The duo split up in 1982 resulting in brief solo careers for the brothers. Louis Johnson’s solo work They started doing separate ventures; Louis Johnson played bass on Michael Jackson’s Thriller and recorded a gospel music album in 1981 with his own group Passage, which included his then-wife Valerie Johnson and former Brothers Johnson percussionist/singer, Richard Heath. Louis recorded a single in 1985 called “Kinky,” released on Capitol Records. The track appears on his Evolution album, which was released that same year only in Europe. Louis then started to register his bass skills on video, and accomplished about 3 instructional lesson-tapes for the Starlicks video-distribution company, from which the first release was also in 1985. For a while, Louis got comfortable with family life his wife and son. By 1988 his then manager Diane Taren, talked him into going back to the studio to record his own projects and soon was back in the biz. He continued this initiative by starting his bass academy during the 1990s and giving workshop clinics to this day, via his own website. George Johnson’s solo work George Johnson released one single in 1985, titled “Back Against The Wall,” on Quincy Jones’ own Qwest label. There seems to be a complete album (recorded but unreleased) from that recording session, which George himself confirmed when he and Louis were interviewed around 1987/1988 for the Blues & Soul magazine in the United Kingdom (see link below). In addition to these solo projects, George delivered guitar work for Steve Arrington’s album Dancing In The Key Of Life (1985) and had ad-libbed vocals on the track “Think Back And Remember” from the Galaxian album by the Jeff Lorber Fusion, released in 1981 on Arista Records.
More to come!
Stomp
https://twitter.com/shogustus/status/433410376274042880/photo/1
https://twitter.com/ObamaFoodorama/status/432963930856886272/photo/1
https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/433402884986658816/photo/1
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/433401970531913728/photo/1
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/433398860270944256/photo/1
Outside of my daughter and her husband, FLOTUS & POTUS are the BEST LOOKING couple in WASHINGTON! LOL
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/433397827939471360/photo/1
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/433396597322285056/photo/1
Dem Rep. Clyburn Recounts 2AM Angry Phone Call from Bill Clinton
by Josh Feldman | 2:48 pm, February 11th, 2014
Now is apparently the time to get whatever you dirt you have on the
Clintons and bring them to the forefront, because amidst all this “Hillary Papers” fracas, a new memoir from Democratic congressman Jim Clyburn includes a recounting, according to U.S. News, of the late night phone call he received from an angry Bill Clinton during the 2008 campaign season, when Clyburn was publicly criticizing the Clinton campaign and the former president personally for “bizarre” comments on African-Americans.
Back then, The Wall Street Journal reported that
after hearing about Clyburn’s remarks, Clinton called him over the
phone, argued, and “called Mr. Clyburn an expletive.” At the time,
Clyburn’s office refused to comment, but the congressman said “some day
soon… he’ll write about the incident.”
…“If you bastards want a fight, you damn well will get one,” Clinton thundered.
As Clyburn tells it, the former president phoned to pin blame on the
congressman, vent his frustration and seek an explanation on how his
wife got whipped so badly [in South Carolina]…
“I had kept that promise. I asked him to tell me why he felt otherwise. He exploded, used the word ‘bastard’ again, and accused me of causing her defeat and injecting race into the contest,” Clyburn
writes.
Clyburn also writes that Clinton eventually called him weeks later to profusely apologize, and he “accepted halfheartedly
http://www.mediaite.com/online/dem-rep-clyburn-recounts-2am-angry-phone-call-from-bill-clinton/
RUN JOE, RUN!
https://twitter.com/jeffmason1/status/433392398140715010/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/433392707180834816/photo/1
Isn’t she LOVELY
The Tennessee GOP’s Anti-Union Freak-Out
by BooMan
Tue Feb 11th, 2014 at 02:21:47 PM
I don’t like to write about things that I don’t understand very well, and I certainly am no expert on the unionization of auto workers in the United States, Germany, or anywhere else. My limited understanding is that southern states have been successful in recent decades in attracting foreign and some domestic automakers because they offer a non-unionized (cheaper) labor force than states in the North. I also believe that the unions in Germany are much stronger and less controversial than they are in the United States. I had heard that Volkswagon is taking a “neutral” position on whether or not the workers in their Chattanooga, Tennessee plant decide to join that United Auto Workers union, which I attributed to their satisfaction with labor relations at home. It turns out that VW is actually taking more of a pro-union stance, albeit with a twist.
