Category: Uncategorized

WASHINGTON ― Over the past decade, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has permanently seized $3.2 billion in cash from individuals who were never charged with a crime, according to a Justice Department inspector general report released Wednesday.

Authorities confiscated this money using a controversial process known as civil asset forfeiture, which allows police to take property ― including vehicles, jewelry, houses and, most commonly, cash ― based solely on the suspicion it’s tied to crime.

Law enforcement officials say civil forfeiture is a crime-fighting tool that allows them to target the financial proceeds of illegal activity, even when they don’t have direct evidence of wrongdoing.

But due to lax reporting standards around civil forfeiture, the extent of those benefits is unclear, the report found. It also raised concern about the DEA’s reliance on interdiction operations along highways and at transportation hubs, as well as the agency’s inconsistent policies and training procedures.

Since 2007, the DEA has taken in $4.15 billion in cash forfeitures. Of that, $3.2 billion ― or 81 percent ― involved cases in which no criminal charges were filed. These sorts of seizures, usually made without a court-issued warrant and without the presence of narcotics, carry the highest risk of violating civil liberties, according to the report. With no independent judicial oversight and weak protections for property owners, opponents argue that members of law enforcement routinely abuse civil forfeiture.

The report sought to probe these issues by taking a closer look at how the DEA takes people’s cash. But the authors encountered a roadblock.

The DEA doesn’t “use aggregate data to evaluate fully and oversee their seizure operations, or to determine whether seizures benefit criminal investigations or the extent to which they may pose potential risks to civil liberties,” the report found.

Investigators instead chose to focus on a sample of 100 DEA cash seizures made without a warrant or the presence of drugs. Of these seizures, 85 were part of interdiction activity at transportation facilities or along highways. The smallest seizure involved $3,000 confiscated at an airport.

Only six of these 85 cases were prompted by pre-existing intelligence about a specific drug crime, and most were associated with cold consent encounters, which involve officers approaching people they suspect of involvement in drug trafficking and asking their permission to conduct a search. The inspector general’s office has criticized this practice as being prone to racial profiling.

In over half of the 100 cases examined, there was no discernible evidence the seizures advanced law enforcement efforts, the report found. In only 44 cases could the DEA say conclusively that the seizures had “advanced or been related to ongoing investigations, resulted in the initiation of new investigations, led to arrests, or led to prosecutions.” 

Investigators were also concerned about the lack of uniform training for both federal agents and members of state or local task forces working in cooperation with federal authorities to make seizures.

“While the factual situations vary from case to case, such differences in treatment demonstrate how seizure decisions can appear arbitrary, which in turn can fuel public perception that law enforcement is not using this powerful authority legitimately,” the report read. 

These kind of findings undercut the claim that civil forfeiture is vital as a crime-fighting tool.
Darpana Sheth, senior attorney with the Institute for Justice

Civil asset forfeiture has come under bipartisan criticism in recent years, and support for reform is growing at both the state and federal levels. Critics say the practice infringes on people’s due process and property rights by forcing them to engage in costly legal battles to prove their innocence and recover their assets.

Opponents of civil forfeiture also claim it encourages law enforcement to haphazardly seize property rather than focus on public safety. The inspector general’s report shows some evidence of the DEA pursuing civil forfeiture over-aggressively. Although property owners only challenged 20 percent of seizures over the past decade, nearly 40 percent of the contested cases resulted in a full or partial return of assets.

“These kind of findings undercut the claim that civil forfeiture is vital as a crime-fighting tool,” said Darpana Sheth, senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm that believes all forfeiture should be tied to a criminal conviction. “The report reaffirms what IJ has been saying all along, about how forfeiture laws create this perverse financial incentive to seize and forfeit property.”

Congress has considered legislation to reform civil forfeiture in recent years, and the latest report appeared to add some urgency to that effort. 

“Today’s report by the Inspector General makes it clear that asset forfeiture is in desperate need of reform,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. “While asset forfeiture is a useful law enforcement tool to fight crime, the current lack of oversight and training poses dangers to Americans’ civil liberties.”

But the acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, put into place under President Donald Trump, was critical of the report and described asset forfeiture as a “vitally important law enforcement tool” that had helped “fight the current heroin and opioid epidemic that is raging in the United States.”

A 10-page response to the report from acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco said the Justice Department had “significant concerns” about the final report. Relying upon a review of the 100 DEA cash seizures had led to “inaccurate or misleading” conclusions, Blanco wrote. 

Blanco said the Justice Department was taking another look at a 2015 order from former Attorney General Eric Holder which affected some of the department’s asset forfeiture work by limiting the types of civil forfeiture cases state and local law enforcement could pursue through the federal process.

“The Department is conducting a review of the Attorney General’s 2015 Order to determine all potential negative effects on law enforcement ― federal, state and local,” Blanco wrote. “One key underpinning of that review is that the Department continues to rely on critical cooperation with its state and local law enforcement partners. It is imperative that these partnerships remain strong.”

Both Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions seem receptive to the idea of allowing law enforcement to use civil forfeiture more aggressively after police officials complained that their operations had been scaled back in recent years.

But the inspector general’s office said Blanco’s response indicated he didn’t fully appreciate the civil liberties issues at stake. 

“While we have long recognized that a well-run asset forfeiture program can be an important law enforcement tool, we believe that the Criminal Division’s comments on our report indicate that it has missed a key point: regardless of the importance of the tool, it must be used appropriately, with effective oversight, and in a way that does not place undue risks on civil liberties,” the office responded in a statement.

