Tuesday Open Thread-Denzel Washington Week

Posted on January 20, 2015 by rikyrah

More with Denzel Washington.

Denzel Washington-5

2000s[edit]
In 2000, Washington appeared in the Disney film Remember the Titans which grossed over $100 million in the U.S.[18]

When Washington won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Dramatic Movie in 2000, he observed: “No African-American has won Best Actor in the Golden Globes since Sidney Poitier.”[19] He was the first black actor to win the award in 36 years.[20]

Washington won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his next film, the 2001 cop thriller Training Day, where he played Detective Alonzo Harris, a rogue and evil Los Angeles cop with questionable law-enforcement tactics. He was the second African-American performer to win an Academy Award for Best Actor. The first was Sidney Poitier, who was presented with an Honorary Academy Award the same night. Washington currently holds the records for most Oscar nominations (six) and the most wins (two) by an actor of African descent.

Denzel The_Mighty_Quinn

After appearing in 2002’s box office success, the healthcare-themed John Q., Washington directed his first film, a well-reviewed drama called Antwone Fisher, in which he also co-starred.

Between 2003 and 2004, Washington appeared in a series of thrillers that performed generally well at the box office, including Out of Time, Man on Fire, and The Manchurian Candidate.[21] In 2006, he starred in Inside Man, a Spike Lee-directed bank heist thriller co-starring Jodie Foster and Clive Owen, released in March, and Déjà Vu.

In 2006, Washington worked alongside multitalented Irish off-rock band The Script on a project combining music and Hollywood. The hybrid of genres was critically acclaimed, but didn’t receive much mainstream attention because of legal conflicts between The Script’s record label and Denzel’s studio commitments.

In 2007, Washington co-starred with Russell Crowe, for the second time after 1995’s Virtuosity, in American Gangster. He also directed and starred in the drama The Great Debaters with Forest Whitaker. He next appeared in Tony Scott’s 2009 film The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (a remake of the 1974 thriller of the same name), where he played New York City subway security chief Walter Garber opposite John Travolta’s villain.[22]

Denzel Washington-6

Return to theater[edit]

In the summer of 1990, Washington appeared in the title role of the Public Theater’s production of Shakespeare’s Richard III. In 2005, he appeared onstage again as Marcus Brutus in a Broadway production of Julius Caesar. Despite mixed reviews, the production’s limited run was a consistent sell-out.[23] In the spring of 2010, Washington played Troy Maxson, opposite Viola Davis, in the Broadway revival of August Wilson’s Fences, for which he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play on June 13, 2010.[24][25]

Denzel For Queen and Country

From April to June 2014, Washington played the leading role in the Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry’s classic drama A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Kenny Leon.[26] The show received positive reviews and won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.[27]

Denzel Heart_condition_movie

Denzel Washington-10

2010s[edit]

In 2010, Washington starred in The Book of Eli, a post-Apocalyptic drama set in the near future. Also in 2010, he starred as a veteran railroad engineer in the action film Unstoppable, about an unmanned, half-mile-long runaway freight train carrying dangerous cargo. The film was his fifth and final collaboration with director Tony Scott, following Crimson Tide (1995), Man on Fire (2004), Déjà Vu (2006) and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

In 2012, Washington starred in Flight, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He co-starred with Ryan Reynolds in Safe House, where he prepared for his role by subjecting himself to a torture session that included waterboarding.[28]

In 2014, Washington starred in The Equalizer, an action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Richard Wenk, based on the television series of same name starring Edward Woodward.[29]

Denzel Washington-11
 

Denzel mississippi masala

Denzel Washington-12

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51 Responses to Tuesday Open Thread-Denzel Washington Week

  1. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    January 20, 2015 at 7:52 pm

    deray mckesson @deray · 2h 2 hours ago
    Obama to visit Selma on Bloody Sunday
    http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/obama-selma-visit-2015-114400.html …

    Reply
  3. Ametia says:
    January 20, 2015 at 6:47 pm

    Thanks for holding it down here today, Rikyrah. Me: Time-sensitive work PROJECTS!

