With
the advent of FaceBook and Smart Phones, I no longer
take pictures so I'm archiving 2 decades of throw
backs pictures that were taken for my website Guy's
Gallery on FaceBook for public viewing of the people
in the Houston Community. Take a walk down memory
lane. Click the picture below to see pictures you
don't have to be a member of FaceBook to view. Enjoy!
If you would like to see the latest
throwback pictures added? Follow link and
click on Feed View.
Program will reimburse eligible homeowners for Harvey-related expenses
The
Housing
and
Community
Development
Department
(HCDD)
is
releasing
a
new
tip
sheet
for
homeowners
making
repairs
to
their
Harvey-damaged
homes.
Later
this
year,
the
City
of
Houston
will
launch
a
Homeowner
Reimbursement
Program
to
reimburse
homeowners
for
eligible
repair
expenses.
“Houston
is a
resilient
city.
Many
Houstonians
have
been
working
hard
to
rebuild
their
homes,”
said
Housing
and
Community
Development
Director
Tom
McCasland.
“Help
is
on
the
way
to
assist
homeowners
with
the
cost
of
repairs.”
The
Homeowner
Reimbursement
Program
is
one
of
five
programs
the
City
of
Houston
will
launch
to
assist
homeowners
with
home
repair.
Program
guidelines
outlining
the
specifics
of
the
program
are
being
developed
now.
The
tip
sheet
advises
residents
about
how
to
prepare
to
apply
to
the
Reimbursement
Program
as
they
make
repairs.
“We’re
advising
all
homeowners
to
save
receipts,
sign
contracts
for
any
work
completed
on
their
homes,
take
before
and
after
pictures,
build
to
code,
and
familiarize
themselves
with
the
kinds
of
expenses
that
are
eligible
for
reimbursement,”
said
Mayra
Bontemps,
HCD’s
Assistant
Director
for
Disaster
Recovery.
The
program
will
not
reimburse
homeowners
for
luxury
finishes
such
as
marble
countertops,
Jacuzzis,
or
pools.
“Not
everyone
will
qualify
for
the
program,
but
we
want
to
make
sure
homeowners
know
about
the
programs
that
are
coming
and
how
they
can
get
ready,”
continued
Bontemps.
Mayor
Turner
worked
with
the
U.S.
Department
of
Housing
and
Urban
Development,
the
State
of
Texas,
and
County
Judge
Emmett
to
ensure
that
the
City
of
Houston
would
administer
its
own
housing
recovery
programs
and
that
Houston
got
its
fair
share
of
recovery
resources.
The
programs
that
launch
later
this
year
will
be
the
first
in
more
than
$1
billion
for
housing
recovery
programming
from
Hurricane
Harvey.
Earlier
this
year,
HCD
convened
18
public
meetings
and
conducted
an
online
survey
about
Houstonians’
priorities
for
housing
recovery.
More
than
800
people
attended
an
in-person
meeting,
and
an
additional
700+
participated
in
the
online
survey.
See
a
summary
of
public
comments
received
so
far
here.
And
read
the
City’s
Harvey
Action
Plan
here.
Live After Five f/ Pokey, Lil Nathan and
Steep Rideau
Our Value
A well known speaker started off his seminar by
holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked,
“Who would like this $20 bill?”
Hands started going up.
He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you
but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the
dollar bill up.
He then asked, “Who still wants it?”
Still the hands were up in the air.
“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” And he
dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into
the floor with his shoe.
He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. “Now
who still wants it?” Still the hands went into the air.
“My friends, you have all learned a very valuable
lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still
wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was
still worth $20.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled,
and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and
the circumstances that come our way.
We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter
what has happened or what will happen, you will never
lose your value. You are special – Don’t ever forget it!
Omarosa says
she secretly
taped her
firing,
plays audio
Former
presidential
adviser Omarosa
Manigault Newman
said Sunday she
secretly
recorded
conversations
she had in the
White House,
including her
firing by chief
of staff John
Kelly in the
high-security
Situation Room.
It was a highly
unusual
admission, which
immediately drew
fire from allies
of the president
and national
security
experts.
Parts of her
conversation
with Kelly were
played on the
air when she
appeared on
NBC’s “Meet the
Press” to
promote her new
book,
“Unhinged,”
which will be
released next
week. The
Associated Press
independently
listened to the
recording of the
conversation
between
Manigault Newman
and Kelly, in
which Kelly is
heard referring
to potential
“difficulty” in
Manigault
Newman’s future
“relative to
your
reputation.” She
said she
interpreted his
comments as a
threat.
In her book,
Manigault Newman
paints a damning
picture of
President Donald
Trump, including
claiming without
evidence that
tapes exist of
him using the
N-word as he
filmed his “The
Apprentice”
reality series,
on which she
co-starred.
Manigault
Newman said in
the book that
she had not
personally heard
the recording.
But she told
Chuck Todd on
Sunday that,
after the book
had closed, she
was able to hear
a recording of
Trump during a
trip to Los
Angeles.
