Jingle Bells is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh” in the autumn of 1857. Even though it is commonly thought of as a Christmas song, it was actually written and sung for Thanksgiving.[1] It was mistakenly branded as a Christmas song because being extremely popular at Thanksgiving, it was sung again around Christmas.
A Deficit of Dignity
DEC. 4, 2014
We know President Obama wants a lasting deal on immigration, something to make taxes fairer, a little help from a caveman Congress on climate change. If he’s lucky, he might get some of the above. But one thing his worst opponents have never given him, and probably never will, is respect. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
From the day he took office, his legitimacy has been challenged, his American birth has been suspect, and he’s been personally insulted, lectured, yelled at and disrespected in public, by public figures, in a way that few if any American presidents have ever faced.
The latest example of this may seem a trifle — the crude comments of a Republican congressional staffer, Elizabeth Lauten, about the first family. She resigned after making fun of Sasha and Malia Obama last month. And while Lauten certainly proved her shortcomings as a communications director, making the story about her instead of some platitudinous deed of her boss, Representative Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, her swift resignation was seen as validation for the last line of civility still standing in uncivilized Washington.
The impulse insults that flow from social media are invariably dismissible, and often forgivable. This is your brain without filter. Add an extra dimension for the young and impetuous. But overlooked in Lauten’s Facebook takedown of the Obama kids was a lecture on their family values:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/05/opinion/a-deficit-of-dignity.html?_r=1
Obama romance movie ‘Southside With You’ is in the works
by theGrio | December 5, 2014 at 4:46 PM
The search is on for an actor to play a young Barack Obama.
Southside With You, a new drama, is set to explore to day Barack Obama took his future wife, Michelle Robinson, out across Chicago’s south side for their first date. The story goes that the first year Harvard Law student fell for the beautiful, younger lawyer when he took a summer job as an associate at the firm where she worked.
During the date, they took a long walk, visited the Art Institute, and saw Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing. On the 25th anniversary of the movie, the president described his recollection of the date: “I took her to this new movie that everybody was talking about, directed by a guy that not that many people had heard of, but it was supposed to be pretty good.”
Richard Tanne will take this story to its height with his own screenplay. Tracey Bing, a former Warner Independent executive, and Stephanie Allain, a Columbia Pictures alumnus, will produce the movie.
Bing said of the opportunity, “Stephanie and I are excited to produce this smart and timeless film that sheds light on one of the great love stories of our time. Richard really captures the essence of that romantic connection between Barack and Michelle that is so evident in the way that they look at each other. We are looking forward to finding the perfect Barack.”
The team has their Michelle in Tika Sumpter, of Get on Up fame, but the search for an actor to portray the young future president is not yet completed.
http://thegrio.com/2014/12/05/obama-romance-movie-southside-with-you/
https://twitter.com/amellarrieux/status/539409111306481664/photo/1
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
That moment Romney said he would get unemployment down to 6% in 2016. President Obama has gotten it to 5.8% and it’s not even 2016 yet.
LOL
No matter what they do, they cannot touch him.
https://twitter.com/sonsandbros/status/540915631693250560/photo/1
Heartbreaking: 4 year old feels the sting of racism
WHY should a 4 year old know about this?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
Mean ass ignorant parents.
The child that said that to her has some very sick parents!
It’s disgusting! Teaching little kids to hate.
Haley and Megan are best friends and nothing is going to change that.
Sad. And the little 4 year old will probably remember this forever.
It hurts my heart to see her pain. Poor baby crying big drops of tears.
Yeah, I know. Little kids have such fragile emotions.
It is so heartbreaking.
Oh, precious little girl I love you and want to hug you. You are a sweet, beautiful girl.
I am so sorry a child said that to you….that child must not have very nice parents.
Just know that you will always have friends. I think you are wonderful!!!
A friend in our community gave my husband a box of mixed fruit. Apples, oranges, tangerines, grapefruits. Yummy! How do you eat your grapefruit? Salt or sprinkles of sugar? :)
You cut all the skin off, cut into the grooves for the individual slices, put it into a bowl, and I put a half-packet of Splenda on the grapefruit.
I peel mine and sometimes eat with sprinkles of salt and sometimes sugar, depending on how I feel for that day. Either way…it’s so good!
U.S. job growth soars, tops 300k
12/05/14 08:50 AM—UPDATED 12/05/14 08:52 AM
By Steve Benen
Any Republicans asking “where are the jobs?” today should probably have their heads examined.
