Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin.
The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.
The series follows the exploits of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), a small team of secret agents used for covert missions against dictators, evil organizations and (primarily in later episodes) crime lords. On occasion, the IMF also mounts unsanctioned, private missions on behalf of its members.
The identities of the organization that oversees the IMF and the government it works for are never revealed. Only rare cryptic bits of information are ever provided during the life of the series, such as in the third season mission “Nicole”, where the IMF leader states that his instructions come from “Division Seven”. In the 1980s revival, it is suggested the IMF is an independent agency (as the FBI can only legally operate within the United States and the CIA can only operate outside the country). In the first motion picture, unlike the TV show, the IMF is depicted as part of the CIA.
Livestreaming on tornado situation in Alabama:
http://www.foxalabamalive.com
Thanks, Yahtc!
YW…densely populated areas in paths.
20 minutes possibly in downtown Birmingham
Lord Have Mercy! I’m scared here. It’s too still.
Yahtc, you still here?
Yes, I am watching.
Scary….serious…..dangerous
Mississippi had tornadoes earlier today. devastating
Race and our post-racial age
By Liberal Librarian 22 Comments
This has always stuck with me, but it’s only in the past few years that I’ve been able to process it and come to terms with it.
About twenty years ago I was visiting a friend in Marina Del Rey. I got on the elevator, then saw a young black man about my age rushing to get on. I held the door open for him.
The first thing he said was “You’re lucky you’re white. You’ll never get stopped like I just was by the sheriffs.”
I protested that I was Latino, and subject to the same discrimination. He said, “You may be, but you look white. You’ll never be stopped.” He then got off on his floor.
Needless to say, I dismissed his assertion that I was “white”. I was Latino, part of the Prop 187 generation. We were fighting for our place in the sun. I was with the oppressed.
But here are a few facts.
I’m Cuban. That off the bat sets me apart from most of the Latinos in California. Cubans are always thought of as the “good Latinos”, not like those other ones who just want to take.
And I’m not only Cuban, but a white Cuban. That doubly sets me apart from most of the US Latino population. Cuba, like the US, has a horrifying history of slavery and oppression of its black citizens. Even in the Communist era, most people in high ranking positions are white.
It took many years, but eventually it did get through to me that my skin color conferred advantages and privileges upon me. That is merely a fact. I will most likely not be pulled over by a cop while walking down the street. I will not be stopped and frisked for no reason. I will be given the benefit of the doubt where people with darker skin will not.
When Barack Obama was elected, many of us felt as if a historical weight had been lifted off our shoulders. “Look, we elected our first African American president, and it happened so soon after Dr. King’s assassination!” There was a sense of national euphoria during the heady times surrounding the 2008 election.
But almost immediately it went to seed. Some on the Left were immediately disappointed that he wasn’t going to govern as their idealized version of an oppressed minority finally scaling the heights of power. And many on the Right were convinced not only that he would, but that he was.
I’ve documented the explosion of racial animus in our post-racial age elsewhere, all triggered by Pres. Obama’s election. But the previous week has seen it take hold of the national conscience in a way which has been extraordinary even in light of the past six years.
The twin racist rants of right wing darling Cliven Bundy and Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling have brought the issue of race to the forefront in a way which the trudge of daily indignities suffered by Pres. Obama, most powerful man in the world, hasn’t. With Bundy, the Right had invested so much in him that when it turned out that he was an unreconstructed racist with some unorthodox views of how blacks lived better under slavery, the implosion was sociologically pleasurable to watch. As for Donald Sterling, his views are nothing new; but it’s always different when it’s on tape. A problem the NBA had swept under the carpet for more than 30 years finally exploded in all its lurid ugliness. Sterling’s belief that he “gave” his players houses, cars, and jewelry—i.e., that those mostly black players didn’t in fact earn any of their good fortune, but were beholden solely to his own good graces—jibed closely with Bundy’s own critique of “the Negro”.
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/04/28/race-and-our-post-racial-age/
THIS: It’s not up to minorities to straighten out the racism of whites.
Harper Lee agrees to ebook version of To Kill a Mockingbird
Author announces on her 88th birthday that novel will be released as ebook and downloadable audiobook on 8 July
Harper Lee has agreed for To Kill a Mockingbird to be made available as an ebook and digital audiobook, filling one of the biggest gaps in the digital library.
In a rare public statement released through her publisher, HarperCollins, Lee said: “I’m still old-fashioned. I love dusty old books and libraries. I am amazed and humbled that Mockingbird has survived this long. This is Mockingbird for a new generation.”
