After his move to Los Angeles, his music caught the eye of the mentor for pop/soul quintet The 5th Dimension, and Hutch was soon writing, producing, and arranging songs for the group. In 1969, he signed with RCA Records and put out two albums before he was spotted by Motown producer Hal Davis, who wanted lyrics to his musical composition “I’ll Be There“, a song he penned for The Jackson 5. The song was recorded by the group the morning after Hutch received the call.[4] Motown CEO Berry Gordy signed Hutch to be a staff writer, arranger, producer, and musician shortly thereafter.
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/13/20011535-cory-booker-wins-democratic-primary-in-new-jersey?lite
Woot!
I and all of America needs to ponder these words which are from an excerpt from the 1993 link that follows the quote:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-06-25/news/9306250169_1_real-estate-white-neighborhood
President Barack Obama shook hands with patrons and ordered seafood take-out from Nancy’s Restaurant in Oak Bluffs on August 13, 2013.
UPDATE FROM TODAY:
Goldie Taylor @goldietaylor
Daym right. RT: “@ajc: Hospital reverses decision, agrees to put 15-year-old on heart transplant list. http://bit.ly/15AGqt3 ”
3:08 PM – 13 Aug 2013
Retweeted by allanbrauer
Power to the people! This shows the strength and effectiveness of what an involved public can achieved.
Remember, this is a DEMOCRACY. That was drilled into my head from childhood. Now, let’s live by it.
Let us not forget who this land we sing about was stolen from. Among others are these:
Yahtc
You know I love this.
Social Media baybee!!!! We don’t PLAY!
Oh hi, SG2. Yes, I know. I sure wish I could have taken one of your seminars!
No, we do NOT play.
Grammatically…should that have been “Yes. We do NOT play”?
Thank you, Jesus!
Goldie Taylor @goldietaylor
Daym right. RT: “@ajc: Hospital reverses decision, agrees to put 15-year-old on heart transplant list. http://bit.ly/15AGqt3 ”
3:08 PM – 13 Aug 2013
Retweeted by allanbrauer
I suspected the hospital involved here would be walking this back. Otherwise they have to explain what was behind their decision to allow a 15 year old black kid to die when that child could be saved. They would have to explain how they play God when doling out these organ transplant surgeries and you can bet they didn’t want to do that. God forbid their program should be scrutinized or that any of them should lose their God jobs, but that is exactly what needs to happen. But, hopefully, this young man will be all right.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amen!
Amen!
August 13, 2013 3:21 PM
Stop-and-Frisk Boomerang?
By Ed Kilgore
To the extent that New York’s Democratic mayoral primary is revolving less and less around the psychodrama of Anthony Weiner, it’s actually getting more interesting and unpredictable. And in a subjective take at New York magazine today, Benjamin Wallace-Wells argues that Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is now a New York Times endorsement away from becoming the front-runner:
Well, even without the Grey Lady’s imprimatur, the outspokenly liberal de Blasio seems to have surged into an unlikely lead. A new Quinnipiac poll today shows him doubling his support in the last three weeks and now holding 30% of the vote, with Christine Quinn (at 24%) and Bill Thompson (at 22%) battling for a second runoff spot (Weiner is at 10%). The poll also shows de Blasio with a robust lead over Quinn (54/38) or Thompson (50/41) in a runoff.
While Wallace-Wells may be right that positive coverage from the Times has made de Blasio competitive, there’s no question that rapidly growing discussion of NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy, at first boosted by the Zimmerman-Martin saga, and now placed front-and-center by yesterday’s federal court rulingstrongly supported this latter policy, while Thompson has opposed it on grounds that any mayor should be able to run the police department without independent oversight (Quinn, too, has supported independent oversight).
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_08/stopandfrisk_boomerang046367.php
uh huh
uh huh
beat that azz, Mother Jones
beat that azz
…………………………
Lobbyist Secretly Wrote House Dems’ Letter Urging Weaker Investor Protections
Thirty-two liberal Democrats signed onto a letter drafted by a financial-industry lobbyist that aims to block protections for millions of Americans’ retirement accounts.
—By Erika Eichelberger
| Tue Aug. 13, 2013 3:00 AM PDT
A letter that a group of progressive Democrats sent to federal regulators opposing new protections for millions of Americans’ retirement accounts was drafted by a financial-industry lobbyist, according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.
The Department of Labor, which oversees the federal law setting minimum standards for many retirement plans, would like to require retirement investment advisers to act in the best interest of their customers, as opposed to their own best interest.
But 28 out of the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)—a group of African American members of Congress that advocates the interests of low-income people and minorities—signed onto a June 14 letter opposing the rule. So did Democratic lawmakers Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico, Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Ed Pastor of Arizona, and Jim Costa of California.
