Michael David Rosenberg (born 17 May 1984), better known by his stage name Passenger, is an English folk-rock singer-songwriter. Previously the main vocalist and songwriter of Passenger, Rosenberg opted to keep the band’s name for his solo work after the band dissolved in 2009. His most successful single, “Let Her Go“, has topped the charts in many countries.
Rosenberg was born in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, to an English mother and an American father, Gerard Rosenberg, originally from Vineland, New Jersey.[3][4] His father’s family is Jewish.[5] Rosenberg learned classical guitar at a young age, and around 14-15 started to write songs. He did not apply himself at school in Brighton, spending his time on music. Rosenberg still lives in Brighton.
WERQ: Lupita Nyong’o in Givenchy at the 2014 NAACP Image Awards
Posted on February 24, 2014
BOW DOWN:
Bow down to this bronze warrior goddess, peasants. We feel like we should make an offering of some sort.
And then when you get up, take a moment and applaud her astonishingly
talented style team. This dress is stunning, the makeup is flawless,
the hair is fun and chic, the jewelry is perfectly on point and she’s
wearing the right shoes. The fact that everything matches doesn’t bother
us in the slightest. She’s working on a whole ‘nother level.
Such a fantastic look. We can’t stop staring. You WERQ that head-turning style, diva.
http://tomandlorenzo.com/2014/02/werq-lupita-nyongo-in-givenchy-at-the-2014-naacp-image-awards/
FUCK TED NUGENT!
this MOFO right here
Yep, Bobby Brady Jindal is INSANE in the MEMBRANE.
Looky here 3CP! Evil has NO bounds!
Prosecuting non–Native Americans
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/22/prosecuting-non-nativeamericans.html
Three Western tribes begin pilot programs to try to stem tide of sexual violence from perpetrators off the reservation.
Deborah Parker said it happened one night not far from the reservation.
A white man coaxed a Tulalip Indian woman into his vehicle. He drove until he thought he had entered tribal land. And then he beat her. He raped her. He left her for dead. While he assaulted her, the victim later told Parker how he blustered about how he’d get away with his crimes. He knew tribal police couldn’t legally arrest him, she said. And so he drove away thinking he was a free man.
It was sometime in the late 1990’s when Parker first heard this story. She was a domestic violence counselor for the Tulalip Tribe in northern Washington State. Raised on the reservation, an early victim of abuse herself, she said listening to the often-daily survival stories of other tribal members led to a moment of awareness. “There was a sense of lawlessness,” Parker said. “We had no way of handling justice.”
For more than three decades, the Tulalip, along with other tribes, had lost the legal authority to try non-Natives accused of committing major crimes on tribal lands. In 1978, the Supreme Court denied tribal courts the inherent right to prosecute any non-Indian living or working on the reservation.
Over the years, the inability to prosecute these kinds of crimes has led to what U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recently described as “a public safety crisis in Indian Country.” Last November, a federally funded report detailed flaws in the broken tribal justice system and spelled out ways to fix some of the problems. Ultimately, the report found the American legal system had “significantly hamstrung (tribes) ability to ensure safety in Indian Country.”
February 21, 2014
Clarence Thomas’s Disgraceful Silence
Posted by Jeffrey Toobin
As of this Saturday, February 22nd, eight years will have passed since Clarence Thomas last asked a question during a Supreme Court oral argument. His behavior on the bench has gone from curious to bizarre to downright embarrassing, for himself and for the institution he represents.
This point was especially apparent on January 13th, when the Court considered the case of National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, which raises important questions about the President’s ability to fill vacancies when the Senate is in recess. It was a superb argument—highly skilled lawyers engaging with eight inquisitive judges. The case also offered a kind of primer on the state of the Court in action, with Thomas’s colleagues best viewed in pairs.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2014/02/clarence-thomas-disgraceful-silence.html
Challenging ‘interference’ in VW union vote
02/24/14 11:46 AM
By Steve Benen
Even before anyone knew the outcome of the recent unionization vote among workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, intervention from Republican policymakers was striking. Sen. Bob Corker’s (R) went so far as to argue – during the balloting – that he had secret knowledge that the VW plant would manufacture a new product line, but only if employees rejected a union.
National Labor Relations Board expert Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, who is professor of labor at the University of Indiana-Bloomington, told Reuters before the results were announced that Corker’s comments “would be grounds to set the election aside and have to run it all over again at a later date” because it could be ruled to be interfering to the point that it is against federal labor law.
We now know, of course, that the workers narrowly rejected unionization, but the United Auto Workers on Friday asked that the results be thrown out in light of “extraordinary interference” from GOP politicians.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/challenging-interference-vw-union-vote
I don’t care if you send your kid to a private school…
as long as you don’t expect monies designated for PUBLIC SCHOOLS to help you pay – i.e. VOUCHERS.
