Many people say they changed music forever.
Here they are: The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool, in 1960. They became the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed act in the history of music.[1] Their best-known lineup consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Rooted in skiffle and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later utilized several genres, ranging from pop ballads to psychedelic rock, often incorporating classical and other elements in innovative ways. In the early 1960s, their enormous popularity first emerged as “Beatlemania”, but as their songwriting grew in sophistication, they came to be perceived by many fans and cultural observers as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the era’s sociocultural revolutions.
The band built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act and producer George Martin enhanced their musical potential. They gained popularity in the United Kingdom after their first modest hit, “Love Me Do”, in late 1962. They acquired the nickname the “Fab Four” as Beatlemania grew in Britain over the following year, and by early 1964 they had become international stars, leading the “British Invasion” of the United States pop market. From 1965 on, the Beatles produced what many critics consider their finest material, including the innovative and widely influential albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), The Beatles (1968), and Abbey Road (1969). After their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active.
The Beatles have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act. According to the RIAA, they are the best-selling band in the United States, with 177 million certified units. In 2008, the group topped Billboard magazine’s list of the all-time most successful “Hot 100” artists. As of 2013, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Hot 100 chart with 20. They have received 7 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and 15 Ivor Novello Awards. Collectively included in Time magazine’s compilation of the 20th century’s 100 most influential people, the Beatles are the best-selling band in history, with EMI Records estimating sales of over one billion units.
1957–62: formation, Hamburg, and UK popularity
History of The BeatlesIn March 1957, John Lennon, then aged sixteen, formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank school. They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that a respected local group was already using the other name.[2] Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after he and Lennon met that July.[3] In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band. The fourteen-year-old auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young to join. After a month of Harrison’s persistence, they enlisted him as their lead guitarist.[4][5] By January 1959, Lennon’s Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began studies at the Liverpool College of Art.[6] The three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as Johnny and the Moondogs,[7] were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer.[8] Lennon’s art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe, who had recently sold one of his paintings and purchased a bass guitar, joined in January 1960, and it was he who suggested changing the band’s name to Beatals as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.[9] They used the name through May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle. By early July, they changed their name to the Silver Beatles and by the middle of August to the Beatles.[10]
Their lack of a full-time drummer posed a problem when the group’s unofficial manager, Allan Williams, arranged a resident band booking for them in Hamburg, Germany, so in mid-August they auditioned and hired Pete Best. The band, now a five-piece, left four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3½-month residency.[11] Beatles’ historian Mark Lewisohn wrote, “They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when the red-light area comes to life … flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities”.[12]
Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the group at the Indra Club. After closing the Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to the Kaiserkeller in October.[13] When he learned they had been performing at the rival Top Ten Club in breach of their contract, he gave the band one month’s termination notice,[14] and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age.[15] The authorities arranged for Harrison’s deportation in late November.[16] One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a tapestry on the wall in their room; the authorities deported them.[17] Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg through late February with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr,[18] who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles.[19]
During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they used Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances.[20] In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe’s hair in the “exi” (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles.[21][22] When Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany, McCartney took up the bass.[23] Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group through June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan’s backing band on a series of recordings.[24][nb 1]
After completing their second Hamburg residency, the band enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool, particularly in Merseyside, with the growing Merseybeat movement. However, they were also growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night.[26] In November, during one of the group’s frequent appearances at the Cavern Club, they encountered Brian Epstein, a local record store owner and music columnist.[27] He later recalled, “I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence … [a] star quality.”[28] Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him manager in January 1962.[29] After an early February audition, Decca Records rejected the band with the comment “Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein.”[30][nb 2] Tragedy greeted them upon their return to Germany in April, when a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe’s death the previous day from what would later be determined a brain haemorrhage.[32] The following month, George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI’s Parlophone label.[32]
