Please sign the petition below to remove the statue of Jefferson Davis currently in Kentucky’s Capitol Rotunda, and replace it with a tribute to Muhammad Ali, “the Louisville Lip” and “the Greatest of All Time.”
I just heard from the Ali family: It is the Champ’s belief that Islam prohibits three-dimensional representations of living Muslims. Accordingly, I have adjusted the petition to call for a two-dimensional representation of Ali (a portrait, picture or mural) in lieu of a statue.
UPDATE (Tuesday, December 2, 2014)
In this interview with WHAS-TV’s Joe Arnold, Governor Steve Beshear endorses the idea of honoring Muhammad Ali in the State Capitol (although he disagrees with removing Davis). Arnold explores the idea further on his weekly show, “The Powers that Be.”
Click here to check out WDRB-TV’s Lawrence Smith’s coverage of the story.
And here’s my op-ed in Ali’s hometown paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal.
UPDATE (Saturday, June 4, 2016)
In the wake of the 2015 Charlestown tragedy, in which a Confederate flag-waving murderer united the nation against racism, all of the most powerful Kentucky policymakers — U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Governor Matt Bevin, Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker Greg Stumbo — called for the removal of the Davis statue from the Rotunda. Today, as we commemorate last night’s passing of Muhammad Ali, there is no better moment to replace the symbol of Kentucky’s worst era with a tribute to The Greatest of All Time.
UPDATE (Wednesday, June 8, 2016):
Great piece by Lawrence Smith of WDRB-TV in Louisville on the petition drive to replace Jefferson Davis’ statue in the Capitol Rotunda with a tribute to Muhammad Ali.
UPDATE (Thursday, June 9, 2016):
Excellent piece on the petition drive by Jack Brammer that was featured on the front page of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Highlight of the article:
Miller said he has received a few “angry comments” on his call to honor Ali.
“One of them encouraged me to kill myself,” he said. “You can quote me that I have decided not to take their advice.”
UPDATE (Friday, June 10, 2016)
The petition drives continues to show the Big Mo(hammed): check out these stories from WKYU-FM public radio in Bowling Green and WKYT-TV, Channel 27 in Lexington:
UPDATE (Saturday, June 11, 2016):
Still not convinced? Check out this excerpt from today’s New York Times:
In case you missed his posts over the July 4th weekend — what could you have been doing that’s more important, The RP didn’t repeat as a World Series of Poker finalist this year.
(Read all of his daily reports– Part 1: Leaving for Las Vegas, Part 2: The WSOP Begins, Part 3: Next!, Part 4: Taking a Mulligan, Part 5: Beware of Three Jacks, Part 6: BadLuck Jonathan)
But in his inaugural piece as an official Contributor for Newsweek/The Daily Beast, The RP shares a story of a more halcyon time, a year ago this weekend, when he made an incredible run at the World Series of Poker. Here’s an excerpt:
A year ago this week, the Jackson Five saved my life at a Las Vegas casino.
OK, unless you’re a fellow poker nerd, don’t take me too literally.
But my own impossible story, of a middle-aged amateur winning big on the green felt of Sin City, may help explain why thousands of my fellow wannabes are flocking to the 44th annual World Series of Poker this weekend for its globally celebrated main event.
It’s also why millions more will be tuning in to ESPN to watch the only “sport” in which an unpracticed, out-of-shape math geek can compete on the game’s biggest stage with the world’s preeminent professionals
Like many men my age, I’ve always been fascinated with poker. Never an exceptional athlete, poker presented me a unique opportunity to leverage my theretofore un-hip math skills in a competition that oozes of machismo and swagger. In pop culture, poker is played in rustic saloons by pistol-wielding studs named “Tex” and “Slim”; in the real world, it presents an ideal boys’ night of whiskey swigging, cigar chewing, and even a little extra-cash-winning.
But competing for big money? Flicks like Rounders and The Cincinnati Kidtaught that those contests were the province of practiced professionals, wiseguys, cheaters, and almost as often the unsuspecting novice “fish” who were swallowed by the poker sharks at their tables.
I had the pleasure of speaking at the 2013 Amplify Festival in Australia. Now that my jetlag has subsided I’m able to reflect on what was a wonderful event hosted by AMP, a leading financial services company in Australia. Congratulations to AMP and Annalie Killian, the festival’s remarkable curator, for catalyzing a week overflowing with inspiration and insight. More companies should consider hosting similar innovation immersion events open to employees and the local community. It was an easy invitation to accept for this innovation junkie. They had me at the event’s theme, Shift Happened Transformation Required!
