Salt-n-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York,[1] that was formed in 1985.[2] The group, consisting of Cheryl James (“Salt”), Sandra Denton (“Pepa”) and Deidra Roper (“DJ Spinderella”), was one of the first all-female rap crews
The group entered hip hop at a time when rap music was believed to be a fad and record companies were reluctant to sign rap artists.[4] Originally calling themselves Super Nature (on their first single), James and Denton debuted in 1985 with the single “The Showstopper”, an answer record to Doug E. Fresh‘s hit single “The Show”.[2] “The Showstopper” was produced by Hurby Azor. The song utilized a melody from the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds.
Greg Pinelo @gregpinelo
Apparently, moving to weeknights has driven @chrislhayes insane. How else to explain an evocation of MLK in relation to Snowden?
8:02 PM – 11 Jun 2013
Christopher Hayes ✔ @chrislhayes
I gotta say its very weird how little of our current debate centers around whether bulk data collection violates the constitution.
Greg Pinelo @gregpinelo
@chrislhayes Remember when John Lewis marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and was beaten bloody by bulk data collection?
8:44 PM – 11 Jun 2013
It’s that tie he’s started wearing, after the ratings tumble. Or could it be the exhaust fumes he’s inhaling from the buses and cars while biking into work?
TheObamaDiary.com @TheObamaDiary
This whole episode has been so revealing, supposed ‘progressives’ comparing Snowden to MLK, Rosa Parks & Nelson Mandela. Truly, unmasked.
8:11 PM – 11 Jun 2013
zizi2
June 11, 2013 at 9:10 pm
In an interesting exchange between TarheelDem and Booman on a thread titled _This is How 11-Dimensional Chess Works_ , Booman pretty much summed up the overinflated sense of influence that White Emoprogs have about their position in the Democratic Party Base. Here’s what Booman said, and it is spot on:
************
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/6/11/12620/6420#45
Imani ABL @AngryBlackLady
Y’all just can’t help yourselves, can you? I’m done.
sfpelosi @sfpelosi
Instructive that same folks invoking #MLK on #NSA have been radio silent on #VRA. Selective symbolism. @AngryBlackLady
7:57 PM – 11 Jun 2013
Susan McAnanama @suebu4peace
@chrislhayes @angryblacklady Brilliant analysis of overreaching by surveillance of MLK. Still Obama supporters are in denial.
Imani ABL @AngryBlackLady
.@suebu4peace @chrislhayes Thank you for proving my point. MLK references are about Obama supporters (read black people) being “in denial.”
7:50 PM – 11 Jun 2013
eclecticbrotha @eclecticbrotha
The constant co-opting of black civil rights events is an attempt to shame “Obama supporters” (translation: black people) into going along.
7:23 PM – 11 Jun 2013
…………………………………………
eclecticbrotha @eclecticbrotha
To me, its just as absurd as the constant “MLK was a Republican” crap we hear from people of color who want us to join the GOP.
7:25 PM – 11 Jun 2013
Imani ABL @AngryBlackLady
Stop it. It is grossly offensive. https://twitter.com/AngryBlackLady/status/344103886757453826 … #inners
Christopher Hayes ✔ @chrislhayes
@AngryBlackLady But it doesn’t seem out of bounds to me to point out the history of exactly how the Cold War surveillance powers were used.
7:30 PM – 11 Jun 2013
………………………….
Christopher Hayes ✔ @chrislhayes
@AngryBlackLady But it doesn’t seem out of bounds to me to point out the history of exactly how the Cold War surveillance powers were used.
Imani ABL @AngryBlackLady
.@chrislhayes MLK was surveilled because he was black. The a Black Panthers were surveilled because they were black. Many find it offensive.
7:38 PM – 11 Jun 2013
Christopher Hayes ✔ @chrislhayes
@AngryBlackLady But it doesn’t seem out of bounds to me to point out the history of exactly how the Cold War surveillance powers were used.
Only4RM @Only4RM
@chrislhayes To you! Doesn’t seem out of bounds TO YOU w/ no sense of HISTORIAL or MODERN context for Black American life. @AngryBlackLady
7:35 PM – 11 Jun 2013
Christopher Hayes ✔ @chrislhayes
@AngryBlackLady But it doesn’t seem out of bounds to me to point out the history of exactly how the Cold War surveillance powers were used.
JOBoomr @JOBoomr
@chrislhayes Don’t you get it? You have no gravitas. Nobody needs you pointing out anything. @MSNBC Get him outta here! cc @AngryBlackLady
8:18 PM – 11 Jun 2013
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
Shorter Libertarians: “They came for Black kids in NYC and Latino Kids in AZ & I stayed silent. They came for my Facebook & I said IMPEACH!”
6:35 PM – 11 Jun 2013
@truthrose1
@mini_you @ItsAlinaJo @chrislhayes @maddow @PoliticsNation @Lawrence Chris Hayes trotted out Julian Bond to tell us Snowden is like MLK
https://twitter.com/petesouza/status/344596689027485696/photo/1
http://www.ibtimes.com/fbi-insider-trading-probe-targets-senator-grassleys-aide-1300455#
As part of a widening insider trading probe that involves the U.S. Congress, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is trying to determine if an aide to Sen. Charles Grassley’s played a part in illegally divulging a key government decision to private corporations this spring, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Congressional aides are rarely targeted in federal probes, as the official duties of legislative-branch employees are protected under the Constitution.
