Happy FRY-day, Everyone! Hope you’re enjoying our musical series this week. Today’s featured Girl Group: MARTHA REEVES & THE VANDELLAS
Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) were an American vocal group who found fame in the 1960s with a string of hit singles on Motown‘s Gordy label. Founded in 1960 by friends Annette Beard, Rosalind Ashford and Gloria Williams, the band eventually included Martha Reeves, who moved up in ranks as lead vocalist of the group after Williams’ departure in 1962. The group signed with and eventually recorded all of their singles for Motown’s Gordy imprint.
The group’s string of hits included “(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave“, “Nowhere to Run“, “Jimmy Mack“, “Bless You” and “Dancing in the Street“, the latter song becoming their signature single. During their nine-year run on the charts from 1963 to 1972, Martha and the Vandellas charted over twenty-six hits and recorded in the styles of doo-wop, R&B, pop, blues, rock and roll and soul. Ten Vandellas songs reached the top ten of the Billboard R&B singles chart, including two R&B number ones.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Martha and the Vandellas[1] #96 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.[2
Dancing In The Street
Nowhere To Run
Jimmy Mack
Heat Wave
‘Scandal’ Case Study: Shonda Rhimes on Season 3, Olivia and Fitz’s Future
8:15 AM PDT 5/17/2013 by Lesley Goldberg
Next season will likely only feature a 25-minute time jump and explore the top Gladiator’s relationship with the head of B613.
Olivia Pope is the daughter of … B613’s boss?!
That’s right, during Thursday’s season two finale of ABC’s Scandal, Rowan — the mysterious man behind the terrifying black-ops organization — was revealed to be the father of the head Gladiator herself, Kerry Washington’s Olivia Pope.
It was a development that only Luke Skywalker could really comprehend, and came after Rowan (Joe Morton) successfully found a way to break up Olivia’s rekindled relationship with President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn).
“I knew all along,” Morton revealed Thursday night during a live reading of the episode at the Television Academy in North Hollywood. During the event, the cast watched as the sold-out crowed gasped with surprise at the stunning turn of events — something star Kerry Washington noted mirrored the actors’ response during their table read when they first learned of Olivia and Rowan’s relationship.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/scandal-season-3-spoilers-shonda-rhimes-524513
ABC’s “Scandal” Marks Most-Watched Telecast Ever and Spikes Over Last Season’s Finale
ABC spins the numbers for Thursday, May 16.
ABC’s “Scandal” Marks Most-Watched Telecast Ever and Spikes Over Last Season’s Finale
In its second season finale, ABC’s red-hot Scandal delivered the series most-watched telecast ever (up for the 3rd week in a row) and tied a series high in Adults 18-49 for the 2nd week running. The show also achieved new all-time highs across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). Scandal dominated the 10 o’clock hour, beating the second hour of CBS’ 2-hour Elementary finale by 68% in Adults 18-49 to finish as the #1 TV series in its slot on each of its last 16 first-run broadcasts. Scandal spiked over its year-ago first season finale in Total Viewers (+25%) and Adults 18-49 (+39%). Scandal built on its Grey’s Adult 18-49 lead-in for the 3rd time in 4 weeks.
Scandal Social Stats: Scandal once again topped Thursday night as the most social series with 571,353 tweets, which is its highest number this season. This is up +83% from the prior week, and Scandal has now delivered over 4.3 million tweets this season making it ABC’s most social program. As it has continually done this season, Scandal outperformed the American Idol Finale by +56% (366,061 tweets)
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/ratings/2013/05/17/abcs-scandal-marks-most-watched-telecast-ever-and-spikes-over-last-seasons-finale-486403/20130517abc01/
ROCK ON, SHONDA!
(Toronto Mayor) Rob Ford in ‘crack cocaine’ video scandal
A video that appears to show Toronto’s mayor smoking crack is being shopped around by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade.
A cellphone video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine is being shopped around Toronto by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade.
