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Last month, at a Martin Luther King Day event in Harlem hosted by the Reverend Al Sharpton, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, representing New Yorks 13th district, had something to say about bike infrastructure: Affordability and gentrification are ripping our neighborhood apart, he said. And you see the stress of high rent. Now you got Starbucks. And bike lanes. And sushi. Wheres my rice and beans?!

The next day, on January 21,rideshare company Lyft hosted an event at the Harlem YMCA to announce its new LyftUp program, which will provide free one-year Citi Bike memberships to 16 to 20-year-olds in the YMCA network. Lyft, whichoperates New York Citys bike share program as well as those in other major U.S. cities, is partnering with NBA great LeBron James, who showed up to the event to surprise 50 local teens who would be receiving free access to Citi Bikes.I was at thepress conference, along with my nine year-old son (whos really lucky to have such a cool dad). The kids receiving the memberships were absolutely electrified when LeBron James entered the room. So was I, and I dont even follow basketball.My hand shook as I recorded his short speech.

While he didnt address the devastating effects of Starbucks or sushi, James did have a very different take on bikes and bike lanes. Once the screaming died down, he spoke to the kids about the role bikes played in his own childhood. I was a kid, growing up in the inner city of Akron, Ohio, riding bikes, he said. What a bike did for me was to be able to travel across the city with my friends, get from my home to school or get to basketball practices or football practices and be able just to travel, breathe the fresh air, be able to clear your mind at times...a segue to be able to do so many things that can also carry you for the rest of your life.

Furthermore, James addressed the safety and the importance of bike lanes, which in lower-income neighborhoods can be a lot harder to come by.Safety is always first, and for the city to understand that bike lanes are very important for the kids safety, he said. For adults that want to ride, too. So this is very important.

When the kids all gathered for a group photo, James came sliding across the wood floor into the shotthe very antithesis of Espaillats pompous podium posturing. Sure, the cynic in me registered that all of this was essentially a photo op put together by a tech company with a $14 billion market cap, but so what? Bikes need more of this. When was the last time you saw anyone even remotely excitinglet alone one of the most talented and successful athletes on the planetstand in front of a bunch of kids and articulate the sheer sense of freedom and exhilaration that comes from riding a bike? (Im talking about America by the way, not Belgium or the Netherlands. And sorry, David Byrne doesnt count.) Here in New York City, when it comes to young people and bikes, the approach by local government seems to alternate between making corny entreaties to kids (think helmet giveaways), and confiscating their bikes as soon as they start actually having fun with them. So an introduction from pro BMX and YouTube sensation Nigel Sylvester, followed by a video of kids getting rad on bikes, and finally a surprise appearance by King James himself, was all rather invigorating.

Lyft partners with LeBron James and UNINTERRUPTED to announce the new LyftUp initiative expanding transportation access for communities in need. (Photo: Craig Barritt/Getty Images Lyft)

James exuded sincerity, and whats more, his bike bona-fides are quite sound. He grew up riding. He famously commuted by bike while playing in Miami, even joining Critical Mass. Hes given away hundreds of bikes to kids in need. He even owned a stake in Cannondale for a while, which says more about his love of bikes than anything else, because only someone completely besotted with cycling would be crazy enough to invest in a bike company.

Far more important, James is not just promoting bicycling, but the bicycles potential to serve as an inflection point in a young persons life. His words resonate with anybody who grew up riding. Our bikes were our first taste of freedom, and exploring our neighborhoods was in part how we learned to chart a course through life. But as our roads become increasingly hostile and ridership among children continues to decline, fewer kids get to experience this sense of independence and agency. We owe it to our kids to return that joy and freedom to them.

Teens I spoke to at the event said that theyll use their memberships to ride to school, practices, and the Y. One 16-year-old told me he hasnt had a bike in two years, and that this would finally allow him to start riding again. Granted, we needmoreprograms like this, times a million, but at least its a start.

