I don’t care what anyone says – I loved disco. The music was fun, and you could dance to it.
Chic (/ˈʃiːk/ SHEEK; currently Chic featuring Nile Rodgers) is an American band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” (1977), “Everybody Dance” (1977), “Le Freak” (1978), “I Want Your Love” (1978), “Good Times” (1979), and “My Forbidden Lover” (1979). The group regarded themselves as a rock band for the disco movement “that made good on hippie peace, love and freedom”.[1] In October 2013, Chic was nominated for introduction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the eighth time.
Also, what’s the matter, Southern?
‘Jessie’: First Lady Michelle Obama guest stars
First Lady Michelle Obama guest stars on Disney Channel’s “Jessie” in a storyline that raises awareness about the service, sacrifice and needs of military families. The episode, part of Disney’s long legacy of support for the U.S. Armed Services and the White House’s Joining Forces initiative, premieres Friday, May 16, 2014 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. A Public Service Announcement also featuring Mrs. Obama accompanies the episode
http://zap2it.com/photos/zap-jessie-first-lady-michelle-obama-guest-stars-photos-20140421
I must admit that I (a grown woman) watch Jessie. I really enjoy watching their antics and especially enjoy watching Skai Jackson as Zuri and love her hair. (blush)
Meanwhile, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced today that health care signups through Kentucky Kynect have hit 413,000. This again raises the question: Is there a point at which Alison Lundergan Grimes can more directly engage the consequences of Mitch McConnell’s repeal stance? Remember, McConnell wants everything to be about Big Bad Obamacare, but he would also do away with Kentucky Kynect. — gs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/04/22/happy-hour-roundup-338/
The Supreme Court and the reality of racial preferences
By Paul Waldman
April 22 at 11:55 am
In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court today struck down a challenge to a Michigan law forbidding state universities from considering race in their admissions. No one should be surprised, given that one of the main projects of John Roberts’ tenure on the Court has been the dismantling of affirmative action wherever and whenever it might be found.
The majority’s ruling was brief, arguing that the key question in this case wasn’t whether affirmative action is constitutional, but whether it is constitutional for a state to abandon it if the state chooses. “This case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved,” Justice Kennedy wrote. “It is about who may resolve it.”
As a legal matter in this specific case, that judgment was perfectly reasonable. But since the rest of us aren’t Supreme Court justices, we’re free to look at what’s actually happening in the world and render a different kind of judgement. The Court, and Chief Justice Roberts in particular, sees issues of racial discrimination as simple and straightforward. “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race,” he famously wrote, “is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
No problem there. He wrote those words, however, in a decision striking down efforts by school districts to desegregate their schools — an attempt to grapple with problems that persisted even after explicitly discriminatory policies departed from the law. But in the world of the man who during his confirmation hearings said the role of a Supreme Court justice was nothing more complicated than “calling balls and strikes,” every decision is easy, so long as the right people win.
When you look at polling on this question, the public looks somewhat confused. If you ask about affirmative action generally as a means of helping racial minorities, a majority of the public says its in favor. But if you ask specifically about college admissions and frame it as a choice between “merit” on the one hand and admitting allegedly unqualified minorities on the other (see this Gallup poll for an example), healthy majorities oppose affirmative action.
And that framing has come to dominate our thinking about this issue, though it has next to nothing to do with how things actually work. In the real world, if hundreds or thousands of black students have their opportunities constrained because of a system that places obstacles in their particular path, then most of us shrug and say, that’s just the way things are, and there isn’t anything that can or should be done about it. But if an affirmative action program should result in a single white student having to go to her second choice school? Then we must change the law, and move heaven and earth to make sure it never happens again.
Meanwhile, the preferences whites enjoy remain firmly in place. There have yet to be any successful laws or ballot initiatives to ban “legacy admissions,” in which applicants who had a relative who attended the university are given special preference. No one can come up with rational grounds for retaining this affirmative action for wealthy white people, yet universities all across the country do. And there are other only slightly less blatant forms of favoritism; for instance, the reliance on standardized test scores provides a boost for wealthy students, most of them white, whose parents can afford expensive test prep courses and tutoring. Again, no serious person contends that SATs or ACTs are a pure measure of “merit,” yet they continue to play a huge role in college admissions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/04/22/the-supreme-court-and-the-reality-of-racial-preferences/
CFPB, hard at work
04/22/14 04:44 PM
By Steve Benen
It doesn’t get enough attention, but I still consider the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) one of the more important breakthroughs for progressive governance in the Obama era. That its work on our behalf tends to happen far from the spotlight somehow makes it more impressive – the agency’s work isn’t showy, it’s just effective.
It was the CFPB that recently announced multi-million dollar fines for four mortgage insurers for “doling out illegal kickbacks to mortgage lenders in exchange for business.” It was the CFPB that cracked down on a lender for allegedly “paying illegal bonuses to employees who steered home buyers toward higher-interest loans.” It was the CFPB that ended 2013 with “a string of enforcement cases … on lending discrimination, mortgage servicing, online lending and credit card products.”
And it’s the CFPB that keeps adding to its to-do list.
Federal regulators are investigating reports that lenders are pressuring thousands of college graduates to immediately repay their full student loan debt when a relative who co-signed the loans dies or files for bankruptcy.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said Tuesday it is probing the phenonmenon.
Rohit Chopra, the student loan ombudsman at the CFPB, told The Hill, “Private student loans can sometimes take many years to pay off, and these parents or grandparents may be unaware that their own financial distress or death can lead to a sudden default and demand for payment.”
Here’s the situation in a nutshell: young people lacking in collateral often receive student loans with a co-signer, usually a parent. It works like any other debt – the lender figures that if the student struggles to keep up on the payments, the co-signer will be obligated to pick up the slack.
But if the co-signer dies unexpectedly, the lender panics. “We’re sorry for your loss,” the bank says, “but if you could give us all our money immediately, that’d be great.”
It doesn’t matter if the young person hasn’t missed a payment and it doesn’t matter if he/she can’t afford to pay the balance.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/cfpb-hard-work
April 22, 2014, 01:30 pm
Republicans break up with Hispanics
By Fernando Espuelas
Breakups are rough — regrets, pain and bitter memories. As Republicans in the House block immigration reform time after time, American Latinos get the message: It’s over, don’t call me. Have a good life.
Incapable of producing even one GOP vote in favor of the Democrats’ last-ditch gamble at forcing an open vote of the House, the message to Latinos is crystalline. Whatever goodwill the clutch of pro-immigration reform House Republicans won in the last year since the Senate passed its bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill has now evaporated.
What remains are the weekly flip-flops by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the yelps of “amnesty” coming from a seemingly frightened Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the tiny fig leaf provided by Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s (R-Va.) seven bills he’s been talking about for a year and the shameful action to deport all Dreamers through the recently unanimous vote of the House Republican caucus’s fantasy bill, the Enforce Act.
