The “Shotgun” is a dance. There were many dance crazes in the ’60s, and 2 of them are mentioned in the lyrics: The Jerk (“Do The Jerk, baby”) and The Twine (“It’s Twine Time”).
This was the first hit for Junior Walker & The All Stars, who were signed to the Motown label. Walker, whose real name was Autry DeWalt, was a saxophone player who made his vocal debut on this song. Walker recorded the vocals because the singer who was assigned to the session didn’t show up. He didn’t expect his tracks to make the cut, but the Motown producers liked the sound and left them in.
The sound at the beginning that simulates a shotgun was created by kicking an amplifier. This is explained on The Motown Story: Volume 1. (thanks, Ryan – Chicago, IL
Motown president Berry Gordy produced this track himself.The group had several more hit songs, including “What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)” and a cover of the Supremes song “Come See About Me.” Walker also played sax on Foreigner’s “Urgent” before his death in 1995.
Gun lobbyist Larry Pratt: U.S. blacks need ‘attitude’ lessons from ‘happy’ Africans
By David Edwards
Tuesday, February 4, 2014 14:51 EST
Conservative gun lobbyist Larry Pratt recommended during a recent radio broadcast that U.S. blacks could get a better “attitude” if they paid attention to “Africans from Africa” who he said were more “happy.”
On the Gun Owner’s News Hour show last month, American Thinker writer Selwyn Duke told Pratt, who is the executive director of Gun Owners of America, in a shocked tone that he had discovered that the best Catholic priests were from Africa.
“Africa! Intelligent Men with PhDs,” Duke noted.
“And generally the African from Africa is a very pro-American person, a very happy person,” Pratt opined. “I know several. And they always just happy with a joke, pleasant smile on their face. And they clearly don’t identify with the surliness that’s all too frequently the attitude of their fellow African-Americans here.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/04/gun-lobbyist-larry-pratt-u-s-blacks-need-attitude-lessons-from-happy-africans/
http://www.change.org/petitions/damon-feldman-please-drop-the-george-zimmerman-fight-match
SG2, partial demographics here but includes alternates:
Judge seats jury to hear Michael Dunn case
Questions for potential jurors entail crime, guns, music
Published On: Feb 05 2014 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. –
At the end of the third day of questioning potential jurors, Judge Michael Healey seated six men and 10 women to serve as the jury and alternates to hear the trial of Michael Dunn.
The jury consists of five white women, three black women, an Asian woman and an Indian or Middle Eastern woman, along with five white men and a Hispanic man.
Those selected were allowed to go home for the night and report back to the Duval County Courthouse at 11 a.m. Thursday prepared to be sequestered for the duration of the trial — likely until late next week.
Opening statements in the first-degree murder case are expected to begin at noon Thursday.
Read more
http://www.news4jax.com/news/questions-for-potential-jurors-range-from-crime-to-guns-music/-/475880/24305178/-/79ua66z/-/index.html
Oh, so they’ll be sequestered too. Will it be real sequestration? Or will they be able to visit with family members unsupervised?
Good question. I hope that the prosecutors learned from the debacle in Sanford and that they either want to win this one or they are afraid to lose it. I don’t care which, I just hope they understand that they better get a conviction.
Thank you, LLMPapa, for this.
http://twitter.com/_xDedexRedd/status/430930762217824256/photo/1
To all of our wonderful TRAYVON advocate family here and everywhere:
We have the POWER
To advocate for justice
To bring about change
To demand equality
To say NO to racism
LET’s ROLL!
Very nice! I like it.
CBO director: Obamacare will reduce unemployment
By Greg Sargent
February 5 at 11:59 am
As noted here yesterday, Republicans went mad with glee at the new Congressional Budget Office report on deficits and the Affordable Care Act, with multiple GOP officials claiming it showed the law will kill over two million jobs. That was false.
