O come, O come, Emmanuel is a translation of the Latin text (“Veni, veni, Emmanuel“) by John Mason Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin in the mid-19th century. It is a metrical version of a collation of various Advent Antiphons (the acrostic O Antiphons), which now serves as a popular Advent and Christmas hymn. Its origins are unclear, it is thought that the antiphons are from at least the 8th Century, but “Veni, veni Emmanuel” may well be 12th Century in origin.[3][4] The text is based on the biblical prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 that states that God will give Israel a sign that will be called Immanuel (Lit.: God with us). Matthew 1:23 states fulfillment of this prophecy in the birth of Jesus of Nazareth
Auburn emotion after epic win
Birthers are asking about Malia and Sasha Obama’s birth certificates
http://freakoutnation.com/2013/12/01/birthers-are-asking-about-malia-and-sasha-obamas-birth-certificates/
It’s refreshing that racism is over, according to Conservatives on the Supreme Court, and the Republican National Committee. By the way, where are Malia and Sasha Obama’s birth certificates because right wing birthers would like to know. In addition, they are asking for their baby pictures, I suppose to be sure they were actually born.
I’d like to apologize to our readers ahead of time for the following. It will hurt your brain.
I found this picture in less than 2 seconds, but whatever. Let’s not let that get in the way of bashing our President’s children.
site called Fellowship of the Minds delves into this, since we all know that Malia and Sasha Obama were elected into office.
Americans Against the Tea Party reports:
One particular dunce, “Dr. Eowyn,” tackled the issue head-on. Eowyn has previously linked the star on the Macy’s logo to a Communist plot in an effort to demonize them for including what the good “doctor” refers to as “a gaggle of transvestites” and a “she-man with a demon face” in the Thanksgiving parade and very helpfully informed Conservatives that a satire page’s claim that Obama is giving “free gas to blacks” is a hoax. Oh, and a riveting piece about a deer repeatedly knocking over an Obama sign. Hard. Hitting. Stuff.
The birther post writes, “So I did a Google Image search for Obama’s daughters. I couldn’t find any baby pics of Malia or Sasha; neither could Dave.”
But it’s cool because one of their super-sleuth readers found the baby pictures.
Needless to say, that wasn’t good enough. Because, this photo must have been photo-shopped, they say.
The site even did a search on Ancestry.com, “In other words, Ancestry.com has no birth records for Malia or Natasha Obama. Then I paid $9.95 for a trial membership in GenealogyBank.com so that I can search that website for the Obama girls’ birth records.”
Michelle Obama’s hair:
I agree with the little brother. I noticed that Michelle’s hair looks cut off on the right side. It’s a bad cropping job, and Barack’s head looks photoshopped in as well. I don’t think the two girls, or Michelle , or Barack are in the same picture at all. How amateurish. Whose kids are they really?
And more comments, all attacking our first black President and his children, because freedom and stuff. Oh and Obama is gay.
A homosexual, closet muslim, with a blacked out past, and we’re not supposed to eventually ask if even his children are the progeny of another? And as he becomes stranger, he becomes more threatening to everything we hold dear.
Dr. Eowyn, this may be proven needless, but for now, I am glad you opened up a line of questioning that we haven’t even considered. Great analysis!
Another one:
See the pictures of the trans*vestites at the Macy’s parade? Do they look that much different than M? No one believes this, but it will come out someday after O is out of office. ‘She’ would not have had the reassignment surgery done. In fact, there is a picture of that out there, in a green dress.
Oh my God, our First Lady owns a green dress? That does it.
And whatever this means, but somehow the NSA is involved in all of this:
From the very beginning when Obie came on the scene and the girls were shown to be his daughters as the years went by and now 5+ years later I have asked repeatedly where are the pictures of the children as babies, or toddlers? I’ve even done the same research as to their births. Nothing. These are not their children. By the way I came across a video about two years ago which was about 2 hours long about presidents and 9/11 and such. In the course of watching this video it was a section during 1980 Henry Kissinger was speaking to someone (unfortunately I can’t remember who – a man but his name escapes me. Kissinger was telling this man about someone “they were grooming” to be president…a young man about 20ish name Barack Obama”…..I just about fell over when I heard this because this was from 30 years ago. I saved the video to my personal computer. I go back to look at it a few weeks ago and it is gone. I would gather NSA removed it so obviously, they are watching me. Or either putting in key words to “look” for things. I saved this and showed it to my sister about a year later – she was just as surprised as me to hear Kissinger mention Obama’s name in 1980 at a political presidential convention. Good Lord, are they all handpicked and voting is just a game???