Some 15 months after former Gov. Mitt Romney’s (R-Mass.) “self-deportation” turkey handed the Latino vote (not to mention the Asian-American electorate) to the Democrats, Republicans are still incapable of effectively dealing with an issue that commands big majorities of Americans – including Republicans.
Great analyses have been written by Greg Sargent, Charlie Cook, and Juan Williams, among others, about the “paranoia” inherent in the Republican Party’s refusal put forward a coherent immigration reform policy. Setting the political calculus aside, most Republicans on Capitol Hill seem to have no clue about what immigration reform actually represents to Latino voters.
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/204060-republicans-break-up-with-hispanics
President Barack Obama Motorcade heading to Oso, Washington.
Obama goes stag to Asia, and Japanese don’t like it
Obama travels to Japan without the first lady, and Japanese tongues are wagging about what that says about Japan’s place on the US priority list. After all, Michelle Obama and daughters recently went to (gasp!) China.
When Japan scored Caroline Kennedy as the new US ambassador to Tokyo last year, Japanese officials and media were ecstatic. That President Obama had named such a globally recognized figure and the daughter of a widely beloved and glamorous president to represent the United States in Japan was seen as a sign of the country’s enduring importance to Washington.
But that was then. Now on the eve of Mr. Obama’s state visit to Tokyo this week, Japan is back to openly fretting about its place on America’s priority list – particularly in comparison to rising rival China.
The reason? When Obama arrives Wednesday evening, he’ll disembark Air Force One solo – without first lady Michelle Obama. Obama will be the first US president to come to Japan on a state visit in 18 years, but never mind: Michelle’s absence has thrown Tokyo into a tizzy.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/obama-goes-stag-asia-japanese-dont-222744781.html
LOL I ain’t mad at the Japanese. FLOTUS is well-loved the WORLD over.
Still feeling sick, guys. I might have to go to doc tomorrow if I’m not feeling better.
Did anyone see Hardball with Joy Reid? Where did MSNBC find this brown nosing house negro? Who’s paying that negro to spew bullshit about the court’s ruling on Affirmative Action?
get yourself to a doctor, SG2. have it checked out.
Go get a thorough workup and rest.
This Man Is About to Die Because an Alcoholic Lawyer Botched His Case
What does it take for a condemned person to win a resentencing?
By Marc Bookman Tue Apr. 22, 2014 3:00 AM PDT
When people recount their alcohol consumption after a night on the town, or even a serious bender, they usually think about it in terms of drinks. Very rarely do they calibrate their intake in quarts. So most of us don’t have a good sense of just how much a quart of vodka is—a bit more than 21 shots, as it turns out. That’s the amount of alcohol lawyer Andy Prince consumed every night during the death penalty trial of his client, Robert Wayne Holsey, a low-functioning man with a tortured past who now stands on the brink of execution in Georgia.
When a person drinks that heavily, there’s bound to be collateral damage—and for Prince and his clients the damage was profound. Once a skilled lawyer, Prince already had dug himself a very deep hole by the time Holsey went to trial in February 1997. But the signs of his downward spiral were clear 14 months earlier, back in December 1995, when a Baldwin County judge first assigned him the case. Prince had recently defaulted on a $20,000 promissory note, and Bell South and Vanguard Financial had won separate judgments against him totaling an additional $25,000. And then there was the probate fiasco: In June 1994, a client named Margaret Collins had hired Prince to handle the estate of her deceased common-law husband, which was valued at $116,000. Within a year there was almost nothing left—Prince had spent it all. He never really considered it stealing, he later insisted. He’d always intended to pay the money back when that one big civil case came along.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/alcoholic-lawyer-botched-robert-wayne-holsey-death-penalty-trial?google_editors_picks=true
https://twitter.com/AJMertz/status/458676944465592320/photo/1
https://twitter.com/WAStateGov/status/458675838687653889/photo/1
Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek
Film. By Leah Mahan. 2013.
Documentary about the impact of “development” on a historically African American community in Gulfport, Mississippi.
View Come Hell or High Water on April 29, 2014 on PBS. Sign up to join the live chat following the film with filmmaker Leah Mahan; educator Derrick Evans, who is the subject of the documentary; journalist Brentin Mock of Colorlines and Grist; and Sierra Club’s National Environmental Justice Director Leslie Fields.
“This intimate film tells a gigantic story—about race, about power, about so-called development. But it is also a saga of community, resilience, resistance, and hope. It’s not just the drama of a small creek in Mississippi — it’s about everything that matters in our society.” — Bill Bigelow, Rethinking Schools
“The language of power and oppression is omnipresent in Come Hell or High Water, and it doesn’t get any better as Katrina pounds Gulfport in 2005. Still no better when the BP oil disaster happens five years after that. The documentary captures Turkey Creek’s responses to all of these tragedies — and a few remarkable victories against the powers that be.” — Brentin Mock, Grist
Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek follows the painful but inspiring journey of Derrick Evans, a Boston teacher who moves home to coastal Mississippi when the graves of his ancestors are bulldozed to make way for the sprawling city of Gulfport. Over the course of a decade, Derrick and his neighbors stand up to powerful corporate interests and politicians and face ordeals that include Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil disaster in their struggle for self-determination and environmental justice. [Producer’s description.]
http://zinnedproject.org/materials/come-hell-or-high-water/
Racism? Chicago Police bust into black-owned restaurant in the white side of town
Published On April 21, 2014 | By Staff | black people and money, Entrepreneurship, Financial News, investing, News
Reported By Liku Zelleke
Chicago, IL: The owner of a River North restaurant that was shut down by authorities for a short time has said that there was racial bias behind the action. The business was abruptly closed by Chicago Police last week.
Theodore Gilmore, 45, who helps his friend run the Nouveau Tavern, said that the establishment, which is located in a mostly white neighborhood, was unfairly targeted because its clientele were mostly African American.
The owner of the restaurant, Marsette Mangum, has filed a lawsuit against Chicago P.D. and the city, claiming that he was never notified and wasn’t given enough time to appeal a refusal for a liquor license renewal.
A group of police officers walked into the restaurant at about 8 p.m., on April 11th, and started throwing around 30 employees out and made about 80 patrons pack their unfinished meals in to-go boxes before they shut the place down.
Francis Ostian, Magnum’s attorney, asked, “Why did the city of Chicago not have the common decency to let us know? The answer is they don’t want an African-American to own and operate a restaurant in Chicago’s River North business district.”
While the city still hasn’t made a comment about their shut-down notification and procedures, they did claim that it wasn’t racial issues but failure by the owner to adhere to licensing regulations that led to the action.
