Report: Secret Service Boss Pressuring Key Official to Retire ahead of DHS-OIG Probe

Ken Silva
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Report: Secret Service Boss Pressuring Key Official to Retire ahead of DHS-OIG Probe

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Fox News reported Tuesday that Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe has asked Michael Plati, the assistant director of the agency’s office of protective operations, to retire from his position.

Plati may have been the one signing off on denying Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and others additional security resources. According to journalist Susan Crabtree, Plati’s department was the one that repeatedly denied requests for extra security assets to Trump.

Fox News said that Plati is expected to retire “in the coming days.” The news comes as Rowe is set to brief Congress on what the Secret Service has learned in the wake of the July 13 Trump assassination attempt.

Plati’s retirement also comes as Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Ka., seeks to widen the DHS Inspector General’s investigation into the Secret Service’s failures at the Trump rally. Marshall wants DHG IG Joseph Cuffari to identify the specific individuals responsible for making decisions in Trump’s security planning—which may include Plati.

But if Plati indeed retires, the DHS-IG won’t be able to legally compel him for an interview.

The Secret Service has yet to comment on Plati’s rumored retirement.

Meanwhile, the scandal-mired agency has turned to the Defense Department for help securing 2024 campaign events.The Pentagon announced on Aug. 29 that the U.S. Northern Command will assist the Secret Service for the presidential and vice-presidential campaigns through Inauguration Day 2025.

“As part of this effort, the Department of Defense is providing the U.S. Secret Service with additional assistance including logistics, transportation and communications, through the 2024 campaign season,” Secret Service spokesman Guglielmi said in a Defense Department press release.

The Secret Service faces a reported 650-agent deficit for the United Nations General Assembly, which is scheduled to begin today in New York City. According to Crabtree, there are concerns in the Secret Service that the Pentagon’s soldiers don’t have proper training, and that their presence will create the perception that the U.S. has turned into a militarized police state.

However, the Pentagon insisted in its press release that there’s nothing unusual about its decision.

“The Department of Defense has supported Secret Service protective activities for the sitting president and vice president since Congress passed the Presidential Protection Assistance Act of 1976,” said Anthony Guglielmi, the chief of communications for the Secret Service.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Consumer Debt Surges Again as Broke Americans Try to Make Ends Meet

Money Metals News Service
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Consumer Debt Surges Again as Broke Americans Try to Make Ends Meet

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Despite ridiculously high interest rates, Americans can’t seem to put their credit cards away.

That’s probably because their savings are gone. They have to make ends meet somehow.

After slowing for two straight months, consumer debt surged again in July, driven by an uptick in credit card spending and the biggest increase in non-revolving debt in months.

Total consumer debt rose by $25.5 billion, a 6 percent increase, according to the latest data released by the Federal Reserve.

Americans are now buried under a record $5.09 trillion in consumer debt.

The Federal Reserve consumer debt figures include credit card debt, student loans, and auto loans, but do not factor in mortgage debt. When you include mortgages, U.S. households are buried under a record level of debt. As of the end of the second quarter, total household debt stood at $17.8 trillion.

Non-revolving credit, primarily made up of credit card balances, surged by 9 percent ($10.6 billion) to $1.36 trillion.

The double whammy of rising debt and interest rates exacerbates the debt problem. Average credit card interest rates eclipsed the previous record high of 17.87 percent over a year ago. The average annual percentage rate (APR) currently stands at 20.78 percent, with some companies charging rates as high as 28 percent.

Americans are starting to struggle to pay those big balances. Roughly 9.1 percent of credit card balances have transitioned into delinquency in the last year and the pace is increasing. 

Citigroup recently noted a shift in spending patterns that seems ominous. More consumers are using credit cards to pay for “basic needs,” with a notable slowdown in “non-vital” purchases.

In other words, people are using credit cards with 28 percent interest rates to pay for groceries. 

That’s because they are likely tapped out. Savings rates have fallen to the second-lowest level during the post-quantitative easing era. The Personal Savings Rate cratered to 2.9 percent last month, down from 3.1 percent and the lowest since the Covid crash.

