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NEW YORK (AP) — Nothing shows off hip-hop’s ability to change and adapt, to be reinvented again and again, more than the different sounds that have come out over the decades as it spread around the country and the world.

New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, and these days, around the world – name a place, and its likely that local rappers have taken the elements of hip-hop and made it their own.

They brought their own experiences to the way they rap and what they rap about and the musical influences they use.

And as society and technology have changed, so has hip-hop, as creators have taken to different platforms and their music has become readily available to listeners everywhere. It’s all part of the magic of hip-hop.

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U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, have introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2023.
The legislation would gradually increase the minimum wage to $17 an hour by 2028.
Scott and Sanders said it would provide about 28 million Americans with a long-overdue raise.

“No person working full-time in America should be living in poverty,” Scott stated.
“Raising the minimum wage is good for workers, good for business, and good for the economy. When we put money in the pockets of American workers, they will spend that money in their communities.”

Republican members of Congress have repeatedly stifled efforts to raise the minimum wage, with many claiming it would harm businesses, even causing some to close.

“The $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. It must be raised to a living wage—at least $17 an hour,” Sanders insisted. “In the year 2023, a job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it. At a time of massive income and wealth inequality and record-breaking corporate profits, we can no longer tolerate millions of workers being unable to feed their families because they are working for totally inadequate wages.”
Sanders continued: “Congress can no longer ignore the needs of the working class of this country. The time to act is now.”

The Democrats and the legislation’s 146 co-sponsors said that after more than a decade with no increase in the federal minimum wage—the most prolonged period in U.S. history—millions of workers are working full-time jobs but are still struggling to make ends meet.

They noted that one in eight workers in the United States earns wages that leave them in poverty, even when working full-time and year-round.

“And there is now no place in America where a full-time worker making the federal minimum wage can afford to cover the rent for a modest two-bedroom apartment,” Scott asserted.

“The Raise the Wage Act is good for workers, businesses, and the economy,” he continued.
“When we put money in workers’ pockets, they will spend that money at local businesses. The Raise the Wage Act will ensure that everyone can share in a stronger economy.”
The lawmakers noted that the Raise the Wage Act of 2023 would:

• Gradually raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $17 by 2028;
  Index future increases in the federal minimum wage to median wage growth to ensure the value of minimum wage does not once again erode over time;
• Guarantee that tipped workers are paid at least the full federal minimum wage by phasing out the subminimum wage for tipped workers, which will ensure decent, consistent pay without eliminating tips;
• Guarantee that teen workers are paid at least the full federal minimum wage by phasing out the rarely used subminimum wage for youth workers; and
• End subminimum wage certificates for workers with disabilities to provide opportunities for workers with disabilities to be competitively employed and participate more fully in their communities.

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* This article was originally published here

In what activist Sherrilyn Ifill called a crisis in which everyone needs to start treating it as such, more stunning revelations have surfaced over lavish gifts accepted and not previously disclosed by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Now, Democratic lawmakers are taking to social media to demand Thomas step down.
The calls for his resignation come after another shocking investigative report by ProPublica.

The exposé, released on Thursday, Aug. 10, delves into undisclosed luxury vacations and gifts Thomas received from affluent individuals.

The revelation has again ignited a firestorm of outrage and ethical concerns.
“Justice Thomas has brought shame upon himself and the United States Supreme Court with his acceptance of massive, repeated, and undisclosed gifts,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) tweeted on the social media platform now known as X.

“No government official, elected or unelected, could ethically or legally accept gifts of that scale. He should resign immediately.”

The damning ProPublica report exposed that Justice Thomas received a minimum of 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights, numerous VIP passes to sporting events, and two lavish resort stays, all financed by billionaire backers, during his tenure on the bench.

The report argued that Justice Thomas may have violated legal requirements by failing to disclose these extravagant travels and luxury engagements.

ProPublica reported that Thomas, typically “perched in the skybox at sporting events, had at least two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast.

“This accounting of Thomas’ travel, revealed for the first time here from an array of previously unavailable information, is the fullest to date of the generosity that has regularly afforded Thomas a lifestyle far beyond what his income could provide. And it is almost certainly an undercount,” the report asserted.

ProPublica continued: “While some of the hospitality, such as stays in personal homes, may not have required disclosure, Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises, and expensive sports tickets, according to ethics experts.”
Politico noted that at least four other House Democrats also called for Thomas’ resignation, including Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Bill Pascrell (D-N.J), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), and Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).

“Unprecedented. Stunning. Disgusting. The height of hypocrisy to wear the robes of a #SCOTUS and take undisclosed gifts from billionaires who benefit from your decisions,” Jayapal posted on X. “Resign.”

Democrats in the Senate have attempted to push legislation that would reform the Supreme Court’s ethical guidelines to increase transparency.

That bill passed committee but is unlikely to get through a full Senate.

“I said it would get worse; it will keep getting worse,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who helped spearhead the bill, said on X in response to the report.

“The latest ProPublica revelation of unreported lavish gifts to Justice Clarence Thomas makes it clear: these are not merely ethical lapses,” Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin wrote on X.

“This is a shameless lifestyle underwritten for years by a gaggle of fawning billionaires.”
Perhaps even more significant, the pattern exposes consistent violations of judicial norms, experts, including seven current and former federal judges appointed by both parties, told ProPublica.

Earlier this year, ProPublica revealed Texas real estate billionaire Harlan Crow’s generosity toward Thomas, including vacations, private jet flights, gifts, the purchase of his mother’s house in Georgia, and tuition payments.

The new report said the New York Times also noted revelations about wealthy business people Thomas met through the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive nonprofit.
Among them were David Sokol, a former top executive at Berkshire Hathaway, and H. Wayne Huizenga, a billionaire who turned Blockbuster and Waste Management into national goliaths.

ProPublica pointed out that The Times reported that Thomas gives access to the Supreme Court building for Horatio Alger events.

Such access costs at least $1,500 in donations per person.

According to ProPublica, Thomas once complained that he sacrificed wealth to sit on the court.

“The job is not worth doing for what they pay,” he told the bar association in Savannah, Georgia, in 2001, “but it is worth doing for the principle.”

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* This article was originally published here