A flight of stone steps leads from an asphalt car park up to the main entrance of a white two-story building. The ground floor has two sash windows, the first floor has three shorter sash windows. Two more windows are visible at basement level. The decorative stonework around the doors and windows is painted grey.The band’s first recording session under Martin’s direction took place at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in London on 6 June 1962.[33] Martin immediately complained to Epstein about Best’s poor drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his stead.[34] Already contemplating Best’s dismissal,[35] the Beatles replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr, who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them.[33] A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of “Love Me Do” featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummer Andy White for the band’s third session a week later, which produced recordings of “Love Me Do”, “Please Please Me” and “P.S. I Love You”.[33] Martin initially selected the Starr version of “Love Me Do” for the band’s first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine.[33] Released in early October, “Love Me Do” peaked at number seventeen on the Record Retailer chart.[36] Their television début came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places.[37] A studio session in late November yielded another recording of “Please Please Me”,[38] of which Martin accurately predicted, “You’ve just made your first No.1.”[39]
In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency.[40] By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums—including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group.[41] Lennon and McCartney had established a songwriting partnership, and as the band’s success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison’s opportunities as a lead vocalist.[42] Epstein, in an effort to maximize the Beatles’ commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing.[43] Lennon recalled him saying, “Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you’re going to have to change—stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking”.[30] Lennon said, “We used to dress how we liked, on and off stage. He’d tell us that jeans were not particularly smart and could we possibly manage to wear proper trousers, but he didn’t want us suddenly looking square. He’d let us have our own sense of individuality”.[30]
Lord, I loved me some Frank’s Place
Why bad-mouthing HBCUs shows little class
Opinion
by Dr.Michael Lomax | October 28, 2010 at 9:45 AM
This was a good season for education. NBC launched “Education Nation,” its intensive, ongoing coverage of education in America. Speaking before a Texas audience, President Obama called education “the economic issue of our time,” and said that he was absolutely committed to making sure that “here in America…nobody is denied a chance to make the most of their lives just because they can’t afford it.” Back in Washington, he convened a summit to consider the role that community colleges play in college completion. The Department of Education awarded $330 million in “Race to the Top” grants to public schools that are making their schools better.
But while most people were working to help more Americans get a good education, a few were working to tear down a community of institutions, America’s historically black colleges and universities, that are getting the job done. Working in fact, to make sure that fewer, not more, Americans, and fewer African-Americans in particular, can go to college.
It started with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. “Once an essential response to racism,” wrote Journal writer Jason Riley, HBCUs “are now academically inferior.” Citing sources more than thirty years old, Riley said that HBCUs should be turned into community colleges, or turned over to for-profit corporations. Riley’s motion was seconded by an Ohio University professor, Richard Vedder. Blogging at the Chronicle for Higher Education, Vedder called Riley “a great writer” and HBCUs an “embarrassment to our nation.”
Both Riley and Vedder are as wrong as they can be. HBCUs represent only 4 percent of all 4-year institutions but produce 21 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded to African-Americans. A National Science Foundation study found that the top eight colleges producing African-Americans who went on to get Ph.Ds. in science and engineering over the previous decade were HBCUs — ahead of Harvard, UC-Berkeley, MIT, Brown and Stanford. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. graduated from an HBCU. So, more recently, did the president of Brown University, the Surgeon General of the United States, and the president and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education. HBCUs have produced Rhodes scholars and host chapters of Phi Beta Kappa.
But don’t take my word for it. Dr. MaryBeth Gasman, an associate professor of higher education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, has called the arguments of Riley and his sources “flawed” and “ill-informed.” “A fair assessment of the work of HBCUs places them side by side with historically white institutions (HWIs) with similar student populations,” she writes. “Such an evaluation would show that in many cases HBCUs are doing a better job of educating African-American students. Moreover, they have done so with far fewer resources than their HWI counterparts.”
http://thegrio.com/2010/10/28/why-bad-mouthing-hbcus-shows-little-class/
Charles Johnson @Green_Footballs 2m
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This is the era of fear-mongering click-bait journalism.
Sen. Cornyn Reveals Not One, Not Two, But Three Public Pensions Atop His Salary
The Texas Republican earned $65,383 in retirement benefits last year; amended disclosure to show he’s been collecting one pension since 2006.
Texas Republican John Cornyn supplemented his Senate salary with a trio of public pensions last year from his days as a Texas judge and elected official—a practice some fiscal watchdog groups have attacked as “double dipping.”