Under questioning today before the House Budget Committee from Dem Rep. Chris Van Hollen, CBO director Douglas Elmendorf confirmed that in reality, his report suggests Obamacare will reduce unemployment:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/02/05/cbo-director-obamacare-will-reduce-unemployment/
ok, this made me LMAO:
https://twitter.com/Stanleigh77/status/430026396052631552/photo/1
Josh Barro: The Buried Lede In The CBO Report: Obamacare Will Raise Wages
Obamacare will drive wages up. The price of labor, like any good or service, is determined by supply and demand. If producers of labor (workers) become less inclined to sell it, but consumers of labor (firms) are unchanged in their interest in buying, then the price of labor has to rise in order to bring the quantity supplied and the quantity demanded into line. If (as CBO predicts) the decline in work is driven almost entirely by a decline in labor supply, the upshot will be very different. Employers will be left holding the bag economically. Workers will choose to work fewer hours; since firms won’t be any less interested in hiring, they’ll have to pay more per hour to get those workers in the door.
The positive wage effect should be concentrated among low-skill workers, who will face the greatest discouragement to work from Obamacare, and therefore will be able to command the greatest wage increases in order to keep working. More broadly, Obamacare alters the employer-employee relationship in a way that empowers employees. When an employee is dependent on his job not just for a wage but for health insurance, he is less able to threaten to leave if he doesn’t get a raise. Severing the work-insurance link strengthens the employee’s hand in bargaining — which is bad for employers and good for workers.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-buried-lede-in-the-cbo-report-obamacare-will-raise-wages-2014-2
Bryce Covert: GM’s First Female CEO Will Make Half Of What Her Predecessor Made
In December, General Motors (GM) made headlines for picking Mary Barra to replace Dan Akerson as its new CEO. That meant she would not only be the first woman at the helm of the carmaker, but any global carmaker. But while she may have shattered that glass ceiling, her pay is another story. Looking at the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Elizabeth MacDonald notes that Barra will be paid $4.4 million in total compensation, which includes a base salary of $1.6 million.
Akerson, on the other hand, made an estimated $9 million, with a $1.7 million base salary and $7.3 million in stock. That means Barra will make less than half of what he made. In fact, Akerson will continue to make more as her, as GM will pay him $4.68 million as an outside senior adviser.Worse, Barra comes to the job with an outsized amount of previous experience. She’s been with the company since 1980 and was most recently serving as senior vice president of global product development. Akerson, on the other hand, came into the role without a background running a car company
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/02/04/3243951/mary-barra-pay-gap/
Washington Post: The media’s massive revisions on CBO-Obamacare story
The Post’s Glenn Kessler today published a fact-checking post breaking some news: No, he wrote, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) never, ever reported that Obamacare would somehow or other kill more than 2 million U.S. jobs.
Okay, to say that Kessler broke this news is a rhetorical exaggeration to highlight the point that many-o-many media outlets misconstrued the CBO findings. For a while this morning, the Internet was hopping with job-killing hype, when in fact the truth was vastly different. Obamacare’s impact, the CBO concluded, would lessen the supply of labor by encouraging certain folks not to work: “The estimated reduction stems almost entirely from a net decline in the amount of labor that workers choose to supply, rather than from a net drop in businesses’ demand for labor, so it will appear almost entirely as a reduction in labor force participation and in hours worked. . . .”
For someone approaching retirement, notes Kessler, Obamacare could well mean that they needn’t hold onto a bad job just to keep health insurance. That’s a far different dynamic from job-killing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/02/04/the-medias-massive-revisions-on-cbo-obamacare-story/?hpid=z5
The Koch Brothers Left a Confidential Document at Their Last Donor Conference—Read It Here
A list of one-on-one meetings between VIP donors and the Kochs and their operatives offers a revealing look into their mighty political machine.
—By Andy Kroll and Daniel Schulman
| Wed Feb. 5, 2014 8:59 AM GMT
There’s one main rule at the conservative donor conclaves held twice a year by Charles and David Koch at luxury resorts: What happens there stays there.
