping, it wasn’t merely dancing they were doing, it was sorcery. Tina covered a lot of songs. But I’ve never heard her do “I Put a Spell on You.” She didn’t have to. That dance was it. I read that Adrienne Warren, who played Turner on Broadway, needed physical therapy and personal training to survive the part. For the Hollywood movie of Turner’s life, Angela Bassett essentially became all muscle. They both won acting awards. But the prize most fitting is probably a gold medal.

As a professional vocalist, Turner knew her scales. But I’m sure the scales knew her, too — Richter, Kelvin, Decibel, Fujita-Pearson (that one’s weather for “tornado”). If we’re talking about her doing the Acid Queen in “Tommy,” then the scale must be pH. That energy of hers built a wing of rock ’n’ roll where you can hear a body. Other singers — tremendous, foundational, godly singers — could belt. Ma Rainey, Big Mama Thornton, Big Maybelle, Baker, Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. But Tina grew up around Pentecostals. She could scream. Loder makes the astute point that Turner arrived in 1960, near the dawn of amplified sound. They were made for each other.

Her first hit, with Ike Turner — the man who named her Tina after the white jungle queens of Saturday matinees, the man she was with a decade and a half, the man who for years put her down and beat her up — was called “A Fool in Love.” The song uses inside-out call-and-response. The backing singers call the chorus, and Tina responds like this: “Yay-ay-hey-hey-heeyyy!” The magnitude of her wail and the amplitude of its womanly Blackness stops you cold. It paralyzes you with exhilaration. Mmm hmm: That energy.

And look, it did have … other … registers. She growled, panted, moaned, squealed, yipped. Everybody knows that she was fine-looking, but in the middle of a song, conventional beauty went out of the window. Black singers get it: You’re practicing the art of stank. Sometimes to make that art, you need to be art, and Turner’s face mid-song was art at its most arresting, ornate and original: It was Cubism. She could be flesh-wound raw and choir-loft ethereal. Take the time, in 1966, that Tina gave herself over to Phil Spector and wound up with “River Deep — Mountain High,” one of the most triumphant studio moments of any great singer. She takes the title at its word. She’s Sisyphus. After every chorus, she rerolls her love boulder, even across the bridge. There’s tension, between her nature and Spector’s; her sonic force and his symphonic, percussive Wall of Sound. He put a napkin in her lap, and she used it to mop her brow. (Ike hated that song.)

Turner could get her voice down so low, so sweaty, so sensual that she skipped right past suggestive. It was simply what it sounds like it was: that good pain. She could sound ready for, say, whatever pleasure was in store for her toward the end of the version of “Let Me Touch Your Mind” that’s on “Live! The World of Ike & Tina,” from 1973. Onstage, she, with Ike, transformed Otis Redding’s weepy ballad “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” into X-rated psychodrama that Tina had to bring herself to enjoy being part of. She had to find a way to sell it.

After her divorce became official in 1978, she hit the road and pushed more boulders. In 1982, the boulder stopped in Onoway, Alberta. My friend James is from Edmonton, and Turner’s death on Wednesday shook loose a childhood memory of the time his parents drove to Onoway to see her play the Devil’s Lake Corral. He sent a video. It’s a mind-blowing feat of acrobatics, precision, adrenaline, heft, costuming. In other words, the usual. Turner is drenched before the halfway point. But the reason to bring this show up is how it starts.

Turner blows onto the stage wearing a sandy top and tights that would be a big deal in the town of Bedrock and a silky golden wig that looks like a Shih Tzu’s rear. Her first song isn’t her redefinition of “Proud Mary” or her in-the-trenches urgent undoing of “Help” (stick around). Her first song is Rod Stewart’s wife-murdering nightmare “Foolish Behaviour,” and Tina rips its head off. Presumably, the Devil kept to his lake that night.

More ingredients: chutzpah, irony.

That energy could work a crowd, get it to say “yeah” and “oh” and “ooh” just for her, get it screaming back at her. Tina was an average height — 5’ 4”, maybe. But here’s where a scale fails. Put her in an arena, she scraped the sky.

I’ve seen the footage of what happens when thousands of people take her in at once, often mostly white people — in London, in Osaka, Sweden and L.A. I’ve heard them on “Tina Live in Europe,” from 1988. And I cry. They just lose their minds over her, this Black woman raised in the hollows and back roads of Tennessee, in Nutbush. It’s something — to witness her enthrall masses, to rock them; to see an “Oprah” audience go bonkers with awe, as if she were a wonder of the world.

What is that? It’s the survival — of poverty, of Ike, of tuberculosis she didn’t know she had. It’s the hard-won freedom. It’s the way the songs promised she’d survive: “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine.” But there’s more: She loved herself, loved being herself. We wanted to catch ourselves some of that. Page 133 of “I, Tina”: “I got to thinking that maybe I was such a mixture of things that it was beyond black-or-white, beyond just cultures — that I was universal!”

Arena Tina, Universal Tina, is the Turner I got: “Private Dancer,” “What’s Love Got to Do with It” Tina. The first time I saw her was probably “Friday Night Videos” when I was 8. And here was this long-looking woman in a leather miniskirt, stockings, heels, a denim jacket and hair as imposing as a lion’s head. Little me wanted to be her strutting down the street in that “What’s Love” video, one leg almost completely crossing the other. She looked bad, certain of her badness, strong — but also soft, the way she’d lean back into a dancer and shimmy with his buddy then shimmy with another dude. When she won all those Grammys in 1985, I wanted to sound like the woman accepting them. Was it continental-southern? Caribbean-showbiz?

This was a new Tina, polished, spiritual, with a devastatingly elegant repossession of image and voice. Her renaissance constituted a statement of command — those weren’t wigs up there, they were headdresses. That energy — it had been reinterpreted as wisdom, wisdom that snarled, wisdom that would rule Thunderdome. The lava had cooled some. The smooth fire in this new life and sound of hers — rock ’n’ roll with pop’s synth sheen — had a musical point: “Show Some Respect,” “Better Be Good to Me.” So we did, so we never stopped.

It just occurred to me what else “I, Tina” is. I’ve read this book ratty, but I’d really never thought about that title. It’s a declaration, yes, the staking of a claim. It’s also the beginning of a vow. To live, I think. To live so fully, so galactically, so contagiously, with so much daring, candor, zest and, yes, energy that no one is ever going to believe it when you die.

Wesley Morris is a critic at large and the co-host, with Jenna Wortham, of the culture podcast “Still Processing.” He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for criticism, including in 2021 for a set of essays that explored the intersection of race and pop culture. New York Times.

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