Baker joined the group in 1975 and the group toured relentlessly until securing a deal with Ariola Records in 1979. The group’s first album, Chapter 8, was released that year and featured the singles “Ready for Your Love“, a duet between Baker and band mate Gerald Lyles, and the Baker-led “I Just Want to Be Your Girl”. After Ariola was bought out by Arista Records in 1979, Chapter 8 was dropped by the label who were convinced that Baker, as the group’s lead singer, didn’t have “star potential”.
Baker returned to Detroit and became a waitress and a receptionist of a law firm. In 1982, Otis Smith, a former associate of Ariola, called Baker and convinced her to start a solo career under his Beverly Glen label.
Baker eventually signed with the company, releasing her debut solo album, The Songstress, in 1983.[1] The album produced four singles: “No More Tears” and its B-side, “Will You Be Mine”, “Angel” and “You’re the Best Thing Yet”. “Angel” became Baker’s first top ten single, reaching number five on the R&B charts in late 1983. “You’re the Best Thing Yet” followed it in the R&B top 40 early the following year.
A bit off topic, but I remember watching this a few years ago, and had to find it to share. Today’s Ukraine is very much a result of a combination of all sorts of things including the palpable racism that just like in this country, eats away at so many there.
Luvvie just did a post on Empire
…………………………………
Empire’s Season Finale Was Two Hours of Grand Drama
Luvvie — March 19, 2015
What Lee Daniels’ newest show Empire has managed to do is no small feat. Their soundtrack is currently the #1 music album in the country, beating out Madonna’s latest release. And the new show is the #1 show on the Big 4 networks, breaking its own rating records week after week. Why? Because we all miss having soap operas aka “Stories” to watch and since All My Children ain’t coming back, Cookie Lyon an’ em are the fix we’ve been needing.
I recapped the first 2 episodes of Empire when I first watched them and I knew I’d be a fan because as the foolery enthusiast that I am, this was up my alley. By the time the finale of season 1 came around last night, everyone was on level THIRST to see what would happen. Chile… A LOT. That’s what happened
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2015/03/empire-season-1-season-finale.html
MSNBC Ignores Their Viewers By Vowing To Keep Morning Joe And Move Or Cancel Liberal Shows
By: Jason Easleymore from Jason Easley
Thursday, March, 19th, 2015, 3:51 pm
MSNBC hit a new level of tone deaf by deciding to keep the show that viewers despise (Morning Joe) while threatening to cancel or move everything else that isn’t Rachel Maddow.
Politico reported:
The extent of that change could be vast: In the months ahead, MSNBC is likely to shake up the bulk of its programming, moving some shows and canceling others, high-level sources at NBCUniversal told POLITICO. With a few exceptions — notably “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “Morning Joe” — every program is at risk of being moved or canceled, those sources said. “All In with
Chris Hayes,” a ratings suck that currently occupies the 8 p.m. time slot, will almost certainly be replaced. Network execs are also considering moving some weekday shows, like “Politics Nation with Al Sharpton,” to weekends. “The plan is to re-imagine what the channel is,” one high-level NBCUniversal insider with knowledge of the network’s plans said, “because the current lineup is a death wish.”
….
For some NBC insiders, the failure of “All In” — Hayes is a distant third place to Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, both in total and in the demo — is indicative of the limits of Griffin’s reactive approach to programming. Unlike Ailes, Griffin didn’t set out to create a partisan network because he believed in the ideology. He did it because it made sense from a business perspective. Olbermann was popular, so he gave Maddow a show. Maddow was popular, so he gave Hayes a show. The problem is that not every disciple is as good as the mentor. Maddow was a groundbreaking liberal voice, an entertainer and the first openly gay prime-time news anchor. Hayes was just a smart kid from Brown University.
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/03/19/msnbc-morning-joe-rachel-maddow-risk-canceled.html#ajaxed-comments
SG2, where area you?
Nick Clegg.
By Haaretz | Mar. 19, 2015 | 8:37 PM
British deputy PM: If Netanyahu rejects two-state solution, U.K. will recognize Palestine
If Netanyahu rules out a Palestinian state and expands West Bank settlements, ‘the world, including the British parliament, would have no option, but to recognize a Palestinian state,’ says
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.647834
https://twitter.com/HuffingtonPost/status/578701762078621696
uh huh
uh huh
…………………………………….
Garcia turns up pressure on Emanuel over Chicago housing
Posted: 03/19/2015, 05:26pm |
BY NATASHA KORECKI AND FRAN SPIELMAN
Jesus “Chuy” Garcia accused Mayor Rahm Emanuel of abandoning “hundreds of thousands of Chicago’s poorest families” for allegedly diverting $440 million away from housing vouchers, rehab and construction away from “its core responsibilities.”
“Mayor Emanuel controls the CHA — and for four years now he’s shortchanged low-wage workers, seniors on fixed incomes and children in poverty of critically needed affordable housing,” Garcia said in a statement on Thursday. “This is one more sad example of Mayor Emanuel’s track record of broken promises, bad choices and wrong priorities. The people of this city deserve better.”
Last fall, housing activists introduced a so-called, “Keeping the Promise” ordinance that would tighten the reins on the Chicago Housing Authority, to require it to file quarterly reports to the City Council’s Housing Committee on its “vacant and offline housing ward-by-ward.” The reports would include the voucher utilization rate and progress building replacement public housing.
The activists accused the CHA of failing to circulate more than 13,500 vouchers a year since 2008 and leaving $100 million unspent every year.