    Reply
  8. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 1:56 pm

    The Obamas are coming with a wishlist
    January 19, 2015 17:44 IST

    US President Barack Obama told Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when the two met on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Myanmar in November 2014, how he barely had two years left to his presidential term and so much to do. The wish list included getting his daughters to see a tiger in the wild and the Taj Mahal.

    Obama, his wife and daughters will land in New Delhi on January 25 for a three-day visit.

    It is, as yet, not public whether a visit to Ranthambhore or any other tiger sanctuary has been planned for the Michelle Obama and their daughters, Sasha and Malia when Obama and Modi sit to discuss the US-India partnership at Hyderabad House on January 25.

    But the first family will be travelling to Agra on January 27 to see the monument of love.

    The government, however, is trying to make the visit as memorable as possible for the Obamas.

    This includes several departures from protocol like the US President riding in his official vehicle, ‘the Beast’, on the morning of January 26 to attend the Republic Day Parade at Rajpath.

    The chief guest for the parade normally rides in the official car of the President of India to near the ceremonial dais.

    http://www.rediff.com/news/report/obama-india-the-obamas-are-coming-with-a-wishlist/20150119.htm

    Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 1:41 pm

    These Incredible Family Photos of MLK Show A Side Of Him That Will Warm Your Heart
    The Huffington Post | By Lilly Workneh
    Posted: 01/19/2015 11:32 am EST Updated: 01/19/2015 3:59 pm EST

    We all know Martin Luther King, Jr. to be among the world’s greatest educators, freedom fighters, orators, leaders and truth seekers — but his four children knew of many more loving layers to a man who had already earned a pretty high pedestal in society.

    Despite all the great accolades Dr. King achieved throughout his short-lived life, there was perhaps one role that held prominence over most and that was being a father to his beloved children.

    Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, welcomed four kids (Dexter, Bernice, Yolanda and Martin Luther King III) — all of whom were once pint-sized toddlers who admired their father for reasons too many to list. Decades after his death, their admiration has not dwindled.

    On a day commemorating Dr. King and celebrating his legacy, we invite you to a series of photos that show a rarely pictured and uplifting – but not any less authentic — side to Dr. King during his days in Montgomery, Alabama.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/19/mlk-photos-family-man_n_6501394.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 1:39 pm

    Wall Street Journal ✔ @WSJ
    Follow
    Community leaders gathered at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to celebrate Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. http://on.wsj.com/1J2tuAV #MLKDay
    4:58 PM – 19 Jan 2015

    Reply
  22. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 12:47 pm

    The Keystone pipeline isn’t the Mona Lisa
    01/20/15 01:00 PM—UPDATED 01/20/15 01:13 PM
    By Steve Benen

    Proponents of the Keystone XL oil pipeline clearly have a dilemma for which there is no easy solution: they’ve run out of talking points. When Republicans first began pushing the project in earnest, Keystone was billed as a way to lower gas prices, but with prices at the pump already having dropped, and the project itself unrelated to gas costs, the argument has faded.

    The other selling point was the vast number of jobs Keystone would allegedly create, but an independent State Department study found that the project would create about 35 permanent, full-time American jobs – roughly what we’d see from “opening a new Denny’s franchise.” There would be far more temporary jobs associated with Keystone, but they’d come and go fairly quickly.

    Rebecca Leber noted the other day that Keystone backers, left with limited choices, are getting creative.
    According to [the American Petroleum Institute], the pipeline is just like the Mona Lisa: “One of the world’s most recognized works of art was created by a painter who made his living on temporary jobs.”
    Connecting Keystone to the da Vinci masterpiece, API Vice President Linda Rozett specifically said temporary jobs can be “awesome.” Soon after, the Institute’s exec tweeted a promotional image comparing Keystone to the Sistine Chapel – because both were “temporary” jobs.

    The American Petroleum Institute did not appear to be kidding.

    In a way, this is an encouraging development for the health of our public discourse. Ordinarily at this point in a debate, Republicans would declare, “I reject your reality and replace it with my own. I’ve seen evidence, which I can neither share nor identify, that Keystone would create hundreds of billions of jobs, and if you disagree, you’re beholden to radical leftists.”

    News organizations, reluctant to take sides, would feel compelled to tell the public, “There is disagreement over how many jobs the pipeline will create. The total would be between 35 and ‘hundreds of billions.’”