Two Toronto Star reporters have viewed the video three times. It appears to show Ford in a room, sitting in a chair, wearing a white shirt, top buttons open, inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe. Ford is incoherent, trading jibes with an off-camera speaker who goads the clearly impaired mayor by raising topics including Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and the Don Bosco high school football team Ford coaches.
http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/05/16/toronto_mayor_rob_ford_in_crack_cocaine_video_scandal.html
CONFIRMED: GOP sources altered Benghazi e-mails to suggest a cover-up
http://thkpr.gs/13t3N7G
Since September, Republicans have claimed the Obama administration covered up the truth about the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya by altering the talking points Susan Rice used on the Sunday morning talk shows. To bolster the story, Republicans misquoted or significantly embellished the emails officials used to draft Rice’s remarks, the CBS Evening News reported Thursday.
CBS News’ Major Garrett confirmed that it was a GOP source who leaked the altered emails.
The miscast quotes affect at least two emails that include a State Department spokesperson and a White House deputy adviser — the two parties GOP lawmakers insist were trying to engage a cover-up on behalf of the Obama administration to protect the president’s chances of re-election.
I’m asking for prayers for my Uncle. He just took a fall and they rushed him to the hospital. He’s the only brother of my mother that’s still living.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
May the Blessings Be.
Prayers for your uncle. I pray everything is alright.
Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr Still Shouldn’t Be There
By: Black Liberal Boomer
May. 16th, 2013
Thanks for the report, Kevyn, but you still have no business here.
According to a recently released report from Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, the city’s financial circumstances are dire enough that he admits Chapter 9 bankruptcy must still be kept on the table as an option. But then, the city’s dire financial circumstances have never been at issue except to those who continue to insist that it’s not as bad as everyone says. With all due respect, I think it’s exactly as bad as is being depicted. You’d have to be close to blind not to see how bad things have gotten, and claiming it’s not doesn’t help.
The problem is not that Detroiters don’t know things are bad. Detroiters are not stupid. The problem remains that Detroiters are being ignored and held hostage by their own Governor Snyder, who flagrantly violated their voting rights – as well as the voting rights of the majority of the entire State of Michigan – when they voted to overturn the Emergency Manager law in November 2012. What’s worrisome here is that, not surprisingly, the news story of the largest city in the nation being shoved under the foot of an Emergency Manager by its own governor is no longer news and most of the press has moved on. It wasn’t that long ago when the Rev. Al Sharpton promised he would return to the city with thousands of protesters, and I for one hope he keeps that appointment ( I actually hope he shows up in June which will be the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech that he delivered here at Cobo Hall two months before the historic Washington D.C. address. That would make a HUGE statement). But for now, whenever Orr steps forward to say whatever he has to say these days, it is reported as if he is a legitimate leader. As if the people of Detroit voted for him to take control and steal their right to vote and to choose their own leaders.
But we didn’t. And this is a fact that needs to be kept front and center in Big Red Letters for as long as this occupation continues because if it is allowed to continue uncontested here in the city of Detroit – and in all the other heavily African American cities throughout Michigan – then it is only a matter of (very little) time before this is no longer just a Michigan problem. We need to keep ourselves reminded of this at every opportunity.
And speaking of problems, way down near the end of the Free Press story where Orr discusses his report and what the city needs, what is likely to happen, etc., Orr “warned that even if the city emerges from state receivership in 18 months, it’s likely that some form of state oversight, such as a financial board or a state-appointed comptroller, would stay on, perhaps for decades as was the case in New York after its 1970s near-bankruptcy.” Say what? What the hell do you mean “perhaps for decades”? Is Orr seriously suggesting that our vote could be considered null and void until my grandson reaches my age and I may not even be here anymore..? And speaking of decades, it has truly been decades since the majority of elected State leadership in Lansing has given a damn about Detroit, so why are we supposed to sit here and believe that these same folks who have been giving us the finger all these years should suddenly be entrusted with the weight of deciding what is in our best interest?
Are we supposed to believe that they know what’s best for Detroit up there in in Lansing “for decades” simply because they’re in Lansing?
http://www.politicususa.com/detroits-emergency-manager-kevyn-orr.html
In 863 Days House GOP Has Offered 0 Jobs Plans While Voting to Repeal Obamacare 34 Times
n the 863 days since taking control of the House Republicans have passed 0 jobs plans, but voted to repeal Obamacare 34 times.
