Happy Monday, Everyone. This week 3 Chics is featuring the musical stylings of Tuck & Patti. Tuck & Patti’s Homepage
Tuck and Patti were couples. “Tuck Andres” was born in Oklahoma. His father had been a leader of a jazz band in college. After he attended at Stanford University and took classical guitar, he went to Las Vegas to audition for a show band. Tuck was given a opportunity to be a guitarist for The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. He also spent with the GAP Band for four years. “Patti Cathcart” was born in San Francisco. She started singing in church. At the age of 10, Patti was already leading youth choirs. She was also involved in school musicals. During the sixties musical scene in San Francisco, Patti used to performed with many rock and jazz groups. Tuck and Patti met when Tick was a already guitarist for a cover band when Patti walked in to audition. The two hit off immediately. In 1981, they began to perform as duo around California. In 1983, the two get married.
Tuck and Patti signed a recording contract under Windham Hill Jazz in 1987. They released their debut album, Tears of Joy in 1989. This and several other albums like, Love Warriors in 1989 and Dream in 1991 was released under the same label. Tuck also released solo album under Windham Hill. In 1995, the couple signed a recording contract under Epic Records. Their first album, Learning How To Fly was released in that year. In 1998, his next album, Paradise Found was released. Two years later, Taking The Long Way Home was released. In 2002, they build their own recording studio and recording label called, “T&P” Records. They produced their next album, Chocolate Moment in that year. The next year, A Gift of Love was released.
Their new album, I Remember You, was released to all retail and digital retail outlets, including iTunes, on August 26, 2008. What’s on the album? Love songs of course, from the Great American Songbook, inspired by Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass. “They are gorgeous tunes, with grand lyrics,” shares Patti. “And they sing unabashedly, unapologetically, about love.”
Take My Breath Away
https://twitter.com/BlackHistoryUS/status/463511578973712384/photo/1/large
YEAH BABY! BOOM SHAKA LAKA, BOOM!
https://twitter.com/NadineJohnsonPR/status/463455036572327937/photo/1
And it’s Lupita for the Win…. SO MUCH WIN.
Reminder…….
Jack Bauer tonight!!
In Texas, A New Bush Launches Political Career With Leap Into Oil And Gas Interests
BY ARI PHILLIPS MAY 5, 2014 AT 1:33 PM UPDATED: MAY 5, 2014 AT 2:48 PM
George Prescott Bush, the 38-year-old son of Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, has brought the Bush dynasty into a new generation by entering his first political race this year — what appears to be a relatively easy march to becoming Texas Land Commissioner.
While the race may be low-profile, especially for someone whose uncle and grandfather both served as President of the United States, it is significant for several reasons beyond the familial name recognition.
Not only does this initial race give rise to speculation about Bush’s political future — which could rise quickly — but it also gives rise to the opportunity to consider what the land commissioner actually does: a position that bestows great power and responsibility when it comes to energy and environmental issues covering one of the nation’s largest and most fossil-fuel endowed states. The lengths of this reach are already showing through in Bush’s campaign, with a recent analysis by Al Jazeera finding that individuals tied to energy companies have contributed at least $450,000 to Bush’s campaign.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/05/3434063/george-p-bush-texas-oil-gas-land-commissioner/
‘Hillary had to dodge a flying shoe’
President Obama at the White House Correspondent’s Association Dinner
video
Read more: http://www.wesh.com/politics/hillary-had-to-dodge-a-flying-shoe/25800426#ixzz30stYiBe3
David Brock Calls On CBS To Reopen Investigation Into Botched 60 Minutes Benghazi Report
Blog ››› 4 minutes ago ››› MEDIA MATTERS STAFF
Media Matters chairman David Brock is calling on CBS to reopen its investigation into the flawed 60 Minutes report on Benghazi after a New York magazine report raised questions about the validity of CBS’ original findings.
CBS came under significant criticism for its October 27, 2013 60 Minutes report on the attacks, in which correspondent Lara Logan prominently featured testimony from an eyewitness who later turned out to be untrustworthy. The segment also included several misleading right-wing talking points. After initially defending the report, CBS pulled the report, apologized to its viewers, and promised a thorough investigation into what went wrong.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/05/05/david-brock-calls-on-cbs-to-reopen-investigatio/199176
Gabourey Sidibide has proven that she is talented – and tough.
Ever since her breakout role in the 2009 film Precious, the 30-year-old actress has been the victim of snide remarks attacking and criticizing both her style and physique.
However, Sidibe is not phased by the critics and instead, she’s constantly upheld a great level of esteem and confidence.
In a moving speech she delivered on Thursday at the Ms. Foundation Women Of Vision Gala in New York City, Sidibe opened up about how she’s tackled the negative comments she received and how she feels when people ask how she’s able to remain so confident.
http://thegrio.com/2014/05/05/gabourey-sidibe-wows-crowd-with-moving-speech-on-confidence/
http://youtu.be/Ts5BqtkzeBo
Ann Wintour was completely OVERCOME with emotion. It’s a BFD to have FLOTUS speak on her behalf, and she KNOWS it.
I read the Ms. Wintour does not like Kim Kardashian, at ALL.
Sober woman arrested for DUI after WI deputy causes crash, breaking her neck
By Travis Gettys
Monday, May 5, 2014 9:18 EDT
A Wisconsin woman lived for months with drunken driving charges hanging over her head after a sheriff’s deputy crashed into her car, although blood tests show she was sober and surveillance video shows the officer was at fault.
Tanya Weyker broke her neck in the Feb. 20, 2013, crash after Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Quiles rolled through a stop sign and wrecked into her vehicle, reported WTKR-TV.
She was hurt so badly she couldn’t submit to a Breathalyzer test or perform field sobriety tests, but she said deputies questioned her as she received medical treatment at the crash scene.
