Happy Friday, Everyone! The Maestro of “Quiet Storm Soul” Mr. Peabo Bryson taking us into the weekend…
LOVE ALWAYS FIND A WAY
Learning The Ways Of Love
-
-
Black Girls Rock!
Flickr Photos
-
Potus Takes Oath of Office
Flotus & Daughters at Great Wall of China
My Brothers Keeper
-
-
-
-
-
AFRO PUFFS
Most Adorable Shoe Stealer
Six Little Babies
Fatherhood
-
-
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.
-
3Chics Action Alert
Lets Make It Happen
3 Chics Trio
-
REALITY Blog Award
Recent Comments
Top Posts
Guard The Change
Vote 4 Democrats
-
-
-
Go to the polls
President Barack Obama
First Lady Michelle Obama
Obama Love
Your Vote Matters
President Obama & Bo
The Obama Family
-
-
-
-
Presidential hug
-
TheObamaDiary.com @TheObamaDiary
Follow
The smug privilege just oozes from @EzraKlein & @AnnieLowrey, their constant sneering at Admin helping the ‘little people’ a sight to behold
3:28 PM – 1 Aug 2014
Jeff Gauvin @JeffersonObama
Follow
GOP has lost the Latino vote forever. The optics of deporting brown looking children from bitter old white male legislators is priceless.
8:30 PM – 1 Aug 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
1860 All Over Again
As loyal readers of the blog know, for the past few years I’ve been obsessed with the political and social history of the Civil War. Out of that interest I recently read Year of Meteors by Douglas Egerton, a lively and incisive account of the election of 1860 and its aftermath. That’s the presidential election, of course, that put Abraham Lincoln in the White House and led to the secession of the Deep South. Since I knew a lot about Lincoln and Douglas’ actions during that election, I was most interested to read about the Southern “fire eaters,” since I knew little specific about them.
They were a crazy lot who intentionally broke the Democratic party apart in order to hasten secession. This reckless strategy was based in the belief that seceding would be the only long-term way to preserve the South’s slavery-based economic structure. While most white Southerners weren’t as radical, once Abraham Lincoln won the presidency, secession began. Politicians in the Deep South simply refused to accept the legitimacy of the Lincoln administration to the point of leaving the country. As far as they were concerned, any president who wanted to restrict the expansion of slavery (Lincoln only went that far in 1860, he was no abolitionist) was de facto illegitimate, since they felt that the Constitution defended their right to human property, the key to the Southern elite’s wealth.
……………………………………………………………
The current conservative opposition to Obama makes the anti-Clinton stuff tame by comparison. Not only has the conservative movement and its media propaganda arm become more brazen in the last decade, the racial resentment against Obama has made the attacks on his legitimacy uglier and more intense. For Exhibit A, look at Birtherism. Obama has been much less mistake-prone than Clinton, which enrages conservatives even more, since they have to work that much harder to find grounds for impeachment. Even more than under Clinton, Republicans have engaged in an obstructionist strategy, one unprecedented in this nation’s history. They are so unwilling to acknowledge the president’s legitimacy that simply have refused to govern until he is out of office. Recent Congresses have set records with their indolence, despite the many problems our country faces.
…………….
That indolence sometimes awakens into obnoxious actions that harm the country’s health. Conservative radicals have used the debt ceiling as a hostage on multiple occasions, threatening to kill the economy if they don’t get their way, much as fire-eaters used to threaten secession to get what they wanted. In my thirty-eight years I’ve never seen anything like it. We aren’t to the point of 1860-levels of discord, but we are seeing a certain kind of history repeat itself. Although the current legitimacy protest is not purely regional in nature, the South and West are where most of the current fire-eaters are located, and I hardly find that to be a mistake, since both regions have historically assumed that they get some kind of mythical veto power over national legislation that they don’t like.
As stupid and comical John Boehner’s lawsuit against the president may seem, we shouldn’t be laughing. It is an escalation in the ongoing legitimacy crisis manufactured by conservative ideologues who feel that the end justifies the means. Our political system is practically ungovernable, and as the United States navigates economic inequality, the loss of its imperial power, and recovery from the financial crisis, the refusal of Republicans to ever accept the legitimacy of a Democratic president has been and will continue to seriously hamper our society’s ability to respond to its most pressing problems. Or as somebody more famous than I once said, a house divided against itself cannot stand.
http://notesironbound.blogspot.com/2014/07/1860-all-over-again.html
SG2, where are you?
THIS: PBO: “We don’t control everything around the world.”
