Happy Monday, Everyone. This week’s featured artist is Santana.
Wiki: Santana is a Latin music influenced Grammy Award winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, rock band. Founded in San Francisco during the late 1960s, it is based around the compositions and playing of lead guitarist and founder Carlos Santana. The band first came to widespread public attention when their performance of their Latin rock song “Soul Sacrifice” at Woodstock in 1969 provided a contrast to other acts on the bill. This exposure helped propel their first album, also named Santana, into a hit, followed in the next two years by the successful Abraxas and Santana III.
In the years that followed lineup changes were common. Carlos Santana’s increasing involvement with guru Sri Chinmoy took the band into more esoteric music, though never quite losing its initial Latin influence.
In 1998, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Carlos Santana, Jose Chepito Areas, David Brown, Gregg Rolie, Mike Carabello and Michael Shrieve being honored.[1]
The band has earned eight Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards, the latter all in 2000. Carlos also won Grammy Awards as a solo artist in 1989 and 2003. Santana has sold more than 90 million records worldwide, making them one of the world’s best-selling groups of all time.[2] In 2013 Santana announced a reunion of the classic line-up for a new record, predicting a 2014 release.
Black Magic Woman
https://twitter.com/Yardarm756DD/status/372142374815682560/photo/1
Ex-US Attorney Calls James O’Keefe ‘A Nasty Little Cowardly Spud’
The conservative video maker James O’Keefe has turned his cameras on the former federal prosecutor whose office brought charges against him and his accomplices in the phone-tampering of a Democratic U.S. senator.
In a video released by O’Keefe’s Project Veritas on Monday, former U.S. Attorney James Letten can be seen shouting at O’Keefe and his colleagues. Letten can also be seen filming O’Keefe with his own smart phone.
“You went to my house, you terrorized my wife, you’re violating federal law, you’re trespassing, you’re a nasty little cowardly spud,” Letten says in the video. “All of you, you’re hobbits. You are less than I can ever tell you. You are scum. Do you understand?”
The video also shows O’Keefe going to Letten’s house and speaking with his wife.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/ex-us-attorney-calls-james-okeefe-nasty-little?ref=fpa
………………………………………
Different Category Of Gotcha
David Kurtz August 26, 2013, 2:21 PM 681
One more point on the latest James O’Keefe shenanigans.
There’s a lot of backstory here, not least of which is that Jim Letten’s office prosecuted O’Keefe and his posse for their 2010 “prank” on Sen. Mary Landreiu’s office in which they gained access by posing as telephone repairmen.
But the main thing to keep in mind in gauging Letten’s reaction is that Letten probably couldn’t care less whether O’Keefe is operating as a conservative activist (the term of art Letten uses in the video is “political extremist nutjob”) or as the journalist speaking truth to power that he fancies himself to be. As a career prosecutor, Letten is indifferent to which of those boxes O’Keefe fits in.
In his mind, O’Keefe is a former criminal defendant who showed up at Letten’s home and talked to his spouse. That taps into the deepest, darkest fears of prosecutors. It’s in a different category than the usual O’Keefe on-camera gotcha and may explain in part why the man who took down Edwin Edwards is so livid in that video.
—–☺@CharlesMBlow
So, Rush Limbaugh goes after me today on his radio show. Yawn. In other news: kicked dogs will holler. –
The problem with colorblindness
By Alex Seitz-Wald, Published: August 26 at 12:13 pm
As the nation marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington this week, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal took the opportunity to make a plea for ignoring racial differences in a much-discussed Politico op-ed titled “The end of race“:
There is no more shallow, hollow, or soulless way to think about human beings than in terms of their skin color. It is completely inane. Under what logic would any intelligent, logical, or decent person give any thought to the pigmentation of a person’s epidermis? It’s nothing short of immoral, not to mention stupid.
He goes on to blame minorities and immigrants for sowing the seeds of division by being too proud of their heritage or too conscious of their skin color. That’s not what King would have wanted, Jindal writes, explaining that the civil rights icon would have embraced the American “melting pot” — “a concept that was completely compatible with Dr. King’s dream of every American being judged on the content of his character and not the color of his skin.”
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) (Danny Johnston/Associated Press)
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) (Danny Johnston/Associated Press)
The idea is hardly unique to Jindal. Rather, it has become the de facto mainstream conservative position on race in America from people such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, who essentially say, “We ignore race and look at individuals while the race-baiting left is obsessed with separateness.” There’s even a movement to “Unhyphenate America” by dropping descriptors like “African-American” and “Asian-American.”
It’s a nice idea, in theory, but “colorblindness,” as some have called it, misunderstands King’s legacy and obscures the problems that minorities still face to this day while protecting the status quo.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/08/26/the-problem-with-colorblindness/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUnyOETz7DY
bob Schieffer, Rethugs are NOT TIGHTENING UP voter laws. They are FLAT OUT SUPPRESSING & DISENFRANCHIZING BLACK American voters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-EjeRaLcUg
Counting down the days when the GOP will try and RECLAIM their idea of healthcare.
