#Englewood New Jersey

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Carter Sherman at The Guardian:

In a loss for abortion opponents, the US supreme court on Monday declined to take up two cases involving “buffer zone” ordinances, which limit protests around abortion clinics and which anti-abortion activists have spent years trying to dismantle. The two cases dealt with buffer zone ordinances passed by the cities of Carbondale, Illinois, and Englewood, New Jersey. In filings to the supreme court, which is dominated 6-3 by conservatives, anti-abortion activists argued that these ordinances ran afoul of the first amendment’s guarantees of free speech. They also asked the justices to overturn a 2000 ruling called Hill v Colorado, which upheld a buffer zone law in Colorado. The justices didn’t explain why they declined to hear arguments in the cases, but the far-right justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have preferred to take them up. In a dissent outlining his desire to take the Carbondale case, Thomas wrote that he believed Hill “lacks continuing force”, in part due to recent rulings such as Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v Wade and abolished the federal right to abortion.

“I would have taken this opportunity to explicitly overrule Hill,” he wrote. “Following our repudiation in Dobbs, I do not see what is left of Hill. Yet, lower courts continue to feel bound by it. The court today declines an invitation to set the record straight on Hill’s defunct status.” The Illinois case involved a 2023 ordinance that limited people from getting within 8ft of another individual if that individual is within 100ft of a healthcare facility, such as Carbondale’s multiple abortion clinics. In the wake of Roe’s demise, Carbondale’s clinics had become a haven for people fleeing the abortion bans that now blanket much of the US south and midwest. The anti-abortion group Coalition Life sued over the ordinance, vowing to keep up the court fight even after Carbondale repealed it. The “gamesmanship” over the ordinance, the group argued, only proved that “Hill will continue to distort both the first amendment and public debates about abortion unless and until it is overruled”. The New Jersey case, meanwhile, was brought by an anti-abortion protester named Jeryl Turco, who asked the justices to strike down a 2014 ordinance. That ordinance bans people from coming within 8ft of the entrances of certain healthcare facilities in Englewood – including abortion clinics – unless they are patients, employees or passersby. Abortion providers and their supporters have spent years defending the idea of buffer zones, pointing to the high rates of violence and harassment that occur in and around US abortion clinics. Over the last half-century, clinics have weathered more than 40 bombings, 200 arsons and 300 burglaries, according to the National Abortion Federation. Anti-abortion activists have also killed at least 11 people.

The MAGA majority on SCOTUS, which loves to take up anti-abortion cases, decide to refuse to take up a pair of FACE Act challenges regarding abortion clinic buffer zones.

See Also:

NBC News: Supreme Court rejects challenges to abortion clinic ‘buffer zone’ laws that restrict anti-abortion protesters

[catdotjpeg]

Out in Englewood New Jersey protesting the illegal sale of Palestinian land

-- Jose Vega, 5 Mar 2024

[abilityscoolnj]

At Ability School — best private school in Englewood NJ we think that a child’s educational path should be a continuous one that promotes growth, independence, and instills a lifetime love of learning. From our loving Preschool environment to our powerful Middle School curriculum, each step of a student’s education at Ability School is structured to build on the one before it, ensuring that students are well-prepared for future challenges.

[labiaplastycenterofnj]

Labiaplasty Center of New Jersey Announces Two New Locations: Englewood and Newark

Labiaplasty Center of New Jersey, a leading surgical cosmetic gynecology practice spearheaded by board certified gynecologist Peter Balazs, MD, FACOG, proudly announces the opening of two new locations in New Jersey (Englewood and Newark), to assist in the demand for the center’s cutting-edge aesthetic services.

[mimi-0007]

FATHER & SON: James Earl Jones with his Father Robert Earl Jones on Stage in the 1962 Production "Moon on a Rainbow Shawl."

Robert Earl Jones (February 3, 1910 – September 7, 2006), sometimes credited as Earl Jones, was an American actor and professional boxer. One of the first prominent Black film stars, Jones was a living link with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, having worked with Langston Hughes early in his career.

Jones was best known for his leading roles in films such as Lying Lips (1939) and later in his career for supporting roles in films such as The Sting (1973), Trading Places (1983), The Cotton Club (1984), and Witness (1985).

Jones was born in northwestern Mississippi; the specific location is unclear as some sources indicate Senatobia, while others suggest nearby Coldwater. He left school at an early age to work as a sharecropper to help his family. He later became a prizefighter. Under the name "Battling Bill Stovall", he was a sparring partner of Joe Louis.

Jones became interested in theater after he moved to Chicago, as one of the thousands leaving the South in the Great Migration. He moved on to New York by the 1930s. He worked with young people in the Works Progress Administration, the largest New Deal agency, through which he met Langston Hughes, a young poet and playwright. Hughes cast him in his 1938 play, Don't You Want to Be Free?.

Jones also entered the film business, appearing in more than twenty films. His film career started with the leading role of a detective in the 1939 race film Lying Lips, written and directed by Oscar Micheaux, and Jones made his next screen appearance in Micheaux's The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940). Jones acted mostly in crime movies and dramas after that, with such highlights as Wild River (1960) and One Potato, Two Potato (1964). In the Oscar-winning 1973 film The Sting, he played Luther Coleman, an aging grifter whose con is requited with murder leading to the eponymous "sting". In the later 20th century, Jones appeared in several other noted films: Trading Places (1983) and Witness (1985).

