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Even though 3Chics Politico is written and curated by three women: Ametia, Rikyrah, and SouthernGirl2, I must nominate this as one of the most engaging blogs I've found. Devoted to politics and culture, these three shine a light on contemporary life with humor and spirit.
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I can’t believe Footloose is 30 years old!
yikes!!
Watching it, you realize why it was so popular – THE SOUNDTRACK!
Knew every song in it.
http://youtu.be/NqGslEZ5I6c
Just watched this a few nights ago. I love how they dance their off at the end. They’re were cutting up.
How Oakland’s public schools are fighting to save black boys
07/15/14 07:22 AM
By Trymaine Lee
OAKLAND, California— The bleak statistics for black boys here are like lyrics to a sad song that everyone’s tired of hearing but no one knows how to mute.
Too many live in poverty. Almost a third will drop out or be pushed out of school. And in recent years, black boys have been about as likely to be shot to death as they are to graduate from high school college-ready.
But there’s hope for boys in this beleaguered second-city by the bay: Many are beginning to stand up and fight for their futures. And they have a whole team of black men standing up and fighting with them.
Four years ago, the Oakland Unified School District launched the office of African American Male Achievement (AAMA) – the first and only school district in the country with an office explicitly dedicated to lifting the prospects of black boys.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-oaklands-public-schools-are-fighting-save-black-boys
‘Brazen’: WI GOP tried to retroactively legalize campaign abuses after Scott Walker scandal
By David Edwards
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 14:58 EDT
Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin quietly tried to slip through a bill that was “designed” to decriminalize campaign abuses after prosecutors began investigating Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) associates over illegal issue ads during the 2011 and 2012 recall elections, a report suggested this week.
For several years, prosecutors have been investigating the possibility that Walker’s campaign illegally coordinated with conservative groups, like the Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity, and the Wisconsin Club for Growth. In October of 2013, the so-called John Doe investigation executed search warrants on two of Walker’s top associates, and subpoenaed the director of the Wisconsin Club for Growth.
The Center for Media and Democracy revealed on Tuesday that just weeks after those search warrants were executed, Senators Mary Lazich (R) and Zach Bemis (R) began working on a bill that “would have had the effect of legalizing the issue ad coordination under investigation.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/15/brazen-wi-gop-tried-to-retroactively-legalize-campaign-abuses-after-scott-walker-scandal/
WHERE ARE THE BLACK FEMINISTS ABOUT THIS?
…………………….
Working Mom Arrested for Letting Her Daughter Play Outside
By Jonathan Chait
Debra Harrell is currently in jail because she let her 9-year-old daughter play, unsupervised, in a public park. Almost everything about this story (which I noticed courtesy of Lenore Skenazy) is horrifying. Harrell works at McDonald’s. Her daughter used to tag along and stare at a screen at her mother’s workplace during the day. She asked to go to the park instead, was discovered to be without an adult, and her mother was arrested. Compounding the horribleness is the news coverage, in which reporters and onlookers alike are united in disgust at Harrell:
The story is a convergence of helicopter parenting with America’s primitive family policy. Our welfare policy is designed to make everybody, even single mothers, work full-time jobs. The social safety net makes it difficult for low-wage single mothers to obtain adequate child care. And society is seized by bizarre fears that children are routinely snatched up by strangers in public places. The phenomenon is, in fact, nearly as rare as in-person voting fraud. But when you watch the report above, you can see everybody involved believes such a thing plainly happens all the time.
Obviously, leaving a child unattended in a park is not an ideal child-care arrangement. It is, however, a perfectly sensible balancing of risks. I work from home, and my wife in an office, so I often end up looking after the kids when school is closed and child-care arrangements fall through. I’m fortunate enough that this is rare: My parents live nearby and my father is retired, and I can afford to pay a babysitter. Also, since I work at home, I can get stuff done, more or less, while the kids entertain themselves.
Not long ago, I was trying to meet a deadline on a sunny afternoon while the kids (ages 10 and nearly 8) longed to get outside. I realized that letting them go to the park alone carried some non-zero risk of stranger abduction. On the other hand, letting them sit around the house staring at screens carries health risks, too. I let them go together. Having rarely seen unaccompanied kids their age at the park, I suspected at the time it was an unusual choice. I never suspected it would conceivably subject me to arrest.
I raise my experience not because it’s equivalent to Harrell’s, because it isn’t; I’m fortunate enough not to face the kinds of wrenching choices she confronts. America has decided to punish Harrell if she fails to acquire full-time employment; her employment does not provide her with adequate child care; and the community punishes her for failing to live up to unobtainable middle-class child-care standards. There are many perpetrators in this story. Debra Harrell was not one of them.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/mom-arrested-for-letting-daughter-play-outside.html
did those clowns in the GOP just vote to cut off the AG’s salary?
WATCH: Rick Scott dodges tough questions
LARGO, Florida – For a second straight Monday, Governor Rick Scott was in Tampa Bay campaigning for re-election. But this time, he wouldn’t answer questions about the law enforcement officers that stood behind him one week earlier.
