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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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Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Last Call For Boehner’s Big Backfire
The logic here is that House Speaker John Boehner doesn’t want to impeach President Obama, but that the 100% politically motivated lawsuit to stop President Obama from taking executive action will motivate his base to vote in November without all the messy impeachment bits.
Turns out that as with nearly everything else, Orange Julius has miscalculated badly on that front. Greg Sargent:
As I reported the other day, Dem leaders are planning an aggressive effort during the August recess and beyond to draw attention to the House GOP lawsuit against President Obama and turn it into a positive in the 2014 elections. The idea is to cast the GOP as extreme and committed to destructive governing — and contrast that with Dems’ concrete economic policy agenda, to lure disaffected swing voters and get out Dem voter groups to offset that hideous “midterm dropoff problem” Dems face.
The new McClatchy-Marist poll finds that the lawsuit may help Dems do just that. Aaron Blake finds a gem in the poll — the lawsuit motivates Dem voters more than GOP ones:
Americans say 58 percent to 34 percent that the GOP should not sue Obama, and moderates agree 67-22. Moderates also say by a 50-25 margin that the lawsuit makes them more likely to back Democrats in 2014.
What’s even worse for Republicans when it comes to both impeachment and the lawsuit is that they don’t even have the effect you might think on the GOP base. They do, however, motivate liberals…on the lawsuit matter, liberals are 9 points more motivated to back Democrats (72 percent) than conservatives are to back Republicans (63 percent).
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2014/08/last-call-for-boehners-big-backfire.html
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Like A Kansas Tornado, Con’t
Kansas GOP Gov. Sam Brownback is trapped in a storm of his own making, and the forecast doesn’t look good at all for his political career.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R), trails Democratic challenger state Rep. Paul Davis by 10 percentage points, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll.
The poll, released Tuesday, found Davis, the state House minority leader, leading Brownback 51 percent to 41 percent. Another 3 percent said they preferred another candidate and 5 percent said they were undecided. The poll, by the Republican-leaning Rasmussen, is the latest in a series of signs showing Brownback in serious trouble in his re-election campaign.
Brownback’s little-known primary challenger, Jennifer Winn, did surprisingly well in the primary against the governor, despite her long odds.
Before this Rasmussen poll, the TPM Polltracker average gave Davis a 6 point lead over Brownback.
A Republican incumbent losing by ten in a Rasmussen poll probably translates closer to 12 or 13 in reality. Brownback is in brutal amounts of trouble politically.
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2014/08/like-kansas-tornado-cont.html
‘Go Ahead and Shoot Me’: The Veteran Who Defied Ferguson’s Cops
On the third day of demonstrations over Michael Brown’s killing at the hands of police, one man did what no other protester could.
FERGUSON, Mo. — David Hoech was the last, and most unexpected, protester of the night. The 74-year-old Vietnam veteran drove 60 miles to Ferguson where for the last three days unrest has gripped the town following Michael Brown’s killing by a cop. Hoech approached the line of police and SWAT vehicles in his sedan late Tuesday, turned around, and parked. When he opened the door, he leaned on his oxygen tank as police shone a spotlight on him. He walked across West Florissant Avenue, recently vacated by a large, boisterous, yet peaceful crowd that told police “We are Mike Brown.”
David Hoech also had something to say.
“The only thing that matters in all of this is that mother who lost her son,” he said not far from the police line. “I want to give her a hug and tell her I love her. I have four kids and eight grandkids and I haven’t had to bury any one of them. What she’s going through must be terrible.”
If Hoech had shown up hours before, the police response might have been different. Following earlier pleas for calm from the likes of Al Sharpton, the situation became charged just after 7 p.m. Tuesday. For the next three hours, a small group taunted law enforcement. Several times, young men approached police only to have red dots from sniper rifles painted onto their chests. At one point, however, police showed tremendous restraint when a car drove nearly to the line, only to turn around after panicked screams from the officers outfitted in riot gear.
………………………..