We all remember how we vetted the Bush kids, asking for their birth certificates, DNA and fingerprints, so this is in no way racist, right?
This is for the birthers…
The birthers are disgusting trash!
*daps*
AWWWW THEY MAD! LOL
they have lost their damn minds
https://twitter.com/Lievejules/status/407275656159170561/photo/1
https://twitter.com/DenZhadanov/status/407188686418505729/photo/1
Another fantastic appointment by President Obama
Just a couple of days ago I wrote about President Obama’s Race Report Card. In reviewing the list of accomplishments, its impossible to miss the fact that most of them have come from the President’s appointments of Eric Holder as Attorney General and Thomas Perez as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Now that Perez is Secretary of Labor, the latter position is open. And it looks like President Obama has chosen another winner…Debo Adegbile.
I was happy to see that my friend Denise Oliver Perez showcased Mr. Adegbile (and the backlash he’s getting from the nativists) today. Here’s a little about his background from the Leadership Council on Civil and Human Rights.
Debo Adegbile is one of the preeminent civil rights litigators of his generation and a bipartisan consensus builder. His experience as the two-time defender of the Voting Rights Act in the Supreme Court puts him in a class of his own when it comes to understanding the application and enforcement of complex civil rights issues. Add that to his stellar career over ten years at the nation’s leading civil rights law firm—the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund—as well as his work in the Senate and in the private sector, and it becomes clear that Adegbile’s skill set, talents, and experience make him the perfect choice to head the Civil Rights Division.
Adegbile’s life mirrors that of the American Dream. A son of immigrants from Ireland and Nigeria, Adegbile grew up in poverty with periods of homelessness to work his way through law school and one day defend American democracy in the Supreme Court.
Millions of Americans rely on the Civil Rights Division to enforce housing, education, and employment discrimination laws, hate crime laws, the Violence Against Women Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the core civil rights statutes that allow all of us to take part in the fullness of American life. Debo Adegbile is the right nominee to head the Civil Rights Division. We call on the Senate to swiftly confirm him.
As I have often said, we tend to focus on legislative action when evaluating presidential accomplishments. But the primary job of POTUS is to administer the federal government. Nowhere is this more important than in the preservation and advancement of civil rights in this country.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/12/another-fantastic-appointment-by.html
Andrew Purdon @Drew_too
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Less than 50.00 a month for #Obamacare! Dental included. For once I get a victory in life! Very happy and proud to be an American! #USA
11:09 AM – 22 Nov 2013
amk4obama @amk4obama
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It wasn’t govt that gave us 50 mil uninsured Americans & denials for pre-existing conditions. It was the free market. http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/29/opinion/waldman-obamacare/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7 …
8:11 AM – 1 Dec 2013
Paul Waldman: The Health Care Reality Conservatives Ignore
For all the difficulties of the Affordable Care Act’s rollout, Americans are more patient than you might think: A new poll shows a majority expressing optimism that the problems are going to be ironed out.
Not only that, a majority continues to support the law or think it didn’t go far enough. Nevertheless, the conservatives rooting for its demise have been expressing not just vindication, but triumph. “We could be looking at the collapse of American liberalism,” said columnist Charles Krauthammer. “Liberalism is crumbling in front of our eyes,” echoed Michele Bachmann.
Yes indeed, a glitchy website and people moving from junk insurance to real insurance prove once and for all that government should have as little to do with health care as possible, and the entire liberal project lies in tatters.
Paul Waldman
Paul Waldman
That’s a little like proclaiming that your team will inevitably lose the World Series, then go bankrupt and disband because the other team scored a run in the first inning of Game 1. But the momentary political situation aside, conservatives still face a fundamental problem when they confront America’s health care system. Their ideology dictates only one solution to all health care problems, and that solution — less government, more free market — is exactly what gave us our dysfunctional health care system in the first place.