“We further believe that the Department has an increased responsibility to protect civil liberties when its investigative components use a tool that permits seizure and forfeiture of property without judicial involvement or apparent connection to investigative activity, and then uses the proceeds of that property as a funding mechanism for law enforcement operations,” the statement continued.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

A provocative new campaign from the Los Angeles LGBT Center hopes to raise awareness about and access to prescriptions for HIV-prevention drug PrEP for those most at-risk of contracting the disease.

“F**k Without Fear” intentionally uses “raw, authentic language” in order to capture the attention of the most vulnerable populations when it comes to HIV contraction: young gay/bisexual men of color and transgender women.

“We want to start a dialogue that increases awareness, shatters stigmas and most importantly encourages individuals to adopt the highly effective HIV prevention method, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP),” the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Chief Medical Officer Robert Bolan, M.D., told The Huffington Post. “It’s also designed to break through the clutter of messages to clear up common misconceptions about PrEP, particularly regarding its cost, effectiveness and safety.”

In conjunction with the campaign, the Los Angeles LGBT Center rented a giant billboard with its message in the heart of West Hollywood.

For those who are unfamiliar with the drug, PrEP is short for Pre-exposure prophylaxis and is a pill taken once a day to reduce the risk of contracting HIV from sex by more than 90%.

“If the current rates of infection don’t change, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 2 gay/bisexual black men and 1 in 4 gay/bisexual Latino men will be infected with HIV in their lifetimes,” Bolan continued. “We refuse to accept that eventuality, which is why we developed our campaign specifically for that demographic. We tested our campaign messaging in focus groups, and the feedback confirmed that we were on the right track—particularly when people told us they’d wear our campaign message on t-shirts. Fortunately, it is working. Since the campaign launch, we’ve roughly doubled the number of people we’re helping to get on PrEP each week, and most of them are our target demographic.”

Head here to learn more about the “F**k Without Fear” campaign.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Dear Aaron Sorkin,

During a Writers Guild festival last weekend, you were seemingly flabbergasted to learn about the diversity issues that plague Hollywood, asking, “Are you saying that women and minorities have a more difficult time getting their stuff read than white men and you’re also saying that [white men] get to make mediocre movies and can continue on?” Nailed it.

Now, a lot of people are still just trying to wrap their heads around how a man of your stature and accomplishment ― who has been in the film business for 29 years ― could not see that there was a huge lack of diversity in the industry. But you seemed genuinely concerned, which I appreciate, and open to learning more.

I would like to help you learn. For the low price of exactly $52,539.38.

You’re probably wondering how I derived at this number. Well, Mr. Sorkin, in between the time you were helming “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” and “The Social Network,” I was in college studying radio, television and film. I was doing theatre, improv, stand-up and sketch. I was writing and filming my own web series and shorts, working at the on-campus radio station, being a part of the Black Student Union, the marching band, and working three jobs ― ultimately accruing the aforementioned $52,539.38 in student loan debt, which I think is an apt amount of money to explain racial and gender inequalities in cinema to a man with an estimated $80 million net worth.

I would start your education by examining your own work. Like how in your hit television show “The West Wing,” one out of the 12 lead actors was a person of color, and two out of the 32 credited writers were women of color. Or like how on “Sports Night,” one of 13 lead actors was a person of color, and zero people of color were employed on the 15-person writing staff. Or even how on “Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip,” two out of 12 lead actors and one out of 16 writers were people of color.

In the combined 17 minutes of trailer time for your films “Steve Jobs,” “Moneyball,” “The Social Network,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “The American President,” “Malice,” and “A Few Good Men” people of color appear in a total of just 30 seconds of screentime, usually in the capacity of one of these three functions:

• Opening a door
• Standing by a door
• Looking at Jonah Hill

You probably didn’t notice the imbalance, since you grew up in Scarsdale, a town made up of an 85 percent white and 1 percent Black population. Maybe that’s why you’ve assumed that the White House staff, sports newsrooms and sketch comedy television programs only have one Black dude working there ― but then again, you spent your more formative post-college years in New York City during the 80s.

In addition to pointing out that your personal catalog’s incredible lack of diversity, I think we can also safely open the door to these issues as a whole in Hollywood.  

But again, that’s just how I’d start… if you paid me that $52,539.38.

I’d go on to explain how the massive wage gap issues in Hollywood can be a huge deterrent for people of color and women looking to make a break in the business. For example, women in Hollywood typically make 30 cents to every dollar that their male counterparts do. Need an illustration? Academy Award winner Natalie Portman most likely made three times less than Ashton Kutcher for “No Strings Attached.”

It’s even harder for people of color, and especially women of color. The dude who plays “Sheldon” on “Big Bang Theory” makes $1 million per episode. To compare, Oscar winner Viola Davis reportedly makes $250,000 per episode for “How To Get Away With Murder.” Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard make $175,000 for Empire, one of the highest-rated TV dramas in years. And Tracee Ellis Ross? She’s paid $80,000, which is $20,000 less than her male co-star on “Black-ish.”

Mr. Sorkin, have you seen how incredible Tracee Ellis Ross is on “Black-ish?” There is utterly no reason she should only be paid just $27,460.62 more than what you’ll be paying me for explaining the racial discrepancies in Hollywood!

Finally, Mr. Sorkin, I’d like to point out how you asked, “If you are a woman or a person of color, you have to hit it out of the park in order to get another chance?” Yeah, pretty much! As the old adage of being Black goes, we have to work twice as hard to get half of what they got. This applies in the entertainment industry, working in an office or the presidency. We’ve sat through white people’s reboots, remakes, sequels and prequels. How many times do we have to watch Tom Cruise as “The Last Samurai” or Matt Damon on “The Great Wall” to get to refreshing storytelling like “Moonlight?” Is Hollywood’s obsession with whitewashing or white mediocrity our fault for “not hitting it out of the park,” or is it just an industry standard set years ago by bronzing up Elizabeth Taylor and saying she’s Egyptian?