I came out here to say what’s right and what’s wrong, and this is wrong,” Sharon Whitaker said. The 57-year-old Gulf War veteran at one point knelt on the pavement in front of police, who were in a protective position behind two SWAT trucks. “We got to watch these kids die and it don’t make no sense. Just because they live in a certain neighborhood doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a chance.”
Brown’s chance is a well-remembered memory here. He was to attend college on Monday but instead, as attorney Benjamin Crump noted at a press conference with Sharpton, Brown’s family was preparing for a funeral. The family has secured the services of Crump, who represented Trayvon Martin’s family.
Brown has taken on legendary status in Ferguson, as the spray paint marking the spot where he died indicates. “I am legend,” it reads.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/13/go-ahead-and-shoot-me-the-veteran-who-defied-ferguson-s-cops.html
Patti LaBelle joins Angela Bassett and Gabourey Sidibe for ‘American Horror Story’
by Chris Witherspoon | August 13, 2014 at 11:12 AM
Music legend Patti LaBelle is joining the cast of FX’s critically acclaimed series, American Horror Story.
LaBelle joins existing cast members Angela Bassett, Gabourey Sidibe, Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates for American Horror Story Season 4, which will focus on the last American freak show and will be set in Jupiter, Florida, in the 1950’s.
LaBelle will play Sidibe’s mother, a local townie, who begins to unravel the deadly secrets of Twisty the clown killer.
LaBelle is the second music icon to appear on the series. Stevie Nicks guest starred as herself and appeared on two episodes on Coven, the third installment of American Horror Story.
American Horror Story: Freak Show debuts in October on FX.
http://thegrio.com/2014/08/13/patti-labelle-joins-angela-bassett-and-gabourey-sidibe-for-american-horror-story/
Today is Chipsticks at TOD’s Birthday.
Go and leave birthday wishes:
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/08/13/happy-birthday-chiparooooo/#comment-1108518
https://twitter.com/moody/status/499558738634620930/photo/1
Hagel changes hair policy after controversy
Aug. 12, 2014 – 06:00AM
Dreadlocks, cornrows, twisted braids and other hairstyles popular among African American women will be more accepted across the military after a forcewide review of hairstyle policies prompted several changes, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.
The three-month review came after a spate of complaints that service-level grooming policies were racially biased against black women who choose to wear their hair naturally curly rather than use heat or chemicals to straighten it.
“Each service reviewed its hairstyle policies to ensure standards are fair and respectful while also meeting military requirements,” Hagel wrote in a letter to lawmakers on Capitol Hill notifying them of the changes Monday. “These reviews were informed by a panel of military personnel of mixed demographics reflective of our diverse force.”
Three services — the Army, Navy and Air Force — have authorized additional hair styles, Hagel said.
The Marine Corps agreed to hold a special meeting of its uniform board later this year and is conducting a forcewide survey about whether the “twist” or “dreadlocks” styles should be permitted while in uniform.
The review concluded that the terms “matted and unkempt,” which the Army and Air Force used to describe some dreadlocks and braids, are “offensive” and were removed from service grooming policies, Hagel said.
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140812/NEWS07/308120068/Hagel-changes-hair-policy-after-controversy
Black and Hispanic Kids Have a 50 Percent Chance of Developing Diabetes
A major new study finds diabetes risks skyrocketing for all Americans, but especially among certain racial and ethnic groups.
—By Julia Lurie| Wed Aug. 13, 2014 6:00 AM EDT
The good news: According to a study published Wednesday in the Lancet, American children diagnosed with diabetes can now expect to live more than 70 years with the disease. The bad news: Black and Hispanic individuals have about a 50 percent chance of developing diabetes over the course of their lifetimes, and Americans overall have a 40 percent chance. The authors of the study, epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, used mortality data of nearly 600,000 Americans from 1985 to 2011 to determine the risk that Americans face of developing type 1 or type 2 diabetes, categorized by race
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/08/black-hispanic-children-diabetes-rate
With Burke’s win, the three biggest months of Scott Walker’s political career begin
By Sean Sullivan August 12 at 9:58 PM
No discussion about the 2016 presidential campaign would be complete without Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). But that could change in just 12 weeks.