Toward the end of his life, Jones was noted for his stage portrayal of Creon in The Gospel at Colonus (1988), a black musical version of the Oedipus legend. He also appeared in episodes of the long-running TV shows Lou Grant and Kojak. One of his last stage roles was in a 1991 Broadway production of Mule Bone by Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, another important writer of the Harlem Renaissance. His last film was Rain Without Thunder (1993).

Although blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s due to involvement with leftist groups, Jones was ultimately honored with a lifetime achievement award by the U.S. National Black Theatre Festival.

Jones was married three times. As a young man, he married Ruth Connolly (died 1986) in 1929; they had a son, James Earl Jones. Jones and Connolly separated before James was born in 1931, and the couple divorced in 1933. Jones did not come to know his son until the mid-1950s. He adopted a second son, Matthew Earl Jones. Jones died on September 7, 2006, in Englewood, New Jersey, from natural causes at age 96.

THEATRE

1945 The Hasty Heart (Blossom) Hudson Theatre, Broadway

1945 Strange Fruit (Henry) McIntosh NY theater production

1948 Volpone (Commendatori) City Center

1948 Set My People Free (Ned Bennett) Hudson Theatre, Broadway

1949 Caesar and Cleopatra (Nubian Slave) National Theatre, Broadway

1952 Fancy Meeting You Again (Second Nubian) Royale Theatre, Broadway

1956 Mister Johnson (Moma) Martin Beck Theater, Broadway

1962 Infidel Caesar (Soldier) Music Box Theater, Broadway

1962 The Moon Besieged (Shields Green) Lyceum Theatre, Broadway

1962 Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (Charlie Adams) East 11th Street Theatre, New York

1968 More Stately Mansions (Cato) Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway

1975 All God's Chillun Got Wings (Street Person) Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway

1975 Death of a Salesman (Charley)

1977 Unexpected Guests (Man) Little Theatre, Broadway

1988 The Gospel at Colonus (Creon) Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway

1991 Mule Bone (Willie Lewis) Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway

FILMS

1939 Lying Lips (Detective Wenzer )

1940 The Notorious Elinor Lee (Benny Blue)

1959 Odds Against Tomorrow (Club Employee uncredited)

1960 Wild River (Sam Johnson uncredited)

1960 The Secret of the Purple Reef (Tobias)

1964 Terror in the City (Farmer)

1964 One Potato, Two Potato (William Richards)

1968 Hang 'Em High

1971 Mississippi Summer (Performer)

1973 The Sting (Luther Coleman)

1974 Cockfighter (Buford)

1977 Proof of the Man (Wilshire Hayward )

1982 Cold River (The Trapper)

1983 Trading Places (Attendant)

1983 Sleepaway Camp (Ben)

1984 The Cotton Club (Stage Door Joe)

1984 Billions for Boris (Grandaddy)

1985 Witness (Custodian)

1988 Starlight: A Musical Movie (Joe)

1990 Maniac Cop 2 (Harry)

1993 Rain Without Thunder (Old Lawyer)

TELEVISION

1964 The Defenders (Joe Dean) Episode: The Brother Killers

1976 Kojak (Judge) Episode: Where to Go if you Have Nowhere to Go?

1977 The Displaced Person (Astor) Television movie

1978 Lou Grant (Earl Humphrey) Episode: Renewal

1979 Jennifer's Journey (Reuven )Television movie

1980 Oye Ollie (Performer) Television series

1981 The Sophisticated Gents (Big Ralph Joplin) 3 episodes

1982 One Life to Live

1985 Great Performances (Creon) Episode: The Gospel at Colonus

1990 True Blue (Performer) Episode: Blue Monday

[angelap3]

Pulp Fiction - Dance Scene (HQ)

PULP FICTION (1994) 🎥 #QuentinTarantino

18 febbraio 1954 Englewood, New Jersey, Stati Uniti

Nasce John Travolta. Ha ottenuto fama internazionale con i film La febbre del sabato sera (1977), per il quale ha ricevuto una candidatura per l'Oscar al miglior attore, e Grease (Brillantina) (1978). Nel 1994 ha interpretato Vincent Vega nel film Pulp Fiction, ricevendo una seconda candidatura all'Oscar al miglior attore. Nel 1995 si è aggiudicato il Golden Globe per il miglior attore in un film commedia o musicale per la sua interpretazione in Get Shorty. Ha ricevuto infine altre due candidature ai Golden Globe per i film I colori della vittoria (1998) e Hairspray - Grasso è bello (2007).

In campo televisivo, è noto per la sua interpretazione di Robert Shapiro nella serie antologica American Crime Story (2016), per la quale ha ottenuto il plauso della critica e una candidatura al Premio Emmy nella categoria miglior attore non protagonista in una miniserie o film.

[lboogie1906]

Sister Souljah (Lisa Williamson January 28, 1964) was born in the Bronx and is an author, activist, and film producer. Bill Clinton criticized her remarks about race in the US during his presidential campaign. His repudiation of her comments led to what is now known in American politics as a Sister Souljah moment.