DUH!!! That’s what the ACA is doing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMTrthePKU0
The Rethugs are starting to SPIN the ACA into their prize achievement now. Their constiuents are giving them HELL, and they know damn well they’ve got to make about anything and everything other than an OBAMA connection
http://buzzfeedpolitics.tumblr.com/post/59408031685/when-congressman-jim-clyburn-was-15-years-old-a
When Congressman Jim Clyburn was 15 years old, a white store owner pointed a gun in his face during a dispute over the cost of some honey buns and sodas.
He remembers every detail about the day: how his mother let him take the car to go to a school homecoming 20 miles away in Sumter County; how he had left his clarinet behind and couldn’t march with his school’s band in the parade; how the store was right off of Highway 378; and how terrified he was when he stared at the end of the gun.
“The guy told us how much we owed him and we disagreed with the price that he was charging us. We knew how to add — it added up to less money than he told us we owed him,” Clyburn told BuzzFeed. “We ended up paying him what it cost, what was on the labels. And we walked out of the store. I got to the car and started to turn the ignition and the man came out with Colt 45 pistol and put it on the window of the car. He said, ‘You boys owe me 50 more cents’ with a pistol in my face. My two friends jumped out of the car yelling and crying and gave him the rest of the money they had on them — more than 50 cents. And we took off. It was a harrowing experience.”
As the nation commemorates the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington this week, Clyburn, 73, said he feared too many people today were giving in to what Martin Luther King Jr. called “the tranquilizing drug of gradualism” — and forgetting the details of the past.
50 Years After The March On Washington, Jim Clyburn Is Worried
SG2; these same folks are screaming about us complaining and telling us to get over it. They want us to shut up and disappear. HELL NAW! The same shady shit’s going down around America. They’re not even trying to hide the hatred and vitriol.
BTW, some members of the CBC and few other house negroes are partially to blame for the backward slide, by buying in to the crumbs they were fed to keep quiet about the inequality and injustices being perpetuated in the black/hispanic communities.
As well as the rest of us who starting falling asleep behind the wheel and took our eyes off the prize…
The link you posted, SG2, led to this op-ed by James Clyburn:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/19/march-on-washington-jim-clyburn/2646865/
Does 3chicspolitico have a past article on Septima Clark and the Highlander Folk School?
I’m sure Septima Clark’s been mentioned in past posts.
Hey, Ladies……according to the Lakota creation story, woman was created FIRST!
Today the Lakota Sioux have an outstanding theater group:
Hey Yahtc!
We’re on the same page today. I’m listening to Shawnee Sioux War Dance. Love Love it!
My great grandmother was Choctaw.
Amazing….we are indeed on the same wavelength! :)
Have you studied your Choctaw heritage, SG2 ?
I do not know very much about the Choctaws and would love to learn more.
No I haven’t, Yahtc. I just remember the stories that were passed down to me from my daddy.
You are fortunate that your dad passed the stories on to you, SG2!
I have heard of the Mother Mound of the Choctaws.
Just looked it up…..It is called Nanih Waiya.
Thank you! I’m going to read up on it.
In the last decade the Zuni people are returning to farming, gardening, nutrition, and healthy life styles.
During this time they have returned to their Harvest Dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUneNRAneFg
I watched this video a half a year ago. I came away from it so sad. Who could not come away upset after watching it.
To think of all of the children who had their heritage of centuries “surgically” removed with precision schooling away from their family and tribe’s influence. Devasting. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
It was a program to eliminate the Native American…..maybe not in the manner of direct genocide, but the effect was the same.
There should be accountability; the government now should pay for teaching indigenous languages to the children of tribal nations today…..and so much more.
I am just shocked at our wave length today! What’s going on here? Ametia can witness that I sent her an email and we were speaking about this very thing. I’m working on some upcoming open thread posts on Native American Chiefs and was discussing the Indian kids sent to the Carlisle Indian industrial school with Ametia and how cruel it was to take those kids away from their parents/culture. Kids died by the hundreds.
Amazing! There has to be a reason for this.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Oprah-Tina interview last night on OWN. Here’s a snippet:
Love the interview!
Rest up Tina; you’ve EARNED it.
Talk about a stylist fashion statement! I love Tina’s outfit!
For the Scandal Fans…
I had missed this over at Luvvie’s
……………
The Scandal Brolivia Pope Theory: Who is Harrison?
[ 51 ] August 16, 2013 | Luvvie
Two seasons into Scandal and the only person that still feels as mysterious as Olivia Pope is Harrison, the Gooning Gladiator in Gingham. Actually, I feel like we know him even less than we know Liv. We know nothing about his background, his hobbies, his home, and all that. At least we know Liv loves wine, white and wide-leg pants. All we know about Harrison is that he loves gingham and suspenders.