Separately, the Justice Department sent Grassley’s office a letter last month, seeking information on Rodney Whitlock, the same health care aide targeted by federal authorities, the Journal reported, citing an unnamed source with knowledge of the matter.
The spotlight fell on Grassley’s staff after Height Securities published a research report on April 1 that led to a surge in health care stocks. The report correctly predicted that the government would retain certain medical payment rates instead of cutting them as previously announced. The report came out 18 minutes before the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, announced the changes, according to a Reuters report.
@theonlyadult
Rich selfish white boy steal some classified stuff and run away to a 5 stars hotel in HK, and for the Liberal elite he’s MLK and Mandela.
@AngryBlackLady
Oh goody. Now some nice white man is tweeting me MLK speeches. Gosh. Thanks, bro!
A few thoughts on Snowden, Greenwald, and the NSA
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 | Posted by Liberal Librarian at 10:18 AM
Unless you’ve been under a rock (and more on that later), the “high-information” portion of our Republic has been treated to days of OHMYGODTHENSAISSPYINGONMYGOATPORN.
The current hero of the “left” “libertarians” is Edward Snowden, leaker of NSA collection of phone records and Internet traffic, with an able assist from his glibertarian guru Glenn Greenwald. For all of an hour, the hashtag #IStandWithEricSnowden trended on Twitter on Sunday, after he revealed himself as the freedom-loving mole in the heart of the Big Brother Beast.
Let me pause for a moment to share with you a quote from one of the best novels of recent years, World War Z. Yes, it’s a zombie novel, but it also serves as a commentary on modern day politics.
When you think of the CIA, you probably imagine two of our more enduring and popular myths. The first is that our mission is to search the globe for any conceivable threat to the United States, and the second is to believe that we have the power to perform the first.
…We can’t just spread ourselves thin looking for, and hoping to stumble on, new and possible dangers. Instead, we’ve always had to identify and focus on those that are already clear and present.
Replace “CIA” with “NSA” and you have a picture of where we are now.
The idea that the NSA is the harbinger of Big Brother is nothing new. Back in the 1990s “Echelon” was the big fear, where NSA was collecting telephone traffic from across the world. Somehow, that didn’t seem to stop the events of 9/11.
This is the dirty secret that the Greenwalds of the world want you to forget: for all of our faults, the US is still a democratic republic. Any programs run by our intelligence agencies are both vetted and approved by elected officials—meaning Congress. In fact, members of the opposition party have either remained curiously silent, or have come out in defense of these programs. Aside form the Tea Party rump, no one in a position of authority has lauded Greenwald and Snowden as exposing a dastardly Obama overreach. They have almost uniformly condemned them as, at best, deluded, and at worst as traitors.
Of course, these revelations are not a result of a desire to “expose the truth”. As many outlets have reported, the particulars of both the phone record and internet traffic data collection are far less frightening than Greenwald and his acolytes would like you to believe. The phone records collected are stored in a database which can only be accessed with a court order. And PRISM isn’t keeping track of what movies you download or what color of paint you order on lowes.com. As this article in USA Today explains:
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/06/a-few-thoughts-on-snowden-greenwald-and.html
Who Has Credibility?
by BooMan
Tue Jun 11th, 2013 at 05:07:49 PM EST
I had the exact same thought that Steve Benen describes when I read Al Franken’s take on the whole NSA flap.
To be more accurate, I had both of those thoughts simultaneously. Apparently, the House is getting a closed-door briefing on the impact of the NSA leaks.
It’s interesting to see which lawmakers are taking which positions, especially because it isn’t entirely predictable.
Is there anyone in Congress whose judgment you trust?
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/6/11/17749/2255
@bobcesca_go:
Google Asks for Permission to Disclose FISA Requests http://bit.ly/14U9xrz
Google, Asking Government For Permission To Disclose NSA Data, Isn’t Done Defending Itself
In an open letter on Tuesday to Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller, Google pressed the United States government for permission to publish more information about the number of secret requests it receives for customers’ data.
“Assertions in the press that our compliance with these requests gives the U.S. government unfettered access to our users’ data are simply untrue,” David Drummond, the search giant’s top lawyer, wrote, echoing not one but two flat-out denials that the government has “direct access” to company servers. Last week, The Guardian and The Washington Post had bombshell reports on a National Security Agency program called PRISM that lets the government collect emails, photos and other information from Internet users.
@steveweinstein
Hoover’s FBI abuse of MLK does not = Prism. This is beyond insanity. #reallycantbelieveimseeingthis
President Obama Calls For the Minimum Wage to Be Increased To a Living Wage
[….] President Obama’s call for the minimum wage to be increased to a living wage was very important. The living wage is the hourly wage needed so that workers can afford the basic necessities of life, and support their families.
