Dec. 30, 2013

Airline Pilots May Get Better Security Than President Obama
 By Hazel Trice Edney

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

Three-inch tip of letter opener inside gift box given to thousands at high security CBCF dinner where President Obama shook hands with hundreds of people. TSA refused to allow it on an airplane.

Letter opener and pen set given at high-security CBCF dinner.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – He described it as a “dagger”. That was the word used by a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) supervisor at Reagan National Airport Dec. 6 to describe a six-inch metal letter opener with a razor sharp tip at the end of a three-inch blade.

“This could be used as a dagger,” Supervisor Joshua Hunt told this reporter after he was summoned by TSA Officer Venus Washington. Washington had discovered the knife-like instrument inside a large leather purse as it moved through the x-ray machine at the U. S. Airways terminal.

The agents were doing their jobs to protect airline pilots, other employees and passengers. They gave this reporter a choice to either trash it, check it, or FedEx it to herself. She chose the latter.

The TSA officers were unaware that the U. S. Secret Service had apparently given the same letter opener the green light to be distributed by the thousands in a ballroom where President Barack Obama alongside First Lady Michele Obama shook hundreds of hands, separated from the crowd only by a rope.

That night was Sept. 21 at the 43^rd Annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner, where the President was keynote speaker. The letter openers, which were incased in black cardboard boxes alongside matching ink pens and placed in each chair, were gifts to the more than 3,000 dinner guests.

The security was so tight for people going into the gala that the Secret Service even confiscated umbrellas. Yet, as the President and First Lady strode from the stage to the floor and worked the rope line after the speech, hundreds of people leaving the event with the ‘dagger’-like instruments in their possession pressed to shake their hands and take photos. The couple interacted with individuals in the crowd for at least six minutes.

President Obama has spoken at nearly every CBCF Phoenix Awards Dinner since he was elected. The friendly, non-threatening audience receives him warmly at the event which showcases the 43-member Congressional Black Caucus and its honorees.

But, hate experts and those familiar with assassination plots indicate no event should be taken for granted. That’s because ambush - a common strategy for deadly attacks on elected officials – remains a constant threat.

When asked for comment, Mark Potok, a spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), among the nation’s leading trackers of hate crimes, simply pointed to all the failed plans to assassinate Obama. They included an Oct. 2008 plot foiled by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which arrested two racist skinheads in Tennessee, who had taken several steps toward a plotted killing spree of 88 African-Americans, culminating with Obama, who was then only the Democratic nominee for president.

SPLC reports the number of hate groups leaped to an all-time high of 1,007 in 2012, coinciding with the presence of a Black President in the White House. That - in part - is why President Obama has been protected by a larger Secret Service security force than any other President. The force has done its job successfully, which is why the loose letter openers seemed rather odd.

Secret Service spokesman Edwin M. Donovan said risks can only be minimized, not totally omitted.

“We’re unable to remove all risks when our protectees go somewhere - any of our protectees - the President, the Vice President or anybody else we protect,” Donovan explained in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire, Sept. 23, the Monday following the dinner.

Donovan, who was not at the dinner that night but said he has worked presidential security in the past, sought to detail why the letter openers were allowed to be so close to the President and Mrs. Obama.

“I would say presumably these were purchased well in advance of the dinner. So, when our advance agents get there setting up security, they have to make a decision based on what the committee tells us. The host committee would say, ‘Hey we’re giving these out as gifts.’ So, you look and you say ‘Oh my goodness, you’re going to give these out to everybody that’s attending?’” he said. “The decision had to be made, ‘Are we going to ask them not to give them out until after the President leaves or are we going to ask them to give them out as people depart? Or are we going to just let them give them out the way they want to?’ So the decision was made to give it out the way you want to.”

CBCF spokeswoman Shrita D. Sterlin-Hernandez declined comment on the CBCF’s interactions with the Secret Service on the matter of the letter openers. She wrote in an email, “I am not comfortable making comments on behalf of the Secret Service's security protocols. Please direct all of your questions about the security of the President to the Secret Service.”

Donovan said as long as the President and First Lady were accompanied by attentive Secret Service agents as they shook hands with the crowd, any danger was minimized.

“That’s their job to look for anything unusual; to look for anybody that’s acting in a way that’s not appropriate or certainly if someone has taken this out of the box and is brandishing it,” he said.

He compared the letter opener to dinner ware.

