Yoruba movie actor, Tolani Quadri, popularly known as Sisi Quadri, died on Friday at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, after a brief illness.
Tunde Ola-Yusuf, one of his colleagues in the movie industry, confirmed his death on social media.
“Everything in the world is according to the will of Allah, from Allah, we have come, and unto him, we shall all return – May God rest your soul Bro #iamsisiquadir,” wrote Ola-Yusuf.
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State described the actor’s deathas shocking and devastating.
The governor, in a condolence message on Friday, said Sisi Quadri was a delight to watch on the screen.
He commiserated with his family, especially his aged father, Alhaji Oyebamiji, the people of Iwoland and the movie industry, urging them to take consolation in a life of impacts lived by the deceased actor.
“Tolani Quadri Oyebamiji (aka Sisi Quadri) was a delight to watch in movies. He was a great talent that illuminate homes and impart valuable messages. With his demise, the memory of the wonderful moments he created on the scenes, and more, the comical relief he inspires through his works will reverberate for years,” said Governor Adeleke.
He added. “I mourn his loss knowing well the great talent that is gone. I extend my heartfelt condolences to his immediate family, the people of Iwoland, the movie industry, and everyone touched by this devastating experience.
“It is my sincere prayer that they get the strength to bear the hard moment his passage represents. May Almighty Allah grant him aljanah fridaos soul.”
Sisi Quadri: Gov Adeleke Mourns As Osun-Born Nollywood Actor Dies is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
As Congress weighs whether to send more military aid to Ukraine, European leaders are voicing concern over what a halt to U.S. financial support for the battle against Russia war could mean for Ukraine.
A Feb. 25 Instagram post claimed that Poland’s foreign minister called the U.S. “dysfunctional and unreliable” because of congressional delays and deliberation over sending more military aid to Ukraine.
“If the United States of America fails to deliver military support to Ukraine despite the commander in chief’s (President Joe Biden’s) desire to do so, allies will start developing their own nuclear weapons because America is dysfunctional and unreliable,” read a quote attributed to Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski. The post was published by Occupy Democrats, a left-wing advocacy group founded in 2012 in response to the conservative Tea Party movement.
This Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Poland’s foreign minister did express concerns about the prospect of no more U.S. military aid for Ukraine on Feb. 22 in a nearly nine-minute Bloomberg News interview. Sikorski said he wanted to appeal to the U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“Please let democracy decide this issue,”Sikorski said. “Please allow this Ukraine supplemental (aid package) to go to a vote. Otherwise, if you preclude your commander in chief from doing what he wants to do, … Your credibility will be damaged.”
Also the interview, Sikorski said, “If the supplemental (funding package proposed by Democrats) doesn’t go through and U.S. allies are disappointed and get the idea that the United States might not be able to help you even when the commander in chief wants to help you, that will have profound consequences for all American alliances around the world.”
The Occupy Democrats post appears to trace to Ukrainian-born race car driver Igor Sushko’s X post on Feb. 24 that summarizes Sikorski’s Bloomberg News comments, but not Sikorski’s actual words.
Occupy Democrats did not answer an email from PolitiFact seeking comment.
There is no evidence Sikorski called the U.S. “dysfunctional and unreliable” in his Bloomberg News comments and we found no evidence that he said this elsewhere.
We rate the claim that Poland’s foreign minister called the U.S. “dysfunctional and unreliable” False.
Ayesha Curry revealed Friday that she and husband Steph Curry are growing their family — and maybe looking to mount a full basketball squad — by announcing she is pregnant with their fourth child.
The entrepreneurial wife of the Golden State Warriors star made this announcement in the most glam way possible, by sharing a stylish photo of herself and her growing baby bump on the cover of her Sweet July magazine. The Instagram post from Sweet July didn’t reveal many details about her pregnancy, only that the magazine’s founder “excitedly announces her growing family.”
The photo shows the 34-year-old cookbook author and lifestyle entrepreneur reclining against two cafe chairs and wearing a nude bralette, blazer and strappy white sandals, while cradling her bump. Among other things, the post doesn’t say anything about Ayesha’s due date, which will no doubt lead Warriors fans to speculate on whether the pregnancy was timed so that she won’t give birth until after the NBA finals.