Let’s step back a moment to consider why we needed the Affordable Care Act and what it says about the health care market. The basic conservative position is that the more you let market forces operate, the better the outcome will be. “More markets” is the answer to everything: Let people buy insurance across state lines. Make it virtually impossible to sue for medical malpractice. Create more health savings accounts.
But where do you think the problems of America’s health care system came from? It wasn’t government that gave us nearly 50 million uninsured Americans and denials for pre-existing conditions. It wasn’t government that gave us the yearly and lifetime caps on insurance coverage that have sent so many people into bankruptcy when they’ve faced a serious illness or accident. It wasn’t government that gave us “rescissions,” where your insurance company cancels your policy if you get sick.
It wasn’t government that gave us a system in which the gap between what we spend and what we get is so enormous.
It was the free market.
The conservatives who profess to love markets so dearly seem unable to grasp that the market for health care isn’t like the market for shoes or cars. Other developed countries understand this. Every one of our peer nations has a system with more government control than ours, ranging from almost completely socialized systems like Great Britain’s to ones like those in Switzerland and the Netherlands, which resemble Obamacare but with tighter regulation.
Watch this video
New Obamacare setbacks
Watch this video
Insurers fear more Obamacare trouble
We don’t have to wonder whether a health care system built on capitalist profit-seeking is more efficient and less expensive than those in which the government exercises more control. There has been a test running for decades, with many developed countries doing it one way, and the United States doing it the other. The results couldn’t be clearer.
On almost any criterion you can come up with, the government-controlled systems work better. They cover everyone, while spending far less than we do. Their health outcomes are as good or better than ours. A recent Bloomberg News analysis rated America’s as the world’s 46th most efficient health system, right above Serbia and right below Iran. Among the developed countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.S. ranks first (by a mile) in health spending per capita, but 26th in life expectancy.
There are some, however, who love the American health care system. American doctors make far higher salaries than their counterparts in other countries. American insurance companies do very well. As a recent New York Times investigation revealed, makers of devices like artificial hips mark up their prices double, triple, or even more when they sell to American hospitals as they do when they sell the same devices to European hospitals. The same is true of a hundred other devices and procedures. Why? Because in Europe, Japan, and other places with highly regulated health care, government rules keep the costs low.
In the American system, there are multiple points where companies do the rational thing: Extract as much money as possible from the system. That’s why an MRI costs three times as much in the U.S. as it does in France or Holland.
But people living under the oppression of those other governments’ systems must hate them, right? Wrong. The Commonwealth Fund recently released a study of health systems in 10 developed countries around the world which included a survey of satisfaction. America’s health system was the least popular, with only 25% of Americans saying it works well and the other 75% saying it should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/29/opinion/waldman-obamacare/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/29/opinion/waldman-obamacare/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7
Corey Heaward @cheaward
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$67.21/month, $500 deductible, 87% of costs covered under my silver plan from the Affordable Health Care Act. That’s a lifesaver for me.
4:40 PM – 25 Nov 2013
Hey Chicas!
Every year an older white lady in our community makes me homemade Peanut Brittle. She makes homemade mouth-watering Kolaches too. Soooo delicious. I’m waiting…
Where is Haley and Jay? I made Rice Krispies squares.
I am going to eat some before they find them!
Jay loves them. They’d better hurry before these folks here eat them up. lol
From Balloon Juice:
Another Holocene Human says:
December 1, 2013 at 2:35 pm
.
@Betty Cracker:
It’s not even so much polarization as the Southern Strategy entering its terminal phase. There’s one Dixiecrat left in state office in Florida; the rest are local officeholders only. Both parties are at a crossroads. The GOP is losing liberal downstate voters who have found the waters are safe to vote D now that the racists are out of the party. (Remember, it was a Republican, Crist, who stopped the racist Stephen Foster inauguration ritual… and now he’s quit the party. Bill Young’s seat is about to go D and there was a special election a couple of months ago in Peterburg/Clearwater that flipped R to D, with Latvala supporting the D.)
The same has happened in Va. I looked carefully at the county maps from the last several governor’s races and the D vote is gone from the mountain regions but supplemented by new immigrants (internal US from other states, but also new citizens) in Northern Va and higher African-American voter participation in Southern Va.