That’s because Walker, a national conservative star, faces a tough reelection campaign. The general election officially kicked off for him Tuesday with ex-state commerce secretary Mary Burke’s easy win in the Democratic primary.
No other potential 2016 hopeful has as much riding on the midterm election as Walker. If he wins on Nov. 4, he will be well-positioned to move toward a campaign for president as a hero of the right and a proven swing state victor. But a loss would vanquish him from the short list and mark the end of a tumultuous tenure as governor of one the country’s most politically divided states.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/08/12/the-three-biggest-months-of-scott-walkers-political-career-begin-today/?wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1
I got 5 on it. Go Mary.
Natalie Jackson @NatJackEsq · 6h
OPD officer fired 23 shots from AR-15 —-> Grand jury indicts Orlando cop over shots fired into car
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-orlando-cop-indicted-
‘Little White Lie’: New documentary explores biracial woman’s quest on racial identity
by Charing Ball | August 9, 2014 at 10:49 AM
It’s a story which many might find far-fetched: a biracial black woman led to believe most of her life that she was a white Jewish woman.
However, this very thing happened to filmmaker Lacey Schwartz, and she is telling her remarkable story in a documentary titled Little White Lie, which is currently making its way through the film festival circuit — most recently the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia, where she was on hand to talk about the film.
In this narrative, Schwartz uses interviews with her mom Peggy, her dad Robert and other family members and friends along with personal family video and photographs to help shape the story of her quintessential “all Jewish middle-class family” from Woodstock, NY, who for years harbored the secret that Schwartz was conceived through an affair between her mother and Rodney Parker, famed basketball scout from Brooklyn. Parker was also a close family friend.
Looking at earlier pictures of Schwartz, particularly her light brown skin, it is hard to imagine how such a secret could survive scrutiny for so long, particularly in a town like Woodstock, in which racial makeup is 94 percent white and only one-percent black. In the film, Schwartz talked about the curiosity from fellow schoolmates about her real origins. She also recalled an incident at a function at a synagogue, where a Rabbi welcomed her as a visiting Ethiopian Jew.
In spite of the questions and theories, Schwartz said that it was her parents who were quick to dispel any suggestions of ethnicity other than white and Jewish. In fact, for years Schwartz was told that the dark skin was the result of a recessive gene, brought on by a Sicilian grandfather on her father’s side.
http://thegrio.com/2014/08/09/little-white-lie-new-documentary-explores-biracial-womans-quest-on-racial-identity/
The right’s competing targets for an impeachment drive
08/12/14 11:07 AM
By Steve Benen
The Republican message on impeachment is something of a mess. For every GOP leader who dismisses such talk as a Democratic “scam,” there are two more Republicans taking the idea seriously. For example, in Alaska last week, two GOP Senate candidates touched on the idea – and the more credible of the two, former state Attorney General Dan Sullivan, said he would take impeachment “very, very seriously” if elected and “would focus on it” if it reached the Senate.
So much for the notion of a Democratic “scam.”
Mike Huckabee is further helping exemplify the confusion. Last week, the former Arkansas governor said President Obama “absolutely” deserves to be impeached, adding there’s “no doubt that he has done plenty of things worthy of impeachment.” And then over the weekend, Huckabee added, “Let me be very clear. I never said he should be impeached.”
While Republicans work on sorting this out, some of their brethren are prepared to move on – not to other issues, but to other executive-branch officials they’d like to see impeached.
Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) doesn’t want conservatives to try to impeach President Obama, but he supports targeting Attorney General Eric Holder.
“It is clear, with the Harry Reid Senate, impeachment of the president is not going anywhere,” Cruz told National Review Online during an interview at the 2014 RedState Gathering in Fort Worth, Texas. “If the House of Representatives were to impeach the attorney general, that process would shine much needed light on the indefensible abuse of power by the attorney general,” he says.