This was an utterly pointless vote. Before the vote, Speaker John Boehner’s office was desperately trying to justify House Republicans using 15% of the time they have been in session to repeal Obamacare. Boehner is claiming that this was only the third House vote to repeal Obamacare. The other votes were to defund Obamacare. Defunding would have the same impact as repeal, so Boehner was playing a silly word game.
In the 863 days since Republicans have taken control of the House they have offered nothing in terms of a jobs agenda. What House Republicans labeled a “No Cost Jobs Plan” isn’t really a jobs plan at all. It is actually a series of proposals to eliminate regulations and lower taxes. (If this concept created jobs, George W. Bush would have presided over a boom economy instead of an economic collapse.)
http://www.politicususa.com/863-days-house-republicans-offered-0-jobs-plans-voting-repeal-obamacare-34-times.html
LUVVIE’S SCANDAL RECAP IS FINALLY UP!!
White Hat’s Back On And I’m Laid Out: Scandal Finale Recap
[ 1 ] May 17, 2013 | Luvvie
How does a TV show render you unable to function for three hours? Well, Scandal’s season finale did just that to me and my girls. It went off and for a good hour, we were screaming and falling out at random intervals. And I kept saying how Shonda had slayed me one GOOD time too many. I got home and was trying to write and could not because my ability to CAN had been rendered obsolete so I just went and laid my burdens down under a blanket.
It was an EXPLOSIVE finale episode and from the moment it started to the end, we were treated with gasp-worthy moments. Shonda and her writing staff hit us in the jugular for the entire hour. Let’s get into it!
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2013/05/white-hats-back-on-scandal-finale-recap.html
Darrell Issa’s Lies Create an Uncomfortable Scrutiny of His Criminal Background
By: Sarah Jones
May. 16th, 2013
Ari Melber, co-host of “The Cycle”, joined Martin Bashir on his show Thursday evening to denounce Darrell Issa’s unprecedented behavior and charges toward Obama and Eric Holder. Ari pointed out that Issa’s unfounded accusations have caused several journalists to begin digging into his checkered past. It’s not pretty.
People in glass houses…
ranscript via MSNBC with slight modifications:
MARTIN BASHIR: Many of us don’t know much about him. Darrell Issa. He’s worth $745 million. He made that fortune largely by running a car alarm company which is funny because he was once indicted to stealing a car as well as one other arrest for carrying a concealed weapon, all of which I guess makes him the paragon of virtue and the man who can grandstand and treat with ranked discourtesy the attorney general, is that right?
ARI MELBER: Congressman Issa has been throwing out a lot of charges but there is finally some scrutiny of his background, both before serving in Congress and running the oversight committee. Ryan Lizza and “The New Yorker” as we discussed went in and looked at his record, looked at the indictment on the stolen car, an arrest for concealed weapons. Looked at Congressman Issa’s defense, often saying his brother who’s had trouble with the law was the target of these investigations. Also a lot of serious allegations about arson in a factory he owned although he says it was an accidental fire. Even before coming –
MARTIN BASHIR: Just on that, sorry, before we move off, that warehouse and that fire seemed to coincide with him just before the fire raising his insurance policy from $100,000 to $400,000.
ARI MELBER: That’s right. He took out a significant increase in the insurance and there was also an accident report that “The New Yorker” discovered that talked about the fact that the nature of the fire didn’t match up with the kind of — kind of accidental arson — nonarson, I should say, accidental fire that could have occurred.
On the oversight committee, I’m so glad you showed some of those clips just now because people have to understand a lot of those exchanges including Congressman Issa telling Eric holder you’re not a good witness, answer the question, kind of berating that is unusual treatment for our top law enforcement officer occurred a year ago in the fast and furious investigation.
And that led to the first contempt citation ever of a sitting attorney general. So Martin, when people say, oh, there’s always skirmishes, both sides do it, no. As a matter of historical precedent, this is the first time we’ve had a chair, Congressman Issa, take the oversight committee and hold an Attorney General in criminal contempt for what I wrote at the time were flimsy charges.
