March 27, 2017

Black Caucus Members Give Mixed Reviews on Meeting With Trump
By Jane Kennedy

Congressional Black Caucus faces Trump administration. PHOTO: Courtesy/CBC

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Throughout his bid for the White House, then-candidate Donald J. Trump had an annoying habit of treating all African-Americans as a homogeneous group of people living in communities mired in crime, poverty and hopelessness. When asking for Black voters’ support, almost always before a rally crowd in which there were very few people of color, he would ask, “What do you have to lose?”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus sought to answer that very question when the group had its first meeting with President Donald J. Trump on March 22. The entire caucus had been invited to the White House but CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) wanted to present a businesslike front and avoid being used as a photo opportunity as many have charged was the case with the HBCU leaders who met with the president earlier this month.

Therefore, despite the objections of some members, he limited participation to the executive board, which included Representatives Andre Carson (Indiana), Anthony Brown (Maryland), Brenda Lawrence (Michigan), Gwen Moore (Wisconsin), and Karen Bass (California), all Democrats. Assistant Democratic Leader Rep. James Clyburn (South Carolina) also attended the meeting.

Trump, in his opening remarks, echoed his campaign trail rhetoric. “Throughout my campaign, I pledged to focus on improving conditions for African American citizens. This means more to me than anybody would understand or know,” he said. “Every American child has a right to grow up in a safe community, to attend great schools, to graduate with access to high-paying jobs.” The president added that the U.S. has spent trillions of dollars overseas “while neglecting the fate of American children in cities like Baltimore and Chicago and Detroit.”

Such statements strike many Black lawmakers and leaders as hypocritical given the adverse impact they believe the White House’s budget proposal would have on African-American communities, as well as views held by several of his cabinet secretaries, most notably Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that threaten to reverse hard-won gains. They also believe that part of Trump’s problem is that he is uninformed and doesn’t have the right people in place to educate him.

That’s why the group arrived at the White House armed with a 125-page document titled “We Have A Lot to Lose: Solutions to Advance Black Families in the 21st Century.”  The tome provides an overview of the CBC “to enlighten the President on the history and diversity of African-Americans”. It also highlights problems related to the caucus’ top priorities, including economic, environmental and criminal justice; health care; and voting rights. Perhaps more important, it offers what the document describes as “bold policy solutions.”

Richmond told reporters after the meeting that while the president has met with various African Americans, the CBC is the only group of Black elected officials who develop federal policy and can also offer diverse viewpoints.

“There were many areas where we disagreed with the policy solutions prescribed by his budget, but it was a meeting where both sides listened and where we were very candid about disagreements,” Richmond said. “But the surprising part was that when we talked about the goals, there were more similarities than there were differences. The route to get there is where I think you may see differences and part of that is just education and life experiences.”

According to Richmond, the president offered to engage regularly with the caucus and agreed to make members of his cabinet available as well as to work on solutions. The CBC members also gave the president letters to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Attorney General Sessions, written by the Education and Judiciary committees’ ranking Democrats, Reps. John Conyers (Michigan) and Bobby Scott (Virginia) in which they expressed major areas of concern.

“Each of us handled separate areas. I think it was a positive first start and we’re going to continue to dialogue,” said Rep. Bass.

Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, who also is the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is less optimistic than some of his fellow CBC members.

“I think it’s the responsibility of the CBC leadership to try to reach out to the president. I also doubt that, based on his history, he will do anything to help us,” Ellison said. “But still, you’ve got to ask. You don’t want him to be able to say, ‘Well, they never asked.’”

There were some areas of agreement, Richmond noted, including infrastructure spending, which will create jobs, and enabling all American children opportunities to reach their full potential despite their socio-economic status.  The latter is an example of a goal the two sides share, he noted, cautioning more than once that “the question is, do we have the same path to get there?” The president’s approach is more “law and order,” he added, while the CBC is more focused on building ladders of opportunity through initiatives like summer jobs and education.

Richmond told reporters that the discussion was very candid and the group even shared the objections they received from constituents, members of their own Caucus and others to the meeting with Trump because of his campaign rhetoric that frequently offended them, and policies that give more to the rich than the poor.

“We never thought we’d agree on everything at this meeting, but the one thing we did ask was for both sides to be candid so that we could represent our constituents to the best of our ability,” the Louisiana lawmaker said. “Trump listened and we talked, and we proposed a lot of solutions, many of which I think he had not heard before. We’re going to keep advocating. Where we agree, we will agree; where we disagree we will fight with the passion that this caucus has had since 1971 when our first meeting was with President Nixon. We’re not called the conscience of the Congress for nothing.”

March 26, 2017
Gallbladder and Gallstones
By Glenn Ellis

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - In the United States, about a million new cases are diagnosed each year, and some 800,000 operations are performed to treat gallstones, making gallstone disease the most common gastrointestinal disorder requiring hospitalization.

