“White Christmas“ is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.[1][2][3][4]
Accounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote the song.[4] One story is that he wrote it in 1940, in warm La Quinta, California, while staying at the La Quinta Hotel, a frequent Hollywood retreat also favored by writer-producer Frank Capra. He often stayed up all night writing — he told his secretary, “Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written — heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody’s ever written!”
Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston has won the 2013 Heisman Trophy.
Winston led the top-ranked Seminoles to an undefeated regular season and a chance to play for a national championship in January. He recorded 3,820 passing yards and 38 passing touchdowns this year.
Winston’s award comes as he tries to shake questions about a rape allegation made against him a year ago. He was ultimately not charged, but a news conference by his accuser’s lawyer the day before the Heisman presentation kept feeding the story. Asked about the case on Friday, Winston said, “It was stressful, but you’ve got to look forward.”
The Heisman Trophy honors the nation’s most outstanding college football athlete. It is voted on by more than 900 sports journalists and every living former Heisman winner.
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/412037618654642177/photo/1
LOVE JONES on BET right now
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/412036811246952448/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/412035733671522305/photo/1
https://twitter.com/HistoricalPics/status/411971152215834624/photo/1
Nifty!
Media Alert:
BET will have programs Sunday, 12/15/2013, on Nelson Mandela from 11:00 a.m. EST – 2:00 pm. EST – it’s 2 different programs.
Rick Wade run for U.S. Senate from SC sets up historic all-black race
by Joy-Ann Reid | December 13, 2013 at 10:34 PM
Rick Wade says he doesn’t consider himself the underdog in his upcoming run for U.S. Senate from South Carolina.
The race will pit two African-Americans against each other, with Wade facing the incumbent, Tim Scott, who was appointed by governor Nikki Haley to fill the seat vacated by Jim DeMint January 1st.
Wade, 51, announced his entry into the race on Friday, releasing a statement saying, “the people of South Carolina understand that Washington is broken. If we are going to solve the big problems we face and get things done, our representatives must be accountable to their constituents. That starts with three commitments: First and foremost, is the commitment to listen to the people, secondly, a promise to work for bipartisan solutions to fix our problems, and thirdly, a commitment to reduce the influence of special interests that have enjoyed too much power in Washington for too long.”
When theGrio sat down with Wade before his announcement, he expressed confidence that he could win, even in one of the most conservative states in the country, and against a Republican incumbent with nearly $3 million in the bank as of this fall.
“This is doable despite the fact that we haven’t elected an African-American since reconstruction,” said Scott, speaking of his state’s history. (No matter who wins, between Scott and Wade, that streak will be broken in 2014.) “[And] there’s no question that South Carolina has evolved to a more Republican state. But here’s the pathway to victory: just by being on the ballot, on average I’ll get 45 percent of the vote. Every election year, Democrats fall between 45, 46 percent. There are a quarter million unregistered African American voters [in South Carolina], not to mention a significant number of voters who are registered [but] who are not voting. So part of the pathway is to enhance and expand our base registration and turnout.”
“The other part of it,” says Wade, who has been an executive at Hoffman-La Roche pharmaceuticals and Blue Cross Blue Shield, as well as a Commerce Department official, “is that I’m confident that I can win a reasonable percentage point of independents. I think my background of being from the private sector, [combined] with the right message, gets me maybe one to two points more of independents. And then there’s no question that expanding the Democratic base turn out, voter registration and mobilization, and adding just a small percentage of the independent votes takes us to the top. That’s a winning strategy.”
Wade is familiar with putting together strategies based on overcoming long odds. Born in Lancaster South Carolina, “a mill town,” as he describes it, Wade says his personal story “is so South Carolina.”
“I had very humble beginnings,” he says. “A father who didn’t graduate from high school, was a fork lift operator in the textile mills, a mother who graduated from what then was called Lancaster Training School and was a nurse’s assistant her entire life. And six of us; five boys and one girl and we all went to the public schools. All of my brothers; four other brothers had distinguished military careers, following in my father’s footsteps as a war veteran. And I was the first person in my family to pursue advanced education at the University of South Carolina and then ultimately at Harvard University.”
He reels off a string of “firsts” that he achieved as an ambitious young political staffer, turned politician in his home state: “first black chief of staff for a constitutional officer (former South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Nick Theodore and later a member of Democratic governor Jim Hodges’s cabinet.) … I’ve worked in the House of Representatives (as an analyst for the House Ways and Means Committee) and spent a lot of time in corporate America. And so it’s a journey that’s about hard work and faith and education. Just by putting it together and working hard I’ve built a tremendous career. And I think my story will resonate very well, not just with African Americans but with people across the state.”
http://thegrio.com/2013/12/13/rick-wade-interview/
https://twitter.com/SAgovnews/status/411855252355170304/photo/1
Every Scandal on Scandal Ranked from Least to Most Scandalous
By Nate Jones
12/13/2013 at 02:00 PM EST
Besides Monday Night Football, no show on TV is as good at giving us exactly what it says on the tin than Scandal. In two and a half seasons, the ABC drama has seen scores of extramarital affairs, at least five politically motivated killings and enough dirty tricks to put Dick Nixon to shame.