Meanwhile, local residents have voiced their frustrations against the restaurant. They say that they have complained to city officials and the PD about the restaurant ever since it opened its doors in October. They also say that they are fed up of the disorganized valet parking that blocks traffic, music that is so loud that it shakes their windows in the middle of the night and broken bottles and marijuana blunts that litter their streets every morning.
http://financialjuneteenth.com/racism-chicago-police-bust-into-black-owned-restaurant-in-the-white-side-of-town/
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE… CHRIS HAYES COMPARES CLIMATE CHANGE TO SLAVERY
Spandan Chakrabarti April 22, 2014
Climate change is a very serious issue. It has the potential to upend humans civilization. A warming planet, fueled in equal parts our carbon pollution and the greed of the oil and gas industry, could prove catastrophic if it isn’t curbed soon. It is precisely because of the seriousness of the issue that advocates for climate action need to be precise, measured, and careful in their zeal to mobilize people behind this cause.
And believe me when I tell you that comparing your pet cause – no matter how serious it is – to slavery is not the way to do it. MSNBC host and The Nation contributor Chris Hayes penned an article today doing just that. His bottom line argument: getting global gas and oil conglomerates (both multinational companies and oil rich nations) to comply with curbing the use of fossil fuel is just like telling slave-owners in 1860 to give up their slaves.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2014/4/22/with-friends-like-these-chris-hayes-compares-climate-change-to-slavery
Hayes needs to be SMACKED sideways into Sunday.
California Prisons Are Sterilizing Female Prison Inmates Against Their Will
April 20, 2014
BY April Taylor
The website tellmenow.com is reporting that prison doctors in California have sterilized over 150 women. The reported reasoning behind the sterilizations is that the state did not want to have to make welfare payments to the women for children that they may have had once they were no longer in prison. The sterilization procedures that occurred between 1997 and 2010 reportedly cost the state a total of $147,460, and Dr. James Heinrech who is an OB-GYN at Valley State Prison for Women in California is quoted as saying that this total is far less than the amount of money it would have taken to pay for welfare for children her referred to as unwanted. While it is reported that the women were not forced to have the sterilization procedure done, Heinrech is said to have signed off on the procedures as medical emergencies to circumvent the process that is in place to protect the rights of women in the California prison system.
While it would seem that this type of procedure should be illegal, it is actually protected under the law. The Supreme Court ruled in the 1927 Buck vs. Bell case that women can legally be forcibly sterilized while incarcerated. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote the majority opinion on the case and is quoted as stating the following, “Three generations of imbeciles are enough. We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the state for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence.”
http://naturallymoi.com/2014/04/health/california-prisons-are-sterilizing-female-prison-inmates-against-their-will/
Usher’s son is battling diabetes and it’s serious
Posted on April 22, 2014 by staff
The famous R&B singer, Usher Raymond, seems to have it all. But there are some things that money can’t buy, including your health. The Houston Chronicle is reporting that the singer’s son, Usher Raymond V, is battling diabetes and his condition is very serious
……………..
This year has been really one of my hardest years – I lost my grandmother, my son was diagnosed as being a type one diabetic. It has definitely been a difficult one for me, man.”
The singer says that much of his time is spent trying to keep up with his son’s dietary requirements and making sure that he remains healthy. Usher is currently working as a judge on the hit TV show, “The Voice.”
“Sometimes you’re looking at me and we’re off camera, and I’m online looking at numbers, trying to make sure he’s eating properly. It’s crazy.”
Usher has two sons: Usher Raymond V, who is six years old, and five year old Naviyd.
http://themedicalblog.net/2014/04/22/ushers-son-is-battling-diabetes-and-its-serious/
Wishing only good health & healing for Usher Raymond V.
Wendy Davis Exposes Republican Opponent as a Pre-K Snake Oil Salesman
By: Adalia Woodbury
Tuesday, April, 22nd, 2014, 12:06 pm
On Monday, Wendy Davis continued to expose Greg Abbott as a pre-K snake oil salesman. She also built on the contrast between her inclusive pre-K program and Greg Abbott’s policy of restricting access to children who fit Charles Murray’s model of children most likely to succeed.
In response to an editorial that defended Abbott’s seriously flawed plan, Wendy Davis reminded Texas about Greg Abbot’s lies about his intent to standardized test four year olds, but also the purpose behind those tests. In short, Abbott intends to peg the quality of pre-K children will get based on their performance on standardized tests
Davis explain the merits of her policy and the problems with Abbott’s intent to gear state resources to a four-year-old’s performance on a standardized test.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/22/wendy-davis-exposes-republican-opponent-pre-k-snake-oil-salesman.html
“Freedom Summer 2014″
Posted: 04/21/2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-al-sharpton/freedom-summer-2014_b_5186770.html?1398103942
Excerpt:
“Beginning April 30, NAN will start a recruiting drive urging people to volunteer a day, a week, three weeks, or however long they can to address voter suppression. Folks can log onto our website — NationalActionNetwork.net — and sign up to volunteer to go to one of the following eight states: Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Virginia and Louisiana.one of the following eight states: Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Virginia and Louisiana.
“Following training, they will work on a two-prong strategy to combat new voter suppression tactics. First, they will join those who are challenging subliminal methods of eliminating voter rights like new ID laws and a reduction/end to early voting days and ‘souls to the polls.’
The second part of this strategy is registering people to vote in areas where we cannot eliminate voter suppression schemes.
“Whether that’s driving seniors to get new IDs, or babysitting children so that their parents can take time to get copies of their birth certificate, or whether that means holding townhalls to educate communities, when you volunteer, you can help push back against modern-day suppression.”
VH1 Lays Off Majority of New York Development Team
10:10 AM PDT 4/22/2014
by Lacey Rose
With ratings on an upswing and the pace of development increasing cross platform, we felt it was the right time to examine our overall production and development structure in New York,” said the network in a statement.
Less than a year into programming chief Susan Levison’s tenure at the younger-skewing network, VH1 has let go of more than 10 on the development team in New York. Among them: two vice presidents, Brad Abramson and Kari McFarland. Many if not all of the positions will be refilled, according to a source, but hiring will happen with an eye towards multi-platform programming.
……………………………………………………………
The considerable restructuring comes as the network’s primetime viewership is up more than 30 percent in the key 18-49 demographic, and Levison looks to put her stamp on the Viacom-owned network. To capitalize on that momentum and appeal to a multi-tasking younger demo, her team has been busy adding a new batch of provocative originals, including Naked Dating and Walk of Shame Shuttle. In doing so, the goal for the protege of former Fox reality chief Mike Darnell is to bring back a general market audience while still servicing the African-American audience that it had begun to lure en masse.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/vh1-lays-majority-new-york-698141
Eric Boehlert @EricBoehlert
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Wait, what? I thought O’care ruined the presidency!….Gallup: Obama’s approval hits 15-month high. http://on.gallup.com/1d5ykle
12:32 PM – 22 Apr 2014
PragmaticObotsUnite @PragObots
So disrespectful. RT @chrislhayes: My essay for the Nation on the parallels between the abolition of slavery and today’s climate fight.