She recounts in her memoir No Disrespect that she was born into poverty and raised on welfare for some years. At the age of 10, she moved with her family to the suburb of Englewood, New Jersey.

She disliked what American students were being taught in school systems across the country. She felt that the school systems intentionally left out the African origins of civilization. She criticized the absence of a comprehensive curriculum of African American history, which she felt that all students, black and white, needed to learn and understand to be properly educated. She was a legislative intern in the House of Representatives. She was the recipient of several honors during her teenage years.

She visited Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Finland, and Russia. Her education was reinforced with first-hand experiences as she worked in a medical center in Mtepa Tepa and assisted refugee children from Mozambique. She traveled to South Africa and Zambia. She graduated from Rutgers University with a dual major in American History and African Studies. She became a well-known and outspoken voice on campus and wrote for the school newspaper. She was part of the Rutgers Coalition for Divestment, which prompted the University administration to divest $3.6 million in its financial holding companies. She and students across the state of New Jersey organized a successful campaign to get the state to divest more than $1 billion of its financial holdings.

She spent the next three years developing, organizing, and financing programs such as African Survival Camp. She became the organizer of the National African Youth-Student Alliance and an outspoken voice against racially motivated violence in cases such as the race murder at Howard Beach.

She is married to Mike Rich and they have a son. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[cartermagazine]

Today We Honor Dr.Josephine English

Dr. Josephine English was an American gynecologist who was the first black woman to open a private practice in New York. She was also known for her work in real estate and health care, in addition to her philanthropy towards the arts.

English was born on December 17, 1920 to Jennie English and Whittie Sr. in Ontario, Virginia. She moved to Englewood, New Jersey in 1939. Her family was one of the first black families in Englewood. She attended Hunter College for her bachelor’s degree until 1949, and earned her Master’s in Psychology at New York University. She initially wanted to become a psychiatrist, but ended up choosing gynecology after discovering her interest at Meharry Medical College where she earned her medical degree in gynecology.

Dr.Josephine English opened her practice at Harlem Hospital. Once in Brooklyn, she opened up a women’s health clinic in Bushwick in 1956, as well as another in Fort Greene two decades later. During her career, English helped deliver 6,000 babies, including the children of Malcolm X, Betty Shabazz, and Lynn Nottage.

English’s interest in health care lead her establish the Adelphi Medical Center and child care programs, such as Up the Ladder Day Care and After School Program. Her passion for theater led her to establish the Paul Robeson Theater from a dilapidated church. She helped actors create performances to educate the populace on health and nutrition.

CARTER™️ Magazine

[projazznet]

John Coltrane – A Love Supreme

A Love Supreme is an album by the jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. He recorded it in one session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, leading a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones.

A Love Supreme was released by Impulse! Records in January 1965. It ranks among Coltrane’s best-selling albums and is widely considered as his masterpiece.

John Coltrane – bandleader, liner notes, vocals, tenor saxophone

Jimmy Garrison – double bass

Elvin Jones – drums, gong, timpani

McCoy Tyner – piano

[mydaddywiki]

Bill Parcells

Physique: Husky Build Height: 6’ 2" (1.88 m)

Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells (born August 22, 1941) is an American former football coach who served as a head coach in the NFL for 19 seasons. He came to prominence as the head coach of the New York Giants from 1983 to 1990, where he won two Super Bowl titles. Parcells was later the head coach of the New England Patriots from 1993 to 1996, the New York Jets from 1997 to 2000, and the Dallas Cowboys from 2003 to 2006. Nicknamed "the Big Tuna", he is the only NFL coach to lead four different franchises to the playoffs and three to a conference championship game. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

Handsome and if you look closely you will note that he has a thick ass. This is the kind of man I could spend hours with. Sure, he's getting on in years, but I'd still eat his Big Tuna if you know what I mean… and I think you do.

Born in Englewood, New Jersey, Parcells grew up in the nearby town of Hasbrouck Heights. Upon graduating from high school, Parcells arrived at Colgate University. He soon transferred to the University of Wichita (now known as Wichita State University), where he played linebacker and earned a physical education degree. He had a solid college career as a linebacker and was chosen by the Detroit Lions during the seventh round of the NFL’s 1964 draft. Parcells was cut during training camp, however, and immediately turned to coaching.

Over the next 15 years Parcells held assistant coaching positions at Hastings (Nebraska) College, Wichita State, the United States Military Academy, Florida State University, Vanderbilt University, and Texas Tech University. He received his first head coaching job at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1978. In 1981 Parcells returned to the Giants as defensive coordinator before being promoted to head coach at the end of 1982. He quickly developed the Giants into a powerhouse team.

Divorced with 3 grown daughters: Suzanne, Dallas and Jill. Parcells pretty much seems to have lived and breathed football his entire life. There isn't much else I can say about him. He's lovely looking and I'd love to fuck him.