Deputies said Weyker’s speech was slurred, her eyes were glassy, and her breath smelled of alcohol, and she admitted she’d taken a few sips from a friend’s drink.
The 25-year-old Weyker also told authorities she had been prescribed Vicodin after having her wisdom teeth removed, but she told them she hadn’t taken the drug in at least a week.
Deputies arrested Weyker on five charges, including drunken driving causing an injury.
Blood test results showed a month later that Weyker had not been drunk, and additional test results showed in July that she had not been under the influence of drugs.
Yet the charges remained pending for more than five months.
………………
Weyker is still waiting for the county to pay her medical bills, which she said could be more than $1 million, but state law caps claims against government agencies at $250,000.
She has filed a separate complaint against the deputy who arrested her in what could be the precursor to a civil rights lawsuit against Milwaukee County – which would not be subject to a cap on damages.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/05/sober-woman-arrested-for-dui-after-wi-deputy-causes-crash-breaking-her-neck/
http://youtu.be/UpY4LOWadH8
A new gif for 3CHICS!
http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/998/8659/original.jpg
https://twitter.com/GenevieveMag/status/463355193028251648/photo/1
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/463397925851115521/photo/1
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/463399748276215808/photo/1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts5BqtkzeBo
I just can’t with Donnatella V!
Breaking NewsVerified account@BreakingNews ·
Report: Attorney General Eric Holder offering to send FBI to help find kidnapped Nigerian girls – @HuffingtonPost http://huff.to/1neWAXB
Eric Holder Offers FBI Help For Kidnapped Nigerian Girls.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/05/eric-holder-offers-to-sen_n_5268566.html
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is offering to send FBI agents to help rescue more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, a senior Justice Department source told The Huffington Post on Monday.
Holder has also ordered an intelligence assessment of Boko Haram, which the United States designated as a terrorist organization in November 2013. The group, whose name means “Western education is sin,” receives training from al Qaeda and its affiliates.
“Let me be clear,” Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday during a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. “The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime, and we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes.”
On April 14, members of Boko Haram invaded a boarding school in Nigeria, pulled 276 girls from their beds and packed them into trucks. At least 53 girls have escaped, while the rest are allegedly being sold as brides to local militants for $12, according to the girls’ relatives.
Abubakar Shekau, a man claiming to be the leader of Boko Haram, took credit for the kidnapping in a video obtained Monday by Agence France-Press and said he is selling the girls as wives to prevent them from receiving a Western education.
“I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” Shekau said, according to a CNN translation. “There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women.”
Shekau added, “Girls, you should go and get married.”
**********************
Go get’em, AG Holder! Bring those girls home!
Abubakar Shekau, AG Holder is coming for your black ass!
W e know who’s going to win this battle.
check baby check!
Koch Brothers Duck Billionaire’s Debate Invitation: ‘We Are Not Experts On Climate Change’
Tom Kludt – May 5, 2014, 12:35 PM EDT
Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer’s attempt to lure Charles and David Koch out of the shadows appears to have fallen short.
Steyer had challenged the conservative benefactors to a public debate on climate change. But the brothers aren’t interested.
“We are not experts on climate change,” Koch spokeswoman Melissa Cohlmia in told the Wichita Eagle in an e-mail on Friday afternoon. “We do believe there should be free and open debate on the climate issue and it should be based on sound science and intellectual honesty.”
“The debate should take place among the scientific community, examining all points of view and void of politics, personal attacks and partisan agendas,” she added.
Steyer has designs on a $100 million campaign this year targeting climate change skeptics and the Keystone XL pipeline, but he has rejected comparisons to the Kochs.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/koch-brothers-tom-steyer-debate
Christie runs into budgeting and bullying trouble
05/05/14 09:59 AM
By Steve Benen
The speculation about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) plans two years from now is not only premature, it’s also obscuring the fact that the governor has some pressing problems right now.
A major Wall Street credit-rating agency downgraded New Jersey’s debt again Thursday, unnerved by “both the scale and belatedness” of an $807 million budget gap disclosed this week by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration.
The action by Fitch Ratings followed a similar ratings cut last month by Standard & Poor’s. Earlier this week, Moody’s Investors Service called the shortfall a “credit negative development,” forewarning that yet another downgrade may be coming.
The Fitch analysts wrote that the downgrade “incorporates the state’s ongoing budget strain created by overly optimistic revenue forecasts, a multitude of long-term spending pressures, and the state’s repeated reliance on one-time solutions to achieve budgetary balance.”
The more a state’s debt is downgraded, the more difficult it is for the state to borrow for capital improvements.
State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D), the legislature’s budget committee chairman, told the Star-Ledger, “Credit-rating agencies have no faith in the fiscal health of the state of New Jersey because year in and year out we miss our revenue targets. If we continue at this pace, we’re going to end up in junk-bond status. This is crazy.”
And how does this relate to Christe? Because it was the governor who was warned about “overly optimistic revenue forecasts,” and instead of taking them seriously, Christie bullied those who told him the truth.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/christie-runs-budgeting-and-bullying
Scandal envy is an ugly thing
05/05/14 11:00 AM
By Steve Benen
It’s been a few days since House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced that what Benghazi conspiracy theorists really need is yet another committee to complement the seven other congressional committees that have already investigated the deadly 2012 attack. This time, however, it’ll be special select committee, which will presumably do what’s already repeatedly been done.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a House Intelligence Committee member, appeared on “Fox News Sunday” yesterday to dismiss the Republican obsession and to make a little news. “I don’t think it makes sense, really, for Democrats to participate” in this latest investigation, Schiff said. “I think it’s a tremendous red herring and a waste of taxpayer resources.”