One of the highlights of my trip down under was meeting Lucy Marcus, provocateur and global expert on corporate governance best practices. Lucy is a force of nature in and out of the boardroom and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations on the oversight role of the board of directors for a company’s innovation agenda. We agreed that the board of directors has an important role to play and Lucy asked me to appear on her ‘In The Boardroom’ show on Reuters TV to share my top five board innovation imperatives for the board. The short video of our conversation below also serves as proof that we actually were in Australia. Check out the Sydney Harbor in the background!
5 Innovation Imperatives: Inside The Boardroom
Read the rest of… Saul Kaplan: Innovation in the Boardroom
By Jonathan Miller, on Sat Jul 6, 2013 at 12:30 PM ET
Before I headed home from a wild week in Las Vegas at the World Series of Poker (read all about it here), I wanted to see what the wise guys think about next year’s NCAA basketball season. Check out the odds for the 2014 NCAA men’s basketball championship:
By Jonathan Miller, on Sat Jul 6, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Click here to find out how you can support this important effort
Three years ago Kiley Lane Parker started to research why the United States didn’t have more women in elected office, something that troubled her after the 2008 and 2010 elections. Although there were some pretty significant female breakthroughs during these years, studies were showing that the high profile campaigns of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton actually dampened women’s political ambition. Her research turned into Raising Ms. President, a documentary about raising the next generation of female political leaders. It’s in its final week of seeking finishing funds through Kickstarter.
In 2011, Parker traveled to California where she interviewed Richard Fox of It’s Takes A Candidate, Why Women Don’t Run For Office. Fox’s findings over a ten year period indicated that women don’t run for office because they a. feel less qualified than men and b. they lack the ambition to run for office. Unlike 20 years ago, most of the other obstacles like party support and money had little indication on whether or not a women decided to become a political leader in the 21st century, therefore, Parker began to ask the question, “well then, where does political ambition start?”
Her focus on the “next generation” became apparent after sitting with students from Ignite in Oakland, California and Running Start in Washington, D.C. These were the young women who were different. They didn’t have the same baggage of many women who grew up in the later half of the 20th century. They didn’t know what it was like to be told they couldn’t do something because they were a girl, yet they shared the same insecurities about running for office.
Fox’s research was right, therefore, Parker realized that perhaps getting more qualified women to run for office isn’t going to be that easy and that they only way to do so it to start encouraging all young women at an early age, before they leave high school.
It might be that we need to reevaluate how we raise our daughters and teach them in school. How social and cultural pressures still play a major role in how young women view themselves, seek leadership roles and stand out among a crowd.
Parker believes that with more women in office there will be better outcomes for everyone involved. Not only will younger women aspire to be political leaders because they see politics as a place where women serve, but policy decisions will be made with a broader view on life, family and living, strengthen our overall democracy.
Raising Ms. President answers the many questions about why women don’t strive to be our nation’s political leaders and what is being done to encourage more women to think about politics early.
I encourage you to join me in supporting this important film. Click here to find out how.
The RP didn’t repeat as a World Series of Poker finalist this year.
(Read all of his daily reports– Part 1: Leaving for Las Vegas, Part 2: The WSOP Begins, Part 3: Next!, Part 4: Taking a Mulligan, Part 5: Beware of Three Jacks, Part 6: BadLuck Jonathan)
But in his inaugural piece as an official Contributor for Newsweek/The Daily Beast, The RP shares a story of a more halcyon time, a year ago this weekend, when he made an incredible run at the World Series of Poker. Here’s an excerpt:
A year ago this week, the Jackson Five saved my life at a Las Vegas casino.
OK, unless you’re a fellow poker nerd, don’t take me too literally.
But my own impossible story, of a middle-aged amateur winning big on the green felt of Sin City, may help explain why thousands of my fellow wannabes are flocking to the 44th annual World Series of Poker this weekend for its globally celebrated main event.
It’s also why millions more will be tuning in to ESPN to watch the only “sport” in which an unpracticed, out-of-shape math geek can compete on the game’s biggest stage with the world’s preeminent professionals
Like many men my age, I’ve always been fascinated with poker. Never an exceptional athlete, poker presented me a unique opportunity to leverage my theretofore un-hip math skills in a competition that oozes of machismo and swagger. In pop culture, poker is played in rustic saloons by pistol-wielding studs named “Tex” and “Slim”; in the real world, it presents an ideal boys’ night of whiskey swigging, cigar chewing, and even a little extra-cash-winning.