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/politics/florida/2014/07/14/rick-scott-dodges-campaign-snafu-questions/12639905/
DUMB AS A BAG-O-ROCKS!
President Barack Obama prepares to drive a Saturn SL1 vehicle simulator during a tour of the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Va., July 15, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon)
LOL SG2, can we sidebar this pic, please? THANKS!!!! Black on black
it’s in the pics for sidebar post…first one.
These racist tactics WILL.NOT.WORK. MOFOs.
Issa’s new search for ‘good theater’
07/15/14 12:49 PM—UPDATED 07/15/14 02:05 PM
By Steve Benen
A few years ago, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) pretended to be outraged by President Obama recording campaign messages from the White House. Issa realized there was no legitimate controversy, but the California Republican complained bitterly in order to create, in his words, “good theater.”
Apparently, Issa, unable to manufacture any real White House “scandals,” is ready for some more theater.
The White House is asking Rep. Darrell Issa to withdraw a subpoena of a senior adviser to President Barack Obama and is offering instead to hold a private briefing on activities in the administration’s political affairs office.
In a letter sent Monday, White House Counsel W. Neil Eggleston offered to brief Issa, a California Republican who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on the role of the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach on Tuesday. That’s one day before the office’s director, David Simas, is under subpoena to testify on potential violations of the Hatch Act.
Ordinarily, there’s a usual pattern to stories like these: Issa raises allegations against Obama administration officials, which the White House dismisses as baseless. But this story is a little different: Issa has subpoenaed Simas, not to respond to any allegations in particular, but because the Oversight Committee chairman just wonders whether a hearing might turn something up.
Responding to White House attorneys, who urged Issa to be more responsible, the congressman’s office said overnight that the subpoena stands, at least for now. Simas is supposed to appear tomorrow, not because of suspicions of wrongdoing, but apparently because Issa is in the mood for more “theater.”
The Hatch Act is, of course, a serious measure, intended to limit federal employees’ political activities. Indeed, the Bush/Cheney White House was found to have violated this federal law, back when Darrell Issa didn’t care.
Also keep in mind, Issa subpoenaed Simas without a vote – or even debate – from the Oversight Committee, a pattern that’s become quite common for Issa of late.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/issas-new-search-good-theater
If Boehner Sues Obama, Roberts Wins
Jul 11, 2014 12:58 PM EDT
By Jonathan Bernstein
The story on House Speaker John Boehner’s lawsuit against President Barack Obama is pretty simple: regardless of whether the administration overstepped, what’s at stake is whether the courts are being empowered at the expense of the elected branches of government.
For starters, there’s zero evidence that Obama has been unusual in his use of executive powers. If he’s overdone it, then all the recent presidents have done so, too. The idea that he’s some sort of tyrant who acts differently than other modern presidents is nonsense.
Related: Is Boehner Lawsuit a Warm Welcome to Immigrants?
In fact, It’s perfectly normal for presidents and executive branch departments and agencies to make broad interpretations of law that look a lot like legislating. It’s how the system works, and pretty much how it always worked. Thus Richard Neustadt’s famous claim that the system isn’t “separation of powers,” but separated institutions sharing powers.
Nonetheless, there are rules constraining how laws may be interpreted, and it is possible that in specific instances, the administration may have acted beyond what the law allows.
Indeed, experts have made the case that this kind of overreach occurred with the delayed implementation of the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act (which, apparently, is going to be central to the House Republicans’ lawsuit), though other experts disagree.
In any case, it would be unprecedented, and in fact would constitute a significant change to the constitutional system, if the courts allowed Congress to sue the president over the ACA delay.
The technical issue is “standing.” For the courts to consider a lawsuit, the person or group bringing the suit has to show they were harmed in some direct way. So, for example, in the recent recess appointment case, Noel Canning Corp. was able to show that it had directly been harmed by an action taken by members of the National Labor Relations Board who had been recess-appointed. Generally, the courts have ruled (Vox has a good explainer on this) that Congress isn’t eligible to sue the president just because it doesn’t like what he’s done.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-07-11/if-boehner-sues-obama-roberts-wins
https://twitter.com/ks44/status/489053907654803456/photo/1
Greg Sargent ✔@ThePlumLineGS
Y MT @costareports There is rawness to Warren that clicks not only w/progs but w/ blue collar Ds. Her msg, more than persona, is core appeal
aspirational12 @aspirational12
@ThePlumLineGS Warren is white which allows her to convey Obama’s message in a more palatable form to racist Dems. @JoyAnnReid @costareports
10:01 AM – 15 Jul 2014
Brian Beutler: Republicans’ Failure To Pass Immigration Reform Has Cost Us $900 Billion
Republicans have raised several objections to the White House’s plan to address the child-migrant crisis, but none so self-discrediting as their objection to the nearly $4 billion cost of the bill.
That objection is self-discrediting for two reasons: First, because Republicans are on record in support of substantially more spending to shore up the border. Second, because with respect to immigration (and everything else) their claims to fiscal probity are a shell game they return to anytime they need a plausible-sounding reason to object to something they oppose for other reasons.