That’s a fair assessment, though this election year, red herrings and wasting taxpayer resources on discredited conspiracy theories appear to be high on the House Republicans’ list of priorities.
As a matter of substance, we appear to be quickly approaching a point of genuine partisan madness. As the Benghazi conspiracy theory evaporates, House Republicans create a select committee for no particular reason. As the IRS conspiracy theory unravels, House Republicans demand a special prosecutor for imaginary reasons.
But as a political matter, the fact that GOP lawmakers are going all in – embracing a self-indulgent, all-conspiracy-all-the-time agenda with reckless enthusiasm – tells us something important about how Republicans perceive the state of play against the White House
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/scandal-envy-ugly-thing
Diagnosing Paul Ryan’s psychopathy: Arrogant, manipulative, deceitful, remorseless
Paul Krugman revealed Ryan’s big con years ago. It’s gotten worse. Why does anyone take him seriously on policy?
If the GOP as a whole has pretty much given up on the whole “rebranding” thing, their 2012 vice presidential nominee, Congressman Paul Ryan, most definitely has not. In fact, rebranding is pretty much his thing, regardless of how credible — or incredible, actually — his efforts may be.
For years, Ryan touted himself as an avid Ayn Rand disciple, until he didn’t in early 2012, even calling it “an urban legend” that he had anything serious to do with Rand at all. He then tried to present the latest iteration of his draconian soak-the-poor/shower the rich budget proposal as grounded in Catholic social teaching, rather than Rand’s fiercely anti-Christian philosophy, a claim that the conservative U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops soundly rejected, writing that his proposed budget failed to meet certain “moral criteria” by disproportionately cutting programs that “serve poor and vulnerable people.”
Now, seeking to put all memory of the “47 percent” campaign behind him, Ryan’s trying to take that reinvention to a whole new level.
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/03/diagnosing_paul_ryans_psychopathy_arrogant_manipulative_deceitful_remorseless/
Medicaid expansion is the final battle in war over Obamacare
By Michael Hiltzik The Economy Hub
May 4, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
The final battles of any war often are the bloodiest. They’re waged by the last holdouts, dead-enders desperate to prove to themselves and their dwindling followers that their efforts were not in vain.
The final battle of the war over the Affordable Care Act is being waged today over expanding Medicaid. As the act was originally conceived, Medicaid would provide healthcare for more than 10 million of the poorest uninsured Americans, most of them childless adults with earnings up to 138% of the federal poverty level. (This year, that income ceiling is about $16,000.)…
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-20140504,0,2033966.column#ixzz30rwXDXjg
A child is dead because grown-ups failed to act their age: Mitchell
By MARY MITCHELL May 2, 2014 6:54PM
Updated: May 4, 2014 2:35AM
Every homicide, especially one involving a young person, is heartbreaking.
And just when you think you’ve seen the worst scenario that ends up with a life being violently snatched away, another senseless murder grabs the headlines and shakes us to our moral core.
At this point, many of us have simply run out of words and tears.
Those who knew and loved 14-year-old Endia Martin, gunned down in broad daylight last week, are likely still in shock.
But they are not alone.
……
Police officials have rounded up five people who they allege had contact with that gun before the unnamed juvenile fired the fatal shot.
Among those charged was the suspect’s uncle, Donnell Flora, a 25-year-old man in a wheelchair who, police allege, took a bus to bring his niece a .38-caliber revolver.
He was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Also charged with having a direct involvement in this case was Vandetta Redwood, the 32-year-old aunt of the 14-year-old suspect.
Police allege Redwood knew that the confrontation could have turned deadly and did nothing to stop it.
Other charges in this case relate to individuals who had some contact with the weapon, including a 17-year-old accused of trying to hide the gun.
Robert James, 34, is accused of illegally selling a firearm and filing a false police report when he reported the gun stolen. Floyd Evans, 43, identified by law enforcement as the buyer, was charged with illegal possession of a firearm.
What stands out most in this tragedy is the number of adults who either contributed to this crime or had some personal involvement in it.
Had just one of these adults chosen to do what was right, Endia would be alive today.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/27200074-452/a-child-is-dead-because-grown-ups-failed-to-act-their-age-mitchell.html#.U2fdvuMo670
https://twitter.com/metmuseum/status/463338039390248961/photo/1
FLOTUS looks fabulous
http://pearlsdiamondsandeverythingelse.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/first-lady-michelle-obama-cuts-the-ribbon-of-the-new-anna-wintour-costume-center-at-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art/
How the Internet has helped African Americans break into the hair business
by Charing Ball | May 3, 2014 at 11:45 AM
It was a quick run with his little sister to the Korean-owned beauty supply store for a couple of packs of Brazilian hair which initially sparked Damien Stephens interest in the hair extension business.
With no real clue on how to start, he went on the Internet and began looking up information on how he could get into the industry. What he found was a manufacturer in China more than willing to work with him to develop his own brand of extensions.
But before he even had the hair physically in his hand, Stephens took to social media to test the validity of his new enterprise: Flawless Hair Company, which specializes in 100 percent virgin Indian and Brazilian hair.
“I had made a Facebook status and told people that they could make pre-orders. By the end of the day, I made $2,000 from women I didn’t know from a can of paint,” he said.
That was in 2011. Today, Stephens has moved his business from Facebook statuses to an actual brick and mortar storefront located in Oak Park, Michigan. He says that he is on track to beat last year’s stellar record that earned nearly a half-million in sales. But despite how rapidly his business has expanded, Stephens says that he is not surprised.
“The Asian always had total control of the market. So once women started knowing that we [black people] had it, they were more comfortable,” he said. “They [black women] really wanted to do business with us and were excited to do business with us. I get it all the time, people come into the shop and say, ‘Are you black owned?’ And they are just so excited to give me money.”