According to a recent survey, about 24 percent of consumers said their savings were completely depleted, and 80 percent have cut spending.

None of this bodes well for an economy that depends on consumer borrowing and spending to stay afloat.

There was a bit of good news if you think people borrowing money to buy things is an optimistic sign. For the first time in months, non-revolving debt, primarily reflecting outstanding auto loans, student loans, and loans for other big-ticket durable goods, spiked in July, rising by 4.8 percent. Non-revolving credit growth had been languishing in the 1 to 2 percent range for months. July’s increase in non-revolving debt was close to pre-COVID levels. 

The jump in non-revolving debt could be due to student loans coming in for the upcoming school year.

Record levels of consumer debt coupled with a shift in credit card spending to basic needs reveals that American consumers are struggling to keep their heads above water.

The problem with an economy run on credit cards is they have this inconvenient thing called a limit. 

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for MoneyMetals.com with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Sen. Marshall Asks DHS Inspector General to Expand Probe into Trump Assassination Attempt

Ken Silva
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Sen. Marshall Asks DHS Inspector General to Expand Probe into Trump Assassination Attempt

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Ka., wrote to DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari on Monday, asking him to widen his investigation into the Secret Service’s failures at the July 13 Trump assassination attempt.

As it stands right now, IG Cuffari has three probes ongoing into the Trump shooting: one evaluating the Secret Service’s performance on July 13, one determining the extent to which the agency’s snipers are prepared to protect their assets, and one determining the extent to which the Secret Service’s planning ensures the safety of its protectees.

But Marshall wants Cuffari to investigate more than that. He wants the Homeland Security inspector general to look into the Secret Service’s decision to deny additional resources to Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and “potentially others.”

“The USSS initially claimed that it was attentive to the Trump campaign security concerns and had ‘added protective resources & technology & capabilities to President Trump’s protective unit. However, this claim was later refuted, as the USS repeatedly denied additional protective resources to the Trump campaign,” Marshall noted in his letter.

“The USS procided a variety of justifications for these denials, including staffing shortages, hiring limits and assessing gatherings as ‘not campaign events.’”

Marshall also wants Cuffari to identify the specific individuals responsible for making decisions in Trump’s security planning. This request comes after the senator repeatedly asked Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe about the matter at a June 30 congressional hearing, only to have Rowe obfuscate—telling the senator that allocating Secret Service resources is a collective process.

“Because of Acting Director Rowe’s imprecise response, I still have no clarity regarding internal USSS decision-making processes and who ultimately approves or denies requests for protective resources,” Marshall told Cuffari.

Finally, Marshall asked Cuffari to document the Secret Service’s workforce, which has reportedly suffered from severe attrition. According to some reports, nearly half of the agency’s workforce departed in 2022 alone.

Rowe was also supposed to get answers to Marshall about the attrition following the June 30 congressional hearing, but the senator said he hasn’t received any.

Along with asking Cuffari to widen his investigation, Marshall asked for a slew of documents, including all records related to the decision to deny Trump and RFK Jr. security resources.

Marshall asked to receive those records by Sept. 27.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

ING Bank: This Gold Rally Is Just Getting Started

Money Metals News Service
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ING Bank: This Gold Rally Is Just Getting Started

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) ING Bank has revised its short and midterm gold price forecast higher, saying the gold rally is “just getting started.”

The Dutch financial group cites the prospect of a Federal Reserve rate-cutting cycle, geopolitical risks, and uncertainty going into the presidential election as potential catalysts to drive gold to new record highs. The report also noted several bullish trends supporting the gold price.

ING now projects gold to average $2,700 an ounce in 2025.

According to ING, the “most anticipated” Federal Reserve rate cut in decades is by far the biggest factor driving the current gold market. 

During his recent Jackson Hole speech, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gave the clearest indication yet that rate cuts are on the horizon saying, “The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear.”

The ING report says the only question remaining is the pace of cuts. 

ING analysts note that gold is a non-yielding asset and tends to benefit from a low interest rate environment. 