To demonstrate both, one need only look back to the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill, which Republicans helped design and pass just over a year ago.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118679/gop-border-supplemental-objections-are-fake-heres-why
Obama admin to join voting rights cases in Ohio and Wisconsin
07/15/14 11:12 AM—Updated 07/15/14 01:49 PM
By Zachary Roth
The Obama administration plans to join lawsuits against Republican-backed voting restrictions in two major swing states, Attorney General Eric Holder has said.
The moves would represent the first time that Holder’s Justice Department has intervened against statewide voting laws outside the areas that the Supreme Court freed from federal oversight in last year’s Shelby County v. Holder ruling. They underline the administration’s intention to aggressively protect voting rights across the country, not only in the mostly southern jurisdictions directly affected by Shelby.
“I expect that we are going to be filing in cases that are already in existence in Wisconsin as well as in Ohio,” Holder said in an unaired portion of an interview with Pierre Thomas of ABC News, according to a transcript provided by the Justice Department to msnbc. The interview was conducted Friday in London, where Holder was attending meetings about terrorism threats.
Holder called the right to vote “the most basic of all our rights,” adding: “I will use every power that I have, every ability that I have as Attorney General to defend that right to vote.”
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-admin-eric-holder-voting-rights-cases-ohio-wisconsin
https://twitter.com/planetepics/status/488870590166859777/photo/1
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If you have any questions for AskDems..post them and I’ll tweet it.
July 14, 2014 at 9:08 pm
Possible housing of Central American children meets with protest in small Michigan town
Francis X. Donnelly
The Detroit News
Vassar — For the second time in two weeks, several conservative groups from around the state gathered in this small community Monday to protest the possible housing of Central American children.
About 50 demonstrators, two armed with semi-automatic rifles, carried American and tea party flags as they marched one mile, from city hall to a social services facility that would shelter the young undocumented immigrants.
“We must act,” said Tamyra Murray, a resident of Blumfield Township near Saginaw, who organized the protests. “We must save America and stand up against this invasion.”
The Pioneer Work and Learn Center is under consideration to house up to 120 of the children, who are part of the massive influx of undocumented immigrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border since the fall. The minors, ages 12-17, would remain at the facility up to four weeks while their cases move through the immigration system.
One week after 75 protesters gathered at city hall, the smaller group returned to the spot Monday clutching signs while several motorists honked their support.
“Go Home. We’re full,” read one sign.
“No gang members. No terrorists,” read another.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140714/METRO06/307140100#ixzz37Yzq5G6j
https://twitter.com/planetepics/status/489006478742007810/photo/1
Erin Andrews to replace Pam Oliver in top Fox NFL spot
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/07/erin-andrews-to-replace-pam-oliver-si-com
Erin Andrews will replace longtime NFL on Fox sideline reporter Pam Oliver in the number one team for NFL on Fox broadcasts, Oliver told SI.com’s Richard Deitsch for a story published this week.
Oliver, who is entering her 20th season on the network, will relinquish her sideline duties after the upcoming NFL season to focus on long-form pieces, some producing and Showtime specials according to the report. She will be the sideline reporter for the number two team on the network this season.
Andrews was hired away from ESPN by Fox in 2012.
Oliver shied away from saying anything negative about Andrews, though she told Deitsch: “I live in the real world and I know that television tends to get younger where women are concerned.
“Just turn on your TV. It’s everywhere,” she added. “And I’m not saying these younger girls don’t deserve a chance. I know I’ve had my turn.”
While she may be in a different role, Oliver signed a new multi-year contract with Fox and is expected to be on the air for a long time.
Rikyrah & SG2, check e-mails please. Thanks!
Protesters in AZ are standing on land stolen from Native Americans & have the GALL to protest the arrival of undocumented kids. #whitepriviegeisahellavadrug
Mean, hateful and racist to the bone–> Group of protesters in AZ waiting on the bus with undocumented kids to arrive.
Shoppers Smash Window, Free 2 Kids From Hot Car
Mom was reportedly getting a haircut while children baked in 90-degree-plus heat
By Jenn Gidman, Newser Staff
(Newser) – Media attention from the Justin Ross Harris case has placed citizens on high alert for children left in hot cars—and shoppers at a strip mall in Katy, Texas, are the latest to come to the rescue. The group smashed in a car window and fumbled with a child safety lock yesterday to free two young children trapped inside a Jeep as temperatures outside rose into the 90s, according to KHOU. In a video shot by Gabriel Del Valle on his smartphone and shown on the KHOU website, at least four people can be seen trying to free the boy and girl, who had been heard crying, from the vehicle, with one person using a hammer to shatter the glass. Witnesses say when the children’s mother arrived on the scene, she said she had only “temporarily” left the kids in the car so she could get a haircut.