Maybe it’s even the fact that, about once a year, a movie comes out that’s like, “Hey, Black people! Remember the worst years for you guys in American history? Well, here’s three hours of ‘Slavery: The movie! Starring Handsome White Guy as the Good One! Lady with her Hair Aflutter as The Abolitionist! And Slave Joe played by Adam Sandler, of course!’” When it’s not that, we’re typically relegated to tokenism or embarrassingly stereotypical characters. I personally have auditioned for some form of a thug or drug addict at least 50 times. I once auditioned for a cyber-tech thug, so I was like, at least it’s something a little different.

When we create opportunities ourselves. it’s constantly met with resistance ― like how the trailer for Netflix’s “Dear White People” was flooded with dislikes and negative comments because of its simple request: don’t wear blackface.

Mr. Sorkin, I would love to go into great detail about how you and rest of Hollywood can effectively begin to allow voices of color and women to get into writers’ rooms, production offices and on the screen. But I can only do that after a payment is made to NELNET and Kentucky Higher Education Student Loans split into $39,196.44 and $13,351.10, respectively.

I hope that we can come to terms on this written proposal of mine, because like you said, “If you write it, they will come.” I certainly hope you do invest in this knowledge, Mr. Sorkin, and if not, then maybe you can’t handle the truth.

Sincerely,

Martin Morrow

P.S. Pay me!

Martin Morrow (@martinMmorrow) is an ensemble member in The Second City’s 105th Mainstage revue The Winner…Of Our Discontent. This post originally appeared at secondcity.com

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

It has been nearly two years since Rachel Dolezal was outed by her parents for being a white woman who claimed to be black. Unfortunately, she is still a national news sensation.

On Tuesday, nearly half a million people tuned in to a Facebook Live video hosted by The New York Times that featured Dolezal (and only Dolezal), who shamelessly plugged her new autobiography, In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World. Thousands more also likely tuned in to her appearance on the “Today” show that same morning to watch Dolezal recount her unusual life experiences, much of which we’ve all heard before.

People should have found a more productive way to spend their time because, frankly, Dolezal doesn’t deserve it. Dolezal is a master manipulator and people, time and again, have consumed her bizarre story as if it is one that carries enough magnitude or depth to explore race in America in an authentic and accurate way. It doesn’t.

This public infatuation with Dolezal is just a dark, twisted cycle fed by media consumers who drive interest and content creators who provide coverage ― but it is all crafted in a way that benefits Dolezal most. With the release and promotion of her new book, Dolezal is still able to profit from selling her story of being a white woman privileged enough to claim and convince members of the public that she is black, taking up space otherwise occupied by people who don’t have the luxury of crafting their own racial identity. 

I was among the many journalists who covered Dolezal’s alarming story when she was first exposed in June 2015. However, later in that same week, Dylann Roof murdered nine black people in Charleston, South Carolina, in a racially motivated act of terrorism. In the immediate aftermath of that tragedy, I wrote a piece in which I made a personal vow never to report on Dolezal again because I had firmly concluded that dissecting her story was meaningless when compared to the trauma and terror actual black people face every day:

In the last few days, I have seen former NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal’s white face, terribly tanned and masked as “black,” plastered across TV screens, her name dominating my Twitter timeline and her life dissected through discussions I’ve both overheard and participated in. I no longer care to see, hear or say her name.

I have remained committed to that promise, until today. In the last 48 hours, Dolezal’s face has painfully popped up on social media feeds and widely respected national news platforms, each time with a new weave, the same spray tan and mention of her new autobiography leading headlines. This is deeply upsetting because it immediately triggers disappointment in how easily society can succumb to sensationalized stories like Dolezal’s self-calculated spectacle. It does not, and likely will never, serve as a useful catalyst for understanding this country’s racial dilemmas.

We could instead turn our attention to the hate crimes being carried out across the country and the tragic killing of Timothy Caughman, a black man, by a white terrorist. We could focus on the horrendous death of Darren Rainey, who was burned “like a boiled lobster” in a Florida jail. We can help find black and Latinx girls who have gone missing in Washington, D.C. ― the case has alarmed the city’s black residents, but seemingly not nearly as many whites. We could dedicate our energy to defending prominent black women like Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Ca.) and journalist April Ryan from shameful attacks made against them by white male public figures. We could explore the experiences black women face in the workplace, dig deeper into the ongoing police brutality against black boys and girls, amplify the experiences of black Muslims living in fear and/or discover stories that prioritize mental health care in black America.

These stories deserve as much, if not more, attention than Dolezal, and this is precisely where my personal journalistic priorities lay.

While Dolezal didn’t expect to have her story revealed to the world, she did have control of deciding whether to share the truth herself sooner. She chose against it, ultimately finding comfort in masking her identity for decades and pushed to the verge of misery when it was all uncovered. She has since been fired from her position as the president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, been removed from her job as a professor of African studies, and legally changed her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo (which means “gift from the gods”). And, yes, she still identifies as black. But the struggles Dolezal currently faces is a situation for which she can only blame herself ― and one that may not have escalated as quickly had she been honest from the beginning.

Dolezal has every right to tell her story, write a book and talk about her life experiences, but it does not mean the media or its consumers should amplify her voice or promote her mission to spout what most of us already know, and what many of us no longer care to read or watch. Almost immediately after Dolezal appeared on the NYT on Tuesday, #ActualBlackWomen began trending on Twitter as a way to deliberately overshadow her 30-minute feature by highlighting the books real black women have written.

We’ve probably all been guilty of sharing Dolezal’s story, or at least parts of it, at some point ― but we must recognize that it is distracting, counterproductive and unnecessary. Let’s return our focus to more pressing matters affecting marginalized, overlooked and misrepresented communities of color.