The billionaire industrialists and their political operatives strive to ensure the anonymity of the wealthy conservatives who fund their sprawling political operation—which funneled more than $400 million into the 2012 elections—and to keep their plans private. Attendees of these summits are warned that the seminars, where the Kochs and their allies hatch strategies for electing Republicans and advancing conservative initiatives on the state and national levels, are strictly confidential; they are cautioned to keep a close eye on their meeting notes and materials. But last week, following the Kochs’ first donor gathering of 2014, one attendee left behind a sensitive document at the Renaissance Esmeralda resort outside of Palm Springs, California, where the Kochs and their comrades had spent three days focused on winning the 2014 midterm elections and more. The document lists VIP donors—including John Schnatter, the founder of the Papa John’s pizza chain—who were scheduled for one-on-one meetings with representatives of the political, corporate, and philanthropic wings of Kochworld. The one-page document, provided to Mother Jones by a hotel guest who discovered it, offers a fascinating glimpse into the Kochs’ political machine and shows how closely intertwined it is with Koch Industries, their $115 billion conglomerate.
The more than 40 donors courted by the Kochs include hedge fund and private-equity billionaires, real estate tycoons, and executives of top corporations, including Jockey International and TRT Holdings, owner of Omni Hotels and Gold’s Gym. A number of them have never been identified as members of the Koch donor network, including Schnatter, one of the more prominent names on the list. An outspoken opponent of the Affordable Care Act, he is a longtime Republican donor who hosted a fundraiser for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. The document notes that the pizza mogul was scheduled to meet with Ryan Stowers, the director of higher education at the Charles G. Koch Foundation. (Schnatter did not respond to requests for comment.)
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/koch-brothers-palm-springs-donor-list
NBC News’ Richard Engel: My Computers, Cellphone Were Hacked ‘Almost Immediately’ In Sochi
The Huffington Post | by Catherine Taibi
Being a reporter at the Sochi Olympic Games just got even worse.
NBC News’ Richard Engel said that upon arriving in Russia to cover the upcoming event, he was hacked “almost immediately” — and privacy is not something visitors should expect to have.
“It doesn’t take long here for someone to try to tap into your laptop, cellphone or tablet,” he said Tuesday night.
Engel decided to test Russia’s privacy system with the help of American computer security expert Kyle Wilhoit, who set him up with two brand new computers and a phony identity, with fake names and addresses. When Engel connected them to the Internet in Sochi, he said he quickly received a suspicious email and was shocked when his computer was hijacked immediately after opening the email.
“In a minute, hackers were snooping around,” he said. “The same thing happened with my cellphone — it was very fast and very professional.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/05/reporter-hacked-sochi-richard-engel_n_4731846.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
Freeing Workers From the Insurance Trap
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
————————————-
The new law will free people, young and old, to pursue careers or retirement without having to worry about health coverage. Workers can seek positions they are most qualified for and will no longer need to feel locked into a job they don’t like because they need insurance for themselves or their families. It is hard to view this as any kind of disaster.
——————————————-
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/opinion/freeing-workers-from-the-insurance-trap.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0
Remembering Trayvon Martin
Event’s planned in honor of slain teen’s life …
http://www.jetmag.com/news/remembering-trayvon-martin/
Trayvon Martin should have turned 19 today, February 5.
However, family members, friends and community activists are remembering the teen, who was killed two years ago, with two special events this weekend.
On Saturday, February 8, there will be a Peace Walk in honor of the slain teen. The 1.1-mile walk, presented by the Trayvon Martin Foundation, will begin at 9 a.m. at Carol City Park and end at The Betty T. Ferguson Center in Miami Gardens, Florida. The community event will feature free food, entertainment and motivational speakers. Click HERE to register.
A Remembrance Dinner presented by Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, will take place on Sunday, February 9 at 5 p.m. at Signature Grand in Davie, Florida. Honorees include Jamie Foxx, Michael Baisden and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. Tickets are $75 for foundation friends and $150 for foundation builders.
For more information about the events, please visit trayvonmartinfoundation.org.
RIP Trayvon.
So sorry this country let you down.
Record Number Of Defendants Exonerated In 2013, Many For Crimes That Never Even Happened
By Nicole Flatow on February 4, 2014 at 2:53 pm
A record number of individuals who were convicted of crimes were deemed innocent in 2013, according to a report by the National Registry of Exonerations. Twenty-seven of the 87 known exonerations were in cases in which no crime actually occurred, almost half for non-violent crimes, primarily drugs.