http://www.newser.com/story/190958/shoppers-smash-window-free-2-kids-from-hot-car.html
WTF is wrong with these folks
The Real Enemies Aren’t Undocumented Immigrants, It’s Rick Perry and Sean Hannity
For the last several days, the above photo of Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) and Sean Hannity has been haunting me. During the current unhinged freakout surrounding immigration reform and, specifically, the Central American teens and children being held by the U.S. after having entered the country via the Mexican border, I can’t help but to the think that the true threats to the U.S. aren’t undocumented immigrants, be they adults or children, but rather these dinguses:
When I see this photo, taken at the Texas/Mexico border late last week and tweeted out by Hannity, I see more than just a pair of brainless conservative poseurs whom William F. Buckley would’ve laughed out of his movement 40 years ago, yet who are now two of the standard-bearers of what’s left of that movement. When I see this photo, I see more than a slack-jawed Southern governor and a paint-by-numbers Fox News polemicist. I see two men who are illustrative of everything that is, in Jon Stewart’s words, “hurting America.”
http://thedailybanter.com/2014/07/real-enemies-arent-undocumented-immigrants-rick-perry-sean-hannity/
https://twitter.com/TPHealth/status/488752738688585729/photo/1
I’m with you Charles. They were DISGUSTING
Things In Politico That Make Me Want To Mainline Antifreeze, Part The Infinity
By Charles P. Pierce on July 15, 2014
Its puerilty has finally crossed over into indecency. Its triviality has finally crossed over into obscenity. The comical political starfcking that is its primary raison d’erp has finally crossed over into $10 meth-whoring on the Singapore docks. Once a mere surface irritation, Tiger Beat On The Potomac has finally crossed over into being a thickly pustulating chancre on the craft of journalism. It has demonstrated its essential worthlessness. It has demonstrated that it has the moral character of a sea-slug and the professional conscience of the Treponema pallidum spirochete. Trust me. Stephen Glass never sunk this low. Mike (Payola) Allen has accomplished the impossible. He’s made Jayson Blair look like Ernie Pyle.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Politico_Dances_With_The_Devils?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1456_72171691
Obamacare doesn’t cover media bias. No wonder it’s not more popular.
By Jared Bernstein July 15 at 6:00 AM
The Affordable Care Act — also known as the ACA, Obamacare, the Devil’s Spawn, depending on your orientation — pretty clearly appears to be doing what it’s supposed to be doing: covering the uninsured and controlling costs. Yet it certainly doesn’t seem to be gettin’ the love from the press at anything like the rate that it got bashed after its lame rollout.
Analysts at the Urban Institute have been tracking the share of the adult population without coverage and in a particularly useful way: by comparing states with and without the Medicaid expansion. While the ACA is of course in effect in all states, 21 states have thus far decided not to take advantage of the Medicaid expansion offered by the law. Thus, we have a sort of natural experiment.
Since September 2013, right before the ACA’s first open enrollment period began, the percent of uninsured nonelderly adults has declined from about 18 percent to about 14 percent. Moreover, the fact that the decline has been considerably steeper in Medicaid expansion states gives more heft to the ACA explanation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/07/15/obamacare-doesnt-cover-media-bias-no-wonder-its-not-more-popular/
The rising ACA enrollments doesn’t JIVE with the media’s agenda to bash & cash in.
Poll: Democrats Hang On to Slight Leads in Key Senate Races
By Mark Murray
Democrats hold single-digit leads in the key Senate contests of Colorado and Michigan, as well as in Colorado’s gubernatorial race, according to new NBC News/Marist polls of these two states.
But with less than four months to go until Election Day, Republicans are narrowly ahead in the race for Michigan governor.
In Colorado’s Senate contest, incumbent Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., leads GOP challenger Cory Gardner by seven points among registered voters, 48 to 41 percent; another 10 percent are undecided.
In the state’s race for governor, sitting Gov. John Hickenlooper holds a six-point edge over Republican opponent Bob Beauprez, 49 to 43 percent, with 7 percent undecided.
Meanwhile, in Michigan’s Senate contest, Rep. Gary Peters, D-Mich., is ahead of Republican Terri Lynn Land by six points among registered, 43 to 37 percent.
“The early edge goes to the Democrats” in these Senate match ups, says Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “But these are not states they can put into their win column just yet.”
Both seats are currently held by Democrats. A Republican win in either state would put the GOP one step closer to retaking a majority in the Senate.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/poll-democrats-hang-slight-leads-key-senate-races-n155531
a bunch of LAWLESS MOFOS
At Dinner Tables, a Restless Obama Finds an Intellectual Escape
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
JULY 14, 2014
President Obama had just disembarked from Air Force One and was still on the tarmac in Rome when he turned to his host, John R. Phillips, the American ambassador to Italy, with an unexpected request: How about a dinner party tomorrow night?
Over the next 24 hours, the startled Mr. Phillips and his wife, the former Obama aide Linda Douglass, scrambled to gather some of Italy’s intellettuali.
The architect Renzo Piano flew in from Genoa. The particle physicist Fabiola Gianotti arrived from Geneva. John Elkann, the chairman of Fiat and an owner of the Italian soccer club Juventus, came, too, as did his sister, Ginevra, a film director. Over a 2006 Brunello, grilled rib-eye and three pasta dishes — cacio e pepe, all’arrabbiata and Bolognese — at Villa Taverna, the 15th-century manor that serves as the ambassador’s residence, the group talked until close to midnight about “the importance of understanding science, the future of the universe, how sports brings people together, and many other things,” Ms. Douglass said.