Those Dixiecrat voters are long gone. There are some who are poor enough and confused enough that they won’t vote (despite hours and hours of hate radio turning them against Ds they do know that the Rs want to pick their pocket), but I’m pretty sure I know quite a few who turned up to vote against the Sheriff just because. Which is stupid, but there you go.
No “Bubba” is going to turn those voters back. Stop chasing the past and focus on winning elections. And in the South, that’s going to be by getting young people and people of color and young people of color to vote, as well as stopping schemes to dilute or throw out their votes.
In Appalachia, it looks like the best effort would be getting traction in the state houses, which can also provide a platform to win Senate races and hopefully get the Reps proportioned since all of these states do have cities. But the Ds don’t need them to win a Presidential election. Fuck that noise.
I’m tired of this dream of a white candidate shit, anyway. I’m not a big fan of Deval Patrick because Clintons, but I’d vote for him. I’m totally down with the African American big city technocrat brand. You know why? Because no matter how wealthy or cossetted a Black person in America is, they’ll always be a Black person in America. And I’m going to trust someone who understands what it’s like to be on the other side of privilege (as deBlasio, showing that he could overcome the handicap of being a white male, did–and his family was part of that, showing how entwined he was in that circle of empathy because of his son, showing he was going to fight like hell over stop&frisk because of that, showing that he DID realize a small bit of what it’s like to be on the other side through everything that had been flung and him and his wife) as opposed to someone who is walking around with unexamined privilege.
You know, like Mitt Romney, who thinks the social safety net is working just fine. The D stable has too many people just like him.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2013/12/01/sunday-morning-open-thread-this-is-our-moment/#comment-4738269
https://twitter.com/petesouza/status/406886879003299840/photo/1
They’re completely focused on each other.
Kudos to the SECRET SERVICE too. It takes a disciplined group of SS to protect our First Family.
LOL Yes; he’s DITCHED the “Mom” jeans.
Those are some awesome girls…with an awesome dad!
@sherifffruitfly
#RacismEndedWhen cnn ran stories about the scourge of white-on-white crime infecting our community. oh wait.
Remember this EPIC MHP segment?
Wow!
The word “Welfare” thing IS race baiting and racism against Blacks perpetuated by the media and those GOP.
And those attempts at disenfranchisement of Blacks and other minorities by GOP!
Thanks for this, Ametia.
All of us need to help those in need. We can’t be a nation that sounds like those in this song:
Eye on 2016, Clintons Rebuild Bond With Blacks
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/us/politics/eye-on-2016-clintons-rebuild-bond-with-blacks.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1&
From gn:
NO MORE CLINTONS, NOT NOW, NOT EVER!!!!
Say it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35pRuYPiY-0
and this..
That first one is such a demented racist!
They really think we have short attention spans and mermory deficits. NO! And Tavis and nem can kiss my entire black ass. NO MORE CLINTONS!
It would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad.
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is one of my Christmas favorites. It reminds me of being in the 8th grade girls choir at the Catholic school. I don’t think we ever sang it in Latin, however. Here is Linda Ronstadt’s version:
Liza, it’s one of my favorites too.
How many men would like to get rid of gift giving?
********************
mmmmm… get in my belly!
May I have one of the raspberry ones?
Help yourself! I use to love love this candy. My parents always had it at Christmas.
Oh, goodie!
Thanks, SG2!
The Media Is Forced to Admit That The Obamacare Website is Fixed
By: Jason Easley
Saturday, November, 30th, 2013, 5:08 pm
Little by little the media is finally realizing what many of us have known for weeks, the ACA website is fixed and people are signing up.
The New York Times is reporting that the ACA website is much improved,
As the Obama administration’s weekend deadline for a smoothly functioning online marketplace for health insurance arrives, more than a month of frantic repair work is paying off with fewer crashes and error messages and speedier loading of pages, according to government officials, groups that help people enroll and experts involved in the project.
…
Although the administration has postponed a December marketing campaign, fearful that the site would collapse under a surge in traffic, five weeks of repair work have clearly made the exchange better. From last Sunday to Tuesday, nearly 20,000 users managed to enroll in insurance plans, the most for a three-day period, according to people familiar with the project. By comparison, fewer than 27,000 users picked an insurance plan on the federal site in the entire month of October.
And pages that once took an average of eight seconds to load now show up in a fraction of a second. The rate at which a user sees an error message has also dropped from about 6 percent to 0.75 percent.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/11/30/media-finally-catches-aca-website-fixed.html
Oh no, the media haz a sad now!
