Hope Everyone had a Merry Christmas.
Don’t go crazy during this After-Christmas Shopping.
And before I forget…
MANY THANKS TO SG2 FOR THE ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS JOB SHE DID ON THE CHRISTMAS MUSIC. SHE TOTALLY SPOILED US THIS HOLIDAY SEASON.
I think that I’m going to love this show…definitely going to try it out.
Published on Dec 18, 2014
Join the Hollywood heavyweights behind FOX’s powerful new drama, Empire. Film critic and radio host, Elvis Mitchell moderates a no-holds-barred conversation with Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brian Grazer, Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson and Ilene Chaiken about the power structure and glamorous life of hip-hop. Empire premieres Wednesday, Jan. 7 on FOX.
Trymaine Lee ✔ @trymainelee
Life hack from The Wire: “Y’all can’t be playing no checkers on a chess board.” Let it marinate.
LMAO!!
http://youtu.be/_lDYeraPn2M
New York City’s police unions need to get a grip It’s time for the NYPD to respect democracy
The brazen murder of NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, shot to death last weekend by Ismaaiyl Brinsley in some horribly misguided attempt at retribution over the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, is a tragedy. But it was made worse by NYPD union officials and allies, who cynically appropriated Liu and Ramos’ deaths to bludgeon their political opponents.
Pat Lynch, the president of the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association (New York’s largest police union), all but accused Mayor Bill de Blasio of actual complicity in the murders, saying “that blood on the hands starts at City Hall in the office of the mayor,” language echoed by the Sergeants Benevolent Association.
New York cops are used to getting their way. But they don’t seem to realize how times have changed. And there’s a good chance their fire-eating rhetoric could backfire.
First, the political context. Lynch and the PBA have been embroiled in a political fight with de Blasio, who was elected in part on a platform of restraining the police. The mayor has sharply curtailed stop-and-frisk, and has made some hesitant moves toward stricter scrutiny of cops using excessive force after Eric Garner was choked to death by police and his killer was not indicted.
De Blasio’s relatively mild criticism of the non-indictment sparked bug-eyed outrage from police unions and their allies. Last week (before the shooting of Liu and Ramos), Lynch declared that de Blasio should not attend the funerals of policemen killed in the line of duty. NYPD officers turned their back on the mayor as he walked through a Brooklyn hospital to address the public about the murders. Lynch unsubtly threatened that unless de Blasio backed off, police would slow-walk enforcement of the law.
That last part seems nuts, but former NYPD commissioner Howard Safir agrees that cops may indeed sacrifice public safety to achieve political goals:
http://theweek.com/article/index/274163/new-york-citys-police-unions-need-to-get-a-grip
How the GOP presidential candidates will talk about Obamacare
By Paul Waldman December 26 at 12:09 PM
One of my favorite factoids from the 2012 presidential race emerged when Mitt Romney released his 2011 tax return. There may not have been much scandalous contained therein, but Romney’s sources of income were so varied and intricate that the return ran to a mind-boggling 379 pages. And it’s starting to appear that Jeb Bush may have a similarly complex financial life, which he’s starting to unravel as he prepares for a potential presidential run. There’s one particularly interesting source of income, as this article in the Los Angeles Times explains:
And on Wednesday, Bush resigned from the board of directors of Tenet Healthcare Corp., also effective Dec. 31, according to a corporate filing. The Dallas-based company actively supported the 2010 Affordable Care Act, and has seen its revenue rise from it, an issue that could draw fire in Republican primaries.
Bush earned cash and stock awards worth nearly $300,000 from Tenet in 2013, according to corporate filings. He also sold Tenet stock worth $1.1 million that year, the records show.
If it’s like other big corporations, the services for which he was paid $300,000 by Tenet probably involved little more than going to a couple of meetings every year. It’s good to be a Bush. But let’s try to imagine the fire he might draw in the primaries over his association with the company. Are politicians from the party of capitalism and business really going to criticize him for making a ton of money, even if it involved the hated Affordable Care Act?