Also, Harrison is the only main character who hasn’t been linked to anyone romantically. WHY CAN’T HARRISON’S SEGZY SELF GET SOME?!? Although I might be jealous when I finally see him with someone because CoYUMbus is my boo.
I mentioned it in my season 2 finale recap and I think Harrison’s being called Brolivia Pope is more than just a nickname.
We were calling him Brolivia Pope because he’s so protective of her and besides Huck, he’s the other Gladiator who is blindly loyal to her. No questions asked.
Harrison will follow Liv to the ends of the Earth and fly off a cliff if she asks him to without a second thought. And there are times when this even confuses Liv. He is SO passionate about being a Gladiator and at first, I was wondering what she did to earn it. Besides the fact that she got his insider trading case dropped. He be so ready to GOON for her at any moment.
Methinks Harrison is REALLY Olivia’s brother, and his fierce loyalty to her is a product of that
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2013/08/scandal-brolivia-pope-theory.html
LOL Methinks Luvvie might be right. Can’t wait for the 3rd season of Scandal and her recaps.
Rosen: The 2013 VMAs Were Dominated by Miley’s Minstrel Show
By Jody Rosen
Some awards were handed out at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, but, really, only Wikipedia and Kanye West keep track of those. There was an interminable Justin Timberlake medley, interrupted, very briefly, by an *NSYNC reunion — after which, presumably, Timberlake’s ex-bandmates were Medevac-ed back to their South Florida retirement communities. Bruno Mars played the excellent “Gorilla,” the finest Def Leppard tribute song you’ve heard all year. Katy Perry closed the show with an enjoyable, boxing-themed staging of her jock-rock single “Roar,” which was hyped throughout the broadcast, inaccurately, as her “biggest hit ever.”
But all of that stuff was superfluous. Everything you needed to see took place inside the first twenty minutes, in the two performances that opened the show. The evening began with Lady Gaga, who took the stage in what looked like an exploded version of Sally Field’s old Flying Nun getup, and ran through some intricate choreography, changing outfits, and wigs, several times while singing her new single “Applause.” It was a rather stiff performance; you could practically see Gaga counting off her dance steps in her head. It was also an exercise in VMAs classicism, mixing spectacle and mild titillation. It ended with Gaga stripped to a thong bikini made of seashells, which she wore for the rest of the night.
http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/jody-rosen-miley-cyrus-vmas-minstrel.html?mid=twitter_nymag
Count me as a Santana fan :)
LOL You’re IN!
Miley Cyrus in Dolce&Gabbana at the 2013 MTV VMAs
Posted on Aug 26, 2013 in Fashion
Miley, we’re going to put on our Kindly Gay Uncles hats for a moment and speak to you in a loving, but direct manner.
Girl, you look fucking STUPID.
Now put that away. No one wants to see it.
http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/2013/08/miley-cyrus-in-dolcegabbana-at-the-2013-mtv-vmas.html
Good Morning 3Chics!
In late from seeing daughter off to 1st grade. I’ve liked Santana since childhood. Looking forward to PBO speech Wednesday and “Maria Maria” later in the week. Have a good day all.
Hi Tyren!
I hope your little one have the best year ever.
@SouthernGirl2:
What’s up? Long time. Been working and trying to ignore the stupid headlines that they post about Fogen! Everytime he takes a sh** they print it! Let me reiterate: The only headline I want to read is when someone pops his punk A$$! He is walking around here smiling and knowing he got away with the murder of Trayvon Martin. If I believed in curses, I would put one on him, his family and all of his lying friends! LOL!
Carlos Santana finally got the recognition he deserved at the Grammy awards so many years ago, but I knew he and that band were talented so many years ago. They were the bomb back in the day! I remember playing his jams on the boom box in the school cafeteria. I was to young to attend Woodstock, (and Mom said I couldn’t go anyway) but some of the kids from my older brothers class did go, and that is when Santana got world wide recognition, but he was known already here in NYC! My favorite songs by Santana? Black Magic Women, and Everybody’s Everything! Do you hear the congo’s in that song? Off the hook! You are bringing back memories of Junior High and High School and also revealing my age??! LOL! My kids love those songs, and my son just went to Youtube to play it!
Hola, Deborah!
Nice to see you! The Orlando Sentinel prints GZ’s every move and his supporters wait like buzzards on a fence post to eat it up. I get so tired of reading the hate. They have no life but hate.
Santana rocks! I’ve always loved Black Magic Woman & Oye Como Va! What chu saaaay?!
Hi Deborah!
I am so glad to see you here!
Hi ya, Brotha Tyren. I’ll bet your daughter was so excited. Wishing her all the best this year.
BTW, Maria Maria is on the list this week. :-))
Haley and Jay at school this morning.
love it.
love it
Oh, they are such great kids!
Looks as if they are excited and happy to be in their new classrooms!
Jay’s a big boy now!
**sniff**
:)
Could Jay get any more HANDSOME?!! Too cool for school.