And what, pray tell, is the evidence of Eric Holder abusing his power? Cruz says he’s still outraged by the IRS “scandal,” a controversy that evaporated a year ago when no one could find any evidence of wrongdoing by anyone. The far-right senator nevertheless suspects Holder of “obstruction of justice” for reasons he has not been able to explain.
(Others on the far-right have different targets in mind. Rep. Michele Bachmann last week raised the prospect of impeaching Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.)
No good can come of this.
To be sure, Cruz conceded that he doesn’t expect Holder to be removed from office by the Senate, even if House Republicans impeach him. But the Texas Republican – who has a little too much influence over the direction of the lower chamber – told National Review he’d like to see the House pursue articles of impeachment against the Attorney General anyway in order to “shine a powerful light” on whatever it is Cruz finds important.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-rights-competing-targets-impeachment-drive
Republicans and the fine art of fake news
08/13/14 08:37 AM
By Steve Benen
Let’s say you’re a voter in central California and you go online to look for information about a competitive congressional race. You stumble upon a website with a generic sounding name, “Central Valley Update,” and find some news coverage that casts the Democrat in a very negative light. It looks like a news story; it’s presented as a news story; and you might well be tempted to perceive it as a news story.
Except, it isn’t. Down at the very bottom of the page, in a small font, readers can learn that the “Central Valley Update,” is actually “paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee.”
Yes, as Shane Goldmacher reported yesterday, the Republicans’ House campaign arm “is now in the faux-news game.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which came under fire earlier this year for a deceptive series of fake Democratic candidate websites that it later changed after public outcry, has launched a new set of deceptive websites, this time designed to look like local news sources.
The NRCC has created about two dozen of these new faux news sites targeting Democrats, both challengers and incumbents, and is promoting them across the country with localized Google search ads.
The NRCC’s single-page sites are designed to appear to be a local news portal, with logos like “North County Update” or “Central Valley Update.” The articles begin in the impartial voice of a political fact-checking site, hoping to lure in readers. “We’ll take a look at her record and let you decide,” starts one. Then they gradually morph into more biting language.
It seems pretty obvious the National Republican Congressional Committee is trying to deceive the public, though an NRCC official characterized the fake-news initiative as simply “a new and effective way to disseminate information.”
This is the second time this year the NRCC’s efforts to push the limits of online propriety have caused a stir. In February, the Republican campaign committee created another series of misleading websites – the sites led visitors to believe they were financially supporting Dem candidates, when in fact the money was ending up in the NRCC’s coffers.
But these fake-news websites are arguably more bizarre.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/republicans-and-the-fine-art-fake-news
As GOP goes right, Obama eyes big move on immigration
08/13/14 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
Last week, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the chair of the House Republican Conference, chatted with Reason, a libertarian outlet, about developments on Capitol Hill. Of particular interest, the House GOP leader flatly denied that Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has taken the lead on shaping Republican policy on immigration.
“He does not – his position does not reflect the broad view of Republicans,” McMorris Rodgers said in reference to King.
It was hard to take the argument seriously. Just a week prior, House Republicans ignored their own Speaker and rejected their own party’s border bill, prompting GOP leaders to turn the entire issue over to the right-wing Iowan and his allies. King, arguably Congress’ most vituperative opponent of immigration, boasted, “The changes brought into this are ones I’ve developed and advocated for over the past two years. It’s like I ordered it off the menu.”
If that was the turning point, Republicans are now stepping on the gas. Jonathan Weisman reports today that party officials “pressing for conciliation to attract Hispanic and immigrant votes” are obviously losing to their intra-party rivals.