The letter’s metadata indicates it was drafted by Robert Lewis, a lobbyist who works for the Financial Services Institute (FSI), an investment industry trade group:
Together, the liberal lawmakers who signed the letter have received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign money from the securities and investment industry in recent years.
In the letter, the lawmakers caution the Labor Department against proposing new regulations, warning that a strict new rule on retirement advisers may cause many of them to leave the market and thus “could severely limit access to low-cost investment advice” for “the minority communities we represent.”
But the Department of Labor, financial reform groups, and consumer advocates say the regulation won’t make it any harder for poor and middle-class customers to get investment advice. The current law doesn’t do enough to prevent unscrupulous investment brokers from parking Americans’ hard-earned cash in high-fee investments that benefit themselves, even if it’s not in their customers best interests, argues Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/congressional-black-caucus-fiduciary-duty-rule-financial-services-institute
Aura Bogado
@aurabogado #solidarityisforwhitewomen is when you’re sick of the hashtag for a few hours, and we’re sick of your privilege for a few centuries
Now, that is a good one!
I apologize for all the years that I was unaware of my benefits from my unearned privilege…..and all the fruits I have enjoyed that were garnered at the expense of African Americans and the original peoples of this land.
Living as I have makes me complicit with the whites who lived before me. Wrongs from the past need to be acknowledge by our government. The most I can do here and now is to be one white individual who acknowledges it and admits it is heinous.
Dying teen refused a spot on transplant list
straight up evil
no way around it
Rikyrah, it was hard to wrap your brain around that evil. How dare them tell a child he doesn’t get a second chance at life b/c he had bad grades and had a run in with the law. The public was outraged!
some more righteous comments:
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Sandi Jackson: Seeking probation instead of prison, asking for “community service” at DC food pantry
Former Ald. Sandi Jackson is hoping a judge on Wednesday grants her probation instead of prison time–and on Tuesday Martha’s Table, a well known non-profit here, told the sentencing judge they would accept her as a volunteer is she were given court-mandated community service.
Sandi Jackson approached the organization, and, in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson (no relation) said she want to “assist with the myriad of services” offered by Martha’s Table, which helps low-income and needy residents in the city.
She could face up to 18 months in prison for looting campaign funds and not paying takes on the money she stole. Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. could get up to four years in prison.
http://voices.suntimes.com/early-and-often/sweet/sandi-jackson-seeking-probation-instead-of-prison-asking-for-community-service-at-dc-food-pantry/
Telling the truth about True The Vote
By Steve Benen
Tue Aug 13, 2013 1:15 PM EDT
There was an interesting item in Politico yesterday about “the coming war over voting rights” in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act. It was generally unremarkable, though the final paragraphs were important, in an unsettling sort of way (via Zach Roth).
What Politico neglected to mention is, well, the truth about True the Vote.
As my colleague Laura Conaway reported last year, “True the Vote is a project of the King Street Patriots, a Tea Party chapter in Houston, Texas. One True the Vote leader tells volunteers their goal is to give voters a feeling ‘like driving and seeing the police following you.'”
True the Vote’s efforts became so controversial that Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), a longtime champion of voting rights, called for an investigation of the group’s alleged voter-suppression techniques. “At some point, an effort to challenge voter registrations by the thousands without any legitimate basis may be evidence of illegal voter suppression…. If these efforts [from True the Vote] are intentional, politically motivated and widespread across multiple states, they could amount to a criminal conspiracy to deny legitimate voters their constitutional rights.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/13/20007283-telling-the-truth-about-true-the-vote?lite
Blacks bear the brunt of racism in Switzerland
November 13, 2002 – 18:57
A sharp rise in Switzerland’s black population over recent months appears to have hardened attitudes towards Africans, and asylum seekers in particular.
More and more blacks say they are suffering from racism on the streets, in the workplace or in the housing market.
In the run-up to this month’s national vote on restricting the rights of asylum seekers, anti-racism groups are warning that blacks in particular are being depicted en masse as drug dealers or trouble-makers without any evidence on the part of those making the claims.
“The federal commission against racism has observed an increase in clearly racist articles in Switzerland’s smaller regional newspapers,” commission spokeswoman Doris Angst Yilmaz told swissinfo.
“In these articles they frequently use anti-black stereotypes and blatantly incite their readership to act against African asylum seekers who are all classified as drug dealers.”
Misconceptions
No one is denying that the number of black African asylum seekers is on the increase in Switzerland. In 1992, the federal refugee office registered some 7,000 black Africans requesting asylum. In the first three-quarters of 2002 the number was 17,000.
Despite frequent reports of black crime in the media, though, officials insist that the statistics don’t match popular misconceptions.
“I was given some figures by the police recently which showed hardly any increase in crime among blacks in Switzerland,” Zurich asylum organisation spokesman Thomas Schmutz told swissinfo.