Picking up the pieces after the GOP’s border fiasco
08/01/14 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
The Senate hoped to complete a few key tasks last night before the start of Congress’ five-week break: pass the bipartisan VA bill, approve funding for the Highway Trust Fund, and vote on an emergency measure to address the humanitarian crisis at the U.S./Mexico border.
Two out of three ain’t bad?
With relative ease, the upper chamber did, in fact, pass the measures related to the VA and the Highway Trust Fund. But when it came time to vote on the Senate’s version of the border bill, the Republican minority blocked it – Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) wanted an amendment prohibiting executive orders from President Obama; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said no, so the GOP refused to allow the legislation to advance.
As for the House, what happens now in the wake of yesterday’s fiasco? Their recess has apparently been delayed.
House Republicans are expected to pick up the effort again Friday morning, just as lawmakers prepare to leave Capitol Hill for a five-week recess without passing any funding relief for the southwestern border. Emergency funds are set to run out by the end of August after a flood of unaccompanied minors – some 57,000 have been apprehended at the border since October – strained immigration resources and facilities beyond capacity.
House GOP members will reportedly meet in about an hour on Capitol Hill to “discuss new policy proposals to accompany a $659 million appropriations bill they abruptly yanked from consideration Thursday.”
In other words, Republican leaders are still looking for ways to push the bill even further to the right in order to placate rank-and-file GOP lawmakers. If the enticements fall short, members are reportedly prepared to work through the weekend.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/picking-the-pieces-after-the-gops-border-fiasco
GOP tantrum derails ambassadorial nominations
08/01/14 09:35 AM
By Steve Benen
Political scientist Norm Ornstein noted last night that “blocking ambassadors when the world is in turmoil and America’s national interest is at stake is simply shameful.” Senate Republicans, I think he was speaking to you.
We’ve been keeping a close eye lately on the vacant U.S. ambassadorial offices around the world, which comes at an unusually awful time. According to the United Nations, there are 193 nations in the world, and of that total, the United States maintains embassies in 169 countries. As of earlier this week, the ambassador’s office is currently empty in a fourth of those embassies because the Senate hasn’t confirmed anyone.
The Senate Democratic majority was eager to address the problem before Congress left for its five-week break, but in a sad and unnecessary tantrum, the Senate Republican minority had other ideas.
The Senate may not be confirming nominees to posts in a slew of countries before departing for the August recess, but after some procedural maneuvering, the U.S. will be getting a top diplomat in Russia.
Senators confirmed the nomination of John F. Tefft by voice vote as the chamber finished evening business after he faced objection to confirmation by unanimous consent earlier in the night.
GOP senators originally blocked a vote on Tefft’s nomination to become the Ambassador to Russia, but they eventually changed their mind for no apparent reason. It was a heartening move – relations with Russia are fairly important right now, as some in Congress might have noticed – but it doesn’t negate the fact that the GOP was far less gracious towards a variety of other nominees who are eager to represent the United States in embassies around the globe.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-tantrum-derails-ambassadorial-nominations
GOP wants Obama to circumvent Congress less – and more
08/01/14 10:10 AM—UPDATED 08/01/14 01:11 PM
By Steve Benen
Even by congressional standards, the mixed message from Capitol Hill this week was jarring. On Wednesday, House Republicans approved a civil suit against President Obama – the first such suit in American history – complaining that the White House shouldn’t circumvent Congress when making public policy.
Literally one day later, House Republicans killed their own border bill, prompting GOP leaders to issue a statement urging the White House to circumvent Congress.
On msnbc’s “Morning Joe,” Eugene Robinson asked Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a close ally to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), to help reconcile the contradiction. The Republican congressman’s response was striking. For those who can’t watch clips online:
ROBINSON: There was a contradiction yesterday that I’m still struggling to understand. The leadership statement, when the [border bill] didn’t pass essentially said, ‘Well, there are plenty of administrative things that President Obama can do and should be doing at the border, and that was a day after the House voted to sue President Obama for taking administrative actions.
COLE: (Laughs)
ROBINSON: So, how does that square?
COLE: Well, I’m not going to disagree with you because it’s a point I made myself in conference. Look, you can’t say on the one hand that the president’s overreaching by acting without legislative authority and direction, and then refuse to give him legislative authority and direction in another area. So, I don’t disagree with what you have to say at all.
Oh. Confronted with the obvious contradiction at the heart of the Republican game plan, it appears the Republican response is effectively, “Yep, our position is incoherent.” Good to know. [Update: Even Charles Krauthammer is getting annoyed, telling Fox News viewers yesterday, “It is ridiculous to sue the president on a Wednesday because he oversteps the law … and then on a Thursday say that he should overstep the law.”]