But competing for big money? Flicks like Rounders and The Cincinnati Kidtaught that those contests were the province of practiced professionals, wiseguys, cheaters, and almost as often the unsuspecting novice “fish” who were swallowed by the poker sharks at their tables.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Jul 5, 2013 at 8:49 PM ET
Goodluck Jonathan & Badluck Jonathan
For the past few days, I’d been thrilled to see that “Goodluck Jonathan” had been trending all over the world. Of course, I assumed that the global poker fan base had been united in supporting my entry in the World Series of Poker’s “Little One for One Drop” tournament.
Well, it turns out instead that the international community had been appealing to Nigerian ruler Goodluck Jonathan to cancel his planned executions of death row prisoners.
Oh, well.
I really could have used that good luck. Because as I explained in my last post, I was in real big trouble entering Day 2 of the tournament. While I was thrilled to have made it so far, due to an unlucky experience with three Jacks, I was left with only 950 chips. With blinds rising to 300/600., that would mean I would have to go all-in almost immediately.
It turned out that my chance came on the very first hand. Sitting on the button, the table folded around to me. I looked down at a 9 and a 8. Pretty lousy hand, but with only two players left to call me, I had a decent chance of tripling up.
I got one caller. Perfect.
He turned over an 8 and a 5. Excellent. I had a 70% chance of winning.
The dealer turned over the flop and then the turn (the 4th card). I was still ahead, and had a 90% chance of winning.
Then the dealer turned over the river. A 5. Ugh.
I lost, and was busted out of the tournament.
In all, however, it was a terrific ride. And being knocked out, I had the free time to do some interviews of poker pros for my second WSOP-related piece for Newsweek/The Daily Beast. When I got to sit down with both Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari — one of the hottest players in the game — and T. J. Cloutier — a legend, whose book, Championship No Limit and Pot Limit Hold ’em, taught me how to play tournament poker — I felt like I had won a bracelet.
Of course, I didn’t cash in either tournament I played. But in both, I finished in the top 15%. I’m not among the poker elite. But those finishes, combined with my final table last year, will keep me coming back for more.
So, back to the real world. Stay tuned for my series of pieces on the WSOP in Newsweek/The Daily Beast. And be ready for my next poker adventure, wherever it should take me.
If want to know first all of the day’s developments about the hottest 2014 campaign in the country, and you haven’t yet subscribed to The RP’s KY Political Brief– prepared every weekday morning by wunderkind Bradford Queen with links to all of the day’s Kentucky political news — WHAT’S A MATTA WIT YOU?!?! Click here to subscribeFOR FREE!
A chock full of all of the latest news on the escalating battle between U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and his Democratic 2014 challenger, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes from The RP’s KY Political Review:
GRIMES LOADS – “Alison Lundergan Grimes Hires High-Profile Consultants,” National Journal: “Grimes has brought on veteran Democratic pollster Mark Mellman of the Mellman Group to run her polling operation, a spokesman tells the Hotline. Mark Putnam of the Putnam Group, who produced Grimes’ popular 2011 television ad featuring both of her grandmothers, will handle media. And Andrew Kennedy of Kennedy Communications will serve as a senior adviser. Longtime Kentucky consultant Jonathan Hurst will serve as a spokesman. Hurst has a long history with Grimes, having worked on her 2011 race for Secretary of State and with her father at the state Democratic Party. He was also the state director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008. The Clintons reportedly urged Grimes to get into the Senate race and Hurst said they will “absolutely” be involved in the campaign.” [National Journal]THE DICHOTOMY, “Alison Lundergan Grimes: The anti-Ashley Judd?” by MSNBC’s Perry Bacon, Jr.: “The easiest way to describe Alison Lundergan Grimes, the relatively unknown Kentucky secretary of state who announced this week she will take on Mitch McConnell in what could be next year’s marquee Senate campaign, is that she is the anti-Ashley Judd. … While Judd is an avowed liberal who speaks at Planned Parenthood events and has publicly praised “Obamacare,” it’s hard to find any public comment Grimes has made about the law or many other hot-button national issues. Roger Alford, The Associated Press’ correspondent in Frankfort, Kentucky’s capital, noted in a recent piece, “the public record shows little about Grimes’ positions on coal, guns, immigration, abortion, same-sex marriage and federal health care reforms.” Grimes’ most prominent move as secretary of state has been to make it easier for Kentuckians serving in the military abroad to register to vote. … In a state President Obama lost by 23 points in November, the most obvious route for Mitch McConnell to victory would be to link a Democratic candidate to the president. With Judd, that would have been extremely easy; with Grimes, it is much harder. As Alford notes, in an unauthorized recording by liberal activists of a meeting earlier this year between McConnell and his operatives, the Republican’s advisers lamented that Grimes endorsed Obama for president in 2012, but “was too smart to use his name.” Grimes instead said publicly that she supported “our party and our nominee.”” [MSNBC]