“Admittedly there has been a rise in the number of young black Africans involved in Zurich drug deals, but even then blacks account for just 12 per cent of arrests made – why is no one asking about the other 88 per cent?”
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/archive/Blacks_bear_the_brunt_of_racism_in_Switzerland.html?cid=3023446
Ya’ll deserve a treat today. I saw this video on YouTube a couple of days ago. This footage is from a mid 1980s show that was televised in the UK. This is over seven minutes of The Drifters with Johnny Moore singing the lead and Joe Blunt, Ben E King, and Clyde Brown in the background and doing the steps. Johnny Moore was in his early 50s when he did this show and still sounding great.
There’s more. Another video from the same show. This is over six minutes of Ben E King singing the lead, but all three songs were from his solo career, not when he was with The Drifters. Like Johnny Moore, he still sounds great. Enjoy.
Good stuff, Liza! SG2 LOVES IT!
SG2, I kind of thought you would like these videos. This is the music that keeps me sane, just listening to those flawless, crystalline voices.
I love love the oldies music. They don’t make music like it anymore. I love listening to the oldies and reminiscing.
That is so true. I’ve had a hard time branching out from the 50s and 60s R&B/Soul but I try and occasionally find something good. I know how you Texans are about your music because I lived in Houston for a couple of years. You are a lot more democratic and that is one of the things that I really liked about Texas. That’s one of the things that I really like about this blog is that all of you (3 chics) bring the music to the forefront. It helps expose people to music they might not hear otherwise.
I grew up listening to all types of music and learned to love it all. My youngest son loves listening to country as well as rock, hip hop, & blues.
When I lived in Houston the radio stations were phenomenal and the deejays were music historians. In fact, my boyfriend back then was a native Texan and a former deejay. Then I moved to San Diego and it was back to top 40s all the time on the radio so I put in a lot of hours at Tower Records looking for music. I was in the first wave of people who bought a CD player in the mid 80s and it seemed like forever before there was a decent selection of music on CD. Compare that to now when everything is available on the Internet and it’s kind of incomprehensible, but in a good way. But we need those music historians more than ever, so keep doing what you do, SG2.
Deja news: Obama wins Ohio, Republicans try to make voting harder
By Laura Conaway
Tue Aug 13, 2013 12:35 PM EDT
The last time Ohio Republicans tried to make voting harder, they ended up having to repeal their own bill. That 2011 measure, HB 194, would’ve cut early voting days by half. State voters forced a referendum to overturn the law, and Ohio Republicans decided to take it off the books themselves rather than place it before voters in 2012. In repealing HB 194, lawmakers left in place a new ban on early voting for the weekend before the election, only to have a court order the state to put those days back.
So that went well, right? Last week the folks at Plunderbund noted that an Ohio lawmaker is now working on a bill to cut early voting days in half and final weekend voting, again. In an August 5 memo seeking co-sponsors, Representative John Becker (R), wrote, “This bill would reduce the length of time for absent voting from 35 days before Election Day to 17 days; limiting early voting to two weeks prior to the election concluding on the Friday before the election.”
It appears that Becker has company.
——————————————————————————–
The Toledo Blade reports that the old repealed HB 194 is making a comeback, only not as a single measure:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/13/20006970-deja-news-obama-wins-ohio-republicans-try-to-make-voting-harder?lite
aspirational12 @aspirational12
DAILY KOS posts offensive cartoon about President Obama’s marriage – http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/13/1230756/-Obama-s-dirty-dishes?showAll=yes …
9:54 AM – 13 Aug 2013
How Republicans can save the country from Barack Obama
By Greg Sargent, Published: August 13 at 12:04 pm
One year ago this week, President Obama announced that he would use his executive authority to halt the deportation of many undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children and have gone on to lead productive, law-abiding lives as residents of this country. The Post reports that the administration has granted over 400,000 temporary waivers to people in this category.
Now Senator Marco Rubio is seizing on this news to warn that the Obama administration may harbor secret intentions of granting citizenship in a similar manner — by executive authority — to all 11 million undocumented immigrants. Rubio notes that this is why Republicans should pass comprehensive reform. After all, if Obama is going to hand all of them amnesty for nothing, Republicans may as well force the president to hand over major concessions in border security in exchange:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/08/13/how-republicans-can-save-the-country-from-barack-obama/
The Morning Plum: GOP leaders retreat from the abyss
By Greg Sargent, Published: August 13 at 8:57 am
The conservative push for a government shutdown over Obamacare has created a dilemma for GOP leaders. They know a shutdown fight is dangerously insane for the party. But they are reluctant to say so out loud, because that will give the shutdown brigade something to organize around (that liberal squish GOP establishment is too weak-kneed to do whatever is necessary to finally defeat Obama tyranny). GOP leaders paper over this problem by claiming GOP unity behind the general goal of defunding Obamacare while refraining from the argument over tactics, but this only leaves the central tension unresolved.