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-keystone-pipeline-isnt-the-mona-lisa

    Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 12:45 pm

    Months later, Obama’s Ron Klain appointment looks pretty smart
    01/20/15 10:33 AM
    By Steve Benen
    It seems like ages ago, but it was just September when much of the country was in the midst of a real freak-out over the Ebola virus. Many Republicans, seeing the African outbreak as a campaign issue, immediately started running attack ads intended to scare people, while some in media seemed a little too eager to label Ebola – let’s all say it together – “Obama’s Katrina.”

    But one of the more memorable political moments came when Republicans expressed outrage that the White House had not yet named an “Ebola czar.” President Obama eventually agreed and asked Ron Klain to oversee and coordinate the federal response to the virus, which led to even more Republican outrage.

    Too often, it seems as if we’re not supposed to reflect on instances in which GOP apoplexy turned out to be ridiculously wrong, but Michael Grunwald’s new interview with Klain is a reminder that the Republicans’ freak out last fall was not their finest hour.
    GRUNWALD: When you were first announced, the immediate reaction, particularly on the right, was: “What a joke! Democratic hack!” There was the Twitter meme of people with more health care experience who were better qualified to be the Ebola coordinator, with pictures of George Clooney in his ER uniform and various Simpsons characters. What was your reaction to that?

    KLAIN: I’ve been around public life long enough to know that you’re going to take some licks if you’re in the public spotlight. I think people maybe had a misperception of what was needed. We had great medical advisers; the president was getting great advice from Dr. Fauci, from Dr. [Tom] Frieden, who runs the CDC [Centers for Disease Control], from a panoply of other medical experts. I think the White House was looking for someone to come in and do the very unglamorous, bureaucratic coordination it takes to produce a response of this size. I think folks here knew I had done that with the Recovery Act and saw this as a very similar kind of project. It was taking a 14-or-15-agency response, a lot of great people, and making it all work together, figuring out where the seams were, figuring out what policy decisions needed to get made. But I understand the public perception was a little different, and, you know, that just is what it is.
    Yes, and “what it is” serves as an example of the right having a breakdown for no particular reason.

    Even at the time, Klain’s expertise in government, specifically knowing how to navigate the federal bureaucracy, seemed like an obvious plus. As we discussed, if the president were hiring someone to conduct medical research on a virus, hiring an expert in infectious disease would be the right call, but the goal of this policy coordinator was to coordinate policy.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/months-later-obamas-ron-klain-appointment-looks-pretty-smart

    Reply
  24. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    GOP can’t make up its mind on ‘class warfare’
    01/20/15 11:20 AM—UPDATED 01/20/15 11:39 AM
    By Steve Benen

    In about 10 hours, President Obama will stand on the House floor and deliver his penultimate State of the Union address. In the meantime, the pre-speech chatter is dominated by Republicans telling us all the reasons they’re not going to like what the president has to say.
    This quote, from Sunday-show favorite Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), struck me as especially interesting (via Greg Sargent).
    “I see this as the president returning to the theme of class warfare,” said Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois. “It may have been effective in 2012, but I don’t find it to be effective anymore. I think, frankly, he’s out of ideas if he is unwilling to work with Republicans, and I think he is unwilling to work with Republicans.”
    For a three-sentence, throwaway line, there’s actually a couple of important angles to this.

    The first is this notion that the president is “out of ideas.” Obviously, the opposite is true – Obama intends to talk up all kinds of new and noteworthy policy initiatives, including free community college, an expansive broadband initiative, a national effort on paid family leave, and a big middle-class tax break.

    But Kinzinger didn’t say specifically that Obama’s “out of ideas,” rather, that the president is “out of ideas if he is unwilling to work with Republicans.” What an interesting phrase – Obama is capable of having an innovative and effective agenda, but only if it’s comprised of ideas Republicans like.

    For that matter, given that GOP lawmakers have spent the last six years refusing to compromise with the White House on anything, at times even opposing ideas they support the moment the president announces his agreement with Republicans, Kinzinger’s entire argument seems a little silly.

    But then there’s the “class warfare” laziness.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-cant-make-its-mind-class-warfare

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 9:10 am

    Obama’s Tax Proposal Is Really About Shaping the Democratic Party After Obama
    JAN. 18, 2015
    Neil Irwin

    Here are three facts that are a useful starting point for understanding the tax proposal that President Obama will pitch in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, about which the White House released details Saturday.