He didn’t cry today either. :)
Haley’s so lovely. And this girl’s got BRAINS, BRAWN & BEAUTY! Have a great school year Haley!!
OMG, they are both so precious. I love Haley’s black and hot pink outfit and the hot pink Barbie backpack.
TY, Liza! Haley loves pink and purple and everything Barbie! She use to like everything Dora but now it’s Barbie. lol
Glad to see they both look happy to be there.
I went to open house Thursday and Alaejah’s teacher wasn’t there. Oh well, guess I’ll have to do a drive-by in the next 2 weeks and introduce myself. I’m not waiting for October conferences. Fun fun fun.
My daughter went to meet the teacher this past Friday.
Blaming the unemployed
By Steve Benen
Mon Aug 26, 2013 12:43 PM EDT
A few months ago, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) was asked about his poor record on job creation after three years in office. Corbett offered a variety of explanations for his record, including this gem: “[T]here are many employers that say we’re looking for people but we can’t find anybody that has passed a drug test, a lot of them.”
As a rule, this isn’t exactly a political winner. For one thing, it’s factually wrong. For another, accusing the jobless of being drug addicts tends to offend those struggling to find work.
But Corbett isn’t the only one who’s pushing this argument. Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) argued last week in a speech to a local Chamber of Commerce that there are “3 million jobs every month in this country that go unfilled.” The congressman thinks he knows why.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/26/20198732-blaming-the-unemployed?lite
Oh, come on…..there are plenty of qualified people…Corbett’s excuse is a lousy excuse.
All of us need especially to become advocates for residents of inner cities across America. We need to DEMAND job creation in the inner cities.
It is definitely possible to do…….Everybody in a position of power….whether corporations, store chains or elected representatives……..can make this HAPPEN!!!
A response over at BJ to a feminism celebration thread:
[caption id="attachment_48454" align="alignnone" width="600"] EAST HAMPTON, NY – AUGUST 24: Colin Powell and Jamie Foxx perform at the 4th Annual Apollo In The Hamptons Benefit on August 24, 2013 in East Hampton, New York. (Photo by Shahar Azran/WireImage)[/caption]
Colin Powell Sang ‘Blurred Lines’ on a Stage
BY MAUREEN O’CONNOR
Along with Katie Holmes, Lenny Kravitz, Ellen DeGeneres, Jamie Foxx, and Pharrell, former secretary of state Colin Powell “jumped onstage” at the Fourth Annual Apollo in the Hamptons benefit this weekend. He “even sang a few lines of Robin Thicke’s summer hit ‘Blurred Lines,'” reports “Page Six.”
Now, we cannot say with certainty whether or not the following picture shows Colin Powell singing the lines, “But you’re an animal, baby, it’s in your nature / Just let me liberate you / Hey, hey, hey
http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/08/colin-powell-sang-blurred-lines-on-a-stage.html
BWA HA HA HA Colin done gone full-blown NEGRO in the HIZZY!!!
OOPS!
bwa ha ha ha ha
The Smith Family reaction to Miley Cyrus at the VMAs
Jennifer Hudson as Princess Tiana
I bow to you, Princess JHUD! Exquisite
Beautiful!
The right seizes on Christopher Lane’s killing
By Steve Benen
Mon Aug 26, 2013 11:02 AM EDT
Shooting deaths in the United States may be tragically common, but when three Oklahoma teenagers shot and killed Australian baseball player Christopher Lane 10 days ago, the circumstances were gut-wrenching. The suspected killers, ranging in age from 15 to 17, later said they murdered Lane because they were simply “bored and didn’t have anything to do.”
Since the terrible incident in the town of Duncan, however, U.S. conservatives have decided Lane’s death is a political opportunity. This is especially true of Fox News, whose White House correspondent, Ed Henry, had this exchange last Wednesday with White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest:
Note the specific wording of Henry’s question: “three African American young men.” In reality, one of the alleged shooters is black, one is white, and one is of mixed racial heritage. But for the Fox News correspondent, this became “three African American young men.”
The back-and-forth continued as you might expect it to — the White House spokesperson said it “sounds like a pretty tragic case” and add some related thoughts on the importance of reducing gun violence. Ed Henry, unsatisfied, wanted an explanation as to why President Obama commented on the Trayvon Martin case, but not this one.
And almost immediately, the rest of the conservative media began pushing the same line, almost as if it were coordinated. In the blink of an eye, the murder was the right’s new rallying cry to express a racial/political grievance — if the shooting of an unarmed black teenager was a national controversy, then the shooting of an unarmed white baseball player should be, too.
In one especially jarring instance, Drudge published a piece on this Friday carefully omitting the mugshot of the white assailant, showing only the other two suspected shooters. The racial subtext was so obvious, it was no longer a subtext at all.