LOL The media folks are SHIT-STIRRERS.
I can feel the Holy presence of God when I listen to O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. It’s so beautiful!
I’m thinking of my parents and siblings who have passed on.
I understand, SG2. But, think about your children and grandchildren and the memories you are building for them.
Your parents and siblings live on through you, your children and grandchildren. Your love of family is the sustaining love of, for, and by God.
**tears**
The song is annointed.
AMEN!
Yes it is, Ametia.
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/407155398924193792/photo/1
Good Morning, Everyone :)
It’s December 1st…which means SG2 is beginning her Christmas Month of Music…
YEAH!!!
[if I knew how, I’d insert SG2’s running happy gif right about now]
Yes, rikyrah, we do need to see that gif that so well represents SG2!
thank you, SG2
There is our SG2!
THIS ONE RIGHT HERE.
Now if the earlier POTUSes had been aked to submit DNA to determine their heritage….
BREAKING: GOP Declares Racism Over!
http://angryblackladychronicles.com/2013/12/01/breaking-gop-declares-racism-over/
The GOP, long known for its ceaseless efforts to end racism in America — (after all, they ended slavery, mirite?) — and to welcome all the Browns™, Blacks™, Yellows™, and Reds™ into its loving conservative embrace has declared racism dead.
Praise Tiny Infant Jesus!
Thanks, GOP. We couldn’t have done it without you. After all, it was you who thought to combat the scourge that is racism with such sensible approaches as:
◾“That guy in the White House is an anti-colonialist Kenyan who was definitely not born in Hawaii and who shouldn’t even be in the White House because birth certificate, that’s why, so let’s impeach him!”; and
◾“Hey, wetback isn’t a racial slur!“; and
◾and “stay away from The Blacks™ because they’ll probably steal your fancy L.L. Bean bike!”; and
◾“It’s good politics to oppose the policies of the Black Guy!” (that’s an actual honest-to-goodness quote).
Racism died, y’all, and I didn’t even get the memo! Thanks to the GOP, however, I think I’ll spend the rest of the day remembering how awesome racism was.
Remember “slavery was good for black people!“? Those were good times.
Or how about that niggra race pimps fellow from a few years back? He was a delight.
Or what about these fucking people? I love those fucking people. I think I’ll head down to South Carolina and invite them out to dinner.
Fortunately, we won’t have to deal with crushing yoke of oppression, because the GOP says that racism is no more! It’s DEAD! DEE-EE-DEE DEAD.
Unbelievable! The GOP needs to straighten up!!!
Like Oprah stated…some of the old racists need to die off. They’re never going to change in this life. Only death can stop it!
I am praying for a loving world, SG2.
Time lapse Christmas tree decorating:
So much fun in decorating the tree. It makes me happy.
I love it too, SG2!
Lets play a few Christmas facts
If you received all of the gifts listed in The 12 days of Christmas song, how many gifts would you receive?
Let’s see….okay….I have my answer written on a piece of paper :)
78 gifts from my TRUE LOVE
Yeah, but who even wants turtle doves, french hens, geese, a partridge, etc…? The golden rings would be nice.
bwa ha ha ha ha
The answer is…….364!
I guessed 78 also.
I thought UNTIL today that the countdown backwards was just a memory thing and not a new bestowing of the same gifts.
So here is how we are supposed to think according to the solution I just found by searching Google:
She gets 1 partridge in a pear tree on each of the 12 days.
She gets 2 turtle doves on the last 11 days.
etc.
Thanks for the puzzle, SG2!
https://www.crayola.com/crafts/ringing-bell-garland-craft/
Finished bell garland:
https://www.crayola.com/crafts/ringing-bell-garland-craft/~/media/Crayola/Crafts/crafts/1165.jpg?mh=762&mw=645
http://kiboomukidscrafts.com/easy-frosty-the-snowman-ornament-craft/
Finished snowman craft:
http://kiboomukidscrafts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Easy-Frosty-The-Snowman-Ornament-Craft-For-Kids.jpg
Did you make this, Yahtc? We already know you’re so talented with your drawings! :)
Good one, SG2! :)
Oh my, no….although it is about on my level with those drawings I did. LOL!
