We continue our look at Black Oscar Nominees.
Today, we’ll look at Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Year Name Film Role Status
1969 Rupert Crosse The Reivers Ned Nominated
1981 Howard Rollins Ragtime Coalhouse Walker Jr. Nominated
1982 Louis Gossett, Jr. An Officer and a Gentleman Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley Won
1984 Adolph Caesar A Soldier’s Story Sgt. Waters Nominated
1987 Morgan Freeman Street Smart Fast Black Nominated
Denzel Washington Cry Freedom Steve Biko Nominated
1989 Denzel Washington Glory Pvt. Trip Won
1992 Jaye Davidson The Crying Game Dil Nominated
1994 Samuel L. Jackson Pulp Fiction Jules Winnfield Nominated
1996 Cuba Gooding, Jr. Jerry Maguire Rod Tidwell Won
1999 Michael Clarke Duncan The Green Mile John Coffey Nominated
2003 Djimon Hounsou In America Mateo Nominated
2004 Morgan Freeman Million Dollar Baby Eddie ‘Scrap-Iron’ Dupris Won
Jamie Foxx Collateral Max Nominated
2006 Djimon Hounsou Blood Diamond Solomon Vandy Nominated
Eddie Murphy Dreamgirls James ‘Thunder’ Early Nominated
Rupert Crosse
Comparing Obamacare to Its Alternative
JAN. 28, 2014
FROM the moment the ink dried on March 23, 2010, Republicans said they intended to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. They have voted more than 40 times to wipe the law from the books. But Republicans have never gotten around to describing, in detail, the set of policies they believe should replace Obamacare. That is, until yesterday.
After nearly four years, we finally have a Republican counterproposal: the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment (or Patient CARE) Act.
Senators Tom Coburn, Richard Burr and Orrin Hatch deserve credit for developing this plan. Putting together a proposal to reform the American health care system is hard and politically courageous. And while it is lacking in important details, this plan contains some interesting ideas that might have enabled bipartisan compromises had they been offered in 2009, when I was a health care adviser to the Obama administration and the Affordable Care Act was being debated. For instance, the plan would shift many low-income adults from Medicaid to subsidized private insurance. There are some Democrats who could certainly have supported such a proposal, if it had been offered as part of a deal to enact a bipartisan bill.
Despite all the heated rhetoric from Republicans about Obamacare laying ruin to America, the plan would actually keep some of the law’s key provisions. It would preserve some subsidies for lower-income people to buy private insurance, though it would change the way they are calculated. Those $700 billion worth of Medicare savings Mitt Romney denounced during the 2012 campaign? Republicans would keep them. Allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26? Republicans would keep that, too. And the ban on lifetime insurance caps, so people with very expensive diseases don’t lose insurance? Republicans wouldn’t touch it.
But in other crucial ways, the Republican plan is different. First, Obamacare’s absolute ban on withholding coverage from people with pre-existing conditions would be rolled back. Those who remained continuously insured would stay protected, so they couldn’t be charged higher rates or be excluded entirely. But if their insurance lapsed, health insurance companies could charge more or refuse to cover them.
Second, it would shrink the Medicaid expansion. Pregnant women, children and families below the poverty line would still be eligible, but childless adults would not. States would be given a fixed amount per person enrolled in Medicaid to reduce spending.
Third, the Republicans would provide tax credits for people to buy insurance, but only for families earning up to $70,650 per year. (The Affordable Care Act’s subsidies go to families earning up to $94,200.) And employees of large companies, even if those companies did not offer health insurance, would be exempt, regardless of income.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/opinion/comparing-obamacare-to-its-alternative.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Md. passes new student disciplinary code
After four years of deliberation, the Maryland school board passed
new disciplinary regulations Tuesday that will end a zero-tolerance
policy that sent home large numbers of boys, special education students and African-Americans for minor infractions.[….] Students who are violent or bring weapons to school will still receive swift and tough punishment.[….]
By next fall, school districts across the state must inform the state
board how they have changed their policies to reduce the number of long-term suspensions as well as the disproportionate suspensions of students of color and special education students.[…]
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bs-md-student-discipline-20140128,0,7765442.story
West Virginia Water Contains Formaldehyde, Official Says
By Kiley Kroh on January 29, 2014 at 1:21 pm
A West Virginia state official told a legislative panel on Wednesday that he “can guarantee” residents are breathing in formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, nearly three weeks after a massive chemical spill contaminated the water supply for more than 300,000 residents.