Murder and even death penalty cases continue to be over-represented in these exonerations. Among those who were deemed not guilty was David Ranta, who, a re-investigation uncovered 22 years later, was convicted based on witnesses who were bribed and pressured to testify against him in the quest to find a culprit for the high-profile killing of a rabbi.
But in addition to these botched murder cases, this year’s list also includes several whose convictions of lesser crimes were invalidated based on discovered photos and recordings of the incidents. Two highlighted by the report involved alleged violence against police, that, recordings later showed, revealed that the violence went the other way around.
Malcolm Emory was convicted of felony assault for allegedly throwing a brick at police during a Vietman war protest. Emory was a 19-year-old student at Northeastern University at the time, studying physics on a full scholarship from the Navy. Police claimed they beat him after he threw a brick, but Emory always maintained that he was carrying books. An unpublished newspaper photo discovered 20 years later depicted him “being dragged across the ground by a police officer while holding an armful of books.”
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/02/04/3245331/record-number-defendants-exonerated-2013-crimes-happened/
I will never forget Trayvon’s cries for help, his piercing screams and I will never forget how this country’s justice system failed him badly.
She Gave Her House Key to a Homeless Teen, Dinner was Made When She got Home
By Good News Network Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Boe Kirner, who now lives in Perth, Australia, wrote a personal story on the Good News Network Page, after seeing a photo of Good Samaritans washing blankets for the homeless. The 21-year-old New Zealander said she was in New York City doing a 6 month stint as a paramedic.
“One of my call outs was a homeless mother and son. Wrong place, wrong time — she had been shot and would be in hospital for a while.”
“The teen wasn’t allowed to stay at the hospital, which shocked me a little bit. So I put the boy into a taxi and gave him my front door key and paid the cabbie.
That boy could’ve ransacked my home.
After a long night of dealing with some eye-popping incidences, I got home to find a meal wrapped up on my kitchen counter. It was scrambled eggs on toast with a ‘Thank you So Much’ note.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/inspired/boe-gave-her-house-key-to-homeless-teen.html
Ms. Marvel, aka Muslim teen Kamala Khan from Jersey City, set to make historic comic book series debut
The 16-year-old Pakistani-American girl is part of publisher’s wave of female super hero titles, including Black Widow and She-Hulk, and also joins rival DC Comics’ Green Lantern Simon Baz as rare Muslim heroes.
Comments (2)
By Ethan Sacks / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
The new Ms. Marvel is set to make a Hulk-sized impact on the comic book industry.
Marvel Comics’ “Ms. Marvel #1” hits comic store shelves Wednesday, introducing readers to a new Muslim super heroine whose secret identity is 16-year-old Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American of Jersey City.
The character —- the brainchild of writer G. Willow Wilson, an Islamic convert herself, and Muslim editor Sana Amanat — is an attempt to punch through long-standing stereotypes in a medium that has largely been the purview of muscle-bound white crime-fighters.
“Kamala Khan is part of a long tradition that hearkens back to Peter Parker: A teenager struggling to find their own path who is suddenly granted great power, and learns the responsibility that comes with it,” Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso told The News via email.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/comics/ms-marvel-aka-pakistani-american-teen-set-historic-comic-debut-article-1.1602320
The Death of Predatory Payday Lenders May Signal The Revival of the USPS
February 5, 2014 by Sky Obercam
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is aware of the high cost of poverty and proposes one interesting strategy to alleviate it: Replace predatory payday lending operations with the United States Postal Service. In a recent Huffington Post op-ed piece, Warren stated, “USPS could partner with banks to make a critical difference for millions of Americans who don’t have basic banking services because there are almost no banks or bank branches in their neighborhoods.”
The proposal is prompted by a report from the USPS’ Inspector General which explains how the agency’s intricate infrastructure could allow it to offer services such as small loans, check cashing, bill payment and debit cards to the very same communities big banks often overlook. It’s a massive community too. The report found that the 68 million Americans lacking a bank account spent a whopping 89 billion on interest and fees in 2012. In other words, predatory lenders literally suck the slight chance of prosperity away from those in most need. “The average un-banked household spent more than $2,400, or about 10 percent of its income, just to access its own money through things like check cashing and payday lending stores. USPS would generate savings for those families and revenue for itself by stepping in to replace those non-bank financial services companies,“ Think Progress reported.