Odds are LeBron James was unaware of Espaillats comments the day before, but either way James certainly dunked on him. The idea that bikesarguably the healthiest, least expensive, and most accessible mode of transport on the planetare somehow classist and elitist doesnt hold up under any kind of scrutiny. Who better to send up this absurd notion than LeBron James? Bikes and bike lanes dont hold people and neighborhoods back, they help move them forward. Give kids better access to both and theres no telling what theyll accomplish.

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LeBron James Is the New Hero of Bike Shares - Outside

The various iterations of The Dick Cavett Show, especially the late-night ABC show which ran from 1969-1975, have been a deep resource for Cavett and director Robert Bader to look back on some of the serious issues that riled the country in the late 60s and early 70s. First they collaborated on how the shows often influential guests and intellectual discourse contributed to the discussion surrounding the Vietnam War, then they did another documentary about the shows extensive coverage of Watergate. Now, the two of them examine the unlikely friendship between Cavett and one of his most frequent guests: boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

The Gist: Ali was on Cavetts show over a dozen times between 1969 and his last fight in 1981. When he first appeared in 69, he was in the middle of a period where his heavyweight championship was stripped from him and he was threatened with prison over his refusal to enter the military draft. The first third of Ali & Cavett: The Tale Of The Tapes goes over the steps that led the former Cassius Clay to that point, from his association with the Nation of Islam, and how Elijah Mohammed and Malcolm X both tried to get Ali to align with eachs faction within NOI. Through interviews with Al Sharpton, Juan Williams, Larry Merchant and others and of course, Cavett we go in-depth into Alis state of mind then, who was influencing him, and how Cavett shockingly thought that the champ, who he had already established a strong rapport with, was using his nimble verbal skills to ramble on about someone elses agenda.

But once Alis boxing license was restored by the New York Supreme Court in 1970 (he was still appealing his federal conviction, which wouldnt be cleared until a year later), Alis appearances on Cavetts show were more of a balance of boxing talk and talk about the always touchy racial issues on which Ali had strong opinions. We see clips of Ali talking about all sorts of stuff, not the least of which trash talking his biggest rival, Joe Frazier. We even see the infamous appearance before the first Ali-Frazier fight where the two of them almost come to blows, then gang up on Cavett and lift him out of his chair.

From Alis comeback, where he regained the heavyweight crown after defeating a young, stronger George Foreman, the show takes a turn. We see light moments, like Cavett at Alis woodland training camp in Pennsylvania, to darker moments, like after Ali lost the title to Leon Spinks in 1978. Cavett and the other experts all wonder if his later fights, and the fact that he got hit harder during those than during his younger days, is what led to the Parkinsons syndrome that eventually led to his death in 2016.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The film covers a lot of the same ground as 2019s HBO doc Whats My Name: Muhammad Ali, though it does concentrate more on the years 1964-1981. Theres definitely more of an examination on his relationships with Elijah Mohammed, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan and others in the Nation of Islam. Its likely because Cavett challenged him on the racial diatribes Ali often went on in those years, as well as let him talk about why he objected to going to Vietnam.

Performance Worth Watching: Alis life is fascinating to us, and its always fascinating to show how he transformed from the young Ali fast-talking, witty, unafraid to speak his mind, but considered by much of white America to be dangerous and subversive to the thirty-something Ali, who had slowed down but was still witty and, more importantly, a pop culture icon.

Memorable Dialogue: Sometimes he almost seemed like a brother to me, says Cavett, who once wrote that at times he considered Ali his best friend.

Our Take: What surprised me the most about Ali & Cavett: The Tale Of The Tapes is that the first third of the film has very little Cavett in it. For a film that is promoting itself as looking at Alis career through his appearances on Cavetts various shows, it felt like a curious choice that we would be going over the period of time before Cavetts show started in such depth (they did meet when Cavett was a writer for The Jerry Lewis Show in the mid-60s, but their friendship started in earnest when Ali started going on the shows Cavett hosted).

In this case, an e-mail response from Bader, after I interviewed Cavett, brought some light to the choice: I felt the audience would be confused without the background on Alis early interest and involvement with the Nation of Islam if my story began with his first Cavett interviews. So many of the critical events in Alis story occurred just before Dick got his show. But Ali was appearing on those early Cavett shows in response to the public reaction to many of those earlier events.