…………………………………………
SheriffFruitfly @sherifffruitfly
@chrislhayes direct reply: at best it’s gratuitous, at worst it’s white supremacist. Also, white liberals will love it.
Tarita Coles @TaritaC
@sherifffruitfly @chrislhayes It wld be nice if ppl wld stop comparing current day political controversies to atrocities against black ppl.
Tarita Coles @TaritaC
@sherifffruitfly @chrislhayes Most liberals seem to know better than to say things like, “This climate fight is like the Holocaust.”
Supreme Court upholds Michigan’s affirmative action ban
04/22/14 12:45 PM
By Steve Benen
The ruling on affirmative action in Michigan did not come as too great a surprise, but it’s nevertheless one of the year’s big cases at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court upheld a Michigan voter initiative Tuesday banning racial preferences in admissions to the state’s public universities.
The justices ruled 6-2 Tuesday that the affirmative action ban, approved by voters in 2006, allowed Michigan the right to prohibit public colleges and universities from using race, ethnicity or gender as a factor for admissions.
In his majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the court did not have the authority to throw out the election results of the voter-approved initiative. Those joining the majority opinion – Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas – stressed, however, that the ruling did not address the constitutionality of affirmative action itself.
……………
And that distinction is extremely important when evaluating the scope of the ruling.
“This case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved,” Kennedy wrote for the majority. “It is about who may resolve it. There is no authority in the Constitution of the United States or in this court’s precedents for the judiciary to set aside Michigan laws that commit this policy determination to the voters.”
In other words, affirmative action in college admissions hasn’t been banned. Indeed, the role of considering race in admissions policies remains in place – except in states that choose to prohibit affirmative action policies.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/supreme-court-upholds-michigans
This ruling is some SERIOUS BULLSHIT. This SCOTUS is bent on taking us back to SLAVERY.
I’m sick over how the current SCOTUS is trying to wipe out everything related to social justice that was gained in the 20th century.
I just keep thinking that people need to be reminded every day that elections have consequences. Without a President George W. Bush, there would be no John Roberts and no Sam Alito on the Supreme Court. Those two appointments would have been made by Al Gore and they sure as hell wouldn’t be rightwing idealogues.
God help us. Does the average person even know how serious this is?
People need to vote in every single election like it’s the last chance they’ll ever get to vote. And some folks out there are trying to make that happen.
The SCOTUS has been INFILTRATED by rightwingers who are HELL bent on the good old days when WHITE men ruled via threats & fear.
How Minorities Have Fared in States With Affirmative Action Bans
The Supreme Court decided Tuesday to uphold a Michigan voter initiative prohibiting the use of race in admissions to the state’s public universities. In states that have banned affirmative action in college admissions, prominent public universities have tended to enroll fewer black and Hispanic freshmen. Related Article »
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/06/24/us/affirmative-action-bans.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
natthedem @natthedem
Dear Bridget Anne Kelly, They are selling you out, girl…get your deal before it’s too late. #statesevidence http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/04/22/another_bridge_scandal_in_new_jersey_pops_up.html#.U1aiwSNWyW8.twitter …
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/458644047733600256/photo/1
AdamSerwer ✔ @AdamSerwer
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Justice Roberts wrote a short concurrence patting Sotomayor on the head and explaining affirmative action is The Real Racism.
10:59 AM – 22 Apr 2014
Retweeted by GoBrooklyn
Vulture @vulture 16m
.@questlove will be writing a 6-part series for us. Part 1: How Hip-Hop Failed Black America http://vult.re/PqDFdl pic.twitter.com/c9sEFuLMfR
Supreme Court upholds Mich. ban on college affirmative action
The justices said in a 6-2 ruling that Michigan voters had the right to change their state constitution to prohibit public colleges and universities from taking race into account in admissions decisions. The justices say that a lower federal court was wrong to set aside the change as discriminatory.
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/high-court-upholds-mich-affirmative-action-ban/2014/04/22/c903948a-ca28-11e3-b81a-6fff56bc591e_story.html
Media Matters Chief Tells Sharyl Attkisson To Put Up Or Shut Up
Tom Kludt – April 22, 2014, 10:32 AM EDT
The head of Media Matters for America challenged former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson on Monday to produce evidence that the liberal media watchdog has been paid to target her.
“Professional journalists don’t go on national television and make up allegations, even against their critics,” Media Matters chairman David Brock wrote to Attkisson in an email provided to TPM.
Attkisson said during an appearance Sunday on CNN that Media Matters may have been paid to go after her.
She told CNN’s Brian Stelter that she had received help from Media Matters until she began to report on “Fast & Furious” and other stories that were unflattering to the Obama administration.
Attkisson left CBS last month, reportedly citing her concern that the network was liberally biased.
A spokesperson for Media Matters promptly denied the charge that the group was paid to target her, and Brock wrote in his email that it’s “completely unfathomable” that Attkisson made the claim “without a shred of evidence.”
“If you have such evidence to show that Media Matters was paid to target you, I ask that you publicly release it,” Brock wrote. “If you have no evidence to back up your charge, I ask that you publicly apologize and correct your false claims against us.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/media-matters-david-brock-email-sharyl-attkisson
Red States Hatch Plans To Block Obamacare Even If Dems Take Over
Dylan Scott – April 22, 2014, 6:00 AM EDT
Republicans are taking no chances when it comes to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. They’re closing every possible door. Under bills passed in Georgia and Kansas recently, even if a Democratic candidate were to pull off an upset and take the governor’s seat, they would not be able to expand the program without the consent of the state legislature — which will almost certainly remain Republican.
In other words, GOP lawmakers have taken steps to guarantee that many of their poorest residents will remain uninsured under the health care reform law, no matter what happens in the gubernatorial election.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) both oppose Medicaid expansion. They both look likely — if not quite certain — to win re-election in November. That should make the bills passed by their respective state lawmakers unnecessary, but they seem intent on guarding against even the remote possibility of a Democratic governor.
An explanation offered by a GOP lawmaker in Kansas, where the bill was signed into law by Brownback last week, points to the motive.
“Governor Brownback’s not always going to be the governor. It’s my fervent hope he’s going to be the governor for four more years after this one, but he may or may not be,” Rep. John Rubin (R) told the Wichita Eagle.
Georgia Republicans have been adamant in denying any political motivations, but the question has still been raised by the press
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-bills-medicaid-expansion-democratic-governors
r. @PlayVicious
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America has a history of using legislation to take care of one social group consistently: rich white men.
10:18 AM – 22 Apr 2014
EVERY BIT OF THIS.
AdamSerwer ✔ @AdamSerwer
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Sonia Sotomayor read a dissent from the bench today that was basically an assault on John Roberts’ philosophy of “colorblindness.”
10:32 AM – 22 Apr 2014
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
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Roberts appointed by GWB defended colorblindness.