According to some estimates, while the number of US salons offering hair extensions have increased by 28.5 percent, the vast majority of beauty supply stores (where hair extensions are usually sold) are owned by Koreans and other Asians.
However, thanks to the Internet, African American entrepreneurs have been able to forge relationships with manufacturers and distributors of raw and virgin hair around the globe, particularly in places like India and China.
http://thegrio.com/2014/05/03/internet-african-americans-hair-weave-business/
Cornealious “Mike” Anderson rejoins his family as a free man
(St. Louis Post Dispatch) – Cornealious “Mike” Anderson, whose sentence for armed robbery was delayed for 13 years by a clerical error, walked out of court a free man just minutes ago.
Mississippi County Associate Circuit Judge T. Lynn Brown ordered that Anderson be given credit for the time he was “at large” after his conviction in 2000.
“I believe that continuing to incarcerate you serves no purpose,” Brown said as he handed down his ruling. “It would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. You obviously are a rehabilitated man.”
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/webster-groves-man-jailed-for-robbery-years-after-his-conviction/article_441ea598-dcdc-549b-9381-959c97b0b301.html
Breaking
Good afternoon. SG2! Glad to see you back on your feet.
Thank you, Tyren! It’s good to feel good. Lets hope it stays that way. I don’t wanna go back to THAT place. :)
Cokie Roberts has such a DISDAIN for PBO; NO WAY, she can hide it.
Why Dems are running against plutocracy
By Greg Sargent
May 2 at 2:51 pm
Dems aren’t really running against the Koch brothers. Rather, they are running against plutocracy. The strategy is premised on the idea that swing voters view the economy as rigged against them, and in favor of the very wealthy, whose interests will be zealously protected by a GOP-controlled Senate. The latest addition to this strategy: The announcement that Dems will push for a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United and the McCutcheon decision doing away with aggregate limits on individual campaign donations.
A new polling memo from Stan Greenberg’s Democracy Corps sheds some more light on this approach. Conducted with the Public Campaign Action Fund, it finds that in the 86 most competitive House districts, there is strong opposition across party lines to the McCutcheon decision — and strong support for efforts to reduce the influence over money in politics.
The poll found that even in contested Republican districts, 70 percent oppose the McCutcheon ruling when it’s described to them, 56 percent strongly, and in Dem battleground districts, 74 percent oppose it, 62 percent strongly. An overwhelming 71 percent of independents in the 86 battleground districts oppose the decision.
The poll also found strong support in battleground districts for the Government By The People Act, which was described as a measure that would limit contributions to $150 per individual and match it on a six to one basis with public funds, along with strengthened disclosure of all donations. Seventy percent of battleground voters favor the plan. It found broad support for a message against a “government bought and paid for by wealthy donors.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/05/02/why-dems-are-running-against-plutocracy/
I’m gonna stand on a mountain top and tell the news, that you take my BREATH AWAY.
Morning Plum: The GOP’s real position on immigration, laid bare
By Greg Sargent
May 5 at 9:17 am
Republicans face a very simple dilemma on immigration: Either they embrace reform, or they are inescapably the party of maximum deportations.
As you know, I’ve been making the case that this is the choice Republicans face. But now we have a senior House Republican essentially confirming it for us.
The Republican in question — GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte — didn’t put it that way, of course. But in an interview with Univision Jorge Ramos that aired yesterday, he inescapably revealed that to be the case, and in the process, he made real news.
Ramos repeatedly pressed Goodlatte to explain why it is that House Republicans refuse to act on immigration reform. Goodlatte repeatedly claimed the problem is that Republicans can’t trust Obama to enforce the law, as evidenced by the fact that deportations from the interior have dropped. Goodlatte explicitly said the problem is that only people convicted of serious crimes are getting deported from the interior.
Ramos then pressed Goodlatte on whether this means Republicans want to see more deportations from the interior. Goodlatte — who as chair of the House Judiciary Committee is a key player on immigration — refused to answer directly:
……………………………….
This is how Republicans have boxed themselves in on this issue: They’ve defined “enforcing the law” as maximizing deportations from the interior, no matter who gets removed. It’s true that removals from the interior have dropped under Obama. But that reflects the fact that the administration is prioritizing removals of people caught crossing the border, which have gone up, and has deprioritized the removal of certain classes from the interior. By defining that shift in priorities as a failure to enforce the law, and claiming this as the chief obstacle to moving forward with their own proposals to legalize the 11 million, Republicans have effectively defined their policy stance as follows: Obama is not deporting enough low level offenders with lives here, so therefore we won’t embrace any form of legal status for them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/05/05/morning-plum-the-gops-real-position-on-immigration-laid-bare/
*************
What the HELL is wrong with her?
Odds are first lady’s getting phat paid for spewing this nonsense.
this is SOOOO not going to end well for her husband’s administration.
Does she look the FOOL or what?
How Race Distorts the Electorate
by BooMan
Mon May 5th, 2014 at 11:11:32 AM EST
Some things just stick with you. I will never forget reading the following from one of Sean Quinn’s dispatches during the 2008 presidential election:
……………
How can anyone forget something like that. It’s pure Archie and Edith Bunker, down to the smallest details. Things were so bad by October 2008 that even the Bunkers of the world were ready to give a black president a chance. But I don’t think he held their loyalty for very long. After years of uninterrupted disaster, these voters knew that they had to try something different, but Obama wasn’t part of their clan. He was too exotic. Too urban. Too intellectual. Too aloof. Too black.
I’ve been wondering where these voters stand on Hillary Clinton. I knew that there is a big set of people who are telling pollsters that they don’t approve of Obama’s performance in office but that they prefer Clinton to any likely Republican presidential candidate. I had a feeling that this group was made up of lower middle class white voters who don’t have a college degree, and that they are concentrated most heavily in rural areas, particularly in the South. Now, thanks to E.J. Dionne, my suspicions have been confirmed.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/5/5/111132/2935
https://twitter.com/essencemag/status/463332955843489794
I am SOOOOO going to buy this issue.