On Thursday, Emanuel was asked to explain why a Chicago Housing Authority run by his handpicked CEO and appointed board is still sitting on a $440 million surplus while rehabilitation and construction of affordable housing has slowed to a trickle under his watch.
“Three thousand families have been moved and the CHA has to move faster in moving more families,” the mayor said after joining County Board President Toni Preckwinkle at a business roundtable at 2032 W. Fulton Ave.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/7/71/454908/garcia-turns-pressure-emanuel-chicago-housing
Obamas set to have Hawaii house: Deed signed by Nesbitt assistant
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle have set the stage to acquire a home in Hawaii, the Chicago Sun-Times has confirmed.
As first reported by KHON in Hawaii and then Politico, Obama pal Marty Nesbitt’s firm in Chicago assisted in the purchase.
Nesbitt is the chair of the Chicago-based Barack Obama Foundation and is overseeing the development of the Obama library, museum and academic center as well as putting together plans for the Obama post presidential years.
Obama is a Hawaii native and the Obama family has returned to the island of his birthday almost every Christmas New Years, with an exception his presidential campaign. The Obamas family home is in Kenwood, on Chicago’s South Side.
A White House spokesman told the Sun-Times, “We’re not going to have anything for you on this because the president is not party to the transaction.”
From Politico: “The luxurious beachfront Hawaiian home made famous by the television series “Magnum, P.I.” was sold this week, and the buyers seem to have ties to President Barack Obama.
“According to a report from Fox affiliate KHON, Waimanalo Paradise LLC purchased the property on Monday for $8.7 million. Its contact is reportedly listed as Obama donor Seth Madorsky, a lawyer in Chicago. The property was then sold to another limited liability corporation based in Colorado, according to a report from ABC affiliate KITV.
“The deed and the mortgage are both signed by Judy Grimanis, KHON reported.
“Grimanis is an executive assistant at The Vistria Group, a private-equity firm in Chicago. Her name is the same as that of a person who worked for Obama fundraiser and current Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker’s companies. The Vistria Group is run by Marty Nesbitt, a frequent Obama golf and travel partner in Hawaii.”
http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/7/71/454859/obamas-buy-house-hawaii
Cokie-“Corkscrew” Roberts should be happy to hear that PBOs going back to that foreign land called Hawaii!
/SNARK
Family Pulls Daughter from School After ‘Hands Up Don’t Shoot’ Included in Event
by Evan McMurry | 11:04 am, March 19th, 2015
Two parents told Fox & Friends Thursday morning that a Black History Month event at their daughter’s Washington, D.C. school turned “anti-cop” when an act addressed Ferguson, to the point that they pulled their daughter.
Their daughter was singing in the choir (featuring a Motown medley, natch), when mother Rebecca said she noticed the inclusion of slogans from the Ferguson and Eric Garner protests.
“Everywhere that we looked were high school students wearing shirts that said ‘black lives matter,’ ‘I can’t breathe,’” she said, in the clip first spotted by TPM. “As I was flipping through the program it had ‘hands up don’t shoot.’ It had quite a few different acts that were what I was worried were going to be quite controversial.
“When the first act began, students start coming out on stage saying, ‘I’m from Ferguson, Missouri. I was told to put my hands up. I did and I was shot seven times. My name is Michael Brown.’ I immediately realized that this was not something that was a good idea for my daughter to be seeing.”
Her husband Charles, a deputy sheriff, said the family had no warning of the content of the program.
“My daughter had serious questions as to ‘Why do cops shoot black people? Why do cops shoot good people? If they do that, does that make them a bad cop? Daddy, you’re a cop, does that make you a bad cop?’” Charles said. “It took me off-guard. We really had to have a discussion with our daughter in great detail about current events we should never have had.”
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/family-tells-fox-friends-how-they-pulled-daughter-from-school-after-black-lives-matter-invoked/
UVa student Martese Johnson: How could this happen?
The look in his eyes says it all.
It captures the shock, disappointment, hurt, anger, pain that comes from the shattering of perspectives. The realization that contrary to your thinking that as long as you do the right thing, live right and are a friendly, smart, respectful, respectable, active and full participant in your community, that you’re in turn fully respected as an equal member of that community. Treated with the same dignity and given every benefit of the doubt extended to others of a different race in your community.
It’s the look of how on earth did I get here. The dawning upon a young mind of the sad confirmation that even if you do everything right, you’ll always be viewed through the lenses of the worst racial stereotypes projected upon and attributed to black people – and treated as such every time.
It’s a hard lesson to learn, and here’s hoping it not only drives him to succeed and shine extra bright in every facet of his life, but to also be a catalyst – committed for the long haul – for that change we desperately need in this country.
Truth. My feeling about this kid is that he is resilient and has been blessed with a great deal of emotional intelligence. This hurts, to be sure, but he recognizes that folks stood up for him. And I would bet that the man standing next to him in this picture would get much of the credit for why Martese is on his feet and recovering as well as he is. But this is wrong beyond anything I could put into words. If a nation cannot take care of it’s children and young adults then what in the blazing hell can it do? I am so angry about this.
The human head was not designed to be smashed into bricks. These cops are so out of control that it’s almost impossible to imagine how this “aggressive” and “militarized” policing is going to be halted and put in reverse. With the DOJ unwilling to prosecute individual cops for civil rights violations, it’s going to be mighty damn difficult. Will Loretta Lynch, if she ever gets confirmed, see this differently? I hope so, but there is so little time left before the next election.
Friends, family express shock at bloody arrest of UVA student from Chicago
As Virginia’s governor ordered an investigation into the arrest of a black Chicago college student outside a pub, friends and family expressed shock that someone as highly regarded as Martese Johnson could wind up bloodied on the ground after a run-in with police.