I am just looking up crafts for parents to share with their kids.
I love your drawings. You’re gifted!
And, I love your SIMPLE level of art appreciation, SG2! Hee, hee!
I will take a picture of the recycled wool mittens I make with the sewing machine.
Okay, SG2, I will be good now:
Thank you for complimenting my drawings and being so supportive!
@Yahtc. I’ll take a pair of gloves from each selection you have here, please. Thanks!
Great!
Just reach out and grab the ones you want :) Ametia!
p.s. — They are fleece-lined = I make a second set in fleece which goes inside the outer wool ones.
Guess I’ll need 2 or 3 pair when I visit Ametia in Minnesota along with ear muffs, long johns, 3-4-5 pair of leggings, 2 pair of jeans, 3 sweathers and that’s just from the airport to her home. :)
You two are so sweet!
So funny, SG2….My friend. I think you are taking your whole winter wardrobe there!
Have you thought of those had warmers?
Maybe you can get someone to follow behinds you with something that blasts warm air, SG2!
bwa ha ha ha ha…you got it. I’ll feel right at home too.
“hand” warmers
Washington Post Op-Ed Goes Viral: End Presidential Term Limits
http://www.mediaite.com/online/washington-post-op-ed-goes-viral-end-presidential-term-limits/
An op-ed in the Washington Post went viral this week as it drew controversy advocating for an end to presidential term limits.
In the piece, bluntly titled “End presidential term limits,” New York University history professor Jonathan Zimmerman suggests that the 22nd Amendment limiting presidents to two terms of office should be repealed as a way to assuring a more effective presidency and protecting democracy from a leader without fear of voters’ wrath.
Citing the treatment of President Obama in the wake of his troubled Affordable Care Act rollout and a nuclear deal with Iran, Zimmerman argued that if Obama could run again, he might not be facing such “fervent objections” on the former from Democratic leaders like Bill Clinton; and, on the latter, from Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ).
“Democratic lawmakers would worry about provoking the wrath of a president who could be reelected. Thanks to term limits, though, they’ve got little to fear,” Zimmerman wrote, adding that a term-limited president does not “have to fear the voters, which might be the scariest problem of all.”
“If he chooses,” the professor continued, “[a term-limited president] could simply ignore their will. And if the people wanted him to serve another term, why shouldn’t they be allowed to award him one?”
Ultimately, Zimmerman concluded:
It’s time to put that power back where it belongs. When Ronald Reagan was serving his second term, some Republicans briefly floated the idea of removing term limits so he could run again. The effort went nowhere, but it was right on principle. Barack Obama should be allowed to stand for re election just as citizens should be allowed to vote for — or against — him. Anything less diminishes our leaders and ourselves.
usatoday is profiling behind arrests of black NFL players?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/11/29/racial-profiling-nfl/3779489/
Written by Brent Schrotenboer
USA TODAYTo protect themselves in dealing with the police, some NFL players have taken aim at officers during traffic stops — with smartphones.
After getting pulled over, they activated their phone’s video function and started filming.
“I’ve actually had cops let me go after they found out that I was recording them,” Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt said.
Britt, who is black, says he does it because he thinks authorities sometimes engage in racial profiling. He has been arrested or faced charges from at least four traffic stops since 2010, resulting in one acquittal in a drunken-driving case, one dismissed case and two paid fines.
“One time (when police) saw me recording them, he started asking me questions that had nothing to do with the stop,” Britt said. “Another time the police told me to take the keys out of the car with my wife in the car. They said I was speeding, and then all of a sudden six cop cars came for this one traffic stop. And I had done nothing wrong.”
Rich Roberts, a spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations, says any recording of a traffic stop doesn’t tell the entire story because it probably doesn’t show how the suspect responded to the officer. Roberts questions if suspects film traffic stops for hostile purposes instead of to prove their innocence.
“Also, there’s a serious question about whether the individual doing the filming is actually interfering with the officer’s duties,” he said.
Black players who think they’ve been unfairly targeted view the technology differently. Like Britt, Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman Darnell Dockett says he learned about racial profiling incidents during his youth. Then, in 2011, Dockett was driving a Cadillac Escalade when he was stopped in Maryland. He didn’t think there was cause for the stop, so he turned on his video recorder.