Once that part kicked in, it was fascinating to watch, especially as we see Alis icon status kick into high gear after the first Frazier fight. It was also fascinating to see those first signs that Ali might have stayed in the ring too long, even after he captured the heavyweight crown for the third time in the Spinks rematch. And what was the most fascinating was the stories Cavett told about the time Ali stayed over his house in Montauk, and the overall picture of how the two of them bonded to where they became more than just host and guest.

Our Call: STREAM IT. While we think Ali & Cavett: The Tale Of The Tapes could have given the context behind Alis first Cavett appearances a little quicker, its still a wonderful look at an unlikely friendship and a bit of insight into Alis mindset in the second stage of his boxing career.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesnt kid himself: hes a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

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Stream It Or Skip It: 'Ali & Cavett: The Tale Of The Tapes' On HBO, A Documentary About Muhammed Ali Told Through His Talks With Dick Cavett -...

It was, by far, Donald Trumps best, most optimistic, State of the Union speechthe kind of speech we can expect to see clips of in his re-election adsthe kind of speech that would be considered good even without the qualifier for Donald Trump at the end.

Of course everyone didnt think soa number of Democrats walked out, and Nancy Pelosi pointedly tore it up for the cameras to see after he finished. But even with all that, if the goal were to reset the narrative and take advantage of the debacle in Iowa and the end of impeachment (without explicitly saying so), Trump was successful. He had a lot to work with, stressing a strong economy and low unemployment rateand the killing of some prominent, high-value terrorists.

But he also also touted accomplishments on issues with broad, bipartisan appeal, such as criminal justice reform, paid family leave, and opportunity zones. These are feel-good issues that Trump (due to his penchant for distracting us with insane tweets) doesnt get enough credit for.

Conspicuously, there was lots of outreach to African-Americans, both in terms of rhetoric regarding policy goals and achievements, and via special guests sitting in the gallery.

Coming on the heels of his Super Bowl ad, this was clearly not an accident. As The New York Times conservative columnist Ross Douthat put it in a mid-speech tweet, Theme of the speech so far: Somebody at the White House thinks Trump can win more African-American votes in 2020.

Whether Trumps numbers crunchers really believe he can peel off African-Americans, or whether the real goal is to make suburban whites more comfortable with voting for Trump, we are witnessing what seems to be a significant moment: Trump is actually in the business of addition.

Think of it. For three years now, his strategy has been entirely based on energizing his base. For the first time, it seems, we are seeing a campaign that is attempting to add to the Trump coalition.

Not only was the speech an opportunity for Trump to do some outreach (as well as recount the usual laundry list of successes and promises), but it was a trap for Democrats, who had to choose between applauding the president they just impeached versus refusing to applaud talk about a good economy. This was basically a no-win scenario for them.

During one moment, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema was shown delivering a standing ovation to good news about unemployment, while Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand sat on their hands. Another example was when representatives including Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar reportedly did not stand to honor a former Tuskegee airman.

Thats not to say that Trump didnt occasionally play some of his greatest hits. One gets the sense that Stephen Miller got to ad a few lines, toward the end. This created some contradictions. Trumps talk about building an inclusive society was considerably undermined by his reversion to harsh rhetoric about walls and illegal aliens.

Though there was much less fan service than we are used to hearing from Trump, there was something for everybody, including fans of Rush Limbaugh, who was recognized and given a Congressional Medal of Honor in the gallery. This probably struck many as an intensely partisan move (imagine Obama having Michelle pin a Medal of Freedom on Al Sharpton), but the fact that Limbaugh was just diagnosed with advanced lung cancer made it more palatable.

For the first time, it seems, we are seeing a campaign that is attempting to add to the Trump coalition.

Trump also appeared to take a veiled swipe at Bernie Sanders. During a section of the speech that included welcoming the true and legitimate President of Venezuela, Juan Guaid, Trump declared that Socialism destroys nations. But always remember, freedom unifies the soul.