SOUND BITE – “McConnell: Race vs Grimes about Issues, influence” by WHAS-TV’s Joe Arnold: “In his first appearance back home since Alison Lundergan Grimes announced her bid to unseat him, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) painted the Democratic challenger as a “rookie” who would tow the line of national Democrats. “I think all of you know I love a good campaign,” McConnell told reporters after a groundbreaking for the final phase of the 21st Century Parks project. … “And I think we’ll have one that will provide plenty of opportunities for you all over the next year and a half.” Asked about polls that show him vulnerable in the 2014 race, McConnell predicted Grimes’ vulnerabilities will frame the campaign. … “There will be two issues in this race,” McConnell said. “One of them is issues themselves. My opponent, of course, will support the agenda of Barack Obama and Harry Reid. She may try to claim otherwise during the campaign but we all know how that works. She’ll be on board with the effort to implement Obamacare and the War on Coal.”” [WHAS]
—“John Yarmuth on 2014: Mitch McConnell ‘scared’,” POLITICO: “Sen. Mitch McConnell is “scared to death” of running against Alison Lundergan Grimes, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said Thursday morning. … “They’re showing how much fear they have about this race because our airwaves are already crammed with negative ads about Allison,” Yarmuth said on MSNBC. “We know he’s scared to death.” … Yarmuth said recent polls have shown it’s going to be a tight race. “Even McConnell’s own pollster has the race within 5 points,” he said. “He knows he’s in for one heck of a fight.”” [POLITICO]
WINNING THE WEB – McConnell’s campaign released late Wednesday its third video in two days. The Senator, in a voiceover, read a verse of “America, The Beautiful” in the 4th of July-themed video. [YouTube]
DAYS UNTIL : Fancy Farm2013: 29 … Next fundraising deadline: 87 … Primary Election filing deadline: 207 … Fancy Farm 2014: 393 … Ky. 2014 Primary Election day: 319 … 2014 General Election day: 487
NOT NOW : “Democrat Tom FitzGerald decides not to run for U.S. Senate” by H-L’s Jack Brammer – “FitzGerald, in an email late Wednesday, said he has received hundreds of letters, emails and calls of support from across the state since it became public earlier this year that he was considering running for the seat now held by Republican Mitch McConnell of Louisville. He said the idea of leaving almost 30 years of environmental advocacy as director of the Kentucky Resources Council was “exciting and daunting, a little heady and very humbling,” but he realized that with the environmental problems facing Kentuckians “it is not time to step away from my current work.” FitzGerald is a lifelong Democrat who has never run for public office.” [H-L]
PAUL’S PRESCRIPTION – “Rand Paul says Alison Lundergan Grimes should ‘disown the president’,” H-L: “U.S. Sen. Rand Paul suggested Wednesday that Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes should consider disowning President Barack Obama if she hopes to run a competitive race against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. … “I don’t know it will be as competitive as some think it will be,” Paul said Wednesday in a brief news conference after speaking to about 140 people at a Scott County Republican Party Independence Day Luncheon. … “The biggest thing and the hardest part for any Democrat to win in Kentucky for a federal office is that you pretty much have to disown the president,” Paul said.” [H-L]
—JOHN Y. BROWN, III offered his political advice to McConnell & Grimes on July 4th: “To challenger and current Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes: … Alison, you should embrace that you are the endearing and energetic youthful candidate who is very bright and knowledgeable— but also unpredictable. It’s not your youth or political party or campaign style that distinguishes you most for Senator McConnell. It’s the fact that Sen McConnell is the most prepared, disciplined, and predictable politician on the political scene today. …
“As for Senator McConnell, on the other hand, I would suggest running a disciplined tight ship and not taking a day or even several hours for granted. Be light and funny not exasperated and bored with your younger opponent. You must show respect and you must show manners reflective of the sexes in the South. … Be the well oiled, disciplined and well-managed machine you know best how to be—and chip away methodically and relentlessly. …
“The race won’t be about “Hope” or “Staying the course” or a dozen other political clichés. It will likely instead be about something more basic: To stick with what we know (sticking with the status quo) or trying something new (“rolling the dice,” so to speak). And how fitting it is that the race takes place in a state with a deep gambling tradition but today is ambivalent about expanding gaming.” [The RP]
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Jul 5, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Idiom-speak can leave you tongue-tied.