Sonia Sotomayor appointed by Pres. Obama called him out.
Both parties are not the same.
10:39 AM – 22 Apr 2014
Dems doing the unexpected: embracing the ACA
By Steve Benen
At a press conference last week, a reporter asked President Obama whether “it’s time for Democrats to start campaigning loudly and positively on the benefits” of the Affordable Care Act. The president suggested the larger political discussion should start to include other issues, but he nevertheless gave Dems some direction.
“I think that Democrats should forcefully defend and be proud” of the Americans benefiting from the ACA, he said, “I don’t think we should apologize for it, and I don’t think we should be defensive about it. I think there is a strong, good, right story to tell.”
And with increasing frequency, Democrats have become eager to tell this strong, good, right story. In Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D) launched this new spot today, which Greg Sargent fairly characterized as “probably the most aggressively pro-Obamacare ad of the cycle.”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/dems-doing-the-unexpected-embracing-the-aca
V. Hussein Savage @Kennymack1971
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George W. Bush has been out of office for five years and yet his SCOTUS is going to wreck shop for years to come.
9:59 AM – 22 Apr 2014
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
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Gutted: worker protections, voting rights, women’s rights, policies fighting against institutional discrimination.
Result of a GOP #SCOTUS
10:11 AM – 22 Apr 2014
W.E.B.B.I.E DuBois @fivefifths
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In case you guys weren’t looking, the Supreme Court basically just killed off the Reconstruction amendments to the Constitution
9:20 AM – 22 Apr 2014
Peter Landers @LandersWSJ
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At #scotus, Roberts, Sotomayor bash each other today over race. Sotomayor: He’s “out of touch.” Roberts: She “does more harm than good.”
9:51 AM – 22 Apr 2014
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
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#SCOTUS
If you’re a legacy, welcome to college.
If your parents make a huge donation, welcome to college.
Minorities? No, no, NOOOOO!
9:55 AM – 22 Apr 2014
David Plouffe @davidplouffe
The 44th POTUS will have done more for equality for gay and lesbian Americans than the other 43 combined. Definition of leadership.
zizi2 @zizii2
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CAUTION Hillary-Coronation cohort! Vigorous primaries xcited & enlarged Dem voters beyond Kerry/Gore map. McCain coronation atrophied GOP
9:28 AM – 22 Apr 2014
Nostradeptus @adept2u
Breaking the SCOTUS finds the 13th amendment unconstitutional all you negroes report to the cotton fields by 5 am tomorrow.
@ohmeags[Thank U♥]
It’s funny how many anti-affirmative action folks think it’s a form of “preferential treatment” as if the status quo isn’t exactly that- –
@KatrinaNation: Maybe Veep Biden should be in his own country–not Ukraine– advising on elections. Dems must keep Senate & stoke turnout for midterms
…………………………..
Rita A @ritaag
@LiberalPhenom Katrina isnt supporting Hillary. Its just her husband is paid by Putin. He lives in Moscow and he is a big Putin pimper
V. Hussein Savage @Kennymack1971
…Keep days like today in mind when some Blackademic wants to “start a conversation” about not voting.
V. Hussein Savage @Kennymack1971
Remember days like today when some hipster White “progressive” tells you “both parties are the same”.
Oop! There it is.
https://twitter.com/ShannonAla13/status/458615859997458432/photo/1
Brian Beutler: Obamacare’s Success Is Destroying The GOP’s Midterm Strategy
If you’re a decent person, or someone who hasn’t contracted a political bug, the most satisfying thing about the Affordable Care Act’s enrollment total is the knowledge that it’s improved many people’s lives, and contributed to a sizable reduction in the uninsured population. But if you have a lot invested in the law’s success, you’re also relieved to have an answer to everyone trying to create the impression that Obamacare is a slow-rolling fiasco. Republicans won’t stop saying these things, but there’s an amusing tension between calling something a “slow-rolling fiasco” in one breath and then positing that perhaps 10 percent of the millions of new beneficiaries won’t pay their premiums in the next. Or pointing out that the respectable under-35 enrollment rate also includes children. Why nitpick a fiasco?
Taken together, eight million enrollees, lower-than-expected premium increases, and smaller fiscal costs together leave a great void in the political landscape that pathetic enrollment, large premium spikes, and runaway spending were supposed to occupy. In a recent article, conservative political analyst Sean Trende examined how an election that looks so ripe for Republicans could go sour. “The way this could occur is fairly straightforward: The Affordable Care Act improves; there’s no massive rate shock for premiums in September or October; and the economy slowly gains ground. This should propel President Obama’s job approval upward, lifting the collective Democratic boat.” As Danny Vinik has noted, none of this is remotely implausible. And if something along these lines begins taking shape, Republicans would have to revisit the idea that they can just block Democratic legislation, scream “Obummercare!” and let a friendly electoral map do all the work.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117454/obamacare-enrollment-gives-democrats-space-promote-popular-agenda
this needs to be a tweet:
Greg Sargent: No, Dems Are Not Uniformly Running Away From Obamacare
Mary Landrieu is one of the most vulnerable Senate Democratic incumbents, and her difficult reelection challenges — like those of other endangered Dems – are said to be all about Obamacare. So it’s curious that Senator Landrieu is aggressively campaigning for a major piece of the law that’s dragging her down: the Medicaid expansion currently being debated in her state. Dems there hope to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to get around Governor Bobby Jindal’s opposition that would ask Louisiana voters if they want billions in Medicaid expansion money to cover hundreds of thousands. Getting it on the ballot is a long shot — it would require two thirds of both houses of the legislature — but the fact is that Landrieu held a conference call last week with local media to push the idea. She has met with state editorial boards to advocate for the expansion, winning a positive editorial in the Times-Picayune. She’s going out with an email to her campaign list urging the constitutional amendment and slamming the “Jindal gap,” i.e., the Medicaid gap. She’ll hit opponent Bill Cassidy over the issue.
Landrieu greeted the recent news of high signups by saying that the ACA “holds great promise and is getting stronger every day.” All of this is not to say that Dems are running aggressively on Obamacare. They aren’t. But the widespread claim that they are uniformly running away from it is too simplistic. It’s more complicated than that. In North Carolina, Kay Hagan is airing a radio ad that hits likely GOP foe Thom Tillis over his equivocations on repeal, and she will hit his opposition to the state exchange and Medicaid expansion to build the case that he is anti-middle class. In Alaska, Dems have run an ad for Mark Begich that features a woman discussing how she benefitted from the law in unusually personal terms. Dem Super PACs have run ads in North Carolina and Michigan dramatizing how the GOP repeal stance would take the law’s benefits away.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/04/21/no-dems-are-not-uniformly-running-away-from-obamacare/
Arkansans Line Up for Private Option
by BooMan
Tue Apr 22nd, 2014 at 09:39:58 AM EST
The Arkansas Department of Human Services sent out a press release (pdf) that is quite amazing. Arkansas is one of the few southern states not to outright reject the Medicaid expansion. They applied for and gained approval for an alternative to strict Medicaid expansion. Instead, they are taking the federal Medicaid money and using it to give people vouchers to buy a “private option” health care plan.
