Movie Plot: It’s the summer of 1963, and 17-year-old[citation needed] Frances “Baby” Houseman (Grey) is vacationing with her affluent family at Kellerman’s,[7] a resort in the Catskill Mountains. Baby is planning to attend Mount Holyoke College to study the economics of underdeveloped countries and then enter the Peace Corps. She was named after Frances Perkins, the first woman in the U.S. Cabinet. Her father, Dr. Jake Houseman (Orbach), is the personal physician of Max Kellerman (Jack Weston), the resort’s owner.
During her stay, Baby meets—and develops a crush on—the resort’s dance instructor Johnny Castle (Swayze), who is also the leader of the resort’s working-class entertainment staff. While walking around on the resort grounds, Baby encounters Billy (Johnny’s cousin), and when Baby helps Billy carry watermelons to the staff’s quarters, she observes their secret after-hours party and the “dirty dancing” (i.e., the Mambo) involved.
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/405899420635365377/photo/1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25125042
Joy gave me goosebumps putting that racist ass clown in his place. Whew lawdy! 👏👏👏
I’m still cooking, y’all. But I need a break for a few minutes.
I’ve been cooking for two days, SG2, we’re having TG tonight. I’m soooo tired and my back hurts, so I’m taking a break too. Almost done…
I know exactly how you feel, Liza! I’m so tired and there is still cooking to do. Haley wants to bake cookies later too. I still have to do my cornbread yet.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. May you all have a wonderful blessed time together.
Thank you, SG2. I hope that you and yours have a happy Thanksgiving holiday. That cornbread sounds so good. I LOVE homemade cornbread.
The Plum Line
Americans are sick of war. Washington should take notice.
By Ryan Cooper
November 27 at 11:49 am
In a new Reuters poll, Americans back the proposed Iranian nuclear deal by 2-to-1 margin. This is supported by the recent Post/ABC poll that finds 64 percent of Americans support easing sanctions in exchange for a temporary delay of Iran’s nuclear program.
At the same time, though, a bipartisan cast of political elites attacked the agreement before it has even been finalized — underscoring the extent to which Washington has become divorced from the American people on foreign policy.
According to the survey, performed by Reuters/Ipsos, about 44 percent of American support the deal, 22 percent oppose, with the rest undecided. Other questions in the are largely unsurprising: Americans are suspicious of Iran and are supportive of Israel. Here’s the really revealing result:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/27/americans-are-sick-of-war-washington-should-take-notice/
The Plum Line
Morning Plum: Republicans are absolutely certain Obamacare has already failed
By Greg Sargent
November 27 at 8:31 am
With Obamacare facing its deadline for website functionality, Republicans appear absolutely, irrevocably, 100 percent certain the law’s total collapse is at hand, or even already complete. However, they may be the only ones who are convinced of this.
A new CNN poll tests public opinion on the law in a way I haven’t seen before — and it shows Republicans are the only group who believe the law’s problems can’t be solved and that it should now be pronounced a failure. Independents and moderates believe it can still work.
To be sure, opposition is running high, at 58 percent, as in many other polls, and virtually no one believes the law is a success, which is as it should be. This means, again, that the rollout continues to put Democrats in serious political peril. But disapproval does not necessarily translate into giving up on the law, which matters, because it goes to whether people will enroll in the numbers necessary to make it work over time.
The poll finds 53 percent of Americans say it’s too soon to tell if the law will succeed or fail, versus 39 percent who pronounce it a failure. That latter sentiment is driven by Republicans: Independents say it’s too soon to tell by 55-41; moderates by 58-35. But Republicans overwhelmingly believe it’s a failure by 70-25.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/27/morning-plum-republicans-are-absolutely-certain-obamacare-has-already-failed/
Dems ramp up pressure on unemployment insurance
By Greg Sargent
November 26 at 3:14 pm
Republicans have been working overtime to draw attention to human stories about people losing health coverage thanks to Obamacare, confident in the belief that they can win a war of anecdotes that will help destroy the law in the realm of public opinion.
But over one million other Americans are also set to lose another form of insurance — and in this case, it is Democrats who will be highlighting their stories in an effort to prod Republicans into doing something to stop it from happening. The insurance in question is unemployment insurance.
Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee have penned a letter to the GOP chairman of the committee — Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan — urging him to take a break from the hearings about Obamacare and hold one on the need to extend unemployment compensation. The letter from ranking Dem Sander Levin and other Dems says:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/26/dems-ramp-up-pressure-on-unemployment-insurance/
The Plum Line
Contraception is back!
