I thought we’d share a little country music this week, focusing on the ladies.
Today’s selection: Faith Hill
Faith Hill (born Audrey Faith Perry; September 21, 1967) is an American country pop singer and occasional actress. Her voice type is a mezzo-soprano.[1] She is married to Country superstar Tim McGraw, with whom she has recorded several successful duets. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide.[2]
Hill’s first two albums, Take Me as I Am (1993) and It Matters to Me (1995), established her as a popular country singer. The pair placed a combined three No. 1’s on Billboard’s country charts and each received multi-platinum certifications in the U.S. But the release of her next two albums, Faith (1998) and Breathe (1999), brought Hill mainstream, crossover and international success, by achieving high positions and huge sales globally. Faith spawned her first international hit, “This Kiss”, and went multi-platinum in various countries. Breathe became her best-selling album to date and one of the best-selling country albums of all time, by being buoyed by the huge crossover success of her best known single, “Breathe”. It went multi-platinum in several countries around the world and earned Hill three Grammy Awards, including Best Country Album. In 2001, she recorded “There You’ll Be” for the soundtrack of the movie Pearl Harbor and the song became an international success and her best-selling single in Europe. Hill’s next two albums, Cry (2002) and Fireflies (2005), kept her mainstream popularity. The former went multi-platinum and spawned another crossover single, “Cry”, which won Hill a Grammy Award. The latter went multi-platinum as well, bolstered by the success of the singles “Mississippi Girl” and “Like We Never Loved at All”, which earned her another Grammy Award.
Hill has won five Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards, four American Music Awards and several other awards. Her Soul2Soul II Tour 2006 with McGraw became the highest-grossing country tour of all time.[3] In 2001, she was named one of the “30 Most Powerful Women in America” by Ladies Home Journal. In 2009, Billboard named her as the No. 1 Adult Contemporary artist of the 2000 decade and also as the 39th best artist.[4] Hill was, from 2007 to 2012, the voice of NBC Sunday Night Football’s intro song.[5]
1993–1997: Country success[edit]
Hill’s debut album was Take Me as I Am (1993); sales were strong, buoyed by the chart success of “Wild One”. Hill became the first female country singer in 30 years to hold Billboard’s number one position for four consecutive weeks when “Wild One” managed the feat in 1994.[14] Her version of “Piece of My Heart”, also went to the top of the country charts in 1994.[8] The album sold a total of 3 million copies.[8] Other singles from the album include “Take Me as I Am”.
The recording of Faith’s second album was delayed by surgery to repair a ruptured blood vessel on her vocal cords. It Matters to Me finally appeared in 1995 and was another success, with the title track becoming her fourth number-one country single. Several other top 10 singles followed, and more than 3 million copies of the album were sold.[8] The fifth single from the album, “I Can’t Do That Anymore”, was written by country music artist Alan Jackson. Other singles from the album include “You Can’t Lose Me”, “Someone Else’s Dream”, and “Let’s Go to Vegas”
In spring 1996, Hill began the Spontaneous Combustion Tour with country singer Tim McGraw. At that time, Hill had recently become engaged to her former producer, Scott Hendricks, and McGraw had recently broken an engagement. McGraw and Hill were quickly attracted to each other and began an affair. After discovering that Hill was pregnant with their first child, the couple married on October 6, 1996. The couple have three daughters together: Gracie Katherine (b. 1997), Maggie Elizabeth (b. 1998) and Audrey Caroline (b. 2001). Since their marriage, Hill and McGraw have endeavored never to be apart for more than three consecutive days.[7]
After the release of It Matters to Me, Hill took a three-year break from recording to give herself a rest from four years of touring and to begin a family with McGraw. During her break, she joined forces with her husband for their first duet, “It’s Your Love”.[15] The song stayed at number one for six weeks,[8] and won awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. Hill has remarked that sometimes when they perform the song together, “it [doesn’t] feel like anybody else was really watching.”[15]
1998–2003: Pop crossover breakthrough[edit]
She reentered the music business in 1998 with Faith.[15] The album showcased her progression toward a more mainstream, pop-oriented sound, although it retained some country sound. “This Kiss” became a number one country hit, and was the first of her singles to place on the pop charts, peaking at number seven. More than six million copies of the album were sold. The album also delivered several other hits including another duet with McGraw, “Just To Hear You Say That You Love Me”, “Let Me Let Go” and “The Secret Of Life”.[8]
To follow up this newfound success, Hill immediately released Breathe, which debuted at the top of the Billboard Country and all genre charts, ahead of albums by Mariah Carey and Savage Garden.[16] Although the album had few overt country sounds, it “complement[ed] her vocal strengths.”[17] For the first time, the album consisted solely of songs about love and did not venture into the more somber territory that her previous albums had touched.[17] The title track, “Breathe”, reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[16] “The Way You Love Me” hit the top 10 as well, topping out at number six on the charts. The album won Hill three Grammy Awards including Best Country Album, Best Country Collaboration With Vocals for “Let’s Make Love” featuring Tim McGraw and Best Country Female Vocal Performance for “Breathe.”[18] It also marked a step away from her girl-next-door image, as the videos and promotional pictures all portrayed a much sexier image. Breathe has sold almost 10 million copies worldwide.[19]