In a summer when the president is traveling across the country meeting with ordinary Americans under highly choreographed conditions, the Rome dinner shows another side of Mr. Obama. As one of an increasing number of late-night dinners in his second term, it offers a glimpse into a president who prefers intellectuals to politicians, and into the rarefied company Mr. Obama may keep after he leaves the White House.
Sometimes stretching into the small hours of the morning, the dinners reflect a restless president weary of the obligations of the White House and less concerned about the appearance of partying with the rich and celebrated. Freewheeling, with conversation touching on art, architecture and literature, the gatherings are a world away from the stilted meals Mr. Obama had last year with Senate Republican leaders at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington.
As Mr. Obama once said about the Senate Republican leader from Kentucky: “Some folks still don’t think I spend enough time with Congress. ‘Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?’ they ask. Really? Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?”
Valerie Jarrett, the White House senior adviser, who has been asked by the president to organize some of the dinners, was more diplomatic. The president, she told reporters recently, “could talk to the same people all day long, every day, and so he has to make a deliberate effort to expand that.”
“It keeps life interesting,” she added. “It keeps him fresh. It gives him new ideas to think about.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/us/restless-obama-finds-pleasure-at-dinner-tables.html?_r=0
Appreciate this article. POTUS is dealing with clichés and the white privileged in D.C. And that doesn’t mean they’re intelligent by any means.
Harper Lee Slams Alleged Biography
Beloved American author Harper Lee made it clear that a new book claiming to be written with her cooperation is a “falsehood.” Marja Mills recently published The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee, which she says is based on a close, intimate relationship with the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of To Kill a Mockingbird.
In response to the book, the revered and reclusive 88-year-old Lee released a statement saying she has not “willingly participated in any book written or to be written by Marja Mills.” Lee specifically accuses Mills of befriending her older sister with the purposes of researching her life. She also emphatically declares in her statement,
“Rest assured, as long as I am alive, any book purporting to be with my cooperation is a falsehood.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2014/07/15/harper-lee-slams-alleged-biography.html
24 last night:
I enjoyed it. It was sad. Jack isn’t supposed to be happy. It was never going to have a ‘ Hollywood’ ending.
I want more 24, but if this was the end, I’m ok with it.
Sophie Okonedo to Star in “Classic American Play” in Role Never Before Played by Non-White Actress
by Tambay A. Obenson
July 7, 2014 10:23 AM
So what else is there? An American classic in which she’ll play the lead protagonist (which is key) – a role that’s never been played by a non-white actress on Broadway specifically. And it’s not a Tennessee Williams work. I’m thinking maybe “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”? Maybe playing one-half of the the middle-aged couple – Martha. But would that really be a shock for some folks? I suppose for some. But a question is, when she says “the lead role” it kind of implies that her character is a singular lead, in that, she’ll be the main/sole protagonist.
In terms of playwrights comparable to Tennessee Williams, there’s Arthur Miller, Thornton Wilder, and Eugene O’Neill. But, looking over their individual bodies of work, I couldn’t immediately identify any plays that fit the above criteria.
I’ll defer to you theater buffs to chime in with your thoughts in the comments section below.
By the way (speaking of color-blind casting) this news comes on the heels of May’s announcement that Okonedo will play Queen Margaret in the BBC trilogy of films, “The Hollow Crown” – Queen Margaret being the very white queen, Henry VI’s widow.
The films will drawn from Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” trilogy and “Richard III,” and will be filmed, starting this September, for a 2015 broadcast.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/sophie-okonedos-to-star-in-classic-american-play-in-role-never-before-played-by-non-white-actress-20140707
A Robert Ludlum Franchise (‘The Janson Directive’) May Be in Dwayne Johnson’s Future
by Tambay A. Obenson
July 9, 2014 1:32 PM
The hardest working man in show-business continues to maintain that title, as he’s is in talks to bring author Robert Ludlum’s novel “The Janson Directive” to the big screen.
Dwayne Johnson, assuming an agreement is reached, will take on the role of an ex-Navy Seal and covert operations specialist who finds himself at the center of a termination plot after a rescue mission goes horribly wrong.
The project is currently set up at Universal Pictures, although no writer nor director is attached to it yet.
The studio is reportedly eager to turn the movie adaptation into a franchise, just like Ludlum’s “Bourne” series.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/a-robert-ludlum-franchise-the-janson-directive-may-be-in-dwayne-johnsons-future-20140709
Watch Full-Episode Sneak Preview of Damon Gupton/Nia Long/Marin Ireland Legal Thriller ‘The Divide’
by Tambay A. Obenson
July 9, 2014 2:24 PM
WE tv announced today that it will make its first original scripted drama, “The Divide,” widely available to viewers through a week-long full-episode sneak preview across a myriad of platforms, including Roku streaming players, WEtv.com and through video on demand and TV Everywhere services from major video providers.
The preview will be the first-ever television series premiere on the Roku streaming platform.
The full-episode sneak preview begins today, Wednesday, July 9, and runs through 11:59 pm ET on Tuesday, July 15, the day before “The Divide” debuts on WE tv with limited commercial interruptions during a special two-hour premiere at 9 pm.