The Quiet Part

What the ING analysts don’t say out loud is this so-called victory over price inflation sets the stage for a return to inflationary policies.

Lowering interest rates and ending balance sheet reduction will increase the money supply, and the expansion of the money supply is, by definition, inflation.

The Fed has tightened things up just enough to slow rising prices, but it hasn’t come close to wringing the pandemic-era inflation out of the economy. The central bank pumped nearly $5 trillion into the economy through quantitative easing alone. That was on top of the credit expansion incentivized by artificially low interest rates. It has only shrunk the balance sheet by about $1.8 trillion.  

In fact, the Fed never substantively shrank the balance sheet after the 2008 financial crisis despite Ben Bernanke saying, “Ultimately, at the right time, the Federal Reserve will normalize its balance sheet,” in February of 2011. 

Apparently, that time has yet to come.

Meanwhile, interest rates are higher than they were, but from a historical perspective, the current rate environment is close to normal.  

Today, most of the inflation created during the pandemic and the Great Recession is still sloshing around in the economy.

And now, by slowing balance sheet reduction and signaling interest rate cuts, the Fed is telling you it plans to ramp up the inflation machine.

ING doesn’t mention any of this, and yet it still projects a bullish future for gold!

Bullish Indicators

ING analysts do note some other factors supporting gold, including election uncertainty in the U.S. and geopolitics. They anticipate further safe-haven demand due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East. 

Meanwhile, there are several strong and getting stronger demand sources in the gold market.

The ING report notes central bank gold buying ramped up in July.

Globally, central banks added a net 37 tons of gold to their holdings in July, according to the latest data compiled by the World Gold Council (WGC). It was a 206 percent month-on-month increase and the highest level of central bank gold purchases since January.

This came on the heels of record central bank gold purchases through the first half of the year.

The report also pointed out that gold has started flowing into gold-backed ETFs. Funds in every region reported an increase in gold holdings in August with Western-based ETFs leading the way. It was the fourth straight month of global net inflows. According to ING, “Investor holdings in gold ETFs generally rise when gold prices gain, and vice versa. However, gold ETF holdings have been in decline for much of 2024, while spot gold prices have hit new highs. ETF flows finally turned positive in May.”

COMEX total net longs have also continued to rise, charting a 17 percent month-on-month increase as of the end of August. It was the highest month-end level since February 2020.

Given all of these bullish factors, ING projects gold to average $2,580 in the fourth quarter. That would boost the 2024 average to $2,388, with that average rising by more than 13 percent next year.

ING Bank photo from Wikimedia Commons and used under a Creative Commons License.

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for MoneyMetals.com with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Conservative Billionaire Wants to ‘Crush’ Leftist Media

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Conservative Billionaire Wants to ‘Crush’ Leftist Media

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Leonard Leo, a conservative billionaire activist who was responsible for the driving force behind the conservative movement to reshape the American legal system, recently started a $1 billion campaign to “crush liberal dominance” in American corporations, mass media and the entertainment industry.

Leo, who became famous for helping to make the Supreme Court conservative during Donald Trump’s first presidential term, said his non-profit group, the Marble Freedom Trust, is prepared to make the government and the private sectors conservative.

“We need to crush liberal dominance where it’s most insidious, so we’ll direct resources to build talent and capital formation pipelines in the areas of news and entertainment, where leftwing extremism is most evident,” Leo told the Financial Times.

According to him, the company would achieve this by helping anti-woke organizations.

“Expect us to increase support for organizations that call out companies and financial institutions that bend to the woke mind virus spread by regulators and NGOs so that they have to pay the price for putting extreme leftwing ideology ahead of consumers,” Leo said.

Trending Politics reported that Leo is a prominent conservative figure in American politics primarily known for reshaping the American legal system.

Leo, a lawyer and political consultant with deep ties to conservative activism, particularly in the judicial nomination process, was crucial in recommending and advancing conservative judges for federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. The news source added that he did this through his work with the Federalist Society, a well-known legal organization that promotes originalism and textualism in judicial interpretation.