By Greg Sargent
November 26 at 1:36 pm
Big news: The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Obamacare that centers on the Constitutionality of its contraception mandate — reigniting a debate over women’s health and “religious liberty” that played a major role in the 2012 elections. Oral arguments will likely come in March.
However this turns out, at a moment when the health law is sinking in polls, and its prognosis remains in doubt, this has the potential to revive an argument about health care that even Republicans widely admit played heavily in the Dems’ favor — in both the 2012 presidential and Senate races — the last time it was in the news.
The contraception debate flared up in the spring of 2012, at around the time Rush Limbaugh denounced Sandra Fluke as a “slut and a “prostitute.” Democratic operatives subsequently seized on some comments from GOP Senate candidates (see Akin, Todd) to keep up a drumbeat about the GOP as hidebound and captive to a base that is unwilling to evolve on cultural and women’s health issues.
The RNC’s own autopsy into what went wrong in 2012 explicitly noted that the GOP needs to avoid being seen as the party of “stuffy old men.” Dems will do all they can to ensure that a SCOTUS debate over contraception revives the focus on what it means to elect a party that appoints stuffy old Republican judges.
Indeed, the RNC autopsy called on the party to broaden the party’s appeal to Latinos (through an embrace of immigration reform), young voters (by showing sensitivity on gay rights) and women. But immigration reform looks dead in this Congress, and House Republicans refuse to move forward with a measure to end gay workplace discrimination. The Republican Party is running out of ways to evolve, and a revived debate about contraception brings up an issue where the party is still very much ministering to a key chunk of the base. House Republicans have tried to add measures to spending levels that would limit Obamacare contraception coverage, and at one point Paul Ryan told GOP colleagues that the debt limit deadline should be used as leverage against the same.
In one sense, this could also play in Republicans’ favor. If midterm elections are about base turnout, another extended debate about contraception provides Republicans with an easy way to fire up social conservatives in the middle of 2014.
But Dems will seize on it to further tar Republicans among key swing constituencies. White House adviser David Plouffe tweeted that the SCOTUS decision to take up the case would be a “nightmare” for Republicans, adding that 2016 GOP candidates’ handling of it would be closely watched by women in key swing areas such as northern Virginia. Dem Terry McAuliffe won in Virginia by building up a big gender gap, relentlessly tarring Republican Ken Cuccinelli as reactionary on women’s issues.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/26/contraception-is-back/
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/405768662771986432/photo/1
The changing role of money in politics
By Smartypants
For both liberals and conservatives, a common refrain we hear when a political battle is lost is that we can blame the role of money in politics. We’ve seen ample reason for this conclusion in the past. For example, when it comes to presidential elections we’ve seen the amount of money raised for candidates go from $162 million in 1980 to $2.3 billion in 2012. Of course with the SCOTUS’ Citizen’s United ruling, about $550 million of the 2012 total came from outside groups (ie, SuperPACs).
But I’m here to suggest that it might be time to challenge the conventional thinking about the role of money in politics. Things are changing fast in both political parties and technology is playing a BIG role in altering the landscape.
When it comes to the changes in political parties, Barack Obama’s campaigns have ushered in a death blow to traditional thinking about fundraising. In the past candidates have relied on big donors to fund their endeavors. But President Obama showed that small donors in large numbers can beat that system.
Read more here:
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-changing-role-of-money-in-politics.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FlpjFg+%28Smartypants%29#!/2013/11/the-changing-role-of-money-in-politics.html
http://twitter.com/AmbassadorRice/status/405338987075620864/photo/1
Republicans Refuse to Cover the Poor, Then Complain that Obamacare Isn’t Covering the Poor
—By Kevin Drum
Thu Nov. 21, 2013 3:30 PM GMT
The New York Times has gotten hold of the “House Republican Playbook” on Obamacare, and I have to admit that it brought back warm memories. It’s just like the launch kits I used to produce for our sales force whenever we came out with a new product, and I have to say that it looks very professional. For Eric Cantor’s sake, I hope his sales force pays more attention to it than my sales force used to pay to mine.
In any case, it’s all pretty predictable stuff: Obamacare is an abomination; people are losing their insurance; small companies are being ruined; etc. etc. But I have to say that this is my favorite talking point:
Needless to say, this is primarily because Republicans governors have refused to implement Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, even though it’s 100 percent paid for at first and 90 percent paid for forever. These governors literally prefer to have their state’s residents pay taxes and get nothing in return rather than give so much as an extra dime to poor people who need health care. It’s truly hard to fathom what kind of human being is callous enough to do this, but apparently there are a bunch of them in the Republican Party.