About 70% of eligible Arkansans took advantage of the subsidies. This is a category of person that is getting shafted in the rest of the Deep South and even here in Pennsylvania. They made too much to qualify for Medicaid under the old formula and too little to qualify for subsidies on the health exchanges. Caught in this donut hole, they aren’t receiving assistance in getting health insurance in much of the country. Yet, the Arkansas legislature found a solution they could live with, and we can see the result.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/4/22/93958/8813
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/22/us-koch-group-hispanics-idUSBREA3L07F20140422
Conservative Koch-backed group uses soft touch in recruiting U.S. Hispanics
The conservative advocacy groups backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are known mostly for spending millions of dollars to pelt Democratic candidates with negative television ads.
But this year, one Koch-backed group is using a softer touch to try to win over part of the nation’s booming Hispanic population, which has overwhelmingly backed Democrats in recent elections. The group, known as The Libre Initiative, is sponsoring English classes, driver’s license workshops and other social programs to try to build relationships with Hispanic voters in cities from Arizona to Florida – even as the group targets Democratic lawmakers with hard-edged TV ads.
Taking a cue from liberal groups that have been active in Hispanic neighborhoods for decades, Libre says it aims to use these events to build support for small-government ideas in communities that typically support big-government ideals.
“If they trust us, they may seek our opinion on something else,” said Michael Barrera, a former Bush administration official who now works for Libre, which says it has built a mailing list of 90,000 people during the past three years.
Obama could drastically expand drug clemency
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Rachel Maddow discusses President Obama’s recent promise to extend clemency to potentially hundreds of drug offenders currently serving harsh sentences, and the overhaul to the presidential pardoning process that will precede it.
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http://on.msnbc.com/1eYohS4
@AP: BREAKING: Supreme Court upholds Michigan’s ban on affirmative action in college admissions.
Good Morning 3Chics,
It was great seeing Nile Rodgers on the Grammy’s this year. Keeping Chic alive. Get well SG2. Have a good day all.
The Real Story of #8Million
Spandan Chakrabarti| April 21, 2014
Actually, it’s a story of nearly 20 million, if you count everyone who has health insurance directly thanks to the Affordable Care Act. And it could be the story of nearly 6 million more, who are being denied health insurance by Republicans refusing to fully federally funded Medicaid in states they control. It’s a story of tens of millions more, and millions of seniors who now have better coverage and no yearly limits on coverage.
But last week’s big number was 8 million. The President announced that 8 million American have enrolled in private health insurance coverage through the exchanges, and in addition, 3 million more are covered under the Medicaid expansion, 3 million young adults can stay on their parents’ plans, and 5 million who bought ACA compliant plans outside the exchanges.
I got an email with links to people telling their stories about finally being able to afford health insurance. The story of these millions, though, is more encompassing than those who gained coverage. The story of the single dad who can no longer be denied health care because of a pre-existing condition, the story of a small business owner who can no longer be charged more just because she’s a woman, the story of a cancer survivor who no longer has to fret that in the third month of the year, she will have reached her annual limit from her insurer – all these stories are possible because of a story that is told far too rarely in the American discourse.
That story begins with a young, charismatic newly elected president of the United States for whom health care reform wasn’t just a campaign promise but a deeply rooted cause from which he wouldn’t waver even when his political advisers wanted him to retreat. It begins with the overwhelming election of a president who, in his own words, was willing to become a one-term president to make sure that never again does a mother have to think twice about taking her sick child to the doctor.
It’s a story of courage, of overcoming an unprecedented campaign of obstruction, of decoupling progress from ideological checklists. This is a story I saw happen – this is a story I am a part of, and there are no stories of which I am prouder to be a part.
This story starts with that president who would not let go, but it takes shape through the brutal opposition of his opponents and the heroism of many in his party in Congress. This is a story about two views of power: one that sees power as an end and the other – the president’s – that sees power as a means to transform people’s lives in positive ways. Insane Republican opposition and yelling teabaggers marked the summer of 2009, as the health care debate rose to prominence.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2014/4/21/the-real-story-of-8million
Monday, April 21, 2014
Last Call For The Sun Kings
As Steve Benen notes, recent breakthroughs in solar panel technology, power storage, and compact design has now made solar power a threat to the energy giants and the big mega-corporations that thrive off of forcing Americans to buy coal, gas, and oil-fueled electricity. The Koch Brothers have officially declared war on the sun, folks.
The Koch brothers, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist and some of the nation’s largest power companies have backed efforts in recent months to roll back state policies that favor green energy. The conservative luminaries have pushed campaigns in Kansas, North Carolina and Arizona, with the battle rapidly spreading to other states.
Alarmed environmentalists and their allies in the solar industry have fought back, battling the other side to a draw so far. Both sides say the fight is growing more intense as new states, including Ohio, South Carolina and Washington, enter the fray.
Solar power is becoming more and more viable, so that viability must be crushed.
……………………
The result? Red states are starting to pass laws that charge consumers increasingly higher fees if they use solar power, in order to price solar panels out of the market. Instead of being able to sell power back to the power company, solar panel owners would have to pay exorbinant fees instead to be off the grid, and that will destroy the industry.
The Kochs and their allies don’t want us off oil and coal. Ever. And they will obliterate anyone who gets in their way
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2014/04/last-call-for-sun-kings.html
Stuck in the first stage of grief
04/21/14 12:11 PM—Updated 04/21/14 12:51 PM
By Steve Benen
At a press conference last week, President Obama announced a figure that was hard to even imagine a month ago: 8 million consumers signed up for private insurance through exchange marketplaces during the Affordable Care Act’s open-enrollment period. Obama also took a moment to chide Republicans for having been wrong about practically every aspect of the debate.
“I recognize that their party is going through the stages of grief,” he said, “and we’re not at acceptance yet.”
That sounds about right, though I’m not sure the GOP is “going through the stages of grief” so much as it’s stuck on the first one. If the process is believed to have five stages – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance – we have quite a ways to go before “acceptance” is even on the horizon.
Denial still dominates.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) said Monday he believes the uninsured rate in his state has increased since implementation of the 2010 health care reform law.
“It’s hard to get accurate numbers on anything,” Huelskamp told his constituents at a town hall in Salina, Kan., according to video posted by Eagle Community Television. “But the numbers we see today is that – as I understand them – we believe there are more people uninsured today in Kansas than there were before the president’s health care plan went into effect. And I thought the goal was to bring more people into insurance
……………………
But to argue that the number of uninsured people is climbing is comparable to arguing that the federal budget deficit is getting larger; the planet is experiencing global cooling; and Obama has pushed use of executive orders to new heights.