End transcript
http://www.politicususa.com/darrell-issas-lies-create-uncomfortable-scrutiny-criminal-background.html
LOL ISA; wanna start somethings, huh? DON’T START NONE, WON’T BE NONE.
for you Scandal fans:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJ2uI6sCEAAzMrS.png:large
BWA HA HA HA
______________________FLATLINES__________________________
the pictures of POTUS and the kids in Baltimore are just precious
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/05/17/president-obama-in-baltimore/#comment-724028
Kiera was on the TJMS today discussing her case.
[EXCLUSIVE] Kiera Wilmot: I Feel Scared to Do Science Now
In her first national interview since learning that she would not be charged for a science project gone wrong, 16-year-old Kiera Wilmot talks with commentator Roland Martin and the Tom Joyner Morning Show crew about her future, the fears she has developed since the incident and what’s next for her future.
http://blackamericaweb.com/126894/exclusive-kiera-wilmot-i-feel-scared-to-do-science-now/
Former NASA Engineer Awards Kiera Wilmot Scholarship to Space Academy
When news broke of the severe punishment facing Wilmot over a science experiment, she received widespread support from thousands of people across the country; including former NASA engineer Homer Hickam.
Hickam’s famous memior – Rocket Boys – was turned into a film called October Sky, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. He can identify with Wilmot’s situation; he himself had the police called on him for a science experiment he conducted as a young man.
As a show of support, Hickman awarded Kiera a scholarship to attend the United States Advanced Space Academy (ASA), a branch of the famous Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama!
From Space Ref:
Kiera has accepted Hickam’s scholarship offer. Kiera’s mother, Marie Wilmot, works at the Florida Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute (www.fipr.state.fl.us) and is excited that Kiera has been provided this opportunity. “Kiera is a bright, imaginative young lady who loves science, technology, engineering and math – and she also loves music and art. In today’s terminology, they would refer to it as STEAM, which is the STEM field with the arts added in. Kiera joined her middle school Robotics Team, which is where her love of robotics began. She is very excited at this opportunity and is intrigued by Mr. Hickam’s story. We have ordered the movie October Sky and will be checking out his books. She would like to speak with Mr. Hickam and would like to meet him in person someday.”
Hickam is delighted that Kiera will be going to the Space Academy which is internationally known for its educational programs. “I think she will feel right at home,” Hickam says, “because she will be with other students just like her who are intensely interested in science and space.”
http://www.blackyouthproject.com/2013/05/former-nasa-engineer-awards-kiera-wilmot-scholarship-to-space-academy/
Eyes on Prize: We have to win in 2014
By zizi2
WE. HAVE. TO. WIN. IN. 2014!!!
Nothing. Else. Matters.
That is the North star we must follow no matter what fake scandals are strewn in our path. Apathy and Complacency taught us a huge lesson in 2010, whose ramifications stall our progress now. Many of us failed to appreciate how recalcitrant entrenched plutocratic power is. So we have to defeat the GOP and their brand of UNAMERICAN callousness toward the 99% of this country’s population. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. Republicans do NOT care about this country’s welfare, only to grab for their monied friends. Period.
As President Obama said on election night 2008 “the road will be long, our climb will be steep, but America, we will get there.” Every one of those predictions has been borne out. Good news is we conquered them in 2012. But we have more fight on our hands. Today’s 37th repeal Obamacare vote should remind us that Republicans never give up on eroding our rights. They keep gnawing and gnawing and gnawing at our rights until they can wear us down and chip away till we have only empty shells left.
We all know the following cases in point: Reproductive Rights of women, Section 5 of Voting Rights Act, Personhood Amendment bills, Separation of Church and state, Workers Rights, Consumer Protection, Environmental protection…and on and on..! Also, what everyone including corporate media thought initially was the 3rd rail of politics – Not touching Social Security & Medicare – is now shrugged at, thanks to Paul Ryan’s thrice-voted on budget . That is what they do, move the Overton Window ever rightward!
The charade we’ve been seeing from Republicans since President Obama’s reelection that reached an absurd climax this past weekend is ALL ABOUT mobilizing their base for 2014. Actually, the ramped up hatefest is a sign of panic. They have aborted their own plan to “reach out” to constituencies they lost, even before they implemented it. The entire Priebus review was a sham intended to massage the centrism fetish of corporate media lackeys and Independents. Republicans know that they CANNOT change.