And then, just to add a cherry of chutzpah on top of this ice cream sundae of spitefulness, they crow about how Obamacare isn’t covering as many people as Obama hoped it would. You really have to marvel.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/11/republicans-refuse-cover-poor-then-complain-obamacare-isnt-covering-poor
It’s a game they’re playing with people’s lives.
When will their supporters eyes come open? Sickness is not prejudice.
If preventing hospital layoffs is important…
11/27/13 10:58 AM
By Steve Benen
If you received an email this week from your angry uncle who watches Fox News all day, outraged by reports that “Obamacare” is causing layoffs at the Cleveland Clinic, let him know he can relax.
Imagine that. After conservative media ran with this, Media Matters talked to Eileen Sheil, the Cleveland Clinic’s Executive Director of Corporate Communications, who said, “There have been several mis-reports and they keep mentioning that we’re laying off 3,000 employees. We’re not.” The medical facility is offering voluntary retirement to 3,000 eligible employees, but those aren’t “massive layoffs,” and blaming the Affordable Care Act for staffing decisions that have happened elsewhere for years is a stretch.
Indeed, Sheil added that the Clinic supports the law conservative media is so eager to denigrate: “We believe reform is necessary because the current state is unsustainable. The ACA is a step toward that change and we believe more changes will come/evolve as there are still many uncertainties. Hospitals must be responsible and do what we can to prepare and support the law.”
And while this incident offers another reminder about the reliability of conservative media outlets, there’s another angle to keep in mind. Though it doesn’t get as much attention as it should, Medicaid expansion is incredibly important to state hospitals, which will struggle badly in Republican-led states that reject the policy. Indeed, in some states, hospitals may end up closing their doors altogether, at least in part due to the political decision.
And when state hospitals close, there are actual “massive layoffs,” which affect the employees and the economy. It’s one of the reasons so many hospitals lobby Republican officials in “red” states to be more responsible on Medicaid expansion, though their appeals are generally ignored.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/if-hospital-layoffs-are-important
Turning the health care corner
11/26/13 11:15 AM—Updated 11/26/13 12:03 PM
By Steve Benen
Political journalism is sometimes criticized, fairly, for its “pack” mentality. Major news organizations wait for the conventional wisdom to organically take shape, and then the players stick to their scripts, reinforcing an agreed upon consensus. In practically no time at all, there are certain political facts that “everyone knows” to be true.
But soon after, that gets dull, the conventional wisdom invites skeptics, and contrarian instincts kick in. Maybe, the political world starts to wonder, those truths that “everyone knows” aren’t so true after all.
For the last several weeks, the consensus in establishment circles was that the Affordable Care Act’s open-enrollment period was not only a disaster, but a catastrophe that would destroy Obama’s presidency, the Democratic Party, the American health care system, and the very idea of progressive governance. Pundits could hardly contain their analogies – this was Obama’s Katrina, Obama’s Iraq, Obama’s Watergate, Obama’s Iran-Contra, and even Obama’s Bay of Pigs.
But the funny thing about narratives is that they’re sometimes fleeting. Ezra Klein suggests today that “Obamacare” may finally be “turning the corner.”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/turning-the-health-care-corner
November 26, 2013, 2:42 pm
The Obamacare Worm Turns
I suggested yesterday that we’re probably heading for a turning point in the health reform discussion. Conservatives are operating on the assumption that it’s an irredeemable disaster that they can ride all the way to 2016; but the facts on the ground are getting better by the day, and Obamacare will turn into a Benghazi-type affair where Republicans are screaming about a scandal nobody else cares about.
And it’s already starting to happen.
White House officials are sounding increasingly upbeat. They could be deluded or spinning; but after what happened two months ago one suspects that the last thing they want is to inflate expectations unduly.
Meanwhile, media coverage is shifting fast. It’s still mostly trying for equivalence — each positive story of people being helped matched by a negative story of people hurt. But the stories don’t actually match up at all.
Small example: earlier today I found myself trapped in a place with CNN on in the background, showing a fair-and-balanced account of losers and winners. First, the loser: a guy who admits that Obamacare has gotten him a plan cheaper than the insurance he had, but who has found that his current allergist is off-network. Annoying, no doubt; but there are other allergists, and this particular one probably didn’t help the case by saying that he’s thinking of refusing to take Medicare patients, too.