Yeah, they probably will. Which raises the question of exactly how the 2016 GOP candidates are going to address the ACA, which even as it becomes further embedded in our health-care system is still on many Republicans’ minds. Chances are they’re going to talk about it in the most general terms they can, in a discussion that stays at a symbolic level and avoids any specifics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/12/26/how-the-gop-presidential-candidates-will-talk-about-obamacare/
This is still one of my absolute favorite Luvvie posts. Makes me LMBAO….never fails.
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Whose Wise Baby is This? (And Foolery From My Readers)
Luvvie — October 16, 2013
I think babies are cute by default because they’re so little and small things lean towards cute. And some babies are born cute AND looking like they’ve been here before. You’ve seen those mini humans. They just look like they hold a wisdom of the years and these are the kids you gotta give strong names to. Names like Rufus, Jebediah, Orelius or Bertha. You can’t name babies who’ve been here before stuff like Jessica, Zach or Timmy. Nope. They need to be called Wilbur or Clementine from jump!
I came across a picture of this baby a while ago and I immediately wanted to get off his lawn, because I was sure he was gonna chase me off it.
He just looks like he ain’t here for any of us or our boolsheet. Like he was born with an already low tolerance for foolishness. He ain’t got the TAHM! This baby was probably Moses’ tour guide in them deserts. He got some wisdom beyond our time.
I posted Young Jebediah’s pic on my Facebook fan page last year and the comments from my readers almost had me LAID OUT!
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2013/10/wise-baby.html
Luvvie has seen Selma, and offered a review
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SELMA is Not Just Brilliant But Right On Time
Luvvie — December 24, 2014
I was invited to a private screening of the SELMA movie by Paramount Pictures and Ava DuVernay in New York in November and I didn’t just cry during the film. I wept. I ugly-cried like I wasn’t sitting in a room with 40 other people. But everyone else was in tears too so I let it flow (word to Toni). I didn’t have any tissues with me so I used my pashmina to dry my face. It was soaked by the end.
I knew it’d be an emotional movie but I didn’t think it would dropkick me in the chest throughout like it did. I’ve cried during scenes of movies but I’ve never cried throughout most of a movie like I did during this one.
As I watched this movie about events from 1965, I was so hurt that we’re still fighting for the right to live in 2014. My feelings were in the gutter because people are still marching today for basic rights. The fighters who came before us probably didn’t think they were fighting so we wouldn’t have to.
Directed by Ava DuVernay, SELMA is a snapshot of the events that happened in the three months of 1965 that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in Alabama trying to get Black people the right to vote. It chronicles the things that happened leading to the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, which led to President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2014/12/selma-movie.html#comment-830492
Good evening 3Chics,
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa wishes to the 3 of you…plus your visitors. Much love from Minneapolis.
Hi Tyren! Happy holidays and Happy Kwanzaa.
Hi Tyren. Thank you & Happy Holidays to you and your family!
bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
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Columbia Journalism Review Names Don Lemon Among the Worst of the Worst in 2014
by Andrew Kirell | 9:49 am, December 26th, 2014
The Columbia Journalism Review gave a big ol’ lump of Christmas coal to CNN’s Don Lemon earlier this week by naming him among the worst of the worst in journalism for the year 2014.
CJR‘s “Darts & Laurels” blog released its annual “worst” review on Monday, handing out its dubious “DART” awards to outlets like Rolling Stone (for its infamously bungled UVA rape story), CBS’ 60 Minutes (for failing to interview a single local for a piece on African Ebola), and Fox & Friends (for its insensitive jokes following the Ray Rice elevator video).
But they saved some of the most direct criticism for Lemon, whose “gaffes this year offer a case study in how to choose words wisely — or not.” More from the text:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/columbia-journalism-review-names-don-lemon-among-the-worst-of-the-worst-in-2014/
https://twitter.com/M_AnthonyBenson/status/548506515884503040/photo/1
Stephen Anderson, Ex NYPD Cop: We Planted Evidence, Framed Innocent People To Reach Quotas
Posted: 10/13/2011 5:55 pm EDT Updated: 12/13/2011 5:12 am EST
A former New York City narcotics detective testified in court that planting drugs on innocent people was common practice, a quick and easy way to boost arrest numbers.
