The Friends of Distinction are an American vocal group best known for their late 1960s hits, “Grazing in the Grass”, “Love or Let Me Be Lonely”, and “Going in Circles”. Founded by Harry Elston and Floyd Butler, The Friends of Distinction also included Jessica Cleaves and Barbara Jean Love (plus Charlene Gibson, who replaced Love during her pregnancy).
Elston and Butler’s involvement in music entailed several groups, including the Hi-Fis, Ray Charles‘ backing band. The Hi-Fis also included Lamont McLemore and Marilyn McCoo, who would go on to be members of The 5th Dimension. When the Hi-Fis disbanded in 1966, Elston and Butler recruited Cleaves and Love for a new band; initially, Elston came up with the name of Distinctive Friends, but Love suggested reversing the words to Friends of Distinction.
NPR: In Colorado, A Couple Finds Relief In Obamacare
There’s plenty of criticism of the Affordable Care Act and how it’s being implemented.
But let’s introduce you to someone who is quite pleased with her Obamacare experience: Lela Petersen of Flagler, Colo. She’s a small business owner with a very big health insurance bill.
But thanks to the health law, she expects that bill will be cut by more than half in January.
Petersen is 57, and her husband, Mike, is 60. They have some pre-existing conditions. He has diabetes. She has a back injury. The HMO policy they’ve carried since 1992 has risen over the years to $1,950 per month, just for the two of them.
…. At the beginning of October she checked out Colorado’s insurance exchange and found the exact same policy from the same insurer for only $832 a month. “It’s dropping us down about $1,100 a month. We can retire. We can go fishing. We can actually see a future,” says Petersen.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/11/05/242416423/in-colorado-a-couple-finds-relief-in-obamacare
See what they said – they can retire. I’ve been saying that there are so many ramifications for Obamacare. I know that there are people out there clinging to jobs that they don’t like because of healthcare; and there’s another group – people with the years to retire, but don’t, because of health insurance. My sister is one of those people, but she just bit the bullet and retired anyway and now pays the amount of a car note for a very nice car monthly for health insurance. If these people now believe that they can retire, then what will that mean for companies and people’s abilities to move within companies…Obamacare is a gamechanger.
Cocky McSwagsalot @MoreAndAgain
Someone point me to the directions in the handbook on what Black ppl should do, in case of emergency, that won’t result in us being shot.
1:50 PM – 6 Nov 2013
GOP’s Obamacare posturing goes awry
11/06/13 04:15 PM
By Steve Benen
The Obama administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which has overseen creation of the federal health care marketplace, said earlier this week that it will soon release the preliminary enrollment numbers – and they’re going to be very low. It’s a message the White House has reiterated with reporters in recent days.
House Republicans have responded to the pending release of the data by … subpoenaing the data the administration has already pledged to release to the public.
This is all manner of silly. Why subpoena information that the White House has already vowed to publish? Because too often, House Republicans see administrative oversight as a game to be played for partisan advantage. The folks who believe “messaging” is more important than governing are the same folks who see federal subpoenas as some kind of toy.
For that matter, the administration didn’t “refuse to provide enrollment data”; the administration didn’t have the data to share. It’s putting the (likely to be horrible) figures together now, and soon we’ll all get a closer look.
As for the “cancellation notices,” this is a nice Republican talking point, but (a) Americans received plenty of cancellation notices under the old system, too often when they got sick; (b) if Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act, I can think of many millions of Americans who’d receive cancellation notices for no reason other than partisan spite; and (c) those receiving cancellation notices now are poised to get an insurance upgrade.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gops-obamacare-posturing-does-awry
Just finished Person of Interest…
WOW….
they’ve been killing it with their final scenes.
Pope Francis Kisses Severely Disfigured Man And Prays With Him
Pope Francis blessed a man covered with boils during today’s general audience at the Vatican. posted on November 6, 2013 at 3:46pm EST
Pope Francis was departing St. Peter’s Square after Wednesday’s general audience when he saw a severely disfigured man amidst the crowd of worshippers. Ignoring the boils covering the man’s face and neck, Pope Francis descended from his vehicle, walked to the sick man, and kissed him on the forehead. The pope then laid his hands on the man’s head and began to pray.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/pope-francis-kisses-severely-disfigured-man-prays-with-him
Since I didn’t want Fox to spoil my Election Night, I had no idea about Rove until I saw it on Rachel Maddow’s opening segment the next night. I was like W-T-F?