In the state of New York, the minimum wage is $7.25. The living wage is $11.50, and for a family of four it is $21.03. In Alabama, the minimum wage is $7.25. The living wage for an individual is $8.51, but the living wage for a family of four is $18.04. In Ohio, the minimum wage is $7.30. The living wage for an individual is $7.96, and the living wage for a family of four is $17.27. In Arizona, the minimum wage is $7.25. The living wage for an individual is $9.00, and for a family of four it’s $19.33. In California, the minimum wage is $8.00. The living wage for an individual is $11.20, and for a family of four it’s $22.15.
[….] Raising the minimum wage to a living wage would not only reduce the gender pay gap, but it would also help lift millions of working poor people out of poverty. There is an entire body of academic research that disproves the Republican claim that raising the minimum wage hurts the economy.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/06/10/president-obama-calls-minimum-wage-increased-living-wage.html
Obama, Black Leaders: It’s Complicated
Author Jonathan Alter examines the president’s relationships with his prominent black critics and allies.
excerpt:
After the Urban League speech, Obama came down to West’s seat and grew angry. “I’m not progressive? What kind of sh– is this?” the president hissed, his face contorted. West said later that a brassy African-American woman standing behind him told the president to his face, “How dare you speak to Dr. West like that!” and argued after Obama left that the obscenity would have justified removal by the Secret Service had it come from anyone else.
In the months following the confrontation, West stepped up his attacks, calling Obama a “black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats.” He added, “I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men. It’s understandable. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he’s always had to fear being a white man with black skin.”
After the blowup with West, the president welcomed Al Sharpton and a half-dozen other black hosts and commentators to the Roosevelt Room of the White House. The subject turned to Tavis Smiley, a PBS host (and co-host of a radio show with West) who was also severely critical of Obama. Tom Joyner, a strong Obama supporter and host of the top-rated black talk-radio show, thought that West and Smiley (neither of whom was invited) were causing other blacks to denigrate the president. He began to mix it up with the author Michael Eric Dyson, who wanted the administration to target its efforts more on particular black needs.
Obama jumped in to say he had no problem with Dyson or anyone else disagreeing with him about how to help the needy. What upset him was critics who “question my blackness and my commitment to blacks.” He felt the community needed to be a little more sophisticated politically. “If I go out there saying ‘black, black,’ do you think that will help black people?” he asked, arguing that Congress would never support legislation explicitly intended for African Americans. His legislative program was aimed at helping all Americans but would disproportionately help blacks: “Pell Grants? Black people. Health care? Black people.”
http://www.theroot.com/views/obama-black-leaders-its-complicated
COMMENTARY: Bob Johnson Blasts Obama But Offers No Solutions to Urban Problems
My friend Courtland Milloy, a longtime columnist for The Washington Post, wrote an interesting column last week questioning whether African Americans refuse to criticize President Barack Obama because he’s black.
“I hope President Obama appreciates the grand bargain he’s getting from African Americans: unwavering support, stratospheric approval rating, muted exasperation when he disappoints, vociferous defense when he’s under attack,” Milloy wrote. “But what do black people get in return?”
Milloy wrote correctly that Obama enjoys overwhelming support from African Americans even while the black unemployment rate is twice the rate of whites.
My problem with Milloy’s column, however, started when I read comments from Robert Johnson, the black billionaire and founder of BET who supported Hillary Clinton over Obama in the 2008 presidential race and has been criticizing Obama ever since.
http://blackamericaweb.com/135000/bob-johnson-barack-obama/
Updated: 1:39 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, 2013 | Posted: 1:39 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Obama’s ATF nominee gets Senate hearing
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
The Associated Press
It was remarkable enough that President Barack Obama’s choice to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives got a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Only one other nominee to lead the ATF has had a hearing, and none has been confirmed.
But then hardly any senators showed up to grill B. Todd Jones, making the appearance all the more surreal and, perhaps, indicating that he faced the same likely fate as his predecessors: limbo.
The Senate has been authorized to approve the agency’s leader since 2006 but has never done so. The result is that the bureau charged with enforcing the nation’s patchwork of gun laws has had only interim chiefs over the past seven years.
The powerful gun lobby has worked aggressively and successfully behind the scenes to persuade lawmakers to forego the hearings — and the confirmations. Michael Sullivan is the only other nominee to make it as far as Jones.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/ap/top-news/obamas-atf-nominee-gets-senate-hearing/nYHXP/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OlQoGarZWLc
TheObamaDiary.com @TheObamaDiary15m
Combined, @AdamGreen & 3 PCCC colleagues took almost $500k in salaries in 2012. Donations to prog. candidates? $330k http://www.opensecrets.org/pac… …
http://youtu.be/3sRWi3gHSfE
The Morning Plum: John Boehner’s big concession on immigration
By Greg Sargent, Published: June 11, 2013 at 8:45 am
Today the Senate begins its debate over immigration reform, with conservatives set to offer a slew of amendments designed to change the Senate “gang of eight” compromise — or kill it outright. But the most revealing thing out there this morning about the immigration debate concerns the House, and it comes in this interview that House Speaker John Boehner gave to ABC News this morning.