Career Highlights and Awards 2× Super Bowl champion (XXI, XXV) 2× AP NFL Coach of Year (1986, 1994) Sporting News NFL Coach of Year (1986) 2× Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of Year (1986, 1994) Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of Year (1994) NFL 1990s All-Decade Team New York Giants Ring of Honor New England Patriots All-1990s Team

Head Coaching Record Regular season: NFL: 172–130–1 (.569) NCAA: 3–8 (.273) Postseason: 11–8 (.579) Career: 183–138–1 (.570)

[beardedmrbean]

NEW YORK (AP) — Nadine Menendez, the wife of former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, was convicted Monday of teaming up with her husband to accept bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car from three New Jersey men looking for help with their business dealings or legal troubles.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty on all counts in the same federal courthouse in Manhattan where a different jury convicted Bob Menendez of many of the same charges last year. The Democrat is supposed to begin serving an 11-year prison term in June.

Nadine Menendez, who stood but did not appear to react as the verdict was delivered by the jury foreperson, was scheduled to be sentenced on June 12, six days after her husband is expected to report to prison.

Outside the courthouse, she wore a pink mask as she stood next to her lawyer, Barry Coburn, said he was “devastated by the verdict.”

“We fought hard and it hurts,” he said. “This is a very rough day for us.”

Prosecutors argued they were ‘partners in crime’

The evidence shown to jurors over a three-week trial followed the timeline of the whirlwind romance between the couple that began in early 2018 and continued after criminal charges were brought against them in September 2023. Repeatedly during the trial, prosecutors said they were “partners in crime.”

During a 2022 raid on the couple’s Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home, FBI agents found nearly $150,000 worth of gold bars and $480,000 in cash stuffed in boots, shoeboxes and jackets. In the garage was a Mercedes-Benz convertible, also an alleged bribe.

Both Nadine and Bob Menendez said they are innocent and never took bribes.

Initially, they were to be tried together, along with the three businessmen, but Nadine Menendez’s trial was postponed a year ago after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery.

Bob Menendez resigned from Senate in August following conviction

Bob Menendez, 71, resigned from the Senate last August following his conviction. Before the charges were brought he had been chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Prosecutors accused Nadine Menendez of starting to facilitating bribes to the senator around the time that they began dating, before they married in the fall of 2020.

At the time, she was in danger of losing her home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, after missing nearly $20,000 in mortgage payments, trial testimony showed. A longtime friend, Wael Hana, provided cash to save the home — and prosecutors said that in return, the senator began helping Hana preserve a business monopoly he had arranged with the Egyptian government to certify that imported meat met religious requirements.

Nadine Menendez also needed a new car after her old one was destroyed when she struck and killed a man crossing a street. (She did not face charges in the crash). Prosecutors said a businessman, Jose Uribe, gave her a Mercedes-Benz, and in return Bob Menendez used his clout to pressure the New Jersey attorney general’s office to stop investigating some of Uribe’s associates.

Prosecutor said more cash and gold bribes were paid to the couple by Fred Daibes, a prominent real estate developer who prosecutors said wanted the senator to protect him from a criminal case he was facing in New Jersey. Prosecutors said Bob Menendez also helped Daibes secure a $95 million investment from a Qatari investment fund.

Nadine Menendez was described by prosecutors as crucial to the scheme

Nadine Menendez, 58, was described by prosecutors at her trial as crucial to the scheme, enabling the senator to communicate with the businessmen and Egyptian government officials.

Besides his conviction on bribery charges, Bob Menendez also was convicted of acting as an agent for the Egyptian government. Prosecutors said that in return for some of the bribes, he ghostwrote a letter for Egyptian officials to give to his fellow senators to calm their concerns about human rights abuses and encourage them to lift a hold on $300 million in military aid.

Coburn had argued during his closing arguments to the jury that the evidence was insufficient for a conviction.

“These things we’re talking about here are unproven,” he said.

He said the dealings the senator had with the businessmen were just what a politician is supposed to do for his constituents.

In a rebuttal argument , Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Richenthal urged the jury to convict Nadine Menendez, calling the evidence against her “consistent and overwhelming.”

Uribe pleaded guilty and testified against the others. Hana and Dabies were convicted along with the senator. Hana has been sentenced to eight years in prison while Daibes got seven years behind bars.

Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement that the verdict “sends the clear message that the power of government officials may not be put up for sale and that all those who facilitate corruption will be held accountable for their actions.”

[diceriadelluntore]

Storia Di Musica #347 - Sonny Rollins, Tenor Madness, 1956

Le Storie Di Musica toccheranno il traguardo delle 350 puntate questo mese. Come ormai da prassi, il numero tondo è dedicato ad un disco di Miles Davis. E questa volta, in ossequio al filo rosso degli album legati tra loro, ho deciso di raccontare il rapporto tra Davis e una grande etichetta discografica, la Prestige Records. La Prestige fu fondata da Bob Weinstock nel 1949: appassionato di musica jazz, vendeva dei dischi per corrispondenza in maniera così incisiva che ben presto affittò un locale e lo trasformò in un grande negozio di dischi, il Jazz Record Center, sulla quarantasettesima strada di New York. Frequentando i locali jazz che lì vicino iniziavano a diventare famosi, legò con molti musicisti fino a fondare prima la New Jazz Records che dopo pochi mesi diventa la Prestige Records. Weinstock è stato un personaggio leggendario, dalle mille manie, alcune delle quali racconterò in questi appuntamenti novembrini, ed è stato negli anni '50 uno dei fari della musica jazz mondiale con la sua etichetta indipendente, insieme alla Blue Note, alla Riverside, alla Impulse! prima che anche i grandi gruppi discografici entrassero nel jazz in maniera decisa.