“As we break into scripted programming, it’s important that we reach viewers on every platform and device they use to watch content,” said WE tv President, Marc Juris. “This multi-platform full-episode preview is a great way to get audiences excited about ‘The Divide’ and we couldn’t be happier that the show is Roku’s first TV series premiere to their millions of customers. The equal ratio of male-to-female users also provides a great co-viewing opportunity for this amazing drama.”
“It’s exciting to work with WE tv on this unique debut of their new series and we’re proud to bring it first to Roku customers,” said Scott Rosenberg, vice president of business development at Roku.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/watch-full-episode-sneak-preview-of-damon-gupton-nia-long-marin-ireland-legal-thriller-the-divide-20140709
Tatyana Ali and Charles S. Dutton Play Daughter & Father in Drama ‘Comeback Dad’ Directed by Russ Parr (Trailer)
by Tambay A. Obenson
July 9, 2014 3:03 PM
Premiering on UPtv this Saturday, July 12th, 2014, at 8pm ET / 7 PT, is the telepic “Comeback Dad,” which stars Tatyana Ali as Nima Babineaux, a woman who seems to have it all – she is an accomplished pianist who runs her own music school and is engaged to Spence (Brad James), a successful engineer who adores her. But, in truth, she has never recovered from her alcoholic father, Othell (played by Charles Dutton), walking out on their family, and it has made it hard for her to truly trust anyone. When Othell decides it is time to make amends and tries to reenter her life, Nima begins an emotional and eye-opening journey she didn’t expect.
Loretta Devine co–stars as Malinda, Othell’s sister, in an ensemble cast that also includes Donna Brisco, Elizabeth Omilami, Ja’El Robertson, Takara Clark, E. Roger Mitchell, Todd Anthony and Palmer Williams, Jr.
“Comeback Dad” made its world premiere at this year’s American Black Film Festival (ABFF) in New York City last month.
Penned by newcomer Kimberly Walker (who won Honorable Mention Winner in last year’s “UP Faith & Family Screenplay Competition” at ABFF) the film was directed by Russ Parr (who last treated us to the church drama “The Undershepherd,” which starred Isaiah Washington.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/tatyana-ali-and-charles-s-dutton-play-daughter-father-in-drama-comeback-dad-directed-by-russ-parr-20140709
First-Look Preview of ‘Sleepy Hollow’ Season 2 + Producer Promises More Back-story on Abbie
by Tambay A. Obenson
July 11, 2014 10:47 AM
Get excited “Sleepy Hollow” fans! Just 2 months to go until your favorite FOX hit drama returns – September 22 at 9pm.
Those of you who’ll be attending Comic-Con this month (in about 2 weeks) will likely be treated to some sneak peeks from the upcoming new season, as well as time with the series’ cast, who will probably all be there live, in person.
As for what you can expect for season 2, Executive producer Mark Goffman recently shared the following: “We’re going to be digging into Abbie’s past a lot more, and getting to know more about her family and her heritage, which is a big part of the show this season. We’re also going to be filling out the town even more, so we’ll get to see what the people of Sleepy Hollow are like.”
While you wait, a first-look at the upcoming season has been released, and is embedded below.
From co-creators/executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the “Star Trek” and “Transformers” franchises, as well as “Fringe”) comes the adventure thriller “Sleepy Hollow.” In this modern-day retelling of Washington Irving’s classic, Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to find that the world is on the brink of destruction, and that he is humanity’s last hope, forcing him to team up with a contemporary police officer (Nicole Beharie) to unravel a mystery that dates back to the founding fathers.
Orlando Jones also co-stars, along with John Noble, and Lyndie Greenwood (the latter 2 were upped to series regulars after the end of last season).
http://youtu.be/8VnOzjR7bP8
http://youtu.be/AIK8skh_p1g
http://3chicspolitico.com/2014/07/15/tuesday-open-thread-male-groups-of-the-60s-the-spinners/#comment-280442
I tried watching Sleepy Hollow. There’s too much of the Macbre for me.
‘Facts of Life’ Stars Kim Fields, Lisa Whelchel Reunite In Trailer for Dramedy ‘For Better or For Worse’
by Tambay A. Obenson
July 11, 2014 1:14 PM
Here’s a trailer for the Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere that sees Kim Fields reunite with her “Facts of Life” co-star, Lisa Whelchel, in a drama titled “For Better or For Worse,” which, I learned today, premieres Saturday, July 19 at 9/8c.
The film – an adaptation of the bestselling novel “For Better or For Worse” by Diann Hunt – was shot earlier this year in Vancouver, Canada.