It was obvious.
Those mofos thought that they had ‘ fixed’ Ohio.
But, somewhere along the line, the co-conspirators chickened out. They knew that the Obama campaign and the DOJ was on their asses like White on Rice, and they left Karl holding the bag.
When I found out that Willard’s SON was owner in the company of the electronic voting machines used in Ohio, the tinfoil hat was on point.
But, I was also fortified by the amount of early voting, and the fact that the County that contains Cleveland, one of the largest vote areas of OH, doesn’t use electronic machines for Early Voting – they only use paper ballots.
Watching Rove’s meltdown on Fox was fucking hilarious.
http://youtu.be/hkRe33nDF08
http://youtu.be/9TwuR0jCavk
Tee heee!
Kanye West: Target of Boycott by NAN for Confederate Flag Clothing
November 5, 2013 by EurPublisher
*The National Action Network of Los Angeles, a leading national civil rights group founded by Rev. Al Sharpton calls for a national boycott of hip hop superstar Kanye West new clothing line featuring the confederate flag symbol.
Why? “Kanye West already has several pieces of merchandise from his Yeezus tour that are emblazoned with the controversial Southern Cross at his tour store in Los Angeles. Our organization is determined to shut down that and any other store that decides to sell this merchandise. For African-Americans the confederate flag is symbolic of the hurt and pain of slavery in the South and the legacy it has left for those still living under those ideologies. When Kanye embraces and adorns this confederate flag, He also embraces the ignorance and racism that goes along with it.” I challenge Kanye West to create a clothing line of merchandise featuring swastikas if he’s sincere about his beliefs . But we all know Kanye doesn’t have the courage to do that. The Jewish community would run him out of town if he did and so should the African American community,” stated Najee Ali political director of the Los Angeles National Action Network.
“Kanye West selling jackets with the Confederate flag on them is a
disgrace and embarrassment. many of our ancestors were brutalized,
kidnapped , raped, and murdered during slavery under this flag. Its
inexcusable for West to be promoting and merchandising this flag. We’re determined to boycott and shut down any other stores that attempt to sell this merchandise, stated Rev K.W. Tulloss President National Action Network Los Angeles
http://www.eurweb.com/2013/11/kanye-west-target-of-boycott-by-nan-for-confederate-flag-clothing/
Virginia – Blacks make up 20% of Virginia’s population.
Were 24% of the voters yesterday.
Uh Huh
WE know how McAuliffe won.
@Only4RM
Any DEM w/ 2016 hopes MUST focus on 2014 midterms since the main way to fight GOP voter suppression is to restore & enforce #VRA. @sfpelosi
@JenGranholm
Black Voters Were Big Reason McAuliffe Won VA http://bit.ly/1796qOD Still believe “voter fraud” was reason Cuccinelli wanted #voterID?
Detroit Woman Shot To Death Seeking Help After Car Accident
http://newsone.com/2759190/renisha-mcbride-detroit/
Renisha McBride, 19 (pictured above), was shot to death in a Dearborn Heights, Michigan neighborhood after seeking help following a car crash, reports The Detroit News.
At approximately 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning, McBride knocked on the door of a home, hoping for assistance. Instead, she got a gunshot wound to the head.
“He shot her in the head … for what? For knocking on his door,” said McBride’s maternal aunt, Bernita Spinks. “If he felt scared or threatened, he should have called 911.”
“You see a young black lady on your porch and you shoot?” asked Spinks. “He killed my niece and he needs to pay for it. He needs to be in jail.
“There was no windows broken. My niece didn’t bother anyone,” said Spinks. “She went looking for help and now she’s dead.”
The Dearborn Police Department have confirmed the shooting, but have not released the name of the suspect. They initially told McBride’s family that her body was “dumped,” but have now admitted that she died on the man’s porch, reports FOX 32.
Why did he answer the door? Couldn’t he have just waited for her to leave? Something is wrong here.
this hurts my heart.