Ayesha and Steph — who first met when they were teens in North Carolina in 2003 and tied the knot in July 2011 — are parents to daughters Riley, 11, and Ryan, 8, and son Canon, 5.
This pregnancy might strike some as a surprise, given that Ayesha was so open about how difficult her third pregnancy was in 2018. She shared on Instagram in April 2018 that she suffered from a rare pregnancy condition that is often described as an extreme, 24/7 onslaught of morning sickness that goes on for months. The condition is hyperemesis gravidarum, or HG. Britain’s Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, also dealt with HG throughout her three pregnancies.
The Washington Post called HG “a 24-hour-a-day marathon of nausea and vomiting that can last throughout the first trimester and, in many cases, for the entire pregnancy.” HG can lead to some expectant mothers losing 10% of their body weight — at a time when they are supposed to gain weight.
It can cause severe dehydration, nutritional disorders, metabolic imbalances and even thyroid and liver dysfunction, according to Parents.com. All this means that HG can be debilitating, leaving women unable to get out of bed, much less go to work or take care of their other kids.
It’s also been known to put some women in the hospital so they can treated with a combination of intravenous fluids and anti-nausea medications. Ayesha in 2018 disclosed that she had been to the hospital at least five times while pregnant with Canon, and felt like she had “pretty much been sucking at life.”
The Sweet July cover makes it appear that Ayesha might have been fortunate to avoid HG this go-around, or at least the worst aspects of it. In the photo, she certainly looks like she’s glowing and feeling good enough to happily pose in a bralette and snappy sandals.
Black History Month is a time to celebrate the giants that came before us and reflect on the shoulders upon which we stand. I am reminded of Lewis Latimer, the son of former slaves, whose invention of the filament allowed Thomas Edison’s lightbulb to function properly. I am reminded of Septima Poinsette Clark, a South Carolinian who Martin Luther King called the mother of the civil rights movement, whose workshops inspired icons like Rosa Parks. And I’m reminded of Robert Smalls, who I sincerely believe is the most consequential South Carolinian who ever lived. While enslaved, he absconded a Confederate boat, freed his family and friends, campaigned for Blacks to be allowed to fight for the Union army, and later became a member of the South Carolina legislature and Congress.
As a former history teacher and student of history, I’m deeply concerned by the dark efforts at work to silence these stories. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund estimates that more than 1,600 books have been banned across the country, with 566 books having been banned in Florida alone. Teachers and librarians are living in fear of triggering the next battle of the ongoing culture war as they simply try to do their job.
These efforts are directly connected with widespread attempts to take control of local school boards. In 2022, several new board members — who had the support of right-wing activist group “Moms for Liberty” — were sworn into the Berkeley County School District in South Carolina. Within two hours, the board had fired the district’s first Black superintendent, removed the district’s lawyer, banned “critical race theory,” whatever that is, and put the framework in place to ban various books from schools.
Other school districts in South Carolina followed suit — Clarendon, Charleston, Colleton, and Sumter — and have come under fire within the last year. They are all led by Black superintendents. These are coordinated actions not intended to support the education of our children, but to further a political agenda sponsored by “Moms of Liberty” and various other ultra-right wing MAGA groups.
The dangers of continuing down this path are too great to ignore. I often quote philosopher George Santayana who once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Based on the recent events unfolding across my home state which gave birth to Brown v. Board of Education, it’s clear we are already headed in that terrifying direction.
It is a common myth that the origins of the Christian right can be traced back to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. As the story goes, religious conservatives were so deeply disturbed by the possibility of the legalization of a woman’s right to choose that they mobilized, eventually garnering the attention of President Richard Nixon. President Nixon then used the issue as a cornerstone of his 1972 presidential campaign.
However, it was the issue of school desegregation in the 1950s and ‘60s that unified the bloc. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision sent shockwaves throughout the country, particularly in the South where Jim Crow flourished, and segregation was the dominating way of life. In response to Brown, white residents established racially segregated private schools to avoid complying with the ruling. Notably, most of these schools were religiously affiliated.
Black families joined together in the successful 1971 Green v. Connally class action suit to prevent the institutions from being granted tax-exempt status and to ensure no one could receive tax deductions for contributing to such schools. Tensions were further inflamed in 1975 when the IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University, a racially segregated evangelical Christian institution.