You may remember how adamantly opposed to the auto bailout Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) was (the autoworkers certainly do), but you may not know that he was once the mayor of Chattanooga. He wanted to see Detroit’s automakers collapse because he wanted the unions to collapse along with them. It’s not an unusual attitude at all from Southern Republicans, particularly in Tennessee. They hate unions and they are feeling very threatened by VW’s support for unionization at their plant.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/2/11/142147/206
FLOTUS LOOKS FABULOUS AT THE STATE DINNER!!
I didn’t get to dance this morning. Been so caught up in the Dunn trial. You KNOW I love “Stomp”!
Tom Brokaw being treated for multiple myeloma.
http://ow.ly/twTev
An oldie but goodie sounds great thanks for sharing
Anybody else watching The Following?
13 Observations About Greenwald’s New Website, ‘The Intercept’
Posted on February 11, 2014 at 8:35 am by Bob Cesca
Glenn Greenwald’s new website, The Intercept, launched early Monday. In case you’re just joining us, the site is part of Pierre Omidyar’s First Look Media, a $250 million investment into the world of software development and digital journalism. The Intercept is the first “magazine” to launch and is run by editors Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras.
The site posted its first two articles based on the National Security Agency (NSA), one of which we covered yesterday, and, as promised, here are some impressions of not only the site in general but also the first post by Greenwald and Scahill.
1) Corporate trackers. As predicted, each page of The Intercept contains two analytics trackers from alleged PRISM collaborator Google and another called Mixpanel. Among other things, according to Ghostery, the Google bug alone collects your browser information, your demographic data, what hardware and software you use, your IP address, your search history, “location based data” and, weirdly, your phone number. Google doesn’t disclose who it shares your information with or how long it retains it. It’s unlikely The Intercept would want all of this information, but the fact that Google has it should be a little bit alarming to anyone concerned about privacy rights. It’s also curious how a site dedicated to outing alleged violations of privacy would employ such an invasive tracking tool — even though the site discloses it on their Privacy Policy page.
2) DDoS attack or normal traffic? About midday, the site suffered from a 503 error, which generally happens when there’s too much traffic hitting it. Greenwald attributed the outage to exactly that, traffic, but wouldn’t it be ironic if it was actually a denial of service attack, also known as a DDoS attack, which involves hackers crippling a site with a glut of automated hits, considering how last week Greenwald conflated hacking with protected political speech.
3) Credit where credit is due. The Intercept team was wise enough to hire a technical editor with a background in “operational security, source protection, privacy, and cryptography.” Micah Lee is a former staffer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and he’ll certainly have his hands full, especially since Greenwald once admitted that before meeting Snowden he was “technically (sic) illiterate,” and yet he’s been authoring article after article about top secret operations that are all about technology.
4) Where are the documents? Greenwald and Scahill posted a massive 4,000 word article that cites a variety of documents, but the “Documents” vertical is empty. The article reveals small snippets, but fails to post the documents in full with appropriate redactions.
Let’s talk about the first big Greenwald post. The article, titled “The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program,” details how NSA helps to track terrorist targets for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strikes — also known as drone strikes. Yes, drones and NSA — a serious outrage cocktail. The article quotes from documents as well as two former drone operators, one anonymously, one by name.
http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2014/02/13-observations-about-greenwalds-new-website-the-intercept.html
THE MEAL FOR THE STATE DINNER TONIGHT:
The First Course alone stars five states: It is American Osetra Caviar with Fingerling Potato Velouté (one of the “mother” sauces in French cuisine), Quail Eggs, and Crisped Chive Potatoes.
The caviar is farmed in Illinois, in tributaries of the Mississippi River. Twelve different kinds of potatoes are used, grown in New York, Idaho and Pennsylvania. The quail eggs are from Pennsylvania.
The Second Course, “The Winter Garden Salad,” features Petite Mixed Radish, Baby Carrots, and Merlot Lettuce, in a Red Wine Vinaigrette. It pays homage to Mrs. Obama’s Kitchen Garden, using vegetables pickled after being plucked during last summer’s voluptuous harvest, as well as herbs from the garden.