“I heard his
voice as clear
as you and I are
sitting here,”
she said on the
show.
But the
other recording
she discussed
Sunday could
prove equally
explosive.
“Who in
their right mind
thinks it’s
appropriate to
secretly record
the White House
chief of staff
in the Situation
Room?” tweeted
Ronna McDaniel,
chair of the
Republican
National
Committee.
In the
recording, which
Manigault Newman
quotes
extensively in
the book, Kelly
can be heard
saying she can
look at her time
at the White
House as a year
of “service to
the nation” and
referring to
potential
“difficulty in
the future
relative to your
reputation.”
Manigault
Newman said she
viewed the
comment as a
“threat” and
defended her
decision to
covertly record
it and other
White House
conversations,
describing it as
a form of
protection.
“If I didn’t
have these
recordings, no
one in America
would believe
me,” she said.
The
Situation Room
is a Sensitive
Compartmented
Information
Facility, or
SCIF, where the
nation’s most
consequential
foreign policy
decisions are
made, and staff
are not
permitted to
bring in cell
phones or other
recording
devices.
“I’ve never
heard of a more
serious breach
of protocol,”
said Ned Price,
who served as
spokesman of the
National
Security Council
in the Obama
administration.
“Not only is it
not typical,
something like
this is
unprecedented.”
Price said
there is no one
checking
staffers for
devices at the
door, but there
is a sign
outside the room
making clear
that electronic
devices are
prohibited.
“The
Situation Room
is the
inner-most
sanctum of a
secure campus,”
he said,
describing the
breach as part
of a culture of
disregarding
security
protocols in the
Trump White
House. He also
questioning why
Kelly would ever
choose to have
such a meeting
there.
The White
House did not
immediately
respond to
questions about
the tape, but
has tried to
discredit the
book. White
House press
secretary Sarah
Huckabee Sanders
called it
“riddled with
lies and false
accusations” and
Trump on
Saturday labeled
Manigault Newman
a “lowlife.”
White House
counselor
Kellyanne Conway
also questioned
Manigault
Newman’s
credibility in
an interview
Sunday on ABC’s
“This Week.”
“The first
time I ever
heard Omarosa
suggest those
awful things
about this
president are in
this book,” she
said, noting
Manigault Newman
“is somebody who
gave a glowing
appraisal of
Donald Trump the
businessman, the
star of the ‘The
Apprentice,’ the
candidate and,
indeed, the
president of the
United States.”
Conway said
that, in her
more than two
years working
with Trump, she
has never heard
him use a racial
slur about
anyone.
Manigault
Newman had
indeed been a
staunch defender
of the president
for years,
including
pushing back, as
the
highest-profile
African-American
in the White
House, on
accusations that
he was racist.
But
Manigault Newman
now says she was
“used” by Trump
for years,
calling him a
“con” who “has
been
masquerading as
someone who is
actually open to
engaging with
diverse
communities” and
is “truly a
racist.”
“I was
complicit with
this White House
deceiving this
nation,” she
said. “I had a
blind spot where
it came to
Donald Trump.”
Charlottesville
victim’s mother: ‘So
much healing to do’
Susan Bro,
mother of
Heather Heyer
who was killed
during last
year's Unite the
Right rally,
embraces
supporters after
laying flowers
at the spot her
daughter was
killed in
Charlottesville,
Va., Sunday,
Aug. 12, 2018.
Bro said there's
still "so much
healing to do."
She said the
city and the
country have a
"huge racial
problem" and
that if it's not
fixed, "we'll be
right back here
in no time." (AP
Photo/Steve
Helber)
The mother of a
woman killed when a car
plowed into a crowd of
counterprotesters at a
white nationalist rally
last summer said Sunday
there’s much healing to
do a year after the
violence in
Charlottesville,
Virginia.
Heather Heyer’s
mother, Susan Bro,
visited the site of the
attack on Sunday
afternoon. She laid
flowers at a makeshift
memorial and addressed a
crowd that gathered
around her in downtown
Charlottesville,
thanking them for coming
to remember her daughter
but also acknowledging
the dozens of others
injured and the two
state troopers killed
when a helicopter
crashed that day.
“There’s so much
healing to do,” Bro
said. “We have a huge
racial problem in our
city and in our country.
We have got to fix this
or we’ll be right back
here in no time.”
The vigil was one in
a series of largely
peaceful community
events held in
Charlottesville over the
weekend to mark the
one-year anniversary of
the rally, one of the
largest gatherings of
white nationalists and
other far-right
extremists in a decade.
On Sunday, some 115
miles (185 kilometers)
away in Washington,
Jason Kessler, the
principal organizer of
last year’s “Unite the
Right” event, was
scheduled to hold what
he called white civil
rights rally Sunday
afternoon in Lafayette
Square in front of the
White House.
President Donald
Trump won’t be at the
White House — he was at
his golf club in New
Jersey.