2000 was an especially busy year for Hill. Besides a successful tour with her husband, Hill was featured in a CBS television special, VH1’s Behind the Music, VH1 Divas 2000, and the Lifetime cable channel’s Intimate Portraits series.[16] She signed an endorsement deal with CoverGirl makeup,[8] performed at the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards, appeared on the cover of numerous magazines, and performed the national anthem at the Super Bowl.[16] Hill was also named to Mr. Blackwell’s 10-best dressed women of 2000, the only singer listed among actresses and other celebrities. Hill and McGraw also embarked on their first Soul2Soul tour, the “Soul2Soul Tour 2000.”[20]
Musically, in 2000 Hill recorded a song for the movie Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, entitled “Where Are You Christmas.” The song also appeared on the pop and country charts. Hill’s success on the pop charts disturbed some country music insiders, who questioned whether she was trying to dismiss her country roots and move into the pop genre. Despite the grumbling, Hill won the CMA Female Vocalist of The Year Award, and in her acceptance speech announced, “I love this business, and I love this industry… and my heart is here.”[16]
In 2001, Hill recorded a song for the Pearl Harbor soundtrack which was originally offered to Celine Dion. It is one of her most critically acclaimed song. Besides, as how she said it in her own words, “One of the biggest honor of my career is being asked to sing a theme from Pearl Harbor.” “There You’ll Be” also appeared on the album There You’ll Be: The Best Of Faith Hill, an international greatest hits album. The album featured dance mixes of “Breathe” and “The Way You Love Me” along with alternate versions of “Piece Of My Heart” and “Let Me Let Go.” “There You’ll Be” is considered to be Faith Hill’s biggest hit single in the UK up to date. The song was nominated for a 2002 Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
In 2002, Hill released her new album with a more pop-oriented sound, Cry. The album “spotlight[ed] her impressive set of pipes,” but also marked the completion of her “transformation into a pop diva,” containing few nods to her country roots. Though the album debuted at number one on Billboard magazine’s pop and country album charts,[8] and Hill made her debut as musical guest on Saturday Night Live, the album’s singles (including the title track “Cry”, written and originally performed by Angie Aparo) received much less radio airplay than her previous smashes.[21] The album however, did win a Grammy Award and 3.7 million copies have been sold worldwide.[18]
Hill’s 2002 song “Baby You Belong” off her Cry album was used as the theme song for the movie Lilo & Stitch. The music video featured clips from the movie as well as performance clips.
2005–2006: Return to country[edit]
In concert in Dallas on the Soul2Soul II Tour, July 29, 2006
In 2005, Hill returned with her new country album, Fireflies. The CD debuted on top of the Billboard Country and all genre album charts, placing her among only a handful of artists to have three consecutive albums debut at number one on both charts.[22] The debut single, “Mississippi Girl”, became Hill’s highest-debuting single. The song was written specifically for her by John Rich (of Big and Rich) and Adam Shoenfield of MuzikMafia, and tells the abbreviated story of her life. Hill recorded two other songs by Rich, “Sunshine and Summertime” and “Like We Never Loved at All”, both of which became successful singles.[23] The title track, “Stealing Kisses” and “If You Ask” were written by artist Lori McKenna and also appear on McKenna’s albums. The album marked a return to Hill’s country roots and succeeded in reestablishing her place on country radio.[24]
In 2006, after a six-year break from touring following the birth of her youngest daughter,[7] Hill and husband Tim McGraw embarked on their Soul2Soul II Tour 2006. The tour became the highest grossing country music tour ever with a gross of $90 million.[3][25] It was named “Major Tour of the Year” by the prestigious Pollstar, beating out such heavyweights as Madonna and the Rolling Stones.
2007–2010: The Hits, Joy to the World and Sunday Night Football[edit]
In 2007, Hill started work on her first domestic greatest hits package, titled The Hits, which was released on October 2. It contains two new tracks, “Lost” and “Red Umbrella”, as well as 13 additional tracks. The album also features hits covering her entire career from 1993–2005. Included with the 2-Disc Special-Edition of The Hits is a DVD of 11 of Hill’s music videos. The DVD substitutes the Tim McGraw duet “Just To Hear You Say That You Love Me” for their “I Need You” duet on the CD.[26]
She’s also featured on husband Tim McGraw’s 2007 album Let It Go. She sings two duets with him, “I Need You” and “Shotgun Rider.” Both songs were sung at the couple’s critically acclaimed Soul2Soul II Tour 2006. She and Tim also did an encore of their Soul2Soul II Tour; Soul2Soul 2007 began in June and ran through August. The song I Need You has been nominated twice at the 2008 Grammy Awards for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals and Best Country Song. The show took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on February 10, 2008 but the song didn’t win.
In 2007 Hill took over as the signature voice of NFL on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, singing the theme song about which the show’s producer said:[27]
It’s not often that you get the opportunity to have a mega-star like Faith Hill perform the signature open to your show.