Cornyn, who is the minority whip and the No. 2 ranking Republican in the Senate, reported collecting $65,383 in public retirement benefits in 2012 in addition to his $174,000 salary as a U.S. senator.
Cornyn’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Elected to the Senate in 2002, Cornyn is a former district judge, Texas Supreme Court justice, and state attorney general. In 2012, he collected pensions from three separate state retirement programs.
The biggest of Cornyn’s pensions—$48,807— is from the Judicial Retirement System of Texas. He served on the state Supreme Court from 1991 to 1997.
He reported another $10,132 in retirement benefits last year from the Employees Retirement System of Texas—the pension fund for state elected officials and workers. Cornyn served as Texas attorney general from 1999 to 2002.
In a series of financial-disclosure amendments that he began filing last July, Cornyn disclosed that he had actually been collecting that $10,132 annual pension as far back as 2006. He had not listed it on his original disclosure reports from 2006 to 2010.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/sen-cornyn-reveals-not-one-not-two-but-three-public-pensions-atop-his-salary-20130617
Greenwald Conducts Online Chat with Snowden, Inflicting More Damage to Their Cause
By Bob Cesca · June 17,2013
It seems that every time Edward Snowden emerges from hiding and communicates something through either Glenn Greenwald or other reporters from The Guardian, he loses credibility. It’s not the fault of a government agitprop smear campaign or those of us who are critical of the shoddy reporting that’s botched this story from the beginning. It’s really just Snowden’s own words that tend to flummox his cause. And, frankly, I have no blessed idea if there’s even a Cause any more.
First, over the weekend, Snowden dumped a new packet of documents into the world via The Guardian. This time around, he revealed that the U.K. version of the NSA, the GCHQ, and with the help of the NSA itself, spied on various leaders at the G20 summit, with a particular focus on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
And this leak is in service of… what exactly? American civil liberties and the Fouth Amendment? Not at all.
………………………………………………..
In an online Q&A hosted by Greenwald, Snowden justified this egregious leak by saying that we’re not at war with any of the G20 nations so there’s no reason why we’d want to spy on them. In other words, spying is only permissible in wartime, he said. But we’re absolutely at war against the Taliban and al-Qaida, so does Snowden believe we can continue to spy on those players? If so, isn’t that what the NSA is primarily doing? More unanswered questions.
Furthermore, is Snowden so naive as to believe that allies don’t monitor each other, especially when it comes to “frenemies” like Russia? That’s insane. If the U.S. ceased any sort of espionage in this area, we’d likely be the only nation that wasn’t gathering intelligence on the activities of other nations, friend or foe. If Snowden was concerned about being portrayed as idealistic and immature, he surely didn’t help himself with his irresponsible leak or his explanation for it.
But then, within the Q&A he further discredited himself and Greenwald in a number of areas. And by “discredited” I mean completely and totally embarrassed himself and his chief advocate. Flop-sweat embarrassment.
Where do I begin?
http://thedailybanter.com/2013/06/greenwald-conducts-online-chat-with-snowden-inflicting-more-damage-to-their-cause/
the same mofos talking about the public sector doesn’t make jobs
…………….
Shane Goldmacher @ShaneGoldmacher
BREAKING: Sen. Cornyn reveals collecting three public pensions — and years of unreported income http://bit.ly/13V74Or
2:21 PM – 17 Jun 2013
SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE! It’s always been about them Rikyrah. the good ole rich white boys club!
Chappelle Will Lead Comedy Tour
By JASON ZINOMAN
June 17, 2013, 11:01 am
RICHMOND, Va. — In a packed theater here on Saturday, Dave Chappelle introduced a comedy bit by explaining that there was a time when he didn’t want to return to the public eye. “I didn’t want to do comedy,” he said, explaining that he wasn’t sure he had something to say. That’s certainly changed.
After years of dropping by clubs for surprise sets and occasionally playing theaters, Mr. Chappelle is returning to the spotlight in the Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival, a tour produced by FunnyorDie.com that will feature Mr. Chappelle, Flight of the Conchords, Hannibal Buress, Demetri Martin and Kristen Schaal, among others. The monthlong tour, which includes a second stage hosted by the comic Brody Stevens, begins in Austin, Tex., on Aug. 23 and will make stops in New Jersey at the Susquehanna Bank Center on Sept. 6 and the PNC Bank Arts Center on Sept. 7.