And in any case, insurance with restricted networks is hardly something new to Obamacare.
Then, the winners: a couple with no insurance at all, because her premium would have been prohibitive and he has a preexisting condition that won’t let him buy any kind of insurance at all — but now both covered, at a very affordable price, by Covered California.
I don’t know about you, but these don’t sound to me like equivalent stories.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/26/the-obamacare-worm-turns/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto&_r=3
When Success Is Not News
By Charles P. Pierce at 10:12AM
Look, there’s something going on with the Affordable Care Act that doesn’t require an IT specialist to explain. There’s a world beyond the ginned-up anecdote. Who knew?
…………….
It is important to realize while reading this that the Republicans have no plan for maintaining the reform of our ridiculous health-care system beyond rolling us all back to the status quo ante. Oh, and “tort reform,” aka The Dalkon Shield Protection Act of 2014. They are arguing for a return to widespread fear and panic with every twinge of the back, and a return to the profitable perfidy of the insurance industry. This is increasingly looking like the last chance for the United States to join the rest of the industrialized world in crafting a sensible health-care policy for its citizens. All of its citizens.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/la-times-obamacare-success-stories-112613
Hey Chicas!
I have my tree up and house is decorated. Yay! Jay came in this morning and said..’granny, it’s bee uuu teee ful’.
Jay is a sweetheart :)
Jay asked if he can have some Dr Pepper with his sandwich b/c he got 3 greens in a row.
:)
Think Progress: Treasury And IRS To Crack Down On Super PACs Masquerading As Tax-Exempt Social Welfare Groups
The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed guidelines on Tuesday that could force dark-money political groups like Crossroads GPSand the American Future Fund to spend less of their money on campaign advertising and other overt electioneering. If implemented, this guidance would clarify what actions by tax-exempt social welfare organizations are limited “candidate-related political activity” and what actions can count toward their principal purpose.
According to the Wall Street Journal, these rules would label “campaign advertising, voter registration, get-out-the-vote efforts, and distribution of voter guides and campaign materials,” as “candidate-related political activity.” None of that would be able to count as part of the group’s tax-exempt purpose — meaning only a minority of its work could fall into those categories. While 501(c)(4)s would still be free to engage in those activities, they couldn’t be the main focus. This could mean groups accused of masquerading as (c)(4)s could have to find new ways to spend their money.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/11/26/2997701/treasury-irs-rules/
Can we just say how DELICIOUSLY COOL this is.
Jim Garrow and Erik Rush Obama Should Be Stood Against Wall and Shot
By: Hrafnkell Haraldsson more from Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Wednesday, November, 27th, 2013, 7:35 am
Republicans have become obsessed not with simply impeaching or imprisoning President Obama, but with killing him. And they are quite open about their desires. We just saw how a pair of former generals have dishonored their uniforms by saying Obama must be forcibly removed from office and how a Christian militia group claimed that Jesus and the Second Amendment gives them the right to shoot Obama.
Because they have no actual justification for Obama’s removal (and eventual execution) they must fabricate heinous misdeeds for which to punish him – like attacking America with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that would result in “the deaths of ninety percent of the population of the United States of America.”
This story is the brainchild of Jim Garrow and Erik Rush.
Yes, Jim Garrow and Erik Rush say Obama should be stood against wall and shot – for something that exists only in their own twisted imaginations.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/11/27/jim-garrow-erik-rush-obama-stood-wall-shot.html
This is disturbing. We just went through the 50th anniversary of JFKs assassination, yet these sick and twisted people say things like this PUBLICLY?? This is beyond my tolerance. What is it going to take to shut these fools up?
Does anyone know when PBO’s going to pardon this year’s turkey?
1:20 pm EST according to TOD
Your Maddow hits for today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHSXUZt3O6o
these were good segments
http://www.freep.com/article/20131125/NEWS08/311250112/Dr-Maben-black-surgeon
National Society of Black Physicists
http://www.nsbp.org
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/27/nyregion/suit-claims-racial-harassment-at-security-firm-with-new-york-city-contracts.html?_r=0
The HITS just keep on coming.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2513734/African-American-customer-sues-Hertz-staff-mock-using-Pidgin-English-Facebook.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
11/26/2013
http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardgreen/2013/11/26/listen-to-this-american-life-on-the-legacy-of-lending-discrimination-against-african-americans/
About the young woman from yesterday in Florida who was facing expulsion because of her hair, the school has backed off.
/…………….