The new report from Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the U.S. economy added 321,000 jobs in November. The overall unemployment rate stayed at 5.8 and remains at its lowest point in over six years.
Once again, public-sector layoffs did not drag down the overall employment figures. Though jobs reports over the last few years have shown monthly government job losses, in November, the private sector added 314,000 while the public sector added 7,000. The latter may not sound like much, but after several years in which that total was negative, it’s at least somewhat heartening.
As for the revisions, all of the news was excellent: September’s totals were revised up from 256,000 to 271,000, while October’s figures were revised up, from 214,000 to 243,000. Combined, that’s an additional 44,000 jobs.
All told, this is one of the best jobs report Americans have seen in many years. There were some spikes in early 2010, but those were largely the result of temporary Census hiring, while this new data points to genuine, robust job growth. It remains very difficult for President Obama’s critics to explain these numbers: the hiring boom is underway after tax increases and full implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
All told, over the last 12 months, the U.S. economy has added over 2.73 million jobs overall and 2.66 million in the private sector. What’s more, November was the 50th consecutive month of positive job growth – the best stretch since 1939 – and the 56th consecutive month in which we’ve seen private-sector job growth – the longest on record.
At this point, with the calendar year nearly over, 2014 will easily be the best year for U.S. job creation since 1999.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/us-job-growth-soars-tops-300k
https://twitter.com/NYDailyNews/status/540704660110446592/photo/1
https://twitter.com/RealTouchingPic/status/499936071686184962/photo/1
House GOP approves measure blocking deportation relief
12/04/14 03:51 PM—UPDATED 12/04/14 04:04 PM
By Steve Benen
It’d be an overstatement to say that House Republicans have completely ignored immigration during the entirety of the 113th Congress. Sure, the GOP majority in the lower chamber killed comprehensive immigration reform, and Republican leaders broke their word about acting to improve the system, but they’ve actually passed three important bills on the issue.
The first was in June 2013, when the chamber voted for Rep. Steve King’s (R-Iowa) measure to defund President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that allows Dream Act kids to stay in the country.
The second was in August 2014, when House Republicans approved Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) proposal to report young immigrants and cut off all foreign aid for Central American countries that failed, to the GOP’s satisfaction, to curtail the temporary migrant crisis.
The third came today.
The House of Representatives issued another largely symbolic rebuke to President Barack Obama’s agenda Thursday, voting to roll back his immigration executive order that could help up to 4.1 million people avoid deportation. The measure narrowly passed with a vote of 219 to 197. […]
“The president thumbed his nose at the American people with his actions on immigration. The House will make clear today that we are rejecting his unilateral actions,” House Speaker John Boehner said ahead of the vote.
OK, but Republicans “making clear” how unhappy they are is literally the only consequence of the legislation. It stands no chance of passing the Senate and it will not receive President Obama’s signature. Literally everyone involved in the process fully understands that today’s exercise was about Republicans thumping their chest, wasting time with a symbolic legislative slap with just seven days remaining before the next shutdown deadline, all in the hopes of making conservatives feel better emotionally.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/house-gop-approves-measure-blocking-deportation-relief
Sunny Hostin ✔ @SunnyHostin
To those of you who think the EMTs who responded in Garner case acted appropriately – They were suspended w/o pay. http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/emts_and_paramedics_who_respon.html …
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
November Jobs Report: 321,000 jobs added.
October Jobs up from 214,000 to 243,000.
September jobs revised up from 256,000 to 271,000.
It’s OBAMA’s fault!
Let’s keep killing the black boys & men, so they can’t even think about running for PRESIDENT!
Yes, I.SAID.IT.
Co-sign.
https://twitter.com/voice/status/540632153386926082/photo/1
In my opinion, what that cop did to an innocent man is every bit as horrible and gruesome and evil as anything ISIS is doing to people. Murder is murder whether you are shot, beheaded, stabbed, sliced, or held down by a group of cops while another cop chokes you to death.
The sociopath in the NYPD uniform harasses Eric Garner for basically nothing, suspicion of selling “loosies.” NYC must have a lot of money for cops if this is what is considered reasonable policing.
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Love winter scenes!
GM, Vitamin!
Thank you. I love this rendition by SheDaisy. It’s so beautiful. Makes me feel happy thoughts.
My favorite seasons are fall and winter-cold and all..