Antonio Cupo co-stars alongside Whelchel and Fields in what is described as a heartwarming romantic comedy about a woman who learns that perhaps there is such a thing as second chances when facing the pleasures and pains of love. Here’s an official synopsis:
Wendy (Whelchel) is finally starting to settle into the single life after struggling with the death of her husband. After a difficult season of grief, she’s taken over the family business of coordinating the town’s most beautiful and memorable weddings with the help of her friend and co-worker Roseanne (Fields). However, when the charming and incredibly irritating Marco (Cupo) opens a legal practice that specializes in divorces right next to her wedding chapel, Wendy is going to make sure that she stops at nothing to promote her business and the sanctity of marriage. Along the way, Wendy learns that self-discovery and moving on are the ways to finding true happiness.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/facts-of-life-stars-kim-fields-lisa-whelchel-reunite-in-trailer-for-dramedy-for-better-or-for-worse-20140711
Harold Perrineau’s Daughter, Aurora Perrineau, Joins Cast of Sci-Fi Romance ‘Equals’
by Tambay A. Obenson
July 11, 2014 7:55 PM
We missed the uproar earlier this year, over her casting as Shana in the upcoming “Jem and the Holograms” live-action movie adaptation – the animated TV series that ran from 1985 to 1988, which centered on a music company owner, her singer alter-ego Jem, her band the Holograms, and their adventures.
I’m not at all familiar with the animated series, but, from what I gathered, in short, the character she was cast to play (Shana) is supposed to be much darker than she is (the usual Hollywood #Colorism casting matter).
Filming on “Jem and the Holograms” is done (it’s in post-production currently), under the direction of Jon M. Chu (“G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” “Step Up 2: The Streets”), with a 2016 release date eyed.
And now Aurora Perrineau (daughter of actor Harold Perrineau, who I’m sure you all know very well), has booked a role in another feature film, this time a sci-fi drama titled “Equals.”
The 20-year-old actress has joins the cast of the futuristic love story that stars Nicholas Hoult as a character named Silas who lives in a near-utopian future society free of greed, poverty, violence, and emotion, called The Collective, whose inhabitants are a new breed of humans called Equals. The peaceful world is disrupted when a new sickness called SOS (or Switched On Syndrome), which activates in its victims everything they thought they had escaped (depression, sensitivity, fear & love), starts infecting the people. Once a person is overtaken with SOS they are sent away to The Den and never seen again. Naturally Silas becomes infected, is shunned, and then meets Nia (played by Kristen Stewart) a fellow Equal, who apparently possesses emotion, but seems to be able to suppress her feelings. They of course fall in love, feeling intimacy for the first time in their lives, but… #Danger
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/harold-perrineaus-daughter-aurora-perrineau-joins-cast-of-sci-fi-romance-equals-20140711
Hat tip to Shannon who tweeted this:
Short Shouts: Watch Film Noir Inspired Short Film ‘Straight Down Low’ (It’s Not What You Think it is)
by Sergio
July 9, 2014 4:13 PM
As I’ve said before on this site, I love films (and especially black films) that go in unexpected directions. And as I have also said, there are 40 million black people in the USA, which means there are 40 million different stories. So as a filmmaker, why do the same old, same old?
Here comes filmmaker Zach Wechter with his short film “Straight Down Low,” which definitely puts a different spin on things. Don’t let the title fool you, as It’s not some routine gangsta hood picture, nor is it another one of those “nice black woman who marries a good man only to find out that he’s on the down low and now she’s HIV positive,” kinds of films (How many of those have been made in the last few years?).
Instead Wechter’s film, which was clearly inspired by Rian Johnson’s 2005 high school-set film noir thriller “Brick,” with Joseph Gordon Levitt, is more of an homage to those film noir detective mysteries, with a contemporary twist which deals with issues such as race, class and yes, as you can guess, even sexuality.
It a highly stylized, beautifully photographed film, in a rain soaked Los Angeles, and Wechter obviously knows his film noir for hitting the right tone, and getting the dialogue and cadences pretty much on target.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/short-shouts-watch-film-noir-inspired-short-film-straight-down-low-20140709
Bootlegging and the Plot against African-American Cinema
by Andre Seewood
May 27, 2014 6:47 PM
To my knowledge, the concept of Bootlegging and its affect on African-American cinema has not been explored in any substantive detail. In general, we all know that bootlegging severely diminishes the box-office of African-American films and it should be discouraged, but the bootlegging of African-American films continues vigorously today on the street corners, in hair & nail salons, barbershops, flea markets, factory parking lots and Chinese take-out lobbies of every city with a large African-American population. Bootlegging is an open secret, but it is not so much a radical tactic to “stick it to the man” as it is an informal (and illegal) business practice that fits neatly into the concept that African-Americans call,” Hustling,” or doing what you have to do to survive financially in a country where the chips are stacked against you. Indeed, our reticence in examining bootlegging may stem from our own culpability; that is the fact that many of us African-Americans have purchased at least one bootleg VHS, DVD or CD in our lifetimes and if by chance or conviction we haven’t, then we know of someone near or dear to us that has purchased and continues to purchase bootlegs. Under these circumstances of extended culpability we are perhaps less strident in our condemnation of the practice than we ought to be. Yet, I intend to reveal in this essay that bootlegging is just one aspect of a continuing plot against African-American cinema that because of our powerless status within the industry is quite possibly beyond our immediate control.(1)
For our purposes, the term bootlegging is an umbrella term that covers all manner of movie piracy from illegal downloading, recording, duplication, and the street sales and retail sales of filmed entertainment, the profits from which are not returned to the copyright owners of the content. As it concerns filmed entertainment, there are two different models of bootlegging:
1) External Bootlegging which originates from within the industry but outside of the Black community.