“They go into a room to visit people, we don’t remove the furniture although someone could pick up a chair presumably and try to strike them,” he said.  “At that table there were knives and forks on the table, there were glasses on the table. Someone could certainly break a glass and cause a problem for us as well.”

The presence of the razor tipped letter opener so close to the President was initially brought to this reporter’s attention by a photographer who observed what appeared to be extremely high security surrounding the event except when it came to the letter openers. The photographer asked to remain anonymous. But that observation gave rise to this Trice Edney News Wire investigation into how many high security areas that letter opener could enter undetected.

Incased in the same black gift box inside a purse, the letter opener was not flagged as it went through the x-ray machine and bag search at the Secret Service headquarters where the interview with Agent Donovan took place Sept. 23.

On Nov. 6, it went undetected through an x-ray machine and bag search at the U. S. Capitol. Yet, afterwards, when asked whether a letter opener would be allowed inside the Capitol building, U. S. Capitol Police spokesman Shennell Antrobus responded in a Nov. 7 e-mail, “Visitors are strictly prohibited from carrying any pointed object, such as letter openers, knitting needles, etc., into the Capitol and Capitol Visitor Center, at all times.”

Then, on Nov. 20, the letter opener was not flagged as it went through a Secret Service x-ray machine and bag search at the White House. That day, it was taken into an East Room ceremony where President Obama bestowed 16 Presidential Medals of Freedom.

It was finally flagged Dec. 6 at the airport security gate, where Officer Washington took no chances. Her immediate alarm was a sharp contrast from the non chalant response of the Secret Service. “I saw something in here that looked like a letter opener, but it looked rather sharp,” Washington said, removing the purse from the x-ray belt and beginning to search.

Despite the sharpness of the letter opener, it apparently did not violate airport security. The list of “Prohibited Items” on TSA.gov doesn’t even mention letter openers. Washington gave a one-sentence explanation as to why it was not allowed on the plane. “It’s to our discretion, Ma’am,” she said.

As the Secret Service successfully handles hundreds of events a year during which the President and/or First Lady conduct rope line greetings, the loose letter openers indicate all loopholes are not closed.

"A lot of what happens in many instances is determined by what the President wants to do," said U. S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, ranking Democrat and former chair of the Homeland Security Committee. For example, he noted that President Clinton would unexpectedly go to a McDonald's  or greet  people who have gone through no security.  "So, I think those are some of the risks associated with it."

Stressing how Secret Service agents "put their lives on the line every day" to protect the president, Thompson concluded, "I'm confident that the Secret Service does a good job. I know that when I chaired the Committee, [President Obama] had more threats on his life than any other President before him. So we were able to, even before he became President, we got him a security detail there early; and obviously they've done a good job. But, even with that, there are still potential vulnerabilites that a president or any other person with a detail just has to face."

Dec. 28, 2013

 

Royal Family Opposes Eviction of Mandela's Third Wife

Graca and Madiba

 

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Global Information Network

 

 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Graca Machel, third wife of the late Nelson Mandela, will handle her husband's affairs, said a spokesman for the AbaThembu royal family, putting to rest for the moment various claims on the Mandela estate by other family members.

 

"The passing of Mandela does not terminate his commitment to Machel," said family spokesman Chief Daludumo Mtirara.

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No member of the Mandela family may intimidate former president Nelson Mandela's widow Graca Machel, the royal family warned, adding that she should not face abusive language or threats to leave the Mandela homes in Houghton or Qunu.

 

Reports that Mandela’s children were moving to evict Machel from the house she and her husband shared were picked up widely by local media.

 

The spokesman for the royals said emphatically: "Nkosikazi Nosizwe Graca Machel remains under the umbrella of the Mandela family and members of the family who do not respect her must refrain from that trend because it is a disgrace that undermines our custom."

 

Shortly after Mandela's death, ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela called reports of a renewed family feud as "mischievous innuendos" and "apartheid-style" tactics. But she also issued a statement last week declaring Makaziwe Mandela as the head of the family, seconded by Madiba’s daughters, Zindziswa Mandela and Zenani Dlamini Mandela.

 

Makaziwe, the eldest daughter, reportedly ordered that locks be changed at the family homestead in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, and that his eldest grandson Mandla Mandela be locked out.

 

The Mozambican-born Machel has not announced her future plans as she is still mourning.

 

At the Mandela memorial on Dec. 15, the two wives, Graca and Winnie, were praised in a speech by Malawi President Joyce Banda.

