Top 5 Live-WURD Monday July 6
1. U.S. Women win World Cup Title
Carli Lloyd scored twice in the first five minutes on the way to the fastest hat trick in World Cup history and the U.S. made the margin stand up, defeating Japan 5-2 to win the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
With the victory, the American women avenged their 2011 World Cup finals loss to Japan, a game they lost on penalty kicks.
The U.S. struck first, in just the third minute of the game, when Lloyd drilled a shot out of a crowd in front of the net that found the net to Japanese goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori’s right.
The goal, coming off a corner kick by Megan Rapinoe, was the fastest goal in a finals game in Women’s World Cup history, and had Japan trailing for the first time in the tournament.
Lloyd scored again less than two minutes later to put the U.S. up 2-0, flipping a shot through a defender’s legs that trickled into the goal off a free kick.
2. Obama Plans Broader Use of Clemency to Free Nonviolent Drug Offenders
President Obama is poised to issue orders freeing dozens of federal prisoners locked up on nonviolent drug offenses. With the stroke of his pen, he will probably commute more sentences at one time than any president has in nearly half a century.
With many Republicans and Democrats now agreeing that the nation went too far, Obama holds the power to unlock that prison door, especially for young African-American and Hispanic men disproportionately affected.
But even as he exercises authority more assertively than any of his modern predecessors, Obama has only begun to tackle the problem he has identified. In the next weeks, the total number of commutations for Obama’s presidency may surpass 80, but more than 30,000 federal inmates have come forward in response to his administration’s call for clemency applications.
3. Union denounces release of officer names in police shootings
The union representing Philadelphia police officers is challenging the department’s decision to make public the names of officers in police-involved shootings.
Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police filed an unfair labor practice complaint Wednesday with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations
Board, saying the policy change was instituted without negotiating with the union, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“This unilateral change is contrary to decades of past practice between the parties whereby the privacy rights of officers were valued and protected,” the complaint said.
The challenge was filed hours after Commissioner Charles Ramsey said the department will release an officer’s name within 72 hours of a police-involved shooting unless there is a threat against the officer or family members. The new policy is in line with a Justice Department recommendation that police “share basic facts and circumstances” within 72 hours.
4. South Carolina Legislators Gird for Confederate Flag Debate
The South Carolina legislature is expected today to take up the fate of the Confederate battle flag that flies on the State House grounds, responding to demands that it be removed after the June 17 massacre of nine people at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in
Charleston.
The State Senate, encouraged by Gov. Nikki R. Haley and many other elected officials, is scheduled to consider a bipartisan proposal to move the battle flag, long viewed by African-Americans as a defiant tribute to South Carolina’s segregationist past, to the state’s Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum in Columbia.
If the Senate approves the measure, the debate will shift to the House; Republicans control both chambers. A survey of lawmakers by The Associated Press, the South Carolina Press Association, and The Post and Courier, a newspaper in Charleston, found last month that there was most likely enough support in the legislature to approve the plan.
5. George Takei walks back ‘blackface’ remark about Clarence Thomas
“Star Trek” actor George Takei called Justice Clarence Thomas a “clown in blackface” following his dissent in last week’s landmark same-sex marriage ruling. On Friday, Takei said that his words “were not carefully considered.”
“When asked by a reporter about the opinion, I was still seething, and I referred to him as a ‘clown in blackface’ to suggest that he had abdicated and abandoned his heritage,” Takei said in a Facebook post. “This was not intended to be racist, but rather to evoke a history of racism in the theatrical arts. While I continue to disagree with Justice Thomas, the words I chose, said in the heat of anger, were not carefully considered.”
The spat began after last week’s same-sex marriage ruling, when Thomas, one of four justices to dissent, wrote that denying gays and lesbians the right to marry is not denying them of their dignity.
Click here to read these stories on 900amWURD.
Solomon Jones is an Essence bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He is the creator and editor of Solomonjones.com and morning host on 900 am WURD radio. Click here to learn more about Solomon
