News & Knowledge / Facts
Musician speaks out after Kennedy Center performance canceled #Musician #speaks #Kennedy #Center #performance #canceled
A musician who canceled his upcoming New Year’s Eve concert at the unofficially renowned Kennedy Center wasn’t afraid to candidly explain why.
Renowned tenor saxophonist Billy Harper, a member of the jazz septet The Cookers, has written about his feelings regarding the ensemble’s decision to cancel their planned New Year’s Eve performances at the historic Performing Arts Center, which now bears Donald Trump’s name on its facade.
“I would never even consider performing at a venue with a name (and being controlled by some sort of board of directors) that represents overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture,” Harper said on Facebook Saturday, responding to a comment on a Jazz Stage post.

“The board of directors that currently runs the center, as well as the name displayed on the building itself, represent a mentality and practices that I have always opposed. And I still do, now more than ever,” he added.
“After all the years I’ve spent working with some of the greatest anti-racism heroes like Max Roach and Randy Weston and Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Stanley Cowell, I know they would be rolling over in their graves to see me take the stage in such circumstances and betray everything we have fought for and sacrificed for, but also betray all the listeners who believed (and still believe) in our cause and our music.”

The Cookers also released a statement on their website regarding their “last minute” decision to cancel their New Year’s Eve shows, but it did not explicitly refer to Trump.
“Jazz was born out of struggle and a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, expression and the full human voice,” it reads. “We are not turning away from our audience and want to make sure that when we return to the bandstand, the venue will be able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it.”

“To all those who are disappointed or upset, we understand and share your sadness,” he continues. “We remain committed to playing music that transcends divisions rather than deepens them. »

On December 18, the board of directors of the Center, on which Trump, as president, installed his closest allies, voted to rename it the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
Despite the Kennedy family’s objections and the lack of a legal basis for making such a decision, the president’s name was added to the exterior of the building the next day.
The Cookers are not the only musicians to withdraw from their performances at the Center.
Musician Chuck Redd, a legendary jazz drummer and vibraphonist who has performed alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Byrd, withdrew at the last minute from this year’s Christmas Eve event, despite having headlined the annual show since 2006.