Oh wait, conservative Republicans often believe all of those bogus claims, too.
Obviously, the problem isn’t limited to Huelskamp. On Friday, Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said he doesn’t believe the Obama administration’s enrollment totals, calling the figures “all smoke and mirrors.” On Thursday, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suggested consumers receiving ACA subsidies to defray the costs of coverage may be engaged in “fraud.”
Much of the Republican establishment quickly embraced the “cooking the books” conspiracy theory, which was soon after followed by the Census Bureau conspiracy theory.
The right doesn’t bother with evidence to bolster any of this – evidence is irrelevant. Denial isn’t about rationality; it’s about reflexively making one feel better about a reality that’s causing them pain.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/stuck-the-first-stage-grief
New Jersey’s ‘sideways crawl out of the recession’
04/21/14 04:08 PM
By Steve Benen
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) multiple and ongoing scandals continue to percolate in ways that are taking a toll on the governor’s standing. Under the circumstances, it seems like a safe bet that Christie would prefer to move away from the subpoenas, resignations, and grand juries, and instead focus on how the Garden State is doing on his watch.
The trouble is, the governor doesn’t have a whole lot to brag about on this front, either.
Unemployment rose slightly in New Jersey last month as the state lost about 1,300 jobs, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The private sector shed 700 jobs, according to the report, and the public sector lost 600, bringing the state unemployment to 7.2 percent, up from 7.1 percent a month earlier.
The jobless rate in New Jersey is above the national average and the state is losing jobs while the national employment picture improves more quickly.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/new-jerseys-sideways-crawl-out-the
White House dismisses GOP throwing ‘spaghetti against the wall’
By Steve Benen
When congressional Republicans cut off extended unemployment benefits a few days after Christmas, about 1.3 million Americans immediately lost the assistance they need. But the total of those affected was just a floor – the number goes up by roughly 72,000 every week.
To that end, Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee unveiled a running clock yesterday, showing that the figure increases every eight seconds. As of this morning, over 2.5 million Americans – nearly double the total when the deadline passed in late December – have lost benefits.
What are House Republicans prepared to do about it? At this point, not much. Two GOP lawmakers presented an offer last week: Dems can get jobless aid (a policy that used to enjoy bipartisan backing), but only if they give Republicans the Keystone XL pipeline, an anti-ACA provision that would cause 1 million Americans to lose their employer-based health insurance coverage, and the repeal the medical device tax, which would raise the deficit by $109 billion.
As of yesterday, the White House isn’t impressed.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/white-house-dismisses-gop-throwing
Conservative groups push against solar energy
Rachel Maddow talks with Dorothy Barnett, Executive Director of the Climate and Energy Project, about the push by conservative allies against solar and other renewable energy in Oklahoma. (Americans for Prosperity statement: http://on.msnbc.com/1jtcp6a)
http://on.msnbc.com/1eYoQeG
The shrewd politics behind the Netflix price hike
BY BRIAN FUNG
If you’re on the fence about getting a Netflix subscription, you may want to act now. The company is hinting at a price hike that could hit sometime in the next couple months.
In a letter to shareholders, company executives wrote that a one- or two-dollar monthly increase could soon be levied on new customers, with a rise in prices eventually hitting existing customers as well:
As expected, we saw limited impact from our January price increase for new members in Ireland (from €6.99 to €7.99), which included grandfathering all existing members at €6.99 for two years. In the U.S. we have greatly improved our content selection since we introduced our streaming plan in 2010 at $7.99 per month. Our current view is to do a one or two dollar increase, depending on the country, later this quarter for new members only. Existing members would stay at current pricing (e.g. $7.99 in the U.S.) for a generous time period. These changes will enable us to acquire more content and deliver an even better streaming experience.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/04/21/the-shrewd-politics-behind-netflix-price-hike/
Must-Watch Finales: Scoop on 39 Season-Enders
http://www.tvguide.com/special/finale-preview/PhotoGallery/Must-Watch-Finales-1080432
Founder of Russia’s “Facebook” says he was ousted, Putin’s men in “complete control” of the site
Pavel Durov, former CEO of the popular social media site VKontakte, says he found out he was fired from the media
Sarah Gray
Pavel Durov, the 29-year-old founder of Vkontakte — Russia’s “Facebook” — was fired form the social media site, according to Buzzfeed. “Judging by the news, as a result of my public renunciation last week, today I was fired as general director of VKontakte,” Durov posted to the social media site. He also went onto say that after seven years of relative social media freedom, two of Putin’s right hand men are now in control of Vkontakte.
“In this way, today VKontakte goes under the complete control of Igor Sechin and Alisher Usmanov. Probably, in the Russian context, something like this was inevitable, but I’m happy we lasted 7 and a half years. We did a lot. And part of what’s been done can’t be turned back.”
According to The Economic Times, Usmanov was named “Russia’s richest tycoon for the third year in a row,” and is worth $18.6 billion. He’s the co-owner of Russia’s largest iron ore mining company, once held 10 percent of (U.S.) Facebook’s shares, and currently owns shares of Russia’s internet group Mail.Ru and the UK soccer team Arsenal.
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/21/founder_of_russias_facebook_says_he_was_oustered_putins_men_in_complete_control_of_the_site/
Something to Annoy Progressives and Terrify Conservatives
by BooMan
Mon Apr 21st, 2014 at 04:01:52 PM EST
Sean Trende is correct that the Democrats could actually pick up Senate seats in the fall, although that outcome is unlikely. What’s more likely is that the Democrats will largely hold their own, surrendering between one and five seats, and retaining control of the upper chamber. I agree with Trende that South Dakota is the one seat that seems unwinnable for the Democrats, and I also agree that the Democrats have a legitimate shot of winning the seats from Georgia, Kentucky, and (less likely) Mississippi. I don’t expect that the Dems can expand the map beyond that, although I am still keeping my eye on South Carolina, where both seats are up, and Nebraska, which is an open seat.
It’s still early to make confident predictions, but my expectation is that no incumbent Democrats will lose, nor will any Blue States elect Republican senators. That means that Begich, Landrieu, Pryor, and Hagan will all hold on. It means the Democrats will win open races in Michigan and Iowa.
For me, this means that the real toss-up states are Montana (where we have a semi-incumbent in Sen. John Walsh), West Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia. I think the Republicans have a better chance of winning three or four of those four races than the Democrats do, so I basically predict (as of right now) that the GOP will net one or two seats, leaving them with a 46 or 47 minority. They also have more upside potential than the Democrats, so if my prediction is wrong it is much more likely to be wrong in the Democrats’ favor.
But, let’s say I am right. Let’s say that the Republicans net two seats and Obama finishes his presidency with a 53-seat majority in the Senate. And, let’s say, that Hillary Clinton in the nominee in 2016. How good are her chances of enjoying a filibuster-proof 60 vote majority?