It’s depressing when things that are supposed to “wax and wane” end up merely “waning and waning” And then waning once more —and in a big way, as waning goes—when you least expect it and when you really, really needed a major league waxing period to begin.
At some point waning (without waxing) is just a trend that you have to accept and just deal with …it for what it is and stop telling yourself it will stop soon and start waxing. It may not. It may never wax again.
In fact, it may wane and ebb!
And that is some serious stuff when that starts to happen. And you better be ready.
You can’t be standing idly by wearing rose-colored glasses telling yourself a flowing or waxing period is just around the corner when it’s obvious to everyone else around you there is only more waning and more ebbing ahead. Maybe a lot more.
And that your “glass,” so to speak, is definitely half empty and not half full. And really more like only a third full (or, I should say, two-thirds empty).
Don’t be the last one in the room to realize you are waning and ebbing and already–and maybe permanently —half empty, glass-wise.
Put it this way: When that happens, and you see a light at the end of the tunnel, it’s best to run the other way. And to leave all those pesky idioms, maxims and metaphors behind.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Jul 5, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET
So first the good news: I made it to day two of the World Series of Poker’s Little One for One Drop event!
Out of the 4756 players who began the tournament, only 588 of us remain. And the 495 top players will “cash out”: winning at least $1797, with the top prize of $655,000.
And now the bad news: I am in real chip trouble. With only 950 chips remaining, I am probably the shortest stack left in the tournament; and if not, I am pretty close to the bottom. With blinds rising to 300/600 at the next level, I will have to go all-in very quickly, and hope that I either get a good pair of hole cards, or that my bad pair gets lucky on the board. And most likely, even if I prevail that first time, I will have to immediately go back all-in, with the same sort of prayers needed.
I had actually reached 18,000 chips with ten minutes to go before the end of Day 1. Several hours before, I made my first bonehead move of the week — I bluffed all-in against the guy with the nut flush, and was down to 2500. But like last year, I went all in with a Jack/small (last year it was the Jackson Five, this year, it was the Jackson Three — Tito and Jermaine must have been fired from the group). When no Jack appeared on the board, I stood up, thinking I was out, and was told that I had made a straight on the river. And then again, just like last year, I looked down to see a majestic pair of kings in the next hand. I went all-in, and shot up to 8000 chips.
Damn You Three Jacks!
I played great until the very end. I had a pair of jacks, and when the jack of spades appeared on the flop — as well as two other spades — I went all in to keep anyone from chasing a flush. Well, one guy did, and he caught it on the turn.
Damn you Three Jacks!
So I am now left with a tiny stack, and in the need of some incredible luck to survive.
But as they say, that’s poker. And who knows what is in store for me tomorrow? We sit down again at 1:00 PDT (4:00 EDT), and with the need to go all-in pretty quickly, I will know my fate pretty soon. So be sure to follow me on my Facebook Page or, better yet, on Twitter, to check in.
And if the poker gods really are smiling on me tomorrow, check in on this page for summary updates of the tournament and this page for chip counts.
Or if you could care less about me, many of the world’s biggest pros are in the tournament. And so is my math/baseball/politics man crush, Nate Silver. So please join us!
I can’t believe it’s already been three weeks since my trip to Paris. I had a spectacular time wandering the city and checking out all the shops on my list.
When it comes to how the men over there style themselves, I will say this — French men wear scarves like nobody’s business. Even once indoors, the jacket comes off, but the scarf stays on.
It’s clearly an integral part of the outfit. Below are a couple mannequin shots I took outside Eglé Bespoke demonstrating different ways to incorporate a scarf into your look.
dressy
casual
Note in both images how the scarf doesn’t cover up the other detail at the neckline — tie knot or collars. It actually adds visual interest and dimension to the look, making it more sophisticated. Another nice thing about adding neckline detail is that it draws the eye upward making you look taller and flattering your chest. On top of that, the vertical lines created by the downward drape of the scarf are slimming…scarves for the win!
Blog this!