THIS will not end well for the Government.
Ain’t that some REAL bullshit? Arresting the protest leader instead of looking for the girls. Muther….
Loving Tuck and Patti this morning! Take my breath awaaayyy!
May 05, 2014
GOP Poised to Control More State Legislatures
Wall Street Journal: “Four years after Republicans grabbed their largest number of legislative seats since the Great Depression, the party is positioned to gain House and Senate majorities in more states, putting energy regulation, social issues and taxes in play even as Washington remains gridlocked.”
“Control of five state Senates would swing to the GOP with a gain of no more than three seats, and the party is targeting four additional state legislative chambers, believing the political environment favors Republicans this year. The party already has full legislative control in 26 of the 50 states and holds 29 governorships heading into 2014 elections.”
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/05/05/gop_poised_to_control_more_state_legislatures.html
MEDIA ALERT:
Jack Bauer is back tonight!!!
Nigerian Schoolgirl Abductions: Here’s What We Know
We dissect the many conflicting reports surrounding the kidnapping of more than 200 girls from their school
By: Diamond Sharp
Posted: May 1 2014 5:35 PM
On April 15, more than 200 Nigerian girls were kidnapped from their school in the town of Chibok. The Islamic militant group Boko Haram has been blamed for the incident. Since the kidnapping, details have been mired in controversy. With so much conflicting information, it is hard to keep the facts straight. Here is what we know.
April 15: Abduction
In the early morning of Tuesday, April 15, more than 200 students between the ages of 16 and 18 were kidnapped from the Chibok Girls Secondary School, located in the conflict-stricken northeastern Borno state. To date, authorities and parents differ on the number of girls missing. The reported number of abducted girls ranges from 234 to 270. In the early moments of the kidnapping, some 50 girls managed to escape their captors.
Though schools in Borno state had been closed since March 18 because of terrorism fears, the girls had been called back to take a physics exam. The Islamic militant group Boko Haram has been blamed for the kidnappings, though it has not publicly claimed responsibility. A Borno state community leader told the Associated Press that the terrorist group was, however, seeking a ransom for the girls’ return.
Boko Haram, a militant group whose name roughly translates from the Hausa language as “Western education is forbidden,” has waged attacks in the northern state for years. The group has a history of attacking schools, most notably the killing of 59 schoolboys in Nigeria’s Yobe state.
April 16: Nigerian Government Reacts
The day after the attack, the Nigerian military claimed to have rescued all the girls. Then, the following day, they retracted the statement; the military had not rescued any of the girls. The nearly 50 girls that had escaped did so on their own. The government has come under increasing criticism as the fate of the girls remains unknown. Nigerians have taken to the streets to demand that the government do more to bring the girls home.
April 25: #BringBackOurGirls
Activists took to social media using the hashtags #BringBackOurGirls and #BringBackOurDaughters to demand more action from the government. March organizer Hauwa Abdu Biu has named the movement “Free Our Girls.” The organizing on social media platforms led to a protest in front of Nigeria’s parliament. According to the BBC, former World Bank vice president and ex-Nigerian Cabinet member Obiageli Ezekwesili accused the Nigerian government of having “no coherent search-and-rescue” plan.
April 29: Girls Taken Abroad and Married Off?
Unconfirmed reports have spread that the abducted girls have been sold as brides to members of Boko Haram. It is believed that many of the girls have been taken to neighboring countries Chad and Cameroon.
According to Al-Jazeera, the rights group Borno-Yobe People’s Forum has reported that the girls have been sold as brides for 2,000 Nigerian naira ($12.40) to members of Boko Haram.
The allegations of forced marriage have not been verified. And at the same time, the Associated Press is reporting that the terrorists are negotiating a ransom for the girls’ return.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/05/bring_back_our_daughters_here_s_what_we_know_about_the_nigerian_schoolgirl.html
“US teachers nowhere as diverse as their students”
http://www.bradenton.com/2014/05/04/5136344/us-teachers-nowhere-as-diverse.html
“USC Press launches US Rep. James Clyburn memoir”
http://www.heraldonline.com/2014/05/05/5930257/usc-press-launches-us-rep-james.html?sp=/100/104/
“UCLA again considering diversity class requirement”
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-me-ucla-diversity-20140505,0,1298028.story#axzz30qdj2VMv
Study: U.S. Teachers Don’t Reflect the Diversity of Students
A new study by the Center for American Progress and National Education Association shows that nearly half of the students who attend public schools are minorities and yet, less than 1 in five of their teachers are nonwhite
By: Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
Posted: May 5 2014 7:59 AM
A new study from the Center for American Progress and National Education Association has shown that U.S. teachers don’t reflect the diversity of their students. According to the study, nearly half of the students who attend public schools are minorities and yet, less than 1 in five of their teachers are nonwhite, Associated Press reports.
The study hopes to call attention to this “diversity gap” at elementary and secondary schools in the United States and both groups believe more can be done to help create more diverse classrooms.
“It becomes easier for students to believe “when they can look and see someone who looks just like them, that they can relate to,” Kevin Gilbert, coordinator of teacher leadership and special projects for the Clinton Public School District in Clinton, Mississippi told AP. “Nothing can help motivate our students more than to see success standing right in front of them.”
A more diverse teacher pool could benefit more than just minority students.