Scott Simonton, a Marshall University environmental scientist and member of the state Environmental Quality Board, told the panel that he had found formaldehyde in local water samples and was alarmed by the lack of information regarding the lingering impacts of the spill on public health, the Charleston Gazette reported.
“It’s frightening, it really is frightening,” Simonton said. “What we know scares us, and we know there’s a lot more we don’t know.”
On January 9, Freedom Industries reported a leak of crude MCHM, a mixture of chemicals used in the coal production process, from its storage facility on the Elk River and into the water supply for 16 percent of the state’s population. Simonton said the crude MCHM can be broken down into formaldehyde, which causes cancer, and inhaled while people are showering.
Very little is known about crude MCHM and just how toxic it may be to humans. Initially, state authorities maintained that levels of the chemicals below 1 part per million were considered safe for people, based on consultations with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/29/3222571/west-virginia-formaldehyde/
Who Cried About a Black Woman in Her Yoga Class
White lady literally cries about black lady in her yoga class. Wrote a post about it. Like to hear it? Hear it go. …
by Erika Nicole Kendall
Note: this is an angry rant that I probably should’ve written after I’d come down off my own yoga mat. In short, it’s long. I’d tell you to skip the quotes, but if you did, you wouldn’t believe what I was writing… because you wouldn’t be able to believe that someone was so daft.
Dear Jen,
Hey, there! How are you? I saw your “It Happened to Me” on XOJane tonight, and I must say… it definitely stirred some thoughts and memories in me. Thoughts so powerful and memories so vivid, that I thought it’d only be right that I shared them with you.
For the record, I’ve been a practicing yogi for almost five years, now. I started with DVDs, moved up to the posh Upper East Side studio, moved back to the mini-studio here in Brooklyn, and am finally back to home. And, because of my experiences in all of those spaces, it’s weird, but — I actually relate to the woman in your IHTM! I was close to 300lbs when I first started my yoga practice, and couldn’t downward dog. Strange, right? You probably didn’t know they make yogis in that size!
http://blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com/the-op-eds/an-open-letter-to-the-xojane-writer-who-cried-about-a-black-woman-in-her-yoga-class/
rikyrah
Check this out :)
http://3chicspolitico.com/2014/01/29/wednesday-open-thread-black-oscar-nominees/#comment-223260
POTUS is still on FIYAH!
Yes; because threatening to thow someone over a “fucking” balcony really does get the best of one doens’t it?!
For Christie, Politics Team Kept a Focus on Two Races
By KATE ZERNIKE and DAVID W. CHENJAN. 29, 2014
His campaign called them “the Top 100,” the swing towns that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey wanted to win as he prepared for a re-election campaign. Capturing these towns, sometimes referred to as mini-Ohios or mini-Floridas, would validate the governor’s argument that he would be the most broadly appealing Republican choice for president in 2016.
Staff members in the governor’s office created tabbed and color-coded dossiers on the mayors of each town — who their friends and enemies were, the policies and projects that were dear to them — that were bound in notebooks for the governor to review in his S.U.V. between events.
Long after most of the State House had been shuttered for the night, Mr. Christie’s aides worked on spreadsheets, documenting calls and meetings with key players in the towns — one Republican called it “political Moneyball” — as the governor tried to win endorsements and friends.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/nyregion/for-christie-politics-team-kept-a-focus-on-two-bids.html?hp&_r=0
Precious!
Whether it’s 27 years of hateful oppression or 5 years of hateful obstruction.You CANNOT break them! Amandla! Awethu!
Right on because, Hate is sooo UNATTRACTIVE
What ‘Downton Abbey’ Can Teach The Queen
Tim Teeman
The Queen’s reserve fund is down to its last million pounds. Her palaces are crumbling and boilers need fixing. Enter the Crawleys of Downton Abbey, masters of fending off financial peril.
In Downton Abbey, the Crawley family’s tenuous hold on their fortune has so far been maintained through two things. Lord Grantham, the paterfamilias, had the good sense to marry Lady Cora, a rich American, and, as times have gotten tougher, the mysterious delivery of plot-altering letters somehow, every time, carry a miraculous reprieve for Downton Abbey. Until the next time.