It was part of a much larger push, which quickly started ignoring relevant details.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/26/20197642-the-right-seizes-on-christopher-lanes-killing?threadId=3802125&commentId=78547370#c78547370
“Black lawmakers lament flaring of racial tensions under Obama”
By Niall Stanage – 08/26/13 05:45 AM ET
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/318601-black-lawmakers-lament-flaring-of-racial-tensions-under-obama
The comments section in this article are despicable, and it proves that these RACIST white folks don’t have a clue. They’re always the first ones to deny racism, by projecting racism on black fols.
Not one of the commenters would ever dream of highlighting any actual facts about voter suppression laws written to disinfranchise blacks, elderly, college students, etc. Nope it’s all Al Sharpton’s fault that they hate black people so much.
What these bigots really want is for us to be quite and remain SILENT, while they assail, lie, cheat, steal, and reign their racial hatred on POC. GTFOH. We will not be SILENCED.
x2
I’ve got real issues with members of the CBC who blame President Obama for the ugly & “right out in front of God & everybody” (quoting my Granny) racist behavior that is condoned by media, GOP & the emufrogs on the left.
The racists have always been there but they just feel more free to spew their hate in public these days because they are not being really called out & shunned as total “unpersons.”
I totally agree “We will not be SILENCED.” If we have any honor for those who went before 50 years ago, suffered & died then we have to STAND & not be MOVED! “Speak the truth & shame the devil!” (another quote from my Granny)
@AG. Some of the members of CBC are so entrenched in the ways of white folks, they go along to get along at this point. We need new, younger blood.
“Right On Track: Chicago premiere of ‘Pullman Porter Blues’ story of hope and dreams of equality for southside train fame neighborhood”
http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/shore/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/right-on-track-chicago-premiere-of-pullman-porter-blues-story/article_0dbdf4d3-2ac3-522a-b68b-215bcdf60bd4.html
thanks for this. gonna put it on my list
Interesting. I’ll look forward to seeing this movie, when it comes to my region.
Who has Obama’s back? Those who’ve been in the struggle all along
Today I’d like to point you all to a diary my friend Denise Oliver Velez wrote back in 2008 when the FISA bill was going through Congress. I don’t agree with everything she said (as the saying goes, if I did, one of us would be unnecessary) – but the message is clear.
The way I see it, women and people of color know that RIGHT NOW they are in the fight of their lives to maintain the forward movements people like Denise and her generation struggled to attain. And she’s not about to get distracted from that fight by the games the purists want to play. You go girl!!!!
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/08/who-has-obamas-back-those-whove-been-in.html?spref=tw
X’S 100000000000000000000000
3 CHICS’ GOT YOUR BACK, MR. PRESIDENT!
Co-Sign that 10000000000000000000000000000TIMES!!!
Just IMHO, but the concept of “privacy” has always seemed to me to be something for the privileged. All the emufrog wailing about NSA reading email & knowing what porn sites some people visit makes me look on them with contempt. People applying for food stamps or other public assistance know real violations of privacy.
Not to be silly but my Sis says this: “No Latino truly knows privacy since the familia & community is always up in our business. The Anglos must live in a different place than us.
I will try this one more time. Third time for luck & then I give up.
Adding: You have drawn me in from lurkdom with Santana. He is one of my all time favs. This is going to be good!
Hi AG. Good to see you, and glad you came out of lurkdom. :-))
Jay and Haley went back to school today. I’m sad this morning. :(
Really? I use to sing & dance on the morning my four went back to school.
I miss them already.
Summers with my four & ‘hundreds’ of their “closest friends” practically living at my house wore me out! It was fun for all & I never really minded the noise & the dent in my food budget but the sudden peace & quite as they all went back to school was blissful, lol!
@SG2. I feel you.
I know you miss them, no matter how mischievious the little ones can get at times. You love them.
How not to defend voter suppression in North Carolina
By Steve Benen
Mon Aug 26, 2013 10:10 AM EDT
Two weeks after North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) approved the most sweeping voter-suppression law seen in the United States in a generation, the political world is taking note of the disaster in growing numbers. Last week, former Secretary of State Colin Powell condemned the state’s new voting restrictions, and yesterday, pundit Cokie Roberts said, “[W]hat’s going on about voting rights is downright evil.”
But don’t worry, the Eagle Forum’s Phyllis Schlafly, a prominent leader of the religious right movement for decades, has a new defense. In a WorldNetDaily column, the right-wing activist offered an unexpected explanation of why some of North Carolina’s new restrictions are worthwhile.
Have you ever heard a political figure accidentally read stage direction, unaware that it’s not supposed to repeated out loud? This is what Schlafly’s published column reminds me of.
For North Carolina Republicans, the state’s new voter-suppression measures are ostensibly legitimate — GOP officials are simply worried about non-existent fraud. The response from Democrats and voting-rights advocates is multi-faceted, but emphasizes that some of these measures, including restrictions on early voting, have nothing whatsoever to do with fraud prevention and everything to do with a partisan agenda.