Weinstock era oltre che un appassionato un grande uomo d'affari, capace di intuire le potenzialità degli artisti e di essere per loro trampolino di lancio e di ottimizzare tempi e costi delle produzioni: pochissime prove per le registrazioni, e leggenda vuole che si registrasse due volte sui nastri di alcune take per risparmiare, leggenda nata dal fatto che per quanto la produzione Prestige fosse numericamente grandiosa, esistono pochissime alternative takes dei loro lavori. Nonostante come ingegnere del suono ci fosse una leggenda: Rudy Van Gelder, che non lavorava solo per lui ma anche per la Blue Note, famoso per la sua accuratezza e maniacalità. Le prime registrazioni avvenivano nel garage della casa di famiglia di Hackensack, nel New Jersey, luogo che divenne mitico tanto che Thelonious Monk dedicò al grande ingegnere un brano, Hackensack, per poi spostarsi di qualche km a Englewood Cliffs, sempre nel New Jersey.

In quello studio a Hackensack Sonny Rollins registra il 24 Maggio del 1956 il disco di oggi. Rollins all'epoca è già riconosciuto un gigante del sassofono, tanto che è famosa il commento di Max Gordon, leggendario proprietario del jazz club più famoso del mondo, Il Village Vanguard, che sosteneva: I critici e gli appassionati hanno pareri molto discordi sulla bravura di alcuni musicisti jazz, ma non su Sonny Rollins. Lui è il più grande, il più grande sax della sua generazione. Theodore Walter Rollins nasce a New York nel 1930 da una famiglia di origini caraibiche, i cui "suoni" influenzeranno la sua carriera futura. Fa un apprendistato breve ma intensissimo, suonando con i più grandi: J.J Johnson, Monk, Bud Powell, Max Roach e soprattutto Miles Davis e Charlie Parker. È il primo che trasporta la rivoluzione del bop sul sax tenore. Con Davis dimostra anche le sue già ottime capacità compositive scrivendo pezzi diventati famosi, come Airgin e Oleo. Però ha un difetto: ad un certo punto sparisce, per i motivi più strani. Nel 1954 si ritira a Chicago, per non cadere in tentazione tra soldi e droga, per continuare a studiare facendo lavori manuali. Quando ritorna a New York, suona per la Prestige in uno dei primi 33 giri del jazz, Dig. Nel 1955, tornato nel gruppo di Davis, poco prima di un'importante serie di concerti al Teatro Bohemia, sparisce di nuovo, stavolta per disintossicarsi. Ritorna nel 1956, quando sempre l'amico Roach lo scrittura per un disco portentoso: Sonny Rollins Plus 4 è all'apice della creatività, tanto che ancora come innovatore impone nel jazz il tempo in tre quarti (la storica Valse Hot). Nel frattempo però il suo posto nel gruppo di Davis è preso da un giovane che di lì a poco diventerà un gigante, John Coltrane, ma Davis gli vuole bene e per delle registrazioni del 1956 per la Prestige gli offre la sua sezione ritmica, che nel jazz è ricordata come "The rhythm section" per quanto iconica e grande è stata, e con questa registra il disco di oggi. Rollins è insieme a Red Garland al pianoforte, Paul Chambers al contrabbasso e Philly Joe Jones alla batteria quando inizia a suonare Tenor Madness, che contiene nella title track un incontro unico ed eccezionale. Essendo lì per una sessione con il quintetto di Davis, in quello che diventerà il più famoso chase della storia del jazz, John Coltrane si unisce a Rollins in quel brano, da allora uno dei capisaldi del jazz. Cos'è però un chase? è un incontro dove due strumentisti colloquiano con lo stesso strumento su un dato canovaccio, una sorta di dialogo musicale dove si fronteggiano a suon di assoli. Tenor Madness è un piccolo blues, che si rifà a Royal Roost di Kenny Clarke and His 52nd Street Boys, registrato nel 1946, ma qui diviene il brano che mette insieme i due più grandi e influenti sassofonisti della storia del jazz, con il timbro squillante e luminoso del primo Coltrane (che debutterà come solista solo l'anno successivo nel 1957) e il suono più cupo e leggero di Rollins, che all'epoca aveva già più esperienza. Il resto di Tenor Madness è altrettanto iconico: When Your Lover Has Gone, classico di Einar Aaron Swan, divenuto famosissimo per la sua apparizione nel film La Bionda E L'Avventuriero del 1931 di Roy Del Ruth e interpretato da James Cagney e Joan Blondell, che solo nel 1956 ebbe una ventina di incisioni; Paul's Pal è un omaggio di Rollins a Paul Chambers, uno dei più geniali bassisti di tutti tempi, uno che ha suonato in almeno 100 capolavori del jazz; My Reverie è la ripresa dell'arrangiamento che nel 1938 Larry Clinton fece si un brano di Claude Debussy, Rêverie, del 1890; chiude il disco una cover spettacolare di The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, opera del magico duo Rodgers and Hart e presente nel musical Jumbo, che trasformava un teatro di Broadway in un mega circo con acrobati, trapezisti e giocolieri durante lo spettacolo. Il disco, un capolavoro, ne anticipa un altro, Saxophone Colossus, dello stesso anno, uno degli apici creativi di quegli anni incredibili e altro gioiello della collezione Prestige.