Hill performed the opening theme until April 15, 2013, when she announced that she will no longer sing the intro for Sunday Night Football.[28]
In September 2008, Hill issued her first Christmas album, titled Joy to the World. The compilation was given positive reviews, including about.com, which gave the album four and a half out of five stars, calling the album, “a great collection of classic Christmas songs”. Hill continually worked on the album two years prior to its official release. The album included one new track, “A Baby Changes Everything”, which was released as the album’s only single in late 2008.[29] The song debuted at No. 24 on Billboard’s AC chart, and quickly rose to No. 1, becoming Hill’s fourth number one on that chart.
On February 1, 2009, Hill performed “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl XLIII pregame show. The other performers at the pregame show were Jennifer Hudson and Journey, and Bruce Springsteen performed at the Halftime show.[30]
In October 2010, Hill contributed to the Country Strong soundtrack. On it, she recorded a song titled ‘Give In To Me’. Hill also appears on Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn, on which she performs “Love Is The Foundation”. Hill also contributed her vocals on the Ryan Tedder penned song “All I Ever Wanted” for the 2010 feature film Life As We Know It. The song was used in trailers to promote the film and also appeared during the end credits of the film.
Faith Hill And Husband Tim McGraw should make a movie together like Country Strong. That would be such a great movie.
I wish Faith would of played in Country Strong. I love that movie so much. I have watched that movie about 50 times and that’s no exzaduration.
Please, please, please, make a movie like that together.
I’ll be the 1st to buy that, and watch that one about 50+ more times.
Signed A Fan
Of Both of You…..
Spike Lee is being interviewed by Oprah – tonight!
it’s on right now.
Will repeat later tonight.
Loving Black Women and Richard Cohen’s Gag Reflex
Richard Cohen’s gag reflex was triggered by the visual of white Bill DeBlasio being married to his black wife Chirlane. Cohen couched his disgust in the everyman approach, attributing it to “conventions” of normal middle Americans.
………………………
There is certainly a long history of backlash against interracial intimate relationships between black men and non-black women, particularly white women. That history is steeped in violence, myth, and oppression. But it is also predicated on the assumption that white women should be found desirable. The violation for black men is not that they desire white women but that they marry them. Or, rather that white women marry black men and black men have the option. But the desire is not considered abhorrent. Acting on it? Sure. Having it reciprocated? Possibly. Marrying because of it? Distasteful, mayhaps, but not a reflection of an unnatural desire. With some variation, the same is true of black men desiring Asian, Latina, or South Asian women although intensity tends to correlate with the proximity to whiteness.
In contrast, the violation of a white man marrying a black woman is also steeped in violence, myth and oppression. But the violation is not white men sexually desiring a black woman. Indeed, there is a well-documented history of black women being constructed as acceptable receptacles for the slaking of lust to protect the purity of white women. No, the violation in that instance is a white man loving and marrying a black woman. A private predilection is one thing. A public, legal union is quite another. It is the latter that seems to choke up Cohen’s “conventional” strawman because, as he intimates, something about it is unnatural. It is so unnatural it triggers a visceral, violent physiological response. It’s actually a bizarrely violent image if you think about it. It is surely one hard to imagine him having when he has to look at, say, Clarence Thomas and his wife.
Cohen goes farther with a parenthetical about Chirlane being a lesbian, to boot. I tend to think of parentheticals as inner dialogue vomited onto a page as some sort of subconscious desire to reveal our true selves, by the way. But that is neither here nor there. The point is Cohen felt a need to further locate Chirlane as not just black but as queer.
Like everything else, queer identities are viewed through the prism of race. Whereas sexuality can be seen as a dalliance or a performance for the male gaze when the parties are attractive white women, queerness for black women is a perversion. That is largely a function of the assumed inferiority of black female hetereosexual sexuality. If a black straight woman is gross, then a gay one is that much grosser. Again, that’s not to say that white queer women do not face discrimination but its nature is rooted in a very different history (pdf) and has a different penalty. I think here of Mignon Moore’s work on black queer identities, families, and marginalization.
I have been reading and working on a piece about race, gender and symbolic violence on the internet. So a great deal of black feminist work is foremost in my mind right now. One of those pieces is by Kimberle Crenshaw. In it she, the scholar responsible for intersectionality theory and law, talks about how we risk erasing the specificity of black women’s experiences when we are not careful in how we conflate them with intersectionality. My instinct about the social media response to Cohen as a general disgust with interracial marriage was tempered by this concern. If he was actually talking about black (queer) women, what do we erase when we make his argument about interracial marriage more broadly? Or, more importantly, who do we erase?
Cohen’s gag reflex was triggered by his specific location of Chirlane in a specific history, which he laid out with his language. She is black. She used to be a lesbian. Taken together, Chirlane is a perversion, an embodiment of an inferior type of sexuality and Bill DeBlasio, by virtue of his white male heterosexual identity had better, more normative, “conventional”, less gag inducing options. There is a price to be paid when an individual rejects the benefit of their privilege. That is because in rejecting that privilege one calls into question the assumption of what is right and natural, i.e. white men marry white women or, at minimum, a non-black woman. When they do not, the very premise of what is natural is thrown into relief. And if we start questioning everything we assume to be right who knows where we might end up?
There’s a horribly cheesy movie staring Al Pacino as The Devil, as in the biblical Satan. It’s horrible and I watch it every time it’s on television. At some point, Pacino playing Pacino playing Satan, tosses out, “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled off was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.”* As a metaphor for power it is, I think, a useful one.