Some people think of their gallbladder as being “expendable”.  Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think anybody wants any of their organs to be removed.  But since many people live a seemingly normal life after getting their gallbladder removed, many people don’t think their gallbladder plays an important role in their overall health.  After all, how important can your gallbladder be if you can do just fine after it’s surgically removed? The gallbladder actually plays a very important role in your body. Some people consider the Gallbladder as an “unimportant” organ. In reality, it is an essential part of the digestive system. Why we have a gall bladder at all is something of a mystery. Many animals such as horses, pigeons, and rats manage quite well without one.

One of the biggest digestive problems that can quickly turn a great meal, into a period of misery is gallstones or gallbladder disease.

The gallbladder is located near the liver. It stores bile, which aids in the digestion of fats. When a person eats, bile is released from the gallbladder to the intestine to aid in the breakdown of fats.

Gallstone disease is the most common disorder affecting the body's biliary system, the network of organs and ducts that create, transport, store, and release bile. Bile is a thick fluid, made in the liver and stored in the gallbladder, which acts in the small intestine to digest fat. Bile contains cholesterol, water, proteins, bilirubin (a breakdown product from blood cells), bile salts (the chemicals necessary to digest fat), and small amounts of copper or other materials. If the chemical balance of bile contains too much of any of these components, particularly of cholesterol, crystals form and can harden into stones.

Bile is stored in the Gallbladder and is concentrated up to five times by the removal of water. This concentrated bile is essential for the complete digestion of fats. One big problem with gallbladder surgery is that the body has nowhere to store bile until it is needed. Therefore, it just drips continually. And when a large amount is needed to digest a meal with a lot of fat, there is not enough bile added to digest it properly.

Gallstones form when liquid stored in the gallbladder hardens into pieces of stone-like material. Bile contains water, cholesterol, bilirubin and other substances. Ideally these minerals remain in liquid form until they are passed out of the body. However, excessive amounts of these minerals in bile can cause them to crystallize.
These small crystals that precipitate out of the saturated bile may begin to clump together. Any existing crystal makes it easier for other crystals to form. If they stay in the gallbladder too long, the crystals gradually grow larger until they become a gallstone so large that it cannot pass through the biliary ducts.

In terms of size, gallstones can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball. A person can form one large stone in his or her gallbladder, or hundreds! About 10 percent of the population has gallstones, but the vast majority experiences no symptoms and need no treatment. However, in 1 percent to 2 percent of these people, gallstones can cause problems by lodging in bile ducts, stopping the flow of bile or digestive enzymes, and leading to severe abdominal pain, vomiting, inflammation, and even life-threatening infection.

Gallstone attack has some classic symptoms:

The most agonizing pain is experienced in the upper right part of the abdomen under the ribs. Usually it appears suddenly, sometimes an hour or two after eating a fatty meal. The pain may get worse quickly, and then last for several hours. Many times the pain may radiate to the back between the shoulder blades or under the right shoulder. Inhaling deeply, or moving, often makes the pain worse. The primary therapy for gallstones that are causing pain, inflammation, or infection is removal of the gallbladder.

As I mentioned earlier, the main function of the gallbladder is to collect bile from the liver and contract periodically to force it into the intestine as needed. This means the gallbladder is constantly collecting the major ingredients for gallstones.

A number of factors put people at higher risk of gallstones:

Gender: The prevalence of gallstones is higher in women than in men. Women between the ages of 20 and 60 are three times more likely to develop gallstones than are men in the same age group. And by age 60, 20 percent of American women have gallstones.

Age: The incidence of gallstone disease increases with age.

Genetics: Family history and ethnicity are critical risk factors in development of gallstones, though no gene responsible for gallstone formation has yet been discovered. African-Americans seem to have lower rates of gallstone disease than American Indians, whites, or Hispanics.

Obesity: Obesity is a significant risk factor, particularly for women. Obesity also slows down the emptying of the gallbladder.

Location of body fat: Belly fat, that spare tire around the middle, dramatically increases the chance of developing stones.

Diabetes: People with diabetes often have high levels of triglycerides in their blood, and these fatty acids tend to increase the risk of gallstones.

Even if you’re not “at risk” for gallstones, it would be wise to maintain a good body weight, by among other things, sticking to a diet that is low in fat and cholesterol, and high in fiber.

Remember, I’m not a doctor. I just sound like one.

Take good care of yourself and live the best life possible!

The information included in this column is for educational purposes only. It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult his or her healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation or if they have any questions regarding a medical condition or treatment plan. Glenn Ellis, is a Health Advocacy Communications Specialist. He is the author of Which Doctor?, and Information is the Best Medicine. A health columnist and radio commentator who lectures, nationally and internationally on health related topics, Ellis is an active media contributor on Health Equity and Medical Ethics. Listen to Glenn, every Saturday at 9:00am (EST) on www.900amwurd.com, and Sundays at 8:30am (EST) on www.wdasfm.com. For more good health information, visit: www.glennellis.com

March 26, 2017

A Tale of Two Black Prosecutors
By Frederick H. Lowe

R. Seth Williams

Aramis Ayala 

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com