In the interview, Boehner repeatedly refused to answer two questions. First, he would not say whether the final bill that emerges from the House will have a path to citizenship in it. And — even more important — he would not say whether he would refrain from allowing the House to pass a final bill mostly with Democratic support. Both of these are critical to understanding how this whole battle is likely to unfold.
Pressed repeatedly by George Stephanopoulos on whether the House would pass something that includes a path to citizenship, Boehner demurred again and again, only saying that he expected the House bill to be “to the right” of the Senate bill. And pressed repeatedly on whether he would allow the final product to pass with mostly Dems, Boehner said: “It’s not about what I want. It’s about what the House wants…we’re gonna let the House work its will.”
Boehner’s interview reminds us of a stark fact: It remains unlikely that a majority of House Republicans will support a path to citizenship, which is to say, it’s unlikely they will ever support real, comprehensive immigration reform. This is an added incentive for Senate Democrats not to give up too much in concessions to the right in the quest for overwhelming bipartisan Senate support.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/06/11/the-morning-plum-john-boehners-big-concession-on-immigration/
Ted Cruz gives away the game
By Greg Sargent, Published: June 11, 2013 at 12:46 pmE-mail the writer
submit to reddit
Senator Ted Cruz, in an interview with The Fine Print:
As the immigration debate begins before the full Senate for the first time, Sen. Ted Cruz has become one of the most vocal opponents to the current bill. But Cruz says the true obstacle to immigration reform is not him, but President Obama.
This is pretty silly: It’s akin to saying that Obama’s insistence on real immigration reform (which would include a path to citizenship) is putting Cruz’s preferred fake immigration reform (which would lack a path to citizenship) at risk. As Steve Benen puts it, the path to citizenship is “not some gratuitous, tangential provision — for the White House, it’s the point of the bill.”
Even better than this, in the very same interview, Cruz went on to undercut his own point in a way that perfectly captures what all of this is really about:
…………….
And yet, in the reality inhabited by the new Senator from Texas, the path to citizenship is a threat to the bill primarily because President Obama wants it. Thank you, Senator, for clarifying exactly what this is really all about.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/06/11/ted-cruz-gives-away-the-game/
Being Mary Jane’: BET film starring Gabrielle Union to kick off original series
by Kunbi Tinuoye | June 10, 2013 at 1:55 PM
tlanta lived up to its reputation as the Hollywood of the South on Saturday with the advance screening of BET’s upcoming film Being Mary Jane.
The movie, starring Gabrielle Union, debuts on the cable channel on July 2 at 10:30 pm.
The hour long production will serve as a teaser for the anticipated Being Mary Jane series scheduled to hit the screens in January 2014.
It is just one of a handful of shows drawing attention to BET’s newfound shift towards original programming.
A protagonist who is far from perfect
Being Mary Jane, which was shot in Atlanta, revolves around the main protagonist Mary Jane Paul (played by Union), a successful talk show host, who on the surface has an enviable lifestyle. Still, her life is far from perfect.
“It’s in her [Mary Jane Paul’s] low moments where she most expresses her humanity,” said creator Mara Brock Akil in a Q&A with entertainment journalist Kelly L. Carter after the screening at the stylish W Hotel in Midtown Atlanta.
Though she has the trapping of success, Mary Jane has failed to fulfill a basic need: finding love with a man willing to commit. As she struggles to juggle her personal and professional life, the film also chronicles her devotion to her ailing mother and less successful siblings.
In one scene, an angry Mary Jane expresses her frustration about her teenage niece’s pregnancy and unemployed siblings.
“There are too many damn kids in this family and not enough people feeding them! Seriously, who has a job in this room? Raise your hand!”
A show that ‘represents real life’
The film is smart, funny, touching and a candid portrayal of the trials and tribulations of life as a single, professional woman.
Akil admits she is not trying to a “solve a problem” but explore issues and “that conversation is complicated.” She adds, “It represents real life.”
http://thegrio.com/2013/06/10/being-mary-jane-bet-film-starring-gabrielle-union-to-kick-off-original-series/#s:xxx-2
Actress Vanessa Bell Calloway shares her breast cancer survivor journey
by Suzanne Rust | June 11, 2013 at 12:58 PM
Vanessa Bell Calloway opens up about her battle
Actress Vanessa Bell Calloway recently followed suit with her article on The Daily Beast detailing her battle against breast cancer.
The versatile stage, screen, and television actress has a range of work that has taken her from being one of the original Broadway cast members of Dreamgirls, to roles in What’s Love Got to Do with It, Coming to America, Lakeview Terrace, and Showtime’s current hit Shameless.
Now following in Jolie’s footsteps by continuing to tell her survivor story, Calloway is broadening her public presence to include breast cancer awareness advocacy. Calloway spoke to theGrio about her decision to share her experiences with the disease, her upcoming projects, and having a mastectomy and breast reconstruction in the course of her treatment.
Calloway’s journey through illness, and back to health
Calloway has always been a stickler for good health. As a former dancer, she exercised and followed a healthy diet. She was also diligent about her annual mammograms and pap smears, and was doing all of the right things. Yet, about four years ago, she knew something in her body was off. She just felt it.