So with backs against the wall they are returning to the Southern Strategy that failed to win them 2012, this time on steroids. Insane. Yes. But it is the insanity they know best. They will double down on kamikaze tactics because their base is in nihilist mode. Burn down the darn house! The Conservative puppetmasters are desperate to weaponize that nihilism for their greedy benefit, since they don’t have to give their base anything tangible in return, save the adrenaline rush from heightened Obama-hate. Our side’s resolve to govern will be tested even more.
The narratives will get worse. Why? That’s because the Republican base is not interested in the veracity of any of their fake “scandals.” In fact whether the Republican leaders or moneybags themselves believe them is beside the point. The “scandals” are simply trigger points in a larger scheme to prime their base psychologically for peak wingnuttiness at election time. For this phase, the real ploy is to generate noise warfare. The narrative is simply a soundtrack doubling as a cattle call. The Republicans KNOW their base well. And that base is only motivated by one thing and one thing ONLY: Grievance. And by golly the power hungry Conservative puppetmasters are going to stroke every darn erogenous zone of their base to grab power using every trick in their Atwater book taken to the nth degree.
Actually the more the basis for their outrage is proven to be WRONG, the more consolidated their feelings of being besieged. It is a well-choreographed and calibrated strategy to prime grievance to the point where it is automated and actionable even without anything to launch it, just like cyber worms. We saw it in the run up to the hellish summer of “Death Panels” in 2009. What we saw the teabagger caucus led by Ted Cruz, Louie Gohmert, Michele Bachman, plus Mitch McConnell do yesterday outside Congress is intended to launch death panels 2.0.
The Good News, we’ve seen that movie before. The hate may be ultra-rabid, but there’s something stale about it. So what do we do practically and pragmatically to defeat them?
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/05/17/eyes-on-prize-we-have-to-win-in-2014/
Fri May 17, 2013 at 04:15 AM PDT.
Charlie Cook Advises GOP how to Leak “Scandals” to bring Obama poll #s down
byzizi
If we thought Jim Vandehei’s and Mike Allen’s piece of Politico schmuck pom-poming how DC establishment had turned against the Obama Administration, was bad enough, just read Charlie Cook’s latest article. He outright tells GOP “[a]s a tactical matter, a subterranean campaign will score more direct hits on the president.” Anyone who still thought there is a shred of integrity anywhere left in our corporate media, should erase that from their mind.
Charlie Cook of The National Journal, pollster and apparatchik of the furrow-browed serious journos wrote this in May18th issue of The National Journal:
Republicans would be much wiser to pursue a third option: Dig up as much damaging information as they can about the Obama administration and leak it to reporters they know will write tough stories that won’t be traced back to the source. That way, the public won’t see the GOP as being obsessed with attacking the other side and playing gotcha at the expense of the big issues facing the country—the ones voters really care about.
Meanwhile, everyone in Washington will watch polls for signs of blood in the water, indications that the controversies or scandals—depending upon your perspective—are taking a political toll on Obama’s job-approval numbers.
So the job description for our journos is to catalyze bloodsports. It’s not new, but now it’s brazen. They don’t care if their bias is blatant… .
In the article titled Don’t Gloat, Leak Charlie Cook tells Republicans how to hide their “schadenfreude” by getting reporters who write “tough stories” to do their dirty work for them bloodying President Obama up.
But as much as congressional Republicans are enjoying their schadenfreude, they would be well advised to think long and hard about their next steps. Even the most cursory look at opinion polls or focus groups reveals that the public is convinced we have an ineffectual and out-of-touch Congress that spends too much time backbiting, grandstanding, and Monday-morning quarterbacking while the country’s problems fester. Arguably, showboating for the cameras and holding hearings are what Congress does best; the temptation is unavoidable.
This is coming from same guy who on May 14th wrote a piece titled While Republicans Rant about Benghazi and IRS, Public Mostly Yawns” indicating that poll numbers are showing the faux scandals to be having zero impact on President Obama.
