Page 6 ~ THE VILLAGER/January 22, 2021 DIASPORA www.theaustinvillager.com IMFest Celebrates Representative Lil Wayne, global cultures in Talarico Files Kodak Black Austin, Texas House Bills get clemency; by Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon VILLAGER Columnist Joe Exotic doesn’t By MARK KENNEDY | AP Lil Wayne (left) and Kodak Black. (AP photo) (AP) - Two rappers were among the entertain- ment figures included in a list of 140 people who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted by President Donald Trump in a last-minute clem- Representative James Talarico ency flurry early Wednesday. But the news was not as good for one hopeful celebrity. — Rapper Lil Wayne, whose real name is IMFest: Pictured left to right are Zain, Arthur, by Tsoke (Chuch) sues to his district. "We Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., was given a full pardon. and Phillips. Photo by Tsoke (Chuch) Adjavon Adjavon can restore common The Grammy-winner was charged in Florida on Nov. VILLAGER sense to our State Capi- 17 with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, (VILLAGER NEWS) - tion. Artists from various Columnist tol and craft responsible a federal offense that carries a potential sentence Monday, January 18, cultures and ethnicities, policies. We can value of up to 10 years in prison. In the pardon, Lil Wayne 2020, International and a showcase of Afri- Texans of all back- (VILLAGER NEWS) - was praised for his “commitment to a variety of Multicultural Festival can, Middle Eastern, grounds and beliefs. We Representative James charities, including donations to research hospitals (IMFest) took place at Polynesian, Asian, Turk- can respect local com- Talarico is a former non- and a host of foodbanks.” Pro Football Hall of Famer the Sahara Lounge, in ish, and Indian Fashion. munities and the deci- profit leader and public Deion Sanders backed the pardon. Lil Wayne is one the heart of East Aus- It was an opportunity to sions they make for school teacher elected of the seminal figures in rap in the last two decades, tin. "IMFest is derived see the articles of cloth- themselves. We can in- to the Texas House of selling more than 20 million albums in the U.S. since from the idea that we ing from all around the vest in our people and Representatives from releasing his debut in 1999. Sentencing for the rap- are all different, world. grow our economy," House District 52 in 2018. per, who frequently expressed support for Trump, unique, yet we're the According to the stated Talarico. Rep. Talarico has recently was set for Jan. 28. In a statement, Carter’s attor- same. We may look dif- organizers, the line up As the Texas Legis- announced his intention ney Howard Srebnick said a pardon was appropri- ferent, speak various consisted of Hawaiian lature has gone into Ses- to run for re-election. ate since “prosecuting a non-violent citizen for languages, hold diverse Drums of Tahiti Revue sion, Representative Texas House District 52 merely possessing a firearm violates the Second practices and beliefs, Tropical Productions, Talarico has filed numer- covers the majority of Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.” but, when we look in- Son de Rey (Latin ous bills. He has filed Eastern Williamson — Rapper Kodak Black, born Bill K. Kapri, was side ourselves, we are cumbia), Taiko Japanese House Bill 30, HB 40, HB County, including Round granted a commutation. The “Tunnel Vision” rap- still the same," stated American performance, 54, and HB 57. More- Rock, Hutto, Taylor, and per is serving a three-year prison sentence for falsi- an organizer.” Lee Young Korean over, House bill 40 seeks Georgetown. fying documents used to purchase weapons at a The IMFest lined up American Dance, Fili- to regulate the price of Representative Miami gun store. Supporters included Gucci Mane, a series of vibrant activi- pino Reggae Band, and insulin, which is crucial Talarico is running to Lil Pump, Lil Yachty, and athletes Lamar Jackson and ties to mark this celebra- many others. for diabetes. bring common sense is- Jack Brewer. Kodak Black has sold over 30 million singles since 2014, and has had several multiplatinum and platinum-certified singles, in- Biden team fears rocky transition may cluding “Zeze,” “No Flockin’” and “Roll in Peace.” His lawyer, Bradford Cohen, was once a contestant have revealed only ‘tip of the iceberg’ on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” show. The par- don notes that Kodak Black paid for schoolchildren’s By TYLER PAGER, ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN, CAITLIN EMMA and ERIC GELLER | POLITICO notebooks, supplies to daycare centers and food for the hungry, and donated $50,000 for restaurants in (POLITICO) - Joe Biden’s transition team had sive SolarWinds hack discovered late last year, which his hometown