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/harper-lee-ebook-to-kill-a-mockingbird
yeah!!
UH HUH, UH HUH… Where are you Rikyrah * SG2?
Singer Paul Simon, Wife Edie Brickell Face Domestic Violence Charges
Police in New Canaan said Simon, 72, and Brickell, 47, were charged with disorderly conduct after what police described as a “family dispute” on Saturday.
Simon and Brickell were released on promises to appear in court Monday in Norwalk. They arrived at court shortly before noon and smiled and held hands as they approached the courthouse
Chief of Police Leon Krolikowski said police received a 911 hang-up call about 8:20 p.m. Saturday.
Police investigated and said Simon and Brickell were involved in a minor physical altercation. He said there were minor injuries, but declined to describe them. “There was aggressiveness on both sides,” Krolikowski said.
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-paul-simon-domestic-violence-arrest-0429-20140428,0,2379548.story?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
aggressive on both sides?
naw , Son.
naw.
Not accepting that nonsense.
See how they “WHITE-SPLAIN” away DOMESTIC ABUSE?
After the incident, they were not taken into police custody and instead were issued misdemeanor summons to appear in court.
“Before we left the scene, we made assurances both were safe,” said Krolikowski. The police chief said both Brickell and Simon were cooperative with responding officers.
“Under Connecticut law, we’re obligated to make an arrest because it was domestic violence,” he said.
Simon and Brickell’s cases were referred to the court system’s family relations diversionary program. If they successfully complete it, the charges would be dropped and their records erased.
Justice Department seeks to weed out racial bias in the criminal justice system
http://ow.ly/wfzNl
AG Holder is NOT.PLAYING.
https://twitter.com/MikeLoBurgio/status/460792462743576577/photo/1
I.JUST.CAN’T.WITH.THIS.FOOLISHNESS.
Yes, because like the postal service, schools, etc. PRIVATIZING our water should be the GOP’s right, theirs and THEIRS ALONE…..
WTF? Does he prefer infectious diseases?
Liza; this foolishness is just beyond the pale.
Greg Sargent: Scott Brown’s Obamacare Repeal Follies
Here’s another sign that the stance on Obamacare held by many GOP Senate candidates — whether you call it “repeal,” or “repeal and replace with something-or-other to be specified later” — is becoming increasingly unsustainable and could get harder and harder to explain as these campaigns intensify. In a weekend interview with WMUR, Scott Brown — who is running for Senate in New Hampshire — attempted to explain his stance on health care. He endorsed the general goals of protecting people with preexisting conditions and expanding coverage to those who need it. But he then denounced Obamacare as a “disaster,” citing the usual litany of Obama tyrannies and horror stories often hawked by Republicans. So, how would Senator Scott Brown go about accomplishing the goals he says he supports? Well, he urges reform on the state level.
New Hamsphire recently moved forward with its version of the Medicaid expansion. Brown supports repeal — which would do away with the expansion — and yet to my knowledge, he has not taken a position directly on the expansion when asked. Repeal would scrap Obamacare’s consumer protections and other efforts to expand coverage. Brown (who supported Romneycare in Massachusetts) appears to think federal reform should be repealed and replaced with state level reform. Until he says otherwise, that seems to mean he doesn’t envision a federal “replace” plan.
So, how would Senator Scott Brown go about accomplishing the goals he says he supports? Well, he urges reform on the state level. Here’s the key quote from the interview (just after the 10-minute mark):
………………….
Brown’s comments are the latest in a trend we’ve already seen: Republican Senate candidates endorsing Obamacare’s general goals, while claiming the law should be done away with and replaced with something that does some of the same things. North Carolina GOP Senate candidate Thom Tillis says that of course he supports protecting people with preexisting conditions, just not with Obamacare. Tom Cotton and Terri Lynn Land, the GOP Senate candidates in Arkansas and Michigan, are both refusing to take a clear position on the Medicaid expansions in their states even as they mouth nice noises about expanding health care to those who need it.