“Even in a place like North Dakota, where the students aren’t particularly diverse relative to the rest of the country, it’s important for our social fabric, for our sense as a nation, that students are engaging with people who think, talk and act differently than them but can also be just as effective at raising student achievement in the classroom,” Ulrich Boser, the author of the center’s report told AP.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/05/study_u_s_teachers_don_t_reflect_the_diversity_of_students.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content&mc_cid=4ec313f585&mc_eid=1e0cf17cc4
Leslie Jones’ ‘Weekend Update’ Slave Jokes on ‘SNL’ Spark Outrage
Leslie Jones got her first dose of backlash via social media after making jokes about slavery.
Earlier this year, Saturday Night Live made a huge step toward diversifying its cast by hiring Sasheer Zamata, their first black woman in 6 years. Zamata was hired after SNL was publicly criticized for not having a black female regular who could portray black women in skits. People were pretty much fed up with seeing Keenan Thompson in drag. But SNL didn’t stop there. On top of hiring Zamata, LeKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones, both black, were hired as writers. If you’re going to have a black actress, it only made sense to have black writers who knew how to relate, right?
Unfortunately, Jones, a stand-up comedienne and actress, caught a lot of flak during Saturday night’s episode. Jones joined Colin Jost for Saturday’s “Weekend Update” but her monologue touched a few nerves. Jones spoke about People naming Lupita Nyong’o as their most beautiful person, but veered into slavery joke territory quickly.
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2014/05/leslie_jones_weekend_update_slave_jokes_on_snl_sparks_outrage.html?wpisrc=mostpopular
Pregnant Chicago Woman Allegedly Kills Boyfriend Over Failure to Buy Gift
Miata Phalen, who is seven months pregnant, erupted in furor when her boyfriend bought gifts for others, but not her, police say.
By: Lynette Holloway
Posted: May 4 2014 12:07 PM
A trip to the mall ended in a deadly dispute when a pregnant woman fatally stabbed her boyfriend after he bought gifts for everyone, except her, police say, according to the Daily News.
Police say Miata Phalen, 24, fatally stabbed the father of her unborn child, Larry Martin, 28, on April 30th at the apartment they shared. She is seven months pregnant, the report says.
“This is what you get for messing with me,” the woman allegedly said while standing over her lover’s bleeding body, the Daily News reports.
The incident began after the woman spiraled into a rage when Martin reportedly bought gifts for his 8-year-old son Lavelle and Martin’s 25-year-old cousin, the report says. She began chastising Martin, calling him “selfish,” Glen Runk, an assistant State’s Attorney, told the Chicago Tribune.
Police say that the woman almost caused an accident when she began attacking Martin while he was driving home from the mall, the report says. When he left the car to run an errand, the woman reportedly kicked and scratched him, and then left with the car.
She reportedly greeted him at the door with a knife when he finally made it home and allegedly stabbed him in front of his son, the News says.
“His last words was to me,” Lavelle told the Sun-Times. “He said, ‘I’m gonna die, but I love you
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/05/pregnant_chicago_woman_kills_boyfriend_over_failure_to_buy_gift_1.html?wpisrc=mostpopular
Who Was the Real Dido Elizabeth Belle?
100 Amazing Facts about the Negro: What historical records say about the mixed-race heroine of a new film.
Increasingly, film audiences are being introduced to black heroes and heroines who, once routinely stereotyped or cropped out of the frame, are now the lens through which we see the dramatic events of history unfold. Look at Gone With the Wind, which won the Oscar for best picture in 1939, versus 12 Years a Slave, the best picture winner of 2013. And who can forget Forest Whitaker last year in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, standing alone with the grieving Jacqueline Kennedy during those excruciating hours after her husband’s assassination, or silently, invisibly serving tea to the “great men” of history as they debated the fate of the African-American people in the South?
Such films seem at first like an optical illusion, one of those autostereograms, in which, after you stare into it long enough, a different object magically appears. Then you remember that those “objects,” those three-dimensional black men, those women and children, have always been there and that they had a greater impact on history than we were taught. It’s just that folks have refused to see them and, in the case of Hollywood, allowed them to be seen.
This month, we meet another protagonist reclaimed from the margins of history. She not only lived on the periphery; she literally embodied the margin between black and white worlds 200 years before “the Butler” took up his post, born in England about 10 years before Sally Hemings would be born on a Virginia plantation, soon to become Thomas Jefferson’s mistress. Her name was Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mulatto daughter of a white Royal Navy officer and black slave mother. For 30 years, she lived in the household of the honorable William Murray, the First Earl of Mansfield, one of the most influential British judges of the 18th century, whose verdict on the fate of a runaway slave, James Somerset, in 1772 would reverberate across the Atlantic to the New World
http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/05/did_belle_really_help_end_slavery_in_england.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content&mc_cid=4ec313f585&mc_eid=1e0cf17cc4
6.0-Magnitude Quakes Shakes Thailand”
http://www.voanews.com/content/six-point-zero-magnitude-quake-shakes-thailand-burma/1907671.html
“17 injured, trains delayed as earthquake jolts Tokyo region”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/japanese-earthquake-stops-tokyo-trains-temporarily/article18455483/
“Earthquake of 6.6 magnitude deep in Pacific Ocean south of Fiji: USGS”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/04/us-earthquake-pacific-fiji-idUSBREA4302320140504
Abubakar Shekau: “I abducted your girls.” “I will sell them in the market”.
*********************************
OMG! So chilling! Please get this monster & find those girls!
very true. drone needs to find him
Frightening!
House Democrat Slams Darrell Issa For His Latest Benghazi Publicity Stunt
By: Jason Easley
Saturday, May, 3rd, 2014, 3:34 pm
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) shredded Darrell Issa’s Benghazi subpoena of Sec. of State John Kerry by calling it a publicity stunt.