No longer. In a must-read, National Review’s Robert Costa reports GOP leaders are now convinced, after privately lobbying colleagues, that they will be able to avoid a shutdown, after all. Costa gets a key quote from a top ally of the GOP leadership:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/08/13/the-morning-plum-gop-leaders-retreat-from-the-abyss/
Changing minds on affirmative action
By Steve Benen
Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:30 AM EDT
A new report from Inside Higher Ed on affirmative-action attitudes seems likely to generate some interesting conversation (via Matt Yglesias).
At issue is research from Frank L. Samson, a sociologist at the University of Miami, who has tested the fluidity of whites’ definition of “meritocracy.”
The takeaway is amusing, in a sardonic sort of way. The research suggests a lot of white folks are thinking, “College admissions should be based solely on quantitative metrics of academic skill — unless that puts white students at a competitive disadvantage in the admissions process, in which case, never mind.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/13/20006512-changing-minds-on-affirmative-action?lite
http://youtu.be/ZBpiNjY2Zjc
http://youtu.be/gfcO0GXqg70
http://youtu.be/zhIg2J1e5oo
Hateful republicans spend their entire existence creating ways to EFF over black people. Get some freaking help 4 your insecurities! Dammit!
They’re mad and still trying to figure out how that black Barack Obama got into the WHITE HOUSE. Fuck’em, he’s in until 2016. GET OVER IT!
Outrage! Beyond the fucking Pale!
Dying Teen Is Being Denied A Heart Transplant Because He’s Had Trouble With The Law.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/08/12/2453941/dying-teen-heart-transplant/ …
WHO is playing GOD at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to deny a 15 yr old child a heart transplant b/c he broke the law & has low grades? Name names!
How can they look a child in the eye & tell them..you don’t get to live b/c..well..you got bad grades & broke the law?
Dick Cheney’s lies and evil cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers…and yet, they found a heart for his evil ass
ALL OF THIS. This is why DOJ needs to be on the case. There are 2 sets of laws in America. One set for white men and the other set for everyone else.
loved these comments:
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Said it before and saying it again. AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR HILLARY CLINTON.
Watch Lee Daniels, Oprah and Forest Whitaker discuss Lee Daniels’ The Butler (in theaters everywhere August 16) and the real-life story that inspired the film in this exclusive Q&A.
http://youtu.be/5oF9EqBQ448
Here is the link to the trailer for the movie:
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/leedanielsthebutler/
Hiding from town-hall hollering
By Steve Benen
Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:34 AM EDT
About a month ago, the House Republican Conference produced “exceptionally detailed” guides for their members on how best to survive the lengthy August recess. Party officials offered some rather remarkable advice in the “planning kit,” including “planting questions” so local events remain on message.
Of course, that assumes lawmakers will actually host local events in the first place. The New York Times reports today that this summer, many members of Congress have suddenly lost their interest in town-hall forums.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/13/20006257-hiding-from-town-hall-hollering?lite
3CHICS can’t have a gif collection without Paul Mooney
http://s1166.photobucket.com/user/sepiaobot/media/smh_paulmooney_zpsfb50d5bb.gif.html
Texas struggles to defend discriminatory voting policies
By Steve Benen
Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:00 AM EDT
It’s been about three weeks since the Justice Department, relying on what’s left of the Voting Rights Act, went after voter-discrimination policies in Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court may have severely damaged the VRA, but the Justice Department nevertheless argued that when “intentional voting discrimination” is found, changes to voting rights cannot be permitted to continue.
This week, as Adam Serwer reported, Texas submitted a brief presenting their defense.
The arguments from Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) administration are pretty amazing, especially considering federal courts already found Texas’ election policies discriminatory as recently as two years ago, before the Supreme Court intervened.
As Kevin Drum explained, Texas’ first argument, as pushed by state Attorney General Greg Abbott, “is that, sure, Texas has tried to discriminate as recently as 2011, but their efforts were overturned by a court. So that means there are no current violations, and thus no reason to grant any kind of ‘equitable relief.'”
The second argument is the half-glass-full tack. As Serwer put it, “[T]he state claims, even if Texas did discriminate, and the state stresses that it did not, it was nothing as bad as ‘the ‘pervasive,’ ‘flagrant,’ ‘widespread,’ and ‘rampant’ discrimination that originally justified preclearance in 1965.’ So as long as Texas skies aren’t alight with flames from burning crosses, what’s the big whoop?”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/13/20005864-texas-struggles-to-defend-discriminatory-voting-policies?lite
92-year-old black woman sues just hours after North Carolina gov. signs voter ID law
By David Edwards
Tuesday, August 13, 2013 9:31 EDT
Just hours after North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a sweeping voter ID measure into law, a 92-year-old African-American woman has sued the state claiming that her constitutional rights had been violated.