Rollins fu attivo per la lotta dei diritti civili e politici degli afroamericani, tanco che nel 1958 firma in trio con Oscar Pettiford e Max Roach, il disco The Freedom Suite, uno dei primi album-manifesto sulle discriminazioni razziali del jazz, e continuò ad avere costanti le sparizioni dalle scene. Sempre dovute alle sue dipendenze dalle droghe, la più famosa riguarda un suo disco, il suo maggior successo commerciale, The Bridge del 1962: ancora insoddisfatto della sua musica, decide si andare a suonare sotto il ponte Williamsburg, quello che divide Manhattan da Brooklyn, provando per 12-13 ore al giorno, in tutte le stagioni.

Scontroso (si dice che abbia licenziato il maggior numero di colleghi, più di Mingus), dalla personalità labirintica, non seguì le rivoluzioni degli anni '60 e '70, scriverà ancora grandi album (What's New con Jim Hall, un altro gioiello) e parteciperà con attenzione anche a contaminazioni con altri generi, e famosissimo è il suo assolo per i Rolling Stones in Waitin' On a Friend, da Tattoo You del 1981. È l'ultimo dei grandi a sopravvivere, ritiratosi nel 2012 dalle scene, un gigante che ha segnato un periodo irripetibile della musica.

[abilityscoolnj]

Looking for the best private school in Englewood NJ? Choose, Ability School - best private elementary school in New Jersey.

[mariacallous]

After a bit of stasis on the relist front, the Supreme Court took decisive action at last week’s conference, on Monday denying review of nine cases that had been relisted between three and seven times each. Relisting a case that many times suggests that at least some of the justices felt fairly strong about the issues involved. And sure enough, the justices filed opinions dissenting from the denial of certiorari, or at least an opinion respecting the denial of certiorari, addressing seven of the nine cases.

Most notable of all were the denials in Turco v. City of Englewood, New Jersey, and Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale, Illinois, both of which involved challenges to those cities’ laws establishing protest “buffer zones” around abortion clinics and asking the Supreme Court to overrule Hill v. Colorado, its 25-year-old decision holding that such zones are constitutionally permissible.

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the decision not to take up the Illinois case, noting that members of the court had called Hill “an ‘absurd,’ ‘defunct,’ ‘erroneous,’ and ‘long-discredited’ ‘aberration’ from the rest of our First Amendment jurisprudence.” Because lower courts continue to feel bound by it, he contended, the Supreme Court should make its defunct status official.

There are 106 petitions and applications scheduled for Friday’s conference, six of which were relisted for the first time this week. It is a big week for issue advocacy organizations – five of the six relists are cases brought by them. And it is a big week for First Amendment claims – four (really, five) of the six relists raise them. While we’re talking numbers, it was also a big week for challenges to the regulation of professionals – half of the relisted cases address such issues.

The Institute for Justice is an public-interest firm based in the Washington, D.C., suburbs that, among other projects, seeks to challenge occupational licensing laws that it believes needlessly deprive people of economic liberty to engage in productive endeavors. Two petitions from the group, 360 Virtual Drone Services LLC v. Ritter and Crownholm v. Moore, involve state surveying laws. Many states require people who are paid to perform certain kinds of mapping to have obtained a license from a state board of surveyors. IJ challenged those laws, arguing that making such maps conveys information (typically in connection with construction) and thus constitutes speech protected by the First Amendment. Therefore, the group contends, laws requiring licensing must be assessed under the most stringent standard of review, strict scrutiny.

The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 4th Circuit and for the 9th Circuit, respectively, rejected IJ’s arguments. The 4th Circuit held that because such laws are “a regulation of professional conduct that only incidentally impacts speech,” “precedent requires that we apply a more relaxed form of intermediate scrutiny that mandates only that the restriction be ‘sufficiently drawn’ to protect a substantial state interest.” The court upheld the law under that standard. The 9th Circuit ruled similarly. IJ now seeks Supreme Court review, arguing that more searching scrutiny is warranted.

Our next two relisted petitions were brought by the conservative legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom, which last term represented doctors and medical groups seeking to roll back access to one of the two drugs used in medication abortions. It frequently represents people whose views put them in conflict with (usually state and local) laws requiring the recognition of same-sex marriage or that require people to act or speak inconsistently with their own views of sexual orientation or identity – such as a Colorado website designer who did not want to design websites for same-sex weddings.

Chiles v. Salazar involves a challenge to Colorado’s Minor Conversion Therapy Law, which prohibits mental health professionals from providing clients under the age of 18 with “conversion therapy,” the attempt to “convert” LGBTQ+ youth to heterosexuality or traditional gender identity.

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor, brought a federal civil rights challenge to the law, arguing that it violates both the free speech and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment because it interferes with her ability to communicate with her clients. Chiles sought a preliminary injunction to prohibit the state from enforcing the law against her.

The district court denied her request for a preliminary injunction and by a divided vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit affirmed, holding that Chiles failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of her First Amendment claims.