…………………………
The Private School Conundrum
Asha French laments her ability to teach—and send her child to—an elite private school
I’m not an expert on public education reform; I’m just a mother who recently visited a private school and saw, for the first time, the kind of education money can buy. I suddenly empathized with the mother on a 2008 episode of Oprah who broke down in tears when she toured the public school on the outskirts of Chicago. She wept for all of the privileges her own children had missed in what Jonathan Kozol calls an “American Apartheid” in which public schools are (under)funded by neighborhood taxes and those who literally step out of their place are criminalized. The mother wept as she stared at the high ceiling of the state-of-the-art gym, shoulders drooping like a defeated Cinderella anticipating the bell’s toll. I imagine that her tears were bitter with justifiable rage.
I felt something more than anger; it was a dull but painful resignation. I knew that, if granted the opportunity, I would gladly enroll my daughter in this school and bury my dreams of advocacy-within-the-walls beneath a stack of tuition receipts. I felt guilty. If the Oprah guest’s bitter tears were like fresh bullet wounds that invite sympathy and incite action, my own resigned awe was like a paper cut, albeit deep. No blood, no bother. If the Oprah guest’s song was Fantasia’s “I’m Here,” my song was Beyonce’s “Pretty Hurts.” I got the sense that guilt was the easiest, and most selfish, way to deal with my anticipated privilege. If I had cried on that visit, my tears would have tasted like candy—the expensive kind.
This expensive school was full of oxymoron: the brilliant kid who was unstressed about competition; the rested and smiling, veteran teacher; the principal who longed to get back into the classroom; the unabashed socialist teacher, who experienced cultural marginalization as an opportunity to teach curious students. It was like the first time that Shug Avery helped Celie find her love button. My imagination was stretched; I could no longer accept what Mr. _________ was putting down without knowing that there was a better time to be had at the tip of my fingers.
Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/life/modern-mom-the-private-school-conundrum-405#ixzz2uGFstLX1
Follow us: @EbonyMag on Twitter | EbonyMag on Facebook
http://www.ebony.com/life/modern-mom-the-private-school-conundrum-405#ixzz2uGFeBOZZ
Medicaid expansion struggling in Virginia, Arkansas
02/24/14 11:17 AM
By Steve Benen
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) ran on a platform that included an important health care provision: it’s important, he said, that the commonwealth join most other states in embracing Medicaid expansion.
When Democrats swept the statewide offices, and won the a couple of special elections to control the state Senate, it looked like the policy had a real shot. But Republicans still hold the state House – they’re not budging.
Even Republican voters in Virginia support Medicaid expansion, which would bring coverage to more than 250,000 low-income residents. But barring a dramatic reversal from conservatives in the state House, those Virginians will go without and some state hospitals may have no choice but to permanently close their doors.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/medicaid-plan-struggles-virginia-arkansas
Leave the Girl Scouts alone
02/24/14 10:41 AM—Updated 02/24/14 11:19 AM
By Steve Benen
Girl Scouts sell cookies as a winter storm moves in on February 8, 2013 in New York City.
Photo by John Moore/Getty Images
Girl Scouts sell cookies as a winter storm moves in on February 8, 2013 in New York City.
A Girl Scout in California last week drew quite a bit of attention last week after she came up with a very clever marketing ploy. The 13-year-old entrepreneur had the bright idea of selling Girl Scout cookies near a marijuana dispensary, where she sold 117 boxes in two hours.
And so, if you heard some recent complains from the right about the Girl Scouts, you might have thought it had something to do with this nontraditional cookie strategy. But as is it turns out, conservatives are actually complaining about the Girl Scout for entirely different reasons.
During the controversy over Chick-fil-A’s stance on gay rights issues, Fox News pundit Todd Starnes said that people boycotting the restaurant chain are “un-American” and warned that “the days of persecution are upon us.”
But apparently boycotts aren’t “un-American” as long as Starnes supports them, as today he endorsed the Religious Right boycott of the Girl Scouts over bogus accusations that Girl Scout cookies fund Planned Parenthood.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/leave-the-girl-scouts-alone
folks understand ENGLISH and these mofos said they were SITTING OUT 2014, because they were waiting to push the GREAT WHITE HOPE HILLARY.
but then, they found out that folks really weren’t feeling that bullshyt.
………………………………..
Priorities USA: We’re not sitting out 2014
Priorities USA says ‘no one should sit out the 2014 midterm elections, period.’