At a bill signing with no formal ceremony on Monday, McCrory quietly signed the Republican bill that will require a voters to present a government-issued ID, cuts early voting days, stops same-day registration, ends “straight ticket” party voting, makes it harder for students to vote and gives poll watchers new powers for challenging voters.
The first lawsuit, filed by the NAACP, says that 92-year-old Rosanell Eaton will be disenfranchised after voting for 70 years.
“Mrs. Eaton, who was born at home, has a current North Carolina driver’s license, but the name on her certified birth certificate does not match the name on her driver’s license or the name on her voter registration card,” the lawsuit notes. “Mrs. Eaton will incur substantial time and expense to correct her identification documents to match her voter registration record in order to meet the new requirements.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/13/92-year-old-black-woman-sues-just-hours-after-north-carolina-gov-signs-voter-id-law/
– –☺ –@keithboykin
Today’s @nytimes inaccurately suggests the war on drugs began in response to the “crack epidemic” of the 1980s. pic.twitter.com/z457gZzXX9
View photo
— ☺ @keithboykin
Michelle Alexander proves Reagan’s war on drugs began long before there ever was a “crack epidemic.” @nytimes pic.twitter.com/UC6nXuRNrC
View photo
– – -☺ @keithboykin
“In fact, the war on drugs began at a time when illegal drug use was on the decline.” – Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow – — –
#solidarityisforwhitewomen when your man is brown & your kids will be 2 but u Other POC & ur working class peers bc you’re better/different
I can’t log on to Twitter. They’re having technical problems. Ugh!
What kind of ISH is this?
President Obama’s ambulance runs out of gas, sparks criticism
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/08/president-obama-s-ambulance-runs-out-of-gas-on-his-birthday-sparks-criticism-92663.html
WASHINGTON (WJLA) – As President Barack Obama travels to and from the White House in his motorcade, the number one concern is keeping him safe.
Continue reading
A critical constant is a D.C. Fire and EMS ambulance, typically Medic 1, that tails behind in the event of a medical emergency.
But on Aug. 8, as the President and First Lady were leaving the White House to celebrate Mr. Obama’s 52nd birthday at the restaurant Rasika in West End, Medic 1 ran out of gas.
Fire officials confirm that the vehicle was towed away and is now being repaired off-site. Fire officials say that as per policy, the crew should have but did not fill up the tank that day.
Sources say the bigger issue, though, is that the vehicle’s fuel gauge had been broken for months and not been repaired.
For months, D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells has been critical of the fire department for not quickly addressing a fleet in despair. He says all District residents, including those in the White House, deserve better:
“This is just an example that highlights the fact that we are not where we need to be,” Wells said.
According to an official Press Pool report, the Aug. 8 motorcade left the White House around 6:40 p.m. A fire department spokesperson says another ambulance, Medic 7, was dispatched and arrived at the White House at approximately 6:59 p.m. – nearly 20 minutes later.
But by then, the motorcade was long gone. The restaurant is only a couple of miles away from the presidential mansion.
According to surveillance video, when the motorcade left Rasika, Medic 7 was parked off to the left. Multiple sources familiar with protocol say since Medic 7 was not in the motorcade, it likely had not gone through a security sweep and therefore could not have been used by the president anyway if something had happened.
Inexcusable! Reprehensible!
Looks as if the Secret Service needs to oversee the fire station that provides the Presidential coverage.
…….but not the Secret Service guys who were having sex on one of the Presidential trips
Rand Paul knows nothing of Milton Friedman’s work
By Steve Benen
Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:19 AM EDT
We talked briefly last week about Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who was asked about his “ideal” chairman for the Federal Reserve. The senator initially pointed to Friedrich Hayek, before the interviewed, Josh Green, asked for someone who is not currently dead. Paul responded that Milton Friedman “would probably be pretty good.”
The problem, of course, is that Paul apparently doesn’t realize that Friedman is (a) dead; and (b) someone who strongly disagreed with him.
With this in mind, The Atlantic’s Matthew O’Brien had a terrific item last night, explaining that Friedman “would have hated Rand Paul.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/13/20005634-rand-paul-knows-nothing-of-milton-friedmans-work?lite
oops!
House Republicans Are Aching To Impeach President Obama For His ‘Crimes’
By: Jason Easley
Aug. 12th, 2013
Rep. Blake Farenthold admitted to constituents that House Republicans would impeach President Obama tomorrow if they could get him convicted in the Senate.