Almost since he left his Comedy Central hit “Chappelle’s Show” in 2005, his return has been rumored, heating up in the past year since he appeared with Chris Rock at the Comedy Cellar in New York. Mr. Chappelle is now touring the South playing to sold-out audiences. At a show in March, his performance was freewheeling with extended exchanges with the crowd. This past weekend his two sets still had that same spontaneity, but the jokes had tightened, and the transitions were quicker. Wearing a tank top and roaming around the stage in a quickening pace, he had the look of a man getting ready.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/17/chappelle-will-lead-comedy-tour/
Imani ABL @AngryBlackLady
Apparently, this country is a brutal prison state not bc of overwhelming number of black folks who are in prison, but bc Bradley Manning is.
9:04 PM – 16 Jun 2013
Spot on; it’s ALWAYS about the 2520s.
Chico Delainky @ChicoDelainky
Republicans say we don’t need new gun laws, it won’t deter crime, but say we need stricter voter ID laws to deter voting fraud. Wait! What?!
12:57 PM – 17 Jun 2013
The Rethugs want to make sure they cover all the bases.
Keep the guns in everyone, regardless of sanity, so they can kill each other off.
Stop Americans from voting, just in case they don’t kill enough of us.
See how this works, folks?
eclecticbrotha @eclecticbrotha
Everything is Obama’s fault. Even when you have concrete proof that it isn’t, its still his fault because he’s Obama.
12:27 PM – 17 Jun 2013
Yep, if only Obama weren’t black. His Black daddy and white moma had to do the thang, and bring that negro into the word and become POTUS! If only…..
Foreign Policy @ForeignPolicy
Iran just opened itself up to a nuclear deal. Your move, America. http://atfp.co/11EH3Ac
8:02 AM – 17 Jun 2013
Ron Cordry @Ronc99
I love it when TV pundits allegedly from our side of aisle, call us: “Obama supporters.” What are they? Bush supporters? McCain? Romney? #P2
7:27 AM – 17 Jun 2013
WTOP ✔ @WTOP
AP source: US, Cuba to resume talks on restarting direct mail service suspended 50 years ago http://bit.ly/13TPvya
7:15 AM – 17 Jun 2013
@jwhbkn
@ggreenwald @TheReidReport @ced1 Are you claiming BA [Booz Allen Hamilton] is lying about his employment length? Do you have proof? http://washington.cbslocal.com… …
@ggreenwald
@jwhbkn @TheReidReport @ced1 He worked for the NSA continuously for MULTIPLE CONTRACTORS including Dell since 2009
@jwhbkn
@ggreenwald @TheReidReport @ced1 Doesn’t change the fact that he took diff job with BA AFTER he contacted you.
@ggreenwald
@jwhbkn @TheReidReport @ced1 who cares? what does that prove?
john miller @deaconmill
Snowden is coming across as a sanctimonious, narcissistic twit. He didn’t do this for some patriotic reason. Either naive or paid for it.
11:01 AM – 17 Jun 2013
https://twitter.com/USAinUK/status/346628832972914688/photo/1
Chipsticks makes a good point about worrying too much about polls either way:
@TheObamaDiary
Chuckling at hair-on-fire over polls: Gallup have Pres. Obama at 47-44, as good as Gallup ever have him – 57-34 in honest polling terms :-)
Charlie Rose To Interview President Obama On PBS, Snowden’s Father Talks To Fox News
By Alex Weprin on June 17, 2013 1:05 PM
CBS This Morning” and PBS anchor Charlie Rose will air an interview with President Obama on his eponymous PBS program tonight at 11 PM ET.
The interview was conducted yesterday before the President left for the G8 Summit in Belfast, Northern Island, and features a discussion on the NSA, drone policy and the Middle East.
The interview will re-air on Bloomberg TV tomorrow. You should also expect to see some clips on “CBS This Morning” tomorrow morning.