    1. The proposal would increase the capital gains tax rate both by raising the rate and by making it harder for families to avoid the tax entirely by passing on assets in an inheritance.

    2. A central organizing philosophy of the Republican Party over the last generation has been that keeping the capital gains tax and other taxes on investment as low as possible is a key to unlocking rapid economic growth.

    3. The Republican Party will control both houses of Congress for the remainder of Mr. Obama’s presidency.

    It takes no masterstroke of political prognostication to conclude that this proposal is very unlikely to make its way back to Mr. Obama’s desk. But in some ways, that fact makes the president’s game here that much more interesting.

    One widespread complaint about the Democratic candidates for Senate in the 2014 midterms was that they offered no compelling governing vision, but rather scare stories about how extreme and frightening a Republican majority would be. It didn’t work (Republicans won the Senate), but even if it had, it would have left in place a narrow majority without much energy or vision.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/upshot/obamas-tax-proposal-is-really-about-shaping-the-democratic-party-after-obama.html?rref=upshot&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=The%20Upshot&pgtype=article&abt=0002&abg=1

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:34 am

    oh. @amakaxo

    We have a bad habit of thinking that because a black person isn’t “ratchet” that they are weak & will tolerate disrespect.

    oh. @amakaxo

    I predict that they are going to try it with a “respectable negro” who isn’t as respectable as they thought and catch the fade.

    oh. @amakaxo

    So according to these activist losers, going to college is “respectability politics.” No wonder they are ONLY relevant on Twitter.

    Reply
  34. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:32 am

    Adriane Farray ⛄ @AFarray

    @PragObots Some of these Ferguson “activists” are so inept and ineffectual, I’m beginning to wonder if some of them aren’t plants.

    Mr. NFTG @Kennymack1971

    @PragObots Meanwhile the Mayor, Police Chief and County Prosecutor are all still on the job….

    Reply
  35. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:29 am

    Michael Brown protesters clash with Martin Luther King Day observers
    By Koran Addo

    ST. LOUIS • In the latest echo from last year’s Ferguson unrest, protesters invoking Michael Brown’s name burst into an auditorium at Harris-Stowe State University on Monday afternoon and briefly disrupted a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.

    The protesters accused the university and clergy at the King event of being part of the “establishment,” and later got into a confrontation with Harris-Stowe students outside the venue, as police converged on the area.

    The conflict — which was reminiscent of the internal Civil Rights Movement divisions that King himself had to navigate half a century ago — ultimately dissipated, and the King Day event resumed. There were no immediate reports of arrests.

    ……………..

    That changed after the ceremony began in the crowded university auditorium. Shortly before 1 p.m., about two dozen protesters entered waving an upside-down American flag and chanting, “No justice, no peace!”

    They took the stage, and as the crowd began filing out angrily, they used a microphone to accuse the university and the clergy of being part of the problem.

    Protesters left the stage and the building after Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, appealed for calm. But later, the protesters and Harris-Stowe students confronted each other about the disrupted event.

    Some Harris-Stowe students, watching protesters facing off with police, got frustrated and started yelling, asking why protesters would target a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event at a historically black college.

    As students got louder, protesters moved away from the police and confronted the students. At one point, people in both groups had to be held back as the shouting became intense. The confrontation ended with Harris-Stowe students holding peace signs in the air.

    As was the case during King’s activism in the 1960s, some activists disagree on whether to seek change from within existing political and social institutions — or by attacking those institutions.

    “This program is more of the same,” protester Tory Russell said of his group’s decision to disrupt the King service.

    Russell, who said he attended Harris-Stowe, said the university represents the “establishment” and “the politics of respectability.” He defined that as an ideology that says people who are outside the mainstream don’t deserve the same protections under the law.

    “We are the people who worked all those days, and put up all that resistance and went to the U.N.,” Russell said. “Don’t you see how they disrespect us? As soon as we showed up, they wanted us gone. They want to run back to their masters.”

    Another protester, DeRay Mckesson, offered a similar explanation on Twitter. “The split is between those who feel like respectability politics isn’t going to lead to freedom,” he wrote. “And that this (King Day) program is respectability.”