The 10th Circuit noted that the Colorado legislature had cited evidence that conversion therapy is harmful to clients, and the court of appeals concluded that the law represented a permissible regulation of professional conduct that only incidentally affects speech.

Judge Harris Hartz dissented, citing Supreme Court precedent recognizing that “speech is not unprotected merely because it is uttered by professionals.” Chiles, represented by ADF, now seeks Supreme Court review, arguing that the law regulates speech in violation of the First Amendment. The court has relisted similar cases before, but so far they’ve never mustered the necessary votes for a grant.

Now we move on to a different type of First Amendment claim. L.M. was sent home from middle school for wearing a t-shirt that said, “There are only two genders.” The school said that the shirt violated the school dress code, which prohibits clothing bearing “hate speech that target[s] groups based on,” among many other things, “gender identity.”

In protest, L.M. then wore a t-shirt that covered over “only two” with a lettered piece of tape so it read, “There are [censored] genders.” He was required to remove the shirt. L.M. maintains that other students were permitted to express their views on gender when they were more to the school’s liking.

L.M., through his parents, filed a federal civil rights suit against the town, alleging the school district had violated his First Amendment rights. The district court granted the town summary judgment, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit affirmed. It held in a lengthy opinion that under the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the school could prohibit the shirts because of its judgment about what would make “an environment conducive to learning.”

In L.M. v. Town of Middleborough, Massachusetts, L.M., also represented by ADF, seeks review, arguing that the school district presumed without evidence that L.M.’s shirts would be substantially disruptive and that the speech should be permitted because it was silent, passive, and untargeted, and responded to the school’s opposing views and policies.

Hittle v. City of Stockton, California, is an employment-law case, but one with pronounced implications for the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. The City of Stockton, Calif., fired Fire Department Chief Ronald Hittle after disciplinary proceedings. The city had received anonymous complaints that that Hittle was a “religious fanatic” who showed favoritism to co-religionists. A city-hired investigator produced a report concluding that Hittle lacked effectiveness and judgment, used city time and a city vehicle to attend a religious event, failed to report time off, engaged in potential favoritism, and engaged in other misconduct. After his termination, Hittle sued the city and various officials, claiming that his termination constituted unlawful employment discrimination under Title VII based on his religion, in part because he had attended a Christian leadership event after he was told to seek leadership training.

The district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld his termination using the framework of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green. Under that framework, a plaintiff alleging discrimination must first show that: (1) he is a member of a protected class; (2) he was qualified for his position; (3) he experienced an adverse employment action; and (4) similarly situated individuals outside his protected class were treated more favorably, or other circumstances surrounding the adverse employment action give rise to an inference of discrimination. If the plaintiff can make that showing, the burden then shifts to the defendant to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the challenged actions. After that, the burden shifts back to the plaintiff, who must show that the employer’s proffered nondiscriminatory reason is pretextual. A plaintiff meets the burden either directly by persuading the court that the employer was more likely to have been motivated by a discriminatory reason or indirectly by showing that the employer’s proffered explanation is unworthy of credence.

A divided panel of the 9th Circuit held that the city had proffered a legitimate nondiscriminatory basis for disciplining Hittle because the religious leadership event he attended on city time was not appropriate for getting the kind of management training the city required. It concluded that various remarks made by decisionmakers did not reflect discrimination.

The full court of appeals then declined to rehear the case, over the votes of four judges who argued that the “record includes ample direct and circumstantial evidence of [the decisionmakers’] discriminatory intent, which the panel should have recognized as more than sufficient to meet Hittle’s burden at the summary judgment stage.”

Hittle now seeks review. In addition to distinguished outside counsel, Hittle is represented by the Church State Council, which seeks to protect religious exercise, especially in the workplace, as well as the religious liberty group First Liberty Institute. They argue that the McDonnell Douglas framework is countertextual, hard to apply, and denies plaintiffs with meritorious discrimination claims their day in court. And in particular, Hittle argues that the lower courts are confused regarding the third step in the process, under which the plaintiff has to show the proffered reason is pretextual. The test is especially inappropriate, Hittle argues, in cases brought under the theory that the protected status is a motivating factor for termination, where discrimination doesn’t need to be a but-for cause to be actionable.

Last up is Barrett v. United States. Dwayne Barrett was a member of an informal criminal organization known as “the Crew” that committed armed robberies of mostly small businesses. Barrett was convicted of Hobbs Act robbery, meaning the unlawful taking of property by force, violence, intimidation, or fear, which affects interstate or foreign commerce. He was also convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), which prohibits using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime, and 18 U.S.C. § 924(j), which imposes an additional penalty for murder or manslaughter during a Section 924(c) offense. Barrett was convicted and his conviction and sentence were affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2d Circuit.

Barrett seeks review, arguing that the double jeopardy clause prohibits imposing sentences on both a Section 924(c) conviction and a Section 924(j) conviction, when the offenses are based on the same underlying Hobbs Act robbery. He also argues that Hobbs Act robbery is not a crime of violence under Section 924(c) because it does not have as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another.

The Supreme Court has a lot to chew on this week. I suspect that these relists will not yield many grants, though they may yield opinions. We should know more soon.