“I myself have been harassed by police on many occasions,” said former Kenwood Academy High School student Stevie Powell, 22, Thursday morning.” I never thought I’d be standing here talking about Martese being a victim of police brutality.”
Around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, Johnson was arrested by a uniformed Alcoholic Beverage Control agent after he was refused entry into an establishment in an area of bars and restaurants near the University of Virginia campus, according to a statement by Virginia’s alcohol control agency.Martese R. Johnson, 20, charged with obstruction of justice without force and public swearing or intoxication after his arrest in Charlottesville, Va. Witnesses say Johnson was unnecessarily tackled after he tried to pull away from an officer who had grabbed him. (Albemarle-Charlottesville Region /)
He was charged with obstruction of justice without force and public swearing or intoxication, according to Charlottesville General District Court records.
Witnesses said that Johnson, 20, was unnecessarily tackled after he tried pulling away from an officer who had grabbed him by the arm. His attorney, Daniel P. Watkins, said he received stitches at a hospital.
About 1,000 students gathered at the UVA campus Wednesday night to demand justice for Martese Johnson, who attended the event flanked by classmates.
“I beg for you guys to please respect everyone here,” Johnson told the crowd. “We really are one community.”
The hashtag #JusticeforMartese began trending on Twitter soon after the incident. A picture posted with the hashtag showed a bloodied Johnson being pinned to the ground by an officer. In a photo next to it, Johnson held a sign reading, “I am the only black student on the Honor Committee. But I’m not the only honorable black student at UVA.”
A former Chicago classmate started a fundraiser on GoFundMe.com that had raised almost half of its $5,000 goal Thursday morning to help pay for Johnson’s legal fees. The page said Johnson was a third-year student at the University of Virginia and a member of the Honor Committee and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. It described his arrest as “animalistic” and “insensitive.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-virginia-student-from-chicago-police-brutality-20150318-story.html#page=1
https://twitter.com/ChicagoRising/status/578680503030579200/photo/1
https://twitter.com/jazzmen_k/status/578689299819995137/photo/1
https://twitter.com/PBS_Impulse9/status/578671352455921664/photo/1
shonda rhimes ✔ @shondarhimes
“@cnnbrk Black man found hanging from tree in Mississippi. It’s unclear if he committed suicide or was killed.” Is it, CNN? Is it unclear?
Retweeted by PragmaticObotsUnite
White folks are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy out of control. Of course he was LYNCHED.
https://twitter.com/TyreeBP/status/578691699318226944
https://twitter.com/MelissaFPayne/status/578651789697900545
https://twitter.com/MelissaFPayne/status/578640281647468544
https://twitter.com/MelissaFPayne/status/578637899823849472
March 19, 2015, and the pure RACIAL HATE is just over the top, Whew Lord!
https://twitter.com/mmfa/status/578637935983087616
Dear Media Matters,
And we’re supposed to be surprised that a criminal, deranged and twisted mind like O’keefe who’s been treated as just another smart political operative, is capable of such.
https://twitter.com/vj44/status/578636667722067969
https://twitter.com/Stcrow/status/578626581154910209/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/578632326550278144/photo/1
It really is a striking comparison between the two pictures. The one on the left was taken at a rally in support of Martese and he spoke to his supporters. But the comparison here is so typical of the before and after when a person has just gone through some extremely traumatic life-changing event. It reminds me of pictures of surviving soldiers leaving a battle, sad and haunted. I hope that he’ll be okay, physically and spiritually.
“the one on the left” should be “the one on the right.”
https://twitter.com/surulerecat/status/578551369751224320/photo/1
That was my first thought, at least he’s alive. But he’ll never be the same. I just hope that his support network is huge. And I hope that he is resilient and does not despair, that he does not allow racist, brutal, f**ked up cops to derail his dreams, to steal any more from him than they already have.
https://twitter.com/TheBaxterBean/status/539834192507703297/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TessMonet/status/578364114180784128/photo/1
uh huh
uh huh
https://twitter.com/Mediaite/status/578589517986181120
Joe Adalian ✔ @TVMoJoe
Depending on final revisions, #EmpireFinale will be most-watched for a frosh show since either 2009 MENTALIST (16.8) — or in 10 years.
https://youtu.be/xxLuj4ve-XI
Netanyahu thinks America can be easily moved->“I want a sustainable, peaceful 2-state solution”.
http://thehill.com/policy/international/236286-netanyahu-walks-back-comments-on-palestinian-state
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday walked back his comments suggesting he would never support a two-state solution.
“I want a sustainable, peaceful, two-state solution. But for that, circumstances have to change,” he said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”
“If you want to get peace … you’ve got to get the Palestinian leadership to abandon their pact with Hamas and engage in genuine negotiations with Israel for an achievable peace,” he said.
He said that if the U.S. does not block a United Nations resolution giving statehood to the Palestinians, “that state would become a terrorist state.” If that happened, Netanyahu said he feared that Iran would provide weapons to the Palestinians in the West Bank.
He’s full-o-shit. after using racist rhetoric to win the election, now he’s back to pretending he wants a 2 state settlement. SLIME, NOTHING BUT SLIME.
he’s so right.
Kevin Drum already knew.
The folks who kill me were the ones who were against Obamacare, but now that they realize HOW IT HELPS THEM, they want to keep it.
Just helping the generic citizen in the Universe wasn’t enough for them to support it.