It will be the President’s first sit-down interview since the NSA scandal erupted. He spoke to NBC News in April, and ABC News and Telemundo in March. Rose last interviewed the President
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/charlie-rose-to-interview-president-obama-on-pbs-snowdens-father-talks-to-fox-news_b184131
Hello everyone! How are you? Great posts.
Hello, CarolMae. Good to see you, this fine Monday.
Good to see you too. I have much to read to keep up. :)
Politicians in glass houses should not throw stones
By Steve Benen
Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:00 AM EDT
It’s only one poll, but if the new data from CNN’s national survey is part of a larger shift in public attitudes, the White House has a problem. Though President Obama’s standing seemed largely unaffected by the Scandal Mania coverage from several weeks ago, the tide appears to have turned — CNN shows the president’s approval rating dropping sharply to 45%, its lowest point since late 2011.
What’s more, the same poll showed an even sharper drop when respondents were asked whether Obama is “honest and trustworthy” — 49% is the lowest rating of his presidency on this question.
To date, there’s no evidence the president said or did anything misleading in any of the various controversies, but two weeks of “Obama is reading your emails and listening to your phone calls” discussion, even if that’s not quite accurate, will invariably take a toll.
But I found especially interesting was House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) reaction to the new polling data.
First, if Cantor has any evidence that the administration has “abused its power,” he should certainly share it with the rest of us. Indeed, as best as I can tell, Cantor supports the NSA surveillance programs, which makes his on-air criticism rather odd.
Second, if “getting people back to work” is what “most Americans care about,” perhaps Cantor can explain why he and his caucus have passed zero jobs bills in three years, and will be spending this week working on an anti-abortion bill for no reason.
And third, Obama’s standing has apparently taken a hit, but he’s roughly five times more popular than the institution Cantor works for
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/06/17/19004503-politicians-in-glass-houses-should-not-throw-stones?lite
Did this poll include PBO’s TRUE COALITION? I.DON’T.THINK.SO.
Drugmakers Opened to ‘Pay for Delay’ Suits by High Court
By Greg Stohr – Jun 17, 2013 11:13 AM CT
Drugmakers can be sued for paying rivals to delay low-cost versions of popular medicines, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a decision that rewrites the rules governing the release of generic drugs.
The 5-3 ruling is largely a victory for the Federal Trade Commission and the Obama administration, reversing a lower-court ruling that had effectively insulated pharmaceutical companies from liability. The FTC says those “pay for delay” accords cost drug purchasers as much as $3.5 billion a year. The industry says the deals are legitimate patent settlements.
The ruling may lead to lawsuits by wholesalers, retailers, insurers and antitrust enforcers. Bayer AG (BAYN), Merck & Co. (MRK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) units already have faced claims. The FTC says 40 pay-for-delay accords, also known as reverse payments, were reached in fiscal 2012 alone.
“A reverse payment, where large and unjustified, can bring with it the risk of significant anticompetitive effects,” Justice Stephen Breyer said in the court’s majority opinion.
Breyer stopped short of adopting the FTC’s proposal that such agreements should be presumed anticompetitive. He said the accords should be evaluated under a longstanding antitrust test known as the “rule of reason.”
A federal appeals court had said pharmaceutical companies can’t be sued unless the patent litigation is a sham or a generic-drug maker agrees to delay introduction even after the patent has expired.
‘Significant Victory’
“The Supreme Court’s decision is a significant victory for American consumers, American taxpayers, and free markets,” FTC Chairman Edith Ramirez said in a statement. “The court has made it clear that pay-for-delay agreements between brand and generic drug companies are subject to antitrust scrutiny.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-17/drugmakers-opened-to-pay-for-delay-suits-by-high-court.html
Trucking Recruiters Shift Into High Gear
[….] A shortage of truck drivers in the U.S. is expected to worsen when new federal regulations drastically reduce the time drivers can be on the road. On July 1, truckers will have to pull over after 70 hours of driving a week, vs. the 82 hours they can log today. They will be able to “reset” a weeklong work period, but not before getting 34 consecutive hours of rest spanning two nights.[….] [….] The burgeoning economy is also providing truckers better job
opportunities elsewhere.