Today, this same Christian right has rebranded and united with MAGA Republicans to remove Black history books from our schools, strip women of their right to choose, and end the miracle of IVF.
Each of these efforts are intertwined with the generations of discrimination that the African American community has experienced. Yes, the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s was a complex struggle for justice and equality for the Black community. But I reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s prescient words in his famed “I Have a Dream” speech, that “[Our white brothers] have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.”
As the son of a fundamentalist minister and Chairman of the Democratic Faith Working Group in Congress, I lean heavily on my faith in challenging times. Matthew 25:40 teaches us that “whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” It may be easy to turn a blind eye when the injustices do not impact you. But the scripture assures that we will “reap what [we] sow.”
Our stories — Black stories — should and must be told.
‘I think as time rolls on people are going to understand the need to have some sort of divine structure to things,’ says podcast host.
Podcast host and comedian Joe Rogan appears to be acknowledging the power of God and recognizing sides must be taken in the spiritual battle between good and evil.
In a video going viral on social media, Rogan told NFL star quarterback Aaron Rodgers that as the times get crazier, people have to depend on religion to provide a moral compass in their lives.
Joe Rogan, once a vocal evangelist of New Atheist talking points on religion, now yearns for the "just and righteous" Kingdom of God and believes the world "needs Jesus…for real."
That's quite a change, but his journey is emblematic of a wider shift in attitudes towards… pic.twitter.com/XxM5u7tr3N
“I think as time rolls on people are going to understand the need to have some sort of divine structure to things, some sort of belief in the sanctity of love and of truth, and a lot of that comes from religion,” Rogan told Rodgers.
RELATED — Aaron Rodgers On Rogan: Big Pharma, Disease X, Jimmy Kimmel, Corrupt Politicians & More!
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The podcast host went on to point out religion provides a good moral compass for people to “live a just and righteous life,” and said those who reject religion as superstition do so at their own peril.
“And unfortunately a lot of very intelligent people, they dismiss all the positive aspects of religion because they think that the stories are mere superstitious fairy tales that, you know, they have no place in this modern world, and we’re inherently good and your ethics are based on your own moral compass and we all have one — and that’s not necessarily true,” he said.
“We need Jesus …I think for real,” Rogan added. “Like if you came back now it would be great. Like Jesus, if you’re thinking about coming back, right now’s a good time pretty soon. Now’s a good time.”
Rogan’s comments appear to reveal an evolving perspective on his previous views which seemed to prioritize spirituality over organized religion.
We are so back. The enemies of Christ will be defeated and made subservient to Him. Amen.
The comedian’s apparent coming-to-God moment may have been spurred by fellow podcast host Adam Curry, who described to Rogan how he explored religion and discovered Jesus was “a badass outlaw” who changed his outlook on life.
Praise God for @adamcurry who shared his testimony with Joe on the show last year and planted the seeds of the Gospel through the work of the Holy Spirit. pic.twitter.com/SU4J6mU4rb
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in exercise of the powers conferred on it under the Bank and other Financial Institutions Act (BoFIA) 2020, Act No. 5, and the Revised operational Guidelines for Bureaux De Change 2015 (the Guidelines) has revoked the licenses of 4,173 Bureaux De Change operators.
The list of affected BDC operators was posted on the apex bank website on Friday.
The affected institutions, according to the CBN failed to make payment of all necessary fees, including licence renewal, within the stipulated period in line with the Guidelines.
Some of them also failed to make rendition of returns in line with the Guidelines as well as failed to comply with guidelines, directives and circulars of the CBN, particularly Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT)and Counter-Proliferation Financing (CPF) regulations.
The CBN said it is revising the regulutory and supervisory guidelines for Bureau de Change operations in Nigeria.
It said, “Compliance with the new requirements will be mandatory for all stakeholders in the sector when the revised guidelines become effective. Members of the public are hereby advised to take note and be guided accordingly.”
BREAKING: CBN Revokes Operational Licenses Of 4,173 BDCs Over Forex Market Abuse is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
A Bay Area News Group sports reporter was named this week as one of the 10 best national beat writers of 2023 by the Associated Press Sports Editors and two more were honored for writing excellent feature stories published last year.