Well, a journalist-pollster with integrity would leave the story at that, right? But no. In this day and age there is no such thing as simply reporting facts and leaving them be. Charlie Cook dispenses this “advise” to GOP for no other stated reason than to brign President Obama’s poll numbers down just so history can be repeated.
If the facts don’t fit your narrative, why, gin up your own “facts”!!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/17/1209722/-Charlie-Cook-Advises-GOP-how-to-Leak-Scandals-to-bring-Obama-poll-s-down
PBO in Baltimore today!
Republicans Gone Wild: GOP in Painful, Lustful ‘Heat’ on IRS, AP & Healthcare
http://youtu.be/UWmiptfZI0w
No Solution for Syria
by BooMan
Fri May 17th, 2013 at 11:42:51 AM EST
The situation in Syria is tragic. But it is not America’s fault. The Assad regime is propped up by Russia and Iran. They carry the burden for what has happened to Syria. We would have to be nuts to take ownership of the problem. We have the legacy of Iraq hanging around our necks, which is bad enough. As bad as the situation is in Syria, at least it is a counterexample that demonstrates that Western imperialism is not uniquely evil.
On one level, this is a humanitarian crisis that is indistinguishable from an earthquake in Haiti or a tsunami in Sumatra. The United Nations is equipped to deal with it on that basis, assisting refugees and supplying aid. But it’s really much deeper than that and exposes fissures in the United Nations because there is no consensus on the Security Council on who should prevail in the civil war.
The United States is in the majority in thinking that the Assad regime has lost its legitimacy and must go, but there are no good guys out there to replace them. Probably the best that can be done is to facilitate a negotiated settlement that will protect the Alawites from reprisals if the Assad regime willingly abdicates its power. The Russians seem willing to participate in that effort, even as they continue to arm the regime with powerful weapons that will complicate efforts to intervene militarily.
The problem is that atrocities committed on all sides have hardened attitudes to the point that trust seems impossible. There is no magic fix. There is no likely result that is in our national interests. While we have to do we can on the humanitarian front, we also need to avoid becoming the owners of this problem.
Tragically, our national interests are best served by keeping an arm’s distance from the problem.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/5/17/114251/706
Launder the Scandals
by BooMan
Fri May 17th, 2013 at 10:43:04 AM EST
I am amused by Charlie Cook’s advice for Republicans. He thinks they will basically be throwing a boomerang at their own heads if they have a bunch of faux-scandal hearings that the public doesn’t give a shit about. Much better to launder these scandals through willing and witting reporters.
…as much as congressional Republicans are enjoying their schadenfreude, they would be well advised to think long and hard about their next steps. Even the most cursory look at opinion polls or focus groups reveals that the public is convinced we have an ineffectual and out-of-touch Congress that spends too much time backbiting, grandstanding, and Monday-morning quarterbacking while the country’s problems fester. Arguably, showboating for the cameras and holding hearings are what Congress does best; the temptation is unavoidable.
Republicans would be much wiser to pursue a third option: Dig up as much damaging information as they can about the Obama administration and leak it to reporters they know will write tough stories that won’t be traced back to the source. That way, the public won’t see the GOP as being obsessed with attacking the other side and playing gotcha at the expense of the big issues facing the country—the ones voters really care about.
Meanwhile, everyone in Washington will watch polls for signs of blood in the water, indications that the controversies or scandals—depending upon your perspective—are taking a political toll on Obama’s job-approval numbers.
It’s actually good advice, but it says something about Charlie Cook’s lack of objectivity, don’t you think?
Rob Ford in ‘crack cocaine’ video scandal
A video that appears to show Toronto’s mayor smoking crack is being shopped around by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade.
By: Robyn Doolittle and Kevin Donovan Staff Reporters, Published on Thu May 16 2013
A cellphone video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine is being shopped around Toronto by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade.
Two Toronto Star reporters have viewed the video three times. It appears to show Ford in a room, sitting in a chair, wearing a white shirt, top buttons open, inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe. Ford is incoherent, trading jibes with an off-camera speaker who goads the clearly impaired mayor by raising topics including Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and the Don Bosco high school football team Ford coaches.