But of all the scandals dreamed up in Shonda Rhymes’ fevered imagination, which has been the most outrageous? We decided to find out. Below, the 40 scandals visited upon the fictional world of Scandal, ranked from least to most scandalous. (Major spoilers below!)
40. An unmarried congressman was recorded having sex in his office! (“White Hat’s Off”)
Even Olivia Pope in her big Eureka moment realized this one wasn’t actually a big deal.
39. A U.S. senator was killed in a plane crash – but it was because of an overworked airline employee, not a drunk pilot! (“Crash and Burn”)
Scandal’s first season hadn’t figured out quite how to calibrate its cases of the week yet, as evidenced by this oddly uncompelling crash story. The show was still painting in grays, instead of the darkest blacks.
38. The Senate Majority Leader had an affair with an intern! (“Defiance”)
This was a throwaway scandal to set up a job change for Edison, a throwaway character.
37. An ambassador’s child was kidnapped by Russian terrorists! (“Sweet Baby”)
The first scandal we ever saw Olivia Pope solve was a handy demonstration of her powers more than a plot that could stand on its own.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20766059,00.html
The Slow Motion Lynching of President Barack Obama
December 14, 2013 By Frank Schaeffer
I’ve watched liberal and right wing commentators alike blame the president for being lynched. They say “he’s not reaching out enough” or “he’s too cold.” It’s the equivalent of assuming that the black man being beaten by a couple of thug cops must have “done something.”
I am a white privileged well off sixty-one-year-old former Republican religious right wing activist who changed his mind about religion and politics long ago. The New York Times profiled my change of heart saying that to my former friends I’m considered a “traitorous prince” since my religious right family was once thought of as “evangelical royalty.”
I’ve just spent the last 7 years writing over 200,000 words in blogs and articles in support of President Obama. My blogs on the Huffington Post alone would add up to a book in support of the President of over 300 pages. Weirdly, I just realized that through all my writing, this has been the first time in my life I’ve personally gone to bat for a black man. It just happens that he’s a president. But my emotional stake in his life is now personal.
So I’ve changed from a white guy who used to read news about some black man getting shot or beaten by cops or stand-you-ground types who assumed that the black man must have “done something,” to a white guy who figures that the black man was probably getting lynched. I’ve changed ideology but I’ve also changed my gut intuitive reactions.
I’ve changed because if this country will lynch a brilliant, civil, kind, humble, compassionate, moderate, articulate, black intellectual we’re lucky enough to have in the White house, we’ll lynch anyone. What chance does an anonymous black man pulled over in a traffic stop have of fair treatment when the former editor of the Harvard Law review is being lynched?
One famous liberal commentator wrote a book on how Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neil could disagree and still be friends. Why, he asked on many a TV show promoting his book, couldn’t President Obama be like that? Because, I yelled at the screen, those two men were white Irish Americans and part of a ruling white oligarchy.
Because, I yelled, you might as well ask why Nelson Mandela didn’t talk his jailers in South Africa into seeing reason.
Because, I yelled, the president is black and anytime he’s reached out he’s pulled back a bloody stump.
Because, I yelled, liberal white commentators have been as bothered by a black man in the White House, who’s smarter than they are as much as right wing bigots have been bothered.
Because, I yelled, President Obama has been lied about, attacked, vilified, and disrespected since Day One.
Because, I yelled, this country may have passed laws so blacks can vote and eat in a white man’s world, but in our hearts are stuck in a place more like 1952 than 2013.
We’ve been watching a slow motion lynching of a moderate brilliant family man, a father, and faithful loving husband. The Republicans in Congress are so dedicated to lynching the President they’ve been willing to shut down our government and risk the future of our economy.
Evangelical “Christians” have been so stuck on putting a rope around this black man’s neck they have denied their faith and been the backbone of the lying Tea Party who spawned the so-called “birthers” and the rest of the white trash driving our news cycle.