This strategy — call for repeal to keep the GOP base happy, while insisting on support for the law’s goals, to avoid alienating moderates — relies on keeping the “replace” part vague. As Jonathan Cohn has explained, there just isn’t any real policy space for an alternative to Obamacare that accomplishes what the law does, and Republicans are not willing to embrace the tradeoffs necessary to realizing its goals in any case. It’s certainly possible that GOP Senate candidates may get away with this dance and that Republicans could win the Senate in spite of its obvious flaws. But Brown’s interview suggests the possibility that it could prove harder and harder to sustain as these Senate races heat up. After all, he has openly professed support for health reform’s goals. So you’d think he’d come under some media pressure to explain how, precisely, he would accomplish them. Is the above answer really going to cut it in the crucible of a hard-fought Senate race?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/04/28/morning-plum-scott-browns-obamacare-repeal-follies/
Once opposed to ACA, now a convert
By Robert Calandra, For The Inquirer
Posted: April 27, 2014
Dean Angstadt fells trees for a living.
He’s a self-employed, self-sufficient logger who has cleared his own path for most of his 57 years, never expecting help from anyone. And even though he’d been uninsured since 2009, he especially wanted nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act.
“I don’t read what the Democrats have to say about it because I think they’re full of it,” he told his friend Bob Leinhauser, who suggested he sign up.
That refrain changed this year when a faulty aortic valve almost felled Angstadt. Suddenly, he was facing a choice: Buy a health plan, through a law he despised, that would pay the lion’s share of the cost of the life-saving surgery – or die. He chose the former.
“A lot of people I talk to are so misinformed about the ACA,” Angstadt said. “I was, before Bob went through all this for me. I would recommend it to anybody and, in fact, have encouraged friends, including the one guy who hauls my logs.”
In 2011, Angstadt had a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted to help his ailing heart pump more efficiently. Not long after, the almost 6-foot, 285-pound man’s man was back in the woods, doing the Paul Bunyan thing.
But last summer, his health worsened again. It was taking him 10 minutes to catch his breath after felling a tree. By fall, he was winded after traveling the 50 feet between his house and truck.
“I knew that I was really sick,” said the Boyertown resident. “I figured the doctors were going to have to operate, so I tried to work as long as I could to save money for the surgery. But it got to the point where I couldn’t work.”
Angstadt called Leinhauser. The political odd couple talked a bit before Angstadt mentioned he was having trouble breathing.
Leinhauser, 55, a retired firefighter and nurse, drove him to a doctor’s office. “Dean only saw a doctor when he needed to because it made a big difference in his finances,” Leinhauser said.
From time to time, Leinhauser would urge Angstadt to buy a plan through the ACA marketplace. And each time, Angstadt refused.
“We argued about it for months,” Angstadt said. “I didn’t trust this Obamacare. One of the big reasons is it sounded too good to be true.”
January came, and Angstadt’s health continued to decline. His doctor made it clear he urgently needed valve-replacement surgery. Leinhauser had seen enough and insisted his friend get insured.
“The only thing he was ever really adamant about was that Obamacare was the real deal,” Angstadt said. “I trusted him to at least take a look at it.”
Leinhauser went to Angstadt’s house, and in less than an hour, the duo had done the application. A day later, Angstadt signed up for the Highmark Blue Cross silver PPO plan and paid his first monthly premium: $26.11.
“All of a sudden, I’m getting notification from Highmark, and I got my card, and it was actually all legitimate,” he said. “I could have done backflips if I was in better shape.”
Angstadt’s plan kicked in on March 1. It was just in time. Surgery couldn’t be put off any longer. On March 31, Angstadt had life-saving valve-replacement surgery.
“I probably would have ended up falling over dead” without the surgery, Angstadt said. “Not only did it save my life, it’s going to give me a better quality of life.”
http://articles.philly.com/2014-04-27/news/49440051_1_health-plan-obamacare-life-saving-surgery
Self-absorbed mofo, only sees the good in ACA, because it BENEFITS him.
I know. Ametia.
Now that it helps HIM, Obamacare is ok.
WHAT-THE-FUCK?
It’s that white-entitlement. NONE FOR THEE, ALL FOR ME!
As always!
Julia Edwards: U.S. Justice Department To Collect, Study Arrest Data For Racial Bias
The U.S. Justice Department on Monday said it will begin collecting data on stops, searches and arrests made in five U.S. cities to weed out possible racial biases within the criminal justice system. Later this year, a $4.75 million federal grant will be awarded to recipients who compete for the funds to work with their local law enforcement to analyze arrest data and find ways to reduce any biases they find, particularly toward young minority men.
Black men were six times more likely, and Latino men were 2.5 times more likely, to be imprisoned than white men in 2012, according to Justice Department data. Attorney General Eric Holder said the data collection effort is in response to President Barack Obama’s call for better relations between law enforcement and young men of color following the “not guilty” verdict in the shooting death of black Florida teen Trayvon Martin.
http://news.yahoo.com/u-justice-department-collect-study-arrest-data-racial-160543037.html
Don’t y’all just love second terms?