According to the New York Daily News, the practice is known among NYPD officers as “flaking,” and officers in Brooklyn and Queens narcotics squads were doing a whole lot of it.
Stephen Anderson, the former detective, was snared along with a group of other officers for “flaking” four men in Queens back in 2008. He is now cooperating with prosecutor’s and is spilling the beans on the crooked practice of framings and false arrests, often to reach arrest quotas.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/13/ex-nypd-cop-we-planted-ev_n_1009754.html?ref=tw
before Megachurch became a household word, There was Johnnie Coleman
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Rev. Johnnie Colemon, Chicago megachurch founder, dies at 94
The Rev. Johnnie Colemon, the influential founder of one of Chicago’s largest congregations, Christ Universal Temple on the South Side, died Tuesday, Dec. 23, according to her family and church officials.
The Rev. Colemon, 94, died at Mercy Hospital in Chicago after an illness, said her publicist, Hermene Hartman, who declined to be more specific.
The Rev. Colemon founded the church as Christ Unity Center in 1956 with 35 members and was a pioneer in the New Thought movement, which uses a metaphysical interpretation of the Bible and focuses on healing, meditation and positive thought.
As the congregation grew under her leadership, the Rev. Colemon helped Christ Universal Temple build three new churches and an institute and academy with her name on them. In 1974 the Rev. Colemon established her own denomination, the Universal Foundation for Better Living, which had 20,000 members across the country, Hartman said.
The funeral for Chicago Mayor Harold Washington was held at Christ Universal Temple in 1987 under the Rev. Colemon’s guidance. The church, now on a 100-acre campus at 119th Street and Ashland Avenue, has thousands of members. The Rev. Colemon retired as the church’s senior minister in 2006.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-johnnie-colemon-obituary-met-20141224-story.html
New Catholic archbishop offers Mass to inmates
Archbishop Blase Cupich opened Christmas morning with Mass inside a chapel at the Cook County Department of Corrections, urging inmates to know God’s existence by living for others.
“When we make that commitment, everything can change,” Cupich said.
The Catholic service is an annual tradition partly organized by the church’s Kolbe House jail ministry — the Rev. Jesse Jackson later held a separate Christmas Day service at another unit — but this year served as a personal introduction to the newly installed archbishop for about 100 inmates.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-archbishop-cook-county-jail-met-20141225-story.html
Jeb Bush Has an Obamacare Problem
—By Kevin Drum| Fri Dec. 26, 2014 10:52 AM EST
From Politico:
Jeb Bush is stepping down from the board of a health care company that has reportedly profited from Obamacare, a move that comes as the Republican explores a run for the presidency.
According to various media reports, Tenet backed President Barack Obama’s health reform act and has seen its revenues rise from it. Bush’s involvement with Tenet could give ammunition to conservatives in the GOP who view him as too moderate — particularly those who despise the Affordable Care Act.
I can’t help but get a chuckle out of this. In normal times, Bush would have left Tenet because it’s a big, soulless corporation that’s paid fines for Medicare fraud and been criticized for dodgy tax practices at the same time it was beefing up executive pay. A man of the people who aspires to the Oval Office can’t afford to be associated with this kind of dirty money.