Senator Warren continued, “Think about that: about 10 percent of a family’s income just to manage getting checks cashed, bills paid, and, sometimes, a short-term loan to tide them over. That’s more than a full month’s income just to try to navigate the basics.”
Think Progress describes that payday loans with annual interest rates of 100% or more pilfer residents of poor communities out of billions, with the vulnerable paying $520 to borrow $375, for instance.
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/02/death-predatory-payday-lenders-may-signal-revival-usps/
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/431045921082597376/photo/1
Gina Loring sings a lament for Trayvon Martin & wonders about “the man he would have become” & “what he would have done.”
Reality check
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/#!/2014/02/reality-check.html
Seriously, Joe Manchin, we’re supposed to believe you now see the need for regulations?
Happy Birthday, Trayvon Martin! A Change For Trayvon.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRAYVON. Wonder tribute, SG2. Thanks so much!
TYVM! This didn’t have to happen. He did not have to kill this child.
Such a moving video tribute to Trayvon!
I will honor Trayvon’s memory by STAYING committed to pushing for the repeal of the SYG law, by advocating for justice and equality, and by standing up against racism and those who practice it.
AMEN!
You’re making me cry.
http://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF/status/431098036630978561/photo/1
A beautiful tribute, SG2. I have not heard this version of “Change” by the Harlem Boys Choir before you used it for this video. Seriously, it is so good that I would place it third behind Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. And this version performed by young boys is so appropriate for a video about Trayvon, excellent choice.
I was thinking about this awhile ago, that Trayvon would be 19 today, probably a college freshman if he hadn’t crossed paths with Zimmerman that night in Sanford. Zimmerman would have killed a different person eventually, probably a black kid, and it would have been sooner rather than later unless someone had gotten to him first.
We still do not know the long term effects of what happened to us because of this travesty. But a lot of people woke up, that’s a certainty.
I concur about this song being up there with Sam Cook & Otis Redding. I love this version. It touches my heart.
Super-Bowl Champions Russell Wilson and The Seattle SeaHawks What Does Black Crow Taste Like boys?
By Desi Cortez Updated: February 4, 2014
Being a Black man, I have to ponder if my charges and claims of 1967 type Alabama racism being but an inch beneath the collective skin of million upon millions . . . upon millions of Euro-Americans, WASP . . . i.e. White people all across America still today are valid and legit. Internet sports media websites and sports talk radio seem to more-than confirm the hostility and anger bubbling beneath the surface.
Super Bowl 48 validated and confirmed what I’ve contended for most of my adult life . . . there’s little love for Black folks in this country. “Like” is even a term I’m reluctant to toss-around when it comes to “how” I believe most White folks honestly. truthfully, generally speaking feel about Black people. The term ‘respect” as in mutual respect is a concept I don’t believe most White folks, specifically Conservative (sexist/racist/ elitist) males refuse to entertain in relation to Blacks.
There’s virtually nothing we can do to , dig this . . . earn their respect.
Russell Wilson became the first QB to pass for at least 200 yards, 2 TDs and complete 70 percent of his passes, 3 runs for 26 yards, over 8 yards a carry on average . . . in a Super Bowl win without being named MVP. He had a 121 Qb rating . . . . Russell Wilson is the fourth quarterback to win a Super Bowl in his second NFL season, joining only Kurt Warner, Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger. Wilson, who has an NFL-record 28 wins in his first two pro seasons, and he threw no interceptions in the playoffs – nonetheless it’s as if he’s a sidebar/side note.
http://blackathlete.net/2014/02/super-bowl-champions-russell-wilson-seattle-sea-hawks-black-crow-taste-boys/
STRAIGHT, NO CHASER!
wonderful comment by Town in response to this article:
The GOP can’t help their racism, because if they could, they would have gone the
” Of course, the President and His Wife are examples of the American Dream. Of course, they are positive role models not only for the Black Community but all America. We simply disagree with him on policy.”
Their unwillingness to do this made it quite plain and simple to every non-White in this country who isn’t a sellout and hasn’t been on Mars for the previous 43 White Presidents of this country.