In a press release describing the subpoena of Secretary of State Kerry, Rep. Issa (R-CA) said, “The State Department’s response to the congressional investigation of the Benghazi attack has shown a disturbing disregard for the Department’s legal obligations to Congress. Compliance with a subpoena for documents is not a game. Because your Department is failing to meet its legal obligations, I am issuing a new subpoena to compel you to appear before the Committee to answer questions about your agency’s response to the congressional investigation of the Benghazi attack.” (Holding bogus hearings and launching expensive investigations at taxpayer expense also isn’t a game, but Issa seems to have no issues with that.)
Ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) took Issa apart.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/03/house-democrat-slams-darrell-issa-latest-benghazi-publicity-stunt.html
So, It’s Down to Dallas and Las Vegas
by BooMan
Mon May 5th, 2014 at 12:35:31 AM EST
The Republicans are still officially considering six cities to host their 2016 convention: Kansas City, Denver, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dallas, and Las Vegas. However, it appears that the latter two have emerged as the front-runners. I know that there are odd factors that influence these decisions. The GOP has to pay for the damn thing, after all, and so they need access to a lot of top donors. They probably don’t want a repeat of 2008 and 2012, when natural disasters curtailed the festivities. They want a city with sufficient hotel space and a compact layout so that things aren’t too spread out.
I get all that. But it seems to me that the overriding motivator should be twofold. First, what does the selection say about the party. Second, does the selection boost the party’s chances of winning the state in which the convention is to be held?
The Democrats held their 2008 convention in Denver and went on to win Colorado in the fall, which was no slam-dunk. After narrowly winning North Carolina that year, they chose Charlotte for the 2012 convention. They narrowly lost that state in the fall. Say what you want, but those selections made sense.
It seems to me that Dallas would be a particularly inept choice based on these two criteria. The message it would send is that the party is still in the thrall of Texans. I don’t think people are quite over the last Texan president, who also happens to reside in Dallas. It would also do nothing to improve their candidate’s chances of carrying Texas. In any case, if Texas is a swing state in 2016, the GOP’s problems won’t be solved by their convention.
Las Vegas seems more promising. Despite having a Republican governor, Nevada isn’t great turf for the Republicans in a presidential election. But one big reason for that is that their state party is in shambles. They could really use a big infusion of cash and organization and enthusiasm. Probably nothing short of that is likely to turn Nevada red in 2016.
On the other hand, choosing Las Vegas would send a message inconsistent with the party’s family values brand. This is less because Las Vegas isn’t family friendly (it certainly is) than because Las Vegas has a lingering reputation as a den of sin and adultery. I think, however, that this would be more of a problem for individual delegates than for the party’s national image. Picking Las Vegas would make some sense.
The biggest objection to it that I have is that Nevada simply isn’t that delegate-rich. Its six delegates aren’t enough to swing an election is most plausible scenarios.
Kansas City would do almost nothing for the GOP and I don’t understand why it is even under discussion. Columbus and Cincinnati, I think, make the most sense from a strictly political point of view. Ohio is a state that the Republicans simply have to figure out how to win.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/5/5/03531/34821
President Obama Shows Republicans Why They Can’t Win By Running Against Obamacare
By: Jason Easley
Sunday, May, 4th, 2014, 2:59 pm
President Obama’s jokes about the ACA rollout turned what Republicans thought was the issue that could carry them to victory in 2014 into a punchline.
The president joked about Obamacare in two separate parts of his speech:
Republicans are running against the ACA like it is the end of the world, but in 2006 Democrats swept to victory by taking both the House and Senate. They won by campaigning against then President Bush leadership on the war in Iraq, and his administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/04/president-obama-shows-republicans-win-running-obamacare.html
May 03, 2014 4:36 PM
Hold on to your wallet: Doug Henwood on the Bitcoin scam
By Kathleen Geier
Doug Henwood’s cover story for The Nation this week concerns the cyber-currency known as bitcoin. Bitcoin gets taken seriously by many people who should know better. Take, for instance, this inane propaganda video about bitcoin on Vox. The film, which is narrated by Ezra Klein, and was written by Klein and Tim Lee, disses the boring, old-fashioned regulation that credit cards are subject to — I mean, who wants that, right? By contrast, bitcoin is compared to “the internet in the 1980s” and touted because it enables people “to do cool things without any central authority being able to tell you no.” Yes, that’s a verbatim quote. The accompanying explainer cards are not as ridiculously boosterish as the video, but they’re not good journalism, either.
By contrast, Henwood’s piece is learned, politically astute, and fun to read. It touches on everything from the economist’s definition of money to meet-ups of libertarian bitcoin enthusiasts to the insights of a Marxist-feminist professional dominatrix named Mistress Magpie. He makes a lot of interesting points, but I will draw your attention to what I think are among the most important ones.
Henwood notes that some on the left are fans of bitcoin. However, the cyber-currency’s greatest proponents are libertarians. Bitcoin gives them a thrill up their leg because it is unregulated. No doubt some of them dream of using it to hide their assets to avoid taxes. And of course, whenever the right and money are in close proximity to one another, the straight-up cons and frauds can never be far behind:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_05/hold_on_to_your_wallet_doug_he050189.php
‘Scumbag’ Sen. Lindsey Graham Says Obama Is Disconnected From Benghazi Reality
By: Jason Easley
Sunday, May, 4th, 2014, 6:01 pm
Sounding like a lunatic, and acting as sleazy as possible, Sen. Lindsey Graham said that President Obama and the White House are disconnected from reality on Benghazi.
Sen. Graham (R-SC) did a few things that all conspiracy theorists due. He asked lots of questions, and he no facts to back up his conclusions. Earlier this week Graham called President Obama and the White House scumbags, when the real scumbag in this situation is Lindsey Graham. Sen. Graham lied about his military service overseas during the first Gulf War, and now he is using the bodies of four dead Americans for political gain.