…………
Fear to defend the ACA
Posted by Richard Mayhew at 11:56 am Mar 19, 2015
Kevin Drum is a mid-50s guy with cancer. He is also a daily read for me. He outlines what the ACA now means to him:
In a pre-PPACA world or a world where the Republican answer to PPACA is repeal and fuck you, Kevin is uninsurable for anything but a high risk pool plan that will cost him $1,500 a month with $20,000 deductibles and yearly caps of $100,000 or less. No insurer will touch him if they can medically underwrite policies.
Cancer can hit anyone, and under the Republican plan, a one time cancer diagnosis and recovery screws a person for life. Under the Democratic current law and future policy plans, that person is not screwed for life.
This is a real and concrete fear. Use that fear to defend the ACA.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2015/03/19/fear-to-defend-the-aca/#comment-5288135
From POU:
Miranda Mod
Handcuffed White Man Runs Away From Cops as Black Man Gets Tasered
As Twitter has been quick to point out, this video is a perfect representation of the American justice system. In it a handcuffed white dude runs away as five cops surround a black suspect being tasered. No one pays attention to him until he’s in stride. He’s already across the street by the time we see just one of the cops going after him.
Police confirmed the video is real and said the fleeing suspect was eventually caught and arrested.
https://twitter.com/thisisIRV/status/578570795041099776
https://twitter.com/igorvolsky/status/578580005782990849
very interesting.
has tatoos on his face
actually killed people
and yet, he’s brought in
UH HUH
……………………………..
from POU
JB20005 •an hour ago
So the story of the neo nazi Mesa, AZ shooter just keeps getting better…
He was not compliant with SWAT team requests to surrender and was taken down with…
A taser.
How very odd that they didn’t have to go in guns blazing against this guy who had actually killed someone, and wounded 5 others, as opposed to say Tamir Rice, who hadn’t broken any law, where it was shoot to kill on sight.
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2015/03/ryan_giroux_white_supremacist_suspected_of_shooting_six_people_in_mesa.php
Poll: Public unaware Obama’s health law is again in jeopardy
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Mar. 19, 2015 12:08 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — With a decision due by summer in a Supreme Court case that could unravel President Barack Obama’s health care law, a new poll finds many Americans have heard nothing about the case.
But when the potential fallout is explained, most say it would hurt the country and they would look to Congress or the states to fix it.
Although recent oral arguments before the Supreme Court got national media attention, 53 percent said they were unfamiliar with the case, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Thursday.
Opponents of the law say its precise wording allows the government to subsidize coverage only in states that set up their own insurance markets, or exchanges. Most have not done so, defaulting to the federal HealthCare.gov.
When people were asked about the potential consequences of a Supreme Court ruling to deny financial assistance in states with federally-run insurance markets, 62 percent said that would have a negative impact on the country.
“The public is not making a legal judgment,” said Drew Altman, CEO of the foundation. “When it’s explained to them that some people will get help depending on whether the state or the federal government runs the marketplace, it does not seem fair to people. It does not make sense to the majority.”
The Kaiser foundation is a nonpartisan information clearinghouse on health care issues. The poll is the latest installment in its survey series, which has tracked public opinion since the inception of Obama’s overhaul
Overall, it found Americans remain divided over the health care law, which offers subsidized private insurance to people who don’t have access to it on the job, plus expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income adults in states that accept it. Forty-three percent view it unfavorably, while 41 percent have a favorable opinion.
The Supreme Court case is known as King v. Burwell. Supporters of the law argue that while the wording of particular provisions may be confusing, the clear intent was to provide benefits in all states.
No one knows how the court will rule. It could side with the Obama administration, or strike down subsidies that more than 8 million people are receiving.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d2b66fea9f9d4e8da128fcb7e60ad0a4/poll-many-see-negative-impact-if-court-nixes-health-law-aid#overlay-context=article/3d388d00c31b4f9a998ed608d73d1107/dna-tests-help-california-shelter-speed-dog-adoptions
https://twitter.com/PragObots/status/578592372746887168/photo/1
Well, some folks are very limited on intake. They live in a simplistic and tiny world and they believe that they have the all of the answers to all of the questions that have baffled the great thinkers through the ages.
What must that be like? Is ignorance really bliss? That is one question they could answer.
There’s also the shock that’s bound to hit them sometime in the near future when they realize their intimate associations with white people in no way shields them from the reality of living black.
PBO UNFILTERED BY THE GOP-OWNED MSM1
https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/578537971021836288
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/578598055676547072
https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/578587912226246656
https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/578399070722588672
God help this country! DallasPD guns down a mental patient in front of his mother. EVIL rabid dogs.
Graphic. Brace yourself.
Mental patient Jason Harrison shot by Dallas police
https://twitter.com/JulianaStratton/status/578395854039470080
Well, we know that cops are killing people and no one seems to have an accurate count of how many. But the brutal cop beatings are a whole other issue that are not getting the attention they deserve. What happens to people who are getting these brutal beatings especially those who are beaten on their heads? How many of these victims of police brutality have their lives permanently changed because of traumatic brain injury, post traumatic stress, eye injuries such as detached retinas, etc…
What happens to these people? Who follows up? Who helps them? Certainly not the cops.
The cops are looking more and more like the Gestapo.
https://twitter.com/splcenter/status/578577406652465152
This is what it looks like when an ordinary black kid gets his sudden baptism of fire into Emmett Till’s America.
https://twitter.com/LBinTheseTweets/status/578531500095733760
Obama talks up ‘transformative’ idea: mandatory voting
03/19/15 09:15 AM
By Steve Benen
In dozens of states, the recent push to curtail voting rights and block Americans’ access to the polls has been deeply discouraging. But there are still some leading officials pushing back in the other direction.
