Vincent Grant “Vince” Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a vocalist and musician have placed him in high demand as a guest vocalist, and a duet partner.
Gill has recorded more than 20 studio albums, charted over 40 singles on the U.S. Billboard charts as Hot Country Songs, and has sold more than 24 million albums.[citation needed] He has been honored by the Country Music Association with 18 CMA Awards, including two Entertainer of the Year awards and five Male Vocalist Awards. Gill has also earned 20 Grammy Awards, more than any other male Country music artist. In 2007, Gill was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The next big fight over the safety net
By Greg Sargent
May 20 at 2:58 pm
Word has it that Democrats are set to take a shellacking in the 2014 elections, in part because midterm electorates tend to be older and whiter. So what if Dems campaigned on expanding Social Security, rather than allowing themselves to get drawn into another debate over how much to cut the program?
There’s a hook for this looming: The coming battle over disability insurance, which is a part of Social Security.
Dem Senator Sherrod Brown, a member of the Finance Committee, tells me that GOP Senators have requested hearings into Social Security Disability Insurance this summer. Dems expect Republicans to attack the program as wasteful and fraudulent, in part because conservative media have already done so, and in part because at least one GOP proposal in recent days took aim at the program.
Brown says Dems should seize this occasion to get behind a proposal that would lift or change the payroll tax cap, meaning higher earners would pay more, while adopting a new measure for inflation that would increase benefits for all seniors. Instead of getting drawn into debates about “Chained CPI” and other entitlement cuts, Brown says, Dems should make the case that stagnating wages and declining pensions and savings demand an expansion of social insurance.
“We should stop playing defense on Social Security, and instead talk about why Social Security is a public pension that we should be proud of, that has lifted tens of millions of people out of poverty,” Brown tells me. “The three-legged stool — Social Security, pensions, private savings — has seen two of the legs sawed off for a large number of people. It’s time to look at expanding Social Security as an issue of retirement security.”
Brown said he expects Republicans to renew attacks on disability insurance (as opposed to the retirement security portion) to divide supporters of Social Security and renew the push for structural changes to the program, and said Dems could use that to draw an effective contrast. SSDI’s trust fund is set to be depleted soon, but that could be solved by a reallocation fix that’s been done before, rather than a deep benefits cut, which Republicans may press for.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/05/20/the-next-big-fight-over-the-safety-net/
There was a rather quaint earnestness to Per On jobless benefits, ‘I’m worried’
05/20/14 12:42 PM
By Steve Benen
A couple of weeks ago, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez sent a fairly detailed letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), suggesting a dialog on extended federal unemployment benefits. “You have indicated that [Emergency Unemployment Compensation] should only be extended in combination with job-creation measures, but EUC is itself an effective job creation tool,” Perez explained.
There was a rather quaint earnestness to Perez’s appeal – the Labor Secretary seems to believe there’s a policy dispute that can be resolved by information and an exchange of ideas.
Alas, there’s ample evidence to the contrary. The Speaker’s office quickly dismissed Perez’s letter, saying it didn’t include a new plan for creating jobs. What about the fact that an extension would itself create jobs? Boehner’s aides brushed that aside.
The issue seems to have largely faded from front pages, but it’s been nearly six months since congressional Republicans cut off unemployment benefits for roughly 1.3 million Americans – a number that climbs by about 72,000 people every week. It’s also been nearly two months since the Senate approved a bipartisan compromise to extend the jobless aid.
Where do things stand now? Pretty much nowhere (via Laura Clawson).ez’s appeal – the Labor Secretary seems to believe there’s a policy dispute that can be resolved by information and an exchange of ideas.
Alas, there’s ample evidence to the contrary. The Speaker’s office quickly dismissed Perez’s letter, saying it didn’t include a new plan for creating jobs. What about the fact that an extension would itself create jobs? Boehner’s aides brushed that aside.
The issue seems to have largely faded from front pages, but it’s been nearly six months since congressional Republicans cut off unemployment benefits for roughly 1.3 million Americans – a number that climbs by about 72,000 people every week. It’s also been nearly two months since the Senate approved a bipartisan compromise to extend the jobless aid.
Where do things stand now? Pretty much nowhere (via Laura Clawson).
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/jobless-benefits-im-worried
House GOP releases ag budget
By DAVID ROGERS | 5/19/14 11:39 AM EDT
……………
In the case of nutrition programs, the House bill seeks to open the door for starchy, white potatoes to be added to the list of qualified vegetables under the WIC supplemental feeding program for pregnant women and their young children. The Agriculture Department would also be required to establish a waiver process for local school districts which have found it too costly to comply with tougher nutrition standards for school lunch and breakfast programs.
And in a surprising twist, the bill language specifies that only rural areas are to benefit in the future from funding requested by the administration this year to continue a modest summer demonstration program to help children from low-income households — both urban and rural — during those months when school meals are not available.
Since 2010, the program has operated from an initial appropriation of $85 million, and the goal has been to test alternative approaches to distribute aid when schools are not in session. The White House asked for an additional $30 million to continue the effort, but the House bill provides $27 million for what’s described as an entirely new pilot program focused on rural areas only.