If life mirrors art, the Queen might well be hoping her great-grandson Prince George eventually falls in love with the offspring of a rich American hedge-funder, who will oversee the continued polishing of the silver at Buckingham Palace. Her Majesty’s reserve cash fund is down to its last million pounds. A report published by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found that for 2012-2013, the royal household’s budget of $51.38 million—which covers building maintenance, staff wages, and travel for royal duties—had been exceeded by almost $4 million.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/29/what-downton-abbey-can-teach-the-queen.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet#url=/articles/2014/01/29/what-downton-abbey-can-teach-the-queen.html
And they say Corzine was corrupt. SMGDH
President Obama Speaks on the Minimum Wage
January 29, 2014 10:20 AM EST
http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
thanks for the heads up!
As Black History Month approaches, I thought it would be good to quote excerpts from an article on Carter Woodson’s 1933 book entitled “The Mis-Education of the Negro” at this link:
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/misedne.html
this is frigging HUGE
…………………………..
A Northwestern University graduating quarterback is organizing…
Kain Colter starts union movement
January 28, 2014
TOM FARREY via ESPN
For the first time in the history of college sports, athletes are asking to be represented by a labor union, taking formal steps on Tuesday to begin the process of being recognized as employees.
Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, filed a petition in Chicago on behalf of football players at Northwestern University, submitting the form at the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board.
Backed by the United Steelworkers union, Huma also filed union cards signed by an undisclosed number of Northwestern players with the NLRB — the federal statutory body that recognizes groups that seek collective bargaining rightsESPN’s “Outside The Lines” first broke the story.
“This is about finally giving college athletes a seat at the table,” said Huma, a former UCLA linebacker who created the NCPA as an advocacy group in 2001. “Athletes deserve an equal voice when it comes to their physical, academic and financial protections.”
Huma told “Outside The Lines” that the move to unionize players at Northwestern started with quarterback Kain Colter , who reached out to him last spring and asked for help in giving athletes representation in their effort to improve the conditions under which they play NCAA sports. Colter became a leading voice in regular NCPA-organized conference calls among players from around the country.
“The action we’re taking isn’t because of any mistreatment by Northwestern,” Colter said. “We love Northwestern. The school is just playing by the rules of their governing body, the NCAA. We’re interested in trying to help all players — at USC, Stanford, Oklahoma State, everywhere. It’s about protecting them and future generations to come.
“Right now the NCAA is like a dictatorship. No one represents us in negotiations. The only way things are going to change is if players have a union.”
The NCAA responded with a statement from Chief Legal Officer Donald Remy, who said “student-athletes are not employees within any definition of the National Labor Relations Act” and that there is no existing employment relationships between the “NCAA, its affiliated institutions or student-athletes.”
“This union-backed attempt to turn student-athletes into employees undermines the purpose of college: an education,” Remy said in the statement. “Student-athletes are not employees, and their participation in college sports is voluntary. We stand for all student-athletes, not just those the unions want to professionalize.”
In a statement, Northwestern said it supports dialogue around the issues that are important to the CAPA, and the right of Colter and his teammates to have a voice in that dialogue. However, it also said it does not support the players organizing through a labor union.
“Northwestern believes that our student-athletes are not employees and collective bargaining is therefore not the appropriate method to address these concerns,” said Jim Phillips, Northwestern vice president of athletics and recreation. “However, we agree that the health and academic issues being raised by our student-athletes and others are important ones that deserve further consideration.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/kain-colter-starts-union-movement/story?id=22264339
3CHICS….there have to be gifs for this..
…………………………..
Black Person in Yoga Class Causes Moral Crisis
Jen Carson, a self-described “skinny white girl,” enjoys yoga. Or she did, at least—until a harrowing experience which can be accurately described as, “There was a new person at yoga, and that person was black.”
Now, don’t go getting the wrong idea here. Jen Caron is not some crude racist. Quite the opposite! You might say that she is almost, ah… too empathetic. The experience of merely being in the same room with a single black person caused her to experience such an intense bout of pained soul-searching that she was moved to write a lengthy essay about it on XO Jane. Here, the incident that wrenched her very soul:
Imagine: there you are, in yoga class, when all of a sudden, directly behind you, you sense a fairly heavy black woman who you can feel directing resentment directly at your body. Reality—or nightmare?