To make this easy, I am going to list 2016 races and show how each state voted in the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 elections.
New Hampshire (Kelly Ayotte) voted Democratic in every election except 2000.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/4/21/16152/0008
Black Excellence: DC Area Triplets Debate Over Which Ivy League School To Attend
by Clutch — Apr 21, 2014
Triplets Malik, Ahmad and Khalil Jones are seniors are Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C. and have a major decision to make within the next couple of weeks. The student athletes, who all have a 3.7 GPA, need to decide which Ivy school to attend. Right now it’s a toss up between Columbia University or the University of Pennsylvania.
The brothers credit their parents for instilling the value of an education in them, but they also credit each other for keeping the competition tough
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/04/black-excellence-dc-area-triplets-debate-ivy-league-school-attend/
https://twitter.com/EricWolfson/status/458307505412931585/photo/1
Anatomy Interview: Isaiah Washington on Burke’s Return
http://youtu.be/1XXaa_Tma0c
I can’t wait to see this episode of Grey’s. I almost quit GA after Isaiah’s departure, but hung in there.
https://twitter.com/Earth_Pics/status/458356507701440512/photo/1
I get a feeling that AFFLUENZA will rear its ugly head.
……………………..
35,000-a-year prep school grads were ‘masterminds behind drug ring at multiple Philadelphia colleges and private schools’
Multiple people have been arrested following an investigation into a drug ring that allegedly targeted local high schools and colleges
Timothy Brooks, 18, and Neil Scott, 25, are former members of the Haverford School lacrosse team and served as coaches for local youth teams
Pair targeted five high schools and three colleges with ‘The Main Line Takeover Project’
Authorities confiscated pounds of drugs, $11,000 and multiple weapons
By Associated Press
Published: 13:41 EST, 21 April 2014 | Updated: 23:33 EST, 21 April 2014
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2609721/Prosecutors-Prep-school-graduates-ran-drug-ring.html#ixzz2zcNZHDWM
First thing I see and hear when I turned on my TV morning. And all the cable and major networks are airing it at practically the same time.
But ya’ll know this is how the media rolls. They will glorify these WHITE THUGS, just like they’re airing an episode of the SOPRANOS.
Keke Palmer lands talk show on BET, becomes youngest talk show host in TV history
by Lilly Workneh | April 21, 2014 at 5:02 PM
Keke Palmer is hoping her legion of young fans will support her latest endeavor – hosting her own talk show on BET.
The Keke Palmer Project is the current name of the network’s newest daily talk show aimed at the millennial generation – and with Palmer at the helm, the 20-year-old actress/singer is poised to become the youngest talk show host in TV history.
The show is scheduled to start airing during a four-week test run that will produce shows Monday through Friday beginning in July, Deadline reports.
Palmer will invite celebrities to join her for sit-down interviews while the show will also include various segments on topics ranging from pop culture to social issues.
http://thegrio.com/2014/04/21/keke-palmer-lands-talk-show-on-bet-becomes-youngest-talk-show-host-in-tv-history/
“First African-American Headstone, Taken From Raleigh Cemetery In The ’70s, Found”
http://wreg.com/2014/04/21/first-african-american-headstone-taken-from-raleigh-cemetery-in-the-70s-found/
“Alvin Ailey audience draws from multiple majors”
http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2014/04/alvin-ailey-audience-draws-from-multiple-majors
“How Simone Biles caught the bug and turned into a world champion gymnast”
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2014/04/22/How-Simone-Biles-caught-the-bug-and-turned-into-a-world-champion-gymnast/stories/201404220046
“Ellie Kinnaird: Voting law changes hurt democracy”
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2014/04/22/3800225/ellie-kinnaird-voting-law-changes.html?sp=/99/586/885/905/
“Voting in November 2014 midterm elections more important than ever”
http://michigancitizen.com/voting-in-november-2014-midterm-elections-more-important-than-ever/
“Resegregation, Ignored”
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/4/22/resegregation-ignored/
“Neil deGrasse Tyson Sum Up Exactly Why There Are So Few Black Scientists”
http://www.policymic.com/articles/88057/neil-degrasse-tyson-sum-up-exactly-why-there-are-so-few-black-scientists
Can’t wait to read this article. Thanks, Yahtc!
Degrasse’s summation in this article did not surprise me at all. My hubby’s teachers in Jamaica’s boarding school asked him if he’d rather be a construction worker or some such foolishness, when he said he wanted to become an ENGINEER.
Needless to say, he has a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering. So that teacher really did help him, by allowing him to go beyond her LIMITED view (s) of what he could achieve.
“Carl Bloice: 1939-2014, Good Night Sweet Poet”
http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2014/04/21/carl-bloice-1939-2014-good-night-sweet-poet/
“New York political leader Basil Paterson dies”
http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20140420/NEWS05/140429995#.U1ZZ5cawhfQ
“Race-Blind Admissions Are Affirmative Action for Whites”
http://prospect.org/article/race-blind-admissions-are-affirmative-action-whites
Race-Blind Admissions Are Affirmative Action for Whites
Edmund Zagorin
April 21, 2014
Brooke Kimbrough always dreamed of becoming a University of Michigan Wolverine. Her score on the ACT—a college-readiness test—dwarfs the scores of most of her classmates. Earlier this month, she was part of a winning team at the National Urban League Debate Championship in Washington, D.C. Last week, she became a powerful symbol for exactly how Michigan’s race-blind college admissions policies have failed.
In December, the University of Michigan informed Kimbrough that her application for admission had been wait-listed. Two months later, she received the letter that she had not been accepted. But instead of conceding defeat, Kimbrough decided to fight. Today she hopes that her story will highlight how Michigan’s current approach to race in admissions fails exceptional students of color. Black students comprise just 4.6 percent of the 2012 freshman class; in 2008, the number was 6.8 percent.
Over the course of this year, I had the honor of working with University Preparatory Academy debate coach Sharon Hopkins, who guided Kimbrough and her partner, Rayvon Dean, to victory. Shortly after her team won the debate championship, I spoke with Kimbrough about her protest of the University of Michigan’s admission policy.
“This isn’t about me,” Kimbrough said. “That’s not why I’m doing this. The real problem is when students are denied and don’t speak up, don’t question the system that failed them.” To that end, Kimbrough has joined with the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) to advocate for the rights of black students in admissions and on campus.
Wishing all of you a Good Morning :)
Good Morning, Yahte and Everyone :)
Good Morning, Ladies & Everyone :-))))
Rikyrah. I’m doing my workout to Chic this morning, GOOD TIMES!
Morning, everyone!
Not feeling good today.
Feel better, SG2.
Get rest and take care.
Rest up & HEAL YOU, SG2.
I’m going to see if I can keep down some chicken noodle soup.