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/house-gop-agriculture-budget-white-house-106831.html?hp=l22
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3maZIjJPcOA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0QFmL7i8iE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ahNS0sZz0
Casual Observation
by BooMan
Tue May 20th, 2014 at 12:17:30 PM EST
The president may be a Kenyan anti-colonialist (that’s a bad thing, right?) but Dinesh D’Souza is a felon. And an adulterer. And he’s going to spend at least ten months in prison.
Meanwhile, the president is still the president.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/5/20/121730/404
lamh gave me the hat tip.
Queen Latifah had on the cast from the Carol Burnett Show today.
She was specifically talking about Lyle Waggoner, who has to be approaching 80, and not looking too bad. Lyle has made money hand over fist because he does mobile homes for the entertainment industry.
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/468878729205526528/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/468877045095993344/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/468876415178670080/photo/1
YEAH BABY!!!
Minneapolis will host 2018 Super Bowl
Article by: ROCHELLE OLSON , Star Tribune Updated: May 20, 2014 – 4:43 PM
Minnesota’s delegation was euphoric after the NFL owners’ vote, which followed glitzy pitches from Minneapolis, New Orleans and Indianapolis.
ATLANTA – Super Bowl 2018 is coming to Minneapolis.
The NFL owners’ highly anticipated decision came by secret ballot Tuesday afternoon in Atlanta after glitzy pitches from the finalist cities — Minneapolis, New Orleans and Indianapolis.
As Minnesota’s win was announced, shouts of glee and a cry of “History!” came from the state’s delegation, which then accepted congratulations from a grim-faced New Orleans group. The new $1 billion Vikings stadium going up in downtown Minneapolis played a key role in Minnesota’s win, some observers said.
After the vote, Minneapolis’ team, led by U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis and Carlson Cos. Board Chair Marilyn Carlson Nelson celebrated with whoops and dance steps at the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead district. “We just are thrilled,” exclaimed Carlson Nelson, beaming in a glamorous Vikings-purple dress that matched Davis’ purple tie. “Tell everybody to come!
http://www.startribune.com/local/259968691.html
All right!
Super!
Ya’ll coming to the Twin Cities for the Super Bowl. We can get together. LOL
Watching Rev. Al.
Do you know those muthafuckas in the GOP are doing a Summer Lunch Program FOR ONLY KIDS IN RURAL AREAS?
They have written into the law – to exclude urban areas.
So, all you dumb asses in CBC…
what say you now, after you met with the Zombie Eyed Granny Killer?
I heard. The CBC & NAACP have there noses so far up in the asses of Rand Paul, and Paul Ryan. TRIFLING MOFO$$$$.
UNFAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Say some prayers for Paul Mooney, because he’s sick.
Paul Mooney Breaks Silence On His Health
May 20, 2014
By NewsOne Now
http://newsone.com/3010364/paul-mooney-breaks-silence-on-his-health/
Paul Mooney Suffering From Prostate Cancer
Legendary comedian living with potentially deadly illness.
Rahim Ali
Posted: 05/20/2014 12:15 PM EDT
http://www.bet.com/news/celebrities/2014/05/20/paul-mooney-suffering-from-prostate-cancer.html
where are our SAMBO GIFS?
https://twitter.com/Kaibutsu/status/468799135446212608/photo/1
Is he crazy or something?!!!!!!
Self-hating, that’s what it is. Pitifully crazy.
How to Save Our Schools: The Arts and Music are No Fairytale
Posted: 05/20/2014 9:20 am EDT
by Kerry Washington
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Kechelle who was raised by her aunt and uncle in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington D.C. Kechelle was smart as a whip but withdrawn in class and she struggled at a school that felt chaotic and overwhelming. The school she attended was Savoy Elementary, which was, for many years, one of the lowest-performing schools in the District.
One day, when Kechelle was in third grade, a new principal began investing in an arts program at her school. He filled the halls with color and life and hired artists to teach dance and music every morning. Something within Kechelle awakened. She began to look forward to going to school. She auditioned for a new performing group, which required good grades and school attendance to participate, and began rehearsing after school and on weekends. In just one year, Kechelle was transformed; she was engaged in school and talkative in all her classes. To see her perform is to witness a young person who has claimed her place in the world and who will never let anyone silence her again.
The End?
No. Our tale does not end there, because this story is not hers alone. This is also the story of Kechelle’s school and others like it. Savoy is a place where educators are using the arts as a tool to help turnaround low-performing schools and improve outcomes for all students – not just the stars who light up the stage.
For the last decade, we have been engaged in a national conversation about how to fix our failing schools. We’ve heard again and again of schools that grapple with low test scores, toxic school climate, chronic student behavior problems, discouraged parents and teachers and disengaged students.
When Kechelle started at Savoy, less than 20 percent of its fifth graders were reading at grade level, and the school was in the bottom five percent of all D.C. schools. But in 2011 the District brought in a new principal, Patrick Pope, and received a School Improvement Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Later that year, Savoy became part of a group of schools participating in Turnaround Arts, a program that helps low-performing schools use the arts as part of a comprehensive school reform effort. Turnaround Arts was started by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, a White House advisory committee of which I am a member. I began working with Savoy that year
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kerry-washington/how-to-save-our-schools-t_b_5354342.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics
by @HenryHealy
Hello to all my friends at The Obama Diary!