Republicans have no evidence to back up their Benghazi conspiracy theory. It has been nearly two years since the attack, and they have nothing to support their claims. The real scumbags in this situation are the desperate Republicans who are catering to the far right zanies in their party in order to keep their seats.
Lindsey Graham is being dishonest for the sake of personal political gain. His Benghazi spiel sounds crazy, but crazy is what gets a Republican elected in a red state, and Sen. Graham doesn’t care how scummy he has to get in order to keep his seat.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/04/scumbag-sen-lindsey-graham-obama-disconnected-benghazi-reality.html
Joel McHale: “House of Cards” has had a huge impact on Washington.
What a great show. I haven’t seen a southern senator give a tour- de-force performance like that since Lindsey Graham played Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” (Laughter.) And Lindsey, if you’re here now, you can drop character any time, man. (Laughter.) Oh, my.”
DRAMA QUEEN!
GOP candidate booted from editorial meeting after calling out ‘blah blah’ dis
Published May 04, 2014·
FoxNews.com
A Republican Senate candidate was kicked out of a local Oregon newspaper’s editorial board meeting after daring to challenge a reporter who dissed a fellow candidate by writing “blah blah blah” in his notes instead of her actual quotes.
The entire argument was captured on video and posted online by the newspaper, Willamette Week.
The Republican candidate, Mark Callahan, told Fox News that the newspaper was on a “power trip.”
“It’s a fairly liberal paper. And they were basically trying to manhandle us Republicans,” Callahan said Sunday. “They were very condescending, very controlling.”
The video shows an editorial board meeting where the newspaper was interviewing Republican candidates for Senate. One of those candidates, Jo Rae Perkins, was responding to a question over the phone when Callahan noticed something was amiss.
“You want to talk about disrespect, I see what you’re writing down there,” he said, pointing at a reporter at the table. “You just wrote down ‘blah blah blah blah blah’ for everything that Jo Rae said. Jo Rae is a respectable woman. Why are you not respecting her by writing ‘blah blah blah blah blah’ on your notepad?”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/04/power-trip-gop-candidate-booted-from-editorial-meeting-after-calling-out-blah/
Johnnie Taylor was born on this day in 1934. According to Wikipedia:
in a textbook case of how NOT to handle a crisis, this would be it.
Ms. First Lady best understand…insulting and arresting mothers whose children have been kidnapped is NOT the way to instill confidence in your husband’s government.
…………………….
Nigeria 1st Lady orders arrest of protest leaders
.Associated Press
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A leader of a protest march for 276 missing schoolgirls says Nigeria’s First Lady abused them, expressed doubts there was any kidnapping and accused them of belonging to the terrorist network blamed for the abductions. Then she ordered two of them arrested.
Saratu Angus Ndirpaya of Chibok town said State Security Service agents drove her and protest leader Naomi Mutah Nyadar to a police station Monday after an all-night meeting at the presidential villa in Abuja, the capital. She said Nyadar remains in detention. Police could not be reached for comment.
Ndirpaya says First Lady Patience Jonathan accused them of fabricating the abductions to give Nigeria’s government and her husband “a bad name.”
Police say more than 300 were abducted April 15 from Chibok school and 276 remain in captivity
http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-1st-lady-orders-arrest-protest-leaders-094217989.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory
G-T-F-O-H with this bullshyt.
she and her co-horts had already said they were sitting out 2014, so that they can shill her as THE GREAT WHITE HOPE in 2016.
G-T-F-O-H
………………..
E.J. Dionne Jr.: The Hillary difference
There are two majorities in the country right now. One disapproves of President Obama. The other is still inclined to vote Democratic. The key question for the 2014 elections is whether voting this fall — and Obama’s approval ratings — can come into line with the electorate’s broader Democratic leanings.
There is also this: Obama’s difficulties do not appear to be hurting Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency in 2016.
These are the findings just below the surface of the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll released last week. Obama’s approval rating in the survey was just 41 percent, both with the general public and among registered voters. But in a hypothetical matchup with Jeb Bush for the 2016 presidential race, Clinton was favored by 53 percent of registered voters, Bush by 41 percent.
The roughly one-eighth of voters who disapprove of Obama but nonetheless support Clinton for 2016 may be the most important group in the electorate. If Democratic candidates can collectively manage to corral Clinton’s share of the national electorate this fall, the party would likely keep control of the Senate and might take over the House of Representatives. The latter outcome is now seen (even by most Democrats) as a virtual impossibility. These Hillary Difference Voters, as we’ll call them, could find themselves the most courted contingent in this year’s contests.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-jr-the-hillary-difference/2014/05/04/2f75604e-d308-11e3-8a78-8fe50322a72c_story.html?hpid=z2
Daughter’s amazing reaction to find out mom’s pregnant When mom and dad tell the kids that there’s baby on the way, they’re daughter reacts in pure joy.
http://msnvideo.msn.com/#/video/a233d96f-e20c-201b-9709-ebd54e876248
How to handle children at the grocery store
http://msnvideo.msn.com/#/video/d4534382-d65c-4836-a3fd-08200a5c6156
Twin babies think bubble wrap is hilarious
http://msnvideo.msn.com/?videoid=45f018dd-7c3f-43c7-bc42-5e76c1083c27&src=v5:pause:twitter:uuids&from=sharepermalink-twitter
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)
Good Morning, Everyone at 3CHICS!
Morning, everyone!
I’m tired this morning. Looking for coffee.
Just poured one for you, SG2. Here you go :)
http://us.cdn4.123rf.com/168nwm/lisafx/lisafx0909/lisafx090900050/5562846-friendly-waitress-at-a-lunch-counter-pouring-a-cup-of-coffee–isolated-on-white.jpg
Good Morning, Ametia, rikyrah and Everyone :)
Beautiful song by Tuck and Patti. Thanks Ametia!