Cohen’s disgust with what DeBlasio represents and not what Thomas represents is because of what he assumes to be right and natural about their respective choices. That he couches it as conventional may or may not be accurate but it is telling. He is appealing to what he has always been able to assume is true and he cannot believe you do not assume it, too. When your assumptions have been rewarded and reflected back at you by law, media, and culture anything out of step with your assumptions is worthy of being published in a mainstream newspaper. But, I want to be clear, the violation Cohen is writing about, the way he writes about it, is all about how it is natural to desire a white woman and an aberration to desire a black woman.
http://tressiemc.com/2013/11/13/loving-black-women-and-richard-cohens-gag-reflex/
The Cowardly Dems:
Time to name and shame them (I’ll be finding and posting their Twitter handles throughout the day):
•Ron Barber – AZ-2 (@RepRonBarber)
•John Barrow – GA-12 (@repjohnbarrow)
•Ami Bera – CA-7 (@RepBera)
•Timothy H. Bishop – NY-1 (@TimBishopNY)
•Bruce Braley – IA-1 (@TimBishopNY)
•Julia Brownley – CA-26 (@JuliaBrownley26)
•Cheri Bustos – IL-17 (@RepCheri)
•Jim Costa – CA-16 (@RepJimCosta)
•Peter A. DeFazio – OR-4 (@RepPeterDeFazio)
•Suzan K. DelBene – WA-1
•Tammy Duckworth – IL-8
•Bill Enyart – IL-12
•Elizabeth Esty – CT-5
•Bill Foster – IL-11
•Pete Gallego – TX-23
•John Garamendi – CA-3
•Joe Garcia – FL-26
•Ron Kind – WI-3
•Ann McLane Kuster – NH-2
•Dave Loebsack – IA-2
•Dan Maffei – NY-24
•Sean Patrick Maloney – NY-18
•Jim Matheson – UT-4
•Mike McIntyre – NC-7
•Jerry McNerney – CA-9
•Patrick Murphy – FL-18
•Rick Nolan – MN-8
•Bill Owens – NY-21
•Gary Peters – MI-14
•Scott Peters – CA-52
•Collin C. Peterson – MN-7
•Nick J. Rahall II – WV-3
•Raul Ruiz – CA-36
•Brad Schneider – IL-10
•Kurt Schrader – OR-5
•Carol Shea-Porter – NH-1
•Kyrsten Sinema – AZ-9
•Filemon Vela – TX-34
•Tim Walz – MN-1
LOL This is cool.
Makes me wanna say, WAY TO GO, JAY & HALEY. WAY TO SAVE TEXAS!
bwa ha ha ha ha ha
You know Jay is a Super Hero. He’s Iron Man!
this is so sweet
but but but he has his own show on MSNBC
Yeah, Alec Baldwin Is a Bigot
National Nov 15 2013, 3:24 PM ET
stole that headline from Andrew Sullivan, because like Andrew, I don’t really understand how there can be much debate about Alec Baldwin’s tendency to insult people who have angered him with the word “faggot” (“cocksucking fag” to be specific). “Faggot,” like most slurs, is a word used to remove a group from the protections of society. It is not incidental that slurs frequently accompany acts of violence—both systemic (withholding the protections of the law) and personal (beatings, torture and killings).
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/yeah-alec-baldwin-is-a-bigot/281561/
Friday, November 15, 2013
You Didn’t Know? Renisha McBride is Responsible for Her Own Murder Because She Happened to be “Drunk” While Knocking on Theodore Wafer’s Door for Help
Renisha McBride’s killer now has a name. Theodore Wafer has been charged with murder for shooting Renisha McBride in the face with a shotgun. This is long overdue.
As I wrote here, black folks do not have the luxury of being strangers in America who seek help in a time of crisis.
Black Americans are also subjected to extremely high standards of perfection, “personal responsibility”, behavior, and comportment in all areas of life. White privilege is a license for white mediocrity and bad behavior because a given white person’s behavior is not taken as being representative of the group as a whole. By definition, “bad” white people are outliers and exceptions because Whiteness imagines itself as benign, neutral, natural, and “normal”. Black and brown folks are judged by the “least” of us, the latter is taken as representative of the whole until we/us prove otherwise.
http://www.chaunceydevega.com/2013/11/you-didnt-know-renisha-mcbride-is.html
Truth in this article!
The Morning Plum: For Democrats, it’s gut check time
By Greg Sargent
November 15 at 9:31 am
Today, the House of Representatives will take up GOP Rep. Fred Upton’s proposal to ”fix” Obamacare by undermining it, and the vote is being widely cast on a referendum on whether Dems will continue distancing themselves from the law. Meanwhile Senate Dems are also still considering fixes of their own that could undermine it, though that’s subsided.
A senior Democratic leadership aide tells me to “expect Dems to be largely opposed to Upton.” Let’s hope so. Either way, more Obamacare challenges may well follow.
So perhaps it’s time to step back and note this: However much Dems are right to worry the President could drag them down, the failure of the health law could damage them a whole lot more, and could badly harm the Democratic Party long term. In other words, the president may matter less than the policy.