“I thought they were going to tell me that I had some incurable blood disease – I’m very dramatic! I had missed my mammogram because the place I usually went to closed,” the actress told theGrio. “I had to find a new place, but life happened, and I got busy.
“However, breast cancer — that was the last thing on my mind because since the age of 40, my mammograms came back clear.” Still, Calloway just didn’t feel she was in full health.
“I went to the doctor and had him do everything, blood work and all kinds of tests. He asked if I had pain. I didn’t. He finally asked about my mammogram, and then sent me to get one immediately.” They called her back because they saw calcifications in her right breast, and a biopsy was scheduled.
http://thegrio.com/2013/06/11/actress-vanessa-bell-calloway-shares-her-breast-cancer-survivor-journey/#s:image-24
SNEAK PEEK: Issa Rae, Malinda Williams, Angela Burt-Murray and More in “Exhale” — Will You Watch?
June 7, 2013 by Clutch
Magic Johnson’s Aspire, a cable network targeting African-American viewers, is starting off with a bang with its series “Exhale.” In the vein of “The View,” the talk show features five women from different walks of life discussing topics like relationships, faith, family, career and money. The cohosts of the new weekly series are Issa Rae of “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” actress Malinda Williams, journalist and former Essence Magazine editor-in-chief Angela Burt-Murray, television anchor Rene Syler and comedian Erin Jackson. Guests like Faith Evans and Lance Gross will also make appearances on the first season. The first of the series’ 8-episode run will air on June 27th at 8 PM EST.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1673451722001?bckey=AQ~~,AAABhYG54ek~,cu7tknTuwHgo1OC51hYjpMWIqD2ClmCx&bctid=2436992079001
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2013/06/sneak-peek-angela-burt-murray-issa-rae-malina-williams-more-in-exhale/?__hstc=223762052.3cb7f98b888c6b8a4d57dae22745a2ca.1370974617749.1370974617749.1370974617749.1&__hssc=223762052.2.1370974617750
@ggreenwald [GG to the head of NSA]
Clapper: leaks “literally gut-wrenching” – “huge, grave damage” – save some melodrama and rhetoric for coming stories. You’ll need it.
Did you see LO’s segment with GG last night? Here tis.
Dude talkin fast and loud and sayin’ NOTHING.
HE’S DUMB ENOUGH TO FALL FOR THIS..
but, if he knows what I know…he’s better off in a federal pen than being under the thumb of Vladimir Putin
……………….
As Snowden Vanishes, Russia Reaches Out to Him
NSA whistleblower drops out of sight in Hong Kong
By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff
Posted Jun 11, 2013 4:59 AM CDT
Edward Snowden checked out of his hotel in Hong Kong yesterday and has essentially disappeared. And while he is believed to still be in the territory, Russia has suggested it might welcome the man who exposed the NSA’s secret surveillance, the Wall Street Journal reports. If a request for asylum is received, “it will be considered,” the Kremlin’s chief spokesman says. The head of a Russian foreign affairs committee called the former CIA employee a human rights activist—and predicted “hysteria” in the US if Moscow decided to grant him refuge. In other developments:
http://www.newser.com/story/169291/russia-wed-consider-snowden-asylum-request.html
Listen to GG in that video talking fast and filling in with total excuses and bullshit about this mofo. These 2 are ASSCLOWNS.
Vandals knock over monument for Michelle Obama ancestor
REX, Ga. — Police are trying to figure out who knocked over a monument dedicated to an ancestor of first lady Michelle Obama.
“When I saw it, I shed a few tears,” Vicki Smith told Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer.
Smith helped get the monument to Rex. It’s a tribute to Melvinia Shields, the great-great-great grandmother of Obama. Shields was born into slavery in 1844 and later moved to Georgia.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/vandals-knock-over-monument-michelle-obama-ancesto/nYG72/
Animals; these MOFOs are dirty, rotten, filthy ANIMALS.
Bailing Out the President
by BooMan
Tue Jun 11th, 2013 at 11:23:15 AM EST
Without regard to the merits, I am finding the politics of immigration reform fascinating. Mitch McConnell praised the Judiciary Committee when they voted out their bill and he still says that he wants the Senate to pass a bill. Even John Cornyn of Texas is acting like he wants to vote for immigration reform. Yet, the backlash is white-hot.
The influential conservative blog RedState.com has already teed off against McConnell for signaling his support for the motion to proceed.
McConnell and Cornyn will support the “motion to proceed,” meaning that the Senate will be able to begin debate on immigration reform and consider amendments. There will be no filibuster on the front end. However, there are going to be some amendments that need to pass in order for the Republicans to allow a vote on final passage. These will probably be related to border security, although I am not sure what the actual bottom line is going to be. At a minimum, the Republicans will need to be able to plausibly argue that they toughened up the bill a bit before they’ll feel that they have the cover they need to vote for it.
I am amused by Daniel Horowitz’s formulation: The Schumercare Democrat Voting Act of 2013. The bill will not create a single new registered voter for at least thirteen years. The first presidential election where any presently undocumented workers will be able to participate will be in 2028.