“I’m f—ing right-wing,” Ford appears to mutter at one point. “Everyone expects me to be right-wing. I’m just supposed to be this great.…” and his voice trails off. At another point he is heard calling Trudeau a “fag.” Later in the 90-second video he is asked about the football team and he appears to say (though he is mumbling), “they are just f—ing minorities.”
http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/05/16/toronto_mayor_rob_ford_in_crack_cocaine_video_scandal.html
Republicans altered Benghazi emails
THANK YOU
Chris Moody @Chris_Moody2m
Rep. Reichert: Were groups treated differently bc of political affiliation? IRS guy: “No.” Reichert: “That’s a yes or no question!”
Hostage takers debate debt-ceiling hostage note
By Steve Benen
Fri May 17, 2013 9:57 AM EDT
Congressional Republicans have no reason to use the debt ceiling to hold the nation hostage again. None. The deficit is already shrinking with remarkable speed; the last GOP debt-ceiling crisis did real harm to the nation; GOP leaders have ruled out default; and Republican lawmakers themselves don’t even have anything specific in mind in terms of demands. There’s just no need to put Americans through this again.
And yet, there were House Republicans yesterday, meeting in private a few hours before voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the 37th time, “quietly planning their strategy for the next showdown over the debt limit,” which will probably come in September or October.
At a two-hour listening session Wednesday afternoon in the basement of the Capitol, rank-and-file lawmakers offered suggestions for handling an event that, in 2011, blew their approval ratings to smithereens.
The good news: This time around, most GOP lawmakers agree that they probably should not block a debt-limit increase, halt Treasury borrowing and let the government default on its obligations. According to GOP aides who attended the meeting, the “hell no” caucus appears to be radically diminished.
The bad news for President Obama: Republicans will demand some kind of prize for voting to raise the debt limit, preferably some policy that serves to reduce the debt.
Just so we’re clear, Republicans know they have an obligation to raise the debt ceiling. They know they can’t refuse to meet their obligations. They know crashing the economy on purpose isn’t a real option. And yet, their official position is, in effect, “Give us a treat or we’ll start deliberately hurting Americans. No goodies = no peace.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/05/17/18320066-hostage-takers-debate-debt-ceiling-hostage-note?lite
Tax-Exempt Firm Gets $600 Million Profit Flying First Class
By David Evans – Nov 13, 2012 11:00 PM CT
Tax-Exempt Firm Gets $600 Million Profit Flying First Class
Since 1862, an obscure company called American Bureau of Shipping has been approving oceangoing vessels as seaworthy. The Houston-based firm reported $3.17 billion in revenue and just less than $600 million in profits from ship inspections from 2004 to 2010 and paid no U.S. income taxes on those earnings.
The Internal Revenue Service hasn’t had any complaints. That’s because the company has been registered as a nonprofit for 150 years, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its December issue.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-14/tax-exempt-firm-gets-600-million-profit-flying-first-class.html
Ametia, great pics of the Martha Reeves and the Vandellas!
“Nowhere to run baby…nowhere to hide…”
I love the music. It sounds soo good to me!
So glad you’re enjoying the ladies, SG2. They were furious and the music is CLASSIC.
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka2m
Charles Rangel: “Are we angry at both Bush and Obama appointees at the IRS?” Steven Miller: “There were no Obama appointees.” BOOM!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHqIueEoH_c&feature=player_embedded
GTFOH Brinkley. I’m sure the Fox crowd are clamoring to buy your next book.
Waitng for Doris Kearns Goodwin to start beating the BASH OBAMA/HOLDER drums soon…
BWA HA HA HA HA AH HA HA AHA HHA
…………………………………………………
Miranda
Shonda didn’t give us a kiss, no “I’ll call you”, nothing. She had her way with us and left. Now we all doing the mental walk of shame.
………………………….
Miranda
Reading all the tweets and comments….everybody realizes that Shonda don’t love us….she playing us like marionettes. She picks us up when she wants to play and when she’s done, sits us all back up on the shelf until the next time…and sometimes, like last night, she doesn’t even sit us back on the shelf nicely, just throws us where ever.