By MAGGIE HABERMAN | 2/24/14 11:24 AM EST
Stung by headlines that it’s planning to sit out the 2014 cycle, the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA is asking its donors to contribute to efforts to keep the Senate majority and take back the House.
The memo, from Priorities executive director Buffy Wicks, insists to donors that the group not sitting on the sidelines during a competitive 2014 midterms cycle.
“We are asking all our strongest supporters to do all you can to help hold the Senate and win the House,” Wicks wrote. “We know from our friends at the other Super PACs that many of our most committed supporters have already weighed in. The cross-pollination between Priorities USA Action donors and donors to the House and Senate Super PACs is impressive. So if you have given, thank you. If you have yet to give, please understand how high the stakes are and donate.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/priorities-were-not-sitting-out-2014-103847.html#ixzz2uGCSrNgE
Hillary & Bill have more than shown me their TRUE COLORS.
NO MORE CLINTONS IN THE WHITE HOUSE!
Why actual ACA ‘victims’ are so elusive
02/24/14 10:00 AM—Updated 02/24/14 10:01 AM
By Steve Benen
An Affordable Healthcare Act supporter (R) talks with a student (L) about the law on the campus of Santa Monica City College in Santa Monica, California, October 10, 2013.
Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
An Affordable Healthcare Act supporter (R) talks with a student (L) about the law on the campus of Santa Monica City College in Santa Monica, California, October 10, 2013.
It’s practically a running joke at this point. The Affordable Care Act’s conservative detractors have spent the last several months in a desperate search for “Obamacare victims” to be used in various partisan attacks, and quite a few regular folks have received quite a bit of attention.
The problem, of course, is that all of these examples, once they’re subjected to even minor scrutiny, have fallen apart – the “horror stories” really aren’t so horrible. Michael Hiltzik speculated last week that there may not be any genuine anecdotes to bolster the right’s claims.
What’s going on here? Paul Krugman offers one possible explanation.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-actual-aca-victims-are-so-elusive
I’m black, don’t shoot me
By Eugene Robinson, Published: February 20 E-mail the writer
Sometimes, when I’m in my car, I crank up the music pretty loud. All you Michael Dunns out there, please don’t shoot me.
Please don’t shoot my sons, either, or my brothers-in-law, nephews, nephews-in-law or other male relatives. I have quite a few friends and acquaintances who also happen to be black men, and I’d appreciate your not shooting them as well, even if the value you place on their lives is approximately zero.
I know I shouldn’t have to ask, but nothing else has worked. The criminal justice system has a mixed record — Dunn was at least partly held accountable for the burst of mayhem in which he fatally shot Jordan Davis, while George Zimmerman got off scot-free for killing Trayvon Martin. But whatever the final outcome, prosecutors and juries never get involved until after the fact. When mothers have already cried over the caskets of their dead sons. When it’s too late.
Davis’s killing, if you haven’t been following the case, was just as senseless as Martin’s. On Nov. 23, 2012, Dunn and his fiancee stopped at a gas station in Jacksonville, Fla., and parked next to a red Dodge Durango with four African American teenagers inside. The young men made the mistake — ultimately fatal to Davis — of having the Durango’s music system turned up too loud.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-im-black-dont-shoot-me/2014/02/20/3899521e-9a61-11e3-b931-0204122c514b_story.html?hpid=z3
POTUS is coming to town!
Obama to stop at St. Paul’s Union Depot Wednesday
When President Barack Obama comes to the Twin Cities on Wednesday, he’ll make a stop at Union Depot in St. Paul to discuss transportation and transit issues, a source confirmed Saturday.
Union Depot, which reopened in late 2012 after a $274 million refurbishing, will serve as a hub for Amtrak passenger-rail service; buses from Megabus, Jefferson Lines and Metro Transit; and the Green Line light rail.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_25207318/obama-stop-at-st-pauls-union-depot-wednesday
Alison Lundergan Grimes doesn’t want Obama’s help on the campaign trail
The 35-year-old Kentucky Democrat wants to distance herself from the President’s unpopular policies as runs for Senate against Republican Mitch McConnell. She will welcome help from former President Bill Clinton.
By Leslie Larson / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, February 24, 2014, 9:19 AM
The Kentucky Democrat says she doesn’t need the President to help out in her bid for the U.S. Senate, as she tries to distance herself from his unpopular health care reform.
“I speak for myself. I don’t need any other surrogate to do that,” she announced Monday in a MSNBC interview with Kasie Hunt, when asked if the President would be joining her on the campaign trail.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/alison-lundergan-grimes-doesn-obama-article-1.1699731
Hmmm. Another DINO, just what we need.
IKR! Good grief! Here we go again with these Democrats in name only.