Surely, the stories of these black people deserve your attention, too.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

A gay adult film star is setting an important example of how to be an ally by donating $250 he earns from every sce he shoots to the Gay-Straight Alliance network.

Markie Moore of Next Door Studios made the announcement Saturday morning at The Phoenix Forum, a trade show for adult online entertainment, in Tempe, Arizona. The adult entertainer, who originally hails from Colorado and previously announced his retirement, told the audience that not only had he decided not to retire, but he wanted to donate a portion of his salary from that point forward for queer youth.

“I’ve always felt a calling within myself to help people ― especially those who can’t necessarily help themselves,” Moore told the crowd. “And over the years it’s only gotten stronger, this feeling. And I thought that I had to subtract myself from the adult industry to make this happen. So I took some time to reflect and I realized that this is the very industry that changed my life for the better. Being more confident, comfortable with who I am, comfortable with my sexuality. So I’ve decided not to retire and from this point forward I will be donating $250 from every scene to the GSA network ― the Gay-Straight Alliance network.”

Moore then went on to say that he thinks what LGBTQ people need now more than ever is love and support.

“[The GSA is] a charity that organizes clubs within middles schools and high schools for LGBTQ youth, giving them a safe place to learn, a comfortable place to socialize and avoid that hate ― and just to grow,” he continued. “I believe we just need to love each other. Just be kind.”

Gay-Straight Alliances are important resources for LGBTQ youth in schools, providing support and safe spaces in what may otherwise be hostile environments.

We’d love to see more powerful statements of support for LGBTQ youth like this in the future.

You learn more about Markie Moore below (while the video is PG-13, you may not want to watch it at work in other potentially sensitive environments).

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

In his film, “Imperial Dreams,” director Malik Vitthal attempted to accurately show America’s housing projects. 

Starring John Boyega, Rotimi, Glenn Plummer, and Keke Palmer, the Netflix original film chronicles a reformed gang member’s journey to care for his son and pursue his dreams of becoming a writer after serving a prison sentence. Upon his return to his old neighborhood of South Central, Los Angeles, the young father’s hopes are threatened by the neighborhood’s history of crime and poverty. 

Filmed in Watts’ Imperial Courts Housing Projects, Vitthal says he wanted the film to serve as an authentic depiction of life in America’s projects.

“We just wanted to give people a slice of life of what it would be like to live in the projects for a few days,” the director explained in an exclusive Netflix clip provided to HuffPost. “To kind of go through those same struggles and obstacles of not having as much access. We just wanted to touch people with an experience. That was our main goal.”

Despite receiving community support from local residents, Vitthal added that filming in the housing complex was nearly derailed by Los Angeles’ housing authority.  

“There was a certain point where the housing authority wanted to take the location away from us and they wanted us to shoot somewhere else because they felt like we put the housing community in a bad light,” he said. “All the people in the community kind of stepped up on our behalf and petitioned to get the project’s location back for us so that we could shoot there.”

For local residents of Imperial Courts, it was important to highlight their community accurately. 

“They were more saying, ‘look this story needs to be told,’” Vitthal said. “They wanted a real representation of their lives on the screens. So it was definitely a community project in that way.”

“Imperial Dreams” is now available on Netflix. Check out more of Malik Vitthal’s exclusive interview in the clip above.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

On Tuesday, Fox News was hit with a racial discrimination lawsuit from two black female employees who are accusing a white executive of racial harassment and the network of ignoring their complaints. 

Tichaona Brown, a payroll manager, and Tabrese Wright, a payroll coordinator, claim they faced “top-down racial harassment” from comptroller Judith Slater that led to a workplace environment of “severe and pervasive discrimination and harassment,” the New York Times reports. 

The lawsuit, filed against Slater, Fox News and 21st Century Fox in State Supreme Court Tuesday night in the Bronx, lists multiple instances of alleged racism. Slater is accused of “suggesting black men were ‘women beaters’ and that black people wanted to physically harm white people,” claiming black employees mispronounced certain words, mocking the Black Lives Matter movement, making comments about Wright’s hair and credit score, asking Wright if her three children were “fathered by the same man” and calling their majority-black department “urban” or “Southern.” 

Slater, who worked at Fox News for 19 years, was fired on Feb. 28. The Wrap was the first to report the firing last week, which occurred following an internal investigation into allegations Slater engaged in a pattern of racist behavior. 

“We take any complaint of this nature very seriously and took the appropriate action in investigating and firing Ms. Slater within two weeks of this being brought to our attention. There is no place for abhorrent behavior like this at Fox News,” a spokesperson told The Wrap at the time. 

While the lawsuit states Brown was fired, a spokesperson told The Huffington Post that Brown is still employed by Fox News. Wright was moved to another sector of finance/accounting. 

“We take complaints of this nature very seriously and took prompt and effective remedial action before Ms. Brown and Ms. Wright sued in court and even before Ms. Wright complained through her lawyer,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Huffington Post. “There is no place for inappropriate verbal remarks like this at Fox News. We are disappointed that this needless litigation has been filed.” 

News of the lawsuit comes after Fox’s Bill O’Reilly mocked Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Ca.) for her hair during a segment on “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday. Black women took to Twitter to call out O’Reilly and share their own stories of mistreatment in the workplace with the hashtag #BlackWomenAtWork. O’Reilly later apologized. 

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Kristen Bell wants her daughters to celebrate peoples’ differences.

The actress is mom to 4-year-old Lincoln and 2-year-old Delta. During a recent Facebook Live interview with Parents magazine, she shared her thoughts on raising her children to be “global citizens.” Hear what she had to say starting at the 9:30 mark in the video below. 