Jason Mastrodonato and Jerry McDonald each were among the 10 finalists in short feature storytelling for their work on matters of life and death in the realm of sports, while Jon Wilner’s reporting on the downfall of the Pac-12 gained him the distinction of being a finalist for national beat writing.
Jason Mastrodonato. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
Mastrodonato’s submission was an April story about former Giants pitching coach Andrew Bailey, who blew a save at Fenway Park on April 15, 2013, delaying an exodus of fans — and the players’ wives — from the stadium to the Boston Marathon finish line, where 40 minutes after the final pitch, two bombs exploded.
“A couple weeks later I had people come up to me and say, ‘You saved my life.’ It’s happened on more occasions than you’d think,” Bailey told Mastrodonato. “It was the best blown save I ever had.”
McDonald’s entry was a September feature on 49ers senior adviser and former linebacker Keena Turner, who credits a mandate enacted by general manager John Lynch for saving his life. When Lynch and Kyle Shanahan arrived in 2017, Lynch established an annual physical for members of the personnel department. Turner’s 2022 physical showed an aortic aneurysm, which necessitated a surgery — though Turner held out for a year.
Jerry McDonald. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Turner was back at work in two months, even dropping to the ground and doing pushups at training camp.
“My mindset going in was, ‘If I wake up, I’m good to go,’” Turner told McDonald. “To be cracked is painful, but I was good with it. I didn’t waste a lot of time thinking about the road back. I just said, ‘Let’s go.’”
Wilner’s submission featured five stories, ranging from his breakdown in the immediate aftermath of the Pac-12’s dissolution to piecing together how the Pac-12 Networks ended up receiving overpayment from Comcast, and why the overpayment grew into a scandal.
Jon Wilner. (Michael Malone/Bay Area News Group)
The other stories that earned Wilner the recognition were a report uncovering documents that changed the tenor of Washington State and Oregon State’s lawsuit against the departing schools, an analysis of the 12 biggest steps that led the conference to its bitter end and a thought experiment looking a decade into the future at how realignment may bring the Pac-12 back together again.
The winners in each category are expected to be announced in mid-April.
The leaders said as the nation reflects on the sacrifices of civil rights champions like the late Rep. John Lewis, the call resounds for every member of Congress to endorse pivotal democracy bills, including the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, and the Native American Voting Rights Act, ahead of the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday on March 7.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
In a press briefing on Thursday, February 29, Senate leaders, alongside civil rights advocates, announced the reintroduction of S.4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, aimed at safeguarding voting rights and fortifying the nation’s democratic foundations.
According to U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on March 12 to discuss the growing threats to voting rights and the need for federal voting safeguards.
The leaders said as the nation reflects on the sacrifices of civil rights champions like the late Rep. John Lewis, the call resounds for every member of Congress to endorse pivotal democracy bills, including the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, and the Native American Voting Rights Act, ahead of the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday on March 7.
“This year’s presidential election will be the first since Republican-led state legislatures passed a wave of restrictive voting laws,” Durbin remarked. “As members of Congress, we have an obligation to defend our democracy against these attacks on our fundamental right to vote.”
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York emphasized what he called the vital role of a robust democratic foundation. “To make real progress on the issues we care about, the foundation of democracy must be strong,” Schumer stated. “The hard right is trying to cut those efforts off at the knees, making it harder for people to participate in democracy and be represented.”
Georgia Senator, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, underscored the legislation’s importance in preserving democracy. “Let’s protect the sacred right. We’ve got to get this done in the spirit and in the name of John Lewis, and because our democracy itself is at stake,” Warnock demanded.
Maya Wiley, President, and CEO of The Leadership Conference, emphasized the non-partisan nature of the cause. “This is not about partisanship; this is about people having power. That is why we need the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” Wiley said.
Others from various civil rights organizations also weighed in, with John C. Yang of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC urging Congress to support the change, and Damon Hewitt of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law stressing the need for a democracy that works for everyone.
“Voters are demanding better from their representatives, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act must be the response,” added Deirdre Schifeling, Chief Political and Advocacy Officer of ACLU.
Many Americans want the president and Congress to prioritize reducing the influence of political spending on the eve of what could be the most expensive election cycle in United States history.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say reducing the influence of political spending should be a top priority, second only to strengthening the economy and defending against terrorism, according to a new report by the social science research think tank Pew Research Center.