I hope you are keeping well.
We have great news in Moneygall! A visitor centre named after President Obama, which will focus on his ancestry, will open in two weeks’ time.
It will serve as a welcoming point into the ancestral home of the President and will tell the story of his Irish Ancestry and of that historic trip to Moneygall on 05/23/11 (3 years this Friday).
We will also highlight the other 21 American Presidents with Irish ancestry and many more famous Irish Americans. It will be an Oasis on the M7 Motorway, only 1.5 hours from Dublin.
This centre will be free to visit and I have been tasked with getting memorabilia for the area.
I was wondering if any of The Obama Diary’s followers would like to send us anything connected with President Obama, his 1st election, inauguration and the subsequent election and inauguration, that we could put on display in the centre?
If people are willing to share badges, bumper stickers, newspapers, election posters, etc, we would be delighted.
We understand people would like to keep these items, but maybe if they had duplicates – eg two copies of the same newspaper or magazine – they might consider sending them to me.
(Note from Chips: Anyone who would like to send items to Henry, just email me at TheObamaDiary@gmail.com and I will give you his address)
We want this to be an exciting location with lots for people to see, so hopefully the dedicated The Obama Diary contributors and followers can send something to us for our exhibitions – and when you visit Moneygall, we will ensure you all receive the warmest of welcomes!
Kind Regards to everyone at The Obama Diary, and many thanks,
Henry
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/05/20/a-message-from-henry-healy/
Why is Pa. so backwards? Meet Denny Bonavita
Retired newspaper editor and columnist Denny Bonavita of noted I-80 truck stop DuBois, Pa., puts the pencil to Pennsyltucky with his deep insights on deep poverty in Philadelphia. Honestly, the piece wasn’t exactly what I expected when I first saw the headline, “Poverty problem in Philadelphia is our problem, too.” It turns out that what he means is that the poors are “our problem” because they’re stealing Denny Bonavita’s money and living high off the hog!
Philly is a notorious “giant sucking sound” on the treasury for the entire state.
“What does it matter for our area? Let Philly go under,” we sometimes hear.
But the voting power of Philly and environs ensures that billions in state dollars will continue to flow to Philly. That is money that will not flow to DuBois to underwrite the costs of our schools or fix our roads — or, worse yet, that is money that the state otherwise might not need, so it could stay in our own private bank accounts rather than flow to Harrisburg as tax payments.
I love the next part about “(mostly) caring Christians” but he quickly steamrolled past that, to get to his real point — that the main problem is that we give the poors just enough money to live the good life (and someone named “Bonavita” knows the good life!) and not have to work — except maybe for all the ones spending all their Obamabucks on booze or crack.
Philly lost jobs, millions of jobs, during those 50 years. Shipping, manufacturing, textiles all went away. In came drugs, booze, urban decay — and continued government handouts that kept people not just afloat, but comfortable enough to stifle the work ethic and inventiveness that helped to lift previous generations of Americans, including waves of immigrants, out of poverty and into middle-class prosperity.
Instead of “creating jobs” — which is a hogwash euphemism for vote buying — we need to focus on recreating the work ethic, and do away with free cell phones, vehicle subsidies and the like.
I’m sure all the Philadelphia school parents who are out there protesting because their school’s already lost its nurse and closed its library and now it’s probably going to close altogether because of yet another $200 million gap are thinking the same thing as Denny Bonavita, that life would be much better in the Keystone State if we just sent a few more dollars to DuBois to fix the roads!
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Why-is-Pa-so-backwards-Meet-Denny-.html#0otimSaDdorIkph3.99
@NYMag: The 300 sandwiches woman got engaged after only 257 sandwiches. http://t.co/OFXj0BJ0Cr http://t.co/xSw3ws6BiB
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
My only thought on #KnowlesSisterGate: I don’t know and neither do you
By now, the silent and somewhat disturbing elevator video of Solange Knowles attempting to beat the hell out of her brother-in-law has been seen around the world (too many times over). The speculation of what happened, why, who said what, stood by, took down photos, put up photos, said nothing and so on has reached ridiculously epic proportions.
Lookie here, I don’t know what happened before during or after the “alleged” attempted assault. I don’t know what sparked it. But I sorta understand. Family dynamics, particularly between sisters can range from a giddy hand-holding dance through the daisies to a tiptoe across a barb-wired minefield. I love my sister like crazy and she feels the same for me but there are times when we want to shoot each other in the pinkie-toe and laugh while driving to the emergency room. Thankfully, we don’t have TMZ following us around hoping to catch us in our worst moments.
More importantly there are times where if we had stood in an elevator: her, me, and any number of my previous significant others; she would have been sorely tempted to break off a Texas-style beatdown while I stood in the corner cheering (a la the movie Friday “Kick his ass, Craig!”) under my breath. No I don’t condone violence (usually) but things happen. There’s one ex of mine who bed-not (yes, that’s the ebonics way of saying better not or really should refrain from) cross her path after dark. He might not make it, ya’ll. I’ve got one good eye out for one of her exes every time I go to Cali. Accidents happen.