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-wants-obama-circumvent-congress-less-and-more
Eric Cantor exits stage right
08/01/14 10:42 AM—UPDATED 08/01/14 10:47 AM
By Steve Benen
Two months after a shocking primary defeat, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) officially ended his tenure as House Majority Leader yesterday. He will not, however, remain on Capitol Hill as a rank-and-file member – the Virginia Republican announced overnight that he’s resigning his seat, effective August 18.
Cantor told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he will resign from Congress early to “make sure that the constituents in the 7th District will have a voice in what will be a very consequential lame-duck session.”
Cantor asked Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to call a special election in the district to coincide with the general election expected for November 4, according to the newspaper, allowing the winner to take office immediately rather than with the next Congress in January.
“That way he will also have seniority, and that will help the interests of my constituents,” Cantor added in his interview with the Times-Dispatch. Virginia is losing much of its congressional seniority this year, due to the resignations of Republican Rep. Frank Wolf and Democratic Rep. Jim Moran.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/eric-cantor-exits-stage-right
Ted Cruz doesn’t want credit for destruction in his wake
08/01/14 11:21 AM
By Steve Benen
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) met privately with a group of House Republicans on Wednesday to urge them to ignore their own leadership and oppose their party’s border bill. Less than a day later, House GOP leaders were forced to pull their preferred legislation – too many of House Speaker John Boehner’s members were listening to Cruz, not him.
When no one seemed sure what the House majority would do next, Democratic lawmakers were heard joking with reporters that they should ask Cruz, since he seems to be in control of the lower chamber.
Robert Costa had a fascinating report overnight on the behind-the-scenes efforts, including details from the Wednesday night meeting in Cruz’s office, though the far-right Texan apparently doesn’t want to be held responsible for his handiwork.
In an interview, Cruz said that he did not dictate what the members should do, but only reaffirmed his position against Boehner’s plan.
“The suggestion by some that House members are unable to stand up and fight for their own conservative principles is offensive and belittling to House conservatives,” Cruz said. “They know what they believe and it would be absurd for anyone to try to tell them what to think.”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/ted-cruz-doesnt-want-credit-destruction-his-wake
White Female Privilege? Google Employee Keeps Job After Pro-Slavery Jokes
July 31, 2014
It’s hard to count the number of black women who claim to have been reprimanded or fired for wearing natural hair, but one Google employee frequently goes on nasty Twitter tirades, and no one seems to notice. Is this what they call white female privilege?
Justine Tunney was once a liberal protester at Occupy Wall Street, claims Gawker, but now she spends her spare time posting tweets offensive to both black and poor people.
Tunney once claimed the OWS Twitter account and announced herself as the group’s rightful leader.. then something changed.
She went from being some sort of liberal firebrand to this right wing, vile caricature of her former self. In one tweet, she suggests that poor people be given “soylent” so that they can be more productive and suggests that the “bottom 1/3 of population should be live-in servants for the top 1/3.”
Tunney also says in her tweets that welfare should be inverted, and given to the best instead of the worst.
Tunney is probably running some sort of satire account, even though she responds to a tweet by saying, “I’m not trolling, minimum wage makes servants unaffordable for 99% of the families.”
At one point, she even jokes about slavery, saying “at least slaves got free food and housing.”
Even though she’s probably joking on her Twitter account, could a black employee make n**i jokes or stereotype white people without fear of losing their paycheck? Recall that a black consultant for a Republican campaign was fired last week for merely discussing white privilege on Facebook.
http://naturallymoi.com/2014/07/news/white-female-privilege-google-employee-keeps-job-after-pro-slavery-jokes/
Alicia Keys Says Baby #2 Is Coming Much Sooner Than You May Think | Healthy Black Woman
August 1, 2014
By: Krystle Crossman
Alicia Keys is celebrating a very happy four years with her husband Swizz Beats. She wanted to tell the world about her anniversary and also to drop a little bomb on everyone. She tweeted a photo of her and her husband but it was not one that you would expect to see. He was dressed in a nice white and gray ensemble and she was dressed in a beautiful white Grecian gown. Lying under that Grecian gown was a very large baby bump! Her tweet read “Happy Anniversary to the love of my life @therealswizzz! And to make it even sweeter we’ve been blessed with another angel on the way! You make me happier than I have ever known! Here’s to many many more years of the best parts of life!”