    For Harris-Stowe senior Andrea Dave, 26, who decried the disruption of the King Day event, the issue was much simpler.

    “It’s not that I disagree with their cause, but this is about Martin Luther King,” said Dave. “This is about peace and equality. … There’s no reason for people to be out here yelling at each other while the police stand back and laugh at us. We’re supposed to listen to each other and come to a mutual understanding.”

    Harris-Stowe freshman Shaquell Humphries, 18, agreed: “They came in here (being) so very disrespectful. There are old folks and little kids in that auditorium, and they (the protesters) started cussing.”

    http://m.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/michael-brown-protesters-clash-with-martin-luther-king-day-observers/article_8f839364-67f0-5fd9-83e8-82ef39a8c01f.html?mobile_touch=true

    Reply
    • TyrenM says:
      January 20, 2015 at 11:28 am

      Good Morning 3Chics,

      I love your quote: Turn the other cheek died 4/4/68. That said, going to college is “respectability?” That’s some ignant shiznit.

      Also from yesterday the campaign at awards season to discredit Denzel and “Hurricane,” – the more things change…

      Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:25 am

    THIS IS STRAIGHT UP GHOULISH

    ………..

    Feds investigating stolen body parts ring in Detroit and Chicago
    Jan 18, 2015 10:13 AM
    by Mo Barnes

    The federal government is investigating the trafficking of human body parts in the cities of Detroit and Chicago.

    At the center of the investigation are the Biological Resource Center
    of Illinois and International Biological in Detroit. Authorities said
    the companies diverted bodies donated for medical research to a thriving black market for body parts.

    When FBI agents and investigators from the Centers for Disease
    Control raided two crematories operated by Cremation Services Inc., in a Chicago suburb, they found hundreds of body parts that were destined to be sold.

    The raid was part of a year-long national investigation that started
    in Detroit where thousands of body parts that were to be embalmed,
    instead were kept on ice to be allegedly sold to the Biological Resource Center. Investigators in hazmat suits removed body bags stuffed with human heads, limbs and other body parts that had been donated to the facility.

    http://rollingout.com/news/feds-investigating-stolen-body-parts-ring-detroit-chicago/

    Reply
  37. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:24 am

    What a Rise in Obama’s Approval Rating Means for 2016
    JAN. 19, 2015

    After a difficult year, President Obama is enjoying a modest rebound ahead of State of the Union address Tuesday. His approval rating has increased to around 46 percent over the last month, according to an average of polls taken over the last month, up from 42 percent in the weeks after the decisive Republican victory in the midterm elections.

    It is a relatively small increase, but it is more impressive in the context of the unusual stability of Mr. Obama’s approval rating, which hovered between 42 and 44 percent for 15 consecutive months. In 2016, the president’s approval ratings should be a telling indicator of whether the country is likely to support another Democratic administration.

    There is a well-established relationship between the pace of economic growth and a president’s approval ratings, and Mr. Obama is clearly benefiting from signs of accelerating economic growth. For the first time since the start of the recession, more Americans believe the economic conditions are good or excellent than poor. Consumer confidence rose to an 11-year high last week, according to the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/upshot/what-a-rise-in-obamas-approval-rating-means-for-2016.html?abt=0002&abg=0&_r=1

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:22 am

    Why Obama’s increased national support matters
    01/19/15 04:00 PM—UPDATED 01/20/15 01:37 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Rush Limbaugh appeared on “Fox News Sunday” about a month ago and mocked the president’s standing in the polls. “Barack Obama’s approval is in the 30s,” the right-wing host said.
    A lot can happen in a month.
    An improving economy is putting Barack Obama back in the game, boosting the president and his party in a striking turnaround from their devastating midterm losses.

    Americans approve of the president’s job performance by 50-44 percent in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, a remarkable 9-point gain in approval and a 10-point drop in disapproval just since December. It’s his best rating in a year and a half, and matches his previous best one-time advance, after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in spring 2011.

    The usual caveats certainly apply – it’s only one poll, and no other major national survey puts the president’s approval rating at 50% – but it comes on the heels of recent poll results from CBS, Pew, and CNN, all of which show Obama’s support growing steadily in recent weeks.