Applause for PBO and AG Eric Holder (very high on my favorite person list, btw.)
Indeed!
April 28, 2014 11:02 AM
Issenberg on the The Two Electorates and the Democratic Challenge For the Midterms
By Ed Kilgore
Regular readers of this blog won’t be surprised to learn that Sasha Issenberg’s take on the midterm challenge for Democrats at TNR strikes me as the best single piece on the subject published to date. The Victory Lab author and intrepid student of the Obama campaign’s revolutionary approach to GOTV provides both analytical rigor and empirical support for the arguments I’ve been making for several years now about the persistence of two very different electorates—one that appears in presidential years, the other in non-presidential years—and their sudden synchronization with partisan preferences.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_04/issenberg_on_the_the_two_elect050093.php
April 28, 2014 11:30 AM
The Two Electorates In North Carolina
By Ed Kilgore
If you’ve internalized the “two electorates” analysis so convincingly presented in Sasha Issenberg’s important new piece at TNR, or if I’ve made any impression on you in many months of ranting on the subject, a new report on North Carolina from Nate Cohn at The Upshot is of particular interest:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_04/the_two_electorates_in_north_c050094.php
Watching a repeal crusade end with a whimper
04/28/14 08:47 AM
By Steve Benen
There are some competing counts as to exactly how many times congressional Republicans have voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. But whatever your preferred tally, those hoping for an even higher total are likely to be disappointed.
Given the larger context, this was no small concession For the last few years, Congress has effectively been divided into two camps: those who want to keep the Affordable Care Act while making incremental changes to improve it vs. those who want to destroy “Obamacare” and replace it with a more conservative framework no one can identify or explain.
Or put another way, Democrats have said they want to fix the ACA; Republicans have said they want to kill the ACA.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watching-repeal-crusade-end-whimper
Poverty, policy, and Paul Ryan
04/28/14 12:57 PM—Updated 04/28/14 01:18 PM
By Steve Benen
If it seems every few months brings us another installment in the “Paul Ryan cares about poor people” series, it’s not your imagination. In November, the Washington Post helped get the ball rolling with a front-page article on the House Budget Committee chairman, celebrating the congressman for his efforts “fighting poverty and winning minds.”
The gist of the piece was that the far-right congressman is entirely sincere about using conservative ideas to combat poverty.
In December, BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins ran a related piece, and today Coppins published another: Ryan is “trying to challenge the notion that his party is out of touch with poor people the old-fashioned way: by talking to some.”
It was a hunting joke.
In any case, Coppins’ lengthy article reads quite nicely: the Wisconsin Republican really has invested considerable time and energy in going to inner cities, meeting with community leaders, and talking to people who’ve struggled with poverty. If someone who’s otherwise unfamiliar with Ryan reads the 7,000-word piece and nothing else, he or she would likely come away with the sense that his interest in helping poor communities is sincere.
The trouble, however, are the parts of Ryan’s vision and policy agenda that Coppins neglected to mention.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/poverty-policy-and-paul-ryan
uh huh
uh huh
………………………
Big Money Republicans Secretly Prefer Hillary Clinton Over Rand Paul or Ted Cruz
By: Sarah Jones
Monday, April, 28th, 2014, 11:48 am
The Republican coastal elite are secretly hoping for Hillary over some of the “wacko bird” offerings from their own party.
Some big money Republican backers aren’t suicidal, and this means that they fear Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. They’d rather back Hillary Clinton than some of the fringe 2016 GOP hopefuls, according to interviews and reporting by Ben White and Maggie Haberman of Politico. Wall Street’s Worst Nightmare? “It’s Rand Paul or Ted Cruz versus someone like Elizabeth Warren that would be everybody’s worst nightmare.”
“The darkest secret in the big money world of the Republican coastal elite is that the most palatable alternative to a nominee such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas or Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky would be Clinton,” Politico reveals.
More:
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/28/wall-streets-worst-nightmare-rand-paul-ted-cruz.html
The Koch Brothers Used Cliven Bundy as Part Of Their Plan To Seize Public Land
By: Rmuse
Monday, April, 28th, 2014, 1:07 pm
A cause célèbre is a notorious person, thing, incident, legal case, or episode that excites widespread attention that interested parties often rally around to either support or oppose the “cause.” In the information age, such a cause can easily be manipulated and used by partisan media outlets to advance a political agenda by garnering public support for a policy to benefit an otherwise unpopular idea. It is beyond dispute, except among extremists panting to overthrow the federal government, that conservative cause célèbre Cliven Bundy was seized upon by Republicans and conservative media to sway public opinion against the federal government owning and managing public land.