Reality has a bad day at the office
02/05/14 08:00 AM—Updated 02/05/14 08:05 AM
By Steve Benen
The biggest political story of the day yesterday was a Congressional Budget Office report that a few too many Republicans and reporters didn’t understand. Much of the political world apparently forgot that labor supply and labor demand aren’t the same thing, which made it easier for critics of the Affordable Care Act to push a claim that was 100% wrong: “Obamacare to cut over 2 million jobs.”
And if this were simply an instance in which conservatives pushed a bogus attack and the media fell for it, this would become an interesting anecdote in a journalism textbook about media malpractice. But as yesterday progressed, we actually saw a more alarming twist: media professionals suggesting reality doesn’t matter all that much.
Consider these two paragraphs published by Politico mid-day:
Right, because it doesn’t matter if someone lies – what matters is whether the person can get away with the lie.
The New York Times’ Jackie Calmes acknowledged that much of the reporting and Republican rhetoric is “inaccurate” and “false,” but she said the story is a “problem” for Democrats anyway.. “If you’re explainin’,” she said, “you’re losin’.”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/reality-has-bad-day-the-office
A half-hearted hostage strategy unravels
02/04/14 03:55 PM—Updated 02/05/14 08:02 AM
By Steve Benen
Watching House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) address the debt ceiling today, it became clear Capitol Hill is dealing with a very different kind of confrontation. Just last year, the Speaker was eager to push the so-called “Boehner Rule” on spending cuts, all while proclaiming that there was simply no way his caucus would approve a clean increase the way he and other GOP colleagues used to.
All of that posturing has been replaced with a more circumspect approach.
Just days away from the administration’s deadline to extend the nation’s borrowing authority, Speaker John A. Boehner told House Republicans he sees no reason to pick a fight they cannot win on the issue.
“There’s no sense picking a fight we can’t win,” the Ohio Republican told members in a private conference meeting, according to sources in the room.
He added, “No one wants to default on our debt.” Since the Speaker is very likely sincere about this point, the crisis is already effectively over – Boehner won’t want to crash the economy on purpose, especially in an election year, so Democrats, who already remember Republicans caving twice on the debt ceiling last year, will have no incentive to pay a ransom now.
What’s more, though the deadline for congressional action is coming right up, even House Republicans who are inclined to hold the debt ceiling hostage in exchange for some kind of concession, can’t even agree among themselves what to put on the ransom note.
And yet, some in the House GOP caucus are nevertheless inclined to go through the motions as if the outcome of this fight isn’t already determined.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/half-hearted-hostage-strategy-unravels
‘What are you going to do when I’m gone?’
02/04/14 04:41 PM—Updated 02/04/14 04:44 PM
By Steve Benen
On Sunday, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly aired a 10-minute interview with President Obama from the White House, aired shortly before the Super Bowl. The clip was 10 minutes.
Of that 10 minutes, literally about 9 minutes and 40 seconds of that total was spent on, in order, O’Reilly pushing for Kathleen Sebelius’ ouster, focusing on Benghazi, talking up the non-existent IRS controversy, and reading a question from a viewer about Obama finding it “necessary to fundamentally transform the nation.”
But that was the edited version of the interview. Last night, the Fox News host showed viewers unaired portions of the interview, in which O’Reilly asked Obama why he doesn’t talk more about out-of-wedlock births in the African-American community; O’Reilly’s belief that Keystone XL will create 42,000 jobs; O’Reilly wondering whether Obama is “the most liberal president in the U.S. history”; and a re-airing of some of the highlights from Sunday. The host even aired the Shulman/157-times claim that was debunked last May.
No, seriously.
But that’s not the funny part. One of the more interesting exchanges was about the issue of fairness.
O’REILLY: All right. Now, Fox News, I can’t speak for Fox News, all right. But I’m, you know, the table setter here at 8:00. And you think I’m unfair to you? Do you think I’ve been giving you –
OBAMA: Absolutely, of course you are, Bill. But I like you anyway, Bill.
O’REILLY: Ok but give me how I’m unfair. Give me how I’m unfair. Come on. You can’t make that accusation without telling me.