    When one survey shows a small increase, it’s easy to overlook. When several credible pollsters show a significant increase, there’s reason to believe the president has seen a genuine bump in his overall support. As FiveThirtyEight put it the other day, “The rebound In Obama’s approval is real.”

    Right about now, I imagine there’s a small army of Democratic campaign operatives asking themselves, “This couldn’t have happened in October?” Indeed, Brian Beutler noted on Friday that if the midterm elections were held now, the combination of lower gas prices and the president’s increased backing “might have saved the Democrats’ skin” and prevented major GOP gains.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-obamas-increased-national-support-matters

    Reply
  39. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:19 am

    Jindal stuck after spreading discredited myth
    01/20/15 08:59 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), as expected, traveled to London yesterday and delivered a striking set of remarks, arguing among other things, “It is startling to think that any country would allow, even unofficially, for a so-called ‘no-go zone.’”

    To briefly recap, far-right voices have pushed a line, amplified by conservative media, that in Britain and elsewhere, there are Muslim-majority communities in which non-Muslims – even local law enforcement – simply do not go. In reality, these “no-go zones” do not exist, a point even Fox News conceded over the weekend.

    Jindal nevertheless continues to pretend the far-right myth is real, adding that “Islam has a problem.” In his remarks yesterday, referring to Muslims, the Louisiana Republican and likely presidential candidate went on to say, “[I]t is their problem, and they need to deal with it.”

    After the speech, Jindal told NBC News added that he supports “legal immigration,” but “in many ways, you’re looking at folks that want to come and, in some ways, they want to overturn our culture they want to come in and almost colonize our countries.”

    In a separate interview with CNN, Jindal continued to push the “no-go zones” argument, prompting a British interviewer to say, “You have to have proper facts to back that up. I’ve lived here a long time; I don’t know of any ‘no-go zones.’” The Republican replied:
    “Well, I did say ‘so-called no-go zones.’ I think that the radical left absolutely wants to pretend like this problem is not here. Pretending it’s not here won’t make it go away.”
    Remember, Jindal’s the one who said he wants Republicans to stop being “the stupid party.”

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/jindal-stuck-after-spreading-discredited-myth

    Reply
  40. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:17 am

    One presidential speech, many GOP responses
    01/20/15 08:00 AM—UPDATED 01/20/15 08:15 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Not too long ago, a president would deliver a State of the Union address… and that was it. Much of the country would see the speech, pundits would talk about it, and either the political world would respond favorably or it wouldn’t.

    In the 1960s, Republicans decided it wasn’t entirely fair for a president to have all the fun, and the official State of the Union response was born.

    But in the Obama era, as GOP politics went off the deep end, the number of speeches on the big night proliferated. Last year, in addition to President Obama’s actual SOTU, there was an official Republican response, an official Republican Spanish-language response, a Tea Party response, Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) self-indulgent response, and a “prebuttal” from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) because, well, why the heck not.

    This year, the fact that Republicans tapped Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) for the party’s official response seemingly negated the need for competing conservative voices – Ernst is, after all, one of the most frighteningly right-wing senators in a generation. Why bother with a Tea Party response if the Republican address will be delivered by arguably the most radical voice in the Senate?

    Apparently, that didn’t matter.
    Rep. Curt Clawson (R-Fla.) will deliver the tea party’s response to President Barack Obama’s 2015 State of the Union address, the Tea Party Express announced Thursday.

    “2015 marks a year of new beginnings for the Tea Party movement,” Tea Party Express executive director Taylor Budowich said in a statement. “These new Tea Party members of Congress are brimming with ideas to make America economically stronger with opportunity for all to realize the American Dream. We are honored to present Florida Congressman Curt Clawson, the first Tea Party Express victory for the 2014 cycle, as someone committed to making Congress deliver for the American people.”