The problem for the Koch brothers, Americans for Prosperity, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Republicans, and conservative media is that they aligned with a cause célèbre (Cliven Bundy) steeped in racism, conspiracy theories, god delusions, and a tendency for pathological lying. It is not that any of Bundy’s ardent supporters were unaware of his 67-year religious-driven racism, they just assumed the crazed Mormon would keep his hatred toward African Americans to himself; particularly while he enjoyed his notoriety as an anti-government patriot inspiring conservatives to war against America. As it turns out, if the Koch brothers, ALEC, and Republicans expected Americans to rally behind Bundy and support their attempt to force the federal government to cede its land to states for the Koch brothers, they chose the wrong lunatic for their cause.
To briefly review the real reason Republicans, conservative media, and the Kochs’ supported Bundy’s armed confrontation of federal agents executing a federal court order; one just has to consider Rand Paul’s comments when he scolded Harry Reid. Paul attempted to justify Bundy and armed militias actions as opposing government overreach and not as Harry Reid asserted “domestic terrorism.” Paul criticized the BLM and federal endangered species laws he called “government overreach, government gone amuck with this Endangered Species Act. There is a legitimate constitutional question here about whether the state should be in charge of endangered species or whether the federal government should be.” Paul, conservative media, and Republicans beholden to the Kochs contend the federal government has no right or claim to public land.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/28/koch-brothers-cliven-bundy-part-plan-seize-public-land.html
The Mainstream Media Finally Abandons Sarah Palin and Declares Her Over
By: Jason Easley
Monday, April, 28th, 2014, 9:51 am
The mainstream media is finally realizing that it is time to ignore Sarah Palin.
Robert Costa of The Washington Post reported on Palin’s decline:
Four years after using her unique position to propel a number of conservatives — many previously unknown and not favored by party leaders — in the tea party wave of 2010, Palin is today a diminished figure in the Republican Party. Even as she travels to Iowa and elsewhere to bolster her handpicked candidates, her influence in these midterm elections has been eclipsed by a new class of stars and her circle has narrowed, with a handful of aides guiding her and a few allies in Washington beyond a group of backbench troublemakers in Congress.
When Palin took the stage at the Hy-Vee Conference Center under a banner that read “Heels On, Gloves Off” on Sunday at an event for Senate candidate Joni Ernst, the ballroom was half-full, with a couple hundred attendees scattered in clumps. Three people held signs and, while Palin was received warmly, only about 50 people stayed after to shake her hand on the rope line as Shania Twain’s “She’s Not Just a Pretty Face” blared from the speakers.
Craig Robinson, a former political director for the Iowa GOP, said that it was Palin’s smallest in-state crowd ever. Organizers blamed the heavy rainfall.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/28/mainstream-media-finally-abandons-sarah-palin-declares.html
Fabulous response!!!
And here’s wishing she’d stay the hell up there and away from the LOWER 48!
Liza, my grandpa used to love this song by Johnny Horton.
Yes; Palinites, the EMPERORESS really has no CLOTHES.
LMAO, Ametia.
The old girl has been on the grift for a long time now. Whoever heard of a losing vice presidential candidate getting this much mileage out of lost election? Plus she’s an idiot.
She can take her “folksy charm/ignorance” north to Alaska.
She can take her “folksy charm/ignorance” north to Alaska.
****************************
And stay there!
Donald Sterling Is a Registered Republican
—By Asawin Suebsaeng and Patrick Caldwell
| Mon Apr. 28, 2014 9:48 AM PDT
Does it really matter whether racist LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling is a registered Democrat? Or a Republican? Or a member of the Pirate Party of Russia?
Well, according to multiple conservative media outlets, yes, it does matter. On Sunday, National Review ran a blog post originally titled, “Racist Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Is a Democrat.” The post breathlessly noted a handful of contributions he made in the early 1990s to Democrats politicians, including California politician Gray Davis and Sen. Bill Bradley, who had played in the NBA. (Sterling has owned his NBA team since the early 1980s.) The headline has since been changed to “Racist Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Has Only Contributed to Democrats,” with an update reading, “his official party affiliation is not known.” Still, the Donald-Sterling-Is-a-Democrat meme already took hold within right-wing media:
“Report: Clippers Owner Caught In Racist Rant Is A Democratic Donor” — Fox Nation.