Transcript via Think Progress:
The fact that President Obama hasn’t committed anything remotely resembling an impeachable offense is of no concern to Republicans. Actually, Farenthold’s comments explain a lot. House Republicans aren’t just fishing for an Obama scandal that they can use to their political advantage. They are looking for the magic scandal that they can use to remove President Obama from office.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/12/house-republicans-aching-impeach-president-obama-crimes.html
It would be more productive is those Republicans used their time constructively to pick their noses.
Hampton U Dean Bans Cornrows and Dreadlocks: ‘Martin Luther King Didn’t Wear It’
At Hampton University, a historically black college in Virginia, MBA students are banned from wearing cornrows or dreadlocks, thanks to an edict from Business School Dean Sid Credle.
*Covers face with hands, shaking head slowly*
Dean Credle disagrees and says when people criticize the ban for denying cultural aspects of style, he believes cornrows and dreadlocks have not been a historically professional look.
“I said when was it that cornrows and dreadlocks were a part of African American history?”
Credle added, “I mean Charles Drew didn’t wear, Muhammad Ali didn’t wear it. Martin Luther King didn’t wear it.”
http://gawker.com/5937268/hampton-u-dean-bans-cornrows-and-dreadlocks-martin-luther-king-didnt-wear-it
Are the students learning? Isn’t that the reason they’re attending college. I’m NOT down with this dean legislating how students should wear their hair. FUCK that!
It’s hard enough for black folks to have their being out in the world.
These students will know what it takes to move and have their being in corporate America, should they decide yto pursue a career. They can choose how they will wear their hair.
Bob Filner’s office locks changed
By JAMES ARKIN | 8/12/13 3:59 PM EDT
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner accused of sexual harassment by as many as 13 women, finished his intensive behavior therapy but might not be able to get back into his office.
The City Attorney’s Office said the locks on Filner’s office have been changed, according to the KFMB.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/bob-filner-office-locks-changed-95451.html#ixzz2br34S9Gb
MSNBC’s Bashir and Guests: ‘Stop and Frisk’ Ruling an Extension of Trayvon Martin’s Legacy
by Andrew Kirell | 5:50 pm, August 12th, 2013
In her ruling against the New York Police Department’s controversial “stop and frisk” policies, Judge Shira Scheindlin reportedly made oblique references to the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin. On his MSNBC show this afternoon, Martin Bashir and guests agreed with the connection, deeming the anti-NYPD ruling an extension of the late teenager’s legacy.
Bashir asked his guests whether the “stop and frisk” ruling, in conjunction with Eric Holder‘s changes to mandatory minimum sentencing, signals a “substantive legacy” for the late Martin’s life. Professor Jelani Cobb agreed: “I absolutely think so,” he said.
“I think this will be a turning point in the way we think about these issues,” he continued. “In the ruling today, there were three specific references, one oblique reference, the judge made reference to a hoodie saying if someone’s wearing a hoodie they shouldn’t automatically be suspicious.”
Cobb continued: “[Judge Scheindlin] quoted directly from that speech that President Obama gave when he talked about the Zimmerman verdict.”
“It was clear she was tracking this to events in Florida,” the guest concluded.
Adding to that, Melber noted that the NYPD ruling reflects that it is a “racial profiling” policy, and not simply a “stop and frisk” policy.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/msnbcs-bashir-and-guests-stop-and-frisk-ruling-an-extension-of-trayvon-martins-legacy/
Republicans Are In a Full Blown Panic as the Affordable Care Act Grows More Successful
By: RmuseAug. 11th, 2013
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction and as a rule saboteurs attempt to conceal their identities to avoid the consequences of their actions; unless they are Republicans. Since January 2009, Republicans have gone to great lengths to sabotage President Obama’s attempts to save the economy and they made no attempt to conceal their identities. In fact, Republicans reveled in the publicity they received for killing jobs and obstructing economic recovery, and their racist supporters cheered them on every step of the way regardless the damage they wrought to the economy and other Americans. Still, President Obama prevailed and saved the economy, created millions of jobs, cut spending to their lowest levels in over 60 years, and set reform in motion to give 30-million Americans access to basic affordable healthcare that Republicans are still attempting to sabotage.
There are several reasons why Republicans are escalating their attempts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, and none are more important to their survival as their inhumane supporters’ opposition to other Americans’ well-being. It is not to say that Republicans would love nothing more than to deny 30 million Americans basic health insurance for the sole purpose of seeing them infirm and suffering, because that is, in and of itself, a primary Republican goal in sabotaging the ACA. In fact, they were brutally frank that, by their libertarian standards, healthcare was a divine privilege reserved for Americans who could afford astronomical premiums just to stay healthy, but there is more driving their machinations to derail the ACA than simple conservative inhumanity.