Despite the polar vortex, the Kitchen Garden still has winter greens growing, but not enough for a State Dinner. White House honey is used for the salad dressing. Comerford–and Mrs. Obama–have a fondness for terrariums, and the salad will be served to each guest in a personal glass “terrarium.”
The Main Course, Dry-aged Rib Eye Beef, is sourced from a family farm in Greeley, Colorado, and served with a Jasper Hill Farm Blue Cheese crisp; the cheese is from Greensborough, Vermont. The beef–a small, 4 1/2 ounce portion–will be accompanied by Charred Shallots, Oyster, Mushrooms, and Braised Chard.
The President and Mrs. Obama also served beef as the entree at four of their other State Dinners, and have also served beef at all five of their annual black-tie Governor’s Association Dinners.
Ahead of dinner, during cocktail hour, guests will be treated to Maine smoked trout, smoked using Maine hardwood.
Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses has an undergraduate and graduate degree in French literature, and speaks fluently; he became interested in cooking when doing his graduate work in Paris, and then trained there.
His dessert pays homage to President Obama’s homestate: The Hawaiian Chocolate-Malted Ganache “is a modern version of an all- American layer cake presented in a geometric form,” the White House said.
It combines bittersweet chocolate from Hawaii, tangerines from Florida, and is served à la mode with vanilla ice cream from Pennsylvania.
As a nod to French cuisine, a bowl of Petits Fours will be presented to each table during the dessert course. These pay homage to American carnival foods, as well as more high cuisine desserts.
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-state-dinner-menu-for-president.html#more
Popular Medicaid expansion still struggling
02/11/14 11:49 AM
By Steve Benen
Health care proponents in South Dakota have struggled to advance Medicaid expansion through legislative means, so they proposed an alternative: how about putting the issue before voters?
Yesterday, Republicans in the state legislature shot down that idea, too.
A South Dakota Committee has defeated a measure that would have asked voters whether the state should expand Medicaid in line with the federal Affordable Care Act. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-2 against the resolution. […]
The measure, sponsored by Democrats, would have asked voters in the next general election if they wanted to expand Medicaid to individuals up to 138 percent of poverty.
The State Affairs Committee voted along party lines – seven Republicans voted against sending the issue to the public; two Democrats voted for it
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/popular-medicaid-expansion-still-struggling
Liberal Librarian @Lib_Librarian
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Boehner caves. Clean debt ceiling raise. This time it really is #obamasfault
10:56 AM – 11 Feb 2014
RIP Shirley Temple Black.
Dylan Scott – February 11, 2014, 10:53 AM EST1178
A South Dakota legislative committee blocked a measure Monday that would have allowed the state’s voters to decide in November if they wanted to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.
The Associated Press reported that the resolution was defeated along party lines, with seven Republicans voting against it and two Democrats supporting it in the State Affairs Committee. The Republicans said that allowing voters to make a decision that should be left to the legislature would set a bad precedent.
A January poll found that 63 percent of South Dakotans supported expanding Medicaid under the health care reform law. The expansion would cover close to 50,000 low-income residents in the state.
Democrats in the state Senate had proposed the resolution.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/south-dakota-medicaid-expansion-ballot-initiative
Good Afternoon Ametia and 3Chics.
Hopefully this will be a good GOTV issue and SD can keep a D Senator.
Dana Bash ✔ @DanaBashCNN
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no big shock -house gop cant get enuf gop votes for debt ceiling w/ cola fix – will move clean bill and pass w/ dem support. #sawthiscoming
8:46 AM – 11 Feb 2014
Zachary A. Goldfarb: In Meetings With Young Black Men, Obama Tries To Leave A Mark
Kerron Turner sat with more than a dozen other teenagers in a classroom at Hyde Park Academy High School on this city’s troubled South Side, nervously settling in for an unusual meeting with the president of the United States. They told their stories: Turner worried about the gangs he passes on his way home from school. Robert Scates had dropped out of high school and was working to catch up in time to graduate. Lazarus Daniels feared what would happen to his anger if he couldn’t play football anymore.