Turnover among long-haul drivers was almost 100 percent last year, its highest rate since 2007, according to ATA. The renaissance of homebuilding, in particular, has hurt recruiting and retention. The threat to margins is so great, in fact, the industry sued to head off the coming rules, though it is looking increasingly unlikely that there will be a ruling in the case before the July 1 deadline.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-14/trucking-recruiters-shift-into-high-gear#r=nav-r-story
@EBONYMag
This all-Black, all-male high school has a 100% college acceptance rate for the 4th year in a row: http://bit.ly/13UtvDu
Marco Rubio’s Epic Fail as the Aspiring Hero of 2016
By: Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Jun. 17th, 2013
It hasn’t been a good week for Republican Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). First, Ann Coulter called him the Doctor Kervorkian of the Republican Party for supporting immigration reform.
Then, on Sunday, Rubio embarrassed himself – badly – by suggesting a Bushian Syria policy that depends on finding the good guys and working with them.
That wasn’t all, for another hammer was about to fall, this wielded by fellow Republican, California’s Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who said, “Rubio is so mixed up and so confused. I think he has given up his rightful place to advise any of us in Washington what to do, and he’s given up any right to be trusted by the American people.”
That’s language usually reserved by Republicans for President Obama.
Seriously, criticism by a Republican doesn’t get any worse than that.
Rubio’s mistake was saying,
Rohrabacher did a Coulter in response to this:
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/06/17/marco-rubios-epic-fail-aspiring-hero-2016.html
Florida’s Governor Signs Business-Backed Bill Banning Paid Sick Leave
By Bryce Covert on Jun 17, 2013 at 9:38 am
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed a bill on Friday that blocks local governments from implementing paid sick leave legislation, the Orlando Sentinel reports. He made his decision quickly, only taking four of the 15 days he legally had to review the bill before he signed it.
In signing the bill, Scott sided with big business interests including Disney World, Darden Restaurants (owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster), and the Florida Chamber of Commerce. The bill is part of a national effort to pass so-called “preemption bills” that would block paid sick leave legislation that is backed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing group that coordinates conservative laws across states. The state’s House Majority Leader, Steve Precourt (R), who was instrumental in putting forward the preemption bill, is an active ALEC member.
The bill has made moot a 2014 referendum in Orange County that would have decided whether to require paid sick leave. More than 50,000 voters had tried to get the measure on the November 6 ballot but the County Commission voted it off. It made it on the ballot in 2014 thanks to a three-judge panel.
Florida follows a rash of preemption bills in the states, which cropped up in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Mississippi. These bills are part of ALEC’s efforts to weaken wage and labor standards: Since 2011, 67 such ALEC-affiliated bills have been introduced in state legislatures, 11 of which had been signed into law before Scott signed this bill.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/06/17/2165671/rick-scott-paid-sick-leave/
The Supreme Court on Monday tossed out an Arizona provision in its voter registration law that required proof of citizenship.
The 7-2 majority said the state’s voter-approved Proposition 200 interfered with federal law designed to make voter registration easier.
The state called it a “sensible precaution” to prevent voter fraud. Civil rights groups countered it added an unconstitutional and burdensome layer of paperwork for tens of thousands of citizens.
Barry Gordy Oprah’s Master Class lesson on Race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSbH1TrrEWM
Another good segment. Very telling. The CaCs can’t stand the presence of too many negroes.
Berry loved Lady Di
This was my favorite segment of Master Class with Ms. Carroll.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnB-yjv1j9k
She Broke it all the way down like a FRACTION.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m0nTp_H6uU
Aand next Sunday’s the tv premiere of “Dark Girls.”
@JimmySky
Wait, why does Snowden need “the help of Glenn Greenwald” to answer questions? RT @Glinner: Live Snowden Q&A
Because that punk azz bey-otch was COACHED by another punk AZZ BEY-OTCH.
‘The stupidity is simply staggering’
By Steve Benen
Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:30 AM EDT
House Republicans are set to vote on another culture-war bill this week, as Rep. Trent Frnaks’ (R-Ariz.) proposal to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy reaches the House floor. It has not, however, emerged from the committee process unscathed.