More telling is Horowitz’s opposition to giving the president a victory. It’s not necessarily even important what the victory might entail, because allowing the president to prevail on anything is “bailing him out.”
That’s pretty representative of the current mindset in Republican circles, and it makes it very hard to accomplish anything, even if it is something that makes total sense and most Republican voters can support.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/6/11/112315/652
SG2,
is this the Oprah gif you were looking for the other day?
http://s1166.photobucket.com/user/sepiaobot/media/oprah_whippinghair_zpse4ce0e97.gif.html
Yes ma’am! TY!
White Privilege is something else
……………………………………
Mills, an acrobatic pole performer, is the girlfriend of alleged NSA leaker Edward Snowden, according to the couple’s neighbor in Hawaii.
………………………………………………………..
if her name was Shaniqua….she’d be called a STRIPPER
Mills is a common STRIPPER.
Obama’s ATF nominee gets Senate hearing
by Alicia A. Caldwell, Associated Press
June 11, 2013 at 11:24 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the agency charged with enforcing national gun laws said Tuesday the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was “in distress” when he it took over on an interim basis in 2011.
“There had been a lack of strong visionary leadership, and of
accountability and attention to detail,” B. Todd Jones said in an
opening statement submitted for a hearing on his Senate nomination. He
said he had appointed 22 new special agents in charge in the agency’s 25 field divisions and worked “on creating a leadership team to strengthen the bureau” on its various missions.
He was appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee five months
after Obama called on lawmakers to approve his choice to lead he bureau, and nearly six months after 26 people, including 20 children, were shot to death in Newtown, Conn. It was one of several mass shootings over the past year that have spurred Obama and gun-control advocates to call for action.
http://thegrio.com/2013/06/11/obamas-atf-nominee-gets-senate-hearing/
Oprah Winfrey giving $12M to new African-American museum
by Jessica Gresko, Associated Press | June 11, 2013 at 10:11 AM
ASHINGTON (AP) — Oprah Winfrey is giving $12 million to a museum being built on Washington’s National Mall that will document African-American life.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture announced the gift Tuesday and said the museum’s 350-seat theater will be named after Winfrey. Winfrey previously gave the museum $1 million, and the museum says her $13 million total contribution is the museum’s largest to date.
President Barack Obama helped break ground on the $500 million museum in early 2012. When it’s finished, the museum will be the 19th Smithsonian museum and will house artifacts including Harriet Tubman’s shawl, Emmett Till’s casket and a Jim Crow-era segregated railroad car.
The U.S. government is providing half of the funding for the museum, which is expected to open in late 2015.
http://thegrio.com/2013/06/11/oprah-winfrey-giving-12m-to-new-african-american-museum/
GO AHEAD OPRAH!
Edward Snowden’s family in Lehigh County visited by FBI, agents confirm
FBI agents have visited the Lehigh County home of a man whose son identified himself as the source of leaks about top-secret U.S. surveillance programs.
Two people left the Upper Macungie Township home of Lonnie Snowden this afternoon. Snowden’s son, Edward, is the focus of an investigation into the leak of classified information about two National Security Agency programs.
A man who showed FBI identification as he was leaving the home says they spoke to Edward Snowden’s family. He referred further comment to the FBI in Philadelphia which declined comment to The Associated Press.
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/lehigh-county/index.ssf/2013/06/fbi_confirms_visit_to_lehigh_c.html
I just can’t…
The Judicial Lynching of Bradley Manning
By Chris Hedges
The military trial of Bradley Manning is a judicial lynching. The government has effectively muzzled the defense team. The Army private first class is not permitted to argue that he had a moral and legal obligation under international law to make public the war crimes he uncovered. The documents that detail the crimes, torture and killing Manning revealed, because they are classified, have been barred from discussion in court, effectively removing the fundamental issue of war crimes from the trial. Manning is forbidden by the court to challenge the government’s unverified assertion that he harmed national security. Lead defense attorney David E. Coombs said during pretrial proceedings that the judge’s refusal to permit information on the lack of actual damage from the leaks would “eliminate a viable defense, and cut defense off at the knees.” And this is what has happened.
http://www.nationofchange.org/judicial-lynching-bradley-manning-1370957079
here’s the beginning, middle and end of the story.
when you VOLUNTEER for the United States Armed Services, you sign documents saying that you are WILLINGLY submitting yourself to MILITARY LAW.
when you get busted for betraying your country, don’t be surprised that your ass is prosecuted UNDER MILITARY LAW.
THANK YOU! That “lynching” in the title of this piece makes my skin crawl.
I have never and will never vote for anyone with the last name of DALEY
…………………………..
June 11, 2013 6:29 am
Bill Daley jumps ’100 percent’ in Illinois governor race
Bill Daley jumped into the Illinois governor’s race on Tuesday, setting up a Democratic primary with Gov. Pat Quinn and possibly Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Daley gets in the contest after the Illinois General Assembly concluded a session noteworthy for not dealing with major financial and social issues facing the state.