But no. At least if Politico is to be believed, this isn’t really an issue in the GOP primary. What is an issue is that Tenet might have profited from Obamacare, which in turn means that Jeb may have profited from Obamacare. Even if it’s a double bank shot, that’s dirty money in tea party land.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/12/jeb-bush-has-obamacare-problem
What We Can Learn From Ella Baker In A Post-Ferguson Era
ByPETER DREIERPublishedDECEMBER 26, 2014, 6:00 AM EST 1266 Views
In 1964, at the height of the civil rights movement, the organizer Ella Baker said: “Until the killing of black men, black mothers’ sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother’s sons, we who believe in freedom cannot rest.” Bernice Johnson Reagon later wrote “Ella’s Song” based on those words, made famous by the a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Baker’s words continue to resonate today, as we witness the resurgence of a new civil rights movement, sparked by the police killings of young black men, but rooted in the underlying grievances of racial injustice around jobs, housing, schools, and the criminal justice system. As the protests spread from Ferguson to cities around the country, today’s young activists can learn much from Baker’s ideas. Working behind the scenes, she helped transform the Southern sit-in protests into a powerful movement for racial justice, led by young people with lots of anger and determination, but little political experience.
Late in the afternoon of February 1, 1960, four young black men—Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil, all students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro—visited the local Woolworth’s store. They purchased school supplies and toothpaste, and then they sat down at the store’s lunch counter and ordered coffee. “I’m sorry,” said the waitress. “We don’t serve Negroes here.”
The students refused to give up their seats until the store closed. The local media reported the sit-in on television and in the newspapers. The four students returned the next day with more students. By February 5, about 300 students had joined the protest, generating more media attention and inspiring students at other colleges. By the end of March, sit-ins had spread to 55 cities in 13 states. Many students, mostly black but also white, were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct, or disturbing the peace.
Over Easter weekend, April 16 to 18, many of those students came to Baker’s alma mater, Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., to discuss how to capitalize on the growing momentum. The fruit of the meeting was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which would expand the sit-in campaign, but also use other tactics, including freedom rides and voter registration drives, to dismantle segregation. SNCC reinvigorated the civil rights movement.
Many accounts report that the Greensboro protest “sparked” or “catalyzed” the sit-in movement that led to SNCC’s founding. But in the middle of all this was Ella Baker, a 57-year old veteran organizer. She had spent decades traveling throughout the South for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Long before there were Rolodexes, email, and Facebook, she was famous for her vast social network. She gently encouraged the young activists to build a movement from these isolated local protests.
Many of the young civil rights activists called her “Fundi,” a Swahili title for a master technician who oversees apprentices, to acknowledge Baker’s role as their mentor. She eschewed a visible role, concentrating on patiently training the next generation of social change leaders.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/ella-baker-in-a-ferguson-era
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/548586375344181249
LOL
HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Apparently, Arpaio thought being a racist white hick sheriff was enough.
Just got through watching all the “Empire” vids. I’m looking forward to adding this series to my list of “must watch.”
https://twitter.com/NerdyNegress/status/548522287667109889/photo/1
N. J. Medicaid fiasco: Thousands stranded without coverage, no fix in sight
By Kathleen O’Brien | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 23, 2014 at 7:15 AM, updated December 23, 2014 at 10:16 AM
The doctor was perfectly clear after examining Aurora Blackwell’s son this fall: The boy needed to get to an emergency room for his worsening digestive problems.
Instead, Blackwell took the 4-year-old home and treated him herself — first with prune juice, then suppositories.
Why would the devoted young mother of two ignore her pediatrician’s advice? Because the Burlington County woman knew that despite 10 months of phone calls, emails and letters, her family still lacked health insurance.
“I feel helpless,” she’d written two months earlier in a plea to Gov. Chris Christie. “How much longer do we have to wait?”
The meltdown of the federal government’s website tied to the Affordable Care Act has been well documented. But in New Jersey, something far worse was happening as the state expanded Medicaid access under Obamacare, an NJ Advance Media investigation has found.
In New Jersey, where so many are surrounded by privilege, an estimated 11,000 people are still trapped in a tangle of digital red tape and a bureaucratic maze. These families are unable to enroll in the state’s Medicaid program, leaving them in limbo for months and, in some cases, almost a year. And unlike the federal government, which has solved many of its website problems, New Jersey has yet to announce any permanent solution.