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“As an African woman and leader,” said Banda, “I wish to acknowledge Mama Winnie Madikizela Mandela for her efforts and steadfastness for standing with Tata Mandela before and during Tata’s imprisonment and for being in the forefront of ANC’s struggle for liberation. And to you, Mama Graca Machel, I wish to thank you for your visible love and care especially during Tata’s last days...To both of you, the love and tolerance you have demonstrated before the whole world during the funeral has shown us that you are prepared to continue with Tata’s ideals."

Dec. 29

Despite Kinks, Obamacare Sign-ups Move Toward Goal of 7 Million

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – A steadily increasing number of people are signing up for Obamacare — a big plus for the president and his signature program.

More than 1 million people have secured health insurance policies through the new program, President Obama has announced.

That’s a large jump. By the end of November, only 365,000 people had enrolled for private insurance through new federal and state markets set up under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act.

“That is a big deal,” President Obama said in touting the sharp increase in the number of uninsured people who have signed up for coverage. “That’s why I ran for this office.”

Separately, officials said 3.9 million people have qualified for government health care through the Medicaid expansion provided by the law. Even so, the president indicated it was too early to say that the health care program has turned the corner in popularity.

HealthCare.gov, the website for the program, has been troubled and was down for hours before the president addressed reporters Dec. 20.

Largely hidden from consumers, another set of technical problems is frustrating health insurance companies. Most report that the government continues to send them inaccurate data on some individuals enrolled. That could create problems for some patients trying to use their new coverage. Consumers might show up at the pharmacy counter or doctor’s office only to be told they’re not in the insurance company’s system.

That’s not the only potential issue. Administration officials are scrambling to prevent breaks in coverage for more than 4 million people whose individual policies were canceled this fall because they did not meet the law’s requirements.

An estimated 500,000 have yet to secure new coverage. The administration has said that those individuals would not be penalized for remaining uninsured and would have access to special bare bones catastrophic insurance plans. President Obama wants the system to be working on New Year’s Day when the first enrollees can start using their new policies.

 

Wednesday, Jan. 1, also is the day that insurance companies would be barred by the law from turning away people because of pre-existing medical conditions. The law also mandates that virtually all Americans have health insurance, though people can avoid a tax penalty if they pick a plan by Mar. 31.

That mandate only applies to people who do not have health insurance through their job, are not enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid or the military insurance program or do not have coverage through a family member.

 

The stakes are much higher now than Oct. 1 when that the president’s political reputation was tarnished by website woes and insurance cancellations. The risk now is that ordinary people with pressing medical needs will suffer harm if the transition to coverage is fumbled.

 

If that happens, President Obama’s ramrod for the program, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, would face a new round of demands for her resignation.

 

“Implementing the website is the relatively easy part,” said Mark McClellan, who oversaw the problematic rollout of the Medicare prescription drug benefit for President George W. Bush. “Implementing the coverage itself involves a lot more things that could go wrong.

 

“It was possible for people to wait a month or two to use the website,” McClellan added. “People who need care on Jan. 1 are not going to be able to wait a month or two to get it.” McClellan is now a health policy expert with the nonpartisan Brookings Institution.

 

President Obama remains optimistic. In the first three weeks of December, more than 500,000 people signed up through the federal website, he noted. On Oct. 1, only a handful managed to enroll successfully.

 

Crossing the 1 million mark was a milestone, but the administration’s own estimates called for 3.3 million to enroll by Dec. 31. The target now is 7 million by March 31.

Dec. 29, 2013

Charlotte Price Dies at 101
Mother of former National Urban League President Lived Life of Service

Charlotte Schuster Price and her son, Hugh Price.

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the National Urban League

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Charlotte Schuster Price died peacefully at the age of 101 on December 22, 2013 at Sunrise Senior Living in Columbia, Maryland.  She was the mother of Hugh B. Price, who served as President and CEO of the National Urban League from 1994 until 2003. 

Mrs. Price attended every NUL annual conference during Hugh’s tenure.  A former activist in Washington, DC, and political science major at Howard University, she delighted in attending the keynote and plenary sessions, workshops, speakers’ lunches, gala dinners and concerts.  

The daughter of Alfred Ernest Schuster and Cora Hawley Schuster, Mrs. Price was born on October 6, 1912, in New Haven, Connecticut.  She grew up in nearby West Haven.   In 1935, she married Dr. Kline A. Price, Sr., who would go on to become only the second African-American physician in the United States to earn certification from the American Board of Urology,  They spent their entire married lives in Washington DC. 