He told the Financial Times that his goal was to discover “very leveraged, impactful ways of reintroducing limited constitutional government and a civil society premised on freedom and personal responsibility and the virtues of Western civilization.”

The $1 billion operation now supports the conservative agenda against private institutions, challenging diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, climate and social considerations in investments and the “debanking” of conservative customers. According to Leo, this also extends to the public sector.

He stated that Leo plans to invest in a local media company in the U.S. over the next year, though he hasn’t yet chosen which one.

Kamala Blames Trump for Her Admin’s Afghanistan Withdrawal

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Kamala Blames Trump for Her Admin’s Afghanistan Withdrawal

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign tried to shamelessly blame the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that was orchestrated by the Biden-Harris administration on Donald Trump.

Breitbart reported that the withdrawal happened seven months after Trump left office.

“Trump left the Biden-Harris Administration with zero plans for an orderly withdrawal — only a dangerous, costly mess,” the Harris-Walz campaign said in its Aug. 6, 2024, statement.

Neither the Biden-Harris administration nor anyone else responsible for the shameful 2021 withdrawal was held anyone accountable. Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin went as far as saying that they have no regrets about Afghanistan.

On the other hand, Trump, who wasn’t even responsible for the withdrawal that resulted in 13 American soldiers dying in Afghanistan, recently participated in a ceremony to honor the fallen soldiers, as well as those who were wounded.

As expected, the Harris-Walz campaign said that Trump was trying to politicize the tragedy. The family members of the fallen heroes quickly responded to the gaslighting by saying that Trump was invited to be there and that they permitted him to film the event.

The Harris-Walz campaign, however, decided to continue lying to Americans.

“Trump shamelessly attacks the Vice President because he hopes he can trick the country into forgetting that his own actions undermined U.S. strategy and put our troops and allies in harm’s way,” the campaign’s National Security Spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said.

Propagandists in mass media also pushed the same lies, with an Axios reporter writing that while some Republicans thought Trump had cut a “bad deal” with the Taliban, the Biden-Harris administration had “debated options on trying to change the deal and went [with] Biden’s plan.”

National security expert Rebeccah Heinrichs criticized the Harris-Walz campaign for openly lying to American citizens.

“This is crazy. Biden and Harris have defended their decision and process for the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. Campaign staff are not going to get Americans to buy this,” she wrote.

Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller also reminded people about Harris’s previous bragging for the whole world, stating that she was the “last person in the room” when Biden decided to withdraw the U.S. troops.

Top Dems Say Election Integrity Act Is Extremist

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Top Dems Say Election Integrity Act Is Extremist

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D–N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said that opposing election integrity is “extremism” by opposing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act and Republicans’ efforts to attach it to a spending bill.

A poll from McLaughlin and Associates stated that the SAVE Act would require American citizens to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote, adding that 86% of voters agree with the proposal.

In an email distributed to Senate colleagues, Schumer wrote, “Democrats support a [Continuing Resolution] CR to keep the government open.”

“As I have said before, the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way. Despite Republicans’ bluster, that is how we’ve handled every funding bill in the past, and this time should be no exception. We will not let poison pills or Republican extremism put funding for critical programs at risk,” he wrote.

Jeffries also pushed the same rhetoric, opposing fair elections in this country.

“The partisan and extreme continuing resolution put forth by House Republicans is unserious and unacceptable. In order to avert a GOP-driven government shutdown that will hurt everyday Americans, Congress must pass a short-term continuing resolution that will permit us to complete the appropriations process during this calendar year and is free of partisan policy changes inspired by Trump’s Project 2025,” he said.

Jeffries also said that the SAVE Act “is designed to jam people up and prevent Americans from voting.”

The Post Millennial reported that on Sept. 6, 2024, the Republican House revealed its plan to attach the SAVE Act to the spending package.

“Today, House Republicans are taking a critically important step to keep the federal government funded and to secure our federal election process,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said at the time.

The news source reported that the bill attaches the SAVE Act to the spending package and would fund the government until March 2025.