She’s got Hill & Bill. Alison don’t need no stinkin’ PBO!
News Alert
Longest-serving congressman Rep. John Dingell to retire
Michigan Democrat will retire at the end of his current term, capping a career of service in the House that spanned nearly 60 years.
“I’m not going to be carried out feet first,” Dingell told the Detroit News for a story published Monday morning. “I don’t want people to say I stayed too long.”
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/02/24/longest-serving-rep-john-dingell-to-retire/
John Dingell from Michigan is retiring.
Here’s another member of Congress leaving after many years…
His fight?
Universal Healthcare.
He did some interviews after the ACA was passed that really moved me. It’s a fight his father started and he continued.
See…his life’s work finished….something that helps THE ENTIRE COUNTRY…just like Waxman’s work on the environment helps the entire country.
Once again I ask…some of these CBC Members have been there 25-30 years..what are their legacies?
Tell.the.TRUTH. Dingell for the PEOPLE. CBC members can’t get enough of the scrimps and other appetizers! PBO was right. kick off those house slippers and get busy. But nope, they remain the whiney, trifling, deadbeats they’ve been for decades.
TPM: The Obamacare Hail Mary That Could Save The Senate For Democrats
The 2014 handicapping is underway, and the consensus is clear: Democrats face a tough battle to maintain control of the Senate. They’re defending too many seats in red states where President Obama and his signature health care reform law are unpopular.
They’re also at a structural disadvantage. Turning out the base, conventional wisdom and historical precedents say, is the key element for midterm elections, and Republicans have done it better.
But Democrats might have a secret weapon in a couple of those key Senate races. Activist groups and state lawmakers are working to get Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion on the ballot in Louisiana and Montana, where they have vulnerable candidates and GOP officials have refused to adopt the provision.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-medicaid-expansion-ballot-initiative
Brian Beutler: The right’s sociopathic new scam: Using Americans to harm their own health plans
GOP-aligned groups are now exploiting innocent people who need Obamacare — by having them campaign for its demise
Every time an enemy of the Affordable Care Act promotes a new Obamacare “horror story,” the law’s supporters, and a handful of diligent reporters, are given an exciting new opportunity to assess whether the story really stands up to scrutiny, or whether it’s a product of exaggeration, ignorance, malice, prejudice or a combination thereof.
But at the same time, it places Democratic politicians on the horns of an awkward dilemma, because even if the story is completely bunk, it’s still a human tale, and no elected official comes out well by questioning a constituent who claims to have been harmed in some way.
http://www.salon.com/2014/02/24/the_rights_sociopathic_new_scam_encouraging_americans_to_oppose_their_health_benefits/
Saturday, February 22, 2014
A Case Of Sparkling Perry Error
Posted by Zandar
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has apparently come up with the perfect GOP delusion on immigration: reforming it magically no longer matters!
So what miracle is this that will see undocumented workers flood back south to Mexico? Drill baby drill!
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-case-of-sparkling-perry-error.html
Those who long for the Cold War
02/24/14 09:11 AM
By Steve Benen
The ongoing crises in Syria and Ukraine are not limited to their own borders – Russia has its own stake in both conflicts, and its agenda is hardly aligned with the West’s. But President Obama told reporters last week that he does not view developments though an outdated lens.
“I don’t think this is a competition between the United States and Russia. I think this is an expression of the hopes and aspirations of people inside of Syria and people inside of the Ukraine,” he said. “Our approach as the United States is not to see these as some Cold War chessboard in which we’re in competition with Russia.”
This came up on ABC’s “This Week” yesterday, featuring a panel in which Bill Kristol, of all people, was brought on to offer an expert view on foreign policy. This perspective stood out for me:
What’s I found fascinating about this was Kristol’s candor. In effect, the president reminded the world last week to stop clinging to a Cold War mentality that no longer applies. A few days later, true to form, Kristol made a Sunday show appearance to complain – he likes the Cold War mentality and wants to keep it around, whether it makes sense or not.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/those-who-long-the-cold-war
Susan Rice, vindicated, has no regrets
02/24/14 08:32 AM
By Steve Benen
US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice speaks to the media following a meeting, April 13, 2012, in New York, NY.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty
US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice speaks to the media following a meeting, April 13, 2012, in New York, NY.
National Security Adviser Susan Rice appeared on “Meet the Press” yesterday, and host David Gregory noted that the last time she appeared on the show was shortly after the Benghazi attacks in September 2012. “As you look back at your involvement in all of that,” he asked, “do you have any regrets?” Rice replied:
“No, because what I said to you that morning, and what I did every day since, was to share the best information that we had at the time. The information I provided, which I explained to you, was what we had at the moment. It could change. I commented that this was based on what we knew on that morning, was provided to me and my colleagues, and indeed, to Congress, by the intelligence community. And that’s been well validated in many different ways since.