And then there’s Phyllis Schlafly, writing a piece for publication effectively saying Democrats are entirely right — North Carolina had to dramatically cut early voting because it’s not good for Republicans.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/26/20197189-how-not-to-defend-voter-suppression-in-north-carolina?lite
“North Carolina: Moral Mondays Grow”
By dianerav
August 22, 2013
http://dianeravitch.net/2013/08/22/north-carolina-moral-mondays-grow/
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jonathancoby/18-great-signs-at-north-carolinas-moral-monday-pr-afb2
North Carolina has become GROUND ZERO for Voter suppression.
Good Morning. Thank you for choosing Santana. I can remember the first time someone on my dorm got their album and we even watched her open it. Then we listened. A REAL album. Times were tough then; no iPods. ;)
Black Magic Woman!!!!!!!!!!!!! Santana is the MAN!
We all wanted to be the Black Magic Woman. ;)
OH YEAH!
LOL! I still have some “REAL” albums of his.
I have a small fortune in Albums. Hubby evan built a beautiful oak cabinet to fit them once we started buying CD’s. Have to stand them straight up you know. ;). Do you still play yours?
I don’t have a way to play them anymore but my daughter does. I just learned recently that you can still buy record players. I think I’m going to get one & get all my albums back from my daughter, lol.
I have managed to get CDs or download most of the stuff to my MP3 of Santana’s music.
Ginsburg reflects on present, future
By Steve Benen
Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:37 AM EDT.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sat down for a fascinating interview with the New York Times’ Adam Liptak, which is generally a departure from the norm. As Liptak noted, “Unless they have a book to sell, Supreme Court justices rarely give interviews.”
But Ginsburg, an 80-year-old jurist confirmed to the high court two decades ago, had quite a bit to say about the justices’ recent work, Congress’ dysfunction, and the recent far-right trend that has made this “one of the most activist courts in history.”
Of particular interest to court watchers, though, are Ginsburg’s career plans. For many on the left, her retirement before the end of President Obama’s second term is critically important to the nation’s future, but for now, the justice seems intent on staying on the job.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/26/20196360-ginsburg-reflects-on-present-future?lite
Ginsberg is not biting on this one, and I trust she’ll make the best decision as to when she’ll retire.
A rare defeat for the religious right in Alabama
By Steve Benen
Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:19 AM EDT.
Dissent on culture-war issues is rarely tolerated within the Republican Party. A few months ago, for example, the chair of the Illinois Republican Party was forced to step down for having the audacity to say gay Americans should be able to allowed to get married.
In Alabama, where dissent among Republicans on social conservatism is even less common, a similar fight has brewed in recent weeks and was resolved over the weekend. The outcome was not altogether expected.
At the heart of the controversy is Alabama College Republicans Chairwoman Stephanie Petelos, who praised the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act on Facebook. Soon after, she told a local news outlet she supports marriage equality because “we’re governed by the constitution and not the Bible.”
The comments were not well received within the Alabama GOP. State Republican officials quickly began the process of writing new bylaws that would require all steering committee members to support the party’s positions as outlined in the national platform. Those who publicly disagree would be removed from their leadership posts.
On Saturday, in a surprising turn of events, efforts to punish Petelos fell short.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/26/20196811-a-rare-defeat-for-the-religious-right-in-alabama?lite
‘We do not have the votes right now’
By Steve Benen
Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:00 AM EDT
Proponents of the Republican government-shutdown scheme generally express nothing but optimism — their support is growing, they say, and the effort continues apace.
There is, however, ample reason to believe the GOP is moving further away from actually executing the shutdown plan.
Late last week, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the #4 member of the House Republican leadership, dismissed the scheme, saying it’s “probably not realistic.” Around the same time, Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) stressed his hatred for the Affordable Care Act, but nevertheless added that his party should invest its energies elsewhere.
Yesterday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), one of the key ringleaders of the shutdown scheme, conceded, “We do not have the votes right now.”
So, it’s over, right? Not quite yet.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/26/20195733-we-do-not-have-the-votes-right-now?lite
Martin Luther King Was A Liberal Progressive Who Favored Left Wing Causes & Don’t You Forget It
By Oliver Willis · August 23,2013
As we head towards the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, it is worth pausing for a second to solidly stake out the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of the left.
For years the right has sought to either de-politicize Rev. King or expunge his leftist sentiment from the public record. We are told time and again that King was somehow beyond ideology and that his quest for civil rights and justice didn’t deal in politics.
Bull.
Rev. King was a liberal. A dyed in the wool liberal. He was on the left. He favored liberal solutions and liberal policies. He wasn’t a centrist, moderate, on the center-left or God forbid anywhere near the right. HE WAS A LIBERAL.
The first, and worst counterargument to King’s liberalism often relies on conservatives assuming that people are either stupid, ignorant or unwilling to challenge their perversion of history. They claim that since the most vehement of opposition to King was often rooted in the Democratic party, while he had support in the Republican party, as proof that he was on the right.