One had the sense that this wasnt just an attack on socialists from Venezuela, but also, a reminder that we have our very own from Vermont.

Still, putting aside that clever swipe at Bernie, and although he apparently snubbed Speaker Nancy Pelosis attempt to shake hands, Trump somehow stuck to the script, resisting what must have been an almost irresistible urge to ad-lib about impeachment, his approval numbers, or the Dems Iowa disaster.

At one point early in the night, Republicans in the chamber broke out with cheers of, Four more years! It was something that I have never witnessed in all my years of watching State of the Union addresses.

Yes, it was a sign of our partisan times. But If Trump can continue to stick to the script for the rest of this campaign (a very tall order), it will also be prophetic.

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Whoa, Donald Trump Just Gave a Genuinely Good Speech - The Daily Beast

Author and columnist Mark Steyn toldTucker Carlson TonightThursday that the ironic fact lost in the firestorm surroundingSen. Mitt Romneys vote to convictPresident Trump of abuse of power this weekis that Romneyis the reason Trump is in the White House.

Steyn told host Tucker Carlson that Romney never punched back when attacked by the media or Democrats during his failed 2012 bid for the presidency.

When voters took note of that habit, they wanted a candidate who would do the exact opposite and not bow to the opposition when attacked. Those voters, Steyn said, gravitated toward Trump when he appeared on the scene.

TRUMPS POST-ACQUITTAL SPEECH BASHED BY MAINSTREAM MEDIA: THIS IS REALLY CRAZY

In 2015, theRepublican base decided thatthe essential quality theywere looking for was someonewho didnt let himself getslapped around by [CNNs] CandyCrowley as Mitt did in that [second 2012] debate, Steyn said. If Mitt doesnt like Trump,Mitt, look in the mirror,you are the reason forTrump.

Steyn and host Tucker Carlson listed several instances whenRomney wasnowhere near the good graces of the left, where he currently finds himself.

Pundits like Donny Deutsch, Chris Matthews and Al Sharpton slammed Romney during the 2012 campaign. Additionally, then-Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., claimed Romney didnt pay his taxes, and was nonchalant about the claim when it was revealed to be a false accusation.

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Mitt was calledeverything that Trump iscalled:Racist, sexist, binders fullof women,doesnt pay his taxes, [is a] vampire capitalist who fliesin your window and gives youcancer, Steyn added before remarking thatRomneys vote appeared to give Matthews leg tingles he hasnt had since Obama.

The MSNBC host memorably claimed then-Sen. Obama gave him a thrill going up [his] leg as he and then-anchor Keith Olbermann were discussing the Illinois Democrats primary victories in early 2008.

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Mark Steyn to Mitt Romney: 'Look in the mirror, you are the reason for Trump' - Home - WSFX

Featured photo by Ciara Kelley

You ask yourself whether there is authenticity in the voice of the person you are listening to, said Danny Glover at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center on Saturday, Feb. 1. The actor and activist toldYES! Weeklythat he recognized that quality the first time, he spoke to Bernie Sanders, which is why Glover campaigned as a surrogate for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2016 and is doing so again in 2020.

Presidential surrogates, meaning celebrities or public figures speaking for candidates on the campaign trail, date back at least to 1860, when the Hutchinson Family, the eras most popular American singing group, stumped for Abraham Lincoln with speeches as well as songs about abolition and preserving the union. In the 19th century, it was considered unseemly for a candidate for the nations highest office to campaign for himself.

Despite the Hutchinsons, most surrogates were politicians rather than celebritiesat least until 1916, when Babe Ruth campaigned for Woodrow Wilson. Of course, the taboo against presidential candidates campaigning for themselves vanished many decades before the 2016 election of Donald Trump, who has since spent almost as much time rallying the faithful as playing golf. Despite this, surrogates are more common than ever.

Glover toldYES! Weeklythat he began campaigning with Sanders in late 2015, and spent most of the winter and spring of 2016 as Sanderss surrogate, concentrating on North and South Carolina.