Here’s how Politico sums up the thinking among some angry Dems:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/15/the-morning-plum-for-democrats-its-gut-check-time/
Obama Promises He Will Veto the Latest House Republican Trick to Destroy the ACA
By: Jason Easley more from Jason Easley
Friday, November, 15th, 2013, 10:55 am
House Republicans are wasting more time voting on a bill that is disguised as a fix to the ACA, but it really an act of sabotage. President Obama has already promised he will veto the bill.
In a statement released by OMB, the White House said,
The Upton bill is just more of the same from House Republicans. The only difference is that they have changed their pitch to make it appear as if they are saving health insurance choices for the American people. What the legislation really does is it cuts off the ACA’s lifeline, by allowing insurance companies to sell low cost junk insurance to existing and new customers.
The bill is nothing more than a stealth move to repeal the ACA. This is all part of John Boehner’s master plan to deny the American people healthcare. Boehner and company are going to wrap their attempts to repeal Obamacare in the language of saving it. By Boehner’s own admission this legislation is an attempt to fracture and break the Democratic Obamacare coalition.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/11/15/obama-promises-veto-latest-house-republican-trick-destroy-aca.html
Hat tip DU
Mitch McConnell Is Less Popular Than the Affordable Care Act in Kentucky
By: Jason Easley more from Jason Easley
Friday, November, 15th, 2013, 12:50 pm
Things are so bad for Mitch McConnell in Kentucky that a new DFM Research poll found that the Senate Minority Leader has a higher unfavorable rating than the Affordable Care Act.
The poll is loaded with bad news for McConnell. Sen. McConnell’s approval rating is 35% in the state. This puts McConnell just two points ahead of President Obama in the red state. (Rand Paul doesn’t fare much better than McConnell. His approval rating is 41%.) 33% of Kentuckians rated McConnell’s leadership during the government shutdown as fail. Twenty eight percent rated his leadership as poor which means that a total of 61% of those polled are very unhappy with the way McConnell handled the government shutdown.
The 2014 race for McConnell’s seat looks like a dead heat. McConnell leads Allison Lundergan Grimes 41%-40% with 19% unsure. Unlike McConnell, Grimes has a split approval rating at 25% to 25% approve/disapprove. Things are so bad for McConnell in Kentucky that he has a higher unfavorable rating than the Affordable Care Act. Fifty five percent have an unfavorable view of McConnell compared to 48% on the ACA.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/11/15/mitch-mcconnell-popular-affordable-care-act-kentucky.html
39 turncoat Democrats voted for people to keep their junk insurance.
39 DIRTY COWARDS
Lord, I can’t. I.JUST.CAN’T.
account@BenJealous
My mother Ann Jealous’s book signing for Combined Destinies: Whites Sharing Grief About Racism http://goo.gl/xCnHXn pic.twitter.com/KF1SQGuobC
It’s truly the end times. Here we have whites comparing the ACA to dead and suffering BLACK Katrina victims. And this NEGRO Jealous family writing about whites sharing grief about racism.
makes you shake the head and go WHAT THE FUCK!!!
Oprah: “”There are still generations of people, older people, who were born and bred and marinated in it, in that prejudice and racism, and they just have to die,”
YES!
Another Town Comment:
Letter From Governor Patrick to the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation on the Affordable Care Act
BOSTON- Friday, November 15, 2013 – Governor Deval Patrick today sent the following letter regarding the Affordable Care Act to the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation:
To the Members of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation:
As you consider current proposals to change the Affordable Care Act (ACA), I write to remind you about what we have learned from health care reform in Massachusetts, and to inform you of some of our experiences so far with implementing it.
READ THE REST HERE: http://www.mass.gov/governor/pressoffice/pressreleases/2013/letter-from-governor-patrick-on-the-affordable-care-act.html
A letter from a Dallas citizen begging JFK not to visit
Whew!
UH UH UH. 50 years later and…
@UniteBlue
Why did insurance companies sell junk plans to millions after #Obamacare passed, knowing they’d be cancelled once the law was implemented?
THAT’S THE$ 64,000.00 QUESTION!
@imfabulous13
I just went on republican healthcare site and purchased a great affordable insurance for me and my unicorn! #Obamacare #tcot #UniteBlue
@GrooveSDC
This “Obamacare is Katrina” meme let’s me know there is no suffering blacks endure that white conservatives won’t try to co-opt
Charles Pierce:
@ESQPolitics
Nobody Drowned From Obamacare http://esqm.ag/6010jr3m
That’s the TRU-TRUE, Mr. Pierce. Think how many Americans would have benefit from having OBAMACARE during KATRINA, though.
YES YES YES
Prosecutor: no duty to retreat in your home, but you don’t get to open the door with a shotgun in hand and then claim you were in fear.
The homeowner, a 54 year old armed white male, did not have to open the door. Most people who are standing in a house behind a closed door holding a loaded gun are pretty damn safe. Something else was going on in his head besides, “I’m so scared, my life is in danger…”
GOOD!!!!!
@Liza. Perhaps “Imma shoot me a nigga today?”
@Ametia, that’s the one.
@TheReidReport
MI prosecutor: no duty to retreat in your home, but you don’t get to open the door with a shotgun in hand and then claim you were in fear.