Bell referenced a chapter in the book Nurture Shock, titled, “Why White Parents Don’t Talk About Race.”

“You think, ‘Oh they’re going to see that I have a black friend, and they’ll know it’s OK.’ That’s not the way humans work,” she explained, adding that people tend to have a natural instinct to recognize someone different as “the other.”

“Kids will notice differences,” Bell explained. “So we talk to them about it ― like, our best friend is Indian, and we’re always like, ‘Look at this, isn’t this cool? The difference between Monica’s skin and Mommy’s skin? And they’re different colors. Did you know everybody is a different color?’”

She added, “You talk to them about it, so the idea of ‘the other’ is never left alone in their brain.” Bell believes that if parents don’t acknowledge other cultures or the differences between individual human beings, kids may draw their own conclusions based on fear.  

“Differences are also important, cultures are important, and it’s important to acknowledge those because if you ignore them, your kids are seeing them, [and] they’re coming to their own conclusions. The topic needs to be open,” she said.

Watch the full interview to learn more about the actress’ approach to parenting, including her thoughts on sleep and work-life balance.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

“Saturday Night Live” is currently enjoying its most successful season in decades, thanks in no small part to the the country’s ravenous appetite for political commentary in the lead up to and fallout from the president election. 

The show’s depictions of public figures like Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer have helped many to digest the in which world we find ourselves. Some of the bits have become instant classics. Some never quite got the due they deserved. Some, frankly, weren’t that great.

So, since this is the internet, we decided to rank 32 Trump-related sketches this season. A few notes before we begin:

1. I have made the executive choice not to include Weekend Update bits. That’s it’s own thing and it just didn’t feel right.
2. If I missed a sketch, please forgive me.
3. Please direct your hate mail to maxwell@huffingtonpost.com.
4. I developed the rankings using an algorithm based on historical performance of “SNL” sketches over time. Each sketch is weighted not only according to how funny the sketch is today, but how funny it will become in the coming years.
5. Just kidding, these rankings are entirely arbitrary. 

32. Aliens invade Trump’s America

Date: March 11, 2017

Views: 7+ million

Signature line: 

We are going to beat these aliens, because we have got the best military. But we don’t win anymore. And the aliens are laughing at us! They’re killing us, and they’re laughing at us.

Sorry to say, but this sketch immediately felt tired when it appeared earlier this month. Basically, President Donald Trump grapples with an alien invasion while misidentifying two black women, Leslie Jones and Sasheer Zamata, as “aliens.” After months of Baldwin’s spot-on impression, a lot of the jokes seemed like rehashes of ones from earlier in the season. Something had to be last.

31. Walter White is named the head of the DEA 

Date: Dec. 10, 2016

Views: 4+ million 

Signature line: 

Trust me: I know the DEA better than anyone, inside and out. 

Cool as it was to see Bryan Cranston resurrect Walter White for a brief moment, it felt as if the “SNL” writers relied too much on his presence to keep this sketch going. The jokes themselves landed flat.

30. Trump meets some potential cabinet picks during the holidays

Date: Dec. 17, 2016

Views: 8+ million

Signature line: None, really.

With apologies to John Goodman’s Rex Tillerson, this was a fine sketch, but a forgettable one as well. Let’s move on. 

29. Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin grow tired of being mean to one another 

Date: Nov. 5, 2016

Views: 10+ million

Signature line: 

Hey, Mark Burnett. Mark, my baby. I know you’re sitting on some pretty racist tapes of Donald on “The Apprentice,” so, uh, Mark, as they say on “Wheel of Fortune,” give me an “N”!

When this sketch aired just days before the election, there’s almost no doubt that Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin foresaw Clinton winning and Baldwin’s time with the show winding down. That explains why the end of this sketch has a finale-type air to it ― with the pair shedding their characters to run through Manhattan while Arcade Fire plays in the background. These sort of sentimental bits never quite do it for me. Also there is a big “whoops” factor here. 

28. Melania lets her anger show in “Melanianade”

Date: Oct. 15, 2016

Views: 6+ million

Signature line: 

Without us you wouldn’t be standing there, you’d just be that guy with the weird hair.

This digital short allowed the women around Trump to have a moment to go in on him to the tune of Beyoncé’s “Sorry.” While it’s hard not to get excited about anything related to the queen, little was uproarious here. 

27. Trump Googles “ISIS” inside Trump Tower

Date: Nov. 19, 2016

Views: 13+ million

Signature line: 

OK, right, here we go. Big plan. Big plan. Google, what is “ISIS”?

In the month after Trump’s inauguration, reports arose describing Trump as a nervous man who was starting to realize the weight of what it means to be U.S. president. That’s depicted well in this Trump Tower sketch, but the highlight is something much simpler: Trump and potential Secretary of State Mitt Romney (Jason Sudeikis) exchanging an awkwardly long handshake before Romney finally asks, “This isn’t going to work, is it?”

Bonus points for causing a Trump tweet!

26. Hillary Clinton sings “Hallelujah”

 Date: Nov. 12, 2016

Views: 9+ million

Signature line: 

I’m not giving up and neither should you.

Coming out of the presidential election, many were looking to “SNL” on Nov. 11 to make sense of what felt like a political sea-change. The show, hosted by Dave Chappelle, later would help do just that, but the cold open that week simultaneously felt too obvious and too random. Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton, singing “Hallelujah” by the recently deceased Leonard Cohen? It might have touched some of the most sensitive of us that night, but it felt like alike a forced mashup that wasn’t exactly poignant and certainly wasn’t funny. With some time having passed, hopefully you’ll be able to agree. 

25. Kellyanne Conway goes full-on “Chicago”

Date: Jan. 21, 2017

Views: 4+ million

Signature line: 

When the world goes up in flames, at least I’ll know they knew my name.