@sfpelosi
Your Hillary Effect “white paper” is aptly named & secondary to #Obama Effect in #VAgov where AA voters caused the D win @American_Bridge
SNAP!
Ms. Marvel returns as Muslim teen
Activists say new superhero could help dispel stereotypes about the female Muslim American experience
Ms. Marvel, the 1960s-era comic book heroine who inspired a generation of teenage girls as a crime-fighting former U.S. Air Force officer in an impossibly tight costume, is making a comeback. But in the iconic character’s next incarnation, she will look very different. The role of the previously blonde, blue-eyed Ms. Marvel will be filled by a Muslim teen, Kamala Khan.
Khan, a 16-year-old high school student who lives in Jersey City with her Pakistani immigrant parents, can grow and shrink parts of her body and shape shift into other forms, The Associated Press reported.
But her real power might reside in helping teach the American public about what it means to grow up as a Muslim girl in the United States, activists said. Khan is the first Muslim lead character in a Marvel comic series.
“She is going to be a window into the American Muslim experience,” said Fatemeh Fakhraie, the founder of Muslimah Media Watch, a forum on Muslim women’s representation in popular culture.
Fakhraie said the new superhero “normalizes this idea of the American experience as Muslim,” adding that “A lot of us are bumping up against that the idea that a lot of America is white, while that isn’t what America is, we’re not all white and Christian.”
Previously, Marvel’s Muslim characters played minor roles, and included Dust, who can transform into sand and needed saving by Wolverine from a slave trafficking scam in Afghanistan.
Debunking stereotypes
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/11/5/ms-marvel-returnsasmuslimteen.html
So wonderful that he won!
Yes indeed!
Putting the minimum wage back in the spotlight
11/06/13 12:41 PM
By Steve Benen
It’s been nearly eight months, but President Obama’s State of the Union address pushed for, among other things, an increase in the minimum wage to $9 an hour. Obama went on to argue, “[H]ere’s an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on last year: let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on.”
The proposal caused a bit of a stir – the public overwhelmingly endorsed the president’s idea – before petering out in the face of near-unanimous opposition from congressional Republicans. Indeed, in the wake of Obama’s appeal, some GOP lawmakers, including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) not only balked at a minimum-wage increase, but also argued that the minimum wage shouldn’t exist at all.
But away from Capitol Hill, the issue hasn’t gone away. In New Jersey, for example, Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed a minimum-wage increase approved by the state legislature, but voters overrode Christie yesterday, easily approving a ballot measure that will “take the minimum hourly wage to $8.25 on Jan. 1 and then step it up annually to keep pace with inflation.”
What’s more, as my colleague Tricia McKinney reminded me, Democrats and union members in South Dakota have put a minimum-wage increase on the statewide ballot for next year. The measure would increase the state’s minimum “from $7.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour, and it would include annual cost-of-living increases.”
Even in D.C., proponents recognize Republican opposition, but haven’t given up the fight.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/pushing-the-minimum-wage-the-fore
Far-right suffers another setback in Virginia
11/06/13 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
On paper, Republicans were poised to have a very good year in Virginia’s off-year elections. For over a generation, whichever party controlled the White House invariably lost in the commonwealth. And in Virginia this year, Democrats nominated a gubernatorial candidate who’d never held public office, didn’t have deep political roots in the state, and wasn’t especially well liked by voters.
It looked like a recipe for GOP success. It wasn’t. As the dust settles on Election Day, Terry McAuliffe (D) has narrowly won Virginia’s gubernatorial race, Ralph Northam (D) was easily elected Virginia’s next lieutenant governor, and Mark Herring (D) very narrowly leads the still-uncalled race for state attorney general.
The Tea Party wing of Virginia’s Republican Party got the extremist candidates they wanted, and it looks like they lost in a clean sweep.
There’s no shortage of relevant angles to the Virginia elections, but there are two of particular interest. The first relates to the Affordable Care Act.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/far-right-suffers-another-setback-virginia
Alycee @jazziz2
You know your sh*t stinks if the Washington Times drops your azz! Washington Times drops Rand Paul: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/11/05/rand_paul_and_the_washington_times_part_ways_after_evidence_of_plagarism.html … via @slate
11:57 PM – 5 Nov 2013
How a Black First Lady Will Change New York
Chirlane McRay is a political activist and will undoubtedly have an impact on the way her husband leads.