**pausing to giggle fiendishly** But really tho…
Relationships are hard. Contrary to what people would have you believe, they do not exist in a silo. There are friends and family and in this case world-wide media attention and fans up in your business far more often than is healthy. Careers happen, kids happen, moods happen, life happens and all the while you have to decide on a regular basis which relationships in your life are on your way or in your way. Families are hard work. Love relationships are even harder work. It’s not all champagne in the back of the limo and surfboarding on the kitchen floor.
http://www.blacknbougie.com/2014/05/my-only-thought-on-knowlessistergate-i.html
You know? Every time I see one of these “never supposed to be seen” video tapes I think two things. 1. This could well be a publicity ploy. If not then I think: 2. This is none of my business and in a more polite society, the person trying to sell such tripe would be ignored.
Leave these people to their own lives. Obviously, JZ wasn’t hurt and neither was she. This is just the kids working it out.
It seems to me that there should be some expectation of privacy in a six by six box moving from floor to floor.
Peace My Friends. As “The World” gets more hectic, our ability to withdraw and find peace within becomes ever more important.
On Tue, May 20, 2014 at 12:01 PM, 3CHICSPOLITICO wrote:
> rikyrah commented: “Wednesday, May 14, 2014 My only thought on > #KnowlesSisterGate: I don’t know and neither do you By now, the silent and > somewhat disturbing elevator video of Solange Knowles attempting to beat > the hell out of her brother-in-law has been seen around t” >
Judge denies motion to dismiss charges against Bob McDonnell, wife
Posted on: 11:31 am, May 20, 2014, by Scott Wise, Jake Burns, Web Staff and Joe St. George,
The federal corruption case against former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen will move forward after Judge James Spencer denied a motion to dismiss. He also denied a motion to give the McDonnells separate trials.
Judge Spencer made the rulings in a brief filed in the U.S. District Court on Tuesday morning.
“Defendants take issue with the Indictment primarily on the ground that it fails to allege Robert McDonnell performed or promised to perform any ‘official act’ within the meaning of the federal bribery statutes,” Judge Spencer wrote in his order not to dismiss charges. “Whether Defendants’ conduct in fact constituted “the corruption of official positions through misuse of
influence in governmental decision-making” is a question for the jury based on the evidence adduced at trial.”
The couple is listed as co-defendants on the indictment that alleges they accepted more than $150,000 from local businessman Johnnie Williams in exchange for promotion of his company’s products. Defense attorneys for the McDonnells said Maureen McDonnell had information that could acquit her husband of wrong doing, but she could not give that testimony unless the trials were severed because her testimony would harm her own defense in a joint trial.
However Judge Spencer did not agree.
http://wtvr.com/2014/05/20/mcdonnell-motion-rulings/
Good, Mrs. McDonnell, your name’s LOU, you go too!
Republicans drag their feet on fixing the Voting Rights Act
05/19/14 01:08 PM—Updated 05/19/14 03:45 PM
By Zachary Roth
The Republican lawmaker in a key position to help bolster the Voting Rights Act (VRA) isn’t convinced new legislation is needed, and wants more evidence that current laws aren’t strong enough to stop racial discrimination in voting, according to people involved in the discussions.
Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s go-slow approach—which comes as efforts to pass the bipartisan measure before this fall’s midterm elections enter a critical phase—is causing frustration among voting-rights advocates.
Goodlatte chairs the House Judiciary Committee. Before agreeing to hold a hearing on the bill, Goodlatte has asked for examples of voting discrimination that have occurred since the Supreme Court weakened the VRA last year in Shelby County v. Holder, as well as information on how such incidents would have been stopped by the proposed legislation.
Lobbyists with the NAACP responded to Goodlatte’s request last week with a 16,000-word document outlining a slew of discriminatory voting changes stopped by the VRA before the Shelby decision, as well as several new ones that went into effect after the landmark civil rights law was eroded.
The Shelby ruling invalidated the VRA’s most important provision, Section 5, which made certain states and localities with a history of voting discrimination got federal signoff—known as “pre-clearance”—before changing their voting laws. The ruling left in place Section 2, which lets victims of racial discrimination in voting file suit. In January, a bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiled legislation, known as the Voting Rights Act Amendment (VRAA), that aims to reactivate Section 5, by updating the formula that determines which areas are subject to pre-clearance.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/zero-hour-bid-fix-voting-rights-act
“Here Your Honor, is the bloody corpse of the “Dead Dog” in question.” The attorney said; kicking the obviously empty shell of what was once the little boy’s best friend.
“I’m afraid I’ll require more proof of the dog’s demise.” “Could be he’s just napping.” said the Sagacious Supreme Court Justice
“Yes” said a second Justice. “I’m not convinced of his right to life anyway”
“He was conceived inside the belly of a bitch not the womb of a woman; so; is he really alive to begin with?”
Vince!!!!!!!!!!!!
He makes such sweet music! Why do you have to DO IT like that?! YEAH!