@studentactivism
Prosecutor just said no toxicology testing was done on Ted Wafer on the night he killed #RenishaMcBride.
Visions of Trayvon Martin dancing in my head with these fucking TOXICOLOGY reports!
WTF was in THEODORE WAFER’S BLOOD the day he blew Renisha head off?
MOFO MANSLAUGHTERING MOFO! Jail that MOFO
Gun charges too!
Theodore Paul Wafer blew off the face of a beautiful young girl for absolutely NOTHING. What a cruel SOB!
Prosecutor Kym Worthy: “There is no evidence of forced entry into the home”. “Our evidence shows she knocked on the locked screen door.”
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/15/21476808-homeowner-in-renisha-mcbrides-killing-to-face-murder-charges
Theodore Wafer <—-Lying ruthless savage fired into the face an an innocent girl seeking help & thought he was going to bamboozle prosecutors with "I was afraid for my life".
NOT TODAY, BEYOTCH!
Renisha McBride press conference.
http://www.wxyz.com/subindex/news/news_livestream2 …
Settlement Keeps Fair Housing Law Safe From Roberts Court, For Now
Parties to one of the most significant Supreme Court cases this term have settled their lawsuit, averting a ruling that could have obliterated the standard for alleging racial discrimination in housing. The settlement was made official when the Mount Holly Township Council approved the deal Wednesday night, meaning the justices will no longer hear scheduled oral argument December 4.
The case involved a plan to demolish a largely minority neighborhood in Mount Holly, N.J., to build newer, more expensive housing in its place.[….]
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/11/15/2946311/plaintiffs-dodged-blow-housing-discrimination-law/
NRCC chair Walden: Obamacare is a ‘category 5 political hurricane’
BY SEAN SULLIVAN
November 15 at 9:32 am
Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Friday that he believes the 2014 midterm election will be a referendum on the problems with the rollout of President Obama’s signature health-care law, which he likened to a very severe storm.
“Now that it has become a category 5 political hurricane, it is not just causing havoc in certain regions of the country,” Walden (R-Ore.) said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in Washington. “It is ripping apart every region of the country.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/11/15/nrcc-chair-walden-obamacare-is-a-category-5-political-hurricane/
@billscher
GOP ’14 bumper sticker: Obama Lied, People, Uh, Got Quality Affordable Insurance Choices
@elonjames
Dear white folks: Please stop comparing some of the darkest times for negroes to bullshit you simply dont like. Slavery? Katrina? Seriously?
@eclecticbrotha
The GOP can tank the government and threaten to destroy the world economy but the media attacks the president over a website and a promise.
@GoBrooklyn
Charlie Rangel is concerned that Obama’s actions will cost Democrats. CHARLIE RANGEL! I can’t even.
8SIGH* Time to take Rangel to the nursing home.
LUVVIE’S SCANDAL RECAP IS UP
Everything’s Coming Up Mellie: Scandal Episode 307 Recap
November 15, 2013 | Luvvie
For a show that is notorious for shocking us with a new development every episode to outdo itself is no small feat and Scandal did that with episode 7 of season 3. When it ended, I literally spent 20 minutes just mumbling to myself saying “OMG I CAN’T” at random intervals. Tonight, it was her turn to shine. Or burn. She did both and Shonda hemmed my emotions up and still hasn’t let go. Let’s just get right into it.
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2013/11/everythings-coming-mellie-scandal-episode-307-recap.html
Scandal:
I don’t even know where to begin about last night’s show.
I guess I gotta go with
When ‘Welcome to Wonderland’ isn’t the most shocking moment of your episode..
You have been writing FIERCE.
Quinn ….we told your ass to go somewhere and have a timeout.
But, she thought she was ready to play in the big leagues, even though she’s a fucking guppie, and in the end, she’s so out of her league and jumped straight into hell.
You knew Charlie was NO DAMN GOOD, but she was like Icarus and that sun…and now her ass has melted.
Mama Pope is a GOON.
No other explanation for it.
She’s a GOON. Papa Pope’s a GOON.
Olivia’s was raised by the Black equivalent of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
I never saw HIM holding her captive. I didn’t see that one coming.
Mellie?
Oh Mellie. I’m on team Mellie and I understand Mellie a lot more now. She broke my heart.
I’m going to have to go back and watch the show all over again to see what I missed..cause we didn’t even get into Sally’s hubby being on the Down Low.
Cyrus had a wife? ….sigh.
And POTUS finally getting the connection between Rowan and Olivia.
You literally couldn’t turn away a minute in this episode, or you would miss something.
i had my suspicions about Mama Pope, and they were confirmed last night.
Mellie and that rape scene by Papa Grant did me in. I certainly do understand her more now.
i’m so DONE with Quinn, I don’t know where to begin. LOL I made a ryhme!
LMBAO @ this gif. Whatchoo doing to us, Shonda Rhimes?!!!!
Top GOP priority put on ice
11/15/13 08:47 AM
By Steve Benen
Following up on an item from the other day, House Republicans decided at the beginning of this Congress that tax reform would be their top legislative priority. It was given the special H.R. 1 designation – a symbolic bill number intended to convey its significance.