“NBA Sterling is a Democrat…” — Matt Drudge.
“Race Hate Spewing Clippers Owner Is Democratic Donor” — the Daily Caller.
“Media Ignoring Dem Donations of LA Clippers’ Owner, Allegedly Caught on Tape in Race-Based Rant” — NewsBusters.
“LA Clippers Owner Donald Sterling is a Racist Democrat” — the Tea Party News Network.
Politico piggy-backed on this flood of Sterling-triggered liberal-shaming with a softer headline: “Donald Sterling made donations to Dems.”
Not that Sterling’s broader political views or party affiliation have much to do with the controversy over his insanely racist comments, but here’s a news flash for those conservatives eager to bring up the topic: He’s a Republican.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/04/donald-sterling-republican-democrat-politics-nba-racism
https://twitter.com/_KolvekTheKing_/status/460111203323236352/photo/1
Lord have mercy, praying this boy is found, healthy and alive.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
What divides us about racism: intent
Even Sean Hannity agrees that Cliven Bundy’s comments about “the negro” are racist. He called them “beyond repugnant.” One thing the Civil Rights Movement gave us was near universal agreement that skin color does not determine a person’s humanity and that intentional discrimination against someone on that factor alone is “beyond repugnant.”
For many people in this country, that near universal agreement means that the job of ending racism is done and we can all be “colorblind” now. That’s why the Roberts Court did away with the section of the Voting Rights Act that applied only to states that had traditionally denied the franchise to African Americans via Jim Crow laws. Its also why they struck down Michigan’s affirmative action program this week. According to Robert’s embrace of colorblindness, “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
All of this is based on a white perspective of what racism means. You see, if we don’t intend to discriminate…it doesn’t happen. In other words, if voting restrictions aren’t overtly aimed at denying the franchise to African Americans, its not racism. It doesn’t matter if they effectively make it more difficult for large swaths of African Americans to vote. And intent is most often very difficult to prove, isn’t it?
If we were to include the perspective of people of color in our understanding of racism, we would see it much differently. As Justice Sotomayor explained:
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-divides-us-about-racism-intent.html
Short: Nobody gives a flying fuck about what your (RACIST) intentions were, it’s the EFFECTS that MATTERS
Tee-hee!
My poor arms! Just bruised from needles. So glad they’re away from me. Get outta here.
Hey, SG2!
You’re out of the hospital, thank goodness. I hope you are feeling better today and getting good nutrition and a LOT of rest.
Hey, Liza! I’m back!!! And I’m not in pain anymore. Yay! Thank you for loving kindness! *hugs*
So happy you are back, SG2, but please take it slowly. We don’t want any relapses. *hugs backatcha*
I’m scared of relapses! I don’t want to experience that ever again.
Yeah, our bodies are not as forgiving as they once were. But that just means we have to spend more time indulging ourselves with good food, rest and relaxation. I know that you will be fine.
True! I really need to exercise more too. Been slacking on it for a long time. I’d walk down our road but I’m scared I might walk upon a panther. I saw one right across the meadow from my house. I couldNOT believe my eyes!
That is so true about exercise. Might be time to get a treadmill. I keep thinking about it, but I have to walk my dogs so it seems I should be getting enough walking. I run across coyotes and javelinas but they don’t worry me nearly as much as large dogs running around off leash.
But people who have treadmills tend to use them and like them, moreso than other exercise equipment.
I did walk a small way down our road several times today. I’m not going too far. I’m going to wait until my husband comes home and he can walk with me for a little while.
That is a good idea to walk with your husband. It’s good for him too.
Rest well tonight.
Glad you’re better, SG. Have you tried extra vitamin C for those bruises?
Thank you, Vitamin! I will certainly try it. They look bad.
I don’t remember watching “Mission Impossible” when it was on TV though I’m sure I must have. I do remember watching “DC Cab” which had the cabbies humming the theme song when they went on some mission or the other. :)
Hi, Shady! I don’t remember “DC Cab”. But I was hooked on “Mission Impossible”. It was so cool!
LOL! I’ve never seen this before. It must didn’t show in my neck of the woods.
Sup Shady? I don’t recall DC Cab at all. Must have been one of those “sleepers.”
White House announces new sanctions on Russian officials, companies
The White House says the U.S. is sanctioning seven Russian officials and 17 companies with links to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
The White House says the penalties are being levied because Russia has failed to live up to commitments it agreed to under an international accord aimed at deescalating the crisis in Ukraine.