To bring you up to speed, if you’re just joining us: Jen Caron went to yoga class. Behind her in yoga class was someone new to yoga. That person, who was black and female, was not skilled at yoga. Their presence made Jen Caron painfully self-aware.
http://gawker.com/black-person-in-yoga-class-causes-profound-moral-crisis-1510975100
a couple of replies:
NOW, Let’s imagine that Jen used her cellphone to make a George-Zimmerman-syle call to a non-emergency police dispatcher:
the thought that between actually thinking it, writing it, nothing in her mind told her NOT TO PUBLISH IT.
The fact that nothing in her mind stopped her from publishing tells me that she is going to continue to misread people, never make contact to actually ask a person what she is thinking, continue to be oblivious to her glaring prejudice and racism, and continue to stereotype Blacks.
Also, through publishing her thoughts, she wants similarly prejudiced people to believe the hatred and racism is not coming from her and her fellow racists.
Except for the fact that she has displayed no violence, she is just like George Zimmerman.
BINGO! Missy didn’t think the black woman had a right to be in the yoga studio in the first place. How incredibly arrogant, racist, and self-serving this bitch is.
Yes.
Grimm to reporter: ‘I’ll break you in half’
01/29/14 09:07 AM
By Steve Benen
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) has been embroiled in an ongoing campaign-finance scandal, which has badly tarnished his reputation. Last night, however, the Republican congressman made matters much worse.
A Republican representative from Staten Island “physically threatened” a local reporter after Tuesday’s State of the Union address, according to the news station.
The reporter, from New York City’s local NY-1, attempted to ask Rep. Michael Grimm about allegations of campaign finance misconduct.
“Since we have you here, we haven’t had a chance to talk about–” the reporter, Michael Scotto, began. “I’m not talking about anything that’s off topic. This is only about the President’s speech,” Grimm said before walking away.
And if that were the end of it, Grimm would have been fine. But the congressman, apparently a little on edge, decided to then confront the journalist.
“Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I’ll throw you off this f—— balcony,” Grimm said, apparently oblivious to the giant camera directly in front of him. When the reporter said it was a valid question, the congressman’s breakdown intensified. “No, no, you’re not man enough, you’re not man enough,” Grimm said. “I’ll break you in half. Like a boy.”
As footage of the altercation spread, the congressman issued a statement, which somehow managed to exacerbate the problem.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/grimm-reporter-ill-break-you-half
a new gif for 3CHICS
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4sx9lDcyL1rw7k3jo1_500.gif
SOTU: Obama is Hope. GOP Responses – All Four of Them – Are Despair
By: Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Wednesday, January, 29th, 2014, 7:39 am
The SOTU address carried with it no surprises: President Obama cares. The Republicans do not. Obama had a clear message, eloquently expressed. The GOP response came from four different people who did not agree with each other except their opposition to all things Obama.
It is hardly a surprise that the fractured Republican Party could not be satisfied with a single response. It is hardly a surprise they could not find a up-and-coming superstar to make that response.
The Republican Party is a party without heroes. What they gave us says more about what is wrong with the Republican Party and its policies than what is right.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) gave the official response. As Justin Baragona wrote last night – and after reviewing it this morning I have to agree – it was awful, a point-by-point rebuttal of each of the president’s points.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/01/29/sotu-obama-hope-gop-all-despair.html
https://twitter.com/NoShock/status/428215865020907520/photo/1
Obama Hits Grand Slam With A SOTU That Reflects America’s Move Left
By: Jason Easley
Tuesday, January, 28th, 2014, 10:20 pm
President Obama delivered his best State Of The Union address yet by shifting left and championing equal pay for women, healthcare reform, and raising the minimum wage.
The president demanded that women get equal pay for equal work,”Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. A woman deserves equal pay for equal work. She deserves to have a baby without sacrificing her job. A mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or sick parent without running into hardship – and you know what, a father does, too. It’s time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a “Mad Men” episode. This year, let’s all come together – Congress, the White House, and businesses from Wall Street to Main Street – to give every woman the opportunity she deserves. Because I firmly believe when women succeed, America succeeds.”
Obama called on Congress to raise the minimum wage, Of course, to reach millions more, “Congress needs to get on board. Today, the federal minimum wage is worth about twenty percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan first stood here. Tom Harkin and George Miller have a bill to fix that by lifting the minimum wage to $10.10. This will help families. It will give businesses customers with more money to spend. It doesn’t involve any new bureaucratic program. So join the rest of the country. Say yes. Give America a raise.”