News/
The Shield Actor Michael Jace Charged in Wife’s Shooting Death
by Zach Johnson
The Shield’s Michael Jace has been charged with the fatal shooting of his wife April Jace inside their Hyde Park home Monday. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department arrived on the scene around 8:30 p.m. in response to neighbors’ calls to report the sound of gunshots. After arriving on the scene, they discovered April, 40, dead inside the house. The cops immediately detained Michael, 48.
Per NBC Los Angeles, the actor was booked on suspicion of murder around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The Jaces were married for nine years. Their children, two boys under the age of 10, were in the home at the time of the shooting. The LAPD has not confirmed whether they witnessed their mom’s murder.
http://www.eonline.com/news/543417/the-shield-actor-michael-jace-charged-in-wife-s-shooting-death?cmpid=eonline-twitter&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=twitterfeed&utm_campaign=twitterfeed_topstories&dlvrit=48939
REPOST from last night.
Thank you Mr. Mayor for defending your wife.
……………………..
Mayor Tells Tabloids to Apologize to His Wife Over Motherhood Coverage
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM MAY 19, 2014
Mayor Bill de Blasio issued an unusual and stern rebuke of New York City’s tabloid newspapers on Monday, calling on them to apologize for publishing front-page headlines that suggested his wife, Chirlane McCray, had admitted to being a reluctant mother to the couple’s daughter, Chiara.
The mayor’s remarks — he called the coverage “disturbing and inappropriate” — were primarily directed at The New York Post, which featured a front-page photograph of Ms. McCray next to a headline, in two-inch type: “I Was a Bad Mom!”
The headlines referred to a profile in this week’s New York magazine in which Ms. McCray, describing the birth of her first child, said she had struggled to balance her independence and professional career with the newfound responsibilities of being a mother.
“I was 40 years old; I had a life,” Ms. McCray told the magazine. “The truth is, I could not spend every day with her. I didn’t want to do that. I looked for all kinds of reasons not to do it.” She added: “It took a long time for me to get into ‘I’m taking care of kids,’ and what that means.”
Ms. McCray, in the interview, said she still felt guilty about the experience.
Mr. de Blasio, who has taken pains to portray his wife as a prominent and powerful member of his administration, decided midday on Monday that he wanted to address the headlines, and ordered his aides to organize a question-and-answer session with reporters.
“It suggests a tremendous misunderstanding of what it means to be a parent, what it means to be a mother,” Mr. de Blasio said of the coverage.
“A lot of hardworking women in this city are offended,” Mr. de Blasio added. “I think both The Post and The Daily News owe Chirlane an apology. I think they owe all of us an apology.”
The Daily News ran a smaller photograph of Ms. McCray on its front page, above the headline, “Didn’t want to be a mom.”
But it was the front page of The Post that drew criticism on social media on Monday, with some saying it had contributed to a culture in which mothers feel unable to speak openly about the complex emotions that can be involved in raising a child.
Several allies of Mr. de Blasio turned to social media to defend the first lady. “The @nypost’s repulsive distortion of @Chirlane’s @NYMaginterview, shows that they do not even hold motherhood to be sacred,” the Rev. Al Sharpton wrote on Twitter.
The New York chapter of the National Organization for Women addressed the cover on its Twitter account, urging users to write messages of support for Ms. McCray using the hashtag “#standwithchirlane.”
Representatives of The Post and The Daily News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/20/nyregion/de-blasio-tells-tabloids-to-apologize-to-his-wife.html?hp&_r=0
Politico’s Poll Showing Democrats In Trouble This Midterm Election Is a Total Crock
By: Justin Baragona
Monday, May, 19th, 2014, 11:37 am
This week, political news site Politico released a poll showing that Democrats are at a seven-point disadvantage against Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections. The poll is supposed to reflect voter sentiments in the most competitive House and Senate races this year. For the House races, the poll shows that Democrats trail Republicans by 9 points, 39% -30%. As for the Senate, Republicans hold a seven-point advantage, 43% -36%. This poll seems to predict a gloomy outcome for the Democrats in November. It is certainly possible that Republicans can gain control of the Senate and retain their majority on the House. However, this poll is a total crock.
It is always important to look into the methodology used by a poll to see how credible it is. In this instance, the poll was tilted heavily in Republicans’ favor from the outset, creating the results that we see. The claim of the poll is to show ‘competitive’ House and Senate races, so the interviewees were only from those areas. Yet, the poll shows that 39% of the respondents are Republicans. 34% stated that they’re Democrats. Only 26% identified as independents. Compare this with the country at large, where 31% identify are registered with the Democratic Party, 25% identify as Republican and 42% claim to be independent.
Of course, this is supposed to reflect the ‘competitive’ races only, so we have to give some leeway here. It is quite possible that the districts and state with tight races have much a higher combined saturation of Republicans than the country as a whole. However, it also seems like additional methods were applied in this poll to get a more conservative favoring result. 49% of the respondents are 55 or older. In the last election, less than 42% of the voters were in that age bracket. Now, perhaps it is possible that in these districts and states, there is just a larger percentage of older voters than in the country as a whole.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/19/politicos-poll-showing-democrats-trouble-midterm-election-total-crock.html
Politico, Gallup… Are they still only polling people with house phones?
LOL Hi Tyren. SSDD=Same shit, different day.