This is absurd because it pretends that both parties occupied the same positions on the left-right spectrum in 1963 that they do today. In fact, as anyone who has ever cracked open a history book understands, the Democrats had a contingent of southern racists while the Republicans had northeastern liberals.
It just happens that it was the movement led by Rev. King and others that helped to remake the two parties. Lyndon Johnson – a Democrat – signed the Civil Rights Act into law, and the racist Dixiecrats soon found themselves on the outside of the party. Similarly, the conservative takeover of the Republican Party – liberal Rockefeller lost the nomination in favor of Goldwater – moved that party to the right. Soon the Dixiecrats found a resting place in the GOP while liberals became a part of the Democratic Party.
But back to King.
http://thedailybanter.com/2013/08/martin-luther-king-was-a-liberal-progressive-who-favored-left-wing-causes-dont-you-forget-it/
Ted Cruz Is Psychotic
Posted on August 25, 2013 at 4:59 pm by Mr. Brink
Oh, the face of defeat really does have a pretty mouth sometimes.
In an interview today on CNN‘s State Of The Union with slumlord/host Candy Crowley, Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX), Mr. Defund Obamacare Or Else Great Harm Will Come To You! told America that he intends to actually assist his misguided, healthcare-seeking constituents in signing up for the federal healthcare insurance exchange, set to begin open enrollment October 1st. So, by the state of Texas’s actions in publicly refusing expansion of Medicaid, as called for in the Affordable Care Act, on the grounds that the government has no business in their healthcare business– It appears that Texas, in particular, is secretly leaving pies on Sheriff Bart’s windowsill to help manage their twisted, states’ rights affairs.
Fooling all of the people all of the time can become a grind, but this is the problem with only reading headlines. On paper, Ted Cruz sounds like he’s concerned and will do anything he can to help people, saying,
“I am honored to represent 26 million Texans,” he said, “and dealing with the government is inherently frustrating, it’s inherently confusing and one of the things our office takes very seriously is trying to help Americans deal with the government.”
Oh, sure. He’s a helper on paper, maybe in bipartisan headlines, maybe even a traitor in some parts, but if you go to the tape, all of that reliable GOP fake sincerity and concern trolling is bolstered by Ted Cruz’s visibly uncomfortable body language, bordering on polite hostility. And, with that polished sheen of Southern-transplant condescension enjoyed by millions of compassionate conservative sociopaths everywhere, Obamacare is saved!
If the word empathy has any life left in it, Ted Cruz is now pissing arsenic into it’s ocular cavity. They’ve basically turned the idea of empathy and compassion into a dog whistle, or selling point, for those who refuse to believe that the GOP is actually this psychotic
http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2013/08/ted-cruz-is-psychotic.html
Ted Cruz is a pustule on the human DNA chain!
LOL OOOPS!
https://twitter.com/sonamie/status/371650167432163328/photo/1
https://twitter.com/admiralmpj/status/371314334330150912/photo/1
Young black men energized by 50th anniversary march
by Todd Johnson | August 25, 2013 at 11:45 AM
Chicago teenager Terrence Riley didn’t plan to attend the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington Saturday, but his grandmother insisted he come.
She’s pretty old and it meant a lot to her because she marched [back in 1963],” said Riley, 17. “She really wanted me to be a part of it and my [younger] brother, but we weren’t really exactly excited.”
Riley’s indifference to the event changed quickly, however. He admitted he was inspired by the “passion” of several speakers and the overall atmosphere.
Riley was among tens of thousands of people who gathered to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
TheGrio.com asked several young African-American men to reflect on the day’s events and share how the anniversary is relevant to their lives in 2013. Responses ranged from stories of pride and appreciation to calls for more action and participation from young people in civil rights issues.
Engaging older generations for advice
Matt Williams is part of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Wake Forest University. Williams said participating in the 50th anniversary events in DC was a way for him to show older generations his appreciation for their sacrifices.
“So much has happened since the [March on Washington] in 1963,” said Williams, who graduated from Wake Forest in 2009. “But there is so much more to do in terms of justice in America…creating a fair and equal playing field for everyone to sort of be their whole self and sort of get to the larger issues that are affecting us all.”
http://thegrio.com/2013/08/25/young-black-men-energized-by-50th-anniversary-march/
Republicans Are Doing Their Best to Kill Dr. King’s Dream
By: Rmuse
Aug. 25th, 2013
It is counterintuitive to rational thought and a law of physics that anything remains static after 50 years of passing time. It is just as irrational that people living in the 21st century fail to evolve and a segment of the American population have not progressed beyond the 1950s. Fifty years ago Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of his dream that one day Americans would judge other Americans by the character of their heart and not the color of their skin, and his dream’s fulfillment depended on the passage of time and a shift in people’s values. Fifty years later a large segment of the population has a dream to return America to conditions the Civil Rights movement sought to change, and Republicans are fulfilling their vision of second-class status for African Americans because a majority of the population elected an African American man as President.