New Relists

Crownholm v. Moore, 24-276 Issues: (1) What standard applies to determine whether an occupational-licensing law’s restriction on a person’s use, creation, and dissemination of information in drawings is a regulation of his speech or of his conduct that incidentally involves his speech; and (2) what level of constitutional scrutiny applies to speech regulated by an occupational-licensing law. (Relisted after the Feb. 21 conference.)

360 Virtual Drone Services LLC v. Ritter, 24-279 Issue: Whether, in an as-applied First Amendment challenge to an occupational-licensing law, the standard for determining whether the law regulates speech or regulates conduct is this court’s traditional conduct-versus-speech dichotomy. (Relisted after the Feb. 21 conference.)

L.M. v. Town of Middleborough, Massachusetts, 24-410 Issue: Whether school officials may presume substantial disruption or a violation of the rights of others from a student’s silent, passive, and untargeted ideological speech simply because that speech relates to matters of personal identity, even when the speech responds to the school’s opposing views, actions, or policies. (Relisted after the Feb. 21 conference.)

Hittle v. City of Stockton, California, 24-427 Issues: (1) Whether this court should overrule McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green; and (2) whether step three of the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework requires a plaintiff to disprove the employer’s proffered reason for the adverse employment action, when the text of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Bostock v. Clayton County provide that an action may have more than one but-for cause or motivating factor. (Relisted after the Feb. 21 conference.)

Chiles v. Salazar, 24-539 Issue: Whether a law that censors certain conversations between counselors and their clients based on the viewpoints expressed regulates conduct or violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment. (Relisted after the Feb. 21 conference.)

Barrett v. United States, 24-5774 Issues: (1) Whether the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment permits two sentences for an act that violates 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) and (j); and (2) whether “Hobbs Act robbery qualifies as a crime of violence under Section 924(c)(3)(A), a question left open after” United States v. Taylor. (Relisted after the Feb. 21 conference.)

Returning Relists

Apache Stronghold v. United States, 24-291 Issue: Whether the government “substantially burdens” religious exercise under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or must satisfy heightened scrutiny under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, when it singles out a sacred site for complete physical destruction, ending specific religious rituals forever. (Relisted after the Dec. 6, Dec. 13, Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 24, and Feb. 21 conferences.)

Ocean State Tactical, LLC v. Rhode Island, 24-131 Issues: (1) Whether a retrospective and confiscatory ban on the possession of ammunition-feeding devices that are in common use violates the Second Amendment; and (2) whether a law dispossessing citizens without compensation of property that they lawfully acquired and long possessed without incident violates the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment. (Relisted after the Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 24, and Feb. 21 conferences.)

Snope v. Brown, 24-203 Issue: Whether the Constitution permits Maryland to ban semiautomatic rifles that are in common use for lawful purposes, including the most popular rifle in America. (Relisted after the Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 24, and Feb. 21 conferences.)

Franklin v. New York, 24-330 Issues: (1) Whether the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause applies to out-of-court statements admitted as evidence against criminal defendants if, and only if, the statements were created for the primary purpose of serving as trial testimony; and (2) whether a post-arrest report prepared about a criminal defendant by an agent of the state for use in a criminal proceeding can be admitted as evidence against the defendant at trial, without providing a right to cross-examine the report’s author. (Relisted after the Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 24, and Feb. 21 conferences.)

Speech First, Inc. v. Whitten, 24-361 Issue: Whether university bias-response teams — official entities that solicit anonymous reports of bias, track them, investigate them, ask to meet with the perpetrators, and threaten to refer students for formal discipline — objectively chill students’ speech under the First Amendment. (Relisted after the Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 24, and Feb. 21 conferences.)

Alabama v. California, 22O158 Issue: Whether the Supreme Court should enjoin states from seeking to impose liability or obtain equitable relief premised on either emissions by or in other states, or the promotion, use and/or sale of traditional energy products in or to those other states. CVSG: 12/10/2024 (Relisted after the Jan. 17, Jan. 24, and Feb. 21 conferences.)

[harvardfineartslib]

Rest in Power, Faith Ringgold.

Faith Ringgold died at 93 on Saturday at her home in Englewood, New Jersey.⁠

Faith Ringgold was born in Harlem in New York City in 1930. She was best known for her storytelling quilt work. This was the time after the golden era of the Harlem Renaissance, but the neighborhood was still beaming with much excitement and creativity. Ringgold grew up as the third child in a working-class family, often sick with asthma, such that she spent a lot of time making drawings and imagining that “the bridge was the magic highway to the rest of the world.” Later Ringgold used the imagery of bridges in “The Woman on a Bridge Series.”

Ringgold was a trailblazing artist, educator, and activist. For seven decades, she used art as her platform to speak out against racism, sexism, and inequality. Through her storytelling and visual art, Ringgold challenged the status quo in the society.

Faith Ringgold : a view from the studio Attribution: Curlee Raven Holton, with Faith Ringgold. Holton, Curlee Raven. Boston : Bunker Hill Pub. in association with Allentown Art Museum, 2004. English HOLLIS number: 990095910410203941

[slackville-records]

Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison and Art Davis at John Coltrane "Ascension" recording session on June 28, 1965. Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Photo by Chuck Stewart.