During World War II after her sons reached elementary and nursery school age, she returned to Howard University to earn a B.A. degree.  Her professors at Howard included renowned historian John Hope Franklin and Ralph Bunche, who subsequently won the Nobel Prize for Peace. 

Mrs. Price lived a vigorous life of service to the causes of equality, opportunity and civil rights in the District of Columbia.  In the 1940s, she belonged to an organization of African-American parents, known as Consolidated Parents, which fought for school desegregation in DC.  She and her husband provided financial support for the litigation brought by their neighbor, Charles Hamilton Houston of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which steadily laid the legal foundation for the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 that outlawed segregated public schools. 

As a member of the League of Women Voters, Charlotte fought for voting rights for DC residents.  She was very active in the Americans for Democratic Action and served as vice president of the Washington chapter.  In her mid-50s, she transformed herself from activist to archivist by earning a Master’s Degree in Library Sciences from Catholic University.  She then worked with her good friend and famed librarian Dorothy Porter at the Moorland Room at Howard University.     

Energetic and indefatigable, Charlotte Price lived for nearly 40 years entirely on her own following her husband’s death in 1973.  A native New Englander, she moved from Washington to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where, at the age of 61, she launched a new career as an archivist at Pilgrim Hall, the historical society there.  She set up the archives and was Curator of Books and Manuscripts for twelve years. 

In 1975-76, she served as acting executive director of Pilgrim Hall.  This was the first full-time job she had held since her early 20s.  The acclaimed “Remember the Ladies” exhibition, which celebrated the nation’s First Ladies, premiered at Pilgrim Hall on her watch.  

In 1978 she moved to the home she and her husband had built in East Falmouth on Cape Cod.  During her years in Falmouth and well into her late 80s, she served as a librarian and archivist for various institutions on the Cape.  She created the archives and served as first archivist at the Falmouth Historical Society and the Woods Hole Historical Museum.  She chaired the long-range planning committee of the Falmouth Historical Society and was a member of its board of directors. 

Mrs. Price spent fourteen years at Cape Cod Community College establishing an archive of documents about Cape history.  In addition she provided archival assistance to the Wampanoag Native American Tribe of Mashpee.  Her work on the Cape led to the publication of three guidebooks: A Guide to the Manuscripts and Special Collections in the Archives of the Falmouth Historical Society and two guides to the archives of the college.        

Ever curious about the world, she traveled with librarians’ groups to the Soviet Union and Machu Picchu in Peru.  She was proud of her St. Croix heritage on her father’s side, studied the island’s history, and often visited there to stay closely connected with her Crucian cousins.     

Charlotte Price’s ancestry is fascinating and historically significant.  She was a direct descendant of Nero Hawley, a black man who fought in the Revolutionary War and served at Valley Forge under the command of General George Washington.  Her great-grandfather was a slave named George Latimer, who with his wife Rebecca escaped from Norfolk, Virginia, to Boston in 1842.  Abolitionists thwarted his former master’s attempt to recapture him, a celebrated incident that helped spur passage of the Massachusetts Personal Liberty Law protecting fugitive slaves.  Her great-uncle Lewis Latimer, the noted inventor and member of the Edison Group, was George and Rebecca’s son.  

A lifelong fitness and health food aficionado, Mrs. Price took great pride in being known as “The Walker.”  Many weekends she and her husband went on long hikes beside the C & O Canal near Washington.  On Cape Cod she routinely walked along the seaside path from Falmouth to Woods Hole and back, typically outpacing her sons and grandchildren.  She worked, drove, lived in her own home, and shoveled her driveway until she was nearly 90, and continued walking daily until her late 90s.  The combination of optimism and fitness clearly account for her buoyant personality and eternally sunny disposition which brightened the lives of family members and friends who were blessed to know her.

Mrs. Price is survived by her son Dr. Kline A. Price, Jr., and his wife Bebe Drew Price of Columbia, Md.; her son Hugh B. Price and his wife Marilyn Lloyd Price of New Rochelle, N.Y.; seven grandchildren – Kelly Price Noble, Traer Price, Kline Price, III, Dr. Kendall Price, Janeen Price, Kathryn Price and Lauren Price; nine great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews and their families.   

A visitation was set for 9:00 a.m. followed by a memorial service at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 31st, at McGuire Funeral Home, 7400 Georgia Avenue NW in Washington, DC.  In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Charlotte S. Price’s name to the “Friends of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center” at Howard University – www.howard.edu/msrc/giving.html.