Community Matters

(Community Matters) 

After a sustained lobbying effort, the Securities and Exchange Commission late last year approved a plan that will allow JPMorgan Chase, Goldman and the Blackstone Group to buy up to 80 percent of the copper available on the market.

By early next year, according to documents filed with the S.E.C., Goldman plans to be storing copper in the same Detroit-area warehouses where it now stockpiles aluminum. continued

(Community Matters) President Obama struck an extraordinary balance in this discussion of Trayvon Martin’s death, about the trial, the historical context of African American males’ experiences, and the reality of young black men’s disproportionate involvement in the criminal justice system (after clarifying that the trial was fair, conducted appropriately, that reasonable doubt was relevant, that once a jury’s spoken, that’s how our system works).

“There are very few African American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are very few African American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me — at least before I was a senator . There are very few African Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often. And I don’t want to exaggerate this, but those sets of experiences inform how the African American community interprets what happened one night in Florida. … The African American community is also knowledgeable that there is a history of racial disparities in the application of our criminal laws — everything from the death penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. And that ends up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case.

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(Community Matters) Just booked reservations for one of the Olamaie pop up evenings at Lenoire.

a menu that focuses on farm-to-table freshness and a dining experience that combines classic southern hospitality with modern restaurant craftsmanship.

featuring chicken grease biscuits ($6), blue crab over rice with a corn souffle ($20) and pickled prawn with soft scrambled eggs and smoked tomato ($22)

(Community Matters) The exquisite preparation and tastes without the wait, Kristi Willis in Culture Map lists newest, favorite fast dining:

1. PhoNatic – bringing Vietnamese cuisine to the masses.
2. Verts – the doner kebap — a sandwich with Turkish origin that is wildly popular throughout Europe.

3. Tarka Indian Kitchen – fast-casual Indian restaurant that shares ownership with the Clay Pit

4. Hat Creek Burger – Premium Gold Angus, turkey and vegetarian grain burgers, hand-cut fries and Blue Bell milkshakes

(Community Matters) Steven’s Manos de Cristo presentation on YouTube.

(Community Matters) A few years ago . . . probably less than half uncles, aunts and cousins from Sepulveda grandfather’s family.

(Community Matters) AMOA-Arthouse has a new name.

and a restated mission and purpose:

The hallmark of The Contemporary will be our new program of commissioning and exhibiting works by today’s leading internationally recognized artists. We will present these works, and provide opportunities to meet the artists, at the Jones Center and Laguna Gloria simultaneously, allowing us to take advantage of the unparalleled variety of physical resources that we have at The Contemporary.

I like it

(Community Matters) I’ve stayed quiet on the Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman verdict b/c as imperfect as our jury-based judicial system is, it’s the best I’ve seen offered. I assume jurors take their jobs seriously and they certainly have better information than I do. But, after watching George Zimmerman on Sean Hannity say he regrets nothing that he did, nothing that happened, that he wouldn’t do anything differently . . . that’s just too much.

I’ve written before how some of Austin’s most influential & successful black women have shared with me that they remind their sons to be careful that they must behave better than others if stopped by police, or to avoid suspicion. And, this morning I listened to several black parents on NPR talk about how they fear for their kids, how their kids are held to different standards.

I don’t know if the jurors are right that they believe it was Zimmerman screaming for help over the telephone, or if Trayvon threw the first punch. But, I do know Zimmerman was held to a different standard by the police (probably because his father is a judge) until national attention focused on the case. And, I’m watching him interviewed on Fox News saying he doesn’t regret killing a 17 year old boy who he found simply walking through a neighborhood. Yes, I’m now going on record that there’s been a miscarriage of justice and hoping federal authorities will further review the case.

(Community Matters)  Hyperloop, a transport system faster than the bullet train.

Elon Musk (the founder of SpaceX, Tesla Motors and PayPal) is to publish details on August 12. He describes it as a “cross between a Concorde, a railgun and an air hockey table.”

(Community Matters) 

drink lots of champagne in honor of revolution!

(Community Matters) Super article on Opportunity Austin 3.0. I especially love that they are adding performance metrics for educational attainment, poverty and congestion as well as new job creation. I might not always agree with every incentive package (though I do with many if not most), but I always thank God for Gary Farmer’s generous leadership & investment.

(Community Matters) Video from this morning’s Running With The Bulls in Pamplona. Reading that the path into the stadium was unexpectedly blocked – the bulls and people locked together. Was bad; 23 taken to hospital, one evidently in quite serious condition.

omg, makes me shake; I remember being so scared when they got close.

video here

Pamplona, Spain 2000

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