The host seemed quite incredulous, as if the notion that he’d been unfair to the president – ever – was simply unfounded. Obama noted that O’Reilly had just spent a big chuck of the interview on Benghazi and IRS “corruption” that doesn’t exist, which the host didn’t see as proof of anything.
“But these are unanswered questions,” O’Reilly said.
Obama soon after replied, Here is what I would say. I think regardless of whether it’s fair or not, it has – it has made Fox News very successful. Here’s I think you guys are going to have to figure out: what are you going to do when I’m gone?”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/what-are-you-going-do-when-im-gone
CBO delivers welcome news to Obamacare backers
02/04/14 05:06 PM—Updated 02/05/14 01:53 AM
Steve Benen
If Republican press releases and reports from conservative and major media outlets are any indication, the Congressional Budget Office’s findings on the Affordable Care Act are simply brutal. National Review, which probably published its report before actually looking at the CBO’s findings, ran this headline: “The CBO Just Nuked Obamacare.”
As we discussed earlier, the coverage has been profoundly misleading. Despite what Americans are being told, the CBO did not find that the health care reform law would cost the nation over 2 million jobs. What it actually said is that the law will empower more than 2 million Americans to leave the workforce if they want to, no longer feeling forced to stay at a job in order to have benefits for them and their family.
Why “Obamacare” critics consider this a bad thing remains unclear.
But Michael Hiltzik, to his credit, took the reporting one step further.
The Congressional Budget Office is out with its latest report on the Affordable Care Act, and here are a few bottom lines:
— The ACA is cheaper than it expected.
— It will “markedly increase” the number of Americans with health insurance.
— The risk-adjustment provisions, which Congressional Republicans want to overturn as a “bailout” of the insurance industry, will actually turn a profit to the U.S. Treasury.
Given all this, why are the first news headlines on the CBO report depicting it as calling Obamacare a job killer?
Because a whole lot of congressional offices issued press statements before getting their facts straight? Because a few too many reporters don’t understand CBO reports as well as they should?
This is one of those strange days in which most of the political world seems to have gotten an important story backwards. The Affordable Care Act’s critics have spent the day eagerly touting a CBO report that offers a whole lot of good news for the Affordable Care Act’s supporters – and much of the media has played along in a depressing display.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/cbo-offers-welcome-news-obamacare-backers
Risk corridors for me, not for thee
02/05/14 08:52 AM
By Steve Benen
The Affordable Care Act was signed into law nearly four years ago, much to the chagrin of its conservative critics. And while the right’s list of complaints against “Obamacare” isn’t short, the law’s detractors never much cared – and certainly never talked about – the provision on “risk corridors.”
That changed rather suddenly late last year, when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and some of his allies decided the measure constitutes an insurance industry “bailout.” Why did it take four years for ACA critics to discover their concern about an obscure provision that was part of the law all along? No one knows, but it was nevertheless quickly embraced by nearly all of the congressional GOP.
Substantively, the charge is oddly nonsensical. As Jon Chait explained, the measure in question “would impose a kind of tax on insurance companies that sign up healthier-than-expected customers, and reimburse the firms that sign up sicker-than-expected customers.” It’s not exactly scandalous. Indeed, it’s not even interesting.
And as Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Sander Levin (D-Mich.), and George Miller (D-Calif.) explained last night, it’s especially problematic for Republicans who now pretend to find risk corridors outrageous since Republicans helped come up with the idea.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/risk-corridors-me-not-thee
CBO Declares Obamacare a Win for Workers, GOP Freaks Out
Tuesday, February 04, 2014 |
Posted by Spandan Chakrabarti at 1:18 PM
The headlines are abuzz: Obamacare will result in 2 million fewer full-time jobs, they alarm. The GOP, desperate to hang onto any thread of controversy against the president as their party’s brightest stars burn out in flames of corruption, is tripping over their own to pounce on it and say, see we told you Obamacare would be a jobkiller! Ohhh Emmmmm Geeeee!!! People are going to lose jobs!!!