This is a well-done bit, which imagines Kellyanne as something akin to Chicago’s Roxie Hart, hungry for fame and willing to do whatever it takes to get it. But is it funny? Not really. 

24. Trump gets caught in yet another hot mic moment

Date: Oct. 8, 2016

Views: 10+ million

Signature line: 

I wish that I was that hurricane, tearing through all of that hot Miami p***y. I would just destroy it. 

After audio of Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault to Billy Bush leaked last year, it was a matter of how, not if, “SNL” would address it. They went with another hot mic moment live on CNN, followed by Hillary Clinton celebrating with champagne and music. Watching it now, you can remember how inevitable Clinton’s victory once felt to almost everyone.

23. A movie trailer about a brave Republican who is TBD 

Date: March 4, 2017 

Views: 2+ million

Signature line: 

“… it’s definitely not about Paul Ryan.”

Who, exactly, will be the Republican that finally stands up to Donald Trump? As this mock trailer argues, the answer is “TBD.” By no means a classic, but a good digital short that didn’t get enough love. 

22. Turns out all the CNN guests are just “Westworld” bots

Date: Nov. 19, 2016

Views: 350,000+ (Note: This was re-uploaded in February)

Signature line: 

The one in the glasses has stepped out of his loop. He was starting to remember.

“SNL” takes the cultural zeitgeist of the moment, HBO’s “Westworld,” and combines it here with the political zeitgeist to create a sketch about CNN analysts who live in a constant loop of talking points before malfunctioning on air. Not pee-your-pants funny, but a good enough social critique to let it jump a few spots.

21. See the world through Donald’s eyes

Date: Dec. 10, 2016

Views: 2+ million

Signature line:  

Calm! Calm! Kellyanne will fix it. 

The sketch is simple and solid: We get to imagine the world through the president’s eyes: His hands are huge, and sometimes so are his promises. It is a world of ego and insecurity, and it’s just as scary as you’d think it would be.

20. The judge on “People’s Court” lets Trump know he’s freaking everyone out  

Date: Feb. 11, 2017

Views: 11+ million

Signature line: 

And let me just say, you are doing too much, OK!? I want one day without a CNN alert that scares the hell out of me. I just want to relax and watch the Grammys, all right? And no one has ever said that.

Bringing Donald Trump to the People’s Court was a fine idea. As Trump joked at the beginning of the sketch, he is “a TV president,” after all. But it’s Cecily Strong as the judge who not only controlled the bit, but channelled the feelings of the country in early February when she begged the president to just take a day off so people didn’t have to sent into a complete panic for one 24-hour period.  

19. Kellyanne tries in vain to take a day off

Date: Oct. 8, 2016

Views: 3+ million

Signature line: 

Of course black people don’t have one less toe than white people!

At the moment this digital short aired in October, Kellyanne Conway had only been famous for a few months, but already, she had become a near-ubiquitous part of American life. It felt as if any time you turned on the television, Kellyanne was there. How could one woman do so much? Hence, McKinnon’s hilarious rendition of what “a day off” must feel like for an exhausted-looking Kellyanne, which is not much time off at all. The critique of this sketch, however, is that it painted Kellyanne as a good person who hates Trump more than anyone else ― something that has become harder and harder to believe.

18. A new U.S. welcome video for a new America

Date: Feb. 4, 2017

Views: 3+ million

Signature line: 

You’ll also need a valid passport from your country of origin. NOT INCLUDING IRAQ, IRAN, SYRIA, LIBYA, SOMALIA, SUDEN AND YEMEN, AND MAYBE AUSTRALIA, WE’LL SEE. 

The days following the introduction of Trump’s travel ban were chaotic. Protests erupted and tears were shed. So “SNL” gets some kudos for producing an organized digital short that envisions the calm U.S. customs welcome video in Trump’s America. It showed just how ridiculous the situation was getting.

17. “Hillary Actually”

Date: Dec. 17, 2016

Views: 6+ million

Signature line: 

Anyway, enjoy your holidays. But keep in mind, if Donald Trump becomes president, he will kill us all.

If you like “Love Actually,” you probably loved this holiday mashup, in which Hillary Clinton begs an Electoral College voter not to go with Trump in the same way Andrew Lincoln’s character once revealed his feelings for Keira Knightley’s. But the truth is, that scene in the original movie was kind of weird if you think about it, and these are my arbitrary rankings, so I’m docking it a bit for that. 

16. Leslie tries out to become the next Trump  

Date: Feb. 11, 2017

Views: 2+ million

Signature line: 

Is it like a “Hamilton” thing where you’re making a comment on race and politics?

Nope, it’s about giving America what it wants. 

For a brief moment in early February, a movement started online to have women play a signifiant number of the men in the Trump administration. We never got that, but we did get this fantastic little bit by Leslie Jones, who reveals her secret urge to one day President Donald Trump. 

15. Kate McKinnon as some combo of Jeff Sessions and Forrest Gump  

Date: Mar. 4, 2017

Views: 6+ million

Signature line: 

The president made a great speech. Folks were thrilled on account of it was real words in a row for a whole hour. We was all as happy as a monkey with a peanut machine. Then I want to bed. I got 800 messages and phone alerts, saying I was a sneaky little liar. I didn’t know what to do. So my lawyer said: Run, Jeffrey, run! I started running and running. I ended all the way sitting at this bus stop with you.

This sketch ran a bit long, and it dipped at points as a result, but Kate McKinnon simultaneously impersonating some combination of the U.S. attorney general and Forrest Gump is good enough to let it sneak into the top half of these rankings. Especially considering Jeff Sessions had recused himself from any investigation into the 2016 general election just days before, it was easy to see how he would want to be on the  run.