“When you put Raúl Labrador, Steve King and Michele Bachmann together writing an immigration bill, there’s damage done, no question,” said Carlos Gutierrez, a commerce secretary under President George W. Bush who led the failed war room in 2007 trying to get a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws passed. […]
[O]n Capitol Hill, the Tea Party wing continues to drive the party’s agenda.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-goes-right-obama-eyes-big-move-immigration
https://twitter.com/amk4obama/status/499517499285590016/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TIME/status/499393691308421120/photo/1
https://twitter.com/WSJphotos/status/499389847954796545/photo/1
https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/499385950817247232/photo/1
https://twitter.com/DETAILS/status/498997435176210434/photo/1
LOL Thanks for bringing the “DETAILS” to us this morning, Rikyrah!
https://twitter.com/drkent/status/499297605453877248/photo/1
Good Morning, Everyone :)
The petition now has 58,268 signatures.
https://www.change.org/petitions/president-barack-obama-please-enact-new-federal-laws-to-protect-citizens-from-police-violence-and-misconduct
Here is what you will find to read at the petition site on Change.org:
I love good police officers. I have them in my immediate family. Like all civil servants they are underpaid and under-resourced for a difficult job.
However, a long and completely avoidable history of violence by police officers has killed too many innocent civilians, caused a destructive level of mistrust in the community, and is causing a rising tide of anger, frustration, and despair among millions of good people.
This petition is for Amadou Diallo – shot at 41 times. An innocent, hardworking man simply reaching for his wallet, Diallo should be alive today.
This petition is for Sean Bell – shot at over 50 times and killed on his wedding day.
This petition is for Oscar Grant – handcuffed with his hands behind his back for breaking a fight on the subway – Oscar was shot in the back and killed by a police officer while sitting down.
This petition is for Chavis Carter – arrested for marijuana, searched, handcuffed with his hands behind his back, and put into the back of a police car. Chavis is then said to have somehow killed himself with a gun.
This petition is for Wendell Allen – just 20 years old – police busted into a house and shot him in the heart – killing him. He wasn’t who they were looking for.
This petition is for Eric Garner – choked to death on YouTube for the entire world to see. While the coroner has deemed his death a homicide, we must change the laws to prevent this from ever happening again.
This petition is for these men, and for many other unarmed men and women who have been killed by the police. It is unacceptable for the police to serve as JUDGE, JURY, and EXECUTIONER. The recent murders of Eric Garner, Michael Brown and John Crawford this past month at the hands of police have so inflamed communities across the country that we believe we are reaching a tipping point of anger.
It is our hope to channel this collective anger into effective policy solutions that will not only make life safer for citizens, but will restore confidence in police, and bring hope to hopeless families and communities devastated by these egregious acts of violence.
Our 5 Policy Solutions Are As Follows:
1. The shooting and killing of an unarmed citizen who does not have an outstanding warrant for a violent crime should be a federal offense.
2. Choke holds and chest compressions by police (what the coroner lists as the official cause of death for Eric Garner) should be federally banned.
3. All police officers must wear forward-facing body cameras while on duty. They cost just $99 and are having a signficant, positive impact in several cities around the United States and the world.
4. Suspensions for violations of any of the above offenses should be UNPAID.
5. Convictions for the above offenses should have their own set of mandatory minimum penalties. The men who killed Diallo, Bell, Grant, Carter, Garner, and others all walk free while over 1,000,000 non violent offenders are currently incarcerated in American prisons.
Good Morning, Everyone.
SG2,
I just found the video tape of this Rachel Maddow news story:
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/anger-in-ferguson-follows-record-of-racism-317652547718
This is the one you referred to yesterday when you wrote:
Listening to Rachel Maddow. I’m truly sick. I mean sick. She’s talking about a whistle blower in the St Louis County police depart. They had a “Lets have a black day”. A day where cops were to arrest as many black people as they could.
Racism running very deep. “Lets have a black day?. I’m totally weak. Drained. Just brace yourselves for Ferguson.
Good Morning, Yahtc & Everyone! Thanks Yahtc. We’ll get it downloaded.
Morning, everyone! I’m downloading the video now.
Bring it, SG2. BRING.IT.
The video is uploading to Youtube. It’s going really slow. I have to leave in a bit if it’s not finished before I leave then I’ll publish when I get back.
Super!
I am sleepy and am going to lie down a bit, but will be back to see the download.