That includes Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D), who talked to Rachel last night about automatic voter registration, and it also includes President Obama, a longtime voting-rights champion who floated a provocative idea yesterday.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday suggested that if American voters want to “counteract” the role of money in politics, it may be worth making voting mandatory.
“It would be transformative if everybody voted,” Obama said during a town hall event in Cleveland, Ohio. “That would counteract (campaign) money more than anything. If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country.”
The president noted a detail that’s true, but not widely known: the voting public often does not reflect the American public at large. Those who exercise the franchise tend to be older, wealthier, and whiter than the broader national population. This is, of course, compounded by voter-suppression tactics, embraced by many Republican policymakers at the state level, which disproportionately affect young people, lower-income adults, and racial and ethnic minorities.
“There’s a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls,” Obama told his audience yesterday.
Note, the president’s comments weren’t an explicit endorsement of a radical change to voting rights, but it wasn’t an offhand remark, either. Indeed, Obama seems to have given this some thought, reminding the Ohioans in attendance that Australia is one of many modern democracies to have embraced compulsory voting.
The likelihood of a dramatic change to American voting laws along these lines is remote, at least for now, but the president’s unexpected comments nevertheless raise a question worthy of debate: is mandatory voting an idea with merit?
Dylan Matthews took a look at the available evidence and noted that compulsory voting “works,” at least insofar as it dramatically increases voter turnout – people participate in order to avoid fines or the loss of government benefits – and helps ensure that the voting population more accurately reflects the national population.
[M]andatory voting wouldn’t necessarily benefit one party or another. But it would, by definition, mean that more Americans’ views are represented in government, and in particular that minorities and economically vulnerable people would have more of a voice. And both parties should be competing for their vote, rather than being able to ignore their needs. It may be, in the end, that Republicans win that competition — but first it has to be a competition.
The best objection to compulsory voting is that it impinges on peoples’ freedom to not vote. But we make citizens perform actions for the collective benefit of society all the time, including everything from objections to mandatory jury duty to taxes to the individual mandate for health insurance. In each of those cases, there’s a collective action problem. We want individuals to be on juries or pay taxes or buy health insurance even though doing so would be, from their point of view, irrational. Voting is the same way. Any given voter has very little chance of influencing the election, but if nobody voted the result would be disastrous. So we need people to make choices that might not benefit them personally for the system to work. Traditionally, that’s been an argument for mandates. It might be worth considering adding one for voting as well.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obama-talks-transformative-idea-mandatory-voting
Starz Announces Return Date for Original Series ‘Power’ + New Key Art + Trailer
By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
March 18, 2015 at 2:18PM
Starz today announced the highly anticipated return of original series “Power” on Saturday, June 6th at 9pm ET/PT.
The second season of “Power” features ten hour-long episodes, a bump from the first season’s order of eight episodes.
Starz also released the never-before-seen key art for season two of “Power,” which features the main “Power”-players fighting to stay on top: Omari Hardwick as James “Ghost” St. Patrick, Lela Loren as Angela Valdes, Naturi Naughton as Tasha St. Patrick, Joseph Sikora as Tommy Egan, Sinqua Walls as Shawn and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Kanan.
From Executive Producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and show creator and Executive Producer Courtney Kemp Agboh (“The Good Wife”), “Power” season two picks up right where it left off: James “Ghost” St. Patrick doubling down on his drug business to save his nightclub and dream of a legitimate future. Ghost’s work troubles pale in comparison to juggling his relationship with his wife, Tasha, and his first love, Angela, who’s also an Assistant US Attorney investigating his drug organization.
Ghost is set further back from his dream by his business partner, Tommy, who loves the drug game, and his former mentor, Kanan, fresh out of jail and looking for revenge.
Season two has Ghost in a race against himself: Can he get out of the drug game alive before Angela discovers who he is?
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/starz-announces-return-date-for-original-series-power-new-key-art-trailer-20150318
Membership Has Its Challenges – Watch Trailer for Pete Chatmon’s Latest, ‘BlackCard’
By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
March 19, 2015 at 10:34AM
This trailer for the next Pete Chatmon picture definitely has my attention, and I’m looking forward to checking out the entire film when the time comes!
For now, here’s what you need to know, in brief…
Titled “BlackCard,” the short film stars Dorian Missick, Simone Missick & Hisham Tawfiq, with Stephen Hill, Erika Myers, Malikha Mallette, April Matthis, and Valence Thomas rounding out the cast.
Synopsis: In a culture requiring an ID card and commitment to the code, an African-American couple is about to find out just how far the boundaries can be pushed. It would be just another day for Leonard, except The Commission, a shadow organization tasked with keeping members up to snuff on their “blackness”, is hot on his trail for his latest infraction. An afternoon with the love of his life, Lona, goes off course as a missing ID card escalates into questions of loyalty, life, and love…
Pete Chatmon directs from a script penned by Tony Patrick.
I’m sure, here on S&A, I don’t need to elaborate on what having a “Black Card” means. For the uninitiated, I’ll just point you to the Urban Dictionary for further assistance.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/membership-has-its-challenges-watch-trailer-for-pete-chatmons-latest-blackcard-20150319
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/578513410842824704/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/578518304853237760/photo/1
Now our ‘ambassador’ shows up. Please.
FLOTUS might indulge her, but FLOTUS sure knows what’s up and so do we.
LOL beat that ass, eliishass, FLOTUS has her number.
This comment belongs here sorry.