And to that end, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) has spent nearly three years on his plan to overhaul of the federal tax code, including months of negotiations with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.). The goal was to unveil a blueprint in 2013 so the broader legislative debate can begin in earnest.
But that recently ran into an unexpected hurdle – some House Republicans would rather focus their energies and resources on condemning the Affordable Care Act, and have come to see tax reform as a distraction. House GOP leaders are apparently thinking along similar lines.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/top-gop-priority-put-ice
Elizabeth Warren Joins the Battle to Overhaul the Senate Filibuster
—By Andy Kroll
Thu Nov. 14, 2013 7:49 AM PST
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is lending her voice to the chorus of lawmakers who want substantive changes made to how US senators use the filibuster, the main tool of opposition by the minority party.
The impetus for Warren’s comments came on Tuesday, when Senate Republicans filibustered President Obama’s nominee to the influential DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Georgetown Law Professor Cornelia Pillard. If she’s ever confirmed, Pillard would be the fourth woman on this important federal appeals court, which decides often-consequential cases between the federal government and private parties. Senate Republicans have also filibustered Patricia Millett’s nomination to the appeals court and say they plan to block another appeals court nominee, Robert Wilkins, as well.
In the face of all this obstruction, Warren has joined progressive stalwarts such as Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) in demanding real changes to how the filibuster is used. “So far they have shut down the government, they have filibustered people [President Obama] has nominated to fill out his administration, and they are now filibustering judges to block him from filling any of the vacancies with highly qualified people,” she said. “We need to call out these filibusters for what they are: Naked attempts to nullify the results of the last election.”
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/11/elizabeth-warren-fix-senate-filibuster
Jonathan ChaitVerified account@jonathanchait
Is it me or did every conservative suddenly decide letting people keep their plan is unworkable the moment Obama endorsed it?
President Obama Check-Mates Health Insurance Lobby
Thursday, November 14, 2013 | Posted by Spandan C at 2:19 PM
There are a lot opinions going around about President Obama’s press conference this morning on the Affordable Care Act and its implementation. I see it as a singular thing: check mate. Once again, to quote my fellow contributor here at TPV, the president saved the Democrats’ bacon, and once again, with his back to the wall, he delivered a masterful stroke of political genius curved out to avoid any interference with policy.
The headlines tell you that Obama will let Americans who are being dropped from their plans keep those plans for another year, and that is absolutely true. But the headlines do not tell the whole story. With the withering assault on health reform from the media, the Republicans and some Democrats, the president took the most blistering attack line against him, and turned it into a weapon against reform opponents. Here is what I believe were the two most important sentence the president spoke in the nearly hourlong presser (transcript).
This, my fellow progressives, is how you keep your eyes on the prize. The entire problem of people who are currently in the individual insurance market being dropped resulted not from the president making a disingenuous promise to the contrary but from insurance companies making the conscious decision to drop their insured and blame it on Obamacare. Insurers have had more than 3 years to bring their plans into alignment with the minimum coverage requirements of health reform, and they have chosen not to do so over time, instead choosing this moment to scare their subscribers.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/11/president-obamas-check-mate-to-health.html
The insurance companies are some dirty MOFOs. Anyone buying their bogus shidiggety, deserves everything they get.
Her primary problem is being surrounded by folks who don’t have a clue about raising a self-respecting young Black girl.
I just want to hug this child..hold her tight and tell her about her worth as a Black girl.
…………
8-year-old bullied because she wore weave to school
by Kunbi Tinuoye | November 14, 2013 at 4:43 PM
An 8-year-old girl from Georgia has been left with severe and possibly permanent damage to her scalp after school bullies tugged at her weave over a prolonged period of time.
Aolani Dunbar, who is biracial, has natural afro-textured hair but craved long, flowing straight hair. Her maternal grandmother Dorris Bearden, who’s white, said she wanted to brush her hair like other girls at her school.
“Her hair is short and frizzy but it’s always been her dream to her to have long hair like mine,” Bearden told theGrio. “She’s a girly girl and likes to play with and brush the hair of her dolls.”
Aolani is a third-grader at Roopville Elementary School in Carroll County, a predominately white school in rural Georgia.
To make her happy Aolani’s mother and grandmother allowed her to wear a sewn-in weave attached to her natural hair. “I spoke to several cosmetologists who said it wouldn’t be a problem as long as we helped her take care of the hair,” said Bearden.
But from the very first day Aolani’s classmates, egged on by two ringleaders, started to tease her and took turns pulling her hair extensions. Bearden called the school principal the next day and each time her granddaughter complained, she was back on the phone.
“They kept pulling it and pulling it, especially on the playground,” Aolani said in a televised interview with WSB-TV. “Everybody got a chance, and I was in the gazebo sitting there crying because I have no friends to play with that will protect me.
http://thegrio.com/2013/11/14/8-year-old-bullied-because-she-wore-weave-to-school/#s:23966147_bg2
Janet Yellen should worry GOP policy elites. A lot.
By Ryan Cooper
November 14 at 12:50 pm
Janet Yellen is just finishing up her confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee right now. She breezed through it. She handled even the dumbest questions masterfully. She emphasized her view that with inflation low, and unemployment high, the Fed should be concerned about jobs above all else. She said possible asset bubbles were concern, but primarily one for regulation, not for monetary policy. Yellen will likely proceed to a quick confirmation as Chair of the Federal Reserve.