There are a fucking HALF MILLION PEOPLE IN GEORGIA that don’t have access to Healthcare because of the lack of expansion of Medicaid.
And her stupid ass can’t stand up for Obamacare?
fuck her.
…………………..
Nunn refuses to answer whether she would have voted for ObamaCare
posted at 10:01 am on May 19, 2014 by Ed Morrissey
It’s not exactly a chapter for a new edition of Profiles in Courage, but Michelle Nunn apparently hopes her strange straddle on ObamaCare will keep her in the running for the US Senate seat from Georgia. NBC’s Kasie Hunt asks Nunn whether she would have voted for ObamaCare had she been in the Senate in 2010. Nunn gets so flustered that she butchers the official legislative name of ObamaCare and turns “architect” into a verb to provide a non-answer (via America Rising PAC):
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/05/19/nunn-refuses-to-answer-whether-she-would-have-voted-for-obamacare/
…WITH A RUSTY PITCH FORK.
Republicans Have Edge on Top Election Issue: the Economy
Democrats have advantage on Affordable Care Act and economic inequality
by Frank Newport May 19, 2014
PRINCETON, NJ — American voters rate the economy as the most important issue to their vote for Congress this year, and give the Republicans in Congress a slight edge over the Democrats as best able to handle it. Voters give four other issues lower, but still above-average, importance — the federal deficit, taxes, the Affordable Care Act, and income and wealth inequality. Voters see Republicans as better able to handle the first two, while Democrats have the edge on the latter two.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/169352/republicans-edge-top-election-issue-economy.aspx
The only EDGE the Republicans have is over a CLIFF.
NEXT!
John Conyers’ Last Chance to Get Back on the Ballot
The tenure of the longest-serving black congressman is in jeopardy without a judge’s help.
By: Corey Dade
Posted: May 19 2014 8:15 AM
The News: Longtime Michigan Rep. John Conyers is expected to ask a federal judge in Detroit on Wednesday to put his name back on the Democratic primary ballot.
Conyers, the longest-serving African American in Congress, is challenging the decision of the Wayne County, Mich., clerk that he didn’t submit enough signatures for his name to appear on the ballot for Aug. 5. The clerk invalidated more than 400 signatures, causing Conyers to fall short of the required 1,000, because the collectors of those names were not registered voters. State law requires petition circulators to be registered voters.
Conyers joined a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the petition circulators. The ACLU argues that the law is unconstitutional because it violates the petition circulators’ rights to free speech and political association.
The validity of the signatures was challenged by Conyers’ primary opponent, the Rev. Horace Sheffield III. If Conyers’ name is kept off the ballot, he will have to conduct a write-in bid, for which the Conyers campaign manager says the team is “fully prepared.”
Last week Conyers’ re-election bid, in light of his legal fight, received the support of the Congressional Black Caucus, which Conyers co-founded, and President Barack Obama, by way of the Democratic National Committee.
The Take: You’d think that after doing this 25 times, Conyers would have it down pat. You’d think the distinction of becoming the longest-serving member of Congress, should he win a 26th term this year, would be incentive enough to do it right.
But this is John Conyers, whose tall legislative achievements and enduring ideological vigor at 85 years of age are matched by his wont for aloof and lazy handling of administrative details, not to mention an embarrassing knack for ethical and personal troubles.
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_take/2014/05/john_conyers_last_chance_to_get_back_on_primary_ballot.html?wpisrc=newstories
Sherri Shepherd’s Divorce: Is It a Wake-Up Call for Women?
The talk show host’s messy personal life offers women a lesson: Before settling, they should ask what their men bring to the table.
By: Keli Goff
Posted: May 20 2014 3:00 AM
Though she and her co-hosts regularly discuss the marital woes of other celebrities on their daytime talk show, The View, in recent days Sherri Shepherd has been noticeably silent about the relationship problems of one particular celebrity: her.
Multiple outlets have reported that Shepherd’s husband of three years, Lamar Sally, filed separation papers with Shepherd and filed for divorce shortly thereafter. While divorce is not an unusual occurrence today, particularly among celebrities, the circumstances of Shepherd’s divorce are unusual and have struck a nerve among women.
According to reports on the separation and divorce documents filed by both parties, Shepherd’s husband has filed for primary custody of the fetus currently being carried for the former couple by a surrogate mother. And it has not gone unnoticed that if Sally were to be awarded custody, he would benefit by receiving child support from Shepherd. It’s noteworthy because documents indicate that the two have a prenuptial agreement that would otherwise leave Sally with very little of the comedian’s fortune because their marriage is dissolving in less than five years.
To say that women, particularly women on sites with predominantly black audiences, are upset would be an understatement. The celebrity-news site Bossip ran the headline “Sherri Shepherd’s Shiftless Husband Demanding Full Custody of Unborn Surrogate Child!” while commenters shared the outrage. A sample of their thoughts:
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/05/black_women_shouldn_t_feel_like_they_have_to_settle.html?wpisrc=mostpopular
Dick Cheney’s flights of fancy
05/20/14 08:00 AM—Updated 05/20/14 08:07 AM
By Steve Benen
Fact-checking Dick Cheney is an inherently tricky exercise. It’s not that the former vice president is cautious, carefully choosing his words to avoid deliberate falsehoods; it’s actually the opposite – fact-checking Cheney is challenging because his word-to-falsehood ratio approaches 1:1 so regularly.