    To appreciate what makes the selection interesting, consider the impression Congressman Clawson has made over the course of his brief, seven-month career on Capitol Hill.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/one-presidential-speech-many-gop-responses

    Reply
  41. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:15 am

    Not Repeating Clinton’s Mistakes
    by BooMan
    Tue Jan 20th, 2015 at 08:24:48 AM EST

    If I thought President Obama was attempting to be “serious” in the manner that Washington insiders usually mean that term, I would have to agree wholeheartedly with Marc Thiessen:

    Let’s imagine you were a Democratic president who just lost control of Congress to the Republicans, and you wanted to make it really, really clear that you are not serious about governing. What would you do? Simple: Use your State of the Union address to propose hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes that will never be enacted, in order to fund a slew of new government programs that have no chance of being approved.

    Welcome to President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union address.

    Yup. It’s pretty obvious that the president isn’t being “serious.” In fact, it’s impossible to argue with the following, too:

    On Tuesday night, Obama will ask the new Republican Congress to approve $320 billion in tax increases. To see how absurd this is, imagine for a moment what the reaction would have been if, after losing control of Congress to the Democrats in 2006, President George W. Bush had used his next State of the Union address to propose $320 billion in growth-oriented tax cuts. Would anyone have taken him seriously? The media would have dismissed Bush as delusional. Democrats would have laughed. Everyone would have asked: What’s wrong with him? Didn’t he get the message of the 2006 midterms? What planet is he on?

    Yeah, that is precisely right. No doubt about it.

    This, too:

    Obama is not delusional. He knows his plan has no chance of becoming law. White House officials, according to Politico, “aren’t holding their breath that Obama’s new proposals will pass Congress now that Republicans control both chambers.” (Which raises the question why, if Obama were serious, didn’t he propose them when Democrats controlled both chambers?) The goal is for “Obama to position himself as a defender of the middle class” and put Republicans in the “politically awkward” position of resisting tax increases on the rich to pay for programs that benefit the middle class.

    In other words, Obama’s move is completely and transparently political.

    I can’t argue with a single word of that. It’s spot-on.

    But, here’s the thing. This is what I want the president to do, not because I think it is “serious” in the sense that it demonstrates that the president is interested in signing legislation, but because it indicates that he is serious about not passing a Republican agenda. If he can’t do what he’d like to do, he can at least block the Republicans from doing what they’d like to do.

    http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2015/1/20/0250/45264

    Reply
  42. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:14 am

    From isonprize about Philly yesterday:

    isonprize

    Mornin’ POU,

    I’m bringing this over from yesterday’s thread.
    ~~~~~~

    I’m not the best photographer, but I must say, Philadelphia represented well today!! Now, to keep the momentum going!!

    MLK D.A.R.E. Day of Action, Resistance and Empowerment

    Our Three Demands: (there were many more, but these three were chosen by those of us who planned the march at Historic Mother Bethel AME Church in Philadelphia founded by Bishop Richard Allen.)

    1) An end to the use of “Stop and Frisk” and an Independent Police Review Board that is fully empowered and funded

    2) A $15 per hour minimum wage and the right to form unions

    3) A fully funded, democratically controlled local school system.

    The march started at 440 N. Broad Street – The School District of
    Phialdelphia headquarter building, went down Broad Street to City Hall,
    then east on Market to end at the Constitution Center with Independence
    Hall as the backdrop.

    Reply
  43. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:13 am

    1 confirmed dead, 1 injured in Ohio overpass collapse

    Henry Molski, The Cincinnati Enquirer 8:13 a.m. EST January 20, 2015

    CINCINNATI — An old bridge on Interstate 75 was undergoing demolition late Monday when it collapsed, killing a construction worker and shutting down a stretch of the interstate for what could be days.

    The “catastrophic pancake collapse” happened about 10:30 p.m. as a crew prepared for demolition of the old Hopple Street overpass, according to a statement from the City of Cincinnati.

    It was part of the old northbound off-ramp to Hopple Street. The new bridge is already open.

    As the old bridge collapsed to the ground, a semi-tractor trailer driver crashed into the rubble, police said.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/19/southbound-i-75-closed-after-major-bridge-collapse/22031819/

    Reply
  44. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:12 am

    Doing this series made me realize…we could do a Six Degrees of Denzel Game. Man has worked with a LOT of Hollywood.

    Reply
  45. rikyrah says:
    January 20, 2015 at 8:11 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

    Reply
  46. Ametia says:
    January 20, 2015 at 7:40 am

    Yes! More Denzel! Good Morning, Everyone. :-)

    Reply

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