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/obama-us-to-levy-new-russia-sanctions-monday/2014/04/28/60419964-ceac-11e3-a714-be7e7f142085_story.html
Wee Doggy, I’m gonna love this week’s series. Mission Impossible was MUST-SEE TV in our house.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
What has brought the Bundy’s and Sterling’s out of the woodwork? (updated)
Lately it can feel like: another day, another racist unleashed. All the oxygen these days is being soaked up by the recent remarks of Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling. But the truth is – over the last few years we’ve been exposed to a pretty endless stream of this noxious stuff.
Its no coincidence that this is happening on the heels of electing our first African American president and as the demographics of this country are rapidly changing. But I’d like to look a little deeper and ask what it is these milestones have unleashed.
To answer that, I go back to something I’ve quoted here many times – the words of Derrick Jensen in his book The Culture of Make Believe.
The Civil Rights Movement certainly threatened that entitlement. When the dust settled though, most white people went back to normalizing it with what remained of their tradition, economics, religion, etc. And an awful lot of people of color got busy utilizing the doors the movement had opened up for them.
The next thing you know…we have everything from a Harvard-educated African American POTUS to a basketball player-turned-entrepreneur challenging the hold the 1%ers have on the NBA (why Donald Sterling is threatened by Magic Johnson but not his mixed-race girlfriend). All of the sudden the despised “have the power and wherewithal to not go along with – the perceived entitlement.” The rhetoric of superiority is failing and the hatred is exploding.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-has-brought-bundys-and-sterlings.html
Elizabeth Warren Smacks Down ABC’s Attempt To Split The Democratic Party
By: Jason Easley
Sunday, April, 27th, 2014, 11:54 am
Instead of talking about how the big banks and Wall St. blew up the economy, the middle class, or income inequality, ABC’s This Week tried to use Elizabeth Warren to divide the Democratic Party, but Sen. Warren wouldn’t play along.
http://youtu.be/–sYA689pFo
Sen. Warren kept trying to steer the discussion towards the middle class and fighting the big banks, but mostly George Stephanopoulos wanted to talk about the 2016 horse race and stir up disagreement between Warren and Hillary Clinton. ABC had a chance to discuss income inequality, the big banks, and the decline of the middle class with one of the nation’s top experts, but all they wanted to do was try to create some controversy ahead of 2016.
The media desperately wants to divide the Democratic Party. They want big ratings, and the ratings come when there is a contest that captures the imagination of the nation. Hillary Clinton running away with the 2016 Democratic nomination is boring TV. The Republican field will likely be as weak and unpopular as ever. The mainstream media is begging for a storyline for 2016. If the storyline helps to destroy Democratic Party unity, all the better.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren made it clear that she isn’t going to give the media what they want.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/27/elizabeth-warren-smacks-abcs-attempt-split-democratic-party.html
Every review of Elizabeth Warren’s new book, A Fighting Chance, seems to include one particular anecdote. Here’s the NYTimes version:
… A telling anecdote involves a dinner that Ms. Warren had with Lawrence H. Summers, then the director of the National Economic Council and a top economic adviser to President Obama. The dinner took place in the spring of 2009, after the oversight panel had produced its third report, concluding that American taxpayers were at far greater risk to losses in TARP than the Treasury had let on.
After dinner, “Larry leaned back in his chair and offered me some advice,” Ms. Warren writes. “I had a choice. I could be an insider or I could be an outsider. Outsiders can say whatever they want. But people on the inside don’t listen to them. Insiders, however, get lots of access and a chance to push their ideas. People — powerful people — listen to what they have to say. But insiders also understand one unbreakable rule: They don’t criticize other insiders.
“I had been warned,” Ms. Warren concluded….
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/04/28/monday-morning-open-thread-hey-summers-fuck-you/
No surprises here. In fact, I NEVER felt at ease with any of the Clintonista’s pals. But I’m sure PBO recognized folks like Summers was whom had to choose from, so he brought them in and kept them close. What’s the saying about keeping the enemy close?
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
I always suspected that is what POTUS did with Hillary. I could be wrong.
I don’t think you’re wrong at all.
Nah, Liza, It’s rare, if ever that you’re wrong about folks.
https://twitter.com/BestEarthPix/status/460324721322909696/photo/1
Where sports and politics collide.
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Donald Sterling’s Willing Enablers
Dave Zirin on April 27, 2014 – 2:47 PM ET
Michael Jordan as an NBA player, owner and cultural force, has always been proudly apolitical. Most famously, he refused to oppose segregationist Jesse Helms in his home state of North Carolina by saying, “Republicans buy sneakers too.” Yet Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racist rant has so upended the NBA apple-cart that even Jordan is speaking out.