Kessler said in his
permit application that
he expects 100 to 400
people to participate in
his event, though the
number could be lower.
Some leading figures in
the U.S. white
nationalist movement
have said they won’t
attend or have
encouraged supporters to
stay away.
Counterprotesters
assembled in Washington
ahead of the rally’s
scheduled start and were
expected to far
outnumber Kessler’s
crowd. By mid-afternoon,
more than 1,000 people
had gathered in Freedom
Plaza, also near the
White House, to oppose
Kessler’s demonstration.
The counterprotesters
planned to march to
Lafayette Square just
before the arrival of
the white nationalists.
Makia Green, who
represents the
Washington branch of
Black Lives Matter, told
Sunday’s crowd that: “We
know from experience
that ignoring white
nationalism doesn’t
work.”
Earlier this month,
Facebook stunned and
angered counterprotest
organizers when it
disabled their
Washington event’s page,
saying it and others had
been created by “bad
actors” misusing the
social media platform.
The company said at the
time that the page may
be linked to an account
created by Russia’s
Internet Research Agency
— a so-called troll farm
that has sown discord in
the U.S. — but
counterprotesters said
it was an authentic
event they worked hard
to organize.
Government and
police officials in
Washington have
expressed confidence the
city can manage the
events without violence;
the mayor and police
chief have promised a
massive security
mobilization to keep
protesters and
counter-protesters
apart.
Earlier in the day
in Charlottesville, a
crowd of more than 200
people gathered in a
park to protest racism
and mark the
anniversary. The group
sang songs, and speakers
addressed the crowd.
Among them was Courtney
Commander, a friend of
Heather Heyer, the
32-year-old who was
killed when a car plowed
into a crowd of people
protesting the white
nationalists.
Commander, who was
with the 32-year-old
Heyer when she was
killed, said, “She is
with me today too.”
Last year on Aug.
12, hundreds of white
nationalists — including
neo-Nazis, skinheads and
Ku Klux Klan members —
descended on
Charlottesville in part
to protest the city’s
decision decided to
remove a monument to
Confederate Gen. Robert
E. Lee from a park.
Violent fighting
broke out between
attendees and
counterprotesters.
Authorities eventually
forced the crowd to
disperse, but a car
later barreled into the
crowd of peaceful
counterprotesters.
A state police
helicopter later
crashed, killing Lt. Jay
Cullen and Trooper-Pilot
Berke Bates.
Law enforcement
officials faced
blistering criticism in
the aftermath of last
year’s rally for what
was perceived as a
passive response to the
violence that unfolded.
A review by a former
U.S. attorney found a
lack of coordination
between state and city
police and an
operational plan that
elevated officer safety
over public safety.
The anniversary
weekend was marked by a
much heavier police
presence, which also
drew criticism from some
activists.
At one point Sunday,
demonstrators marched
through Charlottesville,
chanting, “Cops and Klan
go hand in hand,” and
“Will you protect us?”
It’s Family Fun Day ~
Prairie View A&M University
Northwest Houston Center
Date/time:
August 18th
Venue:
Prairie View A&M
University -
Northwest Campus
Address:
9449 Grant Road
Chicago to deploy 430 to 600 Additional Officers After Weekend of Bloodshed
In response to the most violent weekend in Chicago since 2016, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson announced plans to deploy additional officers to the neighborhoods most wracked by the recent gang shootings.
Johnson addressed the violence at a Tuesday news conference, his second since the weekend bloodshed, saying that 430 officers have been added to patrols in five of the hardest-hit districts on the city’s South and West sides, the Chicago Tribune reported. Those numbers are set to increase to 600 by the weekend, he said.The announcement comes after 11 people were fatally shot and 74 others badly wounded between 3 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday in an eruption of gun violence attributed mostly to gangs. So far, no one has been arrested in the deadly shootings but Johnson said police have several promising leads.
As part of the added manpower, beat officers will have extended work hours while tactical unit officers from the hardest-hit districts will have their days off canceled, the newspaper reported. Officers from the CPD’s fugitive apprehension unit, who work alongside deputy U.S. marshals to catch criminals, will also have no days off.
The bloody weekend comes in a year where the city has actually seen improvements in shootings and homicides from last year. So far, Chicago has recorded 327 homicides, an impressive 20 percent drop from 411 in 2017.
Much of the recent violence occurred on the city’s Westside, but the Southside’s Gresham district saw the largest single shooting, in which eight people, including a 14-year-old girl, were shot. Police are also investigating the death of a woman found tied up in a bathtub, according to the Tribune.
It’s unclear what sparked the rise in violence this past weekend, but Johnson denied that the Lollapalooza music festival in Grant Park was to blame, after critics claimed the event took away police resources for the rest of the city. He also expressed frustration over the fact that his department was being blamed for not stopping the bloodshed.
“It’s the same individuals that continuously commit these crimes,” he said. “Where’s the accountability for them?”
The
PINNACLE Center is free* for use to Fort Bend and City
of Houston residents that are ages 50 and above.