Roman Catholic bishops have denied their tradition of helping the poor and been so eager to destroy this president they aligned themselves with white Evangelical bigots and tried to stop health care reform, all because the President wants to give women a fair shake. The bishops even called him “anti-religious” because the president wants insurers to pay for contraception.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankschaeffer/2013/12/the-slow-motion-lynching-of-president-barack-obama/#
Frank Schaeffer @Frank_Schaeffer
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please help me have this go viral ” The Slow Motion Lynching of President Barack Obama” http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankschaeffer/2013/12/the-slow-motion-lynching-of-president-barack-obama/# …
1:45 PM – 14 Dec 2013
thanks Rikyrah. I have placed this piece in a seperate thread post, and will ask SG2 to Tweet and retweet!
http://youtu.be/-93So_OqT_E
LOVE IT! Work it, Tyler. Now I’ll go see this movie. Tyler makes movies for everyone. Now there are some I don’t care to see, but it’s ok.
Tyler Perry Defends His Start on The Chitlin Circuit
http://youtu.be/vG2ol44vWR0
Tyler Perry clearly has worked his roots EXTREMELY well. to achieve his success. And to HELL with HOLLYWOOD.
https://twitter.com/StarJonesEsq/status/411955744049618944/photo/1
Mandela makes final journey home in SAfrica
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
— Dec. 14, 2013 4:37 PM EST
QUNU, South Africa (AP) — Nelson Mandela came home Saturday.
A hearse carrying Mandela’s body drove into his hometown in rural South Africa ahead of burial Sunday, returning the country’s peacemaker to the place where he had always wanted to die.
It was here in Qunu that Mandela roamed the hills and tended livestock as a youth, absorbing lessons about discipline and consensus from traditional chiefs. From here he embarked on a journey — the “long walk to freedom” as he put it — that thrust him to the forefront of black South Africans’ struggle for equal rights that resonated around the world.
As motorcyclists in uniform and armored personnel carriers escorted the vehicle carrying Mandela’s casket to the family compound, people lining the route sang, applauded and, in some cases, wept.
“When I saw the hearse passing, I couldn’t hold my excitement. I felt like I was holding him by the hand,” said Norma Khobo. “It was very exciting, I saw him!”
The vehicle carrying Mandela’s casket, covered with a national flag, arrived at the family compound under cloudy skies at 4 p.m. It was accompanied by an enormous convoy of police, military and other vehicles, and a military helicopter hovered overhead.
According to Xhosa tribal tradition, Mandela was honored as a leader by placing a leopard skin on the coffin, replacing the flag.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/mandelas-remains-transferred-air-base
BWA HA HA HA HA @Fox News and the Commie of Bedford Falls
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a meeting with a group of newly-elected mayors from across the country, including New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio (4th L), at the Roosevelt Room of the White House December 13, 2013 in Washington, DC. Obama met with the newly-elected mayors to diU.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a meeting with a group of newly-elected mayors from across the country, including New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio (4th L), at the Roosevelt Room of the White House December 13, 2013 in Washington, DC. Obama met with the newly-elected mayors to discuss “the ways in which the Obama Administration can serve as an active partner on job creation and ensuring middle class families have a pathway to opportunity,” according to a White House news release.
( December 12, 2013 – Source: Alex Wong/Getty Images North America
Fabulous comment on Kantor from POU:
Yep, starting in the 1870’s they started questioning the place of birth of Black elected officials.
Irving Berlin wrote White Christmas AND Easter Parade
and his family is getting PAID TO THIS DAY!!
gotta love music publishing royalties.
https://twitter.com/MrChuckD/status/411778676020084736/photo/1
https://twitter.com/MrChuckD/status/411778332351410176/photo/1
love it
https://twitter.com/MichaelSkolnik/status/411866733800988672/photo/1
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Eric Boehlert@EricBoehlert
Gov. Christie’s #BridgeGate lands on front page of today’s NYT; it’s smiles all around at the DNC; http://nyti.ms/1kJ3Eps
Christmas question……
Have you ever bought a Christmas gift for someone and liked it so much that you kept it for yourself? If so, how many times?
*raises hand*
I once bought some lottery tickets to give as a gift and kept them. LOL!
I fully understand that, SG2. If one of them had been a winning ticket and you gave it away, how could you live with that? :)
Seems like about 30 years ago now, but I bought my older sister a really nice wall clock for her new house. I still have it. Another time I bought my other sister a set of carved wooden Christmas ornaments that I kept. That was when I learned to buy two, “one for you, one for me” of things I really liked.
bwa ha ha ha ha
Good Morning Everyone!
Good Morning, Yahtc and Everyone! :-) There FIXED LOL
Hee…hee…..Love it! You wrote “Yatch”
Ametia,
Your misspelling caused me to SCRATCH my head to see if I could SNATCH or LATCH on to the correct spelling. NATCH I was able to do this and write it here now for you to PATCH in.
Morning, everyone!
I see that you fixed it, Ametia.
LOL! I just couldn’t resist having fun! :)