The stunning computer failure at the center of New Jersey’s crisis already has forced the exit of one vendor, left countless boxes stuffed with confidential enrollment data piled in the corridors of county offices and forced workers to rekey data into county computers that cannot interface directly with the state’s 1980s-era main system.
“We’ve gone back to the Stone Age,” said Ellen Vidal, president of the Communications Workers of America unit that staffs the Ocean County Board of Social Services. Her county’s Medicaid backlog over the summer hovered at 4,000.
http://www.nj.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2014/12/medicaid_backlog.html
My youngest just left to go to his house. He’s been with me since Christmas eve. I hate to see him leave.
SG2,
he had a good time, and you’ll see him soon :)
Josh bought me a new phone for Christmas. Told me mine was outdated. Time to upgrade. I’m still learning how to use it. :)
Bay Area official censured for remarks: ‘I’m sorry that I keep saying little n*gger babies’
26 DEC 2014 AT 10:19 ET
An elected member of the Oro Loma Sanitary District in California has been censured by his fellow board member for liberal use of the ‘n-word’ and additional racist and sexist remarks to employees of the district, according to KPIX
Laython Landis, 88, an elected member of the board for 42 years, was censured by fellow board members after he made racist comments during a public meeting.
Referring to heavy rains in the Bay Area, Landis reportedly told the assembled members and audience, “It looks like it’s going to rain cats and dogs and n*gger babies today.”
According to board president Tim Becker, the problems with Landis go well beyond a single comment.
“Mr. Landis has made sexist comments to our female district staff. And it’s simply becoming more and more of a pattern of behavior,”Becker said.
Landis says there is nothing wrong with his comments, that he has spoken like this for years and his expressions are the product of a different era.
“I don’t know, it just comes out,” Landis said. “You know, ‘cats and dogs and little n*gger babies’ is about as old as I am.”
Landis — who says he is not a racist — claimed he was sorry, saying “I apologized to people who are offended when I keep saying little n*gger babies.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/bay-area-official-censured-for-remarks-im-sorry-that-i-keep-saying-little-ngger-babies/
For Recent Black College Graduates, a Tougher Road to Employment
BOB MILLER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
DECEMBER 24, 2014
William Zonicle did what all the job experts advise. He majored in a growing field like health care. He studied hard and took time to develop relationships with his professors. Most important, he obtained a great internship in the human resources department at Florida Hospital in Tampa the summer before his senior year.
But more than seven months after receiving his diploma from Oakwood University, a historically black religious school in Huntsville, Ala., Mr. Zonicle is still without a job in his field. Instead, he is working part-time for $7.60 an hour at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in the center of town.
“It was tougher than I expected,” said Mr. Zonicle, 23, who applied for jobs at hospitals and nursing homes from Ohio to Florida after graduating in May. “Because of the work I had put in as an undergraduate, and making connections, I thought it would be easier to find a decent position.”
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/business/for-recent-black-college-graduates-a-tougher-road-to-employment.html?smid=tw-share&_r=2&referrer=
FYI: To show how fucked up America is, the media continues pushing a satirical movie about North Korea which includes talk of killing KJY. The whole thing REEKS of publicity stunt.
Who in the the fuck wants to watch this movie, while America’s cops are killing black boys and men like they’re a fly or a pesky roach?
Hey folks!
Last night someone drove their car thru Michael Brown’s memorial destroying it. But protesters quickly rebuilt it. May Karma visit the evil doer soon.
SOULESS MOFOS!
Took a sip of champagne reminiscing over this year. Family Love!
Family LOVE means EVERYTHING!
Good Morning Everyone. Off to swim.
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone!
SG2, Totally ROCKED the Christmas series posts! THANK YOU!!!!
I’m going to view these “Empire” videos and see if I can add this to my lists of must sees.
Thanks rikyrah.
Good morning, everyone!
Thank you! The Christmas series went by so fast. I was like…whoa! Where did the days go? I enjoyed presenting. Glad you all enjoyed too.