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/01/28/obamas-hits-grand-slam-sotu-reflects-americas-move-left.html
Republicans Go Silent At SOTU As Obama Announces Plan To Beat Their Obstruction
By: Jason Easley
Tuesday, January, 28th, 2014, 9:37 pm
There was loud applause on one side of the chamber as President Obama called out Republican obstruction, ‘Wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.’
The president said called out GOP obstruction and said no more,
……………
Consider yourself put on notice, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. If you won’t work with President Obama, he is going to work around you. Some of the left will breathe a sigh and say it’s about time, but it looks like President Obama is embracing his executive power and running with it.
Republicans will howl that Obama is a dictator, and the truth is that there are limits to what any president can do on their own, but this SOTU marks a serious change in approach. President Obama moved in this direction last year, but it sounds like POTUS is going full throttle.
Obama isn’t going to take it anymore, and neither should the American people.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/01/28/republicans-silent-sotu-obama-announces-plan-beat-obstruction.html
Governor Christie’s brother invested in houses near new PATH station in Harrison
Tuesday, January 28, 2014 Last updated: Wednesday January 29, 2014, 7:18 AM
BY SHAWN BOBURG AND JEAN RIMBACH
STAFF WRITERS The Record
Governor Christie’s brother, Todd Christie, and two business partners
have bought and sold a handful of properties within walking distance of
the PATH station in Harrison, slated for a $256 million renovation funded by the Port Authority and championed by the governor, records show.
Todd Christie and his partners — one the owner of Ferreira Construction, a large firm that has done tens of millions of dollars of
work for state agencies since Christie took office — created a company and began buying small residential lots in early 2011, about a year before the train station renovation was approved by the Port Authority.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/Governors_brother_invested_in_houses_near_new_PATH_station_in_Harrison.html
Christie used Sandy funds for senior complex in town where mayor endorsed him
By Matt Friedman/The Star-Ledger on January 28, 2014 at 4:43 PM, updated January 28, 2014 at 6:55 PM
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie helped channel $6 million in federal Hurricane Sandy recovery dollars to a project conceived years before the storm struck, in an Essex County town that was not particularly hard hit, records show.
The funding, pushed for personally by the Republican governor, was
announced less than two weeks before the town’s Democratic mayor
formally endorsed him for reelection.
The development is an $18 million senior center and housing complex in Belleville called Franklin Manor. One third of the cost — $6 million — is being paid for by a $1.8 billion pot of federally funded Community Development Block Grants to help the state recover from Sandy.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/questions_raised_about_christies_use_of_sandy_funds_to_build_complex_in_town_where_mayor_endorsed_hi.html
Democrat Uses House GOP Hearing on ObamaCare to Eviscerate Republican ACA Lies
By: Sarah Jones
Tuesday, January, 28th, 2014, 12:28 pm
Representative Sandy Levin (D-MI) is not impressed with House Republicans investigating the impact of the employer mandate and the so-called 30-hour rule of ObamaCare today (they seem to be incapable as a body of even discussing any issue other than ObamaCare), whilst ignoring the 1.6 million unemployed. The last time the Ways and Means Committee met on something other than ObamaCare was on July 18, according to the high ranking Democrat.
Levin was so annoyed that he decided to throw a truth bomb into their pile of myths, leaving them pretty well shattered.
Levin started off his prepared remarks with a BIG SIGH, “Today this Committee is holding a hearing on an issue that has been rehashed many times. Yet it has failed to have a hearing on an issue also in our jurisdiction that already has directly affected the lives of 1.6 million people — their total loss of unemployment insurance.”
We should just put that statement on repeat for the next year.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/01/28/sandy-levin-house-gop-hearing-obamacare-bust-aca-myths.html
Fox News Focus Group Baffled By Retirement Plan For Poor People
Catherine Thompson – January 28, 2014, 11:45 PM EST
One of the policy objectives President Barack Obama unveiled Tuesday in his State of the Union address had members of a Fox News focus group scratching their heads.
Obama vowed to instruct the Treasury to offer starter savings account options, called “MyRAs,” for employers who don’t provide 401Ks or IRAs for workers to save for retirement.
But by a show of hands, all but one member of a focus group on “The Kelly File” said they had a negative reaction to that proposal — and they had no idea what a “MyRA” could possibly be.
Here is a sampling of the thoroughly confused reactions to the difficult-to-pronounce retirement plan:
“It was cute.”