As usual, of course, the truth is almost the polar opposite of the media and Republican song and dance. The reportage and the Republican line dance are crafted to insult the intelligence of the American people and misrepresent a report from the Congressional Budget Office on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on the labor market. Contrary to the message being spread by the GOP and its witting media accomplices, the impact is simple: the ACA will result in workers catching a break, and no one is actually losing jobs because of Obamacare.
The CBO even reiterated the point for the thinking impaired, categorically rejecting the psychobabble that Obamacare would result in increase unemployment, underemployment, or even discouraged workers:
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2014/02/cbo-report-confirms-obamacare-win-for.html
Jarrett to meet CBC on judges
By Mike Lillis – 02/05/14 06:00 AM EST
Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett will meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Wednesday amid intensifying concerns over President Obama’s judicial nominations.
Black lawmakers have been up in arms over a number of Obama’s picks for the federal bench, particularly in southern states, where they contend the process don’t reflect the ethnic diversity of the regions they would serve.
Many think Obama gave up too much to Republican senators, who also have a say in the nominees, and plan to tell Jarrett just that in Wednesday’s meeting.
“Win or lose, we’d feel better if there’s a fight,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), a member of the CBC’s judicial nominations working group, said Tuesday. “We have a Herculean task, of course, because of the senators whose conservatism is antithetical to the judicial philosophy of probably anyone who [Obama would prefer].
“But at the same time, the president ought to be able to appoint anyone he wants,” Cleaver added. “And, you know, we want the president to fight for it.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/197481-jarrett-to-meet-cbc-on-judges#ixzz2sSS0yHfL
Ken Wolff – Monday Feb. 3, 2014 20:24
Sochi conditions need work, but warm hospitality shines through
Patience is key inside the Olympic city
It’s too early and we’re far too sheltered to come to any conclusions about this Russian Olympic experience, but there are glimpses of what lies behind the facade.
Let there be no doubt that this Russian Olympic village and park have very little to do with the reality of the country. These buildings, these roads and bridges did not exist when the Games was awarded. The expressways that cut through former ramshackle houses direct cars to the welcoming Olympic gates. Too bad the heavy security means there are few cars zooming across the multiple lanes.
New buildings have risen to create a landscape that has glimpses of what we would see in North America. The complex where I stay consists of 12 buildings. It’s near the ocean and an artificial river meanders through the area with pools in front of most of the dorms. In my room, there is a door stop inches in front of the toilet. Not good if you are in bare feet. The balcony is great, but the screws on the handle of the door ripped completely away from the metal frame after using it less than half a dozen times.
It will be interesting to see the conditions of these sparse and efficient rooms in a decade from now.
http://olympics.cbc.ca/blogs/author/ken-wolff/article/sochi-conditions-need-work-but-warm-hospitality-shines-through.html
Good Morning, Everyone :)
President Obama to Sign Farm Bill
It’s only taken two years. President Obama is expected to sign the new farm bill into law on Friday at Michigan State University. The bill, which the Senate passed on Tuesday 68 to 32, is a $956 billion piece of legislation to reauthorize hundreds of agriculture, conservation, nutritional, and dairy programs. It is set to reduce spending on farm subsidies and nutrition over the next 10 years by $16.6 billion. Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food stamps, are the most controversial, and will reduce benefits for 1.7 million people.
http://elink.thedailybeast.com/4e555ee3e018bee76c3458201ffpv.5bq/UvI7EOYQAiyGE-6LBb7c9
Pharmacy chain CVS to stop selling tobacco products across U.S.
Pharmacy chain CVS said Wednesday it will stop selling tobacco products at its 7,600 locations across the United States, a move that public health advocates hope will become a watershed and pressure other large drug store franchises to follow suit.
CVS executives said the decision could cost billions of dollars in revenue because cigarettes draw so many customers in their stores. But by jettisoning tobacco products, CVS can further evolve their pharmacies into full-fledged health care providers and strike more profitable deals with hospitals and health insurers.
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/02/05/why-cvs-thinks-it-can-win-big-by-ending-cigarette-sales/
Happy HUMP day, Everyone! :-)
Morning, everyone!
Do the jerk baby, do the jerk now. Where are your dancing boots, SG2. Loving the dance series this week.