This has been especially true during the crisis in Ukraine, which has inspired the former V.P. to complain even more vigorously about President Obama. Cheney recently told Charlie Rose, for example, that the administration “appeased” Vladimir Putin by taking out a missile-defense program intended for Poland and the Czech Republic.
Over the weekend on Fox Cheney, Cheney went further, insisting that the missile-defense program for Eastern Europe was scrapped “at the mere request from Putin.”
Is there anything to this? Glenn Kessler took a closer look and found that Cheney’s claim is so wrong, “it’s a bit amazing” that the former vice president keeps repeating it.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/dick-cheneys-flights-fancy
When Affirmative Action Was White
100 Amazing Facts About the Negro: Meet America’s first black collegians, who faced a system that explicitly favored the white elite.
By: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Posted: May 19 2014 3:00 AM
Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 80: Who were the first notable African Americans who stepped into America’s institutions of higher learning?
As many gather to celebrate graduations on college and university campuses across the country, it is an ideal time to remember the generations of black women and men who fought for the right to obtain a higher education when it was most out of reach for our people, when, as historian and political scientist Ira Katznelson has so aptly put it, “affirmative action was white.”
This column pays tribute to the earliest and most notable of those first black collegians during the long decades when slavery was still legal in the United States and laws were in place not to remove the barriers to advancement by African Americans, but to deliberately thwart their progress. It’s what I like to call affirmative history.
These early pioneers of the group that W.E.B. Du Bois would call “the Talented Tenth” are a testament to a people’s resiliency against forces hell-bent on reinforcing the idea that black people somehow were subhuman, that they were not like Europeans, that they were a different order of being. To me, the list of men and women who earned their degrees before and after the Civil War represents the ultimate African-American honor roll.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/05/_1st_black_college_graduates_who_were_they.html
About Dean Baquet Not Having a College Degree
Could you get a job today at the New York Times without a college degree? The short answer is no.
By: Roger Witherspoon
Posted: May 19 2014 3:58 PM
Editor’s note: In a profile about its new executive editor, the New York Times reported that Dean Baquet does not have a college degree. Baquet dropped out of Columbia University after his sophomore year after landing a summer internship at a New Orleans newspaper that he parlayed into a full-time job. The revelation took many by surprise and prompted the question of whether a journalist could land a job at the Times without a college degree. That led to the following response from environmental writer Roger Witherspoon, who gives an insightful historical perspective on news media and journalism education.
The short answer to the question is no, you can’t get a job now at the New York Times—or virtually any other newsroom—without a college degree.
Back in the ’60s, journalism was viewed as a trade, and while there were journalism programs, graduating from one was not required. The Michigan Daily, the college paper at the University of Michigan, for years had more alumni actually working as journalists than any institution except the journalism program at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Michigan did not underwrite its media. The radio station, WCBN, and the Daily paid salaries, earned revenue from advertising, and competed with the for-profit radio stations and newspapers in the Detroit area.
Most newspapers in those days had their own in-house training program. I went from NBC’s election unit to the Bergen Record in ’68, and theirs was a six-week program. You didn’t start writing for the paper until the last week and were assigned a beat after graduating.
Time magazine also had a training program, though most blacks had to first work in the reference department for several years before getting a chance at reporting. Newspapers back then were pretty much lily-white—I was the first at the Record—and it was another decade before the New York City newspapers dropped their separate and unequal pay scales.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/05/how_dean_baquet_got_a_job_at_the_new_york_times_without_a_college_degree.html?wpisrc=topstories
WHAT THE PHUCK????
…………..
12 Years A Mannequin: Store Displays Slave Outfit With DVD
An English grocery store has apologized for dressing a mannequin to look like 12 Years A Slave protagonist Solomon Northup.
By: Diamond Sharp
Posted: May 19 2014 1:26 PM
An English supermarket is showing its patrons how to get the latest in slave fashion.
According to The Independant, an Oxford, England location of English grocery store Sainbury’s put a poorly planned mannequin next to its display for the 12 Years A Slave DVD and Blu-ray release.
The mannequin is dressed like Solomon Northup, tattered shirt and pants with a twig in the pocket to complete the look.
A customer took a picture of the display and uploaded it to Twitter.
The mannequin had a tag around its neck priced for the DVD, so the look was not for sale.
A Sainsbury representative told The Independent: “We can only apologise. It’s been taken down from the Heyford Hill store and clearly should never have gone up in the first place.”
Is this display racist or just poorly planned? Let us know in the comments.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/05/_12_years_a_mannequin_store_displays_slave_outfit_with_dvd.html?wpisrc=topstories
Oh NO! Not “12 Years a Slave Wear”.
I thought they were marketing the outfit for spring or something. Interesting possibility based on this display.
I could be wrong but since this is in England I think it was most likely unintentional but really; who knows.
This whole discussion is really a very intricate subject.