“I had picked up my phone and put it on video,” Dockett said. “I let it sit there and said loud and clear, ‘I don’t drink; I don’t smoke; I don’t have a weapon in my car. You didn’t tell me why you pulled me over. I asked if I was under arrest. You said no. I don’t see anything I did wrong or why I’m sitting here. I gave you my license, my registration; everything is legit.’ He knew I was talking to the camera.”
Dockett said an officer wanted to search his car but he insisted the officer get a search warrant. In the end, he was released without a citation.
“I said, ‘The only way I’m stepping out of the car is if you are going to place me under arrest, and at this point you’d be arresting me for no reason,'” Dockett said. “He knew the video was going. They stayed there for about 30 minutes, and I guess they had to go. He said, ‘You can leave.'”
Filming the police during traffic stops has been controversial. In 2011, a white driver in Illinois was stopped for speeding and then arrested for felony eavesdropping after police said he tried to record the traffic stop without their consent. The charge was later dropped. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal regarding the law, leaving in place a federal appeals court ruling that said it violated the constitutional right to free speech.
“Yes, there is a First Amendment right to film police in public,” Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University, told USA TODAY Sports. “While police and prosecutors continue to arrest people or seize cameras, the courts have been fairly uniform in recognizing that right. As for filming your own stop, the police can take steps to protect themselves or stop actions that obstruct an arrest. Otherwise, this is a public area subject to such filming.”
Contributing: Kent Somers, Jim Wyatt
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131129/SPORTS01/131129022/2080/SPORTS01
http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=520651
Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokeswoman Marjorie Anders says there are multiple fatalities and dozens injured after a Metro-North train derailed on a curved section of track in the Bronx.
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/metro-north-passenger-train-derails-in-nyc/2013/12/01/d81de558-5a8c-11e3-801f-1f90bf692c9b_story.html
This is terrible. So sad and tragic.
I am saying prayers for the victims and their loved ones.
What to know about buying health insurance on individual market
By Sandhya Somashekhar, Published: November 30
look at questions related to recent health-care news. Today’s focus: people who buy insurance on the individual market.
Q. I have a private health insurance plan, not through my employer. How will the Affordable Care Act affect me?
A. You could be affected in a big way.
Starting Jan. 1, insurance companies can no longer reject you because you have a preexisting condition, or charge you more because you are a woman. You might be able to get a more comprehensive plan and get financial assistance to pay your premiums.
Read on:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/what-to-know-about-buying-health-insurance-on-individual-market/2013/11/30/66a953b4-5913-11e3-835d-e7173847c7cc_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
REMINDER: The Number Of Uninsured Americans Increased By 7.9 Million Under George W. Bush
The week President Obama took office, initial jobless claims, the statistic that immediately gauges layoffs, hit a 26-year high with 637,000 applying for unemployment insurance in one week. It was clear that the president was inheriting a record deficit, a cratering economy and two floundering wars. But buried in all those crises was an unspoken slow-motion disaster that people rarely mentioned: the steady crumbling of our health care system.
http://www.nationalmemo.com/reminder-the-number-of-uninsured-americans-increased-by-7-9-million-under-george-w-bush/
White House officials announced Sunday that they had met their Saturday deadline for improving HealthCare.gov after completing a series of hardware upgrades and software fixes to the troubled Web site.
As a result of the improvements: The average system response time is under 1 second; the error rate is “consistently well below 1 percent”; the online system is stable — not crashing — more than 90 percent of the time; and as many as 50,000 shoppers can use the site at the same time, or up to 800,000 visits a day, according to the administration report.
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/healthcaregov-meets-deadline-for-fixes-white-house-says/2013/12/01/a3885612-5a13-11e3-ba82-16ed03681809_story.html
WHATCHA GOT NEXT, HATERS?
Good Morning, Everyone. *rubbinghandstogetherforamonthofchristmasmusic* :-))))
Yes!
Christmas music! Love it!
And, let’s get out those sleigh bells so people can hear us coming!
Good Morning Everyone!
SG2, thank you for this beautiful version of “O Come Emmanuel” !
Good morning, everyone!
We start the holiday season off early here. I hope you all enjoy the music. We’re going to play a few games, have some fun and spread holiday cheer. Join us!
LOL!
Alright now!
x2 !