of Pompano Beach, Florida. no illusions about the chaos they were inheriting left open the possibility that suspected Russian — Desiree Perez, CEO of Roc Nation, was from President Donald Trump. They expected a dis- operatives are still lurking inside federal comput- granted a full pardon. Perez was arrested in 1994 organized government and mismanaged agencies, ers, impacting virtually everything that Biden's team for drug possession, and in 1998 for grand larceny many of them hollowed out and ignored over the tries to do. and possession of a firearm. In 2019, she was named past four years. The obstacles to the Biden transition’s work head of the entertainment company founded by Hours before they assume office, however, spanned across the government and ranged in se- rapper Jay-Z that’s home to such artists as Rihanna, there is a fear among Biden’s team that the road- verity. Some Trump staffers tried to be helpful, Biden Alicia Keys and Megan Thee Stallion. The pardon blocks they encountered during the chaotic transi- officials said, but President Donald Trump’s refusal mentions that “Perez has taken full accountability tion shielded them from understanding the full to concede to Biden stymied the handoff from the for her actions and has turned her life around. She scope of the problems at various agencies, and that top. The feeling on Biden’s team, as they turn to has been gainfully employed and has been an ad- the state of the executive branch is far worse than governing after the exhilaration of victory and the vocate for criminal justice reform in her commu- they understood — “the tip of the iceberg” as one frenzy of transition planning, is something akin to nity.” senior transition aide put it. peering into a dark abyss: They don’t yet know what At the National Security Council, Trump offi- lurks out of view. cials were reluctant to share information about who And as Biden and his staff move into the White was even on the staff, and at the Department of House and agencies on Wednesday, administration Defense, requests for information were either ig- officials recognize that some of their priorities will nored or only partially answered. At the Office of inevitably be sidelined by the need to fix messes Management and Budget, the practice of making from the outgoing administration that they aren’t career officials available for the incoming adminis- even aware of yet. tration to craft their budget was disregarded, leav- Biden’s team has already prepared a flurry of ing Biden officials frustrated that their budget will executive action that will kick off immediately after likely be delayed. And at the Office of the United he is sworn in, much of it aimed at undoing Trump’s States Trade Representative, the lack of interest in signature policies on climate change, immigration Joe Exotic of “Tiger King” assisting the Biden transition was stated plainly. and the coronavirus response. But without full vis- “Transition is not a priority for USTR,” Robert ibility into the processes and procedures of the — “Tiger King” Joe Exotic had hoped for good Lighthizer’s chief of staff told a Biden official, ac- Trump administration, one senior transition official news, but it was not to be. The zookeeper-turned- cording to a person briefed on the conversation. warned about delays and hiccups. reality-TV-star was sentenced in January 2020 to 22 A spokesperson for USTR did not respond to a The overall lack of cooperation from a signifi- years in federal prison for violating federal wildlife request for comment. Officials at the Defense De- cant number of Trump administration officials was laws and for his role in a failed murder-for-hire plot. partment and OMB, meanwhile, have vocally de- “laughable,” the senior aide said, adding that some His team was so confident in a pardon that they’d fended their transition cooperation. “Our DOD po- officials tried to slow down information sharing readied a celebratory limousine and a hair and litical and career officials have been working with while others were completely unresponsive. wardrobe team to whisk him away from a Texas the utmost professionalism to support transition Shaun Donovan, who served as OMB director prison. But he wasn’t on the list announced activities in a compressed time schedule,” Acting under President Barack Obama and is now running Wednesday morning. Exotic, whose real name is Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller said in a for New York City mayor said, “I’ve never seen a Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was prominently fea- Dec. 28. statement. more toxic atmosphere in my lifetime within the tured in the popular Netflix documentary “Tiger Complicating matters even more was the mas- federal government more broadly and within OMB.” King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.”.