The 33 year-old songstress is already a mother to one child named Egypt who was born three months after they got married. The couple is extremely happy about this new bundle of joy and cannot wait until the baby is born. Swizz posted, “Love is life & life is love and we’re so excited for another GIFT from up above.
http://naturallymoi.com/2014/08/uncategorized/alicia-keys-says-baby-2-is-coming-much-sooner-than-you-may-think-healthy-black-woman/
Abandoning the pretense of seriousness
08/01/14 12:48 PM—UPDATED 08/01/14 01:42 PM
By Steve Benen
The new House Republican leadership team, facing its first real test yesterday, failed miserably. They backed a bill that ostensibly addresses the humanitarian crisis at the U.S./Mexico border, but the bill died before it even reached the floor. Rank-and-file Republican lawmakers had rejected their own party’s bill.
But instead of leaving town for Congress’ five-week break, GOP lawmakers met this morning to work something out, and by all appearances, Speaker John Boehner and his team effectively told right-wing members, “Tell us what you want and we’ll say yes.” The result is a new bill, set to pass this afternoon.
House Republicans are taking a second shot at passing a border funding package Friday after party leaders failed to whip enough support among conservatives and were forced to pull legislation Thursday. The new version of the bill will add $35 million to offer states that dispatch National Guard service members to the border, adding up to $694 million in emergency funding relief to cope with the flood of unaccompanied minors streaming into the United States.
Unwilling to leave Washington without first passing a border package, lawmakers aim to vote on the revised legislation Friday along with a separate vote on legislation to undercut laws protecting young undocumented immigrants.
To appreciate what the House GOP has come up with, note that Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), two of the fiercest opponents of the bill that died yesterday, think this new proposal is awesome.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/abandoning-the-pretense-seriousness
NBA star says Evelyn Lozada ran off after the money ran out
August 1, 2014
BY: John “Hennry” Harris
Before Evelyn Lozada became “famous” on the reality show Basketball Wives, before her and Chad Ochocinco ever became a reality show train wreck, before Evelyn hit the jackpot by having a baby with Carl Crawford and his $142 million baseball contract, Lozada was in a 10-year relationship with Antoine Walker.
Walker, who has made over $100 million in his basketball career, was engaged to Lozada, admits that he easily spent a “couple of million” on his ex-fiancèe and even her family benefited from his generosity, but when he fell on hard times financially he accuses her of bouncing on him and never looking back.
In an interview with the “Russ Parr Morning Show” he claims Lozada was happy with him and living well when he had money.
http://naturallymoi.com/2014/08/celebrities/nba-star-says-evelyn-lozada-ran-off-after-the-money-ran-out/
A nice article on behind the scenes of cover photo shoots with FLOTUS, focusing on the new Essence cover:
Face Up Online: Essence
The First Lady is first in magazine covers.
Michelle Obama has become a top magazine cover celebrity, arguably the top celebrity in terms of breadth and frequency of appearance. I can’t think of anyone else who makes such a stylish splash every time she appears on a cover, and who also appears on so many different types of covers. I’m sure Baby Boomers who still adore Jackie Kennedy will disagree, but for my money Obama is by far the all-time leading First Lady in terms of iconic magazine cover appearances.
The August 2014 cover of Essence features Obama on what is her fifth cover for the magazine. The photograph is by Kwaku Alston, who has shot a number of her covers for various magazines, including the October 2011 issue of Essence, which is one of my favorites of the First Lady. On this cover, designed by Essence creative director Erika Perry, Obama is wearing a dress by the young American designer Azede Jean-Pierre. Alston’s experience photographing Obama shows; she is relaxed, engaging and her smile jumps off the cover. Magazines struggle to get the kind of relaxed intimacy from celebrities that Obama consistently exudes in her cover shoots. And this cover exemplifies that…
http://www.foliomag.com/2014/face-online-essence#.U9u3VZRX-ub
FLOTUS!
Town
As McDonnell Burns:
On today’s episode:
Pictures reveal Bob was chillin like a villain in Jonnie’s Ferrari
Text messages reveal Bob was hitting Jonnie up for another loan
Jonnie’s wife Celeste did not know Jonnie was giving all these clothes and money to Maureen and paying for weddings
Jonnie left Celeste waiting in the car while Maureen was inside the Mansion hitting Jonnie up for checks
Maureen’s assistant Mary-Shea was unhappy working for Maureen and trying to hit Jonnie up for a job
Town
OMG!!!
Maureen McDonnell sent Johnnie an email after the earthquake in Virginia saying “I just felt the earth move and I wasn’t having sex!”