Regardless the ACA will give the insurance industry about 30-million new policy holders, there are provisions in the law that Republicans despise because their industry donors lost free-rein to gouge policy holders and rake in obscene profits. In fact, there is a direct correlation between the renewed frenzy to sabotage the health law and industry profits that drives Republican opposition. The secret trigger in the ACA that pushed early Republican opposition was the so-called 80/20 rule that required insurance carriers to spend 80% of premiums on real healthcare or write rebate checks to policy holders for amounts they did not spend. Republicans rushed to defend the industry that railed at the idea of only reaping 20% profits. The second trigger is that competition inherent in healthcare exchanges in states that embraced the health law has reduced premiums substantially. For example, in New York, premiums are set to fall by roughly 50%, and in California, this author’s premiums fell by about 40% after 17 years of perpetual increases and that does not include rebate checks that began rolling in last year according to the 80/20 rule. It is the health law’s success stories like these that have Republicans in a panic and it is the third reason they are going all in to sabotage the ACA; it is successful.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/11/republicans-full-blown-panic-affordable-care-act-grows-successful.html
From Charles Pierce about the ‘War on Drugs’
… You will hear, often, of the explosion in the United States prison populations “since 1980.” That date is not accidental. We elected a president that year who ran on an implicitly — and, occasionally explicitly — racist appeal to white voters by which he argued sub rosa that those white voters should be frightened of black criminals, and angry at black people who were “exploiting” the welfare system. This was the final triumph of the political calculation made when Harry Dent drew up the Southern Strategy for the Republicans when the Democratic party became identified with the triumphs of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960′s. It succeeded so well that it kicked off a decade of racial reaction. The accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement began to be rolled back. (The Justice Department went to court to defend tax exemptions for segregated “Christian academies.”) This, of course, continues to this moment, with the assault on the Voting Rights Act.
The entire fundmental basis for what became known as “cultural conservatism” was a fear of black crime and an anger at welfare “fraud.” It was an decade of archetypes. Welfare queens. Crack babies. Superpredators. And the national media went along for the ride, because the archetypes were scary enough — “IN YOUR TOWN!” — to move the ratings needle. That very few of them panned out didn’t matter. They served everyone’s short-term goals well enough to become established as fact. Then, in the middle of it all, the “war” on drugs got itself declared, and the face of the war on drugs was a black or brown face, and scared legislatures passed appallingly draconian laws in response. And a lot of black and brown people — an inordinate number, given the population as a whole — got tossed into prisons that are now so overcrowded that most of them are timebombs. So we’re looking at some of those laws again. This is a good thing. But if we really want to do it right, we should look honestly at the history of those laws and decide which consequences were truly unintentional.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/More_Law_Than_Order
NC’s McCrory approves sweeping voter-suppression measures
By Steve Benen
Mon Aug 12, 2013 4:41 PM EDT
That this outcome was inevitable doesn’t make it any less offensive.
The Republican governor released a video this afternoon, explaining his reasoning over the course of 96 seconds, arguing that he approved the “common sense” state legislation in the interest of the “integrity of our election process.”
McCrory added that the “extreme left” has relied on “scare tactics.”
Unfortunately for North Carolinians, the governor has no idea what he’s talking about. (In fact, as of two weeks ago, he literally didn’t know — McCrory was praising the legislation despite not having read it, and couldn’t answer basic questions about proposals he’d already publicly endorsed.)
The governor kept using the phrase “common sense,” but when it comes to voting rights, I don’t think that means what he thinks it means.
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As we discussed a few weeks ago, we’ve seen plenty of “war on voting” measures over the last few years, but North Carolina Republicans pushed the envelope in new and offensive directions. Barbara Arnwine, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said during the legislative fight, “This is the single worst bill we have seen introduced since voter suppression bills began sweeping the country.”
The scope is simply breathtaking — the new state law imposes voter-ID restrictions never needed before in North Carolina, narrows the early-voting window, places new restrictions on voter-registration drives, makes it harder for students to vote, ends same-day registration during the early voting period, and makes it easier for vigilante poll-watchers to challenge eligible voters.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/12/19992986-ncs-mccrory-approves-sweeping-voter-suppression-measures?lite
Holder steps up, GOP stands down on sentencing reforms
By Steve Benen
Tue Aug 13, 2013 8:00 AM EDT.
If you missed Rachel’s segment last night on Attorney General Eric Holder’s dramatic announcement on sentencing in drug crimes, it’s well worth your time. Indeed, by any fair measure, yesterday may be one of the most important days of the Obama administration’s second term, at least insofar as criminal justice is concerned.
Holder declared what many have long argued: too many Americans convicted of non-violent drug crimes are stuck in too many prisons for far too long. It’s a policy that costs too much, ravages families and communities, and has no practical law-enforcement rationale. That the Attorney General is using his prosecutorial discretion to circumvent mandatory minimums is an incredibly important step in the right direction — it’s the kind of move that will put fewer Americans behind bars for low-level, non-violent drug crimes.