Last night Bill de Blasio became the mayor-elect of New York City. But even more exciting for some of us New Yorkers, Chirlane McCray became the first lady-elect.
When history looks back at what led to de Blasio’s landslide, some will credit the missteps of his primary opponents, particularly sexting-prone Anthony Weiner, and Bloomberg clone Christine Quinn, but much of the credit will ultimately go to his family. Here was the groundbreaking ad starring de Blasio’s teenage son, Dante, and Dante’s Afro, which became so famous that Jon Stewart dedicated an homage to it on The Daily Show.
While some say behind every great man is a great woman, in de Blasio’s case, beside him has long been a great woman. De Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, who is African American, is a well-respected writer and political operative in her own right. A Wellesley graduate, she met de Blasio while both were working in City Hall during the Dinkins administration. Many are already speculating on how de Blasio’s administration will transform New York, but a more interesting question may be how his wife will transform New York.
The Big Apple has been without an official first lady for more than a decade. Donna Hanover, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s wife, was the last first lady of the city. (The duo ended up in court over whether or not Giuliani’s then-mistress Judi Nathan would be permitted in the official mayoral residence, Gracie Mansion, where Hanover and some of Giuliani’s children were still residing.) The city’s next mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has been divorced for a long time, and though he has been in a long-term relationship, he has never remarried.
And now there is Chirlane McCray. Though she will not be the first black first lady (that honor goes to Joyce Dinkins, wife of former Mayor David Dinkins) McCray will be the first first lady like her. An outspoken feminist and progressive activist, she previously identified as a lesbian before meeting and beginning a love affair with de Blasio. In a previous interview with The Root, he described their early meeting as love at first sight, recalling he felt like he was jolted by a thunderbolt. He also recalled the level of hostility and harassment they occasionally faced as an interracial couple two decades before multiracial families would become an American norm. But the couple endured, and now they are set to become the first couple of America’s most famous city.
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/blogging_the_beltway/2013/11/how_a_black_first_lady_will_change_new_york.html
Let’s do the “SMACKDOWN” LIVE.
I am so happy for them and New York!!
Miami Dolphins coaches reportedly asked Richie Incognito to toughen up Jonathan Martin
By Omar Kelly, Sun Sentinel
8:17 p.m. EST, November 5, 2013
Miami Dolphins coaches asked player Richie Incognito, who was the offensive line’s undisputed leader, to toughen up teammate Jonathan Martin after he missed a voluntary workout last spring, multiple sources told the Sun Sentinel.
The sources told the paper they believe that Incognito, who is accused of using racially incendiary language and bullying tactics against Martin, may have taken those orders too far.
It’s not clear whether those marching orders will now become part of a pending investigation by the NFL into the Dolphins’ locker room culture, and the alleged bullying that took place between Incognito and Martin.
“I’m just trying to weather the storm right now. This will pass,” Incognito told WSVN-TV when reached outside a doctor’s office.
Incognito has been suspended indefinitely by the Dolphins for conduct detrimental to the team for his tactics involving Martin, the team’s 2012 second-round pick, who left the team last week and later accused the Dolphins of having an unsafe working environment.
Martin’s smoking gun is a threatening, and racially offensive voice mail Incognito left him in April. In that voice message Incognito calls Martin, who is bi-racial, a “half n—–,” threatened to slap his mother across the face, and uttered the words “I’ll kill you.”
Sources say that communication took place when Martin skipped two days of the team’s OTA program, and Incognito was encouraged by his coaches to make a call that would “get him into the fold,” one source said.
Read more…
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-miami-dolphins-hazing-1106-20131105,0,1628986.story
So true, because y’all know damned well the GOP don’t give two shits about BLACK women aborting babies. Hell, the more the merrier. It’s the white wimmens VA-JAY JAY ‘S they’re trying to control, along, with fair pay increases.
LOL!