“I chose to cancel our Christmas Eve Jazz Jam at the Kennedy Center when I saw the name change happening last Friday,” Redd, 67, said in a statement to CNN.
“I have been performing at the Kennedy Center since the beginning of my career and I was saddened to see the name change,” he added.
Redd’s decision drew the ire of Trump-appointed Kennedy Center Chairman Richard Grenell, who called it “intolerant” and a “political stunt.”
Grenell said in a letter to Redd, obtained by The Associated Press, that the Kennedy Center would seek $1 million in damages from the musician.
New York dance company Doug Varone and Dancers also announced the cancellation of two on-site performances scheduled for April.
“It’s financially devastating but morally exhilarating,” Varone told the New York Times.
When reached for comment, the Kennedy Center referred the Daily Beast to a statement from Grenell, which was shared on X on Monday.
“The artists who are now canceling their shows were booked by previous far-left leaders,” Grenell wrote. “Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned with recruiting far-left political activists rather than artists willing to perform in front of everyone, regardless of their political beliefs. »
“Boycotting the arts to show that you support the arts is a form of derangement syndrome,” he added.
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Ireland
Tatiana Schlossberg: granddaughter of JFK, died at 35 after diagnosis of terminal cancer #Tatiana #Schlossberg #granddaughter #JFK #died #diagnosis #terminal #cancer
The JFK Library Foundation announced Ms. Schlossberg’s death in a statement today.
“Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the statement said. The message was signed “George, Edwin and Josephine Moran, Ed, Caroline, Jack, Rose and Rory”.
Ms. Schlossberg is survived by her husband, George Moran, their three-year-old son and their one-year-old daughter.
She is also survived by her parents, Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, her brother Jack Schlossberg and her sister Rose Schlossberg, married to Rory McAuliffe.
The environmental journalist revealed she was diagnosed with a rare type of acute myeloid leukemia, a blood cancer, in a New Yorkers essay published on November 22, the 62nd anniversary of his grandfather’s assassination.
I had swum a kilometer in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant
In the essay, Ms. Schlossberg recounted her disbelief. “I couldn’t believe they were talking about me.
“I had swum a mile in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant. I wasn’t sick. I didn’t feel sick,” she wrote.
Ms Schlossberg was diagnosed shortly after giving birth to her daughter last year, when doctors noticed her white blood cell count was high.
Today’s news in 90 seconds – December 31
“Everyone thought it was pregnancy or childbirth related. After a few hours, my doctors thought it was leukemia,” she wrote.
In her essay, Ms. Schlossberg also criticized her cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
“I watched from my hospital bed as Bobby, in the face of logic and common sense, was confirmed for the position, despite never having worked in medicine, public health or government,” she wrote.
She denounced his cuts in research funding, in particular for “mRNA vaccines, a technology which could be used against certain cancers”.
Ms. Schlossberg’s work has focused on the impacts of climate change. She has published several articles in The Washington Postincluding an investigation into the impacts of climate change on cranberry growers.
In 2019, Ms. Schlossberg also published Discreet consumption: the environmental impact you don’t know exists.
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News & Knowledge / Facts
Trump administration says it’s freezing child care funds in Minnesota after series of fraudulent schemes :: WRAL.com #Trump #administration #freezing #child #care #funds #Minnesota #series #fraudulent #schemes #WRAL.com
President Donald Trump’s administration announced Tuesday that it is freezing Minnesota’s child care funds after a series of fraudulent schemes in recent years.
Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on the social platform
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz responded in an article on
“He is politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz said.
O’Neil called out a right-wing influencer who posted a video Friday claiming to have discovered that daycares run by Somali residents in Minneapolis committed as much as $100 million in fraud. O’Neill said he asked Walz to submit an audit of those centers including attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations and inspections.
“We turned off the money spigot and we discovered the fraud,” O’Neill said.
The announcement comes a day after U.S. Homeland Security officials traveled to Minneapolis to conduct a fraud investigation by visiting unidentified businesses and interviewing workers.
There have been years of fraud investigations that began with the nonprofit Feeding Our Future’s $300 million scheme, for which 57 Minnesota defendants were convicted. Prosecutors said the organization was at the center of the nation’s largest COVID-19 scam, when defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food to children.
A federal prosecutor alleged earlier in December that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that have supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen. Most of the defendants are Somali Americans, they said.
O’Neill, who is acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also said in a social media post Tuesday that payments across the United States through the Administration for Children and Families, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will now require “justification and a receipt or photographic proof” before the money is sent. They also launched a hotline and email address to report fraud, he said.
The Administration for Children and Families provides $185 million in child care funds to Minnesota each year, according to Deputy Secretary Alex Adams.
“This money is expected to help 19,000 American children, including toddlers and infants,” he said in a video posted on X. “Any dollars stolen by the scammers are stolen from these children.”
Adams said he spoke with the director of Minnesota’s Office of Child Care on Monday and she was unable to say “with certainty whether these allegations of fraud are isolated or whether the fraud is statewide.”
Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said fraud would not be tolerated and his administration “will continue to work with our federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are arrested.”
Walz said an audit scheduled for late January should give a better idea of the extent of the fraud. He said his administration was taking aggressive steps to prevent further fraud. He has long defended his administration’s response.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota’s most prominent Somali American, urged people not to blame an entire community for the actions of a few.
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News & Knowledge / Facts
Football: WRAPUP 1-Soccer-Arsenal beat Villa 4-1 while Chelsea and Man Utd both held on #Football #WRAPUP #1SoccerArsenal #beat #Villa #Chelsea #Man #Utd #held
LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Arsenal closed out 2025 in emphatic fashion, beating third-placed Aston Villa 4-1 on Tuesday to move five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by Wolverhampton Wanderers, who picked up their third point of the season, while Bournemouth took a point against Chelsea, forcing a 2-2 draw after a frantic first half.
Man United are sixth, tied on 30 points with fifth-placed Chelsea.
At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal slammed the door as they charged Villa, ending their club-record 11-game winning streak.
Goals from Gabriel Magalhaes and Martin Zubimendi early in the second half put Arsenal in control of a match that looked fraught with danger.
Gabriel scored the opener from a corner in the 48th minute before Martin Odegaard slipped in a pass for Zubimendi to score four minutes later. Arsenal secured the points when Leandro Trossard shot from the edge of the area before Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to add the fourth.
Ollie Watkins scored a consolation goal for Villa in stoppage time.
“I think it was amazing,” Jesus told Sky Sports. “It’s always difficult to play against them… The mentality of the team is really, really growing and every game is growing even more and I think we win today because of the mentality.”
Arsenal top the table with 45 points, while second-placed Manchester City can close the gap when they play Sunderland on Thursday.
Villa are six points behind Arsenal.
It took six minutes at Stamford Bridge for Bournemouth to shock Chelsea when David Brooks grabbed the opener. Cole Palmer equalized from the spot in the 15th minute and Fernandez put Chelsea ahead with a shot eight minutes later.
Justin Kluivert brought Bournemouth level in the 27th minute to grab a point, adding to the London side’s unenviable record of one win in seven league matches. Chelsea are in fifth place, while Bournemouth are 10 places below them.
MAN UTD FIGHT
Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee made the most of a rare start by putting the exhausted hosts ahead with a deflected shot from the edge of the area in the 27th minute.
But Wolves managed to equalize just before the break thanks to a header from Ladislav Krejci.
Patrick Dorgu briefly celebrated what he thought was a winner in the 90th minute, but it was flagged for offside.
“We struggled the whole game,” United boss Ruben Amorim said. “We lacked creation… the offensive fluidity was not there.
“We didn’t play well. When you don’t play well with the ball, you struggle without it.”
Wolves have three points from 19 games, 15 points from the safe zone.
Newcastle United’s Joelinton scored after 65 seconds and Yoane Wissa doubled their lead five minutes later in a 3-1 defeat to 19th-placed Burnley, who are winless in their last 10 games.
Josh Laurent pulled one back in the 23rd minute, but Bruno Guimaraes sealed Newcastle’s rare away victory with an injury-time goal.
Everton moved up to eighth in the table with a 2-0 victory over former manager Sean Dyche and Nottingham Forest thanks to goals from James Garner and Thierno Barry.
West Ham United drew 2-2 with Brighton & Hove Albion in a match featuring three first-half penalties.
Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta, from the penalty spot, scored before the break for West Ham, while Brighton’s Danny Welbeck struck from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute but fired another over the crossbar.
Joel Veltman scored for Brighton in the 61st minute to secure the draw.
There are four more games on New Year’s Day, including fourth-placed Liverpool hosting Leeds United at Anfield.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Christian Radnedge)
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