UH UH UH
Town
As McDonnell Burns:
On today’s episode:
Pictures reveal Bob was chillin like a villain in Jonnie’s Ferrari
Text messages reveal Bob was hitting Jonnie up for another loan
Jonnie’s wife Celeste did not know Jonnie was giving all these clothes and money to Maureen and paying for weddings
Jonnie left Celeste waiting in the car while Maureen was inside the Mansion hitting Jonnie up for checks
Maureen’s assistant Mary-Shea was unhappy working for Maureen and trying to hit Jonnie up for a job
https://twitter.com/scarylawyerguy/status/495222176090685440
https://twitter.com/Lib_Librarian/status/495036712230199297/photo/1
https://twitter.com/Renzo_Soprano/status/493021863757754368/photo/1
Moment of Silence to be Held Friday on 7th Anniversary of Bridge Collapse
Friday, Aug. 1, 2014, marks the seventh year since the catastrophic Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis.
The structure fell into the Mississippi River during rush hour on this day in 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145 more.
Friday night, the public is invited to take part in a moment of silence to remember those victims. The gathering is at the bridge memorial site next to Gold Medal Park at 6:05 p.m., which is the time the bridge fell.
http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/S3520980.shtml?cat=10151
Nearly 50 African heads of state and government will gather next week for an unprecedented meeting in Washington that has high hopes of reframing the continent’s image, from one defined by conflict and disease to one of a region ripe with economic promise.
The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit — which marks the first time an American president will have convened Africa’s leaders in a single conference — faces major hurdles ranging from the ongoing distraction of other foreign conflicts to domestic budget constraints. Obama administration officials have deliberately downplayed expectations, saying the event will not conclude with the sort of flashy financial commitments that Chinese leaders have unveiled at African summits held in Beijing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/african-leaders-to-convene-in-dc-for-summit-focused-on-economic-potential/2014/08/01/b64ed4d8-1813-11e4-85b6-c1451e622637_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1
Richmond-area school to keep ‘Rebels’ team name
By T. Rees Shapiro July 30
A Richmond-area public high school will keep “Rebels” as its team name after a student-led protest called attention to plans by the administration to field a new mascot without ties to the Confederacy.
Alecsys Brown, a rising senior at Douglas Southall Freeman High School in Henrico County, said that she presented a petition with more than 1,200 signatures to Principal Anne L. Poates on Tuesday. Brown has led an effort to keep the Rebels team name and to reinstate the “Rebel Man” Confederate soldier as the school’s mascot for athletics.
Brown said that during the meeting, Poates told her that a plan to introduce a new mascot, a lion, had been scrapped. But the Rebel Man, ousted as mascot some years ago, is not being returned to the sidelines at Freeman athletic contests.
……………
Jenks said the lion is now one of several possible mascot candidates, along with a bulldog and a bull.
Freeman High’s enrollment tops 1,600; black students make up 36 percent of the total Henrico County school population.
Brown said that although she is disappointed that the Rebel Man will not be reinstated, she is happy that the lion is no longer the leading mascot candidate.
She acknowledged that the Rebel Man, who in decades past roamed the sidelines at Freeman football games, toting a Confederate flag and a rifle, has troubling historical associations. But she maintained that the mascot was a positive nod to the region’s Southern heritage.
“I was aware that the Rebel Man might not be reinstated because of how controversial it is,” Brown said.
She said she was discouraged by members of the community who found her petition to be racially charged. “In no way did I want to come off like a racist,” she said. “The mascot we had might be a racist figure or represent slavery to some people, but to us it does not personify that in any way. It was meant to be a way to represent us in a positive way, not in any negative way.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/richmond-area-school-to-keep-rebels-team-name/2014/07/30/336030b0-17e8-11e4-85b6-c1451e622637_story.html
From TOWN:
LOLGOP @LOLGOP · 10h
This President has overstepped his authority, says the Senator from Texas who has appointed himself Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Arapaho415 @arapaho415
Follow
Sudanese woman spared death sentence for renouncing Islam greeted by kin in ManchesterNH chanting “Long Live America”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28596412 …
6:09 AM – 1 Aug 2014
Bloomberg News ✔ @BloombergNews
Follow
BREAKING: U.S. July payrolls rise 209,000, jobless rate rises to 6.2%
7:31 AM – 1 Aug 2014
Auntie Felicia’s Cooking Show is What We Need
[ 73 ] July 30, 2014 | Luvvie
There are times I come across silver and gold on these internets and tonight is one of those times. I have been introduced to Felicia O’Dell (aka Auntie Fee) and her resourceful cooking. My life has been changed and I am made better for it.
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2014/07/auntie-felicia-odell-cooking-show.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Luvvie+%28Awesomely+Luvvie%29
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone! :-)