It’s worth noting that not everyone in the GOP caucus is pleased with the party’s priorities. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), widely seen as a top Democratic target in 2014, said last week, “I discouraged our leadership from bringing this to a vote on the floor. Clearly the economy is on everyone’s minds, we’re seeing very stagnant job numbers, confidence in the institution of government is eroding and now we’re going to have a debate on rape and abortion. The stupidity is simply staggering.”
The stupidity looked even worse when the bill advanced after Franks inexplicably and falsely claimed, “The incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low.”
It led House GOP leaders to give the bill a little touch-up.
And including rape and incest exceptions might make the proposal slightly less offensive in a culture-war context, but problems remain. For one thing, the bill would require a woman to prove that she has reported her rape before she can exercise her constitutional right to terminate the unwanted pregnancy. For another, Franks’ original version also banned abortions in “medically futile pregnancies,” involving fetuses so badly compromised that they have no chance of survival. If this provision remains intact, it’s still intended to force women to carry such pregnancies through to the doomed birth.
But even putting these details aside, I get the sense Republican leaders are missing the point
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/06/17/19003724-the-stupidity-is-simply-staggering?lite
LOL thez really trying to save all de white babies!
LOL Rikyrah, you’ll love this video!
what are you doing?
peeing on my leg
no, it’s raining..
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Even the sound of their voices are hauntingly SOULESS.
Remember who passed the WARN Act?
By Steve Benen
Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:00 AM EDT
The right was pretty worked up over the weekend about something called “Wireless Emergency Alerts.” Far-right blogger Jim Hoft, for example, published this item, which in turn was promoted by Drudge, both on his site and his Twitter feed
The unnecessary ellipses, by the way, were in the original.
The story, which has also drawn the attention of Alex Jones, among others, refers to this Engadget piece, which says AT&T “has begun rolling out Wireless Emergency Alerts updates for iPhone 4S and 5…. Once installed, AMBER and Emergency alerts are automatically sent to your phone unless you switch them off via Settings. However, should you be tired of Obama, just know that there’s no way to switch off Presidential alerts.”
Now, as you might have guessed, these “presidential alerts” are really just part of a national system to let the public know about natural disasters and related emergencies. It’s not like the administration will start texting you about immigration reform against your will.
But there’s another angle to this that the right overlooked. Steve M. flagged this item from the FCC on why the public can’t block the government’s Wireless Emergency Alerts. “In passing the WARN Act,” the FCC explained, “Congress allowed participating carriers to offer subscribers the capability to block all WEAs except those issued by the President.”
And what kind of big-government socialists passed the Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act? Funny story: it was approved in 2006 by a Republican House, Republican Senate, and Republican White House. As Steve M. concluded, “So, yeah, this is more Obama fascism that was actually a Bush-era idea.”
We’ve pretty much reached the point at which it’s safe to assume that if the far-right is freaking out about a story, it’s probably not what it seems to be.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/06/17/19003964-remember-who-passed-the-warn-act?lite
This Week in God
By Steve Benen
Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:59 AM EDT.
First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s big event in Washington — this year’s not-so-subtle theme: “Road to the Majority” — where activists from the religious right movement heard from all kinds of political and theological leaders about the need for an ongoing culture war.
But of particular interest were remarks from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), whose libertarian views do not always dovetail with the social conservative worldview, but who also thought of a way to present his agenda in a way the religious right finds appealing.
For those who can’t watch clips online, Right Wing Watch, which posted the video, also provided a transcript:
So, the United States already devotes a very small percentage of our budget to foreign aid, and the Kentucky Republican wants to make it much smaller. But to sell this idea to the Faith & Freedom Coalition, Paul has to put a specific spin on his preferred approach: we shouldn’t just cut off aid for libertarian principles, we should cut off aid to Muslim countries.
But what I saw as the funny part was Paul’s contention that countries that burn American flags shouldn’t get American aid. The trouble with that argument? Americans can and occasionally do burn American flags — and Paul might have trouble cutting off all domestic aid.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/06/15/18974564-this-week-in-god?lite
Jay-Z Announces New Album, ‘Magna Carta Holy Grail’
June 16, 2013 10:48 PM
Jay-Z shared some big news tonight during Game 5 of the NBA Finals: He’s got a new album coming out in less than a month. Titled Magna Carta Holy Grail, the rapper’s 12th studio album will arrive on July 4th.