Update: African-American girl won’t face expulsion over ‘natural hair’
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/africanamerican-girl-faces-expulsion-over-natural-hair/-/1637132/23159400/-/ajs6jbz/-/index.html
Thanks for this. I posted a thread on it. Just RIDICULOUS
“The Original Black Feminist”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eoMefT-8zO4
TOM KLUDT – NOVEMBER 27, 2013, 8:46 AM EST
By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans support the recently struck deal to halt Iran’s nuclear program, according to an online poll released on Tuesday.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey showed a plurality of 44 percent supports the deal brokered between Iran and six world powers while 22 percent said they are opposed.
The interim deal, which was reached on Saturday, calls for Iran to freeze its nuclear program for six months in exchange for relief from sanctions. If the deal is honored, the sides will negotiate a long-term agreement to ensure that Iran does not produce nuclear weapons.
In the event that the deal fails, the poll showed that 49 percent of Americans want the U.S. to increase sanctions while 31 percent want more diplomacy. A mere 20 percent said they want the U.S. to use military force against Iran.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/poll-americans-support-iran-deal-by-2-to-1-margin
Look at this BS
Obama’s photo policy smacks of propaganda
By Dana Milbank, Published: November 26
Is the Obama White House airbrushing history?
It was a hallmark of the Stalin era: Fallen Soviet leaders vanished from official photographs. Nobody accuses President Obama of such subterfuge (well, nobody except for those who believe he forged his birth certificate), but a change in longtime practice in the White House has raised questions about the integrity of images Americans see of their president.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-obamas-white-house-takes-image-control-to-a-new-level/2013/11/26/13b95c20-56da-11e3-835d-e7173847c7cc_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
http://youtu.be/d_3aYQfdeEA
Thanks for this.
Good Morning, Everyone :)
For White readers here who understand that we Whites have privileges and advantages that our fellow Black citizens do not have, please consider reaching out each day to a White friend or acquaintance to educate them about the unfair White privilege that they possess.
Only then can we begin to END this White system of privilege in our White-power structure system.
Here is an Outstanding article on White Privilege:
http://www.amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html
Excerpt from this article:
LOL This one never gets OLD. It was very popular in 2008.
I asked an African American lady to ask me probing questions.
One question she asked me was, “Have you benefited from the laws/policies of INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM?”
Here is just the beginning of my response to her question. I will put it in italics:
I just thought of something else.
During my childhood we had long camping trips because both my parents had the same school vacations as we did. (My mom was an elementary substitute teacher and my dad began as a high school coach and finished his career as a high school principal.)
Well, just WHY did we not see fellow campers who were Black??
http://www.ladowntownnews.com/arts_and_entertainment/california-african-american-museum-exhibit-features-self-taught-artists-from/article_980a66ca-55fb-11e3-a7ad-001a4bcf887a.html
http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/11/26/judicial-affirmative-action-next-hurdle-african-american-civil-liberties/
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/11/26/la-police-union-elects-1st-african-american-director/
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20131123/ISSUE02/311239992/why-chicagos-history-of-black-business-success-is-fading
“The new African-American dream: Transformation, prosperity, education”
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20131126/OPINION/131129859/the-new-african-american-dream-transformation-prosperity-education
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/passages-art-gallery-aims-to-bring-marginalized-african-american-artists-to-the-forefront/Content?oid=4819787
“Trove Of Artifacts Trumpets African-American Triumphs”
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/11/26/246192001/trove-of-artifacts-highlights-realities-of-slavery
Good Morning Everyone :)
Good Morning Everyone! It’s 9 degrees and sunny!
Ametia,
SG2 might not understand that positive in that weather report…LOL
SG2 didn’t get past 9 degrees.
9 degrees? Me no likey! No.
Good morning, everyone! Time to start cooking. I have to get after it.
LOL Yes; SUNSHINE. and it’s going to get up to 20 degrees by day’s end!!!
What’s on the menu, SG2? I know you’re going to “drop skillett,” lady.
Well, I’m washing greens now and have my Turkey necks on. I used the meat from the Turkey necks in my dressing. mmmmm…
Yummy! What time’s dinner tomorrow. Send me a plate-o-those greens.
Dinner will be ready around 3ish. Sure thing with the greens. I have big leafy mustards. Josh & Jonne’ will be here later. I’ll have all my kids with me tonight. :)
You are a busy one, SG2!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Gkmpd3Xp2GM
Enjoy the cozy time with your kids :) Have a super time!
I’ve been cooking cooking and I don’t feel good. I’ll be so glad when I get everything finished.