The 5,140 Americans surveyed from Jan. 16 to Jan. 21, 2024, ranked reducing the role of money in politics above other policy priorities including reducing health care costs, dealing with immigration, environmental protection and improving education.
Americans who care about reducing the influence of political spending cut across party lines.
“While there are wide partisan differences on most policy goals, 65% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans rate this as a top priority,” Pew Research wrote.
Since the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 2010 opened the door to unlimited independent spending in federal elections, political spending has skyrocketed.
During the 2008 cycle, the last presidential election before the Citizens United ruling, candidates, political parties and independent outside groups spent nearly $7.2 billion on federal elections, adjusted for inflation, according to the money in politics research group OpenSecrets.
By the 2020 election cycle, total political spending topped $16.4 billion.
With a potential rematch between President Biden and former President Trump on the horizon, the U.S. could see another election cycle with record-breaking spending.
But the flood of money into politics and its perceived influence on elected officials has left many Americans disillusioned with the policymaking process.
A separate Pew Research study of 8,480 American adults conducted in July 2023 found 63 percent think most or all elected officials ran to “make a lot of money.” Just 22 percent said most or all elected officials rank to address issues they care about, and 15 percent said they think these officials ran to serve the public.
The study also found 72 percent of American adults support limits on the amount of money individuals and organizations should be able to spend in elections.
As of right now, however, there is little political will to put any limits on political spending, especially since Citizens United ruled limits on independent political spending — i.e. expenditures not coordinated with a candidate — in federal elections violated the First Amendment right to free speech.
While Citizens United emphasized the need for robust disclosure of such expenditures, even efforts to stop the flow of “dark money” — political spending that seeks to influence voters without disclosing the source of the funds — have stalled in Congress.
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This year’s U.S. presidential campaign has taken most of the “super” out of Super Tuesday, but the day is still an important step in choosing the next leader of the United States.
On Tuesday, March 5, 15 states and the U.S. territory American Samoa will have contests to choose one presidential nominee each for the Republican and Democratic parties. And Iowa will report the results of its Democratic vote-by-mail primary. It will be the biggest pot of delegates decided on one day in all of election season. Because of decisions made by each state and each party, some states have a contest just for one party on Super Tuesday, holding it for the other party on a different day. (Independent candidates and candidates from other political parties go through a different set of challenges to get on the November ballot.)
The Democratic and Republican parties select their presidential and vice presidential candidates every four years at a party convention to which each state (and several U.S. territories) sends delegates. States and territories hold votes — through primary elections or in-person meetings called caucuses — between January 15 and June 8.
Half the Republican delegates and 36% of the Democratic delegates will be decided on Super Tuesday this year, according to Ballotpedia, an online political encyclopedia. (Party rules affect how many delegates each state sends to a convention.)
Barbara Norrander, emeritus professor in the School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Arizona, says that although some other countries also have primary systems, the U.S. system may be the most complicated.
Super Tuesday’s power, she says, is in the sheer number of delegates up for grabs that day. The results can focus long-shot candidates on realities: Typically, many drop out soon after Super Tuesday, Norrander says.
Super Tuesday usually narrows the field of contenders for other reasons too. Some candidates find it more difficult to attract volunteers or media coverage or to raise campaign funds if they don’t do well on the day.
This year, most of the field was winnowed early. Still, political experts say Super Tuesday remains an important way for candidates to amass enough convention support to ward off any late entrants into the campaign. (And winning helps candidates to attract donations and media attention.)
It is not a coincidence that so many states hold primaries on the same day. Southern states originally banded together in the 1970s to draw candidates and attention to their region. This year the more geographically diverse states and territories will cast votes, from California to Maine, and from Texas to Minnesota.
Many of the Super Tuesday states and territories have small populations and few delegates. They hope that by holding their contests on the same day as some of the bigger states, they gain greater influence on selecting the next U.S. president.
Winning big states early in the process sets candidates up to build unstoppable momentum, according to Scott McLean, professor of political science at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.
Although this year’s Super Tuesday will be less dramatic than usual, the drama of the day is likely to return. Many skilled politicians have stayed on the bench this election cycle, McLean says. “You are going to see a lot of them running in four years. Super Tuesday will be a major moment.”