What I was also eager to see were the next-day reactions, most notably from the right. Would Holder face a backlash from Republicans? So far, no. The conservative Washington Times ran this report today:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/13/20004621-holder-steps-up-gop-stands-down-on-sentencing-reforms?lite
The second half of ‘repeal and replace’
By Steve Benen
Tue Aug 13, 2013 8:42 AM EDT
At his press conference late last week, President Obama chided congressional Republicans for voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act several dozen times without offering a credible alternative. “The used to say they had a replacement,” he told reporters. “That never actually arrived, right? I mean, I’ve been hearing about this whole replacement thing for two years — now I just don’t hear about it, because basically they don’t have an agenda to provide health insurance to people at affordable rates.”
Au contraire, Republicans responded.
Oh good, it only took four years for House Republicans to come up with a health care plan they like.
So, what’s in it? No one outside the Republican Study Committee actually knows, and even the RSC isn’t altogether sure since the plan isn’t finished. But Scalise, the Louisiana Republican who chairs the RSC, insists some of the popular provisions in “Obamacare” will remain intact, including protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/13/20005222-the-second-half-of-repeal-and-replace?lite
No Balls
by BooMan
Mon Aug 12th, 2013 at 03:35:20 PM EST
The fact that Mitch McConnell hasn’t fired his campaign manager makes it appear like the Human Turtle does not come with testicles. It also makes him look like he is terrified of the Tea Party and no longer has any freedom of action. After all, the only reason that McConnell hired this guy was because he had run Rand Paul’s campaign and McConnell figured it would help inoculate him from a challenge from his right. But then they guy was caught on tape saying that he was only working for McConnell to help Rand Paul’s presidential prospects and that he was going to “hold his nose” for the two years he’ll be working with the Minority Leader. And now the guy is saying that he saw “hurt in the eyes” of McConnell when they talked about his nose-clenching. But McConnell didn’t fire him?
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/8/12/153520/152
August 12, 2013 12:20 PM
Sentencing Reform Breakthrough?
By Ed Kilgore
Today in a speech to an ABA conference in San Francisco, Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to lay out an executive and legislative agenda for sentencing reform, aimed at significantly reducing the number of non-violent offenders (mostly collateral damage in the failed War on Drugs) in prisons.
Here’s a preview from WaPo’s Sari Horwitz:
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is set to announce Monday that low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with no ties to gangs or large-scale drug organizations will no longer be charged with offenses that impose severe mandatory sentences.
The new Justice Department policy is part of a comprehensive prison reform package that Holder will reveal in a speech to the American Bar Association in San Francisco, according to senior department officials. He is also expected to introduce a policy to reduce sentences for elderly, nonviolent inmates and find alternatives to prison for nonviolent criminals.
Justice Department lawyers have worked for months on the proposals, which Holder wants to make the cornerstone of the rest of his tenure.
As a former criminal justice policy wonk, I am exceptionally excited to hear about this grossly overdue initiative. Some of it involves prosecutorial guidelines the Justice Department can more or less self-execute:
The attorney general can make some of these changes to drug policy on his own. He is giving new instructions to federal prosecutors on how they should write their criminal complaints when charging low-level drug offenders, to avoid triggering the mandatory minimum sentences. Under certain statutes, inflexible sentences for drug crimes are mandated regardless of the facts or conduct in the case, reducing the discretion of prosecutors, judges and juries.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_08/sentencing_reform_breakthrough046336.php
Is bipartisan `War on Drugs’ reform possible?
By Greg Sargent, Published: August 12 at 3:04 pm
As expected, Attorney General Eric Holder just delivered a speech in which he proposed long-overdue reforms to ensure that low-level and nonviolent drug offenders without gang ties will no longer face severe mandatory sentences.
In the speech, Holder painted the need for reform as morally urgent and a practical imperative. “Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for no good law enforcement reason,” he said. “We cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation.”
Holder proposed both executive and legislative action. The executive changes concern instructions to prosecutors on how to write charges without setting in motion the mandatory minimum sentences. As for legislative changes, Holder referenced a bill, sponsored by Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul, that would allow federal judges more say over whether mandatory minimum sentences are doled out. The administration appears ready to try to work with Congress to build on this proposal.
The possibility of legislative change, backed by bipartisan majorities, is not as far fetched as you might imagine. As Ed Kilgore comments:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/08/12/is-bipartisan-war-on-drugs-reform-possible/
Hi Rik. Caan you post these links to the stop & frisk and mandatory drug sentincing thread too? Thanks!
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good morning, rikyrah and all!
I’m praying that
Good morning, everyone!
Beautiful words, Yahtc!
Good Morningg, EVERYONE! :-))))
I remember enjoying the “Pearl of Wisdom” from my youth. I just looked it up and found this write-up on by Remen under an article “Living Life Fully.”