Eventually, it was President Obama’s turn to check in — to say how he was feeling emotionally, physically, intellectually and spiritually. Obama’s quiet visit a year ago to the “Becoming a Man” program for inner-city youth in Chicago, along with a follow-up meeting several months later, would test whether Obama could transform the symbolism of his presidency into something more personal, one young man at a time. The meetings left a mark on the president, who has used them as motivation for a forthcoming White House initiative on young men of color that he promised to launch in this year’s State of the Union address.
Back in Room 208 of Hyde Park Academy that winter afternoon, Obama told the group he tries to exercise every day but was feeling the aches of a 51-year-old. Emotionally, he was always thinking about his daughters, and he said he feels intellectually challenged all the time. Spiritually, he said, he prays every night. Then Obama was asked to tell his story: How did a black man become president? He talked about his anger as a young man growing up without a father in the picture. When he was a teen in high school, he partied too much, ignored school too much. He confided that he drank and smoked pot. Daniels struggled to grasp what the president was saying. That could not be the life of the man who became a president, Daniels thought. He half-raised his hand, and asked, “Are you talking about you?” It wasn’t a question the president was expecting. “Yeah, I’m talking about me,” Obama said. “None of this is a secret. I wrote about all of this in my book.” Obama has recounted his meetings with the young men as among the most raw encounters of his tenure.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/chicago-teens-stories-on-becoming-a-man-leave-a-mark-on-the-president/2014/02/09/8808c336-82b8-11e3-9dd4-e7278db80d86_story.html
When Conservatives Cry Wolf
The Republican Party claims—once again—that it’s ready for change. But really, all this fanfare seems more like a howl for Washington’s attention and a ploy for PR.
There were two important developments in the Republican Party last week. Let’s take stock.
First, after years of saying that yes, they would develop and introduce an alternative to Obamacare, three GOP senators finally presented one: Orrin Hatch, Tom Coburn, and Richard Burr unveiled what they call their PCARE plan (yes, it’s another one of those syrupy, dopey Washington acronyms that have become such a pestilential constant in our city). Conservatives exulted; “See? We can be serious about policy!” But as Jonathan Chait wrote, the thing was awfully general and sketchy, and as soon as people started asking serious questions about how this or that would work, “things began to fall apart.” As of now, the plan has evanesced into something that no one really takes seriously and everyone recognizes for what it is—a mere talking point, a general outline that exists solely so Republicans can go on teevee and say they have a plan.
The second development occurred several days ago when John Boehner promised big movement on the immigration front. We’ll do a bill this year, he said. No citizenship, no “amnesty,” but a process toward legal status. The Republicans were ready to cut a deal. Boehner posted his guidelines for reform on his web site Monday. By Friday, 4,500 comments had been posted, roughly 95 percent (or more!) of them negative (“Please tell the Jews that we don’t want their One World Order. If they like immigrants send them to Israel[sic],” wrote user “Barbara Cornett”). At the end of the week, Boehner suggested that immigration reform might not, after all, be on the docket this year. (Update: I softened this language from the original, at the suggestion of Greg Sargent, and he’s right about Boehner’s words, although I remain a hard-shell skeptic.)
Remember when we had a “budget deal” in December, and the government didn’t shut down again, and negotiations didn’t go until the eleventh-and-a-half hour? At that point, we actually had some people talking about the dawn of a new day in Washington. Maybe the Republicans really were changing their stripes.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/10/the-gop-that-cries-wolf.html
HUFFPOLLSTER: GOP Polls Miss Urban Voters In Two Swing States
Posted: 02/10/2014 5:50 pm EST Updated: 02/10/2014 8:59 pm EST
ARE HARPER POLLS MISSING URBAN VOTERS? – Two automated telephone polls on 2014 Senate races released last week by a Republican super PAC have Democrats complaining about bad polling and an under-representation of urban areas. And for good reason.
As reported in early February by Politico, a set of new polls commissioned by the Republican group American Crossroads and conducted by Republican automated pollster Harper Polling purport to show Republican candidates leading in a handful of key Senate races, including Michigan and Louisiana. These include a 5 percentage point advantage for Republican candidate Terri Lynn Land over Democrat Gary Peters (42 to 37 percent) in Michigan and a 1-point edge (45 to 44 percent) for Republican Bill Cassidy over incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu in a test of a two-way runoff in Louisiana.