It’s the white wimmens VA-JAY JAY ‘S they’re trying to control
Yep! The GOP want white women to have those babies so they can have the numbers to stay in the majority.
******************
wassamattu, Bloomberg?
BWA HA HA HA
Mr. Stop-N-Frisk Bloomie’s body language says it all, doesn’t it?
**hollering**
Bloomberg looks like one pi$$ed off plutocrat in that photo.
the body language in this pic is HILARIOUS
Boo Hoo …Bloomberg haz a sad!
His Bloomers are showing! Teee-heeeee!
https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/398097354269532160/photo/1
Lovely!
Pot Reform’s Race Problem
The fight against marijuana prohibition must put racial justice at the center.
Carl L. Hart
October 30, 2013
As a neuropsychopharmacologist who has spent the past fifteen years studying the neurophysiological, psychological and behavioral effects of marijuana, I find this particular effect of pot prohibition most disturbing. Each year, there are more than 700,000 marijuana arrests, which account for more than half of all drug arrests. And now, largely because of the selective targeting of African-American males, one in three black boys born today will spend time in prison if we don’t take action to end this type of discrimination. The gravity of this situation contributed to Attorney General Eric Holder’s remarks about mass incarceration, which he described as “a kind of decimation of certain communities, in particular communities of color.”
Throughout its study of marijuana, the scientific community has ignored this shameful marijuana-related effect. There are virtually no articles in the scientific literature addressing it. One possible reason is that the National Institutes of Health has not made it a priority to understand or prevent racial discrimination, even though the devastating impact of racism on health is well documented. The NIH, specifically the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), funds no less than 90 percent of the world’s research on marijuana. If that doesn’t include studies on race, then the research is not likely to be done.
Another reason for this blind spot is that the researchers themselves are overwhelmingly nonblack and thus shielded from this kind of segregation. The luxury afforded to scientists as a result of working in a racially homogeneous field is apathy and willful ignorance, while the price paid by black people is high rates of arrest and incarceration.
http://www.thenation.com/article/176917/pot-reforms-race-problem#
http://youtu.be/Vadlu2Cmj1Y
Illegal drug use and the incarceration of Black MEN has ALWAYS been the issue with DRUGS. PERIOD
BWA HA HA HA Loving this!
https://twitter.com/ReignOfApril/status/398076876897677312/photo/1
That’s my FIRST FAMILY!
Yeah, Baby!
a comment from TOD:
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/11/06/early-bird-chat-66/#comment-876236
“Christie’s win was the result of NJ’s peculiar state politics, AND also because of what happened in NJ during hurricane Sandy.”
That’s it right there. Events of that magnitude, that impact so many people, are way past partisan politics. Those folks in NJ saw Christie as being on their side, doing his best for them. No one can compete with that unless they had pictures of him stomping on puppies, and they didn’t. It doesn’t say anything about his chances of becoming the POTUS in 2016, that is a whole other world.
GottaLaff @GottaLaff
It would have been 40,000 votes LESS close in Va. had they not purged voters.
8:18 PM – 5 Nov 2013
YES; black, brown, and yellow voters & young whites
Sister Outsider @FeministGriote
The VA women voter stats exemplifies a bigger problem among white women, their inability to divest from white supremacy & see WOC as peers.
10:29 PM – 5 Nov 2013
I would be interested in an age breakdown. I suspect that the largest number of white women who voted Republican in VA are over 50, at least, and within that group many of them would be over 60.
I cocur, Liza. These women are past their child-bearing years, they are conservative, and they are uppr middle income to wealthy
Something else that happened in VA is that 5.5 percent of the vote for governor went to the Libertarian candidate. That’s fairly significant because those are throw away votes that seem to indicate dislike for both the Democratic and Republican candidates. I know that Dems wanted this to be a big win for McAuliffe to show their strength in a swing state, but it is also possible that McAuliffe just wasn’t that appealing. However, a win is a win and the Dems need to be satisfied with that and focus on the disenfranchisement of their voters. That is a much larger problem than not being able to win the votes of elderly, conservative, wealthy white women in the Confederacy or anywhere else in the country. Those women are not going to change, but they will eventually die.