14. Vladimir Putin addresses the American people after Trump’s inauguration 

Date: Jan. 21, 2017

Views: 5+ million

Signature line: 

Today, many of you are scared and marching in the strets. You are worried that your country is in the hands of this unpredictable man. But don’t worry, it’s not. Relax, I got this. Putin’s going to make everything OK.

For most of the season, Beck Bennett’s rendition of Vladimir Putin has been a bit of a side-piece, always hilarious but rarely the center of a sketch. But one day after Trump’s inauguration, it was Putin alone who was center stage. Let’s just say that the jokes about the country being in his hands have held up quite nicely so far.   

13. Kellyanne Conway stalks Jake Tapper in search of some sweet, sweet airtime 

Date: Feb. 11, 2017

Views: 4+ million

Signature line: 

I just want to be part of the news, Jake. 

Kate McKinnon’s Kellyanne Conway took on many forms over the season, but it was probably at its best when she was seen not as a nervous, tired wreck, but as a woman who so desperately wanted to remain a part of the mainstream news cycle that she’s willing to go full “Fatal Attraction” on Jake Tapper to do so. 

12. “If he wasn’t divesting, how could there be so many damn papers?”

Date: Jan. 14, 2017

Views: 12+ million

Signature line:  

I’m his lawyer, and this right here is all the papers that prove that Mr. Trump is really divesting. I mean, look at all these papers. If he wasn’t divesting, how could there be so many damn papers? There’s papers here. There’s papers here. It’s like help, help, lifeguard, I’m practically drowning in papers! 

The highlight of this sketch, which parodied the president-elect’s press conference just days before his inauguration, wasn’t anything related to Alec Baldwin. It was Cecily Trump’s brief moment on stage as Trump’s tax lawyer. In a thick New York accent, she makes a great point: There were certainly a lot of papers on that desk. 

Bonus points for causing a Trump tweet!

11. “The Bubble,” a new sort of town

Date: Nov. 19, 2016

Views: 4+ million

Signature line: 

Coming in January 2017, The Bubble is a planned community of like-minded free thinkers, and no one else.

Following the presidential election, the left-leaning metropolitan pockets of the country started to have earnest conversations about what they could do to reach outside of their bubble. To which “SNL” asked: Why not reach inside? “The Bubble,” an infomercial for an insular planned community that sure looks a lot like Brooklyn, made fun of like-minded rich people who enjoy reading clever stories on McSweeney’s at internet cafes. Who can’t get behind that?

10. Hillary Clinton wins Trump Bingo during the final debate

Date: Oct. 22, 2016

Views: 19+ million

Signature line: 

I’ve said this before and Ill say it again: Nobody has more respect for women than I do. [UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER]

The third and final presidential debate wasn’t the best ― in fact, it might have been the least memorable of the three. But by way of the sheer comedic force provided by the real-life Trump, it still provided some memorable moments, even if they weren’t as eye-popping as what transpired at the actual debate. Bad hombres and nasty women, anyone? That’s a-bingo. 

9. Trump retweets a 16-year-old named Seth

Date: Dec. 3, 2016

Views: 9+ million

Signature line: 

It was from a young man named Seth. He’s 16. He’s in high school. And I really did retweet him. Seriously, this is real.

There were times this season when the real world was so absurd that the best thing “SNL” writers could do was sit back and embrace the fact that nothing could be weirder than what Trump actually did. So it was with this skit about the president’s continuing desire to retweet people like a 16-year-old boy named Seth. Yes, McKinnon and Baldwin had to clarify, this happened in real life too.

Bonus points for causing a Trump tweet!

8. “Complicit,” Ivanka’s very own scent

Date: March 11, 2017

Views: 7+ million

Signature line:

“Complicit,” the fragrance for the woman who could stop all this, but won’t.

One of the better Trump-related digital shorts of the year, “Complicit” was a sharp and layered attack on a woman who has quietly pushed herself as a woman who will defend women, but who has remained, well, complicit thus far. Who knew a parody ad for a fragrance could be so devastating?

7. Trump sits at a tiny desk next to President Steve Bannon

Date: Feb. 4, 2017

Views: 12+ million

Signature line: 

OK, Donald, that’s enough fun for tonight. Can I have my desk back?

Yes, of course, Mr. President. I’ll go sit at my desk. 

I’m a simple man. Depict Steve Bannon as a walking skeleton in a black cloak and put Donald Trump at a small desk with a giant toy, and I’m happy. 

6. Melissa McCarthy returns as Sean Spicer

Date: Feb. 11, 2017

Views: 15+ million

Signature line: 

The Bowling Green massacre — not the Kellyanne one, the real one. The Horror at Six Flags. The Slaughter at Fraggle Rock. The night they drove Old Dixie down. OK?! And then there is the light terrorism this week when Nordstrom’s decided to stop selling Ivanka Trump’s line of clothing and accessories. That’s Nordstrom’s loss, because these are high, high quality products. In fact, I am wearing one of her bangles right now.

McCarthy’s return as Sean Spicer felt almost inevitable, but that didn’t make it any less exciting when it actually happened. Just as she was the first time, McCarthy came out as a full-on comedic force for more than eight minutes, subsidized by Kate McKinnon revealing her Jeff Sessions impression. And then, to top is all off, Spicey started driving his lectern straight at the press. 

5. Alec Baldwin debuts his Trump impression

Date: Oct. 1, 2016

Views: 23+ million

Signature line: 

The thing about the blacks is that they’re killing each other. All the blacks live on one street in Chicago. All on one street. I just read it this morning. It’s called Hell Street, and they’re on Hell Street, and they’re all just killing each other, just like I am killing this debate.