Partisan polling wars have become ubiquitous, but when one party challenges the results of polls commissioned by the news media or the other party, the arguments are often difficult to resolve. They almost always boil down to a debate about the composition of the “likely voters” sampled by the pollster. Many of these focus on partisan attachment, which are attitudes that can change from election to election or poll to poll. Others focus on demographics like age or race, for which statistics from past elections often conflict or derive from other surveys (such as exit polls).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/10/lousiana-michigan-senate-_n_4762997.html?utm_hp_ref=@pollster
Is Obamacare Standing In The Way Of Full Employment?
For years, Republicans have criticized the Affordable Care Act for holding back economic growth and contributing to the slow recovery.
After the mediocre jobs report last Friday, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus continued to make that accusation.
“This week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said that fewer Americans will be working because of ObamaCare.” Priebus said in a statement. “Today’s jobs report shows us exactly why that’s so devastating.
“America needs a larger, stronger, fully employed workforce, but there’s one thing standing in the way. It’s ObamaCare, and we can’t afford it any longer.”
Is Priebus right? Is Obamacare “standing in the way” of full employment?
To begin with: Obamacare is certainly not the main reason the economy hasn’t reached full employment. The law’s main provisions just took effect last month while the recovery has been slow for years now. A lack of demand for goods and services has been the true cause of the slow recovery, much of it brought on by unnecessary austerity that Republicans have championed.
However, that doesn’t mean that Obamacare won’t make it more difficult to return to full employment in the coming months and years. There are a few reasons to expect it might and a few to think otherwise. Let’s break it down.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/is-obamacare-standing-in-the-way-of-full-employment-2014-2#ixzz2t1X8cXG3
Now Conservatives Are Complaining That Obamacare Doesn’t Do Enough
BY JONATHAN COHN @citizencohn
Conservatives have a new favorite argument on Obamacare that, like so many right-wing talking points, is overdue for context and correction.
The claim is that the Affordable Care Act won’t do much good, because, even after the law has taken full effect, the number of uninsured Americans will be roughly the same as it is now. Last week’s report from the Congressional Budget Office has prompted several conservatives to make versions of this argument—among them, John Podhoretz of the New York Post:
…………………
Two points here. First, Obamacare’s architects were out to do a lot more than simply help the uninsured get coverage. Among other things, they were also out to help the under-insured get better insurance—and to help people struggling with their premiums pay for them. Accomplishing these things is not easy. It requires setting a higher standard for insurance and then finding the money to help people get coverage that meets that standard. It’s these changes that have led to the disruptions like policy cancellations and premium increases. If conservatives like Podhoretz want to judge the law based on all of the law’s minuses—and that’s fine, it’s the proper way to evaluate a program like this—then they need to include all of the pluses, too. That means counting the benefits to the insured and the uninsured.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116556/obamacare-wont-reduce-number-uninsured-conservatives-say
Immigration groups turn to anger
By ANNA PALMER and SEUNG MIN KIM |
2/10/14 10:46 PM EST
Updated: 2/10/14 11:26 PM EST
Immigration reform advocates are done playing nice with House Republicans.
After holding their fire for years at the urging of the Obama administration, several immigration reform groups now plan to unleash their anger at the right
A new, more aggressive campaign kicks off Tuesday, when these groups say they will begin confronting Republican lawmakers at public appearances, congressional hearings and events back in home districts. The goal: Shame Republicans in swing districts into taking up the issue — or make them pay at the ballot box in November.
It’s unclear if the strategy will truly damage Republicans with their constituents. Or worse, whether it might backfire and oust some of the movement’s best potential allies across the aisle.
Still, the groups believe it’s time to try something new. The movement embraced a distinctly positive message when Barack Obama took office in 2009 and stuck with it publicly even until last month, when the groups applauded House Republican leaders for releasing a set of immigration reform principles at a GOP winter retreat.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/immigration-reform-groups-house-republicans-barack-obama-103358.html#ixzz2t1W3DvH6
In Arkansas, ‘Private Option’ Medicaid Plan Could Be Derailed
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
FEB. 10, 2014
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Last year, the Republicans who control this state’s Legislature devised a politically palatable way to expand Medicaid under President Obama’s health care law. They won permission to use federal expansion funds to buy private insurance for as many as 250,000 poor people instead of adding them to traditional Medicaid, which conservatives disparage as a broken entitlement program.