Dem. Rep. on Homeland Security Committee Accused of Having Ties to CCP

Jacob Bruns
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Dem. Rep. on Homeland Security Committee Accused of Having Ties to CCP

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) A Democratic lawmaker has been accused of having long-standing ties to an organization with known connections to Chinese intelligence operatives, the Daily Caller reported.

According to the report, Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., served as the deputy chair for Henan Association Of Eastern America, a New York-based organization, for over a decade, from 2008 to 2012, when she launched her congressional campaign.

Among other committees, Meng serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, where she may be privy to sensitive national security details.

Now it appears that HAEA has connections with Linda Sun, Meng’s former chief of staff—who was indicted earlier this month for acting as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of China while money laundering.

Sun also has ties to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and may have exerted influence on their relationships with China—notably during the COVID crisis, when Cuomo frequently undermined the messaging coming from the Trump administration.

Sun, the indictment suggests, reportedly met with several top officials during the operation, including officials from the HAEA, which very well may have included Meng, though Meng was not named in the official statement.

The indictment does, however, allude to Sun’s unnamed co-conspirators, one of which “served as the president of an association of persons from Henan Province, PRC located in the New York metropolitan area.”

Despite her stepping aside to enter the political arena, Meng’s connections to the organization appear to continue to this day. HAEA’s website still has Meng listed as an “honorary” chair, and includes a photo of Meng as well.

The group purports to support Chinese participation in politics and culture, in particular to promote trade between the two nations.

According to Dr. Lawrence Sellin, a national security expert, the Chinese Communist Party uses organizations like HAEA to infiltrate American political and business interests, particuarly in New York City, so such a connection would not be particularly surprising.

“Over the last forty years, a network of pro-CCP Chinese-American organizations operating in coordination with the Chinese Consulate has been established, which now has enormous influence on New York’s business and political climate, basically providing an outpost and pro-CCP personnel for directly executing China’s foreign policy from within the United States,” he said.

The scandal is just the latest incident of Democrats being compromised by Chinese spies. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., notoriously had a sexual relationship with alleged Chinese honeytrap Christine Fang. And the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., had a limo driver who was discovered to be working for the CCP.

Current vice presidential nomiee Tim Walz has aroused suspicious over whether he might also be compromised due to his longstanding sinophilia, which included giving out copies of Mao Zedong’s little red book to students while working as a high school history teacher.

Meng, considered a political up-and-comer, spoke on the third night of the recent Democratic National Convention, as did Walz.

Ex-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard Slams Dick Cheney’s Support for a Kamala Harris Presidency

Matthew Doarnberger
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Ex-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard Slams Dick Cheney’s Support for a Kamala Harris Presidency

(Matthew Doarnberger, Headline USA) While speaking to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his live tour in Colorado Springs, Colo., former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, revealed what she thought of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney supporting far-left nominee Kamala Harris.

Prior to asking Gabbard what she thought of the Cheney endorsement, Carlson shared a few thoughts on what he took from it.

“I don’t want that event, the Cheney endorsement, the family endorsement of Kamala Harris of all people to pass by without examining its significance,” the ex-Fox News host began. “This feels like, if historians were honest, this is an event that they would write about 50 years from now when the actual architecture of the world became clear to everybody.”

Carlson then stopped and asked Gabbard for her input on the seemingly strange alliance between the former Republican vice president and the Democratic presidential candidate.

“I have a very simple message for my Democrat friends, my independent friends, those who may not be sure about who they’re voting for in this election,” said Gabbard, the one-time vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee, who famously faced off against Harris in the 2020 Democratic primary debates.

“Dick Cheney has just made the choice very clear: A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for Dick Cheney,” Gabbard said. “The architect of everything that has gone wrong in the Middle East for the past few decades.”

Gabbard, an Army veteran and active commander in the military reserves, has been one of the staunches critics of the endless array of wars that began with the Bush–Cheney administration.

Like Dick Cheney and his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, the red-pilled Gabbard recently crossed over the political aisle to endorse a former rival in GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Following Cheney’s endorsement of Harris, Trump took to Truth Social to call Cheney “an irrelevant RINO.” He also wrote about how the former vice president was “the king of endless, nonsensical wars, wasting lives and trillions of dollars.”