He said,
“As an owner, I’m obviously disgusted that a fellow team owner could hold such sickening and offensive views. I’m confident that Adam Silver will make a full investigation and take appropriate action quickly. As a former player, I’m completely outraged. There is no room in the NBA—or anywhere else—for the kind of racism. I am appalled that this type of ignorance still exists within our country and at the highest levels of our sport. In a league where the majority of players are African-American, we cannot & must not tolerate discrimination at any level”
After a period of initial silence, Jordan is now just the latest NBA owner doing the previously unthinkable: speaking out against a fellow member of their exclusive club.
These belated words are welcome, but it is impossible to take any owner seriously that they are “shocked” or “outraged” by Sterling’s surreptitiously recorded statement, because “news” that Donald Sterling is racist qualifies as news only if you’ve been living on a hermetically sealed space station for the last decade. Even Clippers coach Doc Rivers’s comment that when he took the job last year—he didn’t know that Sterling was a bigot but “probably should have”—strains credulity. Sterling, with a great deal of attendant publicity, has been a racist in both word and deed for some time. His statements about African-Americans, Latinos and Asians—not to mention his misogyny—are exceeded only by his much-protested practices as a discriminatory slumlord. (If anyone wants to know this history, you can read this article.)
http://www.thenation.com/blog/179554/donald-sterlings-willing-enablers#
RIP DJ EZ ROCK!
http://youtu.be/phOW-CZJWT0
http://youtu.be/8kYsPA1isVE
RIP EZ ROCK It takes Two to make a thing go right!
On Meet The Press, Bryant Gumbel Hammers NBA For Looking Past Donald Sterling’s Racism
By: Justin Baragona
Sunday, April, 27th, 2014, 4:59 pm
On Sunday’s broadcast of Meet the Press, renowned television journalist Bryant Gumbel pointed the finger directly at the NBA and former commissioner David Stern for allowing Clippers owner Donald Sterling to get away with racist comments and behavior for years. Essentially, Gumbel stated that Stern and the NBA have been aware of Sterling’s views for decades and did nothing to discourage or stop him. Therefore, there should not be any surprise that Sterling was caught making extremely offensive comments about race.
To his credit, Meet the Press host David Gregory had three African-Americans on to start the show to discuss this controversy. Besides Gumbel, Gregory’s other guests were Rev. Al Sharpton and the NAACP’s interim president Lorraine Miller. Recently, it had been reported that Sterling was scheduled to receive a lifetime achievement award from the LA chapter of the NAACP. Miller made sure to point out on Sunday’s show that Sterling would not be receiving any such award.
After speaking with both Sharpton and Miller to start the segment, Gregory asked Gumbel what his thoughts were. Gumbel, who hosts Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO and is very aware of Sterling’s history, went for the jugular regarding the NBA’s hands-off approach to Sterling.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/27/meet-press-bryant-gumbel-hammers-nba-donald-sterlings-racism.html
Take’em to the woodshed!
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Morning, everyone!
Back in the day, Mission Impossible was the ISH!
it sure was. it absolutely rocked!
So glad to see you bak Southern Girl #1 to me. ;) Because you love horses and all music. http://youtu.be/zotRnVeBVjA
Morning, CarolMae! So glad to be at home. So glad to be feeling better. I should be in bed but I’m trying to catch up. :)
Uh Oh. . . We don’t want you having set backs. ;)
if you ‘ should be’ in bed..
GET IN BED.
do what the doctor’s told you.
Good Morning, SG2 & Everyone! Get THEE in BED, Lady. I’m watching you
Yes, you need to lie down, SG2, even if it’s just on the sofa. Please get your rest.
http://www.insidewomanmag.com/wp-content/uploads/black_woman_reading_book_in_armchair_bld078391.jpg
I will, Yahtc! I don’t wanna go back to THAT place.
Here, SG2. so there’s no mistaking Yahtc’s message to you.
OK! I’ma listen!
My feet are a bit swollen. Not much but just a little bit.
The swelling will decrease. Your circulation was a bit compromised, and the IV fluids they gave you is helping to stabilize your heart. Prop up your footsies and take care woman.
She’s fussing at me—->Rikyrah—->with her soft spoken self! She’s very soft spoken! A beautiful voice!
I’ve always loved horses, cowboys and country music. I’m a country girl! :)
Wrong music right horses? ;)