My Scandal Bingo card was completely full in the first 5 mintues last night. BWA HA HA
There were meaningful Benghazi lies after all
By Steve Benen
Fri May 17, 2013 9:07 AM EDT
Whether or not an issue is a “scandal” tends to be a subjective question — one voter’s world-changing controversy may be another voter’s meaningless distraction. Indeed, the Beltway has spent a week telling the nation that the White House is engulfed in three ongoing scandals, though many of us suspect this analysis is deeply flawed.
But if we’re going to talk about real political scandals, can we at least have a conversation about Republicans lying to reporters about Benghazi?
For those who can’t watch clips online, CBS’s Major Garrett told viewers last night something news consumers don’t usually see or hear: House Republicans gave journalists bogus information, apparently on purpose, in the hopes of advancing the right’s version of the Benghazi story.
As Josh Marshall explained, “Generally, once partisan, tendentious sources leak information that turns out to be wrong, nothing’s ever done about it. That’s for many reasons, some good or somewhat understandable, mostly bad. But on CBS Evening News tonight, Major Garrett did something I don’t feel like I’ve seen in a really long time or maybe ever on a network news cast. He basically said straight out: Republicans told us these were the quotes; that wasn’t true.”
Given what we now know, congressional Republicans saw all of these materials in March, couldn’t find anything controversial, and moved on. But last week, desperate to manufacture a scandal, unnamed Republicans on Capitol Hill started giving “quotes” from the materials to reporters, making it seem as if the White House made politically motivated edits of Benghazi talking points.
As Major Garrett reported last night, the “quotes” Republicans passed along to the media were bogus. The GOP seems to have made them up. ABC’s Jonathan Karl didn’t know that, and presented them as fact, touching off a media firestorm.
Why would Republicans do this, knowing that there was evidence that would prove them wrong?
——————————————————————————–
Probably because Republicans assumed the White House wouldn’t disclose all of the internal deliberations that went into writing the Benghazi talking points. When the White House did the opposite on Wednesday, giving news organizations everything, the GOP had been caught in its lie.
And yesterday, Major Garrett was willing to say so.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/05/17/18319321-there-were-meaningful-benghazi-lies-after-all?lite
Quinn busted her torture cherry last night! #BabyHuckRealness
BWA HA HA HA *DEAD*
http://youtu.be/q2mw-lob2uA
Cyrus was like the parent who just crushed their child with the information that there’s no Santa. He was BRUTAL with both Olivia and Fitz.
He showed NO mercy.
He was fuckin’ RUTHLESS.
I still have no words about what Senator Byron:
a) did to Jake
b) being Olivia’s Daddy
Though revealing this dude to be her father puts Olivia’s romantic choices into perspective.
By the end…Fitz was BROKEN
CRUSHED
uh uh uh
found this in the comments at another blog
To send some dude to sleep with your daughter, record it and then spread it publicly??? Let me tell you, Iyanla AND Dr. Phil put together can’t help the Popes.
And Cyrus….maaaaaaaaaaan. I thought Victor Newman was ruthless, but Cyrus on some other isht. Matter of fact, I think Cyrus could beat TGVN! It’s like slit their throats and poured salt in their wounds! Damn!
My reply is
And not only did he spread the news about his own child…MOFO had the nerve to be there TO PICK HER UP WHEN SHE WAS BLINDSIDED BY IT.
there are no words.
DAYUM.
And did you see Cyrus check himself when he was about to go off while talking to Senator Byron – he just gave him the side eye and Cyrus went back to ‘ Yes, Sir’ mode.
WHO IS THIS DUDE?!?!?!
And about Cyrus…
Cyrus showed not one OUNCE of compassion.
I was like DAMN.
Agree; Livy likes her men POWERFUL, RUTHLESS, ROUGH.
it’s 7:30 a.m.
and I just did my first Luvvie Scandal recap look.
come on, Luvvie.
LOL Olivia’s DADDY; SMGDH
http://youtu.be/bf18VXI3s5c
http://youtu.be/yMet8T87JU8
http://youtu.be/SIZzcZ6vVZM
Tunned in just before Scandal… CANDICE ROCKED IT.
Good Morning!
Good Morning Everyone at 3CHICS!
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)
Good morning, everyone!