Gabbard, who announced her departure from the Democratic Party in 2022, initially threw her support behind Trump at a National Guard Association conference in Detroit where Trump was speaking.

While giving her endorsement, she expressed confidence in Trump’s ability to prevent escalation into new wars.

“This administration has us facing multiple wars on multiple fronts in regions around the world and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before,” Gabbard said.

“This is one of the main reasons why I’m committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House,” she added. ” … Because I am confident that his first task will be to do the work to walk us back from the brink of war.”

James Earl Jones Dies at 93, Remembered for Iconic Roles

Ben Sellers
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James Earl Jones Dies at 93, Remembered for Iconic Roles

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) With a career spanning six decades that included nearly 200 film and television credits as an actor (and many more onstage), James Earl Jones died Monday at 93, surrounded by his family, according to CNN.

The far-left network’s “This is CNN” tagline was one of the many roles to which he lent his distinctive vocal talents to, with notable highlights including the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise and Mufasa in Disney’s “The Lion King.”

The actor, who made his film debut auspiciously with the role of Lt. Lothar Zogg in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 classic Dr. Strangelove, also had memorable performances in the baseball classic Field of Dreams, costarring Kevin Costner, as well as Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America.

His big break in the Star Wars movies happened almost by chance. He recorded all his lines in a few hours and was paid $7,000 for the uncredited voiceover role in the first eponymous film of the now-ubiquitous franchise.

Although British actor David Prowse was the person inside the suit, director George Lucas “thought he wanted a—pardon the expression—darker voice,” Jones told the American Film Institute. “I lucked out.”

Along with screen legends like Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, the racially-mixed Jones took a pioneering place in breaking down cinematic barriers for African–American men.

He was nominated for one Academy Award—best actor in a leading role for 1971’s The Great White Hype—and eventually received an honorary Oscar in 2012 for his body of work, making him one of the elite EGOT recipients to have earned an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award.

Yet, despite his distinguished and varied career, he also was keenly aware of his particular brand and embraced roles that emphasized “that booming basso profundo, conveying instant dignity or menace,” as CNN noted.

As one of his most famous lines—“I am your father” in The Empire Strikes Back—suggested, there was something inherently paternal in his timbre and delivery.

With his late wife, Cecilia Hart, Jones, had one son of his own, Flynn Earl Jones, who was born when the actor was already in his early 50s.

The younger Jones spent time working as his famous father’s assistant and has continued with his legacy by contributing his vocal talents to audiobooks.

While Jones’s own relationship with his father was limited—he was raised by his grandparents after his dad left the family, ironically enough, to become an actor—a strong mentor also helped guide him on his path to success.

Jones stuttered during childhood, but an English teacher encouraged him to take up acting in Shakespearing performances after discovering he wrote poetry.

“If I hadn’t been a stutterer, I would never have been an actor,” he said in a 2014 CBS News interview.

As an accomplished stage performer, it was still a struggle, he added. “I mangle a word or two every night because the consonants get into a fight with the vowels.”

After word of Jones’s passing, tributes quickly flooded in on social media.

Satire site the Babylon Bee paid its respect by declaring “God announces he will now be voiced by James Earl Jones.”

Major League Baseball included a video of Jones reciting the national anthem at the 1993 MLB All-Star Game in Baltimore.

The Empire State Building also reportedly honored Jones by projecting an image of Darth Vader onto the building’s face.

Costner shared a heartfelt tribute on Instagram, as well.

“That booming voice. That quiet strength. The kindness that he radiated. So much can be said about his legacy, so I’ll just say how thankful I am that part of it includes Field of Dreams,” he wrote.

“If you’ve seen it, you know that this movie wouldn’t be the same with anyone else in his role,” added the Yellowstone star. “Only he could bring that kind of magic to a movie about baseball and a corn field in Iowa. I’m grateful to have been a witness to him making that magic happen.”

 

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Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/realbensellers.

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