“I don’t think he pronounced it right from the beginning, he sounded like he stumbled over it. Then it was, what is it? We didn’t know what it was. Savings — you know, our own personal savings like a 401K — it just didn’t make sense.”
“It seemed like one of those programs that presidents reveal just for the applause but there are no details. We have to wait ’til tomorrow and I’m left scratching my head all night, ‘What is this?'”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/retirement_plan_baffles_fox_news_focus_group
Wendy Davis’ Daughters Strike Back At Ugly Republican Smears With Open Letters
By: Sarah Jones
Tuesday, January, 28th, 2014, 2:39 pm
Republicans have been relentlessly attacking Democratic Texas State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis for a week now over her “background”. The misogynistic attacks have been so ugly and repulsive it’s been hard to even write about them. Even Republican women like Greta van Susteren (Fox News) have said it’s unacceptable.
Ms. Davis already submitted a detailed background that explained that she was indeed living alone as a single parent in a trailer at 19, even if her divorce was not final. But this is not good enough for Republicans. They are calling her a liar, “Abortion Barbie”, and worse, they even accused her of abandoning her children because she worked and went to university. Apparently, good mothers don’t work or go to school or something.
So today, Wendy Davis’ two daughters have written open letters to refute the ugly smears. Dru & Amber Open Letter:
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/01/28/wendy-davis-daughters-write-open-letters-refute-ugly-republican-smears.html
Lindsey Graham Says ‘The World Is Literally About To Blow Up’
Tom Kludt – January 29, 2014, 7:48 AM EST
After listening to President Obama’s lay out a foreign policy vision during the State of the Union address on Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) walked away with a nightmarish vision. Just how dire is the situation?
“The world is literally about to blow up,” Graham said, as quoted by Roll Call.
From Obama’s vow to veto any new sanctions for Iran to the ongoing crisis in Syria, Graham said the world as he knows it “was not remotely described” in the State of the Union speech.
Graham has a penchant for using apocalyptic rhetoric when discussing foreign policy and national security. After Obama said last year that the war on terrorism must come to an end, Graham warned of an explosive outcome.
“Our allies are more afraid than I have ever seen,” Graham said. “I support the concepts that the president talked about in many ways, but if he does not change his policy, the Middle East is going to blow up and we are going to hit again here at home to matter how hard we try.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/lindsey-graham-world-blow-up?utm_content=buffer1cab5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
From Charles Pierce:
Once again, he was the only obvious president in the room, much good may that do him. He did not rile up the base. He was not combative. He did not dwell on issues that his base wanted to hear. (If you had “Keystone XL,” or “NSA,” or “TPP” in your State of the Union drinking game, you probably wound up as the designated driver.) But he was firm on one thing. He is not going to be a lame duck as long as he can still walk. There were a lot of sentences that began with some variation of, “If Congress won’t act…”
This promise to use the powers of his office is what likely is going to raise all those hackles that were going to be raised in any case unless he got up there and abdicated in favor of Mitt Romney but, really, he couched these assertions in the mildest fashion, making of himself just a guy who was just trying to do the job to which he had been elected. He would like to have done it a different way but, darned it the regular way just didn’t work, and now it’s time to take out the tire iron and give the old machine a good bash. There wasn’t a scintilla of anger in his voice all night. There was just a rueful tone to it, as though he had finally gotten the joke that history had played on him with the election in 2010 of the opera boufee that is our current House of Representatives…
He was extraordinarily strong in spots, particularly on voting rights, where he plainly had a lot to say, and said it all, and on the process of getting the country off what he rather daringly described as the “permanent war footing” it had been on since 2001. Some of the economic ideas, particularly the expansion and strengthening of the Earned Income Tax Credit, were sound and worthy of immediate action, which they won’t get. I’m still a little vague on the MyRA thing, which smacked a little bit of the gimmick, and which, in any case, is just another stop-gap by which the country can forget that, once, everybody had a guaranteed pension, before the unions broke down and the sharpers on Wall Street looted what was left.
But, if this speech burned no barns, it didn’t sound anything like a last chance, either. The president seemed to have a pen in one hand, and that well-worn olive branch still in the other. He is what he always has been, the coolest head in the room. You can never say he isn’t that.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/state-of-the-union-address-012814
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Morning, Rikyrah & everyone!
Good Morning, rikyrah, SG2 and Everyone :)
Good Morning, Everyone! Happy HUMP day. It’s gonna be over 20 degrees here today.
WHOOOOO HOOOO!