But just as the idea is catching fire in other states with Republican or divided leadership — Iowa has adopted a version of the plan, and New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Utah and other states are exploring similar avenues — Arkansas may abruptly reverse course, potentially leaving the 83,000 people who have signed up so far without insurance as soon as July 1.
Facing pressure from conservative challengers in the May primary, several Republicans who supported the plan last year are now considering switching their vote when the Legislature votes to reauthorize its financing, possibly as soon as next week. The defection of just one Republican could kill the program, state officials said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/us/politics/in-arkansas-private-option-medicaid-plan-could-be-derailed.html?hp&_r=1
Morning Plum: Ted Cruz would love to debate immigration reform in 2015
By Greg Sargent
February 11 at 8:53 am
According to multiple reports this morning, House GOP leaders hope to resolve the debt limit standoff with a minimum of drama. This is about avoiding damage to the party heading into 2014, but it’s also about weakening the forces within the GOP that have pushed it into adopting reckless and destructive positions in the past — as evidenced by Boehner’s recent eruption at conservative groups.
Indeed, Roll Call reports that tensions are on the rise between House Republicans and Ted Cruz, with many ripping the Texas Senator for pushing for another round of debt limit brinkmanship at a moment when the party wants to focus on the midterms.
But if John Boehner really wants to weaken Cruz-ism’s influence, he has a very good way to do it: move forward on immigration reform this year.
The Post reports today that conservative groups are mostly standing down on the debt limit this time, apparently resigned to a clean hike. At the same time, some of these same groups are pressuring the leadership very hard not to act on immigration reform. The conventional wisdom holds that this is why Boehner may not act this year. If so, that means the elements in the party that Boehner himself has denounced have not lost their ability to push the party into self-destructive stances. While they may fail to get a debt ceiling hostage crisis, they still hold more sway on the immigration debate than other major GOP-aligned groups, such as the business community, agricultural and tech interests, and evangelicals. Even Boehner probably agrees with those constituencies that not acting on immigration is terrible for his party.
This is where Ted Cruz comes in. Tellingly, Cruz — who is denouncing the new GOP immigration principles as “amnesty” — is openly calling on the party to wait until 2015 to debate immigration reform. The Senator claims this is because Republicans may control the Senate next year — giving them more pull in immigration negotiations. But there may be another reason: Cruz is widely expected to run for president, and he’d surely love an opportunity to demagogue the heck out immigration next year to appeal to a far right chunk of the GOP primary electorate. That could turn the GOP presidential primary into an anti-amnesty sludge fest that could further damage relations with Latinos heading into the general election — exactly as happened in 2012 (see Romney, Mitt, self-deportation).
And so, even if Republicans may surrender on the debt ceiling, on immigration Cruzism is alive and well within the GOP. All indications are that GOP leaders may well capitulate to it, likely leading to a resurgence of it next year, just as the GOP presidential primary heats up. It’s hard to imagine that this is an outcome GOP strategists want, but you can bet Dem strategists won’t mind it all that much.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/02/11/morning-plum-ted-cruz-would-love-to-debate-immigration-reform-in-2015/
Debt-ceiling debacle limps forward
02/11/14 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
House Republican leaders appear keenly aware that their latest debt-ceiling fight isn’t going well. But House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) convened a “special conference meeting” in the Capitol basement last night to plot the way forward.
Despite the uncertain fate, Boehner’s team moved ahead with the option linking a restoration of recently cut military pension benefits to a one-year extension of the Treasury’s borrowing authority. The cost of restoring that cut to military pensions, about $7 billion, would be offset by an extension, by one year, of planned automatic spending cuts to entitlement programs.
Just so we’re clear, note that the current line from House GOP leaders is that they’re demanding **increased government spending** in exchange for a debt-limit increase.
As Suzy Khimm explained, “This is what happens when you’ve lost the war – but insist on another battle anyway.”