The people who should be most concerned about the hearing are Republican policy elites. Many Republicans on the committee tacitly embraced deflationary, Herbert Hoover-style economics, which many GOP wonks know well would be devastating to the economy.
Because the American economy has been stuck at the zero lower bound (where the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates as far as possible) for five straight years now, and absent reform of the Fed’s structure to give it more tools — to enable giving newly printed money straight to every citizen, for example — it is likely to bounce off that floor again and again in coming decades. At that floor, and with no help from Congress, the Fed’s unconventional stimulus programs are all that is keeping the economy on its feet. And if Republicans take power at or near that floor, and proceed to appoint a Fed governor that will enact harsh Hoover-style monetary policy, they will incite a rapid recession.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/14/janet-yellen-should-worry-gop-policy-elites-a-lot/
Spike Lee sits down with Oprah this Sunday.
Here’s a couple of snippets.
http://youtu.be/26umVgTsm-o
http://youtu.be/K2HWvEghmNo
Rev. Al sat down with Oprah.
Rev. Al’s life was drama filled…..here’s a snippet.
http://youtu.be/W9kL3LFMtpc
Thanks for this, rikyrah.
There Will Be No Congressional Fix For Canceled Health Care Policies
—By Kevin Drum
| Thu Nov. 14, 2013 10:03 PM PST
This is just a quick note to anyone who’s worried and/or hopeful that Congress will pass some kind of legislative fix for people whose health insurance has been canceled due to Obamacare. It won’t happen. Republicans are interested only in Obamacare’s failure and will refuse to support any Democratic bill that genuinely addresses the problem. Conversely, Democrats are interested only in improving Obamacare and relieving the political pressure they’re feeling. They will refuse to support any Republican bill that contains an obvious poison pill. Unless I’m missing something, the intersection of these two positions is the null set. Thus, there is no bill that can pass Congress.
This is not a joke. No one should waste any time reporting or commenting on the various bills that are likely to pop up over the next few weeks. It’s all just posturing. Obama’s regulatory fix is the only one we’re going to get.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/11/there-will-be-no-congressional-fix-canceled-health-care-policies
REMEMBER:
The Best Man Holiday opens today.
Luvvie has done a review also – no spoilers inside.
I Saw The Best Man Holiday and Here’s My Review (NO SPOILERS)
[ 23 ] November 14, 2013 | Luvvie
When I think of The Best Man, I remember the golden age of Black Hollywood. The 90s were awesome for diversity in entertainment (music, TV and movies). The film was part of a decade-long cluster of great coming-of-age stories that was BY US, FOR US but still relatable to everyone.
………
After going to the advance screening of The Best Man Holiday the other night, I can say that any fear I had was dropkicked. THE FILM WAS PHENOMENAL! I wanna even go out on a limb and say it’s better than the original. Yes, I mean it. IT. WAS. SO. GOOD. What was so dope about it? A lot.
Below are some of the reasons I loved it (and no worries. There are NO spoilers).
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2013/11/best-man-holiday-review.html
I’m going to see the Best Man Holiday this weekend. Thanks for the recap from Luvvie!
Lawd, it’s nearly 8 am and NO LUVVIE RECAP YET..
LUVVIEE!!!!!!
Harold FOrd is a jealous hater who can’t get past that Barack Obama zoomed past his ass straight to the White House, because his sellout ass thought he was being ‘ groomed’.
G-T-F-O-H Harold.
…………………..
Great reply:
TEE HEE HEE
THIS. It’s movies and long walks for me this weekend.
DeBlasio’s already sent the word: I want your resignation on my desk 3 minutes after I’m sworn in.
……………….
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly says Bill de Blasio, other pols are full of s—
By Jennifer Fermino AND Larry Mcshane / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, November 15, 2013, 2:30 AM
Outgoing NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly thinks Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is “full of s—.”
The veteran cop dumped on de Blasio during a wide-ranging Playboy
magazine interview as he approaches the end of his run as the city’s
longest-serving police commissioner.
Kelly accused de Blasio and his fellow Democratic mayoral hopefuls of
pandering for votes this fall by attacking the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk
tactic.
Reporter Glenn Plaskin asked the commissioner, “Do you think they were just full of s—?”
“Absolutely,” replied Kelly.
…Kelly, who critics say has a strained relationship with black New
Yorkers because of the stop-and-frisk debate, denied there’s a problem.
“You might read something snarky on Twitter,” Kelly said. “But I could
take you right now up to 125th St. in Harlem and young men will stop me for my picture and give me a very favorable and friendly greeting.
“They understand that we’re saving lives in their community, that they’re the ones at risk.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/nypd-commish-kelly-de-blasio-full-s-article-1.1517775#ixzz2kigLoUhe
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone. Happy FRY-day!
Lawdy woman, Scandal left me BREATHLESS.
Good morning, everyone!
This Kiss! This Kiss! It’s criminal!
Hi rikyrah, Ametia, SG2 and Everyone :)
Thanks for all your work in bring this week’s music to us, rikyrah!
Great job!
Howdy woman. Have a great weekend too!
Thanks Ametia!