When I started, Bernie was not yet a household name, at least not then, when the news cycle was dominated by the image of Mrs. Clinton, and before, her, Obama, but I knew about him well before then.

Glover may be best known as Roger Murtaugh, Mel Gibsons long-suffering partner in theLethal Weaponaction film franchise, but has won acclaim for performances inThe Color Purple,To Sleep With Anger,Witness, Places in the Heart,andThe Royal Tenenbaums, as well as the T.V. mini-seriesLonesome DoveandMandela, receiving an Emmy nomination for his title role in the latter.

But he was a city administrator and community developer before he became an actor, and the son of postal workers active in the NAACP and the Civil Rights Movement, which led to his own activism, both as a student and afterward. While attending San Francisco State University, he took part in the five-month walk-out that was the longest student strike in American university history, and which helped to create not only the first Department of Black Studies but the first School of Ethnic Studies in the United States.

Im a product of movements, Glover toldYES! Weekly, both as a beneficiary of the civil rights struggle, and as someone who was a student activist in the late-60s. And as someone who has long been involved in such struggles, whether anti-colonialism or the end of Apartheid or opposition to other ways of subjugation, I recognized something in listening to Bernie.

Glover said that what he recognized was a voice that was reshaping and elevating the narrative that I and so many others were looking for, which we had not heard in the voices of Obama and Hillary Clinton.

He acknowledged that Obama and the Clintons fought for affordable health care. But the struggle for universal health care is a very old one, going back to Eleanor Roosevelt, and in its early 21st-century incarnation, it was compromised to death.

The question now, he continued (ignoring the hand signals of the person motioning to him to end the interview), is where do we now take this movement and moment, because what has always happened is that the demand for change always outweighs the accepted notions of change. The demand is so strong, but there are so often compromises within the demand, and when youve got someone in a place who is able to talk about what we need, as opposed to what we can get, theres a different kind of framework. Youve elevated peoples expectations, but at the same time, you put what I call wholesome pressure on the system, pressure to make the requisite changes that are necessary. And I saw that Bernie was that wholesome pressure.

The person gesturing to Glover shifted from winding-down to cut-off motions, but Glover kept speaking. If were going to carry these, were going to have to be right here talking; whether were young, whether weve been disenchanted with the processes in the Democratic Party, wherever we are, were going to talk about those issues and have great expectations not only of Bernie but of ourselves.

Glover was in Greensboro, attending the International Civil Rights Center and Museum Gala honoring the 60-year anniversary of the Greensboro Sit-In, where he was to be presented with the Trailblazer Award. Other awardees included Al Sharpton (Lifetime Achievement), Clayola Brown (Unsung Hero), and Rev. Dr. Cardes H. Brown, Jr. (Lifetime Community Service).

When the Bernie Sanders campaign reached out to the press and offered individual interviews with Glover, it was requested that questions be confined to the Sanders campaign and the award ceremony. Due to Glover being called to that ceremony earlier than expected,YES! Weeklywas not able to ask him about the award or the Sit-In, but he did stay long enough to answer a difficult question, despite the insistence that he was needed elsewhere: Had Sanderss position on racial inequality evolved since 2016? Some criticized the candidates seeming belief that class issues trumped racial ones, particularly after Sanderss former chief of staff Hank Guttman told NPR that, Bernies central concern has always been with the condition of what he calls working-class families and has never been war or civil rights or gay rights or womens rights.

Im not so familiar with that, Glover said, but I know if Bernie said those words directly, he would have since modified that position. He certainly has in his current campaign, where he has talked about the issues of race and his relationship with race and everything that surrounds that. I think that whats important is that race is pivotal to the issue right here. You cant construct an idea around change without entering in the factor of this countrys racial injustice. Its virtually impossible. If thats what some people thought he said, thats a whole other thing, but certainly, the whole issue is about race as well as class.

Ian McDowell is the author of two published novels, numerous anthologized short stories, and a whole lot of nonfiction and journalism, some of which hes proud of and none of which hes ashamed of.

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Danny Glover on the authenticity of Bernie Sanders - Yes! Weekly