Although racial animus never left a segment of the population, it appeared that as a whole Americans had indeed looked at African Americans as human beings worthy of the respect and dignity all citizens deserve, and Dr. King would have been pleased at the apparent progress this country made toward fulfilling his dream. However, due to Republicans propagating racial angst and suspicion toward Barack Obama within days of his election victory in 2008, any progress the nation made toward a semblance of racial equality went out the window. To be fair, only John McCain attempted to put Republican-driven suspicion of Barack Obama to rest during his campaign for the presidency when he told a hate-filled senior citizen that then-Senator Obama was a good American family man whom he disagreed with as far as politics. It was all Republican fear-mongering, suspicion, and denigration for the President from then on that drastically ratcheted up the minute President Obama was sworn in office, and it has only gotten worse since he won re-election to a second term.
To say Republicans, teabaggers, and conservative talking-heads have incited bigots to new heights of hatred borne of their racial animus is an understatement, and throughout it all Republicans have been loath to quell their supporters’ racist angst. In fact, throughout the Republican primaries last year and inherent in the presidential campaign of Willard Romney, blatant and dog whistle racism was part and parcel of the Republican strategy to denigrate the President that exploded after George Zimmerman was acquitted for stalking and murdering Trayvon Martin. It is true there were calls for a race war that marked a new low for the conservative movement over the past two years, but instead of rushing to calm racial hatred, Republicans gave their tacit approval with their silence and fear of conservatives instigating racial hatred for African Americans.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/25/gop-king-dream.html
Excellent assessment of the conditions that exist today because of the hateful racism of a large part of the Republican Party and seems to be approved by the other part of the Republican Party through its silence and lack of effort to stop this heinous push to turn the clock back.
Because both Presidents Bush, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney…. and others from the past and present Republican leadership positions….. have not strongly spoken out against this racism, against various states’ efforts to suppress the African American vote, and against profiling of the African American by the police, we have to assume that these leaders APPROVE of what is occurring. They have the ability to speak out and stop it, but they are doing NOTHING. Because of this, they, too, are RESPONSIBLE for this racial attack on African Americans and for the effort to turn the clock back.
Jeb Bush’s SILENCE is also BLATANT!
Because of his silence, Jeb Bush has NO political future.
Jeb Bush is especially repugnant. He’s married to a Latina & they have children. His silence on these issues is contemptible.
On the road with the Dream Defenders
by Trymaine Lee, MSNBC | August 25, 2013 at 12:16 PM
It was a little before midnight on Thursday when the 12-person van packed with 15 people pulled onto the campus of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. The bleary-eyed, huddled masses inside yelled for the driver to turn up the stereo as they pumped their fists and cheered.
After eight long hours on the road from Miami–with stops at a couple college campuses across the state–the core of the Dream Defenders, a group of mostly twenty-something activists, had made it that much closer to their final destination: Washington, DC.
They were greeted by a charter bus and about 50 other college students from all over Florida. The scene was part-family reunion, part-field trip. There were hugs and smiles and a kind of giddy excitement as the group loaded bags into the belly of the bus under the moonlight.
For the next 16 hours the group rumbled up I-95 and the eastern seaboard toward Washington and a date with history, pulling into the district late on Friday afternoon as a slew of rallies, receptions and commemorations for the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington were set to begin.
http://thegrio.com/2013/08/25/on-the-road-with-the-dream-defenders/
Is Al Jazeera America Going to Change the Way Networks Cover Climate Change?
—By Thomas Stackpole
| Thu Aug. 22, 2013 3:24 PM PDT
On its first day of broadcasting, Al Jazeera America devoted 30 minutes to climate change—more time than top shows on CNN and Fox News have given to this issue in the past four-and-a-half months, combined. In fact, the full half-hour (24 minutes, plus commercials) of broadcast of Inside Story was equal to about half of the coverage climate change received in 2012 from the nightly news on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, combined. For a network that promised to provide “unbiased, fact-based and in-depth, journalism,” this seems like a promising start.
According to Media Matters, Al Jazeera’s Inside Story had more coverage of climate change “than what was featured by CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront and Anderson Cooper 360 and Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity combined in the past four and a half months.” It was just behind the 32 minutes that MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has devoted over the same time period, though a long way back from Chris Hayes, who has spent a whopping hour and 42 minutes of his show on the subject since April 1 (not including a two-part documentary).
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/08/al-jazeera-america-climate-change
Real investigative journalism may be dying in the US, but that doesn’t mean it’s dying everywhere. Our brand of journalism will soon be nothing but a joke for the entire world, if it isn’t already. If Al Jazeera America can capitalize on that, good for them, maybe some of our own news stations will be inspired.
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)
Good Morning, Everyone at 3CHICS!
Good Morning, Ametia and Rikyrah.
Good job with the articles you are posting this morning, Rikyrah!
Good morning, everyone! Happy Monday!