Now our ‘ambassador’ shows up. Please.
FLOTUS might indulge her, but FLOTUS sure knows what’s up and so do we.
I’ll give it a try
……………….
Trailer for TNT’s Supernatural Summer Drama Series ‘Proof’ (Jennifer Beals, Joe Morton, Edi Gathegi)
By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
March 18, 2015 at 10:25AM
Here’s your first look (via trailer) at TNT’s supernatural drama series “Proof,” which stars Jennifer Beals as a brilliant but somewhat jaded female surgeon, still struggling with the devastating death of her son, who begins investigating cases concerning reincarnations, hauntings, out-of-body experiences, and other supernatural phenomena.
Joe Morton co-stars, playing the tough and intimidating chief who runs the hospital where Beals’ character works.
And Edi Gathegi plays a Sudanese hospital intern tasked with finding proof of life after death.
TNT will premiere the series this JUNE as a summer series; although the exact premiere date hasn’t been announced yet.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/trailer-for-tnts-supernatural-summer-drama-series-proof-jennifer-beals-joe-morton-edi-gathegi-20150318
I’m interested in checking out this series. Wonder if Joe (Papa Pope) Morton will have reoccurring role on Scandal.
it’s on my DVR, but I don’t think they promoted it enough. I really didn’t know it was coming back on until Monday
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‘Single Ladies’ Returns Tonight to a Rebranded Centric – “The First Network Designed for Black Women”
By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
March 18, 2015 at 10:50AM
Announced early last year, Centric, formerly known as BET on Jazz, BET Jazz, and BET J, and launched in September 1996 as a spin-off cable television channel of BET, is being rebranded, yet again – this time as a specifically black woman-focused network, calling itself “the first network designed for black women.”
Those rebranding efforts continue to take shape in 2015, starting with the relaunch of the network’s pickup of the canceled VH1 drama series “Single Ladies,” which premieres tonight, March 18, 2015, which will air on both Centric and BET (for those without Centric).
Centric also previously announced an exclusive co-production deal with Queen Latifah’s Flavor Unit Entertainment to produce new content for the network. Also, Flavor Unit Entertainment’s talk show, “The Queen Latifah Show,” which was just canceled by CBS, will also be airing in primetime on Centric.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/single-ladies-returns-tonight-to-a-rebranded-centric-the-first-network-designed-for-black-women-20150318
I was one of the 200 people that watched this show
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Before ‘Empire’ There Was ‘Empire’… Errr… I mean ‘Platinum’ – Do You Remember It?
By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
March 18, 2015 at 7:57PM
It’s not a series that I watched, or even heard of at the time it was on the air, 12 years ago, in 2003. I was having a chat with an acquaintance who mentioned it, during a conversation we were having about “Empire” and its season finale tonight.
“It reminds me of that UPN show way back in the early 2000s I think it was, called ‘Platinum’ or something like that; I’ll have to look it up again,” he said, and then asked me if I remembered it, which, as I already noted, I don’t.
So I looked it up as well, and here’s what I found…
In brief, in 2003, the then UPN network (which was shut down in 2006, with some of its programs moving to what is now The CW) debuted what it called television’s first drama set in the world of hip-hop, featuring an ensemble cast of diverse characters that the network said reflected the multi-cultural reality of the music industry.
What I was most surprised to learn was that the project came from Sofia Coppola (the same year that her second feature film “Lost in Translation” was released) and John Ridley (of “12 Years a Slave” fame, as well as “American Crime” which just made its debut on ABC, and the controversial Esquire article that will continue to follow him wherever he goes, “The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American Nigger”). Coppola and Ridley developed the story, and Ridley penned the script.
…………….
Platinum” was originally set up at HBO (which actually makes more sense than UPN), but the network passed on it, after several script rewrites, and so Ridley and Coppola shopped it around to other networks. As Ridley shared: “I think that was a challenge to bring it to the networks, that it was a black show and black people, but we were not all one type.”
Eventually UPN picked it up, despite the fact that “Platinum” was quite different from what the network typically aired in primetime.
But, unfortunately, it lasted only 13 episodes, and was canceled due to low ratings. “It hurt so painfully when the show did not get picked up,” Ridley said.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/before-empire-there-was-empire-errr-i-mean-platinum-20150318
tell the truth, Zandar
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Wednesday, March 18, 2015
The Real Racists Are Always Everyone But You
Posted byZandar
Despite the scathing Justice Department detailing the massive corruption and racism in Ferguson, Missouri’s Police Department and municipal courts, Missouri GOP Lt.Gov. Peter Kinder knows who the real racists are: Eric Holder and President Obama.
Because the black President and that black Attorney General have to know their goddamn place, you see.
Because racism didn’t exist before January 20, 2009. Neither did police brutality.
Because why can’t you people just get over this whole being black thing, anyway? It’s been 400 years already.
Because you know you’re always starting trouble with the good white people of Missouri.
Because you people are always shooting cops, you savages.
Because you don’t work hard and you make yourselves poor.
Because if you really wanted out of poverty, you’d get yourself out.
Because anyone who points out racism is the reeeeeeeeal racist.
Because I’m goddamn tired of the “because”.
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-real-racists-are-always-everyone.html
this is who they are. said it before, we will see the kind of crazy that Harry Reid repeatedly kept at bay
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Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Magical Laffer Curve Fairies, And Other Economic Theories
Posted byZandar
House Republicans are gearing up for another round of massive austerity cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and eliminating Obamacare for 16 million plus people with their budget proposal.
Sure it will. And I’m Genghis Khan.