For Boehner, the plan nevertheless has a lot of appeal. Republicans are supposed to like increased support for military pensions, even if it is social welfare spending, and Democrats are supposed to be put on the spot in an election year. The debt limit goes up; Republicans get a reward; and the nation avoids default. For the GOP, it’s a win-win.
At least, that’s the idea. In practice, Democrats in Congress and the White House are still refusing to play debt-ceiling games, and House Republicans aren’t thrilled with Boehner’s latest gambit. GOP leaders expect to bring their new bill to the floor tomorrow, but no one has any idea whether it has the votes to pass.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/debt-ceiling-debacle-limps-forward
Nevada moves away from gay-marriage ban
02/11/14 08:36 AM
By Steve Benen
A couple of weeks ago, Virginia’s state attorney general, the newly elected Mark Herring (D), announced that Virginia’s gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional and his office will not defend it in court. It was a bold move, with a decidedly partisan twist – the announcement was made on the heels of sweeping Democratic victories in the commonwealth, and the shift was quickly denounced by Virginia Republicans.
But in Nevada yesterday, we saw a similar announcement under very different political circumstances.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/nevada-moves-away-gay-marriage-ban
CBO report’s actual findings are not a political winner for GOP
By Greg Sargent
February 10 at 2:27 pm
When the CBO report dropped, the insta-media-spin immediately echoed Republican spin on both on the substance and the politics of its findings. News orgs echoed the false claim that the report said Obamacare would kill two million jobs — and even after that had been corrected, they continued to insist the report would nonetheless be politically devastating for Dems.
But here’s something to keep an eye on going forward: How many Republican operatives and candidates are attacking Dems over what the report actually found (that Obamacare will reduce the incentive to work), and how many continue to use the falsified version (that Obamacare will kill two million jobs)?
Some GOP operatives and candidates continue to resort to the latter, or are carefully fudging what it is they’re actually saying, which suggests they don’t want a political debate over the implications of the CBO’s actual findings. Many prefer for the debate to remain on labor demand turf — where Big Bad Obamacare regulations are inflicting job loss on victimized workers — and don’t want an argument over whether helping provide health coverage to those who can’t afford it is a bad thing because it will discourage work. This drifts perilously close to “free stuff” and “47 percent” turf
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/02/10/cbo-reports-actual-findings-are-not-a-political-winner-for-gop/
President Obama to launch major new effort to help young men of color
By Zachary A. Goldfarb,
Published: February 10
President Obama will launch a significant new effort this week to bolster the lives of young men of color, seeking to use the power of the presidency to help a group of Americans whose lives are disproportionately affected by poverty and prison.
Obama on Thursday will announce a new White House initiative called “My Brother’s Keeper,” which will bring foundations and companies together to test a range of strategies across the country to support young male minorities, taking steps to keep them in school and out of the criminal justice system, a White House official said. He will also announce that his administration will launch a more vigorous evaluation of what policies work best and publicize results to school systems and others across the country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-obama-to-launch-major-new-effort-on-young-men-of-color/2014/02/11/cc0f0a98-92cd-11e3-b227-12a45d109e03_story.html
Kids Explain The Meaning of Love
http://msnvideo.msn.com/?channelindex=3&from=en-us_msnhp#/video/1e0e8971-b0b1-41a2-4436-7320f3ab1257
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAUvtEr0Zaw
http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/02/10/samuel-l-jackson-laurence-fishburne/
Sam Jackson Blasts Journalist
This is why you love Samuel L. Jackson. The Pulp Fiction actor was being interviewed for his new film— the RoboCop reboot—when a television anchor apparently confused him with actor Laurence Fishburne. He asked Jackson about his recent Super Bowl commercial, meaning Fishburne’s Matrix-inspired ad for Kia. Jackson was confused at first and then said, “You’re as crazy as the people on Twitter! I am NOT Laurence Fishburne!” For good measure to make things extra uncomfortable, Jackson shouted, “We don’t all look alike! We may be all black and famous, but we don’t all look alike!”
http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/02/10/samuel-l-jackson-laurence-fishburne/
Good Morning, Eveyone! m:-)
Good Morning, Everyone :)