Jay-Z made the announcement in the form of a Samsung commercial that aired during the Miami Heat-San Antonio Spurs game. The three-minute ad shows Jay-Z working in the studio with Rick Rubin, Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland and musing on making art in the modern world.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/jay-z-announces-new-album-magna-carta-holy-grail-20130616#ixzz2WTzpxtyx
The Morning Plum: Marco Rubio’s epic challenge on immigration
By Greg Sargent, Published: June 17, 2013 at 9:21 amE-mail the writer
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As I keep telling you, the prospects for immigration reform may turn on a key question: Are Republicans prepared to accept a path to citizenship that is not pre-conditioned on the meeting of hard border security metrics as “triggers” for citizenship to proceed? There is no papering over this question. The answer is either Yes, or No.
But don’t take my word for it. In a new interview with the Washington Examiner, Marco Rubio — who is key, since many Republicans are taking their cues from him – tacitly admits this to be the case. Rubio’s words need to be parsed closely, because they perfectly capture the challenges that lie ahead.
Rubio is set to introduce an amendment to the gang of eight bill that, he hopes, will strengthen its border security provisions in ways that will win over Republicans. But, notably, he carefully places some distance between himself and John Cornyn, who has insisted that citizenship must be contingent on hard security triggers. Rubio:
This is critical. Rubio’s amendment will focus on developing a specific plan for border security up front, rather than leaving that in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security, as the gang of eight proposal stipulates. Rubio knows that this is acceptable to Democrats, while setting hard triggers at the back end isn’t.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/06/17/the-morning-plum-marco-rubios-epic-challenge-on-immigration/
Daytime Emmys: Complete Winners List
by Lynette Rice
Days of Our Lives, George Lucas and Dr. Oz were among those honored at the 40th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, broadcast live on Sunday from Los Angeles on HLN.
The Daytime Emmys recognize network and syndicated programming. Game show icons Monty Hall and producer Bob Stewart were also given Lifetime Achievement Awards during the telecast that included a few surprises (Days won the top prize for the first time since 1975, Ricki Lake won for her canceled talker) and some embarrassing flubs (the ladies of The Talk were given the wrong envelope). But presenter Carrie Fisher did talk about dropping acid when presenting Lucas with a golden statue.
And the winners are:
OUTSTANDING DAYTIME DRAMA
Days of Our Lives, NBC
OUTSTANDING TALK SHOW HOST
Ricki Lake, syndicated
OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Kristen Alderson, General Hospital, ABC
OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Chandler Massey, Days of Our Lives, NBC
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Doug Davidson, The Young and the Restless, CBS
OUTSTANDING GAME SHOW
The Price Is Right, CBS
OUTSTANDING GAME SHOW HOST
Ben Bailey, Cash Cab, Discovery
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG
“Good Afternoon,” theme song for Good Afternoon America, ABC
OUTSTANDING TALK SHOW / INFORMATIVE
The Dr. Oz Show, syndicated
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES (Tie)
Scott Clifton, The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
Billy Miller, The Young and the Restless, CBS
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES WRITING TEAM
The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Julie Marie Berman, General Hospital, ABC
OUTSTANDING CULINARY PROGRAM (Tie)
Best Thing I Ever Made, Food Network
Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, Food Network
OUTSTANDING CULINARY HOST
Lidia Bastianich, Lidia’s Italy, PBS
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Heather Tom, The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
OUTSTANDING TALK SHOW / ENTERTAINMENT
Ellen DeGeneres, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, syndicated
OUTSTANDING DRAMA DIRECTING TEAM
The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS
OUTSTANDING SPECIAL CLASS ANIMATED PROGRAM
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Cartoon Network
OUTSTANDING MORNING PROGRAM
CBS Sunday Morning, CBS
http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/06/16/daytime-emmys-complete-winners-list/
I love me some Beatles! :)
LOL Me too. My brothers and I used to imitate them. I played the drums, so I was RINGO!
Love, love me do
You know I love you
I’ll always be true
So pleeeeeaaaaase….. love me do
Good Morning, Everyone! Happy MUN-dane. :-)
Morning, everyone!
Good Morning, Everyone :)