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2015/03/magical-laffer-curve-fairies-and-other.html
scummy crook like the rest of his family
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Jeb Bush’s tie to fugitive goes against business-savvy image he promotes
By Tom Hamburger and Robert O’Harrow Jr. March 18 at 10:00 AM
Jeb Bush was a young man building a real estate business in Miami in 1985 when health-care entrepreneur Miguel Recarey Jr. hired him to help locate office space in South Florida.
Bush, then the son of the vice president, later provided another service: opening doors in Washington, where Recarey had mounted an aggressive lobbying effort for a waiver from Medicare rules that would allow his fast-growing company to continue to expand.
Recarey got what he wanted. But two years later, the firm, International Medical Centers, was shut down as regulators searched for millions in missing federal funds. Facing charges of bribery and bilking Medicare, Recarey fled the country to avoid prosecution. He remains a fugitive in Spain, where a court denied U.S. requests for extradition.
The Recarey case illustrates aspects of Bush’s business record that are likely to resurface as he moves closer to a campaign for president. Time and again, he benefited from his family name and connections to land a consulting deal or board membership, sometimes doing business with people and companies that would later run afoul of the law.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jeb-bushs-tie-to-fugitive-cuts-against-savvy-business-image-he-promotes/2015/03/18/0a627a84-c804-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html?hpid=z2
It’s all tied together
Posted by Richard Mayhew at 8:12 am Mar 192015 The Incidental Economist’s Austin Frakt is pimping a paper he co-wrote on how Medicaid expansion has lowered demand for Veterans’ Administration health care services:
The VA gives excellent care, but it is not always the most convienently located care. This, I think, explains the story. Before the ACA expansion, a vet who is VA eligible and making under 138% of Federal Poverty Line and did not have employer sponsored coverage had the choice to go naked or get VA care. That VA care might be half an hour or an hour from their house. With Medicaid expansion, that same individual has more choices closer to home in most cases. Medicaid expansion is attractive as the next best alternative to it is a 30 minute drive or an hour bus ride to the VA instead of nothing.
Medicaid expansion, as well as the Exchanges with subsidies should also be a notable driver on the number of people who apply for and are later granted Social Security disability. People on Social Security disability qualify for Medicare after two years on disability. There is a good amount of evidence that Social Security disability applications and grants go up when the labor market sucks and goes down when the labor market is tight. Part of that cyclical nature is the marginally attached worker in their mid or late 50s who has significant health conditions was completely uninsurable if they were neither employer nor on Social Security disability.
Now people who have something wrong with them are insurable by either Medicaid expansion or the subsidized Exchanges. The cost of staying in the labor market is way lower and disability payments that are slightly above poverty levelaren’t too attractive as medical care is no longer restricted to accepting those payments.
Anything in the US healthcare finance and delivery system has seventeen seperate threads tying it to other major parts. Austin does a nice job of outlining one of those connections.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2015/03/19/its-all-tied-together/
uh huh
UH HUH
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New Times Op-Ed Writer Has a Colorful Past with Racist Publications
J.K. Trotter
Today the New York Times announced its selection of 20 new op-ed writers who will contribute to the paper on a monthly basis. Editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal told Capital New York that his staff selected contributors with “a broad range of viewpoints and subjects and backgrounds and geographical locations and every kind of form of diversity that you can think of.” This commitment to a diversity of viewpoints is remarkably strong, as indicated by the paper’s inclusion of science writer Razib Khan.
According to his Times author page, Khan is “a science blogger, a programmer and a doctoral candidate in genomics and genetics at the University of California, Davis.” Omitted from the paper’s biography, as a quick Google search indicates, is Khan’s history with racist, far-right online publications.
Here, for example, are 68 posts Khan wrote for Taki’s Magazine. The site was founded in 2007 by Taki Theodoracopulos, the flamboyantly racist Greek journalist known for trumpeting his disgust for Puerto Ricans, contempt for Africans, and suspicion of Jews. Besides Khan, Taki publishes people like John Derbyshire (who wrote “The Talk: Black Edition,” an essay so racist National Review cut its ties with him) and Vice cofounder Gavin McInnes (who penned an essay titled “I’m Not a Racist, Sexist, or a Homophobe, You Nigger Slut Faggot”).
Khan wrote for Taki from January through September 2009. A decade earlier, in 2000, Khan wrote a letter to VDARE, a white nationalist website named after the first white child born in America, in which he discussed another VDARE essay by Steve Sailer, the openly racist science writer, concerning the threat of the United States becoming “more genetically and culturally Mexican.” According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, VDARE was considered a “relatively mainstream anti-immigration page” after it was founded in 1999; within the next four years, however, it began “regularly publish[ing] articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites,” and continues to do so.
http://tktk.gawker.com/new-times-op-ed-writer-has-a-colorful-past-with-racist-1692187849
https://twitter.com/TheCut/status/578533147110973442/photo/1
https://twitter.com/BlackNerdJade/status/578296061850214400/photo/1
elisabeth. @elisabethepps
You know how we know #MarteseJohnson wasn’t “resisting” enough to deserve those injuries? If he had, he’d be facing felony charges. @deray
Rashad Robinson @rashadrobinson
Look at @nytimes welcoming white supremacist ideology into their legitimate range of debate http://tktk.gawker.com/new-times-op-ed-writer-has-a-colorful-past-with-racist-1692187849 …
David Corn ✔ @DavidCornDC
Amazing. 9000-word Playboy interview with Cheney & not one question re WMDs in Iraq or US troops/Iraqi civilians deaths during the war.
this is how you get them
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Wednesday, Mar 18, 2015 12:27 PM CDT
FEMA won’t give money to states that don’t plan for climate change
Climate deniers like Rick Scott just may be forced to reconsider their anti-science opinions
Lindsay Abrams
Rick Scott may have found a way of making climate denial state policy, but the Florida governor is going to have a hard time ignoring this. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) just updated its guidelines for state disaster preparedness plans, and under the new policy, plans will only be approved — and federal funds appropriated — if they address the threats of climate change.