Michael McDonald @ElectProject
Herring takes small lead overnight in VA AG. There’s still outstanding vote so we’re now waiting for certification then possible recount
6:36 AM – 6 Nov 2013
https://twitter.com/PinkChocoCandy/status/395148646393458688/photo/1
Beautiful!
https://twitter.com/nycjim/status/398067387863289857/photo/1
YEAH!!!!!!!!
Congratulations, Bill! I’m coveting Blassio’s son’s FRO. LOL
https://twitter.com/GoogleEarthPics/status/397552225859674112/photo/1
South Forward @SouthForward
With @TerryMcAuliffe’s win tonight there will be 4 Southern Dem Govs. AR (Bebee), KY (Beshear) & WV (Tomblin). Let’s add more in 2014!
9:33 PM – 5 Nov 2013
Yeah, the Confederacy took a hit. Good!
But but Obamacare…
And the deficit, OMG the deficit….
BENGHAZI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bwa ha ha ha ha
EAKING: Illinois Gay Marriage: Illinois Just Became 15th State To Allow Equality – Posted November 5, 2013
Illinois gay marriage is almost a reality after the state’s House barely
passed the bill, 61-54-2, earlier on Tuesday. The Governor is expected
to sign it.[….] The bill now returns to the Democratically controlled State Senate. The Senate had previously passed an earlier version of the bill. Unlike New Jersey, Illinois’s governor Pat Quinn said that he will gladly sign it into law–the one last hurdle to legalizing Illinois gay marriage.[….]
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/11/05/illinois-gay-marriage-15th-state/
Good new. it won’t be long before VIR-GIN-Y goes same sex marriage too.
A Pete Souza wonder.
Breaking: New Jersey Votes To RaiseMinimum Wage Over Strong GOP Opposition – Posted on November 5, 2013
New Jersey enthusiastically voted to amend the state constitution to
raise the New Jersey minimum wage a dollar and tie future increases to the rate of inflation. Indeed, the state’s voters decided to make the ridiculously pathetic $7.25 an hour in a state with one of the highest costs of living (I’m from here), a slightly less pathetic $8.25 an hour.
Governor Christie, who just won reelection and can now finally focus on (2016) the state’s crushing problems, previously vetoed a bill that would raise the New Jersey minimum wage.[….]
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/11/05/new-jersey-minimum-wage-vote-raise/
@davidaxelrod
McCauliffe polling had race 2 to 4 in final weeks and race finished there. Myth of anti-Obamacare surge offers Tea Party false comfort. 1/2
Colombian women get their road fixed by refusing to have sex
Good roads can be a matter of life and death. This is definitely true
in Barbacaos, a little town in southwest Colombia. You can only access the town by one dirt road, and it’s in horrible shape: A trip to the closest hospital can take up to 14 hours. As you can imagine, it’s not unusual for people die on the way — including women in labor.Now the ladies have taken things into their own hands.
They’re staging a real-life Lysistrata and refusing to put out until the road is fixed.[….] And it seems to have actually worked this time! As reporter John Otis told PRI: Just this month, the Army Corps of Engineers has announced, “Yes, we are rebuilding that road,” and the bulldozers are in there and they’re getting going on it. So there appears to be a happy ending this time.[….]
http://grist.org/list/colombian-women-successfully-withheld-sex-to-get-their-road-fixed/
SURVEY: Despite Website Woes, Most Uninsured People Plan To Keep Trying To Enroll In Obamacare
By Sy Mukherjee on November 4, 2013 at 10:26 am
The beleaguered Healthcare.gov website prevented many of the Americans who are eligible for new insurance coverage options under Obamacare from enrolling in a health plan in October. But that won’t stop the majority of them from trying again, according to a new survey by the Commonwealth Fund.
The survey found that 17 percent of adults who might be eligible for coverage through Obamacare visited either a state or the federal marketplace in October, and that 60 percent of respondents are aware of the marketplaces’ existence. That’s nearly a 33 percent spike in awareness, compared to a similar survey in September.