While Daley has been mulling a bid for months–and has considered and dropped running for office in the past — this time he is 100 percent in.
“He’s in, period,” Daley strategist Peter Giangreco told the Sun-Times on Tuesday. “He’s totally committed. He’s 100 percent in.”
Despite the “exploratory label” attached to the campaign for now, Daley has hired staff, has a website and a roll-out strategy in place.
For Tuesday and Wednesday, the Daley team will mainly let the video announcement speak for itself to seep into the Illinois political bloodstream; on Thursday Daley will be speaking to the media.
http://voices.suntimes.com/early-and-often/politics/bill-daley-jumping-in-illinois-governor-race-with-we-cant-wait-slogan/
I concur. It’s time to put the MOFO Daley dynasty to rest.
eclecticbrotha @eclecticbrotha
Libertarian increasingly beginning to mean “18-29 year old white men who love weed and compare everything to black civil rights events.”
10:32 PM – 10 Jun 2013
zizi2
June 10, 2013 at 11:07 pm
He lied on his resume, or bluffed his way in with the CIA background, or invoked “sympathy: with his injury in service story, or he’s a well protected mole inside the NSA, has a powerful sugar-daddy, is a white affirmative action hire. Or worst of all Booz and Allen Hamilton hired him WITHOUT reading/checking out his resume
@GlennGreenwald tell me when #MLK leaked national security information to the world? Was he a white dropout corporate welfare hire on $200k?—
zizi2 (@zizii2) June 11, 2013
Josh Marshall ✔ @joshtpm
The chest thumping is unmistakeable >> https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/343757736250576896 …
Bobfr @Our4thEstate
@joshtpm Greenwald is a Megalomaniac who has enabled extraordinary espionage & treason against the American People. Period. @TheJusticeDept
9:45 PM – 10 Jun 2013
Ouch! Huffington Post Slams Chris Hayes as ‘Dead Raccoon’ on MSNBC
New York City : NY : USA | Jun 03, 2013 at 5:13 AM PDT
Source: Newsbusters
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Views: 7
Especially disappointing were the 8pm ratings of “pleasant but exceedingly dry” Chris Hayes after they put Ed Schultz out to pasture on the weekends: Chris Hayes’ new 8 PM lynchpin show has lost a third of the audience Ed Schultz had a year ago — and Schultz himself had been relegated to weekends due to low ratings. Nuzzi turned to Noah Rothman of Mediaite to diagnose what ails the Hayes show: “Hayes’ problem is not just that his show rejects the drama and contention of heated debates between pundits with opposing viewpoints — a cable news staple. It is that his professorial effort to inform his audience lacks the requisite entertainment value to keep them watching.” Actually, it’s not much of a “cable news staple” any more to have segments with opposing viewpoints, although “The Five” and its retread “The Cycle” have some opposing POV built in to the DNA…TV: an all right-wing channel like Fox or something like CNN where they were afraid of being branded any one thing…It is not fair or accurate for the blame to be placed solely on the weakness of Chris Hayes’ program, nor on the Obama scandals that viewers simply don’t want to devote viewing time to…Roger Ailes, when his then-10pm host Paula Zahn was patted on the back by a reporter for growing Fox’s ratings, noted “I could have put a dead raccoon on the air this year and got a better rating than last year.” Alies was paying tribute to the concept of the lead-in, in his case O’Reilly at 8pm and Hannity at 9pm. The problem becomes what happens if you put a dead raccoon on not last, but at the start of primetime at 8pm ?…Phil Griffin, from just three months ago in The New Republic: Griffin, optimistically, believes he can beat Fox by 2014…In a recent staff meeting, one of Griffin’s producers coined a new term for Fox News: Loserville .’ [HT: Dan Gainor]
http://www.allvoices.com/news/14731836-ouch-huffington-post-slams-chris-hayes-as-dead-raccoon-on-msnbc
June 10, 2013 1:19 PM
Dim Prospects For Brown-Vitter
By Ed Kilgore
I don’t know about you, but when I first heard about the bipartisan legislation cracking down on “too big to fail” banks, promoted by the unlikely duo of Sens. Sherrod Brown of OH and David Vitter of LA, I thought it might turn out to be a pretty big deal galvanizing a rare left-right coalition. They had, after all, secured a unanimous Senate vote on a non-binding resolution endorsing an end to government support for big banks, and could draw on exceptional popular anger, across the political and ideological spectrum, towards the behavior of big banks before, during, and after the 2008 financial crisis.
But their bill isn’t exactly gaining support, as Politico Pro reports:
As of Friday, the bill has just two co-sponsors: Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who was an initial co-sponsor, took his name off the bill last month, citing a “miscommunication.” And Sessions told POLITICO that he is still deciding whether to remain a co-sponsor because “it’s a complex area and you need to be careful that you first do no harm.”
The bill has apparently put pressure on federal bank regulators to step up scrutiny of the practices of the biggest banks. But that, of course, is an arena that is entirely polarized by party, with even alleged “populist conservative” big-bank-opponents reflexively siding with their corporate-welfare-loving GOP colleagues in seeking to disable regulation as a matter of principle.