The challenges posed by climate change, such as more intense storms, frequent heavy precipitation, heat waves, drought, extreme flooding, and higher sea levels, could significantly alter the types and magnitudes of hazards impacting states in the future,” the guidelines explain. They direct states to”assess vulnerability, identify a strategy to guide decisions and investments, and implement actions that will reduce risk, including impacts from a changing climate.”
InsideClimateNews argues that the FEMA, intentionally are a not, has delivered a trump card for climate advocates frustrated with politicians’ refusal to acknowledge the reality of climate change. FEMA allocates an average of $1 billion per year to disaster preparedness programs, reporter Katherine Bagley explains — funds that states won’t be privy to if they refuse to comply with the guidelines.
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/18/fema_wont_give_money_to_states_that_dont_plan_for_climate_change/?source=newsletter
Jeb just puts a pleasant face on the crazy
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Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Last Call For Jeb’s Waging War On The Poor
Posted byZandar
The media likes to portray Jeb Bush as a “moderate” Republican, but moderate Republicans can’t win primaries. Which is why Dubya The Revenge is going around South Carolina saying that America needs to get rid of the federal minimum wage.
But remember, Jebby is not like those Tea Party nutjobs. Not at all. He thinks there are people making minimum wage who are being paid too much money right now. And remember, without a federal minimum wage, there are several states where people would be making less than $7.25 an hour: Alabama (no minimum), Georgia ($5.15 if there are more than six employees, none if fewer), Louisiana (no minimum), Tennessee (no minimum), Wyoming ($5.15)…
…and South Carolina, which has no minimum wage either.
Let that sink in for a minute. Jeb Bush calling for the end of a federal minimum wage in a state with no minimum wage. I don’t think that’s an accident, do you?
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2015/03/last-call-for-jebs-waging-war-on-poor.html
Not so much ‘pleasant’ as much as dull, innocuous …insipid.
uh huh
…………
Virginia gov. calls for investigation into student’s arrest
Associated Press
2 hrs ago
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — About 1,000 students gathered at the University of Virginia campus Wednesday night to demand justice for a student who was injured during an arrest and appears in a photo with a bloody face as he is being held down by an officer.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has also called for an investigation into the early-morning arrest of Martese Johnson, whose lawyer said he needed 10 stitches in his head.
Martese Johnson was charged on two counts: obstruction of justice without force, and public swearing or intoxication, Charlottesville General District Court records show.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control agent who made the arrest, listed in court records as J. Miller, said in the arrest report that Johnson “was very agitated and belligerent.”
A statement from a group calling itself “Concerned Black Students,” however, claims the arrest of Johnson was unprovoked and extreme.
“The brutish force used resulted in his head and bodily injuries,” the group said in a statement. “His treatment was unprovoked as he did not resist questioning or arrest.”
Wednesday night’s rally was moved several times, finally ending up at an outdoor amphitheater after more students than expected showed up.
“If we don’t get it, shut it down!” many chanted in unison.
“It’s about justice,” said Steven Lewis, a graduate student from Atlanta. He said he came out to express his “outrage” over what happened. “This seemed like the only thing to do.”
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/virginia-gov-calls-for-investigation-into-students-arrest/ar-BBip5Hs?ocid=HPCDHP
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/578515698848239616/photo/1
Our First Lady has this easy and beautiful way of gently easing out the real person in the stiffest and starchiest. And this will be one of her most important legacies.
Just by being herself and showing others how to be too, she’s slowly but surely turning antiquated conventions on its head. And so many of these men and women who’d previously been boxed into them and slavishly and miserably lived captive to them, are grateful for her leading them to freedom.
Good Morning, Everyone :)
U.S. THREATENS TO BACK UN AGAINST ISRAEL
Benjamin Netanyahu’s victory in the Israeli elections this week may push American officials to support a UN-led solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Western diplomats say. Though the U.S. has historically been wary of Security Council resolutions on the topic, the Israeli prime minister’s latest proclamations may have changed their minds.
In the final hours of his re-election bid, Netanyahu publicly declared his opposition to a two-state solution, which is the basis of U.S. peace negotiations. On Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was cagey about a U.S. response. “We’re currently evaluating our approach,” she said. “We’re not going to prejudge what we would do if there was a UN action.”
http://elink.thedailybeast.com/4e555ee3e018bee76c3458202eg4y.3ra8/VQrBukmOo5ZTeiXsB2703
Austin mayor outraged by ‘white people only’ stickers posted on businesses
(CNN)Someone is posting stickers that say “exclusively for white people” on businesses in the Texas capital of Austin. And the mayor is not amused.
“This is an appalling and offensive display of ignorance in our city,” Mayor Steve Adler said in a statement. “Our city is a place where respect for all people is a part of our spirit and soul. We will keep it that way.”
In addition to the disparaging words, the stickers are using the city’s logo, giving the impression that they represent Austin.
They do not, the mayor said.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/us/austin-white-people-sticker/index.html
FLOTUS was raised right. She was taught by her parents not to keep her head down, keep her mouth shut, and tow the line.
Good Morning, Everyone. :-)))))