The vast majority — 76 percent — did not enroll in a plan, while just one in five adults surveyed did enroll. But three of five adults who either hadn’t yet visited a marketplace or visited one without enrolling said they’ll be back. Those people plan to either enroll in a plan, find out if they’re eligible for financial assistance to buy a policy under Obamacare, or find out if they’re eligible for Medicaid by the end of the initial open enrollment period:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/11/04/2881751/survey-obamacare-enrollment-website-woes/
Folks are that crazy. They should know by now that anything GOP/RACISTS BAGGERS oppose is good for them as well as the opposers.
IRS Cracks Down on Breaks Tied to Land of Rich Americans
By Richard Rubin – Nov 5, 2013 7:00 PM CT
Behind the glazed white terra cotta facade of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New Orleans is a 16-year legal battle with the Internal Revenue Service.
The developers of the hotel, which is housed in a former department store on the edge of the French Quarter, say their promise to preserve the century-old facade entitles them to a $7.4 million deduction. The U.S. tax agency disagrees.
In this case and dozens like it, the IRS is challenging a complex and obscure tax break that benefits some of the nation’s wealthiest property owners. Without giving up land, they donate the hard-to-calculate value of a perpetual promise to leave the property undisturbed. For that, they claim a big tax deduction.
“They’re overwhelmingly to high-end individuals and provide little to no benefit to the public,” said Dean Zerbe, who examined easement donations as a Republican aide on the Senate Finance Committee. “I don’t know if I could design a tax break that’s more targeted toward the millionaire set.”
The conservation easement break is one of hundreds scattered throughout the tax code that members of Congress are reviewing as they consider making the most significant revisions since 1986. The lawmakers are looking for ways to curtail breaks that benefit the richest Americans to offset the revenue that would be lost through lower tax rates
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-06/irs-cracks-down-on-breaks-tied-to-land-of-rich-americans.html
@sfpelosi the majority of white women voted for cuccuinelli, as you can clearly see. not sure what the point in sugar-coating it is.
— SheriffFruitfly (@sherifffruitfly) November 6, 2013
@DanaHoule
Christie barely mentions ACA, wins big. Cuccinelli focuses on ACA, loses. Pundits: Shows ACA a problem for Dems!
@amyewalter
VA electorate in ’13 mirrored ’12. Obama won VA +4- TMac won it by +3. Why the freak out about closeness?
This week’s selections have me humming along and dancing under my desk..LOL
Loves the oldies like no other.
Happy HUMP day, Everyone! :-)) We’re grazing int he snow this morning. LOL
Loving the oldies this week, SG2. Thanks.
Good Morning, Everyone at 3CHICS!!
Morning, everyone!
Me no likey cold snow & cold.
Don’t you like how folks forget how to drive every 1st snowfall. Extra 15m to get to work. Uggh. Have a good day all.
@Tyren. LOL we only got a few flakes., not the 6 inches they predicted. I’m one of the slow ones whenit snows though. The black ice accident I had in the mid 90s was NO JOKE.
What’s black ice, Ametia?
Black ice, sometimes called clear ice, refers to a thin coating of glazed ice on a surface.
While not truly black, it is virtually transparent, allowing black asphalt/macadam roadways to be seen through it—hence the term “black ice”. The typically low levels of noticeable ice pellets, snow, or sleet surrounding black ice means that areas of the ice are often practically invisible to drivers. There is, thus, a risk of skidding and subsequent accident due to the loss of traction. A similar problem is encountered with diesel fuel spills on roads
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_ice
Ah …Too scary!
Ametia, did you get hurt?
I respect the weather a lot more than speed limit signs. That said, flakes. Plus it hasn’t frozen yet. Glad you made it through winter accident. My life is richer for it.
Good afternoon all!
I am leaf blowing today. TTYL.
@ SG2. We were on our way to airport for trip California. Hubby and I had to drive from southern Ontario to Toronto Airport like 4 am in the morning.
It was raining and snowing when the car just starting spinning like a top, a complete 360, hit a guard rail, then slid off the road, down an embankment and into a ravine. Scary as HELL.
We weren’t injured, the car was totalled. We caught a bus to Toronto, went to Cali, from Thursday-Sunday. Monday morning when I woke up, my whole body felt like I’d been run over by an 18 wheeler.
OMG! Thank God neither of you were hurt. God’s Mercy and Grace!