If this were any other movie; I doubt that it would be an issue. If say; he was dressed as a Somalian Pirate for “Captain Philips” but then that doesn’t mean the concerns are wrong.
Because racism is still such a problem; problem?; such a continuing abomination in America; we; and by that I mean anyone who gives a shit how our neighbors feel; are understandably sensitive to it’s ugly shadow.
In England however; I doubt the issue is as raw or close to the surface and perhaps it never occurred to them.
The notion of marketing such an outfit strikes me as even worse but I’m surprised we haven’t seen it.
It’s so crass; it’s funny.
Sorry; I’ll stop now.
You may wish to read the full article at this link:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/18/racism-more-than-old-white-men-using-n-word
“Racism is far more than old white men using the N-word”
Excerpt:
“Before there can be outrage, the offending party must be caught red-handed – preferably on tape – using the worst epithets and most egregious insults. Clarkson previously maligning Mexicans as “lazy, feckless and flatulent”, or making jokes about “black Muslim lesbians”, or Sterling twice being fined by the department of justice for being a racist slumlord, didn’t quite cut it.
“And so the perception – on both sides of the Atlantic – takes hold that racism is not a system of discrimination planted by history, nourished by politics and nurtured by economics, in which some groups face endemic disadvantage – it’s about ignorant old people getting caught saying mean things. By privileging these episodes – outrageous as they are – racism is basically reduced to the level of a private, individual indiscretion made public. The scandal becomes not that racism exists but that anyone would be crass enough to articulate it so brazenly.
“The reality of modern racism is almost exactly the opposite: it’s the institutional marginalization of groups performed with the utmost discretion and minimum of fuss by well-mannered and often well-intentioned people working in deeply flawed systems. According to a recent US department of education report, black preschoolers (mostly four-year-olds) are four times more likely to be suspended more than once than their white classmates. According to a 2013 report by Release, a UK group focusing on drugs and drug laws, black people in England and Wales are far less likely to use drugs than white people but six times more likely to be stopped and searched for possession of them. In both countries black people are far more likely to be convicted, and to get stiffer sentences and longer jail time.”
Well there you are. I stand corrected. I am sorry to hear that The UK is no better than we.
I guess because we don’t hear much about racial unrest and discrimination from England. Of course; they try to keep us from hearing of it here too; don’t they?
You know; I hear a lot of argument and discussion over whether God exists or not. I sure hope so because a god is the only hope for this world. men will never live in peace.
On Tue, May 20, 2014 at 9:52 AM, 3CHICSPOLITICO wrote:
> Yahtc commented: “You may wish to read the full article at this link: > http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/18/racism-more-than-old-white-men-using-n-word“Racism is far more than old white men using the N-word” Excerpt: “Before > there can be outrage, t” >
The story of Nat King Cole and his racist neighbours
Nat King Cole, the first black American TV star and a friend of President John Kennedy, conquered hearts and minds across the world with a string of hits in the Forties and Fifties.
But behind the singer’s ever-present smile lay sadness at a racist campaign of terror that he and his family suffered at the hands of his wealthy white neighbours on Hollywood’s doorstep.
The full extent of the hostility endured by the musician in the exclusive Los Angeles neighbourhood of Hancock Park has now been revealed in a new documentary.
The jazz pianist and singer had already achieved star status with his King Cole Trio when he decided to move in 1948 to the well-to-do suburb, which boasts Howard Hughes, Katharine Hepburn and Mae West among its former residents.
But Cole and his family were breaking new ground as the first black people to live there. Their arrival sparked a storm of protest, beginning with a legal battle by the Hancock Park Property Owners Association to try to prevent him from buying the house. When that did not work, the association tried to buy the house from the star. And months of abuse followed, in which his dog was poisoned and racial insults burnt into his lawn.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/the-story-of-nat-king-cole-and-his-racist-neighbours-9391316.html
Sound like the America I know and grieve for.
Yes, the dark undercurrents in our society need to be exposed and cleaned up!
Wish this story had made news back then!
Whites to Nat King Cole:
“Entertain us but don’t ‘neighbor’ us”
So sick and hateful!
NO, NONE, ZILCH, NADA, ZERO surprises here. My mom & dad told us about the ways of these folks a long, long, time ago. Blacks were to dance, sing, grin and bare it, according to some of the white folks in this era. It’s the same as today.
And White Privilege allowed those Whites not directly involved to believe/think it was not happening; White Privilege allowed them to be cushy, comfy being obvious to it.
Those of us who who grew up (through our teen years) being oblivious to what was happening nearby have to ‘fess up and never be oblivious ever again to wrongs…wrongs that are happening today. We need to find and root out the wrongs and repair the damages, etc.
https://twitter.com/CuteOverloads/status/468519100332146688/photo/1
Damn, they’re cute as hell, but this looks like some cross-breeding to me.
https://twitter.com/Interior/status/468053305286201344/photo/1
Good morning, everyone!
Loves how Vince Gill plays that guitar. Play it, Vince!
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Do it Vince!!
LOL Mornin,’ Cowgirl! Loving the boots too.
Good Morning, SG2, Ametia, and rikyrah!
Those boot look as if they are ready to do some walking’ and rockin’ !