The one big beneficiary of the flagging push for Brown-Vitter has been, ironically, lobbyists for big banks, who see Brown-Vitter as a threat to be suffocated in its legislative cradle. As New York’s Kevin Roose noted last month, Brown-Vitter is drawing more heat from the big bank lobby than Dodd-Frank ever did, because its more categorical effort to rein in banking practices would be harder to unravel in regulatory and judicial battles than has been the case so far with Dodd-Frank.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_06/dim_prospects_for_brownvitter045192.php
June 10, 2013 9:25 AM
Weep for the Bros
By Aaron Carroll
I have tried – hard – not to continue to talk about the few healthy young people likely to be adversely impacted by changing health insurance policy. I think the “plight of the bros” is a distraction. It’s finding the apocraphyl few people who are 25, without parents who will put them on a plan, have great jobs that pay them a good wage so they don’t get a subsidy (but those jobs can’t be good enough to give them insurance), be childless, be single, be male, be perfectly healthy, have no family history of illness, not smoke, not do drugs, be thin, and live in California.
Those few guys aren’t who health care reform is about. At least not to me. I’ll own that.
But Adrianna McIntyre has pulled me back in. Austin already posted on her piece, and even pulled a chart. I want to pull a different one. Take a look at this:
Weep for the bros, if you like, those “lucky duckies” who earn too much to qualify for subsidies. Me? I can’t believe how many of those who are 19-25 live in poverty. All of those red column young adults on the left side earn less than 138% of the poverty line. All of them would qualify for the Medicaid expansion. Yet many of them, possibly most of them, won’t get it because of all the states who are refusing the expansion.
I think they are who health care reform was about. I think it’s pretty horrific that next year a large chunk of them will continue to be uninsured. But I guess the tragedy du jour will remain the “rate shock” for the bros.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2013/06/weep_for_the_bros045186.php#
RT @tcmassie: Sen. Rand Paul refuses to give straight answer to @CBSThisMorning question, “Is Edward Snowden a hero or traitor?”
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
@ChrisLHayes & @Maddow now look like fools for jumping on the Greenwald train & running with a story that was a lie. http://www.businessinsider.com/washington-post-updates-spying-story-2013-6 …
5:11 PM – 7 Jun 2013
This is How 11-Dimensional Chess Works
by BooMan
Tue Jun 11th, 2013 at 01:26:20 AM EST
People make fun of the theory that President Obama engages in 11-dimensional chess. It’s hard to adequately explain what the term means because it probably means different things to different people. However, it basically means that sometimes the president use deception. He may pretend to support something that he actually opposes, or to oppose something that he actually supports. I believe the clearest example of this is his position on Plan B contraception. It’s over now. The administration no longer opposes the over-the-counter accessibility of Plan B contraception for any woman, no matter how young. But they went to court to restrict access for young girls, and even appealed when they initially lost.
The unique element of the case was that Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took the unusual step of contravening the judgment of the Food & Drug Administration’s determination that the drug was safe for young girls to take. The president then backed his Health Secretary’s decision, despite it being quite unpopular with the Democratic base.
The controversy was magnified when the Department of Justice decided to appeal the case. Yet, the DOJ had decided to stand down now. They could have appealed two more times, but they have decided to comply with the District Court’s ruling.
The result is that the policy is correct but the administration has taken a lot of heat from its base. This helped assure that the controversy didn’t galvanize Obama’s opponents in an election year while never actually jeopardizing the right outcome.
This is how 11-dimensional chess works.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/6/11/12620/6420
About GG being on Larry O’s Show:
eclecticbrotha •
Damn, Weezy. Lawrence is playing to GG’s hubris and getting him to make incriminating statements all over the place. The very first question made GG contradict the idea the NSA was supposedly so knowing and pervasive but they were unable to stop Snowden. GG’s answer was they used a very sophisticated encrytion program even the NSA couldn’t crack? Sounds like Snowden is being painted as a master hacker who went to Booz Allen with the specific purpose of snooping to see what was there to steal. He got GG to admit Snowden didn’t have THE AUTHORITY to do what he claims he could do, meaning he deliberately broke the law to accumulate this info.
………….
TyrenM > eclecticbrotha • 7 hours ago
So, you read like I did? Lawrence drew bees with honey…instead of going HAM on GG?
Lawrence played GG like a second hand fiddle last nigh.
After Serena Williams’ victory over Maria Sharapova in the French Open finals, the 31-year-old received congratulations from all across the sports spectrum. But it may be the kind words of one pop star that have gotten the most attention.
Beyonce posted a beautiful note to Williams on her website Monday, congratulating Williams on her win and thanking Williams for all she has done. The letter reads as follows:
Stunt on them Serena. 31 and in your prime. You have no idea how much you inspire all of us women. I’m so proud of you.
All my love and respect,
Beyonce
Williams and Beyonce, who are the same age, are close friends. Williams has even performed with Destiny’s Child. Mrs. Jay-Z also posted an image of Serena to her Facebook page with the phrase “Bow Down.”
So thoughtful & supportive. DAPS, Bey and Serena!
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)
Good Morning Everyone :)