2) Internal Bootlegging which originates from inside the Black community but outside of the industry.
There are also three different modes of Bootlegging:
1) Pre-theatrical release
2) Simultaneous release
3) Post-Theatrical release
It cannot go without saying that the most dangerous model and mode of bootlegging that reveals a plot against African-American films is external bootlegging of a pre-theatrically released film. We can readily identify this type of bootlegged film because this illegal product has tell-tale traits: clear image quality and superior audio accompaniment. These bootlegs have “clear” images and superior audio quality that has not been recorded by smuggling a video camera into the theatre. These bootlegs also have either a time-code bar with numbers running at the top or bottom of the screen throughout the film or the image is interrupted periodically by a “For Promotional Use Only,” inter-title. Although today’s sophisticated movie pirates know how to remove such trace evidence, the main giveaway of External Bootlegging is still the image clarity and audio quality of the bootleg itself. Prevalent throughout the ‘90’s in both VHS and DVD formats, these bootlegs are made from what are called,” Screener Copies” or promotional copies of a film before its theatrical release that are distributed to industry insiders, film critics, academy members, and television producers to create a pre-release “buzz” about an upcoming film.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/bootlegging-and-the-plot-against-african-american-cinema
Youth Group Collective Launch New Freedom Summer Campaign
Jul 14, 2014
ByD.L. Chandler
Freedom Side, a collective of young activists of color, are launching a multi-state effort inspired by the efforts 50 years ago by the Freedom Summer campaign during the height the Civil Rights Movement. Comprised of young men and women from various organizations already on the ground fighting for racial and social justice, the new campaign has a specific aim in highlighting the mass criminalization of young people.
One year after the shocking verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, the Freedom Side collective hosted a press conference in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday and held a silent march Saturday as well. Freedom Side members wore black tape over their mouths in a solidarity protest in the city, which the Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private prison company in the United States, calls home.
Friday’s 11 a.m. CST press conference highlighted Freedom Ride’s ongoing mobilization efforts and also announced plans for the Saturday march and other related matters. The press conference also announced the actions of partner groups in their respective cities and regions in support of this ongoing campaign.
Five Freedom Side organizers were arrested Saturday while protesting the National Governors Association meeting in downtown Nashville: James Hayes, Malya Davis, Marshawn McCaroll, and Aaron Hayes of the Ohio Student Association, and Mike Sampson of the Dream Defenders were arrested without warning while trying to meet with their respective elected representatives. According to Freedom Side officials, they were released later on Monday, after a judge saw no probable cause for the arrest.
http://newsone.com/3035526/freedom-side-george-zimmerman/
Why Did Black Voters Flee The Republican Party In The 1960s?
by KAREN GRIGSBY BATES
July 14, 2014 5:05 AM ET
If you’d walked into a gathering of older black folks 100 years ago, you’d have found that most of them would have been Republican.
Wait… what?
Yep. Republican. Party of Lincoln. Party of the Emancipation. Party that pushed not only black votes but black politicians during that post-bellum period known as Reconstruction.
Today, it’s almost the exact opposite. That migration of black voters away from the GOP reached its last phase 50 years ago this week.
Walking through the Farmer’s Market at 18th Street and La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, a mixture of Angelenos strolled the asphalt parking lot, surveying rows of leafy produce and ripe stone fruit. Virtually all the people I approached who were registered voters were registered to one party.
“I’m affiliated with the Democratic party, of course!” laughs Arthur Little, a thin man in shorts and electric turquoise-framed sun glasses.
“Why ‘of course’?” I asked.
“Because I think of it as the party that is at least officially interested in putting people’s rights before corporate rights,” Little shakes his head. “I don’t even know why a black person even would be a Republican,” he muses, as he walks off with his teenaged son.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/07/14/331298996/why-did-black-voters-flee-the-republican-party-in-the-1960s
Ladies, can we frontpage this video?
Hospital’s closure may have claimed a life
Belhaven, North Carolina Mayor Adam O’Neal warned that citizens would die unnecessarily if Vidant Pungo Hospital closed its doors. Unfortunately, he may have been proven right.
http://on.msnbc.com/1n4DC6r
working on it. See draft
https://twitter.com/EricWolfson/status/488728166794801152/photo/1
Minimum wage in the late sixties was $1.26 which would buy 3 gallons of gasoline. To make today’s minimum wage equal to that, we need to raise the minimum wage to $12.60.
International movie star Idris Elba has a pretty heavy duty hobby that involves driving cars very,very fast. Watch his special Idris Elba: King of Speed on BBC AMERICA,
http://www.bbcamerica.com/king-of-speed/videos/idris-elba-is-the-king-of-speed/
https://twitter.com/HistoricalPics/status/488842954657001472/photo/1
LOL These Sista’s looks tell the story, doesn’t it?
https://twitter.com/HumanAfrica/status/488034216236826625/photo/1
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good Morning, rikyrah and everyone!
Good Morning Everyone!