“And that information turned out, in some respects, not to be 100% correct. But the notion that somehow I or anybody else in the administration misled the American people is patently false. And I think that that’s been amply demonstrated.”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/susan-rice-vindicated-has-no-regrets
Vouchers stumble in N.C. court fight
02/21/14 04:53 PM—Updated 02/21/14 06:33 PM
By Steve Benen
GOP sees school vouchers as a political panacea
Last year was the first in generations in which North Carolina had a Republican governor working with Republican majorities in both the state House and state Senate. They quickly starting making up for lost time.
At a breakneck pace, GOP policymakers in the state cut unemployment benefits, imposed the most sweeping voting restrictions anywhere in the United States, blocked Medicaid expansion; repealed the Racial Justice Act; and imposed harsh new restrictions on reproductive rights. Rachel described it on the show as “conservatives gone wild.”
But North Carolina Republicans had some ideas on education, too, including the creation of a new voucher system, using public funds from taxpayers to subsidize private schools. As of today, that system is on hold following a new court order.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/vouchers-stumble-nc-court-fight
Walker dodges questions on email controversy
02/24/14 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker answers a question during an Associated Press interview in his office Monday, Nov. 26, 2012, in Madison, Wis. Walker told The…
At the National Governors Association meeting over the weekend, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), caught up in a new/old controversy, did his very best to direct reporters in a different direction.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) bridge scandal, Walker said to reporters in D.C., is “just beginning.” Christie “addressed it early on, but obviously he’s not out of the woods yet,” the Wisconsin Republican added.
It was a pretty obvious “Hey, look over there!” moment, but it didn’t have much of an effect. Walker appeared on Fox News yesterday and was confronted with the questions he doesn’t want to answer. The headline in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin’s largest newspaper, probably isn’t the one
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/walker-dodges-questions-email-controversy
Cable Cancer Metastisizes
Posted by evolved beyond the fist mistermix at 9:15 am Feb 242014
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/02/24/cable-cancer-metastisizes/
This weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported that Netflix is paying Comcast for the privilege of letting Netflix’ traffic flow across Comcast’s network. This isn’t how it’s supposed to work: different Internet providers are supposed to interconnect to share traffic without charging each other for the privilege (further explanation here).
This is bad for a couple of reasons. First, it means that Comcast can engage in the same hostage taking that cable companies use to extort content providers to pay for access to their network. Just as, for example, Dish dropped AMC for a while because AMC and Dish had a disagreement over payment, Comcast can degrade Netflix performance whenever it feels that Netflix isn’t paying enough. Second, it effectively freezes out small players in the video market. If, for example, you want to subscribe to a video service that specializes in film noir, or Spanish language films, or some other niche, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to stream that content because Comcast isn’t getting greased to send it to your Internet connection.
The ultimate cure for this disease is for the FCC to put on its big boy regulatin’ pants and classify cable companies as common carriers. We’re still waiting to hear what the FCC’s next move on net neutrality, but in the meantime, both Netflix and the cable companies see an opportunity to lock down their markets.
One more thing: this weekend, Kevin Drum and Felix Salmon suggested that the cure to this disease is to unbundle the local loop. This means requiring the cable providers to allow other providers to sell Internet service over their network, similar to the way electricity is sold today (at least in New York). This addresses one part of the problem: Comcast wouldn’t be able to hold Netflix hostage since Comcast subscribers could choose to switch to another Internet provider that has a good Netflix connection. It doesn’t address another issue, which is that cable providers have been notoriously slow to upgrade their local loop technology. Cable internet technology is capable of speeds rivaling fiber, but US providers don’t upgrade their technology unless Google Fiber comes to town.
Pretty soon we’ll have to get back to the old school way of communicating. Visitng face-face, reading books, etc.
Kerry Washington in Thakoon at the 2014 NAACP Image Awards
Posted on February 24, 2014
Our honest reaction upon seeing these pics: “GOD, Kerry! Are you STILL pregnant?”
http://tomandlorenzo.com/2014/02/kerry-washington-in-thakoon-at-the-2014-naacp-image-awards/
https://twitter.com/NewsBreaker/status/437633147803430913/photo/1
https://twitter.com/petesouza/status/437737953176350720/photo/1
Good morning, everyone!
Beautiful!
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)
Good Morning, Everyone :)
My day was more than a notion by 7:00 a.m.
And, it’s only Monday…sigh…
awwww…