Alec Baldwin debuted his Trump impression to widespread acclaim. Later on in the season, it would get harder to get laughs from more or less repeating Trump’s claims, but for at least that one night, nothing was better, and Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton was more than willing to let him do the talking.

4. Hillary Clinton tries to act like a human in the second presidential debate

Date: Oct. 15, 2016

Views: 21+ million

Signature line: 

Hi Patrice, let me start by walking over to you just as I practiced. Right, left, right, left, right, left. 

Donald Trump made for the easiest comedic fodder throughout the season. But when Kate McKinnon was at her best as Hillary Clinton, she might have been even funnier. At no point was that more clear than when “SNL” parodied the second presidential debate.“I’d like to begin tonight by attempting a casual lean,” she said at the start of the debate. In retrospect, of course, McKinnon’s depiction of a powerful woman who wants so desperately to be seen as normal proved to be more than a little spot-on. 

Bonus points for causing a Trump tweet!

3. White liberals finally realize America is racist in “Election Night” skit

Date: Nov. 12, 2016

Views: 14+ million

Signature line: 

Oh my god. I think … America is racist. 

Dave Chappelle’s turn as “SNL” host gave us a couple memorable moments, including his heartfelt monologue just days after Donald Trump’s victory and a great performance by A Tribe Called Quest. But here, white liberal America got its mirror. The sketch juxtaposed their shock and horror upon realizing their country is still racist against the reaction of Chappelle and Chris Rock, who quite literally reacted in the exact opposite way. It was a sketch that captured a particular moment in time, and did so perfectly. 

2. Black Americans and a Trump supporter find common ground on “Black Jeopardy”

Date: Oct. 22, 2016

Views: 19+ million

Signature line: 

OK, the answer there: “They out here saying that every vote counts.” Oh, Doug again. 

What is, “Come on, they already decided who wins even ’fore it happens.”

When “Black Jeopardy” popped up last October, it did something that few journalists had been able to do in years prior by tying black Americans’ concerns about the country together with the most unlikely of people: rural Trump voters. The lack of trust in powerful institutions had bottomed out, and “SNL,” of all places, was the place that zeroed in on it.  Slate called the sketch “The Most Astute Analysis of American Politics in 2016.” But just as importantly, it was funny. 

1. Melissa McCarthy debuts her Sean Spicer impression 

Date: Feb. 4, 2017

Views: 25+ million

Signature line: 

I’d like to begin today by apologizing on behalf of you to me!

With apologies to Alec Baldwin and the entire “SNL” cast, there is really no other choice here. In 20 years, Melissa McCarthy’s thunderous impression of the White House press secretary ― which was so devastating that it even bothered Trump himself ― will be the moment we remember above all others. It’s just too Spicey. 

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday, March 31 on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017 

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

For years, Finland has been hailed as a kind of promised land for parenting, thanks to its generous leave policies, subsidized daycare and famed free “baby boxes,” that can double as safe, simple infant beds.

Now the practice of giving new parents cardboard boxes is picking up steam in this country.

Alabama announced this week that it will become the third state to offer free baby boxes to all new parents, with the goal of providing a safe sleep space and helping to lower that state’s high infant mortality rate through education.

The boxes ― distributed by the California-based company, The Baby Box Co. ― will be filled with free newborn essentials, like diapers and baby wipes, and will include a firm mattress in the bottom. They are essentially a small, cardboard bassinet.

“The Baby Box program is essential to establishing a strong understanding of proper infant care during their most vulnerable time in life,” Alabama Governor Robert Bentley said in a press release announcing the new program.

Boxes will be given to any expecting or new parents who watch a 10-minute online video about safe sleep and complete a brief quiz, and can be delivered to them directly or picked up at a designated location.

“The boxes themselves aren’t inherently magic,” The Baby Box Co.’s co-founder and CEO Jennifer Clary told The Huffington Post. “With families being required to view their community’s online curriculum through babyboxuniversity.com related to prenatal health, breastfeeding, safe sleep practices and newborn care before receiving a free Baby Box, the program takes education a step further than just providing a free box that doubles as a safe sleep space.”

In Finland ― which for decades has been the only country to offer the program ― boxes have been distributed to low-income mothers in hospitals since the 1930s, when the infant mortality rates in that country were extremely high. In 1949, the program was expanded to all mothers, and women there are now given a choice between a cash benefit of roughly 140 Euros or the baby box ― with about two-thirds of expectant women opting for the latter. 

“It has become a tradition in Finland,” Dr. Eric Eichenwald, chief of the division of neonatology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told The Huffington Post. “It’s one of these rites of passages for families now, that they get this box.”

But experts say there are clear public health benefits associated that go well beyond simply giving new moms and dads some free stuff.

“The intent of these baby boxes is to provide a safe sleeping environment for newborns, particularly in situations where parents might not be able to afford a crib or they haven’t prepared for the baby to come home,” Eichenwald said.

There are not studies directly measuring the effect of the boxes, he said, but it is reasonable to assume that they played a role in Finland’s dramatically improved infant mortality rates because they promote safe sleeping practices.

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents to put babies to sleep on their backs, on a firm surface without lose blankets or bedding and in their room (but not a shared bed) to help prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS.

States like Alabama ― where the infant mortality rate is significantly higher than the national average, and where SIDS is one of the top three causes of infant deaths ― are definitely hoping that something as simple as a free cardboard box can improve outcomes. It plans to distribute up to 60,000 boxes in 2017.

Alabama follows in the footsteps of New Jersey, which announced in January that it would distribute roughly 105,000 boxes in 2017. Ohio announced earlier this month that it had also partnered with The Baby Box Co. and will distribute 140,000 baby boxes in the next year.

And Eichenwald believes other states may soon follow suit, in part because it is such a low-cost intervention.

“I think,” he said, “it has the real possibility to catch on.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices